Wednesday, January 31, 2018

#BookQW word is night! #Tirgearr #eroticromance -- The New Yorker is on a mission, but a meltdown is coming on. One Night in Havana is still 0.99.

Book Quote Wednesday's word is NIGHT and NIGHT is in the title of  ONE NIGHT IN HAVANA with a release date of today, still 99 cents, below is the NIGHT our woman on a mission has a meltdown--


With a camera slung over her shoulder, Veronica joined the flock to watch the sunset on the promenade. In spite of the clouds, the full moon cast a soft light across the water. What a spectacular night.

A young girl motioned her toward the railing. “Do you like it here?”

“Oh, yes. I love your city. Tonight we have a purplish orange sunset.” She snapped a few shots.

The girl smiled and caught up with friends. Was it more than the tourist business that made Cubans friendly and kind?

The surface where she walked was slick with humidity. In New York, if she were to slip and topple down, there wouldn’t be anyone to pick her up. Here there was camaraderie among strangers, aloneness without feeling alone. Birds chirped. Small children’s voices were clear and sharp against old motors chugging down the street. She walked for a half hour and then turned around.

She gazed across the main street at Moorish architecture with Baroque balconies. Her mind played through the architectural richness, older by five hundred years compared to New York. Portals, columns, and pilasters loosely followed classical lines. The greatest charm laid in strolling after a warm day. At sunset couples, children, and fishermen walked along this outdoor lounge, The Malecón.

Ancient side streets, too narrow for traffic, were shaded by towering Colonial buildings with faded paint and cracked plaster. Rooftops had some planters with vines running wild. Wooden benches with sun canopies above them flapped with the wind picking up.

Coming toward the point where she’d entered, she stood and listened to the rolling tide.  Wave after wave sloshed against the barricade, wish-wash, wish-wash, the rhythm of a heartbeat. On the horizon, the haze had turned from purple to gray. In the entire harbor, there must have been hundreds of vessels of all shapes and sizes crammed in deep-water berths. Multi-million-dollar cruise ships like hers, luxurious yachts, and smaller boats moored together in rows.

She spotted her ship docked with many others on the pier. The giant vessel stood out in dark silhouette. Seagulls shrieked from where they nested on reefs. Like a bird sensing danger, she tensed. Nausea crawled up her throat, and she pressed a fist to her nervous belly. Her cruise ship bobbed up and down and plunged her into a troubled state. Throughout the busy week, her thoughts about the goings-on remained nebulous. Vague fears were swallowed up and forgotten. Until this moment, facing departure tomorrow night, she hadn’t fully processed what she’d seen onboard. She’d looked the other way when young women had padded the bras of their bikinis with white chalky powder in packets and brown powder in toy balloons. Who would she tell anyway, the Cuban military police? She hoped to heck no one put anything in her luggage. How would a drug bust work out in a communist country?



Tuesday, January 30, 2018

#Tirgearr #newrelease on January 31st, still #99cents 99pence erotic romance suspense One Night in Havana

Chances are you remember times when you were on a serious mission. Did you need to accomplish something that would enable you to do something else? One Night in Havana's Veronica Keane wants to continue her late father's research in marine biology. Her competitor, Dr. Carlos Montoya, has a fun-loving personality.  Getting to know him gives her confidence, but does it improve her chances? Chances for what? The conference they're attending ends after tonight.

Sunday, January 28, 2018

#authortips #amwriting The Orange Rose #Contest wants your entry-- we're open to help you launch your manuscript!

The Orange Rose Contest wants your entry! If you have not yet made $1,000 on a single book, think about getting in front of top editors and agents.  Take a look here. A dream is always worth a try.

Sunday, January 21, 2018

#Tirgearr One Night in Havana #Authortips #artdeco Do you love travel?

While writing One Night in Havana, I enjoyed researching the crumbling buildings there from Colonial to Art Deco. "Deco" is a style of visual arts, architecture and design that first appeared in France just before the first World War. Art Deco influenced the design of buildings, furniture, jewelry, fashion, cars, movie theatres, trains, ocean liners, and everyday objects such as radios and vacuum cleaners. During its heyday in Cuba before the revolution, Art Deco represented luxury, glamour, exuberance, and faith in social and technological progress. The wealthy people who supported it were thrown out or executed.  Art Deco is one of the first truly international styles, and there are many beautiful examples in Havana, Cuba. Persons who loved this style brought it with them when they left, but there are Art Deco walking tours in Havana.







Wednesday, January 17, 2018

#BookQW word is ORDER! #Tirgearr preorder for #99cents -- release date coming soon for One Night in Havana

Book quote Wednesday's word is ORDER, and below is Chapter One from erotic romance,
One Night in Havana. Preorder for 99 cents/99 pence.  Release day is January 31st. 

“Why, Veronica Keane.” A voice heavy with a Spanish accent drawled from behind her. “A dive bar?” A taunting tsk. “What do we have? A slumming New Yorker?”

She stiffened and closed her eyes. She knew that voice and its owner, Dr. Carlos Montoya, a finalist like her, competing for the same damn grant at the biggest Cephalopoda conference of the decade. Her heart pitter-pattered against her ribs. To turn toward him would intimate distress, or worse yet, weakness. She wouldn’t fail to win this grant, not when she was a final contender. “I like this funky little place.” Sia Macario Café, smack in the center of Havana, allowed her to observe locals and their daily lives.

“You need to eat with all the mojitos you’ve downed.” The big tease wasn’t counting. This was her first drink, but his rumbling, sexy timbre hinted at all kinds of dark, hot promises. She’d rubbed shoulders with the Cuban scientist all week. This splendid specimen of Latin male brought on a physical ache that punched low.

A flare-up stirred fear. For her own good, she needed to resist. “I ordered camarones enchiladas.” By now she knew the menu on the chalkboard by heart. She tipped her head back to whiff grilled shrimp soon to arrive in sofrito sauce with fried sweet plantains.

“The flan is good. Just like my abuela makes.”

“I bet. Your grandmother would be happy to hear that,” she said, knowing he brought out the best in most people. Two days ago he'd invited her and a handful of others scuba diving. The chance to ogle him had been one of the perks. He’d worn nothing but swim trunks, his bare chest on display. Every glistening muscle was finely etched. Not a drop of fat on him. Since he’d not given her the time of day, she’d checked him out without him noticing.

The hard-bodied host had led the way toward habitats of soft-bodied creatures. To find where invertebrates lived was never an easy task. Octopuses squeezed into narrow passages of coral for protection and gave females a place to keep their eggs. She’d discovered the remains of a few meals nearby.Octopuses scattered rocks and shells to help them hide.

 This grant meant so much to her and no doubt to him as well. Veronica mindlessly toyed with the gold necklace around her neck, but anxiety crackled through her brain. Unlike this man of action, she lacked the flamboyant personality necessary to talk people into things. Carlos had that ability. He'd made friends with judges on board while she’d conversed with an older woman about a box of scones made with Cuban vanilla cream.

That day the wind had picked up to a gale force, and this woman named Bela with Lucille Ball red hair needed help walking to her home. The half mile down the seaside promenade, The Malecón, had provided her with time to practice her Spanish. Turned out Bela was Carlos’s grandmother. She’d worked as a maid when the Castro government came to power. When private homes were nationalized, titles were handed over to the dwelling occupants. Bela owned a crumbling home in the respected Verdado district and rented out rooms.

What Veronica detested about Carlos was his abnormal level of talent for schmoozing. Not that he wasn't charismatic; he drew her like a powerful magnet with emotions hard to untangle. Why was a self-assured woman who ran her own life thinking about a man who commanded everyone around him?

She inhaled a breath and turned around on the barstool, caught fast by a gut punch of Carlos Montoya in the flesh. She sighed and surrendered to the tendrils of want sliding up between her thighs.

Tall and muscular, his lush dark hair curled to his collar giving him a wild, roguish appearance. His face was lean and chiseled. His mouth full and tempting. His eyes the smoky-gray of a grass fire and fringed with black lashes as dense as paintbrushes. He smiled. A faint hint of mockery curved his mouth, a sensual mouth she imagined to be either inviting or cruel. Or both at the same time when he leaned over a woman with a diamond-hard gleam in his dark eyes while she drowned with pleasure. She fought a fierce desire to run her hand across his broad chest, tip her face upward, and…

His breath tickled her face.

Not going there. She blinked and forced her mind to focus. Carlos Montoya was not the kind of man you lost focus around. But that image of putting her mouth full on his and peeling away his shirt once introduced in her mind was impossible to expunge. Pointless even to try.

He was an intimidating blend of intellect and sexy danger. Both qualities had her leaning back against the bar’s edge. If it weren’t for him, she’d have a chance at winning the grant.

His lips twitched. “You’re staying on one of the cruise ships, am I right?” He rolled up the sleeves of his linen jacket to reveal a dusting of manly hair.

”Yes." Her cabin served as her hotel room while attending the January meetings with perfect high-seventies temperatures. His eyes locked with hers. She willed herself to move and yet she remained seated, clutching heat between her legs, a wetness so intense that her breath stalled in her chest while her heart hammered faster. Soon she’d return to freezing New York City.

“So, Bonita, give.” He slid onto the bar stool next to her. “What brings you down from a lofty ship to grace us lowly Cubans with your presence?”

Bonita. Pretty lady was not an endearment coming from the mouth curved in a taunting smile, but not a slight either. Not with his deep, melodic voice speaking words as if he knew secrets about her. What secrets did he know? Would he pry into her personal life? She doubted this bad-boy college professor acknowledged boundaries.

“Just drinks and dinner.” She scrambled for composure. “Aren’t we attending a world-class conference? I find the local population to be friendly and kind. That’s not slumming.”

The bartender set down a saoco. “Hope you like it, senorita.”

“Gracias,” she said. “Very nice, served in a coconut.”

“Ah, the saoco,” Carlos said. “Rum, lime juice, sugar, and ice. The saoco,” he repeated, disbelief heavy in his words. “Um. Wow. Once used as a tonic for prisoners of the revolution.”

“Medicinal?” She couldn’t help it. She chuckled and sounded as if a rusty spoon had scraped her throat raw, but it was genuine. The warm glow in its wake was welcome and needed. .

He leaned an elbow on the bar, his beer bottle with the green-and-red Cristal label dangling between his fingers. “Be careful with that one.” He dipped his head toward the front door as if he needed to go somewhere soon.

That fast, the glow snuffed out. She cleared her throat and gripped the fuzzy surface of the coconut container.

He placed a five-peso coin with a brass plug on the counter and whirled it. The spinning motion mirrored a dizzying attraction going on in low parts of her belly.

She cleared her wayward mind and nodded toward artwork on the opposite wall. “I plan to buy a painting tonight.”

“Don’t buy anything unless the seller gives you a certificate. You’ll need one to take art from Cuba. Artists deal in euros in case you don’t have pesos.”

She’d come prepared but said, “Thanks for the info.”

His coal-black eyes widened as he gazed from her head down to the tiny straps around her ankles as if she wore high heels and nothing else. “You give off a Barbie doll image,” he replied and stood up.

“Huh?”

“Where’s Ken, anyway? Kenneth Morton. He came with you to the talks in Antarctica. Five years ago.” He grinned, and the mortification in her belly gave way to a longing which she had no business feeling toward her competitor.

“Ken and I broke up.” She hesitated for a moment. “You have a gift for remembering names. Like a salesman.”

“A person’s name is, to that person, the most important and sweetest sound. Back then I introduced myself to Ken in the men’s room.”

“I remember now. Didn’t you give a talk on a specialized pigment in the octopus?”

“Ahh, si.” He splayed his fingers over his chest. “A pigment in their blood is—”

 “—called hemocyanin. Turns their blood blue and helps them survive subfreezing temperatures. Were you awarded something?”

“The antifreeze protein grant? No. It went to a deep-diving photographer. He wasn’t chicken about getting lost or trapped under the ice.”

She slid from her stool and strutted around, jutting her chin in and out like a chicken. “Bock, bock, bock, bock, bock, begowwwwk.”

He chuckled. “Cute chicken dance. Very cute in that skimpy black dress.”

Her cheeks heated, and she clutched her necklace. He’d seen plenty of women in body-fitting attire. In Cuba, women wore dresses to meetings. If she'd harnessed sexier mojo, she’d have livened up presentations. Her presentations with an abundance of dull data went south. She slid back against her stool and clutched her purse to her stomach as if the small satin bag could calm the nerves playing deep down kickball. She belonged in her tidy New York office filled with computers, modems, and research manuals. Not in this softly lit café where passion oozed from a man’s pores, and artists displayed their canvases. Here was where Havana’s trendsetters congregated, and Ernest Hemingway wrote about desire.

“Good luck with your purchases, Veronica Keane.”

Okay, so they weren’t going to pretend they were going head to head for the grant.

As if he had more to say, he grinned at her, his perfect white teeth flashing.. “Do you find us different, like apples and oranges?”

“What am I, an apple or an orange?”

“Hmm. You’re an apple.” He was doing that sexy voice thing which made her brain shut down. Heady.

It started with an unexpected spark, an instant attraction, the jolting jab of oh-I’m-feeling-something. Something like a flashfire in her belly, but now they were talking. “Am I the apple of desire? Want to take a bite out of me?” She pulled in a breath. Had she really said that?

Bonita, do I ever.”

“Tomorrow is the final ceremony.” Would she watch him walk to the podium to accept the grant?

Monday, January 15, 2018

Orange Rose #contest for emerging #romance #writers is open, and you might qualify to enter. Rules for entry have changed for 2018.

Dear Authors of romance, 
The Orange Rose Contest is hosted by the Orange County Chapter of Romance Writers of American, but you do not need to be an RWA member to enter. We're hoping you will join sometime if you aren't already with us in your pursuit for a serious writing career. If you are an unpublished author of fiction, there are no restrictions.  If you are published with two or fewer self-published or traditionally published works that have NOT earned $1,000 or more on a single title, you are eligible.  No previously published work is accepted.
Please visit our contest page at OCCRWA and click on the Orange Rose Contest. There you will see an amazing list of final judges. Interested in getting your manuscript in front of them? 

Kathleen Rowland, Chair
2018 Orange Rose Contest for Emerging Writers

Thursday, January 11, 2018

Meet heroine, Veronica Keane, from #Tirgearr #eroticromance One Night in Havana. She's tell you why she likes Latino men!

Please tell us, Veronica, how long have you been dating?
Veronica: I’ve been dating for 15 years, and I'm an equal opportunity employer. In other words I date white, Asian, black, but in One Night in Havana, I meet The Latino, Dr. Carlos Montoya.  Oh, yeah, that's who I dated in One Night in Havana
So who wins, Veronica, on the basis of intimacy?
When dating a Latino, there’s a level of intimacy that you don’t necessarily have when you’re with a white boy. They are affectionate, romantic, open doors and usually have manners. White men, on the other hand, are usually more reserved, a bit cold and not always as observant. Observant! That's what I like about the PhD in marine biology, Dr. Carlos Montoya. 
Do Latinos protect their mujer?
In Carlos's case, he doesn't have a mother in the vicinity, but he has his abuela, his grandmother. In fact when he couldn't walk her home, he asked me to do it. In general when you’re walking down the street with your Latino guy, he will insist that you walk on the inside of the sidewalk That made a big impact with me.  If water splashes from a car going through a puddle, he gets wet, not you. The Latino is a protector who takes charge. And that's sexy. 

Thanks for the info, Veronica. 







Wednesday, January 10, 2018

#asmsg #BookQW is surprise! #Tirgearr steamy romantic suspense

Book Quote Wednesday's word is surprise. The excerpt below is from Unholy Alliance in a scene between attorney Grady Fletcher and his detective, Maeve.  Does this new case reflect the grizzly case that framed his former client, Tori?


“Good morning, Grady. Say hello to our new case.” Maeve slapped down paperwork, the beginnings of a new murder book. His private investigator had seen it all. Homicides, suicides, assaults, and no amount of horror could come as a surprise.

He slid onto his chair in front of crime photos. “This can’t be.” His heart pounded like a wild animal bursting to be free. “Victim has broken teeth, lodged in her throat.”

“The pattern mirrors Irene Brennan.” She scowled.

“Who’s our new client?”

“A handyman. Samuel Peterson repaired a leaky toilet at the Winter’s home yesterday afternoon. He left prior to the murder of Rose Winter.”

“A rose on ice,” he said, referring to this morning’s headline on the front page of the Los Angeles Globe. The body of the victim, found on her white marble floor, lay at an odd angle, arms and legs flung out like Raggedy Ann. Her shoulder length hair of dyed burgundy surrounded her head in a puddle of her own blood and scattered long-stem roses. “Rose Winter’s features were smashed.”

“Beaten to a pulp,” Maeve said.

“Her husband, Dr. Joseph Winter, is missing.” Joseph Winter, Ph.D. taught a class in urban planting at Cal State Long Beach, but more importantly conducted research for the department of agriculture. “Dr. Winter and his laptop hold secrets vital to national security.”

“Maybe Rose Winter held back his location.” She removed the lid and sipped coffee from the cup.

He sank in his chair staring at the white board where she scrawled key events.

Maeve said, “Maybe her assailant enjoys torture for the heck of it.”

He squeezed his panic into iron fists. “Did Rose write our client a check?”

“Yes, and then Sam Peterson left.” As if it were an everyday occurrence, Maeve adjusted the purple scarf around her neck. “Mrs. Peterson phoned us. Assured me her husband has no hidden talents. Sam isn’t a secret novelist or computer nerd. He’s a struggling black handyman supporting a family of four.”

A text message pinged again. This time he read it aloud. “Tori Morningstar. Says her food truck is open for business.”

“Great, team up. You’re both on Seamus McGinn’s tail.” Maeve gathered her purse and two four-inch binders.

Sunday, January 7, 2018

Last day Deadly Alliance is #99cents on #Tirgearr winter sale #RomanticSuspense

Deadly Alliance is part of Tirgearr Publishing's winter sale which ends tomorrow.  Here is what a kind reviewer said:
Special thanks to reviewer Brooke Nelson-- .0 out of 5 stars
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

#BookQW word is DRINK-- excerpt from Unholy Alliance, a #Tirgearr Publishing #RomanticSuspense --

Book quote Wednesday's word is drink.   Here's how we play it-- find the word in an excerpt.  Below in Unholy Alliance , the...