Finding Cupid's Arrows Blog Hop

It's Valentine's Day week, and do you know what that means? It means the ladies responsible for Cupid's Conquests want to make sure you get a present this year! It also means that, like our devilish Cupid, we want to play a game with you. Let's call it Fact or Fiction. Ready to play?

There's nothing like a girlfriend saying, "Hey, my ex and his friend want to meet at the bar. Will you go with?" to set a ridiculous chain of events in motion.

Of course, being me, I said "Sure!" to the bar. Who cares about her ex and the friend? It was an excuse to go drink and dance. So I went, and sitting across from me was this guy (her ex). Let's just say he wasn't the type to get my attention. A little too quiet, a little too buttoned up, a lot too skinny. But the friend. Holy shit was the guy obnoxious. So, while Mary talked to him, I tried to make small talk with her ex.

No harm, no foul. We made it through the night without any real kerfuffles, so I called it a win.

Then somehow we ended up hanging out with them...a lot. I found out all sorts of things about her ex (and his two girlfriends) while she was off getting chummy with his friend. Meanwhile, my own personal life had taken a hit and I was all about teaching a guy a lesson. With Mary's blessing, I set out to seduce her ex with the plan of making him fall for me and then ditching him so he'd know he shouldn't be toying with multiple women.

Somewhere in there...he and I started to actually talk. Not the bullshit conversations with a stranger at the bar. Real stuff. Deep, meaningful stuff. And when the time came that he said he only wanted to see me, my cut and run plan flew out the window. (This was a grand total of six weeks after meeting.) I'd fallen hard for the guy.


So hard in fact, that a month later after a party at his place, we were snuggling and he asked me to marry him. Not many things can make me speechless, but that did. I kissed him--hard--while I tried to figure out just how crazy the entire idea was. Of course I couldn't marry him! We'd known each other less than three months. It was crazy.

But when I opened my mouth, the word that came out was "Yes."

Apparently when Cupid's arrows hit, it's not just your heart that gets stolen, but your sanity and ability to form words too. Sneaky little god...



So here's the question! Was this story of one of Cupid's crazy Conquests real or a fabrication? Answer in the comments below for your chance to win a copy of either of my Cupid's Conquests titles: GunShy or Love & Other Indoor Sports. Then hop along to the other blogs participating. And make sure to enter the Rafflecopter drawings for our grand prizes! 

It's a small blog hop, but it's all about Cupid and you, so follow the links below and be sure to hit everyone for more chances at great prizes!



Yay for giveaways! There are TWO Rafflecopters below. The first is for the beautiful lariat style arrow necklace (from Chainchainchained on Etsy) and the second is for the $25 Evernight gift card so you can get your fill of Cupid and romance. The best part? Entries are the same for BOTH, so make sure you click on all the good stuff for both giveaways :)
a Rafflecopter giveaway a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also, if you're in the mood to spread some love to a bunch of kids, please click on the Evil for Crestline link to your right. On February 3, Crestline Elementary in WA burned to the ground. A bunch of authors, crafters, and other talented people are raising money to buy them some much needed school supplies. (There are also links to donate directly to the school.) Thanks! And Happy Valentine's Day!

Meet Ella Grey and Taste Some Irish Kisses

Most of you know about the Cupid's Conquests series that started with GunShy. Well, our first international installment comes out Friday! Today, we have author, Ella Grey here along with a little taste of her book, Irish Kisses. I hope you enjoy the excerpt and pick up the book on Friday!



Cupid has been a very naughty boy. The Cupid’s Conquest series is a multi-author series started with
Gunshy by Seleste Delaney and the latest offering is Irish Kisses by Ella Grey.

Irish Kisses

The thing with love is it’s all about finding that happy ending. Sometimes it isn’t that simple. People
have a habit of making it complicated.

Eros can’t be everywhere at once so for this particular match-up he’s got some old fashion help.
Serendipity is the muse of happy endings and her brand of help raises questions that fate might be
planning in the hand of the blossoming relationship between Abigail Smith and Seth O’Connor.

Abigail Smith is having a particularly bad week.

Abby’s best friend and fellow lawyer Dawn Philips has been murdered and while Abby wants to bring
down the man behind her death. Her bosses decide that she’s too personally connected. She’s told
to take some time off and let someone else handle the case. The thing is, the case is falling apart and
Abby just can’t let it go. A mysterious private eye pays her a visit and suddenly Abby finds herself on
a plane to Ireland.

There she meets Seth O’Conner.

Seth is on holiday, travelling to Ireland to see the place where he grew up. He expected to drink
too much Guinness and have some much needed fun. He didn’t expect Abigail Smith, the beautiful
redhead and the blistering hot encounter they share in the aeroplane bathroom. She’s got secrets and it
takes a brutal attack for Seth to learn them.

Now he has no intention of leaving her side.

Biography

Ella Grey is a full-time writer, with a little monster, a big monster and a cat who might actually be
Satan.

The first instalment of the Molly O’Brien novella series was released in 2010. It was quickly followed
by the Rachel Valentine eshort series, aimed at young adults. The Red Dress, her first attempt at adult
fiction was released by Evernight Publishing as part of their Just Vamps anthology.

She thrives on new challenges and can’t wait to sink her teeth into a new story or a new genre. She
can usually be found in front of her netbook with her earplugs in. Bother her at your own peril.
You’ve been warned.

For more information about latest releases or a glimpse into the mind of a writer with a full plate, Ella
can be found here.

http://www.ellagrey.wordpress.com

Excerpt

“Are you okay?”

She looked up and into the green eyes of the guy who’d checked her out earlier. He actually looked
concerned, and it left her wondering what she must look like. “No,” she said bluntly. “If God wanted
us to fly he’d have given us a pair of nifty wings.”

He laughed as he sat down next to her. “Then why did you choose to fly?”

“Maybe it’s because I’m lacking anything close to common sense.” She closed her eyes and rested
her head on the chair in front of her. She heard a stewardess asking if she was alright, and the guy
mumbled something to her.

“It’s okay. I’ll keep an eye on her.” Abby heard something that sounded like a wallet opening. “I’m a
cop, so she’ll be okay with me.” A slight pressure on her lower back caused her to look up. “Do you
want a drink?”

She nodded. “Anything alcoholic would be great, thanks.” Alcohol would help numb her senses a
little.

As the stewardess left, she realised the cop was still rubbing her back. It felt nice. If she focused on
those small round movements, it took her focus away from the motion sickness. “I’m Abby.”

“Excuse me?”

“Well, since you’re touching me I thought we should at least exchange names.” She smiled to show
she was kidding. He removed his hand and Abby felt a swell of panic as the sickness came back
suddenly. “Please, don’t stop. It is actually helping.”

He put his hand back and Abby looked down at the ground again.

“I’m Seth.”

“So you’re really a cop?”

He chuckled and it was the most dangerous sound Abby had ever heard, it made her heart pick up its
steady pace and the dark place between her legs wet. “That’s want the badge usually means.”

She smiled, even knowing he couldn’t see it. She heard the stewardess come back with their drinks,
and she slowly got up. Seth handed her one of the bottle of beer. “I’m sorry I don’t think they have
anything else, unless you want water?”

“No this is perfect, thanks.” She brought the bottle to her lips and took a slow drag from it. “I’m sorry
for ruining your flight.”

“Not at all, I came over here to talk to you anyway.”

His bluntness took her breath away, “Really, why?”

He took a quick drink and Abby watched as his tongue flicked out to catch a bead of liquid at the top
of the bottle. “Just curious, are you visiting family?” He asked, quickly changing the subject.

She shook her head. “I’m visiting for work.”

“What do you do?”

“I’m a lawyer, but I’m doing a little freelance work at the moment.” While it wasn’t a complete lie,
she didn’t want to go into any gory details. She didn’t want him to get that look of sympathy that
everyone at her office seemed permanently fixed on their faces. “I’m going to Dublin. I’m looking for
someone.”

Abby took another pull from the bottle. It felt good to be able to talk to somebody. For one it took
her mind off her travel sickness, and since she found it hard to drag her eyes away from him, it was
an added bonus. Now if she could just stop thinking how it felt to have his hand on her, it would be
perfect.

You can find Irish Kisses and the other awesome stories in this series at
http://www.evernightpublishing.com/cupids-conquests/

Evernight Publishing's Birthday Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Evernight Publishing birthday blog hop!

Evernight Publishing opened its doors two years ago. In those two years we’ve signed over one hundred and sixty authors and published over three hundred books. From paranormal to contemporary, we’ve had more best sellers than we can count and made thousands of people smile, sigh and gasp. So, as a thank you to all our readers and everyone who has supported us, we’re holding this blog hop and we have a whole lot of prizes to offer you.

Here's how it works... the more blogs you hop to (shown below) the more chance you have of winning prizes. Each author on the hop is offering a prize and Evernight is offering the following grand prizes, a Kindle, a $100 Amazon gift certificate, two Evernight swag bags (which includes a tote, a tee, vouchers, a mug and other coolness) and a personalized Facebook banner. To be in with a chance of winning the author prize simply follow the blog you're visiting and leave a comment which includes your email address. Each entry on each blog is then counted towards the grand prize draw. The more entries you have, the better your chance of winning a grand prize! You also get extra points for liking the Evernight Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/#!/evernightpublishing. Just make sure you let us know in the comments that you've done so.

Good luck and happy hopping!

For my part, I'm giving away the winner's choice of either of my Cupid's Conquests books (GunShy or Love & Other Indoor Sports). If the winner already owns both of those books, we'll work something out ;-)

(ALSO, GunShy is still 99 cents on Amazon right now, so you might want to grab that one ASAP!)

So, follow my blog and make a comment (with your email address, please), and I'll get you entered. Entering at each blog also gives you another entry for the grand prizes! So get hopping :) 

Cupid's Been Busy...

Guess what?

I have a new release this week! Edits moved super fast and it got bumped up on the release schedule. So, my very first M/M romance comes out Friday from Evernight Publishing. It's my second story in the Cupid's Conquests series and the first M/M for the series! I'm both very excited and very, very nervous.

So, a little story. At the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention in Chicago this past spring, my friend Deanna Wadsworth introduced me to the amazing Damon Suede. Between the two of them, they basically dared me to try writing M/M. Anyone who knows me knows that it's rare for me to pass up a dare, so as soon as I had time to breathe, I started on this story of two guys who met at a time when one was still in the closet and the other hadn't decided if he belonged inside or not. Fast-forward more than a decade and our college hotties are back on campus and pretty close to right back where they started.

It wasn't the easiest thing I've ever written, that's for sure, but I understood Griff and Colby in a lot of ways and wanted to tell their story. Thankfully, Evernight was right there with me. So here's a little taste of Love & Other Indoor Sports:

Cupid still has a lot to learn, and this time he's heading to college to do it.

Griffin and Colby were shoved together by fate during a fraternity hazing game of spin the bottle but, in a world deserted by Cupid, fear and uncertainty pushed them apart. Now, twelve years later, they're getting a second chance with each other. A woman in Colby's life, however, doesn't like what she sees as competition for his affections, and she's willing to ruin both men if they don't bow to her demands. After all this time, are they willing to risk everything for a chance at happiness, or are they destined to lose each other again?

Cupid won't give up easily though. He has one last game for them to play and, this time, it's winner take all.

AND, in other good news, there are at least two more Cupid's Conquests stories coming from other authors before the holidays! The series is building slowly, but I'm so excited that other people have taken up the call to get Eros back to Olympus. I hope you'll check out Love & Other Indoor Sports and all the other titles in the series.

Cupid's Conquests News!

After several months of debating how to bring more Cupid's Conquests stories to the world, I spoke to the owner of Evernight Publishing, and the decision was made to open the series up for submissions!

This is a multi-author/shared-world series, but we're doing things a little different. Because it's more than just "here's this set-up, run with it", there are steps prospective authors need to go through. There's this general information about the series on the Evernight site.

Cupid's Conquest is a new multi-author, shared world series unique to Evernight Publishing.
For more information on requirements and how to submit, please contact: Seleste deLaney at selestedelaney@gmail.com and include "Cupid's Conquests" in the subject line.
The series focuses on contemporary romance between unlikely pairings or those kept apart by forces internal or external who are brought together by the magic of Cupid's arrows. We're looking heroes and heroines readers will want to see overcome the odds against them. 
~~*~~
Cupid's been a bad boy...
After years of letting love languish on Earth, Cupid has been banished to the surface until he teaches humanity to love again. One couple--or more--at a time.
~~*~~
15,000-35,000 words.Evernight Heat Level 2 or higher (erotic romance, not erotica)M/F, F/F, & M/M Combinations of above considered.
HEA required. 

That's right, I'm the contact person! Woot! If you're interested (based on the above) to write for the series, you get in touch with me and we'll talk a bit about what the shared world entails and if your story will be a good fit. Then we're off to the races. 

People have already shown an interest and I'm super excited that more Cupid's Conquests stories should be in our future really soon. And by all means, if you're interested in writing for the series, please contact me! 

Woot and Woohoo! And Why It Matters

A lot of an author's job is done in relative solitude. We write alone, we edit under direction but essentially alone, we pimp and we promo while sitting at home at our desks/kitchen tables/sofas... alone. Our human interaction is generally of the digital sort. That's the sort of connection we have to others in the business when we start freaking out that our work sucks. And I don't know an author who doesn't go through the "my book sucks ass" phase at some point. So we run to the other people who have been there.

But in the back of our minds, there is always this little voice that reminds us how easy it is to lie on the internet. That doesn't even touch on the fact that authors are career liars.

So, while the conversations have the climb down off the ledge effect, we still make a mental note of exactly where that ledge is because we know we'll be back. Then the book comes out and reviews start coming in (possibly before release even). This stage of the game is like peri-menopause on crack. They loved it! They totally got what I was going for turns into Oh my God! They hated my main character and said she was too stupid to live with the next review. And it's up and down like that at every turn. This one swooned over my hero!!! ...Oh no, this one said the romance was completely unbelievable. 

And I say all that while loving reviewers for giving my books their time anyway. (We will not get into the reviews are not for authors thing here. I know it, you should know it, and I don't even rant in private about reviews. I just panic a little.)

But even if the vast majority of reviews are of the "liked/loved it" variety, authors know that the point has come when stuff is completely outside their control. I can't make anyone buy my book anymore than I can make a reviewer like it. I want you to buy, sure, but I can't make you. So, we stand there (virtually) with a tray of goodies, waiting to see if anyone wants them. We don't shake, we don't stutter. At least that we let anyone see. Inside, we're a quivering mass of nerves.

That's how the publishing game goes. You have to be a little bit of a masochist to love that feeling.

But every once in a while something happens that stops your heart for a second and makes you jump up and down screaming "They like me! They really like me!"

While I was in Disney, I found out I was up for Book of the Year at The TBR Pile. The first round of voting was reader-driven. My readers had to go there and vote to get me in the finals. I told people about it, but it was... nerve-wracking. There were some great books in that group, and I didn't know if I could squeeze into one of those top three slots. My fans came through though, and I was a finalist! Woot!

Honestly, I thought it was over then. The finals were judged at The TBR Pile and based on some formula that I don't know the ins and outs of that dealt with the initial review, sales numbers and I have no clue what else. So, I wrote off the competition then, and thanked everyone for their support.

Now I have to switch over to a different part of the story (which I was told I could share). While the person in charge of notifying the winner was waiting for the results, she decided to clean her house (I so know that excited cleaning thing). In the midst of cleaning, she ran across a DVD of an old Sandra Bullock movie. The name of the movie? Gun Shy. She got the results right after that and contacted me to not only tell me my own GunShy had WON Book of the Year but to share the story too.

Yep, you read that right. Cupid's Conquests #1 won Book of the Year. (It even says so right over there in the sidebar.) This award means the world to me as I've been struggling with some decisions regarding my writing career, and it helped remind me that I might not know all the people who love my books, but that's kind of the point. If reading my words touches one stranger, brightens their day for even a little while, that is why I'm in publishing and not just writing for my close friends.


Thank you, TBR Pile, for the honor and for the reminder. :)  

Birthday Winners!

First, I want to thank everyone who stopped by my blog during the last week. I got swamped with regular life and didn't manage to come back and comment (which I normally try to do :( ). I hope some of you will stop by on Tuesdays (starting again next week), which are my regular blogging days here. I also hope you all took advantage of the great sale on Saturday--I know I did :)

Now, to what you really want to know, we'll start with the winner of GunShy...

Nay Nay!!!!

Congrats! If you're around to comment, you can let me know if you would prefer PDF or EPUB format, otherwise, I'll be sending you an email today.

Next up, the $5.00 gift certificate from Evernight Publishing...

Anna Keraleigh!!!!

Evernight has your email, so you should be hearing from them soon.

And now, the moment we've all been waiting for, the grand prize winners...

Uh...

I've been scooped on this one. *sigh* To find out if you won the grand prizes, you need to go to Evernight's blog. Congrats to the winners here (and there), and Happy Birthday, Evernight!

Blues and News

First and foremost (since people have been asking), I'm doing better with the depression. I'm not back to my normal (I use that term loosely) self, but I'm getting there. Thanks for all the *hugs* and happy thoughts and love. Every bit of it helps and is appreciated :)

I am a little melancholy today though. It's the first day of school. The Boy is a fourth grader, which means in two short years he's going to be in middle school. I'm pretty sure that means I'm old, but I'm going to try to ignore that fact and just do my thing. But...Mini-Me started first grade this year (and she got her ears pierced in celebration of becoming a big kid). She's been doing half-days for a while now, but this will be the first time in almost ten years that I've been alone all day every day. I'm not really sure how it's going to go. On the plus side, more time for writing! On the down side...yeah, we're just going to pretend the depression thing doesn't worry me.

In the meantime though, I have news!

Remember a couple weeks ago when I announced that Evernight Publishing had picked up GunShy and the Cupid's Conquests series? First, I have a group of authors hard at work on more stories for the series which has me totally geeked. Second... my editor and I busted through edits, and they bumped up the release date. So scratch November. GunShy is coming...*Drum-roll*... September 16! Yes, it will be available ten days from now. I'm crazy excited and I really hope people love this story.

In other news, authors from Decadent Publishing (including me) will be at The Romance Studio chat room tomorrow night at 9pm eastern time (6pm Pacific... hopefully the rest of you can figure it out from there). Please stop by! I'm pretty sure the people in charge are doing giveaways (*hint* Check out which authors are there and have their websites at the ready to search for answers to questions... at least that's how they did it last time :P)