What I didn’t expect is the wonderful sense of community that has evolved around this project. Not only among the people working on the series, the artists, authors, editors, and the folks at All Romance, but the bloggers, review sites, readers, and romance authors (like Savannah) who have so graciously and generously donated time on their blogs. This just goes to show you…the romance community sure has a big heart!

Summary:

He’d brave the fires of hell just to hold her…

Firefighter Garrett Flint rescues the beautiful Nicole from a burning building, and then breaks all the rules by taking her into his home and into his heart.

In honor of the series release, I’m running a contest!

Enter the Your Heart’s Desire Contest

1. Post a list of the four titles from the series you’d most like to have someplace on the web. Facebook, myspace, twitter, your own blog, one belonging to a friend, this one…all fair game.

2. Using the contact page on my website samanthasommersby [dot] com, email me the URL where I can find your post and your email address

What’s the Fabulous Prize?

At the end of the month I will fulfill the wishes of seven winners for a total of 28 books. Winners will be contacted prior to fulfillment just in case their top four selection has changed.

Why seven winners, four books each? Because I really want to encourage everyone to support this endeavor. With 28 titles to choose from in so many sub-genres, and for a super reasonable price ($1.99-$3.50) you’re sure to find some others that you can’t live without. Right?

Samantha Sommersby lives in San Diego with her husband and son. In 2007 she left what she used to call her “real life” day job as a psychotherapist to pursue writing full-time. She now happily spends her days immersed in the world of the Forbidden, a world where vampires are real, where magic is possible, and where love still conquers all. Samantha is the author of over a dozen novels and novellas including The Temptation, book four in the critically acclaimed Forbidden series releasing March 5 and published by Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

Contact Section

- Website: http://samanthasommersby.com/
- MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/samanthasommersby
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/samanthasommersby
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/samsommersby
- Yahoo Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/immortalitybites/
- Blogspot: http://immortalitybites.blogspot.com/
- Newsletter Sign-up: https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:Join/signupId:56104  or link from the home page of http://www.samanthasommersby.com

Blurb: Where can an angel find comfort? A lonely banished angel sits outside the gates of Paradise, lamenting the joy she has lost. When she is joined by a fallen archangel, she learns that one doesn’t need to be in Heaven to experience bliss.

Hi! I’m Jackie Kessler, and I like to write about demons and angels, among other things. When I heard about the 28 Days of Heart, and that all proceeds would be going to the American Heart Association, I knew I wanted to write a Hell story for it, one that was about connection, and possibly even redemption.

The angel called Angel first appears in my second book, THE ROAD TO HELL, but you don’t need to read it to understand why Angel is alone outside the gates of Paradise…or why she feels so horribly alone. And you don’t need to read the first book, HELL’S BELLES, to know who the archangel is that she meets. (But of course, I hope you **will** read the books!)

“Hell’s Angel” is somewhat of a departure from the Hell on Earth series in that it’s not humorous, it’s not written in first person, and it’s not about the former succubus Jezebel. Whether you’re new to Hell on Earth or if you’ve read all the books and novellas, I think you’ll enjoy the story.

Books and stories by Jackie Kessler:

Hell on Earth series:
Hell’s Belles
The Road to Hell
“A Hell of a Time,” Eternal Lover
Hotter than Hell (mass-market reissue coming September 2010)
“When Hell Comes Calling,” Lilith Unbound
“Hell Is Where the Heart Is,” A Red Hot Valentine’s Day
“Hell’s Angel,” 28 Days of Heart
“Hell Bound,” Those Who Fight Monsters (coming fall 2010)
Hell to Pay (date TBA)
“Hell’s Fury,” Mammoth Book of Hot Romance (date TBA)

The Icarus Project series (with Caitlin Kittredge):
Black and White
Shades of Gray (coming June 2010)

Young Adult novels (by Jackie Morse Kessler):
Hunger (coming October 2010)
Rage (coming spring 2011)

Jackie Kessler on the Internet:
http://www.jackiekessler.com
http://www.jackiemorsekessler.com
Deadline Dames: http://www.deadlinedames.com
League of Reluctant Adults: http://reluctantadults.blogspot.com
Twitter: @JackieKessler, @JackieMorseKess
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jackie.kessler

Proceeds from the sale of GPS are donated to the American Heart Association in conjunction with their Wear RED campaign to raise awareness of heart disease among women. Usually when we think of women and overcoming illness, the discussion turns toward breast or ovarian cancer. Perhaps sometimes we lose focus and don’t realize that good heart health is equally important. We only have one, after all, and we should take care of it.

Heart disease awareness is a cause close to my, er, heart as well. Both of my parents lost their fathers to heart attacks, and in both instances neither man lived to see 60. Granted, on my father’s side there had been a history of heart problems among the men (up through his line, several men succumbed in their 50s and 60s to heart trouble), yet it’s because of associations like the AHA that we learn things that break these cycles brought on by genetic patterns. As I head into my 40s, I don’t want to worry about having my life cut short by something that could have been prevented.

For just two dollars (maybe more if you check out the other titles available at ARe), you can help a great cause and read a hot story that gets your heart pumping. Hope you enjoy it!

Leigh Ellwood – Visit my website, blog, Facebook and Twitter.

So it is February, the month of LOVE….So being an author and writing about LOVE people usually assume that you are the know it all in that subject…I don’t think there is anyone out there that knows everything you need to know about matters of the heart. Love is not something you can study or learn….Love is Love…It is unpredictable and amazing, sad, crazy, like a high ot drug that you can’t get enough of….

People always ask me why I choose to write books about romance, I tell them simply I’m a romantic at heart. Who doesn’t enjoy a story with love and all the hardships that come along with it. I’ve been in love so I have been in the shoes of that heroine you might find in one of my books. I know all too well what love can do to you. It can me you loose sleep, not be able to concentrate, make you feel alive, and strong. Love can be passion and lust. It can also make you scream and cry. Love can bring you heartache.

Websters Dictionary defines Love as

1 : strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties
2: attraction based on sexual desire : affection and tenderness felt by lovers
3: affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests
4 : warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion
5 : the object of attachment, devotion, or admiration
6 : a beloved person : darling —often used as a term of endearment
7 : unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another
8 : a god or personification of love
9: an amorous episode
10 : the sexual embrace

The dictionary can give us many meanings of one single word but each of us perceive the meaning of love in a different way. I think no matter how you look at it LOVE is truly an amazing thing that you can’t pass up on. Nobody can tell you when you are in love or that moment came that you knew this is love. You and your heart knows what love is. Love is truly a beautiful thing even if it has it’s ups and downs.

Since this whole blog is all about the little four letter word I wanted to share with you some of my favorite quotes about LOVE

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.”-Helen Keller

“Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.”-Aristotle

“I love you, not only for what you are, But for what I am when I am with you.”-Roy Croft

“In love there are two things: bodies and words.”-Joyce Carol Oates

“To love is to receive a glimpse of heaven."-Karen Sunde

“One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life. That word is Love.”-Sophocles

“Love is the irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.”–Mark Twain

I wanted to also tell you that I will be doing a giveaway, the winner will be announced during the bash on the 13th of Feb.

The Midnight Seduction Authors are celebrating romance by hosting these ‘12 Days of Love’ blogs that you’ve seen all over the internet. We are throwing a huge all-day-chat bash on February 13, 2010, from 10am EST to 10pm EST. Prizes will be given away every hour on the hour. Excerpts, recipes, jokes and romance tips will be posted throughout the day.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MidnightSeductions/

Thanks, Savannah, for hosting me on the blog tour for All Romance eBooks’ (ARe) “28 Days of Heart” campaign!  I’m thrilled to be one of the 28 authors who donated sexy, romantic stories for this American Heart Association fundraiser.

Heart disease is the #1 killer of woman, and February 5^th is National Wear Red Day, which builds awareness of this disease.  I’m wearing red today, including my Go Red For Women pin.  The pins are free from: www.GoRedForWomen.org.

Due to Valentine’s Day, February has long been associated with matters of the heart.  So this month is the perfect time to treat yourself to ARe’s sensual stories that will warm your heart (and other body parts!), while raising funds to fight heart disease.

Love Unleashed is my contribution to ARe’s 28 Days of Heart: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-loveunleashed-402754-149.html.  A sexy contemporary, the story features an estranged couple who are reunited with the help of a stray dog.  As with all of my “hot, humorous romances”, Love Unleashed’s canine character is a Chinese crested hairless dog.  “Cresties” can be so comical-looking, which is why I chose one as my author logo.

My logo is based on Smokey, the undercover DEA drug-sniffing dog from my comic romantic suspense, At Her Command (Cerridwen Press): http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-athercommand-398877-152.html.  When DEA agent Dom Petracelli goes undercover at a sex club in At Her Command, having a fly-weight, tiny partner like Smokey created lots of comic possibilities.

Charlie, the crestie in Love Unleashed, is a homeless dog who’s fostered by the radio disc jockey hero as part of his plan on wooing back his former lover, the director of an animal shelter.  Of course, the little pooch worms his way into the hero’s heart while playing matchmaker to the still-in-love couple.  The idea behind Love Unleashed began when a friend complained that her boyfriend wasn’t wild enough in bed.  When my story’s hero finally unleashes his inner sexy beast, the couple gets a second chance at their happily ever after.

Here’s the blurb and an excerpt from Love Unleashed.

Go Red!

– Marcia James

www.MarciaJames.net

Love Unleashed blurb:

His best laid plans…

            DJ “Rabid Ron” Hart has a grand scheme to win back the woman he loves. It involves an animal adoption fair, a goofy hairless dog named Charlie and an offer she can’t refuse.

Her hidden desires…

            Cara Wilson has fantasies she’s never admitted, and her ex-boyfriend still features in her erotic dreams. If only he didn’t keep his bad-boy urges so tightly leashed.

Tonight they’ll learn that winning sometimes takes losing control.

Love Unleashed excerpt:

Cara took a deep breath. “We had some great times, but it just wasn’t working.”

            “That a bullsh*t answer.” He gave her arm a little shake. “I think I deserve the truth.”

            Dammit. Why couldn’t he just let it go? “I’m thirty-one. My biological clock isn’t ticking yet, but it’s foolish to stay with someone I’m not compatible with.”

            “Define ‘compatible.’” Dropping her arm, he ran his hands through his hair, the gesture one of pure aggravation. “We got along great, didn’t we? One minute you were practically living here, and the next you were gone. I need to know what happened.”

            Her stomach twisted. This wasn’t fair to Ron. Even if he hated her afterward, he had a right to know why she’d left. But once it was out, any feelings he had for her would truly be dead. “Yes. We got along great everywhere but in bed. You’re just…too nice for me.” She turned and walked out of the kitchen.

            “What the f*ck? Too nice!”

            She rounded to find him right behind her. “Stop yelling.”

            He gritted his teeth, but his angry voice was lower when he continued. “Too nice? I was so careful with you—”

“Did I ask you to be careful?” Hell, she wasn’t a bad person. Why did she have to justify her needs? Her frustration unleashed her temper. “You treated me like a porcelain doll, like I’d break if you looked at me cross-eyed.”

            He leaned closer, his arms folded over his chest and his expression thunderous. “I’m over a foot taller and one-hundred pounds heavier than you. What was I supposed to do, body slam you to the floor and screw you senseless?”

            “Yes!” God, it would have been wonderful if he’d been more sexually aggressive. “Anything but the same old lovemaking. I can count on my fingers the number of times we did something beside the missionary position.” Cara dreaded his contempt, but she needed to finish this. “I loved you, Ron, but I can’t commit to a man whose lovemaking is so…”

            “So what? Boring?” He was being sarcastic, but his mouth dropped open as something in her eyes must have confirmed his comment. “This is crazy. I put you first, made sure you came every time. Do you want a selfish bastard who just cares about his own needs?”

            He crowded her personal space, and Cara’s anger spiked in self-defense. “You can be generous in bed and still open to new things. Selfish and daring aren’t synonymous.”

            “So you want what?” His lips twisted. “Some guy who’ll treat you like a slut?”

            There it was. The disdain she’d been expecting. “Yes, if that’s what it takes to add spice to my love life.”

For several seconds, she squeezed her eyes shut. He was so close, his musky scent was making her mouth water. God help her, fighting with Ron was turning her on. What a rotten time for her libido to resurface. Too bad they hadn’t had this argument when they were dating. And whose fault is that, she reminded herself.

            “You want spice or kink, Cara? Just how far are you willing to go? Should I get a copy of the Kama Sutra?”

“I’m not ashamed of my desires. How about you?” She was sick and tired of men scorning her for having a strong sex drive. Cara balled her hands on her hips and leaned closer. “You’re the one who’s repressed. Why keep such a tight leash on yourself? I’m not going to faint if you give into your urges.”

            His pupils dilated and his jaw clenched, but she wasn’t afraid. Ron would never hurt her, she knew that in her heart, but he might finally let his inner-caveman out. And if he threw off his good-boy manners and didn’t despise her for her fantasies, there might be a chance for them after all.

            Ron’s gaze dropped to her mouth. His voice deep and sensual, he asked, “You want me to give in to my urges, Cara?”

This is a shot of the University at night…It looks amazing from across the water….From afar one could never tell that this building is a University…..

Savannah

My name is Tilly Greene, an erotic romance author, and I wrote “And She Scores” for the ARe 28 Days of Heart project that benefits the American Heart Association while visiting my hometown. I mentioned that last bit of information because I’m often asked if anything in my stories is real and yes, there are bits of reality that show up. Sometimes I use it directly and other times I change it around until it’s almost unrecognizable. I didn’t set out to write about things I know very well, although I did write and submit the story for personal reasons. Heart disease is big in my cutie’s family and I know we have to worry because of the heredity aspect. So, let’s delve into what’s real.

The second location in “And She Scores” is my hometown, no disguises, and nothing hidden. The traffic is really bad and yet better than it used to be and the sunsets after the Santa Winds have whipped through are gorgeous. However, it suits the story and the characters, so I brought it in.

Whatever story I’m writing, if I’m there or visited with intent to base a story in the location, then I want to include enough details about a location so the reader feels like they’re there as well. Maybe I do it by sending the characters walking down a street, noting the architecture or the mood, or it could be well known landmarks. “Highland Heat” opens in the Royal Albert Hall, a distinctive historical building, and the hero lives in Marble Arch, an area I once stayed in, enjoyed, and then added elements that belonged entirely to Hamish Buchanan. Another way I like to bring the reader in is through food and drink. In “And She Scores” I’ve brought the reader to my hometown with a visit to a Mexican restaurant and then I added a snippet of reality into the twist. The restaurant is an actual place and I used an incident that happened with a family member and turned it about to be this:

“Sure, I could eat a couple of potato taquitos, without any habanero sauce, thank you very much.” They both laughed and remembered the last time they’d been to the same place, and she’d mistaken his little cup of hot sauce for hers. It had been hard not to laugh at her serious discomfort from the burning around her lips and fingers, although he’d enjoyed her trying to share it with him through kisses.
© And She Scores by Tilly Greene, published by All Romance eBooks, 2010

There you have it, yes, I bring in reality, and manipulate to bring the readers there as well.

Since you’ve had some background on what is real in “And She Scores”, I should also share with you something about the plot. Football’s pre-season is about to begin and, defensive end and captain, Patrick Conway is returning from what could’ve been a career ending injury. Sarah Winters, focused on making a career as a respected reporter in an all male sport, is about to conduct his first interview. Did I mention they used to date? Were driven apart by lies? Still cared for each other?

Well, what could possibly happen between these two, while at a major arena, with a ton of people around them? To find out, you’ll need to visit All Romance or OmniLit, and pick up a copy of “And She Scores”. And don’t forget, all proceeds from each ebook you purchase go to the American Heart Association.

Tilly Greene
WARNING! Red hot romances ahead!
www.tillygreene.com

Hot Thoughts Blog, Facebook and Twitter

Beginning February 1, 2010 , ARe, the digital bookseller that owns All Romance (www.allromance.com ) and OmniLit (www.omnilit.com ), will release one new novella per day for twenty-eight consecutive days. All proceeds from the sale of these shorts will be donated to the American Heart Association.

I was thrilled when my story was selected to be part of this wonderful cause. I lost both my grandfathers to heart attacks, as well as a very close friend of the family. Heart Disease is something that all too often affects everyone and to be able to contribute to this worthy cause in even this small way is quite humbling.
Mad About Meg, my 28 Days of Heart story, features yet another teacher in my Lowell High School series. Other books have included Retreat, Covert Lessons and Scoring—all available at Ellora’s Cave. They say “write what you know” and for me, that’s public education!

Here’s the blurb:

If it weren’t for bad luck, Meg Williams wouldn’t have any luck at all. As if traveling to a tropical island on Valentine’s weekend in a nasty storm isn’t bad enough, she’s doing it alone after finding her boyfriend in bed with another woman. Enduring the trip from hell, she arrives on Eden Isle only to discover that her hotel reservation has been lost and there are no vacancies anywhere on the island. Disheartened, Meg heads for the hotel bar.

Rob Madison is used to being in the limelight due his wealth and power. Used to being pursued by women for his fortune. When he meets Meg in the bar and realizes she doesn’t know who he is, he decides to spend the evening as a regular guy. Discovering she doesn’t have a place to stay, he offers to share his penthouse with her.

As the night progresses and their mutual attraction becomes apparent, Meg wonders if her luck has turned, while Rob wonders if one weekend in each other’s arms will be enough…

Mad About Meg will be released on February 16! To learn more about Mari Carr, please visit www.maricarr.com  or join her Yahoo! group to join in the fun with other readers as well as Mari Carr! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Heat_Wave_Readers/join