BRAGGING, AND PROMO, AND A GIVEAWAY—OH MY!

photo by Crinity

I wouldn’t be a proper publicity slut in training if I failed to talk about my release day of THE ACCIDENTAL COUGAR on Black Friday, or what I have coming up this Monday and Tuesday. After months and months of waiting for the release of my romantic comedy from The Wild Rose Press, the date finally came.

Thank goodness the experience wasn’t like losing my virginity—where there was so much hype and hoopla over it for so long, that when it finally happened, I was like, “Meh.” The week of my release (appropriately called Hell week by authors) was stressful, I’m not going to lie. My son was off from school for the entire week. Let me repeat that so you can absorb the full effect of that statement:

My son was off from school for the entire week. Enough said.

We had Thanksgiving  with a good friend of mine at her house, and she must have sensed the aura of stress and tension emanating from my being—either that or she was tipped off when she asked how I was doing, and I told her I felt like going bungee jumping without the bungee. She graciously assumed guardianship of my son for two days. TWO DAYS! Two days of peace and quiet. Ahhh, who needs Xanax when I can be “without child,” instead.

I awoke on Black Friday and checked my emails. There was a Google alert with the website of a reviewer. “Oh crap!” I said to the diva. My first review. This could be good, or very, very bad. I thought of all the authors and actors who swear they never read reviews, ever. I thought of the saying that goes something like “If you believe the good reviews, then you have to believe the bad reviews. And lastly, I thought, Yeah right, I’m not gonna read it. I’ve never had that type of self-control before, so I sure as hell am not going to start having it now.

This review had the potential to ruin my release day. Thankfully, it was a good one, or I wouldn’t be sober right now. Thank you again Kristi from Smitten with Reading. You’ll never know how much power you held over my well-being. I know you’re all dying to know what it said, so here it is:

My Rating: A-

“This book was good. It’s been six years since Nicole’s divorce. Six years since she’s had any sort of man besides her son in her life. Honestly, she hasn’t even been interested. Her divorce was a surprise to her and left her with scars. So it’s as surprising to her as it is to anyone when someone piques her interest. Even more surprising is that he’s a guy who’s sixteen years younger than her. To her code of ethics, that just isn’t acceptable.

Wil missed that memo though and he isn’t a guy to give up when he sees something he wants. He’s young, but already is extremely successful, having started his own business from scratch and built it into an empire. He’s not a guy that takes “no” for an answer and he wants Nicole. I liked him. He, flat out, is just a great guy who would be an amazing catch, no matter what his age. He’s sweet and romantic. He hears Nicole’s concerns, but knows that if they can just spend some time together that he can convince her to come around to his way of thinking.

There were lots of moments in this book that I found felt really true. As a forty-something female, I could relate to a lot of Nicole’s issues. For the last six years, she has focused her life around her son, Josh. For the first time in her life, he’s not there to distract her and to give her a focus. Suddenly she has to find out who she is again and where her interests lie. She’s lost that over the last few years. So while this is a romantic story, there is also a great lesson about a woman finding importance in herself again. I really liked it. I really liked the characters, especially Nicole and Wil. I loved Nicole’s circle of friends….definitely a group of characters and their antics, and side romantic stories kept me giggling. Overall this was just a great read. An unusual romance, but one that I truly enjoyed.”

I received a complimentary copy of this book in return for an honest review.

 

After reading that, I was over the moon. In fact, all those positive endorphins coursing through my body was quite a shock. I’m a glass is half-cracked kind of girl, so hopefully all those positive feelings of the day will ward off any catastrophic illnesses that might be manifesting in my body due to a lifetime of negative thinking.

Anyhoo, I’m a guest on two author blogs this week if you feel like checking either of them out.

Monday, Nov. 26^th, I’ll be at www.nancyjardine.blogspot.com

Tuesday, Nov. 27^th, I’ll have a more in-depth interview at www.babettejames.com

I promise that’s all I’ll bombard you with this month regarding promo!

Because I’m still feeling so groovy over my release, the review, being sonless for two days, and the fact that it’s been 80 freaking degrees where I live, I would like to give away a free autographed print copy, or e-book of THE ACCIDENTAL COUGAR—whichever you’d prefer. Just leave a comment with a way to get in touch with you, and I’ll throw all the names into a hat and let my son choose the winner.

And MEN, I’m slowly converting the guys I know into romance readers, so come and get in touch with your feminine sides—you know you want to.

Winner will be chosen on Friday, Nov. 30^th, and I’ll announce the winner on Monday, Dec. 3^rd.

 

 

 

MY ESCAPE FROM REALITY

Those words right there are why I write romance. Those words embody my characters’ motivation, their raison d’être. And while they may have obstacle upon obstacle keeping them apart, ultimately they achieve their own happily ever after.

My taste in books BC (Before Child) was often very eclectic. I read my fair share of traditional romances, but I always balanced them out with more thought-provoking prose like Hemingway and Jane Austen.

Then AD (After Delivery) + one year of breastfeeding (which equaled 365 sleepless nights) + many craptastic happenings resulted in:

 

1.  The feeling of being brain-dead, often with the inability to put sentences together
2. Previous time spent reading was now occupied by CHILD
3. Zero desire to read about craptastic things happening to other people

 

When I finally had more than five seconds to myself, I started to read again. But nothing heavy. I didn’t want to read about murder or heartbreak or family dysfunction—I had enough of that in real life. I didn’t want to read about anything resembling reality, because my reality, and the reality of those around me sucked quite frankly.

No, I wanted to get the hell away from reality. And I wanted to be able to do it in increments of two pages at a time. I wanted light, and funny, and romantic, because my life was anything but. And at the end of the day, I wanted—no, NEEDED a happy ending.

So when I decided to start a second novel, I chose to write what I had been reading—romantic comedy. I wanted to give back what was given to me, specifically a lot of laughs, a sense of romance, and a much-needed escape from reality.