Well Howdy there and how are ya?! Before I start, I wanted to give a huge thank you to Romance Junkies for the opportunity to be here!

So lets get this bloggin’ started!  I’m Mila Ramos and welcome!

Just to give everyone a little background about myself, I’m a Paranormal & Contemporary Romance Author.  My stories are character, emotionally driven work and I write from my soul capturing the emotions meant to stir the heart in endless ways. I love the dark and light side of romance, the beauty rising from tragedy, the magnificence of difference and the possibilities of what-if.  My works ranges from modern-day love to paranormal-science fiction quests at their best.

Now most people aren’t that big into paranormal stories, but oh are they the greatest ever in my opinion.  It is an area the work can be as mild as telepathy and as highly developed as an advanced race of beings that are slowly being exterminated for their ability to control the time continuum.  Cool huh?  I currently have five paranormal stories out; each unique in their own way, but showing just how in the paranormal realm anything is possible and nothing is untouched. There are excerpts and blurbs on my website to satisfy everyone heart galore.

On the contemporary though, I like to tackle the tough issues. I love writing about things that could happen in day to day life but the emotion that can come from a look, a touch, and best yet desire of what might have never been thought of.  I do so with a sarcastic flare but a strong character approach.

When asked what do I feel is important in a novel, what’s gets me as a reader and lover of romance?  It’s the plot, the characters developing, learning about their world, their own lives and being immersed in it. As a romance author, yes the sex/romance is just as important, but when it’s mixed with a great story. You’ve got one massive explosion of great writing.

In my latest books from Whiskey Creek Press - Torrid Teasers 44, I bring two stories of unique women dealing with real issues as best as they can. Plots dealing with such sensitive issues are difficult, but can be done perfectly right if you know your characters.

In Smoldering Ember, Cassandra Vance is divorced from her husband Ethan and after several years the shame hasn’t diminished. Ethan though, returns in her life and in doing so, stirs a heart that hasn’t truly moved on.  She learns that some hurts are much deeper than she previous thought, and sacrifices aren’t just what one has to give up but what you are willing to protect.  Both Ethan and Cassandra are unique in their own way, and what I love about them is that from tragedy and misunderstanding an ember of their love still lived on. Sometimes with love that’s all it takes.

Touch of Fire deals with the character Kat O’ Brien, best friend to Cassandra Vance.  Though Kat has a supporting role in the previous book, she isn’t quiet sort of woman, she too has experienced her own type of eye opening experience.  Her journey is surviving domestic abuse to a life she always imagined; one she is proud to live.  In this story it’s that inner fire that Kat used to survive that she needs to make it one step further back into safety. But this safety has her crossing paths with her lost love, Ben.  In the short time they are together, the issue of sacrifice is one again visited but through a different set of eyes; sometimes that spark, that touch of fire can blindside you.

Both books are great, and I loved writing them. Touch of Fire particularly because Kat is a woman I can imagine walking around in current life and having a cup of coffee.

Though it’s a little different for paranormal characters, they each bring a different aspect of the people they were inspired from.  So a great many of these books do come from my own imagination, others from real life, but each and everyone of these are possibilities. It could happen, who knows if they are happening now.

Many of the readers and comments for my books, both paranormal and contemporary, love the original plot line as well as the tension of the main and supporting individuals. Each couple has their own great tension and defining moments and that’s what makes each of them special in their own way.

You can visit my website, http://www.milaramoswrites.com, blog, http://jademystique.blogspot.com, and myspace, http://www.myspace.com/jademystique,  for information on my books as well as excerpts.  Come by and read reviews, enjoy some music and then read for yourself about the different worlds, intriguing characters and their moments of life that are passion beyond words and stories beyond dreams.

See everyone February 15^th when I come back and blog at this great place!

Okay I have a confession. I love gadgets. (grin) Get me near an appliance section or in a computer section of a store and my eyes glaze over and I want to but everything. LOL. I was looking around my office the other day doing some organization in my files and desktop computer when I decided to also organize my laptop. I haven’t really fiddled with it in a bit. As I did I realize I needed to make a trip to the office supply store. My heart started to race and I got a peep in my step. (grin) Did I mention I love visiting the office supply store? So off I went and when I got there I had to control my impulse to buy more than I needed. I was proud of myself I stuck to my list. So I had a nice conversation with the tech about external drives, wireless mouse, and wireless routers (yes I don’t have wireless on my laptop. I am so behind but I’ve been resisting it because I was trying not to buy any new gadgets).

After comparing the different offerings I got what I went for. I couldn’t wait to get home to hook up everything. First I got my new wireless mouse for my laptop all hooked up. Had a little fun playing with it. Next I tackled the external drive I also got for the laptop. I have one already for my desktop and love it. I got a portable external drive that is the size of a paperback book for my laptop. Got it all up and running. Since I wanted my desktop files to also be on my laptop I downloaded all my files from desktop to the external drive for my laptop then uploaded it to the laptop. Once that was all done I was happy. Since by that time it was late I decided to wait before hooking up the wireless. Plan to get to that sometime in the next few weeks.

So what new gadgets have you bought?

McKenna Jeffries
http://www.mckennajeffries.com
… sensual, edgy, unexpected

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Conquering Jazz

What’s a woman to do when she unwittingly makes a tantalizing proposition to her best friend? Be brazen, bold and set some ground rules. Her offer. One night of carnal bliss. No emotion allowed. His counter offer. A continued affair to fulfill all their sexual cravings. His hidden agenda. Conquer to make sure their affair never ends.

Buy here at Liquid Silver Books.

http://www.mckennajeffries.com
… sensual, edgy, unexpected

Hi, Helen Scott Taylor here. I’m excited to share that today is the release date of my debut Paranormal Romance, The Magic Knot. This book won American Title IV back in April 2008, and all these months later, it has finally arrived in bookstores. To celebrate, I’d like to share some of my thoughts on the paranormal world and fairies in particular.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to believe there are magical beings living alongside us in this modern world that we don’t know about? Beings of preternatural beauty with powers of which we humans can only dream. Beings that live life in tune with a natural world of spirit and magic that we have left behind with our dependence on modern technology.

Before I wrote my paranormal romance The Magic Knot, I pondered what sort of paranormal world I’d like to set my story in. So many authors have written fabulous stories about vampires and shape shifters I wanted to try something different. When I researched the fairy world, I discovered that according to the myth and legend of many countries and cultures, fairies include just about every type of magical paranormal creatures you can imagine. Fairy creatures include vampires and shape shifters. Some fairies are beautiful, some hideous, some benevolent, some malicious, and they come in all shapes and sizes.

Reading my research books on myth, legend, and magical creatures, I realised the fairy world provided a rich source of material to develop my own paranormal world, and the fairy world of the Magic Knot fairies was born in my mind. 

The Magic Knot is set in the South West of England in Cornwall, and in Ireland. My hero Niall O’Connor is half Tuatha dé Danaan and half leprechaun. (He gets rather touchy if anyone teases him about leprechauns!) The Tuatha dé Danaan are a romance writer’s gift: a race of tall, beautiful fairy people descended from the Greek gods who travelled to Ireland millennia ago. My heroine Rose is half-human and half Cornish pisky. The term pisky is from where the better-known pixies originated. In ancient folk law, piskies are small fairies, usually mischievous. In The Magic Knot fairy world, I have bent the rules and made them human sized. 

As the fairy peoples or ‘The Good People’ live in harmony with the natural world, my fairies are all associated with one of the four elements, earth, air, fire, or water. Both Cornish piskies and leprechauns are of the earth. So both Rose and Niall are earth elementals. But I had fun with the Irish fairy queen who is a fire elemental and wields fire to lethal effect. Niall’s father is an air elemental and can walk unseen through the air.

One of my favourite secondary characters is my own invention. Nightshade is a vampiric winged fairy called a nightstalker. He is human sized and he can defy the laws of physics and fly. His name derives from his ability to turn into a shade—like a shadow. For me, one of the most enjoyable parts of writing paranormal romance is dreaming up the world and the beings that inhabit that world. The Magic Knot is a contemporary set story, so the magical world is blended with our more mundane world. The hero Niall rides a motor cycle and plays the stock market using his leprechaun touch of luck to make money. 

On my website, I have a fun quiz where you can answer questions and find out if your element is earth, air, fire, or water. If you take the quiz, come back, and tell us what element you are and if you think it fits your personality. If you would like to read the first two chapters of The Magic Knot and sample my fantasy world, please go to my blog. Join Rose as she sets out for what she believes to be a normal accountancy job. She slowly discovers that in the mystical depths of rural Cornwall there is a world full of magical creatures she never even dreamed of. And she is one of them

 

The Magic Knot Back Cover Copy

HE’S A BIKER WITH AN ATTITUDE
What woman wouldn’t be attracted to Niall O’Connor’s soft Irish brogue and dark good looks? But Rosenwyn Tremain must find her father, and she isn’t going to let a sexy, stubborn Irishman and his motorcycle distract her. Rose’s intuition tells her he’s hiding something, a secret even the cards cannot divine. Her tarot deck always reads true, but how can one man represent both Justice and Betrayal?

SHE’S A WOMAN ON A MISSION
Magic. Niall’s body tingles with it when he finds the woman snooping in his room. Rosenwyn might believe she’s a no-nonsense accountant, but her essence whispers to him of ancient fairy magic that enslaves even as it seduces. Her heritage could endanger those he’d die to protect, but her powers and her passion, if properly awakened, might be the only thing that can save both their families, vanquish a fairy queen bent on revenge, and fulfill a prophecy that will bind their hearts together with…THE MAGIC KNOT

Helen Scott Taylor  www.HelenScottTaylor.com

Authors write great prose we remember long after the book has been set on a shelf. Songwriters express the trauma with meaningful lyrics we hum for months, even years. Saying goodbye is a constant in our lives. Sometimes the end is coupled with sadness and pain. Other times it’s a euphoric feeling because the stress is gone.  

It’s inevitable there will be such a moment for us all and seems to happen when least expected. Lovers part, friendships fade, our children move on, and family members leave us. Yet we hang on, not wanting to let go Is it easier when you cut the tie? It is for me.  

FRENCH TICKLER book five, and the last, in my Naughty Ladies of Nice series is now available and my heart aches for dark and brooding Cisco along with Samantha and her smart mouth. How I miss their tension dealing with a murderer and Mafia kingpin.  

I think of passionate Henri and strong willed Rachel from FRENCH KISS, book four, and the fun we had on the beach when she woke in the arms of a pirate. 

FRENCH TWIST, book three, brought stoic Don who realized there was much more to life than accounting when Interpol agent Claudette involved him with the Russian mob. The terror we shared on the Eiffel Tower still thrills me. 

And what happened to Paul and his magnificent striptease that had Lisette hotter than a four alarm fire in FRENCH DELIGHTS, book two, which I can’t get the cover to post here?

And the one that started my road to heartbreak is FRENCH TART. Along with party girl Doni and buns of steel Mark, we proved that cooking class took on a whole new meaning when they discovered honey had better uses than sweetening tea.  

But do they ever think of me? Do they care that I miss them? Want them to at least acknowledge I was once a part of their lives? Probably not now that they’re out in the world, out amongst readers who laugh and cry as their stories unfold. I am forgotten, deleted from their minds faster than an unwanted computer virus. 

Of the nine books I’ve written and had published, not one of my babies, my children I slaved to create, ever thanked me or cared enough to visit.  

But I really can’t complain. I did recently receive an email from a lady who said God had sent me to her. Perhaps I’m confusing her with the Foreign Princess who emailed that her royal family had perished and she needed my help. All I had to do was give her my bank account number along with a few other pertinent facts and she would deposit thousands of dollars in my account so she could safely come to America. Of course she would split the funds with me for making it all possible. 

What could I say to these people I couldn’t say to the characters who stole my heart? For once it was easy. Goodbye! 

Sloane Taylor

Sweet as Honey…Hotter than Hell

www.sloanetaylor.com

Teddi Turns On 2009 EPPIE Finalist – Erotica www.aspenmountianpressc.om

French Tickler www.eternalpress.ca