FRIDAY FIRSTS with Simone Sinna

The first sentences of EXCLUSIVE
(no cover yet, so enjoy the covers of the first two books in the series)

[set up: Crystal is Stephanie's mother]

“You’re not happy.” Crystal was making a statement of fact–as she saw it. Stephanie bristled. They’d almost made it through lunch without an argument.

Crystal waved for the check. The Gotham Grill waiter nodded in acknowledgement.

“Things have never been better,” Stephanie replied a little too quickly.

Coming this summer from

Siren-Bookstrand

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FUN FIRST FACTS ABOUT SIMONE

1. What was the first romance you ever read?

I read a lot from the age of about seven - but up until about 13 it was all Enid Blyton, Chalet Girls and Gymkhana books. At school I know I did Jane Eyre which is after all a romance, but probably before that was Mary Stewart's The Ivy Tree. I still have it and occasionally re-read it. It's wonderfully written, a nice background mystery and twist, but ahhh (sigh) the romance. Mary Grey and Adam, I am pretty sure, and that's from someone not great on names! When she see his scarred hands and starts to cry... well it's very touching!

2. Tell me about the first novel you ever wrote? What ever happened to it?

I wrote it when I was 13 (by hand) and I still have it. OMG it is bad!!! My attempts at romance (I hadn't had a boyfriend) were well... execrable!

3. Tell me about your very first kiss.

Must I? Not long after the attempt at my first novel, when I had turned 14, I was asked out by a boy from dancing class (I was at a girls' school and this was the only way to meet boys when you didn’t have a brother). He was 18! I felt very grown up – until the first kiss, which was soooo not like it looked like when Rhett Butler kissed Scarlett O’Hara. Yuck! Way too much slobber and tongue thrusting. Put me off boys for a year! And didn’t improve my second ‘novel’ attempt either- romance is just as bad as in the first!

More about Simone: Simone Sinna is the other side of an established nonfiction writer. After an epiphany on the 2038km road to Santiago de Compostela (which inspired her second novel, just out) she changed her name and now writes mostly erotic fiction. Her husband is delighted, her mother and two children less so…

She has three erotic romance suspense novels published with Siren: Embedded, Exposé, Exclusive (due July 2012) and two erotic short stories in Stringybark anthologies, Brushstrokes published in Heat Wave of ’76 (shortlisted for the prize) in 2011 and Night Game in 2012 in Between the Sheets.

You can find out more about Simone on her website, Twitter (@SimoneSinna), and her Bookstrand author page.

FRIDAY FIRSTS with Dawne Prochillo

The first five sentences of... INSATIABLE KATE
Lydia Parsons stood at the top of the wooden staircase of the Willow Creek Saloon, observing below as the cowhands, ranchers, miners and drifters flooded in for the evening. Dressed in everything from scratchy wool trousers to mud ladened chaps, the men jovially celebrated the end of another hard work week. Tomorrow being Sunday would be a day of rest for most. A day of family and church. A day to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Amazon

Available now!

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Fun First Facts about Dawne

 1. What was the first romance you ever read?

Not sure if it would be classified as a romance but VC Andrews' Flowers In The Attic--the taboo book from the 1980's... all the girls were reading it. The first book I ever read with incest in it. Amazing that book would probably be banned if released now.

2. What’s the first thing you do when you start writing a new story?

I plot, plot, make notes and plot some more. I need structure and an outline--not saying I don't change the outline a hundred times but I do need to have an synopsis to follow or I ramble and get lost.

3. When standing in front of a buffet line, what’s the first food that catches your eye?
Anything with oozing cheese. Crunchy salty potatoes. I always joke that my parents should have been from Idaho and Wisconsin. I am a true cheesy potato head. 

More about Dawne: Dawne Prochilo currently has many erotic and contemporary romance books. Her writing in the romance genre varies from sweet and sensual all the way up to four flame heat erotic. 

 She's the Promotion Director for a publisher, she's a freelance writer for a newspaper and was a contributing writer to USA TODAY in September 2011, she writes web content and is the Review Coordinator, Workshop Coordinator, and Managing Editor eMag for Books and Trailers Showcase.

She oversees and contributes to thirteen blogs weekly, twelve facebook fan pages and is in the process of writing a promotional eBook for authors.

She writes relationship articles for mademan.com, yahoo.com and associated press. She's also a reviewer for Eden Fantasy products and writes for their sister website, Eden Cafe. She contributes to Good Vibrations Magazine and many other adult content websites.

She is a staff member and group liaison for Marketing For Romance Writers.
You can learn more about Dawne on her blog.

FRIDAY FIRSTS with Darcy Burke

The first five sentences of... HER WICKED WAYS
“Stand and deliver!” Montgomery Foxcroft demanded a second time as he and the other four members of his band stepped out from the trees lining the rutted and muddy road. They’d scouted the two coaches for the last quarter mile. Each had a coachman at the reins and a footman on the back. The footman on the rear coach crouched low as both vehicles rumbled to a halt.

Genre: Regency romance

Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Smashwords

Available now!

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FUN FIRST FACTS ABOUT DARCY

1. What was the first romance you ever read? I'm not sure, especially since my mother recently told me that we read a lot of Harlequins. I have no recollection of reading Harlequins! I do remember reading Kathleen Woodiwiss' Ashes in the Wind and thinking it was the best book ever written.

2.What’s the first thing you do when you start writing a new story?Buy a composition notebook for research and plotting notes. It becomes my "bible" for that story. I think I'm going to run out of space in the notebook for my WIP. That's never happened before! But it's a contemporary paranormal, which requires a lot of world building and it's so important to keep all of that straight. I actually find it more challenging than writing historicals!

3. When standing in front of a buffet line, what’s the first food that catches your eye? Dessert, but I rarely leave room to eat it! I also think many desserts look better than they taste. And this may shock you, but chocolate is not my first choice. I'll usually go for lemon or a creme brulee or similar.

More about Darcy:  Darcy Burke wrote her first bookat age 11, a happily ever after about a swan addicted to magic and the female swan who loved him, with exceedingly poor illustrations. An RWA Golden Heart® Finalist, Darcy loves all things British (except tomatoes for breakfast, or any other time of day, actually) and happy ever afters.

A native Oregonian, Darcy lives on the edge of wine country with her devoted husband,their two great kids, and three cats. In her “spare” time Darcy is a serial volunteer enrolled in a 12-step program where one learns to say “no,” but she keeps having to start over. She’s also a fair-weather runner, and her happy places are Disneyland and Labor Day weekend at the Gorge.

You can find Darcy online here:
http://www.darcy-burke.com
http://www.facebook.com/darcyburkefans
Twitter - @darcyburke

Give Away! Sign up to receive Darcy's newsletter (go to her website-http://www.darcy-burke.com) before May 25, and be entered into a drawing to win an advanced electronic copy of Darcy's June release, His Wicked Heart!

FRIDAY FIRSTS with Cadence Denton

The first four sentences of... FIRE AND BLOOD
She had the Midas touch. Except everything she laid hand on didn’t turn into gold – it exploded in her face.

Which was just what a person should expect when she was cursed, right? How well Jeannette Darcy knew this having lived under that shadow for nigh on six centuries.

Genre: Dark paranormal romance

Publisher: Indie published

Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Smashwords

Available now!

Cadence will give away a copy of her new book to one lucky commenter!

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FUN FIRST FACTS ABOUT CADENCE

1. Who was your first love?
Initially, I chose this question believing it would be a quick and simple answer. When I began to really deliberate I was shocked at the sheer number of my “first” loves.

There was my television first love, The Monkeys’ lead man, Davey Jones. He owned my heart from the first twinkle in his adorable chocolate brown eyes. And when he sang, well, I just knew he was singing only to me. *Sigh*

Mark Maier was my first actual person crush. It was love from the first time I saw him on the playground in the sixth-grade. I thought he was the cutest boy in my class. He even looked a bit like Davey if you squinted your eyes. Unfortunately the feelings were not reciprocated. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

My first boyfriend love was the incomparable Glenn White. With sun-kissed light brown hair and dreamy blue eyes, Glenn was an exciting older man. One whole year older! Plus he had muscles, his voice didn’t crack, and he even shaved! Ooo lah lah, this was heady stuff for a romantic 13-year-old.

2. Tell us about your first kiss.

Glenn gave me my first kiss one Saturday night at the local movie theatre (which answers your second question). Though miles and years separate us, I know I’ll never forget the feel of his arms around me, the taste of his lips, or the heat of his breath twining with mine. As far as first kisses go, Glenn White’s was top drawer.

3. If you could live your life over again what’s the first thing you’d do differently or change?
What a great question. Although I choose to live life facing forward rather than looking backwards, if I was gifted with a do-over the one thing I’d change is I’d be fearless.

I’ve wasted too many years, good years, being afraid. Afraid that I wasn’t good enough, smart enough, able enough, pretty enough...you name it. If I could press re-set, I’d erase the inner critic that insisted I couldn’t and give birth to a positive personal trainer / cheerleader that insisted I can, or at the very least, that I try.

More about Cadence:  Cadence Denton lives in a sleepy town on the Louisiana side of the Mississippi River. A fanatical collector of all things Halloween, she shares her writer’s cave with two miniature dachshunds, one standard dachshund, and a perpetually confused cocker spaniel.

You can find Cadence online at her blog, Facebook and Twitter.