blog hop

The Competitive Edge release day

Today is the day! The Competitive Edge goes live this evening at around 8 pm Eastern time. Until then, you can still snag it at the pre-order price of 15% off directly from the press. After today, it’ll be available from Less Than Three and third-party distributors.

To celebrate the release, join me for the first two stops on the blog tour:

The Allure of Competitive Cooking Shows at the Armchair Reader

Food is Sex at It’s Raining Men

…with more to come!

Thanks, everyone, for your marvelous support and I can’t wait for you to read Course Two of the Appetite series. And please, let me know what you think of the blog hop entries! Have a fabulous day.

The Competitive Edge giveaway

Greetings, happy early Memorial Day, and welcome to my giveaway to celebrate the release for The Competitive Edge! This is the second book in the Appetite series and I’m really excited to see it released.

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It’s been six months since Alex became Sous Chef at Schulze’s, and in that time Alex has been working strenuously to improve and expand his skills, working toward the goal of becoming Nik’s equal. He is kept motivated by the occasional breakfast shared with Nik, flirting and talking and offering tender bites of his culinary creations.

But just as his hard work seems to be paying off, a new challenge is thrust upon him. Selected to be one of five challengers on a new cooking competition, Alex is quick to accept the offer, certain that winning will prove his abilities to Nik and everyone else.

Except that to win, he will have to beat not only a handful of strangers, but also Nik, thrusting them right back to the ruthless competition of their school days—and quite possibly ruining any hope of a future as lovers.

The Competitive Edge is available for pre-order for a couple days more at Less Than Three Press here. You can read an excerpt of the story, too, to whet your…er…anticipation.

The Appetite series is near and dear to my heart, because it marries my love of food, my love of guys being stupid over each other, and the personal growth they have to get through in order to be together.

The Giveaway:
To celebrate the release, I’m offering an e-book copy of The Competitive Edge to one lucky winner, chosen by random numbers selected by random.org from the comments of this entry. This is the e-book version, and I will send a copy in your preferred format; epub, HTML, mobi, PDF.

To enter, drop a comment (you MUST include an email or means of contact or I CANNOT count your entry). If you enter your email as part of submitting the comment, that counts. Comment between now and next Sunday, June 2nd. Winners will be chosen Monday morning.

To win additional chances to enter, you may do the following:

– Promote/share my Facebook post promoting Appetite’s release.
– Post a comment on my/your Facebook about the novel.
– Promote/share my Tumblr post promoting Appetite’s release.
– Like my Tumblr post regarding the release and get an additional chance!
– Retweet my author tweet on Twitter regarding the release.
– Become a fan on Goodreads.
– Leave a comment or make a post promoting the novel on your own social venue (any and all – WordPress, LJ, DW, blogspot, just link me so I can verify)

Basically, spread the word in any possible fashion and you can get an additional chance to win your own ebook copy of A Cut Above the Rest!

Many thanks, I appreciate your stopping by, and good luck with the giveaway. (And hey, if you’ve already pre-ordered, enter anyhow! You can always give a copy to a friend. ^_~)

Also, the blog tour begins tomorrow at The Armchair Reader, so join me for exclusive sneak peeks and bonus content all week!

Way to Your Heart Giveaways

Congratulations to Chichikao, winner of my giveaway for A Cut Above the Rest! I’ve contacted you via email.

Everyone else, thank you so much for participating, I’m going to go back through that post and answer your lovely comments. Meanwhile if you’re excited about foodie novels, I’m finishing up work on The Competitive Edge, and it’s coming out next month, May 29th.

In the meantime! If you didn’t win my giveaway, there’s still one beautiful blowout over at the Less Than Three Press blog:

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They have some truly amazing prizes, and signups can still be made through Monday April 15th. So drop by and tell them what you love!

The Way to Your Heart: Nail Polish!

First things first: today is the last day to sign up for T.T. Kove’s giveaway for her lovely seasonal romance, Sakura Kiss! She’ll be choosing a winner using the random number selector tomorrow.

Next up for my third post for the Way to Your Heart blog hop:

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Another quick and easy way to my heart is to cater to one of my current serious obsessions: nail polish.

I used to be not much of a fan, actually, because of the smell – and the way it felt on my nails, like a coat of something that smothered them. Then companies started going 3, 4, and 5-free – harmful ingredients toluene, formaldehyde, DBP (dibutyl phthalate), formaldehyde resin, and camphor. And, I saw a fantastic shade of gray nail polish on Bill Kaulitz.

Office neutrals had never really interested me, but that edgy gray was like a whole world opening up to me. I found myself at the cosmetics counter getting Chanel Black Pearl and Dior Gris Montaigne. A couple of months later, I made it a workout reward, and wow, it was a full-on slide into its own obsession from there. Nail polish became its own reward! I started maintaining a nail polish tumbler: http://effyeahnailpolish.tumblr.com/

There was so much to do with polish and simple nail art that there hadn’t been when I’d done my nails when I was younger. It was like a fascinating new universe opening up to me, and the brands that didn’t have any harmful chemicals didn’t feel like they smothered my nails at all.

So, a bottle of nail polish in just the right color is a fast path to my heart. From those edgy grays I went to finding just the right hue in every shade across the spectrum, but far and away my favorites tend to be blues, teals, and greens though I have a serious weakness for a good nude, and holographic micro-glitter is one of my favorite things ever.

To show you some of what I love, here are six of my favorite manicures from the past year. It was hard to narrow them down to six, of course.

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Illamasqua Fragile, the color I wore over Easter weekend.

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A-England St. George with a scalloped ribbon of A-England Holy Grail – one of my fun “save a chipped tip” manicures, I featured this not too long ago for Manicure Monday.

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Essie Butler Please – my perfect Tardis blue!

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Chanel Quartz and Pixel Till I’m Blue Over You/China Glaze Snowglobe checkers. My first time doing a checker manicure, and I still need to do this again! So much fun, and so pretty.

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Sephora by OPI Traffic Stopper Copper over sponged half-gradient of Brisbane Bronze over Essie Sand Tropez. This one was inspired by something I reblogged on Tumblr, though I used different colors and a bronze under the glitter. I loved the way it turned out.

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Chanel Delight, the most gorgeous finely-milled bronzy coppery gold with a micro-glitter almost holographic spark to it.

And to sign off, don’t forget to check my giveaway post, where I offer a free copy of A Cut Above the Rest (or anything from my back catalogue, if you already have that).

Have a great week, and may your polish dry quickly and smudge-free!

The Way to Your Heart: Food!

It will be no surprise to anyone who’s followed me for any length of time that food, in particular, is one of my delights and passions.

My entries for “The Way to Your Heart” Blog Hop continue with today’s topic: food!

Tip – don’t forget to check out Less Than Three Press‘s entry, because they have some smashing things to give away!

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I love to cook, to eat, and to watch many shows about cooking! I’m always looking for new recipes to try, from the Living section of the newspaper to the blogs that I frequent, or even recipes reblogged on Tumblr.

Today, I ate a clam and asparagus risotto that I made for lunch, and watched Top Chef season 9 while finishing up edits on The Competitive Edge. After work, I made a beef ribeye roast with a merlot-mushroom reduction sauce, broccoli, and oven-roasted potatoes for dinner (and watched more Top Chef).

And tomorrow, we’re going to La Capitale for lunch before I get quite the haircut.

Food was a big part of my life growing up, and it’s become even bigger now that I’m an adult. Sometimes I wonder, if things had been a little different, whether I might have become a chef! I think I have a lot of the qualities that I see in those competitive chefs that I so admire.

My relationship with food has … not exactly changed, but shifted a lot since I joined up with Weight Watchers four years ago. I like to think I’ve entered a permanently healthier relationship with food, and it’s definitely paid off – I’ve lost 55 pounds and counting. I’m still as actively interested in finding new recipes and cooking delicious food. Now, though, it’s important to find a balance within the quantity of food I’m eating in any given day, and making sure to abide by good health guidelines.

The purpose of this entry isn’t to proselytize for any lifestyle or eating habit changes – I’m also a big believer that you have to want to make a change, and be individually responsible for it yourself. Sharing this background is more meant to express how important the shift in my relationship to food has been for me personally.

To sum it up, food is definitely and incontrovertibly one of the ways to my heart!

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To celebrate my love for food, I’m offering an ebook copy of my book, A Cut Above the Rest, or your choice of a book from my back catalogue if you already have that, in the format of your choice – html, pdf, mobi, or epub.

And to sign up, all you have to do this time is comment! With a valid email address, please, so that I can contact you. And let me know what you thought about the entry, if you would! Giveaway closes next Friday, April 12th. Good luck, and may your meals be ever tasty and piping hot!

The Way to Your Heart: Books!

It’s the fourth birthday for Less Than Three Press, and there are so many wonderful ways to celebrate!

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I first submitted to Less Than Three Press during a very emotional, difficult time: my grandfather passed away, and for as long as he’d known I was a writer, he asked every time I saw him if I was getting anything published yet. And for all that time, I continually put him off because my interest was in writing m/m erotica, so there was nothing I could share with my family, or submit to mainstream publishers like Random House.

When he died, it was a serious kick in the pants. All that time, I kept putting it off, and what the hell for?

After confusedly posting this story of my grandfather and how he’d always encouraged me to get published, the lovely Megan dropped me a comment inviting me to contact her about getting published, and said “I think I can help you with that.”

And, oh, wow, did she ever! Not three months later, I was signing contracts and prepping manuscripts for final submission.

My grandpa didn’t live to see the dedication on my novel, From the Inside Out, but he’s still with me, and I’ll never forget what he did for me.

And I’ll never forget what Less Than Three Press and their lovely ladies have done for me, either.

That brings me around, in a roundabout fashion, to the blog tour at last. From April 1st to April 14, assorted authors and associates are hosting entries and giveaways around the theme “the way to your heart.” What’s the way to my heart? I could probably write a half dozen entries…

Today, I’m writing about books.

I became hooked on the printed word when I was ten years old, and discovered a fluent grasp of sustained silent reading. I went eagerly through everything intended for my age group, then kept going. At eleven, I had a vocabulary that was intimidating to my mom and step-father.

Books were my friends, my companion, my escape.

They became a hobby, a passion, a lifelong obsession. I’d go to the corner bookstore across the street and spend hours browsing the shelves, reading summaries and inside cover excerpts, flipping through pages and deciding what was amazing enough to buy with my hard-earned pocket money.

Growing up, my biggest ambition was to be a writer – an author. Such an amazing, lofty goal! The most compelling and incredible thing, to me, was to be capable of creating worlds and characters that people wanted to lose themselves with, the same way I’d done (still do) with the books I became immersed in, myself.

Today I’m going to link you to the Less Than Three giveaways that feature a book. And Friday, I’ll be offering one of your choice from my current catalogue of e-books. Enjoy so many chances to win something I hold dear to my heart!

Megan Derr
Sasha Miller
Julia Alaric
Isabella Carter
Alessandra Ebulu
T. T. Kove
Lacie Archer
E. E. Ottoman
L.J. LaBarthe
M.J. Willow
Mell Eight

There’s more to come! I’ll be making a few more posts on the “way to your heart” theme, and come back on Friday for my giveaway!

Tour de Foodie conclusion: Food, fun, and…monkeys?

The final stop on the Tour de Foodie: Chaos in the Moonlight over at K-lee Klein’s blog! Thank you, K-lee, for the fun interview! See my answers to questions such as what got me into writing, what I like to cook, the best part of writing, a little bit about A Cut Above the Rest, and whether vampires or werewolves would come out on top.

Today I did a whole lot of cooking: lamb stir-fry for lunch, then I made stuffed sweet potato with sauteed spinach, cranberry, and walnuts for my week’s lunches with a side of mushroom soup. Dinner was corned beef and garlic mash with cabbage, and Guinness draught to go with.

I’m legit half-Irish on my mom’s side, but I didn’t grow up with a whole lot of Irish influences, sadly. Still, I like to enjoy the “traditional” meal every now and then. 🙂

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the tour! Time to settle in with a movie, it’s time to do my nails.

Have a great week, everyone.

The Tour de Foodie continues!

Did you catch yesterday’s Signature Dish post at Armchair Reader?

Today’s entry is Rock stars of the cooking world, over at A.F. Henley’s blog. You may remember A.F. Henley from the author spotlight earlier this month, and the lovely giveaway for a copy of Honour.

Reminder: two days left to sign up for the giveaway for A Cut Above the Rest. Though a lot of you wonderful folks have already purchased a copy, and thank you! ♥

Later this weekend I’m going to have an entry focused on St. Patrick’s Day (it’s inevitable, right?) discussing my Irish roots and, of course, the meal I’ll be cooking.

Let me know what you think of the Tour de Foodie, folks – I spent last week composing the entries, and I want to know if it’s something you enjoy. If so, I’ll be launching a second Tour de Foodie in May, to promote the release of The Competitive Edge!

Your feedback is valued, and desired.

Happy Friday, and Signature Dish challenge!

What a great day, it’s one of my favorite days of the week!

Today for the Tour de Foodie, hop over to the Armchair Reader and check out the Signature Dish – what makes one, and what it means when a chef has one.

Have you picked up your copy of A Cut Above the Rest yet? If not, there’s still a few days left in the giveaway!

In other news, that story I’ve been working on for a couple of weeks is drawing to a close and I’m starting to feel good about it. At this rate I’ll finish on time and under the word count deadline. My pre-readers love it, so this is apparently one of those stories where it fights me every step of the way but that doesn’t show for the readers. More info on that to come.

And, signed contract for The Fall Guide today! So excite!

Tour de Foodie: How your introvert can express themselves

Today the Tour de Foodie has moved on to Joyfully Jay with Emotion in Cooking! Herein lie the clues to the heart of one of our stalwart heroes.

Already, A Cut Above the Rest has a couple of lovely ratings. I’m really looking forward to seeing what you all think!

This week, I’ve been writing a new story with fairytale fantasy elements. It’s had its ups and downs, I guess I’ll see what I think of the overall story when it’s completed. Some stories are a pure pleasure to write, and everything falls into place. Others are a map of ups and downs and struggles with getting those words down.

On this one, I don’t even like the title. Argh. I’m not sure about the chemistry between the leads, though the one thing I’m having fun with is the concepts and the world-building.

Up and onward! If I keep working on it at the same rate I hope to be finished Sunday, polish it up, and submit it in time for the deadline.