Cynthia Eden's Blog, page 58
December 9, 2014
December Newsletter Winner
Congrats to Rachel Robertson! Rachel, you are our December newsletter winner. I’ve emailed you, but if you didn’t get my note, please contact me at info @ cynthiaeden.com to claim your prize.
Thank you!
December 8, 2014
Guest Author Wynter Daniels (With Giveaway!)
Today I’m excited to have guest author Wynter Daniels visiting the blog. Welcome, Wynter!
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First of all, I’d like to give a huge thank you to Cynthia for letting me hang out at her blog today. Not only is she a hugely talented author, but she is an incredibly sweet and generous lady, one of my favorite people in the whole world. And no—she didn’t bribe me to say all that. It’s the truth!
I love romantic suspense and paranormal romance, just like Cynthia does. I write both. But I also write contemporary romance, and I have a brand new one out. THE SURROGATE HUSBAND happens to be one of my favorite books I’ve written. It’s an opposites attract story that puts a different spin on the fake wife trope. I completely fell in love with my hero and heroine, Dex and Lucy.
What do I love about them? Well, Dex is a buttoned up CPA whose life is neat and orderly. Until he meets his new client, Lucy, a pink-haired rock-and-roll chick who thrives on chaos and spontaneity. She usually goes for tatted up surfer guys, and even then, she rarely keeps them around longer than a quart of milk. You see, her father was an abusive ass. So maybe there is a bit of a monster in this story after all.
Monsters come in all shapes and sizes, and Lucy’s was her very own father, and she’s spent her whole adult life trying to avoid anyone who bore any similarities to him.
In Dex’s mathematical logic and orderly fixations, Lucy suspects she glimpses a little of the monster she left behind.
Here’s a little about the story:
BLURB:
Wild child lingerie store owner Lucy Hamilton is a happily confirmed bachelorette. Then her mother tells a tiny lie that Lucy has eloped. Now Lucy needs to find a “husband” for the weekend, and fast. Fortunately, her ridiculously hot, ridiculously straitlaced new accountant is willing to be her stand-in spouse. And the chemistry between Dex and Lucy is more than convincing―it’s sizzling. But for Lucy, falling for her fake new husband is the most dangerous thing she can do…
And here’s a snipet from the book:
Lucy couldn’t help but notice how his thick, brown hair fell over his trendy black glasses, strand over glossy strand. She glanced into his briefcase at the sections marked with one of those label-making machines. Proof positive that, as she’d suspected from their phone conversations, the man was just as neurotically hyper-organized as her father.
In fact, given the undeniable evidence of a buff bod under his expensive-looking suit and tie, he was an odd mix of stereotypical accountant and what a model would look like if he’d dressed up as the GQ version of an accountant for a photo shoot.
“Each box is tabbed so you can jot down expenses, broken down by category.” Pointing to the spreadsheet, he explained where she was to write in this and that. “I’ll email it to you so you’ll have it on your computer.”
God, that voice. It was like he’d just said, “I’ll email you naked pictures of myself and then come over with a jar of honey and a can of whipped cream.” It was so unfair that he had to look as good as he sounded.
***
Do you enjoy Opposites Attract trope stories? Do you have a favorite? Tell me what it is and I’ll enter you in a drawing for a $10 Target gift card (US and Canada only). Another winner will receive a download of THE SURROGATE HUSBAND. LIKE my Facebook Author page (link below) and I’ll enter you twice. Winners will be randomly drawn after midnight tonight (Eastern time) and announced tomorrow morning.
Copyright Wynter Daniels 2014
You can find Wynter at her Website, Facebook Fan Page and Twitter
December 4, 2014
WATCH ME…and holiday fun!
I’ve got a new book scheduled to release very soon! 
I was hoping to make this book available by the end of the year, so I am thrilled to say that WATCH ME will be available on 12/9/14:
Watch Me…The first book in New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Cynthia Eden’s sexy new romantic suspense series…DARK OBSESSION.
He was hired to protect her.
Watching gorgeous Gwen Hawthorne wasn’t a hard job—but it certainly was tempting. Chance Valentine had tried to keep his distance from the sexy socialite for years, but when her father hired him to keep watch on her—as a twenty-four, seven bodyguard—Chance knew his control was about to be pushed to the limit.
He’d never wanted another woman the way he desired her. Hot. Intense. Consuming. Being so close to Gwen, Chance knew that he wouldn’t be able to resist her. So he gave into his need, her need, and he took them both to the edge of a dark and consuming desire.
But Chance soon realizes that he isn’t the only one watching Gwen. Someone else is out there, a stalker who won’t rest until Gwen is destroyed. Every day, every moment…Gwen is in danger. And Chance knows that if he can’t unmask the stalker, then he may just lose the only woman he has ever loved.
Watch me.
Coming soon:
WANT ME (Book 2)
NEED ME (Book 3)
****
For these books, I will be releasing one a month…WATCH ME will be out in December, WANT ME will be out in January, and NEED ME will be out in February. All of the books focus on bodyguards–and the intimate connection that can form when two people are forced into such extremely close circumstances.
***
If you’re in the mood for a holiday read, be sure to check out A VAMPIRE’S CHRISTMAS CAROL. This tale was originally published in November of 2013, but I’ve put it on .99 sale for this holiday season. And…as we celebrate, I’m hosting “12 Days of Giveaways” over at my Facebook page–so please come by and join the fun!
November 5, 2014
Zoe Winters – Guest Author & Giveaway
Hi, everyone! Today, author Zoe Winters is taking over the blog–she’s chatting about her new release and offering a giveaway. Thanks for coming by, Zoe!
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Dystopia: Coming to a Zoe Winters Book Near You: With Free Prize Inside! (And… $2.99 Release Day Sale!)
Thank you so much to Cindy for hosting me on the release day for my newest book! It’s been a while since I’ve been here.
I often feel like I’m the last person on every train. When I started writing vampires (not the only paranormal species in my series—but one of them), everyone was saying “vampires are over.” And of course now “dystopians are over”. But I love them so much. I love these end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it stories and the Big Brother creepiness. And I love it in all flavors, from Ally Conde’s Matched series to Margaret Atwood’s uber creepy and terrifying A Handmaid’s Tale.
At some point I wanted to get around to trying something in the dystopian category, and if I could keep my vampires, werewolves, and demons, so much the better. In my current book, Unleash The Moon, I get to start doing that. 
For the past 8 years I’ve been writing in a world I’ve fallen in love with. My mom always said I don’t stick with anything. Apparently there are things I stick with. If it is “bad”, has fangs, and rock-hard abs, I’m so so loyal.
And as I come to the end of this particular series, I find that I’m just getting started with this world and many of these characters, but I want readers to have a lot of little side doors by which to find and engage with world. So there will be series like this one, stand alones, trilogies, and serials all happening in this big sandbox I’ve been quietly (and sometimes not so quietly) building.
If I could sound byte the Preternaturals series for the new people, the basic theme is: “Everyone is the hero of his own story (and the villain of somebody else’s)”. What I’ve enjoyed about writing this series the most is creating heroes who then become villains (at least from another hero’s perspective), and villains who become heroes. And then some you don’t know what they’re going to do.
I like the amoral shades of gray where no one is absolute good or absolute evil. It’s more interesting to me when good people sometimes do terrible things or bad people extend mercy to someone unexpectedly.
I like when weak characters find their strength and strong characters discover a weakness.
In this series I have many different paranormal factions: Vampires, Demons, Angels, Therians (shapeshifting species), Guardians (fallen angels… also a demon breed technically), Magic Users (of different stripes: mostly human), and of course the garden-variety Humans. (Yes, I really did just capitalize all that. Don’t judge me.)
And they are all at odds which each other over humans finding out their secret, over control of both the preternatural world and the regular world, on how society is even going to run as the ground shifts under their feet.
And in the middle of that running backstory… the backdrop the romance happens against… we meet these couples in each book who develop their own romances as the gang gets created and they all come together to try to find a commonality for survival.
Those who’ve read my series and are up to date, in the 6th and final book (of this series, but not the world!), we will be going 26 years into the future for Sydney and Noah’s book. Sydney is Anthony and Charlee’s daughter and Noah is Jane and Cole’s son. (If you’re familiar with the series, these names mean something. Nobody ever sat me down to explain the difficulty of figuring out how to market a series this far into it. So apologies for the eye-sporking quantity of random information being thrown at you.)
Unleash The Moon, is the book I get to introduce some of the slightly dystopian elements… setting you up for the dark paranormal serial I’ll be releasing next spring which will happen in this world being set up.
The first book in my Preternaturals series, Blood Lust, will either be free or 99 cents by the time you read this—and depending on which store you go to. (Sales transitions are tricky, and we’re going from free back to 99 cents for the first book. But either way is a great way to get into this series if you’re new.)
Blood Lust can be found for free or 99 cents at:
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/blood-lust-the-preternaturals-book-1
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/blood-lust-zoe-winters/1100247180?ean=2940150489257
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Zoe_Winters_Blood_Lust?id=6tSLBAAAQBAJ
Here’s a description for the new book, Unleash The Moon (which you actually can read out of order like any of my other titles. Readers generally pick the book that sounds best to them—or what’s on sale—then go back to the beginning to read the rest.):
Unleash The Moon:
… Can two souls trapped in separate cages ever find each other?
Twenty-six years have passed since the link between heaven and earth was severed and all hell broke loose. The fighting raged until the human magic users took over the cities, driving most of the preternaturals into hiding.
This is the world Sydney Burgess has grown up in, locked inside her father’s compound. As the daughter of a human mother and a vampire king, she has all the weaknesses of a vampire but none of their strengths. Anthony keeps her on a tight leash, ever-vigilant against the constant imagined threats to her safety. But all she wants is to break free and start a real life.
Noah Riley has lived in captivity for the past twenty years, so long he barely knows how to be a werewolf anymore. Even with a photographic memory, most of his past before the facility feels fuzzy at best. His strongest memories are of the little girl he protected during his childhood: Sydney. When he reaches his full power on his twenty-eighth birth moon, he’ll have a chance to break free to find her and finally reunite with his family.
But vampires and werewolves are mortal enemies. Even if Sydney is Noah’s true mate, the vampire king would kill him before he ever let a filthy werewolf near her, especially one of questionable sanity.
Unleash The Moon is on introductory sale, today only for $2.99 (regular retail $4.95) at:
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/unleash-the-moon
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Zoe_Winters_Unleash_The_Moon?id=teznBAAAQBAJ
Unleash The Moon is also available at Barnes and Noble but unfortunately not for sale (long, boring marketing story you don’t want to hear.):
Barnes and Noble $4.95: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/unleash-the-moon-zoe-winters/1120627387?ean=2940046361919&itm=1&usri=unleash+the+moon
If you’d like to know more about the reading order for the series go here (Even though reading in order isn’t strictly necessary, some people really like to read in order no matter what. So here you go):
http://zoewintersbooks.com/books-in-the-preternaturals-series/
If you’re a reader/fan and you’d like to know what is coming next, go here for that:
http://zoewintersbooks.com/2014/10/29/where-does-the-pretverse-go-from-here/
If you’re new and you’re like “Wow, this is SO much information without really telling me anything at all to judge whether or not I’m into this”… you might want to check out an excerpt for Unleash The Moon here:
GIVEAWAY:
And now… I want to do a giveaway. I’m going to give two signed copies of Unleash the Moon to commenters in the comments section. I’m happy to answer any questions you have about the series or any of the characters or about where we’re going in the future. If your post contains spoilers, please write SPOILERS, and I will do the same if my reply contains spoilers.
Don’t forget to grab Blood Lust on free or super sale while it is that way… and Unleash the Moon while it’s on sale for $2.99 (today only!)
And, tonight I’ll be having a release day party with some more giveaways at my Facebook page from 8pm to 10pm Eastern. Be there! Come chat with me! I love talking to my readers. (And my maybe potential future readers. Also, I swear I have not had any Red Bull today.)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zoe-Winters/216919815012598
Okay… hit me with comments. (If you can recover from all that blah blah.)
November 3, 2014
Newsletter Winner
Congratulations to Amanda Gylling! Amanda, you are the newsletter winner for October–you’ve won a $50 gift card! If you did not receive your email notification, please contact me at info@cynthiaeden.com to claim your prize.
Thanks so much, everyone! Have a great week!
October 31, 2014
Happy Halloween!!
Happy Halloween, everyone! Be safe, treat hard, and have fun!
October 29, 2014
LAST HERO STANDING – Available now!
LAST HERO STANDING is available now–and the anthology is just .99! That means you get eleven stories, 2000 pages, for just .99–that’s a serious deal! And you can find this anthology at:
Kindle: http://amzn.to/1x1oo3u
Nook: http://bit.ly/1CGXHEr
iTunes http://bit.ly/1x1qD6W
October 27, 2014
CHARMING THE BEAST – Out Now!
CHARMING THE BEAST is available now! You can get it for the Kindle or the Nook. It’s also available at iBooks, All Romance eBooks, and Google Play. (It is currently publishing at Kobo and should be available there soon!)
BLURB:
New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Cynthia Eden spins a dark and sexy new paranormal romance tale…
He’s a man with a beast inside…
Connor Marrok never intended to work for the Seattle Para Unit. He’s not one of the good guys—he’s a real monster, and the beast he carries doesn’t exactly play nicely. But now he finds himself being blackmailed into a new assignment. It’s supposed to be his last gig. His mission? Protect the beautiful Chloe Quick. Keep her alive. Destroy her enemies. Easy enough…until he starts to fall for Chloe.
She just wants to escape.
Chloe is tired of being a prisoner. She wants to get away from her Para Unit guard and run fast into the night. So what if Connor is the sexiest guy she’s ever met? Chloe knows trouble when she sees it, and Connor is one big, dangerous package of trouble. But, when an obsessed werewolf begins stalking Chloe, she realizes that her paranormal bodyguard may just be the one man she needs the most.
Their attraction is primal.
Every moment that Chloe and Connor spend together increases their attraction. Chloe has never felt a need so strong or a desire so dark. The beast that Chloe carries inside has always been silent, but Connor is stirring up her animal instincts. And as the danger and desire begin to twist together, Chloe wonders just how far she’d be willing to go…in order to spend one more night in Connor’s arms.
***
And you can check out an excerpt from CHARMING THE BEAST here.
(A quick note for readers who prefer print copies–the print version of CHARMING THE BEAST should be available next week.)
Have a fantastic Monday!
Also…be sure to stop by my Facebook page this week–I’ll be posting lots of giveaways!
October 23, 2014
CHARMING THE BEAST – Available 10/27/14
Are you in the mood to get your beast on this holiday season? Then be sure to check out CHARMING THE BEAST–available 10/27/14! CHARMING THE BEAST is the latest installment in my “Purgatory” paranormal romance series. Ready for more werewolves and vampires?
He’s a man with a beast inside…
Connor Marrok never intended to work for the Seattle Para Unit. He’s not one of the good guys—he’s a real monster, and the beast he carries doesn’t exactly play nicely. But now he finds himself being blackmailed into a new assignment. It’s supposed to be his last gig. His mission? Protect the beautiful Chloe Quick. Keep her alive. Destroy her enemies. Easy enough…until he starts to fall for Chloe.
She just wants to escape.
Chloe is tired of being a prisoner. She wants to get away from her Para Unit guard and run fast into the night. So what if Connor is the sexiest guy she’s ever met? Chloe knows trouble when she sees it, and Connor is one big, dangerous package of trouble. But, when an obsessed werewolf begins stalking Chloe, she realizes that her paranormal bodyguard may just be the one man she needs the most.
Their attraction is primal.
Every moment that Chloe and Connor spend together increases their attraction. Chloe has never felt a need so strong or a desire so dark. The beast that Chloe carries inside has always been silent, but Connor is stirring up her animal instincts. And as the danger and desire begin to twist together, Chloe wonders just how far she’d be willing to go…in order to spend one more night in Connor’s arms.
***
You can check out an excerpt from CHARMING THE BEAST here.
CHARMING THE BEAST isn’t available for pre-order, but it should be posted at all e-retailers on 10/27/14.
October 10, 2014
LAST HERO STANDING – .99 For a Great Cause
Hi, everyone! I am participating in a very special boxed set, and I wanted to share the news of that anthology with you. Below you will find the press release that was created for LAST HERO STANDING:
Authors donate to anthology to raise money for colleague stricken with breast cancer
Ten authors have donated their work to a box set of novellas to raise money for the medical expenses of a colleague stricken with breast cancer. The LAST HERO STANDING box set, which is set to release on Oct. 28, features 11 novellas for only 99 cents, including a novella and a bonus short story from New York Times bestseller Dianna Love. All the proceeds from sales of the box set will go toward the medical expenses of USA Today bestselling author Pamela Clare, who was diagnosed with breast cancer this past April and has been unable to work since then.
“Writers love to write, and we try to do it around every obstacle in life, because we have stories to tell and we love our readers who are eager to read those stories,” Love says. “But the life of a full-time writer is tough for those who wake up one day to find they’re facing a demanding disease such as cancer. Pamela Clare is in a battle with breast cancer, which means her writing takes a back seat while struggling through chemo treatments and other unexpected health issues that have popped up as well.
“For that reason, Norah Wilson and I brainstormed an idea that has turned into reality. I have the honor of being part of an incredible group of authors who jumped up to donate books for the LAST HERO STANDING box set that will be available only during the month of November (can be preordered in October), and we’re giving all proceeds to Pamela,” Love says.
In addition to two stories from Love and a novella from Clare, the set features the work of New York Times bestsellers Cynthia Eden, Elisabeth Naughton, Joan Swan and Bonnie Vanak; USA Today bestsellers Mary Buckham, Adrian Giordano and Norah Wilson; and award-winners Stephanie Rowe and Tracy Devlyn. The stories span the sub-genres of romantic fiction from contemporary to suspense to paranormal.
“When my friend and fellow author Pamela Clare received her breast cancer diagnosis, it quickly became obvious that she would need to take a hiatus from writing to devote herself to the battle,” Wilson says. “I wanted to help her, but was at a loss about how best to do that. The answer came in a conversation with Dianna Love, who volunteered to publish a benefit box set with a limited one-month run if I could wrangle willing authors. Let me tell you, that was the easiest job I’ve ever been given! The authors I approached were eager to lend their books to the cause. I am so proud of the lineup we were able to put together on very short notice.”
Everyone involved in the project donated 100 percent of their time, including the photographer and designer. The authors approached Jenn LeBlanc of Studio Smexy™, who is a personal friend of Clare’s, and asked her to donate the art. Brandy Walker of TEZ Graphics designed the cover.
“There was no hesitation when Norah messaged me about the cover for this very special anthology,” LeBlanc says. “I told her they could have any image from my site as an exclusive for this cover. It means a great deal to me because Pamela is one of my dearest friends, and I was happy to be able to help however I was able.”
Clare wasn’t made aware of the project until many of the pieces were already in place.
“When they told me what they wanted to do, I burst into tears,” Clare says. “It’s easy to feel alone when you’re going through chemo and miserable and bald. More than anything, this made me realize how many people in the romance community care.”
Clare was diagnosed with stage 1C breast cancer in April after a routine mammogram showed small calcifications in her left breast. She underwent a bilateral mastectomy in June, which revealed that the cancer had already spread to a single lymph node. She has almost completed chemotherapy and will be starting radiation treatments in November.
Although Clare has insurance, she is still required to pay co-pays and co-insurance, which add up quickly with multiple surgeries and drugs that cost more than $1,000 per injection. But the real struggle is paying for medical bills while not working. A full-time author, Clare hasn’t been able to write since she was diagnosed.
“The six weeks before surgery were like a waking nightmare,” she says. “I had no idea what I was facing, and the stress was overwhelming. I had three surgeries in the two months that followed, and then started chemo. I haven’t felt well enough to read, let alone write.”
New York Times best-seller Elisabeth Naughton knows from personal experience how devastating a major medical crisis can be to the life and livelihood of an author.
“Five years ago, I wound up in ICU with septic shock after a routine medical procedure,” Naughton says. “Thankfully, I survived the ordeal, but for at least six months after, while my body was busy healing, I was unable to write a single word. When the body is working so hard to repair itself, creativity takes a serious hit. I know what it’s like to be unable to write, so I’m happy to help Pamela in any way I can. This box set is just one way to show my support.”
The other authors in the box set understand this dilemma.
“As a full time writer, you’re kind of out there without a safety net,” Wilson says. “As long as you can write and publish new books regularly, all is right with the world. If you’re lucky. But when serious illness strikes and you can’t write or even promote for months at a stretch, your income dwindles pretty quickly. And that income shrinks at exactly the time you need it most.”
The box set is available for pre-order on Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, and Kobo. It will be available through November 30.
“The romance community is made up of some of the most generous and caring people on earth, both readers and writers,” Clare says. “And the thing that choked me up the most about this box set? The fact that they made my name pink and put me in the middle of what they called a ‘group hug.’ I’ll take all the hugs I can get.”
To read Clare’s breast cancer story, visit her blog at pamelaclare.blogspot.com.
Says Love: “I’m proud to know so many authors with generous hearts.”
***
LAST HERO STANDING is available for pre-order at the following retailers:
#Kindle: http://amzn.to/1x1oo3u
#Nook: http://bit.ly/1CGXHEr
#iBooks: http://bit.ly/1x1qD6W
#Kobo http://bit.ly/1xEK48M
