Lucy Monroe's Blog, page 63

52 Weeks of Romance from Lucy Monroe!

Week #5's Featured Book:
TOUCH MEby Lucy Monroe1st in Historical Trilogy Touch Me, Tempt Me & Take MeBerkley Sensation - September 2005ISBN 0-4252-0531-2
In her newest love story, bestselling author Lucy Monroe invites you into a world of dazzling beauty, daring adventure, and sensual delight...

Outspoken, opinionated Thea Selwyn is no ordinary lady. Raised in the exotic West Indies, she has none of the starchy propriety Pierson Drake is accustomed to—rather, there is a lush sensuality about this impulsive beauty that tempts him unmercifully. Her delectable curves and wide, innocent eyes are enticing enough, but her breathless response to his touch is a lure he can't resist.
On a voyage that takes them from tropical paradise to the glittering ballrooms of London, Thea and Drake are pulled into a firestorm of illicit passion. Thea knows that once they reach England, the secrets she's been keeping will kill whatever Drake feels for her. But Drake's own history has taught him the value of acceptance and the desolation of loss. Thea is the one women Drake has ever trusted with his heart, and he has no intention of losing her— not to the ghosts of the past or the threats of the present. But can he convince Thea to forget the hard lesson she's learned and take a chance on love?
Click here to see the book trailer. 


Contest Question
( Please leave your answer in the comment section.  Winners will be announced on Saturday.  If you leave your email address in your comment I will contact you regarding the prize otherwise you may check back on Saturday to see if you are the winner and email me.)



Thea and Drake are compelling characters. The resolution of the embezzling plot had a great twist that I enjoyed, as did Thea's confrontation with her father. There are two more Regency-set novels to follow about Thea's brother and sister. I'm looking forward to them. - Rakehell Reviews
Touch Me is the first book in the Trilogy of what family? 

Humpday Hottie!

How would you caption this picture?  

Retro Release February Contest!

February's Retro Release is out one day early!  Do you have this book yet?


MOON BURNING
by Lucy Monroe
ISBN-10: 0425239802
ISBN-13: 978-0425239803
A Children of the Moon Novel #3
Paranormal Historical Werewolf
Berkley Sensation - February 2011
Children of the Moon Website

Bestselling author Lucy Monroe returns to her hugely popular paranormal world where a woman falls under the spell of the beast who is her one true enemy...

Barr never asked to be made laird over the struggling Donegal clan, or leader of its werewolf pack. But he'll do his duty and although he hasn't yet found his mate, he hopes she will be among his people. He expects his new role to be difficult; he doesn't expect to discover a naked woman in the forest whose memory is as fragile as her human body—her delectable, all too appealing body. Could this woman be his true mate?

On a mission to save her people from extinction, Sabrine pretends she has no memory in order to gain access to her enemy: the Donegal clan. A raven shifter, she is determined to retrieve the sacred stone that rightfully belongs to her people. But soon she'll be engulfed in her burning desire and growing love for Barr—and the dangerous and inescapable secrets destined to keep them apart...

Click here to purchase this book.
Contest Question:Please leave your answer in the comment section.  Winners will be announced on Saturday.  If you leave your email address in your comment I will contact you regarding the prize otherwise you may check back on Saturday to see if you are the winner and email me.    
In Annie Rayburn's blog last Friday, she gives uses the following quote:
"The best books come from someplace deep inside.... Become emotionally involved. If you don't care about your characters, your readers won't either."  


What famous children's author did Annie Quote?

Writing...the Career Bane for Control Freaks

It's no secret in my family that I'm something of a control freak.  I've been working on it for what seems like my whole life.  But like the old adage, "Don't pray for patience or you're going to get opportunities to be patient," seeking to be less in control leads to the same thing.

You'd think writing would be the ideal career for a control freak like me, right?  After all, I get to create my own worlds and populate them with my characters who do what I want...if you're a writer, you're laughing already.  About the only thing true in that statement is that I get to create the world and well write it...but even my fictional world is subject to limits - be they historical fact, fantasy convention or simply that my characters refuse to inhabit a world of a certain point.
Right...fictional characters...more willful than my extremely stubborn children and their equally stubborn parents.  Characters do what they want and it's not so easy to change their course when an editor asks for revisions.  You'd think it would be, it's your book after all.  But you'd be wrong.  I've learned that when the characters won't change, I have to up my game as a writer - come up with better motivation for actions, flesh out the setting and background to make the world they insist on inhabiting make sense.
While recalcitrant characters are one of the biggest challenges to a writer's control freak tendencies, they are by no means alone.
Consider the muse, or imagination, or inspiration, or whatever else you want to call that thing in a writer's brain from which stories spring.  It's the most fickle, inconsistent, annoying thing ever.
No, seriously.  As a writer for three publishers (sometimes four), I have serious deadlines and the longer I write, the harder they are to meet sometimes.  Because I don't get to write what I want when I want, it can make the process of creating the book a heck of a lot more painful than it was before time-lines dictated when I worked on certain character's stories.
My editors have been supremely patient with me this last couple of years because of dealing with my mom's final health issue and subsequent death.  I can't tell you how grateful I am, but even with their understanding, sometimes my characters just kick my controlling butt.
I kid you not.
And that's just the creative side of writing...let's not get into the business, where undecipherable whim controls publisher support, book sales, reader reaction and the next contract's terms.
All-in-all, I couldn't have picked a career more guaranteed to beat back the control freak in me than that of being a writer.
It's your turn:  if you could do/be anything in the world, what would you do for a career/lifestyle?
I'll be honest, no matter how hard, there is nothing I can imagine more rewarding or challenging (which I *need*) than writing.  I love my job.
Hugs and happy reading,Lucy


P.S.  You might have seen in the sidebar, but I'm down 11 pounds - just over 10% to goal.  I'm SO happy about it and I'm loving the whole process so far. :)
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Weekly Contest Winner!

Congratulations  Patti P you will receive a copy of Lucy's Monroe's For Duty's Sake plus a $5.00 gift card for Amazon.com.

Please email me with your name and address so I can get your prize in the mail. 


For additional information on For Duty's Sake, please visit my website.





52 Weeks of Romance from Lucy  

Congratulations  patches22  you will receive a copy of Lucy's Monroe's award winning book The Real Deal. Please email me with your name and address so I can get your prize in the mail. 

Guest Blog - Annie Rayburn

Annie Rayburn author of "sizzling romance that tugs at your heart."
As a reader of romance and erotic romance, I want to be sucked into a book and live in the world the writer has created. I want to laugh and cry with the characters as they live their journey. 
Judy Blume says, "The best books come from someplace deep inside.... Become emotionally involved. If you don't care about your characters, your readers won't either."  
Her quote resonates with me. Not just because I'm a writer, but because I'm sometimes more empathetic than is comfortable. Yep, I'm one of those people who weeps over Hallmark greeting card commercials, sappy movies and even a few Folgers ads. I'd like to think my ability to connect through empathy makes me a better writer when it comes to feeling and expressing the emotions of my characters, but my readers will have to judge that for themselves. 
Sometimes it really sucks that I have to torture my characters before they can have their HEA (Happily Ever After). 
The world I've created with Insight, Phantoms & Fantasies and Bittersweet Obsessions is contemporary with a big twist: We've humanoid aliens living among us and they've been here for decades. They're as much a part of society as any other immigrant. My books take place in Dallas, Denver, Atlanta and Geneva, Switzerland. My "aliens" are from the planet Crainesian and their main difference from us is in the way they mate. When a Crainesian encounters their 'life-mate,' they experience an overwhelming surge of pheromones. To say they're attracted is putting it mildly. They also communicate telepathically and have the ability to share dreams, both platonic and erotic. 
But what happens if a half-Crainesian has been raised by his Human mother, knows nothing of his Crainy heritage and has never communicated with his thoughts? (Insight)
What if the woman has suffered through a brutal attack that's left her distant and distrustful of the opposite sex? How would her mate go about winning her heart? (Phantoms & Fantasies)Yes, when a writer is crazy enough to create characters who immediately recognize their intended life-mate, you have to put powerful obstacles in their path to happiness. Sometimes even taking away the one person they've been waiting for all their life, as I did in my latest release, Bittersweet Obsessions:
Three men. One woman. Who will trigger her obsession?
When it comes to love, they believe in one perfect mate,but putting the centuries-old belief to the test
could bring them everything they desire.
In a culture where it's believed each person has only one life-mate, what happens when yours is beyond your reach? Teriza feels the mating call to a man married to a Human. Unwilling to be the cause of infidelity, Teriza distances herself from her mate after an intense pheromone-charged encounter that leaves her in precarious health. She requires treatment and is sent to a clinic in Switzerland, where sexual surrogates are employed to heal such conditions.
After Paul Craddock's life-mate died, he turned to surrogacy to ease the pain of loneliness. His reaction to Teriza surprises him by being more than a casual attraction. He's intrigued to discover she feels the same. They experiment with the Human way of courtship, but the ultimate bond that Crainesians experience eludes them.
Teriza fears Paul cannot be content with her since he's experienced heartglow during his previous marriage. Paul worries that the existence of Teriza's life mate makes him the consolation prize, good enough, but not her first choice.
Though they are falling in love, they're in uncharted territory without the engulfing pheromone storm of life-mates to guide them. Will they learn to trust their feelings and listen to their hearts before it's too late? 
If these premises resonate with you, or you'd like to learn more about my writing, you can connect with me on my website, Facebook and Twitter.
As a reader of romance, what do you look for? Alpha or beta heroes? Independent heroines? Do you have favorite story lines, eras or settings? 

52 Weeks of Romance from Lucy Monroe!

Week #4's Featured Book: Taken: The Spaniard's VirginBook 2 in the Mediterranean Brides seriesHarlequin Presents - July 2007ISBN 0-373-12644-1© 2007 Lucy Monroe
Excerpt from Chapter 1
"Drop your head a little to the left. That's right. Good, Amber, good."
Amber Taylor moved to the direction of the photographer, the hot Spanish sun baking her skin despite the high factor sunscreen slathered on under her body sheen. She didn't complain though. The shoot was her first truly big ad campaign as well as her first big international contract.
At twenty-four, she was either on the cusp of making it big in modeling, or sliding into mediocrity. Mediocrity was not an option. She'd been modeling since her early teens and had sacrificed sleep, chocolate and a social life for her chosen career. She was determined to make it big.
It helped that her mom was on her side. A widow, who had raised Amber on her own, Helen Taylor was an amazing woman. She'd sacrificed herself for Amber's career and loved her only daughter enough to remind her when to exercise and when not to eat...too much.
Amber had been living on a low calorie diet so long, she didn't even get hungry anymore. Helen was careful to make sure that the food Amber did eat was uber nutritious. She'd even given up her own comforts so that she could afford to hire a personal trainer for Amber. Helen Taylor had provided Amber what she needed to hone her body into the perfect form for modeling.
Her mom's support of her dream meant everything to Amber and she had every intention of repaying it with success.
"Okay...lift the phone like a victory fist and smile."
Amber lifted the trim flip phone high in the air and gave her signature smile, one that her agent said promised the world and everything in it.
A whistle sounded from her left and unexpected tingles traveled up her spine and down her arms. It was if someone with an electric gaze was watching her. Which was just plain silly. Superman might have x-ray vision, but he was fiction and no real person actually had the ability to touch someone else with a look. Only, she felt touched. Caressed even.
Doing her best to mentally shrug off the odd feeling, she turned up the wattage on her smile and the whistle sounded again. This time low and suggestive. It was all Amber could do not to clench her thigh muscles. She never reacted like this.
Never.Click to continue reading.
Contest Question
(Write your entry in the comment section below - winners will be posted on Saturday.  Answers to the questions can be found on my webpage.)


This book is very special to me and I chose to dedicate to some very special people.  This week's question challenges you to reread the dedication to this book and hopefully you will find it as special as I do.  Who did I dedicate this book to? (...and for those of you thinking it was my mother, yes she was VERY special to me, but this book is dedicated to a special group of people - you'll just have reread it to see.)This book is available for purchase on Kindle.

Humpday Hottie!

Up for a little dinner and then maybe dessert?

Retro Release January Contest!

Do you have this book yet?  This is your last chance this month to enter to win a copy of For Duty's Sake - January's Retro Release.  To enter, simply answer a question from the previous week's blog posts.

For Duty's SakeUSA Today Bestseller ListMass Market PaperbackHarlequin Presents #2993 - June 2011ISBN - 10:0373129939 ISBN -13: 978-0373129935
Review by Judy Flohr
For Duty's Sake is an absolute compelling story of love and second chances. Zahir and Angele are both willing to fight for this relationship after they realize its depth and power in their lives. I just love Lucy Monroe's Sheikh's series just when I think I have read my favorite another one comes along. You won't be sorry to pick up this delightful book

Contest Question:
Leave a comment with your answer to the question and you will be placed in the drawing - winners will be announced on Saturday)
Last week Dani Harper stopped by to chat with us.  She gave a great interview.  What exciting thing did she do to research her new book Fourth and Goal?

Some Big Changes for Me This Year

I am a Type II diabetic and have been for a few years.  Did diagnosis change my lifestyle?  For a while it did, but then I got complacent and well...lazy.  There were so many other things to worry about, my sedentary lifestyle, often eating only once -  maybe twice - a day, sugar binges and blood sugar levels within the normal ranges *for a diabetic* didn't really make it on the list.
But then a couple of weeks before Christmas, my blood sugars started going dangerously high.  Scared the crap out of me, honestly.  So, what did I do?  Stop testing them.  Yep, real effective that. ;-)  Not!  Then, the week of Christmas, the mother of one of my daughter's friends learned she was going to lose the bottom half of her leg...due to complications from her diabetes.
Wake up call?  A resoundingly loud one with the ringtone of archangels, if you really want to know.

I knew I had to do something because, see...I want to be walking in ten years.  I want to be healthy.  Bending over to tie my own shoes, still running after the grandkids.
I won't be, if I don't do something now.  My mom was a Type II diabetic.  She didn't let the disease beat her though.  That's all down to the Hep C that ravaged her body until the last flicker of light died in her eyes.
But caring for Mom during more than a dozen years of her fighting fatal liver failure taught me something.  If I have the choice, I don't want my own children in that same space.  I can't know what the future might bring, but I know that I do have a choice about some things.
Like my weight.  Like my Type II Diabetes.  Like my overall health.  I may not be able to prevent cancer or some unknown disease, but I can make choices now that exponentially increase my chances of living a productive, healthy life for decades to come.
The week after Christmas, my baby sister told me she'd signed up for the Hillsboro Fitness Challenge.  Did I want to do it to?
Did I?  Oh, yes!!!
So, I told my kids and my husband and they *all* enthusiastically agreed to pursue health with me.  They've not only joined the challenge, but we're all using MyFitnessPal to track our food, exercise and weight loss progress.
I started on January 9th and so far, I've eaten WAY better, exercised every day but 2 and lost 7.4 pounds.  I've learned I absolutely LOVE water aerobics! :)  I'm already stronger and more able to run up and down my stairs at home.  My blood sugars have dropped to much more acceptable levels and I'm no longer at risk for going on insulin.  I'm still on Metformin, but I'm hoping that will change once I lose enough weight.
I'm crying as I write this because I really want to give my children and grandchildren a healthy me.  They deserve it.  My mom, who never gave up for our sake, deserves it!
She didn't have a choice in so much, but what she had a choice in?  She did her utmost to make work with her body.  She nursed a Level 4 liver failure through more than a decade and stayed alive for us.I *will* be that strong for my children.  I will change my lifestyle and that of my immediate family get togethers to one that is healthier and more conducive to keeping us all active and strong in the years to come.
The Hillsboro Fitness Challenge ends in 2.5 months.  I'm trying my best to win the weight loss portion, but I think my baby sister or husband might just beat me.  If they do?  I'll consider it a win for all of us.  Because it will be.
I'll need a renewed commitment at that time.  I'm usually smart enough to know my weaknesses and potential pitfalls, and I see this one coming.
So, look for a Lucy Monroe Reader Fitness Challenge coming in April.  I'll post the details later, but know that I plan to provide prizes and parameters that will enthusiastically encourage the other people in my life I love best to be as healthy as I'm hoping my family will be.  My readers.
Watch this space for more details and updates on my healthy lifestyle efforts.
Mega hugs and healthy days ahead to each and every one of you!Lucy
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