Lucy Monroe's Blog, page 69

Humpday Hottie!

Just Chillin....

Weekly Prize Giveaway!

Be sure to enter November's contest each week for your chance to win a title from Lucy's backlist. Just leave a comment on any post that is open to comments and you are entered in the drawing. We are bringing back some oldies but goodies. This weeks title is....
Star Qualitywith Moon Magnetismby Lucy MonroeOriginally published December 2008Mass Market PaperbackKensington BravaISBN-10: 0758210086ISBN-13: 978-0758210081
Moonstruck by Dianne Castell
For years, Julia Simon has had the worst luck, married to a man who cheated on her left, right, and center. Now, the pretty divorcee is ready for her luck to change, and it is…big time. Ever since she unknowingly performed a Blue Moon ritual, Julia's wishes seem to be coming true. So why not wish for wild, unbridled passionate sex with hunky P.I. Marc Adams? Well, because when it happens, it's so amazingly good, that's why. Now, with the blue moon due to end in three days' time, Julia can only wonder if it's just a spell or the start of a whole new life…
Be careful of wishful thinking. It just might get you everything…
This title is still available for purchase.

Insomnia, the new Nook, DWTS & Thanksgiving

So, I've had trouble sleeping at night for the past few weeks and it's driving me nuts.  I've tried (repeatedly -  nothing like a can-do attitude ::g::) re-reading books I love - but know well - in the hopes that the reading will help my brain get tired without me getting so involved in the story that I have to stay up to finish it.  Again.  It doesn't work!  There's a reason the books are on my re-read shelves (either in my library downstairs or the digital one on my computer).  They're good. :)  I mean, I'm not going to re-read a book that's boring, right?

Okay, so that doesn't work.  Neither does reading new books (though I've gone through dozens of them in the last weeks).  In the unlikely event I actually get tired, the story calls to me and I finish it before falling into slumber.  And while my brain may work well enough to read, it's not up to writing anything coherent at 3 AM.  The problem with insomnia is that I can be so physically tired my body aches and my mind is barely functioning, but I *cannot* go to sleep.

I've started light therapy and taking 5HTP again - hopefully I'll be sleeping at night again VERY soon. :)

But lets say I don't...staying up reading in an empty house is lonely.  Only I prefer the eBook readers with liquid ink.  Less strain on my eyes.  Can't read them in bed with Hubcap though.  I've tried reading lights and they fall off, get in the way and never give off enough light.  If they're bright enough, they keep him awake.  Sigh..

So, I'm thinking about getting the new Nook Tablet.  It's soooo cool!  Then I could read in bed without keeping Hubcap awake.  Right?  *That's* why I want it. LOL  Also, I can keep *all* my eBooks on it (except those on my Kindle, but it's not like I'm going to toss it our right?).  The only other place I can do that is my computer.  The Nook Tablet comes with more onboard memory than other eReaders and tablets,. it's sleek in design and weighs almost nothing.  Okay, okay, okay...I'll admit it, my inner geek is so wanting this piece of technology. :)  It's definitely on my hope-with-my-fingers-and-toes-crossed-I-get-it-for-Christmas list! What do you think of it?  Does anyone have it yet?  I'm not sure waiting for Christmas is going to work...

I mean if I got it, I could even keep up with news on my favorite shows, like Dancing With the Stars.  Who do you think is going to take home the Mirror Ball trophy?  I honestly don't know and all three of the finalists are favorites for different reasons.  Ricki Lake is an inspiration to me personally on so many levels and JR Martinez is both a heroic inspiration and a really nice guy.  Then there's Rob Kardashian who has worked his tushy off (not literally of course - he's got a very nice perdonkadonk - just don't tell Hubcap I said so) to improve and is now dancing at par with the other two.  I'm just amazed by all three of them and won't be disappointed no matter who walks home with the trophy.  Or dances rather. ;-)  We'll know tomorrow night, will you be watching with me?

Regardless of who wins, I'll have plenty to say, "Thank you" to God for on Thanksgiving.  My life is filled with the blessing of love.  It's not perfect, it's not always easy - but I have love and that's the most important thing to me.  My family fills my life with joy, despite my stupid agoraphobia and borderline social phobia.  So, even if it's hard to leave the house to go shopping and maybe I struggle with being online every once in a while - I'm so grateful to be me, because being me means I have 4 amazing children (by birth, adoption & marriage) and 2 young men I share with their families in Korea as sons, 2 healthy, loving, adorable and intelligent granddaughters and the best husband any woman could ever ask for.  Mom may be waiting in Heaven for me, but the rest of my family is here and will be showing up at my house on Sunday for our Thanksgiving-slash-winter birthdays celebration.

My Family at DQ's Wedding
Little Fashionista & Miss Sparklepants w/ Grandma :)I am also extremely grateful for my friends, my readers and a publishing industry that lets me make a living doing what I adore!

The holidays are overwhelming to me, but they are worth every moment of stress as I share my delight in life, my gratitude to God and for my family with the ones whom I love and who love me most. :)

It's your turn:  what is on your Christmas wish list this year?  If I could have absolutely anything?  It would be a few hours to chat with my mom again from before her stroke - when she remembered everything. :)

Thanksgiving Party with TRS!

Be sure to stop by The Romance Studio's Thanksgiving Party! There will be lots of giveaways and chats with authors! Check it out - I'll be giving away a copy of The Spy Who Wants Me!

Contest Prizes for this Week's Give Away!

I hope everyone had a great week! The winner of this weeks blog contest is.....
Nas Dean
Thanks for visiting my blog this week! Please email me with your name and address so I can get your prize in the mail. Happy Reading.

Bodyguards In Bed - Review

Bodyguards In Bed offers three stories by three great authors - here is one review of Lucy's story Who's Been Sleeping in My Brother's Bed?
Reader Review from Amazon.comBodyguards In Bed has three delightful and compelling stories. Each has an element of danger and intrigue to make these bodyguards jump into action to protect those they care about. The chemistry between all three couples is tantalizing and all out sexy. Lucy Monroe and Jamie Denton are auto buys for me. Elisabeth Naughton is a new author for me and I will be looking for her books from now on as well. Great job ladies.

BODYGUARDS IN BEDby Lucy Monroe(with Jamie Denton & Elizabeth Naughton)Kensington Brava - June 2011 (05-31-11)Trade PaperbackISBN-10: 0758210337ISBN-13: 978-0758210333
Whose Been Sleeping in my Brother's Bed?
Roman Chernichenko's baby sis is in trouble. She shows up at his apartment needing help and a safe place to be right now, but Roman is in Africa. Only the apartment's not empty. One of his Atrati team is staying at Roman's place while *his* apartment is under renovation. They've met — at Beau & Elle's wedding. She thinks he's freaking hot, he thinks she freakin' off limits, being Roman's baby sister and all. She might be an academic geek, but she knows what she wants and she sets out to get it — Mr. Hottie Super Soldier won't know what hit him ... and beat him to the mattress after.
Buy: Borders ~ B&N ~ Chapters ~ Books-a-Million ~Amazon

Guest Author Interview - Margaret Mallory

Margaret Mallory has stopped by today for an interview. We welcome the opportunity to learn more about you and your new release.
Let's get started....What is your favorite thing to do when you are not writing?
My favorite things to do are reading and watching movies. Unfortunately, I've found I have a lot less time to do either since I became an author. When I can get away, I love to hike or travel with my family.
What books are sitting in your TBR pile right now?
The Viper by Monica McCarty, In Bed with a Highlander by Maya Banks, The Heir by Grace Burrowes, Taken by the Prince by Christina Dodd, Midnight's Wild Passion by Anna Campbell, Lord Langley is Back in Town by Elizabeth Boyle, and Tempted by Fate by Kate Perry. That's just one pile. I'm way behind on my reading!
How did you come up with the setting for THE RETURN OF THE HIGHLANDERS series?
Since I write adventurous romances, I look for a period with a lot of conflict. I found exactly what I wanted in the year 1513, in the wake of the Scots' disastrous loss to Henry VIII's forces at the Battle of Flodden. My four Highland heroes return from France to find their king and chieftain dead, a rebellion brewing, factions fighting for control of the crown, and their clan in grave danger.
I still had to decide where in the Highlands my heroes would call home, which meant finding a clan for them. When I discovered that the first chieftain of the MacDonalds of Sleat had six sons by six different women and that the animosity among the six sons led to two generations of murder, I knew I had found my clan. Consequently, my heroes return home to the beautiful Isle of Skye.
Please share something you found most interesting or fun you did to research your book?
I was very lucky to be able to take a trip to Scotland with my daughter to do research for this series, and the trip was amazing! (I have slide shows with photos from my trip on my website.) I turned in the manuscript for the first book, THE GUARDIAN, just before I got on the plane, but I knew I would have the opportunity to make changes if I found that the places in the book did not look like I had imagined them.
Seeing the ruins of "my" clan's castles that I was using in my books was so incredible I wanted to weep. The Isle of Skye was gorgeous, and I kept finding new places I wanted to put in my books.
I had not planned to include Edinburgh in any of the books. After exploring Edinburgh Castle and going on an underground tour of medieval Edinburgh, I decided I had to send the hero and heroine of THE SINNER on a journey there. Thanks to my trip, my hero gets tossed into a cell in the bowels of Edinburgh Castle by the Duke of Albany. Such fun!

Action adventure or romantic comedy? What is your favorite movie lately?
I've seen one of each kind lately that I'd happily see a second time. I absolutely LOVED the young heroine in Hanna, a futuristic action-drama. (Eric Bana, who plays Hanna's father, was a bonus.) I laughed my head off watching Bridesmaids. These two movies couldn't be more different, but I enjoyed them both.


I'd love to respond to comments or questions! I'll give a signed copy of THE GUARDIAN, Book of THE RETURN OF THE HIGHLANDERS, to one of the commenters. Thanks for having me as a guest, Lucy!

Humpday Hottie!

A little dip in the hot tub with a hottie is sure to keep you warm on these cold November nights!

Art, Bullies & Myths

I just got done reading Marathon Cowboys by the very talented Sarah Black.  She poses an interesting dilemma that many artists (be they painters, writers or musicians) face.  That is: when does art get too real?  I've read books where authors use actual men or women in their lives to people the pages, seen paintings done of real life that are heart breaking and soul affirming, listened to music that cuts so close to the bone, you know its about something personal for both the songwriter and singer.  We all have.
I'll admit it was really disconcerting the first time I read a book where the heroine was named and styled after a mutual friend of the other author and myself.  I think there's a legal issue in there I'd never want to deal with and reading the love scenes was in a word - awkward, but I'll admit freely to seeing bits of my sisters and daughters in different heroines and my husband in all my heroes.  I explain it like this:  characters are like people in real life.  We rub off on each other the better we know each other.  Sometimes I'll say something that sounds just like my sister; sometimes I'll accuse my niece of channeling her older brothers.  It's life...we leave bits of ourselves on the people we touch and vice versa.  So too with characters, my characters are touched by my life and vice versa. :) [Which is a Latin phrase meaning the other way around, by the way.]
But when does borrowing (subconsciously or wholly aware) from life to make art work become invasive and unacceptable?  I can't answer as either an artist or inspiration for anyone else, only myself.
I've had people ask me to write them into a book and I've always refused because my characters are too real to me to be carbon copies of people I know.  I've used names that are similar to or exactly that of my children or nieces and nephews, but with characteristics wholly different from their namesakes. I'm not sure I could do that now they're all adults (or close to it)...it's too hard for me to write feeling the constraints of what a character is supposed to be rather than what they simply are.  And Heaven forbid someone thought I was saying they were like that, when the character is nothing like them at all. :)
The exception?  Villains (both male and female).  I've used the names of people who have hurt me, or those I loved to moniker the least likable of my characters, the ones I don't try to redeem.  It's pretty cathartic really. :)  Seriously...it helped me works through some of my deepest abandonment issues with my dad and the stepfather I called Dad until he walked out of my life without a backward glance.
But it's kind of like reality TV...at what point does the artist (or viewer) need to step back because courtesy and compassion are not dead anachronisms in our society?  I love Dancing With the Stars, but was wholly unprepared to do a search on reaction to the show one week only to find this incredible amount of animosity and hatred being directed toward Kim Kardasian, who isn't a contestant even - just the sibling to one.  Whether or not reality stars are what I like to think of as celebrities, I was absolutely appalled by the bullying going on and the clear numbness to it in evidence.  Really?  In the name of art...or public reaction to it - we're going to turn a blind eye to behavior that would have made my mother cry.
She was such an amazing woman, my mom and some days I miss her so bad, I can barely breathe...but she taught us that bullying was wrong.  As a customer (who might always be right, but who should darn well be courteous), as a student, as a person - full stop, period.
When I was in the fourth grade, my mom got called to my school.  (Mom got called to school more often for me - her straight A student - than my pot smoking brother or kleptomaniac sister.  Thank goodness my two oldest siblings and the youngest weren't quite as demanding, or Mom would never have survived our school years.)  Anyway, back to my story...mom got called because I was boycotting my classroom.  Why?  Some of the kids were bullying my best friend and the teacher hadn't made them stop, or apologize.  A favorite teacher, she was not spared my wrath however.  Not when it came to tolerating meanness.  Mom refused to tell me to go back to class.  The principal and my teacher were beside themselves, even more so when Mom gave them a lesson in teaching morals, not just the three Rs. ;-)  The kids were made to apologize and you know - they never bullied my friend again.  Some meanness can be stopped and should.
I don't think boycotting certain websites is going to stop the cyber trolls from their nasty work, but it will stop at least one person from feeding it...me. :)  Yep, I still boycott bullies.  There are fan sites for shows I no longer visit because the other fans spend way more time stirring up animosity toward others than focusing on why they love the show.  There is one book review site I won't ever link to or even link to other sites that link to it.  There are others I visit rarely because of their tendency toward bullying and I've stopped reading reviews (of my books and others) that start with any sort of bullying language.  Maybe it won't make a difference to the bullies, but it will to me...it will to the writer or personality I stand up for verbally or with my own reader review.
And to bring this full circle, have I ever named a villain after these particular bullies?  Nope.  Mom taught me that too...don't give bullies recognition of any kind.  They thrive on attention and I won't be giving it to them.
Where do myths come in?  Well, it's the myth that people in the public eye should have to put up with anything and everything because they chose their lifestyle.  Mom said malarkey on that and so do I.  Is a celebrated actor under more scrutiny than a grocery clerk?  Most certainly.  Should we be rude to either just because we can?  Certainly not.
It's your turn: going back to the beginning...how would you feel about finding yourself starring as the lead in a book, or the focal point of a well-known painting or the subject of a song that thousands of others are going to hear on the radio?

Weekly Prize Giveaway!

Be sure to enter November's contest each week for your chance to win a title from Lucy's backlist. Just leave a comment on any post that is open to comments and you are entered in the drawing. We are bringing back some oldies but goodies. This weeks title is....
ReadyOriginally published July 20081st Book in Mercenary Trilogy Ready, Willing & AbleMass Market PaperbackKensington BravaISBN-10: 075820874XISBN-13: 978-0758208743
Reader Review:"Just wanted to drop you a line and tell you I LOVE your book 'Ready'. I can't put it down, I can't wait for the other two books to come out. You make the characters come to life, and I like that you make them with a soft side to them and not all hard and uncaring. I like a little mystery in combine with romance in an well written book. Keep up the good work and I'm counting the months until 'Willing' & 'And Able' come out. Thank You for the great escape from reality for a little while." ~ Michele
All Three books in this series are available for purchase: Ready, Willing, And Able