Nancy Gideon's Blog, page 36

IWSG: Spring Ahead . . . in Your Writing

"It's Spring! Does this season inspire you to write more than others, or not?" That is the Insecure Writers Support Group question for May. This month's topic has been a looooooong time coming for this author in the Never-ending Winter state of Michigan. No way I should STILL be scraping my car windows during the last week of April! But then Spring arrived on May Day at 81 whooping and long-awaited degrees. Yes! I feel renewed!

As a self-proclaimed member of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), I spend at least half the year yearning for my hit of Vitamin D. Then, like a grizzly bear emerging from its den, I tip my groggy creative mind toward those first warm rays (my windows open when it hits 55!) to feel that rush of spring-spiration. With my gravity recliner facing the light, headphones on, I bask in its comforting embrace, feeling my thoughts begin to stir and stretch toward the heat, pushing through the dark sluggishness of my winter plots to push through with bright new twists and turns of dialogue. Spring has sprung and I'm in imaginative full bloom at last.


The only thing better than enjoying a spring day is enjoying it with writer friends at a weekend retreat on the water. Even though it was only in the 40s-50s, I found myself on the balcony of my room, warming my hands on my coffee cup to watch the sunrise. Ahhh. It just doesn't get any better. I turn back to the keyboard reluctantly, but with new vigor, as my pages fly and word count soars during a morning break alone.

That burst of energy followed me home and even impatiently waits for my lunch hour at work so I can get back to my WIP. So, yes. Spring is all about revitalization of the writer's soul in my book, and on my ever increasing number of pages. Soak it up (and don't forget sunscreen!)!

Amazon | B&N | Kobo | iBooks | Goodreads
Another good thing has popped up this month: MIDNIGHT GAMBLE, from my vampire series "Touched by Midnight" is on SALE for just $.99 through the 15th. Sink your teeth in and wear those sunglasses at (mid)night.
Can't wait to find out what my fellow IWSG pals think of my favorite growing season. Bloom where you're planted!


The Insecure Writer’s Support Group
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time.The awesome co-hosts for the May 2nd posting of the IWSG will be E.M.A. Timar, J. Q. Rose, C.Lee McKenzie, and Raimey Gallant!
Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!

Twitter hashtag is #IWSG

WeWriWa: Opposites Attract

The rescue of a damsel in distress followed by awkward conversation, moving to sparking attraction between an unlikely pair . . . and last week’s first homecooked meal . . . Next step, sharing intimate details. Hard to do when you both harbor secrets that will ruin everything once they’re told.


He’s from a warrior shapeshifter clan planted in her father’s household to find information to destroy her family. She’s . . . much, much more than the empathetic fortune teller who intuits more than she should. But opposites still attract . . .

"I wish I could meet them."

He drew up so suddenly, she almost upended the rest of the leftovers onto his very deliciously shaped rear end when he glanced over his shoulder, his expression one of almost comical surprise as he blurted out, "Really, you would?"

"Well," she amended, "I've gotten a pretty good look at your brothers." She grinned at her recall of their R-rated dance moves, then, her smile growing wistful, she added, "But I think I'd really like your family, your mom." That came out a lot more poignantly sappy than she intended, waking a tender light in his eyes that made her laugh uncomfortably. "I didn't mean that in a needy, poor little orphan way."

"That's not how I took it."

Guys didn't want to think about their mom and sex in the same calendar year. What had she been thinking to bring up such a thing?

She'd been thinking she wanted to get to know more about him than just how he was between the sheets.

Home to meet his mother? Whoa! That’s a big step . . . especially when she doesn’t know what she’s stepping into.

Hopefully, by the time you read this, I’ll have finished this portion of the book during our RWA chapter’s weekend Retreat from Harsh Reality with its hours upon hours dedicated to getting words on the page.


As PRINCE OF DREAMS revs up in its second half, here’s a reminder of what’s led up to it. There’s still time to catch up.

     
Prince of Honor: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | iBooks | Goodreads
Prince of Power: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | iBooks | Goodreads
Prince of Fools: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | iBooks | Goodreads

Happy Spring and Happy Writing, fellow Warriors!


Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly hop for everyone who loves to write! Share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday. Visit other participants on the list and read, critique, and comment on their 8sunday posts.

Spread the word, share the love, warriors - Hashtag #8sunday.

WeWriWa: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

That first meal cooked for your hopefully soon to be significant other. Lights low. Anticipation high . . . That's where today's excerpt finds my hero and heroine from PRINCE OF DREAMS. Bon Appetit!

The kitchen was dark, a faint flicker of light leading him through an equally silent dining room to a bumped out private nook lit by candles . . . and by Ophelia Brady's tempting gaze. 

"I bet you're hungry," she purred, pulling out one of the two tapestry chairs for him to settle into. 

"Starved," he assured taking the seat, inhaling in anticipation, drawing in the rich flavors of the meal and the more appealing aroma of the female whose fingertips traced along his shoulders as she moved to sit opposite. Muted shadows played over her features in a caress as tempting and mysterious as her small smile. 

"I hope you'll find everything worth the wait." 

"Oh, I have no doubts whatsoever." 

They ate in silence, his low moans of pleasure and gratified glances as he devoured the meal conveying everything Phe needed to hear as she kept their glasses refilled with a very nice wine. The decadent spiced food, the tickling bouquet of spirits, the visual feast her dinner companion presented combined to overwhelm her senses. If Saint Peter snatched her out of her chair at that very instant, she'd have no regrets. Except one. The one promised in his simmering stare.

We’ll find out where this intimate dinner takes them next week . . .
FINALLY! With my new “Fridays are writing days” schedule in place (down to a 4-day work week), I'm past the halfway point in PRINCE OF DREAMS. After spending last weekend doing a complicated time line, because the events from all four books in the House of Terriot  series overlap (Whose brilliant idea was it for THAT to happen?), things are really on a roll. Now, I’m looking forward to our Mid-Michigan Chapter of Romance Writers of America's annual Retreat next weekend. Because I'm job free on Fridays, I can attend the all-day Write-In that day and sneak off to my favorite inspirational window on the world for some snatches at the keyboard time on Saturday. Writer nirvana!

Now that it's FINALLY spring here in Michigan (Hope I didn't speak prematurely!), I'm looking forward to writing with windows cracked open to invigorate the ole brain pan. Hope all my WeWriWa pals are ready to bloom where their stories are planted!

Happy (finally/hopefully) Spring, fellow Warriors!

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly hop for everyone who loves to write! Share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday. Visit other participants on the list and read, critique, and comment on their 8sunday posts.

Spread the word, share the love, warriors - Hashtag #8sunday.

WeWriWa: PRINCE OF DREAMS – Meet the Family . . .

One of the least anticipated and anxious moments of a new relationship is that first meet and greet with their family. Will you like them? Will they like you? Will you fit in comfortably or wish you could run screaming in the opposite direction at first sight? Those first impressions can make or break a budding romance. Since I’m returning to my WIP, PRINCE OF DREAMS, it’s time for Ophelia to meet the family . . . who aren’t quite what she expected. They’re . . . more. But what, exactly?

Kip’s brothers shared the same brutally handsome looks. A powerful air of danger swirled about them like an exotic cologne. With the unblinking intensity of their stares and almost predatory body postures, their unnatural stillness produced a violent energy rippling from them with the force of an approaching tsunami. The uncomfortable press of a foreign presence closed in around her, creating an almost suffocating threat. 

What was wrong with these people? The diamonds in their ears, the flash, the suits, the eddies of danger. Illegal commodities dealers? Blackwaterish thugs? Her father’s profession gave her a foolproof underworld detector, and readings were jumping all over the place. Her intuitive nature urged her to run for her life . . . while she could.

Family seems an appropriate theme as I’m hosting my 10-year-old grandguy for his Spring Break. First you notice while most things are the same, some are subtly different. But what exactly has changed? It takes a while to pick up on the differences (and hey, kids are strange, foreign little creatures at their best!) as they evolve from cute, cuddly youngsters to opinionated near teens. But after an awkward adjustment, it’s like no time has passed at all.

At least I didn’t discover he’s from a family of powerful shapeshifters! (Or maybe that would explain a lot!).

It’s off to the mall to see if the little guy is more Toys R Us or Game Stop these days. The fun is in the discovery. I hope after a few chapters my heroine will agree . . .

Happy Writing, fellow Warriors and Happy Where the Heck Is Spring?

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly hop for everyone who loves to write! Share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday. Visit other participants on the list and read, critique, and comment on their 8sunday posts.

Spread the word, share the love, warriors - Hashtag #8sunday.

IWSG: Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling . . .

The OPTIONAL IWSG Day Question for April is, appropriately enough: When your writing life is a bit cloudy or filled with rain, what do you do to dig down and keep on writing?


We all have those gloomy days . . . the words won't come, and those that do, are awful at best. There's distracting drama on the publishing or family front. You've hit a plot snag or, like me, find out you're being downsized on your day job to the tune of 30% of your hours. Talk about a thunder storm! Sometimes, it's more a monsoon than just a passing shower and your brain gets too waterlogged to spin a creative phrase.

If I can't (and sometimes, I just can't!) power through it just to get those words onto the page so I'll have something to edit later, I give myself permission to step away. We're not talking a major Walkabout, just some breathing room until the juices start to flow again and the fickle Muses are appeased. I don't like to venture far from the keyboard on work time. Sometimes, all it takes is a brief read-through of what I've already done to get momentum going in the right direction. Sometimes, it's some research I skipped over or have on the horizon. When I bumped up against a puddle too deep and wide to jump over this past weekend with my WIP, I took advantage of the break in inspiration to use some perspiration instead to create a much-needed timeline to knit PRINCE OF DREAMS, the fourth and final book in my "House of Terriot" dark paranormal shapeshifter series, together with overlapping earlier books. And found some REAL potholes! They were much easier to fill now rather than later, once I'd completed the entire book upon a fault line.

Sometimes, a little rain is a good thing. Good for washing away grimy stuff that's built up to present a fresh new look. Good for making things grow and bloom. Good for encouraging roots to sink deep. Excellent for coaxing a rainbow!

Sink those roots, fellow IWSG friends, and let your creativity blossom!


The Insecure Writer’s Support Group
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time.The awesome co-hosts for the April 4th posting of the IWSG will be Olga Godim, Chemist Ken, Renee Scattergood, and Tamara Narayan!
Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!

Twitter hashtag is #IWSG

WeWriWa: Return of the Traveler . . .

Absence provides a step back, bringing the calm assessment one can't always achieve when in the thick of things. Having just returned from seven days in Arizona, a mini-retreat of mind and body from daily toil and frantic busyness, I can appreciate that zen of hindsight just as my hero, Connor Amberson does in this excerpt from my new re-release, SWEET TEMPEST.

None of this was as he'd planned. His stay in London was torture, so sure he'd been that she'd relent and beg him to come home to her. But as weeks went by and no word came, he grew more and more agitated, beginning to fear he'd made a terrible error. And when the missive came, its contents were not what he'd wished for, but was the excuse he needed for his pride to bend.

He'd prepared for two kinds of welcome: The fierce anger of a wronged wife, which he planned to quell after an exciting match of wills or, one of passionate apology, which he'd have accepted without reserve, but she'd outflanked him with this cool, indifferent demeanor, holding him at bay without giving him reason to protest. And then there was the matter of the closed door between their rooms. He rolled onto his stomach, eyeing that offensive portal with a jaundiced eye. He could demand she move into his room, he had the right, but his pride rebelled against resorting to force, and more truthfully, he had no wish to push her into something she found disagreeable.

If one good thing had come from his hermitage in London, it was the realization that Tempest Swift Amberson was permanent, the only woman he would want or need for the rest of his life, sharing his home, bringing his children into the world, growing old beside him. 

He knew how to seduce a mistress, but how did one woo his own wife?

KINDLE & PAPERBACK
Has he truly learned his lesson, discovering the jewel within his grasp instead of being blinded by the dazzle of greed and jealousy? We shall see.

As for me, my trip was part awe-inspiring research in Sedona. . .

. . . hurried hand-selling at the Tucson Festival of Books . . .

. . . and finally Vitamin D R&R poolside. I didn't get all the writing done that I wanted to but I found that clarity of vision I'd been searching for to pull my book together and re-establish my long-game writing plan. Worth the delays in Chicago O'Hare (both going and coming home!) and cursing daylight savings time. Now, to get back into the rhythm of my working and writing and resting life. And back into my shunning cats' good graces (Ed's Efffing cat would be proud of their snubbery!).

How's spring treating you, fellow Warriors?

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly hop for everyone who loves to write! Share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday. Visit other participants on the list and read, critique, and comment on their 8sunday posts.

Spread the word, share the love, warriors - Hashtag #8sunday.

WeWriWa: New (Re)Release! Regency-Set SWEET TEMPEST!

  
30 (!) years ago, I celebrated the release of my very first book, SWEET TEMPEST, a historical romance set in the Regency era, written under the pen name Lauren Giddings. There were balloons and chocolates at signings at Barnes & Noble and B.Dalton (RIP!) with my Mom and family (the youngest of my two sons I delivered on the same day I got to see my cover flats for the first time in the hospital!) and a reporter from the local paper. It was a BIG deal. After 72 more releases . . . it still doesn't get old!!
SWEET TEMPEST is Baaaack! With a fresh edit, a gorgeous cover and a new publisher, Tell-Tale Publishing, and I couldn't be more excited by the chance to re-visit and (re)introduce the characters.


I'm sharing an excerpt that lays out the hero and heroine's relationship through her younger brother's disapproving eyes. Not much slips by that boy . . .

Eddie remained, silent and disapproving at her side, feigning resistance when she put an arm about his shoulders.

"I don't like this, Este," he said in a rush, "and I don’t trust him to keep his word.” 

"Eddie, I've nothing to fear from Mr. Amberson." 

"He ain't no gentleman!" 

"I didn't say he was, but I do trust him and know he'd do me no harm, so please don't worry so," she pleaded, holding tightly to him. "If he can keep us from having to steal to stay alive, then you should thank him, not curse him." 

"I don't like how he looks at you," he grumbled, "all hungry-like, the way the coves ogle the fancy women . . . I don't think he's . . . safe." 

She laughed to ease his fears, though she knew he had cause. "Little brother, you don't like any man to look at me, but I can't hide in britches all my life." 

"Well, you don't have to look back," he muttered, "'cause he ain't the only one who looks hungry."

Nothing like a fresh coat of paint to make something old new again and bring it back to life!

KINDLE & PAPERBACK
Happy Writing fellow Warriors! I'm off for the Tucson Festival of Books and some vacay (with my WIP, of course!)

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly hop for everyone who loves to write! Share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday. Visit other participants on the list and read, critique, and comment on their 8sunday posts.

Spread the word, share the love, warriors - Hashtag #8sunday.

WeWriWa: A Game of Hearts/A War of Wills

I’ve just ordered paper copies of my soon to be re-released Regency-set historical, SWEET TEMPEST. Something about the weighty feel of words between two covers brings them to life in a different way than seeing them on a back lit reader screen. I love the heft and smell of a book, the sound of the pages turning, the sight of them lining my shelves . . . the permanence of a dream captured and tangible. Sigh . . .

I’m sharing from my first published novel, written under the pen name Lauren Giddings (back when publishers wanted you to use a name they could own the rights to!). This scene is a bit further into the book as my desperate hero bargains for the use of our feisty heroine in a deception to win back his inheritance, unaware of how dangerous that ruse will become.

Though she tried to deny it, Tempest had hoped he'd come to lure her back, and she wasn't sure she'd have put up much of a struggle, but here he sat, practically ignoring her, talking about her as a tool to be discarded when its usefulness had ended, boldly courting her father's vanity with silken half-truths to fire his desperate greed. How sure he was, dangling his wealth as Will Swift sat back in a daze, considering the perfect solution to all his troubles, until her father's answer came as a surprise. 

"You are being most generous, sir, but I cannot accept. It be up to Tempest as it's her help you need and I but benefit from it." 

Connor's gaze shifted to her, knowing he'd found her price—her family’s welfare. 

Tempest regarded him in silence, basking with a cold, unhappy enjoyment in the beauty of his face. Her pride demanded she throw his offer back at him, her intuition warning her to stay far away, that he would hurt her terribly, but her loyalty insisted she think of her family, of easing her father's fears, and of keeping Eddie from any more daring mid­night raids. More subtly, her emotions whispered, Go with him . . . . he might be made to love you.

In a firm, determined voice, she answered, "I will play the game, but I want to be free to go, once all are convinced I am who I pretend to be." 

"Done," he agreed too quickly to suit her.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave . . . especially when we don’t think we’ll get caught up in it!~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pre-Order Now!KINDLE & PAPERBACK
A Fetching Robber, An Unscrupulous Rogue and A Daring Risk . . . to Die For 
SWEET TEMPEST 
By Nancy Gideon w/a Lauren Giddings 
A crafty scheme that doesn't exactly go as planned . . . 
A Thief of hearts . . . 

A female of Tempest Swift's brains and beauty should be fending off suitors, not hiding in the shadows boldly robbing coaches. But lean times leave her with a family to provide for . . . until shot from her horse while making her escape. Waking as the pampered prisoner of a sinfully handsome gentleman has her pulse pounding for all the wrong reasons. His suggestion she be his mistress is shocking enough, but he has more on his clever mind . . .

A Desperate noble . . . 
Cut from a longed for inheritance due to hell-bent living, a foiled robbery provides Connor Amberson with an daring solution, passing off a ragamuffin thief as his long-lost cousin to win back his grandfather's favor. But producing the supposed sole survivor of a tragic accident stirs dangerous troubles, both from those hungry to inherit and within Connor's jaded heart, as his true reward becomes something he never expected . . . until about to lose it.

Nancy Gideon's debut romance, written as Lauren Giddings 
SWEET TEMPEST 
Sassy, Sexy and Sinister, and finally back in print! 
Watch for the return of Bartered Bride, available soon. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~What a month! I’ve gone from shoveling 6-8 inches of snow off my car to surfing through that many of water on the roads, huddling under blankets to grilling on the patio! And it’s not even March yet! Fickle February is usually my favorite winter month because it’s short but this one, I’ll be ready to see end!

How’s winter treating the rest of my Weekend Writing Warriors?


Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly hop for everyone who loves to write! Share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday. Visit other participants on the list and read, critique, and comment on their 8sunday posts.

Spread the word, share the love, warriors - Hashtag #8sunday.

WeWriWa: Sweet! Re-Issued Regency Romance Ready to Pre-Order!

When my first published book, SWEET TEMPEST, written under the pseudonym Lauren Giddings, became unavailable after going into a second printing with Kensington Books back in the '80s, I never thought it would get back into readers' hands again. Thanks to Tell-Tale Publishing, my historical debut will return to print and e-book on February 28!

When I last posted a teaser excerpt, my aristocratic hero had shot a highway "man" attempting to rob his coach. Discovering the robber was a woman, he's taken her home to help heal her wound . . . and steal a kiss. Intrigued by the mystery she presents and by her quick wit, he offers to make her his mistress.

"Tempest, I could make things better for you so you'd never have to take those risks or hold yourself cheap." 

"One man or a hundred, t'would make no difference since I do not love you, sir." 

Of the objections she could give to his proposed arrangement, that one astonished, leaving him at a loss for a long moment, until he blurted out, "I should think not when you don't even know me. What has love to do with anything." 

"Everything," she concluded, watching primly as he frowned and glowered in search of an argument to her claim, "when you ask me to be intimate with you, and give you, a stranger, the only thing I have of any value when I do not know you, nor do you care about me?" 

Annoyance wiped away with a small smile, he vowed, "But I like you, very much, and that is more than I can own for most of my relation­ships with women . . . and I want you." 

"I do not want you." 

He considered this, then a slow smile spread across his handsome visage, making Tempest clutch the sheet to her chin warily as he drawled, "And if you did, would you relent?" 

"That will not happen," she assured him, meeting his heated stare with all the cool indifference she could command. 

"A wager I will enjoy."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pre-Order Now!KINDLE & PAPERBACK
A Fetching Robber, An Unscrupulous Rogue and A Daring Risk . . . to Die For 
SWEET TEMPEST 
By Nancy Gideon w/a Lauren Giddings 
A crafty scheme that doesn't exactly go as planned . . . 
A Thief of hearts . . .

A female of Tempest Swift's brains and beauty should be fending off suitors, not hiding in the shadows boldly robbing coaches. But lean times leave her with a family to provide for . . . until shot from her horse while making her escape. Waking as the pampered prisoner of a sinfully handsome gentleman has her pulse pounding for all the wrong reasons. His suggestion she be his mistress is shocking enough, but he has more on his clever mind . . .

A Desperate noble . . .
Cut from a longed for inheritance due to hell-bent living, a foiled robbery provides Connor Amberson with an daring solution, passing off a ragamuffin thief as his long-lost cousin to win back his grandfather's favor. But producing the supposed sole survivor of a tragic accident stirs dangerous troubles, both from those hungry to inherit and within Connor's jaded heart, as his true reward becomes something he never expected . . . until about to lose it.

Nancy Gideon's debut romance, written as Lauren Giddings 
SWEET TEMPEST 
Sassy, Sexy and Sinister, and finally back in print! 
Watch for the return of Bartered Bride, available soon. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~I missed visiting with everyone last week. Hope the holiday was sweet and the page count high!

Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly hop for everyone who loves to write! Share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday. Visit other participants on the list and read, critique, and comment on their 8sunday posts.

Spread the word, share the love, warriors - Hashtag #8sunday.

IWSG: Sink Your Teeth into Some Genre Love

This month's Insecure Writers Support Group question is easy for me: What do you love about the genre you write in most often? I'm a paranormal author. What's NOT to love? 

In the past 30 years, I've written in almost every genre from historical and contemporary romance to series contemporary suspense, and even horror! But it wasn't until one of my editors back in the early '90s asked, "Have you ever thought about writing a vampire romance?" that I found the one genre that could contain all the above: A love story, a mystery along with history, dark other worldly elements that pushed the envelope. I began a vampire romance series that started in Regency England, moved to post-Revolution France, turn-of-the-century New York on up to modern day Las Vegas and superstition-steeped Peru following a vampiric family being pursued by a blood-feud. I had star-crossed lovers, vicious villains, tumultuous world events, a serial killer, bio-weapon studies and jump-scares galore in my 8-book "Touched by Midnight" series that was re-released by BelleBooks/Bell Bridge Books. And I loved writing every page!

From books with bite, I went to my "By Moonlight" shapeshifter series and started tearing things up from New Orleans to Lake Tahoe (my favorite places to research!) as warring clans were forced to band together against a deadly outside threat. More fun, limited only by my imagination. That's the best part of paranormals. Anything is possible once the reader steps into your world, and what a great time I had creating it with its pack-like behaviors and rivalries, dark, deadly Alpha males and the clever females who tame them . . . but never domesticate them. All this going on beneath the radar of unsuspecting cities, without the knowledge of, or sometimes in tandem with their human residents. I'm currently finishing the final book in the spin-off "House of Terriot" series which will lead me back to the big dog who started it all, Max Savoie.

One thing I can say for the paranormal realm . . . it's never boring or predictable!

For a taste of these dark, forbidden romances, here's a February treat: From the 1st until the 15th, MIDNIGHT ENCHANTMENT, only $.99 (!), pulls you into the seductive world of the vampire - my favorite vampire - the sleek and sinfully wicked Gerardo Pascale, the naughty villain from the first three books. Take a bite . . . you'll like it!
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo Books | iBooks | Google Play | Goodreads
Hunt or be hunted . . A centuries old obsession stalks a noble family fighting to hide their dark secret from an ever-changing world. Sink your teeth into Nancy Gideon's Touched by Midnight series.

A deal with the devil. . . 

After a 400 year existence as a vampire, Gerard Pasquale wants only to be left alone to shadow the midnight streets of turn of the century New Orleans . . . until blackmail binds him to a mortal bride who throws his dark world into an upheaval. Certain he can escape the unwanted bargain through the treacherous terms he makes, Gerard discovers his new wife may not be as helpless to resist his will as he at first believes.

. . . that might save them both!

Haunted by a whispered past of witchcraft and voodoo, Laure Cristobel became a bride out of necessity to protect herself and the unborn child she carries. Though alarmed to find herself wed to a monster, she's dangerously close to falling in love with the man he once was-the man she hopes she can make him once again . . . .

"This story is 'rich, dark, verdant with abundant life, decay and inevitable death.' The very aura of horror permeates every aspect."-Old Book Barn Gazette.

"An extraordinary, suspenseful tale. Ms. Gideon once again displays her awesome talents. A definite keeper!"-The New-Age Bookshelf.

I can't wait to find out what your favorite genre is!!

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time.The awesome co-hosts for the February 7th posting of the IWSG will be Stephen Tremp, Pat Garcia, Angela Wooldridge, Victoria Marie Lees, and Madeline Mora-Summonte!
Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!

Twitter hashtag is #IWSG