Catherine Bybee's Blog, page 17

My Online Tour Dates

I'm going on tour... a blog tour in which you're all invited. This tour will run from November 26th - December 10th. Bewitching Book Tours is hosting.

HERE is the link to the blog page with all the dates and links.

This week I'm not only going to be guest blogging, doing plenty of interviews and giving away Amazon Gift cards... but I'm also doing a Book Candy TV event. You'll see the widget on the

 right----------------->>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Be sure and come on over to the live chat and live interview.

Vow's Trilogy

What happened to Bybee's Time Travels?

No worries, dear reader... Binding Vows, Silent Vows, and Redeeming Vows will be back online very soon.

The first three books in the MacCoinnich Time Travels were previously published by The Wild Rose Press. The rights to these books have reverted back to me and I'm in the process of changing the covers and reformatting this bestselling series.

All three books will be available on the Kindle, the Nook, iBooks, and at Smashwords. Print copies are still available on all .coms that previously had it.

E-Book pricing will go down to $3.99 per book.

And yes... I'm working on Amber's book. Stay tuned.

Amazon Top 10 Bestseller

I'm in complete shock to announce and giggle madly about the surge of Not Quite Dating on the charts at Amazon.

In less than 48 hours of release, Jack and Jessie's story is #8 in Kindle E-Books.

Thanks for everyone who ran out and picked it up and for those who are taking the time to put a few words together for those first reviews. You've made my day!

Release Day for Not Quite Dating

Tossing Confetti Yes! Today is my release day for Not Quite Dating
I couldn't be happier with the outcome of this book. The cover is perfect! The publisher, Montlake, has been amazing!My Trailer is stunning!
And you...my fans, have been very supportive. 
I'll be online most of the day on my Facebook release party page.So be sure and come on over and play!I'm sure there will be giveaways.
I have an ongoing blog schedule and giveaways for the next month to celebrate so be sure and enter in a chance to win Amazon Gift Cards. 
Please step on over to Amazon and download your Kindle copy todayor order a print book to enjoy later.
KindleAmazon PrintB&N Print

Not Quite Dating Trailer

I'm excited to show you the trailer for Not Quite Dating

Book Candy Studios did a fantastic job. Todd was the bomb fixing all the lil' things I wanted to make this perfect.

So may this teaser do what a blurb simply can't.





Not Quite Dating on Kindle

Not Quite Dating Amazon Print

Not Quite Dating B&N Print

Available November 13th 2012

Welcome my friend Beth Trissel

Please make welcome my friend and fellow writer, Beth Trissel.

Beth is celebrating her new release and wanted to share some of her joy with all of us. And might I start off with a big thumbs up on this cover. It's lovely!

Welcome, Beth!


Thanks for having me on your lovely blog, Catherine, to share my new historical romance novel, Kira, Daughter of the Moon. The third in my colonial frontier series, the story follows award-winning novels Through the Fire and Red Bird’s Song . Though written to stand alone, Kira, Daughter of the Moonis the long-awaited sequel to Through the Fire and features strong secondary characters introduced in that novel, with the addition of the very unique heroine, Kira, and other characters. The story builds on the conflict between Scots-Irish settlers, the Shawnee Indians, and British mandates regarding the return of white captives depicted in Red Bird’s Song. But back to ‘Kira.’
Can a beautiful Scots-Irish healer suspected of witchcraft and a renegade white warrior find love together and avoid the hangman’s noose in the Virginia Colonial frontier?
It’s a tough match with the terror of the French and Indian War still fresh in Kira’s mind, and a badass enemy and his cronies after Logan. That Logan’s old nemesis also desires Kira only makes matters that much more complicated.  But if any man is equal to the challenge, it’s Logan, and Kira has a few secret weapons of her own.


Blurb:Logan McCutcheon returns to colonial Virginia after seven years in the hands of Shawnee Indians. But was he really a captive, as everybody thinks? He looks and fights like a warrior, and seems eager to return to those he calls friends and family.Kira McClure has waited for Logan all those years, passing herself off as odd to keep suitors at bay––and anyone else from getting too close.  Now that he's back, he seems to be the only person capable of protecting her from the advances of Josiah Campbell and accusations of witchcraft.  And to defend the settlers against a well-organized band of murderous thieves.

Excerpt:    “My secret in exchange for yours.”     Tantalizing.  He was drawing her into his snare, but she couldn’t resist asking, “How do you know I’ve a secret?”    “To begin with, you’re hiding in a tree.  What from, a wild beast?”    “Near enough.  You.”     He smiled.  “Was I to think you a large red bird, or overlook you entirely?”     Drawing her remaining shreds of dignity around her like a mantle, she said, “This isn’t one of my best hiding places.”     “Indeed?  Where are the others?”       “That would be telling.”       The strengthening breeze tossed the branches around them as he considered.  “You never could keep secrets from me, Cricket.  I’ll discover them and you.”     An assertion she found both disturbing and oddly heartening.     His lips curved as if the deed were already done.  “Why were you hiding?  Am I so very frightening?”     “Oh––I feared you were some sort of warrior.”     The humor faded from his eyes.  “I am.”
About Beth Trissel: Married to my high school sweetheart, I live on a farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia surrounded by my children, grandbabies, and assorted animals. An avid gardener, my love of herbs and heirloom plants figures into my work. The rich history of Virginia, the Native Americans and the people who journeyed here from far beyond her borders are at the heart of my inspiration. In addition to American settings, I also write historical and time travel romances set in the British Isles. For more on me, my blog is the happening place: One Writer’s Way
Kira, Daughter of the Moon is available in print and kindle at Amazon, in print and various eBook formats at The Wild Rose Press, and from other online booksellers.

Pinch Me!

I've been saying Pinch Me since last year at this time.

When I first released Wife by Wednesday and the response from readers overwhelmed me I thought it was all a dream.

Now, here I sit, one year later and I find myself back on the Publishers Weekly Bestselling list for Self Published Kindle books in 2012.

Wife by Wednesday was the ONLY title to make the list two years in a row. Yeah!

Here is the full article from PW

Here are the highlights.

 Wife by Wednesday by Catherine Bybee, the only title to make the top 100 in both 2011 and 2012. 

Werewolves or Vampires?

Oh... the age-old question. For romance readers anyway.

Which do you like, dear reader... Vampires, who illicit an orgasm from their heroine with a tiny prick from their fangs? Or Werewolves, who stalk their heroine and claim them with their scent?

When I first began writing romance I dipped into the paranormal with werewolves. Why? Because so many writers were  dishing out heaping mounds of vampires and doing it so well I thought it would be a nice change to play with the four legged shifters instead.

My readers ask me if I'd ever write a vampire romance. To that I say not only will I, but I have. And someday...perhaps by next Halloween, you might even have a chance to read that book. The story where a woman wakes in a hospital half dead with no memory as to why she's there.

But that story is for another day.

How about Richard and Kate...have you met these two yet?


Embracing the Wolf



Chapter One

Kate scurried around the worn out Formica counter with three bacon and egg breakfast platters, two orders of wheat toast, and an English muffin, without butter, in her arms. She stopped short in front of the pie case and the only thing that registered in her brain at two in the morning was... Why is a dog sitting in the middle of the restaurant? Then it seemed all hell broke loose. “Hit the floor,” the voice behind the knit mask yelled from the cash register.Kate stared, not completely sure the man spoke to her. “Hit the floor, bitch!” Her eyes shifted to the customers who huddled behind their cushioned seats, eyes wide with terror, then back to the man who yelled. She opened her mouth to talk when the object in his hand leveled her way. “I said, hit the floor.”Kate froze. The deadly grey barrel of the pistol aimed directly at her face, slid fear deep into her soul. The plates she held crashed to the floor, and she took one giant step back. Her only thought was of Joey. The gun she focused on moved toward the register. The man hit the keys repeatedly but nothing opened. His eyes shot her way. “Open it!” Breath, coming in short gasps that resonated all the way to San Bernardino County, rushed from her lungs. “Open it!” Go along with him, and you’ll go home. Alive! “Hurry!” The gun twitched, or maybe the man. She swallowed the lump in her throat and wiped her damp palms over the polyester of her uniform skirt. Going against every instinct known to man, she stepped over the broken dishes and closer to the deadly weapon.The gunman jarred her shoulder with his freehand, waking her from her frozen state. “Hurry.” His voice wavered. Either his patience grew thin, or he had some doubt as to what he was doing. Kate’s shaky hand removed the key to the cash register from her pocket, dropped it into the lock, and opened the drawer with a ding.She removed the twenties and tens and handed the cash to the thief standing over her. “All of it!” His putrid breath rushed past her nose with his command. He thrust the money in a bag he drew from his pocket. The animal at his feet snarled, baring massive teeth. The hair on the back of her neck rose. Kate’s gaze focused on the ice blue eyes of the dog. Although it didn’t look like a dog at all, more like a wolf, maybe. “Hurry up.”Reaching inside the till, her fingers scrambled to remove the cash. She handed the masked man every dollar and even grabbed the cash from under the drawer. “That’s all there is,” she told him, cringing away from the gun. “Don’t move,” he ordered, backing out of the drab interior of the lobby without taking his eyes off her. As if in slow motion, the side door to where the help took the dirty dishes opened, and Julio stepped through not knowing a robbery was taking place. The gunman turned, Kate’s mind raced ahead. She thought of Julio’s four kids without their father. On reflex, Kate pivoted, shoved the gunman away, and yelled a warning. The explosion of the gun permeated the silence of the room. Something hit her and spun her around. Screams elevated over the blast. Kate started to fall and heard the glass from the pie case shattering before her world went black. 


Only $2.99
AmazonBarnes & Noble
Read Before the Moon Rises for FreeAmazonBarnes & Noble 

Make Welcome ~ Barbara Longley

 
Today I have Barbara Longley here to talk about the first book in her series, Far From Perfect.
As with all Montlake authors, I have a question about what it has been like to work with this new publishing house.
So, Barbara, how has Amazon Montlake been to work with?
Montlake has been wonderful to work with. Clearly they want their authors to be happy, and that’s a rare thing in this industry these days.

I couldn’t agree more. What do you think about self publishing?
I’ve never self-published, so it’s hard for me to have an opinion. I know authors whose older works are out of print, and for them to get their rights back and self-publish their backlists makes a lot of sense. I work a full time day job, and self-publishing seems daunting to me. I don’t have the techy skills to design my own book covers or to do the formatting. I don’t have the extra money to hire an editor. For now, I’ll stick to my current path. I have a lot of admiration for writers who strike out on their own. They’re trailblazers. It’s just not for me at this point.
What do you love about being a writer?
What’s not to love? I get paid to make stuff up, and I drink copious amounts of coffee while doing so.

I like that! Only I switch coffee with wine after five. LOL Tell me, what do you hate about being a writer?
The second guessing and anxiety. What if nobody likes/buys my book? I suck at writing. I’ve forgotten how to write. I’ll never get anywhere, etc., etc. I’m a terribly insecure person, and yet you kind of have to have a healthy ego to put your work out there for the world to judge. Weird, right?
Not weird at all. I think most of us feel this way. We’re a narcissistic bunch, us writers.
Nearly all romance novels have shhh, sex, in them. How do you answer the never ending question, Why do you write THAT kind of book? Or even better… How do you do your RESEARCH?
Eh. I always respond that sex is a huge part of life and a huge part of what motivates us as human beings. Fashion, scents, cars, boats, houses—it’s all about the sex appeal when you get right down to it, and we use that sex appeal to sell just about every product imaginable. It has always boggled my mind that we make such a big deal about something so basic and natural. If you have a problem with the sex scenes, skim. Good writing is good writing. There’s way more to romance than just the sex.
What do you like better, Twitter or Facebook? Why?
I like Twitter the best. Facebook has become more and more complicated, and as I’ve mentioned previously, I’m technologically challenged.
I’d like to think I am a tecky, but I don’t get all the changes to Facebook either.
Now, for the the most important question ever... Do you roll your toilet paper over the roll or under the roll?
Under.
*Head-desk* Wrong I tell ya…LOL I’m an OVER woman myself.
Tell us about your latest release and were we can find it.

FAR FROM PERFECT is the first book in a trilogy and it’s being released by Montlake Romance on October 23rd. It’s a contemporary small town romance with military elements. I love stories about larger than life military heroes who are involved with special ops, or do top level security stuff, but what about the everyday GI Joes and Janes? Who’s going to tell their stories?
My trilogy focuses on the very real issues wounded warriors face while trying to reintegrate into civilian life after multiple deployments. Many of our veterans come home to shattered relationships and unemployment. Many suffer with PTSD, depression, chemical dependency and disabilities. They deserve happily-ever-after and healing. It’s their turn. They are who I write about.
Here’s the blurb for FAR FROM PERFECT:
Noah Langford narrowly survived the roadside bombing in Iraq that killed five of his men and took his leg, leaving him haunted by flashbacks and riddled with guilt. When his stepbrother Matt dies in a car accident, the loss feels like the final blow to Noah’s shattered soul. But then he learns about the girlfriend and baby Matt abandoned years earlier, and suddenly Noah has a new mission…
Ceejay Lovejoy was nineteen and pregnant when her boyfriend walked out, disappearing from her life just like her parents did. Since that day, Ceejay has devoted herself to giving her daughter a better life, avoiding any man who could threaten that security—until the day Noah Langford shows up on her doorstep. His gentle spirit has an unexpected effect on Ceejay’s guarded heart, tempting her to take one last chance on love. But when a painful secret comes to light, it threatens to break the fragile bond growing between them…and to destroy a love powerful enough to heal them both.
Links:www.barbaralongley.com  website http://longleyb.wordpress.combloghttp://twitter.com/#!/barbaralongleyhttp://facebook.com/barlongley
HERE is the link to check out the first chapter of Barbara's book over at Amazon.  

Make Welcome ~ Tracy Brogan

Welcome to my corner of the blogging world. Thank you. It’s nice to be here! It’s my release day today, you know!!
Yes I do know! Congrats! 
Let's get a little of the formalities out of the way. Give my readers a cliff note version of you.
I write fun and breezy contemporary stories about ordinary people finding extraordinary love, and also stirring historical romance full of political intrigue, damsels causing distress, and the occasional man in a kilt. I have two books coming out this year. The first is CRAZY LITTLE THING (Today is my release day. Did I mention that already?) and my historical, HIGHLAND SURRENDER, releases on December 4th, 2012. I’ve had written all my life but only got serious about publication when my youngest daughter started first grade. I decided then it was either finish writing something and find an agent, or stop saying, “I’m going to write a book someday.”
·         How has Amazon Montlake been to work with?
Fantastic. They’ve been supportive and encouraging and patient. And fun. I clicked with my acquiring editor instantly. When we get on the phone it’s like talking to an old friend from college. Only a friend who holds all my publishing dreams in the palm of her hand…  ; )
 ·         What do you think about self publishing?
I support anyone’s decision to take that route and anything that keeps the industry fresh and vibrant and “on it’s toes” is a good thing. It’s not an avenue I would have chosen for myself because I’m not that disciplined. I’d get derailed by minutiae and I’d never get a book finished and into the public’s hands. Plus I know that in the past I thought my writing was as strong as it could be but I’m continually learning new techniques and now I realize, had I self-published, I might not have learned the same lessons and my writing would suffer for it.
·         What do you love about being a writer?
I love zipping around in various time periods and going on journey’s with my imaginary friends. I love brainstorming. But because I write both contemporary and historical, I have to be careful not to use words like “pusillanimous” when writing a modern love story. Or words like “clusterf**k” when writing a historical. I’m sure they had them in the past, but they probably called them something else.

·         What do you hate about being a writer?
Facing the blank page or re-reading that horrendous first draft and thinking, “I’m never going to be able to fix this.” And I don’t really love the promotions aspect of it. Being here today is great fun, of course, but I didn’t realize how much of getting published revolved around stuff that has so little to do with actually writing!
·         If there was one thing about the industry you could change, what would it be?
I would remove the stigma of romance novels. I still have friends who call them “bodice rippers” or who say, “Is your book smutty?” My books, like most romances today, are about relationships. No sex scene, no matter how brilliantly crafted it is, will stira reader unless they can relate to the connectionbetween the characters. Romance and sex are not interchangeable words. We don’t write sex novels. We write romance novels.
·         Nearly all romance novels have shhh, sex, in them. How do you answer the never ending question, Why do you write THAT kind of book? Or even better… How do you do your RESEARCH?
Oh, I think I just answered that one! I haven’t gotten the research question yet. But I’m sure I will. My first book (released today, in case you didn’t know!) is written in first person so the love scenes (notice how I called it a love scene rather than a sex scene???) are euphemistically worded but the reader learns more about it after the fact. My historical is much steamier. And my next contemporary, HOLD ON MY HEART, is steamier, too.
·        What do you like better, Twitter or Facebook? Why?
Facebook, 100%. I don’t understand Twitter at all. I’m on it but it’s like shopping at TJ Maxx. There is just too much junk to sort through to find the good nuggets of something worthwhile. Allegedly there are programs to sort through your messages…. Someone needs to explain this to me.
·        And the most important question ever... Do you roll your toilet paper over the roll or under the roll?
I might be the only person around who doesn’t care. What does drive me crazy, though,  is how everyone in my house just sets the new roll ON TOP of the old cardboard roll. I mean seriously! They’re just sitting there anyway. Can’t they take that extra three seconds and put the new roll on the roller? These are the frustrations that make me want to live alone.
Tell us about your latest release and were we can find it.
Well, since you asked, today is my release day!! Therefore, CRAZY LITTLE THING can be ordered post haste from amazon.com and B&N.com. My historical release, HIGHLAND SURRENDER is available for pre-order and will be released December 4th. Just in time for Christmas shopping! 

Here is a taste of Tracy's release...that's today, you know! 

A blurb for CRAZY LITTLE THING:
Sadie Turner is not a control freak, just… orderly . When a cheating spouse topples Sadie’s impeccably tidy world, she packs up her kids for a summer vacation at her aunt’s lake house, hoping to relax, reboot, and pick up the pieces away from men. All men.
But eccentric Aunt Dody has other plans; she’s determined to see Sadie have a little fun—with Desmond, the sexy new neighbor. Tall, tanned, muscular—and even great with her kids, Desmond is Sadie’s worst nightmare. He must have a flaw—he’s a man, after all—so Sadie vows to keep her distance.But as summer blazes on, their attraction ignites, and the life Sadie is trying so hard to simplify only gets more complicated… but maybe a little chaos is just what she needs to get her future, and her dreams of love, back in order.
An excerpt:
CHAPTER 1
My husband had a talent for putting the dick in unpredictable, so I wasn’t entirely surprised to catch him at an office party with his hand up the skirt of a giggly, jiggly redhead. Or that he had mistletoe dangling from his belt buckle. Even though it wasn’t Christmas. Suddenly eight years of wondering if I was paranoid or intuitive were finally answered. Richard was cheating on me, and I couldn’t ignore it any longer.
I probably should have left him sooner, but I was dumb in love, plus my mother thought divorce was tacky even though she’d been through one herself. Maybe she worried I couldn’t do any better. Turns out, I couldn’t have done much worse.
Exactly one year, six days, and fourteen hours later, Richard and I signed on the dotted line and our marriage dissolved, like margarita salt on the tongue, leaving behind the bitter aftertaste of something that started out sweet but ended sour.
The details of our sordid divorce prompted a feeding frenzy for the local Glenville press. Richard was the city’s favorite son, after all, and everyone wanted the juiciest morsel for their evening headline. His job as anchorman of Channel Seven news earned him a quasi-celebrity status and a sycophantic following. I, on the other hand, was painted in a single stroke as a gold-digging Real Housewife just after his cash. No one but me seemed to remember the incident with the redhead, and somehow I became the pariah, a one-dimensional villain trapped inside the reality show of my own life. So when my aunt Dody called to invite the kids and me to spend the summer with her in tiny Bell Harbor, Michigan, it was an offer too good to refuse.
“You need a good psychic cleansing, Sadie,” Dody told me over the phone. “It’s time to purge all of Richard’s nasty karma right out of your system.”
I had zero faith in her tarot-reading, angel-guided, crystal-waving nonsense, but I was desperate for a vacation. And a chance to hide. Her pink clapboard house, perched high on a hill overlooking Lake Michigan, was the perfect spot to rest, reboot, and figure out what the hell to do with the next fifty years of my life. Sure, I’d probably be dead long before that, but I hate leaving things to chance.
I guided my SUV along the narrow, elm-lined avenues of Bell Harbor. Lowering the window, I breathed in deeply. The scent of hot sand tinged with tanning oil and lilacs reminded me of carefree summers, back before I cared about damaging UV rays and toxins in the lake. The buzz of cicadas nearly drowned out the sound of waves splashing on the nearby shore.
What a drastic change from the shimmering heat and road warrior mentality of Glenville’s asphalt raceway. Bell Harbor seemed frozen in a moment that never existed anyplace else, untouched by the tawdriness of life outside its borders. Like enchanted Brigadoon, except around here people didn’t randomly burst into song and dance. Or maybe they did and I just never noticed. 

You can find Tracy here:
Amazon  Barnes & Noble 

Twitter.com/tracybroganFacebook: facebook.com/authorTracyBroganWebsite: tracybrogan.com