Allison Cassatta's Blog, page 6

2013 Back To School M/M Blog Hop

2013 Summer Author Blitz Giveaway

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It is my pleasure to introduce...
H.A. Lamb, author of "Behind The Lace Meet H.A. Lamb
Tell us a little bit about how came to life. What inspired the story? One morning after getting home from a long night of work, my then 4 year old twin girls asked to watch a movie, a cartoon version of Cinderella. Through the beginning part my daughter goes 'Mom, that girl is just plain rude.' I said 'I know the stepmother is pretty mean...' She puts her hands on her hips and says 'no, not that one, the Cinderella girl. Her mom does everything for her and all she does is complain. I think she lied about her story.' To which I said 'you are right, I don't think I have ever met a teenage girl who is happy to get up at the crack of dawn just to do manual labor.' And it took off like a rocket. I wanted a book that humanize these beloved characters and had them go through similar hardships that I had. Plus I wanted to make these women stronger, no longer doormats as depicted in our folklore culture. Who is your favorite character and what makes them so memorable to you? Olya- she embodies basically the 'fairy godmother' role but I tried to make her have traits and qualities that I have admired in other women in my life. Tell us a little bit about yourself and what made you decide to write? I am a mother of three very active girls, between running to gymnastics/ballet, getting their homework done and dinner shoveled down their throats, I barely have time to breathe. I never actually believed I could be an author, but my husband gently (I use that word loosely) shoved me into it. In high school and such I had difficulty with English, the only class in which I did. So imagine my surprise in being published. However I am still a geek, I graduated with my college degree before finishing high school. Any advice for aspiring authors? Never give up. To quote one of my kids teachers, Mrs.Visconti, 'Everyone is an author, they just need to have the courage to reach out and find it.' Thank you so much for doing this. I really do appreciate this opportunity! And I hope to have another book or two out in the next year! Oh and I hope to one day have a yellow minion of my own! You can follow H.A. Lamb on Facebook or Wordpress. WIN THE BOOK NOW!
a Rafflecopter giveaway Behind the Lace
From Tate publishing, released June 12, 2012 Buy it from Amazon
Buy it from Barnes and Noble

Blurb:Before Cinderella meets the prince, before she loses her glass slipper, before the happily ever after, there was the stepmother.Thrown into a forced marriage, she is haunted by her past, by her love for another man, and by her inability to hope for her own happily ever after. So much happened before the ball. So much happened Behind the Lace.Excerpt:"You killed him!" Ella screeched. "You killed him! If you had only loved him enough, he wouldn't have died.""Ella, please sit down in front of the fire, now.""What are those called? The black, yucky aftermath of the fire?""Cinders?' I said calmly. 'I am sorry, Ella, about-""No!" She yelled, interrupting me again. "You will never, ever call me that again!" Tears streamed down her face. "You are the reason that my mother and father are dead! You are a curse to everyone who knows you! You are evil! It shows on your face!" Her breath was shaking then. "You will call me Cinders, because that is all that is left of me, since you have destroyed it all."

The Villainous Blank Page – Battling Writer’s Block

KEEP READING TO LEARN HOW TO WIN A $15 GIFT CARD TO AMAZON FROM ME & GRAMMARLY
Of all the interviews I’ve done, one of the most common questions have been “how do you battle writer’s block?” The truth is, there’s no one great answer. If there were, writer’s block wouldn’t exist and we’d all be on our way to best-sellers. Writers are varied and unique creatures, and not all fixes work for everyone. 

That being said, here are a few pointers—things that seem to work for me.
I must always… ALWAYS have coffee. Writer’s block is inevitable with me if I don’t have caffeine. That’s first and foremost. Sometimes, changing the music helps—if you’re the kind of writer who needs the background noise to keep you in the mood. A change in scenery helps too. Take your laptop out of the office. I like to park my hind parts at Starbucks (See item #1)Do word sprints with friends. Writing for an hour straight then taking a break for an hour works wonders. If you have friends who write or aspire to write, team up and go at it. If you’re competitive at all, you’ll be able to throw down a few thousand words like it’s no big deal. Listen to your characters. Don’t give them a voice, hear their voice. Don’t force a story on your characters or they’ll retaliate by going silent. That probably sounds insane. It’s not. Think about it as your subconscious telling you the characters wouldn’t go down a certain path or do what you’re trying to make them do. Last but not least, you might genuinely need a break. When a muse becomes exhausted, it will abandon you. Don’t keep going. Forced words are obvious to readers and will do nothing to help you get the story done.
Writer’s block can be a real pain and the most frustrating thing in the world, but with a little patience and a heavy dose of Zen, you can get beyond it and conquer that novel lickety split. Remember, a little fun never hurt anyone, and since you’re stuck, you might as well enjoy the time off. Your muse will come running right back!
Now, onto the giveaway…
To be entered to win, all you have to do is post an email address in the comments here. Winners will be chosen at random on July 18th, at noon central standard time. This giveaway is sponsored by http://www.grammarly.com/
RECENT RELEASES:
JUNE 30 – The Immortals Saga: Immortal from Amber Quill Press (Hetero Paranormal Romance)
There is only one thing in this world that can make you question everything you've ever believed in, make you throw yourself into the face of danger—love.Madeline never thought she would find love so deep it transcended the physical world, and she definitely never thought she would find it in a vampire. When the body count starts to rise, however, she begins to question the curiously desirable new interest in her life.What would you sacrifice for love?
Buy it from Amber Quill Press Amazon All Romance EBooks

MAY 8 – Dear Diary from Dreamspinner Press (Contemporary M/M Romance)Chris Bishop has everything a high school senior could want—a loving family, a perfect girlfriend, and a bright, shining future. At his dad’s suggestion, he spends a summer working at a law firm to gain experience, but he never bargained on meeting Josh. Josh is handsome and green-eyed and just what Chris doesn’t want—or does he? Some things Chris has admitted only to his digital diary, but by the time prom comes around, he needs to make a decision: risk the pain of honesty about himself and his feelings for Josh, or play it safe and lose what matters most. Dreamspinner Press Barnes & Noble All Romance EBooks Amazon
This blog post was checked by www.grammarly.com

NEW RELEASE - Dear Diary!

Today from Dreamspinner Press!New and Improved!"Dear Diary" ~ Book 1
EDITIONS: eBook
LENGTH: Novella
GENRE: M/M, Contemporary
COVER ART: Allison Cassatta

Chris Bishop has everything a high school senior could want—a loving family, a perfect girlfriend, and a bright, shining future. At his dad’s suggestion, he spends a summer working at a law firm to gain experience, but he never bargained on meeting Josh. Josh is handsome and green-eyed and just what Chris doesn’t want—or does he? Some things Chris has admitted only to his digital diary, but by the time prom comes around, he needs to make a decision: risk the pain of honesty about himself and his feelings for Josh, or play it safe and lose what matters most.
Buy it now!Amazon
All Romance EBooks
Dreamspinner Press

Pre-Release Celebration!

Coming March 31st from Amber Quill Press!~Three Little Words~ After Matt's “perfect” life comes crashing down around him and the man he plans to marry leaves him, he has it in his mind he's going to make an escape, take an adventure up to New England and get away on the open seas with the big brother he needs to reconnect with after too many years apart. He plans to spend months away from home, clearing his mind and experiencing a different way of life, but undying feelings and a catastrophe with his lifelong best friend causes him to go running back home, only to be met with the ignorance and hatred of the people dearest to Luke.

Will an old love be the key to unlocking Matt's heart and sending him on the right path, or do some secrets and feelings need to remain locked away for the comfort and security of everyone involved?

TO CELEBRATE THE RELEASE...I'm giving away autographed paperback copies of Lies & Seduction and Patient Privilege (US residents only.) Contests end on March 31st, 2013.
Winners are selected at random by www.goodreads.com. The author has no influence over the selection. The author provides copies of works and pays all shipping and processing costs.
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Goodreads Book Giveaway


Lies & Seduction
by Allison Cassatta

Giveaway ends March 31, 2013.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win


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Goodreads Book Giveaway


Patient Privilege
by Allison Cassatta

Giveaway ends March 31, 2013.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Free Reads with Myself, Caitlin Ricci, DC Juris, and Sara York

The Sexsational City is four stories about four different couples, living very ordinary lives--save for their sexual orientation. What society calls taboo, they call life. Their feelings are natural and they love who they love. Check out each author's stories below! Feel free to comment on their posts and tell them how their stories make you feel. There is a new post every week, so be sure to follow the blog so you don't miss out!

ANNALEE AND SHELBYBy Caitlin Ricci
A childhood spent in foster care can produce very different results in people, as Annalee Christof knows all too well. Some children are more resilient, others have a harder time coming back from years of questioning the whys and hows. Annalee has long since grown out of asking why her mother gave her up when she was barely a teenager.

Now, nearly a decade later, she knows she's stronger than she was back then. She has a job, friends, and a life she's built for herself away from memories that she tells herself can no longer hurt her. The only regret she has, the one thing she wishes she could make different, would be finding her childhood best friend, a girl she might have loved once had she not been sent away one stormy afternoon. Annalee's been searching for ten years for the girl she knew as Shelby Rainne. And she's not about to give up yet.

Chapters:1 - Six Inch Heels and an Attitude
2 - The Box-The Box-A Very Special Box
3 - House of Lies
4 - Anything Could Happen
JAKE AND MICHAELBy Sara York
Jake Burros owns his own landscaping business, Make It Grow, but he's in the red so deep he doesn't know how to get out. His long time lover took off to the islands two months ago, skipping town with a young twink and eighty thousands dollars of Jake's money. The cops think they can get the money back eventually—Well, probably not, but in the meantime Jake has to survive, pay his employees, the bills for his business, and find a new place to live. Their craftsman mansion in the upper class suburb they lived in outside of Chicago was in his lover's name, and of course the man hadn't been paying the mortgage. Jake was shit out of luck and ready to do anything to get the money, even become a boy toy, if an older man can become a toy, for a rich young thing.

Michael Spears may look like a pretty boy without brains, and sure, his seed money came from his mommy and daddy, but he's invested in a few smart businesses and he's hit it big. He downplays his wealth, but when the super sexy Jake Burros asks for an investment partner, Michael doesn't want their relationship to end on the dotted line. He asks Jake to dinner, starting the beginnings of a very twisted relationship that leaves them both wondering how far they'll take it.

Chapters:1 - Desperate
2 - Power Play
3 - When Trouble Comes Knocking4 - Owned
JOHN AND DARLA MCKAYBy Allison Cassatta
Darla and John McKay have a great life together. They have ten successful years of marriage under their belts. John is a brilliant and well-established author. Darla is quickly climbing the corporate ladder. Everything is perfect... well, almost perfect.
Their dwindling love life is a cause of concern. John, in an effort to spice things up in the bedroom, casually suggests a threesome, but he picks the worst possible time to bring the topic up--like while his wife is going down on him. Of course, Darla had a knee-jerk reaction to his request, but what John doesn't know about his dear wife is she has secret fantasies of her own, fantasies left back in the door room of her old alma mater.

Long story short... Darla's see-saw tips both ways, only her loving husband has no idea.

Chapters:
1 - Ménage-a-what?
2 - A Dozen Roses... Plus One
3 - Earning the Rose
4 - A Kink in the Plan
5 - Silk and Lace
LINK AND HADDONBy DC Juris
Link never thought Haddon, the sexy owner of Dayre - the hottest gay club in town - would ever look twice at a transman like him. But boy, was he wrong. After five years together, their relationship is rock solid. Or... is it?
2012 is turing out to be the year from hell - Link's transphobic family, Haddon's ex lover Mel, and a series of mysterious events in their new house are all conspiring to turn their lives upside down.

Chapters1 - Home
2 - Complications
3 - Who You Gonna Call
4 - Meanwhile, at Dayre

As Genuine As It Gets – Me on Fans, Friends, and the GRL

1.) This is not a rant about the GRL or its organizers.2.) This is not a plea for sympathy nor a pity-party. 3.) This is me being honest.
After having a very long discussion with my husband last night , he told me I should say my piece about what’s going on and I told him I might vocalize my opinion on my personal Facebook page (not my author page), but I wouldn’t comment on posts or state my feelings otherwise because I come off as bitchy and self-righteous, sometimes even sanctimonious. But when I made my argument to him, he said it was so well said and poignant that I should really put it down on page and share it.

I want to start by saying that I’ve appreciated the GRL for what it’s given me. It has put me face to face with people I’ve only spoken to on Facebook. It’s given me new friends whom I adore. It has given a chance to see people I talk to all the time, but only see once a year. For me, it wasn’t as much about promoting myself as it was reaching out to people and making new friends. And yes, I mean “friends” and not “fans.” The people who I talk to, who support me (books or otherwise) I consider friends. And the most disappointing thing about this is I won’t be able to see my FRIENDS in October like I’d planned to.

Now, before you say, “You can still go,” please listen to what I have to say about that…
We’re in (writing or reading) a genre that is nowhere close to mainstream. Some even consider it taboo. We ask for acceptance and recognition, and we deserve it. We’re authors like everyone else. No big deal right? And we tend to get a little bent out of shape when the others don’t let us play in the same sandbox they do. (Think back to the RWA’s stance on gay romance and the big controversy over that last year.) We want to be equal, dammit!

Let’s look at it this way…
As a society, there is still a struggle for equal rights in many of the minority communities. A lot of us stand up for that and fight alongside those people just so they’ll be treated equally. Makes perfect sense right? Why would we not expect the same equal rights in something as frivolous as a romance convention? Why is it okay to say, “You have no name and only one book, so you’re not as special as the people who have a hundred books?” Isn’t that person still an author? Doesn’t that person still deserve to be considered an equal? Don’t they deserve a helping hand too? Are they a lower class than everyone else?

Didn’t you have to start somewhere too? Didn’t someone give you a hand?

What happened with the GRL policies (not the cap, because that’s more than reasonable) doesn’t seem too fair to me. It really seems like we’re segregating people in an already very divided, very cliquey genre. I can’t, in good faith, support something that would treat people in such a way AND NOT SEE A PROBLEM WITH IT. I understand wanting to deliver readers the authors they asked for, but announcing a “must have” list was a very, very poor PR move. In this case, honesty was NOT the best policy. I mean, c’mon, how would you feel if someone told you that you weren’t wanted?

I think the bulk of us just want the organizers to understand that and admit they made a mistake there, not push back on the authors who said something about it, blaming “bruised egos” for the reaction to words taken very literally. I’m not angry. My ego isn’t bruised. Hell, I know my place in the MM Romance world and I’m perfectly okay with it. I write for my friends, not my wallet. I am, however, disheartened and disappointed.

Enough about that. That’s all I have to say about the GRL Policy…
My decision not to go has everything to do with the statement above. The ONLY reason this is still an issue for me is because I’m sadly disappointed that I won’t get to see all the people I planned to see this year. I won’t get to hump Lynn’s leg. I won’t get to throw myself at Amy. I won’t get to share smoke breaks with Jeff and Michele. No laughing until I hurt because Laura made me drink. No loving on DC. No road trip with Will and Julie. No fawning over the people I work with all the time, but never get to meet face to face. No hugging the hell out of Carrie Ann because I know her a lot better than I did at last year’s GRL. No running across the room, screaming, “OH MY GOD! WE’RE FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK!” Get where I’m going with this? THAT’S what the GRL is about to me. IT’S A FREAKIN’ RETREAT. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio...) It’s supposed to be a silly, stress free good time. But now, a divide that has always been there has been made greater. I just wanted to hang out with my friends. I wanted to make new friends. I wanted to have fun, and now the one thing in my writing career I looked forward to his been soiled.

I’ll miss you guys.

Heartbreaker... Who? (FREEBIES)

Heartbreakers? They’re not heartbreakers. They’re misunderstood. Those sexy bad boys we like to fantasize about, swoon over, dream about and… Yeah, they’re not heartbreakers. I like to consider them romantics in training.
They appeal to us because most of us like a little bad boy mixed in with the man who can sweep us off our feet. In my League of Slayers books, you get to meet a few of those “heartbreakers.” In the first book, Aphrodite’s Gift, Deacon is a hunk of a tattooed man, made immortal after his girlfriend goes psycho on him and brandishes a kitchen knife. He goes to work for The League, killing demons for the greater good and hoping his one true love will come along and save him from that hell. You can read more about Deacon here: http://www.allisoncassatta.com/aphrodites-gift.html

And if you’re looking for bad boys who know how to love a man just right, check out my Seduction books from Dreamspinner press.  Dorian Grant is a mafia type bad boy with a bad temper. He’s broken and he knows it, admits it freely even. It takes a sexy dancer to show him the error of his ways, but that hot little man isn’t going to change a thing about Dorian. You can read more about Dorian and his dancer here: http://www.allisoncassatta.com/sin-seduction.html

AS A SPECIAL VALENTINE’S DAY GIFT, I’ll be giving away one copy of each title. All you have to do is comment below with the title of choice and your email address, and I’ll select a winner for each at random. If you want both, just add “both” instead of the title to your comment. Winners will be chosen on Feb 11th. And don’t forget to check out the other authors on the hop. 

With a new year comes a new look...

The official website has been removed from blogger and made into a full-fledged site that is much easier to navigate and easier to find titles according to what you're looking for. If MM is your thing, click here to see a complete list of titles. If you prefer a hunky hero and a damsel in distress, visit the hetero link by clicking here. If love shared between two beauties of the fairer sex is what you're looking for, you can find my lesbian titles here.

The site has been tested with IE8, Chrome and Firefox, but if you find you're having any problems, please email me at info@allisoncassatta.com

The first few months of the year are going to be jam packed with new releases. The first of which are the three Silver Publishing anthologies I'm so proud to be a part of. There's something for everyone too--M/M, Het, and Menage. These three anthologies are being released on Febuary 9th.

 
Also, early this year, you'll be seeing the new and improved Dear Diary series coming out from Dreamspinner Press. Book 1 had about 6,000 words added to it, so even if you read it once, you'll want to pick it up again. And Zoe Lynne - my LGBT YA line - will be seeing it's first release with Silver Stream Press. More information on all of that as it becomes available.

Welcome to 2013

Happy New Year!It's a time for fresh starts, for resolutions and promises to be a better you... for at least the first couple of months. I've never really been one to make resolutions. It seems as though setting goals that last for an ENTIRE YEAR can be a bit unreasonable. Not to be pessimistic or anything. So I don't really make resolutions. I take things day-by-day. 
However, for those of you who do make resolutions, I wish you all the best. I hope you reach every single goal without strife. 
As you can probably tell, the site is going through a major re-design. If I had to choose one resolution, it would be to "lighten" my image a bit. The dark and twisty thing worked for me for a long time, but as I find myself giving into my inner romantic, she wants light and wispy. So, she shall receive. 
That being said, please be patient as I switch things around. I'm moving away from the strictly Blogger platform to make information much easier to find, and I'm going with lighter colors for those of you who spend most of your time on the web staring at white pages. I know switching from a bright white page to all black is painful on the eyes....
Now for the fun stuff....Here's what you can expect to see from me in 2013!
The Dear Diary line of books (you know, those adorable boys, Josh and Chris) has been moved to Dreamspinner Press. We're re-releasing each title and continuing with the series. A third book (tentatively titled "Relationships 101") will follow the boys off to college, and we're hoping to see that one come out later this year.
I hope to release the final Seduction book with Dreamspinner Press this year as well.
The second League of Slayers book should come out early this year. I don't have a projected date on that yet.
The LGBT YA line of books by Zoe Lynne is starting to release titles and we'll be full steam ahead on that.
There are a few titles awaiting contract, more on those as I get the information.
Oh, and I may be starting a paranormal MM series....
HOPE EVERYONE HAS A GREAT 2013!