Roz Lee's Blog, page 29

Always With Honor

Last week I had the honor and pleasure to attend the graduation of Basic Officer Training Class 12-04 at Maxwell Air Force Base. I'd never been to a military graduation, but the thick-stuffed envelope that was the invitation had my expectations very high. I was not disappointed.


We began the multi-day celebration with a sort of orientation session where we saw a slide show chronicling the graduates ninety-day journey from the blue-line ceremony on their first day, to the final week-long deployment in the woods of Alabama. 
Following that, our graduate took us on a short tour of the place he'd called home for the last three months. Let's just say, I have a new appreciation for neatness. Not that I'm ever going to use this, but here is a video on how to roll your socks, Air Force style.

Next on the agenda was the Awards Ceremony. I can't say this enough. I was honored to be in the presence of so many intelligent and dedicated young men and women. My hat is off to Tiger Flight who were named Honor Flight for this graduating class.


That evening was Dining Out - a formal affair for the graduates and their dates. I can't resist. Here's my daughter all dressed up and ready to go. Her date looks mighty spiffy in his formal dress uniform too.

Graduation was next - that translates into a pinning ceremony where the Officer Candidates take the Oath of Office, then receive their rank (Second Lieutenant bars). I was pleasantly surprised when our graduate sang the National Anthem. 
Each graduate chose someone to administer the Oath of Office to them. Ours chose his father, a retired Air Force officer. It was a special moment for the father/son duo.  Our graduate received his bars from his mother (on the left) and my daughter (on the right).
It was all smiles afterwards!!And time for a parade. See if you can pick out our new Lieutenant. It's time for a real celebration.
Congratulations to all the graduates. You are awesome, and I feel so blessed to have shared this momentous event with you. Best of luck at your new posts.

Wendi Zwaduk - Guest Blog

I'm pleased to have Wendi Zwaduk here today to talk about appearances - you know - those what you see isn't necessarily what you get kind!And just to get you in the right frame of mind - here's one of Wendi's steamy book covers. Hmm...I'm thinking all kinds of things here. First impressions and all...

Over My Head:
What happens when two opposites realise they have more in common than expected?I'm a dancer…and a damn good one. I work at the Silver Steel Gentlemen's Club. My hard and fast rule? No freebies and no office dating. Except for Slade. Hard, fast, slow, gentle...I don't care. I'll take him any way possible. But he's not that into me.
Or so she thinks. I'm a bouncer at the Silver Steel. Astra doesn't realise I see her—I can't help myself. She captivates me every time she's on the stage. I want her, but I have a...problem. I'm not at the Steel to pick up chicks or even work the room. I'm there to stop the influx of drugs into the community. Yeah, I'm a cop. But if the job means sampling the dancers... Well, as long as I keep my heart out of it, I'll be fine.I hope.
Reader Advisory: This book has a kick ass hero, a dancer with all the right moves, hot sex, a little mutual anal play for good measure and mention of drug use.
Now that we've got your interest....Take it away, Wendi!

You're Not How You Look
Okay so I know that's not the best way to title this post, but since Roz opened the door, I'm going to run full barrel right through it. First, I want to thank Roz for having me and the Strip Tease tour on her blog. I love coming here and love her topics even more. She said, "The books in the Strip Tease series seem to have a common thread  - not everything, or everyone is exactly as they appear. Since I'm a firm believer that there's a little bit of the author in every book they write, what about Wendi is not as it appears?"I saw this topic and laughed. Roz hit it right on the head. There is a lot about Wendi (me) that's not as it appears. When people first meet me, they think I'm quiet. They think I'm this shy, quiet, timid person. When I'm in a situation where I don't know anyone I will be quiet initially. Why? I'm trying to figure out the climate of the room. Can I get away with being loud and having fun or do I have to be super professional? Once I figure that out, I tend to be more myself—not so quiet. I love to laugh and tend to make what some might consider off color jokes. When I take my small person to school, that's another thing. The parents see me and think I'm a rebel. If I'm in my comfy mode, I'm wearing my jeans, my Adidas kicks and either a hoodie (it gets cold in Ohio most of the time) or a quirky T-shirt—my Queen concert tee is my favorite. They see my clothes, and my blue tinted hair and my jeep with the Dirty Jeep Girl tire cover and think I'm some devil person. Oh, and it so happens that a dear friend of mine shouted to whoever happened to be listening in the foyer that I wrote erotic romance. Her words were, "You dirty girl writing that dirty, dirty romance."When I showed up for a meeting at the school dressed in an ankle-length skirt with my hair pulled back and a nice sweater, the monitor said, oh, you do clean up.I've got another story about how people see me and how I am that involves my best friend. We'd gone to a con and were talking, having a good time, you know... being ourselves. There wasn't a lick of alcohol involved. But ask those who saw us? We were loud (kind of) and laughing a lot, so that automatically meant we were sloshed. And I even had a dress on at the time. So much for being prim. Shrug. Prim isn't my style anyway.I am who I am and I don't fib about it. I write as Wendi Zwaduk and Megan Slayer. I like to experiment in my stories. I hope you'll all come along for my long, strange journey. :-)Thanks Roz. What about you? What's something about you that people think they know and really don't?


When You're With Me
A topless dancer and a cynical cop doesn't equal a lifetime love...or does it?
    There's more to Jude Nelson than just a sequined thong. She's got big dreams to become an artist. There's one tiny wrinkle in her plan—she'll never forget the bloody image of her friend's battered body in the dumpster.       Who can a nude dancer turn to for help? Certainly not a hardened undercover cop...
    Detective Drew Alwyn is on the case to find out who murdered his good friend and fellow officer. But the moment he sees Jude, he can't look away. He has to decide which is more important—his dedication to his job or the girl who holds his bruised and battered heart.        Will these two opposites come together to solve the case or will their desire consume them?

 This story contains scenes of bondage, mentions of drug use by secondary characters, silk, sequins and art supplies used in foreplay, voyeurism and a little spanking for good measure.

Meet Wendi-
I always dreamed of writing the stories in my head. Tall, dark, and handsome heroes are my favorites, as long as he has an independent woman keeping him in line. I tend to write books with titles taken from songs because music is one of my many muses.
I earned a BA in education at Kent State university and as well as a Masters in Education from Nova Southeastern University. I've tried my hand at teaching, waitressing, and retail sales, but writing holds my heart.
I love NASCAR, romance, books in general, Ohio farmland, dirt racing, and my menagerie of animals. I have more stories than my brain can handle percolating.  I can't wait to share them with you!
http://www.wendizwaduk.comhttp://www....
And now...you, dear reader, have a wonderful opportunity to win a $10 Gift Certificate to Total-e-Bound! Wendi will draw one name from the comments on this tour - so be sure to comment here, then follow the tour to get your name in the hat again and again.


Click on the banner to follow the tour.

Veronica Scott - Wreck of the Nebula Dream

I'm so happy to be a guest here today, talking about my latest novel WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM, which is a loose re-imagining of the Titanic disaster, set in the far future, among the stars. Here's a brief description of the book:

Traveling unexpectedly aboard the luxury liner Nebula Dream on its maiden voyage across the galaxy, Sectors Special Forces Captain Nick Jameson is ready for ten relaxing days, and hoping to forget his last disastrous mission behind enemy lines. He figures he'll gamble at the casino, take in the shows, maybe even have a shipboard fling with Mara Lyrae, the beautiful but reserved businesswoman he meets.
All his plans vaporize when the ship suffers a wreck of Titanic proportions. Captain and crew abandon ship, leaving the 8000 passengers stranded without enough lifeboats and drifting unarmed in enemy territory. Aided by Mara, Nick must find a way off the doomed ship for himself and several other innocent people before deadly enemy forces reach them or the ship's malfunctioning engines finish ticking down to self destruction.But can Nick conquer the demons from his past that tell him he'll fail these innocent people just as he failed to save his Special Forces team? Will he outpace his own doubts to win this vital race against time?
My grandfather had a distant relative on the Titanic, a Second Class woman passenger who survived and even saved the life of a Steerage baby that was handed to her just as the lifeboat was lowered. That mini drama had a happy ending, because the baby's mother made it into another lifeboat, so she and her child were reunited on the rescue ship Carpathia. I grew up with stories of the sinking and was completely fascinated by it. What would I do if I was in a similar situation?
Science fiction and paranormal romance are my favorite genres, so when I decided to write a book based on the Titanic events, I wanted to set the action in the far future, on an interstellar luxury liner. In my SF I like to write Special Forces heroes, so then I had to figure out how and why a man like Nick would be traveling on such an expensive civilian vessel. Who would he be likely to meet? That led me to Mara, my high powered and very capable intergalactic businesswoman… Who else might need rescuing? What challenges would they face?
I really wanted to include some children in my novel, in a nod to the many children on Titanic, half of whom perished. So Nick is called upon to attempt a rescue of a young brother and sister, trapped in their cabin.
I had two major challenges writing the book. First, I'd expected to do a more literal retelling of the Titanic events, but my characters took  hold of the action as characters will (ask any author LOL) and the story went to some different – but exciting places. Second, I had to provide moments of breathing space after the disaster hits, for Nick and Mara to have a chance to develop their relationship. There's no time for romantic heat when you're trying to escape a dying ship, but there is definitely a slow burn going on between the hero and heroine.
Actually I had written this novel before I sold my first book PRIESTESS OF THE NILE to Carina Press. I was concentrating on that paranormal series set in Ancient Egypt for most of the past year. When I realized 2012 was the 100th anniversary of the Titanic's sinking, I felt I really needed to get WRECK out there. I had wanted to dip a toe into self publishing so this was my chance but did work with a professional, free lance editor – you have to have an editor! You'll never find your own typos and/or plot holes.

How can readers connect with you?My blog is at http://veronicascott.wordpress.com/ and I'm on twitter all the time @vscotttheauthor
Wreck of the Nebula Dream is available at a special 99 cent price from Amazon for the kindle and Barnes & Noble for the Nook. Thanks for having me here today!

Six Sentence Sunday 4/8/11

Today I've chosen to go back in time a little to my first published erotic romance - THE LUST BOAT.I think the developing relationship between Candace and Ryan is sweet, despite the erotic nature of the book. So...here we have Candace asking Ryan the age-old question, "Why me?"


"I honestly don't know the answer to that. When Richard introduced us, I thought you were the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. I just couldn't let you walk away from me.""I'm not sure it's really me you want, or if you just want to…you know, hook-up with someone.""It's you Candace, only you. How can I prove it to you?"
The Lust Boat is available here -Red Sage PublishingAmazonBarnes & Noble
Visit my WebsiteBack to Six Sentence Sunday 

On the Road at the Pendleton, SC Spring Jubilee

I can't think of anything better to do on a lovely spring day than amble around a historic southern town with my daughter, wandering from booth to booth, exclaiming over the work of talented artists and indulging in a few gastronomic works of art while doing so.


That's just what I did today in the fabulous little town of Pendleton, South Carolina. Just a short drive from Greenville and on the Cat bus route from Clemson University, Pendleton is one of those easily overlooked towns. If you're ever in the Pickens County area, you owe it to yourself to slow the car down a bit and take a look around Pendleton.


This morning, I headed out from my base camp in Clemson to check out Pendleton and their annual Spring Jubilee. They promised talented artisans both local and from afar, and they did not disappoint. So come along on a short tour, if you will. I apologize in advance for not being able to show you everything, but I there was just too much to see and I had to pick and choose a bit or this post would have been way too long!!

Yes, Pendleton has been around for a while!

Some local musicians entertain on a stage behind Farmers Hall on the square. Dogwoods ring the square, adding another level of loveliness to the day.
The fabulous weather brought out a large crowd. One of the first vendors we ran across was owned by Aaron & Ann Kay of Hartwell, GA who do these whimsical garden designs. You can find out more about their work at www.kaysgardenart.blogspot.com Darn, these things are cute! And because everything here revolves around the Clemson Tigers, Aaron and Ann brought this little guy along.
Susan Staley of Bowman, GA brought these lovely Glass Treasures. I don't have a web address for her, but if you want her email address, just ask me. Joe Galloway brought these lovely glass items from Huntsville, AL Here are some more of Joe's Creations.  SJS Images, Glass with Sass! Again, I have an email address if you are interested in any of these lovely pieces. I was particularly fond of the coasters you see there on the bottom right. I don't know about you, but all this shopping is making me hungry! At first, we were skeptical about eating anything served beneath an awning from the local funeral home, but the nice old guy doing a good imitation of a carnival barker convinced us to give it a try. The Kielbasa w/Sauerkraut did not disappoint. And, no funeral home services were required afterwards! Time for dessert, so we headed over to Grandma's Real Homemade Ice Cream, where the freezer was cranking out back. It brought back lots of memories of summer days when we took turns at the crank. Sure wish we'd had one of these back then! Sarah had chocolate. I chose the Peach. We both proclaimed it an excellent choice. Fortified, we resumed our wanderings. We came across these lovely handpainted creations by Bonnie Childers from Marion, NCI have to confess...I bought one.Bonnie's website is www.bonniechilders.com These are just too precious! Look close. They're pieced together from old dress patterns! These lovelies are the creation of Lisa Norris from Chattanooga, TNwww.madebyonegirl.com I'd never seen anything like these before, so we stopped to chat a while with the artist, Mary Shobe form Walhalla, SC. We got a quick lesson in how Scratchboard art works.  I'm not sure you can see the detail in this, but each line is painstakingly scratched into the wax, then the image is inked and printed.You can see more of Mary's work at www.foothills-gallery.comPlus, I bought a couple of Mary's magnetic bookmarks to give away, so stay tuned! And last, but by no means least, we stumbled across Alex Fong and his wonderful Chinese Paper Carvings.We promised not to givve away any secrets, and Mr. Fong gave us a quick demonstration on how he does this. Look close. See all the folded strips of paper? Sorry about the glare on this one,but it was just too lovely to leave out!You can see more of Mr. Fong's work at www.alexfong.biz
Okay, that's it for today. I wish I could show you a sample of all the wonderful art work we saw today, but that just wouldn't be possible. The Pendleton Spring Jubilee continues tomorrow, Sunday, April 8th from noon to 6 (I think)But if you can't get there, I've got a little something for you. Leave a comment, and I'll select three lucky people to receive a magnetic bookmark I picked up from Mary Shobe (the Scratchboard lady!). These are truly lovely and I'm tempted to keep them for myself, so if you want one, you better put your name in the hat now! Winners will be selected on Sunday, April 15th.

Six Sentence Sunday 4/1/12

In honor of Opening Day for Major League Baseball, here's a game snippet from Inside Heat. Imagine - Jeff Holder is on the mound - his twin brother Jason is behind the plate.
When he had it right, he focused on the image of the exact spot he wanted the pitch to go, knowing Jason's glove would be there at the exact moment the ball arrived.Jeff squared his shoulders, filled his lungs, brought his left knee to his chest, and threw six feet and two hundred pounds of hard muscle into the pitch. His pent up breath burst from his lips as his left foot connected with the ground. Pain traveled in a lightning bolt from his foot to the top of his head, making a pit stop in the shock absorbing knee joint a fourth of the way up. Instinct told him he'd thrown the pitch as perfectly as he'd envisioned, and with a little luck from the gods, and maybe a little diamond dust, McCree would swing and miss. It would be worth the pain in his knee to see that.

Inside Heat is Available from - AmazonIn PrintBarnes & NobleAll Romance eBooks
Visit my WEBSITE
Return to Six Sentence Sunday

Review: Under the Covers by Roz Lee (18 )

A 4 Star Review: Under the Covers by Roz Lee (18 )!

This book had some really great suspenseful moments that leave you on the edge of your seat. A hero who lets a woman take a control and a heroine determined to win in the end.

Elle D. Hayes - Guest Blog

    Help me welcome erotic romance author, Elle D. Hayes.
 I decided to have a little fun with Elle, so I gave her a fill-in-the-blank interview. Elle provided some great insight into who she is via her answers.
 See what you think - 


I'd mud-wrestle a Chihuahua to get a slice of pizza from NYC.  I'm a native NY'er and there's nothing better than a hot slice.2. I'm going camping. I must pack my sanity since I don't camp.  There will need to be lots of allergy meds and alcohol involved. 3. If I had to leave Earth in an hour, and I could only take one thing with me (besides my family), I'd take my journal with its matching pen (since they match I'm counting them as one item. It's a girl thing).  Imagine the stories I'll be able to tell about that adventure.4. When they make a movie about my life, I want Regina King to play me.  She is fierce!5. You must sacrifice one human to the man-eating plant recently discovered in the Amazon. I'd sacrifice Rush Limbaugh because bullsh*t makes great fertilizer.6. I'd eat a Brussels sprout sandwich if it would make me more productive. There just aren't enough hours in my days. 7. I've never told anyone about the times I skipped school to hang with an older musician I'd met.  It was high school and my mom would have killed me (and him).8. If I was lost in a strange city, I'd call my daughter to help me.  She'd text me directions to the nearest five-star hotel in less than five minutes while laughing at my predicament.9. If I was going to run away from home, I'd go to Paris, France!!!  I've always wanted to go there and it's a hop, skip and a jump away from a few other European destinations I'd like to see.  Not to mention FASHION WEEK!10.I remember when I didn't need a cell phone to get through my day.  Now I get all kinds of stressed out when I forget my phone at home.11.Great shoes are a girl's best friend.12.If I could be a heroine from a book, I have no idea which one I'd be, because there are just too many that I really love. I do know she'd be able to shoot straight and kick ass.13.I should have been born in the next century.  I'd like to think I'm ahead of my time.14.The worst movie I ever saw was Soul Plane.  That shouldn't need any explanation.15.Quick! Word association. Don't think, just put down the first word that comes to mind.
Horse - CowboySnow – NO!Chocolate - HeavenCoffee - TeaPaint - ArtistFire - IceSexy - Clooney


Blurb -  Tonia Lassiter thought she'd found the man of her dreams. Sure, they came from two different backgrounds, but who cares? The heart wants what it wants. But what happens if her dream guy's heart doesn't want the same thing? 

Jayson James was a cop first and foremost. A member of an elite SWAT team he works on a daily basis to save lives. Driven by the painful memories of a time when violence touched him personally, he doesn't do relationships. So, why is he having such a hard time walking away from the sexiest Assistant DA he's ever laid eyes on? 
Can these two star-crossed lovers find their happily ever after before tragedy strikes? They'll have to learn to Negotiate Love.

Excerpt -  

Just thinking about her brought images of her smooth milk chocolate skin and sparkling brown eyes to mind. His hand itched to feel her hair clutched in his fist as he took her from behind. He loved the feel of the braid and twists she always wore. And that ass! His head throbbed at the thought of another man touching her.

He dropped his bag on the ground next to the wall and opened it to dig around for his gloves. Once he had them on he stood and began working the bag. He'd worked up a really good sweat when Mace joined him.

"Hey," Mace said as he moved to stand behind the bag and hold it steady.
"Hey," Jay replied before resuming his workout.
"I'm willing to bet that this poor innocent bag didn't do anything to you, so you wanna tell me who it is you're really beating the hell out of right now?"

Jay didn't answer at first, but then he dropped his fists and sighed. "Myself," he finally admitted.

"Okay. Wanna talk about it?"
"Not really."
"Can I take a stab at it?"
"Can I stop you?" Jay snapped. Then added, "It won't do any good. You don't have a clue how much I've screwed up."

"Maybe not, but I'm willing to bet three months pay it all revolves around one sexy ADA you've been pretending to not give a damn about."

"How the hell did you pick up on that?" Jay questioned angrily.
"Come on, man. You two can't stop watching each other whenever you're in the same room. And you almost ripped Gunnar a new one when he made that comment about her ass a few months back."

Jay clenched his jaw at the memory. Gunnar Stephensen was a fellow SWAT officer and a world class womanizer. Had it not been for the intervention of the rest of the team, he would have taken the man's head off when he wondered aloud what it would be like to hold Tonia's hips and watch her ass while fucking her from behind. Jay groaned out loud when he realized how much that show of possessiveness must have told his teammates.


Buy Negotiating Love - 
From Beautiful Trouble PublishingFrom Amazon
Coming Soon - Love Interrupted - Book 2 in the S.W.A.T. Officers series
About the Author -
Elle D. Hayes was born to write. An unapologetic dreamer, she has created characters and their unique worlds for as long as she can remember. By day she is a not-so-mild-mannered executive assistant, but by night she is a fierce keyboard warrior hoping to one day be crowned Queen of Erotic Romance. It makes for rough mornings filled with lots of caffeine, but she swears it's worth it.
Please leave a comment for Elle. To make it easy on you, just fill in the blank!


I love to read about a guy in uniform because_________________.

Six Sentence Sunday 3/25/12

WARNING!!This excerpt is graphic, meant for adult eyes only! If you are offended by m/m encounters, do not proceed.

An Erotic Short Story



"Fuck, you're tight," he said as he pressed his cock past the barrier of muscles. Chase exhaled. He'd been fucked plenty of times, but somehow, only Carmine had the ability to make his cock harder. Maybe it was the way he wasted no time. Once he was in, he thrust to the hilt. There was never any time to adjust, just feel.
Making It on Broadway - Available Here.Visit my Website.Back to Six Sentence Sunday.

Sexy Romance Stories

Roz Lee, Chellesie B. Dancer, Jennifer Lynne, Sharon Buchbinder(and no, that's not either one of us in the photo!)
Hi, loyal readers! I'm so excited about a new endeavor! It's called Sexy Romance Stories. It's a group of authors who write Sexy Romance Stories! Bet you couldn't figure that out, huh?


Anyway, we're just getting started, but we have a website, a Facebook page, and even a Twitter account. In other words - we're legit!


We're working on getting some interesting posts up for you to read, so be patient. But while you're waiting, I've posted one titled, 50 Shades of Green. It's my take on all the hype surrounding E.L. James' mega-successful erotic romance trilogy, 50 Shades of Grey.


Never fear - this blog isn't going anywhere - except maybe to a different server one of these days when I learn to speak the other server's language, but in the meantime...why don't you hop on over to Sexy Romance Stories and read my post there.


You can click on the photo in the header, or Here, to get there.
Like us on Facebook.
Follow us on Twitter.