Amanda Usen's Blog, page 10

Men of the Zodiac Series: Gemini and Cancer Giveaways

I fell behind! Two great new books in the Men of the Zodiac series released, but I was recovering from a very busy March. I worked six days (and many hours in each day) every week in March at my teaching and bakery jobs. I thought I’d hit the ground running in April, and I did. Sort of. I decided to paint the family room! But first I had to strip the wallpaper, prime it like crazy, cut it in (twice), and roll on the paint (also twice). I’m still not done. I also bought a huge TV to replace the ancient Sony 22″ tube monstrosity we’ve had forever��and��got estimates on the built-in bookshelves of my dreams!

Meanwhile, I failed to shake my book release maracas for Sonya Weiss’s THE MILLIONAIRE’S FOREVER and Annie Seaton’s TEN DAYS IN TUSCANY. First, let’s take a long look at one of the most beautiful backs I have ever wanted to lick.

Sign: Gemini

There are two sides to every Gemini guy���and one of them is red-hot.

Olivia Carter has a handsome, millionaire boyfriend. She���s madly in love with him. The hitch? He doesn���t actually exist. She told the lie to save Forever, her wedding design shop. And it worked���almost too well. As the media attention increases, so do the demands for Olivia to produce her ���boyfriend.��� With both her reputation and career in jeopardy, Olivia is desperate enough to do almost anything���

Which is exactly what millionaire Mason Parker wants. Thanks to Olivia and her father, Mason went through hell during his teen years, and now it���s time for a little payback���starting with the announcement that he���s her one and only. Now the sexy Olivia has no choice but to do what Mason wants. But none of his plans for vengeance included falling in love with the woman he planned to ruin���

Note the scars on his back. You want to know how he got them, don’t you? I’m not telling, but there’s a very simple way to find out. Enter my contest!

Now let’s turn our gazes to this guy:

Sign: Cancer

Home is where this guy’s heart is. And bed is where you’ll find him…

Gia Carelli waits tables in her small Tuscan village, dreaming of a life in which her overbearing family allows her to move to Florence to pursue art. Everyone expects her to marry a nice local boy and raise a horde of bambini, but when a gorgeous, wealthy stranger visits, Gia wonders if maybe her stars are about to change.

Nic Baldini has returned to his Tuscan Villa for a much-needed break from the responsibilities of his powerful family. Struck by local artist Gia Carelli���s raw talent and passion, he finds himself wanting to help her���and lies about his identity in order to gain her trust. But as their��patron-proteg��e relationship is quickly eclipsed by desire, Nic realizes that one tiny lie could cost him the woman he���s falling for.

His lips are really something, aren’t they? And that chin. Those eyes. And eyebrows. I have a thing for eyebrows, and I don’t feel bad at about objectifying this guy. At all. Nope! But if you do, let me help you assuage your guilt by giving you a chance to learn more about his personality. Enter my contest��for the chance to win!

I’ll shake my release day maracas again on May 12th when the next book in the Men of the Zodiac Series,��THE MILLIONAIRE DADDY PROJECT,����by Roxanne Snopek comes out. The hero is a Leo! We Aries love to LOVE and HATE Leos. Grandstanders. Attention whores. Charming bastards, every one of them trying to steal the spotlight from the rightful rams who deserve it. Oh so delicious! Bring. Him. On.

The Millionaire’s Deception

Book 2 in the Men of the Zodiac Series is out! I just started reading it because March is a crazy month for me. I’m working almost every night at a community college teaching pastry arts classes and working weekends at Wegmans. I’m not sure whether I’m coming or going these days, but I do know I’m psyched that the heroine of THE MILLIONAIRE’S DECEPTION by Wendy Byrne owns a diner. You know how I feel about food. :-) The hero is a headstrong Taurus, and I also love stubborn and hung like a bull. Did I just write that? I did. Actually, I haven’t gotten to the part of the book where we find out the deets about his junk, but I have faith he’s packing something substantial. Taurus. Bull. No author could resist that…

Taurus: Book 2 of the Men of the Zodiac Series

Sign: Taurus

He���s stubborn, but he loves his rewards���especially the sensual kind.

Rafe McCall has a reputation as the Closer. He rakes in serious cash to make deals happen. Convincing small restaurant owner Frankie Ritacco to sell his business for property development should have been a piece of easy, profitable cake. So Rafe blows into Wilcox, Iowa on his Harley, convinced that the deal is all but done. But he is so, so wrong���

For starters, ���Frankie��� is a woman. A stunning, stubborn woman who wants to preserve her idyllic small town. Despite her pitiful prospects for marriage and children, the Crossroads Caf�� is part of Frankie���s family���s legacy. There���s no way she���s selling, even if she is tempted by a super-hot bad boy millionaire. Or if said bad-boy millionaire actually seems to genuinely want to help. But with Frankie���s caf�� in serious trouble, Rafe must decide if he can close the deal��� or if he���s found the deal breaker of a lifetime.

If you like to chat with authors and win prizes, join us tonight online on FB at THE MILLIONAIRE’S DECEPTION Party. ��Here’s the lineup:

The hostess with the mostest:��Wendy Byrne/Author

4:15pm-4:30pm Roxanne Snopek Author

4:30pm-4:45pm Amanda Usen

4:45pm-5:00pm Sonya Weiss

5:00pm-5:15pm Annie Seaton Author

5:15pm-5:30pm Alice K. Wayne

5:30pm-5:45pm AC Wilson/M. Kay Fox

5:45pm-6:00pm Nina Crespo

Looks like I’ve got the happy hour spot! Happy Friday!��Happy March! Happy reading! HAPPY SPRING! Let me know what you think about THE MILLIONAIRE’S DECEPTION. We can read it together! I’ll post about all the books in the upcoming series, so you don’t miss any. There are some great authors lined up, and I can’t wait. :-)

LOVE GETS REAL with the Ultimate Swoon Challenge

I’m having a reality TV-style Facebook party with Tracy March and Robbie Terman tonight to celebrate the release of our new books! I hope you’ll stop by to say hello. Each author is sponsoring a Book Boyfriend Bout, participating in the Ultimate Swoon Challenge, and offering Romance Round prizes! We are going to��have fun, give some stuff away, and celebrate romance for a few hours tonight! Join us HERE at 8 pm EST!

I can’t leak any hints to the ��three Book Boyfriend Bout challenges yet, but Tracy, Robbie, and I are having a friendly ULTIMATE SWOON CHALLENGE. And by friendly, I mean please vote for my hero, Wild Man Russ Donovan, so I can kick their cute little butts! Russ is sexy. He’s adventurous. And he isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty changing a diaper or cooking dinner.

And did I mention he’s flaming hot in bed? How can you resist a man who says:

���I���ve got hard covered, sweetheart. I like soft.��� His hand curled around her hip. ���Show me.���

That right there is my favorite part of the book. It’s the moment I fell in love with my hero. He was all about building Susie up once he got over wanting to tear her down. Delicious!

For the chance to win a gift card to buy more book boyfriends (or girlfriends, whatever floats your boat) I hope you’ll VOTE for RUSS in the ULTIMATE SWOON CHALLENGE by clicking the link below and entering the Rafflecopter!

Vote for RUSS!

And then you can go vote for the other heroes to get in on Tracy and Robbie’s giveaways, too. :-)

Vote for Trent!

Vote for Luke!

 

IMPULSE CONTROL release day!

I am thrilled to introduce IMPULSE CONTROL, Book One of the Men Of The Zodiac Series for Entangled Indulgence! The hero is an Aries…just like me. I jumped at the chance to write my sign, and I gave him all of the best and worst traits of the first sign of the Zodiac. He’s confident, courageous, passionate, loyal…and impulsive, stubborn, foolhardy, and daredevil. I hope readers love Russ Donovan, aka the Wild Man, as much as I do!��IMPULSE CONTROL is available ��for .99 this week only at AMAZON,��BARNES & NOBLE,��KOBO, GOOGLE,��iBOOKS, and more!

Since I was losing my mind planning my oldest daughter’s bat mitzvah, I hired Barclay Publicity to help me with a book blitz. I’m excited to be appearing on dozens of blogs this week, a different post every day, complete with Aries horoscope, excerpt, and even a cooking video starring my husband toward the end of the week. Follow the tour and enter to win daily giveaways and the grand prize: the entire Men Of The Zodiac Series, one e-book every month as each title releases!

CLICK HERE��to enter the giveaway.

Here’s the blurb:

Survivalist Russ Donovan is the toughest man in America, with a reality TV show to prove it. Now he���s been strong-armed into filming a new show with dainty lifestyle expert Susannah Stone. But while ���At Home in the Wild��� could mean millions for his family���s charity, Russ plans to put Little Susie Homemaker to the test���in the Adirondack Mountains in the dead of winter. And there’s no way she’ll be able to hack it…

Susannah is tougher than she looks. She’s had to fight her way through life, and there’s no way she’ll let a bossy mountain man show her up. When she gets him on her turf, he���s in serious trouble. But now she’s run into a bit of problem. Because no one���least of all Russ and Susannah���expects sparks to fly both on camera and off. And now everyone will see their risqu�� rivalry break all of the rules…

Grab IMPULSE CONTROL this week while it’s .99 to enjoy the sexy rivalry��between “Susie Homemaker” and the “Wild Man” from��AMAZON,��BARNES & NOBLE,��KOBO, GOOGLE,��iBOOKS, and more!

MAKE ME, TAKE ME Martini!

In MAKE ME, TAKE ME, Book 3 of the Hot Nights series, Betsy goes on a bender in New Orleans and literally tries to drink the ROYGBIV rainbow! She makes it through blue and is headed for indigo and violet before the hero catches up with her…and buys her a sandwich. Because that’s what a real hero would do, right? God, I love Quin.

In honor of heroes, sandwiches, hot books,��well-deserved benders, and the impending New Year, I give you the MAKE ME, TAKE ME Martini! It’s author-approved, almost as purple as the cover of the book, and totally quaffable. ENJOY!

The MAKE ME, TAKE ME Martini*

(Makes one���but it���s easy to double.)

One shot of unsweetened cranberry juice (I found it in the natural foods aisle)

One shot of Blue Curacao

Two shots of vodka

Wedge of lime

Purple sugar (I found it in the baking aisle)

Ice

Put the purple sugar on a plate.

Run a lime wedge around the rim of the glass and dip the rim in the purple sugar.

Measure juice and liquors into a shaker full of ice.

Shake.

Strain into glass and garnish with the lime wedge.

Enjoy with a good book. ;-)

*But be careful! Notice the recipe is 3 shots booze to 1��shot juice. POTENT!

P.S. Don’t forget to enter my GIVEAWAY! Nearly a baker’s dozen of prizes! ENTER HERE!

 

Let The Good Times Roll!

It’s release day for MAKE ME, TAKE ME! Betsy’s book is the 3rd book in the Hot Nights series and completes the love affairs of the Culinary Academy BFF triumvirate. To celebrate Betsy’s book-birthday, I’m giving away New Orleans Goodies and a Pile of Entangled Publishing print books, including INTO THE FIRE and SEDUCING THE PLAYBOY, the first two books in the Hot Nights series. In addition, five winners will be chosen to select their choice from my print backlist AND five more winners will receive swag packs from my favorite authors! I’m not sure why it’s so much fun to give stuff away, but it is! I hope you’ll enter via the Rafflecopter below, and encourage all of your friends to enter, too!

Enter here! Step right up!

If you enjoy chatting with Brazen authors and readers, join our Talk Dirty To Me FB Party on Tuesday, 12/16/14, 8-10 pm EST. Katee Robert, Samanthe Beck, Diane Alberts, Nina Croft, and I will be posting video excerpts from sex scenes in our new releases! You can also take our fun quiz to see which Brazen Hot December Hero is the perfect dirty talker for you and enter to win books and sex toys…because it isn’t a Brazen release without a sex toy giveaway, right? RIGHT!

I’ll also be appearing on a few blogs over the next few weeks to promote MAKE ME, TAKE ME. If I do say so, I give great blog. :P Come visit me for behind the scenes glimpses of my naughtiest book to date and, of course, the chance to win MORE BOOKS!

12/16/14 Writerspace “Someone Has To Grovel”

12/17/14 Fresh Fiction “The Deep, Dark Making of MAKE ME, TAKE ME”

12/17/14 Just Contemporary Romance “Five Naked Truths About MAKE ME, TAKE ME”

12/22/14 Entangled in Romance Under the Mistletoe “Best MAKE ME, TAKE ME kiss”

12/28/14 Entangled in Romance “Hometown Drinking with Entangled: The MAKE ME, TAKE ME Martini”

1/2/15 Rambling With This Chick: A New Year’s Eve scene featuring the whole cast of the Hot Nights series!

Thanks for visiting, and let the good times roll!

 

 

MAKE ME, TAKE ME is on SALE!

‘Tis the season to snap up a great deal, so put yourself on your shopping list and grab MAKE ME TAKE ME, Book 3 in the Hot Nights series, while it’s .99! My publisher is lowering the price until it releases on Monday. I have lots of festivities planned after release day, so grab the book while it’s cheap, and you’ll be ready for the party. Warning: MAKE ME, TAKE ME is my sexiest book yet. Reading it will guarantee a Hot Night even in December!He���s every fantasy she���s ever had…

Betsy Mouton knows that easy doesn���t last forever. She���s working her butt off to launch the Last Call Caf�� so her family can leave the New Orleans bar business���and its heartaches���behind forever. That is, until the hottest one-night-stand of her life shows up next door, twice as uncompromising and two million times hotter, offering to buy the bar and send the Moutons to Easy Street.

Hotelier Quinton James has never forgotten the unbelievably hot night he and Betsy shared. Never forgotten how beautifully she submitted to him, or how he found the only peace he���s ever known in her arms. Now that Betsy is the only thing standing in the way of his new hotel, she���s the one in control. But there���s more at stake than her caf�� or laying their past to rest���Quin wants a future. With her. All he has to do is convince her…one sensual command at a time.

Get MAKE ME, TAKE ME for .99 from AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE, and iBOOKS and have a Hot Night!

Get Wicked With Entangled Blog Hop

Trick!

Or treat!

I’m more of a treat girl, myself. So that’s what I’m offering…a treat! A SCRUMPTIOUS or LUSCIOUS treat! A print copy of either SCRUMPTIOUS or LUSCIOUS (my sexy contemporary romances will make you hungry!) Plus swag! Enter below for the chance to win.

Click here to enter my giveaway

And click the frog dude below to follow the blog hop and enter to win fabulous trick or treat prizes!

Have a happy, safe, and WICKED Halloween!

Seducing The Playboy is a HOT Deal!

SEDUCING THE PLAYBOY is .99 for a limited time! Get him now, or if you’ve already had him, tell all your friends how good he is in bed, so they’ll buy him, too! Bwahaha! Sorry, I’ve had so much fun with the title of that book. Picture my dirty grin every time someone asks me about my latest book. Buy links and an excerpt can be found here if you need PLAYBOY bait. :-)

.99 for a limited time! Grab him!

Out of glee and excitement (because our PLAYBOY is almost in the top 100 on Amazon!), here’s an EXCLUSIVE unedited excerpt from MAKE ME, TAKE ME, Book 3 in the Hot Nights series, a.k.a. Betsy’s Book, a.k.a. the book with TEN sex scenes. I have no idea how that happened. They just kept taking their clothes off…

Here’s the very first peek at MAKE ME, TAKE ME (coming SOON!):

Betsy tugged the padlock free and shut the gate behind her, but before she’d taken ten steps, it swung open again. She whirled, startled, and then she stared. Her skin flushed hot, and her heart hammered. Could lack of sleep and caffeine withdrawal cause hallucinations? If so, this was a beauty.

“Quin,” she gasped. “What are you doing here?”

“Opening my new hotel and making plans for expansion.” His slow smile wreaked havoc on her already taxed heart as he jerked a thumb at the building next door. He stopped in front of her, broad shoulders seeming to span the width of the narrow alley. “Just got into town and saw you walk past my office window. How are you?”

“You’re the new owner? You own the Keystone Hotel?”

“I own all of them. Hotels, remember?”

She nodded, trying to shake her brain into action, but she felt like she’d walked into a time warp. They were standing in the alley in broad daylight, almost three years after their night together, but her body remembered him—instantly, intimately, and inappropriately. Her mouth watered at his scent: spicy cologne, crisp cotton, and warm skin. Her hands clenched into fists, fingers itching to touch the luxurious still-too-long layers of his hair. When he held out his hand, her nipples peaked, and she went hot and wet at her center.

She slid her hand into his, and a lightning bolt of lust shot through her. Her head fell back, and her gaze caught his, seeing the reflection of her desire. His grip tightened.

“Oh, fuck it,” he said roughly, closing in. His lips slanted over hers, stealing her breath. She buried her hands in his hair, and he lifted her up, pinning her against the alley wall, arms cushioning her back. He rocked against her, turning her bones to butter, and she arched into him, wrapping her legs around his waist. They fit together perfectly, no space between them, every part of her welcoming his touch. Alarm shot through her.

“Whoa…hey. Wait. Stop.” The magic word whipped out of her mouth.

His arms hardened, squeezing, but then he set her on her feet and stepped back fast. She straightened her clothes and dragged the back of her hand across her mouth. One night. She’d allowed herself to surrender to him for one night because she’d never see him again. Now he’d bought the hotel next door? And she was making out with him in the alley like they were going to pick up where they’d left off? That wasn’t going to happen. She wasn’t that woman, never had been. If he was looking for more of what had happened between them, he was flat out of luck. She wasn’t spending more than one night with a player who had women stashed in cities all over the country, every one of them hoping for more than she was ever going to get. Betsy had already gotten what she wanted from him.

***

But if that were REALLY the case, she probably wouldn’t keep getting naked with him, huh? Betsy and Quin are hot, hot, hot! I can’t wait to share more of them with you. Until I can, I’d appreciate it so much if you’d help me spread the word about the .99 deal for SEDUCING THE PLAYBOY.

XOXO!

Amanda

Fabulous Fall Soup a.k.a. Tortellini and Sausage Soup with Beans and Greens

How is it possible I’ve never posted Olivia’s Get-Your-Groove-Back Soup from Luscious? Huge oversight!

I’m making it today for my WNYRW writer’s retreat. It never fails to deliver inspiration. Revitalization. Food for my soul. My husband discovered it nigh on thirteen years ago when our first daughter was born. I nearly died, and he made batch after batch to bring me back to life. I think it’s the fresh fennel that does it for me – especially back then when I WAS a food source for a hungry baby. Fennel adds a fresh and mysterious yet warm and familiar note to this filling soup.

Tortellini and Sausage Soup with Beans and Greens*

Serves 6

2 Tablespoons olive oil

12 ounces cooked sausage

2 medium onions, small diced

5 carrots, small diced

1 four-inch fresh fennel bulb, thinly sliced then chopped

4 cloves of garlic, minced

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

10 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

4 cups chopped fresh kale, escarole, Swiss chard or other green

1 15 ounce can white beans, drained and rinsed

1 9 ounce package frozen cheese tortellini

Parmesan or Asiago cheese for garnish

Heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot, and fennel. Cook until limp and translucent.
Add garlic. Saute one minute, until it smells heavenly.
Add broth and red pepper flakes. Bring to a simmer. Cook until vegetables are tender.
Meanwhile, cook tortellini separately, so they don’t suck all the broth out of your soup.
When pasta is drained and the vegetables are tender, stir in white beans, cooked sausage, and greens. Simmer until greens wilt.
Put 6-8 tortellini in each soup bowl then add soup. Serve with grated cheese and crusty bread. And butter…lots of butter.

* If you want to make this soup a day ahead, do not add the tortellini until you plan to serve it.

Off to buy fresh fennel! :-) Happy September!

P.S. Jessyka F. won the signed copy of WILD CHILD. Congratulations, Jessyka!