Laura Kaye's Blog, page 58

Mina Khan on How Stories Get Written

Welcome Guest Author Mina Khan!
I'm pleased to welcome Mina back to the blog today to celebrate the release of a new story and the birthday of her first book, The Djinn's Dilemma. Mina has a giveaway and a great topic for us, so here she is...
How Stories Get Written
I was recently reading an interview by Khaled Hosseini about writing and he mentioned that he’d intended his debut book The Kite Runner to be a simple, nostalgic short story about two boys and their love of kite flying.
Instead, it turned into this mega-successful, dark and poignant literary novel that grabs hold of readers’ hearts and squeezes.
Hosseini explained the change with: “But stories have a will of their own….”
Such true words.
When I first started thinking of writing The Djinn’s Dilemma, my debut story, about an assassin who falls for his target, I had a very different vision for it. Originally the assassin was a cynical, aloof woman and it was going to be straight forward romantic suspense. Nothing paranormal about it, and definitely no genies involved. Ha!
Not one but two genies showed up, and the assassin turned into smoking hot male…yeah, I quit complaining at that point and just wrote. And I ended up having an exhilarating adventure with flying genies, ricocheting bullets, and dangerous magic.
Amazon | Add to Goodreads
If I hadn’t gone with the story’s will, I wouldn’t be here today celebrating the first birthday of The Djinn’s Dilemma with an awesome birthday bash full of SurPrizes (including a special Sherrilyn Kenyon package, exotic art and more!). Make sure you check it out!
But sometimes stories push us out of our comfort zone and into unchartered territories. That can be scary. Very scary. Such was the case with my multicultural short, Dead: A Ghost Story.
Buy at Amazon | Add to Goodreads
Unlike my other published stories, Dead is NOT a romance. In it, Nasreen, the Indian-American protagonist, grapples with her life and death in West Texas.
Dead was inspired by the many immigrant wives I met during my time as a business reporter in West Texas. For the most part these women are invisible to the mainstream society for various reasons – language barriers, isolation, and unfamiliarity with their adopted country’s laws and social mores etc. So this story was written to recognize them and to highlight a usually silent part of the immigrant experience.
I have readers who love my genie romances, so why not write another one instead of trying on a completely different genre? Because the idea of all the invisible Nasreens in the world sort of haunted me until I’d written the story. In doing so, I discovered a different side of myself, a new voice inside.

Giveaway!Thanks for visiting with me! Don’t forget to check out the #DjinnsDilemmaBirthdayBash…also share a comment with your thoughts about stories and leave your email address…and you may be randomly chosen to receive a Kindle edition of Dead: A Ghost Story. Open to international. Ends midnight EST November 19.

Author Bio:
Mina Khan is a Texas-based writer and food enthusiast. She grew up in Bangladesh on stories of djinns (pronounced "gins"), ghosts and monsters. These childhood fancies now color her fiction. She daydreams of hunky paranormal heroes, magic, mayhem and mischief and writes them down as tales of romance and adventure. Her first published work, The Djinn's Dilemma, won the novella category of the 2012 Romance Through The Ages (published) contest.
Fifty percent of the proceeds from her second novella, A Tale of Two Djinns, is donated to UNICEF for education. Two Djinns is a Romeo & Juliet tale with genies, feminists and a happy ending.
For more information on Mina Khan, check out: Amazon| Blog | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter
Thanks so much for reading! Don't forget to leave Mina some comment love to enter to win! 
Laura

Do not cry on the sex god soldier... #SixSunday #OneNightwithaHero

Happy Sunday everyone! I have so so much to celebrate this week! My new contemporary romance, One Night with a Hero, hit the USA Today Bestseller List at #50 and the New York Times eBook Fiction List at #19 (combined print/eBook List at #26)!!! It's so amazing! In this six, Joss and Brady have just finished having sex in what's supposed to be a one-night stand... 

It was a moment more quietly intimate, with Brady still inside her and his arms around her, than any other she could recall. Just then, she would’ve sworn she’d known him for years.

He kissed her forehead.

A tight sting settled behind her eyes.

Hell, no! Do not cry on the sex god Special Forces soldier after he just gave you the orgasm of your life.

Buy at Amazon | B&NAdd to your shelves on Goodreads 


Don't forget to visit the Other Sixers' Posts and follow the #sixsunday hashtag on Twitter! Thanks for reading and hopefully commenting, too!
Laura

***Want a chance to win a cool prize? Check out my Men of the Military Hop and my Fresh Fiction Pandora Bracelet Giveaway!

Love Military Heroes? Come Hop By & #Win!

I'm excited to be one of the 120+ participants in the Men & Women of the Military Giveaway Hop! Thanks for stopping in!

I'm in the middle of celebrating the release of One Night with a Hero, the second in my Heroes series featuring military heroes. For the hop, I thought I'd introduce you to my heroes, then share my giveaway...

From Her Forbidden Hero...meet Marco Vieri



"Marco stepped into the light. Her gaze drank him in. He carried a cardboard box in his hands, heavy enough to pop out the biceps under his short-sleeve T-shirt. The last time she’d seen him, he’d been on leave between deployments and he’d been wearing camouflage—“drop-dead sexy” was the only way to describe him in uniform. Now, his brown hair was longer and messy on top, as if he’d run his fingers through it, but he still looked every bit the soldier he’d been. He hiked up the box and it pulled at the hem of his shirt, exposing a thin slice of lean abdomen. Her eyes trailed down over a pair of black jeans that hugged him in all the right places."
Buy at B&N | Amazon
From One Night with a Hero...meet Brady Scott

"Tall. Built. Light-brown hair kissed by the sun with a hint of blond. All that lean, bare muscle. The way his running shorts had hung low enough to reveal the cut of his hips. Sex on a freaking stick.

And a soldier to boot. Bet he looked seriously fine in his dress uniform. Panties probably dropped at the mere sight—thongs, too. Maybe even like the one she was currently wearing."

and also:


"Brady’s big body filled the rectangular space of the doorway, and he stood before her in full dress uniform. Rows of ribbons and badges decorated the space over his heart. The beret he wore bore an orange shield with a sword atop crossed arrows. She soaked him in from head to toe before meeting his gaze. God, he was so freaking gorgeous."

Buy B&N | Amazon


GIVEAWAYThere are two prizes, both open to international, so there will be two winners: one will win a $5 Amazon or B&N gift card and the other a heart necklace stamped with "courage" ~ representing an important element from One Night with a Hero. Good luck!

Go here for the full list of participants' links!

Thanks for participating!
Laura
a Rafflecopter giveaway

My Manday Hottie is the #BDB's Qhuinn...see why!

Oh, look, it's Monday, so that makes it time for a Manday Hottie!!!

Even though I'm in the throes of celebrating One Night with a Hero , my contemporary romance with hot military heroes, I have to throw some Manday love in another direction today.

Namely, the Black Dagger Brotherhood's Qhuinn. Qhuinn's father is Lohstrong, leahdyre of the glymera, who doesn't accept his son because of his "imperfect" mismatched eyes.

I. Love. Qhuinn.

Well, as you know, I love me the whole dang brotherhood. But today it's Qhuinn who's got me all in a dither. Here's why... Prepare for the stare:


Ya'll know I have a thing for mismatched eyes! (North of Need's Owen... In the Service of the King's Shayla...) Put them on a tortured alpha hero bad-ass vampire warrior, and I am No. More. Good. More imaginings of Qhuinn:


Credit to mistymerrymistletoe
March 26, people. That's like, 8,000 years away! Sigh. AND, I won't even be able to read it when it releases since I have a big book due on April 1. But you can bet your bippy Lover at Last is going to be my reward for turning that book into my editor!!!

Anyone else looking forward to Qhuinn and Blay getting their happily ever after???

Thanks for reading!
Laura

#SixSunday ~ Brady's on a collision course... #OneNightwithaHero

Happy Sunday everyone! I've got six from my new contemporary romance, One Night with a Hero. Brady's feeling the impact of kissing Joss...

Brady was no stranger to women, but this one was full of contradictions that drove him wild. She had a smart mouth and a sharp wit, but blushed in a way that revealed vulnerability. She gave off an untouchable vibe, but jumped into him at the sound of fireworks. With the tattoos, pink highlights, and tongue piercing, she came off as rebellious, but she worked with kids. Joss was like a puzzle with ever-changing pieces, and it threw him off-kilter, made him feel like he was on a collision course he couldn’t avoid and wouldn’t want to anyway. The desperate noises she made, the enthusiastic sway and press of her curves, her futile effort to grasp and tug at his short hair—he’d remember the sound and feel of her for a long time.

Buy at Amazon | B&NAdd to your shelves on Goodreads

Don't forget to visit the Other Sixers' Posts and follow the #sixsunday hashtag on Twitter! Thanks for reading and hopefully commenting, too!
Laura

***Want a chance to win a cool prize? Check out my North of Need Birthday Giveaway and my Fresh Fiction Pandora Bracelet Giveaway!

Welcome Guest Author Elizabeth Marx! #TheRedVeilSeries

Welcome Guest AuthorElizabeth Marxto the blog today!

See below for her giveaway!

Elizabeth is celebrating a new paranormal series with us today, so here's more about her new books!

Descent of Blood, The Red Veil Series, The Prequel 

When times are darkest, some vampires desire more than blood …

England, 1465. Mortal men clash in the War of the Roses for the English crown, while vampire warriors’ move undetected among their ranks, savoring the flow of blood that battlefields provide.

Vampire prince, Severian Pearce, fears the revelation of the immortal clans to humankind should King Henry fall from power. While in pursuit of Henry’s enemies, Severian comes to the aid of Meridian Neville, a human woman he craves—and not for the scent of her blood … Meridian is torn between honoring her father’s dying wish and her unexplainable yearning for Lord Severian. But as Severian and Meridian work together to protect a relic hunted by mortals and immortals alike, the red veil descends over them. This all-consuming attraction can drive immortals to the brink of madness. Will the existence of this powerful bond between a human and a vampire be enough to unite the immortal clans or is the red veil a scourge set on destroying any chance they might have of happiness?

When all hope is lost, one vampire will fight unto death for his forbidden love.

Amazon

Ascent of Blood, The Red Veil Series, Book One

Sometimes, love is conceived in the mind of a man long before it is ever realized.

1990, Cardiff, Wales.  Vampire prince, Sebastian Pearce, has waited six-hundred years for the right human mate. His own beloved mother was a mortal capable of carrying immortal offspring. While vampires no longer require live donors for sustenance, Mother Nature has played a cruel trick on them … making breeders a rare commodity. As numbers in his Imperial House dwindle, Sebastian’s virgin bride eludes him, until he happens upon a young woman searching for information about a sacred vampire text, the Book of Descent. Sebastian’s desire for her is more potent than anything he’s felt for another woman, but Everleigh Marbut isn’t innocent. She’s an American with a mind of her own, and worst of all, she’s already carrying an immortal being. Sebastian and Everleigh are so intent on fighting their attraction to each other and the influence of the red veil that they don’t realize they’re being pulled into a battle pitting medieval myth against the power of modern science to recreate life.

About Elizabeth:
Windy City writer Elizabeth Marx brings cosmopolitan flair to her fiction, which is a blend of romance and fast-paced Chicago living with a sprinkle of magical realism. In her past incarnation she was an interior designer--not a decorator--which basically means she has a piece of paper to prove that she knows how to match and measure things and can miraculously make mundane pieces of furniture appear to be masterpieces. Elizabeth says being an interior designer is one part shrink, one part marriage counselor and one part artist, skills eerily similar to those employed in writing. 
Elizabeth grew up in Illinois and has also lived in Texas and Florida. If she’s not pounding her head against the wall trying to get the words just right, you can find her at a softball field out in the boonies or sitting in the bleachers by a basketball court. Elizabeth resides with her husband, girls, and two cats who’ve spelled everyone into believing they’re really dogs.
Elizabeth has traveled extensively, but still says there’s no town like Chi-Town.
Find Elizabeth Online at:Website | Facebook | Twitter | Blog

Giveaway!There will be two ebook winners! One will will Descent of Blood and one Ascent of Blood. Must include email address in comment. Open to international! Contest ends midnight EST Friday 11/9. Good luck!

Now, leave Elizabeth some new release comment love! And thanks for reading!

Laura

***Want another chance to win a cool prize? Check out my North of Need Birthday Giveaway and my Fresh Fiction Pandora Bracelet Giveaway!

Announcing the #PlayersandHeroes Winners!

I'm very excited to announce the winners of the PLAYERS AND HEROES giveaway that Jennifer L. Armentrout and I ran this past week! We had so much fun playing with everyone who turned out for the event. Without further ado...the winners are:

The winner of Jennifer L. Armentrout's prize pack is: Debby Kasbergen 


Buy at Amazon & B&N
Buy at Amazon & B&N











The winner of Laura Kaye's prize pack is: Beverly DeeAnjello
Congratulations to Debby and Beverly! And thanks to everyone who entered! We hope you'll check out these two hot books and take home a player and hero of your very own!

Want another chance to win a cool prize? Check out my North of Need Birthday Giveaway and my Fresh Fiction Pandora Bracelet Giveaway! Plus, me, Jennifer and two other authors are giving away a Laura

Happy Release Day to S.L. Scott's #NaturallyCharlie

Click here for the North of Need Birthday Giveaway!

Happy Release Day for Naturally, Charlie!
Happy Release Day is just like a Birthday and that means presents! One lucky winner will receive a signed copy! Just leave your name and email address in the comments below.
What fans are saying about Naturally, Charlie...
What I love the most about this book is that it’s a simple yet engaging storyline. Yes, it’s a ‘boy meets girl, like each other, encounter hiccups that prevent them being together’ plot but from the moment I started reading, I was enchanted by Scott’s poetic story telling. ~ Yvette
Honestly, the characters were great and realistic. Their friends were perfectly played for who they were, and they weren't over done. Charlotte's feelings and personal obstacles were relatable. And Charlie did the best he could to show her without coming right out and saying it that he wanted her. ~ Jennifer
Their relationship is one based on friendship and trust. Their easy going manner and connection is so palpable that I was really cheering for them to get together. I enjoyed getting to see a different side of each one and experience how both of them grow throughout the book. Their banter and humor was amazing. They really were made for each other in my eyes and I couldn't help the grin that I kept up through most of the book. ~ Shirley
Don’t want to wait? You can buy Naturally, Charlie today!
Amazon- Kindle | Amazon– Paperback
Learn more about S.L. here: Twitter | Website | Facebook – and S.L. is having a Facebook release party today with tons of prizes!
Don’t forget to leave S.L. some new release comment love!
Thanks for reading,
Laura

[Contest rules: Open to U.S. only. Must leave valid email address. Contest ends midnight EST Friday 11/9. Good luck!]

Happy Birthday #NorthofNeed + Giveaway& Vote?

Happy birthday to Owen and Megan, one of my favorite couples, from my contemporary fantasy romance, North of Need. It's hard to believe the Anemoi have been with me for a whole year now! So I thought I'd celebrate with a little birthday giveaway!

Awards for North of Need:FF&P PRISM Award Winner for Best Light Paranormal Romance of 2012Nominated for Cross Genre Novel of the Year and Erotic Romance Novel of the Year in the 2013 AAD Bookie AwardsNamed GraveTells' Best Book of 2011Nominated for eight GraveTells' Readers' Choice AwardsVoted Sizzling Hot Read of the Year at Sizzling Hot Books

Buy at Amazon | B&N

Giveaway!
If you have time (and the willingness to vote through the whole list...), please consider voting for North of Need in the Cross-Genre Novel of the Year and Erotic Romance Novel of the Year categories in the AAD Bookie Awards (through 11/15)! Thanks!

Thanks for reading! And good luck!
Laura

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Announcing the #OneNightwithaHero Blog Tour!

I'm very excited to announce my blog tour for ONE NIGHT WITH A HERO, my newest contemporary romance and the sequel to Her Forbidden Hero! The tour will be filled with guest posts, interviews, reviews, giveaways, and more! Plus, be sure to check out my huge November contest over at Fresh Fiction to win an awesome gift!

Direct links will be added as each post goes up, so check back often!
November 01 ~ Love to Read for Fun
November 02 ~ Waves of Fiction
November 05 ~ Reading Lark
November 06 ~ Picked by Poison
Buy at B&N | AmazonNovember 07 ~ Book Sniffers Anonymous
November 09 ~ Hesperia Loves Books
November 12 ~ Salacious Reads
November 13 ~ Talk Supe
November 14 ~ Novel Reflections
November 15 ~ Valia Lind Writes
November 16 ~ In Love with Romance
November 16 ~ Arianne Cruz Blog
November 19 ~ Shortie Says
November 20 ~ Fictionators
November 21 ~ A Diary of a Book Addict
November 26 ~ The Book Cellar
November 26 ~ Herding Cats & Burning Soup
November 26 ~ Reading on the Wild Side
November 27 ~ Books-n-Kisses
November 27 ~ Savvy Authors
November 28 ~ Ramblings From This Chick
November 29 ~ Ex Libris
November 30 ~ Random JenDSmit
November 30 ~ Feeling Fictional
December 03 ~ The Bookish Babe
December 04 ~ Always YA At Heart
December 05 ~ Literary Cravings
December 06 ~ Book Lovers Inc
December 07 ~ Cocktails and Books
December 10 ~ Poisoned Rationality
December 10 ~ Books to Brighten Your Mood
December 11 ~ The Readiacs
December 12 ~ Confessions from Romaholics
December 13 ~ Smitten with Reading
December 14 ~ Where's My Muse
December 16 ~ A Writer's Mind
December 17 ~ Reading Between the Wines Book Club

I hope you'll join in all the tour fun along the way!

Thanks for visiting!

Laura