Raine Miller's Blog, page 8

Naked (The Blackstone Affair #1) by Raine Miller

Reblogged from totallybooked:

Gitte – 4 stars
Jenny  - 4 stars

Gitte:  I loved this novella.  And yes it is a novella first 1 of 3.  It is what it is….and does exactly what it says on the tin so can’t be judged on that.  It is fast paced, sexy and a clever piece of writing. The Prologue is IMPORTANT…

Jenny:   Sometimes I love novella’s. 

Read more… 1,009 more words

I think this is my favorite review of Naked to date. I love the format these two use to put up a review--BRILLIANT!

All In…come on already!

I have to admit I am more than a little surprised at the amount of emails and comments I get these days about the release of All In, The Blackstone Affair, Part 2.  Well I’m here to address some of your concerns.  The good news first:  book is in the final stages of being written.  *cheering*  Does that mean it’s ready for publication in the next days or even the next week?  No.  (I hope that wasn’t really bad news for you and I do love that you want to read the book and care enough to ask)  But with any book I put out, spit and polish will need to happen before it’s up for sale.  It’s just how I work and I’ve never been a writer who churns out 10 K words a day…and I don’t think I ever will be.

Now, with that being said, I want you to know I didn’t go into this venture with the idea of torturing people.  So far, I have worked at the pace I pretty much envisioned when I came up with the idea for this series–which was three, novella-length books of around 100-ish pages each that would tell the continuing story from different points of view.  I set a pace of 2 months for each book and so far I’m on schedule with that goal.  Naked was published on August 25, 2012.  *wink*  (I never in my wildest imaginings thought I would be fielding the amount of requests for this book as I am experiencing)  Yes, folks, Raine is just a regular gal with a part -time day job, two kids and a husband.  Trust me I fantasize about the glamorous life I want to be leading, but man, it’s just so not like that!  Not at all.  *laughing*

There have been a ton of comments about the length as well, but again, I am sticking to my plan for The Blackstone Affair and although Part 2 will be longer than Part 1, it is not going to be full novel length either, and if it was, could not possibly be written in such a short time.  Not by this author at least!

I enjoy the comments and questions and try to respond to every inquiry, but if I don’t, please understand that it’s only because I am working hard on getting Part 2 out to you rather than answering emails.  I love you fans very much.  Never ever forget it!

For those of you who want to see more than a three book series, there is some good news there as well.  I have planned a spinoff series for Gabrielle, Brynne’s roommate, the hero of which you will meet in All In.  His name is Ivan and he is connected to Ethan.  I’ll tell you a little secret here…I actually started Gaby and Ivan’s story FIRST.  *gasp*  Yes, it’s true.  I started it back in the summer but got distracted by Ethan and Brynne along the way.  (Such is the bane of a writer’s life)  Their story is called The Rothvale Legacy and will feature some cameo appearances with Ethan and Brynne so you will still get to see them which is always nice to know they won’t be totally gone in future stories.

So to finish this ramble, I’ll leave you with a nice picture of my muse for Ethan Blackstone, waiting and plotting on how to get his beautiful American girl back–none other than the sublime David Gandy who can do sexy and angsty oh so very, very well.  Thank you for the inspiration, Mr. Gandy, you have helped me more than you will ever know.

Raine~

Tagged: All In, All In release date, David Gandy, Ethan Blackstone, The Blackstone Affair Part 2

Ethan Blackstone~The Most Interesting Man in the World?

If you didn’t know already, book 2 of The Blackstone Affair is written from Ethan’s point of view.  The whole book!  All In will give us a peek into this man’s mind.  You will find out what makes him tick, discover his secrets, and know what he thinks about.  *snickers*  No surprises there.  He thinks about her–all the time…among other things.  *more snickering*

In this scene we find Ethan visiting his dad.  You’ll see that he’s still drinking Mexican beer and has even met a new friend…

~Excerpt

Day two of my exile from Brynne and it sucked.  I was moving around and doing things but nothing felt right.  How long would it be like this?  Should I call?  If I thought about my situation too much, fear started to creep in so I left it alone.  I left her alone.  The empty space inside me pushed for action but I knew it was too soon to try to go to her.  She needed some time and I’d made this mistake before.  Pressing too fast and too hard with her.  And being an utter fucking fool.

I parked on the street next to the house where I’d grown up.  The lawn very tidy, the gate straight and the shrubbery clipped as it had always been.  Dad would never leave here.  Not the home where he’d been with my mother.  My dad was a stubborn old puss and this was where he would die some day.

I picked up the cold beer off the seat and went in through the gate.  A black cat dashed ahead of me and waited.  It was not quite a kitten and not fully grown either.  A teenage cat I suppose.  It sat down right in front of the door and turned and looked at me.  Bright green eyes blinked as if saying for me to hurry up my too-slow ass and let him in the house.  When in the hell had Dad gotten a cat?

I rang the bell and then opened the door and stuck my head in.  “Dad?”  The cat slithered into the house faster than the speed of light and all I could do was stare.  “You have a cat now?” I called out and went into the kitchen.  I put the beer in the fridge and flopped on the couch.

Remote pointed, I turned on the TV.  European Championship.  Fucking perfect.  I could focus on football for a few hours, hopefully drink four out of the six beers and forget about my girl for a little while.  And cry to my Dad.

I leaned my head back and closed my eyes.  Something furry and soft climbed into my lap.  The cat was back.

“Ahh, well you’re here then, and I see you’ve met Soot.”  My dad walked up behind me.

“Why did you get a cat?”  I couldn’t wait for this answer.  We’d never had cats growing up.

My dad snorted and sat down in his chair.  “I didn’t.  You could say that he got me.”

“I can imagine.”  I stroked my hand down Soot’s sleek body.  “He just came in the house the second I opened the front door like he owned the place.”

“My neighbor asked me to feed him while she left to take care of her mum who’s very ill.  She’s had to move into her mother’s house and I got him by default.  We have an understanding I s’pose.”

“You and the neighbor, or you and the cat?”

My dad looked at me shrewdly, his eyes narrowing.  Jonathan Blackstone was very perceptive by nature.  Always had been.  I could never slip anything by him.  He always knew if I came home drunk and when I started smoking, or if I was into trouble as a lad.  I guess he’d been that way because he was a single parent for most of our lives.  My sister Hannah and I were never neglected despite the loss of our mum.  His senses got keener and he could sniff out problems like a bloodhound.  He was doing it now.

“What the hell happened to you, son?”

Brynne happened.

“That noticeable, huh?”  The cat started purring in my lap.

“I know my own child and I know when something’s off with you.”  My dad left the room for a minute.  He returned with two of the beers cracked and handed me one.  “Mexican beer?”  He lifted an eyebrow at me and I wondered if I looked the same way when I did it.  Brynne had remarked on my eyebrow quirking more than once.

“Yeah.  It’s good with a sliver of lime shoved down the neck.”  I took a slug and stroked my new ebony friend.  “It’s a girl.  Brynne.  I met her, and I fell for her, and now she’s left me.”  Short and sweet.  What else was there to say to my own father?  This was all that mattered or all that I could think about.  I was aching for her and she had left me.

“Ahhh, well that makes more sense.”  Dad paused for a moment as if letting it all sink in.  I am sure he was surprised by the revelation.  “My lad, I know I’ve told you before so this is not news by any stretch.  You came to your good looks from your mother, rest her soul.  All you got from me was the name and maybe my bulk.  But your blessings in the Adonis department made it very easy for you with the ladies.”

“I’ve never chased women, Dad.”

“I didn’t say you did but the point is you never had to.  They chased you.”  He shook his head in remembrance.  “Gods, you had the females clamoring for you.  I was sure you’d get caught sowing your oats and make me a granddad long before you should have done.”  He gave me a look that suggested he’d spent much more time worrying about this than he’d wanted to.  “But you never did…”

Dad trailed off and got a rather sad look in his eye.  After school I’d shipped off to the military and left home.  And nearly didn’t come back…

~*~

Tagged: All In, Ethan Blackstone, excerpt All In, male POV, Raine Miller work in progress, The Blackstone Affair Part 2

All In, The Blackstone Affair Part 2

I promised to reveal the cover this weekend for All In.  Well here it is.  I can thank Kim Killion at Hot Damn Designs for working her magic yet again.  I love how it turned out and love the expressiveness in the hand.  Hands fascinate me in general so based on the fact that Ethan Blackstone is known for touching his girl all the time, I thought this cover worked perfectly for their story.  I also promised an excerpt so here goes.  You will see that Mr. Blackstone is still explaining things to Brynne in that very direct way of his.  *snickers*  He can do blunt and scorchingly sexy better than any man I know and it only makes me love him more.

Excerpt~

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“First?  We’re going to get some food.”  It came out a little harsher than I wanted it to.

She nodded at me and then looked away, out the window.

“After you eat we’ll get a new phone and mobile number for you.”

She looked down at her lap and nodded again.  I wanted to pull her into my arms but I held off.

“Then I’m taking you home.  My place—home.”

“No, Ethan, that’s not a good idea,” she whispered.

“Fuck good ideas,” I exploded.  “Would you at least look at me?”  She turned her eyes up to mine and smoldered in the seat, a hint of red fire flickering and making them look very brown.  I wanted to drag her to me and shake her, making her understand that this bullshit break-up was a thing of the past.  She was coming home with me, period.  I turned the key in the ignition.

“What do you want from me, Ethan?”

“That’s easy.”  I made a rude noise.  “I want to go back to one week ago.  I want to be back in my office fucking on my desk with you wrapped around me!  I want your body underneath mine looking up at me with some expression other than the one I saw when you left me at the elevators!”  I rested my forehead on the steering wheel.

“Okay…Ethan.”  Her voice sounded shaky and more than a little defeated.

“Okay…Ethan?” I mocked, pulling my head up to look her over.  “What does that mean?  Okay I’m coming home with you?  Okay to you and me?  What?  I need more from you, Brynne.”

~*~

Tagged: All In, book cover art, erotic contemporary romance, Ethan Blackstone, excerpt All In, Naked, Raine Miller, Raine Miller Romance, series, The Blackstone Affair, The Blackstone Affair Part 2

Who is Ethan Blackstone?

Okay, I admit it.  I used him.  And he’s good right?  My muse for Ethan Blackstone in Naked, The Blackstone Affair Part 1 is none other than male supermodel, David Gandy.  I make it easy for readers to figure this out too.  His description is pretty clear to anyone who knows who this man is.  And surprise, surprise…he is British!  Read the blurb on the cover of Live magazine and you will know why he is so famous.  ”The world’s only male supermodel” and for very good reason.  Just look at him!

So now that the hero is out of the bag I will get back to writing more on The Blackstone Affair, Part 2–All In.  Mr. Blackstone has some  work to do.  *snickers*

Tagged: Contemporary Romance, David Gandy, erotic romance, Ethan Blackstone, Muse, Naked, Raine Miller, The Blackstone Affair

Five Flames for Naked~

Authors love a smokin review.  So I am really happy about this one, from Kelly Oakes at DemonLovers Books & More.  She made my day.  Naked is now up at Amazon and Barnes & Noble–and getting some excellent props from readers.  Please know I am hard at work on Part 2 as I write this…we still have much more to come from Mr. Blackstone (to torture the ladies with).  ~  Raine

Tagged: DemonLovers Books & More, erotic romance, Ethan Blackstone, Naked, The Blackstone Affair

The Blackstone Affair~

Well it’s official.  I have a new book.  I’ve been so busy with writing it I’ve been remiss in updating my blog.  All I can say is summers are wonderful for my output.  This story is a departure for me though, it’s contemporary and set right at the time of the London Olympics.  The heroine is American and the hero is British…and a bit racier than you have seen from me in the past.  And I will tell you that I have loved every moment of writing it.  So much so that there are two more books to follow this one in a three book series called The Blackstone Affair.  Below is a first teaser for you to enjoy:

August 2012

“Very bad idea, Brynne.  Don’t risk it.  Let me give you a ride.”

I froze on the street.  I knew who was speaking to me without ever hearing his voice before.  I turned slowly to face the same eyes that had burned me back at the gallery.  “I don’t know you at all,” I told him.

He smiled at me, his lip turning up more on one side than the other of his goateed mouth.  He pointed to his car at the curb, a very sleek looking black Range Rover HSE.  The kind that only Brits with money can ever afford.  Not that he didn’t reek of money before, but he was way out of my league.

I swallowed hard in my throat.  Those eyes of his were blue, very clear and deep. “Yet you call me by name…and expect me to get in a car with you?  Are you crazy?”

He walked toward me and extended his hand.  “Ethan Blackstone.”

I stared at his hand, so finely elegant with the white cuff framing the grey sleeve of his designer jacket.  “How do you even know my name?”

“I just bought a work entitled Brynne’s Repose from the Andersen Gallery for a nice sum not fifteen minutes ago.   And I’m fairly sure I’m not mentally impaired.  Sounds more PC than ‘crazy’ don’t you think?”  He kept his hand out.

I met his hand and he took mine.  Oh did he ever.  Or maybe I’d lost my mind shaking hands with the stranger who’d just purchased a huge canvas of my naked body.  Ethan’s grip was firm.  And hot.  Had I imagined he pulled me a little closer toward him?  Or maybe I was the crazy one, because my feet hadn’t moved an inch.  Those blue eyes were closer to me than they were a moment ago though, and I could smell his cologne.  Something so gawd awfully delicious it was sinful to smell that good and be human.  “Brynne Bennett,” I said.

He let go of my hand.  “And now we know each other,” he said, pointing first at me and then to himself.  “Brynne, Ethan.”  He looked over at his Rover.  “Now will you let me take you home?”

I swallowed again.  “Why do you care so much?”

“Because I don’t want anything to happen to you?  Because those pretty shoes look lovely at the end of your legs but will be hell to walk in?  Because it’s dangerous for a woman alone at night?  Especially one as beautiful as you.”  His mouth turned up just slightly on the one side again.  “So many reasons, Miss Bennett.”

Tagged: Contemporary Romance, erotic romance, Ethan Blackstone, London Olympics, Naked, Nude Art Modeling, Raine Miller, The Blackstone Affair

Me and Jane Austen…Who knew?

So there’s this thing called a sales rank on Amazon that ranks your book’s sales against all the other kindle books being sold every minute, of every day.  Well I had absolutely NO CLUE about it until my dear friend, Belinda Boring, (check out her books, she is awesome) tells me in a Facebook chat one night:

Belinda: ”Raine!  You’re a rockstar!  You’re on lists!”

Raine: “Come again?”  *has no idea what she is talking about*

Belinda:  ”Your sales rank!  On Amazon!”  *geez, Raine really is naive*

Raine:  ”Can you show me the link?  I never heard of it.”  *wonders what other things I am in the dark about*

Belinda:  ”You have a 1600 ranking for Libertine.  Authors would kill for that rank.  You are selling a lot of books!”  *can she really be this dumb?*

Raine:  *does a Google search for ‘Amazon sales rank” and starts reading* Wow.  So I am selling some books.  *long pause*  Huh.  *another pause*  For realz?!  People are actually buying my book?  I really had NO idea!  *Belinda must think I am an idiot*

Belinda:  *thinks Raine is sweet, but a little slow on the uptake…good thing I love her*  YES!  You are selling a lot of books!

Raine:  Thank you for telling me, sweetie.  You are a great friend.  *thinks Belinda is amazingly smart and savvy*

…So this brings me to my picture.  Yes, there is such a thing as Amazon Best Sellers Sales Rank and it updates every hour for books below 10,000.  You want your number to be small by the way.  And if you get into a low enough ranking for your genre category you get on the Top 100 List.  So yesterday I had a look (I really look like every hour now) and The Undoing of a Libertine was number 83 on the paid Top 100 Paid List and Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was right beside it on the Top 100 Free List.  It was so pretty I could not resist the screen shot.  My book sitting on a bestseller list right beside hers.  Kinda surreal for me.   So here you go.

I am sure you are absolutely thrilled and amazed by this image, just like me.

Raine~

Tagged: Amazon Sales Rank, Belinda Boring, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Raine Miller, The Undoing of a Libertine, Top 100 Bestsellers Historical Romance

The Undoing of a Libertine Giveaway~

Win these fabulous prizes!

To celebrate the release of the print version of The Undoing of a Libertine, I am having a giveaway of a signed book, a tote bag and a flower pen.  Join me on my Facebook page and comment there.  Contest runs through July 10th when I will choose a random winner from those that comment.  I made the pens and took a ton of them to Rom Con with me.  Everyone loved them and my tote bags?  Well, they are da bomb.  You definitely want one of these to take to the store.  Do your part for a green economy and all that.  Right?  Hope to see you around Facebook.  In the meantime, I am hard at work on two new books you can be assured.  More on that later–I gotta get back to writing.  Raine~

Tagged: free books, free swag, historical romance free book, Raine Miller giveaway, Raine Miller Romance, signed book, The Undoing of a Libertine giveway, tote bag

Inspiration, Rejuvenation and Refocus~

It’s the eve of Rom Con and as I scurry around getting my swag into the suitcase, my clothes organized, and my kindle packed, I find myself thinking about the next story.  The excitement of going to another professional conference and mingling with fabulous authors I read and adore has rejuvenated my creative spark.  So it’s time to get down and dirty with the next book.  Loosely titled, Unveiling June, it is about a painting, the back story being told in two parts, by two couples–one from 1812 and the other from 2012.  It’s funny how the smallest things can motivate a person.  I saw this painting and it did just that.  This is how I picture my modern couple in my head–in this spot-on work by Rob Hefferan.  Art is my thing and it is what got me started on my first writing over three years ago.  There is so much to be said about the subjects in a painting.  How I see it, those stories are just dying to be told.

See you at Rom Con.  I’ll be the gal with the awesome tote bags and flower pen swag!!!!  Raine~

Tagged: erotic romance, historical romance, Paintings as writing inspiration, Raine Miller work in progress, Rob Hefferan, Rom Con, romantic art, Unveiling June