Nona Raines's Blog, page 47

Hoping for August

Due to a higher-than-usual number of new releases, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that ABOVE THE LAW, Book Four in The Men of Sanctuary series, will be released at http://www.nobleromance.com/ early in August.

Above The Law - book blurb:

Officer Abigail O'Connell, state game warden, and Glennon Garrett, security & surveillance expert, fall hard for each other while working a protection detail at Sanctuary lodge. After the crisis ends, there's no reason to remain hands-off. The hot sex commences, even with Glennon's shattered leg in a cast and his ruined shoulder in a sling.

When handsome Deputy Joe Collins uses the house key Abigail gave him, he unintentionally catches Abigail and Glennon naked in her bed in a rather compromising position—several positions, actually.

Abigail and Joe are best friends, buddies--and they made a sacred pact never to hit on each other. Breaking free of her self-imposed  celibacy, Abigail is suddenly enjoying hot wild sex with a buff, muscled macho dude, a former Navy SEAL.

Joe's difficulty arises not only with jealousy over Abigail going from sexual famine to sensual feast, but with his unexpected attraction to her partner, Glennon.

When the three get rip-roaring toasted during a straight tequila night, Jose Cuervo flies and inhibitions die.
How will the two men react to each other—and to Abigail—in the harsh light of day? Who is the stalker in their midst who can reveal their most intimate secrets, even ruin their lives?

(Warning ~ This Book Contains Sexually Explicit Scenes Described in Graphic Detail,
featuring a Male/Male/Female Ménage a Trois relationship and Male/Male action)

I've very jealous of Nona and Rachell--they have their new covers already! Designer Fiona Jayde has done a marvelous job with my book covers so far. I can't wait to see what she comes up with for this book.

Dear Readers: who are your favorite cover artists and designers? Do you tend to choose books--print and e-book--by their cover art, first? Then read the cover blurbs? Curious authors would like to know!

Romance According to Rachell: The countdown

I hope you all didn't miss me too much last week. My rugrats were keeping me very busy. 


I have an official release date for the release of An Affair Across Times Square. So I'm here to celebrate with you! The release date is exactly five weeks from tomorrow. August, 21, 2012. Let the countdown begin! 


To celebrate this event, I put up a little snippet of the book on my website. Click here to read the excerpt. 


There's also a bit on that site about the process and idea for An Affair Across Times Square. So I thought I'd share a little more with you all about the book. Here's the little teaser that goes along with it...



Layla Morgan is tired of getting into trouble, and getting hurt. And she fears her wild nature is going to strike yet again. But maybe this time, she’s finally met the guy that can stand close enough to touch her inner flames, and not get burned. The man across Times Square seems enthralled by her wildness instead of scared in the face of it. He can’t seem to look away as she shows him just how much fun she can have… with herself.
After one glance of silky skin and talented fingers, Tyler Lachlan doesn’t stand a chance of resisting the delicious distraction of the mystery woman from the Marietta Hotel. He’s sure there’s more to her than her sultry voice and mahogany thighs, but he doesn’t know if he’s willing to risk his career to find out.
Could what began as a voyeuristic affair across Times Square develop into something more? 

And what better way to celebrate than by giving presents???? I'll be doing some giveaways here and on some other blogs over the next five weeks. I'm still scheduling my guest blogging spots, but check back here next Monday for the schedule and even maybe the first of my give-aways. 
~Rach 

UNCOLLARED Has a Cover!

In case you haven't had a chance to visit my website or Facebook page, just wanted to share the gorgeous cover of my upcoming release, UNCOLLARED. The publisher is Loose Id and Ginny Glass is the cover artist.

Let me share the blurb with you:

Submissive Mia Manetti is devastated when her first Master uncollars her just as she was hoping for a permanent relationship with him. Trying to move on, she agrees to sub for a powerful and sexy new Dom.
Chess Ryan has wanted Mia from the first moment he saw her at Club Restraint, but it was always "hands off" because she belonged to his friend Philip. Now, thanks to that friend's maneuvers, Mia is finally his. But only for a little while.
Mia finds it increasingly difficult to keep her feelings in check as she experiences erotic delights with Master Chess, sensual and sexual fantasies that she's never known before. Is she setting herself up for another heart ache?
Guilt, secrets and misplaced pride all keep Chess and Mia from being completely honest with each other. As they connect sexually and emotionally, they realize their relationship has grown too serious to be called "play". How far are they willing to go as Master and slave?


This is a new sub-genre for me, and I'm excited about it. And it was written long before The Fifty Shades of Gray phenomenon, I swear!

I hope readers enjoy it.

Nona Raines

For more about me and my books, please visit www.nonaraines.com

Same Scene, Different Book—Part Two

Hi friends! Last week I wrote about the first of two scenes that overlap from my second book, Take This Man, to my latest erotic romance, Her Perfect Man.  I got some excellent advice from best-selling author Kristan Higginsto start the story off with a bang—or rather, a smack with a submarine sandwich!The next scene that appears in both books is the night when Adam Vostek appears at Kim Hansen's door with a couple of six-packs and a long face.  He's had huge fight with Elyse, the woman he loves. Kim suspects he's come for a roll in the hay and reads him the riot act. He accepts her tongue-lashing because he doesn't want to be alone and after a few too many beers, falls asleep on her futon.In the earlier book, this scene was from Adam's POV, but in Her Perfect Man, we now see it from his ex-girlfriend Kim's point of view.It was challenging but a lot of fun to revisit the scene from Kim's POV. We learn a lot more about her. Adam thinks she's just pissed off, but the reader discovers she's also sad, worried and confused about her own life. She has plenty of pithy advice for her ex even as she scoffs at her inability to practice what she preaches. While her trusty cat Groucho plays watchdog, Kim has a chance to reassess her feelings for Adam. Was she really in love with him after all?  Just as she tries to sort it all out, Charlie (her new love interest) shows up at her door and it all hits the fan.  While she tries to play it cool in front of Adam, she's upset that Charlie found her in a somewhat "compromising situation" and automatically seems to suspect the worst.In revisiting these two scenes in Her Perfect Man, I wasn't trying to take the easy way out. I wanted to enrich the reader's understanding of Kim. I hope my effort was a success.For more about me and my books, please visit www.nonaraines.comNona RainesHot Contemporary RomanceEdgy ~ Emotional ~ Erotic

Romance According to Rachell: New Cover

Good morning bloggerverse and welcome to the Divas of Desire! 


This week I want to share something awesome with all of you (don't you feel special?) I got my cover art! My artist's name is Valerie Tibbs and she rocks my socks. It's very difficult for an author to let someone visualize something that's been living inside your head for so many months (or years). In my case, Tyler and Layla were partly based on a model and an actor, so I had images in my mind of what they should look like. 

I was asked to give physical descriptions and some other information to the cover artist and also put in a decent-sized excerpt from the book for inspiration. I sent her a spicy little scene from the first section of the book and it did the trick! The cover is gorgeous and nice and hot! It's a great realization of the characters inside my head and inside the book. 






I quite like it and I hope you will all feel the same. So without further ado, here it is...


What do you think?

Same Scene, Different Book—Is It Cheating?

My latest book, Her Perfect Man, was released last Friday. I was so excited to finally tell Kim Hansen's story. Kim appeared as a supporting character in the first two books of the "man" series. Anyone who read the second book, Take This Man, will realize upon reading the new book that two scenes from the second book are repeated in Kim's story.
I wasn't sure if I should do this. Readers might think I was cheating, making it easy on myself by including scenes that had already been written for another book. In fact, in my original version of Her Perfect Man, I didn't include the sub-sandwich smackdown scene. Kim was simply remembering it while she tried to coax her cat Groucho down from a tree. But when Kristan Higgins read the chapter (I was lucky enough to win a chapter critique from her at the New Jersey Romance Writer's Conference) she thought the beginning needed more "oomph" and that I should start with Kim whomping Adam with his ham and cheese hoagie. Well, when this lady tells you something, you listen. She's not a best-selling author for nothing!
So I wrote the scene, this time from Kim's point of view. Obviously, the events had to match up with those in the second book, but since it was through Kim's eyes, different aspects could be explored. We could see that in addition to being angry at Adam, Kim is hurt by his suggestion that they take a break. Her self esteem takes a real hit.
As she reels from Adam's rejection, the rest of her day goes downhill—she falls down the stairs, her cat runs up a tree and refuses to come down. But that same afternoon, Kim encounters Charlie Keller, the man who will change her life—if she'll let him.
Next Friday, I'll post Part II of this blog and talk about the other scene in "Her Perfect Man" that matches a scene in an earlier book.
To learn more about "Her Perfect Man" and Nona's other books, please visit www.nonaraines.com