Marian Tee's Blog, page 14

Paperbacks!

From my lovely editor The Passionate Proofreader!

Blogging in the car so I need to keep this short.

What Do I Owe You?

But first - before we talk about that, you might want to check out my latest book spotlight and author interview for R.E. Butler on her newest book, Mate of Her Heart. I had fun doing this and if you're a fan of shifter romance, you'll love reading the book and the interview as well. ;) 

Now, on to business. So what do I owe you...mmm...
Warning: Love Moderately Part II is on its way. I've signed it up for a really special book tour so no backing out now! It will be out sometime after New Year. Oh, and also WLM will be reissued with a brand new spanking cover and title - UNWILLINGLY YOURS. It will be a part of this cool boxed set and it will feature never-before-seen chapters tackling Angelo's back story. You'll like it, I promise. After all, Angelo's a hot alpha male, too. He just has his own reasons for being a jerk. ;)

How Not to be Seduced by Dukes - the last Pussketeer story - is also on its way. Maybe after Christmas or New Year. It depends on my publisher. But she'll release it as soon as possible, I'm sure of that. ;)


The Art of Loving a Greek Billionaire (Book 3) will be out this month - December - also! Good news, right?

Jason and Keanne will be out either January or February. This one has been contracted - and I'll pay a huge penalty if I don't get it out in time. 

Same for Evren 2! I know a lot of you are waiting for this - it will be out around March. :) I've sealed this contract with my blood - I mean, my signature. No backing out! No delays! Just Dyvian and Davie all the way! :)

Oh, and Books 4 and 5 for the Greek Billionaire Romance series out in January and February respectively.

Those are A LOT OF BOOKS. You should be proud of me! :P

Free Short Story!

[image error] offguard.pdfFile Size: 67 kbFile Type: pdfDownload File I hope you enjoy it! :)

If I could interview three authors for you...

who would it be?

Personally, I'd pick ---
Stephen King. I want to know how to terrify people with WORDS!
Judith McNaught. I want to know why she's not writing anymore and maybe get more tips about historical romance writing. I adoooooooooore her books.Anne Bishop. I want to BEG her to write more quickly. And I want to know more about THE OTHERS, her new series. 
What about you? :)

3 Reasons Why My Readers Rock

Note: I have a separate blog entry thanking WRITERS. This one is for you guys alone!

First of all, thank you! I know this makes me sound like Sarah Jessica Parker in the movie How Does She Do It (or something like that, I forgot the title) with how she loves saying thank you, but honestly it's NOT me. It's how Filipinos are raised. We LOVE saying thank you. We feel like douchebags if we don't get to say thank you at least three times. =D

Sooo...bear with me. 

Thank you!

Because...Billionaire Bad Boys of Romance Boxed Set, after being out for three weeks (released 10/28 on Amazon) is still #16. It peaked at #12 actually for last week and #11 the week before that. There are so many WONDERFUL books out there being released every day and that fact just makes it surreal, the way we are still on the first page of Amazon's Top 100. 

And I know, I AM ABSOLUTELY SURE that it's all because of you READERS. :) So thank you for that. 

And that's just the first reason. 

Another reason I'm absolutely grateful to you guys is because your support also catapulted us to the USA Today bestseller list at #57! Here's a snapshot just in case you don't want to click the link --- Surreal!!!! 
(O.T. If you posted a review about the bundle on Goodreads, you might see your review included in the page I've linked to earlier. So cool, right?!) 

Third reason. Well....here's another snapshot because there are NO WORDS to explain how happy I am right now. Just to put things in context --- 
I am NOT a native English speaker. I DO NOT have a degree in writing. I was NOT professionally trained in any way to write. I DID NOT graduate from our version of Ivy League universities here. I come from a Third World country - one that is so poorly run we STILL have dead bodies littering the towns ravaged by Haiyan (typhoon). 

Aaaand...
I am an eccentric writer at best. I rarely write about serious stuff. My heroines are - according to some - spineless, but I'd like to think that they're just too nice for their own good (mostly because I'm as GULLIBLE as I am more often than not). I talk too much on Facebook - and just about everywhere else. I am the kind of author who doesn't act like an author because I'm soooo chatty with my readers. 

But...still...because of you guys...I got to be in a boxed set that made it to #11 on Amazon, #57 on the USA Today bestseller list AND I got to be the 51st bestselling author in the ENTIRE AMAZON store. 

So really...bear with me when I say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! :)

I'm in Heaven

So...it's been some time since I last blogged - sorry about that! There was just so much to do. Plus, I'm pretty sure you'd rather I write more than spend too much time chatting with you guys, right? =D 

But first things first - Billionaire Bad Boys of Romance Boxed Set has made it to the Top 40 in Amazon! Its best rank was #31 but let's keep our fingers crossed it gets even better than that. A girl can wish, right? It also did good in B&N, with its best ranking at #19. :) I am soooo over the moon about it! The boxed set is doing soooo much better than I expected, and somehow I never and I do mean never thought it would give me THIS kind of ranking on Amazon--- I mean, my God! Really? #97 overall in Amazon? Come on! That must be a glitch, right?!
Well, okay, it's not - it's actually all because of this super awesome group of authors I got to recently know. I'm not sure if I can name them specifically - honestly, in my mind, they're like some kind of Opus Mundi for authors. =D But they know who they are and I owe them so much!
Author rankings in Amazon are updated hourly btw, hence the screenshot. :) Okay, on to other news. If you got my newsletters, the most recent one featured a list of boxed sets I personally recommend. I'm going to redo that here sometime this week hopefully. :) I also included in my newsletter the blurb for a new standalone novel I'm working on for the next boxed set I'll be in. :)

Next - I have my first Book Spotlight post up. You should check it out when you have time because if you enjoy my romantic comedies then you will enjoy This Crazy Little Thing by Tamryn Ward  as well.

What else? Oh, not to worry - we'll have Jason and Keanne and Warning: Love Moderately out soon! This year, I promise!

All in all, the last two weeks have been amazing and it doesn't even matter if I'm still bedridden! All this - and YOUR SUPPORT - has made my hard work worth it! :) 

The Billionaire Bad Boys of Romance Boxed Set is Out Now!

BUY THE BOXED SET WHILE IT'S ON SALE FOR $.99!
Love your book boyfriends filthy rich, devastatingly beautiful & irresistibly bad?

From betrayals and obsessions to secrets and seductions, this exclusive billionaire romance boxed set will possess you and leave you panting for more. Featuring stories from some of today's most popular New York Times, USA Today, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble bestselling authors, including Tawny Taylor, Ava Lore, Selena Kitt, Terry Towers and Anna Antonia.

Grab this sizzling collection before it's too late. Ten scorching billionaire romances, over 365,000 TOTAL WORDS for ONLY 99 cents! LIMITED TIME ONLY! (REGULAR PRICE: $9.99)

The Billionaire's Muse by Ava Lore: When struggling artist Sadie MacElroy attempts to pay back eccentric billionaire Malcolm Ward for a broken vase, Malcolm decides he wants her: in front of his camera, under his brush, and in his bed.

The CEO and the Girl from the Coffee Shop by Terry Towers: Coffee shop hostess, Beth Wilmington, is shocked when one of her customers, sexy billionaire Gabriel Reynolds, offers her a job as a live-in housekeeper. She takes the job, but fears only trouble can ensue.

Yes, Mr. Collins by Anna Antonia (writing as Charlotte deCorte): Brilliant, yet demanding, billionaire boss Mr. Collins will stop at nothing to get his assistant Natasha Reynolds under this thumb and in his bed.

My Rockstar Billionaire by Amy Aday: Belle travels to an island resort and meets sexy and mysterious Ricky, who won't take no for an answer. Will she learn to trust again and learn his secrets?

Heidi and the Kaiser by Selena Kitt: When wanna-be designer Heidi accidentally stains fashion mogul Warren Kaiser's pants, she gets two things she didn't expect--a spanking and a job.

Gloria's Secret by Nelle L'Amour: Gloria Long, the world's largest retailer of lingerie, succumbs to the charms of billionaire advertising guru Jaime Zander, but her own dark secret threatens her empire, their relationship, and her life.

Make You Mine by Tawny Taylor: To keep her job, Daryl Laroche must find the perfect new client for her employer and the sexy, rich and enigmatic Tevin Page fits the bill. But before he signs the contract, he issues one deliciously tempting demand...

Trapped into a Marriage by Dez Burke: Blackmailed into marriage to rich, gorgeous, Nick Vitale, Keyonna Hayes is determined to teach him a thing or two about love. Soon intrigue, heartbreak, and betrayal ensue, and the two fight to regain a love that was always destined to be theirs.

The Art of Catching a Greek Billionaire by Marian Tee: Schoolteacher Mairi Tanner is not a gold digger, she just knows what she wants her Mr. Right to be--handsome, Greek, and oh, a billionaire, too! Is that so bad?

What He Wants by Tawny Taylor: Billionaire Shane Trant always gets what he wants. He wants Bristol Deatrich, but only complete possession of her mind and body will satisfy him.

The Hungry Ghosts Festival

Alas, I am very sad to say that I have no horror novel coming out to celebrate Halloween. I'm really, really sad about this since I enjoy writing horror. It's more taxing, but it's still fun because it lets me indulge in describing all manners of scary things. 

It would have been nice if I had it out this month - then it would have coincided with The Hungry Ghosts Festival as well, which would be cool since it's something I've tackled in DLMN #2 - In The Name Of The Soul.

Just in case you don't know what this festival is all about, here's a link to explain the basics. Here are some dos and don'ts you might want to read about as well. Interesting, eh? 

Now, for this very special post I want to leave a never-before-seen excerpt of ITNOTS. Enjoy! 

Ruth’s Volvo SUV cruised into Chinatown on the back of a dragon. Or at least that was what the bridge seemed like, with its concrete guard rails transformed into red and gold scales made of plastic and metal. The archway ahead possessed the same bold colors, with dragon heads at each end biting the edges of a white tarpaulin banner.

            It was an unusual sight but, better than that, it gave me the chance to break the silence. “What does that say?” I gestured to the Chinese characters slashed in black ink on the archway’s banner, desperate for distraction.

            After all the paper-signing in the council hall, Ruth had fetched Mae and Jonathan at a nearby mall. Mae welcomed me gladly. Jonathan…did not.

            “Yúlánpén,” she said. “It means Ghost Festival, and today’s the first day of Ghost Month.”Ruth threw me a grateful smile through the rearview mirror. Her normally cheerful round face still showed signs of strain after her earlier quarrel with her son – because of me.

            “Oh.” I wished I hadn’t asked. I couldn’t think of anything to say that would not make me sound stunned and alarmed by their holiday. Ghost Month? Really?

            “If you can’t deal with it, that’s your problem,” Jonathan muttered under his breath. He was glued to his side of the door, as if he couldn’t get far enough away from me. A now-familiar scowl had settled on his face.

            “Jonathan!” His mother’s voice was like whiplash.

            He exhaled an angry breath. “Sorry.” He sounded anything but sincere.

            “It’s okay,” I answered quickly. He was right, anyway. Amnesiacs like me can’t afford to be picky.

            Mae, his year-younger sister, threw me an apologetic glance over her shoulder from the passenger seat in front.I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile as the elephant inside the car only got bigger and angrier. Jonathan had never tried to hide the fact he was against his mother temporarily adopting me. I wished I could reassure him that I didn’t mean any harm, but I couldn’t.

            Traffic congested at the foot of the bridge and I watched the digits on the speedometer display trickle down.

            With our windows rolled down, the sound of something hitting the ground easily reached my ears, like a rainfall of pebbles.

I glanced outside. A throng of people were on the sidewalks, throwing on the ground curved red stones that looked like pairs of Ying and Yang.

            Mae saw where I was looking and explained, “It’s kind of like fortune telling from the Gods. You get ‘yes’ if both stones face the same way and ‘no’ if it’s not.”

            A huge moan drowned the last of her words, and I looked ahead when the moaning didn’t stop. The sound came from gigantic temple gates protesting against the yellow-robed monks pushing them open.

A cold gust of wind blew into the car, stinging my eyes into shutting closed. When I opened them again, a bloodied, half-naked man slammed into my side of the car, mouth gaping wide.

I screamed, backing away and bumping into Jonathan.

“Stop it, you idiot,” Mia hissed at the ghost.

My screams died when I saw Mia put her hand out to push the ghost away, rapping out something angrily in Mandarin.

“It’s just a guy in a costume,” Jonathan said under his breath.

Embarrassment flooded my face and I scrambled away from him, mumbling ‘sorry’. It had been a prank. Just a stupid prank. And I had acted like he was going to kill me. In fact, my heart was racing fast I seriously wondered if the others could hear it. Worse, the frantic tattoo of my heartbeat against my chest was awfully familiar, as if terror had a permanent place in my life – whatever it was.

I caught a glimpse of Jonathan’s face. His cheeks were flushed, and I wished I could disappear, hating how I seemed to keep giving him more reasons to consider me a nutcase.

Mia had finished snarling. The man’s face was white and he had sprung away from Ruth’s car, hands held up like her words had convicted him.

After stabbing the man’s back with one last glare, Ruth checked me through the rearview mirror, her dark eyes seeking mine, her slightly rounded cheeks made pink by her outburst. “You okay, Fiona?”

I watched the man slink away, his shoulders hunched, our roles now reversed, and I was the one haunting him. “Yeah.” But I wasn’t, and we all knew it.

“Ghost Month isn’t anything like Halloween, really, but some of these kids try so hard to Americanize it.” Ruth rolled her eyes.

“It’s okay.” I cleared my throat, hating how my voice croaked.“It’s my fault, too, for being so jumpy.”

            Ruth shook her head so adamantly her short hair bounced. “Don’t think like that. You’re actually doing quite well, considering the circumstances.”

            The circumstances…It sounded better than the proverbial elephant, I supposed, and way much better than the truth of having my memories carved out by an accident.

            “So,” Mia said brightly, “did you like the clothes I bought for you?”

            “Umm…”

            Everyone – even Jonathan - burst into laughter. “All the stuff you bought for her was either pink or had ruffles. Only someone silly like you would like something like that,” her brother retorted.

            Mia grinned shamelessly. “I just wanted to make sure we could swap clothes. And besides, I knew she’d look good in them.” She chatted nonstop about the things we could do over the summer, keeping the mood lighthearted throughout the ride.

Outside, the lively colors of the festival had gradually disappeared and muddied into bland and ugly shades of brown and gray as Ruth drove deeper and deeper into the throat of Chinatown – Ong Pin, which was the area’s main road.

There were no houses but just one low-rise building after another, nothing that went past five stories. I couldn’t imagine memorizing the ins and outs of Chinatown when everything looked exactly the same. A few more minutes passed and then Ruth was maneuvering the car into an expansive parking lot, waving back to a uniformed guard as she did.

“Jonathan, get Fiona’s stuff,” Ruth said.

Without a word, Jonathan took my suitcase out of the trunk.

“I can do that---” I started but shut up at his look.  Five minutes later, and I was thankful I hadn’t insisted too hard. The Changs lived in the fourth floor, which would have been fine if their apartment building had an elevator. When I reached the fourth landing, I was breathing hard while the others still looked refreshed, like they had just stepped out of the shower.

I glanced down – the narrow, U-shaped stairs prevented me from seeing beyond the last two flights but its sight still made me dizzy. The thought of having to climb them every day made me feel even dizzier.

“Welcome to home sweet home,” Ruth said as she unlocked the door and pushed it open with her shoulder. A tall, dark shadow slipped past her, and the hairs on my nape stood up.

I glanced at Mia and Jonathan, wondering if they had seen it, too.

Jonathan caught me looking. “What?”

I shook my head. “Nothing.” And there was nothing, I told myself, because I didn’t have the ability to see ghosts. I didn’t. I didn’t. 

Cover Reveal: Billionaire Bad Boys of Romance

Is it gorgeous or is it gorgeous?!

I cannot wait till this one is out!

It's going to be a date with a billionaire that you won't ever forget!!!

The Art of Catching a Greek Billionaire Cover Reveal

Taaaaaaa-daaa! Gorgeous, isn't it? :) As always, this one is designed by Clarise of CT Cover Creations (thank you for this!). 

Just a few days and this book - the first of a new chain of SERIALS - should be out as part of the BILLIONAIRE BAD BOYS OF ROMANCE BOOK BUNDLE / BOXED SET.

As for those of you who haven't yet read the blurb----

Once upon a time, there was an ordinary girl who grew up listening to bedtime stories that sounded very much like Harlequin paperbacks.

And so instead of dreaming about Prince Charming or a knight in shining armor, she dreamt of one day finding Her Own Greek Billionaire and living happily ever after with him.

When this little girl grew up, she did what she could to make her dream come true.

This is my story. 
I mean your story. 
I mean, Mairi Tanner's story.