HelenKay Dimon's Blog, page 19

April 8, 2013

Wrecked Tour


Welcome to Shiloh Walker’s latest and greatest latest and weirdest way to spread the word about new books. This time, she enlisted fellow authors Helenkay Dimon, Thea Harrison and Alyssa Day and there is absolutely NO THEFT taking place…she didn’t go on a rampage and steal things. She’s not trying to reunite lost lovers…nope.


These four authors are going to descend upon each other’s blogs and cause a tiny little bit of chaos. I really wanted to WRECK things, but I didn’t think I could talk them into letting me crash our websites and that kind of defeats the purpose of promoting our new releases if you can’t access the website to read about them, right?


So…instead, we’ll just switch things up a little…you play a guessing game and right or wrong, you get entered for fun prizes. Visit each blog, you get entered each time. It’s easy!


She calls a precious little person in her life Baby Doll. She’s lived in England, worked as a waitress and wrote her first book when she was nineteen.


Who is she?


He had been a Norman lord under William the Conqueror. After the Battle of Hastings, he had been given a castle in York to live in and defend on behalf of the king, and she had been there. The other half of himself.


They fit together. Such simple words and yet so profound. They fit. Interlocking pieces, contrast and confluence.

And remembering that was, completely and utterly, the most devastating thing he had ever experienced.

Over the years, he returned to that past life again and again in meditation, painstakingly recovering shards of lost treasure.


The look in her eyes when she smiled at him. She was luminous. (If only he could see the details of her face more clearly, even though he knew that what she looked like did not matter in the slightest.) How they talked late at night, discussing everything from the latest harvest to their great enemy. (For the danger was with them always, a thundercloud of war that shrouded their entire existence.)


Flashes of a mysterious and powerful intimacy. Her arms around his neck, his face in her perfumed hair. Their bodies entwined, and his spirit expansive and vibrant. (Not this thin, sharp sword that he had become.) Laughter. Her laughter, and his. (He never laughed anymore. He had not laughed in so long, he had forgotten that he had forgotten how.) The person he had been in this former life: this was who he was supposed to be. He took the memory and made it the cornerstone of his soul, and he built everything else around it, until he became a fortress.


So… which author do think this is? Is it Shiloh Walker, Helenkay Dimon, Thea Harrison and Alyssa Day

You can visit our sites…look through our latest releases, or just take a random guess. Right or wrong, you’re entered!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on April 08, 2013 08:24

April 6, 2013

Snippet Saturday

Today’s topic is breaking up. I thought I’d give a peek at one of the more tense moments of NO TURNING BACK. Declan and Leah have a tough relationship thianks to their families’ joint history. Things are starting to go well – like, literally they are headed for bed – and Declan discovers the information Leah’s been compiling for years and just how deep her hatred for his family once went. Take a look…




Fueled by an anger he hadn’t known in years, he grabbed files, snapping them in the air and throwing them one at a time at her feet. Papers whooshed out of the sides and floated to the floor. She never moved. Didn’t try to catch anything or keep him out of the boxes.

“You’ve been collecting this for how long?” If she lied one more time he didn’t know what he’d do. He’d never hurt a woman, but he had no idea one would ever have the power to destroy him.


“It’s not—”



“Not what, Leah? It’s fucking crazy, is what it is. It’s scary. You know that, right?” She opened her mouth but he jumped right back in as the words tore out of him. “Were you going to sleep with me then add your rating to one of these files? Is that it?”


“Of course not.”


“Maybe post it up there on the board with whatever else you’ve gathered about my past?”


“Declan, I . . .” She wiped her hand over her face. “I don’t know how to make you understand.”


She jumped and looked back up when he slapped his hand against the whiteboard and watched it rock. It took all he had not to tear the thing apart, rip the wood with his bare hands and throw it all on the floor.


Tension and a dark roaring anger rumbled through the room. “This is unbelievable.”


She leaned against the door frame, her body curled in and tucked. “I wanted to tell you.”


Her whispered words crashed against him and he fought them off. Even now after seeing this, the urge to hold her and shake her until she agreed to stop this nonsense floored him. All his energy centered on standing there, holding his ground, and refusing to buy into the lost-kitten look she had going on. But, damn, he was tempted and that stupid show of weakness made him furious.


“When did you plan to come clean, Leah? You had every chance. We’ve seen each other almost every day since I got to town.”


“I couldn’t figure out how or when.”


“How about after I told you about my mom or opened up about being Charlie’s kid? Or when I kissed you? Or when I nearly ripped your clothes off and took you in the work shed?” So many things he’d never shared, all those emotions floating to the surface. He’d handed the information right to the very person determined to gather it and then fire it as a weapon. He’d made it all so easy.


She blew out a long breath. “Everything started racing and I lost control. This began long before I met you. It has nothing—”


He pointed at her, willing her to stop talking. “Do not say it has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with me and you know it.”


She held his gaze with tortured eyes for a second then looked away.


“You want to be angry about the past, fine.” He refastened his belt and blinked away the memory of her hands trying to strip it off. “Wallow in your hate for all I care. But this? Don’t try to pretend this is about anything but destroying my family.”


“I’m trying to balance everything and make everybody happy.”


“Happy? Do I look happy to you?”


She dropped her hands to her sides and came to him. Her fingers wrapped around his forearms and her eyes pleaded as she talked. “Please, listen to me.”


The only way to do this, to keep his shield up and strong, was to walk away. “We’re done with that. You had every chance and—”

“Declan.”


He peeled her fingers off his arms and set her back a straight-armed distance away. “I’m not going to let you go after my brothers. You want a fight, you got it.”


“I want you.”


“Too late.” And he walked out the door before his steps could hesitate or his body to could call out to her. Those days were over.


NO TURNING BACK

Copyright 2013, HelenKay Dimon

All Rights Reserved, Penguin Berkley

_______________


Don’t forget to check out the other snippets:


Shelli Stevens

Caris Roane

Eliza Gayle

McKenna Jeffries

http://shilohwalker.com/website

Taige Crenshaw

Delilah Devlin

TJ Michaels

Lissa Matthews

Myla Jackson

Lauren Dane

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on April 06, 2013 09:59

March 23, 2013

Saturday Snippet

Today’s topic is: jobs. Since the first Hanover Brothers novel is out (NO TURNING BACK), I thought I’d give another peek at Book #2 A SIMPLE TWIST OF FATE. This is kind of job related…well, Beck is working. So, close enough. Take a look…




She stood at the top of the stairs and glanced at her watch. Three-o-one. A sprint down the stairs and out the door and she could maintain the sort-of adult high ground and avoid Beck all day.

That was a smart plan. One she had no intention of following.


The whole hiding, ducking, running thing she’d been doing since she came to Sweetwater was exhausting and not how she usually operated. Though her experience in the male department might be limited, she enjoyed men. Loved to look at them, smell them, watch them walk and hear them laugh. Her desire to dive into a relationship and have the freedom to explore everything she wanted in bed grew stronger every day.


And Beck, with the way his t-shirt hung loose on his trim waist and grazed the top of his faded jeans. He bent or twist and that tiny slip of skin would show.


Sexiest thing ever.



Well, it was time for the brooding hottie to face her down. The place was all wrong. The circumstances were a big heaping mess. But after a restless night and wild dreams she’d had enough waiting. Even with writing a lopsided pro and con list a mile long and mostly loaded on the negative half, she intended ignore caution and go for it.


For once, she wanted what she wanted. This wasn’t about what she should do or what her aunt needed from her. This moment only would be about Sophie.


Before her brain cells fired up and banded together to tell her to stop, she walked to the closed door. A brief knock and she opened it, hoping surprise might play to her favor.


Beck glanced up from his position behind the long table. Hands on the sides of his head with fingers speared through his hair and papers thrown everywhere as if a mini-cyclone had blown through.


The intense gaze pinned her even though his bent over study position didn’t change. “What’s wrong?”


The lack of communication, her state of mind since seeing him naked…and those were only the start of the confused list that scrolled every time she closed her eyes. “We need to talk.”


Almost as if in slow motion, he sat back, resting one elbow on the arm of his chair. “Rarely is that a positive phrase coming from a woman.”


“You have that conversation a lot with women?” Boy did she hate that idea. He never talked about girlfriends. Leah’s questions to him one night, an interrogation Sophie hovered in the hallway and strained to hear, confirmed he hadn’t seen

anyone since arriving in town. But still.


“Often enough to know something bad is coming.”


“That’s up to you.”


His head dipped to one side as he studied her. “This visit seems to be going downhill.”


“Your facial expression isn’t exactly a flashing welcome sign either.” It straddled the line between frown and glare. She wasn’t fond of either look.


Glancing around the table, his gaze hesitated over piles stacked on the floor. “Well, I am working and the door was closed.”


Blow landed. She felt the slice right through her middle. Fine, if he wanted to play the tough-guy role, she’d give him something to be pissy about. “You’re hiding.”


“Excuse me?”


She wondered if he had any idea how much like Callen he sounded when he used that phrase. The deadly flat tone and bruising frown. No question the act intended to telegraph anger and tell her to back off.


Not going to happen.


Time to say what she came to say. The other stuff, about wanting him and everything of the kissing-sex-naked variety was off limits. He didn’t seem open and she didn’t have some whacked out internal need to make an ass of herself. “You came to my house last night.”


“Yeah.”


Clearly he was not going to make one syllable of this conversation easy. “Why?”


“Doesn’t matter.”


“It does to me.”


He shrugged at her. That’s it, an annoying lift of his impressive shoulders, giving new meaning to the term “pulling teeth.”


A SIMPLE TWIST OF FATE

Copyright 2013, HelenKay Dimon

All Rights Reserved, Penguin Berkley

_______________


Don’t forget to check out the other snippets:


Leah Braemel

Caris Roane

Eliza Gayle

McKenna Jeffries

TJ Michaels

Taige Crenshaw

Delilah Devlin

Felicity Heaton

TJ Michaels

Shiloh Walker

Myla Jackson

Jody Wallace

Lauren Dane

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on March 23, 2013 11:26

March 19, 2013

Release Day!!

It’s release day!!! The first in my new contemporary series, The Hanover Brothers, is out today. It’s NO TURNING BACK and has a hottie former military hero who also happens to be the son of a con man. Add in a heroine with a big secret and you get fireworks. You can find it wherever you buy your digital books.



You can find it wherever you buy ebooks. Here are some places to start:


Intermix

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on March 19, 2013 10:02

March 18, 2013

Author Tour

To celebrate my release this week of NO TURNING BACK, I’m doing a cool tour with a few other authors. You can win prizes…see, I have your attention now.


Check out Thea Harrison’s blog for more details today and keep checking over the new few weeks!


 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on March 18, 2013 16:01

March 6, 2013

New Series

I go the back cover copy for FEARLESS, the first in the Corcoran Team miniseries from Harlequin Intrigue. It comes out in early July, but here’s a sneak peek:


HIS JOB HAD ONCE TORN THEM APART…BUT NOW IT WAS THE ONLY THING THAT COULD BRING THEM BACK TOGETHER


Davis Weeks had a sterling reputation for high-priority, under-the-radar rescue missions. His role in the prestigious undercover agency Corcoran Team trumped everything. Even Lara Bart. Though his loyalty to his position had once driven her away, Lara knew she had to tame her emotions if she wanted to surive. Whether she liked it or not, he was the only man who could protect her.


Showing up at his door after dodging one attempt on her life, she knew Davis had the tools to make sure the next one failed, as well. But was his past to blame for the sudden attacks? Or was the answer, just like their intense relationship, not so clear-cut?

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on March 06, 2013 11:59

March 5, 2013

My Writing World

Years ago I read this 2-in-1 anthology by Linda Howard called THE MACKENZIES. In an author’s note at the front she talked about writing the second book in this series, MACKENZIE’S MISSION, completing it, and realizing it was wrong. She thought she didn’t do the hero, Joe, justice and re-wrote it in record time. I remember thinking something along the lines of: wow, that sucks and I hope it never happens to me.


Can you see where this story is going?


Yeah, I had the same exact thing happen. I wrote the book for Travis from my Holloway series, finished it in an illness-induced haze and let the book sit for a day or two so I could look at it with semi-fresh eyes before turning it in. When I did go back and look at it, I didn’t think it was good enough. Travis was fine but the heroine was all wrong. She was NOT the woman for Travis. So, I re-wrote it from scratch – super-fast and in panic mode. This is way past deadline and the only reason I could do this is my editor is pretty awesome (and she’s also on vacation and couldn’t edit it anyway). She comes back later this week and I’m polishing the last of it now.


Did I mention the book – JUST WHAT HE WANTED – comes out in mid-June? Yeah, this is super tight, but I also think it’s a much better book. Travis found the woman he deserved.

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on March 05, 2013 10:30

March 2, 2013

Saturday Snippet

Today’s topic is: holding out for a heroine. I pretty much have one of those in every book. Always, actually. Thought this might be a good time to give you a sneak peek of Sophie, the heroine in my second Hanover Brothers book, A SIMPLE TWIST OF FATE. This one comes out in July but Sophie is in my March release, NO TURNING BACK. Take a loook…




With one hand she pushed the hall bathroom door open, ignoring the creak as she spun and jumped inside. Her back hit the door and her eyes closed in relief. It took her a second to realize her sneakers slid across the black and white checkered tile beneath her and a wall of heated steam smacked her face.

When she opened her eyes again, she came face to shoulders with bare skin. Her gaze trailed over the broad chest and light sprinkling of hair that ran the deep groove to his flat stomach then down to…yowsa.


There was not as much as a washcloth covering him. Nope. She got an open shot of skin, balls and, yeah, totally naked hottie dude. Looked like Beck Hanover excelled at something other than arguing.


Fingers snapped, breaking her woman-versus-penis staring contest. A deep male voice floated through the tiny room a second later. “Uh, hello?”



No, no, no.


“How about we try eyes up here for a second?”


She followed his command and the finger pointing toward his head. Ignoring the amusement in his voice, she glanced up to meet Beck’s ice blue stare. Water beaded on his chest, probably on every part of him. The ends of his dark hair curled the longer he stood there and one of his biceps twitched in a way she found oddly mesmerizing.


She drew an invisible line across his throat and mentally banned her gaze from dipping lower. Every body part but his eyes was off limits. The stuttering thing started in her head a second later. It took a few deep breaths to get the oxygen flowing to her misfiring brain.


This was all about the shock and not about how good he looked naked. She’d expected to be alone in the room.


She kept repeating the excuse until she tricked her mind into believing it. “What are you doing in here?”


His eyebrow lifted. “Should I shower in the dining room?”


“There are five bathrooms in this house and some of those even work. You could go anywhere else.” In fact, anywhere outside of Sweetwater or any other part of Oregon would be good.


“Are you serious?” He did that frowning thing. Even naked, he fell back on the annoying expression. Didn’t bother to hide any part of himself either. Even though the towel was right there on the bar above the claw-foot tub.


She tried to grab onto an argument…and keep her stare from wandering beneath his chin but seconds ticked by. She’d bet a full minute passed until a few words finally unscrambled in her brain. “This isn’t the bathroom you usually use.”


“But it is my house and as you can see,” he held his arms out to the sides, “this particular room is occupied.”


Her gaze did a little bounce that time. Really, he invited it, so she refused to feel guilty. She was desperate to search the house but not dead from the waist down…and clearly he wasn’t either. Any half-awake woman would look and he sure didn’t disappoint. Every last inch of him looked tan and fit, including a very prominent part of him that was now stirring.


“Hey there.” She held up her hands, careful not to block all of the tantalizing view while pretending to be horrified. “What are you doing?”


“I’m confused by the question.”


Her act slipped as her hands fell. “What?”


“Are you looking for a biological explanation or something else?”


“You’re being obtuse.”


He exhaled in that loud women-are-so-difficult way men did so well. “Okay, I think we can agree your reaction is a little extreme here. Mine can’t possibly be the first penis you’ve ever seen.”


“Of course not.”


“Because, really, if it is feel free to look as long as you want.” He crossed his arms over his chest, leaving the view of the most interesting part of his body unblocked. “I can wait.”


At twenty-four she had what likely amounted to the less than usual wealth of experience in the boy parts department, but there was that one fumbling guy right after high school who nearly strangled her while taking off her bra off. Who knew the front clasp concept could be so confusing to a horny boy.


Then that other guy, and how embarrassing was it she couldn’t call up his name from memory, then Kurt. They dated for a full year before his niceness combined with her extreme boredom to cause a break-up implosion so tame it ended with breakfast muffins and a trip to buy a lamp.


“Tell me about all this experience of yours.” If possible, Beck’s eyebrow inched up even further.


Now that was annoying. “I’m not a virgin.”


“Did I ask that question?”


“Seemed like it.” She swallowed, surprised she still could without choking on her tongue. “And, no.”


He wiped his hand through his hair, sending water droplets flying in her direction. “Meaning, no you’re not or…?”


Oh, there was no way they were going down this road. “Are you done?”


He flashed that stupid dimple at her. “I thought you were opening a dialogue on the subject of nudity and its uses.”


He was doing a bit more than stirring now.


Not that she noticed.


A SIMPLE TWIST OF FATE

Copyright 2013, HelenKay Dimon

All Rights Reserved, Penguin Berkley

_______________


Don’t forget to check out the other snippets:


Lissa MatthewsLauren Dane

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on March 02, 2013 12:48

February 28, 2013

What I’m Reading

I tend to read in cycles. I’ll have one nonfiction book going for some sort of research or “maybe this will work in the future” purposes and then something that’s more for fun. Right now the two I’m reading don’t have much in common other than the nonfiction sounded interesting and I thought it would be good background for my romantic suspense writing.


The nonfiction, ENEMIES: A History of the FBI




We think of the FBI as America’s police force. But secret intelligence is the Bureau’s first and foremost mission. Enemies is the story of how presidents have used the FBI as the most formidable intelligence force in American history.

Here is the hidden history of America’s hundred-year war on terror. The FBI has fought against terrorists, spies, anyone it deemed subversive—and sometimes American presidents. The FBI’s secret intelligence and surveillance techniques have created a tug-of-war between protecting national security and infringing upon civil liberties. It is a tension that strains the very fabric of a free republic.


When it comes to the fiction I should say, “What I’m About To Read” since I haven’t started yet. The next up is FOOL FOR LOVE by Beth Ciotta. Beth is someone I know from the online community. I started visiting her site way back when and found her funny and charming. Then I met her in person and realized my impression of her was correct. I lost track of her books a year or so ago, but I found her again and picked this up.




Call her a fool, but chef-in-training Chloe Madison wants to have her cake and eat it too. So when her boyfriend dumps her for some French tart, she decides to start over from scratch—with a new life and job in Sugar Creek, Vermont. What could be sweeter than cooking for an eccentric lady who’s crazy for desserts? What could be more tempting than joining a club called the Cupcake Lovers? Just one thing: local business-hunk Devlin Monroe…

AND HE’S THE ICING ON THE CUPCAKE


Although he’s the grandson of Chloe’s fun-loving boss, Devlin Monroe is all work and no play. Micro-managing the family business, he doesn’t have time to indulge in life’s sweetest pleasures—until he meets Chloe. How can he resist such a vibrant, beautiful woman who brings so much passion to the table? But when old grudges and secrets threaten to destroy the Cupcake Lovers, Devlin must decide if his feelings for Chloe are a recipe for disaster—or a sinfully delicious ever-after…

 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on February 28, 2013 04:42

February 26, 2013

What I’m Writing

I just finished writing a novella and am letting it sit for two days before doing a final read and emailing it in. While that one sits, I’m writing a chapter for book #3 of the Corcoran Team, my Intrigue miniseries that starts in July with FEARLESS.


The book I’m working on is tentatively titled RELENTLESS and will be out in June 2014. I’m writing only one chapter now because that’s how the contract process works. I sold books 3-5 in this miniseries based on a synopsis. I now write a chapter of book #3 and turn that in with a cleaned-up synopsis to my editor so she has a better idea what the book is going to look like. The idea is she can be all “I hate it!” if she does, but hopefully she won’t. Then I know I’m good with this idea and as soon as I hit the right time in my schedule I can write the rest of it.


Wanna see my visual inspirations for the characters? Here’s the heroine, Jocelyn Raine (real life Bryce Dallas Howard):



Here’s the hero, Ben Tanner (real life Sam Worthington):


 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on February 26, 2013 05:34