Heatherly Bell's Blog, page 3
August 27, 2020
Hello 2020, stop it already
2020 has been a difficult one, yeah? I'm in Northern California and this year we've experienced Covid -19 with the world, plus record heat (108 highest temp I've seen in 40 years), rolling black-outs, and wildfires!
For my writing, I've released 3 books this year (Reluctant Hometown Hero and More than One Night being two of them) and while that doesn't seem like a lot, I'm hard at work on a new series.
Look for Charming, Texas with Harlequin in a 3-book miniseries, as well as a book in the Montana Mavericks 2021 line-up. Three more cowboy books are nearly ready to release, hopefully also in 2021.
So, not a great year for releases but a great year for writing.
November 7, 2019
Reluctant Hometown Hero teaser
In this scene, Zoey's Great Dane, Boo, has just been kidnapped.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Whoever has him won’t want to bring him back once they realize what a wonderful and well-behaved dog he is.”
“Did his collar have any information on it?”
“It had the store’s phone number.”
“Anything else?” He took another breath. “Like, maybe offering a reward?”
“No, but he’s chipped in case he gets brought into a shelter. I should have thought of adding a reward. People are so greedy sometimes.” Her voice lowered. “Why are you calling me right now? You sound…busy.”
“What do you mean?”
“You sound a little out of breath and…um, maybe you should get back to it.”
Huh? It took him a minute to realize Zoey thought he’d called her right after he’d had sex, and he laughed out loud. Everyone in this town thought he had far more game than he did.
He tried not to snort. “I went for a run.”
“Oh, sorry. I just thought you sounded like…like…”
“Like I just had sex?”
Dead silence on the other end of the line. He could almost hear her pets’ breathing.
After a moment, she finally spoke. “I didn’t mean…what I meant was that you…”
“Just so you know, right after I have sex the only thing I’m thinking about is more sex. There could be a nuclear attack and I’d still be thinking about sex.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply you’d have sex with someone and then call me. Why would you be thinking about me and sex at the same time?”
If it was possible for a voice to blush, Zoey’s just had.
“What I mean is…oh my god…I just realized it’s still Monday.”
October 19, 2019
More than One Night teaser
He glanced at her cot. “That going to fit two?”
“Only if I sleep on top of you.”
It was a small bed. He was a big man. Allowances would have to be made. Sacrifices even.
“You’ve got yourself a deal.” His mouth grazed her jawline and lowered to her neck, causing ripples of pleasure and anticipation.
He rubbed her lower lip with his finger before he finally bent to cover her mouth with his.
Her hands fisted in his shirt because his kiss made her knees weak. His tongue tangled with hers, probing, seeking, teasing. He tasted like minty toothpaste and whiskey. So hot. The kiss got wild and out of control within seconds. When he broke the kiss, his eyes were hooded. He studied her for one long moment from underneath those long lashes.
She stared too, because she couldn’t believe this was happening again. “We have this…amazing chemistry,” she said, a little dumbfounded. A little weak.
His only comment was to haul her up against his body until they were plastered against each other in a lip-lock. Hips to hips. Heart to heart. The only way this could be any better was with no clothes between them.
As if he read her mind, Sam tore off his shirt and threw it to the side. She did the same, leaving on her red demi push-up bra. Some said redheads should never wear red. Jill liked to test some boundaries, too, she supposed. Lingerie boundaries.
~Harlequin Special Edition/Wildfire Ridge series
published June 2019
October 13, 2019
The holidays are coming!
Lots of sales coming up, too, for both me and my author friends. Look for my only Christmas romance, Crazy for You: Christmas in Starlight Hill, to be FREE for the first time ever, this December.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
How can you find out exactly when? Follow me here, on Amazon, join my super reader group on FB, and/or subscribe to my newsletter for a heads-up on deals.
I have a holiday release too, but alas, it's not a holiday book! It just so happens that RELUCTANT HOMETOWN HERO, the second in the Wildfire Ridge series, releases on December 17th in print.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
Look for it in stores everywhere, and in digital format on January 1, 2020! When I receive my early author copies, I will be having a few giveaways.
What books am I excited to read? In addition to Jill's, I can't wait to read RaeAnne Thayne's Coming Home for Christmas. I'm also making my way through all of Robyn Carr's wonderful Virgin River books. I've finished the first two so far, and what a joy to know I have that many ahead of me in this wonderful series. Like so many, I want to move to Virgin River!
Hope you have a great autumn full of reading!
May 15, 2019
May 11, 2019
The Accidental Kiss teaser
He kissed her with a heartfelt, wet and deep kiss that had her head spinning. She could hear her heartbeat loud enough to wake the comatose and swore she smelled fresh crisp apples. Tasted the mint of his toothpaste, but that might be because she was doing her utmost to inhale him. He was so male, so strong, so hard and firm beneath her touch. Not like any other man she’d ever kissed before. Just…more.
http://www.heatherlybell.com/miracle-bay
April 18, 2019
More than One Night teaser
Here’s a little teaser from More than One Night, my first Harlequin Special Edition coming to you this June:
She’d always had an entrepreneurial spirit instead of an academic spirit, and loved a well-placed challenge. She’d been scouting locations to open a B and B in Fortune when she’d happened upon an article in the local newspaper about the employment challenges for young veterans coming back from the war. The next thing she knew she’d worked out a business plan for an outdoor adventure company, hiring veterans to be the guides.
The park would open in a month’s time. She needed the men to help finalize the courses and do test excursions for their first group of booked test clients.
An hour later, Jill rubbed the heel of her bare foot, leaned away from the monitor and stretched her aching back. For someone who would launch an outdoor adventure company, she was spending far too much time on her behind lately. She managed to hit the gym for her scheduled torture twice a week, but being around all these hard bodies, that wasn’t going to be enough.
She stood up, stretched again and forced herself to do fifty jumping jacks. Out of breath and sweating, she took a break and went to her window. The side of her trailer faced Sam’s, but that’s not why she’d assigned it to him. It only made sense that since he’d been enthusiastic enough to arrive early, he deserved the bigger trailer. There was no other reason.
She peeked through her window’s blinds. And there, framed by a sliver of moonlight, she caught the distinct figure of Sam’s back, hunched over the fire pit. He was with the other guys that had come in after him. Michael, Ty and Julian. They were laughing and seemed to be enjoying themselves.
Sam poked at the fire. He looked over his shoulder in her direction. And caught her staring.
“Oh crap.”
She quickly shut the window blinds to give the men their privacy. The last thing they’d want is a boss who lived here 24-7 spying on them. They could take care of themselves and didn’t need herguidance. She trusted them, too, and wanted them to know it. And she also didn’t want Sam to think she was lusting after him, because the man already had enough confidence in himself.
For good reason.
Pre-order here everywhere books are sold:
The Wildfire Ridge series
April 5, 2019
Hello world!
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!
April 4, 2019
An interview with the difficult hero
An interview with Lt. Dylan Reyes of the SFFD
Author:
Rumor is that you don’t actually believe in the legend of the sunset kiss that claims anyone who kisses at sunset in Miracle Bay might find their true love.
Lt. Reyes:
Is there a question for me?
Author:
Do you believe in the legend of the sunset kiss?
Lt. Reyes:
I believe in kisses and I believe in sunsets. Does that help you?
Author:
Not at all. Please answer the question.
Lt. Reyes:
No. I don’t believe in that myth. Next question.
Author:
Excuse me, no. You’re making this far too difficult. It would be much easier for me if you believed. Can you do that for me?
Lt. Reyes:
Nobody said this writing gig would be easy, no so. I can’t help you.
Author:
Thanks for nothing. What’s stopping you for believing, anyway?
Lt. Reyes:
A little thing I like to call reality. Do I believe in true love? Yes. It just has nothing to do with the sunset.
Dylan ReyesSF Fire Deparment
March 3, 2019
Hart of Dixie vs. Gilmore Girls
Recently, for purposes of research (this is my life, yup) I had to look into a series similar to Gilmore Girls. The first one that came up again and again as being most like GG in tone was Hart of Dixie. So I decided to check it out. It’s only 4 seasons long, which is not so good for the fan in me, but good for the writer on deadline in me.
I confess, from here on out, every southern hero that I write will be fashioned after Wade Kinsella, minus the cheating.
I lovedllvedloved this “enemies to lovers” trope in Hart of Dixie.
Scruffy but boyish, lopsided smile, one dimple, CLEFT. IN. HIS. CHIN!
Despite the actor’s good looks, it’s really the amazing character arc that gets to me. From a womanizing buffoon to a man who falls hard for his next door neighbor, the “fish out of water” new doctor in town, Zoe Hart. His love for her causes him to WANT to make big changes and he becomes a far better person. To say that I became invested in his HEA with Zoe is an understatement.
BUT several things bugged me about this love story thread within the series (there are several couples.) The first was the cheating (total deal breaker in romance books, you just can’t get past this in a mere 300+ pages. It took the show an entire season.)
The first: the heroine was engaged to another man in the third season, but in the fourth season, when she’s pregnant with Wade’s baby, she declares marriage to be a “patriarchal institution.” So….what did I miss here? How did she get here? NOW, I confess I didn’t watch the entire third season, heartbroken these two were apart that long, but now I must go back and see because maybe I missed something.
The second: Wade eats crow (as he should) several times after the cheating. In addition, he makes a grand gesture and drives hundreds of miles out of his way, missing the opportunity to book a big name band for his bar, and declares his love for her for the first time. In turn, she says she has “deep feelings” for him, is confused (and hurt) and goes back to NYC presumably for the summer, or three months. FIVE months later she returns with a FIANCE. I don’t think she EVER explains adequately what happened there.
The third: Before they are officially back together (this time he’s the reluctant one – can you blame him? It’s all that growth he did.) she finds out she’s pregnant, and Wade follows her out to NYC in another grand gesture. He declares “You’re the love of my life.” It would take someone with a heart of granite not to be moved by that, and they finallyfinallyfinally get back together. For good. Or at least, the end of the series. In my mind, of course, they’re together forever, and I don’t want to hear anything else about it.
I would have loved to hear Zoe say “You’re the love of my life.” But that will have to exist in my own imagination. I do believe it was true.
There are other love stories in Hart of Dixie, the second biggest one of which is Lamont and Lemon. It was also resolved satisfactorily and I saw Lemon as the second biggest arc of a character. George Tucker had his own romance with Lemon’s best friend and that one left me wanting. They gave them a good, incredibly rushed ending, but that relationship didn’t have enough episodes to really grow.
Next post, I’m going to go character by character and draw lines between Hart of Dixie and Gilmore Girls (there are more than you probably realized.)
