Countdown to 2012! Two…
And the countdown continues! Yesterday's winner was…Kris M. Remember, comment everyday for a chance to win one of the daily featured books and to have your name thrown in the hat for the grand prize (a $25 GC to Amazon and a signed book from me).
Two…
Aw…I loved this story. I thought it was sappy and romantic and ridiculously sweet. Had fun with it and I had to eavesdrop extra on the cougar boys at school to write the sports-related stuff because basketball is NOT my thang! Slam Dunk is the sequel to Happy Hour and was one of those books I never intended to write. I had a ton of readers ask for Trey's story. They wanted him to find his Happily Ever After. When I thought about it, I realized I wanted him to find it as well!
Chapter One
The Warm-Up
"Hey! Welcome back, bro."
Trey Donovan laughed as his best friend, Jamie, entered Tully's Bar and slapped him on the shoulder.
"Thanks for getting the table." Grace, Jamie's girlfriend, bent down and kissed Trey on the cheek as she and Jamie claimed their usual places.
He and his friends had been holding happy hours at this bar for years. As teachers at a local high school, it wasn't unusual for them to meet on Fridays to unwind after a long week or to celebrate special occasions—birthdays and big high school sports wins. Today, they were mourning the loss of summer. Come Monday, they'd be back in school, suffering through seven days' worth of meetings, and the following week would bring two thousand students back to Preston High School for another year.
"Where are Cheryl and Lucas?" Trey asked.
Grace glanced over her shoulder. "They should be here any minute. Cheryl texted me as we pulled in the parking lot. Lucas had picked her up and, of course, he was running late."
Trey shook his head, grinning. "That idiot will be late to his own funeral."
"True that," Jamie concurred. "How was the basketball conference?"
Trey picked up the pitcher he'd ordered upon arriving and poured a glass of beer for Jamie and Grace. "Same old, same old. Little meetin', lot of eatin' and shitload of drinkin'. My kind of conference."
Slam Dunk is available at Samhain, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Sony, Kobo and All Romance Ebooks.
Eastern Ambitions was the book that changed it all for me this year. Did I tell y'all about the night my editor at Samhain called to tell me this book hit the NYT's list? I went upstairs because my son had friends here and I didn't want them to hear my continual, amazed, "Holy fuck, holy fuck." Once the kids left, I started downstairs to tell my hubby. Got halfway down, collapsed and cried tears of absolute joy. Don't think I'll ever forget 2011 was the year that my dream came true. Beautiful, amazing, incredible feeling. It's been well over a month and I'm still floating. 
Funniest part was calling Jayne Rylon and getting her monotone, emotionless replies to my squeals and squees and sobs. Finally, I hung up on her, looked at my husband, and said "I think I should call 911. That girl is in shock." She called back about an hour later and gave me THE APPROPRIATE excited, thrilled response! But damn…took awhile for it to sink in for her.
Prologue
Sam Compton rocked on his heels as his twin, Sawyer, waved goodbye to their father. Shitty speakers and awful acoustics beneath the tin portico protecting the drop-off lane at the airport garbled shrill flight announcements.
The racket disguised the rasp of Sam clearing the knot from his throat as his brother jammed his hands in his pockets and sighed. Sawyer hitched his duffle higher when it slipped from his slumped shoulders.
Sam winced. If Sawyer's back ached as badly as his, that had to hurt like a bitch. He needed something to take his mind off the pain—both the sting between his shoulder blades and the disturbing ache residing somewhat deeper in his chest.
Sawyer squinted at the vanishing taillights of the ranch's pickup.
"Guess that's that." Sam angled toward the automatic doors leading to the terminal. His twin followed as though he were a reflection in a mirror instead of a separate human being. It was only right that they leave together even if they were heading in opposite directions.
All their lives, they'd been so much the same while ultimately completely different. It figured they'd only discovered how strong their bond could be shortly before sacrificing it for their futures.
Dreams of attending college had sprouted in Sam long before Sawyer had kicked Roger Latner's ass, for teasing them about their ranch family's ignorance, in the third grade. No one had laughed once they grew old enough to realize how much power the Comptons—especially JD—wielded in their Wyoming town, Compton Pass. Most of their friends would have killed to be one of the infamous Compass Brothers, yet every one of the four—starting with Silas—had left home the moment they'd turned eighteen.
Probably had something to do with their frontiersmen genes, which urged them to blaze their own paths and create their own kingdoms instead of ruling a hand-me-down legacy. Pride was never in short supply in their pastures.
Still, the look in his mother's eyes as she'd surrendered her youngest…
"Gotta admit we were lucky JD talked Mom into staying behind or we'd still be standing on that curb out there." Sawyer's usual permagrin chased away some of their gloom.
"No shit. As it was, I thought she might crack a few ribs during that never-ending goodbye at home." Sam would miss sharing this wavelength with Sawyer. He'd never once been lonely in his entire life.
Eastern Ambitions is available at Samhain, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Sony, Kobo and All Romance Ebooks.
When Eastern Ambitions hit the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists, I had a MAJOR item marked off my bucket list. What's one thing on your bucket list?
