HelenKay Dimon

Sasha tagged me to answer some questions. Here we go:

Four jobs I’ve had in my life:
1. Swim Instructor (I was young and looked good in a bathing suit…as opposed to now)
2. Legislative Correspondent
3. Lawyer
4. Writer (my favorite)

Four movies I’ve watched more than once (and you all may think less of me after this…):
1. The Mummy
2. The Rock
3. National Treasure
4. Omen (the original one, and every single time it’s on TNT – strange, I know)

Four favorite places I’ve lived:
1. San Diego
2. Washington, DC
3. London
4. Cabin John, Maryland

Four favorite places I’ve travelled:
1. Japan (many cities and loved them all)
2. Fiji (honeymoon!)
3. Brugges, Belgium
4. London (favorite city)

Four places I most want to see before I die:
1. China
2. Tahiti
3. Alaska
4. Australia

Four of my favorite foods:
1. French fries
2. French fries
3. French fries
4. French fries

See a pattern there?

I will refrain from tagging anyone, but feel free to join in.

Is it roundup or round-up? I honestly don’t know. Either way, I have some odds and ends to tie up today.

First, Dear Author, The Smart Bitches and some other sites are hosting a Romance Madness Tournament. This parallels the college basketball March Madness Tournament, but with books. The folks running the Romance Madness Tournament picked titles in a bunch of categories to compete. YOUR MOUTH DRIVES ME CRAZY was one of the books picked – wahoo!!! Now, it competes against Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ MATCH ME IF YOU CAN in the first round, so this may be a short contest for me. Still, it is a thrill to be nominated. Thanks to the Romance Madness Tournament sponsors for including me.

Second, if you are taking part in the Sweat Challenge (and if not, why not?), then go over and post your progress today.

Third, the winner of the Dianne Castell HOT AND BOTHERED giveaway is – limecello . Congratulations!!! Email me and I’ll get that book out to you.

Had a bit of a computer mishap last evening. For my sanity, I’m going to leave the house and go hear author Christie Craig speak. It’s either that or sit and curse the keyboard. While that sounds like fun, it isn’t.

Here’s the book I plan to buy from Christie:

RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW got a fabulous review at Romance Reviews Today. Huge thanks to review Patti Fischer. Here’s a taste:

RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW is a tale of deceit, love, and all kinds of shenanigans. Oh, yeah, and two government factions working at odds with each other. The story opens with the break up of Gabby and Reed, so the initial chemistry of an introduction between our couple is not part of it. Add in Gabby’s and Reed’s coworkers who feel it’s their duty to interfere, well, sometimes the story got a bit fractious. But when Gabby and Reed are finally left to their own devices, their chemistry smokes, and readers will be rooting for them to come out on top together. Will Gabby and Reed make it all work out in the end? You’ll have to read RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW to find out.

HelenKay Dimon continues to show readers why she’s one of Brava’s shining stars. Her writing is crisp and funny and will keep you turning each page eagerly anticipating what will happen next. If you like a bit of humor with your romance, then I highly recommend you grab a copy of RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW.

That’s just lovely.

Dianne Castell is a fellow Brava author. She also is a truly lovely lady. Whenever I’ve sent out the call to authors to donate for a cause, Dianne is one of the first to offer her help. So when I heard she was having a blog party at Laurie’s Laudanum blog today and tomorrow, I was happy to join in.

We are celebrating the release of Dianne’s newest, HOT AND BOTHERED (April ‘08). Here’s the copy:

SAVANNAH WHEN IT SIZZLES

In Savannah, what you expect is never what you get…

Your job is easy. Go on over to HOT AND BOTHERED (April ‘08).” Laurie’s blog and check out all of the prizes and giveaways – told you it was a fabulous party!!!

And I’m offering a chance to win here. Leave a comment here about Dianne or her books and you’ll be entered to win a copy of HOT AND BOTHERED. I’ll pick a person at random and will send a copy to you via Amazon or B&N or whichever store has it first.

Go forth and party with Dianne!

One of my favorite romantic suspense authors, Pamela Clare, has a book coming out in April. The book is UNLAWFUL CONTACT. As a journalist, Pamela spent some time in jail. She used that experience when writing UNLAWFUL CONTACT. Pamela is talking about those jailhouse days on her blog. Check it out here.

And for those eagerly awaiting her book – which is an RT Top Pick! for April – here is some info:

Taken hostage by a convicted murderer while reporting at a prison, Sophie Alton has no idea that the man holding the gun to her head is the bad boy who was her first love in high school. Condemned to life without parole, Marc Hunter finds himself with no choice but to break out of prison after his younger sister disappears with her baby.

Though he regrets what he has to put Sophie through, he can’t let anything get in the way of his stopping the corrupt officials who are set on destroying what’s left of his family. But being near Sophie rekindles memories for both of them. As the passion between them heats up, so does the conspiracy to put both of them in their graves.

I’m so excited!

I was reading through People magazine over the weekend and had to laugh. The magazine appears to be a bit behind…or I hope that’s the case since the editors gave a rave review to Margaret B. Jones’ Love and Consequences. This book is one of the memoirs discovered to be a fake over the last few weeks. This one is described here as:

Jones writes about growing up as a half-white, half-Native American girl in South-Central Los Angeles in the foster home of Big Mom. One of her foster brothers, she writes, was gunned down by Crips gang members outside their home. Jones also claimed she carried illegal guns and sold drugs for the Bloods gang.

To me that just sounds like a bunch of stereotypes strung together to create a bunch of white-girl nonsense. See, Jones is actually white, grew up in a nice neighborhood and attended private school. Her sister outed her, proving that someone in the family has an ounce of common sense. Jones’ lame excuse for her poor behavior is that she believed her lying would somehow help underprivileged kids. Uh-huh.

So, we have the Jones’ piece of idiocy. We also have the false memoir by the woman who claimed she escaped the Holocaust and was raised by wolves. Both stories have a ring of huh? about them. It just seems to me that if an editor would not believe a plotline for a piece of fiction – come on, raised by wolves? – then the editor should question that plotline when it shows up in nonfiction. After all, some things are too stupid or unbelievable to be true.

HARD AS NAILS (Brava, July ‘08) now is available for pre-order at Amazon and B&N online. If you need a reminder about what this one is about, here you go:

What’s better than a man who’s good with his hands? Try a trio of hard-bodied hunks who’ll be happy to flip your house, your heart…and anything else you have in mind…

THIS OLD HOUSE
Architect Cole Carruthers’s mission is simple—visit his company’s latest rehab project and cajole the sweet old lady who once owned it into vacating the premises. But the sultry, sledge-hammer-wielding woman he finds is far from old, nor particularly sweet. For reasons she won’t reveal, Aubrey Matheson refuses to leave the house she claims is her birthright. As far as Cole’s concerned, there’s only one thing to do with this squatter: hunker down with her and discover every single one of her sexy secrets…

ALL ABOUT ADAM
The last meeting tough-as-nails Becky Carter took with sharp-witted, wicked sexy real estate rehabber Adam Thomas culminated in a scorching-hot game of kiss-and-run. Becky was the one running, and she’s regretted it ever since. Now Adam’s back to do some actual business…or so he says. If Becky has her way, this weekend of negotiation will speed from boardroom to bedroom—and stay there…

MAN AT THE DOOR
After finding herself famous for all the wrong reasons, artist Erin McHugh just wants to fix up her house, open her art studio, and settle down out of the spotlight. Then job foreman Ray Hammond walks through her door and Erin recognizes broad-shouldered trouble. Hot, young, and always in the news, Ray is everything Erin wanted to avoid. The challenge is how to resist a guy who can build anything, fix anything—and make Erin feel everything…

While you’re waiting for this release, you can buy RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW.

I just finished reading seven category romances and a novella for the preliminary round of the RITAs. A few didn’t work for me at all, but several were very good. Here are some general thoughts:

1. There are an extraordinary number of princes and related male royalty out there from countries you’ve never heard of, all of whom appear to be happier and better rulers once they hook up with women from Texas or some other southern US city. Someone call Prince William and explain this to him.

2. Some authors/editors italicize words and phrases for no good reason.

3. One book had so many exclamation points that I started counting them. I’m not sure I’ve ever even used an exclamation point in a book. I usually assume people get the emotion from context.

4. There’s something addictive about good books I can read in two hours. I get sucked in and keep saying, “just a few more pages” and then about 200 pages later I’m done. Boom! Time gone and book finished. The Harlequin folks really are brilliant about this because once I read one, I wanted to read more and picked up these (which I had planned to buy anyway):

RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW is out in bookstores…and you should go buy it The HARD AS NAILS final edits are done and turned in to my publisher. My RITA judging scores have been turned in. Yeah, this has been a busy week.

After you get back from buying your copy of RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW (ahem), here’s a little tease from one of the novellas in the upcoming HARD AS NAILS (July ‘08) anthology. This one is called Man At The Door and stars 20-something hottie Ray Hammond and skittish 30-something Erin McHugh. Enjoy!
__________

Short excerpt for your enjoyment:

“I need to move in.”

Ray Hammond dropped his morning bombshell without missing a step. He walked into the historic house in the middle of Washington, D.C. holding a moving box in his arms. Then kept right on going through the living room and into the kitchen.

Erin McHugh was not the sort of woman to run after a man, but Ray had her jogging to keep up. “Move where?”

“Here.” He called the answer over his shoulder as he slid the box on to the counter next to the sink. The move lifted his baseball shirt up just far enough to flash a thin sliver of taut tan back.

Erin looked everywhere but at the peek of skin. “As in my house?”

“Where else?”

“You do have a house of your own you can live in.”

“It’s a condo.” He rummaged around in the box.

“So?”

“I’m losing too much time driving back and forth. It makes more sense for me to be here and work at night.”

“Are you asking me or telling me?”

This time he turned around and faced her. No matter how many times she saw him head on, the impact did not lessen. The light brown hair hanging over his forehead. Those dark brown eyes sparkling with mischief. The wide, sexy shoulders. The slim waist. The boyish smile. All of it threaten to knock her on her drooling butt.

“If you want the house renovated in time for the wedding, I need to stay here.” His eyes narrowed. “We talked about this.”

“You mentioned something about travel time.”

“So what’s the problem?”

A lack of self-control and a case of fading common sense. “We didn’t decide on anything.”

“You want to vote on my temporary living arrangements?”

“I just think you should ask me. Not assume.”

“So, this is a semantics issue.” He picked up her bagel and took a big bite.

“More like a courtesy issue.” She watched the bagel get smaller and smaller. “And, help yourself.”

“Thanks.”

“I was being sarcastic.”

“Believe it or not, I could tell.”