HelenKay Dimon

I am on deadline but I’ve been looking out for books to read post-deadline. I thought I’d share a few:

1. I’ve been meaning to buy A BAD DAY FOR SORRY by Sophie Littlefield. Her second book, A BAD DAY FOR PRETTY, is now out. The plan is to buy both since they follow the same heroine. What grabbed my attention was this part of the blurb:

Stella Hardesty dispatched her abusive husband with a wrench shortly before her fiftieth birthday. A few years later, she’s so busy delivering home-style justice on her days off, helping other women deal with their own abusive husbands and boyfriends, that she barely has time to run her sewing shop in her rural Missouri hometown. Some men need more convincing than others, but it’s usually nothing a little light bondage or old-fashioned whuppin’ can’t fix. Since Stella works outside of the law, she’s free to do whatever it takes to get the job done—as long as she keeps her distance from the handsome devil of a local sheriff, Goat Jones.

2. I saw this one and kind of think I have to read it. It’s MONEY, HONEY by Susan Sey. Romance! Suspense! A former criminal as the hero! Yeah, I’m in. And the cover is cute (though I would have made the background a different color from her dress). See:

3. I somehow missed the Pamela Morsi craze. When I mentioned this on twitter I got about 50 recommendations for books to read from her backlist. Her upcoming is the one that has my attention. It’s called THE BIKINI CAR WASH. This is the part of the blurb that won me over:

Every mogul knows the best idea is an old idea with a new twist. So Andi proudly revives her father’s business: an old-fashioned car wash…staffed entirely by bikini-clad women. That ought to get traffic–and blood–flowing on Grosvenor Street!

Scandalized citizens are howling, neighboring businesses are worried. But straitlaced grocery-store owner Pete Guthrie is definitely intrigued. He knows it’s hard to run a small business in a big-box world. To him, Andi’s brains and bravery are as alluring as the bikini she calls business attire.

4. My special treat will be Lauren Dane’s INSATIABLE. I love this series. It totally works for me. And the cover is just…well, look at it. That man is fine.

This week’s topic is apologies. I actually had a hard time choosing which book to highlight. I finally decided on one of the novellas from HARD AS NAILS – “Man At The Door” – because the hero and heroine make me smile. They both have experience with bad press coverage. Her past makes her jittery and not very trusting, but for good reason. He’s younger and together and not taking any crap from her.

“I’m not looking to be a newspaper headline for anything other than my art,” Erin said.

“I see.”

Ray’s attitude change from empathetic to cool threw her off. Even the warmth behind his hold turned icy and distant.

“What’s wrong with you? You act as if you’re an undercover journalist or something.” She laughed off the joke even though the possibility had floated through her mind once or twice.

“Unbelievable. You’re actually not kidding.” His monotone voice did not sound amused.

“What?”

He dropped his hands from around her waist. “You’re reasoning it out, aren’t you? I can see you turning it over in your mind. Wondering if I’m an inside man.”

The sun beating down on the glassed-in room did nothing to ward off her chill. Without his touch, she rubbed her arms to keep the blood flowing. “That’s not true.”

“You, my dear, have trust issues.”

She battled those insecurities every single day, but he was not supposed to notice. At the very least, he could have had the courtesy to keep the realization to himself. “Do you blame me?”

“When it comes to not trusting me? Yeah, Erin, I do.”

His response stopped the comeback in her throat. Hard to follow-up on a common sense putdown. So, she said the only thing she could. “I’m sorry.”

He folded his arms across his broad chest. Even smiled. “For?”

Not quite the response she expected. “Uh…I don’t-”

“See, that’s the problem.”

His determination not to cut her a break made her feel jumpy. “I apologized.”

“It doesn’t count if you have no idea why you bothered to do so in the first place.”

“Oh, and you’re the expert. You wrote the international manual on forgiveness on something.” She grabbed on to the back of the nearest chair. Contemplated smashing it over his head.

“At least I would take the time to read the manual. I’m betting there’d be a chapter on being genuine. You could try that.”

Quick and smiling. That qualified as a deadly combination on Ray. The sort to run through her defenses leaving her control in a pile on the floor. “There is nothing fake about me,” she said.

Ray’s gaze did a quick dip to her breasts. Not a surprise. Give a man an opening like that and a little gawking was bound to happen.

Not that she planned to cut him any slack. “You’re impossible.”

“Honest. One might even say genuine.” He leaned against the doorframe. “While you work on your apology, I’m going to unpack and settle in.”

She waved him off. “Fine.”

“You sound thrilled.”

Concerned. Hot. Bothered. And, yeah, even thrilled to some degree. “I’ll do a backflip later.”

He glanced around the small room. “I wouldn’t do it in here. You might go right through a window.”

“That would be my luck.”

“Luck is overrated.”

She felt the same way. “More honesty?”

“Let’s just say I believe in going after what I want instead of sitting around and waiting for it to drop in my lap.”

_____________
Don’t forget to check out the other snippets!

Jody Wallace
Eliza Gayle
Mari Carr
Vivian Arend
Lauren Dane
Shelley Munro
Shelli Stevens
TJ Michaels
Taige Crenshaw
McKenna Jeffries
Ashley Ladd

I was sent a link to my Thai cover for YOUR MOUTH DRIVES ME CRAZY from an author friend and from a reader (thank you Mica and May). Ready for it?

It doesn’t really say sexy-story-set-in-Hawaii but I don’t care. I’m thrilled about the foreign sale.

I’m blogging at Access Romance today and talking about my adventures in buying an ereader.

Lori at I Just Finished Reading… recently reviewed my newest from Harlequin Intrigue, NIGHT MOVES. I read the review and had a “she gets me!” moment. Specifically, she said this:

One thing that strikes me about both Dimon’s Intrigues is that both heroes come across as human, rather than superhuman. They feel beat up, tired, achy, and not just on the last page. But they summon up the strength to keep going, because to do otherwise would mean sure death for their women (ok, and themselves). They make mistakes, too. But always manage to squeak it out, with help from their heroines.

This part. Ah, this part. My goal in Intrigue is to write really fast-paced suspense. That means the heroes and heroines are in danger for a good portion of the book. They are on the run and under fire. They get hurt and have to keep going. The tempting thing was to make the heroes miraculously fast healers. I actually thought about it in UNDER THE GUN. Poor Luke got shot in the first scene. I toyed with giving him a Jack Bauer (tv show 24 reference) ability to bounce back immediately, but no. Luke goes through the entire book getting re-injured until he’s nearly comatose at the end. And it was the right writing choice.

So, here’s my Intrigue rule for heroes: if he gets shot, he’s going to be in pain and debilitated. If he has a phobia, injury or problem, he’s not going to suddenly get over it. He’s going to work through it. If that means he’s dragging a limb behind him by the end of the book, then so be it. To me, an Intrigue hero isn’t indestructible. He’s human and flawed and somehow manages to survive with the help of the heroine.

Lori – Thanks for noticing and for the great review!

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there and to my dad!! Love you, dad.

This piece by author Harlan Coben does a nice job of summing up then relationship between a dad and his kinds. Give it a read.

The theme today is secondary characters. Two of my favorites are Emma and Mark from LEAVE ME BREATHLESS. Mark is the brother of the hero, Ben. Emma is an old family friend of both and the unspoken love of Mark’s life. Mark is a pretty broken guy but Emma refuses to give up on him…until:

“I agree Callie would be good for Ben long-term. Problem is he’s not a long-term guy.”

The words slashed through Emma. “You mean you’re not a long-term guy.”

Mark’s mouth flattened even further. “I’m talking about Ben.”

“You’re talking about your relationship fears and imputing them to Ben. You are two very different people.”

Mark’s face closed up, as if on the verge of explosion. “I am not afraid.”

She noticed that’s the only part of her speech that bothered him. “Right. It’s worse than that. You’re terrified.”

He stopped touching her. His back inched higher on the headboard as the physical and emotional space yawning between them increased. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“You’re actually going to sit here, in my bed, and ask me that question?”

“I have right to, don’t you think?”

She grabbed the sheet and pulled it up to her breasts. Awkward and leaning half on her side, she refused to lie back down and be quiet. One thing she learned from Callie was that there were times when a woman needed to speak up. Emma knew her opportunity had come and passed several times over the years as Mark waded in and out of her life. There were a thousand points where she could have said no. Not granted easy access to her house or her body. In this instance, she wanted to grab him and hold on. Make him stake a claim.

“Mark, what do you think we’ve been doing for all of these years?”

“Living.”

“Existing.” She hesitated, letting the reality sink in.

“Callie, I-”

“Why do you think I walked out on my engagement?” She saw the sarcastic comment coming and put on the brakes before he could say something that made her want to smack him. “And you better not say because of Ben or I will throw you out the window, I swear I will.”

“Your fiancée was the wrong guy. You finally saw that. If you had asked me, I could have told you that from the beginning.”

“Why didn’t you?” What she really wanted to know was why he refused to fight for her. Had the idea of her sleeping with another man really not eaten away at him? When it came to thinking of him with anyone else, she grew homicidal.

“It wasn’t my decision.”

She closed her eyes and counted to ten to keep from shouting. “You can’t be this clueless.”

Confusion warred with fury in Mark’s eyes. “What do you want me to say?”

“How about something that doesn’t piss me off.”

His mouth dropped open. “What’s gotten in to you?”

Backbone. The fear of losing him, of having him walk out and find someone else, no longer scared her as much as the possibility of moving backwards. She loved that he walked into her house today, during the day, and without the emotional protection of darkness, like he belonged there. That he shared moments of his work with her. That he finally gave her hours beyond those filled with great sex.

She stood up with the sheet wrapped around her body. With her skin still warm from his knowing touch, she threw down a challenge she never planned to issue. “I handed back the ring to another man because I love you. I’ve always loved you. Not Ben. Not any other man. Just you.”

Mark blinked but didn’t give her anything else. Not a smile, not a frown. He just sat there staring at her as if he had no idea what to say or do.

Yeah, clueless.

_________
Don’t forget to check out the other snippets:

Lauren Dane
Vivian Arend
Eliza Gayle
Jody Wallace
Mari Carr
Shelley Munro
Shelli Stevens
Taige Crenshaw
McKenna Jeffries
TJ Michaels
Ashley Ladd

I have an Intrigue miniseries coming out in early 2011. It is related to my first Intrigue, UNDER THE GUN, and follows the other men of The Recovery Project. I officially have titles for the books, so I thought I’d share:

January: GUNS AND THE GIRL NEXT DOOR (Holden’s story)
February: GUNNING FOR TROUBLE (Caleb’s story)
March: LOCKED AND LOADED (Adam’s story)
April: THE BIG GUNS (Zach’s story)

So excited!

I’m at the Murder She Writes blog today talking about why I write category romance. Stop by and say hello. There’s a giveaway…

This week’s theme is risky business. Since that tends to be a theme in all my books, I had a hard time picking one. Decided to go with RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW.

Fuming. Pissed. Mad. Ticked off. Yeah, in the glow of the streetlight Gabby looked all of those things. Maybe even a bit homicidal. She sat on the hood of his car and banged her high heels against his up-until-then perfectly unscuffed paint job.

He skidded to a halt next to her. Thanks to regular workouts he handled the run without trouble. Handling Gabby was going to be the bigger problem. Problem as in the probable death of him.

“I thought you went home.” Reed asked the question in the friendliest tone he could muster while his car sat in the direct firing line of Gabby’s anger.

“Not yet.” She scraped her heel against his fender.

He felt the screeching sound echo down to the pit of his stomach. “Yeah, I see that.”

As if sensing his discomfort, she banged her heel a second time.

“Could you not do that?” He rubbed his hand over the cool metal and winced when he felt what he feared was a deep scratch.

“Do you have a better target in mind?” Her voice dripped with disgust.

He pulled back until he stood out of kicking range. “So, the idea of this meeting was to finish me off in the middle of the street?”

She stopped watching the front door of the restaurant and started scowling at him. She may have even snarled.

“What, a man can’t ask a question?”
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