Thanks to Jade Lee for sponsoring this week’s blog contests! Jade is giving away a $10 Amazon gift card to some one who comments on the blogs posted from Monday, February 8th to Sunday, February 15th. So drop by every day and check them out! And don’t forget about THE CONCUBINE, on shelves now! A new historical from Blaze about the original contests to be the Empress of China! And you thought it was all just invented with “American Idol!” Quick jump to blogs Quick jump to blog contest Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

Imagine the horror of going to your teenager’s bedroom one morning only to find her missing. Her bed hadn’t been slept in and her clothes are gone. In 2000, that’s what one mother in Florida faced. Her only child had conspired against her and ran away. And worse, she later discovered that her daughter had left the country—without having a passport. From the moment I read this news story, I was hooked and had to know more about how such an atrocity could happen. The teen’s trail might have gone ice cold, but her mother pushed authorities in a direction. Click here to read the rest and enter Jordan’s one day blog contest. FIVE Winners!!!! Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

I feel fairly confident in saying that everyone’s attention is on the economy these days. I know that it is the focal point at our house. This must surely mean that more readers are entering contests in the hopes of winning their favorite author’s newest title, or perhaps a backlist title in a new to them author. I have been lucky this week, and won a one-day blog contest, one a guess the number contest in a chat, and today attempted to win an email contest, and while I supposedly did not win, the author was nice enough to send me an e-copy of a book from her backlist anyway, because in my email I mentioned that I had not yet read her, so anything would be new to me. So, as you see I have entered a variety of contests this week, and been very lucky! The contests I have entered have all been easy to enter, and the prizes have all been books. Is there a certain type of contest that calls to you? Is there a certain prize you prefer to win? To me, the simpler the contest the more likely I am to enter, and we…

And I’m still full from my turkey induced coma of last week, have done no shopping and don’t plan to. What am I going to do this holiday season? Read. And read some more. Funny thing that. Thanksgiving night I was going a bit stir crazy wanting a good book. One with a hot alpha, who had hot alpha friends, and who meet up with a heroine who was like no other woman any of them had ever encountered. I was stumped because this story also had to have mad passion, conflict and angst. I looked over my to-be-read pile and still could not quite find what I was looking for. Then I looked down at the box that had arrived from my publisher Simon and Schuster the day before. I knew what was in it, and I smiled. There in that box was a true love story that still haunts me almost 8 months after I wrote it: MASTER OR TORMENT, book two in my Blood Sword Legacy series. This story is of Sir Wulfson and Lady Tarian Godwinson. It is without exception a story of my heart and soul, and it transcended the pages. Reviewers love this story,…

It’s no secret I’m a bit of a girly girl. I like my silver jewelry, I own way too many purses and I can spot a nail salon from 100 yards. So it was a bit of a surprise, even to me, when I found myself calling up Harley bikers and asking if we could get together. Oh and if they could possibly bring their dogs?… But hey, I’m a writer and research is part of the job. In this case, I’d set out to write a paranormal about a straight-laced preschool teacher turned demon slayer who has to run off with a gang of geriatric biker witches. Plus, my heroine has a smart-mouthed dog that, thanks to her new powers, can talk…and talk…and talk. In order to get the real story on Harley riders (and their dogs) I went online and learned that there is a nationwide club of bikers who ride with their dogs. So my heroine could have her snow white Harley, and her Jack Russell Terrier too. Of course I had to meet these hard riding dog lovers. Turns out, they were way more friendly than I’d ever imagined. They invited me into their homes, introduced…

It started innocently. I am not a coffee drinker, but when I moved to the Seattle area a decade ago, I discovered that pretty much everyone else is. If I wanted to attend meetings or have a quick chat with friends, it was going to be at a Starbuck’s. The vocabulary at Starbuck’s was like a foreign language to me. Double tall? With room? What are they talking about? I eventually learned the lingo but I swore I wouldn’t be one of those customers with a complicated order. I thought I was doing okay with that vow until the other day. I ordered my Venti extra-hot, non-fat no water Chai tea latte. How did this happen? I used to be a simple Chai! As the barista made my drink, she asked if I wanted cinnamon sprinkles. I said no, even though it sounded kind of good. My drink order was already at ten words and I think I need to cut back, not add more! How complicated is your Starbuck’s order? Enter my One Day Blog contest for a chance to win a signed copy of EX, WHY AND ME. Susanna Carr www.susannacarr.com/ Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books…

Hello to all the Fresh Fiction readers! I’m also an FF fan and have visited many times, commenting on blogs by readers and authors. But this is my first trip here as a blogger and it’s a privilege to be in such great company! Plus, I very much appreciate the opportunity to tell you about a book of mine that’s just been released—and is very dear to my heart, The Private Concierge. Some story ideas are called gifts. Ask any writer of fiction and odds are they’ll tell you they’ve had at least one gift book in their career—and they’ll probably smile wistfully while remembering the experience. With a gift book, the idea comes to you fully formed, almost as if the patron saint of writers had whispered it in your ear. This doesn’t happen often and it always feels like an unexpected blessing. The Private Concierge is one of those stories. Here’s a peek at the original idea: She was a runaway who was forced into the oldest profession at a tender age. He was the vice cop who posed as a customer and put her in juvenile hall. He’s been haunted by her ever since. And she will…

Thank you Fresh Fiction for allowing me to visit today. I’m having a great day because my book, BILLIONAIRE’S MARRIAGE BARGAIN, which features a hot, powerful, charming and RICH man is on the stands! Alex Megalos has the ability to charm women into his bed with no difficulty at all. When my shero, Mallory James tells him she’s not interested in him, he decides to prove her wrong. There is a lot of heat and a couple of scandals to keep things interesting. If you get a chance to read BILLIONAIRE’S MARRIAGE BARGAIN, please write me. I’d love to hear from you. I’m having a great day, but that got me to thinking about bad days… or odd days. …cuz you had an odd day… I changed the lyrics to that hit song American Idol played over and over again because I believe there are degrees to bad. Bad is a piano falling on you, incurable diseases, a plane flying into your condo, bombs going off in your town … You get the picture. I feel like a real whiner if I say I’ve had a bad day when I think about how tough a lot of other people have…

Thanks so much for having me as your guest. I’m excited to have Berkley releasing SHOW AND TELL this month, the second book in a trilogy that began with THE FORTUNE HUNTER, which won the Holt Medallion for erotic romance.Here’s a little tidbit about SHOW AND TELL to whet your appetite. All her life Trinity Green has been a pleaser, first her mom and dad, then her husband. When she walks in on her husband with another woman, she realizes that trying to be the perfect wife with never a hair out of place or a smudge of makeup beneath her eyes was all for nothing. Now she’s going to indulge herself, with good food, delicious wine, and hot sex. Then she meets the perfect man under the oddest of circumstances… And Trinity also needs to get a job! That’s where my experiences working in an office atmosphere comes into play for the book. This spring I rented all the DVDs for “The Office.” You might think that show exaggerates what it’s really like, that no real boss is going to say or do stuff like that. But, swear it, they really do. I had a wonderful boss who drove…

One of the reasons I wrote Hot and Bothered (Kensington BRAVA April 08) was to set a book in the South and not just geographically but in characters and language and food! Characters in NY are way different than characters in Savannah. You won’t hear the doorman at the NY Hilton say Y’all come back now, ya’ hear. And food? Just try getting a cream egg in Savannah or sweet tea in Manhattan. I’m more Savannah then Manhattan. Not that I don’t looove NY City, I do. But I live in Cincinnati and feel connected to the South. I fry chicken and make cream gravy and make my own pumpkin pie. I don’t have a hidden tiara in my panty drawer but I do subscribe to Southern Living, think Paula Deen is the cutest thing on earth and have actually waited in line for two hours to eat at Lady and Sons. Yep, it’s worth the wait! And I can twirl a baton! I have a pair of white gloves in my drawer and use cloth tablecloth and napkins and set the table proper with flowers for Sunday dinner. If my kids don’t mind their manners they get “the look…