I'm at Raine Delight's today

Today I'm thrilled to be over at Raine Delight's today talking about, well, pretty much anything! She interviewed me with questions ranging from new years resolutions to my latest book. I hope you'll join me!

Thursdays

Is there anything ever really happening on Thursdays? I remember in college the party started on Thursdays and went until you woke up (totally hung over) on Sundays and realized you have work to do. As well, that was a long time ago.

Now I look at Thursdays and wonder. It's not the start of the week, not even the hump day where you can do fun middle of the week things. It's Thursday. Or maybe I'm underappreciating the day.

What is there to do on Thursdays?

• Thursday night football


• Hockey (it's an any day of the week game)


• Bowling (I add this because friends and I plan to do that tonight. First time any of us have been in, oh, a decade at least!)

When I searched "What to do on a Thursday" I got hits from sites like Yelp.com and Yahoo Answers on various things in different cities. Apparently I'm not the only one with the questions on What is there to do on a Thursday night?

Wednesday Sexy Regency: Passing the time

Think all Regency past times were cards, balls, carriage rides in Hyde Park, or picnics? Think again. Oh, those were definitely the highlights of the era, but there were also outdoor sports men and women enjoyed.

And no, I'm not just talking about a quickie in the woods! Mind+gutter people...Ok, I'm not just talking about that! I'm also talking about how simple pleasures such as the above mentioned can also be enjoyed much like today. Card gambling, secret looks between illicit lovers across a crowded ballroom. Secret rendezvous in Hyde Park, the to-be place to see and be seen.

The question is, how to take a seemingly innocent activity, such as a returning soldier and a ball to welcome his return home, and make it so very different from Georgette Heyer's idea of Regency?

Guilt.

Our dear soldier, Grayson, has returned from France and Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. He's returned to his title, his estate, his childhood love, Charlotte. And carries with him the secret affair he had with his best male friend, William.

New year new you

I hear that all the time! But I like the me I already am. It's a crazy saying, and sure there are things I'd like to change about myself but I don't think I want to be a new me.

Actually that has nothing to do with what I'm talking about today.

Nope.

Today I'm talking about horoscopes. Do you read them or not? Sun sigh, moon sign, Chinese horoscope...why?

Just curious. It IS a new year!

2012? Weekly goals

Tis the season for resolutions, goals, and promises meant to be kept. FOR A WHOLE YEAR!

Really? I have no idea what I resolved to do last year, and I'm darn sure I didn't keep it much beyond January. If I wrote it down, it's gone. If I blogged about it, I'm not going back to look at it. It's over, it's done with, it's in the past. Must look to the future now!

Weekly goal #1:
1. Write every day. No really! This week I plan on writing every day. Whether it's a blog, 500 words in my latest ménage, or a plot. This week I shall write every day.
2. Promise to keep this up even by Friday when I don't want to. After all, it's week 1!

Friday Recipe: New Years

Plans? Party? Quiet night at home? Whatever you're doing this New Year's Eve, don't drink and drive, bring a small discrete roll of tums (just in case) and hope nothing you do ends up on YouTube or Facebook.

From All Recipes top New Year's recipes!

Honey-Garlic Glazed Meatballs:
Prep Time:25 Min
Cook Time:15 Min
Ready In:40 Min

Ingredients
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 cup dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 teaspoons salt
2 pounds ground beef
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup honey
3 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions
In a large bowl combine eggs and milk. Add the bread crumbs, onion and salt. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into 1-in. balls. Place in two greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pans. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees F for 12-15 minutes or until meat is no longer pink.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, saute garlic in butter until tender. Stir in the ketchup, honey and soy sauce. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain meatballs; add to sauce. Carefully stir to evenly coat. Cook for 5-10 minutes.

Cocktails:
Hot Buttered Rum Batter (because Baby it's Cold Outside!)
Prep Time:10 Min
Cook Time:10 Min
Ready In:40 Min

Ingredients
1 pound butter
1 pound brown sugar
1 pound confectioners' sugar
1 quart vanilla ice cream, softened
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions
Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Blend in brown sugar and confectioners' sugar. Remove from heat, and whisk in the ice cream, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Pour mixture into a plastic container, seal, and freeze.

In a coffee mug, measure 1 tablespoon Hot Buttered Rum Batter and 1 fluid ounce of rum, then fill cup with boiling water. Stir, and sprinkle top of drink with nutmeg.

Nutritional Information
Amount Per Serving Calories: 78 Total Fat: 4.3g Cholesterol: 12mg

The Escape: A Hellfire Club Erotique

This is the second in my new Hellfire Club series. Which really should have been the first, as I'm planning on giving away this one. Why? The better question is...why not?

Why shouldn't I give this story away? It is Christmas after all...or the season at least!

And just because this one won't be ready for public consumption for another week or two (don't worry, I'll let you know when it's up!) doesn't mean it can't be billed as:

After Christmas Sale!

My way of saying thanks, happy happy, and stay warm during the bitter winter that begins with January. Unless you live in the Southern Hemisphere, in which case how about a nice tall cool drink instead?

Blurb:
Gabrielle Bertrand believed the men she loved had been beheaded during the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror. Now promised in marriage to a general of the revolution, she still fears for her life and has resigned herself to the union.

And then fate intervenes and she sees Eric LeClaire and André St. Germaine again.
Eric and André have spent the last two years searching for Gabrielle, terrified she’d been killed during one of the revolution’s roundups. Now that they’ve found her again, neither will let her go.

But with National Police after them, and years spent apart, will Gabrielle return to her lovers? Or will all three of them face the wrath of Madame Guillotine?

Wednesday Regency at Sweet N Sexy Divas

Today I'm at Sweet 'N Sexy Divas talking Regency, menage, books, and more. What's your favorite bit about the Regency--do you even LIKE the Regency Era? Are you so over it you won't even watch Pride and Prejudice and Zombies? (With hopefully more zombies than were included in the book.)

I'm giving away a download of Risqué: A Regency Ménage Tale and a $5 gift card to Barnes and Noble.

What do you expect from a series?

Continuity and yet new and exciting plots? Recurring characters? An overall plot? Do you read specific series for the world an author has created or the ever changing plots? The big end game? The good vs evil?

Continuity. By this I'm talking about the world. It's the little things that matter, right? But what if a hint of those little things had been introduced in previous stories? Would that be acceptable? Little clues to mysteries and such.

But what about the characters? Do you like to see characters from previous books make cameo appearances? Or do you prefer more substantial roles? Or do you even prefer a series of books following a couple?

Now personally, I like a good over-arcing plot. I like to ferret out details, the mystery, the whodunit of a longer story. My problem is when an author elongates the mystery for the sake of sales. Now, as an author myself, sales are important. But as a reader, don't cheat me.


What are your favorite series? What do you like to see included in one?

How was your Christmas?

Everyone get what you wanted for Christmas? Or at least the gift cards to get what you want during this week's after-Christmas sales?

What are your favorite Christmas traditions? What do you have to do every year? What do you wish you didn't have to?

Favs:
Christmas tunes
Christmas movies
Christmas cookies (which are just cookies but I don't make them any other time of the year!)
Christmas presentes
Christmas decorations
Christmas trees

Not so favs:
Crowds at the malls