…brought me two books the other day–one because it has a foreward by Kate Duffy, (My mom is a Kate fan-girl after hearing me talk about her.) and the other because the protagonists were just getting it on too darn much. :rofl: It’s not an erotic romance. It’s just got prolific sex. I wish you could have heard my mom (bless her!), “Usually they only do it one or two times in books. But these two were having sex, sex, sex all the time.” :rofl: Kill me. She was shocked when I told her Lisa Kleypas used the “f” word in her last romance. It worked and was totally perfect for the character (who I’m dying to meet in her next book. I’m a Lisa K. fan-girl)

My mom is my greatest cheerleader and buys my books, but she won’t read them. (That’s probably wise, Mom. :kiss: )

EC gave me an official release date of Dec. 2nd for my Christmas Quickie Wish List. :cheer:

Star is an Interstellar Council judge. Her position requires her to pass sentence, hunt down the offenders, and administer punishments. She’s considered one of the best, and if she plays her cards right, she just might become the first of the Hunter species to ascend to the Supreme Court–her life’s goal. When she’s ordered to hunt down a rogue Jacian ambassador in heat, the precedent is death. Sympathetic, but following the law she holds so dear, she pursues him with the intent to kill.

Roark has entered his mating cycle. By Council law, he should be locked in a room with his pre-assigned partner for a week of non-stop sex that will get him through his heat. But he doesn’t want his pre-assigned. He wants Star, the luscious blonde judge whose compassion and intelligence has won his regard. The penalty for going rogue while in heat is death, but that’s a small price to pay for a week of sensual pleasure with the woman he desires more than anything.

Now the huntress is the prey, and when she’s snared by a man in heat, it’s passion that rules, not the law. Or does it? Roark still has his sentence, and his lover Star is judge, jury… and executioner.

SNARING THE HUNTRESS
Amber Quill Press
ISBN: 1-59279-454-8

I forgot to blog last night. I will think of something.

Soon…

Oh!!! Jack cut Shanna’s bangs last night… to the HAIRLINE!!! :doh:

And I’m chatting tonight at The Romance Book Club 8PM EST http://www.theromancebookclub.com/chatroom.cfm

WISH LIST
White Hot Holidays
Ellora’s Cave

When Nicolas James draws Stephanie Martin’s name in their law firm’s Secret Santa exchange he knows he’s in for a merry Christmas–if he can figure out what to give the woman he’s wanted for months. When he works late and finds a crumpled piece of paper listing Steph’s personal wish list, he knows he’s in luck. Because all Steph wants for Christmas is him, in a number of naughty ways.

And not so saintly Nick is going to make every one of her wishes come true.

The story is actually a bit more serious than the blurb lets on. I enjoyed writing it, even though the contemporary setting and storyline made it seem almost like something was “off”. But it’s received high praise and I’m proud of it, so there you have it–my second ever contemporary erotic romance.

Allure Authors Delilah Devlin and Lisa Renee Jones also have White Hot Holiday Quickies. EC will be releasing one every day in December. (except for Christmas and New Years Eve, I believe.)

*************

Oh, I’m chatting tonight in the Authors Grill at Romance at Heart 9 PM EST.

Whaaaat-uuuuup?

As you all know, Syl and I are great pals. I’ve been blogging here on the 1st and 15th (or close to) since April–and love it. Thank you for the opportunity Syl. What you may not know about the two of us is how we met and became friends. We’re in the same state, but a few hundred miles apart. We don’t belong to the same chapter. How did we meet? :think: What prompted our friendship affair? :love:

Um…I did

Here’s how it went down. I got the offer on Chocolate Kisses in August 2004, but after accepting I heard very little for the next couple of months and felt very lost and alone in the big-bad world of being published. Still on the PRO loop, I saw Sylvia’s first sale announcement go out over the loop. And, I decided she was just about the same spot on this road as I was. Maybe we could share our joy :cheer: and worry and bad-tummy anxiety :puke: as we waited for our first contracts to arrive. Mostly, I wanted–desperately–for a friend :hug:who’d hold my hand with and would never get too tired of my excitement! :yay:

So, I emailed her. Out of the blue. I didn’t post often on PRO, so I wasn’t sure she’d even know my name when I contacted her, but I took the chance. Here’s my first email to her:

From: RENEE LUKE [mailto:renee_luke@hotmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2004 11:44 PM
To: sylvia@sylviaday.com
Subject: Congrats on your sale (Can you believe we’re not far off a year already?)

Hiya Sylvia,

I wanted to give you a personal congrats on your win and now sale. How very exciting. I’m on PRO but rarely post there; waiting for my PAN to be approved. I also sold recently, to NAL. It’s also erotica, though I like to call it romantica, as there are always happy endings.

While Chocolate Kisses is a contemp, I love historicals and started writing there. NAL is considering a couple of them now.

I live in Northern CA, just outside of Sacramento and am a mom of four ranging in ages from just about 13–awk, a teen–to 4. I’m in edits, cuts, rewrites, and deadlines, too and so thought it may be fun and enlightening to chat with you a bit. Share battle scars.

I have my CP who is awesome and I love her, but I thought it’d be cool to meet you since we’re just about the same stage and doing this whole ‘published’ thing for the first time.

LOL! I’m not a crazy stalker lady if that’s what you’re thinking. I understand everyone is pressed for time. Good luck to you in your future ventures.

Renee Luke
(It’s a little corny. Reading it now I’m surprised she responded to me. I sound a bit wallflowerish begging for a friend. I’m not. I’m fun :scratch: I think. Someone hand me a :beer: I’ve got to think about this.)

Below you’ll find Sylvia’s response to me. Yes, she responded to my silly email. She really is a sweetheart!

From: “Sylvia Day”
To: “‘RENEE LUKE’”
Subject: RE: Congrats on your sale
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 00:04:21 -0800 (it didn’t even take her a full 24 hours. I betcha she was getting a shitload of emails, too. Yes, she really is amazing)

Hi Renee!!
Congratulations to you too! A sale to NAL, that’s wonderful! I admire your ability to write contemps. I’ve tried, but I can’t seem to pull it off. I wrote one, a short story. It just sold to Black Lace and will be published in their Wicked Words series in May. But it’s only 5000 words. I don’t know that I could write a longer one. I do write futuristics and paranormals though.

I’m glad you wrote me. It’s kind of a tough stage to be in, this whole in-between published and not. LOL My published friends are like, “Yeah, it’s fun.” but they’re over it. And my non-published friends try to be happy for me, but it’s hard when they’re trying so hard to “get there”. So it will be nice to talk with you.

I don’t know if you went to my site and saw my bio, but I’m in California, by San Diego. I have a hubby and two kids–one is 5 and the other is 3.

I’d love to chat with you about any and everything.

I look forward to talking with you! Especially going through the whole “get your name out there stage”. LOL

Take care of you.
Sylvia

Do we both sound a little stunned and confused? Blissfully happy, but not sure what happens next? Wanna read more about the start of our friendship? Check it out here, on my blog.

Well, BN may not list me as upcoming, but WalMart is! :cheer: On the very first page of their romance section. :dance:

Well, my doorbell kept ringing today. First came a large, heavy box from Kensington. My ARCs. :bounce: I refuse to read one. I did briefly flip through one, just to certain sections I’d corrected in the galley stage to see if they were fixed. A cursory glance showed that they were. It says “uncorrected proof”, but from what I could see, it’s corrected. Except for the cover which says, “Contemporary Romance Anthology”. *sigh* I don’t know if the people who review these things catalogue the books by that genre tag or not. I’m assuming it must be used for something or why would they put it on there? Hopefully it doesn’t get assigned to reviewers who hate historicals.

The book is hefty, as I told you all it would be. I have a couple other Brava ARCs, all smaller in size and page count. This can either be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how much the reader likes it. I have to admit, I’m really really scared now. It’s out there. My book is out there… :baby:

I received a copy of Susanna Carr’s January anthology with the BBA blurb in the back and was horrified to discover an uncorrected excerpt in the back. *deep breaths* I really am freaking out. However, I’m deeply grateful to Susanna for sending it to me not only for the chance to see my plug in the back of the book, but because I really want to read the stories!!

Anyway, in the back it says: “Here’s a sneak peak at Sylvia Day’s “Stolen Pleasures” from her new anthology, BAD BOYS AHOY. (they left off the exclamation point) A February 2006 release from BRAVA.” :cheer: Here’s to hoping it helps readers learn about my book.

I mailed off several ARCs today. One to All About Romance, although I’ve been told by other authors (quite a few of them) that the reviews are often mean-spirited and negative. I didn’t know that. I’ve always read great reviews from them, but then I pretty much have only ever looked at the DIKs. I also only read reviews of books I’ve already read, just to see what someone else thought of them. I guess I will find out if what I was told about their reviews happens to me. I do believe they’ll be honest. Again, this could be a good or bad thing. :banned:

I also sent one to the Larissa Fund auction winner. She will be the first “reader” to have a copy of the book. I hope she likes it. *fingers crossed* :baby: