Archive for the ‘Stories’ Category
Isn’t “Beauty’s Release” the title of an Anne Rice book? Haven’t read it, but I was in high school when I first heard of it. I remember being intrigued by the mere idea of her Sleeping Beauty Trilogy, written under the pen name A.N. Roquelaure. I’d just read—and fallen in love with—THE VAMPIRE LESTAT, and wanted to read all the Anne Rice books I could get my hands on.
You can imagine that, in small-town Indiana in the late 1980s, the Beauty trilogy wasn’t readily available on the library shelf. I wonder if they have it even now …
Ahem. File that under “jaunt down memory lane.” Funny how the strangest things send you down that road, eh? When I typed in my blog post title, I was off.
Welcome to the My Sexy Saturday in which I get to celebrate the release of BEAUTY AND THE BALLPLAYER. BEAUTY, which went live Thursday, has been many things to me — my first manuscript set somewhere outside the Midwest (in Flagstaff, Ariz), the first one with a baseball player hero, the first (and only) one to final in the Golden Heart (and win the FCRW Beacon).
Yet it’s the second book in my All Is Fair in Love & Baseball series. How’d that happen?
Not only was BEAUTY the second book I sold to Turquoise Morning Press, it fell second in my Arizona Condors timeline. Dave and Mel had already bumped into one another and reconciled by the time Matt meets Meg. In fact, Dave’s experience, which Matt went through alongside him, plays a role in Matt’s reasons for doing some of the things he does to piss Meg off. (DIVA IN THE DUGOUT came out of Matt’s explanation to Meg.)
You know the My Sexy Saturday drill by now, right?
Post 7 paragraphs or 7 sentences or 7 words ONLY. The choice is yours. It can be from a WIP or something you already have published. Your post should be live by 9 am US Pacific Time on Saturday. Put those lucky 7s to work for you!
This scene, from the early chapters, finds Matt kicked out of his hotel room while his brother, super-stylist Stan, cuts Meg’s hard-to-manage hair. Roping his brother into cutting her hair was Matt’s “in” to see her again. While he kills time in the lobby, one of his teammates tries to pick up the hotel restaurant’s hostess. The kid enlists Matt’s help, and Matt realizes she’s a baseball groupie just as Meg and his brother get to the lobby. But Meg doesn’t know he’s a ballplayer, and that’s the way he likes it … so he has to get her out the door before the hostess exposes his identity.
****
Matt pushed the door open and dragged her through it just as flashes started going off behind them.
Desperate that she not turn around to try to see what—or rather who—someone was attempting to photograph, he wrapped an arm around her waist and bent his head to kiss her.
Her lips were soft. Extremely soft. Beyond that, she tasted like something he couldn’t put his finger on. Slightly salty, but comforting.
As he maneuvered her away from the doors and into the darkness, he deepened the kiss. She responded in kind, and he forgot where he was. Forgot everything except kissing this woman who didn’t want him only for his talent.
Oh, she wanted him all right, but not because he could play baseball. That couldn’t be why; she had no clue.
Spurred by the thought, Matt pushed Meg against the wall. He was about to hike her leg up over his hip to draw her closer when his brother’s voice whispered in his ear.
“Matty, you don’t want people to see you out here like this, do you?”
Beauty and the Ballplayer, available now from Turquoise Morning Press and other e-tailers.
When BEAUTY AND THE BALLPLAYER finaled in the RWA® Golden Heart contest in 2011, I was floating way beyond Cloud Nine.
Now, my manuscript is a full-fledged book, released today by Turquoise Morning Press, and I find myself back on Cloud Nineteen … maybe even Cloud Twenty-Nine. Y’all already know numbers are not my strong suit. (That’s why I chose to work with words for a living instead of earning the big bucks as an engineer.)
The short blurb: After finding herself alone and pregnant at the advanced age of thirty-two, Meg Malone plans to avoid men — until Condors catcher Matt Thatcher throws her plan a curve.
You can find BEAUTY at the Turquoise Morning Press bookstore, as well as at Amazon, Smashwords and All Romance Ebooks.
If your favorite e-tailer isn’t on the list yet, check back. It should be available at IBooks, B&N, Kobo, Diesle, library and subscription channels within the next week or two.
OK, OK. Technically, it’s not a reveal. You’ve probably already seen it on Facebook and/or Twitter, but now I’m plastering it here, on my blog: The cover for my April release from Turquoise Morning Press.
Gorgeous, isn’t it?
I love Jenn’s striking eyes. You can certainly see why her sister took Jade as a stage name.
SLIDING INTO HOME (until recently known as Untitled Book 3) comes out in mid-April. I can’t wait to share Greg and Jenn’s story.
Here’s a sneak peek:
More than anything, Arizona Condors first baseman Greg Bartlesby wants to make his own name in the big leagues. Too bad being the son of MLB legend Jake “Big Man” Bartlesby makes that impossible. Even worse? His attempts to differentiate himself from his old man more often land him in legal trouble. His latest brush with the law brings him in contact with an attorney he’s met before — as a dancer at the club where he was arrested … for protecting her.
Jenn Simpson isn’t a stripper—not that she can convince her bonehead client her twin is the one doing the dancing. When Greg offers her sister a job at his father’s Foundation, Jenn is the one who accepts, at her sister’s urging. She soon discovers she likes the work—and her new boss. As she and Greg forge a friendship and more, she knows it’s time to convince him she’s not who he thinks. But when his father’s hospitalization compels Greg to fast-track his leap to the majors by capitalizing on Big Jake’s fame, it might be too late for her to come clean.
Hi, all. It’s been a while since I’ve jumped in with a My Sexy Saturday post. But with BEAUTY AND THE BALLPLAYER set to release in mid-March and SLIDING INTO HOME in mid-April , it’s high time I get back in the habit.
Blog hops like this are a fun way to share info about a new release, don’t you think?
A quick refresher on the rules:
Post 7 paragraphs or 7 sentences or 7 words ONLY. The choice is yours. It can be from a WIP or something you already have published. Your post should be live by 9 am US Pacific Time on Saturday. Put those lucky 7s to work for you!
BEAUTY is my newest release, but it’s far from a new story. It’s the manuscript secured me my first (and only) RWA Golden Heart finalist title, way back in 2011. (Wow 2011 seems like forever ago …) It’s the second book in my Love & Baseball series, and the only one set in my adopted hometown of Flagstaff. The Arizona Condors are in Flagstaff for spring training. Matt, the team’s catcher, is feeling every one of his 28 years now that the manager has added a rookie catcher to the roster.
Here are seven paragraphs from the opening scene, in which Meg, who just that morning discovered she’s pregnant, and Matt meet in a bar. What’s a pregnant woman doing in a bar, you ask? Drinking 7-UP and commiserating with her coworkers, all of them glad they’re still employed after a fresh round of layoffs at the ad agency where she works.
Hard to say which of them is having a worse day, eh?
***
After enduring his appraisal, Meg had no qualms about completing one of her own. She slid her gaze from the tuft of thick, chestnut hair poking through the back of his burgundy-and-white cap downward, over his golden-brown eyes, straight nose and smiling mouth. She took in his toned arms, broad chest, tree-trunk thighs and—oh my.
Perhaps he had good reason for his arrogance. She jerked her eyes back to his face. After they’d mentally stripped each other, it didn’t feel right to not know the man’s name. She extended her hand. “I’m Meg.”
He eyed her outstretched hand and his lips lifted again. She grinned back as she rescinded her offer. He was right. They already knew each other too well for a mere handshake.
Awareness jolted through Meg when he rested a hand on her knee. “Matt.”
“Well, Matt, I’d like to say it’s nice to meet you, but I can’t say that to the guy who took my table.” She shifted ever so slightly, hoping to break the strange hold he had over her.
Matt chuckled. “Would it help if I told you I’ve had one hell of a day?”
BEAUTY AND THE BALLPLAYER, coming from Turquoise Morning Press in March 2014.
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