I do...

Really love wedding reality TV. I know it sounds crazy, but a lot of these shows reinforce WHY I write romance. The love, the bonds, the companionship. And, let’s be honest, the crazy. Here’s a  quick run-down of some of the shows I’ve seen or heard about. For the record, I have NEVER watched an entire episode of Bridalplasty <shudder>

Four Weddings (TLC) 

Premise: Four brides who are strangers and live in the same vicinity meet and attend each other’s weddings. Then, they score each wedding in four categories: Dress, Venue, Food and Overall Experience. The winner receives a great honeymoon. To ensure the brides don’t skew the scores so they win, they also have to rank the other weddings 1 to 3. It’s a pretty nifty set-up. I love the camera confessionals from the brides. Most of the time, they are not bitchy or catty, but genuinely caring and enjoying themselves at each event. I look forward to more of this series!  

Kleinfeld, help me find the
perfect dress!

Say Yes to the Dress (TLC)

Premise: Dress consults at the bridal salon of Kleinfeld Bridal in Manhattan match brides with their dream dresses. When I first saw it, I thought it would be boring and full of self-important women showing off tons of divattude. Instead, it focuses on the “feeling” a woman gets when she finds THE PERFECT DRESS. The one she looks awesome in and, more importantly, the one which embodies all the love and hope she feels for her groom. Sounds over the top? Trust me, it’s worth watching.

Bridalplasty (E!) 

Premise: Brides-to-be compete in challenges to earn plastic surgery for their dream wedding. Really? Spew. Even before this show aired, I was annoyed with it. Bad enough we live in a society that constantly dictates that any woman over a size 0 is fat, but to go after what should be the happiest day of a woman’s life and insinuate that she will only look good if she has a little lipo here and a fat transplant there? Ricockulous. I have tried twice to watch this show. Not only do I find the women unlikable and unsympathetic, I find their whining and crying fits over NOT getting that week’s surgery to be sad and pathetic. I’ll pass.

Amazing Wedding Cakes (WeTV) 

Premise: Four bakeries coast-to-coast create awesome wedding cakes. Really the title says it all. This show has great bakers who are personable and always go the extra mile to ensure their couples receive the cake of their dreams. My favorite episode so far has been when one designer said “Yeah, we can make a bobblehead groomscake.” They had NO idea how to do it, didn’t know if it would work and fretted the entire show. Needless to say, that cake was Amazing.

My Fair Wedding with David Tutera (WeTV) 

Premise: A bride knows what she wants for her wedding — the dress, the flowers, even the icing on the cake! But with only three weeks before the big day, wedding planner David Tutera shows up and changes everything. Eh, I’m still out on this one. It’s a little too over-the-top for me. And Tutera alternates between annoying and charming. Often the annoying gets to me first and I’ll flip away from the show. Never a good thing. But if there’s nothing else on, it’s a good little diversion.

Rich Bride, Poor Bride (WeTV) 

Premise: What does it take to pull off the "perfect" wedding while still managing to stay within your budget? Each episode of Rich Bride Poor Bride follows a couple and their wedding planner to see what happens when costs collide with expectations. This is a fun show, especially for brides-to-be. Talk about your budgeting nightmares.  Lots of interesting couples who are willing to work for their dream wedding, even if they don’t have the money to spend. Creativity and hard work help to make their dreams come true. The perfect beginning to a life compromise!

Who the BLEEP Did I Marry? (ID)

Premise:  Stories of men and women who thought they were happily married until the day they uncovered a shocking secret about their spouse that would leave them asking Who the (BLEEP) Did I Marry? This one is intriguing as hell and truly shows the darker side of marriage. If you just catch the previews, you’ll be wondering how the victim spouse could NOT know they were being played, but their stories are usually hidden in every day situations. Episodes this year have ranged from the DC Sniper to a Cuban defector who married an American  woman solely to spy on the US. Sounds far-fetched, but I am always dragged in by their plights.

I thee wed ... no matter the cost or time constraints!

Perfect Proposal (TLC) Defunct

Premise: TLC would receive emails from guys and sometimes girls, seeking help with their marriage proposals in creative ways. This show is no longer on the air, but I really loved it. It was the original wedding reality show for me and the one that set the bar high. The cameras followed the would-be groom as he went about his tasks to propose to his girl and she would never be the wiser. Locations, props and number of people in on the question popping varied. To me, it was all about true love, doing that special thing that forever cemented your relationship and vulnerability. Thankfully, none of the women ever said no.

That’s just a handful of the shows out there. Do you watch them? Have any favorites?

Happy Reading,
 Jennifer August

What Makes You Pick Up A Book?

When I shop for romance books, I have tried and true methods for picking them up. First, of course, are my favorite authors – Julia Quinn, Julie Garwood, Jo Davis, Shayla Black/Shelley Bradley, Suzanne Enoch, Tracy Anne Warren, Stephanie Laurens, Susan Gable, Diana Duncan, Karen Hawkins – just to name a very few. Those are auto-buys for me and I eagerly await their new releases. I have a special calendar above my desk with upcoming releases penned in.

Beyond that, though, I pick up books first based on the cover – I’m a firm lover/believer of clinch covers. While my imagination will fill in the details and come up with my own hero and heroine as I read, I like having a head start on the cover. Bare chests and sultry women are good.

Next are titles. In historical romances, I gravitate toward books with words like royal titles (Dukes, Earls and Viscounts), knights, Templar, crusades, Scotland, etc. In contemporary books, I lean more toward the erotic and mysterious. I’m not really much on generic titles or the other spectrum of all-inclusive titles such as the Billionaire Cowboy’s Secret Baby with His Virginal Bride. Hey, it could happen. Now, some of those tags interest me, but by and large they don’t catch my eye.

I also love saucy titles such as Sarah MacLean’s Nine Rules to Break When Romancing A Rake. That was a darn good book, as are the sequels. Karen Hawkins’ phenomenal MacLean curse series also tweaks tradition tongue-in-cheek style: To Scotland, With Love, Sleepless in Scotland, The Laird Who Loved Me. Who could resist those titles? And you really MUST read those books. Wow.

Next is the back cover blurb. Those 30 seconds it takes me to read the back cover is like the trailer to a movie. Grab me, interest me and leave me with that I-have-got-to-buy-this-book feeling. Good cover/blurb writing is an art and those who excel at it do a lot to convince me to buy. Hopefully, but not always, the author does her (or his!) part and delivers an exceptional story.

After the blurb, I’ll flip open and read the first paragraph. If it doesn’t grab me, I KEEP READING. I know how hard I work on my books and there’s no way I’m giving up after one paragraph. I usually will read at least the first five pages of the book because I know if I don’t like it by then, I won’t at all. Most of the time. Once or twice I have been fooled.

Those are all the usual reasons people have for picking up a book. What are some things that pull you to pick up and buy a romance novel?

What makes you pick up a book?

Happy reading,

Jennifer August

Fun Facts About Coffee

Today we are delighted to have the talented and fun Michelle Miles guest blogging for us today. Author of the popular Coffee House Chronicles books, Michelle is a prolific, intriguing writer. Check her out today!

Fun Facts About Coffee

By Michelle Miles

I’m so excited to be a guest of this new blog! I was excited when Jen asked me to come over and check out their new digs. It’s still shiny and new, isn’t it? I’ll try to keep the paint splatter to a minimum. ;)

I’ve been procrastinating on this blog entry for a couple of days, thinking I would come up with something witty and brilliant for a post. Something that has meat and people can sink their teeth into it. My CP gave me some brilliant ideas on the evolution of the coffee bean, different ways coffee is enjoyed around the world, and other similar things. But I couldn’t get my brain to function that way. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t come up with anything informative much less witty.

So this morning as I was driving to work, the radio station I listen to does a spot call “Did You Know?” One of the fun facts was that people who drink coffee were less likely to commit suicide than people who didn’t drink coffee. Hm, I thought. I guess that means I’m safe seeing as how I drink my allotted two cups per day. And I know my man is safe because he single-handedly keeps Starbucks in business.

Recently, I received a gift that was a set of Irish coffee mugs. I was so delighted about this, I ran out and bought a bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream. Do you know how delicious a cup of coffee is with a healthy splash of Bailey’s? It’s to-die-for. The only I had missing on my coffee was s dollop of whipped cream (and we all know that’s not conducive to keeping a girlish figure).

Then, I perused the Intarwebs, looking for All Things Coffee. When I ran across some interesting facts. For instance: The United States is the world largest consumer of coffee followed closely by Brazil, who happens to be the largest producing country. Juan Valdez would be proud, don’t you think? The highest per capita consumption, though, occurs in Northern Europe. Those crazy Finns, Swedes and Danes love their coffee almost as much as my husband loves his Americano. The largest exporter of coffee is Italy, birthplace of the espresso, coffee bars and biscotti. The French enjoy their espresso with baguettes and croissants; the English prefer their coffee at tea time and we Americans like coffee any old time.

Now that I think about, it seems I have provided you with some information about coffee. It’s at least something you can file away in the Useless Information File for future use. You never know when you’ll need facts about coffee.

Here’s another fact about coffee. My new novella, THE COFFEE WARS, is now on sale at Cobblestone Press for $3.99. Here’s the blurb:

All's fair in love and coffee. In this war, the only thing that matters is a lot of hot steam!

Lilly owns the new up and coming, Java Perks. She’s determined to be the number one coffee house in town, crushing her competition down the street, The Bitter End.

Meeting the mystery woman in his coffee house, David immediately wants her for himself. After a hot encounter on his desk, he can’t stop thinking about her. Until he learns she’s the owner of the place trying to put him out of business.

When David confronts Lilly accusing her of using him, she throws down the gauntlet. Now the two are at war and may the best woman win!

I would love it if you’d pick up my new book today. I have a coffee habit to support after all. ;)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Michelle Miles found her love of writing buried in the fantasy books of Patricia A. McKillip and the beautiful romances of Victoria Holt. It wasn’t until her high school years she decided to take up the pen and try her hand at writing. She created faraway lands, space adventures, and even princesses who just wanted to be saved. Never learning to plot, she always believed that jumping in feet first was the way to go and has since become a self-proclaimed Pantser, writing sexy contemporaries and sizzling action/adventure.

Her contemporary Coffee House Chronicles, include TALK DIRTY TO ME and NICE GIRLS DO, which are currently available from Samhain Publishing. TAKE ME I’M YOURS, SEX LUST & MARTINIS and THE COFFEE WARS are now available through Cobblestone Press.

She resides in North Texas with her cat, her Man and her son. Visit her website at http://www.michellemiles.net to sign up for her monthly newsletter and read her daily blog, Ye Olde Inkwell.

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2011, it’s going to be a great year!

Welcome to our brand new blog, too. Ella, Wendy, Geri and myself are tickled to be trying our hand at blogging. We don’t really have a gameplan, we just want to make it entertaining and informative. If you have questions whether as a reader or a writer, let us know and we’ll be happy to do our best to answer them.

I have been asked several times where I get my ideas from.  I love that question because my answers usually result in brow-furrowing looks of “Oh, realllly?” J You know, the kind of response that people take a step away from and surreptitiously dial the funny farm? Yep, those kinds of answers.

Okay, maybe it’s not really that bad. My ideas come from a variety of different spots. Once, I dreamed an entire book start to finish. It was a really good book. Even if it’s currently languishing in my To-Be-Revised pile! One of these days it will see the light of day.

Sometimes I will hear part of a phrase and think, hm, I wonder… My friends and family are used to seeing me suddenly have that faraway look in my eye before I start furiously digging for a pen to write down whatever it is I’ve seen. Often a factoid I hear triggers a germ of a story idea. Once, I heard that the President’s limousine carries two pints of his blood just in case. I immediately said “Oh, I could kill the President with that!” Fortunately, I have not received a visit from anyone in a suit about that statement. My immediate thought was if I could have an assassin try to get to the blood supply, switch it and then cause an accident which needed to result in an immediate transfusion – wham, instant assassination. However, I don’t write those kinds of books, so that mostly went away!

The strangest book idea I had came from an address. It was 1200 Midnight Drive. Really. I don’t remember what town, but I remembered that street address. It spawned a short ghost story involving murder, mayhem and romance. It was quite fun to write!

Other ideas are word association games, reading the dictionary (honestly! I find some good fodder just by doing that), brainstorming with my critique partners and good old fashioned brain sweating. It doesn’t always happen easily – more often than not it’s a great deal of work to create a viable idea. Then, you have to ensure the world you create is the right place for your idea and the characters the proper ones to populate it.

Sometimes a publisher sends out a call for a specific kind of story. That's where the idea for Strokes At Midnight (Amazon Kindle Store) came from. The theme was Halloween and the heat level was erotic. I came up with a twist on the classic Cinderella story with my heroine covered only in body paint and posing as a model in a living art collection. At a Halloween party. It involves some *ahem* adult themes. To give you an idea, the tagline is : An erotic short story of fantasy, fetish and forever after!

The inspiration for my book Her Dark Master (Red Sage Publishing) was actually borne from my favorite song in The Phantom of the Opera by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. Masquerade is full of emotion both light and dark, promise and retribution. It has genius lines and captivating music. The lyric “Paper faces on parade” was the ultimate spark. From that line, I came up with the story of Victoria Ashford, a lady of the Regency Ton who is betrothed against her will. And not to the man she loves. So, being a sort of rebellious young lady, not to mention very adventurous (after all, she writes scandalously sexy stories for an underground paper) she decides to masquerade as a courtesan and have at least one night of passion with the man she truly wants. It was great fun to write!

So, tell us, what are some of your favorite books and storylines. What do you like to read about?