This Week's Special Guest Is Diane Craver

As the youngest in the family growing up on a farm outside of Findlay, Ohio, Diane Craver often acted out characters from her own stories in the backyard. In high school she was the student sitting in class with a novel hidden in front of her propped up textbook. Her passion for reading novels had to be put on hold during her college years at Ohio State University with working part-time on campus and being a full-time student. Before embarking on her writing career, she was a school teacher and play director.

Diane is a member of Romance Writers of America. Several non-fiction articles have been published in Woman’s World Weekly, The Catholic Telegraph, Virtue, Down Syndrome Today, WritersWeekly.com, and several other publications. Her book, The Christmas of 1957, received 5 stars from the Midwest Book Review. She writes contemporary romance, inspirational mainstream, chick-lit mystery, and non-fiction books.

After watching the original movie, Cheaper by the Dozen, young Diane decided then and there, she someday wanted a large family. By the time she married Tom, the love of her life, she decided maybe six children was a better number than twelve. She enjoys her life in southwestern Ohio with her husband and six children. Two daughters, Christina and April, live away from home with successful careers. Another two children, Bartholomew and Emily, are attending college. Life is never boring with two daughters, Sara and Amanda, born with Down syndrome living at home. Diane’s husband of thirty-one years is very supportive of her writing career, as well as her awesome children.


Visit Diane's Website *** Visit Diane's Blog



Welcome to the Tiki Hut, Diane!

***

Using Life Experiences in My Writing

As a writer, I have to admit that my stories are influenced by my many life experiences. Hey, I've lived life fully! LOL Even though I might use some real-life situations and interesting features from actual people for my characters, I create fictional stories for the reader's enjoyment.

When I wrote my newest release, WHITNEY IN CHARGE, I wanted to write a story about sisters and their family bond. The focus had to be on the youngest sister, Whitney, since I'm the little sis in my family. I could easily write how the older sisters like to mother the youngest. In Whitney's case, her sisters Shannon and Regan want Whitney to get back into dating after her husband's death. Unfortunately, they think they know best and sign her up for skydiving so that she can meet hot guys. Whitney hates heights and flying! I also enjoyed writing about Whitney falling in love again.

In my chick-lit mystery, book, A FIERY SECRET, the main character is a feisty investigative reporter, Catherine Steel. The inspiration for her came from my daughter Christina. I stole a few of her amusing dating stories for a bit of the storyline. There's a secondary character Miranda born with Down syndrome. She was fun to write. I think it's important to show people with disabilities in a positive light. Miranda is actually based on my youngest daughter Amanda. She is a vivacious 19-year-old and brings great joy to our family.

Luke Brunsman, a character in my inspirational romance, NO GREATER LOSS, was inspired by my husband, Tom. I also like my heroines to be strong women with athletic abilities. Psychologist Jennifer Hunter is a great tennis player (I'm not) and Tori Moorhead in my women's fiction, NEVER THE SAME, is awesome in sports. After watching our daughters, April and Emily, excel in sports, I like to include athletic abilities in some of my female characters. I admire athletic talent, especially since I have none in that area. Hey, I started out on the varsity girls' basketball team but was moved to the reserve team.

But I don't just get creative ideas from my own family and life. TV has been a big influence. One idea actually came from a news report about a plane crash. When I heard of a woman walking away from this crash and wanting to change her life, my imagination took this compelling idea to develop the story for NEVER THE SAME. The same thing happened with A FIERY SECRET. On TV they mentioned Prince Charles and Camilla Bowles getting married, and an idea popped into my head how cool it’d be for the main character to have a fantasy related to Buckingham Palace.

I will continue writing some real-life situations for my characters, but I will also use imagination to mold them into unique people.

CONTEST: Leave a comment or question for Diane this week and you're entered in her drawing. The winner will get to choose a free download from her Samhain backlist. The titles are NO GREATER LOSS, A FIERY SECRET, or NEVER THE SAME.

This Week At The Tiki Hut - An X Rated Halloween

Thanks for such a fun post and thanks for sharing you Halloween interview with us!

We had five winners this week - each will receive a free ebook from one this week's talented authors!!!

Andrea - Judy - Joey - Estella - Booklover0226 - if we drew you name, email me at AuthorIsland.com with your info so we can get you out your free ebooks!!




Extasy Book at Halloween - Vampires, Shifters and Sex - A Match Made in Hell itself!

Halloween’s right around the corner and I’ve a great book coming out by eXtasy Books, Bloody Passion, genre M/M, ménage, horror, dark fantasy—The Druid, the hunter, the apprentice: sex, power and transformation…what else?

But this is not the news I wanted to give you. No, the real excitement is I’ve joined forces with 4 other wonderful writers, Courtney Breazile; Angela Caperton, Jamboree Jones and C.R. Moss to promote our upcoming releases. Until Angela launched the idea, few had tried a group promo adventure which is not the cost sharing of an ad, but a collective brainstorming to plan and plot new strategies on a group level, rather the usual individual one. And I must admit what we came up so far is incredible, to say the least. But first a word about our 5 books, which are:

Reincarnated Death Wish by Courtney Breazile – Release date Oct. 15th
Green Flash by Angela Caperton – Release date Oct. 31st
Unseen Path by Jambrea Jones – Release date Oct. 31st
In the Spirit by C.R. Moss – Release date Oct. 15th
Bloody Passion by Laura Tolomei – Release date Oct. 31st

One of our best achievements is a great trailer, available on YouTube:


Another promo idea was to devise a mini-interview where each of us asked and answered 3 questions, concerning Halloween. Here are my questions and the answers I received.

1. What Halloween creature would you bring on a deserted island?

Angela: I think a black cat familiar. A magical one, of course, that can change into a rakish lover.

Courtney: Werewolf, one of my favorite beasts.

CR: A witch so we could manifest things

Jambrea: A werewolf...hoping he would change into a hunky man. heehee

Laura: Frankenstein with John Holmes’s equipment.

2. What Halloween creature would you choose to become?

Angela: An owl! I live in the woods and I see them and hear them this time of year. We have a mating pair of Barred Owls that live on our property and every fall I love listening to them call to each other. I think it would be wonderful to fly and hunt by moonlight.

Courtney: I would be a sexy witch, no green skin and warts.

CR: A witch ;)

Jambrea: I think I'll go with the same answer...werewolf. :)

Laura: Vampire’s wife.

3. What would be the perfect Halloween soundtrack?

Angela: I’m a Loreena McKennitt fan, and her albums are some of the most beautiful and haunting songs and music I have heard. Mysterious, atmospheric, light and dark, she is the slice of frozen time that is Samhain – that is Halloween.

Courtney: Deep breathing.

CR: IMHO the perfect soundtrack for Halloween is the soundtrack from the movie Halloween. The first one, not the remake... Though I do like Rob Zombie's music and his ideas for the remakes...

Jambrea: Wow...this hard. Little Red Ridding Hood. There is a song out by Sam the Sham and the Pharaoh's that would be a great theme. Here is the song... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J1XqEX3VBc

Laura: Howling wolves.

Read the more Q&A on the other author’s blogs:
Angela http://blog.angelacaperton.com/
Courney http://themanyshades.blogspot.com/
CR http://www.brigitsworld.blogspot.com/
Jambrea http://internationalheat.wordpress.com/


Well, what do you know…it’s been great fun and for the future, we’re scheduling chats all across the web. And however things turn out, it has been a great experience, very instructive in learning to cooperate with fellow authors and great ladies like my co-partners have proved to be. So thank you and look for us on the Internet. Ciao from Rome,

Laura Tolomei
Website http://www.lallagatta.com/

WIN - This week, you have FIVE chances to win!!! To get your name in the hat for one of the five free downloads by this week's guests, simply leave a comment or a question here at the Tiki Hut Blog this week, our FIVE winners will be chosen next Monday, so stop by next week to see who our five lucky readers are - you just may be one!

This Week's Special Guest Cherish D'Angelo/Cheryl Kaye Tardif

The Birth of Cherish D’Angelo, aka Cheryl Kaye Tardif

Call me Cheryl; I prefer first names. You could also call me Cherish, since that’s the name I’ve adopted as my pseudonym so that I can detour from writing mainly suspense and venture into the romance genre. Cherish D’Angelo is my flowery, romantic pen name. I selected it a few years ago when I started writing my first romance novel. Since my real first name is Cheryl, which means “dear one” or “beloved”, I wanted something similar, and “Cherish” came to mind. Finding a last name to go with it proved to be trickier. After all, when I make it big in romance, I’ll have to sign that name on thousands of books. Hundreds of thousands, hopefully.

I started an angel collection years ago as a memorial for my son, who died at birth. Prior to his birth and death, I’d ordered two angels from a friend who made ceramics. She wasn’t sure if I’d want them after he died, but I did, and this started a collection that grew every year around his birthday and at Christmas. Angels…hmmm…Cherish Angel? No. Cherish D’Angelo. YES! I’d found my new name. It means: “Beloved angel.” Yeah, that’s me.

After Cherish D’Angelo was “born”, she went to work on her first contemporary romance―Reflections. It was a story of a woman stranded on a tropical island with a reclusive rich guy, who had a deaf daughter. Cherish wrote about half of it, then hid it away on my computer. I’d realized that I had other stories that were demanding my attention―darker, more suspenseful stories. It wasn’t the right time for Cherish. So she slipped into a kind of coma, though every now and then she opened her eyes and said, “What about me?” before slipping back to sleep.

In June, I heard about a contest over at Textnovel.com. Now I’m really not much of a contest person. I love giving them and awarding prizes, but I don’t usually like entering them. I’d been a member on Textnovel ever since the CEO Stan Soper emailed me and invited me to check out the relatively new website.

What drew me to Textnovel’s newest contest was the fact that Dorchester Publishing, the oldest independent mass-market publisher in the US, had paired with Textnovel and was offering a small advance and a book contract. I’m very familiar with Dorchester. I’ve been hooked on their books since I was a teen, and my agent recently submitted my new thriller Children of the Fog to Dorchester. Plus, one of my author friends, thriller author Jeff Buick, is published with them, and I recently connected with one of their romance authors, Colleen Thompson, who is absolutely wonderful and writes awesome romantic suspense. Both told me that being at Dorchester was like being a part of a family. I want that! I want a publishing partner.

The Dorchester/Textnovel “Next Best Celler” contest is looking for the “New Voice in Romance”, and I want to be that voice. Cherish D’Angelo wants to be that voice. She’s ready now! She woke up from that virtual coma and dug out the file for Reflections. The old chapters were used as guidelines, but to date, about 80% of it is new material. Cherish has been on a roll with this novel and it’ll be finished by the end of October.

The Birth of Lancelot’s Lady

Reflections has grown into something far bigger and better than the original. A few days in, I changed the name to Lancelot’s Lady. It’s still the story of Rhianna, a young woman stranded on a tropical island with a rich recluse, but she has far more back story and Jonathan is far angrier, making for a complicated relationship and some humorous scenes. Then there’s Misty, Jonathan’s young, deaf daughter who can’t seem to keep a tutor; not to mention the development of JT Lance, Rhianna’s dying patient, and his butler Higginson, plus the inclusion of the Atkinsons, Jonathan’s caretakers.

As with my other novels, I have come to love these characters. I can picture them, right down to their flaws. And believe, me, they’re all flawed. Rhianna has survived a terrible past filled with horror and death, and Jonathan has cut himself off from family, friends and the world.

Since Lancelot’s Lady is a romantic suspense, both Cherish and Cheryl get to work on this story. I know that sounds weird, and truly, I haven’t lost it. Well, not completely. I think Lancelot’s Lady is a potpourri of sexual chemistry, sizzling tension, spicy passion, illusive danger and triumphant love. But in the end, it doesn’t matter so much what I think. I want to know what YOU think.

This leads me back to the “Next Best Celler” contest and how YOU can be involved. I really need your help to have a chance at winning this contest and to win that publishing contract. Even more, I want to know what YOU think about my newest venture and I’m willing to reward you for your time. For the months of October and November, I’ll be holding Giveaways. Right now you can visit my contest page to see how to enter this month’s Giveaway contest. You’ll have a chance to win signed novels and a $75 Starbucks gift card.

To have a chance at winning Dorchester’s contest, I really need votes and subscribers. I can’t do this without your support. Lancelot’s Lady must stay in the top 10 Most Popular, preferably the top 3. It’ll take about 5 minutes of your time to vote, but I truly hope you’ll check out Lancelot’s Lady and read it for free. And please leave me a comment there. Judges are also reading them. I truly hope you enjoy the debut of Cherish D’Angelo and Lancelot’s Lady.

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif, aka Cherish D’Angelo

Read & vote for Lancelot’s Lady, a Dorchester “Next Best Celler” entry, at www.Textnovel.com

Enter my October & November Giveaways

Visit my website at http://www.cherylktardif.com and follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/cherylktardif

WIN - Special AuthorIsland contest: enter to win a signed copy of Cheryl’s paranormal suspense thriller Divine Intervention. Simply leave a comment here and one lucky winner will be selected. Good luck!

This Week At The Tiki Hut - Laura Tolomei

If you really want to know, I was born in 1965 in Rome, Italy, but soon started my travelling career. At the age of five, my parents took me to Lagos, Nigeria, where I grew up free and hot like I've never been since. I loved it there and still think of it with nostalgia. Anyway, it was also where I learned English.

After my African experience, I was ready to tackle the US. I lived in Atlanta, GA, five teen-age years, attending the Crestwood High School, where I started my writing career by publishing a short story Nostalgia on the Crestwood Journal. Very thrilled about discovering my new talent, I went ahead during college, writing for the Emory University journal The Phoenix. Three articles mark my first-and last-steps in journalism, "The peace Corps", "WAMM, Women Against Military Madness," and "Lesbism".

After my American experience, I moved back to Rome, but still kept living from time to time abroad, spending several months in Mumbay India, a country I always felt very close to me in more ways than one.

Today, I write both in Italian and English, mostly fiction of various genres, from fantasy erotica, to mysteries up to plain ordinary life stories.

For those of you who read Italian, you can simply visit the Italian sections of my website, but if you feel particularly lazy, here's a short summary:

I have a short story on line Incontro Metropolitano (Meeting at the Subway) and two books: PICCOLO CROCEVIA A CINQUE (Little Five Points, for those who know Atlanta it's a spot near Emory University), printed by Editing Edizioni and released in December 2008, and L'INVESTIGATTO (loosely translated The Cat Detective), publisher Ennepil Libri to release in 2009.

In English, I write erotica in various genres, mostly fantasy, sci-fi and paranormal, sometimes trespassing into contemporary. Feel free to look over my current and future projects by clicking here.

Visit her Facebook page *** Visit her Website *** Visit her Myspace Page

Laura talks about her new release SPYING THE ALCOVE

When my editor wrote me she’d gone through edits on only some of Spying the Alcove chapters, but I needed to change POV on chapters 3, 5, 7 and 9 from first to third person because she’d never seen something like that before, my stomach caved in just like Valerio’s when he saw Andrea’s glistening naked torso under the sun. True, Spying the Alcove has the unusual trait of combining two different narrative styles, one in third and the other in first person, but the mere thought I should rewrite one part to fit the other seemed wrong.

Pardon me, I don’t mean to sound snobbish nor did I plan to write something so unique. Apparently, the e-world does not have many examples of multiple POVs within the same book, but if Spying the Alcove does, it’s because it fits the storyline to a Tee, proving once again the characters make the story, never the author.

But let’s start at the beginning. The story centers around two Italian University teachers, the Professor and his assistant, digging for buried memories on the ancient city of Selimos, an archeological site located in southwestern Sicily. Long-time friends, the two men work amiably together until Andrea, the assistant, finds a Roman medallion, intact despite the centuries or the crumbling ruins littering the place. Intrigued, Valerio pockets it and that same night the medallion will begin to narrate a Roman matron’s erotic adventures in the privacy of her alcove, talking to the Professor as if it were the woman herself telling of her exciting adventures. Of course, it never entered my mind that this narration was anything but personal, which necessarily implied the use of first person, even if the story so far had been told in third person.

To a closer analysis, the novel’s own structure justifies the use of two different POVs. The medallion is in fact someone talking from a distant past, a time our protagonists know only from stuffy old books and boring researches. To bring such past truly alive, the narration needed to be as personal as possible, thus preserving the full enchantment that the printed words of sterile history books have trouble recreating.

If we also consider the book’s internal logic, it makes even more sense to have two different narrating styles because centuries of history separate the stories themselves, which never actually touch in either time or space if not in Valerio’s imagination.

Well, I guess I did a good job at arguing my point so in the end, both my editor and publisher decided to go ahead with it—more as a gamble, than because they were completely convinced—and for that, I thank them from the bottom of my heart. I know it’s not easy to take chances when you’re running a business, however creative it might turn out to be, and to try new paths is always risky. But I personally have a lot of faith in our readers.

Setting aside all logical arguments, I think readers need new inputs to keep their minds alert. I know it’s a trait of mine to challenge them, have done it before with Divinitas, a novel that mixes sex and religion in its own unique way—I like to think of it as a Laura Tolomei style—but Spying the Alcove didn’t seem to be very original at first. I mean, if you boil the Alcove’s contents down to their basic ingredients, they’re nothing different from the usual erotic book with a whole lot of sex and not much of a storyline. Allowing the two narrative POVs, however, gives the readers something more, a new way to enjoy a story and understand its characters, perhaps even with a greater emotional power than I’ve managed so far. And emotions are what my books are all about, whether written in first or third person.

Read an excerpt for Laura's new release SPYING THE ALCOVE

WIN- To get your name in the hat for a free download of Laura's latest release, SPYING THE ALCOVE, leave Laura a question or a comment this week here on the AuthorIsland Tiki Hut Blog. A winner will be drawn Monday, August 24th - Good luck!

This Tuesday At The Tiki Hut - Nina Pierce

This week's winner is Kytaira!!! Thanks to everyone who stopped by to keep Nina company!

Nina Pierce grew up in a house of readers. So falling in love with books was only natural. In her teen years she found her mother's romance books and became forever hooked on the journey of finding one's true love. Now, if you throw in a dead body and some mayhem, Nina is in reader nirvana.

A few years ago, reading about love wasn't enough. She is now driven to write stories of alpha-males with a chink in their armor and the kick-ass women who fall in love with them. And true to what she loves, more often than not, you'll find some suspense thread running through her plots, hopefully with enough twists to keep her readers turning the pages, staying up late, and burning dinner.

A native of Maine, Nina lives in what she affectionately calls "the great white North". She is fortunate to have married her high school sweetheart and true love twenty-five years ago. They share their lives with three grown children and a menagerie of pets.

Visit Website *** Visit Myspace *** Visit Blog

Welcome to the Tiki Hut Nina!

***

Out of the Realm of Normalcy

by Nina Pierce

I’ll admit it. I love science fiction. I always have. When my peers were reading Judy Blume I was engrossed in the stories by Anne McCaffrey (Pern Series) and Madeline L’Engle (A Wrinkle in Time). I watched Star Trek with rapt fascination. My imagination soared with the idea of aliens and prickled with the thought of ghosts living in our attic. I hated to think of monsters under my bed, but couldn’t keep myself from watching Frankenstein movies. (I know … I’m totally aging myself here … just pretend you’re not thinking I’m ancient. *wink*) I still enjoy the fantasy. The idea that the world is bigger than my senses can detect. And from the surge of paranormal books being devoured by the reading public … I don’t think I’m alone.

So what is it? What is the allure with everything paranormal? Did this recent flood start again with the Harry Potter craze and move into Twilight or has something always fascinated us about this fantasy world? A place in our imagination where vampires stalk the night and succubi invade our dreams and everything fanciful comes to life.

For me, it’s the stretching of my imagination, the possibility that there’s another dimension that exists around me. Losing myself in a story about a band of werewolf rebels fighting unseen dark forces or a faery realm where wars are fought and babies are borne, well, it just makes me sigh. Now add a love story, a broken heart, a mended relationship and I am in reader nirvana.

This has now carried over to my writing. Paranormal stories give me the opportunity to let my muse play in a world of make believe … to fantasize what it would be like to be saved by a vampire just as I’m about to be mugged on my way home from work … or meet a lion shifter on the plains of Africa … or discover that an alien species is attracted to human females. Oh, the places I can go! And I’ve just dipped my toe in the endless sea of possibilities!

My latest release Shadows of Fire in the Hearts Afire-May anthology (Liquid Silver Books May 2009) is about a military faction of vampires known as RISEN. Their job is to seek out and eliminate rogue vampires who choose not to live complacently with humans. Reese Colton is assigned to a fire station in Northern California with his partner in hopes of discovering why humans and vampires are being burned in mysterious fires. Of course the vampire he’s falling in love with appears to be wrapped up in the crimes and Reese has no idea whether to follow the clues or his heart. The book was a blast to write. The possibilities that opened to me were just plain fun to explore. I hadn’t expected the twists and turns and quite frankly … hated to leave that world. (Pssst … between you and me … I’m thinking I may go back there some day.)

My latest project is a wolf/cougar shifter series that will include at least three books. For those of you familiar with Blue Moon Rising in the Furry, Fluffy & Wild anthology (Liquid Silver Books Sept 2008), I am using the polymorphic shifter premise of Jayda Kynslan and her heart throb of a wolf shifter, Cole Takoda, to create this erotic suspense series. I just love playing in a world unlike my own.

So what is it that fascinates you about these creatures? Or are you one to avoid the paranormal craze? I’m very curious.

Visit Nina Pierce on the web at http://www.ninapierce.com/ or follow her regular blog http://www.ninapierce.com/romanceblog. She’s also found her way to twitter and would love to have you follow her very chatty posts http://www.twitter.com/ninapierce.

This Tuesday At The Tiki Hut - Jean Hart Stewart

This week's winner was Flchen1!!! Congrats! You get a free download of your choice from Jean's backlist. Please email me at AuthorIsland at yahoo.com with your email address so Jean can get with you as to which of her books you'd like. And thanks to all who stopped by to visit with Jean and keep her company!

Jean Hart Stewart feels she's very much a Californian although she was born in Ohio. California has been home for a good many years. Life changed drastically for her when she was six and her father died incredibly from an errant golf ball. A dishonest insurance agent forced her sheltered mother to seek work, and she became a teacher. Her hours required Jean to be alone in the house in the afternoon, and since she was forbidden to leave till her mother got home, she became an avid reader. The local library supplied most of the books and she developed early her two of main interests, Jane Austen and King Arthur.

Reading is still one of her favorite activities, although she sometimes has to push it aside to make room for her enduring love of writing. Her journalism degree was used infrequently until recently. Marriage and raising two children pleasantly got in the way. After twenty years of being a real estate broker and with the kids raised she finally could devote her time to writing, her first love.

Jean's enchantment with the lore and legends of Druids and, therefore, delving into their history led to fascinating research that inspired her popular Garland of Druids Series for Cerridwen Press.

Few things in her life have been so satisfying, especially when all her books have a happy ending. Wonderful to make happen. It only gets more interesting when a secondary character demands his very own book. Who would want to deny him? Not Jean!

Visit Jean's Website *** Visit Jean at Myspace

Welcome to the Tiki Hut Jean!

Magic Musings by Jean Hart Stewart

Wiritng has been my first love since I was a child. I put in quite a few years as a real estate agent after marrying the man of my dreams (he still is, incidentally) While I enjoyed working at the time I finally reached the point where I knew I had to quit and just write. Have an eight book series called Garland of Druids from Cerridwen Press, which can be bought on line from them and several other e-book sources. They are all coming out in print now, two at a time, at Amazon, B & N, Borders, etc. Titles so far are Druid Desires and Druid Duet. The entire series is (in order) Druids’ Daughter, My Darling Druid, Song of a Druid Princess, Kiss of a Druid Bard, Druid Redeemed, Druid Triumphant, Druid Disdained, and Druid in Flight. Each is a stand alone book, so dive in at any title that appeals to you. Excerpts are on my website, http://www.jeanhartstewart.com/.

I’m very excited about a new series about a family of mages. Go ahead and look up the word, or I’ll give you a hint. Merlin was a mage. This series has just been named, Song of the Mages, and the first, Damien’s Destiny, was just released! The first four are written and in line to come out. Try out Damien, he’s a doll of a hunk.




Jean Hart Stewart's New Release Kicks Off Her New Song Of Mages Series
Book One in Jean Hart Stewart's new Song of Mages Series.

Damien is a mage, inheriting from Merlin the potential for enchantment and wizardry. When he rescues Toria from drowning herself, Damien knows she claims a special place in his heart. He will need all his abilities to help Toria overcome her fear of being touched by any man after she was raped by her guardian. He hides her in a school for girls until she is of age, and then brings her to Tregaron, his home as Earl of Sinclair.

Toria's lecherous guardian, Baron Heath, continues to stalk her. Damien must summon all his capabilities to protect her. As he tries to safeguard her life, the battle to conquer her fear of men looms ever more difficult. Damien refuses to influence her thinking with his extraordinary powers. Will he be able to triumph, save her from the wicked baron and finally claim Toria as his destiny?

Buy the Book *** Read the Excerpt

Win - read the excerpt for Jean's new release DAMIEN'S DESTINY and tell Jean what you think and your name goes in the hat to win a free download of one of her books! A winner will be chosen from all those who leave a message today.

This Tuesday At The Tiki Hut - Cheryl Dragon

The winner of a free download of one of Cheryl Dragon's books is Marcy! Marcy, email me at AuthorIsland at yahoo.com with your contact information so Cheryl can get with you about which of her books you'd like to try out!

Thanks to everyone for stopping by to keep Cheryl company at the Tiki Hut!

A lover of unusual things, Cheryl Dragon enjoys writing unique stories with sinfully hot erotic romance or suspenseful mainstream paranormals. Never at a loss for ideas, there are plenty of stories in her brain waiting to be written. Her two favorites book settings are Las Vegas and New Orleans...where anything can happen!

Cheryl lives in the Chicagoland area with her deaf albino cat. By day she crunches & analyzes numbers as an Assistant Controller for a division of a large international conglomerate which leaves the creative juices free for her erotic romance and paranormal suspense novels.

Visit Website *** Visit Myspace *** Visit Blog

Welcome to the Tiki Hut, Cheryl!

***

Escape for Summer….One way or another!

Some days I wish I had become a teacher. Some profession where I get the summers off. But no such luck here. Day job, writing, and life continue year round.

We all need to escape reality for a little while. Some of us can go on vacation. I went on a mini-working vacation in early June to the Lori Foster Weekend. Not a big vacation but affordable and fun. I got to see my writer friends and my slave labor promoters (like DeNita!).

Another way I personally escape is TV. I love my shows…like The Closer, Leverage, The Office, Family Guy, and more. I blog about the new stuff or a great rerun weely at my new blog: http://cheryldragon.blogspot.com/ You’ll also find info on my releases as they come out so there is a little promo there as well.

My other way of escaping is writing and I’ve got a lot of stuff coming out this summer. Ménage, m/m, paranormal, and all of it really really HOT!

Cheryl Dragon Summer Releases for your Escape Pleasure!!

May: Her Boyfriend’s Boyfriend
Available Now in Ebook at Loose Id
Link: http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Her_Boyfriend_s_Boyfriend-938.aspx

Excerpt Link: http://www.loose-id.com/CDHBBex.aspx

Genre: Ménage
Blurb:

Cassie has found the man of her dreams. Neil’s rich and smart and hotter than hell! He's perfect. Except for one small thing. Their sex life is cooling off and he’s not talking. It's not her, she's almost sure, and she's not giving up. She's determined to get to the bottom of it. And fix it.

What Cassie doesn't know is that Neil used to have a boyfriend. Lou. They used to pick up women together, have sex with them, enjoy them, but they never found one they wanted to keep. Then Lou moved on. Neil tried. He tried to go straight for Cassie and for his career, but he never stopped loving Lou and without that man in his bed, he's never going to have everything he needs, no matter how much he loves Cassie.

Once Cassie starts digging around, the truth can't be denied. And neither can the chemistry between Cassie and Lou. Is she the one they needed all along? Cassie's never had two men before. Not even just in bed. The idea of a ménage life scares her a little, honestly. But now that she knows how to please her boyfriend, she's not letting him go. Even if it means learning to love her boyfriend's boyfriend.

June:
Out of Body Sexy
Paranormal Rubenesque Erotic Romance
Available: Now at Ellora’s Cave
Length: Quickie
Link: http://www.jasminejade.com/ps-7331-50-out-of-body-sex.aspx
Excerpt Link: http://www.jasminejade.com/ps-7331-50-out-of-body-sex.aspx

Blurb:

Plus-size psychic Kim Vennon doesn’t know how to get sexy Matt Rayne but she can’t resist using her skills to get close. Going out of her body is freeing and she can play with his hard, sexy form anonymously. But it goes farther than planned. When he calls her name, she flees to her body but Matt follows, determined to get the full experience and no more games. Matt has wanted the voluptuous woman but fate kept them apart. Now he’s going to have his way with her, in and out of their bodies.



Psychic Rebels
Available TODAY at Loose Id
Link: http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Psychic_Rebels-965.aspx
Excerpt Link: http://cheryldragon.blogspot.com/2009/06/new-release-psychic-rebels.html

Blurb:

On again off again lovers Colin and Dennis, a psychic and a healer, know they are meant to be together, but the world is against them. They have the power to destroy evil before it happens, if only they can survive their lust for each other.

I also have two more releases coming out in August…keep an eye on my blog or my website for that info. Of course it’ll be on Author Island as well.

Let the Tiki gods sweep you away for summer fun! Enjoy and mix some margaritas to keep cool and check out my current contest up at Author Island to win some goodies!

Cheryl Dragon

***

A chance to win - one winner will be drawn tomorrow morning from all those leaving comments for Cheryl today to win a free download of one of Cheryl's books - good luck!