The Next Big Thing - revisited

Yes, I'm doing another round of The Next Big Thing, courtesy of the fab Jane Sevier. You can learn more about her latest release, A Billy Sunday Kind of Love, (and her other titles!) on her website www.janesevier.com.

As for me, I'm officially the chain-breaker this time around. I'll answer the questions - again - but I'm not nagging - um... tagging another round of victims... writers. Everyone I know has already been tagged more than once. You can get a list of other participating authors on Jane's site, though.

But I will answer the questions, since I never pass up an opportunity to talk about my books. :)

Here goes:

1: What is the working title of your book?

Friends with Benefits. It's a category romance novel contracted to Entangled Publishing's Indulgence imprint. It was supposed to be released in October, but for one reason or another, at the moment it's up in the air.

2: Where did the idea come from for the book?

From the title, actually. We all know what friends with benefits are: two friends who sleep together because they're not in a romantic relationship with anyone else. I'm a sucker for a good word-pun, though, so the benefits in this case are a different kind.

3: What genre does your book fall under?

It's a contemporary category romance, short and fairly sweet.

4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

You know, I don't really think like that. I always have the hardest time coming up with actors to play the parts of my characters. Kaylee is 25 or 26, cute and blonde and pregnant. Owen is about 28, with light brown hair, blue eyes, and glasses. How about Chace Crawford? Just imagine that he's wearing glasses, if you don't mind. And if she were a few years younger, AJ Cook would make a fine Kaylee, I think.

5: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

A modern-day Cinderella story about a pregnant waitress who marries her nice but boring neighbor for his health insurance only to realize he’s everything she’s ever wanted.

6: Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

It's contracted to Entangled Publishing. Unless they change their minds about publishing it, that's what'll happen. If they do and give it back to me, I'll either try to sell it to someone else, or publish it on my own. 

7: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

This was one of the quickies. 54,000 words, 13 days, last June.

8: What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Christine Bell's Wife for Hire. Cindi Myers's Always a Bridesmaid. It's light and pretty funny in tone, but with some underlying serious issues, like most of what I write.

9: Who or What inspired you to write this book?

Entangled was seeing a lot of success with their Indulgence imprint, and I thought it might be fun to see if I could write a category romance novel. Something that wasn't a series. Everything else I'd tried to do - the cozy mysteries, the not-so-cozy mysteries, the SFR, the paranormal, the romantic suspense - all had series potential and a series bent. Friends with Benefits doesn't. It's a self-contained story that I never intended to develop into more. And I started out with category romance fifteen years ago, but ended up in mystery instead. It seemed a good time to see whether I'd gotten any better at it. 

10: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

It's a light and somewhat funny read, sweet and romantic, with a couple of medium-to-hot love scenes and a really great leading man! Here's some of what people have said:

"My favorite kind of story is one where the hero is so into the heroine right from the start and has to spend the rest of the book overcoming other obstacles to get to her. No jerks allowed! I really loved Owen, and Jenna Bennett made Kaylee so well-motivated and sympathetic. I really felt for her. Lots of nice surprises and plot twists, too!"

"The writing snaps, the tension crackles, and the plot pops. I'm a sucker for the guy next door, and Jenna Bennett hit the nail on the head with dreamy Owen Taylor. If you love a juicy marriage of convenience story, Friends with Benefits by Jenna Bennett is a must read!"

 

Keep an eye out for it! 

Start Spreading the News...

Got some exciting things going on, and a bunch of new books coming in the next few months.

First off: in August, the first book in a light romantic suspense/mystery type series will be released from Entangled Publishing's Dead Sexy imprint. They're shortish books - 60,000-70,000 words (compare to 90,000 for my DIY and Cutthroat Business mysteries) - and available in digital format only; at least until I sell a certain number of copies.

It doesn't have a title yet, but the series will be following the agents of the FBI's Art Crime Team - ACT - as they go about their business of solving crimes and finding love. It's a pretty light and funny series, a bit like my mysteries, but with a couple of different points of view - his and hers - and s.e.x. There'll be hot FBI agents, exotic locations, missing and stolen art, and fun romps.

Secondly, on September 4th, the 6th DIY mystery will be available in digital format as well as mass market paperback. The title is Wall to Wall Dead, and in this installment of the series, Derek and Avery are renovating a condo in Josh Rasmussen's building, while at the same time getting ready for a very momentuous occasion in their own lives. But when the neighbors start dropping like flies, Avery must leap into action to save the day, as usual. I wanted the title of this book to be Secrets in Small Spaces, which should tell you a little bit about the story as well as the renovation tips. Secrets and small spaces. Everyone has a secret, some of them more shocking than others, and it's up to Avery to figure out which secrets are worth killing for.

I did a major overhaul of this book a couple of months ago, and it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. The last book, Flipped Out, made it onto the New York Times extended list, so let's see if we can do it again!

In October - or maybe July, depending on how quickly we can have it ready - the first book in a paranormal romance series for Entangled's Covet imprint will be released, also in digital format.

(If you don't have an eReader and you like my writing, now might be a good time to invest in one.)

This book doesn't have a title yet either, but the series is about a matchmaking agency in Astoria, Queens, called Made in Heaven, and the boss of same is Eros, Greek god of love. It's light and funny and sexy, and I really hope you'll like it!

November 13th, the first book in my futuristic romance/suspense series will be released in digital format and trade paperback: Fortune's Hero, first in the Soldiers of Fortune series. I'm sure most of you are already familiar with the blurb and the gorgeous cover - thanks, Heather Howland! - but if not, here you go:

Last year, space smuggler Quinn Conlan was on top of the world. He had everything a man could want: a fast ship, a great crew, a gorgeous girlfriend, lots of money, and adventure and excitement around every corner.

That all changed when he agreed to ferry a shipload of weapons to the beleaguered planet Marica, currently under siege by Rhenian forces. Now he’s stuck in a prison camp on the moon Marica-3, subjected to weekly sessions with the camp’s “medical team,” and praying for a quick death before he breaks under the torture and spills everything he knows about the Marican resistance.

When the opportunity presents itself, Quinn takes a Rhenian med tech hostage and heads into the inhospitable interior of the small moon. There, he has to keep himself and Doctor Elsa Brandeis safe from the deadly flora and fauna, as well as hidden from the prison guards searching for them, all while formulating a plan for getting his crew out of prison, his ship out of impound, and everyone out of orbit.

But when Elsa professes her love, can Quinn take the beautiful doctor at her word, or will trusting her—and his heart—condemn him and his crew to an eternity on Marica-3?

I'm really proud of this book. My editor says it reads like a cross between Indiana Jones and Star Trek, so if that's your thing, make sure you don't miss it. It's not as light and funny as the rest of my stuff, though. That is, it has its own brand of humor, but it's more gallows variety, if you know what I mean. Anyway, I think it's a pretty good book, and I can't wait to see it on new release tables everywhere!

And finally: I'm also working on a contemporary romance for Entangled's Indulgence imprint, digital only - at least until I sell a certain number of copies - called Friends With Benefits.

It's a heavily trope-based romance, 50,000-55,000 words or thereabouts - it isn finished yet - about a marriage of convenience between two people from opposite sides of the tracks who end up falling in love and staying together. It's a romance, so I'm sure I'm not giving away too much by saying that. As of right now, I have no release date, but it could conceivably be October, if the paranormal romance makes it out in July, or December or early 2013, if the paranormal goes into the October slot. Stay tuned for updates.

So there you have it. Looks like we're all in for a busy, happy autumn this year!

#WriterWednesday... with Robin Covington

Ladies and gents... welcome to another installment of #WriterWednesday, this time with the fabulous Robin Covington, a fellow Entangled Publishing peep, whose first book will be released in just a couple of weeks.

And because it's May, and hot, Robin's gonna talk to us about Christmas. Because that's how we writers roll.

Without further ado, here's Robin:

Christmas Carols by the Pool

I’m anxiously counting down the days to my first release! At the moment that I’m writing this blog post, A NIGHT OF SOUTHERN COMFORT will be available from the Indulgence imprint of Entangled Publishing in 16 days, 2 hours, 3 minutes and 16, 15, 14, . . . seconds.  You get the picture.  To say that I am excited would be a little bit of an understatement!

 So, what am I doing in the meantime?  I’m writing a Christmas story, of course!

 Now, even on the best days it can be hard to summon the muse and get words on the page.  I have an evil day job (EDJ), a husband and two kids under ten — so sometimes I’m just plain tired.  And, this past weekend I sat by the pool with the two previously mentioned kids and the temperature hovered in the low 90’s (finally! I like it hot!) it was a challenge to summon the spirit of the Grinch — forget the jolly old elf!

 So, I went for the proven method to get me in the mood to write romance (get your mind out of the gutter!) — music.  I pulled up my 1000 song playlist of Christmas music and hit “play”. Suddenly, the water guns and pool floaties disappeared and were replaced by Christmas trees and twinkly lights.  Well . . . not really but it did help get the words on the page.

 These are the top five songs that helped summon the Spirit of Christmas not-so-distant-future:

1. Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt
2. Baby, It’s Cold Outside by the Glee Cast
3. I’ll be Home for Christmas by Michael Buble
4. Maybe Baby (New Year’s Eve) by Sugarland
5. Snow Globe by Matt Wertz

Writer? Scrapbooker? Crafter? How do you summon the muse when you have to get down to business?

Since I asked for it, Robin was kind enough to share a bit of she wrote at the pool. I dunno about you, but I want to read more. 

"Turning in her seat, she was glad she was sitting when she took in the object of herinappropriate desire. Her best friend. Her boss.  Nicholas Boone.
            Even though he’d been in the United States for almost eight years, his demeanor still screamed “I’m sexy and British” and when he spoke it was like a sucker punch to her libido.  Man, she wanted to hear him whisper dirty things in her ear with that accent. Colin Firth, eat your heart out.
            With a slow grin, he pushed his glasses up on his nose and eased his hands into the pockets of his well-worn jeans.  The sleeves of his button up shirt were rolled up to reveal the lean, muscled forearms dusted with the dark blonde hair that also laid in unruly waves on his head and frequently over his forehead and into his eyes when he needed a haircut.  He needed one now and she bit back the reminder just perched on the edge of her tongue. Instead, she let her eyes travel down his long, lean form and back up again.  Damn, he even made a sweater vest look good."

 

Bio:

On her fortieth birthday, Robin Covington decided that having a mid-life crisis and finding a boy-toy were far too tacky, so she delved a little deeper into the “bucket list” and pulled out the long-shelved dream of becoming an author. Now, she spends her time writing sizzling romance where the hero and heroine can’t keep their hands off each other.

She doesn’t miss the boy-toy at all.

Her debut novel, A NIGHT OF SOUTHERN COMFORT, coming on June 15, 2012 from the Indulgence line at Entangled Publishing.

Robin is a member of the Romance Writers of America, the Washington Romance Writers, a faculty member at Romance University, a member of the Waterworld Mermaids, and a guest contributor to the Happy Ever After blog at USA Today.

Robin lives in Maryland with her hilarious husband, brilliant children, and ginormous puppy.  You can find Robin on her website, Facebook and Twitter (@RobinCovington).