Unpopular Opinions #1: Introduction and Clara Matrix's thoughts on the use of AI by authors and in publishing

I've been trying to get back on track with the website and it seems like I'm going one step forward, two steps back with my efforts as my health and body continues to hate me. Ugh. Not fun. I'm currently recovering from a rather nasty bout of the flu with some added respiratory issues. Yucko! That said, as of last night, I'm starting to feel a bit more energetic, so yay!

So...a little introduction to a new series that I might continue to post intermittently for an idea I've been playing around with.

The grumpy boss, the brooding hero, and the bad boy by JJ Sorel

The grumpy boss is a popular leading man in romance. He stomps around like a bear with a sore head and his PA spends her days dodging his temper tantrums. All the while, tolerating his barking orders so that she doesn’t get fired.

Fiction and suspension of belief by Deanndra Hall

Being readers and readers of romance, quite often we suspend our belief or or disbelief as we read our favorite books. Some things seem impossible but the author makes us believe that maybe, just maybe, it could happen. Please welcome Deanndra Hall today as she talks to us about fiction and the suspension of belief.

When good tropes go bad by Courtney Maguire

Seems like this is the month for tropes. I promise I didn't plan it like that. I just realised that I assumed everyone would know what a trope is but I've seen some people asking questions about it. A trope is a common theme in a romance that usually forms the basis for the overarching story. Tropes are many and varied and can range from simple to complex. Some more popular tropes include second chance romance and enemies to lovers. So without much further ado, let's welcome Courtney as she takes us through some tropes, when they are good, and when they are not.

Going back to basics by Kia Carrington-Russell

Let's welcome Kia Carrington-Russell as she tells us what it means to go back to basics and refresh her writing career. I'm sure we can all apply these lessons to other parts of our lives to not stagnate.

The ins and outs of promoting books by Echo Shea

Today, I want to introduce you to Echo and her promo company Psst… and Let’s Talk Promotions. Promotions is a big part of the book world because without it, no one would know about the books being published and that means no one would buy them to read. This post is meant to provide some insight into the book promo business and why it’s important to promote a book. There are some good tips provided along the way too. It's a long post, but I promise this is a worthwhile read. There's a lot of useful information here. So kick back, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!

Welcome Echo!

How to build a romance hero by Janet Walden-West

Please welcome author Janet Walden-West to the bloggity today. She's going to tell us all about how to build the perfect book boyfriend. Now I'm sure we all have different opinions of how to build the perfect book boyfriend for us - I like them alpha, hunky, and possessive, but I'm sure Ms Walden-West can give us a few tips of what her man looks like.

Blood Bound: What inspired the book? by Samantha A Cole

One of the things I'm sure authors get asked all the time is what's the inspiration for this or that story, or this or that character. With Ms Cole's new books in her Blackhawk Security series about to release, I, being the nosy reader that I am, asked that question. I hope you're not sick of that question already, Ms Cole, but thank you for indulging me.

Please welcome Samantha A Cole, author of the popular Trident Security series and now the Blackhawk Security series amongst many others to the bloggity.

Guest Post: How to Mix Food with Romance and Suspense by Jannine Gallant | Hidden Secrets

We have a very different kind of post on the bloggity today with author Jannine Gallant visiting. Jannine is treating us to a look at her new book Hidden Secrets and a yummy recipe. Books and food! What more could a girl ask for?

Please give Jannine a very warm welcome.

How to Mix Food with Romance and Suspense

When it comes to creating my heroes and heroines, one of the key factors that goes into making them unique individuals is their profession. I’ve written about everything from a detective to a school teacher to a professional skier. In HIDDEN SECRETS, I decided to give my hero a profession I can relate to. Quentin is a restaurateur and professional chef. Not that I’m a professional, by any means, but I do love to cook. And I love creating my own recipes.

Guest Post: Embrace the Passion, Pets in Space 3 by Anna Hackett, et al | New Release

Guess what? There's another Pets in Space anthology coming out, once again donating proceeds to Hero-Dogs.org. It's a very worthy cause and I'm delighted to have Anna Hackett visit with us at the bloggity to tell her about her pet in space.

Please give Anna a very warm welcome.

The gladiators of Carthago are all big, tough, and well-trained to fight in the arena. The gladiators of the House of Galen all fight for honor and freedom, and behind the scenes, are always ready to protect the less fortunate (including some abducted women from Earth). It makes sense that these gladiators would have equally as tough, heroic, and ferocious pets. Think wild hunting cats, dangerous canines, or fierce, flying beasts.

Guest Post: Challenges of love and ambition in a time of war by Pamela Hart | New Release: The Desert Nurse

I'm excited to have Pamela visit the bloggity. This is not her first time though cos Mr Manview has done a post on one of her previous books, A Letter From Italy. He gave it 5 whopping stars!! And she has become one of his favorite historical romance writers, so you can imagine my delight when Pamela agreed to write a guest post to give us insights to The Desert Nurse.

Please give Pamela a very warm welcome.

Challenges of love and ambition in a time of war

I love this headline! It really sums up The Desert Nurse for me. (Wish I’d thought of it for the tag-line!)

The Desert Nurse is set in WWI, and it’s hard for us to realise how profoundly everyone’s lives were changed by that war. Australia has been involved in several wars over the past twenty years, but the day-to-day life of ordinary people hasn’t been affected, because those wars are fought by professionals.

Guest post: Exploring Reverse Harem with Lily Harlem | New Release: Runaways

I've discovered something new. A sub-genre of romance called Reverse Harem. Since I know nothing about a Reverse Harem I asked on of my favorite authors, Lily Harlem, to join us and tell us all about it, as well as her new Reverse Harem series.

Please give Lily a very warm welcome.

Exploring Reverse Harem

Thank you so much for inviting me to your blog today. It’s great to be here. I’ve been working in a new sub genre the last few months and having the most amazing time. Some of you will be aware that I like to write ménage a trois romance (and I write it HOT), well now I’ve been penning something a bit different… a sexy new contemporary reverse harem series.

What is reverse harem I hear you ask? Basically it’s one girl, and as many guys as she can handle. Yes, that’s right, she gets to have her cake ‘and’ eat it. There’s no wild jealousy, each man gives her something unique, is of course crazy gorgeous, and they all love her desperately.

Guest post: If you were take a pet into outer space on your travels, what kind would you want? | New Release: Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space 2 by Cara Bristol et al

Now it's no surprise that I love Cara Bristol's Cyborg books so when she asked if I'd host her for her upcoming anthology which contains a new Cyborg story, Rescued by the Cyborg, I jumped at it. I've already pre-ordered the book. I can't wait to read another instalment in the Cyborg series.

Here's Cara telling us about what kind of pets you can have in space.

Please give Cara a very warm welcome.

If you were take a pet into outer space on your travels, what kind would you want?

That was one of the first decisions I had to make when I was invited back to write for Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space 2. What pet would I choose? In my first Pets in Space story, I wrote about a robot dog named Sparky, but for Embrace the Romance I went traditional with my go-to pet: a cat. Specifically a kitten.  I’m  more of a cat person than a dog person (although I like both). I’ve always gravitated toward cats, and whenever I mention an animal in a story, it tends to be cat.

Guest post: What makes fantasy romance different? by Jeffe Kennedy | New Release: The Shift of the Tide

I'm delighted to have Jeffe join me on the bloggity today. Being a long time fantasy lover, I'm excited to discover Jeffe's work. I grew up reading fantasy the likes of David Eddings and Raymond E Feist and those were strictly high fantasy with little to no romance thrown in. I love discovering the fantasy sub-genre within romance because I love the added element of romance in the stories.

I can't wait to read what Jeffe has to say about the difference between fantasy and paranormal romance, since they both have similar elements. I want to know what distinguishes them.

Please give Jeffe a very warm welcome.

What makes fantasy romance different?

Hi, everyone! I’m delighted to be here on Deanna’s World, celebrating the release of The Shift of the Tide, the newest book in my Fantasy Romance series, The Uncharted Realms. Deanna asked me to talk a little bit about what makes fantasy romance stand out as a sub-genre of its own and how it differs from Paranormal Romance.

This makes me think of a funny conversation I had with my husband, David, the other day. He’s taken over doing a lot of marketing and other work like that for me – thank all the gods! – but he doesn’t really know genres and subgenres a lot. Like he’s forever putting Fantasy Romance books under Contemporary Romance on my Pinterest page and I’m all … just, no. And when I try to explain how truly Bad and Wrong and Terrible this is, he gets all bemused.

Guest post: Making the most of opportunities when life comes calling by Lauren Hawkeye | New Release: Kiss of the Irish (Foreign Fling #1)

Have you ever wanted to travel the world and didn't get the opportunity? Well, how about traveling to all the exotic locations you've only dreamed of through the wonderful books that explore those locations, laden with steamy sexiness and exotic hunky guys? If you're up for that, then Kiss of the Irish is one such book for you.

Please give Lauren a very warm welcome.

Making the most of opportunities when life comes calling

I sure try not to make a habit of this, but I do have a regret from my later teen years—I wish I’d taken a year after high school to go see some of the world. Visiting the Vatican, exploring the Amazon, stuffing my face with pasta in Italy, visiting a sheep farm in New Zealand are all things I wish I’d done when I was still relatively unencumbered.

Guest post: Did you know? Before the Scots, there were the Picts! by Christina Phillips | New Release: Her Vengeful Scot

I love whenever Christina visits the bloggity because she brings with her interesting historical stories and sexy men and this time, it's sexy Highlanders. And who doesn't love a sexy Scot in a kilt, eh? I know my bud, Bambi, loves them. She keeps talking about going to Scotland to find herself a sexy, kilt-wearing Scot. :-)

Please give Christina a very warm welcome.

Did you know? Before the Scots, there were the Picts!

Thanks so much Deanna for having me on your bloggity to chat about my most recent historical romance releases, Her Savage Scot and Her Vengeful Scot, the first two books in The Highland Warrior Chronicles.

I’ve always loved history and, along with English Language, it was my favourite subject at school. Add my fascination with the goddess culture and the mysticism of ancient Scotland and I guess it was inevitable that some day I’d blend all these elements together in a romance!

Guest post: The end ... or maybe not? by Christina Phillips | New Release: Tainted (The Druid Chronicles #4)

Finally, the fourth book in The Druid Chronicles series. What a journey it has been! I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have. I've thoroughly enjoyed having Christina visit the bloggity and also reading the books, which I am slowly making my way through. Don't you love Christina's writing?

I particularly loved Chrsitina's portrayal of all the women in the series so far. I'm looking forward to learning more about Antonia in thist story. I bet she's going to give Gawain a run for his money. :-)

Please give Christina a very warm welcome.

The end ... or maybe not?

A big thank you, Deanna, for having me back to help celebrate the release of the final (for now!) book in The Druid Chronicles. The heroes of the previous three books were all Roman, and in Tainted I wanted to mix things up. There was a Celt warrior, Gawain, who first appeared in book 1, Forbidden, and I had readers contact me asking when I was going to write his story. It took a while, but I knew he needed a very special heroine to help him heal from the past and I found her in the Roman noblewoman, Antonia.

A romance with just the "good parts" by Cara Bristol | New Release: Body Talk

I've been reading Cara's Cy-Ops Sci-Fi Romance series from day one cos I love me some yummy cyborg goodness so when she asked if I'd host her for her new book Body Talk which focuses solely on all the sexy parts of a romance novel, I was "yes, definitely" because don't we all love the sexy parts? Sure, we read romance for the journey, the emotion, the way the author treats social and personal issues, but let's face it, the sexy parts give them oomph, yeah?

I remember as a teen reading Mills & Boon historicals. The sexy parts were few and far between, usually behind closed doors. I would savor those parts, lament they were too short and go back to read them again to see if I had missed something because they were so short. And then my rather acrive teenage imagination ran wild. Wild! I tell you!! Oh, the things I imagined!!

So now we have an ENTIRE book of sexy bits. Oooooh!!!!!!

Please give Cara a very warm welcome.

Body Talk: a romance with just the ‘good parts’

As a teenager, I didn’t read romance novels, I devoured them, reading probably four books a week, re-reading my favorite ones, and studying the “sex scenes” like they were going to be on a final exam.

Romances were lot more “innocent” then. Sex rarely occurred, and if it did, it was only after a couple had married, or at least had committed to marry. Usually a book contained only one or two passionate kisses, which of course rocked the heroine’s world. I didn’t have a name for sexual tension back then, but I recognized it when I saw it, and those were some of favorite scenes.

Guest post: paranormal romance, magical thrill ride or social study? by Juliette Cross | New Release: Dragon Heartstring (Vale of Stars #0.5)

It is no secret that I am a huge fan of Juliette Cross' work. I have adored her writing from the moment I read Soulfire and learned about Morgons, her dragon-human hybrids and soulfire.

Since Soulfire, I've pretty much glommed everything on Juliette's back list, most recently her Vessel Trilogy. I'm very late to the game on that one but trust me, excellent series, excellent read. The bloggity's very own Mr Manview even gave it 5 stars!!

But we are not here to talk about her back list. We are here to talk about her latest release, Dragon Heartstring. This book has been very long awaited by fans of the Nightwing series. We've been wanting Demetrius' story ever since we met him in Soulfire. I, for one, have been dying to know how Juliette would redeem him. To say I am excited about this book is an understatement.

So aside from my fangirling over the book, I'll let you read a bit more about Demetrius.

Please give Juliette very warm welcome.

Photo credit: mharrsch via Visual Hunt / CC BY-NC-SA

While some may view the genre of paranormal/fantasy romance as nothing more than a thrill ride with the supernatural, there are often threads of the real world woven into the stories. Many stories in this genre address social issues of the day, but are simply framed within the confines of magical and supernatural elements. For all of my series, there is a central theme that threads through the overall arc of the novels. So it’s no great surprise that the hero of DRAGON HEARTSTRING is Demetrius Cade, formerly seen in the NIGHTWING series as the overprotective brother following in his father’s footsteps of bigotry against the Morgon race.

Guest post: The Legend of the Moon Goddess Arianrhod by Christina Phillips | New Release: Enslaved (The Druid Chronicles #3)

Well, we are back in the world of druids, Roman soldiers and mysticism. This time, we mix in a little bit of mythology which makes my history loving heart positively giddy.

I tell you what, those gods and goddesses way back when. They sure did get into some sticky situations and raise some shenanigans that make our current parties and rabble-rousing seem tame. Take what happened with the Moon Goddess that Chrsitina tells us about below example.

I'll let Christina tell you the story though. It's fascinating!

Please give Christina a very warm welcome.

The Legend of the Moon Goddess Arianrhod

Deanna, thank you so much for having me back on your blog to help celebrate the (re)release of my third The Druid Chronicles romance, Enslaved.

The heroine of Enslaved is Nimue. She appeared right at the end of book 2, Captive, and as soon as she walked onto the page I knew I had to find out more about her! Funny how a minor character can suddenly take you over like that, and demand their story be told.