Accidentally...Over?(63)

And she was a geek girl.

The inspiration for her came from my nieces, both incredibly  intelligent, funny, caring and, beautiful-and both total geek girls. I  loved the idea of diving into that (being a bit of a geek girl myself),  this concept that is considered stereotypically "on the fringe" but is  actually an enormous sect of society that is quite proud of their  geekdom. And when I published BREATHE, the geek girls came out of the  woodwork, loving seeing one of their own land her hot guy.

But also, it was a pleasure seeing Chace, the one who had major issues  and hang-ups, find himself sorted out by his geek girl. I loved watching  Faye surprise him, hold up the mirror so he could truly see himself,  and take the lead into guiding them both into the happily-ever-after  they deserved.

This was one of those books of mine where I could have kept writing  forever. Just the antics of the kitties Chace gives to his Faye would be  worth a chapter!

But alas, I had to let them go.

Luckily, I get to revisit them whenever I want and let fly the warm  thoughts I have of the simple, yet extraordinary lives led by a  small-town cop and the librarian wife he adores.





From the desk of Sandra Hill

Dear Reader,

Many of you have been begging for a new Tante Lulu story.

When I first started writing my Cajun contemporary books back in 2003, I  never expected Tante Lulu would touch so many people's hearts and funny  bones. Over the years, readers have fallen in love with the wacky old  lady (I like to say, Grandma Moses with cleavage). So many of you have  said you have a family member just like her; still more have said they  wish they did.

Family …  that's what my Cajun/Tante Lulu books are all about. And  community …  the generosity and unconditional love of friends and  neighbors. In these turbulent times, isn't that just what we all want?

You should know that SNOW ON THE BAYOU is the ninth book in my Cajun  series, which includes: The Love Potion; Tall, Dark, and Cajun; The  Cajun Cowboy; The Red Hot Cajun; Pink Jinx; Pearl Jinx; Wild Jinx; and  So Into You. And there are still more Cajun tales to come, I think.  Daniel and Aaron LeDeux, and the newly introduced Simone LeDeux. What do  you think?                       
       
           



       

For more information on these and others of my books, visit my website  at www.sandrahill.net or my Facebook page at Sandra Hill Author.

As always, I wish you smiles in your reading.





From the desk of Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

Dearest Humans,

It's the end of the world. You're an invisible,  seventy-thousand-year-old virgin. The Universe wants to snub out the one  person you'd like to hook up with. Discuss.

And while you do so, I'd like to take a moment to thank each of you for  taking this Accidental journey with me and my insane deities. We've been  to Mayan cenotes, pirate ships, jungle battles, cursed pyramids,  vampire showdowns, a snappy leather-daddy bar in San Antonio, New York  City, Santa Cruz, Giza, Sedona, and we've even been to a beautiful  Spanish vineyard with an incubus. Ah. So many fun places with so many  fascinating, misunderstood, wacky gods and other immortals. And let's  not forget Minky the unicorn, too!

It has truly been a pleasure putting you through the twisty curves, and I  hope you enjoy this final piece of the puzzle as Máax, our invisible,  bad-boy deity extraordinaire, is taught one final lesson by one very  resilient woman who refuses to allow the Universe to dictate her fate.

Because ultimately we make our own way in this world, Hungry Hungry Hippos playoffs included.

Happy reading!




P.S.: Hope you like the surprise ending.





From the desk of Karina Halle

Dear Reader,

Morally ambiguous. Duplicitous. Dangerous.

Those words describe not only the cast of characters in my romantic  suspense novel SINS & NEEDLES, book one in the Artists Trilogy, but  especially the heroine, Ms. Ellie Watt. Though sinfully sexy and utterly  suspenseful, it is Ellie's devious nature and con artist profession  that makes SINS & NEEDLES one unique and wild ride.

When I first came up with the idea for SINS & NEEDLES, I wanted to  write a book that not only touched on some personal issues of mine  (physical scarring, bullying, justification), but dealt with a character  little seen in modern literature-the antiheroine. Everywhere you look  in books these days you see the bad boy, the criminal, the tattooed  heartbreaker and ruthless killer. There are always men in these arguably  more interesting roles. Where were all the bad girls? Sure, you could  read about women in dubious professions, femme fatales, and cold-hearted  killers. But when were they ever the main character? When were they  ever a heroine you could also sympathize with?

Ellie Watt is definitely one of the most complex and interesting  characters I have ever written, particularly as a heroine. On one hand  she has all these terrible qualities; on the other she's just a  vulnerable, damaged person trying to survive the only way she knows how.  You despise Ellie and yet you can't help but root for her at the same  time.

Her love interest, hot tattoo artist and ex-friend Camden McQueen, says  it perfectly when he tells her this: "That is what I thought of you,  Ellie. Heartless, reckless, selfish, and cruel …  Beautiful, sad, wounded,  and lost. A freak, a work of art, a liar, and a lover."

Ellie is all those things, making her a walking contradiction but oh, so  human. I think Ellie's humanity is what makes her relatable and brings a  sense of realism to a novel that's got plenty of hot sex, car chases,  gunplay, murder, and cons. No matter what's going on in the story,  through all the many twists and turns, you understand her motives and  her actions, no matter how skewed they may be.

Of course, it wouldn't be a romance novel without a love interest. What  makes SINS & NEEDLES different is that the love interest isn't her  foil-Camden McQueen isn't necessarily a "good" man making a clean  living. In fact, he may be as damaged as she is-but he does believe that  Ellie can change, let go of her past, and find redemption.

That's easier said than done, of course, for a criminal who has never  known any better. And it's hard to escape your past when it's literally  chasing you, as is the case with Javier Bernal, Ellie's ex-lover whom  she conned six years prior. Now a dangerous drug lord, Javier has been  hunting Ellie down, wanting to exact revenge for her misdoings. But  sometimes revenge comes in a vice and Javier's appearance in the novel  reminds Ellie that she can never escape who she really is, that she may  not be redeemable.                       
       
           



       

For a book that's set in the dry, brown desert of southern California,  SINS & NEEDLES is painted in shades of gray. There is no real right  and wrong in the novel, and the characters, including Ellie, aren't just  good or bad. They're just human, just real, just trying to come to  terms with their true selves while living in a world that just wants to  screw them over.

I hope you enjoy the ride!





From the desk of Kristen Callihan

Dear Reader,

The first novels I read belonged to my parents. I was a latchkey kid, so  while they were at work, I'd poach their paperbacks. Robert Ludlum,  Danielle Steel, Jean M. Auel. I read these authors because my parents  did. And it was quite the varied education. I developed a taste for  action, adventure, sexy love stories, and historical settings.

But it wasn't until I spent a summer at the beach during high school  that I began to pick out books for myself. Of course, being completely  ignorant of what I might actually want to read on my own, I helped  myself to the beach house's library. The first two books I chose were  Mario Puzo's The Godfather (yes, I actually read the book before seeing  the movie) and Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire.

Those two books taught me about the antihero, that a character could do  bad things, make the wrong decisions, and still be compelling. We might  still want them to succeed. But why? Maybe because we share in their  pain. Or maybe it's because they care, passionately, whether it's the  desire for discovering the deeper meaning of life or saving the family  business.

In EVERNIGHT, Will Thorne is a bit of an antihero. We meet him  attempting to murder the heroine. And he makes no apologies for it, at  least not at first. He is also a blood drinker, sensual, wicked, and in  love with life and beauty.

Thinking on it now, I realize that the books I've read have, in some  shape or form, made me into the author I am today. So perhaps, instead  of the old adage "You are what you eat," it really ought to be: "You are  what you read."





From the desk of Laura Drake

Dear Reader,