• Boxed Sets,  Contemporary

    Hot Beach Romance: Sand, Sunshine and Sizzle #boxedset by @emkayconnor #RLFblog

    This quick interview includes info about the author, and
    introduces the story.

    About the Author

    EmKay Connor is an award-winning
    romance author and freelance writer.
    She is a member of Romance Writers
    of America and numerous RWA chapters, including RWA-San Diego, Outreach
    International RWA, Yellow Rose RWA and RWA Kiss of Death. A firm believer in
    paying it forward (and backward and sideways), she has served as president,
    vice president, secretary, newsletter editor, workshop presenter and committee
    chair at the local and national level.
    An exuberant and outgoing type who
    doesn’t do well with just a desk and a computer for company, EmKay is a
    participant of several critique groups. She is a founder and alumni of Pro-SAC
    (PRO-Seeking Authors Commit), a page-producing work group headquartered at the
    Mira Mesa Panera in San Diego, CA.
    Her manuscripts have finaled and
    won in numerous contests, including Spring Into Romance, The Unpublished Beacon
    and RWA’s prestigious Golden Heart.
    She lives and writes in
    northeastern Florida.

    Interview with EmKay Connor

    Why did you write
    this book?
    I saw an invitation on Facebook to participate in a box set
    featuring steamy beach reads. I’d been plotting a new series and this was the
    perfect opportunity to launch the Hideaway Bay series. The first four novellas
    feature the Delaney sisters-Joy, Hope, Grace and Faith. Each has a secret that
    is ultimately revealed when they journey to Hideaway Bay, a tropical Caribbean
    resort.
    What is your favorite
    genre to read?
    In addition to writing romance, I work as an author
    assistant to several romance authors. That means I read a lot of romantic
    fiction, across all genres, in the course of my day job. When I’m on my own
    time, I read Robert Crais, Stuart Woods and good post-apocalyptic fiction. I’ve
    recently discovered the Purge of Babylon series by Sam Sisavath.
    Who is your favorite
    character from fiction (not including your own)?
    While I love Elvis Cole and Joe Pike (Robert Crais
    characters), one of the most charming and engaging heroines I’ve ever
    encountered is Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum.
    What are you working
    on at the moment, and will see from you in coming months?
    I’m currently working on the remaining novellas in the
    Hideaway Bay series, but I tend to have several projects in the works
    simultaneously. The best way to stay in touch and see what’s next is to connect
    with me on social media.

    About the Book

    Title Finding Joy featured in Hot Beach Romance: Sand,
    Sunshine and Sizzle Box Set
    Genre Contemporary Romance
    Authors Tawdra Kandle, Jami Davenport, Lisa Marie Rice,
    Chris Almeida, Cecilia Aubrey, Emkay Connor, Jenna Dales, Sylvie Fox, Amber
    Lin, Alannah Lynne, Éirinn Brennan, Layla Wilcox, Suzanne Rock, Nancy Warren,
    Margaret Taylor, Scarlett Metal
    Book heat level (based on movie ratings): R

    Buy This Book

    Barnes and Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hot-beach-romance-tawdra-kandle/1121923239
    ARe https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-hotbeachromancesandsunshineandsizzle-1819248-166.html
    Kobo https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/hot-beach-romance-sand-sunshine-and-sizzle-1
    iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id991035178
    GooglePlay https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Chris_Almeida_Hot_Beach_Romance_Sand_Sunshine_and?id=fBNFCQAAQBAJ

    Author Social Media

  • Suspense

    Lisa Marie Rice author of Midnight Secrets @Lisa_Marie_Rice #RLFblog #romanticsuspense

    5 Easy Questions
    Lisa Marie Rice author of Midnight Secrets answers five easy questions to help readers get to know her better.
    Author Bio
    Lisa Marie Rice is eternally 30 years old and will never age. She is tall and willowy and beautiful. Men drop at her feet like ripe pears. She has won every major book prize in the world. She is a black belt with advanced degrees in archaeology, nuclear physics, and Tibetan literature. She is a concert pianist. Did I mention her Nobel Prize? Of course, Lisa Marie Rice is a virtual woman and exists only at the keyboard when writing erotic romance. She disappears when the monitor winks off.
    Describe the perfect vacation.
    The perfect vacation is relaxing, not frantic. I have travelled a lot both for pleasure and for business. I’ve been to most places I want to see, twice. I’ve lived abroad most of my adult life and I’ve lived in Paris, in Brussels, in Madrid, in Milan, in Heidelberg, in Florence…
    So, one of those ‘see ten cities in ten days’ vacations do not attract me at all. I’d rather go somewhere and learn its rhythms. Sit in a café and watch the people walk by. Go to hidden little restaurants that the locals go to. Visit the more out-of-the-way museums. My ideal vacation is at least a month somewhere, with access to a kitchen so I can do some local food shopping and cook local recipes. So I can go to the theater or to a concert. Maybe even make a friend or two. Places are like people, you should get to know them slowly, in sunshine and in rain.
    If there is also a beach, I am a happy camper.
    What are your hobbies?
    I guess my favorite hobby is reading. When I read, it is a form of meditation. It’s the way I get outside my own head. I have a lot of New Age friends who meditate and they say they need to meditate every day otherwise they feel awful. Well, if I am so busy I can’t read, I feel awful. My head buzzes and feels fuzzy, not clear. Reading clears my head.
    If I am in the middle of a compelling read and I am interrupted, I am not responsible for my reaction!
    I have some non-reader friends who admire me, admire how much I read. But they don’t understand. It’s not something I have to force myself to do; it is as necessary to me as breathing. I will probably die with a book (or Kindle) in my hand.
    Another big hobby of mine is walking. I’ve been a walker all my life. Lately I have been having issues with stiff knees so I walk more slowly, but I still walk. There’s something about a long walk, where you lose yourself, that is amazingly peaceful. I don’t drive and don’t like cars, so if I can walk it, that is the option I choose.
    Another hobby is cooking. That, too, I find helps combat stress (are we seeing a pattern here?). Luckily, I live in a country with fabulous ingredients and that prizes—fetishizes—good food, Italy. Everyone’s a cook in Italy, everyone has favorite recipes they love to swap, and everyone enjoys talking about food. It is one of life’s great pleasures.
    When you read for pleasure, what kind of books do you choose?
    Lately I have been reading a lot of thrillers and science fiction, particularly apocalypse stories, whether zombies or not. I love revenge thrillers, where the villain messes with the wrong guy and is very, very sorry at the end. The reason I like apocalypse stories is that they make you think. We lead such incredibly comfortable lives and we take our comforts for granted. When I have finished an apocalypse book –any of the books in the Perseid Collapse series, for example—I am intensely grateful for running water, for grocery stores filled with food, for modern dentistry. I’d be hopeless in an apocalypse and I don’t think I’d survive for very long. If people band together right away to rebuild civilization about the only thing I’d know how to do is cook. And I have no recipes at all for cooking rat brains over a trash can fire.
    What kinds of things do you read when you’re researching a new book?
    I read a lot of background research books, because I enjoy giving a touch of verisimilitude to my romantic thrillers. For my Navy SEAL books, the Men of Midnight, I’ve read extensively about SEALs. Luckily, Special Forces soldiers are fascinating. I’ve read military memoirs, particularly about the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. Memoirs give fascinating details and give an insight into the mindset of the soldiers. I like to read books about the financial collapse of 2008 because the bankers make such excellent bad guys. Anything by Michael Lewis is guaranteed to give you several plot lines. Right now I am reading about big data and privacy and how to guarantee it. Hint: it’s not easy. I read books on survivalism and prepping. I belong to a group of experts from law enforcement officers to forensic scientists who offer help when a writer has questions. I also subscribe to SOFREP, a fabulous Special Forces newsletter. It’s all grist to the mill and it is all fascinating, if you like knowing about how the world—the real one, behind the newspaper headlines, works.
    If the hero of your latest book called you on the phone, what would be a perfect ringtone for him?
    “Sinnerman” by Nina Simone
    About the Book
    Title Midnight Secrets
    Genre Romantic Suspense
    Author Lisa Marie Rice
    Book heat level (based on movie ratings): R
    Former Navy SEAL Joe Harris nearly died—twice—on a medevac helo after being blown up by an IED. He’s not moving too great these days, but if there was ever a woman designed to jump-start a man’s hormones, it would be his new neighbor.
    Meeting Isabel—loving Isabel—brought Joe back to life.
    Isabel Delvaux came from one of America’s foremost political dynasties, until the greatest terrorist attack since 9/11 killed her entire family. She barely survived the Washington Massacre, only to become prey for rabid reporters. Fleeing to Portland and changing her name was a way out, a way to start over. The only way.
    She knows she’s safe with Joe Harris. Not just because he’s big and strong, not just because he’s part of a security team that obliterates threats on the regular, but because he’s been to the abyss and back.
    But as they help each other heal—through talk, through touch, through spectacular sex—the past comes back to play. When Isabel’s memory starts to return and a mysterious stranger sends Joe emails indicating Isabel is in imminent danger, he’ll do anything to help her uncover the truth. Even if that truth is the most terrifying thing of all…
    Buy This Book
    Publisher Carina Press
    Amazon http://bit.ly/NookMidnightSecrets
    Barnes and Noble http://bit.ly/NookMidnightSecrets
    ARe http://bit.ly/AReMidnightSecrets
    Kobo http://bit.ly/KoboMidnightSecrets
    iBooks http://bit.ly/iBooksMidnightSecrets
    Author Social Media