Wednesday 3 December 2014

Guest Post: Karyn Lawrence

I'm joined by Karyn Lawrence today, whose new book, Keep, is available now!



Billionaire CEO Shawn Dunn has plenty of sex, power, and money. A woman turning down his advances? Unfathomable. Yet that’s what she does, again and again.

Kara Hayward is supposed to be off limits. Her sister is hiding from the dangerous assassin she escaped from, and it’s best for everyone if Shawn keeps his distance. Certainly as far as Kara is concerned. Shawn’s only after one thing and then he’ll walk away, just like her ex-husband.

But Shawn has larger desires and he’s used to getting what he wants. He doesn’t care if being together is dangerous. He doesn’t believe that threat to him, or his empire, is real. Right up to the night he has everything taken away.



Excerpt

If she weren’t so emotionally and physically exhausted, she’d be immune to him. Maybe immune wasn't the right word. Resistant, perhaps.

They hadn't taken their clothes off. Shawn had barely touched her. And still, the encounter left her desperate and shaky. Filled with need for him. Wanting him. It had easily been the hottest twenty minutes of her life.

Good-looking, her sister had warned her once about Shawn. Not even close. Jason was good-looking in a rough and tough sort of way. Her sister had always liked the bad boys and while Jason, the head of security, looked more conventionally dangerous, Kara knew better. That the taller brother in the suit was cunning and manipulative, making him far, far more dangerous than the one that carried a gun.



About the Author



Karyn Lawrence is an author, graphic designer, and screenwriter. She published a nonfiction book about color guard after an editor discovered her blog, way back in the infancy of the Internet and long before blogging was really a thing.

She has been a screenwriter for more than fifteen years, with rather mild success, and grew tired of her stories only reaching a handful of readers. The decision was made to try fiction in early 2013 and once she figured out how to write internal dialogue again, the prose came fast and furious. She most enjoys writing smexy (smart-sexy) books featuring a lovable SOB hero and a tough-as-nails heroine.

Karyn is a Chicago native who lives in Kentucky with her epic husband and two adorable sons.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karynlawrenceauthor

Twitter: @karynsloan

Website: www.karynlawrence.com


Karyn's giving away a $25 gift card to Amazon, a signed paperback copy of both "Keep" and the first book in the stand-alone series, "Stay", bookmarks from "Stay" and a can kozie with the logo from the fictional beer company that the hero owns in "Keep" (Swag and print book are US only) to a randomly drawn winner. Enter for your chance to win!



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And now a little guest post from Karyn:

How I Fix A Boring But Necessary Scene

There’s no way around it. You’ve got to write that scene that explains something to your reader and it’s a huge, boring exposition dump. Your plot and characters can’t move forward until this information is revealed and you’re backed into a corner. So, you think, let’s write it fast and slog through it, and even as you’re writing it -- you’re bored. Your reader’s going to get bored too, but worse, they might miss out on this important information because they’re not paying attention.

How do you fix or disguise it?

Here’s what works for me. I ask myself, “What’s the most interesting way I can play this scene?” For example, the opening scene of my book “Keep” needed to do a lot. I wanted to introduce my main character as a strong, professional woman who’s succeeding at her job, as well as other backstory information such as she’s tall, emotionally guarded, cool under pressure, and recently divorced.

During the time I was drafting the book, at my day job I was concerned that I was going to have to terminate an employee… and that it might not go well. And since I’ve got that crazy imagination that most writers do, I thought about the worst-case scenario. (It ended up going the opposite direction in real-life, thank god.)

I used it and chose to open with her terminating an employee. As soon as it’s over, she learns that he’s going through a divorce. Already unstable, the firing pushes the employee over the edge and he bursts into the conference room a few minutes later brandishing a gun. That allowed me to show the reader how calmly she talks the employee down, using her own divorce to make him feel that he’s not alone.

Really all this technique boils down to is conflict. If I’ve got a scene where two characters have a conversation, I’m going to turn that into an argument. It’s so much more fun to read (and write) when there’s tension, and your reader doesn’t notice that you’re laying groundwork.

Obviously, with any technique, overuse will ruin it. If your character has to go to the grocery store and you have a robbery in progress, and then that character gets into a car accident on the drive home, and when they arrive the house is on fire… your reader’s not going to be too happy, or able to suspend disbelief.

If you’ve got that one scene that you’re skimming over when editing – that one you know you can’t cut, but hate rereading – ask yourself if you can find a more interesting way to play that scene. It might just end up being one of your favorites to write.

Monday 1 December 2014

Introducing: My Dark Highlander by Nancy Lee Badger


My Dark Highlander
Kilted Athletes Through Time
Book 2
Nancy Lee Badger

Genre:  Scottish Time Travel romance

Plucked from her timeline, and stranded in 1603 Scotland, veterinarian Jenny Morgan is eager to get home before someone discovers her secret ability. Reading auras is a curse, and the rainbow of auras surrounding the villagers at the Highland festival is more than she can bear.

Aided by a powerful witch, she returns to New England. She will miss the North Sea, and the man who stole her heart during one dark night, but danger follows her home.

Laird Gavin Sinclair is pulled in too many directions; a missing brother, a murderous father, and a dark-eyed beauty he spent one sin-filled night protecting. When Jenny returns to the future with a witch and another man, danger follows her. Gavin must set aside his obligations, use his sorcery to follow her forward in time, and protect her.

Before returning home, jealousy and lust ravage his dark soul, but his heart lightens when Jenny helps him fight every evil.





EXCERPT 

“Men of your time have lots of muscles, but you have such a thin waist.” Jenny’s finger traced a line from between Gavin’s nipples, to his belly button, then followed the dark line of hair to his expectant groin. “No belly, either. Guess you don’t eat cake and ice cream like the guys around here, do.”
“Nor pizza.”
She laughed. “You are so right.”
When her caress slipped lower, and she soaped his genitals, he coughed. “Easy, lass. Much time has passed since I…”
“That time in the barn was wasted. Why didn’t you make love to me?” She released him, and stepped back.
He sighed, then shook his head, He stepped closer to her, and the spray hit him in the middle of his back. She was staring up at him, with her teeth imbedded in her lower lip. He had tasted those lips, and the memory made his length as rigid as a steel pike. He did not wish to fight the memories of that night, when he had kept his clothes on. 
 “Doono’ think I did no’ wish to love ye completely. We nearly died from a fierce battle. Can ye no’ recall our race through the forest, and coming to Bull and Izzy’s aid? By gaining the attention of Tulac Castle’s warriors, we nearly perished. We celebrated by finding solace within each other’s arms.”
“But you stopped with kisses and…touches.”
Gavin smiled.


About the Author

Award-winning author Nancy Lee Badger loves chocolate-chip shortbread and wool plaids wrapped around the trim waist of a Scottish Highlander. Her stories tempt you with the clang of broadswords, and the sound of bagpipes in the air. After growing up in Huntington, New York, and raising two handsome sons in New Hampshire, she moved to North Carolina where she writes full-time. Nancy is a member of Romance Writers of America, Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, Fantasy-Futuristic & Paranormal Romance Writers, Triangle Area Freelancers, and the Celtic Heart Romance Writers. 


Blog                                      http://www.nancyleebadger.blogspot.com

Website                                 http://www.nancyleebadger.com

Twitter                                  https://twitter.com/NLBadger

Facebook                              http://on.fb.me/KMGS4z            
         
Goodreads                            http://bit.ly/Vd1Usg

Amazon Author Page           http://amzn.to/13ICHLq


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