I admit it, I'm a total book addict. So much so, that my other addictions seem to have been pushed to the side and forgotten. But I do have a few others I'd like to share, to show that I don't just live and breathe books.
I'm a pop-culture junkie. I love movies and television. Right now my top three television addictions are:
Mad Men on AMC. I watched the first season on dvd, and then took an entire weekend to watch season 2 On Demand. Now I'm head over heels in love with this show. The fashion, setting and man whore ways of Don Draper and his crew makes me ache for more. This show can never, ever go off the air, if I have my say.
Design Star on HGTV. From the producer who brought us Survivor and Apprentice, this reality show that takes place in Manhattan is a contest between some top notch housing designers. The ultimate prize is one hosting their own design show on HGTV. I've come up with so many ideas on how to make a room shine from watching this show.
True Blood on HBO. I've only started watching the first season, but I'm hooked, like you wouldn't believe! I laugh so much over Sookie, her romance with Bill (who is so dreamy), and the outspoken Tara, the walking STD Jason, and the small town life and prejudices about vampires that bring forth the whole civil rights movement that still rings true to this very day. Now if I could just conquer my monster TBR pile, perhaps I'll join those fellow Sookie Stackhouse readers.
When it comes to food addictions, I can be very picky with what I eat. But my day is not complete until I have:
Coffee. I'm not human until I have at least 3 cups of coffee with my Coffee Mate creamer. I live and die by coffee.
Pretzels. Give me a bag of pretzels. And you've made me a very happy woman indeed. Roll Gold Pretzels are near orgasmic.
This food addiction is a very quirky one. I love egg whites. I can't get enough of them. If I could I would eat them morning, noon and night. With some turkey bacon, this is a hearty meal.
And my one lusty addiction that makes me swoon I this guy right here. This 5 minute excerpt from Blade 3 showing Ryan's humor and OMG his drop dead body is worth watching. Perhaps Ryan is the reason Balde 3 has reach cult fan status?
The minute I saw Ryan Reynolds in Blade 3 and saw him in Wolverine, even going a far a ignoring Hugh Jackman, I knew I've developed a bad crush on the man. Perhaps it makes all sense then as I was writing For the Love of Mollie, I envisioned Conner as Ryan.
So these are only a few of my guilty pleasure addictions. Any of yours you would like to share?
Hey all desert island fans! KB here for the next three days bringing you some fun and excitement. I'm so thrilled to be starting the week off at the DIK Blog because not only do I have one book release out this week, but actually two! So, please give me a moment to pimp myself out.
You may all know me as that eccentric bloggerwho loves to post WTFckery and book reviews, but I also live a double life as an author as KT Grant. My debut release, Lovestruck, came out on May 31st from Noble Romance Publishing. I thought it would be awhile since I'd have another release, but was pleasantly surprised that after submitting to the new epublisher, Decadent Publishing, they accept my erotic contemporary romance called For the Love of Mollie.
Anyone want to pet the man-titty?
For the Love of Mollie is about Mollie McGree, who wants to lose weight. All her life she has felt unworthy of a man's love because she thinks she's always been to big for a man to be attracted to her. She's close friends with Juan Carlos, a masseuse, she wants badly. Mollie decides she'll join a gym and will lose the weight, where Juan Carlos will then want her on a more romantic level. What Mollie doesn't count on is the gym's owner, Conner Bean, the young, very successful fitness instructor, who thinks Mollie is perfect the way she is. He'll seduce Mollie and show her that she doesn't need to lose any weight.
The character of Mollie hit somewhat close to home for me because all through my childhood and into my late teens I had a weight problem. By the time I was a junior in college, I had ballooned up to 240 lbs. I wore a size 24 in pants and XX large shirts. I've tried to lose weight in the past because I was sick of being made fun of and thought if I got down to a single digit, I would go on dates and hopefully have a date to the prom. Those diets never lasted that long and all through high school I never dated and never did go to the senior prom.
What made me decide to lose weight was for myself. It wasn't to impress some guy I may have had a crush on, or to stop the comments from family and friends that I have a beautiful face, but would look so much better if I lost weight. Many times men would say I was a cute fat girl. So, my senior year of college, I worked out in the school fitness center with a certain weight goal in mind. I said goodbye to 3am Denny's runs. By the time I graduated, I met that goal.
Now twelve years later, I've kept off the weight and went on to lose a total of 80 lbs. I wear a size 10 the majority of the time. Unfortunately my chest size disappeared in such a way that I really don't need to wear a bra. So are the sacrifices I had to make. Mollie makes the decision to lose the weight to impress someone who does care for her, but only as a friend because he's in love with someone else. Mollie is in for a surprise, because Conner, who she believes only finds himself attracted to fit, skinny women because of his job and lifestyle, thinks she is his perfect woman. He loves her curves and body, and even gets angry that she wants to be this ideal looking woman that society thinks women should be.
It all comes down to what makes you happy. The moment I made that decision to lose the weight and live healthier for myself and no one else, I felt free, as if that weight was lifted. And now I can look back at all my hard work and be proud of myself. That's what I tried to accomplish with For the Love of Mollie and the love she finds with Conner, who may possibly be too perfect, But hey, it's a romance after all!
In honor of my release of For the Love of Mollie, I'll give one copy away here. All you have to do is leave a comment here by Friday 8/13. What are your favorite stories about the heroine, who thinks she's less than perfect, finds the man of her dreams, who in turn thinks she is perfect the way she is?
Synopsis: Mollie McGree is on a mission to seduce her best friend, the sexy masseuse Juan-Carlos. But she wants to lose a few extra pounds first. She joins a gym run by self-made millionaire and personal trailer, Conner Bean. Conner thinks Mollie doesn't need to lose any weight, and is perfect the way she is. He plans to seduce the curvy Mollie by giving her his own special training sessions in passion and desire.
Soon Mollie is enjoying a no-holds-barred love affair with the vibrant and skilled Conner. But self-esteem issues on her part, as well as her unresolved feelings for Juan-Carlos, cause her to second guess Conner's motives. Conner will stop at nothing until he claims Mollie's heart for his own.
A big thank you to Devyn Quinn for taking time out to visit the island and for her generous Giveaway of 3 copies of "Siren's Call", which is available now!
The lucky winners are:
Day 1: #15 Chelsea B!
Day 2: #13 PamK!
Day 3: #13 s7anna (Anna)!
WOOT! Congratulations ladies! Chelsea, Pam and Anna if you can please contact me at i_love_my_kiera@yahoo.ca and send your full name and snail mail address I'll pass your information to Devyn!
Thanks to everyone again for visiting Devyn while she was here on the Island and for showing interest in her new publication!
Lea! You won a copy of Pursuit, a book from Elizabeth's back list! Please contact me @ katiereus (at) yahoo . com (no spaces, etc.).
Congrats!!! And thank you to everyone for stopping by the past few days! (I haven't heard from Elizabeth since posting the blogs so I think she might be without Internet access again.)
Please welcome Berkley Sensation author Elizabeth Jennings back for her last day on the island! She's sharing with us a letter to readers posted in one of Berkley's newsletters and an excerpt from her recent release, Shadows at Midnight. Remember tomorrow I'll announce the winner of a book from Elizabeth's back list so be sure to check back! For more information on purchasing Shadows at Midnight, here's a link to Amazon and to Barnes & Noble. And, Elizabeth's website will be going live in the very near future so hopefully you'll be able to learn even more about this wonderful author soon!
According to a recent review of Shadows at Midnight (The Romance Studio, 5 heart review!) ... “Elizabeth Jennings pens one of the best romantic suspense novels I've read in quite a while....If this were a movie it would be full of the kind of action that would make it a hit. Without the big screen to make this better Ms. Jennings uses the power of her words to convey emotion, action, and suspense better than many do.” For the full review,click here.
Enjoy the letter and excerpt and thank you again to Elizabeth for hanging out with us these past few days!
Dear Reader,
When I was young, I was absolutely in love with the idea of spies. Spying seemed to me the epitome of cool, not to mention sexy. I think Sean Connery as James Bond jump-started my puberty.
As I grew older, my image of a spy morphed from James Bond skiing down slopes firing a machine gun or a Lara Croft-like figure (though alas not even in my dreams do I imagine I could look like Angelina Jolie) capable of taking down her enemies with ease, in heels and backwards, to someone very clever, capable of reading hidden reality, and capable of influencing world events.
I was tapping into something deep in the human psyche because what are we all, basically, if not spies? We all want to know more—more about our loved ones and our friends and neighbors. More about the deep, hidden internal workings of the world. We all sense that there are subterranean currents to our lives which are hard to discern, yet essential to an understanding of our own lives and the world around us. Spies dig deeper, look harder, see more clearly.
Enter Claire Day, Defence Intelligence Agency analyst, smart and dedicated, the heroine of Shadows at Midnight. She loves her job, believes in it, and is damned good at it. I guess Claire’s been brewing in my mind for a long, long time. Claire has a deep-seated drive to know, to understand. She’s trained herself to see and understand more clearly than most and has dedicated her life to that, in the service of her country, understanding full well that spooks rarely have a life outside the job because personal attachments cloud your judgment, throw you off your stride. Not to mention the fact that because of her job as a spook, she is transferred to a different country—often a different continent—every two years. But the job is worth it.
Imagine her grief when on one fateful day in the besieged US Embassy in Laka, the capital of Makongo, a West African country, spent with the only Marine on duty, Gunnery Sergeant Daniel Weston, a bomb blast puts her in a three-month coma. The blast takes away her job, her mental clarity and her memory. She is left a shell of her former self, a woman uncertain of everything, with panic attacks and memory loss.
The strong woman who saw reality so well now cannot see the danger approaching her and is unable to defend herself. That task is taken up by heroic Dan who protects her until she can reconnect with her former self. Together, the former spook and the brave Gunnery Sergeant uncover the cold conspiracy at the heart of the blast and discover that love can blossom even in the most dangerous of circumstances.
The question hung in the air. Claire’s pretty mouth was a shocked O. She hadn’t wanted to ask the question, that was clear. And the strong, controlled woman he’d kissed a year ago would never have asked the question, she’d have finagled the info out of him, cleverly and casually.
But that Claire was gone.
In her place was this pale, shaking ghost. Man, she was in bad shape. So thin he could feel bone when he touched her, bruised-looking eyes with a lost look in them, the very light tan she’d had in Laka gone without a trace, though she now lived in Florida.
This new Claire had had a panic attack when Stavros’s waiter started piling food on the table. Dan could have kicked himself in the ass. It hadn’t even occurred to him that her system simply wouldn’t be able to deal with it. And yet he’d seen how thin she’d become, held her briefly in his arms and felt the fragility. Duh. It meant her system couldn’t handle food.
He’d seen that before. He’d seen every manifestation of PTSD there was. His gunner in Afghanistan, who’d had both legs blown off, had simply turned his face to the wall, unwilling to live. He’d had to be fed parenterally for a couple of months to keep him alive.
Dan hadn’t thought of that. He’d simply wanted to take Claire to a place that was warm and welcoming, where the food was good, and where she could relax. And Stavros’s place fit the bill. Except Stavros overdid the portions, always had. Marines had hearty appetites. And shit-for-brains Dan hadn’t thought of that.
Man, Claire had nearly fainted. She’d been pale before, but as the waiter slid the dishes in front of her, she’d turned the color of ice. He was lucky she hadn’t fainted, or thrown up.
But she’d had a panic attack. And in her panic, she’d blurted out her question and now looked as if she’d accidentally tripped a land mine.
This was going to be hard. But Dan was a Marine. He knew how to do hard.
He picked up her cold, trembling hand.
“I don’t know why I said that.” Claire’s shaking voice was high, breathless. “It’s crazy. I am so sorry. I don’t know where that came from, it just—“
Dan laid a finger across her lips. “Sh.” He couldn’t stand to see that lost look on her beautiful face. “Hush. It’s not crazy. You’re not crazy.” Reluctantly, he lifted his finger from her mouth. She had amazingly soft lips. He remembered that, nightly. “And for your information, we did kiss. Just before you left with Marie.”
“We did? We kissed?” Claire’s huge, silver-blue eyes never left his face, watching him as carefully as if he were a grenade that could blow up at any moment. Or as if he would kiss her again.
Which, well, he wanted to do. Badly. So badly he held his right fist under the table, tightly clenched. It had taken all his willpower—and he had a lot of willpower—to take his finger away from her. He didn’t just want his finger against her mouth. He wanted his own mouth there, too. He wanted to be mouth to mouth, chest to chest, groin to groin, with Claire Day. So close he could breathe for her. So close he could feel her heartbeat.
“Yeah.” His voice was hoarse. He cleared it. “And then you went out and got yourself blown up.”
Her face lightened a little. It wasn’t a smile, but it was the ghost of one. “I’m sure the two events were unrelated,” she said. The big chandelier in the middle of the room reflected off her eyes as she searched his, bright lances of silver. “How did we—how did we get to that point? Had we been…dating? That past week? Because I don’t remember you at all.”
“We didn’t date.” Dan pushed a small plate of baklava a little closer. “Eat some of that. You don’t have to finish it, stop when you don’t want any more. But I want you to eat a little. One. Just a bite or two of one, if you can’t finish it. Please.”
Because now Dan knew what his new mission in life was. Dan had been intensely mission oriented ever since he joined the marines. He focused on his goal and he achieved it.
And now his goal was to take care of this incredible woman. She was magic. Smart and beautiful and strong, brought low by thugs. He’d almost lost her and by some miracle had found her. He wasn’t losing her again. No way.
“Yessir.” A corner of her beautiful mouth lifted. For a second, Dan had a flash of the woman that was, hidden somewhere inside this frail, wounded creature. She wanted out and he wanted to help her get out. “Nobody disobeys the Detachment Commander.”
That was true. In times of danger, the Detachment Commander was Commander in Chief. He was to be obeyed instantly. He was God.
“Damn straight.” Dan cut a corner of a piece of Stavros’s superb baklava. “Now put that in your mouth.”
“Yessir,” she said again. He watched the forkful disappear in her mouth, and envied it. “So.” She tilted her head to one side, considering him. He knew what he was. A battered 34 year old with a metal knee, no spleen, half deaf in one ear, who’d had to start over from scratch. A man who owned his own home and his own business, but who didn’t have looks and didn’t have charm.
She smiled. “I guess it was that old classic. The moonlight, the exotic locale, the gunfire...”
“Exactly.” Great. A flash of the old Claire Day. “Now eat.”
