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Thank you for inviting me to your blog. I’d like to introduce you to my third short story in my Love Charm series. Love Charm for Carlotta.

 Blurb: Carlotta doesn’t believe in love charms. Especially not when the bad boy hockey player from her past suddenly re-appears in her life. But the small town island atmosphere of Martha’s Vineyard conspires against her when she tries to escape him. Jace, and her memories, are everywhere she turns. Is it the love charm working, or something else? Do people change, or will she be courting heartbreak again if she succumbs to her high school sweetheart?

Carlotta owns a bakery on Martha’s Vineyard. Jace loves these rolls and thought you might enjoy the recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 cups milk
• 2 packages active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 egg
• 7 cups all-purpose flour (6 cups white; 1 cup whole wheat)
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon

Directions

1. Warm milk in a saucepan until it bubbles. Remove from heat. Let cool until lukewarm. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, combine yeast mixture, milk, sugar, oil, baking powder, salt, egg and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in the remaining flour, beating well after each ½ cup addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
3. Heat brown sugar and 1/2 cup butter until melted. Remove from heat; stir in corn syrup. Divide mixture between two 9×13 inch baking pans. Sprinkle 1/2 cup pecans in each pan.
4. When dough has doubled in size, punch down and turn onto a floured surface. Roll out into a large rectangle and spread with butter. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Starting with the long side, roll up the rectangle into a log, and slice into 1 inch rolls. Place rolls in pans. Wrap pans with aluminum foil. Refrigerate at least 12 hours, no longer than 48.
5. Let rolls stand in a warm place until doubled in size, about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
6. Bake uncovered until golden 30 to 35 minutes. Immediately invert pan on serving plate. Wait for 1 or 2 minutes before removing pan.

A tip from Jace: If you like your treats to be as sweet as Carlotta is, double the ingredients in Step 3 to make more of the topping.

Excerpt:

Jace hopped off the bike as it rocked to a stop.

“What are you doing?” Carlotta said. “I thought we were just going for a ride.”

Jace wanted to growl. Where was the girl who would have hopped off the bike, thrown her arms around him, and laughed with sheer joy? How could he find her again?

“Come on.” He pulled her off the Harley. “I want to see the breeze blowing your hair.” Actually, he wanted to see it flowing all over his stomach, but he wasn’t dumb enough to say so. Yet.

“I’ve been meaning to cut my hair,” Carlotta said.

“No way. It’s perfect.” He ran his hand lightly through her black curls. He’d enjoy the great view if he ever did get her to go down on him again.

She shivered, and he had to stifle the urge to grab her and tumble her down to the ground.

“I need to go home now,” she said.

“You used to love this beach.”

“I still come here.” She met his gaze. “Alone.”

He stepped closer and cupped a hand around her face. “Come on, Carlotta. I’ve got a whole lotta something for you.”

“That,” she said tartly, “is the worst line I’ve ever heard.”

But she didn’t step out of his reach and her eyes were sparkling again.

“You know I can be a goofball.” He touched the corner of her mouth. “I just wanted to put a smile on your face.”

For a moment, she stared at him in the moonlight. A sharp breeze blew off the water, and the surf lapped at the shore.

And then she licked his finger.

Jace caught his breath, afraid to move. He knew an invitation when he got it, but, for a moment, he was unsure of his approach. Would he scare her off if he let her see the passionate urgency that was overwhelming him? Or would he give her too much time to think if he tried a slow and gradual seduction?

“Carlotta—” he murmured. He slipped his finger into her mouth.

She sucked it in, and licked it again. While keeping her eyes fixed on him.

He thought he might come on the spot, fully clothed, while he explored her warm, wet mouth.

A lone seagull shrieked overhead, and Carlotta jerked back. She looked at him, her eyes wide. “What am I doing? I don’t even like you.”

Shit. Major check. “Of course you do, sweetie.” He bent down and kissed the side of her neck. “You’ve liked me since the day I gave you a dandelion in first grade.”

“I was easy then. I’ve grown up now.”

“So I’ve noticed.” He stroked his hands down the sides of her curvy body. “I can’t tell you how much I like your grown-up parts.” He touched the underside of her breasts.

“Jace,” she said in a warning tone. “I don’t want—”

He feathered his thumbs over her nipples and she gasped.

“You don’t want what?” he asked. He strained to keep his touch light as her nipples beaded.  The wait for her consent was torturing him.

“Carlotta?” Slowly, lightly, he continued to stroke her. She had to give in. He would die, otherwise.

Buy Link: http://amzn.com/B00AHJN4ZW

Website: http://www.carlycarson.com

I have some pictures of Martha’s Vineyard on my Pinterest site: http://pinterest.com/carlycarson/

We are so happy to have the fabulous Tara Lain visiting with us today. If you haven’t discovered her books yet, you’re in for a treat. Help us welcome her by leaving a comment. We want her to come back, and you could win a free book, too! What could be better than that?

Thank you so much to Roz, Chellesie, and Jennifer for inviting me here today to celebrate the release of my new MM contemporary called Snow Balls. I’m delighted to be among the first guests on this beautiful blog. My new release, Snow Balls, is a MM opposites attract story and the latest in the very popular Balls to the Wall series.  I was having a conversation recently with a friend who doesn’t read romance. In fact, he doesn’t really read fiction. I was explaining the twists and turns of the plot of a new book I’m writing and I found myself telling him how very complex good romance is. I listened to myself saying it and thought, son of a gun, it’s true. Now I will be the first to admit that most people don’t think of our genre this way. They think of romance as the simplest of fiction. Boy meets girl, boys loses girl, boys finds girl again and they live happily ever after. Of course, in my case it’s boy meets boy, but the principal is the same. They call it a formula.

But think about it. Virtually all fiction has some formula. Certainly mystery has a lot of rules and suspense is riddled with them. I guess you could argue that Joyce’s Ulysses had no formula, but maybe breaking the rules was a formula of its own. Now, think about romance. We not only have to create an interesting plot with three-dimensional characters who have problems of their own — we also have to make them fall in love! They have to fall in love somewhat believably, have obstacles that keep them apart and make it appear at least for a time that they won’t get together, and then, in spite of it all, they end up together. I thought about my MMM romantic suspense novel, Golden Dancer. Holy cow, I had a theft of an art treasure, a nasty, villain, a ballet dancer, an investigative journalist, and a billionaire technologist I somehow had to get together while never losing touch with the mystery. In my new book, Snow Balls, I tell the story of two complex men struggling with demons from their past who both pretend to be something they’re not. Finding a way to bring them together  without compromising who they are is no small challenge.

It’s been many a century since “romance” was a tight formula plot with two-dimensional characters that always ended in a wedding. In fact, we might argue, that today ours is one of the most complex genres to write. But maybe we better just keep it between us!  LOL

Contest details -

Would you like to win a Balls book? Leave me a comment WITH YOUR EMAIL and you may win your choice of Volley Balls (Aussie sandwich), Fire Balls (the feisty artist and the firefighter), or Beach Balls (enemies to lovers–underwater). Three people this week will win books. And someone who comments on one of my blog stops this week will win a $10 GC as well. I’ll be choosing winners as I go so if you want to comment on more than one blog come on over to Beautiful Boys Books and check out the schedule.

And here is an excerpt from Snow Balls. I hope you enjoy it!

 Excerpt - 

Big, handsome and hunky, JJ LaRousse looks like an alpha male but acts like an interior decorator. And he’s trying to be happy about it — until a robbery at the famous Laguna Winter Fantasy brings JJ face-to-face with tough cop, Ryan Star. JJ hears Ryan likes guys who are manly men, so he drops his voice an octave, colors over his pink hair, and tries to pass as a football fan. Ryan Star may be tough but he hides in the closet at work since he learned in New York that being a gay cop can cost you your life. His attraction to that big, handsome kid threatens his anonymity, but he can’t seem to resist. JJ is just his type. But then JJ goes skiing and comes face to face with his greatest nemesis– and all the secrets come out of the closet. Can Ryan love JJ for who he really is? More important, can JJ?

“David. David. Oh my God, oh my God.” JJ grabbed the smoothly muscled arm of his friend and boss.

David trapped JJ’s other waving hand between his. “OK, calm down. What is it? Did one of the exhibitors wear pink and orange together again?” David grinned. Nobody knew better how overreactive JJ was. Thank God, David loved him anyway.

He needed air. He took a deep breath. “The cop. The one I told you about. Oh my God of CSI, he wants me to come to the police station and look at mug shots.” JJ retrieved his hand. He needed it for fanning.

David looked up at JJ. It wasn’t far up since the handsome gallery owner stood a slim six foot one to JJ’s six four. “OK. That’s not hard. The police station is only a ten-minute walk away and I’m here to finish setting up the booth. Perfect timing.”

“Oh God.” JJ collapsed onto a packing crate.

“That’s the hand blown glass you’re sitting on, darling.”

JJ jumped up. “He’s just so…”

“Intimidating, overbearing?”

“Delicious.”

David laughed. “That’s a different kind of problem.”

“I’ve got to go to the men’s room.”

“Oh, OK.”

JJ took off at a run to the men’s room at the center of the festival grounds. Inside, he stuck his carefully spiked head under the faucet, pulled out his comb, and flattened the do. Of course, the pink streaks still stood out like candy canes in his light brown hair. Nothing to be done about it now. He washed his hands and headed back to the booth.

David glanced up from the last packing box. “What happened to your hair?”

“Rod says the cop likes guy’s guys.” David tucked in his T-shirt with the What Would Anna Do? logo, his homage to Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue. He pulled on his Windbreaker and zipped it up. He did a twirl. “With a cap, can I pass as Daniel Craig?”

David put his hands on his hips. “First off, how does Rod know who or what the cop likes? And even if he’s right, it’s never a good idea to try to be something you’re not. You know that. Pretend at the beginning and you have to keep living your lies. That’s a drag.”

JJ stuck out his lip. “It’s not exactly a lie. Hell, look at me.”

David frowned. “JJ, you’re gorgeous. And you’re a catch just the way you are.”

“But I’m such a…” he waved his hands “…fruit!”

“Strawberries and cream. Any man would be lucky to get you.”

JJ sighed. “Thanks. But I need to be more, you know, masculine.”

David smoothed the crease between his own brows with two fingers. “Who said that?”

JJ frowned. “You mean besides my father?”

“Ancient history. You have a life now with people who love you as you are. Don’t go looking for appreciation from those without the discrimination to give it.”

About the Author-

Tara Lain’s first erotic romance novel was published in January of 2011. She’s now on book 16. Her novels have garnered awards for Best Series of 2011, Best Contemporary Romance, and Tara has been named Best Writer of the Year in the LRC Awards. In her other job, Tara owns an advertising and public relations firm, and she carries her promotional instincts into her writing career as well. She lives  with her soul-mate husband in Laguna Beach, California, a pretty seaside town where she sets a lot of her books.  Passionate about diversity,  justice, and new experiences , Tara says on her tombstone it will say “Yes”!

 Connect with Tara - 

Website:              http://www.taralain.com

Author blog:       http://taralain.blogspot.com

Don’t forget to leave a comment and you could win a copy of one of Tara’s Beautiful Boys books!

Who says love and romance is only for the twenty-something crowd? I’m a firm believer that there’s no expiration date on a woman’s heart, and THE 90 DAY RULE by Diane Nelson proves the point.

Jes’s story is one far too many women have lived. At an early age, her dreams fell under the bus that was her husband’s career, relegating her to the subservient role of token wife in charge of nothing but raising the perfect child and projecting the image of the perfect family. It’s all about keeping up images, until she catches her philandering husband in bed with a woman/girl young enough to be his daughter.

Fresh out of options, Jes is sleeping on the sofa in her daughter’s college digs while she tries to knit together a new life with tattered threads from the old one. Help comes from an unexpected source, but like most gifts, it comes with strings attached – play the devoted wife for ninety days, long enough to get her husband re-elected, in exchange for a quick divorce complete with a financial settlement that will allow her to resuscitate her dreams.

This is a wonderfully refreshing read jam-packed with real emotion and realistic conflict. As a reader well past the twenty-something mark, I appreciate a mature heroine with mature issues. Can she pick up where she left off all those years ago? Are the dreams of her youth no longer attainable or realistic at her age? What, exactly, does she have to offer the world? What is she to do with unexpected desire, and the important question in any romance, can she dare to love again?

I loved Jes’s journey from lost and broken to grounded and strong. The transformation isn’t easy, but real life rarely is. THE 90 DAY RULE is honest, and real, and fabulous, as well as refreshing, bold, and well written with layers upon layers to make a reader think. I give it five stars for originality in a genre that too often takes the freeway when a side road might be more interesting.

Diane Nelson’s Website

Purchase The 90 Day Rule