Romantic Times -- Houston, Texas

Jade Lee and Sasha Lord were having a great time at the RT Booklovers Conference in Houston. It's only Friday afternoon and Jade's quiet -- no voice! But she was able to stop by and chat with the Fresh Fiction crew for a time on Friday afternoon. She was joined by Sasha Lord who told us all about the book she's finishing to be published in 2008! And it sounds terrific since she confessed to keeping it under her pillow at night! Sounds like a keeper to me if the author doesn't want to let go of it!

Jade's next book will be on the shelves in June, TEMPTED TIGRESS, the sixth in the Tigress series of very sensual historicals set in China. Another winner guaranteed!

We also ran across an old friend from DFW area -- debut author Tracy Garrett. She was excited to show us the promo postcard for her book TOUCH OF TEXAS, on shelves October 2nd at a very special price! The cover is DE*lic*ious! Gotta love the cowboy, especially a Texan cowboy!

It is tiring to be go-go-go at the RT gathering. We spotted a grouping of authors lurking, ah, resting, under the escalators. JC Wilder, Stacie Klemstein, Isabo Kelly and Linnea Sinclair took advantage of a quiet corner, semi smoke free, to rest and view the crowds around the bar! We caught them in "action."

Cowboys and vampires were the theme for Friday night's activities and the hallways and bar were crowded with stetsoned cowpokes and dance hall beauties at the Hyatt in downtown Houston. Our view from the window of the 28th floor belied the frentic activity in the lobby below. It was not your usual Friday night in Houston -- the vamps and cowboys came out to play!

Book Club Rewind - Jenna Petersen

Ah. The horror. I forgot to bring a pen & paper to the table during our conversation with Jenna so I'm going off of some notes that I wrote down after the call. My apologies. I will be more diligent next time. I get a little wrapped up in the conversation. It's like taking meeting minutes at my day job. I've never been overly great at that :D


As anyone who has read the Lady Spies books will tell you, there is a HUGE James Bond and Charlie's Angels influence. Bond's superior named "M" from the Bond books/movies and "Lady M" in the Lady Spies series. Jenna did have stray thoughts about naming the secondary character from "Charles Isley" (as he is in the Lady Spies books) into "Charles Bosley." She also swears that Lady M's identity will be revealed in the third, and as yet, final installment of Lady Spies, Seduction is Forever.

Lady Spies is currently only set to be a trilogy, but Jenna is open to writing more Lady Spies books based on some of the secondary characters. Possibly even a Charlie/Lady M book!

She is blessed by the cover art gods! There was quite the controversy with the cover art for Desire Never Dies. The male model has some dimples above his butt in the original cover art (now known as the art on the paperback spine...so it is not totally gone). Apparently, butt dimples are too suggestive for some retailers so the cover art you see now was cropped from the original.

Who is Jenna Petersen reading now (she is not writing so she gets to read!): Sabrina Jeffries, Jacquie D'Alessandro, Kathryn Smith and Vicki Lewis Thompson.

Plano Book Club - Note from this month's author, Jenna Petersen

My name is Jenna Petersen and I write romance. Sort of sounds like a twelve step program, right? But if loving your job is wrong, I don’t want to be right (er, write?). I love writing romance! There is nothing better than taking two flawed characters, putting them together, throwing in some sexual tension, a lot of conflict and growth and mixing until smooth. And voila! True love.

I have written historical and erotic historical romance (as Jess Michaels), both for Avon Books. My historical releases include Scandalous (October 2005), From London With Love (August 2006), Desire Never Dies (January 2007) and the upcoming Seduction is Forever (October 2007). The last three books are all part of the Lady Spies series. Think Charlie’s Angels, but in Empire Waists.

As Jess Michaels, I’ve written “Fallen Angel” in Parlor Games (June 2006) and the upcoming Everything Forbidden (November 2007), plus novellas in Red Sage’s SECRETS collections.

For both my names, I love dark heroes, intense sensuality and adventure. And I also love hearing from readers. I’m really looking forward to visiting with the book club tonight!


Jenna Petersen
Desire Never Dies (Avon), Available Now!
From London With Love, Still Available
Seduction is Forever (Avon), October 2007
http://www.jennapetersen.com/ - Which Lady Spy are you?

Everyone do a rain dance

I spent my lunch break and after work time putting out grass seed today in hopes of putting tomorrow's expected rain to use. My town is still under water restrictions due to lake levels so I'm all for using free rain water instead of hauling out the sprinkler. Anyone who reads this had better be doing a little rain dance for me in hopes that I will see a lot of baby grass out in my backyard (what I affectionately refer to as a mud pit currently -- not fun when you have a dog) soon. It will be so nice NOT having to do that ritual 5 minute (2 towel!) paw cleaning that I currently have to go through when I let the dog back in from being out after it has rained.

My mother was telling me about how her yard people had put out the weed control stuff and I said that I frankly didn't care if I had weeds because that would be an improvement on the mostly dirt that I have now....and weeds can always be mowed to the height of grass. Come on! I'm desperate. I love the huge trees in my backyard, but it is so difficult to get grass to grow in total shade.

What I read today:
Most Likely to Die by Lisa Jackson, Wendy Corsi Staub and Beverly Barton

Happy Earth Day!

Today is Earth Day and I have decided that I'm finally going to start recycling again. My parents have been very big on recycling for close to 20 years now. Probably because one of my older sister's became very interested in it in high school and then went on to become a science teacher herself. When my parents were designing the kitchen for their home over 15 years ago, they planned the layout to account for additional recycling trash cans, newspaper pile and plastic grocery bags. Anyways, ever since moving to Dallas I stopped recycling. No more. I'm starting my pile of newspaper & advertisements (now I just need to buy some string to tie it all up -- am I the only one who doesn't just have string laying around the house?!). I also need to buy a can crusher and a separate trash bin for cans to recycle. More shopping. I've already started switching all my lightbulbs over to the Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFLs) whenever the regular lightbulbs burn out.

Changing topic. I read the mystery High Heels are Murder by Elaine Viets this week and loved it! The main character, Josie Marcus, lives in Maplewood, Missouri (right outside St. Louis). Too ironic. My oldest sister (a shoe addict) lived and worked in Maplewood while I was in college. I worked one summer up there. This is number two in a series - Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper. This book was hilarious. I totally need to read the first book, Dying in Style. Check out FreshFictions' review of High Heels are Murder.


What I've been reading:
High Heels are Murder by Elaine Viets
Remember Me by Sharon Sala
Some Girls Do by Leanne Banks