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Hi everyone!

As a quick follow up to my post from last Friday - So, the winner of either a copy of Vortex Blues or Take It Off is…drumroll…..Little Lamb Lost. Email me at info at tinagerow dot com and let me know which book and if you’d like PDF, HTML or PRC format
Anyway, back to today’s post.

I just heard from Kensington that they have renamed Triangle of Seduction, the third book in my Seduction Series, to Trio of Seduction.

I’ve only seen a black and white cover that didn’t copy well, so I’m not posting it here, but here’s a link to the Kensington cataloge - do a search on “Cassie Ryan” and it will take you right there. - http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/supportdata/KensingtonMay-Aug092.pdf

It’s due to release July 29, 2009.

That’s about all my excitement for the day, so I thought I’d post an excerpt from Vortex Blues to give you a taste

Excerpt:

Molly closed and locked her apartment door and then took the spiral staircase down to the main floor of the Vortex Bar & Grill. A long hot bath had almost succeeded in easing her tight muscles from her meeting with Cleo—almost. If news of a succubus serial killer got out into the mainstream media, all supernaturals could lose the rights Congress had given them. No matter that most people ignored them, at least they were recognized legally. Molly remembered only too well her shock when she’d been cursed into becoming a succubus, and how if felt to be treated with less rights and respect than even an animal.
As she rounded the corner past the kitchen and storeroom, the deep gravelly voice of her bartender, Rocky, vibrated the floorboards beneath her feet, and she quickened her pace. Gargoyles’ voices tended to be on such a low vibration that they often resonated with natural materials causing them to vibrate, making Molly feel as if she were walking through an impending earthquake.
The vibrations increased until she stumbled and had to catch her balance against a nearby wall.
Shit! Please don’t let him have eaten another tourist! She wasn’t sure if her silent prayer would be answered, but she didn’t want another scene like last month. She still owed Cleo for helping her with that one.
She pushed through the swinging door and stopped short. Rocky, her seven-foot hulk of a bartender who never smiled and almost didn’t fit behind the bar stood polishing glasses and…laughing. At least she thought it was a laugh. She never even knew gargoyles knew how—especially this one.
Sitting across the bar from Rocky was the most amazing example of the male form she’d seen in well over a hundred years. Wavy hair the color of decadent dark chocolate drooped over one brow and hung over his collar, making her fingers itch to delve into the silky mass. Broad shoulders that almost equaled the hulking gargoyle’s nicely filled out a simple white button down shirt, open at the collar to show a white t-shirt and just the barest hint of dark chest hair.
She allowed her gaze to skim down to the trim waist, where a simple gun holster hung from his belt next to his badge, and lower to the blue jeans and cowboy boots that accentuated muscular thighs. She wished he would stand so she could check out his ass. Just then he turned to face her and Molly’s breath caught inside her throat and every other thought scattered as if she’d just stepped through one of the Sedona vortexes her bar was named for.
Green eyes, the color of the sea on a calm day, pinned her in place, giving her the impression he knew her every secret. Almost peripherally, she noticed the chiseled jaw, the straight nose and the sculpted lips that would make any woman think instantly of sweaty nights in his arms. He blinked, breaking the spell, and she finally noticed the confusion swimming in the cool depths of his eyes.
I wonder where that came from?
“Molly, this here is Detective Mitch Guthrie—your new partner. You should hear about his run in with Squid and Cleo.” The floorboards beneath her feet rumbled ominously as Rocky nearly doubled over with laughter.
Mitch’s dark brow furrowed as he shot an annoyed glare toward Rocky. “Cleo needs to mind her own business.”
Ignoring him, Rocky’s rumbling calmed to a tolerable level. “I just got off the phone with Cleo before man-meat here showed up. He’s got brass ones from what Cleo said. I think I like him. But I’d bet on you, my sweet Molly. Can I watch you digest him for breakfast?”
Molly blinked as blood suddenly returned to her brain along with some semblance of reason. She stepped forward and offered her hand to her annoyingly sexy new partner, noting the clean masculine scent of his energy that only someone with supernatural senses would detect. “Welcome to the Vortex, Detective Guthrie. I assume Cleo told you I have no need and no desire for a partner?”
As his large hand engulfed hers, she fought not to gasp at the sensations skyrocketing through her body. Her nipples hardened uncomfortably under her satin bra and need gathered low in her belly like a slumbering dragon just stirring.
Damn girl, get hold of yourself. You’re a succubus—not a fumbling virgin! But then, no man had affected her this way since the one who’d cursed her to her fate as a succubus long ago. Now men were just food or customers—nothing more, nothing less. She gave herself a mental slap.
“Cleo didn’t tell me anything other than you were my partner and our case is about a succubus.” He smiled, flashing even white teeth and a boyish grin that threatened to buckle her knees and turn her into a quivering pile of goo on the floor at his feet. “Let’s just say when she wasn’t being prickly about her stint on the Egyptian throne, she was being a general pain in my ass.” He looked back at Rocky before returning his all-seeing gaze to her. “I wasn’t given a choice about this either, so why don’t we make the best of it, and forego the part of the morning where you digest me for breakfast?”

Thanks!
Tina/Cassie

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Back when I was in high school I was a total and complete band geek. I was so band-geeky in fact that during most of my lunch hours you’d find me practicing my clarinet in the band room. Now, I don’t regret my time there, that clarinet scholarship paid my way through college, but that’s not the point of my story. Now add to this that I was always somewhat of a tomboy, and hung out with lots of guys who – yup, you pegged it – thought of me purely as a “friend” and not as a girl.

Anyway, my band director asked if my friend and I would be willing to give up a weekend and sit in and play with an orchestra during a performance of Guys and Dolls in Sun City—which for those of you not familiar with Arizona, Sun City is our local retirement community.

I jumped at the chance to play with adult musicians—retired professionals, those with a lifelong hobby and love of music etc. So, my friend Merrit Taylor, and I headed off to Sun City to sit in.

The director was a very sweet elderly gentleman with a ready smile, a thorough love of music and some terrific stories. Rehearsals were great fun, and we were looking forward to the actual performance. This was my first experience playing in a live production, and it is a fond memory I’ll always carry with me.

Anyway, sometime during rehearsals and performances and all the rest, I glanced up to see a gorgeous guy with a terrific smile complete with an adorable dimple in one cheek, and the bluest blue eyes I’d ever seen. Now put yourself back inside your hormone-driven brain in high school. My breath caught, the world stopped and my teenage heart beat faster. It was one of those moments I look back on and smile because I know I sat there staring like an open-mouthed idiot and was quite obvious about it—something I tease my son about whenever I see him do it now…lol.

So, imagine my excitement when the director brought Mr. Hottie over to the orchestra to introduce him as his grandson on leave from the Navy. And imagine those teenage hormones kicking into overdrive when that great smile turned toward me, and he winked at me with those great blue eyes. <Insert dreamy sigh here>

To make things even more perfect, he was sweet, smart, had a great sense of humor and seemed just as gaga over me. And as cheesy as it sounds, I remember that very first kiss, and I’m glad it was a great memory I can smile over instead of some of the horror stories of first kisses I’ve heard from my friends. If memory serves, we “dated” for nearly a year, which consisted of kissing, holding hands, writing lots of letters punctuated by short visits when he could get leave from his ship and talking about how we would be together forever. In fact, I even remember a Cubic Zirconia ring that I wore for quite a while.  Ahh youth…

Time happened and so did high school, and I remember writing him sadly telling him that I wasn’t ready for forever, and neither was he, and that for now, I needed to be a high school kid. I mailed back the ring and we parted amicably and fondly and I didn’t hear from him again until college. He was back in town for a weekend visiting his grandparents, and I have fond memories of a weekend spent laughing and catching up on the years we’d missed. I also remember speaking to him briefly—although I can’t remember if it was in person or on the phone—right after I’d graduated from college, and I was engaged to be married.

Fast forward eighteen years since we’ve last spoken, or around twenty-five years since we met and I received an email out of the blue the other day through my writing website. It was from him. I recognized the name instantly, and it was a happy surprise to hear that he was now happily married with two great kids and had made a career out of the Navy. He was in town again, this time visiting his grandmother. His grandfather, sadly, had passed away several years ago.

Since schedules on both sides were tight, I only got to see him for a few minutes, but recognized him instantly, and nearly laughed when he looked at me with that same smile and dimple and those same laughing blue eyes – and winked when he saw me just like he had the first time I laid eyes on him.  And he still looked great. We’ve both “matured” as he put it, but it was a great trip through memory lane that reminded me of that young innocent high school girl I used to be long ago (If you’ve read my books, you know that was a loooooong while ago…LOL!) And reminds me of a very sweet boy who filled my thoughts, dreams and several pages of my journals during high school. Talking with him was just as easy and fun as it had been then, and I hope that this time we’ll keep in touch and not wait quite so long to catch up on each other’s lives.

He says his grandmother has a great picture of both of us together looking at each other so moon eyed that it will give you cavities. I hope he finds it and can send me a copy.  If I get it, I’ll post it. But for now, I only have the picture of me from high school—the one that incidentally, my son thinks makes me look like a nurse…lol.

Isn’t it interesting what perspective age can give us? I turn forty in a month, and in the span of a few minutes, I felt fourteen all over again—or at least the good parts of it…lol. And it has made me wax a bit nostalgic if you can’t tell.

So what about all of you? Do you remember your first girlfriend or boyfriend? Fond memories? Embarrassing ones? Join me in my trip down memory lane, and do tell…

I’ll draw from all the names of everyone who leaves a comment or a fun story and I’ll give away an electronic copy of that person’s choice of VORTEX BLUES or TAKE IT OFF. So dish, and let’s have some fun!

Tina/Cassie

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Hi there!  Did y’all think I’d died?  Nope…still here and still kickin’.  Just been buried trying to dig out from under life…you know how it goes, don’t cha?  Sure you do…we’ve all been there.  I have a good friend that says some days it’s like being stoned to death with popcorn…none of the individual pieces is big enough to kill ya but put ‘em all together and you sometimes think it might.  LOL  Well, it hasn’t…killed me, that is.  In fact, I think I’m actually winning the battle.  Woo Hoo!!!  Doing the happy dance.

Now, I’ve had a couple of people email me recently to ask how the internet dating thing is going and what ever happened to Mr. Confused, so I thought I’d bring ya up to speed on that…since this is, after all, a “romance” writers site.  LOL

Mr. Confused…he’s still out there…still emailing and calling occasionally…and after almost two years, I still have not met him face-to-face.  Surprised?  No, I didn’t think so.  LMAO  He did make it to Florida last October (2007) and was only one day late getting there.  Then he made it to Houston in time for Thanksgiving dinner (he’s a man…what did you expect?)…where he stayed for a long, long time.  Guess his sisters are really good cooks.  (wink-wink)  Anyway, toward the end of this last summer, he started for home (remember…that was Oregon).  Well, the trip home rivaled the trip out.  He was headed for Phoenix…slowly, but surely…and then the van and trailer started breaking down in one town after another…and I’ll be damned if he didn’t lose his way and miss Phoenix again on the way home just like he did on the way out.  Before we knew it, he was back in Oregon.  Go figure!  I know what you’re thinking…I scared him and he’s afraid to actually meet me.  I promise, I didn’t do anything kinky or weird or scary to this man.  Really!  Oh…maybe that’s the problem.  Hmmmmmmm……    ROFL

Mr. Wonderful…this was the one that got away…the one that stole my heart and then squished it like a bug on the sidewalk.  Yep…he did.  I found one that I thought was the one made in heaven.  It was a wonderful, whirlwind romance that I thought (at my age) I’d never see again.  It was fabulous.  It was beautiful.  It was sexy.  It was short.  LOL  Anyway, long story short, I fell in love (little l…not enough time, thankfully, to give away my entire heart).  On a Sunday he asked me for exclusivity (which I was delighted to agree to) and three days later on Wednesday, sent me an email breaking it off with virtually no explanation…then refused to take email, text, IM, or phone calls…just dropped off the face of the earth.  Yes, you read that right…an email…a stinking email!!!  I was stunned…sent me for a loop because this was absolutely the last man on earth I would have expected such unfeeling and inconsiderate treatment from.  I really did expect more from him.  But apparently, we’re never too old to be taken for a ride…and apparently they’re never too old to be ijits.  Now, before you start feeling sorry for me…I must reaffirm that this was a wonderful few weeks.  I’ve got some really warm and special memories…some of the most romantic moments in time that I’ve ever had…and the images are burned permanently into my mind.  So it wasn’t a total loss.  This was one of those once in a lifetime romances that is the stuff our stories are made of…complete with butterflies in the stomach, long hot kisses, long hours of conversation until the sun comes up, laughing together at stupid movies, and long romantic moments staring into each other’s eyes where there is no one else in the world but the two of you.  So no matter what the outcome was, I will always be grateful for those very special memories I’ve got.  And if nothing else, it will help me out a lot in those love scenes.  J  Ya gotta love that!

Mr. Scammer.  Normally, I wouldn’t give this guy any space in my blog, but this one was just so damn stupid…and such a bad scammer…that he’s got to have special mention.  I figured out real early on that this was a scammer…and most likely one of those Nigerian scammers…since he was supposedly living in Meadview, Arizona but was spending a lot of time in the UK and Africa.  Long story short, he took me through the normal bum’s rush where they try to make what they think is a desperate and lonely woman believe that they have actually fallen in love with her through 2 very brief emails…all on the strength of her tremendous beauty and earth-shattering personality.  Duh!  Can you say…”Are ya kiddin’ me?”  Well, this one was priceless.  He eventually decided I wasn’t coming around fast enough, so as George Straight once said in a movie, he “cranked up the fire under the dancing chicken.”  He sent me an excerpt that he had clearly cut and pasted from a romance novel somewhere.  It was so good that I’ve just got to include it here…

I miss you. I want to be with you and hold you. I want to gently touch your face and cup your cheek in my hand as I look into your beautiful blue eyes.. I want to snuggle and cuddle with you, to just be close to you. I want to rub your leg and stare across the couch as we talk of our feelings for one another. I want to hold your hand across the table at a restaurant. I want others in the restaurant to be jealous of our intimacy and our tender affection for one another. I want to lie next to you in front of a fire and gaze into your eyes while I rub your back.. I want to romance you. I want you to know how beautiful you are in my eyes. I want you to know how much I cherish and adore you. I want to give my heart to you. I want your heart, I want it all.

Nice you say?  Yes, it most certainly would be…if my eyes weren’t brown.  LOL  Yeah, that’s a pretty stupid scammer…one who needs a spreadsheet to keep track of his communications.  The really funny thing is that I finally decided to stop playing the game with him because he was getting really creepy and the train wreck was no longer fun to watch.  So when I told him to never contact me again, he sent the same cut and pasted excerpt, begging me to reconsider…apparently forgetting he’d already sent it to me once before.  ROFL  I replied that he was an idiot…and that my eyes were still brown.

Well, that’s my dating experience over the last year or so in a nutshell…some wonderful moments, some broken heart moments, some good laughs, and some head-scratchers.  All in all, a good time, but no Mr. Right yet.  J  (Although there is still a very cranky man in Cornville and a very sexy man in Tennessee that will forever be my friends.)

The moral of the story?  You win some, you lose some, and some get rained out.  But everything you survive makes you smarter, stronger, better.  The only wasted lesson is the one you don’t learn from and the only regretted love is the one that doesn’t somehow leave you better than it found you.

That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it!  Hang on tight ‘cuz we’re gonna go real, real fast!

Love ya,

Kayce

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Wild, Wicked,
And Haunted In Hollywood
by Lee Avalone
ISBN-13: 978-1-60272-406-8 (Electronic)

From hell to a haunted ménage, can a macho demon slayer handle the supernatural heat?

Demon hunter Paul Dean is ready for a change, but on the same night he kills his last demon, he encounters a randy ghost, and he’s not sure he’s on the right career path. During a routine sweep of the neighborhood after paranormal activity, Paul lands in the middle of a ménage where one of the participants is otherworldly and the other is out of this world.

Nick Zander had given up on life until a handsome demon hunter shows up at his door. The demon hunter’s a kindred spirit. How often would a perfect stranger get naked and fall asleep in the living room? It may be the strangest beginning to a relationship in Hollywood, but it’s perfect for Nick. Until the demon hunter reveals Nick’s dreams are not imaginings, but paranormal trysts with a ghost—a specter who insists on making a supernatural ménage…

Genres: Gay / Dark Fantasy / Vampire / Paranormal / Ghosts / Hauntings / Psychic Phenomena / Interracial / Multicultural / Ménage (M/M/M) / Group Sex
Heat Level: 3
Length: Extended Amber Kiss (14k words)

Excerpt:

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