The Romantic Build-Up by Justine Dell + a Giveaway!

Today I have a special treat for you--a guest blogger and a giveaway! Please welcome Justin Dell, author of All-American Girl.

I hope you'll give her a warm welcome and enter the contest below. Take it away, Justine...

Romance: What Makes those hot scenes so…HOT

by Justine Dell

I’ll be the first to tell you, it’s not the sex. I read all kinds of romance. Paranormal, contemporary, sweet, erotic, you name it, I engulf it. And one of the reasons I engulf romance is because of the build. And the build is what gets us to those oh-so-smexy scenes that makes us want to fan ourselves when we are done.  And it’s those scenes that I’m talking about. Sure, it’s nice two people who have been fawning over each other finally get it on, but it’s not the getting-it-on part that makes it so special. 

Nobody would read books where people just had sex for the purpose of having sex. There’s a name for that, and it’s a whole different type of subject matter. No, we are focusing on the romance, and the romance is what makes the love scenes so beautiful and heart-warming (and hot) for us gals. 

The magical moment is in a thought, a touch, a laugh, a feeling. A well-written and swoon-worthy love scene will not focus solely on the act itself, it will focus on the emotions and actions of the characters. What they are seeing in the other person, what they are feeling (inside and outside), introspection into what this moment means, and everything that has come before this moment. A good love scene is the build. The act is a bonus. 

What do you think? What is your favorite thing about romance love scenes? 

~JD 

BLURB: 

At the age of thirty, with two failed marriages and a tanking writing career, Samantha Moore deals with the world with the only tool she had left: anger. And she’s tired of it. When her grandmother's near-death sends her rushing back home to Vermont, she hopes for the chance to overcome the rage ruling her life.

Once she’s home, Lance Cummings becomes a constant source of indigestion. Lance is a single father who learned first-hand the devastating effects of a damaging relationship. He sees through Samantha’s nasty temper—straight to her cry for help. He wants to help her, but he also wants to know why Samantha ran from him—and their future—twelve years before.

Taking care of her Grams, dealing with an alcoholic brother, and getting Lance to remove his annoyingly attractive nose from her business is draining on Samantha. And she’s only got three weeks to finish her stagnated novel or her publisher will drop her. No pressure. To top it off, pretending to hate the man she actually loves makes each day in Vermont harder than the last. Especially when Lance turns up the heat. 

BIO: 

Justine lives in the Midwest, happily catering to her family, which consists of a horse-obsessed teenage daughter, four dogs, and a husband who is too good to be true. She's never moved from her hometown, but hopes to grow old in a much warmer climate.

During the day she works a normal job with college students who try their best to keep her young. They've done a good job thus far. At night, said teenage daughter and her horse require mounds of love and attention. The weekends belong solely to her and her writing. That's when she morphs into a sticky bug, unable to leave the confines of her computer chair.

She started writing four years ago after seeing a movie that set off a chain reaction she couldn't have stopped if she'd wanted. It's not a hobby for her; it's an obsession. One she loves and one she loves to share. Her debut book, Recaptured Dreams and her newest release, All-American Girl, are available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and wherever book are sold. 

BUY: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Omnific 

Book Trailer | Justine's Blog | Twitter | Facebook

 

GIVEAWAY: Justine is giving away one copy of the ebook today. She will also giveaway an AAG postcard and Vermont Maple Candy (together). To be entered, you must leave a comment with your email address included.

She is also hosting a giveaway on her blog that includes a copy of my e-novella STILL INTO YOU. Click here to enter that giveaway as well!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

The Great Genre Debate with Guest Amalia Dillin

So while I am visiting NYC this week, I am happy to have a few guest bloggers stopping by. And today I have the lovely Amalia Dillin talking about a hot topic--defining genre. It used to be (and in many ways still is) very important to know where your book would be placed in the bookstore. This is the debate going on with the New Adult genre right now--should they be shelved in mainstream, YA, romance, a whole new section? But with the availability of ebooks (and self-publishing) these days, it's becoming less of an issue because online there are no shelves (though there are categories.) Readers can pick up a historical paranormal New Adult romance if they want. And writers can write them. : ) Yay for that. I love genre crossing books (I just finished and adored Kristen Callihan's Moonglow, which is a historical paranormal romance AND mystery, lol--and that's with a Big 5 publisher.) So hooray for variety.

Now, over to Amalia...

Forged By Fate and the Great Genre Debate

by Amalia Dillin

As a writer, genre has always been something I’ve struggled with. For me, it felt like an artificial construct of the marketplace into which I had to smoosh and bend my story until it fit. And it’s a tricky business, figuring out where a book fits best – some books with clearly fantastic elements still make their way onto the “literature” shelf, while other books with similar or the same elements, are entrenched under the “fantasy” label, or hidden away in the “romance” aisle.

My novel, Forged By Fate is one of those books which could fit in more than one place in a bookstore. The story of Adam and Eve begins at the creation of the world and continues through the present day, with a lot of hop scotching through history in-between. When pressed, I call it Contemporary Fantasy (and so does my publisher), but it also has strong historical influences which might make it closer to an alternate history or even, in parts, historical fiction, and it definitely has enough romance to fall under that banner, as well.

But playing with mythology kind of requires that interesting mix of genres. After all, our first epics are both historical fiction and romance, fantasy and literature! Homer didn’t worry about labels when he wrote The Iliad and The Odyssey, and while Snorri really *tried* to make the gods human, he didn’t give up all their fantastic powers and abilities – Baldur still becomes invulnerable because his mother can talk to plants and animals and extract vows, for example. And what is the Trojan War but the result of the romance of Helen of Sparta by Paris of Troy, the love story of all love stories?

So in Forged By Fate, Thor walks the earth, making friends with the common folk; Eve protects her people from divine retribution by learning to tame animals with a thought; and Adam wages war between Assyria and Egypt, Carthage and Rome, Macedonia and the East, always searching for some way to make himself a god among men in the process. And throughout it all, there is the slow, devastating process of falling in love.

But what does it mean to fall in love, when you live forever? What does a relationship look like, when you’re immortal? Zeus and Hera definitely didn’t have a happily ever after, and Odin sure didn’t show any fidelity to his wife, Frigg. So what about Adam and Eve?

Hopefully you’ll want to pick up a copy, and find out!

***

Blurb:

After Adam fell, God made Eve to protect the world. — Adam has pursued Eve since the dawn of creation, intent on using her power to create a new world and make himself its God. Throughout history, Eve has thwarted him, determined to protect the world and all of creation. Unknown to her, the Norse god Thor has been sent by the Council of Gods to keep her from Adam’s influence, and more, to protect the interests of the gods themselves. But this time, Adam is after something more than just Eve’s power — he desires her too, body and soul, even if it means the destruction of the world. Eve cannot allow it, but as one generation melds into the next, she begins to wonder if Adam might be a man she could love.

Forged by Fate available now, from World Weaver Press!

***

What do you think of the new genre-crossing books? Which have you read that you loved?

My New Obsession (and Time Waster)

My favorite chimichurri (Photo by me)

I'm on a plane heading to NYC this morning, so this will be a quick post. (But be sure to check in this week as I have guests on both Wednesday and Friday--and a contest on Friday!) 

But I wanted to share a new website that I'm slightly obsessed with. Everyone hearts Pinterest--and I have an account--but after my photo debacle, I'm wary of pinning anyone else's copyrighted stuff so I only use it for very specific purposes. But now I've found a site that gives me the fantastic food pics and recipes that I liked on Pinterest, but I can simply favorite the ones I like instead of having to "repin" or "reblog" them.

The site? FoodGawker. And OMG, the beautiful food and fantastic recipes on there. I could literally fall in and lose an hour before I even realize it. I LOVE to cook (and consider myself a bit of a foodie). It's one of my favorite hobbies, and I try my best to cook healthfully. So, I was happy to see how many healthy recipes are on the site. Also, I've started baking with the kidlet on Sundays, so this will give us endless sources of new dessert recipes. So yay for new obsessions!

Check it out. But be warned, you may get sucked into the black hole of delicious food photography. : )

Am I the last one to find out about this site? Anyone else on there? What's your favorite site to get lost on?

Fill-Me-In Friday: Best Links of the Month

 

Fave pic of the week: A swan trying to intimidate me out of the last piece of bread. (Btw, this was taken at the park near Love Field airport, which is where I based the scene in Crash Into You with Reid and Brynn in the back of his truck.)

I haven't done one of these in a while. Mainly, I got away from them because when I was so busy under deadline, I didn't have time to surf and read articles, but also because I'm unsure if this feature was still proving helpful to anyone since so many people do round up posts these days. So let me know if you think these should stick around or of you'd prefer another type of post in its place.

Here's the great stuff I've come across in the last few weeks...

 

What You May Have Missed Here:

 

All right, so those are the best I've come across in the last few weeks. Hope you find a few gems. : ) Have a great weekend! (And let me know if you want me to continue doing round up posts or if you'd prefer something else.)