What do you love about romance?–Romancing the Hop

What do you love about romance? What about romance books? Well, if you love romance, then this hop is for you!

From August 31st – Sept 3rd we’re having a blog hop! Over 200 participants will be blogging about what they love about romance (whether it’s what they love about the books, or whatever), and offering awesome prizes (so don’t forget to include your email address when you leave your comments). You can go to EACH blog and comment with your email address and be entered to win. Yep, you can enter over 200 times! Just make sure you leave your email! We can’t pick you if you don’t leave us a way to track you down! :p

The THREE grand prizes:

1st Grand Prize: A Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet
2nd Grand Prize: A $130 Amazon or B&N Gift Card
3rd Grand Prize: The following Swag Pack

What might you win at my site? I saw these recently and thought they’d go perfectly with the blog hop. One winner will receive a pair of Love earrings OR a $10 gift certificate to Amazon, your choice. What do you have to do to win? You can leave a comment, follow me on Facebook or Twitter, tweet about the giveaway, etc. There’s plenty of chances to win!

So what do you love about romance?

Romance comes in more forms than just the obvious. Yes, there’s naked, skin pressing up against skin, hands and mouths touching and tasting…and other body parts interlocking, as well, but it’s more than the actual sex. Romance is the build up, the tension that coils with each brush of a hand and kiss, of the little actions that aren’t sexual at all that tell a person they care, and the words spoken.

Over the last decade or so, I’ve read hundreds of romances in all shapes and forms—paranormals, historicals, contemporaries, GLBTQ, etc. Light romances. Dark romances. Weird romances. (And that’s one think I love about romance books, there are so many to choose from. It doesn’t matter what kind of a mood I’m in, there’s something to suit it.)

It’s the thrill of the spark, that one kiss or touch that ignites a need within two people that I love reading about. Of seeing two people connect in a way they hadn’t with any other (or for you erotica readers, three or four or…however many people). It’s about reading every page and feeling the tension the author can create between the characters and knowing that there’s going to be a happily ever after, or at least a happy for now. I think that’s the biggest thing for me when I choose a book. I need to know the book will end well for the main characters and romance books give me that guarantee.

It matters, that no matter what obstacles is thrown in the path of the characters, that they can overcome them.

What has been one of your favourite romances this year that you’ve read? Leave a comment with your email for a chance to win and don’t forget to check out the sites of the other participants for more entries toward the 3 grand prizes!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*************

Amy has spent her entire life in isolation. Locked away in the Centre, a secret government facility where children with extraordinary abilities are raised as highly skilled fighters, she longs for a normal life. A life where being around people doesn’t overload her sensitive telepathic mind. A life where she can’t see through the eyes of a murderer as he hunts his next victim…

J.C. Nikolaiev was a top researcher, but when his conscience got the better of him, he tried to destroy his work and free his subjects–and was imprisoned as a traitor. To save himself and prevent more people from dying, J.C. must catch the serial killer stalking the halls of the facility. But his only leads come from a woman whose thoughts have invaded his mind…

Finally out of the psych ward, Amy joins forces with J.C. to find the killer before he closes in on them. Can their growing attraction withstand the truths they uncover?

You can get book 1 in the Shadow Ops project here: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Carina Press, Audible.com

What (NOT) to Do When You Meet Your Hero by Tamara Morgan

When I first started writing Love is a Battlefield, I had only a vague idea of what my hero, Julian Wallace, looked like. I knew who he was in terms of backstory and motivation, and I knew what his challenges would be as he got to know the heroine. But because he’s such an interesting cultural mix (a native of Guam), I didn’t have a good visual representation and it was driving me crazy. For a few weeks there, I spent a lot of time in the clouds trying to figure him out.

And then one day I came crashing down. Because my vision of Julian—only now a real, living human being—walked right in front me.  (And he was naked from the waist up!)

A little scene setting, if I may.

My family lives pretty close to an amusement park—not one most people would recognize by name, but a big one for our region. The theme of said amusement park is Old Time Hokey Fun. The whole idea is that you walk through the gates and travel back in time. There’s a Main Street of Victorian-inspired shops, a saloon where you can eat overpriced chicken strips to the lively tune of an on-stage pianist, a train ride that results in a hold-up, and Deliverance-style banjo songs on constant repeat from speakers designed to look like rocks. Oh, and a water park and modern neon-colored roller coasters, but you can’t have it all, now can you?

Anyway…we were at said amusement park, and I was admiring the Victorian buildings and wondering if I could move into the second story of Ye Olde Coffeeshop without anyone noticing. All of a sudden, a man walked by. He was tall, shirtless, tattooed, and built to support it all.

He was Julian.

So of course I immediately started stalking tailing him. What follows is a (slightly modified) transcription of actual events:

“Husband: Um…why are you following that man and his family to the water park?

Me: Ohmygod! That man is my hero.

Husband: …

Me: Don’t look at me like that—it’s for my book. He’s exactly how I imagine my male lead. Do you think it would be weird if I went to talk to him?

Husband: Yes. It would be very weird.

Me: I’m going to do it anyway. I know! I’ll tell him he looks just like the hero in my romance novel. Men love hearing that, right? Won’t he be flattered?

Husband: You are not telling him that. It’s creepy. You’re creepy.

Me: I wonder if he can throw a caber.

Husband: I have an idea. Why don’t you go stop in the gift shop first and buy a big red fanny pack to wear while you talk to him? If you’re going to be insane, you might as well go all out.

Me: You have no artistic vision. What if that woman over there (I pointed) came up to you and said you look exactly like how she always pictured Edward Cullen, all pale and wild-haired and grouchy? There’s no way you could resist that kind of compliment.

Husband: …maybe we should get you three or four fanny packs. You could layer them.”

At that point, my husband corralled me in the direction of Ye Olde Magic Show, where he intended to force feed me pizza and make me forget all about attacking a complete stranger and his family on their day out.

It worked, of course. (Pizza always does.) But I walked away from the amusement park that day triumphant. I had seen my hero in real life. He lived and breathed and had an adorable family who (thankfully) was not forced to take out a restraining order against me. I’d seen him set against an incongruous historical backdrop perfect for my incongruous contemporary setting.

Thus Love is a Battlefield as we know it was born.

To this day, every time I hear a Deliverance-style banjo, I think of that man and thank him for walking around the amusement park shirtless that day.

But not in a creepy, red fanny pack sort of way. I swear.

* * *

About Love is a Battlefield (Out now!)

It takes a real man to wear a kilt. And a real woman to charm him out of it.

It might be modern times, but Kate Simmons isn’t willing to live a life without at least the illusion of the perfect English romance. A proud member of the Jane Austen Regency Re-Enactment Society, Kate fulfills her passion for courtliness and high-waisted gowns in the company of a few women who share her love of all things heaving.

Then she encounters Julian Wallace, a professional Highland Games athlete who could have stepped right off the covers of her favorite novels. He’s everything brooding, masculine, and, well, heaving. The perfect example of a man who knows just how to wear his high sense of honor—and his kilt.

Confronted with a beautiful woman with a tongue as sharp as his sgian dubh, Julian and his band of merry men aren’t about to simply step aside and let Kate and her gaggle of tea-sippers use his land for their annual convention. Never mind that “his land” is a state park—Julian was here first, and he never backs down from a challenge.

Unless that challenge is a woman unafraid to fight for what she wants…and whose wants are suddenly the only thing he can think about.

Warning: The historical re-enactments in this story contain very little actual history. Battle chess and ninja stars may apply.

Tamara Morgan is a romance writer and unabashed lover of historical reenactments—the more elaborate and geeky the costume requirements, the better. In her quest for modern-day history and intrigue, she has taken fencing classes, forced her child into Highland dancing, and, of course, journeyed annually to the local Renaissance Fair. These feats are matched by a universal love of men in tights, of both the superhero and codpiece variety.

You can find her on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.

Check out Operation Auction!

Right now, there’s an awesome auction going on in the writing community. If you haven’t checked it out, you really should. Not only can you win crits, but there are ebooks, signed books and baskets, lunches and more.

Author trading cards?

I came across these today and LOVED them. I mean why shouldn’t romance writing have trading cards? This is absolutely genius and the creator of them… I give her mad props. How fun are these? Check them out here for more detail: