AND THE WINNER IS...

Janet Dean is giving away a signed copy of COURTING MISS ADELAIDE to one lucky winner from among those who post a comment to her blog. The winner will be chosen at random Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m. EDT.

And the winner is Tonya! (I think your e-mail address is victorian-nurse@sbcglobal.net)

Congratulations, Tonya. Please confirm your e-mail address and also send your mailing address to janet@janetdean.net and she will make sure you receive your copy of Courting Miss Adelaide.

Thanks everyone!

~EG

ELIZABETH G: Please celebrate with Janet and me!

I'm thrilled to have my friend and fellow romance author, Janet Dean, as my guest today. Janet is an inspiration to anyone who has worked long and hard for a dream and then watched as it finally came true. After nearly a decade of trying to get her first novel published, COURTING MISS ADELAIDE is now in bookstores everywhere.

EG: First, I want to congratulate you on your 4 1/2 star review in Romantic Times! And a fabulous book signing in our city where 229 copies of COURTING MISS ADELAIDE were sold by the store and autographed by you in less than three hours. That's amazing!

JANET DEAN: Thanks, EG. It was a wonderful and exhausting experience, but I enjoyed every minute of it.

EG: I love reading and writing about small Midwestern towns. Probably because that's where I grew up and lived most of my early life. What attracted you to the time period and the setting for COURTING MISS ADELAIDE?

JANET DEAN: COURTING MISS ADELAIDE is set in Noblesville, Indiana in 1897. I love American history. And I’m particularly drawn to the last decade of the 1800s when a flood of immigrants poured into our country, often living in terrible poverty. Children were exploited, working in sweatshops under appalling conditions. Many were homeless, living on the streets.

This was also a time of freedom for women never experienced before. They became embroiled in controversial issues such as suffrage. This fascinating period fit my heroine perfectly.

Noblesville is a charming town with shops and a courthouse that fit the timeframe of my story. I knew an “orphan train” stopped there many years earlier so I saw no reason why it couldn’t stop again.

EG: I know the orphan trains actually existed. (Because you told me so.:) How did you find out about them? And which came first: the historical fact of the orphan trains or a kernel of an idea for your story?

JANET DEAN: The historical fact triggered my story. My father, a Social Studies teacher, sent me a newspaper clipping about New York City’s orphaned and half orphaned children riding trains to new homes in the Midwest and beyond. More than 250,000 children rode these trains between 1853 and 1929, but that phenomena didn’t find its way into history books for years. The majority of the riders were immigrants living on the streets or in crowded orphanages. In some cases, a parent, unable to care for his children, brought them to the orphanage, hoping to give them a better life.

I thought of the countless stories these children and their new families could tell and immediately wanted to put that slice of history in a book. My “what if” moment became the kernel for Adelaide’s story—what if a lonely spinster wanted a child and saw the “orphan train” as her last chance for motherhood?

EG: What do you like the most about your heroine, Adelaide? And your hero, Charles?

JANET DEAN: I like Adelaide’s strength and her strong faith. She isn’t afraid to take a stand. Even to risk everything if necessary to do what’s right. I admire Charles’ readiness to protect the vulnerable and his deep yearning for what he never had—a happy home.

EG: What is your favorite part of COURTING MISS ADELAIDE?

JANET DEAN: If I can pick only one, then it would be the scene near the end of the book between Charles and William, one of the orphans. It’s a precious time of healing for both of them. Writing that scene was emotional for me. I hope readers feel the same.

EG: That was one of my favorite scenes, too. I found it very moving and got really teary.

JANET DEAN: One of the things I love about writing is when others relate to the character’s emotional journey and are touched by my story.

EG: I know your second book is already written and scheduled for publication: COURTING THE DOCTOR'S DAUGHTER, Steeple Hill Love Inspired Historical, May 2009. What are you working on now?

JANET DEAN: I’m working on a proposal for a new series with a different setting. I’m excited to start fresh with new bunch of characters to torture. ;-) I’m also promoting COURTING MISS ADELAIDE. Steeple Hill Love Inspired books are on the shelves for only one month so I’m wasting no time getting the word out.

EG: Congratulations again, Janet, and thanks for joining us here at RWQ.

Folks, Janet is going to give away a signed copy of CMA to one lucky winner from among those who post a comment to her blog between now and Thursday. The winner will be chosen at random Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m. EDT.

You can also visit Janet at:
www.janetdean.net
www.janetdean.blogspot.com
www.seekerville.blogspot.com

JAYNE JOINS THE CIRCUS

Okay, I have not actually run off and joined the circus (or Cirque du Soleil, either) but I have been learning how to juggle flaming batons and I’m getting a lot of experience on that flying trapeze thing. Welcome to my world.

All I can say is that it seemed like a good idea at the time. I would create three worlds of psychic romantic-suspense that would all be linked together by the Arcane Society, an organization dedicated to the paranormal. The cool aspect from my point of view, of course, is that this would allow me to do what I love best – combine romance, mystery and the psychic stuff – in all three of my fictional landscapes. I was so excited, I could hardly stand it. So, I did it.

My Amanda Quick books feature characters from Arcane who live in the Victorian era – a wonderfully atmospheric time of gaslight and fog; an era in which the psychic thing was considered very, very cool. My Jayne Ann Krentz novels focus on heroes and heroines and plots from the modern, contemporary world. And now, unable to restrain myself, I have begun to weave Arcane into my Jayne Castle futuristics.

Hey, I figured that if the concept of the Arcane Society did not work in one or all of my three worlds, I could ease back out and try something else.

As the old saying goes: Be careful what you wish for. What I hoped for, but hardly dared to believe might actually happen, was that I would end up with all three of my names and fictional landscapes linked together in a long-running series. To my amazement, I got my wish. Readers from all three of my worlds seem to love the Arcane Society novels and they’re starting to cross back and forth between the various settings.

But there’s always a dark side, isn’t there? Do you have any idea of how dicey it can be to keep all the characters, incidents, random facts, and just plain old chronology straight when you’re working with any series, let alone one that moves from the past to the present and into the future? I mean, you’re looking at someone who was never even any good at crossword puzzles, for Pete’s sake!

But I am enthralled by the Arcane Society characters and I can’t wait to see what my heroes and heroines will do next in my Quick, Krentz and Castle worlds. So that is why I’m now taking lessons in the fine art of juggling and doing a lot of aerial acrobatic training. Got a lot of flaming batons to keep up in the air.

What do you spend your time trying to balance? How many balls have you got in the air at any given time? I think we all do a lot more of this sort of thing than we realize.

Sincerely,Jayne

Take a trip to Author Island!

Morning Quillsters!

Today I have a guest blogger, good friend and fabulous promoter, DeNita Tuttle. As both an author and a reader, I LOVE DeNita's site AUTHORISLAND.COM and I'm sure you will too.

Ask DeNita anything, and you'll find that AUTHORISLAND.COM offers something for everyone who loves books. I regularly send promotional material to DeNita, and she in turns gives it away to readers for me. It's a true win/win situation!

Let's all give DeNita a giant Quill welcome!

Hi everyone!
I’m so happy to be here – big thanks to my dear friend and client Lori Foster for asking me to be a guest here today!!

As Lori said, I’m DeNita Tuttle, and I own and operate AuthorIsland.com – hopefully you’ve heard of it and if you haven’t, I invite you to stop over and visit. It’s a fun and happenin’ place for readers to explore and discover new books and authors to fall in love with – and, at the same time, find out what’s going on with some of their favorite authors, as well.




AuthorIsland.com is my baby – it grew from an idea I had a little over two years ago when I was busy promoting my new-at-the-time romantic suspense SWEET DREAMS written as DL Edwards. I found myself unhappy with most of the promotion I was paying for online. I discovered most sites out there were created for and geared toward writers and I personally wanted to promote my book to readers, the ones who were actually going to be buying it…. novel idea, I know!


I had this vision of a website that was made specifically for readers – fun, easy to move around in, up-to-date and packed with great books, fantastic authors and super contests.

And AuthorIsland.com was born.




The most shocking thing about it is that I think I’ve actually accomplished what I set out to do (which isn’t always the case with me – LOL).



Last month, AuthorIsland.com received over 700,000 hits! Just to let you know how incredible that number is to me, when I started two years ago, my goal was to average 7,000 hits a month and that seemed like an impossible task – Who knew??? Whenever I get an email from one of my clients thanking me and telling me how being a member of AuthorIsland.com has helped them sell their books, well, let’s just say it makes the hard work I’ve put into it worth every hour!




As you can tell, I’m really proud of my baby and now have my sights set on much loftier goals – LOL!!!



Readers – if you haven’t been to the Island yet, what’s keeping you???

We have great new-to-you reads and authors over there just waiting for you to discover them!

We have not one, but two pages full of fun contests.

We have great author interviews, fabulous trailers and excerpts.

We also have boxes and boxes of author goodies waiting to find a home for only the price of postage – check out our free stuff page for details.


And to top it all off, we give a book away every single day right on the front page!


So be sure to make AuthorIsland.com a daily stop in your cyber travels – the treasures truly do await!




Authors and Publishers –I’m always looking for author goodies to send out to our readers (books, coverflats, bookmarks, promo items, sample CDs, goodie bags – you name it!) And I promise you it will be used very wisely and will be much appreciated. And if you happen to be looking for a place to set up your hammock, so to speak, I’d love to have you as a member!



As luck would have it, we have a great special going on right now – full membership for only $1 a day – sign up for a year and get your 13th month free!!! Sign up and mention Running with Quills and Lori will get a free month!!! – She’ll love you for that!

For less than the cost of one ad, you can have a year’s membership at AuthorIsland.com!


What does membership at AuthorIsland.com get you??? Come on over and take a look! All my authors and their books are integrated into every area of the site through rotating banners, scrolling covers, excerpts, trailers, interviews, contests and spotlights. And you’ll be part of a site that readers enjoy and love to visit!

Thanks again to Lori for asking me to come blog today with the Quills, and I wish everyone a fabulous and healthy end to their summer!

DeNita Tuttle
AuthorIsland.com

PREPARE TO BE BORED!

Dear Fellow-Travelers:

First thing tomorrow morning we have guests arriving; dear old friends from California. We haven't seen them for several years.

This means I am rushing around doing those little things that sometimes get swept under the rug for years. Ooh, no, why did I mention that? I will not look there.

And I have three weeks to finish a book. Ta dah!

I'm hungry but nothing appeals to my stomach, hot but can't slow down to cool off, tired but have hours of work ahead, and ratty because I want to be writing my book.

My well-loved terrace is torn up because someone-who-shall-remain-nameless decided this was the time to get the railings painted. And it's pouring with rain so there will be no painting in the near future and all the pots containing the results of my hard work are higgledy-piggledy everywhere. They're very heavy so that's where they'll have to stay.

It's not going to stop raining.

Possibly never, ever.

Waaa. I'm way out of control. And I'm a control freak. This is terrible. The sky will fall--together with the economy, and the moral fiber of the nation. Hmm, forgot, that final disaster I mention may have happened a long time ago.

I've got a priority problem--but you've probably noted that by now.

What upends your equilibrium?
Do you have any really good ways of bringing yourself under control--other than reminding yourself that there are people starving in the world (I never forget this) and horrible stuff happening everywhere (I never forget this either)?

Fondly for a September Monday morning when I'm so grateful to have good friends and safe places to be,

Stella

Susan experiences her very first triathlon

As a spectator, that is. I am SO not a competition grade athlete--especially when it comes to swimming, running or biking. Well, I actually like to ride bikes--as long as it's on fairly flat surfaces and I can take all the time my little heart desires. But to do all three sports one after the other on the same day? In really hot weather? That's just freakin' nuts.

My sweet baby boy obviously takes after his daddy's side of the family, because he competed in the Grand Columbian Olympic Triathlon last Saturday. It was held at Grand Coulee Dam in eastern Washington (or east of the mountains as we Washingtonians call it). That's a very pretty area in a stark, minimalist kinda way. Nowhere as green as the west side of the Cascades, it's nevertheless majestic with its miles and miles of coulees dug out by glaciers several millennium ago.

My son's class of the event started with a-hair-under-a-mile swim in Banks Lake. Coming out of the water, the competitors shed their wetsuits, changed into their biking clothes, shoes and helmets and were off on a 25 mile bike ride. They had special permission to ride across the Grand Coulee Dam, which fed them to the last long hill, which they flew down to the end of that portion of the race, changed into their running shoes, and either drank or poured the water they were handed over their heads as they took off for the final leg of the race, a 10 K run. (six point something miles)

The soulmate's and my favorite son (okay, only son) did all this in 3 hours and 35 minutes. Now this is nowhere in the top contenders' time, but I frankly can't even imagine. I tried to think if I have ever challenged myself to that extent and had to say. . .no. Not physically, at least. I walked a half marathon once in hot weather and that took me four hours. I strolled it. Much more my speed.

Susan's sweet baby boy catching his breath after crossing the Finish Line. He's already making plans for next year's race.

What sort of things do the people you know do that you simultaneously admire and find incomprehensible? Or if you're the adventurous type yourself, what challenges do you impose on yourself?

Elizabeth G: FEAR

I don’t usually write about serious subjects when I blog here at RWQ. I pretty much stick to books, music, and movies, along with the occasional interview with a guest author or even a recipe. You know, fairly frivolous stuff meant to amuse or entertain.

But it hasn’t been a frivolous kind of week in the USA when we’ve faced devastating storms along one of our coastlines. Once again Mother Nature has reminded us that there are some things over which we have no control: Weather being at the top of that list.

Most of us live with the possibility of some kind of dangerous weather. For my friends on the West Coast it’s earthquakes. For my family in California and Arizona it can also include flash floods, mud slides and forest fires. In my part of the country it’s tornadoes, thunderstorms, blizzards, ice storms, and flooding. Our family doesn’t obsess over the weather, but we are aware of it. We keep bottled water in our basement, along with a few emergency supplies and a first aid kit.

In the wake of Hurricane Ike and the devastation, I’m going to tell you a story about my little brush with FEAR. It was a few years ago. My husband and I decided to go out for a late dinner on a Saturday night. (After all, I’d been writing right up until 8:00 p.m. and it was time to relax.) For whatever reason we didn’t check the Weather Channel before we left. The last prediction was cloudy with a few rain showers. The restaurant was on the other side of town, which meant taking the interstate that skirts our city.

We enjoyed a leisurely dinner and then headed home. It wasn’t long before we realized the few rain showers were actually a downpour. In fact, a proverbial deluge. We even had to pull off the road several times because we couldn’t see more than a foot in front of us. We debated whether to take city streets (notorious for flooding) or the interstate. We decided on the latter.

It seemed like we’d made the right choice until traffic slowed to a crawl. There were red taillights ahead of us as far as we could see. Otherwise, the night was as dark and ominous as I ever recall. When we reached an underpass we realized we were approaching a dip in the six-lane highway and it was flooded.

I’m sure we’ve all seen and read about cars getting swept away in only a few feet of water. That crossed our minds as we inched forward. But there was a concrete divide, so we couldn’t turn around. We couldn’t go back. We could only drive straight ahead.

I thought of that night again as I watched the news this past weekend and knew in some very small way I could relate to how those thousands and millions of people were feeling as the storm barreled down on them.

I’m not sure I have a point to this blog. Certainly we’ve all been sending our thoughts and prayers and hopes to those in harm’s way. And hopefully sharing whatever assistance we can give to them.

I don’t want to ever live my life in fear. But I still vividly remember the night we drove through the flood.

Blessings all,
EG

Paula Graves' COWBOY ALIBI

Jayne, here, to introduce Paula Graves. If you love romantic-suspense, this is an author you should definitely get to know. She is one of the few writers in the genre who understands intuitively how to combine romance and suspense so that each enhances the other. Trust me, it's not easy.

By the way, in another life Paula is a graphic artist. She and my fabulous webmaster, Cissy Hartley, are responsible for producing the dust bunny videos for my Jayne Castle books, Silver Master and Dark Light. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank both ladies. Elvis has never looked better.

Enjoy COWBOY ALIBI!

--------------------------------------------------------------

Paula here.


When I decided to write romances, I approached it as a reader. What do I like in a book? What themes are most exciting, entertaining and satisfying to me? And I quickly figured out that one of my favorite themes is the timeless "Us against the world" story. Take a couple of people with all sorts of internal conflicts between them, pit them against a "big bad" that threatens them both, and then watch the sparks fly.

In my September Harlequin Intrigue, COWBOY ALIBI, amnesiac Jane Doe and Wyoming cop Joe Garrison couldn't be more at odds. He believes she had a part in his brother's death, while she has no memory of anything except a faint certainty that the life she can't remember holds a lot of scary, potentially devastating secrets.

But when someone from Jane's hidden past targets them both, they're forced to depend on each other for their very survival. Toss in sizzling sexual tension and the piece by piece reveal of Jane's hidden past, and you have the story at the heart of COWBOY ALIBI.

In this scene from early in the race for their lives, their lack of trust in each other, combined with their attraction to each other, ratchets up the tension.

Frost covered the ground outside the cabin, tinted shell-pink by the glow that kissed the eastern sky. The sun had not yet made an appearance over the Sawtooth Mountains, but the light on the horizon was enough to illuminate the small stockpile of firewood stacked on the side porch.

Jane pulled on a pair of work gloves she'd found in the kitchen and started to reach for the top piece of wood when she heard a snapping sound in the tangle of pines and aspens a few yards away.

She peered into the gloom, the hair on the back of her neck rising. She eased her hand into the pocket of her jacket, where she'd tucked Joe's service weapon before leaving the cabin, and pulled it free. Pressing her back against the rough clapboard of the cabin's outer wall, she held her breath and tried to be completely still and invisible, watching the trees for any sign of movement.

She heard a soft rustle, then another twig snapping. Two shadowy figures slinked through the scrubby underbrush, flitting in and out of sight. Jane released her breath and they froze, two pairs of bright gold eyes turned her way.

Wolves. They stared back at her briefly before slipping away, wraithlike, in the gloom.

Jane crossed to the edge of the porch, trying to catch another glimpse of them as they retreated, but they had already disappeared from view. She started to turn back to the wood pile when she heard a creaking noise behind her. Her heart rate doubling in a split second, she whipped the gun up, whirled and aimed.

Joe stood in the doorway, his hands lifting slowly. His gaze locked with hers, hard and wary. "Drop the weapon, Jane."

She swallowed hard and lowered the gun to her side. "You scared the hell out of me."

"Likewise," he drawled, taking a step toward her and holding out his hand. "I'd like it back now."

She didn't like the dark suspicion in his eyes. "Did you think I would shoot you?"

"People don't usually aim a weapon if they're not prepared to pull the trigger."

She pressed her lips together, annoyed by his dry half-answer. She handed him the gun and turned to pick up a couple of pieces of wood for the stove. But he caught her arm and pulled her around to face him.

"So, you're only out here for the wood?" He held her by her upper arms, his grip painless but firm.

She lifted her chin. "I'm out here for the wood."

He stepped forward, forcing her back up against the wall of the cabin. Heat radiated off his body, warming her through the denim of her jacket and jeans. He smelled of whiskey and wood smoke, the scent rich, dark and masculine. She pressed her hands flat against the rough wall, overwhelmed by the urge to touch him.

He snaked his left hand out and curled his palm around her waist. He slid his fingers slowly, deliberately over the curve of her hip, stopping at the pocket of her jeans and tracing the contours of the bulge inside. "So why did you need the keys to my truck, then?"

-------------------------------------------------

"Us against the world" stories are often romances, but they can also be "buddy" stories, such as the developing friendship between Riggs and Murtaugh in the movie LETHAL WEAPON or Lee and Carter in the East meets West martial arts/comedy RUSH HOUR. And you even see the theme play out in television shows such as BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (Buffy and the whole gang) and THE X-FILES (was there ever a better "us against the world" vibe than that between Mulder and Scully?)

What are some of your favorite "us against the world" stories?

-- Paula Graves

Book trailer:

After Happily Ever After - or Romance, Pets, and Chicken Wire.

Today I get to introduce to you Catherine Mann, a truly wonderful author and a really lovely lady. I met Cathy eons ago while conferencing and after reading some of her books, I became a fan. She writes from the heart, with hunky heroes and real emotion. I can guarantee you'll enjoy hers tories, and her company, as much as I do.

Naturally, like me, and many of you, Cathy is an animal lover. I LOVE the blog she's sharing with us.

Let's give Catherine Mann a big, warm Quillster welcome!



Greetings, everyone!

Many thanks to Lori Foster for inviting me to stop by and share about my September release, HIS EXPECTANT EX from Silhouette Desire. This reunion romance includes a couple of my favorite themes:

**Keeping romance alive in a long term relationship.

**Pets.

You may be wondering how the two of those relate.
That brings me to a story about my own dear handsome hubby of twenty-one years.

My husband is a rare gem in that he always remembers my birthday, our anniversary, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, etc., even when the Air Force may have sent him thousands of miles away.

I do so enjoy when the delivery guy shows up with a surprise bouquet of wildflowers or my flyboy hubby struts in the door with a box of Godivas. But the longer we're married, the more I realize his best gifts can be less pricey and surprisingly unusual. My favorite ever gift from my husband?

Chicken wire.

Yes, you read that right. I should probably backtrack a bit to explain.

Last year, I got a puppy, an adorable Boston Terrier/pug/beagle/mystery breed pound rescue named Sadie. We had a general idea of her adult size based on the vet’s guess, and we knew she would be on the small side. However, we never counted on her being so little and lean she could bolt right through the pickets on our pool fence.

Yipes! She quickly found every porch in the neighborhood with pet food. (Hey, did I mention she’s brilliant as well as adorable?!)

I increased walks with Sadie to drain her energy, while waiting for her to grow big enough to enjoy our large yard without escaping. After 6 months I feared it would never happen.

Replacing the fence was out of the question. The fence is big and pricey. My husband fretted over options. He really, really prides himself on having a pristine yard. One of our neighbors suggested weaving chicken wire through the pickets.

My husband visibly paled.

We waited another month for her to grow. No luck. I continued to walk my feet off in cold, rainy weather with Sadie (while feeding her very frequently and praying “Grow, puppy, grow!”)

A few days later, I readied Sadie for her walk – HUGE storm clouds looming. I stepped outside and found my husband. On his knees. Weaving chicken wire through the white pool fence.

Bless his big heart, he worked in the rain to finish before he had to leave that afternoon for a two week trip. And yes, the chicken wire worked. Our fence has been Sadie proofed with - as my husband calls it - poultry fencing!

What a gift! What a guy!

How about you? I would love to hear your stories about unique/unusual/surprising romantic gifts or gestures.

I also have a new page on my website devoted to PRECIOUS FUR BABIES with photos of my pets as well as pictures of some of my favorite authors with their pets (including Lori Foster, Suzanne Brockmann and more.)

Do you have pets? A cute or moving pet story to share?

I look forward to hearing from you!

Hugs,

Cathy ;-)
http://catherinemann.com/

POINT OF VIEW

Good Day!

We are very fussy when it comes to our points of view. No fiddle faddling around, just keep your big feet off my point of view. But I don't blame anyone who asks for clarification. "Where did you get that idea?" or, "Who told you?" If I can't or won't make myself clear then it's my fault when I'm misunderstood.

Point of view in fiction is a tool. We use point of view characters to tell our stories and to see and think about our stories. Non point of view characters only get to let us know what they see or think when they open their mouths--or through body-language.

Some stories are told with a single point of view. This has obvious benefits in that it's easy to control a mysterious element, or to hide anything when only one character is revealed. Many books are written in dual or multiple point of view. This increases the potential slip-up factors by however many heads we're in during the process.

Confession time. I'm a curious soul and I want to know what is on this mind or that mind. For me, the heroine and heroine deserve to be "heard" and not just "overheard." Where I go with point of view from there depends on whether I want to be in other heads and believe readers will want to be in those heads, too.

A golden rule of fiction is that the writer doesn't cheat. Or the writer doesn't lie, perhaps. A point of view character does not mislead the reader. This doesn't mean the character can't be complex, sometimes oblique, or unpredictable. We're like that, we characters:)

But it is a foul if we allow a character, in his or her own mind, to deliberately send readers in the wrong direction--unless we telegraph those readers that the character is being sneaky. The only way to do the latter is through the sneaky character thinking they're being sneaky.

This is a topic that could take hours and sooner or later bore everyone to tears. But it is an area that opens up a chance for questioning whose mind we truly want to stroll around and whether there are some we would just as soon only speculate about.

The tenses we use and those we prefer to read is another integral part of storytelling and reading. When I'm older and have more time, we'll "attack" that.

Happy Monday,

Stella

What are your thoughts on point of view?

Who are the must point of view characters for you?

Are there any character types you have no interest in hearing from?

Mother Susan says: Tell all!

I've got a little survey for you. Just because...well, I R a righter U no, and that pretty much equates with being nosy.

So what do you like best?

Milk chocolate or dark? (me, I'm a milk chocolate girl)

Beer or cosmos? (I confess I don't like beer or wine, but I do enjoy an occasional cocktail--especially if it comes in a pretty glass :)

Coffee, tea or hot chocolate? (I'm mostly a tea drinker, with the occasional cup of cocoa or a coffee/cocoa combo)


Meat and potatoes or seafood and veggies? (I'm a foodie, so I love it all. But I tend to eat more seafood and fruit. I love fresh fruit!)

Cooking or take-out? (Our dinner hour is the soulmate's and my one sure social hour if he's not out of town--or the country--on a job. So one of my favorite parts of the day is when he gets home from work and the two us put together our dinner in the kitchen and catch up on each others day. Which is not to say I don't love being taken out for a meal or grabbing some take-out. But we do a lot more home cooking)

Do you drink milk? (I love it, but it has to be really cold and then I pour it in beer mugs that I keep in the freezer)


And on the book front:

Do you tend to be drawn more to dark haired heroes or blonds? (I love em all if they're written well, of course--but have a sneaking fondness for dark haired guys)


Hairy chests or smooth? (Yummmm....both)

Alpha or beta? Working man or tycoon? (I like em alpha...but with a nurturing side. And am partial to working men, soldiers and cops)

How about the heroines? Pretty or plain? Outspoken or quiet?

What's your favorite love, break-up or make-up scene? Or any fave scene that's stuck with you? (One of mine is the prologue to Loretta Chase's Lord of Scoundrels)

Do you ever cast actors in the roles of the books you read? And if so, what are some of the books and the actors you've chosen to play the leads? (This is something I don't do--I once did a satellite radio tour to promote a book and that was a question that stopped me dead the first time I was asked it. I know that lots of other people do, however, and would be interested to know who you come up with)

Well, I could go on and on, but I've probably already asked too many questions. But inquirying minds wanna know, baby!!