It’s in His Kiss – Christmas Freebie!

Merry Christmas!

I am a huge lover of Christmas. The music, the lights, the parties, the seeing people you love… the presents!

And so, to celebrate Christmas this year, I’d love to give away It’s in His Kiss to anyone who hasn’t bought it yet.

KISS is available on Amazon US FREE on Sunday the 23rd. May it give you a break from the shopping madness! 🙂

It’s in His Kiss

Jenna’s been letting life pass her by as she works on her career. But, when she needs to do some research of this kissing kind, things may get a little more heated than she expected.
Research has never been so fun.

WARNING: This 11k novella has no vampires, shape shifter or scorching sex, but it might make you snort your diet Coke out your nose.

You can check it out on Goodreads
Read the first scene HERE

I hope your holiday, no matter what you celebrate, is a joyous one.

~~Caitie~~

When You Get Awesome Emails

I’ve gotten a couple emails over the last week asking about more stories. WOW! That’s always exciting. The emails also asked if my next stories would have Ben & Jenna and if they’d be as short.

So, here goes:

I’m hoping to have 2 stories out at the turn of the year. Both will still be in the Theories in Love series, so yes there will be more Ben & Jenna. Will we get another story just about them? That’s a definite…. I don’t know.

I know, not the answer people are looking for when they ask.

Will the next stories be as short? No. They’ll be around 50,000 words (or, in NY publishing speak about 200 pages – It’s in His Kiss was only 11,000 words to give you a comparison.)

Why do I write short? Well, one I love a quick read. I’m constantly looking for great short writers who can tell me a great little story and I know it won’t keep me up till 4am, but still give me that reader high (I know, it’s such an addiction, right???) (If you have suggestions, throw them in the comments!)

Also, because of certain writerly obligations elsewhere, I need to keep my stuff at the novella length for now.

I’ve been completely blown away by the response to KISS this summer. Apparently I’m not the only one who enjoys quick reads in the sunshine. I’d also like to thank all the ENT readers who spotted it on the kindle bargain page in September and gave me a shot. Thanks to everyone who went on to review it on goodreads and Amazon. I know that those reviews are 100% of the reason anyone picks my story up in the first place!

~~Caitie~~

Theories in Love, Book 2 Excerpt

I’m working on finishing up book 2 in the Theories In Love series (which is full novella at this point) for late fall. There is definitely more shenanigans, not to mention Ben & Jenna, but this story belongs to Kasey Lane, a down-her-luck graphic designer who… Well, I’ll leave it there for now 😉

~~*~~

 “You’re dumping me?”

I really could not believe this was happening. Every time. Every time I thought this week couldn’t get worse – BAM! It did.

“Come on, Kasey. You can’t be surprised by this.” Jason looked at me over the very nice, very expensive dinner he’d invited me to, pity shining through those narrowed eyes.

“You’re breaking up with me? Seriously?”

At the moment, I was more shocked than heartbroken. Although, as I pondered it, heartbreak would probably attack as soon as I was alone… in my apartment… my very empty apartment.

I’d have to sit on the floor to have a good cry.

“I’m sorry you’re so surprised,” Jason said, although he didn’t sound the least bit sorry.

“Surprised? I was supposed to move in with you this weekend.”

He tipped his head to the side and looked at me like he was humoring a child. “You can’t really move in now, can you?”

“Well, not if you’re breaking up with me I can’t, can I?” My voice was raised. It sounded a bit hysterical even to my own ears. People were beginning to look our way. Jason was going to hate that.

He reached across the table and wrapped his hand around mine, giving it a harsh squeeze. Even his fake comfort was… well, fake.

“If you moved in with me, how were you going to pay your half of the rent? I mean, were you going to be able to carry your weight?”

Carry my weight? We’d been dating for two years and now he was dumping me because I might not be able to pay rent on a condo he already owns for a couple months?

“Give me a break, Jason. I lost my frigging job yesterday. Do you think I have nothing in the bank? You pick the day after I lose my job to do this?” The hysteria was gone, filled to the brim in its place was near-blinding rage.

“The economy is tight. Who’s to say you’ll find something right away?”

I could not believe this. Could. Not. Believe it. Just last week we’d finished selling off all my furniture on Craigslist because his was already “fit” in his place. I’d canceled my lease, paid the fine to break it mid-cycle and was homeless as of the end of the month – which conveniently happened this coming Tuesday.

“Here.” He handed me card.

A card. I looked at the lavender sealed envelope and wondered if I was supposed to open it then. Did Hallmark really make a I’m-Dumping-Your-Ass-But-Good-Luck-With-Everything card?

“What’s this?”

“That’s the first month’s rent and half of the security you’d paid. I figured it was only fair to give it back.”

You think? I looked down at the card again wondering what he’d written in it. Tempted to open it right then. I really could not believe I’d given him a security deposit. That should have been the first sign right there.

“So, where exactly do you think I’m going to live?”

Scorn. I’d moved from rage to scorn.

I was now officially a woman scorned.

No wonder men weren’t supposed to cross us. If Hell had no fury like me at that moment, it still had a lot of leash to run on. I could have gutted him with that fancy fish knife resting against my plate.

“Well, I don’t want to sound heartless, but that’s not really my problem now, is it?”

The woman at the next table gasped and that’s when I realized most of the tables around us had fallen silent to the melodrama playing out that was my life.

“No. I guess not. I guess when you dump your girlfriend because she lost her job, you probably think just about nothing is your problem.” I pushed my chair out, wrapped myself in my Ann Taylor jacket and picked up my purse. “Oh, wait. You know what your problem is?”

He shook his head, a small smirk yanking his mouth up in cruel tips on each side.

“Getting Bordeaux out of cashmere.” I picked up our half empty bottle of wine and dumped it out of his head. “Good luck with that.”

I stormed away, a smattering of applause following in my wake. I was nearly blinded by angry tears by the time I reached the door.

“Please, let me.” The host pushed the door open and held it for me as strode into the crisp, fall night. “Good luck, miss.”

Yeah. I was going to need it.

~~*~~

And then the wackiness begins. There’s attacked BMWs, police reports, show-downs with Taxi drivers, a  Belligerent Teen Batista… And that’s just in the first 3 chapters! Stay tuned this fall to find out how (ok, IF) Kasey gets back on track!

In the meantime, check out the first novella, It’s in His Kiss! (Excerpt) (Goodreads) (Amazon)

It’s in His Kiss ~ Excerpt

It took me a little while to realize that each of my books has something in common… you know, something different than normal voice or humor, etc.

Each book somehow manages to have a Theory. Yup, apparently my characters like to talk about their funny views of life through theory.

I’m polishing up the one right now for my new release in December, but I thought I’d share the theory from It’s in His Kiss for those of you who haven’t read it yet.

Our hero Jenna is out with her very attractive friend Lisbeth getting some lessons on men. Enjoy:

Studying the room over her martini, Lisbeth jumped right in. “Scoping the guys is a big part of any night out. Start with looks. There are three categories of guys.”

Finally. Something I could answer. “Blond, brunet, redhead.”

Her look questioned my almost perfect SAT scores.

“No. Jeep, Civic, Yugo. Obviously you want to avoid Yugos at all cost.”

“Obviously.” Note: more sarcasm.

“The Jeep is the hot guy. The one that always looks good. And just like his namesake, looks even better with his top off.”

“Are you serious?” If this is what I was going to learn out in ‘the real world,’ no wonder I stayed home so often.

“The Honda,” Lisbeth steamrolled my question. She motioned to my notebook with a pointed look until I raised my pen to capture her…um… brilliance. “Is a nice run of the mill guy. Depending on the year and model, he could be close to a Jeep or, you know, more like a rust heap. The Yugo, well, that’s self-explanatory.”

“And probably what I’ll end up with.”

“Jenna, you’re a solid, one-to-three year off the lot Civic. I’d say you’re silver. If you put makeup on, you might even be red. Don’t sell yourself short.”

So where did that leave me? I was dependable, flat-chested, shopped at the Gap, and you could get me drunk off one drink. Yup, I was a mid-level Honda all right.

I looked at my friend, the Jeep, and counted all the blessings of being a Civic. Low cost, reliable, compact, inexpensive maintenance, low gas mileage.

“So, I need a Civic, right?”

Lisbeth scanned the room, weeding out guys in her head like a chef tossing soft vegetables.

“Him.”

 

And then the chaos begins 😉

 

Load Your Kindle for Labor Day Giveaway!

I’m in love with my Kindle. I didn’t think I would be. Don’t get me wrong, I will always always love paper books, but my Kindle has become a necessity too.

I also love Labor Day. The last unofficial weekend of the summer. BBQs, beach trips, a day off of work.

And so, taking the two things I’m loving the most right now, I’m going to load your Kindle with a bunch of great contemp romances to enjoy on your holiday weekend!

HERE WE GO:

With her long ponytail and sparkling green eyes, Tessa Donovan looks more like the girl next door than a businesswoman—or a heartbreaker. Which may explain why Detective Luke Asher barely notices her when he arrives to investigate a break–in at her family’s brewery. He’s got his own problems—starting with the fact that his partner, Simone, is pregnant and everyone thinks he’s the father.

Tessa has her hands full, too. Her brother’s playboy ways may be threatening the business, and the tension could tear her tight–knit family apart. In fact, the only thing that could unite the Donovan boys is seeing a man come after their “baby” sister. Especially a man like Luke Asher. But Tessa sees past the rumors to the man beneath. He’s not who people think he is—and neither is she.

 

Her town’s lack of men may make headlines, but it isn’t news to Dakota Hendrix. The beautiful blonde has bigger problems to deal with, such as overseeing the romance reality competition filming in Fool’s Gold. Screening eligible bachelors is a difficult enough task, but Dakota hits an unexpected snag when a sexy stranger comes to town. Finn Anderssen will do anything to keep his twin brothers — the perfect contestants — off the show. Despite Dakota’s better judgment, she finds herself drawn to the mysterious outsider. Like her, Finn knows about heartbreak and how a family can fall apart, so she doesn’t dare to hope for anything more than a fling. After all, even in the Land of Happy Endings, finding true love is never as easy as it looks on TV. 

Jenna’s been letting life pass her by as she works on her career. But, when she needs to do some research of this kissing kind, things may get a little more heated than she expected.
Research has never been so fun.

WARNING: This 10k short has no vampires, shape shifter or scorching sex, but it might make you snort your diet Coke out your nose.

 

 

Helen Grey is finally getting everything she wants. She’s about to have the perfect dream wedding and begin an exciting new life abroad on the sunny Mediterranean island of Cyprus. But living the dream isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

After a mix-up at the airport, Helen finds herself drawn into the midst of an elaborate plot to steal an ancient statue and assassinate a local businessman. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, her wedding dress is AWOL, the statue seems to be cursed, and Helen is wanted by the police.

With the big day rapidly approaching, a roller-coaster of mishaps, misunderstandings, and disasters threatens to turn the newlyweds into nearlyweds.

Can Helen prevent an assassination, save the statue, and have the perfect wedding? Or will the day to remember turn into one she’d rather forget? 

SO, HOW DO YOU ENTER TO WIN??? Easy! Tell me about your favorite beach read and you’re in!

Drawing is Friday night…just in time to pack them to go!

~Caitie~

Self-Publishing Numbers: Week 7… kind of

This is where I typically give you the numbers for the previous week and tell you about anything fun that happened.

This  week I tell you the not so fun thing that happened. Wednesday night Amazon stopped reporting sales numbers. My rank still rose and fell. I spent some time in the teens again. It was obvious sales were happening.

The numbers for this week have not been fully updated. I had a three-hour period where a couple sales came in, and then back to a moving sales rank but no sales data. And so, with no sales data, this is what we have for now:

Day 1:  10 (1 day)
Week 1:    9
Week 2:  15
Week 3:  15
Week 4:  17
Week 5:  15
Week 6:  10
Week 7:   9

I’m estimating just from the movement I’ve seen that Amazon owes my count somewhere between 4 and 7 additional sales. We’ll see what happens. The people over on the kindleboards say this isn’t a first. I am getting the vibe that it’s never lasted this long before though.

Here’s hoping for the best!

Feel free to post your numbers in the comments!

~Caitie~

Sample Sunday – It’s in His Kiss

Hi *waves* Welcome to my first Sample Sunday. Here’s the opening of my short It’s in His Kiss. Hope you enjoy 🙂

~Caitie~

 

 

The thick smoker-voice on the other end of the phone made demands I wanted to ignore. “It’s time for Chloe’s first kiss.”

“What? It can’t be,” I replied, pushing back the panic. “She’s far too young to be involved with boys.”

“Honey, she’s sixteen. Almost seventeen if I remember correctly.”

“But, kissing? Boys?” I shook my head against the receiver, my glasses clinking the earpiece. “I don’t think she’s ready.”

“No, Jenna. You’re not ready. But that doesn’t mean a teenaged girl doesn’t reach that point without us.”

I glared at my Hello Kitty phone, tempted to hang up and claim a bad connection.

“I think maybe a big school dance story line would be great,” Ely continued. “She’s co-captain of her soccer team and vice president of the junior class. Isn’t there anyone she’d be interested in?”

Ely Morgan, Agent Extraordinaire-slash-Pushiest-Woman-on-the-Planet, had never steered me wrong before – except maybe that one time with the now infamous author-photo-from-you-know-where – but still, good advice was there to be had. That didn’t mean I had to like it.

I collapsed back in my worn leather office chair, tempted to spin until I was dizzy. “It’s time?”

“Sugar, it’s past time.”

“I’m not sure.” It’s too soon. “Maybe I could work a potential love interest into the next book.” If anyone good enough crosses my word-processing fingers. “And then we can fold it into senior year.” Or college. Or never.

“I know you want to protect her, sweetie.” Ely voice sounded muffled, the click-clack of a keyboard echoing in the background. Agent Extraordinaire was also Multitasking Empress.

The clatter from her phone hitting the ground told me I’d been right.

“Sorry about that,” Ely said. “You still there?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Ok, Jenna. Here’s the deal. Forest Oak won’t take another book unless Chloe matures a little. Your fan mail is from girls who grew up with her and, while a lot of them are shy or nerdy or untrusting or whatever it is keeping them from kissing a boy, that doesn’t mean they don’t want Chloe to. So the deal is, next book, out early fall, homecoming maybe. Chloe gets a kiss.”

I pushed back and spun, the phone cord wrapping around my neck. A sign perhaps?

“All right. I’ll do my best.”

“You always do, my little overachiever.”

Without a goodbye, Ely had hung up and gone on to her next seven multitasking events.

Untangling myself from Ms. Kitty’s tail, I opened the drawer where my writing notes were lovingly filed, alphabetized and color coordinated. The blue boy file was right where it was supposed to be, fourth back in the character notes, behind the pink girl folder but in front of the black folder of death — the place characters who didn’t work out went to die.

Marty O’Donnell — snob, dated best friend, dumped her for an underclassman…er, underclasswoman? Girl?

Mark Andersen — smelled funny, mentioned in three books.

Tony Baccio — funny, smart, cute. Friend’s brother. Should be in college this fall.

Kevin Kline — currently dating best friend.

Slamming the blue folder closed, I considered transferring Chloe to a girls’ boarding school run by nuns on an unchartered island. If I did that, I could add the blue folder to the black one and cut down on folders. It was economical. It made sense.

It would lose me a contract.

Grabbing Hello Kitty, I dialed Lisbeth Nardi’s number in desperation.

“Ciao.”

Lisbeth was the only person I knew who could get away with answering her phone like that. She was also the only one I knew who had kissed half the metro area.

“Lis, I need my character to get kissed. I need a guy and a kiss description.”

“Aren’t you supposed to write what you know?” I heard the laughter in her voice and knew she didn’t mean to be cruel. Unfortunately, she was also right.

“That’s why I need you. You can tell me how kissing a guy feels the first time.” Her earlier words still stung, so I added, “You’ve had plenty of experience in the first kiss department.”

A sigh blasted my ear. One of those declare-yourself-a-martyr sighs.

“First off Jenna, I think what you need to do is just get out there. Get your own first kisses. Get your own life.”

I could almost hear her shrug over the phone.

“Second, your character isn’t you. Her boyfriend is imaginary. He’s not going to convince her to go to the same college, propose the middle of junior year, stand her up at the altar because his frat brothers called him an idiot at the bachelor party the night before, and then try to convince her they should still have sex on the side. That stuff only happens to you.”

That was painful. True, but painful. And kind of rude. Okay, more than kind of, but I was feeling desperate.

“You’re no help.” If the queen of the pick-up couldn’t help me, I was out of luck.

“Oh, I’ll help all right,” she answered. “Actually, I wouldn’t miss this for the world. Meet me outside O’Leary’s at ten and I’ll be more help than you could have wished for.”