Summer...It's HERE

I woke up this morning, June 1, and realised that YES summer is here and half the year is gone. What the hell happened to those nice little New Year's Resolutions I made back when snow was on the ground and we were all freezing our rear ends off? I wanted to lose some weight. Okay, I've done some of that but not enough so that anyone would really notice. The big resolution however was to write at least a book a month. Ummmm. What the HELL was I thinking?

So far the number is four. Okay, that's not bad but it certainly isn't what I'd hoped for. Instead of writing steadily as I'd wanted that pesky 'real life' got completely in the way. Granted they were very big real life issues so I can life with that. So I reckon when next January rolls around I'll not be quite so ambitious. A little more realism is in order. There actually is nothing at all wrong with writing six books in a year or seven, is there. And yes, sometimes unexpected things happen in life and we have to deal. Dealing is what we DO, after all. In the end, we sigh, shake our heads at all that New Year optimism and do what must be done. There's no shame in that.

In other news, Drilled (April, EC) was named by the lovely Lila at Two Lips Reviews to receive their Reviewers Choice for the month of June. YAY!!!! What a great honor. Check it out HERE!

Get Your Growl On

Ahhhh, the weekend! This means it's time to settle back, decompress a little bit and maybe catch up on that stash of reading materal you've been dying to dig in to. I'm going to suggest right now that you whip out your credit card and pick up Fran Lee's Nothing But Sex, the latest installment in the Cougar Challenge series from Ellora's Cave. My story Drilled came out last month, followed up by Jayne Rylon's Driven. Fran's hot cougar story is sure to please too.

Buy it HERE!

Blurb:

Story in the Cougar Challenge series.

Lee Blackhorse is hardly Cougar material, no matter what her friends over at Tempt the Cougar say. A forty-two-year-old woman who lusts after her thirty-year-old weekend helper is just plain nuts. Or is she? Mike Running Elk is the sexiest thing ever to don tight jeans and a second-skin t-shirt. She’s secretly yearned for the man for years.

Mike has no problem seeing himself in the role of Lee’s lover. In fact, if he can just get the hot-as-hell woman to realize he’s plenty old enough to ring her bells, he plans to do more than just clean her barn and mow her grass. He’s waited for her long enough.

When Mike shows up at her door with an injured hand, he notices Lee can’t pull her eyes off his naked, ripped chest. Mike can’t believe she’s as oblivious as she acts. The ice has been broken and he intends to heat things up even more…


Excerpt: (ADULT)

Mike swore foully as he caught his glove on one of the murderously long barbs on the roll of wire fencing that he was trying to move and he tugged his leather work glove off to find that the barb had made it through to his palm. He shook his head and shoved his hair back from his face with his other hand before he tugged his unused handkerchief from his back pocket and wrapped it around his hand, which did very little to stanch the flow of blood. Swearing at his own clumsiness, he headed across the wide work yard to the back porch and stepped inside, knocking on the inside screen door.

She appeared from the archway to the living room, her face pink and her lower lip caught between her teeth as she caught sight of him and he realized that he hadn’t bothered to pull his damn shirt back on. He saw the way her eyes darkened as they slid over his body and he felt a shot of anticipation run from his gut to his cock. Her lips were full. Her eyes were smoky blue. A small vein throbbed in her throat. And it struck him forcibly that she most certainly was as aware of him as he was of her.

But before he could wrap his mind around her reaction to him, she was hurrying up the stairs to the bathroom and he was following, his appreciative eyes on the lush swell of her generous, gorgeous ass as he held the tea towel tightly to his bleeding hand. Sweet Jesus, but he loved her ass. He had loved it ever since he’d first seen her, when he was just eighteen, and he had asked her if he could do some odd jobs around the place to make some cash every week. Right after his dad had died. Watching her walk around in tight jeans had made him forget a lot of the pain in his life back then.

She filled a pair of jeans like they’d been poured onto her. His mouth watered and his cock grew impossibly harder. Even the stinging pain in his hand couldn’t distract his attention from that ass.

As she entered the bathroom and stretched up to the shelf above the toilet to lift down the first-aid kit, he almost whimpered. Was she trying to kill him? If she didn’t stop wiggling around, he was gonna blow.

“I can handle it from here,” he grated as she opened the box and started to take the soaked tea towel out of his grip. But she shoved his free hand away and gently placed his hand in the sink, rinsing it with icy-cold tap water that nearly made him yell at the pain. He stared down at her bent head as she probed and cleaned the wound and each time her body brushed his, he almost lost it.

He lost track of what was happening with his hand as every drop of blood in his body raged into his groin, threatening to explode. Maybe that was a good thing, because his hand might stop bleeding.

“I still think we need to get you to the clinic and get this stitched. It’s way too jagged to heal right, and it’s still bleeding.”

Her words were lost in the hot muddle of his emotions and body. But when she looked up into his face, he forced himself to pay attention. “Hold this clean towel in your palm. Press it tight. I’ll get my car keys.”

And as she left the bathroom, he sank down onto the closed toilet and gasped for breath. If he didn’t get his cock to calm down, he would throw her down on the damn bathroom floor and fuck her blind. And somehow, he didn’t think she would respond well to that technique.


In other news: I'll be away from home and computer next week. Anne and Madison will be taking up the slack for me, sweet things that they ARE. I'm sure you can look forward to some hotter than hot pics to drool over.

Going Book Shopping?

I survived release day and now it's back to my wip Trouble in a Stetson. So far so good and I should be finished up with it soon. It's strange to me how, despite some stress and general upheaval, I've managed to write FUNNY. Always just blows me away when that happens. Just when I think a scene will be serious and intense, humor takes over.

Think it's a defense mechanism or something? My mind saying it's time to lighten up? Maybe so.

Anyway, we are heading into the weekend. If you haven't picked up a copy of Drilled, my new release, I hope you do and while you're over at Ellora's Cave hunting out some reading for the weekend please pick up a copy of Laurann Dohner's Kissing Steel. She's a hot new writer at Ellora's Cave and is making quite a splash with her series Zorn Warrior's and Cyborg Seduction. Kissing Steel is book two in the Cyboy Collection. So whip out your credit card and enjoy!


Buy it HERE!

Blurb:

Book 2 in the Cyborg Seduction series.

All Rena wanted was to steal back a spaceship and earn enough money to buy her freedom from her travesty of a life. Her mission to recover stolen property from pirates backfired and she became a possession when she encountered cyborgs instead. Now, one of them will own her. Rena is a survivor…and she wants the very tall, big, brutally sexy cyborg who doesn’t like to share anything that belongs to him.

Steel is beyond irritated when he is maneuvered into ownership of a fragile human female. She’s not nearly big enough to handle his size or strength, yet she’s determined to get him into bed—into her. Steel realizes just what this little female is capable of when he awakens, chained to his bed, with her riding his very turned-on body. For a man who prides himself on his unyielding control, Steel soon finds Rena stripping him of it an inch at a time.

Excerpt:

Her knees went weak and her heart nearly stopped before it started to pound in anxiety. It just couldn’t be. She blinked a few times, her focus jerking from one large male to the next to stare at all seven of them. Someone softly whimpered, and she realized she’d made that sound.

The man at the front frowned. He had light, nickel-colored skin and his full lips twisted downward. She couldn’t look away from his intense dark blue eyes as he stared back. His gaze scanned the room then returned to sweep her from head to foot with a cold look before locking with hers once again. He did not look happy.

“I’m Flint.” The man had a deep voice. “Explain yourself for attacking my ship.”

She was mute. She had to be seeing things but she knew there wasn’t a damn thing wrong with her eyesight. All seven men in the room with her were cyborgs. But they didn’t exist anymore. Earth had eradicated them decades before. Her father had told her horrible stories about the brutal, vicious, and cunning manmade species. They had genetically enhanced bodies with enough hardware inside them to make them virtual weapons and ultimate warriors.

One of the men to Flint’s left cleared his throat, drawing her attention to him. He was a light-gray-skinned cyborg with dark eyes and black hair. None of the seven males were less than six feet tall and all were probably at least two hundred twenty-five pounds. Muscled, human-looking males, except for their sleek metallic skin tones and their larger bodies. The man’s eyes looked black as he studied her.

“I heard some humans keep an onboard pleasure worker with them. You noticed the men’s expensive clothing and it’s a topnotch ship. Hiring a woman to see to their sexual needs stands to reason, and she isn’t in their crew uniform.”

“Pleasure worker?” Her voice finally worked as she glared at the cyborg. She’d gone from fright to purely offended in a heartbeat. “I’m not a space hooker. How dare you.”

The man frowned. “Then who are you?”

Rena straightened her shoulders. “Who is in charge?”

Flint took a step forward. “I am. The Star is my ship. Why did you attack? You sure as hell aren’t pirates unless you’re a group of rich Earth assholes out here to alleviate boredom.”

“I’m Rena Gates and I work for Demco Insurance. This is definitely not your ship, Mr. Flint. By the authority of Earth Transit I have an order to retake the Star. She was stolen and I’m here to recover her. When the claim was paid out, the Star became the property of Demco Insurance and I represent them in this matter. I demand you release the men who boarded the Star and vacate my ship immediately so they can pilot her back to Earth for me.”

Okay, Rena knew that probably wouldn’t go over well but she had to try. She did have an order from Earth transit so everything she’d said was true and it sure beat dropping to her knees to beg them to not kill her. Her father had taught her when in doubt to never show fear so for good measure she glared at the large cyborg. She saw his eyes widen, the dark blue seemed to deepen in color before he barked out a laugh.

“Is this a joke?”

She managed to keep her shoulders from slumping. “No. I’m the primary lead investigator for Demco. The Star is a stolen vessel that now belongs to my company under Earth Transit laws. We paid the claim so I’m here to recover her.”

More of them laughed. Flint finally spoke, grinning, showing off perfect white teeth as he did. “As amusing as you are, there’s no way in hell I’m giving up the Star to you. You are far from Earth and we don’t give a damn about Earth Transit or Demco. Here’s how my law works. We took it from pirates, so it belongs to us now. You attacked my ship when you boarded without permission.” He scanned the shuttle and then he glowered at Rena, all humor gone. “Under space law that’s a death sentence and this shuttle now belongs to me along with everything in it, including you.”

A new man arrived, pushing his way forward to the front, shouldering past men so easily she couldn’t miss him. He was taller than the rest, at least six and a half feet in height with light silvery gray skin. His hair was beautiful, a light silver, looking almost illuminated, it was so pale. He was huge—thick chest, massive arms—his big body encased in tight black leather.

“They are all dealt with, Flint.” The man’s voice sounded rough and deep, giving Rena chills just hearing it. “We tried to reason with the two pinned down but they’ve heard that bullshit about us so they wouldn’t surrender.” The man turned his head and a really light blue gaze locked onto Rena and widened in shock.

Flint looked irritated. “I’m glad you arrived when you did. Thank you for the help. Who the hell started those damn rumors anyway? The worst we’ve ever done is take DNA samples so our scientists have something to work with. We don’t kill people unless we have to and we don’t steal their damn organs.”

The largest cyborg was still staring at Rena. “They refused to believe me. I heard you as I came in. You’re sentencing her to death? She’s a woman, Flint. She’s not even wearing weapons and as bitter as I am right now over women, I think killing her is far too harsh a punishment.”

Flint barked out another laugh. “Tired of the women you’ve dealt with, huh?”

The man tore his strange, light blue gaze away from Rena. “It’s not the females we rescued who have pissed me off. Vonlona believed I was dead so she voided me from our family unit to take another man into her bed.” He sounded angry. “If I’d known I was no longer taken then I would have had a much better few months since I haven’t touched a woman in a long time.”

“I’m sorry.” Flint sighed. “I’m sure you can get her back.”

“I don’t want her,” the man rumbled, clearly vehement. “She was resentful that I made that choice because she wants me, but I want no part of her anymore. She can keep her other male.”

“I am sorry, Steel. I know you were happy with her.” Flint turned his attention back to Rena. “I don’t kill women. I’ll have the single males take a look at her, and I’m sure many will want her, so we’ll hold a lottery to give her away.”

Revulsion washed over Rena, knowing they thought she was a pleasure worker and planned to draw numbers to see who got to sleep with her first. She experienced dizziness and her knees nearly collapsed under her weight. She wasn’t a hooker and she didn’t want to be passed around to a bunch of huge cyborg men. She wouldn’t survive long. Forced pleasure workers never did.

“Flint,” one of the shorter cyborgs said softly. “Give her to me. Volt and I are bored in our down time between shifts.” Dark green eyes scanned Rena’s body and his tongue came out to lick his lips. “She would definitely make me look forward to getting off my shifts and Volt will be thrilled as well to have her amuse us.”

Another one snorted. “Forget it, Nile. Teg and I would appreciate her more.” The black-haired cyborg winked at Rena. “Pick me. I could eat you alive.”

One of the cyborgs in the back shoved forward. “If she gets to pick who she belongs to then I want to be in the running.” He smiled at Rena. “I promise not to break you and you’d enjoy living with me and my brother much better than them.”

She tried to remember what her father had told her about cyborgs but just one story came to mind about a prisoner her father had guarded who had been damn possessive of his belongings. He was the biggest cyborg in lockup and he’d beaten anyone who had tried to touch his things. Her gaze flew to the silvery-skinned cyborg with the strange pale blue eyes and beautiful hair that flowed to his shoulders.

He was the biggest of the eight cyborgs, she’d just heard him say he hadn’t had a woman in a long time and he was no longer married because his wife had screwed another man. She stared at him, taking note of his handsome features, his attractive, muscled body, and those full, firm lips.

Something inside her was drawn to this cyborg, perhaps it was the fact that he’d been betrayed by his wife. Rena knew all about spousal betrayal, bitterness, and being lonely. She lived it every day of her life and had for years, trapped in her travesty of a marriage. She saw a kindred soul in those seconds. If she had to go to bed with a man, he was her first choice, as her gaze swept over him again, feeling attraction in ways she hadn’t experienced in years. The thought of having sex with the handsome cyborg made her feel warm and almost eager to explore the reality of how it would feel to be touched by him. She made a sudden decision. She stared at the big cyborg when he turned his head, maybe sensing her desperate focus on him. She barely hesitated.

“Give me to him.”

Drilled out Today at Ellora's Cave

Remember when you were in high school and there were plenty of young guys your age but you just couldn’t take your eyes off the good looking, athletic senior? He was mature (yeah right…big eye roll). He was smooth and, in our young eyes, sophisticated and waaaay cool. We couldn’t resist the appeal of this guy who seemed to have his act together. We even wrote Mr. and Mrs. Super Cool Guy all over our notebooks and made sure to include little hearts all around it. Ahhh, the good old days.
As we matured into young women we still hankered after the man who had his act together. He was smart, well-educated, and often made a very good living. No, there’s not a thing wrong with that. The older man is sophisticated, fun to talk to, and sexually experienced. You know, interesting. There is major appeal to be found with someone to whom you can really talk, who doesn’t get into weird and confusing head games, who doesn’t judge you etc.
Now who is to say that young guys don’t have the same thoughts and feelings about this? Do you think the high school underclassman didn’t secretly lust after the senior head cheerleader? Of course he did. It’s natural to find self confidence and experience attractive. Perhaps that’s the reason Cougar stories have become so popular. Some of the most beautiful, exciting and interesting women in the world are over forty. They are living life large, confident in what they want and, ahem, in WHOM they want. Many mature women who aren’t anxious for entanglements have been there and done that with ‘relationships’. They instead want the freedom to have some fun. Not a thing wrong with it. Let’s be realistic here, mature men have been doing it for years.
And why wouldn’t a young man not find a more mature woman completely refreshing? He doesn’t have to worry about head games, biological clocks, hints of setting up housekeeping and future babies. He isn’t ready for that yet and often finds a mature, attractive woman just the kind of romantic partner that appeals. And of course there’s that whole ‘sexual peak’ thing.
I’m not advocating being a cougar. Not at all. It’s certainly not something that appeals to everyone. Just saying, to each his own and why can’t a mature, totally grown up woman look where she wants for fun and sexual fulfillment? It’s a brave new world out there. Embrace your maturity, your wit and wisdom, and reach for what you want.

DRILLED, my contribution to the Cougar Challenge series is available today at Ellora's Cave. For more information visit the Tempt the Cougar blog and read about all the other great stories in the series.


Buy It HERE!
Blurb:

A standalone story in the Cougar Challenge series.

Lori Donovan accepts the Cougar Challenge and pledges to snag a hot young stud, knowing it’ll be tough once she moves back to her Texas hometown. She expects barren plains and rattlesnakes but finds hunky Jackson Blue drilling for oil on her property instead. A driller. Hmm. Lori has a few ideas about that and just about all of them involve her poor, needy, sex-starved body.

Jackson takes one look at the curvy, sexy, older woman and puts his expertise into action. After all, drilling is what he does best. Against the wall, on the floor or in the middle of her bed, he’s the right man for the job. It’s a hot time in Texas when a tough, sexy drillin’ man meets a sassy cougar, and playing it safe just isn’t an option.


Excerpt:

Chapter One

A bet was a bet!

Damn it!

Whatever had possessed her to jump on the Cougar Challenge bandwagon and pledge to snare a hot, young stud? Knowing she only had the alcohol and a lack of common sense to blame, Loralee Donovan, plain old Lori to her friends, looked around her grandparents’ old house and considered what her life would be like living out here in no man’s land. Not a hot, eligible young stud muffin within a twenty-mile radius, she figured. She’d only been here a few days and already the thought of the work facing her made her forty-one-year-old bones ache like hell. Boxes were stacked everywhere waiting for her to begin unpacking and then she faced the daunting challenge of getting on with her life after the divorce. Just thinking about what Grant had done to her made her want to cuss. Jackass!

Sighing deeply, she trudged into the old-fashioned kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee before heading into the dining room to boot up her laptop. Time to check in with the other cougars. They’d met a few short months ago at an erotic reader and writers convention and they’d instantly clicked, each vowing over drinks in the bar to stop wallowing in misery and reach out for the hot, younger man of her dreams. Seven of them had already taken the plunge and now it was her turn.

Shit!

Feeling none too confident, she signed into the cougar blog they shared to exchange news, confidences, and advice.


Hey, ya’ll! How are my fellow cougars and champion margarita drinkers? Wanted to let you know that I finally made it back to Sandy Creek and I’ve settled into my grandparents’ old place. Lordy! You should see it. The Permian basin in west Texas sure as hell wouldn’t be featured in any travel brochures let me tell ya! Remember that movie “Giant” when young Rock brings young Liz to her new Texas home? The look of fear and wonder on her face? Talk about a flashback. The old Victorian sets smack-dab in the middle of acres of nothing. Dirt everywhere and winds that blow like a storm from hell every day and every night. Think desolate. But hey, what can I say, I’m home. Siiiigh. When I was a teenager, I couldn’t wait to shake the dust of this place off and have a great adventure. Now a little over two decades and a nasty divorce later, here I am back where I started. Don’t know whether to laugh or bawl like a baby. Starting over is never easy and now, on top of it all, I promised to snare and seduce some young stud. Why did ya’ll let me drink so much and can I get OUT of THIS? LOL. I’ve already talked to Autumn and she says no way in hell am I allowed to back out at this point. Crap. Looks like I’m stuck. So once I get settled in, this cougar is going hunting. Wish me luck.


Lori hit the publish button, tempted to bang her forehead on the keyboard. What had she gotten herself into? Well, if nothing else, she was a woman of her word and a deal was a deal. If she was to fulfill her promise, take the challenge, she had to find a younger guy, screw him silly and rediscover that wicked, naughty woman she’d once been. Could she do it? Here? The very notion made her laugh and shake her head. No way. Sandy Creek was one of those lonely little towns populated by the geriatric crowd and young families who barely scratched out a living on these desolate plains. It was the epitome of small town Texas and she very much doubted there was a bevy of young hunky studs just waiting to jump her forty-one-year-old bones. Laughable.

Before she could turn off the computer an IM box popped up on her screen. Autumn. Perfect timing as always.


Autumn: Hey chick! Did you get moved in?

Lori: Barely. Lordy, this place needs work. I’ve been back a couple of days. Currently staring at a bunch of unpacked boxes. How are you?

Autumn: Great! Couldn’t be happier. Can’t wait for you to meet Mitch. HA. The man rings all my bells and then some. Think you can come for a visit in a few weeks?

Lori: Damn! Lucky you! I’d love to come for a weekend but I just don’t know. There is so much to do here. Grandpa kind of let the place get run down after Grandma died. God, I miss him. Both of them. Anyway, when they left me the place, I was touched but I knew it was a real fixer-upper.

Autumn: Good luck with that. Okay, gotta ask. Are you ready to do it? The challenge?

Lori: Well, about that, hmm, yeah, I reckon so but I have a lot on my plate right now. First there’s the place and then I have to get a handle on all the stuff Grandpa had going on before he died.

Autumn: What stuff?

Lori: Looks like I’m sitting on a whole boatload of crude. Grandpa leased the land to a petroleum company and pump jacks are all over the place. Damn things look like a bunch of skeletons stretching off into the horizon.

Autumn: Wow, lots of money in that black stuff.

Lori: Don’t I know it. Need to check things out with all of this. I stand to earn a percentage of every barrel of oil they bring in so I need to stay on top of things. Oops. Phone. Gotta run. Talk to you later.

Rushing to the phone, she grabbed it up and breathlessly said hello.

“Mrs. Donovan?”

“Yes.”

“This is Jackson Blue of Blue Petroleum and Drilling. Did I catch you at a bad time?”

Damn but the man had a voice like dark, melted chocolate. Rich, slow and with a bit of an edge. Kind of like good sex. She settled in on the couch and tucked the phone against her face. “No, I’m still up. Um, I’ve been meaning to get out to the site. I’m behind. Sorry.”

His laughter was low and deep. Dear sweet heaven! The sound moved through her center to settle in the pit of her belly. Her pussy quivered just a little. Um. What the hell was wrong with her? Was she so desperate for the touch of a man that even a voice on the phone could turn her on? Pathetic. Yes, she was pathetic. He sounded young but there was no way to know for sure. “Some of the fellas said you’d taken possession of the house and I just wanted to give you awhile to settle in. I have some papers for you to sign to transfer the royalties over. Think you or your husband could meet me sometime tomorrow?”

Lori closed her eyes wishing he’d just keep talking forever. “I’m not married. Divorced.”

There was a pause over the line. “Ah, okay, that’s fine, Ms. Donovan.”

“Lori, please.”

“Sure, Lori. Tomorrow then? Want me to come by the house?”

She thought about the mess, the boxes, and shook her head though she knew he couldn’t see. Jeez! Dumb. “No, let me come out there. I’m dying to get a look at everything.”

Oh yeah! She’d crawl through gravel to get a look at the man behind that sexy come-fuck-me voice.

Jackson Blue laughed again. “Not a hell of a lot to see but, yeah, come on by. We’re drilling about half a mile south of the house. Can’t miss us.”

“I’ll be there with bells on.”

“Better make that boots. This is rattlesnake heaven out here.”

“Damn! I didn’t think about that.” Lori laughed and shivered simultaneously. “Snakes. It’s been a long time since I’ve lived out here. How could I have forgotten?”

There was another short pause. “I didn’t know you used to live here.”

“A long time ago, yes. My grandparents raised me but then I moved to Dallas after I married.”

“Must feel pretty weird to be back,” he said. “Coming from the Metroplex to the boonies is a flat-out culture shock.”

Laughter bubbled up. “You couldn’t be more right about that but honestly? A little solitude right now won’t hurt me a bit.”

Jackson’s voice came low and soothing. “That can get pretty lonely though. You know, all that solitude.”

She sighed, enjoying the conversation, enjoying him. “Guess I’ll find out. Ah heck, maybe I’ll hit Smoky Joe’s one night and join the land of the living.”

“Hey, that’s not a bad little honky tonk. I’ve been there a time or two since we rolled into town.”

“Best dance floor east of Midland.”

“So they tell me. Maybe we could head out there for a drink one evening? There’s not a lot in the way of entertainment around here and I get sick of hanging with the guys all the time.” He chuckled. “Could use some civilized company.”

“Who says I’m civilized?”

Lori wanted to bite her damn tongue off. Where in the hell had that flirty comment come from? She didn’t know a damn thing about this guy. He was just a smokin’ hot and dead sexy voice on the other end of the line.

Jackson only laughed. “A real wild woman, huh? This is sounding better and better. I can’t wait to meet you, Lori. Tomorrow then?”

“Yeah, see you then.” When they’d disconnected, she groaned as embarrassed heat climbed over her body. She’d really stepped in it this time.

Yummy Cover Goodness

I couldn't resist showing off my new cover! Bear with me, people, this is an exciting moment for most writers so excuse me while I share. I don't know what it is about cover days. Maybe it's simply because, as an unpublished writer, you dream of the day you'll see a book cover with your own name on it. Or maybe we all just like seeing a photographic depiction of a scene from our very own book. Once I imagined getting a new cover wouldn't be a big deal to me but I've found over the last few years that I was dead wrong about that. It never gets old.

I don't think anyone underestimates the power of a good cover. Back in the day, ebook covers were pretty much puketastic. Computer-generated Barbies and Ken's, bad runny colors...you know the ones I'm talking about. Thank goodness technology has evolved and they now rival anything done by New York publishing houses. We know a cover catches our eye, makes us look further until before we know it, we're checking out the blurb and considering a purchase. It's a powerful selling tool, let's face it.

Normally when making a cover request, I have somewhat of a vision of what I'd like to see. For my High Plains Shifters series (Ellora's Cave) for example, I knew I wanted to evoke the west and Texas. Cowboys. The focus needed to be on my hero. In my menage story, Jaguar Hunger, I realized featuring a woman and two men would be the best route, ensuring that everyone looking would know unequivically this is menage. What about a cover draws your eye? For me it's the look of the man and color. I like sharper lines (no fuzzy stuff) and clarity. Those things please my eye and when I'm book shopping those are the titles I'll, nine times out of ten, give a second glance.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, Drilled, my contribution to the popular Cougar Challenge series releases at Ellora's Cave on April 14.

Blurb:

Lori Donovan accepts the Cougar Challenge and pledges to snag a hot young stud knowing it’ll be tough once she moves back to her Texas hometown. She expects barren plains and rattlesnakes but finds hunky Jackson Blue drilling for oil on her property instead. A driller. Hmm. Lori has a few ideas about that and just about all of them involve her poor, needy, sex-starved body.

Jackson takes one look at the curvy, sexy, older woman and puts his expertise into action. After all, drilling is what he does best. Against the wall, on the floor, or in the middle of her bed, he’s the right man for the job. It’s a hot time in Texas when a tough, sexy drillin’ man meets a sassy cougar and playing it safe just isn’t an option.