Blog tour: ANNIE SEATON

Today I'm thrilled to kick off fellow Entangled Publishing author Annie Seaton's blog tour.
I recently met Annie in person at the RWAus awards dinner and she's as vibrant and lovely in person as she is online.

Take it away, Annie!

Amnesiac oil sheikh billionaire, embroiled in a  family feud discovers his best friend’s little sister has had his baby and…

No not really… but it is an example of a possible trope!

Tropes....does anyone who doesn’t write romance know what a trope is?

I have to admit that the word was new to me, the first time my editor and I discussed my second book.  As both a librarian and English teacher in former careers, I was embarrassed when I had to go to the dictionary. I was new to writing and still picking up the lingo!

However the dictionary which defined it as a common or overused theme or device didn’t really help me…so I went exploring. First stop Wikipedia –a trope is figurative language in literature, or a figure of speech, or something recurring across a genre or type of creative work.

Okay, still no wiser and when my editor asks what tropes am I writing and reminds me I need at least two, I scurry off to Google! Okay, same answer as Wikipaeida.

 Help! This is taking time away from my writing. Where to now? Okay ...Google romance tropes.

Yay…success! Thanks to a few romance blogs who tell me that one of the secrets to writing successful romance is to take a well loved trope and give it a twist. Ah…the penny drops. 

Tropes are what I have read and loved for many years—I just didn’t know there was a name for it. Secret babies, accidental pregnancies, amnesia, betrayal, family feuds and friends to lovers.

In Holiday Affair, the trope is a one night stand gone wrong, with a bit of mistaken identity or less than honesty thrown in and a teensy hint of a love triangle.

 Everything that builds the conflict is the trope.

So to answer my wonderful editor…the trope of my next book is a combination of a marriage of convenience and an old family feud, a little bit of opposites attract and a super wealthy hero!

Now when I am asked about trope, I feel rather smug. And not only I can answer knowledgably, I can illustrate by describing my own books and the path of my characters to happily ever after.

So tell me what’s your favorite trope?

Website: http://annieseatonromance.com

Blog: http://annieseaton.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/annieseaton26

Twitter: @annieseaton26

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Annie Seaton lives on the beautiful east coast of Australia, where she loves sitting in her writing chair, gazing at the ocean and writing stories. She has always been fascinated by all things historical and has found her niche writing contemporary romance and steampunk, where strong heroines and brooding heroes fight together to make their alternative world a better place.

Her debut novel, Holiday Affair, a contemporary romance set in the South Pacific was released as part of Entangled Publishing’s Indulgence line in March. The sequel Italian Affair is currently underway Watch out for the story of Tom and Brianna the sex therapist who spices up his life!

Winter of the Passion Flower was released through Lyrical Press at the same time. It is also available in print from the Books page of Annie's website. Currently immersed in the creation of Book Two, a full length novel, the adventures of Sofia and her Scottish laird, Annie is already looking forward to the rest of the series, particularly the adventures of Indigo’s four boys: Jago and Jory, Ruan and Kit. Strong sassy heroines and

rebellious heroes have a rollicking good time as they work to make the world a better place--

albeit their own steampunk world.

Blind Lust, a paranormal novella will be released by Musa Publishing on 15th June.

Guest: AMY ANDREWS

Today I'm thrilled to welcome a good buddy to my blog...the delightful Amy Andrews.

Hi Nic and thanks for having me today to talk about my Entangled release, Taming the Tycoon.  I’ve been really happy with reviews that have pointed out both the humour and the sexiness of Nate and Addie’ story because that’s two things I love in romance novels – I like to laugh and get just a little steamed up. My husband likes it too J

Karla(Book Addict) at GR said - “I can´t say how much I enjoyed this book, the story was great the plot was executed flawlessly and OMG the sex scenes are HAWT, I swear I was sweating and squirming in my seat just thinking about it”

I think she may have been talking about this scene …

His blue eyes held hers and it was all she could do to breathe in and out.

“You give a hell of a massage, Addie.”

His voice rumbled around her, breaking the spell. She tore her gaze from his, afraid he’d see how much she wanted him to grind a little harder.

But then she was staring right at his erection. It was thick and long and stretched his clinging boxers and she had to dig her fingertips into his thigh to stop from reaching for it.

She had a feeling it would be as beautiful as the rest of him and she really wanted to see it.

She glanced at him and heat slammed in to her as his knowing, unapologetic gaze claimed hers. “Like I said,” he murmured. “You give a hell of a massage.”

 But his voice was unsteady and there seemed to be a slight glaze to his eyes and it was a turn- on to know that she’d done that to him.

She glanced at his erection again.

And that.

“How does it feel?” she asked, her own voice vying for the top position in the husky stakes.

“It feels—” He stopped and cleared his throat. “Amazing. Everywhere feels amazing. You...” Addie’s eyes widened as he pressed his kneecap hard against her “... feel amazing.”

She shut her eyes as a wave of longing rolled through her. “I do, don’t I?” she murmured as she rotated her hips, her fingers automatically working his thigh again.

Nathaniel’s eyes closed too. “Uh-huh.”

She rotated again then rocked back and forth a little with the motion of her kneading. His knee cap was just the right amount of hard against all her softness and she mewed as it slid against all her sensitive spots. 

Honey and vanilla wafted up from his leg and she wanted to rub it all over him and lick off every last sticky morsel.

“Addie?”

She opened her eyes to his husky question, gratified to see the clench of his jaw, the strain in his neck muscles, his hands gripping the sheet beside him.

“Are you drunk?” he asked.

She rocked into him, meshing her gaze with his and smiled. “Just drunk enough to be very, very easy.”

Nathaniel gave a half laugh. “Having sex with a fake girlfriend would be very...” She watched his eyes shut as she ground down hard. “Very bad,” he muttered, opening his eyes again.

Addie nodded as the image of them entwined and naked on this sinful bed exploded inside her head. “But this isn’t sex,” she said stroking her hand higher on his thigh as she angled her pelvis where the pressure was best. She hit the right spot and it sucked the breath right from her lungs.

“Oh, I think it is,” he muttered.

Although, there are a few more like that J

Jen from Random Jensmit also talked about the sexiness in her review but I was thrilled when she made particular mention of the funny. “What I absolutely LOVE about this book is the humor that shows up all through the pages.  Addie is funny and Nate is just snarky and a little dirty with his double entandras – LOVE IT!”

I’m thinking this is one of the scenes she had in mind!

Nathaniel looked up from the breakfast table when Addie joined them at eight-thirty. He grinned at her and she blushed. She had her hair back in some braid thing and was wearing faded denim jeans this morning that hung loose and low on her hips and a plain navy t-shirt that didn’t quite meet the jeans.

He’d had his hand on that strip of skin he could see. Held it there while she’d wiggled and squirmed against him. Just thinking about it got him hard again.

It hadn’t been what he’d expected—hell, developing a fascination with Addie was one complication he didn’t need—but there were worse ways to wake up.

“Here she is. Morning my pretty,” Eunice boomed her welcome. “Nate said you were wide awake at five for a while, so we just let you sleep.”

Addie faltered as she sat down, glancing at him, and he winked at her as he said, “I do hope that itch I couldn’t quite scratch has settled. Darling.”

So if you like sexy with a few laughs, this may just be the book for you.

Amy is giving away a copy of TAMING THE TYCOON and a keychain!

Answer this question to be in the running:

What are the things you look for in a romance novel?

Crazy Love winners!

Thanks to everyone who entered the CRAZY LOVE kindle giveaway.
We had over 400 entries!

Unfortunately, the book didn't reach the dizzying heights of top 150 on Amazon for the kindle giveaway.

But I am giving away10 copies of CRAZY LOVE as a consolation prize!

The winners according to Rafflecopter are:

Amy Smith
Stacey A Smith
Jacquie Biggar
Kristina Knight
Kelly Bowerman
Jessica Espinal Cross
Nora-Adrienne Deret
Aliaa Jordan El-Nashar
Christine Mead
Rose McHallen

Please email me so I can confirm your correct address to gift you the book via Amazon.

The Alpha Male blog hop

What is your favorite thing about alpha heroes? Many authors are ready to share our favourite Alpha Males, our favorite things about them, and all things sexy. Over 200 Authors and Bloggers will share their favorite things about those sexy men we know and love.

And while we do that, we are EACH doing a giveaway. Yep. There will be over 200 giveaways on each blog hosted by that Author or Blogger.

But that's not all....

We have THREE grand prizes. You as a reader can go to EACH blog and comment with your email address and be entered to win. Yep, you can enter over 200 times!

Now what are those prizes?

1st Grand Prize: A Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet (INT)

2nd Grand Prize: A $130 Amazon or B&N Gift Card (INT)

3rd Grand Prize: The following Swag Pack! (US only)

I've written an article on the great alpha V beta hero debate and you can read it HERE

Marc Fairley, the hero in my current release CRAZY LOVE is alpha all the way.
Commanding, driven, with a hint of arrogance that drives the heroine Sierra wild!

I'm giving away 2 copies of CRAZY LOVE.

To be in the running:

+1 -follow my blog

+2 -tweet: 'Fun, fast & funny!' Welcome to CRAZY LOVE by USA Today bestseller @NicolaMarsh http://amzn.to/UIBkqd  $2.99 #ebook

+3 -place on your Facebook page 'Fun, fast & funny!' Welcome to CRAZY LOVE by USA Today bestseller Nicola Marsh http://amzn.to/UIBkqd  $2.99 

Leave a comment with your email address, indicating what you've done.

To be in the running for the grand prizes, you must leave a comment with your email address.

And to check out the 200 other blogs with mega giveaways, click HERE 

Good luck and have fun!

Kindle & $50 gift card giveaway closing soon!

Only 3 more days to enter the kindle & $50 gift card giveaway for CRAZY LOVE.

At this stage, it doesn't look like the book will hit the Amazon top 50 for this to happen, so I'm widening the parameters for the last few days...

If CRAZY LOVE cracks the kindle store's top 150, I'll still give away the kindle and gift card!

So spread the word like crazy over the weekend!
Check out how to enter via rafflecopter here 

And don't forget, if the book doesn't hit that high, I'm still giving away 10 copies of CRAZY LOVE.
That's right, 10!

Guest: AUBRIE DIONNE

Today I'd like to welcome fellow Entangled Publishing author Aubrie Dionne to my blog.

Check out her latest release Haven 6.

A product of an illegal pairing, Eridani is the only woman without a lifemate aboard the colonization ship, the Heritage, and she is determined her less than perfect DNA will not get in the way of finding love. As the ship nears it's final destination of Haven 6 after five hundred years of travel, images of the surface show evidence of intelligent life on a planet that's supposed to be uninhabited. Commander Grier assigns Eri to the exploratory team to spy on the alien society and return with information on how to defeat them.

When Eri's team lands, tribes of humans attack and Eri is saved by Striver, the descendant of a colonist and a pirate from Old Earth's colonization efforts in other parts of the galaxy. Striver helps Eri rescue her team and they are drawn to each other despite their different allegiances. While Striver battles with trusting Eri, Eri must decide whether to warn him and his people about the commander's intentions, or follow orders and complete her mission.

Aubrie grew up watching the original Star Wars movies over and over again until she could recite and reenact every single scene in her backyard. She also loved The Goonies, Star Trek the Next Generation-favorite character was Data by far-, and Indiana Jones. But, her all time favorite movie was The Last Unicorn. She still wonders why the unicorn decided to change back to a unicorn in the end.

Aubrie wrote in her junior high yearbook that she wanted to be "A concert flutist" when she grew up. When she made that happen, she decided one career was not enough and embarked as a fantasy, sci fi author. Two careers seems to keep her busy. For now.

Now for the professional bio:

Aubrie Dionne is an author and flutist in New England. Her writings have appeared in Mindflights, Niteblade, Silver Blade, Emerald Tales, Hazard Cat, Moon Drenched Fables, A Fly in Amber, and Aurora Wolf. Her books are published by Entangled Publishing, Lyrical Press, and Gypsy Shadow Publishing. She recently signed her YA sci fi novel with Inkspell Publishing titled: Colonization: Paradise Reclaimed, which will release in November 2012. When she's not writing, Aubrie teaches flute and plays in orchestras. She's a big Star Trek TNG fan, as well as Star Wars and Serenity.

To discover more about Aubrie and her books, check out:

Twitter: @authoraubrie

Website

Blog

Haven 6 on Goodreads

New release: WEDDING DATE WITH MR WRONG

With the advent of Harlequin's new series KISS, launching in Feb 2013, all my Harlequin books will be released under that imprint.

So WEDDING DATE WITH MR WRONG (just released) is my last Harlequin Romance, the series that started it all for me with The Tycoon's Dating Deal back in March 2004.

I'm feeling very nostalgic!

Here's the blurb:

Callie Umberto has had enough of dating disasters after the holiday fling of a lifetime ended abruptly and she swore off men for good.

Now her ex-flame is back in her life. 

Pro surfer Archer Flett might be as gorgeous as always, but his commitment phobia is just as active. She must be out of her mind to agree to be his date for his brother's wedding! 

But there's something about Archer that has always tempted Callie to throw caution to the wind.

And yeah, Archer is one hot surfer dude!

You can grab a print copy here (worldwide free postage) 
Or for kindle here 
Or nook here

Online Readers Retreat

The lovely LUCY MONROE is hosting a week-long online readers retreat.

There are giveaways galore and loads of fun activities including games night, masquerade ball, PJ party, movie night and a hospitality suite.

You need to sign up to be a part of the fun (it's free!) and with 600 readers already having fun, why don't you join in?

Today, I'm a guest at the retreat and we're chatting about fantasy celebs to help turn our book pages at the retreat.

I'm passing around cyber Tim Tams too, so come join in the fun!

Don't forget the kindle giveaway right here!