Yeah. Actually, that's a common saying for any military family. But the other thing I hear all the time? "Only you, Larissa. It could only happen to you."

Gah. So true.

So…hubby is gone. Time for someone to get sick, the house to flood, an accident to happen…something.

And last night, I wasn't disappointed.

I'm running late for my son's doctor appointment, and the Subaru battery is nearly dead. Like, it barely turned over. So I rush my son to the doctor, drop him off, and hurry home to get the other vehicle, because I'm afraid to turn the Subaru off at the doctor's office and then have it not start again.

I rush into the garage, jump in the truck, and…the battery is dead. Beyond dead. Not even a click. Jump back in the Subaru, and only get it started after a bazillion attempts. Gah. I managed to get the kid picked up, but there were no places where I could get a new battery installed. So because I couldn't turn the car off, I couldn't go grocery shopping or do any of the other crap I needed to do. Finally, I had to buy a jump starter at Auto Zone so that later, if I need to get the car started, I can at least…start it.

Really…what are the freaking odds that BOTH cars would have dead batteries at the same freaking time??? That's the whole point of having a spare car, right? So if something goes wrong with one, you have another? ARGH!!!!

Anyway, dh will hopefully be home this weekend, so he can handle the new battery situations.

On a positive note, I started off the New Year with a new-to-me author. Karen Marie Moning. OMG, why did I wait???? Unfortunately, I have to wait to read the second book in the Fever series until I get past a pressing deadline and finish a book (which is great!) I'm reading for a quote, but that'll be my treat for turning in the manuscript.

How about you? Have you recently given a new-to-you author a try?

Well, I need your help. I've been asked to provide book club discussion points for a reader's guide for Ecstasy Unveiled and Sin Undone. Very cool! Problem is, I have no idea what to ask, so that's where you come in.

I know you probably haven't read Sin Undone yet, so it's hard to come up with discussion questions to provide for a reader's group to discuss after they've read the book, but I'm still open to anything you can come up with. (These aren't questions TO ME — they are discussion points for readers who discuss the book in groups amongst themselves during and after they've read the books.)

If you haven't read either book, simply say so in the comments instead of posting a reader's group discussion question. For you, I'll include a special prize category.

Now, onto the prizes: I'm giving away an ARC of Sin Undone, plus a tote bag I had designed to match! One winner will get the ARC and tote, and two other winners will get a tote. One winner who hasn't read Ecstasy Unveiled and says so in the comments or puts the Demonica widget on the right side of this page on their webpage/blog will get their choice of a signed book or a tote bag.

So…all you have to do to be eligible to win one of the first three prizes is leave a comment with a discussion question that would be good for a reader's group that is reading Ecstasy Unveiled or Sin Undone. (Or, for the fourth prize, say you haven't read the books or post the widget to the right on your blog.)

An example of a discussion question is this, from The Stormchasers, by Jenna Blum: Charles and Karena have very different views about how Charles should manage his bipolarity: Karena insisting Charles seek medical help, Charles insisting on holistic and alternative measures. Whom do you tend to side with on this issue, Charles or Karena? Why?

Remember, the questions are for people who have already read the books in their readers' groups, so they know what happened. The purpose of the questions is to get people to discuss how they feel about the events in the books.

Okay, so have at it! I'll announce winners next weekend, so BE SURE to check back to see if you're a winner. I tend to forget to hunt people down.

Happy questioning!

Updated to add: Apologies for all the updates on the post (if you have a feed, you're getting a MILLION changes to the post! I just wanted to clarify some of my confusing points and fix a couple of dumb mistakes I made!)

*NOTE: COMMENTS ARE TURNED OFF…CONTEST IS OVER*

If you have read Passion Unleashed and wondered how Serena and Wraith are getting along, this story is for you!

It's the first of what I hope to be many, so be sure to check back from time to time. You can find the stories in the Free Reads section of my website, or go to them directly by clicking this link.

Hope you enjoy!

Okay, back to work. Eternal Rider is so close to being done that I can taste it, and it tastes like smoky bourbon poured over a really hot immortal guy named War…

See, I used to not have such a high opinion of romance novels. I admit it. Oh, sure, there are some clunkers, but you find that in every genre. But now I don't know how I ever looked down on romance in the first place. I do understand not liking it — there are genres I don't like, and I have to admit, I don't love all the romance subgenres.

But…think about it; humans are genetically wired to mate. Every animal is. That's how we keep the species going. So for most of us, from the time we start noticing the opposite sex, we start thinking about how we're eventually going to settle down. Of course, there are varying degrees of WANTING a mate.

Some little girls dream of their weddings from a very young age. Others, like me, think weddings are a giant waste of time and money, and never really gave a whole lot of thought to marriage. (Yes, I eventually got married, but I didn't spend much money on the wedding…I preferred to spend the money on the honeymoon, which was more for me and hubby than for a bunch of wedding guests who were probably going to speculate on how long the marriage would last anyway.)

Funny…I write romance novels…

And then there are those who have no interest in marriage at all. Ever.

But those people still date. They still want companionship. Even the men.

As a species, we NEED companionship. Romance. Mates.

So why do we sometimes look down on romance novels, which are all about this biological imperative?

Take a look at movies. Even action movies for MEN often have romantic subplots. Comedies have romantic subplots. American Pie, that goofy movie that men seem to love…it's all about MATING! Oh, sure, it seems like it's all about overactive teen hormones, but at the very core, it's about relationships. It's just packaged in a funny high school wrapping.

So anyway, the point of this was that it's odd how people often look down on romance novels (yet they LOVE American Pie,) but what's even odder is how sometimes book stores themselves treat romance.

I love my local Barnes and Noble in Green Bay, because the romance section is right in the open, on a main aisle. It proudly screams "Best selling genre in the store." The employees have been wonderful to me, and I heart them a lot.

But the B&N where I used to live? The romance section was the size of my bathroom, and stuck way in the back of the store in a corner — and not so coincidentally…near the bathrooms. The employees were never overly nice when I went in to sign my books, and on one occasion, they actually refused to put out my new release on release day because the shelves were "too crowded." That book, Passion Unleashed, didn't make it onto the shelves in that store until two weeks after release day, even though they had it. I know this, because I signed the books…and they went right back into the storage room.

So…what about you? How do your local book stores and employees rate when it comes to romance? Are you happy with the way you (and your reading choices) are treated, or is there room for improvement?

Note: my blog is still in moderation mode, so if you leave a comment and it doesn't appear immediately, please be patient. I need to approve all comments and sometimes I'm not available to do that right away!

Er, no. This is an irate reader. A reader who read Ecstasy Unveiled and is angry because I "broke my own rules" by creating Sin. She even pointed to this review and comment (which is actually a mostly good review) at Amazon that proves her case. (Oh, it's nice to know how much I suck just before I go to bed. Yay, me!)

Okay, so anyway, this post isn't about an angry reader mail. I actually get stuff like that all the time. I'm broken in.

This is about the rules of your paranormal (or real) universe.

Every fictional world has rules. These are promises an author shares with the reader that go like this: "I, the author, swear to make you feel safe and secure within my world so that you trust me, my writing, and my decisions, and you'll know that I won't pop a blue troll into a world where I've said blue trolls won't exist."

The reader's rules? Well, it would be nice if readers had enough faith to believe that any deviations from the rules will be explained, BUT…that's not required. As a reader, I've been burned before, and it takes a while to trust an author I've never read.

So, yeah…as a reader, IMO, your only rule is to read the book you bought at your convenience. Don't like the book? It happens? Love it? That's awesome.

Authors? We have to make sure we don't break our own rules.

Except…

What if blue trolls DO exist in the world where you've said they don't? First of all, there had better be a damned good reason. If they show up, there NEEDS to be an explanation.

I'm a rule-breaker, but that's because in the real world, there are exceptions to every rule — BUT THERE ARE REASONS FOR THE EXCEPTIONS.

Let's take Wraith. Wraith is an anomaly. But he doesn't break any RULES. I said there are no female Seminus demons. I never said that vampire Seminus demons can't exist. Just that none ever had. I love anomalies.

But Sin…she's a rule-breaker. Yes, another anomaly. But that doesn't mean that I've run out of ideas — I had her planned from the very beginning…she was an initial idea. I LOVE to break rules. (Have I mentioned that?)

And here's where the reader confidence thing comes in. By this point in the series, I HOPE I've earned enough reader trust that they will know that Sin's existence will be explained. She didn't pop up from nowhere. There IS a reason for her existence. If I didn't achieve that trust…well, that sucks. I clearly didn't do my job for some readers.

World-building can be seriously challenging for authors, especially in the fantasy and paranormal world. But even in the real world, it can be difficult, because people "know" things in real life. (And actually, that's the big challenge for writing contemporary and historical novels — overcoming the things people "know" that aren't true, or things people know without seeing any exceptions.)

In fact, I would say that keeping reader trust in a contemporary novel is actually harder than in a paranormal. In a paranormal, I can create my own rules, and as long as I do it believably and don't break those rules (heh) readers can believe it. But having your character pump his own gas in Oregon? You'll get crucified. (For those who don't know, you can't pump your own gas in Oregon.)

But say you NEED your character to pump his own gas? Here's where the rule-breaking rules come in. There's a way…you just have to make sure it's believable. If you have your hero pull up to a gas pump and start pumping, fine. That happens. My husband did it, not knowing he wasn't supposed to. Got quarter of a tank before the attendant came flying out of the station like he was going to explode. But the attendant DID come out.

So…don't have your hero pump his gas, go in to pay, and the attendant is like, "Oh, sorry, dude. Oops, didn't see you." Even if that happened to you, it's just not believable, and let me repeat, EVEN IF IT HAS HAPPENED. That's how we people are. The fiction world has to be more believable than the real one.

You need a good, solid reason for the attendant to not have noticed that the gas was getting pumped.

So have your hero go inside and find the attendant shot from a robbery. Or tied up in the back. Whatever. You CAN break that rule — but make it believable. You've got to make it obvious that you, the author, KNOW that you're breaking a rule or that you KNOW you're doing something that might not be normal.

Just recently, there was a conversation about pop/soda/Coke on Twitter. It reminded me of a critique I got a long time ago, where I had a character order a pop in Maine. I got nailed to the freaking wall for that. "We say soda in Maine!!!!"

Yes, but my character was from Washington state, where they say "pop."

Didn't matter to the critiquers, because they knew that in Maine, people say soda. Period.

Were the critiquers morons? No. I, as an author, did not do my job. I didn't convey, to the reader, that *I* knew I was doing something out of the ordinary. I made it look like I didn't research, didn't take into consideration reality, whatever.

The fix? So simple. Make it clear that I knew that what I was having my character say was out of the ordinary.

"Can I have a pop?" Tom asked.

Tom grinned. "Just moved here from Washington."

NOW the reader knows that the author knows that what he said didn't make sense.

Okay, so…rules. I breaks them. I like breaking them. I like it when authors break them. But show me that you know you're breaking them and that there's a reason for it.

I hope I've earned reader trust by now, but no author works for everyone.

Readers, have you been burned before, so that you have a hard time trusting certain authors — or all authors? Authors, what do YOU think is harder to create — a fantasy/paranormal world, or a real one?

I still feel so new at this, like I don't belong with the cool people who actually know what they're doing and seem to do it so effortlessly.

One of those people is Gena Showalter, who talked about Ecstasy Unveiled on her blog today. (Congrats to Gena on her NYT and USA Today appearance with Twice as Hot!) I first found Gena's books when I read Savor Me Slowly, and I was sucked in by the amazing writing. Then I started reading her demons, and holy hot, Batman! OMG. Love. Just…love. And now she is showing off two new Lord of the Underworld covers that are simply gorgeous! Go check 'em out!

Another one of those people is Lynn Viehl, who blew me away with her generosity right after hurricane Katrina. Not a single day goes by that I don't think about it, because the angel keychain she sent me holds my car keys, and the dictionary she sent to replace my destroyed sits beside me. She also sent me StarDoc, which blew me away with awesomeness. And then I started reading her Darkyn series, and damn…I fell into that world and stayed there for days after each book (not in a creepy insane alternate-reality way. I swear.)

Anyway, she posted about Ecstasy Unveiled and gave me all kinds of warm fuzzies…and she's also giving away copies of Lore's book, because she's generous like that. Truly, she amazes me. So please, hop over and say hi, and if you haven't tried her books, now's the time. She just started a spinoff series, and the first book, Shadowlight, is off-the-charts good.

So several RomVets authors got together with a proposal for a series by military vets…and Time Raiders was born! It's a very cool idea. So keep an eye out for the books! The first, The Seeker, by Lindsay McKenna, releases August 1st!

I also ordered from Amazon, Wicked Intentions, by Lydia Joyce, and Unlaced, by Jaci Burton. Yay for books!!!!

Now I'd better get back to writing one…

Today I'm talking about Alison Kent, HelenKay Dimon, and Meljean Brook.

First up, Meljean. For those who have been following the series, this is a must-read. Her books aren't "easy" reads…they're something you need to plan for. To set aside time for. Because once you get going, you're trapped in a world that has been so well developed that you can't get out.

In Demon Bound, you won't want to get out. 'Cuz Jake is hot.

So check it out…if you haven't read Meljean Brooks, I highly recommend that you start with Demon Angel. And if you've read any of her other books, well, I'm wasting my breath because you've already bought Demon Bound.

Also releasing this month, HelenKay Dimon's Hot As Hell. Isn't that cover great? I love blue!!!!

HelenKay writes smart, hot, and tight. No, I haven't read this one yet, but it's on its way from Amazon. I expect it to be like other HelenKay Dimon stories, which means there will be razor-sharp humor sprinkled into the prose — as well as lots of steam. HelenKay is one of my favorite authors — even if she wasn't so talented, she's just…nice. Love her!

Now, if you like Harlequin Blazes, you'll love Alison Kent's November release, Kiss and Tell. Have you read an Alison Kent book? She's fabulous! Like Meljean and HelenKay, Alison writes with a lot of detail and attention to craft. Intelligent writing and deep emotion are the hallmarks of an Alison Kent book, and you can also usually find lots of strong girlfriend bonds in the books. Check it out!

Okay, enough gushing for the day. I have to write. (I also have some news that I'll be sharing soon! *g*)

Happy Thursday, everyone!

I've already gushed about Michelle Willingham's ebook release, The Viking's Forbidden Love-Slave, but she also has a print release out this month! Check out Her Warrior Slave!

And I've totally gushed about Jordan Summers's Red, which I was lucky enough to read in ARC form. Now I can't wait to pick up the finished book, which released today! It's fabulously gritty and raw and just plain…yum. One of this year's must-reads for me.

Then there's Jaci Burton's third installment in her Demon Hunter series! The Darkest Touch just released, and don't you just love that cover???? I think this is my favorite of the three books. Super sexy, and I have a soft spot for archaeologist heroines! *g*

Today also saw the release of Maya Banks's Be With Me. For hot sex, deep emotion, and damned good romance, check it out! And dang…what a cover! :)

Happy Election Day, everyone! (Talking about more books tomorrow!)