Congrats to all my fellow authors!

For the record, I have given up my candy corn obsession and replaced it with “indian corn”. You know, the candy corn with the (fake) chocolate on the end. Sooo much better than the plain kind.

Retailers, for the sake of my health, please pull these bags of horrible Brach’s goodness out of the stores. My resistance is futile!

After dropping everyone’s entries into my son’s Indiana Jones hat, the winners of my release week drawing are:

iTunes gift card—Julie L
Samhain e-book and dove candle—Fedora
Heart mug and Godiva hot cocoa—Ashley Applebee
Olive Garden gift card—Shadow
Two of my books—Brenda Hyde

And the winner of a copy of Full Circle from yesterday’s guest blog is Cathy!

If you won something I need to send via snail mail, please send your mailing address to avery at averybeck dot com. If you’re getting an e-book and you didn’t include your email address with your entry, send that over too.

I have really enjoyed getting to know all of you. You’ve all been so much fun, I wanted to go get something for everyone, but that would blow my promo budget. Thanks so much for coming by this week! If you get a chance to read Full Circle or any of my books, I hope you enjoy them.

I’ll post my giveaway winners tomorrow!

The question is, based on what little you can see, which man would you rather wrap you up—tall, dark and handsome (For His Eyes Only), the blond babe (Full Circle), or the mysterious hottie in black pants (Sexy by Design)? Tell me in the comments and if you’re a winner of my drawing, I’ll send you two of these guys for your reading pleasure.

I’m also offering up a dinner date, though unfortunately you can’t take the hot-armed men with you. More specifically, $25 to Olive Garden, because that’s where I was having lunch with a friend when she told me she still can’t wrap her head around the fact that I’m a novelist…and also that she can’t read my books because it’s like looking at me naked in the shower.

(And what’s wrong with…never mind.)

I have to give this lecture to everyone who knows me—the books are about the characters, not about me. It’s fiction. I made it up. (Despite the images it puts in her mind, she still buys the books to support me, so mad props for that!)

I’ve condensed a couple of giveaways here, because it’s the weekend and down time is a good thing. Here is a list of the past week’s prizes if you missed them:

Tuesday: iTunes card
Wednesday: e-book of your choice from Samhain Publishing + dove candle (see pic on post)
Thursday: follow your heart mug + Godiva hot cocoa
Friday and weekend (this post): two of my books, and, to a separate winner, Olive Garden gift card (there are a couple of other places on it too. Red Lobster and…something else, lol)

Comment on any of these posts and you are entered for all five of the prizes. Each time you comment is an additional entry; the only rule is one entry per day.

I’ll leave the contest open for a few days, because I’m doing a guest blog on Monday and I want to give those folks a chance to play. Winners will be drawn and announced on Tuesday. Thank you for an exciting release week!

Anyhow, you can see by the covers that those books are on the explicit side. Full Circle is not. After years of writing manuscripts aimed at the erotic romance market, one day it hit me that my heart wasn’t in it anymore. I didn’t even read that genre like I used to. I’d fallen out of love, and I wasn’t sure what exactly I wanted to do next. So I started this project for me, and for the joy of writing. Not for the market. I wrote this book without any plans to submit it. I am so happy with the finished product, I’m glad I did.

This doesn’t mean there aren’t love scenes in the story—there are. And they’re colorful. Just not four-letter word colorful.

Over the years I’ve heard authors mention the “book of my heart”, which I’ve always taken to mean The One. Similar to finding a relationship that finally rubs you the right way. Though every book requires a lot of caffeine and sleepless nights to complete, the book of the heart takes some extra blood, sweat and tears. For me, this one really did involve occasional tears. Before it had a title, it was The Book That Makes Me Cry. (And before that, it was “Elisa and Liam, First Draft”. Gotta love those working titles!)

I finally understand why writers hesitate to put their work out there in front of editors, contest judges, beta readers or anyone else. In the past I didn’t fret too much about who read or criticized what I wrote. I put manuscripts in the mail without anxiety and ignored internet trolls whose mamas never told them to keep their mouths shut if they can’t say something nice.

It isn’t quite that easy this time. I was a bit nauseous waiting for my RT review and finally found out last week about those blessed four stars. I’m sleeping better now! In one workshop or another, I’ve listened to successful authors say if you aren’t bleeding on the page, you’re not doing it right. I’ll take this as a sign that I’m finally in my groove.

What book, movie or other performance made you cry?

Today’s giveaway is a lovely red mug that says “follow your heart”, and you can fill it with this:

That, my friends, is a large can of Godiva dark chocolate hot cocoa, and it is burning a hole in my kitchen counter. I swear, I haven’t opened it. Yet.

(And don’t forget about the iTunes card from Tuesday as well as yesterday’s book and candle. Every time you comment, you are entered for all the prizes. Good times. )

It’s enough to make a person believe in the word “soulmate”.

Elisa and Liam weren’t high school sweethearts, but they do have a history, and a dramatic one at that. What’s even better—he doesn’t have a clue, until fate drops them back into each other’s lives.

Are you married to the big crush from your youth? What’s your love story, or what kind do you like to read?

Today’s giveaway: an e-book of your choice from Samhain and this romantic candle (I love this, might have to get another one for myself!):