Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

Greetings! My first book, THE RAKE’S HANDBOOK, was published in November 2014. My third book in the series, TO CATCH A RAKE, will be published in February of 2016. A little over one year of authorial bliss. How did it go?   It wasn’t at all what I expected, but what did I expect? Hard work is a given if you plan to write a novel. My life’s career was in a scientific field, so I had no training as a writer. “Well brain, you large pile of margarita-addled noodles, let’s do this!” So a little research revealed Romance is a best selling genre, over fifty percent of mass-market books sold. “Fabulous. What’s a romance?” A friend, Eve, gave me a list of books she loved, so I started to read. Then I found FREDERICA, by Georgette Heyer. Like the rest of the planet, I was charmed, entertained, and amused by Heyer’s story. “Okay, a romance novel like that one is my ultimate goal.” Time to train the vestigial right brain (if the neurons still fired). So I joined the RWA....

Surprise! Surprise usually evokes one of two emotions: fear or pleasure. If the setting is threatening—a dark alley, a creepy house, my daughter's bedroom—then we feel fear. If the setting is welcoming—a birthday party, a sunny room, a chocolate shop—then we feel pleasure. Surprise is also the key to humor writing. In other words, humor is created by confounding expectations. I saw a great example of this the other day on Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews' Facebook page :   Why is that so funny? Because we expect seduction and instead we get naughty cross-dressing! Of course, there is a catch. To write humor, you have to have a sense of humor. You need to see the humor in any situation, delve deep into life's most embarrassing or cringe-worthy moments and take them out of context. Suddenly events that may not have seemed funny at the time can make you laugh. And when incorporated into a story, they can make readers laugh, too. Although my sexy MMA fighter romance, Aga...

Pour the champagne and cue the dancing girls! Wait, strike that. Cue the dancing GUYS! Because my debut novel has FINALLY released! Woohooooo! Welcome to Sultry Springs, Texas: where first loves find second chances... Nine years after June Augustine hightailed it out of Sultry Springs with her heart in pieces, one thing stands between her and her dream of opening an upscale martini bar: a bogus warrant from her tiny Texas hometown. Now she's stuck in the sticks for a month of community service under the supervision of the devilishly sexy Luke Gallagher, her first love and ex-best friend. If Texas in July wasn't already hot enough, working side-by-side with June would make any man melt. Luke wants nothing more than to strip her down and throw her in the lake--the same lake where they were found buck naked and guilty as sin all those years ago. In their heads, they're older and wiser. But their hearts tell a different story... And what do reviewers have to say?...

I'm thankful for a lot of things, so it was really hard to narrow it down to just one. This week was full of ups and downs. One thing that helps us is the ability to laugh. There's just something about laughter that helps sooth our souls. Whether you're watching a Mel Brooks Film (Spaceballs is still my favorite) or reading the Sunday comics, those giggles just work their magic. This got my curiosity piqued, so I decided to do a little research. Why exactly is laughter the best medicine? I mean really? Are there really health benefits to laughter? And the answer is YES! There are tons of physical, as well as mental, benefits to laughter. Some of the physical include cardiovascular, blood sugar, pain relief and even immunity. It improves your mood and can help relieve stress and anxiety. The main reason is that laughter helps release endorphins, neurotransmitters that when released act as an analgesic which can help lower pain and increase someone's feeling of well b...

by Tamara Hogan When I learned that this month's blog theme was fascinating women, I immediately called dibs on Elizabeth Stamatina (Tina) Fey.  Fey, who honed her writing and acting chops at Second City Chicago, came to cultural prominence as a writer and actor at "Saturday Night Live," where she ultimately became the show's first female head writer and helmed the "Weekend Update" desk with Jimmy Fallon and then Amy Poehler. She adapted the screenplay for, and starred in, the movie "Mean Girls," and teamed again with Poehler for "Baby Mama." She's the writer, star and executive producer of the NBC comedy "30 Rock." And, as if being one of the strongest sketch comedy, television and movie writers around wasn't achievement enough, last month she hit #1 on the New York Times best-seller list with her hilarious and poignant memoir, "Bossypants." Writer, actor, wife, mother, producer, Emmy winner, reluctant c...

In honor of the humor theme for this month, I'm sharing a post I did for my blog tour for MY UNFAIR LADY, for those that may have missed it, and because it tickled me the first time around. :} One of my favorite shows on TV is SyFy channel’s Destination Truth with Joshua Gates. If you’re unfamiliar with the show, it’s about a guy who travels to all sorts of exotic locations to find out the truth about monsters reportedly living there. The host, Josh Gates, is tall and adorable…brave almost to the point of insanity…has a wicked sense of humor…perfect hero material…sorry, got distracted. Anyway, Josh never seems to uncover proof of the actual monster (I’ll keep rooting for him), but his journeys are amazing, and he always discovers all kinds of other, interesting things (like a headless chicken corpse with human feet, an enormous unidentified footprint, ghostly images, disembodied voices and even scarier mundane things. Like quicksand. Alligators. Poisonous snakes…) Shivering aside, ...

by Libby Malin www.LibbysBooks.com What a month it has been! My Own Personal Soap Opera hit the shelves, and I hit the virtual road for my eco-friendly virtual book tour, stopping by blogs hither and yon, answering questions about writing and having a blast. Seriously. I did have a blast. On this blog tour, I decided to throw three sheets to the wind and write funny and silly as well as serious and writerly. My favorite stops, in case you missed them: Fresh Fiction on April 7 where I penned a "scholarly essay" on How to Write the Comedic Novel. This here blog on April 13 where I was interviewed about my little-known history. The Love Romance Passion blog on April 12 where I talked about soap operas. The Books and Needlepoint blog on April 20 where I talked about books I "faked" reading and more. The MamaWriters blog yesterday where I talked about how to nurture a writer in your family, using my sweet and talented daughter (who has a book coming out this fall!...

I’ve always been told I have a demented sense of humor and parts of that show up in my books. Namely, I like to take real life and give it a wild twist to the right. Although there have been times when real life is totally funnier than fiction. Back in 1982 I decided I wanted to write a book about a male housekeeper. My previous books had some humor in them, but I wanted to do something that I hoped would come up laugh out loud. I figured the best way was a role reversal book. Single mom with rambunctious five-year-old twin boys, a large sheepdog, demanding career, and the need for a housekeeper. Doesn’t sound all that laugh out loud, does it? So factor in boys who only have to breathe to get into mischief. While there were chuckles with our sexy housekeeper -- can a man really read the back of a laundry detergent box – it was still the kids and dog that added to the fun factor. But the fact part about those boys was actually funnier than the fiction. You see, the two boys were based o...

It surprises me that I write romantic comedies. I never thought of myself as a particularly amusing person, but when I sit down to write, the funny takes over. Maybe it's because I write about cowboys, and cowboys are inherently funny. For starters, they wear chaps--which are, without a doubt, the most absurd garment ever invented. The sexiest, maybe, but also the funniest. They're basically pants without a seat. It's hard to judge your own humor, but this is one of my favorite funny scenes from "Cowboy Trouble." Here's the setup: Our heroine, Libby, has told her new (and very attractive) neighbor that she has a ferocious guard dog named Ivan the Terrible--just in case the guy's considerable charm turns out to be of the Ted Bundy variety. She decides a dog is actually a good idea, so she goes to the local shelter--and ends up adopting a 15-pound Jack Russell Terrier. When Luke comes over the next day, she shoves the dog in the pantry so he won...

Q. Your book, My Own Personal Soap Opera , has been out for several weeks now. How has it been going? A. Very well. I’ve been having lots of fun on my eco-friendly virtual book tour, and I’ve been receiving many positive comments from readers. Both of them. No, seriously, it’s been great, and I truly have been enjoying myself. Q. Well, since you’re visiting this blog today, why don’t you tell us a little about yourself? A. Thank you for asking. Not many people know my true personal story, so I'm happy to share it here today. It has great relevance to my journey as a writer. I was born in a small village in the Hungarian Alps, orphaned at the age of five months and raised by vampiric werewolves. This is one of the reasons, by the way, that I cannot bring myself to write stories involving vampires or werewolves, no matter how much money is to be made in that field. I know, I know—authors are ra king in dozens of dollars writing those tales. But for me, it ...

... Really? Last weekend, I was visiting family, and a neighbor knew I write humorous romance, so she decided to "help me" with a real-life plot. A male high school basketball coach - married - is having an affair with the married cheerleading coach (female) AND the married field hockey coach (female). All three are going through divorces (shocker), and the women each think he's going to move in with them. The situation is rife with public fighting, back-stabbing, name-calling - apparently, there is no honor among cheaters. Go figure. There are other circumstances and other events in this story, but as I stood there listening to her, I thought, "She thinks this is funny?" And she did. She thought this was a great set-up for a romantic comedy. Okaaaaaaaay... ? A writer friend of mine who also writes humorous romance said to me that her editor wanted her to "funny things up" at certain points in her story for revision. "It's really hard to be fu...

Two guys walked into a bar , no wait, it’s a priest and a rabbi entered a bar , um, no that’s a cop and a monkey are in a car and the monkey says, um… OK, I can’t remember jokes for the life of me. Five minutes after the punch line I would be hard pressed to retell the joke to someone else, and if I did remember how it went I would not be able to deliver it right. Guess I am just not a funny gal. Sarcastic, yes, and witty at times, but not funny. Some people are born with the gift. My sister’s second husband could have made millions as a stand up comedian. He was, hand’s down, the funniest person I have ever known. Watching a B-movie with him was a hysterical experience! He had the gift. His son, my nephew, inherited that gift and is almost as funny as his dad. One thing I learned hanging around with the jokesters of our family is not only will you have a great time, but everyone becomes funny! It is like the funny-aura oozes out and infects those surrounding until we are all bursting...

First off I want to wish my fantabulous agent, Laurie McLean, a happy happy birthday! Aries rock Batgirl! Fluff, Puff, and Horace set off today to deliver a birthday cake to you. If they arrive without the cake, well, what else would you expect from them? I love humor because it’s always flat out fun. And what’s more fun than Fluff and Puff? “You think he’ll be any nicer than the leprechaun?” Fluff asked as he and Puff made their way down the pink brick road (since they’re not heading for Oz, the bricks aren’t yellow). “I’m still sorta green.” He scratched one ear with the other. “And it really itches.” He tried to reach his tail, but his ear wasn’t long enough. “He should be nicer. He works with candy, not protecting his dumb gold.” Puff obliged by scratching Fluff’s tail. “And hello! he’s a bunny.” It had only been a few weeks, but the bunny slippers are still a pale shade of celadon that’s not very flattering. And rumor had it golden Horace was pretending to be an Oscar and now work...