A Holiday Gift for You!

By Robin "Red Hot" Kaye


Happy Holidays to all my friends.

I found out that my first book in my Domestic Gods Series, Romeo, Romeo is available on Kindle and iBooks for free! Here’s the link for Kindle, as for iBooks, I could only pull it up on my iPhone and not my computer but rest assured, it’s there and it’s free! Yay!

I hope that if you haven’t gotten a copy of Romeo, Romeo already, you’ll go right out and download it to your iPhone, Blackberry, Kindle, or your Mac or PC.


To make this an extra special holiday my latest book, the forth in the Domestic Gods Series, Yours for the Taking, is coming out January 1st and has been spotted on the New Release Tables of several booksellers around the country, I’m going to pick one lucky person who comments to win not only a copy of Yours for the Taking, but also a Humpin’ Hannah’s T-Shirt.

I have three Humpin’ Hannah’s T-shirts to choose from. They’re all size Large because I love nothing better than big comfy T-shirts. As a matter of fact, I’m wearing mine as I write.

The colors from left to right are a stonewashed blue, stonewashed violet/purple and navy.



Humpin’ Hannah’s is a very real, very cool bar in Boise, Idaho. It’s my favorite place to hang out when I go home and I missed it so much, I made one of my favorite fictional characters, Karma Kincaid, in Yours for the Taking an employee there. The owner’s of Humpin’ Hannah’s (Darcy, Todd, and Dick) were nice enough to give me permission to take over their bar and play with it in Yours for the Taking and all my future Domestic Gods Gone Wild books.




So Happy Holidays to all, and when you comment, please tell me about your favorite holiday present, and what you wish you’d received.

My favorite gift was a lovely Kindle! The present I wanted but didn’t get? The life-size stand-up of Mark Harmon as Gibbs from NCIS. I’m still debating whether or not to get on the CBS Website and buy him. I want to put my very own Leroy Jethro Gibbs in the corner so that every time I look up from my computer, I have instant inspiration—so much for the dog.

My Favorite Thing About Writing...

By Robin "Red Hot" Kaye

I love being a writer…I mean, what’s not to love? I get to sit at my computer all day wearing my pajamas and eating bonbons whilst playing spider solitaire in between writing sessions. How many other people can use the word whist and come off as witty and not pretentious? Let’s face it, you pretty much have to be a writer in order to pull that off.

One of my favorite things about writing is research. Now, if you’re picturing me in some dark and dusty library, you’re way off base. No, I have my own form of research. I like to immerse myself in it 100%.

A little over a month ago I sat in my office trying to work. It was a Sunday morning and the whole family—three teenagers, the dog, my three-legged cat, my husband and even my daughter’s best friend and our neighbor— saw fit to join me. I typed away, writing my book and doing my best to ignore the fact that everyone was doing the utmost to make it an impossible endeavor, my husband piped up. “I have this plane ticket to use by the 12^th or we’ll lose it. Robin, maybe you should take a weekend trip to Boise.” My head peeked up over my monitor. “Really?” I asked. My fingers flew across the keyboard, bringing up the airline’s website. One quick call to my best friend in Boise and a ticket was purchased for the weekend two weeks hence. After all, I had a conference that next weekend, and really, the only thing better than a conference weekend is a research weekend.

My next series of books, Domestic Gods Gone Wild take place in and around Boise, so I really did have research to do, so off to Boise I flew. My friend picked me up at the airport and we headed down Capital Boulevard toward downtown. It was a beautiful fall evening and everyone was out and about enjoying First Thursday. We ate a delightful meal outside the Bitter Creek Ale House, drinking in the beer…um I mean atmosphere. When my friend asked what I wanted to do during my stay. I told her that I had to go to Humpin’ Hannah’s—the real bar my fictional favorite character, Karma Kincaid owns in my books. This was work, you know. I did my best to look put upon as I watched the people come and go. I breathed the fresh dry air and thought I never wanted to leave.

A few months before, I had been going over my copy edits for Yours for the Taking, and it occurred to me that since I planned to have Karma own Humpin’ Hannah’s—the absolute coolest bar in Boise—I might need the permission of the owners. I called my editor and sure enough, she confirmed my fear. I racked my brain to come up with another name for the bar I loved so much, but they all paled in comparison. You gotta’ admit that Humpin’ Hannah’s is a pretty amazing name. So, I picked up the phone and called the bar to ask the owners if I could have permission to use the bar’s name in the book.

Darcy, Todd, and Dick, the owners of Humpin’ Hannah’s, were wonderful and gave me permission, thus putting my editor’s mind at ease. I promised I’d send them a box of books, and buy some of the Humpin’ Hannah’s t-shirts to give away on my blog tour. Todd sent a release to my editor and made me promise to stop in the next time I was in town.

That very next day, my friend and I headed to Hannah’s to fulfill my promise. I had an advanced readers copy of Yours for the Taking in which Humpin’ Hannah’s was featured and containing my thanks for the use of their wonderful bar in the acknowledgements. I walked under the Humpin’ Hannah’s flag I remembered so well, and into the brick front bar on Main Street—one of my favorite places in Boise. I went right up to the bar and asked if Todd was there. A nice looking-guy smiled and shook his head. “No, Todd’s not working today.” I was bummed. I mean, there I was all the way from Maryland and the first time up at base I struck out. I put the book down on the bar. “I’m Robin Kaye, the author, and I’m in town for a few days…” The man turned beat red. “Oh my God.” He said. “I’m Todd. I thought you were here to sell me something. I almost told you my name was Ernie, he’s our janitor.”

Todd, Dick, and Darcy, were all in attendance that afternoon which was an oddity.








I took pictures, had a few drinks with the regulars, and even scored hockey tickets to a Stealhead game! The Stealheads won 5 – 3, there were a lot of good fights (the sign of a great hockey game) and even few gushers which was awesome because we had seats in the second row on the center line just above the players so we saw everything.

I rounded out the weekend driving through Boise, looking longingly at the foothills and wishing I had a few more days to take a trip in the mountains. We watched the Boise State Bronco’s annihilate Toledo 57-14 in Bronco Stadium—the stadium my husband built,
ate at Goldy’s and Bar Gernika in the Basque area, and I longed to move back.

Like after all great research trips, I came home with a lot of new ideas, a bunch of T-shirts to give away on my blog tour which begins next month, and a renewed sense that I am truly doing what I’m meant to be doing; writing in my pajamas and dreaming of other places I want to research. Next Stop: Red Hook, Brooklyn, NY!