Are We There Yet?

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A week ago today I took an unexpected cross-country trip. Okay, maybe it wasn't totally unexpected since my husband was supposed to drive my son from Maryland to Boise, Idaho and I'd planned to fly out with my daughters. We were to meet up with the boys and take a few vacation days in the mountains of Ketchum, Sun Valley, Stanley, and McCall before attending my son's freshman orientation at Boise State University. I just never expected to be the one driving! 

Unfortunately something happened at my husband's work that made it impossible for him to leave, so I had less than twelve hours to pack, sleep, and head out. That wouldn't have been a problem if I hadn't been doing laundry for days for the boys and not me. After all, I wasn't supposed to have left until Thursday. It also didn't help that the county was replacing the water mains and turned off my water from ten at night until six in the morning. Yes, you read that right--I not only had no clean clothes, but I couldn't even wash them.

Oh, and did I mention that I was on a deadline and a blog tour? Yeah, it just keeps getting better and better! 

My husband thought he could have the problem fixed in time to fly out with our daughters. Wednesday night I found out he was wrong. The girls would be flying alone, which wasn't a problem except for the fact I was ten hours from Boise, they were arriving before noon, and my friend wasn't answering her cellphone so I had no way of knowing if she got the message to pick my daughters up at the airport.

I took off at four in the morning after way too little sleep so the girls wouldn't have to wait long in case my friend didn't get the message. I stopped to grab a cup of coffee, ran into a truck stop, only to be alerted by an attendant on my way out of the restroom that someone had just rear-ended my parked car.

Two hours later, I was duct taping cardboard over my missing rear window, and still dealing with the police. Did I mention that the boy who hit me had no insurance and was younger than my son?

The good news is that no one was hurt since no one was in either car (yeah, I still can't figure that one out either.), my dear friend picked up the girls from the airport, the car was drivable, if not a little windy, and we made it safely to Boise.

In between getting my daughter's tooth pulled (don't ask) and arranging to have the car fixed, we've enjoyed seeing old friends and exploring Boise. My son is loving college so far. By the end of his first day of orientation, he'd already made a friend (who turned out to be his roommate for orientation), met a girl, and got a date!

The bad news is there's a forest fire close to Stanley--one of the most beautiful places on earth--so our plans for a drive through the area where much of my books take place, is still up in the air. Still, we're headed up to McCall and Sun Valley/Ketchum for some mountain fun. I'll try to remember to take pictures to share in my next blog.

In celebration of Call Me Wild's release, I'm giving away a copy to a lucky commenter. 

Just tell me about your last vacation disaster and be sure to include your email address spelling out at and dot so you don't end up with a mailbox full of spam. 

Do things like this happen to everyone, or only to me? It makes me wonder if a plague of locusts can't be far behind...

It's Here! It's Here!

By Robin "Red Hot" Kaye

Can you tell I'm a little excited? 

Call Me Wild   

She doesn't know a single thing about relationships...

Unemployed sportswriter Jessie James plans to make a killing writing a bestselling romance novel. She's never read one, but really, how hard can it be? Moving cross-country to a borrowed house in Idaho, Jessie starts her research with the first gorgeous guy she runs into...

Luckily, he knows everything...

Sports doctor Fisher Kincaid notices Jessie right away--the transplanted Easterner sticks out like a sore thumb in the small town. When he discovers she's researching attraction and romance, he graciously offers himself as a test subject. That's when everything starts to go wrong, and they both find out how much they need a few good lessons in love...

Okay, it's not officially out until August 1, but it's been spotted in stores already so it counts, doesn't it? 

Either way, it's getting awesome reviews! 

Sarah Eisenbraunoh at RT gave it 4-Stars:


"Kaye’s latest is smart and entertaining, especially for contemporary romance fans who love athletics and healthy living. Jessie’s sporty persona adds an original spin to the typical female romance protagonist. (She even uses RT Book Reviews as a research source for her novel, so how can we not love her?) As the leading man, Fisher is more than hot, and his sexy bond with Jessie will keep readers glued until the last page. Fans of Kaye’s past work and contemporary romance readers alike will definitely enjoy their time with this novel."

PW says:


"The frothy, fun plot and intriguing secondary characters provide ample support for this opposites-attract romance."




Shelley Mosley at Booklist says: 


"Kaye’s fast-paced and funny tale will appeal to readers who like their romance novels side-splitting and sexy."


I'm giving away a signed copy of Call Me Wild--To Enter, just leave a comment and tell me what Andrew's nickname for Jessie is, and leave your email address. You might want to write it all out. You know, like Robin at RobinKayeWrites dot com so no one starts sending you spam.
The answer is in Chapter One which I posted on my website. Enjoy!



Oh, and if that isn't exciting enough. I just received the cover of my next book!

 Back To You

The first book in my Bad Boys of Red Hook Series! 

So, what do you think? Isn't it gorgeous?




It would take a miracle for Storm Decker to return to Red Hook--or a tragedy. The neighborhood holds too many painful memories of his troubled childhood, including the mistake that sent him running from  the ex-cop he'd come to consider his father. But when Pete suddenly falls ill, Storm is called home to face the past he tried to leave behind long ago....


Breanna Collins never expected to see Storm again after he left town without a word, breaking her heart. She's angry that he can't seem to appreciate the changes in their neighborhood. But she still feels a powerful connection to her old flame. And unless she can remind him of all the reasons to stay, she knows he'll never stick around long enough to give their romance the second chance it deserves....

Welcome Guest Blogger and Debut Author Cynthia D'Alba!

Hi everyone! I'm so excited to introduce my friend Cynthia D'Alba to everyone here at Killer Fiction. Cyndi and I met six years ago at a conference in Florida and have been meeting up at conferences ever since--she's one of my all-time favorite people. Please make her feel welcome, she's such a doll, I knew she'd fit right in! I can't wait to read Texas Two Step so I'm off to preorder it right now.



This post is proudly a stop on the TEXAS TWO STEP Blog Tour. For a complete listing of all stops on this tour, please visit here. All contests are for U.S. residents only unless otherwise noted. Comments left on this blog will be counted toward the Texas Two Step Faithful Follower Gift Certificate. To see a complete listing of Blog Tour Prizes, click here. Be sure to check out the freebies. Yours for the asking as long as they last.

Thanks and BIG HUGS to Robin Kaye for hosting me today. I met Robin way back in 2006 when we were both unpublished. Since that time, I’ve watched Robin become a major contemporary author and I get to say…I knew her when! ☺ Thanks Robin.



Today marks the seven-day countdown to the release of my debut, Texas Two Step. If this is the first time you’ve stumbled across my OMG-I-HAVE-A-BOOK-BEING-PUBLISHED tour, I’m glad to see you! For the past week, I’ve been posting installments of Texas Two Step-The Prequel. In today’s episode we continue The First Date. Click here if you want to read today’s episode and for links to earlier installments.

Mitch and Olivia (my hero and heroine from Texas Two Step) meet and date during college so I thought today we should talk about college dating. It can be brutal, can’t it?

When I was a freshman at the University of Arkansas, all the girls were required to live in dorms and could not pledge sororities until their sophomore year. Freshman guys could pledge fraternities, so there was no lack of fraternity parties to attend and lots of pledges needing dates. The freshman class came from all over the state. Sure, some people knew others in the class but mostly we were strangers to each other. Honestly I didn’t make that many friends in classes I took. I was pre-nursing so classes with guys were limited. When it came to dating, blind dates were commonplace. But remember, we didn’t know each other so how did we link up for the date?

The dorm I lived in was four stories. Guys weren’t allowed in our rooms except for certain times of the day or week. (I don’t remember the criteria that governed boys in our rooms but yes, it was a long time ago!) When a guy came to pick up his date, he would call her room to tell her he was downstairs. Since the vast majority of these dates were for frat parties, the lobby would be packed with guys picking up dates. But remember, lots of these were blind dates. We didn’t have a clue what the date looked like. So you’d hear lots of clothes descriptions. “I’m wearing a yellow shirt and a pair of khaki pants”, then the girl would describe what she was wearing, “I’m in a denim skirt and tan top.” So when she hit the lobby, she’d be searching for a yellow shirt and khaki while he was looking for a girl in a tan top and jean skirt. They’d connect and off they’d go.

However, it was not unheard of for the guy to lie about what he was wearing. He wasn’t in a yellow shirt and khaki pants but he knew what she wore to look for her. Why would they do this? Can you guess? The guy was checking her out FIRST. If she wasn’t to his liking, he wouldn’t “claim” his date and could sneak out the door! Seriously. Here’s this girl wandering around looking for a guy in an outfit that didn’t exist. Horrors!
Luckily this never happened to me. But I know plenty of guys who used this ruse to slip out on a date. Cads, don’t you think?

So what was the worst date you went on or heard about? Make us laugh. Or Cringe. Or go hunt up some guy from college who left you standing in the lobby as he sneaked out.

Today’s TTS Blog Tour Prize
Many guest bloggers can offer a copy of a backlist book to be given away as a potential prize for a blog commenter. As a debut author, I don’t have a backlist. But I do have some awesome author friends who have stepped forward and offered one of their books as a prize.


Today’s TTS Blog Tour Author Sponsor is Indie Press Author Margery Scott. Margery is offering her book, Devil’s Harvest, to one lucky person who leaves a comment. To find out more about today’s Blog Tour Sponsor, you can visit her Website, Twitter or Facebook.


To learn more about me check out these links:

Website , Facebook, Twitter, Group Blog, and Personal Blog
And if those aren’t enough, sign up for inside scoops and special contests by receiving the newsletter I share with my blog buddies.

Remember! Leave a comment for a chance to win Margery’s books!

Texas Two Step is available for preordering at Samhain, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.

I will be forever in your debt if you would buy it!

Tomorrow, I’ll be at Romance University talking about finding names for your characters. The Prequel will continue on Thursday. Thanks for reading and leaving a comment.

I Married Mr. Fix-It

By Robin "Red Hot" Kaye


And that’s not a bad thing. Okay, some times it’s not great either—I’ve been living in a construction site for most of my marriage, but when it comes to fixing things, my man excels.

We live in a hundred year old Victorian farmhouse in Maryland, and when we bought it, I was in Idaho trying to sell our place. Stephen had already moved to Maryland to start his new job, so when I saw the ad for a Victorian, I had him go look at it.

Stephen called me right back all excited. “It needs some work,” he told me, “but nothing I can’t handle. It’s got great bones, ten-foot ceilings, and a turret with a big witches peak.”

To be fair, I probably stopped listening after the turret and the witches peak part. What romance writer doesn’t want to live in a house with a turret? When he started talking builerspeak I most likely zoned out.

The house had five bedrooms, two baths, and was on over a half-acre right on Main Street—perfect. It was also within our price range, which should have given me pause. But all I could see were the ten-foot ceilings and the turret—that is, until we moved in.

Yeah, mistake number one was letting my husband, a cross between “Tim The Tool Man” Taylor and Bob the Builder, buy a house before I saw it.


I had expected a fixer-upper but what this place needed was a can of gasoline and a match!



Stephen opened the door, and the smell of mold was so bad I immediately started wheezing—probably from the combination of mold and shock. He had told me the house needed a new roof, but what he failed to mention was that the roof on our hundred-year-old Victorian, like everything but the bathrooms, was original. When it rained, it rained in the house—literally. It’s pretty bad when the dog goes to the five-gallon buckets that are placed all over the house to catch the rainwater before he checks his own water bowl.

Thankfully, he cleaned the place up, and installed all new appliances in the week and a half I was in Florida picking up the kids. He even surprised me by buying a whole house water filter. I’d have been happy to have one that sat below the kitchen sink, but no, he got the big one. The water filter had to be connected to the plumbing—mistake number two.

When Stephen installed the water filter with more power, the pipe it was supposed to connect to broke because it was so old. He replaced that pipe only to have the next break also. On and on it went until, in the span of two weeks, we had all-new plumbing. The electrical system was the same way.

Now I know replacing all the plumbing and wiring in the house is a lot of work, but really, the lights worked before, and all the toilets flushed—usually. But all I could see was that I was still living in a house where, when it rained you needed an umbrella inside—and no, I’m not exaggerating.

Over the next nine years, we raised and replaced the roof, replaced the heating system, installed all new windows and siding, moved and built two new bathrooms, and remodeled three of the five bedrooms. But the turret, the one room I’d been dreaming about since day one, was left unfinished.

I don’t know how many times I suggested he tackle it, and every time he had an excuse not to—until the day his mother called. She told him she was giving us a bunch of family heirlooms and that he’d better get the turret finished. He started it the next day. I spent nine years begging for him to work on the turret, and all it took was one phone call from his mother.



I would complain, but really, I can’t. He did the most amazing job. He built a tray ceiling in a decagon that mirrored the windows, added a chandelier with an ornate medallion, and rebuilt and refinished the pocket door. The room is almost done except for the hardwood floors…maybe when I get my next royalty check. But I have to say that it’s almost worth it.

I wonder if I can get his mother to call about the kitchen and the dining room?

I'm giving away a copy of my latest book, Wild Thing and a $25 Amazon or Barnes And Noble Gift Certificate to a lucky commenter in the US or CAN only who answers the following questions... Are you handy or married to Mr. Fix it? Would you rather remodel a house or have one built?

Congratulations! Winners from Jana DeLeon's drawings are:

Alison - $25 gift card

amf, Sarah S., and Angela Bount have all won autographed copies of my next Intrigue.

Please contact me through my website and we'll work out the mailing/etc.

Wild Thing is Out!

By Robin "Red Hot" Kaye





I should be more excited--my fifth book is being released today, making me a confirmed career author! Did you hear a lack of enthusiasm despite the exclamation point?

Now don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled about Wild Thing. I think it's my favorite book so far. I love Toni and Hunter. I had such a hard time doing my galleys because I kept forgetting I was supposed to be working and ended up getting so sucked into the story, before I knew it I'd read three chapters and had to go back and re-check them.

My lack of excitement stems from the fact that now, with five books under my belt, I'm considered a career author. Did you know it takes five published books to be considered a career author? Well, supposedly it does, I'm just not sure who is doing the considering. In my mind, I was a confirmed career author the day I finished my first book--after all, I had a product to sell and was actively selling it. To me, telling an author they're not a career author until after they've published five books would be like telling Ray Kroc he wasn't a career restauranteur until after he sold a billion burgers.

Now that I'm a confirmed career author I thought I would feel different. I thought people take me more seriously. Yesterday I dressed seriously, I had the whole black on black thing going (a black turtleneck, black jeans and an awesome long sweater I picked up at Chico's.) It didn't work. I might as well have been running around in sweats--I still had to go to the pharmacy and then to the school to drop off the prescription to the school nurse in case Mini-Me has an allergic reaction to her new antibiotic. Unfortunately Mini-Me is also Worst-Case-Senario-Girl, something else she picked up from me. After that I had a lovely meeting at school to go over some testing. No change there either. I had an hour to kill and went to a restaurant to have lunch--I ate over my computer while desperately trying to get my email. It was the same-old, same-old. No sign of a Nora-esque moment. My life hadn't changed a bit (well, except I didn't end up with a spot on my new black turtleneck, but that I think was more dumb luck than a sign of the change). I also ran Mini-Me to the doctor's office. The nurse mentioned that she buys my books for Christmas presents and heard one was coming out. I'm thinking cool! Here's my moment! She asked who the hero was and seemed upset it was Hunter and not Trapper. A total crash and burn. No Nora-esque moment there either.

So I ask you, am I expecting too much now that I'm a career author? Should there be a change? The only change I see are the few coins ratting around in the bottom of my purse. And if there were a change what should it be?

I'll give away a couple copies of Wild Thing to lucky commenters (US only please--which is not my decision but that of my publisher, just so you know) so be sure to leave your email addresses--just spell out the at and the dot so weird people don't get them and send you spam.

Is "Dream Job" an Oxymoron? by Diane Kelly

Okay, as I write this blog on Saturday, Oct. 22nd, I’m sitting outside A Real Bookstore in Fairview, Texas with my buddy Angela after attending a booksigning for fellow Killer Fiction author Christie Craig and my DARA chapter-mate Liz Lipperman. Angela and I are both on our computers. She’s been working on her latest story, while I’ve been trying to think up an interesting topic for this blog. (Had a sangria with lunch. Bad idea. It put my brain to sleep.) Then, lo and behold, Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” came on over the speakers. When he got to the line “I’m sick of sitting ‘round here trying to write this book,” I had to laugh at the irony of that line being sung over the heads of two writers hard at work.

Will I ever get "sick of sitting 'round here trying to write this book?" NEVER!!! It's so much fun to create characters and stories. I have more ideas in my head than I’ll ever be able to get down on paper. I wish there was some way to stick a USB cable in my ear and directly download the stories from my brain to a computer file.

It’s a blessing not only to have work that feels much more like play, but also to be paid to do it. I wish everyone could find a job they love this much.

The new reality shows based on occupations are intriguing. Hell’s Kitchen. Pawn Stars. Ice Road Truckers. The Biggest Catch. Dog the Bounty Hunter. Through these shows, we get to see the inside secrets of all types of jobs. All of them are far more interesting than they might seem at first blush.

Are you working your dream job? If not, what would your dream job be? What about the job appeals to you? Post a comment and you might win a copy of Death, Taxes and a French Manicure. The winner will be chosen at random and posted around 9:00 pm central time. For more chances to win a book plus a $10 Barnes & Noble e-giftcard, visit the blog at my author website, www.dianekelly.com, from now through Oct. 31st.

Thanks for visiting us here at Killer Fiction!