We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog today to
bring you an offer too good to pass up. And if that weren’t enough, there will
be prizes—lots and lots of prizes!
Today is the official launch day for the sale of the Romance Super Bundle, a boxed set
collection of ten full-length romances and romantic suspense novels by ten
different authors. The regular price for the collection is $5.99. That’s less
than .60 cents per novel. However, starting today, the collection is on sale
for only .99! We’re talking pennies per book here, people!
But I also mentioned prizes, didn’t I? Hop on over to
the Facebook Launch Party today where you’ll have a chance to visit with the
authors, meet new people, play some games and win all sorts of great stuff from
gift cards to gift baskets to books, books, and more books.
The
Romance Super Bundle authors include: Wendy
Ely, Pamela Fryer, Amy Gamet, Kate Kelly, Dale Mayer, Linda McLaughlin, Barbara
Phinney, Edie Ramer, Donna Marie Rogers, and our very own Lois Winston. Some of
these authors will be stopping by in the days to come to tell you a little bit
about the books they have in the collection. Today we’ll start out with Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception by
Lois Winston.
How It All Began...
by
Lois Winston
Those
of you who are regular readers of this blog know that I write the Anastasia
Pollack Crafting Mystery series, and that this blog features Anastasia and her
colleagues in the online version of the magazine where they all work as
editors. However, I’m also published in other genres, including romance and
romantic suspense, under my own name and my Emma Carlyle pen name. As a matter
of fact, I started out writing romance and romantic suspense. Mystery came much
later.
Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception was the book that launched me on my path to becoming a published
author. I didn’t grow up thinking I’d one day write books. The idea never
crossed my mind until eighteen years ago when a dream wouldn’t leave me alone.
I rarely remember my dreams, but this one stuck with me and wouldn’t let go. I
didn’t know the people in the dream; I have no idea why I kept dreaming about
them. When they started invading my waking life, I decided to get them out of
my system by committing their story to paper.
So
I sat down at the computer one day and began typing. The next thing I knew, I’d
written The Great American Novel—a 50,000 word romance that spanned thirty-five
years. (When you all stop rolling on the floor laughing your butts off, you can
continue reading.)
Yes,
I was clueless, but I didn’t know that at the time. I embarked on an effort to
get the publishing world interested in my book. As the stack of rejection
letters grew, I began to get an inkling that maybe—just maybe—I needed to make
some changes to my story. I headed over to Barnes & Noble and bought an
armload of how-to-write-a-novel books.
That
day at the bookstore was the first day of a ten year journey spent learning how
to write. Nearly ten years to the day I first sat down to pen my dream, I sold
my first book—not the dream book, though. During my decade of learning, I
occasionally dusted off the dream book and reworked it. Eventually, it transformed
from that original 50,000 word romance spanning thirty-five years to an 85,000
word romantic suspense that took place over the course of a few months. It was the
second book I sold and was published in 2007 as Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception. It went on to win the
2008 Winter Rose Award for Excellence in Romantic Fiction, the More Than Magic
Award, and the Laurie Award.
Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception was out of print for several years. Having received the rights
back, I published it as an ebook this past year. It’s now one of the ten books
in the Romance Super Bundle.
Life has delivered one sucker punch after another to Emma Wadsworth. As
a matter of fact, you could say the poor little rich girl is the ultimate
poster child for Money Can’t Buy Happiness — even if she is no longer a child.
Billionaire real estate stud Logan Crawford is as famous for his
less-than-platinum reputation as he is his business empire. In thirty-eight
years he’s never fallen in love, and that’s just fine with him — until he meets
Emma.
But Emma’s not buying into Logan’s seductive ways. Well, maybe just a
little, but she’s definitely going into the affair with her eyes wide open.
She’s no fool. At least not any more. Her deceased husband saw to that.
Besides, she knows Logan will catch the first jet out of Philadelphia once he
learns her secrets.
Except things don’t go exactly as
Emma has predicted, and when Philadelphia’s most beloved citizen become the
city’s most notorious criminal, she needs to do a lot more than clear her name
if she wants to save her budding romance with the billionaire hunk someone is
willing to kill for.
And
here are short blurbs for each of the other books in the collection:
Touched by Death – Dale
Mayer
Death
had touched anthropologist Jade Hansen in Haiti once before, costing her an
unborn child and perhaps her very sanity. A year later, determined to face her
own issues, she returns to Haiti with a mortuary team to recover the bodies of
an American family from a mass grave–only to find the grave holds more than
expected–and Jade finds herself confronting death and terror once again. And
the man who unexpectedly awakens her heart is right in the middle of it all.
There’s Only Been You – Donna
Marie Rogers
Two weeks after Mike
Andrews disappeared from her life, Sara Jamison discovered she was something
she never expected to be–an unwed pregnant teenager. With the love and support
of her annoyingly alpha-male family, she's made a good life for herself and her
young son. Sure, she works too hard and her social life is nonexistent, but for
the most part, she's content–until the day Mike walks into her bakery and back
into her life.
Stardust Miracle – Edie
Ramer
Becky
Diedrich is the cheesemaker's daughter, the minister's wife, the good sister.
What she's not is her own woman, what she can't be is a mother. And then she
catches her husband with another woman, and she moves in with her sister, and
she starts to see sparkles. And this is just the beginning...
Meant for Her – Amy Gamet
A fiery homicide leaves
Navy investigator Hank Jared with just two clues: an encrypted message and a
name, Julie X. Trueblood. Shadows from the past surround Julie, and Hank finds
the perfect place to hide her, right by his side at his sister’s wedding. Now he just needs to remember their
relationship is all an act, while she works to decode the message that could
save both their lives or tear them apart forever.
Rogue’s Hostage – Linda
McLaughlin
Mara Dupre is taken
captive by a French and Indian War party that killed her husband and destroyed
her cabin. She longs for her
freedom, but her captor has other ideas. Lt. Jacques Corbeau's desire for his
hostage threatens what little honor he has left. When Mara offers her body in
exchange for her freedom, it may be his undoing. Will Mara find her way home,
or realize she is already there?
Sleight of Hand – Kate
Kelly
Suddenly suspected of
stealing half a million dollars of original paintings, Chance Spencer can't
afford to have the FBI delve too closely into his covert past. When one agent
in particular endeavors to put him behind bars, Chance coerces the real thief's
daughter, Sarah O'Sullivan, into helping him flush her wily father out of
hiding. But his plan quickly deteriorates when the stakes for his freedom soar.
How can he ruthlessly use the woman with whom he's falling in love?
August Unknown – Pamela
Fryer
She doesn’t know what
happened the night of the storm, why she was walking along the highway without
ID, or why she has a fading tan line on her wedding ring finger, but a dark and
terrifying presence haunts the edge of her memory. Before she can start a new
life with the wonderful man who came to her rescue, she must remember what in
her past might take her away from him.
Hard Target – Barbara
Phinney
Military
policewoman Sgt. Dawna Atkinson has worked hard for her embassy posting, even
while taking the blame for a shared indiscretion with her instructor, Tay
Hastings. But when her embassy is bombed and Tay arrives to assist, she refuses
to trust him again. Still, as the investigation and their growing attraction
heat up, Dawna has the choice to trust Tay or risk the lives of everyone around
them.
Jesse’s Brother – Wendy
Ely
One woman, two men: a
single summer to choose between them. Sacrificing a summer to fix her
relationship with her mother and find out what’s troubling her father isn’t so
bad...right? Wrong. Or so Samantha learns upon her return to Portland. As if
family drama wasn’t bad enough, first comes Noah. Then comes Jesse. Will
Samantha be able to choose between the men before their secret crushes her?
Buy Links:
8 comments:
Hi Lois!
It's been wonderful working on the Romance Super Bundle with you!
Wendy Ely
Hi, Wendy! Thanks for stopping by. It's been great working with you, too! And I've really enjoyed getting to know you and the other authors better.
Hi Lois! What a wonderful publishing story! So thrilled to be a part of this amazing boxed set with such a great bunch of authors! Thanks for posting!
Hi, Donna! Thanks for stopping by. I love being associated with so many great authors in this awesome boxed set!
It has been great getting to know you better. Great story about your first book. Never give up!
Thanks, Linda! Great getting to know you better, too. What I've learned on my journey is that along with writing a book you hope others will love, patience and perseverance are key elements.
Lois,
My journey was similar (12 years from start to sale) I credit my membership in RWA, and the wonderful friends I made there, for my success. But most importantly I feel like all the time spent developing my craft was critical. I wish I could tell new writers not to be in such a hurry. Taking time to grow as a writer is so important.
Pam, that's so true. The biggest downside to indie publishing is that too many people haven't learned their craft first. And that hurts everyone in the end. Unfortunately, we live in an age where people expect instant gratification and too many are not willing to put in the time to learn how to do something right.
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