Summer's Coming by @JoanReeves #SmartGirlsReadRomance

Summer is coming, and you know what that means!

Vacations, snow cones, iced tea, picnics, ice cream cones, and trips to the beach.

If you're lucky enough to live near a lake or an ocean, you're probably already shopping for this year's swimsuit.

A trip to the beach was a vacation for me when the kids were young. I could lie back and keep an eye on them while they built sand castles, played in the waves, laughed, and screamed using their outdoor voice.

Oh, those were fun times. Another great thing about spending a day at the beach was reading. Whoopee!

Beach Books = Summer Fun

Yes, Darling Hubby and I took turns keeping an eye on the kids so I could read a big thick romance novel.

Unfortunately, this was before the Kindle was a gleam in anyone's eye. I'd go home with sand in my paperback and buckled pages from the kids running up and grabbing my book.

There are many devices on which you can read ebooks now, but my favorite is still my Kindle because sunshine doesn't "wash out" the pages. An iPad is like that too because it's backlit, but my Kindle is small enough I can drop it in my beach bag.

Breaking News

Last summer, I created a fictional beach called Last Chance Beach, located in an island of your imagination. I said, Last Chance Beach was where dreams go to live again. I published a box set of 14 short stories under the title, Last Chance Beach: Summer's End.

My friend Caroline Clemmons wrote The Man in Gull Cottage for the box set. The embedded link takes you to her story on Amazon Kindle.

There was such an amazing response to that island setting in each book that I worked on the concept with some author friends so Last Chance Beach could "grow" to enable us to write single title romance novels using that setting. The result is Last Chance Beach Romance, a series of full-length romance novels united by the setting of Last Chance Beach. A new Last Chance Beach Romance will be published every 6-8 weeks.

Deceptively Yours is the first Last Chance Beach Romance, and it's available for pre-order now. This is a steamy Romantic Suspense about lost love, second chances, and redemption.

Blurbing the Book

Tatiana was twelve when her mother died, leaving her alone in the world. Her cousin took her in. What seemed like an act of kindness was a scheme to use her artistic talent to cheat wealthy men who were least likely to display art they thought had been obtained illegally.

For six years, her life offered nothing but fear and danger—then she met Declan. He gave her love, passion, and hope for a future together.

In an act of breathtaking courage, she defied her cousin. He responded with a vicious assault. A chance meeting with an elderly man saved her and gave her a second chance at life. 

Ten years later, Tatiana has done everything in her power to repay her benefactor, to prove she’s worthy of the care and fatherly love he’s given her, and to become a better person.

But she’s never forgotten the man who taught her the meaning of love and desire—the man she loved and lost. 

Destiny hands her a second chance at love when she and Declan meet again, but she resists him and the love he offers. She’s not the girl he fell in love with. She never was. She can’t undo the lies she told, the secrets she’s kept—and continues to keep.

Declan knows a devastating secret lies at the heart of Tatiana’s refusal to accept him. He patiently waits for her to tell him the truth about what happened ten years ago, but his patience ends when he suspects she’s in danger. Will what he discovers kill his love for her?

Will Tatiana find the courage to reveal her secrets before it’s too late? Will she accept the love and intimacy she finds in Declan's arms?

Deceptively Yours, a passionate romantic suspense about a woman and a man who are destined to be together, is set against the island paradise of Last Chance Beach, where dreams go to live again.

Passionate? That means very sexy, but NOT erotica. If you don't care for romance novels with sex, some of the other Last Chance Beach Romance novels will be your cup of tea.

Deceptively Yours is at the New Release price of 99¢ for the first few weeks. It publishes on May 23. If you grab a copy and love it, please leave a review.

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New Old Book.....

Getting the rights to a book back from a large publishing house can be a challenge. I spent at least three years trying to get the rights back on my last traditionally published book, MAN OF THE WEST.

Last year, I finally got that letter returning all rights to me. I'm now currently in the process of making some revisions and will soon be releasing it as an Anna Jeffrey book. It was originally published under the pseudonym Sadie Callahan.

I had to have a new cover designed. First, you aren't allowed to use the publishing house's original cover because they own it. Second, it had Sadie Callahan's name on it, a pen name that I will probably never use again. So I called on the fabulous Kim Killion (as I always do) to design the new cover.

COMING SOON!

This book is a sequel to LONE STAR WOMAN. The hero is the second Strayhorn cousin who is still trying to live down his father's disgrace.

Sheriff of a small, remote town in the Texas Panhandle, Jake Strayhorn’s calm and uncomplicated life changes when he meets the Circle C Ranch's new cook. He’s drawn instantly to her wholesome beauty, different from any other woman he’s ever known. As a career cop, his honed instincts detect she’s running from something, but she refuses to reveal her past. How can he protect her if he doesn’t know what's making her so skittish?

Escaping an abusive, drug-addicted husband in the dead of night, Jolie Jensen found the perfect hiding place on the Circle C Ranch, working as a cook. This seems to be the safest place she's found in years, yet fear lingers. Billy Jensen’s bound to find her and their daughter, and with no family, the only person she knows she can lean on is the too-attractive sheriff. He’s shown himself willing to be her protector, but can she protect her heart from the quiet, strong Jake Strayhorn?

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 I love writing sagas about big families and all of the drama that can be associated with them. And here's the blurb to LONE STAR WOMAN, a book that was also originally released as a Sadie Callahan book.

Jude Strayhorn, the only child of the vast Circle C Ranch’s CEO, is in constant conflict with her father and grandfather. Her greatest desire is to exert her education and influence on the ranch’s operation, but the two men thwart her at every turn. Giving up, she goes outside the Circle C intending to use her trust fund to buy a small spread from a deceased widow’s estate where she can put her ideas into practice. That is, until she runs headlong into the widow’s heir, Brady Fallon, who has his own plans for the 6-0 Ranch.

Brady Fallon is no stranger to Willard County, though he hasn’t been around since childhood. His inheritance needs a lot of work and he needs money to put it back into shape and revive it as a cattle operation. He hires on as a hand at the Circle C Ranch, a move that leads to unexpected benefits for his future as well as unwanted conflict with his boss’s daughter. Can he set his attraction to her aside for his own good?

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A third book is planned for this series. It will be the third Strayhorn cousin's story. The title is SON OF THE PLAINS.

THE DREADED LOVE SCENE

Well, it's finally happened. I've come to that dreaded point in my book we all fear. THE LOVE SCENE.

I've danced around it for months, Yes, I'm from the sixties generation of free love and tossing my parents' moral teachings out the window along with my bra. Except, I was a nerd. Not a hippy. The most daring thing I did was buy bell bottom jeans. (They didn't make them in a short length then, so by the time I hemmed them, they were flares.)

First, my critique partners have repeatedly pointed out my hero and heroine aren't together enough. Probably my little Puritan inner voice shrieking in horror when I attempt to throw them into an intimate situation.

No, I'm not a prude. (Most of the time.) Hard core erotica is not for me. I want a real love scene. A little hot but the kind that touches your heart.

Our Yellow Rose RWA chapter once had a guest speaker who presented a discussion on writing a hot, hot love scene. Part of her reference material was the Kama Sutra and a variety of lists of erotic words.

Uh, no. I'm not sure I could recreate some of those positions, much less write them in a way that wouldn't sound like preparing homemade pretzels. Besides, I'm a firm believer in the difference between sex and love making.

Meanwhile, I open my manuscript and stare at the blank pages. I've heard some authors put in a filler word where a love scene is supposed to go, then go back when they finish to add them. Postponing won't help me. At the end, there will still be my hero and heroine waiting to do the deed.

How have you handled this? I can use all the help I can get.

Recognition Lives in Our Senses by Joan Reeves

What would you do if you recognized someone by his touch--his scent--the minute you met him?

When your eyes meet his, heat inundates you. Yet, you remember nothing about him.

That's the situation that confronts the woman known by the hospital staff as LG--Lost Girl--when she meets handsome David Galloway. He says he's her husband, and he has documents to prove it. Yet, she remembers nothing about him or their life together.

Their eyes meet. Desire flares like heat lightning in the night sky--spectacular but quiet with no accompanying thunder. The stormy emotion she sees in David's dark eyes tell of his passion as well as the secrets he hides.

My Latest

Heat Lightning, part of the Summer Fire Ultimate Romance Collection, is the story of memory and lies, secrets and desire. Secrets can kill. Can love--true love--conquer all?

Heat Lightning, Romantic Suspense

Her husband found her, claimed her, rescued her. Desire flashes like heat lightning on a summer night between David and Tessa. She knows his touch, but when she looks at him, he is a stranger to her. Not a flicker of memory is left of him or their life together. Everything and everyone she knew is lost to her since she awakened from a coma. All she has left are questions. Who is she? Why does David seem to hate her even as he pulls her into his arms? What is he hiding? How can she trust him when her gut says, “Trust no one”?

Excerpt from Heat Lightning

Drenching rain pummeled the roof of her old Porsche. She stared with tear-swollen eyes through the windshield and wondered where the hell she was. Not that it mattered. Nothing mattered any more. Not the wrong turn she’d taken many miles back. Not the summer storm that had ambushed her. Nothing.

She hadn’t seen another vehicle on this narrow blacktop road that cut through a densely forested area. Wind whipped the pines and oaks that lined both sides of the two-lane road. She was alone in the stormy night. All alone. Just like she’d be for the rest of her life now that she’d driven him away. Bitterness and hatred filled the crack in her heart. She gulped back a sob.

Bright light suddenly filled the interior of the small car. The light was so bright it seared her burning eyes. She jabbed at the rearview mirror to tilt it up and pressed down on the accelerator to put a little distance between her car and the driver behind who seemed intent on blinding her. Her little car lurched, fishtailed on the wet pavement then straightened out. The headlights behind receded.
The trees thinned. A quarter of a mile later, she drove out of the woods. Fading daylight showed an old high-arching bridge ahead. Below the bridge, she could just make out the flood-swollen river boiling around wooden pilings.

Light behind again filled the car’s interior. She accelerated, but the lights drew closer rather than fell behind. Fear whispered up her spine, raising the tiny hairs on the back of her neck. She glanced into the rearview mirror, eyes narrowed against brilliant white light that drew near as she watched.

Fear didn’t just whisper now. It shouted. She knew who was behind her. She grabbed her cell phone from where she’d tossed it on the passenger seat after turning it off. With shaking fingers she tried to power it on.

Crash! Her head whiplashed back then forward, striking the top of the steering wheel. Pain slammed through her. The cell phone flew out of her hand, landing somewhere inside the car. The other vehicle struck the rear of her car again. She fought the steering wheel. The lights came at her again.

Fear sliced through the pain in her head. She tried to brace herself. Another bone-shaking crash, and she lost control of the car. Her car struck something metal. Her head hit the side window. She nearly blacked out.

Rain and wind blew into the car through the broken glass, spattering her face. The car was motionless. Silent. She touched her throbbing head and came away with blood. Her thoughts were confused. All was silent except for the rain and the groaning of wind-whipped tree branches.

The sound of a racing engine cut through her confusion. Panicked, she peered through the broken windows. Through the falling rain, she could see a big black truck.

Stark terror gripped her. The lights on the truck flashed on. She didn’t even have time to scream. The truck hit her car broadsided. Metal crushed. Glass shattered, cascading over her. Tossed from the driver’s seat as if she were a rag doll, she finally screamed when the stick shift rammed into her right side.

Tortured metal screamed against metal. She smelled burning rubber and heard the whine of tires spinning on pavement. Her car moved. Inch by inch, the pickup shoved the crumpled car toward the side of the road. Metal bent and popped.

Oh, God! She’d been a fool. She’d come prepared for the confrontation, for her vengeance, but she’d run like a scared little girl. She tried to open the glove box to get the pistol, but the catch wouldn’t yield. Tears of frustration and anger, pain and loss flowed down her face. If only she could have wiped away the past and truly created the new life she’d wanted so desperately.

Another vicious shove, and the car slammed against the barricade of upright wooden posts.
Her last thought was of him. She loved him. But she’d ruined his life. Now she’d never have a chance to explain.

Would he mourn her?

Wood was no match for metal. The powerful truck gave one last violent push. The timbers snapped as if they were twigs, and her car went over the edge of the road.
Then she and her car were falling.

Falling.

Falling.

Into the cold black water below.

I hope you enjoyed this excerpt. For a limited time, the Summer Fire Contemporary Romance Collection is only 99cents. Grab the box set today from any of these ebook sellers!

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1Dv2jy3
Apple: http://bit.ly/1CVOgih
B&N: http://bit.ly/18d9QY0
Kobo: http://bit.ly/19QsJAD
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1wsmBsL

My Giveaway

Please leave a comment with your email address and be entered in a random drawing for a free copy of Summer Fire: Love When It's Hot Contemporary Romance Collection. Giveaway is open until May 23. Winner will be chosen on May 24 by Random Name Picker and notified by email as well as in the Comments section of this post on Smart Girls Read Romance.

Post Script


Joan Reeves, whose book in Summer Fire is Heat Lightning, is a bestselling author of Contemporary Romance. Available as ebooks and audiobooks, her romance novels all have the same underlying theme: “It’s never too late to live happily ever after.” Joan lives her happily ever after with her husband in the Lone Star State. Sign up for WordPlay, Joan's free email list for readers: http://eepurl.com/Yk61n.