Wordless Wednesday
Posted in Wordless Wednesday | Tags: wordless Wednesday
Another Super Guest- Lindsay Below
JILLIAN: Welcome my friend, Lindsay Below today to the blog. She has a new release from Lyrical Press. It sounds like a great story. After all, it involves a lawyer so it must be wonderful, right?
LINDSAY: Not All Lawyers Deal With the Devil
What we do can be an indicator of who we are. So when I made Sebastien Babineaux, the hero of my hot contemporary romance Beauty in His Bed, a lawyer, was I making a black mark on Seb’s character?
Absolutely not. Lawyers can be sexy. And here are five compelling reasons why Seb’s job was essential to winning the heart of his ladylove, Amy Somers:
Reason # 1: Intelligence
Without the intelligence gleaned in the pursuit of his career, Seb would never be able to strategize. Not to win a court case, and not to win Amy’s heart. The struggle she puts him through may challenge him to the limit, but thanks to that good ol’ noggin of his, he has the tools to finish on top.
Reason #2: Ability to Read People
The intelligence to strategize would mean nothing if Seb couldn’t read Amy. She has more insecurities than any one woman should have to battle through, and Seb’s ability to recognize those is pivotal to his efforts.
Reason #3: Argumentativeness
After realizing the obstacles he has to overcome, Seb then has to prove to Amy that she’s wrong to think those things. Good thing he gets lots of practice arguing in court!
Reason #4: Determination
As an environmental lawyer, Seb is sometimes up against insurmountable odds. His unwillingness to take no for an answer means that no matter Amy’s reaction, he’s willing to keep trying with dogged determination. Talk about Alpha Male.
Reason #5: He’s Just Damn Hot!
Okay, that might have nothing to do with his being a lawyer, but it helps.
Here is an excerpt from Beauty in His Bed detailing Amy’s reaction to hearing about Seb’s job:
She smiled weakly. What was he doing here with her? That waitress was beautiful, leggy, blond. A real southern belle. What did Amy have that could compare? To hide her unease, she added cream and sugar to her coffee and stirred.
Seb did the same, tasting his before asking, “What do you do? In New York?”
She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. He seemed sincere in wanting to know. “I’m a bank teller,” she said finally.
“Sounds exciting,” he said with a grin.
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, and what do you do? Fight crime?” She already knew from the suit he’d worn yesterday that couldn’t be true.
Shaking his head, he confessed, “I’m a lawyer.”
“Sold your soul for money, huh?”
He laughed, nearly spewing coffee across the table. When he caught his breath, he said, “Not hardly, cher. Environmental lawyer, I am.”
Meaning he worked for a good cause but made pennies compared to the big guys. Not that she cared, but it wasn’t quite as big a black mark in his books. If he’d done it for the right reasons.
“Why an environmental lawyer?”
He shrugged. “Only way to please myself and mama. She’s married to the bayou. If I’d left it to her, I’d be a…fly fisherman or some other nonsense.”
Amy giggled at the disgusted twist of his lips.
***
Do we have any other lawyers out there, other than my lovely host?
Beauty in His Bed is now available from Lyrical Press, Inc. Read more or buy it at http://bit.ly/BeautyInHisBed</a. Visit L.K. Below online at www.lbelow.net.

Posted in guests | Tags: Beauty in his Bed, friends, guests, lawyers, Lindsay Below, Lyrical Press, sexy
Weekend Fun
I spent the past weekend in Tallahassee because I had to be there Friday for court events and I had to there on Monday for court again. It’s a three hour drive each way for me and it would’ve been insane for me to drive it twice in four days. So, I was dreading the boring weekend in the capital city where there’s not much going on.
Then I decided to make it a writing retreat. Planned to try to make it to 45,000 words on the WIP. Sadly, after Friday’s full day of legal junk, I was too beat to write so I didn’t. I decided on Saturday morning to take a drive up to a little town about 15 miles out of Tallahassee called Havana. Now, mind you, these people call their town hay-vana. Not at all like that place in Cuba.
It’s a cute town and has a lot of antique shops, furniture and gift stores. It also has an awesome store that reminds me of European shops in that you can buy ribbons by the inch, a vast array of buttons and one of a kind things. I scored some great items there. I got a 1940s brooch with green crystals, some gorgeous ribbons and buttons, a scarf, a hair barrette, and in another shop, I got an embroidered table scarf and a lace runner.
I also found a few great books. I got a middle grade illustrated Pride and Prejudice, and for research, an encyclopedia of Ireland, a 365 places in 365 days in England book and an encyclopedia of world proverbs. As some of you who’ve read my books know, I love to use quotes at the beginnings of chapters and this proverb encyclopedia is going to be amazing for that.
The biggest score of the day was a sink. Yep, I got a sink. Alas, I can’t say I bought everything including the kitchen sink (which would be an awesome thing to be able to say) because it’s for a bathroom. It’s one of those that sit above the counter. It’s painted and it’s all the room will need for decor because it’s quite colorful. It’s for my office bathroom which I’ve never decorated as I couldn’t find what I wanted. I’m still in Tallahassee and can’t upload a picture but I’m planning for it to be Wordless Wednesday’s picture. So, stayed tuned.
I wrote over 4,000 words on Saturday. Sunday, I had lunch with a friend and then we trolled some antique stores looking for furniture for her new house. It was fun but I didn’t write as much since I spent most of the day with her. I got over 3,000 words though. I’m pushing 48,000 now so I did meet my modest goal i had set but I really expected to do more. But all in all, a dreaded weekend turned out all right after all. Just goes to show that you should always expect the unexpected, right?
Posted in Random thoughts | Tags: dreaded, friends, Havana, porcelain, sink, Tallahassee, weekend, writing
Friday Fact- July 20, 2012 – Absquatulate
Absquatulate: This word means to leave abruptly. It comes from the Latin and is a blend of the words for abscond, squattle (depart) and perambulate.
It’s a verb and used mostly in a humorous manner. Here’s an example. “She absquatualated from the party when the drunk guy kept trying to kiss her on the neck.
Posted in Friday Facts | Tags: Absquatulate, definitions, Friday Facts, humor., Latin
Wordless Wednesday
Posted in Wordless Wednesday | Tags: wordless Wednesday
LACE is in the House!!
JILLIAN: Today’s guest is a long time friend and she has her debut erotic novel out now. It promises to be a scorcher. I did make her leave the excerpt as PG13 though so if you want the really good stuff, you need to use the links below.
LACE: Hi, Jillian and everyone. First and foremost, many thanks to the very gracious Jillian Chantal for having me here.
I’m delighted to have the opportunity to showcase my new novella, Forever Men, which just released yesterday. With all the attention that erotic stories are getting these days, I thought I’d dip my toes in the deep end of the pool, so to speak. I got lucky with this first story. These characters made it easy for me to design a setting, put them to work, then let them pound out their differences. Hey, I didn’t mean it like THAT! (Well, maybe I did just a little.)
Have you figured out yet that there’s a construction theme to my story? I had a lot of fun writing this story, but had the worst time coming up with a tag line for it. That’s not entirely true. I came up with one pretty quickly, but it didn’t fit the mood of the story. Forever Men has some funny moments in it, but it’s a serious look at relationships. So I needed a serious tag line, and came up with:
Walls crumble when you build a forever love.
Not bad, right? It sets a good tone for the novella and is a good intro for the blurb. There’s just one problem. I can’t get the first tag line out of my head. So I thought it would be fun to blog about it and Jillian’s sense of humor made this seem like the perfect place.
You remember that construction theme, right? And that this is an erotic novella? The original tag line I came up with was…drum roll, please:
Building a forever love, one screw at a time.
What do you think? Should I have used it?
Here’s the specs on Forever Men

Blurb:
Walls crumble when you build a forever love.
As a couple, the deep, sensual connection between Desi and Alec is imaginative and limitless, even though Desi’s fear that love is transient keeps her from telling her man how she feels. Fun-loving Alec, who lost his parents in a tragic accident, has found that kind of forever love again. He’ll do whatever it takes to keep it, including giving Desi the one thing he lacks—a partner with a serious side.
With their fledgling construction company headed for the skids if they don’t finish the job on time, Desi and Alec are frantic to catch up. Enter Alec’s friend, Matt, a man haunted by the “dull and unimaginative” label his ex-fiancé pinned on him.
Working side by side, a thirst grows that seems unquenchable and each must come to terms with old hurts in order to consider possibilities never before imagined.
Excerpt:
Desi glanced down to the empty dirt yard. Where the hell was Alec, anyhow? She’d sent him to pick up materials two hours ago.
Right on cue, a black truck raced up the treed lane and squirreled to a stop in front of the house, sending a dust cloud skyward.
About time.
When Alec jumped out and grinned up at her, Desi’s irritation started to fade.
He bounded up the stairs, brushing his shaggy blond hair back as he joined her and wrapped tanned arms around her waist.
“Hey, Gorgeous.”
When his eyes brimmed with amusement, as they did now, Desi found it hard to stay annoyed with him. She tried, pushing against him. “I’m mad at you.”
Alec threw his head back and laughed. “You can never stay mad at me.”
The smile she tried to hide refused to cooperate. Staying mad at Alec was just too damn hard. Everything about him was designed to make the world seem perfect, from his construction-hardened body to the almost constant gleam in his eyes. When Alec was near, it was easy to believe The Dream. Desi sobered as she looked around. Things were a far sight from all right at the moment.
“We’re so far behind, Alec.”
“Trust me,” he said. “We’ll be fine.”
“I don’t know…” Desi chewed her lower lip. Alec always saw the bright side of things, sometimes to the exclusion of the issues they needed to solve.
Alec took the hammer out of her hand and let it drop to the plywood sub-floor. “It sounds like you need a distraction.”
The flash of his dark eyes as they inspected her from toe to head started a familiar fire deep in her belly. “Oh-h-h, no,” she stuttered. Desi backed up until a two-by-four, part of the wall frame, stopped her. “No way, Alec. We’ve got no time for that.”
Together over a year now, she still couldn’t get enough of him. When he turned on the charm, like now, the man was irresistible. But they couldn’t. Not now. Not today.
The look in his eyes crumbled her resolve further. He stepped closer, and heat, both familiar and delicious, spread between her legs.
“We can’t, Alec. We’re so far behind schedule.”
“What’s a few more minutes, then?” He leaned in, his lips grazing her neck, strumming an already taut thread of need.
Arousal swept away the last vestiges of hesitation, and Desi wound her hands into Alec’s hair. “Work can wait.”
Links to purchase or read more about this story or Lace Daltyn:
Website: http://www.lacedaltyn.com/ldbooks.html
Evernight Publishing: http://www.evernightpublishing.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LaceDaltyn
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lacedaltyn
Posted in guests
Liebster Blog Award
EEK! I’ve been nominated for the liebster blog award and this one is tough! Maria Hammarblad is a strict taskmaster so I better get cracking.
The rules are:
Thank and link back to the person who presented you with the award- THANKS MARIA! Add the award logo to your blog.
Answer the eleven questions posted for the nominees.
Share eleven random facts about yourself.
Write eleven questions for your nominees and then…
Nominate eleven worthy blogs and contact those bloggers so they know about it! (No tag backs.)
The Liebster Blog Award is given bloggers who have less than 200 followers. Liebster is a German word meaning: sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome.
ELEVEN QUESTIONS AND MY ANSWERS:
1. Do you have your blogging planned in advance?
I have two theme days a week- Wordless Wednesday and Friday Facts. The rest of the week is whatever I’m moved to write.
2. What is your favorite book of all time?
WOW. I don’t think there is only one. I love all kinds of stories and I’d hate to say there is only one that stands out head and shoulders above the rest. I will say, though, I have a particular affinity to a consulting detective who was my first British male crush. He goes by the name Sherlock.
3. Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character? If yes, who?
Oh yeah, and anyone who reads this blog will tell you that it was usually whatever character that Alan Rickman played. One of my favorite roles of his is as Sinclair in Close My Eyes. He was handsome, sexy and clever. Just what I love in a man.
4. What is your favorite social network site?
I like Twitter for the fast pace and great links to articles.
5. Is there something you must have when writing?
No. I like to say I’m easy. Not cheap, but easy.
6. If you could go anywhere (real or fictional), where would it be?
I’d love to go to Cairo. In the early 1900s when all the ladies wore lovely clothes and hats with dust covers. It seems like such a romantic time. Of course, I’d probably choke on the dust, complain about the heat and basically whine til I could get back home.
7. As a reader, what annoys you most in books?
Stupid characters. I can’t abide it when they do really bone-headed things. The other thing I hate that I’ve harped on a bit here is a story that has no ending in book one but continues into book two where the publisher is manipulating me to buy another book. If the series is good enough, that trick is not necessary. Each book should have a complete story. Ask Aristotle. He knew.
8. Of all mythological creatures, which would you most want to see come alive?
No brainer here- unicorns!! I love them. So pretty and sweet (at least I think they would be- who knows. they could be as mean as old nags that nip at your rear).
9. If you had a million dollars to give to a charity, what would you do with it?
I’d give it to cancer research. Too many lovely people have been taken from us by that cruel disease.
10. Do you believe in life on other planets?
Nope. I can’t say that I do. It’s intriguing, but I don’t think so.
11. If you could be anyone for a day, who would it be?
Emma Thompson because then I would know Alan Rickman. HEHEHEHE
Eleven Random Facts About Me:
Can’t abide country music
Can’t eat zucchini as my gag reflex kicks in and it won’t stay in my mouth
Love old movies
Am a pretty decent baker
Amateur photographer
Hate airplanes but love to travel
Very klutzy
Children run screaming in the streets when I sing
Love convertibles
Do not like reality television at all
Am really kind of good at math
Questions to my Nominees:
1. What makes you the most eager to write? What inspires you to grab the pen or keyboard?
2. What’s your favorite snack when writing?
3. What fictional character would you like to have tea with?
4. What’s a setting you haven’t used in a story but want to?
5. Favorite time of year? Why?
6. What’s your zodiac sign and how are you the prototype for that sign?
7. Favorite British Isle?
8. Snow or rain? Why?
9. What dream have you had that has come true?
10. Name your fictional twins born on another planet. Why choose these names? What’s the name of the planet?
11. Tell me which of the above questions was the most fun to answer? Dumbest?
My Eleven Nominees:
Arabella Stokes
Darlene Henderson
Stephanie Burkhart
Lavada Dee
Laurie Ryan
W. Lynn Chantale
Liv Rancourt
Rita Bay
Casey Crow
Joan Chandler
Kate Patrick
AND because I’m a rebel and a non-conformist, I’m adding one more:
Suzanne Purvis
Posted in Random thoughts | Tags: Alan Rickman, Arabella Stokes, Cairo, casey crow, Darlene Henderson, Emma Thompson, fiction, Joan Chandler, Kate Patrick, Laurie Ryan, Lavada Dee, Leibster award, Liv Rancourt, Maira Hammarblad, Rita Bay, Sherlock Holmes, Stephanie Burkhart, Suzanne Purvis, travel, W Lynn Chantale, zucchini
Friday Fact-July 13, 2012- Bridge Icing
Random Picture
Saw these grwoing outside the convention center where I was last weekend and thought they were lovely. And, no, the picture is not upside down. I was leaning over the handrail taking the picture down into the flower bed. It does look upside down, doesn’t it? Or is that just my old eyes?
Posted in Random thoughts | Tags: flowers, purple, random thoughts
Wordless Wednesday
Posted in Wordless Wednesday | Tags: wordless Wednesday






