Check it out – Dare To Touch – Cover Reveal by Carly Phillips

Dare To Touch

Release Date:

January 13, 2015

Synopsis:

Olivia Dare, executive director of the Miami Thunder, and team travel director Dylan Rhodes share more than just a passion for football. Their chemistry is explosive — their feelings for each other intense. Yet Olivia has ended things for reasons he still can’t fathom and she won’t explain.

Unwilling to let something special go so easily, Dylan has been pursuing Olivia ever since. When the Pro-Bowl takes them to the tropical paradise of Hawaii, Dylan is determined to make sure their time together isn’t all business. What happens in paradise is life altering but once Olivia admits her deepest secret and fear, will Dylan still want the forever he’s been pushing for?

PREORDER INFO

iBooks – http://bit.ly/DTTiBooks

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20802812-dare-to-touch

EXCERPT:

Ian glanced around the now empty room before speaking. “I realize I’m in no position to judge relationships in the work place.”

Hell no, considering Ian had pursed his now-wife, Riley, brought her into the business, and promoted her, Dylan thought.

As for Olivia … “There is no relationship.”

“But you want there to be one. And my sister isn’t cooperating. Am I right?”

When Dylan didn’t reply, Ian continued. “I saw you two in the hallway. At the party.”

Dylan blew out a long breath. “Not that I owe you an explanation but nothing happened.” He ran a hand over his goatee, buying time.

“Bullshit. I saw the kiss.”

Dylan inclined his head. “Fine.”

He knew Ian was overprotective of his sisters. He even understood the man’s reasons. For that reason alone, Dylan wouldn’t lose his temper now.

“Look, you’re my friend. More than that, I respect you as my boss. But whatever is or isn’t going on with me and Olivia … that’s none of your business.”

Ian eyed him through his infamous narrowed gaze, assessing him, causing Dylan to straighten his shoulders and meet his stare head on.

Ian cleared his throat. “My sister is tough on the outside but she’s … more fragile inside,” he said, clearly considering his words carefully.

“Your point?” Dylan asked the other man.

“Don’t play with her head or her heart.”

Dylan inclined his head. Unknowingly, Ian had just reaffirmed that whatever kept Olivia at arms length, it had nothing to do with business. If anything, she felt too much or she wouldn’t have run.

“We good?” Ian asked.

“Always.”

“Then good luck in Hawaii,” Ian said, turned and walked out the door, leaving Dylan alone to strategize his next step.

Dylan wasn’t the type to give up on something he wanted. He’d been too soft with Olivia, giving her space, figuring she’d give in to chemistry eventually. Obviously that wasn’t going to happen. He needed to take control and should have done it sooner. Where better than the tropical paradise of Hawaii to make his intentions crystal clear.

Yes they were going to Hawaii on business, but she was interested in enjoying the island. They were staying in the same hotel and attending the same events. That added up to opportunity and Dylan wasn’t above taking advantage if it meant getting what he wanted. And he wanted Olivia.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Carly Phillips N.Y. Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Carly Phillips has written over 40 sexy contemporary romance novels that today’s readers identify with and enjoy. After a successful 15 year career with various New York publishing houses, Carly is making the leap to Indie author, with the goal of giving her readers more books at a faster pace at a better price. Her Serendipity books will still finish up in January/February 2014 via Berkley as planned. Carly lives in Purchase, NY with her family, two nearly adult daughters and two crazy dogs who star on her Facebook Fan Page and website. She’s a writer, a knitter of sorts, a wife, and a mom. In addition, she’s a Twitter and Internet junkie and is always around to interact with her readers.

Links:

Website: http://www.carlyphillips.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarlyPhillipsFanPage

Twitter: https://twitter.com/carlyphillips

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10000.Carly_Phillips

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Carly-Phillips/e/B001I9W0MS

What if the words stop…

I’ve been asked many times where the words I write come from. Most people come up to me and just simply ask, ‘What if the words stop coming?’ For a writer that would be horrible, a nightmare come true. But the funny thing about a writer’s brain, it runs on overdrive most of the time. Sometimes we might have a hiccup in the process, but the words flow continuously.

Some have asked how I work on so many books at one time. How do I keep focused enough on each one to make the individual stories work? **Smiling broadly** Well it comes from too many stories going through that if I don’t get them on paper as they go through I’m afraid my brain will explode. If an idea comes through for a new story, well it has to be written out. I love to sit with a pad and pencil and just let the words flow through me. It’s exhilerating, but sometimes when you have a deadline working you have to push the others to the side. Of course that story still nags at you constantly.

But then I wonder if one day the words might stop. Of course for me they’ve been coming at me since I was a teenager and that’s been a long time. No, I’m not saying how long, but it’s been a while. If one day I develop some sort of problem where the words stop I don’t know what will happen. It’s been such a big part of me to put a story together in my mind that I think I might stumble some.

Then again I get a lot of my inspiration from music lyrics, people watching and life, so I guess in my mind, I’ll always have a story coming through. But if the music stops, the people disappear and I stop living, then the story would probably stop. Life has added so many stories in my head that I don’t think I’ll ever run out of material. I’ve experienced life through so many eyes and lives that I always have a new spin on a topic that I’ve touched on before.

What if the words stop… Let’s just say I hope they never do. I’ve come to love my characters that flow in and out of my head. They’re a part of who I am and that may sound crazy, but if you’re a writer you know where I’m coming from. After you spend hours with a character and their life, well it’s as if they’re your best friend. A couple of my books touched me so much that I was an emotional wreck during the process, but the words flowed even as the tears and the memories that spurred the story on came crashing through. Some memories never stop flowing through and they conjure up many stories that fill the books I write.

So, have you ever wondered what would happen to you if the words stopped? Scary thought…

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Sleepy Friday Morning

It’s overcast here in Georgia. The temperatures have been amazing the last couple of days. But today starts a seven day trend of ran, storms and just plain out nasty weather. The overcast darkness makes me sleepy and it’s hard to stay awake.

My night consisted of fighting with the bed for about two hours, then going to the den to curl up in the corner of the couch to read for about thirty minutes (actually read for 2 hours) and then going back to bed and finally drifting off to sleep. For some reason my sleeper was not working last night. Don’t you just hate those nights when you’re sleepy but once your head hits the pillow it goes away.

So this morning may be a pot of coffee instead of just a couple of cups. I have managed to get in about 850 words this morning so I guess that’s a good thing. Of course my current WIP may be one of the reasons I’m having problems sleeping. The characters keep screaming in my head. I’m at a pivotal point in the story and it’s exciting…

So how’s your Friday morning going? I hope you’re planning a fantastic weekend. For me I have a wedding to attend tomorrow and you all know how I love weddings. They inspire me as a romance writer.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Over worked? Over stressed? Write it out!

Some days are just hard to get through. You sit behind your desk and wonder if you’ll live through the stress of the day. You’ve gone far past your normal time to get off, but you keep going. Well, what are you doing about it?

For me I’ve worked really hard over the last twenty years building my accounting business. It’s been really hard and I’ve put in a lot of long hours. When I was younger it was nothing to put in 12 hours a day, then go home and put in a couple of hours cooking and doing laundry. No problem back then, but the older I get the less I want to spend long hours behind a desk. I guess that comes with age, not sure…

About 5 years ago my stress level was at the breaking point. I was spending a lot of time in my office making sure everyone was happy. I spent a lot of time making sure everyone in my life was happy, but I wasn’t happy. I was overworked and overstressed. One day I sat down and did a inventory of my life. Why was I miserable? Duh! I was the reason I was so unhappy. I was trying to please everyone but myself. Get real with yourself and realize you probably do the same thing yourself.

I took a couple of days and went through my office, clearing the backlogs that hindered my organization. As I was clearing it all out I ran up on some floppy disks, yes I said floppy disks, and they were filled with manuscripts that were unfinished. Also, my assistant found the printed copies and asked to take them home. She came back the next morning with so much excitement that it was contagious.

I picked up the manuscripts and read them that night. The excitement surged in me and I knew my new path to a happier me. I began going through the manuscripts and working out the details. Suddenly I had a purpose again. I could put all my stress into my writing. I wrote it out. It cleared my head. Every night after work I’d sit with my laptop and write. It was calming.

So, if you’re overstressed, then let it go to writing. If you don’t write novels or have a desire to do so, just start a journal. Write your daily stress out and leave it in the journal. Believe me, my stress level is so much better and I know I’m easier to live with 🙂

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Discover the real you!

Do you know who you are? Do you really? Sometimes events in our lives shape the person we are. Maybe something happens that causes you to think about what you’re doing with your life. There are so many aspects of my life that have been shaped by fate.

I sat Saturday afternoon writing and thinking. I was caught up in the storyline and suddenly I was in deep thought. The character was having a personal battle and it hit me. We’re all in a battle of wills. We wake up with a plan for the day, well sometimes we have a plan, but life steps in and those plans can change.

We go through life making plans, changing plans and seeing them through as best we can. We have a life plan, but do we really expect all of it to happen. Life changes constantly, whether it’s a death, marriage, birth, career change or just something as simple as traffic. We all have life changes that send our plans in a different direction.

For me things have changed many times. As a child I had it all planned out. I’d be a horse owner and have a huge ranch. Then as I became a teenager and was introduced to romance novels I wanted to be a writer. But then I went to college and changed my major from business to Accounting and became an Accountant. After losing my son’s twin before he was born my life changed drastically. I realized how fragile life is and my want for more children were dashed with one word from the doctors. So I became a Children’s Minister to help children find their destiny in life.

Well, some of the aspects I mentioned above have come to life. I’m now a romance author with many published books and I realized my dream this weekend of appearing on the bestseller list at Amazon. I work with children two days a week by helping to shape them into good Christian adults and showing them how to live a positive life. But no, I’ve not yet achieved the goal of becoming a horse ranch owner, but I have written many novels about that and lived my dream through my work. For now that’s good for me.

So, have you discovered the real you or are you still searching?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

TBT – “Field of Dreams”

It’s Thursday and as I sit here watching the Today Show I’m in awe. Why? Well, they’re talking about Field OF Dreams being 25 years old. I dearly love this movie for many reasons. It’s such an inspirational movie.

Even if you don’t like baseball you’ll love this movie. I just love Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones. The movie takes you to another place where dreams come true and make you think. The main character makes his dreams a reality through many hardships and a lot of criticism.

It makes me think about my dream to be a writer. My niece who is also my partner in our publishing business told me that if I write the fans will come and she was right. I compare my writing to the baseball field. When I publish a book I’m always amazed at the people that come out of the darkness and write to me about the book. Some call them inspirational and others say they love the clean way I bring about romance without having to go too far.

I guess you could say my writing is my very own field of dreams and it’s been a dream come true. Yes I do meet some criticism, but I have a tough skin and let it roll off my back. I’m lucky that I have a great following and so many new friends from all over the world that support my writing, my blog and my craziness. Thanks to all of you for helping me make my dreams come true.

As always, great writing and May God Bless You…

Not a cowboy in sight…

Well my pirate romance is coming along nicely. I’m actually enjoying it immensely. Since pirate romance novels were my favorite when I was younger it’s like going back in time. I have suspense mingled in with romance and a lot of sea air. I want the reader to feel as though they’re on the ship.

Captain Caleb Tanner is not like most pirates. He’s got morals and does things for others. But he’s been dubbed as a pirate and he’s alright with that. The first time he sets eyes on Serena Wilimgton, he’s smitten and wants to know more. He’s a great reader of people and he sees something is not totally right with things.

Serena Wilmington loves the sea and everything that goes with it. When her mother dies suddenly, leaving her dying wish for Serena to leave quickly from her childhood home to stay safe, she goes where her heart leads her. The only thing is her heart has led her to stowaway on Caleb’s ship. It gets crazy when she boards a pirate ship as a boy, but Caleb figures her out. Just wait till you see how it goes. It definitely doesn’t go as Serena thinks.

I will be doing a cover reveal soon. It’s still in the works, but the bones are there. The book is coming along quickly. I did well over 5000 words this weekend.

So, do you like pirate romance?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Giveaway of free Audio Books…

I’ve been working on two of my latest manuscripts a lot lately. I know I’ve been blogging only here and there. These two books have demanded my complete attention and I’ve been giving in to the calling. But I do have a special message for all my readers and friends. Audible.com has given me 25 codes to the audio book for Open The Heart.

If you haven’t had time to read Open The Heart, then why not listen to it? So, here’s the deal. All you have to do is message me at stephaniehurt4@gmail.com and the first 25 to send me a message will get the code to unlock your free audio book.

So run, don’t walk to your email and send me a message.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

What are you waiting for?

Lately I’ve received several messages from writers that talked about not publishing their work. My question is always, ‘Why not?’ It’s so easy nowadays. Of course I was skeptical when I hit the publish button the first time, but over 10 books later I haven’t looked back.

It’s such a rewarding feeling when you sell the first book. But the feeling of accomplishment far out weighs any of the nerves I had. It’s funny how the nerves always hit before I publish my books, even several books in. I always get anxious and wonder if anyone will like my work, then I hear from some of my dedicated fans and I smile.

If you put your heart into your writing, why not put it out there? Don’t let those manuscripts just collect dust. I did that for so many years. Take the leap and put it out there. Whether you self publish or go with a traditional publisher, do it. It’s worth the try and you won’t regret it. Don’t let the years go by and the books fade away.

If you need any help with covers, editing, social media setup for your books or anything with the publishing, check out the tab at the top of my blog. I own Horseshoe Publishing along with my editor. We help take the pain out of publishing. Just sit back and write.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

“The Summer I Fell” Cover Reveal for Sonya Loveday

Check out the upcoming book from my friend and author Sonya Loveday. The cover tells me this is going to be a really good book. Today is the cover reveal and the release date should be coming soon. Check out her site for upcoming release dates. I’ll post them here also. Show Sonya some author and reader love today…

Riley Clifton can’t remember a time when she wasn’t a part of the Six, a group of rowdy boys who would do just about anything for her. Growing up alongside of six guys is never easy. Especially in high school. Falling in love with one of the Six? Even harder when Ace has a hold of her heart, and he doesn’t even know it.

Jake (Ace) Aceton has loved Riley for a long time, but has kept the secret oath of the Six. Riley was off limits. At least until after graduation. When he overhears Riley admitting to her best friend, Paige how she feels about him, Ace doesn’t let his chance slip by. Riley, in his mind, has always been his.

When her college plan falls through, and her future is left to the hands of fate, Riley finds herself scrambling to keep up with all the changes. But that’s not the hardest part. The hardest part is saying good-bye, especially to Ace.

Heartache, hard lessons, and a love deeper than her Alabama roots will threaten to crumble Riley’s world as she waits for Ace’s return.

Will Riley and Ace’s love be strong enough to hold them together when life tries to tear them apart?

Sonya Loveday, first and foremost is a reader, an avid one. It is of that love that brought her to the realization that this was the answer to the nagging persistent feeling that ‘there’s got to be something more’.
The dream came alive in 2009 when she purchased her laptop and began the tedious step of becoming a published author.
When she’s not reading, she’s writing. When she’s not writing, she’s reading. And when she’s not doing either of those things she’s sleeping, shuttling her children back and forth to school, letting the dogs and cats in and out of the house for the umpteenth time in the last hour and dreaming of a clean house.