Finalist! The Big One!

Woke up to some fantastic news I needed: The Big One, my Prepper Romance with Decadent Publishing, is a finalist for a Passionate Plume for Best Novella with the RWA Passionate Ink chapter! Wahoo!

This marks the second contest where the book has finaled. It’s also up for a Bookie Award through Authors After Dark readers, and it was Dawn’s Staff Pick at ARe!

Keep your fingers crossed! There are lots of familiar names on the list. Major congratulations go out to my fellow nominees, especially my OCC/RWA chapter mate Ophelia Bell for After You, and writing friend Dena Garson for the Future/Fantasy/Sci-Fi nom for Mystic's Touch.

Here’s a look at The Big One:

The last thing marketing assistant Kayla Morgan expects to do on a Friday morning is give a tour of her emergency shelter to a flighty rock star. When her boss orders her to play nice, she acquiesces.

Sebastian Cox, lead singer of The U.K. Underground, finds the American bird with the bunker in her backyard more than wacky, but the band’s looking for a location to shoot their latest video.

When an earthquake strikes, the unlikely couple gets trapped and finds a few ways to keep themselves busy. Once reality sets in, will their differences leave them on shaky ground?

Available via Amazon, ARe, Barnes & Noble and other eRetailers.

Here are the full contest finalists!

(Listed alphabetically by title within category)

Novella

After You                                                                 Ophelia Bell

Bold Move                                                               Isabelle Drake

The Big One                                                            Louisa Bacio

The Break-in                                                            Aidee Ladnier

Winterball                                                                Holley Trent

Contemporary

Friends with Benefits                                               Anne Lang

If It Drives                                                                L.A. Witt/ Aleksandr Voinov

Slow Satisfaction                                                      Cecilia Tan

Starstruck                                                                  L.A. Witt

Three Nights with a Rockstar                                    Shari Slade/Amber Lin

Futuristic/Fantasy/ Sci-Fi

Charlotte and the Pirate                                              Patricia Green

Eddie, My Love                                                         Patricia Green

Morningstar                                                                Robyn Bachar

Mystic's Touch                                                           Dena Garson

Unexpected                                                                J.J. Lore

Historical

Dark Duke                                                                       Sabrina York

Defiant                                                                             Sabrina York

Disobedience by Design                                                  Regina Kammer

Punishing Miss Primrose                                                 Em Brown

The Blacksmith's Bride                                                   Patricia Green

Paranormal/Time Travel

Ariel's Super Power of Love:

The Erotic Wonders of a Super Heroic Woman                Liz Adams

Familiar Places                                                                  Cameron Quintain

Hero Rising                                                                       Anna Alexander

Passion of Sleepy Hollow                                                 Lexi Post

Sated: A Dark Romance                                                   Charity Parkerson

*** Winners will be announced at the Passionate Ink party to be held during RWA National Conference in New York. Join us at the Passionate Ink Speakeasy Friday, July 24, 2015 for an evening of sass, sin, fun and food!

Louisa Bacio

http://www.facebook.com/louisabacio

http://www.twitter.com/louisabacio

Meet the Character – Sebastian Cox

I was tagged by Lily Vega to join a group of talented writers in the Meet the Character Blog Hop. Here’s a quick get-to-know-you of Sebastian Cox, the hero of The Big One.

Lily Vega lives in the Midwest with her sexy husband who combines all of Dean Winchester's best qualities with a flair for computers. She continually cultivates her dirty mind, fueling it with caffeine and craft beer. She believes all creatures, especially those of the night, deserve mind-blowing sex with a happily ever after.

Check out www.facebook.com/LilyVegaWriter for quirky posts and photos of hot guys. Visit Lily's website at www.LilyVega.com, become her fan at Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/LilyVegaWriter  and follow her on Twitter @LV_Writer.

THE BIG ONE – Sebastian Cox

Who is Sebastian? A British rocker checking out a bunker location for the band’s new music video.

Where does The Big One take place? Sunny Southern California, where the weather is hot, and the volatile earth is known to shake.

What won’t Sebastian talk about? Nightmares that plague him. Getting trapped with Kayla in the underground bunker only brings them to the forefront.

Sebastian’s goal: Getting out alive, and with his sanity intact. The smoking hot marketing assistant Kayla may keep his mind occupied enough that he doesn’t go mad.

The problem: When an earthquake strikes, the unlikely couple gets trapped and finds a few ways to keep themselves busy. Once reality sets in, will their differences leave them on shaky ground?

Where to find The Big One:

Available via Amazon, ARe and other eRetailers.

Meet next week’s authors:

Nikki Prince

Nikki Prince is a mother of two, who’s always had a dream to be a published author in the romance genre. Her passion lies in raising her children as readers, gaming, cooking, reading and her writing. Her mother can now breathe easy about the child who used to get in trouble because she was hiding books everywhere and reading when it wasn’t appropriate.

Nikki’s a multi-published author with several epublishing houses. She loves to write Interracial romances in all genres, but wants to let everyone know to not box her in, because there is always room for growth.

Nikki’s also a member of Romance Writer’s of America National chapter (http://www.rwa.org) and OCC/RWA local chapter (http://www.occrwa.org) and is a member of the board as Co-Programs Director.  She is also a member of the online chapter Passionate Ink RWA, The Beaumonde RWA, and the Rainbow Romance Writers (RRW).

Since I love Nikki’s Once Upon a Dream series, here’s a look at the first book:

Waking Beauty

Aurora Devine's libido has been asleep for over eight years. She's had the curse of not being able to have the big O since running away from her Master, Felipe Santiago Castro. The last time she came at the hand of a man was with Felipe.

She's convinced the only way she can find peace of mind and pleasure is to go to Once Upon a Dream Fantasies. Aurora signs up, asking for everything she's lost eight years before to be fulfilled in a fantasy.

Felipe wants to show Aurora that he's the only fantasy she needs. He'll do anything to have her back in his life as his submissive. He plays along and gives her the fantasy she wants, but in the end hopes she'll realize that her submissiveness calls to his dominance and they're a matched pair.

Available via ARe, Amazon and other eRetailers.

Visit Nikki Online: http://authornikkiprince.com, https://twitter.com/authornprince, https://www.facebook.com/AuthorNikkiPrince.  

Sabrina Sol

Sabrina Sol loves love. She writes spicy romance stories featuring strong Latina heroines in search of love, success and happiness. She lives in Southern California with her husband, three kids and two Beagles. And she’s part of a large, extended Mexican family which may – or may not – be the source of inspiration for some of her characters. You can visit with Sabrina on her website at www.sabrinasol.com or on her blog at www.theromancechica.com. You can also follow her on Twittter @theromancechica or like her author page on Facebook! Her debut novella REUNITED is now available from Decadent Publishing.

REUNITED

What would you do if you had the chance to sleep with your unrequited high school crush?

If you’re former geek Magdelena Cruz, you’d do him in a heartbeat. But you’d lie about your true identity first and hope your new sexy persona is enough to create a night neither of you will forget.

Workaholic assistant DA Will Hudson doesn’t have time for a love life. Expecting to scratch an itch with a willing stranger, he signs up for Madame Evangeline’s 1Night Stand experience. He has no idea that his date is no stranger.

A reunion between two classmates will be hotter than the scorching Las Vegas sun. But will the heat be enough to spark something deeper, or will they both end up getting burned by Magdelena’s charade?

Available via Decadent Publishing, Amazon and B&N.

Final Days .99 Cents New Release Sale

Today kicks off the first day of The Big One book tour. The .99 cents sale on Amazon ends July 31 … just a few more days left of goodness.

Make sure to pick it up before the price increases to $2.99!

The Big One

The last thing marketing assistant Kayla Morgan expects to do on a Friday morning is give a tour of her emergency shelter to a flighty rock star. When her boss orders her to play nice, she acquiesces.

Sebastian Cox, lead singer of The U.K. Underground, finds the American bird with the bunker in her backyard more than wacky, but the band’s looking for a location to shoot their latest video.

When an earthquake strikes, the unlikely couple gets trapped and finds a few ways to keep themselves busy. Once reality sets in, will their differences leave them on shaky ground?

The Brit Rocker & the Prepper: What happens when #TheBigOne strikes?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LS5Q23U/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_wXuYtb0PZ71CD

Make sure to play along!

Louisa Bacio

http://www.facebook.com/louisabacio

http://www.twitter.com/louisabacio

New release: 5 ways to pass the time in an emergency bunker #TheBigOne

What happens when The Big One strikes? Today, I’m celebrating my new Prepper Romance release. Trapped in a bunker with nowhere to go? My characters had to obviously pass the time …

Here are 5 things you can do to keep yourself, err, entertained:

1. It’s all fun and games. Think the classics and some new favorites here.
2. Think about what else you should have stocked. Because, you know, you can never have enough.
3. Read naughty books to each other (alas, should have thought of this one earlier!)
4. Have the good fortune to be trapped with a British rocker. He’ll croon to you, and you just may loose your heart.
5. Ummm, yeah, you may want to keep the mouth of that aforementioned British rocker otherwise occupied. I’m just saying …

Next week, I’ll start a blog tour with some fun guest posts and character interviews planned. That Sebastian Cox is a bit cheeky with his replies. He’s hard to manage.

Tell me: How else can you pass the time in an emergency situation? One U.S. winner will receive a

Very tempted to keep
these for myself!

lovely package of California flowers mailed to you! Please leave a comment and valid email address. Contest ends Sunday, July 20.

Plus: Enter the tour giveaway early via the Rafflecopter link.

Blurb:

The last thing marketing assistant Kayla Morgan expects to do on a Friday morning is give a tour of her emergency shelter to a flighty rock star. When her boss orders her to play nice, she acquiesces.

Sebastian Cox, lead singer of The U.K. Underground, finds the American bird with the bunker in her backyard more than wacky, but the band’s looking for a location to shoot their latest video.

When an earthquake strikes, the unlikely couple gets trapped and finds a few ways to keep themselves busy. Once reality sets in, will their differences leave them on shaky ground?

Available via Amazon, Decadent Publishing, ARe, Barnes & Noble and other eRetailers.

a Rafflecopter giveaway