Ok, I'll admit it.  I basically shot myself in the foot.  I was supposed to post yesterday's blog and got so busy with other stuff that I totally spaced and forgot to schedule it, and it sat on my computer in a word file instead of posting to the Plotting Princesses, where it was supposed to be.

So I'm rewriting it a bit and posting it today.  TA DA!!!  (Well at least I'm getting something up – better late than never, don't you think?)

Coverpalooza! by Kathy Ivan

IF A PICTURE PAINTS A THOUSAND WORDS, THESE COVERS ARE WORTH MILLIONS!

Instead of having a long drawn out post, today I thought I'd give a little visual inspiration instead.  Below are some covers from releases by Plotting Princesses.  To be as fair as possible, I've only posted one cover for each Princess.  

Feel free to check out not only the book highlighted below, but all of the books available by the lovely and talented Plotting Princesses.  

So, in no particular order, here you go:

Elizabeth Essex: Buns and Roses Literary Tea

Buns and Roses

Literary Tea for Literacy

After a long summer spent with my nose to the writing grindstone, I’m ready for a little fun. And a little hat wearing. 

This Sunday will mark the third year that I have participated in a local charity event known as Buns & Roses Tea to benefit the Richardson Adult Literacy Center. Literacy is a cause that is near and dear to most writers’ hearts—without a literate population, we have no readers. This years Buns & Roses will feature 25 authors, it is a wonderful afternoon full of fun, meeting readers and making new friends. And I’ll have my own fan-girl moment—this year's acclaimed historical romance author, Cathy Maxwell, will deliver the keynote address. 

The Great Hunt for Readers

Some of the Plotting Princesses attended the RomCon Convention, and have been talking about what a great experience it was spending three days with readers. For those who don’t know, RomCon is a romance readers convention. A place where women who love romance novels get together for a weekend. There were silly games, contests, meeting authors and a book signing. Mainly there was just a lot of fun attending events.

As a writer, you want to interact with readers, but sometimes they’re hard to find. I’ve done book signings where there were a few readers lined up, and I’ve done them when I sat there all alone and smiled thinking I’m so uncomfortable, I just wish this hour would end. People will walk by gaze at you and think, oh my God, she wants me to purchase something from her. You can see the panic in their eyes, right before they run.

SWEETHEARTS' CONTEST (DAY 4)

PLOTTING PRINCESSES "SWEETHEARTS' CONTEST"




For the next four days (Thursday through Sunday) we'll be posting first kisses here on the Plotting Princesses blog. Come back each day, read these wonderful little vignettes and leave a comment.

Why should you leave a comment? Ah, now that's the best present of all. Every person commenting between Valentine's Day and Sunday, 02/17/2013 at midnight EST will be entered in our Sweetheart's contest. The Prize: A brand new NOOK! Yes, you read that right. We'll be giving away a Nook SimpleTouch with GlowLight including a beautiful pink cover, to one lucky person who leaves a comment. That means every single day you have a chance to enter—just by reading the blog post and commenting.

What's sweeter than chocolate at Valentine's Day? A new e-reader so you can read about love, romance, and hope all year long. (Contest is open to U.S. Residents only.)

SWEETHEARTS'CONTEST (DAY 3)

PLOTTING PRINCESSES "SWEETHEARTS' CONTEST"





For the next four days (Thursday through Sunday) we'll be posting first kisses here on the Plotting Princesses blog. Come back each day, read these wonderful little vignettes and leave a comment.

Why should you leave a comment? Ah, now that's the best present of all. Every person commenting between Valentine's Day and Sunday, 02/17/2013 at midnight EST will be entered in our Sweetheart's contest. The Prize: A brand new NOOK! Yes, you read that right. We'll be giving away a Nook SimpleTouch with GlowLight including a beautiful pink cover, to one lucky person who leaves a comment. That means every single day you have a chance to enter—just by reading the blog post and commenting.

What's sweeter than chocolate at Valentine's Day? A new e-reader so you can read about love, romance, and hope all year long. (Contest is open to U.S. Residents only.)

SWEETHEARTS' CONTEST (DAY 2)

PLOTTING PRINCESSES "SWEETHEARTS' CONTEST"






For the next four days (Thursday through Sunday) we'll be posting first kisses here on the Plotting Princesses blog. Come back each day, read these wonderful little vignettes and leave a comment.

Why should you leave a comment? Ah, now that's the best present of all. Every person commenting between Valentine's Day and Sunday, 02/17/2013 at midnight EST will be entered in our Sweetheart's contest. The Prize: A brand new NOOK! Yes, you read that right. We'll be giving away a Nook SimpleTouch with GlowLight including a beautiful pink cover, to one lucky person who leaves a comment. That means every single day you have a chance to enter—just by reading the blog post and commenting.

What's sweeter than chocolate at Valentine's Day? A new e-reader so you can read about love, romance, and hope all year long. (Contest is open to U.S. Residents only.)

SWEETHEART'S CONTEST AND FIRST KISSES

PLOTTING PRINCESSES PRESENTS: SWEETHEART'S CONTEST AND FIRST KISSES (compiled by Kathy Ivan)





It's Valentine's Day and what better way to celebrate than with a first kiss. That special moment between two people, the attraction sizzling just beneath the surface, nervous, anxious, but needing a physical connection with another. Sometimes it's just a peck or a gentle brush of lips. Other times it's an all-consuming, lust-sparked wildfire.

In celebration of the most romantic day of the year, the authors at Plotting Princesses are gifting you (our very special readers) with a glimpse at the first kiss. These may be from books already published or may be from books in the process of being written, from both published authors and authors on the brink of publication.

Since we have such a plethora of scenes, we're dividing them up. For the next four days (Thursday through Sunday) we'll be posting first kisses here on the Plotting Princesses blog. Come back each day, read these wonderful little vignettes and leave a comment.

Why should you leave a comment? Ah, now that's the best present of all. Every person who comments between today (Valentine's Day) and Sunday, 02/17/2013 at midnight EST will be entered in our Sweetheart's contest. The Prize: A brand new NOOK! Yes, you read that right. We'll be giving away a Nook SimpleTouch with GlowLight including a beautiful pink cover, to one lucky person who leaves a comment. That means every single day you have a chance to enter—just by reading the blog post and commenting.

What's sweeter than chocolate at Valentine's Day? A new e-reader so you can read about love, romance, and hope all year long. (Contest is open to U.S. Residents only.)

PLOTTING PRINCESSES BLOG HOP!

The Princesses and some of our friends are having a Blog Hop!

At each stop along the way we'll give away copies of our books along with other goodies. We'll share recipes, too, at a different blog every day. To be eligible, leave a comment at each blog you visit. A new winner will be chosen daily at each author's site. At the end of the hop, one extra-lucky person will receive the Grand Prize.

Grand Prize: One lucky person will receive an ebook/print book from all 10 authors. Grand Prize to be announced on Jan. 12th.

BLOG STOPS EACH DAY ARE LISTED BELOW. (Click on the author's name to take you directly to their blog.

Monday - Dec. 31st ~ Alisha Paige
Tuesday - Jan. 1st ~ Vicki Batman
Wednesday - Jan. 2nd ~ Kathy Ivan
Thursday - Jan. 3rd ~ Michelle Miles
Friday - Jan. 4th ~ Karilyn Bentley

(We're skipping the 5th and 6th since that is the weekend.)

Monday - Jan. 7th ~ Liz Lipperman
Tuesday - Jan. 8th ~ Sasha Summers
Wednesday ~ Jan. 9th ~ Sylvia McDaniel
Thursday ~ Jan. 10th ~ Willa Blair (Guest Princess for a Day)
Friday ~ Jan. 11th ~ Lynn Rush (Guest Princess for a Day)


The more blogs you visit and comment, the more chances to win! So visit with a Princess every day and see all the wonderful books you might win.

I WANT MY HAPPILY EVER AFTER - By Kathy Ivan

Let me preface this blog by stating: I am a hopeless romantic. A card carrying, flag waving, cry at sappy commercials romantic. A good love story makes me happy. Watching the characters meet, connect, argue, fall in love, these are all things I thoroughly enjoy reading. There's nothing like a wonderfully romantic story to make me feel good inside.

Now here's my RANT. I want my happy ending. Like any modern day fairy tale, give me that Happily Ever After. I know the trend with chick lit and women's fiction can often be happy for now, and that okay, but when I'm reading a book regardless of the specific genre, that has been touted and categorically stated to be a romance, you darn well better give my that satisfactory conclusion, the hero and heroine professing their love and wanting to be together forever.

I HEART BOOKS by Kathy Ivan

I was very fortunate. My lovely sister gave me Amazon.com gift cards for my birthday, so I could load up my Kindle Fire. Wasn't that sweet of her? Anyway, I ordered a few books I'd wanted to buy, from authors I know and have read in the past, which is always fun. But I want to try something or somebody different. So, in the spirit of finding new authors, I'm going to open up today's blog for your suggestions and recommendations.

If you are a reader, I want your inside scoop. Who are you currently reading? Is it a print book or are you into E-books?

If you are an author, you can list information about one (and unfortunately only 1) of your releases. We have to keep the space limited—if you post more than one book the additional ones will be deleted. To keep everything consistent and to keep my head from exploding from too much information, please follow the format below. (Hint: I'll list mine here, so you get an idea of what I'm talking about.)

TITLE: Desperate Choices
AUTHOR: Kathy Ivan
PUBLISHER: Carina Press
GENRE: Romantic suspense with paranormal elements
FORMAT: E-Book only
AVAILABLE AT: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Carina Press website, and wherever E-books are sold.

IT'S TIME FOR PRESENTS!!!

GIFT TIME IS HERE!!!

We at the Plotting Princesses would like to thank all the wonderful readers and writers who stopped by our blog and read the interviews/articles and left comments. We had a fabulous turnout for our first Christmastime celebration, and the generosity of all of the Plotting Princesses warms my heart with love and gratitude that I can call all of these lovely writers my friends.

Below is a list of all of the winners whose names were drawn at random. Since most people didn't leave their e-mail addresses, if your name appears below, please e-mail me at Kathy@KathyIvan.com with your information—e-mail address and snail mail address so we can get your gifts to you right away.

TEMPTATION THURSDAY with Kathy Ivan

It's Temptation Thursday, so I thought we'd try something just a wee bit different today. I'm going to list a few snippets from books written by some of the Plotting Princesses that are already published and available. So, if you read something you like below, you'll be able to go and buy that book instead of having to wait. Instant gratification! Buy links are provided along with the excerpts.

Ready. . . set . . . here we go!

MAGICAL LOVER by Karilyn Bentley
http://www.amazon.com/Magical-Lover-Draconia-Tales-ebook/dp/B005I63WW4/ref=sr_1_1_title_1_ke?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317258224&sr=1-1

His lids snapped open. “You’ve never done this?”

Uh-oh. He looked worried. Despite the shadows obscuring his face, she knew her virginity concerned him. After tonight it wouldn’t be a problem and there was no way she was stopping now. No way. He was hers.

ONE KNIGHT ONLY by Michelle Miles
http://www.jasminejade.com/p-9619-one-knight-only.aspx

BACK TO TEMPTATION (THURSDAY)

It's that time again. Welcome to Temptation Thursday. The first Thursday of each month here at Plotting Princesses we'll be bringing you little snippets from the current works in progress of several of our members, both published and aspiring authors. Every month will be a little unique with different contributors, new short stories, articles or books we are working on, to give you a taste of the variety of writing talents from the Princesses.


So sit back, grab your favorite beverage (and maybe some chocolate to go with it) and enjoy the ride.


UNTITLED—Elizabeth Essex
The toff limping out of Spring Gardens onto Cockspur Street was just the sort she liked, if she couldn’t have a drunk. Big man, but tired, he was, weariness stewing from his bones like the cold steam of his breath in the frigid, snowy air. And he was a gimp—heavily favoring his left leg—but without a cane or walking stick. So far so good. It paid to stay well clear of walking sticks.


STRANJE HOUSE, EXILE FOR DREAMERS, Book 2—Kathleen Baldwin
I raced toward the woods. He wouldn’t be able to run me down as easily in there. The trees would hide me. After all, I am part forest. My eyes are green as leaves, my hair ash brown like bark, my skin pale as air. I am Welsh, a daughter of the earth. My mother used to say the spirit of these things, the soil and trees, the rocks and beasts, they call to us. “We are part of this land,” she would say. Only now, my mother lies silent, cloaked beneath the very earth she spoke of with such fondness.

WELCOME TO TEMPTATION!

Temptation Thursday, that is. The first Thursday of each month on the Plotting Princess blog we are going to post five (5) lines from books, short stories, articles, etc. we are currently writing. Each month you will get a variety of different authors, genres and styles from various Plotting Princesses—both published and unpublished—and from time to time we might just throw in a few "guest" authors into the mix.


These teases might not be from the very beginning of the story; they could be from anywhere, any chapter. So you never know what you are going to get. Although we will try to keep it at least PG-13 (we have a few authors that write some really steamy stuff, after all).


So, jump right in and get a taste of a few of our Plotting Princesses' current writing projects. Enjoy!


THE LITTLE BIRDIE WHO DIDN'T GET AWAY—Vicki Batman


The instant I parked my Jeep in my townhome's driveway, a hard rap on the window scared the bejeezus outta me. Jerking my head aside, I found my neighbor--Ben, Ben Whitson--with a panic-stricken look on his face. A week ago, he'd introduced himself on move-in day with a gift bag filled with a newspaper, coffee, and pastries. Now, his large hand covered a piece of stiff paper.
Setting one hand on my strongly beating heart, I rolled down the window with the other. "What's up, Ben?"