Guest Post & Giveaway: Melt Into You by Roni Loren

Original Title: Melt Into You
Series: Loving on the Edge #2
Author: Roni Loren
Publisher: Berkley Heat
Release Date: July 3rd 2012
Genre: Erotica, Contemporary Romance

Her first love has returned, and he's brought a friend...

After running away from home and the boy who broke her heart, Evan Kennedy has kick-started the perfect new life with her celebrity fiancé. So what if said fiancé prefers guys? She knew the deal. And with her ticket to The Ranch, an exclusive resort where any fantasy can be satisfied, she knows she can find someone to fulfill her less-than-traditional desires on the side.

She just never expected that man to be Jace Austin, her old heart-breaker—all grown up, hard-bodied, and holding out a collar. She knows it’s probably a world-class bad idea—especially since Jace has brought along his buddy Andre, who’s every bit as irresistible. But if they can stick to the no-strings rules, so can she.

Too bad Jace has never been so good with rules. Evan is convinced “forever” is a word used only in greeting cards, but Jace and Andre have one last fantasy of hers left to fulfill. It’s time to go big or go home. And neither man has ever been a fan of going home.

EXCERPT

“Thanks.” She took her shirt and towel from him, pulled the first over her head, then got to her feet and knotted the beach towel around her hips. She tilted her head up to smile at him. “So, Mr. Humble Hero, you have a name?”

He stuck out his hand. “It’s Jace.”

Her body froze, the world seeming to tip off balance for a moment. Had she heard right? She stared at him for a moment, taking in every nuance of his face, the earlier whispers of déjà vu now becoming shouts.

Was it really him? His hair was longer, his body harder and more mature, the green in his eyes more wary, but the resemblance was there. It’d been years—twelve actually. The nineteen-year-old boy she’d known had become a man. “Jace Austin?”

***

Oh, shit. The recognition that flashed in the woman’s blue eyes had Jace dropping his hand. This chick knew him? He frantically flipped through his mental Rolodex, starting with the girls-I’ve-slept-with file.

When they’d locked gazes earlier, he’d felt a nudge of familiarity but had dismissed it. Surely, he’d remember this dark-haired beauty, especially if he had gotten the privilege of touching that lush little body. But something about her was poking at the recesses of his mind.

He rubbed the back of his neck and offered an apologetic smile. “Uh, yeah. Jace Austin. I’m sorry, have we met?”

She flinched a bit—the move subtle, but not lost on him. Damn, well now he felt like a jackass. Had they slept together?

She recovered quickly, the corner of her mouth tilting up. “Don’t worry. I’m sure I look a little different than I did at sixteen. Especially without that god-awful bottle red hair and eyebrow piercing.”

Sixteen? Red hair? The flashing list of names in his head suddenly flipped back over a decade and landed on one he hadn’t thought about in years. One he’d purposely tried to block out. No, couldn’t be. “Evangeline?”

She shrugged and looked out at the water, the wind whipping her hair around and disguising her expression. “It’s Evan now. I stopped using my full name a long time ago.”

“Wow, I don’t even know what to say,” he said, shaking his head. “You look great. I’m so glad to see that you’re . . .” Okay. Alive. “Here.”

She turned back toward him and smiled, though it didn’t light her face the way the earlier smiles had. “It’s good to see you, too. But, if you don’t mind, before we go down memory lane, how ’bout that vinegar?”

“Oh, right,” he said, his mind still whirling. “Follow me.”

And she needn’t worry. The last thing he was going to do was initiate any reminiscing. No, some things were better left buried. And how he’d destroyed the girl he’d sworn to look out for was A-number-one on that list. 

My Top 5 Technology and Online Tools for an Author

 - GUEST POST BY RONI LOREN

So admittedly, I’m a bit of an online junkie. If there is a new social networking site or a new program to be had, I’m probably trying it out. Some turn out to be uber useful and some flop, but here are some of the best I’ve found.

1.  Scrivener

What is it? A word processing and organizing program for writing your book.

Why it rocks: I used to be a traditionalist. Give me a blank word document and let me loose. But then I got a Macbook and wasn’t in love with the Pages program, so I decided to give Scrivener a try. And I’m so glad I did. It does WAY more than I use it for and I’m always discovering new ways to use it, but what I like best is...

a)   Having a way to write each chapter in a separate file, yet the chapters also are part of one larger document. So I can easily click on Chapter Such and Such without having to scroll through an entire document.

b)   It allows you to set word goals for a long-term project. So I can put in a due date and the total number of words for the whole novel (usually 90k). I can even add in which days are “work” days in the week. And then it will break it down. So every day I can open my progress bar and see what my goal is for that day. Then it keeps track and I can watch the little bar go up. It’s amazing how motivating that can be.

c)   It lets me keep a separate file for research.

d)   It lets me mark the stage of each chapter - first draft, revised, final, etc.

e)   You have a virtual corkboard where you can type on index cards and rearrange your scenes.

2.  Squarespace

What is it? It’s a way to build your own website and blog (like wordpress.com).

Why it rocks: I’m a bit of a control freak and though I’m sometimes tempted to save up money so I can get a fancy website built (I may do that eventually), I LOVE having control over my website. If I need to tweak something or update something, I can easily do it on my own. I don’t have to wait for someone else to get to it. And Squarespace makes it super easy. There is a bit of a learning curve upfront because it’s different from Wordpress, but once their system “clicks” in your head, it’s very intuitive. And I love that it doesn’t look like a garden variety blog, it looks like a professional website. You can check out what mine looks like here.

3.  Twitter

What is it? A giant cocktail party of conversation and links.

Why it rocks: I can’t tell you how much I learn from my friends and peers on Twitter. And beyond all the fabulous tips and articles I come across, it makes the writing life less hermit-like. :)

4.  Spotify and/or Pandora

What are they? Internet radio options

Why they rock: I need music when I write. And though I have my own library of my favorite songs, there is something nice about being able to click on a radio station that plays songs in such a specific theme or mood. For instance, if I’m going to be writing a love scene, I can build a station that just plays love songs or a station based around one specific artist or one song that inspired that scene. Instead of a traditional radio station, it gives me a much more tailored soundtrack to my writing. And it’s free! (Well, I’ve sprung for the Spotify premium service, but you can get the radio stations without that.)

5.  Pinterest and Tumblr

What are they? Sites that are heavily focused on viewing and sharing visual images.

Why they rock: Even though these are very different sites, I’m lumping them together because they both serve as visual inspiration for me. I make no secret of my love for mancandy, so it’s nice to look through all the lovely photos of potential heroes. But I also love looking at other things that may pop up in my stream--beautiful nature photography, fun movie scenes, couples photos, and if nothing else, the occasional GIF is good for a laugh. Pinterest can also be awesome for creating inspiration boards for your books. However, I’m not super comfortable with the copyright issues Pinterest hasn’t addressed yet, so I took down my inspiration boards. I’m hoping one day soon they give the option of having private boards so that I can use them for that purpose again. But regardless, looking at pretty pictures can sometimes be just what a writer needs when they’re stuck.

So those are my top five. What are some of your favorites online or technology tools?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Roni wrote her first romance novel at age fifteen when she discovered writing about boys was way easier than actually talking to them. Since then, her flirting skills haven’t improved, but she likes to think her storytelling ability has. Though she’ll forever be a New Orleans girl at heart, she now lives in Dallas with her husband and son. If she’s not working on her latest sexy story, you can find her reading, watching reality television, or indulging in her unhealthy addiction to rockstars, er, rock concerts. Yeah, that's it. She is the author of The Loving on the Edge series from Berkley Heat.

AUTHOR ONLINE: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

GIVEAWAY

Roni will award an eBook copy of "Still Into You" to one randomly drawn commenter at every stop and a Book Grab Bag - Autographed copy of CRASH INTO YOU along with these books: Raziel by Kristina Douglas, Blood Stains by Sharon Sala, The Summer Garden by Paullina Simons, and Deadly Valentine by Justine Davis and Cindy Dees to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour (US/Canada only).


The host with the most comments (US/Canada only) will win an Erotic Book Grab Bag - containing Explosive by Beth Kery, Tease Me by Tracy Wolff, Strip Search by Shayla Black, and Forbidden Heat by Opal Carew.

Giveaway ends July 13th 2012!