IMHO Welcomes Heather MacAllister!

Heather MacAllister has published over 40 books with Harlequin. Her award-winning romantic comedies have been translated into 25 languages and published in dozens of countries. Before she was published, Heather won the Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Award. Her published novels have since been nominated for the RWA RITA® award three times, and eHarlequin.com readers voted Lone Star Santa Favorite Laugh-Out-Loud book of 2006. In addition to awards for best Harlequin Romance and best Harlequin Temptation, Romantic Times Book Reviews has twice nominated Heather for a Career Achievement Award in Series Love and Laughter.

Random Freebies? We don't need no stinkin' Random Freebies!

Well, maybe we do. Too much dead air time around here, but guess what I got in the mail today? Two signed copies of Vicki Hinze's very own ARC versions (Advance Reader Copy) of her newest release, War Games: Kill Zone. Vicki practically invented the military romantic suspense subgenre, and she'll be my guest at IMHO on Sept 30. One of those books will go into the "Back to School" tote bag of love.

But the other...the other, my precious, can be yours with a simple comment left on this post--THIS POST RIGHT HERE!

You've got until Sept 25 to respond to this offer. Let me know you want it...really want it...and I just might pick you. USA addresses only, please. Operators are standing by now.

And remember, on Wednesday I've got talented, multipublished three-time RITA nominee Heather MacAllister, joining IMHO on Wednesday, Sept 23, so come back then!

TJB

IMHO Welcomes Ann Macela!

IMHO is pleased to welcome Medallion Press author Ann Macela today. Ann says she has been blessed with a number of careers: public school and university teacher (three degrees in history); writer of history (the kind bristling with footnotes); sales, marketing and PR person writing everything from ads to annual reports; consultant and computer manual writer; and now romance author.

Winner of Random Freebies!

Okay, I've picked a winner! The winner of Sophie Jordan's autographed novel, The Sins of a Wicked Duke, is ColleenFL!

Somehow, her sad birthday sentence was so poignant...

Hope you enjoy the book, ColleenFL. Be sure to e-mail me your address so I can mail you your book. And please, please have a better birthday next year.

And everyone else, remember you're still playing for all the marbles. Our next guest will be Ann Macela, author of the award-winning Magic series about magic practitioners brought together by an ancient force, an irresistible compulsion, called the soulmate imperative. Whoooo....

Be sure to join us tomorrow to meet Ann!

TJB

I love the smell of RANDOM FREEBIES in the morning...

What? I haven't given away a Random Freebie in a while, so how about I toss an autographed copy of Sophie Jordan's Sins of a Wicked Duke into the middle of your pack and let you fight it out? Heh heh heh. I can see the fur and boa feathers flying now.

Look at that luscious red cover. Look at that redhead so obviously enjoying her new purchase of satin sheets from Linens for Romance Novel Heroines. How can you resist? Oh, and yes, the story's pretty good, too. *G* (Of course, the duke isn't really wicked; he's a wounded hero who is just misunderstood...).

Okay, you know the rules. If you want it, you has to beg for it. Let's target this, though. Tell me in one sentence why you think YOU deserve to win Sophie Jordan's book. And hey, bonus points if you can make me laugh or cry! Then I'll award it to the lucky winner on September 15th, 2009. Ready? Set?

Go!

TJB

P.S. Forgot to mention US Addresses only, please!

IMHO Welcomes Debut Author Annette McCleave!

IMHO welcomes debut author Annette McCleave, who will discuss this month’s theme, “Back to School: Surprising Things I've Learned from Writing/Reading Romance” in her own inimitable fashion. Annette is the 2008 Romance Writers of America Golden Heart® award winning author of Drawn into Darkness, the first novel in a new paranormal romance series about Soul Gatherers--immortal warriors who battle demons to protect the souls of the dead.

Another "Madly Desirous" Magnetic Romance Poem

Thought I'd share another bit of random poetry from the Mixed-up Romance Novel Magnetic Poetry Kit, which is up for grabs as part of this month's "Back to School" goodie tote. I'll even throw in a $20 gift card to Barnes and Noble, just for fun. Oh, and let's not forget all the authors' signed books. Mine, too. Remember, we've already visited with the wonderful Gerry Bartlett, best-selling author of the Real Vampires paranormal romance series, on September 2 (be sure to read her post and leave a comment if you haven't already). The authors are discussing September's theme, "Back to School: Interesting Things I Learned from Writing/Reading Romance." The rest of this month's lineup is below:

September 9: Annette McCleave, debut author of dark paranormal romance.

September 16: Ann Macela , multi-published, award-winning Medallion Press author of the Magic series.

September 23:Heather MacAllister, USA Today bestselling author of contemporary series romance and three-time RITA® nominee.

September 30: Vicki Hinze, multi-published, best-selling, award-winning author of just about every genre of romance in existence (and one or two she invented herself!).

And now for another random mixed-up romance poem from the kit:

"He wanted to satisfy/her secret cavern/and offered his love/while the butler watched."

Hmm. Well. Probably not the kind of romance I would write, but you can make up your own!

Hope to see you Wednesday to welcome Annette McCleave, whose dark paranormal romance series about the Soul Gatherers debuts this month. Check it out!

TJB

My family is brilliant

Hi, everyone! I have been blessed with having some very talented people in my extended family, and I wanted to share the work of another one of them with you. Previously, you've seen the amazing videos on You Tube done by BookVideoProductions, which is headed up by my sister, book video and promotional materials designer extraordinaire T.S. Jackson (I will use none other). On my book video for THE PROMISE (see it and THE LEGACY video on the video bar to the left), you heard my amazingly talented cousin, D.D. Jackson, playing "Lushly," a haunting piece to which I never get tired of listening. (Check out his ballad demos, my favorites.)

Now I'd like to turn you on to another cousin, Cora D. Mitchell, a professional dancer, artist, and photographer. Check out her most recent image here, available for sale. She's a real beauty, and, IMHO, some of her best images are of her self-portraits (that's one featured above). If you get a chance, check her photos out on JPG and Red Bubble. I'm so proud of her, I had to share.

Am I lucky to be member of this family, or what???

TJB

Problems commenting?

If you are having problems getting your comments to post, avoid any grin tags like these: :-> because they are interpreted as html and won't be accepted in the comments field. If you still can't get your comment to post, and you'd like to for the contest, send it to me at tjb @ tjbennett . com and I will post it for you. Sorry for the trouble!

UPDATE 9/4/05: If you don't have third party cookies enabled, apparently you will have trouble leaving a comment. See the link in the comment under this post from the helpful Blooger forum dude. Thanks, helpful dude.

TJB

IMHO Welcomes Gerry Bartlett!

Welcome back to IMHO as we kick off the month of September with our new theme, “Back to School: Surprising Things I've Learned from Writing/Reading Romance.”

Every Wednesday, all month long, each of my five guest hosts—Gerry Bartlett, Annette McCleave, Ann Macela, Heather MacAllister, and Vicki Hinze—will give us her unique perspective on this theme, and then offer up an autographed novel for the “Back to School” tote bag of love for one lucky winner to keep (please see my contest rules; they've changed slightly).