The Romance of the Holidays

Holiday Gifts of Love Blog Hop!

Welcome, blog hoppers. Perhaps we've never met. I'm Anne Holly by name and holiday writer by trade (eight or nine of my titles are "holiday books"), quite by accident - almost.

I have written before about what I like so much about holiday romance, though I never did intend on devoting so much of my writing career to this little faux subgenre. They just seem so magical to me – especially the autumn and winter ones, with their natural beauties. To write a holiday romance is to instantly connect with a well of emotions, memories and shared myths, and that’s a wonderful thing.

I once wrote about A Christmas Carol and how it gathers up so much of what’s special about the holidays:

Christmas is the time when we have in our collective subconscious the two extremes –the optimistic Christmas lover, Tiny Tim, and the misanthropic cold hearted Scrooge, who wasn’t really a bad guy deep down. Really, he was just hurt by life. Now, most well-adjusted people fall some place in between, but those two extremes represent the spectrum of romance: Someone full of love, and someone who has had the love beaten out of them. Those are the characters to which I am naturally drawn – and the redemption that is achieved when the one overcomes the other, and the romance that pools in their bond when it all works out right in the end. This is likely the main reason I write so much about the holidays. It is a time of salvaging the human from the ravages of plans gone wrong, of love unrequited and of tragedy spilt over a life time.

I wrote that about two years ago, and I still believe it. I am an optimist at heart, but it doesn’t come easy. Anyone who retains optimism into adulthood knows that it’s a decision one makes – not to forget or ignore all the setbacks and knocks, but to push through them and not let them get you down. This is where I’m at. Refusing to let life make a Scrooge out of me.

I also believe that the magic of the holidays rests in its ability to heal up a bit of the wounds of the year, and to renew hearts and spirits. It’s no coincidence it’s at the end of every year. This is why I believe in the restoration of Scrooge, and why the ideas found in A Christmas Carol float around the edges of so many of my books.

In my first Christmas romance, Unwrapping Scrooge, I fully embraced the premise that Christmas can heal. In it, a successful yet gloomy writer must decide if he can unscrooge himself enough to woo an optimistic young exchange student before she returns to Canada – and she must decide if she can meet him halfway:

Smiling instead, he switched on the waffle iron, and considered the way she would look as she watched the snow. Being Canadian, perhaps she had a special relationship to it. He had begun to look at it differently, himself. What had previously been a cold, wet annoyance now appeared somewhat magical, blanketing them in sparkly privacy within their warm little bubble.

Of course, Molly would be a Christmas-lover—she even smelled like Christmas, all cinnamon and vanilla. For Kale, who never even really considered what Christmas meant, Molly was the human embodiment of the season. Bright, shiny, and fresh.

“I guess that would make me, what? Halloween?” He snickered at his own fanciful thoughts. “Not even that exciting—more like the August Bank Holiday.”

To this day, that book remains one of my favourites, and those characters still hang with me.

My subsequent books have been less obviously engaged with Scrooge, but I can still tell he’s there because he’s build right into the magic of the season for me. In Good for the Goose, a twice-shy professor must make the decision to risk her heart again or be weighed down by the pain of divorce forever.

My holiday erotic-romance anthology, All I Want, features six couples who have similar decisions, about happiness and pain, and the courage it takes to restore and be restored. It’s a theme I love, and one of the reasons I am such a romance fan, and a fan of holidays.

Maybe I’m naïve to still believe in the magic of the holidays, but I refuse to believe Black Friday and credit card bills are all we have to look forward to every year. If you think this way, too, or you’d like to, check out my books. And, of course, have a very happy holiday, and all the best for the New Year!

GIVEAWAY

Leave a comment on this post, and be entered to win. I’m giving away the winner’s choice of Unwrapping Scrooge, Good for the Goose, or All I Want: The Anne Holly-Day Collection. (18+) Plus, this blog hop has a slew of other great prizes along the route, as well as a pretty amazing grand prize! (Please be sure to leave your email address so we can contact you if you win.)

Charity: A Cowboy Romance for Thanksgiving

The holiday season is approaching fast, but before you break into the Christmas romances there's still Thanksgiving. Luckily, I have a book for that, too - Charity, a short erotic-romance for the turkey season!

Charity Miller has spent her whole life in an urban island surrounded by the wilds of Montana where she’s never ventured too far from her plans. But when she heads into the Big Snowy Mountains to square a land deal one chilly November, her normally-professional self fades away. Maybe it’s the mountain air or finally quitting her diet. Or maybe it’s “real-live-cowboy” Joshua Rollings and his many attractions that has her off balance.

Whatever it is, this Thanksgiving could give her a reason to be thankful for the rest of her life.

"It will definitely put you in the Thanksgiving mood!" 
- You Gotta Read Reviews.


Excerpt:

The next morning broke bright and clear, and Charity’s mood was considerably lighter than the day before. Despite being awakened by what sounded like a very chipper Kate Rollings singing an ear-splitting song to her housekeeper about a bicycle built for two, Charity had slept quite well.

She had an odd, heavy sensation that made her limbs feel like they were filled with warm syrup, but it wasn’t unpleasant. And she had faint memories of several dreams that were less than PG-13. When Joshua showed her to the room the night before, Charity noticed the odd way he’d looked from her to the bed and then averted his eyes. Clearly it must have put some very scandalous ideas in her head. Nevertheless, the fresh, cool air inspired sleep and the dreams were satisfying enough.

The bed was huge and comfortable and the room cheerful and airy. Charity was grateful to have her own bathroom and shower and paused a moment to look out the big windows over the pasture lands while drying her hair. It wasn’t snowing and there was barely a wisp of cloud in the sky, so viewing the property in question might even be a pleasant task. When Joshua informed her that the Retreat was accessible by Jeep, instead of horseback as she’d initially feared, she almost started to look forward to it.

Over a mountainous breakfast of eggs and ham that would have made her personal trainer gag, Joshua related some of the land’s history to Charity while his mother concentrated on buttering enough toast to fill an army.

There was a lodge located on the property dating back to 1946. It had replaced the first cabin built by Eli Rollings in 1869, which, by then, had been used as a hunting camp by generations of Rollings men. Joshua told her that there wasn’t much left of the original site aside from an old stone well. It seemed the previous masters of the Rollings spread, Joshua’s grandfather and father, always suspected times would force them to sell the valuable land at some point, so they’d made sure the only thing left there was the new lodge and fond memories.

“There’s still the old grown-over sinkhole where the original outhouse used to be,” Joshua teased with a chuckle as she climbed into his four wheeled truck, “if you’d like to tour that.”

“I think I can do without that, thanks,” Charity responded with a laugh. “I’m a bit of a history buff, but more of the public television variety than the kind that snoop into pioneer plumbing or lack thereof.”

“City girl,” he teased, slamming the truck door and reaching for his seatbelt. She smiled when he finally tossed a Stetson on, thinking the image was now complete.

~*~

Available now on Kindle, Nook, and other ebook formats, for only $1.99.

Find it on GoodReads!

Charity is also available in my ebook/paperback collection, ALL I WANT: The Anne Holly-Day Collection. 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Looking for a Halloween Romance?

Available on Nook, Kindle and eBook: 
Like Magic, an erotic-romance for Halloween - now only $1.99!

Ian Hannigan was having the worst day of his life. A real estate prospect turned out to be a prank, his car has been stolen, and he’s stranded in the worst neighborhood he can imagine on Halloween night. If he believed in magic, he would swear he’d been cursed. Nothing could possibly make this day any worse or better… That is, nothing but Raven, a mysterious occult shop owner who not only claims to be a witch, but insists that she summoned him as the answer to her aching loneliness. Ian’s night just got a lot weirder. And his love life just got a lot more interesting.

18+

Snippet:


It was nearing midnight when Ian woke alone. Someone was lighting fire crackers in the alley below the window. He wondered, rather belatedly, whether the police had ever shown up and was surprised with himself for having dozed off in a strange bed on such a night. His car could be in the harbor by now, but oddly, he didn’t have the will to care. Stretching his overused back muscles, he figured the orgasms he enjoyed that night were nearly worth the loss.

He sat up in the unfamiliar bed noticing with a smile that Raven had covered him with the soft quilt before wandering off to wherever she was. It was a small gesture, but an unbelievably sweet one to a man who hadn’t been tucked in often enough as a boy. Had she kissed him on the forehead when she did it? He was willing to bet she had.

~*~
Also available in ebundle and paperback in All I Want: The Anne Holly-Day Collection!

Now in Paperback: All I Want, my Holiday Romance Collection!

What happens when a band nerd sets his sights on the jock next door, a flighty witch thaws out a corporate stiff, or an uptown girl falls for a bartender? How about when a city slicker roughs it with a cowboy, a free spirited Spaniard seduces his calm and collected professor, or a fantasy writer teaches a no-nonsense doctor to see the magic around him? 

Attraction, friction, and enough sparks to heat up the coldest winter! 

Opposites attract under the spell of six different holidays in this collection of contemporary erotic romance stories from author Anne Holly, covering Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Eve, Valentine’s Day and St Patrick’s Day. Each story is unique, reflecting the glow and lore of the holiday that inspired it, but the collection is bound together by a single thread – the joy of taking the plunge into sizzling romance.

Been under the weather the past few days, but today I got a surprise to perk me up: My holiday collection from Rebel Ink, All I Want, is now available in paperback - and at a reasonable price, too!

The collection, which contains my five 2011 stories from RIP, plus a new sixth one, is now available in ebook/Kindle/Nook ($5.99 USD) and in paperback ($9.99 USD). The paperback is already up on Amazon, and I suspect it will also be for sale at B&N eventually.

Thanks, Rebel Ink! You all know how excited I get about paperbacks!

ALSO! I'm happy to announce that all five of my holiday romance shorts from Rebel Ink Press have been given new list prices. The individual titles are now only $1.99 each, instead of $3.99 each.

Celebrating Thanksgiving with a Giveaway!

Here in Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated in October, so Monday I will be enjoying my tators and soy chicken with a side of cranberry sauce. I'll likely even submit to my yearly pumpkin intake (gross, I know, but tradition, tradition...).

Here on the blog, I'm celebrating all weekend by flogging my Thanksgiving title, Charity, an erotic-romance (with a cowboy) - and I'm also giving away a copy as a thanks to you!

"Charity Miller has spent her whole life in an urban island surrounded by the wilds of Montana where she’s never ventured too far from her plans. But when she heads into the Big Snowy Mountains to square a land deal one chilly November, her normally-professional self fades away. Maybe it’s the mountain air or finally quitting her diet. Or maybe it’s “real-live-cowboy” Joshua Rollings and his many attractions that has her off balance. Whatever it is, this Thanksgiving could give her a reason to be thankful for the rest of her life."

If you're interested in winning a copy of Charity in PDF (and you're 18+), please leave a comment at any point between now and Monday night (I'll have a sample on Sunday), and you'll be entered (once per comment!). Your comment(s) can be anything you want - your favourite Thanksgiving food (even if it's pumpkin, you weirdo), or just plain "Hey, I'd love to read that!"

A book about family, love, gratitude, and giving, You Gotta Read said of Charity that it's "a perfect way to get in the holiday spirit", and I hope the book will work for you as we roll into the Holidays once again.

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!

Charity is available as a single short in ebook, and is one of the six stories found in my new anthology All I Want: The Anne Holly-Day Collection, available now in ebook and coming soon to paperback!

Charity is also available for review. If you're interested in receiving a review copy, please email me!

Release Celebration: All I Want

Releasing today: All I Want: The Anne Holly-Day Collection

New to paperback and ebook from Rebel Ink Press!

What happens when a band nerd sets his sights on the jock next door, a flighty witch thaws out a corporate stiff, or an uptown girl falls for a bartender? How about when a city slicker roughs it with a cowboy, a free spirited Spaniard seduces his calm and collected professor, or a fantasy writer teaches a no-nonsense doctor to see the magic around him?

Attraction, friction, and enough sparks to heat up the coldest winter!

Opposites attract under the spell of six different holidays in this collection of contemporary erotic romance stories from author Anne Holly, covering Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Eve, Valentine’s Day and St Patrick’s Day.

Each story is unique, reflecting the glow and lore of the holiday that inspired it, but the collection is bound together by a single thread – the joy of taking the plunge into sizzling romance.

~*~

Including the following six erotic-romances:

Like Magic, a story for Halloween

Ian Hannigan was having the worst day of his life. A real estate prospect turned out to be a prank, his car has been stolen, and he’s stranded in the worst neighborhood he can imagine on Halloween night. If he believed in magic, he would swear he’d been cursed. Nothing could possibly make this day any worse or better… That is, nothing but Raven, a mysterious occult shop owner who not only claims to be a witch, but insists that she summoned him as the answer to her aching loneliness. Ian’s night just got a lot weirder. And his love life just got a lot more interesting.

Five stars from Just Erotic Romance Reviews!

~*~

Charity, a story for Thanksgiving

Charity Miller has spent her whole life in an urban island surrounded by the wilds of Montana where she’s never ventured too far from her plans. But when she heads into the Big Snowy Mountains to square a land deal one chilly November, her normally-professional self fades away. Maybe it’s the mountain air or finally quitting her diet. Or maybe it’s “real-live-cowboy” Joshua Rollings and his many attractions that has her off balance.Whatever it is, this Thanksgiving could give her a reason to be thankful for the rest of her life.

Highly recommended by You Gotta Read reviews!

~*~

Good for the Goose, a story for Christmas

Successful scholar Dr. Natasha Mintz believes her divorce signaled the end of her romantic life. But when she gets snowed in one Christmas with a young Spanish grad student, she may want to rethink things. For Natasha, winter has never been so hot!

 Four stars from Just Erotic Romance Reviews!


~*~

Bubbly, a story for New Years

Beth’s had the best of everything and the worst of everything. From the outside, a poor little rich girl, hounded by the press, but, on the inside, bruised by dark memories. When she seeks escape from her suffocating world on New Years Eve, she accidentally gets a taste for how the other half lives. Rough bartender Tig Riley offers her a whole new outlook on life in his arms and maybe even a brand new future, if only she can trust him. Can he really help her heal herself?

Four stars from Sizzling Hot Book Reviews!

~*~

V-Day, a story for Valentine's Day

It all started with a serenade. A family like Daniel’s and the solitary pursuit of musical excellence is enough to make a young man crazy. No wonder all Daniel Vouks dreams of is getting away. He knows his violin will take him places in life, but the only place he really wants to be is next door. He’s been in love with his neighbor since he was fourteen, but can he ever make her see him as more than just a lovesick kid? V-Day is the story of a Valentine's Day weekend Daniel fears he may regret, but will never, ever forget.

One of The One Hundred Romances Project's top books of 2011!

~*~

And a new, previously unreleased story for St Patrick's Day: Cormack's Luck, exclusive to this anthology!

American writer Katie Cormack inherited more than a cottage from her wild Irish father, but also his wit, his stories and his family’s secret burden. Hiding away in the Irish countryside she’d always dreamed of, she communes with the fairies and beasts of her fantasy and folklore. When a local doctor comes down on her for filling his young son’s head with “nonsense”, Katie must show them both that not even St Patrick himself could drive all the dragons out of their imaginations. In the process, she might be able to reverse a wrong that has been hanging over the Cormacks for five generations, one that has brought them all together for the season of renewal.

*
I'm very excited to have another paperback in release, and I'm happy to see these stories find new life as an ebundle, as well. Each one was a fun, new challenge for me, and each one is an homage to various types of romance I've enjoyed as a reader. I hope you enjoy reading this collection!

Get it while it's hot!

Available at the following vendors in ebook:

Amazon US
Amazon UK
B&N
ARe
BookStrand
...and more!

And in paperback:

Amazon
B&N

New TODAY from:

Add the book on GoodReads, or find it on ManicReaders.
Available now to select reviewers in PDF upon request.

Releasing Tomorrow: All I Want, a Holiday Anthology

Coming October 3 to paperback and ebook, All I Want: The Anne Holly-Day Collection, including all five of my 2011 Rebel Ink Press erotic-romance holiday shorts, as well as an exclusive, new sixth story! I'll be here tomorrow celebrating!

What happens when a band nerd sets his sights on the jock next door, a flighty witch thaws out a corporate stiff, or an uptown girl falls for a bartender? How about when a city slicker roughs it with a cowboy, a free spirited Spaniard seduces his calm and collected professor, or a fantasy writer teaches a no-nonsense doctor to see the magic around him?

Attraction, friction, and enough sparks to heat up the coldest winter!

Opposites attract under the spell of six different holidays in this collection of contemporary erotic romance stories from author Anne Holly, covering Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Eve, Valentine’s Day and St Patrick’s Day.

Each story is unique, reflecting the glow and lore of the holiday that inspired it, but the collection is bound together by a single thread – the joy of taking the plunge into sizzling romance.

Hello, October

October is here, blindsiding me as September seemingly just zipped by. Finally, my favourite month of the year! October isn't even my birthday month, but I do love it. Not only do Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving in October, but my other favourite holiday, Halloween, is coming close. Besides all that, the weather in October is the best for me - no longer hot and humid, but nice and crisp, yet not yet slushy! It's lovely here these days, and I'm getting as much outside time as I can before the winter winds start to blow.

October is also the start of my "promo season," considering that at least seven of my titles focus on holidays falling between October and February, so this month should be a bit fun around the old blog - two holidays, a special book anniversary on the 10th, and a new release on the 3rd! I hope you'll join me.

Happy October, all! Enjoy the strolling weather and the seasonal fun.

Sneak Peek of Cormack's Luck for #SampleSunday

 A sneak peek at my newest story, Cormack's Luck, the exclusive St Patrick's Day addition to my Rebel Ink Press anthology All I Want: The Anne Holly-Day Collection, available in ebook and print on October 3, 2012!

American writer Katie Cormack inherited more than a cottage from her wild Irish father, but also his wit, his stories and his family’s secret burden. Hiding away in the Irish countryside she’d always dreamed of, she communes with the fairies and beasts of her fantasy and folklore. When a local doctor comes down on her for filling his young son’s head with “nonsense”, Katie must show them both that not even St Patrick himself could drive all the dragons out of their imaginations. In the process, she might be able to reverse a wrong that has been hanging over the Cormacks for five generations, one that has brought them all together for the season of renewal.

Excerpt:

I’ve as good as slept with him. Shit.

Well, not completely shit, she had to admit. She’d needed it, really. Even as her nerves hummed over how to proceed with this awkward situation, she could feel a languid relaxation seep through her limbs. Even before her marriage had gone south two years ago, her sex life hadn’t been Hollywood quality and her dry spell since had taken its toll. This afternoon had shown her the danger of letting certain appetites go unfulfilled for too long.

For instance, you could end up having near-sex with a man who seemingly loathed you. Or one whose ancestors had been mortal enemies with your own. Or, such as in her case, a man who fell into both categories.

She heard a flush, then the tap running, and a rattle from the bathroom. Then the harsh click of the old-fashioned light switch. He didn’t emerge immediately, even with the lights out, and she wondered if he was mentally girding his loins the same way she was.

Oddly enough, though they’d just ripped into each other like deprived animals, she felt the need to armor herself with multiple layers of wool and she fidgeted to make sure everything but her hands and face were fully, primly covered. And she might have even gone for a veil if she’d had one close by.

Shutting the gate after the horse fled, clearly.

When he finally stepped out of the bedroom, she spun back to the kitchen counter. She could feel the hot flare of her blush, which likely spread from her pale toes right up to her scalp, clashing with her red curls.

“Coffee?” she managed to croak.

“Er, no.” He, too, was moving in quick, jittery movements, gathering his jacket off the divan and already standing with his hand on the doorknob. Even with her back turned and her vision limited by what she could glimpse through her nervous side-eye, she knew he was eager to flee.

Despite being in his mid-thirties, he was inching towards the door like a naughty boy caught in theft.

Clearly, she wasn’t the only one to have instant regrets now that the hormone haze had dissipated. She should have been sympathetic, but dammit, he could have been a little less obvious about the fact he found her something akin to leprosy.

When he wasn’t sticking his tongue down her throat, that is.

She shuddered to think of what he’d done. What she’d let him do. Hell, what she’d begged him to do. And, oh my, what she’d done in response!

“I suspect you’ve got lots to do...”

“Yes,” he answered a bit too quickly and with a touch of frantic gratitude. “Lots to do. You know how it is.”

“Sure.”

“Alright, then. Ta!”

And with that he was gone.

Good riddance and may I never set eyes on him again, Katie thought to herself. She rested her forehead against the cool of the kitchen cabinet above the coffee maker and wondered how the hell it had all occurred.

“I’m a grown woman,” she declared aloud. “Thirty damned years old, and independent. If I screw anything up, it’s my own fault.”

It won’t happen again, she added.

Even if Dermot Barrigan was a beautiful feast before a starving woman.

~*~

All I Want: The Anne Holly-Day Collection

Coming October 3!

What happens when a band nerd sets his sights on the jock next door, a flighty witch thaws out a corporate stiff, or an uptown girl falls for a bartender? How about when a city slicker roughs it with a cowboy, a free spirited Spaniard seduces his calm and collected professor, or a fantasy writer teaches a no-nonsense doctor to see the magic around him?

Attraction, friction, and enough sparks to heat up the coldest winter!

Opposites attract under the spell of six different holidays in this collection of contemporary erotic romance stories from author Anne Holly, covering Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Eve, Valentine’s Day and St Patrick’s Day.

Each story is unique, reflecting the glow and lore of the holiday that inspired it, but the collection is bound together by a single thread – the joy of taking the plunge into sizzling romance.

#samplesunday: A Scene from Like Magic

An excerpt from my paranormal/contemporary erotic-romance for Halloween, Like Magic.

Ian Hannigan was having the worst day of his life. A real estate prospect turned out to be a prank, his car has been stolen, and he’s stranded in the worst neighborhood he can imagine on Halloween night. If he believed in magic, he would swear he’d been cursed. Nothing could possibly make this day any worse or better… That is, nothing but Raven, a mysterious occult shop owner who not only claims to be a witch, but insists that she summoned him as the answer to her aching loneliness. Ian’s night just got a lot weirder. And his love life just got a lot more interesting.

~*~

“This ritual will make sure that, if we are meant to be together, we’ll return to each other if we’re parted,” she whispered, the look on her face telling him she recognized their parting was inevitable.

He wasn’t sure how to respond, as they’d promised each other only that one night. Instead of speaking, he took her hand again and pressed a kiss to the tender skin of her wrist and then pulled her into his lap. He was there now and that would have to be enough. He sent whatever had brought him to her a silent word of thanks though it was inarticulate in his mind.

As if sensing his speechlessness, Raven merely smiled and looked at their entwined fingers. She turned his hand over in her own, as if noting the relative size and roughness of his palm in comparison with her own.

“Will I meet a tall, dark stranger?” he joked, looking into the lines in his hand.

“You have a long life,” she said. “Longer than you know – longer than before your birth, and after your life. You have an old soul.”

“The matron at one of my group homes used to say that,” he smiled. “But just because I was always a little bit tight-assed and not very happy as a child.”

“Why was that?”

Ian tilted his head in an effort to dismiss the stories of his youth, which weren’t incredibly pleasant, but also not very interesting. Before adulthood, his life had mostly consisted of boredom and waiting.

“My mother died when I was young. I never knew my father.” He shrugged. “Wasn’t a great deal to be happy about, really.”

“Now, though?” she said, looking back at the lines. “I think you’re satisfied in some ways, but not in others. You’re ambitious and you do well, but you’re occasionally unlucky especially with your love life. You’ve done a lot for yourself, though.”

Ian was increasingly uncomfortable with her inspection, feeling bare to her eyes.

“Enough about me,” he said lightly to cover up the quick way he yanked his hand from hers. “How about you?”

Raven smiled as if she knew why he stopped her, but was unruffled by his reluctance to tell her more. She produced her palm to him with a good natured chuckle.

“My life is an open book. Be my guest.”

“Oh no,” he said. “I don’t read palms.” She squealed as he grabbed her and started to plaster her neck and shoulders with kisses. “Ear lobes, maybe,” he said in a muffled voice as he took possession of her ear with his lips. “Ahh! You will indeed meet a tall, dark stranger,” he confirmed. “And you two will fuck like bunnies all... night... long...”
*
Available Now!

This story will be included in the paperback/ebundle anthology All I Want: The Anne Holly-Day Collection, releasing October 3, 2012.

We're seeking reviews and promo opportunities for Like Magic this October. If you're interested in helping spread the word for Halloween, please email anneholly2010@gmail.com, and include a link to your site or blog. (18+, non-YA blogs/sites, only, please.)

Paperback(s) Update

Just a quick note to let you guys know how the upcoming paperback-babies are faring, since their due dates are fast approaching.

Textbook Romance is very nearly all set for its Sept 13 release in paperback! I spent a good portion of this week giving it another read through, and it's speeding its way to the print formatting process over at Pink Petal Books. The cover will stay the same, thankfully (I do love this one!), and I haven't seen the proofs for the back cover and such, yet. But, I am certain it's bubbling along as expected.

I really enjoyed the chance to re-read it, to be honest. It may be hard to believe, but once a book is edited and out, it tends to fade a bit in my mind as I move on to the next project. While the story and the characters leave fond impressions in my mind, re-reading these books after release is an odd blend of familiarity and newness.

As to the anthology, All I Want, which will also be releasing in an ebook bundle at the same time as in paperback, things are progressing for the Oct 3rd release. I am finishing up my last-chance read through on the five original stories in my Rebel Ink holiday series, making sure they're all in order, and will be doing some more serious edits on the new short next week. We've already seen the cover, and it is beautiful!

I'm looking forward to having more reading format options out there, and I can't wait to get my hands on those paper lovelies!

Have a great weekend, all, and thanks for reading.

New Cover: ALL I WANT: The Anne Holly-Day Collection!

What happens when a young violin prodigy sets his sights on the jock next door, a flighty witch thaws out a corporate stiff, or an uptown girl falls for a bartender? How about when a city slicker roughs it with a cowboy, a free spirited Spaniard seduces his calm and collected professor, or a fantasy writer teaches a no-nonsense doctor to see the magic around him?

Attraction, friction, and enough sparks to heat up the coldest winter!

Opposites attract under the spell of six different holidays in this collection of contemporary erotic romance stories from author Anne Holly, covering Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Eve, Valentine’s Day and St Patrick’s Day.

Each story reflects the glow and lore of the holiday that inspired it, but the collection is bound together by a single thread – the joy of taking the plunge into sizzling romance.

This collection releases in ebook and paperback September 17, 2012!

Cover artist: Carl J. Franklin, 2012.

Paperback Update, and a Feedback Request! (Pretty Please?)

I'm pleased to announce that my new paperback anthology has been made official, and we're aiming, last I heard, for a September release (I had earlier misread the 9/12 as meaning October, but I was clearly loopy that day). The stories, my five 2011 stories from Rebel Ink plus a new sixth story, will also be released in ebook bundle!

I can now officially announce the title of the anthology.... Drum roll, please!

All I Want: The Anne Holly-Day Collection.

Ta da!

(Okay, that title makes me snicker, I admit it. I'm a goof; whadaya gonna do?)

The "working blurb":

What happens when a young violin prodigy sets his sights on the jock next door, a flighty witch thaws out a corporate stiff, or an uptown girl falls for a bartender? How about when a city slicker roughs it with a cowboy, a free spirited Spaniard seduces his calm and collected professor, or a fantasy writer teaches a no-nonsense doctor to see the magic around him?

Attraction, friction, and enough sparks to heat up the coldest winter!

Opposites attract under the spell of six different holidays in this collection of contemporary erotic romance stories from author Anne Holly, covering Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Eve, Valentine’s Day and St Patrick’s Day.

Each story reflects the glow and lore of the holiday that inspired it, but the collection is bound together by a single thread – the joy of taking the plunge into sizzling romance.

Yeah, I know, it's got rhetorical questions in it, and many people have already told me I shouldn't have rhetorical questions in my blurb. Yes, that's one of several things I shall be banging my head against as I re-write it.

I'll be refining the blurb over the coming week or two to make it stronger. I'm flipping through Amazon pages like mad, trying to troll for ideas, and haunting my usual tips-for-writers websites. I will continue to hone this blurb into a razor-sharp marketing powerhouse. *ahem*

However, if you follow this blog, you might know this is not my favourite part of writing.

So, if you have any feedback/suggestions/comments whatsoever, I'd be obliged.