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.

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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.

You Gotta Read Cover Contest

I'm pleased to see a bit of recognition for two of my loveliest covers, both by Carl J. Franklin and from my Rebel Ink Press series.

Currently, Like Magic, my Halloween erotic-romance, is nominated for best cover for July:

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.

Last month, I am pleased to report that Bubbly, my erotic-romance for New Years, came in third:

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?

Thanks to everyone who voted for Bubbly, and thanks to Carl for the awesome covers! 

If you like to vote, stay tuned to You Gotta Read Reviews, and pick your winner towards the end of the month.

#samplesunday: Bubbly

An erotic contemporary romance for New Years

By Anne Holly

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?

Excerpt:

(Caution: sexuality, mature subject matter and adult language.)

“Oh crap,” he groaned suddenly, lifting his head from where it had been leaning against hers. She was seated in the tub between his legs and resting back against his chest and belly, lazily dozing as she watched their fingers entwine. “It must be past midnight by now!”

“Do you have to go, or something?” she asked, feeling her heart speed up uncomfortably in her chest.

“No, no,” he said. “It’s just that I didn’t kiss you and wish you a Happy New Year when the clock struck. I was kind of busy at the time, I guess.”

“You likely were kissing me,” she reminded him with a soft chuckle, relaxing against him again. “And you can still wish me a Happy New Year.”

“Happy New Year,” he said, pressing a kiss to her temple.

“Happy New Year,” she replied, feeling wistful. All of this felt like a dream, one that she hadn’t even let herself contemplate for so long. Could this be a man she could trust, a companion to pass sleepless nights with, and a passionate lover? So many things Beth had given up on, dreams that Neal had stolen, now were sitting right next to her. It seemed almost too good to be true.

“Are you chilly?” he asked, wrapping his arms around her tighter in response to the shiver that ran through her.

“Not really.”

“Do you need to get some sleep?”

“I suppose we should,” Beth said, hesitating. Aside from the languid restfulness settling in her soul, she was quite awake from her nap earlier. She remembered how men liked to sleep after sex, so she didn’t want to keep him up.

“Should I go?” Tig asked, showing the first look of uncertainly since they retreated to her bedroom.

“I’d like it if you stayed,” she confessed.

“Good. Me, too,” he kissed her again, and then eased her up so he could exit the large, sunken whirlpool tub. He grabbed a fluffy bath sheet and swaddled her into it as she stood, and she gloried in the feeling of being taken care of. Beth couldn’t remember a time in her life when someone had treated her this sweetly.

“I wonder if they’re done downstairs,” he thought aloud.

“Probably not,” she said with a shrug. “They won’t leave until tomorrow, some of them. Suze will have to shepherd them through brunch before they find their heads enough to leave.”

“She’s a real handy girl to have around,” Tig remarked.

Beth agreed as she retied her hair.

“Your neck is so slender,” he said, kissing her at the nape and then watching her in the mirror. “You suppose Neal needs throwing out yet?” he asked, his face darkened uncharacteristically. His eyes bore into hers through the reflection, and he flexed his hands on her waist. “Sorry, I just...When I think about what that bastard likely did to you, I want to pulverize him.”

“Believe me,” she whispered, “I understand.” Tig’s reaction pleased a part of her, happy to have someone share her outrage. But another part of her regretted the fact that any man she was with would be confronted by her degradation against their will, just by looking at her. Neal had always been careful never to leave a permanent visible mark, but she wanted to cry over the stigma he left her with. It saddened her that even Tig, as happy and casual as he was, would likely never be able to set it aside and see her as just Beth. Beth and not ‘Neal’s victim’.

“I guess I could never fit into this crowd,” he said, bitterness edging his voice. “Too damned sophisticated for me, if they let rapists wander around their homes. I mean, doesn’t it bother you that we’re up here and he’s down there? That little shit!”

“Tig, just don’t think about it.”

“I know,” he said, raking a hand through his hair, as if it was some sort of substitute for going down there and beating the snot out of Neal. “You asked me not to cause a scene. I get it.”

“You just don’t realize how things are done here.”

“You know, maybe I understand better than you do. You don’t think I see a clearer picture of this glittery, screwed up social circle standing behind that bar six nights a week than you see from inside it?” He was growing frustrated, and the words were spilling out of him now. “I see wives come back from the bathroom after dessert, having clearly thrown up the hundred-dollar a-plate meal in order to stay skinny forever. I see their husbands off in the kids’ playroom dry humping the mistress of their boss. It’s like fucking Babylon at these things half the time, and everyone’s wearing great big diamonds on their hands, and great big fucking holes where their hearts should be.”

“Now, not everyone is like that,” Beth tried in vain to defend her lifestyle.

“No,” he agreed, his eyes flashing indignity. “There’s decent, kind, happy people in every world, but they aren’t the ones I see filling your house right now. For God’s sake, Beth, why do you let these people in?”

“You don’t know what it’s like,” she sobbed, hating his condemnation, and hating the way he saw everything. “All of my life, I had to live a certain way, be a certain way, live the way they all expected me to! You think I like it? I don’t. But that’s the way it is!”

“Not for everyone. The decent people don’t live like this,” Tig said, a bit more calmly.

“You just don’t understand,” she snapped, stiffening against the truth of it all. “People like you, no one expects anything from you.”

As soon as she said it, she wanted to take it back, but it was too late. She saw the flinch hit his face like a slap, and his eyes turn cold.

“People like me,” he muttered.

Turning on his heel, he left her, not stopping when she asked him to.

*

Released December 3, 2011 on Nook, Kindle, epub, Adobe and more!

For more information, check out my Seasonal Tales website.

For New Years, Enjoy Some Bubbly

Bubbly is a fantastic story of what is really important in life... a fun, quick read filled with exciting characters... If you love stories that tug at your heart strings and prove to you that there really is a "happily ever after," you are going to love Bubbly! 4 Stars!
- Sizzling Hot Book Reviews

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

An erotic contemporary romance for New Years...

Bubbly

Holiday Memories (with Giveaway)

Welcome, RomFan Reviews blog hoppers!

I chuckled when Annette told me that the theme for this blog hop was to be “holiday memories,” because there’s only one thing that comes to mind… and I’m not sure if people really want to hear about it. In retrospect, given this Thing that comes to mind, it’s kind of a surprise I have become a “holiday romance writer.” (That’s not all I write, but I’ve kind of overdone it on the holidays, so that’s becoming my reputation.)

You see, this Thing that came to mind was – wait for it – throwing up.

I know, a bit on the TMI side, but this really is my firmest holiday memory – because, you see, it happens every single damn year, or at least it seemed to, until recently.

When I was a kid, there were two things I loved that we only ever had at the holidays – grapes and soda pop. They were too expensive, and “special,” so my parents only got them at Christmas. I recall us keeping the 2L pop bottles under the kitchen table in December, and how I used to count the days until Christmas so we could crack one of those suckers. I don’t know why I liked pop so much. Perhaps it was simply because I wasn’t allowed to have it the rest of the year. And grapes, well, those things are simply awesome. So, the result of gorging myself, every year on these things? Almost ever year – possibly every year – I would consume so much that I made myself ill, and Boxing Day always found me waking up a bit green from my adventures. Holidays are often seasons of excess, and I am no saint.

A few years ago, this excess came in the form of a roast chicken. I am a vegetarian, and I have been since I was fourteen years old. I refuse to tell you how long that is, exactly, but rest assured it has been a long while. But, when I got pregnant, I decided I would go with my cravings, within reason, in case they were my body’s way of telling me I was lacking things. I had an extremely healthy pregnancy on a careful vegetarian diet – except for one, ill-advised night when I was about seven months along. Christmas Eve 2007.

That night, I was craving roast bird. Not turkey, since I have always hated turkey, even when I used to eat meat. I wanted chicken. I always loved chicken, and it was the hardest of the meats to give up, I admit. That Christmas eve, when looking at a Swiss Chalet delivery menu, I cracked. I love their perogies, so that was my original intent… But I knew they were famous for their wonderful chicken. And I picked a chicken dinner with all the fixins’. Call it pregnant lady insanity, but there I sat, gorging myself on dead bird and dressing. I was in heaven.

Not so much about 2am that night when my chicken dinner left my body of its own accord. Let’s just say the chicken and I had a horrible breakup that left me lying helpless and crying on the bathroom floor for about an hour. Merry Christmas to me!

As it turns out, that would not be the only time my son would have me up and sobbing at 2am. However, it was the last time the Christmas Up-Chuck Curse hit. Since then, my holidays have passed relatively uneventful, as far as gastrointestinal discomfort is concerned.

Why? I don’t know. Perhaps I have learned a few lessons about the size of my eyes in relation to the size of my stomach. That would be nice. I have no desire to carry on the tradition.

And that’s the most striking memory that comes to mind when people ask me about my most memorable holiday. I’ve had many good and bad holiday experiences, but this Thing really is hard to beat.

Oh, and the grapes? My son and I still ring in every New Year with a big bowl of them. With ginger ale soda. But we don’t overdo it. Some traditions don’t warrant getting handed down through the generations.

Happy New Year, one and all!

*

Leave a comment and tell me about your worst or most humiliating holiday moment for a chance to win a Kindle copy of my New Years erotic-romance, Bubbly, via Amazon. Winner will be drawn Dec 31, 2011.

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Anne Holly is a Canadian writer of romance and erotic-romance, as well as a mother and teacher. She is the author of the novel Strings Attached, which was described by The Romance Reviews as “a classic contemporary romance.” She has been published by Wild Horse Press, Decadent Publishing and Rebel Ink Press, and in 2012 by Pink Petal Books. Anne’s work is characterized by its unusual heroes, sweet/spicy balance, witty dialogue, responsible citizenship, and its positive, optimistic nature. She has found a particular niche in holiday romance. You may visit Anne at her blog or website, or find her on GoodReads, Facebook and Twitter  (@anneholly2010). Sign up for her newsletter here. Email her at anneholly2010@gmail.com.

Doing the Promo Rounds

Good heavens, folks - never write more holiday books than you handle marketing. Trust me on this! I'm just about dead trying to sell these things. Unwrapping Scrooge hit a good level of sales after the ARe mention, but the others still never took off. I guess my plans of focusing on the cheapest in the hopes of rising the other boats was ineffective. Oh well, live and learn - there's always next year.

If you want to check out all the millions of guest spots I've been doing, look here. A couple of those giveaways are still ongoing, so enter for a chance to win at WC and 30 Days of Decadence. I'll be at LASR and RomFan Reviews for giveaways next week.

So, the Christmas books are rolling to an end, and soon we'll be hailing the New Year, so now I better move on to the New Years book, Bubbly - why I did this to myself, I do not know!

However, it has been wonderful meeting all the new people I've been getting to know through all this promo, so - sales or no sales - no regrets. It's true - there is always next year, which is right around the corner!

Happy holidays!

PS - Like Magic and Charity are up for Best Cover and Best First Chapter for Nov on D. Bagby Presents, so if you care to, please check out the entries and vote! (The Halloween book also recently got a very nice review I'm very proud of, which you can find here, if you wish.)

Guest Blogging...

I'm over at Rebel Reasoning today, 

talking about my new release Bubbly!

Come join me.

Release Party at TRS!

The Rebel Ink writers are over at TRS all day today celebrating our various releases and looking forward to future ones. There will be excerpts, posts and giveaways in all sorts of genres. I will be celebrating my newest, Bubbly, as well as my Christmas erotic-romance Good for the Goose.

Please come visit!

New Release: Bubbly, a Romance for New Years

On December 3, the fifth and final installment of my holiday sensual/erotic contemporary romance series is released from Rebel Ink Press - Bubbly!

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-edged 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?

Here's a little taste:

There was definitely a hand on Beth Alexander’s ass.

She once believed there would come a time when she’d be successful enough, rich enough in her own right, boss enough, that men would stop doing things like that. But now she accepted that she was wrong. The only “enough” that would stop men pawing whatever they liked on you was probably “elderly enough,” but even then who knew what kind of horseplay they were up to in the retirement homes?

Beth didn’t concern herself with subtlety as she moved her sequined rear end well away from Sheffield’s tentacles. She didn’t have to move very far, since Mrs. Sheffield was standing right beside him, the dirty old bastard.

Another lesson Beth had learned: men never get tired of snagging a little pussy on the side. What she wouldn’t give to know there was one decent man left in the world. But she knew for sure that such a man wouldn’t be found in this crowd.

Feeling filthy and more than a little depressed, she pasted on the pretend smile she learned so well as her father’s little princess in the public eye and moved away from the cluster. Jeanne clucked something about her looking pale, but she shrugged off the concern.

“Just a little headache.”

She wanted these people out of her house, immediately. They grated on her more than usual. But being a good hostess had been bred into her, first by her elegant Swiss mother and then after her death by her demanding and powerful father. Being the daughter of one of the most influential and wealthy theater moguls since the 1930’s was like being a First Lady. Beth had been playing hostess at expensive gatherings since she was fourteen; dressing (and drinking) the part of a much older woman.

Now approaching thirty, she was her own hostess, ordering about a domestic staff and imported catering cadre with the help of her personal assistant, Suze, and making sure everyone talked about her New Year’s Eve bash for the next month. Inside she longed to spend New Years with just one special person, even though she knew fate had other things in store for her.

When does one become rich and famous enough to stop the networking grind? If her father was any example, never. He ran himself dry living up to the image, despite his immense income. For people in the world of entertainment finance, like in her own world of designer clothing, image was everything. You were nothing if you weren’t wining and dining your friends, allies, customers and even your enemies.

At seventeen, the tall, lanky, wayward Beth made her most shaming error, right in front of a slavering press corps who loved gathering photo evidence of the downfall of America’s decadent and well-heeled. For a year, her elopement with fading pop star Neal Bishop was the talk of New York and the whole country. The snobby little bitch daughter of some filthy-rich pig had thrown away her fledgling modeling career and the potential she had as a young singer on too much coke and booze. To top it off, she ran away with a flavor of the month one-hit-wonder rock star on the skids.

Well, they were right about the booze, and about Neal being a flash in the pan, but they were wrong about the coke. Even as a wild teen she shied away from it, recalling how her own mother had been hospitalized with burned out sinus cavities. She faked it, in order to be polite and fit in. Yet the photos of her pretending to snort it all up off shiny gold mirrors would likely never go away from the public memory.

After her disastrous five year marriage, as her trust fund dwindled away, she dragged herself out of Neal’s pit and his shadow. Now, Beth was the one with an income, and he was here as her ex-husband groveling for contacts to strengthen his new recording company.

It was some sort of sickness, this hostess-gentility that forced her to invite him every year. She loathed the sight of him, drinking her champagne, with his arm around yet another pretty, thin, young thing that could’ve been her twelve years ago. He’d aged, but his dates hadn’t.

“Lady, if looks could kill,” Beth heard a male voice remark.

She whipped her head around to look at the man standing behind the bar. He seemed to be in his mid-thirties, tall, dark, handsome, but not pampered. She almost felt like dressing him down for talking to her like that, but there was something about him that rejected the social ranking. Perhaps it was the devilish glint of good humor in his steel-gray eyes, or the up-curled corner of his mouth that suggested he sympathized with her glaring derision of all the beautiful people surrounding them. Whatever it was, she merely turned her face downward and pressed her manicured fingers to her brow. The headache she faked earlier now manifested itself, and she was embarrassed at having been caught shooting daggers at her ex-so-called-husband.

“That bad, huh?” he asked, his voice a bit more gentle than before, as if he saw the tears around her edges before she did. He reached for a bottle of wine from the ice bucket, but she stopped him.

“None for me,” she said sharply, hating and loving the look of the chilled sparkling white. When he raised an eyebrow slightly, she clucked her tongue bitterly and snapped, “Don’t tell me you’re the only man left in the world who doesn’t know I’m a recovering lush?”

“We’re all recovering from something,” he said, unconcerned with her quiet yet venomous outburst, and poured a glass of ginger ale. “Here.” Magically, he also produced a bottle of ibuprofen.

“Bless you,” she sighed, taking the bottle of pills gratefully.

“Go easy on those,” he cautioned, watching her take three with her soda. “Nothing’s as bad as all that.”

“Oh, don’t tell me. You want to snag a role on TV as an understanding barkeep, so you got a job with a catering company so you can audition the role at producers’ parties?”

He chuckled and shook his head as if to say, “Like I care what any of these jerk-offs think of me.”

“You’re not an actor?” she asked incredulously. He wasn’t pretty, but he was very appealing and Beth could picture him doing well for the cameras.

“Nope,” he said. “I tend bar. The ‘understanding’ bit is just an added bonus. A trick of the trade, perhaps.”

Beth said nothing, and scanned the crowd. It wouldn’t do for any of the entourage clingers to snap a picture of her standing too long at the open bar with their phone. Pictures of celebrities falling off their various wagons always went for prime prices these days.

“No one’s watching,” he tempted her. “I think you could sneak off.”

“What?” Her eyes widened, and she realized how wonderful that sounded. “It’s my party.”

“It’s your party and you can hide if you want to?” he joked.

She didn’t respond right away. She watched the tiny columns of golden bubbles fight their way to the surface of her soft drink. He made it sound so easy. Was it that easy for people who weren’t raised to be elite in some old-fashioned, capitalist sense?

“I won’t tell,” he said with a smile and snagged his little white apron off. “Join me for a break outside?”

(Excerpt from the pre-finalized draft.)

SALES LINKS! Starting to go live, and updated as the official release is complete...

• All Romance Ebooks
• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• BookStrand
• Coffee Time Romance

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If you'd like a chance to win an ARC PDF of Bubbly, leave a comment between now and midnight (and your email), and tell me about your New Years Eve plans/memories! 
(Winner will be contacted by 8am EST tomorrow.)


PLUS! Sign up for my newsletter and find another chance to win a different book (my Thanksgiving romance, Charity) gifted via Amazon KINDLE in this month's issue - coming out today!

New Cover: Bubbly

I just wanted to show off the brand new cover for my fifth and final holiday story with Rebel Ink, Bubbly, an erotic short romance for New Years.

I adore this cover. The book is all glitzy glam, and the seedier sides to having it all, so this cover basically sums it up. The Rebel Ink Press art department, particularly Carl J. Franklin and our editor E, have been lovely - responsive to my input and great at getting to the heart of the books. Like Magic is still my favourite cover of the series, I think, but this one is a close second.

Watch for the next installment of holiday erotica from Anne Holly:

Bubbly, an erotic romance for New Years

Coming from Rebel Ink Press, December 3, 2011

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-around-the-edges 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?

Five special holidays; five hot stories of mismatched lovers from author Anne Holly and Rebel Ink Press.

Feedback Needed: Him for the Holidays?

As my series for Rebel Ink Press starts to wind down, with three released and two more waiting in the wings, it's time to start thinking of them as a series, including promoting them as a group and coming up with a title for the paperback release in 2012. *squee*

This "series" isn't a series in the traditional sense - they don't have the same characters or the same setting. In some cases, their styles and subgenres are even different, though they are all short erotic-romances (or romantic-erotica). One is semi-paranormal, one is comedy, one is cowboy, a couple have May/December themes, and one is glam.

What connects them is that they all take place around a holiday, and all of them have mismatched couples, combining types of people who normally wouldn't have found each other - a cowboy and a city slicker, a jock and a virginal musician, a prof and a grad student, a bartender and a socialite, and a yuppie and a hippie-witch. All of them have heroes that I adore.

In thinking about titles, one of my rough attempts has kind of grown on me, which emphasizes the lovable heroes and the gift of finding love:

Him for the Holidays

So... What do you think? Catchy? Trite? Overdone? Predictable? Cute? Annoying?

I'm totally open to hearing your reactions, criticism, or other suggestions. I'd like to settle on one quite soon so I can start thinking of them as a group.

Thanks in advance!
AH

The NEW WIP: Dark Paranormal Heat

On Sept 15, after a little break from fresh writing to edit and submit the New Years Eve story, Bubbly, I started my new work - a paranormal/shifter sensual-romance. So far so good, though this is brand new territory for me. It's a lot darker than my usual work, which was exactly the plan. I kind of want to delve into untapped corners of my imagination. A few hints - it's not a werewolf, and it's not a he-shifter. :)

Untitled Dark-Paranormal Erotica/Sensual Novella
An ex-boxer finds more than he bargains for on all fronts when he gets in to bed with the mob - and a mysterious exotic dancer who refuses to let him get too close.
This will be a novella at 20,000 words.
Finish goal: October 15, 2011.

The finish goal for the rough draft is early October, and I've very tentatively entitled the working draft Topaz. I have two publishers in mind for submission when it's done and edited, but this isn't contracted to anyone, yet. I hope it turns out well, and you all enjoy it.

(I may be seeking shifter/dark-erotica/paranormal expert writers/readers who are willing to betaread it for me in a few weeks, around Oct 1st-ish, to make sure I'm hitting the mark.)

You can find more info on my recent, current and upcoming projects on my WIP list, here.
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PS - Not saying anything for sure, but how do we all feel about 1st person?

PPS - Here's an interview I did that was posted yesterday, if you care to see it, and also a little one posted today.

Yessssss!

Tonight, I finished the rough draft of my New Years Eve story for Rebel Ink! I really hit this story hard this week, to finish it by the end of summer before I return to my teaching duties. I was under the misapprehension that my obligation was to submit it before Sept 15. Turns out, I had it wrong, and it's not due until Oct 15! Oh well, nothing wrong with a month early, I guess, and at least it's done in draft. Now, I'll have time to mull it over at leisure.

And, after I've smoothed this one down enough to send to a few readers, I can move on to the next story, between bouts of editing for RIP as we prepare the Halloween story (Like Magic), Thanksgiving story (Charity, for which I have seen some rough cover mock-ups already - YAY!) and this final one, Bubbly, for production.

I can't believe what a wild flurry of work it's been. But, there's no rest for the wicked (or, at least, very little), so I'm on to the next one starting Sept 16 (if I can resist the writing bug that long).

Have a great weekend, folks!

Summer Wrap-Up: Updates/Forecast on the WIPs

It's been a productive summer, spent editing and writing.

The first month or so was spent re-writing my NaNo 2011 novel, Textbook Romance, with the help of five wonderful betareaders. Then, I spent some time re-editing Unwrapping Scrooge for a Christmas print anthology. Goose and V-Day were re-vamped and released by Rebel Ink.

I did  flurry of new writing in August. The Halloween short, Like Magic, was written, read by a couple sweet people, and submitted to RIP for my holiday shorts series. It's with the editors now. I also managed to finish the Thanksgiving installment, and got it in only a day late. (They were nice to me about that.) The Thanksgiving one, Charity, is a nice, sexy cowboy one; I hope you'll all like it. It started out with another plot, but I had to shelf that beginning and start over with something lighter and more doable in under 15k.

Now, I've outlined and started the New Years one (Bubbly) - this one is a whole lot hotter than the other episodes. It's about a divorced socialite and successful designer who ducks her own New Years party to give life and love another whirl with "the hired help." Just right for a sparkly, fantastic New Years Eve romp!


Textbook Romance is now off to two companies, and I'm submitting it to a third in mid-September or so (staggered according to their response times). I keep revamping the sub letters/synopsis as I go, and tweaking the manuscript. My fingers remain ever-crossed. As always, I'll keep you updated.

The past couple of days have been spent blogging like mad to keep up with all the guest posts and interviews I promised to do over the summer. It doesn't seem like much work when you say yes at the time, but if you let them pile up... Oy!

So, what's next? After Bubbly is submitted for editing at RIP (aiming for September 15, if possible), I'm on to my planned paranormal/shifter dark erotica short/novella, which doesn't have a name yet (though I do have a publisher in mind!). Then, I'll finish the romantic-fantasy novella I started writing back in June but had to put away for other obligations. That one involves an "angel" figure, and has been named After Life. (I have a publisher in mind for that one, as well.) So, that all will likely take me up to nearly-NaNo time! After NaNo, I have plenty more planned - just today, I added a Mountie romance! But, for now, let's just say I'll be busy for a while.

It's insane how fast the year is flying by. This year, so far I've celebrated the release of three books (two of them twice), and am looking forward to at least four more. I got some very nice reviews. I've sold a few, promoted some, and generally kept busy. I am very much looking forward to having more contracts, new covers and releases to share with you throughout the end of 2011 and well into 2012.

If you want to see my complete WIP list, you can find it here.

And, that's a little update on where things are. I'll be in touch as things develop, I'm sure. :)