coming soon Archives - Page 13 of 16 - Maggie Wells-Margaret Ethridge

March 2, 2015

Monday Mayhem – Submissive me

I’m kicking a couple out of the nest!

Once again, ladies and germs, I am on submission. Gird your loins.

I emailed the manuscript for Bossy Pants (sequel to Three Little Words) to my editor just minutes ago. Now, I have to polish my proposal package for Full Court Press and send it out (on request!) this week as well.

Sending fresh manuscripts out into the world is always nerve-racking. What’s an author to do while she waits? Well, there’s usually a little binge snacking, a lot of hand-wringing, multiple neurotic emails to the critique partner, and then I move on to the final solution…start something new.

Last week, I pitched a few ideas your way and you were kind enough to give me your feedback. Book one in the Hooligans series will be the next full-length manuscript I write, and I am super-excited to tackle Rory and Mary Pat’s story.

But first, I have a couple of chances to pitch/propose other works if I can pull together outlines before the deadlines. So yeah, I’m going to be scrambling for the next couple of weeks. But there are worse problems than too many opportunities, right?

How about you? Do you have multiple projects going in your life? How do you decide which ones get attention first?

February 23, 2015

Monday Mayhem – Catching up

So, yeah… I made it back from Vegas! Came home to ice and ick, but I got to sleep in my own bed. Had a fabulous time with my girls. It’s only been a few days, but I’m already jonesing for next year.

I learned a new skill this week. Don’t think it’s one I’ll be using a lot, but I did learn to make banners using Pixlr Express. I used Spring Chickens and a silly pun for my practice run:

Since last we chatted, I finished the draft on Bossy Pants and sent it off to Jewels for her to work over. Got back to work on finishing the first draft on Full Court Press this week and guess what? I did it! I’ve been working on this story on and off for the past 10 months. There’s still a lot of buffing and polishing to be done, but I’m looking forward to working on something fresh and new.

Here are a few of my options. What do you think I should take on next?

1) Play Dates – On an outing at the park with her niece, our heroine, Monica, meets a sexy single dad. The only trouble is, he doesn’t know the precocious little girl who calls her ‘Monnie’ isn’t hers, and Monica doesn’t know how to break it to him.

2) Executive Privilege – A widow uses her late husband’s Senate seat as a springboard for her Presidential campaign. The only trouble is she’s in love with her husband’s former chief of staff and best friend. Friends turn to lovers on the campaign trail but the press is hot on their tail.

3) Dirty Blonde -She’s the scandalous small town hairdresser – dresses in Daisy Dukes, cowgirl boots, and knows unbuttoning the third button down ups her tips nearly 20%. He’s a former Army engineer & wounded warrior. Scarred inside and out, he’s happy to be home, she’s dying to get out. They should never have fallen in love.

4) Something Stupid – An aspiring actress nearly loses the role of a lifetime when she makes the mistake of confessing her feelings for her best friend’s brother – Hollywood’s hottest young filmmaker.

5) Hooligans – The first in a series of stories about three generations of single men who run a neighborhood pub in Chicago. There’s nothing Rory Houlihan wants more than to get married and have a family and his meddling grandmother thinks the girl next door, Mary Pat Brady, would make an excellent candidate. As a matter of fact, it just might be her dying wish.

What say you? Do any of these trip your trigger?

February 9, 2015

Monday Mayhem – Steamy stuff ahead!

Warning: I’m sharing an excerpt from my pal Jenna Barton’s upcoming release Closer and Closer today. It’s hot, so if you are of delicate sensibilities, clutch your pearls and look away.

As for the rest of you…enjoy!

Excerpt: Tiramisu

“We’re doing this too fast,” he said against the base of my throat, tugging at my robe. I swallowed hard, whining when his mouth closed over the skin beneath my ear. That would bloom purple and plum. It was May. I lived in the South.

Instead of heeding those very sensible thoughts, I hailed him on, twisting my hips against his. “A turtleneck or scarf, maybe—”

He broke away, panting, his eyes level with mine. “What’re you…scarf?”

“I’ll wear one.” Threading my fingers through his hair, I pulled his lips to mine. “I’ll wear one around my neck, so just don’t stop that biting.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” he said, grinning as he tilted his head away from mine. He chuckled softly when I trailed after him. “That’s my job.”

“Oh yes, sir.” I added a mock salute before I realized what I’d said. It caught between us, a quick drumbeat underlining this thing that kept us circling each other, so fast we kept reminding each other of it, and so delirious from it we couldn’t be responsible, risk-managing adults and step back to avoid it.

I shook a little. My teeth vibrated against my lips, pressed together tight so I wouldn’t say it again. I’d dropped this thing between us into the open while we were too close for any more rational discussion, and not entirely sure we’d remembered to close my front door. And I could see it in his eyes. He was deciding.

“You ready for that spanking?” His breath fell in short, soft bursts against my cheek.

I forced myself to look past his shoulder, promising myself it was the last logical decision I’d make for the rest of the night, and checked the front door. Closed. Locked. As my eyes inched back to his, the wire-swung, slow motion feeling greeted me, and dangled me before him. I took a shallow, silent breath, and nodded, watching his mouth for my next direction.

“Yes…I am.”

Dominance and submission. The delicate balance between hurts so good and too hot to handle. They’re not just kinky trends for the members of The Enclave, a tight-knit group gathering in a Gilded Age mansion secluded in the North Carolina mountains.

Come Closer…

For Erin Proctor, life has always been about working hard, creating stability, and succeeding. She plays it safe, watching from a distance. Then she encounters an unpredictable, sensual world she’s always known was there, but didn’t believe she could belong to.

Walt Easton is straightforward and unpretentious, a big, earthy man in possession of himself—and a fierce set of solid leather floggers. Once he and Erin meet, their attraction is undeniable. Walt wants a full relationship, not just fun in the playroom. Their kinky adventures can be negotiated later.

They’ve finally found a relationship that can let them explore who they fully are. But can Walt accept that while he’s in charge in their private lives, when it comes to her job, Erin is the one in charge? Will Erin take the risk of letting down her walls and allowing Walt in all the way?

The biggest risk, after all, isn’t mixing pain and pleasure. It’s finding yourself—in love.

The first book of The Enclave Series will bring you Closer to your desire.

Preorder HERE

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24324729-closer-and-closer?from_search=true

Author: Jenna Barton

Title: Closer and Closer

Genre: BDSM Erotic Romance

ISBN: 978-1-623420-70-3

Release Date: February 10th, 2015

Available in Ebook and Paperback

Twitter: @WriteyJennaB

Author Bio:

After many years spent onstage mouthing the words of other writers, Jenna Barton found her own voice while playing with an online community of mouthy broads. Writing down her own stories proved to be far more satisfying than dodging the human and inanimate hazards that come with backstage life, as well as alleviating the need to walk and talk and gesture while inhabiting.

Mostly settled into a life of carpool lanes and checkout lines, Jenna happily resides in suburbia with her husband and their two children. Sadly there are no drooly, furry, corpulent lapdogs at Chez Barton. For now. For. Now.

January 12, 2015

Monday Mayhem – Mmmmkay?

Hiya gang!

How’s it going? I’ve been completely…lazy. Okay, maybe not completely. I did have a release last week – Yay! Spring Chickens!

Also available in paperback for those of you who wish to bump the old cover off the shelf, though I imagine I may be giving away a signed copy or two once I get mine.

In other news: I added about 4k to Bossy Pants on revision. For those of you who don’t know, Bossy Pants is the follow up to Three Little Words

It features Greg’s best friend and perennial bachelor, Will Tarrant. Will is a bad boy who may be just a tad misunderstood. He also looks a suspiciously like Dermot Mulroney.

Funny how that happens.

I am also getting the rights to Seducing Steve back and will be preparing to revise and re-release it as an self-published title. 🙂

And did you know that every Sunday I post 8 sentences from one of my works on my blog? It’s part of the Weekend Writing Warriors challenge and it’s a lot of fun!

In other news:

Had a hot writing date with the fabulous Parker Kincaid on Saturday, and got the scoop on what’s been happening with her Shadow Maverick Ranch cowboys – all I can say is it sounds yummy!
Received print copies of novella bundles submitted for RITA award consideration. The Last First Date in print and with the Harlequin logo on the cover. I might have geeked out just a little.
I’ve started my tenures as President of the Diamond State Romance Authors and Vice President of Passionate Ink RWA, so I will soon be a Google Hangouts master.
The not-so-new-anymore day job continues to be a vast improvement in terms of mental/physical health as well as general happiness.
Took Fodder to pick out his first-ever pair of prescription eyeglasses. Don’t be surprised if you start seeing some hot professor types popping up in my work.

Other than that, I’ve been spending a lot of time on Netflix, but I’ll save that for Fangirl Friday. I’ve also started a book I’ve been waiting for, but that falls under Whatcha Reading Wednesday, so I’ll just ask…What have you been up to?

May 20, 2014

Harlequin-E Contemporary Boxed Set (Volume 2) GIVEAWAY!

We are less than 2 weeks away from the release of the Harlequin-E Contemporary Boxed Set (Volume 2) and we’re giving it away! This fabulous four book set will be available June 2, 2014 and we can’t wait!

This set includes my story, The Last First Date – whoo hoo!

Go here to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway.

Be sure to add the boxed set to your Want To Read shelf on Goodreads.

The boxed set is available for pre-order now at Harlequin, Amazon, B&N, & Kobo!

April 11, 2014

Cover reveal!

You know, you can consider your day = made when something this pretty lands in your inbox.

Here’s the cover for my upcoming Harlequin-E Contemporary release,

The Last First Date!

The Last First Date will be included in the June Contemporary Romance boxed set along with stories from: Rebecca Avery ~ Nicole Helm ~ Kristina Knight

It will also release as a single title in September 2014!

May 15, 2013

Smokin’ Hot!

I’m at the Smokin’ Hot Firemen blog today for a little howdy-do.

Stop by and say hello, but remember, they think I’m just Maggie who writes funny little stories of women dropping their towels when firemen bust down their door.

Don’t blow my cover.

Speaking of covers…Yum!

May 6, 2013

Cover reveal!

I’m home from RT13 and I have so much to share!

First, MR. MAYHEM (Book 5 – Hot Nights in St. Blaise) is released!

If you haven’t had a taste of the delicious Dr. Marc Mayhew, be sure to check out my Weekend Writing Warrior posts. The man is made of yum!

And if that wasn’t exciting enough, I got the cover art for June! Check out the gorgeousness that is BUSTIN’ OUT ALL OVER!

Terri Ecklund wishes she’d never agreed to be Miss June. As billing manager for SBRMC, she could appreciate that the damn thing had raised a healthy amount of money to fund hospital improvements, but it also cost her big. She could deal with the sly snickers, crude jokes about her ‘assets’, and the perfect strangers whistling ‘June is Busting Out All Over’, but her boyfriend couldn’t.

When the pro-fisherman she hooked long ago cuts bait and takes the contents of their joint bank account with him, Terri scrambles to patch the pieces of her life back together but not before tearing a strip off the smarty-pants internet genius who set the The Men and Women of St. Blaise Regional Medical Center up to go viral.

Internet millionaire and St. Blaise native Quent Halliday nearly swallowed his tongue when Terri Ecklund, St. Blaise, Missouri’s god-given rebuttal to Pamela Anderson’s plastic surgeon, stormed into his St. Louis office spitting nails over the loss of her almost-fiancé.

Drawn to the sparks flying from her eyes and the lure of her bountiful curves, clever Quent knows the opportunity of a lifetime when he sees it. Without hesitation he drops everything to chase after the girl of his fantasies, and when he catches her, they’re both shocked to discover he may just be the man of her dreams.

Whooooo hoo! I can’t wait to share it with y’all!

April 27, 2013

Cover reveal!

We have our cover for Love Letters Volume 3: Wicked Whispers! Wanna see?

Tasty, huh?

Here’s the scoop on this sizzling hot volume:

Verbal foreplay goes a long way in these four steamy stories in Love Letters Volume 3: Wicked Whispers.

I Is for Indecent by Christina Thacher
Annie Forrest doesn’t think flirtatious Stefan Cox is seriously interested in her—until he starts describing what it will be like when they strip away their inhibitions and their clothes. But do they have anything in common besides their gift for dirty talk?

J Is for Jaded by Maggie Wells
Voice actress Julie Poplin secretly thinks about rocker-turned-sound-engineer Vaughan Hatch when she needs to make passion leap from the page while narrating a steamy audio book. But their recording session takes a seductive turn when she accidentally speaks Vaughan’s name instead of the hero’s…

K Is for Kick-Start by Ginny Glass
Author Sophie Maddox has a bad case of writer’s block and a distractingly handsome editor clamoring for her newest sexy romance. She’s tempted by Oliver’s offer to use his place to write—and even more tempted to act out scenes when a typo reveals she’s been using him as inspiration.

L Is for Lessons by Emily Cale
When Chloe turns to her friend Bethany for help earning some extra cash, she’s shocked to discover that Bethany is a phone sex operator…and is intrigued by her offer to teach Chloe the ropes. But neither of them is prepared for the unexpected desire their lesson unleashes.

Love Letters Volume 3: Wicked Whispers will release June 17, 2013, but you can pre-order it today!

Friday Flashers – Guest Flasher!

Evelyn Jules is here to show off her bits!

Hi everyone! My best pal, Maggie, was so kind to have me here today. I might have a slight in because I’m her Clodhopper supplier, but she totally liked me before she knew the chocolate-covered graham cracker clusters existed. I think. 😉 Anyway, I’d like to take a minute and flash you. Not that kind of flashing, you dirty birdies. I just finished writing my first ever cowboy story called Chasing Destiny, and I’d like to share an excerpt with you. Ready for it? Giddy up!

~~~~

He shook his head. “I guess you’ve lost your sense of adventure.”

Indignation lit her up like a firecracker. “I have not.” She wanted to slap the no-good know-it-all, but her mind and body weren’t known for their communication skills. So she kissed him. A firm, possessive kiss that caught them both by surprise. Her lips burned from the stubble that grazed his upper lip. Her eyes were open wide, not from fear but adrenaline.

“How’s that for adventurous?” she panted.

“That’s a good start,” he growled, gathering her in for another lip lock. This time he took the reins. His arms banded her to him. His lips lingered against hers, and when she gave him the barest opening, his tongue swept into her mouth. She shuddered from the impact of the kiss but he held strong, proving to her beyond a shadow of a doubt that the reward was greater than the risk. Being in this man’s arms for a moment was better than a lifetime of unfulfilled dreams.

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks again for hosting me, Maggie! 🙂