Once again I have a few things on my mind, LOL.

Last week when I discussed Shades of Grey, I think my point was unclear – I was mostly frustrated with the fact that people and even friends who won’t read my romance novels will read this one because all of a sudden it’s “in” and “oh so good.” I’m not saying that book is or isn’t good. I haven’t read it. I am saying the general world’s opinion of romance is annoying as is the following along with the masses instead of reading what feels good for you only. OK last week’s rant OVER!

Back pain – still hurts but I’m up and around this week. I just hate that when I take meds I can’t work because of being groggy and if I’m in pain I can’t work because … well I’m in pain. Vicious cycle.

Dog problems – Brady has turned one – and I think Bailey feels threatened. Some snapping (but deliberately not biting) going on. Have a call into the trainer.

I can’t wait for you all to read KARMA (Dare’s story) in May – and not just because I want you to read the story (I DO!) – but because then I can tell you whose stories are next and it’ll make sense to you!!!!

Valentine’s Day is next week. Despite being a Romance writer, we don’t make a big deal of it in my house – which is honestly fine with me. The fun part for me is that I’m the annual guest blogger at Fresh Fiction, so I’ll be sure to let you know the link and the giveaway I’m running there that day!

And finally, I have a new obsession – PINTEREST – I LOVE making poster boards online, pinning my favorite things, and now up next I’m putting together boards of my books and character profiles there! Here’s where you can find me: Carly’s Pinterest . I hope you’ll check it out even if you discover it’s just not for you.

Oh! And have you read Serendipity, Destiny, and Kismet yet? If not what are you waiting for?

So plenty to discuss!!

Let me start by saying I’m laid up with a bad back – in excruciating pain – and in bed for days now. So this is going to be very short. Here we go – people who are close to me, who don’t read my books (not my rant, they’re entitled to their book of choice even if it’s always the “in” book that people are talking about.) Which brings me to my real rant. Everyone around me is asking, “Have you read Fifty Shades of Grey? OMG you HAVE to read it.” Yes, same people who sit at a table with me and ask, “anyone have a good book for me to read?”

Let me ask you? Is this erotica book suddenly OK to read because it’s IN? Whereas my “trashy” romance novels aren’t worth their time?
That’s my rant. Have at it, people. And if you have read said book, is it Romance the way WE here in the jungle think of Romance? Happily ever after Romance?

The winner of the $25.00 Amazon gift card (name picked at random by anonymous family member!) is:

Daniela C. (Comment #129)

CONGRATULATIONS!! Please email me the address at which you’d like me to send you the gift card at: carly phillips @ mac . com (no spaces) and I’ll get it to you ASAP!

SUNDAY FUNNY

Grandma’s birth control

The doctor that had been seeing an 80-year-old woman for most of her life
finally retired. At her next checkup, the new doctor told her to bring a
list of all the medicines that had been prescribed for her.
… As the young doctor was looking through these, his eyes grew wide as he
realized she had a prescription for birth control pills.
“Mrs. Smith, do you realize these are BIRTH CONTROL pills?
“Yes, they help me sleep at night.”
“Mrs. Smith, I assure you there is absolutely NOTHING in these that could
possibly help you sleep!”
She reached out and patted the young Doctor’s knee.
“Yes, dear, I know that. But every morning, I grind one up and mix it in
the glass of orange juice that my 16 year old granddaughter drinks…….
And believe me, it helps me sleep at night. .”

You gotta LOVE Grandmas!!!

Hopefully by now I’ve finished my top secret RITA entries and can move on to the books I’ve downloaded on my Kindle. Honestly I’m not sure what they are since I haven’t allowed myself to turn it on for fear of temptation. LOL. So you guys need to tell me on this Reading Saturday – WHAT’CHA READING these days?

We all want extra money to buy books, right? So here you go: a chance to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card!

You know the drill and in case you don’t – post a comment for a chance to win and check back on Sunday to see if you got lucky!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRADY MAN! Last Saturday, January 21, Brady turned one year old. He’s a great dog and I adore him. He’ll never take Buddy’s place but that’s not his job. His job is to be his goofy, loveable self and to LOVE me. Which he does. Just like I love him!

GO PATS! For those who don’t know, I’ve been Tweeting during football playoff games and have come to really enjoy watching the games (so to speak) with my Twitter friends. I’m irreverent and some say funny and no matter if you’re a Giants fan (COUGH!) we’ll have fun on Superbowl Sunday so FOLLOW ME!

CAFFEINE WITHDRAWAL Beginning this past Sunday I stopped drinking Diet Coke, which I was doing in restaurants, occasionally at home, and at friends’ houses. It’s been like being a narcoleptic. All I want to do is sleep. I’m hoping that passes soon. But it as the articles about diet soda contributing to weight gain that got me. I’m also reducing my sugar intake. Easier said than done, especially since if I’m not drinking diet coke, then I shouldn’t drink/consume artificial sweeteners for the same reasons. But I am trying!

EXERCISE – YES I AM! 30 minutes on the treadmill a minimum of three days a week, trying for more. If I can do it, anyone can. Nobody hates exercise like me. Nobody hates to sweat like me. Nobody hates boredom like me. My goal is NOT weight loss. Yes I’d love that to be a side result (so far its not happening) but I’m doing it for one reason – GET THAT BLOOD FLOWING IN MY BODY. I had a wakeup call when a chiropractor said to me, get your blood flowing and it’ll help everything that hurts. And I thought of my dad and his problems, I thought of my genetics, and I said, I MUST DO THIS or else. And I am. When you don’t have a goal that you aren’t obtaining (like weight loss) it’s a huge help – I do it, keep reminding myself why when I want to quit, and feel proud after that yes I accomplished my goal. First time in my entire life.

THE HEARTBREAKER – Ever since THE BACHELOR went on sale for $1.99 eBook, people have been downloading/rereading the series. And they’re looking for THE HEARTBREAKER in eBook form. NOOK readers have had no problem but KINDLE readers couldn’t find the third in the series. Well guess what? THE HEARTBREAKER is available for Kindle now! The last two books, THE PLAYBOY and THE HEARTBREAKER are full publisher price, but THE BACHELOR is still $1.99!! Here is my CHANDLER BROTHER book page – click on each book individually for the separate links for each book’s eBook!

ADVANCED APOLOGY – Ever since our Blackout Week (due to hackers) we’ve all promised to make a greater effort to post during the day here in comments, even if we’re busy. It’s been hard this week with my daughter’s midterm schedule, doctors in between, I started physical therapy on my upper neck/back, and life in general. And today I’m leaving for a few days, so you may not hear from me till tonight or tomorrow. I haven’t forgotten you and I’ll be around as soon as I’m able!

So I’ve left you with plenty of topics to grab onto and discuss until I get back. Pick one!

NO THEY DO NOT STAY THE SAME.

Soaps.

I’m sad. I’ve lost All My Children and One Life to Live and General Hospital is potentially on the chopping block. Suddenly my afternoons are empty from 1 PM – 3 PM EST and I’m afraid it will get worse. My evenings without them on Soap Net are empty. I feel adrift. And if any of you think I’m exaggerating, I’m not. Somehow these shows defined my life, my writing, my days.

I know you’re all expecting a long post since this is our first week back, but I don’t have it in me. What I would like are suggestions on what to watch, DVR, rent or put on the TV during that blank time during the day. I write to noise. Not music, that doesn’t work. I’m so desperate yesterday after Khloe and Lamar I watched an E! special on Snoop Dog’s life.

HELP!

We are SO sorry for not being here with you for the last week! The Plotmonkeys site was hacked along with many others and it took awhile to find a solution … but we’re HERE and we’re STAYING! So please spread the word that we are back live! And to celebrate we are having a HUGE GIVEAWAY … 4 WINNERS … FOUR (4) SEPARATE $25 AMAZON GIFT CARDS!

WE DON’T KID AROUND! WE ARE CELEBRATING!!!!!
LEAVE A MESSAGE/POST BELOW FOR A CHANCE TO WIN!
SPREAD THE WORD – TELL YOUR FRIENDS!!!!!

THE REALITY OF ROMANCE

When I mentioned to a reader I was working on the second book in the Six Rack Ranch series, she was very excited, until she learned that the heroine was a widow with three little boys.

“Kids in a romance? A hot romance? That’s not possible.”

O_o

Really?

Movie stars get warned to never work with children or animals, because they tend to steal the show. I was told having kids in a romance would ruin the story, or at the least, ruin the mood.

Fine. Great. That works for all those single men and women who I can write about meeting and falling in love, but it’s not reality. Single parents need love. Heck, married people still need romance and love. All the people warning me away from writing a book with children involved—do they think romance disappears the instant a woman breeds? That there isn’t love after childbirth?

Bull-hockie.

So I stuck to my guns and wrote about Beth, a young widow recovering from the car accident that took the life of her first husband. She’s got three boys under the age of eight and she’s carrying a lot of baggage. Things that the hero, Daniel, is more than willing to help her through. They meet, they meet again, and suddenly I got a taste of where writing romance with children gets difficult.

Yes, it’s much easier to write a single woman arranging a tryst than a thirty year old trying to find a time and place to get together with someone she’s interested in. Beth has not only her agenda, but her sons to worry about—their wellbeing and their happiness. It’s not only a couple looking for a happily-ever-after, but a family.

That’s the reality of life. It’s not always easy, but men and women do it every day—they do what’s necessary for their families, they sacrifice for their children, and they try their best to find happiness in the midst of the work.

In the end, I’m very pleased with how Beth and Daniel come together. And those three little boys were very much a part of the entire adventure—and that’s real.

I hope you enjoy Rocky Mountain Haven, their story.

~~**~~

If you’d like to try a taste of the Six Pack Ranch, I have an ebook copy of winner’s choice—either book one in the series, Rocky Mountain Heat, or an ARC of book 3 that will be releasing March 13, Rocky Mountain Desire. Leave a comment to be entered: What’s a favorite romantic moment/gift/touch you love? To me, candlelight=romance in a big way.

~~**~~

Rocky Mountain Haven
Six Pack Ranch, Book 2
It’s the quiet ones that take you by surprise.
Beth Danube’s emotionally abusive husband is dead and buried. So is her heart. It’s no big deal, she has all she wants: her three little boys and a fresh start in a small Alberta town. What she doesn’t want is another man in her life—not now, maybe not ever.
After ten years of unsatisfactory, missionary-position sex, she never expected her libido to reawaken. One look at sex-in-boots Daniel Coleman in a Calgary bar, though, blows the dust off her sexuality.
Sensing an edge of desperation, even fear, beneath Beth’s come-on, Daniel finds himself giving in to the powerful urge to let his normally subdued desires run wild. The lady wants non-judgemental, non-vanilla sex? She’s got it—in and out of the bedroom.
At first, friends with blazing-hot benefits is more then enough. Then she realizes Daniel is burning away the protective fortress around her heart…and the guilty secret she dare not reveal.
Warning: One woman determined to retake control of her life, a man with the single-minded purpose of offering her—and her body—everything she needs. Inappropriate behaviour in barns, change rooms, and oh-my-gawd phone sex with a cowboy.

~~**~~

First Chapter: Excerpt

Buy links:
Rocky Mountain Heat: Samhain | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo – all links HERE
Rocky Mountain Haven: Amazon | Barnes & Noble – all links HERE
Rocky Mountain Desire: Amazon | Barnes & Noble – all links HERE

~~**~~

Vivian Arend: Website | Blog | Twitter

In an ironic and somewhat painful twist of fate, today is one year since we lost BUDDY. In my mind, today is all about him. Not a day goes by when I don’t think of him, some funny thing he used to do or how he curled up with me every weekend afternoon for my nap. I still miss that most of all. Some of his more memorable moments are below. Many of you remember him from years past when I shared things with you. There will never be another Buddy. I miss you my man.

And now the good news. DESTINY is available in stores and online and in eBook format everywhere!

From New York Times bestselling author Carly Phillips comes her second novel set in Serendipity, the quaint upstate New York town where love, fate, and fortune are intertwined…

Nash Barron may be cynical about love, yet even he likes a good wedding. But the only good thing about his brother’s wedding is Kelly Moss. Nash can’t help but admire her confidence and beauty, but he’s forced to keep his distance because getting involved with Kelly could destroy his relationship with his newly discovered half sister, Tess…

Kelly came to Serendipity to give Tess–her half sibling as well, thanks to an illicit affair–a second chance at life. She learned long ago not to rely on anyone but herself. Besides, she doesn’t want to upset Tess’s life by pushing for a fling with Nash. Except the more she gets to know him, the more vulnerable she becomes to the kindness beneath his gruff exterior, and the less she’s able to stay away. But she has other reasons for keeping her distance. Like the secret from her past she knows Nash will never forgive…

For all things DESTINY including BUY links, visit the DESTINY page on my website: www.carlyphillips.com!

In honor of Destiny, today I am blogging at other places around the web:
HEA USA Today Blog
Lady Scribes
Click on each to visit me and see what I have to say on Destiny and other things!!

HAPPY 2012. I wish you all the good health and happiness life can bring!