I'm reviewing for Penelope's Romance Reviews!

Hi all! Just a quickie - update, that is. ;) Recently Penny Watson approached me to do m/m reviews for her site, Penelope's Romance Reviews.  Penny writes quirky and beardy (hehe!) m/f contemporaries, and her blog features a bunch of cool stuff in addition to reviews, too.

I'm really honored to be included in Penny's crew, and it should be a lot of fun. =) I just wrote my first review for her, so check out my thoughts on Amy Lane's The Winter Courtship Rituals of Fur-Bearing Critters here.

On a related note, I feel a teeeeensy bit of pressure picking m/m books to review for a crowd that might not necessarily read m/m frequently or even at all. I want to pick something that won't be too graphic or outrageous (so, yeah, no tentacle sex...yet?), but also something that represents m/m romance well. I generally read sweeter, non-angsty stuff, so it'd have to fit into my overall reading preferences, too.

If you have any suggestions, feel free to leave a comment! =)

Cheers,
NJ

Pet Adoption Saves Lives

I recently came across this comic strip, and it really hit home for me. A little over seven years ago, I adopted Nico-kitteh from a rescue organization that pulls pets from NYC-area animal shelters. There were a lot of pets in the foster home, and they could all stand to win a little in the lottery of life. Nico has brought me so much happiness and joy, and I can't imagine my life without him in it. As we come into the holiday season, please be responsible in making the decision to bring a pet into your home.

Pets are a lifelong commitment, so before you spring one on someone as a surprise gift, please consider why pets make bad gifts. However, if you've carefully considered everything that goes into welcoming a pet into your life, then please consider rescuing a shelter pet. You'll save a life, and that just feels good. =)

Here's a treasure trove of tumblr goodies about shelter adoption. They made me smile, and I hope they bring a smile to your day, too.

"Different Strokes" Cover & Other Miscellany

Things have been really hectic around here because Nico-kitteh had surgery to remove a fast-growing tumor last week. (yikes) Yeah. (yikes) Thankfully, I received confirmation from the surgeon this week that the biopsy results reveal he removed all of it. So yay! I'm closely monitoring the incision site now and we have follow-ups, but otherwise the little boy is in good spirits.

The thing is, while I was busy focusing on the furbaby, the book page for Different Strokes went live on Less Than Three Press's website.  You can now find the story here and add it to Goodreads or BookLikes. Yay! So here's the beautiful and gorgeous cover that talented graphic designer Aisha Akeju created:

Available December 11th!

Isn't it fan-damn-tastic?? =D

I'll post more later when additional release information is available, but in the meanwhile, here's the blurb: 

When his regular masseuse is called away on a family emergency, Tomas does not expect Darren, her temporary replacement, to be such an attractive distraction. Tomas has always been a serious, no-nonsense type of swimmer; after all, elite competition leaves no room for unprofessional conduct. However, he finds it extremely difficult to stay on the right side of the professional line with Darren tending to his needs. 

The story is super-fluff, so get your sweet tooth ready. ;) Different Strokes comes out December 11th. (yay!)

Hugs and HEAs,
NJ

My Neighbor is a Billionaire, or "Are there really as many billionaires out there as popular romance would suggest?"

Just a quick post to fact check the proliferation of billionaires in romance. If you've been anywhere near a bookstore, Amazon, or other book or ebook retailer in the last ten years, you'll have noticed that the heroes in books, and the titles of Harlequin romances, are trending towards the ten figure income.

To which I say: whut.

Yes, yes, I am oh so eloquent.

According to Forbes, there are 1,426 billionaires in the world in 2013. According to the World Population Clock, there are 7.18 billion people in the world and counting.

What does that mean? Well, that means you have a 1 in 5,000,000 chance of running into a billionaire, let alone running into one, striking up a conversation, falling for his sparkling green eyes and dimpled smile, and having him sweep you off your feet. That's also not even taking into account that a fair number of those billionaires are either married, older than the average romance novel hero, and/or not possessing of the aforementioned sparkling green eyes and dimpled smile.

Sorry for being the bearer of bad news, but Forbes also tells us that there are only 29 billionaires in the world under the age of 40. To be honest, my middle school science class was larger than that.

It's at this point that I confess that I have a soft spot for those Harlequin romances. I cut my romance-reading teeth on them back in high school, after all. =) I'm not knocking them, and I actually enjoy them quite a bit still. I understand the value of a good ol' fashioned fairy tale-like romance just as much as the next romance novel reader.

HOWEVER.

What this post is really getting at is a sort of wishlist plea for more real guys in those romance novels. The trend towards everyone's-a-billionaire is getting out of hand, and we need more real guys who aren't bazillionaires with their own private jets and islands. More guys who are small business owners, veterinarians, chefs, paralegals, teachers, nannies, and computer programmers. Let's even throw in an electrician and a nurse or two.

I'm not saying that Romancelandia has to be filled with stories where every hero out there has to be a plumber, but hey...wouldn't it be cool if more of them were?

Lost in Romancelandia,
NJ

One Year Later (an introspective post)

Today is the one year anniversary of VU Day, also known as my (voluntary) unemployment. A year ago I left a very cushy job at a huge corporation to take some time off and do, well, whatever crossed my path and piqued my interest. After six years of long days and nights in the office as I busily climbed the corporate ladder, I wanted to take time to stop and smell the roses.

I explored New York. I did some things. I wrote some stuff. I went some places. All of which were completely and utterly awesome experiences.

And after seven years in NYC, I drove cross country and made my way back home to San Francisco.

Except what I found when I got here was that it didn't really feel much like home now. Outside of a summer spent back here in college and various trips home for holidays, I hadn't lived here since finishing high school, and man, things were different.

I didn't know people. I didn't know places. And let me tell you - it was hard.

It's still hard.

I think at the center of it was just not knowing my place in this new world. My family (whom I love) is here, but I had next to no friends in this area. So, for social purposes, it was like moving to a foreign country where I happened to speak the language.

And, now that I think about it, that's freaking scary.

I took this photo in Istanbul this past April on one of my trips. Unbeknownst to me at the time, it's actually part of a larger street art campaign by the artist Curtis Kulig. What drew me in was its simplicity and the honesty behind the message because, really, isn't that really what all of us want: to find someone to love us?

But I think first, before you can expect anyone else to love you (or, in my case, care about becoming friends and socializing), you have to love yourself. I'd been so used to my social circle in NYC - where I knew people; I had people - that not having those people around me or things to do really took me by surprise. To be completely frank, I felt pretty lost for quite some time.

So then...how did I find my way?

After tackling a span of self-doubt (did I make the right choice to move back? why did I leave all of that behind?), I got back to doing things that I enjoyed without regard for who was doing it with me or why I wanted to do it. I regained self-confidence that I'm a pretty damn awesome person (and, even if I still felt crappy sometimes, fake it til you make it, right?). How? I stopped caring what would happen to me here in this new city...and sought out stuff I just enjoyed, period.

I've always been pretty comfortable alone, but coming to a new city and being truly, actually alone threw me for a loop. It made me question myself, and while self-exploration is usually a good thing in the end, it's a difficult thing when you're in the midst of it. So I basically relearned how to get comfortable with myself and spending time with me.

And it has helped. It really has. I enrolled at the junior college to explore some other areas of interest. I spruced up my resume and have been discussing possible career options with one of the instructors. I joined some Meetup groups for stuff I love doing *coughs* karaoke *coughs*. =) I reached out to some people and things are just...better now. After a couple of months of a word drought, I even started writing again, which is a bit of a relief.

Anyway, this post is pretty emo for me, but I wanted to explain my absence and show my appreciation for all of you guys who have stuck around during my marked dearth of posting in the last couple of months. I've been gathering my bearings, as you can see, and just trying to figure things out.

The takeaway, then?

Change is change. It's scary, even when you're the one to introduce it into your life. But have confidence in yourself and things will almost always pan out. And, until then, fake it til you make it because, chances are, nobody else can tell the difference...even, eventually, including you.

NJ

Guest Post: AC Valentine on "How to Date Your Husband"

Today's guest is author AC Valentine, whose story, "How to Date Your Husband," is included in the Cuddling anthology from Dreamspinner Press. Cuddling includes stories that focus on established couples. You can order your copy here!

I loved AC's story and thought it was hot-hot-hot. The guys were so sweet, and their love for each other really leaped off the page. Here's a quick blurb for "How to Date Your Husband," and later on AC answers some questions about herself, her story, and writerly things in general.

Blurb for "Hot to Date Your Husband" by AC Valentine: 

Ryan and Mike are stuck in a rut but still in love after more than ten years together. When Mike finds an article offering love-life tips in an old magazine, he suggests trying them as a way to add some spice back to their lives. Ryan thinks Mike is crazy, but he’s willing to do anything to make Mike happy, even if it means dating his own husband.

"Awwwww," right? I was really excited to read this story, and it definitely lived up to expectations. It was clever, sweet, and totally hot. 

Now, let's hear some more from AC!

Q:  What interesting thing would readers be surprised to find out about the guys in your story?

It’s not about the guys, but I think readers would be surprised to find out that Puppetry of the Penis was and still is, a real show put on by two guys from Australia. It was on off-Broadway in NYC for two years starting right around September 11^th.  I went with my new husband. It was quite the theatrical experience.

Q:  What interesting thing would readers be surprised to find out about you?

I was once offered 50 sheep for my hand in marriage. My godmother, who worked for the UN said that she’d been offered camels and camels were worth more. My sister who was a junior in high school was only offered 40. So when people came to my college and asked ‘What is a Wellesley education worth?’ I would always tell them ten extra sheep.

Q: Do you have a favorite "happily ever after" story?

Nope. It’s why I keep writing them. I don’t write ‘Happy For Now’ stories. If I write a story you can bet those two people ride off into the sunset. I think I feel thwarted by all the television ships that blow up in my face (I’m the biggest fangirl), so I keep writing happily ever after stories. I’d write fanfic if I could but I can’t write in someone else’s voice.

Q: How long have you been writing and what inspired you to start?

It’s funny, I’ve been writing bits and pieces of things for years. I’d start and get discouraged because back when I started writing m/m, the market didn’t really exist yet. In my writing group, I had a bunch of friends in publishing who thought my writing was good but didn’t think there was a market. I knew it was out there though. LiveJournal was full of original slash, and I remember when Torquere Press opened. I think they were one of the first e-book m/m presses. I remember ordering a book from them, but it was just such a pain to read full length books on a computer back then. I laugh now because I’d be reading novel length fanfiction on the desk top, and there really wasn’t any difference.  I got away from m/m for a long time, until I happened to be stuck in bed about two years ago after going through some medical issues and I don’t even know how it happened but I found some m/m ebooks and kept reading them. A year later I figured I better start writing to support my habit, set a goal to have a short story published by the end of the year, and wrote one and submitted it. I got very, very lucky because Dreamspinner agreed to publish it in their ‘Don’t Try This at Home’ anthology. I didn’t even have to deal with a rejection letter. Rejection is such a large part of a writer’s life and I’m dreading it. When you write, the characters are your babies, so it’s like they are rejecting your children.

Q: What books or authors inspire your own work?

Well I write in a couple of different genres. In the m/m genre, some of the people who have been pretty influential or inspiring are Amy Lane, Mary Calmes and Cardeno C. There are bits and pieces of their styles that have influenced me.  I wish I could write angst like Amy Lane. I love some of Mary Calmes’s plotting- her plots are off the wall, and Cardeno C just has that awww factor. I love reading people like Damon Suede and T.J. Klune as well. T.J. Klune writes killer dialogue. I’m either rolling on the floor with laughter or with tears. I wish I was that evocative. Also, Suede’s Hot Head had some of the hottest, sweetest sex scenes I’ve ever read. 

Q: Do you prefer to write short stories or novels?

Short stories are great, because you get quicker gratification. I’ve got a couple of novellas and novels in the early stages, but once you get into the longer material you have to worry about getting agents and writing query letters. Short stories are also a great way to break into writing because in the m/m world particularly you get a prompt, write to it, submit and hopefully get it published. Then you have writing credits to put on those pesky query letters to agents.

Q: What are you writing now or what upcoming releases do you have scheduled?

I’m in the middle of writing a steampunk novella that was just supposed to be a short story, but the characters and plot got away from me. Each story I write gets progressively harder to write and the plots get longer and more complicated. I’m also writing a YA novel which has a m/m subplot. I’ll also be writing and submitting short stories as I have time, because I love writing to prompts. Giving me a theme is the best way to get a story out of me.

Q: Are you a plotter or a pantser?

Both. I usually start with a general plot. I also know the general ending when I start out and I have a couple of beats I want to hit on the way to the end. However, my characters tend to do whatever the hell they want and I generally just let them. I do go back and try to make sure that the characterization is consistent and that there are several threads binding the story together. How to Date Your Husband is a great example of that because initially there were supposed to be ten dates. Ha! Never going to happen in a short story. I would have loved to have a throwaway date though. “They agreed to never, ever discuss date number six. They just decided to buy a new couch and forget the whole thing.”

Q: Cuddling is an anthology that features stories all about established couples. What can couples do to keep the flames burning in their established relationships?

I’m not answering this one. My husband would kill me!!!

***
AC Valentine is a New Yorker who recently traded her quiet bohemian life in the Village for the wild metropolis of Vermont. She dragged with her a tattooed corporate husband, a small child, a neurotic dog, and several libraries worth of books. She can't clean or cook but can throw a mean party. She can always be found bemoaning the lack of a day job while happily reading or writing m/m fiction or fiddling around with some craft project to add to the pile that is threatening to take over the dining room. The newest craft project is a bouncing baby boy who believes all the other craft projects are edible. AC believes in true love, marriage equality, and happily-ever-afters. She'll continue to write about them until someone pulls her laptop away from he cold dead hands or the sheer volume of baby drool shorts out the computer.

She would love to hear from readers and can be contacted by email at acvalentineauthor@gmail.com, on Twitter @valentinewrites, or via Tumblr at http://villagechick.tumblr.com. 

***

Thanks for stopping by, AC!

You can pick up your copy of Cuddling today at Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or All Romance eBooks. Happy reading!

Release Day for "Cuddling" is...TODAY!

Welcome to release day for the Cuddling anthology! Yayzerbeams! *tosses confetti*

Cuddling is now available here in multiple formats through the Dreamspinner Press site. Woop woop!

The anthology, edited by Anne Regan, includes the following stories:

At First Sound by G.S. Wiley
Change of Heart by Rhidian Brenig Jones
Cupcakes for Two by K. Lynn
Dream Lover by Nico Jaye
Happy Holidays by Anna Butler
Home on the Range by Anna Martin
How to Date Your Husband by AC Valentine
Like an Old Sweater by Elizabella Gold
Looking Back by Rob Rosen
Quarter Moon Over a Ten Cent Town by Stephen Osborne
Reboot by S. H. Allan
Remember When by River Claire
The Cat's Out of the Bag by Rowan McAllister
The Making of a Family by Caitlin Ricci
The Responsible One by Eva Clancy
The Thing I Love Best About Mitch by Dawn Douglas

My story focuses on Chris and Brady, whose relationship seems to have taken a backseat to Brady's ridiculous work schedule. How, pray tell, do they manage to get back on track? Well, a weekend getaway and a lil sexytimes never hurt! :)

I thought I'd add a lil excerpt for my story so that you guys know what you're um...getting yourselves into here. :) If you missed it, I posted the blurb here a while back, and the general blurb for the anthology is here on Dreamspinner Press's website.  It's an established couples anthology, so you'll find a bunch of different themes here - the seven year itch, difficult work situations, growing apart, etc. Hopefully you'll find something fun that tickles your fancy.

***

EXCERPT from Dream Lover by Nico Jaye:

A smile played on Chris’s lips as he checked his reflection in the gilt-framed mirror. He had slicked back his hair, and his hazel eyes finally—finally—looked wide-awake. He pulled on one of the thick white robes before he brushed his teeth and shaved.

When Brady had come out of his shower, he’d mentioned checking the times for vineyard tours nearby. A wicked smile spread across Chris’s face as he reached for his shaving kit.

Even though he was excited to explore the area, Chris was pretty sure the vineyards could wait.

A few minutes later, Chris slid open the bathroom’s dark wood panel and padded barefoot toward the open balcony doors. He paused in the doorway to admire the view. Brady sat in one of the chairs in dark jeans and a gray polo, and his caramel-brown loafers matched the woven belt that was looped around his waist. Brady looked up and set aside his BlackBerry.

Brady’s smile was teasing as he caught sight of Chris’s robe. He lifted his brows. “I thought we were heading out. Going back to bed, Sleeping Beauty?”

Chris darted a glance around before focusing on Brady. Chris’s lids dropped to half-mast. “Maybe,” he murmured. “But not to sleep.” His words trailed off as he let his robe fall open.

Chris watched Brady closely. Brady’s eyes went wide, and Chris could pinpoint the exact moment Brady saw it.

***

Hrmmmm! This raises the all-important question: what exactly did Brady see beneath Chris's robe? *wiggles eyebrows* Well, you can find out in Dreamspinner Press's Cuddling anthology! Add it to your Goodreads bookshelf here, too.

Hope you like it, and happy reading!

Doing the release day wiggle,
NJ