Coming out January 31, 2012

Third Grave Dead Ahead

by Darynda Jones

Charley Davidson—grim reaper extraordinaire, private investigator . . . meh—is practicing her profession under the influence, caffeine and copious amounts of it, due to an extreme desire to induce insomnia. Every time she closes her eyes, Reyes Farrow, the part-human, part-supermodel son of Satan, is there. Only thing is, he’s a tad peeved. She did bind for all eternity, so it’s hard blame him. But 13 days without a wink is bound to bring out the crazy in a girl. So, when a man hires her to find his wife, Charley accepts the job with one goal in mind: Put the man behind bars, and not the wet kind. She can sense the guilt waft off him and vows to find the woman’s body and prove he’s a murderer. 

In the meantime, Reyes is back in prison and none too happy about it . . . so Charley thinks, until she is carjacked by the dark-haired rake, who swears the very man he went to prison for killing is not only alive, but close by. And he wants Charley to find him. 

While a visit to her old friend Rocket sheds no light on Reyes’s situation, Charley finds out the man’s wife is still alive and time is running out. Finding her before she dies would be a miracle, but she has to try. Together with the help of a fashion-impaired receptionist named Cookie, Charley sets out to bring the bad guys to justice. She just hopes Reyes is not one of them. And that she’s not hallucinating from her self-induced bout with insomnia
Click HERE for my last interview with REYES

Winner of the 2009 Golden Heart® for Best Paranormal Romance for her manuscript FIRST GRAVE ON THE RIGHT, Darynda was born spinning tales of dashing damsels and heroes in distress for any unfortunate soul who happened by, annoying man and beast alike. After the Golden Heart final, she pimped herself as best she could, landed an amazing agent and sold to St. Martin's Press in a three-book deal. Darynda lives in the Land of Enchantment, also known as New Mexico, with her husband of more than 25 years and two beautiful sons, aka the Mighty, Mighty Jones Boys. She can be found at www.daryndajones.com

Don't forget Reyes by Pickyme. Love her work. You can find her on FB and on the web.
 www.pickymeartist.com

Welcome Cari Quinn

Sometimes short can be good!

Thank you so much for having me at Pimpin’ Reads today!

“Short” is one of those descriptions that gets a bad rap. A kid is too short to get on a ride. A movie is too short to get really involved in the story. The summer was too short! (Well, no arguing that one…) But sometimes short can be good. Forget good. It can be great!

The folks at Entangled Publishing were wise enough to see that and launched two new lines of novellas recently, Flirts and Ever Afters. My latest release, No Dress Required, is a Flirt and I think that sums up the story really well! It’s a tease, a light dessert when you’re not in the mood for a heavy, heartburn inducing meal.

So I thought I’d put together a short list – ha ha – of reasons why short can rock your world! Especially short books, because, well, I happen to have that aforementioned new release, No Dress Required. Awesome segue, right?

For me, when it comes to books, short means…

1)      They’re often more economical. My book budget has shrunk recently and 99 cent novellas (like No Dress Required)  really help me sate my reading fix!

2)      Just enough. Not too much so you overindulge, just a quick, tasty bite.

3)      You don’t need to set aside a large chunk of time to read. Because, seriously, who has time to spare nowadays? Snatch an hour and you’re good to go!

4)      You get to the yummy stuff faster. No wading through pages and pages trying to get to the best part of the book (oops, is that just me?)

5)      Contrary to popular belief, satisfaction sometimes comes in smaller packages. Just saying!

Not convinced? Check out No Dress Required’s page on the Entangled Publishing site, where you can read an excerpt of 

After years of ho-hum dating, Noelle Gregory is tired of fooling around. There’s only ever been one guy for her—Jake Conroy, her best friend’s older brother. Now that Jake’s back in town, she’s headed to his sister’s New Year’s Eve party to make her move. Purse full of condoms? Check. Sparkly dress guaranteed to show Jake the sexy woman she’s become? Check. 
Carjacker that makes off with both two hours before the party? Check. 
When Jake finds Noelle stranded on the side of the road—looking sexier than ever in her striped socks and silly holiday shirt, damn it—he’s glad for the snowstorm that cancels his sister’s party. His and Noelle’s friendship has tormented him for years, and now, Jake wonders if he should dare to sample what he’s always wanted…and if he’ll be able to walk away when it’s over

Chapter One for free! http://www.entangledpublishing.com/no-dress-required/

And then come back and answer a question to be entered into the drawing to win an e-book copy of No Dress Required: do you enjoy shorter books, why or why not? Or this question works too: do you own any holiday-themed shirts? (read No Dress Required for why I ask!)

Visit Cari Quinn at www.cariquinn.com 

Welcome Natalie Anderson

Pimpin' Reads is so excited to have USA Today best selling author

Natalie Anderson

When two frozen hearts collide…

Emma Reed closed her heart to love years ago after a lifetime spent getting kicked around foster homes and bad relationships. Now she’s on a mission to prove she deserves her recent award to paint a mural for a research base in Antarctica. Nothing and no one is going to get in her way.

After months working in recovery zones around the world, Hunter Wilson planned to escape everything this holiday season by rebuilding a lab at the Kiwi Research Base. Alone. No to family, no to fun. It’s isolation not intimacy he’s aching for. But when he sees the determined artist, that ache becomes an urge – after all, shouldn’t someone show her what two people can do with twenty-four hours of brilliant sunlight?

In the coldest place on earth, even the most frozen hearts can melt

Icy Inspiration by Natalie Anderson

So often writers are asked ‘where do you get your inspiration from?’. For me inspiration comes from different things for different aspects of the story and it’s characters. But I’ve lived down the road from my inspiration for the setting of MELT for years.

My home-town Christchurch, New Zealand, is known as ‘the gateway to the South’ – from here the big Hercules and Globemasters leave almost daily in summer, taking cargo, crew, scientists and support staff down to ‘the ice’ – Antarctica.

Out by the airport, there’s a big fenced compound – on the tarmac they lay out all the machinery and heavy equipment, shipping containers and fuel canisters they send down there. I’ve always loved ‘rubber-necking’ to see what they have sitting there waiting to go down.

Over the road from the compound is the headquarters for the New Zealand programme. The US also has an Antarctic operation based there as well. Alongside that is a tourist facility which promotes knowledge and interest in life and the work being done in Antarctica.

I love going to that attraction as much as the kids. They have lots of tiny Blue penguins – these are all rescued penguins, many have physical disabilities and would no longer survive in the wild. They’re extremely cute. There’s also a snow room in which you can experience a simulated storm with 40km winds – and there’s an ice slide to play on. You can ride on a Hagglund – an all-terrain vehicle (with tracks, like a tank, but smaller). In an around these experiences is a wealth of information about the first explorers, the wildlife, current life on the ice and conservation efforts.

Antarctica is the last ‘frontier’ – isolated, driest and coldest part of the world – and it has always intrigued me. Driving past the operations so many times got me thinking: what would happen if you put two emotionally isolated people down there together, would there be some kind of chemical reaction? You’ll have to find out in MELT!

Buy it from Amazon or Barnes & Noble

USA TODAY bestseller Natalie Anderson writes fun, frisky, feels-good contemporary romance for Harlequin Mills & Boon and Entangled. With twenty books published, she’s also been a Romantic Times Award nominee & a finalist for the R*BY (Romantic Book of the Year).

She lives in Christchurch, New Zealand with her husband, four children and what feels like a million ducks.

Find out more at her website www.natalie-anderson.com <http://www.natalie-anderson.com>

On Twitter @authornataliea

On Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/authornataliea

Picture caption: A Hagglund parked opposite the US Antarctic programme, Christchurch, New Zealand.

I have a winner!

The Poll Winner for 2011 Best Read is

The Winner of a book of choice from Book Depository is 

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