Woohoo

It's Friday. How the hell are y'all doing? I know I haven't been around in a bit but I was finishing my latest book called Torn. I'm gonna post a blurb and a little unedited snippet. Now remember it'll be unedited. So, before then I want to tell ya I'm blogging also at Love Vixens and Pagan and the Pen.(this is on word press)

And on top of all of this I have even better news. Drum roll, please. Before the end of the year all my books will be print! Yay!! But that's not it, all my besides coming out in print through Amazon.com they will be going International!! Yep, you heard me right, international! I am very humbled by all of this. I'm so happy and proud all at the same time.

Listen I'm looking for a Beta. What's a Beta, you ask? A Beta is a fan of my work that wants to read my books before they are edited/contracted to help me feel out the good and bad parts of the story. This person must be trustworthy and honest. He/She would also get the chance to read my books for free. So, if your interested email me at rashliegh@yahoo.com put Beta Search in the subject line. I'm going to post this on a few other places. If your interested let me know.
Hugs folks. Ok here's the blurb and excerpt(unedited)
Lots of love,
Raven


Torn by Raven Starr
Alyssa Kendall is a bookworm and movie-watcher extraordinaire. She lives her life in the pages she reads and the movies she watches. Never did she expect Julian Turner to have any real interest in her. When he saves her from becoming someone’s hood ornament neither could resist the connection. Alyssa wants to fall in love; she wants to throw caution to the wind with Julian.

Once she opened her heart, Julian suddenly has to leave. Shattered, Alyssa tries to put him behind her. Four years later they ran into each other again.
Can they pick up where they left? Or has Alyssa moved on with her life with stable and sexy Christian. The battle for Alyssa’s heart has begun. Can Julian and Alyssa find the spark they once had? Or does her heart truly belong to Christian. Find out in Torn.


Excerpt:

Ali started to stutter, but Julian placed his index finger on her lips. “Stop. We have got to get out of here. This apartment with no way out is a death trap. With all the horror movies you’ve seen run this scenario through her head. What do we need to do?”
“You’re right.” Her eyes darted back and forth. “We have to get outta here.”
“Great.”
Pieces of the door splintered and fell away. Ali screamed. Christian’s evil laughter filtered the hole like a wispy mist.
“Too late for a plan, run Ali, hide!” Julian shouted, grabbing a long fire place poker. He shot his head over his shoulder as the cabinet slammed on the floor. “I love you; now get the hell outta here!” He turned, held the poker like a Red Sox batter and waited for his moment to swing.
Frozen, Ali stood as Christina forced his way inside.
Christian pointed at Ali with his dented weapon. “She belongs to me.” He growled white foam frothing at the corners of his mouth.
“She doesn’t belong to any one but herself!”
Christian turned his hot glare to Julian. “You self righteous son of a bitch! This is all your fault.” Christian swung the pipe at Julian’s head.
Julian jumped back, the pipe barely missing his jaw. With an upward swing of the fire poker collided with the metal rod. The clanging of metal on metal sounded like thunder in the apartment. “Get out here!” Julian yelled.
When Christian turned to stare at Ali, Julian swung his weapon knocking the pipe from Christian’s grip. It flew across the room and slid underneath the couch.
“Not without you!” She shot back.
Snarling, Christian said, “Aw how sweet.” He elbowed Julian in the nose, blood gushed out. Ali bolted for the door.
“Oh, no you don’t.” Inches from the door, Christian pounced on Ali. His heavy body squeezed the air out of her lungs.
“No, no,” she kicked at Christian wildly. His hands clamped down on her upper legs and pulled her to him. “Get off of me, you crazy freak!” Using the same trick she witness him do to Julian. She elbowed him as hard as she could in the nose.
“Argh,” Instantly, Christian’s hands flew to his nose.
Ali took her chance and squirmed away.
“You bitch, you made me bleed, now I’m gonna make you bleed.” He reached for the runner on the floor and gave it a hard yank. Ali tripped and fell forward knocking the side of her head against the fallen cabinet. Ali’s head started to spin and she felt sick to her stomach. She blinked several times trying to see past the blurriness. Quickly, Christian popped up, rushed over and grabbed a handful of her hair. He pulled her head back and slammed it into the cabinet. The skin over her right eye splint and blood poured from the wound.
“Now we’re even.” Christian growled happily.
“Well, I’m about to up the anti.” Julian said swinging the fire poker, hitting Christian on the torso, right underneath his left side. With his free hand, he reached out for Ali. “Take my hand.”

K.T. Bishop is Back

K.T. Krashes In
Wild Romantic Ladies Welcome Author K.T. Bishop, who recently had his debut novel, Picking Cotton, recently come out at Red Rose Publishing.
1. See you've been on a Blog tour, interviewing with Moonlight, Lace and Mayhem as well as wicked thorn and roses, and now you drop by Wild Romantic Ladies.
K.T.: For those people who know me will tell you that I like talking. I'm always glad to promote my books and help other authors promote their books. In these tough economic times, us e-book authors need to stick together. Some of us don't have big printed deals like Nora Roberts and Susan Elizabeth Phillips. A lot of us authors either have regular jobs or retired.
2. How were you able infuse sports and romance into a storyline?
K.T.: Very easy. Sports has a unique way of bringing romantic characters together. Especially in small towns, baseball, football and basketball games link the communities together. Football is the main one. Everyone wants a piece of the star, especially a quarterback. A cheerleader and quarterback are the most linked couples in high schools, especially during the 1950's and 60's.
3. What was the reason behind the eighties timeline?
K.T.: To me, its a very cool time period. I remember white people had big hair and black people had gheri curls (LOL). MTV just started out and was only into making videos, not producing shows like the real world. Prince was at its peak with Purple Rain. Madonna wanted to rule the World. American Bandstand and Soul Train, wow those were the days of our lives.
4. Tell us about the characters in Picking Cotton.
K.T.: M.L. Cotton is the straw that sitrs the drink. A hard-working, driven character who cares about others, but needed a strong woman like Jennifer Monet' to point that out. She was a pampered Cajun princess until meeting ML changed her life. They help each other through crucial moments in their lives. The reason for the Cotton series' existence.
5. You also wrote about a small town.
K.T.: New Orleans is a big town, but very small compared to the Chicago, Los Angeles and New Yorks of the world. I was telling a fellow author that small towns are the perfect setting for romance because there's not much to do in those towns.
6. Interracial Romance seems to be at its peak. What's your reasoning behind that?
K.T.: I really don't have an concrete answer, just a theory. Most of the racial barriers are gone from the country. You see more multicultural couples (blacks and white) (White and chinese) (Blacks and hispanics) these days, translating into books. I just hope that trend continues over into Picking Cotton (LOL).
7. What is it like to be published at Red Rose?
K.T.: Wendi Felter, Publisher, does a great job. (After all, she gave me a chance-LOL.). It's hard to believe she started this company two years ago and its growing like my stock used to. Rochelle Weber, my editor, tortured me through the editing ordeal and made Cotton a much stronger book. We have a lot of talented authors at Red Rose. I have a lot of respect for them.
8. Is this Cotton book a one shot deal?
K.T.: I have two more books in the series. The next one, Country Cotton, revolves around M.L.'s big sister living in Nashville and working for the Grand Ole Opry. Book 3 revolves around M.L.'s getting married and aiming for the pros as the eighties end.
9. Got any other things you're working on?
K.T.: A book for the 2010 Winter Olympics called Feel the Fire about a Swedish Figure Skater and Black football player-turned trampolinist.
10. Care to share an excerpt
K.T.: A scene at Christmas where ML takes mass with the Monets.
To the Monet’s, Christmas Eve was more important than the twenty-fifth. For Louisiana Catholics, the twenty-fourth was Jesus’ birthday. Jennifer dragged a reluctant ML along to Midnight Mass at St. Sebastian church in Coastview.
“I never heard of St. Sebatian before I came here, so I looked him up,” Jennifer said as they parked the car in the crowded lot. “Are you ready for this? He’s the patron saint of athletes and soldiers -- quarterbacks and Conquistadors! It couldn’t be more perfect.”
“I feel a little better, but I’m still nervous.” ML said. “I’ve never been to a church with white people before; I won’t fit in.”
“That’s the silliest thing I ever heard; there’re black Catholics,” Jennifer said. “Anyway, I’ll try to clue you when we stand or kneel or genuflect.”
ML wondered what she’d just said. He didn’t even know what the last word meant.
As they entered the church, smiling people welcomed them, handing them each a bulletin and a candle stuck through the X cut in the middle of a circle of cardboard.
“What do we need these for?” he asked Jennifer.
“The bulletin tells you what’s next in the Mass, which hymns we’re singing and where to find them in the hymnal, and the candle’s for the Candle Lighting,” she whispered. As they entered the nave where all the pews were, Jennifer stopped, dipped her fingers in a bowl of water sitting on a marble base, and crossed herself.
“What’s that for?”
“To shorten my time in Purgatory.”
“In where?”
“Tell you later. There’re my parents.” She indicated a row about halfway down toward the altar. When they got down there, she seemed to stumble. ML reached for her arm and saw her cross herself again.
“You OK?” he whispered.
“I was genuflecting to the Host.”
“What?”
He nervously squeezed into the crowded pew alongside the Monet’s. Jennifer whispered her explanation.
“When the priest blesses the communion wafers, we believe they turn into the body of Christ. So we store the leftovers in that little box up on the altar and before we sit down we bow to Jesus.”
ML digested that, then looked at his bulletin. The first hymn was “O, Little Town of Bethlehem.” That should be easy. They sang that in his church. In fact, as he went down the list, the only hymn that was not familiar was “Ave Maria” and there was no number next to it, just a name -- “Mrs. Jean Weaver.”
As the Mass started, it was quite a procession. First a bunch of boys came in wearing white robes over black ones, then priests wearing black robes, one wearing a red rope around his waist and a long red scarf around his neck and finally one came in wearing gold accessories with a big, pointed hat and a huge ring.
“Oh, the Bishop is saying Mass!” Charlotte’s whisper sounded excited.
As the choir sang the hymn and the organ pealed, ML realized he’d never heard such beautiful music. He fumbled his way through the confusing motions of the Mass until the greeting. He hugged Jennifer and her parents, then someone in the pew behind them tapped him on the shoulder. An elderly couple each offered him a handshake and said, “Peace be with you. And Merry Christmas, son.”
He returned the compliment, as his tension disappeared into the night like crimes never sticking to Al Capone.
“Merry Christmas, sir,” he replied. “Uh… Oh, and peace, too.”
He turned back toward the front and the man with the big gold hat was standing next to their pew holding out his hand. ML shook it and said, “Merry Christmas, Sir.” Jennifer seemed to be trying not to giggle as she kissed the man’s ring.
“Peace be to you, Bishop,” she said.
“And unto you, my child.” He formed the sign of the cross on her forehead, murmuring, “I bless you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
“Amen,” Jennifer said, as her parents beamed. But it seemed to ML that there was laughter in their eyes, too.
Next came the Communion. Everyone lined up in the aisles to go eat the wafer and sip the wine while “Mrs. Jean Weaver” sang an incredible rendition of Ave Maria. Her hair was all white and she was still very much a beautiful woman. Her soprano voice soared with the high notes. ML had no idea what she was singing. The song was in Latin, but her voice gave him the chills. Communion was still going on when she finished, so the choir sang a medley of Christmas hymns.
After Communion and a couple more prayers, the altar boys came down the aisle with lit candles. The first person in each pew lit his candle from the altar boy, then people lit their candles from each other until the whole church was bathed in the golden light of the candles. ML hadn’t even noticed when the church lights were turned off. The choir and congregation sang “Silent Night,” then the Bishop gave a blessing and led the priests and fianally the altar boys as they marched out while everyone sang “Joy to the World.” And not one person yelled out a “Halleluja,” or “Thank you Jesus” during the whole ceremony.

Available from:

http://redrosepublishing.com/bookstore/product_info.php?products_id=453

Romance Appeals in Tough Economic Times

No one can argue that economic times are tough. Taxes are high, prices are high. If we had any money in the stock market it's now about half. People are worried. You see it in the news every day, so why are we still reading romance novels?

1. Romance novels are cheerful. The characters are attractive. They face serious, or not so serious, problems and come out winners.

2. Settings in romance novels are attractive. In times like this most of us want to get away from our problems for awhile. Romance novels let you visit pleasant places, resorts, estates, and interesting villages. It's a cheap vacation.

3. The characters in romance novels provide good role models. Seeing how another person solves their problems often gives us clues in how to solve our own.

Amid all the worry and problems of our everyday life. It's nice to be able to take a quick vacation and escape to a beautiful place with people who you'd like to get to know as friends.

Reflection

So Easter right around the corner and I'm feeling all sentimental. I'm very blessed in my life so far. I've had serious health problems for a long time.

It's called Endometriosis. Yep, it a long word, here is the medical definition Endometriosis (from endo, "inside", and metra, "womb") is a medical condition in women in which endometrial cells are deposited in areas outside the uterine cavity. The uterine cavity is lined by endometrial cells, which are under the influence of female hormones. Endometrial cells deposited in areas outside the uterus (endometriosis) continue to be influenced by these hormonal changes and respond similarly as do those cells found inside the uterus. Symptoms often exacerbate in time with the menstrual cycle.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endometriosis)


I mean I was at a point where I couldn't get out of bed. I couldn't cook, let alone stand up or even get dressed. My life was wasting away in a dark room. The lives of my children were affected because I was incapable of doing certain things at certain times. About two years I had major surgery. Recovery wasn't bad and every day since then I have been blessed. I can live my life again. But having Endo I lost a lot, a lot of time, my hubby(now ex) wasn't understanding because no one really knew what was wrong with. Because this disease isn't the first thing doctors can diagnose you with. The only real way is with surgery. I was past on by doctor's and my ex used to tell it was all in my head. I that my chronic pain is over, I feel as if my life has just begun anew.

I want to bring needed attention and proper funding to research Endometroisos. So many women are inflicted with this condition. I met some women who like me felt all alone and abandoned by our support system and our own bodies. So this Easter, be blessed for your family, especially the women. Your mothers, sisters, friends, Aunts, all the women in your life. I'm glad I'm now able to do the things I love, write and play with my children. I'm humbled to be able to walk with no real pain.

So if someone asks me why I'm blessed I tell them, I've got a new lease on life.
Hugs and blessings,
Raven

Why I Love Romance Novels

I love to relax with a romance novel: handsome heroes, gorgeous settings, conflict, and, of course, lots of sex. But the most appealing aspect of the the romance novel for me is the strong woman heroine. The women in romance novels aren't pushovers waiting nervously for some man to come along and rescue them. They're spunky women who do things. They may fall for the hero in the end, but they make sure it's on pretty equal terms and the guys love it.

The women in romance novels are excellent role models. Don't we all want our daughters to be secure in themselves and their careers before choosing the man of their dreams. Romance novels offer a guide for how to have your man and not lose your identity in the process.

In my novel, Summer's Story (available from Red Rose Publishing), Summer has two men eager to help herget her horse, Meadow, to the races. Rather than give up her independence, Summer trains Meadow herself. Once she's secure in her ability to handle the job, she teams up with the guys, but she never lets them rule her life.

I see this pattern in most romance novels. That's why we choose them. Who wants to be depressed? I want to see women as winners.

Solos vs Anthologies. Join the Blog.

Solo Books~vs~ Anthologies

Okay y'all its that time of the month again. Thanks for stepping out on this sorta sunny day. It's about time the snow is melting and spring along with my allergies are in bloom.
Now like the title stated I want to delve into this question. I've been asked a lot and I really don't know so I've put the question out to a few friends of mine and I'm hoping to get some true answers about what is better.

I don't know if one is better than the other, even though your still getting your name out there no matter if the book has just your name on it or not.
Writing as a career than writing as a hobby has a real difference in my book. But what's the deal with authors joining forces? I've done a lot of thinking and I really and truly don't know the answer to this one.
Being able to write a solo book gives you the freedom to write whatever you wish and keep all the royalties entitled to you. But what if you could write with an author of your choice would it matter?

This topic I'm hoping will generate some advice for newbie to use. I always try to help other writers as much as I can. It's my way of paying it forward. So, I won't drone on and on. I can't wait for folks to stop by and give us their thoughts.
Don't forget about Earth Hour tonight. Do you best to turn out the lights for an hour tonight.8:30pm-9:30pm

Hugs and Blessings,
Raven Starr

Welcome....

Hi I just wanted to stop by and say hello and welcome to our blog. I'm Raven Starr and today is my birthday! I'm having a birthday chat www.redrosepublishing.com stop and come see what the fuss is about.
The other ladies will be stopping thru giving intros and such. This is a very exciting time so stick with us, because we can get a tad wild about romance and love. Let's not forget about hot sex too. :) So come chat tonight and meet me at 8pm eastern time.

Check out my site.
www.ravenkstarr.com

See ya tonight!
Raven Starr