This weekend only, THE SPIDER PRINCE is up for Book of the Week at Whipped Cream Reviews.  Come and vote for me to snag the title of Book of the Week!

http://www.longandshortreviews.com/WC/index.htm

Also, SPIDER‘s been reviewed!  And it’s first review GLOWS!

http://whippedcream2.blogspot.com/2011/02/spider-prince-by-rebecca-goings.html

“I have one word for this book: magical.  Would I recommend this book? You bet I would and as well as tell you to have a few tissues ready as the story unfolds.”

Awesome!  I love this book SO much, I’m glad to see a reviewer thinks the same!    Go vote for me!  Woohoo!!

~~Becka

If you wanna see Book V of the Desert Princes of Jikkar’s cover, hop on over to my exclusive blog where I unveiled it first!  THE JACKAL PRINCE is coming to Carnal Passions April of 2011!    Woohoo!

http://desertprinces.blogspot.com/2011/02/jackal-prince-has-cover.html

~~Becka

Hello everyone, today, I have a guest blogger stopping on my website on her blog tour for her new book, Dark Passages: Tristan & Karen. Sara’s been a good friend and a great inspiration, and she’s even edited a few of my books!  I’m more than happy to share my blog with her, and I wish her nothing but the best for her new release.

Sara, you have the stage!

~*~*~

Becka’s question for you — What’s so sexy about vampires?

Thanks for the chance to hang out and meet your readers, Becka! I’ve always been intrigued by the concept of the supernatural, that there might be more things lurking out there than can be explained away by science or reason. Even as a kid, I loved reading about ghosts, UFOs and monsters. Writing paranormal romance lets me explore these concepts again as an adult, in my own unique way, and the only limits are those of my imagination.

I definitely think vampires hold a unique place among supernatural beings, because they’re so inherently predatory yet sensual. Think about it. A vampire is usually portrayed as stealing into his victim’s room under the cover of darkness, when she’s at her most vulnerable—asleep in bed. Despite this intrusion, he’s able to make her feel at ease, mesmerizing her into submission. By drinking her blood, penetrating her with his fangs, pressing his mouth against her throat, he’s intimate with her in a way that’s primitive, almost sexual.

I also think another part of the appeal of vampires is that although some are portrayed as living hundreds, even thousands of years, they retain a youthful appearance and stamina. Who wouldn’t want to look and feel like they’re twenty-something their entire lives? (And who wouldn’t want to have a lover with that kind of energy, lol?)

As far as the inspiration behind The Brethren Series, I live in Kentucky, in the heart of horseracing Bluegrass country. During my childhood, we would often drive past Thoroughbred horse farms. If you can picture nothing but rolling, open fields of lush, green grass, bordered by white fences, and horses set out to graze, you’ll have a good idea of how beautiful and peaceful they are. I often wondered about the people who lived on these farms, and it occurred to me that pretty much an entire community could live tucked away on one or more of them, with the outside world completely oblivious to their existence. From there, the idea of the Brethren eventually grew.

In Dark Passages: Tristan & Karen, Tristan Morin is a vampire on a mission: to not fall in love with Karen Pierce. To do so would prove that humans and Brethren were meant to be physically and emotionally bound to each other — something he, as a full-blooded Brethren, refuses to believe. It would be so much easier if Karen wasn’t beautiful. And if there wasn’t something about her that draws him like a moth to a flame, damn near impossible to resist.

Karen has always felt an inexplicable attraction to Tristan. More than just the fact he’s strikingly handsome, it’s as if being with him is something natural, comfortable and right. But soon a brash choice on his part leaves her heartbroken and confused, and a sadistic new enemy will put their tentative love — and their lives — to the ultimate test.

Tristan and Karen were introduced in the preceding installment of The Brethren Series, Dark Passion. As I wrote them, I really felt a connection to them and wanted to explore their backgrounds and relationship further. The idea that they were in love with each other and had been for a long time—but both of them were too stubborn to admit or act on it—appealed to my muse. The rest, as they say, is history.

Here’s an excerpt from Dark Passages: Tristan & Karen — I hope you enjoy!

Tristan Morin shoved Karen Pierce back into the nearest wall and pressed his mouth against hers. The warmth of her lips, the sweetness of her tongue, saliva and breath—it was enough to strip the senses from him.

“Tell me to stop,” he whispered, because it was all he could do not to wrench her head back by the hair and sink his teeth into the hot, pulsating length of her carotid artery. His canines had extended, dropping from recessed grooves in his gum line. His pupils had enlarged, an ancient, primitive reflex that left them dilating wide enough to nearly swallow the visible portions of his irises and corneas. In this sudden, extremely light-sensitive field of vision, Karen’s pale skin seemed to glow, miniscule droplets of perspiration glistening against her face like diamonds.

“No.” She shook her head defiantly, her cheeks flushed, her blonde hair askew, her blue eyes glossy and round with eager anticipation.

He reached between them, ripping open her blouse with a single, forceful yank. Buttons popped loose, scattering against the floor. She wore no bra beneath; he drew back long enough to shrug his way out of his own shirt, then pushed himself into her, feeling the incredible heat of her body, the bullet points of her nipples against his chest.

“Tell me to stop,” he pleaded again, because if he didn’t, he was going to feed from her. And I can’t do that. God help me, I can’t.

Karen locked eyes with him. “No.”

~*~*~

Readers can check out the promotional video for Dark Passages: Tristan & Karen at my website: www.sarareinke.com. At the Flash version, you’ll also find an exclusive “About the Brethren” page that fills readers in on the series to date, and the different characters introduced so far.

Plus, for a limited time, readers can subscribe to my e-Newsletter and receive a FREE ebook copy of Dark Thirst, Book One in The Brethren Series. You can also visit the Contest page at the Source Immortal blog (www.sourceimmortal.com) and sign up for your chance to win a signed paperback copy of Dark Thirst as part of three fantastic prize packages we’re giving away for Valentine’s Day. There’s no better way to be introduced to the world of the Brethren vampires than with the book that started it all!

A lot of would-be authors, and even some published authors, mistakenly believe that writing a story is muse-driven.  They cannot write unless the muse is upon them, pouring forth with their creativity, and shutting out the world for a time, almost as if they’ve received a vision from On High like a prophet of God.

While we would all love to write in such a way, there are times when you stare at the flashing cursor on the blank screen for hours.  There are times when you literally write a line or two and sit there to think about what to do next.  There are times when you actually avoid your project because you just don’t know where to go or what comes next.

But what a lot of authors don’t realize is that writing is a j-o-b.  If you want to  make any money at this gig, you’ve got to EARN your income.  You can’t wait for the miraculous muse to sprinkle her manna from heaven.  Sometimes, you’ve just got to sit down and make yourself write!

Write…what?

ANYTHING!

For me, to break through my writer’s block, I need to loosen my fingers along with my imagination.  The way I do this is to decide whose point of view the new scene is in and jump in.  Begin with their thoughts of what happened the chapter before.  Move the plot forward with some internal conflict.  Get into their head.  Once I do that, I find that the floodgates open and I can write again.

But sitting down and just doing it takes discipline.  I avoided my current project for a few days because of this problem of not knowing where to go next.  The main plot of the book was finished, I only have some wrap up to do.  But it’s the end of the book that can sometimes lull for an author.  Either they love the book too much to let it end, or the excitement of the plot is over and tying things together with a pretty bow can be a chore.

Today, I decided to just sit down and write.  See where it took me.  What transpired was, perhaps, the most tender and pivotal love scene in the book.  They’d already *said* their I love yous earlier on, however, what I wrote was a scene where they “showed” their love for each other in soft caresses and sweet sighs, with no words to speak of.

I challenged myself to make it different, as after you’ve written X amount of books, you begin to have a pattern to your writing style.  I didn’t want it to be a throw-away love scene that you could cut and paste into any of my other books.  And what it became was probably my favorite scene from the book.

You never know where “just sit down and write” will take you.  But everyone on the planet has only 24 hours a day.  Some of us struggle to find the time to write, while others have loads of time on their hands.  But one thing’s for sure.  The successful authors are the ones who just sat down and wrote, regardless if the TV was on, regardless if the kids were playing, regardless if the DH is home.  True, we all have responsibilities to take care of, but when those are all said and done, anything less than just sitting down and writing is an excuse NOT to write.

Nine times out of ten, we’ll NEVER get that coveted time alone, that quiet time, where we can pour forth our muse.

And let’s face it — even if you DO get that quiet time…how many of you are playing online rather than writing?  **raises hand**  Oh, I’m guilty of that, believe me.

But there comes a point in every writer’s life where they have to suck it up and just DO IT!  Perhaps, like me, you’ll find yourself writing the most inspiring scene of your book. 

~~Becka

Okay, so I was off by a week with THE SPIDER PRINCE‘s release date, but it was an error in your favor! 

THE SPIDER PRINCE is now available for purchase!

Book IV of the Desert Princes of Jikkar

He vowed never to love again. Then he met her.

Amani Bantish has been passed over five times for marriage. She fears she has no hope for a husband until finally, the Spider Prince accepts her as his bride. Not for love, but to bear him an heir.

Two years ago, Ziyad Bihar lost his first wife, Karis, and their unborn son under the hooves of a raider’s horse. No one else could possibly compare to the woman he’d once loved, therefore his new bride will not be his princess.

But Ziyad cannot deny that the more he gets to know Amani, the more he fantasizes about his minx of a wife. Yet his loyalty to Karis pulls him deeper into his despair. When Amani’s life is threatened by the very man responsible for Karis’s death, Ziyad realizes he must fight for the woman he loves, or risk losing it all again.

http://www.carnalpassions.com/store/product.php?id_product=75

OR

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-thespiderprince-514001-140.html

~*~

Don’t miss my favorite prince in the Golden Desert!!!  Woohoo!

~~Becka

Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of updates to my blog.  A few weeks ago, my baby daughter accidentally spilled coffee all over my laptop.  It was still under warranty, thankfully, but that meant in order to fix it, the entire laptop needed to be sent off to TN.  UGH.  I waited about two weeks to get it back, and when I did, I learned the only things that hadn’t been replaced were the monitor and the hard drive.  WOW!  It’s like getting an entirely new computer.  I was amazed and thankful that I didn’t have to buy a new one!

I can’t tell you the different levels of heart failure I went through when I saw that coffee on my laptop.  First, it happened in slow-mo, with a long, drawn-out, “NOOOOOOO!!!”  But of course, it’s one of those things you can’t stop from happening.  I felt like Helen Keller without my computer, even though DH sacrificed his work laptop so I could have a computer at least.  But it didn’t have MS Word installed on it, so I couldn’t write, nor could I do my edits on THE JACKAL PRINCE, and it was killing my inner child!

BUT, I finally have my computer back, and I’ve been working on edits and writing.  YAY!  I got my first round edits turned in on JACKAL, Book V of my Desert Princes.  Book IV, THE SPIDER PRINCE, releases from Carnal Passions on Wed., February 16th!  You definitely do NOT want to miss that book, it’s my favorite out of all the princes. 

My current project, HEART OF A SCOUNDREL, is almost finished.  Right now, I just have wrap up to do and then clean it up before I turn it in.  My publisher thinks it’s title is too clunky, and has suggested naming it simply to SCOUNDREL.  That will most likely be the book’s finished title.  But I’ve had great fun writing this one.  It won’t be too long, probably a few thousand words past 40K, but it’s a great little story, I believe! Hopefully you won’t have long to wait before you can read it. 

DH and I have been taking care to eat better and measure our food portions, not to mention getting out and exercising more.  Since January 1st, I’ve lost 16lbs!  It’s very rewarding to see the scale go the other way, considering I lost about 65 lbs before I had my baby daughter, then promptly gained it all BACK!!  Ugh.  So I’ve got to lose all of that AGAIN before I see any “new” progress.  But this time, I’ve been very good about not sneaking food or cheating.  Every week to two weeks, DH and I have our “cheat” days, and that helps a lot.  Couple that with low calorie Skinny Cow ice cream desserts, and we’re doing just fine.  I don’t even miss eating like I used to.

The thing is, whenever we cheat, I feel like I have a gut bomb in my belly now and I pay for it a few hours later.  My insides just don’t like to eat greasy fatty foods after being fed good stuff for awhile.  So I don’t always like to cheat because of how I feel afterward.

My goal is to lose enough weight so that I can buy an affordable treadmill for home.  Ironic, right?!  They do make treadmills for fatties, but you’ve got to shell out the dough.  The moment I can get down a bit, I’m going to buy myself an affordable one.  It’s just easier than packing up five kids and walking around the neighborhood.  It’s very hard for me to get the proper speed I need to get my heart rate up and calories burned when I’ve got to keep five eyes on my kids.  So right now, I’m more focused on MOVING more rather than speed and cardio.  Once I can get my weight down enough with diet and moving more, I can focus more on speed and cardio after I buy a treadmill.  And that IS the goal.  I can’t wait to strap on my iPod and just WALK (or jog) without having to worry about the kids lagging behind or when am I going to exercise if the baby has to nap kind of thing.

Anyway, I’ll keep you updated on my progress.  That’s it from my end.  Hope y’all have been doing well!

~~Becka