I've moved!

My blog is now part of my website. So come on over and say howdy.

Changes...here, there, everywhere

As you've noticed here, and I talked about last month here, I've had my website redesigned. I got my original design when I was still unpublished, without a contract. Just a hopeful writer. At the time I was writing paranormals, but turned out that my contemporaries were the ones that caught an editor's eye first. While I loved the design, after three years and five books, I had to face the cold hard facts. It was time to say good bye to the old look.

There are now drop-down menus, an "Extras" tab where you can find my free books and deleted scenes. There is a "Series" tab so if you're following either of my series, you'll be able to find them listed in order, a "Coming Soon" tab that I'll hopefully keep filled :D On my Booklist, there are now links not only to my publisher's stores but also to Amazon, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, the Book Depository, All Romance eBooks...so you'll have lots of choices depending on where or how you buy your books! Got a Kindle, you'll have a link. Got a Nook - easy peasy. Considering that 90% of you buy from those sites, I wanted to make it as easy as possible for you to find my books.

Here's the biggie considering you're reading this here on Blogger...my blog is moving over to my website so everything will be together in one place. I started posting here back in January 2007, so there are four years of posts and comments. It was wonderful for an unpublished author to have a place to find friends, both readers and other authors. But I'm thrilled that I will be able to have my blog on my website. This site has become like a second website to me, especially once Blogger added its pages feature. But it took an incredible amount of time and challenged my memory about all the places I needed to post links.

It should make it easier for you too -- no more jumping around between sites. Everything will be in one place, so if I talk about a book on a Snippet Saturday, you just have to click on a tab in the top menu and you'll be right there on the book's page, with excerpts and trailers and buy links. And then you can slide over to the Extras page to see if there are any deleted scenes, or free reads.

What it all means is that I'll be posting over there instead of here. I've moved my Google Friends Connect link to there, changed my feed to Goodreads, and will change the feed to Amazon in the morning. (As Dee said to me the other day, it's like changing banks and trying to remember all the bills that come out automatically.) Everything will switch over gradually. If you get your RSS feed from this page, you may have to change it over to that page.

I hope to see you there...because I'm going to have a question for you to answer. (and I'll have a new cover to share with you!)

Same bat time, but not the same bat place...now it'll be http://LeahBraemel.com/blog

And you just might want to take a look at the blog -- there's a new cover up and as Dee Carney said over on Twitter: "Get out the H20" It's one hot cover!

Marian Perera: Setting and Sex

There are many exotic and unusual places to have sex, and I don’t just mean the Jacuzzi. When I was in grad school, I once reluctantly ended a hot date with a guy called Jason because I had to check on my bacterial cultures, but he drove me to the lab. It was eleven p.m., so no one else was there. I unlocked the door and examined my cultures while Jason stood outside.

“Want to come in?” I said. He declined, looking uneasy.

“It’s safe. And if you like, I’ll sit on the big centrifuge and start it vibrating.”

Sadly, even that wasn’t enticement enough. Though if it had happened in a book I would have continued the action on the big centrifuge and in the embedding room and possibly under the decontamination shower as well.

But as well as giving characters new and interesting places to get it on, a careful use of setting carries a lot of symbolic weight as well. Wuthering Heights is a great example of this, since the setting is the most memorable reflection of Cathy’s and Heathcliff’s violent, passionate personalities. Storms rage across the moors, and Wuthering Heights itself stands high on the moorland, exposed to winds and weather.

And Cathy’s true love is part of that rough, fierce existence. Even though she chooses a life of luxury symbolized by Thrushcross Grange, a house in the sheltered valley, her heart remains on the desolate moors.

In Phillipa Gregory’s Wideacre, Beatrice meets Ralph on the land which both of them love, and they consummate their relationship on the river bank. Similarly, when she sets out to seduce Harry, she does so on the sunlit downs and in the shadows of trees. Again, it’s natural and open.

But as their relationship devolves into power plays and sexual sadism, they start meeting indoors, in a room specially appointed for that purpose. Their relationship is now a secret she has to hide from the land itself.

Settings can also hint at the consequences of such encounters. In my novel Before the Storm, Alex is a woman owned by the nobility, so she’s expected to perform under any circumstances. But when her owner gives her as a gift to his greatest rival, Robert Demeresna, Robert is highly reluctant to touch her in enemy territory.

They gradually start trusting each other as they travel to his home, and when they finally do make love, it’s in the master bedroom of his house. Which should have been a warning sign to Alex that she was with a responsible, conservative man who wouldn’t just tumble her in the hay – and who might therefore expect a similar level of commitment from her eventually.

Now I have a question for you. What’s the most interesting place your characters have ever had sex?

Meet Marian Perera

Marian Perera studies medical laboratory technology (final year of college!) when she isn’t writing. Her first novel, a romantic fantasy called , was just released in paperback, and she blogs about writing, publication and every step between the two at Flights of Fantasy

Want to know more about Marian?  Read more about her on her blog. Interested in Before the Storm? Check it out at Amazon.

Want to win Personal Protection?

I'm helping Vivian Arend celebrate her tenth release, Turn It Up, with Samhain Publishing over on Facebook today.

In order to make sure everyone is up to speed with my Hauberk series for my upcoming release Deliberate Deceptions, which is book 3 in the series, I'm giving away an  e-copy of book #2: Personal Protection.

Head on over to Viv's author page, read the excerpt and then follow the directions at the bottom of the note for your chance to win. http://www.facebook.com/notes/vivian-arend/giveaway-3-personal-protection-by-leah-braemel-ebook/153126704742043

Good luck!

Frugal? Or fed up?

It's been a while since I allowed myself to rant on here. Bad for the image and all that. But here goes...

Publishers say a cover can make a consumer pick up a book off the shelf. Well, for me, and for most Canadians, this is the part of the cover that determines if we'll put it down:

See the difference? We're used to it. We don't like it, but we're used to it. We told ourselves that price reflected the difference in our dollar.  But it does factor into my decision whether to buy a book or not. I have a tipping point. I've often put a book down because it sets off my "that's too frickin' much" meter.

But the Canadian dollar is currently at par with the United States dollar. It's even strong against the pound (back in 2000 I paid $2.35 to buy a British pound, now I can buy one for $1.59) It's been hovering around par since 2007 with a few fluctuations. Back in 2007 when our dollar not only achieved parity but soared to $1.10 compared to the US dollar, Walmart announced they'd only charge us the American price if we took the book to the til. Chapters/Indigo (our only Canadian book chain ) were forced to follow suit. But then that offer slowly and quietly went away in both stores. And yup, we're back to paying that $18.50 again.

What started this rant? Yesterday I went to pre-order Patricia Brigg's newest book, River Marked. Patricia is one of the few authors I auto-buy. I adore both her Mercy Thompson series, and her Alpha and Omega series. I definitely wanted to get my hands on her next book. Until I noticed this...

Amazon.com's price? $14.18 

Barnes and Noble's price? $14.18

But those are the US stores...I like to support Canadian stores...okay, Canadian STORE since I have no independent book stores in my area.(Chapters/Indigo took over the Canadian book market and forced out all the little guys a la Fox Books in You've Got Mail.)

Chapters/Indigo  $23.10 (or $21.95 if I use a membership card that costs me $25 a year)

So I turned to my faithful standby, the Book Depository. Now the BD are not Canadian, they're run out of England, even though they have a .com site that makes it look like they operate from the States. Their price: $20.41

Note: the Book Depository does give me the option of converting that to US dollars ($20.21) but all these sites know where I am from my IP number I assume and I am not sure if an American would be charged that same price.

So it really chaps my hide to see such exorbitant price differences, especially when our dollar is strong against both the US buck and the British pound.

When I was ranting about this price discrepancy on Twitter yesterday, Vicki Essex who works for Harlequin tried to explain to me about how the publishing industry determines their prices six months in advance. There was a lot more to it and I sort of got it but when it comes down to it, as a consumer, I cannot get my head around a $7 - 9 price jump just for crossing the border.  

Chapters/Indigo will spin me some tale, and I suspect this is the reason for the price difference, that they only deal with publishers who have Canadian distributors. (That's why it's nearly impossible to get Personal Protection on the shelves in my own stores--Samhain doesn't have a Canadian distributor.) So I'm guessing there's a middle man taking a huge cut off the top here. I suspect it's something similar with the Book Depository. And I will also cut BD a bit of slack since they don't charge for shipping to over 90 countries.

The thing that publishers tend to forget? If the book is in hardcover, I know that if I wait a couple months I'll be able to pick it up on a bookstore's sale table for $10. I did it for Acheron by Sherrilyn Kenyon, and for Patricia's last book, Silverborne.

Don't get me started on the practice of changing a series that was originally issued only in paperback to hardcover and making me wait for a more reasonably priced paperback. That's a whole 'nother rant.

And yes, I could possibly buy it through the Kindle for the exorbitant price of $14.82 -- ACE books, your agency pricing SUCKS! I refuse to pay more for a Kindle book than Amazon charges for the fricking HARDCOVER! That's insane! It's available on the Nook for $12.99, though not to Canadians. I checked Kobo Books but it's not up for pre-order there.

But here's my message to the publishers: I WILL NOT pay over $15 for a book.  Even a hardcover. And I definitely will not pay more than $9.99 for an ebook.

I can wait. Or I can visit a library and you'll lose out on that sale. 

***

Back in the early part of this decade the Canadian dollar was worth only about 61 cents to an American dollar. It worked really well for Americans visiting Canada. Their dollar was worth almost two of ours so they could snatch up incredible bargains. With expenses a lot less and Canadian cities able to double for American cities, producers and directors flooded to Canada to make their movies and save money at the same time. A whole new industry burgeoned up here. It worked really well for companies shipping their products to the American markets. But for Canadians travelling to the States? OMG it was so expensive and we had to think twice. A hotel room that would cost Americans $100 a night would cost us almost $150 Canadian dollars. Tourism to the States, and out of Canada in general, dropped because we couldn't afford to travel.

Around 2005 the Canadian dollar began to slowly battle back. By 2008 it was at par with the American dollar. It's fluctuated back and forth, even dropping back down to .76 very briefly in 2009. But for most of 2010 it's not dropped below .93 cents to the American dollar.

**Edited** By the way, that price graphic at the top of the blog? That was from Beth Kery's Explosive which just released in November 2010. When the dollar was still hovering at par. Did I pay that? Nope. I bought it from the Book Depository for the grand price of $9.08, including free shipping. Told you. I'm frugal.

Also, just as this posted, literary agent Rachel Gardner posted about "remaindered books" ... how those $20 books end up on a sale table for half price or more.

And over on Facebook, Jess Warth reminded me about NAFTA -- the North American Free Trade Agreement. Guess it doesn't apply to books :(

Inez Kelley: Sex and Chocolate

Two of life’s greatest things, right? Adult novelty shops have long combined the two. You can buy chocolate body paint, chocolate flavored body sugar, etc. Scientific studies have even proven that the same endorphins released during orgasm are triggered by chocolate consumption.

In my new release SWEET AS SIN, Livvy is a pastry chef. She likes the sweet stuff. John, however, likes the spicy things in life. Wouldn’t you know it, sweet and spicy can be delicious together.

Sweet as Sin

copyright 2011 by Inez Kelley

“If you want sexy and playful…” Livvy let the flirty statement hang until John arched a questioning brow. “Go read the top rack of the display case out in the main storefront. The entire top tier is from the Adult Cravings line.”

“Adult cravings,” John repeated, crossing his arms. Carnal lust deepened his eyes to night-sea blue. “What kind of cravings do you have, Liv?”

“Do you mean me or the store?”

The air crackled with innuendo. “Either.”

“Well, I told you about the Chocolate Orgasms. We also make Buttercrotch Crunch, Lemon Lick-her bars, Pink Layer Soufflés, Double Chocolate-Chip Studmuffins, Cinnamon Red Hot Lovers, Peanut Butter Nookies, Sugared Sixty-Nines, and my favorite, Triple Cheesecake Climax.”

“Triple climax, huh? Now there’s an interesting personal challenge.” A wealth of flirtation hid behind his smile. One petal drooped.

“You’re distracting me, Murphy.”

“Sorry.” His tone implied he wasn’t at all.

“The sooner I finish this, the sooner we can leave.”

“And do what?” he challenged.

Livvy took her time and completed the bloom before looking at him. “That depends on what I’m craving tonight.”

He drew a deep breath, lust flaring like a match before he walked away. “Work faster, Liv.”

John strolled, hands in his pockets, staring at the strange oversized machines that created delicate pastries. The large ovens were taller than he was and placed at the far end of the room, away from the decorating area. The opposite wall was the back entry to the display shelves which dominated the store front. He shivered when he opened the refrigerated side door, the cold pooling around him in a pale swirl.

“Help yourself to anything you want,” Livvy called, not moving her eyes from the flower nail in her hand.

Hopping onto the table opposite her, John tasted the Belgian chocolate. The decadent sound from his lips sent shivers through her thighs.

“Damn, Liv, was this from the top rack? It’s like sex on a fork.”

“That’s a Chocolate Orgasm.”

John devoured the brownie, licking the plastic fork clean. “I’m hooked. It’s like chocolate crack. You must be Jenny Craig’s nightmare.”

She burst out laughing and he joined her. The sound created a tender quiver in her heart. The grooves around his lips proved how little he truly laughed in life. Hope bloomed as she realized with her his laughter came easily.

Cover Art Copyright© 2010 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited
Permission to reproduce text granted by Harlequin Books S.A. 
Cover Art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited.
All rights reserved. © and ™ are trademarks owned by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its affiliated companies, used under license. ~~~~~~
Livvy’s Sugar Shack recipe for

Chocolate Orgasm Brownies

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
5 ounces high quality dark chocolate (at least 70 % cacao), finely chopped
1 ounce unsweetened/bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tsp almond extract
1 tablespoon freshly ground chili peppers (if you want more kick, use a bit more )
3 cold large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup chocolate chips/toasted nuts (optional)

~Preheat oven to 325°F. Line the bottom and the sides of an 8-inch square baking pan parchment paper, leaving an overhang. OR use foil cup lined muffin tin for individual servings.

~ Combine the butter, cocoa, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. I use the microwave in short 20 second intervals, stirring every 20 seconds. Stir until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth and fairly warm. Stir in chili pepper. Set aside for one minute to allow the chili pepper to ‘roast’ in the warm mixture.

~ Using a wooden spoon, stir in the almond extract. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring quickly. Blend in flour, then beat for 40 strokes. Stir in the chips/nuts. Spread the batter evenly in the lined pan.

~Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out slightly moist, 20 to 25 minutes. Let the brownies cool completely on a rack. Cut into squares OR use foil cup lined muffin tin(reducing bake time as needed- you’ll need to watch this as you know your oven but I don’t).

Top with drizzled chocolate ganache

1 cup heavy cream
2 cups good quality dark chocolate, chopped fine
Heat cream almost to a scald. Remove from burner and add chocolate all at once
Blend until it is smooth. Drizzle directly onto brownies. (store leftover in the fridge and top your ice cream!)

Sweet as Sin

She’s made for sin. Sin is something he knows intimately.
John Murphy is tormented by nightmares. A bestselling young-adult author, he writes the ultimate fantasy: stories where good always triumphs. He knows better. His past has shown him the worst in people—and in himself. When he moves next door to the sexy, vibrant Livvy—a woman completely unlike his usual one-night stands—he's driven to explore every curve of her delicious body.

Pastry chef Livvy knows that giving in to the temptation that is John Murphy won't lead to anything permanent, but she deserves a passionate summer fling. John discovers she's as sweet as the confections she bakes while Livvy slowly unravels his secrets. But what will happen when she uncovers them all?

Buy Sweet as Sin at Carina Press, AMZ, ARe, BoB or B&N

Inez Kelley is a multi-published author of various romance genres. You can visit her at her website http://inezkelley.com/ Follow Inez on twitter at @Inez_Kelley or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/inez.kelley