I’m pleased to be hosting Barbara Meyers today, the author of the Braddock Brothers Series of stand-alone contemporary romances.  Barb has a new book out, and she’s graciously agreed to be my guest blogger today.

Vanessa asked for three to four paragraphs on a reader-oriented subject for this blog and I immediately wondered if I had anything appropriate already prepared.  I seem to write potential blogs all the time but mostly they are about my experiences, my thoughts, myself!

But if I were a reader reading this blog what would I want to read about?  This part about blogging always seems to elude me.  The truth is I don’t know what readers are interested in.  Books and reading, obviously.  Romance novels, right?

Although I love a good romance as part of the plot in the books I read I don’t seek out romance novels to read.  I think I od’d on them in my early twenties.  I read and re-read Rosemary Rogers and Kathleen Woodiwiss among others.  But as I grew as a reader and became a writer, I wanted more.  I do love well-written romantic suspense, especially Tami Hoag and Sandra Brown, as well as straight suspense.  Most recently I’ve read Lisa Gardner’s The Neighbor and am almost finished with Fragile by Lisa Unger.  Though I once eschewed male writers (too brutal and too graphic) I forced myself to reassess that decision and try reading their stuff.  That’s how I discovered the work of James Grippando and Lee Child.  Check out my Goodreads list for other authors I’d recommend.  (Like Ruth Rendell!)

I have never been a fan of faces on the covers of my books.  Yes, they are contemporary romance novels but there’s a bigger story going on around the romance.  Authors are given some input on the covers, and Samhain Publishing does its best to make the faces on the cover resemble the characters.  With my latest, when I questioned the cover choice I got an interesting response.  Something along the lines of “this book is straddling the line between romance and women’s fiction, that’s why we wanted a romantic cover…”

If you like romance novels with a little something more going on, here you go! 

Thanks, Barb!  Readers, here’s the blurb from Barb’s new book, The First Time Again:

There’s no defense when love blindsides your heart.

Once Trey Christopher was the small-town golden boy. Now he’s just another burned-out, washed-up ex-quarterback with a bum knee, a tarnished reputation, and a simple wish. To be the kind of man he can face in the mirror. Moving back home is a start, as is hiring a down-on-her-luck local woman to help him out around his grandparents’ old homestead.

The last thing Baylee Westring wants is to clean house for a high school crush who barely remembers her name, but Trey’s money will finally top off her get-out-of-Henderson-forever escape fund.  Before she hits the road, though, Baylee’s got something for the man she still finds wildly attractive: the virginity he almost—but not quite—took during a drunken teenage party.

Neither is prepared for the emotional impact of that encounter. But just when Baylee dares to believe in happy ever after, an old enemy turns up to even the score. And Trey finds his heart left in the red zone, with his last chance for love ticking down to zero.

Warning: Contains an overeducated housekeeper who’s open to receiving a pass or two, and an ex-football player who can’t seem to stop himself from showing her all his moves.

Vanessa, here.  Doesn’t that sound great?  Since I write sports romances myself as VK Sykes, I’m a sucker for an athlete hero.  Check out details and an excerpt for The First Time Again on Barb’s website.

EXTRA, EXTRA!!  I’m visiting Ramblings With This Chick today, giving away copies of my new VK Sykes sports romance, Curveball.  Come visit me for your chance to win the latest addition to the USA Today bestselling series that I write with hubby!