Three Books For The Price of One!!

You heard me right!  Right now I’ve got a very special offer for you lovers of contemporary romance. Three of my VK Sykes books—the sexy romances I write with my husband—are available in one beautiful anthology, currently on sale for only 99 cents!

Yep, for a limited time we’re offering three full length books for only 99 cents.  The stories in this series revolve around the players on a major league baseball team, and their friends and families. It includes Fastball, Hardball, and Bigger Than Beckham. Here’s the blurb for Hardball, which recently won The Kindle Book Review Best Indie Books of 2012 Contest, in the romance category:

After years of hard work, Dr. Holly Bell has finally landed a position as a cardiac surgeon at a prestigious children’s hospital in Philadelphia. She’s always been about her dedication to work, and she’s not letting anything or anyone get in her way. And a hot affair with a superstar athlete is most definitely getting in Holly’s way.

Nate Carter, star pitcher for the Philadelphia Patriots, is at the height of his game, with a great career and the most gorgeous women in town in full pursuit. Nate has everything he wants, or at least he thinks he does, until he meets the beautiful and brainy Dr. Holly Bell. He’s totally up for a hot affair, and Holly turns out to be the hottest.

But when the lovely doctor starts changing the rules, Nate realizes he just might be playing for keeps.

The Philadelphia Patriots 3 book box set is now available on Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and will soon be up on Apple. We’ll soon be releasing more books in this series, so this anthology is a great way to catch up.

So if you like sports romances, sexy contemporary romance, hot heroes, or any and all of those three things, I hope you give The Philadelphia Patriots a try!


Holiday Gifts of Love Blog Hop!!

It’s a Happy Holidays blog hop from your favorite Authors and Bloggers! While we know that everyone celebrates in different ways during this season, we wanted to show you guys how much we appreciate your support. So from Dec 14th to Dec 17th, all 200 or so of us will be blogging about the holidays and what they mean to us, and we want to hear what they  mean to you!

And while we do that, we are EACH doing a giveaway. Yep. There will be over 200 giveaways on each blog hosted by that Author or Blogger.

But that’s not all….

We have THREE grand prizes. You as a reader can go to EACH blog and comment with your email address and be entered to win. Yep, you can enter over 200 times!

Now what are those prizes?

1st Grand Prize: A Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet

2nd Grand Prize: A $200 Amazon or B&N Gift Card

3rd Grand Prize: A Swag Pack that contains paperbacks, ebooks, 50+ bookmarks, cover flats, magnets, pens, coffee cozies, and more! (U.S. giveaway only)

I’m also giving away a great prize right here on my blog:  a copy of my holiday historical romance, His Mistletoe Bride, and copy of my latest VK Sykes contemporary romance, Bigger Than Beckham, AND a $10 Amazon gift card.

Wow!  What’s not to love about this blog hop?!

So what do I love about my favorite holiday, Christmas?  A lot of things, but I really enjoy the beauty of the season that comes from all the wonderful decorations.  Nothing says Christmas to me like a big tree covered with glittering ornaments and twinkling lights.

When I was a kid, my family took great pride in having the biggest tree in the neighborhood.  My mother had boxes and boxes of glass ornaments – the real thing – that she carefully unpacked each year and helped us to hang on the tree.  To this day, decorating the tree is one of my favorite parts of the holidays.

And there’s nothing like a gorgeous wreath to make things festive, too!

So pretty!

What about you, folks?  Do you have any special decorations you put up to help you celebrate the holidays, whatever that holiday might be at this time of year?  One person who comments will win my giveaway of two books and a gift card, and you’ll also be entered to win the grand prizes, too!  Please be sure to include your email in your comment so you’ll be eligible for one of the grand prizes.

And once you’ve left a comment below, click on this link or the picture at the top of the blog and hop away to all the other great blogs in the Gifts of Love Holiday Blog Hop!  And for more info about my latest Regency-set historical romance, His Mistletoe Bride, please visit my books page to read an excerpt and the blurb.

Happy Holidays!


We Have Winners!

The winners of the Rock*It Reads Heating Up The Holidays Blog Hop are:

Kat – a copy of His Mistletoe Bride and a Christmas ornament

Jeanne Miro – a copy of Bigger Than Beckham and a $10 Amazon gift card

And the winner of the Mary Campisi giveaway is May.

Congratulations, ladies!  I’ll be in touch.  Thanks to everyone who participated in the blog hop and stopped by to read about all these great authors.  I’ll be doing lots of fun stuff here over the next several weeks – including hosting some great romance writers – so be sure to stop back.


Rock*It Reads: Heating Up The Holidays Blog Hop!!

Welcome to the Rock*It Reads Heating Up the Holidays Blog Hop. There are 15 stops on the blog tour. The more blogs you visit and comment on, the greater your chances of winning the grand prize, a $75 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble or Amazon, and a huge collection of books from the authors of Rock*It Reads. Smaller prizes will be available at each stop along the way.

Good luck, and have fun!

As you can tell from that luscious header, the theme of our blog hop is Heating Up The Holidays.  And how are we going to heat up our holidays, you might ask?  I’ll tell you–with sexy men!

It so happens that I have a holiday-themed historical romance that came out in October.  The hero of His Mistletoe Bride, Lucas Stanton, the Earl of Merritt, is definitely one sexy dude.  And it was easy to create him that way because I used a very inspiring template for his character–the drop-dead gorgeous actor, Henry Cavill.

Nice, eh?  My heroine, Phoebe Linville, thinks so too.  Phoebe isn’t very experienced when it comes to men.  After all, she was raised in a small Quaker village in America.  But when she lays eyes on Lucas for the first time she feels a tingle in places that she didn’t even know could tingle!  Lucas certainly heats up her holidays, and if I ever ran into Henry Cavill while Christmas shopping…well, I better stop there or I’ll get in trouble with my husband.

To read an excerpt of His Mistletoe Bride and to get a peek at my hero, Lucas, visit my books page.

I also have another new book out with a hero who heats things up in a big way.  Bigger Than Beckham is my latest sexy contemporary romance, co-written with my husband under the pen name of VK Sykes. We will neither confirm nor deny that a certain soccer player perhaps served as a wee bit of inspiration, but our hero, Tony Branch, is definitely his own man.  And our fabulous cover artist certainly gave us a model to inspire any red-blooded woman, don’t you agree?  Just click on the cover photo for a bigger image of hunky goodness.

Whew!  I’m fanning myself here, but that cover is my idea of heating things up!  Bigger Than Beckham will heat you up for the holidays, too.  Trust me when I say that this is one steamy book.  To read an excerpt from Bigger Than Beckham, book three in our Philadelphia Patriots series of sports romances, please check out our website.  I think you’ll enjoy meeting the sexy Mr. Branch!

Readers, who would be your dream man for heating up the holidays?  Would you like to take a sleigh ride with Henry Cavill, go ice skating with David Beckham, or is snuggling with your honey by the fireside more your speed?  I’ll be giving away two prizes:

One person who comments will win a print copy of His Mistletoe Bride  and a lovely Christmas ornament.

One person who comments will win a digital copy of Bigger Than Beckham and a $10 Amazon gift card.

Leave a comment below to enter for your chance to win!

Don’t forget to visit the other authors on the Blog Hop for more chances to win!

Kris Kennedy Bonnie Vanak Erin Kellison
Sharon Page Lila DiPasqua Elisabeth Naughton
Norah Wilson Jennifer Lyon Monica Burns
Vanessa Kelly Mia Marlowe
Pamela Clare Margo Maguire Rock*It Reads

#SampleSunday: Bigger Than Beckham, by VK Sykes

Some of you know that in addition to my historical romances, I also write contemporary romance with my hubby under the pen name of VK Sykes.  We have a new book just out.  Bigger Than Beckham is book three in our Philadelphia Patriots series of sports romances.

The heroine, Martha Winston, finds herself the new owner of professional soccer team, left to her by her recently deceased father.  It’s the last thing she needs in her busy life, but her father extracted a deathbed promise that she’d do everything she could to keep his beloved team in the family.   Unfortunately, The Thunder is on the skids and deep in debt, with the bank about to bring down the hammer.  As Martha ponders her next move, she receives call from Tony Branch, former English soccer star and sports maven, and a man she’s been secretly dreaming about for quite some time.

In truth, it would be hell convincing her skeptical backers that her plan to turn the team around was working since there was scant evidence to back up the claim. The Thunder had been sinking fast when she arrived in June, and they’d fallen ever deeper down the rabbit hole since.

Sadly, her team sucked. It needed a full overhaul, requiring both time and money. A lot of money. Meanwhile, the fans would have to be patient.

Fat chance.

Jane Corrigan, her personal assistant and long-time friend, tapped lightly on her open door. Ever-cheery, she gave Martha a grin as she stepped into the spacious but sparsely furnished office. “There’s a guy named Tony Branch on the line. He’s calling from London, and that’s London as in England,” she said, her thin brows lifting in a question.

Martha’s pen fell from her fingers. Tony Branch? With his ruggedly handsome face, toned body, and penetrating gaze, he’d made an impression she’d never forgotten, even two years later.

Suddenly flushed, she brushed a hand carelessly across her heated forehead. It was exactly the same physical reaction she’d experienced when their paths had crossed in England.

“Are you all right, girl?” Jane asked. Her friend knew every one of Martha’s arsenal of looks and gestures, having spent five years working alongside her in the sports department of the Philadelphia Post.

“Right as rain,” Martha said with forced cheeriness as she fanned a hand in front of her face. “It’s just a little warm in here. As for Mr. Branch, please tell him I’m just finishing up another call, and I’ll be with him in a minute.” She needed a few seconds to regain her equilibrium.

Tony frigging Branch. The way-too-sexy Brit had wasted no time undressing her with his smoking hot gaze after that Wimbledon charity dinner. Though the encounter had been short, Martha had no trouble remembering all the relevant details about the man. Tall, with longish dark and wavy hair. Deep-set, dark eyes. Square jaw. On the lean side, but with a soccer player’s well-toned, well-muscled body. A British sports hero, a man worshipped by rabid fans since he was a teenager.

And a total lady-killer, if the gossip rags held even a hint of truth.

She couldn’t deny that his roguish, arrogant smile had almost knocked her off her pins. She’d been instantly attracted both to his looks and his can-do reputation, and had thought the attraction was shared. But, sadly, she’d let that twit from the tennis magazine hustle her off so quickly. The event had practically bored the silk stockings off her, and she’d been happy to leave early. Until she met Tony Branch, that is. Then the evening had ended all too soon.

When she got home, she’d even pitched a feature about him to her editor at the Post. But he’d told her that nobody in the States wanted to read about a British soccer personality unless his name was David Beckham.

But why would Tony Branch call her now? They’d just met the once, and that had been over two years ago.

Flutters danced below her ribcage. She pressed her hand against her stomach, trying to ignore them.

She picked up the phone and punched the flashing light. “Good morning, Mr. Branch. Oh, but I guess it’s already afternoon for y’all over there, isn’t it? You’re way ahead of us colonials, at least in that regard.”

People had always told her she sounded naturally perky, but she ladled an extra measure of southern sass into the mix to try to cover her twitchy nerves.

“Yes, it’s well into afternoon here,” Branch said with a deep chuckle. God, his voice sounded like whiskey poured through dark chocolate. “And please call me Tony. I’m not calling too early, am I?”

Martha remembered the way she’d been instantly drawn to his deep, throaty rasp when they met. There was no trace of poncey schooling in Branch’s voice. A working class lad all the way, and she’d found that enormously appealing.

“Oh, heavens, no,” she said. “It’s nine o’clock here. I’ve already put in two hours’ work.”

“That’s the stuff. Got to get up with the roosters if we want to stay ahead of the pack, don’t we?” Branch said, with a spectacular mixing of metaphors.

“Indeed we do.” She thought she’d enjoy a bit of banter with him, but her nerves made her impatient to discover the purpose of his call. Still, that didn’t stop her from firing a little salvo. “I have to say how glad I am you called. Maybe you could give a rookie owner some tips,” she said in a playful voice. “Lord knows I could use a few. My team’s five and nineteen, and I can’t find a fan these days with a GPS and a bloodhound.”

Branch let out a rumbly chuckle. “Ouch. I can feel your pain. But look, Martha—may I call you Martha?” When he purred her name, her knees actually went weak.

You can call me intrigued. “Why, sure you can, Tony.”

“Excellent. Martha, believe me, I’ve been there. My first year after taking over Blackhampton, we managed one miserable win and two draws in our first fifteen matches. The fans wanted my bollocks on a plate.” He paused. “Sorry, I shouldn’t be using coarse language speaking with a lady. But in any case, after that we only lost six of the final twenty-one, and suddenly I’d become a savior instead of an incompetent, washed-up football player, as one columnist called me.”

Martha smiled. She knew Branch had performed miracles with his top tier club, getting them promoted to the Premier League in only a couple of years. And now they were more or less competitive for the league championship. “How did y’all turn it around, Tony? I’ll pay real good money for any of your secrets.”

Okay, I don’t have any money, but that’s beside the point.

Branch laughed again. Martha liked the throaty sound of it. Low and sexy as, well, sex on a stick.

“I had to kick a few backsides and get rid of some deadwood,” he said. “But the key was that I was able to convince the lads that I’d do whatever it took to turn the side a winner. I promised them that the next season we’d pick up a couple of top-flight midfielders no matter what the cost. The lads trusted me because they knew I’d been one of them. A player who’d gone through all the negative garbage they were going through, both on the field and off. Pretty soon they started acting like winners. Playing hard every minute of every match. Gutting it out.”

Martha sighed. No matter what the cost. It must be a sweet feeling to have deep pockets. Right now, hers were about as deep as a coat of paint. Hell, at this rate she’d be lucky to make payroll until the end of the season.

“You’ve certainly made a success of it,” she said, forcing a cheery voice. “Sixth place last year. Maybe fifth this season.”

“You follow the Premier League that closely, Martha?”

She frowned at the obvious note of surprise in his voice, hoping he wasn’t like some of the team owners and players who considered her little better than a dumb blonde.

“Of course,” she said as a flush of resentment swept over her. But she tamped down the spike and kept her tone light. “Some of us over here on the frontier still manage to keep track of what’s going on in the soccer motherland.”

Branch laughed again, and the rumble sent hot pinpricks dancing across her skin. The charming Brit seemed to appreciate her quirky sense of humor, something she’d found many men didn’t. “I’m glad to hear it. I think I’ll sleep better at night now knowing that.”

She picked up her fountain pen and tapped it against the leather trim of her desk blotter. Why wasn’t he getting to the point? She rather liked chatting away with him, but her stomach kept rolling around and perspiration was beginning to trickle down her spine. “Well, then, sweet dreams,” she said, hoping he’d get on with it.

He seemed to pick up her change in tone. “All joking aside, Martha, I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m contacting you.”

“Can’t say the thought didn’t flicker through my mind. But we southern folk would never be so impolite as to ask straight out.”

He cleared his throat. “I’ll come straight to the point, then. I know you’re in a bit of a pickle over there, and I’d like to find a way to help you out of it.”

You can read another excerpt of Bigger Than Beckham on our website, along with excerpts from our other books in the Philadelphia Patriots series.  Bigger Than Beckham is on sale for $3.49 at Amazon, Smashwords, and Kobo, and will soon be available on the Nook.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

 



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