Happy 5th Birthday Aspen Mountain Press

Hey there

I’m guessing if you’re reading this post you’re stopping by as part of the Aspen Mountain Press celebratory tour. WELCOME!

AMP is celebrating it’s 5th birthday – with some awesome prizes. One of those prizes… *ahem*… a Kindle. Another? An e-copy of my AMP book, Visiting Paradise.
Winning is real easy. Just read the blog, post your comment and move on to the next blog. Oh, and there is one essential other ingredient: HAVE FUN!

Remember, the blog tour officially starts on the 1st of Aug!

Visiting Paradise is a short story, set in the gorgeous Whitsunday Islands in Queensland, Australia. It’s no coincidence the book was set there. It was written a couple years after we holidayed on one of the islands, and had an absolutely amazing time! The Whitsundays are made up of 74 tropical islands, and each one is more beautiful than the next. Some are completely uninhabited, some have only one hotel on them, and some are more built up with several hotels and shops, private homes, etc.

The above images are of (from left to right) Daydream Island, Hayman Island and Whitehaven Beach. Look out for some of these in the book!

When we first planned the holiday, we had decided to rent a boat and cruise around the islands for a week. We’d been told that was the best way to see the whole area. There are several places were you can rent 4 or 6 sleepers (or larger boats), which gives you the ability to make your own way around the islands. But then real life happened and got in the way, and well, that never trip never took place. I never got over that disappointment. I decided then and there that if I couldn’t do the trip myself, I’d have to have a couple of my characters undertake it. And thus Joe and Beth were born…

Visiting Paradise: The Blurb

Beth Brown needs a holiday. She’s burnt out, single and madly in love with the man who pays her salary, Joe Bastion. Much as she’d like to act on her feelings, Beth’s learned the hard way not to sleep with the men she works for.  As far as she is concerned, Joe is off limits.
Sometimes, to get what you want, you have to chase hard. And  Joe wants Beth  He’s organized the trip of a lifetime for her. Beth’s about to set sail into paradise, and she has no idea Joe’s the one who’ll be taking her there.

Visiting Paradise: An Excerpt

He braced himself to catch her weight and she landed with a gentle thud against his chest.

She gaped at him.  “Joe-”

There was no time for explanation.  Her breasts cushioned his ribs, her legs were pressed against his and her mouth was open, exposing flashes of pearly-white teeth and the tip of her pink tongue.  For the life of him, he couldn’t answer.  He lowered his head to hers.

“Joe,” she gasped again, just before their lips met, and it did him in.  She said his name in the same breathless, fuck-me voice she’d used the night before.  He molded his lips to hers and slid his tongue into the hot, wet cavern of her mouth, taking full advantage of her open-mouthed astonishment.

The shockwave of awareness that jolted between them almost bloody electrocuted him.  The instant his tongue touched hers, she melted. Collapsed against him.  Tiny purring sounds escaped her as her body relaxed.  Her lips softened and she responded to his kiss with a hungry acceptance of inevitability.

This was where their relationship had been heading from day one.

Her kiss reverberated through him.  Heat curled through his stomach and inched lower, its fire consuming his oxygen.  He couldn’t breathe.  It wasn’t just his physical response to her.  Something else was at play here, something deeper, something more personal.  Much more personal.

The loneliness that had been his lifelong companion began to crumble and Joe, unused to experiencing anything beside the dull hollow in his heart, registered surprise as emotion began to churn in his chest.

This was right.  This was meant to be.

He pulled back, needing to look at her, to see if she felt the same way.

Her eyes were dazed; her chest rose and fell unevenly.  “Joseph…”  She breathed his name.

“Jesus, Beth.  You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.”

“You shouldn’t have.”  Had she not been so languid in his arms, he might almost have believed she meant it.  But her fingers toyed with the nape of his neck and her nipples had pebbled into tight beads beneath her damp top, her response at odds with her words.

“I can stop.”  His offer was reluctant, especially so as her luscious lips parted and her eyelids drift shut.

“You should.”  There was ambivalence in her voice.  She took a deep breath.  “Please…don’t.”

She reached blindly for his mouth and pulled herself into him.  As their lips touched, he groaned.  Why had it taken so long to reach this point?  All that wasted time.  He’d waited his whole life to meet the woman who could end his solitude, and when he finally did—she made him wait some more.  Made him suffer under the assumption she didn’t care, didn’t want him.  But she did.

He kissed her harder, crushed his mouth against hers, allowing all his suppressed passion to surface in his kiss.  She whimpered in response and before he realized it, he’d untied the straps of her bikini top.  It dropped to the ground between them and Joe pulled her closer, relishing her naked flesh against his, the soft, round breasts squashed against his chest.

The kiss was so sweet and so hot, it twisted his gut and played havoc with his balls.  He groaned out loud.  “You’re tormenting me, Bethy.”

————————–

So…interested in winning a copy of Visiting Paradise?

All you need to do is comment on which island you’d love to holiday on, or have already holidayed on. Or, if you’re not an island person, just lemme know what your dream holiday would be. It’s that simple.

Wondering where to go next? Check out MT Albright. You can find his blog here.

Good luck!

Jess

Tour Rules:
1) Tour Starts: Monday, August 1, 2011 at Midnight (EST)
Tour Ends: August 7, 2011 at Midnight (EST)
Final Celebration is August 7th from 6pm-11pm (EST) at the AMP Community Loop.
Grand Prize: a Kindle (Wi-Fi, Graphite, 6″ Display with New E-Ink Pearl Technology) is the Grand Prize. Drawing will take place and be announced on August 7, 2011 on the AMP Community Loop at 11pm (EST). Only comments posted before 10pm (EST) on August 7, 2011 are eligible to win the Kindle. Winner will be notified by email on August 8, 2011 if they are not present on the Loop for the announcement.
***Individual winners from author contests will be drawn and posted August 8, 2011 on their individual sites.***
2) Participation at every blog on the tour is not required but the more blogs a person comments on, the more chances they have to win. If a person comments on one blog, they are entered into the Grand Prize Drawing once. If they comment on ten different blogs, they will be entered into the Grand Prize drawing ten times. Only one comment per blog per person will be entered to win the Grand Prize.
3) The winner of the Grand Prize must be a resident of the United States with a US mailing address. Non-US winners will be eligible for $50 US in Aspen Mountain Press books from the AMP Website.
4) Prizes at individual author blogs are completely at the discretion of the individual authors and are not in association with Aspen Mountain Press and its prize system. To enter the contest on any given blog, you must follow their contest rules and objectives.
5) By commenting on any blog in the tour, the participant is agreeing to these rules and policies.
6) All prize winners will be chosen randomly by using Random Line Picker.

All my bags are packed

I’m ready to go…

Yeah, okay, so I suck at singing. But I’m still humming that song out loud! Because my bags are indeed packed. And tomorrow I get to go away for two whole lovely weeks.

So if things are quiet from my side, don’t worry. I’ll be lying on the beach, soaking up some sun. (Er, if the rain ever quits, that is).

Now, if you’re wondering what’s happened to the Samhain Publishing and My Bookstore and More sites, here’s your answer:

Samhain is undergoing a massive revamp. They’re remodeling the site.

So, if you’re looking for a book of mine, and you can’t get onto the Samhain site, fear not.
Check out Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books On Board or  All Romance Ebooks.

Search for Jess Dee, and you’ll find all my books there.

Have a happy two weeks.

Jess

Happy New Year

Wishing you all a wonderful, happy new year.

May all your dreams come true in 2010

Jess

A quick update

Yep, I’ve been slack. Haven’t posted in a while. But I have a valid excuse, I swear.

I went away. On an overseas trip, all by my lonesome. Left DH and the kids at home and headed off to Canada and the States to visit friends and family. It was a brilliant, relaxing trip.

I read, read and read some more. Finished Breaking Dawn, and now I’m devastated because I’m done with the Twilight series and I already miss Edward and Jacob. Also read The Host, and now I wish I was Stephenie Meyer because the woman is a genius. Started Karen Marie Moning’s Fever series. Read Dark Fever, I’m in the middle of Blood Fever, and can’t wait to read Fae Fever. (Hmm, have I mentioned before that KMM is one of my all time fave authors?) Read a few of my other favourite romance authors; Linda Howard, Karen Robards, Susan Elizabeth Philips – and I have a Jenny Crusie waiting for me on my Han Lin.

Oh, and did I mention my big news…?

Steve’s Story releases at Samhain on the 28th of Aril. That’s Tuesday. Just four days away. OMG, I am so excited, and so nervous. I adore Steve, and simply had to write his story. I hope you adore him just as much:

You can find out more about the book here:

http://samhainpublishing.com/coming/circle-of-friends-steve-s-story

Jess

Honey, I’m home

Wow. It’s been ages since I last posted.

Apologies.

It’s been a crazy whirlwind of a month. But I’m not complaining. I have loved every minute of it. We’ve just returned home from a fantastic holiday in Yepoon, at the Capricorn Resort. Honestly, if you’re looking for a place where you can do nothing but relax and have a real summer holiday, this is the place. We had such a good time. (Which might have been increased a millionfold by the fact that we spent it with new friends and old.) Anyway, we’re all tired, happy and tanned (even with protection factor 30 applied liberally throughout the last three weeks) and not really looking forward to the work-filled weeks ahead.

So, some news…

While I was away, I found out Boys Down Under was nominated for “Best Anthology of 2008″ at the Preditors and Editors Readers’ Poll. Pretty Cool huh?

If you’d like, you can go and post a vote for Boys Down Under on the Voting Page. It’s simple. Just scroll down alphabetically until you come to the book, select the anthology and then enter your name and email address at the bottom of the page.

Now I have to go and unpack suitcases, and do about a hundred loads of washing. (Wish I was joking about that one.)

I hope you all have a wonderful, happy 2009, and it’s filled with all good things.

Jess

Christmas Contest Info…

No, I don’t write paranormal stories, but yes, there is one in Boys Down Under. Which means Boys Down Under has been included in the 15 Naughty Nights of Christmas Contest. For your chance to win awesome prizes (ie…books), visit Bitten By Books.

Each night for 15 days Bitten By Books will post a new naughty contest for you to enter with a total prize value of over $125.00!! You have to go back each day to see what you could win and what the rules are for entry. Don’t worry they won’t make it too hard for you. Contests end on 12/22 and all winners will be announced on Christmas Eve. You will receive your prize directly from the author, please be aware that it may take them some time to send them out due to the holidays. Please note due to the adult content in every prize, you MUST be 18 to enter. International readers are welcome to enter.

So what are you doing still reading this blog?

Go. Enter the contest. Win a prize.

Good luck!

Jess