A slew of recent book reviews!

Kissing Cowboy Reviews

www.ireadromance.com ~ Her writing is cinematic, pulling out for wide shots of engaging group scenes, or zooming in for close-ups so raw and intimate it might make you squirm. Her extensive research is handled with a light touch, never weighing the story down. Girl talk sounds like girl talk, guys sound like guys, a refreshing change from books whose authors guess and get it wrong.

Wilder’s humor strikes just the right note in what might otherwise be an emotionally heavy story. If you can read the assault-with-a-deadly-pastry diner scene without laughing out loud, you need to check your pulse. Kissing Cowboy is a rare combination of Steel Magnolias, Sabrina, Alice, and a Tyler Perry play all rolled up in an erotically tasty dough and heated to sizzling. Bon appétit!  ~Seanachie

romancebookscene.com ~ This book features not only a great love story with two characters who are scared to take the next step, but a bunch of great friends together in a series of scenes that is sure to put a smile on readers faces. Kissing Cowboy brings back characters Miranda, John and a few others from the first of the S.W.A.T. books, Tactical Pleasures. It isn’t necessary to read the S.W.A.T. series to read this book, but the first two are worth a read and available at Ellora’s Cave Publishing. I hope we’ll be seeing the continuation in this series a lot sooner than last time. ~ Roni

Shadow Hunter Review

BittenbyBooks.com The characters themselves did so much to keep the story moving that I forgot about how many shapeshifter and vampire stories out there. I sometimes find myself comparing paranormal romances with one another as I read them, though I didn’t do this with Shadow Hunter at all. In fact, elements of the story stuck with me (in a positive way) throughout the day today – and I finished the book yesterday. That alone makes this one a recommended read.

I love a book that makes me chuckle, and Shadow Hunter had that skill down pat.  ~ Rachel

Cajun Blue Review

Whipped Cream Dominique Adair is a wonderful writer who knows exactly how to kick up the heat and fuel sexual tension. The pace never relents, and you’ll soar through the pages as Elle and Blue gave in to their D/s tendencies while they open the door to more fulfilling possibilities. ~ Fern

Weight Loss Wednesday: Hiccups & Victories

I’ve had more hiccups and victories than I’d want to count. I lose, I gain, I lose, I gain, I gain, I gain. It’s a slippery slope and can damage your self-esteem Big Time. (Of this I know!)

Today, I’m asking you (and myself) to let go of all the hiccups in your past and focus on the little victories. Why kick yourself because you gained a pound? If you’re female, you’re held at the whim of your monthlies anyway so bouncing around between 1-2 pounds isn’t a big deal. So if you gained a little weight this week ask yourself, did you set yourself up to succeed? If you did everything you can, made good food choices, added some intential exercise (taking the stairs or walking through the entire store rather than heading to what you need and getting out) that’s a victory.

My victory this week is a fun one. On monday I mentioned how I hate numbers and calorie counting etc so instead I have a tendency to judge my success by how my clothing feels. Last year I’d bought a bathing suit that was several sizes smaller than what I was wearing at that time. It always fit meaning I could pull it on but there was no way I was going to let anyone see me in it! <g>

Well today, it fits. WOOOTTTTT!

This is a big-assed victory for me. Well, a slightly smaller-assed victory I guess. So what did the scale tell me this morning? Sixty-nine pounds and counting…BOO-yah.

I’m headed off to the pool to show off my svelte athletic awesomeness! <g> Who else has a victory this week?

Thanks to Becky Barker…

Who sent me the link to:  http://www.diylife.com/2010/02/11/the-daily-fix-clean-up-a-keyboard-spill/ after seeing me whine about dumping soda in my laptop. <g>

The lapper did survive – WOOT!

And what a great DIY website. Love it! Thanks, Becky.

Do you remember…

…drinking from jelly glasses? No, not the ones you can buy now with the modern cartoon characters. I’m talking about the 1950’s & 60’s, Davy Crocket, Annie Oakley or the Archies glasses? We also used to drink out of Bama grape jelly jars. I probably still have some of those in the garage.

These were the days when a company courted their buyers by offering something else with your purchase. Buy our jelly and get a free juice glass. Free with purchase isn’t a new concept at all. When gas stoves came into vogue, people worried about the cost of gas. They were a hard sell versus coal/wood burning stoves which everyone was familiar with. A few inventive marketing pioneers came up with the idea of creating recipes that could be made on a gas stove without preheating the oven.

What? You can’t bake a cake unless the oven is preheated.

Actually, you can. These entrepreneurs worked to re-engineer traditional recipes of the day so that preheating wasn’t required. So when they went to market their new-fangled stoves…save money when you bake…no preheating required. People ate it up.

Very few of those recipes survived through the years but I do have the pound cake recipe. It is the best damned pound cake I’ve ever eaten.

So what brought on this tangent? I was digging through a cupboard for a jar to put some rice in and I came across one of the old collectible Tang jars. (Heck, do they even make tang anymore?) Yes, I’m the proud owner of a complete set. <g>

I then got to thinking about the free with purchase concept. Brand loyalty is achieved when a consumer purchases a product and recieves (either physically or by perception) MORE than what they expected. This is a pretty simple concept and can be applied to any situation. When you buy a book, isn’t it cool that you can go to the author website and download desktop wallpaper? Or read an extra chapter that was removed before publication?

Yes, this is what I think about when I’m wide awake at 2:45 in the morning. I think I need a nap now. That was a whole lotta thinking.

The first photo is of two 1950’s Davy Crocket jelly jar/glasses. These glasses were before my time but my grandmother had a set. Who knew these things would become collectible?

If you were to look in my kitchen cabinets right this moment you’d find the Winnie glass. My mother’s doing. She bought a set for my nephew who is now…um…28? This is the only one to survive.

So I hit ebay to see what other oddities they had and this Skippy Chunky peanut butter jar is up for grabs. I believe the price is around eight dollars. I have two of these in my basement. Hmm, eight dollars apiece times two equals 3 new ebooks.

WLW: The Morning Routine

Raise your hand if you’re not a big fan of Monday mornings. (raising hand) Guess what, me too! Unfortunately, when it comes to weight loss Mondays are pretty darned important.

Ever since I started my weight loss odyssey one of my goals was to change my attitude about food. I’m an emotional eater. When I get upset my craving for sugar and fat increases…but that doesn’t give me license to go eat three Snickers and a case of Pepsi. (darn it)

I’m not a calorie counter. Why? I hate counting them, period.  One of my first weight-loss memories is a doctor giving my mother a big sheet of calorie information and I was only seven. I didn’t understand that he was trying to help me, I only knew he (and my parents) were taking something away from me. Something that everyone else got to have but not me. They got Oreos and I had cottage cheese and tomato slices. (it was the 70’s and people didn’t know squat about food – you wanted to lose weight then you starved yourself) Being a kid I thought I was doing something wrong and it triggered other negative behaviors like sneaking food. All I knew was that I was hungry darn it and no one would let me satisfy my hunger. This one incident would color my life for many, many years go come.

For me, counting the little buggers is a sure-fire way to increase my stress and trigger my craving for sugar. Say I’m eating 1200 calories a day and it’s lunchtime and I go out to lunch with a friend. Eating out you are almost always eating more calories then you realize. You have no idea what the cook did to your food – a little butter here, more cheese there – you get the picture. So now I’m thinking, okay, I ate 300 calories for breakfast and around 450 for lunch so I only have 35o left…

For some reason when I eat out the added fat, salt etc seems to kick my cravings into high gear but I only have 350 calories to play with and that ain’t much. Then I begin to obsess. Okay, how can I stretch those calories to ensure I don’t get hungry and eat a water buffalo…can’t have that because its 250 calories…I could have three low-fat yogurts and some fruit…what if I’m hungrier than that? You get the picture.

So I don’t count calories like a miser with a hoard of pennies but I do watch what I eat. If I go out to lunch I simply eat lighter for dinner. A salad or fruit and cheese, a low-calorie frozen meal (I try to keep these to a minimum) and some fruit, it’s no big deal. I don’t agonize over my food choices so I don’t increase my stress so my eating doesn’t start the spiral…see, there is a method to my madness!

Some people are probably reading this and thinking, man, this woman is just odd. That’s okay because my views on food and eating are more normal than most of us want to admit. We all obsess about something and it just so happens that, if I let it, my obsession is food.

So what does this have to do with Mondays?

Today is the day that I readjust my pack. I look down at my feet and make sure I’m on the path to accomplish my goal and I move forward. Last week is last week, its over, done with and set in stone. Today is a new day and it’s time to reassure myself that I’m doing what I need to do to reach my health goals. My goal is to feel better. I don’t have sizes, calories or numbers in mind. I know I want to be able to do what I want without being out of breath, getting tired or simply unable.

So now I’m headed to the pool for my morning exercise. Sixty-eight pounds down and counting!!

Nibbles and bits and more bits

Just some odds and ends to share.

Kissing Cowboy – I received a slew of emails yesterday that my publisher’s bookstore was down again so I threw together some links from other booksellers. Thanks for letting me know.

Books on Board / Amazon Kindle / B&N Nook / Diesel eBooks / All Romance eBooks / Mobipocket

Winter’s Daughter – In the past few weeks I’ve also recieved a sudden influx of emails about the second book in The Coven series. Yes, there are more books planned for this series. Yes, I’m hoping number two will be out this year. Now that the madness in my personal life has settled down I anticipate an increase in my writing time. Woot!

What I’m working on – My editor requested that I add a few thousand words to Sins of the Flesh, the fifth title in the Shadow Dweller series. As I was working through it I noticed how much my writing style has changed (not to mention how much paranormal romances have evolved!) so I decided to rewrite it from stem to stern. This book was originally written ten <!!> years ago and my poor vampires don’t even have cell phones. LOL!!! Once I have a release date I’ll post it here.

And I learned something very important on Friday, the movie Hackers is so much better when you’re too sick to care what you’re watching.

How romance saved my week!

It’s been a pretty miserable week in the house of Wilder. Trapped in my bed with a stomach flu-esque illness…romance novels saved me from losing my mind. I don’t have a television in my bedroom and we all know, when you’re sick there’s nothing like vegging out in front of the tv. Instead I grabbed my Kindle and indulged in a reading marathon.

A Wanted Man – Linda Lael Miller, Historical

An Unlikely Setup – Margaret Watson, Harlequin SuperRomance

Mackenzie’s Mountain – Linda Howard – my favorite comfort read!

Waking Nightmare – Kylie Brant – Romantic Suspense

I can’t remember the last time I was able to read so many books in five days. Now that I’m on the mend I probably should do some writing but the next Brant title is calling my name.

Weight Loss Wednesday – Did you cheat? :)

Of course you did! I saw you do it. Remember, the Wilder Knows These Things.

Okay, before you start getting paranoid…

Everyone cheats during weight loss. I know there is probably a few of you out there going, ‘Uh uh, no way, I never cheat.” Really? You didn’t have a bite of your sister’s ice cream? You didn’t snag some mac and cheese from the pan while you were making it for the kids?

I’m here to tell you it’s okay. We’re human and we don’t walk the straight and narrow every minute of every day. I ‘cheated’…but I don’t look at it that way. (and no, I’m not living in the land of denial) I accept that I’m a grown up and I make the food choices I make. If I want a piece of pie, I will have a SMALL piece of pie. If I want some candy, I have a SMALL amount of candy.

Read the rest of this entry »

Contest Winner!

And the winner of ARC for Tactical Pleasure & Maneuver is…

Peggy W from Idaho!

Congrats, Peggy!

Contest: It’s snowing again…

Guess what…it’s snowing again…and we know what that means! Let’s give something away.

I have, in my hot little hands, ONE ARC paperback copy of Tactical Pleasure and Tactical Maneuver. I used these to send out to reviewers and I unearthed one lone copy in the bottom of my closet. Want it? To enter the random drawing, simply answer the following question or email me at wilder @ jcwilder.com.

And the question is – what is your favorite Olympic event?  Or do you ignore them all?