Raine Balkera - Romance Author

ARC Review: Cold-Hearted Rake by Lisa Kleypas

There are a lot of neat, new ways to get your message across today, but I'm not talking social media. When I was younger, one dream job was to read/record novels (which would have been exclusively for the blind at that time). Today, anyone can listen to their favorite stories via LibriVox or some other website, but there are other places where you can read your own work or have someone else do it and offer it alongside your print version. This is too cool and something I'm seriously considering with my two novels. There are also a few websites that let you insert music in your eBook - but, they are domain sounds and not likely to be anything you really want added to help convey a mood or enhance a crucial scene. Most of us just create play lists and listen to them while we're writing. I have four media players on my laptop, but the one that is easiest -- Windows Media Player -- is also the one that is loaded with the most play lists. Some of the play list...

Part 2 in my attempt to PLOT the next novel A contemporary romance in 4 parts Rough outline of the cast members, what (or who) they resemble, their personalities, and the reasons why they are ready to fall in love. Iliya cafe owner Status: Oldest brother (and his romantic interest) Occupation: Renovator/Architect Strengths: Reliable, Fair-minded, Rational, Practical, Quiet/Reserved Weaknesses: worrier, too responsible, critical, conservative, unable to delegate Stature: 6'2", 185lb, wavy chocolate hair, mesmerizing hazel eyes, fair skin, sexy voice Age: 33 DOB: September 9, Virgo This will probably be the last story in the series since Iliya (pronounced ill'-ee-ya) is a key figure in all three stories as the head of the family. Right now, I've got him pegged as a loner type with a lot of pent-up aggression on account of his perception of the cards life has dealt him. Not sure, yet, what his aspirations or goals were prior to tha...

As mentioned in another post about outlining, plotting, and analyzing prior to actually writing my next novel, it is time to get down to business and begin work on story #3. And, as predicted, the endeavor to chart a course this time around isn't panning out as well as I had hoped. It is too much like work, which is precisely why I'm not digging it. However, outlining still has it's appeal and so hope to proceed because I am an overly curious person and want to discover just how much of a difference (good or bad) plotting makes in my craft. To begin with, I'm supposed to search online for 'famous' people who somewhat resemble my cast of characters and then display them somewhere -- like, on my den wall in front of me here, and in a blog post for posterity. Fun stuff, I must say, and I did spend a majority of last evening doing just that. Since I'm not a huge fan of Hollywood, their movies, or their stars, I'm not familiar with most of ...

Series: The DeWarenne Dynasty (Book 6) Pages: 384 pages Publisher: HQN Books (March 18, 2008) Genre: Historical/Regency Romance Language: English Kindle Link:  http://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Love-Warenne-Dynasty/dp/0373772750/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_8 Sexual Content: 4/5 Synopsis A Dangerous OBSESSION Torn from his Romany mother's arms as a small boy, Viscount Emilian St. Xavier has spent a lifetime ignoring the whispers of gypsy that follow him everywhere. A nobleman with wealth, power and privilege, he does not care what the gadjos think. But when the Romany come to Derbyshire with news of his mother's murder at the hands of a mob, his world implodes. And Ariella de Warenne is the perfect object for his lust and revenge.… A Dangerous PASSION Ariella de Warenne's heritage assures her a place in proper society, though as a radical and independent thinker she scorns her peers' frivolous pursuits in the Ton, fashion and marriage. Until a Roma camp ...

Welcome, and thank you for dropping in to read my 8-line Hook from my latest work, Love Over Time -- an Adult Contemporary Romance about two strangers with a very distant shared past who cross paths a few times before slowly making a connection as that ancient, shared past starts to unfold, offering both agony and ecstasy along with much-needed understanding that is meant to lead them to a lasting love. About Love Over Time This second novel was published back in July and is available on all formats through Smashwords, and for the Kindle at Amazon. Blurb A chance encounter at the airport is innocent enough, but it sets in motion a chain of calamitous events that leave photographer, Kaisa Dalen, badly shaken and jet pilot, Perry Lindstrom, reluctantly determined to protect her at all cost. Buy Links Amazon Nook, Kobo, ePub, etc. 8-Lines While he stood staring at her, she focused on his big, dark eyes that were locked onto her; making her fee...

Publisher: Avon Original Release Date: September 27, 2005 Series: The Wallflowers, Book 2 Pages: 391 pages Language: English Genre: Regency Romance Sexual Content: 3/5 Synopsis Headstrong American heiress Lillian Bowman has come to England to find an aristocratic husband. Unfortunately, no man is strong enough to tame the stubborn beauty's fierce will. Except, perhaps, the powerful and arrogant Earl of Westcliff—a man Lillian despises more than anyone she's ever met. Marcus, Lord Westcliff, is famous for his icy English reserve and his supreme self-control. But something about the audacious Lillian drives him mad. Whenever they're in the same room, they can't stop themselves from battling furiously to gain the upper hand. Then one afternoon, a stunningly sensuous encounter changes everything . . . and Lillian discovers that beneath the earl's reserved façade, he is the passionate and tender lover of her dreams. What neither Westcliff nor L...

When it comes to being organized, efficient with time, and disciplined in my endeavors, the word FAIL always springs to mind. Articles about writers and how they write (wrote) gives clear indication that some were extremely organized while others possessed peculiar habits and still more remained staunch believers in superstition. Truman Capote is relate-able because he, like me, never wrote a word on a Friday -- his being a superstition thing, and mine being because that's my day off. In the book  Odd Type Writers   by Celia Blue Johnson, I discovered that I can also relate to James Joyce and Dorothy Parker: A minority, however, measured quantity as inversely proportional to quality. James Joyce proudly considered the completion of two perfect sentences a full day of work and Dorothy Parker, an obsessive reviser, even skewed to the negative, once lamented, “I can’t write five words but that I change seven.” My kind of people, them. ;-) From Writer's R...

This is both easy and difficult to answer, as there is more than one answer involved. I'll start from the very beginning and say  The House on East 88th Street by Bernard Waber, published back in 1962. It is 48 pages of cute! This delightful story arrived via my mother's book club and is one of the very first books I could read by myself. I read, re-read, and then read to my children this sweet tale about a family who move into a really cool brownstone in New York and find a talented crocodile in their bathtub. The drawings were as captivating as the story. In the second grade, making that first-ever trip to the library was a milestone and memorable moment I will never forget. We had twenty minutes to browse, find, and check out a book, and I'll never forget walking up to the check-out counter with too many books in both hands. After I set them down on the counter, my heart racing and my face smarting from the permanent smile, I was...

I use a pen name and I write romance novels. And, I use a pen name BECAUSE I write romance novels. :D However, this doesn't mean that I'm embarrassed about my chosen craft. Were I to be embarrassed, it would soon become tedious and even sooner that it would lose its luster (with me). I would find myself gravitating toward another genre simply because I couldn't handle the amount of stress incurred by writing what I deem embarrassing. I chose a pen name for several reasons, and one is because of the genre I write in, but is meant to save my immediate family -- not me -- from bearing the brunt of the stigma attached to romance novels. An act of kindness on my part, I think. I am no longer involved in the church or with its parishioners, but my children are, and the people there are a nosy bunch who can't help but ask how I am, what am I doing now, and exactly how far gone am I that my soul is irrevocably damned to hell. My daughter tends to be ho...