Submission

I finished the third story in the Gifts of Desire series on Tuesday and submitted it to my editor on Wednesday. Now I must wait (im)patiently for her to read it and get back to me with her comments. I really loved how the final story revealed deeper emotions of all four characters. These people have become so real to me that they show up in my dreams.

I hope you are enjoying The Christmas Present.

Suzanne

Check it out!

I'm blogging today and every 15th of the month over at Hitting the Hot-Spot. I hope you'll click on over and join the authors of TEB as we share our views on just about everything.

Today I introduce myself on the erom blog on the anniversary of my dad's death. Kind of a strange way to get started.

Suzanne

Released Today!

The Christmas Present is now available at total-e-bound.com. This is book two in the Gifts of Desire series. Don't miss book one, The Birthday Present, to find out how these two sexy couples first met.

Here's hoping you get The Christmas Present you want this year!

Suzanne

Christmas Crackers Contest

Would you like to win some free books from Total-e-bound? Then enter their contest. You could win a gift voucher for free books!

BTW - Total-e-bound is a British company. Christmas Crackers are not the saltines you serve with soup. A cracker consists of a cardboard tube wrapped in a brightly decorated twist of paper, making it resemble an oversized sweet-wrapper. The cracker is pulled by two people, and, much in the manner of a wishbone, the cracker splits unevenly. The split is accompanied by a small bang produced by the effect of friction on a chemically impregnated card strip. Typically the contents are a coloured paper hat or crown; a small toy or other trinket and a motto, a joke or piece of trivia on a small strip of paper.

Spreading my wings

I've decided to join the big girls at Hitting the Hot-Spot. I will be posting on the TEB blog every 15th of the month. I'm excited to join the awesome collection of TEB authors on the site. The topics range widely from book excerpts, research, inspirational pics, and living the writing life.

Now I have 14 days to obsess about my first post.

Book Trailer for The Christmas Present

Hot off the computer! Here's the new book trailer for The Christmas Present, book two of the Gifts of Desire series at total-e-bound.com

The Christmas Present

I'm so pleased with the cover design for my next book, The Christmas Present. It is Book Two in the Gifts of Desire series and will be available December 7th at total-e-bound.com!

My first book trailer!!

I'm so excited to have created my first book trailer.
Check it out, and let me know what you think!

Book Three of the Gifts of Desires series

I went away this weekend to a writer's retreat. It was great to reconnect with fellow writers and relax and get work done. I worked both on my werewolf story and book three for the Gifts of Desire series, called The Anniversary Present.

The third book will be the end of the series as far as I can tell now. I have the conclusion for the polyamorous quad laid out in my head. But once those four get busy on the page who knows what could happen.

So stay tuned for a release date for The Anniversary Present as soon as I get it finished written.

Back to Work

The RomantiCon conference was a great experience for so many reasons. One of which is that it got me excited to write a werewolf story that I had tossed around in my head in June. I was busy with another story this summer, so the werewolves had to sit on the shelf and patiently wait for me to come back to them.

Now they are jumping up and down on their four legs with their tongues hanging out as I create a new world for them. And it's not just werewolves. There are werebears in the story, too. Great, big muscular men who turn into black bears. Oooo, yummy.

Dancing Queen

Hoooorah! I am the Dancing Queen or maybe Princess. I just won 2nd place in the RomantiCon dancing contest sponsored by Ellora's Cave! As one of the three finalist, I danced my last dance with an Ellora's Cave Caveman, their male cover models. Oh my, I had to touch his bare, muscular shoulder a la dancing. Someone fan me now.

Second place! I won $25 in Ellora's Cave books and a totally rockin' Lava Lamp!!!

Rock on!

Dancing Queen

Hoooorah! I am the Dancing Queen or maybe Princess. I just won 2nd place in the RomantiCon dancing contest sponsored by Ellora's Cave! As one of the three finalist, I danced my last dance with an Ellora's Cave Caveman, their male cover models. Oh my, I had to touch his bare, muscular shoulder a la dancing. Someone fan me now.

Second place! I won $25 in Ellora's Cave books and a totally rockin' Lava Lamp!!!

Rock on!

The Christmas Present Release Date

Yea!! I've just heard The Christmas Present, book 2 in the Gifts of Desire series, will be released December 7th!

Make sure you check in on Tom and Amanda when Sabrina and Mark come to visit them in Michigan for the holidays. The four of them love to be together, and Mark and Tom give Amanda a very special Christmas present.

Review of The Birthday Present

3 1/2 Stars for The Birthday Present from Sensual Ecataromance!

Amanda and Tom vacation in Tenerife for Amanda’s thirtieth birthday. Amanda, looking to spice things up a bit with Tom, tries a few new tricks in the bedroom.Unsuspecting Amanda is eager to receive the special gift Tom has thought up for her, making this the best birthday present ever.

Suzanne Graham has written a visual story with the flavors of the exotic vacation spot enticing your palate. Amanda and Tom have sizzling chemistry and you eagerly turn each page waiting to see what happens next.An enjoyable quick read, I look forward to reading more of Suzanne Grahams stories.

Reviewed by emilyh

The Plot Thickens

I've begun the plotting for the third book in the Gifts of Desire series. I'm dreaming about the happily-ever-after for Tom, Amanda, Sabrina and Mark. And that's where the problem is! I so want to get to their happy ending that I hate to have to put them through any angst to get there.

But you know what they say about a book with no conflict...
It's boring.

So I'm off to build tension and agony and jealousy and fear into my poor beloved characters' lives.

Sex is Good... and good for you.

Sex in a loving relationship is not only good for the relationship, but also for the health of the individual.

Did you know about these 10 health benefits?

1. Sex Relieves Stress
2. Sex Boosts Immunity
3. Sex Burns Calories
4. Sex Improves Cardiovascular Health
5. Sex Boosts Self-Esteem
6. Sex Improves Intimacy
7. Sex Reduces Pain
8. Sex Reduces Prostate Cancer Risk
9. Sex Strengthens Pelvic Floor Muscles
10. Sex Helps You Sleep Better

And reading erotic romance can help put you in the mood!

For more details on the health benefits of sex, go to 10 Surprising Health Benefits of Sex.

Special Story for a Special Purpose

My fellow writer, Cindy Spencer Pape, has asked me to let you know that her new story is available at Ellora's Cave. It is part of a special fund-raising project for a member of the Ellora’s Cave family. If you read e-books and are into hot Victorian love stories, check out Cindy's story. It’s for a very good cause!

Marry Me, Marietta

By Cindy Spencer Pape

Out Now from Ellora’s Cave

Buy Link: http://www.jasminej ade.com/ps- 7461-50-marry- me-marietta. aspx

More about Lara’s Project: http://sextalkforwi ckedwomen. blogspot. com/2009/ 06/honoring- lara.html

Marietta James is a proper Victorian widow—until the night fate throws her together with handsome doctor Adam Hamilton. Adam has tried to ignore his desire for his voluptuous neighbor, but when the two of them are alone together, the passion burns out of their control. Now Adam is determined that their relationship continue while Marietta wants to forget their night of passion ever happened. It will take all his powers of seduction and persuasion to get her back in his bed—and into his life for good.

Note: Part of the proceeds from this book is being donated to the family of Lara Anne Punches, whose life ended tragically and too early.

They're here!

My bookmarks came in the mail. I was so nervous to open them. I designed them myself online and I wasn't sure I got the margins and everything correct. I was so afraid they wouldn't look good. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and pulled the first one free from the box. I opened my eyes to a pleasant sight. Everything was lined up where it should and the colors looked great.

So, if you would like your own signed bookmark from the Gifts of Desire series, please send an email to suzanne.graham at rocketmail.com with your mailing addy.

Bookmarks

I'm so excited. I ordered my first bookmarks this week! I feel like a 'real' author now. I can't wait to hand them out. If you would like me to mail a signed bookmark to you, please email your mailing addy to me at suzanne.graham at rocketmail.com (Use the @ symbol to replace 'at'. )

I will be handing my bookmarks out in person at the RomantiCon Conference, October 9-11, in Richfield, OH. If you're there, be sure to introduce yourself! I would love to meet my readers.

The bookmarks reveal the third title in the Gifts of Desire series. Now I am at work on writing that story and getting it submitted to my editor. I'm excited to write the happily-ever-after for my four favorite characters, Amanda, Tom, Mark and Sabrina.

Fingers with extra hands

My editor sent my edits for The Christmas Present this week. No serious issues, which was great. I still have a bad case of the missing comma, but my next stuff should be better.

I actually read the chapter in the Holt Handbook on commas the other day. Doesn't that sound like fun?! I felt like I was back in freshman English from high school.
*Shhh! Don't tell anyone, but I actually like reading the Holt Handbook. I was flipping through and reading about semi-colons and dependent clauses, before I caught myself.

A couple of the edits made me laugh out loud. I had a love scene that had fingers with an extra hand and hands that didn't belong to any body.

How does that happen? Introductory phrases that don't agree with the subject.

Example: With his other hand, his fingers stroked her cheek. This actually says, His fingers with his other hand stroked her cheek.
Here's another: Leaning down, his warm breath caressed her lips. Actual meaning: His warm breath was leaning down caressing her lips.

So, I survived another round of edits from my editor with very minimal bruising. Fortunately her sense of humor shows in her comments, and she also gives praise peppered in her edits, which is much appreciated.

Friday Night, Date Night

Woohoo! The Nana is taking the kids overnight tonight! First we are all going to the beach for the day. Then we will drop the dirty, sandy, slimy children at Nana's house, and the hubby and I can come home kidless! Does it get any better than that?

What will we do with all our free time? Knowing the nerds that we are, we will probably each cuddle up to our computers and work for a few hours. Then one of us will look at the other and say, "Hey, are you ready for some . . . Battlestar Galactica?" Then we'll bounce into the family room and sit plastered to our chairs for a marathon of BG episodes.

Yep, we're scifi fans, and a good friend has lent us the ENTIRE SERIES of BG. All the seasons on DVD! We never saw any of them when they were on TV. It's all new to us. I think we're into season three now with only one more season to watch. Boy, that will be a bummer when they're over.

It's incredible to watch an entire television series from beginning to end with no commercial interrupts and no long seven days in between each episode. Sometimes I get a little anxious during the day, and I wonder what's wrong. Then I realize that I am thinking about Starbuck and her romantic conflict with Sam, her husband, and Lee, her true love.

Ooooo, love those love triangles. Why can't they all just get along and love each other? That's what I would have them do if they were in one of my stories!

Do you have a favorite television series that you've watched in marathon sessions?

The Birthday Present

On Sale Now!

Book one in the Gifts of Desire Series


A special birthday present shows Amanda
how something new can be so exciting.

Are you ready for The Birthday Present?

1 Day and Counting

Excerpt Day!

(If you haven't read the excerpt from the beginning of chapter one, go to The Birthday Present. Then come back here for this scene a little later in the chapter.)

I sat down on my chaise and glanced over at the woman on the chair next to mine. She had a classic, English rose complexion, porcelain-pale skin with peach undertones, and she wore her blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. My eyes travelled down the rest of her. She was voluptuous with lavish curves, completely opposite of my lean, thin frame.

The woman was topless, wearing only a tiny patch of hot pink cloth over her cleanly shaved mons held up by two thin strings. Her stomach was slightly rounded and her bare breasts were full, perfectly sized to fit in the palm of my hand.

I’d never thought about touching a woman before, but now I imagined the weight of her breast in my hand and how I would tease the nipple until it became erect between my thumb and forefinger. Then I would lave it with my tongue and pull it into my mouth, sucking on the fullness. I imagined she would taste like peaches and cream, delicious.

The woman looked over at me and caught me staring at her chest. Embarrassed, I felt my face flush. I quickly averted my eyes, but not before I saw her smiling at me.

I stared ahead at the rippling water in the pool. I could feel the woman’s eyes scanning my own body from head to foot and my nipples pebbled at her attention. The fabric of my bikini top created friction against them as they grew hard under her gaze. My breasts were much smaller than hers, nearly flat against my chest under the two turquoise triangles of my top as I lay on my back on the chaise. Certainly not as enticing as hers.

Finally, I looked back at her and met her eyes. She smiled brightly at me.

“Hi, I’m Sabrina,” she said with a British accent. She reached out to take my hand in greeting. Her fingers were soft, but firm. “This is my husband, Mark.” She pointed over her shoulder to the man sitting next to her.

“Hi.” I licked my lips. My mouth had suddenly gone dry at the sight of Mark’s broad, hard chest and chiselled abs. His bronze skin glistened with tanning oil. When I was able to speak again, I said, “I’m Amanda, and this is my husband, Tom.”

“How cute, you’re T&A and we’re S&M,” Sabrina said.

The Birthday Present on sale tomorrow at Total-e-bound.com!

It's Getting Closer.

2 Days and Counting!

Meet the Cast of Characters in
The Birthday Present

Amanda - After eight years of marriage, Amanda is bored with sex. She's still in love with her husband, Tom, but their sex life has become a predictable routine.

Tom - He loves his wife and wants to give her anything she wants for her birthday.

Sabrina - Sensual and voluptuous Sabrina is also vacationing with her husband on Tenerife, Canary Islands, when she meets Amanda and Tom.

Mark - Mark’s deep voice with its lyrical British accent reminds Amanda of her fantasies about having an English lover after she fell in love with Jane Austen’s Mr. Darcy in high school. She always imagined he was tall with dark hair and dark eyes like Mark’s.

It's Coming!!!!!!

First Release Countdown!!!

3 Days until The Birthday Present is available for purchase.

Please join me in the happy dance as I celebrate a huge milestone in my writing career! Put on some dance music and your swingy skirt.
Let's dance the night away!

My First Cover!

*SQUUEEEEE*
Do you see my name on the cover?!?
It's really happening.
People are going to be able to buy a story that I wrote.
Amazing!
Doing the happy dance, gotta go!

New Release Date!

My editor just emailed me with a new release date for The Birthday Present. It is coming out 2 weeks earlier!

The Birthday Present will be available on August 10, 2009.

Woohoo!

Finding love in the arms of many

Polyamory (from Greek πολύ [poly, meaning many or several] and Latin amor [literally “love”]) is the desire, practice, or acceptance of having more than one loving, intimate relationship at a time with the full knowledge and consent of everyone involved. (Definition from Wikipedia).

In The Birthday Present the heroine is introduced to polyamory, and in the sequel The Christmas Present she and her husband explore polyamory further.

One of my favorite erotic romance authors recently wrote a blog post about polyamory. To read what Lisabet Sarai has to say, please check out Beyond Menage.

Happy Fantasies!

Coming this holiday season!

The Christmas Present has been picked up by Total-e-bound.com! So look for it this holiday season to be released as a Lust Bite.

The Birthday Present, which is the first of the series introducing Amanda and Tom, Sabrina and Mark will be released August 24th.

Yeah!!!! And a third book is in the development stages because once you meet these four fantastic people you're going to want to keep reading about them.

Let's talk about sex

Conversation around the dessert table on Mother's Day, after the small children left the room, was quite exceptional this year. I don't know who started it, maybe the family member who writes erotic romance? But my mother and her boyfriend, my brother, my hubby and I ended up talking about sex.

Afterward it became quite clear to me why writing erotic romance stories comes so naturally to me. My family has no hold-ups when it comes to talking about sex. Must have something to do with the fact that in my dating years, my mother, my brother and I were all single. We were all going through our sexual awakening at the same time (my mother was dating for the first time after being married to my father for 19 years).

Anyway I was pleased to recommend a new favorite toy to my family. It's the Hitachi Wand and if you are looking for a birthday present, you've got to get yourself one. Even if your birthday is further away than Christmas. Don't wait!

Happy early/late/right-on-time Birthday to you!

Sequels

Don't you love reading a series with characters you love? One of my favorite authors, Suzanne Brockmann, writes a fantastic series about US Navy Seals called the Troubleshooters Series. If you've never checked out this series, run now to the nearest bookstore (or click on Amazon) and get started today with The Unsung Hero. Suzanne (the other one, not me) has written an incredible 14 books in this series. Book 15 will be coming out this summer.

Me? I'm just getting started, but the characters from The Birthday Present will hopefully be getting together again for The Christmas Present before the end of this year.

Cheers!
Suzanne

I Dreamed a Dream

I just read a fantastic blog titled, "How Do You Know When To Quit?", which included a link to a video from Britain's Got Talent (the original version of American Idol). The woman contestant knocked my socks off and the tears out of my eyes.

If you need a little pick-me-up today to keep you on your path to your goal, then please do yourself a favor and check out the blog and video.

Cheers!
Suzanne

Movie Fans

Mr. Graham and I are huge movie fans. We love Netflix, especially the app that suggests other movies you may like based on your current selection. When I add these selections to my queue, I never think about going back and shuffling things up a little. So we end up watching a series of movies within the same genre, which is a cool way to submerge ourselves in a new perspective.

One of our recent series was Gay & Lesbian Romances. Among our favorites were

• Imagine Me & You
• But I'm a Cheerleader
• Grey Matters
• Puccini for Beginners
• A Family Affair

Have you seen any of these? What are some of your favorites?

Don't you love contests?!?

I love winning books and I think gift baskets are better than gift certificates. Then I don't have to make the hard decisions about what to buy!

Grand Prize: $100 GC to Amazon.com
Runner Up: $25 GC to B&N and a box of surprise paperbacks and other goodies (like chocolate, bath goodies, ect). This is going to be a NICE prize!
Runner Up: $25 GC to B&N and a box of surprise paperbacks and other goodies. (same as above)

Plus chances to win books (almost) every day for a month!

Go to http://www.anyabast.com/blog/ for details on how to enter.

Winter blahs

Oh No! Here comes the snow! Again!

But I just found a cure for the winter blahs. Thanks to one of my fellow authors at Total-e-bound's Blog, Hitting the Hot-Spot.

You've got to check out What To Do For Those Winter Blahs.

You can thank me in the spring. The real spring. You know the one without snow and cold temperatures.

TTFN! Gotta go build me a snowman.

Great quotes

I was going to write about gifts and unusual ones and ones you wish you'd never received and ones you wish you had. So I went out to look for a great quote to use as the title, and that's when I found Garrison Keillor.

Here's the quote that started it all:

“A book is a gift you can open again and again.”
by Garrison Keillor
(American writer and broadcaster b.1942)

So when I clicked on the quote link, I found a bunch more of his great quotes.

“A girl in a bikini is like having a loaded pistol on your coffee table - There's nothing wrong with them, but it's hard to stop thinking about it”

“Beauty isn't worth thinking about; what's important is your mind. You don't want a fifty-dollar haircut on a fifty-cent head.”

“I think the most un-American thing you can say is, 'You can't say that.'”

“I believe in looking reality straight in the eye and denying it.”

“God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny.”

So, Thank you Mr. Keillor for putting a smile on my face today.

Tenerife, Canary Islands

I love to travel and one of the best places I've ever been is Tenerife.
It also happens to be the setting of The Birthday Present!


Tenerife is a volcanic island with black sand beaches (and yellow ones ,too).


Looking towards the interior of the island towards the mountains.
Yes, that's a really young version of myself in the blue t-shirt.
(Pul-leez don't try to zoom in. It really was a loooong time ago.)


Annual precipitation is low, and parts of the island are very desert-like.


Check out these cacti is this photo my hubby took. He wasn't my hubby yet back then, but I knew he was the one.
Why do women know these things before men?

Looking for something spicy?

I just read a new short story by Mia Watts at Total-e-bound. It totally rocks!
Here's the blurb for Bad Boys, Bad Boys:
What you gonna do when they cum for you? A police force partner submits to his desire while under the influence of alcohol. But since neither of the men are gay, what do they do with their lurking lust?

Geo Wilson has been partnered to Mack for three years. Sharing the same muscular build, dark hair, and olive complexion, they've been dubbed 'the twins' by the department. But lately Geo's dreams have taken an erotic twist to centre around Mack.

Mack values his friendship with Geo, would give his life for the man. Then one night Geo has a few too many beers and plants a kiss on him, he can't forget. He might have been able to pass it off as beer-haze except in helping Geo get back to his apartment, Mack is taken off guard by Geo's tackle and a mind-numbing blow job.

Now the partnership has to redefine itself while the criminal world continues around them. They could lose their badges, or lose each other.

------------------------------------------------------

Another author who knows how to write a scene is Opal Carew. You've got to read Swing.

And there is a whole group of awesome writers at Writer's Evolution. Their books will knock your socks off.

Happy reading!

Release date, unconfirmed

I've heard from an inside source that my story is going to be released August 24. Whew! That makes it feel so much more real. I can't wait to see what kind of cover they give my story.

I've been struggling to stay in the moment and enjoy the euphoria of making my first sale, but my mind has run on ahead to self-promo issues. I've been surfing the net today getting ideas and looking back on my notes from the conference I went to two weeks ago. I had no idea at that time that I was so close to needing that info on self-promo! I hope I took good notes!

Now as I wait for the release and all the steps that lead to it, I have to focus my attention on writing the next story. I have a great idea for a follow-up story, but it's all in my head floating around right now. Time to get some of it down on paper.

So high-ho, high-ho, it's off to work I go!

Just getting started

The thrill of selling that first story! OMG! I was jumping up and down so much, my oldest said, "Mom, I've never seen you like this before." Well, I've never had someone else like my stories so much that they wanted to pay me for them, either!

As I read the offer email, I kept thinking "This is where she writes all the nice stuff, but wait... wait... wait... she's going to say No, Thank you, at any moment." But she didn't! She (the editor) said, "the storyline kept me reading and it was a lovely, hot, sexy read. Well done!!!"

Whew! Such praise for a new author! Author! That's me. No longer an aspiring writer. I will be an author!!!