My werewolf book, BLAME IT ON THE MOON, just won the Extra Spicy/Erotic Category of the HOLT Medallion Contest! I am so proud! I’ve entered before and not even finalled, so this is just awesome.

“What makes the HOLT unique is our purpose of reflecting the actual marketplace. Judging panels are comprised only of avid romance readers who participate with enthusiasm and sincerity. They’re looking for a good read, a book they would buy and an author they would follow. Their judging decisions reflect these inclinations. No editors, agents or writers are eligible to judge. “–from Virginia Romance Writers web site.

In BLAME IT ON THE MOON by Shara Lanel, Kitty Lazarus can’t help reading the new pub owner’s mind — that’s her gift — but his thoughts are very different from anyone else’s. Very 3-D, and they always involve stripping her naked and doing wickedly erotic things to her.

Haden Blackwood doesn’t need the complication of lusting after Kitty Lazarus, especially when she leases the space he plans to expand his pub into. Worse, she has the uncanny ability to guess his thoughts. He’s got too many secrets to keep, like a tendency to howl at the moon when it’s full and an outstanding warrant for his arrest. But he can’t fight his sexual attraction to Kitty — she smells so good — and pretty soon he’s going to have to act on it.

Kitty’s not the only threat to Haden’s secrets. Someone from his past is trying to frame him — again — for murder. Plus, if he doesn’t trust Kitty with his true nature, he may find himself in jail during the full moon. But if he does involve her, she’ll become the target of a madman. This time, he’ll have to do more than blame it on the moon.

–Shara

http://www.sharalanel.com

Ann Marie!

She hit the blogs on our Earth Day tour and was picked as the grand prize winner. She’ll be getting a gift from each of the authors involved in the tour.

Congrats!

Shara

SAVE A TREE — READ AN EBOOK!

But, before you do that, thanks for joining our Earth Day Tour, and I hope you’ve been enjoying the eco-friendly eye candy!

Now for this tour you should have come from:

http://rosemarygunn.blogspot.com/

And if you are just catching up with us. We started this tour at

http://www.ninapierce.com/romanceblog

Save A Tree! It’s good for mother earth….

Do you really need pesticides to enjoy the grass?

Think organic cotton...

Don’t forget to leave a comment at each blog so you’ll be entered to win for the grand prize!

The Next Address is.

http://tinaholland.wordpress.com/

Have fun!

–Shara

We’re Liquid Silver Book authors–check us out:

www.LiquidSilverBooks.com

PS. I’m adding the other blog addies in the tour in case you get stuck along the way!

Nina Pierce http://www.ninapierce.com/romanceblog
Alanna Coca http://alannacocaauthor.blogspot.com/
Gem Sivad http://www.gemsivadauthor.blogspot.com/
Serena Shay http://serenashay.blogspot.com/
Trina Lee http://vampiresandcoffee.blogspot.com/
Stephanie Adkins http://www.stephanieadkins.com/
Paige Tyler http://paigetylertheauthor.blogspot.com/
Savanna Kougar http://savannakougar.com/
Shaunta Grimes http://www.shauntagrimes.wordpress.com/
Darragha Foster http://darragha.com/blog/
Rosemary Gunn http://rosemarygunn.blogspot.com/
Shara Lanel http://sharalanel.wordpress.com/
Tina Holland http://tinaholland.wordpress.com/

Several Liquid Silver authors are joining together to convince you to…

READ AN EBOOK, SAVE A TREE

But first, we want to inspire you! Each blog on this tour is going to have some hot hunks for you to peep at. Leave a comment at each blog and you’ll be entered for the grand prize (prizes from every author on the tour)!

The tour runs 12am EST April 22nd through 12am EST April 23rd.

The first blog on the tour is: http://www.ninapierce.com/romanceblog

Here’s the list of authors participating:
Nina Pierce, Alanna Coca, Gem Sivad, Serena Shay, Trina Lee, Stephanie Adkins, Paige Tylerl,
Savannah Cougar, Shaunta Grimes, Darragha Foster, Rosemary Gunn, Shara Lanel, Tina Holland

–Shara

If you’re a Rick Springfield fan, tell me if this strikes you too: Everytime I hear an RS song on the radio it is ALWAYS, WITHOUT FAIL “Jessie’s Girl” as if that’s the one and only song Rick ever had played on the radio. Without even delving deep into his discography you can find something to vary it up. I love RS, but I’m sick of “Jessie’s Girl”. Yeah, it’s catchy, but he wasn’t/isn’t a one-hit wonder.

Working Class Dog

Flashback: the skating rink in Pike, NY. Hardwood floors echoing with the sound of rubber wheels striking and sliding, and the occasional butt hitting the floor, especially during the “Hokey Pokey.” Before I even knew who Rick Springfield was, I remember skating to the strains of  “Affair of the Heart” and “Human Touch” from his Living in Oz album. I was a late bloomer as far as rock music was concerned. I was raised on Willie, Waylon, and Dolly Parton, not Queen, Led Zeppelin, or Kiss. In fact, Kiss was probably the whole reason I wasn’t allowed to listen to rock music in the first place. But as soon as I started learning about Duran Duran and Laura Brannigan via my best friend Joy and my Walkman, I fell in love with Rick Springfield. Hard to Hold was the first RS album I was brave enough to ask for for Christmas.

Man, that man was hot with a guitar. Still is!

Rick's Beat of the Live Drum concert video

Okay, back to my campaign: underplayed Rick Springfield songs.

Let’s start with the album the ubiquitous “Jessie’s Girl” was pulled from: Working Class Dog.  According to Rock on the Net, “I’ve Done Everything for You” hit the Top 10 in October of ‘81 and “Love is Alright” hit the Top 40 in December. But do we hear them played now? No. Personally, one of my faves from that album is “Red Hot & Blue Love”, which I doubt was ever played on the radio.

Rick still looks good.

Next album: Success Hasn’t Spoiled Me Yet. Come on! “Don’t Talk to Strangers” used to get played all the time in the 80s, but I never hear it now. “Don’t Talk to Strangers” hit the Top 10 in April ‘82. “What Kind of Fool Am I” and “I Get Excited” also hit the Top 40 that year. I loved all the songs on that album, but my romantic self played “April 24, 1981″ over and over again (followed by “My Father’s Chair“ from a later album).

Then 1983, I’ve already mentioned a couple of the songs above, one a Top 40, one a Top 10 hit. He also hit with “Souls.” (Btw, in case you’re obsessed like me, RS was nominated for either a Grammy or an AMA award from ‘82-’84.) “Me & Johnny” was my guitar anthem, once I gave up violin, and I crank up “I Can’t Stop Hurting You” after every break-up.

RS’s last Top 10 hit (so far) according to Rock on the Net was “Love Somebody” from the movie Hard to Hold which was only fully appreciated if you were a teeny bopper at the time, then you’d swoon over his naked butt.

Shara and bud at RS concert

Conclusion: Pick another damn song please.  I’m not telling you to play deep tracks from obscure albums–just play something other than “Jessie’s Girl”!

–Shara

http://www.sharalanel.com

Blame It on the Moon by Shara Lanel

BLAME IT ON THE MOON took third in the Erotica category of the 2009 Lories Best Published Contest, while FINDING MR. RIGHT IS MURDER took second in the Romantic Suspense category.

Finding Mr. Right is Murder

I’ve been watching way too much TV lately–oddly enough, when there’s been nothing on. The holidays bring on a slew of repeats and weird specials, and in January they move everything around so I can’t find it again. Luckily my DVR can, but that’s not helpful when they put 3 of my fave shows across from each other.

But I digress…this was supposed to be about silence.

It’s really hard to sit in silence since my mind is so loud most of the time. Then there’s the dog barking and the washer spinning, not to mention the ever present suburban sound of leaf blowers buzzing. But the main enemy of silence is that itchy feeling I get when the TV’s off and the ipod’s unplugged and I don’t even have itunes radio blaring on the computer.

Does that feeling denote withdrawal from TV? Maybe, but I think it has more to do with being with myself–quietly. Like last night I curled up on the chaise in the red room with my books and my journal, with a glow of light diffused through glass. I was trying to write just for writing’s sake. Write anything without judgment. But my dog seemed to have that antsy feeling I usually have. He kept looking at me and when I’d get up to follow him, thinking he wanted to go outside, he’d lead me back toward the living room, like he couldn’t stand being so far away from the TV either.

Maybe I’m projecting…

So I’ve tried to sit in silence for half an hour now. Pretty soon my hubby and son will be home, and the house will be filled with chaos again.

Shara

http://www.sharalanel.com

Before Christmas I was determined to finally make pepper jelly out of my chile crop from the summer. All chile peppers had been frozen, and I had enough serranos for the recipe I planned to follow. The recipe was simple, so the process should be simple too–right?

Hah! Me plus the kitchen…never simple.

First I had to devein/deseed all the hot peppers. No problem, except this started the problems for the rest of the process and beyond. Why? Because no matter how many times I washed my hands that STUFF was still on them, ready to burn my eyes if I touched them. I tried really hard not to touch them.

So everything goes into a food processor to puree. Easy. Then goes into “heavy bottomed sauce pan” to bring to a boil. I don’t have that many heavy bottomed sauce pans to choose from, ie. one. But it looked big enough. A rolling boil should be manageable, slow, stately big bubbles, not foam cresting at the top of the pan threatening to overflow, right?

You guessed it–I got overflowing foam, so I scooped as fast as I could to get the excess into an adjacent saucepan. Then that pan threatened to overflow. I couldn’t win! More importantly, have you ever sucked in the steam created by a cup of serrano peppers?

Ouch! All my soft tissue membranes were screaming.

Somehow I managed to finish the boiling, add in the gelatin, and pour into the cans. I didn’t worry how much jelly went all over the floor, the table, and the chairs–because hubby’s in charge of the mess AFTER I cook. Needless to say, the kitchen was completely coated.

Success: the jelly actually tasted like pepper jelly I’d had in the past and it had set up properly. I now had several jars of Christmas presents. Problem: one half of my right eye was BRIGHT RED. What? Was I going to go blind? Did I need to see an opthalmologist right away? Luckily I was able to speak to my mom’s eye doctor, who said the red would eventually go away. I just had to live through most of Christmas with people avoiding looking me in the eye.

Shara

http://www.sharalanel.com

Fall asleep with this lovable teddy!

Explore Shara Lanel’s CafePress store to find momentos of your fave romance books! You liked the wolf in BLAME IT ON THE MOON, then how about outfitting your personal hound in the gorgeous cover? And you’ll definitely want to fall asleep with this lovely teddy sporting the FINDING MR. RIGHT IS MURDER cover. Both of these covers were created by April Martinez, cover artist extraodinaire.–Shara

Shara Lanel covers on products

Shara's latest book in print!

Secrets and Spies by Shara Lanel (Contemporary Romance) How many
ways can telekinesis screw up your life? The list for Casey Summers
seems endless, but then the distraction of what undercover agent,
Parker Nelson, wants to do with Casey under the covers proves
dangerous in more ways than one. Sensuality: CARNAL

http://www.newconceptspublishing.com/secretsandspies.htm

It should eventually be available from Amazon etc, but I don’t see it
listed yet, plus it’s cheaper from NCP.

Shara

http://www.sharalanel.com