Category: Maya’s Older Posts

I’m over at the Borders Book Blog, and Berkley is giving away 20 copies of Sweet Surrender, the first book in my Sweet series! It’s a great way to get a free introduction to a really fun series :))

Head over and check it out!

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Songbird is now officially on cybershelves everywhere! I have all the info posted just one post down and you can read an excerpt on my website. It’s hard to say how this story came about. It just sort of popped into my head. A what if scenario, and it all went from there. It was a very difficult story to write in that I obsessed over parts. I had to get them just right. The emotion had to be just right. The love and the lovemaking had to be just right.

I whined and bitched and moaned. I bellyached to my editor (She’s used to this lol) I didn’t think it would ever come together just how I wanted. But in the end, it was a story about love. Heartrending, beautiful and constant. It began with love and it ended with love. I just hope readers are as satisfied with Emily’s journey home as I was.

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First of all, we’re just two days away from the release of Songbird!

They called her their Songbird, but she was never theirs. Not in the way she wanted.

The Donovan brothers meant everything to Emily, but rejected by Greer and Taggert, she turned to Sean the youngest. He married her for love, and she loved him, but she also loved his older brothers.

Her singing launched her to stardom. She had it all. The voice of an angel, a husband who loved her, and the adoration of millions. Until a tragedy took it all away.

Taggert and Greer grieve for their younger brother, but they’re also grieving the loss of Emmy, their songbird. They take her back to Montana, determined to help her heal and show her once and for all they want her. They’re also on a mission to help her find her voice again. Under the protective shield of their love, she begins to blossom… until an old threat resurfaces.

Now the Donovans face a fight for what they once threw away. Only by winning it—and her love—will their songbird fly again.

Also coming up in September. Look for me around the web as me and Berkley are giving away a TON of copies of Sweet Surrender. And September 14-18th I’ll be hosting a week long ebook giveaway fest at Writeminded. If you love ebooks, this is THE place to be that week. It’s going to be way fun and readers will be given the opportunity to win lotso books from some really terrific authors.

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Hi, all my ARCs are spoken for. Thanks so much for the great response!

I have a limited number of ARCs of Sweet Seduction after my mailings and giveaways and I’m going to offer them to reviewers or bloggers with the condition that they are willing to offer commentary on the book (good or bad!) on or around the release date of Oct 1. Really, I’m not picky. I don’t police these sorts of things. It’s not often I ask for anything in return when giving out ARCs, but since I just have a few left, I figure a good litmus for who receives them will be that I get a commentary of sorts in return.

Sound fair? If you’re interested, drop me an email at mayaATmayabanks.com

Please note, as I’ve said, I have a limited number left so it’s not possible to give them out to everyone who wants one. I’m sorry for that. In a perfect world, I’d have an endless supply But I don’t so alas, those are the breaks.

Please don’t list your address in the comments. If interested, email me at the above listed email address. Thanks!

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Ok guys, wow a lot of you entered. I’m only sorry I don’t have more ARCs! Without further ado, here is the list of winners. Remember, you have until Midnight SATURDAY night, that’s August 22nd, to claim your ARC. Send an email with your snail mail addy to mayaATmayabanks.com I’m sorry to say if I don’t hear from you by then, you forfeit your ARC.

Mitzi Henley —comment #138

Diane Sadler —comment #61

Dottie —comment #180

Ari —comment #5

See —comment #51

SF —comment #163

Tina B —comment #17

Mary D —comment #187

Alisha Green —comment #94

Marie R —comment #159

Congrats to all of you and thanks for playing!

Ok gang, while I’m waiting for the blog update, I’m going to run a big contest and give away 10 ARCs of Sweet Seduction. AND I’m posting a new excerpt behind the jump

He was the stuff erotic dreams are made of

Salon owner Julie Stanford wanted Nathan Tucker ever since she gave him his first massage. Getting paid to feel every inch of his body, stripped, oiled, and spread out in front of her? Stuff dreams are made of. But the sexy lug was oblivious to the signals she was sending—until she finished off his final rub-down with something extra. In fact, the best extra he ever had. Unfortunately, he came around too late. Now Julie’s moving on…

She was everything he’d dreamed of

The woman was driving him crazy. She lit fire to his insides then ran like a scalded cat. And now she’s going to someone else to have all her fantasies fulfilled? Over his dead body… He’s more than willing to give her what she wants, and as soon as he pins the little minx down, he’d show her his own brand of sweet seduction.

Excerpt and how to win behind the jump!

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“Just how hung up are you on Julie Stanford?” Micah asked Nathan as they sat down at Cattleman’s to eat lunch.

“What the fuck kind of question is that?” Nathan demanded.

It was bad enough that Julie had completely messed with his mind, but now he was fielding comments from the guys about how fucked up he was over the woman.

“It’s a simple question,” Micah said calmly. “Either you are or you aren’t.”

“Nothing is simple when you ask it,” Nathan grumbled.

“So?”

“So fucking what?” Nathan snarled. “Give it a rest, man. You know what happened. If a gorgeous woman came on to you, sucked you dry and then off, what the fuck would you do?”

Micah grinned. “Toss her over my shoulder and lock us in a room for a week?”

“I’m tempted. If I could find the wench.”

“I just happen to know where she’ll be this weekend,” Micah said casually.

Nathan pinned him with a stare. “And how would you know that?”

Micah smiled. Smug bastard. “I have my ways.”

“Cut the crap, will you?”

Micah gripped his beer bottle and tilted it back, taking a long swig. When he lowered it again, he looked long and hard at Nathan. “There’s a reason I’m asking how hung up on her you are.”

“And that is?” Nathan asked.

“Because apparently she’s serious about leaving you in her dust.”

Nathan snorted and downed the last of his beer. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“I wouldn’t even tell you this because I usually side with the women, but I think you have a thing for her.”

Nathan blew out his breath in irritation. Nice to know he was so fucking transparent. But how transparent could he be if Julie hadn’t even figured it out? Hell, she thought he’d spent the last few months ignoring her. As if any breathing man could ever not notice that woman.

“Yeah, maybe,” he said grudgingly.

“Well, she’s hooked up this weekend for some hot, anonymous sex at Damon’s place. And the following weekend as well.”

Nathan’s jaw dropped about the time the beer bottle fell out of his hand and hit the floor.

“What?”

Micah eyed him cautiously, and maybe he did look a little deranged. He couldn’t very well act calm, when he felt like a volcano about to erupt.

“Run that by me again,” Nathan growled. “Use short words. Don’t leave anything out. What the fuck is she doing at Damon fucking Roche’s sex club?”

Micah snickered. “I wasn’t even sure you had any idea about The House.”

“I wouldn’t if I hadn’t overheard you and Gray talking about the time he hauled Faith out of there. Faith for Christ’s sake. If I had any inkling she was wandering in there, I would have snatched her out by her hair. I can’t believe Damon allowed her in there. I know he’s your friend, but that was ridiculous.”

“Maybe Faith isn’t the innocent you like to make her out to be,” Micah said in amusement.

Nathan glared at Micah. “We’re talking about Julie, remember? And I sure as hell don’t think she’s innocent, but I damn well don’t want her fucking some stranger with Damon’s blessing either. What the hell is he running, some kind of pimp service?”

“Look, I’m not telling you this so you can stop it. Last I checked you weren’t Julie’s keeper, and I doubt she’d allow that anyway.” His lips twitched as he obviously fought laughter. “But Julie’s request was for anonymous sex. She wants to be blindfolded. Do you see an opportunity here?”

Nathan stared at Micah in stupefaction. “Blindfolded? Has she lost her damn mind? What’s to stop this joker from hurting her?”

“Jokers,” Micah corrected.

“What?”

“There’s more than one.”

Nathan’s fingers curled into a fist. “You’re shitting me. You’re doing this to yank my chain, aren’t you?”

Micah licked his lip as he struggled with his composure.

“And would you quit laughing at me already?” Nathan demanded.

Micah dropped his head and laughed. He laughed so hard that tears were streaming from his eyes. Nathan wanted nothing more than to kick his ass.

“I’m not shitting you, man,” Micah said as he gasped for breath. “She wants hot sex with more than one guy. She wants to be blindfolded but not tied up. She wants the fantasy of anonymity.”

“Fuck me,” Nathan swore. “That’s going to happen over my dead body.”

“Oh? And how do you plan to stop it? Damon’s not going to let you within a mile of The House if your plan is to barge in, fists swinging. He runs a very civilized place.”

“Civilized my ass. What’s civilized about treating women like pieces of meat?”

Micah raised an eyebrow. “Knowing what you know about me, do you honestly think I would have let Julie walk into that kind of situation if I didn’t know for sure that Damon would take damn good care of her?”

Nathan leaned forward. “And I’d ask what the hell business of it is yours what Julie does or doesn’t do.”

“She’s a friend of Faith and Serena’s. I’d look out for her just like I do those two,” he said evenly. “What business of it is yours? Why do you care, Nathan?”

“Fuck you,” Nathan muttered.

“Admit it, you care. It’s eating you alive to know that she’s going to be fucking some other guy this weekend when you’re dying to get into her pants.”

“It ain’t going to happen,” Nathan said belligerently.

“What, you getting into her pants?” Micah asked.

Nathan turned up his middle finger at Micah. “What ain’t going to happen is her having anonymous sex with some goddamn stranger.”

“And you plan to prevent this how?”

Fuck if he knew. He didn’t know this Damon guy as well as Micah did, but Micah could fix that, couldn’t he? And hell, if she was that bent on having anonymous sex, he could be as anonymous as the next guy.

A slow grin spread across his face. That was it. He’d exact a little payback for the way she’d played him in the salon with the added benefit of not letting her fuck another man. She wouldn’t need another guy when he finished with her.

“I’m not liking the look on your face right now,” Micah said warily. “You only get that look when you’re plotting. Usually against me.”

“I think we should have a beer with your buddy, Damon,” Nathan suggested. “Like tonight.”

Micah grinned. “I thought you might see it my way.”

“Your way? How the hell is this your way? If we did things your way, Julie would be fucking some weirdo at Damon’s sex club this weekend.”

“Why do you think I told you about it, moron?” Micah said as he motioned for another beer. “And I’m way ahead of you, man. Damon’s supposed to meet me here in an hour.”

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Ok so here are the rules and all the fine print. Contest is open to all entries, International entries included. To enter drop me a comment. I’ll choose 10 winners next Tuesday. Now here’s the important part. I’ll post the winners on Tuesday. You have until the following Saturday, midnight CST to email me to claim your ARC and provide mailing address. If I don’t hear from you by then, the ARC will be given to someone else.
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My web chick is in the process of updating word press. She informs me the version I’m using is older than dirt. Things keep disappearing off of it! It’s a conspiracy. I hate change. I hate “updates” I like things to stay the same. So I think this is some evil plan hatched to make me move to the dark side….

Yesterday we went up to the lake for the afternoon. The weather was just perfect. It was hotter than hell, and there wasn’t a breath of wind, but on the lake? That’s a good thing. The surface was like a sheet of the smoothest glass. No ripples, no disturbance. Just beautiful. And at the end of the day, the sunset was spectacular. On east side of boat the water shone iridescent with an almost neon blue and purple sheen to it. On the west side, the water shone gold, reflecting every aspect of the sun as it sank lower on the horizon. Spectacular tubing wipeouts aside, the day was simply…perfect.

It was one of those wonderful days with my family that reminds me of why I write. I need that reminder sometimes. Most of the time the answer to that question from writers goes something like it’s what we do, or we can’t imagine not writing or it’s what makes us whole or lots of other poetic reasoning that hints at the fact that writing comes from the soul and we can’t survive without it. Okay I buy it, but that’s not THE reason I write.

I write so that I can be at home with my children, so that my schedule can always be worked around theirs. I write so that we can have the freedom to take the boat to the lake and build memories that we’ll talk about twenty years from now. I write so that I can take my kids to new and exciting places, so that they learn about the world beyond our doorstep. I write so that if my kids want to run out for a snow cone I can simply close my laptop and come back to it later. I write so that I never miss a single baseball game, band concert, school play or awards program. I write so that some mornings the kids can crawl into bed with me for hugs and snuggles until 10.

Freedom. It’s why I write.

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But then I can’t imagine anyone in the south who loves August because damn it’s hot! I mean it’s hot all the time, except sometimes we get frigid 40 degree weather in like February or something :hysterical: But in August, the heat turns from just damn hot, to really fucking hot! And uhm my pool is not finished. Why? Well prior to us deciding to put in a pool, it had not rained in like three months. Want to take bets on how much rain we’ve got since they dug the pool? I told my husband it was the equivalent of doing a rain dance in full war paint.

Oh yes, build a pool and it will come. The rain that is.

So we’re behind. Decking is supposed to be laid this week. Plaster week after. Then put lots and lots of water and voila! Pool is ready. That is if it doesn’t rain. Again. As it has for every freaking day for a week.

My back yard looks worse than it did with the last two hurricanes. I can’t wait for it all to be over and then I can go be incurably lazy and flop in the pool. I know, I know, that wasn’t a pretty image. My apologies.

In book news? I finished The Darkest Hour. Well sort of. That was before my husband, the terrorist, read the book and told me in great detail just how badly I’d fucked it up. So now I have a very long list of revisions. And damn it, of course he’s right, because it would have been too easy for me to just roll my eyes and tell him he was out of his mind. No, I sat there very meekly and thought “Kill me now”

So yeah, I’ll be rewriting and also writing the next Desire. Because both books are due like now, or almost now. And I’ll try not to look out at the big hole in my yard and utter profanities.

Over at Lauren Dane’s blog she’s offering readers a chance to win an ARC of Sweet Seduction which releases this October. Head over, but be quick! Contest ends tomorrow afternoon.

www.laurendane.com/blog

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