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Getting ready for a business meeting? I bet he's thinking about something a little more exciting! Maybe his plans for after the meeting....? I'll make the reservations!

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Prizes for this week's Book A Day give away! I'm giving away two books a day from blog comments. Weekly winners will be posted on Saturday!



Monday:Desert Sheikh's Innocent Queen (includes a re-release of Hired:The Sheikh's Secretary Mistress)Lucy Monroe ANDThe Mane Attraction Shelly Laurenston

Tuesday:Ready (Mass Market)Lucy Monroe ANDTexas Bad BoysRosemary Laurey, Karen Kelley, Dianne Castell



Wednesday:Deal With This (Mass Market)Lucy Monroe ANDThe Shaughnessey AccordAllison Kent



Thursday:Royal Affairs (includes a re-release of Forbidden: The Billionaire's Virgin Princess)Lucy MonroeANDKisses Like a DevilDiane Whiteside



Friday:Close QuartersLucy MonroeANDAgain Sharon Cullars



Saturday:Blackmailed into MarriageLucy MonroeANDWho's Been Sleeping in My Bed?Gemma Bruce

Part of portfolioÌýÌý²ú²âÌý
Several weeks ago one of the websites I use for promotion informed its clients that an older area of the site had been hacked. ÌýThe hackers had posted several hundred email address and password combos from this site as well as quite a few others. ÌýI immediately went searching all over the internet for places this email address had been used in combination with this particular password. ÌýI found none, but I changed passwords on any potentially vulnerable accounts just in case.


There was nothing I could do about the places I had bought electronic books online using this particular combo that have since gone out of business. ÌýWell, as near as I can figure...one of those sites has come back to bite me in the butt.


My bank noticed the fraudulent use of my credit card right away and contacted me. ÌýSomeone had set up an account with Yahoo and Match.com with my info. ÌýCan you imagine? ÌýA dating service. ÌýMe! ÌýRight, 'cuz Hubcap isn't enough for any one woman to handle. ÌýAnyway, those sneaky peets followed up their fraudulent use of my card and attempt to create a different me online with an email to my legit account telling me about it (purporting to be from my bank) and saying all assets were frozen until I signed in (on the link provided of course). ÌýNow, I'd just been in my account to go over the fraudulent charges with my bank, so I knew that claim to be false.


The email looked very legit though. ÌýI've gotten so many non-legit ones, I know the signs to look for...misspelled words, odd phrasing, etc. ÌýThis email had none of them. ÌýHowever, I have a policy of NEVER signing into money related accounts through an email link. ÌýI always go to the home webpage and sign in from there when in question. ÌýGood thing too...as these emails were clearly phishing emails.


I'm really grateful my bank caught onto the fraudulent charges early, but let me tell you...for a lot of people, those charges would not have raised a red flag. ÌýBut I don't Skype, I don't use dating services (even the really good ones LOL) and I pay for things like Yahoo Mail with a separate credit card I *don't* use to pay for anything else and is not linked to my bank account. ÌýAnd still, I feel like there's a whole passel of security measures that are going to be going into place in the next days and weeks.


I figure we can help each other out with that, right? ÌýWhat things to do you do to protect your identity in this world of online shopping, banking and book buying?Ìý

Congratulations to the following people for winning this week's contest! Please be sure to Email usÌýwith your name and mailing information so you can get your prizes!

Monday:
Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: Friday: Saturday:



Please Note: Although Lucy is happy to ship internationally, there have been some customs issues in Africa and Asia, therefore she would like to offer winners in those locations a free ebook. Please provide your email and we will send you a pdf. file.

What would happen if a few hundred authors/readers teamed up, formed an on-line book of the month club, chose the book from their very own membership, and promoted each other? Great things.

Where did this idea come from? From a poor experience I had when I joined a book club on Twitter. Sounded like fun, but they started reading three days after the book was chosen. Not nearly enough time to get a copy. When I complained (gently) the club told me I should have either done an ebook or gone to the library. Not possible and not very friendly either. That got me thinking. If I ran a book club I'd give everyone enough time to get their books.



Also, some New York best seller sold another 90 books. No big deal to him/her. But to someone like me, it would be a very big deal. If I ran a book club I wouldn't use big time authors, I'd only use…our own member's books. A book club that uses traditionally pubbed, self pubbed, PODs, or e-pubs? Unheard of.



The membership will vote each month from four books that will be chosen by lottery from all who submit. There will be nine romance categories, one a month, with room for other cats if there is a demand.

On June 17th I published a website, , and started emailing authors and RWA chapters one at a time. Two months later, I have 207 members. And it's growing every day.

Our first category is Contemporary and we're due to start reading September 1st. Come and join the fun. Imagine, YOUR book could get to be a book of the month selection. ¸.•� ¸.�*¨)¸.�*¨)

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Summer fun at the beach!

Prizes for this week's blog give away! I'm giving away two books a day from blog comments. Weekly winners will be posted on Sunday.
Monday:Close QuarterLucy Monroe ANDSouthern ComfortKaren Kelley

Tuesday:Deal with This (Mass Market)Lucy Monroe ANDThe Samms AgendaAllison Kent

Wednesday:The Greek Tycoon's UltimatumLucy Monroe ANDThe Irish DevilDiane Whiteside

Thursday:Ready (Mass Market)Lucy Monroe ANDThe Mane EventShelly Laurenston

FridayWilling (Mass Market)Lucy Monroe ANDThe Mckenzie ArtifactAllison Kent

Saturday:And Able (Mass Market)Lucy Monroe ANDThe Strangers SecretsBeth Williamson

By now, most of you know that my next book is going to have a dragon shifter for the primary hero. Ìý
Yep, an uber sexy Highlander who is both prince of his people and simple clan member. ÌýHow does that work? ÌýI hate to be snarky, but you'll have to read the book to find out. ;-) ÌýTaran is willing to sacrifice everything for the good of theÌýÉan, but it's not so clear whether he'll be able to do what it takes for love.
I fell in love with dragons a good 20 years ago when I read my first book in the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey, . ÌýShe created an amazing world in which dragons were neither evil, nor were they stupid. ÌýThey didn't hoard treasure, or eat virgins. ÌýIn a word? ÌýThey were cool!
I honestly never thought I'd get to write a dragon book...it just didn't fit with my view of the kind of stories open to me, but I was happily, oh so happily wrong!
Not only was Berkley very okay with me bringing a dragon in as a hero, my editor suggested it before I had the chance.
Finding inspiration for Taran's character wasn't easy...I had to look for both that perfect hero archetype and a well...a dragon. ÌýA red dragon, to be precise. ÌýThis lovely specimen is not exactly as I see *my* dragon, but he's as close as I found looking through hundreds of images on the web.by Brueh at

Writing about a creature that is surrounded by so much lore is both a lot of fun and huge challenge. ÌýI've done almost as much research on dragons as I have on the realities of the medieval period in which I write. ÌýThankfully for my sanity and my characters' hygiene, I am allowed to create mores for my shifters that might not have been as common among their human counterparts back in the day. ÌýWhich is not to say that people never bathed in the middle ages. ÌýThey did, but they also used animal and human waste in ways we would find wholly objectionable to our noses today. ÌýBut that's a topic for another blog, and probably not one written by me.


I am also allowed to take some license with my dragon, seeing as how he is part human as well. ÌýHe's a warrior, but not aÌýmarauder. ÌýHe casts fire to kill, but only when necessary and he's amazingly sexy. ÌýWell, with the Rock is his inspiration...how could he not be?


Dwayne Johnson in "The Scorpion King"

His love interest? ÌýA beautiful femwolf whose brother he killed. ÌýSound like they're going to have some *interesting* interactions? ÌýThey so do! LOL She's no pushover and he's oh so alpha. ÌýIt's a match made in Heaven, or it will be once they both figure it out.


The writing is going well and quickly, even though for the first time in my career, I'm working on two books at once. ÌýThe last few years have been tough and last year the toughest, putting me so far behind, I simply don't have a choice. ÌýBut ask me if I mind?


I don't. ÌýI love doing what I do and feel so incredibly blessed to have the support of really great editors and amazing publishers and readers who patiently wait for me to come out of my grief so I can start sharing my stories and myself with them again. ÌýThank you!


Now, it's your turn to share...what is your favorite dragon story, or author who writes them?


Hugs,
Lucy

If you follow me on or , you know that DQ's daughter turned 1 on August 3rd. ÌýWell, today is my birthday and BQ's daughter turns 3 on August 10th. ÌýCan you say super cool, way fun birthday week? I'm celebrating by giving away books to *your* local libraries. Ìý


Just post the name and address of your local library here and (after my Admin verifies the library - yeah, not everyone in the blogosphere is honest, but I'm not letting that stop me doing things the way I like to) I'll send them one of my books. ÌýEasy peasy!


Offer is good through midnight Monday (Aug 8 2011). ÌýAfter that, the ability to comment (thereby posting the library's name and address) will be turned off. :)

Congratulations to the following people for winning this week's contest! Please be sure to email us with your name and mailing information so you can get your prizes! Happy Reading!


Monday: Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: Friday: Saturday:
Please Note: Although Lucy is happy to ship internationally, there have been some customs issues in Africa and Asia, therefore she would like to offer winners in those locations a free ebook. Please provide your email and we will send you a pdf. file.