Jaunty here, surrounded by goodies the one day a year when everyone dresses like their favorite animal – the porcupine! You’ve got your porcupine ghoulies and ghosties, sharp-nosed witches, pointy-eared elves and prickly princesses! Take a quill and invite a guest! Get ready to go on your candy quest! Hurry up and get dressed! Fashion your hair into a nest! This will be your porcupine test! Muahahaha! Sugar!!!!

*crunches some sugary bark, followed by a caffeinated twig chaser*

So, on this devilish dessert feast of days, what is your favorite Halloween treat? Down some sugar and caffeine and fight for your favorite inside!!! Vote on the sidebar or below – either will count toward the total. Candy, candy, candy!!!!

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*And don’t miss Jenna’s post below – the winner of yesterday’s drawing has been revealed!

Thanks to everyone who came and commented on the Everything Forbidden blog yesterday! The winner of a choice from my backlist is….

LadyDawgFan!

LDF, if you email me at jenna@jennapetersen.com and let me know which Jess Michaels book you want as a prize, I’ll mail it out to you this week!

It’s been a busy little month for me. And now it’s all culminating in my second release in 30 days. Today, EVERYTHING FORBIDDEN hits shelves.

There are a lot of things that excite me about this book. I really love my hero and heroine, Ethan Hamon and Miranda Albright. I liked creating an innocent heroine, who also had some kind of handle on her own desire. A woman who sacrifices something for her family, but refuses to be a martyr. And then there is Ethan. He’s one of the hottest heroes I’ve ever written, I think. I mean, he’s steamy. LOL He really likes sex, but when it comes to Miranda, he’s lost.

But I think the thing that excited me most about EF is that it’s my first full-length erotic romance. I’ve been writing erotic romance since 2003, when I wrote my first novella, “Ancient Pleasures”. But I’ve always felt like the shorter novellas and short stories fit my voice best. But when Avon asked for a couple of full-length books, I took the challenge.

Now I just hope you like it.

So have you ever wanted something that was forbidden? Did you get it? Someone who posts a comment today will win a book from my Jess Michaels backlist (SECRETS 11, SECRETS 12 or PARLOR GAMES, your choice).

And scroll down to see the winner of Shana’s contest.

The winner of the signed copy of Blackthorne’s Bride is Helen! Congrats Helen!

Email me at shana@shanagalen.com with your address and who you’d like me to sign the book to, and I’ll pop it in the mail to you.

Thanks to everyone who entered. If you didn’t win, visit my website later today. There will be a new contest up and another chance to won a copy of Blackthorne’s Bride.

It’s here! Almost! I’m so, so excited that Blackthorne’s Bride is hitting shelves tomorrow. I’ve said for a long time that I think this is my best work yet, and I hope you agree.

You’re reading this for the inside scoop, right? So let’s dish.

This is the third in my Misadventures in Matrimony series, and it focuses on Lady Madeleine, daughter of the Earl of Castleigh. Maddie is completely fed up with her overprotective father as well as dowry-hungry suitors pestering her with marriage proposals. She’s decided to solve both of her problems by eloping to Gretna Green with a sweet but bumbling dog breeder. Unfortunately, Maddie’s adventure-starved cousin Ashley figures out the plan and decides to crash the elopement.

In the meantime, Jack Martingale, the Marquess of Blackthorne, is having trouble with his incorrigible brother Nick. Nick has just insulted the powerful Duke of Bleven, and he’s managed to drag Jack into the feud as well. When the Black Duke shows up for retribution, his own private army in tow, the Martingale brothers don’t stick around. They hop in the first carriage they find: Maddie and Ashley’s carriage.

This is a fun, fast-paced story that’s based on a true story of a Gretna Green elopement gone awry. I tell the true story in the Author’s Note at the back of the book, but suffice it to say it involves two couples and a drunk anvil priest.

What else?

I’ve been looking forward to writing Maddie’s story because I’ve always wanted to buck the clichés and write a heroine who did not want adventure. Maddie just wants to be a wife, mother, and philanthropist. She doesn’t enjoy the risky escapades her cousins in The Spinster’s Club cook up. So of course that means Maddie has to have the biggest adventure of them all.

Jack Martingale is one of my favorite heroes. He doesn’t want to care about Maddie or his annoying brother or anyone but himself. He doesn’t want to save anyone. But no matter how hard-hearted he tries to be, he can’t make it stick. Jack’s an unwilling hero—and isn’t that just the sexiest kind?

Think about buying Blackthorne’s Bride tomorrow. I promise you won’t be disappointed. And one lucky reader will win a signed copy. All you have to do is go to the excerpt on my website and answer this question in the comment section below: What is the name of Maddie’s fiancé?

I’ll pick a winner tomorrow and announce it on the blog. Good luck!

I’m in NYC for the weekend but it took me a while to get here. Yes, my early afternoon flight on Wednesday was delayed because bad weather in the morning had backed everything up at the NY airport. It was 11 pm before I got to New York. But I flew Midwest Airlines (where every seat is first class) and got homemade chocolate chip cookies (made on board and still warm) on both legs of the flight, so I was happy. (I also plotted out another book while waiting in the airport). Though I was a bit concerned because of the rain on the east coast, we encountered very little turbulence.

Still, the experience got me to reminising about my worst flying experience. It’s hard to pick just one. There’s the time I was on a small commuter jet (that seated about 50) and we got caught in a thunderstorm. The flight was so rough I had to hold onto the seat in front of me (think roller coaster ride in the sky). Or there was the time I flew in the sleet and snow. The plane was supposed to land in Chicago…but we had to land somewhere in Iowa because the plane was running out of fuel and we couldn’t get the okay to land at OHare.

I know you have to have had equally bad or probably worse experiences….care to share?

Those of you who are regular visitors to the JQ’s blog may have noticed that I’ve been a bit scarce around here of late. Fear not. My absence hasn’t been for naught. Armed with a flashlight and aided by my intrepid (Snicker) porcupine sidekick, I have spent the past several days scouting out some of the most well known haunted locations in my area for your consideration. Yes, it’s time once again for Kim’s annual Halloween tour of haunted places! Are these spots actually occupied by the restless spirits of those who have passed on, or can it all be chalked up to imagination? You be the judge…

Our first stop is the Willard Library in Evansville, Indiana. More than 110 years old, this Victorian Gothic structure is the oldest public library in Indiana and the home of the Gray Lady ghost. (It has also played host to the cast and crew of one of my favorite shows, The Sci-Fi Channel’s Ghost Hunters). Stories of the strange happenings that take place here have been circulating for years. Books allegedly fly off shelves, strange footsteps and whispers are heard at night, and weird shadows walk among the stacks. You can visit this website for info on the haunting and see actual pictures taken with the building’s “ghost cam.” Now, if I can just get that darn porcupine to quit sneaking off into a corner to read romance novels, we might actually get around to investigating…

We venture a bit further afield for our next stop, the Hannah House in Indianapolis, Indiana. Built in 1858, this historic home is said to house several different ghosts, though no one seems to be able to agree on exactly who these spirits once were. Here, apparitions have been sighted, objects move about, and unpleasant odors pervade the rooms. Having visited the home once back in the 1980′s on a weekend trip to Indy with the family, I can attest to feeling a bit uncomfortable there, though I never experienced any of the above phenomena. And that was before I had ever heard the tales of the spectral residents. Fact or fiction? Check out this website and decide for yourself.

Our last stop on the tour is the supposedly haunted Colgate Palmolive Factory in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Once the home of the southern branch of the Indiana State prison system, workers here have seen strange lights, heard men’s voices whispering, and seen doors open and close by themselves. And what is that? Just up ahead, I think I see a strange shadow. (At this point, Jaunty runs off screaming and the investigation breaks down. Have you ever heard a porcupine scream? Very disturbing.)

So, do you have any local haunted places to tell us about or a paranormal experience of your own to relate? Or are you an avowed skeptic? Please feel free to share. It’s that time of year for a spooky tale.

Taryn Raye and Teresa W are the winners of Wednesday’s contest. Email me (margo@margomaguire.com) and I’ll get your info so I can send you your prizes!

Thanks to everyone who participated – you know your big win is coming, one of these days!

I probably shouldn’t even admit this, especially in this forum, but I simply can’t help myself. I’ve been in the romance writing business for more than ten years, I actually joined RWA in 1996 at the tender age of…well, let’s just say it was indeed somewhat tender. In any case I had heard about RWA a year or so before I joined in a most interesting manner. My mother went to a booksigning at our then local bookseller and met none other than Nora Roberts. She told Nora that she had a daughter who wanted to write romance and they struck up a conversation in which Nora gave my mother the 4-1-1 on all things RWA. Then she signed a book for me. As I mentioned I did eventually join RWA and I’m so thankful for the second-hand advice. Here comes the confession part…I’ve never read that book. In fact up until a week ago, I’d never ready ANY of Nora’s books. I know, I know, how is that even possible? And to be honest I’m not really sure other than to say that when I first started reading romance I never read any contemporaries and then by the time I started those, her backlist was so overwhelming I didn’t know where to start.

Last week though I was itching to read a romantic suspense and well, she’s the queen in that regard so I headed to our local bookstore here and decided to start the JD Robb series. At the risk of sounding like a complete idiot and stating the obvious, WOW, Nora Roberts is a fantastic writer. Okay, y’all can laugh, I deserve it. I admit it, I felt like a moron. I called my mom and made my announcement, then my best friend. I mean I’ve always respected her a great deal and found her to be a wonderful spokesperson for our genre, but still I walked past her shelves at the bookstore. Clearly I knew on some level that the woman was talented, no one can be that successful without a measure of talent, but I never realized just how much. Now I’m totally hooked.

I feel embarrassed that it took me this long to give her a try considering I owe a lot to her for pointing me in the right direction. And I’m bummed that I’ve been depriving myself for so long. Good thing is though her books don’t tend to go out of print so I should be set up whenever I need a Nora fix. So how about you? Do you have any similar confessions?

Many of your favorite Avon authors have recently sent me covers and bookmarks, so I decided to do a contest this week. But you’re going to have to work for it this time. Go to my website, MargoMaguire.com and visit the “Coming Soon” page. Read the excerpt for A Warrior’s Taking, and then come back and tell me why Brogan does not think Sarah should marry Squire Crowell. You’ll see the answer pretty quickly, I promise!

Of all those who answer correctly, I’ll draw two names and send each winner a copy of A Warrior’s Taking (or another one of my books) and cover flats and bookmarks from some of the other Avon authors. Good luck!