First of all, thanks to all the Jaunty Quills and especially Margo Maguire, my lovely and talented host, for having me here today. Since I can pick my own topic, I decided to visit with you about the opening few sentences of a novel.

Think about the books you love. Chances are the first sentence is a grabber that sticks with you. The literary pantheon is filled with iconic openers:

1. Call me Ishmael.
2. It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.
3. There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.
4. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
5. In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.

Each one calls you into the special world of the story, sets the tone and gives you a sense of what sort of tale you’re in for. Authors only have a few sentences to grab a reader. That’s why I spend more time on the opening sentences of my books than any other because they’re just so important. And even though I’m intimidated about sharing the beginning of Touch of a Rogue with you after the memorable openers above, here is your introduction to the hero of my upcoming release:

The bed creaked out a merry rhythm of squeaks and scritches, like a chorus of tree frogs. The woman buried deep in the feather mattress moaned and gasped at the man’s exertions over her.

Unfortunately for Jacob Aubrey Preston, he was not the man in the bed. Instead, he was under it, tugging his trousers back up, with nothing to show for his evening except a deeper acquaintance with dust balls.

From that beginning, I hope you get the idea that Touch of a Rogue is going to be a funny, sensual adventure, especially once Jacob meets the widowed Countess of Cambourne. She’s a budding feminist who finds men convenient at times, but is reluctant to surrender the freedom of widowhood to one.

Just for fun, run go get the book you’re currently reading and share the opening line with us. Or you can name the book title and/or author of some of the first lines I shared. When you do, you’ll be entered in my drawing. Two lucky commenters are going to receive an advance reading copy of Touch of a Thief. Good luck!

Mia Marlowe’s Touch of a Thief (Feb. 28, 2012 Kensington) was recently named one of Publishers Weekly’s Top Ten Romances for Spring 2012! Mia loves to hear from readers, so please pop by her cyber-home at MiaMarlowe.com (Be sure to enter her contest while you’re there!) Or find her on Facebook and Twitter!

Thank you everyone for commenting. Jaunty thanks you too.

For example, in the section which asked readers how they discover new authors, the top three responses were:

1. Recommendations from family and friends

2. Browsing in a bookstore

3. Store display

I considered these responses and realize they hold true for me.  When I was at the Seattle conference last fall, everyone was talking about the Hunger Games.  What did I do?  Went out on my Kindle and purchased the book.  I discovered it was every bit as good as everyone said it was….

I’ve also been known to browse in stores, looking in the romance section for a title that hooks me, then a back cover copy that reels me in.

There was another section that asked about established authors.  For books by established authors, the top three reasons readers bought these authors’ books were:

1. Enjoyed previous books

2. Part of a series

3. Back cover copy

Again, back to my own experience.  I enjoyed the first Hunger Games book immensely.  So, what did I do?  Yep, went out and bought the last two.  I read one of Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series and liked it.  What did I do?  Read all the others.

Which leads me to wonder…is blogging and tweeting and having  a Facebook presence a good use of an author’s time?  Or would the author be better off simply writing more books?  What do you think?

Personally I enjoy blogging and tweeting and connection with people on Facebook.  But if I didn’t….

Does this survey hold true for you?  Is this how you choose books?  I’d really like to know.

And don’t forget, if you’re looking for a fun read, my book Jackson Hole Valentine is on the shelves now!

This post is proudly a stop on the TEXAS TWO STEP Blog Tour. For a complete listing of all stops on this tour, please visit here. All contests are for U.S. residents only unless otherwise noted. Comments left on this blog will be counted toward the Texas Two Step Faithful Follower Gift Certificate. To see a complete listing of Blog Tour Prizes, click here.

Ever since I heard this vicious rumor about Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, I’ve decided that we cannot be friends. I know, I know. It is shocking that I would rebuff any friendship overtures from Her Grace, but I’m afraid I must. So what has she done that is so heinous? One word…PANTYHOSE. She’s wearing pantyhose on all public appearances. And you’re thinking, so what? Here’s what…fashion authorities say she is single-handedly bringing pantyhose back into fashion. No! Say it ain’t so, but alas and alack (I threw that in for your historical writers!) it appears to be.

When I was growing up, girls were not allowed to wear pants (including jeans) to school. We were restricted to skirts and dresses. (Why yes, this was the dark ages. Why do you ask?) Through the sixth grade, all the girls wore shorts under our skirts. How else could we do flips and climbs on the monkey bars without the boys seeing our pretty white panties?

When we graduated from elementary school to junior high in the seventh grade (now called middle school), shorts were left behind with all our other childish ways and we started wearing nylon stockings, complete with a girdle(!) and garters, not that any of us needed a girdle. (As a side note, my favorite girdle was purple paisley print. I doubt I could get that puppy stretched around my thigh today, much less my hips!) I can still recall the pain of those garters digging into my thighs. Somewhere around eighth grade, pantyhose began showing up in stores. We gladly traded girdles and stockings for the comfort of pantyhose, which remained a staple in my wardrobe for years

Somewhere in the late eighties or early nineties, professional/business women began appearing with tanned, bare legs. I remember seeing a bare-legged Heather Locklear playing a sexy business professional onMelrose Place. At first, I was appalled. After all I was a professional and every day I struggled to pull those tight, thigh squeezing, runner-prone pantyhose up my legs. Pantyhose were considered to be a required article of dress for a female professional.

I tried alternatives like thigh-high hose. Wow. Was that a disaster. Let me just say that thigh-highs were not made for my chubby thighs.

The day finally came when nude legs could be worn in the workplace and a southern woman still be considered professional. I wept with joy on that day. Personally, I believe it should have been a national holiday, but I digress.

In Texas Two Step, my February Samhain debut, the heroine, Olivia wears thigh-highs as part of her wedding attendant attire. Here is a quick excerpt on Olivia’s thoughts about wearing hosiery.

As she hurried through the lobby to the Promenade, her three-inch strappy heels clacked on the white and black tile of the foyer. Hosiery and she were not close friends. Heck, they were barely acquaintances. Normally, she avoided wearing stockings when she could, but for tonight, thigh-high black silk stockings made a sexy swoosh sound as she race-walked. She liked it.

So that’s what the heroine thought. What did my hero, Mitch, think about her thigh-highs?

The sexy swoosh of silk stockings teased him as she neared. He swallowed hard. Mitch’s heart got a beat faster with each step she took, until it raced as she stepped beside him.

And

He stroked fingers along the inside of her thigh, the silk of her stockings tickling and enflaming her flesh at the same time. “Your silk stockings drive me wild,” he said, nibbling along her chin. “Your skin was always silky and smooth. I love to touch you. I’ve always loved to touch you. I loved the way you moaned and twisted at my touch. The way your eyes would glaze over when I stroked you.” His hand moved higher, stopping at the top of the stocking. “But tonight, I want—no, need—to see you in these stockings. These stockings, my necklace and nothing else.” His voice was coarse and guttural and harsh.

So what about you? Did you grow up wearing pantyhose? Girdles and stockings? Thigh-highs? Nude legs? Tell me about your leg coverings.

Today’s TTS Blog Tour Prize

Many guest bloggers can offer a copy of a backlist book to be given away as a potential prize for a blog commenter. As a debut author, I don’t have a backlist. But I do have some awesome author friends who have stepped forward and offered one of their books as a prize. Today’s TTS Blog Tour Author Sponsor is HQ Super Romance Author Liz Talley. Liz will send Vegas Two Step to one lucky person who leaves a comment. To find out more about today’s Blog Tour Sponsor, you can visit her website, Twitter or Facebook.  

To learn more about Cynthia D’Alba check out the links below:

• Her website 
• Friend her on Facebook
• Follow her on Twitter
• Join her and her fans at her group Blog 
• Sign up for inside scoops and special contests by receiving the newsletter she shares with her blog buddies.

Texas Two Step is available for preordering at Samhain, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble and I will be forever in your debt if you would buy it!

I’d had my kindle for about a year and a half when I went on a trip to Europe with my husband and I wasn’t sure what books I wanted to take with me. Hey – no problemo! My kindle – though not perfect –  was loaded with whatever reading material I might want while I was away! I had at least 100 books on my device, so there wasn’t a chance that I would have a boring moment. Flight delays? Who cares. Insomnia? Got it covered. I read The Hunger Games trilogy during my trip, plus two other books! I became a devotee of electronic reading.

Now I’ve got an iPad, and the reading and searching is even easier with it than on my kindle. Plus, it seems more like reading a book. (Test one out at an apple store some time and you’ll see what I mean).

The Pew Research Center determined that ownership of electronic readers practically doubled over the holidays in 2011 (from 10% to 19% of adult Americans who own one). What if ownership doubles again next year? We’d be talking about nearly half the population owning an e-reader! As the prices of these devices goes down, I think even more people will buy them.

All of the Jaunty Quills have books available electronically. My last ten for Avon (as well as a few of my earliest books) have been digitized for e-readers, and I’ve noticed a huge surge in electronic sales for my last three or four books.

 Do you own an electronic reader or read books on an iPhone? If you do – what do you like/dislike about it? If you don’t – is there a reason why, other than cost?

So here’s my big confession. I get a perm once a year to even things out. There I’ve said it. I’ve come clean. I don’t really have heroine hair. It’s not pure and natural and glorious. It’s manufactured, assisted, and chemically enhanced. I have to use a $100 straightening iron to pull all these corkscrews out and then it lays there, flat, lifeless and boring. Which is why I continue to get those annual “treatments” because my hair just works better all wound up. And why I gave said flat iron to my sister earlier this year cause there’s just no point.

I’ve come to the conclusion that most women don’t love their hair. Right now my oldest daughter loves her super curly hair, but I know a day will come when she’ll loathe it and wish she had her little sister’s straight hair. Women just can’t make peace with their hair, though we strive to on a regular basis. Don’t we all obsess about it? The color, the texture, the cut, the everything. It’s enough to drive you nuts. This might explain why most romance heroines come with perfect hair. That as much as the hero is part of our fantasy. ☺

And you know for the most part all this fretting we do is for all the other women in the world because most men don’t even notice. The Professor has voiced that he prefers my hair curly to the ironed straight look, but says the straight is a nice change when I do it. Diplomatic, that man.

So how about you, do you have any hair secrets? Do you get yours colored or curled or chemically enchanted in any way? Come on, spill the beans and tell me your beauty secrets?

I love my slow cooker.  It sits in a place of prominence on my kitchen counter.  I don’t use it every day, sometimes only a few times a month, but I can safely say it’s one of the few kitchen appliances I wouldn’t want to be without.

Kind of funny, really, because up until 10 years ago, I’d never used a slow cooker before and wasn’t familiar with coordinating meals first thing in the morning that cooked all day.  Then, one of my busy friends with four kids showed me her crock pot.  She’d bought it on a recommendation of a friend.  “It’s so easy,” she said, “and the recipes taste great.”  It was ideal for her, because she could set it up before she went to work and when she got home, dinner would be ready.  She could save money by using cheaper cuts of meat, too, that would become tender through the cooking process.

So, 10 years ago, during a trip to Costco, I bought my Rival Crock Pot (I still have the same one).  I was busy writing passionate, adventurous medieval romances, hoping to sell my first novel, eager to find ways to squeeze a few more minutes out of my day that I could spend with my roguish heroes and willful heroines, or with my young daughter and husband.

The crock pot filled my needs perfectly.  I’ve made stews, pot roasts, chili, spaghetti sauce (heavenly!), even a Sticky Toffee Pudding (My British husband was thrilled).  I’ve only dipped my finger, really, into all the yummy prospects this nifty appliance can provide.  One of my goals this year is to try recipes I’ve never made before and add to my collection of favorite slow cooker recipes.  There are some great ones at Food Network (http://www.foodnetwork.com/topics/slow-cooker/index.html) and Epicurious (http://www.epicurious.com/tools/searchresults?search=slow+cooker&x=0&y=0).

My crock pot is still my go-to gadget if I have a busy week along with late-afternoon appointments.  There’s nothing more rewarding than stepping into the house after a long day to the delicious aroma of a healthy, ready-made meal.  To my trusted slow cooker, I say “thanks.”

What’s your favorite slow cooker recipe?  Please share it in the comments section.  Everyone who shares a recipe will be eligible to win a copy of A Knight’s Vengeance, Book One of my Knight’s Series—either a paperback (now out of print) or a Kindle version.  Winner’s choice!

Look at this lady in the picture behind us–my daughter calls this photo bombing. This so unexpected and funny. I smile each time I see her in my picture. I don’t know who she is but she is making me laugh!

I am by nature someone who likes routine and things in their place so by rights this stranger in my picture should bother me but it doesn’t.  One of the mom’s I knew when my son was in second grade told me a story about how when she was new in town every day this crossing guard would smile and wave at her.  She said she expected that he did that to everyone but as she knew no one in town that little gesture just made her feel a little better about moving to some place unfamiliar.

Have you ever had something unexpected just make you smile?