SECOND CHANCE Trivia Winner

Congrats to Elke! She's the winner of the SECOND CHANCE trivia contest!

Thanks to all who played!

Mark your calendars for August 23, which is our next and last LCR discussion for countdown: LAST CHANCE. Looking forward to chatting with you about Lucas, Jamie and the evil Damon!

SECOND CHANCE Discussion Winner

Hey All-

Thanks for taking a walk down memory lane with me yesterday and chatting about SECOND CHANCE. So good to hear your comments about Cole and Keeley's story.

The winning commenter of yesterday's blog was Jane. Congrats, Jane! Email your mailing address to christy@christyreece.com so I can get your signed book and Amazon gift card to you.

There's still time to play the SECOND CHANCE trivia contest. Check out the questions below this blog and email your answers to christy@christyreece.com. I'll announce the winner at 3:00 PM (CST) today.

Stay tuned!

SECOND CHANCE Trivia Contest

Hey All--

Email your answers to christy@christyreece.com. You have until 3:00 PM tomorrow to get your answers in to me. Prize is a signed copy of the 2010 LCR trilogy, NO CHANCE, SECOND CHANCE and LAST CHANCE.

Have fun!

1) What are the first names of Keeley's daughters?

2) What was Keeley's mother's name?

3) How did Keeley's mother die?

4) What happened to Cole's first wife and daughter?

5) What was Wesley Tuttle's last meal before he met his demise?

6) What was the name of the children's shop where Keeley brought her daughters' clothes?

7) What was Keeley's deceased husband's name?

SECOND CHANCE Discussion

Continuing our countdown to the release of SWEET JUSTICE, welcome to our discussion of SECOND CHANCE! Hope you’ll grab your favorite beverage and a snack, then settle back as we chat about Cole Mathison and Keeley Fairchild, along with some evil and just downright wicked people of Fairview, South Carolina. Beware: plot points will be discussed and spoilers will be revealed!

SECOND CHANCE holds a special place in my heart for a lot of different reasons. For one, it features my most tortured hero. If anyone ever earned an HEA, it’s Cole Mathison. I received more emails about Cole than any other LCR character. I wasn’t the only one who wanted to see him get a SECOND CHANCE at happiness. Cole is good guy who suffered and lost so much. Giving him his own book was a must!

Cole’s horrific experience in RUN TO ME was painful to write and to read. I didn't know until the middle of writing the book who that tortured man was...I thought, just like Shea and the rest of the world, that Cole was dead. When I realized who he was, I was determined to get him rescued but still had no idea if he would have his own book. Then when Shea is going through her things in that storage shed and comes across the newspaper article about Cole and his family, I hurt for him all the more. And that's when I knew I had to not only tell his story, I had to give him back everything he had lost.

And then came Keeley Fairchild--one of the more challenging female characters I’ve written. She wasn’t an LCR operative, she was a mom. She was also a bit naïve and not very sophisticated. I enjoy writing strong women and I thought she might be more difficult to write. Fortunately, Keeley stepped up. Her strengths weren't in physical prowess or street smarts. She wasn't a woman of the world. What I found was a woman with unique strengths--a woman who loved fiercely and loyally. Her love and devotion for her daughters was all-consuming and she was determined to get them back. She worked tirelessly to make that happen.

Cole’s need to help her find her children gave them a common bond. Though Keeley didn’t know the truth behind his need, it created a partnership that led to love.

Another difficulty I had with writing SECOND CHANCE were the children. I know many talented authors are able to write books where children are harmed and it works fine for them. I can’t do that. I can write vaguely of certain aspects of abuse, but I can’t hurt a five year old child, even in words. That became a challenge on its own. Thankfully, having them kidnapped and sold to families fit perfectly for the storyline. The children were never meant to be hurt—their mother was the real target.

Many people say they knew who the real villain was from the beginning. Some guessed but weren’t sure and then some had no idea. Honestly, I didn’t know until the middle of the book. My goodness, there were so many choices. The evil mother-in-law, the too good best friend or the secretive sister-in-law. Or it could have been some surprise unknown villain from the town. And wasn’t Wesley Tuttle deliciously slimy? I must say that his demise caused me no problem to write at all.

One of the many things I loved about SECOND CHANCE was the opportunity to revisit characters from previous LCR books. Eden and Jordan, Shea and Ethan and, of course, Noah. I loved catching up with them and finding out what they’d been doing. And I enjoyed introducing a new character--FBI agent Honor Stone. She intrigued me from the beginning and I just knew she had a story to tell. Especially when she mentioned to Cole that she’d had a bad break-up. And man, did she ever! (A little plug for SWEET JUSTICE. Can’t wait for you to read her story!)

Another challenge I had with SECOND CHANCE was the romance. I love reading and writing sensual love stories. However, having this sensual love story happen while Keeley’s children were missing was somewhat difficult to pull off. Thankfully, (although I know some disagreed) I think the way the story played out very well for both characters. If they had stopped searching for the children just to play around with each other, that would have been one thing. But making love and finding comfort in physical intimacy is a very human and natural thing. And it helped create a bond between them. When Keeley learned the truth, a level of extreme trust had already been established. Go back and read the hotel love scene with the mirror. Now that takes trust!

One of the more delightful aspects of this book for me was the confrontation between Cole and Elizabeth Fairchild. What fun I had with that scene! At last, someone was telling the woman the truth and not kowtowing to her because of her wealth and influence. I don't know how many times I laughed as I wrote that scene!

So, what about you? Do you have a favorite scene, line or moment in SECOND CHANCE? What aspects of the story do you want to talk about? Was there something you would have liked to have happen that didn't? Any questions for Cole, Keeley or any of the other characters? (I'll even ask Wesley, if you have something for him.)

I’ll come back in a few hours and post a SECOND CHANCE trivia game. Winner will receive a signed copy of the 2010 trilogy.

And one blog commenter will receive a signed copy of SECOND CHANCE and a $25 Amazon card.

Now, let’s chat!

Recommend Monday!

Good Monday Everyone!

Sorry I'm late. Had Blogger problems this morning, but now it seems to be working. Fingers crossed that continues.

How was your week and weekend? Did you do anything fun you want to share? What about great reads? What fabulous books are you recommending for us today? I have a recommend! Over the weekend, I read A Little Bit Wicked by Victoria Dahl and really enjoyed it. Fun, witty and different!

Last week was another eclectic kind of week for me. Lots of promo preparation. And then the inevitable and necessary staring into space. Planning what I'm going to write next is both frustrating and fun. As soon as something appears in my mind, little devious doubt demons attack with: That's silly, that's stupid, that's been done a 1000 times. Man, I hate those little creatures! (:

Did you notice that we are only 42 days away from the release of SWEET JUSTICE? Yahooooooooo! I'm so excited about that. I can't wait for you to read Seth and Honor's story. I do believe the SWEET books are my best LCR books yet (and yes, I may be a little prejudiced) but I've had several early readers tell me the same thing too. Hopefully you'll feel the same way!

With the release coming closer, I wanted to give you a heads-up that prizes and contests are coming your way. Since SWEET JUSTICE and SWEET REVENGE release so close together, I thought it'd be cool to have a giveaway everyday from September 6 (SWEET JUSTICE release) to September 27 (SWEET REVENGE release). That's more than 3 weeks of giveaways! With all the books I brought back from conference, I'm well stocked with prizes and ready to have some fun!

Did you notice the excerpt of SWEET REVENGE is now up? It's the full prologue and gives you insight not only into Jamie and Dylan's characters but also what they might be facing. Hope you'll give it a read and let me know what you think!

Now, on to something kind of serious. I need your honest feedback, either here or you can email your thoughts to christy@christyreece.com. Are you happy with Recommend Monday? I know for a few weeks I wasn't able to respond to all comments and I'm not saying that's not going to happen again. When I'm writing and on deadline, everything gets put on hold until I finish. And honestly, I figure you guys would rather me be writing...At least I hope you want me to write. (:

But do you want to continue with Recommend Monday? Though Monday is still the most visited day on this blog, our comments have slacked off considerably. For those of you who come by every week, let me say a huge THANK YOU! You've made Recommend Monday and I sincerely appreciate you. We've had so many wonderful recommendations! I love getting input and suggestions for great books, but I also want to make sure you're getting what you want. So, tell me, should we stick with Recommend Monday or do you have another suggestion? Would you want it on a different day? Would you want a chance to guest host and chat about your recommendation? What would make this blog better for you? I'm all ears! (That saying has always seemed strange to me, but you know what I mean) (:

Don't forget that tomorrow is our continuing countdown to the release of SWEET JUSTICE with our discussion of SECOND CHANCE--a favorite for many of you and the most requested LCR story, because of a certain guy named Cole. We'll start around 10:00 AM, so come on by and let's chat about Cole, Keeley and all those evil people in Fairview!

Okay, that's it for me. I'm headed to do some major thinking, dreaming and hopefully writing. And, if you'll recommend a great read for me, I might just do some reading too. So tell us, what great books are you recommending today?

SWEET REVENGE Excerpt

Hey All!

I promised I'd pop in and let you know when the excerpt went up. It was posted last night (on the SWEET REVENGE page). Hope you enjoy this little glimpse into Jamie's and Dylan's upcoming adventure!

Have a great weekend and I'll see you back here for Recommend Monday!

Happy Reading!

Recommend Monday!

Good Monday Everyone!

Hope you had a spectacular week and a fabulous weekend. Can't wait to hear what you're recommending today!

My week consisted of a lot of busy work. Having let everything go but the bare necessities to get SWEET REWARD turned in caused me to be way behind on so many things. And though there's still lots to do, at least I can see the bottom of my desk, which is definitely progress.

One of the many things I worked on last week was getting ready to promote this upcoming SWEET trilogy. Buying ads, arranging blogs, readying excerpts, putting verbiage together for my bookmark designer. Lots and lots of stuff to do. I really want these books to do spectacularly well so if you have any ideas, feel free to throw them my way. (:

In the midst of all my busy work, I did manage to read Karen Rose's You Belong To Me and all I can say is: Karen Rose is brilliant! Mystery, romance, suspense, great characters, superb writing--You Belong To Me has everything. I absolutely loved it! And though I know many of you have already read and loved it, if you haven't, I highly recommend the book--actually all of her books are awesome!

Oh, before I forget, an excerpt of SWEET REVENGE is coming this week. I didn't get it to my web designer in time for her to put it up last week, but it should go up this week. As soon as it does, I'll jump on and let you know. If you want to read the very beginning, there is a short excerpt on my Facebook page, here's the link:

https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=189276344461026

And can you believe we're below the 50 day mark for the release of SWEET JUSTICE? Yay!!! Reviews are already coming in and I'm so excited because they're fabulous. Will share some with you soon!

Next week, I'm going to make some announcements about upcoming contests, so stay tuned for that! Also, if you haven't signed up for my newsletter, be sure to do so. There will be a special giveaway for newsletter subscribers only. The link to sign up is on the lower right hand side of my homepage.

Okay, I'm headed back to my writing cave for some writing and planning. Have a great week! Now, tell us what great books we should be reading!