Book Releases

Holding On (Colorado High Country #6) —
The Colorado High Country series returns with Conrad and Kenzie's story.

A hero barely holding on…

Harrison Conrad returned to Scarlet Springs from Nepal, the sole survivor of a freak accident on Mt. Everest. Shattered and grieving for his friends, he vows never to climb again and retreats into a bottle of whiskey—until Kenzie Morgan shows up at his door with a tiny puppy asking for his help. He’s the last person in the world she should ask to foster this little furball. He’s barely capable of managing his own life right now, let alone caring for a helpless, adorable, fluffy puppy. But Conrad has always had a thing for Kenzie with her bright smile and sweet curves. One look into her pleading blue eyes, and he can’t say no.

The woman who won’t let him fall…

Kenzie Morgan’s life went to the dogs years ago. A successful search dog trainer and kennel owner, she gets her fill of adventure volunteering for the Rocky Mountain Search & Rescue Team. The only thing missing from her busy life is love. It’s not easy finding Mr. Right in a small mountain town, especially when she’s unwilling to date climbers. She long ago swore never again to fall for a guy who might one day leave her for a rock. When Conrad returns from a climbing trip haunted by the catastrophe that killed his best friend, Kenzie can see he’s hurting and wants to help. She just might have the perfect way to bring him back to the world of the living. But friendship quickly turns into something more—and now she’s risking her heart to heal his.

In ebook and soon in print!


About Me

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I grew up in Colorado at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, then lived in Denmark and traveled throughout Europe before coming back to Colorado. I have two adult sons, whom I cherish. I started my writing career as a columnist and investigative reporter and eventually became the first woman editor of two different papers. Along the way, my team and I won numerous state and several national awards, including the National Journalism Award for Public Service. In 2011, I was awarded the Keeper of the Flame Lifetime Achievement Award for Journalism. Now I write historical romance and contemporary romantic suspense.

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Seductive Musings

Friday, November 30, 2007

Foreign covers, fun stuff and wallpaper!



Sorry I vanished from the face of the earth. I blame the Pilgrims. They started this whole stuff-your-face tradition a long time ago, meaning that we, their decendents, must do the same each year. So I went out of town and spent the Thanksgiving holiday with my parents on Colorado's Western Slope. Then because I'd actually had time off, I had to catch up at the newspaper. The thing that stinks about working at newspapers is that you can't just say, "That's enough news," and publish whatever you feel like writing. You have to fill the entire paper. Every time. No blank pages allowed. It's irritating.

Anyway, here we go, catching up...

Kalt Wie Der TodCold As Death. That's the German title of what I think is actually Hard Evidence. It could be Extreme Exposure, but who knows? I find out about these things after everyone else. A friend from Germany let me know about this one. I guess when I get copies I'll know which book it is. What the heck? I'm just the author.

Still, I think it's a pretty cool cover. I'm not sure how they got Angelina Jolie to agree to pose, but she looks great.

And now for something completely different...

A reader, Jennifer Johnson, sent me a few emails and we ended up chatting back and forth. She told me she'd started with my second book, Carnal Gift, and then worked her way through my titles. I told her how Carnal Gift had been cut dramatically in order to comply with an arbitrary maximum page length and how the cover had always bugged me because it looks like late summer in the Louisiana Bayou and not winter in Ireland.

Then one day I opened my email, and found this....



What do you think? (You can view the original further down on the right side of this blog.) I absolutely love this! Carnal Gift is going to be reprinted in October, and I wish they could use this as the new cover. I love the blue colors. I love the Irish castle. And that castle is from Meath, the county where Jamie and Bríghid spend most of their time before fleeing Ireland.

But Jennifer was on a roll. One day she sent me this....



A nice and very sexy bit of art that she said I might want to include on the website. It reminds me of Kat James and her Mountain Parks Ranger lover Gabe Rossiter. I haven't written their story yet. It's up next.

Then Jennifer sent this:



It's perfect for my contemps, with the Rockies in the background and nice little bullet hole in the foreground. It makes me think of Julian and Tessa because of the blonde hair.

Here's what Jennifer did in honor of Unlawful Contact:



And the above image doubles as a fun bit of wallpaper. So if you'd like this image for your computer screen, let me know and I'll email it right over! It's on my desktop right now. I love staring at those biceps. I think a bit of fireplace sex is the perfect thing for the holidays.

Jennifer also took the cover for Surrender and tried to put something together that was more like what I had wanted for the book. If you recognize the face, that's because I told her I always thought of Iain and his brothers as resembling Duncan McLeod of the Clan McLeod.



So thanks, Jennifer, for all this fun and wonderful art!

I'm guessing most of us look at some of the covers on these books and wish they were different. What is your favorite romance novel cover?

And while you're at it tell me about your holiday plans!

9 comments:

Debbie H said...

Great job, Jennifer!

I love the one with Adrian Paul! LOL The one for Unlawful Contact is my favorite of yours, if I can't have Adrian on one.

My Christmas plans are, this year my daughter and daughter in law are going to plan and do Christmas Eve for the family and I am going to sit back and play with the grandgirls and just enjoy being. Seeing Christmas through the eyes of a child is so heartwarming and makes you a kid again. This will be Ahava's 1st Christmas. In a bit, Anastasia and I will start the first batch of Christmas cookies and I will be making many more before the season is over. I make mostly sugar cookies with icing and chocolate covered cherry cookies (yummy! the reason I can't lose weight.LOL).

Bo said...

How cool! I LOVE the one for Carnal-very beautiful colors & of course the castle/stones go great!

Anything w/ AP is wonderful! *G*
You know what,though? To me,in order for AP to be Iain,it would have to be one of his really rough & tough,sort of unkempt and wild looking moments.Something that looks like he just got done rolling around on the forest floor w/ me! *G* Seriously,though,I have always pictured Iain as very natural,very barbaric & part of the earth.Bear with me while I try to explain this,& hopefully I'm not sounding overly critical,b/c that is SOOO not my intent.It's just that I have always had trouble explaining my visions of my fave heroes,whether it's Iain or Jamie Fraser or Zarek or even Adam.Honestly,Adam & Iain have always been the most difficult for me,despite the fact that I lust for them so bad,LOL! You know how sometimes you'll think of men who could be the character,or you'll picture a certain actor as a character? That doesn't usually happen to me.My thing is more like if I saw him,I'd know it.Rob Ashton's blue shirt pic is Adam,to me-but only the face.Yes,the man had a fantastic body in that pic,and if he would've been wearing all black...maybe.We'll never know.

And Iain,well,I've seen a few men that are him-partially.Those sharp eyes have a life of their own in my mind,though.The part in the beginning of Surrender when he is getting the canoe for them to escape is when he really came to absolute life for me-dunno why.But that was the moment,the one that made it impossible,to me at least,for him to be,completely, any man I've ever seen in film,TV,etc.But I would know him,if I saw him,complete.Does that make any sense whatsoever,LOL.

Anyways,very fun stuff,I wish authors had more control over covers,b/c some (not yours,luckily,IMHO)are SO far out there that you feel like you paid for a Ferrari but drove home in a Yugo.Preconceived notions are a bitch.

Fave covers,hmmm.Of yours,I would have to say Surrender,despite the 'mens camping novel' thing you mentioned,LOL.I like the fact that there is the plaid on the bottom with the Tipis (sp?) in the background,b/c that shows the combo of Native American & Scottish a bit,just like the book.

Sweet Release I also really like.You don't see many covers that have the couple & a ship together w/out them actually being on the ship.I love tallships,but this is unique.I like that her hand is pulling on his shirt,since it's kind of a reverse of the old 'bodice-ripper' stigma.It makes me think of his indenture,of Cassie being the one in charge.

I like KMM's Immortal & Dark,b/c it's just an arm,and a back,letting your imagination go as far as the face,making sure the description from KMM is what counts,and not a cover pic.

I love the original covers of the Outlander series from Gabaldon,through the first 4 books.

For me,a cover that's different from the physical descriptions inside,whether it's good or bad,can be blown away by great writing.If the author can show me what they look like through words,then it doesn't matter what's on the cover.A great cover can enhance the story,yes,but it's not the be-all,end-all to it.

You could have a picture of a laundry basket,or a lizard,or anything,on your books.Just think of the dumbest,most completely irrelevant & absurd thing,and put it on there.It wouldn't matter,b/c you showed us what they looked like,who they were.

Cripes,I just realized how much I've rambled.It is almost 3 am,I haven't been to bed yet,and I have to get up for work in a little over an hour.Maybe I'll just stay up,LOL.Apologies for the lengthy diatribe-apparently staying up this late has turned on some starnge part of my brain,LOL.

Sue Z said...

Welcome Back! We've missed you. I have to tell you that your Sweet Release has one of my most favorite covers ever! It is perfect for the story that goes with it. The cover image is exactly how I pictured Alec.

My other favorite cover is Spell of the Highlander by Karen Marie Moning. That one is just plain hot. I also love the newer covers on Hannah Howell's Highlander books. They usually feature the hot body of Nathan Kamp draped in a lovely plaid.

Jennifer did a great job on the covers. Carnal Gift is beautiful! And the Unlawful Contact desktop would look great on a coffee mug (hint hint).

Love ya,
Sue

Anonymous said...

My favorite covers hummm now that is a hard one for me because I have so many. I love many of the back covers of novels as well these are often over looked but were very popular during the 1990's. Some of them that I absolutely love are Stephanie Lauren's novels, Jo Goodman's novels, and step back covers like many of Heather Grahams books. I really love covers of Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter's series as well. Always a hot guy in black and leather usually sometimes with a shirt sometimes not wooohooo lol. Let's see just about any Scottish book with a man in a kilt drool...
And my favorite covers of yours Pamela love love love Sweet Release, and Hard Evidence, and the new one Unlawful Contact is super hot as well.

Christmas for us is going to be a nice at home family Christmas probably pretty quiet one this year at least I hope so lol.

Anonymous said...

Crap I loved Ride the Fire too that was a great cover. I knew I was forgetting something.

Hi, Debbie,

Your Christmas sounds wonderful! Being surrounded by granddaughters and baking cookies with them sounds just perfect. I make sugar cookies, too, with frosting. Not very artfully done. The frosting is just smeared on. The cookie is just a vehicle for my special buttercream frosting. One bite and you're in heaven. Two and you think you're gonna puke.

I WISH I could have Adrian on a cover. Man, oh, man! Not only is he devastatingly handsome, he's also a truly good man. Most handsome actor types are jerks, in my very limited experience of them. He has always struck me as genuine.

Hi, Bo. Girl you should have been asleep!!! I hope you got through that day and aren't too exhausted.

I agree with you about Iain -- a very earthy man, who can be clean or completely grungy and still look amazing because he's all strength. I have a photo that I think captures that idea, and as soon as I can get in .jpg format, I'll post it on my blog just for you, okay?

Interesting that the "escape in the canoe" scene brought him to life for you. LOL! That's not one I'd have thought of. For me, I really felt I knew him, when he chose to save Annie, no matter the cost to himself. Her "bear" dreams as he carried her also were him to me -- his Indian clan, his strength, his totem, so to speak.

SueZAY! My kitchen and my couch miss you. LOL! OK, I miss you too... I didn't get to see this week's MOONLIGHT because I'm back in the land of no TV, i.e., home.

My favorite covers of mine are Sweet Release, which is perfect and is so Alec, as you say; Ride the Fire because of John D's nipple; Hard Evidence, because it depicts the shower scene; and Unlawful Contact, because it's just plain sexy and was my concept. Yes, for once I had a say in a cover. Woohoo.

Hi, JennJ: I certainly hope you get that quiet Christmas. You so totally deserve it!

I like step-back covers, too. Stephanie Laurens has definitely had some nice ones. The covers that made me stop still in the store include KMM's covers with Nathan Kamp's various body parts (his lips are unbelievable). SK's DARK HUNTER covers are likewise very sexy.

I'm hoping Untamed gets sexy cover. No more "men's camping novel" look, please!

Anonymous said...

Thanks Pamela :)

And to cool on you having the say in the cover a very good idea you had. And I have always thought that is so wrong that the author doesn't have a major say so in the cover you all should have that right it's your book your vision that counts grrr. So unfair.

Anonymous said...

Wow Jennifer did a fabulous job! I liked the Carnal Gift cover the best, very beautiful.

A few of my favorite covers have been KMM's Spell, just because the look on my mother-in-laws face was priceless. Your Extreme Exposure was sexy! I tend to like those best because I like the red-faced looks from my extended family. I am shameless LOL!

My Christmas plans are simple this year. We are staying in town. My parents may be coming down from NY provided no major snow storms hit. I like to go to the movies on Christmas Day so if there is a good kids movie out at that time, I might try and see how well Hannah Handful does.

Cheryle

Ronlyn said...

Way to go Jennifer! Awesome!!
I love your I-Team covers PC. So hot.

Holiday plans....NOTHING! *G* I'm playing some serious catch up here. My cards haven't gone out, my tree isn't up, don't even get me started on my shopping list...it's terrible. So, I'm hoping for it to be as quiet as possible this year. Maybe dinner at my aunt's house, which is typical, otherwise just quiet times at home. Well, as quiet as it can be with 2 boys. *G*

Back when we were first married I set the rule that we don't travel for the holidays. the grandparents are welcome to come spend it with us, but I won't lug kids and presents on planes to make it to grandma's house. I think my MIL is still pouting about that, but what can I say? It's my rule and I'm sticking by it. (plus, both Scott and I work, she doesn't...it's easier for one person -FIL- to get time off work to travel than for 2 of us.)

so, yeah, I don't know what we'll be doing. But I'll be drinking while I'm doing it. *G*

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"I am an artist. I am here to live out loud."
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—James Joyce

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