In which I had fun, got a new cover, and learned that I'm going to be in Thailand!!

...Or, at least, one of my books is going to be in Thailand and that's really the same thing, right?

This week has just flown by in a blur of fun and good news. And, having lived almost 37 years, I know that's not always the case. So when it is, it's important to savor the feeling.

First-the fun. Because having fun really needs to be a priority regardless of age. One of my oldest friends came to visit this week. He's actually my sons' Godfather. And on his list of things he wanted to do, he had hiking. So we all went hiking (kind of sort of ) at one of Texas' state parks. Why kind of sort of? Because this is what we were tromping over.

  It was a challenge. It was also a lot of fun. But it gets even better because then we went to Six Flags. Not like, later that day. We weren't suicidal, people. We actually waited a day or two. But at Six Flag my youngest rode his first and second roller coaster! I worried the entire time that he'd fall out of one of the rides because he's a tiny little thing and because I worry. We all have our hobbies, that's mine :).  But he didn't. And it was an amazing day which concluding in fireworks because, yes, we did stay until the park closed. We also ate pizza, queso, and drank beer while my friend was here. I'm very fortunate that I have a fabulous husband who gets along with my childhood friends. Having cool childhood friends never hurts, either ;) And it does help that they both work in the computer field so whenever the Godfather comes to visit, the conversation is always about computer languages, systems, and innovations.

Now on to the good news. While my friend was here visiting, I got two amazing emails just a few minutes apart. The first was that the second book in the Universal Defiance series, Shared Objectives, has a cover!

Isn't is sexy?!? Of course it is. Ellora's Cave covers are always sexy as hell :) And, yes, there are three people on that cover.

Allow me introduce you to Dixie, Ben, and Lisa. The two men are genetically modified soldiers who are part of the Coalition, a rebel military force. And the woman is one of the  government's top geneticists. Or she was until she was arrested and she and her infant son are placed in a high security government prison. Thankfully she and her child are rescued. Unfortunately for her, Ben is among the group of men who rescue her. She and Ben have a past, you see. One that didn't end very well when he found out what she did and who she worked for.

Dixie is Ben's superior officer and closest friend. He has no problem with who Lisa worked for or with her field of expertese. To him, she's the person who's going to help the Coalition level the playing field. She quickly becomes so much more to both men, though. And they'll have to decide if she's going to bring them closer together or drive a wedge between them.

Shared Objectives is set to release September 4th!

Yay! So I'll be blogging and talking more about it as it gets closer.

My other bit of news is my Samhain book, Ravenborne, is going to be translated and released in Thailand! I'm so incredibly excited about this. As a writer, my number one goal has always been to share my stories and worlds with other people. Hearing that I'll be able to do this in an entirely new country was the whipped cream and cherry on top of the hot fudge sundae that was of my day.  I will, of course, keep you up to date as I hear news about this.

I'm being interviewed by Cynthia Sax!

Today I'm on Cynthia Sax's blog talking about what makes my hero so damn sexy and what secrets he's hiding. It's actually the first interview I've given for the release of Ulterior Motives. Stop on by and say hi!

http://tasteofcyn.com/2013/07/15/interview-with-chandra-ryan/#comment-1823

I want to celebrate and give stuff away!

If you hadn't heard, my book, Ulterior Motives, is up on Amazon! Yay. And to celebrate, I want to give stuff away. But things, well, they are a changin' here on the interwebz and I want to change with them. So I'm trying out a couple of things.

One being Rafflecopter. I've never used it and I'm curious as to how it works. And I'm trying to figure out the FTC rules about sweepstakes. I think I've got them, but I need to have a giveaway to try it out. So here's the deal, fill out the Rafflecopter form below and you'll be entered for a chance to win a swag package from me! The terms and conditions should be listed under "Terms and Conditions" on the Rafflecopter badge but, just in case they aren't (because I've never used Rafflecopter before so I don't know), here they are!

**I will be giving away one swag pack only**

***By submitting the entry form below you certify that you are eligible to enter and agree to be bound by these rules***

-  NO PURCHASE NECESSARY
*Buying Will Not Help You Win. 
Your chances of winning without making a purchase 
are the same as the chances of someone who 
purchases something.  It is illegal to give any 
advantage to buyers in a sweepstakes.

-  Eligibility requirements – 18 or over;  U.S. residents only (NOTE: I have to do this for the FTC – sorry international readers but I have to comply with EVERY ENTRANTS COUNTRY’S laws and that would be crazy)
-  Giveaway runs from July13, 2013 at 12:00am Central Time to July 14, 2013 at 12:00am Central Time – no entries will count after that
-  Number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning
-  Winner will be chosen randomly through http://random.org
-   Fill out the Rafflecopter form below to enter
      If no email address is given in the comment section, that comment will not count as an entry in the contest.
-  Giveaway sponsor (that's me) and affiliated parties cannot be held responsible for technical failures or typographical errors or identity disputes related to the winner
- Giveaway sponsor cannot be held responsible if prize is lost or damaged while in transit to the winner
-  Winner will be selected on July 14, 2013 and sponsor will email the winner. The winner will have 14 days to claim prize
-  Entrants have the right to obtain the winner's name for 30 days after contest completion. And the name of the winner will be posted on http://chandraryan.blogspot.com or can be solicited through email to Chandra AT ChandraRyan.com
-  Giveaway sponsor reserves the right to obtain winner's name for purposes of prize dissemination, as well as the right to publicize winner's name for promotional purposes
-  If potential prize winner forfeits or does not claim their prize, prize will be re-awarded, at sponsor’s sole discretion
-  The prize will be awarded
-  The giveaway sponsor shall be held harmless in the event that the prize in some way negatively impacts the winner
-  Giveaway home state is Texas and shall abide by applicable laws thereof
-  VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW

So, what are you entering to win? Here's a picture:

There is a small Chandra Ryan tote bag, a stress ball (They call it a ball but it's actually more of a square. Still squishy though!), a flashlight keyring, and a shot glass. I'll even throw in the business cards because they're in the image! 

*There might be slight variations in actual prize appearance when received due to image quality. (Really, do I have to state this?).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A peek between the covers-Bond Betrayed

I've been posting a lot of sneak peeks of Ulterior Motives lately so today I decided to give you all a peek between the covers of Bond Betrayed. It's been out awhile, but a lot of you haven't had a chance to read it yet. And with the prequel, Ink in the Blood, coming out August 2nd, I thought it would be fun to revisit that world for the day :)

Blurb:

Isaac Marrow doesn’t care that Nikki Rathe is a seductress. She’s the only member of the Community who can help him get his sister Molly back from Nikki’s father, who holds the rest of their kind under his spell. But he doesn’t expect her to help willingly. Instead, he tricks her into giving up her blood, bonding her to him in an effort to compel her support.

Nikki could have told Isaac that bonding himself to a seductress was a foolish move, but he never asked. Now, a powerful lust ties them together, driving them both mad. Isaac is hot, but the desire is a distraction she doesn’t need. Nikki wants to free Molly and bring down her father just as much as Isaac, if not more. The Community banished her as a child while letting her power-hungry father grow stronger. But Isaac’s betrayal of her trust can’t go unpunished. And a seductress can deliver a powerful punishment.

Excerpt:

Fury burned in the pit of her stomach. And she welcomed it. Its heat dulled the sharp hunger that’d been buried deep in her core since she’d woken up. How could she still want him? He’d specifically put her into a vulnerable state just to betray her. That wasn’t the kind of guy a girl wastes fantasies over.

And yet, she was.

It only pissed her off more. But if she had to be pissed off and sexually frustrated, the least she could do was share the misery. And if the look on his face was anything to go by, she was succeeding marvelously.

“What’s happened to me?” he asked as soon as the door closed.

She probably should feel some guilt at the sound of confusion mixed with pain in his voice. Should, but didn’t. “You drank seductress blood,” she answered simply. “How does it feel?” Stepping close to him once more, she ran the tip of one finger down the front of his chest. “Is it a roaring fire burning what little is left of your soul to ash, or is it an icy dullness reminding you that you’ll never be whole if I’m not there?” For her, it was ice. She needed the warmth of his body on her, against her, in her so badly she hurt with it.

“Fire. God, how do I make it stop?” Turning his back to the wall, he leaned against its strength as if his whole world had just been shaken.

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve had the stuff running through my veins longer than I can remember.”

“But you shouldn’t be able to use your magic against me. The bond—”

“This has nothing to do with the bond and I’m not using my magic against you.” Needing the space as much as he did, she took a step away from him. He reached out to her but quickly caught himself, snatching his hand back to his side. “You drank my blood. I’m a seductress, what did you think my magic would feel like? Rainbows, unicorns and fairy dust?” 

If you want to read more another excerpt is posted on the Ellora's Cave site: http://www.ellorascave.com/bond-betrayed.html

And on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Bond-Betrayed-ebook/dp/B00A4E7FYQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373216702&sr=1-3

Happy Weekend!

It never fails, when ever we have a holiday and my husband stays home from work my days get all shuffled! It's Saturday and it's felt like it should be Sunday for the last couple of days. Not that I mind. It's kind of nice to take a couple of days to relax. And I kind of need it after the crazy, busy week.

There has been a lot of writing going on in this house this week. I've been working on my newest story, doing edits on the second Universal Defiance story, and promoting the release of Ulterior Motives! Oh, have you heard? It's available on Amazon now :)  It's Goodread's Page is up. Plus I'm on Tina Donahue's blog today guest blogging. And I have a sizzling book blitz coming up on the 10th. This is the banner for it:

Pretty, isn't it? Brynna at Sizzling PR did an amazing job with it.  I also have a tour coming up through Goddess Fish Promotion in mid August. And there are a lot of other blogs I'll be guest posting on in the near future. I'll post them on here as they come up :)

And, of course, I can't forget that Ink in the Blood releases August 2nd.  

But I never get too busy to enjoy the fireworks. This fourth we had friends over on the third and then went to a neighborhood party on the forth. It was a ton of fun to meet new people and catch up with those I hadn't seen for awhile.

I hope you had a fantastic forth and are keeping busy on your dreams as well.

Guest Blogging

I'm on Romance Recipes today talking about my new release, Ulterior Motives, and sharing my recipe for the red, white and blue parfait! Looks yummy, doesn't it? I'd love it if you came by and said hi.

http://romancerecipes.wordpress.com/2013/07/04/chandra-ryanred-white-and-blue-parfait/#comment-2728

Hope you have a safe and fun July 4th! 

Release Day!!

They say time goes faster as you get older. If that's the case, I must be practically ancient! I can't believe how fast this summer is going. My kidlets are going to be back in school before I blink. But the good thing about time flying is that my release days come quicker and quicker. Yay! And today is one of those days. Ulterior Motives, the first book in my new sic-fi series is officially out!

Isn't it pretty?
That's the fabulous Caveman De Angelo on the cover :)
This story was a fun one for me to write. It started out with me wanting to wright something fluffy. I know... I know... That never works out for me. And it didn't this time. I'm almost convinced I just can't write fluffy.
Anyway, It stared out with me wanting to write a mail-order bride story. I'd been reading a lot of them and they're fun. But I wanted to set in in the future on a rough settler's planet. I thought that would add an interesting twist to the usually historical troupe. Then, while I was throwing twists in there, I started wondering about a mail-order groom instead. The story is set in the future, after all. So after I had that settled, I started to wonder what it'd be like if the groom was hiding something. That's where the book lost its fluffiness and took on a life all its own.

If you want to know more about Ulterior Motives, here's the blurb:

Universal Defiance, Book One

On a rural settler planet, Kat must resort to putting out an ad to find a husband. She doesn’t expect to find love—that’s a dream in these parts—just a partner to help work her ranch. Then the devastatingly handsome Jasper answers her ad and turns her on in ways she never dreamed possible. Too bad he’s not who he says he is.

Jasper doesn’t know what he’s getting into when he ventures undercover to investigate a legal claim against Kat’s ranch. But after a toe-curling night under her roof and in her bed, he’s willing to do anything to stay there. He can’t say no to the tough-as-nails businesswoman who makes his body come alive.

When people start getting hurt, though, both Kat and Jasper have to decide how valuable one piece of land is. And the ranch that brought them together might be the very thing standing between them.

A Romantica® sci fi erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave

And here's an excerpt: 

He planned on making his way to the guestroom, but she stopped him by wrapping her arm around his waist and then directing him toward her room. His pulse picked up at the possibility of being invited to spend the night with her but he quickly dismissed the idea. Although it held a lot of appeal for him, she hadn’t so much as flirted with him. The notion that she’d proposition him seemed a bit far-fetched. Her hip brushed against his as they walked, sending a delightful tingle up his spine.

Then again, maybe the idea wouldn’t be so far-fetched if he gave it a little nudge. A couple of kisses, maybe a strategic caress or two and they’d be on the same page.

When she sniffed quietly and buried her face into his side, though, he quickly shut down the train of thought. Yes, he wanted her. But he was leaving in a couple of days and she’d just been through a traumatic experience. He refused to take advantage of her.

“You seem like an honorable kind of guy,” she said as if reading his thoughts. “For the most part.”

He didn’t try to stop his laugh. After the night they’d had, they needed some humor. It dulled the ache not kissing her created. “Thanks. That’s a lofty compliment coming from you.”

She elbowed him in the ribs. “You laugh, but it’s a big improvement from how I felt about you earlier this evening.”

“Of that I have no doubt.”

This is the first book my sic-fi series, Universal Defiance. The second one, Shared Objectives, is with the editor right now and I'm expecting a cover any day (Yay!). It's the first ever menage story I've written so I'm pretty excited about it.  and I'm writing the third.  

If you want to know more, you can read another excerpt on my website: www.ChandraRyan.com

Or on the Ellora's Cave site: http://www.ellorascave.com/ulterior-motives.html

News, I Haz It!! And a Large Dose of Gratitude.

Since moving to Texas my writing has really taken a hit. It's not Texas' fault, though. I love it here. There weather is fantastic (Everyone will tell you it's hot in the summer but it's no hotter than it was back in central Illinois. Actually, there were several days last summer where it was warmer in my home state than here.) The people are so, so nice. I've made tons of new friends as have my husband and my kids. And the food is amazing. Not just the restaurants, people. Our local H.E.B (grocery store down here) has an amazing variety of wonderful foods. And they carry an large amount of Central Market organic foods, too! So, you may be asking, what's the deal? And the only answer I can give you is, life.

I love it here, but it was a bit of a transition. We had to find new doctors, especially since one of my sons broke a finger and my husband broke his hand almost as soon as we moved down here. That was fun. (Did you hear the sarcasm there? Okay, just checking.) We had to get the boys settled in their new school. We had to actually make the new friends and find the fantastic H.E.B. And, of course, let's not forget the unpacking, which-by the way-is still not completely done. For months after we moved down here, I was just trying to stay afloat with everything that had to get done. I really didn't have time to write.  But I did finish Bond Betrayed last spring (yay me!) and I'd started a whole bunch of sic-fi stories. I really, really wanted to write a sci-fi. And then Rebecca Royce moved down here near me!!!

If you don't know or haven't heard of Rebeca Royce, go to her website (Her name in the last paragraph is a link. Convenient, no?) and check her out. She is a fantastic author and has something in her back catalog for everybody. She's also a fantastic person and friend. We started getting together for coffee and, as writers will do, started talking shop. One thing lead to another and we started reading each other's W.I.P.s (work in progress). Let me tell you, that woman can write. And she held me accountable for not writing. I can't count the number of emails I've gotten from her asking me where her chapter is. Thanks in large part to her, I've started writing again. And I signed a sci-fi erotica series with Ellora's Cave!

The first book in the series, Ulterior Motives (Yep! That's the cover at the top of this blog. Isn't it gorgeous?), is releasing July 3rd and I've already turned in the second book in the series, Shared Objectives. I hope to hear good things back from my editor. This is the first time I've ever contracted a book before it was written and reviewed by the acquiring editor.

If you want to read more about Ulterior Motives, the blurb and an excerpt can be found on the Ellora's Cave Website and my website. 

I'll be posting more news as I get it :)

Beauty

We live in a society, actually in a world, that is obsessed with beauty.  We have beautiful women modeling our clothes, beautiful men telling us which perfumes to buy, and even beautiful people telling us who we should elect as our president. And the only real qualification they have to meddle in our lives is that, by some majority rule, society has deemed them as pretty. This is nothing new and it'll probably never change. It is, however, one of the reasons I love to read and write romance.

In a romance, the characters are always beautiful, but not because society deems them so.  They're beautiful because someone finds that beauty in them.  That's one of the reasons I think the genre resonates with so many women. Regardless of body type, emotional baggage, or current life situation a romance tells you that there is someone who will love you for who you are.  They'll crave your curves or they'll surrender to the sleek plains of your body.  They'll hold you in their arms late at night and tell you you're beautiful and your P.E. teacher must have been stark raving mad to mock you in front of the class.  Yep, that really did happen to yours truly.

But there's something I've been noticing more as of late that has me on edge when I pick up a romance.  It actually happened to me twice yesterday with two different books I read. Okay, yeah, I read a lot but that's an entirely different blog.  The heroines of both books were curvy, voluptuous women.  Awesome!  Curvy women are sexy as hell.  I love curvy women and I love reading about men falling in love with them.  The thing I don't love?  That moment when we're in the hero's P.O.V. and he's thinking about how much he prefers curvy women to thin ones.  It often goes something like this:  "He never understood how some men could be attracted to those rail thin women.  He didn't like the feeling of getting poked by a woman's hip bones as they had sex." Or like this: "He needed a passionate woman. One who wouldn't snap like a twig if the sex got a little rough."  To be honest, this makes me sad when I read it.

It doesn't matter what your body style is, chances are that, at some point, you've been teased about it.  Now that we're adults, can't we can't we rise above that? Can't we embrace all women equally? Yes, a hero who is attracted to curvy, voluptuous women would probably not be as attracted to a modelesque one.  Everyone has their preferences and they shouldn't feel guilty about that, but do we have to knock the thin women down to elevate curvy ones?  Do we have to make thin women feel self-conscious about their bodies in order to compliment curvy women on theirs?

Why is this such an issue with me?  This is a picture I took of myself this morning:



I am 5'7" and weigh 104lbs.  Yes, I am thin by just about any measure of the word, but I'm not a rail.  There's nothing feminine or even attractive about a rail.  Why would anyone ever compare any woman to one?  And I most certainly don't snap like a twig durning sex. Nope, not even when it's rough.

I get that I have a very specific body type and not everyone finds me attractive.  Yes, I have had men flat out (forgive the pun) tell me that they weren't interested because they like their women with a little more meat on their bones.  And you know what, it stung. But such is real life.  Whenever I'm reading a romance where the hero puts down thin women, it stings too.  Not only does it sting but, after reading it time and time again, I start to wonder if there's truth to it.  Yep, I've asked my husband if he can feel my hips while having sex.  He always answers no, but he's a smart guy.  He loves me and would never say something he knows would hurt my feelings.

Now for the disclaimer.  This is my body type.  I have always been thin and my children are thin. I'm a healthy active woman and, after my doctor told me my cholesterol is elevated, I eat a very healthy diet. But this is me. I'll never be considered a curvy or voluptuous woman.  I'm 36 and have had two children.  If it hasn't happened yet, it ain't going to happen.  And I have come to terms with my body type.  Like anyone else, there are things I love about my body and there are things I occasionally contemplate having surgery on.  I don't think I'd ever actually go through with the surgery but, you know, we all have our moments of weakness.  Mine is usually when I'm flipping through a lingerie catalog and realize they don't sell a damn thing that fits me unless it's push up and super padded.  I have a fantastic husband who adores me, however, and that does wonders for my self-confidence in those moments.

I don't want authors to stop writing stories about curvy women.  I love reading them.  I just want to be able to read them without having flashbacks of that P.E. teacher pulling me out in front of the class and saying, "Look, if you turned this girl sideways and had her stick out her tongue, she'd look like a zipper."