30 Days of Promo Goodness Winners....

Today I'm pleased to announce the winners of the 30 Days of Promo Goodness giveaways hosted by Abbey MacInnis, Amie Louellen, Andrea Boeshaar, and Jannine Corti Peska! Winners were chosen by the True Random Number Generator at Random.org....


The winner of Abbey MacInnis's giveaway for a free gift from All Romance eBooks is....

COMMENTER #1: Julie

Congratulations, Julie! Please send a confirmation email to amber@amberleighwilliams.com to receive your prize from Abbey!


The winner of Andrea Boeshaar's book giveaway is....

COMMENTER #4: Ilona

Congratulations, Ilona! Please send a confirmation email to amber@amberleighwilliams.com to receive your book from Andrea!


The winner of Amie Louellen's giveaway for an ebook editioin of Brodie's Bride is...

COMMENTER #4: TinaBuriedUnderBooks

Congratulations, Tina! Please send a confirmation email to amber@amberleighwilliams.com to receive you book from Amie!

And finally, the winner of Jannine Corti Peska's giveaway for a copy of her upcoming release, The Lily and the Falcon is...

COMMENTER # 7: marybelle

Congratualations, marybelle! Please send a confirmation email to amber@amberleighwilliams.com to receive your book from Jannine!


I would like to thank everyone who participated in this month's 30 Day of Promo Goodness celebration and everyone who made it a success! A special shout-out to my guest authors...y'all are awesome and I'm grateful for your time and energy!

BRODIE'S BRIDE by Amie Louellen + Giveaway

Author Amie Louellen is back today with an excerpt from her latest romance, Brodie's Bride, now available from The Wild Rose Press. [Remember, by commenting to yesterday or today's post you'll be entered to win an ebook edition of Brodie's Bride! See the bottom of yesterday's post for more contest details....]

Waking up next to a beautiful golden-haired stranger isn’t the worst thing that has ever happened to Brodie Harper, but staying in a fake marriage in order to gain a new construction contract could very well be.

Savanna Morgan just wanted a way out of an engagement to a man she didn’t love. Marrying Brodie seemed liked the perfect answer at the time. Less perfect the next morning when she finds herself disowned by her father and flat broke. Now she must make it through the weekend. Monday they can get it all annulled and forget it ever happened.

The real problem may be keeping their hands off each other until then.


Excerpt from Brodie's Bride:

“On Monday, after our appointment, you’re leaving.”

“I have to go home,” she said quietly, turning away from him to stare into the postage-stamp sized back yard.

“But we have an agreement for the weekend. I think we should have some ground rules.”

“Good idea.” Savanna clapped her hands, then rubbed them together as if she were ready to get down to business. “Like what?”

“We only have two working bedrooms here,” Brodie said. “Mine and Nan’s. Do you mind sharing a room with me?”

Her pupils dilated, and he knew she was thinking about the scarlet room they had shared last night.

“My room has two beds,” he continued. “We can be like Lucy and Ricky.”

She smiled. “If it was good enough for the Ricardos, I’m sure I can handle it for a few days.”

“We may not so lucky at the Sullivan’s.”

Sobering, she nodded. “If there’s only one bed there, we can just take turns sleeping in it.”

“Fair enough.” Brodie said. “Now, as a married couple—especially at the ranch—we’ll be expected to act like a married couple.”

“Okay. But only around others. When we’re alone, we can act like we’re not married.”

“Correct. But sometimes…” He took a step closer to where she leaned against the porch railing. “Sometimes married people hold hands.”

He reached out and took her fingers into his own. Her skin was velvet soft and smelled so sweet, like the mountains after a rain.

“I—I don’t have a problem with that.”

“Sometimes married couples put their arms around each other.” He placed her hands behind his neck, then slid his arms around her waist.

“That’s okay,” she whispered. He watched as she swallowed hard.

“And sometimes married people kiss. Just a peck here and a peck there. Are you going to have a problem with that?”

“Huh-uh.” She shook her head.

“Maybe we should practice,” he rasped, bending his head close to hers.

“Maybe,” she repeated before he brushed his lips across hers once, then twice.

His intent had been the small, nearly chaste kiss of old married couple, but once he got close to Savanna, once he could smell her sweetness and taste her heady essence, he couldn’t stop himself.

He pulled her close to him, gathering handfuls of her tank top, securing her to him. Over and over he slanted his mouth across hers. Over and over, deeper and deeper, until her whimper brought him back.

He released her, his breath rasping in and out of his lungs in hard painful gasps.

She grasped the edge of the porch railing, looking as disturbed as he felt.

With demonstrations like that, they may not ever convince Blair and Nan their marriage was an accidental twist of fate, but they would surely convince Red Sullivan their passion was for real.

Brodie ran his fingers through his hair, just one more gesture to keep from reaching for Savanna again.

“There,” he managed to croak. “That wasn’t so bad, now was it?”

Amie Louellen: Where's the Book? + Giveaway

Today we're joined by author Amie Louellen, author of Brodie's Bride. [See the bottom of this post for giveaway details....]

Amie loves nothing more than a good book. Except for her family…and maybe homemade tacos…and shoes. But reading and writing are definitely high on the list. When she's not creating quirky characters and happy endings she enjoys going to little league baseball games and boy scout meetings. Born and bred in Mississippi, Amie is a transplanted Southern Belle who now lives in Oklahoma with her deputy husband, their genius son, a spoiled cat, and one very hyper beagle.

Take it away, Amie....


What is it they say? There’s no such thing as bad publicity. Which is to suggest that as long as your name is out there, it’s good. Even if it’s not.

That may work for celebrities, but I can’t say the same thing for authors. Mainly because it’s our books that are in the spotlight and not necessarily us as people. No one cares if I take my little boy to school without combing my hair first, but everyone knows when I’ve had a bad review at Amazon.com. Not that there is one. There’s not, right…?

Writers need good press and as much as they can get. Especially in this digital world, where the publishing industry isn’t entirely centered around the big New York houses, and small presses and Indie publishers are helping make a name for a whole lot of new authors.

I’m in this bunch. After years of trying to fit into the “New York mold” of what a romance should be. I submitted my work to the Wild Rose Press. And I was accepted!!! Whoot-woot!

I believe TWRP to be one of the best to work for. They have been nothing but good to me, but I have no delusions about their size. They came right out front and told me that I’d have to do a lot of promo myself. That’s the nature of small houses. I don’t mind. I like all that I’m doing to get my name to further my career—blogs, guests blogs, book reviews, book tours—mine and those for other authors. I feel like I truly have a hand in my success.

But let’s face it, I don’t have a house like Harlequin behind me. An instantly recognizable name, that implies, “Hey, we published this. You liked the last one, you’re going to like this one too.” So I am constantly trying to think of ways to get my book ‘out there’.

I cannot tell you how excited I was when I got my cover. The most beautiful cover in the whole world, and it was on my book. All that luxurious red satin was PERFECT for my story. And I wanted EVERYONE to see it. And they did. I’m pretty certain. Why? Because I pasted it on every flat surface I could find. On my fan page on FaceBook. On my personal page of FaceBook. On my website. On my blog site. On anyone else’s blog site that I could blackmail, er… persuade to let me visit, etc, etc. I flooded the internet.

Sounds like a good plan, right? Except I got my cover in February. And Brodie’s Bride wasn’t available until June—the last of June. Do the math—that’s five months of heavy hitting promo.

And of course I can’t just post my cover and run. So I added the official blurb and the official excerpt. And my book wasn’t even out yet.

Unfortunately, by the time Brodie’s Bride actually hit the cyber-shelves, I think everyone in the free world had already seen the cover. They had read the blurb, they had read the excerpt. I had become white noise. But it seemed like a good idea at the time. Not so much, I’m thinking now. I got everyone excited about my book—and I think I did a great job with that part of it. It’s just they had no where to take their excitement for MONTHS. And by the time readers could actually get my book, their excitement had fizzled.

But never fear I have new book under contract. We’re still in edits. But when I get the cover and the release date for this story, I’m going to do things a little differently. I’m going to proceed a little slower, maximize the excitement I generate through all my fabulous promos, and use it to my advantage. In the long run, I think it will be better for sales and also keep my readers from being frustrated.

This second time around, I don’t want my readers asking, “Where’s the book?”

Thank you, Amie! Readers, Amie is giving away an ebook edition of Brodie's Bride. By commenting to either today or tomorrow's post before midnight EST tomorrow (August 28), you'll be entered to win. Check back the following day for the winner announcement to see if you have won.