Wishing You a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Christmas is here. Such a wonderful time of year. A time when we gather family and friends together that can sometimes only be close in our hearts for the rest of the year. A time to reflect on holidays past and dream of those to come while taking every moment to savor the present. I won’t preach, but for me it’s also a time to remember the Reason for the Season.

This is the time we take a look back at the year that has passed and plan for the New Year to come. The year 2012 has been such a wonderful year. So many unbelievable and surprising things have happened this year. Not only do I have the most loving husband who pampers me and supports me at every turn. I also have an incredible family that surrounds me with love and keeps a strong foundation under me, always working on it to keep it solid and sturdy.

It has been a year in which I embarked, with much help, on a journey I never envisioned I would be able to take. I published the first of my novels in April and even though I made a lot of mistakes along the way, it has still turned into a much bigger success than I could have ever dreamed. No, I can’t quit my day job, but I never expected anyone to ever read any of the books. I could see a few family members buying a copy just out of love, but it has turned into so much more. It’s frustrating at times and always exhausting. But it is also the wildest, most exhilarating ride I have ever had the good fortune to enjoy. And I have John and Misty to thank for buying my first ticket and everybody else in my family along with all of my readers and fellow author friends for strapping me in, handing me a pillow to make the ride more comfortable, food and drinks (especially coffee) to sustain me along the way, feathers to land on when the few negative reviews brought me down, and wings to let me fly but not forgetting to include those weights for my feet to keep my head out of the clouds.

My family keeps me going. My fellow author friends from Facebook and Twitter give me strength and invaluable insights. A huge network of book lovers and other authors around the world take so much time out of their busy days to promote so many of us simply for the love of books and using that as their was to give back. And the most awesome readers and fans in the world give me hope and faith! My most humble thanks to each and every one of you. You will never be able to understand the depths of my appreciation for what you have given me.

I started this journey pretty late in life considering the number of books I already have written that need to be released before the day comes that I won’t be able to do this anymore. The best way I can think of to repay all of you is to make it my mission to ensure that all of the remaining books are published and available for your enjoyment. And if I should be so fortunate as to be able to still write by that time, finish the other ones that I have partially written that are waiting in the wings, then hopefully start on some new ones from the long list of ideas I have been saving all these years. My resolution for 2013 is to do everything I can to release as many of them as possible so I hope Sharon and Amy are ready for editing and proofreading at warp speed. 🙂

I have an extended family in all of you now that spans the globe and I wish each of you a very happy holiday season (insert appropriate holiday greeting based on your religion and/or beliefs here since I don’t know them all but wish it to you anyway.) As for me and my house, we wish you a joyous Holiday Season, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy & Prosperous New Year! I wish you each the very best and look forward to all of us being together for 2013.

Happy Reading!

Raeann

P.S. REMEMBER: When enjoying those holiday parties and get-togethers, if you drink, don’t drive. If you drive, don’t drink. We want to see your shiny face right back here when the holidays are over.

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Jake (The Seven Brothers of Elko: Book One) – FREE Dec. 22-23, 2012

Free Dec. 22-23, 2012

As a final gift for Christmas, on December 22nd & 23rd, Jake (The Seven Brothers of Elko: Book One) will be FREE for Kindle! Do you have a reader on your list who likes to get caught up in a family saga? Do they love sexy, strong guys with tender hearts that run the gamut from cowboy to country superstar to business owner and more? Then don’t let them miss getting an early gift of a copy of Jake for their Kindle this year.

The Blurb:

Christopher Davis Reardon’s wife died young, leaving him with two small boys to raise on his own. Jake and Davis were typical boys, but good kids. Mr. Reardon lived to see them both grow into the kind of men any father would be proud to call his sons. Respect for others, right from wrong, honesty, and the value of family were among the many things he taught his boys. And teaching them about women was right at the top of the list, especially the right woman. He had a mantra that was repeated to both boys from the age of thirteen until they were grown men themselves. They still know it by heart.”Son, you always treat a woman with respect, no matter who they are, what they do, or what they say. All men have lust in their hearts, so bed ’em if you have to, but treat ’em with respect. And when you think you’re in love, you’re not. Because when you are in love, you’ll know it. When you really love a woman, she’ll be the first thing you think about in the morning and the last thing you think about at night. When you really love a woman, she is your breath, your heartbeat, and your very soul. And when you really love a woman, you won’t be lusting after any others because no other women exist.”

Jake Reardon always understood what his father was saying. But he never felt the true meaning of those words…until he met Brinley Phillips.

Never mind that Tommy Joe Branden had “hands-off” signs posted all the way around her in big bright red letters. Never mind that she so completely believed in ’til death do us part that she was still hoping for a reconciliation with a man who would just as soon see her dead as not. And never mind that she lived and worked in Texas and had no plans on making Nevada her home. He practically felt his daddy nudge him in the back. Maybe that’s why he stumbled off the edge of that cliff.

But when ghosts better left at rest raise their ugly heads, the path to that ‘happily ever after’ gets steadily more difficult and more dangerous. And just when he thought it couldn’t get any worse…it did.

Meet the men who become The Seven Brothers of Elko:

No one could have foreseen the chain of events that would be set in motion when Tommy Joe Branden insisted that his ‘little sister,’ Brinley Phillips, accompany him to Vegas for a few days for some much needed time off.

These seven men would each be drawn into all that would follow:

Christopher Jacob (Jake) Reardon is an ex-Texas Ranger. Jake splits his time between Las Vegas where he is a partner in a security/bodyguard company, and his ranch outside of Elko, Nevada where he is just beginning to realize the dreams of his childhood.

Samuel Davis Reardon is Jake’s younger brother by two years and the two men so closely resemble each other that they are often mistaken for twins. Davis is currently employed with the Texas Rangers but visits Jake in Nevada when he can.

Michael James Cavanaugh is the Sheriff of Clark County, Nevada. Michael met Brinley in Texas under less than fortunate circumstances during the time he held the position of Sheriff in the county where she lived. Little did he know that their paths would cross again in Nevada.

Tommy Joe Branden is a popular country music star who grew up with Brinley and was best friends with her late brother. After his death Tommy took it as his responsibility to fulfill the role of ‘big brother’ for her and her younger brother.

Ronald Casey Williams is Brinley’s younger brother, the baby of the family. With the rest of their family gone, Brinley and Casey only had each other and Tommy. Casey is a college student working towards his dream of becoming a veterinarian, but sometimes dreams change.

Jace Garrett (Bo) Canton is Jake’s ranch foreman. Bo was the first man Jake hired and he’s been with him ever since. Polite and sort of shy, he’d been a loner most of his life, never staying in one place too long…but no more.

Lonnie Case Howard is another ex-Texas Ranger and Jake’s partner in their security/bodyguard company based in Las Vegas. Lonnie left the Rangers before Jake and bounced around the country for a while until he eventually landed in Las Vegas.

You will meet each of these men in Jake’s story. You will learn more about each one through their own stories. Only they can tell you how one chance meeting ultimately leads them all through an intricately interwoven web of hope, love, heartache, lies, deceit, and murder. Only they can tell you how they become The Seven Brothers of Elko.

Current Amazon U.S. Rating:

• 5.0 out of 5 Stars
• Out of 15 reviews, All are 5★’s
• Read the reviews!

Just a few of of my favorite quotes from reviewers:

• It is a roller coaster of emotional upheavals and heart-pounding drama, mingled with romance and light-hearted humor, amid surprising plot twists. I read a large portion of this book while trying to see through the tears. Raeann Blake has a way of drawing you into the story, making you feel like you’re right there in the midst of it all, experiencing every emotional upheaval right along with them.
• At times I laughed out loud and other times I cried like a baby! I loved how she told the entire story instead of shortening it!
• Ms. Blake takes the reader through all the emotional ladder. All the time you are cheering for the characters to have succes, you are crying through their troubles.
• This book made me cry like no other no other book has.
• This book has everything, emotional upheavals, drama, romance, humor, along with surprising plot twists and as always a little of that heart rending element. I can always depend on her books to make me laugh, cry and wish I had one of these special cowboys she writes about for my own.

Thanks to all of my readers and a special thanks to all of those who took a few minutes out of their busy day to share your thoughts about Jake with all of us!

If you don’t have Jake in your library yet, pick up your copy this weekend. And give your friends an early Christmas gift by telling them that Jake is FREE to download to their own Kindles, Dec. 22-23, 2012.

Happy Reading!

~Raeann

The Seven Brothers of Elko – Davis

Davis Reardon was a persistent man. Lonely, but persistent. For two years he happily watched love grow and deepen between his brother and the woman who completed his life. Jake and Brinley were two halves of a whole. And Davis was patiently waiting for his turn. Waiting for the one woman who was meant to be the other part of him.

He thought the wait was over when Dusty Lawton drove into his life. That connection, that instant recognition of matching pieces came immediately. Still, he tried hard not to slide down that slippery slope too quickly. But sliding he was. Right up until he discovered the one thing he didn’t want to know.

Gold ring. Third finger. Left hand. Married! Now what?

He was raised to never touch another man’s wife. He could practically hear his daddy rolling over in his grave at just the thought. He pretty much figured the man would rise right up out of it if he couldn’t stop that downhill slide and actually touched her. But if she wasn’t meant to be with him, how could he explain all the things that said she was?

The man who raised Dusty always told her the right man for her was out there somewhere. How cruel that she should find him when it was too late, after she was trapped in a marriage she never wanted. A marriage her husband would kill to keep her in.

In a dangerous game of cat and mouse, the crosshairs land first on Owen Lawton, while Davis, Jake and the rest try to unravel the mystery of why Dusty insists she must remain in a marriage that’s in name only, before it was too late. Just when they think the game is won, things take a deadly twist.

Sneak peek – read the free excerpt here!

Red Says I Love You – FREE Dec. 15-16, 2012

Free 12-15/16, 2012

Continuing with the gifts this month, on December 15th and 16th, Red Says I Love You will be FREE for Kindle! Make sure that all of those readers on your Christmas list get their copy of Red Says I Love You for their Kindle this year.

The Blurb:

She passed up a four-year scholarship to put her husband through college. Then she paid her own way through after he was done…with college and with her, when he walked out the day after he got his degree. But now she was finished and enjoying a graduation present to herself in the form of one month in a mountain cabin between Bozeman and West Yellowstone. Things were definitely changing for Cass Wright. The vacation turned into a job opportunity at a local brewery. And she was intrigued by one of Bozeman’s talented sculptors and spent money she didn’t really have to buy one of his creations that she swore emitted invisible sex waves. It didn’t take long to figure out that it wasn’t the sculpture emitting those waves, but the sculptor himself.

Josh’s sculptures were not what most people would consider conventional. They each depicted a couple at one point or another in that journey where interest turned to desire, desire turned to hunger, and hunger turned to satisfaction. They weren’t pornographic or even exotic but more sensual or suggestive. He never used models, so it shocked him when he realized his latest sculpture was in the image of a woman he had seen the night before at a benefit for the Battered Women’s Shelter. A woman with alluring green eyes, who was now standing on the outside of the ropes that cordoned off the area where he was working. The woman who just bought that same sculpture. Little did he know that in the coming days he would find life imitating art and then art imitating life…until she got that new job. Then he found himself way over a line that he hadn’t even known was there.

More Info:

Josh’s imagination always conjured up feelings of what came before, during, and after the point in time depicted by his meticulously crafted sculptures. That’s how he knew he got them right. That’s how he knew that they said what he wanted them to say. But he had never sculpted one that physically aroused him… until now.

Cass never really healed from a marriage gone wrong. Still, she didn’t wall off her heart and walked right into Josh’s life without any real reservations. Or at least she didn’t have any until she learned the one secret Josh was hiding that changed everything.

Can Josh convince her that what they could have would be worth taking a risk? How many times can Josh be turned away before he gives up? How many times will Cass have to turn him away before she makes him understand why it has to be that way?

Most popular quotes highlighted by Kindle readers:

• The thorns on a rose are there for the protection of the flower. A rose is like a love. You have to be careful with it, handle it gently, but cherish that the thorns are there not to keep you from having that love, but to keep it safe.
• I don’t want them inside of me. That’s mine. I only share that with the people who are important to me.
• I wanted a baby so much. And to find out he gave her one… it was like I lost a child. Like I was mourning the loss of a baby.

Current Ratings:

• Goodreads: 4.48 out of 5 Stars
• Amazon US: 3.7 out of 5 Stars

Just a few of my favorite quotes from reviewers:

• I felt as though I was a part of it all. I laughed, I cried, my heart broke and soared right along with the characters.
• it will make you stop and contemplate how we all carry the burden of emotional scars from life’s past experience, and that we each deal with them in our own way.
• I will agree that the book was long, but so was Taming Clay and I found that in both cases that Ms. Blake used that time to let you fully know each and every character in each book. Knowing them made me love them all the more and made the ups and downs more meaningful.
• I love a story that I finish with a smile, and this fit the bill.
• For me it was a rollercoaster  ride of emotions, from tears to happiness and back again. It was a classic love story with twist.
• I WANT TO SEE JOSH’S  SCULPTURES!!!!

Thanks to all of my readers and a special thanks to all of those who took a few minutes out of their busy day to share your thoughts about Red Says I Love You with all of us!

If you don’t have Red Says I Love You in your library yet, pick up your copy this weekend. And give your friends an early Christmas gift by telling them that Josh and Cass’ story is FREE to download to their Kindles, Dec. 15-16, 2012.

Happy Reading!

~Raeann

Taming Clay – FREE Dec. 8-9, 2012

FREE Dec 8-9,2012

In the spirit of Christmas, I’m giving gifts this month. On December 8th and 9th, the latest edition and newly updated Taming Clay will be FREE for Kindle! And as of the time of this post, Amazon is showing the paperback version on sale for $13.49. Got a reader on your Christmas list who loves long, transformative, real romances that make them laugh and cry? Do they love sexy cowboys and spunky heroines? Then make sure they get a copy of Taming Clay for their Kindle this year.

The Blurb:

Surly didn’t begin to describe Clay Cardell. A lifetime of experience taught him not to love and never to trust, but he desperately needed a business manager. What he got was a spunky, high-tempered woman who tilted his world more than a little off-center. But if he had learned anything in his life, it was to not expect her to stick around. You don’t trust a woman, any woman, to not just disappear.

Hailey Lambert just needed a shot. Montana was a long way from New Mexico and she just needed one chance to prove she could do the job. She was warned that Clay Cardell would not be the easiest man to work for. After their initial meeting she thought they might have understated that just a tad. The fact that her heart did some kind of somersault when she first saw him didn’t really concern her. If she could deal with the man’s attitude, she could certainly deal with some little physical reaction. Right? Well… maybe not.

More Info:

Clay was raised in an environment where he never learned how to trust and he never learned how a relationship with a woman is supposed to work. On the outside, he was a sexy, work-hardened cowboy with a chip on his shoulder. On the inside, he was a naive little boy trying to figure out how to be a man.

Hailey was raised having to fight for everything she wanted to do. She’d fought so long and so hard that she didn’t know how to be any other way. She developed a chip of her own that caused her to flare at the first hint of anyone suggesting she couldn’t do something just because she was a woman.

Sparks fly when these two products of their environments face off against each other. Her perky attitude and sassy mouth were in direct contrast with Clay’s rough demeanor and harsh words.

Can Hailey keep up the fight long enough for Clay to learn how to love and how to trust? Or will those who want them both to fail succeed in keeping them apart?

Notes shared from Kindle readers:

• I am so glad I found this book.  It is one of the best stories I have had the pleasure to read.  I Loved it!
• I loved this book! These characters are so flawed it made them seem like real people. This is not your typical harps and flowers instant perfection book but it slowly develops in to a true love story!
• I want to cuddle in my sleeping bag and read this.
• I think I yelled at this book more than any other book I have read.

Most popular quote highlighted by Kindle readers:

• Just as she turned the knob his hand on her arm spun her around and he pulled her into his arms and lowered his lips to hers in a kiss that picked up right where the last one left off.

Current Amazon U.S. Rating:

• 4.3 out of 5 Stars
• Out of 67 reviews, 41-5★’s and 12-4★’s.
• Read the reviews!

Just a few of of my favorite quotes from reviewers:

• Absolutely howled over her temper in private after remaining so calm during interactions with Mr. Yates.
• The book took me through an emotional roller coaster. I laughed, I cried and some characters I thought should have been shot just because how awful they treated everyone. You will root for Hailey, and pray for Clay.
• How Ms.Blake was able to pull off this guy being both Hot and Naive and Innocent all at the same time was what made this story so different than a typical Romance Novel. You couldn’t help but love him, while at the same time you wanted to smack him upside the head.
• Wow….I loved this book from the beginning to the end! It had me crying, laughing and talking to the characters like they could hear me.
• I laughed and cried and kept the Kleenex nearby, but the characters were wonderful, and I could actually see the Montana sky.
• I laughed til I cried and cried til I had to laugh at myself for getting so emotional over a book.

Thanks to all of my readers and a special thanks to all of those who took a few minutes out of their busy day to share your thoughts about Taming Clay with all of us!

If you don’t have Taming Clay in your library yet, pick up your copy this weekend. And give your friends an early Christmas gift by telling them that Taming Clay is FREE to download to their own Kindles, Dec. 8-9, 2012.

Happy Reading!

~Raeann

Project Blue Light

We remember. We know you’re out there. We care.
And we thank you!

Anyone who has read or will read any of my books will discover that there is not a single one that does not have a law enforcement official, either past or present, in there somewhere. Big role or small, you will find at least one in every book. This stems from my personal high regard for any man or woman who has the courage to get up every day and pin a shield on their chest to go out and do their job in the protection of people they do not know. They are disrespected, they are ridiculed and in many cases hated. And yet they get up and pin on that badge every day anyway. I always find it particularly infuriating that the people who complain about law enforcement the loudest are the first ones to call them for help when trouble arises. And they will come. And when it’s over…you guessed it. They weren’t fast enough, good enough or smart enough. In any book, I wouldn’t hesitate to tell you what I think about that, but I do try to watch my language on this blog. So I will refrain other than to say that I have zero tolerance for those who do not respect or even attempt to understand what kind of courage it takes to go around corners, through doors, or walk up beside that car never knowing what is waiting for you.

What I will tell you is that a few years back (under another name) I wrote and worked with a non-profit Cause on Facebook entitled “A Tribute To Those Who Wear The Shield” that pays tribute to and honors these brave men and women. The Cause was started and headed by John A. Pasko, a Police Officer with the Melbourne, Florida Police Department and it benefits the American Police Hall of Fame and Museum in Titusville, Florida. As time has passed, the Cause itself has waned as those of us who have worked on it are forced to spend more and more time on other pursuits. But my respect and admiration for these men and women will never diminish.

So where is this going? Well, I’m going to ask you do something. Among the numerous blog posts that I wrote for them, there was a very short one regarding Project Blue Light. We wanted to extend that further and called it Project Blue Light and More. Those who don’t keep up with the statistics may be surprised to know that 113 law enforcement officers have been lost in the line of duty so far this year alone, which is thankfully down significantly from the 174 who were killed last year. Think about that. Even at this lower rate, that’s an average of 10 men and women who were protecting all of us killed every month this year. Project Blue Light and More is a simple way for us to pay respect to all of our first responders, especially during this time of the year, to let them know that we know they are out there for us and that we appreciate what they do. It’s also to honor the memory of those we have lost.

I hope you will join us by placing a candle in the window in memory of the law enforcement, fire, and emergency workers who have given their lives in the line of duty and to send a message to those who remain. “We remember. We know you’re out there. We care. And we thank you.”