Another Sneak Preview

Since I've been wrapped up in Hidden Embers and Tempest Rising lately (I can't believe I have three books coming out under three different names this spring) I haven't had much time to read or see movies.  The fact that Mr. Wolff is sick right now (and an exceptionally bad and demanding patient) doesn't help either. S o for today's blog, I thought I'd copy what I did over at my other blog and give you a sneak peak at Tempest. 

I pulled out the mirror and held it up to my left ear, tried to look at the odd bumps there without letting Mark or Brianne see. But as I got my first glimpse of the strange little slash in the mirror, my heart literally skipped a beat. Then two.


Trying (and failing) not to freak out, I frantically switched the mirror to my right side, only to see the same thing there. A short (no more than three-quarters of an inch) shallow cut ran directly beneath each of my ears. The cuts gaped a little on each side, despite the fact that they looked fully healed—there was none of the redness and dried blood that you would expect from a new injury.

My hands started to shake—so noticeably that I made myself dump my compact back in my purse. Mark and Bri were staring at me like I’d lost my mind, but I didn’t know what to say to them, didn’t even know if I could look at them.

I hadn’t cut myself in the ocean, hadn’t hurt myself and been unaware. No, nothing that simple would do for me. Instead, it was a million times worse. A billion times worse.

No, make that a trillion times worse.

Because one look at the slightly raised, slightly open slices and I knew exactly what they were. After all, I’d seen them before—every day of the first eleven years of my life—on my mother.

The short yet rocky journey between my life and

complete and utter insanity had just been fast-tracked. Sometime between checking myself over in the mirror before leaving the house and right now, I had grown gills.

So, what do you think? 

Check This Out!

I got home from working on my latest book to find this in my inbox.  It's the cover for the Bloomsbury U.K. version of Tempest Rising.  Though my name is spelled wrong (which they'll fix), I still think it's pretty cool.  What do you think?

And I just heard that the Turkish rights to Tempest Rising sold as well.  I'm excited, as I've never had a Turkish edition of one of my books before.  It should hit the shelves there about a year after Tempest debuts here.

Have a great weekend!

A Fun, Little Excerpt from Hidden Embers

Since I'm in the middle of working on publicity for Hidden Embers, the second book in the Dragon's Heat series, my brain is filled with dragons-- and badboy Quinn Maguire, particularly.  So I thought I'd throw up a quick little excerpt to show you why Quinn and Jasmine are my favorite book of mine to date :)

Excerpt:
His beast went crazy the second she walked into the crowded bar. He wasn’t facing the door, didn’t even know who it was that had crossed the threshold—only that it was a woman and something about her had whipped his other half from its regular state of preternatural stillness into a near frenzy.


As the beast struggled to burst through his skin, struggled to get to her, Quinn slammed on the restraints. Held them tight even as the thing fought against the unnatural captivity. Unlike a lot of the men in his clan, he and his dragon usually existed quite peaceably together, but judging from the way it was suddenly slamming against him in its desperation to get out, it looked like that was about to change.

He was not impressed.

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Quinn all but roared as her scent coasted over the stale cigarette smoke and raw whisky odor of the place and sent him spinning.

She smelled rich and ripe, like blackberries in the summertime and the night-blooming jasmine that grew along the back fence at his house. His beast liked the scent, wanted to glut himself on it until he was drunk, and the man wasn’t far behind.

Unable to resist, he turned toward the door, grinding his teeth together as he realized that a number of other men were doing the same thing. Not that he could blame them—she was, by far, the hottest thing in the bar, despite the fact that she looked like she’d just rolled out of bed. Or maybe because of it.

Unlike the rest of the women in the bar who were wearing tiny skirts and enough makeup to keep Maybeline in business for a long damn time, this one was dressed in a pair of black yoga pants and a matching tank top. There was no makeup on her face, at least none that he could see, but her lips were a rich, cherry red anyway, her cheeks flushed a soft, pale pink.

Her blonde hair was cut short and sassy, and her eyes were big and dark and rimmed with long, sexy lashes. He was too far away to see their color in the darkened room, but what he could see of them he liked a lot.

She wasn’t the kind of trouble he’d been looking for when he landed here, but as his dragon all but scrambled across the scarred wooden floor to get to her, he figured she would do.

She stood in the doorway for a few seconds, eyes narrowed and hands clenched into fists as she surveyed the room. As she did, nearly every man in the room sucked in his gut and straightened his shoulders.

She didn’t even notice.

He grinned. Yes, she would do very nicely indeed.

Her gaze swept the tables first, all of which were full, before falling on the only two empty barstools in the place—which were on either side of him.

Go figure.

She headed straight toward him, her long legs eating up the floor between them in a matter of seconds. His beast tensed in anticipation—and so did he. He wanted to know what she looked like close up, wanted to know if her skin was warm and if her smell was even sweeter without an entire room between them.

But before she could get to him, some asshole grabbed her elbow and spun her around, his other hand groping for her hip as he pulled her against him.

Quinn was off his barstool before the woman had even come to a stop, more than ready to teach the guy a lesson. But before he could take a step, she’d twisted her arm out of the idiot’s grasp and sent him stumbling backward with a well-placed shove to the shoulders.

The guy laughed, low and mean, and reached for her again. But there must have been something in her eyes that stopped him, as he froze, his hand halfway to her waist, and not even the threat of being embarrassed in front of all the other yahoos in the bar made him close the gap between them. Instead, he took the few steps back to his table and drank his beer like a man dying of thirst.

As she turned back to the bar, the light of battle hadn’t yet faded from her eyes. She wore a smirk as big as Texas, and when her eyes met his, there wasn’t an ounce of fear in their violet depths.

He grinned at her—he couldn’t help himself—and lifted his glass in a quick but sincere salute before downing it. He’d never been a big fan of women who acted like they were as tough as a man, but there was something about her that made her ability to defend herself sexy as hell. Besides, he wasn’t looking to marry the woman—he just wanted to feel good for a little while. Just wanted to forget, and she looked like she could help him do just that.

And when she slid onto the barstool to his right, calling out for a shot of Patron as she did, his dragon curled up inside of him and all but purred.

Yes, he thought, as he gestured for another shot of his own. She was trouble, no doubt about it. And she would do very nicely, indeed.

So, what do you think? 

I was up way too late last night ...

Reading Susan Elizabeth Phillips's Call Me Irresistible.  What are you reading this week?  Stop by my YA  blog, http://www.tracy-deebs.blogspot.com/ and leave a comment on a writer you are really connecting with and be entered to win an escape the winter blahs, fun in the sun basket :)

My New Cover!

I just got (meaning pulled off Amazon) the cover for my April 2011 Superromance.  It's called Deserving of Luke, and while I don't have the back cover blurb yet, I do have a fabulous review from Fresh Fiction that includes a pretty good synopsis:

Paige Mathews' decision to move back to the one place she swore she would never return, her home town Prospect, is an easy one. Paige's sister has finally reached out for help, so Paige plans on spending the summer helping her in the town that brings back painful memories of love and betrayal. Paige promised years ago that she would stay away but, given Paige's sister request for assistance and a heart wrenching email, Paige is willing to face down the town gossip mongers and public ridicule because her family needs her. The only true complication is how Paige's first love, Logan Powell, will react to Paige returning to town after ten years with the son he devastatingly dismissed all those years ago.


Sheriff Logan Powell is finally happy after a bitter divorce and a move back to Prospect to be with his friends and family. Logan can't avoid finding out that Paige Mathews is back thanks to all the gossips approaching him as he walks through town. Though he anticipates that he will run into the woman who broke his heart years ago, still Logan is stunned speechless when he sees her. The painful memories come rushing back along with the anger he felt 10 years ago, but the real surprise is the boy sitting with her in the café. Logan feels he is looking at a miniature version of himself and is taken aback and even angrier than before.
DESERVING OF LUKE is a powerful and well written story of love and betrayal with pages full of enduring characters the reader will love. Definitely a must read!

So, what do you think?  I know it's a little different from my normal Tracy Wolff stuff, but I hope you like it.

Country Strong

so, have any of you seen this movie yet?  If you have, what did you think of it?  I was actually really excited about the movie-- so excited that my honey planned a date on Friday, when it released, just to take me to see it.  And then I saw it ...

Now, I'm not going to complain about the actors-- I think the four of them did a really wonderful job with the characters they had.  Paltrow was amazing, as was McGraw.  The soundtrack was good and if parts of the movie were hard to watch, it wasn't unexpected.

What was unexpected, however, was the end.  Now, I won't ruin it for you if you don't know what's going to happen, but suffice it to say ... I don't write romance for no reason.  I like a happy ending, especially if I'm going to hang in there through all the ups and downs, mostly downs, of the rest of the story.  And can I just say that with a title like Country Strong, a happy ending is pretty much implied (I thought it was outright stated, but obviously, I was mistaken).

So, what do you think?  Did you like the movie, hate it, never want to see it to begin with?  And if you want to tell me what movies out there are good I would appreciate it as my honey and I are going to try for a re-date this weekend!

Fun Giveaway at my Tracy Deebs Blog!!!

I'm doing a quick little giveaway over at my http://www.tracy-deebs.blogspot.com/ blog, so stop by and comment for a chance to win :)  The giveaway runs through Friday!

Baby, It's Cooooooold Outside

I know, I know.  Many of you live in places that make you laugh when I say it's cold outside.  But remember, I'm a southern California girl transplanted to central Texas and it doesn't take much to make me shiver.  At the moment, all it's taking is 30 degree weather with a cold wind that chills me straight to my bones.  I guess Mother Nature forgot where she was ... and from what I understand, her memory lapse is going to continue for at least a week or two, getting colder almost every day. 

My poor boys so don't have the clothes for this!  Of course, the three of them are hoping it will rain so that we'll get an ice day or three (as happened a couple of years back).  Or even better snow.  We've lived in Austin six years and it's snowed exactly twice-- something my oldest reminds me of every January.  Not like I could forget the sight of all the neighborhood kids sliding down my driveway on plastic container lids (the best answer to a sled we have here in Texas ;)

So tell me, what's the weather like where you live?  Terrible or tropical?  Freezing or break out the fan?  Misery loves company after all ....