Books make great holiday gifts for girlfriends and other women in your life. If you’re in the Maryland area this weekend, stop by Ukazoo books for the Maryland Romance Writer’s holiday event. Those of you who didn’t make it to my signing at Constellation Books and wanted to see me, this weekend is a good time to do it!

Join the Celebration from August 22 – October 1st

To celebrate the release of Poisoned Kisses, my first full-length installment of Harlequin Nocturne’s Mythica series, I’ve arranged for a number of prizes and activities. I hope you’ll take part, spread the word, do good deeds, and have lots of fun in the process.

The Free Goodies

Charms: Peridot is known as the evening emerald, because its a yellow-green gemstone that glows like a firefly on a hot, lazy night. My heroine in Poisoned Kisses is a dark nymph of the underworld, a magical torch bearer who can see into the souls of all mankind. I was particularly delighted to see that her peridot choker made it onto the front cover of the book! To honor Kyra’s spirit, while supplies last, all members of my very infrequent newsletter will be sent a free peridot green charm upon request. (Request form can be found here!)

Bookmarks: While supplies last, my newsletter subscribers will also be sent free bookmarks upon request.

The Free Books

In addition to two autographed copies of Poisoned Kisses, I’ll also be giving away a signed copy of Jeannie Lin’s much anticipated Butterfly Swords and Sabrina Darby’s well-received On These Silken Sheets. The drawing for these will be held on October 1st. You’ll get one entry in the drawing for every link to a blog or social networking site on which you’ve promoted this book launch! Go ahead and post your links below and if you’re using twitter, use the hashtag #poisonedkisses so that I can smile every time I click on it.

The Good Deeds

The hero of Poisoned Kisses is a soldier who served on a peace keeping mission in Africa. In researching his story, I learned a great deal about the various conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The ongoing violence is heartbreaking, but romance is all about hope. To that end, for each of the first one-hundred new subscribers to my newsletter until the release of my book, I’ll be donating $1 to Doctors without Borders for their humanitarian efforts. So do your good deed of the day and spread the word!

The Fun Stuff

Have you ever wanted to have a character named after you in a romance novel? During September and October, I’ll be on a virtual book tour in which I’ll talk about Love, Monsters & Mythology as envisioned by the Mythica series. On the last day of the tour, I’ll go back and see who commented at the most stops along my tour, and will name a character after that person in my next Nocturne Bite! (If there’s a tie, I’ll flip a coin.)

I want to thank everybody in advance for their support and enthusiasm! And if you’re an author friend, please don’t hesitate to enter the drawings. Authors are readers too!