Category: Feeling the Heat

Spring is Here and the News is Good

Published on by Alison Packard4 Comments

photo (17)

There’s something about Spring that just makes me happy. Perhaps it’s because I’m not the biggest fan of winter, and never have been. Judging by that statement you might think I grew up in a part of the country where people endure an endlessly long winter complete with snow, blizzards and ice storms. Nope. Not this girl. I grew up in California and I now live in the high-desert. My winters have been pretty mild, to say the least. But as I’m the biggest wimp on the planet when it comes to being cold, I’m not fond of even a mild, snow-less winter.

I took the picture at the top of this post a month ago. In February! See those beautiful pink blooms on the trees? They’re gorgeous, aren’t they? I never tire of seeing them and I never will. To me, those blooms mean Winter is on its way out and Spring is on its way in. Time for celebration!

There’s more to celebrate than Spring, though. You’re hearing it here first. I recently signed another contract with Carina Press. A two-book deal that will have me continuing my Feeling the Heat series through next year. Yay! I’m super excited to be writing for Carina Press and working with my amazing editor, Angela James.  It’s been a wonderful experience, and I can’t say enough about everyone at Carina Press or my fellow CP authors. They’re the best!

So…what’s up book-wise, you may be wondering. 🙂   Well, as many of you know, Catching Heat, featuring J.T. Sawyer and Angie DeMarco was released last month. Afterward, I heard from a number of readers that they wanted more of the Sawyer brothers. Especially Jake. Your wish has been granted, my friends! LOL. My next book will feature Jake and Melissa, whom you met briefly in Catching Heat. The book started out as a novella, but I’m happy to report that its evolved into a longer novel. I don’t have an official release date as of this posting but as soon as I do, I’ll let you know.

After that, it’s back to baseball with another San Francisco Blaze story. Details on that one coming soon!

To those of you still enduring cold weather, you have my deepest sympathy. But you’ll have the last laugh when you’re enjoying your beautiful summer and I’m hibernating indoors for three months straight due to the 100 + degree heat. It’s brutal, my friends. Brutal.

 

Catching Heat Virtual Book Tour

Published on by Alison Packard8 Comments

Catching Heat Banner 450 x 169

I’m excited to announce that my very first Virtual Book Tour begins on Monday, February 10th! The tour is hosted by Bewitching Blog Tours and will run through February 24th. Below is a list of the sites kind of enough to have me stop by. I’ll be sending out links to these sites via Twitter and Facebook throughout the tour, so I hope you’ll check them out.

Oh, and there’s a giveaway! To celebrate the release of Catching Heat, I’m giving away two $25 Amazon Gift cards. You can enter the drawing at: a Rafflecopter giveaway  Good luck!

Tour Schedule

February 10 – Interview at Manga Maniac Cafe
February 10 – J.T. Sawyer interview at Provocative Pages
February 10 – Spotlight appearance at Stories of Romance
February 11 – Spotlight appearance at Girl Meets Books
February 11 – Spotlight appearance and review at Kawehi’s Book Blog
February 12 – Spotlight appearance at Darker Passions
February 12 – Interview and review at Books with Bree
February 13 – Interview with Pembroke Sinclair
February 14 – Guest blog at Passion for the Romance
February 14 – Spotlight appearance at Bookworm Bridgette’s World
February 17 – Guest blog at Ramblings From a Chaotic Mind
February 17 – Spotlight appearance at Share My Destiny
February 18 – Spotlight appearance at Midnight Musings with Bertena
February 19 – Guest Blog at Ramblings from this Chick
February 19 – Interview at Book in the Bag
February 19 – Review at Musings from an Addicted Reader
February 20 – Interview at Book Chick
February 21 – Interview at All I Want and More
February 21 – Spotlight appearance and review at Ramblings of a Book Lunatic
February 24 – Spotlight and review at Snarky Mom Reads
February 24 – Review at Fic Central

Feeling the Heat aka My Series Finally Has a Name!

Published on by Alison Packard5 Comments

Happy DanceWhen I wrote my first book, Love in the Afternoon, I wasn’t planning too far ahead. But then a funny thing happened. I liked my secondary characters, Matt and Kelly, so much that I had to write about them in The Winning Season, and then I liked the secondary characters so much in that book that I had to write a book about them too. And so now I have a series! Very cool, right? Yes, but not so cool if you can’t come up with a series name.

A series name is crucial these days when so many authors write books with characters that are connected in one way or another. It lets readers know that a) you have a series and, b) what order to read your books in if they aren’t familiar with them already.

The biggest problem I had when I tried to come up with a series name was that I’d started the series with a book set in Hollywood (with two soap opera actors) and then moved it up to San Francisco, where my hero plays for the fictional MLB baseball team, the San Francisco Blaze. My upcoming release, Catching Heat, also features a player from the Blaze, and my holiday novella released last month (A Christmas for Carrie) is connected to the series as well.

For months I racked my brain trying to come up with something—anything—that would tie all the books together, and after a few truly cheesy ideas (Hearts Ablaze, Hearts on Fire), I finally came up with one that I thought could incorporate all the books in this little universe I’ve created. So I sent my latest idea to my editor, Angela James, at Carina Press and, lo and behold, she liked it and shared it with the team. And they liked it too! So now when someone asks me what my series name is I can finally tell them!

It’s Feeling the Heat.

PS: That little stick figure doing the happy dance at the top of this post is how I would look if I had a picture of me doing it…only skinnier.