Doreen Orsini

Mommy, Daddy, and your brothers miss you so much. 

A loop convo brought up Cape May, NJ.  This quaint Victorian seaside town on the southern point of New Jersey used to be a romantic getaway for the hubby and me.  We started going shortly after our second child’s birth.  At first, we would visit in September when the summer crunch waned a bit.  We had the beach to ourselves, but we also had fewer shops, restaurants, etc.  Oh, but the romance still embraced us whenever we’d stroll along the quiet streets.  Cape May has so many Victorian homes, the entire town is a historical landmark.  For those who love historical romances, I highly recommend fitting a weekend here during the year.  Anytime.  In the summer, you’ll have the beach and hustle of a seaside attraction.  Why bother going to a dolphin pool in Florida when you can swim with wild dolphins and minky whales in Cape May?  Surrey covered bikes for four and horse and buggy rides are a nice way to explore during the warm days and nights.

During the fall, plan to visit in October.  For Victorian buffs this will surely become an annual event you’ll visit again and again.  The entire town goes Victorian.  Homes open up to the public with teas while the owners — usually dressed in historic garb — regal you with tales about the town.  So many of the townspeople stroll around in Victorian costumes, you wonder if you entered a time warp.  During the holiday season, fireplaces light up in homes outlined with lights.  Close your eyes and imagine a painting of a Victorian house with lights.  Now, imagine an entire town of twinkling historic homes. 

No matter the time of year, bring along your bikes or be sure to rent them there. Visitors rarely use their cars once they arrive.  I am not much of a hiker or biker, but a bike ride or stroll around town quickly became my favorite pastime.  There is so much to see and do.  A bird sanctuary, fireworks, speedboating, arcades, a zoo, fireworks.  The list goes on and on. 

You can stay in a bed and breakfast, a guest house, victorian hotel or inn.  If you like to look at historic buildings but have no desire to stay in one, modern motels offer ocean views and pools.

At the end of the day, Cape May has so many great restaurants, you’ll wish your stay was longer just so you could try them all. The Lobster Pot is a favorite with fresh seafood taken right off the boats.  Great chefs spend their summers at Cape May’s restaurants, restaurants that offer standard burgers or gourmet samplings.  After dinner, catch a ghost tour.  With so many historic buildings, the ghostly apparations abound!  Even I had an experience while there!  (While cooking in our apartment at The Columbia House, a package of hamburger rolls flew off the top of the fridge and landed on the other side of the room!)

I love Cape May, but we did stray out of town from time to time. Wildwood is less than fifteen minutes away and offers a multitude of amusement parks along its piers.  Another nearby attraction is Atlantic City.  Or hop on the ferry and visit the outlet center in Delaware. 

I intend to revisit Cape May.

So, check out Cape May, NJ.  Grab a hunk and spend a weekend in another time.

I nearly started ranting and raving here…

Nearly.  Instead, I’m just going to post the link to a video and let the readers come to their own conclusion.  Now, I need glasses to read.  I’ve slowed this down.  I’ve called in others.  Even with a magnifying glass, we found no evidence supporting statements such as  “cavemen was shaking his best friend behind it (it being the American Flag)” or “came on stage in military regalia and proceeded to strip and grope themselves. “.  So, here’s the link.  Anyone else want to say “Snagged!”, go ahead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPx-txeYCAg

I don’t know.  Maybe I’m living in a fantasy world.  Maybe I spend too much time writing sexy romances and chatting with the women who love to read them.  In my world, if you say that there is a convention where male models who have buff bods and drool-worthy faces are stripping and simulating sex while dancing with female attendees, you better expect a stampede.  I see women of all ages, races, and marital states feeding their families pasta for a year and passing on those expensive shoes just so they can save enough to go to one of these risque conventions!  Now, as I’ve said before, I was not fortunate enough to attend this year’s Romantic Times Book Lover’s Convention, but I have been to two and plan on going to next year’s.  Is it a little wild?  Be real.  There are nearly 1000 women free of cares and responsibilities!  There are hunks with butts you can bounce a quarter off of roaming around.  IT’S A ROMANCE CONVENTION!  The older readers can remember when ultra sexy romance novels were called ‘bodice rippers’ instead of romantica.  The younger ones were told about the birds and the bees before they left elementary school.  Those who prefer traditional or conservative romances are still women.  Do they like taking in the eye candy?  I really doubt many would say no.  So, some get carried away.  Go to any convention.  You have no spouses (ok, some are fool enough to bring them), no kiddies.  I will repeat, some get carried away.  Some were born to be the convention slut.  Most of us just enjoy the antics and let loose a little.  We have fun.  We flirt with the knowledge that if some guy offered himself to us, we’d still say no.  This is the equivalent to a ladies night out.  You get silly and wild.  You let your hair down.  All I can say is that my face hurt on that last day.  I guess it was because I started smiling when I arrived and didn’t stop until I boarded the plane home!

Who wouldn’t love to go to a convention like RT?  All this talk about how immoral it is will only draw more women who are dying to get away for just a few days so they can let loose.   Women who read those romances and envisioned the cover model during every scene.  At RT, they get to meet the author and the hunk on the cover. 

Have you gone to RT?  Do you feel it fulfilled your every dream?  Did you do something you regret? 

And, BTW, at the RT Houston convention, I did see male models strip….at a local male strip club.  If I could have seen it at the hotel, I would not have left.  I had a hilarious time on that outing with my editor and the wonderful ladies who own and run Mojocastle.  I even got up on stage to show the young gals how to ham it up with the guys.  We had fun, good clean (they must shower between shows!) fun!

This blog/review of Amazon’s Kindle is written from a reader’s point of view, not a writer’s because I am also an avid reader.  I read everywhere.  I read anytime.  Give me five minutes of spare time, and I’ll whip out a book to read.  Half-read, keepers, and to-be-read books scatter the floor of my car.  Come into my house.  My living room has a library section in the wall unit; my bedroom has books lined up and piled up everywhere;my kitchen has a section of the window seat devoted to books; and my bathroom has a magazine-rack/book-rack.  The basement stores books I read years ago but can’t bring myself to discard.  Those are the hardcovers and paperbacks.  Check out my computer and palm.  You’ll find dozens upon dozens of ebooks.  Yes, I love to read.  The spare time is my only complaint about becoming a published author!  That is why I will forget that I am a writer for this blog.  Kindle is for readers.  This blog is for readers, readers of books.  Kindle offers wonder download capabilities for magazines, newspapers, and your favorite blogs, but I’ve yet to delve into that.

As a reader, I drooled all over my keyboard when I saw the Kindle.  Instead of popping over to my fave hunk sites for some eye candy, I would hope on over to Amazon and check out the reviews and pictures of the Kindle.

My wonderful brother and parents decided the Kindle would make a perfect birthday gift for my…ah…twenty-nine birthday.  *ducks to avoid bolt of lightning.  Thankfully, my brother tends to buy early.  He ordered it in January.  This hot item is selling so quickly, it took over three months to arrive!  Yup, it came two days before my birthday.  SO, on to the review.

What can I say?  I love it.  It really is light.  I barely notice the difference in my pocketbook’s weight.  Pocketbook, you say?  Yes, and I don’t lug around huge bags.  I can bring it anywhere.  Whip it out anywhere.  You can find me reading my Kindle on line in the grocery store or at the bank’s drive-up window.  (My brother, a hairdresser, says women are reading it while they get their hair done.  Not me!  I don’t want tiny bits of hair or a drop of red dye to touch this baby.  Not my red dye, mind you.  My friend’s…)  You can see me with it resting on my steering wheel while I wait for my son to finish his bass lesson or for my other son to come out of school.  Heck, I flick it on if I have a brief moment of spare time while cooking!  Did I say flick it on?

That is another wonderful aspect.  Kindle has a little power on button in the back.  Slide it up and it turns on instantly.  If you didn’t want to bother turning it off when you last used it, you might have put it into sleep mode.  Again, the press of two buttons on the front will bring you right to the last page you read.  *giggle*  Sorry, I get giddy over this.  Now, what if the last page you read was the last page of the last book to read?

Kindle uses Whispernet.  What is Whispernet?  Got me.  All I know is that it won’t cost you anything extra and it works anywhere a cell phone works.  No need to worry about Wifi hotspots.  If you can call someone, you can Kindle!  Well, surf the Kindle store.  They say you can search the internet but I’ve yet to read how.  In short, you slide up the wireless button and–BAM!–you’re connected!  This comes in handy when you’ve read that last page of the last book and still have spare time to read.  I hop over to the Amazon Kindle store and browse.  Amazon even offers Kindle users free three-chapter samples of the book they’re considering.  Can you say hook? (That was the writer in me jumping in.  I’ll just duct tape her mouth…ur…fingers…)  As I was saying, you can read the first three chapters before buying. 

As for the actual screen, the sun won’t glare it out and you can change the font.  Nuff said. 

Addressing a couple of gripes I’ve read…

Some have complained about the moment of black screen when you turn a page.  I have no problem with it.   Hell, if I was reading a paperback, I’d have to see my hand turning the page.  If it had some sweet graphic of a page turning, I’d have to wait for that to pass.  The black screen gives me time to blink. 

Most complain about the position of the buttons to turn the page to the next or back to the previous one.  I agree.  I’ve paged forward a few pages accidentally.  And it is not a button.  Most of the right side of the Kindle is a bar you press to go to the next page.  The left side is split into two bars, and will rarely get touched while in the cover unless you intend to go back to a previous page.  Yet, I love that my thumb can comfortably rest where I only have to press to keep reading. 

In case you’re wondering what book I downloaded onto my Kindle first: 

Sweet Surrender by Maya Banks - I’m enjoying it.  I do wish there was a little sex in the first quarter (or third if I’m reading the Kindle meter correctly).   This, supposedly, is an erotic book, but I have yet to read one hot scene.  Not even foreplay yet.  Sob! 

I may update this review as I keep using my Kindle. 

Next gift…hubby still owes me one:  The ASUS EEEPC!  That review will be written from Doreen The Author.

Doreen

This year, I missed RT.  I love that convention and whined the entire week that I wanted to go!  You can imagine how sad I was to read some comments from bloggers who were lucky enough to go and who were never taught that if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything.  Now, don’t get me wrong, everyone has a right to complain about something they believe is wrong (ex: models groping).  My gripe is not about that.  While I would love to get groped by a hunk (LOL), I do believe one should ask before touching.  Then again, I recall a certain model complaining one year that the attendees wouldn’t stop groping him!  As I said, this is not about her complaints about the models or the hotel.  This is about what she said about some of the women.

Why am I upset with what I’ve read?  There are women who save all year to attend.  Readers.  Readers who make this their one vacation of the year.  Readers who dare to dress sexy at RT when they don’t at home.  Readers who put together outfits they believe look great.  Readers who leave that convention feeling GOOD about themselves and how they looked.  Readers who read a post by someone with no manners, ettiquette, or consideration and see their outfit ridiculed and harshly put down.  Those who commented on said blog–sadly enough–did not mention that this was rude, to say the least.  Was I the only one who read that post and cringed thinking of the poor reader who recognized herself?  Ok, some of the outfits are over the top.  Some breasts bulge out of corsets, some stick beer bottles in their cleavage.  So what!  Geez.  Let them have fun.  For most of these women, it is their one week to let loose and forget the housework, jobs, and kids.  Do I care if a 40 year old dared to wear a sheer skirt?  No.  Would I dare to insult her?  Hell no.  Would I think I was so much better that I had a right to put her down in front of the entire world (we are on the internet) about an outfit she wore to a function attended predominantly by females???  Am I the only one with a heart?  Did I comment?  Hell no.  J.C., I love your books, but your momma should have taught you some manners.  Then again, maybe she did, but you just don’t care who you hurt to get readers to your blog. 

Dawn Thompson, author of paranormal romances such as Blood Moon and Lord of the Deep, passed away yesterday.  A woman who always greeted you with a smile, she will be sorely missed.  I can only imagine the tales she had yet to tell.  For me, Dawn played a major role in my tales making their way to publication.  As a new, unpublished author, I once asked Dawn for some advice.  I couldn’t understand why my manuscripts kept getting rejected.  After a few prodding questions from her and then some pointers and advice, I went home and rewrote an entire manuscript.  That manuscript was Hunting Diana, my first paperback.  Come to think about it, I actually wrote the first ten pages of No One But Madison using her advice.  Then I read it and realized that those ten pages blew away what I’d written so far of Hunting Diana.  Sadly, that was about 2/3 of it!  And so I rewrote it.  It would have been easy to pick at Dawn’s brain after that.  I had so many questions!  But I realized that her career was taking off.  And so…I would bide my time until we met at LIRW meetings or the luncheon.  She would greet me with that smile.  And with advice.  And excitement over the success of her books. 

Adieu, Dawn.  Your readers will miss you. 

Doreen

First let me say how sorry I am that I’ve been MIA so long.   Sometimes family comes first.  Well, it should always come first, but when you are a writer,  the line between the characters you created and the ones in your life grows blurry.  Your fifth grader asks for lunch just when your hero is in the midst of a life and death struggle.  Or, your teenager wants a ride to her boyfriend’s house–the boyfriend you despise–just when your heroine falls into the arms of your hero.  LOL Or you are in the middle of finally blogging and your teen son calls and asks if you could please, please drive him and his pals to Toysrus so they can buy a Ouija board!  Saying no, or telling them to wait becomes habit and if kept in check, works for both family and the writer.  There are times when your writing and communication with your readers must be put on that side burner while you give your family 100% of your time and love.  I’m sure many of my readers thought my absence was due to Triskelion’s bankruptcy.  No.  The two situations just came barreling into my life at the same time.

That aside…I have good news.  Ellora’s Cave has No One But Madison.   I’m looking forward to a long relationship with the publisher I have called my favorite since they first appeared on the internet.  I’m also writing like crazy and have a few agents asking to see my WIP.  I think I’ll keep the title a secret for now, but the book is as hot as No One But Madison and just as intense.  I’m trying something different…something that may test the limits RWA has put on romance. *chuckle* 

Tell me what you’ve been up to.  Authors are more then welcome to post about their new releases or sales here.  I’ve been out of action too long and would love to hear it all!

Doreen

My mother, a very wise woman, always told me that just when you think life has knocked you on your ass, and you want to wallow in your misfortune, God will find a way to remind you that you are truly blessed.  I did wallow after hearing about Triskelion filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and using our contracts as assets.  I cried.  I yelled at my computer.  I looked at what I’d written for book two of my Vampires of Mina’s Cove series then cried some more.  Then, when I thought life couldn’t get worse, I heard that my favorite aunt, Aunt Adeline, was knocking at death’s door and would definitely cross that last threshold of life.  Sob!  Could it get worse?  Poor me! 

Last night, Aunt Adeline passed away.  In the midst of my grief, my mother’s tears touched me.  I may have lost a cherished aunt, but she lost her sister!  My cousins lost their mother!  Her grandson, a boy who was once considered a genius but now, after a mishap that thrust an umbrella into his temple, can barely speak or function has lost his grandmother, a grandmother who lived with him and cared for him daily!  I have since learned that my cousin, Aunt Adeline’s oldest daughter, is in ICU and struggling to hold on.  And so, my cousins are not only dealing with losing a mother. 

Guilt.  Grief has no defense when that emotion we Italian’s were born and raised to embrace rears its head.  How could I pity myself?  I am so lucky to have both my parents with me.  My children are healthy and, barring the usual teen drama, bringing joy to my life.  As for this Triskelion mess, I had the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream and see a book with my name on it in a store!  Reviewers not only wrote rave reviews but emailed me to say that they loved Hunting Diana and my other books.  Readers have become devoted fans and quite a few are true internet friends.    I have a husband who responded to the Triskelion downfall not only with his usual support and confidence in my writing, but with two dozen roses and a four-pack of my fave comfort drink, mudslides.  I have a new series in progress that has caught the interest of top NYC print houses and a major agent.    I have met a group of authors at Triskelion I adore.  Triskelion may have folded in a way that left me and other authors struggling to get our rights back, but I will never regret becoming a Triskelion author.   I only wish that they had stopped taking on brand new authors during these last couple of months.  They are the ones needing the most support.  Their first contracted books are now held up in bankruptcy court and will not be their first releases.  Well, I’m hoping that they get something published fast enough to make the previous statement true! 

Death has a way of showing us that life is good.  Look around you and count your blessings. 

(I’d like to thank www.DearAuthor.com for posting helpful facts about bankruptcy and literary contracts.)

Doreen

Ever wish those tall, dark, tragic vampires you find in paranormal romances really existed?  I know I do.   When the sun sets, I listen to the sounds of awakening night creatures, and I wish that those romantic hunks with fangs that frighten and excite us were real.  My ideal vampire hunk would have long hair as black the sky on a moonless night.  His eyes would be the lightest blue with flecks of gold.  When passion takes hold, those gold flecks will burn until his eyes glow and heat flares beneath his gaze.  Sigh.  On to his body.  I’m petite so it doesn’t take much height to tower over me, but I want my vampire hunk a foot taller.  Why?  I want to feel his domination.  I want big hands that are rough and scrape when they glide along my skin.  Give me callouses!  *Ok, the legs are crossing*  What else?  Lips.  I think Brad Pitt has perfect lips.  They are full and strong, but that pouting lower lip gives me a sense of vulnerability and lets face it, we want them strong but vulnerable!  Leg muscles are a must.  Gotta have the strength to go all night, right?  Oh, what the hell, muscles that bulge just enough to show all over his body. 

Speaking of muscles, I saw a show the other night that made me cringe.  The man had a nice face but had triceps that were way, way, way too big.  His measurement for biceps and triceps was 24 inches!  Now, my vampire hunk had better look like that.  Yuck.

And yet, I want to see his arms bulge when he’s….ah…working out with me.  Hell, I don’t just want to feel the energy; I want to see his body strain from it!  Stubble.  Gotta have stubble.  Yes, I like to feel the scratch of more than just those calloused hands. 

There is one thing I feel all vampires should have.  A roar.  Is that lame?  Maybe.  But I want roars and growls, animalist sounds that prove I’ve pushed my vampire hunk close to releasing his inner beast. 

Tell me a bit about your perfect vampire.