SPICE AND SECRETS Release Day! Excerpt + Giveaway

Hurrah! Yay! Taali bajao! It’s finally here: release day for Spice and Secrets, my second story from Samhain Publishing. To celebrate, I have a giveaway (you have to scroll to the end…muhahahaha) and a never-before-seen excerpt, featuring tormented heroine Priya Roy and her leading man, Rahul Anand, in close quarters…

Kicking the Heroine Addiction

I recently had a note about one of my female leads not engaging in “heroine-like” behavior. It’s a common thing that comes up in Romancelandia, from editors and reviewers alike: Your heroine’s not acting like a heroine, your hero’s not acting like a hero. How much are we, as writers and readers, hamstrung by those words and their meanings? “Heroine.” “Hero.” At the core, they imply courage, nobility, feats that are somehow more than human. And I don’t know about anybody else, but I tend to write about guys that are clueless doofuses and gals who are, at best, a hot mess. They’re not noble, they’re not brave and you’re not supposed to look up to them. You might not even like them. They’re just people. They’re flawed, and it’s strange to have them held up to a higher standard just because they’re trying to navigate the pitfalls of love.

Six Weeks of Spice: Giveaways Galore!

In honor of the November 20 release of Bollywood Confidential book two, Spice and Secrets, I'm doing six weeks' worth of Twitter-based giveaways! So follow @suleikhasnyder for freebies and fun!

Week of Oct. 15 - Two copies of Jeanne Cooper's (Katherine, Y&R) memoir, Not Young, Still Restless.

Week of Oct. 22 - Cleis Press erotica anthology pack: Game of Thrones-inspired Thrones of Desire and hotel hijinks-filled Suite Encounters, featuring a short by yours truly.

Week of Oct. 29 - Kicking it YA-style, but historically. Win a copy of Willful Impropriety, an anthology featuring works by Leanna Renee Hieber, Mary Robinette Kowal and more.

Week of Nov. 5 - Kicking it more YA-style: urban fantasy genius Kelley Armstrong's The Gathering in paperback and The Calling in hardback.

Week of Nov. 12 - Tessa Dare Spindle Cove prize pack! A Night to Surrender, A Week to be Wicked and A Lady By Midnight.

Week of Nov. 19 - Release week! Hurrah! A Bollywood Confidential twofer: Spice and Smoke and Spice and Secrets in the e-format of your choice!


Books will be given away via trivia questions, random number generator and "Hey, you...I kinda like your face" moments. Spread the word, join the crazy and spice things up!

Suite Up!

Suite Encounters: Hotel Sex Stories, edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel and released in both paperback and e-book form by Cleis Press, officially drops tomorrow, June 12. Featuring steamy stories by Delilah Devlin, Remittance Girl, yours truly and more, it's a wild ride through an array of inns, motels and hotels, with all sorts of sexy hook-ups.

I don't get to stay in a lot of hotels myself, but I have been to the LVH, where my short story "Surrender with a Twist" takes place — and I wish The Star Trek Experience was still there! I've stayed at the Tropicana in Atlantic City, various airport and convention hotels and three of Disney World's deluxe resorts. (Can you beat a hotel that has giraffes grazing outside the windows? I honestly don't know!) I hope to travel more in the future and could definitely use a few recommendations!
 
I have one copy of Suite Encounters up for grabs. Leave a comment by 12 PM on Friday, June 15, with your favorite place to vacay or staycay, and you'll be entered to win it!

U.S. and Canada residents only. Winner will be chosen by random number generator. 

6/19/12: Winner chosen! Teresa Noelle Roberts!