Books read, sex and a free book!

Reading a book is entering another world. If the author has done his or her job well, the real world slips away and the words of the book fill one's imagination so completely you feel you're someplace else...living with other people, making new friends (and sometimes enemies!), enjoying new vistas.

Which is why I can't read a book when I'm writing one. Guess I can only keep one world in my head at a time!

While my NaNoWriMo book is off with beta readers (who also edit and make suggestions to strengthen the story), I find myself at loose ends. Don't want to start writing a new book when I know I'm going to have to set it aside when The Book That Needs a Title comes back. Have done everything else that needs doing - including taking down the Christmas decorations - and I'm at loose ends.

And that's the perfect time for me to curl up with a book I didn't write. First up this year? Karen Hawkins Scandal in Scotland. Yes, an historical romance, a sexy, steamy story filled with rogues, bad girls, and did I say sex?

The book also points out how erotic romance has become mainstream. Ten years ago, this book would've been classified under the more taboo genre. Traditional romances kept the reader at the foot of the bed, not right in the bed with the characters. One of the reasons I've enjoyed writing erotic romance is for that more immediate feel.

But you can get that from pretty much most general romances today. Which makes me a little worried for No Name. It's straight, traditional romance - no sex, just some very sexy kissing. It's the 1700's for crying out loud...and she's a good girl and he respects convention. There is romance, lots and lots of romance, but no sex. Does that mean the book is doomed?

Okay, I can't keep calling this manuscript by generic names. It needs a title. I'm open for suggestions. Here's the current blurb:

The gorgeous Baronet Christopher St. James provides the perfect cover for Clara to slip a note through enemy lines and to her brother in the Continental Army. The man is such a fop, with his lace sleeves and fancy bows, he'll never realize how he's been used. If only she didn't like him so much...

But the Baronet has problems of his own, and using the lovely Clara Simpson to worm his way into the elite echelon that is New York society, gives him the perfect way to spy on the Loyalist enemy, right within their very own parlors....

Put title suggestions in the comments, my Facebook page or email them to me. If I choose a title you suggested, you'll get a copy of the finished book for free!

Play safe,
Diana