Hi everyone! To kick off my special reader guests for June aka birthday month 😉 … I’ve got one of my favorite people, Mary G! I only wish we got to hang out more – and that more of you knew her! I’ll have to be more witty and intelligent so Mary comes out to play more. 😛 Anyway, I met her at Lori Foster (And Dianne Castell now Duffy Brown’s Reader & Author Get Together) but we’d chatted online via blogs before… and it was one of my personal highlights of the conference. Anyway – you can see why she’s fantastic for yourself. (And she brought along Beth Kery as Bethany Kane – and who could ever find fault with that?!)

When Lime invited me to write a guest post, I was thrilled. Now I’m facing a blank page. Yikes!!

I only have two loves in my life (besides family & friends) & those are tennis & books.

My grandfather (who was also a voracious reader before his eyesight deteriorated) bought me my first book for Christmas when I was nine years old. After that I went to the library every Saturday & took home eight books. To this day, I insist that my house would be immaculate if I wasn’t a reader. There are always piles of books, magazines & newspapers around until recycle day eve LOL.

Today I wanted to focus on another life changing moment. That was reading my first Beth Kery book. It was Wicked Burn and it blew me away. I still have the first email I sent her:

“Wicked Burn has to be one of the most amazing books I’ve ever read. It had everything. I could not put it down but I did not want it to end.”

Oh how woefully inadequate that is LOL. It was so deeply emotional, heart rending, sexy hot and had a few spots that made me smile. It raised the bar for me on what I want out of a book whether it be a contemp, romantic suspense, historical, etc. A book can have it all. The other thing that sets Beth apart is her prose. I still chuckle when I remember telling her that no one writes like her. She says she uses the same vocab as everyone else. Whatever. I’ve also complained to her that her books take longer to read because the prose is so beautiful that I reread passages over & over again.

My fave passage ever in a book: Sweet Restraint page 219 –

They both lay on their sides belly to belly, their limbs wrapped fast around the other so that they formed a secure, fleshy knot.

This is what became a book mark moment, putting a book mark in a fave passage. I met Beth at Lori Foster’s last year, a casual, down to earth and at the same time, elegant lady who is just as beautiful on the inside. I can’t wait to see her again this week. Lime, you better be there next year.

Today Beth is here to talk about her latest book, Addicted To You, written under her pen name Bethany Kane. It doesn’t matter what the name is on the cover. You’re assured of a great read.

Beth/Bethany puts her special brand on a friends to lovers story that you will enjoy. She’s done quite a few interviews this week so I have just one question. What was the spark, the impetus that started you on the path to writing?

Beth Kery/Bethany Kane

Thanks to both Lime and Mary for asking me to post! It’s hard for me to convey how grateful and flattered I am by Mary’s words. There is no greater compliment to an author than knowing her story has touched the heart of another. Thank you, Mary. Your words touched me, as well.

What sparked my writing career? Probably a lifetime of reading. Books fill my earliest memories. It was the greatest treat in the world to go to the library with my mother. It was incredible…like Christmas every time we went. I also have a very sharp memory of one event. I was about five or six. My mom was in graduate school at the time, and she’d teamed up with another teacher. Their project was to do something that would get kids excited about reading. They encouraged me to write a story; mine was about mice. I do remember that much. But what I really remember was that they bound it into a little book. I remember being so stunned and so proud. I couldn’t believe I was an author.

I’m sure that’s just one of many events that set me on this path. I’ve come a very long way from the story about mice to my upcoming release from Berkley Heat, Addicted to You. Addicted to You is the first full length erotic romance in a new series called “One Night of Passion.” The theme of this series, written under the pen name Bethany Kane, is that each of the romances starts out with one night of impulsive pleasure. Of course, it will end up with a happily-ever-after, but only after the couples come to terms with whatever led up to them behaving so uncharacteristically on that first night. I make them work for that happily-ever-after, but that’s where the fun happens.

Rill and Katie, the hero and heroine from Addicted to You, have a long history of friendship. Rill came to the U.S. from Ireland to go to film school at UCLA, and as a result, Katie’s family opened their home and hearts to him. Katie carried a torch for him from a young age, halfway knowing nothing will ever come of her infatuation. Rill is brilliant, after all, and possesses an easy charm and raw sexuality that women adore. Years later, Rill begins to date Katie’s college roommate, Eden, and eventually marries her. Katie’s chances of ever having a romantic relationship with Rill fade to nothing. Years pass, and their cherished friendship deepens.

One day, Eden is killed in a car wreck and Rill learns an earth-shattering secret about his dead wife. He’s so devastated by the circumstances that he leaves a brilliant career as a film director and holes up in the tiny, quirky town of Vulture’s Canyon, drinking too much and spinning out of control. Never one to give up on those she loves, Katie blazes into Vulture’s Canyon one night, intent on saving Rill.

What happens on that starlit night when these two passionate, volatile souls crash together changes their relationship forever. Katie and Rill make the friends-to-lovers journey fun, heart- rending and extremely sexy all at once. After one night of passion, nothing will ever be the same for them again.

All it takes is a moment for your life to change—one night of desire to make you feel alive…

Irish film director Rill Pierce fled to the tiny, backwoods town of Vulture ‘s Canyon, seeking sanctuary and solitude after a devastating tragedy. Once, his raw sex appeal and sultry Irish accent made women across the globe swoon. Now, he’s barely recognizable…

But Katie Hughes, his best friend’s sister, is not the type of woman to give up on a man like Rill. She blazes into Vulture’s Canyon determined to save him from himself. Instead, she finds herself unleashing years of pent-up passion. In a storm of hunger and need, Katie and Rill forget themselves and the world. But will Rill’s insatiable attraction to Katie heal his pain—or will it just feed the darkness within him?

You can read an excerpt of Addicted to You here.

Contest: Leave a reply to one or both of the following questions, and I’ll give a copy of Addicted to You to one commenter.

What were your first memories of books and reading? Have you ever indulged in a night of impulsive passion and had it turn into something more?

Personally, I think you should go for answering both questions – honestly!- heh. So do you have any questions for Mary and or Beth/Bethany? I do want to note that they’re both at the Reader and Author Get Together this year, which is taking place this very weekend. So they won’t be able to check back until they’re home. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t comment, ask Beth and Mary questions, and answer Beth’s question as well!