Judi's Journey Through American Title III and Beyond

So… Is Beefcake Yummy?

Judi — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 19:23:30 +0000

My book, Beefcake & Cupcakes is up for BEST COVER OF THE WEEK and I’d really appreciate the votes.

Go here:

http://www.indtale.com/fun-stuff

Each week’s winner will receive 1/4 page free ad in Ind’Tale magazine.

That’s not all, the last week of each month, the weekly winners will vie for the title of

Creme de la Cover

And the grand prize of a month’s free advertising on our website and a full page ad in InD’Tale magazine, $125.00 value!!

I would really appreciate the votes. Yes, I’m asking for votes again You guys have been great over the years with the voting. I hope you’ll go to bat for me one more time.

If you liked the movie, MAGIC MIKE, you should enjoy this story.

Sugar is sweet, but so is revenge

All Lara Cavallo wants to do is make her bakery business, Cavallo’s Cups & Cakes, a success, and be able to stop accepting alimony from her rotten, cheating ex-husband. But first she needs to find her clothes and escape the strange hotel room she wakes up in before she embarrasses herself any further in front the owner of that gorgeous naked keister she spots through the bathroom door. She needs to keep her mind on her cupcakes. She doesn’t have time for beefcake, no matter how enticing.

Cupcakes are sweet, and so is Lara…

All Gage Tomlinson wants is to find a way to help his single-mom sister pay the hospital bills for his six-year-old nephew, badly injured in a hit and run accident. Working construction during the day and as the owner of the exotic male dance troupe BeefCake, Inc. by night doesn’t leave much time for indulgence. Too bad the sweetest thing he’s seen in ages passes out on him and then takes off before he even gets a nibble. He’s got a sweet tooth, and only Lara’s “cupcakes” will satisfy him.

But when cupcake finally meets beefcake, it’s hot enough to melt the buttercream right off the cake.

Ingredients:

Lara Cavallo, a baker who’s just starting out after a divorce

Gage Tomlinson, a stripper who’s been around the block and needs money for his nephew’s surgery

Cara and Bryan, two best friends who mean well

And Jeff, the ex husband who doesn’t.

Mix them all together at the social event of the season and you get one sexy batch of dancing “cupcakes”!

USA TODAY!!! Yes!

Judi — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 20:13:22 +0000

Many thanks to Joyce Lamb for allowing me some space in the HEA column in USA Today to talk about my new release in the Bottled Magic series, Magic Gone Wild.

Check it out!

http://books.usatoday.com/happyeverafter/post/2012-09-05/judi-fennell-magic-gone-wild-falling-in-love/839791/1

Win a Signed Copy of A Manuscript

Judi — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:53:50 +0000

My friend, Dana Marton and I have put together a contest. Like both of our FaceBook author pages by April 30 at 5 eastern time and you’ll be entered to win a signed copy of my Beauty and The Best manuscript, an ARC of Catch of a Lifetime, and a signed tote bag, plus bookmarks, excerpt booklets and other stuff.

My Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Judi-Fennell/325890415256

Dana’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DanaMarton

Fee free to share!

Once Upon A Time… is NOW!!!!

Judi — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:01:33 +0000

Not only is that line the opening of almost every fairy tale and the title of one of my favorite new shows, but it’s also the title of my new series.

What new series?

The series I started years ago that gave me my tagline: Fairy tales with a twist. The first release, Beauty and The Best is the story I had asked many of you to vote for a few years ago when it was in both the American Title III contest and the Gather.com/Simon & Schuster First Chapters Romance. (The links are to those contests if you’re interested.) I thank all of you for your support, and because so many of you have asked me what became of that story, I’m THRILLED to finally be able to offer this book to readers.

At the moment, it’s only available in electronic format, but I am working on setting it up for print. Not quite sure how long that process will take, but if you’re interested in reading the story on your eReader, laptop, PC, or smartphone, the links to do so are below.

Once upon a time…

a long time ago,

there lived a beast of a man,

locked within a castle

with no one to love him.

This is not his story.

This is the story of another man,

locked within himself,

and the Beauty

who sets him free.

Here’s a sneak peak. You may remember this opening line from Chapter One:

There’s a naked man in my kitchen.

The thought registered just as the terse, “Who the hell are you?” had Jolie Gardener spinning around faster than a figure skater on speed.

He had the nerve to ask this? He of the broad shoulders, six-pack abs, and other, nice, um, parts…

Really. A naked man. In her kitchen.

Well, technically, she was in a naked man’s kitchen. Even more technically, she was in a naked Todd Best’s kitchen—and there wasn’t one hint of self-consciousness or embarrassment on his part.

Of course with that body, there shouldn’t be. The guy should flaunt his nudity for the world to see. Which, at present, consisted of one single, solitary person: Jolie Gardener, aspiring writer and personal chef extraordinaire.

“Well?” His hands slammed to his hips.

“You’re naked,” she squeaked, which, really, was the only way to state that kind of obvious.

“I’m what?” Mr. Six-Pack Abs glanced down.

Jolie tried not to—so unsuccessfully it was pitiful.

“Shit,” he muttered. “I am. I, uh, fell asleep last night…”

As butter sizzled in the new super-slick omelet pan on the top-of-the-line range, Jolie’s gaze alternated between some rock-hard abs and a scruffy eight a.m. shadow while her fingers danced along the speckled granite countertop in search of a napkin, placemat, oven mitt… something.

Mercifully, they scooped up a thick dishtowel that, in her world, would constitute a very plush, very luxurious hand towel from The Ritz or The Four Seasons, but which, here, apparently, was used to soak up water from designer flatware. She dangled it in the di rection of Mr. Au Naturel. “Here.”

He placed an empty bottle of Jim Beam on the island countertop with a clink, then took the towel with a grunt. “So, who are you, what are you doing in my kitchen, and would you mind turning around?”

She turned. “I’m the new girl the agency sent over.”

“Hell. There better be some aspirin left,” he muttered beside her, his bare (of course) feet making no sound on the limestone floor.

She peeked over at him.

His eyebrow soared skyward.

Right.

###

Back cover blurb:

Fine is a relative term… right?

Jolie Gardener, personal chef by day, aspiring romance writer by night,

likes to talk and does it a lot. She has to because if she stops, all the pain, disillusionment, and abandonment of her AWOL mother, question-mark father, and foster-care childhood will rise up like a chocolate soufflé on steroids, sweeping away the fragile infrastructure of her life.

But she’s fine. Really. She is.

Or so she thinks.

Todd Best isn’t fine. He knows it. And doesn’t care.

After his wife died—the woman who believed in him when he was a struggling artist—he put painting aside, moved from their home, and lost himself in the minutiae of daily life.
Alone. Private. The way he likes it.

The last thing he needs is some chatty cook seeping into the perfectly bland canvas of his life.

Or so he thinks.

So when Jonathan, a guardian-angel-in-training, turns himself into a kitten to help these two lonely souls find a happily ever after together, it ought to be a piece of cake.

Or so he thinks…

******************************************************************************

Praise for Judi Fennell’s stories:

“Fun and flirty. Judi Fennell will make you believe in … the magic of happily ever after.” ~ Jennifer Estep, USA Today best-selling author

“Readers will adore the joy and humor and romance from Judi Fennell’s creative pen.” ~ Jill Barnett, New York Times best-selling author

“Fennell’s light & lively writing is full of humor and cleverness.” ~ Publishers Weekly

Buy Beauty and The Best here:

Amazon for your Kindle

Barnes & Noble for your Nook

Smashwords for other devices (Sony, iBooks, etc.)

2012 Rita and Golden Heart Squee Party

Judi — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:33:41 +0000

can be found here: http://judifennell.wordpress.com/ritagh-blog-parties/ritagh-2012/

The party officially starts tomorrow, Monday, March 26, 2012!

If you’d like to relive past squee-ing, go here: http://judifennell.wordpress.com/ritagh-blog-parties/

I’ve disabled comments here; you’ll need to go to the 2012 party to leave a message.

Let the squee-ing commence!

(And if you have a Random Act of Kindness, either done by you or to you, or someone you know, please add it to the Random Acts of Kindness page. So many times we only hear about the bad; I like to celebrate the good.)

If you’d like to receive my newsletter with upcoming releases and sneak peeks, email me at JudiFennell (at) JudiFennell (dot) com.

The New REAL HOUSEWIVES Hit!

Judi — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 13:42:24 +0000

Thank God for SNL’s writers. This is utterly brilliant!

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/disney-housewives/1388796

Real Housewives of Disney, SNL

Genie Knows Best Launch Day + a Free copy of I Dream of Genies

Judi — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:11:37 +0000

While Amazon and B&N have been shipping copies of Genie Knows Best already (got mine!), the ebook downloads are finally available and for this week only, you can get a free copy of I Dream of Genies as well. Come discover a whole new world! Format links for both books are below and you can see excerpts and outtakes from the story on my website at:

www.JudiFennell.com

Genie Knows Best

Kindle

Nook

Other formats

I Dream of Genies

And check out these websites for my blog tour where we’ll be giving away copies of Genie Knows Best.

11/2 Fang-tastic Books http://fang-tasticbooks.blogspot.com/11/3 Preternatura http://suzanne-johnson.blogspot.com/

11/8 Peeking Between the Pages http://www.peekingbetweenthepages.com/

11/10 Fresh Fiction http://www.freshfiction.com/

AAD blog with Jen (Twimom)

11/11 Sia McKye’s Thoughts Over Coffee http://siamckye.blogspot.com/

11/15 The Long and Short of It http://lasrguest.blogspot.com/

11/17 SOS Aloha http://www.sosaloha.blogspot.com/

11/18 Night Owl Reviews http://nightowlromanceblog.blogspot.com/

11/21 My Overstuffed Bookshelf http://myoverstuffedbookshelf.blogspot.com/

11/30 Star-Crossed Romance http://star-crossedromance.blogspot.com/

And the winners are…

Judi — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 19:23:57 +0000

The winners of the ARCs of Genie Knows Best (November 2011), are:
Congratulations, ladies! Check your email for contacting me to receive your advanced reading copy of Genie Knows Best, and thanks to EVERYONE for playing along! I hope you all enjoy the (magic carpet) ride!!!

Contest: ARC Up For Grabs

Judi — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 21:38:38 +0000

So, my publicist just sent me a few more Advanced Reading Copies (ARC) of Genie Knows Best (November 2011) and I’m now giving away 2 copies (see sidebar). Just leave a comment and your email address below to be entered to win. I’ll draw the winner on Oct 1, so you’ll have it a full month before release date! I will add your email to my mailing list, but there is always an Unsubscribe option, and I do NOT share your email address with anyone.

And if you tell your friends, and they include your name in their post, you’ll have another entry into the drawing, so feel free to share the word! Contest starts now! I do have to limit the winner to US addresses only. Sorry. [No purchase necessary. ]

A little bit about the book:

Genie Knows Best

second in the Bottled Magic series
Sourcebooks Casablanca, November 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4022-4190-1

Be Careful What You Wish For…

Samantha Blaine is about to make a fateful discovery. A tall, dark, handsome, ohmygosh kind of fateful discovery…

Kal is very pleased to meet his attractive new master–especially since he intends to seduce her into granitng him freedom. But when seriously dark magic spells trouble for both of them, Kal can’t help himself from falling for the woman who holds his fate in her hands…

Warmly acclaimed by readers and critics alike, Judi Fennell brings to life a fabulous world of magic and mayhem where wishes come true in the most unexpected ways!

Praise for I Dream of Genies, book 1 in the Bottled Magic Series:

“You will want to believe in magic!” – Kerrelyn Sparks, NYT Best-selling author of The Vampire and The Virgin

“Ms. Fennell leaves you breathless with wonder and laughter.” – Bitten by Books

“Sultry sex scenes, sweet but passionate romance, and quick-moving action…will keep the reader enraptured.” – Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Absolutely delightful…will keep readers amused and completely enthralled.” – Fresh Fiction

Fabio… Again

Judi — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 02:14:53 +0000

I have to say that my husband is a prince among men. I mean, who else would see this sign on a five hour car ride

and decide we had to pull off the highway, find this restaurant, and then TAKE the picture of his wife in front of the place?

Hubs stood in the middle of street to take this picture

Too bad the place was closed.