Last Minute New Year's Celebration

You partied throughout the holiday season and thought you’d just sit out New Year’s Eve with a quiet evening at home with your lover, so you turned down those invitations and now it’s too late to change your mind. Or is it?

Maybe the two of you are inspired by the weather or you really want to go some place overnight. Is it too late? Surprisingly no. You can thank the economy for this holiday gift. Now, it may take some time and effort to locate a place that has a vacancy for the evening or even a weekend getaway, but if you’re diligent, you can still find a romantic holiday setting and surprise your lover.

There are some tickets, reservations and events for New Year’s Eve still available:

New Year’s Eve Tickets to events in major cities. Believe it or not, there are still many tickets available. Hurry and grab them now!

Last Minute Around The World New Year’s

New Year’s in Florence, Italy

Find a New Year’s Eve Party

Miami Nightlife Events Examiner

You don’t have to fly to Italy to have a romantic New Year’s Eve celebration. If you don’t have any luck with local last minute parties or tickets, don’t get discouraged. Consider taking advantage of a First Night that’s so popular in most cities.

These are big town parties similar to a block party only grander. You can opt for casual attire or dress up. The event has a fee that grants you access to all of the entertainment and events hosted in various buildings in the downtown area. You can enjoy holiday music played by an orchestra, jugglers, choral, ballet, and a wide range of other entertainment by going from one event to another. You can enjoy one of the local restaurants, or sample treats from the many street vendors and at midnight, you’ll be in the right place to enjoy all of the fireworks.

Whatever you and your lover decide to do to ring in the New Year, just remember, romance isn’t about how much money you spend or where you go. It’s about who you’re with.

Happy New Year!

Night Owl Romance New Years Web Hunt

Hi Vixens,

Thanks for having Night Owl Romance join you again.

This month we want to tell readers about how we will be bringing in the New Year.

We just had our 4th anniversary on 12/13/2008 and are looking forward to another successful year.

To get the New Year rocking we have teamed up with a bunch of authors to host the Night Owl Romance 2009 New Years Web Hunt. The official start is 01/01/2009 and it end 02/01/2009.

Details can be found at: http://www.nightowlromance.com/nightowlromance/2009WebHunt.asp

Because of Adult Content and Shipping Costs Contest this is only Open to USA Citizens 18 Years and Over!

We have wonderful prizes for winners ranging from ARC's and Lip Balm for this winter to ebooks copies of some wonderful books.

Here is a look at some of the contest prizes -

Dani Harper has provided a free ebook of Heart of the Wolf to every winner!

Delilah Marvelle is giving away 4 signed copies of her debut novel - Mistress of Pleasure -

Kathryne Kennedy is giving away the last two books in the Relics of Merlin series -

Christie Craig is giving away Note Cards, Pens and a Book -

Joanna Waugh is giving away a PDF of her ebook Blind Fortune -

Sue-Ellen Welfonder is giving away one Signed - ARC of Seducing A Scottish Bride and 3 copies of DEVIL IN A KILT -

Allie Mackay is giving away one Signed copy of Highlander In Her Dreams (Rhapsody Hardcover) and one copy of Tall, Dark, And Kilted

and the list goes on!

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday. It's snowing at the Night Owl Headquarters and freezing up. Luckily the mail is still landing on our doorstep and in our ebox.

Both Print and Ebook publishers have been so great to us over the last 4 years. So, we also wanted to shout out and say thanks for all they have done for us. Thanks for the wonderful books and for making the process of reviewing as easy as possible - So we give a shout out to Ellora's Cave, Cerridwen Press, Loose-Id, Total-E-Bound, Amira, Eternal, The Wild Rose Press, Penguin/NAL/Berkley, Dorchester, Pocket, St. Martins, HarperCollins, Bantam Dell, Lyrical, Highland Press, Avon, Hatchet, Medallion, Soucebooks/Casablanca, Liquid Silver, Whiskey Creek/Torrid, eXcessica, eXtasy, Linden Bay, Aspen Mountain Press, Resplendence Publishing, Mystic Moon and many more.

Hugs,

Tammie and the Night Owl Romance Ladies

Most people have filled their calendars for the holidays, but if you enjoy singing, then you may still have time to organize a Christmas caroling party. It could be a great chance to invite that guy you've been too shy to approach. Maybe you’ve just started dating a special someone or you and your lover are looking for a different way to celebrate the holiday season.

A Christmas caroling party can be a great way to spend more time together without the pressure of an official date. Just make sure your new love can actually sing or the evening will be disastrous.

==Where to start==

Make a list of people you know who enjoy singing and who would be fun to spend the evening with. A good place to start is your church choir and other church choirs.

Call your fellow carolers for an impromptu neighborhood caroling. For a festive look, ask guests to wear red and green. If this isn't possible, then at least dress in holiday hats, scarves and don't forget to wear gloves. If you live in a warm climate, you can adjust your apparel to still be festive.

Purchase actual sheet music or a book of carols for each caroler or borrow hymn books from your church. Map out your route. Now that everyone has the music and attire, you're ready to carol. If you can squeeze in a practice before heading out.

==A progressive Christmas caroling party==

This one will take more time to plan, but can still be done on between now and Christmas if you're willing to put in the effort.

To make things more interesting and fun, enlist the help of your carolers and those on your caroling route to host a progressive party. This can be very simple and be nothing more than a warm drink or other refreshment and one hors d’oeuvres or holiday cookies.

An added benefit of doing a progressive party is with each home you visit of your carolers, you can add another singing voice to your group or at the very least visit with each other’s family.

If you don’t live in town, but are in the country, then hook up a trailer, add some bales of hay and combine a hay ride with your caroling. Just be sure and call ahead of those on your route to make sure they’re home. If you don’t have access to a hayride, then create a caravan of carolers and stop at each home. Sing long enough to give everyone time to open their doors.

If strolling through a neighborhood, then continue to sing as you walk to create the ambiance of traditional caroling.

==Last Home On Route==

The last stop in your caroling route will be your home. Have someone assist you in preparing this final party destination. You'll want to serve your guests with beverages and finger foods. You can also have the carolers' families bring their leftovers and combine for a fun finale to an entertaining evening.

==The spirit of Christmas==

Just remember, this parfy is to be fun and festive. If it becomes too involved in the planning stages or begins to get away from you and you’re stressing out over the details, then reign it back in and make it simple. You can easily get three or four friends together and strike out on a spontaneous caroling trek, just make sure your neighbors are home.

Merry Christmas!


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Do you like them dark?

Good morning Vixens,

Do you like em dark? Your heroes, that is. My name is Emma Petersen and I LOVE em dark. From Angel/Angelus, to Dr. Henry Jekyll / Mr. Edward Hyde (In Mary Reilly. OMG How sexy was John Malkovich in that movie? It's still one of my absolutel favs!) my favorite heroes have always been dark. To me, these heroes were just as sexy and appealing when they were bad as they were when they were good.

So that makes me wonder. Is there a place in romance for a unrepentively bad hero? (I don't mean like puppy kickin or child abusing bad) A group of writer friends and I were talking about this very subject the other day. I had started to worry that my hero in my upcoming release (Seducing St. Nic - December 10th - Ellora's Cave. How's that for drive by promo?) was just a tad bit too dark. And the worry carried on to my hero in the next book in the series and the next.

In the 1st book, there is a cloud of suspicion around the hero. Had he killed someone?

And in the 3rd, it is known from the outset that hero has killed, whether purposely or accidentally isn't known until the end.

I think there's always amount of leeway with vamp heroes because more than likely they may need to kill to survive.

But what about a human hero? What if he was a hit man? Or a crime lord? Would that change the image of a traditional hero? Can there be a truly bad hero in a romance? Or would readers feel as if it defeated the purpose of what a romance is supposed to be?

For me, it wouldn't. It would actually make for a more compelling story and satisfying HEA if love can make a once questionable man embrace a little bit of the light for the sake of love.

Maybe this is why vamps, demons and other sups are so popular among readers. Because by their very nature they have permission to be just a little more bad than your every day average mortal hero.

Do you like em dark? Can a human hero be bad and still be appealing? What do you think?

Examining Romance Books

If you're new to the romance genre or have never read one, you may want to spend some time examining romance books.

==It's all about the romance==

Romance readers are a very loyal bunch. We need our romance fix and love our favorite authors. Many times readers will stick with only one sub-genre. Many historical readers don't venture beyond their beloved past while others may read many sub-genres. It's like anything else and depends on the individual.

==Boy Meets Girl==

It all starts with boy meets girl. Then the boy either loses or nearly loses the girl due to a conflict, but then the boy gets the girl back. That is the reader expectation of a romance novel and what separates it from a book with romance elements. A romance reader is assured that the story will end with a Happily Ever After affectionately referred to by those in the genre as the HEA.

==Examining Romance Books==

While examining romance books you may believe these stories have a fairytale essence about them. With the happily ever after ending, sure, they do. But, make no mistake that these books can be gritty, hard and powerful. You can read romances that have action, death and mayhem. You can find heroes who are cops, firemen, vampires, werewolves, shape shifters, gargoyles, demons, faeries, soldiers, cowboys, furturistic aliens or humans, historical figures, and well, just about anythingyou can imagine. Some of these books may have explicit sex while others may have little to no sex. Romances can be sweet or inspirational. That's the overall appeal of the romance genre- there's always something there for everyone.

What I know about romance...

What I know about romance? Unlike my sistah, Sally, if you take everything I know, bundle it together ... well you might fill a thimble. Seriously, I am romantically challenged. A fact that became abundantly clear last week when I was on vacation.

My neighbors were in from across the pond (from Europe) and they were over having drinks. They were preparing for a 4 day cruise and were talking about how romantic it was going to be. Dressing up, dining, strolls on deck, drinking, dining, sitting on deck, etc.

Well, to be honest it all rounded rather boring to me. Dressing up? Ugh. Dining? Ding dong- hear the bell, I'm a vegetarian, we typically don't get jazzed by food. Strolls on deck, drinking, dining? Oh someone shoot me.

And naturally you know I expressed my opinion. (I'm nothing if not opinionated). But it a nice kind of way .. something along the lines of "I'd rather have a root canal."

That sparked conversation. What was wrong with me? Didn't I like romance? And just what DID I consider romanctic? Wellllll... yeah, I guess I am a little. Mu honey can take me whitewatering or rock climbing or hiking, or riding (horse or dirt bike)and at the end of the day build me a nice fire and let me sit or sleep under the stars and I'm completely swooned. He can rent me a bulldozer and let me dig up some earth and I'm really frisky. He can buy me a new chainsaw and he'll definitely get lucky. Or he can take me out for a day on the disc golf course and when we're getting cleaned up from our day, I'll be very affectionate.

Buy me flowers? Not unless I can plant them. Why kill a plant? Bring me candy? Oh yes, please. I already spend two hours a day at the gym... bring me something that will increase that and I'm more apt to growl than meow.

My friends stared at me in horror. I apparently don't have a romantic bone in my body (According to them) - in fact, I apparently have quite "manish" taste. Hmmmmm... well I guess they're right. I've spent my life "hanging with the boys", getting dirty, playing, raising a little hell and having a whole lot of fun. BUT...

I have a man who tells me that life is nothing without me (what a smooth talker, eh?) and who backs it up every morning when he brings me coffee in bed and every night when he gives me that delicious back or foot massage. I get warm and fuzzy just snuggling up on the couch and watching television or piled up together in bed reading.

Does that count?

And where is it written that a woman HAS to like being wined and dined, taken on lavish trips and have a ton of money spent on her to qualify as romantic? Isn't that a rather materialistic attitude?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but money (and the things it buys) not only does not buy happiness, it also doesn't spell romance.

But hey, I could be wrong. Maybe romance isn't part of my vocabulary. Someone want to lend me a dictionary?

Hope you're having a great week!!

Hugs to all,
Ci