Sloan Parker's Blog

I’m thrilled to announce the winners of my 2nd Annual Happy Holidays Giveaway (original giveaway post is here).

There were over 100 entries which means there are 3 winners this year.

So here are the 3 random winners (selected using random.org) who will receive their choice of a $25 gift certificate from ARe, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble.

Congratulations to…

SarahM

Tracey D

Rita S

I’ll be emailing the three of you shortly so you can verify which gift certificate you’d like to receive. If you don’t get the email within 24 hours, feel free to contact me.

Thank you all for stopping by the blog and entering the giveaway. I had such a great time reading your responses to what you love about romances. I loved hearing from people who are as into this genre as I am. You all rock!

Hope everyone has a happy, healthy, and romance-filled 2012!

All the very best,
Sloan

Finally figured out there was something wrong with my blog’s formatting in IE. I’m hoping it’s all fixed now. Sorry if it made commenting or reading difficult for anyone following the blog via Internet Explorer or any other browser that was having issues.

Feel free to let me know if it still doesn’t look right or you are still having any issues.

Thanks,
Sloan

As a thank-you to my readers and all readers of the romance genre, I’m holding a giveaway for free gift certificates (winners’ choice between Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and All Romance eBooks).

Here’s how the giveaway works:

One random winner will be selected from all who comment on this post. Additionally, for every 50 entries another gift certificate will be given away (up to a maximum of 6 total winners). All winners will have their choice from the following options:

• Option 1: $25 gift certificate to amazon.com
• Option 2: $25 gift certificate to barnesandnoble.com
• Option 3: $25 gift certificate to allromanceebooks.com

Rules and instructions for the giveaway are listed below. Contest closes at 11:59 pm EST Sunday, January 1, 2012 or as soon as there are 250 entries (whichever comes first).

Instructions / Rules

• To enter, leave a comment on this blog post indicating that you’d like to enter and share what you love about reading romances.
• Be sure to include a valid email address in the email form field in order to be entered in the drawing. Your email address is for my use only (in order to contact the winners). It will NOT be published on the blog or used for marketing/promotional purposes.
• If for any reason you cannot leave a comment, email me and I’ll post your comment for you (that way everyone can see how many entries there are).
• Winners are randomly drawn from the total list of entries.
• One entry per person please.
• Contest closes at 11:59 pm EST Sunday, January 1, 2012 or as soon as there are 250 entries (whichever comes first).
• Winners will be announced on the blog and privately emailed within 48 hours after the giveaway ends.
• If I do not hear back from any winner with his or her selection within two weeks, I reserve the right to select another winner.

Feel free to share the link to this blog post. There’s also a direct link to the giveaway on my website.

Good luck to all who enter and thank you again for your love of reading!

Also, for those of you interested in my latest release, Take Me Home, a friends-to-lovers romance, check out Chris’s post at Stumbling Over Chaos for a chance to win an ebook of Take Me Home. (Thanks, Chris, for hosting the giveaway!)

Happy reading in 2012!

Much love and happiness to you all.
Sloan

Reminder: To enter the gift certificate giveaway, leave a comment on this blog post indicating that you’d like to enter and share what you love about reading romances.

Thanks to everyone who commented on my blog hop giveaway for all your interest in reading Take Me Home. And for the wonderful comments about my writing and the rainbow awards. I have the best readers!!

The winner of my blog hop giveaway is Sylwia. Congratulations, Sylwia! I’ve sent you an email.

Thanks again, everyone! Hope you all have a wonderful holiday season.

I’m thrilled to share that my third novel, Take Me Home, is now available for purchase in various e-book formats. You can pick up a copy at Loose Id or keep an eye on my site for links to other e-book stores such as Amazon and All Romance eBooks. I’ll add the links as the book become available at each site.

TAKE ME HOME: Ten years after their one and only night in each other’s arms, best friends finally give in to passion and new sexual roles while trapped in a blizzard as they head home for the holidays.

I hope everyone who picks up a copy enjoys this holiday friends-to-lovers story. Have a happy holiday season and a beautiful, healthy new year!

Thanks to artist Marci Gass for a beautiful representation of this story.

Take Me Home releases next week on December 13, 2011 (you can usually pick up a copy at Loose Id just after midnight EST).

Aspiring television writer Evan Walker has been in love with his best friend since high school, but Kyle doesn’t do boyfriends. Never has. Never will. Evan knows it’s a bad idea to give in to desire when he wants more than a friend with benefits. He has a new dream job. Now all he needs is the dream partner.

Kyle Bennett is a mystery novelist with a severe case of writer’s block. He needs a change. He has three days on their cross-country train trip home for the holidays to figure out how to tell Evan he’s staying there for good. He also has to write the overdue pages for his editor. Only, he’s a little too distracted by the close quarters in their sleeper compartment—and Evan’s ass—to get much done.

The sparks that fly between them are hotter than ever. Good thing they have a real-life mystery to focus on: why people all around them, including Evan’s new boss, want to get their hands on a journal that once belonged to Kyle’s grandfather.

When a blizzard traps them in the mountains, Kyle and Evan steam up the train’s windows and must finally face their true desires.

You can read an excerpt of their first kiss in 10 years and the first 2 chapters on my site.

Sorry I didn’t get anything posted yesterday. It was a crazy Monday, but a good kind of crazy. Today I’m going through the line edits for Take Me Home. Should be getting cover art in the next few weeks. I’ll share the art and a new excerpt as soon as I can. It’s getting closer!

I’m thrilled to share that part 3 of More Than Just a Good Book is now available. You can read the opening of it below. I’ve also updated the cover art based on tips I learned in a publishing class. A special thank-you to Connie and Rosie for critiquing the story.

If you check it out, I hope you enjoy this next installment of Mark and Scott’s story.

More Than Just a Good Book: Part Three

Mark had no words. He just stared down at Scott. He couldn’t help himself. Never had he met anyone this smart and sexy, so utterly inspiring. “You’re pretty cool, you know that?”

Scott met his stare. “Me?”

“Hell yeah, you.”

“Oh.” Scott searched Mark’s eyes. “Have you…” He looked away and shifted his ass between Mark’s thighs.

“What?”

Scott stilled and met his gaze again. “Have you done this a lot?”

“Done what?” Mark moved to lie on his side beside Scott again, and Scott followed until they were face-to-face. The intimacy of being in bed with a guy long after the sex washed over him. This was crazy. He was usually the one coming on strong. Now it was Scott, with his curiosity and quiet, nervous charm, who was the one slamming into Mark’s resolve to take this slow. To keep his emotions in check. Or else he’d push Scott too far too fast. He didn’t want to scare Scott off. He could come on strong, could be too intense for most guys.

Scott said, “Bring men home you barely know.”

“Sometimes.” None of them had been this interesting, this meaningful, not on a first date. He kept that to himself.

Scott’s brow furrowed, and then, in a swift move, he turned onto his back.

Shit. That look. Hurt? Confused? Mark didn’t want Scott to misunderstand. What they’d done at the library and again at his apartment was special—damn special. But yet again, he held back from saying too much. Not now. Not yet. He sat up and leaned against the headboard. “I’m not all about getting laid. It’s just sometimes I meet someone, and I bring him home.”

“Of course.” Scott sat up and turned away, his legs swinging off the side of the bed. “I get it. I mean, I know I’m weird. Not going out that much…not sleeping around…”

“That’s not weird.” He couldn’t hold back on all of it. “It’s been a long time since I’ve wanted anyone to stay in bed with me. Since I’ve wanted to talk with a guy.”

Scott turned and met Mark’s gaze. “But you’re talking to me.”

“Yeah. That’s the difference with you.”

Scott cocked his head to the side, not as animated as before, but he was still staring with an openness that called to Mark. “Difference?”

“I want to get to know you. I’d like to see you again.”

Scott pulled one leg onto the bed and turned toward him. “Yeah?”

Mark hesitated. This could be more than he’d let himself hope for with any man. More than he was ready to put himself on the line for. So far Scott was proving he was worth the chance. Even with only the possibility of four months. “Yeah.”

“That…that would be—” Scott stood. “I don’t know how to—I should go.” He glanced around the room, his head jerking side to side so quickly he’d give himself whiplash if he didn’t let up. “Where are my pants?”

Mark sat up. “Living room. Scott, what’s wrong?”

Read more

GayRomLit is just over a week away. I won’t be in attendance, but someone (who shall remain nameless in order to protect their super secret identity) shared some info with me about a scavenger hunt taking place at the event.

For those of you who haven’t heard of it, GayRomLit is a new retreat for readers and writers of GLBT romances organized by J.P. Bowie, Ethan Day, Lynn Lorenz, Carol Lynne, and Amanda Young. This is the first year for the retreat, which is being held in New Orleans on October 13 – 16. My publisher, Loose Id, along with several others and many authors of m/m romance will be there. It should be a great time for authors and readers to mingle and talk about male/male romances. I can only imagine some of the conversations that will take place over those four days. ;)

For those of you attending, I was given a preview of the Scavenger Hunt that a group of the authors have planned. Here’s how it works:

• 17 authors are participating in the scavenger hunt.
• The retreat’s registration bags will contain a clue sheet and empty bracelet for all attending the retreat.
• Attendees who want to participate in the scavenger hunt will solve gay romance riddles to find out which authors are part of the game.
• You collect beads from the authors and there are more raffle prizes at the end.

I can’t tell you who the 17 authors are, but I’ve seen the game and it’ll definitely be an entertaining way to break the ice and meet some of the well-known and newer m/m authors at the retreat.

So who’s all going? Anyone who follows the blog? I hope you guys have fun! Don’t get too crazy. Ah forget that. It’s a once-a-year event with fellow lovers of m/m romances all in one place. Have a wicked good time!!

It’s official. I’ve signed a contract for TAKE ME HOME, my love story about two friends finding their way to what started 10 years before with one passionate night that ended too quickly. Tentative release date is December 13, 2011 from Loose Id. Sometimes Loose Id will adjust their schedule closer to the release date, but I’ll keep you posted if that happens.

Thanks to all who commented on the blog, sent an email, or have chatted with me on Facebook, Twitter, and elsewhere for your support while I was working on this manuscript.

I finally got the FAQ page added to my website. It includes questions like When will More be available in print, When is your next book due out, and others.

I’ll keep adding the most common questions I get asked by readers as I have time.

Drop me a line if you have a question that isn’t answered on the FAQ page.