Tuesday 22 October 2013

Now for something sweet



Welcome to the Hump Day Hook blog hop for October 23rd! This is where you can find intriguing excerpts from published or in-progress works written by amazing writers who are eager to share their vision.

Some of you may know about the recent controversial culling of books from certain on-line retail bookstores due to "questionable" content. Unfortunately for me, one of my books was pulled for no reason either I or my publisher can understand.

Apparently we have no recourse, but must wait until the powers that be decided that the book in question, Cult of the Black Virgin, is in fact not subversive, obscene, illegal or otherwise a threat to morality.

Today, I thought I'd change the subject–and the tone–of my postings by sharing something from my sweet romance, Just Desserts. This is the story of Jackie, a Seattle student nurse, who falls for Sam, a former nightclub owner. She thinks she's not sophisticated enough for him, but as they get to know each other, things begin to change...

Here's the excerpt:

Of course it was partly his own fault Sam had known so few sane women, he admitted to himself. The world of nightclubs didn’t attract the most stable personalities.
And why have I always been drawn to the craziest ones?
Jackie was different. She was certainly not crazy. Nor was she vain. And furthermore, she was articulate, with a charming sense of playfulness.
He also liked that she never asked anything of him. She was real, not the least bit pretentious, and seemed to accept him for what he was. This meant he could relax around her.
She wasn’t nosey and, best of all, she didn’t talk too much. She seemed to know when silence was preferable to talking just for the sake of talking. Sam appreciated this most rare of female traits. He’d finally found a woman who didn’t fill every second of empty space with inane monologue.

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9 comments:

  1. Sounds like he found a keeper...hopefully he can keep her!

    As far as your book...it has Virgin in the title. They did a wide sweep of certain terms (mostly w/ self-pubbed, so your case is unusual)...anything w/ Virgin, babysitter, daddy, sister, etc, and a few other terms were pulled "for review." It's a nasty witch hunt held improperly. Several of my friends had books pulled simply because they were self-pubbed...they didn't have any of the terms supposedly sought out.

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  2. Thanks, Sarah.
    The funny thing is, I have two other books with the word Virgin in the title, and they're not pulled––yet, anyway.

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  3. I’m aware of the controversy you mention. How did you learn the book was pulled? And thank you Sarah for that information

    Yes she does sound like a keeper

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  4. I learned accidentally one day when I went to Amazon Central and found that Cult of the Black Virgin had disappeared from my list of books. Then I saw it was no longer available from Amazon.
    When I emailed Amazon asking what had happened, I was told I had to go through my publisher. My publisher, eXtasy Books, told me about the cull, but couldn't understand why my book had been targeted. We're all confused...

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  5. Thank you. As Sarah said it’s odd that your book was pulled even though a publisher name was attached. From what I can gather it’s mostly self published authors who do not adhere to the Amazon Terms of Service that are “supposed” to be pulled

    http://mishaburnett.wordpress.com/2013/10/16/havent-you-heard-its-a-battle-of-words/

    However, as with all “good intentions” the innocent get dragged along for the ride.

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  6. Thanks, sassyspeaks, for the link to the fascinating and alarming blogpost. Lots to think about here. I understand my pub. has seen several of its titles pulled.

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  7. I wonder if Jackie is not going to turn as the craziest one.

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  8. I know a couple of other authors who have had the same thing happen :( Hopefully it gets worked out soon!

    Love the excerpt, too :)

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  9. I got curious and looked and see the book is back on Amazon. Glad they are able to rectify their error

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