His Royal Hotness Week~Day 1

Welcome to His Royal Hotness Week, a.k.a Prince Week. After all, where would a princess be without her hot royal counterpart?

This week, I'm thrilled to be sharing with you posts from a few of my amazing author friends. Each of them have shared a post about their own princes, as well as some books they recommend you check out with more royal hotties. We'll also be sharing some princely facts (fictitious and real), our top 5 Disney princes, and of course, checking out some real royals, too.

Kicking things off, I thought I'd introduce you to one of my own princes. I have four, (thanks to Prince Rand from THE MYSTERY PRINCE), but I'm going to focus on Prince Devlin from Quest of the Hart, book one in my Princess of Valendria series.

Prince Devlin is the first prince I ever wrote. He doesn't get much page time in Quest of the Hart, as he spends most of the book sleeping thanks to his sister's spell, but, the glimpses we do get reveal a strong, handsome, romantic guy who wants to keep the girl he loves safe. And when she ends up rescuing him, he admires her strength and bravery. He knows a good thing when he sees it, and Princess Kaylee is definitely good for him.

Now, for some fun stuff!

Top 5 Disney Princes (in ascending order):

 I'm being a bit of a traditionalist and sticking with actual princes. 

5) The Prince (or Prince Florian). Haven't seen Snow White in a while, and I don't really remember Florian well, so I'm starting with him.

4) Prince Charming. What girl doesn't want to be swept off their feet by him?

3) Prince Phillip, just because he sword fights a dragon.

2) Prince Adam, better known as Beast. He's ferocious, yet so tender with Belle. Le sigh.

1) Prince Eric, mostly because he reminds me a little bit of my husband.

Random Trivia about princes:

-According to Wikipedia:

        The English word prince derives, via the French word prince, from the Latin noun princeps,         from primus (first) + capio (to seize), meaning "the chief, most distinguished, ruler, prince".

-There are 26 monarchies in the world, of these 18 use the titles king/queen and prince/princess (including 2 principalities) as opposed to sultan, emir, or emperor. These monarchies reign over 43 countries.

-The title of the King of Bhutan means Dragon King. I wonder if that makes the heir the Dragon Prince?

-Here's a link to some royal heirs. Take a look and tell us in the comments who's your favorite prince.

Book Recommendations:

The Kingdom of Arnhem series by Nicole Zoltack

The Prophecy by Erin Albert

Palace of the Twelve Pillars Dragons by Christina Weigand

The Storyspinner by Becky Wallace

Be sure to stop back tomorrow for more royal hotness and a rafflecopter giveaway!!!

And don't forget to check out April Erwin's blog for her tributes to National Prince Week. 

"A reverse Sleeping Beauty tale where the princess goes on the quest to save the prince."

Princess Kaylee has never had to fight for anything. Her entire life has been arranged, even her marriage. But when Prince Devlin falls under an enchantment, she finds she is willing to do anything to save him, even if it means fighting a dragon.

Devlin's own sister, Princess Arabella, is behind the deadly plot. She wants the throne and will use any means necessary. Her perfect plan unravels, leaving Devlin caught in a magical sleep that is slowly spreading through the kingdom of Breniera. All Arabella needs to finish her spell and claim the crown is a drop of Kaylee's blood, but obtaining the single drop is proving more difficult than expected.

To save her betrothed, Kaylee embarks on a quest to find an ancient sword and gather a drop of dragon's blood, while trying to stay out of Arabella's traps. But Arabella's traps aren't the only danger. Time is everything. For once the last inhabitant of the kingdom falls asleep, the spell will be sealed, and not even true love's kiss will break it.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

THE BONE TREATY by TC McKee and a Contest!!!

To say I'm excited about TC McKee's release of THE BONE TREATY would be a complete understatement. See, I was privileged enough to see this work when Addie was Ember, and she met Griffin in a parking lot when he dropped a bag of dog food. (And, no, Tam, I didn't have to go look at those drafts to remember. I really remembered that!) The transformations this story has gone through are amazing, kind of like when Mia undergoes her makeover from teen-frump to gorgeous princess in THE PRINCESS DIARIES movie.  Now, here's Tammy!

Sorry guys, but Mary’s blog has been hacked by me. T.C. McKee. (Rhyming cringe) God that’s awful. Anyway, while Mare’s away (I hope she doesn’t mind me calling her Mare) I thought I’d tell everybody about my new book. My debut. Wait! Are debuts supposed to make you feel naked? 'Cause I feel totally pant-less right now. Sorry, back to my brainchild (many would have thought it to be much shorter in length), The uh…see banner due north. At least I think that’s north, unless you’re upside down or lying on your side. No, that’s definitely north. I promise there isn’t this much blathering in the book. The MC, Addie Heaton tends to say what she thinks and the world can be damned for it. Okay, so not exactly. I mean some things she keeps secret. Like, how she picks up on the auras of others without ever laying eyes on them. What? It’s a little trick she likes to call color vision. 

Here’s the Back Cover:

Addie Heaton’s not your average high school student. Orphaned at two, she’s spent most of her life reading the emotions of others. It’s a little trick she likes to call color-vision. But lately, a stranger has been trailing her, putting off shades of black and red—colors Addie hasn’t seen since the night her parents were killed—colors Addie never wanted to see again.

But when Addie comes face to face with Conal Reed, owner of the terrifying shades, she learns her stranger’s a little different too. He’s brooding hot, mysterious, and all too elusive. Conal loves to materialize, and then vanish at all the wrong times. Nice.

Not.

After years of keeping her ability a secret, Addie’s found another person with gifts, someone who may know what she really is. But Conal’s not talking. He’s having more fun showing up uninvited, teasing her senses, and disappearing at all the wrong times. Instead of finding answers, Addie finds herself reconsidering ever being alone and naked again.



Now, to celebrate this little milestone I’m giving away an ebook copy of The Bone Treaty. All you have to do is like my Facebook page to enter. I wanted to keep it simple. No hoops.

If you want to follow me elsewhere, you can find me at my blog: http://tcmckeewriter.blogspot.com

On Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard

Or on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TCMckee

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/TC-Mckee/229753570369464?ref=hl

And if you absolutely have to have a copy right this minute that’s allowed too. You can find it right here.

I would heart you forever…TO THA BONE but not in a creepy way like Conal.

Now I guess I should go and give Mare her blog back. Next time I promise to divulge one of her deepest, darkest secrets. And no! She is NOT in love with me. It’s more like a long distance crush really.

She’s gonna kill me.

Thanks for reading.


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Prepping for a New Fridge

I know it doesn't seem like something to be all that excited about, but I'm getting a new fridge. My 20 year old one has lived a long, full life, but recently it has started freezing foods that are not meant to be frozen. So, I'm getting a new one.

In preparation for said new fridge, we moved the old one out this weekend as the cabinet above needed to be shortened to accommodate the taller model. Well, this led to needing to paint, because I couldn't stand the hideous shade of pink I'd be looking at if I didn't.

So after a trip to the store with one of my friends, I returned with the perfect color (one that will be spreading its way through the rest of my kitchen once I remove the wallpaper.)

Here's a glimpse of the work in progress after one coat, and part of the wallpaper still remaining.

And here's the final look, after a second coat, and the removal of some wallpaper I decided to get rid of (I did keep the border trim, though!)

Now, I'm all ready to welcome my new fridge into this nice and clean corner of my kitchen.

What did you spend your weekend doing?

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Photo taken in Maine by my son when he was 6

When I get stuck with my writing, it's usually because I've made a character do something they wouldn't do. But that wasn't the case this week. This week, I've been stuck because I know how my plot point wraps up, but not how my story ends. See, I need the end to set up book two, but I wasn't sure how to set it up.

Enter my amazing CP and friend, Trisha Leaver (if you don't follow her blog, you really should. Go on, head over and add her to your list, then pop back in here.) I sent her a message with my concerns, and she asked questions that got me thinking. And after a few minutes of back and forth, I'd found the path I needed, and the words started flowing again.

Trisha, I can't thank you enough for always knowing how to help me get back on track.

How about you? Do you have a go to person when you need to toss ideas? Or do you have a different method? I'd love to hear about either- share in the comments below.

Announcing His Royal Hotness Week!!

Back in April, April Erwin ran a week of posts in honor of Princess Week. I had a lot of fun following along as she posted to her blog and Facebook page about real and fictitious princesses.

Having several princes in my own stories (as well as princesses) I did a quick search to see when Prince Week was. Color me shocked to learn there was no such thing.

Not wanting the guys to feel left out, I decided to band together with some of my author friends (including Christina Wiegand, Nicole Zoltack, and Erin Albert) and make a Prince Week of our own. 

(Don't worry, our princes are much more manly than this one!)

So, I hereby declare the week of August 18-22, 2014 Prince Week. I hope you'll join us here and on my Facebook page to celebrate. 

But before we can celebrate, we need a little help choosing a banner. Below are two options. Please leave a comment letting me know which banner you prefer (or if you don't like either and why)

A

Or B

Thanks so much! Hope to see you back for Prince Week!!

PS: If you're an author with a prince in your stories and you want to participate (either with a guest post or book promo) please contact me by e-mail.