2009 Manic Readers Romance Novel Writing Contest

My entry, a sexy excerpt from my Brothers in Blue series, is up at the 2009 Manic Readers Romance Novel Writing Contest. If you want to read it and vote it is entry #4 and will be up on the site until March 28th.

To read it and vote go to: http://manicreaders.com/index.cfm?disp=authorContestVoting

This is from Max's story, the first in the series. It's a m/f contemporary erotic romance. **By the way, this is looking for a home and has not been subbed to any publishers yet.

Here is the blurb for Max's story:

Big city party girl clashes with small town cop…

After the death of her late father’s wife, party girl Amanda Barber leaves Miami
behind to head to Manning Grove, a small town in northern Pennsylvania. Never
before responsible for anything in her life, Amanda suddenly finds herself saddled with the biggest responsibility of all – her 22-year-old mentally challenged half-brother whom she has never met.

Office Max Bryson has never been in a serious relationship in his life, and has no plans for being in one in the distant future. He likes being his own man. And even if he were interested in a serious relationship, he certainly wouldn’t choose it to be with someone as immature and irresponsible as Amanda Barber.

As a police officer and former Marine, “responsibility” is Max’s middle name. Along with his two brothers, they comprise up the majority of this small town’s police force. Being a police officer and a Marine has been passed down for generations – it’s in the blood.

But no matter how hard he tries, he can’t get sexy Amanda out of his head or his heart. And as he watches her mature in front of his eyes, his protectiveness toward her only strengthens, driving her crazy.

Bossy, pushy, and nosey are not the only words that Amanda’s uses to describe this frustrating cop, she can’t deny that just looking at the man makes her tremble. But she’s done with having anyone control her – after all her mother’s attempts – and this man isn’t going to be any different.

Quiznos -- Bad Marketing

Here's a great example of bad marketing. Quiznos recently ran a promotion giving away 1 million free subs. Wow, there has been problems with that from the get-go and who suffered? The consumers who had to deal with the pissed-off franchisees. Quizno's corporate and also the franchise owners have to understand that we, as consumers do not know what is brewing behind the scenes. All we know is that we sign up for a promotion, print out the coupon and go to the store to pick up our item and if we purchase additional items while we are there, then great.

However, My fiance and I went to use our coupons on March 1st. They were both valid coupons (until 3/5) and we were given crap about it saying that the coupons were no good and Quiznos are going to be sending out 1 Million more (lie) and after arguing with the 2 bitchy employees I insisted on talking to a manager. They told me to come back the next day. Wrong. I said no, I want to speak with one now. They called the franchisee owner and she told them to try to run them first to see if they were valid. Well, surprise, surprise, they were valid!!! We did finally get our free subs and while there purchased a 3rd. But never again.

That was my first and last time at Quiznos. I had banned Subway years ago because of coupon debacles (too many stores not participating). Now Quiznos. I'd rather eat at the local pizza shop (their subs are better anyway) then either of those places now. Forget it. They lost my business from the get-go. The owner called me today and ranted and raved for about 10 minutes on the phone on how the corporate is screwing the franchises. You know what? Not my problem. I'm the consumer. I'm the one that suffered.

BTW, when I ban a chain, I ban it. I haven't been back to Subway in over 10 years. I'd rather starve first.