Stealing the Southpaw available Oct. 25

by with No Comment Luis & Randi

Just in time for the World Series, which will showcase my beloved Chicago Cubs for the first time since 1945, I present the fifth book in my All’s Fair in Love & Baseball series …

STEALING THE SOUTHPAW.

Readers met Luis Castillo for the first time in BEAUTY AND THE BALLPLAYER, when he was the rookie pitcher giving catcher Matt Thatcher fits. He had a slightly larger role in SLIDING INTO HOME, when he was Greg’s pitcher in the big Home Run Derby Greg and Jenn organized for charity. Now, finally, Luis has the chance to tell his own story. It’s a good one, I promise.

Here’s SOUTHPAW’s back cover blurb:

Stealing the Southpaw | baseball romanceA potentially career-ending injury sends Arizona Condors pitcher Luis Castillo home to Miami to rehab and recuperate. He hasn’t even unpacked the rental car when he runs into his ex-best friend’s kid sister. She’s not a kid anymore, but she remains the main reason he ran as far and fast as he could six years ago. A successful college baseball career and two good years on the mound with the Condors did nothing to change what they did, or help him forget its consequences. He doesn’t deserve Randi’s warm welcome—and she sure as hell shouldn’t still look at him that way.

Miranda Vega sets out to convince Luis to take a chance on their relationship, which came to a premature end the night her brother found his baby sister in the arms of his best friend. The discovery sent Ricky into a vehicle, a near-head-on collision and ultimately a wheelchair. To get the boy—now man—she started crushing on at puberty and still loves today to believe Ricky’s accident wasn’t his fault, Randi needs a game plan. With any luck, she, Ricky and a Little League team in serious need of coaching will be able to notch the win.

Even with a bum left arm, Luis is a skilled opponent, adept at getting in his own way. But Randi grew up stubborn. And this time, she’s playing for keeps.

STEALING THE SOUTHPAW is $2.99 in e-book and $9.99 in paperback. It’s already available for preorder, and it’ll be live Oct. 25. Find it at your favorite retailer.

AMAZON | NOOK | KOBO | iBOOKS | BOOKS2READ | PAPERBACK | GOODREADS

Where to find Sliding Into Home

by with One Comment Greg & JennStories

Please allow me to present my newest book baby, Sliding into Home

Ta-da!

Sliding into Home | Arlene HittleThis is Book 3 in my All Is Fair In Love and Baseball series, and it tackles Arizona Condors first baseman Greg Bartlesby’s story. (You knew there had to be a good reason for his run-in with the law in Diva in the Dugout, right? Here’s where you find out why he acts the way he does.)

The blurb:

Will a sexy attorney help the Condors’ rebel first baseman outrun his father’s shadow—or merely strip him of his illusions?

More than anything, Arizona Condors first baseman Greg Bartlesby wants to make his own name in the big leagues. Too bad being the son of MLB legend Jake “Big Man” Bartlesby makes that impossible. Even worse? His attempts to differentiate himself from his old man more often land him in legal trouble. His latest brush with the law brings him in contact with an attorney he’s met before—as a dancer at the club where he was arrested…for protecting her.

Jenn Simpson isn’t a stripper—not that she can convince her bonehead client her twin is the one doing the dancing. When Greg offers her sister a job at his father’s Foundation, Jenn is the one who accepts, at her sister’s urging. She soon discovers she likes the work—and her new boss. As she and Greg forge a friendship and more, she knows it’s time to convince him she’s not who he thinks. But when his father’s hospitalization compels Greg to fast-track his leap to the majors by capitalizing on Big Jake’s fame, it might be too late for her to expunge the record.

Here’s one of my favorite passages, from near the beginning of the book:

Sliding into Home | Arlene Hittle

It came out yesterday and you can find it at your favorite e-retailer.

Turquoise Morning Press

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

All Romance eBooks

Smashwords

Kobo

iTunes: Sliding Into Home – Arlene Hittle

Happy reading!

Guest posting at JCR today

by with No Comment Guest PostsMeg & Matt

Beauty and the Ballplayer | Arlene HittleIt’s a lot like life …

And if that doesn’t set you to humming Depeche Mode’s “Master and Servant” … you’re not as big a fan of that group as I am.

My parents didn’t have cable until I went to college (and even then no MTV), so I didn’t get to watch a lot of music videos. Imagine my surprise when I caught the “Master and Servant” video, years later. I had no idea they were talking about the corporate world.

Yeah, right. We know what that song was really about.

Anyway, that’s all just a tangent. It’s how my brain works (or doesn’t). I’m popping in today to share my guest post over at Just Contemporary Romance. I’m waxing poetic about baseball as a metaphor for life.

OK, I’m mostly quoting other folks who’ve waxed poetic about baseball as life. But I only picked out the quotes I agree with.

Get the scoop.

Interrupting our regularly scheduled My Sexy Saturday post …

by with 2 Comments Dave & Melinda

Diva-Dugout-AHittle-LG… For the news I’ve been waiting to share all week: My debut, DIVA IN THE DUGOUT is live.

It’s been a whirlwind from getting the call in July to seeing my first book available for sale. I keep pinching myself, expecting to wake up and find the last few months were all a dream.

But so far, it seems to be real. DIVA now exists in cyberspace. Type “Diva in the Dugout book” into Google and you get links to Smashwords, All Romance Ebooks and various blog posts I’ve written in the last few months.

Leave off the word “book” and the results aren’t quite as clear-cut, though. You get a Facebook page for someone called “The Dugout Diva” and the Sioux Falls, S.D., Canaries Dugout Divas. I suppose you can’t win ’em all.

The details:

Diva In The Dugout by Arlene Hittle

A Turquoise Morning Press VINTAGE CATEGORY ROMANCE #106 (and All Is Fair in Love and Baseball, #1)

Classic Romance, Heartfelt Happily Ever After

Can the Condors bad boy step up to the plate and knock out a home run for fatherhood? And if he does, will his daughter’s mamma be ready?

After a successful stint in drug rehab, Arizona Condors shortstop Dave Reynolds is still trying to outrun his bad boy reputation. When the team’s new owners tell him to shape up or be fired at season’s end, he vows to change. He doesn’t count on fatherhood playing a part in his transformation.

Melinda Cline makes a rash decision: take solace in the arms of a sexy-as-sin ballplayer whose name she tells herself she doesn’t want to know. Big mistake. Now, a single mom to a four-year-old, Mel strives to live as cleanly and quietly as possible. But fate intervenes and she comes face to face with the man who insists on being included in their daughter’s life. The attraction between them is still strong, but it may not survive Dave’s reputation or his attempts to do the right thing.

Release: October 18, 2013
Category: Fiction, Romance, Contemporary (Category-Vintage)
Rating/Heat Level: Sensual-Sizzle
Length: Novel, 51,000 words
ISBN: 978-1-62237-207-2

Ebook Price: $2.99
Digital Download – Available Formats – EPUB, PRC/MOBI, LIT, LRF, PDF

I started a mini blog tour Friday, chatting with J.M. Kelley about my book, where I do  my best writing and the eternal debate: Print books or ebooks? Click through to see where I stand …

On Monday, I’ll be at the Ruby Slippered Sisterhood, talking about my trouble with the (learning) curve of a debut author. (No, I haven’t seen the movie yet, but it’s on my list.) And on Wednesday, Oct. 30, I’m guest blogging with Lynn Cahoon. We’ll talk about DIVA and the best writing advice I’ve ever gotten.

Want to get your hands on a copy of DIVA IN THE DUGOUT?

Find it at Turquoise Morning Press, Smashwords, All Romance Ebooks, Amazon. Smashwords will begin distributing to BN, Kobo, iTunes and other e-tailers within the week, my publisher says.

Check out these screen shots from the various websites:

 

All Romance Ebooks
All Romance Ebooks
Amazon.com
Amazon.com

If you want to add DIVA to Goodreads, you can do that here.

As for me, I’m so excited, I doubt I’ll be able to sleep tonight. Time to go down copious amounts of carbs in an effort to knock myself out, because I have to drive 3-ish hours to Payson bright and early in the morning.

My Sexy Saturday: DIVA’s big moment

by with No Comment Dave & MelindaExcerpts

LynnSexySaturday_buttonCan you feel the excitement? I sure can.

My debut romance, DIVA IN THE DUGOUT, will be up for sale at Turquoise Morning Press this week. To celebrate, this week’s My Sexy Saturday seven are from that story. (Yes, this time I’m using a snippet from the actual book, not something I cut.)

This moment comes at the end of a long, emotionally charged day, the day Dave and his daughter meet for the first time, under mamma Melinda’s watchful—and slightly green—eye. Mel’s having trouble reconciling how enamored Tara is with all things “Daddy,” in part because she, too, is still attracted to the man.

When Tara demands that Dave be the one to put her to bed and read her a bedtime story, Mel can’t resist peeking in. Touched by the sight of father and daughter together at last, her emotions are churning when she sits down on the couch with Dave.

***

Diva-Dugout-AHittle-LGWhen he reached out to brush her hair off her face, Mel reared back. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Dave’s grin flickered on in full force, and something else melted inside her. “Renewing our acquaintance.”

There had to be something wrong with that idea, but Mel suddenly couldn’t think what. She leaned into him, her lips parted, already begging for a kiss.

His lips settled over hers and his tongue swept into her mouth. Her senses swirled with the touch of his tongue until she barely noticed he was repositioning her onto his lap.

Mel’s body remembered. Her nipples puckered and her panties grew damp in response to the erection nudging through two layers of denim. Dave deepened the kiss. His hands settled on her hips, bringing the most intimate part of her more firmly in contact with him.

Caught up in old memories and new sensations, she didn’t object when he eased her back against the arm of the couch and started fumbling with the button on her shorts. She wasn’t thinking of Tara, just upstairs, or the fact that Luanne would arrive any minute.

She wanted—no, needed—this. Sex. With Muscles. She hadn’t had intimate relations with anyone since…since a disastrous reunion attempt with Bud when Tara was nine months old.

DIVA IN THE DUGOUT, out this week!