First things first: A very happy birthday to Ella Jade, and a huge thank-you for organizing this fabulous hop in honor of her birthday!
Click on the graphic above or the link at the bottom
to visit all the other hop posts
** Grand Prize **
$100 Amazon or B&N GC
Birthdays to remember? I’m going to lead out with my most romantic birthday ever. I’m a July baby (yup, Cancer, you guessed it), and this happened the summer my husband and I had just begun dating. We’d already had a skittery first date with not even a kiss, and a passionate second date that made up for lost time :). Then he took off on a one-week vacation – turns out he was tying up “loose ends,” but I didn’t know that then.
I picked him up at O’Hare on my birthday and we went out to dinner. He’d brought me a lovely opal on a gold chain that is still one of my favorite pieces of jewelry. My birthday celebration went on for at least two more days – theater tickets, another dinner out, a dinner I cooked and we ate out on the back patio at my apartment…
Maybe that should have been a clue that three decades later we’d be pouring some of our romantic energies into writing erotic romance together!
– o –
It turns out we haven’t written very many birthday scenes into our published fiction, so here’s one from a WIP. We’re in the middle of creating a four-book series set in the horseracing industry. In this scene, our young herione, a racehorse trainer, has agreed to a week-long vacation with the hero in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters, where he’s testing a prototype of his high-end hand-crafted canoes.
EXCERPT
“So are you glad you came along?” Nick asked. It was their last night on the water.
Nick warmed at the sight of Daisy’s soft smile. “Yeah,” she admitted, “you were right. This was great. Just to know that a place like this exists is a treasure.”
As she stared into the fire, Nick saw a wistfulness etch her frame, as if she were trying to hold onto something, but knew she couldn’t. Without looking at him, she asked, “So how was it for you? You found out everything you needed to know about the prototype?”
“That I did. But that was secondary. Having you with me is what made this trip exceptional. Watching you embrace the unknown. The eagle. The loon. The bluebird. Fishing. Sleeping in a tent. Paddling. The stars.
“You’re a very expressive person, Daisy. You breathe new life into old things for me. How many eagles have I seen? Watching you totally amazed with your first fish. How many fish have I caught? Yet, your first will be one of my most memorable fish stories. You bring freshness to the wilderness. Maybe it’s those first encounters that are the most pristine and the most lasting.” Nick hunched over before the fire. “Maybe I’m just showing my age.”
Continuing to concentrate on the flames of the fire, Daisy said softly, “By the way, you should know that you’re now making love to a twenty-one year old.”
Nick turned his head sharply. “What?”
Daisy chuckled. “Today’s my birthday. I told you it was soon.”
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” He couldn’t believe she hadn’t let him know about such an important day. “We would have done something to mark it.”
Daisy reached over and squeezed his thigh. “Nothing you could have done would be better than this past week. Being out here. Just having this time alone with you. No cell phones. No responsibilities. It’s been beyond my wildest dreams.
– o –
Just because we can, we’re going to have Nick buy her an opal like mine :). So we’d like to hear from you – what’s your favorite birthday memory or gift?
TWO CONTESTS:
Grand Prize – $100 Gift Certificate: comment to enter, and leave your email addy.
My prize – $10 gift certificate, plus winner’s choice of one free download from my back list. To enter, leave a comment to answer the question above, and like my Facebook page, using the Rafflecopter link below:
Don’t forget to hop to all the other blogs and leave a comment – the more comments, the better your chances for the grand prize! Click on the link below:
Happy Birthday Ella!
hien_huynh_tx(at)hotmail(dot)com
Fave birthday – my 18th, I had my son the next day! best.gift.ever!
Thanks for being part of this blog hop!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLA!
jrryba(at)gmail(dot)com
My favorite birthday memory was probably the weekend getaway that hubby and I went on for our birthday (same day) the year before our first child was born.
kesummer69(at)Gmail(dot)com
We need more intghiss like this in this thread.
My favorite birthday was when one of my sons was born on the same day. At the time, I thought it was a bummer to spend the day in the hospital but it was such a blessing. i can still remember what his birth date is!
oops forgot
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLA
I want to win! Happy Birthday!
kyla.stein@gmail.com
My favorite birthday gift was my daughter. She was born a month before my 18th Birthday. : )
stamper_sierra@yahoo.com
Happy birthday to ella
parisfan_ca@yahoo.com
happy birthday to ella and thanks to you for being a part of this blog hop!:)
fave memory is this year my daughter was born 2 days before my birthday and we got to go home on my birthday!
indiansgirl9@aol.com
facebook like from rafflecopter: #469
My favorite birthday memory was when i met my fiance for the first time that was the best birthday ever.
joehawkshaw@yahoo.com
Happy Birthday Ella!!
alslagle06@live.com
Amazon GC make the best bday gifts!!
Happy birthday to Ella! Thanks for participating in the hop. Favorite birthday memory…my husband surprising me with a dinner out with friends.
pjmillion(at)comcast(dot)net
I loved my childhood birthdays. Spending time with my family was the best.
daringzoey at yahoo.com
Favorite bday – last year when my ex and I got back together
Fave present- my Kindle Fire.
vampiremistress2010(at)gmail(dot)com
Happy Birthday Ella! Great Blog Hop. Koala571@msn.com
My 16th birthday card from dad, it was the last one he ever gave me, he died after Christmas that same year. I still have that card. Thanks for being a part of the blog hop. Happy Birthday Ella! fuades3@yahoo.com
Happy birthday! Thanks for the giveaway!!
talkington07@yahoo.com
My favorite gift are the beautiful pearls my parents gave to me for my 21st birthday.
Forgot:
marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
My favorite birthday present was a dancing hamster with built in music.
bituin76 at hotmail dot com
My family never celebrated my birthday and we really didn’t put much significance into one’s birthday. So I was surprised one year when my sister just surprised me with a birthday cake.
humhumbum AT yahoo DOT com
My best birthday present would be the boxes of book my mom got me one year. I talking there were about 120 to 150 books, She had gotten them at a garage sale, she didn’t want to pick through them so she asked how much for them all. I loved it. Had the best time, going through my treasures. Thanks for sharing Ella’s wonderful day and the giveaways. evamillien at gmail dot com
Happy Birthday, Ella
My best present I ever got for my birthday was news of my only child due to make his debut…
Thanks for joining the hop…
HBD Ella!!
caiidynsmommie(at)gmail(dot)com
Well I still love getting gift cards for my b-day 🙂
butterflypetals7(at)gmail(dot)com
Happy Birthday Ella!! Thanks for the blog hop!!
Graceland for my 27th!
carrollfamily02@gmail.com
My 30th was a pretty awesome birthday, I took a cruise with my BFFs!
Happy B-Day Ella!! What an awesome idea for a hop! And so many awesome books to add to my TBR list!
grapeapril75(AT)gmail(DOT)com
My favorite gift is always jewelry. My favorite birthday is when my sister threw me a 15th birthday party. Thanks for sharing your memory!
michelle_willms@yahoo.com
Hello Adriana.
Happy Birthday Ella!. 🙂 My fave Birthday surprise was hearing from my Marine BFF who we deployed overseas. I smiled for two weeks after that.
bidelia78@yahoo.com
Happy birthday Ella! My fave birthday presents are opals (my birth stone).
Thanks for the amazing giveaway!
elizabeth @ bookattict . com
Happy 40th Birthday to Ella!
My husband gave me a surprise birthday party for my 35th birthday. You have to understand, I am not easy to surprise. (Too nosy I guess ) Anyway, he took me to dinner for my birthday that year (I was upset because he didn’t give me a card for my birthday and he knows how important a card is to me) Imagine my face when all my family and friends shouted surprise as I opened the front door. It was the best present ever.
Thanks for being part of Ella’s birthday hop and thank you for the chance to win your prize.
reneebennett35 (at) yahoo (dot) com
My favorite birthday memory is one birthday when I was 8 or 9 (I think) and my parents let me invite a bunch of people over, including all of my family, and everyone just ran around in the yard, jumped on the trampoline, got in and out of those plastic pools around the yard, ate homemade cake and ice cream that my mom made, and hit the pinata! It was super fun just to be a kid and run around with all of my friends on a great day that involved homemade yummy treats! Thank you! kamclauc AT gmail DOT com
What a Happy Hop Treat…
Hope Ella is having a great weekend.. thank you for doing this hop with her.. been loads of fun.
vals_hemi@yahoo.com
I love birthday celebrations that keep going and going. 🙂 This has been such a happy hop. 🙂 This year my husband got me a Danish statue I’d seen when we were in Copenhagen about 10-years ago. I can’t believe he remembered.
For me it was my 17th 🙂
Happy Birthday Ella!
Thanks for the awesome giveaway!
dixiedukegurl2 AT yahoo DOT com
Happy Birthday, Ella! I love receiving flowers for my birthday. Hope you received some too. Thanks for the fantastic giveaway.
bhometchko(at)hotmail(dot)com
cake baked by mom
bn100candg at hotmail dot com
My favorite gift was a box of signed books!
Happy Birthday, Ella!!!
verusbognar (at) gmail (dot) com
Happy Birthday Ella!
My favorite birthday was my 40th. I went shopping with my mom and got one of my favorite tattoos, a garter that goes around my thigh with a derringer tucked in.
Mel
bournmelissa at hotmail dot com
My favorite memory my parents got married on my 9th birthday
. Happy birthday Ella!
virgilio324@gmail.com
I liked spending my birthday in London. Thanks!
katieamanda1(at)yahoo(dot)com
My favorite memory is when my 4 kids all bought me books off of my wish list. The next year they bought me a Kindle because we didn’t have any more room for my books.
proudarmymom32(at)yahoo(dot)com
The favorite gift I received was a glass churck the my friends’ son insisted on buying me. He was probably @9 or 10 at the time. His logic dictated that since the family is Catholic, I had to have a church. We’ve never bought presents for each other before or since, but I still treasure that glass church all these years later.
Ella, have a fantastic birthday month and enjoy the hop!
Thanks for inviting us all to celebrate.
starznstripes24@yahoo.com
Happy Birthday! I hope you had a fabulous weekend!!
Thank you for your generosity,
Karen.arrowood@sbcglobal.net
Happy Birthday Ella & thank you.
jrcarroll314@comcast.net
And the winner is…
Joseph A.!!
Congratulations – I’ll be in touch via email so you can get your download and gift certificate.
Thanks so much, everyone, for stopping by!
Adriana