Happy New Year!

To every one of my followers here at Sizzling Hot Romance, HAPPY NEW YEAR! May you have love, peace, and prosperity in the coming year.

Thank you so much for following my blog.

Did Santa bring you a KINDLE for Christmas?

If you received a KINDLE for Christmas and want some good books to purchase for it, I have FOUR Kindle edition books published. Check them out HERE!

The Inspiring Story Behind the Song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer:

I received this story in an email newsletter that I received today. I have never heard this story before. I am sharing it with you, my readers here at Sizzling Hot Romance. Merry Christmas to everyone!

The Inspiring Story Behind the Song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer:

From a depressed widower father, to a millionaire. How did Rudolph change the life of Robert "Bob" May?
(from SocyBerty.com, Nov. 19, 2008)

As the holiday season of 1938 came to Chicago, Bob May, 34-year old ad writer for Montgomery Ward, a father of a four-year old girl, was exhausted, broke, and about to lose his wife to cancer.

One night, Barbara, his daughter asked him, "Why isn’t mommy like everybody else’s mommy?" As he struggled to answer his daughter’s question, Bob remembered the pain of his own childhood. A small, sickly boy, he was constantly picked on and called names. So he began to spin a tale about a reindeer with a bright red nose who found a special place on Santa’s team. Barbara loved the story so much that she made her father tell it every night before bedtime. A he did, it grew more elaborate. Because he couldn’t afford to buy his daughter a gift for Christmas, Bob decided to turn the story into a homemade picture book.

Bob’s wife died in early December. A few days before Christmas, he reluctantly attended a company at Montgomery Ward. His co-workers encouraged him to share the story he’d written. After he read it, there was a standing ovation. Everyone wanted copies of their own.

Montgomery Ward bought the rights to the book from their debt-ridden employee. Over the next six years, at Christmas, they gave away six million copies of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to shoppers. Every major publishing house in the country was making offers to obtain the book. In an incredible display of good will, the head of the department store returned all rights to Bob May. Four years later, Rudolph had made him into a millionaire.

He soon remarried and was blessed with good fortune and a growing family. There was more to come. His brother-in-law Johnny Marks, set the uplifting story to music. The song was pitched to artists from Bing Crosby on down. They all passed. Finally, Marks approached Gene Autry. The cowboy star had scored a holiday hit with "Here Comes Santa Claus" a few years earlier. Like the others, Autry wasn’t impressed with the song about the misfit reindeer. Marks begged him to give it a second listen. Autry played it for his wife, Ina. She was so touched by the line "They wouldn’t let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games" that she insisted her husband to record the tune.

Within a few years, it had become the second best-selling Christmas song ever, right behind "White Christmas." Since then, Rudolph has come to life in TV specials, cartoons, movies, toys, games, coloring books, greeting cards, and even a Ringling Bros. circus act. The little red-nosed reindeer dreamed up by Bob May and immortalized in song by Johnny Marks has come to symbolize Christmas as much as Santa Claus, evergreen trees and presents.

As the last line of the song says, "He’ll go down in history."

Dreaming of a White Christmas

Growing up in the South where it rarely snowed, it was hard to imagine a white Christmas. More often than not, we would have our windows open and the fan blowing while sweating over a hot stove preparing the turkey and dressing and all those yummy trimmings that filled the house with such delicious smells. The radio would be playing I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas while outside the sun shone on the pine trees without a hint of a snowflake anywhere in sight. We would decorate our Christmas tree with fake icicles while dreaming of snow banked up to the window sills and the sounds of sleigh bells drifting faintly through the air. By the time we gathered around the table, joining hands and bowing our heads in prayer, thoughts of a white Christmas had drifted away once again. The sun shone outside while inside the house was filled with love and joy and thankfulness at being together once again on this glorious Christmas Day!

Wishing you a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Don't forget that books make excellent gifts. You can purchase mine online at Amazon.com without leaving your home.

Kristie Leigh Maguire, romance author

Christi Barth and her debut novel "Carolina Heat"

Author Christi Barth says, "Romance - Passion - Happily Ever After. What more could you want in a book?" You can find out in her debut novel Carolina Heat!

From Christi's website:

Christi Barth spent years performing in musicals, singing about love and giving people a happy ending in every performance. Then as a wedding planner she spent every day immersed in romance. Now - she writes it!

After winning 1st place in the 2008 Heart to Heart contest, and 1st place in the 2009 Emily contest, she is thrilled to be able to share CAROLINA HEAT with the world. She lives in Maryland with the absolutely best husband in the world (sorry ladies, its true!).

Carolina Heat was released December 7th from Eternal Press. It is available in ebook format from Eternal Press and in paperback from Amazon.com.

Blurb:
Put a workaholic Yankee together with an amiable Southerner and watch the sparks fly! Annabelle travels to Charleston, where she stumbles across the trail of a long-buried Civil War mystery. Along the way she finds steamy passion, steadfast friends, mortal danger, and the love of her life.


Well-known journalist Annabelle Carlyle is stunned by the personal twist of her latest assignment: her best friend Vanessa is missing. Annabelle goes undercover in the Old South to search for answers. Full of thick accents and a way of life rooted in the past, Charleston is as foreign and strange a place as any Annabelle's visited. And before she finds a single clue, she runs into a sexy man she can't shake.

Tall, dark and charming, Mark Dering is happy to show the gorgeous Yankee his hometown. He's captivated by the quick witted, quick tempered redhead. But when they're shot at, he realizes she's far more than just another tourist. Soon they're knee deep in a mystery that goes all the way back to the Civil War. For once Annabelle is in over her head. Desperate to find Vanessa, she reluctantly accepts Mark's help. It isn't long before romance blooms right alongside the magnolias.

The stakes grow higher when a body is discovered. Someone is willing to kill to keep a century old Confederate secret hidden. With her best friend missing and a killer on the loose, it's the worst possible moment for Mark to try and unlock Annabelle's heart. Or is love exactly what her life's been missing?

**********
If you would like to read a steamy book by another romance writer named Kristie (with a different spelling than the Christi I am featuring at Sizzling Hot Romance today) my books are available as paperback and Kindle at Amazon.com and as an ebook at Fictionwise. I can guarantee you that they will put the sizzle back into your love life! I have a male fan who says, "Who needs Viagra when you have a Kristie Leigh Maguire novel to read?"

Romance author spotlight on Kristie Leigh Maguire

Romance author spotlight on Kristie Leigh Maguire

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Christie Kelley - romance writer

From Christie Kelley's website:

Christie Kelley was born and raised in upstate New York. As a child, she always had a vivid imagination and the bad dreams that go along with it, or perhaps the dreams were caused by the five brothers and three sisters she lived with. After seventeen years working for financial institutions in software development, she took a leap of faith and started her first book. Seven years later, her first book EVERY NIGHT I’M YOURS was bought by Zebra books. She now lives in Maryland with her husband and two future romance heroes.

Visit Christie Kelley online.

Christie Kelley's book list.

Amanda Young - Romance Without Inhibition

From Amanda Young's Website:

Amanda Young is a multi-published, erotic romance author. Since she tends to write whatever strikes her whimsy, all of her novels fall into various subgenres. Among her many available titles you’ll find contemporary and paranormal settings, gay and straight themes alike. You never know what merry adventure her evil muse will devise next.


Basically, she writes stories about people who love indiscriminately and wholeheartedly. Her characters are never perfect; they’re flawed and oftentimes troubled. Which makes it that much more satisfying when they receive the happy ending we all deserve. No matter what genre her books fall into, she can guarantee they’ll end with a happily ever after. In her opinion, it’s just not a romance without one.

Amanda has too many books published to pick just one to feature here at Sizzling Hot Romance. I recommend that you go have a look at her bookshelf.

Amanda also has some free reads available for download.

Can't get enough of author Francis Ray!

Yes, I featured best-selling author Francis Ray here at Sizzling Hot Romance not too long ago. But I just have to bring her back for this special announcement. I just received her latest newsletter and found out that she is giving away a free story for Christmas. The title is The Wish. It was previously published in Gettin' Merry.

I just downloaded it for myself and can't wait to read it. Thanks so much for the very nice Christmas present, Francis! You rock!

To get your copy, go to Francis Ray website and click the download link.

Oh and if you haven't gotten her latest novel, One Night With You, I urge you to do so. I finished reading it a few weeks ago and it is fabulous! I treasure my autographed copy. It is definitely going on my "keepers shelf" in my bookcase. There's just something about those rugged Montana men that gets the little ole heart pounding!

Here in Francis' own words is her idea behind writing The Wish:

Why I wrote "The Wish"


My mother gave me a copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales when I was about ten years old. Even before then I was a dreamer and believed in the power of wishes. Christmas is the perfect time for wishes and dreams to come true. There is something magical in the air during this season, an irrepressible feeling that anything can happen if you believe strongly enough. I wanted to bring all of this joy and hope to the page when I was asked to write a novella for the Christmas anthology, Gettin’ Merry. I thought what better way to incorporate all of these elements than to write about a modern day fairy godmother who grants wishes.

I usually start with characters when I begin a new story, but this time I built the story around a small close-knit fictional town called Jubilee, Texas. Jubilee closely resembles my hometown where everyone knows everyone and secrets never remain secrets for long. In Jubilee family is important, traditions are strong, and neighbors are always ready with a helping hand, a word of advice or a home-cooked meal.

Once I had the setting, I visualized my hero, Nicholas, and my heroine, Andrea, and knew instinctively that he would be businesslike and pragmatic, and she would be down-to-earth and a dreamer. Nicholas thinks it’s ludicrous to believe that once a wish is spoken into the universe it simply waits until the appointed time to be granted. Andrea believes in wishes, but she doesn’t believe she’ll ever have one granted. Nicholas and Andrea are about to learn that when it comes to wishes, anything is possible.

Ring Around the Sun by Gemini Judson

Ring Around the Sun
by Gemini Judson
Eirelander Publishing
Genre - Contemporary Erotic Romance

Length - Novella
Heat Level - Carnal

A ring around the sun foretells new beginnings.


That’s exactly what Teal Marin needs. When she inherits a cabin in the woods of northern Minnesota, she sees an opportunity to escape her physically abusive lover and disappear. From the moment she steps off bus, she realizes it won’t be easy—these weren’t the streets of Chicago.

As she battles against a new wintery enemy, a tall dark stranger emerges from the darkness. Darren Kennedy is a sports writer, nursing an old football injury and a broken heart in his cabin in the woods. He plucks Teal out the snow and teaches her the basics of cabin life. Together they ignite an unexpected passion that keeps them toasty warm.

Now Teal bathes in snowy, frigid sunshine with her new hero. Did she make a clean break? Not at all. Her former abuser wants his beautiful girl home.

Read an Excerpt and Purchase (ebook or Kindle version)

Gemini Judson


Gem is a biologist by training and an artist by heart. She’s spent her career studying fish, birds, bugs and many other critters, all providing a colorful tapestry for her stories. She writes contemporary romances with varying degrees of heat, but the common thread is a natural setting or a scientific twist.

Her first love was painting and came to writing romances only recently. “The similarities in the process amaze me. When I write, I lay down a background wash first and gradually add form and structure, just like I would with a blank canvas. The last step is adding nuance and balance. There’s nothing more satisfying than a finished manuscript and a finished painting.”

She makes her home in Minnesota with her husband and daughter and a pile of cats and dogs and horses. When she’s not writing or attending assorted youth sporting events, she’s painting, on canvas or digitally.

Books make great Christmas gifts!

I would like to recommend one of my books as a Christmas gift for your loved one. You don't even have to leave your house to purchase it. You can purchase it from Amazon.com.

If you are looking for the perfect stocking stuffer for your significant other for this holiday season, "Affairs of the Heart" by Kristie Leigh Maguire is the perfect gift. It is a great deal because it is actually 2 books combined under one cover. "Affairs of the Heart" combines award-winning novels "Desert Heat" and "Cabin Fever" into one book as a COLLECTOR'S EDITION so it is a great bargain.

Not only is it a great bargain but it is the perfect book that will get you in the mood for some good fun while snuggled in front of the fire with your lover on a cold winter's night. It can't get any better than that!

Author Epstein LaRue said, "If you love romance with an erotic flair to it, you need to read Desert Heat along with Cabin Fever. Although it may be snowing outside at your house this winter, you'll be burning up after these novels."

"Affairs of the Heart" description:

Desert Heat and Cabin Fever together under one cover in a collector's edition. From the blistering sands of California's Mojave Desert to the glittering neon lights of Las Vegas, Marcie Treyhorne sweeps you away into a world of sex and passion in Desert Heat. Marcie's adventures continue in the mountains of northern Nevada in Cabin Fever. Enter Marcie's world...if you dare!

Have you been naughty or nice?

Better Naughty Than Nice

Vicki Lewis Thompson, Jill Shalvis, Rhonda Nelson
Harlequin Blaze
December 2009
On Sale: December 1, 2009
224 pages
ISBN: 0373795114
EAN: 9780373795116
Mass Market Paperback
$4.99 - Purchase at Amazon.com
Romance Anthology

Meet St. Nick's delightfully devilish brother, Damon Claus. He's about to prove to three unsuspecting couples that being naughty is much, much nicer…



No Mistletoe Required by Vicki Lewis Thompson
With Damon's sneaky help, Hayden Manchester and Riley Kinnard rekindle a long-running, very creative rivalry…that leaves them fighting over who's on top!

Her Secret Santa by Jill Shalvis
Workaholic Ally Dauer runs the local toy drive. Only when she discovers some very adult toys, firefighter Eddie Weston convinces her that the best gifts are meant to be shared….

Snug in His Bed by Rhonda Nelson
Viv Foster hates Christmas. Hank Bailey owns a Christmas tree farm. What could they possibly have in common? Sizzling sexual chemistry and, thanks to Damon, the opportunity to act on it. After all, it's the season of miracles…

So you like romantic comedy?

And you need books for your Kindle? You're in luck! Try these!


 Between the Sheets by Robin Wells

How do you have a life when everyone in America thinks you gave the president-elect a fatal heart attack during an illicit sex romp?

Emma Jamison never thought she'd have to answer that question, but here she is, smack dab in the middle of a political scandal that would make Monica Lewinsky blush. Trouble is, nobody believes that Emma wasn't the call-girl who killed the president-to-be with her, uh, carnal skills.

So Emma packs up and moves to small-town Chartreuse, LA, to escape her infamy and to start over. But when her grandmother starts dating the grandfather of district attorney Max Duval, the quiet life she was seeking blows up in smoke.

"A delight mix of humor and love--romantic comedy at its best!"  - Sandra Hill, Author of Pearl Jin

Purchase Between the Sheets for your Kindle.


About Robin Wells:

Before becoming a full-time writer, Robin Wells was an advertising and public relations executive, but she always dreamed of writing novels—a dream inspired by a grandmother who told “hot tales” and parents who were both librarians.

When she sold her first novel, her family celebrated at a Chinese restaurant. Robin’s fortune cookie read “Romance moves you in a new direction”—and it has. Robin has won the RWA Golden Heart Award, two National Readers’ Choice Awards, the Holt Medallion and CRW’s Award of Excellence.

No Lady and Her Tramp by Kristie Leigh Maguire and Mark Haeuser

No Lady and Her Tramp, reminiscent of the TV show "Married with Children" minus the children and in a different setting, will have you rolling in the aisles as you follow the exploits of the residents of President Park, the trailer park to top all trailer parks. When Beth Ann Dixon buys herself a computer and decides to write a steamy erotic novel, her husband, Billy Ray, can't do much of anything right, not even shoot a gun. Janet Higgins is the resident Peeping Tom - and Troy Finkmyer is the guy we all love to hate. Everybody gets into the act and there are showdowns all over Grapevine - Grapevine, Kentucky that is. Shirley Snodgrass is the local gossip columnist for the Grapevine Gazette and records it all in her column, 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine'. You'll laugh, you'll cheer, and you may even shed a tear as you read No Lady and Her Tramp by Kristie Leigh Maguire and Mark Haeuser.

No Lady and Her Tramp was a laugh out loud read. Each character is colorful in their own unique way. Fast paced and full of surprises, you will be at the edge of your seat waiting for the next outlandish antic to occur. I have never read a romance novel like this, it is truly unique. If you enjoy romance, humor and suspense you will certainly enjoy this good read.  - Sheri A. Wilkinson

Purchase No Lady and Her Tramp for your Kindle.



About Kristie Leigh Maguire and Mark Haeuser:

Kristie Leigh Maguire has chosen to follow the 'road less traveled' in her writing career. She is quoted as saying, "I am an Independent Author and proud of it. I have never been accused of being like everyone else. I guess you could say that I am a true child of the sixties - doing things my way, and just a bit of a rebel at heart. I feel that Joe Blow Public has sense enough to know what they want to read without being held by the hand and led down the garden path. And if Joe Blow Public decides that they don't like my books that I put out in the world, then so be it. That is their choice. At least I had the guts to put them out there - my way."

Mark Haeuser was born and raised in the beautiful farm country near Fountain City, Wisconsin. The oldest son of two loving parents, he spent most of his youth roaming the hills and valleys of the Mississippi's driftless area. Mark began writing in 1997 after a trip to a local bookstore. After spending hours searching, he realized that no one wrote the kind of stories he wanted to read. He loved adventure stories and craved the kind of realistic action he had lived as a police officer. He decided to try his hand at writing his own books.