paranormal erotica

Style File! Summer Casual

July 25, 2014 Leave a Comment

I was looking back through my archives (thanks to a weird influx of spam comments. UGH, SPAM! I shake my fist at you!), and I realized it had been a while since I’d put together a virtual outfit that I’ll never own. ::sigh:: But one can dream, right?

So, here is my summer casual style file! Although I love the look of jeans, in the NYC heat and humidity, I just cannot stand to put denim onto my body. I end up spending most of my time in skirts and dresses and rompers.

The meat of the outfit, is this little dress/romper. I wish it was a little longer, as I don’t tend to wear things THIS short, but still. It’s super cute and looks very cool.

I would add a belt to it, simply because with my body type, styles work better when they accentuate my waist. I’d go with a skinny camel colored belt, so that I could accessorize with browns–and wear these absolutely fabulous shoes! I’m completely lusting after them.

Lastly, no outfit is complete without a handbag and in summertime? You can’t leave the house without a pair of sunglasses!

The Top 5 Ridiculous Things RomComs Made Me Paranoid About

July 16, 2014 Leave a Comment

I love my RomComs. In fact, for many years, I watched them almost exclusively. At age eighteen, I had seen She’s All That, starring Freddie Prinze Jr. a dozen times, but had never seen Chinatown. I have since expanded my film palate. However, having grown up on romantic comedies, I realized that there were a handful of things within these movies that I had an odd (and rather unrealistic) paranoia over. In no particular order…

1) A Man Arriving at my House Without Notice
In almost every movie, a love interest will inevitably surprise the other by showing up randomly at their house. Sometimes when they’re sick. SICK! Have you SEEN me when I’m sick? The sight is not a pretty one! And because of these stupid, wonderful movies, I had an inexplicable fear of someone I liked showing up randomly at my door when I wasn’t ready. Even when I became an “adult” (::snort:: that still feels weird to say!) and moved to NYC, this fear lingered in the back of my mind.

“I’m just a girl. Standing in front of a boy. Asking him to text me before showing up to my door.”

2) Whenever You’re Happy, Something Bad Will Happen
Just when I would find a happy groove in a relationship and everything was going great–that paranoia would inevitably set in. Things aren’t supposed to go well, right? There’s supposed to be tension…drama! And I would wait for it, fingers drumming along the table as my eyes shifted about the room nervously. Nothing’s perfect. No one’s happy for long. Not until AFTER some sort of conflict–then, and only then do you achieve your happily ever after!
And yes…this was a ridiculous notion.

3) Someone Confessing Their Love to Me in Front of a Huge Crowd
In almost every romantic comedy, there’s a moment–a grand gesture in front of a huge crowd of people. The guy will stand on the bleachers singing “You’re Just Too Good to Be True” in front of your team mates. Or the girl will get up in front of the entire school at the biggest sporting game of the year waiting for her first kiss. Or he’ll chase her cab on his motorcycle just to stop traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge so that he can apologize! The opportunities for showing love and affection in front of a massive audience are ENDLESS. And as a shy girl? They were also terrifying.

4) Angry Kissing/Angry Sex.
When I was young…I just didn’t get it. (Okay…honesty time? I still sort of don’t) The LAST thing I feel like when I’m pissed is kissing the mouth that made me feel so livid. So the thought of a guy grabbing me and kissing me while I’m mad and yelling? Less sexy and more “do it again and I’ll punch you in the nuts.” Maybe it’s just never been done correctly with me. Or maybe I have anger management issues. ::shrugs::

5) Someone Interrupting My Wedding Ceremony.
This one especially was a bit far fetched. I mean, after all, just WHO did I think I was? Julia Roberts? Rachel McAdams? Katharine Ross? NO! But especially when I was younger, I thought this was pretty much status quo. Inevitably in life, you would THINK you found the person you were to be with because he was “safe.” But in actuality, it was the passion filled OTHER guy who you REALLY loved. And you wouldn’t realize this until you were at the alter, waiting to say “I do” and he would run in to stop you. It’s CRAZY! What creeper would ACTUALLY do that??? But I’ll admit it…even on my wedding day, when I was 29 years old, I had a moment of “Oh my god, would someone do that? Is one of my crazy ex’s gonna come running down that aisle after me?” Guess what? They didn’t. Because NO ONE DOES THAT.

BONUS! 6) Kissing in the Rain
In theory, it sounds sexy. But in reality? It’s cold. It’s wet. And we’ll probably both catch pneumonia. No thanks.

You think it will be like this….

But REALLY, it’s like this…

Precious Memories and Adventures of Being an Auntie

January 2, 2014 Leave a Comment

While home last week, I went through my old bedroom to clear out the stuff I no longer want or need. Unfortunately for me and the cleansing process, my old bedroom is now my niece and nephew’s bedroom when they come visit my parents.
I’m completely clueless as to how parents manage to get ANYTHING at all done around the house, or you know, at ALL in life with two little ankle biters running around. The entire time, I had to keep one eye on them in case they fell out a window or something and then try to go through the massive piles of junk in my old bedroom. Not to mention, any old toy I found, they IMMEDIATELY had to have and so ::shrug:: there went any hope of trying to toss it in the garbage.

At one point, I came across a shoebox full of old pictures. I went through every image, showing Addy and Harrison along the way the pictures of their mommy and daddy when they first started dating. But mostly within that box were images that really meant very little to me. Images of people blinking or a random shot of all of us sitting around the family room watching tv (I mean seriously, why even take that picture???). Or it was a crappy disposable camera that always had the look of a foggy room. You know the ones I’m talking about. So, I kept a small handful of the pictures and threw the rest away.

Oh, boy was that a mistake.

Addy threw herself onto the trash bag, reaching in for the images. She looked up at me, big blue eyes filling with tears and asked, “You’re throwing these away?”

I told her yes and explained that I kept the ones that meant a lot to me, but the rest weren’t needed any longer.

Well, by her next reaction, you would have thought that I told her I just threw away her kitten after peeing all over its head. She face planted onto the floor, bursting into a fit of tears, crying out, “YOU’RE THROWING AWAY MEMORIES, AUNT COLLEEN! PRECIOUS MEMORIES!”

Holy. Shit. Ever want to feel like a terrible aunt and an awful human being? Yeah, try throwing out pictures in front of a five year old.

So, at this point, I just wanted her to stop crying–I was pretty sure that any minute now my sister would burst through the door and accuse me of abusing her children or something, so I attempted to take the photos back from her and I was all, “Yeah, yeah, okay, I’ll keep them. Calm down.”

She wrenched the pictures from me with her sticky, candy covered fingers and said, “No! You don’t deserve them anymore!”

….

The moral of the story here? I’m so not ready to be a parent.

Starting off 2014 with a contest!!

January 1, 2014 Leave a Comment

Hello and Happy New Year everyone! I’ve been a little absent lately, I know ::bows head in shame::! But I assure you it’s for good reason. There’s lots of stuff brewing in this little cauldron of mine that I can’t wait to tell you about!!! Squee!

BUT until I can make some announcements, I thought I’d run a fun contest! Pop over to my Facebook page and give it a liking to enter to win a $10 gift card to Amazon! There was a surge of likes on my page last week just before the holiday and I thought this would be a fun way to celebrate. =0)

Until next time, have a safe and happy new year!

Release Day!!!

September 24, 2013 Leave a Comment

It’s finally here!!!! Soul Survivor is out and for sale! You can pick it up at any major book retailer, Amazon, Barnes and Noble or your indie bookstore as well.

AND if you haven’t yet read Soul Stripper (the first in the series), it’s a great time to buy at only $1.99!

Also, this kitten really, REALLY wants you to go buy your copy now! =0)

Soul Stripper on sale for only $1.99!!

September 19, 2013 Leave a Comment

Good morning, my friends! Just a quick blog to let everyone know that SOUL STRIPPER is on sale for only $1.99 at B&N, Sony, Kobo & Apple. The sale lasts until September 24th—when ::drumroll:: SOUL SURVIVOR comes out!

Also, because it’s morning coffee time, here’s a picture of the 3 week old kitten Sean and I are fostering! In a cup of coffee. Because, you know, it’s coffee time!

Soul Stripper Launch Party! ~NYC

June 13, 2013 Leave a Comment

Hey guys! Consider this your cordial invitation to my Soul Stripper 1940s themed launch party!

It’s gonna be a ton of fun and I don’t know about you…but I’LL be in costume. =0) Also, we’ll have an area to sign up for the ‘draft’ (to enter for prizes), books (of course!), original prints on watercolor paper drawn by my husband, Sean Gordon Murphy, delicious cupcakes, appetizers, drink specials and MORE!

If you’re in the city, come on by and say hello!

Saturday, June 15, 2013
4pm-6pm
at Manhattan Proper (6 Murray St, NY, NY)

SOUL STRIPPER Book Trailer!

May 24, 2013 Leave a Comment

Hey all–

It’s finally ready and uploaded. Go check out the Soul Stripper Book trailer! Special thanks to Jason Kip Photography, Tin Cup Cafe, Kevin MacLeod, Rachel Loebs and Ryan Garrison. It was a lofty goal to actually film a trailer completely on our own (ie – not hiring an outside company), but I think it came out pretty darn good. And I have uber talented friends that made it completely possible.

I’ll post a longer blog about the process next week! In the meantime, enjoy!

(I can’t believe we’re only a week away from Soul Stripper’s Release Day!!!!!!)

Guest Blogging

April 10, 2013 3 Comments

I get really stressed out when I have to guest blog somewhere. Like…REALLY stressed out. The kind of stressed out where you eat a bag of Hershey kisses, dunk your head in cold water then proceed to curl up on the couch in fetal position.

Okay, that might have been a lie. I eat two bags of kisses.

Anyway, this is the reason I don’t guest blog on many sites. First of all–what the heck do people write about? Second, there’s usually some sort of contest that goes along with the post…do I have to choose the winners? Send the prizes? I know there’s random comment picker/generator things so that it’s fair, but WHAT IF I DO IT WRONG!?!?! I’m kind of a perfectionist. And lastly, some of these sites have specific themes they want you to write around. Like, for example, spring. SPRING.

Seems easy, right? I assure you it is NOT. At least not for this girl. And this one is supposed to be easy–all I have to do is find a passage in my book that is related to spring. Only–I don’t know that that passage actually exists in my book nor do I have time to go through and read the dang thing for the fifteen billionth time in its existence on this silly planet called Earth.

Oh, the woes of a writer, huh? Happy Wednesday to all my lovelies reading out there! I’m off to scour for spring…