#AFTH2015 w/ Shayla Black and Lexi Blake--Oh, 2015. The lessons learned...

A little bit of double trouble hitting us today. lol Shayla Black and Lexi Blake (who are a fab writing duo) are taking over. These two are so much fun! They both write individually but as a team too. Lots of delicious bdsm, alpha males and suspense that'll warm ya up in all the right ways <winks>

Give the ladies a nice welcome then hit those comments! ~anna

The Monthly Herd--December 2015--it's OVER!

It's over? Really? Doesn't seem like that's possible does it? 2015 was quite the year. Lots of great things and some heartache too. I'm kind of glad it's over and ready for a fresh year.

It was a warm Christmas here and I've decided I'll be damned if I'm taking my Christmas decorations down before I actually get some Christmas weather. None of this 75 degree mess we had. I left Florida for a reason, people! lol It was still a very nice Christmas with time at the USO and heading out to dinner with two reader friends which was fun.

Insta-Christmas: The one with a LOT of pictures. Eeps!

Because I love Instagram and fun pictures. The Herd's month ala Instagram :)

Aaaaand the Christmas (or rather December) edition!

Since AFTH was going strong all month I decided to save up all of our insta-goodness for today:)

So...here's what we've been up to :D

#AFTH2015 w/ Jenna Sutton--Candy Canes vs Romance Heroes

We've got Jenna Sutton joining us today. She's a fairly new author and whew! her first book was full of awesome and surrounds a family that owns a jeans company. I had such a good time with it. Book two was really damn good, too!

Anywho. Yall check out her post then hit those comments and leave her some love :) She's got a fun post for yall :) ~anna

#AFTH2015 w/ Roni Loren-- Best Things About the New Year!

Woohoo! It's Roni Loren! Yall know I am totally smitten with her kinked out books. She's one of the absolute best in erotic romance and bdsm and she's one of my Pajama Authors too! Her books are crazy hot and incredibly romantic. I've loved them just to bits and would seriously be up for a road trip to The Ranch to spend a little time with her crazy delicious group of characters :D

She's taking over for the day. Yall leave her lots of love and give her a warm welcome :) ~anna

4 stars-- Shameless (Bitter Creek #14) by Joan Johnston

Shameless was like walking straight into a soap opera and, oh man, it was just as addictive! Scandal, drama, and romance abound!

The quick of it is that Pippa has found herself an unwed pregnant teenager. And life in their remote Australian town is pretty much hell for her. So when the offer to uproot and move back to America is offered by her long estranged grandfather her dad takes it. Does it solve all of their problems? Not by a long shot. Now she's got hostile aunts to deal with, frustrations with her daddy over her baby and one very intriguing stranger with a menagerie of animals that's complicating her life right good.

#AFTH2015 w/ Emma Chase---The herd pups..they're ridiculously cute!

Yall today we've got Emma Chase joining us. If you've not read her...gah! you must! I was SO late to the game but finally was able to read her earlier this year and was totally blown away. Utterly heartwarming, sexy, and hilarious! It was such a good time and told from the hero's POV which was different and perfect.

She's gonna hang with yall for a while today so give her a nice welcome and hit those comments! ~anna

Quote-tastic/Review--aaaaaaand tug!--Sweet Ruin by Kresley Cole

Join us every Monday and share a favorite quote that's grabbed ya for one reason or another.

You can add a review or post just a quote. You can post other days of the week too. Totally flexible.

Everyone's welcome to join in. Authors, bloggers, readers. The more the merrier!

Just grab the button and toss up your post :) No blog? No worries, just leave your favorites in the comment section or in a FB post and link it up.

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Woohoo! Kresley Cole! The IAD series was one of the very first I picked up when I got hooked on reading a few years back. Sexy, full of action and freaking hilarious. They've been a good time. I love the characters and how they...get each other. While this one wasn't my favorite of the series it had some great moments. This one had me smirking...

Top 20 (ish) Reads of 2015!

As part of Authors for the Holidays I'm doing some random posts just from mwah! And one of those is...my favorite reads from this past year. Gah! There were so many. But limiting it to 20..ish. Heh

Would love to hear if you've read any of them! ~anna

My 2015 Goals. How'd I Do??! Erms...

So. I kicked off 2015 with a set of bloggery goals. There were... a lot of them. And I made some good progress overall I think. I'm feeling confident in the blog and where I wanna be. Yay! It's not perfect but it's getting there. Totally rocked some goals, some are a work in progress and some, well, not so much. I thought I'd do a quick recap on how things went before I figure out what I wanna try in 2016 :)

Merry Christmas from the Herd!!

Woohoo! It's Christmas!! Hope yall are having (or had) a fabulous day!
I'm kicking mine off at the USO for an overnight shift. It's actually pretty busy tonight and decorations are up. There's yummy food everywhere and people are in good spirits. I love being here over the holidays :) We get a lot of people who are dealing with delayed or missed flights and it's nice being able to help turn that around a little. Get their bellies full, give them a place to take a nap or just rest a while and recover. 
Then when I get off in the morning it's naps with the herd and then dinner out with two bookish friends which should be a lot of fun.

#AFTH2015 w/ K. Bromberg-- oh no! Coal!

Happy almost Christmas! One more author joining us pre-Christmas. K. Bromberg. Yall she writes amazing romances that are hot and totally pull at your heat. I'm fairly new to her books (just this past year) but whoa...love. Yall give her a nice welcome then hit those comments! ~anna

Quote-tastic/Review--oh man. why'd you say that?!!--My Kind of Wonderful (Cedar Ridge #2) by Jill Shalvis

Join us every Monday and share a favorite quote that's grabbed ya for one reason or another.

You can add a review or post just a quote. You can post other days of the week too. Totally flexible.

Everyone's welcome to join in. Authors, bloggers, readers. The more the merrier!

Just grab the button and toss up your post :) No blog? No worries, just leave your favorites in the comment section or in a FB post and link it up.

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Soooo. Quote-tastic, erm, almost Wednesday this week. Someone *looks around* may have misplaced her book and just found it. Maybe. Anywho...Jill Shalvis!!! Yall know I love me some Jill Shalvis. The woman is freaking genius! My Kind of Wonderful was so damn good and this one just had me cracking up. The hero and heroine are going skiing (he's giving her a lesson) and on the lift she's trying to get to know him a little better. I loved her throw down. lol

#AFTH2015 w/ Lilah Pace--Grapefruit Prosecco Punch to get you through the holidays ;)

Ooo Lilah Pace is here today. Yall she wrote one of my favorite romances this year--Asking for It. It was...quite the read! And her first foray into dark romance. It was fascinating and very very hot and one that'll push boundaries a bit since it focuses on rape fantasy. But gah...give it a go. I was blown away. And so dang excited to have her joining us today.

Yall check out her post and give her a warm welcome! ~anna

Tasty Delights Dazzling Disasters-- Fuck you, Brownie Bowls. Fuck. You

Cocksuckers! So. Dazzling Disasters. I have em. Brownie Bowls are determined to be one.

This should be SO easy! It was snagged off of a TipHero video on Facebook.

And I gotta tell you. Brownie Bowls?...full of lies!!!! Full. Of. Lies!!! lol

Christmas Treats Giveaway Hop! (ends 12/25)

What are our favorite Christmas Treats? Books, of course! Stop by each blog for a chance to win fabulous books & gifties just in time for the Holidays!

Merry almost Christmas!!

#CountdownToChristmas: Winter Secrets by M. Limoges & Love:Uncivilized by Sawyer Bennett

Soooo two reviews today! Both are continuation novellas for couples that have already found each other. I've totally been loving those lately and seeing how things are going after the HEA.

Winter Secrets (Winter Solstice Run #3) by M. Limoges

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The perfect para treat for a cold winter morning! Winter Secrets jumps in a couple months after Kate and Stephen mated and they've hit a bit of a rough spot with secrets with insecurities rearing their ugly heads and threatening to tear them apart. And, whew, things do blow up. Sending them into a spiral of angsty hurt and trying to figure out what to do next.

#AFTH2015 w/ Tessa Bailey

So. Tessa Bailey. Yall. If you've not read em yet. Go get em now. Even before checking out the post. Her books are freaking awesome and her heroes are the best damn dirty talkers. Holy. Cow. Love me some Bailey heroes.

Yall give her a naughty welcome today and hit those comments! ~anna

4 stars--Once Touched (Silver Creek #3) by Laura Moore

Whew boy! That's one pissed off grumbly ex-photojournalist-soon-to-be-a-cowboy! Okay so Ethan's come to Quinn's family ranch to basically hide out and heal after being seriously injured while on assignment in a war zone. He's hurt but determined to pull his weight and Quinn gets saddled with making him useful. *big exasperated sigh* She's a fixer though and, man, this guy needs some fixing...

#AFTH2015 w/ Erin Knightley-- yummy desserts! (and gluten free!)

Erin Knightley is hijacking yall today. Woots! She's one of my local ladies and part of my book club and all kinds of fabulous. Her romances are on the sweeter side of things and just lovely.

Yall give her a warm welcome and hit those comments! ~anna

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4 stars--I'll Be There (The Montgomery Brothers, #6) by Samantha Chase

My first Samantha Chase read! Book 6. Shouldn't have taken it. #AccidentalOneClick #Oops #SoFreakingGlad #ItWasFantastic

Chase delivered an absolutely lovely read that left me antsy to get back to the rest of the series and see how it all began.

The quick of it is that Zach had a serious climbing accident and since then he's turned into an angry bear of a man who's wallowing in his own misery and pretty much become a recluse. And the people around him have had enough. They're fucking over his pity party and throwing down an ultimatum. Get his act together--and accept help from his assistant--or the family company he runs...no longer going to be his to run. It's...not the most pleasant of moments to be around him, for sure, but his long time assistant is ready to go to bat for him and help him get back to who he used to be. And he just best get his ass in line. *nods*

#AFTH2015 w/ Debbie Mason--the Naughty list ala Christmas, Colorado

Today's guest is Debbie Mason and yall she just writes lovely romances. They aren't always easy or smooth sailing but they're wonderful and she writes the best damn heroines! Yall know I'm hard on heroines but Debbie's...they're some of my absolute favorites. Amazing women who are strong, likable and you totally end up wanting to be friends with. Love that! Christmas, Colorado--where her books are set--is just an interesting little town and one I'm so glad I found.

Yall check out Debbie's post and leave her some comment love :) ~anna

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Hi everyone! I’m Debbie Mason, and I write contemporary romance set in the small town of Christmas, Colorado. So I guess it's no surprise that I LOVE . . . Nell, what are you doing here?

Where else would I be? I made up the list, not you. Scootch over. Hi y'all, thanks for having us. I'm Debbie's writing partner, Nell McBride. I have to get this list off to Santa before it's too late, so let's get started.

4 stars--Dragon Storm (Black Dragons, #2) by Katie MacAlister

Woohoo! Dragons! Gah I love their cocky asses. And Constantine...oh what a fine ass he had. lol

The quick of it is that dragonkin have a problem. They've been cursed so that none of the dragon septs are able to talk to each other and they've got to find a way to break this curse. Enter Bee...A Charmer. It's her job to unravel the curse. Only things go askance and she gets trapped in Abaddon (hell) in the process and rescued by the aforementioned dragon of the fine ass...Constantine who's a kinda dead dragon spirit and determined to save the dragons. It's...complicated. There's a talking severed head in a hamster ball too. *nods* Complicated.

#AFTH2015 w/ Cherise Sinclair-- a visit with the Masters!

Cherise Sinclair is hijacking the blog today! Yall. She's one of the authors that's pretty special to me. She was my first venture into BDSM romance and one of the first erotic authors I tried out years ago. I was immediately hooked!

Her books are, whew, hot and steamy! but full of so much humor (you'll see below) and heart as well. Amazing romances, lust-worthy heroes and women who are so dang strong and beautiful and aren't all exactly the same. Curvy heroines, slender ones, ones with imperfect bodies. I love that they feel like real women and ones you could easily know. It makes them feel a bit more special to me I think.

Anyways. I'll hand things over to Cherise now. Yall be very naughty for her. She's ready for ya! ~anna

#AFTH2015 w/ Tonya Burrows-- Pinterest w/ Tonya (there's cake, people!)

Eeps! Long time favorite joining us today. Tonya Burrows!! If you've been around the blog you know I've been kinda smitten with her since SEAL of Honor showed up. Yall remember that one? If not. I'm just gonna leave yall a wee little treat before she hijacks the blog.

                          

See now. Are you glad I left you a treat? I mean. Dayum! It's a stellar read too. Anywho. Lots and lots of sexeh military men that are all kinds of tortured and delicious. Great heroines as well. *sigh* I think I just talked myself into a reread maybe. lol Alright. I rambled enough. Tonya's gonna play with yall for a while. Be nice (or naughty) and have fun with her. Hit those comments before you leave! ~anna

Quote-tastic/Review--Damn being grown!--Croc's Return by Eve Langlais

Join us every Monday and share a favorite quote that's grabbed ya for one reason or another.

You can add a review or post just a quote. You can post other days of the week too. Totally flexible.

Everyone's welcome to join in. Authors, bloggers, readers. The more the merrier!

Just grab the button and toss up your post :) No blog? No worries, just leave your favorites in the comment section or in a FB post and link it up.

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I've been a long time fan of Eve Langlais and her quirky shifters so there was a total squee over seeing a new series. And that it featured a...crocodile shifter! This little exchange just left me smiling. I love when a heroine teases the hero just a little bit...

Buy The Book: New Releases, Free & Cheap Reads for 12/15

Happy Monday! Not a huge release week but there are some yummy ones in there :) I enjoyed Love Uncivilized. It was a fun follow up to Uncivilized.

Plus some freebies and cheap reads in the mix too!

Have yall read any of these authors? Picking up any of them?

Oh! And don't forget! If you shop Amazon you can help the herd with every purchase at absolutely no cost to you! All you have to do is click through this link and everything (even non book related items) counts towards helping the blog :) It's greatly appreciated!

Tag: The Cat Herder [Christmas Edition]--pervy santa, questionable wrapping & tree protection

Since it's almost Christmas!! Woots! Some Christmasy Tags.

#CountdownToChristmas--4 stars--Crashed Out (Made in Jersey #1) by Tessa Bailey

Oh my god. I would love for one of Bailey's heroes to come talk dirty in my ear. *shivers* The things he said! Whew, girl. Tingles. Yeah. Lotta tingles. lol Crashed Out will make you swoon!

Okay so the quick of it is that Sarge made it big as a musician after leaving his small Jersey town. For the last few years has been on the road with his band and not come home to visit his family. But he has helped them financially so he's not been totally absent. Now though. It's Christmas and the band is on a break in order to make a big decision and regroup and he's come home to spend time with the people he loves most-- his sister and niece. Too bad she gave him the brush off when he got home and sent him packing. Well, sent him to stay with her best friend and the woman he's had a serious crush on for years.

Tasty Delights-- Cauliflower Fried "Rice" & Pagoda Eggrolls

Once again...Tasty got me. lol I love cauliflower and when I saw the cauliflower fried rice it was a given it was gonna happen. Even better when I got eggrolls for review and could make it to go with them. Noms! It was really dang tasty too!

#AFTH2015 w/ PA DePaul--have you been naughty or nice?!

Awwwws we've got PA DePaul here today! So. PA is a hoot. She writes yummy rom-suspense but she's just an awesome lady and a lot of fun to e-hang out with. Plus she's got one of my favorite secondary character bad boys who has me totally in a pant waiting for his book to come out one day. Lickable, people. Lickable.

<clears throat> I will not let Romeo distract me! We have a mission today! Authors for the Holidays. Not Romeo panting. Ahhh

Sooo before I go on about Romeo the Delicious (and naughty!) yall say hey to PA and check out what she's bring yall today! ~anna

3.5 stars--Secret Sisters by Jayne Ann Krentz

Mystery, romance, intrigue. Krentz rocks them all. Secret Sisters was everything I love about her books. Easy romances, strong characters and a mystery that kept me guessing. I fell in love with her books years ago--totally binged on them--and it was so fun getting back to the swing of it and falling in with her characters again.

The quick of it is that 18 years ago Madeline and her best friend went through hell. And the adults in their lives covered up a murder and then everyone dispersed. But now, 18 years later, someone has brought the dark secrets they all kept back to life and is coming after everyone who knew the secrets.

#AFTH2015 w/ Jessica Lemmon--Devil Dog Cupcakes (omg yall!)

Woots and Squees! Jessica Lemmon is our guest today. She writes the best bad boys and billionaires and noms they're all so good! The romances are all so damn swoon-worthy and the heroines lovely.

She's got a very special place in my blogger girl heart because she's actually the first author with a big publishing house who's book I was quoted in. How freaking cool is that??

Anywhos. I'm passing things on to Jessica now. She's bringing some serious yums to the blog today.Yall give her a nice warm welcome and leave her some comment love! ~anna

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4 stars--In the Company of Wolves (SWAT #3) by Paige Tyler

[Paige is our Guest Author today for Authors for the Holidays! Be sure to stop by her POST and say hey! ~anna]

Whew! Tyler is totally rocking this series. Hot damn but In the Company of Wolves was a heck of a good time. Action packed with a fabulous romance and amazing characters it grabbed me from page one and...I read ALL night. I couldn't put it down. I regret nothing. lol