It feels like its been forever between the release of HARD TO HOLD and TOO HOT TO HOLD, probably because of the holidays, but tomorrow, it’s officially release day.  And I have a feeling time will fly between TOO HOT and HOLD ON TIGHT.  I’m trying to get ready for the whirlwind in between finishing up PROMISES IN THE DARK.  Tomorrow, I’ll give a list of where you’ll find me blogging over the next week or so (it’s up on my events page as well!)

Today, I’ll share this with you – Lea at ClosetWriter wrote a wonderful review for TOO HOT.  I’ll just give you a nice highlight:

“The plot of this story is fast paced and thrilling and I think Ms. Tyler incorporates an interesting paradox into the hot, intense romance that develops between Nick and Kaylee..The climax of “Too Hot To Hold”, is IMHO emotional, suspenseful and edge of seat exciting.”

If I owe you a mailing from a contest you won last week, I promise it’ll go out this week.  I have a stack of printed emails to go through.  I also have a zillion emails to answer, although I’ve already peeked at a lot of the emails from readers, because they always brighten up my day.  I’ll answer them personally, but let me just say for now, thank you for all the wonderful things you say about my books.  You guys rock!

This one’s about Africa…specifically, the roads in Africa, since they play a role in HARD TO HOLD and TOO HOT TO HOLD.

See, road is a relative term.  I remember we would drive for hours on dirt roads, then suddenly find ourselves on a strip of beautifully paved, smooth road – for maybe twenty feet.  And then it would end.  There was no rhyme or reason to it at all, and although we traveled after the rainy season, the roads were pretty well destroyed.  Without four wheel drive vehicles, forget getting anywhere. Even with four wheel drive vehicles, it was, shall we say, challenging.

But this is about the one road I remember most vividly.  Late at night, we’d been driving toward Songea, to the mission where Zoo was born.  We’d been on the road forever – like 12 hours at least and then the car came to a dead stop.  And we all had to get out and investigate what our driver called the pothole.

There’s  Zoo, standing in the tiny pothole in the road.

The driver decided that the pothole was not a problem at all.

So yeah, that’s us, in the pothole.  I’m sitting in the middle seat in the back. With a box of wine.

If you drive anywhere in Africa, you will need several boxes of wine.

So when Sarah or Clutch or any of the characters talk about the roads in Africa, you’ll understand a little more.

From what I’m told, these roads were actually some of the better ones.

The hand on my shoulder makes me shriek – I whirl around and see Jake, who’s dripping water all over the floor.  He’s barefoot, wearing camouflage shorts and no shirt, and he’s holding a gun.  “You scared me – what’s that gun for?”

His eyes are dark gray and intense, boring into me.  “You kept paging – I thought something was wrong.”

At the same moment, Nick skids in, a lethal looking knife strapped to his arm.  Chris is right behind him, rifle slung around his chest.

“You’re getting the floors wet,” I point out and the three of them stare at me.

“So there’s no trouble here, then?” Nick asks.

“No.”

They look at each other and shrug.  Jake mutters under his breath and I tell them,  “I called because I need you to hand this stuff out.”

“What the hell is this?”  Nick looks at the bookmarks as if he’s never seen one in his life.

“Bookmarks – for all of your books.  Jake’s is out tomorrow and –“

“Wait a minute.”  Jake holds up his hand, stares between me and the bookmark.  “Why the fuck am I sharing a bookmark with these two?”

Those two are smirking at him.  Suddenly, handing out the bookmarks won’t be such a problem, I heard Chris saying.

“Sorry – printing costs and everything.  Besides, you’re a trilogy.  Like, all for one and one for all,” I say to placate him, but it’s not working.

“I think I should get my own bookmark,” Nick says.

“Hey, your book owes me,” I tell Nick, a little too loudly and he takes a step back and holds up his hands like he’s surrendering.  But there’s just enough of a smirk on his face for me to know he was difficult during the writing of his book on purpose.

“And mine is kind of like the crowning glory,” Chris says, those different color eyes giving him that crazy look, as usual.  Except I know it’s not just a look.

“Dude, you don’t even have a review yet.  And your cover’s pink,” Nick points out and Jake snorts.

“The entire cover’s not pink,” Chris says and Jake and Nick just look at him.  “You couldn’t tell them not to use pink?” he asks me.

“Look, I tried.  You’re all a lot of trouble and I’m exhausted.”

“She’s moved on.  To Zane.”  Jake rolls his eyes and shakes his head.  “I’ll bet he gets his own bookmarks.”

“Look, just go to bookstores, walk around and give these out.  Talk up the books.  Make sure people by them.”  I pause.  “I mean, I know you all have powers of…um, persuasion.  You know, because most of my readers are women.”

For a few moments there’s talk of all the persuading they’ve done, enough to make my cheeks redden.  And that’s when the three women appear – Isabelle, Kaylee and Jamie.

“Uh-oh,” Nick says in a low voice.

“They didn’t hear anything,” Jake mutters.

“Hey baby,” Chris says to Jamie, who tells him, “We heard everything.”

“We were talking about like, you know, before you,” Jake says with a roll of his eyes.

“I just asked them to pass out bookmarks,” I tell the women with an innocent shrug and walk away.  Because hey, my work here is done.