Here’s the list so far:

Dillion/Dylan–not a bad name, but concerned about it with McFarland

Jason/Jase–nixed, this is my  nephew’s name

Brandon

Brett–I already have a hero Brett

Liam–fabulous name but too Irish  for my Scottish surname

Colt–IMHO a little too cowboy for my multi-millionaire

Jackson–I already have a Jackson

Aiden

Adam

Zane–have a Zane already

Dimitri–not feeling it, but it’s a great name

Grayson–with Mcfarland? (makes face)

Paxton–See previous comment and facial expression

Alexander–not bad, but very vanilla these days.

Chad–uhum…no. Sorry, Mom!

Tyler–hmmmm

Trent –ex from college. that’s out

Tucker–I’ve used this in another book

Cam–LOVE it! (*not* short for Cameron)

Ross–another favorite

There have to be a couple of more great hero names out there…still searching…

Here are a few things to keep in mind: The hero’s last name is McFarland so the name will have to go with that. And of course it needs to be a strong name…he is a romance hero after all!

Now the contest goes like this: Submit your entry between now and July 1 by leaving a comment on this post. After the 1st, I’ll pick my favorite three and put those back out for everyone to vote on. Voting will end August 1 and the name with the most votes will be the winner.

Now everyone who participates will be put into a drawing for a reader’s survival pack including a $25 pre-paid Visa card, fabulous swag, and (of course) some chocolate!

So get your best hero name together and leave me a comment. Ross? Brandon? Gunner? Help me Name That Hero!

Have you joined in the fun?

But let me back up a second…all the way to 2000. The new millennium brought a great many changes in my life–some good, some bad. I suffered the loss of my twins to miscarriage, got pregnant again, had the baby, and sold my first book. (Not quite in this order.) Yup. Lots of upheaval. But a book! I was over the moon. All of  my hard work was finally going to pay off. I was getting in (almost) at the ground floor with a up and coming, brand new publisher. I could just see myself as one of their top authors. It was fantastic!

But it didn’t happen that way.

I worked for *months* on the extensive rewrite to what I thought was a fun and scathingly brilliant story about a man who is forced to get married in order to inherit his family’s fortune. For reasons that had nothing to do with the business of books, the house went under and my rights for Can’t Buy Me Love were returned to me. Big sigh.

Fast forward to today. The changes to Can’t Buy Me Love were so vast that I now have two versions of the  same story. And like any writer I love them both. I spent a great deal of time crafting both stories and they are both a worthy read. But which one should I put forth?

Then it hit me–why should I choose? I already said that I love them both. Why not let the reader have the opportunity to read them both? But that meant even more changes. And so All You Need Is Love was born.

The heroine was easy to name, but the hero’s name eluded me. I decided to hold a contest of sorts and allow the readers to help me pick a name for my hero. So be watching in the next few days for the beginning of the Name My Hero Contest. Because every great hero deserves a great name.

Here are a few things to keep in mind while you mull over your entry. The name has to go with McFarland, his last name. And it needs to be a strong name, he’s a romance hero after all.

Next week I’ll start taking suggestions for the name and allow readers to submit their entries until July 1. At that time, I’ll pick my favorite three and allow you to come back and vote for your favorite. Voting will continue until August 1. At this time, the voting will end. The name that gets the most votes from the readers will be the hero of All You Need Is Love. And the name of everyone who participated will be ‘tossed in a hat’ and  a ‘winner’ will be chosen at random.

What’s the winner get? The thrill of helping name my newest hero and a reader’s survival pack including fabulous Amie Louellen swag and more.

A complete list of rules and contest prizes will be available next week. Until then, here’s the blurb and cover for All You Need Is Love to inspire you!

Ciao! Amie

Three months to get married. It’s every bachelor’s nightmare, especially when there’s millions at stake. Thanks to his aunt’s kooky will, that’s exactly where ‘John’ McFarland finds himself: get a wife or lose it all. At least he only has to stay married for a year.

Small town girl, Claire Campbell is struggling to make it in big city Dallas. So when ‘John’ proposes what choice does she have? She has no place to live and no more money put aside. As ‘John’s’ wife, she’d have a year to get on her feet. A year and one million dollars!

But when ‘John’s’ brother, Devin, returns home with his own wife in tow, the stakes climb even higher. Now John has to deal with his wayward sibling, Devin’s Brazilian bride, in addition to his own wife and his aunt’s pampered pooch. To make matters worse, he might just be falling in love with Claire. All in the name getting what is rightfully his. The guy who said All You Need Is Love surely didn’t have millions on the line.

This story is near and dear to my heart for several reasons. One, I dreamed the opening scene on a flight between Oklahoma and St Croix. And two, I sold the book years ago though it never made it to print. After an extensive editorial rewrite, the original story became the book to be released sometime this fall.

Next month, the contest to name the hero will start so be gearing up to submit your entry. In the meantime…here’s the blurb and fabulous cover for All You Need Is Love.

Three months to get married. It’s every bachelor’s nightmare, especially when there’s millions at stake. Thanks to his aunt’s kooky will, that’s exactly where ‘John’ McFarland finds himself: get a wife or lose it all. At least he only has to stay married for a year.

Small town girl, Claire Campbell is struggling to make it in big city Dallas. So when ‘John’ proposes what choice does she have? She has no place to live and no more money put aside. As ‘John’s’ wife, she’d have a year to get on her feet. A year and one million dollars!

But when ‘John’s’ brother, Devin, returns home with his own wife in tow, the stakes climb even higher. Now John has to deal with his wayward sibling, Devin’s Brazilian bride, in addition to his own wife and his aunt’s pampered pooch. To make matters worse, he might just be falling in love with Claire. All in the name getting what is rightfully his. The guy who said All You Need Is Love surely didn’t have millions on the line.

I can’t tell you how tickled I am to visit you today. Thanks for allowing me to pop in and share a bit about RAIN IS A LOVE SONG. This is book two of my romantic suspense trilogy. All three stories begin in Paris and then move to other locales. In this book, we go from Paris to Budapest to Asheville, NC. While each has its own romantic couple, the same band of terrorists wreak havoc in all three stories.

 From now until this Saturday, RAIN IS A LOVE SONG is available as a FREE download on Amazon. Free ladies! I mean that’s almost as good as a shoe sale or a chocolate tasting event or bath scales that always read one-twenty-five. Although my scales don’t read any more, they just scream, but we don’t need to go there now do we?

I love romance. All sub-genres. I’ve been reading them since the mid-sixties. I love being swept away. I love the yin-and-yang pull of two people discovering they care for one another. To me it’s magical. Sometimes it’s also dangerous. Take Gwen and Jean-Luc going undercover to find the bar in Budapest where Dembri, a known terrorist, is spending time, how could I alter their appearances? Gwen was suddenly Tessa and Jean-Luc became Marcus. My hero had no qualms about the change, he’s used to working undercover. Gwen, however, was loath to leave her daughter. What if things went belly-up, she kept asking me? What if I can’t get back to Rhiannon? I hated putting her in danger, but what’s a writer to do?

In this scene, Gwen and Jean-Luc get their first views of Marcus and Tessa.

He was bald. Marcus, her pretend husband, was bald. She couldn’t believe the change. Granted he’d been bald the first time she met him, but at the time he didn’t have the tattoo.

Now he had wide swaths of black ink on one side of his head, beginning near the corner of his eye and wrapping around his scalp toward the back, almost like wide claw marks. In fact, one edge of the tattoo met the edge of the long scar on his cheek. The combined effect was rather intimidating. His grey eyes were now icy pale blue. The man, at first sight, was terrifying, formidable. She supposed the black eye she’d given him didn’t ease his fierceness any.

Both stood still, examining the changes in the other. She imagined they made a strange looking pair, their focus intent on each other.

Jean-Luc was the first to regain his power of speech. He reached out and tugged a strand of hair. “Your curls are gone.”

“Wig.”

The corners of his mouth quirked when he leaned in closer and, for an instant, a flash of the man who captured her heart appeared. “Love the mole. It’s a real turn on.” His lips touched hers, feather light, fluttering her stomach and making her yearn for more.

“Glued on.” Her voice was all breathy.

He took her hand, read the tattoo written in flowery script and his eyebrow rose. “My name.” His head nodded slowly. “I approve of the branding.”

“Henna.”

“Yeah, so is mine. I have to tell you, I miss your turquoise eyes.”

“You’ll see them tonight when I take out the contacts.”

He captured her chin in his hand. “You’ll still be Tessa even if you look like Gwen.” That’s when his British accent registered. In his role as Marcus, Jean-Luc spoke with a smooth accent. How did he do that? No wonder Louisa told her not to talk much; she lacked the British tinge to her words.

“Until we step back on French soil, I’ll be Marcus and you’ll be my wife. Oh…” He pulled the jeweler’s box from the pocket of his black jeans and slipped open the top. “Your ring to complete the marriage façade. Give me your hand, Tessa.”

“I didn’t think about rings.” The one in the blue velvet box was breathtaking. A band of shimmering diamonds set in gold. She held her hand up and Marcus lifted the ring from the satin lining, kissed it and slipped it on her finger. Was he pretending to be a man in love? If so, he was doing an endearing job of it.

“The ring is beautiful, Marcus.” She thought he’d appreciated her staying in character.

He raised her hand to his lips and kissed the ring on her finger. “Only beautiful things for my exquisite wife.”

If only he meant what he said. Seriously? Do I want a permanent relationship with a man who has a dangerous job that could take him from me? I need to get a grip. “You know you really don’t need to lay it on so thick.”

“Marcus is an arms dealer who dotes on his wife. Get used to it.”

She looked away and blinked back tears. Why get used to something that would soon end and leave her feeling bereft? This was just part of the job. Nothing more. A job.

He enveloped her in his arms. “Don’t be afraid, love. The main thing is to remember your new persona and mine. If you call me by my real name, I won’t respond. Neither should you if I use yours.” He kissed her neck, a familiar gesture.

“From this moment on, I am Marcus and you are Tessa. Oh, I have your new identification papers.” He turned, unlocked a desk drawer and pulled out a green leather wallet and passport. “What items do you have in your new purse? Anything that ties you to Gwen Morningstar?”

“My wallet and my mother’s brag book.”

He made a beckoning motion with his hand. “Give them here. I’ll lock them in my drawer.”

She handed him her wallet but then faltered on handing over the brag book. It was a small thing, really—a photo album full of pictures of Rhiannon from birth to last month—yet she couldn’t bear to part with it. In the back was a little crayoned picture Rhiannon drew last year of their family. “See, Mommy? It’s all three of us. Me and you holding hands and Daddy flying over us in heaven.”

FREE on Amazon until Saturday, midnight. Here’s the link for your free download:

http://www.amazon.com/Rain-Love-Song-Conspiracy-ebook/dp/B00BK9QV3K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365983726&sr=8-1&keywords=rain+is+a+love+song

Yowsa! And if you haven’t read the first in the series Don;t forget to check out MONA LISA’S ROOM. 

Thanks for visiting and sharing the savings with everyone, Vonnie! 

And readers, don;t forget to pay Vonnie a visit and steadily bug, I mean gently encourage her to bring us more of her fabulous stories! 

 www.vonniedavis.com

Ciao! Amie <3

  Why does growing up have to be so difficult?

Kashi proves he cares too much about Daly to let her fade into the background of her own life. After a series of false starts, their quirky romance carries them to India, where Daly must win the approval of Kashi’s family in order to seal their “forever.”

Will these friendships be enough to turn around Daly’s directionless life? Will she move past the hurt and learn to trust again? Or will her mother, once again, ruin everything she’s worked so hard to achieve?

Emlyn Chand emerged from the womb with a fountain pen clutched in her left hand (true story). When she’s not writing, she runs a large book club in Ann Arbor and is the president of author PR firm Novel Publicity. Best known for her Young Adult novels, she is also developing a small, but devoted, following to her children’s book series and is beginning to dabble in other genres as well. Emlyn enjoys connecting with readers and is available via almost every social media site in existence. Visit EmlynChand.com for more info, or connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or GoodReads. Don’t forget to say “hi” to her sun conure Ducky!

 ~*~*~*~ Buy the Book ~*~*~*~

Get Torn Together on Amazon US, Amazon UK, Barnes&Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, or iTunes.

***It hasn’t yet posted to iTunes despite having released in August. We hope it will be there soon!***

Learn more about Torn Together or read the entire first chapter athttp://www.emlynchand.com/books/other/

~*~*~*~ Emlyn Chand on Tour ~*~*~*~

http://www.clpblogtours.com/2013/01/torn-together-by-emlyn-chand.html