Excerpt for DANGER IN A RED DRESS
9:06 PM PDT, March 9, 2009
The phone rang in Hannah's bedroom, and she turned from her book to stare at the black, old-fashioned, corded princess phone. Who would call her? She rushed to pick it up. “Hannah. Hi, it’s Trent.” “Trent?” She took the phone away from her ear and looked at it. “Trent Sansoucy?”
“Of Sansoucy Security.” His rich voice stirred the hair at the base of her neck. “Is there something wrong? With the security for tomorrow’s party, I mean?” Because she was already in bed for the night, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t get dressed in a hurry. Nurses were like cops. They rose to the occasion. “Everything’s fine.” He sounded soothing, gentle. “My job is not the only reason I call a beautiful woman.” That stopped her headlong rush toward the closet. She sank back on the bed. “But … we’ve never met face-to-face. You don’t know what I look like.” “I’m in security. I know your deepest secrets.” Now he sounded droll and self-deprecating. “Besides, I can imagine what you look like, can’t I?” Since she’d been imagining what he looked like every time they’d talked, she had to agree. “I suppose, but if you’ve come up with beautiful, you’re going to be sadly disappointed when you actually meet me.” “I doubt that. Do you know the fantasies I’ve had about nurses?” “I can imagine, and they’re not true,” she said with finality. “No. Please.” His voice deepened. “Don’t crush my dreams.” She rubbed her hands over her bare arms. She had to remember, no matter how great this guy’s voice was and how well he flirted, he was probably old and bald and overweight and wore paisley-print socks. And married. He was probably married. “I suppose the best part of taking care of security at parties is the food. I mean, the hosts do let you eat, don’t they?” Subtle. That was subtle, Hannah. His voice turned very serious. “I don’t let me eat. Part of this security job is making sure the bad guys don’t get in, and the other part is being able to chase them down if they do show up. Fitness is a big deal for me and everyone in my company.” And there she had it. Trent was buff. But probably still old, married and bald. Although not too old, or how would he chase down those bad guys? As if she’d asked the question, he said, “I’m thirty-three. I figure I’ve got another fifteen years of knowing I can handle the field work.” His voice turned humorous. “Of course, if I get married, my wife might have something to say about my hours.” “Oh. You’re not married?” She thought she sounded light and airy. In contrast, he sounded very serious. “No, Hannah. I’m not married.” She pumped her fist in the air. “Nor am I bald.” She jumped so hard she dropped the phone. She scrabbled around in the covers, retrieved it, and put it to her ear. “B…bald?” “Isn’t that what women always worry about? Whether a guy is bald?” “Don’t forget about the paisley print socks,” she muttered. To read another excerpt and get more information for DANGER IN A RED DRESS, go to http://christinadodd.com/index_contemp.php To receive occasional snail mail news from Christina, join her mailing list at http://christinadodd.com/lists/?p=subscribe. Your personal information is safe with Christina and for her own use. She will not pass it on or sell it. IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO PROVIDE THIS INFORMATION, BUT WOULD STILL LIKE TO RECEIVE E-MAILS ABOUT CHRISTINA DODD'S BOOKS AND ENJOY THE PRIVILEGES OF HER "MEMBERS ONLY" SECTION, FILL OUT ONLY YOUR E-MAIL AND FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS TO CONFIRM YOUR MEMBERSHIP! Order your copy of DANGER IN A RED DRESS from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Danger-Red-Dress-Christina-D odd/dp/0451226267/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_a Pre-Order your copy of DANGER IN A RED DRESS from Barnes & Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnIn quiry.asp?z=y&isbn=0451226267&itm=3 Watch the DANGER IN A RED DRESS Book Video!
8:00 PM PST, February 16, 2009, updated at 4:04 PM PST, February 17, 2009
Join Christina's mailing list for games, videos and updates! Christina Dodd http://www.christinadodd.com For the Wild at Heart! Darkness Chosen Series
8:49 PM PDT, June 21, 2008
The idea for the Darkness Chosen series occurred in one of those weird and wonderful miracles that makes me happy to be a writer. As I watched one of my favorite movies of all time, Fiddler on the Roof, I wondered why it appealed to me so much. I suspected it was Tevye’s dedication to his family, his God, and his traditions, and it was fascinating to watch as, slowly, change overturned everything he believed in. Everything, that is, except what mattered the most — his family and the bedrock of his faith. At the same time, I was reading paranormal romance, and analyzing why vampires worked so well as romance characters. I decided vampires are the ultimate alpha hero. They only mate with the woman who is their fate, and they can either give her the best sex of her life — or kill her. They are completely in control of the relationship. At this moment, something happened … hm, it’s a little vague in my mind, but I remember a blinding flash of light, the two ideas meshed, and I had the concept for the series called DARKNESS CHOSEN. I was enthralled as I figured out the epic battle of good and evil that is the basis of the mythology, and I plotted each book in a fever of excitement, taking care to make the romance between my shapeshifter hero and my very mortal heroine the heart of the story.  Writing SCENT OF DARKNESS, TOUCH OF DARKNESS, INTO THE SHADOW and INTO THE FLAME was a ton of fun. My goal was to make the reading experience of reading a chapter similar to eating a potato chip — one won’t hurt you, and it makes you want another, and another, until pretty soon you’ve finished the whole thing and you feel guilty and satisfied.As you read the final two books of the Darkness Chosen saga, INTO THE SHADOW and INTO THE FLAME, I hope you revel in your guilt and thoroughly enjoy your satisfaction. Warmly, Christina Dodd www. christinadodd.com P. S. I’m so excited about Darkness Chosen series, I created a special paranormal section on my website, with excerpts and extra material, and a thrilling introduction that highlights a cat’s eye view of a chase through the woods. Make sure you watch with the sound on! http://christinadodd.com/index_paranormal.php
Book Video for THIGH HIGH
9:35 PM PST, February 22, 2008, updated at 9:45 PM PST, February 22, 2008
Here's a video for my March 2008 release, THIGH HIGH. I hope you enjoy it! Warmly, Christina Dodd
Christina Dodd asks What Makes You Laugh?
12:31 AM PST, January 17, 2008, updated at 2:56 PM PST, January 28, 2008
Have you ever watched the funniest sit-com on television and thought, “Huh?” Me, too — but I’m talking about Seinfeld. Which one are you talking about? Have you ever quoted one of your favorite movies and had the person you’re with stare at you like you’ve spouted horns? “WHAT is your favorite color?” isn’t funny unless you’ve seen the film. You know how couples have one movie that mean a lot to them? Something romantic? Something meaningful? Something which colors the whole relationship forever? For my husband and I, it’s BLAZING SADDLES, the sublimely stupid, slightly incoherent classic cowboy movie spoof. Hey, it’s a ground-breaking movie! Okay, it’s a ground-breaking movie because it contains the first fart heard in cinema (“The Fart Heard ‘Round the World”), but what can I say? We think it’s funny. We think Mel Brooks is funny. Not always — he’s done some wretched movies, but YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN and THE PRODUCERS (the original movie made in 1968 and the recent musical) are sublime. We have friends who think Mel Brooks is so stupid, they went to see BLAZING SADDLES twice — once on their own and once, forgetting they’d seen it, on our recommendation. They, um, thought the movie was crude. And they think Mel Brooks is insulting. To, um, black people and white people and brown people and old women and cowboys and the Irish and Nazis and Jews and women with large breasts and men with large penises and the KKK and gays and bad musicals and — Methodists! That’s sort of the point, and they knew that, but they were offended anyway — because his movies don’t make them laugh. Okay. Then there’s MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, which we adore. (“WHAT is your favorite color?”) In my family, cutting yourself with a kitchen knife involves saying, “It’s only a flesh wound,” right before crumpling to the floor in a dead faint. But I do know there are people who don’t think see the humor in the knights who only pretend to be riding while their squire runs behind them making the hoof noises with coconut shells. What doesn’t make us laugh? My husband and I rented RAISING ARIZONA and watched about half of it in profound silence before turning to each other and saying, “This isn’t funny. These are our relatives.” I told that to another friend who said, “They’re my relatives, too. That’s why it’s so funny!” We were uncomfortable. She was laughing. She thinks the Coen Brothers are wonderful. A fight between two knights where one gets his arms and legs chopped off with cheesy special effects makes me laugh. Someone putting a body through a log chipper does not. Humor is not universal. There’s no explaining what works for one person and what doesn’t for another. There’s no changing it. If you don’t like the “right” kind of comedy, people with high opinions of themselves will try to tell you you’re wrong. If you laugh at fart jokes, people will make fun of you. If you think black comedies are depressing (and by “black”, I mean depressing, not African-American), people will try to educate you as to why you should think they’re funny. I know. It’s happened to me. And I insist on enjoying the movies I think are funny, and I’m not going to defend myself for laughing at that scene in THE NAKED GUN where Frank sings the national anthem before a baseball game, and he’s off-tune and forgets the words. Oo, and remember the scene where the bad guy gets knocked off the bleachers, flattened by a steam roller, and the high school band marches over him playing, “Louie, Louie?” Hysterical! Come to think of it, watching comedy like reading romances or eating Campbell’s Cream of Tomato soup. You’ve got two choices — you can defend your choices, or you can ignore the bastards and enjoy yourself. So what makes you laugh? What doesn’t? What’s your favorite funny movie? Which one did you just not get? And please, everyone, don’t try to explain why Seinfeld is funny — I’ve heard it all before.  My next release, Thigh High (Book 3 in the Fortune Hunter series) will be on shelves in March 2008. Please stop by my website to read an excerpt from THIGH HIGH and get more news about upcoming books. Warmly, Christina Dodd
Christina Dodd Tests Your Alpha IQ
11:05 AM PDT, August 18, 2007
When you’re married to a shapeshifter who turns into a wolf, the phrase you say most often is:
When you discover your boyfriend shapeshifts into a hawk, you should:
Your panther turns into a man before your very eyes and tries to sweep you off your feet. Do you:
An alpha male, when shown a Kubota B24 tractor with optional backhoe, says:
You’re having a party and your husband’s college friends show up. You:
You know your superhero boyfriend is aroused when he says:
You know you’ve met the man of your dreams when:
My first paranormal series, Darkness Chosen, is about (surprise!) a family of shapeshifters destined to break the 1000-year-old pact with the devil. SCENT OF DARKNESS and TOUCH OF DARKNESSare on the shelves now. Read excerpts and watch the video for the Darkness Chosen books! So tell us — is the man of your dreams a shapeshifter? A superhero? An alpha male? And what tips can you share with us for living with him? Warmly, Christina Dodd
See the Book Video for Christina Dodd's Darkness Chosen Series
1:48 PM PDT, August 9, 2007
To get an idea of the pulse-pounding excitement of SCENT OF DARKNESS and TOUCH OF DARKNESS, the first two books in my Darkness Chosen series, view the video on my website! Enjoy! Warmly, Christina Dodd
Thank you from Christina Dodd
3:05 PM PDT, April 22, 2007
Dear Friends, You've made me so happy! In February, on same day I heard that TONGUE IN CHIC was on the New York Times for the third week, I also discovered that the reprint of CANDLE IN THE WINDOW was on the same New York Times List! TONGUE IN CHIC is my thirty-second book, and it was on at #12. CANDLE IN THE WINDOW is my first book and was on at #34. It was originally published sixteen years ago in February, has been reprinted innumerable times, and this time the book was repackaged with a new cover and given a print run of sixty thousand - more than twice the original print run, but still tiny compared to most print runs that hit the New York Times. Around my house, we call CANDLE IN THE WINDOW, "The Book That Will Not Die." What were the chances these two books could land on the same New York Times bestseller list? Well, do you remember the saying, "There isn't a snowball's chance in hell?" When I heard the news, I was so happy I couldn't stop laughing. Then I cried. The funny thing is - a few flakes of snow kept drifting past the window. Just every once in a while. And all I could think is, "Gee, I didn't know this was hell, but it's a great place to be." Thank you so much for all your wonderful support and your inspiring fan letters. I write for you, and you helped make that day one of the happiest of my life. Warmly, Christina Dodd
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Bio
Readers become writers, and Christina Dodd has always been a reader. As she was growing up, she read everything, but discovered, because she likes humor, that she liked romance best. In romance, the relationship between one man and one woman holds center stage, and that’s always good for a laugh.
A woman wants things like world peace, a clean house, and a deep and meaningful relationship based on mutual understanding and love. A man wants things like a Craftsman router with attachments, undisputed control of the TV remote, and a red Corvette which will miraculously make his bald spot disappear. So while Christina was working as a draftsman, she would read during the lunch hour, go back to work to design a sawmill, and plot the conclusion of the story in her mind. The book never ended like that, and she liked her endings better. When her first daughter was born, she told her husband she was going to quit work and write a book. It was a good time to start a new career, because how much trouble could one little infant be? Quite a bit, it seemed. It took ten years, two children and three completed manuscripts before her first novel, CANDLE IN THE WINDOW, was published. In the fifteen years since, her novels have been translated into twelve languages, featured by Doubleday Book Club, recorded on Books on Tape for the Blind, won Romance Writers of America’s prestigious Golden Heart and RITA Awards and been called the year’s best by Library Journal. Christina Dodd herself has been a clue in the Los Angeles Times crossword puzzle (11/18/05, # 13 Down: Romance Novelist named Christina.) February 2007 saw both her 32nd book, TONGUE IN CHIC, and a reprint of her first book, CANDLE IN THE WINDOW, on the New York Times Bestseller List at the same time.Publishers Weekly praises her style that “showcases Dodd’s easy, addictive charm and steamy storytelling.” In 2008, Dodd is publishing THIGH HIGH (March), the third in her acclaimed romantic suspense series, the Fortune Hunters, and INTO THE SHADOW (July) and INTO THE FLAME (August), the third and fourth installment in her ground-breaking paranormal series, Darkness Chosen. Christina Dodd is married to a man with all his hair and no Corvette, but many Craftsman tools.
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