Chooo Chooooo!!!!

Years ago...and I mean YEARS ago, I would scour my favorite author's websites for book signings and figure out how I could get there. We didn't have social media where we could friend authors and hope they would friend us back or even acknowledge us. We had to go to book signings and wait in line with a rapid beating heart, anticipating our turn to tell the author how much we love their work, yada-yada....

THEN....my heart dropped when my favorite author gave me a snide smile and pushed my book to the side without a thank you or even eye contact. I couldn't believe it!

When I became an author I knew I wasn't going to be like THAT author. I was going to make sure I took the time to thank each and every one of my readers. Something small and intimate. I wanted them to feel appreciated and know my gratitude.

Along came social media and it was game on for me! Not all authors are social, but when they step into the public arena they need to be somewhat nice. Social media has been a game changer. It was my opportunity to take my dream of connecting with readers the way I wanted to connect with my favorite author (who was no longer on my TBR list!).

Over the years I have been able to connect on a more personal level using social media and make sure my readers have the opportunity to hang out when I'm doing live events. I have hosted tea parties while away at conferences, I rented a cupcake shop while on book tours, and I have hosted coffee parties at various coffee shops around the U.S.

BUT....in January I had an idea. What if I made my own annual weekend reader event, invite another author each year to join me and host it in a different city each year?

I was off and running! I had decided I wanted to do something with mystery since the first four in the Ghostly Southern Mystery Series, published by HarperCollins, was being released this year. I found a few murder mystery theatre trains. After making a few calls, I picked The Old Dinner Train in Blissfield, Michigan which is outside of Toledo, Ohio. Then I called a hotel to reserve a block of rooms, and the closest Barnes and Noble to book my own signing.
(Yes...I do have a publicist at HarperCollins and she was like What? Wow! when I told her what I had done.) I called another mystery author, Duffy Brown (because she is low drama and always up for anything) and we unleashed the graphic.

(me and Duffy Brown)

The tickets sold out within hours! We couldn't believe it. It was January and the event wasn't until October!

The weekend exceeded all my expectations! The train's max was forty readers and it was intimate enough to be able to talk and spend time with each of them. The readers loved it and instead of the typical giveaway of a book bag, I had gotten them spa kits with the weekend logo stamped on the kit along with a donated book from author friends.

The last night of the event, I announced 2016's event and what authors I had picked to come along. Another mystery train, only in St. Louis, MO! I opened up the registration that night and the tickets sold out! I will continue to host a yearly, small, intimate event for my readers! I want them to know how much they mean to me and how grateful I am for them.

Have you attended your favorite author's events? Leave a comment and be eligible to win the first FOUR novels in my Ghostly Southern Mystery Series!

For years, USA Today bestselling author Tonya Kappes has been self-publishing her numerous mystery and romance titles with unprecedented success. She is famous not only for her hilarious plotlines and quirky characters, but her tremendous marketing efforts that have earned her thousands of followers and a devoted street team of fans. HarperCollins and Witness Impulse is thrilled to be publishing this insanely talented and wildly successful author for the first time with her hilarious and spooky Ghostly Southern series.

Check out Tonya's Website and sign up for her newsletter for a free ebook download! 

Why Romance?

I’m often asked why I write romance.  And the answer is simple really, I love reading complicated relationship stories that are about the ups and downs of falling in love.  I like seeing two people meet at the wrong time in both of their lives and then start on the journey to falling love.

The truth is few of us (I don’t know of anyone, but just in case!) will find love when we want it.  Love comes unexpectedly into our lives.  And in fiction that makes for some good conflict.  In my upcoming title for Harper Impulse EYE CANDY (AUG 13) Hayley wants change.  But that change can’t come from the outside it really has to come from something inside of her.  And Hayley’s not afraid to go after what she wants.  She’s never taken the easy path.

I’m one of those people who believes that both people have to work at a successful relationship so in my novels I try to ensure both the hero and the heroine are complicated people.  Men and women who don’t need another person to ‘complete’ them or make them happy. But who aren’t opposed to have someone along with them on the journey.

My favorite romances are the ones that have two strong protagonists.  I don’t think I’d be very good at writing someone who needed to be rescued since I’m usually the one who will just do whatever needs doing.  Standing around and waiting for rescue doesn’t appeal to me.  But I do like a man who can see past all that I-can-do-it attitude and can pamper his woman. 

Here’s a little excerpt from EYE CANDY:

She glanced up at him because even in the ridiculous heels he was still much taller than she was.  She saw he was watching her with that steady, even gaze he'd had on the street but also a little bit of amusement.

He thought she was frivolous.

For a moment the shy girl inside of her withered a little and wanted to retreat but she wasn't hiding any more.  She leaned up and let her breasts brush against his chest as she wrapped one hand around his shoulder for balance before she canted her body forward.

"Is something funny, officer?" she asked in a deep husky voice, making sure her words were spoken right into his ear.

She felt him shudder and his hands came to waist and he drew her off her feet more firmly into the cradle of his body but then everything shifted and she felt them starting to fall.

He cursed and held her tight as he ensured she landed on him with her half on top of his chest and half on the floor.  Hayley started laughing as she realized that maybe jumping from mousy to sexy was too much for her to accomplish in one night.

She glanced down at Garrett to find he was scowling.

"Are you hurt?"

"Just my pride," he said with a wry grin.

"Pride goeth before the fall?" she quipped.

"Definitely," he said.  He grabbed her waist and pulled her more fully on top of him.  She felt his jean-clad legs part and her silk-encased ones slid between them.

There was something almost erotic about the feel of the denim against her thighs and she shivered a little inside.  She put her hands on his chest but his hand on her waist moved up her back and he pushed his fingers into her newly cut hair, his hand shaping her head and drawing her down.

"What are you doing?" she asked on a breathless sort of sigh.

"Regaining the ground I lost," he said, moments before his lips met hers. 

Hayley closed her eyes and then the timbre of the kiss changed as he angled his head and parted her lips with his.  The warmth of his breath as it entered her mouth sent shivers of awareness down her spine.  The smooth glide of his tongue over hers short-circuited her thoughts.

She stopped breathing.

Every nerve in her body was at attention.  As his mouth moved over hers she felt the caresses of his thighs over hers.  The movement of his hands over the back of her head as he massaged the muscles in her neck and she turned to putty.

She melted against him and over him.  The kiss transformed her the same way the clothing had.  He was awakening something inside of her that she'd thought only existed in epic romance books and movies, but not in real life.  Something she'd always longed for, but thought she'd never find.  Something dangerous because though she was ready to change inside she hadn't yet.

She pulled back and looked down at him.  His eyes were half-closed and a subtle flush had spread under his beard-stubbled cheeks.  His lips were moist and swollen from kissing her.  She lifted one hand and rubbed her finger over the stubble on his jaw enjoying the slight abrasion against her skin.

He opened his eyes and she saw how beautiful they were up close.  She would have said they were gray before but at this angle she could see they were flecked with green and blue.  She moved her hand from his jaw and traced the line of one eyebrow and then found a tiny scar at his hairline.  She rubbed her finger over it.

"Ah, bad girl, you are killing me," he said, his voice was deep and sort of husky now.  The words brushed over her senses like a blast of heat from a fireplace on a cold night.  And this was a cold January night.

~

You can pre-order it here

Price $4.99 £2.48

ISBN 9780008142520

Amazon.com * Amazon.co.uk * ibooks * bn.com * Sainsburys.co.uk * Google Play

What’s your favorite kind of romance?  Tell me to be entered to win an autographed copy of my latest release CARRYING THE KING'S CHILD.

Happy reading!

Katherine