Summer Scorcher Blog Tour Week 5 - Lord Almighty, I Feel My Temperature Rising!

If this is your first stop in the tour, you need to head back to the beginning:

Post #1 is here: http://ajbooks.blogspot.com
Post #2 is here: http://findingthewritewords.blogspot.com

Hot fire below!

*AJ grabs the nearest tablet of paper and fans her face*

Ahem…before we continue with any more “pretty” boys, I think it only right we pause a moment to pay homage to my favorite American hero…our nation’s firefighters. You see, I’ve got a soft spot (pun intended) for any man who would purposely risk his life in order to save a complete stranger – so much, I based my latest hero on a firefighter. This could easily be Grayson Greer from Flicker pictured above. He’s yummy, isn’t he?

HELLO! While it’s terribly cliché to say most firefighters are the he-men type that belong somewhere between the pages of a girlie-magazine, um…these guys really do. No, I mean really. These shirtless firefighters are just leaving a photo session for the 2011 South Florida Firefighters Calendar. Can’t you just imagine smoothing your palms over those muscles? Aloe Vera fights burns, you know.

Mmm, mmm, mmm…here’s the Dallas Fire Department, pictured just before they offered themselves for sale at the Hot Firefighters Auction. Check out Mr. Fourth from the Left…it’s enough to make you set fire to something, isn’t it? Too bad they don’t show up to battle the flames this way. Lucky dogs…

And here’s a firefighter from Little Axe, Oklahoma.
Drop that damn crank already and get over here! Water? We don’t need no stinkin water!

I now take you back to our regularly scheduled Man Candy Post. Click this link: http://arialburnz.wordpress.com I’m about to break some rules…but make sure to leave me a comment before you go, to enter the drawing for a free e-book copy of Jezebel’s Wish!

*My thanks to boise.pillblogger.com, weblogs.sun-sentinel.com, dallasvoice.com and okiedoke.com for the firefighting fotos! 


AJ Nuest lives in northwest Indiana with her loving husband and two beautiful children. She is the author of two contemporary romance novels.

Visit her on the web at:

http://ajbooks.blogspot.com

http://www.twitter.com/ajnuest

Email: ajnuest@yahoo.com

Facebook: Tattered Pages

Jezebel’s Wish Buy Links:

The Wild Rose Press

Amazon.com

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Welcome Guest Blogger AJ Nuest

To Pseudonym or Not To Pseudonym, That is The Question…

While recently perusing my most cherished writer’s loop, I came upon an email from another author that stated how some publishers – namely inspirational publishers – require their authors to use a pseudonym. Fairly new to the world of publishing, this fascinating little piece of information left me baffled. Don’t get me wrong. I completely understand and respect each author’s decision to use a pseudonym. If one writes across genre lines, especially in both the children’s and erotic markets, I can see how using a pseudonym makes sense. But to have a publisher require it in order to publish a manuscript? To base their decision on what the author has previously published rather than the strength of the current work? That just sorta stuck in my craw.

I was born Amy Jo Steiger. Up until I turned eighteen, I was called Amy, Amer by close friends, and Ver by my family (long story, my father is the King of Nicknamelandia, but I digress). After graduating high school I went to college and most of my friends called me Amy Jo (spoken with a southern twang) because they thought it was quaint. Others, though, had a hard time remembering this moniker, and after a few months of being introduced as Mary Sue, Bobbie Jo, and Peggy Ann, I finally took charge of my own name and introduced myself as AJ (easier to remember, especially after all those Kamikaze’s). Ten years into being AJ Steiger, I met a handsome young man by the name of Scott Nuest, and the rest, as they say, is history.

After all this, I think I’ve earned the right to bear my name. Whatever genre I choose to write (and I write many), I put my entire heart and soul into the story. To then have a publisher tell me I need to make up a name for the cover sorta irks me. What about you? Am I being too stubborn? What’s your whole stance on the pseudonym issue?

JEZEBEL'S WISH
by AJ Nuest
Available at The Wild Rose Press
Amazon.Com

Haunted by nightmares, tormented by guilt, Jezebel came to Redemption Ranch to escape the past—except now she's stuck in the middle of nowhere with no redemption in sight. When her mother pushes her into riding lessons with local veterinarian Matthias Saunders, Jezebel balks. Sure, the doctor is gorgeous, but he’s completely obnoxious and knows how to push every one of her buttons.

Only her deep connection with The Reverend, a gentle stallion who guards her darkest secrets, has her agreeing to spend any more time with Dr. Saunders. Caring for the stallion is the first bright spot in her life in months, and if being around the horse means she has to deal with Matthias Saunders, then so be it. Surely a city girl like her can handle one country vet—even one with disturbing blue eyes. Can't she?

Jezzy stopped. “I thought I was having a riding lesson.”

“You are.” He nodded toward the empty paddock. “Go in.”

“Go in?” Jezzy propped a hand on her hip. “You sure you know what you’re doing? Because it was my understanding that an actual horse is needed for a riding lesson.”

“Don’t you think it would be wise at this juncture to leave the understanding up to the professionals?”

Jezzy rolled her eyes. “You’re making this way too easy. Professionals? Please. Don’t get me started.”

“Why not? Getting you started is exactly what I’m here for.”

Jezzy’s jaw dropped. She didn’t quite know how to interpret that remark.

He held out the rope. “Now go in. And take this lead line with you.” Steely blue determination glinted in his eyes. There was no way he was going to give in.

Jezzy snatched the lead line from his hand and stormed through the gate, then turned when he closed it behind her.

He put a foot on the bottom railing and rested against the gate, facing the horizon. “Take the chair to the center of the paddock and sit down.”

“And just exactly how is that supposed to teach me to ride?”

He cocked an eyebrow. “You want out of the deal?”

Jezzy’s fist clenched tight around the lead line. What she wanted was to march back to the fence and smack his face.

AJ Nuest lives in northwest Indiana with her loving husband and two beautiful children. She is the author of two contemporary romance novels.

Find AJ Online:

Blog: http://ajbooks.blogspot.com
Facebook: Tattered Pages
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ajnuest

Read More