Do You Know Shelley Munro? (contest)

Hi, my name is Shelley Munro and I’m a frustrated cat owner.
Let me explain. Cats love my husband and always make a beeline for him if he meets them at a friend’s house, but he doesn’t like them back. In fact, I’d go so far as to say the next door neighbor’s cat and my husband have an ongoing war about trespassing in the vegetable patch. Don’t tell my husband, but I think the cat is winning.
Luckily I’m an equal opportunity pet owner and I find a dog an acceptable alternative. We adopted our current dog Bella from the Humane Society. She’s a real bundle of energy and we both love her to bits.
But back to cats. I decided one day that if I couldn’t own a cat, there was nothing to stop me writing about the species. After pondering the matter and doing a little research, I settled on black leopards and wrote an entire series about them. Take that, Mr. Munro!
My choice of black leopards came after I read a story in the local paper about sightings of a large mystery cat in the South Island. The story fascinated me, and continues to interest me since there are still occasional sightings. Some people say there is a leopard living out in the wild while others scoff at the idea, because we don’t have big cats in New Zealand—not unless they’re in a zoo. I like to believe the stories, although I hope I never come face-to-face with one!

Leopards are interesting cats. Here are some facts about the big cats.

1. Leopards are solitary cats and usually only seek out other leopards in order to mate.
2. They hunt at night and sleep in trees during the day.
3. They’re excellent climbers and often haul their kills up into trees.
4. Leopards are found in many different habitats and countries.
5. Their spots make for excellent camouflage.
6. They are built for short bursts of speed, and their jaws and strong build help them take down big animals.
7. Black leopards are called panthers in some countries. They still have spots but they blend into the leopard’s coat.
Are you a cat or dog person? A feline shifter or a werewolf person?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Leticia’s Lovers
Middlemarch Mates, Book Seven.Lion shifter Leticia Huntingdon has FIV, the feline version of AIDS. For months she’s been in remission, treated by Gavin Finley, the Middlemarch feline doctor. Now the disease has returned. Her feelings for Gavin can’t go anywhere because of the FIV, so it shouldn’t hurt when Gavin turns to Charlie, the new male cop.Gavin can’t believe how good sex is with Charlie, can’t believe he’s found a mate. The loving is amazing and hot, but Gavin can’t forget Leticia. He wants her in his life. He wants Charlie too. Confusion and jealousy create torrid undercurrents for the trio.Charlie McKenzie falls for Gavin quickly and can’t understand why he’s attracted to Leticia. A nightmare changes everything, drawing the three together and bringing new possibilities. A ménage a trois. Raw need and passion brings them closer. If only the disease threatening Leticia’s life didn’t loom on the horizon…

Ellora’s Cave http://www.ellorascave.com/leticia-s-lovers.html

Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0031LJ57Y

All Romance ebooks http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-leticia039slovers-452762-144.html

To read an excerpt: http://www.shelleymunro.com/books/leticias-lovers/

Also available in print.

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Shelley Munro is tall and curvaceous with blue eyes and a smile that turns masculine heads everywhere she goes. She’s a university tutor and an explorer/treasure hunter during her vacations. Skilled with weapons and combat, she is currently in talks with a producer about a television series based on her world adventures.
Shelley is also a writer blessed with a VERY vivid imagination and lives with her very own hero in New Zealand. She writes mainly erotic romance in the contemporary, paranormal and historical genres for publishers Carina Press, Ellora’s Cave and Samhain Publishing. You can learn more about Shelley and her books at http://www.shelleymunro.com.

BLOG: http://www.shelleymunro.com/blog

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE: http://www.amazon.com/Shelley-Munro/e/B001JOWGNK

FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/ShelleyMunroAuthor

GOODREADS: http://www.goodreads.com/ShelleyMunro 

PINTEREST: http://www.pinterest.com/ShelleyMunro

TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/ShelleyMunro

The Blahs

As I'm sitting at my computer fighting the temptation to log onto Facebook, it struck me that I should probably write a blog post. Piece of cake, right? I mean, I'm an author after all. Subjects to wax poetic on should spring into my head at the drop of a hat. Um, not so much.

I'm actually in a blah kind of mood. I feel like writing but don't know what I feel like writing. It's kind of like being hungry when nothing sounds appetizing. 

In case you're wondering, the photos were taken from atop the Ferris Wheel in downtown Houston at the Landry's Aquarium. That's where we spent yesterday to celebrate my oldest's nineteenth birthday. Yeah, that probably is a part of my blah mood too. My own birthday never make me feel old, but my daughters' definitely do.

Checking In

If you keep up with me on a regular basis you may have noticed I wasn't as active online the past week as usual. It's all preteen's fault. One day as she was lying on my office floor staring up at the six bookshelves around her, she decided they needed to be reorganized. I originally had them ordered by genre. I'll admit it wasn't the most organized arrangement. Romance and horror dominate my shelves and had begun to creep onto the literature and fantasy shelves as well. There was also the not so small problem of books that fit into more than one genre. I really don't know how anyone who works in a bookstore can handle it. So together we decided to redo my entire library alphabetically by the authors' last names, regardless of genre or anything else about the book. Did I mention I own 1,078 books?

So yeah, it took nearly the entire week to accomplish. Each day we tackled one shelf. We had to empty each one before adding the right books back onto it. My Stephen King collection took the longest. I own 64 of his books. Then, to make it more interesting, I started visiting author websites to determine the order of my series collections. I now have a ridiculously long to buy list to complete the series. But I have to admit the pain was worth the end result. I own a software program from Collectorz.com to keep track of my library. I hadn't been using it to its full potential before. Now my software can tell me which shelf the book is on, whether or not I've read it, and what rating I gave it. 

So that has been my past week or so. This week I'm working on edits for my archangel book contracted through Entangled publishing. I hope to finish those quickly so I can move on to writing the sequel. 

What is your week looking like?

July is Gonna Be Busy!

Happy Independence Day, America!!!! It's July and I've got a lot going on this month. No new releases unfortunately, but lots of promo. 

First up is the Summer Author Blitz. I'll be joining quite a few other authors in posting blogs and/or interviews, giving away prizes, and just trying to reach as many new readers as possible. My post will be over at Demons Do it Better on the 10th. I will be giving away a prize so be sure to stop by and say hi.

Next, all through the month of July All Romance ebooks is celebrating popular Romance novel tropes. Do you have a favorite? My books will be featured on three different days:

July 3rd: Enemies to Lovers - They Call Me Death

July 12th: Social Class Differences - Two-Week Trial

July 20th: Boss/Employee Romance - Heather's Redemption (with blog post)

And last, but most certainly not least, I'm also participating in the Digital First Read-a-Thon. My blog will be posted on The Book Reading Gals on the 27th. There will be a prize offered there too.

I also plan to participate in a chat with Cynthia Sax (date TBA), and of course you can always find me on Facebook and Twitter.