Ringing in the New Year with Cheryl Dragon!

cheryldragon@hotmail.com

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

A lover of unusual things, Cheryl Dragon enjoys writing unique stories with sinfully hot erotic romance. Her two favorite settings are Las Vegas and New Orleans... where anything can happen! Cheryl lives in the Chicagoland area with her deaf albino cat.

Find out more at www.cheryldragon.com.

Sterling New Year

Loose Id

Melody's stuck in Sterling, Alaska over the holidays, sewing custom dresses for her friend’s wedding. She'll do anything for her friends and is determined to be the best maid of honor she can be. There are just a few very sexy distractions.

Dale, Jason, and Ryan are lovers with an eye out for the right woman to complete their family. They're happy to let Melody use space to make the dresses, but Dale especially doesn’t expect the perfect woman for them to show up in their small town. How are they going to explain Sterling's unusual relationships. Even so, the trio is definitely interested in more than simply helping out with the wedding but can they win Melody over?

Melody has never been anywhere like Sterling—where group relationships are a tradition. She can’t pass up the experience of three hot men in bed but rearranging her life for them, or any man, is a ridiculous idea. Normal marriages don’t last and she’s had repeat wedding dress clients to prove it. What the quad has is more than sex but they have a lot of baggage to sort through for her to make it a Sterling New Year.

Excerpt

As Best Man for his big brother’s New Year’s Eve wedding, Dale Harrison knew this year would be different. Winter in Alaska could be downright depressing. Business was slower in the winter, with more repair work than new boat orders. Sterling Boats was Dale’s pride and joy. He surveyed the partially built boat in his workroom. With the upcoming wedding and associated festivities, the winter might not be as depressing, but he wouldn’t have as much time to work on his beloved boats.

Ben Harrison nudged Dale from behind. “I hope you’ve got the room. The dressmaker will be in tomorrow around 11:00. She’s the maid-of-honor, too. Single.”

Dale smiled at his brother and led him to the cleared-out section. One of two grooms for the wedding, Ben had gone into the Coast Guard instead of the family boat building business. Ben and his best friend were marrying a pretty woman they’d saved when a tourist boat capsized.

“Your future wife already did a hard sell on her friend. Getting some new women into town is great. We’ll keep an eye on your dressmaker. Where is she from?” The tradition of ménage relationships dated back to the founding of Sterling. Near Homer on the Kenai Peninsula in south central Alaska, mining had created the town. The fishing and wildlife tourism that kept the town alive attracted men, but the harsh lifestyle kept women from flocking there.

“Melody lives in Michigan. So at least the snow and cold won’t be a total shock. Don’t worry so much, Dale. She’s just going to sew here. Isabelle will be thrilled to have her friend around. The other two bridesmaids won’t be in until about a week before the wedding. Mel needs the time to do all the dresses. Isabelle had no luck finding anything that flattered her figure, and sleeveless dresses were out. I wasn’t allowed to see any of them, but I heard about it. I don’t care what she wears but she wants to look perfect.” Ben hooked his thumbs through the belt loops of his jeans. “The space is good. Put up some plywood for privacy. Mel will freak if things get dirty where she’s working, and she’ll want to do fittings.”

The name caught Dale’s attention. “What’s her name again?”

“Melody Cameron. Why?” Ben asked.

“Nothing. Pretty. I’m trying not to get my hopes up, no matter how many women your wedding brings in.”

Expecting the perfect woman to fall into their laps was asking a lot. Dale counted himself lucky finding one great guy in high school. Then when they went to college in Anchorage, they’d found one more. Not that they all didn’t want a group relationship with the perfect woman. Although they’d had plenty of fun sharing a girlfriend now and then in college, it’d never worked out.

Having a woman around all the time would change things. “Jason and Ryan are bringing in some boards to tack up. It’ll be fine.”

“Isa is thrilled Ryan is doing the virtual wedding online. Not all of her family can come. Hell, half of them think she’s crazy moving up here.” Ben chuckled.

“Moving up here or marrying two men?” Dale checked the space Melody would work in. An office chair and a large table were the only furniture in the area.

“Legally, she can only marry one. So people who don’t get it don’t have to come.” Ben shrugged. Dale envied how his brother didn’t care what others thought.

Ryan and Jason carried a big section of plywood into the room. “There’s the lucky groom!” Jason said.

“Think the dress lady will mind if I put a camera in here?” Ryan asked.

Dale admired his men for a minute. Jason was the hunky engineer with mysterious hazel eyes, short brown hair, and big muscles. Ryan, on the other hand, was leaner with soft brown eyes and dark brown hair. They both wanted kids and the right woman. Deep down, Dale did too.

Still, he’d been lucky enough to find two men who loved the life and work he did. He should be content with that. Sometimes asking for too much was asking for trouble.

“Dale!” Ryan shouted.

Shaken from his reflection, he looked at the guy with the camera. “What?”

“You didn’t tell us all three of the bridesmaids were single.” Jason tapped nails gently into the edges of the plywood while Ben set out sawhorses to keep the board in place. Ryan set his camera down and left the room.

“We only need one.” Ryan returned, a floor lamp in each hand.

Dale didn’t like the direction the conversation was heading. “Don’t get your hopes up! Two of them are only coming in for a week. They may not be our type. They might think Alaska is too rough of a life or Sterling is crazy. Ménage isn’t for everyone. Besides, they have lives, jobs, and homes. Ben got lucky, but this is his wedding, not a bride importation service.”

Ben patted Dale on the shoulder. “Relax, little brother. I hope one of them is right for you guys. You’re smart not to have any expectations. Just do me a little favor and keep an eye on Melody for car trouble or rookie mistakes, since she’ll here longer.”

“Don’t worry. We’ve got it covered.” Jason kept tapping the nails in.

Dale nodded as Ryan worked on his tablet. The guy was a tech genius and always connected.

“Melody Cameron, a fashion designer from Michigan. They have a lot of fashion in Michigan?” Dale asked, looking for possible flaws in the woman. Why would a fashion designer choose to live in Michigan?

Ryan turned the tablet around. “Her website looks good. She specializes in custom gowns for the hard-to-fit bride. Just our type.”

Dale studied the pretty, plus-sized woman smiling in her website photo. With pale skin and long, reddish-brown hair, she was surrounded by samples of her work. Seriously attractive.

CODE WORD: Sterling

Blog Post

New Year’s Resolutions…I usually suck at these. BUT this year… Yeah, yeah, yeah right, sure!

I want to exercise, eat healthy…AND win the lotto.

Oh! Become a huge best-selling author. Only that’s not really in my control.

Seriously? I do need to start exercising daily. Writing full time is less exercise than a day job. Lol.

Self-publishing. I want to become more independent like my hybrid author friends. I’ll still be publishing with Loose Id, EC, etc…but being able to put out titles on my own, price them how I like, and work on my own timeline will allow me to fill gaps and do things faster. When you have a good editor and cover artist, I’m hoping the product will be even better because there will be fewer rules. More me and more connected to my readers.

What else?

Revive a mystery or two. I’ve loved writing quirky/cozy but somewhat edgy mysteries. If I’m self-pubbing erotic romance, I can revise/update and go over what I have in this genre and see how readers respond. An odd combo, I know. But I think the publishing world is growing smaller and bigger at the same time. It’s a changing world and there are fewer rules.

More? It is a whole year…

Find niches that work for me and the ones that don’t, back away from. For example, I have an MM Regency erotic romance coming January 17^th. The title is Neighboring Affairs. I LOVE this story…it’s one of those that had to be written. I couldn’t let it go. Now we’ll see if it hits with the readers or not. I hope so but you never know. Can’t say I didn’t try!

So 2014 is the year of trying new things and learning from them. Which is pretty much what every New Year should be. You can’t do everything in one year but you can try a few new things and see how they go. I hope everyone out there is trying new things, even if it’s reading something they might not have sampled before J

Happy New Year!

Behind the Scenes

Ø How did you come up with the title?

Sterling is the name of the small town in Alaska (near Homer). It sounded very Alaska-ish and I’d like to set more big ménage books there! New Year is a reference to the holiday, obviously. The wedding, which is the central event of the story, is set for New Year’s Eve and the reception goes through midnight. Our heroine finds love and a new year in Alaska, where she never imagined she’d move to…

Ø Give us an insight into your main character. What does he/she do that is so special?

Melody designs wedding dresses. Her friends, the bride included, are plus size and finding dresses that flatter is hard. So she moves up to where the wedding will be for a few weeks before to create the dresses there (rather than fly them up and hope nothing happens). She’s a very involved maid of honor who wants her best friend’s wedding to be perfect and she tries really hard to make it all happen even though she’s not quite fitting in in Alaska…This is the maid of honor you want!!

Ø Why do you write?

If I didn’t, I’d probably be insane. The characters never stop so you have to let them out! I’d be talking to myself all the time and locked up in a padded room with medication.

Ø Do you think that the cover plays an important part in the buying process?

Covers are essential! They have to grab the readers’ attention. Get them to click! That’s hard to do when a lot of times the cover is thumbnail size. But if the cover gets them to click, then the blurb can grab them and so on. We’re in such a visual world now that you have to have an eye catching cover J

Ø What would you say are the main advantages and disadvantages of self-publishing against being published or the other way around?

 I haven’t self-pubbed yet…focus on the yet. It’s in the works! I think self-publishing gives the author more control. Cover input and working with cover artists that they have a good relationship with and so on. Also choice of editor and release dates! The advantages are many but the disadvantages are there too. Work…you must coordinate it all and put it together. Or pay someone to do that. I know it’ll be a bit of a learning curve for me the first time around. But I learn fast and once I get the hang of it, I think it’ll be great to be a hybrid author. Being published with wonderful houses like Loose Id (who published Sterling New Year) and being able to self-pub things will give me flexibility in my writing career. Publishers have various lag times (how long it takes to get from sending the story in to it being released) and they have a lot of authors to work with. So if I have a couple months open because of publisher timing, I can see that coming and self-pub something to keep the flow going for my readers J I think a mix of publishers and self-pub is the future for a lot of authors.

Flash Round

How do you feel about being the center of attention?

Hate it! Luckily it never happens…or maybe I hate it because I’m so used to it not happening that I freak out if it does.

Do you have any irrational fears or phobias?

Closed in spaces, heights…normal things really…big dogs! I was bit as a child so big dogs still make me very nervous.

How deeply does your job / social role define you as a person?

Lol! I’m a writer so hermit works…Before I was in accounting so hermit still worked. See how that circles back to not being the center of attention??

What are you the most hopeless at?

Decorating/art/anything visual…I lack that gene. Words are my art. So I do my best with cover input and such but always need a second opinion…

What would you never do, no matter the price?

Never do? Like murder? That sort of thing can be worked out in books J If I’m not willing to do something in life for ethical reasons, I can always make a villain do the dirty work in a book.

Daily Contest: Enter to win an ebook copy of Sterling New Year. Contest ends January 14^th. Please leave a comment with a valid email address to enter. Don’t forget to also enter the Grand Prize Rafflecopter with the code word found above!

a Rafflecopter giveaway