The discussion was followed by a signing, where Toni autographed piles of books and got to chat more personally with some of the readers. One group of fans even put together a surprise present for Toni – a fabulous basket of apple-themed gifts, in honor of the Farris Apple Orchard in Sugar Creek, of course. Everyone also got to enjoy some Sugar Creek Cake, a delicious concoction of white cake, apples, and chocolate.

This – the discussion and the cake – was all put together by Joseph-Beth’s fabulous Gina Scalera, romance bookseller and huge Toni Blake supporter. Gina is a delightful person and runs a fantastic romance section, so if you’re anywhere near the Lexington area, you should definitely stop in. Humongous thanks to Gina for such a wonderful event.

The final highlight? Seeing the giant Sugar Creek cover on the banner advertising the event. Joseph-Beth was kind enough to let Toni keep it, so there may be some upcoming redecorating in the Blake household…

Looking to meet Toni at an upcoming event? Her next appearance will be at the 2010 “Readers for Life” Literacy Autographing at the RWA National Conference in Orlando, Florida, Wednesday, July 28 from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

See more pictures from this and other recent events on Toni’s Facebook page.

Nine Rules for Visiting the Quaint Small Town of Destiny, Ohio
by Toni Blake

1. Be sure to stop by the Under the Covers bookstore on the town square and share a cup of coffee with Amy and Tessa. If there’s good girl talk or gossip to be had, this is where it will be going on and you don’t want to miss it. There’s usually a cat-in-residence, too, who will be happy to rub up against your ankles or sit in your lap.
2. Don’t speed in Destiny. Hunky cop, Mike Romo is a stickler about that sort of thing and will give you tickets repeatedly – just ask Rachel Farris.
3. Take a canoe ride across idyllic Blue Valley Lake. Besides being quite scenic, this quaint body of water has seen a lot of Destiny drama over the years, most specifically between good girl Jenny Tolliver and the bad boy of her dreams.
4. But never, never visit the old Brody cabin in the woods across the lake. It’s SUPER creepy – especially when you think you see lights on even when no one has lived there in years!
5. Buy some apples from Edna at the Farris Family Apple Orchard on Sugar Creek and ask her to tell you the story of her tragic first love over a piece of her award-winning apple pie.
6. Stay away from Mick Brody! His brother is in prison, after all, and he was always a bad seed. No, it doesn’t matter how hot he is – beware!
7. In case of trouble, remember that the Destiny Police and Fire Departments are right next door to each other, just across the square from Under the Covers. And both come complete with lots of sexy men in uniform, which has the potential to make any emergency more enjoyable.
8. Hang out at Creekside Park. If you’re lucky, you’ll get to watch hot, sweaty guys playing softball, or you might even be invited into a touch football game with Mike Romo, Logan Whitaker, and Adam Becker – “touch” being the key word here.
9. Plan to stay awhile and soak up everything Destiny has to offer, from the quaint garden parties to nights at the Dew Drop Inn, from hot and sexy encounters to deliciously sweet romance.

Hope you’re all ready – the release of Sugar Creek is just four days away!

This list was first posted at Sarah MacLean’s blog as part of the release celebration for her book, Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake. Check out her blog for lots more entertaining lists of rules from other popular authors.

RT hosts a big banquet and/or dance party every night, which means I got to dress up a lot, and if you know me, you know this makes me happy. Both because I spend a lot of time at my computer not dressed up and because I adore clothes, dresses, shoes, purses … and yes, this is exactly why two full suitcases were required. Here, Lindsey Faber (Samhain editor and my personal assistant) and I pose in our red frocks on red dress night.

I got to hang out with a lot of author and industry friends, something there’s never enough time for since we’re all spread out all over the country. Here I am with good friend Lori Armstrong aka Lorelei James at the Saturday bookfair.

I hosted a bookseller luncheon with a group of local author friends I’ve known forever: LuAnn McLane, Dianne Castell, Patricia Sargeant, Donna MacMeans, and Shiloh Walker. Despite that we’d spent the last hour before the luncheon frantically stuffing a hundred goody bags in my room after half of us got caught in a major traffic jam on the way to the conference, the lunch came off without a hitch and it was great meeting so many enthusiastic, romance-loving booksellers.

I spoke on two panels, one for readers and another about multi-genre writing – and everyone who attended the multi-genre panel received a free copy of ONE RECKLESS SUMMER, thanks to my fabulous publicist at Avon!
And speaking of panels, I heard that Sarah Wendell from Smart Bitches Trashy Books mentioned the Destiny series in her Save the Contemporary panel, which totally made my day. Thanks, Sarah!

And I got to wear cat ears. Yeah, I know, that one sounds weird, but it was kind of fun. If you know anything about the RT conference, you know each night is themed, and this year the vampire ball was coupled with a sort of animal theme – “catpersons” were mentioned in the conference literature, so I decided this was the route to take and I persuaded Lindsey and friend Keri Stevens to join me, so here we are: three crazy catgirls. You can’t tell this, but one of my cat ears was pierced, which amused me, and yes, Keri’s leopard print coat is fabulous and it was all I could do not to rip it off her run away with it.

So there you have it – my RT conference in a nutshell. The next big thing on my calendar? The release of SUGAR CREEK on May 25, only a couple of short weeks away now! Big thanks to everyone who has let me know they’re looking forward to this second installment in the Destiny series – I’m excited that the wait is almost over!

JoJosBookCorner
KarLynP
Kim Bales
Stella Ex Libris

We hope you and your pets of choice will enjoy this early sneak peek.

Thanks again to all the other entrants and feel free to console yourselves by rereading the excerpt on the Sugar Creek page. Thankfully, it’s only a few more weeks until everyone will be able to enjoy the book – mark your calendars (or sign up for a book release reminder) for May 25th!

How can you (or your cat) enter? Any or all of the ways below – spread the word on multiple social networking sites to earn multiple entries and more chances to win one of the two advance copies.

1. Read the Sugar Creek excerpt, and email the answer to the following question to lindseyfaber@gmail.com: How old was Rachel the last time she was pulled over in Destiny?

2. Tweet or retweet this post on Twitter. Be sure to include “Sugar Creek” in your tweet.

3. Share this note on your Facebook profile. Just hit the Share button to add this note to your own profile, then leave a comment on Toni’s page letting us know you’ve shared it.

4. Like this post on Goodreads. All you have to do is click the “Like” link at the bottom of the post.

There you have it. Enter up to four times and increase your odds of winning. The contest closes Thursday, April 15 at 9:00 p.m. EST and winners will be announced Friday, April 16. Please keep in mind that advance copies are meant to build early buzz for the book, and it’s best if winners are able to read the book in advance of its release and post a review somewhere online – Amazon, B&N, Borders, Goodreads, a blog or messageboard, or any social networking site.

Read more about Sugar Creek, which releases May 25, 2010.

Funny wedding story (although it didn’t seem funny at the time): Because I have a name more commonly given to a boy and Blair’s name is more commonly a girl’s name, the minister at our wedding got confused and said, “Toni, you may kiss the bride.” I was aghast – it was MY WEDDING, after all, and this guy had just messed it up – and I screamed, “IT’S BLAIR!!!” And Blair said, “Just shut up and kiss me,” and the whole church cracked up. So I have this fabulous picture of us kissing while our maid of honor and best man are standing on either side of us laughing.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Hope everyone is spending it with a great romance or hero of her own!

Blair & Toni: 20 years of romance!

Colors were all over the board last night – I saw everything from pastels to jewel tones to metallic to basic black. And there were a surprising number of dark green dresses (this must be THE color in Hollywood this season or something), which I found interesting to look at and kinda liked, but wouldn’t go so far as to say I loved. Huge ruffles were also in vogue, and though I personally adore a well-placed ruffle, on many dresses it was JUST. TOO. MUCH.

On my best dressed list (in no particular order):

Sofia Vergara from Modern Family: She looked stunningly confident and sophisticated in a strapless mermaid gown of charcoal trimmed in red.

Fergie: I’m not a huge Fergie fan, but her dress was a delight: very Lavender Grecian Goddess; simple but elegant and just quite pretty. That said, thought her hair was too dark and plain and messy, not complementing the gown at all. Since it was raining, however, I’m going to try to refrain picking on people’s hair. But wait, I just did, didn’t I?

Emily Blunt: OMG. Her peachy chiffon strapless mermaid concoction was just to die for.

Lauren Graham: This hot pink strapless mermaid dress (yes, strapless mermaid gowns were EVERYWHERE) was striking not only for detailed bodice but also for the color, and I just kinda admired the boldness involved.

Maggie Gyllenhaal: Peach, mermaid, lots of graphic angles and layers on this dress. I didn’t love it, and yet, I kept thinking it definitely had style.

Lea Michele: I don’t always find black striking on the red carpet because it can be hard to see all the details and nuances of black dress on TV. However, this black, fluffy, strapless chiffon princess gown was a pure confection, one I couldn’t resist.

Helen Mirren: Okay, another black gown. But here’s the thing. She, as always, looked absolutely stunning. The kind of stunning where, when I saw her, I said, “Wow!” Out loud.

Toni Collette: This is probably my pick of the night, and not just because her name’s Toni, either. I’m not usually drawn to metallics, but this gown done in gold glittering stripes was truly an eye-catcher. Not only was it lovely, but it looked comfortable and very easy to wear, and it just so fit her – really gorgeous. Also, I commend her for not wearing a mermaid gown.

And here’s my not-so-best-dressed list:

Patricia Arquette: Mad Max Does The Red Carpet

Kate Hudson: Was that a dress or a wedding cake?

Tina Fey: Usually, I’m a fan of Tina Fey’s simple elegance. This year, hmm … that dress was just kinda weird. Not quite an animal print, not quite a stripe, not quite a suit of armor, not quite a bell. Again … hmm.

Mariah Carey: Just … no. Too much boob. No, wait. Too much low boob. Yeah, that’s it.

And I’m trying really hard not to pick on Julia Robert’s bizarre choice of apparel – because somehow she can pull off anything, and because I’m trying to believe she was toning things down and leaving the glamour for the people who were nominated … or something like that.

And last but not least, a special award for best accessory goes to Elisabetta Canalis. This is George Clooney’s girlfriend. And her accessory was … George Clooney. Enough said.

So there you have it – my take on Golden Globes fashion. And if you happen to be throwing a red carpet event with lots of big stars and are in need of a fashion commentator, good news – I’m available! Just have your people call my people and all that ; ) Until next time, happy reading and happy fashion-watching.

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