Wow, what a fabulous bunch of entries that was! The judges had a heck of a time choosing just a few, but choose they finally did, and here are the semifinalists:

#35 Assistant’s Secret by April Morelock
#39 Lessons from a Scoundrel by Christa McHugh
#50 Return to Me by Michelle (MG) Braden
#51 Shadow Dancer by Laurie Douglas Wickes
#57 CODENAME: DANCER by Amanda Brice

The semifinalists will be contacted individually on Monday, March 8 with instructions on how to send their first chapters and/or synopses to Jennifer for final round judging.

Thanks to all who entered! If you did not final, you are welcome to enter again this week with a different manuscript. Otherwise, please continue to spread the word. Round Two begins right now! The rules are exactly the same as round one, so you can check them out on the Week 1 Blog. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me through the contact form on this site. Otherwise, good luck for round 2! More semifinalists will be chosen next Sunday, March 14.

Jennifer

Are you looking for a literary agent or at least a little feedback from an established agent? Then this is the contest for you!

What you can win: A read of your fiction manuscript by Barbara Poelle of the Irene Goodman Literary Agency

How it works:
(1) Click “Leave a Comment” below and post the title, genre, and first five sentences of your fiction manuscript on the comments of this blog. Email entries will not be accepted; all entries must be made in the comments section of this blog.
(2) A group of semifinalists will be selected from the lines posted. The list of semifinalists for round one will be posted here on the blog on March 7. Round Two will begin on March 7 and semifinalists will be posted on March 14, and Round Three will begin on March 14 and semifinalists will be posted on March 21.
(3) The semifinalists will be invited to send their first chapter and/or synopsis to Jennifer.
(4) One overall winner will be selected on or before March 28. That winner will be invited to send his/her manuscript to Barbara Poelle, who will read it for possible representation.
(5) Questions? Feel free to go to the contact page and send them in. Jennifer will respond as quickly as possible.

Example Entry:

Title: A Touch of Scandal
Genre: Historical Romance (1823 England)
First 5 sentences:
A bothersome heat crept into Kate’s cheeks as she hurried through the narrow, dimly lit passageway. If only she could learn how to hide her thoughts.

Taking a deep breath, she forcefully slowed her step, squared her shoulders, and lowered her eyes. She was simply a servant, finished with her duties for the day, ready to take the three-mile walk home. Not a flustered woman rushing out to a secret secluded spot to watch a strange man—no, a god, more like—bathe in the nude.

The fine print:
You must be 18 years of age or older to enter this contest; no purchase necessary; void where prohibited. Judging is subjective, and judges’ names will not be revealed. If you enter this contest, you agree to be added to Jennifer Haymore’s newsletter list, which is sent out to subscribers quarterly. Personal information and email addresses are kept private and never shared. The semifinalists and winner’s names will be posted on the jenniferhaymore.com blog.

Congratulations to Dileep K., who won the ARC of A Touch of Scandal!

If you haven’t read A Hint of Wicked yet, check out my contest page, where I’m giving away several signed copies!

31 days until A Touch of Scandal releases! I’m so excited!

I’m so excited! Yesterday, while I was working at Borders, my new office was built. It’s a built-in wrap-around desk of cherry that looks out onto our backyard. I’m writing this from my office desk for the first time. I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about a new feature in my house! LOL. Here is a picture–kind of hard to see because of the sun shining in–clearly I need to buy some blinds. I’ll post another picture when I have it all set up!

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY, everyone! I hope yours has been as good as mine (no better gift than to be able to write about people falling in love from a shiny new desk, lol!).

A word to the wise: Never get your website put in redemption. I don’t know if it’s me, or the domain company (who shall remain nameless), or just all-around bad luck, but my dawnhalliday.com website has been offline for almost a month now. This is not for lack of me trying to get it back up. But every time I call my domain company in an attempt to get it back online, this is their response, “Oh, you need to do xxx, and then wait for another three days and then we’ll get it back up for you.” I follow directions. I do xxx, and then I call back in the prescribed time. And what am I told? “Oh, you need to do yyy, and then wait another 24 hours…”

(((SCREAM!!!)))

I’m tired of calling them, and I’m tired of this roundabout response, and I’m tired of being misled! It’s making me crazy. Today I was transferred back and forth between four different departments with this company, and I was shaking with frustration from head to foot by the time it was over. I’ve been on the phone with them for two hours total today. Verdict: I have to wait another five days.

What can I do? Nothing, unless I want to come up with a new domain name.

Sigh. Sooo frustrating.

Since Dawn is “gone” for the time being, I’m going to be giving away some of her books here on my blog. Just respond to this blog with a “bad customer service” tale of your own for a chance to win one of the following books (your choice while supplies last):

Highland Obsession by Dawn Halliday (verrry spicy historical)
10 Days in Paradise by Dawn Halliday (spicy contemporary)
Sins of Summer by Dawn Halliday, Marie Harte, Mackenzie McKade, and Annmarie McKenna (verrry spicy contemporary)

I’ll give away 5 books in total in the next few days! So please let me know your horrible, foot-stomping customer service stories–I really want to hear I’m not alone here. LOL.

First of all, congrats to Ginger C, who won the Margaret Mallory books. I have a new contest going on, this time for an amazing romantic suspense by Susan Crandall, so please go check out my bonus features page for more information.

Secondly, as many of you know, I have three children. I was in my daughter’s kindergarten class last week, doing my civic duty as a volunteer, and here’s how one of my conversations went:

Me: Okay, you’re going to write “This.” Uppercase t…
5-year-old: No.
Me: Would you like to write something else?
Him: I want to write, “This is my dog.”
Me: Okay, so you’ll start with “This,” then. Uppercase t…
Him: NO!
Me: Well, if you want to write “This is my dog,” you’ll start with “This” which starts with t.
Him: (Stares at me like I’m an idiot.)
Me: (encouragingly) Do you need help writing t?
Him: I’M NOT WRITING T!!!
Me: But…”This” starts with t, so you’re going to need a t. Right here.
Him: Nuh uh. “This” doesn’t start with t. You’re wrong.
Me: No, I’m sorry. “This” starts with T.
Him: No it doesn’t. It starts with V.
Me: No, it starts with T.
Him: (getting really worked up) NO, IT DOESN’T!!! IT STARTS WITH V, I SAID! (looks like he’s either going to punch me or cry)
Me: Okay, then you can write it however you think it’s spelled. Good job.

I have the greatest respect for kindergarten teachers! I think I’ll just stick with writing.

Congratulations to Christy M., who won a copy of Seduce Me by Robyn DeHart. Continuing with my flurry of offerings by my fellow Forever Authors, next up, I have a fantastic duo of books by Margaret Mallory! Please head over to my bonus features page and check it out!

Hi Everyone! I hope all you Americans had a fantastic Thanksgiving! Mine was spent with friends and family–it was very nice.

The contest I was running for the books + Victoria’s Secret goodies is over. Congrats to the winner, Terri C! The question was, “Who is your favorite hero from books and TV?” The answers were very interesting! By far, the favorite hero is…Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice! Seriously, what’s not to love about Darcy? So proud, and so humbled…

Here are some of the other answers I received–I love the anti-heroes choices–very interesting!

Captain Jack Sparrow (I think he came in second place–maybe a tie between him and Rhett Butler & Jamie Fraser…)
JR Ward’s heroes
Simon Dermott (played by Peter O’Toole) in “How to Steal a Million”
Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent from Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas (I *really* have to read this book!)
Derek Craven Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas (I think she’s the only author who had two different heroes listed!)
Dillon from Into The Fire by Anne Stuart
Chase from Sandra Brown’s Texas Trilogy
Indiana Jones (Yay!–and more than one person chose Indy too!)
James Bond
Batman (more than one answered with Batman!)
Roarke from JD Robb’s “In Death” series
Johnny Castle (played by Patrick Swayze) in “Dirty Dancing”
John McClane (played By Bruce Willis) in “Die Hard”
Rhett Butler (more than one answered with Rhett! I agree-he’s such a delicious bad boy!)
Aragorn from Lord of the Rings
Sam from Lord of the Rings (how cute is that? She’s right, though, Sam is such a fantastic hero!)
Harrison Ford, Air Force One movie
Beauchamp from Shanna by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss
Det. Alex Cross from the James Patterson books
Takashi O’Brien from Ice Blue
Brodick in Ransom by Julie Garwood
the villian Hannibal Lector (wow!)
Sean from Stormfire by Christine Monson
Adam from Bertrice Small’s O’Malley series
Colin Bridgerton from Romancing Mr. Bridgerton by Julia Quinn
Edward from Twilight
Jamie Fraser from Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series (many answered w/ Jamie–this would have been my answer!)
John Thornton from North & South

Anyway, thanks to everyone who entered, congrats to Terri, and please stay tuned for my next contest!

Today’s winner, per random.org is….

First Name: Karen

Last Name: H.

Congrats to Karen, who wins the five books of her choice from the remaining books listed!

The answers:
The Title of Dawn Halliday’s anthology releasing on November 3: A Highlander Christmas
The name of Dawn’s story included in the anthology: Winter Heat

This week’s question is “In Winter Heat, Dawn Halliday’s novella, what’s Maggie wearing when she wakes up in the cottage?”

This might feel challenging, but this is the last week of the Fun Fridays contest, so I had to make it a little bit of a challenge!

It’s actually pretty easy. Here’s a big hint. Go to the WINTER HEAT EXCERPT over at Dawn’s site, and read it. The answer is there, I promise!

Once you’ve found the answer, head on over to my contest page and enter. It’s the last week of Fun Fridays! I’m going to miss this contest, but I have so many more cool things to give away, I’m dying to start the next one.

Just five days until the release of A HIGHLANDER CHRISTMAS! I’m so excited about Winter Heat, Dawn’s story in this anthology! In celebration of the event, Dawn has a new contest up on her website, so please go check it out!

www.dawnhalliday.com

Have fun! And happy holiday reading!