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 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!

The winner of my holiday contest was Denise Y! She’s getting a copy of A HINT OF WICKED, a copy of A HIGHLANDER CHRISTMAS, and lots of yummy-smelling holiday bath and body goodies. Congrats to Denise!

I lied about that being my last contest of the year, lol. I have another one up–you can enter to win a copy of Elizabeth Hoyt’s amazing Prince Trilogy. Go on over to my Bonus Features pages and check it out!

I’m heading off to City Hall right now. We’re in escrow both to sell our house and buy a new one, and it just came to our attention that the new house lot might be entirely in a flood zone (which means we can’t build or make improvements–very frustrating). So I’m off to the city to clarify the situation. I tell you, it’s one thing after another when you’re in a real estate transaction. My husband and I were completely crazy to start this process during the holidays.

Come check out my blog over at Popculture Divas, where I’m talking about tattoos, piercings, and elf ears today.

I’m also working on edits for A SEASON OF SEDUCTION–this is the story of the young sister, Becky, from A HINT OF WICKED. I’m loving this story…Becky has learned a lot since her naivety during A HINT OF WICKED, and she has lots of surprises in store for her hero, Jack. I can’t wait until it comes out next October!

Come check out my new contest. It’s my last contest of the year, and I have lots of cool stuff to give away for the holidays, including a copy of A HINT OF WICKED!

Well, we’re selling our house and buying a new one. I forgot how tremendously stressful and time-consuming this process is! But we’ve set our sights on an amazing home–my kids adore the backyard. I hope we get it.

In writing related news, I’m working on edits for the third book, A Season of Seduction (due out next October). I love this book–it’s the story of Becky (Garrett’s younger sister from A Hint of Wicked) and her incredibly sexy hero, Jack.

I just posted a new contest to celebrate the holidays! Win a canvas tote filled with books & Victoria’s Secret goodies! Check it out over at my contest page.

If I don’t post before then, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I will be spending it in Oregon with my grandfather, who will be spending his first Thanksgiving in 70 years without my grandma. I think it’s going to be a bittersweet day for all of us.

Since I just turned in my book, I’ve been in a movie-watching mood. I’m sort of distracted by catching up on episodes of True Blood right now, but after I finish those, I think I’m going on a historical movie binge. Last week, for my Fun Fridays contest, I asked you what your favorite historical movie was. I’ve seen a great majority of them, but some of them are brand-new to me, and I can’t wait to get started.

It was interesting–one movie got probably 10x the response of any of the others. Any guess what that one was? It was GONE WITH THE WIND! Ahh, yes, I can see why!

Here is the exhaustive list of all the movies that were listed by the entrants of the contest. If you entered, thanks so much for these! I’m keeping this list!

Gone With the Wind
Pride & Prejudice (Kiera Knightley Version)
Pride & Prejudice (Colin Firth Version)
The Three Musketeers (which version, I wonder?)
The Scarlet Pimpernel (I’ve never seen this one! Putting it on my Netflix!)
The Princess Bride
Ladyhawke (ooh, another one to add to my Netflix queue!)
Jane Eyre
Scarlett
Titanic
Dances With Wolves
Braveheart
The Last of the Mohicans
300
The Great Gatsby
Marie Antoinette
Pirates of the Caribbean
Poseidon
La Reine Margot (Queen Margot) (another one I haven’t seen, I’m intrigued!)
Wuthering Heights with Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (with Gary Oldman)
Troy
The Color Purple
North And South
Sense and Sensibility
Forever Amber (another one I need to look up)
A Room with a View
Unconquered
Little Women
Elizabeth
Lonesome Dove
Cold Mountain
Children of the Dust (another new-to-me!)
Lawrence of Arabia
Dr. Zhivago
Shogun
The Duchess
The Last Mistress
The Patriot
Gladiator
Pearl Harbor

Isn’t that a great list? What do you think? Some of these I love so much I want to watch them again, but I think I’m going to hit the new-to-me ones first! Thanks, everyone!

Today’s winner, per random.org is….

First Name: Brenda

Last Name: R.

Email: dancealert@a…

This week’s question is “What is your favorite historical movie?” Easy, right? So head on over to my contest page and enter.

Congrats to Denise B., who won the Fun Fridays contest today (per random.org)!

Okay, since I’ve been deep in this dark, dank writer’s cave and I’m late on this today, I feel like making up for my lack of timeliness to y’all by doubling the winnings for next week. So for next week, I’m going to give four books–yes, four!–to the winner! They just need to be chosen from the remaining books listed over on the bonus features page.

Here is this week’s question: What are the titles of Jennifer’s 2nd and 3rd books? (Hint: Both are sequels to A HINT OF WICKED, and both will be released in 2010! And did you know the third book has a Christmas theme? I’m so excited! Bigger Hint: You can find the answers on the FAQ page!)

So head on over to my bonus features/contest page to enter to win four books–winner will be drawn on October 9!

Well, I’m drowning in this deadline, but I have a fun contest going on over at the Dawn Halliday site! Go check it out at www.dawnhalliday.com. You could win an advance copy of A HIGHLANDER CHRISTMAS, an anthology containing one of Dawn’s stories that will be released in November.

I’ve been doing a lot of research and learning a lot about the medicine of the time (remember, pus is a good thing! They wanted to see lots of nice, healthy pus! LOL!). Once I have a moment, I can’t wait to post some of the other wild and crazy stuff I’m reading on the blog!

Until then, wish me luck. Must…finish…book……….