Congratulations, Stephanie Barbeau-King!

I just got back from my dad's place in Port St. Lucie for my sister's graduation. So I just wanted to say congrats to my baby sister for graduating high school with honors! You're the best and here is to a very happy life after high school. You did it! :D Now on to college! :)

I'm exhausted... but happy again!

This week has been exhausting. It started off really awesome with giving away books and stuff to the awesome people who participated in the Hop Against Homophobia. That was a lot of fun for such an awesome cause!

I haven't stopped since then! On Wednesday I had a second round of shots in my SI joint and this time it feels much better. I rested yesterday but then my muse kicked in (maybe it got the shot in the ass it needed :D) and I've written 7K in two days.

So I'm tired, especially after the epic traffic around Disney, and I'm going to stay in and just read and write and enjoy myself on this holiday weekend.

Take care!

The winners (yeah you read that right!) on the Hop Against Homophobia.

Mission: Spread the love!

Status: Accomplished!

When I made my post for the Hop Against Homophobia, I thought posting about love wouldn't be enough. I thought maybe I should post my experiences of being genderqueer and my journey to where I am today. I want people to know that hate directed toward them is just temporary and that it gets better.

But I wanted to post where I am today and my post reflected the love I feel surrounded by my family and friends, fellow authors and of course, my fans.

You guys proved me wrong and I'm so happy!

As I watched the comments fly in on my post on the Hop Against Homophobia, I was so pleased, I almost cried. There were so many people who were so positive and the comments were so beautiful and full of love, well, I got really happy. :D

(OMG, my editor is going to kill me. I used "so" 4 times)

I decided to give away TWO choice of my backlist.

vitajex and SheriV

Please check your e-mail! You won!

Not to sound all Saturday Afternoon Special on you, but we're all winners when hate takes a hike! Stay cool everyone! Love you all! :D

Hop Against Homophobia!

Wipeout Homophobia!

Hello! Welcome to Lori's post on the 

2012 Hop Against Homophobia!

Hate is horrible. 

Hate doesn't have a place here.

Homophobia is hate.

But on a more serious note, setting a good example for others is the best way to combat homophobia and hate. If you see someone doing something hateful of any kind, step in and do something about it. It's our duty as human beings to help others. 

Love is awesome :)

It's as simple as that! :D

My prize I'm giving away:

An e-book off my backlist! YAY!

What do you have to do to enter? 

Leave me some comment love, baby!

(but dude, leave your comment in secret ninja style

like this: lori at loritoland dot com)

This contest ends May 20th. So look for my e-mail on the 21st. 

I'll also post again on my blog the winner so you can be happy for them.

Last but definitely not the least, 

Check out the rest of  the authors 

On the 2012 Hop Against Homophobia

at:

http://hopagainsthomophobia.blogspot.com.

I visited the vampire yesterday...

Yesterday I gave blood as I do every 56 days but yesterday was different. I gave double red blood cells with these new machines that put your plasma back in along with saline. It was really cool but I forgot that I can taste most saline when it's injected into me and boy, it turned my stomach fast. Once the phlebotomist got me a juice I was okay. :)

But the machine is really cool. They filter your blood so they only take your red blood cells. The only issue I had was I got a headache after donating but that's pretty normal with me. I always have a headache for some reason. Any doctors out there wanna chime in with why that might be?

Either way, I'm O- so I'm a universal donor and in an emergency, anyone can get my blood. So I give what I can! :) My next date with the machine is in 4 months so I'll be back, but just whole blood this time. I'm looking a bit pale today :)

In Honor Of Mother's Day...

This is always a really hard day for me. In fact, for several weeks prior, it's always a really rough time because I'm inundated with advertisements for Mother's Day presents. I really wish there was some way to turn those ads off because it's hard enough without her, but Mother's Day is particularly painful because I wish with all my heart she was still here.

This year has been particularly hard because I realized how much my mom would love all this. She would be my little cheerleader and she would never let me give up. I was very lucky to have her as long as I did. Every day at the end, I never took a day for granted and I treasured every moment we did have.

So in honor of Mother's Day, I just want to thank my mom for everything she did for me. One of the last conversations I had with her was he asking me if she had been a good mother to me. She said she waited to have me because she was so scared she would screw up being a mom. I told her I couldn't imagine a better mom than her.

I miss you, Mom.

Love,
Lori

Just another day in paradise...

Yeah, that's me, just hanging around, trying to recover from my SI Joints shot. They help in the long run but they hurt like a bitch to get. I'm kinda stoned on painkillers so if I ramble on Twitter, I'm not responsible for myself. :D

I also forgot to congratulate my winners of my book tour for The Long Con, Bodice Rippers and Jibriel. Thank you very much and a huge thank you to all who stopped by my tour. I hope you enjoyed chatting with me.

And last but not least to answer a question that seems to be cropping up a lot: Yes, I'm working on a sequel to The Long Con. While Bradley and Tony won't be the main characters in the book (for a very good reason) they will have supporting roles. So have no fear, they will be returning in the next book alongside two very debonaire characters :)

Talkatcha later :)

My Cheddar boy! (GP of my Cat)

I just thought I'd share a picture of my beautiful Chester :)

He makes my life so happy! :)

Immigration Equality... the reason for my dedication in The Long Con.

Today I'm posting because Blogger had a fail! Evil Blogger! But this post had a special place in my heart because Immigration Equality is my pet project, besides the ASPCA. So I'm posting it here.

So please click on the link to your left and stop by and get more info about this wonderful cause.

The Battles That Lay Ahead

I think on my tour I’ve said a few times The Long Con was the book I never meant to write. I went through a lot with this book. Bradley’s story was an old idea from before I was published about two men from different countries who met and fell madly in love. And one of the heroes was from the US, which twisted my gut.

You see, I went through immigration with my British husband, who gave up everything he knew in the UK to come here to the States. We had a routine case (first marriage for both of us, no criminal record and I was in a strong financial position) and were very lucky because we’re a heterosexual couple. I say we are lucky because if we were a gay or lesbian couple, I couldn’t have petitioned on his behalf to get immigration benefits. But we were lucky because of our genders.

In The Long Con, Bradley is with Tony in the US and together they are loving on borrowed time. The clock is ticking; they don’t have forever nor can they have a happily ever after because their borders will keep them apart. And as a writer and someone who went through that horrible separation, it killed me to write those scenes at the end. Because I knew how they felt intimately.

Around the time I wrote the end of The Long Con, gay immigration was suddenly in the headlines with the striking down of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the fight against DOMA here in the US. A gay couple married in the US in Massachusetts was petitioning for immigration benefits because in their state, now in California, their marriage was legal and the health of one of the men was declining due to AIDS.

Their petition was denied. The non-US citizen was given a deportation order and had a date by which he had to leave. Immigration Equality took over fighting the case but hope for a positive outcome was bleak. In one of the articles, there was a picture of the couple hugging.

S.F. gay married couple loses immigration battle

I looked at that picture and sobbed. Maybe if they had both been healthy, they could have moved to Australia but it was impossible with how sick the US citizen was. The future looked depressing and all I could do was hope that our government would do the right thing here. And sure enough, this year, the couple found their brief respite.

Deportation threat lifted from S.F. gay spouse

To this lovely couple, all my love and best wishes. They became the center of a fight that shouldn’t be happening. Loving whoever you want is a human right, not a political war cry.

But as far as Tony and Bradley? I’ll state for the record, I believe in HEA and everyone deserves one! Their story was a long road and a really tough one for me. I bawled through so many parts of their story. I had to hide so my husband didn’t think I was an idiot for crying over a book.  Did Tony and Bradley make it to ride off into the sunset together? You’ll have to read the book to find out what happens ;)

THE LONG CON by Lori Toland

British Agent Nathaniel Bradley is tasked with bringing home a stolen heirloom. After tracking the Faberge egg all the way to a group of criminals in New York, Bradley infiltrates a ring of con artists and gets sucked into the role of a high priced prostitute.

While hoping for a chance to take back what is rightfully his, Bradley’s sole mission becomes to seduce Tony Terranova, Jr, the heir to a notorious mafia dynasty. Though Tony is strikingly handsome, the usually dominant Bradley is hesitant to submit to the sexual whims of a dangerous Mafioso.

What Bradley doesn't expect is for Tony to fall to his knees so eagerly for him, leaving him blindsided by how intensely their dark tastes complement each other. Now Bradley is caught up in a deadly game of lies and desire, where what he truly wants may not be what duty requires.

EXCERPT:

My heart pounded, and I panted from exertion. Replete and relaxed, I knew my weight crushed him to the bed, but if he didn’t say anything, I wasn’t moving. I dropped a gentle kiss on his shoulder, tasting the salt from his skin when I licked my lips.

I opened my mouth, and my heart slammed against my rib cage when I realized what I had just been about to say. Before blurting out my love for him, I pulled out slowly and stood.

I needed to get my shit together and remember I was on a task, one of huge importance to Margaret. I took a deep breath and let it out. When he glanced at me over his shoulder, I put on the same mask I wore around everyone.

His eyes told me he saw beneath the surface, and that scared me. He was much too perceptive, and from this moment forward, I would have to be on my guard. “Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. You almost killed me there.” I laughed it off, but it felt hollow to me. I left him on the bed and walked into bathroom.

I threw away the condom, and when I turned around, Tony stood in the doorway.

“Are you sure?” he asked, his frown worrying me.

I wanted him to drop it, so I just smiled and placed a kiss on his lips. “I’m sure.”

My explanation didn’t seem to satisfy him, but I didn’t stick around to give him the time to question me about it. I flipped on the shower and waited for the water to heat up, a little perturbed about how much I wanted him.

AUTHOR BIO AND LINKS:

CEO by day, erotic romance writer by night, Lori Toland lives in Orlando where the summers are hot but the romance between her characters is even hotter. Writing since the tender age of 13, Lori somehow finds time to play video games and watch movies while taking care of her beloved cats and a husband who will forever be her hero.

Lori’s Website: http://www.loritoland.com
Lori’s Twitter: loritoland
Lori’s Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lori.toland
BUY LINKS: http://www.loose-id.com/The-Long-Con.aspx
Other buy links will appear here as available:
http://loritoland.blogspot.com/2012/02/long-con-loose-id-4242012.html

**********GIVEAWAY**********

A $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter from the entire tour.

-Giveaway is OPEN TO EVERYONE!
-To be entered, MUST leave a comment, along with your email addy.
-One commenter will be chosen randomly from all comments made throughout the tour, so the more tour stops you make a comment on the greater your chances of winning.  A list of all participating blogs can be found here.
-Giveaway ends at 11:59 PM CST on 5/4.

Since this is my tour, I'm not eligible to win (well, duh) but please go comment at all my other tour stops which can be found here. 

You can comment on this post as well. Please be aware that all comments are moderated so I will try to keep up with approving them as we go. If you comment here, it will be an entry for the gift card!