So it wasn’t a dream. Magni was safe, Dilana was in the bottom three, Storm didn’t go home……and Ryan did? Well, how ’bout them crackers? A good night all the way around. Seeing Ooompa Lukas sing in front of Supernova was fun, but exemplified for me why he’s not roit for ah behnd. Dilana needs to be their opening act. She’s gone all Ozzy on me now and I’m finding myself liking her less and less. Toby still works for me. Storm will go home next week. I heart her, but she does not belong here, she belongs out there solo. Which leaves My Magni as the winner. He has the charisma, talent, and intensity to front this particular band best. I guess time will tell if I’m right!

Over on Project Runway (Hi Tim!) they made the designers create their own jet set look for themselves, then sent their tired behindy’s all the way to Parson’s Paris. Sigh. I miss Paris. So, cruelly, no sooner do they get there then they are judged on the wearability of their outfits, which they each traveled in, and one designer is sent right back to the airport.

First, in a close tie, Tattooine Jeffrey beats out Michael (as much as he really did deserve it from a design perspective, I’d have loved if he was thatclose again and lost, esp since I heart Michael a lot - he listens to Tim!) but his arrogant, obnoxious self did win this one. Could he really be any more vile? I cannot stand this man and his neck makes me want to sandpaper things. Laura, Uli, and Vincent (who is kind of growing on me in an entertaining way, probably as a counterpoint to how simply evil Jeffrey is) were all safe. Leaving Kayne in the Building with Angela. In the end, Angela goes home. Which, in this case, is a long drive.

I think Kayne is not long for this competitiion - but how cute was he with his white trash versus ghetto modeling practice with Michael? I do heart Kayne, but he won’t win this. Once he’s gone though, things are going to get tough. I thinkVincent will leave next, leaving Laura, Michael, and very unfortunately Jeff, as the final three. Hopefully he’ll be out at that point. SoClose again, yet no marbles. Yes, perhaps that is a fitting end to his narrow-minded, mean spirited run.

Ooh, I forgot Uli! Ooh! Hopefully that means Jeff finishes fourth. Yay.

SHaQ Attack winner announced tomorrow!

Tags: Writing by Donna
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I’m reduced to MACing about Rock Star. Something is terribly wrong about that.

Brooke looked like a Catholic school girl gone wrong. Still, it’s hard to believe she’s pregnant. Pretty amazing.

Six rockers left…it’s fan’s choice week. They all really kick it up a notch. Tough night to judge!

Lukas (my favorite little oompa) goes first…and knocks Nirvana out of the park. Magni (my personal fave to win this particular contest) goes next and knocks I Alone out of the park. (Still, Marty Casey reigns supreme on both those songs, still on my iPod from last season…) Next up we had Ryan taking on Clocks by Coldplay. I am just not a Ryan fan. He’s hard for me to watch. Which is a shame, because I like how he performs and what he does, he’s just…he makes me really uncomfortable. He did a great job with this song. Wish I liked him better. Then on goes Storm with a twice-performed song she’s never done, nor even knows. She gets Bring Me To Life from Evanescence. With Toby singing back up, she changes up the pace of it, and totally kills it. Her voice is so strong. Whew! The guys in the band weren’t into it as much as I was.

Next we get….Toby (my favorite hot Aussie) with his version of Rebel Yell and he looks pretty damn good in all that eyeliner. He pulls people from the audience up on stage with him during his rocking rendition — Billy Idol, eat your heart out. Last up is Dilana closing the show with Mother Mother by Tracy Bonham. In true Dilana style, she growls her way through it, ax strapped to her body. Rocker chick personified. Not my favorite, a little too Ozzy for me, but she does her thing. Dave kisses up, the boyz lavish the lurve.

For me? Magni, and Toby took the night. Lukas and Ryan (sad to say) were close. Then Dilana, then Storm.

As for what will probably happen? Looks like Storm will be in bottom three if the viewers listen to the judges. Have no clue who will join her. Very strong night. The preliminary votes say it will be Storm, Ryan, and Lukas. I know Dilana won’t be in the bottom and, I guess, I’m okay with this particular grouping. We’ll see how it shakes out tonight.

Happy Hump Day, y’all!

Tags: Writing by Donna
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Well, the cover is anyway. I thought you all might like a sneak peek at the cover for my next Brava, THE GREAT SCOT which will be out next March. This book features the fourth Chisholm brother, Dylan. (The other three were introduced in Bad Boys in Kilts which is on sale now.)

Below the cover is the back cover copy…enjoy the sneek peak!!

In Bad Boys in Kilts, USA Today bestselling author Donna Kauffman introduced the divinely sexy Chisholm brothers. Now, get ready for oldest brother Dylan, a man whose duty to his heritage will not be upended by anything—or anyone. But passion has a way of throwing everything off-kilter…

LOCH AND LOAD, BABY

Location coordinator Erin McGregor knows she’s finally found the perfect setting for her romance reality show, Your Prince Charming. The Chisholm clan stronghold in the Scottish Highlands has it all—romantic moors, windswept cliffs, misty lochs, a four-hundred-year-old castle, and possibly the most gorgeous man she’s ever laid eyes on in chieftain Dylan Chisholm. Nothing like a guy with a sexy accent and a big…turret to make a girl all wonky-kneed. Right. No time for wonky. Time to get over her fixation with the Hot Scot and get back to business. And Erin will…any minute now…

With his three youngest brothers spoken for, Dylan Chisholm is at the top of his village’s matchmaking list. Now they’ve sent some impish, forthright American lass up to tempt him into a devil’s bargain: He can let the Yanks use his castle to film their foolish romance show, and in exchange, he’ll get the money his village desperately needs. It took a tragic loss to get Dylan to embrace his heritage and his duty. He can’t turn away from such a promising offer. But keeping his thoughts off Erin McGregor is another matter. She’s everything he never wanted in a woman, and suddenly, she’s everything he craves in every way possible…

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Tags: Writing by Donna
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Time for a new SHaQ Attack hunt!

This week’s question is: Who is Lucy Harper’s hero?

Send your answers to donna@donnakauffman.com with I Got It! in the subject line. I’ll choose a winner from the correct entries on Friday morning. Winner receives book of her choice from my website bookshelf.

Happy hunting!

Tags: Writing by Donna
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This week’s SHaQ Attack question was to name a hero of mine who was a football player. Bonus book if you got both of them. Many of you guessed Gabe MacKenzie, from the I Love Bad Boys anthology, but that novella belonged to Janelle Denison. The correct answer was: Nick Logan from my very first book, Illegal Motion, and Riley Parish, from The Big Bad Wolf Tells All. Many of you got the right answer, but only one Blog Babe scored the books. And this week, that winner would be Susan C! Everybody, let’s do the wave for Susan, I’ll start!

(Whew! A global wave is something else!)

Tune in Monday for a whole new SHaQ contest. And some special news about a fantabulous September contest I’ll be running, sponsored by my publisher, Kensington Books!

No Special K pics today. He made the Big Move quite well, but I’m afraid, he wasn’t being very cooperative on the whole posing thing. I’ll work on it over the weekend. Maybe Monday. Who knew a mutant shark fish would be so camera shy? I’ll try and get his new best buddies, Cat Daddy and Rufus the Baby, too.

Have a fantastic weekend everybody!

Tags: Writing by Donna
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So, Rock Star sends Soccer Tattoo Mom Patrice home and none too soon for me, thanks. She was so incongruous to me. Very smiley for a rocker and then Bam! inktopus. I think she’d do better with a Lilith Fair kinda deal.

Ironic that Toby got the Band shout out and also a bottom three slot. And Dilana and Ryan, please take it outside. Like waaaaaaaaay outside. Although it was clear to me that with the global perception being that it was a done deal and Dilana was It, the rest of the show a mere formality before the crowning, the Powers That Be wanted to knock the Studded One down a few pegs or ten just to instill doubt. I think they definitely accomplished that goal. All in all, though, if I had to pick the rocker with the pipes, the chops, and the level of charismatic intensity necessary for this particular band, it’s Magni all the way for me. Sorry, Dilana. Actually, sorry Magni. I’d rather see him head out alone.

Next week, my prediction is Storm goes home. And with the ending in a few short weeks, I think we might see another double elimination. If that’s the case, possibly buh bye Tobster and maybe Lukas. I love the little oompa, but he’s all wrong for ah behnd.

In other reality news (I MAC because I can…) on Project Runway 3, it was Night of the Living Mothers. Or A Mother of a Night. Whatever. Wow, what an interesting challenge. And by interesting, I mean tortuous. My Friend Timmmm wasn’t kidding when he said things were going to get tougher.

So everybody got everybody else’s mother or sister and most of these women were pluuus size models, which was an all new challenge for some of the designers. At the top, for me, was Uli who dressed Kayne’s mother. I thought she should have won it. But it was shock! Vincent who pulled out the win, with a dress for Uli’s mom that I can only imagine must have been much more impressive in person as they all loved it and I thought it was frumpy and oddly shaped. I will say that Vincent was marginally sane and, when compared with Tattooine Jeff, downright rational. Michael rounded out the top three, designing a reversable dress for Robert’s sister and once again impressing the judges. I heart Michael. Both Kayne who designed for Michael’s mom, and Laura who designed for Jeff’s very chic mom, missed the boat, as did Angela who designed for Laura’s mom. Angela got slammed the most, although, for all it was a bit odd, I thought it looked kind of cool, whereas the other two weren’t All That.

This leaves My TV Boyfriend Robert and Tattooine Jeff in the bottom. We find out that Jeff was a junkie and an alchoholic and has turned his life around, but I think America will join with me when I say that this does not give him the right to be an absolute ass and talk down to his model, Angela’s mother, who I never really saw as being all that difficult. He was an impossible asshole (until there were judges around, of course) and Angela’s poor mother looked all kinds of disaster in that dress and said so on the runway. I had zero problems with her throwing him under the bus. I would have backed up and driven over him again. And was it me, or did his neck seem to do an Alice in Wonderland kind of thing and actually get longer during the show? Very odd.

Robert, on the other hand, designed well for his model, Vincent’s sister, but once again went the safe, conserative route, and despite the fact that for many, many reasons, Jeff should have been bounced out, it was Mr. Barbie who took the walk of shame off the runwway. Clearly the entire room of designers was terribly sad to see him go. I think even Tim was a bit verklempt as well. I know I’ll miss him. I loved him and Kayne together. No one, on the other hand, would have missed Jeff. Ah well, his week is coming. He’s hovering the bottom three almost weekly for a reason.

Next week…more torture! Oh, and Laura is expecting child number 6. Am I the only one who cannot see her as a mother of one, much less six? It just escapes me completely. I’m thinking nannies. A staff of them. (And the footage they always show of her kids being total nightmares…cracks me up. Staid and elegant Laura with her absolute fear of sweats and mini vans, trapped in a house full of boisterous, lunatic fringe kids. Amuses me. I can’t help it.)

Tomorrow we’ll announce the SHaQ Attack winner! And if I can get my act together and get pictures, you’ll get a Special K and the Gang update.

Tags: Writing by Donna
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Who are these guys? Yeah, yeah, I know who Tommy Lee is, but why do we care about a band that hasn’t even done anything yet? I really enjoyed this last summer - hi Marty! - but I’m having a hard time finding the love this year. It’s down to 7 and while there are a few I’d listen to independantly - hi Magni! hi Josh! - I’m not in lining up for anyone as a front to this band. Of course, I’m not lining up for this band anyway, so perhaps that’s a problem.

Lukas is an interesting guy, to put it mildly, and packs more intensity in his little Oompa self than one could expect, but enough with the growling. I agree with Jason on that one. Toby can run naked around my pool anytime, mate, but I don’t know that I care about his singing. Storm — you know, I want to take her seriously and she’s got great attitude and voice, but…Storm? Really? I guess we should be thankful she didn’t want to be a meteorologist. Ryan is too strange and I have a really hard time watching him, something about those psycho eyes and a serious disconnect with, well, earth. Patrice looks like a soccer mom who accidentally wandered into a tattoo parlor and went all freak on us. And Dilana….well, at least she totally owns her freakiness. So I pick her to win. Because, think about it, it saves the rest of them from a life with Tommy and Dilana can handle it, so why don’t we just let her?

Also…Brooke Burke is a mother of two? And pregnant again? Wow. Just in case Heidi Klum didn’t make us feel all inferior already.

All in all, I miss ah behnd, INXS. I was roit for them.

Tags: Writing by Donna
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Another yawn…

So….about Treasure Hunters the reality show that tried…but kinda failed. The “live” finale was kind of a misnomer, since the winners actually found the treasure back whenever they taped this. It was more a “after the final rose” kind of deal. And is it me? Or is Host Laird Headroom just as wooden live as he was on the phone videos? Very…plastic.

So, in a somewhat tense finale, all three final teams have an equal shot at figuring out the cryptex that will lead them to the final clue and the treasure. In the end, it was the Geniuses who figured out the final clue. Given that all three teams had at least 6 hours to figure it out, you can only applaud the winners for their perseverence and eventual win.

Now we’re at the ‘Live” portion of the show (do we care?) and 10 viewers who won 10K during the season get to compete for 100K (also not live.) The taping of this segment is just as herky jerky as the entire season, though why this surprises me, I have no idea. Even the cameras used during the live segments (again, why people, why?) couldn’t keep focused.

I guess the only real reason to watch the last half of the finale was to find out the exact amount of the massive pile of gold the Geniuses won. Thank god I could fast forward to that point, so I can tell you they will be splitting 3 million dollars (whoa, really) and be done ever talking about this show again. I was hoping they’d tweak it and bring it back….but really? Not so much. I just hope Amazing Race producers took note and maybe thought about making their clues a wee bit harder in upcoming seasons. Give the racers some credit.

Another finale down…a few more to go and then Real TV comes back! Woo hoo!

Oh! And a little clue to help with this week’s SHaQ Attack. A lot of you are getting it right, but to help the rest you a little….I didn’t write Naughty By Night with football player, Gabe Mackenzie. That was Janelle Denison’s contribution to I Love Bad Boys. Guess again!

Tags: Writing by Donna
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Well, I survived College Move In Day and lived to tell about it. Actually, it all went really well. And, bonus! It’s only been two days and I’m already doing less laundry.

Okay, SHaQ Attack Monday has rolled around again, so it’s time to put you all to your scavenging test. You were good last week….so let’s see how you handle this week!

Edited because I’m a dork!!

Football season has begun, with pre season games galore (be still my gridiron loving heart!) so you get a football question this week. Which book of mine features a professional football playing hero?

Here’s the edited part!! I have had TWO football heroes. If you can name them both, you get a copy of each book!! (You can still win one book or the other, if you just name one. )

Send your answers to donna@donnakauffman.com with Touchdown! in the subject line. I’ll pick a winner from the correct answers and announce it on Friday. Winner receives a copy of the book in question.

So…a little PR3 MAC for ya… It was an interesting week on Project Runway. After Heidi informed them all that they were soft and the show was going way easy on them, our happy designers got a lovely trip to a recycling plant in New Jersey (I know, yay!) and had to make an outfit of their choice from recyclables. I was actually pretty amazed at what they came up with.

Uli, Robert, Michael, Laura, even TatooineJeff all had killer outfits. Angela’s was okay, too. Kayne totally self destructed (although I was loving that painting he did on the skirt until he went all overkill on it), as did Vincent (big shock) and poor Cute Alison. In the end, Michael edges out snotty TatooineJeff for the win (because there is a god and he doesn’t like arrogant assholes) and poor, sweet Cute Alison is sent home. I sadly agree with the aufing, though I think Kayne can thank his lucky stars because it was a close call for me. (But I heart Kayne, so whew! Thank you, judges! We need more Kayne-Robert dishing.) Vincent was also in the bottom three but, as much as I think he’s a whack job and clearly so do the judges, he wasn’t the worst this week. Maybe we’ll get extra lucky and he’ll implode next week.

Up this week? The finale of Treaure Hunters. Yawn. And more aufing on Rock Star: SuperTramp, er Tommy, er Nova….who are those guys anyway? So Project Runway better be good!! September 12 is the launch of Survivor: Cook Islands and Amazing Race 10 so not too much longer before the Dog Days of Summer Television come to a merciful end.

Tags: Writing by Donna
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So You Think You Can Dance might be over, but now we can all look forward to a new season of Dancing with the Stars! Woot!

Below is an article that gives all the details in much more detail than I can….for your perusing pleasure. Should be another fun season!

From Reality World online……

-start-

ABC reveals the identities of its ‘Dancing with the Stars 3′ celebrities

By Steve Rogers, 08/14/2006

After months of rumors, ABC has formally revealed the identities of the celebrities who will be competing on this fall’s third edition of its Dancing with the Stars smash-hit reality ballroom competition.

Scheduled to premiere on Tuesday, September 12 at 8PM ET/PT with a special two-hour premiere, Dancing with the Stars 3 will feature eleven celebrities — one more than last season’s cast of ten and nearly double the size of initial season’s cast of six.

In addition to Hollywood actress Vivica A. Fox (who had already publicly confirmed her participation back in June), Dancing with the Stars’s third season cast will include MSNBC talk show host Tucker Carlson, High School Musical star Monique Coleman, country singer Sara Evans, pop singer Willa Ford, actor Harry Hamlin, actor Joseph “Don’t call me Joey anymore” Lawrence, actor Mario Lopez, former Meet The Barkers star (and soon-to-be new divorcee) Shanna Moakler, retired NFL star Emmit Smith, and former talk show host Jerry Springer.

Although ABC had declined to comment on any casting reports, Fox, Hamlin (the husband of Dancing 2 competitor Lisa Rinna) and Lopez’s participation had been rumored for months. Last week, additional online reports that Carlson, Lawrence, Moakler, and Smith would also be part of the third season cast also began circulating.

Dancing with the Stars 2 professional dancers Louis Van Amstel, Cheryl Burke, Maxsim Chmerkovskiy, Ashly Delgrosso, Tony Dovolani, Nick Kosovich, and Edyta Sliwinska will all return for the show’s third season, as will hosts Tom Bergeron and Samantha Harris (while ABC used Rinna to help unveil this season’s cast on today’s Good Morning America broadcast, she will not, as had been rumored this past spring and incorrectly reported by some media outlets today, replace Harris as the show’s co-host.)

Judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli will also all return for Dancing with the Stars’ third edition. Beginning this fall, Dancing with the Stars will also be broadcast in HDTV (earlier this summer, the network’s short-lived The One reality talent competition became the first ABC reality series broadcast in HDTV.)

Carlson will be partnered with Elena Grinenko, one of this season’s new professional dancers. Coleman will dance with Van Amstel, an original Dancing pro who paired with Rinna and Trista Sutter (Season 1) in the show’s first two seasons. Evans will pair with Dovolani, who partnered with Stacy Keibler last season.

Chmerkovskiy, who paired with Tia Carrere last season, will be Ford’s partner. Fox will dance with Kosovich, who paired with Tatum O’Neal last season. Hamlin will pair with Delgrosso, another original Dancing pro who previously paired with Master P (Season 2) and Joey McIntyre (Season 1.)

Sliwinska, another original Dancing pro who previously paired with George Hamilton (Season 2) and Evander Holyfield (Season 1), will be paired with Lawrence. Lopez will dance with Karina Smirnoff, another of this season’s four new professional dancers. Moakler, will be paired with Jesse DeSoto, another of the season’s new professional dancers.

Burke, who won last season’s Dancing with the Stars competition with Drew Lachey, will be paired with Smith. Springer will dance with professional dancer Kym Johnson, who while new to the ABC version of the show, previously paired with Australian celebrity Tom Williams to win the second season of Australia’s version of the show.

Season 2 professionals Andrea Hale (Kenny Mayne’s partner), Jonathan Roberts (Giselle Fernandez’s partner), and Anna Trebunskaya (Jerry Rice’s partner) will not return for Dancing with the Stars 3. Roberts had also paired with former supermodel, Are You Hot? judge, and The Real Gilligan’s Island castmember Rachel Hunter during Dancing with the Stars’ first season.

After its premiere, Dancing with the Stars 3 will air its first results show the following night on Wednesday, September 13 at 8PM ET/PT — the results show’s new regular time period.

As the network first announced in May, rather than air on the same Thursday/Friday broadcast schedule that its second edition used, Dancing with the Stars’ third season will move to an American Idol-like midweek schedule (fitting given its Idol-like ratings growth) in which its performance and results shows will air on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 8PM ET/PT.

Hoping to simultaneously give Dancing with the Stars 3’s early round performances that extra time they need and also use the program as a launching pad for not one but two new ABC sitcoms, the show’s Tuesday performance shows will gradually be reduced from two hours in length to one. After two weeks of two-hour performance shows, the show’s performance broadcasts will be reduced to 90 minutes and Help Me Help You, a new Ted Danson sitcom, will begin airing at 9:30PM ET/PT beginning September 26. Following three more weeks of eliminations, the performance shows will be reduced to an hour, with The Knights Of Prosperity, another new ABC sitcom that’s already on its fourth title, taking over the 9-9:30PM ET/PT time period between Dancing with the Stars and Help Me Help You.

Dancing with the Stars’ results show will retain the same full-hour variety show-type format that it ended up adopting during the course of last season’s Friday night broadcasts throughout its third season.

-end-

Hope you all enjoyed that update!

Now on to this week’s SHaQ Attack Giveaway Winner! Put your hands together and raise your ice cream bowls for Kris M who correctly guessed that the book starring upside down swimming fish, Fred, was The Legend of the Sorcerer. Woo hoo, Kris!!!

I am off to take my son to college today. Wish me luck!! I’ll see you all back here on Monday with a new SHaQ Attack hunt and maybe some belated Project Runway 3 MAC. Have a great weekend everyone!

Tags: Writing by Donna
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