So…on Idol, each of the final three gets three songs to sing. A judge pick, a producer pick, and a personal pick. I think I speak for a large percentage of the folks when I say the producer pick was, for the most part, well, awful. Blake was the only one who get a song worth singing and it’s so worn out even it was a struggle.

Aaaaaanyway, Jordin gets Wishing on Star from Simon, and I liked it. She got Works Hard for the Money from the producer and, well, what can you do with that? Then she picked…I’m not sure of the title, but the key phrase was I Love You, and I don’t know about you, but I thought that was incredibly compelling and her best of the night. Totally disagreed with Simon there.

Blake was by far the most contemporary and fresh of the night, if not nearly the power house the other two were. He got Roxanne from Paula, which it’s hard to compete with Sting, but I liked it, then he got Maroon Five’s This Love, which is right up his alley, but tired, though he did freshen it up as much as he could. But he closed it out with Robin Thicke and put Robin to shame. The only song of the night I could imagine actually listening to on a station that wasn’t playing oldies. I almost wish he wouldn’t win so he could make a more contemporary CD than 19 Productions would likely allow him to make if he won.

Lastly was MindyDo, who got, by far the toughest assignments of the night. Randy gives her Whitney. Yes, Whitney. Which she sings beautifully, but yawn, you know? Then, THEN, the producers give her an Ike & Tina song, so I’m all excited, until I hear it’s Nutbush City Limits. Honestly? What was he smoking? Something Ike gave him most likely. I mean, that WHOLE catalogue and that was your best shot? Of course she does it smokingly well, but, like, who cares? Because, Nutbush City Limits? Seriously? No, seriously? Then she chooses to reprise a song from earlier in the season, I’m a Woman, which is great fun, but also dated. She’s fabulous with a voice that can tackle anything, but from those choices, I can’t “hear” her on the radio with that stuff.

All in all, though, an immensely tough choice for the final two. Honestly, any or all of them belong there. There is no loser here and no crime no matter who goes home. My favorite is Blake, simply because I think he’s the freshest, but Jordin could also tackle a contemporary career with that huge voice of hers, and Melinda can do freaking anything they give her. But Blake is the only one with a recognizable “sound.” And I’m not talking about the beat boxing, though I like it, too. And yet I still think he’d be better served career wise by not winning and giving them such control over his product initially. I’m not sure they really “get” him. So…hmmm…..it’s a tough one.

Who do you think should go to the finals? Who should win?

I know who loses…but that’s on Dancing With the Stars. Another nail biter, though with a bit more diversity in the ranks to my mind’s eye. I think Joey and Apolo dance on a more technically superior level than the other two, and are equally entertaining with it, so to me, they should be the finalists, with Laila and Ian an even runners-up. But…here we go. (And you can’t make me listen to Julio. No, you can’t. That’s why God invented the fast forward button. Right before he invented TiVo. So I never have to watch anything I don’t want to. Ever again. So there.) Oh, it’s Enrique? Well. Him, I’ll watch.

Okay…and we’re off. I love Tom. Love. Him. He makes his job look incredibly easier than it is. He’s really such a great talent at what he does. Even Sam looks better with him (and far lovelier in her preggers state, too.) And yet, I still wish they’d replace her based on the back stage interview section alone. Maybe motherhood will intervene and solve the problem for us. We, and her child, could only be so lucky.

But I digress.

After an encore by Joey and Kym, a song by Enrique, complete with dance ensemble (Louis!), we finally get the first couple who is in the finals. And……it’s Joey & Kym. So, h’s way more excited than you think he’d be. It’s like he has this thing he’s got to prove. I think he’d have been pretty upset (pissed, not crushed) if he hadn’t made it. There’s a wee bit of entitlement with him that bugs, as funny and entertaining as he is.

Next we get a world champion flamenco dancer. And, was it just me, or did all that wacky percussion sort of drown out the poor, scraggly guy? (And, just sayin, but only Johnny Depp gets away with that level of scraggly and makes it look hot. Sorry, Flamenco Guy.)

Moving on, yeah, he’s younger and cuter, but he only gets one shot with me. Sorry, E.

Next? We find out who else is in the finals. Woo hoo! Aaaaand, Laila and Maks are in! (Oh sure, make me sweat it out over Apolo and Ian why don’t you.) But, after much drama, Apolo and Julianne are in, and it is, in fact, Ian and Cheryl going home. So…no big shock, and Cheryl should feel good at making it to the semi’s - she’s done very well. I know Maks was so excited to make it to the finals after never making it past round four. Poor Laila, I have a feeling he’s going to be bear to deal with this week.

But, the best news? They each get two dances AND? The freestyle round. Woo hoo! I can’t say I’m all that excited about Laila’s freestyle since, I’m imagining it will be more funky dance moves given Maks can’t exactly pick her up and toss her around. What excites me is to see what Joey and Apolo end up with. I think Julianne’s choreo has been the most exciting and entertaining all year, with Kym’s being a close second, if more showboat-y. It should be a smashing finale! Can’t wait!

Don’t forget to enter this week’s SHaQ Attack contest for a chance at a free book. See Tuesday’s post for all the details.

Happy Hump Day everyone!

Tags: Writing by Donna
2 Comments »

On Dancing With The Stars, Apolo and Julianne bring it so hard it makes Uncle Lenny blush. And not in a good way. Not me! I loved them! Each couple gets to do their two favorite dances, so these two choose the quick step and the cha cha. Their quick step is fast and furious and just so dang good. I think her choreography is easily the most technically difficult and their speed is closest to pro level, comparitively. The judges concur, and award them a perfect 30. Well earned, I say.

Laila and Maks Walk Like An Egyptian with their tango, and, don’t get me wrong, I love her, I will never get tired of watching Maks, and I think they are fun to watch together…but, to me, she always looks somewhat slower and kinda clunky and not sharp or smooth with her movements. I know they say as the only female she has a tougher time of it, but I don’t really get that, as the guys have to live up to the pro guy end of things, too. Anyway, to me it was about a 27. Good, but nowhere near the J/A level. And yet, they get a 30, too. Okay. Whatever.

Ian and Cheryl do seem to have a good time, and it’s an enjoyable routine if nothing particularly spectacular, but definitely fun to watch. They get a 28, which is a wee bit higher than I’d have given them, again, comparitively speaking with Julianne and Apolo’s opening number, but okay.

And finally we get Joey and Kym, who, to me, are the only ones who come close to J/A’s routine in complexity and great delivery. I’d have given them a 30, he really is good, despite his brashness, and the judges concur, but say he nailed the ballroom round the best of anyone. Mmmmmm, tied maybe, but not the best.

So, at the end of the Ballroom Round, we have Apolo, Joey, and Laila with 30’s, and Ian with 28.

Enter the Latin Round. First we get to see Uncle Lenny going to their individual studios to help them dance, and it is fun to see Lenny dance (although I’d have given large sums of money to see Laila teach him the butterfly, as she apparently did. Darn editors!)

Up first is Apolo and Julianne, who get to do the Cha Cha to Push It. Now, I don’t know about you, but that’s a pretty direct song, with direct lyrics and bass line, and it’s the Cha Cha. A latin dance. A sexy, hot dance. So they….you know….push it. Push it real good. A lot. Me? I LOVED it. I thought it was wild, fun, and the crowd goes freaking insane. Carrie Ann and Bruno both need a cigarette when it’s over, then Lenny goes and buzz kills everyone’s after moment by saying it was too raunchy for him. Sigh. So they get a 29. Boo hiss, Lenny! He earned that first perfect 60 like no other. As I said, they dance faster, and to much harder choreo than anyone. Buzzkill. But I’ll live.

Laila and Maks come out and do a much slower, much clunkier (to my view) dance, where her movements simply aren’t as crisp, clean, or fast as Apolo executed his…and they shower her with love. Again, I like her, I like her attitude, her spunk, and she does work really hard and does a fair job. But, honestly, that was a perfect dance? No. Not at the level Apolo and Joey are dancing, it wasn’t. So she gets the first perfect 60. Again, whatever.

Ian comes out dressed as Elvis with a huge, oversize pompadour, and Cheryl in a cute spangly number, and they dance to All Shook Up. It’s definitely cute, and Ian looks really great. For Ian. But, again, I thought it a notch below Joey and Apolo…and yet, they get their 30. And I begin to realize the judges are going to score everyone really tightly and just let the fans decide. Fine with me, as I think Apolo has a huge fan base. But I worry that Joey (who is by far not my fave of the group, but does happen to dance great) could get screwed like last week.

Finally, we get Joey and Kym, who, I think, knock it out of the park and definitely bring a Hollywood vibe to their performance that is a perfect match for their jive, and not over sold at all. I really enjoyed watching it, and Joey, for a change. They get a well deserved 30, making their perfect 60 the only one of the night I think was deserved. I’d just have given Apolo one as well.

So, after two rounds, we have Laila and Joey with perfect 60′s. (Should have been 57/58 tops, and 60), Apolo with 59 (clearly should have been a 60, with Joey’s) and Ian with 58, which I’d have given a 56/57 to. Whatever to the third power. I just hope the fans vote right and keep Joey and Apolo in the finals. I think they’ve earned it. Joey, of course, is a bit of a ringer to me, with his former dance background in NSync. Not that it’s anything like the discipline of ballroom, but he has had to master complex choreo before, so he does have that leg up.

For a semi-final round, this was definitely high quality dancing all the way around and great fun. But I’d rank them as follows - Apolo, Joey, Laila/Ian tied (for various reasons.) If I had to pick a final three, Ian, I’m sorry, you’d be the one going home. But if Laila went, that’s fine, too. I just don’t think that will happen. She has the fan base, too.

So, we should get Joey, Apolo and Laila next week in the finale, which is a good group from the original 12. I can’t WAIT to see Julianne’s freestyle choreo, if they stick with previous seaons’ format for the finale. Should be serious WOW. To the surprise of absolutely no one, I think Apolo should win, Joey should get second based on merit, if not my love. With either of the other two in third.

We’ll see!

Tonight is the results, and Idol! (Who is the mentor this week? I have no idea.)

Okay, for this week’s SHaQ Attack contest, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to tell me the name of Willa Trask’s hero. Send the answer to donna@donnakauffman.com with My Hero! in the subject line. On Friday, I will choose one winner from the correct responses and that Blog Babe will receive his/her choice from my website bookshelf. (One caveat - I am out of advance copies of The Black Sheep & The Princess, sorry!) But I did get extra back stock of a bunch of other titles from my agent last week…so books that have previously been unavailable, are back again!

Good luck, and happy hunting!

Tags: Writing by Donna
5 Comments »

Wow, didn’t you just want to laugh and laugh and laugh at the jury? Or, you know, strangle them? What a bunch of angry, angry people. Except for Michelle, Rocky, and Yau (all original Ravu - coincidence? I think not) the jury was a bunch of bitter whiners who — hey! — ALL got voted out and didnt get to win the million dollars. Imagine that. SO much easier to be holier than thou when you’re the losers. Sheesh!

You know things are messed up when Rocky is the only one to state the obvious - that they all played like that to win, but those three sitting over there just did it way better then the rest of you. Honestly.

As soon as Yau went home (sob!) my interest in the finale officially evaporated. I figured it had to be Earl, because Dreamz screwed himself with the entire jury well before the Yau Incident, and Cassandra…..yeah, like that was going to happen. But I will say that at the reunion show? Dang, Earl cleans up niiiiiiiiiiice, doesn’t he? I’m sure that million dollars will look good on him, too.

I didn’t get the chance to watch the rest of the reunion show. Too late and frankly, I didn’t have the stomach or heart to listen to the rest of the Bitter Bunch again, even if they have had five months to chill the heck out. I’ll just look forward to watching Dancing With the Stars tonight instead. Go Apolo!

Hope everyone had a lovely Mother’s Day weekend. It was gorgeous here!

Tune in tomorrow for the next SHaQ Attack contest.

And, calling all past winners - other than last week’s winners, whose books go in the mail today — if you haven’t received your prize yet, please email me at donna@donnakauffman.com. Unless you are overseas, you should receive your book within 2 weeks of winning it. If it’s been longer than that, and you haven’t received yours, let me know. Thanks!)

Tags: Writing by Donna
4 Comments »

Yow, Yau! I thought Our Yau was toast. What a nail biter! Thank goodness he went with his own bad vibe feelings and didn’t listen to Sunshine & Lollipops Earl. I hope Earl buys a clue now, as to how ruthless people are going to get for a million dollars. (A million dollars, Earl. Duh.) Between Boo winning stuff and Dreamz consistently being the smartest, stupidest person to ever play Survivor, this will certainly be an interesting finish on Sunday. Considering how yucky a season it was in the beginning, they once again sure managed to make it interesting by the endgame. (Doesn’t it seem like light years ago when Rocky was in this game? Like that was a whole different season?) I’m just thrilled Yau made it this far. I thought it was so cute when he was all excited because things were finally getting nefarious, with fun, sneaky conversations. Gotta love this guy!

Okay, okay, now on to the fun stuff! We have three winners today of advance reading copies of my August release, The Black Sheep & The Princess. Put your ice cream spoons together for Blog Babes Sanjay, Jill S, and Rosie! I’ve emailed you all. All I need are addresses and the books will be on their way to you.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and Happy Mother’s Day to all you Blog Babe Mom’s out there!

Tags: Writing by Donna
10 Comments »

So, the bottom 2 on Idol was no shock, and either of them could have had their exit to not much surprise. However, given his overall originality and unique voice, I was glad Blake stayed in. Overall, LaKiki has had a rougher go of it, so it was probably the right thing. I’m not sure what he’ll have to do next week to beat either of the two remaining. I think we have our final two, and he’s not going to be one of them. I do think, though, that he’ll get a record deal out of this. And probably one not as limiting as Idol’s would be, which will suit his unique sound better anyway - so well done, Blake, well done.

So, who’s it going to be? MindyDo…or Jordin? I think it’s a toss up, I really do. My vote goes for Melinda, but Jordin sure has a lovely career ahead of her, too. It’s win-win really, with this final three. I think they will all prosper from this.

Okay, so I caught up on Survivor - finally! Aaaand, Ha ha, Alex. Ha ha. Boy, was I sweating bullets on that one, though. Thank goodness Yau didn’t get clotheslined that go around. Will be realllllly interesting to see where it goes from here. With 6 left and only two shows, that tells me that more than three are going to the finals this year. Hunh.

I also watched the Amazing Race finale. Yeah, I could have just put that off for, oh, another season. Forever, really. Of the three final teams, I wasn’t all that enthused with any of them the way I was with Oswald and Danny, but of the three, in terms of game play, the team that won was the one I wanted to come in last. I would have had it BQ’s, Charla/Mirna (annoying, but they did really play the game), then Eric and Danielle (who, I honestly have no idea how they won.) So, really disappointing finish for me, but overall, otherwise, a good season. I will be there for the next one.

And in the Reality Show Withdrawal column…yay, the Pirate show starts the 31st!. I hear it’s way tougher than Survivor, so we’ll see if it’s something I stick with, but I’ll sure give it a shot. So, a dancing show and a survivor-like show…that’ll take up the slack nicely.

We get a winner tomorrow in the SHaQ Attack “Take A Black Sheep Home” contest. I’ll announce the winner in the morning..so you still have today to enter. See Monday’s blog for all the details!

Tags: Writing by Donna
3 Comments »

I got to watch Dancing With The Stars, albeit in fits and starts (online viewing, such a joy) and here are my general impressions: Laila & Maks - loved the waltz, lovely tribute to your dad, thought the second dance was kinda sloppy. You were lucky with the scores on that one. Ian & Cheryl - I missed the second one, but I thought you got a little shafted on the scores and comments the first go around. No way did you deserve the same scores as Billy Ray. What was up with that? Speaking of which…Billy Ray, is that how badly you want to go home, that you’re going to resort to whining and bad sportsmanship? And please, leave poor Ali alone for god’s sake. No class, man, no class. Joey & Kym, fun to watch, but he’s gone a shade too far into Brashville for me. Still, definitely a great dancer and a good showman. Which leaves my cutie patooties, Apolo & Julianne, who I thought rocked the house with both numbers. In fact, I almost liked the first one best. Uncle Lenny sure is a prune, isn’t he? Bruno, on the other hand, pure entertainment, he gives many viewer value bucks. Love!

So…who should go home? Well, duh. Billy Ray has finally reached the end. I fear Ian will be in the bottom two with him, and though his scores should have been higher (how frustrating for Cheryl) compared to who else is left, I suppose it’s the right placement. Just not by as much a margin as probably landed him there.

Aaaaaand, for the sake of my bogged down TiFaux’s sanity, I ff’d through the show to the end (okay, okay, so I might have made a wee pit stop when Maks and his brother Val were on. I’m in a hurry, but I’m not stupid.) Bottom two? Billy Ray aaaaand (I guess I’m not the only one tired of the slightly cocky ‘tude) Joey!! Who goes home? Well, a scare is one thing, but you didn’t honestly think…..nah, golly dang, it’s finally Billy Ray!! You worked so hard, and I give you credit, you were entertaining and mostly humble, but the attitude at the end cost ya. Kissing and making up tonight didn’t cut it.

Next week, I feared it would be Ian leaving, but now? Who knows! I just want Apolo in the finals. Beyond that, I’m good.

SO! Now we move on to Americal Idol!

It’s Bee Gee’s week with Barry Gibb and his false teeth as mentor. Everybody gets two songs, and halfway through Round One, we are somewhat thankful for that.

Round 1:

Blake is up with You Should Be Dancin’ and I really liked what he wanted to do with the song, just not what he actually did with it. He was off key and ahead of the band, but I otherwise disagreed with the judges. I thought it was fresh and more contemporary. Just needed to settle down a little, get on key and on track, and it would have been a lot of fun. And very Blake. (How hard it must be to listen to the judges one week say “Make it your own, take risks, show us you want to be here, be unique!” then follow that with “Dude, that song is a classic, don’t mess with that, what were you thinking?” I’d pull my hair out. Strand by strand.)

MindyDoo sings Inside & Out very well, and….well, she sings well. Nothing wrong with that, just nothing mind blowing either. LaKiKi tackles Staying Alive and had she gone all crescendo on our behinds it would have been phenomenal, but instead it was kind of a herky jerky mess. Unfortunately. Because she opened it beautifully.

Then along comes Jordin and totally knocks it out of the park in rehearsals with her rendition of To Love Somebody, which impresses me and Barry Gibb. Then she goes live and it’s all shaky and off tempo with the band at the start. And, you know, everybody has had that problem tonight and I don’t think it’s collective nerves. I think the band is off tempo or something with how they rehearsed it. It seems like every singer is opening then quickly adjusting to something being off….and I thought it was them, but now? Not so much. MindyDo was the only one who did it seamlessly. A shame her song wasn’t more defining. But Jordin brings it back around and does a great job with this. The judges finally, concur.

Round 1 in order- Jordin, MindyDo, Blake for trying, but tied with LaKiki for last.

Round 2:

MindyDo tackles How Can You Mend A Broken Heart and again it seems a bit off with the band, but she sounds lovely as always. Not sure this was my fave version of the song, but she closes really, really strong. (Yay!) Simon concurs.

Blake takes on an obscure Bee Gee’s song This Is Where I Came In, which I love, but I fear the voters at large will feel left out by not knowing it by heart like so many of their other songs. I hope I’m wrong. Because Bee Gee’s dance music is a bitch to sing, but their older stuff, like Melinda just sang, is truly classic. I’m glad he chose something in that vein. We’ll see how that plays out. My only fear is, after being so very careful not to put too much vocal stylizing into his music over the past few months, now he’s going in overkill mode. The first song was well enough, especially after last week’s dynamite performance, so I’m not so crazy about that part, though I otherwise always enjoy it. Fear the voters a little, Blake! And I don’t know if it’s the tone/key he chose, but wow, I didn’t like that at all. Blake, dude, you’re thisclose! Don’t do things like this, dude. Simon trashes him to the shock of absolutely no one.

LaKiki goes with…aaaand right here is where my DSL went out and erased the rest of what I typed as I watched last night. The show I have already erased from my TiFaux. Yeah. Technology is NOT my friend this week. Aaaaanyway, I seem to recall she was better than her first go, but it wasn’t a strong night for her. But it’s Jordin who knocks it out (although she sounded hoarse in this one, too. I think these kids are exhausted at this point) - anyway, she took on Streisand’s Woman in Love and did really well with it. I think LaKiki might be in trouble tonight…or possibly (say it ain’t so!) Blake. I love ya, Kik, but I hope it’s you and not Blake. He’s the only one with a recognizable sound. The rest of you are just really great singers.

So, hopefully next week it’s Blake, Jordin, and MindyDo in the finals. When it all boils down to it, from the original 12, that’s pretty much how it should go anyway. At this point, any of them deserve to win it, so I’m happy.

Okay, my next plan is to catch up on Survivor and Amazing Race as I just realized that Survivor ends this weekend! Ack! Where did the time go? All of a sudden, everything is almost over! Oh - but we do get So You Think You Can Dance starting in a few weeks. Whew! I was getting nervous there for a moment. All twitchy fingered and a damp chill…I mean, stopping reality television cold turkey? You must be kidding…

Oh…and a huge thank you to all the Blog Babes who so swiftly ran to my Friend-less side yesterday at My Space. Yay!! I’m not the wallflower anymore! Now I just have to figure out what to do with it. But please, stop by, make comments, drool over covers, and all that good stuff. I will try and at least keep it current with some new pics now and again, since I can’t seem to get them to load here.

Happy Hump Day everyone!

Tags: Writing by Donna
4 Comments »

So, I promised my son I’d watch the finale of Amazing Race with him (since we’ve watched the whole season together) so naturally he has late meetings and has to get up at 5am for work…so I had to let it slide tonight (though I was DYING to watch!!)

But I consoled myself with the fact that at least I’ll have Dancing With The Stars to watch and MAC. Woo hoo! Except my TiFaux didn’t record it for whatever reason, so I have to wait until tonight to watch it on the ABC site. Pout! However, I will try and get both that watched and the results show and do a Super Duper MAC.

I still haven’t watched last week’s Survivor, either, so maybe I can do a double header on that for Friday’s blog. Maybe. We have lacrosse playoffs that night…so we’ll see how long that goes!

And then there’s Idol. Okay, I totally need an assistant. And a housekeeper. And a cook. Then I can keep up with my all important reality television watching. I have my priorities! Besides, it’s Bee Gee’s week. And you might scoff, but I loved those guys! It’s not all disco, you know. I want Blake to do How Can You Mend A Broken Heart just to see how he handles it.

I did manage to catch up on Grey’s Anatomy. (I had to, it’s all they talk about at work.) It made me cry. Poor Meredith really has had it handed to her, huh? I think I’m going to love the new spinoff for Addison. Tim Daly and that kiss? AND the very fine Taye Diggs? Yeah, I’m there. Oh….and what do you think Ava’s past secrets are going to be? Hmmm……

Don’t forget to enter this week’s SHaQ Attack. See Monday’s blog for the details. It couldn’t be easier this week!

I’m glad you all liked the cover. The cover gods are being veddy veddy kind to me, yessiree, Bob. No complaints here!

And for those asking about my puppy…he’s still got a ways to go, but he’s hanging in there like a champ! I really appreciate your well wishes. They mean a lot.

So, okay, thanks to my sister, I am officially a My Space virgin. And I am friendless! Wah! So consider this an open invite to all the blog babes out there! You can even see pics of the pups and my parrot. (I know, the fun never stops with me.) Come visit me at…. Donna’s My Space Page

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Tags: Writing by Donna
7 Comments »

Thank you all for your patience. We had a huge three day event at our shop this past weekend, which I was in charge of, and it went fantastically well. I’m so proud of my staff for the kickass job they did, but mostly I am exceedingly thankful it is over!

I haven’t had a chance to watch anything - so I’m covering my eyes about the result of last night’s Amazing Race finale until I get the chance to watch it.

But! I did not come back empty handed. No, no! I got a sneak peek at the cover of my second Black Sheep book, The Black Sheep & The Hidden Beauty, and the back cover copy, so I have to share it with you all. Woo hoo!

They had a lot to live up to after The Great Scot cover and the first Black Sheep coming out this August, The Black Sheep & The Princess…but I think the art department at Kensington managed to do that and then some! What do you think?

And here is the back cover copy…

They’re back—the boys your mother warned you about, the black sheep her mother warned her about—the bad boys every good girl needs oh so badly…

Raphael “Rafe” Santiago may have left the streets years ago, but the street has never left him. A rough childhood in the Bronx taught him never to let his guard down, to keep everything in order, and always to trust that little voice in his gut that tells him when someone’s got something to hide. Horse trainer Elena Caulfield, is definitely hiding something, and Rafe intends to find out what it is and take care of it—his way.

But his way wasn’t supposed to include feeling an intense attraction to the tomboyish Elena. With her mud-caked boots, quiet strength, and gentle manner, she’s nothing like the flashy, seductive, overtly feminine women Rafe usually beds. The closer he gets to her, the harder it is to control that fiery passion he’s worked hard to keep cooled, the kind that can catch a man off guard and leave him open to danger—because whatever secret Elena’s protecting, it’s big…and worth killing for. Because when you’re from the Bronx, you take care of what you love—or die trying…

Available January 2008!

But right this very second, it’s SHaQ Attack time and I have advance copies of my August Black Sheep book that I’d love to give a couple away to some very patient and deserving Blog Babes. I’m not even going to make you work at it. Just send me an email to donna@donnakauffman.com with “Pick me!” in the subject line and this Friday, I’ll draw three winners from the pile of entries.

AND! If that wasn’t enough excitement, I’m also running a contest on my regular homepage newsletter in conjunction with the release of Perfectly Plum next month. So hop on over to my homepage (link is at the top of the column to your right) and sign up today.

Hopefully - hopefully! - I’ll be back with the MAC tomorrow. In the meantime, good luck and Happy Monday!

Tags: Writing by Donna
14 Comments »

Hey, Blog Babes! Thanks for making the Friday signing that much more fun! It was great getting to meet some of you in person. The good news is, I had a great weekend and writer’s conference. The bad news is I came home to a bunch o’ stuff that’s going to take up a good bit more of my time than I thought. (Nothing bad! The puppy is okay!) It’s other-job related, but will pretty much consume me for very (very) long hours every day. The good news is, it will culminate this Sunday. The bad news is, I can’t keep up with the shows this week. (A crime really, there should be a law or something!)

So no blog/recapping this week, but I will return next week! Probably won’t catch up the recaps for this week (just holding a self imposed media blackout so I don’t hear who got voted off/Philiminated/danced off/etc before I get a chance to watch will be a miracle.) I’ll dive back in next Monday with the Amazing Race finale and go from there.

And I’ll make it up to ya with the SHaQ Attack - I’ll give away a couple of advance copies of The Black Sheep & The Princess!! I really really swear!

I hope everyone is having a fabulous week and enjoying some pretty weather like we are here in Virginia, with everything flowering and lovely. See you on Monday.

Tags: Writing by Donna
6 Comments »