Today is release day for Not Over Yet, the second book in my Hot Under Her Collar series about young female clergy falling in lust and love, while also finding their professional groove.

I have BIG plans to have brunch with my fabulous editor (and with champagne of course)! Then, to avoid the unproductive glued-to-the-computer-but-not-accomplishing-squat thing that happens to me on most release days, I’m going to paint my bathroom. (I guess I better have only one mimosa, if I want straight lines.)

If you haven’t grabbed your copy of the book yet, why the heck not?

Perhaps it’s because I’ve failed to entice you with my agonized marketing attempts.

Case and point: writing blurbs is one of the hardest parts of authoring/publishing for me. My brain just doesn’t like to reduce the complexities of what I hope is a rich story with layered characters into 150 catchy words. Identifying the best hooks and playing up the tropes sometimes feels in conflict with the truth of what the story is about. And yet, everyone tells you a good blurb sells books!

This is the blurb for NOT OVER YET:

Some people aren’t meant to have it all…

Three years ago, nanny Lily Yee enjoyed a passionate fling with her boss, the recently divorced and extremely eligible Eric Roche. Then the sexy surfer/CEO wanted more than she could give, and she fled to pursue her one true calling—the priesthood.

Eric learned how to love from Lily and wanted to build a happy family with her. But she walked away without explanation, leaving him angry, confused, and…fine, he’ll admit it, occasionally a little desperate for her.

When a crisis in her church leads Lily back into Eric’s arms, his heart calls to her as strongly as the priesthood. He’ll do anything to win her back, but she knows she’s not cut out to juggle a family and a career. She needs to let him go again soon, but she can’t deny they’re not over yet.

Thanks to the help of my patient critique partners, it’s not too bad. But if I had all the words in the world to say what it’s really about, I’d say something like:

Not Over Yet is an In Love with the Nanny meets Second Chance Romance story about a Sexually Empowered Heroine with Exhibitionist Tendencies who is facing the Hard Issues of Gender and Race in her new job as an Episcopal Priest and simply can’t believe she is someone who gets to Have It All with her Perfectly Flawed Hero and his Adorable Daughters, who look more like Lily than their adoptive parents.

Lily is a remarkable, fierce, bright young woman plagued by perfectionism and acutely aware of the expectations of others. Fresh out of college, she gets totally in over her head in an affair with an older man, who falls for her hard. She leaves him for all the right reasons, and accidentally breaks his heart. Three years later, when it seems like all the wrong reasons might make it possible for them to be together, she has to decide if she’s been thinking about her calling in a backwards way all along.

Eric is sexy, sweet, strong and well intentioned. He’s doing his damnedest to be the world’s best single dad. For Lily, he’s Mr. Right at the wrong time. Especially because Lily doesn’t think there will ever be a right time for her. I love how he thinks about Lily, and all the scenes where he is surfing, or getting unwelcome pastoral advice from his hippy priest Fr. Bobby. I’ve never written an all-in-from-the-start hero before, and he was really, really fun to develop!

His almost desperation for Lily made me totally fall in love with the cover art I found, with her on top! (Honestly, it was super hard to find appropriate cover art for these two, and this picture was the only one I really liked. Their positions cemented it for me.)

Far better than a blurb is an excerpt–maybe this little “Second Chance Kiss” scene is the best way to tempt you to read Not Over Yet:

He’d never told her about his past because he’d wanted to present himself as good husband material. But she’d left him, and being around her was sandpaper on the stubborn, raw wound.

Christ. Time for a change of subject. He reached for her laptop, but his shoulder spasmed. “Ow. Fuck.”

She was there in an instant, digging her sharp little elbow into the rock-hard knot of muscle. “I thought you said it was better.”

“It has been.” He ground out the words through the pain radiating up his neck and down his arm.

“Are you saying I’m giving you cramps?”

He laughed, but it came out hoarse with strain. “God that hurts. Don’t stop.”

“Sh. I know the drill.”

In the silence, her delicate but strong fingers kneaded the muscle along the top of his shoulder. As it eased, she expanded her focus down his spine and up his neck. Tingles of pleasure crawled over his scalp and cascaded down his arms. A rush of blood flowed to his groin, but he didn’t fight it—that would only make his desire dig in, as stubborn and intractable as Lily herself.

So much had changed, but she still smelled the same, like the flowery shampoo she bought at the drugstore. Damn, he’d missed her scent. He caught her hand and dragged it around so he could place a single, chaste kiss to her palm.

She shuddered.

His cock pulsed. Okay. Maybe not so chaste.

He spun in the stool to face her. His heart raced, a barrage of desires threatening to break him open so that all his longing might ooze out. Was he actually going to risk her rejection again?

One glimpse at her pretty mouth open in surprise and the answer came back a certain yes. But he had to keep it light, or she would bolt and refuse his help again.

She made a halfhearted attempt to pull away, but he held her hand, and when she encountered the slightest pressure of his grip, she gave up.

Still, her lips pursed. “Eric.”

“I know. Help. Friends.” He traced his fingers over the inside of her wrist.

She leaned closer, letting her belly brush against his knees.

“Lily.”

She met his gaze.

He could say it again, what he’d said the first time. I’m going to kiss you.

But now, with that damn collar around her neck, and her history of rejecting him plus three years’ absence poured on top, a man could only say one thing. “Can I kiss you?”

Her jaw slackened, parting her lips with what could only be surprise.

Score, shouted a voice inside him.

Her pretty, wide mouth spread into an even wider smile. “Only because you asked so nicely.”

And then she leaned in, meeting him halfway, brushing their lips together. Her smell, her warmth, the familiarity of a long-missed caress. His skin buzzed with desire and he ached to touch hers all over, to press their naked lengths together. But she hadn’t even opened her mouth to him, only let their lips linger in the tender kiss. He wanted to tease his way inside her and test if she tasted the same, but he would accept what she offered and not press.

Not yet, at least.

Have I finally succeeded in tempting you? Then go forth and click!