Tag Archives: ebook

Jimmy (Red, Hot & Blue, Book 3)

Posted on by Author Cat Johnson

Jimmy

Finally, TREY and JACK have been joined by JIMMY!

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JIMMY

Red, Hot & Blue, Book 3

Social butterfly and a soldier in the Special Forces—a match made in…bed.

Special Forces gave Jimmy Gordon the undercover skills of a chameleon, but nothing prepared him for Amelia Monroe-Carrington, the governor’s hot, redheaded daughter. She thought she was seducing a banquet waiter, and he let her.

His next assignment pulled him from her bed and into the worst six months of his life. Images of Lia were what kept him alive imprisoned in Kosovo, and even now he’s home and recovered, she’s still in his head.

For her father’s political career, Lia has always done the appropriate thing, right down to dating a senator’s son. Her one rebellious act, an incredible night with a totally inappropriate man, ended when he disappeared. And then never called.

When they unexpectedly meet again, the pull between them is stronger than ever, tempting Lia to stop sacrificing her own happiness for the family dynasty.

This book has been previously published and has been revised and expanded from its original release.

Warning: Contains incredible one-night-stand sex hot enough to withstand time, distance, and some really nasty terrorist torture.

 

Scenes From the Cutting Room Floor

Posted on by Author Cat Johnson

The Rookie Studs in Spurs Deleted Scene

I finally got around to formatting and uploading the deleted scene I cut out of BUCKED (Studs in Spurs, Book 2).

This is the scene where Mustang, freshly hurt and mourning the possible loss of his bull riding career, decides to take rookie bull rider Chase under his wing for a wild night with a woman they picked up at a local bar.

It’s short, only 2500 words. This is NOT a romance, it’s not a complete story, it is just what it says, a single scene that shows you what happened behind closed doors to the characters in BUCKED. If you want romance, if you want an HEA, if you want to learn more about the characters, read UNRIDDEN, or BUCKED, or the upcoming RIDE.

Making the pdf of this scene available is my gift to my loyal readers. ONLY download it if you are an adult of over 18 years old, not offended by sexual situations written in frank language, already love the Studs in Spurs cowboys, or want to sample a small taste of what the series is like. IF you don’t meet the above criteria and download and read this anyway, don’t complain to me. You’ve been warned.

If you enjoy this look into my cowboys’ world, try 8 Second Ride, a 3000 word scene starring Chase, also free, also containing sexual situations, also not a romance and not a complete story.

If you are interested in knowing why my post is full of all these conditions and warnings, read my recent post on my Confessions of a Romance Writer at the Eat Something Sexy blogs.

Your Kindle Tutorial~No Kindle Necessary

Posted on by Author Cat Johnson

You don’t need to own a Kindle eReading device to read digital eBooks purchased from Amazon.com in Kindle format. Yes, I am sure about this because I have downloaded and read numerous Kindle books and I do not own a Kindle device.

So how did I read them? Here’s how… I have a FREE Kindle reading application installed on my MAC, on my PC and on my iPod Touch.

KINDLE FOR PC

KINDLE FOR MAC

KINDLE FOR IPHONE (or iPod Touch) Read about it online or in the App Store on your phone

KINDLE FOR BLACKBERRY

KINDLE FOR IPAD

KINDLE FOR ANDROID

So here is the really cool part. No wires! Even if I browse and buy the eBook on my laptop computer, the moment I turn on my iTouch (within a WiFi zone) and open the Kindle app, it browses and syncs to my account, and automatically downloads any new purchases.

Amazon offers FREE Kindle books every day so if you check back often, you can fill up your reading list for nothing. It also allows you to Sample a book by sending you the beginning of the book for free. I’m not sure if the length of the sample is based on words, or characters, or pages, but for my Crossing the Line, the sample I downloaded was nearly two full chapters.

Give it a try. Download the Kindle apps to your device, grab a sample or two, go find today’s free book. What do you have to lose?

Kindle and Me

Posted on by Author Cat Johnson

ANNOUNCING THE KINDLE RELEASE OF

CROSSING THE LINE

BY CAT JOHNSON

Crossing the Line Kindle

Link

In this modern day tale of forbidden romance, can love conquer all?

Carrie Armstrong joined the Air Force seeking education, experience, and travel. What she didn’t expect to find was the one thing military rules clearly state she can’t have, Staff Sergeant Beau Adams.

Throughout the 14 years of his life that Beau has dedicated to the Marine Corps, he’s never had reason to regret his decision to make the military his career, until now, when loving Carrie, the only woman he can picture growing old with, could cost him his future.

As the tension between them increases to the breaking point, their ability to resist temptation weakens. Forced to make a choice, do they willingly risk everything they’ve worked so hard to gain by crossing the line?

This book has been previously published and has been revised from its original release.

~

Authors, at least this author, sometimes have a love/hate relationship with Amazon. #Amazonfail, the Agency Model, the ironic removal of George Orwell’s 1984, etc, all lead to mixed feelings for the company, but for better or worse, they are here to stay. We can’t ignore the elephant in the room and facts have proven if you can’t beat them, join them. That is what I have done. I have joined forces with the behemoth. Only time will tell if I made the right choice. Nothing ventured, nothing gained and I have ventured, spurred on by pioneers such as JA Konrath, and on a slightly smaller scale Moira Rogers, before me.

So what am I blathering about? I, Cat Johnson, am now listed as a publisher on Amazon.

Quietly I’ve been reworking an out-of-print title from my backlist. It’s no secret when Linden Bay Romance was purchased by Samhain Publishing, my backlist went off sale. I love Samhain and I’ve had great success re-releasing my cowboy and military series with them, as well as my newly written, never before published works. But getting a two dozen story backlist out again takes time and we are all subject to publishing schedules and editorial staff workloads. While I worked with the Samhain staff to get my series out, I realized I had one book that is not connected to any series. That I could easily pluck this book out and release it on Kindle almost immediately.

Crossing the Line is a military romance I worked on with my USMC consultant while he was in Djibouti. It isn’t connected to any series. Rather than let it sit on my hard drive untouched, or try to release it with Samhain when I’d rather have those limited release slots used to get my Task Force Zeta (now the Red, Hot & Blue) series re-released, I decided to throw it up on Kindle and see what happens.

It’s a kind of experiment really. You see I started in the ePub world back in 2006 when self-publishing was a dirty word. Suddenly, Kindles and iPads have opened up untapped reader dollars and it seems every author wants in on the self-pub gig. Big authors, small authors, and all those in between. Self-publishing is the new black. The stigma has been removed, or at least it has become less visible, coincidentally about the time Amazon raised its Kindle royalty rate for US sales to 70%.

I wouldn’t really call Crossing the Line a true self-publishing effort. After all, it was previously contracted with a publisher, and released by them in both eBook and trade paperback. It’s been through edits with a “real” editor. And now I’ve gone through it again and reworked it myself, changing things I didn’t like first time around. There’s even still a few used paper copies from the original release for sale by used booksellers on Amazon for between $49 and about $150. (Don’t buy those please. Way overpriced and I get none of it.)

Anyway, I thought why not give this Kindle self-pub thing a try? From what I’ve read, I’m a pretty good candidate. I’m still releasing new works and have a good following with Samhain. I have books out with Tease, Phaze and Sapphire Blue as well. Every new release increases sales of my backlist, so why wouldn’t it also spread to sales of my self-pubbed Crossing the Line? I’m not sure my readers could tell you who some of my books are published by, so that shouldn’t stop them. After all, a Cat Johnson book is a Cat Johnson book. It will have my voice, my typical witty dialogue and my usual Alpha males, regardless of what name is listed under “publisher”.

We’ll see, I suppose. Meanwhile, Amazon made it easy. Once I got the proofreading done, and the document formatting down, the upload process was simple. Amazon did email me for proof that all rights had reverted to me before they would approve it for release. I’m happy they did that. It instills confidence that someone wouldn’t be able to just claim to be me and release one of my old books.

Oh, and I had to redesign a new cover. Being cheap, and since this is an experiment, I decided to give it a shot myself. I’m pretty happy with it, actually. My Photoshop skills are pitiful but I’m pretty proud of the result. What do you think? Not bad for an amateur.

So now after a 3 day wait, Crossing the Line is finally up there. Things are not perfect. There is no blurb, even though I sent them one to upload. I’ll have to work on that. And I’m not listed as the publisher, Amazon is. Oh well. I can live with that.

Take a trip to Amazon and look at my page for MY book, which for the first time in my writing career is truly all mine. And if you happen to read it, please leave a comment, either good or bad. The dirty little secret is that Amazon will only recommend a book to readers if it has 20 or more reader comments/reviews. (A LITTLE HINT: I don’t read my Amazon comments, I’m no longer allowed to for my own sanity, so I won’t know what you write anyway.)

Coming next-a Kindle tutorial AKA You don’t need a Kindle device to read a Kindle book. But more on that later…

Cat

New Review for BUCKED

Posted on by Author Cat Johnson

“Mustang is the kind of man who would make a woman dream of happily ever after… This story is both heart warming and at times a little heart wrenching, but you won’t want to miss it. It will make you want to come back for the next book in the Studs in Spurs series. I can’t wait…”

Judy King, Veiled Secrets Reviews

Excerpt from Trey (Red, Hot & Blue, Book 1) Today’s New Release

Posted on by Author Cat Johnson


They can’t deny the heat—it’s the only thing keeping them alive.

A distracted soldier is a dead solder. That’s special operative Trey Williams’ motto. The last thing he needs in his life is a girlfriend. Problem is, the woman who’s been recruited to pose as his wife on a special assignment is proving to be exactly the kind of distraction he can’t afford.

Years ago, Carly McAfee turned her back not only on her military career, but the men who come with it. So why did she say yes to a mission that puts her in intimate contact with Trey, under 24/7 surveillance by both bad guys and good? One slip, and they’re both dead. It’s not long, though, before her body betrays her, followed closely by her heart.

With a terrorist arms deal going down and missing teammate’s life on the line, Carly and Trey must throw caution to the wind in the scorching-hot performance of their lives—and try not to lose their hearts and minds in the process.

This book has been previously published and has been revised and expanded from its original release.

Warning: Contains bad men with big guns and video cameras, and an unmarried couple who need to get naked and get busy acting very married to save both their country and their lives.

An excerpt from

Trey

Copyright © 2010 Cat Johnson

All rights reserved — a Samhain Publishing, Ltd. Publication

“What the hell, Trey? Why did you tell the commander she’d be perfect?”

He shook his head at Jack’s question. “I don’t know. He caught me off-guard. Besides, what was I supposed to do? Lie?”

“Yes. Taking her undercover to meet the target. Are you trying to get her killed?”

Trey closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “No, of course not. I have every intention of bringing us both home alive. And Jimmy too, if it comes to that.”

Jack shook his head. “You better.”

Blowing out a breath, Trey realized it was not going to be fun being trapped in a room to wait with Jack.

Trey was correct. They spent the next fifteen minutes in awkward silence until the rest of the team finally returned. He didn’t know how they’d done it, but they walked in with Carly in less than twenty minutes and boy oh boy, she didn’t seem happy about it.

She entered the meeting room looking pissed off and confused. When she saw him and Jack, she stopped dead, hands on her hips. “Maybe you two will tell me what the hell is going on since these guys wouldn’t say a thing when they dragged me out of my apartment at the crack of frigging dawn.”

Trey had seen the crack of dawn on many occasions and O-eight-forty did not qualify. She must have been out of the military for a long time. But running a bar made her schedule pretty much the opposite of his. He could appreciate her opinion of being yanked out of bed after his own long night babysitting a drunk Jack.

Speaking of Jack… He had jumped to his feet the moment Carly entered the room, but before he even had a chance to hey, darlin’ her, the commander was at the door of his office. “Williams. Get in here and bring the girl with you. We have exactly fifty minutes before the plane is scheduled to leave.”

The commander strode to his desk. He sat and addressed Carly, “Shut the door behind you.”

Trey had to give Carly credit. Even though she looked pissed as hell, she silently followed him into the office and closed the door. Then she stood there with her arms crossed, waiting.

He watched the commander appraise her from head to toe. “Not bad.”

At that comment, Carly’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline. She opened her mouth to speak and Trey jumped in before she could.

“Sir, Ms. McAfee hasn’t been apprised of the situation as yet and is a bit confused.”

She didn’t look any happier he had spoken for her, but at least he stopped her from laying into the commander.

“Of course. Ms. McAfee, we’re requesting your help in a matter of national security. If you decide to help us, you’ll be told as little as possible, your life will be in danger and you can never tell anyone about what you’ve done, ever. In addition, you’ll have to make your decision within the next fifteen minutes and leave for your assignment immediately.”

She surprised Trey by laughing. “Well, since you make it sound so tempting and all…” She rolled her eyes and looked at Trey. Then she questioned him directly. “Am I necessary for the success of whatever this ‘assignment’ is?”

Trey considered his answer carefully. “Your presence will increase the chances of the success of this assignment. Yes.”

“Increase it by how much? From like ninety percent without me to one hundred percent with me?”

Trey glanced at the commander who answered for him. “More like sixty percent without you and seventy-five percent with you.”

They both watched her carefully as she took a deep breath. Trey knew, or at least hoped, the commander was giving her the worse-case scenario to make sure she was aware of what she was getting herself into and exactly how dangerous it would be because those odds pretty much sucked.

“Why me, specifically?” She directed her question at the commander.

“Honestly? Mostly because you look like her and we don’t have time to find anyone else.” The commander slid a print copy of the photo of the woman across his desk.

Carly walked closer, picked it up and studied it. After a moment she glanced up at Trey then back to the commander. “All right.”

The commander raised a brow. “That’s it? No more questions?”

Her short laugh sounded bitter. “Would you answer them if I asked?”

The commander smiled. “Probably not.”

“Then it would be a waste of time, now wouldn’t it?”

The commander nodded. “You’ll do well I think, McAfee. Williams will brief you on the flight over, but here’s a quick overview. You’re playing a newlywed American wife. Williams is your husband and as his wife you are devoted, loving and obedient and will do whatever he says.”

Carly screwed up her face, mumbling, “Good thing I took acting in college.”

The commander pretended he didn’t hear her, but continued a bit more loudly. “More importantly, he’s your field leader on this assignment and as such you’ll do whatever he commands, no questions asked.

This is imperative. Hesitation could cost lives. He’ll be in constant contact with myself and any others who may be working with us. You have to trust him implicitly and without discussion, because you must assume every minute, everywhere, you will be monitored by those who can do you harm. I mean not even a whisper, McAfee. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

Trey noted she was already standing a little straighter and calling the commander “sir”. Military training was just like riding a bike. You never really forgot it.

“Good. You’re quick and you’re tough, McAfee. I can see that. You must be to deal with these guys drunk every night. I wouldn’t be sending you on this assignment if I didn’t think you would succeed. One last thing—” the commander turned to Trey, “—Williams, go kiss your new bride.”

It was a test. Trey knew that. A test both for himself and for Carly. Keeping his role in mind, he became the newlywed husband who was supplying arms to terrorist bastards.

Without hesitation, Trey strode to where she stood. More petite up close than she appeared when she was wielding her larger-than-life attitude while slinging beer behind her bar, in reality she came up only to about his chest.

He tangled one hand in her hair so she couldn’t pull her head away, not that she tried. He slipped the other beneath the hem of the shirt where it just met the jeans riding low below her waist. Her skin felt warm and smooth to the touch. He slid his hand higher and let his thumb rest just below the lush curve of her breast.

Trey had to duck his head down to reach her. She stared up at him, her eyes liquid pools of green clearly showing her surprise as he bent and captured her mouth.

Kissing her hard and deep, he parted her lips and drove his tongue between them before he or she had too much time to think about it. In this particular situation thinking would be bad.

She didn’t squirm or pull away. In fact, she actually tilted her head and allowed him greater access to the warm, wet recesses of her mouth. As his tongue met and stroked hers, he felt a stirring in his pants.

There was no way to kiss a woman this attractive this deeply and not have it affect him. He was a healthy male after all, but he didn’t need a raging hard-on in front of both Carly and the commander.

When he thought how he and Carly would be sharing a bed as they portrayed a married couple for the duration of this mission his mind went to bad places, and his erection followed. Trey quickly broke the kiss.

Trying to ignore both his pounding heart and his rapidly expanding lower appendage, he dropped his hands from her too-tempting body and turned to the commander. “Sir?”

Find the buy link and other books on my Author Page at Samhain Publishing

Read an Alternate Excerpt

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We Have Dates…

Posted on by Author Cat Johnson

…for the Samhain Publishing eBook re-releases of my military romance series

THE RED HOT & BLUE SERIES

APRIL 20th   TREY (Book 1) OUT NOW AT MBAM

August 24  JACK (Book 2)

October 19 JIMMY (Book 3)

They can’t deny the heat—it’s the only thing keeping them alive.

TREY (Red Hot & Blue, Book 1)

A distracted soldier is a dead solder. That’s special operative Trey Williams’ motto. The last thing he needs in his life is a girlfriend. Problem is, the woman who’s been recruited to pose as his wife on a special assignment is proving to be exactly the kind of distraction he can’t afford.

Years ago, Carly McAfee turned her back not only on her military career, but the men who come with it. So why did she say yes to a mission that puts her in intimate contact with Trey, under 24/7 surveillance by both bad guys and good? One slip, and they’re both dead. It’s not long, though, before her body betrays her, followed closely by her heart.

With a terrorist arms deal going down and missing teammate’s life on the line, Carly and Trey must throw caution to the wind in the scorching-hot performance of their lives—and try not to lose their hearts and minds in the process.

This book has been previously published and has been revised and expanded from its original release.

Warning: Contains bad men with big guns and video cameras, and an unmarried couple who need to get naked and get busy acting very married to save both their country and their lives.

Read An Excerpt Online

Can You Handle This 8 Second Ride?

Posted on by Author Cat Johnson

My Studs in Spurs series FREE READ “8 Second Ride” starring that sexy young Rookie of the Year Chase Reese is now available for download in PDF and HTML format from All Romance eBooks.

FREE READ

DOWNLOAD “8 SECOND RIDE” AT ALL ROMANCE EBOOKS

Read an eBook Week

Posted on by Author Cat Johnson

Today starts Read an eBook week. For those of you who are sitting there saying “I like paper books. eBooks are not the same,” yes, I hear you. I’m not asking you to change your mind, but I am asking you to give one a try, just once, and for FREE. Think about it–once you’ve tried reading an eBook you will be even better qualified to tell everyone what you don’t like about them and your “I only like paper books” argument will hold even more weight during a paper vs. eBook debate.

Okay? So here is the deal– I have a number of short free reads listed on All Romance eBooks. You can go there, set up a quick free account with just an email address (no credit card necessary) then choose a free read and download it.

I read PDFs on my laptop with Adobe Reader. I read both ePub format and PDF on my iPod Touch using the free Stanza app. You can access All Romance directly, wirelessly, through the Stanze app on iPhone or iPod Touch. You can access Project Gutenberg from there also. I’ve download free classics (that are now in the public domain.) I even have the Kindle for iPhone app on my Touch and the Kindle program on my laptop, and the Sony eReader program on my laptop, so those of you who don’t want to invest in a dedicated eReader can see that any computer or smart phone can serve the same purpose. No extra cost, no extra device to carry.

I am not an expert but if you have any questions, I’ll do my best to answer.

Now, go forth and READ AN EBOOK!!

DOWNLOAD FREE eBOOKS FROM ALL ROMANCE

6 DAYS AT #1 AND COUNTING. LET’S BUCK!

Posted on by Author Cat Johnson

Bucked (Studs in Spurs, Book 2) is #1 at My Bookstore and More  for 6 days in a row. Looking for more than an 8 second ride? LET’S BUCK!!

BUCKED

(Studs in Spurs, Book 2)

by Cat Johnson

This cowboy is looking for more than just an eight-second ride.

Mustang Jackson does two things well—ride bulls and love women. So the injury that takes him out of the arena leaves him only one way to make a living. Unfortunately, getting paid to be a stud in front of the camera isn’t as fun as private conquests. When he catches sight of little Sage Beckett, minus the glasses, braces and pigtails he remembers, doing time in his hometown suddenly gets a lot more interesting.

Sage had a crush on Michael long before he started using that ridiculous nickname “Mustang”. Though from what she’s overheard about his string of buckle bunnies, the man more than lives up to it. In the past he always looked right through her. Now that he’s home again, she’s determined to capture and tame this wild stallion, no matter what it takes. She intends to satisfy her curiosity and move on, but with every touch she’s less sure she’ll ever purge him from her system. Once corralled in her arms, Mustang finds himself thinking that domestication may not be so bad after all. Except, once she finds out about his side job, she may not stick for the next go-round.

Warning: Contains one well-hung cowboy riding much more than just bulls, some ménage action in front of and behind the camera, some whips and chains and some red-hot cowboy loving.

Enjoy the following excerpt for Bucked:

“So what are you going to do now?”

That seemed to be the question of the night. Mustang looked up to find Chase watching him with concern. The last thing he wanted was pity. He forced a smile.

“First, I’m gonna find me a woman and get laid. An injury is like a magnet for chicks, especially on the night it happens. Gotta take advantage of it while I can.”

Shaking his head, Chase broke into an awed grin. “You are the master, Mustang. I bow to you, man.”

“Stick with me, kid and I’ll teach you all I know.” His smile was genuine now.

Glancing around the bar and looking for likely candidates, Mustang noticed Chase’s two friends. Garret and Skeeter seemed to be trying for a pair of hot girls who looked like they’d rather be elsewhere.

He shook his head. “Didn’t those two learn their lesson about picking up girls out of their league yet?”

Chase leaned back against the bar and laughed. “Guess not. It’s fine with me if they get shot down again. We’re all sharing one room. If they hook up, I’m out in the cold, or sleeping in the bathtub tonight. So which woman are you gonna go for?”

Mustang took a sip and browsed the many choices. Taking a young rider under his wing and teaching him the art of seduction was bringing back the thrill that had been missing for him lately. He nearly forgot about his arm, but not quite.

“You tell me, kid. If you could have any woman in here, which one would you want?”

“That’s easy. I picked her out the minute she walked in the door. Actually, I spotted her in the stands back at the arena.” Chase’s gaze skipped directly to a table in the corner where a mature brunette was seated next to a man. She looked a good fifteen years older than Chase.

The kid really did stick to the same type. This woman looked a lot like Jenna. It was no secret Chase had a huge crush on her back in Tulsa.

Mustang swallowed another mouthful of beer. “So why are you way the hell over here and not over there talking to her?”

Chase’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. “Because she’s here with a guy.”

“Yeah, so?”

“Are you crazy? You can’t hit on a woman in front of her boyfriend.”

“Well, no you shouldn’t do that. In that case, you wait for her boyfriend to go take a piss and then you hit on her while he’s gone.”

eBook AVAILABLE NOW AT MY BOOKSTORE AND MORE

http://mybookstoreandmore.com/shop/product.da/bucked

eBOOK AVAILABLE AT ALL ROMANCE EBOOKS

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-bucked-412447-144.html

Paperback Coming December 2010

Editorial Reviews:

From Chrissy Dionne, Romance Junkies

BUCKED introduces all new characters you’ll fall in love with…and gives readers the opportunity to revisit all of the characters you know and love from UNRIDDEN. Cat Johnson once again proves she’s an author who has staying power. I can hardly wait to find out what her next story will involve.

From Fern, Whipped Cream Long and Short Reviews

Hot diggity dog, do I love me some cowboys, and no one writes about em’ better than Cat Johnson… Fans of Ms. Johnson’s previous stories will enjoy Bucked, especially if they have a yen for Mustang like I do. The material flows nicely, the continuation is something new and unexpected, and the journey is one worth taking.