Curvaceous beauty Hilary Rosenberg doesn't believe in love. She only goes out with nice guys who won't expect passionate romance—until a notorious womanizer demands she repay a favor with four weeks of counterfeit dates.

Billionaire playboy Mark Pryce doesn't do relationships. In fact, he's never been with the same woman for more than three months. But when his matchmaking mother tries to sabotage his bachelorhood, he needs a stand-in girlfriend. Luckily, Hilary owes him big time. But as they start to spend more time together, he finds himself wanting to break his first rule: never get too close…

» Buy from Audible
» Buy from iTunes

Finally, the first book in Billionaires' Brides of Convenience series is out! Meet Ryder Pryce-Reed, incorrigible actor and playboy!

A Hollywood Deal

I'm used to cleaning up after my boss, Hollywood superstar and all-around bad boy Ryder Pryce-Reed. Nothing can shock me now–not the countless “humped and dumped” women or the wreckage left in the wake of his wild ways–until he asks me to marry him…

…for a year.

He says it's strictly so he can claim his beloved grandfather's painting, but I know there's more. There's always more with Ryder.

My instincts say no, but he's offering to take care of the baby in my womb. Since my self-centered ex isn't going to play the father, I say yes, while steeling my heart. I can't afford to fall for a man who only wants me for a year.

But how can I resist the sexiest man alive when he turns on his formidable charm to give everyone a good show? And how does a simple girl like me deal with the spotlight as his fiancée…or the scandal that explodes in our faces?

—–

Okay, I really need to warn everyone: unlike my other titles, THIS ONE ENDS IN A CLIFFHANGER. I went back and forth on this because there are lots of readers who simply hate cliffhangers, but ultimately the story just couldn't be wrapped up in a satisfying manner in one normal-sized book without rushing the ending.

But I guarantee that Ryder and Paige WILL have their happy ending! Thank you!

BUY YOUR COPY TODAY!

Kindle US :: Kindle UK :: Kindle Canada :: Kindle Australia
iBooks :: Nook :: Kobo :: Google Play

Note: A Hollywood Deal‘s sequel, A Hollywood Bride, is currently available for pre-order on iBooks.

I've been debating for awhile about whether to write about this topic. It seems a bit…pretentious to write about my journey. OTOH, a lot people have expressed an interest, so I figured I'd go ahead and put it out there. :)

I quit my corporate job in 2004 to write. The job paid well, and it was interesting work (up to a point) but it simply wasn't good for me mentally. (I was basically an ax-man for a large corporation—paid to go in and lay people off.) My parents were horrified, of course. Mom told me, quote, “You're too smart to be a writer.”

In 2004 publishing was all about NY deals because there was no viable ebook market, not the way there is now. I think there were publishers like Elora’s Cave that sold PDF copies, but super-sexy erotic romance wasn't something I could write well and consistently, and I wanted a NY print deal very badly. So I tried for something that I thought New York would want.

I spent years writing category romance and later switched to urban fantasy. I did it not because I enjoyed reading urban fantasy—I'd never read in the genre—but because somebody who was mentoring me said it would be a great thing for me to write because (a) I live in Japan and I'm “surrounded by manga”, and (b) urban fantasy was hot at the time. In retrospect I think it was a mistake, and I think a bad mentor can really derail and damage your career trajectory, esp. when you're new and don't have much confidence.

Regardless, despite all that I actually got a really good agent with my urban fantasy manuscript. Unfortunately, it was 2008 (Lehman Brother went BOOM that year), and the ms didn't sell. I had a lot of good rejections, but NYC didn’t know how to market the book and no one wanted to take chances at the time.

Afterward, I floundered for a while because I really wanted to get that NY deal but didn't know what to write. I felt adrift and lost, and even though I hate to say this, watching my writing friends get NY deals didn't help. I was happy for them—they had worked so hard—but at the same time I sort of felt sorry for myself. (Self-pity is a terrible foundation for success, or even a clear direction in life. But it’s one thing to know this intellectually, and quite another not to let it get to you emotionally.)

In 2010 I got married; in 2011, our baby was born. Then in 2012, I had this really bad crisis-of-self where I wondered what I was doing with my life. Money was tight, and we wanted to move, but finding a good place wasn't easy, and both my husband and I were sick for nine full months out of 2012.

Then I decided I was just going to write what I wanted to write and see where things went. Yes, a NY print contract with a decent advance would have been super sweet, but I couldn't live my entire life waiting for someone else's approval, especially when I didn't need said approval to pursue my dream.

Besides, I had inked two e-publishing deals along the way, with two different and fairly well-respected publishers, and honestly speaking neither one worked out particularly well. I made humiliatingly small sums of money from both, and I felt very apologetic to my husband, who was super supportive, and my little boy who, within a month or two of his birth, I had to start putting aside for several hours a day so I could work on edits from the second publisher.

Since I had also published a novel (Vengeful in Love) on my own, and had made far more money with it by uploading it to Amazon and other platforms myself, I decided to write a sequel using a couple of the supporting characters as the leads. So in the midst of buying a place of our own in 2012 and moving in early 2013, I started to write a contemporary romance novel, which became Reunited in Love. I'm not a particularly fast writer, so I sat on that manuscript and wrote another, which was Redemption in Love. Then I wrote another (Sweet in Love), storing them all up and making plans for two more books as well. I did this specifically so that I could create a series using characters that were related in some way, stories that were somewhat inter-connected, and release them back-to-back very quickly. I had heard from so many people that readers really like this, so I wanted to try it.

Let me tell you, it was not easy to write multiple books without knowing how readers were going to react to the stories. 2013 was a very difficult year—more so than 2012—because after the move, I had to micromanage (for six months!) a general contractor in America who was doing a very bad job on some house repairs there, and deal with my insurance adjuster (who thankfully was more professional). I think I lost about 20-30 pounds that year from stress.

It wasn't until December 27, 2013 that I officially launched the Hearts on the Line series. I privately dubbed the event “Nadia's career reboot,” but I honestly had no idea what I was going to do if it bombed. I was so worried and anxious that I made myself sick on the Reunited in Love launch day and ended up in a hospital getting an IV to rehydrate my body and having multiple blood samples drawn for testing.

Thankfully the series took off in early February, and I'm so grateful for all the people who took a chance on me. I had hoped and dreamed for almost ten years that I would have a writing career, and now it finally seems to be working. I'm humbled and touched by the support I've received from my fans, fellow writers, family and friends.

I generally do an Ask Nadia session on Wednesdays, but I decided to talk about something else, which several people have asked me about.

Where can I buy a copy of a Nadia Lee book?

If you're buying a print copy, any store is fine. And just for the record, I don't mind if you buy new or used when it comes to print copies. Amazon, B&N and other bookstores should carry them or be able to order them for you if they're not in stock.

For ebooks, I currently distribute to the following stores only:

• Apple iBooks — All 51 international stores
• Amazon — All territories
• Barnes & Noble
• Kobo
• Google Play
• All Romance eBooks

Several people have asked me about my distribution plans at Smashwords. I think this is because I used to distribute my books via Smashwords, and I currently have one book available on Smashwords (Vengeful in Love).

I plan to pull that book down from Smashwords soon and close my account with them. I basically used Smashwords to distribute Vengeful in Love to Barnes & Noble, because Barnes & Noble does not accept books that are free. So I had no choice but to use Smashwords.

But recently, the negatives are considerably outweighing the positives.

Pro(s)

• You can make your book free on Barnes & Noble.

Con(s)

• Reporting is extremely slow. Oftentimes I have to wait for weeks for updates.
• And the reports are confusing. I have a degree in finance and minored in economics and took more accounting courses than I should have in college. I still get a headache when I look at their reports.
• Their payments are slow.
• Their ebook file vetting system is inconsistent and slow. (I'm not complaining about having to create a consistent and/or proper epub file. I've been doing that for years now, and Apple, which is one of the pickiest vendors out there, has no problem with my files. What I object to is random errors that don't make any sense.)
• Their support is slow (if you get a response at all).
• I've received my tax forms late a few times, and they were often the wrong forms.
• The biggest problem: Smashwords opts me in for new vendors without my consent or notifying me first. There are certain vendors I do not want to do business with. I understand Smashwords wants to grow its business, but it should respect my wishes as well and not send my books to places without my explicit permission.

I know many overseas readers buy from Smashwords because it's easy and convenient. But I can no longer distribute my books to a place that routinely disregards my wishes (in addition to all the other issues). I try to accommodate overseas readers by making my books available on all 51 Apple iBooks Store, localized Amazon stores and putting them on All Romance eBooks and Google Play.

Thanks for your understanding!

Sorry, it's been so long since I let you know what I've been up to. I know the last “monthly” update was August.

So this is going to be sort of a year-end review plus my plans for the rest of the year and early 2014.

2013 has been the Year of Never-Ending Construction Projects. I'll be so happy when I don't have to wake up to the noise of people drilling into concrete walls. But the good thing is that my health has been generally good, especially compared to last year when both Hero Material and I were sick for something like nine months.

So that means I've been more productive this year. I wrote 3 books (2 full-length novels and 1 novella) and just finished drafting another novel. They're all in the same series, which is going to be released early next year along with the relaunch of Carnal Secrets. I decided that the title and the cover just don't work — too many people seem to think that because there's “carnal” in the title the book is erotic or something. Hence the change.

So here's the series information —

Series Name: Hearts on the Line

First Book: Vengeful in Love (previously Carnal Secrets; Natalie Hall & Alex Damon; hot billionaire boss w/ a secret agenda romance) — to be relaunched in mid- to late December in print and e.

Second Book: Reunited in Love (Kerri Wilson & Ethan Lloyd; reunion, forced close proximity romance) — early January (print & e)

Third Book: Redemption in Love (Amandine Monroe Lloyd & Gavin Lloyd, Ethan's younger brother; marriage in trouble) — mid- to late February (print & e)

Fourth Book: Sweet in Love (Brooke de Lorenzo & Pete Monroe; falling for your best friend's younger brother) — mid- to late March (print & e)

Fifth Book: Forever in Love (Catherine Fairchild Lloyd & Blaine Davis; a fallen gold-digger socialite and a billionaire's bastard bartender son) — mid- to late April or early May (print & e)

In addition to the above titles, I'm really hoping to release three more books in 2014, all in the contemporary romance genre.

If you want to be the first to know when they're out, subscribe to my mailing list.

I promise not to waste your time — I only use it to send new release info and discount/sales information. :-)

Thanks, and may you all have a great, fulfilling holiday season with your loved ones.

Happy New Year, everyone!

I hope your 2012 ended on a lovely note, and you're all ready for another productive and exciting year. I'm planning to do some serious work this year, mostly on improving my process. Looking back on the hours and time I spent on my projects, it's obvious that my process for drafting and revision is flawed and extremely inefficient.

This basically means I need to think about how I can write more efficiently. That won't always involve my sitting in front of a computer and typing away. Sometimes planning may be more important (and more time-consuming) than the actual drafting itself. But that's okay if it results in a cleaner and better first draft that won't require months and months of rework.

I'm hoping to have four books written, including the current WIP plus an Ever After novella. My family and I are also moving in January, but hopefully it won't suck up too much time, though I'm definitely budgeting at least 2 weeks of non-writing time for the big move, getting things cleaned up, etc.

What is your Number One Professional / Career Goal for 2013?