Stocking Stuffers

     Christmas is bearing down upon us fast, and in the end we will all feel as if we were run over by reindeer. Might I suggest some of my books as stocking stuffers?  Yes, this is going to be one long ad for Lynn Shurr novels. But honestly, people frequently ask me which are my favorite books and why as I sit behind my display of fourteen books, Mardi Gras beads, foam footballs, yellow roses, and crushed beer cans at book signings. I am colorful and hard to miss at these events. Remember you need to stand out from the crowd.

     I can truthfully swear I have never written a book that I hate. I always strive to give the reader a good story and interesting characters which doesn't mean some won't like them.  They vary in heat level from mild to fairly spicy, but I don't venture into erotica. To me, the story is the thing, not the sex, and each tale will have varying amounts to suit the characters.

     Right now my favorite is A Trashy Affair, not all that trashy since it is really about recycling both trash and people, but it does have some Thanksgiving sex you will never forget. Based on my own garbage collection woes, it also has humor and some poignant parts as well. And it is long, 92,000 words so you get your money's worth in prose. I recommend it to those who like their stories spicy-sweet as a devoted environmentalist falls for a guy with a big-ass truck.

     Of my Sinners football romances, I think my favorite will always be Wish for a Sinner, the tale of womanizing quarterback Joe Dean Billodeaux who decides to pursue a more wholesome sort of woman, a child psychologist--just what his friends think he needs. You need to give Joe some time to give up his wild ways, but in the end, he might surprise you just as he does Nell. A fair amount of sex in this one because, well, he is a womanizer, a football player, and pretty hot. Although the second in the series, it can be read as a stand alone.

     In the new Roses series, I'd have to say I love the long, multigenerational tale, Always Yellow Roses, the best.  Almost sweet, it tells the story of several pairs of 19th century young lovers separated by family feuds and death and possibly reincarnated into the 1980's to live and love again. Though third in the series, it can definitely be read as a stand alone. If the research hadn't taken so long, it would have been the first of the Roses novels. Then, if you want to find out what happens to the two troublemakers in the book, Bodey Landrum and Renee Niles, you can check out The Convent Rose and A Wild Red Rose. These are both short contemporaries.

     An overall favorite of mine, Queen of the Mardi Gras Ball, is out of print currently, though I do have copies I hawk at book signings.  All of the Mardi Gras books, all out of print, are fairly mild when it comes to sex. Your mother could read them--unless you have a mother like mine who would want more spicy scenes. Let's not stereotype mothers. They've seen it all. Queen will be back in March, 2015 along with Mardi Gras Madness in January and Courir de Mardi Gras in February. Bound together only by a Mardi Gras theme, they can be read in any order, but I am especially fond of Queen's heroine, feisty flapper, Roz St.Rochelle, who carves out her own path in life during the 1920's.

     Okay, I love all fourteen of my babies and will give birth to at least two more next year besides the reprints.  Some just claim a bigger piece of my heart.  Merry Christmas and Happy Reading!