The HEA Cafe

I’m SO, SO, SO excited to announce that … drum roll, please… OPERATION SHEBA, Super Agent Series Book 1, is available FREE for the KINDLE from Amazon, March 1^st-14^th .  You can find it here. (Update 3/1/10, 10:45 a.m. – Amazon has yet to flip the switch so the book goes to $0.00. I’ll add another note as soon as I’m sure it’s been switched over to free. I’m REALLY sorry for the inconvenience, but how is an author to control the beast known as Amazon?!!? They told me March 1st!) (Update #2: 5 pm … FINALLY, it is really and truly FREE on Amazon for Kindle. And it’s ranked in the top 100 already. Woo hoo!)

It’s also available free for the Nook, Barnes & Noble’s ebook reader! If you want the Nook version, go here .

More news about Sheba: It’s a finalist in the 2009 New England Bean Pot Published Authors Contest for Romantic Suspense! I couldn’t be more thriled!

PLEASE pass this on and share the news with anyone who owns a Kindle or a Nook and might enjoy my book. Maybe we can get Conrad and Julie in the Top 100 Kindle books. If we do, I’m going to celebrate big with goodie giveaways galore to my readers!

Here are a few review snippets to tease you:

“Evans takes readers on an edge-of-your-seat thriller into the secretive world of CIA operatives. A love triangle and a mole in the agency make this one story you won’t want to put down.”  ~Cindy Himler, RT Reviews

“…deeply woven and masterfully written plot with many twists and turns.” ~Abi, The Romance Studio

“Misty Evans does a masterful job of developing vibrant, believable characters that inhabit a world full of international and personal intrigue…” ~Camilia, Long and Short Reviews

“…the best book I have ever read. OPERATION SHEBA is not at the head of the class, it is in a class by itself. The adventure never stops, it is really sexy, and the reader will go from laughter to terror as the plot is uncovered and the traitor is exposed.” ~ Reviewed by Susiq2 for CataRomance

“This is a top notch romantic suspense…The characters in this story fulfill their roles perfectly, strong, heroic, and of course, dangerously sexy. Ms. Evans takes you on a wild ride, one that you will hate to see end.  I will await her next installment of Super Agents with great anticipation.” ~ Reviewed by Loloty for Coffee Time Romance

“…a heart-pounding, super-hot read…continuous nonstop action and blazing sexual interactions. Overall, OPERATION SHEBA was a thrilling, erotic spy game that I enjoyed playing.” ~ Reviewed by Contessa for Romance Junkies 

“Bad guys, bombs, and bullets pop up everywhere…The CIA’s internal politics are fleshed out beautifully… With non-stop action and a fantastic heroine, Operation Sheba is a great kickoff for a debut writer.” ~Reviewed by Bramble Nymph for Literary Nymphs

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My website: www.readmistyevans.com

RomConInc celebrates 14 Days of Love February 1 – 14!  Join romance lovers everywhere as RomConInc launched reader forums, Contemporary, Historical, and Fantasy/Futuristic & Paranormal (FF&P), with visits from special guest authors, fun topics to chat about, and gifts and goodies galore! 

All you need to do to participate is sign up for an account (www.romconinc.com). Anyone who leaves a comment during the special promotion will be entered to win a free Reader Registration to RomCon™ 2010!

Tuesday, February 2^nd, I’ll be hosting the contemporary forum on Favorite Love Songs and Romantic Movies. What’s your favorite romantic comedy? What song was playing during your first kiss?

Please come by and share your favorites at Tuesday’s contemporary forum. Remember to register for your account today so you’re ready to go. We’ll rekindle romantic moments from the past and have a blast discussing movies and songs that never fail to put us in the mood!

Contemporary Forum Guest Line-up:

Feb 1 –  Jenna Bayley-Burke

Feb 2 –  Misty Evans

Feb 3 –  Stephanie Tyler

Feb 4 –  Elisabeth Naughton

Feb 5 –  Marie Force

Feb 6 –  Gina Robinson

Feb 7 –  Dee Davis

Feb 8 –  Diana Holquist

Feb 9 –  TBD

Feb 10 – Susan Crandall

Feb 11 – Hope Tarr

Feb 12 – TBD

Feb 13 – TBD

Feb 14 – Louisa Edwards

Historical Forum Guest Line-up:

Feb 1 -  Deeanne Gist
Feb 2 -  Karen Ranney
Feb 3 -  Terri Brisbin
Feb 4 -  Margo Maguire
Feb 5 -  Kris Kennedy
Feb 6 -  Sally MacKenzie
Feb 7 -  TBD
Feb 8 -  Sabrina Jeffries
Feb 9 -  Lavinia Kent
Feb 10 – Elizabeth Amber
Feb 11 – Anthea Lawson
Feb 12 – Elaine Levine
Feb 13 – TBD
Feb 14 – Catherine Anderson

Check the website for updates on the FF&P lineup and the TBDs.

Oh, and Happy Valentine’s Day! If you’re in the mood for deliciously romantic read with heart-stopping danger and a HEA, check out my latest Super Agent Series print release, I’d Rather Be In Paris. After all, Paris is one of the most romantic places around! www.readmistyevans.com

Along with Mars and Mercury, my ambitious ego has gone retrograde. For the past two years, I’ve been swimming upstream like mad, pushing myself with word count goals, editing deadlines and every promotion under the sun. Since September 2008, I’ve published three novels and a novella in digital and print formats while dealing with debilitating back problems, the loss of my mother-in-law, my twins entering middle school, and a bathroom remodel. (While those last two things pale in comparison to the first two, they were nevertheless extremely stressful.) 

I spent most of 2009 flat on my back, either in bed, on the floor, or on the surgeon’s table. None of the procedures I had done worked. My cure has been a constant dose of physical therapy and clinical Pilates, patience and time.  I’m not a patient person. Before, when I suffered from health or other problems, I simply put my head down and bulldozed my way through it. This time, however, there was no bulldozing through the pain or immobility. Hubby bought me a laptop holder that allowed me to work from bed and I learned to value the days I could stand, walk or drive more than the word count I produced. 

Every year at this time, I pull out my journal, read the goals I set on January 1^st of the current year, and make new ones for the coming year. Usually I have a lot of goals, most of them professional. At the beginning of 2009, I knew it was going to be a year full of work, and it was. Looking ahead to 2010, however, my ego no longer feels that driving need to produce. Is it because I accomplished so much this year and my ego is happy, or is it because my back ordeal taught me the importance of taking one day at a time? 

The answer eludes me as I type this blog, but I’m happy to wait it out. Right now, I’m writing a new story in a new genre and loving the freedom it provides. I’m content to hibernate for awhile, not worrying about how many words I get down today or tomorrow, instead focusing on the crisp scenes, layered characters and making sure my theme resonates in every chapter. 

My back is healing, and while the old me would normally jump into everything I used to do (and basically overtax my back and stress management levels all over again), the new me is content to roll with the flow. A good day? I’ll write and bake and enjoy my kids. Bad day? I’ll watch Bravo and HGTV and Soapnet, read a good book, and crank my iPod. 

The New Year brings a new decade, a fresh start, and for me, a new attitude. My ego is content to stop swimming upstream and float for awhile. To hibernate, meditate, clear out the clutter and embrace health. I’m ready to take a break. 

How about you? Will you be swimming or floating in 2010? Either way, I wish you a happy and healthy 2010.

Happy Holidays! Santa and I talked it over, and I have a few gifts under the tree for my readers.

This December, I’m participating in a Find the Icon Scavenger Hunt with about 30 fellow authors. Prizes include a Sony Pocket Reader and a $50 prepaid Visa card. The contest runs live from today, December 1st, through Christmas Eve. For details, visit http://www.ravenhappyhour.com/Rockin_Raven_Xmas_Tree_Contest and start hunting!

On December 15th, I’ll be on www.maryeason.blogspot.com from 10 to 11 am for a Christmas extravaganza full of good books and great giveaways. Along with me, Mary Eason, Cindy Green, Inez Kelley, Renee Wildes, Jane Toombs, Tina Donohue and Mary Wine will also have an hour apiece on the blog to showcase their books and give away prizes.

My free short story, White Collar Christmas, releases December 16th if all goes as planned from www.samhellion.net . Take one rookie FBI agent and put her undercover with a sexy art forgerer and see who gets on Santa’s list of Naughty Girls and Boys.

The TICKLE MY FANTASY anthology is now available, WITCHES ANONYMOUS included, just in time for gift giving. For anyone who enjoys werewolves, ghosts, witches and love, this anthology is perfect! It’s available from www.samhainpublishing.com , Amazon, Barnes and Noble and your local independent bookstore.

May health and joy be yours this season. Please feel free to stop by my website, www.readmistyevans.com , drop me a note at misty@readmistyevans.com or find me on Twitter, www.twitter.com/readmistyevans .

Happy reading!

Any spy worth her secret decoder ring must have a fabulous trench coat in her closet.  I personally have several and love them all, but in writing my Super Agent Series, I had yet to put one of my lady spies in a trench.

Until now. Brigit Kent, the no nonsense psychologist who moonlights for Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service in my latest novel, Proof of Life (Super Agent Series, Book 3), is perfect in a trench. She isn’t a fashionista by any means, but she has deep, dark family secrets and is playing with fire when it comes to blackmailing the deputy director of the CIA, Michael Stone. While I didn’t want her hung up on clothing labels, she was part 007 and part traditional ingénue, and I wanted her to have a signature piece.

Enter the trench. With Brigit’s dark looks, I imagined her as a modern day Audrey Hepburn, using her trench to its fullest. It was sexy and classic, just like Brigit’s character, and both the coat and the woman held the perfect combination to attract Michael.

Moving to the window next to Brigit, Michael tried not to stare at her peaches-and-cream skin, or her thick, dark hair, free of its ponytail and brushing her shoulders. He tried not to examine the way her trench coat molded to her waist and flared out at her hips, emphasizing both. Her body hummed with energy and his happily tightened in response.

The trench worked as a symbol of Brigit’s growth in the story as well as a handy accessory. In the opening, she uses the trench to hide her gun and her generous curves. Internally, she’s also hiding her insecurities and family secrets. As the story goes on, the trench and Brigit take a beating when Brigit is shot at and nearly blown up in an airplane. The coat gets mended and cleaned, and so does Brigit when she divulges her secrets to Michael and saves her sister from a terrorist group.  After all that, she was ready to take more chances, and at one point, I had fun letting her pull a classic Marilyn Monroe when she attends a meeting with the President of the United States.

The trench coat still had the plastic bag over it from the cleaners. She ripped it off and shrugged the coat over her shoulders. The silk lining brushed against her skin, and she wondered if she really had the courage to go to the White House in such a Marilyn Monroe style.

Hell, what did she care? No one would know unless the Secret Service felt her up.

Through the whole story, the trench helped me keep Brigit mysterious and desirable. She needed to be a puzzle Michael had to figure out, or if not completely figure out, at least enjoy trying.

Without a knock, she burst through the door with Helena on her heels and a set look on her face. A look Michael had seen repeatedly from Ruth’s house to Ireland. The soldier was ready to take on the world.

His heart stuttered and then stopped in wonder for a split-second as he took her in from head to toe. The wavy dark curls, the baby doll eyes, the bright lipstick. The gaudy earrings, the expensive trench, the moderate heels. She was still a conundrum. Still beautiful.

The trench coat seduction works and Michael finally understands Brigit and what a future with her holds.

The future stretched out in front of him with endless possibilities. Brigit understood who he was, what he did for a living, what he had survived. She could relate and love him for all his faults, for all his regrets. She gave him hope, and most of all, she gave him back his desire to live again. He couldn’t, wouldn’t, let her go. “Call me as soon as you can get away.”

“Is that an order?”

“Yes,” he said, grinning again so hard his cheeks hurt. “And wear the trench. I like it.”

She squeezed his hand before pulling her own away and saluting him. “Yes, sir.”

I was thrilled when the cover artist for Proof of Life found a dark-haired model wearing a trench for the cover. What makes it even better is the way the woman is lifting the collar to partially hide her face.  While trench coats are often associated with spies, Brigit’s trench coat showcases her personality and symbolizes her internal struggles rather than turning her into a clichéd stock character, and that made her all the more fun to write!

Misty Evans is an award-winning, multi-published author of CIA thrillers and paranormal comedy. Visit her at www.readMistyEvans.com or join her Yahoo! Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MistyEvansSuspense where you’ll find free reads and all the latest news!