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Daily Online Read: H.O.T. Mountain by Cindy Dees
by Anonymous on March 3rd, 2008, 6:00am
A scientist with a gun in her bra. A sexy recluse with secrets. ..what happens when they meet on H.O.T. Mountain?
Volcanologist Lucy McFadden is desperate to take a look at the Heart of Timbalo (or HOT Mountain), a Volcano on a small Carribbean island. But she runs into a roadblock—albeit a sexy one—in reclusive Carson Gray. In order to protect his secret, he must keep Lucy where he can see her. But she’s more resourceful than he counted on.
Click here to read Chapter one of H.O.T. Mountain!
About the author:
Cindy Dees started flying airplanes while sitting in her dad's lap at the age of three and got a pilot's license before she got her driver's license. At age 15, she dropped out of high school and left the horse farm in Michigan where she grew up to attend the University of Michigan.
Her hobbies include professional Middle Eastern dancing, Japanese gardening and medieval reenacting. She started writing on a one-dollar bet with her mother and was thrilled to win that bet with the publication of her first book in 2001. She loves to hear from readers and can be contacted at www.cindydees.com.
I'll be back tomorrow. The
I'll be back tomorrow. The fact that, in the middle of a tropical jungle , she seems to be obsessing sexually about a stranger who could hurt her makes me doubt her sanity.
"Perhaps what the average member of a group is capable of doesn't limit what a given individual can accomplish." -- Boston Globe, letter to the editor
March's Member of the Month!
Great start to
an interesting read. I have the first of the H.O.T books and might have to start it tonight.
Hope Cindy can join us during this time.
It will be interesting to find out what the secret is and what Lucy does when she finds out who she is lusting after.
Elaine
This sounds...
much more like something I could get into! Steamy attraction, mystery and hopefully...a happy ending!!
H.O.T. Mountian...
I'm going to have to confess that Cindy Dees is one of my favorite authos, so I was definitely looking forward to this story with anticipation...
Wow! All, I can say is a great start and lots of promise...all the hallmarks of a Dees' masterpieces. Of course, I'll be back tomorrow.
wj
eHarlequin.com Community Host
Wooohoooooooo!!!!!!!!!!
Loving the steamy (ie: H.O.T.) start to this daily! Will totally be back tomorrow for more!
Hugs,
April
You can do anything if you put your mind to it.... but it won't go far without the rest of your body.
What an interesting
What an interesting start! I don't think I'd be fantacizing if I were her though, I'd be to scared!
A scientist with a gun in her bra! That has to be very uncomfortable and how in the world wouldn't it get noticed!
Howdy gang!
LOL...I gotta wonder who writes these tag line things sometimes. There is a gun-bra interface at one point in the story, but taken out of context like this, it makes my poor heroine sound like she runs around with one stuffed in there with the girls all the time! Trust me...she doesn't...can you even imagine the chafing? Arrgghh! Safetys and thumb locks and triger guards poking all over the place? Aye yay yay...
Although in defense of the tag line, it did capture my attention. I did have to stop and think, "When did I put a gun down her shirt? Oh. Yeah. That part..." And then I giggled. But you'll have to read more to find out why.
As for Lucy lusting after a stranger, I plead a slight alteration from how I wrote it to how it got posted online. In my original, she was more skeptical about her attraction to the hunky grouch. But admit it. If you bumped smack dab into a hot enough guy, wouldn't the thought cross your mind, even if just for a second?
So...maybe it's just me having naughty thoughts when I see hot guys...and I've now revealed to all of you that I'm just a perv. I prefer to think of it as being a normal healthy adult female with a great imagination, and okay, a few hot flashes that might occasionally be misinterpreted as random lust attacks brought on by hunky guys--you know, I think I may be skirting dangerously close to oversharing. Y'all enjoy tomorrow's chapter, eh?
Happy reading while I put the finishing touches on the next H.O.T. Watch book!
Best,
Cindy
I wish I could see her face
I wish I could see her face right about now
Bet she gets hopping mad, if it was me... I'd be scared out of my wits
Now that hero, he appeals to
Now that hero, he appeals to me. He has a sense of humor.
"Perhaps what the average member of a group is capable of doesn't limit what a given individual can accomplish." -- Boston Globe, letter to the editor
March's Member of the Month!
Cindy
I must admit it. I'm a perv, too. Someone will make an innocent comment, yet my brain has figured out a way to take it straight to the gutter... And I have to figure out a way not to laugh aloud!
I'm usually pretty good about keeping my drool to myself when I see a hot guy. I try to remember not to stare too much, and either I go all quiet or get VERY talkative. And giggly (giggles, not jiggles. Although, I might get jiggly and not notice).
Enjoyed their banter in this chapter, and glad he had a laugh at her comments. Some people don't know how to take a joke, especially when it's about themselves.
Come on Wednesday!!!!
Hugs,
April
You can do anything if you put your mind to it.... but it won't go far without the rest of your body.
I would be mad
at him for putting me in an embaressing position. Then I might do something to get back at him. He might get his lunch in his lap.
I started The Dark Side of Night last night and it is really good so far. Hopefully I can finish tonight - if I do not fall asleep on the couch again.
Cindy - glad to see you here. When is the next H.O.T. book coming out? And does Cash get his own book?
Elaine
Wow! How fun is this!? I
Wow! How fun is this!?
I can't wait for more. Really great for a daily too, with the quick movement and lively dialogue. Fun, fun, fun. Love his humor and devilish wit, albeit grouchy. ;) And I like her gutsiness, getting in there and meeting him with the banter.
Can't wait to see what she does. hehe
The trouble with reality is that there's no background music. www.sensaria.com/jens
OK, I like this guy Seems
OK, I like this guy
Seems he has a good reason for keeping people out. Wonder what kind of work he provides for the locals.
I kinda like her gutsiness too.
Cindy, I'm enjoying this read. I've never read your stuff before, but now I think I'm going to go looking for some of your stuff
Ok, now I read the blurb and
Ok, now I read the blurb and part of the excerpt for Dark Side of Night... and I want to buy it and read it, but I want to know before I do that if it is going to be a spoiler for this story
Cindy...
don't worry about the over-sharing or the lusting over hot guys the second you meet/see them. As a fellow doer-of-both I can proudly say that you are NOT alone!!
I must say that generally speaking, my tactic upon first sighting Hot Guy is, instead of saying or doing anything witty or charming, I proceed to start to sweat and I ignore him or look like I am supremely busy or involved in something. I have no idea why, as it doesn't help you in the least to get yourself into any interesting romance novelly situations! I keep hoping that the romance novelly situations will occur by way of Hot Guy taking the bull by the horns and doing something romance-hero-like and rescuing me from an annoying guy at a bar by pretending to be my boyfriend who was in the bathroom or something like that. But you know...that never seems to happen as the girl that Hot Guy is usually with would probably claw my eyes out! Ahhh but I can dream...lol
Anyways, I think I am going to really enjoy this read...it looks like there will be some humor, some misunderstanding that will cause some drama (I don't know if this will have it, but I always love that, "I can't believe you thought that of me and got involved with me, was this all a game to you, did you use me to get information, I never want to see you again" type fight that we know will eventually end well due to the beauty of the romance novel! Anyone know the one I am talking about? haha), and some mystery...good stuff! The type of thing that is more to my liking and will have me coming here at 12:01 am to get my greedy little hands on the next chapter!! Yay for more!
Finished The Dark Side of Night
last night and it was awesome. This looks like another winning series from Cindy.
It will be interesting to see how she handles his request. If she says yes will he start to back pedal a little on her spending the night.
Elaine
My only beef: Mr Gray
My only beef:
Mr Gray jumped to the conclusion that Lucy's "one of the thieves" awfully quickly I think and on very little evidence.
If he's stinking rich shouldn't he be smarter than that or did he amass his wealth by sheer dumb luck?
Keep her occupied in the compound until he's gotten someone to do a background check at least? If she's legit, she must have credentials.
Somewhere in the chapter he
Somewhere in the chapter he told her he was living off his inheritance. Seems he's got something going on that he needs to hide and there have been thieves stealing important archeaological artifacts. From his point of view doesn't seem it would matter if she was a true scientist or a thief pretending to be a scientist, he didn't want her coming and messing up whatever he's got going.
Scientist or not....
Scientist or not, she had a lot of nerve trespassing on private property. It doesn't matter what her credentials are, she has no business being there. It is up to him to decide if he wants scientists looking at the volcano not hers.
As for thinking she is one of the thieves, you can't really blame him. She's breaking the law being there, then she mentions needing to check the same areas that he already knows the thieves have been using/stealing from. He's being cautious -- can't blame him.
He is obviously doing something besides living off of his inheritance. I'm sure we'll find out as the story goes on.
How fun is this!
Howdy gang,
<waves wildly>
I'm getting a GIANT kick out of hearing your speculations on what comes next and who does what and why! I never get to hear readers' thoughts as they read my books--I only hear from folks after they've read the whole thing, usually.
I have to say, this is the COOLEST EVER to get a peek inside your heads like this. Thanks so much for all the comments and ideas. (I wish I'd thought of a few of them myself!).
Oh, and this online read has no spoilers at all in it that will affect your reading of THE DARK SIDE OF NIGHT. Likewise, the book doesn't give away anything about the online read.
In point of fact, this online story is a prequel to the H.O.T. Watch books. But you can read them in any order and it won't be a problem.
Until tomorrow...happy reading!
Cindy
h.o.t. mountain
a very nice read. enjoying it alot so far. can't wait for more. tina
Love your horse. ride safely.
Thanks Cindy, I'll go order
Thanks Cindy, I'll go order the Dark Side of Night
Lidia, I'm with you on she shouldn't be trespassing. especially since he already told her no.
Everytime I see that tag line about the gun in her bra I get all these mental images of what it would look like and how painful it could be... LOL
He thinks she with the thieves....
He thinks that she is one of the thieves and yet he protects her with his body. He is definitely attracted to her.
Whoa is right! I think
Whoa is right! I think I'd be worried about who's shooting at me even with a hunk on top of me.
Guess he had good reason to refuse a scientific expedition! I'll be back tomorrow.
Yes, Vio....
Not only that, but he also gave her a gun. No matter that he has one, too, you wouldn't give someone you REALLY thought was a threat a gun.
Now I have to wait 22 hours and 43 minutes for more!!!! *sigh*
Hugs,
April
You can do anything if you put your mind to it.... but it won't go far without the rest of your body.
Well, well, well. Isn't
Well, well, well. Isn't that interesting!
"Perhaps what the average member of a group is capable of doesn't limit what a given individual can accomplish." -- Boston Globe, letter to the editor
March's Member of the Month!
It's a fun read and I'm
It's a fun read and I'm looking forward to seeing what he's got to hide on his mountain.
My one beef - the so-called caves and the geologist needing to get into the volcano's innards to see if it's still active. Ok, I see it's needed to drive the plot, and this is a fun romance not a scientific article, but as a geologist myself, I do find this flight of fantasy a little annoying. Magma chambers sound good but they are kilometers below ground and filled with either magma or rock (ex-magma) - certainly not a cave. Maybe Cindy's thinking of Lava-tubes?? Which are really cool, but something completely different from what the heroine seems to be looking for. In anycase, no geologist would be looking for a cave system to see if a volcano was active!! Sorry, I just get frustrated when reality suffers for a plot device (unless it's patently set in a fantasy universe) - it's just a pet peeve. Ok, that's off my chest, I can go back to just enjoying the character interplay.
So, I'll ignore the caves and the 'science' motive of finding them, and just enjoy the characters and the mystery. As I'm sure everyone else is anyway!
gah
This anticipation is killing me!
"Sex is like oxygen...it ain't important unless you ain't gettin' any!"
your'e absolutely right, Mon
Hang in there with me, Mon, She's looking for something very specific. I'm certainly no geologist, but I did read articles much to the effect of what you've said. I'm going somewhere with this...I promise...
(And yes, this book is definitely a flight of fancy!) :-)
Cindy
I'm reading along
I'm reading along just saving up my comments till more is revealed.
The D2K Paranormal Junkies ~ 2008 Book Challenge Blog
Crap....
Crap and triple crap!!!!!! So many questions.... Who was shooting, what kind of agent is she, who is the guy she's working for, why all the clothes, is Mr. Gray really a lady 'killer', why are the chapters so darn short??????
Are those enough questions? I'm sure I've missed several more..... CANNOT believe we now have to wait until Monday for more!!!!
Great job, Cindy!
Hugs,
April
You can do anything if you put your mind to it.... but it won't go far without the rest of your body.
"Curiouser and curiouser",
"Curiouser and curiouser", said Alice.
"Perhaps what the average member of a group is capable of doesn't limit what a given individual can accomplish." -- Boston Globe, letter to the editor
March's Member of the Month!
for April
Hiya April,
I can answer one of your questions...the chapters are so short because of space constraints on the web page. I was given ten thousand words to tell the entire story in 20 approximately 500 word installments. And lemme tell ya, I felt the space constraints like crazy!
Actually, it was a fascinating exercise to write something this short and this tight. I kept thinking about all the character development and relationship tangles and plot twists I could add if I had more room, and I kept having to tell myself...2 pages. Each installment is 2 pages...
If nothing else, it has made me feel a lot better about having 55,000 words to tell an SRS story! It suddenly seems like I have all the room in the world to develop story angles now!
Gosh, that really was an evil place to leave y'all hanging wasn't it? I took a peek at chapter 10 and you're gonna KILL me when I leave you hanging there...and chapter 15? Let's just say I'll be ducking and covering when you get there...hee hee..
Happy reading!
Cindy
LOL Cindy!
You're cracking me up! You may get hit with snowballs (or lava rocks) during the next 2 Fridays, but I'm sure it'll all be worth it.
As for the length, yes, I know all about the word restrictions. Doesn't make me any happier about them, though.
I've read some daily reads where I sit and think Get to the point already! But then there are ones, like this one, where I always think at the end of each chapter Is that really it for today?!?!?
I'll check in again later....
Hugs,
April
You can do anything if you put your mind to it.... but it won't go far without the rest of your body.
The weekends are just
The weekends are just torture on books like this. Why do I have to wait? I really enjoy this story and wish it was a full length novel-that way I could read it all at once!
First week
Hi everyone--
I've really enjoyed this first week of the story!
Cindy--I don't mind the short chapters as you pack a lot into them!
Mary
ACH, I went to Borders
ACH, the cliffhangers at chapters 10 and 15 are worse! Better stick with snowballs, you can get hurt with lava rock
The lava is flowing into the ocean again here
The county just finished building a road to view it, but I think it's going to get covered soon! The viewing area is 50 to a 100 feet from the lava flowing in. The vog has been horrible though... wish the volcano would just stop for awhile...
I went to Borders and they don't have Dark Side of Night, I just
realized it's not out here yet. Going to have to order it. Maybe I can
get it as an ebook. Will have to go check out that option
Hmmm, this is
Hmmm, this is interesting... He still thinks she's part of the smuggling ring... wonder what it is that he has going.. I want to read all of this now! Can you tell I'm impatient
The vog is horrible over here, Kilauea needs to just stop for awhile!
Hmmm
Twists and turns and secrets and, both of them are undercover! This should be ineresting...
And be careful over there papaya...sounds like you have some dangerous conditions!!
take a deep breath now...
Howdy gang,
Just thought I'd give you fair warning that from here on out, the pace picks up pretty hard in the story. Take a deep breath and relax now while the getting's good, because the roller coaster's about to make that first plunge...
<laughing evilly>
For those of you who've never read my books before, be warned that I tend to start stories fast and then pick up speed from there...
Enjoy the ride!
Cindy
Whining!!!
I want the rest of the story NOW!!!
So is she going to follow him when he leaves? Does he know that she didn't actually drink all of the wine (if she did, she would probably be passed out by now...) Don't leave us like this!!! (And quit laughing! )
Shirley in ND
She will follow
I think that she will follow him as soon as he leaves and then it should get exciting. Since both are hiding who they are it should be interesting to find out who gets the maddest when they find out.
Cindy does keep you going the entire book. Just when you think you will get a little rest here she goes again. Looking forward to it.
Cindy - Is your August book a H.O.T. Watch book?
Elaine
Of course
Of course she'll follow him but will he catch her or does she confront him. Can't wait to see the next chapter and find out what's going on.
The D2K Paranormal Junkies ~ 2008 Book Challenge Blog
I"m sure she is going to
I"m sure she is going to follow him... I"m hanging on tight for the ride
But is it Carson, or someone
But is it Carson, or someone else?
"Perhaps what the average member of a group is capable of doesn't limit what a given individual can accomplish." -- Boston Globe, letter to the editor
March's Member of the Month!
Ahhh, the gun in the bra...
Ahhh, the gun in the bra... guess there wouldn't be anywhere else to keep it handy in a cocktail dress!
I"m thinking it may be the thieves...
But... a PADLOCK?
That part bothered me in a nit-picky way... if there was a padlock on the door, how did he get through? Or how did he put the lock back on after he went through? I know... pick, pick, pick (no pun intended
)
Can't wait until tomorrow!
the pesky padlock
Great catch on the padlock! I missed that one, darn it. I hate it when I do that. Rats. Hope it doesn't detract from the flow of the story too much.
Oh, and my August book is not a H.O.T. Watch book. It's part of a summer continuity of three verrrry sexy beach reads for SRS.
I just turned in my second H.O.T. Watch book, and it doesn't have a release date yet. I'd expect some time next year. Y'all could always start a write-in campaign to bug my editor about publishing it sooner... (please don't...editors are violently overworked as it is...)
On a side note, for those of you who've read THE MEDUSA SEDUCTION, you might get a kick out of knowing that the hero of the second H.O.T. Watch book is none other than John Hollister, Brian's boss. Suffice it to say he's not having a good year...until Melina Montez comes along and takes it from bad to worse...hee hee...
Oh, and here's a teaser for you about tomorrow's chapter. The person Lucy hears in the tunnel at the end of chapter 8 is not the same person I originally wrote it to be. I changed my mind during the edit phase after a great suggestion from Adrienne Macintosh, who edited this piece. So, who do you suppose I originally wrote, and who might I have changed to?
Have a great day everybody!
Best,
Cindy
Hmmmm, I think it was
Hmmmm, I think it was going to orginally be Carson... and now it's one of the thieves/bad guys...
good catch on the padlock, it went right byme when I read it...
Your teaser is torture!
Your teaser is torture! Now you've really made me think-my first thought was that she picked the wrong tunnel and was going to encounter the "bad guys"-now you are making me think harder. I don't want to think harder, I just want to know!