Saturday, January 11, 2014

One Red Shoe Worldwide Release Tour



Back in September, Diane Burton was here with a preview of her romantic suspense, One Red Shoe. The book released yesterday, and I am already about halfway through it. I have to tell you, it's a wild ride! Diane is back with an excerpt and buying information, as well as some insight into the types of stories that she loves.


Humor

What is it about humor that appeals to so many yet eludes others? I was a serious child. Oldest of seven, the one left in charge, the responsible one. That carried over into my adult life. Until I met a certain guy with a wicked sense of humor. He could tease me out of my seriousness and helped me find my own sense of humor. I was smart enough to grab onto that guy and we’ve been married for over forty years. I’m still too serious at times in real life, but I can let go in my writing.

Romantic comedy is my favorite type of movie. Romancing the Stone, It Happened One Night, Something’s Gotta Give, Six Days, Seven Nights. Falling in love is serious business, but without that spark of humor it came be maudlin. Television drama without humor will lose me as an audience. NCIS, Castle, Bones, Persons of Interest. Even gritty futuristics like Almost Human keep me watching because of the humorous interaction between the main characters. And don’t get me started on Doctor Who (which I just discovered even though it’s been on the air since 1963!). The sci-fi show is, at times, laugh out loud funny, especially the last Doctor.

Humor comes in many forms. Give me wicked banter any day over slapstick. I never understood the appeal of the Three Stooges. Maybe that’s a guy thing. I loved the Saturday morning cartoon Rocky & Bullwinkle because of the dialogue. Same with the original Muppet Movie. When I took my children to see it, the best part was the dad behind me who, along with the few other adults in the theater, couldn’t stop laughing at all the “good” parts—like “gone with the Schwin” and Fozzie’s “they don’t sound like Presbyterians.”

I said I’m not fond of slapstick, so how do you explain my love of the Stephanie Plum series? The physical comedy is laugh out loud funny. Author Janet Evanovich knows how to take a situation, twist it, turn it on its ear and make it hilarious. I should never read those books in bed because the bed shakes from holding in my laughter—don’t want to wake Hubs with laughing out loud.

Life is serious. The news every night keeps getting grimmer and more disturbing. Comedy is an antidote to life. The value of humor is vastly underrated. In fact, rarely has a comedy won an Oscar. Same with actors whose forte is their comedic timing. What do they receive awards for? Their dramatic work.

Medical studies tell us that laughter releases endorphins, nature’s natural pain killers. Laughter relaxes the skeletal system, reduces stress, lowers the blood pressure, and regulates the heart rate. According to inspirational speaker Marilyn Meburg, your liver needs laughter because it gets no exercise. The liver is the organ in your body that gets rid of toxins. So, if you’re not laughing you’re neglecting your liver.

Give your liver and the rest of your body that antidote to “real life” and enjoy a good comedy.

What are your favorite comedy books or movies?

Blurb:

Wannabe writer rescues wounded spy while risking her heart.

Daria Mason’s life is too predictable. Nothing ever happens in her small Iowa town where everybody knows everybody else. But when she travels to New York City looking for a little excitement, she never expects to bring home a wounded spy.

From the moment agent Sam Jozwiak steals intel vital to US security from a Russian Mafia kingpin, Murphy’s Law takes over. No matter how he covers his tracks, the kingpin’s assassins find him. What’s worse than getting shot in the butt? Accepting help from an Iowa tourist.

Sam and Daria flee cross country with the assassins right behind them. Sharing danger and excitement—and a few kisses—with Sam soon has Daria convinced he’s the man for her. He thinks she’ll be better off once he’s out of her life for good. With their lives on the line, can she convince him they belong together?

Excerpt:

The slinky blonde with wild curly hair rose from the chair in the corner and walked toward him. She wore skin-tight jeans and an equally tight red shirt. “Sam?”
He was hallucinating. The woman sounded like Daria. A tiny angel charm nestled in the hollow of her throat above the low-cut shirt. An angel just like Daria’s, but—
“Sam, I’m glad you’re awake. We can leave now.”
“Oh, shit. Where’s your hair?”
She self-consciously touched the froth of blond curls that brushed her shoulders. “No time to talk. We have to get on the road again. I needed—”
“I thought you needed the bathroom because you were constipated not because you wanted to turn yourself into a—a floozy.”
“Constipated? You thought—” Her cheeks matched the color of the ultra-snug top and the slash of lipstick across her mouth. What happened to her fresh-scrubbed look? Good Lord, her eyelashes were all gunked up.
Sam swung his legs off the bed. He planted his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his hands. “Your beautiful hair,” he moaned.
Gone. She’d cut it off. Instead of long and wavy from the braid, her hair was sticking out like she’d stuck her finger in a light socket. And it was the brassiest color he’d seen since his sister and her girlfriends experimented on each other in ninth grade. She’d even replaced her gold studs with large silver hoops that dangled from her ears.
“This is a good disguise, Sam. Come on, admit it.” She walked toward him, unsteady on her feet.
He looked down and saw why. Instead of cute penny loafers, she was wearing black boots with three-inch heels. He looked up those mile-long legs. “Your jeans are too damn tight. That penny in your pocket was minted in Denver in 1994.”
She tried to wriggle her hand into the pocket before she gave him a suspicious look. “I don’t have a penny in my pocket.”
“Well, if you did, I could read it.”


One Red Shoe is available at:
And wherever ebooks are sold.

About the author:

Diane Burton combines her love of mystery, adventure, science fiction and romance into writing romantic fiction. Besides the science fiction romance Switched series, she is the author of The Pilot, the first book in a series about strong women on the frontier of space. One Red Shoe is her first romantic suspense. She is also a contributor to the anthology How I Met My Husband. Diane and her husband live in Michigan. They have two children and two grandchildren.
For more info and excerpts from her books, visit Diane’s website: http://www.dianeburton.com

Connect with Diane Burton online



Diane Burton is giving away a free pdf copy of One Red Shoe to a lucky commenter. For extra chances, please use Rafflecopter below:
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7 comments:

  1. Good morning, Patty. It's great to be here today. Thanks so much for having me.

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    1. Always a pleasure having you here, Diane! Best wishes with this release. My Kindle app says I'm 70 percent finished with the book, and I'm still loving it!

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  2. That's a good thing. :) Thanks for letting me know.

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  3. Hi Diane,
    I love the Stephanie Plum series. I own all of the books. My favorite comedy series on television is The Big Bang Theory. I like that it doesn't rely on pratfalls although there are some, but that the humor comes from dialogue and the relationships the characters have with each other.

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    1. I love it when the humor comes from dialogue. Some of the old time (1930s-type) movies & plays have very witty dialogue. Cole Porter's songs are so clever. Thanks, Katherine, for stopping by.

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  4. I agree with Katherine - Stephanie Plum is brilliant in both her series! Diesel is THE PERFECT MAN - hot AND a sense of humor ;-)

    Have you ever seen the BBC comedy series "Mrs. Brown"? You need to check out some clips on youtube (she is all over there) if you can't find the show pn your TV. Seriously unbelieveably funny!! I have seen some shows 3 or 4 times & even know the joke is coming and its still funny.

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  5. I haven't seen Mrs. Brown. I'll have to check it out. I'm a recent convert to Doctor Who & Torchwood so I know where BBC America is on my cable channels. :) Thanks for the comment.

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