Hot Off The Press

Claim A Convenient Ring to Claim Her for $1.99

Jun 2, 2023

A Convenient Ring to Claim Her has been chosen for a North American eBook flash sale today, June 2nd.

The ebook is be available on all major platforms (Amazon, Nook, AppleBooks, Kobo and GooglePlay) at the discounted price of $1.99. Watch for it as a Kindle Daily Deal on Amazon!

A Convenient Ring to Claim Her is one of my favorite romance tropes–lovers who are hiding their affair and really, truly believe it’s only an affair, but they’re so secretly in love with each other, they don’t even realize it themselves. Thus, they are stunned at how thoroughly the other can rip their heart out. Here’s the blurb:

Will the billionaire finally say “I do”?

Find out in this intense marriage of convenience from USA TODAY bestselling author Dani Collins.

The proposal…
…she vowed never to accept!

Life has taught orphan Quinn Harper to trust only herself. So, whilst her secret fling with billionaire Micah Gould was her first taste of passion, it wasn’t supposed to last forever. Although it gets harder and harder to pull herself away from his bed…

The abominable actions of Micah’s father have left a permanent mark. Love isn’t in his future. Then his relationship with Quinn is suddenly exposed and, in Berlin, a new possibility presents itself. Quinn could be the convenient bride Micah needs…but can he be what she deserves?

A Convenient Ring to Claim Her is Book Three in my Four Weddings and a Baby quartet. If you like to read in order, they go like this:

Book 1: Cinderella’s Secret Baby
Book 2: Wedding Night with the Wrong Billionaire
Book 3: A Convenient Ring to Claim Her
Book 4: A Baby to Make Her His Bride

Happy reading!

Audiobook Lovers! Pre-Order The Prospector’s Only Prospect

May 9, 2023

Hooray! The Prospector’s Only Prospect is available on audiobook today!

This slow burn to sexy Western Historical has been garnering lots of five star reviews. Here’s what fans are saying:

  • “I am still coming down from the high of Marigold and Virgil. This story took my heart away.”

  • “If you enjoy can’t-put-down steamy and emotional historical romance, don’t miss The Prospector’s Only Prospect by Dani Collins.”

  • “…this was good, it was angsty, it had heart and grit and I couldn’t put it down…”

I hope you’ll give it a try and, good news, if you’re on the run and prefer to read with your ears, you can! Click on the image for all the audiobook links or scroll to the bottom.

Ordering a bride was supposed to be easy…

After eight days in a cramped stagecoach, divorcée Marigold Davis already regrets her decision to come to Denver City to marry. She certainly didn’t realize she’d signed up for mosquitos, mud, and scores of rough men eyeing her like a hot meal on a cold day. But with her life in Kansas all but incinerated, Marigold needs a husband. Even if she’s not the bride that gold prospector Virgil Gardner is expecting…

Virgil Gardner has a reputation as a grumpy hard-ass, and he’s fine with it. He’s also no fool – this is not the woman he agreed to marry. It takes a tough-as-nails woman to survive the harshness of a Rocky Mountain gold claim, and this whiskey-eyed, gentle beauty is certainly not the type. Now it’s just a matter of how quickly she’ll quit, so he can find a wife who will stick. Someone who can care for the only thing he values even more than gold–his children.

But Marigold isn’t about to give in. Cramped in a one room shack. Berry picking turned into a bear escape. Or, cooking for an entire crew of bottomless pits. She’s got more grit than most. And just when Virgil starts to realize his replacement bride might be the treasure he’s been looking for, an unannounced guest arrives… to change everything.

Humor and romance collide in USA Today bestselling author Dani Collins’ all-new western series, starting with a mail order bride’s unexpected arrival in 1859 Colorado.

“Collins mines the setting for both danger and humor, providing the perfect backdrop to this sensuous romance. Readers won’t want to put this down.” ~ Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review

Quick Links

It’s my Call-iversary! Eleven years!

May 8, 2023

Eleven years ago today, I got The Call. After writing and submitting romance for twenty-five years, Harlequin Mills & Boon in London offered to buy my book. They actually bought two. Then three. Then four. Yesterday, I turned in what will become #55.

I also began writing for Tule Publishing and indie published some of my orphans and lately began writing for Entangled Amara. I’ve actually published almost eighty books, which makes it sound Just That Easy, once you get The Call.

It’s not. In fact, I was recently speaking to a writing coach who said, “Congratulations on eleven years. Most careers last five.”

Publishing is hard. It’s luck and timing and grit, but it’s a dream come true for me so I thought I’d celebrate my eleven years by telling you about eleven of my books and why I loved writing them:

1. No Longer Forbidden – Well, duh. It’s the one that earned me The Call. Rowan is a cheeky child star who had a crush on her estranged stepbrother, Nic. They’re forced together when their parents disappear, which taught me how to focus on the main characters and their romance. It’s also the book that taught me, Hey, I can do this after all. (And it was Book of the Month!)

2. The Healer – This epic medieval fantasy was published in 2013 by Champagne, a Canadian digital first publisher. Athadia and Vaun are fated mates and I adored telling their story. It taught me worldbuilding on a grand scale, juggling multiple points of view, and was very much a passion project that took years.

Fun fact: it was a Nanowrimo project. This book also taught me to finish books that are hard and that readers don’t always follow an author into unfamiliar places so I left Fantasy behind, but I often think about returning to this universe.

3. His Blushing Bride – I love all my Love in Montana books, but by the time I got to this one, I was learning to weave in characters from the previous three books without letting them take over the story. Piper is a shy music teacher at the school. Sebastian is a playboy in town to see his sister. They’re cute and funny and things get hot, but he leaves because he’s never going to marry anyone.

Except, he’s devastated when she seems to move on. The scene in the hotel room at the end, when he is crushed that he let her go, is one of my all-time faves.

4. His Christmas Miracle – Single Dad Quincy falls for his temporary nanny, Nicki, when she helps him bond with his (adorable) four-year-old son. It’s the holiday season so Nicki creates an Advent calendar of activities that I used to build the plot of the story. Quincy also lives with his father who is falling for his old crush which is very sweet.

Everything about this book was a joy to write. Plus, you can download your own Advent Calendar here.

5. Only in His Sweetest Dreams – This is almost a tie with the first book in this duet, Not in Her Wildest Dreams.

These are books I indie published because they’d never found a home. The characters are regular folk with messy lives (my favorite kind). Only in His Sweetest Dreams actually took me years to finish which taught me that sometimes I’m not ready to tackle a certain story because I need more time to develop as a writer.

I also learned that if you paint yourself into a corner in book one, by naming a future hero with a name you don’t like, you can just have him change it when he gets his own book and reinvents himself.

6. His Mistress with Two Secrets – I loved writing the two sets of identical twins in the Sauveterre Siblings quartet, but if I have to choose one of them as a favorite, it’s Cinnia and Henri.

Cinnia has the nerve to leave Henri when he makes it clear he’s not interested in marriage. She knows she’s pregnant, but he doesn’t. Then he finds out. Delicious!

This one also got me on the USA Today Bestsellers list.

7. In Too Deep – This is the third book in my Blue Spruce Lodge trilogy. Here, too, I am hard-pressed to pick a favorite because I loved so much about all of these books. In each one, I had a challenging subplot element, but I chose In Too Deep for a bunch of reasons.

Wren and Trigg were a ton of fun to write. I love how Wren learns to love herself and stand up to Trigg. I love how he learns to bend. I love that Sky is appalled that her aunt and her birth father are married. I love that Sky learns more about her mother and grows up. I love that it wraps up a mystery at the resort and puts a bow on the whole series.

8. Confessions of an Italian Marriage – This was a story where I took a few chances and was so happy with how it turned out.

Freja and Giovanni adore one another, but Giovanni is secretly a spy and fakes his own death. I told this with a nonlinear timeline and pulled out all the stops in many ways. (The heroine was trapped in North Korea for a time. I slip into a secondary characters POV at the end.)

I really wasn’t sure this story would fly with my editor, but it’s the first book I’ve ever had accepted without revisions. I guess she liked it.

9. Innocent in Her Enemy’s Bed – I struggled between a few titles because I’m getting to the end and, honestly, every book is my favorite for one reason or another.

In this one, however, I harked back to what I drew me into Harlequin Presents. It’s a classic revenge/forced marriage plot, but even though Ilona is sensitive and vulnerable (eg. she gets arrested on her wedding day and Leander isn’t there to save her!) she’s also a very competent business woman who doesn’t let Leander use her. In the end, she very much gets the best of him and he loves her for it.

10. The Prospector’s Only Prospect – I didn’t expect to write historical romance let alone a mail-order bride in the Denver goldrush, but once I ended up there with Marigold and Virgil, I was hooked. I adore them and can’t wait to revisit this world.

11. Raven’s Cove Book Two – I’m cheating by putting this on the list. It’s a new series that comes out next year. I don’t have the title for Book Two yet, but if you love to see a hero grovel, make a note of this one. Sophie had a crush on Logan since they were children, then he broke her heart and left. Now they’re stuck working together and she is not about to forgive him.

There you have it. One-eighth of my backlist. I’ve written a lot of different types of romance in the last eleven years and will probably write a bunch of other wild stuff over the next eleven, but I couldn’t do it without you!

You are the reason I’m celebrating eleven years today. Thank you, thank you for reading my books.

Price Drop! Get Beauty and Her One-Night Baby for 1.99 today!

May 1, 2023

Good news! Beauty and Her One-Night Baby will be price-dropped in North America to $1.99 for the month of May.

Loosely based on Beauty and the Beast, Beauty and Her One-Night Baby has Scarlett working for a Not Very Nice Man. She accidentally has a torrid one-night-stand with his son, Javiero. She hides her pregnancy until her boss dies and goes into labor on Page One. This is the opening few lines:

Her water broke.

Horrified, Scarlett Walker hoped if she didn’t look, it wouldn’t be true. She stared at the hook on the back of the stall door where her handbag hung and prayed she was wrong.

She knew what had happened, though. There was no mistaking such an event and no, no, nooo. This was supposed to happen next week, at the island villa that had been her home for the last six years. Or last week, when she’d been sitting vigil at her employer’s bedside. Anytime but today.

Not now. Please not now.

And wouldn’t you know who shows up to save her? Yup. Javiero. He’s been having a hard time, what with being attacked by a jaguar and losing his fiancĂ©e. He is not pleased that Scarlett has been keeping such a secret.

Grab this one while it’s on sale. You’ll find all the buy links here.

BUY LINKS

FUN FACT: Beauty and Her One-Night Baby is Book Two in my Feuding Billionaire Brothers duet. They stand alone so you don’t have to read Book One, but if you’d like to, it’s called A Hidden Heir to Redeem Him.

A Baby to Make Her His Bride is here! Hooray!

Apr 25, 2023

The thrilling conclusion to my Four Weddings and a Baby series is out today! Find out what happened to Jasper and Vienna. Happily Ever After Romance gave it 5 stars and said:

“Their story was the perfect way to wrap up this series.  We got the chance to see some of the couples from the previous stories, finally had answers to questions that have been puzzling, and watched two deserving people find a love to last a lifetime.  Hard to ask for much more than that.  If you love an emotional romance with believable people facing some hard choices, then this story is simply perfect for you.”

The reason that they will meet at the altar? Their baby!

Unexpectedly pregnant… Scandalously wed!

Fleeing her very public divorce, socialite Vienna is shocked to find her private hideaway already occupied. Gruff and brooding Jasper was presumed dead—just like Vienna’s love life. So her instant connection to him is unexpected, yet completely undeniable…

One night is all Jasper can offer Vienna. The people closest to him always get hurt. Then scandal strikes, forcing them to fly to Chile as a couple for the whole world to see! But when Jasper learns Vienna is carrying his baby, he must take things one step further to protect them both…with his diamond ring!

The Four Weddings and a Baby books are stand alone romances, but the various characters make appearances in other books. If you like to read in order, they go:

Book 1: Cinderella’s Secret Baby
Book 2: Wedding Night with the Wrong Billionaire
Book 3: A Convenient Ring to Claim Her
Book 4: A Baby to Make Her His Bride

Happy reading!

Did you catch Dani on The Categorically Romance Podcast this week?

Apr 11, 2023

Dani joins hosts Aaron and Alicia on The Categorically Romance Podcast, to reveal behind-the-scenes research for The Prospector’s Only Prospect.

She also shares tips and tricks to writing a series, strategies for battling burn-out, and celebrates the final book in her Four Weddings and a Baby quartet, A Baby to Make Her His Bride.

The Bachelor’s Baby is Free for a Limited Time!

Apr 11, 2023

Fun News! From April 11-16, The Bachelor’s Baby will be FREE on all platforms!

This sexy, swoony story was initially written as part of the multi-author Marietta Bachelor Auction, but it’s also Book Three in my Love in Montana series.

Your date with Bachelor #3…

…includes champagne and chocolate in the limo that collects you, a helicopter tour of Marietta and the surrounding mountains and valleys, and dinner at a five star restaurant in Great Falls. While oil baron Linc Brady wines and dines you, a maid service will completely clean your home.

Who could resist this tempting offer, but Meg Canon plans to do just that. She is only home to clean out her childhood bedroom for her brother’s new step-daughter and then she’s outta her childhood small town and back to her life in Chicago, but when she meets the sexy, renegade millionaire while she’s stuck in the snow, sparks fly and Meg is tempted to maybe stay a little longer.

Linc Brady is new in town and happy to help a kid in need, but this? Technically he doesn’t owe Meg a damned thing after she bids on him, after setting him up for the Marietta bachelor auction in the first place, but her high-class city polish is his fatal weakness and makes her impossible to forget. When she agrees to come home with him, he makes it clear he’s a confirmed bachelor. This is a one-night thing. One night that turns into nine months and maybe a lifetime…?

Find all the links here. Get your copy today!

Are you anxious for A Baby To Make Her His Bride?

Apr 1, 2023

Exciting news! You can get your hands on the thrilling conclusion to my Four Weddings and a Baby series today, if you shop Harlequin or Mills & Boon UK.

The reason that they will meet at the altar? Their baby!

Unexpectedly pregnant…
Scandalously wed!

Fleeing her very public divorce, socialite Vienna is shocked to find her private hideaway already occupied. Gruff and brooding Jasper was presumed dead—just like Vienna’s love life. So her instant connection to him is unexpected, yet completely undeniable…

One night is all Jasper can offer Vienna. The people closest to him always get hurt. Then scandal strikes, forcing them to fly to Chile as a couple for the whole world to see! But when Jasper learns Vienna is carrying his baby, he must take things one step further to protect them both…with his diamond ring!

Read all the Four Weddings and a Baby books:

Book 1: Cinderella’s Secret Baby
Book 2: Wedding Night with the Wrong Billionaire
Book 3: A Convenient Ring to Claim Her
Book 4: A Baby to Make Her His Bride

Eureka! The Prospector’s Only Prospect is here!

Mar 28, 2023

Ordering a bride was supposed to be easy…

Join Marigold as she rolls into Denver today! She’s not the mail-order bride Virgil expected, but she’s the one he’ll have to take home because he has three children and a lot of gold to mine if he wants to feed them.

Publisher’s Weekly calls The Prospector’s Only Prospect “…a delightful twist on the mail order bride trope…”

After eight days in a cramped stagecoach, divorcée Marigold Davis already regrets her decision to come to Denver City to marry. She certainly didn’t realize she’d signed up for mosquitos, mud, and scores of rough men eyeing her like a hot meal on a cold day. But with her life in Kansas all but incinerated, Marigold needs a husband. Even if she’s not the bride that gold prospector Virgil Gardner is expecting…

Virgil Gardner has a reputation as a grumpy hard-ass, and he’s fine with it. He’s also no fool – this is not the woman he agreed to marry. It takes a tough-as-nails woman to survive the harshness of a Rocky Mountain gold claim, and this whiskey-eyed, gentle beauty is certainly not the type. Now it’s just a matter of how quickly she’ll quit, so he can find a wife who will stick. Someone who can care for the only thing he values even more than gold–his children.

But Marigold isn’t about to give in. Cramped in a one room shack. Berry picking turned into a bear escape. Or, cooking for an entire crew of bottomless pits. She’s got more grit than most. And just when Virgil starts to realize his replacement bride might be the treasure he’s been looking for, an unannounced guest arrives… to change everything.

“Collins mines the setting for both danger and humor, providing the perfect backdrop to this sensuous romance. Readers won’t want to put this down.” ~ Publisher’s Weekly

Buy The Prospector’s Only Prospect now

 

Amazon US | Amazon CDN | Amazon UK | Amazon Aus | Nook | Kobo | AppleBooks | GooglePlay

Countdown Snippet 1 ~ The Prospector’s Only Prospect

Mar 27, 2023

I’m celebrating the final countdown to my release date for The Prospector’s Only Prospect with some exclusive snippets.

In this one, Marigold gives Virgil a haircut…

Oh shit, this was a terrible idea.

He gathered himself to stand, but the weight of her hands came onto his shoulders.

“Sit straight. Dip your head forward.”

He swallowed and tucked his chin.

The cold metal began to clip along his nape. He watched his broken, dirty nails curl into his palms.

The blades made a few passes against his neck, barely warming from the heat of his body, then began to clip around his ears.

“Don’t move,” she warned softly.

It was downright erotic, holding still like this while she petted his hair and gathered it in bunches. He held his breath but heard hers along with the soft rustle of her clothes. Her short skirt brushed his knees and the back of his hands.

The clip-clip of the scissor blades worked around his head and down the side of his face, making his beard itch. Just as he was about to scratch into it, she began pinching sections of whiskers. Her knuckles brushed his cheekbone and grazed his lips.

He was caught in ecstatic torture. His mouth watered. Her clothes smelled of flour and the familiar must of the cabin and the warm musk of a woman.

As he spread his knees, she stepped between. He opened his eyes enough to see the swells of her breasts beneath her coat. Were her nipples hard?

He felt as though his skin had shrunk and he would split right out of it if he didn’t put his hands and mouth on her. Everything in him wanted to grab her and kiss her and fuck the daylights out of both of them.

“You have a widow’s peak. I didn’t realize…”

“Why does that matter?” Through his haze of arousal, he lifted his attention enough to catch her pulling her face into a grimace of apprehension.

“It doesn’t.” Her voice was high and sharp enough to cut through his sexual trance. “I’ll just…” She pinched and clipped and wrinkled her nose, face confounded.

“Marigold.” His blood cooled. Fast. “You said you knew how to do this.”

“You’re my first man. I understand most find that to be a thrill. I’ve never understood why. The first flapjack is always the worst of the batch. Everyone knows that.”

“Very funny.” He brushed her hands away and ran his hands over his hair. It didn’t feel anything like after the barber had finished with him. “How bad is it?”

“It’s fine,” she insisted but looked as if she needed to pee. “Maybe if these were sharper?” She snipped the air twice. “You’re not paying for it,” she reminded him.

“Jesus Christ.” He rose and went to the window, shifted to glimpse his reflection in the glass. “I look like a half-peeled potato!”

She bit her lips, showing no contrition at all. “I’ll get better now that I know what not to do.”

Muttering every curse word he knew, he slapped his hat over his chewed-up head and stalked off to work.


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