The Romance Reviews

Thursday 16 September 2010

D. S. Craver Shares "Your Place or Mine"

     Two years ago, my husband wanted us to sell our Cape Cod style house and ten acres. He suggested that we buy a ranch or build one. I didn’t get on board with this change at first, but then agreed with him that it was a good time to downsize. Well, we have listed our house twice with a realtor during the last two years. We have looked at tons of houses and written contracts for two of them. Unfortunately, our house hasn’t sold so we haven’t been able to move. 
     Out of this experience of looking at houses, I decided to write a fun story of two single people wanting the very same house. I enjoyed writing my contemporary romance, Your Place or Mine. I hope readers get a kick out of Sydney and Blake as they try to share a house. Sydney’s hot and bothered just looking at Blake. She suggests writing rules, so sharing a duplex can work. Although the rules are excellent, that adjoining door between the two sides creates havoc one stormy night. Their hot night might have been avoided if rule number two had been followed.

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Rating: Adults - Highly Sensual
Length: Novella - 20,400 words
Publisher: Rebecca J. Vickery
Available here: 

Sydney Smith decides it’s time to move out of her tiny apartment and become a home owner. Blake Smith, no relation and a real hottie, also wants to see the duplex. A mix-up has them viewing it together. They both love the house. There's also some sparks flying between the two of them, or is Sydney the only one feeling that way? A highly sensual story of fun, home-buying, and more...

Excerpt: 
Would he even be able to sleep knowing Sydney was only seconds away? He’d never been an impulsive kind of guy so asking her to share the house had been unbelievable. "The house is great. And I’m glad the owners are leaving the hot tub. I can‘t wait to come home from work and soak in it."

She raised her eyebrows. "That’s right. A hot tub with mostly bare bodies could make us feel passionate and lose control. The next rule should be we never get in it together."

He shrugged. "I think we can behave in it. How about we put no drinking while in the hot tub for a rule instead?"

"The hot tub is a biggie because if we are both in it, with or without alcohol, I can’t imagine us keeping our hands off each other. We were just hot for each other here."

He squeezed her upper arm. "That’s because of your sexy arms."

She stopped writing to look at Blake. "I never had a guy tell me my arms are sexy."

"That’s hard to believe. Your gorgeous arms are toned and lean."

"Stop trying to sidetrack me from our list by giving me compliments." She paused. "I’ll compromise and put no touching and no drinking in the hot tub."

Leaning in he gave her a soft kiss on her cheek. "What about kissing?"

"That’s going to be tough. I think allowing kissing on lips only should be okay. But not in the hot tub." Her brown eyes widened. "But we should add that lips don’t touch other body parts."

"What about the cheek?"

"Kissing a cheek is fine."

"What about a kiss on the forehead?"

Sydney laughed. "Would you stop? You’re a smart man and know I meant no kissing on my boobs and other sensitive places. If Libby hadn’t shown up, your lips were headed in that direction."

Although he hadn’t been happy to be interrupted by Libby, it’d been for the best. "We have a good list of rules. If necessary we can always add stuff later."

She rubbed her lower lip. "It seems like we’re forgetting something important. Well, like you said, we can always revise."

"I guess we should see a lawyer sometime, and have a legal agreement drawn up…like a pre-nup if owning the duplex together doesn't work out for one of us."

"That's a great idea. We should do that. I’ll write the rules down for you so we both have a copy. We can’t very well post them where Noah sees them."

After she handed him his piece of paper, he read them aloud.

Ground Rules for Sharing a House with the Opposite Sex
1.Don’t use the adjoining door to visit when wearing only your
underwear .
2.Don’t enter each other’s bedroom unless there’s an emergency.
3.No touching and no drinking while in the hot tub with each other.
4.Kissing only allowed on lips and face. And no kissing while in hot tub.

 Silently he added a rule to the list. Don’t ever take advantage of Sydney. Crap, that was going to be a hard one for him. He already wanted her. Hell, he’d convinced her they would have a platonic relationship if they shared the duplex. How could he keep his word?
Review by Stephanie:
Craver pens a feisty contemporary tale of dating and falling in love with Your Place or Mine... Craver's writing is crisp and spot on. The dialogue is modern and witty. The plot flows smoothly and keeps the reader cheering for Blake and Sydney. The writing alludes to a deeper premise - when you meet the one you're going to spend the rest of your life you just "know." The story is sophisticated for readers. Craver's love scenes are graphic and tasteful. Overall, "Your Place or Mine" is a nice romantic getaway.

Book Links for my other books:

Samhain Books: No Greater Loss, A Fiery Secret and Never the Same
Link to publisher’s book page:

Desert Breeze Books:

Whimsical Publications:

Booklocker.com - nonfiction

12 comments:

Lindsay Townsend said...

YOUR PLACE OR MINE sounds a very topical, fun read, DS Carver! I love the interplay of the characters in your excerpt and enjoyed the whole very modern dilemma.

I wish you many sales!

Thank you for posting!

(Rebecca - thanks so much for posting. I don't know if it's just me, but some of the pictures aren't showing. I'm not sure which section of code it is to fix, so you might want to look at it.)

Diane Craver said...

Hi Lindsay,
Thank you so much for having me here today - you have a lovely blog. I'm glad you enjoyed the excerpt!

Btw, the pictures are showing for me.

katsrus said...

Hi Diane you are a new author to me. Your book sounds fun. Adding it to my reading.

Diane Craver said...

Hi Katsrus,
Thank you for stopping by and hope you get a chance to read Your Place or Mine. Have a great day!

Savanna Kougar said...

Okay, a hot tub. They never had a chance... except for steamy bubbling passion... and love.

Fun and tantalizing excerpt.

Diane Craver said...

Hi Savanna,

Glad you liked excerpt with the rules. LOL It's hard for Sydney and Blake to remain in their own bedrooms when the chemistry between them sizzles.

Thank you for visiting.

Unknown said...

Diane--ahh, how cute and sexy! Blake and Sydney are the perfect pair and the situation they find themselves in classic romance! I love it--congratulations on a winner--Celia

Diane Craver said...

Hi Celia,
I'm happy you liked this excerpt. Writing YPoM was fun because I've been writing sweet romances. It was a bit of stretch for me at times and a learning experience when I wrote my highly charged senusal scenes. :-)

Thanks, Celia, for stopping by - I know you're busy promoting your new releases!

Rebecca J Vickery said...

Hi Diane and Lindsay,
Sorry I'm so late popping in. Busy day.

I really enjoyed this story of Diane's and she should write sensual romance more often. The chemistry was definitely there between Blake and Sydney. And some of the situations were such fun to read.
Congrats on all your releases, Diane.

Diane Craver said...

Hi Rebecca,
Thank you for visiting and posting how much you enjoyed Your Place or Mine. Hearing that from you means a lot to me because you're such a talented writer. I loved your Surviving With Love.

I might write another sensual romance - I certainly had lots of fun writing about Sydney's romance with Blake!

Lindsay Townsend said...

Hi Daine - yes, the pics are all showing now! You look lovely!!

Diane Craver said...

Hi Lindsay,

Thanks again for giving me this opportunity to share an excerpt and other information about my romance. I've enjoyed it.

Have a terrific weekend!