Taglines!

So, if you've come here from my website, you might have noticed my new header and tagline. If not, no problem! Here it is again: 

I'm really happy with the way the banner turned out. I like that my blog and website finally feel like they're connected thematically. I like that the colors match my personal brand (such as it is) with my rainbow/unicorn/cotton candy/opalescent hair...what? You don't know about my hair? 

Here it is. See? It matches my website. The real question, of course, is does that match my AUTHOR brand. 

And...I don't know the answer to that. It's something I've been struggling with for a lot of years. 

What even is my author brand? I thought I'd come close a couple of times. My last tagline:  "All the Friends. All the Families. All the Feels." said it pretty well. My books are ALL ABOUT friends, family, and feelings.  But the tagline never really caught on. Maybe it was too trendy, or too on-the-nose. 

"Once more with feeling," popped into my head last night as I was working on the banner and..I don't know. It seemed to fit. Maybe because I've been writing a lot of books in the Second Chance Romance trope category. I think about two-thirds of all my books qualify to some extent. It's a great trope! Absolutely one of my favorites. Also, one of the most common compliments I receive is about the emotion in my books. Or what some might call angst. It's odd, really, because what I want to write is RomComs and Cosy Mysteries. But what I end up producing is angst and tears. But, as a tagline, once more with feeling seems to works for me.

BUT there's more. See, that logo is not an accident, either. It doesn't really say PNR Author or Romance Author, or any kind of author. But I'm attached to it. It has history. 

Many years ago, my husband was a fashion photographer in NYC. His first studio was on Avenue of the Americas between 38th and 39th streets--one block west of Lord and Taylor. Our neighbor was a graphic designer who used that exact font to create my husband's Forte Photography logo. And I later amended it to add three horizontal lines at the end. 

See, forte--as a musical directive--means to play something loudly or with force (the opposite of piano). The first I Ching hexagram, Ch’ien, consists of two sets of three, unbroken, horizontal lines representing creative energy. It's also sometimes referred to as "the force" which struck me as being absolutely perfect.

We used that on all sorts of promo--posters, ads, business cards. T shirts. When we first moved to LA  from NY, and were largely bi-coastal, we made up a bunch of promotional t-shirts that said either FORTE New York, or FORTE Los Angeles (White on black for NY, black on white for LA). That's my husband, back in the day, with our son (who's all grown up now!).

When our son first moved back to Los Angeles from the Bay Area, we showed him pictures of them (like the one above) and he decided to adopt the logo as his own.

Here's his new shop:

Pretty, no? He's a tattoo artist, in case you couldn't immediately tell.  Just kidding, it's not obvious AT ALL, which is just the way he likes it.

Anyway, shortly after this, I was once again re-branding myself and it occurred to me that maybe I should...I dunno, show solidarity with the family brand? Take advantage of some of that I Ching, yang energy? Embrace "the force"? 

And, since I was also using my first name--okay, first initials--rather than just our last name, I  decided to add that second set of horizontal lines at the front. 

So, there you have it. I'm recycling a logo I helped to create years ago to promote emotion-laden books. Or, in other words, Once. More. With. Feeling. It practically writes itself, doesn't it?

Something else that fits the tagline: the reboot of the Oberon series: coming soon! To read more about that, join my FB reader group The Crone's Nest, or check out my Other Blog (and my OTHER new header): 

Two Truths and a Lie is Live!

 This book was previously published. 

Two Truths and a Lie
Games We Play, Book Three
by PG Forte
Paranormal/Erotic Romance
35K
Release price: .99!

All work and no play has been the story of Brenda Donovan's life these past few months. Her concern about the future of her family's inn has her tied up in knots--and not in a good way. Between searching for a buyer for the business, and keeping secrets from her cousins, she's had no time to pursue an actual relationship. But pretending to date sexy Max Murphy, the hotel scout who's there to assess the property? That's totally doable. Especially when games, role-playing, and light bondage are included in the package. Falling in love was never supposed to be part of their deal; but now her heart's in play and all bets are off. 

 

Max has no problem with hiding his true identity from Brenda's cousins. If that's the way she wants to play it, he's all in. But are Luke and Gwyn the only ones he's deceiving? 

 It's game, set, and match this time around. And when all the scores have been tallied, and everyone's secrets are finally revealed, will the cousins lose the Wild Geese Inn?

Excerpt
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Excerpt from Two Truths and a Lie by PG Forte

Two Truths and a Lie
Games We Play, Book Three
by PG Forte
Paranormal/Erotic Romance
35K
https://books2read.com/u/b5vMxR

Prologue 

Atlas Beach, New Jersey 

Eleven years earlier… 

Gorgeous eyes. Gorgeous smile. Gorgeous boy. I want him. 

Seventeen-year-old Brenda Donovan could not take her eyes off the boy lounging against the reception desk at her grandmother’s hotel. From the messy waves of his burnished-copper hair, to the dimples that took his smile to a whole new level of yum, he was exactly what she’d have designed for herself if the Build-a-Boy workshop she and her cousin Gwyn had frequently joked about had been a reality. 

“So what do you do around here for fun?” Noah asked, flashing that grin again. It was just the two of them now, his parents having gone off to settle into the cottage where the family would be spending the next month. 

A month. He’s here for a whole month. That single thought had been repeating in her head for several minutes now. Anything could happen… 

She forced her thoughts back to the question at hand. “Do you mean here at the hotel? Or in Atlas Beach in general?” 

“Either one,” Noah replied as he stretched one long leg out behind him and leaned against the desk, a move that put them at eye level and made her even more keenly aware of his hot gaze trained on her face. 

“Well, there’s the beach, of course—” 

“Obviously.” 

“And the boardwalk, the arcade, miniature golf. Stuff like that. Here at the hotel we show movies in the activity room. And there are dances and game night and—” 

“Yeah? What kind of games?” 

“Well, that depends.” 

“On?” 

“On who’s in charge that night, for one thing.” 

“Wouldn’t that be you?” 

“Sometimes it is. There are a few of us who take turns running it. But generally it’s things like Telephone, Charades, Twenty Questions, Two Truths and a Lie…” 

“Two…what now?” 

“Two Truths and a Lie.” It was all Brenda could do not to mirror his posture. She wanted to fold her own arms on the counter and lean in just a little—just enough to put them within kissing distance of each other. The impulsive side of her nature said, go for it. Just do it. But her practical side held her back. She was supposed to be working, after all. She didn’t want to give anyone an excuse to say she had only been given a job here because she was Moira’s granddaughter—even if that was mostly true. “Haven’t you ever heard of it? It’s just like the name says. Everyone takes a turn making three statements—only two of which are true—and then everyone else tries to guess which one’s the lie.” 

Mischief gleamed in Noah’s eyes. “Like…you’re cute. I really want to kiss you. I have a pet monkey. That kinda thing?” 

Brenda felt herself blushing. “Not bad, but I should have been more specific. The statements are all supposed to be about you.” 

“I’m not sure I get it. I guess I’ll have to let you show me how it’s done.” 

“I guess you will.” Giving in to temptation, Brenda braced her hands on the counter and leaned in. “You’re also supposed to make it so that people don’t immediately know which one is false.” 

Noah’s dimples deepened adorably. “So you’re saying you think you know which one’s the lie?”

 “That’s exactly what I’m saying.” 

They swayed toward each other like saplings stretching toward the sky. “So tell me something,” Brenda murmured when their lips were only inches apart. 

“Anything,” Noah replied, his words a barely audible whisper. “What is it you want to know?” “How long have you had that monkey anyway?” 

Over the course of the next three weeks, they were inseparable. Brenda fell in love. Noah mastered Two Truths. I love you. I want you. I’ll be back soon. And finally, with ten days still to go before Noah was scheduled to leave, the two of them became lovers—each other’s firsts, or so they’d both claimed. 

But later that same night, while Brenda was still blissfully asleep in the empty guest room she’d “borrowed” for their use, Noah and his family disappeared. She woke to find that they’d skipped town without notice or explanation, and without paying their bill. 

At first Noah’s phone went straight to voice mail; within days, his in-box was full; within weeks the number had been disconnected. E-mails went unanswered, and eventually the account was deleted. Letters sent to the snail-mail address his parents had given when they’d checked in were returned as undeliverable. Brenda never heard from him again. 

She hadn’t known him long enough to have actually fallen in love—that’s what everyone told her. It happened too fast. It was nothing but a crush. But Brenda knew better. 

As August came to an end, she was left to cry on her cousin’s shoulder as her “best summer ever” broke her heart.

All work and no play has been the story of Brenda Donovan's life these past few months. Her concern about the future of her family's inn has her tied up in knots--and not in a good way. Between searching for a buyer for the business, and keeping secrets from her cousins, she's had no time to pursue an actual relationship. But pretending to date sexy Max Murphy, the hotel scout who's there to assess the property? That's totally doable. Especially when games, role-playing, and light bondage are included in the package. Falling in love was never supposed to be part of their deal; but now her heart's in play and all bets are off. 

 Max has no problem with hiding his true identity from Brenda's cousins. If that's the way she wants to play it, he's all in. But are Luke and Gwyn the only ones he's deceiving? 

 It's game, set, and match this time around. And when all the scores have been tallied, and everyone's secrets are finally revealed, will the cousins lose the Wild Geese Inn?

Buy Links

Never Have I Ever is LIVE!

This book was previously published. 

Never Have I Ever
Games We Play, Book Two
by PG Forte
Paranormal/Erotic Romance
30K
Release price: .99!

Kristy loves Luke but if anything was clear to her back when they were kids it was that gawky, awkward, tomboys didn't stand a chance with the king of the schoolyard. She watched her older brothers set their caps for Luke's glamorous cousins and get shot down. So she did what she had to in order to salvage her friendship with Luke. She hid her true feelings and her need for him to take control.

Luke wants Kristy in the worst way -- actually, in all the worst ways: tied up, held down, beaten, bitten, whipped. But he knows he has no chance of ever having her. They'd been childhood friends and sweethearts, until she friend-zoned him in the fifth grade. He knows he can either keep her as a friend or take her to bed and lose her forever. His biggest mistake--so far--was in hiring her to work alongside him in the bar he and his cousins inherited from their grandmother. He knows Kristy needs the money and the job, but Luke's self-control can't take the constant contact with the girl he wants to dominate -- both in and out of the bedroom. Something has to give -- and soon!

Excerpt 
Buy Links