Simply Cheris. . .

When club owner Adrian Bryant discovers his biological father is hotel magnate Elliot Crawford, his life unravels. Shunned by Crawford while he and his mother struggled, Adrian hatches a high-profile plan to destroy the Crawford name—and the reputations of his two half-brothers. But to shield the woman he loves from the hell he intends to unleash, Adrian has to let her go. Photographer Dana Singleton is heartbroken and confused by Adrian ’ s behavior. But just when she ’ s given up on their relationship, she begins to discover the truth — and a dark side of Adrian she never knew existed. A s the stakes get higher, she will have to ask herself if she can love a man who is capable of such vengeance—or if he can learn to forgive...

Which is sweeter, love or revenge? Find out this November.

Music plays such a big role in my writing, so I thought it would be fun to share the soundtrack for my book, Too Hot For TV . Tina Turner: Baby, I'm A Star  Brian McKnight: Let Me Love You Prince: International Lover Rick James/Teena Marie: Fire and Desire Black Sheep: The Choice is Yours James Blunt: You're Beautiful Pink: Trouble Beyonce: Listen Gladys Knight and the Pips: You're The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me Gladys Knight and the Pips: Midnight Train to Georgia Rockwell: Somebody's Watching Me Nu Shooz: I Can't Wait Fine Young Cannibals: She Drives Me Crazy Load your e-reader with Too Hot For TV as you groove to the songs that inspired me. It's also available as a mass market paperback.

So, I'm taking a sort of social media break to work on my two WIPs. Last night, I wrote 2,000 words on Alicia's story. And Thursday was going to be Dana's day. Day light came, I woke up at six-thirty ready to write. Sat down with my wireless keyboard and nothing. Not a word. So, I said: "I'm going to do some yoga. Get the blood flowing." I did yoga, aerobics, some ab work. Came back to the iPad and nothing. Brewed some coffee, cooked an egg with cheese and tomatoes. Ate. Drank. Nothing. Watched the Young and The Restless, went to sleep because Victor Newman is starting to bore me. Woke up. Wrote three damned sentences. Cleaned the refrigerator, went to the market, watched Scandal. Did another 10 minutes of yoga and then my lovely Muse decided to show her face. RIGHT when I wanted to go to bed. On the flip side, Alicia's word count: 14.565 Dana and Adrian: 14,402 and counting. My muse started whispering to me again. I'm going to need more coff...

Do you want an autographed copy of Recipe For Desire? I know you do. So, if you want to win one answer this question (and please email the answer to cherisfhodges@gmail.com): In Too Hot For TV what was the name of the reality show that Raymond and Imani were on and where was it filmed? Send your mailing address by 5 p.m. today. Good luck.

Her Fantasy And His Reality… Classically trained actress Imani Gilliam is gifted, beautiful—and broke. Facing eviction, her only hope of staying afloat is to do the reality TV show, “Let’s Get Married.” The show pairs up single strangers, and viewers vote for who should be united in wedded bliss. Imani is only looking to be united with a paycheck—until she locks eyes with a fellow contestant… Are About To Create A Buzz… Dr. Raymond Thomas is determined to keep his struggling free clinic running—even if it means appearing on “Let’s Get Married.” He can’t imagine finding love on TV—but when he spots Imani, he definitely finds lust. And their attraction isn’t lost on the producers. But as the cameras start focusing on them, Raymond wonders if he’s just a tool in Imani’s career. Only time—and a life-changing choice—will tell… Praise for More Than He Can Handle “Hodges delivers a sizzling romance…” — Publishers Weekly “A wonderful read.” —UrbanReviews.com  Get it fo...

Flop Diva? Oh, no she's not. Imani Gilliam may be getting ready to go on a reality TV show, but over and over she hears this song in her head! Yeah, with Tina Turner singing it.

You there, with that copy of Too Hot For TV in your hand, and you over there, reading In Bed With The Doctor , and you reading His Sexy Bad Habit , me, Brenda Jackson and several other romance novelists are ruining your heart. Or, if you believe the clown who wrote this crap , leading you straight to hell. How dare we, the evil romance novelists, write about men who love and respect women? Or even worse, write about men who please women when they have sex? And what in the blue hell were we thinking about when we put the sweetness of a woman's orgasm on paper? Evil. Damn near terrorists. How could we give women stories to take them away for the harsh realities of world that demands so much and gives so little? The romance novel follows, the researchers argue, a typical pattern. The hero is almost never, they say, a blue collar worker, a bureaucrat, or someone in the traditionally feminine occupations (hairdresser, kindergarten teacher, etc.). He is competent, confident, and ...

Sept. 6, my 13th novel hits the shelves. I'm so excited that I want to drive to every book seller in town and take pictures. I've felt like this before, the day my first book was released and my second, third, fourth and so on and so on. There's nothing like seeing your book on store shelves. It always knocks the breath out of me for a moment. When I was in high school, I wrote stories and passed then around the classroom. Writing has been my first love for a long time. So, when my book drops, I'm happy. Excited. Thrilled. Humbled. And above all, thankful to the readers. I wouldn't be able to do this if it weren't for the people who go out and buy my books. Too Hot For TV is in stores now! Also available on your favorite e-reader. If you're out and you see a copy of Too Hot, snap a picture and post it on my Facebook page !

I got the tape recorder turned around on me recently. Being a full time journalist, I'm used to asking the questions. But Michaela Duckett was a great interviewer, I hope I'm half as good as she is. Here's the article: Qcity author Cheris Hodges says writing romance novels began as a way to escape from her day job. “I started writing my first book when I was covering police and courts in Covington, Ga.,” she says. At the time, Hodges was working for the Covington News . “Everyday was murder, mayhem and spending hours at the jail looking up arrest reports.” A decade and 13 books later, Hodges no longer covers police and the courts but says she still looks to her characters for a mental diversion. “Being a journalist, you have to stick to the facts,” says the Creative Loafing staffer. “When you are writing a novel, you are creating the world, so you make the fictional facts. You have to kind of let the characters drive you. You don’t do that in a news story. The fa...

             Drea lost herself in the weeding of the garden. She hadn’t even noticed the white car that pulled into the driveway as she tugged at a group of pesky dandelions. Once upon a time she’d thought they were the flowers and actually used to cry when she saw her dad tossing them away. She threw them haphazardly to her left.             "Wow, it's like that?" a deep male voice said, causing Drea to bolt upright and shield her eyes from the sun. She allowed her eyes to wander his tall, lean yet muscular body. He wore a white tank top that made his dark brown skin glow in the sunlight. Grey basketball shorts that hung past his knees. The black aviator glasses that covered his eyes placed the focus on his lips. Full. Thick. Oh shit, wet because his pink tongue just licked them.             "Sorry about that," she said. "But, umm, who are yo...

When Drea and her mother finally made it home to Elmore, South Carolina, she couldn’t help but think that after a year in Atlanta, she was in store for a summer that would consist of watching grass grow. After dropping her bags in her room, which now seemed smaller than ever, Drea stripped down to a pair of cut-off shorts and pulled on a faded purple tee shirt with Prince’s face plastered across the her chest. Today, she’d just lounge around and do nothing. It was hard to party and maintain good grades. She’d done pretty well for a freshman experiencing freedom for the first time. While she’d made two good friends at school, Shannon Kelly and Zahra Brown, she couldn’t wait to see Yashira McIntyre and Tracy Davenport, her best friends since middle school. They’d decided to go to school in South Carolina, Yashira at Claflin in Orangeburg and Tracy at Wofford in Spartanburg. Drea had wanted to get away from what she was familiar with. After all, as a journalist, she’d be traveling the wo...

It was 1995, Drea McClain had just finished her first year at Spelman College and wasn’t happy about having to return to her small South Carolina hometown. She wanted to stay in Atlanta, get a job and go to summer school. Anything to avoid going home where there was a curfew and endless days of boredom. “So,” her mother, Aretha McClain, asked as they rode down I-20, “how was school?” “It was amazing,” she replied with a smile. Aretha nodded. “I can tell, so proud of that 3.5 GPA. But I know you were having a good time in between studying.” Drea shrugged; definitely not ready to tell her mother about her clubbing adventures, her fling with the captain of the Morehouse College football team and her flirtation with alcohol. “Kind of,” she finally said. Aretha snorted. “All I have to say is be careful. Atlanta is a big city and I’m sure the people there would love to take advantage of you. But, you’ve always made smart decisions. You do use a condom every time you have sex, right...

This is a first look at Too Hot For TV, scheduled for release in September. It's not roses or chocolate, but I hope that everyone gets their heart's desire this Valentine's Day. Here's what the book is about: HER FANTASY AND HIS REALITY… Classically trained actress Imani Gilliam is gifted, beautiful—and broke. Facing eviction, her only hope of staying afloat is to do the reality TV show, "Let's Get Married." The show pairs up single strangers, and viewers vote for who should be united in wedded bliss. Imani is only looking to be united with a paycheck—until she locks eyes with a fellow contestant… ARE ABOUT TO CREATE A BUZZ… Dr. Raymond Thomas is determined to keep his struggling free clinic running—even if it means appearing on "Let's Get Married." He can't imagine finding love on TV—but when he spots Imani, he definitely finds lust. And their attraction isn't lost on the producers. But as the cameras start focusin...