It’s our one-year anniversary! The Waterworld Mermaids have dyed the lagoon hot pink, added glitter and cranked up the dance music for our weeklong anniversary celebration. Each day we’ll be hosting a mermaid scavenger hunt. At the bottom of each day’s post you’ll find three questions about the mermaids who blogged that day, the answers to which can be found on this site. Answer the questions and be entered to win that day’s prize. Plus, on Friday we’ll be giving away a $130 Visa gift card. To increase your odds of winning the gift card, answer each day’s scavenger hunt questions. Every entry you make Monday through Thursday will give you an additional entry in the big Friday giveaway of a $130 gift card. So jump in the lagoon and get swimming with your lucky fin!

Welcome to the kick-off post of the WWM Anniversary Celebration. We were asked by the other Mermaids to post together because we all write on the smexy side of things, love all kinds of naked man-flesh on book covers, and play most often at the naughty end of the lagoon. Yes, please!

So, we decided to have a little convo about our favorite smexy movies, music, and man flesh – you know the things that get our fins all tingly.

Robin:  So ladies, let’s take it all off . . .I mean kick it all off with our favorite smexy movie.  For me, it is “Love and Other Drugs”  with Jake Gyllenhall and Anne Hathaway. Now I loved hottie Jake prancing through most of the movie half naked and in bed but I confess that it was the dialogue that really dragged me into this film.  I love a couple who can get it on between the sheets and between the ears. Know what I mean?

Denny: Favorite sexy movie? Well, it’s usually a scene or two that brings the anticipated heat and in a film called “Something New” with Sanaa Latham and Simon Baker – there are a number of scenes that bring it, and what’s fun is the film is a classic romance structure but with a delightful twist and two very pretty people in the lead. And yeah, the heat was palatable:)…

Dana: So many choices, so little time… A sexy flick that sticks in my mind was “Head in the  Clouds” withCharlize Theron, Penelope Cruz, and Stuart Townsend. This sweeping saga set in 1930’s Europe is full of passion, betrayal and redemption. The love scenes were sweltering and the plot kept you engaged, with the characters making life altering choices at every turn.

Robin:  Let’s talk music.  I write with the music playing loud and one of the first things I do when I start a WIP is create a playlist on my iPod.  Favorite artists for creating a smexy mood are Matt Nathanson, Jake Owen, & Marc Broussard. Music really creates a mood for me and since I keep the sexual tension thrumming throughout my book it is a crucial aspect of my work.

Denny: Robin and I might blow the roof off if we wrote in the same house (lol!) because I play music LOUD when I write – but the music you will find me listening to crosses the spectrum from Stravinsky (I love him, especially when my antagonist is more than a bit on edge), and R&B, especially Janet Jackson (You Want This) works when my heroine is feeling her oats (sexy and in control). Also Adele, Meshell Ndegeocello, Sting…

Dana: I LOVE music! All kinds of music–from Classical to Country and R & B to Alternative, and everything in between. But not while I’m writing. I need quiet for my characters voices to come alive on the page.

Robin:  Okay, we’ve all heard the debate about naked man torsos on the covers of romance novels.  I am willing to go on the record and say that I am all for it. In fact, the only thing better than one naked man’s breasticles is many male breasticles!  What say you?

Denny: Mmmm…I’m torn on this one. Seriously, oddly enough. I do love my man candy, but sometimes the publishing houses get lazy, and we see a lot of repeats…then again, the best naked man torso of the year for me — cover of the Seal of My Dreams anthology.

Dana: I love my man candy as much as the next girl, but I think the prevalence of hot, half naked bodies on book covers in the romance genre often skews people’s opinions about the quality and content of the story between the pages. I prefer covers where faces are cast in profile or cut off altogether because I think some details are better when left to the imagination.

Thanks for helping us get the party started!

Fishy kisses from your friendly neighborhood mermaids!

Leave a comment with the answers to the following three questions (the answers can all be found on this blog) and be entered to win today’s giveaway and the grand prize – a $130 Visa gift card.

Today’s giveaway is a digital copy of Robin Covington’s debut sexy romance, A NIGHT OF SOUTHERN COMFORT, on June 15th!

1.  What contest did Robin win two years in a row?

2. Who did Denny date (just three dates:) who ended up winning two Oscars?

3. What’s the coolest thing Dana’s ever done?

Thanks for joining us in the Waterworld Mermaid lagoon! Answer today’s questions in the comments below to be entered to win today’s prize and in our big Friday giveaway of a $130 gift card. Only one entry per day. Be sure to leave your e-mail address in your comment. You have until 11:59 p.m. EST May 13 to leave your answers. Contest open to U.S. residents only.