I’ll name Monday’s winner at the bottom of this post. In the meantime, welcome my an old friend of mine from Texas, Meg Benjamin! Here’s what she has to say about her latest release:
As I’ve said before, probably way too many times by now, I can’t listen to music while I write. Wish I could, but I can’t. That doesn’t mean I don’t like to listen to music while I’m doing other things, however. In fact, one of the things I really miss about Texas is the great music you hear all the time. Texas musicians just rock, and no matter where you live in the state, there’s always a road house around the bend somewhere. You know how there are some songs that just kind of wash over you, like audible warm water, and some songs that make you just want to, well, move? Texas musicians specialize in the latter.
Which brings me to my subject—James McMurtry’s song “Red Dress.” Now McMurtry is one of my all-time favorite Texas musicians, probably best known for his “Choctaw Bingo,” which is a real rave-up. But “Red Dress” is one of those songs that makes you want to do a little hip swinging. Every time I hear it, I end up swaying in my seat. It’s slow, sensuous, with a really heavy beat and oddly ominous lyrics (you get the feeling the singer is going to be ripping that red dress to shreds any minute). And it haunted my thoughts when I was writing Wedding Bell Blues. I wanted a scene where my heroine, a “good girl” named Janie Dupree, could cut loose and give some hints about the bad girl that lies beneath the surface. That gave me the idea for a scene where Janie and her friends danced to McMurtry’s “Red Dress” while the hero, Pete Toleffson, watched. I have to say, every time I worked on this scene, I started by playing “Red Dress” to get myself in the mood. Here’s an excerpt. If you want to judge how well the song fits the action, there’s always iTunes!
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A series of guitar chords, rhythmically hypnotic, came over the sound system. Docia jumped to her feet. “Come on, ladies, let’s do it,” she called, heading for the concrete slab. Allie trooped behind her, as Janie turned to beckon to Bethany.
“Oh, Christ,” Cal murmured. “Here we go.”
“Here goes what?”
Cal shook his head. “You’ll see.”
The song had something to do with a red dress. Pete managed to get his brain to register that much. The singer seemed to be upset because his girlfriend was wearing a red dress he didn’t recognize and he figured she was playing around.
The slow, sensuous rhythm of the guitar and bass filled the air and the four women moved their bodies more or less in unison, like some cowgirl chorus line.
Pete glanced at Wonder and saw him swallow hard as he watched Allie.
Then he looked back at the women again.
Janie Dupree moved in a graceful swaying motion, her eyes closed, as if she were dancing for herself alone. She raised her arms above her head and moved her body back and forth, the most elegant bump and grind he’d ever seen. Read the rest of this entry »
You hear a lot of complaints from authors about their publishers and you know? That’s understandable. My husband works for an amazing company, but there are days he wants to sit upper management down for “a talk”. 🙂 The entities with so much control over our livelihoods are bound to inspire both positive and negative feelings at times. Right now? I’m just truly loving Harlequin.
For such a behemoth company, they are incredibly innovative. They’re always trying new things, looking for ways to reach more readers and opening doors for their authors. I’m sure you know they were the first major publisher to put their books out in digital format en masse. And I’m betting you’ve heard of their new electronic-only publishing venture, Carina Press. But I wonder if you know about all the print alternatives they continue to provide beyond their regular lines and imprints. The Manga versions of popular books and most recently their new venture—the Harlequin Showcase. Showcase is a single title venture (shelved with all the romance books, not the Harlequin series) that brings back previously released series books in a 2-in-1 format for readers who missed the books the first time around.
As an author, I’m thrilled by this new venture. Why? Because I get tons of letters weekly asking where readers can find my now out-of-print and often unavailable even in used venues Presents. So, when I was told one such story, “The Sicilian’s Marriage Arrangement” would be in the May launch, I was over the moon! I have a lot of readers who have asked about this story and where to get it and now, it’s available again in a 2-in-1 with Julia James’ “The Greek’s Virgin Bride.” How cool is that?
It’s your turn: If you could sit the publishers down and talk to them, what would you ask for as a reader?
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The Sicilian’s Marriage Arrangement
Harlequin Showcase: Reissue
ISBN-10: 0373688024
ISBN-13: 978-0373688029
Hope Bishop is stunned when darkly sexy Sicilian tycoon Luciana di Valerio proposes marriage. Brought up by her wealthy but distant grandfather, she is used to fading into the background. But Luciano’s sensual lovemaking makes her feel vibrantly alive. Hope falls in love with her husband and is blissfully happy—until she discovers that Luciano married her to fulfill his own ruthless agenda…!
The book also includes the fabulous “The Greek’s Virgin Bride” by Julia James.
Look for Showcases in the single title romance section of your favorite bookstores!
Award winning author Lucy Monroe published her first book in September of 2003. Since then she has sold more than 50 books to four publishers and hit national bestsellers lists in the US and England. Whether it’s a passionate Harlequin Presents, a sexy action adventure, or a steamy paranormal historical, Lucy’s books transport her readers to a special place where the heart rules and love conquers all.
“This dark paranormal novel is the latest in Fox’s Eternal Pleasure series about shapeshifters. Fox brings together two unforgettable characters, transformed after one devastating night, adds plenty of erotic tension and draws readers irresistibly into their world. It¹s all about second chances in this sexy, suspenseful and satisfying read.” — 4 Stars, RT Book Reviews
He is the hunter.
She’s fled her alpha wolf—and the entire paranormal community of Serene. Now a free woman—wolf, Sunray returns to Chicago, full of bittersweet memories. The last thing she expects to find there is her reincarnated lover, who died at her feet the night she was changed into a lycan a century ago. Still, Sunray knows they can never revive their intense passion. Because now he’s a lycan hunter—and she is his prey…
She is the hunted.
Not for a minute does Kane believe this beautiful lycan’s story, that they were once lovers. Still, he recognizes Sunray as the woman who’s been seducing him in his dreams. For now, prey and predator have forged an uneasy, temporary truce as they join forces to capture a rogue shifter. But after their work is done, will either of them be able to resist a passion that could be dangerously all-consuming?
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Chicago: A Century Ago October
Hurried steps carried Ray Bartlett across town; his dark clothes and the black sky masked his foolhardy presence. As he approached the train tracks, the silhouette of the old abandoned building on the other side of the railroad came into view, prompting him to reach into his pocket and pull out the heavy tin can he always brought with him—a familiar beacon in a dark, eerie night.
“Here, kitty, kitty,” he called out as he gently shook the scratched and dented container of sardines, letting the thick oil inside slosh about in an effort to herald his approach. He pitched his voice low, knowing the sound would carry in the breeze and alert the lone occupant of the building to his presence, and signal her to free the latch. His glance darted around, and he hoped like hell he’d gone undetected by any resident gangs, should they be lurking about. After all, he was a far cry from his elite Gold Coast neighborhood and was now stepping foot into Chicago’s seedy south side—a testament to his foolhardiness, for sure.
As he took note of his shaking fingers, he slid the can back into his breeches and stuffed his hands into his coat pockets to still his rather unusual jitters. His discomposure was partly because he’d snuck out of his dorm (and should he get caught, the consequences doled out by the headmaster would be most severe), and partly due to his excitement at seeing the girl waiting for him on the side of town he had no business frequenting—the side of town the folks in his social circle avoided like a diseased wharf rat. But, unlike him, they didn’t have Sunni Matthews waiting for them.
Sunni…
God, his heart raced and his body grew needy just thinking about her. She had a certain energy: a light in the darkness that filled him with a deep warmth and unearthed things he’d never felt before.
Everything from the way her golden hair framed her porcelain skin and the way her beautiful blue eyes sparkled with love and laughter to the way she trusted him completely and thoroughly with her body, heart, and soul rattled his emotions and rendered him practically senseless. Ribbons of want—no, need—worked their way through his veins because he knew he was only minutes from gathering her into his arms, pressing his mouth to hers and paying homage to her lush body until the early hours of the morning.
As he took in the shape of the slumbering structure tucked just inside the woods, a mixture of joy and sadness invaded his thoughts. He was thrilled to spend a few stolen moments with Sunni—he ached to embrace her, to feel her naked body against his skin—but it pained him to know that he’d wake up tomorrow between a set of starched white sheets, and she in a dusty cot. His heart twisted and his stomach clenched. He halted his forward momentum and fought down the feeling of helplessness, as well as the pang of loneliness that ate at his guts like a thousand hungry cockroaches.
Soon, he reminded himself. Soon they’d be together forever, and he’d make things better for her. It was a promise he’d made to her a long time ago, and a promise he intended to keep. Read the rest of this entry »
I’m offering a scavenger hunt at all three places and my site to celebrate the release of my newest erotic romance Lush Velvet Nights. I’ll be posting four questions throughout the day on my blog – answers found on my site – the lucky winner will get her choice of one of the following:
Adored – 4 stars Romantic Times – Second Place Winner NEC RWA contest2 Deep, Dark, Delicious – nominated for Book of the Week Whipped Cream
Reviews Close to Perfect – 4 stars Romantic Times – “A walk on the wild side for romance readers” Bad Boys with Red Roses – an erotic anthology with my novella “Tempt Me, Tease Me,
Thrill Me” Take My Breath Away – 4 ½ stars Romantic Times – an RT Top Pick – Booklist wrote: “Fans of Lori Foster will enjoy Donahue’s light, sexy romp.”
Those who don’t read erotic romances would probably answer by saying the author should create vivid imagery. The passion should be obvious between the hero and heroine. The reader should be able to smell, feel, taste their lust.
While that’s certainly true, it’s not even the beginning of what makes for a satisfying sex scene. Before an author’s characters slip beneath the sheets there needs to be an intense build up of emotions so that the reader is sitting on the edge of her seat murmuring, ‘Now, now, now!! Dammit, now!’
You don’t reach that kind of intensity if your characters barely know each other but succumb to desire because they think their partner is hot. That’s physical attraction. And as we all know, great sex begins in the mind.
In my latest release Lush Velvet Nights, I wanted to draw out the sexual tension of each scene, to build anticipation in the minds of my fans and new readers. Just as importantly, I wanted to give the characters a bit of time to know and like each other, to be playful.
Here’s an excerpt to illustrate what I mean: In this scene, Nathan and Adriana are delaying their return to LA after a three-day erotic weekend at his mountain estate. After some heavy-duty sex scenes, I needed a fresh approach for their next encounter and came upon this. Adriana’s just hurled several snowballs at Nathan, catching him off guard and now he’s after her. . .
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Nathan grabbed her right foot. Shrieking, Adriana kicked at him. Her boot came off in his hand thanks to Hayley having wider feet than she did. She plowed through the snow with no real direction in mind. It wasn’t as if the neighbors were going to help her. Hell, they probably stood at their windows watching, waiting for Nathan to strip her bare and fuck her out here until she turned blue from the cold.
“No!” she cried. He’d grabbed the edge of the ski pants that came above her ankles, thanks to Hayley being several inches shorter than her. Adriana kicked as hard as she could and finally hit something solid.
Nathan bellowed like a gored bull.
Oh shit. Had she hit him in the balls? Rolling onto her back, Adriana gaped at his broad grin. He’d been pretending pain? Jerk. She gave him the finger and seesawed her legs so he couldn’t grab them.
Nathan rolled his eyes and sat back on his heels, away from her flailing feet, waiting until she wore herself out. Didn’t take long. Adriana lay panting in the snow, sweating from her exertions, too weary to swear. Read the rest of this entry »
Welcome my cyber-friend, Adele Dubois! For the winner of yesterday’s contest, you’ll have to scroll to the bottom of this message! Oh, and I shipped Beloved Captor (tentative title) to my editor yesterday! ~DD
Note from Adele:
The hero of DO ME GOOD is my first otherworldly protagonist, and I admit I’ve developed a crush on him. Gunnar is a fearless Nordic warrior cast into eternal servitude during a time when mortals answered to gods and goddesses. He becomes a celestial in the pre-Christian period before those who interacted with both gods and mortals were called angels. Gunnar is a Nordic Light Elf and so handsome he is “fairer to look upon than the sun.”
I hope you enjoy DO ME GOOD as much as I enjoyed creating this story. Here’s a sample of the book with a summary and excerpt. Thanks for reading.
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Penny throws her hot, but worthless mooch of a boyfriend out on her front lawn with his clothes, and vows never again to be a bum magnet. Exhausted by overwork and mountainous debt, Penny pleads for divine intervention.
Gunnar, a rebellious Nordic warrior cast into servitude by an angry god to learn humility, answers. While Penny sleeps, the celestial arrives to complete her chores, but she awakens and finds him. The handsome immortal kisses her, sparking a passionate, forbidden sexual encounter.
Dark forces seeking vengeance for Gunnar’s past misdeeds mark Penny as a target. To protect his lover, Gunnar tests immortality in a death battle using a god’s magical sword. But the strength of Penny’s love and lusty connection might be what saves them both.
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He smoothed the hair at her temple and then rubbed a thick tendril between his thumb and forefinger. “I am Gunnar.” He pronounced the name “Goo-nar”.
A coarse brand of the sun, surrounded by a circle on the back of his hand, and covering the areas between his thumb, index knuckle and wrist caught her eye. His hand looked muscular and powerful beneath her gaze.
She touched the scarred skin with the tips of her fingers while he held a length of her hair, recognizing Freyr’s sacred insignia from her textbooks. “The pain must have been excruciating.” Without thinking, she lifted the old wound to her mouth and laid four kisses against its perimeter before pressing a fifth to the emblem inside.
A low tremor vibrated across her lips as they touched the ancient symbol on the white, extended hand. The brand grew warm and then hot on her mouth, though it did not burn. Her lips tingled and her body hummed with the pleasant sensations. She ran her tongue over the thick scars to erase the heat and then licked the center with the tip of her tongue in a tiny swirl before lifting her head. Read the rest of this entry »
Today’s the day. If I keep my head down, ignore my email and my laundry, I should finish the big book. As soon as I’m done, I’ll take a look at the entries in the title contest—so if you haven’t entered, you still have time! In the meantime, please give a warm welcome to my friend, Tracy Wolff! ~DD
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“The ‘edgy and erotic’ author of Tie Me Down and Full Exposure offers another steamy novel of sex, lies, and sultry games.” Shannon McKenna, New York Times bestselling author of Tasting Fear
Burned once too often, true crime writer Lacey Richards has sworn off love. Instead, she explores her deepest desires through her anonymous- and very provocative-blog. Anonymous, that is, until her dark and ultrasexy neighbor discovers her dirty secret.
Stockbrocker-turned-carpenter Byron Hawthorne gave up life in the fast lane, hoping to start over in a new city. When he learns his alluring neighbor is the one writing the sizzling blog that keeps him up all night, he can’t resist offering to fulfill her fantasies in the flesh. But Byron isn’t the only man provoked by Lacey’s writing. Now Lacey doesn’t know who she can trust-and who she can dare to tease.
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Lacey shivered, despite the heat, her body trembling under her neighbor’s intense scrutiny. Part of her wanted to look away, wanted to pick up her water glass and head indoors. But she couldn’t move, couldn’t think. Could barely breathe as her entire body lit up from the inside.
What was it about this man, with his black eyes and roguish grin that turned her on so much? That held her transfixed on her balcony when she should be doing anything but this? She knew better—had known better since Curtis had used and abused her—and yet she here she was, unable to look away. Worse, she was enjoying every second of watching him watch her. Was reveling in the arousal arcing through her body.
In the distance, lightning flashed. Once, twice, followed quickly by the sharp crack of rumbling thunder. The air around her grew heavier, wetter—as did her body at this sudden advent of the storm. The wind picked up, whipped through her loose hair and down her bare arms. Lifted her skirt and flirted with the soft, damp skin of her upper thighs.
And she let it.
Then watched, fascinated, as—across the courtyard– her neighbor’s eyes narrowed dangerously. She nearly grinned as he focused on her open thighs—and, she hoped, the small scrap of pink lace that was the only thing separating her from his view.
Desire escalated to need and she felt her breath catch. Sweat bloomed on her skin, ran in rivulets between her breasts and down her back and still she didn’t go inside. Didn’t cover herself. Didn’t so much as move.
Welcome my BFF, Sasha White. Remember my cruise buddy? Well, she has an awesome little threesome you’re gonna want to try out! ~DD
I’m Sasha White, and I’m a recovering procrastinator.
It’s been a long while since I’ve had a fresh eBook out there to heat y’all up, but the time has finally come—and a lot of it is due in part to my BFF Delilah. You see, I burnt myself out with writing too much, too fast, so I took some time off. However, my time off kept getting longer and longer. Partly because I’m a procrastinator, and partly because I’d really lost my desire to write and be part of the writing community. But our very own sweet Delilah also has some Kick-Ass in her, and she kept at me…in a mostly sweet and persistent way to get my ass back in gear. As Delilah has said, sometimes it’s good to just let the imagination go and write for the pure fun of it. ONE WEEKEND is just that story for me. It got me back in gear, and reminded my of how much writing hot sexy stories with real characters can be. It’s an uncomplicated, super hot and sexy menage story. It’s also a short story, but hey, that means it’s also low cost *grin*. I expect I’ll be visiting these characters again and again in more short stories as I fell in love with them…and I hope you do too. So thank you, Delilah, for being such a good friend and kicking my ass when I needed it.
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To get you interested, here’s an excerpt:
The second I entered the apartment my clothes started coming off. I kicked off my heels, dropped my skirt and peeled off my starched white blouse as I walked to the kitchen. I’d worked hard to become a CPA and I loved the work, but the uptight clothes required in our office were not what I would call comfortable. Opening the fridge I just stood there…a soft moan of pleasure slipping from between my lips as cool air finally hit bare skin.
“Ange?” Rick’s voice floated in from the balcony.
My pulse kicked up a notch, and I smiled softly. Just the sound of his voice was enough to make my heart turn over. Rick Craig was my perfect match, my other half. “In the kitchen,” I called back.
“Bring a couple more beers when you come out here, will you?”
“Sure, baby.”
Eager to shake off the tension of the day I grabbed a bottle of white wine and a couple of beers from the fridge. Bottle opener and wineglass in one hand, beers in the other, I headed out to the balcony with full hands.
Three steps from the sliding doors I realized that Rick wasn’t alone outside, and hesitated. It was easy to identify the other voice as Mark Hoffman, Rick’s best friend. I glanced down at the sheer bra and panties barely covering my parts, and a deliciously naughty heat surged through me. It wasn’t like Mark had never seen me in a bikini or something.
“Here you go,” I said as I swept aside the curtain and stepped out onto the balcony. Stopping short I glanced from Rick to Mark, all wide-eyed innocence. “Oh! Hi, Mark.” Read the rest of this entry »
