Today, we have a guest post from Debora Dale, celebrating the publication of her debut romantic suspense novel, Surrender at Canyon Road. With no further ado, here’s Debora!

Snuggle up with a Romance Tonight

When planning the release of my debut romantic suspense novel, I anticipated some bumps and hurdles, but I never anticipated anything as catastrophic as a pandemic. My state has been the hardest hit in the USA so far, with immeasurable levels of fear, suffering and grief.

Because of that, I’ve kept fairly quiet about the release of my book. I purposely scheduled it for the end of May as a birthday gift to myself, but wondered whether I should postpone it, and if so, for how long? A few months? A year? Then, as I listened to the advice of friends, fellow authors and fellow readers, I agreed many of us actually need to escape into a book right now. Just as many of us have escaped into baking, cleaning, exercising or even lip syncing.

At times it’s necessary, for our health, to decompress

That had me thinking about my heroine. She’s a woman who endured great trauma as a child, who kept her fears and frustrations locked deep inside, thinking she had defeated them when what she actually did was lug them around with her everywhere. She let them direct her actions and reactions. Her thoughts and habits. That is, until her every method of defense was met with challenges she could have never imagined.

Even then, she believed she could rely on her old tried and true tactics if she only thought them through a little more. Finally, when the odds mounted against her and the man she’d grown to love, she called on her own strength and fortitude, which she had only just begun to recognize.

That comes with time, and with pain. It comes when we feel there’s no other choice, when we fear all is lost except this one thing – our own hidden abilities. It helps to know there are other people who are willing to help, to fight with us and for us. That we are not alone. And in this case, in our fight against this cruel virus, none of us are.

Self-care

Covid-19 is so much bigger than each of us but so much smaller than all of us. For that reason, we have to stay strong together, with common sense and compassion.

And so it’s right that we take care of ourselves in every way we can, to fortify our minds, our spirits, our bodies. To eat well, rest, relax if possible, and replenish.

A story with seemingly insurmountable odds that promises a well-earned happily ever after might be one path toward the goal of helping to make us whole, even if only for an hour or two.

Stay safe. Take care of yourself. Pour a glass of wine or a cup of tea, and snuggle up with a romance tonight. You can give lip-syncing a go tomorrow.

From the Back Cover

Surrender at Canyon Road
Bound by her past
Freed by his love

Ransom in hand, Johnny “Blake” races to the drop point to rescue his sister and nephew only to wind up blindsided by a terrible double-cross. Now he’s stranded in the Colorado Rockies in the dead of night with no car and no options. Then the kidnappers call with new demands and Blake is forced to do the unthinkable.

Dani Moyer is only a few good photographs and some winding mountain roads away from winning a contest that will change her life–until a stranger kidnaps her. She doesn’t believe his story about a kidnapped sister and her child. And she’s not giving up her dreams without a fight.

But when the kidnappers call again, Blake and Dani hear the agonizing sound of the child’s frightened voice. Blake will stop at nothing to save the boy from this nightmare, and Dani knows that to help him, she must surrender her own dreams.

Debora Dale’s first literary love is romantic suspense – to read and to write. A New Yorker born and bred, Debora uses the diversity, excitement and seedy underbelly of her hometown as fodder for her stories. While she adores happily-ever-afters, she makes certain her characters toil for theirs.

When not writing, she can be found baking a decadent little something in her kitchen or enjoying a quiet moment in her tiny urban yard. Mostly, however, you will find her trying to plot a new story while at least one of her five rescued felines settles in for a nap on her keyboard.

Follow me!

Website: https://www.deboradale.com
Blog: https://www.deboradale.com/blog
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeboraDaleAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/deboradale
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deboradaleauthor/

Surrender at Canyon Road

Available Now
from your favorite bookstore in paperback or digital format

Passing His Test is out today and it feels both great and strange.

It’s been a long time since I’ve released a new book, for all kinds of good reasons. I went back to working outside the home. That was a huge adjustment, but I managed to finish Yield. About the time that came out, we realized my mother needed to give up her long-time home in central New York and move in with us. This started months of frenzy: 6-hour drives each way to help her get ready to put the house on the market; frantic remodeling to make the house ready and handicapped-accessible; moving my office upstairs so the old office could become Mom’s room. She’s been here for about 18 months, and it’s going well–but recently, it became clear she needed someone at home with her. In early January, I left my office job to be a full-time caregiver, and to the extent it’s possible, a writer.

Good timing, wasn’t it? At least I was settled into being home by the time COVID-19 became a serious issue in Massachusetts. The distraction and anxiety of spring 2020 isn’t making it easy to write, though, and my work in progress (the still-untitled Chronicles of the Malcolm book 4) hasn’t seen much progress. Still, I was able to finish a long-neglected novella and turn it loose in the world.

Finishing and releasing Passing His Test represented a sort of rebirth for me, a return to where I want to be. When I set the pub date, I had no idea where the world would be on April 1. I was thinking spring and new beginnings. The way things are, though, I’m having trouble feeling as celebratory as I used to on book release days. I’m sitting in my office, which is normal enough. What’s not normal is my husband, who’s a humane officer, is sitting at the other desk in full uniform. Even most city services are shut down. He can’t go into work anymore, except for a brief visit to the animal shelter (alone) to feed the critters and clean up after them, but he’s on call in case of emergency, so the uniform is on. We’re lucky and we know it, but the crackling of the police radio–he’s affiliated with our local police, though not a cop–is a constant reminder that things aren’t normal.

Yet in a strange, isolating, scary world, we need stories more than ever. We need heroes and heroines. We need sexy, and we need romantic, and we need vicarious adventures. And so I offer a tale of kinky friends-with-benefits on a long weekend in Maine, discovering they may be more than just friends who share a few kinks.

She’s bound … and determined to pass his test!

Dominant Thorne tells his submissive playmate Eileen that their weekend in Maine is a test for both of them. She thinks he’s testing how they like the rules he set for the trip: Skirts and no underwear. Addressing him as “sir”. Asking for permission to come. Most important of all, obeying him and letting him take charge.

Best test ever! They already know their kinky chemistry is off the charts. There’s no way to fail. If she gets “punished”, that’s just part of the fun.

As the weekend wears on, though, Eileen starts to doubt herself. Their experiments in oceanside spanking and hotel-bed bondage are scaldingly hot. But getting caught in the rain with Thorne shouldn’t feel as sweet as it does. And that’s not even getting into how much she enjoyed 100 percent vanilla candlepin bowling. Thorne’s her Dom and play-partner, not her boyfriend, and if she starts getting confused about their roles, the Harvard grad student may flunk a test for the first time in her life.

Unless Thorne is playing a deeper game and testing something else entirely. And how’s a sub to ask the right questions to figure out her Dom’s game when the weekend rules say he’s in charge?

Find it here for just $.99!

Thorne snuck up behind her, grabbed her hips, pulled in close behind her, snuggling suggestively against her ass. “The best part,” he whispered in her ear, “is the privacy. From the beach you could probably tell someone’s on the balcony, but you couldn’t make out much, and they can’t see anything from Marginal Way.” He snaked one hand up to cup her breast through her T-shirt.

“I see.”It didn’t take a psychic to read Thorne’s mind, especially not when his body, insistent and swelling behind her, was offering so many hints. Of course, she’d anticipated the day might involve teasing and/or sudden sex ever since he’d directed her to wear a long, gauzy hippie-style skirt, a white shirt, and no panties or bra.

Both nervous and excited by the idea of such a public yet private exhibition, she pushed back against him, feeling his hardness, remembering how deeply he could take her from this angle, how full he made her.

How she wouldn’t have a choice if he decided to fuck her on this balcony, which might be hidden from prying eyes, but certainly didn’t feel that way.

Her face flamed and her pussy clenched, in equal measures, at the thought.

No choice.

Her logical mind reminded her she had a choice, a safeword, and Thorne would always respect that. Her logical mind was very glad about this.

Her body wasn’t inclined to listen to her logical mind. Delicious panic filled her. Not real fear but the crazy feeling that rose in her, inevitably, when Thorne got one of his wild, sexy ideas that convinced her to try something that she’d never have had the guts to try with anyone else.

No choice. Those were the words that freed her, that let the fluttering panic make her wet and ready instead of turned off and ready to bolt. The pretense of having no choice allowed her to choose. And under Thorne’s tutelage, Eileen was finding she was far more daring, far less inhibited, than she’d ever imagined.

Thorne’s hand worked her nipple, pinching and tugging and rolling it between his fingers. Adding to the sharp, yet exquisitely melting sensations was knowing that her nipple must be visible through the fine fabric of the shirt. Not that anyone but Thorne could see it, but that wasn’t the point.

The ocean breeze was starting to smell more like her own salty arousal, and the roar of the waves was blending into the roaring of her blood.

“Please,” she whispered. “Please, sir, please.”

Find it at your favorite ebook vendor. Order now, get it on your device 4/1/2020.

Gabe suppressed a shiver, and not because the room was chilly. It wasn’t exactly warm, but he’d gotten used to old farmhouses and their constant drafts.

What he wasn’t used to anymore was this place that combined anticipation and perfect peace. The cool air on his naked skin, the slight but blissful strain of kneeling, the hard, smooth floor under him, Mari’s voice when she’d ordered him upstairs—the heat and strength and the sudden sense of rightness—conspired to stop the worried mental chatter about fires and work and the farm far more effectively than cooking had. And the cooking had worked pretty well.

Thoughts were running rampant in his brain, but this was enjoyable brain-chatter: images of pleasure and pain, of worshipping Mari under her generous commands, of suffering for her pleasure. There was a special kind of satisfaction in endurance, in giving a lady something she liked even when you didn’t enjoy the act itself—but they weren’t anywhere near that point.

They might be someday.

As soon as his brain went there, his cock sprang to attention.

Dark, delicious images flooded him, both acts he enjoyed, like a good caning or becoming a human footstool for a weary lady’s rest, and the ones he feared and yet craved to experience simply to give the right person pleasure. Some of these unspeakable, delicious acts were undefined—they were whatever she might want, the Domme who’d demand everything from him, body, heart, and soul, in a way that he’d want no choice but to yield. He always suspected this woman might not exist outside his fantasies. Janice probably could have demanded everything from him, but she hadn’t wanted to. But maybe Mari…

Right. Slow down there, Gabe. Janice left you a little raw and it’s been way too long since you met a hot woman who was the right flavor of kinky.

Logic wasn’t helping him. His mind was racing now, not just with images of what might happen in a few minutes but of a future it was far too soon to contemplate. His cock throbbed, a pearl of precome spilling out.

I’m going to make an ass of myself at this rate. She’ll put her hand on my shoulder and I’ll explode. That’ll make a great impression.

***

Yielding to her means returning to a life he left behind.

What Boston lawyer Gabe Adamiak should do: sell his grandparents’ farm ASAP and hurry back to his high-powered job and the Boston BDSM scene.

What he wants to do: stay in the country long enough to figure out if the lovely farmer up the road is the Domme of his dreams. As if.

What farmer Mari Lyndon should do: raise her goats and forget the kink scene. She’s too old for hook-ups and she’s given up on finding a submissive guy who’s longing for the rural life.

What she wants to do: tie up her neighbors’ hot city-boy grandson and jump his bones. Then order him to make dinner and if he says yes—keep him. Potentially forever. As if.

When a freak fire and an unexpected snow storm throw them together, they discover an explosive erotic connection. But what they share goes deeper than that. Gabe wants to belong to and serve the right woman as much as Mari wants to own and nurture the right man. But there’s no way this could grow into a permanent relationship, with Gabe only in the area temporarily—and neither wants to settle for anything less.

When someone wants to scare Gabe back to the city (with a side-order of making Mari’s life miserable), Gabe makes arrangements for a longer stay just to spite their enemy. Thanks to Mari, he’s enjoying the country life he fled as a teenager. But can he give up his life in Boston forever? Mari doesn’t dare to ask. But when the truth about their tormenter comes out, Gabe has to make a decision that could change their lives for better or worse.

Warning: Wacky relatives. Attack geese. A truck called Lou-Lou. And a smoking hot submissive guy willing to give his all to a kinky country cougar.

Pre-order now at your favorite ebook vendor. Out March 1, 2018–and the paperback’s coming soon!

Welcome to the November New Release Giveaway!

One-click all the latest books (including Great Space Race books by JC Hay and yours truly)

Find your new favorite author.

Then enter for a chance to win a Kindle or one of three $25 Amazon Gift Cards.

Enter here: http://lovekissedbookbargains.com/2017/11/24/november-new-release-giveaway/

Some came for fame and fortune, others were coerced.

Now they must fight to survive.

These couples will find unexpected love… but which team will win? The Great Space Race…

Once upon a time (okay, sometime last year), a group of science fiction romance authors started chatting on Facebook. Tossing around ideas. Brainstorming a bit.

And the next thing we knew, we found ourselves developing a shared-world series centering on a futuristic reality show. Octiron, the company behind the show is more than a little sleazy and will do anything to boost ratings, from breaking laws to risking their racers’ lives to literally kidnapping people who’d make interesting contestants. And of course they put seemingly unlikely pairs together as race teams. The only thing audiences like better than bickering and in-fighting is sexual tension, so it’s a win-win situation for Octiron.

And for our readers, because face it? Those bickering couples who find (sexy) common ground are fun.

In the end, CJ Cade, Elsa Jade, JC Hay, Kayla Stonor, Sabine Priestley, and myself participated. My contribution to the series, Explode: Team Supernova, is out now. JC Hay’s Flare: Team Corona is up for pre-order, as is Sabine Priestley’s Orion’s Gate: Team Galaxy Riders.  The other books will go up on pre-order over the next few days, leading up to a wild official release on November 21.

Tease yourself in the meantime by checking out a free sampler containing the first chapers of our books. (That’s the cover above. Candice Phillips Gilmer of Flirtation Designs created it and all our covers–as well as acting as the voice of reason a few times when we were all a little too close to the project.)

Explode ties loosely into my Chronicles of the Malcolm series. The cat-girl heroine is the kid sister of Rahal, one of the heroes of Bad Kitty, and she’s out to prove she can be just as wild and adventurous as her (in)famous big brother. Of course she’s an engineer, so her crazy scheme is a little geeky…

Their chemistry’s explosive. Too bad someone wants to blow them up.

Cat-girl space racer Sarr’ma Settazz’s plan: Enter the reality show The Great Space Race. Hide she’s also an engineer. Steal super-secret technology. Win. Easy-peasy bloxfruit squeezy!

Falling for her grumpy, overprotective, smoking-hot human race teammate? Not in the plan.

Miner Tripp Gallifer’s plan: Enter The Great Space Race. Protect his playful cat-girl teammate while she handles the actual flying. Win. Pray the psycho who kidnapped his sister will honor their bargain: Tripp keeps silent about the crime and hands over the prize money, and his sister goes free.

Falling for the brilliant female he glimpses behind Sarr’ma’s bouncy façade? Not in the plan.

Then the kidnapper ups the game to attempted murder and all secrets must be revealed—including their feelings. Sarr’ma and Tripp concoct a scheme worthy of the wildest reality show to save Tripp’s sister and themselves. But they’ll need to trust each other to pull it off. Will their love be enough to let them win the biggest prize of all?

Buy links: Amazon /Apple / B&N Nook / Smashwords / Kobo

Pick up the free sampler while you’re at it.

And visit the other great authors taking part in the SFR Brigade Showcase blog hop.

Introducing Embrace the Romance:  Pets in Space 2 Anthology…

Release Date: October 10, 2017

The pets are back! Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space 2, featuring twelve of today’s leading science fiction romance authors, brings you a dozen original stories written just for you! Join in the fun, from the Dragon Lords of Valdier to a trip aboard award-winning author, Veronica Scott’s Nebula Zephyr to journeying back to Luda where Grim is King, for stories that will take you out of this world! Join New York Times, USA TODAY, and Award-winning authors S.E. Smith, M.K. Eidem, Susan Grant, Michelle Howard, Cara Bristol, Veronica Scott, Pauline Baird Jones, Laurie A. Green, Sabine Priestley, Jessica E. Subject, Carol Van Natta, and Alexis Glynn Latner as they share stories and help out Hero-Dogs.org, a charity that supports our veterans!

10% of all preorders and the first month’s profits go to Hero-Dogs.org. Hero Dogs raises and trains service dogs and places them free of charge with US Veterans to improve quality of life and restore independence. So snag it now.

Buy Links:

Universal Link for All Stores: books2read.com/u/3L9aYM

Amazon Paperback https://www.amazon.com/Embrace-Romance-Pets-Space-2/dp/1942583575/

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073W5WQBH/

Amazon CA https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B073W5WQBH/

Amazon UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B073W5WQBH/

Amazon AU https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B073W5WQBH/

Amazon FR https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B073W5WQBH/

Amazon DE https://www.amazon.de/dp/B073W5WQBH/

Amazon JP https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B073W5WQBH/

iBooks http://bit.ly/EmbraceTheRomanceiBooks

B&N https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/embrace-the-romance-se-smith/1126723852?

Kobo https://www.kobo.com/au/en/ebook/embrace-the-romance-pets-in-space-2

Google Play https://play.google.com/store/books/details/S_E_Smith_Embrace_the_Romance_Pets_in_Space_2?id=Jp8rDwAAQBAJ

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35658092-embrace-the-romance

Instafreebie Sampler: https://www.instafreebie.com/free/EZz5p

Details on the stories and authors. 

Pearl’s Dragon

A Novella in the Dragon Lords of Valdier Series

By S.E. Smith (New York Times/USA TODAY Bestselling Author)

Asim Kemark has lived a long, lonely life. It is only his pledge to his former king and to Mandra Reykill that keeps him, his dragon, and his symbiot from going crazy. He has given up on ever finding his true mate and devotes himself to caring for the wide assortment of creatures on Mandra and Ariel’s mountain retreat. The last thing he expects when he visits the palace is to lose control of his dragon and his symbiot when they sense their true mate. Before he knows it, he has kidnapped her!

Pearl St. Claire is enjoying a new adventure – learning to live on an alien planet. As a mature woman in her sixties, she thought she had experienced just about everything life could throw at her – only to discover she really hasn’t experienced anything yet! She is both amused and exasperated when one of the dragon-shifting aliens kidnaps her, believing she is his true mate.

Life is no longer boring or lonely as Asim courts the spirited human woman who has enchanted him, but he isn’t the only one who has noticed Pearl or the unusual animals under his care. When poachers attack, determined to steal the exotic creatures under his protection – including Pearl and a new clutch of alien eggs from Earth – he will do everything he can to protect them. Can one dragon keep the most precious creatures under his care safe, or will he lose the biggest battle of his life?

A Grim Pet

A Novella in the Tornian Series

By M.K. Eidem (USA TODAY Bestselling Author)

The Great Raptor is a fearsome and deadly creature; and while the raptor is no one’s pet, he is fiercely protective and loving of his family…

Carly and Miki have never forgotten the story that Grim told them of the Great Raptor, the symbol of their new home world Luda. Yet, it is the comparison their mother once told them of the Great Raptor to Grim that gives them the courage to help the injured bird they find in the garden.

Find out what happens when their single act of love, faith, and kindness creates far-reaching consequences that no one, including their mother and Grim, could ever have predicted.

Star Puppy

A Novella in The Star Series

By Susan Grant (New York Times/USA TODAY Bestselling, and RITA Award Winning Author)

Trysh joined the Space Forces with the secret hope that her absentee father might notice her accomplishments and acknowledge her. At the top of her game as a starfighter pilot, the last thing she needs is a way too charming prince to get in her way. Trysh had learned at a young age what happened when a person lost their heart to someone above their social class – it led to heartache.

Prince Rornn feels fortunate he can pursue his passion both in the air and on the ground. He decides being third in line for the throne definitely has its advantages – it allowed him to join the Space Forces as a top-gun starfighter pilot. What he doesn’t expect is to find a woman there who not only competes with him – she completes him!

Everything Rornn tries appears to push Trysh further away – that is until they rescue a tiny, starving yipwag pup from an alien world. It turns out that “Puppy” is as good at sniffing out terrorists as she is at helping her two clueless humans figure out that they need each other as much as they do her.

Can Rornn convince Trysh that he is nothing like her father and that she is just the right woman for him before the terrorists discover their furry little companion?

 Wired for Love

By Michelle Howard

Hunter Gils has put his past in the military behind him. Now his focus is on his bar and the less than savory clientele. Life is perfect – except for a gray-eyed beauty who refuses his advances.

Narelle Bindu wasn’t immune to the tall, dark stranger working at The Zone. He wanted her – and she wanted him. The only drawback was she didn’t have room in her life for a man, not even one as tempting as Hunter.

When a deadly attack creates the perfect opening for an old enemy, the two lovers must work together to survive. What they never expect is to find an ally willing to help them – even if that help has four legs. Can their four-legged friend keep Hunter and Narelle alive long enough to find out that one night would never be enough?

Rescued by the Cyborg

A Novella in the Cy-Ops Sci-fi Romance Series

By Cara Bristol (USA TODAY Bestselling Author)

A cyborg’s haunted past and a Faria’s clouded future entwine…

Hostage and sole survivor Solia waits for death at the hands of vicious predatory aliens when Cy-Ops agent Guy Roarke disobeys orders and charges in. A former medic, he initiates emergency medical procedures before rushing her to Cybermed.

Guy is taken with Solia, but the guilt of a past mistake won’t allow him to plan for a future with the delicate, brave beauty. Life is so uncertain, he can’t even keep Mittzi, the kitten his niece gave him. What he can do is see to it Solia gets the help she needs for a full recovery. But when best intentions place her in greater danger, it’s up to a little kitten to make everything all right again.

Star Cruise: Songbird

A Novella in The Sectors SF Romance Series

By Veronica Scott

Grant Barton, a security officer on the Nebula Zephyr, is less than thrilled with his current assignment to guard an Interstellar singing sensation while she’s on board the ship. It doesn’t help that he and his military war bird Valkyr are dealing with their recent separation from the Sectors Special Forces and uncertainty over their future, with their own planet in ruins.

Karissa Dawnstar is on top of the charts and seemingly has it all – talent, fame, fortune and devoted fans, but behind her brave smile and upbeat lyrics she hides an aching heart. When a publicity stunt goes wrong, Karissa finds herself in the arms of the security officer assigned to protect her – and discovers a mutual attraction she can’t ignore.

Trouble continues to plague the pair, driving a wedge between them and leaving Grant certain that Karissa is in more danger than she realizes, from overzealous fans and her own management. Grant is determined to protect Karissa whether she wants his help or not. Can he discover the truth behind what’s going on before he loses Karissa or is there someone else plotting to keep them apart – permanently?

Time Trap

A Novella in the Project Enterprise Series

By Pauline Baird Jones

Hiding in time is not as easy as you’d think…

Madison lives by the rules of a time travel rebel – never tell anyone your real name, not if you want to remain alive. On the track of a traitor, Madison and her parrot partner, Sir Rupert, time travel into a trap. Their only way out sends them back in time and into the arms of a man that ignites a fire inside her.

USAF Master Sergeant Briggs is in trouble – not the kind he’d like to be, but still in trouble. He is bored out of his mind! Ordered to recuperate on a quiet bay away from the Garradian outpost, he’s ready to mutiny and go back to his beloved engines. When his friends send him a gift from Area 51, he figures it will relieve his boredom for an hour or so – until he turns it on and he gets his second present of the day.

Madison would love to get to know Briggs better, but it is just too dangerous. Unfortunately, she might not have much choice. With a Time Service Interdiction Force on their heels, can the three craft a plan that will save a base full of geniuses and technology and discover a happy-ever-after forged through time?

Courting Disaster: StarDog 2

A Novella in the Inherited Stars Universe Series

By Laurie A. Green

From monk to married…

Captain Navene Jagger’s certainty he will be promoted to command a new battleship is doused when the admiral instead assigns him on what appears to be a suicide mission. If that wasn’t bad enough, he finds his self-imposed decision to be a military monk is thrown to the far reaches of the galaxy when he is ordered to escort Ketsia Tayah and her StarDog through the treacherous, rogue-infested Bradley’s Rift in a battered derelict of a vessel – a task that also makes him have to confront his painful past.

Ketsia’s past had taught her a lot. The universe was not only a very dangerous place, it turns out that it is also a lot smaller than she would have liked! Ketsia is rattled when she discovers that she and her StarDog are to be escorted by the man she formerly had a crush on. She swears life couldn’t get any more complicated until they are thrown into jeopardy and have to pretend they are married!

Jag soon realizes there is more at stake than his pride when dangerous rogues threaten their spaceship. After he learns the ship, the mission, and the StarDog are all much more than they seem will he be able to save Ketsia, his career, and the day? Or will self-sacrifice be the only way to save those under his protection?

Sensate

A Novella in the Alien Attachments Series

By Sabine Priestley

Marco Dar’s position as an Earth Protector means he spends an incredible amount of time alone in space. His only company is with the talkative com unit. It isn’t until he stops at the Galaxy Spinner restaurant that he discovers his com has become sentient – and it wants a physical form!

Dr. Zara Mancini hasn’t seen Marco Dar in over eleven years. As far as she is concerned, that still isn’t long enough. When Marco approaches her with an unusual request, she is torn between her fascination with the project, and wanting to leave him eating her space dust.

Marco is quickly falling all over again for Zara’s beautiful smile and gorgeous lips. Young and foolish, he sabotaged their relationship years ago. Now he has a second chance. Can he convince Zara to help his AI, and prove to her that he is a different man?

Gib and the Tibbar

A Novella in the Galactic Defenders Series

By Jessica E. Subject

A dedicated Defender to the core, Gib is willing to go to any planet the Galactic Alliance sends him. That is, until he’s sent with his squad to Hemera for their Alorama ceremony, far from any threat of Erebus invasion and with no chance for promotion.

Vilarra has lived on Hemera all her life, working hard in the kitchens of the royal palace until she achieved lead hand. But learning of the universe beyond her world reveals her insignificance and shreds her sense of accomplishment and purpose.

With the help of a furry, little tibbar, Gib is determined to win the affection of Vilarra, prove to her how significant she is to him and the people who depend on her. But will his personal mission be cut short before he has the chance to win her heart?

Pet Trade

A Novella in the Central Galactic Concordance Series

By Carol Van Natta

The vast Central Galactic Concordance strictly prohibits genetic experimentation and alteration of humans on any of its 500 member planets. Unfortunately, animals are not included in those regulations…

Veterinarian Bethnee Bakonin has made a home for herself on a frontier planet in the frozen north. Her minder talent for healing all kinds of animals would ordinarily assure her success, but her unwilling stint in the shady pet trade industry left her damaged and scared.

“Volunteered” for a black-box research project, elite forces Jumper Axur Tragon now has dangerous experimental tech in his cybernetic limbs. He escapes the project and steals a freighter, but ship damage forces him to crash-land in the northern mountains of a frontier planet. He’s surprised to discover the freighter’s cargo contains a secret shipment of designer pets. Determined to do right by them, he enlists reluctant Bethnee’s aid in caring for them—a definite challenge, considering Bethnee is terrified of him.

They will need all the help they can get from their unusual pets to save the day when ruthless mercenaries pose a threat. Can Axur and Bethnee work together to overcome their limitations, or will they lose everything they have vowed to protect – including each other?

Mascot

A Novella in the Aeon’s Legacy Series

By Alexis Glynn Latner

Daya Tattujayan is the manager of a remote and nearly derelict space mining station. She has plenty of problems to deal with even before the interstellar syndicate that owns the station sends an auditor to check up on her work.

Rik Gole is a nomadic interstellar auditor with no roots to tie him down. He is ruthless when he has to be and very good at what he does, but Rik would be the first to admit that a woman like Daya and a place like this station are way outside of his previous experience.

Before Daya and Rik can decide whether they are antagonists, allies, or something more, an unexpected enemy attacks the station. To save their lives, they must dare to trust each other. And they need help from a very unconventional defender—Daya’s mysterious alien pet, the mascot of Star Corner Station.

Selena Caryll lost everything in the war: her ship, her crew, her family. The only thing keeping her going is the hope that somehow the feuding, ground-bound settlers and the fuelless space fleet can set aside their differences. But getting the politically-fractured fleet moving again is more than she can manage alone. For now, she has to settle for working undercover with the planetary police force.

When someone tries to reignite conflict between the planet-siders and the fleet, there’s only one person who has the rank and ability to help Selena protect the fleet: Titan Sciarra, Fleet Guardian—the one man she’s tried hardest to avoid since the war destroyed her life.

In a world where the stagnant weight of tradition can be as deadly as any knife, the only way to survive is to keep moving.

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Why did you write this book? Many, many years ago when I was trying to take a mental break from the Time and Shadows series I decided to try writing Harry Potter fanfic. I was fascinated by the isolation Hermione had at the end of the series, how she’d given up every aspect of her muggle life to become part of something else. And I wondered if she’d ever want to go back to MP3 players, smartphones, and democracy after fighting to live in the hyper-controlled world of the witches. Needless to say… I don’t appreciate Harry Potter well enough to write good fanfic in that universe and the idea quickly spun out of control. I kept thinking of magic in terms of science, implants for wands, crews instead of Hogwart’s houses.

I took the threads of the story and started to write NEWTON’S CRADLE, and realized I’d jumped too far ahead in the story for it to make sense. So, I went back and tried to figure out where I needed to start. Not with the war, because wars are boring, but with the fallout of the war. How do you rebuild cultures and trust and friendship after something as awful as a civil war?

How do you forgive someone who fought against you because they thought it was the only way to survive?

BODIES IN MOTION is the catalyst for change, it’s the pivot point where everyone in this universe gets a second chance at making the right choice.

Is BODIES IN MOTION a standalone book? BODIES IN MOTION is the first in a series of books about the Malik system. It can be read all on its own, and the other books will be written in a way that allows them to be read without the reader having read the other books, but it will have an over-arching storyline as well.

If you could have something from the BODIES IN MOTION universe, what would you have? The implant for sure. The ability to teleport alone would be worth it. I spend way too much time commuting! I also like the idea of being able to program a broom to sweep the kitchen while I get some writing done.

How would you describe the life of a writer? Imagine sitting in an overgrown cottage in the woods, bears trundling past as the snow falls on withered vines. Inside a woman sits over a magic tablet conjuring infinite worlds. She captures these worlds, presses them into a portable container, and distributes them around the world. When someone finds one, they enter another world.

That’s writing. It’s magic done with computers and inks and patience. It’s the ability to conjure best friends, vicious enemies, and infinite wonders out of nothingness. Everyone should try story-telling at least once.

What advice do you have for writers who aren’t published yet? Keep at it! Keep writing. If you want to publish keep writing, keep learning, keep trying. If a book isn’t working, write a new one. If you want to write but can’t figure out how to make the story in your head appear on the page take classes, meet with writing groups, check out online places like CritiqueCircle.com and give yourself space to learn. The only thing standing between a new author and publication is time. If you keep at it, you’ll get published someday.

What is essential for writing? For me it’s constant access to either a notebook or a keyboard. I travel a lot, I spend about 2 hours a day commuting, and if an idea strikes I want to write it down. I usually have a notebook in my purse, and a few years ago I added a folding Bluetooth keyboard that allows me to type scenes into an email and send it to myself. I think about 70% of my books since CONVERGENCE POINT have been written on a folding keyboard. They’re awesome.

How many hours a day do you spend writing? On a good day I can dedicate four hours to publishing. That includes writing, editing (for myself or clients), marketing, and professional development (webinars, reading, ect). That isn’t enough time to think of books and come up with plot solutions though. I can’t spend four hours staring at the wall daydreaming. I send those four hours active, and then let my brain work out plot problems while I’m doing something else, like walking the dog.

What’s your writing space look like? Perpetually covered in post-it notes! I have a very messy desk, covered in notes for various projects, in an open-space office that was probably supposed to be a formal dining room. It only works because my kids are in school all day so I have the house to myself.

What do you snack on while writing? I always have a glass of water nearby (or I forget to hydrate) and usually I like something with a crunch. Lately I’ve been snacking on toasted squash seeds. You dry them, toss them in olive oil and salt, and bake at 275F until they look lightly toasted. They’re a little bit addictive.

What do you listen to while you write? Usually epic instrumental music or soundtracks. The Wonder Woman soundtrack is good for writing, any of the Lord of the Rings soundtracks, the music from Two Steps From Hell and Assassin’s Creed are also great writing soundtracks. I want something with a good tempo so I don’t get bored.

Author Bio:

Liana Brooks write sci-fi and crime fiction for people who like happy endings. She believes in time travel to the future, even if it takes a good book and all night to get there. When she isn’t writing, Liana hikes the mountains of Washington with her family and giant dog. Find her at LianaBrooks.com or on Twitter as @LianaBrooks

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Love, in Stitches, Sophie Mouette‘s long-awaited second book in the steamy, madcap Hollywood Spice series (think old-fashioned screwball comedy, but no cutting away at the bedroom door) is out June 10, 2017 and is up for pre-order now.

Luanna Deveneax dreams of designing couture fashion. But when she loyally refuses to tell her employer about her side job—secretly sewing custom women’s clothing for high-powered LA crossdressers—her high fashion dreams flush right down the toilet.

With his rakish grin, dark, flashing eyes, and tiny gold hoop earring, producer and writer Derek Acosta looks like a sexy pirate. He kisses Luanna’s hand, making her weak in the knees…and offers her a job designing costumes for his first movie.

Far from her dream job—and you know what they say about mixing business with pleasure. But in the wild world of Hollywood, dreams come true in the most unexpected ways.

Sophie Mouette expertly weaves a seductive tale of desire, dresses, and delightful romance in Love, in Stitches, the second novel in the steamy and wacky Hollywood Spice series.

Here’s a little tease:

Luanna looked past the champagne fountain to the man standing across from her, and her body fizzed as if she’d been dunked in champagne.

She’d like to dunk him in champagne…

Dark, nearly black hair, neatly cut. Swarthy and Latin-looking, but with intensely blue eyes instead of the deep brown the rest of his coloring suggested. His jaw—a strong jaw, but not Superman-square—sported a hint of stubble, not like he hadn’t shaved, but like his beard was just that determined. A small gold hoop earring glinted in the lantern light, making him look like a tasteful pirate.

Luanna had always been fond of pirates.

His button-down shirt was deep red, and while Luanna’s fashion-oriented brain would have normally picked out the price range, the fiber content, and which big-name designer had been dimly imitated in its creation, she couldn’t get beyond the way it draped across his broad shoulders and how great the color was against his dusky skin. The sleeves were rolled up. He had muscular arms, dusted with dark hair.

Yo ho ho, y’all.

For buy links and other details, please visit the Love, in Stitches page on the Sophie Mouette website.

I’m proud to announce I have a story, “Waiting for Ilya,” in this anthology.

This story is proof that authors do not always write from experience. All right, in my case the shape-shifters and space-faring aliens probably gave it away, but this is a story set in 21st century suburbia and could very much be a slice of someone’s real life.

Just not mine.

If you’ve been following me any length of time, you’ve probably figured out that I don’t have children, unless you count the four-footed, feline kind.

Which I really don’t. I’ll sometimes call myself a cat-mom, but much as I love and pamper the cats, I know it’s nothing like the experience of raising human children.

For one, the cats communicate in their own way, but they’ll never learn to talk. They learn and mature in their own ways–three-year-old Xia is quite a different animal than kitten Xia–but it’s not remotely the same as watching a human go from infancy to adulthood. They’ll never go to college, or join the military, or do any of the things human children may choose to do as young adults. They’ll never ask to borrow the car. (I think Tinkerbelle would like to, but driving just isn’t going to work for her. Those little black and white paws can’t depress the gas pedal.)

From www.icanhazburger.com, although it’s been all over the web

And while we do, in the long run, have both a deep, joyous bond and a scary life-and-death responsibility for the animals that share our lives, it’s not neither as wondrous nor as terrifying as what parents feel for their children.

On the other hand, pets don’t often interfere with one’s sex life–and if they try, it’s easy to pick up a ten-pound cat, remove her from the bedroom, and then close the door in her meowing face. Hell, you can put said cat into the back yard if she’s being too demanding, and no would call the police on you for doing so. Children, from what my friends with kids have said, can be a little more problematic, both because you really can’t put the kids in the yard at night to get some privacy and because it can be hard to justify taking the time for “self-indulgence”. Even if you need those adult moments to be the semi-calm, semi-happy, semi-sane parent you strive to be.

That’s why I think If Mom’s Happy is an important book, and why I’m glad it includes my story of an adoptive mom reconciling her new role as parent and protector to a five-year-old and another important role, that of a loving, sexual partner in a rather kinky relationship.

About the book:

Mothers might be exhausted, over-touched and under-appreciated, but they’re problem solvers who know how to get their “self-care” on.  In If Mom’s Happy: Stories of Erotic Mothers, we hear from women waiting for their child’s arrival; mothers of infants, toddlers and teenagers; straight, queer, partnered and single mothers. We hear from mothers who like it vanilla and others who want some kink. They lust after their longtime partners and near strangers, in public and in private, alone or with another… or a few others. No matter where, when, or how, these stories capture the complex and profound –and ultimately satisfying–task of attending to your own desires while tending to children.

The path through mothering affects nearly every aspect of sexuality: intimacy, identity, reproduction, body image, gender roles and expression, vulnerability, reciprocity, skin hunger, and so much more. Like great erotica, mothering explores the complexity of sexuality–the ache, the ecstasy, and everything in between.

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Welcome to the 186th week of My Sexy Saturday, a blog hop where writers (mostly romance and erotica writers, but we don’t discriminate as long as your book has some smexy bits) sahre thematic selections from their work. 7 paragraphs, 7 sentences, even 7 words.

The week’s theme is a Special Kind of Sexy. I’m offering a tidbit from Drive. (This may or may not be because it gives me a chance to share the cover again. That cover model is definitely a special kind of sexy!)

The red Mustang with the FOR SALE sign on it was the second thing to catch Neil Callahan’s eyes, even though he’d been looking for it on this tree-lined suburban street of huge, handsome, but cloyingly similar houses. Cookie-cutter, but an expensive cookie cutter. The first thing he noticed was the ass and long, jean-clad legs of the woman cleaning the windshield of the classic convertible.

The car was hot, a vintage Mustang—1965 or so, he thought—in near-showroom condition. Yet the car’s current owner drew his attention away from the vehicle. It said something about how tempting that butt was. How firm, yet curvy.

How spankable…

~ ~ ~

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©Pixelchaos/Deposit Photos

It’s been a busy few weeks. Have I mentioned I was on the conference committee for the 2017 New England Chapter RWA “Let Your Imagination Take Flight” conference? Well, I was. We held the conference April 7&8 and it went spectacularly well. Kind of hard to go wrong with Zoe York and Joanna Bourne as your keynotes and Molly O’Keefe presenting the master class, not to mention roughly 10 million* workshops. (*Poetic license. As a published poet, I’m allowed to say that.) In the midst of introducing workshop presenters, organizing a vendor fair, putting out metaphorical fires, and herding nervous authors into their agent/editor appointments, I managed to have promising appointments with Carina Press editor Stephanie Doig and agent Courtney Miller-Callihan and take part in a terrific book signing. I even managed to have a few drinks, go out to brunch on Sunday, and even write a chapter of Yield. But I came home ready to sleep for a week.

Needless to say, that didn’t happen. I had a bunch of Sophie Mouette items to deal with, since we’ll have a new book out in May. (More on that to come.) Sophie had a short erotica release on April 10. (And I still need to post about that. Glad I wrote this post to remind me.) I’d re-released Thrill-Kinky and Bad Kitty just before the conference and had promos to set up.

Meanwhile, I’d promised my mom I’d go visit her in central New York on Easter weekend. Mom celebrated her 84th birthday last week and has slowed down a lot. One of the things we do to help her out is bring a cooler full of homemade frozen dinners that she can just pop into the microwave. So Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of last week involved a lot of cooking as well as writing-related stuff, conference follow-up, and Sophie admin such as proof reviews.

The weekend with Mom was lovely and quite restful (well, except for cooking her two more freezer-friendly meals and finishing up checking another proof), but involved 5.5 hours of driving each way and sleeping poorly without the Cat-Herder and the cats. By the time I got home on Sunday, nothing much was accomplished. Oh, I tried, but my laptop–with the notes on the proof I’d done over the weekend–froze up. I got it working again today, but damn Mercury retrograde!

Did I mention it’s finally spring in New England? That means I’m planting veggies on top of everything else. I love digging in the dirt. It’s stress relief with delicious results. It’s also time sensitive in that there’s a narrow window to plant peas, spinach, lettuce, and spring onions between “too damn cold” and “too damn hot”. Of course, this window of opportunity opened on April 3.

And then there were taxes. Yes, we should have dealt with these several months ago, but we ended up scrambling. Thank goodness we’re related to our tax preparer!

From www.icanhazburger.com, although it’s been all over the web

I’m not complaining. My life is wonderful. I helped bring about a well-received conference that I managed to enjoy–no mean feat. I’m letting my old Samhain titles back into the wild. I’m writing new books as myself and as Sophie. I have peas and greens coming up and will probably be harvesting asparagus by this time next week. Mmmmmmmm! (The mmms were inserted by Noodle the Cat, but it fits so I added punctuation.)

But I’m looking forward to staying close to home for a little while.

Maybe then I can focus on something that’s been elusive in all this wonderful busyness: new words.

Oh, and the proposal for the new series I came up with at the conference….

It’s time again for the My Sexy Saturday blog hop, where authors bring you 7 paragraphs, sentences, or words that fit a sensual, romantic theme.

This week’s theme is “My Sexy Gentleman”, so it seemed like a good time to introduce you to Drax, the winged, wicked hero of Thrill-Kinky (Chronicles of the Malcolm 1).  For some of you, this may be a reintroduction. Thrill-Kinky was previously published by Samhain, but I’m re-releasing it and book 2 of the series, Bad Kitty. (Book 3, Buck, Naked, wasn’t a Samhain title, so nothing’s changed there.) They’re up for pre-order now and go live on 4/3–and Thrill-Kinky‘s just 99 cents to get you started on this adventurous, sexy SF romance series.

In this selection, the human heroine Rita has just met her “sexy gentleman”–who was dumped in a bin of industrial waste, bound and naked, after being tortured. Like an alien James Bond (except he’s not a sociopath), he manages to charm her even in such rough shape.

“Hush. I’ll get you to the hospital.” She reached for the com-pad at her hip, meaning to call for the emergency squad and the police.

Faster than she would have expected a Banjali to move in such high gravity, he grabbed her wrist. “No authorities. Please. Can’t risk it.” His grip was strong, the color of his skin extraordinary. Having ancestors who’d hailed from Old Earth’s every region, Rita was sometimes described as golden-skinned, but in contrast to his, her complexion was more of a light tan, pleasant but hardly exotic. His was actually the warm yellow of burnished gold.

“You in trouble with the law?” That wouldn’t necessarily be a problem. It all depended on what he’d supposedly done. What was fine on your home planet might turn out to be illegal somewhere else and get you into accidental trouble. And the Malcolm did its share of operating within the gray areas of interplanetary law, one planet’s perfectly legal cash-crop being another’s valuable contraband.

“Long story. I’m on the side of the law, but I need to stay undercover for now. My government sent me to San’bal on a joint mission, but they’re not ready for it to be public and neither are the San’balese.” He somehow managed to produce a roguish smile, swollen lips and all.

The smile was enough to set Rita’s coveralls on fire.

His story might be utter glaspoid crap. Then again, it might not be. Every nation on every planet had its covert operatives and undercover cops. Mr. Hot, Winged and Naked might be one. More likely he was a tourist who’d been in the wrong place, or a petty crook who’d gotten in over his head. But even so, she couldn’t just leave him in a recycling bin, injured.

Especially not when she was one legit job away from the petty crook designation herself and some of her crewmates couldn’t even claim that much legality. Besides, a guy who came up with a story about being some kind of spy on the spur of the moment while tied up and injured in a bin full of industrial waste deserved her help for being clever.

* * *

When spacer Rita stumbles upon a injured, naked, and absolutely gorgeous winged man during a routine cargo pick-up, things get dangerous—and steamy—fast.  Sexy alien Drax Jalricki is a covert operative whose cover has been blown, but he still needs to finish a mission that will protect three planets. Hiding in plain sight in the middle of a local fertility festival, Drax and Rita discover they have a lot in common, including a shared kink for risky, exhibitionist sex.

Could be a stars-made match, except for the people trying to kill Drax.

Unable to use his wings and suspecting someone in his own government betrayed him, Drax needs help with a crucial step in his mission. Swapping a real artwork for a reproduction loaded with a tracking device so enemy operatives can steal the fake should be nothing Rita’s friends on the space freighter Malcolm, with their diverse and slightly shady skills, can’t manage.

But an infamous assassin is on Drax’s trail, a highly placed traitor is paying the assassin, and Rita’s cat-girl best friend has just revealed her own lethal secrets. Rita and Drax’s feelings for each other may not matter if they don’t live through the night.

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It’s time again for My Sexy Saturday, the blog hop that encourages writers to share “fabulous moments with some very sexy, hot characters in a love that’s destined to last forever”. Seven paragraphs, seven sentences or even seven words–that’s what you get to convey the theme, which this week is “My Sexy Love”.

In honor of Drive being available again with a fierce new cover, I’ll give you a bit of Neil and Suzanne. This snippet is the beginning of make-up sex. Neil and Suzanne, being kinky, do their making up a little more roughly than some people, but it works for them.

*

“Pain or fucking?” he asked.

“Yes, please yes.”

Which was a more useful answer than it sounded like on the surface. Greedy after even a short time apart, she wanted it all. Just like he did. He wanted to bury his cock balls deep in that pussy. She was already so wet, glistening even in the dim light. But he wanted more. Wanted to make her wait—maybe make himself wait too, because if she needed a little teasing punishment, he did too, for brooding like some asshole teenager who didn’t know better.

“I want to use my belt on you,” he admitted. “It’s going to sting like a bitch, I’m not going to lie about that. But I think a few stripes on your beautiful ass will make us both feel better. Am I right?”

She made a noise he couldn’t quite describe, halfway between a whimper of fear and a moan of pleasure. She closed her eyes, threw her head up and back. Her breathing became ragged, as if even breathing was too much effort. She was trembling, but when he thrust one hand between her legs, she was drenched and moved against his fingers as if she couldn’t help herself. He wasn’t sure, for a few seconds, whether to carry on with his evil/sexy impulse or just caress and then fuck her—wasn’t like that was a terrible option, and he didn’t want to push her too hard, especially when things still seemed shaky between them. Finally, she managed to speak, and it was just what he hoped to hear. “Yes. I need… I didn’t know what I needed, but maybe that. Please. Please, sir, please.”

He loved hearing her reduced to being that inarticulate so early in the game. God knew she made him feel that way just by existing, just by being her. He tried to hide it because being a stammering wreck wasn’t exactly domly and he already looked enough like a fucking mess, unshaven and until recently in sweatpants he probably shouldn’t have put back on today, without sounding like one too. But she robbed him of at least half his brainpower because whenever she was around the blood that was supposed to go to his brain headed straight to his cock instead.

Still, his hand was steady. And when he tested his aim on a couch cushion, making Suzanne jump at the noise, it was true. Good. A week of too much beer and crap food and not enough sleep hadn’t done much damage. Yay fast metabolism. He’d use the belt doubled up this time, though; he could aim more precisely and it made a wonderful noise that really fucked with a sub’s head, making it seem like something more violent was going on than really was.

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Today, I’m welcoming Janine Ashbless, whom I met when we both wrote for Black Lace *mutter* years ago. I read Cover Him With Darkness, the first book of the Book of the Watchers trilogy. Highly recommended if you like your paranormal romances beautifully written, thought-provoking, and mind-bogglingly sexy. I’m delighted to help spread the work about book 2, which looks just as good.

# # #

Early on in In Bonds of the Earth, my heroine Milja gets called up to the office of her boss, Roshana Veisi, and finds that this super-wealthy art collector is really into angel art and has examples all over the wall:
“I distracted myself with another turn around the room, looking at the paintings hung there. The first was a vivid panel depicting a crowd of androgynous figures in complex robes holding what looked to me like an iridescent beach ball.”
This is the picture I was thinking of:

Those are angels, holding up the world (which includes the newly-created Sun and Moon). It’s the Day Four panel from this set, “The Days of Creation,” painted 1871-6 by Edward Burne-Jones, which exists in the Harvard Museum:

“Day Four” got stolen during a private dinner party in 1970 and has never been recovered – the pic I’ve shown above is in fact a re-creation based on old B&W records and contemporary accounts.
So I’m not expecting any readers to recognize the painting from my brief description, but it does give me immense satisfaction to put it in the novel! Yes, Roshana stole it. She is dodgy AF.
And she’s way older than she looks.
xxx
Janine

Intrigued? Here’s more about In Bonds of the Earth.

Blurb:

“I will free them all.”

When Milja Petak released the fallen angel Azazel from five thousand years of imprisonment, she did it out of love and pity. She found herself in a passionate sexual relationship beyond her imagining and control – the beloved plaything of a dark and furious demon who takes what he wants, when he wants, and submits to no restraint. But what she hasn’t bargained on is being drawn into his plan to free all his incarcerated brothers and wage a war against the Powers of Heaven.

As Azazel drags Milja across the globe in search of his fellow rebel angels, Milja fights to hold her own in a situation where every decision has dire consequences. Pursued by the loyal Archangels, she is forced to make alliances with those she cannot trust: the mysterious Roshana Veisi, who has designs of her own upon Azazel; and Egan Kansky, special forces agent of the Vatican – the man who once saved then betrayed her, who loves her, and who will do anything he can to imprison Azazel for all eternity.

Torn every way by love, by conflicting loyalties and by her own passions, Milja finds that she too is changing – and that she must do things she could not previously have dreamt of in order to save those who matter to her.

In Bonds of the Earth is the second in the Book of the Watchers trilogy and the sequel to Cover Him With Darkness.

Excerpt:

 I was giving my long-dreaded presentation on the anniversary footbridge to Misters Ellis, Singh, Constanzo and Mackenzie…when Azazel walked in.

Oh hell.

“Excuse me, gentlemen,” I said loudly, lurching around from behind my desk, grabbing Azazel’s arm and spinning him back to face the door. “Not here, come on, please,” I implored through clenched teeth.

If there was one thing I’d learned by then, it was to not ignore warning dreams. If I’d paid them more attention from the start, things between me and Egan might have gone very differently back in Montenegro…

No, better not to think of Egan, not when Azazel was around. One guy at a time was quite enough to wrap my head around. Especially this guy.

He humored me though, this time, letting me pull him out of the meeting room and through the open plan office without resistance. We attracted a lot of stares, but there was nothing I could do about that except hold my head high.

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“Out. Anywhere.”

“You’re so impetuous.”

I didn’t need to glance up at his wicked smirk. I could feel it burning its way into my breast.

Bryce, the beardy guy in my new team who’d shown me the ropes of the job and seemed just a tiny bit too eager to talk every morning, stood up from his cubicle to intercept us. “Milja, is everything okay?”

“It’s just fine,” I rasped, towing Azazel faster.

“She’s insatiable,” my demon lover confided with a helpless shrug to my colleague as we swept past.

Bryce stared, mouth open.

“Goddamnit,” I muttered, and Azazel chuckled.

Sometimes it was hard to remember that he’d risked everything to save me.

We reached the doors at the end of the room and I pushed through, past the lobby with the elevators and into the concrete stairwell of the emergency stairs beyond. The only people who came here were smokers on their way to the roof, and it looked empty for now. My panicky momentum fizzled away and I swung to face him.

“What are you doing here?”

“What do you think?” he countered, taking my face in his hands.

“Azazel—” But he cut off my protests with his hungry kiss; a kiss that lanced through me all the way to my core. I gave up resisting, and speaking, and almost breathing, as his lust rolled over me in a hot wet wave. I slid my hands around his neck and tangled my fingers in his messy hair, pulling myself into his embrace. His body was hard as rock, his hands heavy on my waist and hips. The yearning for his touch that smoldered in my flesh day and night woke to a roaring heat.

I’d missed him. His skin, his smile, the peppery scent and salt taste of him. The sweetness of his lips and the harsh rasp of his stubbled chin. I’d missed him so much—like an addict missing her hit.

Author bio:

photo credit: DAVID WOOLFALL

Janine Ashbless is a writer of fantasy erotica and steamy romantic adventure. She likes to write about magic and myth and mystery, dangerous power dynamics, borderline terror, and the not-quite-human.

Janine has been seeing her books in print ever since 2000. She’s also had numerous short stories published by Black Lace, Nexus, Cleis Press, Ravenous Romance, Harlequin Spice, Storm Moon, Xcite, Mischief Books, and Ellora’s Cave among others. She is co-editor of the nerd erotica anthology Geek Love.

Born in Wales, Janine now lives in the North of England with her husband and two rescued greyhounds. She has worked as a cleaner, library assistant, computer programmer, local government tree officer, and – for five years of muddy feet and shouting – as a full-time costumed Viking. Janine loves goatee beards, ancient ruins, minotaurs, trees, mummies, having her cake and eating it, and holidaying in countries with really bad public sewerage.

Her work has been described as:

“Hardcore and literate” (Madeline Moore) and “Vivid and tempestuous and dangerous, and bursting with sacrifice, death and love.” (Portia Da Costa)

Buy the book!

E-book:

Amazon ebook: http://hyperurl.co/cu1pe0

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/in-bonds-of-the-earth/id1201654085?mt=11

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/in-bonds-of-the-earth

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Janine_Ashbless_In_Bonds_of_the_Earth?id=HZMSDgAAQBAJ&hl=en

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/in-bonds-of-the-earth-janine-ashbless/1125264279?ean=9781910908099

Print:

Amazon paperback: http://hyperurl.co/fuqprg

Sinful Press: https://sinfulpress.co.uk/product/in-bonds-of-the-earth-by-janine-ashbless/

Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/in-bonds-of-the-earth/janine-ashbless/9781910908082

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Links:

Janine Ashbless website: http://www.janineashbless.com/

Janine Ashbless blog:  http://janineashbless.blogspot.co.uk/

Janine Ashbless on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janineashbless

Sinful Press website: https://www.sinfulpress.co.uk

Drive, my last Samhain release, is the first one I’m reissuing.

Mostly because I couldn’t wait to show you all this absolutely lickable cover. No Mustang any more, but it’s so much sexier.

Amusingly enough, my cover designer (Flirtation Designs) sent me the photo to see how I liked it–and I realized I’d used a shot from the same series for some of my teasers. Clearly, this guy was meant for this book.

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 Neil’s lips reminded her she was truly alive, not just going through the motions of living. His lips and his tongue, the tickle of his rebel scruff, so charmingly at odds with his short, neat cop hair. And oh, those muscled arms around her, pulling her close, making her feel small and soft, but at the same time powerful, desirable. And not powerful because she was desirable. She was both.

Her body filled with almost forgotten hunger. Oh, she remembered desire, felt it often, but for the last few years, even while Frank was alive and well and occasionally having sex with her, desire had grown from fantasies rather than reality. A handsome actor looking buff and commanding on a movie screen, a sexy passage in a book—her Kindle was full of BDSM romances and erotica, some good, some schlocky, but all featuring scenes that set her imagination and libido soaring—a stray thought that sent her mind to dark, delicious places where hard hands and strong bodies and the occasional whip, paddle or toy worked their magic on her.

This wasn’t fantasy desire. This was specific. All about the taste of Neil Callahan’s lips, the way his tongue invaded her mouth…no, not invaded, because invaders weren’t invited in and welcomed with ticker-tape parades, and if her mouth could, it would be throwing a parade right about now. All about the way he smelled like gingerbread in the salt air with its hint of suntan lotion. The way one big hand cradled the back of her head, controlling and tender at the same time. The way his broad chest and back felt as she scrambled to touch as much of him as she could, and if she was making a spectacle of herself, well, it was about time.

on this site, so their pages say “BACK SOON.”

I know a couple of those titles will be available again quickly. Expect the kinky stories and the Chronicles of the Malcolm books back in the next month or so. The Duals and Donovans series, on the other hand, has been submitted to another publisher, so that may take a while to get an answer. If it’s a no, I’ll get to do it my way. If it’s a yes, it’ll be less work for me and it should get a lot of pampering and promo if it’s accepted. Either way–pretty new covers!

Keep your fingers crossed; while indie publishing is a wonderful option and I’m getting to enjoy it more and more as I learn more about it, I like the idea of being a hybrid, keeping a foot (and books) in both indie and traditional camps. There’s a lot to be said for the control (and higher royalties) of indie publishing, but it does take time from writing new words. And writing is the part I love. Creating covers and teasers is quite fun, but really… I’m in this for stories.

In any case, yesterday was the end of an era. Today, it’s a beginning of a new one. Wish me luck!

Photo credit: (c)4masik/Depositphotos

The Velvet Chair is Book One in a Dark Erotica Series called ‘Velvet Lies.’

Blurb

My name is Mark Matthews. I own half of London, and the part I don’t own, I’m working on.

Life was all going swimmingly well until Michael Redcliff entered my life, demanding that I marry his daughter. Actually, swap demand for blackmail. He’s got goods on me that I want no one else to see, so for the time being I need to be his little lapdog.

I’ll marry his daughter. I’ll give him all the status, money and power he can handle… for as long as it takes me to get a divorce. You see, I can’t renege on our little arrangement – but she can. I give her a week. One week and she’ll be screaming the place down for her legal counsel.

Excerpt – Jennifer

My hands were visibly shaking. Flexing my fingers repeatedly, I tried to still the tremors, but they were not to be subdued. It was hardly surprising. Today was the day I walked up the aisle and married… a monster. I was under no illusions that Mark Matthews would forgive me for what had happened, and I could hardly blame him. He’d been manipulated and sexually tortured until he could take no more, and then he’d been neatly cornered. He might have agreed to my father’s demands, but he’d come snapping and biting, feral as a wolf.

I sighed. Today was supposed to be a magical day – every little girl’s fantasy. A gigantic cathedral, a sea of flowers, a big fancy dress, and the man of my dreams. I’d imagined it would be filled with tears of happiness and protestations of love. How stupid was I?

Inhaling a shaky breath, I wondered what Mark would do with me. Having always been the sacrificial lamb in this family, today I was being sent off to the slaughterhouse. When I’d mentioned this to Michael, I’d refused to call him ‘Dad’ a long time ago, he’d laughed and told me to stop being so melodramatic. As if that made me feel any better. Dear old Dad couldn’t care less whether I lived or died, so I didn’t waste my breath trying to plead with him. All I had to do was play my part in this charade and he would be happy. I needed to keep Michael happy at all costs. The trouble was, in order to play my part, Matthews had to trust me, and I had a feeling that trying to coax that emotion out of him was going to be almost as impossible as trying to convince the Queen of England to relinquish her throne. Matthews wasn’t the sort to trust easily, and now that I had lost what little ground I had gained with him, I would be back to square one. Wrong, I thought grimly. I was going to be at least twenty stories below square one, trying to claw my way out with nothing more than my bare fingernails. Facing up to facts, I stifled a sob. The man was going to annihilate me.

Excerpt – Mark

As we pulled out of the Savoy’s car park, Jennifer was a mess. I had little sympathy for her. Each heartbeat that tore through my chest was full of fire, which spat sparks and burned like acid. I was sitting next to a traitor. My body throbbed with emotion, and not the good kind.

I had to admit the dress she’d changed into, just a tiny part of the massive trousseau that was now being shipped to my estate, was rather distracting. It was designed in a glistening oyster silk that caught the light every time she moved. It was seductive enough without the two splits that ran up the side of her thighs, and when she’d seated herself in my car, revealing a vast expanse of soft creamy flesh, my blood pressure had taken a direct hit.

My temper was already simmering in a large saucepan full of resentment, but that turned up the heat considerably. I did not want to be attracted to Redcliff’s daughter. I wanted to abhor her with all that was holy. Desire would weaken my anger, and that must not be allowed to happen. I needed to have a stern talk with my overactive libido and let it know who was boss around these parts.

Little did Miss Redcliff know, but she wouldn’t be requiring clothes for the duration of her stay. I would thoughtfully be providing her with all sorts of novel uniforms, and when she began to bore me, she could just go around naked. I’d decided to train her up to be a sex slave extraordinaire, and it was going to be an exacting and rigorous process. She’d be allowed six hours of sleep a day, and the rest of her hours would be accounted for. Cooking, cleaning, ironing, servicing me, pleasing me, attending to her own personal fitness regime, and some more ‘standard’ training sessions.

Failure to comply with her new routine would produce punishments the likes of which she had never experienced. After her first misdemeanour had been dealt with, I didn’t think there would be many more. I was in bastard-mode, and the girl was going to know about it. She had just become my property and I would deal with her however I saw fit. The mark of my ownership would be indelibly printed on her soul by the time I’d finished with her. The damn woman was going to fear the sound of my footsteps, her body would shrink away from me every time I approached her and she would learn to obey my every whisper or suffer the consequences.

My lawyer had already drawn up two sets of papers, one for an annulment and the others pertained to our divorce. It would probably take all the fun out of the arrangement if Jennifer opted for an annulment, so I didn’t intend to scare her witless in the first few days, but I fully expected the divorce papers to be completed inside of a week. I just needed to push the woman to her absolute limit, and then smash her body into the next dimension. If there was one thing I was good at, it was psychological and physical torture. Okay, so that might be two things. In any case, I’d get those papers signed, sealed, and delivered back to Michael Redcliff before the week was out. Piece of cake.

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A little bit about C.P. Mandara:

Christina Mandara is a USA TODAY bestselling author and tends to write dark romance with lashings of kinky naughtiness. Her favourite pastime is travelling, and if it involves sun, sea and… sand then it’s all good.

In her spare time she’s usually cuddled up with a good book, exploring the countryside or baking in the kitchen. In fact, she loves her kitchen so much she’s one of few woman who wouldn’t mind being tied to it! Her first and foremost love is writing, however, and more often than not you’ll find her on a laptop spinning tales of romance, erotica or dark, paranormal fantasies.

She’s a big fan of BDSM in all of its glorious forms, and her favourite item in the toy closet (a box simply isn’t big enough) is her riding crop.

FB: https://www.facebook.com/CPMandara

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Blog: http://christinamandara.wordpress.com/

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Amazon Author Page: http://author.to/CPMandara

Book Title: The Arrangement (Pleasing the Manwhore, #1)

Author: Jenna Fox  @jennafoxrox

Genre: Erotic Romance

Release Date: January 12, 2017

Hosted by: Book Enthusiast Promotions @bookenthupromo

Check Out the Giveaway: Enter here ➜ ➜   http://bit.ly/2kUp2mD

This is Book 1 of 2 in the “Pleasing the Manwhore” duology.

**NOTE TO READERS: For audiences who enjoy the Fifty Shades/alpha billionaire fantasy. This is a M/f romance contains an age difference—a younger woman involved with a much OLDER, JEALOUS and CONTROLLING man. If you find elements of stalking, spankings, and submission/domination themes unappealing, then you will need to move on.

Blurb

I wasn’t supposed to need him…

But I did.

I wasn’t supposed to crave the smell of his skin and require the very air he breathed…

But somehow I found I couldn’t breathe without him.

I was only supposed to provide physical pleasure and shove my emotions to the side, not allowing love a place into the equation.

He wasn’t supposed to own me. Heart, mind, body and soul. My God, I was such a fool to think I could go along with this arrangement and not involve my heart.

Synopsis:

Taffi Watkins only wanted to escape an abusive home when she fled a small Texas town. She had dreams of starting a new life. A better life.

Those big city lights seemed to shine so brightly when she stepped off that bus, but soon she discovered the pursuing of her dream had also been the worst mistake of her life.

And then came Sullivan Cooper.

In the blink of an eye he made all of her troubles disappear. He accepted her and brought her into his world of fast cars and fancy clothes. Immersed in Mr. Cooper’s universe of unbridled passion, Taffeta forgot he was twenty-five years older than her as he introduced her to his brand of pleasure and pain.

Taffi only thought she knew pain, until Sullivan Cooper taught her better.

Excerpt

I sat in the music room, thinking of her and staring at the black piano glittering under the light of the chandelier. The depleted bottle of cognac resting beside my foot was a casualty of the war I’d fought to lose myself in an alcohol haze. From the sound system, a sonata seemed to mourn with me until the emptiness raged like a caged lion, testing the bars of my prison.

My God, she said she loved me…

And I could say nothing as the pain in her eyes tore me to pieces.

Dammit, the cognac wasn’t doing its job. It wasn’t pushing away the ache. The void I’d felt when her taxi drove away only seemed worse. Then her words ate at my heart like hot acid.

I…I’m in love with you.

I’d rejected her feelings. I knew Taffi wasn’t completely happy here, but I didn’t think she’d leave. Why didn’t I realize the money and the car wouldn’t be enough to make her stay? She wasn’t like the others. Privileged and self-centered. I’d known charmers, women who could intimidate the hell out of the President, but none of them had known pain or trepidation. Taffi’s life had been filled with rejection and fear, yet somehow she’d reached inside and connected with my fears.

This whole situation had blindsided me. I was unprepared, terrified to hear she’d fallen in love with me. After Alexandria, I swore I’d never get close to another woman, but the young thing who’d just walked out the door hours before had a power over me. She’d made me feel more alive than I had in years. And now that she was gone, the need for the spark she’d put back into my life burned hotter. She’d melted away the ice that had become a part of my DNA, and dammit to hell, she’d made me care.

I tried to divert my thoughts from her, but the loneliness kept pummeling me. Without the ice around my heart, the pain sliced right through my chest, piercing my soul. I needed to feel her warmth, her soft skin beneath my hands. Hear her tiny moans as she came. Kiss her so hard it hurt…

But she wasn’t coming back.

It was late, but I couldn’t turn in and get a good night’s rest. I was desperate to feel something good, something sexual. I went to the liquor cabinet, reflecting on what to do when I thought of one willing party who would take off the edge. The young college aged woman from the club had left the option open to call on her if I was looking for an adventure. She was an introvert who loved living out her fantasies in private. I’d been with her before; she understood my rules and her social status as a senator’s daughter demanded rigid confidentiality.

When I called her, she was agreeable, even excited, and, when she arrived at my door I was graced with a big smile. For a moment my heart ceased to beat. The smile was the look of wholesome innocence. The green tint in her eyes was familiar, and her hair was the right shade of blonde.

She reminded me of Taffi.

I couldn’t wait to fuck her.

Then hold and kiss her…

Because I needed and wanted. A substitute was better than nothing.

I’d told her what to wear and she’d come the way I requested. A white button-up shirt and black pencil skirt. Holding a basket with a bottle of wine and two glasses, she winked. “I remembered your favorite.”

I ushered her into the music room and filled our glasses. We sat for a spell, and when our short conversation drifted into an agreeable silence, I held out my hand prompting her to stand.

The last time I was with her, another party was involved, but she remembered how I liked to do things. Smirking, she strutted around the piano, her high heels clicking against the marble floor. Cocking a hip, she leaned against the instrument, raising her skirt to reveal a tempting amount of thigh. “I’ll do anything you want, Mr. Cooper.”

What I wanted had returned to Arlenbach, and if this young lady knew she was only a substitute, she wouldn’t have cared. We were consenting adults. She was benefitting from this encounter as much as me—acting out her fantasies. And I was looking for a determent from the misery that had become me.

The slight bend to her lips broadened into a smile as I moved toward her. I reached around her head, grabbing a handful of hair. Holding my lips just inches from hers, she moaned, “Kiss me.”

Fulfilling her request, I went to press my lips to hers, but the green glint I caught in her eyes again caused me to come to a breathless stop.

Taffi.

At that moment, my need grew into something stronger than I could control or wanted to control. Continuing the seduction, I pressed her harder against the piano, her lips burning on mine. Her encouragement to deepen the kiss elicited the image of Taffi and I together in my bed. I held the fantasy in my mind until my whole body burned. My cock lengthened, hardening as I reached around her back, pulling her into me. The face of the woman I truly wanted held strong in my mind as my hands slid beneath the hem of the substitute’s skirt.

Having followed my instructions of wearing a garter without panties, she opened her legs granting me access. Taffi, I thought, visualizing that beautiful face again, imagining her slim arms around me as I darted my tongue in the substitute’s mouth, tasting the wine. Tasting the bitterness of regret.

I’d sent her running.

She wasn’t coming back.

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Meet the Author

Jenna Fox is a multi-published, bestselling author residing in Eastern Tennessee. She enjoys reading and jotting down poetry in her spare time. Besides juggling a busy family life, Fox reviews and critiques for other authors and crafts her own dark erotic tales. Stories always feature a dominating alpha male with unexpected twists to shock the reader. She believes in HFN and HEA endings, although not always in a romantic or conventional way.

Her work is born from real life experiences, an overactive imagination and a consuming caffeine addiction. Fox is a listener of 80’s rock music and a watcher of classic slasher films. In short, she’s a writer, a storyteller, able to make a boo-boo all better with just one kiss and a proud, world class expert at screwing up recipes and scaring away closet monsters. She believes in ghosts and God and is absolutely convinced chocolate soothes the savage beast.

Social Links

Website: http://jennafoxwrites.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennafoxwrites/?ref=hl

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jennafoxrox

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Newsletter: http://jennafoxwrites.blogspot.com/p/join-my-street-team.html

Google +: https://plus.google.com/u/0/102342502360774190526

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/jennafoxrox

Meet the Author

Jenna Fox is a multi-published, bestselling author residing in Eastern Tennessee. She enjoys reading and jotting down poetry in her spare time. Besides juggling a busy family life, Fox reviews and critiques for other authors and crafts her own dark erotic tales. Stories always feature a dominating alpha male with unexpected twists to shock the reader. She believes in HFN and HEA endings, although not always in a romantic or conventional way.

Her work is born from real life experiences, an overactive imagination and a consuming caffeine addiction. Fox is a listener of 80’s rock music and a watcher of classic slasher films. In short, she’s a writer, a storyteller, able to make a boo-boo all better with just one kiss and a proud, world class expert at screwing up recipes and scaring away closet monsters. She believes in ghosts and God and is absolutely convinced chocolate soothes the savage beast.

Social Links

Website: http://jennafoxwrites.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennafoxwrites/?ref=hl

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jennafoxrox

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7143988.Jenna_Fox

Newsletter: http://jennafoxwrites.blogspot.com/p/join-my-street-team.html

Google +: https://plus.google.com/u/0/102342502360774190526

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/jennafoxrox

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