Friday, July 31st, 2009
Via random.org: Comment #98 Elizabeth and Comment #76 Mary G!
I decided to do two winners since there were so many entries.
Send me your mailing addresses and I’ll get the book to you!
Archive for July, 2009
Friday, July 31st, 2009
Coming in on the home stretch now!
Today’s hostess is Portia Da Costa who is offering up an awesome Yorkshire Rose tote AND it’ll have TWO books – winner’s choice from her available backlist. How’s that for an amazing prize?
KISS IT BETTER – Portia Da Costa
Virgin Black Lace
ISBN: 0352345217
Published in the US on 4th August 2009
BLURB
Pleasure with a perfect stranger…
Jay Bentley is a man with issues. Haunted by physical and psychological demons, he seeks solace and sexual oblivion in the pursuit of an exquisite erotic daydream from his youth, and the reality of a woman who has illuminated his inner fantasies since a brief meeting years ago.
Sandy Jackson has always known that a certain magic is ‘missing’ from her life. She’s feisty and philosophical, but her dreams are filled with heated images of a handsome Prince Charming she once encountered, a man who will kiss everything better and thrill her with glorious, dangerous pleasure.
But the past is an illusion, and the present fraught with conflict and uneasy compromise… can two passionate lovers reconcile their differences and slake their burning sensual hunger for each other in a wild and daring liaison?
EXCERPT
At a business cocktail party, Sandy Jackson encounters the sexy, mysterious stranger she first set eyes on in her café, The Little Teapot, earlier in the day.
* * *
“So, is he your type?”
Sandy rocked – literally – on her silly heels. She knew exactly who was standing beside her, and the deep and strangely raw voice really seemed to fit him. She’d only heard it briefly in the Teapot because Kat had served him, but it was unmistakeable, never to be forgotten.
Schooling herself to stay calm, she turned slowly towards the hard man with the beard, who’d been watching her and was now only a couple feet away.
“Not really.” She dared to look up at him. His eyes were sharp and intelligent, dark grey and glinting with a strange, disquieting light. Shaken, she returned her attention to the man in the photo – the rather glamorous Signor Guidetti. “But I do believe that’s our esteemed host, the hotel manager.”
“Indeed it is.”
For several seconds, they stared at the image in silence, then, as one, they scanned the room, looking for the hotel’s suave, slightly flashy Italian proprietor.
“So, why isn’t he your type?”
Put on the spot, Sandy frowned. What business was it of his? Yet still the ghost from her past resurfaced.
“He’s too groomed. Too slick. Too perfect.”
Unlike you.
She suppressed a flinch. Up close, her tough looking man was tougher than ever.
Tall, he towered above her, his shoulders broad and his lean yet muscular limbs strong looking beneath a rather beautiful lightweight suit in midnight grey. His buzz-cut hair was dark and looked velvety against his fine, nobly shaped skull. He had the look of a Roman Emperor, civilized yet savage.
But it was his face, most of all, that made her swallow, both intrigued by it and also faintly frightened.
His features were even, sculpted and masculine, and just as imperial as his cropped hair. But the network of fine white and pink scars that traced the planes of his high cheekbones, his mouth and jaw line, framed by his crisp dark beard, spoke eloquently of pain and suffering.
“Unlike me.”
The fierce, damaged face softened in a smile as he echoed her thoughts, and Sandy almost gasped. Once again, a fleeting sense of memory almost rocked her.
“There’s nothing wrong with looking as if you’ve lived a bit,” she countered, regaining her wits. For all his scars, the tall man had charisma. And his strong body was affecting her, making hers rouse irrationally.
Was he scarred all over? Were the clean, hard lines of his limbs marked and battered? It suddenly seemed important to find out.
“Well, that’s good to know.” His low laugh was as rough as his speaking voice, but Sandy felt it reach out and touch her like a phantom hand. Hormonal reactions fired all over her body and she experienced a tingling all over her skin, as if the fine sheen of sweat on it was creating a subtle field. She’d been hot before, but now she was burning up.
“Care for another drink?”
Her companion nodded at her glass, which Sandy suddenly realised was empty. She couldn’t remember drinking the wine, but obviously she’d been nervously swigging away without realising it. Another drink would slip down well, and soothe her parched throat, even if it was a tepid and uninspiring vintage.
“Yeah, great! I’d love one, thanks.”
She held out the empty, and as the tall, mysterious man took it from her, their fingers briefly touched.
Oooh!
Electricity seemed to arc between them, ramping up the tingling sensation. She suppressed a gasp as his dark eyes widened. He’d felt it too.
“Be right back. Don’t go away.”
TODAY’S QUESTION: You have four dollars and some typical vending machines at a convenience store right off an interstate highway you’re taking for a road trip in the summer. What do you get?
I’ll choose a winner tomorrow! Good luck
Thursday, July 30th, 2009
Maya has very graciously donated another ARC so I was able to draw another winner.
Via random.org: comment #143, Lisa!
Lisa, email me your mailing address and I’ll get it to Maya. congratulations!!
Thursday, July 30th, 2009
Via random.org: comment #41, Linda Harrison!
Linda, please email me your mailing address and I’ll forward it to Savannah.
Thursday, July 30th, 2009
Today I’m giving away a copy of Laid Bare! I got a box of author copies all shiny and pretty so I thought I’d share.
Great Googly Moogly do I love that cover! The excerpt below is the opening of the book.
Unexpected Desire…
It’s been ten years since clean-cut, sexy-as-hell police officer Todd Keenan had a white-hot fling with Erin Brown, the provocative, wild rocker chick next door. Their power exchange in the bedroom got under his skin. But love wasn’t in the cards just yet…
Now, life has thrown the pair back together. But picking up where they left off is tough, in light of a painful event from Erin’s past. As Todd struggles to earn her trust, their relationship takes an unexpected and exciting turn when Todd’s best friend, Ben, ends up in their bed—and all three are quite satisfied in this relationship without a name. As the passion they share transforms Erin, will it be enough to help her face the evil she thought she had left behind?
Excerpt from LAID BARE by LAUREN DANE
Copyright Lauren Dane, 2009
All Rights Reserved, Penguin Group
Seattle, The Off Ramp, Ten Years Ago
Music, raw and hard like sex, pulsed through the speaker stack, caught the people in front of the stage as much as it had her in its grip.
The bass line throbbed through her like a second pulse as the scent of beer and sweat settled into her system. Sweat slicked her forehead and slid down the line of her spine. The muscles in her forearm corded as she played, her fingers finding their way as they had time and again. A secret smile marked her lips as her halflidded eyes focused on something not visible to anyone else.
Yes, it was a man’s world up there, but she’d kicked down the door with her Doc Martens and she wasn’t giving her spot to anyone else. She loved making music, and it fit her like a second skin.
It made her alive.
Her dreads swung forward, partially obscuring her face—adding, she knew, to the overall effect. Her belly, glistening with sweat, slid against the back of her bass where her shirt ended and her low-slung jeans began.
Up there, under the blue lights, she didn’t have to work at it. She was. She was exactly where she wanted to be, a guitar strapped to her body, calluses on her fingers from playing. The muscles in her upper arms were well defined because she hauled equipment around for gigs. There wasn’t any doubt, any self-consciousness. She lived the life she wanted.
Erin Brown had stopped apologizing for wanting things. She grabbed experiences with both hands and gobbled them down.
Even if the band never made it beyond small, local rock clubs, she’d be happy to just keep playing. There wasn’t much more you could ask for in life, and Erin accepted her blessings quite happily and graciously.
Todd took a pull from his beer, one leg bent as he leaned against the windowsill, looking out toward the street. There she was, getting out of her beat-up van. He had no idea why the hell he did it, but since he’d moved to the day shift he found himself at his window every night at six-fourteen to watch her make the walk from car to door.
She was so not the kind of woman who usually caught his eye. Still, his fingers gripped the sill as he greedily took in the way she moved. Like she couldn’t care less if people watched. Or worse, got off on it.
Long and lean, her gait ate up the walk, her dreadlocks swinging to her ass. A fine ass it was in those faded jeans. If he looked close enough, he saw the threadbare spots just beneath the pockets.
Reflexively, he tightened his hands into fists as tension hummed through him. Anticipation and a sort of need filled his gut as he watched her.
He snorted at what an idiot he was being. Dreadlocks. What woman wore dreadlocks? Not his sort of woman, that was all there was to it.
Time stopped, along with his heart, when she turned at her door and met his gaze with a smile. A smile that told him she’d known he watched. Surprised but rooted to the spot, he raised a hand in greeting. She paused a moment before tipping her chin at him.
Briefly he relaxed as she turned back to her door, but that slid away when she paused again, dropped her bag on the porch and turned back toward his place.
Shit.
She was already on his doorstep by the time he’d put his beer down and opened the door to face her.
“Officer Keenan, how are you today?”
Her voice did things to him. Unwilling things. Low and smoky. It went with her eyes, a sort of brownish green, full of promises. Damn it, she was not what he wanted. And still he couldn’t keep his eyes from dropping to take in her nipples straining against the front of her shirt.
“Erin, I’ve told you, it’s Todd.” Yanking his gaze back to her face, he stood in the doorway, fighting the urge to invite her in. She put a hand on her hip and he caught the taut expanse of her belly exposed with the movement. And the glimmer of the ring she had there.
“I know, but I like calling you Officer Keenan. It’s sort of sexy. Very in-charge and authoritative.” She winked. “Anyway, I wanted to let you know we were having some people over later tonight. It shouldn’t be loud. You should come over if you’re going to be around.”
“Thanks for asking, but it’s really not my thing.” He shoved his hands in his front pockets before he did something stupid like reaching out to trace around the ring in her belly button or to test the texture of the dread hanging nearest to him.
She smelled of something unique. Heady, smoldering and sweet all at once. Every time they came in close contact he had that scent in his nose for days.
Today’s Question: What’s your favorite book to movie or television series?
I’ll choose a winner tomorrow afternoon!
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
via random.org is: Comment #19 – Christine!
Christine, please email me your mailing address and I’ll get it to Maya!
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
Today we’ve got one of my fellow Bradford Babes (she’s also repped by my agent Laura Bradford) – author Savannah Foley! I can’t tell you how much Laura raves about how fabulous Savannah is and how her writing is so wonderful and different. I’m really looking forward to the time when I get to announce her first sale.
Today, she’s offering up a fabulous banned books bracelet to one lucky winner!
This bracelet has a special significance to me, not only because it promotes free thought and freedom of speech, but through a round-about way it inspired my fifth book, a magical realism novel called Go Look There. It’s the perfect accessory to wear when you want to feel more ‘writerly’.
Currently Laura is about (within the next couple of days!) to start pitching my first novel, Antebellum. Antebellum was originally placed online (in a horrifically awful earlier version) at FictionPress.com, where it gained a strong fan base with hundreds of Favorites and thousands of reviews.
Plot Summary: In a utopian society, women are the sacred ruling class and men live as slaves and homemakers. When a young woman takes her first slave, an abused and beautiful mute of unknown origin, the forbidden romance between equals that develops shakes her belief in both her religion and way of life. Consumed with this secret heresy and a deadly illness that threatens her life, rumors of a Rebellion bring hope of the truth and a better future… if they survive.
Chapter 1
He was running out of chances.
The wound on his side had broken the skin, and he could already feel a heat licking around his ribs. This was his last rotation before they would send him to the West Hall. The desperation came over him so strongly he could barely move. The panic felt like a million hands touching him, and he fought off all emotion, retreating to the internal world where he heard nothing, saw nothing, and most importantly of all was ruled by nothing.
He weighed the options: Grovel like a whore before the Woman he would face, praying she looked past his disability and what they would call his ‘clumsiness’, or merely survive this one, last torment and accept the inevitable transfer to a lifetime of hard work and violence in the West Hall. He knew what waited for him in the West. They loved to taunt him, watching the fear grow in him until it was too much to bear and he shut it down. The West Hall was a familiar Hell. He would know how to survive there. A Woman, on the other hand, was an unknown risk. He had been trained for slavedom his whole life. He knew what would be expected of him, and though that life would be far less strenuous, it was the nights he feared, when he would be called upon to not only submit to the violation, but participate in it himself. He didn’t know if he was strong enough for that.
He heard footsteps, and bristled, but it was only Number 17 slipping into his room.
“Let me see.”
He shoved Number 17’s hands away but the older boy was not deterred. His shirt was already sticking to the wound. He braced through the inspection.
“If you’d quit staying here at night alone maybe this wouldn’t happen so often. You should come back. You’re not the only one who pays when you stay away.”
He pulled down his shirt and shrugged.
“Why didn’t you tell me you had a Choosing today? Morning line-up and you weren’t there, I thought they’d finally finished you. What would happen if you actually got Chosen? I would never see you again.”
He didn’t answer.
Number 17 sighed. “I don’t care how you feel, that’s not something you do to your workmate.”
The bell rang, and for the first time he felt relieved to hear its signal. It was time to go.
Number 17 grabbed his arm. “If I never see you again, goodbye.”
He hesitated for a moment, then gave the hand signal which between them meant the same as those words. They had seen many workmates go up the stairs and never come back down. When they were younger the disappearances had been weekly, if not more frequent than that. Everyone in the Barracks used the same signal, which substituted for a full farewell, and the last words that might ever be exchanged between two Nameless of the same Division.
He left Number 17 and entered the hallway. Walking hurt worse than breathing. He controlled his pace, never revealing the pain braided into his side. When he arrived at the lobby the foul-tempered Director was there, looking haughty and impatient, so whoever the Woman was this time, she must be important. The Director never came down to the Barracks if she could help it. She inspected the line, grabbing his chin to sneer and pronounce something mockingly, but he wasn’t listening. They began the march out of the Barracks and up the stairs. His side clenched with each step, his vision blackening from holding his breath to steady his abdomen.
The Woman waiting for them must be very special. The line didn’t stop at the usual display room where they had met other Women before. Instead they kept climbing, the heavy-set director breathing harder as she lifted her robes to ascend. They were in the upper levels now, with public traffic. He feared what would happen next; this march was out of the ordinary, and it was never good when schedules changed.
Finally they entered a dim holding room, and the guards snaked them around in tight curves so they would proceed outward in a single, long line. The Director placed herself at the head, sweating, and waited. Minutes passed as the Nameless stood still, listening for the buzz beyond the single wood door to fall silent.
He heard some of the others praying quietly. It might be one of their last chances, too. Darkness made the guards nervous, and they paced around the room with their whips drawn, sometimes nudging a Nameless forward or backward an inch, asserting their authority and preserving perfect order. He ignored them.
Finally the Director swore and sent her attendant scurrying out a side door to alert the distant crowd that the males had arrived. The noise beyond the door died. All the Nameless stood straighter, and a painful burn of adrenaline surged into his stomach. It was time.
The Director flung open the door. He stepped with the others into the sun.
The day I became a slave owner was filled with light…
Today’s Question: What sorts of settings do you like to read about in books? Other countries? The beach? A ballroom in Regency England?
A winner will be chosen tomorrow afternoon! Good luck
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
via random.org!: comment #25 – LaRonda!
LaRonda, please email me your mailing address and I’ll get the book sent to you directly from Amazon!
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
Today, the fabulous Maya Banks has kindly offered up an ARC of Sweet Seduction! The deal is, the damned woman is really nice. She’s nice and talented and she’s a star but not an ass. If she wasn’t so nice it’d be easier to hate her, so I guess I have to continue to love her like cupcakes.
Available October 2009 from
Berkley Heat
He was the stuff erotic dreams are made of
Salon owner Julie Stanford wanted Nathan Tucker ever since she gave him his first massage. Getting paid to feel every inch of his body, stripped, oiled, and spread out in front of her? Stuff dreams are made of. But the sexy lug was oblivious to the signals she was sending—until she finished off his final rub-down with something extra. In fact, the best extra he ever had. Unfortunately, he came around too late. Now Julie’s moving on…
She was everything he’d dreamed of
The woman was driving him crazy. She lit fire to his insides then ran like a scalded cat. And now she’s going to someone else to have all her fantasies fulfilled? Over his dead body… He’s more than willing to give her what she wants, and as soon as he pins the little minx down, he’d show her his own brand of sweet seduction.
EXCERPT from SWEET SEDUCTION by MAYA BANKS
Nathan roared up into the parking lot of Malone and Sons Security and cut the engine. With an irritated yank of his keys, he got out and slammed his door.
He strode to the door, glowering the entire way. That damn hellcat Julie. After giving him a blow job that rivaled Mt. Vesuvius, she’d had the nerve to blow him off.
What the fuck point was she trying to prove? If she wanted his attention, she’d certainly gotten it in a big way. After weeks and weeks of endless sexual frustration, his prayers had been answered. Julie’s mouth around his cock, her hands on his body, a vixen bent on seduction.
Yeah, well then she’d turned into a friggin’ iceberg. Not only had she fired his ass—could a customer be fired?—but he’d seen neither hide nor hair of her in a week. A week! When before he couldn’t damn well turn around without her being in his face, now she’d disappeared off the face of the earth.
He’d gone into her salon, determined that she, and nobody else, was going to give him a massage. Only this time he was going to have her down on the table under his mouth and hands. Imagine his surprise when a woman he’d never seen before introduced herself as Julie’s new massage therapist.
Oh, hell no.
He’d turned around and walked out, ready to strangle Julie. Right after he fucked her brains out.
He swung open the door to the building and stalked in, making a beeline for Faith’s office. He almost ran into Micah Hudson in the hallway. Micah started to say something but took a look at Nathan’s face and held his hands up.
Micah backed away, an amused grin on his face. “I’ll catch you later, dude. After you’ve worked the knot out of your panties.”
“Fuck you,” Nathan muttered as he shoved past him.
Faith looked up as Nathan walked in to her office, her eyebrows going up. Usually he was a lot more even tempered, especially with Faith. He loved the girl to death, but today his patience was hanging by a thread.
He put his hands down on Faith’s desk and leaned over to stare her in the eye. “Where. Is. She.”
Faith blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Julie,” he growled. “Where the hell is she hiding?”
A burst of amusement flared in Faith’s eyes, which only served to piss Nathan off more.
“I swear to you, Faith, if you don’t tell me where she is, I’m going to strangle that pretty neck of yours.”
If he thought that threat was going to get him anywhere he was sadly mistaken. Faith laughed in his face.
“She finally get to you, Nathan?”
He closed his eyes and was tempted to beat his head on the desk. God save him from impossible women. When he reopened his eyes, he found Faith staring at him, a glint of steel in her expression.
“Come on, Faith,” he wheedled. “You’re supposed to be my friend.”
“What you are is a dumbass.”
His mouth fell open. What the hell happened to sweet, generous Faith who made them all coffee and mothered them incessantly?
She stood and placed her own hands on the desk and leaned forward, her lips twisted in a snarl. “You ignore her for weeks, act like she doesn’t even exist and then when you decide to take notice, you’re pissed because she’s not running when you snap your fingers?”
“Not that I don’t love watching you get your ass kicked by a girl, but Pop wants you on the phone,” Micah called from the door. Laughter was heavy in his voice.
“Get out!” he and Faith said at the same time.
Micah threw up his hands. “Okay, okay. Just don’t call me to clean up the mess later.” He backed out of the office at high speed.
Nathan turned back to Faith. “What do you mean I’ve ignored her for weeks? Do you know how impossible it is to ignore that woman? I’d have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to notice.”
It was Faith’s turn for her mouth to gape open. Then to his utter shock, she reached across and smacked him upside the head.
He yanked back, staring at her in shock. “What the hell was that for?”
“Dumbass. Complete and utter moron. If all men were as stupid as you, the world would have a population crisis.”
“You can quit with the insults any time.”
“Don’t stop now. It’s just getting interesting,” Connor Malone said from the door.
“Out!” Faith screeched at her brother.
Nathan didn’t say anything, but he pinned Connor with a glare. Connor’s shoulders shook with laughter, but he turned and sauntered back out.
“Office is a damn revolving door today,” Nathan muttered.
“It’s a revolving door every day,” Faith said pointedly. “You just never get the hint. Just like you’re too thick to figure out that you could have had Julie at any time. You’ve lost your chance, and moreover, you don’t deserve her.”
Heat simmered in Nathan’s veins. Lost his chance, my ass. Just because women had to be so fucking complicated didn’t mean that he was the dumbass for not figuring out the mystic woman’s code for I want you. There wasn’t a man in the world who knew how the fuck women thought, and if he said he did, he was a goddamn liar.
“So, you’re on her side,” Nathan huffed.
She rolled her eyes. “Men are such babies.”
“Would you quit with the name-calling? Jesus, Faith, what’s crawled up your ass?”
“Why are you here, Nathan?” she asked impatiently.
He gaped at her. His blood pressure was going through the roof. He’d be lucky if he didn’t stroke out in her office. He reached for his hair but then remembered he didn’t have any.
“Why the hell do you think I’m here?” he roared.
She looked unfazed by the fact he was losing his mind.
“I’m here because that hellcat seduced me and then ran the fuck away. She’s avoiding me, and when I went in for my massage, another fucking woman showed up to give me one. And you think I’m a chickenshit?”
“No, you’re a dumbass,” she pointed out in a bored tone.
He threw up his hands and slumped down in the chair behind him. “Okay, Faith, I’m a dumbass. Now tell me why I’m such a dumbass, because obviously I’m too much of a dumbass to see!”
She sat down in her chair with a smirk. “Nice sarcasm, Nathan. And I thought that was Micah’s job.”
“I heard that,” Micah called from the hall.
“Not to mention eavesdropping,” Nathan growled. “Micah, I’m going to kick your fucking ass if you don’t get the hell away from Faith’s door.”
He got up and stalked over to look down the hall. To his supreme irritation, Micah stood there with Connor and Gray Montgomery and they all wore shit-eating grins that told him they’d overheard every word of his argument with Faith.
“Assholes. The lot of you,” Nathan swore.
“You raise your voice to Faith again and I’ll kick your ass,” Gray said mildly.
“Oh, like I’d do anything to her even if I’m tempted to strangle her,” Nathan said in irritation. “She’s being a royal pain in my ass.”
“I heard that,” Faith called.
Nathan threw up his hands. “Get lost, okay guys? If I wanted the greater Houston area to know what I was talking about, I’d take out an ad.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Connor said thoughtfully. “We could rent a billboard. I’m sorry, Julie. I’m a blind, deaf and a dumb moron who doesn’t know what to do with his dick,” he mimicked.
Nathan sucked in a deep breath, walked back into Faith’s office and slammed the door as hard as he could.
“You break my door and you’re going to fix it,” Faith said.
“Faith, look at me,” Nathan said as he walked back to her desk. He leaned over until their faces were a few inches apart. “Cut the crap for a minute and help me, okay?”
Her expression softened. “I can’t help you, Nathan. You fucked this up. I’d tell you to fix it but it’s really too late. Julie . . . she’s hard. Girl holds a grudge forever. She’s decided to give up on you and move on. Once she’s decided on something, getting her to change her mind is like getting a pit bull to give up a prime steak.”
“So her giving me the best blow job of my life during a massage was her kissing me good-bye?” Nathan asked dryly.
Faith’s cheeks turned pink, and he felt bad for speaking so bluntly in front of her.
“Sorry,” he mumbled.
Faith sighed. “I think that was supposed to be showing you what you’re missing out on and what you’ve given up by not noticing her before.”
Nathan’s eyes narrowed. “So you knew what she was going to do?”
Faith raised one eyebrow. “I knew she was planning something. Just not what exactly.”
“Vengeful heifer,” Nathan muttered.
Faith grinned. “That she is.”
“Well screw that,” Nathan said as he shoved away from her desk again. “She can’t just take those kinds of liberties with my body and walk away.”
Faith burst out laughing. She laughed so hard that tears rolled down her cheeks. “You sound like an outraged maiden,” she gasped.
He grinned. “Who says I’m not? I was innocent before she corrupted me. If she thinks she can use me and then discard me, she’s mistaken.”
Faith wiped at her tears and laughed harder. “Innocent, my ass. Dear Lord, I was feeling sorry for you but now I think my sympathies have shifted to Julie. I’m not entirely sure she realizes what she’s gotten herself into.”
“No,” Nathan said silkily. “She has no clue what she’s started. But she will. Very soon.”
I’ll choose a comment at random for this ARC – tomorrow afternoon! Good luck.
