Vixenwriter

I just finished Fated last night so I can now take a quick breath, talk about some books and then dive right back into my part of the proposal for No Reservations - my next book with Megan Hart.

Let’s see…

Click the cover to read an excerpt and to buy!
Candice Gilmer’s Unholy Night releases on May 5!

Blurb: Can love be found on the unholiest night of the year?

There are some things Marissa Van Dyke won’t do — celebrate Halloween is one of them. When she’s guilted into attending a Halloween party, a flamboyant woman dressed as a gypsy claims Marissa will be saved three times before she’s finally free.

Foolish Halloween games, according to Marissa. Her life is fine; not perfect, but good enough, and nothing could save her anyway.

All she wants is to leave the party until a man named Neil Drigan materializes at her side, making her forget everything but his hauntingly familiar green eyes. His animal magnetism is a dangerous temptation on a night she’s always reserved for mourning.

Can there be salvation under his powerful presence — even on such an unholy night?

It’s sexy, sad, emo - all good things!

Also! A fabulous print anthology is now available!

Magical Seduction featuring three of my favorite authors - Anya Bast, Mandy Roth and Cathryn Fox!

Blurb:
Witches, werewolves, things that bump in the night…And three arousing tales of sexual delight.

CATHRYN FOX- Web of Desire
Good witch Ally gets naughty when she discovers her long-lost high school sweetheart caught — literally — in a web of lust and seduction.

MANDY M. ROTH -Solo Tu
When Francy shows up after five years of separation to tell her beloved Dante, a werewolf, that she’s engaged to a vampire, he seduces her with a steamy surprise of his own.

ANYA BAST -Tempted by Two
Not only did Miranda just learn that she’s a half-blood fae, but she’s also got two — two! — deliciously muscular mates. She’d better adjust to all the sexy attention before a vengeful goblin tries to get in on the threesome….

I’m nearly done with Dancing with Werewolves so I’ll hopefully be able to post a brief review next week.

Last Wolf Hunting - I have a teeny bit left to go! I’ve been sneaking peeks around writing but now I can devote more time to it. I will say - so far it’s FABULOUS!

Dirty Girls - anthology with Saskia Walker and Rachel Kramer-Bussell - some of the stories are incredibly well written - I’m going to post on this one later in the week when I talk about what strikes me as good, short erotica and why.

Anyway, my husband has been gone on business all week and he comes home today! Wheee! Off to do laundry and stuff. Have a great weekend!

You can read for yourself in the excerpt below but Hotter After Midnight is a really good book. Cynthia Eden takes all my favorite things about the paranormal genre and gives them an interesting and unique twist. It’s sexy - like hella, grab you from the first time Colin and Emily lay eyes on each other sexy.

Emily is smart and not in a contrived sense. She’s very human even though she’s a little more than human with her gift. She’s tortured in her own way, weighed down by the secrets she keeps. Eden does a great job with her inner dialog, not going overboard with it but lending a sense of intimacy well matched to Emily’s character.

Colin is well, guh, whoo, guh, hot. Dark. Tortured. He’s got a secret. He’s very very alpha but not crossing the line into jerk.

The mystery element is well crafted, creepy without going over doing it. There are some truly suspenseful moments through the story and I thought it was weaved into the overall romance storyline well. LOVED the worldbuilding.

Hotter After Midnight drew me in from the very first scene. I’d just meant to peek at it but I ended up gobbling the whole thing down in one big read because I just couldn’t put it down. Cynthia Eden has a damned bright future ahead of her - grab Hotter Than Midnight - you won’t be sorry!

And now to the contest! The book comes out officially on the 29th so between today and 9 pm eastern on the 28th I’ll run a contest. Just comment here on your favorite paranormal romance book or author or heck, even your favorite kind of creature and you’ll be entered. I’ll choose a winner at random on the 28th and send the book via Amazon prime right then. Good luck!!

I meant to do this last week but I’ve been insane with deadlines and then this plague flu so I didn’t get to it. I’ve got quite a few books to comment on though so hold on!

Rhyannon Byrd’s Last Wolf Standing - It’s in books like this in the hands of a fabulous author like Byrd where category can really shine. It takes major skill to write a category paranormal novel because your ability to worldbuild and draw rich characters is reined in by the length. Category novels get a bad rap but it’s hard to do it well.

Luckily for us, Byrd does it not only well but she truly shines in Last Wolf Standing. The story is sexy and fun and the world she’s building is fabulous and interesting.

This is a one true mate story done the way it should be! Mason is a protector, a half-breed wolf/human and he’s a warrior with some pretty deep scars. Torrance is a longer with her own scars but I liked her a lot. I thought her reactions to the various situations were believable - she ran when hello, anyone with sense would have, but she stayed when it made sense as well. She didn’t wait to be saved by the males but at the same time realized they were the ones best trained to fight off the big bad.

I don’t have to tell anyone who’s read Rhyannon Byrd before but the love scenes were really smoking hot and well done for the level of sensuality appropriate for Nocturne.

I’m so on board for the next book, and pretty much anything else Rhyannon Byrd writes, LOL.

Maya Banks’ Sweet Surrender - I read a lot of Heat titles because I like the length for authors to write an actual novel with erotic flavor. Romantic Suspense is really one of my favorite genres so I’m always glad to read them, especially when authors I like write them!! (Jaci Burton, hello!)

Anyway so here’s the lovely Ms. Maya Banks’ second Heat offering - Sweet Surrender featuring cop Gray Montgomery and office manager Faith Malone and Faith has a messed up mom looking for help because of her latest loser boyfriend. Only that boyfriend is the man who most likely murdered Gray’s partner back in Dallas.

Gray’s guilt wars with his attraction to and desire for Faith in a believable way (sadly, this is not always done well!) It’s drawn out sensibly. He’s not a monster, he loved his partner and Faith is pretty much a stranger to him. But because he’s not a monster he begins to see Faith for the innocent she is fairly quickly and he’s a cop - not a man who is prone to harming people who are victims just as much as his partner was.

The D/s is handled with a unique take and one that addresses the emotion as well as the physical aspects. This is not all spanking and handcuffs which is refreshing!

I need to pester her to find out when we get the stories for Faith’s brother and co-workers!

JD Robb’s Strangers In Death - I’m never going to miss a new Robb! The procedural in this one outweighed the personal stuff, which provides a nice flip and a bit of a breather I think. Interesting storyline, the suspect is such a piece of work. More stuff with charles and louise who we haven’t seen in a while and I loved it!

It was a good, solid book, not as emotionally wrenching as the last few have been but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In a series this long, you have to switch things up or it gets old.

One thing - I totally have to say I still don’t think Roarke has done enough to make up for his behavior with Madgalena. I really don’t and when Eve brings it up and says she doesn’t blame him, I still do. He did not take Eve’s side, that’s worse for Eve than having sex with someone else. I really wanted to see him on his knees, totally understanding the depth of the harm he did but I haven’t so it makes me hold back a bit with him and I just love him so much as a character it kills me!

Kim Harrison’s The Outlaw Demon Wails - A few years ago I picked up a paper back book with a great cover and a funky blurb and I’ve devoured eveything Kim Harrison has written since.

Given the deeply emotional crash at the end of the last book, I was wondering how Harrison would write Rachel in this book. I think, with Outlaw, Harrison has written what seems “a day in the life” of Rachel Morgan but Rachel really bleeds. She’s trying to overcome her grief at the loss of Kisten and figure out how to move on. She’s dealing with her true heritage and the rusurfacing of her mother’s place in her life. There’s always Ivy and their relationship to deal with and also, the real fact of the short lifespan of pixies.

In the midst of a whole lot of grief, loss and potential for more loss, Al comes back and Rachel has to deal with demons again. Oh and a new vamp has come to town now that Piscary is gone and of course he’s got his incisors and his eye on Rachel.

Nice twists and turns, a trip to the ever after (which opened a whole new OH MY GOD storyline), more Trent (and who doesn’t love his evil butt), ups and downs with Ivy, a new possible love interest handled well given Rachel’s recent loss.

I loved it and I can’t wait to see what’s next for Rachel Morgan.

As many regular readers know, Anya Bast is a dear friend. She’s like one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. She rarely says a mean thing about anyone or anything (I know, it boggles as to why she likes me too). She’s also a really fabulous writer who’s taught me many things about craft in the years I’ve read and then knew her.

On March 4, Witch Blood, book two in her Elemental Witches series officially releases although it’s apparently shipping from Barnes and Noble and has been spotted on shelves already.

In this installment, we get Thomas, who we meet in Witch Blood. Thomas is a man wearing the very heavy mantle of leadership of his Coven in some dangerous times. He’s strong, an earth witch to Isabelle’s water witch powers. She’s chaos and emotion and he’s quiet intensity but no less emotional, he’s just more contained.

I loved this book. I loved it from the first paragraph until the very end. The action part of the story is strong, interesting and really well told. Anya’s strength at drawing you into the world she’s writing really shines here. You care about the Coven and her witches, you care about the people, you can see the rooms right down to the wood grain in the floors and you can feel the silk of Thomas’ hair as he lets it down for Isabelle.

Isabelle is a woman filled with conflicts and guilt, she needs revenge for her sister. But she’s not wild and stupid, she’s impassioned and needs to make things right for this woman who accepted her, warts and all. I loved that about Isabelle actually. I loved that we know she’s hard and rootless but her anchor in life was her sister who’s now gone. That element was very emotional for me and I think Anya nailed it and has really shown Isabelle rather than told us about her.

The romance is strong and sexy. The love scenes are, whew, hot, guh! And totally elemental to the story. The way Thomas falls for Isabelle is startling and well written and Isabelle’s reluctance is not one of those romance novel moments when you wrinkle your nose and tell the heroine she’s a twit.

Little unique details like where and how Thomas’ power is stored really made the book extra special. I cannot wait for the next book! Anya Bast has scored yet another hit with her Elemental Witches.

The basics: A water witch, Isabelle Novak has always led a chaotic, nomadic existence. But her life spins out of control when her sister—her only friend and emotional anchor—is killed by a demon. Driven by grief and a desire for revenge, she turns her back on the Coven and the rede they hold sacred: Harm thee none…

When Isabelle first encounters Thomas Monahan, she’s running on pure rage and sorrow, channeling her pain into power—and trying to freeze the life out of a warlock she holds responsible for her sister’s death. Together, they form an uneasy alliance to hunt and destroy a demon of tremendous power. As head of the Coven, earth witch Thomas must thwart Isabelle’s dark impulses, but his very presence stirs deeper desires she never knew she had…

Okay so, because I loved this book so much - how about a contest? I’ll send the winner a copy of Witch Blood straight from Amazon.com upon winning. All you need to do is comment here and I’ll pick a winner at random on Saturday, March 1 at noon pacific. So g’wan and enter!

I was going to do both Riding Wild and Wicked on Friday but really, each book deserves its own day, I think and as I’m a reader as much as an author, I love, love, love it when I can share great books.

And make no mistake, Jaci Burton’s Riding Wild is a great book. First of all, it’s a really fantastic, action packed, well plotted suspense book. Secondly, it’s a great romance - reunion stories, wheee! Lastly, guh, just guh to the fabulous sex in the book. I think Jaci Burton’s Riding Wild is my favorite Jaci Burton title, which says a lot since I love her writing.

The tension between Mac and Lily is already in place due to a parting ten years prior. But Burton doesn’t rely on the past to tell you about it, she feeds it to the reader in incremental bits, drawing it out, making it taut and very believable. Romantic and sexual tension is hard to create effectively and really hard to sustain. But in Riding Wild, she does it quite handily.

It’s that thread of emotional heat between Lily and Mac that I felt threads the entire book together so solidly. The sex is wildly hot of course, but the sexual tension is what makes the entire book so sexy. The external threat, the way Burton has crafted a great tale of suspense and weaved it around the romantic elements - this is the books’ strength.

I loved the little bits that make the story ring true - the wonderful smattering of biker life just made me smile. Oh and *wipes brow* the other Wild Riders she introduces? Yum. I loved their camaderie, it lent a nice bit of family to the story.

In all, honestly, I think Jaci has seriously outdone herself here and has set a really high bar for erotic romantic suspense, hell for single title erotics period.

You can pre-order Riding Wild now. It comes out in February and hello, it’s the first in a series so I’m SO on board for the next book.

Sexy Devil is a book containing two of Sasha White’s novellas - The first - The Devil Inside which was previously pubbed in ebook form at Samhain and the second, Devil’s Jewel which is a sequel.

One thing I love about Sasha’s writing is her voice. Doesn’t matter what it is, her voice is always clear in her books. It’s a young voice, smart, sharp, insightful. Her characters are real people with flaws and as usual, in The Devil Inside and Devil’s Jewel, really likeable. The sex, without a question, is hot and well written although you’ll find more in TDI than in DJ, they’re both erotic and sensual stories.

I do love an opposites attract story with a fun loving and carefree heroine, it’s a nice change from the usual where it’s the man who’s all wild and the woman more uptight. It’s done well here. Caleb is hot because he’s solid, grounded and yet, he’s the kind of guy who, once you scratch a few layers down, is wilder than you thought. I like that and Gina likes that too. I like that the misunderstanding wasn’t spun out into something silly either.

All in all, TDI is a hot story with a sweet edge. And as usual, Sasha does a great job with well drawn characters and hot chemistry.

Devil’s Jewel brings back Angelo (yum), Gina’s brother from TDI and he’s on the hunt. And he meets Jewel, a gypsy who’s also looking for her sister who’s been kidnapped.

Right from their first meeting (hot dangerous action), there’s great chemistry between the two. The paranormal aspects of the story are interesting and dark.

I loved how Devil’s Jewel is more like a continuation of TDI than a separate story. You get a lot of Gina and Caleb, which I really loved as well as getting to know Angelo (Devil) and Jewel. As such, the phyiscal relationship between Jewel and Angelo goes slower although they have lots of heat between them. I liked that, I liked that it wasn’t a two minutes after meeting they were having sex thing but the story was still sexy. It takes an artful hand and White does it. When they finally do have sex the tension has really made you work for it and believe it.

The paranormal parts of the story, as I said above, were well done and drawn nicely. I really liked that part.

Taken together, the whole package of Sexy Devil is very satisfying, very hot and a whole lot of fun.

First a shout out to Frauke at Croco Designs who has (as usual) gone above and beyond the call of duty to not only create a fabulous splash page for my Vegas anthology but who’s spent a huge amount of her time in moving my website from my old host to her fabulous new digs at Janus Portal. She’s a fabulous designer and I adore her work and her as a person!

Also, the fabulous Dreamforge Media is designing a new blog template for the Maverick Authors! I can’t wait to unveil it. All kinds of exciting stuff going on!

Also, yesterday, the new RT came in the mail. I already knew I’d gotten a fabulous review for Ascension but EC had a backpage ad with one of the anthologies I’m in - Feral Fascination as well as in the Spring books preview, the Vegas anthology got a mention! It was quite lovely to see. Also, some friends got some great reviews, which is also nice to see.

Cooking on Battlefront - and I made a Battlefront book page here so you can read the loose blurb for it and get an idea of what the book is about. I’m just shy of 50K now, over halfway finished with the book and now that I’m getting ready to transition, I’m feeling better about pacing. The middle of a book is always the hardest for me to write!

Tonight is Battlestar Galactica Razor with my dude! It’s a movie that gives you the story of what happened on the Pegasus when the Cylons attacked up until the start of this upcoming season. Yes, yes I am a sci fi freak and I’m proud of it! This movie is on my calendar I so love the series, LOL. Plus, it’s good date night fodder with my husband.

Monday I’ll work on Standoff, it’ll have been a week since I finished so it had some time to digest.

Um, that’s really about it. I’m going to gorge on Gordon Ramsay today on the BBC. I love him so much.

Cascadia Wolves: Standoff

26,000 / 70,000 (37.1%)

Wheee! 3K words yesterday and I’m really happy with what I did. I’ve cut most surfing on the web and where I used to not be able to write during the day, I’ve found lately I can work in at least a grand during the day around the wee monster’s schedule. THis is a new development but it enabled me to actually go to bed before midnight last night. Yay Sven! This challenge is helping me to flex my writerly muscles in using my time more wisely.

The bulk of yesterday was a funny but integral fight between Grace and Nina where they finally got each other. I love Nina, she wasn’t very nice the first part of the book so I had to sort of redeem her. And Grace isn’t as bold a character as Nina so the scene had to be done carefully but I do admit, I laughed out loud several times because Grace doesn’t let her bitch flag fly very often but she did with Nina. Anyway, it’s done and it works - I hope, LOL! And now on to labs and sexin and Councils of War, etc.

Got my edits on Wolf Unbound, which sort of works nicely as the two books are so closely tied in to the other.

Signing later today.

Got a very lovely recommended read from FAR for Fire and Rain! Yay and thank you, Contessa.

It’s freaking cold here but no frost this morning. Yay!

Gotta go and grab coffee. I’m in dire need.

I realize I forgot to do this last week!

Let’s see - last night I started and finished Laurell K Hamilton’s A Lick of Frost and loved it. Seriously loved it. Now, I like LKH and I find the bashing bandwagon tedious and frankly if I don’t like an author I just don’t read her anymore but moving along - this book was well done. I won’t disagree with criticism that the sex in the last few years in her books hasn’t been used to move the plot anywhere and it’s often been with people you don’t care about. But in Frost, it was perfectly done and there for a reason. The plot was really interesting and with the exception of a slightly dodgy bit of manipulation of mythology at the end (which I’m not even frowning over really, I understand why she did it), I think this book is one of the best in the series. I wish it had been about a hundred pages longer but I’ve noticed a lot of hardback books in shorter lengths these days.

Anne Stuart - Shadows on Sunset - okay we’ve established how much I love Anne Stuart but I really loved this one. It’s right up there at the top of my AS faves I think. I loved the paranormal parts, loved the totally tragic storyline, loved the hero and I didn’t hate the heroine. Although, I have to say at the end, the hero didn’t suffer enough! Still, fabulous pacing, great sexual tension, just a great, great story.

While on vacation I read:

Eve Kenin - Driven -Each new Shomi novel I read convinces me more and more that this new line is one of the best things to happen to romance in a very long time.

Raina is a strong woman, smart, driven and on the run from a diabolical mand who threatens her very existence. She’s thrown into a situation where she ends up taking on a mysterious and sexy stranger who challenges her control.

Wizard is sexy and strong and utterly not what he seems and Kenin (Eve Silver) draws out his story with a fine hand. As well as she does the emotion between these two characters.

I’m not always a fan of the big reveal of original intent where the heroine finds something out, feels betrayed, runs off and the hero saves her sort of thing - but again, in the right hands, it works like it does here.

Nail biting action, a very well developed world and great characters make Driven an absolute must read.

Elizabeth Hoyt - The Raven Prince - In Anna Wren, we get a marvelously non-cliched heroine. A widow with some wounds but a backbone and a sense of humor.

In Edward - we get another non cliched hero - pockmarked with smallpox scars, he’s broody and has his own wounds.

The sexual tension between Anna and Edward is fabulous and builds in a careful and believable way and while I usually don’t go for the faked courtesan thing, it is a storyline I LOVE when it’s done right - and here it was a means to an end and done very well indeed.

Clever dialog, great characters - a really wonderful book.

Charlaine Harris - All Together Dead - I’ve been waiting for this one for a while now but haven’t had time to read it until last week. My verdict is a thumbs up

ATD is much more focused on the mystery elements of the story than any romance between Sookie and her men - which disappointed me but I think the rest of the story was written well enough I can wait for the next chapter.

We get more about Sookie, about her past, about her brother and the other people in her life and an unanswered query about why Sookie continues to involve herself with the supernaturals who obviously threaten her life and safety.

I’d really love to see more with Eric and to figure out what is going on with Quinn as well, but Harris ties up this story quite well, even as she asks more questions.

There are more but I need to finish getting ready for the Emerald City Con!

Since I was in Ohio on Friday, I didn’t do my usual Friday Booktalk reviews! What better day then, to post this one than today, the release of Anya Bast’s marvelously sexy and inventive Witch Fire!

Disclaimer: I know Anya Bast and we’ve been friends for several years. In addition to being one of the kindest, sweetest people I know, she’s also an amazing writer. I’m even fortunate enough to be her crit partner so I got to watch Witch Fire grow and polish into what I believe is an excellent book.

In Witch Fire, Bast gives us the first in what I hope to be a many book series in which witches (say that three times fast) are governed by The Coven but there are rogue witches out there who remain a threat to all the Coven witches hold sacred.

She also gives us Jack McAllister - a fire witch and one of The Coven’s men sent to find Mira Hoskins, an air witch who has no real idea of her power because she’s grown up outside The Coven. She’s under threat now from the Duskoff - the rogue witches who want to take her so they can drain her power - the same way they did her parents.

Bast gives readers two very complex characters in Jack and Mira. They’re instantly drawn to one another but Jack has a secret he’s convinced will drive Mira away should she find out and Mira can’t understand why Jack wants to push her away when they have something so good between them. It’s paced quite skillfully and the tension is delicious as is the sexual and romantic tension between these two. The ending between them is a happy one of course, this is a romance, but Bast makes them both work for it. It’s a believable twist that makes Witch Fire stand out in yet another way.

I love Jack, he’s a really sexy man, smart, strong, courageous and yet, he’s got a blind spot about his past.

Mira is such a wonderful romance heroine! My favorite kind - real, flawed, she’s got her insecurities but she’s strong too. A survivor. Mira doesn’t go into the basement alone when there’s a serial killer about but she faces a heck of a lot of scary stuff but never gives up.

The worldbuilding is wonderfully inventive and original. Bast has created witches and magick with believable rules and boundaries. The action and mystery elements are well drawn and interesting and the secondary characters are really fabulous - especially Thomas (who gets his story in Bast’s next book, Witch Blood) and the delicious villian Stefan.

Anya’s Winter Pleasures was the first EC book I ever bought and I’ve loved her ever since. She has continued to grow and improve, giving her readers new worlds and characters to lose themselves in. In Witch Fire, her talent shines and I can heartily recommend it!