The Winners are:

The winner of a signed copy of Jenn Benn’s Summoning the Demon is: Kylie
The winner of winner’s choice of HelenKay Dimon’s newest release WHEN SHE WASN’T LOOKING, or a book from her backlist is: Fedora
The winner of a digital copy of Alison Kent’s The Sweetest Taboo is: Na S.
The winner of a digital ARC of CHAOS BURNING is: Chris (@absolutely adequate)
The winner of a copy of Making Chase (digital or paper, winner’s choice) is: Viki S.

Congrats, all!

To this day I’ve enjoyed every single installment in the In Death series, which says a lot given how many books there are in the series and that the series is about the same couple. I’ve loved watching Eve and Roarke grow to love and trust each other. And the growth of the supporting cast of characters. It’s really one of the best long running series I can think of. (and it was this series that encouraged me to try her Nora books as well)

In a world of danger and deception, she walks the line–between seductive passion and scandalous murder…

Eve Dallas is a New York police lieutenant hunting for a ruthless killer. In over ten years on the force, she’s seen it all–and knows her survival depends on her instincts. And she’s going against every warning telling her not to get involved with Roarke, an Irish billionaire–and a suspect in Eve’s murder investigation. But passion and seduction have rules of their own, and it’s up to Eve to take a chance in the arms of a man she knows nothing about–except the addictive hunger of needing his touch.

This blurb really doesn’t begin to give you an idea of how broken Eve is, or of her power and strength. I think it’s through Roarke and the other characters that you truly get to know Eve and respect her. She’s not easy all the time, she’s defensive and prickly and misunderstood.

I love, love, love this book. I’ve read and re-read this book countless times so I figured I’d make it a Favorites Wednesday giveaway to give a lucky winner their chance to fall in love with Eve Dallas too.

Winner chosen from the comments to this post and announced in next Monday’s Winners Post.

Bound By Magick: CHAOS BURNING by LAUREN DANE
Copyright 2012, Lauren Dane
All Rights Reserved, The Berkley Publishing Group
Releasing in mass market paper and digital formats June 5

Someone bumped into her, jostling her from her thoughts. He turned, his teeth sharp, bared in a snarl.

Not a human.

Automatically, she drew her personal shields up and balanced her stance, ready to defend.

“Watch where you’re walking.”

“Watch who you try to glamour, Faerie.”

He narrowed his gaze. “What’s it to you, witch?”

She rolled her eyes. “Really? Was your mom okay with you doing that to your teeth? ’Cause, ew.”

He jerked back as if she slapped him and it made her laugh. “Go on then. Scare someone else before I pop you one square in the face.”

“You and what army?” He leaned in closer and gave her a growl. A pretty scary one all things considered.

So she popped him one, square in the face, and he stumbled back.

Lark shrugged. “Guess I didn’t need an army. Just a solid right hook.”

He spit and straightened. “Who are you, then, witch?”

As if she was an amateur.

“No one you need to worry about as long as you leave me and mine alone.”

He looked her up and down. “You have enough trouble; I don’t need to be part of that.”

“Wanna tell me about it? I’ll buy you a coffee to make up for breaking your nose.”

Which is how she ended up sitting at a sidewalk café with a Faerie who had demon blood.

“So what’s your story then?” she asked before taking a sip of her latte.

“Shouldn’t drink caffeine so late at night. Keep you awake.”

She snorted. “This is midday for me. I’m a night owl. So back to you, Dr. Demon.”

When he looked back her way his teeth weren’t filed. He looked like an ordinary, well, close-to-ordinary guy. “Story?”

“Tell me about the trouble you referenced while your nose was dripping blood. Remember?”

“Only because you’d probably punch me again if I didn’t.”

“Don’t pretend you wouldn’t like it if I did.”

“You’re a saucy one, aren’t you? My name is Calder. You are?”

“Lark.”

He looked up, startled, and laughed. “Lark? Like the bird?”

“My mom loves birds. What can I say? So Calder, what’s the story? Come on, I bought you coffee and everything.”

“You broke my nose.”

“Still crying over that? Sheesh. If you don’t want to get popped, don’t scare a girl when she’s out for a walk. Anyway, you’re not from around here so let’s not pretend you were out looking for kittens trapped in trees to save.”

He snorted. “You look like you spend a great deal of time in a library and could talk about Star Trek episodes in an encyclopedic manner. But you’re not like that at all.”

“I am though. After we talk business I’d be happy to chitchat about Star Trek with you. Also, I should hasten to add that time spent in libraries means I’ve got a lovely vocabulary. You should try it.”

Today’s prize is a copy of HEART OF DARKNESS! A winner will be chosen from the comments to this post and announced in next Monday’s Winners Post.

Calvin Whaley was simply beautiful. At six feet and change, he was already imposing, but the broad shoulders stretched under olive toned skin, taut with just the right amount of muscle. A narrow waist, a high, tight ass and long, powerful legs. Add the black hair, cut flawlessly and therefore framing his face to highlight his gorgeous features, and the blue eyes and you didn’t even need the fact that he had an incredible sense of style so the package was always attractively dressed in clothes that fit him perfectly.

Breathless as she rolled out the dough, she couldn’t take hear gaze from him.

He kissed her on his way past. His gaze moved around the room as he took in the pies cooling on racks. His mouth curved upward a bit. Over to the stove where she’d just placed the finished cobbler to cool. Over to Gideon and up his legs and to his face. Sexy half smile this time.

Jules gulped, not even able to brace herself for his attention and when his gaze lighted on her face, she licked her lips.

“No one looks at me the way you do.”

When I wrote him, I’d always have David Gandy in my head…

Today’s contest is for a digital ARC of SWAY (my story in the Cherished duology out in August) Winner will be chosen from comments to this post and announced in the winners’ announcement post on Monday May 21! What contemporary romances are you looking forward to this summer?

Thank you Alexandra!

JP asks: I’ve been dying to ask this since you revealed your inspirations for the characters in Captivated: who, if anyone, were your inspirations for Erin, Ben, and Todd? Maybe you’ve said and I missed it, but I recently re-read (and totally wallowed in!) Laid Bare, and I was thinking about it and wondering… Not really. Erin is a mixture of Ani Difranco, with some PJ Harvey and Shirley Manson thrown in. The guys are just Todd and Ben to me, I can’t really think of anyone who resembles either of them that closely.

Lea asks about the availability of my books in audio: I’d love to have more of my books out in audio but the rights aren’t mine to move forward with, my publishers have to do it so it’s out of my hands!

Christine asks: Will you be doing a book about the youngest de la Vega brother in the future?
I don’t want to be coy, but Chaos Burning has some pretty big stuff in it that will change their world in pretty major ways. So if I do his book, I have to work around those details :)

Since the latest books have been Phantom Corps will the next be a Federation book about either Alexander or Demios? The next books I’ll be proposing will be Federation Chronicles books- Wil’s first and then I’d love to do Deimos’ book as well.

Dee asks: Have you decided on how many books are going to be in the Brown spinoff: Yes, four total. Daisy’s book, which is SWAY in the CHERISHED duology out in August, then TART which is Jules’ book out in November, LUSH, which is Mary’s book out in April and lastly, Raven’s book due out in November of 2013.

Diane asks – Is there any other genre that you would try your hand at? and Jen B asked a similar question I’d love to write the horror novel idea I’ve been tinkering with for the last several years.

Marc asks – Even though you are booked out to October do you ever have characters that push to get out before you are ready/supposed to write them? I can’t image that your ideas come on demand so I am thinking sometimes you may have to deviate from the plan when a story just won’t sit on the back burner. Well sure. You always tend to want to move to the shiny new idea, especially when your current project is in some slow part or it’s really hard or you’re blocked. But to be honest, I don’t have the time to deviate from my schedule. I’ve got deadlines into March of next year at this point so I have to keep disciplined and not let myself give in to the shiny.

Oriela asks: Hi, I know a few months back on facebook you were asking readers which couple they would like to see in a bonus novella. I believe we voted for Abbie and Roman. I know you have a busy writing schedule but do you have an estimate on when this will be published?: I asked two times – for bonus material I asked which Chase/Petal couple people wanted to see and that will be out in September. As for the other time it went in a totally different direction and I created a new world for that duology I’m doing with Megan Hart. My story is called Land’s End. You’ll see some of Abbie and Roman along with their daughter Mera in Captivated though.

IP asks if I’m going to be doing any novella updates with Sera, Ash and Brandt like I’ve done with Ben, Todd and Erin: Right now I have books to write through March of next year. Later on this summer/early fall I’ll have to start thinking about options and all that jazz so I’ve got to balance all the stuff I *want* to do with time constraints (I’m trying to slow down by one book a year right now). So I’d like to revisit them, yes, but I just don’t know at this point if that’ll be happening any time soon.

Blanche asks – I LOVED your Cascadia Wolves Series and wonder if there might be anymore books in this series or maybe a spin off of this series?: At this point, I’m done with Cascadia though in the future I may revisit them with Dave and Akio’s HEAs. As for a spin off – de La Vega Cats (Trinity, Revelation and Beneath the Skin) is a spin off from Cascadia.

Lori T asks – How many books will be in the Petal, Georgia series: I don’t know! Right now Beth’s book is next up in March so once I start writing it I usually get ideas for the next book. I usually keep my series to 4 books or less though. I’m thinking about Anne coming up next but I haven’t really thought out a specific idea.

Marc asks – This may have already been asked but since I just finished Goddess with a Blade (which I loved) will there be more stories in that world with Rowen and Clive?: Yes, there will be. As I said above my writing schedule is booked through March of next year so it’s a project on my back burner until October of this year or so. But I do want to write it and take Rowan to the Keep and I’ve spoken with Angela James about it so it’s definitely going to happen, just probably not until late next year or early 2014.

Jessica asks – I love your covers so I was wondering, do you get any input on them?: I do send in cover notes – what my characters look like, any ideas I might have for settings, etc. Sometimes it’s nothing like what I ask for and I absolutely love it and other times it can be exactly what I asked for but I really hate it, LOL. Usually they’re willing to make fixes or changes if it’s possible though. Art people have a kind of creativity I don’t possess so I’m quite often totally surprised (in a positive way) by what I get sent.

Melissa asked if there would be any more books in the Cherchez series: I’m done with the Cherchez Pack stories at this point. I loved the world and I’m always so happy to hear when readers do to.

Angela asks – I was wondering if you have any plans to write about Dominic’s friends particularly Trey as he is a witch?: The end of the series is coming up so I don’t think I’ll be able to write Trey or any of Dom’s other friends into it given the way the story arc is going.

Chase Brothers: MAKING CHASE by LAUREN DANE
Copyright 2007, Lauren Dane
All Rights Reserved, Samhain Publishing

“Oh stuff it!” Cassie pushed her way past. “This has gone on long enough. Tate is worked into a frenzy in there and none of you are helping!”

“Of course you’d take his side.”

“This isn’t about sides! All of you get the hell out of here.” Tate thundered out onto the porch, anger sparking in her eyes. She looked at her siblings and then Matt. “All of you. I want to be alone and I don’t need or want anyone speaking for me, thinking for me or taking responsibility for me. How dare you all pack Matt’s things and make that choice for him and for me.”

Matt nodded. “They’re just trying to help, Venus. They love you.”

“And you! You don’t know a damned thing about it.” She pushed Anne gently but firmly out and slammed the door, locking it. “None of you has the right!” she yelled from the other side of the closed door and turned out the porch light.

They all began to argue until Shane’s cell phone rang. He answered, listened and started laughing as he snapped the phone shut.

“That was Tate Murphy, she’s called the Sheriff to file a noise complaint about a public nuisance in her front yard.”

Matt scrubbed hands over his face. This had all spun out of control so fast. He didn’t want to be arguing on her, their lawn, he wanted to be inside, holding his woman.

“Y’all go on home. I mean it. I’m going in there to work this out with Tate. If you love her like you say you do, you’ll know she loves me and I love her too. We’re gonna have arguments and she’s going to be hurt and I’m going to be hurt. That’s natural and normal and truly, no one deserves normal more than Tate. So go. Please. I’m sorry I’ve upset you all and we can all work this out later but Tate is in there alone right now.” Matt sighed as he looked at the front of the house.

“Please,” Cassie added. “Please guys. You know they’re good for each other. I know you’re hurting for her but you’re the ones who started packing all this up. It wasn’t her idea. She’d have done it herself if she’d wanted to. It’s just a fight. God, if you all only knew how many fights Shane and I had our first year together. Okay,” she grinned at Shane and he laughed, “still have. Tate is a strong woman and Matt’s easygoing but they will have disagreements. If you gang up on him every time it happens, they’ll never make anything work. Let them make up. If they don’t, you know where Matt works. If you can get to him before Polly does, you can kick his ass.”

Matt heaved a sigh of relief, ignoring the comment about his mother. Okay so his moving out hadn’t been Tate’s idea.

Her siblings moved and Matt nodded at them, reaching out and squeezing Cassie’s hand when he passed. He unlocked the door and opened it slowly. When nothing took his head off, he went inside and found her scrubbing the tile in the bathroom.

“Hey Venus. Whatcha doing?”

“Scrubbing the tile around the toilet.”

He leaned around. “Tate, is that my toothbrush?”

“Hmpf.”

Ouch. “Oookay. Well, luckily there’s a spare in the medicine cabinet then. Will you talk to me?”

“I already did.”

“Tate, not that I don’t like the view and all, your ass looks particularly lovely and I can see your breasts coming out the top of that shirt reflected in the shower door, but can we move this to the living room? Our bedroom? Someplace we can be face to face?”

“Matt, what are you doing here?” She turned and tossed the toothbrush, yep his, into the trash and took off the yellow rubber gloves, laying them under the sink.

“I live here. I told you I’d be back.” He held a hand out to help her up but she ignored it and stood, brushing her hands off on the front of her pants and left the bathroom.

He followed her into the living room where she took the chair so he sat on the table, leaning in and taking her hands in his.

“I’m sorry you had to deal with this insanity with your father alone for all these months. I can’t imagine how scared you must have been to keep it secret.”

“Okay.”

“Okay? That’s it? Your fucking family moves my shit out onto the porch and you scrub the toilet with my toothbrush after you hide something important from me for five months and all you give me is an okay?”

“Who’s got the fuck habit now, buster? Anyway, my family did that, I didn’t. And what’s more if you’d been here, they couldn’t have done it now, could they? And don’t you call them my fucking family, only I get to do that. I’m beginning to wish I’d fucking gotten in my car and headed to Atlanta for a few weeks like Liv did.”

“And Marc went insane with worry!”

“Yes, because it’s always about you people!”

“Back with that you people thing? Liv is from my side of town too!”

“Oh shut up! I mean you people with penises, not you rich people. God. Look, you asked me to tell you. I did. And then you ran off. You can’t expect me to just be all, hi honey, nice to see you, want a beer? when you come back. You’re the one who’s always all, I hate it when you try to run off and then you did.”

“You’re right. I was hurt and I needed to be away from here for an hour or so. God knows why I imagined hell wouldn’t break loose if I left.”

“You left, Matt. When things got bad you left. I may have been wrong for not telling you, and I’m sorry I hurt you, I am. But I’ve been trying really hard to make a go of this. Even with all the insanity, even knowing you don’t tell me everything to protect me, I stay and I try and today I trusted you enough to tell you and you threw it in my face and walked away.”

“I felt like a failure out there on our porch this afternoon. You hid this from me when you should have been able to come to me and let me protect you. It shouldn’t be the other way around.”

Her anger softened and her eyes searched his face. “You’re not a failure, Matt. My family is just too messed up. I’m messed up. You deserve more than that. Better.”

“I want you to stop that talk right now. There’s no breaking up here so quit it. I told you I’d be back. Okay, so I handled it wrong. I should have stayed and we could have talked it through without all the packing and yelling. But we’re together, Tate. We’ll work it out.”

She listened to him and took a deep breath. The tentative smile fell away and her eyes narrowed. “Why do you stink of booze? It’s hard to concentrate right now with you smelling like that. Bad memories I suppose but I’d really rather you not go out and tie one on when you’re pissed. I don’t mind drinking, I do mind coming back so bad off you smell like a brewery.”

He laughed and then tried to get serious again. “Sorry.” He put his hands up. “I’m not drunk. I had three sips of one pint of beer. Nathan threw the rest on me. Why don’t I go shower and change and we can continue this?”
The corner of her mouth slid up a bit. “Nathan threw a beer on you?”

“Yeah. I thought he was going to pop me one and I’d have had to pop him back and you’d have been really mad at me for giving your baby brother a black eye. Luckily, Shane interceded so no blows were thrown.”
“Hmpf. Go on.”

He wanted to go to her and give her a kiss but his clothes stuck to him and now that she’d pointed out the smell it began to make him feel slightly nauseated.

“I’m saving the snuggles and sugar for after I’m cleaned up. But I’ve been running a tab.”

When he finished showering he found she’d moved many of the boxes back into the house and was in their bedroom putting his clothes into drawers.

He approached her from behind wearing only a towel and put his arms around her.

“I could have done that.” He kissed the top of her head.

“It gave me something to do. Anyway, my family made the problem, I’ll undo it. They really didn’t get most of your clothes. I was in here so they didn’t touch what was in the closet and dresser. I think they took stuff out of the laundry. I’d done a load earlier today.”

He turned her and his chest constricted a moment as he looked at her face, the features he loved so much. He could have lost her over something silly. That was untenable.

“First things first. Tate, we’re going to fight sometimes you know. But unlike what Beth might think, I’m not your mother. I’m not going to abandon you. I shouldn’t have left. I’m sorry. My feelings were hurt and I was upset with myself too, I needed a bit of space but I should have handled it differently.”

He’d moved her back toward the bed and with a flex of his hips, bumped her onto the mattress.

“If I thought you were like my mother I’d have done more with your toothbrush than scrub the tile with it. I love you, Matt but I’m not a doormat. Even if I gave in to my father, I’m not someone you can walk all over. I won’t allow it.” She put her fingers over his lips as he loomed over her. “But that’s not what you did so calm down. I’m just saying that’s not what you did and that’s not who I am.”

Frustrated at being unable to pull her t-shirt off, he grabbed hold of the neck and ripped it down the middle. “That’s much better.” He kissed the exposed mound of each breast and her skin broke into gooseflesh.

“I’m sorry I hurt you with this whole thing about my father. I would never want to make you feel like a failure. You’re not. You’re my hero in so many ways. You do make me feel safe.” Her voice shook and got breathy as he traced along the edge of her bra cup with his tongue.

He kissed her, nipping her bottom lip quickly. He sighed, rolling off her long enough to rid himself of the towel and start yanking on her jeans.

“Venus, I love you. We’re together and we’ll learn more about each other as we go. You will stop giving that bastard money, do you hear me? I will pay the next month’s mortgage on this house. I’ve been here three months and you haven’t let me pay my share. We’ll work it out with your brothers and the school and with Shane to make sure the kids are safe.”

“It’s hard to concentrate when you’re naked and ordering me around.” She may have complained but she lifted her ass so he could pull her pants and panties off. She sat up, removed her bra and tossed the ripped t-shirt aside before pulling the blankets back.

“Tough. Now you’re naked too.”

Be Sure to Visit Today’s Other Snippeters!
Megan Hart:Read in bed!
Rhian Cahill
Eliza Gayle
Jody Wallace
Mandy M Roth
Lissa Matthews
Mari Carr
McKenna Jeffries
Myla Jackson
Taige Crenshaw
Delilah Devlin
HelenKay Dimon
Shiloh Walker>
TJ Michaels
Lauren Dane

Today’s prize is a copy of MAKING CHASE – Winner will be announced in the Monday Winners Post :)

I’m sort of in Housewife heaven right now because we’ve got Orange County and New Jersey running at the same time. I’d given up in New Jersey two seasons ago but someone coughDakota Cassidycough* convinced me to watch so we could snark it together and I am once again sucking on the crackpipe that is Real Housewives of New Jersey.

I do not pretend this is intelligent entertainment but I get enough of that and sometimes I just want to fall into something dramatic and silly so the Housewives totally fit the bill.

Let’s start with New Jersey – holy crap this season.

Oh Teresa, please stop! This woman with her hypocritical blinders drives me crazy. There are times I feel bad for her, her life is sort of falling apart after all. But she makes things worse for herself by acting the way she does and then reacting as if she’s such a perfect angel when she’s a total shit stirrer. But she also has this needy part to her, she wants to be seen as this awesome person when she’s trying to drive wedges between friends and family left and right. And her husband? Ugh. How about two episodes ago when he’s too busy pouring wine to check on his bleeding kid? Good thing his oldest daughter was there to deal with it. Oh and put the baby down when he was too busy…um drinking the wine to do it. Also, the dude is negative and full of shit on every front. He has nothing nice to say about anyone and he talks to his wife like she’s nothing. *hates* An apology goes like this – I’m sorry. Not I’m sorry you feel this way, or I’m sorry your husband told you when I accused you of being a gold digging whore. It’s also not I’m sorry so hey tabloid please pay me 5K to do a photo spread and pretend to be a victim with a phony apology.

But really, my absolute favorite are Kathy and Ritchie. Love them and their family. Great kids and a great attitude about parenting. She’s rational. She’s sane and she’s not always trying to start shit. In fact, it’s clear she often feels badly when her friends and family are feuding. Even when her cousin Teresa insults her and treats her like crap she remains a nice person. Which is probably why she’ll get less air time, but whatever, that’s Bravo (gosh, remember when they had actual arts programming? I miss those days). More Ro please! Kathy’s sister Rosie is awesome and I think Bravo should give her a show. I’d totally watch that!

Jacqueline is also a nice lady who needs to learn when to draw lines for real and say no and mean it. Her husband is also a sane one who treats her well and appears to be a good dad. I like that the show has some good examples when it seems flooded with people who insult their kids and act like total assholes on television. J is a good friend and man do I feel for her with all the drama with her oldest daughter.

Caroline. Well I like her more now than I did in earlier seasons, that’s for sure. However, I do wish she and her husband would school their sons on how they talk to their sister. All the shitty fat shaming they do is something so unacceptable! I felt for Lauren last week so much when she was dealing with weight issues and her brothers and father were beating up on her and pretending it was funny. And look, Bravo is heavy handed with editing, I know, but it sure didn’t look like anyone stepped in to tell those adult spoiled brats to STFU and be respectful. There’s sibling stuff and then there’s behavior that is ungentlemanly and shouldn’t be tolerated at the family dinner table. I will say though, that Caroline doesn’t beat around the bush with this whole Teresa cookbook drama and good for her. There’s cute interplay between friends and there’s shitty, below the belt insults used to manufacture drama and sell books. Caroline rightfully calls her on that.

Joe and Melissa – I didn’t like M much at first, but I think she’s had some pretty great points of late WRT Teresa’s behavior. Her SIL is vindictive and destructive and because she’s unhappy and has a crappy home life she seems dead set on making her brother’s life that way too. T’s promises to move on have been insincere since the start and while I think M’s staying out of it has been pretty heroic, she finally stood up and said NO last week and good for her. Joe is into his wife and good for him. But I’m done with the gorgasm stuff so please stop!

And Orange County – ok so this season I’ve only been half watching because I really don’t like Tamra much and she’s been in a lot of storylines this year. Blech.

Vicki – ugh dude YOU IN DANGER GURL! Get this Brooks dude out of your life. The dude never shuts up and yet says absolutely nothing. He’s all pithy quotes and sappy bullshit and yet you know nothing about him. Why is that? How can you be with a dude and not know what he does for a living? If this was someone else’s boyfriend Vicki would be up in arms over it. The way he stalked Vicki’s son and daughter at the party in the last episode was creepy and when he told Vicki he LOVED her son after meeting him ten minutes before should have led to her showing him the door. That is not normal behavior. That’s a dude with messed up boundaries. And Vicki’s reaction to B’s elopement was disappointing. Nearly as disappointing as her behavior when her daughter had the cancer scare. It’s always about her and what she wants and can take. I don’t like that at all. I can totally see why B eloped. Also, she’s 25 and has known the dude for two years, that’s not sudden. Brianna and her brother are seemingly stable and rational adults, Vicki did a good job with them. She needs to stop weeping over how everything is about her and be happy for her kids.

That said, I thought B’s behavior at the party toward Brooks was totally rude. Now again, you never know how the editing goes, but I do wish B had either confronted them with her feelings or had met him and left the room. She’s usually the rational, stable one so I didn’t get why she kept mumbling and stuff.

Gretchen – well, it’s a good thing she’s pretty cause she can’t sing. Like at all. I felt bad for her during the Pussycat dolls stuff. I’ve always felt she got treated poorly by the other women precisely because she’s younger than the rest, but really what is she doing with Slade? I mean, I’m glad she defended him with Vicki at the bunco party because V needed to be put her in her place for all her shitty behavior. But at the same time she’s wishy washy on things. Slade? Meh. Didn’t like him or Jo back when he was banging her and I still don’t much like him now. Everyone is telling him not to propose to G but you know he will. Sigh.

Alexis – FFS this woman. And her husband the creep. Enough, I’ve spoken of them more than I need to.

Newcomer Heather – She can be snobby in a big way but I like her. And I really love her husband who totally makes me laugh. For people who are so ridiculously wealthy they have the most common sense of the whole crew. She’s not a moron and she doesn’t appear to be a shit stirrer either.

Ok so that’s my ranting and raving about television people doing scripted reality television. I’m a junkie no doubt about it! Anyone else a fellow Housewives junkie? I can’t wait for BH to come back and I’ll be checking out NY to see how the new cast members work out with the rest.

The life of Lark Jaansen, hunter in Clan Gennessee, has been shaped by violence and unrest and it defines her future. Well-trained and resilient, she’s met her militaristic match in Simon Leviathan, a warrior not of this world. Locked in mutual admiration, and a desire so hot it burns, Lark and Simon have something else in common: they love the dark, and as a shadow is cast over their world, they’re each coming into their own.

A mysterious war has been waged among the Others. As witches and humans turn against each other, as fae retreat in fear, and as vampires rise, Lark and Simon discover that an unseen force is behind it. A single, hungry entity older than recorded history has returned to gorge on the magick of his victims. He is the Magister, nothing less than the end of time. Finding him is Lark and Simon’s first hope. Surviving him is their last.

Bound by Magick: CHAOS BURNING by LAUREN DANE
Copyright 2012, Lauren Dane
All Rights Reserved, The Berkley Publishing Group
Releasing June 5

“I don’t know why you have to be so good at everything.” Lark looked up, and up some more until she met Simon’s gaze. He’d offered her the refuge of his home, as if by instinct he’d known she needed it, needed the solace of friendship and safety away from the ugly reality of her job.

Nonplussed, he shrugged. “I could say the same of you.”

She tossed her cards down. “Not with this hand.”

He laughed. “Nope.”

“Not like you don’t have enough money.” She waved a hand around.

“It’s a nice life.”

“Understatement.” She stood. “All right. I need a swim. I must tell you how many benefits there are to being your friend. Pool. Great land to run. Home gym to drool over. You’re pretty okay to look at too. Top-shelf booze. You like cards and scary movies and you never complain about how many calories are in whatever you’re eating.”

“You’re always welcome to enjoy my place.”

She did. And she appreciated it. Over the last month or so she’d been in Seattle, she’d come to really enjoy the time she spent at Simon’s house. And to value the friendship of the man who owned it. So funny how they’d clicked so well, right from the start. She had real friends in Seattle and the way things were going, the darkness descending on them, she’d needed that connection.

“Thank you. I mean that.”

There was a long moment between them and he shook his head as if to free himself from it. He grinned. “I don’t think I’ve ever been here when you used the pool. I admit to being curious as to what you’d wear to swim in. Come on. I’ll meet you down there. You can make me lunch when we finish.”

She socked his arm and her knuckles hurt. He was solid. Like a damned tank. And she couldn’t tell a lie, she was pretty interested to see how he filled out swim trunks.

“Fine. You did grill the last time I was here. I suppose it’s my turn.”

She headed into the spare room he’d generously assigned her. A place she could put her stuff when she came out to run or use the pool or garden. The view was stunning from in there. As it was pretty much from everywhere else in the house.

Simon Leviathan had become a friend. A person who never judged, though clearly she amused him and possibly offended his sense of style. He played cards, drank, smoked cigars, stayed up late and had impeccable taste. He also enjoyed things like making bullets and going to the shooting range. He was a total dude, but in the least annoying way possible. Nothing to complain about at all except for the way they got constantly interrupted by women coming on to him. That bugged her. Yes, sure, she got that their thing wasn’t that kind of thing. But women who just walked up between a man and the woman he’s having a drink with to blatantly come on to the guy were jerks.

Changing quickly, she gave herself a look over her shoulder at her back and butt. Helena had given her the suit for her last birthday. It showed more skin than she usually did, but it fit well and made her feel sexy so that was a win.

Though she was more pale than usual because she’d been inside so much, the view still wasn’t that bad at all. Just because he was in the guy-friend camp didn’t mean she wasn’t going to look nice. He was, after all, ridiculously handsome so she’d be slacking if she didn’t at least try to keep up.

Grabbing a towel, she headed through the breezeway toward the pool house. Not that she’d catch up to him in the looks category. He was beautiful. As if he’d just stepped from an issue of GQ for Others. Smooth. Debonair, clever. His clothes were expensive and tailored. They didn’t make his size off the rack anyway, so she supposed tailoring was a necessity.

Not that he was unaware of his appeal. She found it charming. He knew he was hot shit and he worked it. Never to anyone else’s detriment, which is probably why it was charming instead of douchey.

On the other hand, she was sloppy and silly and awash with color. She knew it and was just fine with it. It made her happy and that’s what counted. She’d given up trying to be something she wasn’t a long time ago. She wouldn’t be gorgeous and classy like Helena or Meriel. But she was Lark, one hundred percent, and that was important.

Today’s prize is a digital ARC of CHAOS BURNING – I’ll announce the winner in next Monday’s Winner’s Post