Portia Da Costa's Blog, page 16

New from Sasha White!

My writing friend Sasha White has a new release out today!

Rock My World is a short story featuring Gina and Caleb from an earlier title of hers, Sexy Devil.

Gina and Caleb love being married, but sometimes the adults need time away to play adult games, and Gina's debut at a Vancouver art gallery provides just the excuse they need.

In White's short story ROCK MY WORLD a weekend getaway with amorous intentions, an art show, and a magical entanglement all collide for a fun and sexy romp with a surprising twist.

Story Length: 40 pages

"Gina and Caleb harbor an insane amount of chemistry and it explodes all over these pages. I enjoyed the mystery part of the story as well but this couple was the star. "Rock My World" is wickedly hot!" - Miranda, Joyfully Reviewed

"The characters fit perfectly together and the sex is just the right blend of naughty and sexy. Marriage is an aphrodisiac to Gina and Caleb and I think that's totally awesome!"-Beth, The Readers Roundtable
You can find more info about Rock My World, including a hot excerpt here:
http://www.sashawhite.net/blog/2012/03/14/new-release-4/
http://walkonthewildsidebooks.com/books/rock-my-world/

How about some...

FRIDAY FROLICS?

Well, slide on over to PORTIA'S PROSE, for a steamy excerpt of my menage novella, POWER OF THREE.

Dumped almost at the alter, Laurie thinks her Caribbean holiday is going to be lonely... until she meets handsome hunks Denny and Ed, who soothe her sorrows with some hot, tropical lovemaking, offering tenderness along with sizzling threeway sex.

Power of Three excerpt here!

Rebecca's Tale

Rebecca's Tale by Sally Beauman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

While I don't think that Rebecca's Tale is quite the great classic that its literary source is, I enjoyed it very much on a second reading, possibly more than the first time. It's certainly a page turner in the way Rebecca is, and it's also just as full of unreliable narrators interpreting stories, at second hand, that were unreliable start with!

Having read it I still don't know if Rebecca was a Jezebel or a woman multiply wronged... although it does seem to me that she might have been a combination of both, and more, and had become the former because of the latter. And I certainly come out of this book disliking Maxim de Winter even more than ever, although somehow I feel more pity for the second Mrs de Winter.

Just like the original novel, Rebecca's Tale has that power, for me, of seeming like a *true* story, and that's got to be a measure of its quality.

Rebecca's tale is elusive, frustrating and poignant. Much like the original...

View all my reviews

Two Naughty Gentlewomen

A GENTLEWOMAN'S DALLIANCE is the latest in my Ladies' Sewing Circle series of Spice Briefs, a quartet of stories about a rather naughty group of Victorian women who gather to gossip about their sex lives, real and imaginary, rather than ever actually wield a needle and thread.
Mrs Mary Brigstock started out by being the most reserved, and sometimes slightly disapproving member of the circle, but under the influence of her more daring friends, she's finally come out of her shell and is now as risque and sexy as the rest of the group. Happily, she loves her dear husband very much, and he's more than pleased to reap the benefits of her new erotic liberation and indulge with her in sensual experimentation. Eager to explore new pleasures, the Brigstocks launch themselves into the world of saucy sexual spanking... with the expert help of Benedict, a young and handsome discipline specialist, who shares his wealth of knowledge with the eager older couple.
Read an excerpt
Available from eHarlequin, Barnes and Noble Nook Store, Mills and Boon, Amazon Kindle US [April '12] and Amazon Kindle UK [April '12]

A GENTLEWOMAN'S PLEASURE - the third of the Ladies' Sewing Circle stories - is now available for Amazon Kindle as well as at a variety of outlets.
This story is about Lucy Dawson, who up until now has been the shyest and perhaps most inexperienced of the group. Somewhat eccentric, and a bespectacled, bicycle riding spinster, Lucy hasn't had much in the way of hot tales to tell her fellow circle members... that is until she falls off her bike during a country ride, and is rescued by a deliciously handsome and mysterious woodsman called Ethan. She suffers a mild concussion, and Ethan cares for her in his cosy and secluded cottage... and pretty soon one thing leads to another, and she eagerly succumbs to the charms of the husky younger man. Returning to London she has a sizzling story to tell her avid friends in the circle...
Read an excerpt
Available from Barnes and Noble Nook, eHarlequin, All Romance eBooks, Diesel eBooks, Mills and Boon, Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

Some Words for Wednesday...

Anyone who'd like to read some naughty WEDNESDAY WORDS can nip over to my Portia's Prose blog for an excerpt from IN SEBASTIAN'S HANDS.

http://portiasprose.blogspot.com/2012/02/in-sebastians-hands-excerpt.html

Rebecca - book review

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I think this was probably my third time of reading Rebecca, and each reading has been a different experience. I'm sure I remember that in the first two readings I was very much 'on the side' of the Second Mrs de Winter... but this time around has been quite different.

On third reading, I suddenly find myself deeply impatient with the unnamed narrator, and have formed an active loathing for Maxim. I'm sure they're both accurate products of their time, their ages, and their classes... but still. I can't be doing with milksop women and arrogant, self-serving, insensitive men. I'm not one for brooding tragic heroes who take their woes out on those around them. And even though Mrs de Winter does grow a backbone in the end, it's only to support her husband, who suddenly seems to lose his. And there's something vaguely repellent about her smug anticipation of a future life with him at Manderley, even though she *knows* he's a murderer.

Having said all that... my strong responses to Rebecca only serve to show what an exceptional, indeed, what a truly great book it is. The writing is so strong and vivid and compelling, and to feel the way I do about it can only be because I'm perceiving it as *real*! And when writing/reading fiction you can't really get any better than that.

It's not a romance, as I once thought in my less seasoned younger days. It's barely even a romantic suspense. It's far more a dark, subversive and very unsettling psychological mystery and character study. And all the more for the great enigma at the very centre of it, Rebecca herself. Maxim says what a venal character she is... but then, he's biased, isn't he?

See, I'm talking about it as if it's real again... LOL

No doubt I will probably read Rebecca again some time. Wonder what I'll think of it then?

View all my reviews

A new release from my buddy, Saskia Walker!

If you're looking for a tasty menage romance, with a splash of paranormal, look no further than the latest release from my wonderful writing pal, Saskia Walker! Here's what she's got to say about her hot new title, FAYE'S SPIRIT...

Faye's story is the third and final instalment in the Erogenous Zones series, and it's out in ebook format from Total-E-Bound today. Here's the cover copy and an excerpt:

One outrageous weekend with two men, that's what Faye Evans dreams of, but when she meets Jai and Garth—and their live in ghost—she gets much more than she bargained for.

Faye Evans is a woman on a mission. Both her older sisters have had ménage à trois relationships and now Faye too harbours a desire to sample the pleasures of two men, if only for a single wild weekend. The opportunity arises when architect Garth Connor calls her in to investigate the ghostly presence in his business premises. Both Garth and his business partner, Jai Nilson, are gorgeous hunks, and Faye can't help being attracted to them.

Garth and Jai are friends and colleagues but their relationship is competitive. When the mischievous ghost medium walks into their life and shows interests in them both, the edge between them sharpens. While Jai often walks on the wild side, Garth has never shared a woman before, but his desire for Faye makes him rise to the challenge. Especially when Jai quickly picks up on Faye's secret wishes and pushes things along, orchestrating their interactions until the simmering eroticism between them demands hardcore action.

But Faye's fling isn't as straightforward as she'd anticipated. She soon worries that she's endangered Garth and Jai's friendship by getting involved, and even more so when the shadow of a secret, long held grudge between the two men falls over their threesome and their growing affection. To top it all, dealing with the resident ghost only adds to the emotional entanglement, making Faye feel she wants to end it and run. But are Garth and Jai about to let her get away?

Available now from Total-E-Bound, coming later from other e-retailers and in print. 

 Do yourself a big favour and check out this fantastic release from Saskia!

Three new releases... not all mine!

Well, the first isn't really a new release, but it is mine. Today I'm showcasing my recent BDSM title, IN SEBASTIAN'S HANDS, a trio of three linked stories about Sebastian and Megan, a couple who love to play spanking games. Through the three tales, we see their relationship develop, beginning with their meeting at a party, moving through their growing love and passion for each other, and culminating in a snapshot of them on holiday as a happily married couple... who still love their naughty BDSM shenanigans!

You can find out more about IN SEBASTIAN'S HANDS here, along with a frisky excerpt.

http://www.portiadacosta.com/sebastian.html

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EROTICA FANTASTICA is a hot new release from my writing buddy, Saskia Walker, featuring four sizzling stories with a decidedly fantastical flavor... "Love, Lust and Destiny, set in fantasy worlds"

Sound wonderful to me! You can find out more here at Saskia's blog:

http://saskiawalker.blogspot.com/2012/02/new-publication-erotica-fantastica.html

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The third release is from another of my writing pals, Madelynne Ellis. It's also a paranormal offering, BLOOD MOON, a delicious gothic urban fantasy of demons and the hunters who pursue them.

Check it out here:

http://madelynne-ellis.blogspot.com/2012/02/new-release-blood-moon.html

Yikes, another guest blog!

Today I'm a guest on the Carina authors' blog, and the topic is A LITTLE BIT OF GLAMOR.

Now then, those of you who've met me in person, stop laughing. Yes, I know that 'glamour' and me aren't two things you would normally associate with each other, but at least my characters have a glamorous life. ;)

Why not nip over there and see what I'm yattering on about?

Oh, and please do visit my Manic Authors blog too, on The Lure of Temptation. Comments are a bit sparse as yet... and there's a prize, or prizes, depending on how many people answer. So please consider being tempted.

Guest blogging again!

Hey, I'm guest blogging again!

Today I'm at the wonderful MANIC READERS BLOG, and my discussion topic is THE LURE OF TEMPTATION, THEN AND NOW. I'm reflecting on how the two heroines in my current releases each handle the lure of a gorgeous and somewhat perilous man.

In INTIMATE EXPOSURE, Vicki is tempted by Red Webster, and in A GENTLEWOMAN'S PLEASURE, it's Ethan Oakley who Lucy finds so very alluring.

Please, please, nip over to Manic Readers and leave comment there... everyone who does, goes into a prize draw to win books from my Black Lace backlist.