Starla Kaye's Blog, page 30
July 8, 2013
A Favorite Author: Janet Chapman
A lot of the time my posts have to do with my books or events that I am involved with. Today I wanted to take a moment to talk about one of my favorite authors, Janet Chapman.
I have been reading her three series: Highlanders (of Pine Creek), Midnight Bay, and Spellbound Falls since they first came out. Recently I finished The Heart of a Hero, the fourth book in the Spellbound Falls Series. And I was bummed/depressed/disappointed, however you want to put it, about reading the last of her wonderful stories.
My To Be Read list is huge (like most avid readers), so I had many choices I could move on to. But I decided to go back and re-read all of the books in the three series. I’m so glad I did!
This gave me a chance to read the 15 books in order and more closely see how the characters and stories wove together. It was like meeting old friends again. Plus I’ve discovered all the little things I must have read over too quickly in the first reading. Or that I had forgotten about.
I’m almost done re-reading Spellbound Falls now and fell back in love with Mac Oceanus and his son and Olivia and Sophie… Need I go on? Each of the characters were beautifully written. And I’d forgotten all about the Albatrosses that show up mid-story.
If you haven’t read Janet Chapman’s books (and she has three other series besides the ones mentioned here), you’re missing out on some wonderful heroes and stories that will warm your heart.
July 3, 2013
Summer Chillin’ Blog Hop winner
I want to thank those of you who stopped by to see my recipe for Better Than Sex cake as part of the Summer Chillin’ Blog Hop.
I also want to announce my contest winner, who chose a copy of the book Acceptance from Decadent Publishing. My winner was Arleen.
June 24, 2013
So much going on…
It’s summer and I’m crazy busy with things to do and places to be. I hope you take a few minutes to visit me at some of the following:
Lily Sawyer Books Blog – June 24
I’m talking about my newest release from Decadent Publishing, Acceptance, and about my WIPs (Works in Process).
1 Night Stand Series Blog – June 24
Stop by and help me celebrate the second anniversary of Maggie’s Secret Wish. I’m sharing a little steamy scene about Maggie and Ian’s lives today. Leave a comment and one lucky commenter will win a copy of one of my Decadent Publishing ebooks AND a fun, sexy surprise gift.
The Edge Blog – June 25
Stop by and read my thoughts about writing Acceptance and check out my recipe-like promo.
Summer Chillin’ Blog Hop June 22-29
Participating authors are posting summer-ready recipes on our blogs for you to try and enjoy. Some of us are also offering chances to win giveaway items. Links to other participating authors: http://bit.ly/17xHQw5
My Giveaway and recipe: A chance to win either an ebook copy of ACCEPTANCE, from Decadent Publishing…or a cute little rubber duck soap. Leave a comment with your choice of prize. Winners will be randomly drawn and notified June 30. *NOTE: Info about the ebook follows the recipe.
The Edge Blog – 6-25-13
June 25 – The Edge Blog – A recipe for keeping things hot
June 21, 2013
Summer Chillin’ Blog Hop! June 22-29
It’s summer…it’s hot! How about taking part in our Summer Chillin’ Blog Hop June 22-29?
Participating authors are posting summer-ready recipes on our blogs for you to try and enjoy. Some of us are also offering chances to win giveaway items.
My Giveaway: A chance to win either an ebook copy of ACCEPTANCE, from Decadent Publishing…or a cute little rubber duck soap. Leave a comment with your choice of prize. Winners will be randomly drawn and notified June 30. *NOTE: Info about the ebook follows the recipe.
Better Than Sex Cake
1 box yellow cake mix (plus the ingredients to prepare it)
1 20-oz. can crushed pineapple
1 c. sugar
1 3.4 oz. box instant vanilla pudding (plus ingredients to prepare it)
1 7-oz. tub of Cool Whip
Coconut
Directions
Prepare yellow cake mix as directed on package, using a greased 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes.
While the cake is baking, combine pineapple and 1 cup of sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
Remove cake from oven and using a fork, pierce holes into cake. Pour pineapple mixture over hot cake and set aside.
Prepare pudding according to package directions. Spread pudding on cake and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
Spread Cool Whip over chilled cake’s top and sides. Sprinkled coconut on top and sides (if desired).
ACCEPTANCE
This is my newest release from Decadent Publishing’s The Edge Series. This series takes readers right to the “edge” of something very special, something sizzling hot between the characters. A perfect hot summer read!
My two heroes have fallen into that crazy, over-committed type of life that many of us find ourselves in. It has become all work and no play…until they meet and something special ignites between them. But are a few days of nearly out of control sex enough for Chase Barrington and Rico Sanchez? Or can it lead to something more?
Title: Acceptance
Genre: Contemporary, erotic romance, gay, multicultural
Publisher: Decadent Publishing
Buy Link: Decadent Publishing
Buy Link: Amazon
June 19, 2013
Spankee Doodle Dandy is here!
For those in the northern hemisphere, summer is here! What better way to celebrate summer vacations than to give (or receive) a sizzling hot spanking? After the rousing success of Love Spanks and Spank or Treat, Anastasia Vitsky and her team of spanking fiction authors have returned to bring you a collective Spankee Doodle Dandy story extravaganza. It’s love and kisses for adults, and we do mean adults!
Many authors will also be offering a contest on their individual blogs. Your comment on their blogs automatically enters you in both the main contest and the individual contests!
What’s the catch? Absolutely nothing! We love writing for you and want to thank you for your readership. Perhaps someone might get a spanking or two, but that’s a reward rather than a catch, right? 
Here are the rules:
Visit each blog between the Thursday, June 20th and Sunday, June 23rd to read the posted stories and excerpts.
Leave a comment answering the story question on each blog. You will receive one entry per blog for the grand prize drawing. You will also be automatically entered in that author’s individual contest, if he or she has one.
If you have visited all of the blogs, visit Ana’s blog to sign up for FIVE bonus entries to the grand prize.
Deadline is midnight EDT (UTC -4) on June 23rd!!
If you successfully completed the Love Spanks or Spank or Treat challenge and visited all of the blogs for either challenge, you may add “VIP” to your comments. You will earn THREE bonus entries toward the grand prize. (Yes, we will be doing this again. Yes, if you successfully complete the Spankee Doodle Dandy challenge you can become a VIP for our next activity!)
Visit any of the participating blogs on Thursday, June 27th to find out the lucky winners. Will it be you?
For more information, updates, and a list of participating authors, please visit: http://governingana.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/announcing-spankee-doodle-2013/
MY CONTEST: One lucky winner will receive a $25 gift card from Edens Fantasys.
*NOTE: I will be traveling during this blog hop and will be back on the 24th. If you have trouble commenting, please send your story question answer, email it to starla@starlakaye.com.
Teaser Excerpt from ABIGAIL’S EARL (The next book in the Regency Claymore series, after His Lady Ashlynn)
“I have a proposition for you, Lady Abigail.”
Abigail nearly miss-stepped doing her part of the quadrille and looked up in surprise at her current dance partner.
“I beg your pardon,” she said in confusion. She should have been paying more attention to both him and the dance, but she wasn’t fond of either one.
The darkly striking Lord Saliston who towered over her by almost a foot frowned in annoyance. As he moved closer to her, he stated again, “I have a proposition for you. Something I would like to discuss with you in private.”
She stiffened at his forwardness, even as her pulse raced. “That wouldn’t be at all proper, Lord Saliston, as well you should know.”
He quirked a thick eyebrow and gave her an arrogant look. “Nevertheless we shall have a talk when this dance is over.”
As she returned to her corner of the square, she pinched her lips together and snorted. Then she glowered at him while the other couple repeated the dance figure they’d just finished. He dared to smile at her, quiet amusement lurking in his eyes.
Pompass coxcomb! Since their introduction at Blaine’s home over two weeks ago, she’d seen James at other balls and events around town. She had learned a great deal about him, picking up pieces of gossip from the servants and overhearing her brothers talking about him before they realized she was listening. He’d been widowed two years ago from what most believed to have been a loveless marriage. And he’d gone through more mistresses than any man should in a lifetime.
He’d never approached her for the dance he’d mentioned, until tonight. She should have turned him down, but good manners wouldn’t allow it.
Her thoughts returned to his blunt statement. A proposition for me? All sorts of wicked notions dashed through her mind, much as they’d been doing since first being attracted to him. Ideas like his offering to keep her in a very private townhome for their sinful times together. It would have a bedroom done in decadent reds, with lots of velvet and lace. He would provide her with a wardrobe suitable for a courtesan. Gowns with tight waistlines and necklines far lower than proper, low enough to display a great deal of cleavage. Most of their time together would be spent deliciously naked as he….
Abigail’s cheeks flamed and she had to focus on the floor. She’d spent too many hours reading those scandalous novels Ashlynn had managed to find, leave about, and now had abandoned with her marriage. Books that Abigail had re-read numerous times since her sister had moved out and the household had become rather staid and boring. She was burning each and every one of them tomorrow!
The beat of Le Pantalon changed, indicating it was time for her and the earl to begin the second dance figure. Her stomach churned with nerves. She didn’t want to get anywhere near him again, but manners wouldn’t allow her to walk away until the quadrille had finished. She would put on her best smile and pretend he hadn’t said anything that even hinted at impropriety.
Pulling in a steadying breath, she eased into the required steps and went to meet the man who had walked boldly up to her almost the minute she’d arrived at her sister’s first hosted ball. He’d given a quick proper greeting to her father, brothers, and a mere glance to Blaine and Ashlynn. And then he’d taken her hand—his first act of misbehavior, which should have been a warning—and led her onto the dance floor.
When she glanced up at him, his demeanor depicted the confident man revered by the ton. But his eyes once more hinted at amusement…and maybe even awareness. Good heavens! Had he caught her blushing? Had he imagined her naughty thoughts?
She looked across the room toward the doorway where her father and Braden were visiting with several elderly widows who had a fondness for her father. In truth, she knew they had been trying to find him a new wife. He tolerated them, but wanted nothing to do with their attempts at matchmaking.
No, she didn’t want to go over there and get dragged into their conversation. She had no wish for the ladies to begin searching for a suitable husband for her. She had been struggling to keep her father and brothers from doing so and so far she’d been successful. But she was certain that far too soon they would turn away from the concerns with some estate problems that had come up and focus on her again. She would be quite content to never marry.
Pursing her lips and heaving a sigh at the distressing musings, she almost miss-stepped again.
The earl chuckled and moved within inches of her. He lowered his already deep, rumbling voice and said, “Your face is so expressive, Lady Abigail. Tiny lines crinkle around your mouth when you’re irritated. Creases line your delicate forehead as you think.” He grinned in teasing. “And your lovely cheeks pinken when you ponder sinfully naughty thoughts.”
She froze and narrowed her eyes at him. “How can you possibly know about my ‘sinfully naughty thoughts’?” Then she fisted her hands and groaned in frustration, realizing she’d just all but admitted he was right.
He had the audacity to laugh out loud and draw the attention of everyone on the dance floor. The music stopped and mortification surged through her. Her face flamed even hotter.
As he had leading her to the dance floor, he took charge once more. He nodded in apology at those around them and moved next to her. Close enough that she felt his heat and drew in his scent of a sensually appealing aftershave that made her tingle from head to toes. Before she could gather the good sense to speed away from him, he put his hand at her waist and urged her from the dance floor. But instead of encouraging her toward her family, he guided her out the side doorway and into Blaine’s study.
The instant her sanity returned, Abigail scurried out of his reach. Her shoulders rigid, anger sizzling through her, she hissed, “What do you think you’re doing? You can’t just—”
“Calm down, little one,” he commanded. Although his tone had been quiet, it was clear he meant to be obeyed.
She had more than enough men in her life already who ordered her around. Instead of taking umbrage with his attitude, she found herself snapping, “I’m not little.” To prove it, she stretched to her full clearly unimposing height and huffed.
His cocky grin returned and she detested the funny sensations that sped through her in response. Worse, her silly heart raced.
He sobered and went to lean a hip on top of Blaine’s massive mahogany desk. “This proposition I mentioned earlier—”
“I will not be you mistress!” she shouted. Those debauched thoughts rushed back into her mind: being a kept woman, a love slave, naked and obedient to his every wish and command. She curled her fingers so tightly that her palms hurt. “Not, not, not!”
He folded his arms across his broad chest and swept his gaze slowly over her. “While you are definitely pretty enough, I prefer my mistresses to be more experienced.” Deviltry lit his eyes. “In the bedroom.”
Would her cheeks ever stop burning? She’d misinterpreted his proposition, although she still didn’t know what it involved. And he’d seemed to have to come up with ‘pretty enough’ in order to make her feel somewhat better. Then he’d honed in on her obvious lack of any kind of sexual experience. She wanted to melt away between the floorboards, disappear in a puff of smoke.
For some idiotic reason she believed she needed to apologize. She ignored the heat of embarrassment that had spread over her entire body and tipped up her chin. “I’m sorry, Lord Saliston.”
He gave a curt nod. “What I have in mind is complicated, but I think beneficial to both of us.”
She couldn’t imagine what this powerful man would want with her, even though her father was a well-respected duke…except for his three American-born children from his dead mistress, the love of his life, her mother. The ton had barely accepted her twin now married to another powerful member of the nobility, the Duke of Ashcroft.
“I’m in need of a suitable wife.”
My story-related question: Why is Abigail so opposed to Lord Saliston’s proposition?
June 15, 2013
Summer Fun Scanvenger Hunt June 15-Aug 31
Summer can be such a drag…hot, hot, hotter. It can be depressing. Or it can be fun with vacations, outings, and taking part in blog hops for readers.
Find great authors and books in the Night Owl Reviews Summer Fun Scavenger Hunt! Read book blurbs and get entered to win awesome prize baskets!
Come find me in the Night Owl Reviews’ SUMMER FUN Scavenger HuntJune 15-August 31. Visit my author page at Night Owl Reviews .
June 9, 2013
Night Owl Reviews — June 15-Aug 31
June 15 – Aug 31 Night Owl Reviews –Summer Fun Scavenger Hunt
The Sheriff and the Mayor released
I am happy to announce the release of my latest novella from Blushing Books, THE SHERIFF AND THE MAYOR.
Cassie Davis is struggling to rebuild her life after ending an abusive marriage and moving back to Grangeville, Kansas. She’s emotionally healing, discovering a new career, and finding comfort in being an integral part of the small community. And she has found a stubborn, dominant rancher with a complicated life who is determined to love her. Surprisingly, she trusted him from the start, but he now wants more than she’s ready to give. Will she lose him if she can’t make the commitment he wants?
Dalton Reede had a disastrous first marriage, and his life is stretched thin being a rancher and a temporary sheriff. But he longs for a wife and children. When he met Cassie, he knew he had found the woman he needs. She’s spirited, loving, passionate, and she accepts the dominant side of him. But she’s been badly hurt by another man. Loving her is easy, except that she seems to have more time for everyone else instead of him. Can he make her realize it is time to stop being scared of the past and give them a chance?
Genre: Contemporary, erotic romance
Buy Link: Blushing Books
*Will soon also be available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon
The Sheriff and the Mayor
Cassie Davis is struggling to rebuild her life after ending an abusive marriage and moving back to Grangeville, Kansas. She’s emotionally healing, discovering a new career, and finding comfort in being an integral part of the small community. And she has found a stubborn, dominant rancher with a complicated life who is determined to love her. Surprisingly, she trusted him from the start, but he now wants more than she’s ready to give. Will she lose him if she can’t make the commitment he wants?
Dalton Reede had a disastrous first marriage, and his life is stretched thin being a rancher and a temporary sheriff. But he longs for a wife and children. When he met Cassie, he knew he had found the woman he needs. She’s spirited, loving, passionate, and she accepts the dominant side of him. But she’s been badly hurt by another man. Loving her is easy, except that she seems to have more time for everyone else instead of him. Can he make her realize it is time to stop being scared of the past and give them a chance?
Book Length: 7 chapters / 27,500 words
