Joely Sue Burkhart's Blog, page 41
May 14, 2012
Vicki Around the Blogosphere
There are several places you can win a free copy of Yours to Take. Don’t forget to enter the $100 gift certificate giveaway!
Reviews:
Cocktails and Books, 4 Cocktails
Pearl’s World of Romance, a perfect 10 out of 10!
“YOURS TO TAKE is the kind of book that took my heart, broke it and then put it back together, leaving it whole and satisfied. If you love erotic romance that’s both scorching and emotionally brilliant and you haven’t read Joely Sue Burkhart’s Connaghers series yet, you are seriously missing out!”
A Busy Mother’s Day
I meant to at least post here over the weekend to wish all the moms who might stop by Happy Mother’s Day, but I was too busy celebrating our Moms’ days to make it!
Saturday we celebrated with That Man’s parents at my BIL’s house. The last time we were over at the lake, MIL took me in to show me the sad state of her closet. So I was determined to buy her some clothes. However, what I’d picked out from Catherine’s didn’t suit, so BB and I convinced her to jump in the car while we were waiting on the chickens to smoke (for dinner) and took her back to the store so she could pick out something she really did like.
She found a blouse and another shirt she plans to wear as a jacket, so that was a success! Even if she complained about how picked over the store was and how they don’t sell the kinds of things she prefers any longer. (I’ve had these pants for thirty years and I can’t find anything like them now!)
I made settler’s beans for that dinner, adding fresh garlic and using dijon honey mustard instead of regular (since I was out). They definitely tasted a little different as a result, but everyone seemed to enjoy them.
We got home around 7 PM Saturday night and decided to go see the last showing of The Avengers on the grand screen in 3D. It cost an extra $4 per ticket (with a family of 5, that definitely took a bite out of the wallet) but wow, it was so awesome, it was worth it. We didn’t get home until midnight, though.
Sunday we were up to get ready and drive to my mom’s (Granny’s). Unfortunately, the day started with Littlest spilling Fruit Loops and milk all over my micro-suede sofa. *cries* We stopped at Sam’s Club on the way to get the traditional turtle cheesecake I always take. However, they didn’t have any. 
I finally settled on an assortment but it just wasn’t the same as that sinful turtle cheesecake.
Granny made spaghetti and toasted bread that was a huge hit. I promised to wash up all her dishes since she wasn’t supposed to cook on her special day. We made about half a dozen pots of Caribou Coffee and visited all afternoon with my beloved sister. Oh, and we celebrated early birthdays too (mine is next week and Littlest Monster’s is in June), and Molly brought a bottle of bubbly to help celebrate Vicki’s release. That’s the first time we’ve celebrated with my mom, so that was cool.
On the way out the door, Middle found a turtle and begged to keep it. She’s been driving me nuts about wanting a pet turtle. Unbeknownst to her, Papa (my dad) had also captured two turtles for her, which we picked up on the way home. We also found another turtle in the gravel road on the way over.
So now we have 4 turtles. *headdesk*
We visited with Papa for awhile, said hello to his horses, and looked at some land. It needs a lot of work but the price is within the realm of possibility. Some magic would still need to happen but we do have options to make my country dream a reality in the next year or so. Of course Princess objects wholeheartedly. Sigh. She doesn’t want to move anywhere and lose her friends, least of all to the country. She might start talking like a hick and wearing big sparkly belt buckles. *headdesk again*
We made it home about 8 PM last night to frantically get baths done and everyone to bed. I haven’t done laundry. I haven’t gone grocery shopping. The house is a mess. The monsters are in the last week of school and still have reading assignments to do. Lord help me, one last week of school. Then I’ll be herding monsters out to all their various summer activities to keep them out of the house so we can work.
I’ll come back later with a roundup list of links where I’m giving away copies of Yours to Take and some new reviews.
Wishing you a belated Happy Mother’s Day – and a non-grumpy Monday!
May 11, 2012
Lady Blackmyre’s Final Stretch
I’m well into Act 3 now. Queen Majel has made her appearance. Lady Blackmyre has visited with Wellington and survived without killing the old hag. Really, the only thing left is the huge happily-ever-after threesome. 
Yes, it will be epic.
My pace has slowed to about 1K a day with Vicki’s release, but I’m definitely in the home stretch! Shooting for 35-40K before it’s all said and done.
Snippet: this pretty much follows the last one where Arthur ignored Lady Blackmyre’s commands and she turned her back on him.
As though she didn’t have a care in the world, she strolled away from Arthur.
He snorted, trying to draw her attention, but she ignored him. If the pony doesn’t listen to my commands, dear boy, the pony doesn’t exist.
Leaning casually against the railing she waved a hand at Dottie, inviting her to come down for a chat. “What’d you think?”
Her eyes were so big that Violet couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’m astounded. But what happened? Are you done?”
She tapped her friend lightly on the arm, drawing her gaze away from whatever Arthur was doing behind her. Smiling, she pointed at herself and lifted her chin, trying to keep Dottie from even looking at him. “Oh, most definitely. When the pony misbehaves, he’s punished.”
Dottie gasped and fluttered her hand in front of her face like she needed air. “Oh, dear, that sounds dreadful. Are you going to beat him?”
“No. I’m punishing him much more severely.”
“I hope I didn’t offend you with my ignorant comment. Of course you wouldn’t hurt him.”
Violet let out a husky laugh. “Oh, I would certainly hurt him under the right circumstances. If he wanted me to give him pain for his own gratification, I’d be perfectly willing and able to deliver his most painful wishes.”
“You would enjoy it?” Dottie asked in a small voice, lacking any sort of condemnation but revealing only honest curiosity.
“Yes, I would, if he were enjoying it too.”
“Then why didn’t you whip him just now? I don’t know a thing about horses but even I could tell he was deliberately disobeying your commands.”
The hair prickled on the base of Violet’s neck. Although she didn’t hear his stealthy approach, she didn’t need the faint quiver of her friend’s glance behind her to know he was close. She could almost feel his body heat burning her back. “If he looks me in the eye and begs me to whip him until he cries like a baby, I’ll give him exactly what he requests. But I won’t be manipulated into giving him anything. He doesn’t want me to hurt him so he can enjoy it. He wants me to hurt him so he can lump me in with every other woman who’s betrayed him and I shan’t do it.”
May 9, 2012
Yours to Take Giveaway
In honor of Vicki’s book, YOURS TO TAKE, I’m offering a $100 gift certificate to any online book retailer of the winner’s choice. You can tell me to split it up among stores too, so if you’d like $50 at Samhain and $50 at Amazon, or $100 at B&N — whatever you want!
To enter, comment on this post ONLY before midnight CST, May 21st. I’ll be using “Pick Giveaway Winner” to randomly select the winner from this post. Anyone on the planet can enter, even if you’ve won something from me before. Multiple comments are encouraged!
Ways to enter:
Just throw your name in the hat with a generic comment.
If you’ve read any of the Connagher books, I’m considering writing Mama Connagher and Ty’s book. How do you think they met? Anything outlandishly funny or crazy you think of about them? The wilder the better! Let’s have fun with this! If I use any of your ideas, I’ll include you in the dedication and acknowledgements.
Rate or review any Connagher book anywhere online and post a comment containing the link to your review (one link per comment if you want to maximize your chances to win). Pre-existing reviews are fine – but you have to go get the link and comment here. Good or bad reviews, I don’t care.
If Hurt Me So Good breaks 20 Amazon reviews, I’ll also add another $50 gift certificate!
If Yours to Take breaks 20 Amazon reviews, I’ll add another $50 gift certificate as well!
Thank you for helping me celebrate Vicki’s release!
Vicki Around the Blogosphere
For a chance to win a free copy of Yours to Take, stop by:
The Book Lover’s Inc where they interviewed me. Learn about one of my phobias!
The Book Pushers for some “Writing BDSM” 101s.
More reviews:
“I don’t know that Burkhart has changed my mind about most FemDom books I’ve read, but by the end of the story, I enjoyed the dynamic between the three of them. One of the things I really like about Burkhart’s writing is that when it comes to the BDSM, she is very honest and realistic and true. I enjoyed watching Vicki struggle with wanting to be a Domme, but also knowing that Jesse had been hurt in the past and not wanting to hurt him again.”
“Yessss Elias!! Seriously the best part of the book. I loved him to pieces. Big Alpha guy who makes Vicki submit to him. I loved that he wanted her to fight him for dominance. The scenes between them were just the best. Best smex too! Oh my so hot!”
“Wow. Every review I read before reading Yours To Take myself was right! Joely Sue Burkhart skillfully weaves together the lives of these three very different individuals in a passionate, erotic, genuine way that has you rooting for Jesse, Vicki and Elias to find their own ‘fairytale together.’”
“Yours To Take…is a story of enigmatic characters who make the love soar and their sexy moments go from sensual blooming to full-blown passion. The Connaghers are a family to enclose in your heart!”
May 8, 2012
Happy Book Birthday to Vicki!
I told @s_muha on Twitter the other day that it seemed like *forever* since I’d finished Vicki. But it’s finally her day – Yours to Take releases today!
Vicki’s the youngest Connagher yet she’s just as headstrong as her brothers, Conn and Victor. I hope you enjoy her story as she finally faces her Domme side.
To celebrate, I’ll be giving away a $100 gift certificate to any online book retailer(s) of the winner’s choice. More details to come in a separate post.
Buy Links
May 7, 2012
Another Guest Post, Review, and Giveaway
Today, I’m at BlackRaven’s Reviews talking about what inspires me to write. Stop by for a chance to win a copy of Yours to Take before it releases tomorrow!
Also, BlackRaven gives Yours to Take 4.5 Ravens:
Yours To Take is a well-written, tantalizing story with engaging characters who have depth, explosive passion, raw emotions and desires, and scorching hot sex that will send shivers down your spine. The BDSM scenes are intense and sensual, while the love scenes are endearing and everlasting. There were times that I simply wanted to weep for these enigmatic characters who were struggling to find their Happily Ever After. Ms. Burkhart has penned an enticing story with sensual, explicit BDSM scenes and heartfelt love that you don’t want to miss.
Lady Blackmyre’s Pace
Is still an incredible blazing speed. Her story is up to 22.5K+ this morning. I didn’t make it Dark & Early after a long weekend, but hopefully I can get some nice wordage tonight.
I’m definitely in the dark moment now. Time is running out and she has to push Arthur harder than she really wants to. It hurts her to break him as much as it hurts him to fall apart, but it’s necessary. Even though I’m deep into this darkness, I think I’ll still have 10-15K to get through. This story feels like at least 35K, if not 40K by the time I wrap up all the plot strings that are still dangling out there.
This snippet is from the first time Arthur runs in the ring for her.
She lifted her chin, expectation forming in her body before her order came, and he found himself tensing, alert and ready. If he’d had horse ears, they’d have been perked toward her, awaiting her command.
“Very good, Arthur.”
In the space of a few minutes, she’d already praised him more than any mistress he’d ever worked with. Yet he wasn’t fooled into thinking she was soft. The warmth in her voice was there, but underneath, the icy core waited.
“All I’m going to do today is put you through your paces.” She paused a moment and gave him a smile that was nothing of warm encouragement and everything to do with the cold determination to bend him to her will no matter what it took. “I won’t be so easy on you again.”
Her right arm flicked out and the tail of the whip slithered across the ground. Nowhere close to striking him but he flung up his head and raced in the opposite direction anyway. Too much energy blazed in his body to settle into a staid trotting about the ring like Cole had done. God, he felt so strong, so invincible. Like he could gallop for days, leap any obstacle, race like the wind.
The whip cut him off and sent him charging in the opposite direction. He didn’t mind. The slide of his boots in the loose dirt of the ring felt too good to complain. In the center of the ring, she trotted along with him, her face as hard as porcelain with supreme concentration. He tried to turn back but she caught him with the tip of the whip right in his flank. It stung enough to make him growl.
Fine. Your direction, Your Grace, but my speed.
He ran harder, pumping his arms, digging his boots in so deeply that he flung clods of dirt up on her clean white shirt. He tore about the ring, forcing himself harder, faster, ignoring the burn in his lungs, the sweat stinging his eyes. Outrace her. Tire her. She can’t possibly keep up for long.
But he was wrong. She didn’t have to keep perfect pace with him, not with the whip in her hand and central position of command in the ring. As he began to tire, she pushed him harder, using the tip of the whip to remind him to keep moving. As long as she was moving, he had to move too, in the direction she told him to go. He ignored the stitch in his side. The sweat blinding him. His fool pride demanding that he outlast her.
Faltering a moment, she coughed. He took the opportunity to explode back in the opposite direction, hoping to catch her unaware. Yet the whip came in and snapped a warning on his thigh perilously near his groin. Arousal throbbed through him, inflamed by the small pain. Whip me again, Your Grace. Give me the pain that will allow me to hate you.
With the bit clamped hard in his teeth, he kept charging against her command, ignoring the threat of the whip. But the pain didn’t come.
In fact, she didn’t even try to stop him. Slowing his headlong charge, he risked a glance in her direction and what he saw drew him to a halt.
Lady Blackmyre had turned her back on him.
May 5, 2012
Lady Blackmyre’s Private Stable
Her Grace’s Stable is up to 18.5K – in four days! I know, that’s an insane pace, but she’s relentless. I think I’m almost 2/3 of the way through the story. The Dark Moment is ahead. Plot-wise/journey-wise, I’m definitely on the verge of beginning the final act, but I’m not sure in word count if I’m truly near the last 25% or not. I believe there will be a massive smexy scene near the end that might take up way more words than I can guess. 
This is Arthur’s first trip into Lady Blackmyre’s stable. Squick warning: pony play in action!
“Welcome to Lady Blackmyre’s private stable,” the man said in a low voice, motioning Arthur inside. “I’m Dain, a friend and colleague of Her Grace. This is the only entry to this part of the stable, and I’m locking the door behind you. No one else has a key but Lady Blackmyre and myself. What happens here stays within these walls.”
Arthur hoped his eyes weren’t bulging from their sockets and that his mouth was appropriately closed instead of slack while he gaped like a fool. Dain was clearly a horse master, dressed in the same riding clothes as Her Grace. He gazed at Arthur with the same calm, steady appraisal that he’d devote to a new horse at market, as if he didn’t need words at all to access his wellbeing and comfort.
“Come, Arthur, I’ll show you to your seat.”
In a daze, he followed the man, trying to see everything all at once. The high roof soared above the ring and boxes had been built in two concentric rows, just as a small theatre. She might have meant him to sit and enjoy the scene, but he paused at the rail, unable to look away.
Cole ran… no, trotted… about the ring completely naked. The recent mauling Arthur had given him was evident in an angry-looking bruised bite mark on his shoulder. The man wore a simple leather headpiece… er… bridle. And a tail. That part made Arthur swallow hard, though he couldn’t look away. It looked authentic. The way Cole carried himself…
Head high, neck arched, he picked his feet up quickly and smoothly with a little sashay that sent that tail swishing back and forth across his thighs.
Arthur could almost feel the prickle of long hairs down his legs, and he wondered… God help him, he wondered exactly what it would feel like for his arse to be filled up while he trotted, moving about the ring, with that hair tickling his flesh.
He swallowed hard again, his throat aching, and he clenched his hands on the rail. The longer he watched, the more he felt like he was sinking. Drowning. Losing himself into the steady slapping of the pony’s hooves on the ground, the gentle flicker of the whip, and the cool, still mistress at the helm.
Blowing hard, he backed away from the ring. From her. The vision of the pony–Cole! His name is Cole!–sucking him under, rolling him down to deadly depths. A place of darkness. I’m losing myself.
“Steady now, boy.” Dain slapped him lightly on the shoulder, a sting of comfort that shook some of the suffocating fear away. “This is a place of safety. No one’s ever hurt or terrified here.”
You don’t understand, he tried to cry out, but his throat was locked shut. He was afraid if he tried to speak at all, only a desperate whinny would escape. It wasn’t pain he feared. Pain would drive him to the killing rage that would ground him back in reality. He feared losing himself, all sense of humanity, all decency, all pride, forever. God help me!
“Watch her, boy. Look at the way Cole responds to her. They’re one, woman and horse. He’s so fully under her spell that he’d try to stop breathing if she willed it.”
Exactly.
May 4, 2012
Around the Blogosphere Giveaways
I’ve got several guest posts scheduled this month to celebrate Vicki’s (Yours To Take) release. Today, you can find me at Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews — Walking on the Kinky Side and The Book Reading Gals — Reality Show Inspirations. Stop by to get inside info on where some of Vicki’s story came from – and enter to win an early copy of Yours to Take!
