Taylor Tryst's Blog, page 7

Seduced by Blood back at Barnes & Noble

Nevada Ortiz was an up and coming Los Angeles Police Officer until a chance encounter with a would-be carjacker changes the course of her life. The six and a half foot assailant is dripping with weapons, his preternatural blue eyes drilling into hers, his bite changing everything. Her body’s reaction to his blood, a seduction within itself, goes hand and hand with raw, animalistic sex.
Nothing is as it seems and everything is in peril, including her life.

Gunner Slade is a vampire with secrets of his own, a soldier who can walk in the sun, a dose of Sangre allowing he and a team of vampires to blend in among the humans, until he puts everything on the line for a woman he can no longer exist without.

Nevada is the first human in existence to have an immunity to a vampire bite, and she requires the blood of two vampires to sustain her.

Not in his nature to share, Gunner Slade might be immortal, but he’s living in hell just the same.
Buy Now on Barnes & Noble

Petting Kitty by Paris Brandon, Ellora's Cave

Kitty Jones can’t believe how excited she is to fulfill her boyfriend Tyler “Tall” Garrett’s birthday wish of watching two women have sex. The sexually adventurous couple invites Merry Salazar to take part in their celebration and soon there’s more than enough pleasure to go around as Kitty and Merry enthusiastically enjoy a little girl-on-girl sex and Tall eagerly participates.
 Nothing is off-limits for this fun-loving ménage as they tease and seduce to one explosive orgasm after another.Read an ExcerptBuy Now

Ideas

Have you ever spent days pondering something and given up on finding a satisfactory answer?

That happened to me yesterday. I'd finally just given up on the idea and decided to ponder it later. Some other time. Okay, maybe never!

Then, while reading through my weekly issue of People magazine (Star watching, my dirty secret.) the remedy to the question popped into my head like it was placed there by the divine.

That quick, randomly, I had my answer. It was SO obvious.

Isn't it strange how that works?

Yes, I'm deliberately being vague. I mean, I need to scramble on my end first. Then, I can make an announcement.

It's writing related. I'm trying to gear up for this holiday season. Last year was such an amazing season for many independent authors and I'm hoping to join the fray, but, again, I digress.

How about you? Ever had that idea and have it sit there like dead weight because you couldn't work out all the details? Plot, characters, marketing, etc? Then, the answer just...comes.

Have a great Thursday, everyone.

Taylor

 

Kilts & Kraken by Cindy Spencer Pape, Carina Press

Friend and fellow author Cindy Spencer Pape has a fabulous new release from Carina Press.
Kilts & Kraken is a Gaslight Chronicles novel and the cover is just gorgeous! Good luck, Cindy.

Magnus, Baron Findlay, longs to bring the wonders of the steam age to his remote island home, but his hands are full fighting the vicious kraken ravaging the coast. When he's swept to sea during battle and washes up on the shore of an isle in the Hebrides, he is near death.
Struggling to establish herself as one of the first female physicians in Edinburgh, Dr. Geneva MacKay is annoyed when The Order of the Round Table sends her north to care for an injured highlander. To heal him, Geneva escorts the handsome warrior home, just in time to defend the villagers from another onslaught.
As the attacks escalate and they work together to fight off the threat, neither Geneva nor Magnus can resist the overwhelming attraction between them. But as their relationship deepens, a new threat arises--from within the village itself...

37,000 words

Read an Excerpt

Buy Now

A "Real" Book...or an Ebook? and When the Runway Went South by Lois L. Kasznia

I've been a die-hard reader for most of my life.

I've had insomnia issues for a few years, but I've always needed to read before bed or I couldn't fall asleep. My mind replays the day, thinking of the laundry soap I'd forgotten at the grocery store or the bills due instead of drifting off to sleep. So, a good book distracted me until I could close my eyes and drift away.

If it was a really good book, however, sleeping was sometimes difficult because I couldn't put it down until I found out what happened. Especially with a romance, but I digress.

Now, reading at bed is necessary. An absolute MUST.

I was also a die-hard book lover, and I mean a "book" in it's physical form. I wanted to touch it, to smell it, to feel it in my hands as I read.

That has all changed since I was able to buy my first Kindle.

I used to collect books at yard sales and thrift stores. Grocery stores, book stores, anywhere really. Wherever I could find a fabulous read. I had them stacked everywhere. There were no empty spaces on my nightstand, that's for certain.

Now, I have my Kindle filled with books. I read until I'm ready to drift off and put it away. If I happen to fall asleep with it on, after five minutes of inactivity it shuts itself down and I wake with it lying beside me or tucked beneath my pillow.

I hadn't really thought much about this until the unimaginable happened.

We were at a yard sale, browsing, and my mom pointed out the table of books.

Mom: "There's a table of books in the garage."
Me: "I don't read "Books" anymore, I said, making finger quotes around the word. "I have my Kindle."

As soon as it slipped out of my mouth, I gasped at myself.

Things had changed for me and I had no idea when. This was a drastic shift, not buying a book in physical form, and I realized I hadn't bought one since I'd picked-up my Kindle.

Times change, technology changes.

Sure, I'd bought J.R. Ward's last Black Dagger Brotherhood book in hardback. But it was autographed and it's still in the box, up on the shelf. It's a keeper. As soon as the ebook was released and went on sale, I bought it. I hate paying high prices for a big named author but with Mrs. Ward...I'm so there! No question. So, I read it on my Kindle instead of in paper.

How about you? Have you're reading/book buying habits changed since the ebook revolution?

In other news, Lois L. Kasznia, a friend of my dearest friend Barbara Huffert has had a new book release. Her first book release, ladies and gents.
Good luck, Lois!

Every young woman would like to be like the famous New York fashion model, Ally Duncan, right? A successful career; constantly linked to celebrities, a wealthy boyfriend and a nice lifestyle to boot. What looks like a great lifestyle is far from it. The New York fashion industry only sees Ally as just another pretty face worth millions of dollars and her boyfriend is a two-timing liar. Ally decides to give up her career as well as men and packs up her things headed for Texas. She buys a house, a disguised money pit, adjacent to a cattle ranch. Not a good move for a first time home owner.

Caleb Strait, confirmed bachelor and owner of the cattle ranch, wants nothing to do with women. To have someone like Ally as a neighbor, sets his temper on edge. Things used to be quiet until she came along.
Can a New York model find love with a cowboy? Can a cowboy find love with a fashion model? Watch out as the sparks fly!
Read the excerpt.Buy Now.

Time to Write

We had a barbecue yesterday with a friend and decided to do some shooting. My son pulled out his M4 and we ended up having a shoot out. Sadly, I came in third. Again, my nephew surprises the hell out of me. The kid is a sniper.He's got Olympic Gold Dreams. Wants to be on the Olympic shooting team, and you know, I think if we get him involved in the right shooting club, he just might do that well. He's also talking military as a career. My sister, his mother, was in the United States Navy, and he's so proud of his mom. But, I'm encouraging him toward the United States Air Force or Law Enforcement.
We also have a scout meeting tonight and due to my nephew's age, he's advancing from the cub scouts to the boy scouts. This is huge. Especially in our small town. There will be boys his age or older and more dads involved, doing more activities, which will be fabulous for him.
So, I have two days left then my nephew is out of school for the summer.Sigh. It's going to be a long one, though we have a lot planned. We've planted our garden, will learn to do some canning (hopefully). We have chickens and a rooster now, 2 rodeos on the agenda, a couple of fairs, and plans to go riding and camping. So, I'm going to give night shifts a chance again.In the beginning of my career, when I wrote Leather and Lace, I had just begun having insomnia and writing while everyone in the house was asleep was the most productive way for me to work and produced the best results. Jump ahead ten years and I have a back injury and other physical issues with my health and I'm just physically exhausted and in pain by the time evening rolls around.With my nephew living with us, I haven't had a lot of time to get in the groove, so to speak.I'm contemplating nights. Maybe I'll get my mojo back!
What's your most productive time to write?

Unveiled by Sherri Chianti

A very good friend has a new release I'd like to share. Please welcome Sherri Chianti. Enjoy!                              Taylor                                 
Watch the book trailer for Unveiled. Leah Miller is tired of being the ugly duckling in a family of beauty queens. When the opportunity to graduate with honors from her art school comes along, she takes it, agreeing to go back in time 500 years to Renaissance Rome to earn a certificate of study from the moody but attractive artist Bertoldo Perini. Unfortunately, the tall girl who had to play boys in school plays must disguise herself as a man.

Perini has devoted his life to rebuilding his art career after a past romantic liaison nearly destroyed it. Alessandra Paloverde, the beautiful and powerful woman he rejected, will stop at nothing to be back in his arms. If she doesn’t get what she wants, she’ll destroy every obstacle in her path—including him.

Earning the elusive certificate proves much harder than Leah imagined, but she discovers her true calling and makes plans for a promising future in her own time. While she fights her attraction to Perini, he sacrifices passion to his recovering career. When Leah’s secret is unveiled at last, will their love be strong enough to keep her in the Renaissance?

Excerpt:Unveiled © Sherri Chianti 2012 - All Rights Reserved

“Turn around.” The abrupt command broke Leah out of her thoughts.
“Excuse me?”
“Please,” Perini said more softly. “I should like to sculpt you.”
She couldn’t believe what she heard but slowly turned as he asked. She felt his eyes all over her like hands, and the stark browns and whites of the room faded to a blurry haze. When she stopped, there was hardly an inch of space between them. He gripped her jaw as if testing her for TMJ and ran those agonizingly warm and powerful fingers over her face. By the time he grasped her chin, Leah wished he would stop touching her before she lost control.
Her flesh tingled and jumped everywhere the “master” touched, igniting a flame somewhere in her body that pooled downward toward her inner thighs. She clenched her teeth in her concentration to douse the flames. She was not attracted to him, she told herself, and she definitely could not let him think she was.
“Your appearance is classic,” he said, still holding her chin. “You look as if you just stepped off the Roman battlefield.”
He traced his callused fingers down the inside of her arm clinically, as if testing her muscles, but she still had to fight not to shiver from the delicious sensations he wrought.
“Such grace,” he went on. “You are more handsome even than Michelangelo’s David. Are you an athlete?”
Leah nodded, wondering if Track and Field had been invented yet. If he didn’t stop touching her, she thought she might explode from the intensity of it. No one had ever made her feel this way. Now that she had the opportunity to tell this historical chauvinist what she thought of him, all she could do was melt, hoping his touch would never stop.
Visions of lovemaking danced into her head to taunt her. Wouldn’t he be surprised to find out what’s underneath the costume, she thought. He’d reject her like all the others had. She sighed as her thoughts finally doused those annoying flames. Luckily, he’d stopped touching her too, folding his arms as he scrutinized her.
“You are athletic, yet there is a grace to you that’s almost…well…feminine. I hope that does not insult you.”
If he only knew.
Buy Now Visit Sherri's Website

Questions About Fifty Shades of Grey

Okay, after much hype, you've seen it, the ads, the links, the television mentions, I'd reluctantly downloaded Fifty Shades of Grey on my new Kindle Fire. I had to know for myself why this book was quickly becoming a cultural phenomena.

I'd heard from several trusted sources that the writing was so-so and that it wasn't actually that HOT and would be considered fantasy more so than an actual piece of erotica.

In my opinion, I think readers and trusted sources are absolutely right.

I do, though reluctantly, admit that I'm a bit enamored with the actual characters. There's quite a bit of eye rolling, but for some inexplicable reason I'm going to continue to read on and see what happens.

I have, however, been asking myself many questions during this entire over-hyped/media genius marketing campaign has come to light.

As an author of four erotic romances, I wondered about the allure to a book that really isn't erotic, though it is touted as being so.

I think I finally realized one of the many reasons this book has been so widely accepted as "Mommy Porn."

It isn't really erotica at all.

I believe erotica is an honest rendering of an erotic romance/story in which mature language is used instead of euphemisms, taking the purple prose out of the story and using modern terms instead of cliches to describe the sex. You'll find no "swollen petals dripping with dew" in erotica.

In the case of the Fifty Shades book, however, it's filled with examples of this.

The character Anastasia refers to her body as "Down there" instead of using the term pussy or vagina or clitoris or mound or labia. There are many instances where the characters make these vague references to anatomical body parts or sexual acts.

I wrote my first erotic romance, Leather and Lace, specifically for Ellora's Cave and was lucky enough to have the book accepted and published. I did my research and scoured the website, taking all the tips I could from the literature of Jaid Black, who went out of her way not to dumb down erotica. She wanted EC authors to be it to be true to modern times.

She believed women had come far enough to be in touch with their sexuality. She literally created a literature sexual revolution, bringing erotica into the mainstream approximately twelve years ago. Way before Fifty Shades.

There are so many, fabulous, well written erotic romance books out there. Amazing characterization, incredible plot lines, and magnificent story tellers weaving sex so hot it'll melt your e-reader, had by characters you come to care about and root for, and in the end, that's what matters. A fabulous story that wasn't written for Twilight fans. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the Twilight movies...mostly. I am a huge fan of the vampire genre, and can attest to this by the release of my first book in the Sangre Series, Seduced by Blood. But, I'm more of a True Blood fan. You know, vampires for adults. lol

I digress, however,

Fifty Shades has literally become a household name (or a housewife's game) and I have to ask myself, do women want the naughty words taken out of their sexual literature?

Is this one reason why Fifty Shades has taken hold?

Is this one reason why housewives, mothers, grandmothers, even the first lady of the United States of America, Michelle Obama has embraced this book.

The subject matter may be a bit taboo, bondage and all, but it's all spoken about in such a dignifying manner.

I'm working on several erotic romances now and I'm wondering if I shouldn't experiment with one. Leave out the references to anatomy and be as vague as possible?

Fifty Shades is a success story, no matter how you look at it, but are women, everyday women wanting to dabble but too embarrassed to be that frank in their literature?

It's definitely something to ponder.

What do you think? Why the success of Fifty Shades? From the viewpoint of other authors, I'd love to hear your opinions? Readers, what about you, does the lack of naughty words appeal to you? Does it make it easier to embrace?

Thanks and have a fabulous day,

Taylor

Summer Bugs

Found him in my yard. He was cute, even with all the legs. {:

Caterpillars. They evoke strong memories for me. I remember growing up in Phoenix and being in elementary school. We had citrus trees and there were giant, fat caterpillars on all the trees. The girls would run screaming of course, and the boys? Yep, they'd chase the girls with the bugs, of course.

Funny, I still have that reaction to all bugs.

I can look, but don't get near me with one or I'm off, screaming, running, nearly killing myself to get away.

I especially hate spiders. Woke up with two bites today, as a matter of fact. So, stripping my bed, spraying bug spray in the corners, moving my bed away from the window, oh, no, wait, I can't do that. I can only lie on one side with my injured back, so I can't move my bed. Not enough room. Thank goodness for the spray, though I have to be careful with the puppy and our other pets.

Spiders creep me out. My son told me that most people swallow a spider in their lifetime. A fact I really didn't need to know. Thanks, dude.

Are you afraid of creepy crawlies or are you a bug person?

Have a great Sunday.

Taylor

Highland Pawn by Evie Mackenzie, Ellora's Cave

Maggie Fraser is willing to do whatever it takes to save her family’s estate, even gaining the cooperation of the ruthless Duke of Westingham. She possesses what he desires most—a maidenhead ripe for the plucking.
Her journey takes her to a dangerous part of the Highlands, a voyeur’s paradise known as Bare Brook. When she finds herself in a bind, the devilishly sexyAlex is on a mission to destroy the Duke of Westingham when he’s forced to play Maggie’s protector. To say the alluring Miss Fraser is a distraction is the understatement of the century. She wants him to teach her how to seduce and please a man, and the fire between them burns out of control. When he learns she’s saving herself for the duke, he’s more determined than ever to kill the man. But his actions could destroy her family and drive a permanent wedge between them.

Read an Excerpt or Buy Now