Gem Sivad's Blog, page 17
April 14, 2014
The Biggest Poser by Sam Cheevers
Hi to everyone! And a special welcome to Sam Cheevers, with us today, talking about her new book, The Biggest Poser.
Passion in its Many Forms
My newest release, The Biggest Poser, is based on a reality television show that makes losing weight into a contest between overweight people and their trainers. Like the real-life show it spoofs, The Biggest Poser is unpredictable, exciting, at times frustrating, and generally inspirational to those of us who constantly struggle with our weight. Unlike The Biggest Loser, however, the book is also about passion.
Passion isn’t just about romance and sex, though that’s certainly the focus of most romantic fiction. Many of us are also passionate about food. Some might call it an addiction. In a way it is. But since we can’t give it up, we need it to live, and it’s a rampantly social activity, I think it’s too simplistic to put food into the addiction category.
In The Biggest Poser, contestants must learn to balance their passion for gastronomic delights with their wish to be healthier, stronger, and slimmer. It’s a common battle in a society where food is everywhere. We see it all over the Internet and on television, hear about it on the radio, and view it on billboards and in the pages of magazines. We can’t escape it. More importantly, those of us with a passion for great food don’t want to escape it. We want to embrace that passion, without letting it overcome us.
That’s really the struggle with any passion isn’t it? To find the balance between enough and too much? The characters in The Biggest Poser, including the trainers, all struggle with it in their own way. But in the end it’s their passion that allows them to find that balance, to conquer their tendency toward overdoing. In The Biggest Poser the road to health is hard, fraught with potholes big enough to eat an overweight man, but it’s traveled with spirit, humor, and, yes, even a bit of ruthlessness. And in the end, each person makes his or her own choices and achieves his or her own level of success.
You can’t ask for more than that!
BLURB
Cover attached to email
May the biggest liar win. Or die trying!
Personal trainer for the ever popular, Lose it! reality show, Jillie Maxwell is up for the most important award of her career. And she’s competing against the biggest b-eye-itch she’s ever met. Fortunately for her, she has the sexiest man alive in her corner. Problem is, each and every one of them has a dirty little secret that could tank a career.
For the contestants, the race is on to lose the most weight and win everything. For the staff of the popular weight loss show, the clock is ticking to the culmination of their lies and the possibility of losing it all.
Will the Biggest Poser win? Or will the lies just grow and grow until they sink the whole show? Only one thing is certain. Whatever happens, it’s gonna be an entertaining ride!
EXCERPT
Her bee stung lips were a delicious dark pink. They looked exquisitely soft, the bottom lip just ever so slightly fuller than the top. A speck of moist pastry sat in the soft crease at the center of that lip.
She had a tiny overbite that Brandt found infinitely charming and her heart-shaped face was flawless, with smooth skin and delicate features. A blush of soft color highlighted her creamy brown cheeks as she flushed with pleasure.
Brandt’s traitorous thoughts formed a picture of her lying beneath him, her bouncy black curls spread charmingly over the pillow as her skin flushed from his sensual attentions.
He wanted to bend down and lick that speck off her lip in the worst way. His heart rate spiked under the need. He squirmed against the counter, fearful that he would be unable to move out from behind it without embarrassing himself.
She focused her dark gaze on him and Brandt swallowed hard. He thought his jeans might cut him in half.
“Oh, my God! Brandt! This is exquisite! You have to give me your recipe.”
He shook his head and gave in to the temptation to touch her, reaching a finger toward her lip to gather up the speck of pastry. “It’s a trade secret. You’ll just have to come to me when you want some.” He pressed gently on those exquisite lips with his finger and she opened them, allowing him into velvet heat.
Her soft pink tongue swept over the pad of his finger, pulling the tidbit off and bathing it in sensual heat. Brandt groaned as she sucked the lucky digit, and he stepped around the island, reaching to wrap an arm around her tiny waist and pull her close.
She gasped as he dragged her up against the hard ridge of flesh beneath his jeans and he pulled his finger from her mouth, dipping his head toward hers.
Jillie lifted onto her toes and met him partway, her slender arms sliding around his neck to pull him close.
Brandt deepened the kiss, pulling her off her feet and holding her tight as their tongues slipped and tangled against each other.
Her small hands sifted through his hair, tickling his scalp. Brandt’s lungs filled with her sweet citrus smell, drawing her into his cells. His body swelled and hardened with need. His senses exploded.
Groaning against her lips, Brandt took a step forward and settled her butt on the countertop so he could press his aching flesh between her slim thighs.
Jillie gasped and her calves came around his hips, creating a delightful pressure in the contact points between their bodies. He slid his hands downward to encompass her firm buttocks. She dragged her mouth from his and pushed against his chest.
“No! We need to stop. This is crazy.”
Brandt allowed himself to be pushed away and stepped back, scrubbing a hand down his face. After a moment, he offered her his hand so she could jump down off the island. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I got carried away.”
She swiped a shaky hand over swollen lips and shook her head. “I was just as much to blame as you were. But it can’t happen again.”
Disappointment swamped him. “I agree. It was a mistake. I promise I won’t initiate anything physical again.”
Brandt sighed, feeling terrible for his part in what had happened between them. He knew how hard Jillie worked to succeed in her career. He knew because he’d been doing the same thing, trying to build his notoriety enough so he could open his own restaurant. He was threatening both of their dreams just because he couldn’t keep his libido in check.
He’d been stupid. He would be lucky if she didn’t get him fired from the show.
With a heavy heart, Brandt turned back to the task at hand, sliding coins into fat strawberries and juicy chunks of melon. He’d have to go out of his way to avoid being alone with Jillie from that point on.
He didn’t trust himself not to touch her again if he ever had the chance.
AUTHOR BIO
Sam’s published work includes 50+ books of romantic suspense and fantasy/paranormal. Her books have won the Dream Realm Award for fantasy and The Swirl (interracial romance) Award. They’ve been nominated for and/or won several CAPAs, have been nominated multiple years for “Best of” with LRC and The Romance Reviews, and have won eCataromance’s Reviewer’s Choice award. Sam is published with Musa Publishing, Changeling Press; and Ellora’s Cave. She also publishes as Declan Sands, writing m/m fiction, and under her own imprint, Electric Prose Publications.
In real life, Sam lives in a cabin in the woods with 13 dogs and one husband. A self-proclaimed dog-aholic, Sam insists she’s holding at 13…maybe…
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Blog | About.Me | Amazon Author Page
April 12, 2014
Weekend Writing Warriors
Hi everyone! Since an unexpected technical delay happened last week and Cerise Amour hasn’t released yet, I’m jumping ahead a bit from the last scene and switching back to Cherry’s POV.
Cherry discarded the rest of the soldier’s tattered clothes but kept the soft leather boots that he’d worn laced to his knees.
“If you die, I’ll take your boots as payment for all my troubles,” she taunted in one of his lucid moments, trying to irritate him into staying alive.
He grunted, making a rough sound that might have been laughter before he answered in a gravelly voice, “If you get me well, I’ll gift you with boots of your own.”
Cherry smiled at his promise, sponging water over his back before reaching lower beneath the sheet to wipe the sweat from his buttocks and thighs.
“Soldier Boy,” she teased, giddy with relief that he planned to keep breathing. “I haven’t lost a patient yet, and I’ll expect payment of said boots in due time.”
“Debt noted,” he growled. “But it’d be best when you’re fondling my ass to remember I’m a man, not a boy.”
Unlikely Gentlemen Books 1 and 2 Available now:
River’s Edge- http://amzn.to/1er2L5b
Outrageous Pride- http://amzn.to/1aWnfz6
Cerise Amour- Coming Soon
Find more Weekend Writing Warrior authors here.
Have a great week…
gem
April 5, 2014
Weekend Writing Warriors
Hi everyone! Since Cerise Amour releases on Thursday, April 10th and that’s this week, @_@ I’m continuing last week’s scene from Unlikely Gentlemen 2.5 (Cherry went to the bayou and stumbled onto a Confederate soldier). I’ve returned to my hero’s POV in this snippet.
Jeb heard the sounds of rescue before he stared up at deliverance. He’d been carried downstream by a torpid current, bleeding in the water all the way; finally he’d bumped against land and had just enough life left to crawl through mud and collapse in the marsh grass.
He was cold, and the water he’d swallowed had left him nauseous, not thirst quenched. But his eyes still worked, and, unless he was hallucinating, he was looking at a tall girl wearing glasses.
“It would be best,” she suggested, enunciating her words carefully as she peered down at him, “if you moved from those weeds before an alligator finds you.”
“Help me up,” he answered, extending his left arm toward her; too trustingly, she took his hand and tugged. If he lived another day, he’d tell her about the error of being too trusting. As it was, he struggled to rise, but fell back into the mud.
Unlikely Gentlemen Books 1 and 2 Available now:
River’s Edge- http://amzn.to/1er2L5b
Outrageous Pride- http://amzn.to/1aWnfz6
Cerise Amour- Available April 10th.
Find more Weekend Writing Warrior authors here.
Have a great week…
gem
April 3, 2014
Fool for Love Blog Hop
• GRAND PRIZE: Kindle Paperwhite w/ Special Offers
• LIVE DRAWING & CHAT: Sun Apr 6th at 7PM Eastern http://chat.justromance.me
Welcome to the Fool for Love Blog Hop! I’m Gem Sivad, author of steamy historical, hot paranormal, and smoldering contemporary (coming soon) romance. Nice to meet you. There are lots of authors and prizes galore on this weekend adventure. I hope you’ll have time to visit everyone so you can go in the drawing for a Kindle.
Leave a comment below, tell me if you’ve ever been a “fool for love” (gotta feed the plot bunnies) 
and go in a drawing for choice of any title from my backlist.
I’m sharing a snippet from Cerise Amour, Unlikely Gentlemen 2.5 releasing on April 10th.
View this publication on CalaméoPublish at Calaméo or browse the library.
Unlikely Gentlemen Books 1 and 2 Available now:
River’s Edge- http://amzn.to/1er2L5b
Outrageous Pride- http://amzn.to/1aWnfz6
Cerise Amour- Available April 10th.
To visit the rest of the blogs on the tour, just click on the banner above or link below.
March 29, 2014
Weekend Writing Warriors
Hi everyone. Spring cleaning going on here. I’m spending the day in the garage with hubs debating the merits of each piece of junk we’ve accumulated and stored since last spring.
My snippet today is from my heroine’s POV and continues last week’s scene from my next Unlikely Gentlemen title, Cerise Amour.
When Cherry woke at daybreak to the sounds of battle coming from Milliken’s Bend, she grabbed her glasses and hastily dressed. No doubt her dad would have told her to stay hidden away on their patch of dry ground in the woods, but he wasn’t here and she could get a better view out by the bayou where the trees thinned.
She made her way to the edge of the waterway, swatting at blood-sucking insects and scouting the area for other noxious creatures before she turned her attention in the direction of the shots being fired.
The pall of sticky heat already blanketing the day steamed her glasses and she removed them, absently wiping the lenses with a handkerchief and squinting at the skyline where smoke hung like low clouds. The day’s heavy humidity changed to a fine drizzle and she returned her spectacles to her nose, preparing to retreat.
Suddenly, a hand snaked out of the weeds and seized her ankle. Cherry gasped, lurching backward, pulling loose from the weak grip.
Instead of fleeing, after she’d caught her breath, she peered down to inspect her assailant and met the fevered gaze of a Confederate soldier.
Unlikely Gentlemen Books 1 and 2 Available now:
River’s Edge- http://amzn.to/1er2L5b
Outrageous Pride- http://amzn.to/1aWnfz6
Cerise Amour- Available April 10th.
Find more Weekend Writing Warrior authors here.
Have a great week…
gem
March 21, 2014
Weekend Writing Warriors
Hi everyone. Happy Spring! It’s warm here and a few intrepid crocuses are poking their heads up and looking around.
I’ve been posting from River’s Edge and Outrageous Pride, my first two Unlikely Gentlemen titles. To read the first full chapter of River’s Edge, and enter the Springtime in the Country $100 Gift Card give away, go here. Since Cerise Amour (UG 2.5) releases on April 10th, I thought I’d share a scene from it today.
June 7, 1863
Knocked from his horse by a lunging infantryman, Jeb Carter staggered, choking and blinded by the billowing canon smoke. Dodging a bayonet thrust that missed his belly but caught his thigh, he shot the soldier in the face, blinking through the sudden gore that sprayed his own.
His commander, Brigadier General Henry E. McCulloch, had expected Walker’s Greyhounds to encounter little resistance from the inexperienced Federal troops at Milliken’s Bend. Instead Jeb’s division had found themselves engaged in a bloody battle quickly devolving into hand-to-hand combat.
When a bullet creased his skull, he fell to the ground, closing his eyes against the pain and fighting to stay conscious. It was still early morning and dew had wet the grass, though he couldn’t be certain it wasn’t his own blood soaking his skin and making him shiver. He didn’t know how much time passed before he opened his eyes again.
A riderless horse galloped toward him, trumpeting its terror at the field of dying and dead soldiers; he levered himself up in time to catch the saddle leathers, letting the animal’s frenzy pull him to his feet to stumble beside it as it cleared a path through those still fighting.
Unlikely Gentlemen Books 1 and 2 Available now:
River’s Edge- http://amzn.to/1er2L5b
Outrageous Pride- http://amzn.to/1aWnfz6
Cerise Amour- Available April 10th.
Find more Weekend Writing Warrior authors here.
Have a great week…
gem
March 19, 2014
Springtime in the Country Blog Hop
Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Springtime in the Country Blog Hop. Thirty-three authors have united to celebrate the new season (at least the calendar says it is) and shake off the malaise of a snowy winter. Yay!!! The Grand Prize for the blog hop is a $100 Gift Card to either Amazon or Barns & Noble (winner’s choice).
Leave a comment below and tell me why you love ( or not) spring where you live to go in a drawing for choice of any title from my backlist.
USE THE RAFFLECOPTER TO ENTER THE DRAWING FOR THE GRAND PRIZE.
Sharing a sample of my writing with Chapter One from my Unlikely Gentlemen title, River’s Edge, a 2014 RONE AWARD Nominee .
View this publication on CalaméoPublish at Calaméo or browse the library.
Unlikely Gentlemen Books 1 and 2 Available now:
River’s Edge- http://amzn.to/1er2L5b
Outrageous Pride- http://amzn.to/1aWnfz6
Cerise Amour- Available April 10th.
To visit the rest of the blogs on the tour, just click on the link below.
http://cowboycharm.blogspot.com/
March 15, 2014
Weekend Writing Warriors
Hi everyone. I don’t want to shout it too loud and jinx the weather but we’ve experienced the phenomenon of sun in sky two days in a row and… *whispering* I think spring is here.
I’m continuing from River’s Edge, posting a little further along in the first meeting scene, but switching POV’s to peek at life through Edge Grayson’s eyes.
“You’re trespassing,” she’d said. There was no disputing that he had been; it was a stupid mistake. Hell, he could have ridden up the fence line a bit and taken a dip on his own land.
But his usual caution had been seduced from him by the willow tree, swaying in the breeze, cool and quiet, offering shade from the day’s heat. Edge rubbed the back of his neck and flinched. It hadn’t been his brightest moment when he’d misjudged the strength of the morning sun and taken his shirt off; he’d burned the shit out of his back.
Bathe in green tea, she’d advised and he wondered if coffee beans would work, discarding the notion since he had none to spare. He mulled over the situation during his ride back to the barn, deciding that his grandiose plan to get his place fixed up before introducing himself to the neighbors had just bitten the dust.
Blurb:
River Prescott has everything she’s ever wanted—except perhaps a man. The unconventional ranch owning artist is very certain she doesn’t want a husband. But sometimes she can’t help wishing for a lover; especially after her new neighbor trespasses and she gets a full frontal view of his assets.
Edge Grayson moves onto the rundown spread he’s inherited, expecting to stay aloof from nearby town business. But between local artist, River Prescott’s determination to seduce him, and protecting her from a killer on the prowl, the ex-gunslinger is finding respectability a lot more dangerous (and interesting) than his former life of sin.
Voting for this division ends March 16th (today/Sunday) here.
Thanks for your help!
Find more Weekend Writing Warrior authors here.
Have a great week!
gem
March 8, 2014
Weekend Writing Warriors
Hi everyone! I’m circling back to River’s Edge this weekend, having learned it’s a nominee for a 2013 RONE Award, sponsored by InD’Tale Magazine.
As I wrote this story last year, I posted snippets from it on WeWriWa and used your comments to tweak. So belatedly–thanks for your fantastic feedback!! Today’s post is a bit further on in this scene shared two weeks ago.
River bit her bottom lip, concentrating as she detailed the heavy shoulder muscles, the sprinkling of dark chest hair, and the sharp hipbones framing the flat belly. Her feathered strokes mimicked the fine hairs circling his navel before arrowing toward his groin.
She captured the glistening drops of water collected in the dark thatch surrounding his manhood. To her surprise, his penis appeared more robust than the hairless groins of the marble statues she’d studied in her books.
As though her scrutiny had caused the action, he fisted his hand around his shaft and stoked the flesh between his legs until it became engorged.
The erotic motion caught her unawares and the pencil she gripped too hard, snapped into two parts as she stifled a moan. River forced her gaze away from the intimate act and back to the harsh planes of his face.
Almost casually, he rinsed, walked out of the water to his pile of clothes, picked up his gun, pointed it at the approximate place where she crouched in the tree, and said, “Come down from there now or I’ll start shooting.”
Blurb:
River Prescott has everything she’s ever wanted—except perhaps a man. The unconventional ranch owning artist is very certain she doesn’t want a husband. But sometimes she can’t help wishing for a lover; especially after her new neighbor trespasses and she gets a full frontal view of his assets.
Edge Grayson moves onto the rundown spread he’s inherited, expecting to stay aloof from nearby town business. But between local artist, River Prescott’s determination to seduce him, and protecting her from a killer on the prowl, the ex-gunslinger is finding respectability a lot more dangerous (and interesting) than his former life of sin.
Available @ Amazon: http://amzn.to/X41UMr
A Crowned Heart Review 
What does an illegitimate, ex-hired gun have to offer a lady?…volcanic sexual tension… InD’Tale Magazine
If you enjoyed River Prescott and Edge Grayson’s story, please consider showing it some love. In order to be selected for first place in its division, River’s Edge needs the most readers’ votes in the American Historical category.
Voting in this division begins March 10th (Monday) and ends March 16th (Sunday). To vote, follow this link to InD’Tale Magazine, register, click on the American Historical category and Vote for River’s Edge!
Thanks for your help!
Find more Weekend Writing Warrior authors here.
Have a great week…
gem
March 1, 2014
Weekend Writing Warriors
Brrrr…a fire this morning seems appropriate since it’s winter outside, again.
I’m sharing a snippet this weekend from a wip I’ve been working on in between other wips I’m working on. Since you’re here, you’re probably an author, so I know you understand what I mean. For now anyway, the wip’s titled Smoke.
Instead of focusing on the barn, or the bonfire, or the food to be prepared, Harley Jane found herself looking at the neighborhood men and comparing them to Gable Matthews.
“Have any trouble when you were in town last Friday?” Ben Foster asked. Even off duty, the sheriff took his job seriously.
Hmmm, let’s see. I was side-swiped by a car, fell on the ice, got stranded in a bar full of drunks for almost twelve hours, and had sex with a stranger. “Nope, no problems,” Harley Jane answered.
As she spoke the denial, the thought of said stranger brought a syrupy ache to her core and flashes of heat zinged in her belly.
Find more Weekend Writing Warrior authors here.
Gem Sivad
Writing Erotic, Paranormal and Historical Romance
Author of the series Eclipse Heat & Unlikely Gentlemen
Published by Ellora’s Cave; Siren BookStrand & Dark Mountain Books
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Have a great weekend everyone and…
THINK SPRING!!
