Cheyenne Blue's Blog, page 7

Girl Meets Girl Collection – out now!

The two novels Not-So-Straight Sue and Fenced-In Felix and the two novella's Never-Tied Nora and Almost-Married Moni are now all available in one boxset. Check out the Girl Meets Girl Collection!

The post Girl Meets Girl Collection – out now! appeared first on Cheyenne Blue.

What to do when not writing

I’ve had my head down and bum up on the writing front for the last few months.  It’s been terrific, and I feel I’ve made good progress. But this weekend, the only writing I’m doing is this blog post (oh, and a shopping list, but that doesn’t count).

I like to take little mini breaks away from writing from time to time. It keeps things fresh, and even though I’m not consciously thinking about my story, I’ll quite often have a little random thought pop into my head that time away has allowed to surface.   The last random thought was “must check the range of green tree frogs in Queensland” (Answer: pretty much everywhere, especially where you least expect them. Especially any toilet where someone left the lid up.)

March in south east Queensland is pretty shitty, to be honest. Humidity at 100%. Raining all the time. The sheets are damp when you get into bed. Stand still for five minutes and the mould will creep across the floor and up your leg. The veggie garden is one big rotting fungal mass, and even the eggplants have gone bitter.

But it’s not all bad. This weekend has been a stay-at-home weekend. Time to clean house, restock the beer fridge, and pick what garden produce is doing well. That’s it above:  the last mangoes from the tree, the last finger limes, Tahitian limes, avocados, and red onion.  And because my local butcher had some goat meat from NSW, I’m going to make Nepali Goat Curry, which will involve a lot of grinding and smashing and slow cooking (which will steam up the already humid and uncomfortable house even more, but oh well).  I’ll need to go and buy ginger, and mustard oil (which is where the shopping list comes in), and then we’ll open a particularly nice bottle of shiraz I’ve been saving.

Come Monday, it will be back to the day job, and–more importantly–back to my work in progress. There will be goat curry leftovers in the fridge, but I doubt there will be any of the good red wine left.

Cover Reveal: Not-So-Straight Sue

You know you’re busy when your partner has to ask you three times if you want a glass of wine and you just. haven’t. heard.

That’s what it’s been like in the Blue House on the Hill these last few weeks.  Sure, there’s a lot of the usual crap going down that anybody you ask will also be bogged in up to the oxters (Oxters. Lovely word. Needs a revival) but I’ve been running around like a headless chook with writing things. Which is a lot better than day job things, and administrivia (although one of these days I really must finish my tax return before the Australian Tax Office comes a-knocking).

What sort of writing things? Well, my biggest writing goal this year is simple: two novels. Now, I know there’s plenty of people out there to whom two novels a year is slacking (Harper, darling, I’m looking at you…. *blows kisses*) but for this little black duck, two novels = the sound of clicking keyboard for a large amount of my spare time. But so far, so good. I managed 35K words in 30 days between January and February.  I then took a break to edit the extraordinarily prolific (and most excellent) aforementioned Harper’s next novel, and I’m currently waiting for the edits on my next novel to come winging through the ether to me.

Next novel? Hell yeah, and I’ve been meaning to share the very beautiful cover for a while now.

Not-So-Straight Sue will come out from Ylva in June, so I’m not going to bombard you with details now, except to say: Cover. Pretty. Lookee.

Best Lesbian Erotica of the Year blog tour

Best lesbian erotica and Sacchi Green go together like tequila and lime, so when Sacchi said she was going to be the new editor of that proud mothership, Best Lesbian Erotica, I was delighted.

My history with BLE goes back to the 2003 edition under Tristan Taormino’s eye.  My story in that edition, Wide White Sky, was one of the first (if not the first) erotic lesbian story I wrote. I made it into the 2004 edition as well, with A Tangle of Vines.  Then I had a bad run, where I had several near misses when I made the shortlist, but got cut before the book made print.  There’s even a couple of blurbs for BLE out there which mention my stories–stories that were cut from the final book!

But in 2014 with Kathleen Warnock at the helm, I made the cut again with Run, Jo, Run.  And now here I am again in the rebranded Best Lesbian Erotica of the Year.  I’m eagerly awaiting my contributor’s copies so that I can read and enjoy the other stories.

My story The Road to Hell has been sitting half-finished on my hard drive for several years.  Early on, I had the opening image of a woman driving hell-for-leather down the freeway on her way to commit adultery, but then the story shuddered to a halt. It was a difficult story to finish.  The theme is adultery, and the tone is bittersweet, rather than happy-romantic. Don’t get me wrong, I adore happy-romantic (as my latest novella Never-Tied Nora demonstrates) but shift-in-perception, slightly off-kilter stories, somewhat open-ended are the stories that I most love to read, and occasionally manage to write.

Before I post an excerpt from my story, if you comment here, or on any of the other posts in the BLE blog tour, you will be entered into the draw to win a free copy of Best Lesbian Erotica 20th Anniversary Edition. The drawing will be held by February 28th and the winner announced by March 5th.  If you don’t win (or even if you do) you can purchase Best Lesbian Erotica of the Year 20th Anniversary Edition from Amazon.com or other good retailers.

Eve drives as if the devil is after her, chasing her along the interstate. Off to Colorado. The sun slants low, bruising the dry landscape with a golden glow. The color reminds her of Murphy, their Labrador, who no doubt is sprawled on the couch, his head in Teri’s lap.

Eve’s heart skitters like a rabbit, making her lightheaded. She sweats a film of nerves even though the air conditioning is on high.

She’s going to lose her virginity. That’s what it feels like, even though she technically lost that nearly twenty years ago, the day Teri cornered her in the storeroom of the bakery where they both worked on Saturdays, kissing her sweetly and stickily, touching her in places that took you straight to hell. On that day, age seventeen, going to hell seemed a long way off.

Hell seems closer now. She’s driving to Denver to commit adultery. She’s going kiss another woman, touch her, lie with her, and find out how she tastes.

“I could come too, honey,” Teri had said, as Eve flung jeans and shirts into a sports bag with pretend haphazardness—clothes she’d carefully picked out the week before.

Eve had given her a quick kiss and put as much sincerity as she could manage in her voice. “I wish you could. But it’ll be dull. Talking food.”

“Imagine if you get the contract!” Teri’s enthusiasm was genuine, and Eve felt a stab of remorse. There is no contract. There is no company in Denver wanting to distribute her line of preserves. There’s only a woman she met on the internet and the allure of the forbidden sucking her in with silver tentacles.

Eve imagines she’s dying, imagines she’s facing her maker. It will be a dusty plain, where the land is as unforgiving as the god who made it. She imagines he can prise open the crannies of her mind so the cold plains wind blows her secrets out to paint the landscape. He’d say to her then, at the moment of her death, “Why did you not do it? Why did you not taste another woman? You wanted it so much.”

Eve knows the god will shake his shaggy head, and pity her for her denial, even as he elevates her to heaven.

But after tomorrow, she’ll go straight to hell.

She negotiates the Denver rush hour, weaving across the lanes of I-25 to take the downtown exit to find her hotel.

“They must think a lot of you,” Teri had said, impressed, when Eve told her where she was staying.

“They probably put everyone up there.” The lie rolled easily. It scared her a little, how good she is at the lies.

She wanders through her room examining the toiletries, the mini bar, the wide-screen TV. Teri would like this, she thinks, but suppresses the thought. Teri is outside these two days of her life. which are moments out of time, an alternate reality. Afterward, she will return to Wyoming and live happily ever after with Teri.

They are happy, that’s the thing Eve finds strangest in all of this. She doesn’t want to change her life; she just wants a yardstick to measure it by.

(Re)Release: Sweet Spot by Lucy Felthouse

I’m a huge tennis fan.  I can’t tell you one single thing about rugby, or American football, or hockey, or any team sport, but if you want to know who won Wimbledon in 2006, or the players in the women’s game with the best one-handed backhand, well, I’m your woman. Most years, I go to the Brisbane International tournament and watch matches and practice, and soak up the atmosphere.

So when a story comes out that is a lesbian romance with tennis, I’m all over it.

I read Sweet Spot some time ago, and loved it, so I’m very happy to participate in the blitz for its re-release.  Lucy always tells a good story–a good steamy story–and in Sweet Spot those two things are both to the fore(hand). But it’s also a great story about tennis, and for all the out players in the women’s game, and for the fact that tennis is one sport where the women earn equal winnings as the men (and quite often more in endorsements), there are surprisingly few lesbian tennis stories.

So if, like me, you love the game, or you just want to read an excellent lesbian story, check out Lucy’s book Sweet Spot.

Oh… and the winner of Wimbles in 2006 and the best one-handed backhand in the game?  Same answer: my biggest most enduring crush, Amelie Mauresmo. (who knew I’d sneak a reference in to her? :))

Over to Lucy:

Virginia Miller is an up-and-coming tennis star. She’s gone from a ratty tennis court in a park in south London, England, to the world’s top training facility—Los Carlos Tennis Academy in California. In awe of the talent around her, Virginia is all the more determined to make the most of the opportunity and show that she’s worthy of her place there. Her mentor, Nadia Gorlando, has every faith in her.
But Virginia finds herself distracted—Nadia, as well as being a top-notch tennis player, is seriously sexy, and Virginia’s mind keeps wandering where it shouldn’t. Will her crush get in the way of her career, or can she find a way to push the other woman out of her mind before it’s too late?

Please note: This is a re-released title with a new cover—the book content hasn’t changed.

Amazon: http://mybook.to/sweetspot

Other buy links: http://lucyfelthouse.co.uk/published-works/sweet-spot/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21521972-sweet-spot

*****

Excerpt:

Nadia Gorlando and I had just gotten off the exercise bikes in the gym when one of the academy’s coaches, Peter Ross, headed over to us, all smiles.

“Hey, Nadia,” he said, his all-American grin widening and his blond hair flopping down over his forehead, “I need a huge favor.”

I flicked my gaze to Nadia. She raised one of her perfectly shaped eyebrows and waited for him to continue. He did.

“I totally lost track of time just now and I have an appointment with Travis Connolly. Would you mind wiping down my machine for me? Or maybe stick a note on it saying it’s out of order? I don’t want to leave it all sweaty for someone else. You’ll be doing me a real solid. I’ll owe you.”

My jaw almost hit the floor.

Now Nadia rolled her eyes, looked over at the offending machine, then back at Peter. “Sure, I understand,” she said, as cool as ice. “The world’s number one can’t wait. Go right ahead—I’ll fix it for you.”

He babbled a load of thanks, then jogged out of the gym.

I gaped at her. “You’re not going to do it, are you?”

Nadia chuckled. “Of course not. He may be coaching Travis Connolly and Rufus Lampani for the US Open, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to clean up his mess.” She pointed with her chin over to the machine Peter had just vacated. “Come on, V, I’ll show you how I’m going to deal with this.”

I followed her, grinning. Her tone told me that it was going to be something fun. Well, for us, anyway. Probably not for Peter.

Sure enough, when she returned from the room off the side of the gym, she had a pad of paper and a pen in her hands. Deliberately shielding the pad from my view, she wrote something down, then pulled off the top sheet. Folding it, she then propped it on the sweat-slicked seat so the writing was on view to anyone who happened past.

When I’d read and absorbed the words, I turned to Nadia, impressed. Her smile lit up her face, showing dimples in each cheek, and her brown eyes gleamed with amusement.

It was in that moment that I decided I had the serious hots for Nadia Gorlando.

The sign read,

PLEASE EXCUSE THE STATE OF THIS MACHINE. PETER ROSS, TENNIS COACH SUPREMO, “LOST TRACK OF TIME”.

*****

Author Bio:

Lucy Felthouse is the award-winning author of erotic romance novels Stately Pleasures (named in the top 5 of Cliterati.co.uk’s 100 Modern Erotic Classics That You’ve Never Heard Of, and an Amazon bestseller) and Eyes Wide Open (an Amazon bestseller). Including novels, short stories and novellas, she has over 140 publications to her name. She owns Erotica For All, is book editor for Cliterati, and is one eighth of The Brit Babes. Find out more about her writing at http://lucyfelthouse.co.uk, or on Twitter and Facebook. You can also subscribe to her monthly newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/gMQb9

Best Lesbian Erotica of the Year

It’s out! Best Lesbian Erotica of the Year 20th Anniversary Edition is finally here. A new incarnation of one of the best annual lesbian anthologies, now under the care of the very wonderful Sacchi Green.

To celebrate, Sacchi has organised a blog tour, which kicked off yesterday over at her blog. Do check it out.  If you need extra incentive, leave a comment on any or all of the posts on the tour to be entered into a draw to win a free copy of the book.

My own post is scheduled for 24 February, so I’ll talk more about my story in the anthology The Road to Hell at that time.

Here’s the list of tour links:

Feb 10

Sacchi Green-Introduction

http://sacchi-green.blogspot.com

Feb. 11

Rose de Fer-“Dust”

http://poisonthorns.blogspot.co.uk/

Feb. 12

Louise Blaydon-“Ascension”

 https://louiseblaydon.wordpress.com/

Feb 13

MeganMc Ferren-“The Royalty Underground”

http://sacchi-green.blogspot.com

Feb. 14

Harper Bliss-“Reunion Tour”

 http://wp.me/p2tvlj-Yn

Feb 15

D.L. King-“Hot Blood”

dlkingerotica.blogspot.com 

Feb 16

Jean Roberta-“Tears from Heaven”

http://jean_roberta.livejournal.com

Feb  17

Sinclair Sexsmith-“Luscious and Wild”

http://www.sugarbutch.net

Feb 18

R.G. Emanuelle-“Smorgasbord”

http://sacchi-green.blogspot.com

Feb 19

Rose  P. Lethe-“A Professional”

https://roseplethe.wordpress.com/2016/01/31/excerpt-the-professional/

Feb 20

Anna Watson-“Easy”

http://thetotalfemme.com

Feb 21

Valerie Alexander-“Grind House”

http://www.valeriealexander.org

Feb 22

Annabeth Leong-“Give and Take”

annabethleong.blogspot.com 

Feb 23

Frankie Grayson-“Mirror Mirror”

http://sacchi-green.blogspot.com 

Feb 24

Cheyenne Blue-“The Road to Hell”

www.cheyenneblue.com

Feb 25

Emily L. Byrne-“The Further Adventures of Miss Scarlet”

http://writeremilylbyrne.blogspot.com

Feb 26

Sossity Chiricuzio-“Make them Shine”

http://sossitywrites.tumblr.com/ 

Feb  27

Teresa Noelle Roberts-“Tomato Bondage”

http://www.teresanoelleroberts.com/?p=2185

Guest Post: The Evolution of My Doms – Lisabet Sarai

I’ve been writing erotic romance for sixteen years now—since before I even knew what romance was. And much of this romance has included BDSM elements. My first novel, Raw Silk, was inspired by my personal initiation into dominance and submission. I’ve had only one BDSM relationship in my life, but it has influenced me profoundly. Indeed, it’s not a stretch to say that Lisabet Sarai would not exist if it had not been for my Master. My writing let me imagine situations beyond what I’d actually experienced as well as to relive the amazing emotional intensity of those precious months with my Dom. Raw Silk is not in any sense autobiographical, but nevertheless the heroine was a stand-in for me, as I discovered and explored my desire for surrender.

When I re-read my first book now, though—something I just did, in preparation for a re-release in March—I’m struck by how much of a fantasy character I created in the dominant, Gregory Marshall. I didn’t know the term or the concept then, but Gregory is a classic alpha hero. He’s tall, dark, muscular, mysterious, slightly dangerous, a man who knows what he wants and won’t brook refusal. Gregory is an expert at delivering sexual pleasure or teasing frustration. He doesn’t share his emotions easily, but he’s a wizard at intuiting my heroine’s feelings.

Gregory is extremely sexy, but he’s not at all realistic. He was the Master I thought I wanted at the time, with many of my real Master’s positive qualities, but a lot less vulnerable—and much better looking!

Fast forward a decade and a half to The Gazillionaire and the Virgin, where I’ve written a very different sort of Dom. Theo is the opposite of an alpha. He has had dominant fantasies from puberty, but his borderline autistic nature and social awkwardness have prevented him from ever acting on his desires. Although he has excellent instincts, as well as a fondness for detail that has motivated extensive research into kinky topics, he’s also consumed by self-doubt about his lack of experience as a Dom. When Rachel offers herself to him, he’s thrilled but a bit lost—though needless to say, he eventually rises to the occasion!

It took some courage for me to write a Dom like Theo. The interesting thing is that he’s much more like my real world Master than Gregory ever was. That may be why my beta readers have said they love him. He’s believable. They can identify with a man who has Theo’s issues, but who’s still dominant.

I hope the market will forgive me for violating all the rules about the way romance heroes should be. I wanted to show that wielding erotic power doesn’t require perfection. Indeed, a sensitive, self-conscious Dominant might well make a better lover.

Blurb

Silicon Valley entrepreneur Rachel Zelinsky is not a woman who lets pleasure interfere with business, but when she meets reclusive genius Theo Moore, she can’t resist his geeky appeal. Though Theo’s knowledge about sex derives from extensive research and a stash of kinky porn rather than real-world experience, he is Rachel’s first true Master—and the first man to truly touch her heart.

Excerpt

I decide to drive myself, and choose the BMW for its aura of unobtrusive luxury. One look at my red Lamborghini, I suspect, and Theo Moore would run away screaming. Cruising up to his attractive but unremarkable building at exactly six, I pull into one of the parking spots labeled “Visitors”. My pulse, I’m annoyed to notice, is elevated, and my cheeks feel hot. Do I look as flustered as I feel?

A quick check in the rear-view mirror reassures me. My understated make-up enlarges my eyes and shrinks my rather prominent nose. Gold-plated combs sweep my unruly curls away from my temples into a semi-elegant cascade. Matching gold earrings dangle from my earlobes almost to my bare shoulders. My strapless gown of teal satin hugs my bust and hips like it was made for me—which of course it was. I practice a confident but non-threatening smile. Good evening, Theo. I’m so glad you decided to come.

The minutes tick by, but there’s no sign of him. Should I climb up to his door and ring? Or wait for him to work up the courage to come out by himself? Does he realize I’ve arrived? Is he watching out his window?  Or cowering in his room?

I get more annoyed by the second. I am considering honking the horn, which I know will embarrass him, when he appears on the second floor landing. I recognize him by his height and bulk. Otherwise, he’s transformed.

In the custom tailored tuxedo, he’s distinguished and elegant. The sleek black trousers cling to what are obviously powerful, muscular legs. The jacket highlights his broad shoulders and trim waist. Not fat, oh no! He moves with unexpected grace, as if the formal clothing bestowed a sort of gravitas to subdue his usual gawkiness. With his dark hair slicked back from his forehead, he looks like some international man of mystery. The spectacles just heighten the impression of intelligence and sophistication.

Holding the rail of the gallery that runs along the second floor, he scans the parking area.

“Over here, Theo,” I call out of the open window.

He jumps at the sound of my voice. I think he’s about to bolt, to flee back into his condo and slam the door. I can practically see the struggle going on in his body. I hold my breath, waiting for the outcome. Finally he raises his hand in a feeble wave, and fumbles his way down the stairs. The strong, self-assured man of a few moments earlier has vanished. But I remember him. That’s the Theo Moore I need to cultivate.

He makes it to the car. I press the auto-release and the door swings open. “Hi, Theo. Come on, get in. We’re running somewhat late.”

He ducks his head, folds his long limbs and maneuvers his massive body onto the leather upholstery. After fastening his seat belt, he focuses his attention on the blinking, teak-inlaid instrument panel. He neither greets me nor apologizes.

With a shrug, I trigger the ignition and back out onto the road. “You look fantastic, by the way.”

“I feel ridiculous. Like some performer in a circus. Or maybe a trained seal.”

“I’m sorry you’re uncomfortable.” I swing the car out of his complex onto El Camino Real. “In a way, I guess this is a kind of performance. The tux really looks great on you, though. You’re going to impress the donors. And that’s what’s important, isn’t it?”

“I suppose so.”  He slumps into the bucket seat, sulking.

With a sigh, I address myself to the task of driving. It’s not far from Palo Alto to Mountain View, but the Saturday evening traffic is insane. Is it any wonder I prefer Santa Cruz?  If Theo doesn’t feel like making conversation, that’s fine. I won’t be distracted.

A traffic light turns red just as I’m about to slide through. “Oh, damn!” I glance over at my passenger, embarrassed by my lack of patience. “Sorry. But I wanted to get there early enough to greet the first guests.”

I’m surprised to discover that Theo’s staring at me.

“You look beautiful,” he says, his voice low and earnest.

“Um—what?” I gun the engine as the light flashes green, bolting ahead of the other vehicles.

“Your hair. Your dress. The color suits you. It makes your skin look like polished ivory.”

Huh? “Ah—thank you, Theo. I guess we’ll make an attractive couple. Never hurts when you’re pitching to the beautiful people, right?” I force out a chuckle.

He does not respond. Theo Moore really doesn’t really understand the dynamics of polite conversation.

 

Ebook Buy Links (Print coming soon!)

Amazon US

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01B76B95K/

Amazon UK

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01B76B95K/

Barnes & Noble

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-gazillionaire-and-the-virgin-lisbet-sarai/1123327821?ean=2940157884932

All Romance

https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-thegazillionaireandthevirgin-1974313-354.html

Kobo

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/the-gazillionaire-and-the-virgin

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28766414-the-gazillionaire-and-the-virgin

 ~ ~ ~

About Lisabet

LISABET SARAI occasionally tackles other genres, but BDSM will always be her first love. Every one of her nine novels includes some element of power exchange, while her D/s short stories range from mildly kinky to intensely perverse.

You’ll find information and excerpts from all Lisabet’s books on her website (http://www.lisabetsarai.com/books.html), along with more than fifty free stories and lots more. At her blog Beyond Romance (http://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com), she shares her philosophy and her news and hosts lots of other great authors. She’s also on Goodreads and finally, on Twitter.

This post is part of my Gazillionaire and Virgin blog tour, running from February 1st to 15th. Leave me a comment on this post, including your email address, and I’ll enter you to win a $50 bookstore gift certificate (first prize) or a print copy of the new book (second prize). Visit all the stops for more chances to win. You’ll find the full list here:

http://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com/2016/01/blog-tour.html

 

The Trouble With Names

I’ve been away camping for the last few days, so I’m a bit late in posting this.  My excuse is a valid one:  Australian summer, long weekend, hot, hot days, cool, cool water.  ‘Nuff said.

Anyhow, in my absence, the amazing people over at Women and Words have hosted a blog post of mine, and you should go over there NOW and.  Why?  Well, apart from reading my rambles about the difficulties of naming characters (and cars and dogs), you can win a FREE BOOK.

That’s worth the trip.

Yup, , leave a comment and one random commenter will win an ebook copy of my latest novella, Never-Tied Nora.

You’ll have to go quickly though.  The giveaway ends on 29 January.

See you there!

You can take the girl out of Ireland (Ylva January Blog Hop)

Welcome to my spot on  Ylva Publishing’s January blog hop—a circuit of some of the many fantastic authors currently writing for Ylva.  Thank you to JD Glass for handing on to me.

For six years, around the time of the new millennium, I was lucky enough to live in Ireland. I lived in an old coach house, in a tough and traditional small town not so far from the border with Northern Ireland.  It was a fabulous few years, and I enjoyed the everyday spontaneous wit I heard around me, warm conversations with strangers, the joy of traditional music lifting the rafters in a pub late at night, and particularly the close-knit community of a small town.

There were downsides, of course, because that is the way of things, and a perfect life would be a boring one.  One downside that lingered longer than any small annoyance and required a tactful approach was small town politics. That seemed intensified in the border region, where old grudges were often rooted on either side of the political and religious divide that, until more recent times, was part and parcel of Ireland.

The basis for my new novella, Never-Tied Nora, came from those years in Ireland.  At the root of the story is a long-running feud between two London Irish families: the Kellys and the Flannerys. The reason for the feud is a minor one, but in the microcosm of London Irish society, petty grievances take on a life of their own.  So when my main characters, Nora and Geraldine, fall in love, they not only have to deal with the adjusting of life around a new relationship, they also have to deal with their very traditional families, and the fact that those families are sworn enemies. Their brothers beat each other up in the streets, their sisters taunt each other.

Nora and Geraldine’s story is told against a London backdrop, and the turmoil and banter of their large families.  There’s a lot of red wine, a staunch best friend, and of course time between the sheets.  Or on top of them.

I hope you’ll take the time to check out Never-Tied Nora, which is available now from Ylva Publishing, as well as Amazon and other retailers.

Blurb

Nora Kelly loves her carefree London life where there’s always a new woman to seduce. Her big Irish family tease her about her footloose ways, but she knows she’s in no danger of losing her heart.

Her family has only one rule when it comes to dating: Nora can date any woman she wants—as long as she’s not a Flannery. The Kellys and the Flannerys have been feuding ever since both families arrived in London from Ireland sixty years ago, and time has not lessened the hatred.

But never-tied Nora has just met the woman of her dreams, and suddenly commitment isn’t a dirty word. Trouble is, Geraldine is a Flannery.

Can Nora convince Ger that, despite their families, they are meant to be together?

Excerpt

The Korean place was modern—tiled, cold, and echoey, but I didn’t care. We were shown to a table at the back where huge potted plants muted the worst of the noise. It was far enough from the kitchen that the service was beyond woeful, but I didn’t care. I sat opposite Ger once again and watched her expressions and gestures—the quick smile that lit her face like lightning over the ocean, and her small, white fingers with their short, blunt nails as they pointed to a menu selection.

We ate sizzling beef brought by blank-faced waiters, and if I’d been with Sue I’d have been whining about the price of everything and how that should at least get us a smile. But with Ger, complaining didn’t cross my mind. Indeed, I welcomed the awful service as it meant more uninterrupted time to look, to flirt, to touch her hand, to dream, to imagine, and to fantasize about an outcome between us. We finished the bottle of wine but didn’t order another. Instead, we drank water, and played the getting to know you guessing game.

“You’re a professional women’s hockey player,” I said. “Or a coal miner. Final answer.”

Her sigh was theatrical. “You’ve caught me. Want an autograph? Actually, my sister plays hockey. She says I should learn—I might meet someone. She reckons she’s the only straight woman on the team.”

I picked up her hand again. “Tell her you’ve already met someone.”

Her gaze clung to mine. “I might do that. Or I might let her set me up with Big Betsie, the goalie. I love a woman with muscles.”

I pushed up the sleeve of my jacket to show my forearm. “I have muscles,” I said in pretend affront. “All the typing I do, how could I not?”

“You’re a writer,” she guessed. “You ghostwrite autobiographies of the rich and famous. Or you’re a PhD student, four years into the world’s longest thesis.”

“I wish. Think dull. Think of the jobs that send you to sleep.”

“Hypnotherapist? Is that how you’re so successful with women?”

“You don’t know that I’m successful. I could be Never-Laid Nora, the unloved.”

Her expression sobered, and she shuffled her chair around the tiny table so that she was next to me. She was so close I could smell the spices from the meal on her breath. She moved her chair enough that it was angled toward mine, her legs capturing one of mine between them.

“Nora, look at me.” The laughter fled her voice. “If you are the unloved, if you are the unlaid, then—”

“Then what?” I was trapped. Caught in the intensity of her eyes and the steel of her thighs.

“It’s my lucky day, as you must be desperate.” Warmth radiated from her fleeting smile.

She leaned forward, enough that I could see the dark flecks in her sea-green eyes. “I won’t lie to you, Nora. I’ve gone home with women I’ve just met. Met them in a club, or a pub, or at my sister’s hockey game. And I’ve spent a night with them, and at the time it was wonderful. Sex, out of this world. But afterwards? Not so much.” She dragged a deep breath, sat back, and took a gulp from her water glass. “I’m tempted. I’m tempted to lean in and kiss you. Learn your taste, the sigh of your breath. See if your hair is as soft as it looks. I want to know you. Learn what your skin feels like. And in the morning we’d have coffee, and kiss, and swap phone numbers, and then I’d leave, or you’d leave, depending on where we were, and I’d wait for your call. Or maybe I wouldn’t. Maybe I’d have written you off as just another one of those women, and I’d go into work, and maybe I’d cry on my boss’s shoulder over you. Maybe not.”

Her quiet words held me spellbound, and even the tardy waiter arriving to clear away the dirty dishes didn’t interrupt.

“What do you want from me, Nora?”

My voice was a croak worthy of any frog princess. “Everything. I want everything you’ll give me.”

Never-Tied Nora is now available on all of the Amazons as well as Smashwords. And of course, you can buy it direct from Ylva too. Stop by and check out their site for an amazing array of lesbian reading.

Ylva Publishing

Amazon

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com.au

Amazon.de

Smashwords

And now, I pass you on to the next stop on Ylva’s blog tour: fellow Aussie, Jane Waterton, whose fantastic book Times of Our Lives was released by Ylva last November. Jane is guest posting over at Jae’s blog, and that will be live on 14 January.

2015 in review

2015 was a good year in many ways for me.  It brought much pleasure and achievement, much laughter and good times.

I continue to live in south east Queensland, one of the most beautiful parts of Australia.  I live in a rural community, in a house perched on the side of a hill with views forever (that’s the view above on a misty morning).  The joy and inspiration this setting brings cannot be underestimated.  I love the sub-tropical climate, the ability to grow my own vegetables and source much of what we eat from local small producers.  So much better than the mass production supermarkets, with their dubious ethics and lack of accountability.

Our major holiday plan for the year–a month in the deserts of outback Queensland and the Northern Territory travelling some of the remotest areas in an already remote country were put on hold.  2015 was also the year my mother died, and outback Queensland became a hasty trip to Canada to spend time with her.  I’m so very glad I went.  Outback Queensland will always be there. The people we love, unfortunately, are not.

2015 was a different year for me in writing, one in which I stretched myself again and accomplished something that was a long-held writing goal, but one I’d never really attempted:  writing longer-length stories. My first novella Never-Tied Nora  was accepted by Ylva Publishing and came out on 2 December.  This therefore was also my first time working in-depth with an editor.  With short stories, editors, for the most part, send through edits on a story, you accept or reject them, end of process.  But with Never-Tied Nora the marvelous Jove Belle worked with me over several weeks, which was an amazing experience.  I’m not entirely sure how the 5-10K words she told me to add turned into an additional 14K… Wait! Yes, I remember, it was because of a bug in MS Word that deleted spaces between words and so I was fooled into thinking I’d written less than I had.  But ha ha, the story is the better for it.

Importantly, attempting longer works gave me back the joy of creating and putting words down.  I hadn’t lost it completely, but I had lost a lot of motivation.  That’s now back in barrel loads.

You can enter a Goodreads giveaway right now to win a paperback copy of Never-Tied Nora.

2015 also saw me complete the follow up to Never-Tied Nora. As soon as I publish this post, I’ll be doing my final-final-final checks on the manuscript of my first full-length novel, Not-So-Straight Sue and sending it off to Jove. That will be published by Ylva in June 2016 as the second in my Girl Meets Girl series.

I also edited my second anthology in 2015. First: Sensual Lesbian Stories of New Beginnings came out in September from the ever-awesome Ladylit Publishing.  Once again, it was my privilege to work with a string of fantastic writers who trusted me with their stories.  Anthology editing is such fun (and such hard work).  Hey, there’s also a giveaway going on on Goodreads to win a paperback copy of First.

I didn’t abandon short stories either.  Some of my short stories were included anthologies put out by Ladylit, most notably the mini anthologies with the same five writers: Harper Bliss, Lucy Felthouse, Laila Blake, Erzabet Bishop and myself.  This year saw the release of Opposites Attract and Christmas Kisses (don’t think you need to read it at Christmas to enjoy it).

I also have a story in Summer Love: stories of lesbian holiday romance also put out by Ladylit. And finally, after a long delay in publication, one in Three of Hearts: erotic romance for women  edited by the wonderful Kristina Wright

Of course, if you enjoy my short lesbian erotica and romance, I hope you will check out my collections.  My best short works are collected into Blue Woman Stories Volume 1, Blue Woman Stories Volume 2, and 2015 saw the release of Blue Woman Stories Volume 3.  All of them are put out by Ladylit, and there’s 5 romantic and sexy stories in each volume.

I also did a fair bit more editing in 2015, most notably a couple of novels for Harper Bliss. At the Water’s Edge and Once in a Lifetime both ended up reaching #1 on Amazon in lesbian fiction.  Congratulations, Harper!

All in all, I’m pretty happy with how my writing went in 2015.

Looking ahead to 2016, there’ll be two more novels in print from me (the first being Not-So-Straight Sue in June), and two more to write.  I’m still writing short stories, so hopefully, there will be more short works in anthologies over the year.  I’m also considering self-publishing a collection of my short lesbian romance stories, with maybe 15 stories.  Whether I get that off the ground depends entirely on how much time I have.  Real life intrudes at times, and while filing taxes and dusting cobwebs aren’t as pleasant as writing, they do make life more pleasant, especially where the Australian Tax Office is concerned.  I will also be editing for others in 2015, which is its own pleasure.

I hope you had a good 2015.  Here’s to us all in 2016.