Delilah Devlin's Blog, page 486
July 1, 2012
Sunday Report Card and June Recap!
The things swirling in my brain. You have no idea, but then again, if you’ve been following along, maybe you do.
June was Hell Month. Rather a nice place to be for a writer. So often we work with the HOPE of selling a story. Then along come the contracts, and suddenly, we have DEADLINES! I much prefer having them than not. However, I could have used longer lead times for the stories I have to spit out, one after the other.
I had hoped to complete three biggish projects in June. I managed to completely close on the most important one, am very nearly done with the second biggest priority, and am in spitting distance of wrapping up the third. So, I count June as a success!
* Shattered Souls, my first full-length novel for Montlake, went out the door on Thursday!
* I have the short stories for Smokin’ Hot Firemen selected (this is tentative, because Cleis has final approval), placed in a manuscript template, and I’ve started editing the stories. I hope to have them completed and ready to go by Tuesday. My own entry is 1/3 written, but I should finish tomorrow. Shorts are easy for me to zap through once I have the story in my head.
* My next Western for Samhain is just a couple of chapters away from being done. I HAVE to finish by Wednesday or my name will be “mud” with my editor. So no pressure there. 
* * * * *
Coming July
Two exciting releases I can’t wait for you to savor!
FOURNICOPIA
Coming July 10th, and ready for pre-order now…
Gus Taggert knows a setup when he sees one. When one of his police officer buddies sends him on a doughnut run to one particular doughnut shop, Cornucopia, he hesitates. It’s too frilly and pink. However, the woman behind the counter serves him more than a couple dozen gourmet doughnuts, she gives him a mini-lesson in submission%mdash;something he’s eager to learn more about. When she orders him to see her that night at the BDSM club, La Forge, he’s more than eager to obey.
Newly vetted Domme, Aislinn Darby, has a sub she’s eager to take for a test run. The large, burly cop is the kind of alpha guy she’s been dying to tie up and spank. However, after she takes him through his paces, she finds herself more than willing to let him take control, something she hasn’t enjoyed with a man before. Gus’s brand of loving is addictive, but now she’s doubting herself and her own ability to control a scene. She has to have him back for one more go, only this time, she’s going to do it with a crowd around them to ensure he doesn’t forget who’s in charge. She bribes him into submission. Accept her dictates, and he can have her any way he wants as reward.
What Gus wants is Aislinn in the middle of a scene he orchestrates himself with the help of three of his best friends.
~*~
SHE SHIFTERS
Coming to a bookstore near you on July 10th, although Amazon is shipping now…
Following the success of her ground-breaking GIRLS WHO BITE: LESBIAN VAMPIRE EROTICA, best-selling author Delilah Devlin and her contributors deliver another stunning collection.
Shapeshifters—beings both human and animal—ignite our imaginations with visions of primal passions and insatiable hungers. Most commonly seen as dark, masculine demons, these sixteen stories investigate shapeshifter myths from around the world, and add fur and claws to a fresh girl-on-girl blending of physical power and inescapable desires.
Embrace your wild child as you journey through worlds of unexpected delights with some of today’s hottest erotic romance authors, including Sacchi Green, Christine d’Abo, Adele Dubois and Myla Jackson. Fly atop the Tower of London in Paisley Smith’s “The Night Crow.” In Anna Meadows’ “Verde,” feel the burn of a hot Mexican summer. Experience the raw lash of a dragon’s tail in “Scorched Retribution,” then linger in the sensual delights of a furry convention in “She’s Furry Yiffy”.
Prepare to be embraced inside the warm, feathered wings of a phoenix, race through a rain forest morphing from tiger to kingfisher, and watch your lover surrender her seal’s pelt to walk hand-in-hand with you along a cold and lonely shore. In She Shifters, love comes running, slithering, flying—in all shapes of desire.
Delilah Devlin’s one-of-a-kind She Shifters unleashes the wild creature inside us all!
* * * * *
Yes, I’ve been crazy busy, and July will be just as bad, but I love hearing from you. And Tuesday, I’ll post a brand new contest with a very fun prize, so be sure to check back! ~DD
June 30, 2012
Snippet Saturday: Get ready….
On July 10th, FOURNICOPIA will release to the world! And I can’t wait for you to read it! I haven’t had so much fun with a series in a while, and you will see why!
Imagine it… FIVE lusty, hard-bodied cops—best friends with very few sexual inhibitions and a taste for kink. I introduced my Fabulous 5 in Five Ways ‘Til Sunday. Not a subtle title at all, is it? In this next installment, the same to-die-for men are challenged by one among them to help him with a fiery Domme.
Yes, we finally make it to theBDSM club, La Forge!
But that’s what’s coming. If you haven’t read the first book, you’ll want to read it so you know what came before. Click on the covers if you’re ready to order Five Ways or place Fournicopia on Pre-order!
Here’s what Five Ways was all about…
“A really well written, hot, steamy and at times funny book that I have no problems recommending to anyone. A little of everything to suit everyone, no matter what your tastes or fantasies!” 5 Stars, Scorching Book Reviews
“FIVE WAYS ‘TIL SUNDAY was an awesome read…” 4.5 Stars, Night Owl Reviews
“Delightfully quick read, you are so consumed in the story it is difficult to put it down…” Sensual Reads
Sometimes a man’s just gotta call for backup…
Marti Kowalski is all wrong for Officer Jackson Teague—he just won’t listen to reason. She didn’t finish high school, runs a bar. Has a tattoo and a blue streak in her hair. Yet he still wants to marry her? She can’t say she’s not tempted, but she’s got a bucket list to complete before she ties the knot.
Not just any bucket—more like a fifty-five-gallon drum of sexual wishes so explicit, there’s no way one man, even Jackson, can fulfill them all.
When Marti turns him down again, Jackson doesn’t give up, he insists on knowing why. That’s when she shows him her list. He takes it, thinks about it—and calls on the only men he can trust: four buddies from his academy graduating class.
Between the five of them, he’s sure they can come up with a plan to check off every item on her list in one wild, wicked weekend. That is, if she has the nerve to follow through—and if he can bear to share her.
Warning: Five men on a mission to break down the resistance of one determined woman. Author suggests readers keep their significant others on speed dial. Not responsible for accidental 911 calls.
Marti Kowalski waved a hand blindly behind her at her desk, swiping the inventory sheets she’d slaved over for two days, and her telephone, to the floor. She didn’t care about the mess—or by the crunch—the loss of her phone. Right this moment, she had Jackson where she wanted him—too far gone with want to worry what damage he might cause.
His body was hard; his expression carved to a lustful edge, which promised the kind of sexy interlude she preferred—something spontaneous and surprising.
Even after all the months they’d been seeing each other, he managed to surprise her. Like now. He’d pulled her from the door of the ladies’ restroom and goose-stepped her with her arm bent behind her back to the manager’s office, growling menacingly into her ear about the wicked things he’d do to her.
Ma’am, keep quiet and I won’t hurt you.
She’d shivered at the menace in his voice, but he’d rubbed her hip gently to remind her this was just a game. She had to hand it to him. He knew what made her hot.
Jackson bent her over her desk and shoved up her blouse. His head ducked to pluck a nipple with his lips, and then he bit it.
“I wasn’t expecting you,” she gasped, her fingers digging into the rigid Kevlar armor he wore beneath his dark shirt. “You’re on duty. Thought you didn’t cross that line when you’re wearin’ the uniform.”
His head reared back. His dark eyes flashed. “Shut up, ma’am. You draw any attention, and I might have to get rough.”
So he was still playing the role. She widened her eyes. “Please, sir, I’ll do anything.” She tried to infuse a little angst into her voice, but inside she was laughing uproariously.
A glint of humor in his gaze might have just been the reflection of the overhead light because it quickly extinguished. He bared his teeth. A hand snuck between her thighs. A finger tucked beneath one side of the crotch of her panties and tugged. Elastic stretched and gave. His palm crammed against her bare pussy.
There was no hiding how turned on she was. Not when cream smeared his hand.
“Fuck, you’re hot.” He drew back, gripped her by the waist and gave her a little shake—just to remind her who was in charge here.
Her head bobbed backward. Her heart skittered at the strength in those large, hard hands. He could so easily hurt her, but was careful to give her just the right kind of pain.
Nostrils flaring, he did a good impression of a criminal intent on doing her bodily harm. She guessed he saw enough of them in his line of work to mimic the look.
He leaned in and whispered in her ear, “Sure this is the way you wanna play it?”
“Baby, don’t stop now,” Marti moaned.
His grunt accompanied the tightening of his hands on the corners of her hips. He gave no warning and whirled her around, then pushed gently on the back of her neck until she folded over her desk.
Her short leather skirt lifted. Hands gripped her cheeks and squeezed. His mouth pressed against her skin.
She huffed. “What kind of a rapist are you?”
“One with an ass fetish.”
She giggled and reached back to push him away, wriggling on the desk like she wanted to escape. “Stop,” she whispered huskily. “Stop or you’ll be sorry. My boyfriend’s a Memphis PD cop.”
Another grunt was his only response. He straightened, his hard body rubbing against the back of her thighs and ass. An arm clamped over her lower back, holding her down. A zipper scraped. His cock nudged against her folds, thick, insistent—lord, Jackson was completely into this naughty game. He found her entrance and drove deep inside in a single, merciless thrust.
Her body arched off the desk. “Oh shit!”
“Did I hurt you?” he muttered, deeply embedded, but unmoving.
Didn’t he know how to play this game? “You’re gonna pay, you bastard,” she said with an edge of a sob in her voice, but she wiggled her butt to let him know it was okay to proceed.
He withdrew slowly then stroked deep again. This time his hands slammed the wood on either side of her shoulders. “Stick it up higher, slut,” he growled. “My balls are bangin’ the desk.”
Slut? He’d never called her that before. She held back a chuckle, hoping the playacting wouldn’t end too soon. Jackson could only keep his focus up to a certain point. Not that she’d truly mind it when he dropped the act. Knowing she was the reason he couldn’t stay in control gave her deep satisfaction. She rose on tip-toe and tilted up her ass.
His cock crowded through juicy, engorged walls, filling her up like no man ever had before. Maybe he really was that big, or maybe she’d never been so excited. Jackson was the best lover she’d ever had—the most adventurous with the most stamina. That his body was ripped like a bodybuilder’s only added to his dangerous appeal.
She gave a short, throaty groan. “Ohmygod, that feels incredible.”
A knock sounded at the door.
“Go away,” she shouted. To Jackson, she whispered, “Hate to say it, but we might have to rush this a bit.”
Another, harder rap sounded. “Hey, Jackson, you in there?”
Marti relaxed and pushed backward to take more of Jackson’s large cock. It was only his friend, Craig Eason, letting them know he was playing lookout. Not something he hadn’t done before.
“Fucker,” Jackson bit out, banging her ass faster.
Marti snickered then gasped when he swirled inside her to stroke her most sensitive spot. “Think he knows what we’re doin’?”
“He will if you keep making that noise.”
“What noise?”
He banged her again. “That bleating noise.”
“You sayin’ I sound like a goat?”
“More like a fluffy little lamb. It’s cute.” A kiss landed on the back of her neck. “He’ll pick the lock if we don’t wrap it up.”
Marti widened her stance and tilted just a little more, needing more of her pussy smacked by his sharp, forceful thrusts. “That something he learned at the police academy?”
“Nah. Craig wasn’t always a good guy.”
Marti suspected Jackson was cut from the exact same cloth. Sure, he was an attentive boyfriend, kind to kids and dogs, but when he looked at her, sometimes she got the feeling there was something deeper and darker lurking in his past. Or maybe it was just the hardened criminals he dealt with, rubbing off on him. Her pussy swelled, getting hot, and so wet Jackson was swimming in her arousal. She aimed a smile over her shoulder. “Baby, I’m ready to rumble whenever you are.”
“Shut up, lady,” he said, his voice rough as gravel again. “Think you can take this?”
“Man,” she moaned, “my boyfriend’s soooo gonna kill you.”
* * * * *
Be sure to check out the snippets on these other authors’ blogs:
Megan Hart:Read in bed!
Rhian Cahill
Eliza Gayle
Jody Wallace
Mandy M Roth
Lissa Matthews
Leah Braemel
Mari Carr
McKenna Jeffries
Myla Jackson
Taige Crenshaw
HelenKay Dimon
Shiloh Walker
Shelli Stevens
Zoë Archer
Lauren Dane
June 29, 2012
Guest Blogger: Meg Lacey
Hi everyone,
Thank you for asking me to be a guest on your blog today, Delilah, and speak to your many fans. I’m Meg Lacey, and I have a new series Million Dollar Men, with the first book, Million Dollar Mistake, coming October 23, 2012 from Samhain Publishing. I’ve previously written for Harlequin/Silhouette and am really excited to join the Samhain Family.
It’s a rainy day where I live, the perfect day to forget about everything and sit down with a good book and have a “Me” Day. I can hear some of you thinking, “Yeah, right, never going to happen! I have too much to do.”
As women, we come with guilt programmed into our DNA. Work, family, school, etc.—got it! I don’t relax well.I wrote my first novel in the sixth grade, but my writing career didn’t last. Instead I went into theatre before ending up in television as a writer-producer.
Over the years, I’ve been an actress, director, producer, copywriter, creative director, college instructor, creative dramatics teacher, author, mime, mom, and a school bus driver—wow, are there stories in that experience! I’ve started two creative marketing companies and worked in all media from network cable programming to games and corporate initiatives; but always returned to writing. I have children, a husband and tons of obligations, so I understand busy. But lately I’ve been forcing myself to haul out my inner diva and say, “Screw it. I’m taking time for me!”
Knowing how busy most of us are got me wondering what it would be like to have no obligations, and have the time and money to do anything I wanted to do when I wanted to do it. That thought translated into Million Dollar Mistake.
Warning: Million Dollar Mistake contains a tabloid sweetheart who loves to be bad, a sexy hero with little patience for mind games, and a game of strip pool that will make you rethink your weekend plans.
In addition to overseeing the financial affairs of the wealthy Kristoff family, Nicholas Demetrious specializes in hauling its rambunctious members out of trouble. Especially his distant cousin, Raven Rutledge.
The tabloids love her bad-girl antics, sexy pout, and body made for sin. Nicholas would love to spank the bejesus out of her, but this time the situation is too serious to entertain such a fantasy. A lucrative business deal with the Exeters is in jeopardy, and Jackson Exeter Sr.’s ultimatum is clear: Remove this man-eater from my country house, or the deal is off.
Raven is in way over her head. She accepted the invitation to the Exeters’ Adirondack house party as a refreshing change from her jet-setting lifestyle—until she learns the guest list includes his entire family. His ex-girlfriend. And the junior Exeter’s intention to propose.
If ever she needed suave, sophisticated Nicholas’s persuasive powers, it’s now. Then he’s there with a plan to get her out of this tangle: sweep her off her feet. But their pretend passion turns all too real. And what started out as a weekend of fun threatens to shatter into betrayal and heartbreak.
I had a great time writing this book. There’s a lot of hot sex, but there is also a lot of humor in my writing, with the result that this book is a fun, sexy read. Million Dollar Mistake is actually a continuation of a minor character introduced in my novel, Million Dollar Stud from Harlequin (available in ebook.) You might want to check it out to get some background on Nicholas. Meanwhile, I can’t wait to bring you more stories about Million Dollar Men and the women who love them.
Oh yeah, one more thing before I go. I also have a paranormal series coming out from Imajinn Books this fall—Tales of the Sparrow. The first book is The Sparrow and The Hawk. As the book is still in production, I can’t share the cover with you yet, but I can tell you a little bit about the story that will also come out in Autumn, 2012.
Tales of the Sparrow is a humorous, paranormal romantic adventure series set one week into the future—a time when magic, myths, shapeshifters and other mystical creatures were all possible because the veil between this world and the next had been stripped away.
In the first book, The Sparrow and The Hawk, Jillie Harte, the Sparrow, is a documentary filmmaker who also works undercover for the “NAS (Normal, Abnormal & Strange) Agency”, a secret private agency sponsored by an eccentric billionaire and run by her uncle whose mission is to protect the world from evil in any form—from that done by ordinary humans to that done through mystical direction. Under the guise of creating a TV documentary on “Fashion and Decoration throughout history,” Jillie is sent undercover to recover an ancient necklace with the power to unleash evil on the world if it falls into the wrong hands. A lot of people want the necklace, including her new cameraman, Griff Ryland. Griff, The Hawk, is actually from an alternative dimension and as a shapechanger is able to change to a cougar and a hawk when circumstances demand. Magic, witchcraft, alternative dimensions and dragging around a cameraman who looks like ‘sex-on-a-stick’ makes the team’s chase after the necklace dangerous, exciting, sexy and fun. From San Francisco, to New Mexico to New Orleans, and finally to San Diego, CA. Sparrow and Hawk must overcome each obstacle until they finally find the ‘manipulator’, the ultimate evil whom they must defeat to recover the necklace and eliminate the curse that surrounds it. That’s not all happening though—Jillie and Griff must also face their developing relationship and decide what to do about it. And they thought saving the world from evil and chaos was hard!!!!
Thanks again, Delilah, for inviting me to share news with all of your fans about my forthcoming books. If you want to know more, or read excerpts, please visit my new website: www.meglacey.com or send an email to: meg@meglacey.com.
Be sure to register for the contests that will accompany the release dates of Million Dollar Mistake and The Sparrow and the Hawk.
So today, or sometime soon make time for the Me in You. Forget the guilt and just go for it. Grab a glass of wine, a book and take a bubble bath, find a corner and indulge in yoga followed by dark chocolate, watch a sad movie and cry your eyes out, or do what I’m going to do today—go for a long walk in the rain.
Take care and smile.
Meg
June 28, 2012
TIME Magazine…a quest…and a question…
What does Time Magazine have to do with me? I’ll tell ya.
This is a picture of the July 2d issue of Time. I know. It’s not July 2d just yet, but they go out ahead of the date to bookstores and grocery stores.
Next week, for the July 9th issue, they will include a special feature—their summer reading list. And I’m told that COWBOY LUST is on it! Yes, my lovely, smutty anthology will be mentioned in the TIME!
Here’s what I’d love. If you are out and about in the next few days and happen to see that July 9th issue, take a pic. Email me that pic, because I’d love to post it on my site here and the Cowboy Lust website!
That’s your mission should you choose to accept it!
* * * * *
On to today’s burning question!
If you could be the spokesperson for any product on the market, what product would you choose to enthusiastically represent?
Oh! And Happy Birthday to me!
June 27, 2012
Guest Blogger: Margaret Ethridge (Contest)
Thanks so much for having me here, Delilah!
I’m perked to be here with you all today. As a matter of fact, I’m pretty hyped-up over all. This is a very exciting time in my life. You see, my kids are grown and stepping out into the world, and that means my husband and I are empty-nesters for the time in our marriage… Uh-huh. Life is good.
But all these changes have me thinking about plans in general. At last, my husband and I are making plans for just the two of us. We chuckle because it seems our children’s plans change with the wind, but that’s to be expected at their age. When I think back on who I was and what I thought I wanted when I was in my early twenties, I marvel at how far I strayed from my plan.
Here are a couple examples:
The plan: Marry somewhere around twenty-five, first kid by twenty-eight, done having kids by my early thirties.
The reality: At the age of thirty-two, I married a man with two children from his previous marriage and raised them as my own.
The plan: To become super-business-woman like Tess McGill in Working Girl and live the big city dream with Harrison Ford.
The reality: I stumbled into a career I didn’t even know existed when I was in my twenties and married a small-town guy from the south who bears a striking resemblance to Sheriff Woody from Toy Story.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining. At. All. Although my life has taken a different path than the one I envisioned when I was a young adult, I have no regrets. So far, it’s been pretty darn awesome. That realization got me thinking about how lucky I was to have the nerve to jump out of line.
By letting go of “The Plan”, I lived my life instead of programming it.
The conflict between dreams and reality is a central theme in most of my novels. In Contentment, Tracy Sullivan almost flushes her idyllic life down the toilet because she can’t let go of her old dreams. Commitment was the story of Maggie McCann, a woman who discovers unanticipated happiness in a change of plan. Spring Chickens focuses on a couple brave enough to take a chance on a second chance at happiness. Even my paranormal romances, Paramour and its sequel Inamorata, feature characters who must learn to let go of the past in order to move forward.
Was it my plan to weave a common theme through every novel I’ve written thus far? *snort* Not at all. As a matter of fact, I didn’t even realize that I had until I was explaining the premise of one of the books to an acquaintance this past weekend. How cool is that?
Tell me, what plans have you changed when the prospect for something different came along?
I’d be happy to give one commenter their choice of any story from my backlist (including the steamier stuff I write as Maggie Wells,
but you have to promise not to tell my mom).
If you’d like to check them out, here are the links to my webpages:
www.margaretethridge.com
http://maggiewells.weebly.com/
June 26, 2012
Guest Blogger: Kate Douglas (Contest)
Delilah, I really appreciate your invitation to blog—today is pretty special because I’ve got a new book out: Dream Bound is the first of the two book Dream Catchers series. The final story, Dream Unchained, will release in November, but Dream Bound is another one of those stories that started with an idea that sort of took on a life of its own.
I was thinking about that tonight, and I realized that in all of my stories for Kensington’s Aphrodisia imprint, I’ve started out intending to write a totally sexy yet traditional romance—Aphrodisia is, after all, an erotic romance imprint. What I don’t actually plan, and what always seems to happen, is the various relationships that aren’t in the original synopsis I send to my editor!
When Kensington bought the Wolf Tales series, my editor knew she was getting into a story line with same sex relationships. I hadn’t planned to write the stories that way—they just sort of happened within the context of the Chanku characters and their powerful libidos. When I wrote the novella that introduced the Dream Catchers series, I gave my editor a brief synopsis about a young computer geek in 1992, in the Silicon Valley, who falls for a woman who is literally the product of his sexual fantasies. Zianne is also an alien, and her story is the basis for the entire series.
What I didn’t expect was the hero, MacArthur Dugan, and the relationship that developed between him and Nils “Dink” Dinkemann, his childhood friend who has remained his best buddy into young adulthood. Dink is openly gay, but Mac isn’t, though Mac is aware Dink has loved him for years. It’s something they both sort of ignore as best they can, but bringing Zianne into the relationship changes everything.
When I was writing the story, I realized that the sexual dynamic between the two men was every bit as powerful as what I was writing between Mac and Zianne, which, of course, led to a really sexy scene with Dink and Mac, and then an even hotter one with the three of them together. Thank goodness my editor is open-minded enough to go with whatever I send her, because I don’t think she was expecting the Mac/Zianne/Dink part of the story, which of course carries over into Dream Bound and Dream Unchained.
In my convoluted manner (and no, my books are actually a lot better organized, but when I blog I sort of let my thoughts wander and you get whatever dribbles across the page…) I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t intentionally sit down and say, “Okay, I’m going to write a book with forty gazillion sex scenes and they’re going to include every combination known—or unknown.”
What I do is sit down at my computer and start a conversation with my lead character, and I essentially let them tell the story. I have no idea that Mac really wanted to experience sex with Dink, or that Zianne was interested in sex with two men. I ran into the same thing with the Dream Team, the six young men and women who are brought together by Mac Dugan in 2012, twenty years after Zianne disappeared (after the novella ends) but since she was traveling through time to see Mac, it’s only been twenty-four hours for her.
It’s been two decades for Mac while he struggles to develop the technology and raise enough money to mount a rescue of his beloved alien lover. Well, when Dream Bound starts, he’s got the money and his satellite array is built, and he’s bringing together his team. But Dink comes back into his life, too, and the story once again took off in some directions I wasn’t planning on. I do hope you’ll give Dream Bound a chance. I’m really pleased with the way the story came together—it was one of those that felt as if it was meant to be written, and it was a nice break between my Wolf Tales/Sexy Beast stories, and the new Chanku series, Spirit Wild, which will debut next May. I just turned the first book, To Love a Dark Wolf, in to my editor on Friday.
And yep, that one’s got a same sex relationship I didn’t see coming, either. You’ll get to see Lily Cheval all grown up, and I discovered that Anton is a wonderful father, but he’s also a pain in the butt at times. It was wonderful, going back into that world and reconnecting with characters who are like old friends.
Do you ever have that happen? Get so caught up in a fictional character that they’re like real people to you? Happens to me all the time—I think it’s the very best part about being an author. Well, that and meeting readers. Definitely love that part! And if you’re going to be anywhere near Anaheim, California on July 25, the humongous book signing for the Romance Writers of America National Convention will be going on. From the RWA website:
Romance Writers of America is pleased to announce that the 2012 “Readers for Life” Literacy Autographing will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center, which is conveniently located next to the Anaheim Marriott (RWA’s conference hotel). RWA would like to thank Avon Books for generously underwriting the event, which takes place Wednesday, July 25, 2012, from 5–8 p.m. PT in the Ballroom (third floor) at the convention center.
Now that my public service announcement is over, if you leave a comment, you’ll be entered for a chance to win both a copy of DREAM BOUND, and a really cute little stuffed squirrel. And if you’re going to be in Anaheim, please let me know. I love the chance to actually get to meet my readers!
Buy Dream Bound at:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books-A-Million
June 25, 2012
Guest Blogger: Brandi Evans (Contest)
Bondage. The word conjures such a strong gauntlet of emotions, doesn’t it? Fear. Arrousal. Curiosity. The scope of emotions is almost as limitless as the way bondage can, well, bind us. Debt bondage. Spiritual bondage. Bondage to our day-to-day lifestyles. And, of course, my favorite…sexual bondage. And if you’ve read my last book, Lust, Lace & Lingerie, I’m sure you’re not surprised by that fact!
There’s just something about giving up power to another person (when done sanely, safely and consensually, of course) that creates a heightened sensation of…everything. It gets the blood pumping and the brain spinning into overdrive. Giving your pleasure—or pain—over to someone else to experiment with is intense, something the heroine in my newest Ellora’s Cave novel, His Forbidden Submissive, found out the, um, hard way.
(Oh look, more shameless self promotion, LOL. It’s the last for this blog. Scout’s honor. *crosses fingers behind back*)
But my surprised heroine wasn’t the only person learning about BDSM and sexual bondage between the digital pages of His Forbidden Submissive. I was too. I’ve enjoyed BDSM stories by other authors and I’ve always been curious about the lifestyle, but I really didn’t know much about how it really worked. So I went to work scouring the internet for fun and sexy facts about BDSM and bondage.
I had a basic understanding of BDSM when I started my research, but some of the things I learned shocked me, made me laugh, and on more than one occasion, made some mighty interesting things happen between my thighs. *wink, wink* But in the end, it all came together to help me create a story that’s hot, emotional and brimming with leather, whips, chains and more bondage than my poor, poor heroine thinks she can handle.
I’m so mean, aren’t I?
But as it happens, when you start doing internet searches about anything sexual, you’ll get back a massive amount of results. Some interesting, some down right disturbing, and some you just can’t click out of fast enough—especially with kiddos around. But don’t worry. I won’t share any of that with you, LOL. Instead, I want to share with you 10 strange and fun facts I’ve discovered about the human penis.
Yep, you heard me right. Ten fun facts about the penis. Here we go…
1. The number of calories per tsp of semen is only 7.
Woot! Semen is a low calorie food. Good to know. So eat up, ladies—or guys—because this is one treat that defies the “minute on the lips, a lifetime on the hips” rule!
2. Acidic fruits and alcohol have been shown to give semen a sugary flavor. On the other hand, foods like meat and fish produce a buttery flavor (although I ’ m not putting it on my popcorn).
So there there ya go, ladies. If you’ve got a sweet tooth, make sure and get your man hopped up on ice cream and booze before you go down on him.
3. The amount of time needed for a man to regain erection after orgasm can vary from 2 minutes to 2 weeks.
Two weeks! Could you imagine the romance novel that took a hero 2 weeks to form another erection? OMG, that’s a book I don’t want to read. Well, I guess it could work, depending on how crafty our hero is at, um, filling the void for his partner.
4. The average number of times a man will come in his lifetime is 7,200 times. And of those times, only 2,000 will be by his hand.
Only 2,000? I’d figured it’d be higher, wouldn’t you?
5. The average speed of an ejaculation is 28 mph!
Wait, what? 28? Wow. Just wow. This can’t be right, can it? I now have a completely new respect for the strength and ingenuity that goes into making condoms.
6. The smallest FUNCTIONAL penis was an incredible 5/8 of an inch.
Talk about coming up short! I’d really like to know the specifics on this one, wouldn’t you? Just who is/was this man? How tall was he? And now I’m thinking about the shoe size/penis size correlation. If that really holds true, he’s got to be like 2 feet tall, right? (Please, feel free to check my math, LOL.)
7. This one isn ’ t exactly about the penis itself, but it involves the penis so I ’ m throwing it in: 13% of men have said there ’ s actually been at least a moment in their lives where they were NOT interest in sex.
I have to say this one really, really surprised me. I wonder how many of these times were during an important sporting even. “Not right now, honey. The game’s tied with .3 seconds left on the clock!”
8. The average number of erections men have per day is 11, and 9 of these are while they ’ re sleeping.
I admit it. This one makes me laugh out loud. I’m not surprised that a guy would have 9 erections while sleeping, but what gets me is that he only has 2 while he’s awake. That just doesn’t seem right, especially when you couple it with #7.
9. The approximate cost for a year ’ s supply of condoms is $100.
But I don’t think this holds true for heroes of romance novels, do you? At least not the heroes I write. *wink*
10. And finally, the tissue that surrounds the testicles and the penis is more durable even than the tissue that surrounds the human brain.
Wow. If the body naturally protects the most important parts first, this put a whole new light on that old saying about men always thinking with their penises.
And there ya have it. Ten things I learned about the human penis while doing researching for books. It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it. I hoped you enjoyed these as much as I did. 
Today, I’m giving away a $5 Amazon gift card to one lucky commenter. To enter, all you have to do is tell me the most bizarre thing you know about sex. From positions to fetishes…dirty minds want to know!
Later, lovelies!
~Brandi Evans
p.s. And if you didn’t get enough sex-related fun facts, click here to read my blog post 10 Strange Facts About Sex.
His Forbidden Submissive releases June 27th from Ellora’s Cave!
Click banner to learn more!
June 24, 2012
Favorite Things
First, make sure you go to the She Shifters blog.
Everyone who posts a comment gets a free book!
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I’m neck deep in stories at the moment, so not a lot of chat in me today. I asked folks who followed me to send me pictures of their favorite things. I might make this a regular feature because I loved what I got!
From Patricia K: “I’m in love with Thor at the moment.”
[Patricia, I'm not into blond men, but he makes me swoon! I'm right there with you!]
From Sharon Hamilton: “This is my idea of camping…”
[Pretty picture, but am I the only one worried about it getting windy? ]
From Bridget: “Here’s my favorite thing. My backyard folly! I dreamed it, and my hubby had it built. A lot of it is composed of reclaimed materials. Perfect for reading!”
[Now are the rest of you with SO's wondering how you can get your own folly? Since I'm single, I'm gonna have to hire a handy man. Hmmm...]
From Kathleen C
[Her expressions says it all!! I want to be on that beach!]
I’m looking for more pictures! If you have a favorite thing, place or person, send me a pic!
June 23, 2012
Snippet Saturday: I Want You to Want Me!
There are TWO giveaways going on today. Two different sites.
Right here, you can enter a drawing for a free download of FUN WITH DICK AND JAYNE, by simply posting a comment. Then head over to the She Shifters blog for a chance to win a signed copy of Kate Douglas’s latest book, DREAM BOUND!
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Sometimes, seduction comes with hearts and flowers. But that doesn’t work for everyone. Be sure to check out all the authors’ links this week to find the one you love the most. My personal favorite kind of seduction tends to appeal to the primal, primitive instincts. Have fun seeing what appealed to Garrett about the couple across the road…
“…Loved the characters, loved the conflict, loved the scorching hot sex…I do give high praise to Ms. Devlin. Her writing leaves me breathless and her heroes are simply delicious.” ~9 of 10, Seriously Reviewed
He didn’t know the nightly peepshow was just a naughty invitation…
Garrett knows what he’s doing can get him into trouble, but he can’t help himself. Every night, as he arrives home, the blonde across the alley gets busy with her boyfriend with the blinds open. He’s spent the past two weeks getting an eyeful and falling deep into lust.
But when Garrett sees a man in a black ski mask sneak into his sexy neighbor’s bedroom, he doesn’t know he’ll be the one captured.
Jayne has a nice life with a nice lover who sees to her every need, but she’s still drawn to the lonely man across the alley. She’s been sharing her deepest fantasies with him from afar, but is ready to up the stakes. When she talks Richard into enacting a dangerous scenario, everything works out as planned. Only Garrett’s not happy about being played. And he’s got reservations because she already has a lover and he’s not into threesomes. Guess she’ll just have to convince him otherwise.
Tuesday
They were going at it again, and he was gonna get arrested. Which would be pretty damn embarrassing, considering he was cop.
Like clockwork, the couple across the alleyway started banging the minute his car pulled into the garage.
The street along the back of the parallel rows of one-story houses wasn’t much of a buffer. Driveways spoked off the narrow, paved road. Only twenty feet separated his garage from the bedroom window across the way.
Last night, he’d loosened the garage light bulb to make sure it didn’t give him away when the door slid up. Tonight, he flicked his car’s overhead lamp switch off so that the light wouldn’t beam the moment he exited. Carefully, he closed his car door, pushing it with his hip to muffle the click as it locked, walked around to the back then sat with his butt against the trunk to watch the show.
They had to know anyone walking by could see every damn thing—every drop of sweat, every short curl of pale blonde hair. She faced the window, clutching the bottom windowsill, her breasts bouncing every time Boyfriend slammed her ass.
God, her tits were Grade-A prime. Cherry nipples, topping creamy mounds.
Her blue eyes closed, her mouth rounded, and he knew when she came because she always wore the same expression—her cheeks growing rosy, her eyebrows drawing together tightly and the corners of her mouth curving like the cat that licked the cream.
And if the wind hadn’t been whistling through the alley, he would have heard the whimper she gave when Boyfriend milked the last little contraction of her orgasm.
Fuck. He needed his own woman. Maybe she had a twin. Because he sure as shit wouldn’t be satisfied with anyone who wasn’t her, Jayne Peabody—Jayne Hotbody as he’d begun to call her. He’d had her plates run so he’d have a name to assign the woman who’d played a starring role in all his fantasies this past couple of weeks.
They’d finished and Boyfriend was pulling her into his arms, wrapping them around her belly and cupping those beautiful breasts as she snuggled against his chest.
It was time to leave. The show was over for the night.
Then her eyes opened, and Garrett Masters could have sworn she looked right at him. He cussed softly, straightened and raised his arm, pulling down the garage door and shutting off the sight of her mouth stretching into a wide grin.
* * * * *
Wednesday
This time he was ready. He popped the beer top, lifted his drink into the air to silently salute them, and decided to watch the goings-on across the way like a spectator sport. He’d even devised a scoring system.
Ten points for the first orgasm. Five to fifteen for each successive multiple, depending on how hard Boyfriend had to work. But Jayne didn’t need much encouragement to slam quickly through three. All her partner had to do was angle her face toward the window and her eyelids drooped, her kitten smile curled.
Boyfriend turned her toward the bed, bent her over, and Garrett straightened because this wasn’t a view he’d had before. Her pretty white ass, sweetly curved, her dark pink sex framed between her closed thighs. Fuuuck!
Boyfriend walked out of sight then returned with leather straps.
Garrett swallowed down the beer and crushed the can in his fist.
Boyfriend bound her legs together and strapped her hands to the sides of her thighs, forcing her to remain bent. Then he tied a blindfold around her head.
Jayne’s bottom wriggled, but moisture shone on her sex, dribbled down the backs of her thighs. And that was before Boyfriend bent to pick up something from the floor.
When he straightened, he brandished a short riding crop.
“Fifty,” Garrett breathed, his stomach beginning to roil as he watched the other man swat her buttocks in quick succession, leaving reddened welts, which she apparently enjoyed by the loudness of her groans and whimpers. However, when he dropped the whip and turned her toward the window, tears streaked down her cheeks from beneath the blindfold.
Garrett stiffened, ready to charge over there and break it up. But Boyfriend gripped her hips and forcefully slammed against her buttocks, thrusting deep. Her lips rounded, tears trickling into her mouth as she came.
Garrett shuddered, his breaths coming quick, wondering what the fuck he was doing watching this, watching another man torture a woman into orgasm, his own body slamming toward a climax that shocked him with its ferocity.
Boyfriend removed the blindfold. Jayne’s eyes opened, gleaming through the darkness, seeming to pull him deeper into her twisted, kinky play.
This wasn’t for him. He’d never laid a hand on a woman and damn sure couldn’t stand by watching it. He couldn’t do this anymore. The sweet, funny tenor of the sessions had changed to something darker, something grim and decidedly too rich for his blood.
Before they’d finished, he slammed the door down between them.
* * * * *
Thursday
“For the love of…”
He tried to keep his gaze averted this time, hadn’t bothered sneaking out of his car. But one glance and he was caught.
Boyfriend’s tall, lean body was turned sideways and he held his cock in his hand.
Jayne Hotbody stuck out her pink tongue and licked around the crown, and then clasped her mouth around it and sucked.
Boyfriend’s eyes closed tightly and he fisted himself, pumping as she bobbed forward to meet his fingers, then pulled away.
She braced a hand against his hip then turned to give Garrett one of those kittenish smiles, her blue eyes seeming to plead for him to watch. Was this her way of apologizing?
Did her boyfriend even have a clue what she was doing?
Garrett’s day had been a ball-buster and the last thing he’d wanted was to be left with an aching hard-on no amount of one-handed pocket pool could relieve, but she seemed to be inviting him to join. To watch as she blew Boyfriend and teased the hell out of him.
Well, hell. He was tired of watching and being left aching. He opened his utility belt, unbuttoned his pants and eased down his zipper. When he drew out his cock, he stared down at himself, musing that this time he really would get arrested with his dick in his hand.
Then he glanced up.
Jayne wasn’t smiling. She was licking her lips, her chest billowing faster. She grabbed Boyfriend by the hips and turned him so she could blow while she watched Garrett.
Her gaze didn’t leave his cock as he began to work himself. He gripped his shaft firmly, gliding his hand up and down, sliding his thumb over the top of the crown at the end of every pull.
Watching her watching him and blowing What’s-his-face was more intimate than anything they’d shared before. He felt more connected, as if he were having sex with her instead of jerking himself off in the out-of-doors while he played the Peeping Tom to his naughty neighbor.
Boyfriend gripped her head and flexed his muscular hips forward and back, stroking into her hot little mouth. Garrett dropped spit to feel moisture and imagined her lips surrounding him.
Tension gripped his balls and he rocked on his heels, forward and back, while his arm tensed and pistoned faster.
When he came, white cum spitting from his dick, he glanced up to catch her suctioning, swallowing boyfriend down with his head flung back and his flanks quivering.
Hot damn…
He stepped back, reached for the handle and slammed the garage door down.
* * * * *
Friday
Garrett arrived home later than usual, having stopped for drinks with his partner and a couple of other cops before heading home, hoping Jayne and Boyfriend had finished because he was wiped and unhappy.
The last few nights’ little episodes had left him feeling edgy and ashamed. He wasn’t a voyeur, hadn’t ever been the kind of guy to step beyond the law to get his kicks. He’d have to make the effort to find his own playmate and lose his obsession with the curvy blonde across the way.
Rain fell, a light Seattle mist that beaded on his windows but didn’t destroy his view as he pulled into his garage and hit the remote because he was damned if he’d sneak into his own garage. This was his house. He had every right to drive into his own garage, every right to look around without being bombarded with images that kept him hard and irritable every night.
From the corner of his eye, he saw the light switch on across the way. He turned off his car and stared into his rearview mirror, refusing to answer her invitation. But she was dressed for once, in a tight baby tee that left her abdomen bare above sweatpants with the waistband rolled down to expose her taut little tummy. She was on the treadmill, earphones in, and she was singing. He knew because he could hear the off-key warbles.
Thank God she had a flaw.
Then he spotted a movement, a dark shadow separating from the bushes beneath her window and rising.
Adrenaline spiked in his veins, and Garrett eased open his door, not bothering to close it after himself. He crouched beside his car, crept out of the garage and followed his fence line to the street.
The figure of a man, dressed entirely in black, his face covered with a ski mask, had Garrett’s heart lodging in the back of his throat. The man eased up the window, but Jayne didn’t notice. The singing grew louder.
Garrett skimmed across the alley, following her neighbor’s fence to the gate, opened it and ran up the steps to the side door of the house. He tried the knob. The door was open and he let himself in, hugging the wall and following Jayne’s voice. As he peered around the corner into her bedroom, her back was to the man who crouched behind her bed, coming closer.
Garrett launched himself through the door.
Jayne screamed, jumping off the treadmill and slamming her back against the wall, her eyes wide and frightened.
Garrett crashed into the intruder, taking him to the ground, rolling him to his belly and sticking his knee into his back while he slipped the cuffs from his belt and slapped them around his wrists.
“Ma’am,” he shouted over his shoulder. “Call 9-1-1.”
The man squirmed. “Jayne—”
Garrett drove his knee harder into the intruder’s back. “Just take it easy there, scumbag. Ma’am, you need to make that call.”
“Jayne…for fuck’s sake, honey…tell him!”
Garrett glanced at Jayne.
Her eyes were wide, her hands cupped over her mouth. When she dragged them down, he saw that her lips were pressed tightly together. Then she sputtered with laughter. “Oh. My. God. Dick, honey, this is the best ever!”
* * * * *
Be sure to check out the snippets on these other authors’ blogs:
Megan Hart:Read in bed!
Rhian Cahill
Eliza Gayle
Jody Wallace
Mandy M Roth
Lissa Matthews
Leah Braemel
Mari Carr
McKenna Jeffries
Myla Jackson
Taige Crenshaw
HelenKay Dimon
Shiloh Walker
Lauren Dane
June 22, 2012
Guest Blogger: Ashleigh Raine (Contest)
Ever walk into a room full of strangers and see someone you just have to know? It’s not the smile, the clothes, the demeanor, it’s everything under the surface, creating a connection drawing you two together. It’s not necessarily lust or anything romantic.
This is the special thing we try to capture in our characters, in our books. (We say “our” because Ashleigh Raine is two authors writing under one pen name.) We’re not talking about love at first sight. We’re talking about something deeper, stronger, undeniable, something that’s difficult to describe, and you don’t always know it when it’s happening. It doesn’t matter what the person looks like, it’s what he or she just is like.
In Starstruck, Micah is a very hot hunk of manflesh, and Jenna’s a gorgeous sweetheart, but that’s not what makes their meeting special. In fact, they don’t even have much time to be attracted to each other by the time their worlds collide. They’re on the set of a television show where Jenna is a background actor and Micah is one of the stars.
“Rolling!” was shouted, and the makeup lady stepped away from Micah.
“Speed!”
“Background!”
Jenna repeated the same actions, glad she’d already done it twice before since her mind was still whirling from her close call. Crystal’s unprofessional phone interruption had done one good thing in this case—increased the tension. Both actors were more in the moment, the argument resonating with a stronger passion than earlier.
“I think you’re wrong.” Crystal spun toward Micah, glaring, hands fisted at her hips.
There was less room to get around Micah and Crystal, but Jenna figured she could still ease by without looking too unnatural. If her fake ducking drop before hadn’t been a problem, sliding behind the arguing duo shouldn’t be either.
Micah whipped around to face Crystal. “Didn’t you see—” Punctuating his words, he swung his arm out in a wide gesture.
Jenna tried to duck, but there wasn’t enough time or space. Micah’s arm struck her across the face, and she fell backward, landing flat on her ass, staring up at Mr. Sexy M.D. himself.
Crap. Somehow she didn’t think she would escape unnoticed this time.
———–
In thirty years of acting Micah had done just about everything…except punch an extra in the face. How great for him that he’d reached a new fucking low.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there. Are you okay?” He sank to the floor next to the poor girl while Steve, the First Assistant Director, shouted for a medic. Micah didn’t see any blood, and the girl’s eyes were open, wide open, shining a bright blue right up at him. Before he could offer her a hand, she started scrambling to her feet.
“I’m fine. Really.”
Taking her elbow, he helped her the rest of the way to standing. She was trembling, which made him feel like an even bigger shit. Even the small smile and whispered “Thank you” she gave him before stepping away didn’t ease his conscience.
How could he not have seen her? Had she done the same cross in every take? Dammit, he was as bad as Crystal, ignoring everything outside his little bubble and fucking things up in the process.
After she walks away something deep within him makes him seek her out before it’s too late. Something more that pushes him to make plans to see her that night. Neither one of them is aware of the deep connection growing between them. Not yet anyway.
In Acting on Impulse, Samantha is a curvy single mom saying good night to her daughter over the phone while at a Hollywood party and Connor is an A-list actor who just wanted to find a quiet moment away from the crowd. What they find in each other is instant attraction.
Sam jumped and spun around, clasping her evening bag to her chest like a shield, body automatically shifting into fight-or-flight mode. Dark night. Deep voice. Tall man. Loud party. Would anyone hear her scream?
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” He raised his hands palms outward and stepped back and away from her, showing her he meant no harm, she assumed, but it also put his face in shadow.
The words he’d spoken earlier sank through her initial adrenaline rush. Bunnies? So he’d been listening in on her conversation. Had he been making fun of her? She couldn’t decide whether to be angry or embarrassed.
“Do you always eavesdrop on women telling bedtime stories to their precocious two-year-old daughters?”
“I have a weakness for stories with happy endings.” He moved forward, into the light, and smiled wide, warm and beautiful. There was nothing condescending and everything welcoming in the tilt of those full, kissable lips.
“They’re the best kind.” She smiled back, unable to maintain any kind of anger against that smile. Or that voice. Or those ocean-blue eyes with the crinkles at the corners, proof that he smiled a lot.
Sam really, really, really liked being the reason he was smiling right now.
The attraction between them was instant and undeniable. Sure, some of it was on the surface, but it was more about what that surface said about who was underneath. They were drawn to each other.
In Driven to Distraction, Blaina and Jay are in instant lust with each other for sure, but it’s not all on the surface. Not at all. They shared a very deep love of cars as well as a love of sparring with each other that grows from the very moment they meet.
A dark purple 1970 Barracuda convertible parked on the side of the road, hood up, complete with hard-body owner leaning against the fender just in front of the driver side door. Muscular bronze arms crossed over a white T-shirted chest. Faded blue jeans that looked so well-worn they’d be soft to the touch, showcased his long legs, ending with black, work-booted feet, one crossed over the other. It was like the man had stepped out of her favorite car fantasy, instantly popping the clutch and throwing her libido into high gear.
She tried to tamp her excitement, telling herself that a smart woman would not jump a strange man on the side of the road. But there was no reason she couldn’t offer help. And whatever happened afterward…
At a break in the center median, she hooked a U-turn. The Camaro’s tires squeaked as she whipped the car around.
Come to mama, baby. Her nipples tightened in anticipation under her white cotton, ribbed tank top, and she squirmed to give her cunt some breathing room in her painted-on, low-rise, dark green camouflage jeans. As she passed on the opposite side of the street, she stole glances at the fine hunk of manflesh, wanting to verify he was real and not a sexual mirage.
Wait a minute. Was he checking her out, too? His dark sun-glassed gaze followed her path as she U-turned again at the next intersection and pulled up behind the Barracuda.
When she stepped out of the car, his gaze locked on her. Even through the sunglasses, she felt his stare searing her body from head to toe—pausing at a few choice places in between—with each of her approaching steps. Or maybe it was the Southern California heat causing her body’s temperature to rise.
Slowly, he peeled himself away from his car and turned his damn fine body toward her, looking relaxed and sexy as he looped one thumb in a pocket. Sweat trickled between her breasts, her temperature jumping another ten degrees. This close, the man was an even tastier roadside attraction. His blond hair was cut short, accentuating his strong cheekbones, a slightly crooked nose and chiseled jaw. One half of his mouth ticked upward in an interested grin as he gave her another slow once over, pausing at her braless chest.
Blaina cocked her head to the side and returned the favor, undressing him with her eyes. Holy moly, if reality was anything like the carnal picture her mind was presenting…
Somehow she managed to choke out through all the accumulating drool, “I’ve got tools. You need a hand?
Think about all the people you meet on any given day. Not every one of them will stand out in your memory. Maybe you’ll share a quick conversation with the woman ringing you up at the grocery store, or you’ll wave at the mailman as he drives by. An hour or two later many of those meets will fade into the background of your mind to eventually disappear. So what is it that makes others stand out? Why is it that a quick glance across a crowded restaurant where all you do is meet another person’s eyes can stick with you for years? Is it chemical? Is it something almost cellular that connects you to that person, even if you haven’t shared a word?
Attraction is fascinating, mysterious, intimate, amazing, and is a feeling everyone understands and has experienced, yet when you break it down it can be almost possible to define. It’s like the old saying about pornography: you know it when you see it. Same with attraction: you know it when you feel it. Playing with this is why we write romance–we love feeling that pull along with our characters, breaking it down so we understand it and fall in love along with them.
Now you tell us. What’s your favorite instant attraction experience, either fictional or your own life story? We’ll give away a digital copy of Acting on Impulse to one lucky commenter, winner chosen Saturday morning, June 23, 2012.
