Avril Ashton's Blog, page 10

Out Now – Desert Heat by Lucy Felthouse (@cw1985) #erotica #romance #gay #mm #military

 

Blurb

Their love is forbidden by rules, religion and risk. Yet still they can’t resist.

Captain Hugh Wilkes is on his last tour of duty in Afghanistan. The British Army is withdrawing, and Wilkes expects his posting to be event-free. That is, until he meets his Afghan interpreter, Rustam Balkhi, who awakens desires in Wilkes that he’d almost forgotten about, and that won’t be ignored.

Please note: this book was previously published as part of the Unconditional Surrender bundle.

Buy links:

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Excerpt

Captain Hugh Wilkes sucked in a deep breath, steeling himself for the heat he was about to be subjected to, though he already knew all the deep breaths in the world wouldn’t help. Darkness had fallen on Camp Bastion, in the notorious Helmand Province of Afghanistan, but there would still be residual warmth left to seep away throughout the small hours. Then the sun would rise, and it would start all over again. It was a damn desert, after all. But, all being well, it would be his last ever tour of the godforsaken place. The British Army was already preparing to pull out. The manpower had been reduced drastically over the previous months. It was time to leave the Afghans to get on with it. They weren’t being abandoned—far from it—they would still receive aid, training and money for years to come. But the British Army was no longer needed, apparently. It was still a volatile place, which would no doubt be monitored very closely, in case strategies needed to be reconsidered.

None of that was down to Wilkes, though. He was here with his platoon for six months, doing whatever they were ordered to do by their Company Commander, Major Hunter. It was unlikely they’d be doing any fighting—they weren’t here for offensive operations. More probably they’d be accompanying their vehicles, weapons and ammunition across the country as it was transported to the air base to be sent back home, or patrolling towns and villages as a show of presence, to reassure and protect the inhabitants.

There was only one way to find out. Grabbing his kit, he headed toward the ramp of the huge C17 aircraft with his colleagues, and followed them out onto the airstrip. Immediately, he was hit by the overwhelming smell of aviation fuel. As he moved away from the airplane this was replaced by the dry atmosphere.

Wilkes imagined he could feel the grains of sand coating his throat and tongue. He’d soon get used to it—he always did. Plus, on the bright side, he’d end up with a nice tan at the end of his deployment. Mentally, he crossed his fingers for a nice, event-free tour of duty. Letting his guard down wasn’t going to happen, naturally, he just hoped it wasn’t necessary. Hoped the insurgents would play nicely. The country was completely different to how it had been when Allied forces had gone in after 9/11. Some fantastic progress had been made, but it still wasn’t completely safe. But then, where was? People died in picturesque villages in the English countryside—though generally not courtesy of IEDs, AK-47s or suicide bombers.

 

Author Bio

Lucy Felthouse is a very busy woman! She writes erotica and erotic romance in a variety of subgenres and pairings, and has over 100 publications to her name, with many more in the pipeline. These include several editions of Best Bondage Erotica, Best Women’s Erotica 2013 and Best Erotic Romance 2014. Another string to her bow is editing, and she has edited and co-edited a number of anthologies, and also edits for a small publishing house. She owns Erotica For All, is book editor for Cliterati, and is one eighth of The Brit Babes. Find out more at http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk. Join her on Facebook and Twitter, and subscribe to her newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/gMQb9

 

Fangirling My Own Work

“Do you re-read your books after they’ve been published?”

I was asked the question a while ago. Some authors can’t read their own work after it’s been published. Makes them feel… weird? Dunno.

Me? I’ve lost count the amount of times I’ve re-read my books. All my books. It’s different for me. I’m a fan of what I write, of the characters I write. They’re family, the kind of family I can actually stand. So revisiting them is nothing but good times for me. I miss them, and I fan girl like the rest of you. I love specific scenes, specific dialogues, and specific chapters. And oftentimes I’ll pull up a book on my Kindle just to flip to that specific part and read it.

Always like the first time. It feels like I always discover something different when I read the books.

Now. This isn’t a “Oh, I’m so good” kinda thing. And it’s not a “pat myself on the back” type situation. It’s an “I genuinely love these guys so let me look them up one mo ’gain” kinda deal.

I freaking squee all over them.

Now this post is because I was writing some Elias and Lucky yesterday (nearing the end, BTW) and some familiar faces showed up. Not those LOL But some dudes you guys love. And I found myself squeeing and grinning like a fool. Because I love that, love when familiar faces pop in, stop by, and just all around make shit that much more interesting. Didn’t know that was gonna happen, and I’m certain when you finally read and get to those parts you’ll squee just as hard.

Fan. See?

I’m a big fan of series. Big. Huge. But I’ve got this weird quirk where I need each book to be about a different couple. I can’t do the same couple all the damn time deal. That’s my reader quirk poking through, because things I won’t suffer as a reader, Av the author damn sure will deal with them. You have no idea how far outside my comfort zone I go when writing.

Not the whole gang/killers/bad boy type. Heh.

I write what I’m a fan of. The way I like things to be. Most often you might never know whose book is coming next in my reads unless I tell you, or really push their storyline. Like I did with Is and Reggie (you knew they were gonna get theirs) and with Tek and Quinn. Bet when you started Love the Sinner you never knew Pablo was gonna be who he turned out to be? Neither did I.

I like that. Like it organic.

That’s what I like.

And there are times when I re-read one book or the other and I just touch my chest and look up at the ceiling and go, “I can’t believe I wrote this.”

Like you, I have my fave kiss (Used to be Gabe/Angel, now it’s Is/Reggie), fave sex, fave lines. And sometimes I’d just be lying in bed and want to read one of my guys so I do. I read my work. I understand some don’t have the same opinion on it. When they’re done, once that book is out there, they’re done. But see, with me it’s different. If I can’t read it then I can’t expect you to either. If I can’t get down in the trenches with you, cry every time Pablo lost his shit on Shane, when Dima went ape-shit on X’s ass. If I can’t grasp my pearls when Gabe and Angel kiss for the first time, when Syren reveals all his panty-clad deliciousness to Kane, or when Shane breaks out of the hospital to go to J.P. If I’m not panting when Gabe goes beast on Angel in the condo that birthday night, when Dima goes hunting for X’s cum inside some chick, when Reggie drops to his knees in front of Is that first time…

If I’m not doing that every single time, how can I except you to have the same reaction? I want it to last beyond the first read. Past the third re-read. So I definitely go back and read time after time, loving that the words pack the same punch.

J.P. and Pablo came out in print the other day. I have a box (5 paperbacks) in my possession. The nostalgia is…heavy. I keep picking up the books and flipping to different chapters. Their first kiss on the boat.

The first time J.P. acknowledged that being with Dev, “it mattered.”

Like Shane, I lose my shit every time J.P. pulls the Jesus piece and tells him to “take a knee”. Last night after I put kid to bed I revisited that entire basement situation, where I hated J.P. Hated what he’d done. Then I went to him rescuing Shane and absolutely dying himself inside that hospital bathroom. And I cried for him. Last night.

You have no idea how many times I’ve read this Goddamn book.

And still…

I’m a fan of what I do and how I do it. Not many are fans of mine, of how I do what I do. But here’s the thing, when I’m done writing this post I’ll probably go right back and re-read that whole thing again. The author side of me has long been put to rest so it’s all about losing myself in it as a reader.

I can do that, but I can also see growth and weakness.

I like to think that I grow with each book I put out. I take more risks, up my game. That’s what I’m here to do, right? Get better at my craft. Learn and grow. So re-reading also provides that side of things, too.

I can say now that yep, definitely too much sex and cussing in Love the Sinner.

LOL But I adore all that nasty so it’s all good.

I still re-read it at least once a week.

There are still new readers discovering the Brooklyn Sinners everyday. That’s…bittersweet. I can never let them go, you know. I try, but then I cave and bring them up on the Kindle and surround myself with them. There’s this hole in my soul reserved for them

I created Run This Town as a sort of surrogate for the Sinners. A new world and characters for us to transfer all that Sinners love onto. But we can have them both, can we not? Enough space in our hearts for both series. Eighty percent of you found me via the Sinners and I wanted to give you something to soothe that burn.

But truth be told, there’s no way to fix that. That’s why I keep going back to them. They’re like a past lover. Your time is up, has been up, but you still feel drawn, pulled to them in an indefinable way so you keep going back for that nasty, wall-crawling, hair fisted, nasty sex that leaves you wrecked and ravaged and still somehow needy for more, despite the carpet burns on your knees and the clumps of your hair on the floor.

You know it’s not gonna work, not gonna help shit, but you’re there anyway. You keep showing up, keep getting fucked, keep using that rinse and repeat cycle.

Pretty sure I’ve written myself off the farm here. Can’t remember what I was talking about LOL That sex shit up top gave me an idea for the next time Elias and Lucky gets naked, and now I need to wrap this fuckery up so I can go let them work out their differences against a wall, with their pants around their ankles.

What the hell was I yapping about again?

Oh yeah… fan girling over my own work. Do that all day, every day. The day I stop re-reading my books is the day I give this writing thing up. Not gonna happen anytime soon.

Listening to my work, on the other hand, now that shit is too Goddamn weird. Audio? No, thanks. And you can’t make me.

 

Cover Reveal!

I’ve been away from writing for a while. Severe back pain had me unable to move much, so suffice it to say writing was not on the agenda. That put me behind schedule. Way behind schedule. Almost two weeks off.

But I’m back. Not 100% better, but definitely good enough to sit at the computer again and get those words in. I’ve had to rethink some stuffabout the story and there is still a lot I don’t knowabout the story, but I’m getting closer to the finish line. I’m actually elbows deep in the hu...

On Tek & Quinn

I think I tried explaining how my mind comes up with the crap it does once. Once. That was all it took for me to know to never try to explain the unexplainable ever again. There’s no rhyme or reason to the way this mess works. I’ve given up on trying to make sense of it.

I don’t really think long term in terms of how I’m writing. Like I can never tell you what’s gonna happen in say Chapter Ten if I’m writing Chapter three. I never know.

Today I got to thinking about Elias & Lucky, and Tek & Qui...

Happy New Year!

It’s the end of another year. Figured I should write up something. Put my thoughts about the past year down for posterity. My mind is a jumbled mess so no doubt this post is gonna be as well.

Felt as if 2014 went by so quickly. In the blink of an eye, but there were times I felt it would never freaking end. You know how that goes? When things are going good, time flies by so fast, but when it’s all bad, that fucker slows all the way down and you can’t ever see it ending.

It’s been a year of new...

Tempering Steele by Lea Barrymire

Tempering Steel

Book 2 ~ Coyote Bluff Series

Erotic/Hot paranormal romance

M/F HEA

55K words

Self pubbed

Preorder 12/3/2014

Releasing 12/17/2014

Blurb:

After months of aching to be with grumpy Sheriff Connor Manning, Margarete Barrie finally gets her chance when a coyote shifter takes refuge in her home. She burns with need every time they’re close, but even she can only take rejection so many times before giving up.

Connor’s resolve to stay away from Margie weakens when she takes in his packmate. Figh...

#MerryChristmas

Merry Christmas, everyone! I’m spending the time with a house full of noise and children. Our brood is in town and I’m in stepmom mode.

Cooking, eating. You know the drill.

I’ll also be writing. Trying to play catch up with Elias and Lucky. I’m at the 30k mark, a lil bit more actually. The goal is to hit 60k. That’s the sweet spot. Everything else is gravy.

Or in my case, icing.

I hope you have a wonderful time with your family and friends. Hope, too, that you get all you’ve wished for, all you’v...

20k Update

We’re at 20k on Elias and Lucky. And a little over 10k on Tek and Quinn because I couldn’t keep poor self-destructive Tek, and suicidal Quinn, locked in my head. Had to get them out or I’d be running around mad. So I’m writing them both.

For the moment.

This could stop at anytime. I have no control over how it all pans out, except that Elias and Lucky comes first. That book needs to happen before you can read Tek and Quinn, but for now… I’m doing them both.

Not like that, pervs!

But I wish, thoug...

Not 10k, but an Update

This weekend I realized that I had the hugest hole in Unmask You, time wise. I’d specified certain things in Body You, so I had to go with that frame of reference. The way I’m writing Unmask You now, it’s impossible for things to happen because of what happened in Body You. Which meant I’d have to back up, go back, and sorta flip shit around, speed up some things, slow down others, or just plain delete some shit.

I decided to circumvent that, just this morning, by writing the Riker’s Island st...

Unmask You 10k Update

I’ve started Unmask You. Did on Dec 1st actually. I’m at 10k words in. So figured I’d drop by to give an update. I’ll be back when I hit the next 10k, and the next, and so on.

I’ll be taking you back, to when Elias and Lucky first met, to when they fell in love. Already wrote that. And the first kiss. I’m in Riker’s Island prison now, because I finally figured out what the hell went down inside that place. I am fucking dying. Nothing pretty, nothing good at all, and most of it does indeed cent...