Jessica E. Subject's Blog, page 119
May 1, 2014
Happy SPACE DAY! A traveler’s guide to The Milky Way (Infographic)
Happy Friday! Since today is SPACE DAY, I thought I’d share an infographic from Space.com about the parts of the universe that is closest to us, our own galaxy, The Milky Way.
Source SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration
April 30, 2014
ALIEN ADORATION ~ Celebrating a Book Birthday with a SALE! #99cents #scifirom
Hello readers! I’m super excited today, as it’s the first birthday of Alien Adoration, my first foray into self-publishing. To celebrate, I’ve reduced the price of both Alien Adoration and Alien Admirer to $0.99 from today until May 12, 2014. So, if you haven’t had a chance to grab these books yet, be sure to get them while on sale. Don’t miss out!
Alien Adoration ~ Science Fiction Romance
Erotic dreams fill her with need…
Night after night, Rachel fantasizes about her sexy, playboy neighbor. But in her small town, no one changes, least of all the bad boy next door. But when Luke rescues her not once but twice from disastrous dates, she dares to believe her knight in black leather armor may be the right man for her after all.
Until she learns the truth…
Life on Earth has never been easy for Luke. Stranded as a little boy, he struggled to craft an existence for himself, but he never forgot the first human he met–and he never stopped wanting to see her again. Returning to Hanton, Luke longs for Rachel. Yet nothing goes as he plans, and Rachel barely notices him. Convincing her he isn’t like all the jerks she’s dated means telling her the truth, but can she handle it?
Can she overcome her fears, or will she deny her alien adoration and leave him stranded once more?
ONLY $0.99 from:
All Romance | Amazon.com | Kobo
Alien Admirer ~ Science Fiction Romance
He fills her with forbidden longing…
Widowed for over a year, Sera longs for the company of her younger, sexier neighbor, the one man she can never have—unless she plans to rob the cradle. It’s too dangerous…
She’s the only one for him…
Adam never wanted to settle down…until Sera. But even when her children give him the green light, he must prove age is an alien concept…
Will Sera give him a chance, or will Adam be left in the cold, never more than her alien admirer?
ONLY $0.99 from:
All Romance | Amazon.com | Kobo
Don’t forget!
This sale is good through May 12. Don’t wait too late!
April 28, 2014
Dragonfly Moments Birthday Tour & Giveaway! #99cents #romance @KathleenLBosman
Thank you, Jessica Subject for hosting me on your blog today. Jessica writes and sends out the Decadent Publishing Newsletter. Here’s the link if you want to subscribe: Decadent Publishing Newsletter. There are sales and giveaways in the newsletter so don’t miss out.
Today, I’m offering you an extended excerpt from my book.
Blurb:
Seven years earlier, a young and serious Tessa Calitz wrote a letter to free spirit Ryan le Roux promising her undying love. As time passed she forgot about that letter…but Ryan did not.
When he walks back into her life, Tessa is in a relationship and busy setting up her art gallery in Johannesburg. She has plans to start a family, and the arrival of Ryan throws her for a spin. He is the worst thing that could happen to her dream of stability…or is he?
When everything she clung to starts to crumble, Ryan is right beside her to inspire her to greater things. But her compulsion for having marriage and children on her terms alone pushes Ryan away–until she falls in love with an orphaned baby.
What can Ryan do to make Tessa realize that being with him is what her heart has longed for all along?
Here’s a trailer of the book for a foretaste: Dragonfly Moments Book Trailer
“Why did you paint that house red, Tess?”
He pointed to her beach house painting. She loved that one. It was so happy.
“What if it was red? I’m a realist. I paint what I see.”
“No, it’s not red. I’ve seen that house before, and it’s not red. It’s brown.”
She tried to swallow away the constriction in her throat. He was staring intently into her face, awaiting a reply. How did he know so much about art? Her art, at that.
“Brown was boring. Red made the painting happy. I painted that about six months ago when I realized Mark was the one for me.”
“I don’t know why I was so stupid. I thought you would always love me. I thought the friendship we had would be strong enough to lead us forward. I wasn’t planning to say this outright today, but I want to tell you before it’s too late.”
His shoulders were rigid and his mouth crooked down, his whole body emanating tension. She wanted to reach out to him and soothe the pain, but that would give him the wrong impression. And compassion wasn’t a good reason for putting her future marriage to Mark at risk.
To be honest, she didn’t really know Ryan. She’d known him years ago from tip to toe. She’d studied every part of his visible body. In winter, he always walked around inside with socks on, usually inside out and half off his feet, the ends flopping up and down. In summer, he strolled around barefoot, and he had surprisingly clean toenails for a man. He always ate lunch at breakfast and breakfast at lunch. There were so many more things she’d loved about him, and she couldn’t remember them all now. Maybe he had changed since. She’d changed.
The phone rang. She answered. Mark greeted her.
“Hi!” she said, relieved to hear his voice. Mark meant stability, familiarity, and the life that Tessa had all planned out—three children around her table at night.
Ryan edged away from her and began to walk out the door. She nearly shouted “wait” but stopped herself. He should leave, even if he didn’t buy the painting.
“Will I see you tonight?” Mark asked.
“Yes. What do you want to do?”
“Anything. You decide on a restaurant.”
“Sounds great. See you then.” She put the phone down and looked up.
Ryan was standing a foot from her again. His woodsy, manly scent drifted into her senses.
“Do you always listen in on other people’s conversations?”
“Don’t settle for less.”
Her vision blurred for a moment. What did he mean by that? Was he referring to Mark? How dare he? It was her decision. How dare he come back out of the past and start assuming things about her.
“I don’t know what you mean, and you’re starting to upset me.”
“You know what I mean.”
“No, I don’t. Look, I think you’d better go.”
“Kicking a customer out.” He winked. He never used to wink like that—that much she remembered.
“Are you really intending to buy anything?”
“Paint me something from your heart. Truly from your heart, and I will buy it.”
What? Goosebumps ran up her arms. Paint something specially for Ryan? It was as if he’d touched a chord inside her that was only hers. She knew what painting from the heart implied. The proof was at home in her cupboards. But Ryan mustn’t know that.
“I don’t know what you mean,” she said again.
“Yes, you do. Let me know when you’ve done it.”
“I don’t even have your number.”
“Here’s my business card.”
He handed it to her, and she dropped it on her desk like a hot coal. So she wasn’t going to get rid of Ryan and all the memories so easily. Business was business. Having someone commission a painting was a first for her.
“Thanks.” She let out a shaky breath and looked down at the papers on her desk, desperate to find something to busy herself with. Too much intense emotion for one day. At least her evening with Mark would be calm and ordinary.
Ryan left, and she walked to the door, intending to lock it, but no, it was still working hours. The relief of him leaving was short-lived. Now she had to face up to the empty gallery and her crazy thoughts about Mark leaving. But, everything would happen for the future good. She had to look to the future, not be swayed by silly current emotions.
She padded to the painting with the red roof and studied it. It would have looked wrong with a brown roof. His attention to detail was commendable yet not good enough to have noticed how much she loved him all those years he visited them. And he hadn’t been clever enough to dump Annie and date her. All his fault.
A muffled groan escaped her lips. Just when she’d moved on with her life and forgotten about Ryan, there he was, back in it.
Too bad. He could stay in but at a distance—a comfortable distance. Given how she’d made it through art college working part time until late most nights, she could stop him from swaying her. He wasn’t going to get in the way of what she wanted and needed. He couldn’t offer her the guarantee of forever or have her need for a family met.
Running to her desk, she pulled out the baby magazine from inside a drawer and let her fingers slide over the glossy pictures of the soft little bundles of humanity displayed on the pages. She would make a good mother, that was one thing she knew. Anyone who wanted a child as much as she did would be the most devoted mother in the world.
Available from:
Decadent Publishing | Amazon US | Amazon UK
Barnes & Noble | All Romance | Smashwords
Where to find Kathy Bosman online:
Website and Blog | Facebook | Twitter
Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway below and you could either win the grand prize of a $15 Amazon voucher or one of 5 dragonfly swag bags. I’ve made beautiful beaded necklaces in a variety of colours and designs – one for each bag.
Here’s a pic of one of them:
April 27, 2014
Get IN FROM THE COLD with this HOT #newrelease from @TarynKincaid #1NS #PNR
IN FROM THE COLD
By Taryn Kincaid
A Sleepy Hollow 1Night Stand Story
Spook Raines is a burnt-out spy who doesn’t know he’s a fire demon with a twin in Sleepy Hollow.
Geneviève Mortimer is a will o’ the wisp who hunts demons to ease the pain of her troubled past.
When Madame Eve brings them together for a torrid 1Night Stand, will they be able to come in from the cold at last?
Geneviève Mortimer crept down the quiet hotel hallway, careful to bank her glow…at least for the moment. She’d sensed the presence of a demon on the floor, but something seemed off about the male’s aura. A weird lack of evil, like an impenetrable force field surrounded his consciousness, his psyche. As if he thought he were…human.
Had he been brainwashed? Drugged? Raised by gypsies? By wolves? Wait. No. Scratch that last one. She didn’t get the were vibe at all with this one.
No matter, as a will o’the wisp and a POLO, Protector of the Legion of Shadows, tasked with watching over humankind and keeping the unwary safe from visitors from the demon realms to the human plane, she lured the black-souled to their demise. Going all shine-a-light and sparkly until the evil ones fell under her spell and followed her anywhere. She needed to find this guy. Pounce first, beam a little hypnotic wattage, ask questions later. Take him out before he did any harm. To humans, or innocents like her parents.
She sniffed. Getting warmer. Closer to the demon’s room. What would she find behind his door?
Ignoring the do not disturb sign, she jiggled the handle. Locked. But the absence of a key card wouldn’t be a problem for her, not with her brand of talent and the magick lock picks in her pocket. She got the door open in seconds and slinked into the room, masking her radiance, keeping to the shadows.
Holy shit. The scent of male arousal filled the air. Delicious, decadent, sublime. Total man candy, like nothing she’d ever smelled before. Calling to her sweet tooth. Her horny core. So intense, an ache blossomed between her legs. She closed her eyes and inhaled. Whoa. She could orgasm from the erotic scent of the guy alone. Was the dude going through breedspawn? Were all the rumors she’d heard of the full-on crazy, demon male mating phase more than myth? She’d sure never encountered anything as powerfully sexy as this.
Cripes. This sort of thing never happened to her. I’m a demon hunter, damn it. She remained professional always, despite her ditzy, scatterbrained reputation. Did her job. And did it well. She’d fooled even her closest friends, those who didn’t know about her role as a POLOS and didn’t guess the half of it. Those who thought she slut-flitted around the world searching for mischief, adventure and, most of all, pleasure, like some sort of fickle, commitment-shy, well, yeah sure, okay, will o’the wisp.
Available now!
Amazon US | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK |
All Romance | Barnes and Noble | Decadent Publishing | Smashwords
Find Taryn at:
Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter @tarynkincaid | Goodreads
Email taryn@tarynkincaid.com
April 25, 2014
FREE erotic romance ~ JUST ANOTHER WEDDING by Jessica E. Subject
Hello! This week, I have another FREE read to tell you about. Just Another Wedding is a story I wrote last year for the release of Alien Adoration. While the story is part of the Alien Next Door series, the main characters ARE NOT aliens. Please note this is a short story, only 3K.
Pepper Dobson is not used to leaving any wedding alone. But, she’s turned a new leaf, and is determined to find the right man rather than the man right now. That is, until she meets Bill, the bank manager from the small town of Hanton. But, will one night of passion with the sexy stranger lead to a lasting relationship? Or will he sneak away before the sun rises just like her previous lovers?
Caution: Contains oral sex.
Available from:
*Please note: Due to Amazon policies, this title may not always be free there.
But, you can download MOBI for your Kindle from ARe & Smashwords.
April 24, 2014
The Appeal of Historical Romances by @LaynaPimentel #ASinfulEducation #giveaway
Today, to finish off my week of some of my favorite authors, please welcome my long-time critique partner and wonderful friend, Layna Pimentel.
The Appeal of Historical Romances
by Layna Pimentel
Before I get started, I just wanted to say a quick thank you to my host. Jessica has been an amazing friend and critique partner of the years, and without her, I’ve no idea where I would be today. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
The appeal of these romances I think in general, is more of the escape it provides us from our daily obligations. I’ve always been fascinated with historical societies and ancient civilizations, so why wouldn’t I want to read about something as fantastical as a period romance. I love costume dramas, and I fancy British accents and Scottish brogue.
Medieval romances taking place in the Scottish Highlands whisk me away to a time where it was just as brutal as today if not more, and the landscape was breathtakingly beautiful. Untouched by modern innovation and refreshing. Romance settings in historic London tend to either lean toward the aristocrats, or some of the more unfortunate boroughs of town life. Yet, it doesn’t matter where the romance takes place, the trials and tribulations of two people—or sometimes three—is what sets the scene and pace.
In my Pleasure Garden Follies series, I tried to incorporate a balance of high and low society. Unfortunately, by its completion, most of my characters were of the aristocracy. But make no mistake, my antagonists were horrible, mean spirited folks. As for my hero and heroine…Lord! They made writing this book all the worthwhile.
Today I’ll share with you an excerpt from the second book in my series A Sinful Education. I hope you enjoy!
~*~
A SINFUL EDUCATION
by Layna Pimentel
Lord Charles Avonlea has evaded marriage over the last year, but his mother is determined to find him a wife. Far from consenting to any of her choices, he sets his sights on the one woman unavailable to him, his best friend’s younger sister. With no regard for the law or her impending nuptials, he is determined to make Lady Emily Thompson his bride. The only trouble is, he’s stumbled upon dangerous information and hopes he can get to her before it’s too late.
Stunned and dismayed at discovering the arrangement between her mother and the Duke of Downsbury, Lady Emily Thompson searches for a way to break the marriage pact with the duke. She longs to be with the only man who indulges her curiosity, yet finds herself in the middle of a scandal that will crush her dreams forever.
Will she find a way out of marrying the duke, or will she find herself in the same predicament as the previous duchess? Which was dead.
How would he perceive her after tonight? Would he deem her the most incorrigible female ever bestowed upon London? Or, would he call her a minx and throw her out of his room? Her only desire was to learn, to educate herself in the ways of pleasure for when her time came to be a wife. To become a wife in name was not an option, nor did she want to play second fiddle to another woman. Yet, the truth be told, Emily desired to get closer with the earl.
Suddenly, the image forever engrained upon her mind of a woman’s mouth wrapped around a manhood seemed more of a challenge. The kind of challenge that would certainly scandalize any respectable female. But she desired to know the intricacies of said intimate moments. Perhaps Charles would find it as pleasurable. Emily shook her head and pulled off her covers.
She rose from the bed and put on her slippers and robe. Using the utmost discretion, she opted to leave behind the candlestick and left her room in the dark, knowing all too well it was only the two of them in this side of the house.
Emily gently closed her chamber door and swept down the hall, pausing outside of his room. The glow of the fireplace danced across the floor under the door, but all was silent. Perhaps he was reading from the privacy of the curtained platform bed or standing in the window, basking in the view the west side of the manor offered.
She quietly opened his door and closed it behind her.
No one stirred, nor made a sound.
She took a step forward, parting her lips to call for him.
A soft moan caught her attention and uncertainty crept up her spine. She should not have proceeded, but went on to appease her curiosity. Stealing further into the room, she paused in the corner.
She caught sight of his lordship through the break of the curtains. Charles’ eyes were closed, chest exposed as his hand moved beneath the sheet barely covering his waist. Lord, he’s a sight to watch, but what exactly is he doing?
Emily moved closer, but could not make head or tails of his motions. That is, until he called out, “Emily.”
He moaned then kicked off his sheets.
Good heavens, the sight of him was impressive. Dark, curly hair dusted his chest. His muscles so refined that the creases begged her to touch them. Dampness settled between her thighs again. What the hell is wrong with me? Did he just moan out my name?
She could see clearly now as he stroked his manhood.
Emily gasped and stepped back, bumping into a chair. Drats!
Avonlea opened his eyes.
She lost all sense of what she had stumbled upon. She should not have been there, no matter how glorious or how beautiful he looked with his eyes closed, or how impressive his body appeared. She would land straight in purgatory for this sin and many others, but she stood at the edge of the platform still.
AVAILABLE FROM:
Secret Cravings Publishing | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | All Romance eBooks
~*~
Layna Pimentel is giving away a $10 Amazon eGift Certificate.
Follow the Rafflecopter link for full details:
~*~
Born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Layna discovered her love of reading at an early age. When she isn’t devouring salacious romance novels or writing, she enjoys losing herself in researching ancient history and mythology, weaponry, and hiking. She lives in Northern Ontario, with her husband and two daughters.
Layna is a member of the Romance Writers of America, and is a monthly contributor at 69 Shades of Smut. For updates on her upcoming releases, or to leave her a comment, you can find at:
Website: www.laynapimentel.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/LaynaPimentel
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorLaynaPimentel
April 22, 2014
The Post-Apocalyptic “Information Age” in THE OPHELIA PROPHECY by @SharonFisher #sfrb
Please welcome another of my favorite authors to the blog. Sharon Lynn Fisher has two science fiction romance books published with TOR books. I’ve read and loved them both. They’re books I will never part with. I want to read them over and over. And if they come to the big screen *fingers crossed*, I’ll be first in line to see them.
The Post-Apocalyptic “Information Age”
in THE OPHELIA PROPHECY
Guest post by author Sharon Lynn Fisher
Someone recently suggested in an interview that the importance of information to the humans in my post-apocalyptic biopunk romance, THE OPHELIA PROPHECY, was an amplification of our relationship with information in the digital age. The interviewer was correct in surmising that was what had inspired me to incorporate this element into the story, and I find the topic so interesting I thought it might make a good guest post. (Thanks for having me, Jessica!).
For those who haven’t read the book, the heroine’s city, Sanctuary, is the last outpost of humanity after a plague engineered by the Manti — a race of human/praying mantis transgenic organisms created by human scientists — wipes out almost all of the humans on the planet.
When I was writing the book, I thought about what would motivate a small pocket of humans to survive once life and society as they’d known it had ceased to exist. I could imagine one motivation would be to recover what they’d lost. And if they still had access to computers (and power to operate them), they’d do all they could to preserve information about their history and lost culture.
The “Ophelia” of THE OPHELIA PROPHECY is a scientist who predicted the downfall of humanity. Before her prediction came true, she became obsessed with collecting data. Afterward, the data was preserved in an archive by the survivors. Asha, the heroine, is one of the archivists working to sort out the mess Ophelia made as she dumped data onto drives in a frantic and haphazard fashion.
I think it’s fair to say that we digital age citizens have become information junkies. From blogs posts on topics we’re interested in to the frequent micro-updates we receive from friends and family via social media. And just like an addiction to any substance, once our relationship to information shifted from casual to obsessive, that relationship became dysfunctional. (FaceBook suddenly becomes fascinating when I’m freaking out about a deadline. I can’t sit at a traffic light without checking my email. Etc.)
I thought about how this might play out in the future, and specifically in my post-apocalyptic setting. Could an obsession with information evolve into something like a religion?
The humans in Sanctuary have devoted themselves to preservation of information about the past. The mission statement of their archive is “preserving the past for the future.” They believe if they lie low and wait for their opportunity to challenge and defeat their enemy, they can use information to resurrect the past. This is where the dysfunction comes in. By clinging to the past, they fail to move forward into their new reality. They lock themselves into a cycle of regret and unrealistic hope. I think that’s something we’ve all experienced at times in our lives.
Asha pinpoints the problem in the following passage:
The longer she spent away from Sanctuary, the more she felt sickened by their complacency. The fact they’d all survived was important, but was it enough? Quiet lives and quiet deaths. Living in a kind of stasis, focused on preserving the past. Unmolested by their enemy because they presented zero threat to them. It had begun to seem weak and pointless.
Am I suggesting information obsession is a fatal societal character flaw? No. But it’s fun to speculate about it! Now if we consider what might happen were we to suddenly lose connection to all the computers and networks that store our information … well, that’s a speculation for another day.
The Ophelia Prophecy
by Sharon Lynn Fisher
A thrilling new sci-fi romance from the author of 2013 RWA RITA finalist Ghost Planet…
Our world is no longer our own. We engineered a race of superior fighters — the Manti, mutant humans with insect-like abilities. Twenty-five years ago they all but destroyed us. In Sanctuary, some of us survive. Eking out our existence. Clinging to the past.
Some of us intend to do more than survive.
Asha and Pax — strangers and enemies — find themselves stranded together on the border of the last human city, neither with a memory of how they got there.
Asha is an archivist working to preserve humanity’s most valuable resource — information — viewed as the only means of resurrecting their society.
Pax is Manti, his Scarab ship a menacing presence in the skies over Sanctuary, keeping the last dregs of humanity in check.
Neither of them is really what they seem, and what humanity believes about the Manti is a lie.
With their hearts and fates on a collision course, they must unlock each other’s secrets and forge a bond of trust before a rekindled conflict pushes their two races into repeating the mistakes of the past.
AVAILABLE FROM
Amazon US | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK
Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository
A Romance Writers of America RITA Award finalist and a three-time RWA Golden Heart Award finalist, SHARON LYNN FISHER lives in the Pacific Northwest. She writes books for the geeky at heart—sci-fi flavored stories full of adventure and romance—and battles writerly angst with baked goods, Irish tea, and champagne. Her works include Ghost Planet (2012), The Ophelia Prophecy (2014), and Echo 8 (2014). You can visit her online at SharonLynnFisher.com.
April 21, 2014
Take a trip to beautiful Mauritius with author @ZeeMonodee and the #IslandGirls
It’s a week of some of my favorite people. Yay! Please welcome my critique partner and good friend, Zee Monodee to the blog.
Hey everyone! Thanks Jessica for having me over today!
So, when Jessica asked me over, she told me that I’m always talking about Mauritius, but that people don’t really know the island – most of them would want a visual to go along with my rambling about my beautiful country.
Today thus seemed like the perfect opportunity to showcase Mauritius and go beyond the “white sandy beaches & turquoise lagoons” postcard image.
On today’s trip, I’m taking you inland to show you some of the natural and man-made wonders of the country.
Let’s start with Nature – check out this collage of locations
We’re going clockwise from top left:
The 7-colour Earth from Chamarel – this is located in the south-west of the island. A marvel of geology, the earth flows in dunes of seven different colours in this spot. Something in the volcanic composition of the land has turned it, over the years, into this kaleidoscope.
Rochester Falls – south of the island. Basalt rocks – formed when lava solidified – form the major rock composition of the land all over Mauritius, but these falls prove a marvel of natural origin. The hard basalt has been ‘cut’ into blunt, step-like shards over the years. This spot is accessible only by foot, after a long trek through woodland and steep ravine-type descents.
Trou aux Cerfs – this one is almost smack inland, and actually just a few miles from my house. Mauritius is of volcanic origin (exactly like Hawaii), and of course, we have volcano craters. This is one of the 3 craters on the island, the only one not filled with water, and all of them have been dormant for centuries (thank goodness! LOL). This one here is almost 2,000 feet in height, located in the coldest area of the country, aka my town, Curepipe. See the trail all around the crater? It’s been converted into a health trail for the town – hubby and I often go jogging there in the afternoons.
Salt beds in Tamarin – west coast, and where I have located the plot of Light My World. Tamarin is a coastal village known for its almost-year-round sun and low humidity. Consequently, salt is “harvested” there. These are enormous, shallow beds of rock where salt water is left to evaporate and a hard crystal layer of sea salt remains.
Let me now take you to the North, to one of our most visited locations – the Sir Seewoosagar Ramgoolam Botanical Gardens in Pamplemousses.
The castle here – depicting typical French colonial architecture – is called Le Château De Mon Plaisir and was built in the 18th century, and was the residence of French governor (and the main architect of Mauritius as we know it), Mahé de Labourdonnais. His intendant, a man named Pierre Poivre, decided to turn the castle’s grounds into a sort of world garden at the time. So he sourced plants from all over the French colonies – especially spice plants – and planted them all over the grounds. Combined with endemic species and other rare flora, the gardens remain one of the top botanical spots in the world to view hundreds of plant species all in one place.
The gardens are mainly known for the giant water lilies in its ponds (top right of the pic), and the ordered, peaceful grounds also carry the ruins of what used to be a sugar mill, as it was used back in the 18th and 19th centuries (bottom right of image).
Last but not least, I want to make you take a trip down the heritage houses we have here. I make a veritable tribute to them in Light My World, and one such house is the setting and backdrop for much of the second half of the story.
I based myself a lot on this dwelling – the Domaine des Aubineaux. It is actually located inland (stone’s throw from my parents’ place!) but for the sake of the story, I transposed it to the West coast.
Most of the houses of the upper class and “richer” landowners in the past used to resemble this one – of typical islander colonial structure, with a wide patio in front and at the back, tall French windows/doors opening onto the verandas, wood planks all over the house, and the decor and furniture something of a throwback to a forgotten era….
This house was built in 1817, and has been restored into a tea route museum (after being the family seat of a wealthy white family in the area) to better depict the forgotten age of colonial Mauritius.
More and more of these beautiful, heritage dwellings are going into derelict states or worse, getting torn down to make space for concrete. It’s something I believe we must preserve – I had the chance to know one such dwelling, which belonged to my maternal grandparents, but sadly, my kids will never get into one of these unless it’s been turned into a museum. A real shame…. Soon, they’ll be all forgotten, but I hope some memory of them will live on in my story….
So there you are – a quick tour of some ‘unheard of’ spots in Mauritius. I hope you’ve enjoyed the trip!
From Mauritius with love,
Zee
LIGHT MY WORLD
Book #2 in the Island Girls Trilogy
by Zee Monodee
It is a truth universally acknowledged that to find a prince, a girl has to kiss a few frogs along the way. But what happens when a modern-day princess comes across…an ogre?
So what if a girl has to kiss a few frogs to find her prince?
Tired of her Indian-origin mother’s relentless matchmaking, Diya Hemant is determined to find her Prince Charming on her terms. Armed with a definitive list of requirements, she is sure she’ll know her man when she meets him…
But looking and finding are two different things, especially on the tiny island of Mauritius…
When her path crosses surly British widower Trent Garrison’s, it’s hate at first sight. And though fate keeps pitting her against him, she’s certain he can’t be turned into a frog let alone a prince.
Can this modern-day princess overcome her own expectations and see beyond the ogre to the man beneath?
AVAILABLE FROM:
Decadent Publishing | Amazon | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble | All Romance
Trailer: http://youtu.be/0bxEPp5NNC8
The four of them walked in, and he reached out to press the ground floor button. She’d reached out, too, and their fingers brushed when they tried to hit the keypad.
A jolt went through his hand, and he jerked. She also pulled back, and her wide eyes met his, before she spun away. Her shoulder-length hair followed the swift move of her head, shielding her face. He thought he caught a hint of a blush on her cheeks, but couldn’t be sure.
Trent shoved the image of the faint rosy glow on her smooth cheeks out of his mind. What did it matter if she’d blushed?
She stepped to a corner of the wide lift carriage, and started to brush her fingers in her dark locks as she peered at her reflection in the mirror on the back panel.
She stood taller than Matthew today. Strange. He trained his gaze over her tiny figure, and noticed the stiletto heels on her shoes. Women’s lethal weapons. Those pointed ends could probably skewer a man’s guts with a single kick.
He slowly peered up, along her bare legs and the sheer layers of fabric in the clothes she wore. Her skirt, with its uneven edges, seemed shorter on the right side than on the left, baring her legs from the knee down. Her sleeveless blouse resembled tiers of something light and gauzy assembled in a haphazard way. Almost like a fairy costume. Chunky beads and metal jewellery ran around her neck and on her earlobes, and a large, metal-and-beads belt hung low on her hips.
From time to time, when she raised her arm to fiddle with her hair, the blouse ran up and bared a hint of her belly, the light in the elevator catching on something metallic.
Blimey! She had a navel piercing. He’d never have pinned her for such kind of hoodlum. And today, she’d dressed like a…. He didn’t know what, exactly.
“Sure is hot today,” he said under his breath. Maybe she’d dressed thus because of the humid summer weather. Women wore skimpy clothes on this tropical island, from what he’d gathered.
She whirled around to face him, her eyes narrowing as she inspected him from head to toe. “Not the ideal weather to wear a stuffy jacket and tie.”
He peeped down at his suit and trousers and frowned. They were his work clothes, for God’s sake. What did she expect him to wear? A flower-printed, open shirt baring his hair-speckled chest for every woman and gay man to ogle? She had some nerve to comment on his clothing, when she wore next to nothing.
“Isn’t it a little early for a party?”
She pursed her full, pink lips, and balled her hands into fists at her sides, as if she were refraining from slapping him.
Like she didn’t give in to the urge. He still remembered the slap from the day before.
Interesting perspective how a passionate woman lurked underneath the brash exterior. And that would get him where, exactly? Get a grip, Garrison.
“I’m on my way to a business appointment, if you must know,” she said, breaking through his internal conversation with his libido.
Business? And dressed like a…a woman out to snare a man? Yeah, right. He raised his eyebrows. “Doesn’t exactly scream professional wardrobe, if you ask me.”
“Well, who asked you?”
Point taken, he granted, and winced, careful not to let her see he’d conceded here.
She seemed oblivious to his reaction, and from the flush highlighting her face with a golden glow, she’d fired up for an argument. Bloody hell, did the girl ever let a quarrel drop?
She shrugged her hand in front of him, as if swatting his words away.
“A stuffy Briton like you wouldn’t understand. It’s about image. We look just like our company. Young, trendy, and not afraid to take risks.”
Trent swept his gaze over her again, and noticed the many earrings on her earlobes, and the diamond flashing on the side of her nose. “It’s a metal detector that’d take risks with you, with so many piercings.”
She huffed and clenched her jaw.
The movement offset the delicate line of her jaw and her cheekbones, and the anger in her dark, coffee-brown eyes made them sparkle—
“This is fashion, mate. You’re too old to understand.”
Really? She had to have another think coming.
“What I don’t understand is this,” he said. “Did they run out of fabric when they made your skirt?”
Her face went red. “You—”
“Daddy?”
The little voice brought him back to earth, and he peered at his son.
Trent blinked. The boys stood in the parking lot, while he and Diya were still in the opened lift, his foot blocking the door.
Stunned silence had descended onto the carriage, which jerked him out of the sparring verbal duel he’d engaged with his spunky neighbour. How to bring back some semblance of courtesy between them now? He nodded outside. “After you.”
They locked eyes for a brief second, before she stormed out, ignoring his attempt at peacemaking. He moved out of the way when it seemed like she’d grind her pointed heel into his shoe, and watched with amusement in his heart while she stomped her feet repeatedly on the asphalt as she walked toward her SUV.
“Careful,” he said. “You might break a heel.”
Zee Monodee ~ Stories about love, life, relationships… in a melting-pot of culture
Zee is an author who grew up on a fence – on one side there was modernity and the global world, on the other there was culture and traditions. Putting up with the culture for half of her life, one day she decided she’d stand tall on her wall and dip toes every now and then into both sides of her non-conventional upbringing.
From this resolution spanned a world of adaptation and learning to live on said wall. The realization also came that many other young women of the world were on their own fence.
This particular position became her favourite when she decided to pursue her lifelong dream of writing – her heroines all sit ‘on a fence’, whether cultural or societal, in today’s world or in times past, and face dilemmas about life and love.
Hailing from the multicultural island of Mauritius, Zee is a degree holder in Communications Science. She is a head-over-heels wife, in-over-her-head mum to a tween son, best-buddy-stepmum to a teenage lad, an incompetent domestic goddess, eternal dreamer, and an absolute, shameless bookholic. When she isn’t penning more stories and/or managing the Ubuntu line at Decadent Publishing, you can bet you’ll find her with her nose in her tablet, ‘drinking in’ a good book.
Blog/Site ~ Facebook ~ Pinterest ~ Goodreads ~ Twitter ~ Divas At Work
April 18, 2014
FREE #menage romance ~ LAST MINUTE CUSTOMERS by Jessica E. Subject
Two years ago for Halloween, I wrote an erotic short for an event I was participating in. And now, I’ve published it as a FREE READ. Please keep in mind that is is a very short story, only 3K.
After a long day of helping her customers find the perfect costumes for parties and trick-or-treating, Mandy is ready to close up shop. She just wants to crash on her bed for a few hours before she has to get her party supply store ready for the next holiday. But two sexy last minute customers keep her from locking the door, and she helps them find the perfect outfits. Little does Mandy realize these men want more than just what her shop offers. They want her.
Caution: Contains HOT MFM sex, including anal and double penetration.
Available from:
*Please note: Due to Amazon policies, this title may not always be free there.
But, you can download MOBI for your Kindle from ARe & Smashwords.
Check out the sexy cover for @LauraKayeAuthor’s upcoming release HARD TO HOLD ONTO
Laura Kaye is thrilled to share with you the cover to her next Hard Ink book, Hard to Hold On To which releases on August 19, 2014! Check it out:
Edward “Easy” Cantrell knows better than most the pain of not being able to save those he loves–which is why he is not going to let Jenna Dean out of his sight. He may have just met her, but Jenna’s the first person to make him feel alive since that devastating day in the desert more than a year ago.
Jenna has never met anyone like Easy. She can’t describe how he makes her feel–and not just because he saved her life. No, the stirrings inside her reach far beyond gratitude.
As the pair are thrust together while chaos reigns around them, they both know one thing: the things in life most worth having are the hardest to hold on to.
Pre-Order at Amazon | Amazon.ca | Amazon UK | B&N | iTunes
Hard to Hold On To on Goodreads
And don’t miss the other Hard Ink books, now available:
A Note from Laura:
Hey guys! I am so excited about Easy’s book that I can hardly wait for August to get here! Easy’s character was a total surprise to me. When I initially plotted out the series, there were four surviving members of the Army Special Forces team and therefore I planned for and sold four book in the series. But then, when I sat down to write Hard As It Gets, all of a sudden the story demanded there were actually five guys, and Edward “Easy” Cantrell was born. And I’m so glad! Because Easy’s character is a totally tortured hero, which I adore writing! So I’m super happy that we added his story and this novella into the series, and I can’t wait for you to learn about Easy in Hard to Hold On To!
Is it August yet???
xo, Laura
Praise for the Hard Ink Series:
For Hard As You Can:
“TOP PICK! There is a sinister and desperate edge to this tale that will keep readers glued to their seats. Kaye has dark romantic suspense nailed!” ~ RT Book Reviews Magazine
“Hard As You Can is another five star read. The characters Ms. Kaye has created are wonderfully broken and the drama is gritty, but the burgeoning romance and the tight-knitted relationship of the team leaves you with a sense of redemption. A must read series!” ~San Francisco Book Review
For Hard As It Gets:
“Edgy, sexy and full of suspense! A great read from a great new author!” ~ #1 NYT Bestselling Author J.R. Ward
“Sizzling romance… The intriguing tattoo parlor and military background will appeal to fans of Suzanne Brockmann and Lindsay McKenna.” ~Publishers Weekly Review
“Kaye’s depiction of sexual tension and her sex scenes are masterful and this will appeal to fans of Maya Banks’ KGI and Julia Ann Walker’s Black Knight’s series.” ~Booklist
About Laura Kaye:Laura is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over a dozen books in contemporary and paranormal romance. Growing up, Laura’s large extended family believed in the supernatural, and family lore involving angels, ghosts, and evil-eye curses cemented in Laura a life-long fascination with storytelling and all things paranormal. She lives in Maryland with her husband, two daughters, and cute-but-bad dog, and appreciates her view of the Chesapeake Bay every day.
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