Francesca Hawley's Blog, page 8
February 12, 2014
Virtual Book Tour - Of White Snakes and Misshaped Owls by Debra Hyde
Morning everyone! I want to welcome my guest today, Debra Hyde. She's on tour in support of her book, Of White Snakes and Misshaped Owls. Enjoy this entertaining interview!
INTERVIEW:
1. Which person in your life influenced you the most with your writing?
I can't say any one person influenced my writing and it may be more important to say who influenced my love for books because a love of writing doesn't happen with a love for books. And that person would be my mother. I don't remember being without stories and have many memories of curling up on her lap for a favorite story. In fact, I remember when I got too big for her lap—it was the first time I had to sit next to her for a story!
We had a sixteen volume set of books called “The Children's Hour” in our home, filled with short stories, novel excerpts, and poetry. I think it even had some early Dr. Seuss in one of its volumes! Two stories I especially remember from that collection: The Velveteen Rabbit and The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy.
Point is, being an avid reader allowed and encouraged me to become an author.
2. What is your writing process? Are you a plotter or a “pantser”?
I'm a plotter, but I sometimes get pantsed by my characters. Wait—that didn't come out right!
I'm a plotter because the process serves as a tool for me, helping organize the themes I want to work with, settings, character quirks and motivations, ingoing elements and outcomes. I'm quite good as “organized invention.” However, my characters always have the leeway of coming up with something clever, outrageous, unexpected—you name it—which accounts for getting pantsed.
3. Is one of your books your personal favorite?
I've had a love affair with every one of my books. However, I think The Charlotte Olmes Mystery Series might well become the most enduring effort. Because I'm writing from a Holmesian platform, I expect I'll write numerous novellas, rife with crime solving, lesbian love and lust, and history. I've plotted out two additional tales already with a time table of several more.
4. How did you come up with the idea for your latest book?
I wanted to write a lesbian Steampunk story, which placed my thought process in the Victorian era. But no matter how hard I tried, my thoughts kept drifting toward purer historical fiction and in the process, Charlotte and Joanna Wilson stepped into the light of my mind’s eye. To my surprise, they weren’t surrounded by the enticing trappings of steampunk—instead, the streets of New York City were their backdrop and their beat.
Then I began researching the city in the 1880s and discovered the real world history of 1880s New York City was fascinating enough without any added flourishes!
5. What’s coming up next for you in your writing?
2014 is going to be a busy year for me. I'll start the next Charlotte Olmes novella in March—and when it's published, you'll find the first two novellas paired for print as well! If I'm lucky, I'll manage a third tale before the year is out.
SizzleEditions.com and I are gathering dozens of my erotic short stories together and publishing them into ebooks, then gathering those together into one of two print omnibus editions. The publishers are long-time friends and colleagues and I'm trusting some of my legacy to them. They're going to get some of my kinky novels as well—think FemDomme, polyamory, who know what else!
If that's not enough, my agent pushing some ideas and samples around New York City as well. It's exciting and thrilling, but too formative to talk about at this stage.
6. How did you do research for your book?
Research—my favorite topic! I minored in history in college and, good thing, because the skills I learned then really come into play with the Charlotte Olmes series. I relied on NYC history blogs and books as secondary sources, and all kinds of primary sources from 1880s. Harper's Weekly, Frank Leslie's Illustrated Paper, and many other illustrated periodicals gave me authentic period images of the city. Works like The Rogue's Lexicon taught me city slang, and several police manuals from the period taught me about the NYPD of 1880. I needed good dictionary to look up colloquialisms to see if they were in use by 1880—phrases like right off the bat. But every find was a treasure and it helped build this novella!
7. What do you enjoy reading for pleasure?
I read across all kinds of genres, but seem focused on erotica, mysteries, social history books right now. On my current short list: friend Cecilia Tan's Slow Seduction, John Dunning's mystery The Bookman's Promise, and Sandra Hempel's The Inheritor's Powder: A Tale of Arsenic, Murder, and the New Forensic Science. (Research!) I hope to return to reading the lesbian mystery novels of Val McDermid and Katherine V Forrest soon, too.
8. What’s your favorite guilty pleasure?
Would you believe this is the toughest question you've asked?! It's hard to have an actual guilty pleasure when you've brave enough to write the erotic word. But I'll share.
Worchester Sauce. Spicy, flavorful, and robust. Why a guilty pleasure? Because of the foods I use it on. Don't ask.
9. What is your favorite quote and why?
Mad magazine's “What? Me worried?” Many, many years ago, it came out of a word association incident and stuck. I still think automatically of Alfred E. Neuman when I'm asked this question!
10. In a nod to the Actor’s Studio, what's your favorite curse word and why?
Horse hockey. Because it rolls of the tongue with force and satisfaction.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Charlotte Olmes Mystery SeriesOf White Snakes and Misshaped OwlsRiverdale Avenue BooksLesbian, F/F, Historical, Detective
A dead body in a back alley means little to the rough streets of 1880s New York City—until Charlotte Olmes woman detective steps onto the scene. Crime-solving on behalf of her female clients, Olmes eschews decorum and ventures into places forbidden to the fairer sex, sleuthing after clues hidden, elusive, and often distasteful. When the exotic Miss Tam pleads with Charlotte to find the man to whom she's secretly married, Charlotte ventures into the dark and dangerous crannies of the city with her partner and passionate lover Joanna Wilson at her side. Soon, what appeared to be the random misfortune born of Chinatown's opium dens reveals itself as a vicious gang-related murder—and Olmes and Wilson find themselves wedged between the ethnic and political forces that collide where Chinatown borders the Bowery. Penned by Lambda Literary Award winner Debra Hyde, Of White Snakes and Misshaped Owls recasts the classic eccentric detective genius in ways never before seen. Passions both criminal and carnal come alive in vivid and exacting detail in what promises to become the hallmark of the Charlotte Olmes Mystery Series.
AMAZON / SMASHWORDS / GOODREADS
I was not surprised that I had slept through the morning sun and birdsong of the fine spring morning on which this exceptional adventure had started, but how I escaped the sounds of Madison Square Park and the nearby Sixth Avenue El, I still do not know. Coming to our table for breakfast, I found Charlotte's nose buried deep in the day's penny press. Without fail, she started and ended each day perusing Manhattan's most dreadful news accounts, paying close attention to the brawls between swells, what dead bodies were pulled from the nooks and crannies of the city, and things even more violent and horrid. I prayed she would tell me nothing gruesome this morning. I preferred my first cup of tea without word of the city's more morbid distractions.
“Good morning, my dear Miss Wilson,” Charlotte said, her eyes still glued to her paper.
“Good morning, Miss Olms,” I countered.
However formal our salutations, they were first and foremost an affectionate routine, an irreverent jest aimed at how society expected us to act and not a reflection of how we really felt about each other. And, daring to remind Charlotte just how I preferred our interactions, I leaned over and placed a kiss upon her cheek, one soft enough to suggest I'd welcome more. It earned a chuckle from her and a quick, sly glance of promise. A bustle from the kitchen told me that Mr. East had heard me, and our man's man who preferred serving women came laden with a full meal of eggs, bacon, and toast.
Joining that bounty, a libation of some strange concoction—no doubt, another of Charlotte's attempts to fortify the temples that were our bodies with the fruits of exotic flora from God only knew where. While I should have rued the presence of the strange beverage, it was the larger meal that caught my true attention. A big meal meant one of two things: We either had something physical to do that morning or a case to investigate. Seated, I sipped my tea and tried to ignore the message inherent in my breakfast. Halfway through my meal—the eggs scrambled to perfection, made better with a splash of maple syrup, the drink concoction decidedly not so—I caught Charlotte snapping her crisp newspaper and swiftly folding it with a flourish so dramatic it rivaled the sweep of a magician's hand. I shook my head, thinking of our poor butler, Mr. East, always having to iron the paper to Charlotte's perfection. Charlotte caught my reaction from the corner of her eye.
Without taking her gaze from the small corner of the paper she now consumed, she remarked, “He had no compunction about ironing my newspapers when we interviewed Mr. East for the position, Joanna. A crisp paper makes for a precise read, my dear.”
With Charlotte Olms, precision was paramount. My eggs and bacon gone, I mopped my plate of syrup with my toast. “Dare I ask what this morning brings?” I hoped she would let me finish a third cup of tea and have a proper pinning of my hair before dashing us out the door.
“Training, dear Joanna, training.” I suddenly felt overfull. Physical exercise and a full stomach were not well paired for me, no matter how frequently I tried to dissuade Charlotte of that fact. I set down my toast.
“Pick it up and eat,” she half-scolded.
“We're not doing it—we're teaching it.”
“Teaching what?”
“Parasol defense.” Charlotte's obsession with self-defense, especially as it applied to women, had long been a great passion of hers.
I resumed devouring my toast, sipping away its dryness with tea and noting how very well the taste of India Black tasted with the sparse left-overs of maple syrup. Perhaps I would suggest Charlotte make a concoction based on those two ingredients. Maybe she would come up with something actually tolerable. Another time, I thought.
“And who are we training today?” I asked.
“Mrs. Philomena Pelton has asked me to introduce several of her peers and their lady's maids to the practice,” Charlotte answered. I pulled up from my teacup. We were teaching a lady's maids?
“However did you finagle that?”
The upper crust were not exactly sensitive about the betterment of their help. Charlotte finally set her paper aside, slapping it onto the table, and leaned towards me, elbows planted firmly akimbo on a fine Italian cutwork tablecloth. Mannish behavior, of course, reflecting a competency that she could not innately express in any sort of feminine way.
“I told them that no matter how well-versed they themselves became in the art of parasol self-defense, they would remain at risk if their help did not become adept as well.”
“Really, Charlotte.”
“No, no, it's true,” Charlotte claimed. “Mrs. Pelton herself was accosted just last week on the Ladies Mile. Her lady servant was of, shall we say, limited assistance.”
“The Ladies Mile? So now even shopping puts one at risk. Of course you do this entirely for the benefit of the well-off,” I facetiously declared.
I swatted at her elbows, smacking hard enough to sting. Charlotte grinned. She heeded me, removing her elbows from the table. She might forget her manners from time to time, but she always enjoyed my corrections, minor or severe. We both knew she believed that all women should be skilled in self-defense, regardless of class and station. And I knew that if Charlotte would ever deign to imagine a utopian society, men would be far too civilized to even think to accost the fairer sex. Not that we would carry that dainty an appellation in Charlotte's utopia.
“Do I have time for Phoebe to pin and lacquer my hair?”
Charlotte waved me off. “Yes, yes, but we should depart in twenty minutes.”
“Twenty minutes, then,” I said. I rose and made my way across the room, only to stop and turn. “Charlotte?” I said.
“Hmmm?” Her nose was in that paper again.
“Should we not invite Phoebe to join us?” Charlotte pulled up from her reading, glaring at me. The devil that I should put her high horse on the spot! But one look at me and she knew that I teased said horse with both warm regard and hard truth.
“I shall tutor her myself,” she declared, flicking her newspaper dismissively. Exactly what I wanted. What was good for the geese of Manhattan's elite was good for the gander
in our own home.
Debra Hyde writes erotic fiction for everyone, across the gender & orientation spectra. Her lesbian BDSM novel, Story of L, won the 2011 Lambda Literary Award for lesbian erotica. A modern retelling of the classic Story of O, it updates the original tale to reflect the contemporary lesbian leather world and the women in it. Romantic Times BOOK Reviews magazine named it and her heterosexual novel, Blind Seduction, to its Fifty Hot Reads beyond 50 Shades of Grey, calling Blind Seduction “a story about what happens after the BDSM seduction.” She is a contributing author to the ground-breaking and critically-acclaimed Entwined erotica series, penning two lesbian novellas for it, Hers and Provenance. Now she turns her attentions to her new erotic Charlotte Olmes Mystery Series, recasting the classic eccentric detective genius in ways never before seen — in passions both criminal and carnal!
Visit Debra Hyde at her website: http://debrahyde.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/debra.hyde
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/debrahyde
a Rafflecopter giveaway
INTERVIEW:
1. Which person in your life influenced you the most with your writing?
I can't say any one person influenced my writing and it may be more important to say who influenced my love for books because a love of writing doesn't happen with a love for books. And that person would be my mother. I don't remember being without stories and have many memories of curling up on her lap for a favorite story. In fact, I remember when I got too big for her lap—it was the first time I had to sit next to her for a story!
We had a sixteen volume set of books called “The Children's Hour” in our home, filled with short stories, novel excerpts, and poetry. I think it even had some early Dr. Seuss in one of its volumes! Two stories I especially remember from that collection: The Velveteen Rabbit and The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy.
Point is, being an avid reader allowed and encouraged me to become an author.
2. What is your writing process? Are you a plotter or a “pantser”?
I'm a plotter, but I sometimes get pantsed by my characters. Wait—that didn't come out right!
I'm a plotter because the process serves as a tool for me, helping organize the themes I want to work with, settings, character quirks and motivations, ingoing elements and outcomes. I'm quite good as “organized invention.” However, my characters always have the leeway of coming up with something clever, outrageous, unexpected—you name it—which accounts for getting pantsed.
3. Is one of your books your personal favorite?
I've had a love affair with every one of my books. However, I think The Charlotte Olmes Mystery Series might well become the most enduring effort. Because I'm writing from a Holmesian platform, I expect I'll write numerous novellas, rife with crime solving, lesbian love and lust, and history. I've plotted out two additional tales already with a time table of several more.
4. How did you come up with the idea for your latest book?
I wanted to write a lesbian Steampunk story, which placed my thought process in the Victorian era. But no matter how hard I tried, my thoughts kept drifting toward purer historical fiction and in the process, Charlotte and Joanna Wilson stepped into the light of my mind’s eye. To my surprise, they weren’t surrounded by the enticing trappings of steampunk—instead, the streets of New York City were their backdrop and their beat.
Then I began researching the city in the 1880s and discovered the real world history of 1880s New York City was fascinating enough without any added flourishes!
5. What’s coming up next for you in your writing?
2014 is going to be a busy year for me. I'll start the next Charlotte Olmes novella in March—and when it's published, you'll find the first two novellas paired for print as well! If I'm lucky, I'll manage a third tale before the year is out.
SizzleEditions.com and I are gathering dozens of my erotic short stories together and publishing them into ebooks, then gathering those together into one of two print omnibus editions. The publishers are long-time friends and colleagues and I'm trusting some of my legacy to them. They're going to get some of my kinky novels as well—think FemDomme, polyamory, who know what else!
If that's not enough, my agent pushing some ideas and samples around New York City as well. It's exciting and thrilling, but too formative to talk about at this stage.
6. How did you do research for your book?
Research—my favorite topic! I minored in history in college and, good thing, because the skills I learned then really come into play with the Charlotte Olmes series. I relied on NYC history blogs and books as secondary sources, and all kinds of primary sources from 1880s. Harper's Weekly, Frank Leslie's Illustrated Paper, and many other illustrated periodicals gave me authentic period images of the city. Works like The Rogue's Lexicon taught me city slang, and several police manuals from the period taught me about the NYPD of 1880. I needed good dictionary to look up colloquialisms to see if they were in use by 1880—phrases like right off the bat. But every find was a treasure and it helped build this novella!
7. What do you enjoy reading for pleasure?
I read across all kinds of genres, but seem focused on erotica, mysteries, social history books right now. On my current short list: friend Cecilia Tan's Slow Seduction, John Dunning's mystery The Bookman's Promise, and Sandra Hempel's The Inheritor's Powder: A Tale of Arsenic, Murder, and the New Forensic Science. (Research!) I hope to return to reading the lesbian mystery novels of Val McDermid and Katherine V Forrest soon, too.
8. What’s your favorite guilty pleasure?
Would you believe this is the toughest question you've asked?! It's hard to have an actual guilty pleasure when you've brave enough to write the erotic word. But I'll share.
Worchester Sauce. Spicy, flavorful, and robust. Why a guilty pleasure? Because of the foods I use it on. Don't ask.
9. What is your favorite quote and why?
Mad magazine's “What? Me worried?” Many, many years ago, it came out of a word association incident and stuck. I still think automatically of Alfred E. Neuman when I'm asked this question!
10. In a nod to the Actor’s Studio, what's your favorite curse word and why?
Horse hockey. Because it rolls of the tongue with force and satisfaction.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Charlotte Olmes Mystery SeriesOf White Snakes and Misshaped OwlsRiverdale Avenue BooksLesbian, F/F, Historical, Detective
A dead body in a back alley means little to the rough streets of 1880s New York City—until Charlotte Olmes woman detective steps onto the scene. Crime-solving on behalf of her female clients, Olmes eschews decorum and ventures into places forbidden to the fairer sex, sleuthing after clues hidden, elusive, and often distasteful. When the exotic Miss Tam pleads with Charlotte to find the man to whom she's secretly married, Charlotte ventures into the dark and dangerous crannies of the city with her partner and passionate lover Joanna Wilson at her side. Soon, what appeared to be the random misfortune born of Chinatown's opium dens reveals itself as a vicious gang-related murder—and Olmes and Wilson find themselves wedged between the ethnic and political forces that collide where Chinatown borders the Bowery. Penned by Lambda Literary Award winner Debra Hyde, Of White Snakes and Misshaped Owls recasts the classic eccentric detective genius in ways never before seen. Passions both criminal and carnal come alive in vivid and exacting detail in what promises to become the hallmark of the Charlotte Olmes Mystery Series.AMAZON / SMASHWORDS / GOODREADS
I was not surprised that I had slept through the morning sun and birdsong of the fine spring morning on which this exceptional adventure had started, but how I escaped the sounds of Madison Square Park and the nearby Sixth Avenue El, I still do not know. Coming to our table for breakfast, I found Charlotte's nose buried deep in the day's penny press. Without fail, she started and ended each day perusing Manhattan's most dreadful news accounts, paying close attention to the brawls between swells, what dead bodies were pulled from the nooks and crannies of the city, and things even more violent and horrid. I prayed she would tell me nothing gruesome this morning. I preferred my first cup of tea without word of the city's more morbid distractions.
“Good morning, my dear Miss Wilson,” Charlotte said, her eyes still glued to her paper.
“Good morning, Miss Olms,” I countered.
However formal our salutations, they were first and foremost an affectionate routine, an irreverent jest aimed at how society expected us to act and not a reflection of how we really felt about each other. And, daring to remind Charlotte just how I preferred our interactions, I leaned over and placed a kiss upon her cheek, one soft enough to suggest I'd welcome more. It earned a chuckle from her and a quick, sly glance of promise. A bustle from the kitchen told me that Mr. East had heard me, and our man's man who preferred serving women came laden with a full meal of eggs, bacon, and toast.
Joining that bounty, a libation of some strange concoction—no doubt, another of Charlotte's attempts to fortify the temples that were our bodies with the fruits of exotic flora from God only knew where. While I should have rued the presence of the strange beverage, it was the larger meal that caught my true attention. A big meal meant one of two things: We either had something physical to do that morning or a case to investigate. Seated, I sipped my tea and tried to ignore the message inherent in my breakfast. Halfway through my meal—the eggs scrambled to perfection, made better with a splash of maple syrup, the drink concoction decidedly not so—I caught Charlotte snapping her crisp newspaper and swiftly folding it with a flourish so dramatic it rivaled the sweep of a magician's hand. I shook my head, thinking of our poor butler, Mr. East, always having to iron the paper to Charlotte's perfection. Charlotte caught my reaction from the corner of her eye.
Without taking her gaze from the small corner of the paper she now consumed, she remarked, “He had no compunction about ironing my newspapers when we interviewed Mr. East for the position, Joanna. A crisp paper makes for a precise read, my dear.”
With Charlotte Olms, precision was paramount. My eggs and bacon gone, I mopped my plate of syrup with my toast. “Dare I ask what this morning brings?” I hoped she would let me finish a third cup of tea and have a proper pinning of my hair before dashing us out the door.
“Training, dear Joanna, training.” I suddenly felt overfull. Physical exercise and a full stomach were not well paired for me, no matter how frequently I tried to dissuade Charlotte of that fact. I set down my toast.
“Pick it up and eat,” she half-scolded.
“We're not doing it—we're teaching it.”
“Teaching what?”
“Parasol defense.” Charlotte's obsession with self-defense, especially as it applied to women, had long been a great passion of hers.
I resumed devouring my toast, sipping away its dryness with tea and noting how very well the taste of India Black tasted with the sparse left-overs of maple syrup. Perhaps I would suggest Charlotte make a concoction based on those two ingredients. Maybe she would come up with something actually tolerable. Another time, I thought.
“And who are we training today?” I asked.
“Mrs. Philomena Pelton has asked me to introduce several of her peers and their lady's maids to the practice,” Charlotte answered. I pulled up from my teacup. We were teaching a lady's maids?
“However did you finagle that?”
The upper crust were not exactly sensitive about the betterment of their help. Charlotte finally set her paper aside, slapping it onto the table, and leaned towards me, elbows planted firmly akimbo on a fine Italian cutwork tablecloth. Mannish behavior, of course, reflecting a competency that she could not innately express in any sort of feminine way.
“I told them that no matter how well-versed they themselves became in the art of parasol self-defense, they would remain at risk if their help did not become adept as well.”
“Really, Charlotte.”
“No, no, it's true,” Charlotte claimed. “Mrs. Pelton herself was accosted just last week on the Ladies Mile. Her lady servant was of, shall we say, limited assistance.”
“The Ladies Mile? So now even shopping puts one at risk. Of course you do this entirely for the benefit of the well-off,” I facetiously declared.
I swatted at her elbows, smacking hard enough to sting. Charlotte grinned. She heeded me, removing her elbows from the table. She might forget her manners from time to time, but she always enjoyed my corrections, minor or severe. We both knew she believed that all women should be skilled in self-defense, regardless of class and station. And I knew that if Charlotte would ever deign to imagine a utopian society, men would be far too civilized to even think to accost the fairer sex. Not that we would carry that dainty an appellation in Charlotte's utopia.
“Do I have time for Phoebe to pin and lacquer my hair?”
Charlotte waved me off. “Yes, yes, but we should depart in twenty minutes.”
“Twenty minutes, then,” I said. I rose and made my way across the room, only to stop and turn. “Charlotte?” I said.
“Hmmm?” Her nose was in that paper again.
“Should we not invite Phoebe to join us?” Charlotte pulled up from her reading, glaring at me. The devil that I should put her high horse on the spot! But one look at me and she knew that I teased said horse with both warm regard and hard truth.
“I shall tutor her myself,” she declared, flicking her newspaper dismissively. Exactly what I wanted. What was good for the geese of Manhattan's elite was good for the gander
in our own home.
Debra Hyde writes erotic fiction for everyone, across the gender & orientation spectra. Her lesbian BDSM novel, Story of L, won the 2011 Lambda Literary Award for lesbian erotica. A modern retelling of the classic Story of O, it updates the original tale to reflect the contemporary lesbian leather world and the women in it. Romantic Times BOOK Reviews magazine named it and her heterosexual novel, Blind Seduction, to its Fifty Hot Reads beyond 50 Shades of Grey, calling Blind Seduction “a story about what happens after the BDSM seduction.” She is a contributing author to the ground-breaking and critically-acclaimed Entwined erotica series, penning two lesbian novellas for it, Hers and Provenance. Now she turns her attentions to her new erotic Charlotte Olmes Mystery Series, recasting the classic eccentric detective genius in ways never before seen — in passions both criminal and carnal!
Visit Debra Hyde at her website: http://debrahyde.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/debra.hyde
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/debrahyde
a Rafflecopter giveaway
February 11, 2014
Virtual Blog Tour - After the Rain by Daisy Harris
I'd like to welcome a Goddess Fish tour guest as my visitor today! Daisy will be awarding a $20 gift card to Amazon or Barnes and Noble to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour, and a $10 gift card to a randomly drawn host. So be sure to follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better the chances of winning!BLURB:
They’re going to need a bigger tent.
Henri’s list of bad exes is as long as his arm, but nothing prepared him for his latest, heart-stomping breakup. He thought he couldn’t feel more abandoned, until his ride for a group camping trip bails, leaving him stuck driving for hours with a guy who is absolutely not his type.
After breaking up with his girlfriend of five years, firefighter Logan is working up the nerve to explore his interest in men. He knows he’s gay. He just hasn’t had the guts to do anything about it…until now.
Henri’s big-city attitude and tight jeans push every last one of Logan’s buttons, and when he and Henri have to share a tent, Logan is thrilled. He should have realized Pacific Northwest weather would get wet—forcing them to strip naked. Though the steam between them is thicker than coastal fog, Henri’s not sure he can let himself fall for another man. Not even the guy who finally treats him right.
Warning: Contains bad ex-boyfriends, even worse weather, and more than your average amount of sex in a tent. May not be suitable for those with germ phobias, outdoor aversions or fear of damp shoes.
Excerpt:
The first thing Henri smelled when he woke up was coffee. The second was bacon.
He rolled onto his back, staring at the top of the tent and anticipating the salty, crisp fat. Henri was probably sublimating with food since he wouldn’t be getting laid anytime soon, but if he couldn’t eat cock, bacon was a pretty good substitute.
The smell of Logan was there too, though the guy himself no longer took up the better part of the tent. Henri lifted his head off the sweatpants he’d somehow replaced his pillow with in the middle of the night, and assessed his surroundings. Logan’s duffel filled the corner, meaning Logan must have slept scrunched in the shortened space. Other than that, Logan’s side of the tent was completely clean.
Henri’s side, on the other hand, looked like his suitcase had vomited in the night.
The tent flap rustled, and a slice of Logan’s face appeared in the opening. “You awake?”
“Yeah.” Henri started to smile, and he forced his lips to a smirk instead. Things had been fine the night before, more comfortable than Henri would have expected, once Logan had stopped talking, but Henri didn’t want to get too friendly with Logan and lead the guy on. Between the STI thing and still being hung up on Preston, Henri was in no position to start dating. “Is that coffee at someone else’s campsite, or is there a chance I can have some?”
Logan reached into the tent, a travel mug in his giant fist, and handed it to Henri. His grin was shy, and his cheeks red.
Well, drat. Henri was leading him on just by not kicking the guy.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:Birkenstock-wearing glamour girl and mother of two by immaculate conception, Daisy Harris still isn't sure if she writes erotica. Her romances start out innocently enough. However, her characters behave like complete sluts. Much to Miss Harris's dismay the sex tends to get completely out of hand.
She writes about fantastical creatures and about young men getting their freak on, and she's never missed an episode of The Walking Dead.
Want to learn more about new releases, general news and my latest inappropriate boy band crush? Sign up for my newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/b96xX
Daisy’s site: www.thedaisyharris.com
Daisy’s Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Daisy-Harris/185042351535537
Daisy on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thedaisyharris
After the Rain on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/After-Rain-Fire-Daisy-Harris-ebook/dp/B00EKJGRJA
February 5, 2014
Virtual Blog Tour - Birthday Wishes by Heidi Lynn Anderson
I'd like to welcome a Goddess Fish tour guest as my visitor today! Heidi Lynn will be awarding a $15.00 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. So be sure to follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better the chances of winning!BLURB:
Emily Samson’s awful thirtieth birthday consists of a solo bubble bath, burned microwave popcorn and a broken elevator – until both of her gorgeous landlords show up, making all her wishes come true.
Corporate whiz Emily Samson’s friends have deserted her for husbands and babies. So what does she do to celebrate turning the big 3-0? She buys herself popcorn and chocolate, refusing to settle for less than her ideal man. Or two. Her birthday wish is to be sandwiched between both her hunky landlords - as if that would ever happen outside of her most sensual, and secret, dreams.
Conner Walker and Jackson Smith are ready to find the one woman who can satisfy them both. However, finding that elusive someone to fulfill their needs has been like finding a snowflake in a snowstorm. When they rescue the normally uptight woman from 5B and discover her in cotton pjs instead of cherry red stilettos, they wonder if they’ve finally found the one strong enough to handle their demands.
Excerpt:
The two men stepped into the now empty elevator. Jackson pushed the button for the fifth floor and
asked, “What do you think of our hot little tenant?”
Conner’s gut clenched and need filled his chest. “She’s sexy as all hell and I think under that stuck-up bitch act, there’s an adventurous woman that would be up for anything.” His dick twitched in his pants. “Why? Are you thinking about courting her for us?”
He’d dreamed of her hot little ass gripping his cock while Jackson filled her wet pussy, but the reality of a woman like her being open to having more than one man was a long shot. Women in her class wanted careers and, if they did get married, they barely had time for one husband—never mind two.
Jackson’s shoulders lifted. “Maybe. Part of me wants to fill her demanding mouth with my cock.”
Conner smiled. “And the other part?”
“Wants to run screaming, because my dick doesn’t know whether to stand at attention or shrivel up and hide.”
“I feel the same way, man.” Images of Emily rushing out her apartment to her fancy Wall Street job, making and losing millions for her clients filled his head. “I wonder what it would take to make her relax and let her hair down?”
“Probably not watching the Rangers beat the Bruins while having a beer,” Jackson said.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:By day, Heidi Lynn Anderson is a wife, mother, and owner of a small Green-Cleaning company. By night, she spins erotic tales featuring hunky heroes and the women they love. When not working or writing, Heidi likes spending time with her husband and son, doing what Florida has to offer.
Visit Heidi at www.heidilynnanderson.com
Buy links
www.heidilynnanderson.com
https://www.facebook.com/heidi.l.ande...
https://www.facebook.com/heidilynnand...
https://twitter.com/SteamywriterHLA
January 31, 2014
Virtual Blog Tour - Into The Darkness by K. F. Breene
I'd like to welcome a Goddess Fish tour guest as my visitor today! One randomly chosen commenter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card. So be sure to follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better the chances of winning!Guest Blog - Advice for writers
Let me start this by saying that I’m in no way an expert. I’m not a professor at some top notch university, or even a literature major. What I’ve learned has been from trial and error, reviews, and most importantly, reading.
This leads me to advice point number one.
Read.
Read a lot.
Read all different kinds of things from all different people. When you get a feel for what you like, and what makes you tick, try to expand your horizons. Always look for better. Pay attention to how your favorite authors tell a story. Start thinking about what you would change in order to make the experience better.
Bottom line, a better reader makes a better writer.
The next piece of advice I can offer is to get lost in your creation.
You need to sit down in the world you’re creating and have a look around. The world needs to be real enough that you’re in that place, and not at a table somewhere. The character talking needs to be a real person, with real motivations. Like an actor, you need to put on a different personality when you think like that character. And a different personality still when you think like a different character.
To amerce yourself fully in this world means you’ll drag the reader in with you. This is why the reader is reading, after all—she wants to go on a journey. It’s your job to make that happen. And to do this, you need to take that journey yourself.
The next piece of advice is one I realized when I was beta reading (critical reading) for a new writer. She made the comment that maybe she wouldn’t have to revise her manuscript so many times with the next book. She’d thought that all it took was a couple drafts to have something ready to go.
In my experience, this is a huge misconception. In the movie Finding Forrester, this comment is made: “No thinking - that comes later. You must write your first draft with your heart. You rewrite with your head.
The quote is alluding to drafts. As in, many.
When you write with passion, you give a certain voice. Your heart comes up with things your head won’t. But you’ll also create plot holes, illegible passages, and a bunch of garble that no one, not even you, will understand. The next few drafts are combing through and revising. Revise as many times as you can stand it. Walk away for a couple months, forget about the details, and come back. It’ll make your manuscript better.
Next advice tip: Walking away from a draft doesn’t need to be wasted time.
When I walk away, letting a story marinate, I go write something else. Maybe the next book in the series. Maybe something else entirely. I have four books in the rafters right this moment. I’m working on another in the meantime. Walking away, and doing something else in the meantime, means I will forget my intentions when I wrote the story, and return as a reader.
I do this with every single thing I write. I’ll do it with this blog post (update: this is my third and last revision of this post). Revising is a lot of work. But it’s an essential step in the process. People want to turn pages with my stories because I make sure I want to turn pages when I read it. If I don’t like it, I don’t release it. I fix it.
The last piece of advice is what happens when you do revise.
Your eyes should never dull, and you should never skim. You wrote something that filled you with passion; you shouldn’t be able to turn away. For example, I can’t read my Skyline Series without getting sucked in and losing days at a time. I have to finish it. I wrote it, so you’d think I could walk away. But the hero makes me salivate in so many ways, and the heroine keeps me laughing or nodding with how she deals with the hero. The characters and story mesh in a way that is near perfection for my reading desires, and I just want to live their journey over and over.
It took me a great many revisions to get to that point. If ever I got bored, or skipped ahead to what I knew was coming, I’d stop…and re-write. I’d make it so that each part, every single piece, kept my interest. Again, I do this with all my stories. If it doesn’t keep my interest, how can I expect it to keep the attention of anyone else?
Maybe this is all so much work for me because I’m not a natural writer, but it should give you heart. It can be done, regardless of your natural talent; it just takes work to achieve. Like everything. You get back what you put in.
BLURB:I’d always been different. I saw objects in the night where others saw emptiness. Large, human shaped shadows, fierce yet beautiful, melting into the darkness. I collected secrets like other women collected bells; afraid to fully trust lest my oddities be exposed.
Until I saw him. He’d been gliding down the street, unshakable confidence in every step. It wasn’t just that he was breathtakingly handsome with perfect features. Something about him drew me. Sucked my focus to him and then tugged at my body. As his eyes met mine, I was entrapped.
No one had noticed him. He’d been right there, just beyond the light, but only I had perceived.
I had to know if he was real. Or maybe I really was crazy. And even when my secret box was blasted wide open, dangers hurled at me like throwing knives, I couldn’t stop until I unraveled his true identity.
I just had to know.
“She was fated to live.”
“Then why must you save her?”
“Often Fate is struck down by dumb luck.”
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EXCERPT:
As I met his black eyes, his puzzled expression deepened. “You’re human…”
“We established that, yes. What I want to know is, if I am human, what does that make you? And why do I notice you when others usually don’t?”
His head cocked to the side. His easy balance, his lethal edge; he was like a blade resting on billowing silk. “Very few humans are able to withstand our pheromones. Fewer still to break a Kolma once it has been placed. You’ve not been trained, that’s obvious, so how is this possible when you’re definitely human? Do you possess the blood of another species?”
I could barely think past the pounding ache of my body, begging to touch him. I needed to get a grip! He was revealing some very interesting factoids that I needed to jot down in my mental notebook.
His nostrils flared. “Charles was right; your arousal is a unique scent. Like a spicy, warm drink on a mid-winter’s night. It rises above other smells, entrancing the mind.”
BUY LINKS:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Into-Darkness-1-K-F-Breene-ebook/dp/B00HZLCINE/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1390420373&sr=8-14&keywords=k.f.+breene
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/into-the-darkness/id754780178?mt=11
BN: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/into-the-darkness-kf-breene/1118174619?ean=2940148319566
~~~~~~~~~~~~~AUTHOR Bio and Links:
A wine country native, K.F. Breene moved to San Francisco for college just shy of a decade ago to pursue a lifelong interest in film. As she settled into the vibrant city, it quickly became apparent that, while she thought making and editing films was great fun, she lacked cinematic genius. For that reason, her career path quickly changed direction. Her next goal was a strange childhood interest, conjured at the dining room table while filling out a form. For some reason, her young self wanted to be an accountant. Thinking on it now, she often wonders how she had any friends. Regardless, it was the direction she finally took.
While she could wrangle numbers with the best of 'em, and even though she wore the crown as the most outspoken, belligerent accountant in the world, her mind got as stuffy as her daily routine. It was here that she dusted off her creative hat and began writing. Now she makes movies in her head, not worried about lighting, shutter speed or editing equipment. Turns out, a computer is much easier to manage than a crowd of actors. She should know, she was an actor at one time.
Website: KFBreene.com
Twitter: @KFBreene
Facebook for friending: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005776656934
Facebook author page (for liking): https://www.facebook.com/AuthorKF
January 29, 2014
Virtual Blog Tour - Break Me In by Sara Brookes
I'd like to welcome Sara Brookes to my blog today. She's sharing a blurb and excerpt from her new EC release, Break Me In.Blurb:
Elena avoids relationships by using her flogger as a shield. Alex is struggling with substance abuse and Elena will do nearly anything to help him conquer his demons, even risk losing him forever. When he comes home, whole and healthy, he raises the stakes by requesting their friendship turn to a D/s bond. His submission will change their dynamic forever. She convinces herself it’s just sex. Love and desire aren’t part of the equation.
Under Elena’s reverent command, Alex finds a comfort he’s always yearned for. He’s happier than ever as he spends his days slinging coffee and his nights bound and collared. Submitting to Elena exposes more than his strengths—it reveals a powerful attraction. Most of all, it uncovers their passionate love. He’s ready to convince her there’s no reason to mask her feelings, but his efforts are derailed when his toxic past resurfaces to annihilate their future.
Warning: A hunky, tortured barista. A seductive, stubborn Domme. Desire that can’t be tamed by cuffs, ropes and chains. And angst. So much drama and angst, John Hughes would be proud. Being bad never felt so good.
Buy Link:
Ellora's Cave: http://www.ellorascave.com/break-me-in.html
Excerpt:
The tails of her flogger brushed against his calf as she moved behind him. Her body pressed against his, the swell of her breasts following the line of his spine as she dipped lower. She shimmied behind him, her breasts scraping against the heated flesh she’d lashed.
Need tore through him. Elena’s soft touch drew across his back and ignited the strips of red skin to burn the fire to rage anew. His gasp of shock married with his pleasure.
“You excite me, Alexander, with your wonder and enthusiasm. You aren’t sure if you can let someone else take control, let someone take care of you even though that’s what you desire. You want so much to hate what you’re doing right now, but your body is speaking a very different language. You’ll crave it soon, I promise you.” Her hand gently cupped one of his ass cheeks. “Your skin marks so beautifully here. Do you want to know how much you excite me?”
“Yes.”
Something shifted against his thigh and air rushed out of his lungs when he felt her bare breasts graze his skin. The tight points of her erect nipples pressed against the heated areas she’d marked. Everything inside him focused on those spots. She moved slowly, pushing the hard nubs against him even as he strained against his bindings.
“You taste so decadent here.” Her lips parted, her tongue dipping into the hollow of his back. “Potent. Wanton. Mine.” Her hand skimmed over his shoulder as she stood, her touch featherlight and a sharp contrast to the licks the leather had delivered. She moved, dipping her hands under his arms as she pressed her bare chest against his sweaty back. Her short nails scraped down his torso, scratching lightly over hard ridges of muscles strung tight with tension.
Her breath fanned his ear for a moment before she fisted her hand around his hard shaft. His chest hitched and he hissed out a breath at the heady sensation. Flesh, so delicate and feminine despite the rough touch, held him and measured the weight of his fully erect cock.
Her hand danced over his throbbing shaft, her fingers curling around to cradle him. Blood and adrenaline coursed through him, setting his entire body on fire. He strained against his bindings, totally at her mercy, as her hand slid down to the base.
As his skin quivered against her touch his lower body tightened in anticipation as she started to trace circles against his hip. She ran her hand so slowly up the length, convincing him she would never reach the head. But when she finally did she dragged her thumb over the tip, smearing the drop of pre-cum that had collected there.
Her hand began moving, up and down, on his shaft. The tension she’d just spent so much time building coalesced into a brilliant ball of heat at the base of his dick. He jerked a few times against her touch, desperate for relief. Panic began to override reason again when he realized her intent.
“Elena, no.”
“Don’t spill all over my nice, pretty floor, Alexander.”
Author Bio and Links:
2011 PRISM winner, Futuristic category, for Midnight’s Ghost2013 EPIC Finalist, Erotica category, for Ragged Edge
2013 EPIC Finalist, Short Story category, for Perfect Limit
Sara Brookes has always been fascinated by the strange, the unusual, the twisted and the lost (tortured heroes are her personal favorite). She is an action movie junkie, addicted to coffee and has been known to stay up until the wee hours of the morning playing RPG video games. Despite all this, she is a romantic at heart and is always a sucker for an excellent love story. Born and bred in Virginia, Sara still lives there with her husband and daughter. The entire family is owned by two cats, Galahad and Loki, who graciously allow the family to cater to their every desire.
Sara is a PAN member of RWA and the Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal chapter of RWA.
She loves hearing from her readers.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sara_Brookes
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brookesofbooks
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/authorsarabrookes
New Release Announcement List: http://eepurl.com/mbG31
Giveaway:
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January 23, 2014
Virtual Blog Tour - Her Dragon's Fire by Julia Mills
Morning everyone! I want to welcome my guest today, Julia Mills. She's touring in support of her new book, Her Dragon's Fire.
Hi my name is Julia Mills and I am the author of the Dragon Guard series. Her Dragon to Slay has
been around since November of last year and Her Dragon's Fire released this week!!! I am so excited to be here with y'all today! Reading has been my escape, what I do for fun and in my top 3 favorite hobbies for most of my life. Then finally at 47 years old I wrote my own book! And now that book #2 is out and I am working on book #3 and several other projects, let me tell you what an INCREDIBLE journey this has been. I have had a BLAST, met so many cool people, learned so much and is only the beginning!
Thank you so much Francesca for having me here today, I am so excited! With regards to mt process, I would like to say that I am incredibly organized, have an outline and everything goes as planned but that is exactly a 180 from what really happens here at my little desk in Orlando, Fl. I have an idea, in the case of the Dragon Guard series, it started with the main characters from book #1. Rayne and Kyndel, and took off from there. It was a natural progression that they would have friends and comrades and as I wrote the secondary characters began to take on their own personalities. Their stories began to form in my mind until right now all seven of the books are in my brain, I just have to write to get them out.
For me I have to know each character, who they are, what are their dreams, what do they really want out of life. I know each of my books with have a happily ever after because that is what I want for all of us. I have to have action and a few twists and turns. I want my readers to have a few surprises and not have all the answers all the time. I let the characters take me where they want to go and sometimes we go off the rails and I have to delete (LOL) but for the most part we are in this together and what comes out is a lot of fun. I LOVE romance so when I began writing I knew it had to be in my books but I did not start out saying I was going to write love scenes that just happened and after the first one I was hooked. For me it is not about the mechanics but the feelings that lead the characters to make love, what they feel while it is happening and what they will feel afterward. I like my love making hot and sweaty and I hope my readers do too!
I have had a BLAST with y'all today! Thanks for taking your time to hang with me for a bit! Pick up Her Dragon to Slay and Her Dragon's Fire if you have a chance. Remember...There are no coincidences. The Universe does not make mistakes. Fate will not be denied.
Dream Big! BIG HUGS!!
Julia XXOO
Blurb:
Her brilliant blues eyes and luscious curves have haunted his every thought for over six years. The guilt of his younger brother’s death a weight around his heart, keeping him from claiming the one the Universe has made for him and him alone. Aidan, a fierce Dragon Guardsman, now knows that nothing was as he thought and the woman he believed was unattainable is within his grasp, if only he can keep her safe from those that would use her to hurt him.
Grace is a successful lawyer, seeking justice for those that would otherwise be forgotten. Her incredible strength and intelligence makes her a champion for the downtrodden. When she stumbles into a case that is so much more than she ever imagined, her very life hangs in the balance and the man whose scent sends her heart racing and her temperature rising is the only one that can keep her safe. When she comes face to face with him her life is irrevocably changed.
There are no coincidences. Aidan will do everything in his power, including giving his very life, to keep his mate safe. The Universe does not make mistakes. Grace and Aidan are meant to be together in this life and the next but the forces both natural and magical that are sworn to keep them apart have been a step ahead of Aidan and the Dragon Guard all along. Can these fated mates defy all odds and live the life that is their destiny? Fate will not be denied.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19043614-her-dragon-s-fire?ac=1
About the Author:
I am a sarcastic,sometimes foul-mouthed, not afraid to drink a beer, always southern woman with 2 of the most amazing teenage daughters, a menagerie of animals and a voracious appetite for reading who recently decided to write the stories running through her brain. I read my first book, Dr Suess' Cat in The Hat by myself at 4 and was hooked.
I believe a good book along with shoes, makeup and purses will never let a girl down and that all heroes of all the books I have ever read or will ever write pale in comparison to my daddy! I am a sucker for a happy ending and love some hot sweaty sex with a healthy dose of romance.
I am still working on my story but believe it will contain all of the above with as much SPICE as I can work into it. CHEERS!
Author Links:
https://www.facebook.com/JLakeMills/info
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7200721.Julia_Mills
https://twitter.com/JuliaMills623
Her Dragon's Fire Buy Links:
Smashwords - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/398930
Amazon US - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HYDSJFE/ref=tsm_1_fb_lk
Amazon UK - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dragons-Fire-Dragon-Guard-Series-ebook/dp/B00HYDSJFE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1390336181&sr=8-2&keywords=her+dragon%27s+fire
Her Dragon to Slay Buy Links:
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GR781FG/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_Zj6Isb0NSRGD7
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Her-Dragon-Slay-Guard-Series-ebook/dp/B00GR781FG/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1384884039&sr=1-1&keywords=her+dragon+to+slay
Smashwords:http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/377277
Barnes & Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/her-dragon-to-slay-julia-mills/1117474408?ean=2940045437639
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/her-dragon-to-slay
January 21, 2014
Virtual Blog Tour - Untangle My Heart by Maria K. Alexander
I'd like to welcome a Goddess Fish tour guest as my visitor today! Maria K. Alexander will be awarding a $10 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. So be sure to follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better the chances of winning!BLURB:When her marriage ended in tragedy, Kate DiFrancesco rebuilt her life, but has never gotten over the pain of what she lost. Seeking the help of an ex-lover ignites feelings she’s promised never to have again. She’ll need to untangle herself from dangers in her past in order to break the hard shell around her heart.
Edward Weston has a lot to prove, both to his stuffy upper-crust British family, and to himself. Working alongside Kate, a woman he had a casual relationship with, stirs unexpected feelings. Helping her family makes him realize what he's missing. For the first time, he wants more than a one-night stand.
When Kate is threatened, Edward must overcome feeling unworthy to protect the woman he loves and fight for the family he never thought he’d have.
EXCERPT:
“Privacy is a hard thing to find around here, so you may want to lock the door. Especially when you’re wearing only a towel and my sister is on the prowl.”
“I’ll have to remember that,” Edward said, taking a step toward her. “I knew she was smitten, but didn’t think she would be waiting in the room after my shower. I was struggling with a tactful way of getting her out.”
“I’m sure you’re not accustomed to asking a woman to leave your room.”
He gave her an unapologetic grin. “No, usually not.”
“I guess it’s partly my fault. I told her I don’t have any claims to you. Apparently she took that to mean it was open season to pursue you.”
“Yet you stopped by. Why?”
“I wanted to thank you again for your help today. You dropped everything to come and help my family and that means a lot to me.”
He took another step toward her until he stood directly in front of her. “You mean a lot to me. I’d do anything I could to help you.”
She nodded in acknowledgement, not sure she could trust her voice to speak with him all but touching her.
“And you’re wrong about not having a claim on me.”
His hands found their way to her waist. Her heart thumped and she knew she should pull back, wanted to pull back. But his blue-gray eyes held her in a hypnotic state and she couldn’t move.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~AUTHOR Bio and Links:
A romantic at heart, Maria K. Alexander spent hours as a young girl getting lost in and wishing to be one of the heroines in the stories she read. Books gave her the ability to go to another world where she loved meeting new characters, learning about their problems, and watching them fall in love.
Maria blogs and shares her writing journey with her critique partners at: http://thevioletfemmes.com.
When not writing, Maria loves to read, bake, downhill ski, visit the beach, and watch romantic comedies. Maria lives in New Jersey with her husband and children, and writes in her “spare” time between juggling a full-time job and her kids’ busy schedules.
You can keep in touch with her at: http://mariakalexander.com.
Web Links
Website: http://mariakalexander.com
The Violet Femmes Blog: http://thevioletfemmes.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MKAlexander1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Maria-...
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/mariakalexa...
Amazon Buy Link: http://amzn.com/B00GVKRLOG
January 20, 2014
Virtual Blog Tour - Miss George's Second Chance by Heather Boyd
I'd like to welcome a Goddess Fish tour guest as my visitor today! Heather Boyd will be awarding an eCopy of Miss George's Second Chanceto three randomly drawn commenters during the tour. So be sure to follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better the chances of winning!BLURB:When desperately private writer Imogen offered to marry Peter Watson it wasn’t just to save a friend but to secure her own future. With her eyesight failing and no other prospects for marital bliss on the horizon, surely it wouldn’t be too horrible to marry without the benefits of love. But then Peter gains a title a week before they’re set to wed and all of Imogen’s expectations change.
Peter once believed that marriage to Imogen would solve his financial problems. He didn’t mind marrying for convenience and a large fortune when affection was within reach. Yet when he gains a title, an estate, and a fortune of his own the secretive writer releases him from their engagement so he might marry for love. Now he’s returned, unwed and unaware of changes in her life, should he do what is expected or listen to his heart instead?
EXCERPT:Difficult situations required desperate measures. Imogen George--writer, spinster and pragmatist--steeled her heart to be as brutal as any heroine before her had ever been. “Have you sulked enough Mr. Watson?”
The man sitting on the dark Brighton shoreline surged to his feet and then faced her. “Hell’s bells, what are you doing here?”
Imogen clenched her hands together to hide their trembling. Standing on the dark beach, waves crashing around them, made her meeting with her best friend’s brother potentially romantic though she doubted it would be. “I have a proposition for you, Mr. Watson. Do sit down.”
She limped forward, annoyed that her clumsiness at dinner earlier in the evening at his house had robbed her of her dignity. It was not every day she pursued a man for conversation, even when he was her best friends elder brother. She was taking quite a risk being here but it was within her power to improve their lot. Peter Watson may lack the good sense to detect and seize his only chance for security, but Imogen would not. She had a plan for her life and Mr. Peter Watson would suit her needs perfectly.
When she found the place she meant to sit, Mr. Watson remembered his manners and gallantly swept his coat from his shoulders and spread it on the ground so she might rest upon it. She was pleased to see that even while desperate, he did retain some good qualities. Her hopes for a smooth resolution soared.
“Where is your chaperone, Miss George?” Mr. Watson asked suddenly, squinting into the darkness toward the township where their respective homes lay.
With her eyesight as poor as it was, Imogen couldn’t say for certain in which direction her reluctant chaperone, her brother Walter, stood, so she waved her hand airily in the direction she’d left him, hoping her companion would not notice or point out if she were utterly wrong. “Walter is over there. Never mind about him for the present. Do sit down so I may avoid suffering a pained neck from looking up at you.”
As Mr. Watson sank to the ground nearby, a weary sigh left his lips. “I am sorry I tumbled you over earlier tonight, Miss George. You have no idea how sorry.”
“I did say at the time not to concern yourself unduly.” In truth, Imogen was often clumsy outside her home. The objects of her surroundings were less likely to jump out and trip her up if she stayed in familiar territory. Friends frequently moved their furniture and if she could see with any degree of certainty, she would never have stood in Peter’s way to have been in danger. As it was, the world was a trifle fuzzy at times—tonight being one of those. “The collision was as much my fault as yours.”
How did Mr. Watson take her presence she couldn’t tell, but she was determined to press on regardless. There was no point beating about the bush when she judged speed was worth being somewhat more forward. She had a solution to offer Mr. Watson that would meet his immediate need and her future requirements. “Marry me.”
Her mouth grew dry and she swallowed, preparing for his response.
At her side, Mr. Watson furiously rubbed his ear. When he lowered his hand and did not turn his head in her direction, she repeated her proposal in a louder voice. “I asked you to marry me, Mr. Watson. What do you have to say about that?”
“That’s what I thought I heard,” he muttered. “I don’t need pity.”
Imogen heaved a heavy sigh. It had been too much to hope that he would leap on her proposal and agree immediately. A long discussion was undoubtedly necessary to secure his agreement. “I know. And I’m not offering you a bit of it. You need money. Immediately, or you will lose your home and perhaps be forced to debtor’s prison. Your sister’s heart is in danger of breaking if such a calamity should come to pass. I can help get you out of your predicament with little effort on your part and none at all on mine. It is a perfect arrangement.”
He dug a hole in the sand between them with his fingers. “Surely there is someone you fancy to marry rather than me?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Bestselling historical author Heather Boyd believes every character she creates deserves their own happily-ever-after, no matter how much trouble she puts them through. With that goal in mind, she weaves sizzling English set love stories that push the boundaries of regency era propriety to keep readers enthralled until the wee hours of the morning. Brimming with new ideas, she frequently wishes she could type as fast as she conjures new storylines. While writing full time north of Sydney, Australia, Heather collects dust bunnies in all corners of the house and does her best to wrangle her testosterone-fuelled family into submission.
Links:
Website: http://heather-boyd.com/bookshelf/mis...
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/HeatherBoydR...
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Heather_Boyd
Amazon Author Page: https://amazon.com/author/heatherboyd
January 18, 2014
Give me the Books giveaway!
Hi all!
I'm participating in Give Me the Books, a one week giveaway that's opened to readers and WOW the prizes are crazy awesome. I've donated ebook copies of Leader of the Pack and Cupid Rocks to the contest but there are a LOT of other authors who have donated too. All you have to do to be entered is to like an author page on facebook or follow authors on Twitter.
As you can see below - over 100 ebooks, 40 paperbacks, and swag galore.
There are huge prizes to be won so give it a shot!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
I'm participating in Give Me the Books, a one week giveaway that's opened to readers and WOW the prizes are crazy awesome. I've donated ebook copies of Leader of the Pack and Cupid Rocks to the contest but there are a LOT of other authors who have donated too. All you have to do to be entered is to like an author page on facebook or follow authors on Twitter.
As you can see below - over 100 ebooks, 40 paperbacks, and swag galore.
There are huge prizes to be won so give it a shot!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
January 17, 2014
Virtual Blog Tour - The Changeup by Rhonda Shaw
I'd like to welcome a Goddess Fish tour guest as my visitor today! Rhonda Shaw will be awarding a $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. So be sure to follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better the chances of winning!BLURB:
Playing for keeps
After nine years of striking out in the dating department, Maddie Hamlin is throwing in the towel. But just as this mom resolves to remain single, she meets sweet and sexy pitching phenom Chase Patton at a family dinner. He’s perfect for her aside from the fact he’s only twenty-two.
Chase knows he should be focusing on his rookie year with the Detroit Rockets, but he can’t stop thinking about Maddie. He doesn’t care that the beautiful school counselor is twelve years older, and he’s already lost his heart to her adorable daughter. When an incredible date leads to an incredible night of passion, he knows he never wants to let her go.
But dating in the media spotlight is a whole new ball game. Maddie quickly discovers that not everyone accepts their unconventional relationship and that finding love may mean losing everything else…
Excerpt:
“Lift your left foot there, that’s right, and bring your arm back to here. You feel that?” Chase asked as he held her right arm up, his warm hand moving slowly from her elbow to her wrist. He angled his body and she could feel the feel length of him pressed against her, leaving almost nothing to the imagination. “And then you’re going to bring it through and follow through to here.”
Maddie nodded. Could she feel that? She could feel nothing but that! The breadth and solidness of his chest against her back as he leaned over her made her want to turn and worship its strength. Her butt was snug against his front and she didn’t even want to think about what she could bump into if she moved even the slightest inch. His breath was warm on her neck and his lips were right by her ear making her mouth water. Her skin started to tighten and tingle as the air seemed to clog in her throat, and she could feel her cheeks burning. Her reactions, all of them, were shocking. Had it been that long that any touch from a male was going to set her off? Did it not matter that he was many—way too many—years her junior? Her mind screamed, asking what the hell she was thinking, but her body was happily ignoring the alarms.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:After writing one mind numbing technical document after another, Rhonda Shaw decided to combine her love of writing with her love of reading romance. Born in California, but transplanted to the Midwest, Rhonda is a warm weather girl to the bone. She works in the software development industry and was a lifelong dancer until her body told her it was time to come down off her toes. For more information about Rhonda and her books, please visit her website at http://www.rhondashaw.com.
Website – http://www.rhondashaw.com
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