J. Kenner's Blog, page 89
April 23, 2013
Claim Me is on shelves! And I’m blog touring (with giveaways!)
So excited that Claim Me is tucked between David Baldacci and Nora Roberts. Woot!
I’m so thrilled because Claim Me hit the shelves yesterday, and thanks to all of you awesome readers, it’s doing well!
More important, I’ve gotten wonderful feedback from folks who’ve already devoured the book!
Thanks to all of who who’ve Tweeted or posted on the J. Kenner Facebook page or left reviews at Amazon or Goodreads or elsewhere in cyberspace.
I appreciate it so, so much!
Here’s a peek at one of the reviews. Needless to say, I’m absolutely thrilled the reviewer connected so well with the book!
It’s been nearly a week since I finished reading CLAIM ME, by the incomparable, J. Kenner. I’ve tried to write this review at least twice a day — every day — since the minute I finished the book. Hell, I even took notes while I was reading it because I didn’t want to forget a moment or emotion evoked.
The problem isn’t that I don’t know what to say, the problem is what I want to say, can never truly give the proper credit due to this amazing story and the talent of its author.
…
There are points in the book when you feel like you’ve somehow been transformed by the words you’ve just read.
Needless to say, I’m sitting here thinking that FIVE starz seem too weak in comparisons to the roller coaster ride of emotions that this book takes you on.
And, of course, if you missed the earlier post about the blog tour, be sure to go back and check it out. Don’t miss the chance to win your own copy of Claim Me! You can find the links here!
April 22, 2013
Interested in a Sports Hero? Vanessa Kelly gives us the Scoop on Writing Sports Romances (and a contest!)
Aren’t baseball and football players hunky? They sure make great heroes for romance novels. Here to share her experience writing sports romances is Vanessa Kelly! For a chance to win two of her athletic hero novels, read on!
Hi, Julie! Thanks so much for having me on your blog today—it’s great to be here! For those of you who don’t know me, I write historical romance as Vanessa Kelly. But I’m also part of a husband and wife writing team that goes by the pen name of VK Sykes. Those joint books are sexy contemporary romances, mostly set in the world of major league sports. Much to our delight these sports romances—all but one self-published—have been doing very well.
But here’s the interesting thing—we’d heard for years from various editors and agents that sports romances were “box office poison.” That unless you’re Susan Elizabeth Phillips, nobody wants to read about hot athlete heroes or immerse themselves in the uber-masculine world of dressing rooms, playing fields, Nascar racetracks, or competitive alpha males. According to the powers that be, nobody wanted to read those types of romances.
Good thing that hubby and I never listened to that advice, because our experience with sports romances has been just the opposite. Readers love them, as I’m sure authors like Jaci Burton, Marie Force, and Belle Andre will tell you.
I actually believe there’s a subtle form of sexism in the assumption that women don’t like sports romances, i.e., that sport is primarily a male domain and that women just don’t like all that macho, nasty stuff. Women, in fact, are avid watchers of most professional sports in North America, especially football and baseball. That being the case, why wouldn’t they be interested in sexy athletes as heroes?
Fortunately, through the wonders of self-publishing, we’ve been able to bring those sports romances to our readers, who are clearly more open minded than some in the traditional publishing world give them credit for. In fact, there are so many authors these days who wrote books that were rejected over and over again by publishers as too different or not marketable, and who’ve gone on to achieve real success by self-publishing those very same books. Thank God for that, because it means a greater diversity of reading material for all of us and what could be bad about that?
What about you? Do you think the powers-that-be are off track? Do you like sports romances, or do they make you break out in hives? One person who comments will win a copy of our soon to be released book, Curveball, plus the first book in our sports series, Fastball.
A synopsis of Curveball, book 4 in the Philadelphia Patriots series:
Taylor Page has never wanted anything but a career in major league baseball. Through talent and guts, she’s clawed her way through the ranks of league management to land a position as Assistant General Manager of the Philadelphia Patriots, the team her father once scouted for. The only problem is that most men in baseball still don’t take a woman exec seriously, especially a thirty-year old blonde with no on-field experience. She needs to do something big to convince her bosses she has what it takes to manage a team.
Veteran Pittsburgh outfielder Ryan Locke knows his career is in jeopardy when a suddenly unreliable throwing arm comes on top of rehab from a major injury. He’s had a solid run—especially at bat—but he’s not a star with a mega-contract. As a single parent with a troubled daughter and an alcoholic mother to provide for, retirement is out of the question. Ryan’s best hope is for a trade to an American League team as a designated hitter, allowing him several more years of play.
When Taylor needs to find a replacement for an injured first baseman, she comes up with an innovative but risky idea: convince her boss to make a trade for Ryan Locke, and then convince the still talented slugger to play first base for the Patriots. Unfortunately, Ryan is dead-set against that plan.
With both their careers on the line, neither Taylor nor Ryan can afford the explosive physical attraction between them. But despite Taylor’s best efforts to resist Ryan’s campaign of seduction, she’s not sure she’s got to willpower to keep from playing along.
Vanessa Kelly writes USA Today bestselling contemporary romance with her husband under the pen name of VK Sykes. She also writes award-winning historical romance under her own name, and was named by Booklist as “one of the new stars of historical romance.” You can find her on the web at www.vanessakellyauthor.com or www.vksykes.com.
Check out Vanessa’s Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Vanessa’s Blog, and Rock*It Reads.
Much thanks to Vanessa for her post! Remember to comment for a chance to win her novels Curveball and Fastball!
April 21, 2013
Come tour with me … & enter to win Claim Me (Stark Trilogy, book 2)!
I’m blog touring to celebrate the upcoming (TUESDAY!!) release of Claim Me, book two tin the Stark Trilogy that began with Release Me!
Come on by and join the fun! At each stop, Bantam is giving away a copy of the book (print to US winners; digital to international).
I’m talking about traveling via writing, vacations, and why my TBR pile never seems to shrink!
Hope you’ll pop by! Here’s where I’ve been the last few days:
http://whatsonthebookshelf-jen.blogspot.com/2013/04/blog-tour-claim-me-by-j-kenner.html
http://booklovinmamas.blogspot.com/2013/04/claim-me-by-j-kenner-blog-tour-giveaway.html
April 20, 2013
Last Stark on Saturday before release day! Claim Me (Stark Trilogy book 2) coming Tuesday!
WOW! This is the last #StarkOnSaturday before next Tuesday’s release of CLAIM ME!! So here you go! Enjoy this snippet from the upcoming Claim Me, book two in the Stark Trilogy that began with Release Me.
Matt Bomer looking so very executive. Yeah, he could be Damien …
“Are you in an office or a cubicle?” he asks.
“An office,” I say. I swallow, recalling all the things I wrote in that letter.
“In that case, my dear Ms. Fairchild, I think you should close your door. For that matter, I think you should lock it.”
“Damien, I’m at work,” I protest, but I do as he says.
“What a coincidence. So am I. Imagine my surprise as I’m reviewing my morning mail. Requests to speak at business conferences. Investment opportunities. Real estate proposals. All intriguing opportunities, but none so enticing as what I find when I open a simple letter sent on my very own stationery.”
“Damien . . . ”
“You have a way with words, Ms. Fairchild. I was quite relieved that my assistant was at her desk when I read your letter. I don’t know that I would have been able to hide my erection. You really are quite a little minx.”
My brows lift. “A minx?”
“I can still remember the sound of your voice,” he quotes, “so smooth I almost came just from the sound of it. And the cool leather against the hot skin of my ass. Even then, I wanted your hands on me, your cock inside me. I barely knew you, and yet I wanted to submit to you utterly.” He says, “Yes, I think minx is a very accurate description.”
“Oh.” Hearing my own words read back to me, I have to silently agree. “I was inspired.”
“I’m very glad to hear it. When I ran across the scarf in the apartment this morning it reminded me of you, and after I got your letter, I thought that I should return it right away. You see, we didn’t really let that scarf live up to its potential.”
“We didn’t?” My mouth is dry.
“No,” he says, softly. “But I intend to make up for that. There are a lot of things one can do with a scarf. A lot of things one can do with fringe. The delicate brush over your erect nipple. A teasing stroke over your hot cunt. I promise you that we’ll fully explore all of the various possibilities.”
“Um.” I swallow.
“Wear it today and think about what I’ll do with it tonight.”
“Tonight?” I ask, as I drape the scarf around my neck.
Damien laughs. “I’ll pick you up at seven,” he says. “I’ll have you naked by eight.”
Claim Me will be on-sale April 23!
Pre-order Claim Me from Amazon!
Pre-order Claim Me from Barnes & Noble!
Pre-order Claim Me from Books-a-Million
Pre-order Claim Me from Random House
Pre-order Claim Me from your favorite independent bookseller
Pre-order Claim Me in the U.K. from Amazon
Pre-order Claim Me in the U.K. from Waterstones
Pre-order Claim Me in the U.K. from WH Smith
Want more? You can even pre-order Complete Me from Amazon or from Barnes and Noble! On-sale July 30!
And if you missed Release Me, you can snag your copy from your favorite retailers here:
Random House
Amazon (print)
Amazon (kindle)
Amazon United Kingdom
Barnes and Noble (print or Nook)
Books-A-Million
Kobo
iBooks
Indie Bound
Wow! Hard to believe that release day for CLAIM ME is next week!!! Don’t forget to pre-order your copy!
XXOO
April 19, 2013
Memorable TV Moments: What are Yours? Lilian Darcy Shares her Experiences (Plus a Giveaway!)
Do certain TV shows stay with you forever because of what you were doing when you saw them? Lilian Darcy joins us on the blog today to tell some of her own captivating stories! Keep reading and comment for a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card!
Thanks so much for having me on your blog, Julie!
First, a little bit about me for those who don’t know. I’ve written over eighty contemporary romances for Harlequin, Silhouette and Mills & Boon, and am now also writing women’s and mainstream bookclub fiction. I’m a five-time finalist in the Romance Writers of America’s prestigious Rita Award – thrilled to be a finalist again this year, in Best Short Contemporary Romance! – and have also written for Australian theater and television.
I have a husband, four kids, a cat, several chickens and two thoroughbred performance horses – although my daughter is under the impression that those are hers. I like hiking, winter sports, gardening and of course reading. Truth be told, I would like to have a less eventful life, but every time I attempt to scale down, something else shows up to fill the available space.
And now my little musing on…
LIFE’S MOST MEMORABLE TV.
Most of us vividly remember where we were when we heard that John Lennon had been gunned down on the steps of the Dakota building – or, if you prefer, when we heard that Justin Bieber had been arrested for speeding on an LA freeway – but for me there’s and even more vivid connection between certain periods in my life and the TV or videos or DVDs that I was watching then.
Here are some of my life events, and the TV that’s inextricably linked to them. I wonder if any of them resonate with you.
The time I was apartment-sitting in a pre-war studio apartment on New York’s Upper West Side, and in the next apartment lived a concert violinist who practiced for nine hours a day, and I drowned it out with cable repeats of…
“The Brady Girls Get Married.”
In labor with my second baby at around midnight on a Saturday night, and the TV in the hospital room was showing…
Well, it was until I lovingly and supportively suggested to my husband that this was the last show in the entire universe that a laboring woman would feel like watching.
The time we were living in Ohio and my husband was working in New Yorkfor the summer, so I was on my own with a manic one-year-old in an un-air-conditioned house, and the highlight of my week was…
“Northern Exposure” on Tuesday nights.
The winter that I was imprisoned in this same house for what felt like about eight months with a baby and a sniffly three-year-old and the three-year-old was totally in love with…
A children’s Christmas carol video (whose exact title I have suppressed, for the sake of my mental health) so we just watched it over and over again. I still can’t hear “Walking in a Winter Wonderland” without developing claustrophobia and flu-like symptoms.
The two fall days when we left our kids with Grandma in New Jersey and booked ourselves into a Manhattan hotel for two nights of couple time, and the first evening we went out to dinner and had a great night, and then we woke up the next morning and it was September 11, 2001, and we spent that numb, terrible day like so many others in Manhattan, going to the nearest hospital to try to donate blood but nobody needed it, sitting silent on a bench in Central Park while the smoke billowed at the lower end of Fifth Avenue, and the sky to the north was perfectly clear and blue. We went to the Port Authority Bus Terminal to try to get back to New Jersey to be with our family, but couldn’t find a way out of the city, so we picked up take-out Chinese for dinner and ate it in our hotel room and watched…
“28 Days” with Sandra Bullock and Viggo Mortensen.
Last summer when my mother-in-law came from New Jersey to visit (we live in Australia now) and forgot to bring her hearing-aid, and didn’t really *get* Australian TV, even when it had closed captions, so she and I binge-watched DVDs of…
“Modern Family”, which she hadn’t really *got* before, either, because she didn’t understand the relationships (I blame the hearing-aid batteries) but I freeze-framed it at that part in the beginning where they show each family together and explained it to her. “He’s the father of her and him, but he’s divorced from their mother, and she’s his second wife, and that’s her son from her first marriage…” After this, she loved it and we had some great laughs over it together.
The three-day vacation in the mountains that my husband and I took just a few weeks ago, when we hiked miles during the day, and then watched the first two seasons of…
UK crime drama “Scott and Bailey” on DVD at night. (Oh, “Scott and Bailey.” I love thee beyond all reason. I cannot wait for Season Three.)
Now tell me some of yours. Did you watch “28 Days” that night?
And if you’re in the mood for binge-reading instead of binge-watching, try my romances from Harlequin Special Edition, or my mainstream bookclub fiction, and watch out for an exciting new women’s fiction series called Montana Born, featuring books by Jane Porter, Megan Crane, C J Carmichael and me, launching in November. Find me at www.liliandarcy.com, at www.backlistebooks.com on Twitter at @liliandarcy, and on Facebook.
Thanks to Lilian for sharing her most memorable movie moments! What are some of yours? Don’t forget to comment for a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card!
P.S. - I have a new Protector (Superhero) novella out! Check out Aphrodite's Embrace (currently only on the Kindle, but coming soon to other etailers!)
And in super fab news, Bantam has moved the pub date for the next two books in the Stark Trilogy even sooner! Claim Me will be out April 23, and Complete Me out July 30. WOOT! (And if you missed book 1, Release Me, grab your copy now!)
P.P.S. And why not scroll down and share the post? After all, sharing is sexy!
XXOO
--J.K.
April 18, 2013
Join us for the Claim Me Blog Hop!
Welcome to the Claim Me blog hop from today through May 4!!
Enter for a chance to win:
10 print copies of CLAIM ME
10 print copies of RELEASE ME
5 eBook copies of A VAMPIRES SALVATION
One Claim Me Scarf!
Woot!
Hop here to visit everyone:
And here’s the Rafflecopter to enter! Have a great time … and good luck!
April 17, 2013
Hump Day Books from Catherine Gayle, Donna Fasano, Donna Michaels, Carly Carson, Pauline Baird Jones, Anne Marsh, Stephanie Queen, and Jill Hughey
Need a new romance to put some spunk back in your Wednesday? Check out this week’s Hump Day Books!
Wallflower (The Old Maids’ Club, Book 1)
Now Free!
Learn more at Catherine’s website!
Her Fake Romance
Named 2013 Best Romance in Big Al’s Books & Pals Readers’ Choice Awards
Learn more at Donna’s website!
Her Fated Cowboy
New Release! First book in Harland County Series!
Learn more at Donna’s website!
Eclipse of the Heart
New Release!
Learn more at Carly’s website!
Relatively Risky
New in romantic suspense!
Learn more at Pauline’s website!
Slow Burn
Learn more at Anne’s website!
The Hot Shots (Scotland Yard Exchange Program)
Book 2 in the Scotland Yard Exchange Program Series!
Learn more at Stephanie’s website!
Vain (Evolution Series)
New Historical Romance!
Learn more at Jill’s website!
P.S. - I have a new Protector (Superhero) novella out! Check out Aphrodite's Embrace (currently only on the Kindle, but coming soon to other etailers!)
And in super fab news, Bantam has moved the pub date for the next two books in the Stark Trilogy even sooner! Claim Me will be out April 23, and Complete Me out July 30. WOOT! (And if you missed book 1, Release Me, grab your copy now!)
P.P.S. And why not scroll down and share the post? After all, sharing is sexy!
XXOO
--J.K.
April 16, 2013
Real Places in Fiction: Emilie Richards on Asheville, Research, and her Books (and a Contest!)
How does an author bring in real places into her fiction? Please welcome Emilie Richards, who shares her experiences in researching locales! Read on for a chance to win one of her books, Wedding Ring!
I love doing research. One of the joys of writing is the freedom to choose subjects that interest me, followed by the thrill of finding out everything I need to know. Okay, sometimes I just want to know things because I do. I know, as I’m delving deeper and deeper that I’ll never use facts I’m uncovering, but I can’t stop. It’s either too much fun or early signs of an obsessive-compulsive disorder.
I’m not taking any bets.
Here’s another research joy. Travel. For the past several summers I’ve had the pleasure of visiting Asheville, North Carolina. Asheville is not unfamiliar. For years our family spent weeks each summer in Western North Carolina, and a son moved to Asheville the moment he was old enough. Now he’s a tried and true member of the community, with an extra bedroom for his parents when they need an Asheville fix. Grown children settling in beautiful places are one of those childbearing bonuses no one mentions.
When I was planning my newest series, Goddesses Anonymous, my brainstorming buddies suggested Asheville as the setting. Asheville is picturesque, multicultural, and unique. The things I still didn’t know could be discovered. Several Junes ago, I set out to see if our optimism was founded. Would I be able to do a credible job of representing the area?
When they begin a story authors are faced with many tasks. One of them is how true to life they’ll need to be. Here’s an example: The opening scene of the first novel of the series, One Mountain Away, takes place at a playground, and I had to write the scene before I made my trip. I described a typical park, with just enough detail that I thought I’d be safe. But once I got there, no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find all those elements. So, do I name a real park to give the scene more authenticity while simultaneously setting myself up for emails like: ”There is no Blankety-Blank in Doo-Dah Park?” Or do I simply name a section of the city and hope nobody’s feeling picky? This is fiction, after all, and my decision will not affect the city parks and recreation department.
Then there’s Trust and Luck, two real life mountain townships that fascinated me so much I set the second novel, Somewhere Between Luck and Trust, smack dab on the boundary. That was the good part, but here’s the question. Can I move actual townships? Just a little? Redesign roads leading off them? Expand their boundaries? What must I be true to? What can I fudge?
These questions haunt me as I write, but what about the big one, the one that makes most authors break out in a cold sweat? What about all the things I think I know that I really don’t? All the mistakes waiting around the corner because I’ve never thought about them? Those blithe convictions teetering on a mountain ledge as I lean over to erroneously name distant peaks, none the wiser?
I do love research. I do love Asheville. I do love fiction and this new series. So what choice do I have? I’ll throw all that in the cast iron kettle of my imagination and stir and stir. The result? A pack of lies or a sterling depiction? I bet my readers will let me know.
To see more from Emilie, visit her website!
Much thanks to Emilie for joining the blog today! Don’t forget to comment for a chance to win her novel Wedding Ring!
P.S. - I have a new Protector (Superhero) novella out! Check out Aphrodite's Embrace (currently only on the Kindle, but coming soon to other etailers!)
And in super fab news, Bantam has moved the pub date for the next two books in the Stark Trilogy even sooner! Claim Me will be out April 23, and Complete Me out July 30. WOOT! (And if you missed book 1, Release Me, grab your copy now!)
P.P.S. And why not scroll down and share the post? After all, sharing is sexy!
XXOO
--J.K.
April 15, 2013
Paranormal Heroes: Scary or Sexy? Michele Lang Gives Her Top Five (Plus a Contest!)
Who are all those inhuman protagonists, those Vamps, Zombies, and Demons, filling up our bookshelves? Today I welcome Michele Lang to give her take on writing paranormal fiction! Keep reading for a chance to win one of THREE copies of her trilogy!
Heroes from a Bad Neighborhood
by Michele Lang
To paraphrase the hilarious Anne Lamott, my mind is a scary neighborhood where you don’t want to wander around alone. Because I write fantasy, paranormal romance, and science fiction, my inner neighborhood teems with furry, fanged and winged creatures, some of them terrifying, a lot of them strangely loveable.
I thought I would be your guide through the scary precincts of my imagination, and give you a list of my top five potential supernatural heroes. Because being scared and being in love not only don’t cancel each other out, they go together like chocolate and peanut butter!
5. Zombies. OK, I know this is a big trend right now, but I have my concerns. Did you see that zombie romance movie, Warm Bodies, that came out recently? Here’s the link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1588173/ I heard it was adorable, but I’m still not sure a zombie can really qualify as hero material, at least the way I imagine them. The last thing you want in a romantic embrace is for body parts to be squishy or rotten, or even worse, falling off!
I could see falling in love with a regular person while fighting off the zombies, maybe in a scenario like the Walking Dead, but there the fear factor would outweigh the romance, big time. Too grim. So I dunno.
4. Vamps. What’s not to love you ask? So many sparkly, brooding, tormented vampire heroes already stalk their lovers. But that’s the trouble, isn’t it? There are so very many vampire heroes out there already. The vamp district of my brain is way, way too crowded. To make it work, you must make vampires your own.
Many writers have achieved this feat, but here’s another confession – vampires scare the daylights out of me! I’m not a fan of needles, so the thought of some guy inserting his teeth into my neck does not make me swoon in a good way. I might get over my needle-phobia and write a vamp hero someday. Maybe…
3. Werewolves. The idea of a wild, untamed, savage creature lunging for his mate and protecting her against all danger…I like it. At least as I imagine them, werewolves are loyal to their pack, run outside society and its constraining conventions, and mate for life. I know they are furry, they might be sweaty, they rip people apart, but personally I love the idea of a hero with an animal side.
2. Demons. Talk about your dangerous, misunderstood hero. I love demon heroes because they are rare, they are certainly bad-ass, and they commit a major transgression by falling in love. Human beings are the ultimate forbidden fruit to a demon, they aren’t supposed to love but to destroy. And I love the temptations they dangle in front of us. So go demons!
![RebelAngels[1]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380970709i/3603463.jpg)
1. Angels. But my favorite hero for now is the Angel. They are the mirror image of the demon hero – they aren’t supposed to love us either, and they risk a lot more than demons if they express that love. An angel who chooses a human love gives up all of heaven to do it, and I think that is incredibly romantic. They are strong, they are also pretty hard-core – look at the creatures they fight! – and what can I say? I have a thing for big, golden, sheltering man-angel wings. . .
So, who are your favorite supernatural heroes?
About Michele:
Michele Lang writes supernatural tales: the stories of witches, lawyers, goddesses, bankers, demons, and other magical creatures hidden in plain sight. Author of the LADY LAZARUS historical fantasy series, Michele’s most recent book in the series, REBEL ANGELS, released March 2013.
Michele is also a lawyer who has practiced the unholy craft of litigation in both New York and Connecticut. She returned to her native New York shortly before 9/11, and now lives in a small town on the North Shore of Long Island with her husband, her sons, and a rotating menagerie of cats, hermit crabs, and butterflies.
Find her on the web at www.michelelang.com and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/michelelang
Thanks to Michele for her great post! Leave a comment if you would like to be considered to win a copy of her trilogy, including Lady Lazarus, Dark Victory, and Rebel Angels!
P.S. - I have a new Protector (Superhero) novella out! Check out Aphrodite's Embrace (currently only on the Kindle, but coming soon to other etailers!)
And in super fab news, Bantam has moved the pub date for the next two books in the Stark Trilogy even sooner! Claim Me will be out April 23, and Complete Me out July 30. WOOT! (And if you missed book 1, Release Me, grab your copy now!)
P.P.S. And why not scroll down and share the post? After all, sharing is sexy!
XXOO
--J.K.
April 13, 2013
Another Stark on Saturday! Excerpt from Claim Me (Stark Trilogy book 2)
Just one more Stark on Saturday before release day!It’s #StarkOnSaturday again — and that means it’s time for other snippet from the upcoming Claim Me, book two in the Stark Trilogy that began with Release Me.
My top pic for Damien Stark
“It’s so pretty out here,” I say as we follow a flagstone path that twines away from the house.
“It is,” he agrees, but his eyes are on me.
“Watch the path, Mr. Stark,” I say.
“I’d rather watch you.”
I grin as he wraps his arms around me and pulls me into a bone-melting kiss. The fire he set inside me only moments ago has not been fully extinguished, and now those embers burst back into flame. “Here?” I whisper, pressing my sex hard against his thigh, then moaning softly at the sweet torment of the returning pressure. “Outside? On these hard, cold stones?” My words may sound reluctant, but I know that my tone does not. Right then I think I want nothing more than the press of stone against my back and the feel of Damien, hot and hard, inside me.
His voice is low and sultry with just a hint of a tease. “What exactly do you want me to do to you, Ms. Fairchild?” His fingers brush my shoulder, sliding the spaghetti strap down my arm so that it hangs loose. “This?” he asks, as he bends to brush his lips over the swell of my breast.
I gasp, my chest heaving, the chiffon that still clings to my now erect nipple rubbing provocatively.
“Or maybe this?” He traces his fingers up my leg, higher and higher until he grazes the soft skin between my thigh and my sex.
“Maybe,” I whisper.
“It would be sweet, wouldn’t it?” he asks as his hand moves up again, tracing the trimmed line of hair on my pubic bone, then dipping down to tease the same soft spot on my other leg. “Here, under the stars. My hands on you and only the night around us. My tongue on your breast, the cool air grazing your erect nipple. A whisper of cool wind brushing over your hot cunt.”
My legs grow weak, and I close my arms around his neck to keep from melting beneath his words and his touch.
“Is that what you want?”
“Yes,” I say.
His smile is slow, and I draw in a ragged breath as he leans close. His lips graze the corner of my mouth, then my temple. Then my ear. I feel his warm breath, and then the softest whisper of a word. “No.”
Claim Me will be on-sale April 23!
Pre-order Claim Me from Amazon!
Pre-order Claim Me from Barnes & Noble!
Pre-order Claim Me from Books-a-Million
Pre-order Claim Me from Random House
Pre-order Claim Me from your favorite independent bookseller
Pre-order Claim Me in the U.K. from Amazon
Pre-order Claim Me in the U.K. from Waterstones
Pre-order Claim Me in the U.K. from WH Smith
Want more? You can even pre-order Complete Me from Amazon or from Barnes and Noble! On-sale July 30!
And if you missed Release Me, you can snag your copy from your favorite retailers here:
Random House
Amazon (print)
Amazon (kindle)
Amazon United Kingdom
Barnes and Noble (print or Nook)
Books-A-Million
Kobo
iBooks
Indie Bound
More soon,
XXOO
