J. Kenner's Blog, page 95

Check out today’s #StarkOnSaturday excerpt from Claim Me!

It’s Saturday … and that means it’s time to tease you with a snippet from the upcoming Claim Me, book two in the Stark Trilogy that began with Release Me.

 

Damien is right there, only inches from me, and the air between us seems to hum. Every tiny hair on my body stands up, as if I’m standing in a lightning storm with danger crackling all around me. I gasp when his thumb gently strokes the line of my jaw. My lips part. I want to feel his thumb on my lips, in my mouth. I want to taste Damien. I want to consume him as the fire from his proximity is consuming me.

“There is nothing about you that I could ever forget,” he says. “You are burned into my memory. Your hair glittering in candlelight. Your skin, dewy and soft, as you step out of the shower. The way you move beneath me when we make love. And the way you look at me, as if there is nothing you could see inside me that would make you want to turn away.”

“There’s not,” I say softly.

Damien says nothing, but keeps his eyes fixed on me. He eases closer, so that my nipples barely brush the soft cotton of his T-shirt. The shock from the contact is electric, and I swallow a gasp. I am tingling all over, and as he gently strokes his fingertips down my bare arm, all I can think is that I want to press against him. I want Damien inside me. Rough, gentle, I don’t care. I just need him, right then, right there.

“How?” I say, barely able to force the question past the lump in my throat.

“How what?”

“How can you make love to me with only the whisper of a touch?”

“I’m a very resourceful man. I thought you knew.” The corner of his mouth twitches, and I see the hint of a sparkle in his eyes. “Perhaps I should offer you a more imaginative demonstration?”

“Imaginative?” I repeat. My mouth is dry.

“I’m going to make you come, darling Nikki. Without the touch of my hands, without the caress of my body. But I’ll be watching. I’ll see the way your lips part, the way your skin flushes. I’ll watch as you try to control yourself. And I’ll tell you a secret, Nikki. I’m going to be fighting for control, too.”

Come back next week for another snippet!

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 BoundMore soon,

XXOO

Starting tomorrow: Stark on Saturday!

#StarkOnSaturday Claim Me excerpts to tempt and tease you!

Starting tomorrow, I’m going to be posting excerpts from Claim Me to the site–I’m calling it Stark On Saturday, and it’ll be a regular dose of Damien leading up to the on-sale date of Claim Me!  (There are, in case you’re wondering, nine Saturdays between now and release day!)

Hope you pop by to check it out the #StarkOnSaturday fun!

(And if you haven’t yet met Damien Stark, he’s the hero from my NYT and USA Today bestselling erotic romance, Release Me, book one in the Stark Trilogy that will continue April 23 with Claim Me!)

A Binary Life: Is the Digital Age a new Dark Age?

This post appeared originally at The Whine Sisters

Fair warning — I’m thinking deep thoughts about the digital age in which we are living. Or semi-deep, anyway, as I’m sitting here at the computer, drinking coffee and scrolling through Smithsonian magazine.

I’m thinking about the history of the world. (I warned you) We started out pretty vague, right? Clans, tribes, groups of humans, with their oral histories and stories passed down among groups and families.

Eventually storytelling shifted to songs or poems, because that’s easier to remember than just your average story. But then writing came along, and it was great for keeping records.

Cuneiform, hieroglyphs, etc. Words carved into stone tablets–it doesn’t get more permanent than that, right? But then those cultures discovered early paper, but paper doesn’t last. So from an historian’s point of view, there’s a dark age when the paper records are missing, but the earlier stone records are still around.

Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt both have such periods. And it’s a shame, because even if the stone is just telling how many bushels of wheat a customer bought, that’s still significant.

So, fast forward to today’s world. Here we all are ensconced in our digital age, saving trees (which is a good thing) but recording so many significant transactions in digital forms. And I can’t help but wonder what’s going to happen five hundred years from now.

Will the technology still exist to let historians see what we were doing? Or will so much of our culture be lost in a digital haze? (I suppose the books could be lost in 500 years, too, but there’s definitely a higher level of permanence there. Perceived, anyway. Maybe digital is more permanent…so long as you have the key for retrieving the information.)

It’s a particularly interesting question for me because I’m trying to do so much digitally now. Even my journal is digital, since I lost the habit of writing one by hand years ago–or if I do it’s on a “notebook” on my iPad.

Now I send tidbits and photos into an Evernote notebook directly from my iPhone. Voila, instant record. For me at least. For those historians (or alien invaders), that information may not be accessible at all. Of course, I’m not sure the historians or the Aliens care what movie I saw last weekend or what my kids are up to!

How about y’all? Are we opening ourselves up to a whole new Dark Age? Does this stuff bug you at 2am? What Deep Thoughts are on your mind lately?

P.S. - my current book -- Release Me -- spent three weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and is still on the USA Today bestseller list (its 7th week!) Color me psyched! Have you got your copy yet?

P.P.S. And why not scroll down and share the post? After all, sharing is sexy!

XXOO

--J.K.

Délivre-Moi! Le livre est maintenant disponible! (Yea! Release Me is on-sale in French!)

Today is release day for Release Me, otherwise known as Délivre-Moi, in France!  A fabulous way to celebrate, especially after learning yesterday that Release Me is now in its seventh week on the USA Today bestseller list!

And check it out!  I popped over to the Amazon.fr site, and saw that Delivre-Moi is already topping the erotica charts.  Woot!

Ask me how much I wish I were celebrating in Paris?  Yeah, that much

 

 

Hump Day Books from Terese Ramin, Maryann Miller, Maggie Marr, Karen McCullough, Doranna Durgin, Tawny Weber, Danelle Harmon, and Melanie Jackson

Looking for awesome books to beat the mid-week slump?  Check out these  new or notable reads–great books from your favorite or soon-to-be-favorite authors!

Five Kids, One Christmas (The Brannigan Sisters)

New in Digital!

Learn more at Terese’s website!


Open Season

“Miller spins a tight tale that’s a cut above the average police procedural in this first of a new series introducing Dallas police detective Sarah Kingsly.” Publisher’s Weekly

Learn more at Maryann’s website!


Courting Trouble

A new contemporary romance from Maggie Marr!

Learn more at Maggie’s website!


The Wizard’s Shield

To solve a murder and retrieve a stolen magical shield, a pair of wizards journey into a dangerous, magical underworld, where the weapons of choice might be guns… or lightning bolts.

Learn more at Karen’s website!


A Feral Darkness

Now free across retailers! Suspense, romance, and a Celtic dog bundled into a contemporary fantasy setting.

Learn more at Doranna’s website!
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A SEAL’s Seduction (Uniformly Hot!)

RT Top Pick and Seal of Excellence Nominee!

Learn more at Tawny’s website!


The Admiral’s Heart (Heroes Of The Sea)

Brand new work from bestselling author Danelle Harmon!

Learn more at Danelle’s website!


Duet (A Chloe Boston Butterscotch Jones Compendium)

Chloe Boston and Butterscotch Jones together at last!

Learn more at Melanie’s website!

 

Interested in submitted a title for the weekly Hump Day feature?  Here’s the info!

P.S. - my current book -- Release Me -- spent three weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and is still on the USA Today bestseller list (its 6th week!) Color me psyched! Have you got your copy yet?

P.P.S. And why not scroll down and share the post? After all, sharing is sexy!

XXOO

--J.K.

Claim Me — New Outtakes … Take Two!

Is it Friday already?  No, but I’m posting these outtakes from Claim Me anyway!  Why?  Because in my never-ending love-hate relationship with Facebook, the Outtakes I posted as a Facebook exclusive can’t be seen by any of the gobzillion people who access Facebook on a mobile device.  (And, come on, Facebook!  Who doesn’t these days?)

So taking the peek wide!  Enjoy!  (And don’t forget!  Claim Me has a brand-spanking (haha) new pub date … April 23!)

 

I hope you enjoy these two short outtakes from Claim Me, coming on April 23!  These are bits that didn’t make it into the book … !

 

Outtake Number One:

Gently, he turns me around. His finger brushes my lower lip. I open my mouth to draw him in, reveling in the small sound of satisfaction that escapes the man in front of me. I run my tongue over his skin, wanting to memorize the taste of him, finer than the best chocolate and wine.

Slowly, he withdraws the finger, then traces it ever so gently along my cheekbone, then along the edge of the blindfold.

“Do you want to know what I intend to do to you, Ms. Fairchild?”

“I—“  My words catch in my throat, forestalled by the desperate pounding of my blood. I try again. “Yes, sir.”

“Everything.” he says.

“Everything?” I repeat, unable to hide the eagerness in my voice.

“I take care of what’s mine.” His words are simple, but his tone is anything but. There is an intensity in his voice, a possessive quality, as if he has no doubt that I will bend utterly to his will. “Tonight,” he adds, “I’m going to take care of you.”

 

Outtake Number Two:

Before I can think or argue, he has the sweater up and over my head.  He tosses it aside, and steps back.  “Oh, yes,” he says.  “I should have had Blaine paint you like this, too.  Not naked,” he adds, musing.  He pulls the mini up and lets it pool at my waist so that I am naked from the top up and the bottom down, but there is a circle of leather where the miniskirt is bunched up.  As for the silk cord, it is still hanging down my front and hooking under my body to where it is bound in the back with the leather skirt.

And, of course, I’m in the fuck-me heels.

Pre-order Claim Me now!
And if you haven’t read Release Me yet, be sure and snag your copy!

More coming next week!  (Along with snippets of what DID make it into the novel!)

More Claim Me Outtakes to tease you!

I’ve posted two more outtakes from Claim Me over on Facebook! I’m releasing them early there, and will post them here on the website on Friday!

But if you want an early peek, head on over to my J. Kenner Page on Facebook and check out another tease that didn’t make the final cut for the book!

 

P.S. - my current book -- Release Me -- spent three weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and is still on the USA Today bestseller list (its 6th week!) Color me psyched! Have you got your copy yet?

P.P.S. And why not scroll down and share the post? After all, sharing is sexy!

XXOO

--J.K.

Claim Me is Coming Early!

Did you hear my scream of delight this morning?  No?  I’m surprised, because I have fabulous news!  My awesome U.S. publisher, Bantam, is putting book two of the Stark Trilogy, Claim Me, on sale more than two months early!!!

Yes, folks, the new ON-SALE date for CLAIM ME is now APRIL 23!!  Color me super-excited!

And guess what?  COMPLETE ME is being bumped up, too!  It’s now coming July 30!  WOOT!  That’s six full months earlier than originally planned!

I am thrilled!

No news as of yet if there will be a shift in the U.K. publishing schedule.  I’ll be sure to let you know as soon as I do!

If you’re new to the Stark Trilogy, Claim Me and Complete Me follow my current book, Release Me, which spent three weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and is currently in its sixth week on the USA Today bestseller list!  If you haven’t checked it out, I hope you give it a try!

So for everyone who asked for an early release of Claim Me:  Happy Friday!!!!

Celebrate Valentine’s Day with a chance to snag a signed copy of Release Me … and an interview with moi!

Come on over to Jessy’s Book Club for a fun interview with me and a chance to enter to win a signed copy of Release Me!  (Yeah, international shipping is okay!  Giveaway closes on the 16th)

And most important:  HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

P.S. - my current book -- Release Me -- spent three weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and is still on the USA Today bestseller list (its 6th week!) Color me psyched! Have you got your copy yet?

P.P.S. And why not scroll down and share the post? After all, sharing is sexy!

XXOO

--J.K.

Claim Me – A Nearly Naughty Bit that Didn’t Make the Final Cut

Claim Me is coming soon, but after the enthusiastic response on my Facebook page to my question of whether I should post outtakes, I’m going to get the ball rolling with a few Damien and Nikki outtakes that I’ll be posting over the next few weeks.  And I figured I’d start with a little bit of naughty …

(You’ll find these archived on the website, but I’ll do a blog post whenever I add a new one!

Keep in mind, these are bits that did NOT make it into the book.  I’ll do snippets from the actual book itself soon, too!)

Outtake #1:

“You’re really not going to tell me where we’re going?” I ask.

He, however, is giving away nothing, and when he once again responds with only an enigmatic smile, I settle back against the soft leather and resign myself to simply going with the flow.

I’ve been tossing out restaurant names for the last five minutes, ever since Damien led me out of the house and to the low-slung, cherry red car that he’d left in the drive after our Beverly Hills shopping spree. “You’re really taking me out?” I had said, as I teetered on the three inch heels, trying to walk gracefully over the gravel driveway.  “Like this?”  I made a vague arcing motion with my hand to indicate the cord that was hidden under my clothes and rubbed provocatively between my legs.  And which, I have to admit, made the simple act of walking really quite fabulous. There’s more! Click here to read on!

 

Preorder Claim Me!

P.S. - my current book -- Release Me -- is still on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists! Color me psyched! Have you got your copy yet?

P.P.S. And why not scroll down and share the post? After all, sharing is sexy!

XXOO

--J.K.