Christmas Down Under with Skhye Moncrief. Warm Cheery Rum Fudge!

Only eight days left until Christmas! Welcome to A Writer’s Minds, WHAT EVERY WOMAN WANTS BENEATH HER CHRISTMAS TREE BLOG EVENT. Today it’s my pleasure to welcome back friend and author, Skhye Moncrief, who will be sharing a little holiday cheer with us. Skhye is graciously giving away win an autographed paperback AND a carved bone Eagle feather pendant sporting a Wolf paw print to one lucky commenter that answers her question below.

Let’s hear from Skhye…

Well, it’s beginning to somewhat look a lot like Christmas Down Under.  Seriously, it’s hot here. You know, Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere. Right? *wink* So, it’s summer and there are Christmas trees in the shops. I’ve been worried about finding a Christmas tree.  I didn’t ship my Christmas things to Australia. We’re on a short-term assignment (that could extend up to 4 years) and we were only allowed a small air shipment. So, I had to triage. Well, we’re making these bells I saw Martha Stewart make…And some Poinsettia tissue-paper flowers to put on the tree. My daughter has made both before. So, why not! She’s into making things. But I will be making my signature holiday fudge as always…And thought I’d share!

Warm Cheery Rum Fudge

3 cups semi-sweet choc. chips (you can substitute ½ with milk choc. chips)
1-14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
A dash of salt
1 teaspoon fresh grated orange zest
Handful of walnuts
A greased loaf pan
1. Melt 3 cups of choc. chips with the sweetened-condensed milk and dash of salt over low heat.
2. Remove from heat and quickly add rum extract, orange zest, and walnuts. Mix fast.
3. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Cool.

How the Earth Was Won!

No you didn’t miss it. The saga unfolds right now. You still have time to see what the werewolves are doing to save Earth from alien invasion…The WERESCAPE is where all the romance and revelation occurs. What? You haven’t heard about the Werescape? Where men are men and men are werewolves…

CONTEST ALERT:

Here’s your chance to win an autographed paperback AND a carved bone Eagle feather pendant sporting a Wolf paw print. All you need to do to enter to win is tell me what you would do if the planet were attacked by extraterrestrials. I can think of a million answers so I won’t leave any examples. Just comment here.

The winner will be announced as soon as my spot in the limelight has ended. Until then, here’s a little excerpt to help you peer into the ‘Scape.

Sky here. Ohhhh, this fudge sounds scrumptious! I'm going to have to try out this recipe. I love how creative you're getting decorating. What a fantastic idea to make Poinsettia tissue-paper flowers for your tree! *smiles* Thanks so much for joining us, Skhye. Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday.

Blurb:

Consumed by their raw attraction, they misread what stalks them in the wilderness.

Post-apocalyptic Earth: after alien invasion, AEI, 2064 AD, The Wild

With her beloved Shifter mate two days in Oregon’s ground, Sierra must choose to live or die. She has two options—join a Shifter clan by choosing a mate or live alone. Life is dangerous for a woman, AEI. Women choose protection in a group or are sold into slavery, even to the aliens. She opts for the protection of the clan, him.

He’s glorious. Empathetic. And resolved to mark her. He will not lose her. Jackal, the powerful right-hand Shifter of the clan’s leader, her brother-in-law, is determined she will be taken care of properly as mates aren’t easily come by. Especially in The Wild. But they just met, and she fights mating in her early stages of mourning. Honor-bound with a vow made over his brother’s death bed to see her safe, he internally swears to win her love. Whatever it takes.

But she harbors a dangerous secret. Born a Cougar, she dares not risk revealing she’s a Shifter, or bounty hunters will descend upon the remote mountain village to capture her for extraterrestrials. Villagers would die in the attacks. However, her Cougar rises up to claim Jackal for its mate. Shifter meets Cougar. Cougar claims her mate. Never-ending fireworks mark their raw attraction. But when the post-apocalyptic world is determined to tear them apart, will Normals, Shifters, or aliens win? Bet your money on COUGAR.

Rating: Carnal (Heroine has sex with hero in his Wolfskin.)

Excerpt:

Jackal shoved one side of his shirt behind him, withdrawing a massive shoulder and arm.

Gods the musculature molding his shoulder into existence.

Then the other arm.

Fur erupting from his smooth skin.

Hell, the thought of my touch was making him metamorphose into a distorted werewolf.

He shot me another sideways glance and let his shirt disappear into shadow behind him.

Fine. I’d gotten myself into this mess. I’d deal with cleaning up the debris. Appear tough. Intelligent.

 “Here.” I pulled on his furred firm bicep, leaning his unyielding torso toward my lap, and patted on my thighs. “Come on. We don’t have all day.”

Redundant point when all we had was all day.

He watched me with hesitation in those wary Wolf eyes.

The man obviously feared what he might do. To me. Worried he couldn’t control himself. Thank the stars for his telltale eyes. I’d misjudged my stupidity. Helping him was the best thing I could do.

Really. It was. “Come on, Jackal.” I pulled his firm arm until he gave, leaning, settling upon his side atop my lap.

Nothing even close to sexual emanated from his rigid body. He laid so damned stiff that he looked like he feared moving as if he’d roll into glass shards or a cactus.

Or something equally horrible.

He had to be at least thirty. And how could a Shifter built like him housing a handy dose of intelligence not have used a female’s touch to bring him down from a shifting high yet? If anything, he had been mated for years by now. He wouldn’t rape me. No, he’d try to protect me. Like the good Guardian he is. I could even see that in his resolve not to hurt me now.

And, it’s not like I planned to spread my legs for him in front of the other Guardians. Certainly he realized that much. Even more so, he probably hated my touch because I wasn’t his mate. I’d show him I had as much self-respect as he had. “Just relax. This is all about calming down.” I draped a palm over his shoulder and ran my fingertips down his arm, scratching through his coarse fur.

His thick wiry hair hid the sculpted muscle I knew to be there.

Maybe it was better I couldn’t touch it?

I used to think I was cursed with unnatural sexual desires. But the problem had to lie in my inner Cougar. The monster inside me. I could harbor need like what Jackal struggled to control. Just like that. So, the Shifter gene had to be at fault. Especially when there were so many similarities between Wolf and Cougar Shifters.

But Cougars held a different genetic alteration. Why?

Nobody understood the other differences between Shifter sexes though. Like why the males turned into terrifying monsters and females became beautiful sleek golden cats. Probably because the extraterrestrials who instigated the mutations through all the strange scientific procedures they did on their spacecraft hadn’t bothered informing us.

We were the dredges of life in the universe to them.

We were nothing more than slaves.

No more than livestock they used for whatever mysterious purposes they concealed from us.

And every day I had to deal with that perplexing alien mystery.

 "One seriously talented author!" Werescape: Cougar ~Reader Pearl G., posted at NCP

"One of the best sci-fi romances I have had the pleasure to read." Feral Fascinations ~Regina, CoffeeTime Romance"A wild ride on the sexual rollercoaster!" Feral Fallout ~Julianne, Two Lips ReviewsVisit www.skhyemoncrief.com to find where stories are sold.Readers, don’t forget to leave a comment answering Skhye’s question for a chance to win. Contest ends Wednesday, December 19th, 12 AM, EST.

Then be sure to enter the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win even more!

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/c587a91/