Spotlight: Destiny’s Chance by Cara Bristol

Posted on May 17, 2013 by S.J. Maylee

It’s a double release week for one my favorite must read authors. Of course I jumped at the chance to highlight one of them. I have all the details on Cara Bristol’s Destiny’s Chance. Squee. I know what I’ll be reading this weekend. 🙂

Destiny’s Chance

by Cara Bristol

Genre: contemporary paranormal/fantasy
Length: 115 pgs
Released: May 14, 2013
Publisher: Loose Id

Blurb:

Destiny Grable can’t help that she’s fallen in with love Chance Everett, her best friend’s boyfriend, but she’s never, ever acted on her feelings — until she and Zoe are in a car accident, her friend is killed, and she is reincarnated in her body. She never wished for something like this to happen, but perhaps now she’ll be free to love Chance the way she always wanted to.

Chance might have had pursued Destiny, but he has a kinky side and she was a nice girl. But now she’s dead, and the accident has forced him to take in his ex-girlfriend. As soon as she recovers and moves out, he’ll get on with his life.

Can two star-crossed lovers ever find happiness?

Excerpt:

A bleeping permeated her brain, steady, repetitive, as annoying as a dripping faucet. She tried to turn away from the sound but couldn’t and found herself waiting for the blips, clinging to the respite of silence in between. Nor could she escape the smell. Rusty. Antiseptic. Invasive. She wrinkled her nose, but the odor crept into her sinuses, stuck to her skin, seeped into her bones.

Her cold bones. Her hands and feet had frozen to ice, and she curled into a fetal ball to conserve her heat, ward off the pain. She hurt all over. Why?

Warmth arrived out of cold and darkness to settle on her shoulder with light pressure, like the soothing caress of a man’s hand. Destiny moved against it, seeking comfort. So real. So solid she could almost imagine fingers curling over…She peeled open her eyelids.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.” Chance Everett leaned close.

Though she ached everywhere, she found relief in his presence. Chance often had visited her fantasies looking like this: broad-shouldered, his body-molding T-shirt showing off serious pecs, his dark hair finger tousled, his worn blue jeans more faded over the parts she shouldn’t gawk at.

But since she only dreamed him, her conscience allowed her to feast her eyes on every inch of his six-foot frame.

To smell him too. Destiny inhaled to capture soap, masculine comfort, and…automotive grease?

She glanced at the hand warming her shoulder. Roughened by work, it bore a line of grime under the fingernails, the result of a cursory washing. She creased her forehead into a tiny frown and lifted her gaze to his face.

Tension bracketed his sexy, full mouth; the usual twinkle in his rich brown eyes had dulled to flatness.

This wasn’t the way her dreams went. Far from it—by now their clothing should have mysteriously disappeared, and he should be kissing her while whispering the naughty things he planned to do to her. Nor had he ever seemed quite this solid, had the sensation of being touched felt so real. And what is that irritating blip? She grimaced.

“Can you speak?” he asked.

“Uh, um. Yeah.” Or maybe not. The husky, quavering voice didn’t sound like hers. And her throat hurt.

Destiny rolled her head to the side, noting institutional green walls, medical machines and monitors, and that the bed on which she lay had rails. Like a hospital bed. Hospital!

“Do you remember what happened?” he asked.

Memories flooded in. Sheeting rain. Malfunctioning windshield wipers. A massive truck. Skidding. Crashing. Screaming. Grabbing for her friend Zoe, who was driving the car.

Please, be a nightmare.

Voicing her fear would solidify it. But Chance waited. “The accident.” She swallowed. “It was real, wasn’t it?”

He nodded. “Yes. The police called me at the body shop.”

That accounted for the grease under his fingernails. He’d been working, hadn’t taken the time to fully clean up. It also explained his presence at the hospital. Although he and Zoe had split up recently, they had remained on good terms, and since she had no close relations, authorities would have notified him. So why was Chance with her and not Zoe?

Unless…unless…

She would have bolted upright, except for Chance’s hand on her shoulder. “Oh my God!

She’s…she’s all right, isn’t she?”

Buy Link:

Amazon buy link

Where you can Find Cara:

Website/blog | Twitter | Facebook

Be sure to visit Cara to find out what she released this week and what she has coming next week.

A Chat with Shannan Albright author of Beloved Wizard

Posted on April 17, 2013 by S.J. Maylee

Shannan and I are sitting down today for a relaxing chat. Pull up your lawn chair, your favorite drink and join us. I also have all the details on the first release in her Knights of Excalibur series.

Title: Beloved Wizard

by: Shannan Albright

Publisher: Evernight Publishing
Length: 70 Pages
Sub-Genres: Romance

Blurb:

Merci Tramaine is not happy to be called back into service by her old boss Arthur, especially when she is charged to find her missing ex-lover. Drake Monroe is Merlin reincarnated. With his powers bound by the Goddess Nimue, he has become a skilled fighter, but is no match for Nimue who kidnapped him, determined to destroy him forever.

The bloodline of Morgan Le Fey taints Merci, keeping her on the edge between light and dark. The goddess’s wicked trap springs shut, leaving both Drake and Merci racing against the clock. Passions ignite once again, but are they too late to plan a future or will they be torn from each other?

This time for eternity.

Shannan lets dig right in with a hard question, lol. Picture your favorite place in the world. Now, can you tell us a little bit about the place you’ve pictured?

A pristine white beach at low tide, the waves lapping up to shore in lazy surges, the fizzing sound of sea meeting land lulling, encouraging you to relax and leave the stress of the world behind. Here there are no deadlines, micro-management or responsibilities. Here there is only a complete state of being in the moment, one with nature around you. The breeze is warm, not over heated. Just a pleasant caress against the skin the scents of sea and land with a floral undertone of Gardenia’s and Jasmine. If this place doesn’t exists, it should so I can go there. Lol!

And so I can go there too. You relaxed me with your favorite place. What was the last book you read that made a lasting impression on you?

Easy since I just read it. JR Ward’s Lover at Last. I have read quite a bit of M/M and never have I found such dimension within the struggles to be in love with the same sex. She covers all the bases and with such sensitivity and passion I was sad to have finished it.

I’ve heard wonderful things about Lover at Last. I’m very much looking forward to reading an experiencing it. Can you tell us about your challenges in getting your first book published?

Lol, Got a few years? I started writing in 1980 and hit every brick wall there was and then some new ones. I decided to go a different way with my writing after illustrating a children’s book and started putting together a graphic novel…, which is still unfinished. Along the way I got back into writing, became an RWA member and spent a few years just taking workshops. When a new e-publisher was looking for short stories I figured what the hell, I’ll just add to my pile of rejections and submitted for their Christmas anthology. I was accepted and boy, it took a while for the shock to wear off on that one. The rest, as they say is history.

Persistence paid off, I’m so glad to read that. Can you tell us about a criticism you’ve received that pushed you into a better writing place?

I got a rejection letter from a big New York publisher that told me to give it up. I didn’t have the talent and was wasting both there’s and my time. Well after I licked my wounds I got mad. Even if they never knew, I would be a published author. When someone tells me no I have a tendency to dig in and prove them wrong. Good and bad this is my nature. Guess the Cajun stubbornness in me won’t let things die, or take a person’s words as the truth.

Brilliant. You ignored the negativity, took the challenge, and you won. I love it. Which one of your characters would you NOT like to meet in real life?

I really, really wouldn’t like to run across Mordred. I may have to hurt him just for breathing. I’m not a violent person, but his superior snotty, entitled attitude drove me nuts even when I wrote him in I had to grit my teeth to get through it.

Lol. That’s awesome. Which one of your characters would you most like to meet in real life?

Viviane, Lady of the Lake would be a cool character to meet. She is so not what one expects of a goddess. A cross between Goth girl meets Anime, she would be a hoot to share an afternoon with.

I bet. You should write a blog post one day detailing an afternoon with her. I’m thinking, it would be a fun read. What turns you on creatively?

Oh this is easy. Oil painting or illustrating.

Cool. My mother and grandfather are painters. I love watching them create. What is your greatest fear?

Bad health. I think I can successfully meet any challenge but that. To have no control of your body as it shuts down? Way too scary for a control freak like me.

Agreed. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

I would like to finish my graphic book and be a graphic artist. Okay, it’s sort of like the same thing, but with more art so it’s different. Lol!

Yes. That would bring your two interests together. Neat. What is your greatest extravagance?

It’s coming up in September. I’m taking my first cruise to the Bahamas. This is the first time I’m going out of the United States and I’m so stoked.

You are going to have a fabulous time. I’m back thinking on your first answer. J What is your favorite music (genre/artist/album/song)?

Nickleback followed by Maroon 5 and Train. And I can’t tell you what my fave is since I love all of their songs.

Rock-n-Roll with pop, I love it. What is your motto?

I see a light at the end of the tunnel and it’s not a train.

What are you working on now?

I am finishing a novella on my other series The Dark Breed Enforcers, plus the next full length book in the series. At the same time I am working on a Historical paranormal about Dragon shifters and I working two other first books in a series. One is tentatively called The Summoning: Rise of the Sentinels about angels called Watchers pitted against the bad guys called The Dark Guard. The other is called Demon Bewitched: A Cast Wars Novel. This deals with witches, demons and angels. That’s what’s on my plate for this year.J I hate to be idle as you can tell.

Thank you for having me on your blog. I had so much fun answering your questions.

That was a lot of fun, Shannan. Thanks for playing along.

Excerpt:

“I have no wish to be the next greatest anything. I like me just the way I am. I mind my own business and no one gets into my shit. Nice, quiet and uncomplicated.”

Color rose on Nimue’s fair complexion. Merci knew she’d just crossed the line, but couldn’t seem to care, even if the goddess could squash her like a bug. The only thing that mattered to her was Drake’s tall form moving ever closer toward them.

Nimue grabbed her upper arm in a punishing grip, whirled her around to face Drake. Nimue flung her hand out and Drake flew back like a puppet on a string, crashing into the far wall of the warehouse with a sickening flesh-meet-cinderblock thud. He lay crumpled amidst the debris like a broken doll.

Something snapped within Merci. Her blood scalded her veins. The taste of ash filled the back of her throat. Rage, cold and biting, filled her, coloring her vision in a red haze. Drawing energy from the earth, she channeled it up through her body, willing it to form. Her hands glowed, magic as hot as a stream of lava engulfed her. Her skin stung like the bite of a thousand fire ants as a small burst of electricity arched over her arms, snapping with pent up energy. The stench of ozone, hanging like a heavy cloud in the still air, filled the area. The force arched into Nimue, dropped her to the floor. Merci offered a feral smile while Nimue wreathed in pain against her magic. She bent down close enough for Nimue to hear her. “Since you don’t know me, I will explain this to you. You don’t fuck with what is mine. Drake, is mine.”

Buy Links:

Extasybooks.com | Amazon.com | Bookstrand.com | Sony E-book | Barnes and Noble

About The Author:

Growing up she was the dreamer in her family, something not always thought of as a positive thing. As a child she would draw and build stories around her pictures, so writing was a natural extension for her. Recently a family member told her that from now on she would encourage those dreamers she knew. Stating with hard work and focus dreams can come true. Shannan Albright is proof that dreaming can be a positive thing.

When not writing she spends her time between oil painting and reading. She loves writing paranormal, urban fantasy, historical and fantasy romances because of the world building and rich characters she finds. She loves dark, edgy heroes and heroines overcoming impossible odds internal and external.

She is a “hopeful” Romantic who believes a healthy relationship built on respect and a strong partnership is the key to a happy ever after.

Shannan Albright

@ShannanAlbright

BTS Presents: Santa’s Little Helper Scavenger Hunt!

Posted on December 31, 2012 by S.J. Maylee

BTS Tours and Freya’s Bower are proud to present the Santa’s Little Helper Scavenger Hunt. 32 blogs have linked together to allow you to hunt for 32 different words that will be hidden in each post, so at the end of the hunt you will have 32 answers to plug into the rafflecopter. Please DO NOT leave your answers in the comment section. We want this to be fun for everyone, and not take the challenge out of the game. So this is how it works.

All the blogs listed below will post their game piece on their allotted date. You are looking for one word (related to Christmas or Sex) to plug into the rafflecopter as your answer. For Example:’

If you are on Close Encounters with the Night Kind, and find your word (clues will be provided for you in the banner) you log into the rafflecopter form and place your answer in the box marked Close Encounters of the Night Kind. Follow along the entire Scavenger Hunt and collect all 32 clues. We will be drawing for 4 $25 dollar Gift Certificates to Freya’s Bower. Happy Hunting!!!

sjmaylee Slave cover

Title: Slave
Author: Penelope Friday
Publisher: Freya’s Bower
Length: Novella
Sub-Genres: M/M

BLURB:

When love and lust combine…

Lee has been away from his Master for a while, and Master suspects
his young submissive lover needs a thorough reminder of his place.
When he is sent to the punishment room, can Lee control himself enough to learn his Master’s lesson?

EXCERPT:

I lay one hand on his shoulder, holding with a grip so firm that I know it will leave marks. Red marks to start with, fading to dusky blue in time. I have seen him before,
looking in the mirror, running a finger over the marks I have left on
his body as he masturbates. He doesn’t know I have seen him; doesn’t know that I know that he wanks over the very thought of what I’ve done to him, what I might do the next time. “You will not come until I tell you you may. You will do everything I say without pause or hesitation.

You will give yourself over to me, body, mind and soul, to be my possession. To have no self but to lose your identity, being only what I make you.”

BUY LINKS:

http://www.freyasbower.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=10&products_id=270

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Penelope Friday likes red wine, hot men and women, and – incongruously – knitting. She writes an array of different things which she likes to call ‘eclectic’ rather than ‘random’.

Raffle copter code:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I Want That One by Paige E. Roberts Plus some Q and A

Posted on December 3, 2012 by S.J. Maylee

I Want That One

by: Paige E. Roberts

Publisher: Wild Child Publishing
Length: Novella
Sub-Genres: BDSM/Erotica

BLURB:

Lady Jane wants Will, for her slave, and she’ll pay a high price to get him. Will dreams of a life under Jane’s spike heels, but in the future city-state of New York, it’s illegal to enslave a free man. Jane, once a notorious hacker, now a network security consultant, isn’t used to letting a little thing like the law keep her from getting what she wants. When a bound and naked Will is delivered to her kitchen door, she takes great pleasure in using leather cat and cuffs and cruel penetrating sex games to tame him. But Will must give up everything to prove his loyalty to her before he can take his rightful place forever kneeling at her perfect feet.

Picture your favorite place in the world. Now, can you tell us a little bit about the place you’ve pictured?

A tiny island off the coast of Belize. I’m wearing a snorkel, a mask, flippers and nothing else, kicking gently in the warm ocean over the most beautiful coral reef I’ve ever seen, with bright colorful fish watching me curiously.

Do you prefer salty or sweet?

Salty. I have a weakness for salt and pepper chips.

What’s your favorite drink?

Tea. I drink tea obsessively, several glasses a day, and rarely drink anything else. I like many different varieties, but Earl Gray de la crème is my favorite.

What was the first book to make a lasting impression on you?

That’s hard to say. I still have my Little Red Riding Hood book that my grandmother read to me when I was a toddler. Books were my best friends growing up. By the time I was 11, I was reading my mother’s bodice rippers and my brother’s Gor books, as well as every bit of science fiction and fantasy I could get my hands on.

I think possibly “The Hobbit” which I first read at 10 was the first book that I felt really changed me fundamentally. It gave me a sort of, “little guys can do amazing things” feeling. That book shaped me to believe that if I persevered, I could slay dragons and change the world.

What was the last book you read that made a lasting impression on you?

Jim Butcher’s “Ghost Story.” There’s something pretty amazing about killing off the hugely popular hero of your long running series, then writing another book, with him as a ghost, trying to solve his own murder. Loved it.

Can you tell us about your challenges in getting your first book published?

My first book was a collection of my erotic vampire short stories, “Bare Throat, Naked Hunger.” It’s been recently re-published with a lovely new cover by Melange Books. I had a bit of challenge with it, in that the first publisher who wanted it, didn’t want to let me enter one of the stories in the “Best Erotic Fantasy and Science Fiction” contest anthology that Cecelia Tan does for Circlet Press. I thought it would be very good publicity for the book to do so, and didn’t want to be restricted from it, so I took the book to another publisher: MS Fiction which then became Melange. Wonderful folks to work with. I’ve been delighted with them, and the folks at Freya’s Bower and Circlet, more than any other publishers I’ve worked with. The ironic kicker was, I decided to enter a different story, a science fiction interrogation story, “Caught” in the “Best Erotic F & SF” anthology instead.

Can you tell us about a criticism you’ve received that pushed you into a better writing place?

My crit group is brilliant. My writing has improved by leap and bounds over the years, thanks to them. They have taught me a lot of my writing faults, and I have broken many bad habits because of them. One thing I tend to do is write in present tense. In very short stories, it can work, but the longer the story, the more uncomfortable it becomes for the reader. I had to hear that a lot of times from a lot of people before I could force myself to write in past tense. I still often slip from past to present when I’m drafting stories, and have to go back and fix the tenses. In my mind, the story is happening while I’m writing it.

I also tend to focus on the characters, dialog, and plot to the point where setting is almost totally lost at times. My characters hang in blank white space like Neo in the empty matrix if I’m not very careful. My crit group calls me on that every time.

How did you come up with your title?

Titles are very difficult for me normally. I tend to start with a very basic title and come up with something better later. “I Want That One” was the first line in the story, and MS Word saved it automatically as the name of the file. I intended to come up with a title later. Instead, I decided it WAS the perfect title, and made it the last line in the story, too.

Panster, plotter, or a little of both?

This is a difficult question for me to answer. If anyone watched me write, they would think I was a seat of the pants kind of writer, but honestly, I tend to have a story percolating in my brain, or at least a few basic plot points and scenes of the story and key elements of the main characters, for hours, days, even weeks or months, before I get a chance to sit down and write it. Finding time to sit in front of my keyboard for something other than my day job is a big challenge for me. By the time I get to actually write a story, I’ve often already imagined it from beginning to end in considerable detail. So, while it looks like I’m just making it up as I go along, I’m really describing the movie that I’ve already created in my head.

Tell us a bit about the projects you are working on now?

I’ve been doing a lot of mainstream stories lately under a different name. I have a couple of erotica stories in my head, though, that I’d like to write when I can find a little spare time. One story that has been hounding me to write it for ages is about a succubus demon who marries and eventually kills evil men: mobsters, corporate sharks and the like. She runs afoul of a handsome police detective, investigating the mysterious death of her latest husband. He thinks she’s just a human black widow murderer, not understanding that killing her lovers is essential to her nature, something she can’t always control. She chooses only to marry men that she hates, so she won’t regret it when making love to her one too many times kills them. She has a beautiful shimmering, iridescent wings tattoo that covers most of her back and runs down her thighs. When she needs to escape, she unfurls her very real, but delicate, diaphanous demon wings and flies away. I’ll write it one of these days.

My stories always have an element of the supernatural or the future. I’m really a science fiction and fantasy writer who adores sex in many forms, including the wilder side of kink. “I Want That One” is set in a future where New York is a city/state with a new nobility defended by hackers in cyberspace, and there are some intense kinks in the story, BDSM, female dominance, and such. But the true essence of the story is one woman, used to getting what she wants, who wants a man, not used to being wanted.

BUY LINKS:

Wild Child | Amazon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Paige E. Roberts has published a variety of sexy stories in the US and UK on the fringes of reality and beyond: fantasy, science fiction, superhero, vampire, and shape-shifter stories, with D/s, SM, GLBT, BDSM, and other alphabet soup elements. She lives in Round Rock with her husband and two kids and is active in the local kink community, co-founder of the Voyagers group. Her futuristic femdom story “I Want That One” just came out from www.freyasbower.com “Bare Throat, Naked Hunger,” her anthology of erotic vampire stories is available in e-book or print from www.midnightshowcase.com , Amazon, or Fictionwise. Her sci fi interrogation scene story, “Caught,” is in the new “Best Erotic Fantasy and Science Fiction” anthology from Circlet Press.