Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Marie Medina: Somewhere Only We Know

Today's guest is Marie Medina. I've been on quite the guest blog run lately, which I LOVE. Other things I love? The title AND the cover of this book. So let's hear what Marie has to say.

Onward!
_____


Blurb:
Five years ago, Sam pushed Gabriel away because he couldn’t face his own fears about being openly gay in his small hometown. He had another secret too, but he believed no one could help him, not even Gabriel. He took actions that broke Gabriel’s heart, and his own, but then tragedy unexpectedly freed him from the need for secrecy. And Gabriel returned.

Gabriel told himself he only wanted to comfort Sam, but in his heart he knew he wanted more. He wanted answers, and he wanted Sam’s love. Just as Gabriel is convincing Sam they can be happy together, events force Sam to reveal all his secrets to his family. These revelations cause all the disharmony Sam always feared, and Gabriel can only hope that this time Sam will realize their love is worth fighting for.

Excerpt:
Gabriel gripped the bedpost to keep from crossing the room to Sam, who stared out the bedroom window and refused to turn and face him. Sam fingered the blue curtains and intently studied the pattern on the material. Gabriel had been waiting all night for Sam to say something, to somehow explain himself. He didn’t understand how Sam could stay silent. Gabriel felt like screaming at the top of his lungs.
“Sam, I want an explanation from you. I’ll get it from Laura if I have to.”
Sam finally turned around. “What do you want me to say? I didn’t think she would tell everyone tonight at the party. I thought I would have a chance to talk to you first and somehow explain what’s happening.” He fixed his eyes on the unmade bed.
Gabriel’s eyes flicked over the bed and the hunter green comforter bunched at the foot. The bed hadn’t been made since the last time they had made love two nights ago. He set his gaze on Sam again, unable to keep the bitterness out of his tone. “Well, an engagement is big news.” He moved closer to Sam. “It was huge news to your boyfriend.”
“Gabe, just listen to me. Laura is pregnant—”
Gabriel cut him off. “Yes, everyone knows! It’s a very poorly kept secret that Michael knocked her up. But you dating a guy? Fucking a guy? That’s been kept well under wraps, and now I see why!”
Sam looked into his eyes. “You don’t see at all. Gabe, I love you, but Michael has abandoned her. I don’t just mean he dumped her. He has left town. She has no job and no one to take care of her.”
“She should have thought of that while she was fucking him without a condom. Tell her to go home to her parents.”
Sam shook his head. “Her mom’s dead. And her stepdad? They don’t need to be alone, if you get what I mean.”
Gabriel cringed. His anger lessened a little because he’d always suspected Laura had had a rough childhood, but how was she their problem? “Sam, just be honest with me. If this was just about helping her, you’d ask her to move in with you, not marry you.”
“She…she loves me.” Sam turned away again.
Laura had always flirted with Sam, but she’d never made a hard play for him that Gabriel had seen. “Since when?”
“Since freshman year of high school. I never liked girls, ever, so I didn’t notice for a long time. Lots of other people knew she liked me. To them it makes sense I would come to her rescue now. How can I make you see? Colbert is my hometown, Gabe.”
What did that have to do with it? Gabriel shifted his stance and crossed his arms over his chest. “I know. I never get a chance to forget. It’s the reason I’m the only one who knows you like guys. I sure as fuck hope you don’t think we’re going to still be together after this. I don’t care if the marriage isn’t real. It’s just another way for you to hide from who you really are. With a wife and kid, no one will every look at you and wonder again. Your family won’t have to worry you’re a perverted freak anymore. They’ll all heave a huge sigh of relief and dance at your wedding.”
“That is not why I am doing this!” Sam said, putting his hands over his face.
Gabriel grabbed Sam by the shoulder and turned him around. “Yes, it is. Now, I have something to tell you.” He loosened his grip a little, letting his fingers massage Sam’s shoulders. “I’ve gotten into the grad program at Stony Brook University. For anthropology, I can hardly do better, so I have to go. I wanted you to come with me. I was going to ask you tonight, but then…” He let his voice trail off as he released Sam.
“That’s great. Did they offer you money?”
“Yes, but I don’t want to talk about what’s going on with my funding. I want to talk about what’s going on with my life. My future.”
“I promised her.”
The simple, placid answer infuriated him. “Why?” Gabriel screamed. “Why the fuck would you make such a promise? Is that the best explanation you can give me? I’m sorry she’s had some tough breaks. I’m sure she is in love with you because I know I am.” He sighed heavily. “You’re going to enter into a fake, loveless marriage because she loves you and you pity her. But me? You can’t even touch me in public.”
“You know why we have to be careful.”
“After four years, that excuse is getting old. What did you think would happen when we graduated?” He’d endured four years of hiding and lying because Sam made him happier than any other man ever had, but continuing the deceit would eventually destroy that happiness.
“I don’t know.” He gave a tight shrug. “I guess I hoped something would happen.”
Gabriel ran his hands through his hair. “Like what? My getting into Stony Brook is perfect. We’d be getting away from your family and their judgment.”
Sam didn’t say anything.
“But you’ve made a promise.” He shook his head. “There’s something wrong here. You’re not telling me something.” Before now, Sam had never kept any secrets from him. He’d always told Gabriel the things he couldn’t tell anyone else.
“It’s complicated. She turned to me, and I couldn’t live with myself if I turned her away. The baby deserves a chance. It’s innocent. What can I say to make you understand?”
“What can you say?” He put his hands on Sam’s shoulders again. “Tell me you don’t love me. If you’re not hiding anything, you must be able to turn your back on me this easily because you don’t actually love me.” He gave him a little shake and whispered, “If it’s true I can take it, Sam. You’ve always been honest with me before. I’ll accept all of this if you don’t love me.”
Sam shook his head.
“Come on. Tell me.” Gabriel backed him against the bookshelf next to the window. “Tell me you don’t like me touching you.” He ran his hands down Sam’s shoulders, wanting to toss him on the bed and take him right then. He needed to be inside him, to feel Sam’s flesh encompass him as they both moaned.
Sam shook his head again.
Gabriel brought his lips to Sam’s for a tender kiss. He brushed them gently, and then licked Sam’s lower lip. When Sam softened and parted his lips, Gabriel left the tenderness behind. He pressed Sam against the shelf and kissed him hard, his tongue invading his mouth, possessing it. Sam’s arms snaked around his neck as he moaned, and Gabriel rubbed his erection against Sam’s thigh, knowing how much Sam liked for him to be aggressive. He loved Sam’s reactions, loved the way they came together.
When the kiss broke, Gabriel ran his hand between them. He looked into Sam’s blue eyes as he stroked Sam’s cock through his jeans. It strained against the material, wanting Gabriel’s touch. “Tell me you don’t want me to suck your cock.”
“Gabe, please.” The words came out in a whimper of need.
“Please what? Please suck you off until you scream?” He unzipped Sam’s pants and freed his cock. “Scream the way you did the last time?” He got down on his knees and tongued the head, licking a drop of pre-cum from the slit. Then he took Sam’s dick into his mouth. Working his tongue along the underside in slow circles, he looked up into Sam’s eyes as he pulled him deeper. Sam gazed down at him for a moment, but then he closed his eyes and pressed his lips shut.
What did he want to say? What was he holding back? Gabriel held Sam’s hips firmly in place as he bobbed his head back and forth. Taking the head to the back of his throat, Gabriel breathed in Sam’s scent as Sam bucked forward and groaned. Then he raked his teeth all the way along the length of Sam’s cock before sitting back on his heels to look at him.
Sam’s breaths came in gasps as he looked down at Gabriel. “This isn’t fair, Gabe.”
Gabriel stroked the shaft. “It isn’t fair? You fuck me four or five times a week and tell me you love me, and then I come to a party you invited me to only to find out you’re engaged to marry someone else?” He leaned forward and nipped at the head of his cock, then licked it slowly. Peering up into his face again, he asked, “How in the fucking hell is that fair?”
“I didn’t have time to tell you.”
Another short, meaningless answer. Something had changed, but Gabriel didn’t know what. The openness he’d always loved in Sam was gone now. Gabriel stroked harder and faster, loving the way Sam swelled in his hand. He wanted to make him come hard. “Didn’t have time? Telling me must not have been very important.”
He pushed Sam’s jeans down so he could play with his balls. He sucked one into his mouth as his fingers strayed back to Sam’s hole. Gabriel massaged the tight ring of muscle as he licked Sam’s cock. Then he swallowed it again, deep-throating him right away.

Links:

Monday, May 28, 2012

Naomi Clark's Bound by Night

Today I have Naomi Clark on my blog to discuss her new release Bound by Night. This is a FREE read from Evernight Publishing, so you can pick up this wonderful tale for nothing.

Onward!
______________


I love a tortured hero. Ever since I first read Catherine Cookson's The Girl as a teenager and fell in love with Ned Riley, I've been a sucker for them. Ned was a classic – moody, unreadable, but passionate and utterly devoted to Hannah through good and bad. Can any of us really say we don't have a soft spot for the bad boy with the heart of gold?

My Brides of Darkness novellas have let me really dig in and write some bad boy/tortured heroes. It's a world of curses and magic, full of mysterious alpha males and the women they fall for. My newest addition to the series, BOUND BY NIGHT, features Daghan, a cursed monk seeing redemption, and Adeline, a woman fleeing an arranged marriage and determined to win her freedom. I loved writing them together. In a short story, you maybe can't explore your characters as deeply as you'd like, but I hope I did a good job of showing these two lost souls coming together (occasionally literally as well as figuratively!). I like that Adeline is able to help Daghan start to overcome his dark past and offer him hope for the future. And I like that Daghan is determined to protect Adeline and help her find the freedom she wants.

A good tortured hero, for me, has to be seeking redemption, you see. He has to be able to move past the  angst and pain and find love and happiness again. In a short story, it isn't always possible to give a clear-cut happy ending (and actually I like a little ambiguity in my short fiction), but in BOUND BY NIGHT there's the promise of happiness for both Daghan and Adeline. I think he ends the story a little less tortured than he starts it – I think that's what we all want for our brooding bad heroes, right?!

Author bio

Naomi Clark lives in Cambridge and is a mild-mannered office worker by day, but a slightly crazed writer by night. She has a perfectly healthy obsession with giant sea creatures and a preference for vodka-based cocktails. When she's not writing, Naomi is probably either reading or watching 80s cartoon shows, and sometimes she manages to do all three at once. Find out more at http://naomijay.blogspot.co.uk/ , on Twitter at @naomi_jay, or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/naomijclark

Saturday, May 26, 2012

My current work

Hello!
I hope you all are enjoying your Memorial Day weekend.

I've been working on a manuscript. I'm only a few thousand words in, but I anticipate it being a light BDSM romance.

The tentative blurb:

"Born with a silver spoon in her mouth but neglected most of her life, Camilla Reynolds has grown into the epitome of the "poor little rich girl". She spends her life having one night stands and drinking Cape Cods. Men are disposable to here until she meets James Connor, who is unlike anyone she's ever been involved with before. A blue collar construction worker with nothing to his name, he gets under Camilla's skin. The only problem is that Camilla doesn't know how to let him in and he must prove he's man enough to handle her."

It's still very rough, but that's the basic premise.

Ciao,
Bella

Friday, May 25, 2012

Alex Bowman: Losing His Religion


Today's guest is Alex Bowman, sharing info on Losing His Religion. And may I just say that those cover models are TASTY.

Onward!
 ______

Blurb:

The Soul Collectors, 1

Discarded most of his life, Jamie had learned as a teen that he was a Soul Collector, one of a mysterious group who fought the demons that attacked fellow humans. Cast out into the world, alone, the orphan fought hard to find his way, ending up in a seminary of all places. But chastity wasn’t a problem. He had no time or trust for relationships, let alone love.

Ios felt protective of the Soul Collector, the one the prophecy claimed would one day be his mate. Following the human for years, Ios had done everything he could to ensure his safety without stepping out of the shadows. He also held his lust in check, knowing Jamie would never accept him.

The time was upon them to join forces. Could Jamie handle who and what Ios was, and trust the growing feelings between them before it was too late?

Be Warned: m/m sex



Excerpt:


“So did you?”
“Did I?”
“Know I was yours the moment you saw me?”  Jamie pinned him with a look of lust he’d never quite seen flash on the man’s face before.
Mine.  Ios’s felt the rush of need spiral through him with such force that it nearly took him to his knees.  His cock thickened and he felt his balls tighten.  His whispered “Yes…” floated on the air, his body trembling with the hard-won control to stand in place and not cross the room and force the human to the floor under him.
“I don’t know that I believe in fated lovers, predetermined to find one another.”
“I’m not asking you to believe in anything.”  Ios believed enough for the both of them. 
“I will admit, there is something…” 
Something?  “What?” He needed Jamie to say it, that he wanted Ios.  Needed Ios.
Jamie’s face flamed and he glanced down, apparently unable to put the emotions he felt into words.
Fuck it.  Control is overrated.
Ios stomped across the small space, grasped Jamie’s head in his hands and pressed his lips against the smoldering heat of the human’s mouth.  Swallowing the gasp of pleasure, he thrust his tongue into Jamie’s mouth and tasted the ale left lingering there, as well as the heat and taste of his male.
When he felt Jamie’s hands spreading across his chest and moving down his stomach, he tightened his whole body, needing for the hands to venture further south, needing the male to show him that he wanted more through his exploration.  As warm hands rubbed against his hardened cock through his jeans he could have shouted in joy.  He deepened the kiss, pressing his hips forward, languishing in the caress from his male.
Ripping the shirt open, baring Jamie’s chest, the tinkering of buttons hitting the stone floor echoed around him.  Ios spread his fingers along the hard muscles before him.  Jamie removed the shirt, dropping it to the floor.  The material puddled around his feet and Ios wanted more to follow.  His shaking fingers pulled at the belt buckle Jamie wore, and he tugged at the leather, not wanting to remove his lips from the human’s.
Pulling back, he was afraid the moment would be lost if he could not keep Jamie in a frenzy.  His need was too great.  He could not be denied this time.  Ios would have the male now, or he would explode.
Warm hands steadied his.  “Let me.”
Jamie gazed into his eyes, slowly removing the belt and dropping it to the floor.  His hands then went to the top of his pants and he unbuttoned them.  The slow pull of the zipper reminded him that he was overclothed as well.  Ios removed his t-shirt in a flash and kicked off his shoes.  By the time his pants were gone, Jamie also stood naked. 
His hands ached to touch the male, to explore every single inch of flesh he had to offer up for his inspection.  Jamie was beautiful.  Small, firm muscles curved over his slim build, his skin nearly unmarred.  The wound in his chest was no longer visible.
A small smattering of blond hair started below his belly button and thickened as it surrounded his jutting cock.  Fully erect, it stood proud against his stomach, a pearl of fluid shining at the tip of the purple head.  Thick veins spread along the shaft and Ios’s mouth watered to taste the flesh.  Dropping to his knees before his human, he got a closer look at what the male had to offer.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Thursday Titters

Another book, another blog tour!
The second book in the Chosen series (The Vampire's Second) comes out on May 28th.

The tentative schedule for this tour is:

5/26: Kassanna
5/28: Doris O'Connor
5/29: Adonis Devereux
5/30: Katherine Wyvern
5/31: Marie Medina
6/1: Annalynne Russo
6/4: Naomi Clark

Once again, thank you to my wonderful fellow Evernight Publishing authors for having me. They are always so welcoming.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Adonis Devereux: The Twelve Naughty Princesses


Today I welcome Adonis Devereux to my blog. Personally, I was thrilled to see a naughty version of this fairy tale. It was one of my favorites as a child, and now I get to enjoy it as an adult. Tee hee.

Onward!
____________________


Thank you so much, Isabella, for hosting us today! We are Adonis Devereux, a husband-wife writing team. Our first release was last year at Evernight, but even though this is our fourth Evernight release, The Twelve Naughty Princesses is a first for us in that it's our first story not set in our fantasy world of Gilalion. Instead, The Twelve Naughty Princesses is our extremely twisted take on the traditional Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Of course, in our version, the princesses do so much more than dance, though even their dances are … erotic. Spanking, voyeurism, public exhibition, multiple partners, bondage – you name it, it's there! Add in magical curses, faerie men, and one lonely soldier, and you have The Twelve Naughty Princesses.

Thanks again, Isabella, for having us here.

Here are our author links.

Where we are:
Blog –             http://boundlessasthesea.blogspot.com

How to purchase:

All Romance eBooks




Blurb:

 
Max is a soldier down on his luck, and when the king sends out a call for volunteers to solve the mystery of the twelve dancing princesses, Max figures he has nothing to lose, nothing, of course, except his head if he should fail. Max has faced death before and doesn't fear it, but when he meets the princesses, all lovely, light-hearted, and battling constant exhaustion due to their mysterious nightly escapades, he realizes he could lose his heart as well. To win his princess, Max must break the spell. But he must face the truth that the twelve princesses are terribly naughty and do much more than just dance, and he will have to join in the amorous festivities himself to get them out.

Excerpt:

 Each princess chose two dancing partners, and an invisible orchestra struck up a waltz. The music fell like dew drops and moonlight over the room, coating everyone and everything in its beauty, doubling in Max his longing for Alaren. She fell into the arms of one of her partners, leaning back into his chest. He cradled her in his powerful arms, and they swayed together. The other man joined them, and Alaren was pressed between their flesh. They moved with the waltz, their feet unerringly skipping across the ballroom floor while their bodies undulated against one another. They moved like waves in the sea. Each thrust evoked a pull. When one exhaled, the other inhaled. Grab and swirl, push and grind, the dancers performed their sex-waltz. Max brought himself almost to climax before he stopped suddenly, letting his cock go as it twitched in anticipation of orgasm. He knew how to build up his cum for a final, explosive release. He grabbed his cock again and resumed stroking.
            Perdita, the mistress of the ball, walked around to different trios of dancers and administered light spankings where she thought appropriate. Some of the twins she upbraided for not giving themselves to the night, for not dancing with all the passion they could muster. The princesses giggled and moaned, enjoying every moment of their punishment. Max wondered if some of them did not dance badly on purpose just so they could get spanked. After being disciplined, the twins danced with greater heat as they wiggled their buttocks on their partners' growing cocks. Perdita walked on, and the expression on her face reminded Max of a matron of a particular cat-house he used to visit regularly. Everyone had assumed that due to her severity, she hated men and wanted nothing to do with them. But Max had known better. Over her own protestations, he gave her a good fucking one night, taking her instead of one of her girls. That was just what she had needed, and he had known that. Whenever he went back there, he always fucked her. Perdita was much the same way. She looked stern and
intimidating, but Max knew all she needed – all she wanted – was a forceful cock inside her that would not spurt within the first minute of intercourse. Strong women had that effect on men. They needed even stronger men with even greater stamina to topple them and give them the orgasms they craved.
            Max returned his attention to Alaren, and his cock regained its vigor. Alaren was the woman for him; there was no doubt about it. She was what he needed. Max lost track of time. He did not know how long he stood there jacking off, but the music finally ended. The princesses’ slippers were worn through. They must have danced for hours, but how time flowed in the faery realm Max did not know. He was still as horny as ever. The princesses were all covered in sweat, their hair drenched and clinging to her skin, their corsets moving up and down with their labored breathing.