Monday, December 10, 2012

Evernight's Christmas Blog Hop! (Giveaway)


Welcome to the Evernight Holiday Blog Hop!
We love the holidays, we love making our readers happy and we love giving away swag. What better way to do that than to hold a blog hop?

Here's how it works... the more blogs you hop to (shown below) the more chance you have of winning prizes. Each site on the hop is offering a prize and Evernight is offering an iPad 2 as the grand prize! To be in with a chance of winning the site prize simply follow the blog you're visiting and leave a comment which includes your email address. Each entry on each blog is then counted towards the grand prize draw. The more entries you have, the better your chance of winning that iPad 2! You also get extra points for liking the Evernight Facebook pagehttp://www.facebook.com/#!/evernightpublishing. Just make sure you let us know in the comments that you've done so. 
  
Happy hopping!

Prize for the winner of my blog's giveaway is one PDF copy of The Vampire's Bride. To be entered to win, you must leave a comment with your email address.


My Evernight Books:

A decades old prophecy deems that the countries of Scollfyld and Bernehart will be united by the marriage of the Crown Prince Sloane Vaughan (of the royal vampire family of Bernehart) and the Chosen. 
The Chosen is a virginal girl of noble blood from Scollfyld who was born in the year 1761. The Prophecy states that the Chosen will stand by the Prince as he unites countries and leads an empire, but stipulates that if the marriage does not happen, then the rival vampire clan of the Scarclyfs will reign. 
Lady Caroline Haley is selected, but she struggles with this. Will she accept Sloane as her husband? And will she be strong enough to withstand the danger that being the Chosen puts her in?
Evernight Publishing
Amazon

“Caroline is the key to fulfilling a prophecy. Her marriage to Prince Sloane is the final seal on his destiny to unite countries and lead an empire. He declares war on a rival vampire clan, but before he leaves he makes one request of Caroline. That she take her childhood sweetheart, Lord Luke Stone, as a Second. A Second is man who binds himself to a woman with the promise to protect her at all c
osts and acts as a surrogate husband. To appease Sloane, Luke and Caroline agree. After he leaves, the royals of Bernehart are sent away for their own protection. While in exile, Luke and Caroline find themselves drawn to each other once more. They not only have their desires to contend with, but also danger from their enemies. And the big question is, what will happen to their relationship when Sloane returns?"
Evernight Publishing
Amazon


One morning, Jeanette Goodwyn wakes up to find every single person in her small town gone. She believes she is the only human being left on Earth and lives a very lonesome couple of months on her own. She is discovered by Evan Grey, a survivor from another state who embarked on a journey to find another living person.
The two decide to join forces and sustain their lives together. Somewhere in the middle of loneliness and survival, they fall for each other. But in an empty, uncertain world, Jeanette finds herself afraid to love Evan. Do they love each other because they were meant to be together or because they are the only ones left? And what will happen to their relationship if the world changes once more?

Friday, December 7, 2012

Guest- Marie Medina



Today Marie Medina shares a blurb and excerpt from her new release, With The Boys In The Band. When I first saw the cover, I knew I had to add it to my "to-read" list. Thanks for joining us, Marie!


Blurb:

Working as an assistant for the metal band Serration is Alicia’s dream gig—a far cry from the cubicle she abandoned at her old job. She promised herself she wouldn’t become starstruck, but the band’s frontman, Vince, proves very hard to ignore. She manages to resist him on a daily basis, but soon she finds herself thinking about the keyboardist, Emerson, all the time.

The two men’s closeness confuses her a little, and Vince’s promiscuous reputation makes her wary, but when Emerson invites her to Vince’s summer house for a week-long getaway, she jumps at the chance. A single day in such close quarters convinces Alicia of one thing: these two men want each other as much as they want her. Will they only see each other as rivals, or will they give in and let her lure them both to her bed and her very willing arms?

Excerpt:
Emerson signed his name, and then he initialed three times. He turned the paper over and signed again. With a deep breath, which failed to fortify him as the tax form in his hand made his eyes begin to cross, he signed and initialed two more times on the next page. Then two more signatures and three initials were required on the next piece of paper. Under that lay five pages stapled together, requiring him to initial throughout and then sign at the very end.
When someone walked back into the conference room, he said with unmistakable venom, “God almighty, if I ever see that lazy shit again I will kill him with my bare hands!”
The person stopped abruptly and to his surprise laughed. The beautiful sound, which always caught his attention, made him jerk his head up.
“I wouldn’t blame you. I’ve been filing and mailing and scanning documents for three solid days,” Alicia said as she pushed her tumbling black curls off of her face. “I’m so glad we’re almost done.”
“Oh.” He paused, feeling like a jerk for losing his temper in front of her, even if he hadn’t known it was she. “I bet you have been swamped. That must suck.” He rolled his eyes inwardly at his lame evaluation, but what else could he say?
She dropped down into a chair beside him and slumped over, her leg brushing his, which sent a zing of pleasure through his entire body. Obviously not seeing his evaluation as lacking in any way, she said, “It does. I need a vacation after this.”
“Come with us to Vince’s summer house,” he blurted before he could second-guess his instinct.
Emerson played keyboard for a metal band, Serration, with his high school friend Vince, and three guys they’d met in college, Mike, Tom, and Garren. Just a week earlier, Charles, their manager and accountant for the past six months, had abandoned them. At that point, they had realized two things: some, but luckily not all, of their money was missing, and none of their legal or operational paperwork was anywhere to be found. Contracts, booking records, royalty reports, tax records, and all forms of legal documentation, all were gone. Many important documents relevant to the last six months of operations, they suspected, had perhaps never even existed. Vince, with the help of his father and their family connections, had quickly located and hired a good team of lawyers and both a new manager and a new accountant for them. Except for being unable to find Charles, things had gone smoothly since then. As soon as the lawyers were satisfied with all their signatures, the whole band was heading to Vince’s summer house on a lake in his hometown of Hella for a much needed break. They had intended to begin recording again the next month, but for now it would have to wait.
Alicia smiled. “Really?”
Emerson nodded, pushing his long brown hair out of his face and behind his ears. He had a tendency to hide behind it, especially when Alicia was around, and he fought the urge now. He’d been wanting to get Alicia alone for months, but other things always got in the way between work and the other members of the band. He’d kept his growing feelings a secret because he didn’t want anything the guys did, even with the best of intentions, to ruin things for him. “As my guest. I insist. Here I am bitching about having to sign stuff, all the while you’ve been shuffling all this shit around for days with, I’m thinking, very little thanks.”
“Your thinking is correct. Everyone has been a bit testy.”
He set back to work on the papers, finding every highlighted spot and adding his signature or initials. He paused. “Did you do all this?”
“The highlighting? Yeah.”
He let out a long sigh. “Wow. I am going to make it my personal quest to see that you have an amazing time. As soon as I’m done, I’m telling … um … blond guy?”
“Theobald.”
He stopped with his pen in mid-air. “Theobald?”
She nodded. “Get used to it. I think he’ll be a great manager.”
“Well, I’m telling him you are coming with us. You were always on top of things with this last tour, so I know exactly how hard you work. You learned the ropes so quickly.”
She laughed. “How did you know I was always on top of things? My job changes every two days around here.”
He straightened the papers, trying to come up with an answer. He couldn’t very well say he watched her constantly, always made a point of knowing where she was and what she’d be doing each day, at every stop, in every city. When their eyes met after his long pause, he almost thought she might guess. Quickly, he said, “Because every time I see you, you’re doing exactly what you’re meant to be doing, which is usually making sure we aren’t missing a cue or an appointment or doing something completely stupid, not to mention reminding others of the jobs they need to be doing.”
She blushed and laughed again. That laugh was improving his day more with each passing second, and the color rising to her cheeks was adorable. “Wow. I’m glad someone has noticed.”
He nodded slightly and said in a soft voice, “I certainly have.”
“Then I would love to come with you guys. Are you still going this afternoon?”
“I think so.”
“And Vince won’t mind?”
“No. There’s plenty of room. No one has ever had to sleep on the floor, I promise.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Oh, I’m sure.”
He knew she was thinking of Vince’s and Garren’s reputations. Both of them had flirted with her on many occasions. “You’ll be my guest and have the perfect freedom to tell anyone to fuck off. I’ll do it for you if I have to.”
“So I’ll have a protector from the band’s bad boys, huh?”
“Oh yes.” She had always seemed immune to the charms of the other guys, but was this a mistake? He hadn’t made her status as his guest, or what he intended her status to be, one hundred percent clear yet. If she didn’t know he wanted this to be like a date, what would prevent her from hooking up with someone else? Most women would do almost anything to get in Vince’s bed. Or so it seemed to Emerson.
She smiled and seemed about to say something when Vince walked in. “Hey, Em, are you done yet? I figured you and I could ride up together.”
He looked down and saw he had six more pages. “Almost.” Then inspiration struck. “Hey, you know, I remember the security codes and all. You guys go ahead when you get ready. Alicia’s going to come, and I’ll give her a lift. I still need to finish packing, and it may take a bit for her to get done here and get packed, too.”
Vince’s green eyes, which woman always melted for, flicked to Alicia. Emerson didn’t like the heat there, or the odd smile that played on his lips, but to his relief Alicia kept her gaze on him, not turning it to Vince.
“Thank you! Give me the ones you’ve done, and I’ll get started scanning. Just bring the rest down when you’re done. Then you can go confront Theobald.”
She took the papers and breezed past Vince with just an excited smile and nothing more. Vince smiled back, running his fingers through his own dark, curly hair. He kept smoothing his hair back as he turned and watched her walk down the hall, his eyes lowering just enough to annoy Emerson.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Interview with giveaway: Piper Kay




Today I have the pleasure of interviewing newly published author, Piper Kay. If you want to be entered for a chance to win a copy of Twisted Cherry, you must comment on this blog. A winner will be drawn from that.


1) So, Piper, I've been told that this is your first release! Congratulations, you must be thrilled. Tell us a little about your road to getting published. Was it long and hard? Did it just kind of happen? Did you start writing this piece with the intention of submitting it?
~Thank you so much Isabella. Twisted Cherry is my very first release and I’m beyond thrilled. When I wrote this short I had no intentions of submitting it, but after it was completed, a good friend encouraged me to submit. I figured I’d never know if I didn’t try, so I said ‘what the heck, go for it’ and I did. Two weeks after turning in my submission to Evernight Publishing, I received the acceptance email. After staring at the words for several minutes making sure I read it correctly, I started jumping up and down, screaming bloody murder. All the while smiling and crying.

2) Who is your favorite character in this story? Tell us about him or her.
~My favorite character in the story is Gabe. He’s the owner of the Twisted Cherry tattoo parlor and a very sexy, down to earth bad boy. He’s openly gay and makes an excellent and patience teacher for first time Evan. He can be very serious when it comes to his work, but he’s also pretty funny.

3) How are you inspired? Do you have to sit down and really muse, or is it more of passing fancies?
~I don’t think my muse ever sleeps. He seems to jump in, absorbing everything in sight, whether it be a certain movement, music or a conversation. His particular turn-on is music.

4) How old were you when you first began writing?
~Well, they taught me in Kindergarten-hahaha, just kidding Isabella. I actually started writing when I was 42 years old. Yes, a late bloomer. When I was younger, I would journal and jot down notes on things, but I never took it serious until a couple years ago.

5) Random question: Tell us about your favorite place to travel.
~I’ve never traveled too much outside of my home state of Texas. Of the few places I’ve been, I guess my favorite is Hawaii. I used to live there and have found it to be one of the most incredible and beautiful places I’ve ever been. I’d love to go back one day.



Interesting! Onward to the blurb and excerpt for Twisted Cherry.



Blurb:
Evan is hiding his urges for other men the only way he know how-by pretending to live a life of wenching, and by seeking the needle of tattoo artists who impart a kind of guilty pain. But when he meets Gabe, owner of the Twisted Cherry tattoo parlor, he cannot hide his desire for the hot and sexy guy. Gabe, openly gay, proceeds to show Evan how he can be tattooed not just by a needle, but by very hot love too.

Excerpt:

Gabe flashes his catch sexy smile at me, as he slides his hands up under my shirt. He lifts my shirt over my head and throws it over the side of the couch. I’m now standing buck naked for the first time in my life, in front of a man. My nerves are shot.
He guides my hands, helping me remove his shirt too. I step completely out of my pants leg that’s still around my ankle. He looks me up and down with an eat-me-up grin.
Admiring his chest, the firmness and build of his pecs, I spread my hands across him. He’s tight and hard. The small amount of chest hair tickles my fingertips. God, this man is fucking lickable.
Gabe wraps both arms around me, pulling me forcefully into him. The feel of our naked chests, skin to skin, hardens my dick again and there’s no way to stop it. Shit, I don’t want to stop it.
His nipples rise into hard nubs and push against mine. Running my hands along his back, I trace the muscular curves in his back. He takes my ass into his hands, squeezing me tight, but gentle.
He slips his hands around to my front and squats a little. He begins tracing his fingers inside my thighs, up and down, teasing.
Gabe takes my hands and leads them to the button on his pants. He begins giving me kisses again. His tongue parts my lips, and his kisses are more tender than a woman’s. Saucy-sweet.
I unbutton his jeans, then slide the zipper down. I can feel him under his jeans, but he isn’t hard. How does he do that? I am at full attention here. He caresses my hands. Shit, they’re shaking from nerves.
Guiding my hands, he leads me to his waistband. Together, we slip his jeans over his hips and down his legs. He kicks his boots off and with his foot he guides his jeans off, one leg after the other.
He pulls back from the kiss, and stands there, not moving. I stare into his eyes, lost. I gaze down his bulging chest muscles, admiring the tattoo he has located right above his belly button. It looks like a portal of some sort. I reach with my finger tips and trace it. Continuing to look downwards, past the wicked navel, I see him in all his glory. He’s fucking magnificent.
Again, he guides my hands to him, to touch him. I’ve never touched another man. All I know is what feels good to me, so I wrap my hands around his cock like I would my own. I slowly stroke him, and he does the same for me.
Gabe is showing me every step of this. What he does to me, I do to him. It’s like follow the leader. Unable to resist, I move my mouth to his neck, licking him. His taste is kind of like sweat on leather, but also sweet. I smell his cologne. He’s wearing Stetson, my favorite. I lick and swirl my tongue up to his ear and nibble his lobe. He moans, and I almost get off just hearing him. This is the most satisfying sound I have ever heard in my fucking life.