Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Decadence SBB

Blurb:
A book in the Spice Rack series.

 In eight years of marriage, Eric Carlson has never forgotten to kiss his wife Jessica goodbye—until this morning. As Jessica runs her errands, all she can think about is the missing kiss. When Eric calls to tell her he thinks he left the toaster oven on, she rushes home, annoyed and afraid her house may be burning down. Instead of smoke and flames she finds Eric, looking hot and sexy as hell as he prepares fresh waffles.

 Eric knows he and Jessica have been drifting apart. He’s bought the hot new product everyone’s talking about—the Spice Rack, guaranteed to spice up your love life. The jar he opens advises them to “Spend a decadent day indulging all your senses.” With the whole day ahead of them, a fridge full of tempting treats and the house to themselves for a change, that’s exactly what Eric intends to do—in the kitchen, on the washing machine, wherever the mood strikes. And Jessica’s got a super-steamy surprise for him too.

 A Romantica® contemporary erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave
Excerpt:
He didn’t even kiss me goodbye. Jessica knew it was silly to get upset over something so minor, but she couldn’t help it. In the eight years they’d been married, she couldn’t remember another morning when Eric had forgone the farewell kiss. Sure, the kids were running amok, a sea of backpacks and lunchboxes, but that was normal. Eric saying goodbye with a wave was not.

 “See you later.” He’d thrown her his trademark sexy grin. She’d stood still for a few seconds, holding the door open as the kids piled out of the house, waiting. And…nothing.

 While queued in the drop-off line at the elementary school, she flipped open the vanity mirror. She didn’t look like a beauty queen but at least she’d showered. Her skin was clear, her cheeks even a bit rosy from gardening the day before. She grimaced. I should have brushed my hair. Dark hair, wavy and out of control, pulled into a loose ponytail paired with t-shirt and yoga pants. I look like a teenager. Not exactly sexy. Frowning at her reflection, she heard the car behind her honk.

 “Mom, pull up, it’s our turn.” Timmy, though only seven, had been a backseat driver for nearly five years.

 “Sorry.” She inched the car toward the orange drop-off cone and stopped. “Have a good day, guys. I love you.”

 “Love you too, mom,” the chorus of three came from the backseat as they scrambled out the door.

 Taking a last quick glance in the mirror, she snapped it shut and eased back into the parking lot. As she was about to turn onto the main road, her cell rang. XXXXX, Eric’s ringtone. She fumbled in her purse and slid the purple case open. Holding the phone to her ear with her shoulder, she pulled onto the street, not wanting to get beeped at a second time this morning.

 “Hey, sweetie,” Eric said. “Can you do me a favor?”

 Sighing, Jessica shifted to keep the phone in place as she changed lanes. “What’s up?”

 “I know you said you were going to the grocery store, but I need you to stop home first. I think I may have left the toaster oven on.”

 “Can’t you go check?”

 “I’ve got a really important meeting this morning. I need you to do it. Please?” She could hear the smile in his voice. The charming, irresistible smile to which she’d never been able to say no.


 “Fine.” Even if you didn’t bother to kiss me this morning.

 “Thanks.”                    

 Did he just chuckle?

 She hung up and tossed the phone back into her purse. Great. Now I have to go all the way home, which means I won’t get to the store for another hour. Not that it was a huge deal. With all three boys in school this year she had her days to herself. She’d been looking forward to that for years, but it wasn’t as fun and freeing as she’d expected. All the same responsibilities were there. The house still needed to be cleaned, dinner still needed to be made, laundry was always piling up. And she always had a stack of work on her desk. Freelance graphic design was the perfect work-from-home job and she could do it any time of day or night, but lately she felt as though everything was getting away from her. Somehow she’d had more structure to her days when the kids were home than she managed to have with them in school all day.

 As she turned onto her block she couldn’t help but look for signs of smoke pouring from her windows. God, I hope he didn’t really leave the toaster oven on. What the hell was he even using the toaster oven for? Eric ate cereal for breakfast, though now that she thought about it she hadn’t seen him pour himself a bowl this morning. She’d been too distracted by the fact that he was wearing only pajama pants as he plodded around the kitchen. She’d been so busy the past few weeks with back-to-school shopping and beginning-of-term projects they’d barely spent any time together. Seeing him bare chested, hair tousled from bed, reminded her that it had been a while. Too long. Her stomach fluttered from a combination of longing for Eric and fear that her house might be burning.

 Jessica slammed the door of the minivan shut, breathing in deeply to see if she could catch any hint of smoke in the air. Nothing. As she opened the front door, another scent greeted her instead. The incredibly delightful aroma of…waffles. Why does the house smell like waffles? She rounded the corner into the kitchen and saw the waffle maker on the counter with Eric poised before it, faded jeans slung low on his narrow hips, a t-shirt clinging to his muscular back, dark hair still damp from a shower hanging loosely into his eyes. A wave of heat washed over her, settling between her legs. Her mouth watered from thoughts of more than just a bite of the waffle Eric was lifting out of the grates.

 “Perfect timing,” he said, grinning so wide the dimples on his cheeks were positively cavernous. Blue eyes twinkled at her, full of mischief.

 “What are you doing?” She tossed her purse onto the counter, mystified.
“Celebrating Mother’s Day.” He plucked a strawberry out of the colander in the sink, swirled it in a bowl of what appeared to be freshly whipped cream, and approached.

 “Mother’s Day is in May. It’s October fifteenth.”

 “I know.” He held the plump red berry close enough that she felt the gentle brush of cream melting against her lips. “I was thinking it was something we should celebrate more than once a year.”

 She curled her tongue around the cream-covered berry and gave a quick suck before biting off a piece.

 The moan Eric emitted sent a tremor rolling down her body, making her knees weak. His lips were on hers before she finished chewing. The sweetness of his velvety tongue blended perfectly with the fruit and cream. This was already better than any Mother’s Day she could recall.



One randomly chosen commenter will receive a digital copy of his/her choice from Karen's backlist. So the more you comment, the better your chances of winning!

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Author Information:
Karen Stivali is a prolific writer, compulsive baker and chocoholic with a penchant for books, movies and fictional British men. When she's not writing, she can be found cooking extravagant meals and serving them to family and friends, who never seem to mind the excessive quantities she tends to prepare. She attributes her ability to multitask to the fact that she rarely sleeps, which gives her more hours every day. Prior to deciding to write full time Karen worked as a hand drawn animator, a clinical therapist, and held various food-related jobs ranging from waitress to specialty cake maker. Planning elaborate parties and fundraisers takes up what's left of her time and sanity.

 Karen has always been fascinated by the way people relate to one another so she favors books and movies that feature richly detailed characters and their relationships. In her own writing she likes to explore the dynamics between characters and has a tendency to craft romantic tales filled with sarcasm and sexy details. Although she writes in three genres (erotic romance, contemporary romance and women's fiction) all of her stories are love stories with happily ever after endings.

 Karen has published several erotic romance novels with Ellora's Cave including two award winning stories: Always You (published September 2011, First Place Winner of the RWA Passionate Plume Award - 2012)Marry Me (published June 2012, First Place Winner in the NEC-RWA Bean Pot Reader's Choice Award - 2013) and Decadence (July 2013).

 Her works of women's fiction, Meant To Be, and its sequel, Holding On, (published by Turquoise Morning Press in August and November 2012, respectively) both made the Best of 2012 list at Literati Literature Lovers.
Karen's contemporary romances Then, Again (May 2013) and Leave the Lights On (coming November 2013) are published with Samhain publishing.

 To learn more about Karen you can visit her website where she blogs original recipes, sassy commentary on The Bachelor, and tidbits about her journey in the writing world. Karen can also be found attempting witty banter on Twitter.
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Monday, July 29, 2013

Cataclysmic Shift Blog Tour

Super cat, Aloysius, may be the most powerful witch’s familiar in the world, but when he takes a blast at the hand of an evil witch he loses it all — power, memory, and his feline form — to become the ethereal human beauty, Alain Bellarose. When Alain wakes up naked on the floor surrounded by dogs and cats, his eyes first set upon Luke Elliott, the handsome and mysterious veterinarian.  Suddenly, the prospect of being human doesn’t seem so bad. Luke has a lot to hide and he likes animals way more than people, but he can’t resist the flamboyant boy who washes his face with the side of his hand and tries to lick his own privates!  The loss of Aloysius depletes the power of the Witch Master, Killian Barth, and that of his “secret weapon” Sammy and leaves their coven sitting ducks for two very nasty females. When Alain discovers that he’s really a powerful cat, he’s faced with the ultimate choice. To protect his community, or stay with the man he loves.


Hi all. I’m delighted to be visiting Emily today to celebrate the release of my new MM paranormal romance, Cataclysmic Shift! I’m Tara Lain and I write the Beautiful Boys of Romance. In my new book, my main character is a beautiful human who is a shifted cat! (If you’ve read Spell Cat or Brush with Catastrophe, you know which cat he is, though you don’t have to read those to enjoy this book.) In fact, the black cat that is my heroes alternate nature is actually the most powerful witch’s familiar on earth.

Black cats have been connected with witches from the time of the middle ages and before. Black cats have so many myths and legends associated with them it could fill books. It’s lucky to dream of one but unlucky to have one cross your path. If a black cat lies on the bed of a sick person, they will die but a strange black cat found on the porch brings prosperity.  It was largely in the Middle Ages that the black cat became associated with evil. Because cats are nocturnal and roam at night, they were believed to be supernatural servants of witches, or even witches themselves.

 In the world of Cataclysmic Shift, Aloysius, the familiar, has enormous power mostly associated with enhancing and magnifying the abilities of the witches to whom he is the familiar. Because the book is a contemporary paranormal, I get to maintain the natural world as we know it -- my witches live in New York City where they have jobs and regular lives. BUT, they also have powers like manifesting lightning at will, controlling aspects of the physical world, and much more. But what if that familiar who magnifies all that power were to suddenly go vanish? And what if his new life gave him a love like he has never known?
Here’s the list of Blogs and events on the Blog tour:
July 23 — Tara Blogs at Buffy’s Ramblings
July 23 — Tara Blogs at Charley Descoteaux
July 24 — Tara Blogs at Dirty Birdies
July 24 —  Tara Blogs at Romance Lives Forever
July 24 — Tara Blogs at Cup O’ Porn
July 25 — Tara Blogs at Milly Taiden’s
July 25 — Tara Parties at TRS! Separate giveaway as well as part of the tour.
July 26 — Tara Blogs at Malia Mallory
July 26 – Cup O’ Porn Giveaway from Tara
July 27 — Big Backlist Weekend on Tara’s Blog
July 27 — Tara Blogs at Book Reviews and More by Kathy
July 27 — Tara Blogs at Four Seduced Muses
July 28 — Tara Blogs at Amber Kell
July 29 — Blog at Emily Wells
July 31 — Tara Blogs at Tempeste O’Riley
August 1 –End of Blog Tour! Winners Announced.

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Author Bio:
Tara Lain never met a beautiful boy she didn't love - at least on paper. A writer of erotic romance, mostly ménage and male/male, Tara loves all her characters, but especially her handsome heroes. A lifelong writer of serious non-fiction, Tara only fell in love with EROM in 2009 and, through perseverance and lots of workshops, had the first novel she ever wrote published in 2011. In 2011, Tara was named Best Author of the Year in the popular LRC Best of 2011 Awards and her Genetic Attraction series was runner-up for Best Series of 2011. After an exotic life of travel all over the world and work in television, education and advertising, Tara settled in Southern California with her soul-mate husband and opened her own small marketing business. She paints, collages, and started practicing yoga "way before it was fashionable". Passionate about diversity, justice, inclusion and new ideas she says on her tombstone it will read, "Yes".
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Midshipman Henry Gallant in Space VBT

Blurb:
As the last star fighter in squadron 111, Midshipman Henry Gallant is on his way from Jupiter to Mars. With the United Planets' fleet on the verge of annihilation, he can expect no help as he passes through the asteroid belt and threatening aliens. With so much uncertainty about the aliens’ capabilities and intentions, analyzing the captured computer equipment in Gallant’s possession could prove crucial.
The fate of Earth could rest on the abilities of Midshipman Henry Gallant. Unfortunately, it is his abilities that have been much in doubt during his tour of duty. In an era of genetic engineering, he is the only Natural (non-genetically enhanced) officer left in the fleet. His classmates and superior officers have all expressed their concern that he will not be up to the demands of the space service. Only bright and attractive junior officer Kelsey Mitchel has shown any sympathy for him. Now as his navigator on the last fighter in squadron 111, her life as well as a good many others, depends of Henry Gallant.



Excerpt:
Gallant stood at attention inside the open hatch. Captain Kenneth Caine was seated with his back to Gallant while he reviewed Gallant’s military record on a computer tablet. Clean-shaven with close-cropped graying hair, Caine was solidly built with square shoulders and a craggy face.

From his short time on board, Gallant had already realized that the Repulse was an orderly ship and that Kenneth Caine was an orderly captain. Precision and disciple were expected. He was suddenly conscious of the fact that his tangled brown hair was somewhat longer than regulations allowed.
The cabin was sparely furnished, revealing a traditional stark military room. A desk rested in one well lit corner and held the single personal item in the room, a photo. It showed an attractive mature woman with a pleasant smile. It hinted of someone who had made a bad bargain – that of the lonely wife of a devoted space officer.
While the captain rapidly slid his finger across the tablet screen, flipping through the personnel folder, Gallant’s gaze wandered to the scene visible from the compartment’s porthole. The solar flare had subsided, leaving gigantic colorful Jupiter filling most of the view.
“Mr. Gallant, come in,” said Caine, finally turning to face the newcomer. “Welcome aboard the Repulse.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Gallant in a strong clear voice.
“What do you know of this ship’s mission, Mr. Gallant?”
“As flagship of the Jupiter Fleet, Repulse is required to prevent further alien encroachment along the Jupiter frontier, sir,” ventured Gallant cautiously.
“Quite right, as far as it goes. But you’ll find Mr. Gallant, that there are often more layers involved than may appear on the surface. As a United Planets' (UP) officer, it is your responsibility to find the additional shades of meaning that can affect the performance of your duties. What would you surmise is behind this frontier watch?” The captain’s reassuring voice beckoned a resolute answer.
Gallant spoke guardedly, at first, but then with growing confidence he said, “Well, sir, UP knows little about the aliens' origins or intentions. They appear to have bases on the satellites of the outer planets. Clashes with their scout ships have proven troublesome and Fleet Command wants to gather more intelligence. With so little known about the alien technology, it’s difficult to assess the best way to repel them. Nevertheless, this fleet is tasked with forestalling any possibility of an invasion of Earth by preventing the aliens from gaining a foothold in this sector of space.”



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7/24 SECOND STOP Author Rose Wynters
7/29 SECOND STOP Sharing Links and Wisdom
8/9  SECOND STOP Smoldering Romance
8/12 SECOND STOP The Write to Read



Author Bio:
As a scientist and author specializing in technology innovation, H. Peter Alesso has over twenty years research experience at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). As Engineering Group Leader at LLNL he led a team of computer scientists and engineers in innovative applications across a wide range of supercomputers, workstations and networks. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy with a B.S. and served in the U.S. Navy on nuclear submarines before completing an M.S. and an advanced Engineering Degree at M.I.T. He has published several software titles and numerous scientific journal and conference articles, and he is the author/co-author of six books.
Contact: H. Peter Alesso
alesso@comcast.net
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