Tour Party and Giveaway with Lauren Hawkeye

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Tour Kickoff and Giveaway with Ednah Walters: LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD, OR NOT

Good morning and thank you for inviting me to make a stop by your site on the blog tour for MINE UNTIL DAWN, book 2 of the FITZGERALD FAMILY series.

How many writers love to write love scenes? If you do, please tell me your secret. Usually, I have to mentally prepare myself for days before writing a love scene. I read my favorite romance authors’ books, watch chick flicks and focus on the foreplay, even watch a few porn for graphic details, seriously.

Since I also write YA urban fantasy too with lots of fight scenes, I tend to spend days thinking up positions and moves, reading online articles and watching movies/anime with fight scenes. Why? You may ask. Because there’s quite a bit of similarity between fight and love scenes, if you think about it. There are moves and countermoves, senses are engaged at a heightened level, and there’s sweating and heavy breathing.

Writers engage a reader’s senses when they write most scenes. It’s what makes a book fun to read. Your character does not only see things, they smell, touch, hear, and feel. In every scene, you need to use at least three of the senses to make it gel.

So yes, writing a love scene is daunting. Not only must you know, imagine and listen to your character, you must be able to put everything she sees, feels, touches, smells, and hears into words without making them sound crass or disjointed. Since I never want to cheat readers, I tend to switch POVs halfway. Check out the scene below.




HERE’S A STEAMY SCENE FROM MINE UNTIL DAWN

“You make me want to experience things. Act differently.” She stroked his upturned face.
“Different good or different bad?” He picked the hem of her dress and flipped it up, exposing her knees, then her thighs.

“Oh, bad. Very, very bad.”

He chuckled.

“Good because that makes two of us.” He caressed her calves, dropped his head to nibble on her thigh.

The astonishing intimacy robbed Jade of breath. It never crossed her mind to protest or cross her legs. Just having him there between her legs, kneeling, his mouth a few breaths away from touching her intimately mesmerized her.

“Lean back,” Vince ordered.

Jade complied, resting on her elbows, her breathing ragged, her gaze unwavering. Waiting. Eager. Apprehensive. She must look like a wanton with her dress bunched around her waist, her stilettos on, and her behind naked.

His hand slipped under her, pulled her closer to the edge of the bed, while the other pushed her wider. Her thighs quivered, her face flaming. She felt so vulnerable, exposed, a shivering mass of nerves. Even the fact that she’d trimmed and fussed over her private parts earlier in the evening didn’t make it any easier. He was down there, looking at her with rapt fascination. Her insecurities doubled.

“Beautiful,” he breathed out against her heated flesh, then he kissed her, right there at the apex of her thighs.

Raw sensations rocked her body, her anxieties forgotten. Moans escaped her mouth, body writhing. The feeling was beyond anything she’d ever felt. Within seconds, he’d taken control of her body, her mind, everything she’d ever known and flipped them. Nothing else mattered but him. His sexy mouth. His wicked tongue. The way he made her feel.

Jade gripped the bed spread, pressed against his mouth, seeking more. Nothing had prepared her for this. Not her romance books, not movies or popular sitcoms, not her faithful dildo.

Nothing could have.

Her arm gave out and she flopped on her back. Not sure what to do with her hands, she reached for his head, her eyes closing in ecstasy. A deep hum escaped her mouth as the pleasure skyrocketed. It became a cry as light exploded behind her eyelids and blood roared in her ears.
The crest hurtled her into a vortex of sensations where nothing else mattered but pleasure, crashing, undulating, and endless. Her cries filled the room, her body jerking, almost pushing him off her, but he held firm. His strokes still bold, the mouth still thirsty for her.

Tears filled in her eyes and made it difficult to see Vince as he shifted. He stretched, yanked open his bedside drawer. He stood with the condom clenched between his teeth, his hands going to his belt. Lord, he was magnificent. Jade wanted to crawl all over him and swallow him whole.
She sat up, pushed his hands aside, and unzipped his pants with trembling fingers. She reached inside to find him. The feel of him, hard, long and thick, velvety soft yet ridged with veins was divine. She pushed his pants down to his thighs to reveal all of him.

Oh, my. He rose majestically from a tuft of ebony curly hair. So curious, it never crossed her mind to be embarrassed. He fascinated her, his powerful body, the scars, everything that made him Vince Knight. Her lover. Her fantasy.

Smiling, she stroked and squeezed him. When he groaned, she whispered, “I want to do it right. Tell me what to do.”

“Baby, any more right and my head will explode.” He ripped the condom and sheathed himself under her gaze.

The look in her eyes almost did him in. Vince had never seen such fascination, such uninhibited desire, as though she couldn’t wait to jump him. Yet he knew she was not that experienced. That he had to take it slow with her.

She scooted to the middle of the bed, pulled her dress off, and threw it aside. Her bra followed. When she reached for her high-heels, he caught her hand. “Leave them on.”

He joined her, knelt between her raised knees, his gaze sweeping her. Her hazel eyes sparkled with anticipation. Her scent, wild roses, mixed with the smell of her arousal. Dressed in the black garter belt and stocking that contrasted with her creamy thighs, those heels, and her emerald necklace, she was straight out of his fantasy. Much more than he’d imagined. Dang, he could come just looking at her.

“Glorious,” he murmured and dropped a kiss on her knee, his fingers skimming up her thigh, stroking her belly and ribcage before cupping her breast. His lips followed where his hand had primed, exploring, worshipping until they closed on one taut nipple. The taste of her was intoxicating.

Jade arched her back, her nails digging into his shoulders. Her unrestrained response, her shivers and moan, encouraged him. She was blossoming right before his eyes, and it felt right. Like he was meant to be her lover, to fulfill his and her fantasies. He nuzzled the valley between her breasts and shifted to the other nipple.

She held his head, writhing. When he lifted his head, she shimmied lower until she could kiss him—his forehead, his eyes, lower still until their lips met in a long, hot kiss. One hand caressed his cheek, the other traveled down his hot damp chest, past his belly to find him. Her hands closed on his erection. “I want to feel you inside me.”

Would you like to win an ecopy of Mine Until Dawn?

Leave a comment on this post

And if you would like to win

more goodies from Ednah

check out the giveaway

going on at her blog

Ethereal Messenger by Scott Nicholson

"Like Stephen King, he knows how to summon serious scares." -Bentley Little

An omnibus edition of three supernatural novels by bestselling author Scott Nicholson. DRM-free.

THE RED CHURCH: A young boy and a sheriff must solve the mystery of a haunted Appalachian church after a strange preacher returns to town. A 2002 Stoker Award finalist.

DRUMMER BOY: One misfit kid is all that stands between a mountain town and a chilling supernatural force when the past and the present collide.

SPEED DATING WITH THE DEAD: A paranormal conference at the Blue Ridge Mountain's most haunted hotel goes haywire when ghost hunters accidentally stir up demons.



Author playlist: Ethereal Messenger by Scott Nicholson

Ethereal Messenger is an omnibus collection of three supernatural novels, and they span three different phases of my career, and with different musical tastes. The title comes from John Milton’s 17th-century poem “Paradise Lost,” which I have only browsed and never fully read, but it looks like Satan rocks the house for a while. Interestingly, there is a heavy metal band that uses it for the band name. I like the airy, mysterious overtones of the title.

The Red Church was the first novel I ever published, and the fourth I wrote. That was in the late 1990s. I’d been playing in bands for about a decade before that, but we wrote most of our own songs, so I don’t know if I had direct musical influences back then. When I write, I only listen to music that I know well enough that I don’t have to “listen” to it; otherwise, it’s distracting. So I tend to stick with the core favorites when writing.

However, around that time I was writing to a list like this:

XTC Nonsuch and Skylarking
The Police Ghost in the Machine and Zenyatta Mondata
The Cranberries No Need to Argue
The Smiths Greatest Hits
Certain Distant Suns Certain Distant Suns
Robyn Hitchcock Element of Light, Queen Elvis and Perspex Island
The Cure Wish, Disintegration, and Pornography
David Bowie Ziggy Stardust, Hunky Dory, and Scary Monsters

I wrote Drummer Boy around 2007 or so, about the time I was having a tough time getting any book deals, so in a way, it was like the beginning of Act II in my writing career. That’s not so long ago, but in the scale of publishing evolution, it practically belongs to another era, and is a loose sequel to The Red Church. While I still had the same core of favorite bands, I’d also picked up a few like:

The Cure Bloodflowers
David Bowie Heathen
Elvis Costello Brutal Youth, All This Useless Beauty, When I was Cruel
Natalie Merchant Tiger Lily and Motherland
Smashing Pumpkins Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

Speed Dating with the Dead rolled along in 2009 and I picked up a couple of new ones:
Tegan and Sara The Con
The Eels Hombre Lobo
The Strokes Is This It?

Clearly I’m not up to date on trends, as I tend to stick with the bands I like, although there are many bands I listen to but don’t really write to, like The Beatles, Pete Townsend, Hank Williams, Sr., The Clash, REM, and They Might Be Giants. Really, if you plug in The Cure, that’s usually the type of mood I’m feeling, sort of darkly romantic and bleakly hopeful. I hope.

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Scott Nicholson is author of 12 novels, including the #1 Kindle bestseller in mystery and suspense, DISINTEGRATION. Other titles include THE SKULL RING, FOREVER NEVER ENDS, BURIAL TO FOLLOW, and AS I DIE LYING. He's also released the paranormal romance series OCTOBER GIRLS and, with J.R. Rain, the urban fantasy CURSED!, as well as six story collections.

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Scott Nicholson is author of 12 novels, including the #1 Kindle bestseller in mystery and suspense, DISINTEGRATION. Other titles include THE SKULL RING, FOREVER NEVER ENDS, BURIAL TO FOLLOW, and AS I DIE LYING. He's also released the paranormal romance series OCTOBER GIRLS and, with J.R. Rain, the urban fantasy CURSED!, as well as six story collections.

Excerpt from The Commander and the Den Asaan Rautu

He prowled over her and forced his fingers into her tight breach;
she was moist and warm, and the taste and scent of which made him
immediately prepared. “I warn you, woman, the traditional act of
Khopra would harm most of your women.” He grazed his large shaft
against her thigh and passed his remarkable virility over her mound.

“I am warned,” she murmured, reveling in his eagerness. “I am
honoured that you should feel I merit such a pleasant and torturous
experience. If you promise it will be enlightening, I shall consider doing
it more than once.”

“You will oblige me, woman,” he growled, holding her legs apart,
“And you will enjoy it.”

His intellect simmered and his eyes narrowed in sudden depravity,
his hunger finally surmounting him. He suspended his weight on his
powerful forearms and parted her thighs with his knees. He felt his
inbred fury rising and was moved to take her hips into his unassailable
grip, position himself, and plunge into her.

She bit her lip to silence her cries as the giant forced his distended
head into her taut crevice. At first, her body would not allow him
entrance, but the more he pushed the more she was forced to widen.
She winced, feeling the giant strain his overwhelming size into her. Her
limits were quickly exceeded, but any pain she may have felt was soon
surpassed by a wave of pleasure when the giant began penetrating her
at a constant rate. Her heels grazed his molded backside as it flexed,
her breasts were attacked by his teeth, and everything barbaric about
his actions was excessively pleasing to herself. She arched her back and
endeavored to relax, allowing her body to accommodate his length and
breadth.

Rautu was rapt in a euphoric pleasance as he had never endured
before, enjoying the sensation of her thighs wrapped around him as he
drove through her breach. The more of him she could accept the more
he gave, and she was soon able to contain him down to his substantial
base. His undulations became ravening and he clutched the tops of
her thighs, flinching and seething with every vicious infiltration. The
rush of pleasure from each thrust began to motivate his suppressed
fury. In the midst of his rapture, he reminded himself to remain calm,
but the arrival of her warm succulence persuaded him otherwise.

The Commander and the Den Asaan Rautu
By Michelle Franklin
Publisher: Red Willow Publishing
June 12, 2011


Book Description:

The Kingdom of Frewyn is being invaded by the Galleisian infantry and at the forefront of the battle is Boudicca MacDaede, a First Captain in the Frewyn armed forces. Her regiment is charged with defending the borders between the two nations, but when Frewyn’s last line of defense falls, Captain MacDaede enlists the assistance of a Haanta, one of giants from the islands to the far north. Promising to free him from his imprisonment in exchange for his help, she gains his trust long enough for them to win the battle and save the Frewyn border from being breached. The giant’s freedom is granted, but Rautu cannot return home unless he redeems himself in the eyes of his people for past his transgressions. He is offered a place by the captain’s side, and together, they defeat the Galleisian forces and become the saviors of Frewyn.

One year later, King Alasdair Brennin takes the Frewyn throne, Boudicca is made commander, Gallei and Frewyn reach an accord, and Rautu is granted an invitation home. He is eager to return and see his brothers but finds it difficult to leave Frewyn without Boudicca at his side. He has become accustomed to her company and the idea of being made to live without her begins to distress him. Rautu invites the commander to the islands in hopes of finding a way for them to remain together, but when they arrive at the white shores of Sanhedhran, not everything goes as planned: one of the dangerous Haanta magi is freed, Rautu’s three brothers are strangely missing, and the neighboring nation of Thellis leads an attack on the islands.

Together, the commander and the Den Asaan Rautu must find a way to unite their two nations and defend against the Thellisian fleets, but can they do so successfully when outside forces are attempting to keep them apart?

Guest Blog by Jenna McCarthy Author of If it Was Easy They'd Call the Whole Damn Thing a Honeymoon

Today I have something a little different- a guest blog from Jenna MacCarthy to promote her new book- If it Was Easy They'd Call the Whole Damn Thing a Honeymoon: Living with and Loving the TV-Addicted, Sex-Obsessed, Not-So-Handy Man You Married (Berkley Books, October 2011). I'm really looking forward to reading the book- it sounds hilarious. Check out this post and tell me what you think.

7 Steps to a Happy Marriage
by Jenna McCarthy

I have a remarkably happy marriage, and people ask me all the time how I got so lucky. (Not as often as they ask me about autism, vaccines and Jim Carrey, so let’s get something straight before we go any further: Not. Her.) I used to wonder if it had something to do with pheromones or having relatively low expectations, but after eleven years of wedded bliss I am pretty sure the key is some combination of kindness, respect and my ability to read a road map upside down divided by my husband’s skill at tuning out my nagging.

Okay, fine. We got lucky.

Busloads of studies have attempted to figure out why roughly every other marriage fails miserably. Turns out, the success stories share a few similarities beyond the obvious stuff like “they don’t have sex with other people”. Here, then, are seven scientifically proven* steps to marital ecstasy.

1) Be thinner and better looking than your husband. I have no idea why this works to create nuptial delight but I’m guessing it’s because if you’re fat and ugly you probably never want to have sex, which makes him grumpy and mean because sex was the one and only reason he got married in the first place. (Well, that and pie. Think about it: Most guys will never bake a pie in their lifetimes and from what I’ve seen, they really like pie.) Of course, I don’t know many women who are dying to have sex with fat, ugly men, so this one remains a bit of a mystery.

2) Make sure he does more chores than you do (well, duh) and try to talk less than he does. I have to admit, if you asked my husband the top three things I could do to make him happier, “shut the hell up for five lousy minutes” would probably be on the list. (But not at the tippy-top. Ahem.)

3) Don’t watch a lot of chick flicks. Seems that after sitting through Gnomio and Juliet (or any other rom-com) relationship dissatisfaction tends to skyrocket. Apparently this is because maybe it could happen to you but you realize that it hasn’t and it probably won’t and that fat bastard never sprinkled rose petals on your bed, dammit. At least you’re thinner and better looking than he is.

4) Don’t win a best-actress Oscar. I included this one because unlike getting hotter or having your jaw wired shut, it’s actually pretty painless and doable. Personally, I am going to make this a priority in my marriage.

5) Limit your booze consumption (both of you). No comment.

6) Become or urge your partner to become a farmer, nuclear engineer or optometrist. Evidently every career choice has its own unique divorce-risk profile, with these three being on the lowest end. Dancers and choreographers are pretty much screwed. You can’t make this stuff up.

7) Prefer having the car windows down. I haven’t technically seen a study on this, but do you not fight about this every single time you ride in a vehicle together? And doesn’t he get all pissed when you want them up and accuse you of being more concerned about your hair than his precious need for non-recirculated air? If anyone bothered to study this, I’m confident the results would back me up.

So there you have it. I do not suggest trying to master all seven steps at once. For instance, if you stop doing housework altogether (to try to tilt his portion of the ratio toward more), you’ll have a lot of extra time on your hands which you may want to spend drinking alcohol. Remember, there’s no rush here. Till death do us part is a really long time**.



*I may have bastardized the language a bit in some cases but the facts are mostly accurate.

**I stole that line from If It Was Easy They’d Call the Whole Damn Thing a Honeymoon: Living with and Loving the TV-Addicted, Sex-Obsessed, Not-So-Handy Man You Married, which I wrote (and please note that it says the blah-blah-blah man you married, not the one I married. My husband likes it when I point that out). You can find out more about me, my books and how I survived tanorexia on my website.



Don’t forget to google Zestra after you watch it... or better yet, check out the link on Jenna’s homepage, http://www.jennamccarthy.com/

I Love Halloween Sale on Advertising and Book Tours

September is right around the bend so it's time to start planning for the big month of October- which means for all you Halloween lovers and paranormal fans- HALLOWEEN!

I am the biggest fan of Halloween- that's why at Fang-tastic Books I am offering a discount on advertising to any author who would like to advertise their Halloween or paranormal book.

I'll give you 2 months of ad space (September and October) for just $20

And if you would like to set up a book tour with Bewitching Book Tours-

I'll toss free ad space at Fang-tastic Books for September and October

and give you a free Twitter party

with the purchase of Spellbinding Special Tour ($99)

or a Make Magic Happen Tour ($150)

So you'll be getting $60 worth of promo for Free

($20 per month ad space at Fang-tastic and $20 for a Twitter Party)

with the purchase of a tour

If this sounds like a great deal- email me at RoxanneRhoads@aol.com

to reserve your tour date

You Can Find Me at Everything Erotic

Starting in September I'll be contributing to the Everything Erotic Blog- this is a fabulous blog with quite a few amazing erotica authors.

You can read erotica for free- follow the blog so you can stay up to date on all the new content added.

You can even have the blog delivered directly to your Kindle or email.

So please join me at Everything Erotic- I'll be posting my first short story there September 20- until then you can catch up by reading stories by some of the other awesome authors at the site.