Famous Five Plus: Tall Dark & Kilted - A Taster!

Famous Five Plus: Tall Dark & Kilted - A Taster!: Tall, Dark and Kilted - Notting Hill Meets Monarch of the Glen  A taster for Tall, Dark and Kilted by Lizzie Lamb. Enjoy!      ...

Famous Five Plus: Posters from Lizzie Lamb

Famous Five Plus: Posters from Lizzie Lamb: Lizzie Lamb shares the posters she uses to promote her top selling books.Its so important to grab readers and reviewers within five seconds! These posters have certainly helped to sell my books and raise my profile.

Guest Blog: Elaine Violette 'A Kiss of Promise'

Adventurer Martin Blackstone escapes the stuffy rituals of England to seek his destiny in America. He leaves Alaina Craymore behind, believing she is better off without him. Suffering under the scandalous circumstances surrounding her father’s death, only Alaina’s love for Martin and the memory of their one stolen kiss have kept Alaina steady. But she hasn’t heard from Martin in far too long and cannot wait forever in the hopes that he will return from America. Just as Alaina begins to recover, one of her father’s associates emerges from the shadows with a choice—she must pose as his fiancée in America or he’ll send her brother to prison on charges of forgery. Willing to endure ruin and an uncertain future, Alaina agrees—she can do no less for the brother who’s spent his entire life protecting her. Only the man who spurned her can save her from the black mailing scoundrel and a ruined reputation.

Martin hasn’t forgotten Alaina or the kiss they shared. When word of her sacrifice reaches him, he’ll move heaven and earth to find her and make her his, no matter the cost.

Will the strong-minded, independent Alaina chose ruin over the fear that a marriage proposal has been offered out of duty rather than love?

 A Kiss of Promise continues the story of the Blackstone brothers, introduced in Regal Reward. It will be released on April 3^rd, 2014 by Ellora’s Cave Publishing under their Blush imprint and is presently available for pre-order on Amazon.

Excerpt:

It was much too late to hope for his love. She had compromised her decency beyond redemption. What a mess she’d made of her life.  She still had nightmares of the night her father died, of the gun slipping from her fingers. The dreams had lessened during the year spent with Aunt Cornelia. She had gained some hope for her future, but now she lived in a stranger’s home under the guise of being a widow and strolled the streets in a gaudy pink gown.  Martin would certainly shun her. Better not to think of him.

When they reached the gates set up where the auction was being held, Harrington drew her to a quieter spot but near enough to watch the goings on.

“Remain here, Alaina. I must have words with one of the sellers before the carriages go up for auction. He waved a hand toward a bench that had one remaining seat available.  Do not move from this place.  You know what is at stake if I can’t find you when I return.”

Alaina’s mouth thinned but she nodded her acquiescence. When Harrington strode off, she signaled for Maria to take the empty seat. The woman was older and Alaina preferred to stand and observe the crowd.  As the minutes went by the crowd grew. She glanced toward her chaperone, though she had to rise up on her tiptoes to have the bench in view. She was surprised to see Maria in an animated conversation with another woman. Their hand gestures suggested their own excitement over the venue.  How she wished that she could find a friend in this mob of foreigners.

That was her last thought before clutching her throat. Martin.  He was there in the crowd, standing taller than those about him.  Her eyes grew wide as she watched him saunter casually toward where she stood. He hadn’t seen her. She watched his agile gait, his expression, one of expectation, even determination as he strode closer. She opened her mouth but clamped it shut again. She clenched her fingers into the folds of her skirt—she didn’t know what to do. Should she run to him, plead for his help, or hide? Instead of doing either, she stood paralyzed. She couldn’t believe that it was truly him. He drew closer and his eyes darted in her direction. He stopped when he saw her, nearly causing a man behind him to stumble back into the crowd.

She saw the disbelief in his features as he pushed his way through the throng, his eyes never leaving hers.  She didn’t move, every ounce of her being wanting to run to him, while a warning within her kept urging her to flee.

“Alaina? By God, it’s really you.” He rushed to her side, breathless, grasping her upper arms. “What are you doing here?” He scanned her surroundings. “Who are you with? I can’t believe you’re here.”

She stared up at him, the sensation of his strong hands on her arms, rapturous.  She didn’t want the warmth that encompassed her to end. She dared to lift her fingers and grasp his forearms, feeling the heat of his body beneath his shirt sleeves. Her lips trembled. She had to get hold of herself, say something.

“Martin,” she finally breathed. “I-I, I never expected to see you.  Richard…” she swallowed as the story she must tell him, formed in her mind. “I have come with my brother. He is here to handle some business affairs.  He is in there.” She pointed past the gates, in the direction where Philip had disappeared. “He wanted to look at the items at auction.  He preferred I wait here.” She was amazed that she could utter even a sound or put a sentence together. She’d believed she could fall no further, yet she’d become worse than disgraced, she’d become a shameful liar. Would he believe her? She continued, the words invented as she uttered them. “My maid came along and is over there, on the bench.” She waved a hand, thankful the bench was now fully hidden by the crowd moving forward.

“Alaina, I have thought of you often. And to see you here, I’m speechless.  Are you…how was your voyage? How long have you been in Boston?”

She realized that he was as tongue-tied as she and just as shocked at their meeting. Somehow, she needed for him to leave her. Her prayer had been answered only for her to realize how futile it was. As soon as she’d spoken her brother’s name, only seconds before, she had regained her senses and her purpose. She could not involve Martin, not now.  Phillip would return at any minute. She feared his reaction if she saw them talking. She had to complete her mission alone and deny her dreams.

A Blush® historical romance from Ellora’s Cave

Biography

Elaine is a veteran high school English teacher and teaches public speaking part time at a local community college. She holds a BS in English Education from the University of CT and an MS in Educational Leadership from Central CT State University. Her published works include novels, poetry, non-fiction publications, and book reviews. Her first novel, Regal Reward, a Regency Historical published in 2007, and available in ebook and print was a finalist in the NJRW Golden Leaf contest. Her second Regency, A Convenient Pretense, is available as an ebook. Her newest novel, A Kiss of Promise will be released April 3rd, 2014, and is presently available for pre-order on Amazon and at Ellora’s Cave Publishing. Her affiliations consist of Romance Writers of America, CT Romance Writers, and Charter Oak Romance Writers. Visit her website at www.elaineviolette.com Buy links: A Kiss of Promise available at Ellora’s Cave http://www.ellorascave.com/a-kiss-of-promise.html On Amazon http://amzn.com/B00HQH99V6 On her website www.elaineviolette.com Visitors can follow Elaine on Facebook at www.facebook.com/elaineviolette/author and Twitter https://twitter.com/elaine_violette

The Novice is FREE!

That's right, to introduce you to Victor and Zara's dark world of BDSM, The Novice, Book #1 in the Sexy as Hell Trilogy is FREE for a few days only!

Blurb

London – one meeting, one month of lessons and a landslide of new desires. 

My journey to hell started with a decaff coffee. Nothing more than a grey mug full of dull-brown liquid devoid of its most useful ingredient. 

One sip, one smile, one touch of her hand and it was soon clear my life wasn’t destined to stay dull. Oh, no, suddenly I had a month of bedroom education planned by a sultry vixen who intended to broaden my horizons beyond my usual peach-pink palette. 

She wanted to take me to deep purples and navy blues and the pitch blackness that was pure sin. And on the other side of that blackness was a place that might look like Hell, with debauchery and wantonness, people playing devil’s advocate, luring innocents into the hotter, steamier corners of the world. 

Her world. 

Oh, yes, she promised each night to take me there and paint me an orange-and-red picture that would come alive, flickering like flames, enticing me, holding me spellbound and eager to learn more. To touch, explore, drown in coming. 

And drown I would. I was no match for her tricks and taunts. My only chance of survival was to show her that I wasn't vanilla. I had a rainbow of mastery up my sleeve, too, and if she just opened her eyes, she might be dazzled enough to stay—stay and take ‘my’ lessons. If she didn’t kill me first, that was, with pleasure. 

Amazon Amazon UK

If you enjoy Victor and Zara's story the cheapest way to enjoy the rest of the Sexy as Hell Trilogy AND get the three bonus spin-off stories is to purchase the Sexy as Hell Box Set on Amazon/Amazon UK

Also, if you do take advantage of the free book a Facebook LIKE would be appreciated and if you enjoy it a review would be awesome!

Lily x

Romantic Novelists' Association Blog: FOCUS ON: Leicester Chapter

Romantic Novelists' Association Blog: FOCUS ON: Leicester Chapter: This month we welcome members of the Leicester Chapter who tell us about their activities. The Leicester Chapter of the RNA is organ...

Fearless Pursuit is here!!!

Fearless is my latest book, just released, about sexy, pointed eared elves whose unusual powers are increased when they learn to use them wisely. Fearless takes place in 1957, in both London and Dover, and is an erotica book from Ellora's Cave.

I love these locales. In fact I love every place in England I've been. Have visited many times, but it's never enough for me.

Here's an excerpt from Fearless:

"He found her in the music room, staring out the window into the dark night.

He came up behind her and turned her slowly in his arms until she faced him. Tears were running down her cheeks, and when she saw who held her she sobbed and laid her dark head on his shoulder.

Astonished at her acceptance of his embrace, he handed her a handkerchief and held her while she gulped, mopped at her tears, and then relaxed again in his arms. The feel of her beautiful body so close to his almost broke his control. He kissed her hair softly and sweetly as she nestled closer. Unable to stop himself, he lifted her face and claimed her mouth. Their kiss blazed into instant heat and he groaned as he ran his tongue around her soft lips, demanding she let him in. Her hesitancy surprised him. It seemed more as if she didn’t know what he wanted rather than the reluctance he’d expected. Gently nipping her lower lip, she gasped and he thrust his tongue in to finally taste her sweetness.

Dear lord of all the elves, she tasted better than butter and vanilla icing. He’d noticed before she always wore a scent that smelled like daffodils, and he sucked on her tongue as he breathed in the evocative fragrance. She caught on quickly, running her tongue around his lips as soon as he released it, and then allowing him to deepen the kiss.

Holding her tightly with one arm, he freed the other to caress her face and then her shoulders, and finally he let his hands roam along the sides of her breasts and down to her narrow waist. Afraid to truly explore her breasts and nipples, he contented himself with tracing the shape of the perfect rounds and cupping them in his hands.

She made no attempt to stop him, and his cock raged almost out of control. Dear elves, he didn’t want to shoot his cum in his pants, but he was very near to doing just that. She was so damned delectable, so perfect for him, that he pushed her against the wall and ground his rigid cock against her soft body.

A mistake. Whether the size of his cock frightened her he didn’t know, but she suddenly pushed him away and slid from under his arms.

“Rurik, I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me. I didn’t mean to lead you on like that.”

He finally gulped in enough air to answer.

“My love, and you are my love, don’t look so startled. I’m the one to apologize. I pushed you much too fast. I can’t feel truly sorry, though, it was simply too wonderful to have you in my arms.”

She’d sped to stand half-way across the room and was eyeing him warily.

“You can’t mean that, it’s too soon. We barely know each other. I never should have encouraged you on like that. I’ve never acted like a slut before.”

Rurik believed her. Her every response had been innocence itself. He found the fact she’d apologized to him the most endearing words he could envision.

“As I said, Reina, I rushed you. You are not a slut in any sense of the word. You are my love."

 

  Reina and Rurik have a thoroughly wicked villain to overcome, the lives of two lost youngsters to straighten out, and the perplexing distress of Rurik's brother Jake. Jake just might turn out to be the most powerful elf in the family, but that's in the next book, Redemptive Pursuit.

All my books can be found at Ellora's Cave, Amazon, Kindle, and Barnes and Noble, among others.

 

Or write me at jswriter@earthlink.net.  I'd love to hear from you....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Bull At The Gate – Walking on History: Modern York as a Setting

Freebies! As part of the blog tour for the launch of The Bull At The Gate, comment on this post to be entered into a draw for a free e-copy of Books 1 & 2 of the Torc of Moonlight trilogy.

The Bull At The Gate: Book 2 launched a few days ago. Its blurb is pertinent to this post, so please bear with me:

Nick has moved to York, a walled mediaeval city of crooked half-timbered houses and tight cobbled streets where historical re-enactment groups of Vikings thrill the tourists. Yet deep in the crypt of York Minster sit the foundations of an earlier occupation, the Roman fortress of Eboracum that garrisoned both the infamous Ninth Legion and the Sixth Victrix, and the stains of sacrificial deaths lay buried deep in modern cellars. When a female student disappears the police start asking awkward questions about Alice, and Nick finds himself a suspect. Why has an artefact from the Temple of Mithras appeared on his desk? Could Alice and the girl be trapped together, and if he frees the girl can he return Alice to him?

Is all this in the book? Yes it is. And it’s available for readers to visit in York.

Early in the research for the trilogy I made the decision to set the books in university cities within easy travelling distance to the North York Moors, central to the premise. The first novel was set in Hull when I realised the university’s student accommodation had been named after Celtic settlements in the area. It made sense to move the historical context up a notch, so for Book 2 it became Roman and York; for book 3 it will be Durham and Mediaeval pilgrimage.

I knew the Roman Empire referred to its northern capital of Britannia as Eboracum and that there were exhibits in the Yorkshire Museum, but beyond the gothic Minster and the city being a shoppers' paradise, what was viewable in modern York seemed more mediaeval and Regency. On my first research visit I joined a York Walk guided tour focusing on Roman York. It proved eye-opening, and when I do the same in Durham I’ll take along a voice recorder to make notes as I go; it’s so much easier than frantically scribbling in a notebook. 

York's mediaeval walls on Roman foundations

York is known for its mediaeval city wall, its embankments covered in daffodils any time now. I had no idea that beneath those pristine blocks and grassy banks laid the foundations of the defensive wall to the Roman fortress. Mention 5,000 men in terms of today’s small towns and it won’t raise an eyebrow, but seeing it marked on the ground is to realise the fortress alone was huge. The walls south of the river which cuts through the city guarded the colonia where an unknown number of civilians lived among its tenements, temples, Forum and administrative buildings.

My biggest leap forward was acquiring a copy of the out-of-print Ordnance Survey map of Roman York (1988) showing a wider river and excavation sites up to that time. The Temple of Mithras lies buried beneath the path of a mediaeval church in Micklegate. Artefacts from leather workings were found in what is now known as Tanner Row (!) beside the site of the Roman bridge which crossed into the modern Riverside Gardens.

Few Saxon-built churches survive in northern England, but since research undertaken for Torc of Moonlight I’ve been fascinated by the positioning of All Saints churches. Nearly all are close to water, some known to be obliterating pagan religious sites (the feast days correspond with the turning of the old year, the Halloween period beloved by horror movies). Close to where the Roman bridge crossed the river in Eboracum now stands a mediaeval All Saints church. It’s a lovely place, light and airy, with a 20th century anchorage attached replacing the mediaeval annexe destroyed during the Reformation, and a row of 14th century chancery cottages beside it. Inside, the church roof is held aloft by several slender columns, two of which date back to the Roman period. Does All Saints sit on top of a Roman temple? I’ve ensured it does in The Bull At The Gate.

Statue of Roman goddess Minerva above a doorway

Weaving historical and contemporary data into a fast-paced novel helps to add depth, but I am very aware that I am writing a romantic thriller and not a ‘guide to York’. However, I do want readers to be able to visit the city and walk its streets with book in hand, just as Nick walks them, and if it’s too far to travel, via Google Maps Street View.

And the Viking re-enactment groups? The novel needed to be set in February for the contemporary and historical threads to mesh. What better time to choose than during the annual Jorvik Viking festival when reality slips into the surreal?

If you’ve enjoyed this post please give it a Tweet (below). If you leave a comment or ask a question you could win both ebooks. This post is part of a listed blog tour. Last: Does Romance Need A Happy Ever After Ending? On Friday 14th: Crime Elements in a Non-Crime Novel.

Torc of Moonlight Book 1 is discounted to 99c/99p for a limited period.
The Bull At The Gate Book 2 is available in ebook only, paperback to follow
All Formats now – filtering through to iBooks, Nook, Kobo in a few days

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