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Guest Blogger: Mari Carr
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

The winner of this week’s contest is named at the bottom of this post!

Hiya! I wanted to start with a quick word of thanks to Delilah for letting me come hang out on her blog today. She is one of my favorite authors, so it’s a big treat for me to be here. Damn, that gal can write!

I’m a huge fan of top ten lists, so today I thought it might be fun to share the top ten reasons why ebooks ROCK!

10 – Space in my House. Ebooks don’t call for real bookshelves, don’t need to be stored or given away once read, and they don’t need to be dusted.

9 – Novel vs. Novellas. Ebooks come in many lengths. Sometimes I’m in the mood for a quick fix, a short story to pass a few hours. Other times, I want a full-length novel, one that I can get lost in for an entire weekend. Ebooks offer both options…plus lots of sizes in between.

8 – Instant Gratification. I started reading the Twilight series late in the game. I finished New Moon at midnight one night and was chomping at the bit for Eclipse. Problem was the bookstore was closed. If I’d owned my Kindle back then, Eclipse could have been delivered to me wirelessly in less than thirty seconds and you better believe…I would have been pulling an all-nighter. Team Edward!

7 – Go Green. Ebooks don’t require that a rainforest be destroyed to make the paper to print them.

6 – The Ebook Community. Because they are tech savvy, I find ebook readers hang out online quite a bit. I’ve made some wonderful friends who share my love of erotic romance books through yahoo groups. Social networking through common interests. Love it!

5 – The Fabio Cover Factor. I’ll admit it. There were times when I was embarrassed to take a certain book to the checkout counter of the bookstore. I was one of those people would put the book upside down in front of the clerk and then blush when he flipped it over. There were even times when I didn’t buy a book I really, really wanted to read, opting to come back later. This usually occurred when the clerk was a student from my school. The beauty of ebooks is no one sees what I’m buying! Not even my husband. Go personal credit card!

4 – Travel Ease. In the past, I had to allow quite a bit of space in my suitcase for books, especially if it was a long trip. Added to that dilemma was the dreaded “You’re over the weight limit” line from the airline. With ebooks? I can take literally thousands of books with me on vacation and only add a few ounces to my luggage.

3 – Free Reads. There are lots of free read offers through ebook vendors. I’ve never seen this same deal with print books. I’ve discovered several really amazing writers through the free read program at Amazon. Since then, I’ve added some auto-buy authors, including Dominique Adair, Jess Dee, Anne Stuart, Lila Dubois and Jenna Bailey-Burke, to my reading lists, simply because I picked up one of their books for free. Would I have found them without the free read? Maybe. Maybe not.

2 – Cheaper. Ebooks are cheaper than print. In some cases, they are much cheaper. Because of the varying lengths, I can pick up ebooks anywhere from a couple dollars to around ten bucks. Considering I have shelled out as much as thirteen dollars for trade paperbacks and even more than that for hardback, I enjoy the cheaper cost of ebooks.

1 – Variety. There is a wide-range of ebooks out there. Erotic romance novels aren’t that prevalent in print, but in ebook format, the world is my oyster. I can find novels on a variety of the more taboo subjects. Ménages, BDSM, and m/m stories are but a single click away.

And…while we’re on the subject of ebooks, I thought I’d take a moment to share a bit of my latest release, Slam Dunk.

Who says you can only score on the court?

A story from the Black & White Collection.
Trey Donovan is mourning the end of summer with fellow teachers when Ellie Hunter walks into Tully’s Bar. Better yet, she’s now a former rival basketball coach and the newest science teacher at his high school. He can’t think of anyone better to fill the vacant assistant coach job. In fact, if he plays his cards right, she might end up his perfect match off the court, too.

If she stops holding him at arm’s length long enough to give him a chance.

Coming off a year of bad decisions that not only broke her heart, but cost her a job, Ellie has good reason to swear off workplace romances. Her undeniable—and undeniably mutual—attraction to Trey is a serious threat to her resolve. Especially since Trey’s too-easy capitulation to her boundaries stings just a little too much.

Funny thing, though. When she sees Trey dancing with someone else, the edges of her vision turn decidedly green. And when another man tries to kiss Ellie, Trey sees red.

Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to fudge the rules. Just a little. After all, casual sex doesn’t count. Right?
________________________________________
Product Warnings
Lots of red-hot, half-dressed court presses complete with sex toys, food, bubble baths, strip poker and, oh yeah, balls.

“Hey guys,” Cheryl called out as she walked into Tully’s. “Look who I found in the parking lot.”

Trey glanced up and, for a moment, he felt as if he’d been sucker punched. Ellie Hunter followed Cheryl and Lucas to the table.

Then Trey’s grin grew and he stood. “Take a wrong turn, Coach Hunter? Harper’s Ridge is on the other side of town.”

Ellie smiled, but before she could speak, Grace answered. “I invited her. We ran into each other at school today.”

Trey frowned, looking at Ellie. “Why were you at Preston?”

“I had a new teacher meeting to attend. I was checking out my classroom when I ran into Grace.”

Jamie looked at Grace. “Why the hell would you go to school on the last day of summer?”

Grace blushed slightly. “I wanted to work on my bulletin board.”

Lucas laughed. “Nerd.”

Grace threw a pretzel at Lucas’s head while the others laughed. Ordinarily Trey would have been amused by their antics, but he was too busy trying to wrap his head around the idea that Ellie “Hottie” Hunter was now his colleague rather than his competition. She looked smokin’ hot in short shorts and a T-shirt that showcased her perfect curves. Trey felt his cock stir.

“Here,” Trey said, grabbing a chair from an empty table nearby and placing it next to his. He suddenly felt the need to have Ellie in his space, close to him. “Have a seat.”

Ellie acknowledged his friendly gesture with a quick nod of thanks and sexy smile as they sat down.

Lucas grabbed an empty glass and filled it, passing it over to Ellie. “So you left Harper’s Ridge, huh? Finally decide you wanted to teach at a good school with a winning athletics program?”

Ellie rolled her eyes. “You must be Lucas. Grace warned me about you.”

Lucas wiggled his eyebrows. “Oh yeah? You like bad boys?”

Trey narrowed his eyes at his friend, annoyed. While they were both known as being flirts—and players—Trey didn’t like the idea of Lucas hitting on Ellie.

“Bad boy?” Trey scoffed. “Jesus, Lucas. You’re as much a bad boy as Justin Bieber.”

They all laughed as Lucas playfully punched Trey on the arm.

Ellie took a sip of the beer. “I needed a change of scenery,” she replied in response to Lucas’s earlier question. “Preston had an opening in the science department, so I took it.”

“What about coaching?” Trey asked, surprised she would give up something she’d so obviously loved.

She shrugged. “There wasn’t an opening to coach basketball at Preston. I mean, that is unless you wanna quit and hand the reins over to someone who actually knows a bit about the sport.”

He grinned. Oh yeah, suddenly Trey wasn’t dreading the end of summer. This school year was looking to be his best yet. It wouldn’t be hard going to work if Ellie was there providing the eye candy. “Not likely. Besides, considering the fact I took my girls’ team to the state championship a couple of years ago, I’d say I know plenty about the game.”

Ellie wasn’t daunted. She leaned closer and Trey caught the light scent of her perfume. Damn, she smelled good. “Word on the street is you’re not going to see that much success this year. Four of your starters graduated in June, which leaves you with a young bench. Anybody can coach naturally talented players. You think you’re up for teaching a bunch of newbies?”

This was what Trey had missed at the basketball conference. Nobody kept both his feet firmly planted on the ground like Ellie Hunter. “Oh, I’m up for it, sweetheart. You don’t have to worry about that.”

Actually, at the moment, he was up for quite a bit. He hoped Ellie didn’t look down or she’d see exactly how much he enjoyed sparring with her. His cock was rock hard and threatening to bust a few seams in his pants.

“Where the hell did that summer go?” Cheryl said, waving to the waitress to set them up with another pitcher. “I’m warning y’all now. I’m drinking and dancing my ass off tonight. I’m fucking depressed.”
Trey topped up Cheryl’s glass. “You say the same thing every year at this happy hour.”

Cheryl shrugged. “Why do you think I had Lucas pick me up? I came prepared. DD and all.”

“Speaking of dancing,” Trey said, when the sound of Usher filled the room, “I lined up a few classics in the jukebox for us.”

Jamie groaned. “Christ, man. You picked all black music, didn’t you? Bet you didn’t fire up one single country song.”

Trey stood up and gave Jamie a shit-eating grin. They constantly waged this friendly battle over music. “My dollar, my picks.”

He was surprised when Ellie rose quickly. “I love this song.” She grabbed Trey’s hand and led him to the bar’s tiny dance floor. Cheryl and Lucas were hot on their heels and Trey noticed Grace leading an only somewhat reluctant Jamie as well.

He started to move to the music, watching as Ellie lost herself to the song. Holy fuck. She could dance.
After years of Grace and Cheryl’s hilarious attempts at keeping up with him on the dance floor, he was blown away by Ellie’s natural grace and rhythm. She had some sexy-as-hell moves for a white girl. On top of that, she knew all the words to the song. When she mouthed along with Ludacris about wanting “a freak in the bed”, he resigned himself to the fact that he wasn’t going to make it through this night without jerking off to relieve his hard-on.

Ellie turned around and moved against him. For a second, he tried to hold her away, knowing there was no way she wouldn’t be able to feel his erection. Then, he figured what the hell. There was nothing he wanted more than to feel her tight ass rubbing against him. He reached for her waist and pressed her closer. If she was surprised by his actions—as well as his cock rubbing against her lower back—she didn’t show it. In fact, she moved slower, more sinuously.

Trey gritted his teeth and tried to ignore how good her body felt against his. Her long brown hair was pulled back in her usual ponytail and he wondered what her hair would look like down, loose around her shoulders. Or better yet, he could wrap that ponytail around his hand and use it to direct her mouth to his cock as she sucked him off. A myriad of red-hot images passed by his eyes as he danced with her. No other woman had ever inspired this much lust in him, but a few minutes with Ellie never failed to drive his thoughts straight to the bedroom.

He moved his hands higher on her waist, his hands slipping beneath her T-shirt as she continued to gyrate in time with the music.

He’d never danced with Ellie, never had more than short conversations with her at conferences and before games, but he’d always watched her. Always been aware that whenever she was around, the rest of his surroundings went a bit blurry, all his focus directed at her.

He was attracted to her. He’d never denied that to himself, though he’d certainly worked hard to hide the fact from his friends. Grace and Cheryl would take a great deal of pleasure knowing he had a crush on Ellie Hunter and knowing them, they’d work overtime to try to hook them up. Grace was always trying to set him up, telling him he needed to settle down.

Ellie turned around to face him, but he didn’t release his grip on her waist. Instead he let his fingers slide over the smooth, soft skin of her tiny waist.

Suddenly it dawned on him exactly how small she was. Looking down, he noticed the top of her head only came to his shoulders. Her powerful personality had always made her seem taller to him.

She continued to dance and her new position gave him a bird’s eye view of her breasts. She wasn’t overly endowed, though she certainly had plenty to fill his palm. She sported an athletic build, trim and firm and fit. He considered all the ways she could use her physical strength in the bedroom and his cock twitched. Jesus. This wasn’t good.

The winner of the Coffin Clutch & Third Eye Hair Clip is…Shadow! Shadow, send me an email to coordinate delivery of your prize!

9 comments to “Guest Blogger: Mari Carr”

  1. Lisa J
    Comment
    1
    · September 28th, 2011 at 8:44 am · Link

    Hi Mari:

    I love e-books for all the same reasons. Congrats on your release this week. I had Slam Dunk on preorder and it is now on my reader. 😮



  2. Shadow
    Comment
    2
    · September 28th, 2011 at 11:35 am · Link

    Hi! Congrats on your newest release! Its on my wishlist. Your books are awesome! Thank you so much for sharing with us! Cant wait to read this! 🙂
    Yay! Thank you so much Delilah! Awesome! Im sending you an email now. 🙂



  3. tammy ramey
    Comment
    3
    · September 28th, 2011 at 11:59 am · Link

    congrats on the new release! Slam dunk sounds like a wonderful book,i loved the excerpt. i can hardly wait to read the rest of the book and see what happens next.



  4. Marika Weber
    Comment
    4
    · September 28th, 2011 at 12:38 pm · Link

    Hi Mari. I will be reading this while everyone is at RomantiCon. Have fun and don’t call us if you get thrown in jail. 🙂



  5. Becky W
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    5
    · September 28th, 2011 at 2:13 pm · Link

    Congrats on the new release! Slam Dunk sounds like a very good story. I loved the excerpt and I have added it my list to get. I love e-books for the same reasons. Though I still miss holding the book in my hand, so I visit my local library or buy printed books.



  6. Stacy Wilson
    Comment
    6
    · September 28th, 2011 at 8:31 pm · Link

    I am SO with you on ereaders! My book shelves in my room are FULL. So, I have my Nook that goes with me everywhere. I have close to 225 books on it! Tho, I have to say…I DO need a new battery for it. :p Wore it out! LOL!

    Your book new book sounds hawt. 😉 Going to go find it and put it on my list!

    Stacy Wilson

    dragn_lady at yahoo dot com



  7. GladysMP
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    7
    · September 28th, 2011 at 8:35 pm · Link

    Loved the excerpt and the sports theme is definitely timely. Congratulations on an interesting plot!



  8. Patti D
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    · September 28th, 2011 at 8:50 pm · Link

    I am beginning to warm up to reading ebooks, for the simple “immediate gratification-release”! Sometimes, a girl just needs her “smut” 😯 quota met immediately! These books, do just the thing 8)



  9. Ms. Dean
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    9
    · September 28th, 2011 at 10:58 pm · Link

    Congrats Mari on the new release. I agree with you on the pros of ebooks and love that I can carry so many books with me when I travel without giving up space for my clothes or shoes. 😉



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