Thanks for allowing me a chance to be a guest blogger, Delilah! It gives me an opportunity to gush a bit about how much I love summer!
It’s almost a hundred degrees where I live, which means things are hot and not in a good way. What is it about the hot weather that makes me want to move as little as possible, pick up a book and sink into something sexy and stimulating?
As a kid, summer meant no school which also meant more time to read. My mother and I used to swap books all summer long, passing mysteries, horror stories, literature and fantasies back and forth, recommending what to read and what to avoid. I knew any book she enjoyed, I would probably enjoy too.
She’d often close a book having just finished it, then drop it in my lap. “A good one,” she’d say.
“What’s it about?”
“Just read it.”
And I would.
We’d traded all of Jane Austin’s novels and loads of British gothic romance. We even read Peyton Place by Grace Metalious. I think we started to stray apart, as far as romance was concerned, after we read Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann. I became completely hooked on Susann’s books, gobbling them up as soon as they hit the shelves, but my mom grew tired of them, or at least she never admitted to me that she waited breathlessly for the next one to hit the library.
It amuses me now to remember all of the bodice rippers I read. The first might have been a Kathleen E. Woodiwiss novel, like The Flame and the Flower or Ashes in the Wind. I don’t remember which, but after I read one, I was off to the races.
I added romance to my list of genres I loved without really sharing my new love with my Mom. I still read mystery and horror and fantasy. Hell, a good book is a good book, but romance became my guilty pleasure—one I, unfortunately, didn’t share with her, or at least, not that she would admit to anyway.
Now, each time I publish a new book, I can’t help but wish my mother were around to read it. She passed a couple of years before my first co-authored memoir was published. I know she would have enjoyed my mysteries and even the urban fantasy I’ve published since she always loved a strong female lead. But I have to wonder how she would feel about the romance.
My Limited Partnerships series is a long way from the tame Jane Austin stories or even the Kathleen E. Woodiwiss bodice rippers, but maybe my mother’s tastes would have … matured the way mine have. I will never know for sure. I can only hope she would have read it, then closed it and said, “It’s a good one.”
*~*~*~*
Limited Partnerships – Omnibus, by M. L. Doyle
When a woman calls on Limited Partnerships, she expects to be in control. Some end up getting far more than they bargained for.
“The modern woman makes more money and is more powerful than ever before. They don’t always have the time to date, to do what it takes to maintain a relationship, but they still want and need company. And let’s face it. They need sex. Sex with someone who can make them feel desired above all others.” – Beth, owner and proprietor of Limited Partnerships.
The Limited Partnerships Omnibus—four novellas featuring Beth’s most desirable employees.
Limited Partnerships – Charlie,
Limited Partnerships – Luke and
Limited Partnerships – Derek. Or get all four in the Omnibus edition.
About the Author
M. L. Doyle aimed to prove her brother wrong when she joined the Army on his dare. Almost two decades later, she not only confirmed that she could, contrary to his warning, make it through basic training, her combat boots took her to the butt-end of nowhere and back countless times and she lived to tell about it … or write about it as it turned out.
Unafraid of genre jumping, Mary has co-authored two memoirs, a three-book mystery series, a four-novella erotic romance series, and has just published the first book in a planned urban fantasy series.
A native Minnesotan, Mary lives in Baltimore where her evil cats force her to feed and care for them including cleaning up their poo. To escape from her torture, Mary loves to hear from readers. Checkout her website where you can read excerpts of all of her work.
www.mldoyleauthor.com
www.facebook.com/mldoyleauthor
www.twitter.com/mldoyleauthor
www.goodreads.com/mldoyle
https://www.amazon.com/author/mldoyle
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What wonderful memories of your mother! Thank you for sharing them. They remind me of some fond memories I have of reading with my mother – back in the day. But alas, as you may note, I now appear with a pen name so as not to embarrass her. Where my boundaries expanded, sadly, hers did not. It is so inspiring to read your story. Thank you.
BTW – Vet here also, so it has been an extra special pleasure to meet you. You have found a new fan. Looking forward to reading some of your work. Thank you.
And thank you Delilah for introducing this amazing person!
Comment
ML Doyle is one of my favorite writers and I ‘followed’ her here, I’ve read all of hers, (The Limited Partnership series is awesome) but haven’t read anything by Delilah yet, so looking forward to it, Cain’s Law looks really good! Thank you ladies both for writing this genre