This morning, I opened my mail to a wonderful surprise. I found another great review for Lockdown, this time from Romance Readers Connection.

“…Ms. Devlin weaves a tale that is raw, erotic, and imaginative. The sexual aspect of this story is phenomenal, both in the sheer eroticism and in its creativeness. The investigation side of the story has just the right amount of intrigue. It was a pleasure to read and I will definitely recommend this fantastic read!”

What’s cool is that I’m managing not to be too predictable. I’ve been at this a while. Sometimes writers retread an old tire because they know it has sold for them in the past, but I just can’t. I have to be excited about what I write, and I always hope that readers will be excited too.

I hope you’ve all bought your copy of Stone’s Embrace. I know you will love it too! It starts in the Louisiana bayou, but heads quickly to Hell. Hades, the ferryman, and The Fates are as real as the girl at the checkout stand. Tell me what you think when you’re done. I’d like to know if I finally jumped off the ledge with this one!

In the meantime, I’m working on revisions of a cowboy ménage. Something sexy, but that will also make you squirm because one of the characters is acting like a jerk. I’m doing my best to figure out exactly what his problem is so he’ll cooperate and let me get this story right!

If you haven’t read the excerpts, do! I know you won’t be disappointed with this story. It has it all. A rugged, sexy hero, a damsel in distress who rescues the hero while he sacrifices himself…

Well, you just have to read it. 😉

No kidding this time, I have a winner—but you have to wait to see who until the end of this post!

So, I think you know quite a bit about the book by now. You know it’s sexy as HELL. You know the hero is a powerful gargoyle come to life at the touch of my gifted (or cursed, depending on your point of view) heroine.

Maybe you don’t know the kind of research I did for this story. Or that I have a love of mythology and folklore that feeds my imagination. In this case, I decided to visit old friends.

When I was a third grader and very bored with the pace of my schooling, I had a teacher whose bookshelf wasn’t limited to children’s books. Every day when I’d dashed through the reading lesson, she allowed me to take down her copy of Bullfinch’s Mythology, and I’d get lost inside fantastic tales about Pandora and her endless curiosity, proud Achilles and his fatal flaw, but especially, the original bad boy, Hades.

Even then, I’d read the story of his abduction of Persephone and wonder why the girl didn’t grow up and let go of her mother’s apron strings to appreciate her man’s single-minded devotion.

Yeah, I know. Can’t you just see a skinny, straggly-haired little blonde with her nose forever in that book? I hated moving up in grade because I had to leave my own special dog-earred copy of Bullfinch, but by then, I’d discovered the joys of the library and continued to feed my addiction.

So keep in mind when you read Stone’s Embrace that I had fun re-envisioning Hades and his Underworld.This won’t be the last you’ll see of him.

Here’s a little peek at mighty Hades…

Petra followed Octavius’s footsteps, through a long stone tunnel in unrelieved darkness, only the crunch of his feet on the uneven floor to guide her.

A large fire pit dominated the center of the room. Small boulders formed a ring around it with metal fittings in the ceiling above and sunk into rocks ringing the pit. It was a crude smelter of sorts, she guessed, from the number of implements resting in the hot fire.
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News about yesterday’s winner is at the bottom of this posting!

Book Three

The last book in the series is Vivi Anna’s Demon Dreamer. Take a look at the excerpt, and then try to tell me that all three of these stories don’t intrigue the hell out of you!

Submission is the only path to his salvation…

Born a seer, Kiara Brodie has always been feared for her power to see others’ fantasies. She’s fine with that—it keeps the men of her Irish Gypsy caravan at bay. She wants more than this transient life. A letter from her estranged father, summoning her to Louisiana, could be her long-awaited chance to put down roots.

She finds two half-sisters she never knew she had, and an old mansion haunted by a darkly sexy demon who inhabits her dreams. At night he whispers to her of carnal delight, enticing her on a journey of extreme pleasure—and pain.

Malvo knows just what to do with the curious woman who wandered into his lair behind the library bookcase—lock the door behind her and make her a lustful proposition she can’t refuse. He seeks to temporarily ease his lonely torment, but Kiara’s willing and wanton response opens his eyes to the possibility that she is his path to his own salvation.

If only she is willing to remain captive to his every sinful desire—forever…

Warning: Contains every sinful fantasy you have ever secretly entertained—including some of the deadly ones. Being bad was never oh, so good!

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Excerpt

The demon, with the dark sinuous markings across his back and around both powerful arms, tried to buck off the man clinging to his back. But the man held tight to the demon’s neck, squeezing, pouring every ounce of energy into his hands. He mumbled an incantation under his breath, the words foreign and unrecognizable.

Its face grimaced in pain as it continued to twist and writhe, swirling the man back and forth like a great bull bucking its rider. Bloodied tears trickled from the corners of its closed eyes.
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I have yesterday’s winner, but you’ll have to work your way to the bottom of this post to find out who won Kimberly Kaye Terry’s SCREAM MY NAME. Today’s prize will be an autographed copy of DARKNESS BURNING!

Like I said yesterday, each of these stories is standalone, but if you want to enjoy the full series, there is an order to the books. I’ve included two excerpts. The first you may already have seen. The second, sexier excerpt is one I’ve never shared.

Book Two

Lust trapped them in darkness…only love can free them…

Petra Pedersen has lived as a recluse all her life thanks to a genetic double whammy—a strange deformity and a shameful power inherited from the father she will never know. The power to incite lust in men and women with just a touch.

Exploring the garden of the mansion she’s just inherited, she comes across a fascinating stone gargoyle whose raw, passionate expression draws her to caress its broad chest. Her imagination follows her fluttering fingers. As she closes her eyes and gives herself up to the arousal, something shifts beneath her touch.

Long ago, failure to stop a demon battle trapped Octavius in a prison of stone. Freed by the woman’s incendiary touch, he doesn’t hesitate to unleash his pent-up rage and desire in a blistering fury. Yet once the haze of lust clears, he discovers he isn’t really free after all.

They are both trapped in another realm where he must choose between his last chance for redemption or returning Petra home…

Warning: Sex with inanimate objects, lusty m/m/f ménages with gods…it’s all good when the reward is freedom.

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Excerpt #1

Louisiana 1909

Octavius rammed his shoulder against the heavy oak door. The lock and hinges gave and the door crashed backward with a satisfying thud, raising dust that sifted through the air like silver-gilt fireflies in the moonlight. Wary, he stepped across the threshold. Inside, the house was dark, the air thick—too heavy to be natural.

He knew, without reeling in the psychic tether that kept him chained to the Grigori, that Bacclum was here. That the bastard had found the demon. He prayed he wasn’t too late to save Bacclum from his own insatiable lust for power. The consequences of his failure would mean his own end.
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Kim Kaye’s on her way out of town, but she’s promised a prize—an autographed copy of her April Aprodisia release, Scream My Name. As always, you have to post a comment to enter the contest!

There is an order to the books in the Captive Souls series. Each book can be read on its own and enjoyed. But if you’re one of those people who enjoys linked books and HAS to read them in order, this is where you start!

Book One

Love is the most dangerous enchantment…

All her life Dominique Fouche has chafed under her coven’s “protection”. It’s time she found out why she has never been allowed to explore the darker side of her nature. She ventures forth to get answers from the father she has never known, only to learn he is dead and she’s the new owner of his mansion.

The house is as mysterious as her past, where just opening an ancient book releases the pent-up fury and lust of a handsome, larger-than-life creature. Her strange new lover leaves her weak, satiated—and deathly afraid.

Bacclum, a mixed-blood angel, will not allow a mere witch stop him from finding his family and claiming his rightful heritage. Even if it means using every means at his disposal to siphon off Dominique’s power. Yet once deep inside her sinfully sweet body, he finds himself bound by a magic far stronger than any spell.

There’s a reason her blood calls out to his—and it’s made her an unwitting target of the same deadly forces bent on denying Bacclum his birthright…

Warning: Contains angel lovin’ hot enough to send you to confession for a month of Sundays—even if you’re not Catholic.

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Did I mention that the book she’s giving away is excerpted in the August edition of Cosmo?!

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Excerpt #1

“Pontou et pe, q’iye an dou, v’eta!” Bacclum grunted the enchantment from behind clenched teeth. He clamped his thighs around the demon’s head and wrapped his hands around his throat.

His entire body was on fire, every muscle painfully strained as sweat poured from him and dripped onto the body of the massive creature he straddled.
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Over the next five days, I’m going to introduce you to the three novellas that begin the Captive Souls series. My friends, Kimberly Kaye Terry and Vivi Anna, have written the other two stories in this trilogy. The covers are gorgeous, aren’t they? Our ladies’ adventures are even more intriguing, I promise. And there will be prizes along the way, so be sure to post comments. Click on the covers to learn more.

The Legend

Bacclum, a descendent of the Grigori (angels sent to Earth to be the companion of man) used his inherited abilities to increase his power through spells and enchantments. Carried away with his successes, Bacclum tried to call upon a powerful angel to force him to add to his arsenal of abilities by using his name—something forbidden and dangerous. A simple mispronunciation of the name summons instead, Malvo, a powerful ancient demon, one suffering a long ennui due to his disillusionment with mankind.

Unknown to Bacclum, a guardian gargoyle, Octavius, had been assigned to investigate Bacclum’s sins and punish him if he could not be dissuaded from his search for forbidden power. Octavius, bound to watch over Bacclum, is brought into the battle when Malvo reacts angrily at being awakened by the arrogant mixed-blood angel.

After a long, hard battle, one in which Bacclum is aided by Octavius in fighting the powerful demon, Bacclum believes himself the victor over the demon. However, Malvo, in a last rush of power, uses an enchantment that binds himself, as well as his enemies—Bacclum and the gargoyle Octavius—inside Bacclum’s mansion in an isolated Louisiana parish, but in separate dimensions.

For a century and a half the house sleeps, waiting for another selfish soul to serve it.