The Mermaid Journal contest continues! Post a comment today for another chance to win! ~DD

Thanks so much for having me, Delilah!

My May release Past Midnight is the first book in my sexy new DeKnight Trilogy from Berkley Heat. It’s the emotional tale of a couple who had the perfect life until they lost their son, and their struggle to find each other again. Here’s a brief blurb.

A devastating blow rocked Erin and Dominic DeKnight’s marriage, and now only extreme sexual games can soothe their emotional pain. But their most daring erotic adventure is just ahead, and it could ultimately destroy everything they hoped to save.

When I tell people that I do research for my erotic romances, they always think I mean sex research! No! I have a very vivid imagination for that. Though I write contemporary erotic romance, my characters can’t be having sex all the time. There’s got to be a story, too! My editor loves what she calls my “business” books. I’m an accountant by training, and I spent 20 years working in Silicon Valley, so I love incorporating that business world into my stories (see, there is more than sex!). The Fortune Hunter trilogy was set in a mining equipment company. And the background for the DeKnight trilogy is a small company which manufactures ultrasonic testing gauges. You see, Erin and Dominic own this firm together. In order to give my readers a real feel, I interviewed my neighbor, Teresa. She and her husband own a company very similar to DeKnight Gauges, Inc. It’s just amazing what ideas come when you simply listen to people talk about what they do. I have to thank Teresa for giving the story direction from the business point of view, helping me add a little corporate intrigue (stolen patents). The other two books in the trilogy will center on two of their employees, one their accountant (or course), and the other a single mother reentering the work world after a divorce.

Research doesn’t stop with the business side of things. I sent Erin and Dominic on a train ride, and in order to get those details correct, I took a trip on Amtrak’s Zephyr from San Francisco to Reno. My family went with me, and we had a great time. I was able to get all the details I needed, including a tour of the sleeping car given to me by a helpful porter.

This past weekend, I went to Las Vegas, again with my family, to research a trip my lovers take in the third book of the DeKnight trilogy, Anything Goes After Hours. My mother said I made her walk 9 miles so I could take photos of the Grand Canal in the Venetian, the indoor Paris cityscape, the Bellagio’s conservatory, and much much more. She drew the line at going on the roller coaster in New York New York, though. We did see “Menopause, The Musical” at the Luxor. Mom adored it!

So just because I write erotic romance, don’t think I skimp on the research! The truth is research actually helps shape the story, taking me in directions I wouldn’t have thought of without it.

Past Midnight is available online and in local your bookstore and also in e-format, Kindle and Nook. Book 2, What Happens After Dark will be out in Nov 2011 and Book 3, Anything Goes After Hours will be coming in April 2012. Don’t miss an excerpt.

I also invite readers to visit my website, www.jasminehaynes.com, and my blog, www.jasminehaynes.blogspot.com. I’m currently doing a free read on the blog, a chapter a week of Kinky Neighbors, a naughty little foursome tale.

I got two fan letters yesterday that made me smile, but also made me reconsider my plans, because they are pretty representative of the kind of fan mail I’ve been getting lately about my Dark Realm series.

Hi There !!
First off I love your style of writting- ABSOLUTELY amazing! I have finshed the fourth book “Darkness Captured”. I have a quick question, pls tell me there will be a book on Marduk! He is Breathtaking.
Thank You and HAPPY WRITTING !!!
JG

I wrote her back to say that since Avon won’t be publishing the series any more, would she be willing to buy a sequel as an eBook? Then this came a few minutes later.

Hi Ms. Devlin,
I have read your first 3 books of the Dark Realm Series…and am currently reading the 4th, Darkness Captured (I’m on chapter 4). My friend JG just emailed you asking if there will be more books….and you replied below…..I just want to tell you I would definitely purchase your books as ebooks….heck, if you write it down on napkins or toilet paper I would buy that!!!!!! Your books are FANTASTIC….I love your style of writing….please, please continue this series!!!!!!
Sincerely,
MC

MC didn’t believe that she was really talking to me, so I told her I’d post her letter here to prove it. Hi there, MC!

Argh! I’m looking at my plan for the year, and it looks like I could tackle it this fall. It won’t be as long as the other four DR books, but it will be longer than my usual 25k eBook, because DR fans really loved the deeper world building and I can’t do that in short format. I’ll probably cuss every bit of the way because I find it hard to self-motivate to write a story that long. I’ve needed the fear of an editor’s deadline to keep my ass in the chair. So thanks, JG and MC, for the awesome emails! Grrr…

In the meantime… I have to choose a winner for the Voodoo Doll contest (the pic’s on last Tuesday’s blog). Who gets that ugly little mug? Laura Bowles is this week’s lucky winner! Laura, send me an email with your snail mail addy and I’ll get your doll into the mail.

This week’s prize is another of the pretty journals I purchased from one of my favorite curio shops. This one has a picture of a very pretty mermaid on the cover. Be sure to post a comment to enter the drawing. And you can post here or on Facebook over the coming week to increase your chances of winning!

Today’s your last chance to enter the Voodoo Doll contest (see last Tuesday’s post for a picture of the prize)! Post a comment here today for another chance to win. Then if you want still one more chance, head to After Midnight Fantasies where I’m blogging today as well! ~DD

I’ve been working hard on the next Lone Star Lovers book, and because I can’t seem to get my head out of the story (that’s a good thing!), I’m keeping this short today, and simply posing another of my questions….

If, with your safety guaranteed, you could experience something considered
very dangerous, what would you want to experience most of all?

Not a bad week!

* A new release! Click on the cover for Begging For It—if you haven’t already purchased your copy. (Thanks to whomever starred it on the EC website! I still need a review or two to tell other readers what to expect!)

* 50 pages on a new Lone Star Lovers story, for which I still seek a sexy title. Any suggestions? Pie features in this one. Apple pie in particular, but so do four lusty cowboys!

* I began working on the opening scene of a new vampire novella. It’s very rough, not very interesting. I have to find the spark and soon so I can zoom through the story when I wrap up the cowboy thingie this week!

And I saw THOR! Loved it! I suppose it could have been better, but I enjoyed it. It was a fantasy thrillride with plenty of humor, danger and angst. I really loved the lead actor (lovely, lovely body!) and Natalie Portman was suprisingly funny. I hope they plan sequels. Guess we’ll have to see if the movie does well enough over time to warrant it. In the meantime, they’ve given me my Norse fix and a face for my blond Viking in Enslaved by a Viking, HAKON! I’ll need that face in my mind when I write his story.

And remember, there’s still time to enter the Voodoo Doll contest. Drop a comment! A picture of the prize is in Tuesday’s posting!

I was in a girly mood the other night and downloaded several new songs to my iPod…

Familiar Taste of Poison by Halestorm
I Get Off by Halestorm
I Kissed a Girl by Katie Perry
S&M by Rhianna
Rolling in the Deep by Adele
Jar of Hearts by Christina Perri
And because I couldn’t download all the girlstuff without adding a little testo to the mix:
Diamond Eye (Boom-Lay-Boom) by Shinedown

The one getting the most rotation on iPod is Jar of Hearts, so I was curious about the video. I love it–up until the point the dancers come in. I love the incubus-like element to the story. I’m also suffering tattoo-envy.

So what are you listening to lately?

Remember, the Voodoo Doll contest continues. Post a comment for a chance to win!

Okay, it’s a hokey blog title, but I couldn’t resist! 🙂 Anyway, I don’t have any pearls of wisdom for you today. I’m just pimpin’ a book. Why should you buy it? It’s got plenty of raunchy sex with multiple partners, a heroine searching for release, a hero ready to deliver. What more could you want? Oh yeah, it has a story too! Click on the cover and buy it!

If you do buy, be sure to star it, write a review about it, tell a friend too! Any help at all getting the word out is greatly appreciated!

She needs punishment…before she deserves pleasure.

Tragedy scarred TJ Lipton. Now the only way she can find pleasure is when it’s delivered with a heavy-handed dose of S&M. But finding a lover who can give her what she needs proves an elusive quest—until she finds the sex club Unfettered and a Dom named Cross McNally.

Cross understands all too well what drives TJ. He takes command of her body to give her everything she needs—restraint, the stinging kiss of a flogger, the thrill of a three-way—a sexual adventure that pulls her beyond her painful past and has her begging for more of his tender brand of domination.

The Voodoo Doll contest continues! Post a comment today for another chance to win!

Warning! Maybe you shouldn’t read this if you’re at work or kids are looking over your shoulder. 🙂

Tomorrow’s the day. My naughty BDSM story will release and you will get a chance to check out TJ and Cross. TJ’s a hard case. Thinks she can protect her heart. Thinks all she wants is sex. Cross, however, knows her. He takes her on a journey that breaks her down one brick at a time until she’s his. This is their first time together. You’ll see her rough edges. Too bad you can’t see into his head—but that’s something you’ll have to wait for until tomorrow! Hope you enjoy.

Note for Readers: You must be of legal age in your country of origin to read this excerpt.

His teeth flashed, and TJ felt an instant wave of heat that didn’t have thing to do with the fact his hands were rubbing oil onto her nipples, thumbs and forefingers pausing to pluck and twist the tips. That smile softened his expression and made him handsome.

Downward he roamed, slicking over her belly then onto her thighs, her knees, calves. Lord, her toes.
Each was parted, kneaded. And then his glance sliced to her pussy. “Part your legs for me, sweetheart.”

She was embarrassed by how fast she complied, but he didn’t smirk. He simply glided a fingertip along her nude folds, up and down then in between, tracing the edges of her thin, inner lips.

Her pussy clenched then opened, making a moist, sucking sound that snared his attention and made her blush. “I like a nude pussy,” he murmured. “Keep it like this.”

He said it as though they’d see each other again. Frankly, she hoped he’d last longer than Brent.

Fingers parted her and pulled up her folds to bare her clit. Air hissed between her teeth at the first, oily swirl atop the hard, rounded knot.

“Same sweet pink as your lips.”

She rolled her eyes. “We are not discussing my pussy.”

His eyebrows waggled. “Even if how much I like it will mean I spend some extra time there?” Fingers thrust inside her, two—thick, hard digits that twisted and thrust.
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