Yesterday’s winner is announced at the bottom of this post! ~DD

Note from Jen, half of Ashleigh Raine:

(Just a note from DD: If you’ve never been to Ashleigh’s website, there is a very cool page dedicated to half of the writing duo’s adventures as a walk-on actress in Hollywood movies and TV shows.)

Nationally bestselling author, Anya Bast, gave us a great cover quote for this book, and I can’t thank her enough for it: “Forsaken Talisman is a romantic, action-packed adventure you won’t want to miss, filled with characters the reader will care about from the first paragraph. Ashleigh Raine delivers a thrilling story that will have you turning pages well into the morning hours.”

Forsaken Talisman, book two in the Talisman Bay series, is Dusty and Skylar’s love story, but you also get to spend time with many other characters you met in book one of the series, Lover’s Talisman, as well. More mysteries are unveiled, surprise relationships are evolving. If you haven’t read the series yet and you enjoy paranormal romantic thrillers with hot sex, we hope you’ll give this series a try.

Forsaken Talisman by Ashleigh Raine

Is she a victim of a madman’s agenda, or a willing player in his demonic games?

Book two in the Talisman Bay series.

Kidnapped and mind-wiped by the Shadow Walkers’ greatest nemesis, Skylar has no memories of her own, except for her name. All she knows is what memories she does possess belong to someone else—as does her face—and that she can’t trust anyone, including herself.
Shadow Walker Dusty Clements goes against direct orders to rescue Skylar and take her into hiding. It’s the only way to get to the truth, and keep her out of the hands of an enemy who could use her to wipe out the entire organization. The last complication Dusty needs is to fall for her.

As Dusty and Skylar work to uncover the secrets of her past, they discover a mystery more than twenty years in the making, and a love they can’t deny.

The enemy has one more trick up his sleeve though—a magical kiss capable of probing the deepest secrets of the mind. All he needs to bring the Shadow Walkers down is to get his lips on Skylar one more time…

This book was previously published but has been completely revised, rewritten, re-edited, with an addition of more than 20,000 words.

Warning, this title contains the following: Sex in an interdimensional cave. Hot men ripping demons apart bare-handed. Liberal use of the f-word as verb, adjective, threat and sexual promise. Oh, and wet and soapy sex in the shower followed by warm bodies sliding between cool sheets—yes, sex in a bed. It’s almost normal!

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An excerpt from Forsaken Talisman

2009 (c) Copyright Ashleigh Raine

For the past couple hours, Dusty had made Skylar feel good with the tenderness and strength behind his words, his caring, gentle touch.
Once his lips got involved, whoa boy, “good” was no longer an accurate description. Phenomenal. Mind-blowing. Awesome. None of those quite described the sheer joy blossoming within her.

This man, this handsome, sweet, strong and sexy warrior, was kissing her. His lips, warm and soft, brushing against hers, felt like the most natural, the most innately right thing in her world. As though the integral part of who Skylar was, her being, her id, her psyche, recognized and rejoiced in the connection.

He was holding back though, keeping his mouth closed, being as careful with her as he’d been all night. Maybe he just needed to know exactly how he made her feel.
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If you post a comment today, you’ll be in the running
for a free download of this anthology!

I had such a strange, strange dream last night. Okay, so my dreams are always a little whack. I had just moved to Washington State, near Seattle. I lived in a colorful cottage in a colorful subdivision with lush forest all around. My mother yelled that my friends were at the door. I had new friends, BFFs. And every one of them were 6-inch tall garden gnomes, each with special gifts. I can only remember two of the special gifts. One of the guys could grow himself to human size, which was a good thing since he was my boyfriend. One of the girls could see the future and she said the world was going to end unless I fixed it. I’m guessing at that point my subconscious said fixing the world was too much work because I woke up.

I pulled out my dream dictionary. From what I can figure out, dreaming about little people friends means that friends are becoming less important to me. That might be true at the moment since I’m on deadline and the book is consuming all my time. The fact the boyfriend could grow to give me sex meant that’s a little more important to me. Interesting.

Anyway, that’s not what I planned for the day. It’s another flashback and another chance for you to win! This story appeared in the Ellora’s Cavement: Jewels of the Nile, Volume 1 and was released March 2008.

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5 Stars from Just Erotic Romance Reviews: “…Jewels of the Nile is definitely a keeper…Ms. Devlin’s MAKING THE MADAM was my favorite of the anthology, with a short fun story…The sex was written perfectly and was incredibly hot with some voyeurism thrown in…one of my favorite books this year…”

5 Fairies from Dark Angels Reviews: “…I could not get enough of this story and wished it went on forever…I was grinning from ear to ear…The erotic scenes in this story will make your body tingle and burn for more. What a wonderful way to spend on hour, reading away. You will crave more from Ms. Devlin.”

4 1/2 Lips from Two Lips Reviews: “…I still have to chuckle at how naïve Merry is. MAKING THE MADAM is a very short story, but not short on sex or emotions…This is such a lighthearted and entertaining read…I found all stories to be highly erotic page turners with strong characters and great settings.”

5 Angels from Fallen Angels Reviews: “…Ms. Devlin will take the readers on a ride on the wild side of the west. Merry and Nathan will have the readers in stitches as the story unfolds. The intense passion will have the readers screaming for more and grabbing lots of ice…”

Widow Merry Winslow heads west to claim an inheritance from an aunt she never really knew. She expects to take over the reins of her aunt’s emporium, but discovers the true nature of the business when she arrives — she’s inherited a saloon with a brothel above stairs! Rather than being dismayed, Merry’s intrigued and finds it the perfect way to shed the shackles of propriety that have hidden her true wild and impulsive nature. Only problem is, she needs someone to make her into a madam…

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Merry Winslow balled her hands into fists and stomped down the dusty planked sidewalk, forgetting every lesson in decorum she’d ever learned at Miss Peabody’s Finishing School or in Homer Winslow’s parlor.

Her aunt’s attorney had taken one look at her black widow’s weeds and decided, without ever taking her true measure, she was completely unsuited to the rough life in Cranston, Colorado.

She’d noted his slow perusal of her beaded lace veil, the gold watch pinned to her bosom, the sheen of her fine bombazine dress and polished leather half boots—and the odious man immediately dismissed her as unworthy.

How could he have decided within two minutes of their meeting when her own husband hadn’t known until his mother pointed out all her faults?
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I’m talking about the inspiration for my freebie Valentine story, Love in Bloom, at the Samhellion today! Join me there if you can. The Samhellion

When Amanda meets her old high-school crush, he doesn’t remember her.

A bouquet of flowers and a lost towel spark an affair neither one will forget…

Enjoy reading a sweet and sexy Valentine story—free this month on Samhain’s blog, The Samhellion, as part of a series of free stories to celebrate Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day! XOXO ~DD

When Amanda meets her old high-school crush, he doesn’t remember her. A bouquet of flowers and a lost towel spark an affair neither one will forget.

Today’s the day my free short story (okay, not so short since I couldn’t wind it up for 5000 words) debuts at Samhain’s blog. It’s sweet and sexy, and has one glaring typo in it. Please excuse it, but that’s what happens when I edit myself! Click the cover and you’ll be right there. Be sure to leave me a comment too so I know who enjoyed it!

As for my weekly Sunday Report Card, this last week flashed by in frenzy of writing. I’m not sure how good it was, but it was plentiful. I wrote chapters 6-9 of my Berkley book. I may be deleting one scene that I had way too much fun writing. I giggled through the whole thing—a sure sign it’s probably too funny to leave in a Viking story.

The only other noteworthy accomplishment was the sale of First Knight, a medieval set in the My Immortal Knight world. My editor sent me the news on Thursday, and I signed and mailed the contract on Friday.

I also discovered on Friday that the book I sold to EC in early January will be coming out February 17th—so stay tuned for a countdown contest. Fun With Dick and Jayne is superfun, über-sexy and has a threesome. I’ll share more later! Have a great week!

Psst! The winner of Thursday’s contest is at the bottom of this posting! ~DD

Talk about strange dreams. Last night, I dreamed I was friends with a gargoyle who looked like Ricky Martin and whose name was…yeah, Ricky. He came to see me every now and then because the only way he stayed human was if someone believed in him. So he brought his wife and two kids to visit. I rubbed his face (the magic part) and listened to his plans. His wife and he were studying for the CPA exam and planned to open a tax preparer’s shop called “Kim and Ricky’s Tax Preparation”.

Anyway, I don’t usually repeat the sneak peeks so close together, but I found out yesterday while I was cruising Ellora’s Cave’s “Coming Soon” page that Fun with Dick and Jayne will be released on February 17th! Mark your calendars!

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He didn’t know the nightly peepshow was just a naughty invitation…

Garrett knows what he’s doing can get him into trouble, but he can’t help himself. Every night, as he arrives home, the blonde across the alley gets busy with her boyfriend with the blinds open. He’s spent the past two weeks getting an eyeful and falling deep into lust.

But when Garrett sees a man in a black ski mask sneak into his sexy neighbor’s bedroom, he doesn’t know he’ll be the one captured.

Jayne has a nice life with a nice lover who sees to her every need, but she’s still drawn to the lonely man across the alley. She’s been sharing her deepest fantasies with him from afar, but is ready to up the stakes. When she talks Richard into enacting a dangerous scenario, everything works out as planned. Only Garrett’s not happy about being played. And he’s got reservations because she already has a lover and he’s not into threesomes. Guess she’ll just have to convince him otherwise.

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This is a snippet from Jayne and Garrett’s first “alone” date. Too bad for you I cut it off before his best buddy Finn gets to play a little too…

The drive to the Italian restaurant seemed to take forever. Her flowery scent filled the car, made his nose and his dick twitch. All he could think about was running his tongue all over her curves to find every place she’d touched with her perfume.

Jayne flipped down the visor and gazed at herself in the mirror. “You must be wearing my lipstick.” She opened her small black bag and rummaged inside. Then she laughed.

“What is it?” he asked, darting a glance toward her lap.

Jayne raised a small silver object in her palm for him to see. “Richard left us a present.”

“What…” But he knew the second the words left his mouth. “A vibrator. Your boyfriend gave you a vibrator for our date?”

“Isn’t he sweet?”

“I’m assuming he intends you to use it.”

“We could always surprise him. Want me to put it inside you?”

His gaze swung toward her. Her smile reassured him she didn’t have designs on his ass, but the shiny metal egg did up the tension riding his body. “It’s mine to use however I want or you’re gonna pitch it out the window.”

“Fine by me,” she said, sounding breathless. “It’s all yours.”

He swung into the parking lot and drove to the back, halting beside a tall hedgerow. He turned to her and gave her a hard stare. “Before anyone sees. Get up on the seat on your knees.”

Jayne’s eyes shimmered with excitement, and she quickly turned away, shifting her knees onto the seat and bending toward the window. “Be quick. I don’t want anyone to see.”

“That worries you?”

“Someone other than you might see, and yeah, I don’t flash my vajayjay to the whole world.”
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Don’t forget! The contest described in yesterday’s blog ends tomorrow. So, there’s still time to enter!

I’ve decided to try to write a weekly blog for writers. Every Friday I’ll share a little of what I’ve learned: tips, philosophy, favorite tools. This first posting is something I wrote a long time ago, but still holds true today

Okay, now that Boy George’s song will be in your head for the rest of the day, let’s talk about karma and why you need it! I’m a huge believer that none of my successes would have happened without my creating positive karma around me.

My son’s early driving disasters taught me what karma was all about. Every time he drove somewhere he shouldn’t, he had a wreck. After the third wreck that injured his sister slightly, he finally believed that something was at work.

What does good or bad karma mean to me? Karma is the “energy” that surrounds you and helps or hurts you. It’s something you build—it can’t just happen to you. If you do good deeds—good surrounds you. If you do ill toward others, it clings to you like Pig Pen’s smutty cloud of dirt.

My sister, Elle, and I have preached “good karma” to our fellow Roses since before we formed the group. Whenever we were tempted to criticize another author’s writing or express envy for her success, we chanted the mantra—“good karma, good karma.”

But it goes farther than simply not denigrating someone else’s success. We firmly believe you have to contribute to others’ success for karma to work for you.

Even before we were published, we formed, along with Layla Chase, a critique group that served our San Antonio RWA chapter. We offered plotting retreats to our chapter members to share what we’d learned about writing along the way and encourage them to write the wonderful stories they plotted. We volunteered to serve as officers in our chapter and to help with the annual conference.

We shared our experience and knowledge with anyone who wanted it—and we didn’t wait for them to seek us out. We looked for the inexperienced or struggling authors. We recruited them.

Today, several of our “recruits” have published and placed in contests. When they have success, we’re overjoyed. We don’t want to keep all the success to ourselves, because karma must be shared to work.

So, maybe I sound a little New Age-y, but my experience has proven to me the Buddhist belief in karma. Go create some great karma of your own. Join! Volunteer! Contribute!—however much time and energy you can to other writers. The gift will come back to you tenfold.

“Karma, karma, karma, karma…” Just wanted to make sure you didn’t forget the song!