I fell behind my goal last week of the number of books I would read. I read only one, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

If you’ve read my blog for a while, you’ll know that I’m a Maya Banks fan. I had read For Her Pleasure, but didn’t review it because the book wasn’t to my taste, but Sweet Surrender was everything I hoped.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sometimes the first step in taking control is surrendering.

Under Faith Malone’s deceptively soft exterior lies a woman who knows exactly what she wants. A strong man who’ll take without asking—because she’s willing to give him everything…

Dallas cop Gray Montgomery is on a mission: find the guy who killed his partner—and bring him to justice. So far, he’s found a link between the killer and Faith—and if Gray has to get close to her to catch the killer, so be it.

Faith is sweet and feminine, everything Gray wants and desires in a woman, but he suspects she’s playing games. No way she would allow a man to call the shots in their relationship. Or would she?

Faith sees in Gray the strong, dominant man she needs, but he seems determined to keep her at a distance. So she takes matters into her own hands to prove to him it’s no game she’s playing. She’s willing to surrender to the right man. Gray would like to be that man. But catching his partner’s killer has to be his first priority. Until Faith is threatened and Gray realizes he will do anything to protect her.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

If you click on the cover, the link will take you to Maya’s website where you can read a juicy excerpt.

So what in particular did I like about this book?

Okay, it was a Maya book so you know it was HAWT.

The characters were likable, and there were plenty of sexy men for Maya to fill three or four sequel books.

There was a little suspense subplot going on too, but the main emphasis of the book was the push and pull between the hero and heroine. The hero is a natural Dom; the heroine exploring the newly awakened submissive inside her. This wasn’t the master/slave, crawling on her knees, collar and leash relationship. Instead, it was tender—a woman looking for a man to take charge in a relationship and see to all her needs. Nice escapism.

Oh! And it was set in Texas. Need I say more? 😉

I know you want to learn who won yesterday’s prize, but you’ll have to read to the bottom to find out!

Before I remind you why you should give Saddled a try, let me do my thing and catch you up.

I wrote like a demon through Monday, and really thought I’d finish up that sexy little contemporary this week, but I’m not happy with the opening. So, I stopped dead in my tracks and took a step back so that I can get some perspective on the story. I think the problem is the pacing, and maybe it’s feeling a little flat emotionally. Anyway, I concentrated instead on the free Rose’s Colored Glasses workshop I’m co-leading with my sister. It’s been a blast so far. When we lead something like this, we’re the ones who come away feeling energized.

I haven’t been sleeping well lately. I go through cycles of insomnia from time to time. Last night I was up until 4 AM. It’s just after one right now and I took a sleeping pill. We’ll see if that does the trick. If this were winter time, I wouldn’t mind so much, but I like hitting the pool before the sun gets too high overhead. Translation: I don’t compensate by sleeping late.

So back to Saddled…

If you haven’t read it yet, and need a little nudge, take a look at what reviewers have been saying:

5 Stars from Just Erotic Romance: “…I couldn’t put this story down! It was danger, betrayal, sexy and fun all rolled together into the perfect erotic romance. The plot was brilliant, and the characters unique…The sexual scenes will make you clamp your knees together and dream of a sexy cowboy or two of your own…”

5 Angels from Fallen Angels Reviews: “…Saddled is scorching hot. Delilah Devlin delivers a powerful punch, both physical and emotional…Ms. Devlin doesn’t just write hot sex, she also gets into her characters’ emotions and pulls the reader in until you’re waiting on the edge of your seat to see what will become of these three when the snow melts…”

4.5 Blue Ribbons from Romance Junkies: “… Delilah Devlin’s storylines never fail to pull readers into the story and SADDLED is no exception…Of course the sex scenes are scorching and adventurous with the perfect blend of emotional turmoil to ensure readers keep Ms. Devlin’s name at the top of their ‘must read’ list.”

Don’t take their word, take a peek…

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

She was alone for the first time since her rescue. The telephone lying on a side table just within reach tempted her. But did she really want to call David? Or maybe the rental company instead, to let them know their car was floating down a stream? Only she didn’t want reality to intrude on her little fantasy. Not yet.

Two sexy cowboys had set their minds on providing for her pleasure. Tomorrow, she’d be responsible. Today, she’d play and immerse herself in wanton delight.

Her body ached in interesting places. The muscles of her inner thighs felt tight and stretched. Her belly burned as though she’d done a hundred sit ups. Her skin felt as though a loofah had reinvigorated her surface, made her more sensitive to touch, flushed with heat—she thought the next time one of them smoothed his callused palm over her she might come from just a simple caress.

She tried hard not to think about the raw, wet state of her pussy. It pulsed and quivered, the sensations growing as footsteps climbed onto the porch outside the door, drawing nearer.

Would they be able to see the arousal slowly consuming her when they looked at her?

The front door opened and cold wind swept inside. Bobby and Cale entered, dropping the old-fashioned wooden latch to close them in. Their coats and legs were covered in snow, and they shed the jackets and boots next to the door and bent to brush away the snow clinging to their legs before walking deeper into the room.

Both their gazes honed in on her.
Read the rest of this entry »

If you post a comment today, you’ll be in the running
for a free download of this book!

Released in June 2004, The Pleasure Bot was my first futuristic and one of my favorite stories to write. Maybe I loved it so much because I plotted it with the help of some of my closest friends during a weekend plotting bootcamp. We snorted and giggled through Declan’s audacity, Priss’s cluelessness, and Agnes’s grating voice. I always meant to go back and write the sequel to this story to give Agnes, the AI computer, her own happy ending.

TOP PICK! From RT BOOKreviews Magazine: “… A long weekend of debauchery with her newest sex toy, the Pleasure Bot, is just what Priss needs to scratch her itch. But when the online sex shop delivers her order, she’s in for a shock!…Hot sex, sidesplitting humor and an out-of-this-world story set this erotica apart from the rest! ”

From Romance Reviews Today: “Oh my! Talk about a story that’s hot and funny all at the same time. THE PLEASURE BOT is sprinkled with witty dialogue, very heated sex, and interesting characters.”

Priscilla Potter rents the latest sex toy, a better-than-lifelike pleasure robot, for a little weekend R&R. However, her fantasy companion isn’t quite what she expected. He’s unshaven, uncouth, and doesn’t seem to understand she’s in charge of her own pleasure. But she soon decides the on-line shop got the order just right. As the weekend draws to a close, she has to find a way to keep her robot past its return date.

Bootlegging “entrepreneur” Declan O’Hanlon needs a place to lay low until he can figure out how to liberate his crew and ship from Customs impound. The “uninhabited” house he picks for his hideout actually belongs to a sex kitten who mistakes him for her latest toy. Intrigued by the idea of being a woman’s fantasy come true, Declan does what any red-blooded man would do—he pretends to be her acquisition. But he doesn’t count on Priss being quite so irresistible. As the time to depart nears, he wonders how he can ever leave her behind.

“Aaa—gnes!” Priscilla shouted again, and then paused to kick off her heels before continuing on to her bedroom. “What’s with you? Are you still sulking about me threatening to pull your grid?”

“Of course not,” Agnes replied, in a monotone. “I’m just a hunk of cells, no real intelligence, no feelings to hurt.”

Priscilla rolled her eyes and reached for the first button at the top of her white blouse. “So when is it arriving?”

“It?”

“My Pleasure Bot.”

“Oh, about your new toy…”

“Aaa—gnes?” Her hands froze on button number three. “Don’t tell me they can’t deliver.”

“No, no.”

“Whew! You had me worried there.” She continued unbuttoning her blouse, letting her mind roam to the coming hours. Already her body was juiced at the thoughts of the wicked things she wanted to try with her lifelike, better-than-life-sized robot.

“Well, I just wanted to remind you of a few things first.”

“Like?” She hoped like hell Agnes wasn’t going to give her the list of the manufacturer’s disclaimers.

“You were promised lifelike.”

“Yeah, yeah. Down to the wet tongue and hangnails, I’m sure.” She finished with the last button and peeled off the shirt.

“Just so you know, it’s also programmed to believe it’s a real person—to enhance the experience.”

The word “enhance” was the only one her mind registered. All day long, the thought of all that “enhanced” hardware aimed at providing her the ultimate pleasure had put heat in her cheeks and a bounce in her step. Her skirt joined the heap on the floor. “All right. Is there more?”

“Um…it’s in the kitchen.”
Read the rest of this entry »

But I’m worried about Mary Shannon.

You know, the U.S. Marshall in In Plain Sight. The woman’s got big problems, many of them caused by her own bad attitude, but she’s lying in a hospital bed with the doctor’s waiting for her to get strong enough so they can perform the surgery to save her life. Last night she was shot in the series season finale, and the bastards at USA are going to make me wait until Spring to find out whether she makes it.

Okay, so I know it’s just TV and if they renew the show, she has to live, but there are sooooo many other plot threads left dangling after that wacky season that I don’t want to wait until freaking Spring!

Let’s talk about her family. Her mom’s an alcoholic who went through rehab this season, and I can only hope she falls off the wagon again because Leslie Ann Warren was delightful as a lush. Her sister escaped the federal drug charges against her…or has she? The relentless FBI guy wants sis as much as he’s gunning for Mary now for aiding and abetting.

Mary’s adorable Latino boyfriend, Raphael, proposed and moved in with Mary. And anyone watching the two of them together knows they will never make it to the alter. He’s a nurturer and she can’t stand being taken care of. Rafe and the sis however… I think we see that coming!

Her partner is my favorite part of the show. We’ve had hints all along how much he’s into Mary. This season, while toasting her engagement to Rafe, he said he loved her, but everyone listening assumed…love like a friend. We, the audience, knew he’s nuts about her. Mary hasn’t a clue and treats him like an annoying flea.

Then there’s Stan her boss, the adorably sexy little Jack Russell who’s wonderful to watch when he’s laying into guys heads taller than he is. He’s sexy when he gets all riled up and his new admimistrative worker, Mary’s estrogen rival in the office, can’t resist his appeal from time to time.

Then there’s the tantalizing thread of her missing father who’s on the run from the law—see why I love her? Her life’s a complete mess.

Mary, Mary, Mary….what will I do until Spring?

This week, I made nice progress on a sexy ménage, took tons of pictures of mushrooms, prepared for a workshop starting tomorrow (one I’m leading), helped host out-of-towners here for a funeral and still found time to splash around in the pool.

Did you know I have a new interview at Fallen Angels Reviews? It’s fun and short—stop by after you read it and let me know if you learned anything you didn’t already know about me. Here’s the URL: FAR Interview

About the ménage, it’s set in Texas, involves sexy underwear and firemen with no fears of going there. As fast as it’s coming I should be done by the end of next week. What I should be working on is something my agent asked me to do, but I’m resisting. I hate writing on spec and have had to do it so often over the past months that every fiber of my being revolts at the thought of doing it one more time. But I will—after I sink into the depths of depravity in my current kink-fest. My, aren’t I getting purple-prosey.

I have a new workshop my sister and I are leading that kicks off tomorrow morning. It’s Rose’s Write 50 Books a Year. If you’re a writer and haven’t already signed up, it’s not too late. It’s interactive, makes you plan your work, and it’s free!

Back to those mushrooms. A couple of days ago, I posted pictures on my blog of some stunning mushrooms I found outside my back door. Today, I went exploring again with my little Canon Elph and found more lovely mushies. I think I’m obsessed. I want to print copies of them and make a collage to hang on my wall—but then everyone would know how wierd I am, so I’ll just show them to you here and maybe the unnatural urge will be scrubbed from my system.

Don’t these two look like tiny Martians? Take me to your leader!

Read the rest of this entry »

If you could swallow a pill that would stop anything of your choice from ever happening to you again—anything except keep you from getting sick—what would the pill permanently end?

My answer is I’d love to take a pill that stopped me aging. Not because I’m vain or afraid of it, but because I’d like to keep active and not lose any more of my mental faculties than I already lost in my 20’s.

What would you like to end?

Some of you may wonder why anyone would give up South Texas with the cowboys in tight Wranglers, Tex-Mex food, wide open skies and a rich, varied culture for the backwoods of Arkansas. So I thought I’d give you a glimpse into one reason I did that very thing.

The scenery changes from season to season, but also varies according to the amount of rainfall and bright sun we get. An ice storm or high winds can change it irrevocably, so once in a while, I like to take a camera into the yard.

We had a lot of rain the past few weeks, and today when I stepped outside I spotted what I thought were flowers growing underneath the massive white oak in the backyard.

Read the rest of this entry »