Hey, there, Delilah fans! I’m so happy to be a guest on the blog today. Two days ago, my debut book was released by Samhain.  It’s an erotic romance called Cowboy Valentine. Cora is an 18-year-old honor student with a full ride scholarship to an Ivy League university. Caleb is her longtime cowboy crush, a local rancher’s son. The book is about the ultra-sexy fling they share the summer before Cora moves away.

Cowboy Valentine is set in a small town in the Central Valley, California’s rural heartland, home to many farms and orchards. One of the hottest love scenes in my book takes place in Caleb’s truck while he and Cora are parked in his family’s almond orchard! (Ooh la-la!)

Here’s what an almond orchard looks like when it’s in bloom.

I love to bake almost as much as I love to write. To celebrate the release of Cowboy Valentine, I’d like to share a recipe with you. This is a variation of old-fashioned peanut butter cookies but made with almonds and almond butter.  The cookies are soft and not too sweet. You can find the recipe below.

But wait! There’s more!

How about a contest? I’d like to offer a free e-book download of Cowboy Valentine and a $10 Amazon gift card to one randomly-chosen reader who answers this question in the comments below: What is your absolute favorite go-to dessert?

Please include an email address where I can reach you. Contest ends at midnight, PST, on Sunday, Aug. 30, 2015. I’ll announce the winner by special newsletter first thing on Monday morning.

Thanks, everyone!

Wishing you good reads (and good eats),

Mia

XOXO

Cowboy Valentines
a.k.a. Almond Butter Cookies

Adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction

Makes about 16 cookies

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
¾ cup brown sugar (light or dark)
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup almond butter
1 cup almond slivers

1. Whisk the first four ingredients together in a large bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, using a handheld mixer or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat butter and both sugars on medium speed until creamy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add egg and vanilla extract to sugar mixture and beat for 1 minute, scraping down sides as necessary. Add the almond butter and beat for 1 minute. Slowly add the dry ingredients and beat on low speed until combined. Using a large spoon or spatula, gently fold in the almond slivers.
4. Roll the dough into balls, about 3 tbsp of dough each. (I use my ice cream scoop.) Put the balls on a tray or large plate, cover with plastic wrap, and freeze until firm, two hours or overnight.
5. Preheat the oven to 350. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place the balls on the cookie sheet about 3 in apart.
6. Bake each batch for 12-13 minutes until very lightly browned. The cookies will look soft—that’s okay! Let cool on cookie sheets for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
7. Share with your favorite cowboy or cowgirl. Or don’t share. I won’t tell.

About Cowboy Valentine

Forget chocolate and flowers. This homegrown honey is all the sweetness he craves.

Small-town life is nothing but a waiting room for eighteen-year-old honor student Corazón Gomez. Work and school leave little time for love, but with a full-ride Ivy League scholarship and a one-way ticket out of the boondocks, who needs it?

The answer appears on Valentine’s Day when her old cowboy crush ambles into the ice cream parlor where she works, inviting her to go on a late-night ride in his truck. For the first time she wavers between staying on the straight and narrow, and going off-road with the handsome heartbreaker.

After four years working on ranches all over the country, Caleb MacKinnon is back on the family farm helping out his mom and brothers while his father fights cancer. The one bright spot: smart, funny, and wickedly sexy Cora.

From the start, they both know this blazing-hot love affair can’t last. But when autumn comes and Cora has to leave for the East Coast, Caleb must find a solution to keep himself—and his heart—from falling apart.

Reviews:

“Mia Hopkins’ sexy cowboy hero and sassy bookish heroine burn up the pages from the moment they lock eyes.” — Cat Johnson

“Beautifully descriptive…hot, sexy and full of yearning!” — Delilah Devlin

Buy the book!
Kindle
Nook
Samhain
Books-A-Million
Kobo
iTunes
Google Play

About the Author

Mia Hopkins writes lush romances starring fun, sexy characters who love to get down and dirty. She’s a sucker for working class heroes, brainy heroines and wisecracking best friends.

When she’s not lost in a story, Mia spends her time cooking, gardening, traveling, volunteering and looking for her keys. In a past life, she was a classroom teacher and still has a pretty good “teacher voice” and “teacher stare.” She lives in the heart of Los Angeles with her roguish husband and two waggish dogs.

Connect with Mia!
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest |Google+

First, let me thank Delilah for hosting me.

What is love supposed to look like? I asked my seven-year-old niece, who is obsessed with Disney Princesses, what she thought love was. Her answer? You’re supposed to like each other. Simple enough, and in all honesty not a bad answer. Growing up we all had that fairy tale that we would meet that special someone, fall in love, and live happily ever after. Love is much more complicated than that. Anyone who’s ever been in a relationship can attest to how much work they are. Compromise, fights, financial troubles, children… And just when you think everything has been worked out, something goes wrong. I know my marriage has been tested.

In paranormal romances things look a bit different, especially if one of the people is a creature. Can you imagine finding out the person you’re falling in love with is a shifter or a demon? When I was growing up, I wanted to be a mermaid, like Ariel. Or marry the Beast. Neither happened (Yay!).

In my newest release, Lyric never thought she’d find a man. Zombies have taken over. She has to do some less than desirable things just to eat. It definitely isn’t the life she’d pictured when she was young. When it comes to boyfriends, the last one she’d ever imagined herself with was a zombie. She’s more used to putting a knife between their eyes than staring into them for hours. Anson is different, and even though he isn’t what she would have chosen, he’s what she loves. For both love was never supposed to be a human and a zombie, but it’s what happened.

So my seven-year-old niece’s answer didn’t apply to Anson and Lyric in the beginning, but in the end they’d give their lives for one another.

-August Kert

Links
Blog: augustkert.blogspot.com
Facebook: facebook.com/augustkert
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Bring-Me-Life-August-Kert-ebook/dp/B00WYTF3AM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433142563&sr=8-1&keywords=august+kert
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bring-me-to-life-sat-aug-01-00-00-00-cdt-2015-kert/1121848545?ean=9781619229907
Samhain: https://www.samhainpublishing.com/book/5547/bring-me-to-life

Wolves of Willow Bend
River Wolf
Releasing August 25, 2015

Brett Dalton, Alpha of Hudson River, isolated himself from his pack mates after one betrayed him. The once, easygoing Alpha has become taciturn, remote and unforgiving. His pack worries for him, but they too have suffered a devastating blow. When several members leave to join Three Rivers, the pack faces the threat of dissolution until Brett’s best friend and Lone Wolf, Luc Danes returns to Hudson River accompanied by a beautiful young human—or is she? Something about the woman consumes Brett. Has Luc come home to help or to take the pack from Brett?

Colby Jensen wrapped up thousands of hours of community service working at the hospital in Maine when an injured Luc Danes rolled through the door. The impossible patient drove the nurses crazy, but when Danes offered her money no strings attached to drive him to New York, she agreed. The last thing she expected was to arrive in the small Westchester County town and to meet the craziest collection of residents—especially the devastatingly sexy Brett Dalton. Part of her wants to hit the road, the rest wants to make him smile and he keeps making excuses for her to stay.

Then she sees the wolves…and is exposed to a world she can barely imagine. When Brett discovers a secret about her, nothing will be the same again. Now she will find herself torn between a world she isn’t sure she can understand and the man who has taken her heart hostage…

Find excerpt for Heather Long’s River Wolf below

River Wolf
Release Date: August 25, 2015
Amazon: https://amzn.to/1KC6H4P
All Romance: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-riverwolf-1859734-168.html
Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/river-wolf-heather-long/1122426868?ean=2940151088350
iTunes:  https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/book/river-wolf/id1024860627?mt=11
Kobo:  https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/river-wolf

Focus on Willow Bend

Series Reading Order:

Wolf at Law (Prequel)
Book 1: Wolf Bite
Book 2: Caged Wolf
Book 3: Wolf Claim
Book 3.5: Wolf Next Door
Book 4: Rogue Wolf
Book 5: Bayou Wolf
Book 6: Untamed Wolf
Book 6.5: Wolf with Benefits
Book 7: River Wolf
Book 7.5: Single, Wicked Wolf (releasing in October)
Book 8: Desert Wolf (releasing later in 2015)

About the Author:

National bestselling author, Heather Long, likes long walks in the park, science fiction, superheroes, Marines, and men who aren’t douche bags. Her books are filled with heroes and heroines tangled in romance as hot as Texas summertime. From paranormal historical westerns to contemporary military romance, Heather might switch genres, but one thing is true in all of her stories—her characters drive the books. When she’s not wrangling her menagerie of animals, she devotes her time to family and friends she considers family. She believes if you like your heroes so real you could lick the grit off their chest, and your heroines so likable, you’re sure you’ve been friends with women just like them, you’ll enjoy her worlds as much as she does.

Contact Details:
Website: https://www.heatherlong.net
Email: heather@heatherlong.net
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HeatherLongAuthor
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/HVLong
Newsletter: https://eepurl.com/iKxQ5

Excerpt of River Wolf by Heather Long:

Brett had been on a call when the car pulled into his drive. His pack knew to let themselves in, and he didn’t have time for strangers so he’d ignored the knock and the doorbell ring. The unfamiliar feminine call of ‘hello’ alerted him to the stranger entering his house. Surprise followed by fury rushed through him. Then she called again, but he missed the rest of her sentence thanks to three people talking at once on the conference call. Ending it, he informed his executives he’d call them back.

Her “Hallelujah!” beckoned him.  Silent, he stalked through the house to the kitchen and discovered the young woman dripping water on the tile floor as she lifted the handset from the cradle. Instead of dialing, however, she stared at the phone with a troubled expression.

Everything about her assaulted him—her fresh raindrops on blades of green grass aroma occluded by the scent of gasoline, male wolf, and injury. The male he identified almost immediately, despite the troubling mixture. Luc.

“What the hell am I doing here?” she asked aloud. The last word came out more heyah than here, but he understood.

“That’s a very good question.” No artifice disguised her shock. She flung the phone at him and he caught it. The force of the throw impressed him, as the phone slapped against the palm of his hand. Her pulse beat a frenetic pace and her eyes widened as she locked gazes with him.

Close enough to touch her, he stilled. If she were Luc’s ride, she might have a reason for being present—then again where the hell was Luc? Zeroing in on the flare of her dilating pupils, his wolf surged beneath his skin. The rush of his animal powered through him. Inhaling a lungful of her scent, he tested what he’d already learned about her and couldn’t identify what agitated the fuck out of his wolf. Read the rest of this entry »

While spending the week in Florida with my family, I attended a few spin classes with my husband.

Yes, we are the weird-os that work out on vacation.

And while I was spinning away, I learned something about the spin instructor. For the sake of the blog post we will call her Instructor 2. Instructor 2 was the queen of quarter turns. A quarter turn, for those of you who aren’t spin class savvy, is literally a quarter turn on the resistance nob. A quarter turn to the right (harder) or to the left (easier). Most of our turns, of course, were to the right!

Instructor 2 was good, and even though the classes were only thirty minutes, my husband and I worked up a great sweat. But, Instructor 2 was much different from my normal instructor in Houston, who we will call Instructor 1. I’m working a little backwards on my numbers, I know.

If we were comparing 1 and 2 to swimming, Instructor 1 is like the cannonball kid. You know the child that runs as fast as her legs will take her, tucks her knees to her chest, and plows right into the water, no matter the temperature, sending a huge splash covering everyone in her wake? You’ve all seen that kid. That would be my Instructor 1. Her ways are slightly unconventional, but once you leave her spin class, you know you’ve left every ounce of energy behind on your sweaty bike seat.

While, Instructor 2 has a more slow approach with the quarter turns. I would compare her to the adult who sticks their toes in the water a little at a time, allowing their body to adjust to the temperature versus the total body shock of submerging yourself completely. Her ways are a bit slower, but when it’s all said and done, you’re pretty dang sweaty at the end of your thirty minutes.

No matter which teacher you choose, the jump in head first kind of gal, or the inch by inch, turn by turn instructor, you’re end product is the same. A great workout.

Same with authors. Some authors you purchase because you know you will get something steamy. Delilah Devlin would be a great example of steamy. Others you know you will get something sweet. If I pick up Nicholas Sparks, I know I’m in for a tearjerker. If I pick up a Mary Kay Andrews book, I know I’m in for Southern charm. Tracy Brogan, I’m in for a good romance with a few laughs, and Janet Evanovich, well I just need to grab a Depends because I laugh so hard sometimes my bladder threatens to lose control. And while each author goes about their stories in different ways, at the end of the day, the result, every author hopes is the same. You, the reader, are left with a great story.

So, what’s the point? Pick up a book from some author you’ve never read, try a new spin instructor, or a new cuisine. You never know what might be your next favorite, or who might pleasantly surprise you.

Erin Bevan
www.erinbevan.com

Ellie Childs isn’t looking for love. She’s looking for an AC repairman for the Forest Wood Senior Center. But when the repairman happens to be tall, dark and handsome, David White, he has the goods to make her change her mind. Unfortunately, he’s taken by a blonde Barbie.

David moved to the small town of Cupid, Arkansas to be closer to the woman he loves, his grandma, and as far away as possible from his ex-fiancée. Not thinking his broken heart would ever work again, he’s proved wrong by falling for Ellie, a good-looking redhead. She’s the farthest thing from his ex as he can get, but as luck would have it, she’s taken, and the guy she’s seeing’s a real jerk.

When David’s grandmother, Mary Costanza, see’s the instant attraction festering between David and Ellie, she calls on the help of her three friends. Together they form Cupid’s Angels. Their mission, to bring David and Ellie together. Despite their best efforts, the Angels’ plans backfire and push David and Ellie farther apart and into the arms of others. Or so they think.

Will the Angels’ good intentions win out, or will their plots and schemes be the end of David and Ellie before the could even begin?

Buy at Amazon!

It’s true. NY is my favorite place. I’ve visited LOTS of times and it’s one of those places that is endless to me. And timeless.

Endless because in NYC there are so many places to see and visit. Touristy places – yes. Here’s a few pics from my first time there several years ago and all the locations we got to see!

Statue of Liberty

Macy’s with Santa

The Rockettes

The Today Show

Empire State Building
These are my parents on their 40^th anniversary. Aren’t they adorable?!?

But also Niagara Falls in Buffalo. Love Buffalo even more than NYC!!

And timeless because I look at these pictures years later and I am positively giddy seeing them. I’m telling you all this because as you read this today I’m currently in NYC attending the BDSM Writers Con. Did I tell you how much I love NYC!!?!?! So awesome!!!

In honor of traveling and all things fantastic, let me give some stuff away!!

CONTEST – Tell me your favorite place you’ve ever visited / lived!! I have a big bag of swag for one lucky poster in the US ONLY!!! See how much awesome stuff you could win by sharing your awesomeness???

Need something to wet your whistle while you wait to see if you won goodies??

May I suggest a delicious bite out of the Members Only series…….. 😛

The books in the Members Only Series can be found here…

Together In Cyn
Haleigh’s Ink
A Very Ménage Christmas
Duke’s Valentine
Orgasm University
Accidental Voyeur
Roman’s To-Do List
Jenna’s Consent
Laila’s Lies

Stand Alone

Buried Permission
Beneath the Pages
Nico’s Curse
Elite Metal
Final Surrender
Violet’s Shadow in Romancing the Wolf Anthology

Jennifer Kacey is a writer, mother, and business owner living with her family in Texas. She sings in the shower, plays piano in her dreams, and has to have a different color of nail polish every week. The best advice she’s ever been given? Find the real you and never settle for anything less.

Website | Newsletter | Blog – The Decadent Divas |  Facebook | Facebook Author Page | Twitter | Amazon Page | Goodreads | Pinterest

Releasing Rage releases today! Woot! I’m super excited about this SciFi erotic romance, especially as it features a sizzling hot cyborg hero. I’ve written android heroes, clone heroes, but I’ve always wanted to write a cyborg hero.

Why?

Because cyborgs are half man, half machine. They’re torn between their emotion-driven human side and their logic-driven mechanic side. Yes, their mere existence is conflicted. My cyborgs have both a brain and processors. Often these two tell them different things.

For example: History has shown Rage that all humans are evil. Humans hurt cyborgs. His processors tell him not to trust Joan, his new handler. His instincts, a function of his brain, tell him she’s different. He can confide in her. She won’t hurt him. Which should he listen to—his processors or his human brain?

I think everyone can relate to this dilemma. Our hearts or instincts tell us one thing and our brains tell us another. Which is right?

There are some perks to having a hunky cyborg as a love interest. Cyborgs are very difficult to kill. They’re self healing and they have a sturdy metal frame under their human skin (which adds a hot dynamic to sex scenes – all that unrelenting male).

The nanocybotics that help cyborgs heal also prevent them from aging. They look hunky forever. These nanocybotics can be passed to human females so any female they love could also potentially live forever.

And the sex. Did I mention the sex? Cyborgs have impressive endurance. They rarely tire and they have the strength to easily lift the most curvaceous of heroines (which Joan, the heroine in Releasing Rage, is). They’re designed to attract the opposite sex, are hyper potent.

But they also have a tender side. They’re devoted to their females, would do anything for them, would sacrifice themselves to protect them. That makes for some yummy heroes!

Releasing Rage will be the first of many cyborg stories I’ll write (I’m working on the edits for Breathing Vapor right now). I LOVE cyborg heroes and I hope you will also.

Have you ever read a romance with a cyborg hero?

***

Half Man. Half Machine. All Hers.

Rage, the Humanoid Alliance’s most primitive cyborg, has two goals—kill all of the humans on his battle station and escape to the Homeland. The warrior has seen the darkness in others and in himself. He believes that’s all he’s been programmed to experience.

Until he meets Joan.

Joan, the battle station’s first female engineer, has one goal—survive long enough to help the big sexy cyborg plotting to kill her. Rage might not trust her but he wants her. She sees the passion in his eyes, the caring in his battle-worn hands, the gruff emotion in his voice.

When Joan survives the unthinkable, Rage’s priorities are tested. Is there enough room in this cyborg’s heart for both love and revenge?

Buy Now:
On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Releasing-Rage-Cyborg-Sizzle-Book-ebook/dp/B00ZOL1DRO
On ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-releasingrage-1850041-340.html

Other Booksellers:  https://cynthiasax.com/2015/07/21/releasing-rage/

***

About Cynthia Sax

USA Today bestselling author Cynthia Sax writes contemporary, SciFi and paranormal erotic romances. Her stories have been featured in Star Magazine, Real Time With Bill Maher, and numerous best of erotic romance top ten lists.

She lives in a world filled with magic and romance. Although her heroes may not always say, “I love you,” they will do anything for the women they adore. They live passionately. They play hard. They love the same women forever.

Cynthia has loved the same wonderful man forever. Her supportive hubby offers himself up to the joys and pains of research, while they travel the world together, meeting fascinating people and finding inspiration in exotic places such as Istanbul, Bali, and Chicago.

Sign up for her dirty-joke-filled release day newsletter and visit her on the web at www.CynthiaSax.com

Website:  CynthiaSax.com
Newsletter:   https://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Facebook:  facebook.com/cynthia.sax
Twitter:  @CynthiaSax
Blog:  TasteOfCyn.com

Thanks Delilah for having me as Guest Blogger, truly an honor….

As I’m new to the erotic and romance genre I thought I’d do a brief run down on my history…..from an early age I always knew I’d be a writer. My mother was a writer and I wanted and thought I would do other things with my life but I always knew I would be a writer. I think it was that unwavering conviction that I didn’t even question that enabled me to follow my dream. Sure I did a few of the other life interrupting jobs along the way but now I am a full-time writer and I personally believe it all came down to self-belief.

I started off writing for TV networks, writing sketch shows and segments – that really helped me hone the skill of writing short, sharp and snappy! I progressed to full episodes then moved into theater. I wrote cabaret shows, (the links in and around the song and dances) and then moved onto full length stage plays. With the writing bug having firmly taken hold of my life I looked around for another avenue for my writing talents and I happened upon ghostwriting. For readers out there who are not familiar with this, a ghostwriter writes books whether they be novels, non-fiction, series etc. which are published under another name. This ‘other’ name is not a pseudonym but an actual other person’s name. Now, and this is where it gets a bit bizarre, this ‘other person’ can actually exist and they have a high-profile but maybe their writing skills are not so great, (and that’s being polite 🙂 ), or this ‘other person’ may not exist but is the ‘author name’ on a series of books. Now on the face of it this may seem like cheating the reader but when you think of it as branding, it’s not. Readers like to know they’re getting a good story and if they recognize an author, just as they would recognize a brand of detergent in the store they like then they’re more likely to trust it and buy it.

Anyway…..after TV, theater, ghostwriting and appearing on stage and screen myself, (did I mention that??), I decided to try my hand at erotic fiction. My writing had always bordered on risque and maybe a bit too hot for main stream romance. Erotica seemed the ideal step for me to take and I love it. I have two ebooks published so far, both in the early part of this year and both the start of a series. My style has been described as ‘sexy and flat-out fun’, utilizing my comedic and risque background – and my heat level is definitely ramped up! I’m a quick writer but a steady editor – I have 6 books in my desk drawer which will slowly emerge when I’m ready to edit and submit them to my publisher. Everything that leaves my desk has to be the best it can be – a lesson I learnt in theater is that if someone is going to pay to leave their home for the evening, you have a duty to them. It’s the same with books – if someone invests any amount of money in purchasing a book of mine I have a duty to them.

I’m looking forward to my career in the world of erotica and I hope as many readers as possible come along with me. Catch up with me on Facebook – I’m not the most consistent poster but when I do it’s nice to know people are reading. And it’s always great to hear from readers, my email is available! And the websites coming……

Thanks Delilah.

Email me: trilbypalmer@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trilbypalmerwriter
Books Available From: www.amazon.com/author/trilbypalmerwriter

Sex Comedy

Click to Buy

When Ethan lands an audition to appear alongside Hollywood’s latest sex siren, he can hardly believe his luck. Cameron Roberts is out to prove her worth as a stage actor in the sex comedy, Blondes Get Dirty Quicker. According to his agent, all Ethan has to do is roll around in bed with Cameron, naked, every night for a week, in front of a packed audience.

Ethan learns there’s a lot more to the job—and to the leading lady—than he ever imagined. Good thing he’s well equipped for his role.

Reader Advisory: This story has graphic sexual language and scenes—no closed bedroom doors (or other rooms) here!

* * * * *

Play Around With Me

Click to Buy

Terri has an unpleasant choice to make: Sleep with the boss or lose her job as a golf pro at a private club. She gets a temporary reprieve when a wealthy and handsome new customer shows up and insists that Terri teach him to play.

Ryan isn’t much interested in learning golf, even though he has a good reason for taking lessons. All that changes when he sees a gorgeous golf pro being groped by her boss. Suddenly, he’s an enthusiastic student of the game—and he’s determined to find a way to wipe that sad look off his teacher’s face. He’s already skilled in “fore”-play.

Reader Advisory: This story has graphic sexual language and scenes—no closed bedroom doors (or other rooms) here!