UPDATE: The winner is…Anna!
*~*~*

©Diana Cosby 2022

One thing I discovered since I began taking wildlife photos is that birds have a variety of expressions.  My favorite expression to catch a photo of is their ‘Angry’ look, so I thought I’d share a few of my favorite ‘Mad Bird’ photos.

I always thought Bluebirds were so sweet, but after watching them, I’ve learned they’re very territorial.

Red-Tailed Hawks are intelligent hunters, so I wasn’t surprised to see their intimidating stare.

It’s always wonderful to see eagles, they’re such majestic birds, and they have a fierce look.

I was impressed by the ferocious expressions of the starlings, made more so when they’re trying to keep other birds away from their food.

After taking many bird photos, I think the best ‘Mad Bird’ expressions are from grackles as their fierce look is so intense.  Take care, and I wish you the best.

Contest

***ONE winner will be drawn from everyone who posts on my guest blog post about, ‘Who Knew Birds Had Expressions – Mad Birds!’ on Delilah’s blog between 11 September 2022 – 18 September 2022, and will win a signed copy of His Woman.”

About Diana Cosby

A retired Navy Chief, Diana Cosby is an international bestselling author of Scottish medieval romantic suspense. Books in her award-winning MacGruder Brothers series have been translated into five languages. Diana has spoken at the Library of Congress, Lady Jane’s Salon in NYC, and appeared in Woman’s Day, on USA Today’s romance blog, “Happy Ever After,” MSN.com, Atlantic County Women Magazine, and Texoma Living Magazine.

After her career in the Navy, Diana dove into her passion – writing romance novels. With 34 moves behind her, she was anxious to create characters who reflected the amazing cultures and people she’s met throughout the world. After the release of the bestselling MacGruder Brothers series and The Oath Trilogy, she released the bestselling The Forbidden Series.

Diana looks forward to the years of writing ahead and meeting the amazing people who will share this journey.

God bless,

Diana Cosby, International Best-Selling Author
www.dianacosby.com
The Oath Trilogy
MacGruder Brother Series
The Forbidden Series

Social Media
Website:  https://www.dianacosby.com/
Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/978803.Diana_Cosby
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Diana-Cosby/e/B003YJ1MR4/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1417447922&sr=8-1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Diana-Cosby-Romance-Author-150109024636/?ref=ts

I love writing for my publisher, The Wild Rose Press.  When they put out a call for erotic stories set in exotic locales for their hottest line, I was all-in.  I’d written a story for them earlier that I set in my favorite city in the world — Vancouver, Canada.  When my editor confirmed that Canada was considered an ‘exotic location’, I knew where I was going to set my story.

Now, I’m Canadian.  Aside from politics, guns, and a few other diverging issues, we are a lot like Americans — we consume much of the same media, face the same climate change threats, and speak the same language (although the accents vary — and I threw in a character from my ancestral province of Newfoundland for that extra Canadian diversity).

Anyway, I had my location.  I brought in a couple of characters from a previous book (don’t worry, this new book is a complete stand-alone), then I needed a scenario.  In a moment of solemn reflection, I realized the story I wanted to tell — the story I needed to tell.  I had a studio executive from Hollywood heading to Vancouver to wait until a crisis blows over.  My previous story set in Vancouver involved the movie business (a huge industry up here in Canada), so I had everything I needed. Oh, I needed another hero.  Enter a genuinely nice naïve young man, making his way in a world he doesn’t always understand.

Okay, I named him Seamus (a good Newfie name).  I named my studio executive Frank and called the book Vanishing in Vancouver.  I wrote the book, felt good about it, and sent it off to my editor.

The editorial team came back with a few changes.  Like the title.  It didn’t really say sexy.  This was supposed to be a story about an American coming to a foreign land and having a sexy affair — the series is, after all, named Passport to Pleasure.  (Other titles included Sorrento Seduction, Steamy Cairo Nights, Hot Highland Fling, Getting Lucky in London, and Pacific Persuasion. Oh, and also, Frank didn’t scream hero to them.

I wracked my brains. Then pulled in a couple of friends.  One suggested Valentino — named after Rudolph Valentino, the sexy Hollywood actor.  And the character could be nicknamed Val.  Hence Valentino in Vancouver.

The editorial team loved it, and the project got the green light.

I worried about the sensitive nature of the topic, and a friend who was reading the book for me expressed concerns after the first chapter.  In fact, she wrote to me and asked if she was safe to proceed.  I assured her I’d never do anything against my own moral code — and this is a gay romance, not a political statement.

But can a book be both?

I’m inviting readers to take a gander through the book.  Go in with an open mind.  This is one take on a very real issue facing workplaces today. (And other scenarios as well, but I went with work to set my story.)

And I’d love to hear from you.  For a chance to win a $5US Amazon Gift Card, can you think of a book that tackled a tough topic?  A book that resonated with you? One you think the world should read?  Feel free to comment, and a random commenter will receive the GC.

Valentino in Vancouver

Hiding out may be the hottest thing he’s ever done.

Val

When I need to get away from the heat in Los Angeles, I head to a friend’s house in Vancouver, Canada.  I just need to hide out. Oh, and that cute redhead? A mighty fine way to pass the time. Will this fling become something more by the time things cool down?

Seamus

When I’m invited to my boss’s house for a party, I’m thrilled.  And nervous. Then I meet a guy who helps me relax. Even when I find out who he is, I keep coming back for more. Only it turns out I might be way over my head. Can I get out before I fall for him?

Links:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Valentino-Vancouver-Passport-Pleasure-Gabbi-ebook/dp/B0B8XNB5FX
Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/Valentino-Vancouver-Passport-Pleasure-Gabbi-ebook/dp/B0B8XNB5FX
Universal Book Link: https://books2read.com/Valentino
Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/valentino-in-vancouver-gabbi-grey/1141978548
KOBO:  https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/valentino-in-vancouver
iBooks:  https://books.apple.com/ca/book/valentino-in-vancouver/id6443282261
Add it to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61953018-valentino-in-vancouver

About the Author

USA Today Bestselling author Gabbi Grey lives in beautiful British Columbia where her fur baby chin-poo keeps her safe from the nasty neighborhood squirrels. Working for the government by day, she spends her early mornings writing contemporary, gay, sweet, and dark erotic BDSM romances. While she firmly believes in happy endings, she also believes in making her characters suffer before finding their true love. She also writes m/f romances as Gabbi Black and Gabbi Powell.

Website: https://gabbigrey.com/
Newsletter sign-up:  https://sendfox.com/gabbigrey

Ash (Tattered Souls MC: Book 3)

I’m absolutely thrilled the Forgotten Brotherhood is back. ANCIENT DESIRE is the latest installment in the paranormal romance series. Those of you who have read my Blood of the Drakon series will be familiar with drakons. If you haven’t, I hope you’ll fall in love with Lucius as much as I have. There’s nothing more possessive and protective than a drakon with his treasure.

Who are the Forgotten Brotherhood? They’re a group of paranormal assassins, the misfits that other paranormal creatures fear. They aren’t the monsters lurking under the bed. They’re the ones that kill them.

They live by a strict code: Kill only those that truly deserve it and let their gods sort them out. Kill them before they kill you. Never, ever betray a fellow assassin.

Ancient Desire
Forgotten Brotherhood Book 5

Nothing was supposed to wake half dragon, half human Lucius from his Deep Sleep. Nothing. And yet something, or rather someone has. The unexpectedly attractive human not only touched him. She kissed him. Now Lucius is awake, and more powerful than he has ever been in his 4,000 years of existence. And once he finds out who led her to his cave, he’ll deal with his 300 years of hunger…

College professor Raine Carson spent her life obsessed with myths and legends. And now she’s woken one up. Only, Lucius is nothing like anything she’s ever seen or read about in her history books. Because this man is part sexy badass and part terrifying…monster. Yet she wants him with a hunger like nothing she’s ever felt before.

Lucius used to be part of the Forgotten Brotherhood—a ruthless group of paranormal assassins. Now he’s unsure if his former Brothers are their allies…or enemies. All he knows is that someone is hunting him, and Raine is just as tangled up in this mess as he is. And he’ll protect her—even if it means unleashing his Dragon and all of its power.

TEASER:

“Who am I kidding? I’m going to die here with a stupid stone dragon who won’t even talk to me.” The glare she sent him was fierce. “This is all your fault.” She sniffed and pointed her finger at him. At him. He didn’t know whether to smite her or applaud her bravery. “If you hadn’t been here, I would never have come. I can’t figure out Mack’s angle. Why lead me all the way out here and trap me with you? The whole ‘an angel told me to do it’ adds another layer of weird. He could have killed me on the hike in, if all he wanted was my death.”

She wasn’t wrong. The whole thing seemed to be some kind of elaborate setup. He waited impatiently, wanting to know more.

“It has to tie in somehow with the grant I got to write my book from—wait for it—the Angel Foundation. That’s not a coincidence. Talk about too good to be true. I should have suspected something was up. My field of study isn’t exactly one that gets a lot of funding.

“I love teaching, don’t get me wrong, but I wanted time to write a book, maybe even two. And the grant was enough for me to take an entire year off work. Yesterday was my first day of my new adventure, and it probably marks the beginning of the end.”

She lifted her sleeve and rubbed it over her face. “I’m sorry to dump all this on you, but let’s face it. You’re the only one here.”

Giving a sigh, she leaned her head back and stared at the ceiling. “It’s my own fault for believing in myths and legends. Did you know there are urban legends about werewolves and vampires in North Carolina?” She took a tiny sip of water. “But you’re real. You’re a freaking stone dragon.

Her insistence on referring to him as a dragon was beginning to annoy him.

“Are you based off some prehistoric flying dinosaur? Maybe they found some fossilized bones and this was their interpretation of what you might have looked like. Yeah, you’re probably nothing more than a flying dinosaur.”

The rumble came from deep inside him. Cracks appeared in his stone covering and traveled down to the ground beneath him.

“Holy crap.” Raine jumped to her feet, her hand pressed to her chest, her eyes wide.

The thick casing that had protected him for centuries crumbled. His limbs were stiff after so long, but there wasn’t enough room for him to stretch, not unless he wanted to bring the ceiling down around them.

He swiveled his head in her direction. “I’m no dinosaur. I am a drakon.”

Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B7G3QHRK/
Entangled Publishing: https://entangledpublishing.com/books/ancient-desire
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ancient-desire-n-j-walters/1141872172
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/ancient-desire
iBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/ancient-desire/id6443213388

Check out the rest of the series: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086BT7QJL/

About the Author

N.J. Walters is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, assassins, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.

Visit N.J. at:
Website: http://www.njwalters.com
Blog: http://www.njwalters.blogspot.com
Newsletter Sign Up: http://eepurl.com/gdblg5
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/N.J.WaltersAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/njwaltersauthor
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/NJWalters
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/author/njwalters
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/n-j-walters

UPDATE: The winner is…miki!
*~*~*

The last line of “The Star-Spangled Banner” has always struck me as the greatest irony of the entire song. “Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave, o’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.” So many people in this country have that flag waving over them yet they are not free to be their authentic selves because of the -isms running rampant throughout US history. Jews who chose to change their names, gays who chose to remain in the closet, people of color who chose to pass for white. These subterfuges many times were taken not because of shame for their identity but because of lack of opportunity and/or safety. Such is the story of Belle da Costa Greene.

Belle was born Belle Marian Greener in Washington D.C. to an African American family, which numbered among the Black elite of the late 1800s. Her father, Richard T. Greener, was the first African American to graduate from Harvard. Although light enough to pass for white, he never did. Despite the horrific dismantling of Reconstruction and its immediate impact on their family’s situation in South Carolina, Greener lived his life as a vocal advocate for equal rights for his race. His wife however came to a different conclusion: passing for white would enable her family to have the opportunities and safety they deserved. They moved to New York and lived as whites. This choice however led to her parents’ separation.

Belle’s father’s love of illustrated manuscripts instilled a love for the written word in her. She trained as a librarian and was working at Princeton University’s library where she caught the eye of Junius Morgan, J.P. Morgan’s nephew. This led to the opportunity of a lifetime, and in 1905, she became the librarian/curator for J.P. Morgan’s library. She helped him amass a collection that became world famous and envied by museums around the world. Quite an accomplishment in the days before suffrage was achieved and career women were looked at with suspicion.

She retired from the Morgan Library in 1948, one year before her death. By then, she had enabled Morgan’s dream to come true: to make his library available as a resource to the public. I was glad once again to learn of another heroic Black woman, both from The Personal Librarian, a fictionalized account of her life and the biography, An Illuminated Life: Belle Da Costa Greene’s Journey from Prejudice to Privilege. However, I felt sad society wouldn’t have allowed her to accomplish all she had if she’d claimed her true heritage. I was also moved by the emotional costs Belle paid for choosing to live while hiding in plain sight. Her choice showed a woman could still be brave even if the land in which she lived wouldn’t let her be free.

For a chance at a $10 Amazon gift card, share the name of someone you admire who may have had to change their name or hide some part of who they were to succeed.

One Breath Away

Sentenced to hang for a crime she didn’t commit, former slave Mary Hamilton was exonerated at literally the last gasp. She returns to Safe Haven, broken and resigned to live alone. She’s never been courted, cuddled or spooned, and now no man could want her, not when sexual satisfaction comes only with the thought of asphyxiation. But then the handsome stranger who saved her shows up, stealing her breath from across the room and promising so much more.

Wealthy, freeborn-Black, Eban Thurman followed Mary to Safe Haven, believing the mysteriously exotic woman was foretold by the stars. He must marry her to reclaim his family farm. But first he must help her heal, and to do that means revealing his own predilection for edgier sex.

Hope ignites along with lust until the past threatens to keep them one breath away from love…

Excerpt from One Breath Away…

Have you ever given your significant other a second chance? This is Chloe Morgan’s dilemma. She’s fed up with Ward Reyes. He’s a part-time boyfriend and she wants more. She wants dates. She wants a guy to wake up to on a lazy Sunday morning. Ward isn’t that guy. So, when she dumps him, Ward sits up and takes notice. He isn’t willing to simply walk away from the best thing that’s ever happened to him. Not without a fight.

Last Chance to Call You Mine: Dirty Addiction

Obsessions come in all flavors…

Chloe Morgan is weak. At least she is when it comes to Ward Reyes. She can turn down donuts like a wrestler during training, but when her on-again-off-again boyfriend blows into town looking for a booty call she goes down like a sinking ship. Only a drastic action can get her to move on with her life and away from the silver-eyed devil. Was it wrong to send him a break-up text? Definitely, but her choices are limited considering she’s an addict. But what if Ward is the only man that can give her what she so badly desires?

“We’re through.” Ward read the text a dozen times and still can’t believe it. But the proof is there in black and white. His sweet Chloe is giving him the boot. At first, it’d been the blazing heat between them that captivated Ward. It was Chloe’s giving nature and sarcastic wit that kept him coming back for more. Unfortunately his life is a mess, thanks to his brother’s gambling habit. Ward has spent the better part of his life cleaning up Malcolm’s messes. He’s tried to keep the ugliness of it all from touching Chloe. Now, she’s threatening to walk away and Ward isn’t about to let her go without a fight.

Will Chloe give him one more chance? Read the excerpt from Dirty Addiction and find out!
Universal Purchase link for My Perfect Pleasure Anthology:
https://books2read.com/u/mZQqql

Excerpt:

Ward closed the distance between them and wrapped an arm around her middle, tugging her up close. “I’m not walking away without a fight. I care about you. And I know you care about me.”

One brow lifted as she stared up at him. “I’ll get over it.”

“No, you and I belong together,” he explained. “I fucked up, I admit that, but I’m going to fix it. I promise you.”

She bit her lower lip and looked away. “It’s too late for that, Ward.”

“It’s never too late, baby,” he murmured, aching to kiss her senseless.

The doorbell rang and Chloe let out a heavy sigh. “That’ll be Lauren.”

He let her pull out of his arms, but Ward wasn’t through. “I’ll go, but I’m coming back tomorrow. You and I have unfinished business.”

She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “If you come back, then you’d better be ready to share everything with me,” she warned. “Everything, Ward. No more half-measures. It’s all or nothing.”

He watched her, knowing it was now or never. “I hope you’re ready for that.” And he hoped the truth wouldn’t send her running in the opposite direction…

UPDATE: The winner is…Karen LeBeau!
*~*~*

To win a digital copy of SEAL Undercover, just leave a comment below. I will announce the winner tomorrow. Hope to see a lot of you!

A SEAL is a SEAL is a SEAL. I have been writing about SEALs for years, both single titles and as a series.  They are the U. S. Navy’s primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs’ main functions are conducting small-unit special operation missions in maritime, jungle, urban, arctic, mountainous, and desert environments. SEALs are typically ordered to capture or eliminate high level targets, or to gather intelligence behind enemy lines.

My first SEAL book was Coyote Heat and took place in Key West where my hero was trying to take a vacation and, in the midst of a heated clinch, got called away on a mission. I’ve written about a SEAL who met the love of his life at a masquerade ball (Bedroom Eyes) and then, of course, there are all my books in my Protecting series for Susan Stoker. Not to mention my Heroes Rising series for Elle James’ Brotherhood Protectors World.

And there are more to come!

But today I want to tell you about Silver SEAL Max DiSalvo.

SEAL Undercover

For Max DiSalvo, life after SEALs leaves a lot to be desired. He was a Frogman his entire life until a bullet in the hip tossed him into retirement. Never married, he’s now back in his hometown of Sunset Harbor, Maine, running a small commercial fishing business and wondering if he’ll find that one special person to share the rest of his life with. When Silas “Crash” Branson, assistant director of Homeland Security, shows up with a proposition, he’s only too happy to jump on it.

Regan Shaw, a SEAL widow, is a top Intelligence Operations Specialist with DHS. She has uncovered a situation that could threaten the very foundation of America. A secret cabal of uber wealthy people—five men and one woman—could be plotting to gain control of the United States. They’ve gone from smuggling drugs for cartels to smuggling high value terrorists. And word has come down that a high-level member of the government is clearing the way with them for everything.

DHS has figured out a way to get someone into an upcoming meeting, and the person they tap is Max. Regan, who has all the information on this operation, will go with him as his wife. But the best laid plans and all that. When Max’s cover is blown and Regan is kidnapped, he must find a way to stop the coming disaster and rescue the woman he’s fallen in love with.

You can learn more about the book here:  https://desireeholt.com/books/seal-undercover/

Don’t forget to comment. And in case you aren’t today’s winner, I hope you will still let your fingers do the walking and take Max home with you.