Anyone for Tennis?

Don’t know about you but I was glued to the coverage of the US Open, just as I am to all the Grand Slams. I so admire the dedication of the players and the excitement of seeing new blood come up through the ranks. Andy Roddick bowing out was pretty damned emotional, don’t you think?

As an author I find it far easier to write about what I know. Saves on all that pesky research and lends authenticity to the author’s voice. I was involved in a local tennis club for years, so I feel qualified to write about the sport – in a fictional capacity, of course. Tennis clubs are hot beds of gossip and intrigue, a bit like any group of people from different walks of lives thrown together by a common interest tends to be. There are natural leaders, bullies, suckers-up and cynics by the dozen. Sound familiar?

In Topspin, just released by Musa Publishing, we get to know the members of an up-market tennis club on the Isle of Wight in England. It could be anywhere in the world though since the above principles apply.

Jack Regent is a reformed gangster who’s retired to the Island to spend his time playing tennis, drinking too much and brooding. A bit of a hunk, he’s a magnet for all the single women, and some of the married ones too, but Jack isn’t interested in long-term relationships. Still married to Tania, the love his life, he’s smarting over her adultery and doesn’t want to go down that road again.

Then there’s Claire, the most attractive woman at the club, married to an older, successful Cardiologist. Outwardly the devoted spouse, she has voracious sexual appetites which she satisfies through a series of supposedly discreet affairs. Part of her knows it will all end in tears but she can’t seem to help herself, until it’s too late to stop the rot.

Angie is tight-lipped about the father of her fourteen-year-old twins, until he turns up unexpectedly, with devastating consequences for more than just Angie. And we mustn’t forget Ed, who bullies his wife and is determined to take control of the club for his own financial gain.

When the new coach turns out to be the man Tania cheated with, Jack is forced to confront the issue he’s worked his way through countless bottles of scotch trying to forget. Reunited with Tania under the most violent of circumstances, for the first time he has reason to doubt his position as the injured party. He’s spent years trying to hate Tania for what she put him through. That’s never going to happen, but is it too late to put the past behind them and start again…

Topspin by W. Soliman now available from Musa Publishing or Amazon.com

Find out more about me and my books at my website: www.wendysoliman.com or on Facebook at Wendy Soliman – Author. Follow me on twitter @wendyswriter.

Thanks so much for having me here.

Wendy

BOYS OF BEACHVILLE AND CONTEST!

I’m very excited to be here today to tell you how my Boys of Beachville series came about.  Good at Being Bad and A Lick of Flame are both now available at Samhain Publishing with Bad Girl Therapy coming in December!

Last Christmas I was walking through our local market and spotted the cutest (youngest!) firefighters selling calendars to raise money for the burn unit here in our hospital.  I stood back (after I got my autographed copy of course) and watched the way they interacted with passing women, and as they engaged the crowd I started to wonder more about these guys.

Who were these local heroes when they weren’t working?  What were they like when not in their uniforms?  And most importantly, what kind of woman would these guys fall for?

With those questions in mind, I sat down and plotted out three stories, for three different local heroes who were all involved in a charity calendar event.

In my first story, Good at Being Bad, my hero is a cop and my heroine is a public relations specialist in charge of the marketing campaign.

Public relations specialist Allison Cooper is more than ready to handle a career make-or-break assignment: to develop and market a charity calendar featuring hot men. Her only problem is Mr. July, a sexy cop who happens to be her ex-lover.

Trying to keep his image squeaky clean—a must for her promotion—raises all sorts of challenges, especially when this bad boy is throwing a little kink into her plan.

Image is the last thing on Carter James’s mind. He agreed to be Mr. July on one condition—that during his promo month, Allison never leaves his side. He wants her back, and to make that happen he needs her undivided attention to teach him good from bad. Unless bad is what the lady wants….

In A Lick of Flame I had to have my firefighter, of course, and the woman he falls for is an ex cop who is now a private body guard.

No man lights Madison Kelly’s fire quite like Sean Adams, the firefighter she’s been hired to guard during the Boys of Beachville calendar shoot. Though he stars in her hottest, steamiest fantasies, he’s the last person she’s going to tell. An accident left its mark on her, body and soul. But when she catches Sean looking at her like she’s water for a man dying of thirst, she wonders if it’s possible he might see the girl beneath the scars.

Ever since he pulled Madison from the fire that injured her, Sean’s been hot for her. Too bad she clearly has no interest in him-or so he thinks, until he sees a spark in her eyes that says she burns for him as much as he does for her. No more tiptoeing around the matter-a blatant seduction is in order.

Soon they’re igniting the sheets, but come morning Madison’s old fears and insecurities threaten to snuff the flames to ashes. Except Sean’s fuse has been lit, and he has no intention of letting her put it out. Ever.

In Bad Girl Therapy my hero is an injured sports star and the girls he falls for is his rehabilitation therapist.

Pro soccer star Cole Landon has women at his fingertips, but there’s always been one who was untouchable. Haley Jones, the high-school crush from the right side of the tracks—and way out of his league.

Sidelined with an injury, he’s cooling his heels in Beachville when he discovers his physical therapist is none other than the perennial good girl herself.

Bored with men who pay more attention to their smartphones than her, Haley longs for a summer fling that won’t risk her reputation. When Cole shows up in town, her hormones tell her he’s the one man who will scratch her itch without tarnishing her good girl image.

No one’s more surprised than Cole when Haley suggests his private beachside cottage is the best place to begin his…therapy. Apparently money really can buy love. She wants to play? Then play he will.

As hot days turn to scintillating nights, Haley begins to realize there’s more to this playboy than meets the eye. Until Cole gets news that could put them once again on opposite ends of the playing field.

For more information please visit, www.cathryfox.com and for a chance to win an ecopy of Wet in Whispering Cove, please leave a comment!

When I write sexual tension I hope my readers will want to push the heroine aside and take her place. In the first scenes I have a woman who doesn’t want to desire/love her ex-husband. Their history would make having sex with this man unwise. Therefore I wanted to make him difficult to resist. 

Scene 1

I got the cake, thin layers of cake with raspberry mousse fillings between. A loud flapping sound and a rough ride announced the death of a tire as I neared Dee’s school.

Well, Hell. I’d planned to wait in the car. Some days Dee saw me as an okay mom. Others she didn’t want to be seen with me. I popped the trunk and prepared to lug the spare and the jack out. My cell rang in my pocket. What now? I half rose, banging my head on the trunk lid. Stars filled my vision while pain made me feel faint, a tad nauseous.

“Need any help?” A deep voice resonated near me, the masculine drawl familiar as my own.  God, I really hit my head hard. That voice can’t belong to Jay. Most of the men in this part of Georgia had the same charming drawl, so much more pleasing than some I heard every day. Other drawls didn’t send shivers up my spin the way Jay’s did.

I opened my eyes and saw long, muscular, denim-clad legs

near the back fender. Heat spread over my face as my attention followed the legs to thick thighs, then the worn placket over the zipper. What a package, so far. I should straighten and look the man in his eye, but my stiff back had been bent too long.

A deep, masculine chuckle made me blush as I placed my hand on my back and tried to escape the position that made studying his lower body too easy. By the time I managed to straighten, the man’s chuckle stopped.

“Sonovabitch!” His expletive wasn’t loud, but he hadn’t whispered it.

Jay looked shocked. I felt like climbing into the trunk and pulling the lid closed.

Now I’d bet I had no color. “What the hell are you doing here?” Of all the people I’d have expected to see here, he wasn’t one. He wasn’t supposed to be in town on leave yet.

He glared at me as if I were in the wrong place. “Rose asked me to pick her sister up from school and bring her to …”

“Why would she send you here? I took the afternoon to get Dee and the cake and gifts to Mama’s house for the party.”

“Rose …”

I interrupted him, using my superior teacher’s voice. “She’s called herself Electra for the past six months.” Don’t you know anything?

He frowned, as if he knew nothing about that. “My daughter’s name is Rose and that’s what I’ll call her. You let her get by with way too much.”

I didn’t have time to argue with GI Jay, so I reached for the jack again, but one large, tanned hand reached past me and grabbed it first. The man’s other hand grabbed the spare tire as if it were a donut.

“I can do it,” I insisted.

He shook his head at me, loosened the lug nuts in a few twists, then positioned the jack and raised the car in seconds.  “You don’t need to do it with me here to help.”

I glared at him. “I work out. I’m not helpless.” With my hands fisted at my waist I felt like a kid throwing a tantrum, but I couldn’t back down. I’d have let any other man change the tire and thanked him, but it bugged me that my Ex didn’t think to ask me if I needed help. While other men would have offered, he just took over, as he always did.

“Don’t argue,” he said as he made quick work of changing the tires faster than I could have jacked the car up.

He tossed the flat tire into the trunk as though the thing weighed nothing. I knew better, since I’d changed tires before.

He closed the trunk and eased around the car.

I heard books hit the ground and Dee’s squeal. “Daddy!”

My heart ached when my daughter threw her arms around the waist of the man who didn’t believe she was his child. Dee’s heart was in that hug and I was willing to hit him with the tire. Read the rest of this entry »

Post a comment here today, and you’ll be entered in The Voodoo Doll Contest!
Then mosey on over to Magical Musings to see you can win a free book!

Cheaper than Therapy, but Loads More Fun!

Thanks, Delilah, for letting me hang out at your place!

Don’t know about you, but books have always been my friends – a solace and a refuge when Real Life was bleak. But it wasn’t until I started writing that I realized that fiction was cheaper than therapy – not to mention a helluva lot more fun. *grin*

To illustrate… Many years ago, when I was a baby writer taking my first tentative steps onto the page, I met a Very Senior Manager (from another section) at a work function. Very Senior Manager was good at his job and respected for his ability and ruthlessness. He was also on the short side and suffered from one good lunch too many, so he resembled a well-groomed toad in a business suit. I recall that his tie was an odd green/yellow colour.

We were chatting politely, as one does, when I noticed that he wasn’t looking at my face, but at my chest. He appeared to be counting – one…and ah, yes, there’s the other one. Yay, two!

I guess I’m naïve, but I tend to take people as I find them. I glanced down, expecting to see that a button had popped or that I’d dropped a blob of chocolate cake on my front. Nope, all buttoned up and pristine.

Very Senior Manager met my startled gaze and smirked. He didn’t say a word, he didn’t need to, the creep! In fact, I think he was looking forward to blandly denying any assertion I made.

Fuming, I excused myself and made sure I was surrounded by others for the rest of the event.

I seethed over that incident for months. I’m perfectly well aware that on the harassment scale, it was a flea bite, and that I hadn’t been injured or even threatened. He didn’t belong to my part of the organization, so he had no direct power over me. But, oh my goodness, I was sooo incensed – especially when I discovered that he only played this trick on subordinate women. I think it was the nasty smirk that really did me in, knowing how much he’d enjoyed my discomfiture. I’d say it was adolescent, but that gives decent teenagers a bad name.

What did I do? I wrote Very Senior Manager into my first manuscript (it still lives in the sock drawer). Unlike my place of employment, that book was a place where I had complete control, where I was the puppet mistress and the deity all rolled into one. I didn’t make him the villain, oh no, I made him the villain’s inept sidekick. The character was fat, complacent and clammy-handed. He was also stupid, cowardly and came to a Very Bad End.

That’s right, I killed him off and it was wonderful! From the moment I typed the last word in that scene, all my fury and frustration just…evaporated. Pfft! Gone! It was amazing how different I felt.

Since that day, I’ve loved living through and with my characters. The good guys are infinitely more resourceful, braver and stronger than I’ll ever be – and so much sexier and better looking! The bad guys all come (eventually) to horrible ends. Ah, I love the fantasy that is a good romance!

In The Dark Rose, the fourth in the Four-Sided Pentacle series, we have a heroine so exquisitely lovely Very Senior Manager would have slobbered all over her, but Rose is as devious as she is beautiful. She would have made him pay, I know it!

Here’s a short, sexy excerpt, but you can read the whole first chapter on my website.
Purchase from Amazon  or Barnes & Noble.

Denise Rossetti
Facebook
Twitter

Read the rest of this entry »

Simple Pleasures – Draw by the Fireside

As Delilah gets ready to give her Plotting Bootcamp in Oklahoma, Rachel and I got to thinking about the opposite of traveling: the pleasures of staying home.  While travel is tremendous fun, and there are some lucky folks in Oklahoma with Delilah, there are many good things to be said for the fireside – especially if you’re fortunate to live somewhere with an actual fireplace!

When I talk to people about doing things like crafts, the biggest complaint I get is that folks have no time to do crafts, even if they wanted to.  As any crafter knows, this doesn’t have to be a deterrent.  While there are, of course, wildly complicated crafts, there are also simple but fun things one can do as a pastime that are enjoyable and give you a finished product you can display afterwards – a double win.

Here are five suggestions for fun but simple things you can do by yourself, with friends, or with your family as the year winds down toward the holiday season – and, if you think ahead, you can use some of these for gifts!

1.  Coloring Books

I know, I know; not really a “craft” in the strict sense of the word, right?  But give it a shot.  Think about it: you don’t have to think a whole lot, you can just color in the designs.  There are some amazing books available – have you seen the Dover Stained Glass Coloring Books?  If not, check them out – well worth the investment of a few dollars (most of them are under $10 USD).

2.  Knit or Crochet a Scarf

Knitting and crochet are easy to do and have the advantage of being inexpensive and portable.  If you, like me, have trouble sorting out three-dimensional stuff from two-dimensional, consider taking a quick class at JoAnn’s or Michael’s.  Or, to really get into it, check out your friendly, neighborhood LYS (Local Yarn Shop).  You can find listings of them on the internet or, if you’re in the states, look at the TKGA site (The Knitting Guild Association).

3.   Makit and Bakit

These are a lot of fun and I wish they were more popular, because they’re super easy.  Some of the designs are cheesy but if you poke around you can find some cool ones (my favorite, personally, is the coyote howling at the moon with a cactus in the foreground).  Tip:  use your toaster oven tray, and line it with tin foil.  Use a tweezer to place the little color beads into the frame.  When you bake it, the plastic melts and you have a real, live, stained “glass” ornament.

4.  Polymer Clay

There are so many kinds of polymer clay available now that your choices are endless.  The two biggest brands are Femo and Sculpey.  They both can be baked in your toaster oven.  You can make figurines, buttons, beads, and all sorts of little animals.  If you have no idea how to do anything with ceramics, this is a great book to try:  The Incredible Clay Book.

5.  Check out Klutz Press

If you think you’re all thumbs when it comes to crafts, and that the nearest 8-year-old has more talent than you, then you owe it to yourself to check out the offerings of Klutz Press.  You can find stuff on all sorts of topics.  Have some fun and let your inner child out to play.  All you have to lose is your skepticism.

—
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
– E.E. Cummings

Noony’s links:  Blog | Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | LinkedIn | Pandora

Knoontime Knitting:  Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Ravelry
Noon and Wilder links: Blog | Website | Facebook
Team Blogs: Nightlight | The Writers Retreat Blog | Beyond the Veil | LGBT Fantasy Fans and Writers
Publishers: Samhain Publishing | Torquere Press

Check out BURNING BRIGHT, available from Samhain Publishing.
Check out EMERALD FIRE, available from Torquere Books.

Check out “Taking a Chance“, part of the Charity Sips 2012 to benefit NOH8, available from Torquere Books.

A Duke, a Billionaire, and a Superhero Walk into a Bar…

I’m an equal opportunity reader. Give me a traditional Regency, an erotic contemp with a family of super-rich playboy heroes, an urban fantasy where the characters acquire kick-ass superpowers…I’m not picky. As long as the world is well crafted and the characters grab me, I’ll follow them along on all their adventures.

Some people (read: my family) don’t understand how I can bounce around between genres like that, how I can love a rich historical just as much as a fast-paced action romance. But it’s easy. What’s interesting to me about this motley crew of genres is not how dissimilar they are, but how similar they are.

Because no matter which way I figure it, every one of the hero types found in these books is as deliciously unrealistic as the next.

Historicals love to depict dukes. And spies. And really rich landowners who don’t exploit their tenants or the slave trade in the West Indies but have an inexplicable source of income all the same. I’m not saying I won’t read one of these books (on the contrary, magically rich and handsome young men are a staple in my TBR pile), but I am saying that the reality is probably a lot more grim. I mean, I have the Internet. I can look up paintings of the ancient lords of England. I see a lot of weak chins and receding hairlines.

Contemporaries are just as guilty of this. Yes, we’re seeing a larger influx of blue-collar heroes (whom I happen to adore), but the vast majority don’t worry about money. And even when they do worry, it’s always for a noble reason. You don’t see any of these guys agonizing about car payments and paying down their student loan debt. Oh, no. They want to set their female relatives up in style, make a family business successful, give up the shackles of their millions to pursue a higher calling.

Which leaves us with the superheroes and fierce men of the paranormal world. Naturally, we have to take a leap of believability when we pick up one of these books. I know my cute UPS guy probably doesn’t howl at the moon every 28 days. I know that if my husband took up Hawkeye-style archery, he’d only end up shooting himself in the face rather than saving the world. But in my day-to-day life, radioactive spiders are just as realistic as taking up spying for my country or building a million-dollar play room.

Which is to say, not at all.

So when a duke, a billionaire, and a superhero walk into a bar…it’s probably just me, enjoying a mojito and searching through my Kindle to find what I want to read next. You should come say hello. I’ll buy you a drink, and maybe we can talk books.

About Playing with Fire

Fiona Nelson has always been one hot ticket—even before she took the conversion serum that gave her superhuman abilities. Fiona’s powers come at a price: lack of human contact, or she won’t be the only thing burning. When she loses control of her emotions, her fire powers run rampant…and she’s hurt enough people already.

Including herself.

But when the man behind her conversion returns to blackmail her into helping him gain power, the only person she can turn to is Ian Jones, the man who broke her teenage heart. The man determined to expose the criminal known as Fireball, whose explosive escapades are just a little too close to Fiona’s M.O.

Ian is convinced Fiona’s dangerous, convinced she’s Fireball, and convinced he’ll damn himself if he doesn’t resist a heat that’s always drawn him to Fiona like a moth to a flame—but Ian has his own secrets.

And he’ll learn far too soon what happens when you play with fire.

Available at Amazon, Books on Board, and Kobo.

About Tamara Morgan

Tamara Morgan is a romance writer and unabashed lover of historical reenactments—the more elaborate and geeky the costume requirements, the better. In her quest for modern-day history and intrigue, she has taken fencing classes, forced her child into Highland dancing, and, of course, journeyed annually to the local Renaissance Fair. These feats are matched by a universal love of men in tights, of both the superhero and codpiece variety.

You can find her on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.

Hi everyone.  I’m Brenna Zinn, one of the authors from the Sassy Seven, and I’m delighted to be Delilah’s guest blogger today.

I want to let everyone know about a author/reader conference the Sassy Seven Authors are hosting that we’ve dubbed The Naughty Sleepover.  Next year from February 22 through the 24th, erotic authors and readers will have a chance to get together for a weekend filled with decadent events.  This is NOT your average author/reader weekend.  Forget boring panel discussions that put you to sleep or formal conferences that limit the reader’s access to attending authors.  The Naughty Sleepover is about authors and readers getting together and having fun!  Let’s party!

For more information check out our website at https://sassyseven.com/naughty-sleepover.

In honor of the Naughty Sleepover event, the Sassy Seven Authors have composed our next series of books. It is my profound honor to share with you the e-book covers (designed by Nicole Austin) and blurbs for all seven books, which will be available from Decadent Publishing October 8 – 10th. All seven books will also be combined into a print anthology to be released in early 2013.

Coming October 8th…

Say Yes by Regina Carlysle

“I’ll make you famous.”

She’d spoken the words, clicked off a few pictures and then scampered off toward the rodeo arena leaving him more than a little dizzy with lust. J.D. Stone, owner of the Stone’s Throw ranch is in town for business but the sassy woman has him thinking of planting his boots under her bed. Luckily for him, the pretty Melissa Bell is staying at the same hotel!

At first, J.D. Stone looked like a ghost from her past but those long-ago imagines quickly disappear with the first touch of this sexy cowboy’s hands on her sex-starved body. The epitome of a man of the old-west, hard and strong, J.D. is everything she has ever wanted in a man but will a misunderstanding have him turning tail and running with the dawn? Not if she can help it.

Sugar Girl by Nicole Austin

A guy walks into a bar…

And finds the sweet girl he shouldn’t have left behind.

While book smart Candy Dillon went to college and embarked on an engineering career, Jeremiah Lange became a rodeo champion and country music icon. Their differences have kept these childhood friends apart until finally, the twists and turns in their individual paths lead them right back where they belong.

All work and no play has Candy aching for a thrill. Jeremiah is the perfect man to help check a few things off her bucket list. From bungee jumping to making out on a Ferris wheel and an emotional spin beneath bright spotlights, Candy’s having the time of her life.

But in the harsh light of the morning after can she really hold on to a shooting star?

When A Lady Meets A King by Brenna Zinn

Lady Pembrook went to great lengths, traveling thousands of miles and assuming a false identity, to satisfy her fantasy­­ of a one night stand with a real Texas cowboy. But can she fulfill her dream of a naughty sexual encounter after discovering a mysterious stranger in dark sunglasses threatens to expose her scandalous behavior in America?

Though riding bulls and taming wild horses aren’t the only risks Burton King has taken in a lifetime of working on a ranch, nothing scarred him deeper than falling for the wrong woman. When he finds a damsel in distress, will the oath he swore to never get involved with another woman keep him from finding the woman of his dreams?

More Than You Know by Cerise Deland

When a va-va-voom redhead walks into Luke Hurley’s bar, he vows to get to know her. But she escapes him every time, her family besieging her. Luke wants to save her. Hell, he wants to savor her if he can only figure out how to intrigue her…and nail her. Luke has his hands full of the classiest, funniest female he’s ever met for one naughty night. But will she love him tomorrow?

Overnight Sensation by Desiree Holt

Abbie Lawlor only wanted a drink with her friend at the end of a long, hard week. Her feet hurt, her head ached and she just wanted one cosmos then home to soak in the tub. She sure wasn’t looking to hook up with anyone. Her luck with men was worse than bad. Too bad with visitors flooding the town the bar at The Menger Hotel was so jammed a sheet of paper would barely fit between two people. Which was why Sam Burdette ended up pressed against her so she could feel every detail of his body. The heat the flared between them could have set fire to everyone in the bar. The invisible link between a Dom and a sub made her forget all her aches and pains. It was why she let the very sexy Texas Ranger coax her out of the bar and up to his room for some very off the wall sex that turned a casual “Hello” into an overnight sensation.

Blame It On Texas by Allie Standifer

Everything’s supposed to be bigger and better in Texas, right? Sexy plus size model Serena Morgan isn’t convinced and can’t wait to get out of the wild untamed state.

Local boy and country star Kale Winters has wanted Serena from the moment he looked into her eyes. Too bad she won’t have a thing to do with him. Or will she?

Thanks to the soft heart and match-making gene of Serena’s agent and his own swift thinking Kale has one night to prove there’s more to this cowboy than ropin’ and branding.

Together they explore the explosive passion growing between them in the majestic and some say haunted Meneger Hotel.

Come morning will Kale be able to convince Serena he’s the real deal or will the stubborn model Blame It On Texas?

Spank ‘Em Cowboy by Samantha Cayto 

Sensible California gal, Tara, is in San Antonio for her sister’s wedding. Her only hope is to survive the overdone affair without a wardrobe malfunction. Hot, cranky and breathless, she flees the reception only to be rescued by the quintessentially sexy Texas man. In town for the rodeo, Rob spots the voluptuous Tara and is delighted to help this damsel in distress. Maybe it’s her tight dress cutting off the oxygen to her brain, but Tara decides to take a chance and invites him up to her room. She puts herself in his hands and dares to reveal her secret desire to be
spanked and dominated. Happy to oblige, Rob takes her for the ride of her life.

Stay tuned for excerpts and more on this exciting new series.