See the bottom of this post for the name of yesterday’s winner!

Erotic Romance – Life Affirming

by Michelle Polaris

My mind is on babies and the miracle of birth. My sister, bless her soul, just had her third little boy. She has three now under the age of four. Oy! And although I’ve heard the advice to avoid the subject of children in erotic romance for the mood killer it may be, I made a decision to throw that advice out the window in my last release. In all truth, no actual babies appeared in my story, but the subject of fertility and the goal of becoming parents were explicit in the plot.

I believe the sexiest erotic romance involves deep emotional bonds between the characters, and authenticity behind the painful struggles and incredible emotional risks those characters must take together. Children and the commitment they symbolize are a loaded risk. But they provide one of the greatest sources of hope imaginable. And hope translates to a sense of future. If I want to create a story where one feels my characters standing on the precipice of their future, balancing, eagerly or fearfully reaching out despite their risk of falling, dangling a baby out there in front of them does the trick.

Throw in the fact that I write BDSM erotic romance and this may seem strange. But I firmly believe BDSM story lines are an awesome opportunity to explore honest communication and vulnerability between characters. And, hey, kinky people have children too.

Putting aside that twist, am I the only one who feels this way about the subject of babies in erotic romance? How have they worked or not worked for you as you’ve read stories touching on this issue?

Check out my newest release, Fettered Love, at Ellora’s Cave to see if I’ve managed to pull off this idea without killing the sexy, kinky, tantalizing pull between my three characters. My novella is part of the 1-800-DOM-help series new to EC—BDSM at it’s best from a group of talented Ellora’s Cave authors.

Kirk, Master to his long-time lover Evan, decides it’s time to place his permanent collar around Evan’s sexy cock. But when he proposes, he faces a surprise. Evan wants a child. So where will they find a kinky woman to help?

A mysterious card with the 1 -800-DOM-help number advertises assistance for unusual problems in the BDSM community. When Evan calls, he recognizes the voice of Sarah—Kirk’s best friend from childhood, Evan’s Mistress of several years in college. They both loved her and suffered betrayal when she walked out of their lives.

Now she proposes to be the mother of their child. No strings, just a chance to have the men she respects and loves back in her life. Evan embraces the idea while Kirk rages with mistrust.

At Evan’s request, they share one night of passion, Kirk and Sarah working together to dominate Evan in the scene of his erotic fantasies, hoping it will be enough to rekindle trust and make all their dreams come true.

Safe, sane and consensual,
Michelle Polaris

The winner of yesterday’s prize is…Sarah M! Congrats, Sarah, and be sure to send me an email to collect your prize!

I first fell in love with the Bard in Junior High. A very ambitious—or possibly insane—drama advisor selected Julius Caesar as the school play. I was cast as Portia, Caesar’s wife, and spent hours learning my script and practicing my lines and blocking.

Unfortunately, I was the only cast member who felt the same way. The play was cancelled several weeks into rehearsal.

The beauty of the language and my fascination with the characters stayed with me, though, through high school and college, through Shakespeare in the Park productions and community theater, through Helena and Viola and Desdemona. It stayed strong as I became a junior high teacher myself, with the requirement that I teach Romeo and Juliet every year. (Side note: why Romeo and Juliet? Do school boards not know the play? Is it really the best idea to teach kids that you can find your true love at 14 and if your families don’t want you to be together, might as well off yourselves? I’d much rather have taught one of his comedies. But I digress.)

I can still remember entire monologues from performances I was in. I was devastated when I found out that my favorite actor was going to be in a Shakespeare in the Park performance of Much Ado About Nothing—on the other side of the country—and I was going to miss it. When it comes to Shakespeare, I’m an unabashed fangirl.

In case it’s not clear, I’m passionate about Shakespeare, and was thrilled to work a subplot about his plays into my newest book, Take a Chance On Me. In it, my heroine Jessica teaches Shakespeare and directs the school play—though with a lot less enthusiasm initially for the task than I would have had! Eventually, though, the Bard works his magic on her as well.

Do you like Shakespeare? What’s your favorite Shakespeare play/movie/performance?

Accept no substitute…for love.

The Lady Doth Protest Too Much
Jessica Martin is determined to earn a permanent teaching position at Summit High School. That means hard work, dedication, and even volunteering extra time to direct the school’s Shakespeare play. Which leaves no room for romance—especially with a co-worker. She didn’t factor in the school’s sexy security officer and the delicious fantasies he inspires.

Too Much Of A Good Thing
Former cop Tom Cameron likes his job. Or he did, until the new substitute busted his orderly life right open. Now, he can’t seem to avoid her—deserted hallways, empty theaters, classrooms after dark—but he’s got too many skeletons in his closet to risk his heart again. Asking her out to distract her from the play’s, well, drama is a friendly gesture. Nothing more.

The Course Of True Love Never Did Run Smooth
Their chemistry could melt down the science lab, and before long they’re burning up the sheets off-campus. And uncovering raw emotions—a stark reminder that love isn’t in their curricula. When a troubled student goes over the edge, though, the need to stop a tragedy brings them right back where they started—face to face with fate.

Warning: This book contains sexy encounters in classrooms, inappropriate use of school facilities, backstage shenanigans, and illicit activities on a ferryboat.

The winner of yesterday’s prize, a copy of Caridad Pineiro’s THE LOST, is listed at the bottom of this post!

The More the Merrier

By Juniper Bell

During a recent author-reader chat, I asked the question, “When it comes to M/F/M stories, how many M’s are okay?” My favorite answer: “You can’t have too many M’s.” I loved that! My last book, MY THREE LORDS, featured three handsome noblemen, and my newest Ellora’s Cave release, GO WILD, stars four sexy, rugged Alaska men.

Not that I’m trying to one-up myself—the story just worked out that way.

But it did make me wonder, what is it about an “extended ménage” that’s such an appealing fantasy? (I should add that not everyone finds that fantasy as attractive as I do.) I’ve thought of a couple theories.

1. Ménage a trois stories often involve a three-way relationship, with all the complicated dynamics that come with it. An extended ménage—hey, that’s just sex, pure and simple. Attempting a full-on relationship with four men—yikes! In GO WILD, Lars and Katia are contemplating marriage. They have a strong emotional two-way relationship. The other men are extras in their story. The ménage encounter is about pleasure and freedom, not emotional entanglement.

2. The more M’s, the more clear that it’s a fantasy. Statistics are hard to find, but an ABC News sex survey says 14% of adults have tried a threesome. An Australian study says that threesomes are by far the most common form of group sex, although some respondents say they’ve had up to five partners. So sex with two men is within the realm of possibility, but once you start adding more M’s, it becomes more unlikely—for most people.

3. Women (speaking generally, of course) love to be adored. There’s a part of us that wants to be treated like a goddess. We want to be seen as beautiful, irresistible sex divas. Because that’s what we are! All of us. But we generally keep that side of ourselves confined within a relationship. When you dive into an extended ménage story, you can let that side loose. You can imagine being the object of lust of any number of men – without harming your own personal relationship. Talk about safe sex!

4. It’s crazy, forbidden, rule-breaking behavior – exactly the kind of thing it’s fun to read about!

So what about you? Do you enjoy extended ménage stories, and if so, why? Is there a reason I haven’t thought of? I’d love to hear your comments! Leave one, and I’ll enter you into a drawing for a download of GO WILD.

Lars loves Katia. Katia loves Lars. Lars wants to marry Katia. Can he convince his free-spirited lover that marriage will be as fun as her sexually adventurous single days?

Never before has Katia been tempted to give up her carefree ways. She’s deeply in love with Lars, but she doesn’t know if he can handle her wild side—or wilder needs. But Lars is a hard man to resist. The former Olympic champion won’t give up, not when he knows just how to please her.

The people of Wild, Alaska, know the best way to survive winter is to let off a little steam. When his buddies hit town for Wild Nights, a notorious winter festival with one rule—“anything goes, nothing counts”—Lars has the perfect opportunity to prove he’s the man for Katia.

Lucky for Katia, “proof” includes four rugged Alaska men and one wildly erotic night.

Reader Advisory: Features an extended ménage (M/F/M/M/M) and references to bondage experimentation and sexual escapades of all types. Woohoo!

“If anyone treats her wrong, they’ll answer to me,” said Lars, still behind her. He gave her a little spank on the ass. Katia felt her flesh tremble and her nipples perk up— more. A warm, melting feeling spread through her. The feeling of an adventure about to begin.

Lars took Katia’s arms and held them behind her. Her mouth fell open in astonishment. He drew her up on the tips of her toes so her back arched and her breasts protruded in blatant display. The three men appeared riveted by the sight of her naked body presented to them so invitingly.

Through her haze of surprise, she wondered what they saw. A slim, taut, pale body, long dark hair, erotically aroused nipples. A shadowed triangle between her legs.

“This woman,” Lars said in a husky voice, “has been making me crazy since the moment I met her. She’s the most sensual, most passionate, most lovable wild thing you’d ever want to meet. And she has the idea that I’m a straight arrow who can’t handle her free-spirited ways.”

For the first time, Eagle made a sound, something between a snort and a cough.
Read the rest of this entry »

I have to confess. I am a hopeful romantic. I believe that love can conquer all. Even an Aztec demi-goddess like the one that terrorizes the hero and heroine and assorted others in a Mexican jungle in AZTEC GOLD.

The AZTEC GOLD novella was influenced by a business trip that I took to Mexico several years ago. I was able to visit some Mexican pyramids and learned about how the indigenous people in that area lived. You can see some photos from my trip and also find out about my fear of heights, as well as my climb to the top of the pyramid, by visiting the Carina blog

I also was able to read up on the gods and goddesses of the Aztecs and their way of life. All of those things inspired me to write not only AZTEC GOLD, but THE FIFTH KINGDOM, a romantic suspense that comes out from Carina Press in July 2012.

But what was even more fun was including some of my favorite things and hopefully some of yours. A strong heroine, although Cynthia has a fear of adventure (kind of like my fear of heights). A very alpha action-adventure guy in Rafael, Cynthia’s ex-love who had gone missing in the jungle thanks to the actions of that bad ass Aztec demi-goddess.

And even though Cynthia and Rafe have their issues, and have to stay alive somehow in a creepy Mexican temple, love does conquer all.

Thanks for taking the time to drop by! I hope you all had a great Valentine’s Day.

We have a little bit of a surprise giveaway today since I was lucky enough to get some early copies of THE LOST, the next book in the SINS series which will be out in August.

Leave a comment and you could win a copy!

Small Town Charm

By Nikki Duncan

Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name.
Sometimes you want to go where no on knows your name.
Sometimes the “where” doesn’t matter as long as one particular person knows your name.

In the Whispering Cove anthology, that place is the same for all our characters. It’s the small town of Whispering Cove, Maine where a group of friends shared good times and bad before splitting up to build their individual lives.

A couple of our characters never left that small town where old men sit on a street corner gossiping, where the town doctor still makes house calls, where the waitresses know the favorites of all the customers, and where secrets are non-existent. Others escaped to the “big city” with zero, or limited, intentions of returning…until three scheming granddads use a high school reunion to get their runaways home.

A fun part of this anthology was seeing the transformations the different characters made. In WICKED, my heroine Danica left Whispering Cove as an awkward girl wrapped in shyness. With a desire to return to her roots and raise a family with the values she grew up with, she’s returned with her medical degree, bought the town practice and has gotten a new look that’s helped her build a new confidence. When the plans for the ten year reunion get started, she gets excited about the prospect of seeing old friends…especially her high school crush Braydon Mitchell.

Braydon never suffered low confidence or for a lack of female companionship, but he really thrived once he left town, bought a sailboat to travel and live on, and became a regular fixture in the water sporting world. Extremely comfortable in his bad-boy image with a strong penchant for no-strings relationships he’s returned home for the reunion and a visit with his favorite grandparents. The last thing he expected was finding a knock-out doctor with the shy girl he’d barely known in school wrapped inside, or that she would remind him of the adventures a small town offered.

Planning and writing about Whispering Cove reminded me of my youth and growing up in a small town. So, when you’re reading stories about small towns, what’s the appeal for you?

Chat with Nikki and be entered in a drawing to win a digital copy of her backlist (winner’s choice). WICKED is currently available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. And at Smashwords, it’s on sale 50% off until the 13th when you use this coupon code: SM42G.

Check out more about Nikki by visiting her website at www.NikkiDuncan.com. You can also find Nikki on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/NDuncanWriter.

I’d been itching to write a wedding story for awhile, but I couldn’t write about the bride and groom—they’re already at their happy-ever-after. The Nora Roberts bride books were intriguing, but I didn’t want to go to that level of research.

Then I went to a wedding in the Hill Country. It was a gorgeous setting, a limestone and glass building, an open floor plan, a gorgeous patio on the cliffs overlooking the Pedernales River. Perfect for my story.

And I watched a bridesmaid and a groomsman make eyes at each other. There was the story. Why should the bride and groom have all the fun? That it turned out to be erotic was just a bonus as Eric and Haven rediscovered the passion they’d found when they met at the bride and groom’s engagement party.

In my story, I added hotel rooms for the wedding party to slip in and out of, and lengthened the wedding to a weekend-long event to give my hero and heroine lots of time to sneak around.

Do you like wedding stories? What are some of your favorites?

Two Step Temptation is available from Samhain Publishing for $1.75 this week!

What Goes On Behind Closed Doors?

By Donna Alward

A big huge Thank You to Delilah for hosting me today! It’s kind of a special day. I have a print release from Samhain Publishing that hits shelves today and anytime a book releases it’s a reason to celebrate, I think!

SOLD TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER evolved from a simple idea: what if a wife bought her husband off a bachelor auction block? The first question of course is…why is a married man in a bachelor auction? Turns out the answer that came back to me was that the marriage wasn’t exactly a functioning relationship. In fact, the moment the heroine sees him on the stage is the first time she’s clapped eyes on him since right after their wedding. Over a decade earlier.

Most of my published works are written for Harlequin Romance, and as such the bedroom door is closed. Sometimes stuff happens behind those closed doors, and sometimes not. I’m okay with that—the emotional journey is always first and foremost after all! But every now and again I like to write a little hotter. Sometimes I write those “closed door” scenes just for me. They don’t make it into the book, but I know what’s happened. And knowing the details, I know exactly what the consequences—emotional and otherwise—will be for the characters.

I have more latitude with my Samhain books, and I really enjoyed letting loose with this story. Dev is pretty darn sexy, and Ella would rather forget just how spectacular the fireworks are between them. But of course, she can’t! And I let the door stay wide open for those scenes. It was pretty fun, actually, and I ended up being quite happy with the results. One reader reviewed the book and commented that, “A reader would expect this book to be ‘hot’ and it really is. What I didn’t expect was for the ‘hot’ scenes to be so well integrated into the plot that the story would not have moved forward without them. How, when, where, and why the hero and heroine make love is woven seamlessly into the plot.”

I’ve got an excerpt for you—more of a teaser of what’s to come, really. It’s the first night Ella and Dev have seen each other since she left him, and they’ve toasted their troubles with a good amount of bourbon…

He tried to turn her and steer her to the bedroom. Good Lord, she was going to have a head on her in the morning. He hadn’t meant for her to get this tipsy. Of course, she was a little bit of a thing. Compact, a bundle of energy and passion. Her breast grazed his hand and he gritted his teeth. If she hated him now, she’d really despise him in the morning if they slept together. Almost as much as he’d hate himself. He was in control. It was time she knew that. If she thought she’d get what she came for easily, she had another thing coming.

He’d take what he wanted first.

“Dev?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re so tall. You know that, right?”

He smiled. She could make it so hard to hate her, especially when she used that soft, slightly plaintive tone like she had to have it or she’d just die. “Yeah, rumor has it.”

“No, I mean really tall. Tall like women like their men to be tall. So that we have to tip our head back and look way up.” She sighed, her sex-kitten eyelids drifting half-shut. “Sexy tall.”

“Shut up, Ell.” A muscle ticked in his jaw and in another strategic location. If she kept looking at him that way he was going to find it very difficult to put her in bed and walk away. But he’d be damned if he’d give in to her tonight. No matter what it cost him.

They took two steps.

“Dev?”

He sighed.

“Yes, Ell?”

She gripped his other arm so she was facing him, looking up at him with her dark eyes and lips red and slightly puffy, ripe to be kissed. He swallowed, hard. God, how he’d loved her.

She did it then, standing up on her tiptoes, melding her mouth to his, the flavor of the bourbon seducing them tongue-to-tongue. His mouth opened in an instinctive reaction to feeling hers on it. He lifted one hand and cupped her head, sending the prim twist askew, hairpins dropping to the floor. Her breasts were firm against his chest and she let go briefly to tug at the hem of his T-shirt.

“Take this off,” she murmured, pulling the hem up over his abs. “Not in front of the bar. Not for Katie McGrew.” She said the other woman’s name with just enough venom for Dev to enjoy the surprising fact she was jealous. “Take it off for me.”

For her. The words fired him up and he reached behind his head, grabbing at the collar and pulling it over in one swift movement. This much. He’d allow this much. He’d let her get a good hard reminder of what she’d thrown away. But no more. They didn’t dare go any further.

Her fingers trailed down over his skin, the sensitive skin of his ribs, down his shoulder and to his elbow. “Mmm.”

He slid his hand over her blouse, allowing himself one gratifying handful as he kissed her fully. Despite the Jim Beam or the years that had passed, her taste was as familiar to him as the smell of sweetgrass. Ella. His Ella. He kept his mouth fused to hers as he blindly undid the buttons of her blouse, filling his hands with her breasts once the fabric fell away. Her hand slid around to cup his bottom through his jeans.

A murmur sounded deep in her throat and he knew he had to stop, reminded himself that sex right now would only make things worse. He couldn’t afford to spend Saturday dealing with post-coital fallout. She’d blame him for…what? There would be something, he was sure, and it would be all his fault and none of hers. No, tonight he’d leave her wanting more. He was the one with the self-control here. He’d get her to damn near ache for him, the way he’d ached for her for months after she’d abandoned him. And then maybe he’d sign her precious papers. After his lawyer’d looked at them. His terms, he reminded himself. She owed him that.

It took all his resolve, but he backed away, leaving her standing stunned and utterly beautiful.

“Go to bed, Ella.” He pushed her towards the single bedroom. “If you don’t, you’ll hate yourself in the morning far worse than you hate me right now.”

She turned and stared up at him with dazed, hurt eyes. He couldn’t bear for her to argue, so he walked out into the cool September air, letting the screen door slap behind him.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Thanks for sharing today with me! You can catch up with me at my site, or on twitter—@DonnaAlward.