Archive for the ‘Blog Tour’ Category
Heroes, Villains and In-Between-Tilly Greene
Grey is a Good Starting Place
He’s your knight in shining armor, handsome, wonderful, and there to do whatever it takes to help you out of a horrifying experience. Then, once you’re free, he’ll take you away for a happy ever after life together. Or he’s bad, gorgeous, and with evil on his mind. He’s there to kill you and your family, ending all thoughts of living a long and happy life.
Black or white, hero or villain, that’s the way it has to be, right?
No, it doesn’t, in fact those existing in the grey area end up following an interesting path to their end.
In Linda Howard’s “All The Queen’s Men”, the bad guy – Louis Ronsard – is selling a highly explosive material to the highest bidder. No question, that makes him beyond bad, right? What if I told you he was doing it to make money to help save his seriously ill young daughter? When the heroine, Niema, asks if that’s the reason he became an arms dealer, he says:
“Yes, I had to have enormous sums of money and quickly. The choice was drugs or weapons. I chose weapons.”
Not so cut and dry anymore, is it, at least Niema doesn’t think so.
There’s another type of neither good nor bad character and that would be the one who made a big, huge, ugly mistake. You know who they are, maybe they were the town toughie growing up or stole a car as a teen, and those are the ones in need of a second chance. Personally, as a writer, I like working with this type of figure. Perfection sounds lovely, but flaws can also be fabulous.
April 15th “Tied Up For Love”, from the Mythological Messes Redux series, will be released and it is the epitome of grey being a good place to start again. Marsyas, the hero, didn’t kill anyone, but he did insult a God and must therefore die. Before the sentence is handed down, he leaves to prepare himself mentally for the end of his life and people. As he comes to terms with the consequences of his actions, he finds himself falling in love, and is ashamed to share who he really is and disappoint his lover.
“I was stupid to throw down the challenge and once it was accepted, should have held back, flubbed a bit, but I was lost in the moment. It isn’t in me not to give my all.”
There is no place for the ipotane to go but toward being a hero or death. For Marsyas, the place in between being good and bad is where he needs to be in order to get a second chance.
A character who is either black or white, good or bad, are great to write and read. However, when it comes to romances, there’s definitely a place for heroes, villains, and those caught in between – in the grey area.
Tilly Greene
WARNING! Red hot romances ahead!
www.tillygreene.com
Blog?Facebook?Twitter?ARe Cafe
Tilly Greene Mythological Messes Redux Series
Hephaestus Lays Down the Law – paranormal erotic romance w/bondage
Together Again? – paranormal erotic romance
Cyra’s Cyclopes – paranormal erotic romance w/ménage
Double Punch – paranormal erotic romance w/ménage a trios
Tied Up For Love – paranormal erotica romance w/bondage – April 15 2011!
Heroes, Villains and In-Between- NJ Walters
Anyone Want a Slightly Damaged Hero?
By
N. J. Walters
We all love a hero, that brave stalwart soul who will stand side-by-side with the heroine to face down any foe. He’ll use whatever weapons he has at hand—a clever wit, sword, gun, tire iron—to rescue the heroine and vanquish the villain.
Then there is the everyday hero, the man who does what needs doing whether it’s taking out the garbage, changing a tire, or helping the single mom with her kids. Maybe it’s the corporate raider who reforms for just the right woman. There are all kinds of heroes and each of them has a place in romance literature.
I don’t know about most readers, but I’m partial to the anti-hero, that brooding, dark male who is reluctant to help but does it anyway. In spite of his penchant for being a loner and not caring about the world, he is drawn into the heroine’s problems. He may grumble and complain, but he does it because of his own code of honor.
This guy is a hero in spite of himself. He doesn’t think of himself as a hero. He doesn’t want to be a hero. Yet, somehow, it happens as he becomes more and more entangled in the heroine’s life.
I’ve written a lot of these men. What can I say? I can’t help myself. These men are fascinating to watch as they evolve.
My latest in a long line of dark heroes is Isaiah Striker from my newest Legacy werewolf book, Isaiah’s Haven. His past has made him turn his back on the position of enforcer with his pack. He feels he doesn’t deserve the position because of his sister’s disappearance years ago. All he wants is to be left alone. (Brooding hero anyone?)
His downfall from his self-imposed solitude comes about because of one underlying reason—his loyalty to his family. That character trait sends him on a mission to Chicago and it is there he meets the beautiful and independent Meredith Cross. She’s not looking for a male to handle her problems. She’ll take care of them herself, thank you very much. But when she and her family are threatened, Isaiah can’t make himself leave. In spite of his determination to stay away, he’s drawn to her and the plight of her small pack. He’s willing to sacrifice everything and to face his own demons to ensure their safety.
Thus the slightly battered and worn male becomes a hero in spite of himself. His true self emerges from the darkness as he embraces his future.
BLURB:
Isaiah Striker puts family first, the pack a distant second. Which is precisely the reason he’s in noisy, crowded Chicago instead of alone in his beloved woods. One look at the owner of Haven nightclub, however, and a simple favor for his brother turns into something else entirely.
Meredith Cross holds her small pack together with sheer determination. After years on the run, they hide in the glare of the city’s nightlife. Isaiah may heat her blood, but she can’t afford to risk the lives of the outcast half-breeds in her care. Once exposed, every bounty hunter and werewolf purist in smelling distance will hunt them down.
But when their sexual attraction spirals out of control, a moment’s distraction is all it takes to lead danger right to Meredith’s door. For Meredith there’s only one choice: her pack.
But Isaiah knows his mate when he sees her. And he’s not giving up without a fight.
Read an Excerpt: http://store.samhainpublishing.com/isaiahs-haven-p-6034.html
Buy the Book: http://store.samhainpublishing.com/isaiahs-haven-p-6034.html
Some authors like J. R. Ward and Christine Feehan excel at the dark hero. Who are some of your favorite dark heroes? Share. We all love them in spite of themselves. 
—
N.J. has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, dragons, 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.
Check out all my books at http://www.njwalters.com
http://www.njwalters.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/awakeningdesires/ (newsletter group)
IH Blog Tour Winners
Congrats to all the Winners. Thank you all so much for stopping by the blog and Thank you to IH for allowing me to participate in the Blog Tour. *Grin*
Se
Winners:
Prize one winner: Anna H
Waiting for Wednesday ebook by Mari Carr
Autographed print copy of Dream Machine by Jayne Rylon
Only Yours ebook by J.R. Patrick
Choice of backlist ebook by Rhian Cahill or ARC of Coyote Home
Prize two winner: Andrea B
Choice of ebook backlist by Jambrea Jo Jones
Death, The Vamp and his Brother tote bag, plus winner?s choice of Lexxie Couper ebook.
Choice of backlist title by Dawn Montgomery
Autographed copy of backlist print title by Nicole Austin
Prize three winner: Heather P
Bath and Body gift bag courtesy of T
Choice of backlist title and a package of TimTams from Jess Dee
Rodeo Heat by Desiree Holt
Choice of backlist ebook from ZA Maxfield
Prize four winner: Fran L
Choice of backlist title from Amanda Young
$10 gift card to Amazon courtesy of Valerie Tibbs
Choice of backlist ebook from Vivian Arend
Choice of backlist ebook from Carol Lynne
Autographed print copy of Texas Surrender by Claire Thompson
You will be contacted by each author about your prize.
IH Blog Post: Last Call Europe: Chocolate Shock
OUT NOW at Changeling Press!
Adult Excerpt (XXX)
Control herself? Alastrina didn’t know whether to scream or groan at what his tongue was currently doing. Not to mention what his cat was doing to her nipples. She stared at the shadow of a leopard on her chest. Its long nimble tongue tormented her nipple with slow swipes. Light sandpaper passes that set off sparks of pleasure through her body. Trina lifted her arms and grabbed hold of the cat’s head. Warm, soft fur met her palms. She marveled at how real it all felt. Trina ran her hands down the body in wonder. Muscle slid under flesh and fur.
The tongue lapping at her anus stopped and she looked through the almost transparent vision of the cat down to its master. His eyes were a bright gold edged in black. “I told you not to move your arms. You must be punished,” he purred.
The way he said the last word sent heat straight to her pussy as more cream leaked from her entrance. He rose up and sat on his heels. His cat also pulled back from her.
“Up on your hands and knees,” Garrison ordered.
Alastrina didn’t wait to comply. She scrambled up and positioned herself as anticipation sung in her veins. His earlier promise echoed in her mind. She shivered, waiting for him to finally give her what she needed; to be ridden hard and fast. She felt his hand sinking into her hair and he yanked her head back, not enough to hurt. Her heart hammered against her ribcage as she felt the wet roughness of the cat’s tongue slide down her spine.
“Either you don’t listen or you wanted to be punished. Is that it? You think to control me while playing the submissive?” he whispered near her ear. His hot, moist breath brushed her ear, causing a tremor to run through her. He traced the shell slowly before taking her lobe between his teeth and sucking it hard.
“I’m not sure what I should do. To fuck you would be giving you what you want and to not would only torture us both. Tell me, Alastrina, can you follow directions or do I have to torture us both and draw this out further than it needs to go?” He peppered her neck with kisses as the cat’s sandpaper tongue was back at her breast, swirling around the firm mound until he got to the nipple. One brush of the roughness against the sensitive tip sent bolts of electricity straight to her clit. She bucked her hips as sensory overload grabbed her. Her pain and pleasure sensors were flicked on and off when the cat scraped her nipple while its tail tickled her wet slit.
Meanwhile, Garrison was kissing his way over her back. Once he got to her bottom he bit one of the cheeks, causing her to cry out. He followed that with a hard slap first on the left side and then the right. She cried out again. The sting turned to heat and pleasure. Her pussy gushed cream. The juices trickled down her thighs. Trina was trapped between cat and man and it was a delicious sandwich. With each strike of his palm and each swipe of the cat’s tongue she was driven closer and closer to orgasm.
Trina was holding on by a fraying string. Her need spiraled tighter and tighter in the pit of her stomach. She cried out when he rammed his hips into her. His thick, hard cock sunk into her tight, wet cunt. Her inner muscles squeezed his shaft and they both groaned. He stilled inside of her but his palm didn’t stop and neither did the cat’s tongue. Now its tail was tickling and teasing her clit.
Her nerve endings were on fire as waves of sensation wrapped around her. Trina could barely breathe or think past the pleasure. He pulsed inside of her. She could feel every heartbeat, and when he withdrew, she groaned in protest. She contracted her vaginal muscles around him, trying to draw him back inside of her. When only the head of his cock remained, he paused and then pushed forward again, his cock stretching her sweetly.
“Garrison,” she moaned. “Fuck me, harder.”
“You don’t give the orders around here, sweet.” He stilled again and she let out a scream. Frustration was mixing with desire as his hand continued to swat her ass and the cat teased her nipple and her clit.
“Please, Garrison,” she pleaded.
“Please what?”
She was bewildered, unsure of what to say. All she knew was that need pulsed through her veins as the fire burned out of control in her body. “Damn it. No games, fuck me.”
The spanking stopped and she felt the press of his hot, damp, hard body against her back. He kissed the crook of her neck before sinking his teeth down hard. Trina gasped and bucked against him. “Fuck!” she screamed at the unexpected pain.
He held her hair and continued to bite down. His hips pulled away from her body slowly before slamming back into her in short thrusts that rocked her. It wasn’t enough.
“Harder, damn you. Fuck me harder,” she demanded. She rocked against him, pushing her hips back at him as best she could. He released her shoulder. She felt the wet slide of blood and saliva move down her chest and breast. The fluids were lapped up by the cat before it returned to teasing her nipples.
He paused again and she let out a frustrated scream. Garrison chuckled. “What’s the magic word, love?”
She swore. “I don’t know. Damn it, just tell me and then fuck me.”
He placed a kiss just below her ear. “It’s Master, as in ‘please, fuck me, Master’.”
“I don’t belong to you,” she threw out, panting. Her body was tied in a knot as the cat continued its assault. A sharp sting landed on her clit and her hips bucked. Trina cried out in surprise.
“Know who you’re dealing with,” Garrison growled next to her ear. “I am the master of your body. I own you tonight, me and my cat. Show sass again, and the cat will whip you with its tail, and I’ll refuse to give you release.”
The iron in his voice and the soft strokes of the cat’s tail wound her up. They aroused her ever higher. She snorted, trying to ignore the sensations they were causing. “I belong to me. Just because you’re fucking me doesn’t mean a damn thing. I can finish myself off.”
He stopped thrusting. His cock pulsed in her cunt. The cat stopped what it was doing to flick her clit hard, sending a sharp bolt of pleasure through her. She bit down on her bottom lip to keep from crying out.
“Don’t even think about finishing yourself off,” he murmured softly.
She felt rope around her wrists and ankles. A glance down showed nothing.
“Flexing your power to hold me, ha?” Alastrina drew upon her own low reserves and tried to break his hold only to fail.
“I am more than you think I am. Now bow to me and call me Master.”
“Kind of hard to do that when I’m on all fours,” she sassed.
Three more smacks; this time first on one side of her pussy and then the other before landing on her clit.
“Shit!” She bucked. Pleasure shot straight to her cunt, causing it to clench around his cock.
“I can go on like this all night. The question is, can you?” He began to thrust into her again with short strokes. The cat lapped its way down her body. When that rough tongue touched her labia she gasped loudly. The cat lapped first at her wet slit and then her clit.
The combined sensations were too much. Her orgasm tightened and spiraled upward, tighter and tighter until she thought she would snap.
“Not yet,” Garrison growled. Both he and the cat stopped and Alastrina screamed.
“You come when I say you come. Now say what you’re supposed to say or we keep this up,” Garrison threatened.
She tried to move her arms and legs but his power held her fast. Need made her capitulate.
“Fuck me, Master, please, let me come,” she said softly. Instead of feeling as if she was giving away a piece of herself, a sense of contentment came over her.
“Oh Goddess.” His cock twitched inside of her and she moaned. He lifted his body off of hers and withdrew before slamming into her. “Damn it, that sounded so sweet coming from you. So fucking sexy.”
He fucked her hard now. Her body shook with the force of his thrusts.
“Mine, all mine, you belong to me now.”
The cat nipped her clit and pleasure skittered through her. She was on a knife’s edge, so close to coming.
“Please, let me come.” Alastrina wasn’t sure who she was begging, him or the cat. She didn’t care. The orgasm was so close she could practically taste it.
“Please what?” He slapped her ass hard, sending a shockwave of heat and pleasure through her.
“Please, Master, let me come.”
“I control your pleasure, don’t I? I’m the one that can make you come, aren’t I? This sweet pussy belongs to me, doesn’t it? So I ask you, sweetness, who do you belong to?”
“You, I belong to you. Please, Master, let me come,” she begged.
“You’re damn right you do.” He pounded into her harder as the cat pressed her clit down with its tongue. The pressure was at the bursting point. When the cat released the aching bundle of nerves that was her clit, she came, screaming Garrison’s name.
The world narrowed down to the pleasure. Her vision blurred and spots danced before her eyes. Intense sensation collided through her in wave after wave of pleasure from her head to her feet. Her fingers and toes curled tightly as her body shook, racked with the intensity of her orgasm.
He continued to pound her pussy as the cat lapped and nipped her clit. Alastrina was falling through an endless void of desire and fire as aftershocks rippled through her. Her screams became hoarse cries until she lost her voice completely. Her eyelids slipped down. She wasn’t sure how much more she could take before she went unconscious. Garrison continued to pull at her body, yanking out small orgasms until she couldn’t come anymore. When she thought he would truly fuck her into unconsciousness, his cock expanded in her cunt. The shaft became harder. It jumped, pulsed and began shooting his hot seed into her clenching vagina.
She shook with effort to stay up as he pumped his hips. Trina felt their mixed juices slip out. A soft groan fell from her lips and she began to sway.
His power slipped from around her wrists and ankles and the cat vanished. She didn’t have the strength to think about where it went. Her eyelids fluttered before slipping down, and exhaustion took hold. Her body fell to the mattress as he pulled out of her.
“I’ve got you, sweet. Don’t worry. Just sleep now,” he murmured.
She did just that, trusting that he would keep her safe, from what she didn’t know.
-END OF EXCERPT-
Blurb:
All romanced out, Love Fairy Alastrina is tired of putting together happy couples. All she wants is a little bit of “me time” to forget her job for one night. She strides into Last Call: London looking for some action.
Chocolate Shock: Heat packed sexin’ — no baggage required or desired.
Rebellious leopard shifter Garrison Fredricks may be the answer to all her needs. Some sexy talk and a bit of action is just what the love fairy ordered. Only problem is he has a teensy-weensy little secret that may piss her off. And a Love Fairy pissed off is not a good thing.
Buy Link:
http://www.changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=1237
Help celebrate International Heat’s Anniversary. Stop by these blogs comment and be entered for a chance to win:
Blog tour sites (you don’t need to go in order, but you do need to comment at all of them to be eligible for a prize.):
Be Entered to Win one of these awesome prizes:
Prize one:
Waiting for Wednesday ebook by Mari Carr
Autographed print copy of Dream Machine by Jayne Rylon
Only Yours ebook by J.R. Patrick
Choice of backlist ebook by Rhian Cahill or ARC of Coyote Home
Prize two:
Choice of ebook backlist by Jambrea Jo Jones
Death, The Vamp and his Brother tote bag, plus winner’s choice of Lexxie Couper ebook.
Choice of backlist title by Dawn Montgomery
Autographed copy of backlist print title by Nicole Austin
Prize three:
Bath and Body gift bag courtesy of T
Choice of backlist title and a package of TimTams from Jess Dee
Rodeo Heat by Desiree Holt
Prize four:
Choice of backlist title from Amanda Young
$10 gift card to Amazon courtesy of Valerie Tibbs
Choice of backlist ebook from Vivian Arend
Good Luck!
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