Archive for the ‘Romance’ Category

Walking the Plank – Pirates and Heroes

Reading through these fabulous guest posts on villains, heroes, and everything in between, one thing is perfectly clear: There is a point of no return for these characters, when they’ve done something irredeemable. Much like walking a plank, you can only go so far before falling into some shark-filled, treacherous waters, with little hope of escape – and if the character is bad enough, you might even hope that he’s eaten or drowns.

It’s also perfectly clear that the point shifts, depending on the reader.

This was something that I thought about constantly while writing The Iron Duke. My hero, Rhys Trahaearn, isn’t a nice guy. He’s arrogant and overbearing, and his moral center pretty skewed. A former pirate, he was a thief, and he didn’t hesitate to kill anyone who threatened him, his crew, or his ship. Sure, he had his reasons and a tortured history – and depending on where a person’s perspective, he might have even been justified in those reasons: the law failed him and many other people, and so he chose lawlessness.

Now, the worldbuilding itself gives him a little more leeway there on redeemable/irredeemable, because the pirate stuff he does would never fly in, say, a contemporary novel. No question, he’d be an out-and-out bad guy if the setting was modern day America (or Somalia). His actions would be unforgiveable. Much like the serial killer of the modern suspense novel, the excuse of a bad childhood only goes so far (but then you make that serial killer only murder bad guys, and you’ve got a Dexter – a hero of another sort).

So Rhys has a history that pushes him close to the edge of that plank, but there are other circumstances that keep him from falling overboard: because he freed England from an oppressive regime, he’s also considered a national hero. Even the heroine, who doesn’t like his pirating ways at all, is grateful to him for that.

And although Rhys isn’t a pirate anymore by the opening of the novel, he still often does exactly as he wants without considering what others want or need – and there’s always a point where overbearing and alpha can turn into: he’s a jerk.

I pushed Rhys to that jerky line a couple of times – I pushed him to the edge of that plank – pretty deliberately. For some readers, I know that means he goes straight over, because their plank is shorter than mine. There’s one scene that was actually difficult for me to write, where he is his usual “I know what I’m doing, I’m totally in control of myself” mode, and he inadvertently hurts Mina, the heroine. He’s immediately remorseful and horrified as soon as he realizes what had happened – which, to me, meant that he’s just barely hanging on to the edge of the plank by his fingernails, but there’s still the possibility that he can pull himself back up – but to a lot of readers, I knew that he took a flying leap right into the water.

That is always the risk that heroes like this will run. There will never be a one-size-fits-all-readers plank for our characters to walk. As I writer, I accept that.

As a reader, it makes for a lot more interesting experience with each book. When I read a review, I never know whether a hero or heroine will cross my personal line into irredeemable territory . . . and I think that’s a good thing. It keeps everything exciting. Maybe not as exciting as hanging upside-down from an airship and shooting a spear at a kraken, but still a pretty damn good time. Heroes that walk to the edge of the plank keep us on our toes, if nothing else – hoping they don’t go over and become shark-bait (or hoping that they do.)

The Iron Duke Excerpt:
Mina turned to find a man as big as his voice. Oh, damn the newssheets. They hadn’t been kind to him—they’d been kind to their readers, protecting them the effect of this man. A hollow fear shivered within her, much like the first time she’d run into a razor-clawed ratcatcher in an alley—the instinctive knowledge that she faced something dangerous and that she didn’t wholly understand.

Not that Rhys Trahaearn looked strange, or mutated as those ratcatchers were. He was just as hard and as handsome as the caricatures had portrayed—altogether dark and forbidding, with a gaze as pointed and as guarded as the fence that was his namesake. The Iron Duke wasn’t as tall as his statue, but still taller than any man had a right to be, and as broad through the shoulders as Newberry, but without the spare flesh.

But it was not his size that made her wary. And for the first time, she could see why his crew might follow him through kraken-infested waters or into Horde territory, then follow him back onto shore and remain with him. When he leveled that cold, detached gaze at them, as if he couldn’t care less whether they dropped dead in front of him, they would be too terrified to do anything else. He leveled it at Mina now, and the message in his eyes was clear.

He didn’t want her here.

Because of her bloodline or her occupation? Mina couldn’t decide. It hardly mattered, anyway—she was here now.

She glanced at the man standing beside him: tall, brown-haired, his expression bored. Mina didn’t recognize him. Like the Iron Duke, he wore a fashionable black overcoat, breeches, and boots. A red waistcoat buckled like armor over a white shirt with a simple collar reminiscent of the Horde’s tunic collar. Perhaps a bounder and, if so, probably an aristocrat—and he likely expected to be treated as one.

Bully for him.

She looked to the duke again. Though she’d never been introduced to someone of his standing before, she’d seen Superintendent Hale meet a marquess without a single gesture to acknowledge that he ranked above her. Mina followed that example and offered a short nod before addressing him.

“Your Grace, I understand that you did not witness this man die.”

“No.”

“And your companion . . . ?”

“Also saw nothing,” the other man answered.

She’d been right; his accent marked him as a bounder. Yet she had to revise her opinion of him. He wasn’t bored by death—just too familiar with it to be excited by yet another. She couldn’t understand that. The more death she saw, the more the injustice of each one touched her. “Your name, sir?”

His smile seemed just at the edge of a laugh. “Mr. Smith.”

A joker. How fun.

She thought a flicker of irritation crossed the duke’s expression. But when he didn’t offer his companion’s true name, she let it go. One of the staff would know.

“Mr. St. John has told me that no one has identified the body, and only your footman saw his fall.”

“Yes.”

“Did your footman relate anything else to you?”

“Only that he didn’t scream.”

No scream? Either the man had been drunk, asleep, or already dead. She would soon find out which it was.

“If you’ll pardon me.” With a nod, she turned toward the steps, where Newberry adjusted the camera’s thermite flash. She heard the Iron Duke and his companion follow her. As long as they did not touch the body or try to help her examine it, she did not care.

Mina looked down at her hands. She would touch the body, and Newberry hadn’t brought her serviceable wool gloves to exchange for her white evening gloves. They were only satin—neither her mother’s tinkering nor her own salary could afford kid—but they were still too dear to ruin.

She tugged at the tips of her fingers, but the fastenings at her wrist prevented them from sliding off. Futilely, she tried to push the small buttons through equally small satin loops. The seams at the tips of her fingers made them too bulky, and the fabric was too slippery. She looked round for Newberry, and saw that the black powder from the ferrotype camera already dusted his hands. Blast it. She would bite them through, if she had to. Even the despised task of sewing the buttons back on would be easier than—

“Give your hand over, inspector.”

Mina hackles rose at the command. She looked up into Trahaearn’s face and heard a noise from his companion, a snorted half laugh—as if Trahaearn had failed an easy test.

The duke’s expression didn’t soften, though his words did. “You’ll finish more quickly if I assist you. Will you allow me?”

No, she thought. Do not touch me, do not come close. But the body on the steps would not allow her that reply.

“Yes. Thank you.”

She held out her hand and watched as he removed his own gloves. Kid, lined with sable. Just imagining the luxurious softness warmed her.

Mina wouldn’t have been surprised if his presence had, as well. With his great size, Trahaearn seemed to surround her with heat just by standing so near. His hands were large, his fingers long and nails square. As he took her wrist in his left palm, calluses audibly scraped the satin. His face darkened. She could not tell if it was in anger or embarrassment.

However rough his skin was, his fingers were nimble. He deftly unfastened the first button, and the next. “This was not the evening you had planned.”

“No.”

She did not say this was preferable to the Victory Ball, but perhaps he read it in her voice. To her surprise, his teeth flashed in a smile—then his face quickly hardened again, as if his smile had surprised him, as well. He bent his head over her hand again and Mina found herself staring at his short eyelashes, so thick and black that his eyelids seemed lined with kohl. She looked away, but gold glinting through the thickness of his dark hair drew her gaze again.

Three tiny rings pierced the top curve of each ear. His earlobes had been pierced, too, though he wore no jewelry in them.

And so the newssheets had dressed him up. In a drawing, his thickly-lashed eyes and jewelry would have appeared feminine. But not up close, not in person. Instead, the effect was . . . primitive.

Unsettled, she focused on her wrist. Only two buttons left, and then she could work.

She should be working now. “Were the dogs patrolling the grounds before the body was discovered?”

“No. They search for the point of entry now.”

Mina pictured the iron fence. Perhaps a child could slip through the bars; a man could not. But if someone had let him through . . . ? “Have you spoken with your man at the front gate?”

“Wills?”

She had not asked the gatekeeper his name. “If Wills has a prosthetic left leg, and often saves a portion of his supper in his beard for his breakfast, then we are speaking of the same man.”

“That is Wills.” He studied her with unreadable eyes. “He wouldn’t let anyone through.”

Without my leave, Mina finished for him. And perhaps he was correct, though of course she would verify it with the gatekeeper, and ask the steward about deliveries. Someone might have hidden themselves in one.

His gaze fell to her glove again. “There we are,” Trahaearn said. “Now to . . .”

She pulled her hand away at the same time Trahaearn gripped the satin fingertips. He tugged. Satin slid in a warm caress over her elbow, her forearm.

Flames lit her cheeks. “Sir—”

His expression changed as he continued to pull. First registering surprise, as if he hadn’t realized the glove extended past her wrist. Then an emotion hard and sharp as the long glove slowly gave way. Its white length finally dangled from his fingers, and to Mina seemed as intimate as if he held her stocking.

Her sleeve still covered her arm, but she felt exposed. Stripped. With as much dignity as she could, Mina claimed the glove.

“Thank you. I can manage the other.” She stuffed the glove into her pocket. With her bare fingers, she made quick work of the buttons at her left wrist.

Mina looked up to find him staring at her. His cheekbones blazed with color, his gaze hot.

She’d seen lust before. This marked the first time that she hadn’t seen any disgust or hatred beneath it.

“Thank you,” she said again, amazed by the evenness of her voice when everything inside her trembled.

“Inspector.” He inclined his head, then looked beyond her to the stairs.

And as she turned, the trembling stopped. Her legs were steady as she walked to the steps, her mind focused.

“Tell me, captain: Did you plan to assist her, or undress her?” she heard his companion ask. Trahaearn didn’t reply, and Mina didn’t look back at him.

Even the pull of the Iron Duke was not stronger than death.

Buy at:

(Print)

Penguin, Amazon, B&N, Borders, Books-A-Million, Powell’s, Book Depository (U.K.), Rendezvous Books (Aus)

(Ebook)

Kindle, Nook, Kobo

Coming September 2011

Bio:

Meljean was raised in the middle of the woods, and hid under her blankets at night with fairy tales, comic books, and romances…and that pretty much explains everything about her. Meljean is the author of the Guardians paranormal romance series, and the Iron Seas steampunk romance series. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and daughter.

Link to my site: http://meljeanbrook.com
Link to my book page:http://meljeanbrook.com/books

Heroes and Villains

Sometimes there is a very fine line between the two. Call it the bad-boy syndrome or the anti-hero, but many story “heroes” often flirt with both sides. It can make for a nice dynamic, particularly if the heroine isn’t entirely sure what to make of it. And of course, she’s most likely going to be attracted to him, just for that reason. If he’s truly bad, can he be redeemed? And will she be the one to do it?

For myself, I don’t mind it if my heroes straddle the line, because people generally tend to exist in shades of grey, and that’s exactly how I like my characters. I enjoy watching a hero’s layers slowly peeling back as we discover what makes him tick and what those inner motivations are. Often we find certain actions that may have appeared villainous or untoward at first become much more heroic once we know *why* he did them.

Not that those reasons necessarily excuse them from being an asshat, but it lends a certain amount of sympathy to their plight and it can be much easier for a reader to connect with that character. We can make allowances as to why he very well *should* end up with the heroine.

In my debut, A Brush of Darkness, Brystion the incubus has a certain element of the anti-hero in him. He’s motivated by the need to rescue his sister, but my heroine Abby has very little incentive to trust him, particularly when she has her own set of missing people to deal with. Of course, they end up having to join forces in the end…but things aren’t always what they seem. As much as Abby is attracted to him, she’s also very much aware that Brystion is an actual daemon, and one known for his overly seductive traits. Although she does give in to him (partially due to attraction and partially due to a deal they worked out), there is always a niggling of uncertainty in the back of her mind. Will he love her? Or betray her?

Here’s a little excerpt of A Brush of Darkness:
“I wasn’t trying to seduce you. The offer was genuine.” He pushed his hand through his hair. “It’s a little disconcerting to be turned down by a mere mortal.”

“Just a mortal,” I snorted. “Real nice. I’ll see what I can do about soothing your ego, O gracious and tactful one.” I chewed on my lower lip thoughtfully and gave him a sly smile. “Of course, you probably shouldn’t feel too bad. After all, I am wearing a magical amulet now.”

His mouth pursed. “You are?”

“Sure. It’s made of silver and moonbeams and blessed by a flatulent dwarf,” I intoned gravely. “It’s a guaranteed ‘plus four’ against Incubus Seduction.”

“You’re an ass.”

“Kiss, kiss, darling.” I fluttered my eyelashes, puckering my lips in mock affection.

His hand snarled into my hair, fingers twined tightly at the base of my head. “This is a complication I don’t want, Abby.” He growled the words, but there was no mistaking the desire that smoldered behind his now glowing eyes.

“The bulge in your pants says otherwise,” I retorted, perversely nudging my hips against him. A little voice in the back of my mind was going into apoplectic fits at my boldness. As far as I was concerned, the incubus had been acting like some sort of preternatural cocktease since we’d met and I’d had enough.

He let out a stifled groan, his other hand snaking down to grip my ass. “You’ll regret it,” he breathed, releasing his hold on my hair to trace a curious thumb over my jaw. His face drifted closer until his mouth brushed mine. I shuddered at the delicate intrusion. His fingers slid up to the small of my back.

“Probably.” I sighed, my mind happily unable to focus on anything but the way he was nipping at my lower lip. “I regret a lot of things.”

The incubus stared at me, an unnamed emotion flickering across his face, and then his lips were on mine, fierce and possessive. He devoured me utterly. There was only the sweetness of his tongue, probing hot and wet into the velvet contours of my mouth. It swept shallow, lingering to taste the soft edges, and then moved deeper, pulsing and rhythmic to match the rapid beating of my heart. I jerked forward to bury my hands in his hair, my ragged breathing giving way to a low cry of longing.

“How’s that ego?” he purred.

“Rock hard from the feel of it,” I gasped. “Just the way I like it.”

Book blurb:
I had a naked incubus in my bedroom. With a frying pan of half-cooked bacon and a hard-on. And a unicorn bite on his ass. Christ, this was turning out to be a weird morning.
Six months ago, Abby Sinclair was struggling to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. Now, she has an enchanted iPod, a miniature unicorn living in her underwear drawer, and a magical marketplace to manage. But despite her growing knowledge of the OtherWorld, Abby isn’t at all prepared for Brystion, the dark, mysterious, and as sexy as sin incubus who shows up searching for his sister—and is convinced Abby has the key to the succubus’s whereabouts. Abby has enough problems without having this seductive shape-shifter literally invading her dreams to get information. But when her Faery boss and some of her friends vanish as well, Abby and Brystion must form an uneasy alliance. As Abby is sucked deeper and deeper into this perilous world of faeries, angels, and daemons, she realizes her life is in as much danger as her heart—and there’s no one she can trust to save her.

Author Bio:
A marine biologist in a former life, Allison Pang turned to a life of crime to finance her wild spending habits and need to collect Faberge eggs. A cat thief of notable repute, she spends her days sleeping and nights scaling walls and wooing dancing boys….Well, at least the marine biology part is true. But she was taloned by a hawk once. She also loves Hello Kitty, sparkly shoes, and gorgeous violinists.

She spends her days in Northern Virginia working as a cube grunt and her nights waiting on her kids and cats, punctuated by the occasional husbandly serenade. Sometimes she even manages to write. Mostly she just makes it up as she goes.

Contact Info:
Website – http://www.heartofthedreaming.com
Blog – http://mynfel.blogspot.com
Group Blog – http://word-whores.blogspot.com

Facebook: – http://www.facebook.com/apang
Twitter: – http://www.twitter.com/allison_pang
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3965895.Allison_Pang

Hero or Anti-Hero? By Marie Treanor

For me, the hero of a romance is the lead male character who gets the girl.

I don’t mind if there are two heroes. I don’t mind if he’s got fangs, fur, dubious habits, immoral – or even amoral – behavior, so long as he has that something to make my toes curl. In fact, I’ve always had a soft spot for the hero with a hint of bad – or even a villain with the tiniest hint of good feeling. I like my heroes and my villains to have layers (like Shrek and onions ), so I suppose it’s not surprising if my boundary between hero and villain gets blurred occasionally.

Saloman, the hero of Blood on Silk (and of the whole Awakened by Blood trilogy), was described in a recent review as an antihero. And although he’s certainly the male lead, I suppose for much of the book he doesn’t behave a lot like a true hero. For a start, he aims to kill our heroine (which is hardly “cricket”!) and throughout the story, he murders without an obvious qualm. Well, he’s a vampire. He’s meant to drink human blood. And besides, he’s very sexy, and Elizabeth, the heroine in question has the sneaking suspicion that one night with him might just be worth dying for.

Let’s face it, we’re all attracted to bad boys from time to time. We like the risk (even if it’s more comfortable to read about a romance heroine taking that risk for us!). And vampires are the ultimate bad boys. I had great fun with the wicked sides of Karoly in Hunting Karoly (also in the Seducing Scots anthology), and of Max in Loving the Vampire (City of the Damned ebook collection). They paved the way, to some extent, for Saloman in Blood on Silk.

So what makes Saloman a hero instead of a villain? Surely not just the fact that he inspires all those inappropriate, not to say inconvenient, feelings in Elizabeth, even while she knows she has to kill him before he kills her?

To me, he’s saved from villainy in the end, by his “differentness.” He isn’t a human so he doesn’t think like one. Gradually, throughout the series, it becomes clear that Saloman does indeed have a strict moral code, even if it’s not one that a human can easily understand, let alone identify with. By his own lights, he’s behaving perfectly reasonably. And I think that has parallels in older and greater stories – for example, the heroes from two of my earliest favourite American novels, Mark Twain’s eponymous Huckleberry Finn, and Joseph Heller’s Yossarian from Catch 22, both of whom behaved in unconventional ways and held unconventional views that would have been considered anti-heroic at best to many of their contemporaries, even though they’re perhaps more clearly heroes to modern readers.

(Coming Soon)

Now, I couldn’t behave or even think like Saloman and I don’t want to. Neither does Elizabeth (mostly!). But I don’t believe that makes him a villain. What do you think? Is Saloman a hero or an anti-hero? If you like, read the excerpt below to see if it helps you decide .

BLOOD ON SILK: an AWAKENED BY BLOOD novel
By Marie Treanor
Out Now from NAL – Signet Eclipse.
Order from Amazon; Barnes & Noble; Borders; Book Depository; Penguin; Kindle; Nook; Penguin ePub

Scottish academic Elizabeth Silk is spending the summer in Romania researching historical superstitions for her PhD. While she is tracing local folktales, one subject in particular sparks her imagination. His name is Saloman, legend’s most powerful vampire, a seductive prince staked centuries ago. Now, in the ruins of a castle crypt, Elizabeth discovers the legends are real. Her blood has awakened him. Her innocence has aroused him. But Elizabeth unleashes more than Saloman’s hunger.

An army of vampire hunters has amassed to send Saloman back to hell. Sworn to help – yet fearing Saloman’s deadly blood lust – Elizabeth seeks to entrap him, offering her body as bait. But something stronger than dread, more powerful than revenge, is uniting Elizabeth to her prey. Caught between desire and rage, Elizabeth must decide where her loyalties lie…and what the limits are to a yearning she can no longer control.

***

Saloman went very still, and for a moment, she wondered if she’d won a breathing space at least. Then his lips closed on her throat, caressing and teasing her skin. She was sure he even flicked the vein with his tongue, tapping it like a nurse before inserting a needle.

She trembled, both yearning and dreading and unable to distinguish one from the other. Saloman relaxed the pressure of his body on hers, and the hand on her chest slipped lower between them and closed over her naked breast. She let out a tiny, inarticulate sound that might have been a sigh or a sob.

Saloman lifted his head. His black eyes burned into hers. “I know,” he said, and dropped his gaze to her mouth, to her breasts. His palm moved, gliding over the aching peak of her nipple.

“Know what?” she demanded with desperation, having lost the thread.

“That Zoltán attacked you. He has no finesse.”

“You were there,” she blurted. “You were the other shadow. . . .” And yet she could have sworn she’d surprised him by her original revelation.

“The other shadow? I’m not sure I like that. It offends my sense of superiority.”

A breath of laughter escaped her, as unbidden as it was appalling. “Are you for real?”

“Oh yes.” His hand released her breast to draw the sheet farther down. “Don’t I feel real?” His fingers touched her lips, parting them with a downward sweep that continued over her chin and throat and down between her breasts to her navel. She moved with the caress, arching under his hand because she couldn’t help it. She felt like a musical instrument, played by his careless, talented fingers.

“I began this meal the night you wakened me,” he whispered. “And I will finish it. All of it.”

She swallowed, trying not to squirm under his devouring gaze. Jesus, no one had ever looked at her like that, with such greedy, urgent passion . . . but then no one had ever regarded her as a meal before either.

His finger circled her belly button, dipping in and out.

She gasped, “What do you mean, all of it?” Was there a choice? Could she convince him to leave her alive?

The almost- smile dawned and died on his lips.

“Sex,” he said unexpectedly. She blinked, and his gaze moved up to her face, mocking, yet scalding in its intensity. “That’s what you call it these days, isn’t it? When you’re being polite.” He laid his whole hand flat on her stomach, then swept outwards and downward to her thigh. “Let me say it in my own more familiar terms. Tonight, I will pleasure you. I will take every delight your sweet flesh can give me. And just before sunrise, I will finish the meal.”

Could she negotiate for one without the other? Burning up with his words, she wanted all of it. She remembered the staggering bliss of his killing mouth on her throat, and she was only too aware of her helpless reaction to his touch right now.

He could make me orgasm just by looking at me. . . . Oh shit, what is the matter with me?

“Well, that’s novel,” she managed, with what mockery she could summon, forcing herself to be still under his idly caressing hands. “Dalliance and dinner instead of the other way round.”

His lips quirked. “I offered them both together, as I recall. I believe I can still manage that. Afterward.”

She squirmed, and he smiled, pleased and predatory.

Fighting herself at least as much as him, she tried for further delay. “Why didn’t you just do it then? What’s the point of all the cat-and-mouse?”

“Fun,” he replied, as though surprised. “And the fact that I barely had the strength to stand, let alone fuck.”

Her face flamed all over again, and his hand on her nape massaged the muscles there, sending shivers all the way down her spine. They felt more like bolts of lust.

He said, “I’m better now,” and drew her forward by the nape until her naked body rested against him. There was no time to struggle, if she could have forced herself to it, before his mouth closed on hers in the most sensual kiss she’d ever known. His lips dominated, tasting, then sucking, while his tongue thrust in deliberate simulation of sex. She felt his teeth, those terrible fangs, and without really meaning to, just unable to resist, she touched one with her tongue.

A sound like a groan escaped him. She was swept closer into his body, her breasts crushed against his hard, powerful chest while the hand not caressing her nape splayed flat against her naked back and began to play among her vertebrae, spreading wild, devastating lust straight between her legs.

He opened her mouth wider with his, deepening the kiss. She felt dizzy, as if she were falling, and realized he was pressing her back into the pillows, moving the rest of his body onto the bed with her.

This is it. He’s really going to do it; have sex with me. Everything in her leapt toward that goal, that yearning which had become a need, a necessity. In just an instant, she’d feel the weight of his hard, muscular body. As he removed his clothes, she’d feel his naked skin on hers, his hardness pressing between her thighs. This amazing, beautiful being wanted to have sex with her.

And then he would kill her.

Blood on Silk is available now .
Blood Sin is released on 5th April and is available now for pre-order.
Hunting Karoly is available in e-book from Ellora’s Cave, and in the paperback anthology Seducing Scots, also from Ellora’s Cave.
Loving the Vampire is available as part of the City of the Damned (Book 1 of the collection, Loving the Wolf, is available for $.01 at Changeling Press) e-book collection from Changeling Press.

Marie Treanor lives in Scotland with her eccentric husband and three much-too-smart children. Having grown bored with city life, she resides these days in a picturesque village by the sea where she is lucky enough to enjoy herself avoiding housework and writing sensual stories of paranormal romance and fantasy.
You can find out more about Marie and her books on her website: www.MarieTreanor.com.
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Join the party on her new blog: Marie Treanor’s Romantic Theme Party.

On January 19th, Entwined by Fate the first in a innovative and sexy new series from S.A.Price releases. This series breaks the accepted boundaries on what is familiar in the shifter genre, by having Ophidians, or weresnakes as a focus.

Thirty females of the Ophidian race have gone missing, most from the transient nest of Las Vegas, a rogue and unofficial nest run by the Saint, John Merrick. Believed to be dead by every Archon in the states, Merrick leads a quiet and unassuming life, saving those of his race that are lost and need it most. It’s a solitary existence, one that he hates every day. He yearns for his mate, the woman he left over a decade before, and the woman who thinks him dead to this day.

When Elise Rizdon gets the official invitation to the Archon meeting in Ohio by the leader of a new Midwestern nest, she never expected to see the love of her life at the woman’s side, a man she was told was dead and buried. She lost him once upon a time, and she never fully recovered. Focusing on the issues, and not the man that has always made her body burn is not going to be easy. A disturbing event is on the horizon, one that threatens all Ophidian’s and their way of life. In order to survive they will have to work together, give up old grudges and take chances on the things that matter most. Love, life and the continuation of their race.

And the reviews have been amazing!

S.A. Price has written a winner! The taut plot line and the constant danger lurking at every corner increase the tension as the reader anxiously turns the pages. S.A. Price does a marvelous job at integrating subplots and smoothly fitting all of the pieces together. The secondary romances developing within the plot line make the happily-ever-after all the more satisfying. Brilliant!
~Recommended Read, Ck2s Kwips and Kritiques

?Move over werewolf?s there?s a new game in town!?
~ Smokin Hot Books

?It kept me captivated ?I just had to know what was going to happen next!?
~Books, Books and More Books

“A sexy were species that really pushes the envelope! Who knew snakes could be so hot-blooded!?”
~Jennifer Armintrout, best selling author of the Blood Ties series

Interested? Check out why this book is getting such amazing feedback, and help us prove that weresnakes are sssexy and that scales could definitely be the new fur for you shifter readers!

JOIN THE REVOLUTION! You can read an excerpt here and you can buy the E book from All Romance E books and the print from Amazon.

And if you use WordPress:
On January 19th, Entwined by Fate the first in a innovative and sexy new series from S.A.Price releases. This series breaks the accepted boundaries on what is familiar in the shifter genre, by having Ophidians, or weresnakes as a focus.

Thirty females of the Ophidian race have gone missing, most from the transient nest of Las Vegas, a rogue and unofficial nest run by the Saint, John Merrick. Believed to be dead by every Archon in the states, Merrick leads a quiet and unassuming life, saving those of his race that are lost and need it most. It’s a solitary existence, one that he hates every day. He yearns for his mate, the woman he left over a decade before, and the woman who thinks him dead to this day.

When Elise Rizdon gets the official invitation to the Archon meeting in Ohio by the leader of a new Midwestern nest, she never expected to see the love of her life at the woman’s side, a man she was told was dead and buried. She lost him once upon a time, and she never fully recovered. Focusing on the issues, and not the man that has always made her body burn is not going to be easy. A disturbing event is on the horizon, one that threatens all Ophidian’s and their way of life. In order to survive they will have to work together, give up old grudges and take chances on the things that matter most. Love, life and the continuation of their race.

And the reviews have been amazing!

S.A. Price has written a winner! The taut plot line and the constant danger lurking at every corner increase the tension as the reader anxiously turns the pages. S.A. Price does a marvelous job at integrating subplots and smoothly fitting all of the pieces together. The secondary romances developing within the plot line make the happily-ever-after all the more satisfying. Brilliant!
~Recommended Read, Ck2s Kwips and Kritiques

?Move over werewolf?s there?s a new game in town!?
~ Smokin Hot Books

?It kept me captivated ?I just had to know what was going to happen next!?
~Books, Books and More Books

“A sexy were species that really pushes the envelope! Who knew snakes could be so hot-blooded!?”

~Jennifer Armintrout, best selling author of the Blood Ties series

Interested? Check out why this book is getting such amazing feedback, and help us prove that weresnakes are sssexy and that scales could definitely be the new fur for you shifter readers!

JOIN THE REVOLUTION! You can read an excerpt here and you can buy the E book from All Romance E books and the print from Amazon.

One of my favorite movies is The Princess Bride. I could sit there and watch it ten times in a row and never tire of it. It has everything I could ever want romance, action, adventure, comedy all rolled into one. To me it is the perfect comfort or date movie. Plus, Cary Elwes (Wesley) my first ever movie star crush is in it. Just adored him and who wouldn’t want a hero like Weslely? I know I would, loyal to a fault and when he came back to Buttercup (Robin Wright) there was some bad ass mixed in there. *Grin*

So my question is what is your Essential Romantic story? What is that one book, movie or song that to you just screams ROMANCE!

NaNoWriMo update:

I managed to do 17k this week. *Big Grin* Just a little bit more and I can make the 50k goal I aimed for.

The song that’s currently driving me at the moment:

I’m planning on a week of Guest Blogs about television shows that some of my fabu author friends are addicted to. Look for posts about Chuck, Supernatural, Sanctuary and many more.

I’ll also be?announcing?some new contract news soon. Hopefully sometime this week.

Okay, laters guys. I’m off the treat myself for getting 5k in wordage done by reading some yummy ebooks.

Se