Friday, June 13, 2014

#FridayFantasy: A MEASURED RISK by @NBlackthorne is 99 cents! #Rubenesque #Erotic #Regency


Happy Friday the 13th! Today is extra special because we're helping our friend and fellow erotic romance author Natasha Blackthorne celebrate the special sale of the first book in her Regency Risks series. 

A Measured Risk is only 99 cents starting today and through midnight Sunday June 15th. You don't want to miss this one, especially if you love Regency Historicals. 

Summary of the book details: Erotica Romance ~ Light BDSM ~ Rubenesque / BBW ~ Regency Historical ~ Shy Heroine ~ Novel Length 86,000 Words . Contains graphic erotic descriptions and frank sexual language. As a work of historical romance fiction, A Measured Risk is not intended to be an accurate portrayal of modern BDSM lifestyles.


BLURB

He is her most dangerous temptation, the only man she has ever trusted and now he is demanding her submission. Dare she take the risk?

Emotionally scarred in the horrific accident that took her husband’s life, Lady Cranfield is imprisoned by her lingering terror of horses and carriages. She longs to be closer to the fascinating Earl of Ruel, as she senses intuitively that he might be able to teach her how to overcome the terrors that hold her in bondage.

And now she’s willing to risk almost anything—her reputation, even her virtue—to find out. 

But what Lord Ruel proposes startles her.
When the shy, studious and socially awkward young widow approaches him, Lord Ruel instantly senses she will be the sweetest, most submissive experience of his life—but first he must gain her complete trust. Lord Ruel makes Lady Cranfield a non-negotiable offer: His help in return for her submission and obedience.

But Lady Cranfield grew up neglected by her ducal parents, raised by servants and then later ignored by her handsome, charming husband. She’s learnt to protect her heart at all costs and she trusts no one but herself.


How can the jaded Earl of Ruel break through Lady Cranfield’s self-defences and show her how to love when he himself has spent his life avoiding that tender trap?



EXCERPT


She backed all the way into the bookcase.

“Why did you run away?” His deep voice settled in her belly, rich and warm, like crème brûlée on a cold winter’s night.

“Because I wanted you to follow.” She tried to sound sophisticated and seductive, but her voice choked off on the last word.

Ruel placed his hand on the shelf above her head and blocked her path to the door. His tall, solidly muscled body leaned over her, surrounding her with the sumptuous, sinful scents of tobacco, Scotch whisky and something masculine and undeniably dangerous. A slow, sensual smile stretched his hard mouth.

He appeared different. Softer. More approachable.

At the change, her insides seemed to flip over.

“Well, sweeting, getting us off alone was a very inspired idea.” He touched one of her fallen ringlets. “I am bored to distraction with endless talk of hunting and fencing.”

As he slowly wrapped the curl around two fingers, he brushed her collarbone. Fiery sparks tingled down her spine, so intense that she shivered and her nipples beaded, pressing against her stays. By some instinct she hadn’t even known she possessed, she arched her back, presenting herself for his assessment.

His eyes shone so vividly blue against his bronzed face that they resembled cornflowers. She swallowed tightly and wished for a long drink of claret. This more personal side of him suddenly seemed far more hazardous than his usually fierce exterior.

Well, no matter. There was nothing to fear. She would allow only as much contact as need be to get to know him a little. Since being torn from her lonely yet secure life in Ireland and thrust into Society at age sixteen, she’d spent her time allowing people only as near as was comfortable. She was an expert at emotional evasion.
It should be easy to regain her control.

But now, as rays of the late-afternoon sun played over his pale hair, turning it the colour of winter wheat, all her carefully rehearsed words flew from her mind.

Say something—anything—else he will think you’re a bird-wit.

An intimate smile, one that invited her to play, tugged at his mouth.
“In a situation like this, alone with a gentleman, it’s perfectly normal for a lady to feel some apprehension.” His hushed voice, barely audible above the piano and boisterous singing from down the corridor, accentuated their isolation. His gaze became so piercing that she had to lower her eyes. 

He brushed his fingertips over her cheek. “She will invariably ask herself if he will try to kiss her.”

She jerked her eyes back to his face. God, he couldn’t mean to—not yet, surely… Peculiar, heated chills swept over her. She tried to take a step back, but found her arse flush against the bookshelf.

He leaned closer; so close that his Scotch-scented breath tickled her face. “And just in case you are wondering, Lady Cranfield—the answer is most assuredly yes.”

She should demand that he put his arm down so she could pass by and leave. She really should. But she couldn’t stop looking at his hard mouth and wondering what it would feel like upon hers. He was so close to her that his breath blew on her lips. If she moved but a fraction, she’d be kissing him.

Kissing him.

Dear God. Her breaths began to come very fast and short. Her throat went tight with a suppressed moan.

His eyes burnt as brightly as aquamarines. He looked so fierce. If he kissed her, if he dared… Oh God, it would be so harsh. That cruel-looking mouth could express itself no other way.

Excitement rushed through her, sending tingles to every point of her body, even her toes.

But no, he wouldn’t. Not yet.

He kept leaning closer. He didn’t close his eyes. Instead, he seemed to focus all the harder upon her.

Her heart pounding, unable to move away, she braced herself for his assault.

His lips brushed hers, barely. A gossamer caress.

He lifted his head.

It was done.

Ended.

And it hadn’t even begun.

He held her chin, appearing so cool, so unaffected. His kiss had seemed to sear her. An urge to put her fingers to her lips arose in her. She resisted it, for it would give away too much of how she was affected.

Never show your feelings.

He traced his thumb along her lower lip, slowly, deliberately, as he studied her with eyes that now glittered with something powerful and predatory. Heat pooled in her pelvis, low and spreading even lower.

She went weak all over, as if she’d lain in a sunny window seat for too long. Her knees almost buckled. She forced them to lock. To be strong.

It should not have affected her so profoundly. It had been just a peck—not a true kiss at all. William had poured out all of his skill upon her and hadn’t garnered even a tenth of the reaction in her that this man’s peck had.

Ruel traced her jaw line with his fingertips. Unthinkingly, she leaned in to his touch.

“Of course, once he has kissed her, then it’s his turn to wonder…” 
His voice sounded unnaturally loud in her ears. “How will she respond? Will she withdraw, or can he ignite some hidden fire?”

She sensed that he was toying with her. She didn’t understand flirtation—why had she imagined she could carry off this ruse? Was he making advances in order to have a laugh with Francesca and her simpering friends later? Hurt blossomed in her chest. She resented him for that. She ought to feel indignant, superior, uncaring—anything but hurt.

“Please don’t make sport of me.”

She cringed. Was that quavering, pleading voice really hers?

An infinitesimal pause. “Now, why on earth would I do such a thing?” His voice was as smooth as velvet.

“To please your vanity,” she replied, trying to regain her wits.

“Here.” He placed her hand to his chest. The contours of his muscles were hard, powerfully developed. Even more so than she’d expected. His body heat radiated through the satin and, beneath her hand, his heart’s beat was rapid and strong.

“Is that vanity?” He put a finger under her chin, giving her no choice but to face him. “Is it?” He gentled his grip.

The warmth in his voice settled over her like luscious hot chocolate. Melting her insides to quivering burgoo, rendering her speechless, unable to move.


“My dear, lovely Lady Cranfield, I am going kiss you again.”



Buy Links



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Escape into the past with intensely erotic, emotionally driven love stories. Natasha Blackthorne writes character-focused historical erotica romance featuring strong internal conflicts. Her stories are most frequently about the intimate journey of the characters as they learn to open their hearts to love.

Her heroines are not perfect ladies. They are wildflowers and wallflowers who enjoy flirting with the forbidden. Whether they are bold or shy, her heroines’ strong desires and deep emotions drive the plot and drive their heroes to the point of no return.


GIVEAWAY!!!

Enter to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card. The giveaway is open to all current USA residents who are aged 18 or older. Please fill out the Rafflecopter below. By entering to win, you are stating that it is legal for you to enter such contests where you currently reside. Giveaway ends: 12 AM Eastern Time on June 30, 2014.



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Friday, June 6, 2014

#FridayFantasy: Sensuous Promos Presents a CONTEST and Book Tour for #ALCHEMY by Author Serena Fairfax #erotic #romance


Welcome to Friday Fantasy here at Sassy Vixen Publishing. This week we are part of another fun book tour with Sensuous Promotions. Siren author Serena Fairfax has a new interractial erotic contemporary romance titled Alchemy. Continue reading to find out more and make sure you enter the contest! ~The Vixen



Welcome to Sensuous Promo’s Alchemy Book Tour.


* WATCH FOR CONTEST BELOW *

Blurb

Set against sun-drenched Lake Garda, church mouse Tamsin Heriot, an English rose, pairs off with privileged Luca Leopoldo di Monte Valli, who’s half Italian, half Somali. But Luca isn’t what he seems… Orphaned at seven when his childhood in Mogadishu is brutally destroyed, Luca is left emotionally broken. Ragged and starving he seeks refuge in Italy where kindly aristocrats adopt him. 

Ever since she was fifteen, Tamsin has had a crush on Luca and the summer before she goes to university, she’s determined to lose her virginity to him.

It’s eight years before their paths reconverge. Tamsin, still lusting after Luca, receives devastating news that triggers her return to the dilapidated family casa, and fate steps in when an unexpected bond develops between her and Luca’s widowed, adoptive mother. But a strange inheritance alters what started as a dalliance. There’s no shortcut to love, and with everything to lose, the relationship between two wounded people, Luca and Tamsin, is pushed to the breaking point.

Excerpt PG rated

I am eighteen, going on nineteen and have never been fucked. Tamsin morosely hummed her thoughts to the tune of Liesl and Rolf’s duet in “The Sound of Music” as she gazed at her reflection in the lopsided, oval bedroom mirror that scorching August day. The interior walls of La Casa della Fontana sloped, the floors listed, so straightening the mirror, in the crooked little house of the nursery rhyme, was routine. This grandly named, spectacularly moldering house in a picturesque village on Lake Garda had been snapped up by her bohemian parents, Patrick and Eve Heriot, on the back of a legacy from a crusty uncle, and it was from here that, for the past twenty-five years, they ran year-round painting and creative writing courses.
Tamsin’s first year at university beckoned in six weeks’ time. Below bold brows, large, gold-flecked hazel eyes set in a plump, milk-fresh face stared back at her and she sucked in her cheeks. She peeled off her nightie (courtesy of a thrift shop, her wardrobe mainstay) and sighed. Her luscious boobs owed nothing to silicone implants but her tummy was majestically rounded and there was no avoiding it. She was a dumpling who couldn’t afford liposuction.
Her spirits boosted as she brushed her hair. Licorice-dark, thick and glossy, it tumbled to her shoulders in loose curls. He would surely throw her down and lose himself in it. And those deep dimples when she smiled, which she’d almost forgotten how to.
The three graces—her trio of close girlfriends, all lissome and nubile with antelope legs, all clones of the hottest models—had been fucked, or so they bragged. Fucked by their brothers’ buddies, fucked by their fathers’ buddies, fucked by studs in one-night stands. Fucked against library shelves groaning with texts on particle physics, fucked in the swimming pool, fucked knee-deep in mud at Glastonbury, fucked on the hallowed green grass of Glyndebourne to the shrill vocals of Brünhilde wrapping up the immolation scene. There was no doubt they’d fucked and she claimed likewise, although disbelief was palpable and vociferously voiced when, with narrowed eyes, they compared notes. Well, this summer she’d get fucked, by hook or by crook. Her summer of love. The summer Cinderella would go to the ball. She refused to go down in history as the only virgin fresher.
She had a plan. A plan that had simmered gently all night after she’d masturbated whilst poring over “Bonking For Tyros” and munched her way through two bags of prawn-flavored potato crisps. A plan she would implement at once.
A party of five couples was expected that evening on a week’s course. Patrick and Eve with Tamsin’s brother Gareth, six years older than her would, as usual, meet and greet them at the Milan airport, herd them onto a minivan and, after two hours, speed proportionate to vehicle’s decrepitude, puttering down the autostrada, decant them at the casa. Nine-year-old Ruby, Patrick and Eve’s last hurrah, was vacationing in style in Ibiza, with her best friend Isla, at the hip, minimalist beach house owned by Isla’s family.
It was ten a.m. and Tamsin heard a rumble of bickering voices as the Heriots left. The minivan was temperamental, so plenty of time was allowed for mishaps. Tamsin was delegated to stay behind to lay the well-scrubbed, rough-hewn communal refectory table, to ensure the pre-cooked meal was properly defrosted and heated up and the wine was chambray-ing. That was an affectation of Gareth’s, since the Heriots could afford, and served, what could only be politely categorized as easy drinking.
She glanced down at the plan, although she’d no need to as she’d memorized it by heart.
Change bed linen and sprinkle lavender water.
Flash the flesh.
Buy condoms and new knickers.
Rehearse Luca pretext.
Ah Luca! Ever since she was fifteen, she’d had a crush on him. Her head swarmed with fantasies of the scion of Il Principe Salvatore Leopoldo di Monte Valla and Principessa Catarina. He, godlike, was sole heir to the noble title and extensive agricultural land holdings, to the sumptuous Leopoldo palazzo in Milan where masterpieces in oils by Titian, Raphael, Caravaggio and El Greco hung in proximity to canvases by Impressionists, Cubists and Fauvists. Comprising one of the most fabulous private art collections in the world, it was on loan to the Italian government. And few dynastic families in Italy possessed the twenty-four carat pedigree of the Leopoldos, who counted among their ancestors the Chief Treasurer to the Emperor Barbarossa, a Pope, a composer, two saints and Renaissance Ambassadors.
Yes! Tamsin swiftly executed items one and two, painted her finger and toenails a shimmering Chinese red, slapped a flash of azure on her eyelids and whirled down to make breakfast. Contemplating the third homemade roll with lashings of salty butter and gooseberry jam coursing through her arteries, she hesitated.




About Serena

I spent my childhood in India, qualified as a Lawyer in England and joined a large London firm.

Romance is hardwired into my DNA so my novels include a strong romantic theme. However, I broke out of the romance bubble with one (you’ll see which one when you visit the Books page), which is a quirky departure in style and content.

I've also authored several short stories that feature on my blog http://www.serenafairfax.com/serena_fairfax_author_blog/.

Fast forward to a sabbatical from the day job when I traded in bricks and mortar for a houseboat which, for a hardened land lubber like me, turned out to be a big adventure.

Apart from writing and reading (all kinds of books), a few of my favourite things are collecting old masks, singing (in the rain) and exploring off the beaten track.

I'm a member of the Romantic Novelists Association, which is a very supportive organisation. My golden retriever, Inspector Morse, who can't wait to unleash his own Facebook page, and I divide our time between London and rural Kent. (Charles Dickens said: Kent, sir. Everybody knows Kent. Apples, cherries, hops and women).

Connect with Serena 



* CONTEST *
Leave a comment below (with email address) and your name will be thrown into the hat to win an eCopy of this hot new release!

Winner will be chosen on June 16th

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

#TantalizingTuesday: #Reveal of the Print Cover Galleys for Three Releases for RomCon2014 #romance


Welcome to Sassy Vixen Publishing! Today we've decided to give you an extra special treat. We'll have three new print releases to offer at RomCon in Denver in just a few short weeks. Below are the covers for these new books. We hope you'll love them as much as we do.

First up is the special edition Forbidden Destiny (Fearless Love 1). This is the very first short story we published for Lia Michaels and the introduction to the full novel Call of the Thunderbird which will hopefully be out by the end of the year.

Ethan Quaderer is the Great Thunderbird, the creature of Native American legend.  From childhood, Ethan soared high across the land, as one with the majestic bald eagles—only larger and more powerful. Great Thunderbird has one mission, to save the Native American people. But first, he must find his Chosen, his soul mate.

Abraham Tuttle grew up in a household where being different was unacceptable. Forbidden.  He hid his true nature, a Two Spirit—not male or female, but both.  For many Native American tribes, being Two Spirit is a blessing, one to be honored and revered. Not so for Abraham.

Through the Thunderbird dreams each finds the happiness they long for. One dreams of the Great Warrior who’d someday rescue him. The other dreams of the one he’s searched for through many lifetimes.


Dreams turn into reality when both men come face to face in the real world. Can Abraham find it within himself to let go of his past and embrace his future with Ethan, or will his doubts and fears of who and what he really is cause him to lose the only one who could ever complete him heart and soul?


Next is the fabulous Tawny Savage and her Bigfoot Chronicles. This one the first and second short novellas together in one print version. 

Bryanna Stevens was slowly dying inside. The safe and consensual sexual relationship with her husband Travis had slowly deteriorated into one filled with torment and abuse. With nowhere to turn, she pleaded her case to the Goddess Brigid. She offered herself up to the gods to do as they see fit if they’d grant her one wish—to conceive a child of her own.


Hell bent on avenging mutilation and death of his pregnant mate, Ashar risks everything to make the humans pay. Instead, he’s blindsided by his desire for the naked beauty stretched out over an altar, pleading for the gods to give her a child.  Before he can stop himself, he’s kneeling beside her. Could she be the one to save the Forest People and mend his broken heart or the one to destroy them all?

Is their union truly a blessing from the gods, or will it uncover secrets that could tear them apart forever?

Last but not least is our new collection that includes two novellas from the winter anthology and a sneak peek at a brand new romantic suspense by Stephanie Ryan.

The “Sweet” from Stephanie Ryan’s Dangerous Medicine (M/F): Detroit based veterinary surgeon Miranda Jacobs puts her fast-paced career on hold in order to be with her family at her brother's bedside. It's on the way to the hospital that she literally collides with Detective Jake Martinelli. Sparks fly between them, and Miranda finds herself fiercely attracted to Jake even though she knows very little about him. 

The “Sultry” from Tammy Dennings Maggy’s Meet Me Under the Mistletoe (MF): Coast Guard Steve Sanders is called to assist a sinking vessel. His pregnant wife Jolene waits for his return when the rescue mission has goes horribly wrong. Will a miracle bring him back to meet his wife under the mistletoe? 


The “Taboo” from Lia Michaels’s Have a Naughty, Naughty Christmas (MFMM): Candice, Alexander and Gabriel own Candy Kisses, the place to be in Detroit. The business partners have kept their desires hidden. When a wealthy playboy extends an offer that allows them to indulge their wildest fantasies, they embark on a very naughty Christmas. 

There you have it! We've ordered the books and they're on their way. We'll have a few copies as prizes along with some swag and copies of The Surrender of Julia (Now and Forever 3). Our authors will be involved in the Erotic Authors Panel, Get Crafty with the Authors, Dancing and Karaoke with the Decades, and Chocolate Mangasm. 

Sassy Vixen Publishing will also be represented by our co-founder and CEO Michael Smith aka Mr. Vixen. Tammy and Michael will also be attending RomCon University so make sure you say hello! We'd love to chat and overall have a great time with everyone.

Until next time,
The SVP Gang