Eep!!

“It’s unsporting to be seducing me when I’m preoccupied with trying not to get us killed,” she said.

“Am I seducing you?” he said. “I hadn’t realized I’d got to that part yet. How amazingly clever I am.”

— Vixen in Velvet

It's coming in June and I can hardly wait. I love Loretta Chase and I'm not discriminating enough to find ANY of her books, bad, indifferent, unreadable or meh.


Have an excerpt ...  Vixen in Velvet  ... and enjoy.  ♥ ♥

Rita Finalists

Here's a list of the Rita finalists with the Golden Heart thrown in for good measure. You may have seen this elsewhere, but that's okay; it a list of books to hunt down and try.  :-)




Rita

Thea Harrison is Cool and Chrome Lets Me Post Pics.

I was on a bit of a Thea Harrison glom, rereading her novellas and my very favorite novel, Oracles' Moon. So many well written passages, both emotional and humorous, jumped out at me with this read that I decided to share them here.

Oracle's Moon has THE very best love scene I've ever read. Khalil is a Djinn and he can take an almost human form or his natural Power form. He knows very little about humans and even less about human children. But he's a fast learner.  ;-)

"She was suspended a few inches off the floor, completely supported in midair. Her feet didn't dangle. He knee wasn't strained in the slightest. Khalil watched her expression with a heavy-lidded gaze, his lips curved in that sinful, sensual smile.

As his hands - both  his hands - slid under the hem of her top and spread around the sides of her cage, resting against her skin.

And long, hot fingers slid through her short hair, cupping and massaging the back of her head.

And two hands slid down her thighs, to the sensitive skin at the back of her knees, cupping them firmly.

She stared at him, blank with shock. "Khalil."

His smile widened, a tender, mischievous look. "Relax, I've got you," he murmured. Then his smile was burned to vapor by the incandescence inside of him, and all that was left on his elegant face was savage hunger. 

Oh God, I want to reread it again, because that's not the end of their lovemaking by any means. I want me a Djinn of my own.

As for the children - Chloe is four years old; Khalil is thousands of years old. And ...

Chloe and Kalil assessed each other like two gunfighters in a Western movie. Grace could almost see the dirt street they stood on, with the white steeple of a church in the background. The classic theme music from the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly whistled in her head. She could have sworn a tumbleweed blew by. There was going to be a shootout at the O.K. Corral, and it wasn't going to be pretty.

LOL! Way to write a metaphor!

Another amusing passage, right on the first page of chapter one:

The babysitter Janice's pointed words kept bouncing around in Grace's head like a loose football on a field. That football was ten yards away from the end zone, and it had two teams of two-hundred-pound-plus NFL football players scrambling after it with the intensity of their multimillion-dollar careers being on the line, and if that football could, you know it would be whining, "Oh geez this is gonna hurt."

That caught my attention because I'm a football fan. (ROLL TIDE!!)

                                                                 *****

Another metaphor, this one in Hunter's Season, a novella.

He said nothing as he stood and watched. The moment spun on an enchanted spindle until it drew out, long and golden like a thread of dyed flax pulling taut between them. She would not look up. She could not. She did not feel in control of herself, and she was terrified at what might show in her eyes.

And Natural Evil:

She was not afraid of death. Death was a thief that always wore a mask. Accident, disease, stillbirths, old age, natural causes, war, murder. It existed in the shivering silence between tolls of a bell. It stole everything away while it left its mark, a dark knowledge that lingered at the back of smiling eyes, a hesitation between thought and action in times of danger, a heaviness that tunneled wormholes into happy memories.

She and death had danced together for a long time. Sometimes the were partners. Sometimes they were opponents. Sometimes she might cheat him, but hell, that old thief was still bound to win some day.

She pulled the trigger.

True Colors:

He put bullets in clips to load his guns, and read files on unsolved crimes and treatises on war. aHe taught recruits how to wait, how to obey orders, and how to kill, and he played chess because it was a battle wits that kept his mind sharp.

He put his forehead to her breast. His hands fisted in her nightgown.

He needed to come home but he didn't know how. He hadn't even known where home was until he looked in her face for the first time. He needed to be welcomed, but he wasn't sure he deserved it.
~
~
"He whispered, "I want to be a good man."

Devil's Gate:

And now all she could do was wonder, what else could he say in that silent, sensual language of his?

What poems could his fingers whisper as they danced across her skin?

What eloquent prose could he share with his body?

I wish I'd written any and all of these passages. They all touched me, each in its own way; made me sit up and take notice. Some brought tears to my eyes. All of them enhanced the storylines, which I see I neglected to include, but that's why they made Amazon, right?

Try Thea Harrison's Elder Races. It really is worth it.

Hazed and Confused

So there I was on Facebook, reading everyone’s links and all up into everyone’s business because that’s the way this momma rolls, when I saw a link a friend posted about Nordstrom’s dressing rooms. And there was the most important thing I’d ever read on the internet in my entire twenty-seven years of life: Nordstrom’s will consider changing the lights in their dressing rooms to make people look more attractive.

God bless Nordstrom’s.

So there were all the comments and they were divided into two camps between the people who were so grateful that when they looked into their dressing room mirrors they might look better than they really do (because real life is full of flattering light, amiright, or what?) and the people who thought that the world is full of reality that sucks and why the hellz would anybody care about the lights in the Nordstrom’s dressing rooms?

I was in the latter camp.

Seriously, who gives a fuck?

But then this morning on Facebook I saw something Lea had posted about my love of Survivor and a someone I don’t know responded and said she’d rather watch grass grow than watch Survivor. And I was pissed. I mean, first world problems, right?

Then I thought about it some more and came to a few conclusions:

1.    Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one that stinks.

2.    The creation of the term First World Problems to suggest unimportant, self-indulgent thinking is such an insult that it doesn’t deserve to be uttered. My problem that I have a cavity doesn’t compare to someone who doesn’t have access to fresh water however I still have a fucking cavity that needs to be taken care of. So shove your first world problem comment up your ass, you condescending butt monkey.

3.    I don’t shop at Nordstrom’s and couldn’t give a shit about their dressing room lights. I do shop other places and still couldn’t give a shit about anyone’s dressing room lights. But that’s me. I didn’t have a need to say that to anyone and insult someone who does give a shit about dressing room lights. To each their own.

4.    I’m sick as crap of everyone’s needs to express their opinions. Yay you precious little sunflower, you have something to say about everything. Keep it to yourself.

5.    The need to throw so much negative is an issue that needs to be looked at. Swear to God, when I meet someone who likes what I like it’s amazing: the air changes and we breathe happiness and unicorns as we share the awesomeness of whatever it is that we both love. But when I say, “oh, I like John Cena” and someone immediately says, “wrestling is fake”, then all it does it suggest that I’m either a moron for liking John Cena or a moron for liking wrestling or a moron for not being as full of the same astonishing brilliance as the stink-hole who just informed me that wrestling is fake. (And I know wrestling is fake but I also know these guys are hardworking athletes who get serious injuries and you can’t do what they do so shut the fuck up.)

 

I’m just sick to death of having to be polite while people give opinions of things they really don’t care about but have to make their position known. What’s so bad about keeping those things to yourself?

I waste a crazy amount of time playing Bingo Blitz on Facebook and the number of people who sit there telling people they’re doing it wrong, just kills me. Seriously, people actually sit and scold strangers for paying a game wrong. Does it affect anyone else, the way they play? Of course not. Doesn’t change my chances for a bingo.

It’s crazy time and I swear, the internet is the crazy pool and we’re all swimming.

Bits and Pieces

*  Read the first chapter of Nora Robert's new book coming out soon. Think I'm going to like this one, which is usually the case with her romantic suspense. Want to see for yourself?


The Collector


An Addendum: A quote from the first chapter caught my eye. I have to agree with the quote.


"Fictional people are people, too, otherwise why would we care what happens to them?"
                                                                                                       Nora Roberts
                                                                                                       The Collector


* I thought I'd sold a copy each, of three of my books, but they'd been returned almost immediately. A sign of pirates, I'm told.

   Still, why must Amazon be so generous with their return policy? Why are books of any kind     returnable? I think (my opinion only) the only reason for returning a book is bad formatting. That   includes e and paper. I've had unreadable e-books because of the formatting and I've had paper books missing chapters, or the chapters are scrambled. But reading half the book and deciding you don't like it should not be part of a return policy.


   When bookstores were the only way to buy books, I bet the policies were different. I can't remember ever returning a book. I also never bought hardbacks.  ;-)     A reader has to take some responsibility for his/her choices.


*  Finished another relatively short story today, Neanderthal Seeks Human by Penny Reid, which I enjoyed. Thought I'd put my thoughts here since I can't seem to write complete reviews, lol. I found it on my own, it was an Amazon recommendation, but now I see it's in the DABWAHA lineup.   
   I think it deserves a place in the first DUBYA (that's how I always think of it) round. It's well written and other than having the missed communication trope and a lot of lip licking by everyone involved, it's a good read. I did wonder if the heroine had some form of autism. Seems to me the milder forms of autism could be used to explain some of the eccentrics in the past and that makes me wonder if the higher levels may in fact be a part of "normal".


*I'm reading The Nekkid Truth by Nicole Camden and so far, so good. Jane of Dear Author practically begged folks to read this and I do find it hard to say 'no', so here I am. I have to admit, when the heroine is talking about not recognizing people she knows, in my mind I see a figure with one of those blank ovals over the face. I know this is not how it works and I've scolded my mind, but it just won't listen to me. I think there should be more attention paid to body recognition (hee); however I'm only at Chapter 5 so we shall see.


*  I've collected a couple of series I plan to start: Love at Stake books by Kerrelyn Sparks and the Study trilogy (my name for it) by Emma Jane Holloway. Sparks' How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire has been on sale on Amazon (and perhaps other places I do not go) forever. But first I want to read Hidden Fire by Elizabeth Hunter. This is a first book in a series; her pre-series free novella on her site, Radiance, was very dark but very 'wow' so I'm interested in more. She's a damn good writer.


*  I might do more of these Bits and Pieces if I collect enough thoughts. (And remember them) We'll have to see because thinking is a lot of work these days.  :-)

One More Post and then I'm Through for the Day

Some freebies for you:


Radiance by Grace Draven


Sweep in Peace by Ilona Andrews


The Bronze Blade Elizabeth Hunter
                          I've not read this author, so I've got that to look forward to.


I found these links on the Ilona Andrews website and wanted to spread the news. Makes for a great ending to Friday. These are all serials, posting once a week. Might not hurt to bookmark them. ;-)

Apples should be Red by Penny Watson

Okay, I had a steampunk trilogy I'd collected but not yet read next on my reading menu. Except everyone seems to be bringing really, really good short stories/novellas to my attention. Apples should be Red was reviewed on Dear Author by Laura Florand.


This book is short but so damn good.

I was going to put a nice bookcover pic here but Blogger won't allow Firefox either. I downloaded Firefox because Blogger wouldn't allow IE. I guess Chrome is next. Bummer. It let me d/l a pic this morning, but not now. Go figure.


John's father Tom, and his wife Karen's mother, Beverly, are total opposites. Tom is curmudgeonly, profane and a hermit; Bev is always put together right and always has a plan. Due to termites and rotten plumbing, Tom is forced by his son and daughter-in-law to host Thanksgiving and Bev is forced to stay with Tom for three very long days.


What happens is the rest of the story. I swear I had a smile on my face as I read the whole book. And I had to read the book when I heard about the gnome. I wish here'd been more about the gnome. (As an aside, years ago I read a mystery series; can't remember the author or any of the titles, but one book had a traveling gnome. The gnome was stolen from the hero's mother's back garden and sent them notes from different countries and cities. They never knew where he'd turn up next, what the note would say or who had stolen the gnome. Either the author or the heroine was named Elizabeth.)


This story (I'm back to talking about 'Apples' now) does not have numbered chapters. Instead there are headings which by themselves ought to be enough to make anyone read this book. For example:


*  Stepping in Chicken Shit


*  Clean-up in Aisle Ten


*  Gnomes R Us


We do get both POVs although I wouldn't call them deep. This is a book to savor. I loved Tom, I loved how both Tom and Bev compromised and I believed in their HEA. I wish I had written this book.


You can find it here.

Oh, I almost forgot!  I hereby award this the Lori grade of ten inches.  :-D

He's Come Undone by Theresa Weir

I seem to collect Theresa Weir books which I then never read. I have no explanation for this; she's a good writer, I like her voice and...and...

But I did read He's Come Undone, a recent Daily Deal by one of the BIG TWO. Yay me! I believe it belongs in the NA category, which I'm not all that fond of. However, this story completely satisfied me, short as it was, 215 print pages according to the vendor.


Blurb:

Penniless and behind on rent, college student and once famous child actress Ellie Barlow takes on the role of a lifetime when she's hired by a group of young women to break the heart of the campus player who cruelly dumped them.

Transformed from slob slacker to jaw-dropping beauty, Ellie is dressed, styled, bleached and waxed, her chunky glasses exchanged for violet contacts. Along with physical prepping, she's coached on Julian's obsessions, which include long-distance running, Doctor Who, and J.D. Salinger.

In no time, Julian is in pursuit of his custom-made next victim, but when Ellie goes off script and begins to fall for her target, the newest broken heart in this risky game could be her own.


******


Julian is very damaged. He'd lost his parents in a traumatic way and has been trying to overcome PTSD and some other anagrams ever since. Running and sex both occupy his mind, overcoming his depression so that he doesn't think about his past. Despite the blurb, from Julian's inner thoughts we learn many of the girls come on to him and he rationalizes the one night stands by convincing himself that's all the girls want too. At the first of the book, he's is blaming all the sex on the girls; by the end he's realized he had acted like an asshole and the blame was on him. My feminist side was happy.


Ellie is damaged too (as everyone seems to be). She was a child star, her mother abused her money - as in spent it ALL - and then developed cancer and Ellie took care of her for two years until her death. Ellie doesn't talk of her past and tries to live under the radar.


So of course Ellie falls for Julian and regrets her contract with the girls. And of course Julian finds out before she can tell him. It's how it happened that kept me glued to the book. Metaphorically speaking, of course.


I like Weirs' writing style. We get some deep POV, but the story is never clunky. She doesn't go on and on and on to where the reader is silently (and sometimes not so silently) hollering "Enough already! Get on with some action!" The story flows. There may not be enough story detail for some folks, but I was definitely satisfied.


Valerie, Julian's sister, is an interesting, in that she considers herself a caregiver for Julian and worries over him constantly. She even has a chapter of her own. That's the only drawback to this book, if it can be considered a drawback.  We get chapters from both Ellie and Julian's POV but they are not alternating and a couple of times I had to check back to see who I was reading.


Other than that I enjoyed this book immensely. On Lori's scale, I would rate it 8 inches, lol. I really must dip into my Weir TBR pile.


You can check out some reviews here.

A Little Bit of Heaven

At eight minutes after midnight on March 4th, four new books I'd preordered downloaded into my Kindle Fire. God, I love when this happens, it's so neat, almost like magic.


Anyway, three of the four I'm dying to read, like yesterday; the problem became which one first?


The books? Oh, yes ...


Hearts of Chaos by Kira Brady. It's the third in her Deadglass series. Hey Lori, it takes place in Seattle.  ;-)  And she uses the regional native mythology in her storyline.


Why Kings Confess by C S Harris. This is the newest book in the Sebastian St. Cyr series, book nine, I believe. They are mysteries that take place in Regency London. For awhile, there was a heroine controversy going on: who would win Sebastian, the actress Kat Boleyn or Hero Jarvis, daughter of his enemy? Despite the heroine, these books are not Romance romances, the mystery comes first. But everything flows together so naturally that I was hooked. Now I have to wait another year for the tenth book.  :-(


Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop, book two of her Other series. I loved the first book, I know I'll like this one too. It takes place in an alternate world with familiar names such as Atlantik Ocean. Pissed me off, cause I got jumped on for using Lundun in a First Page awhile back.


The last book is Carolina Man by Virginia Kantra. I don't remember ordering this one, but it's the last book in the Dare Island trilogy and I've got the first two, so I guess I wanted complete the set. I have no great urge to jump into this book, but I liked the first one, Carolina Home, well enough and this one will get read eventually.


Patricia Briggs' newest Mercy Thompson is due out next week and there's more in April.


Whoot!!

When The Dream Doesn't Look So Good After All

This is what I looked like earlier.

So we got the contracts from Kensington for the titles that Lyrical held and I was so excited. I was finally holding that all elusive New York publishing contract in my hands and even if it was for the e-division, it was still that much of the dream.

A dream I've had for a long, long time.

And then I read the contract. And reread it. And went over parts of it again and again and I realized something interesting. New York contracts suck eggs.

There were a few things that really made me shake my head. But foremost was that I realized my chances for making any money at all were nil. I'd do better self-pubbing all my titles and taking the chance that I might one day write something more than just a few people will read.

Oh they talk a great game and there's a lot of promises that go into it but ultimately, the contract is the final word and the contract had too many provisions I just couldn't agree to. So I refused it.

I'm a little bit heartbroken right now.

On the bright side: if Lucifer ever shows up with a contract, I have a better idea what it might look like ...

Sumissions Call from Lyrical/Kensington

Lyrical Press Submissions Call

Motorcycle Club (MC) erotic romance - Erotic romance featuring an alpha-male who is in a MC. Since the MC life is a very specific one, we are looking for well-researched works that bring this harsh world to life in rich detail.

Sensuality level: Scorching

Required word count: 60,000 – 100,000 words

Key Characteristics: Edgy erotic romance. Strong sexual relationship between main characters.

Hero: Alpha-male anti-hero who is in a MC. Preferably in a position of power.

Submission Guidelines: http://lyricalpress.com/submission-guidelines/

About Lyrical Press: As an imprint of Kensington Publishing Corp., Lyrical Press provides authors with top-level editing, stellar cover art and extensive marketing support. Lyrical’s business model allows the house to welcome exciting new talent and gives a home to seasoned authors who want a more personal approach to publishing. Founded in 2007 by Renee Rocco, Lyrical Press offers readers a rich catalog of titles ranging from tender contemporary romances and edgy erotic paranormals, to suspenseful thrillers and shocking science fiction. Authors can expect a personalized publishing experience from Lyrical Press, where the relationship between the author and publisher is understood to be symbiotic. When the authors succeed, the house succeeds. Readers will find Lyrical Press books on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Sony, iTunes, and most other eBook sites including www.KensingtonBooks.com.