Plaything Now Available for Pre-order

Plaything, the 4th Paolo's Playhouse story, is now available for pre-order! The release day is May 8th, but if you don't want to forget, pre-order it now so it will show up on your device as soon as it's available.

I'm excited to share the cover and blurb with you. This is Paolo's story and the one that started it all (at least it's the first story in the series I wrote even though it's the last one to be released.)



One taste of everything she ever wanted…how can she walk away?

Paolo’s Playhouse, Book 4

Julianne’s the epitome of a successful businesswoman. But where her boardroom reality is full of decisions, her bedroom fantasy is the exact opposite—allowing a lover who knows what he’s doing to strip her of the need to make any decisions at all.

When she reads an ad for Paolo’s Playhouse, her long-ignored need twists inside her, too sharp to ignore. Trembling, she picks up the phone, and Paolo’s charm, lyrical accent and empathy soothe her fear just enough to agree to be the Playhouse’s bondage toy. One look at Paolo the following night, and she wishes she’d struck a different bargain. To be his alone.

Paolo can’t take his eyes off the brave and beautiful woman with hair like the fire he sees in her soul. Her sexual need to be bound matches his own powerful need to be the one to bind her. Tonight and always.

Except Julianne agreed to only one perfect night. Now he must convince her it could be the first night of many for them—if only she will trust him.

Warning: Features a sexy Italian whose lyrical voice can charm or command, whose sensual hands can stroke or spank. Stop by the Playhouse and live out your fantasies!

And of course, the first three stories in the series, Flaunt It, Risk It, and Birthday Girl are all available now.

Natasha
www.natashamoore.com

I have NEWS!!!

I actually announced this last week via Twitter, but wanted to make an official announcement here. Entangled Publishing has offered me publication for my MMA contemporary romance, Extreme Love. AND…wait for it…

They want two more MMA books. YAY!! I get to write more hot fighters! Woot!

I’ve talked about Extreme Love on here off and on. But for those who don’t know, this is the book of my heart. Writing this book helped me get through some very conflicting emotions I was having after I lost a ton of weight. Some people lose weight and embrace it, others carry a crapload of emotional baggage along with the weight and losing the weight just isn’t enough.

I was the latter. I had a hard time letting go of the image I’d seen in the mirror for almost twenty-five years. I still do in fact, but I’m much better than I was.

Here is the unofficial blurb I queried with:

New Body, New Clothes, New Men

Who knew losing weight would change everything?

Caitlyn Moore sure didn’t. After winning a lifetime battle of the bulge, life, as she knows it, turns topsy-turvy. Accepting her new body and wardrobe proved hard enough, but nothing prepared her for the men. Good God, the men. Used to the average Joe, she’s stunned when mega-hottie and extreme fighter, Dante Jones, storms into her life. At first, she pushes him away, refusing to encourage the attention of a cage fighter, a sport she finds barbaric and revolting. Then she learns Dante has a love ‘em and leave ‘em reputation. What better way to fine-tune her non-existent flirting skills than with a supremely masculine male who won’t stick around? But things don’t go as planned. Dante has no intention of being a practice dummy; he’s out for all or nothing. Now Caitlyn must accept Dante—violent career and all—or let him go.

Dante “Inferno” Jones came to Georgia for one thing: win the Welterweight Championship of Mixed Martial Arts. At a time when focus is crucial the last thing he needs is a distraction, but that’s exactly what walks into his life in the form of shy but gorgeous Caitlyn Moore. Not used to a woman turning him down, she becomes a challenge he can’t resist. But as time passes, the light-hearted pursuit shifts to a battle to win her heart, putting his upcoming fight in jeopardy. Faced with losing the biggest match of his career, Dante must ask himself if his extreme life also has room for Extreme Love.

I have been through the ringer with this book. Seriously. It’s gotten a lot of attention, but no firm holds. It’s also gotten lots of personalized rejections, which as writers, we do appreciate. It gives us something to focus on. While my rejections never came back because of one specific thing, it was also split 50/50 down the middle between Caitlyn and Dante, it did give me something to focus on. With each rejection, I rewrote, tweaked, added, and deleted. This IS the book of my heart, you know. I wasn’t giving up without fighting. And I’m so glad I didn’t.

Where the book stands today is something I’m immensely proud of. It still has everything I started with, but it’s so much stronger than the original version.

So my advice to you is: don’t give up. Rejections suck. We’ve all been there. We all know the tears and depression that follow one. But when that hurt fades, and it eventually will, get out that rejections and really see why they passed on the manuscript. I was able to take something from each one of mine and make my story better.

And now I’ve sold it, plus two more.

I get to write more hot fighters!! Yeah, I know I’ve already said that, but I love MMA, have a huge respect for the sport, and getting to write more books on men Caitlyn described as the elite of the elite, warriors in their own right, some of the most well-defined, tattooed eye-candy a girl could ask for, has me thrilled!

I can’t wait to share them with you.

Abby

Armadale Castle, Isle of Skye

Armadale Castle Gardens consist of 40 acres of lush—sometimes exotic—plantings, winding woodland paths, and giant 200 year old trees among other things. The gardens sit on the protected Southern part of Isle of Skye known as Sleat (pronounced "slate"), which receives the benefits and warmth of the Gulf Stream.

View from the edge of the gardens over the Sound of Sleat.

The extensive gardens contain several beautiful woodland paths to explore.

 The castle and gardens are part of the 20,000 acre estate known as Clan Donald Skye owned by the Clan Donald Lands Trust. Traditionally, it was once part of the Clan Donald land of the Sleat peninsula. Although I don't have any photos of it, we visited the Museum of the Isles, also on the estate, which contained a rich and amazing collection of historical artifacts associated with the area.

A replica of a Viking ship sits in the gardens. It is a symbol important to Clan Donald given their Norse ancestry.

White fuschias.

This nice sitting area on the edge of the gardens overlooks the Sound of Sleat.

MacDonald chiefs began staying at Armadale from 1650, although earlier, the clan occupied castles at Knock, Dunscaith and Duntulm, all on Isle of Skye. In the 1700s the mansion at Armadale was used as a dower house for the chiefs' widows. Around 1790 a new house was built here. In 1815 this was extended. A fire in 1855 destroyed most of this section and it was rebuilt as we see it today. In 1925 the MacDonald family moved and abandoned the castle. 

 It was cloudy and rainy the day we visited so it's difficult to see the castle in this photo. Click here to see photos of Armadale Castle from the early 1900s.

Today Armadale Castle is mostly a ruin with little more than walls remaining. No one is allowed inside because of safety concerns. But visitors are allowed into the left side which consists of a romantic and picturesque staircase and window frames with vines growing over it. Weddings are held here. Part of the original mansion, from 1790, remains in good condition (below). It is called the Somerled Rooms.  Clan Donald is known as the Sons of Somerled.

The gardens contain many mossy trees.

View over the Sound of Sleat with honeysuckles in the foreground.

I hope you enjoyed this visit to Armadale Castle!

Thanks!

Vonda

www.vondasinclair.com

Guest Author - Tonya Kinzer

Today I’m happy to have author, Tonya Kinzer as our guest at Fierce Romance.

To get started, Tonya, please tell us a little about yourself.

Tonya: I’m a woman who enjoys writing that opens new doors of reading entertainment to individuals and partners who read together. I’m a wife, mother, sister, friend….the sweetheart next door! *wink* I’ve been writing for years but only recently decided to self publish. I’m pretty techie and find the formatting and uploading easy once you figure out how each site works because all of them are different. It takes patience and the ability to read directions. I’m self taught in most of what I know how to do and do my own covers, book trailers, promo items and websites.
I do two monthly drawings, one each from my blog followers and from those who subscribe to my newsletter. If the readers want to be included, they can follow my blog and subscribe to my newsletter. The links are on both my blog and my website. I announce the winners in the newsletter.

What would your readers be surprised to know about you?

Tonya: Maybe that I’m a workaholic, but so is my husband. I don’t have a lot of free time. If I’m not working at the office, I’m home on my laptop writing, blogging, adding to my websites, marketing, Tweeting, on FaceBook, etc. Hubby and I do make time for each other so that’s scheduled in there too. I’m also a night owl - that being said, I’m not one who gets up at the crack of dawn to write but I’m usually back at my computer by 8 am or so.

Sounds like you’re pretty busy. Tell us about your most recent release.

Tonya: I write erotic romance with soft bondage in the BDSM lifestyle. For those who have never read this genre, my books don’t go deep into the torture aspects. I write more about the sensual feelings of deprivation like blindfolds taking away the ability to ‘see’ what’s being done to you. This in itself brings out the fact that you MUST trust who is in the scene with you. The lifestyle is not to be taken lightly; you must discuss many things with the partner you choose before accepting to ‘play’. Not all lifestylers do this 24/7; some are in the bedroom only for the excitement of the couple. My website has links for those interested in learning more.
Book four in my series, The Boss’s Pet: Their Submissive Switch, goes deeper into the learning process of the BDSM lifestyle for Sondra and she’s learned enough to turn the tables on one of the Masters, surprising him with what she’s learned. Sondra also gets instructed by her first female Domme and that scene is pretty steamy. They enjoy playing in Palm Springs and this story takes them back there.

What element of story creation is your favorite? (Character? Setting? Plot? Etc.) Why?

Tonya: I can’t say I have a favorite because I love it all. When the characters start talking to me and changing the plots and scenes, they take off on me and sometimes I can’t keep up! LOL There have been several scenes I’ve written out and a character steps up to tell me what I need to add to make it better! That’s when the writing is easiest. If I get stuck on a scene, I move on and come back to that part later because I know when the characters are ready, they’ll tell me how it should read.

Do you have rituals you follow when writing?

Tonya: I create best when I’m alone and it’s quiet. Sometimes I do music but most often it’s quiet. A glass of wine may happen at night and the morning coffee is a must!

Most people think a writer’s life is really glamorous. What’s the least glamorous thing you’ve done in the past week?

Tonya: I got called to one of our offices for computer problems so had to step away from my laptop to get things up and running and it took longer than I wanted. By the time I got back home I was exhausted. I don’t eat right most of the time, which affects my energy level but when I’m deep in a story or designing a web page, food just isn’t that important until the headache kicks in!

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Tonya: Write every day and make it a habit. I don’t write every day and that would be my down side. Doing newsletters, interviews, website updates and marketing isn’t writing. If you don’t write and get the stories down, you’ll have nothing to market! New authors need to have a website, blog, FB and Twitter accounts - that is how your readers will find you. Chat with other authors; many are willing to help newbies and guide them along.

What can we look forward from you in the future?

Tonya: I do plan to do a few books outside the series but I think there will always be additional books INSIDE the series as well. I have too much with those characters to not write about them anymore. Nick and Sondra have a relationship that keeps them together and they work well at the office, too.

Where can we find out more about you?

Tonya: I am on Facebook and Twitter. I didn’t include an excerpt here because they are listed on my website for those wanting to venture over and take a peek. My sites are 18 and over, just as fair warning. Here are a few links and there are more on my websites:

Blog Site: http://tonyakinzer.blogspot.com
Website: http://tonyakinzer.webs.com/
Each book has a link to Ch 1 and also an excerpt but they do come with a warning - Explicit sexual content so beware to the average readers.
SmashWords: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/tonyakinzer

Is there a question you’d like to ask our readers?

Tonya: Thank you so much for having me here this week! I’d love to ask the readers what they find most important in an author’s newsletter - is it contest links, author interviews, upcoming releases by other authors, etc?


CONTEST: Friday night, March 9th, I’d like to pick one lucky commenter to win a $15 gift card. Answer the above question and include your email addy in the comment so I can reach you.

From Gratuitous to Contrived

Gratuitous...

I like that word. It's such a perfect description of elements in a story that just have no place, at least not for the reader or viewer. Esme used it in her last blog post, and it stuck with me, so I thought I would continue with it. As I read her post, I found myself glad that someone else had the same reactions that I did when something pops up in a story and I just have to ask, "Why?"

One of the first examples of this I remember is in the movie The Mexican. SPOILER ALERT: In it, for some reason, the Julia Roberts character meets a gay hitman and they share screen time where there's romping around in a hotel until he finally meets the man of his dreams or something along those lines. This, to me, has nothing to do with the story except said hitman is supposed to be trying to kill Brad Pitt's character. As it ends up, Brad Pitt kills him first, to Julia's mortification because she'd bonded with the guy without knowing who he was. It doesn't sound too bad, I'm sure, but the whole time I'm watching, I'm thinking they could have chopped twenty minutes of this side story so that we could continue on with the movie that I actually wanted to see, which had to do with Julia and Brad breaking up and getting back together while being chased by hitmen. It seemed like the writers added that entire section to show how empathetic and caring Julia's character was, and it felt so, so...

Contrived.

Yes, I said the bad word that writers hate to hear, mostly because when our editors say something seems contrived, it's because we've been caught contriving it. lol When you sense something is in a story for no good reason, that it's gratuitous, it sometimes means that it was contrived, or forced, into the storyline for the author's own purposes. When you're scratching your head and thinking, "Why the hell did Sally get drunk and sleep with that stranger in the alley?", the writer is thinking, "Well, the only way people will see how irresponsible Sally is will be to have her engage in a drunken roll in the hay with a stranger in an alley." Instead of letting Sally's faults play out throughout the story, this writer chose to stick in a random incident that should do the trick in a couple of paragraphs, slapping the reader in the face with Sally's character flaw instead of crafting it into the story.

Readers can sense when something is contrived in an instant, and it's usually a clue that the writer wrote herself into a corner and didn't know how to get out. For example, perhaps our intrepid heroine goes off on a wild African safari and the writer is enjoying the hell out of writing it so much she forgets to find a way to get rescue her heroine when she gets caught by a hostile group of smugglers. Miles from nowhere on a secluded mountain top, all of the sudden, a rival band of smugglers sneaks in and kills the bad guys, accidentally freeing the heroine, who runs off, before disappearing completely from the story, never to be seen or heard from again. Now the heroine can return to the original storyline, where she should have stayed, and the reader can relax until the heroine trails off on a tangent again, this time to be rescued by an orangutan or perhaps the Easter Bunny.

Silly, I know, but so are some of the contrived contraptions we writers come up with sometimes to keep the story moving when we've put something in for no good reason or a reason we thought was good at the time, but it turns out it wasn't. Can you think of any contrived storylines you've read, one where it gets so totally unrealistic and unbelievable that you're left wondering what happened? Please do share!

Killing Off Secondary Characters

I want to go ahead and post a **SPOILER ALERT*** for this blog. If you haven’t read Harry Potter or The Hunger Games, I will potentially spoil some deaths for you. So you’ve been warned.

I read The Hunger Games trilogy last week. I want to start off by saying I loved this series. I couldn’t put these books down and even after I did, the story stayed with me—for days afterward. That’s some good reading, folks.

When you read books like The Hunger Games, you know people are going to die. It’s just the way it’s going to be. The same is true with The Harry Potter series, especially the last book when every fan knew there was a huge possibility that one of their favorite characters may not make it to the very last page. And as expected, tons of deaths occurred. Each was hard to take, but you power through, knowing this has to happen to get to the end.

Then there’s that one death.

That. One. Death.

And an invisible line has been crossed, and you’re no longer sad, you’re devastated.

In Harry Potter that was Fred dying. I saw no reason why Fred had to die. Why Fred? Why? Out of the characters left alive, why did it have to be the one that had a twin?

I know why I feel like this. I have twins. They are each others world and the idea of one of them losing the other so young makes me feel like I can’t breath. So it’s really no surprise that I had such a strong reaction to his death.

Well, I had the same reaction last week during The Hunger Games. This death bothered me. Like really sent me into some sort of weird depression after it happened bothered me. Again it was a death I didn’t feel was needed to get the author’s point across. The point was already made. So why did we need this extra yank on our heartstrings?

So my questions are:

When does a death in a book become gratuitous? And have you ever felt an author went a little too far with one?

Esme

www.esmereldabishop.com

Time-Travel Survival Tips from Eliza Knight

                Time-Travel Survival Tips

By Eliza Knight

Thank you so much, Nicole for hosting me at Fierce Romance today! In celebration of my new time-travel release, HIGHLAND STEAM (and it is oh-so-steamy!), I wanted to give you some Time-Travel Survival Tips—and I’d love to give away an e-copy of the novella to one commenter.

Without further ado, if you find yourself whirling back through the mists of time…

 1. My husband says to pack lots of layers—but if you’re hoping to land in the arms of a hawt Scot, I’d say pack less :-)
2. Be prepared for the varying “natural” scents. Ever learned to make a pomander?
3. If you find yourself visiting the Highlands where time-travel is possible, remember to carry a survival pack that includes: toothpaste, a toothbrush, ibuprofen, anti-biotics, vitamins, tissues, I’d say tampons, but in my fantasy world, I’d never get my monthly again!
4. Don’t worry about undies :-)
5. Got a kilt?
6. Pack a sghian-dubh.
7. Be prepared to defend yourself if needed.
8. Be sure to be up to date on your horseback riding skills.
9. Brush up on your meditation skills, traveling through time is sure to mess with her you “center”
10. The term cleanliness, was quite a bit different than what we are used to in the 21st century.
11. Pace your drinking! They drink alcohol 24/7. You’ll need to build up your tolerance.
12. If you’re a lady, you might want to ask for assistance in shaving, since it will have to be done with a knife.
13. No A.C., no heat, no electricity—learn to adapt to a “natural” lifestyle. You’ll have to get used to the heat, stay near a fire—learn to light it with a flint, etc…
14. Become friends with the local healer… You’ll want to be on her nice list if you get sick.
15. Don’t eat any berries, flowers, nuts, etc… until you’ve learned which ones are good and which are poisonous.
16. Beware… There are a lot more animals roaming freely in the medieval Highlands than there are in today’s world.
17. You will probably only have two or three outfits—get used to repeating yourself. Try making some cute embroidered scarves to change things up.
18. Cellphone reception is non-existent…
19. Your emails will have to wait…
20. Don’t drink the water until it’s been boiled or comes from a pure stream!

Thanks so much for letting me share with you all! I’d love to hear some of your time-travel tips :-)

Here’s a little bit about HIGHLAND STEAM…

Tragedy strikes in the Highlands, making Drostan the laird of the Comyn clan and in need of a wife to placate his people. His only choice is to trust in magic and travel to the sacred circle of stones…where he must passionately lay claim to the woman Fate brings him.

Briana is lost and alone when magic lights up the night. She meets the man of her dreams, a man who rocks her to her very core with orgasm after orgasm and somehow manages to steal her heart. The problem? The man of her dreams lives eight hundred years in the past.

To read a very steamy excerpt from HIGHLAND STEAM, please click here.

Amazon / Ellora’s Cave / Coming soon to Barnes and Noble!

*~*~*~*~*

Eliza Knight is the multi-published, award-winning author of sizzling historical romance and erotic romance. While not reading, writing or researching for her latest book, she chases after her three children. In her spare time (if there is such a thing…) she likes daydreaming, wine-tasting, traveling, hiking, staring at the stars, watching movies, shopping and visiting with family and friends. She lives atop a small mountain, and enjoys cold winter nights when she can curl up in front of a roaring fire with her own knight in shining armor. Visit Eliza at www.elizaknight.com or her historical blog, History Undressed, which was recently mentioned in a feature article in The Wall Street Journal. www.historyundressed.com

***

Thanks so much for being our guest today, Eliza! Everyone, please remember to leave a comment and your email address in some form to be entered to win Eliza's book. Thanks!