One more day to comment...

---and you too can win lots of prizes!

Read this blog post for all the details - Click HERE

Erotic Romance Madness Blog Hop!

Hey folks...welcome to The Romance Reviews Erotic Romance Madness Blog Hop!

As part of this promotion, dozens of authors are posting about erotic romance books they love! Lots of yummy books to help swell your TBR piles!  As a bonus, we're all offering prizes!  WIN-WIN!

All you need to do is:

1. Leave a comment on my post (answer the question I pose below)
2. Click on the button at the bottom of the page and you'll be taken to another participants page
3. Keep checking out all the yummy blogs!

And you too can win lots of prizes!

My contribution to the prizes is a PRINT version of the SUMMER SPECTACLES anthology.  You can find out more about this book HERE

You can space your posts out over 5 days, from May 10 to 14. The contest will start on May 10, 12:00am EST and will end on May 14, 1159pm EST.

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Today, instead of spruiking one of my own books I'm going to tell you a little about another Erotic Romance that I just love!

It's been really difficult to choose. There are so many wonderful books out there, but I went with the first book that came to mind and that is a book that has inspired me in many different ways. I still return to it over and over again when I need to remember what I love in an erotic romance.

For me, erotic romance is not just about sex. Yes, there's a lot of sex involved, but the eroticism of the romance is more important. What does eroticism mean to me? Fantasy, arousal, my heart beating faster, my breathing affected, but most of all that feeling of flying that comes at the culmination of a journey of the relationship.

One such book that did it for me is GIFT OF THE GODDESS by Denise Rossetti.

The incredible journey that Denise takes us on is not only erotic and, quite frankly - HOT as hell - is so poignant, touching and romantic. Denise has a gift in being able to take us with her characters on their journey of their relationship and development. I am always inspired and dare I say - in awe when I read her books.  This was the first one of hers that I read, but only the first of many!

Here's a little bit about it:

BLURB from THE GIFT OF THE GODDESS
Book 1 in the Phoenix Rising series
The Law of the love goddess Lufra states that no man may take his pleasure inside any part of a woman's body, unless she has climaxed first. Each time, every time. But when warrior-scout Anje is taken captive by Brin, Lufra's shaman, she discovers that not even divine law can protect her from the erotic wiles of two determined men.

Huge, dark and enigmatic, Brin wears a tattoo of the holy dragon on his magnificent body. Years of erotic training have given him skills and stamina Anje cannot match. But it's the strength of his will that threatens to conquer her very soul, while his beautiful young friend Trey has a bravado and a vulnerability that make her mouth water.

Anje fears Brin's arrogant prediction may be true—"You'll surrender, scout, and you'll glory in it. You'll abandon yourself and adore it. Because you trust—trust absolutely." Screaming and cursing her ecstasy, she learns that dark raptures are addictive. But neither man is what he seems and all three are pawns in a suicidal scheme to placate an angry goddess. Saving her lovers will take everything Anje's got—as a woman and a warrior.

CLICK HERE to read an excerpt

So - for a chance to win a print copy of the SUMMER SPECTACLES anthology -


What's your favourite erotic romance and why do you love it?  Please leave your name and email address in your comment so I can contact you if you win!

Now, click the badge below to continue on the Blog hop! (AFTER you leave your comment of course!)

BLISSE KISS SPRING FLING - The Relic - Action/Adventure novel

Hey everyone. I'm participating in the brilliant Victoria Blisse's BLISSE KISS SPRING FLING!

Below you'll find my Sunday Snog from my action adventure book THE RELIC

After you've read it, leave me a comment (and your email address) to be in the running to win an eBook.  You have until May 10th to do this!

Then head on over to Victoria's BLISSEKISS website for a chance to win lots of prizes. All the authors in the promotion will be offering a prize, and you'll find the links to them there - but you must comment on the posts to be in the running. Click HERE

Blurb:

They used to be a great team, but could they forget the past long enough to save their lives?

Finding herself in the wilds of a Penang rainforest wasn't something Magda was exactly happy about. Being there on a mission to recover an ancient relic that threatened world peace certainly had its appeal, but the heat, the bugs and wild animals quickly cancelled out any of the excitement of the chase. Adding to her misery was the arrival on the scene of the last person she ever wanted to cross paths with. Vincent Stone, her rival in the search for the relic, and her ex-lover. The man who'd ripped out her heart and trampled on it had no business being in the same country as her, let alone the same town.

Vincent isn't doing much better as he tries to remember why he'd broken it off with her. She made him feel more than anyone else but in his line of work, and with his past history, he didn't have room for a relationship. But damn, she made him want one.

Fate has a way of playing with realities though and as they teamed up they both came to realise that sometimes it was better to just go with the flow. They used to be a great team, but could they forget the past long enough to save their lives?

***

In this snog scene - Magda and Vince are captive in a deep pit in the jungles of Penang. They're about to spring out of their prison, so I thought it was a perfect selection for the Blisse Kiss Spring Fling!

Enjoy!


     Magda woke to someone squeezing her shoulder. She tried in vain to push the hand away, but it persisted.
     “Mags,” a voice whispered. Hot breath tickled her ear as the voice got closer. “Mags, it’s time.”
     Time? Huh? She opened her eyes, looking around her with fuzzy vision. Where was she again?
     “Mags, we have to get moving. They’ve been quiet for about an hour now, and we don’t have much time. Are you okay to stand?”
     Oh shit. She remembered now. The pit. They had to climb out of the pit. “Sure, I’m fine. Just give me a minute.”
     Reaching above her head, she stretched her arms, before circling her head for a couple of neck stretches to work out the incredibly stiff kinks she felt. Vincent was doing the same, although she noticed he was still seriously favouring his injured side. It must hurt like hell, but he was being a big man and not complaining. She had to give him that. He was no whiner.
     Holding on to the wall for balance, she stood. She rubbed her arms vigorously to counter the fact that the temperature had dropped considerably since she’d fallen asleep. She held her hand out to Vince to offer assistance, but he wasn’t having any of it, shaking his head as he struggled to get up.
     “It’s easier if I do it myself, Mags. I know which bits hurt.”
     Fine, if that’s the way he wants to play it, let him! Listening to his muffled curses, she walked to the other side of the pit where Vince had made the rough steps in the rock. She hitched her breath when she realised it wasn’t going to be as easy as she’d first thought. The angle of the wall was almost completely vertical, and some parts of it angled in toward the pit, so gravity was not going to help her here.
     The knot in her stomach grew tighter as she thought about the alternatives of not trying. She’d managed to piss off Thornton and his guards, so they would be out for revenge first chance they got. She shuddered as she remembered the lascivious sneer of the one guard as he’d gotten great enjoyment out of cutting her shirt off her and leering at her breasts.
She jumped when a pair of hands closed over her shoulders and a firm body leaned into her back. Her head slipped back to listen as Vincent’s warm breath whispered in her ear.
     “Are you going to be okay with this?”
     No. “Yes. It’s a piece of cake.”
     Cool lips touched her neck and she shivered again, although this time not from the cold.
     “You are braver than any woman I know, Mags,” he said as he smoothed a lock of hair behind her ear. “Never doubt that you can do it. I don’t.”
     Aw shit. Why did he have to be so sweet when she was trying to get him out of her system? She turned to face him and cupped his face with her hands. “For an arrogant bastard, you say the sweetest things, Stone.”
     Then she kissed him softly, pouring out all her feelings into that brief touch of soft skin to soft skin. Even though she knew he would never fully be hers, for this poignant moment in time, they were the only man and woman on the planet. When she pulled away, Vincent was as breathless as she was, and his sexy smile gave her strength.
     Breathing out on a sigh, she turned back to the wall. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

Click HERE to buy this great adventure book!

And don't forget you have until 10 May to leave a comment and your email address to go in the draw to win an ebook copy of your choice from my backlist!

Then pop on over to the Blisse Kiss website and read all the other lovely snogs!

Thursday Teaser - ILLUMINATIONS

This time last year I wrote a story for the Summer Spectacles collection at Total-e-bound. It was a bit of a departure for me since the setting is Victorian England. All of my other books have been set in the present and in places I've been to. Yes, even Penang, where THE RELIC is set. So writing in another time period was both scary and liberating.  I know can never be called an expert in British history, or Victoria, but I did do a lot of research.  I really enjoyed the research into the sexual practices in that period :-).  The general consensus is that people were very conservative, but nothing can be further from the truth! They just hid their naughty sides well!

So we come to my Thursday Teaser - something new I'm trying for 2012.  Here is an excerpt from ILLUMINATIONS, which is available as a ebook HERE,

or HERE as part of the SUMMER SPECTACLES Anthology in PRINT. Enjoy!

Genre	Historical/ Mild Bondage/ Ménage/ Voyeurism
Book Length	Short Story
Erotic Rating	Total-e-taboo
eBook Format	ePub/HTML/PDF/MSReader(lit)/Mobipocket(prc)
eReaders Supported	All current eReaders
Send direct to Kindle?	Yes
Cover art by	Posh Gosh
ISBN#	978-0-85715-601-3

London, 1895

Gemma Hudson felt heat rise from inside her body and spread over her skin. The sight in front of her was so shocking and so unexpected, most definitely something she had never witnessed in all her twenty-one years. When she had stumbled on the hidden doorway into this passage, nothing could have prepared her for what she’d see.

The woman lying naked on the bed sighed as she writhed, her white skin a deep contrast against the black silken sheets. Gemma gasped and drew away from the glass that separated her from the scandalous scene. She closed her eyes and crossed herself in the hope that praying to the good Lord and Saint Jerome would save her soul for having witnessed this forbidden sight.

Run!

Her mind knew what she should do, but her feet stayed planted in place, refusing to cooperate. She had suspected something was different about the entertainment offered to the guests at Maitland House, but she’d never imagined it would be so wicked. In the few weeks since she and her friend Lucy had been employed here, she’d noticed hints of secret goings- on behind closed doors, but she had not thought much of it. All who lived here had always shown kindness towards her and none had made any improper demands, not even the exceedingly handsome duo she saw before her.  Not once had Master Darius or Master Jamie ever so much as hinted at any impropriety towards her. Now she knew why.  They were finding their pleasure elsewhere.

The men in question moved around in the room before her. Fearful lest they’d see her through the darkened glass, she shrank back against the wall in the hidden hallway.

She watched, mesmerised, as each of them stood on opposite sides of the narrow cot and lifted the woman's arms behind her head, fastening them with a length of cloth. The woman writhed on the bed as Darius smoothed her auburn curls from her face and placed a mask over her eyes, but the sound coming from her mouth was not fearful. More a contented sigh of pleasure, thought Gemma as she fidgeted. She fanned her face as unfamiliar sensations stirred her body and she realised there was a dampness between her thighs she could not explain.

As a lady's maid to her best friend Lucy in her former employment, she had lived a very sheltered existence. Her mistress was as innocent as she in the ways of the flesh, and as she had been sent away from her home to work as soon as she was old enough, she had not been blessed with a mother to explain things to her. Lucy’s mother had died in childbirth and that witch of a stepmother was barely older than the two of them. Until this very moment she had not had occasion to want or need an explanation of the more intimate details between a woman and a man…or in this case, two men.

She had a feeling, however, that what she witnessed in front of her was not something a mother taught her daughter. Not unless she was a harlot. And Gemma’s mother most definitely had not been a harlot, despite her poverty.

Her mouth opened in a gasp. She watched, unable to tear her eyes away as the young men knelt either side of the bed and each claimed a plump breast with his mouth.  She bit her lip to stop any sound passing as she felt another intense tingle between her legs. Oh, my Lord.

Closing her eyes, she tried desperately to shut out the sinful scene, but failed, instead seeing herself on that bed, naked and restrained, with both men suckling her breasts. Her hands slid over the tight layers of her gown, and she pinched her nipples through the thick fabric. She tweaked them gently at first, imagining Darius’ and Jamie's mouths touching her, then harder as her body reacted to the intense pain and pleasure that ensued.

How could it be that she was here watching this act unfold, touching herself in this way, or that those soft cries of pleasure she heard were this time coming from her lips? It was not what a proper young woman ought to do. Though she was only a scullery maid, she had been a lady's maid and should know better. But instead of guilt for such perverted behaviour, she felt an incredible pleasure far beyond what she had ever imagined.

I am wicked.   

"Yes, yes. You are a good student, my dear," said a male voice, startling her.

She opened her eyes in shock. She breathed out, relieved to realise that the voice referred to the woman on the bed and not herself. She looked down at her hands, still over her nipples. Oh, God. Dropping her hands, she thanked all that was holy that the men had not heard her soft cries.

"Our guest deserves a reward for her studious behaviour. What do you think, Jamie?" said Darius.

"Oh yes. I believe you are quite correct, my friend. I have just the thing," he said, smiling.

"By all means. I believe it is your turn to finish off. I cannot wait to see what your wicked brain has in mind.” Darius chuckled as he went to the side of the room.

Jamie smiled and sauntered to the end of the cot. He smoothed his large hands along the creamy skin of the woman’s legs, then one by one bent them back, her knees brushing her breasts. He slid his hands under her bare buttocks and tugged her body to the edge of the mattress. Her arms strained against the ties as her body slid downward and her head turned to the side, a hint of a smile on her face.

Gemma inched forward, her face so close to the glass it began to mist over while she angled her head to see what Jamie was doing. Her breathing quickened when he knelt down and placed his mouth on the woman's exposed sex. She trembled, moving her hand over the skirt of her gown, inching it upward before she slipped a shaking hand inside her drawers. What would it feel like to have a man touch her so?

“More. I want more, Jamie,” the woman cried.

Jamie lifted his head and chuckled. “She is getting too demanding, Darius.”

Gemma sighed and closed her eyes, searching for some unknown place inside her that called out for something, pleading to soothe an ache she had no idea how to relieve.

"Yes, she is asking for a punishment. Don't you agree?" said Darius.

"Please, please don't, sir!”

"Please don't…what?" Jamie traced a finger along the plump lips of her sex.

The woman moaned and wrenched at her restrained hands, pulling desperately against the ties. "Please don't punish me, sir. I did not mean to be disrespectful."

Jamie chuckled. "Ah, but all the same you did say it."  He spread her nether lips open with the thumb and forefinger of one hand and then slapped her across her sex with the other. The woman screamed.

Gemma jumped at the sharp sound of skin hitting flesh. Her hand slid further inside her drawers and she was surprised to find even more dampness than before. Why did the thought of being slapped across her sex make her sweat? She should have been repulsed.

She was not.

*****

To celebrate my first Thursday Teaser, I'm offering a prize to a randomly selected commenter!  You will receive a PRINT copy of the SUMMER SPECTACLES anthology!

So comment away - let me know what you think!