Wednesday Snippet - Through Fire

It begins! Oh God. Okay. I have to admit, I've had the first line of this book in my head for months, but I didn't really expect it to lead here...Poor Tris...

“The beginning is the most important part of the work.”

- Plato, The Republic

So, later than expected (because that seems to be my theme this year), Thrown to the Wolves is finished, polished, and submitted. I like this little werewolfy romance a lot, and I hope to have good news about it soon.

That brings us into October, and Blood Canticles 3. It was always my plan to start on this in the autumn, so even though I'd hoped to get going in September, I'm okay with being a bit behind schedule. This book will easily take the rest of the year to write, unless I get lucky, and my perhaps foolish aim is to write a companion novella alongside it.

See, Blood Canticles 3, tentatively titled Through Fire, will take Lola and Tristesse away from their ragtag group for the bulk of the book, but events in Fort Rosser will continue apace, because that's how the world works. The nasty stuff that happened in DARK DAYS will have knock-on effects for Dawn, Imani, and Rowan that need to be addressed while Lola and Tris are...away. At first I thought about writing Through Fire with alternating viewpoints, with Lola, Tris, and Dawn all being focal characters.

Then I realised I'd probably end up with either a hot mess or a 100k epic working that way, and decided it might be easier to write one novel and one novella. I could be wrong about this route, but it feels like the right path, so we'll see. In any case, my schedule for the rest of the year is now as follows:

Write Through Fire
Write companion novella (Pale Queen)
Try not to make a mess

I am very excited about both these stories. If everything goes to plan, Lola's world is going to explode (metaphorically) and I can show you all kinds of new, horrible, amazing things. I've spent a lot of this year doing research and reading heavily to inform the world of Through Fire, and Pale Queen will hopefully do its own job in building on the magic and lore of BLOOD WITCH and DARK DAYS. I'll try to share snippets if they're not too spoilery. If you want a glimpse at the Blood Canticles world in the meantime, there's my Pinterest board here, and an ever-growing Spotify playlist at the bottom of this page. Enjoy!

Guest Blog - A Dark Redemption from Sarah Marsh

Sunday seems to be the new guest blog day at the moment. Well, what better way to end the week (or start it, depending on your view) than with a steamy excerpt from Sarah Marsh? Works for me!

DARK REDEMPTION

by Sarah Marsh

Broken Souls Series, #1 Release Date: August 30, 2016 Publisher: Limitless Publishing Cover Designer: Redbird Designs
 

SYNOPSIS:

Sofia Boon was ready to make changes in her life, but she didn’t see this coming…Taking a chance, she finds the nerve to ask out her handsome neighbor, but when he doesn’t show up for their date, Sofia knocks on his door and meets a man claiming to be his roommate, and she soon realizes she’s made a horrible mistake. Eitan Kent is a tortured man, haunted by a death he was unable to prevent… Eitan believes he is unworthy of being loved. He buries himself in his work and takes a job to track down a wanted criminal, Ben Donovan. He locates Donovan’s apartment, but finds it empty—until Donovan’s “date” shows up. Eitan doesn’t know what to make of sweet, curvy Sofia, but she’s the only lead he has… Feeling he has no choice, Eitan decides to take her with him to see if she can somehow lead him to Donovan before it’s too late—or if her innocence is all an act and she’s involved in the bastard’s crimes. Sofia is terrified and tries to explain to the dark stranger that she barely knows her neighbor and has no idea how to track him down, but Eitan knows exactly how to get the truth from her. Who knew a little torture could be so sweet?

NOW AVAILABLE!!

Kindle Unlimited: http://amzn.to/2b8b90v Paperback: http://amzn.to/2bfUaZH

 

Excerpt:

That rat bastard! She thought as she watched him stroll out of the room just as though nothing had happened. As if he hadn’t just gotten her so turned on that she thought she’d spontaneously combust and then just…left. Sofia didn’t think about what she would have done if he’d tried to have sex with her. That would just ruin the fury she was currently riding. She should be relieved he hadn’t tried to force her. She should have been, logically speaking, but she had to admit to herself her overheated body was ready to beg for release and that her traitorous hormones were killing the rational part of her brain. 

Sofia knew it was crazy, but all she could think about right now was that the most satisfying way to get some relief was under her sexy captor. It was an issue that only got worse as he walked back into the room with a tray of food and all that beautiful, tanned bare skin.  

“Here, let me help you sit up so you can eat,” he said, putting the tray down on the nightstand and moving closer, “Or would you rather wash up and use the bathroom first?”  

“Bathroom first, please,” she said immediately, thinking she could follow his lead and get some satisfaction while cleaning up. But clearly her eagerness must have given her away because he raised one eyebrow in challenge.  

“Okay, but you have ten minutes to shower, and you are not allowed to touch yourself other than to get clean?am I understood?” he said in a firm tone as he leaned forward and undid her wrists.

“You’re going to watch me?” she asked, not quite certain if she was offended or turned on at the prospect. She wondered for a second why his firm tone seemed to excite her more than it should have.

“Do you want me to watch you?” he whispered low next to her ear, causing awareness to spread through her entire body.

Sofia was a little breathless at the thought of putting on the same show for him as he did for her, but in the end, her pride won out over the wanton need she felt inside. “No,” she barely answered, and it sounded weak even to her ears. 

His deep chuckle at her answer made her nipples peak even more, and she was almost disappointed when he leaned back and pushed the timer on his watch. “You’ve got ten minutes, Sofia. Then I come in and get you.” 

Sofia had never used the washroom and showered so fast in all her life, she got done with barely a minute to spare as she put her bra and underwear back on and then wrapped herself in a big fluffy towel before she walked back out into the room. 

“You can keep the towel until you’ve eaten, then it’s off,” he said once he saw her. She’d take that small win, and she took her sweet ass time eating as well until he finally took the tray away after she’d spent five minutes chewing a single piece of melon. 

“Now are you going to make this difficult on both of us or are you going to behave?” he said as he motioned toward the wrist cuffs once again. She thought about it, but there was nothing she could do against his superior strength, so she begrudgingly laid back against the padded headboard and raised her wrists.

“Why are you doing this?” she asked quietly. “I told you everything I know already.” 

“Well, I’ll see about that soon enough, won’t I?” was all he said in reply as he fastened the cuffs and picked up the tray before he left the room.

****

By the time Eitan had gotten the kitchen cleaned up from breakfast and returned to the bedroom, he was already half hard from replaying how she’d looked watching him come in the shower. He thought about putting on a pair of jeans, but why bother? He certainly wasn’t ashamed for her to see how she affected him and she sure as hell didn’t seem to be put off by his body, so he may as well use that to his advantage, right? 

“Ready for the ankle cuffs?” he asked as he entered the room. He saw her swallow hard and move her legs tighter together. 

“Why do you have to?” she asked with a worried look. “Are you going to touch me?” 

“You don’t want me to touch you?” he challenged, already knowing her body didn’t have any arguments. 

“Of course I don’t want you to touch me!” she answered, clearly trying to sound offended that he’d suggest such a thing, “I don’t even know your name!” 

“Well, that’s easy enough to remedy,” he said as he placed one knee on the bed and pulled up the first ankle cuff. “My name is Eitan. Now give me your leg, Sofia.” 

He could tell she was surprised he’d given her his name, and to be truthful, he was a bit surprised by that himself. But the more he thought about his name on her lips as she moaned her pleasure, the harder his cock got. He was doing all sorts of things with this little captive that seemed to be breaking his rules, and Eitan wasn’t sure he really cared. When she tentatively placed her little foot in his hand, he quickly attached the cuff and then slowly ran his fingers over the softness of her skin. Clearly she waxed her legs as the skin was still supple and hair free. That thought made him more aware of the noticeably smooth skin under those pretty purple panties, and his mouth watered as he imagined how soft it would feel under his tongue.

As he fastened the second cuff and her legs moved further apart, it was all he could do not to crawl up her body and relieve her of those panties just as he’d fantasized about doing in the shower this morning. It was then that he finally had to admit to himself that this interrogation was probably going to be more difficult for him than it was going to be for her…because his self-control was already bucking to be let loose.
 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR — Sarah Marsh

Sarah Marsh was born in British Columbia where she still lives, she has only recently began her writing career finding it the perfect outlet for taking the edge off a nine to five office job. She’s been a science fiction and romance junkie for years and when her imagination started to take the characters she’d read about even further in their adventures she decided to try writing something of her own.

Sarah’s also a former pastry chef and spends a lot of time cooking and baking for friends and family as well as painting and knitting. Her biggest weaknesses are animals of any kind…she even loves the ones that wake you up at four in the morning because they can almost see the bottom of their food dish.

When it comes to life in general she’s a big believer that laughter is the best medicine and that there’s no such thing as too much love, which is why she’s such a sucker for a happy ending.

Blog: http://sarahmarshfiction.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/SM_fiction Street Team: http://bit.ly/2bSYxdi Limitless Publishing: http://bit.ly/2bzQPWa Bookstrand: http://www.bookstrand.com/sarah-marsh Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarahmarshfiction/ Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/author/sarahmarshfiction

Ethan's Makeover Is Complete!

Behold! Spanky new covers for GONE TO THE DOGS and ICE, ICE BABY!

I love them! It was so hard to settle on a cover for GONE TO THE DOGS, but I just love this artist's work so damn much, and they all had to have the "hand" theme going, so in the end I went with a cover I was instinctively drawn to and said "so be it."

This completes the Ethan Banning Files makeover. Next job on the Ethan To-Do list is to prepare DEMONIZED for self-publishing, which will include writing a brand new short story to include as a bonus. I'm still leaning towards dealing with AFTERLIFE first, but we'll see how the rest of the year pans out. In the mean time, the Ethan Banning shorts are available on Amazon and Smashwords if you haven't already checked them out (which you definitely should).

"I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to."

So! London happened! On Friday Kyle went down (or up, I guess?) for the London tattoo convention, and on Saturday I headed in, having apologised profusely to Yuki for leaving her (she has abandonment issues). We went into Camden for a good old poke around the market, and I was reminded that I hate Cyberdog and everything associated with it. For those who don't know, Cyberdog is a clothing brand, and their Camden shop is basically a rave where you can buy glow-in-the-dark everything and I hate it. It's hot, they play fucking awful rave music, and I hate it. Kyle loves it, so we always visit when we go to Camden, but it's my least favourite part of visiting.

Anyway! We didn't spend long there in any case, and there's so much else to look at in Camden that I don't really mind visiting too much. And actually, our main mission was to find somewhere to eat before the Scandal gig, so once Kyle had bought a glow-in-the-dark t-shirt, we headed off to scout the local restaurants. We ended up at a grill called Q, having been lured in by the promise of sweet tea and whiskey cocktails.

Cheers!

The food was amazing - the kind of soul food you know is contributing to your eventual heart problems, but is just too good to say no to anyway. I had fried chicken with cornbread waffles and maple butter, and Kyle went for buttermilk chicken with sweet potatoes, and oh my god, I wish I was eating it all again right now.

Heroic amounts of carbs were consumed.

Adequately fuelled for the gig, we headed to Islington, planning to find a pub near the venue and kill some time before the doors opened at 7pm. We got to Islington about 5pm, walked past the O2 Academy and saw the queue was already stretching around the block, so figured we'd better join in. As it turns out, because Kyle has an O2 phone for work, we were allowed to jump the queue a bit, so that's worth knowing if you're going there for a concert, I guess!

I had no idea what to expect from the concert crowd. Scandal are a Japanese band (I hesitate to say girl band, because they're all in their late twenties), and I guess I'd made some assumptions about what sort of fans they might have. Some of those assumptions were correct (there were a lot of single men there, just standing at the back of the hall, staring at the stage, not dancing or interacting with anyone), but by and large, there was a really good vibe.

This was somewhat marred by the merchandise vendor who tried to sell me wrist bands I didn't want, and who then asked Kyle why he was letting a woman make financial decisions in a "haha, but I'm not really joking" kind of way. I didn't quite make a scene, but we both made it clear we weren't amused and I really hope he didn't subject every woman he tried to force wrist bands on to the same treatment.

Inside the venue, we were pounced on by a random girl who ran up to us and yelled, "you live in Milton, don't you?" then proclaimed she recognised Kyle's beard and my hair, and that she had seen us walking to Tescos, which...was weird? But she was nice, and it turns out we did vaguely know her boyfriend, so I managed to master my anxiety over strangers running up to me and acting like we're friends.

The gig itself was great - I didn't really know the music, but it was easy to get into and the band were really fun.

 

Afterwards, with our new friends in tow, we headed back to Cambridge prepared to be soundly told off by Yuki for going out without her.

She couldn't decide whether she was sad about being alone or delighted we were home, and settled for just spying on us for the rest of the night and all day Sunday to make sure we didn't do it again.

My plan for Sunday was really to just chill out and finish writing Thrown to the Wolves, and hopefully submit it. Instead I just chilled out and lazed around on the sofa all day with a terrible head cold. I'm slightly annoyed with myself for not getting on with it, but to be honest, I think I probably made the right choice, as I don't think I would have been producing my best work in any case. This does mean I'm now unlikely to get Blood Canticles 3 started this month, but since the only person I have to answer to as far as deadlines go is me, I've decided to be lenient with myself. Maybe I haven't been as productive as I was last year writing-wise, but I haven't exactly slacked off either, and I probably need to remind myself that two novels and two novellas, with another one nearly in the bag and two re-published works under my belt for the year is nothing to be sniffed at. And in my defence, I was still pretty full of fried chicken and cornbread waffles.

So the plan for this week is now the same as it was last week - finish and submit Thrown to the Wolves. Since I have almost finished writing it, this is a pretty doable goal. I say that confidently, like I haven't been saying it for two weeks now...but this time I mean it! Watch this space.

Guest Blog - Doris O'Connor and Finally His

What better way to spend a lazy Sunday recovering from a Japanese pop-punk gig in London than by finding out what Doris O'Connor has been up to? And if that's too specific a scenario, then generally speaking, Doris's books promise a good time no matter what you've been up to. So let's hand things over to her!

Thanks so much for having me on your blog with my new release Finally His, my May to December, Rubenesque, BDSM Office romance. This story started as a Friday Flash on my blog, and was one of those flashes that demanded to be written. You can find the original flash here.

I had such fun writing Richard and Jolie's story, and I hope readers will love these two as much as I do.

Blurb:

A nice hot, forbidden fling with her boss…what can possibly go wrong?

Jolie Pierson has lusted after her hot as hades boss forever, so when he finally takes notice of her, she can’t help but melt at his dominance. Besides, it would be rude to not give him a present on his birthday.

Richard Tomlin never dates the women at his office. However, when he realizes the sinfully curvy red head he’s been struggling to keep his hands off for ages is submissive…the gloves are off. This woman makes him forget all the rules and brings out his primitive instincts—to take, to devour, to mark her as his until everyone knows she belongs to him.

Jolie was ready to accept just one night of hot kinky sex, but when Richard pulls the boss card the very next morning, everything changes—she’s finally his.

Be Warned: BDSM, anal sex, sex toys, spanking, rimming

Buy it from Amazon Amazon UK Evernight Bookstrand  ARe

18 +Excerpt:

“I’m going to unlock the door and go into the kitchen to grab some things that I need. While I do that, I want you to make your way upstairs and wait for me in my bedroom. First door on your left when you get to the landing. Present for me in the middle of the room. Do not take anything off.”

He surprised her by that missive, he could tell because she briefly looked up him.

“I want to be the one to undress you, little one.”

“Oh.” Her breathy whisper of a reply made him groan, and he yanked the door open to get out of his car. The cool night air hit his face, and Richard closed his eyes and took several deep breaths to get in the right head space for this, and to most importantly get his raging libido under control. Otherwise he would pounce on her like a madman the minute he got her through that front door. While a quick hard fuck against his front door held a certain appeal, he wanted to take his time with her.

To show her how good they could be together and to leave her utterly scrambled and begging him to come. Only then would he seek his own release.

Mind made up he strode to the door, the click clack of her heels on the stones of his driveway a reassuring affirmation that she was following him. Having opened the door, and disabled the alarm, he switched on the lights and gestured up the stairs.

“Up you go, nice and slow and swing those hips for me as you climb the stairs.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Jolie dropped her gaze to the floor and proceeded to take the steps one at a time.

“Slower than that, girl. Pull your skirt higher, so that I can see the pussy I will be claiming soon.”

Jolie complied with trembling hands, and his throat went dry as her gorgeous, ample thighs came into view. Skin liberally sprinkled with freckles called him to taste, to touch, and he stepped up after her halting her slow movement upstairs.

“Bend over and get on your knees. Spread your thighs wide for me.” It was sweet torture to see her comply, and when her satin and lace covered cunt came into view, Richard stroked his heavy erection through his trousers.

“Wider, girl, that’s it.”

The pink crotch of her pretty, lacy knickers was much darker than the surrounding fabric, and he murmured his approval when she slid the dress further up her hips to pool around her waist. Putting his hands on the indent on her waist, he skimmed them lower, over the flare of her hips, until he reached the juncture of her thighs.

“I love your curves, little one. So much supple flesh to hold, squeeze, and mark as mine.”

Jolie whimpered her need, when he inhaled against her wet crotch, and nudged the hard little bundle at the top of her slit through the fabric with his nose.

“Oh, please.” Her breathless plea made him repeat that move time and time again, until her thighs trembled, and she pushed back against him.

“So responsive and wet for your Sir. Tell, me, my sweet, I could fuck you right here on the stairs, couldn’t I?”

“God, yes, please, Sir.”

She moaned her disappointment when he withdrew, and Richard chuckled into the soft skin of her inner thigh. He licked a path up to one fleshy ass cheek, only half covered by the satin of her underwear, and bit down hard.

A cock hardening groan came from his girl when he licked that sting away, and his dick jerked in his trousers, seeing the half-moon bite left behind on her fair skin. The scent of her sweet musk increased tenfold, and it was beyond satisfying to realize that this was as big a turn-on for her as it was for him.

He retraced the wet path his tongue had left behind, and then licked up her other butt cheek. Her whole body jerked when he bit down on that side too, and then grasped the underwear and bunched it up until it dug into her slit. Her puffy lips, separated by the twisted line of material, were the biggest turn-on yet, and Jolie groaned when he rubbed the fabric back and forth.

“Oh, God, please, Sir. I need to come.”

Richard slapped one ass cheek and stepped up the movement between her thighs. It was beyond satisfying to see the flesh wobble and redden under his hands, so he did it again, until his girl was a panting, quivering mess in front of him. Her inner thighs were wet with her arousal, and she clamped her legs around his head, when he licked that sweet musk away. One sharp twist and flick of his wrist meant the delicate fabric of her knickers gave way, and Jolie gasped, and relaxed her viselike grip on his head.

Richard smacked her ass one last time and ran his fingers through her wet puffy labia, which caused her to shudder anew. Her pussy hole clenched in rhythmic moves, telling him how close she was to release, one he had no wish to give her yet. Every clench expelled more of her juices, and he groaned under his breath when he withdrew his fingers and licked them clean.

Sweet, with a slightly salty taste, his girl tasted divine. He grinned at her when he caught her watching him from under hooded lids. With her body shivering and covered in the fine sheen of arousal, her dress bunched around her waist, and the mass of her red hair spread over his stairs, she looked good enough to eat. A woman on the edge. It wouldn’t take much for her to go over, but he also instinctively knew that she wouldn’t allow herself to do without his say-so, as confirmed by her next breathy words.

“Please, Sir, may I come?”

*****

About Doris:

Doris is a writer of sensual, sassy, and sexy tales involving alpha heroes to die for, and heroines who give as good as they get.  From contemporary to paranormal, Time Travel, Sci-fi, BDSM, F/F, M/M, and Ménage, haunting love stories are guaranteed.

Happily married for the last twenty-five years, she lives with her husband and their brood of nine in a far too small house filled with love, laughter, and chaos.

Stalk her in these places         
Website Reader Group Tumblr Twitter Facebook Pinterest Evernight Publishing

Amazon All Romance E-Books BookStrand Barnes&Noble

Ethan's Makeover Continues...

Recently I unveiled a new cover for DEMONIZED (coming back soon, definitely!), and Ragnarok treated me to a new cover for UNDERTOW, and all things being equal, I decided it was only fair to give the Ethan Banning short stories their own update.

I already have all the covers picked out, but I'm spacing out the purchases because, well, things cost stuff. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you may already have seen the new covers for UNGRATEFUL DEAD and STAKEOUT, and I have updated the Ethan Banning page here on the blog too. However, I didn't ~officially~ unveil either one, so here they both are!

Aren't they awesome? The two I have picked out for ICE, ICE BABY and GONE TO THE DOGS follow the "hand" theme, and I can't wait to get them sorted out. The Ethan Banning shorts can be read in any order, but all come chronologically before DEMONIZED, so if you're after a quick Ethan fix and want a glimpse of his life when he was just a regular loser and not a demon-possessed loser, these are the stories for you!