Little known fact...About two years ago I played with a flash fiction type game where I had to create some characters.  They were named Nye and Kiri.  That little exercise turned into almost 100,000 words and the beginning of The Frozen series, releasing July 17th.  So between celebrating the upcoming release I needed to also switch gears.  Everyone knows I love Chrysalis, but Chrysalis is bubble gum and The Frozen is hot wings.  I have a dark side so I searched out some adult writers...some best sellers and asked them to look at the picture to my left and come up with 150 words about it.  It will give you a little taste of their writing...if you like their piece please click on their website and check out their novels.  

Right Where He Wants Her~~Lila Munro

Pulling into his driveway in his unmarked car wasn’t his intention when Lt. Dillon Quinn cuffed one Miss Jenna Dearbourne and tossed her into the back after she assured him her mouth was indeed truly that dirty. Calling him a cock-sucking bastard wasn’t far from the truth, but it stung nonetheless. He’d meant to haul her in and leave her in holding overnight to cool off, but something about those pouty, coral lips and transparent, blue eyes kept calling his baser instincts to the surface and punishment of another kind flashed through his mind’s eye bringing a smile and hard-on. Dillon’s husband would probably sigh and roll his eyes at the sight of yet another random female in their bed when he arrived home from the graveyard shift, but hell, what was there to complain about?

Handcuffed, well-fucked, and begging for more…soon he’d have her right where he wanted her…

http://realmanticmoments.blogspot.com/


I will have everything- Cassandre Dayne      

Nick jerked her up onto his knee, pushing her arm behind her back. The handcuff was merely a formality. Bekka wasn’t going anywhere. Still, he enjoyed the way she responded when he was gruff, his demeanor bordering on savage. After all, she was his sub. “You belong to me, remember?”

     “Yes, sir.” Her lower lip trembling, Bekka’s eyes opened wide.

     While there was apprehension riding her face, there was also defiance and something Nick loved about her. All wildcat and verve, her willful actions alone were enough to force his swollen cock hard against the tight confines of his pants. He’d take her hard soon enough – just the way she craved. “What do you want?”

     “Everything.”

     “No matter what?”

     “You can have anything and everything you hunger for.”

     Brushing perspiration from her brow, he brought the single bead to his lips, savoring the taste of her. “I will have everything.”

http://www.cassandredayne.com/


Dance of the Succubus by JL Oiler

Koda swung around the pole as the lights flickered across her partially nude body. Her hunger drove her on, twisting and grinding to the loud music as the human men stared captivated by the curves of her body. Like the rest of her succubus siblings, that called the Inferno Room home, their desire feed her hunger. Sating this hunger meant ensuring that these men would be willing to do anything, including forfeit their souls, to possess her. Luckily for her, Koda already had one on the hook.

Motioning to him with a single bright red painted finger nail she coaxed him to the backroom and signaled for him to take a seat in the chair positioned in the room’s center.  Flipping the switch on the wall that set the music and ambiance, Koda swayed her way across the room and straddled his lap. 

Licking her brightly painted lips in invitation she leaned in close and whispered against his ear.

“Do you want me?”

“Yes, do you want me?”

“Yes”

“Good” he said with a toothy grin that startled her moments before he sank his own fangs deep into her neck to feed.

Just my luck, Koda thought as her vision clouded. Of all the men in this place I would be the one to seduce an Incubus.

http://joiler.weebly.com/


Untitled-Melissa Keir

Touching the small of her back, my hands clasped the silkiness of her skin, pulling her closer on my lap.  The leather of her jeans rubbed against my hardness as her heat singed my body through my jeans.

“Kiss me,” she demanded as her gaze locked with mine.

My body longed to, even as my head knew better.  She was my prisioner.  I’d spent the last forty-eight hours trying to find her to bring her back to Vegas to answer for her crimes.  Jezzebel was a temptation in a small package and was using her body to corrupt my honor.  

“Aw, hell. My honor be damned. I’m already destined for perdition.”

Taking possession of her mouth, I claimed it and marked it as my own. Nibbling down her neck, my fangs dropped.  Piercing her skin, Jezzebel moaned as my bite brought her to climax.

“And that was just the beginning.”

www.melissakeir.com

Cuffing Daisy By Leanore Elliott

Max held her hips above his ready cock. The handcuffs were a nice touch. The cuffing stretched her arms back, so that her tits rose up so nicely. He reached up and twisted them with a sensuous playfulness until she moaned from the sensation.

Daisy’s silken pussy rose and fell over his erected sensitive dick with a hot wet friction as she rode him hard. He knew he needed to hold his climax back until she was on the verge. He decided to speed up her trip over that edge. Reaching down, he stroked her clit with his index finger.

“Oh, Max…” she cried out. “No, I can’t handle that.”

Revving the finger stroking, he pinched an erected nipple and plunged his throbbing cock up high into her.

“Oh, sweet Max!” she shouted.

Max exploded inside of her while watching her sweet breasts jut out even more with her orgasm.

http://captivesouls.weebly.com/-leanores-home.html

Untitled by she who wants to only be known as -Deirdre Clairox

I woke up to the decisive click of metal. Disoriented for a moment, I realized I must have fallen asleep on the sofa. A weight pressed against my groin. Instantly alert thanks to the stirring in my pants, my eyes flew open. Her mouth crashed down on mine. 

One hand caressed the back of my neck; the other was handcuffed…

“What the hell?” I tried to ask, but her insistent lips parted mine. Our tongues twined together.

She grinded into my lap. I bent my head to take a nipple between my lips, and she sucked in a breath.  Moaning, she pushed away from me, reached down to unzip my pants, and knelt between my legs. Her lips closed around the object of her desire. I closed my eyes, but this time I wouldn’t fall asleep. Next time she fell asleep on the sofa? I’d have a surprise for her.


The Ice Box-By Michel Prince

The time had come for Sarah to step up and put Anthony in his place.  He'd crossed the line one too many times.  Teasing her.  Tempting her.  Only to stop before they even touched.  He was her roommate and best friend since they were ten.  Never even trying to be more.

Anthony was asleep on the couch when Sarah tiptoed into the kitchen to pull a pair of handcuffs out that she'd hidden in the freezer for an extra bite.  Something about cold steel against her wrists made her nipples harden and tingle.  A smile crept across her lips at the thought of where she'd hidden the key.

As she straddled the man of her dreams he stirred underneath her.  With a quick clink of the handcuffs he woke dazed.  Sarah had left her hair down so she shook out her hair and leaned into his lips.  Not kissing.  It was her time to tease.

MP-What do you look for in a hero?  Heroine?

KO-I like strong heroes that aren’t jerks.  So many times you see a hero that you have to ask yourself why the heroine loves.  I want a hero that I call in love with as I read the story.

For a heroine, I want someone who is genuinely likable and realistic.  I think women, as a whole, are insecure, so my heroines are generally insecure about something, but they are also easy to like and someone I’d want as a friend.

MP-Do you only write contemporary romance or do you have other genre’s in your WIPS?  

KO-I have written on historical and hope to write many more.  I enjoy reading historicals, and would love to have a bunch more under my belt. 

MP-How do you react to a bad review?  

KO-That’s a hard question.   I react in a lot of different ways.  I try to learn something from each one.  One story, I totally rewrote due to bad reviews, taking into mind what people had told me and have had much better reactions since.  Sometimes I laugh them off, because the people reading are not my audience.  I’ve gotten several bad reviews because people thought my books were Christian romances and there was sex in them.  I never said they were Christian.  It was just an assumption they made.  I can laugh those off.

MP-How do find marketing?  

KO-I honestly don’t do a ton of marketing.  I will respond if someone offers it, but my main marketing is simply putting out the next book.  I think my work should speak for itself.  Generally, if someone finds one of my books, they read them all.  That’s all the marketing I really need.

MP-Since you’re a cub scout leader I’ll have to ask…what’s your favorite scouting song?  

KO-I like Akela’s Trail J

Lily was only six when she met the man she knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. When he asked her father for her hand in marriage, he believed the lies her father told him, and immediately left to fight in the war against Napoleon. Once he is finally home again, will he be able to trust Lily again? Or will her father win?
Find Kirsten Osbourne

Amazon

In the car the other night my son asks me what I would do if I sold a million copies of my book.  We've all had that dream to win the Powerball, create the next pet rock or write a bestselling novel.  I wasn't about to go into all the publishing world details or how royalties work.  Instead, since I always expect him to dream big I told him my plans.

First I'd pay all my bills, because I'm too practical not to.  Then I'd get lasik, because I'm vain and would like to wake up and see instead of stumble.  Finally and most importantly I'd take the honeymoon I never got.

See I got married at twenty right after I graduated college.  My handsome boyfriend, now husband, was being scouted by the NFL and we didn't know if or when he was going to be attending a preseason camp.  We figured if he made it a honeymoon would be there for us, if he didn't we could figure out something before our first anniversary.  

But when the first year rolled around my husband was graduating college and starting a full time job.  Year one missed.  As our second anniversary rolled around we had a family member hospitalized so the vacation we had earned in our grown-up jobs was gone.  Year two missed.  Year three was a repeat of year two, except sadly, the family member didn't make it out of the hospital.  Year three missed.  In year three we also had the afore mentioned genius and being that I worked in an emergency room for years and my husband worked with violent sex offenders leaving our son with anyone for more than an hour sent utter fear chasing through our bodies.  Years four through ten missed.  Then came saving for a new house and selling our old house and that brings us up to year fourteen.  

Back to my son who was a little miffed that my first response to his question wasn't to get him the latest basketball shoes.  He asks the question "how much does a honeymoon cost?"  I go into how it varies, but I was looking for an island or European getaway.  Then he says ...

"I don't think it matters where you go, if your with someone you love that's all that matters."

Did I tell you sometimes I really hate that kid.  Yes he's right.  Yes I should be happy that my son knows the important part of a relationship, but I hate smart ass kids that make me look like a moron.  As a romance writer I should know better.  That's the characters we write.  All they want is to be together.  Even if it's just to lock their doors and stay in their beds for a week.  It doesn't matter that it's not a tropical getaway or the City of Love, because love is where you make it.  As long as my husband's by my side then I'm right where I need to be.  

Happy Anniversary Baby ... maybe we'll get there before our fifteen anniversary if not, I'll live.

MP-You write for more than one publisher do you find it hard to keep track of where you are at sometimes?

HT-Most of the time I compartmentalize pretty well, but every now and then I find myself writing in the wrong “tone.”  Although all of my characters are in the same universe, they clump together in cliques like people in real life.   I’m trying to keep each clique in their own little corner, but sometimes I lose track how serious each is supposed to be.

MP-You use humor in your books do you find it’s a good icebreaker for your characters or a crutch for when they are nervous?

HT-Definitely a crutch – I’ve got quite a few characters who use humor as a defense mechanism because they lack better social skills to deal with tricky situations.  I guess I’m projecting somewhat because I’m the same way.

MP-Do you get to write fulltime or do you have a “day job”?

HT-Up until last year I did freelance nonfiction writing.  Now I’m doing the starving artist thing and writing fiction full-time (what is full-time for a fiction writer?  Do we go by words per day or hours?  If I actually wrote eight hours/day and stopped diddling around on the Internet I’d be churning out something like 10,000 words/day.)  I’m not actually starving, by the way.  I’m pretty cheap to maintain so my husband is quietly subsidizing my lifestyle at the moment.

MP-What’s your favorite setting that you use from North Carolina?

HT-Right now I’m working on a novel-length work that’s set in part in an old railroad town called Enfield.  There’s honestly not much going on there, but that actually gives me a plot device to use.  You can do a lot of stuff with empty old buildings.

MP-You also write fantasy books.  Which book genre do you feel gives you the most freedom?

HT-That’s tough. I try to make my fantasy close enough to real life that readers wonder “could that be true?” I take some liberties with physiology or physics, but keep it down to Earth (literally).  I find that although most of my characters utilize colorful language, my fantasy characters tend to be more likely to replace most words in a sentence with a swear word than my romance characters.

Blurb for The Spirit of Things:

Nikki Stacy is a middle school math and science teacher.  To make ends meet she advises her school’s rag-tag cheerleading squad for the extra paycheck supplement.  When the squad’s antics lead to a girl’s injury, Nikki butts heads with squad dad Charlie.  Frustrated, Nikki seeks a job that will really make her happy, but Charlie won’t let her move on without tidying up the loose ends she left behind.

Visit Holley on the web at www.holleytrent.com, 
subscribe to her blog at www.holleytrent.com/blog, 
follow her on twitter and facebook 

            Now for something completely different.

            First I’d like to thank all of you have downloaded, shared or bought Chrysalis.  I appreciate your support and hope you keep supporting Chrysalis by letting people know about it.

            But now I have to juggle.  Juggle between Chrysalis, my sweet love story, to The Frozen, my dark love story.  The Frozen is set for release in two months.  It’s dark, sexy and starts with a demon attack.  Yes, I did better on introducing the paranormal on this one. 

            We know how I love and hate countdowns.  Having a third book coming out in October means that every time I end one I give myself one month to push the latest book then switch to the next.  How else will I distract myself over the next two months?

            Interviews for one, I have my interviewees set for the next four months and that makes me feel good, but now I need to look/read their books to get questions out there.  Then I have editing.  That’s a given. 

            And it’s summer.  While for some summer is a break time for me it’s Boy Scout camping.  Don’t get me wrong I look forward to the tents, bug spray and camp fire skits.  Seeing the boys that have grown so much in the last year and finally just enjoying time away from my computer…but wait.  If you know where to hide at boy scout camp you can find the WiFi areas so never fear, I’ll be around and possibly a little slap happy from the bugs.

            Please join me in the countdown for The Frozen because it’s more fun to do stuff together.  I still want to hear about Chrysalis but be warned over the next few months you’re going to get to see my naughty, dark side.  Hope you enjoy the ride.

Circles Interlocked - Having been betrayed by the man she assumed she was destined to be with forever; Julie Anderson slapped Robert Holiday in an angry ending to their brief love affair. Heartbroken that her love affair didn't end with the fairy tale Happily Ever After, Julie leaves town to pursue her dream of being a dancer. As fate has a curious sense of humor, eight years later, they wake up in bed together. Now it is up to love to fix what time cannot mend.


MP-Do you think that fate will continue to put you in the path of who you should be with?

VA-Interesting question. I am with the man I should be with.  Been married for thirty years this fall.  Fate may have gotten us together but hard work and love has kept us together.

MP-Since Julie gets to slap Robert…who of all your characters have you wanted to slap?

VA-Never wanted to slap a character – too much out of my character – but scold one – that would be Heather. My WIP – Dancing in Circles – is the prequel to Circles Interlocked and in that story, Heather decides to seduce Robert and steal him from Julie.

MP-What’s your favorite genre to read?  Write?

VA-I love mystery stories. I can’t write that genre though.  I tried.  It sounded horrible and the clues were so obvious.  My favourite genre to write is contemporary romances for the 17 to 22 age group.

MP-What’s your favorite type of hero?

VA-I think my character – Robert – would be my favourite type of hero.  He is strong in the physical sense but also his personal make up is strong.  He tries to do the right thing even though he is in a horrible situation. He's compassionate, noble and loyal to his friends and fiercely protective of the woman he loves.

MP-Do you have any upcoming projects?

VA-I am doing the final edits on Dancing in Circles and am hoping that it will be released later this year.  After that, I have a story tumbling around in my head just waiting to be told.

Excerpt---

Five years - Julie hadn't seen or thought about him in all that time, and now in the middle of nowhere, he stood on the beach drying off from a swim. Droplets flew as Robert shook his hair. His black mane was shorter than the last time she saw him. The wet ends dripped water on his bare, muscular shoulders. Tricia, an old high school friend once said he had the body of a male stripper - time hadn't changed that.

She stepped back onto the beach path, transfixed by the sight of the one person she hated. Her repulsion and loathing of him ran so deep; she'd repressed all memories of him. She thought he'd loved her, and had taken a chance, opening up her heart and body to him. But, instead of returning her love, he proved himself worthy of the gutter from which he'd crawled.

Her body said run, but her feet refused to move as she watched a long-legged, svelte, golden blonde rise from the beach chair. She trickled her fingers down his rippled stomach. His voice floated across the sand. It was a calming sound, which had brought a smile to her face when he whispered words of love and passion in her ear.

Details she thought she'd long forgotten surged forward. She remembered the way his dark eyes smoldered with anger and his sly, innocent grin. His joyous laughter had made her feel the abandonment of a child frolicking in the year's first snowfall. She stepped backward onto the path, distancing herself from the lovers as the blonde undid the strings on her bathing suit top, and let it fall to the sand.  Blog – Victoria's pages of Romance 

Circles Interlocked available at
Amazon -  
Smashwords - 

           Yes.  I’ve treated myself and began reading Fifty Shades of Grey.  With books to edit, promote and blogs hither and tither reading is something that I attempt to do and usually don’t find the time.  But I’m a sucker for a good book and I had finished my latest BDB book as well as a few from other Rebel authors. 

            Maybe it’s a trend or I’m focusing too much on the edits of the second book of the Chrysalis series, but the theme of ownership verses belonging seems to be a prevalent. 

            In Lustful Reflections by J.L Oiler you have a woman kidnapped only to have her father betroth her to her abductors.  Now she’s owned by these three men, because in their realm that is how it is.  But she’s does not belong to them.  Not until she accepts them into her heart can she belong to them.

            Belonging makes someone responsible for your heart.  Truly you cannot belong to anyone unless they also belong to you.  It can’t be a simple crush on someone.  That does not mean they are yours.  They have to acknowledge you.  They have to want what’s best for you.  They have to love you.

            In the second book of the Chrysalis series Ellie is struggling with control issues like many teenagers do.  She’s fighting against her parents for freedom.  She fights against Oscar to be the one in control of their relationship.  She’s fighting against a demon who’s twisting her world and making her think she’s losing her mind.

            In future books Ellie will say it took them awhile before she and Oscar realized they didn’t need each other…but they did want each other.

             This is where we return to Fifty Shades and the issue of control.  In romance novels there is always this ebb and flow of overly dramatic romance due to the pull the couple feels for each other.  The overwhelming rush of hormones tempered by some obstacle then the fight to survive it where their love shows its strength. 

            But today we have moved from having a society that one sex dominates over the other to one where both parties are fighting for control.  This fight for control is what destroys the love between the couple.  Why is it so bad to relinquish yourself to someone?  If you can’t let yourself go in the moment you have no trust for that person.  For someone that truly loves you would never abuse what you let them have.  So find someone that’s worthy of controlling you, because they will be the ones that give you the most freedom.

            

Lindsay Downs has stopped by to talk about YA mysteries, intelligent K-9s and an Ice Queen.
MP-You use a collie in your books.  Why that breed?

LD-Several years ago I was working on a book and found it was missing one elements, sort of a comic relief/hero. At the time I had a collie and thought it would be fun to use her, Kebi, in the story. I don’t think I would have included a different breed because I want something that is easily recognizable, friendly and has a natural protectiveness without being vicious. Intelligence was another factor. I feel the collie is one of the most intelligent of the breeds. I’ve seen them herd sheep with only whistle and or shepherd crook visual cues.

MP-What is your favorite genre to write?  Read?

LD-Interestingly, what I write and read are totally different. I write YA-adult sweet contemporary mysteries. Shortly, I will be venturing into the regency romantic suspense genre for a project my publisher is putting together.

For reading my top choice is Regency romances but I’ve been known to read everything from contemporary to Sci-Fi. One of the few genres I don’t read is mystery.

MP-Of all your characters who would you like to punch in the face?

LD-Without a doubt the character would be ‘the brown-haired man’. Neither I nor my muse, Dakota, knows when he’s going to show up in a book until he does.

MP-Tell us more about the “Ice queen”.

LD-Ice Queen started out last year as a story based on the word prompt ‘ice’. I’m with a writing group (Tuesday Tales) and each week we write to a different word. A month or two later I decided to bring her back and over the weeks I’ve developed it into an interesting story line. Sometimes I don’t even know where I will be taking the story but in the end, when I do the BIG reveal, everything will come together into one complete story.

MP-What upcoming projects can we look forward to?

LD-On April 23, 2012 I signed the contract with my publisher, Astraea Press, for Emily Dahill, CID Part 2 so edits are definitely in my future. I’m also writing a story featuring several characters, Thaddeus Dahill and Sasha, from my Christmas story last year. This book will benefit The Pet Fund in helping to defray vet costs. For more information you can go to my blog. As I mentioned above I’m doing a Regency Christmas story for Astraea Press.

So, to say I’m busy is an understatement.

Blurb-

Special Agent Emily Dahill, Dakota along with her team of technicians are sent to Master Sergeant Annabelle Carlyle’s Victorian style house for what they think is a simple break-in. What they find however, turns out to be even more ominous and far reaching.

A secret passageway leads to a mysterious gunshot. When the prime suspect is cleared they still have no clue who the shooter is, or why. Could the shooter be the same individual who took a shot at Dakota?

Add into the mix the FBI and their unexpected involvement in the case.

Soon they learn the break-in had been a cover-up for a more nefarious crime. One that involves Emily’s nemesis, the brown-haired man, and millions of dollars being sent to terrorists.

Will they solve the case before the money disappears forever and more bodies turn up? Not even the inestimable Dakota is sure.

Astraea Press   Amazon   B&N

To request an autograph on your kindle (my author page)

http://kindlegraph.com/authors/ldowns2966

Bio and links-

It was from my parents that I developed a love for books. My father, a medieval scholar, collected the works of Sir Walter Scott with The Lady of the Lake, then and now my favorite. My mother collect Thomas Hardy. No comment on him.

When I was in high school I use to infuriate my English teachers by wanting to write my way, not the way they taught the class. Needless to say, I didn’t quietly rebel and usually won my argument.

Later when I started writing, with a focus toward being published, I remembered what I’d learned in school. All, that is, except for comma’s which I still can’t figure out.

After much trial and a lot of errors I developed my own, I sincerely hope, unique style or voice. Of course, my style now includes writing parts of my books in a POV which threw my editor for a loop until she realized that a collie was the hero of the stories

Blog- Murders and Mysteries

Twitter- Ldowns2966

LinkedIn- Lindsay Downs

Facebook/Author Page- Dakota-Hero

Goodreads- Lindsay Downs

 

Thanks
Michel

            Why is it in romances we limit ourselves?  We look at the traditional story lines of “the girl next door” or “the stud in school”, but we rarely venture outside our own race.  Sure we’ll sleep with a vampire or werewolf.  Some people even have no problem with an elf, (Orlando Bloom the restraining order was a little much all I wanted was you in a blond wig with bow and arrow, clothing optional).   But lets face it, in modern romances we still consider even black and white to be edgy.

            In The Frozen I have people of all nations, who because of they work for Gabriel and can be dropped anywhere in the world, find that love can be found anywhere. 

            You start with the main love interest of Kiri and Nye.  Kiri, white Southern California girl from the twentieth century and Nye a black former slave from the eighteen hundreds who has scars on his back to prove he knows not to cross racial lines.

            But that’s just on love story in the book.  Inside the home of The Frozen are many demon hunters that found love on assignment.  Lars, a Swedish soldier, fell for Zarmina when he was in the Middle East in the early eighteen hundreds.  Zarmina was set to marry into a traditional arranged marriage when she ran across Lars who stole her heart. 

            Then Dilana who is from what is now the Balkan States who ends up being saved from herself by a man from northern Japan.  Kiyoshi had to make many sacrifices to be the woman he’d fallen for.

            It’s not that I’m against two people from the same race falling in love, because the in the second book in The Frozen series that’s what happened because Trisha is the beautiful woman that showed up for Schmitty.  I’m just asking why is it still taboo to cross that line.  Is it the last forbidden fruit?  If so can I please have a fruit salad, because we never limit our characters when it comes to wealth, intelligence or ninja skills, but we are still limiting who they are attracted too.  And the little people in my head want no limits on love.