NIGHT OF THE COUGAR Erotic Paranormal Romance June 2012

It’s Wicked Wednesday and that means it’s time for a little sexy teaser! Today I’m sharing something from NIGHT OF THE COUGAR, my June erotic paranormal romance novella for the Nocturne Cravings line.

This is a story of reunited lovers and I just love that kind of story line. I always wonder what made it not work the first time around and how this time things will be different, especially when the heroine, Jamie Morrison, is facing a very different man from the man with whom she first fell in love.

Here’s a little teaser for the story:

Reporter Jamie Morrison got the scoop of a lifetime when she snagged a meeting with bestselling author Galen Hawke, but their rendezvous didn’t end with an interview. Their immediate attraction led to a wicked night together and a plan to meet again—until an accident left Galen changed forever….

Now, one year later, Jamie is sent to interview Galen once more. When a snowstorm strands them together in his remote mountain lodge, they are both eager to explore their reawakened passion. But will Jamie stay by Galen’s side when she discovers what he’s become?

Also a little behind the scenes: Jamie was the original name of the heroine from THE CLAIMED. However, since there was already another woman with a man’s name – Sammie – there was some concern that readers might be confused. Sammie had appeared in earlier books in the series and so I couldn’t change her name. Instead, I changed the heroine’s name to Victoria. But I still loved the Jamie name and since NIGHT OF THE COUGAR is very much about a man and a woman, I decide to use that name for the heroine!

If you can’t see the excerpt below, you can click here to read the excerpt.

NIGHT OF THE COUGAR Erotic Paranormal Romance Novella

10 Reasons to Fall in Love with Katherine Bordessa by Laura Kaye & #Giveaway

Seduced by the Vampire KingWe’re very lucky to have with us today Laura Kaye, a friend and fellow author who is sharing her latest release with us. SEDUCED BY THE VAMPIRE is the Nocturne Cravings release mate to NIGHT OF THE COUGAR, my June erotic shapeshifter romance. I’m so loving the purple theme here! It’s such a rich and royal color.

So without further ado, here’s Laura . . .

I’m very excited to be celebrating my newest release, a dark paranormal romance called Seduced by the Vampire King, the second in my new Vampire Warrior Kings series. And I’m particularly excited to be sharing release months (again!) with Caridad—thanks so much for having me here! Seduced by the Vampire King offers a twist on an enemies-to-lovers story by pairing a vampire king who desires only vengeance with a human woman who has fled 5,000 from her home to escape her destiny in the service of vampires.

One of the things I love about Seduced by the Vampire King is the heroine. So here are ten reasons you just might fall in love with heroine Katherine Bordessa:

10. She’s multilingual, something I’m not, so I admire it greatly in others! Kate is fluent in English, French and Russian.

9. She knows what she wants and what she doesn’t want. And when something challenges those, she is open minded enough to consider the new information before she acts on it. A lot of this story is about Kate confronting that she wants something she thought she never would.

8. She keeps a level head in stressful situations. Attacked. Kidnapped. Imprisoned. And yet Kate holds herself together! Love that about her!

7. Kate’s not afraid to stand up to the big, intimidating and powerful men she encounters, despite being hurt and imprisoned. They all begrudgingly admire her for that, too!

6. She takes initiative. When she finds an injured man in a dark driveway in the middle of downtown Moscow, she doesn’t freak out. Instead, she assesses his injuries and calls the authorities. And then, when she realizes that man isn’t, well, a man, she takes charge of that situation, too.

5. Kate has more than her fair share of courage. Whether she’s getting bitten by a vampire, ambushed by a group of vampire warriors, or imprisoned, she handles herself, her emotions, and is always looking for a strategy and solution to her situation. She’s pretty bad ass, actually!

4. More evidence that Kate Bordessa kicks ass: when she finds what she soon realizes is an injured vampire unconscious out in public, Kate acts. First, to hide him. Second, to save him. Third, to defend him against would-be attackers.

3. Kate is selfless, giving and compassionate. Despite her rejection of a future serving vampires, she allows the dying vampire she finds feed from her to save his life. Then, later, she comforts him when he discovers just how bad the bite wound is. She is the perfect balance of standing up for herself and giving to others. And that slays Nikolai!

2. Kate takes such good care of Nikolai. She recognizes right away that he is hurting and grieving, and despite her fear, she offers compassion in return. And it’s exactly what she needs.

1. When the time comes, Kate gives herself over to the bloodlust that will bring her and Nikolai together once and for all. She’s magnificent in her desire for him in that moment, and her desire for his blood totally rocks Nikolai’s world! Don’t you love when a heroine has the power to do that to the hero?

For me, all of these add up to one fierce, kick-ass heroine, and I hope you’ll agree that she’s completely lovable and totally worthy of Nikolai, Warrior King of the Russian Vampires.

GIVEAWAY!

Would you like to know more about Kate? Post a question for her or her author lady, and we’d both be happy to chat with you! One commenter will win an ebook of Seduced by the Vampire King!

Thanks for reading!

Laura Kaye

Buy Laura’s Books

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About Seduced by the Vampire King:

Book 2: Vampire Warrior Kings Series

American exchange student Kate Bordessa has fled to Russia to escape her family’s hopes that she’ll become one of the Proffered, human women who feed and mate with elite vampire warriors. But when she stumbles upon a wounded vampire in the streets of Moscow, she’s instinctively driven to protect him–and feels an undeniable spark of desire.

Grieving over the deaths of his brothers, Vampire Warrior King Nikolai Vasilyev has thrown himself into battling his enemies, focused only on vengeance. Until the attack that brought him to Kate. Their sexual attraction explodes into a night of uncontrolled passion–a night that marks them as mates. Is their connection strong enough to convince them to embrace a destiny neither of them was expecting?

About Laura Kaye:

Voted Breakout Author of the Year in the 2011 GraveTells Readers’ Choice Awards, Laura is the bestselling and award-winning author of over a half-dozen books in paranormal, contemporary and erotic romance. Hearts in Darkness is the EPIC eBook Award Winner for Best Novella and HOLT Medallion Award of Merit Winner for Best Romance Novella, Forever Freed is the NJRW Golden Leaf Winner for Best Paranormal of 2011 and is a finalist for two GDRWA Booksellers’ Best Awards, and North of Need, the first book in the Hearts of the Anemoi series, is a finalist for a FF&P PRISM award, was named GraveTells’ Best Book of 2011 and won their 5-STAR Gold Heart Award, and won Sizzling Hot Read of the Year at Sizzling Hot Books. Laura lives inMaryland with her husband, two daughters, and cute-but-bad dog, and appreciates her view of theChesapeake Bay every day.

#Giveaway and some Behind the Scenes Secrets about THE CLAIMED

First of all, don’t forget that you have until Friday to leave a comment on Dorothy’s Virtual Blog Tour Blog to possibly win a free Blog Tour!

But now, how about some Behind the Scenes Secrets about THE CLAIMED!

This is a snippet from the book at a restaurant in Avon-by-Sea. The restaurant is a real place and you can visit it here: http://www.columnsnj.net/

The Columns was a perfect choice, Victoria thought as she sat across the intimate width of the table opposite Christopher. The summer sun had begun to set, creating rosy pink and blue cotton candy clouds along the beachfront. The golden hues cast by the lights along the edges of the veranda and the votive candle in the middle of the table bathed Christopher’s face. Thanks to the dimness of the light, she could detect the thin aura surrounding him. Too weak to be full Hunter power, which relieved her somewhat, but not entirely, since Shadows could hide their energy fields also.

Here’s a picture of The Columns. Can’t you just picture Victoria and Christopher sitting there, dusk settling in, the two of them cozy at a small table? Sigh. Can’t wait to go eat there again!

Here’s another little teaser for you down below! This scene takes place in the Shark River and yes, in part it is named for the sharks in the area. Fresh water sharks you may be wondering? Actually, there are fresh water sharks in some parts of the world, but the Shark River is filled with salt water for the most part. In fact, some consider that this area is actually a tidal basin since it’s fed by four small streams that provide little fresh water and the Shark River Inlet provides large amounts of salt water into the bay area. This is a picture of the Shark River Inlet and the Shark River Bridge which is a drawbridge that allows larger boats to come and go.

In this scene deep in the Shark River, Shadow Hunter Christopher is playing around with his energy and shapeshifting abilities. Moments later, Christopher will meet Light Huntress Victoria face-to-face for the first time!

He swam out until he was in about thirty feet of water, released the diving flag, and then sank below the surface. As luck would have it, a small school of brown-green weakfish were spawning along the estuary floor. With a gush of energy, he formed a vortex and directed it downward. It acted like a vacuum cleaner, sucking up a large fish and bringing it up to his grasp through the swirling tunnel of water.


Two feet of angry fish squirmed and flailed in his hands until he sucked in a bit of its life force and it weakened. Focusing his gathering, he took only a smidgen of the fish’s vitality within him. He needed the weakfish’s energy to partially shapeshift so he could stay below the surface long enough to do the exchange needed to rein in the demands of his Equinox.


He forced the fish’s life force through his body, and his power drained while he directed it toward his throat. He gritted his teeth and battled the pain as his skin tore open and the muscles beneath the surface reformed, developing gills. Blood vessels rerouted themselves to those new organs, creating an avenue for the oxygen to flow from the gills throughout his body. He grew lightheaded for a moment, but then the outpouring of oxygen flooded through his gills and revitalized him.


With the skill of a surgeon, he dissected a piece of the power he had absorbed and directed it to his eyes. He created a thin membrane with the life force to protect them against the salt water.


Satisfied with the adaptations to his eyes and lungs, Christopher stopped his shapeshifting. He released the fish and expelled as much air as he could from his lungs. With nothing to keep him buoyant, he easily drifted down to the sandy bottom, scattering the swarm of fish when he settled in the midst of their school. Crossing his legs, he assumed a traditional Lotus position and opened his eyes.


I hope you enjoyed these Behind the Scenes moments from THE CLAIMED

Thank you and a Visit from Amanda Arista!

Many thanks for all your kind words on taking a break! I’ll be getting to e-mails tonight and will write you all! The writing is going really well and I’m excited at how the story is shaping up. I just had a breakthrough this morning about how to reinforce the conflict and am pushing onward!

As promised, I’ve got a guest blog from a fellow author, Amanda Arista! You may remember Amanda from when she visited to tell us about the first book in her “Diaries of an Urban Panther” series. Well Amanda is back with more for us today. So here’s a little teaser and excerpt for you this Wicked Wednesday morning.

TEASER

Violet Jordan Rule #2 of being a superhero: Find reliable sidekicks

Dear Diary,

Once I took down Haverty, the Primo of the city, I thought life was going to get better. After four assassination attempts, I’m thinking not so much. Haverty’s pack needs a new leader and I’ve just about run out of reasons why I’m not right for the job. Besides, having loyal followers would definitely help me fight off whoever’s out for my blood. Especially since my boyfriend is always busy playing White Hat to every Wanderer except me.

So now I just need to figure out how to mentor new shifters, run a pack, keep my “real” job, and have some sort of personal life. I guess it’s all in a day’s work for this writer-by-day / panther-by-night.

Excerpt

Chaz put the glass into the sink and reached out to pull me to him. “Tonight, I get you. Sacred Destinies be damned.”

“Oh, please don’t say that.”

Now that the words were out in the air, I was looking into every shadow and jumping at every random noise, just sure that is was another attack. I winced through stop lights on the way to the restaurant and jumped at a slammed car door in the parking lot.

“We’ve been out before,” he said as he opened the car door. “Even if something does happen, then we will take care of it together.”

I sighed. “Guess I can’t argue with that.”

He wrapped my arm around his as we walked into the restaurant. It was just a family style place, nothing special. I had suggested something populated. Using a crowd as a shield had become part of the life recently, which meant that usually we had screaming children running around us at romantic dinners.

We were seating and as usual, I got the seat with the kid on the other side kicking my booth.

“Its not exactly Nine steakhouse, I know, but…”

It finally clicked: the date offer and his newly washed jeans. “Is this an anniversary dinner?”

The corner of his mouth turned upwards. “Maybe. Try again.”

I looked around at the red glittery décor and my face hit my palm. “Valentine’s day? Chaz, I would have suggested something a little more …”

He laughed. “It’s okay. Almost past me by as well. I’m just glad that we’re together.”

I sighed and looked through my fingers. “I suppose that we do have that to celebrate.”

The kid kicked the seat again.

As soon as the waitress took our drink orders, both our cell phones rang.

We both sighed and reach for our respective phones.

“Hello,” I answered to the unknown number. Might as well, right? Not like any one can kill me through a phone, but that was a pretty good movie idea.

“Miss Jordan, its Tucker Briggs.”

I turned away from Chaz when I recognized the voice. “Tucker? What can I do for you?”

The kid behind me kicked the seat again and I frowned.

“I wanted to see if we were meeting on Sunday like you said.”

“That was the plan. Did Shadow find you?”

“Yes, Ma’am.

“Are you guys okay?”

“Fine. He also told us of your kindness.”

I snorted. “I gave him leftovers.”

“You don’t understand Miss Jordan…”

I couldn’t let him finish. “Tucker Briggs. Take care of yourself for the next two days and you can explain it to me then.”

The kid kicked my booth for the fourth time, and then a tuff of yellow hair stuck out around the edge of the booth.

“Good bye, Tucker.”

I snapped the phone closed and stuck my head around the edge of the booth to be nose to nose with the little tyke with a foot like Landon Donovan. Just for an instant, I let the panther slip through into my eyes and let out a little growl.

The little boy slipped back into his booth and began to cry. Satisfied, I went back to looking at my boyfriend.

Chaz stared back at me with an arched eyebrow.

“What?” I asked innocently.

He leaned across the table and dropped his voice. “I don’t think that the Powers gave you this gift to scare children.”

The family behind me got up and took their screaming child with them, leaving Chaz and I alone in this small section of the restaurant.

“I’d like to think that I have earned having a quiet dinner with my boyfriend.”

About Amanda

Amanda was born in Illinois, raised in Corpus Christi, lives in Dallas but her heart lies in London. Good thing she loves to travel.
During the summer after second grade, she read every book in the young adult section of the library, much to the surprise of the local librarian. So she started making up her own stories and hasn’t stopped.

She has a husband who fights crime, one dog who thinks he’s a real boy, and another who might be a fruit bat in disguise. She spends her weekends writing at coffee shops, practicing for the day that caffeine intake becomes an Olympic sport, and plotting character demises with fellow writers Wolvarez, Killer Cupcake and Keith (names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent).

Random Facts:

Amanda is adopted and loves to share that story with others to promote adoption.

Amanda has a collection of turtle figurines that collects on her travels.

Amanda has a strange love of cheesy horror movies. She prefers demons and witchcraft to slasher films.

Amanda is a really good bowler and completely rocks at croquet.

To find out more about Amanda, you can visit her at:

www.amandaarista.com
Twitter: @pantherista

Discover THE LOST Heroes

With the release of THE LOST just a day away, I thought I’d share some of the secrets behind the creation of the novel. Before I tell you why I love Adam and Bobbie from THE LOST, here is the blurb from the back jacket cover:

    Adam Bruno is no ordinary millionaire. The heir to an ancient race possessing a dark, powerful magic, he can shapeshift and create energy. His gifts make him a living weapon and have forced him to live in seclusion. But now an inhuman force hunts down Adam-just when he finds someone who makes him feel more human than he ever imagined possible . . .

    Home from combat in Iraq, Bobbie Carrera wants only peace, yet soon joins Adam in a terrifying battle against paranormal enemies who hide in plain sight. She’s drawn to his strength of mind and body; he’s attracted to her courage and intoxicating energy. Their scorching passion can either transport them to the heights of ecstasy or-if Adam’s powers rage out of control-destroy them. But when an invisible brotherhood tightens its nets and someone Adam trusts betrays him, only a heartrending decision can save them.

Now, I have to tell you, that’s only the tip of the iceberg for these two characters.

I loved Adam because he is an uncertain hero and a bit tortured. He has no idea why he has such unusual powers and until he meets Bobbie, his powers have only caused harm to others. Not so at his first touch of Bobbie. The fact that he is finally bonding with someone is difficult for him, especially since he not only doesn’t have a clue as to why he has such powers, Adam doesn’t really know who he is. I loved exploring how he slowly comes to terms with not only his abilities, but with the fact that he no longer has to be alone.

As for Bobbie, well, she is like one of my favorite heroines of all time and that’s saying a lot that she’s competing with Diana Reyes from THE CALLING. A Marine home from war, she is both emotionally and physically wounded, but that doesn’t stop Bobbie from coming to Adam’s rescue in various ways. She rescues him when he is attacked and she rescues him from loneliness because she is a woman who is sure of herself and what she wants in life.

Many of you have asked what inspired THE LOST . Well, lots of things that we’ll be talking about again over the next couple of weeks. For now I’ll share with you the eye candy that inspired both Adam and Bobbie physically.

Adam is blonde, big and beautiful and the man who caught my eye to fit that bill was Curtis Stone.

CURTIS STONE

As for Bobbie, I wanted someone who was athletic, dark-haired and dark-eyed. Beautiful. Kate Beckinsale was the perfect choice for a model.

Kate Beckinsale

Together Bobbie and Adam are wonderful. Sexy, dark and empowered by being together. I love the chemistry they have and the way that the power of their love and Hunter power merge to make them both stronger.

I hope you’ll feel the same way about them after reading THE LOST.

Curtis Stone Photo Credit: Joseph [email protected]
Kate Beckinsale Photo Credit: Photo Credit: Mario Antonio Pena Zapaterí[email protected]

Video Event Winners & a Contest for Margaret Mallory’s THE GUARDIAN!

I want to thank everyone who dropped by our very first video event! I so appreciate being able to meet you and hoped you liked the premiere of the trailer for THE LOST. It’s not live yet, so you’re the only ones who have gotten to see that gorgeous video, unless . . .

You pop in for our next video chat on Wednesday, May 18 at 9 p.m. I have a very special guest coming on, namely my Dangerous Women Writing friend and fellow author Donna Grant. Join us as we discuss writing dark paranormals, alpha heroes and lots of other fun stuff. We’ll have some more prizes for you, like a gift card, bags, shirts and other googies.

Now here are the lucky winners from the last video event! Please send me you mailing address so that I can get your prize out to you!

Karin – $10 Gift Card
Kym A – Autographed copy of SINS OF THE FLESH
JoAnna – Autographed Copy of SOLDIER’S SECRET CHILD
Kai – Caridad Environmentally friendly grocery bag & a lovely beaded bookmark
Cynthia (Artemis) – THE LOST T-shirt
Leanne G – Caridad Environmentally friendly grocery bag & a lovely beaded bookmark

THE GUARDIANWhew, now that we’re done with that! Today is FUN FRIDAY and I want to hear from you about your favorite kinds of heroes. Do you like military men? Highlanders? Vampires? Shapeshifters? Or do you prefer a more sensitive kind of guy?

Leave a comment on this blog post by 3 a.m. Saturday (want to give my CA folks some time to answer) for a chance to win an autographed copy of Margaret Mallory‘s THE GUARDIAN!

STRONGER THAN SIN Awakenings Excerpt on Wicked Wednesday

This Wicked Wednesday I’m offering up an excerpt from STRONGER THAN SIN that I’ve titled “Awakenings” because as Jesse and Liliana are thrust together, understanding awakens desire, especially in Jesse. He’s been alone for so long that Liliana’s caring and compassion are almost overwhelming.

If you cannot see the excerpt below, you can click here. Don’t have the time to read it now or want a more private moment? You can click on download to save it to your electronic reading device.

Stronger Than Sin Excerpt Awakenings

If you’ve bought STRONGER THAN SIN, many thanks for your support. If you haven’t, click here for more information on STRONGER THAN SIN or take a moment to stop by one of these booksellers to check it out.

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