Wednesday Regency: Regency Ménage Tales on Audios

I'm excited to announce that my publisher for my Regency Ménage Tales is putting Seduction of a Proper Lady, Risqué, and Covet on audio! I don't have a release date, but will update this blog when I do.

Seduction of a Proper Lady: Lady Laurel Westfield had been brought up to be the most proper of ladies. But when Major Braedon Sinclair sets his sights on the young debutante, propriety is the last thing he wants from her! What’s a proper lady to do when she has two gentlemen who want her attentions — at the same time? (m/m/f) Excerpt 4 Cups from Coffee Time Romance Reviews

Risqué Blurb: The young widow Mrs. Alexandria Prescott enjoys her untainted reputation. In private, however, her sexual appetites know no bounds. She finds a fitting partner in the notorious Kane Huntington, but when the jealous young Earl of Rowan discovers their game, will he expose them? Or join them? Excerpt 4.5 Cups from Coffee Beans and Love Scenes
 
Covet: Blurb: For the last three years, Charlotte has survived her stifling home life by living through correspondence with two childhood friends now off at war. Once they return, will she be able to summon the courage to tell them of her feelings? Torn between William and Grayson, Charlotte must first learn to trust herself before she can trust her heart and body to them. (m/m/f) Excerpt 5 Stars from Just Erotic Romance Reviews

#NewRelease: A Lady's Temptations: A Winter's Regency Ménage

A Lady's Temptations: A Winter's Regency Ménage Now available! 

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Kingsnorth, England

February 1814

Her mind should have been on the wondrous winter masquerade she and her cousins were headed to, but it wasn’t.

Sarina Hunt could not seem to quash the sadness she carried with her from London to this beautiful little village. A sadness that felt like a heavy trunk brimming with rocks and one of her own doing that should have been resolved long ago.

Usually, when she thought of Mr. Liam Trevelyan and Mr. Prescott Sinclair, those thoughts were accompanied by very unladylike fantasies. Fantasies that heated her skin even in this cold carriage and ones she only just managed to keep hidden when around them.

Sarina had acknowledged her feelings to herself some months ago, but if she’d been truly honest, she knew even long before that. The problem was, she should’ve warmed to one over the other by now. She should’ve chosen which man she’d have been better suited for.

Or which man was better suited to her.

However, she could not seem to. Sarina had never truly been a butterfly of a girl—flittering from man to man to assess her most advantageous prospect. She didn’t like that, pitting one suitor against another. It was not the game she played; she didn’t like games of this sort at all.

Through sheer force of will alone, she managed to push those thoughts to one side, not deep enough to ignore, never that, though her skin still felt flushed and her blood hot in her veins. Swallowing hard, she affected as casual an air as possible as she adjusted her deep blue cloak, the fur trim brushing sensuously along her cheek.

She gazed out the carriage window as Kingsnorth came into view, and red bunting draped over everything. It wound around the evergreen branches heavy with frost and snow, and up the unlit streetlamps.

 

Stories from the Weekend

2014...I'd ask where 2013 went but we all have that question!

Stories for this year:

• My Curvy Girls trilogy. Three curvy friends from New York and their winding road to love (m/f)
• Regency Winter's Menage Tales. Het menages (m/f/m) set during the winter of 1814 and the Last Frost Fair on the Thames.
• The Forbidden Series. Contemporary menage (m/m/f) series set in Havenbrook, CA in the middle of a large farming community.
• Sordid Little series. A Regency's matchmaker's delight in setting up 'ruined' women with an ideal match.(m/f)
• Cursed Love. I wrote the first a while ago--cursed woman out to find the people who did this to her and the man who loves her regardless. Then I realized it needed a sequel so that's on the goal list this year!

So far I have the first in my Forbidden Series, Forbidden Road finished, the first in my Curvy Girl Trilogy finished, Countess Curvy finished and 1/4 of the first Regency Winter's Menage Tale, A Lady's Temptation finished.

I've discovered I'm definitely a goal oriented writer, but that so many things pop up that sometimes those goals fall by the wayside. Still, I think these are enough stories to keep me busy over the next few months!

Wednesday Regency: Sex

Did I catch your attention? Regency romances, to me at least, fall into 3 categories:
Traditional (no sex)
Modern (steamy sex)
Erotic (no need for an explanation there)

I prefer most of my stories with either steamy or erotic sex, but writing an historical is harder. There are all those Regency sensibilities. After all there's a reason Elizabeth and Darcy didn't have any sex in the book!

Even in my Regency Menage Tales, I had to play with historical accuracy. Jumping into bed too soon and it's not really an historical. There was no 3rd date rule. But playing around with that accuracy is half the fun! With the fear of discovery, with the threat of ruination and ostracized from society, and with all those other little things that come about by not going to your wedding night a complete virgin.

After all, what's an erotic romance without a hint of danger and discovery?

What do you prefer? Erotic Regencies (or historicals any era) where the couple (or threesome) sleep together quickly? Or where the tension is drawn out?

Hetero #menage

Of all the menages I've written so far, I've yet to tackle one of the most common types, the heterosexual menage. Where only those of the opposite sex engage in intimate relations. Therefore, I'm making it one of my resplutions:

I'll tackle the heterosexual menage. It may end up in my Victorian Menage series, or not. We'll see what happens. But I'm interested in writing this type of menage, and want to definitely try it.

I also plan to do a foursome. Not sure if that'll be a hetero or not, it barely in the planning stages now, but that is also on my list of stories to write in the new year.

What's your favorite menage? And would you rather see it as an historical? (Victorian, Regency, pirates, medieval) A Contemporary? Or a fairytale?

#WickedRomanceGIVEAWAY Low-Fat Lemon Blueberry Scones

I spent considerable time pursuing the web for a low-fat, low-calorie cookie/cake/dessert I could make for next week's Halloween party at work. It's not the lowest recipe, but it sure sounds delicious! Will let you all know next week when I make the scones.

(Low Fat!) Lemon Blueberry Scones

Adapted from Cookie and Kate

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup white flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3 tablespoons raw sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
• zest of one lemon
• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• 1/2 cup plain non fat Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup non fat milk
• 1 egg

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425°.
2. Combine flours, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl and whisk together.
3. Slice butter and drop into dry ingredients.
4. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter, fork, or use a food processor.
5. Toss blueberries in one tablespoon flour. Stir to coat.
6. Add blueberries and lemon zest and gently stir.
7. Gently mix in milk and yogurt. Use your hands to work the dough into a ball, working quickly to avoid melting the butter.
8. Form dough into a disc about 7" across. Cut into 6-10 triangles.
9. Separate slices and place on a prepared baking sheet.
10. Whisk egg. Brush tops of scones with egg wash.
11. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until light brown.

Ok, yes, the scones aren't very wicked, so how about a glimpse from Wickedly Wanton?

Wickedly Wanton: A Regency Menage Tale

5 Hearts from Sizzling Heart Books

5 Cups from Coffee Time Romance

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Ravenous Romance

Her shift lay on the floor, torn beyond repair. With a shrug, Sabine walked back to the bed, oddly comfortable with her nudeness, and found Faith’s shift.

Her friend was still asleep—arms thrown wide, naked legs open slightly, the remnants of chocolate, heavy cream, and strawberries on her skin. Licking her lips at the memory of Faith’s juices and strawberry, Sabine slipped the shift over her head. Taking a moment, she studied Faith.

Until that day by the stream, she had never thought of her friend as anything other than that. Certainly not a lover. And certainly not a woman who wanted her. Though she was sore, Sabine felt herself growing wet at the memories of Faith’s lips on her, tasting her most intimate secrets.

Lord Severn had ordered Faith to do things—kneel before Sabine, kiss her—but had not touched her. No, even as he watched Sabine kiss Faith’s chocolate-and-cream-covered breasts, he had reserved that solely for her.

Leaving Faith to her sleep, Sabine silently exited the room. She wanted to know where Lord Severn was, when he had slipped from the bed, and why.

What you can win here: A PDF copy of any of my Hellfire Club Erotique books

Number of winners: 1

Open to (INT, US or US/CAN): If you can receive an e-book, you can enter to win!

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#WickedRomanceGIVEAWAY Seduction of my Proper Wife and ghouly cupcakes

Ghouly Cupcakes from the Food Network Kitchens. Neither the recipe nor the picture are mine.

I will say, that after reading the level (easy) and then the directions for the meringue, I'm thinking Food Network and I have different ideas of easy! Meringue, in my view, is far from easy! I bet regular icing would work also...ok, not as fancy but far, far easier. For me at least.

Oh! Or Cool Whip (or any whipped cream) Sure, it doesn't have that same slightly boasting quality of 'Why yes, I did whip up a small batch of meringue just for these cupcakes!' But think of the easiness and the time saving part. And I'm certain, though I've never tried it, you can dye whipped cream...probably.

Prep Time: 20 min
Inactive Prep Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 25 min
Level: Easy
Serves: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1/2 cup root beer, flat
• 1/3 cup unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Frosting:

• 8 large egg whites
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 pinch fine salt
• 1 teaspoon banana extract, or more to taste
• 1 to 2 drops pastel food coloring, optional
• Candied eyeballs
• Equipment: 12 cup standard muffin tin

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line standard muffin tins with cupcake liners or spray footed cupcake holders with nonstick spray.
2. Put the butter, root beer, and cocoa in a microwave-safe bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave on HIGH until the butter melts, about 2 minutes. 
3. Whisk to combine.
4. Meanwhile, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Whisk the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla together in a small bowl.
5. Whisk the hot cocoa mixture into the dry ingredients. 
6. Stir in the sour cream mixture just to combine; take care not to overmix. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared muffin cups, filling each one about 3/4 of the way full, about 1/4 cup per cupcake. 
7. Bake cupcakes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 25 minutes. 
8.  Cool the cupcakes completely in the tin on a rack. Remove from liners and return cakes to a rack.
9. For Frosting: Bring a few inches of water to a boil in a saucepan that can hold a mixer's bowl above the water. 
10. Whisk the egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar, and salt in the bowl by hand. 
11. Set the bowl above the boiling water and continue whisking until the mixture is hot to the touch and the sugar dissolves, about 1 to 2 minutes. 
12. Transfer the mixture to a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat at medium-high speed until eggs beat up into a cool stiff meringue, about 5 minutes. 
13. Add a few drops of desired extract and/or food coloring and lightly beat into the meringue.
14. To decorate: Using a spoon, offset spatula or piping bag, dollop, spread or pipe about 1/2 cup meringue on top of each cupcake to make a ghost or monster of your choice. 
15. Decorate with candied eyeballs or other candies. 
16. These can be finished 2 to 3 hours in advance and held at room temperature.

Seduction of my Proper Wife: A Victorian Menage at the Parisian Exposition 

Where to buy:
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She didn’t recoil from his touch, but when she spoke her voice was very small. “I know.” Lillian cleared her throat and asked in a slightly louder voice, “Will you leave me because of that?”

Philip held her tighter. “I don’t want to.”

Pulling back just enough to kiss her, Philip prayed this would be the turning point. Lillian’s body stiffened in his arms, and she didn’t return his kiss. Sighing, Philip leaned his forehead against hers, and knew before it even happened that she’d relax in his arms. He knew her reactions far too well and hated that even the simplest touch had her flinching in distaste.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Philip whispered. “We’ve been friends for such a long time; I believed becoming lovers would simply be an extension of that. You’ve trusted me with so much in the past, Lillian. Why can’t you trust your body to me?”

“I don’t know,” she said again. But then she cleared her throat and said stronger, “I feel it’s wrong somehow. I feel like…” she hiccupped on a sob, and he knew she desperately tried not to cry again.

Philip allowed her time to control herself, though it didn’t take long.

“I feel as if there is something dark in this,” she admitted.

“It’s not,” he insisted. “We’ve taken our vows; both our bodies and our souls belong to each other now.”

Lillian looked at him with longing, the first time she’d done so, but shook her head, deflating every hope he’d had for them. “I can’t.”

Going rigid in her arms, Philip pulled back. She looked alarmed, confused, and frightened. He studied her for long, long minutes before grasping at the only option he had left. He didn’t know what else to do for her. For them.

“Are you willing to learn from another?”

  Sharing My Favorite Read Giveaway Hop was organized by Reading Romances!

What you can win here: Copy of any of my Regency Menage Tale stories

Number of winners: 2

Open to (INT, US or US/CAN): If you can receive an e-book, you can enter to win!

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Hop and enter the other giveaways!

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And this is why we edit

For that matter, this is why we self-edit and double check our historical research!

Sunday I received my copy edits for Seduction of a Proper Lady. They weren't bad, and I agreed with 99%of the changes: a couple comma mistakes, an insertion of a word here and there, the normal. Except for a rather embarrassing and glaring mistake.

I used the English nobility title incorrectly. Glaringly so.

Nope, no idea what happened, brain freeze? Or melt as the hot summer may be. Whatever the case, I'm glad it was caught before it went to up!

Needless to say, I'm spending one more week going over the story. Just to double check there are no further glaring mistakes in there!

FINISHED!

Actually finished Seduction of a Proper Lady on Sunday. And then I crashed. I don't remember much of Monday & Tuesday, other than the sure, let's edit...yeah right. More like I'll stare at the computer screen and my eyes will cross and then I'll give up and fall back to the couch since 7 pm is entirely too early for bed.

I'm editing it this weekend. Which is when I wanted to start my Flowers in the Tower story, but that'll have to wait until next weekend. The good news on that is: The plot is done! The bad news is that my deadline is August 1.

But since my editor was kind enough to give me some leeway for Seduction, I'm hoping she'll also realize by turning that in mid-July there's no way I can crank out another story in 2 weeks. Nope, my brain will melt for certain.

Slow

April was not what one might call a good month. I don't know where those 30 days went but am I ever glad they're over!

I'm getting back into my writing now, slowly going over what I have for Seduction of a Proper Lady and my next ménage project, Flowers in the Tower. I've missed (or will miss in a few days) my deadline for Seduction but am unbelievably grateful to my editor for her understanding and willingness to extend my deadline.

This month I'll finish Seduction, June and July will be Flowers, then July ad August I'm going to try and get back into my contemporary FBI serial hunter ménage series, with a full-length, Killer Vacation, to go with my short Killer Valentine.

e-Book sale!

Until the end of the month at All Romance e-Books all Ravenous Romance books are 25% off, including my full, Wickedly Wanton, including my newest story in the Valentine's Anthology.

Anthologies are great ways to find new authors, so check out all Ravenous's anthologies. They all have cool themes like Green Love (environmental of course) and the Merry Sexmas anthology, and the DILF Anthology

In only a couple hours I've plotted my new Regency Ménage story. This will also have the subheading of Regency Ménage Tale but that's more a theme than anything in common with Wickedly Wanton.

Seduction of a Lady: Regency Ménage Tale takes place after the Battle of Waterloo with the return of two intrepid soldiers, Braxton and Ethan, who happen to spot the feisty heroine in a shop. Thus begins the seduction of her.

That might sound better if I had a name for her, but that's on the agenda for today. Yes, I already have a few thousand words written but that's because I had to get chapter one on paper. It begged me to.

e-Publishers how I love you

OK, so I don't actually know what it's like to work with a print publisher, and given the genre I tend to write in, doubt very much I'll ever have that opportunity. I don't bemoan it, I'm very happy where I am right now. In 10 years? Who knows, but at this moment, I'm not in the future.

Back on track here, I recently had a conversation (and by that I mean an email one...is it still called a conversation? Correspondence? I'm not sure) with my editor at Ravenous about my next book. I was going to do a contemporary menage with the same characters from Killer Valentine, moving them along in both their romance and sexual exploration as well as in their jobs and what everything had to do with each other.

After this conversation/correspondence I'm changing tracks and writing another Regency menage. The deadline has been pushed back to May 31, 2011 from April 1, and I'm now eagerly plotting the story.

So why do I *heart* e-pubs? Because of the ready conversations, the ease with which I can talk with them, the fact that 2 weeks before my deadline I can change tracks and write something totally different for 8 weeks later and they're perfectly fine with it.

Wickedly Wanton: Excerpt

I'm still psyched over the release of my first fill-length story. Anthologies are really cool, don't get me wrong.  I'm looking forward to being in the Passionately Ever After one, plus I'm still waiting to hear back on a couple of my submissions.

But my first solo story? I now know why people celebrate, you can be sure I did!

Wickedly Wanton: A Regency Ménage Tale

Excerpt:

The closer they got to the manor house, the more nervous she became. Sabine watched the landscape roll past, alternatively glad Lord Severn sent his plush, gilt-edge carriage and wishing she’d insisted they’d walked. But she feared that if they’d walked, she would have changed her mind and convinced Faith to forget about this mad adventure.

This was more than sneaking out from their dormitory or playing pranks on her townhouse neighbors.

She smoothed her fingers down her gown, striving to unclench them from the material. She’d agreed to this because she wanted to know the sensuality of passion as well as to thumb her nose at Mr. Reddick—and her father.

But with each rotation of the carriage’s wheels, her resolve failed her, and Sabine wished she hadn’t accepted Lord Severn’s invitation.

“What did the footman say?” she asked Faith again, for possibly the fifth time since her friend had returned from her errand yesterday, flushed, excited, and whispering incessantly about today’s escapade.

“Nothing,” she said, and Sabine swore she bounced in her seat. “He nodded, bowed, and disappeared. If what Lord Severn promised us at the picnic is true, this will all be as silent as the grave.”

Sabine nodded and as they pulled up the long drive, the house came into view. It was a beautiful structure, large and equally proportioned. Curtained windows sat evenly spaced, and not a soul stirred in the open courtyard. Not even a dog, Sabine thought as she stepped out of the carriage.

The carriage pulled away, the driver and footman not looking in their direction. Eyes closed, Sabine turned to the entrance, praying she wouldn’t lose her nerve. It was far too late now. There was a note pinned to the highly polished oak door.

In strong, clear writing across the front read Miss Sabine Stanton.

Ladies,
The servants have been discharged and we’ve the house to ourselves for an afternoon of games and merriment.
We shall begin with a hunt. Through the house, into the gardens, make your way to the statue of Hermes. There you’ll find your first instructions.
Severn