Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Guest author Lexi Post and a giveaway

Please help me welcome Lexi Post as my guest today.

Tracey, thank you so much for inviting me to visit your blog. I love the paranormal as well and it often finds its way into my erotic romances with Ellora’s Cave. In my latest release, Passion’s Poison, my heroine is poisonous and must have sex to release her toxins or die.  Unfortunately, the men she sleeps with get very sick from having sex with her. In fact, she put her high school boyfriend into a coma! So when she meets hunky Zach Woodman (see awesome cover) and falls for him, her life gets very complicated.

In my first erotic romance for Ellora’s Cave, Masque, the paranormal element was the hero, Synn (see another great cover), who was trapped in time with 73 ghosts that became more solid with the full moon. The old haunted abbey he existed in had 7 Pleasure Rooms that made up the Masque. Synn was more than willing to guide Rena, the new owner of the abbey, through the Masque, but to do so he had to betray her.
I’d like to take credit for all these paranormal ideas, but I can’t. I was actually inspired by classic literature. 

Passion’s Poison is inspired by “Rappaccini’s Daughter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne who created the poisonous Beatrice. Masque was inspired by “The Mask of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe, and it is he who had Death come and kill the inhabitants of the abbey, leaving me with only ghosts and Death to work with. My next erotic romance for Ellora’s Cave is titled Passion of Sleepy Hollow and I’m guessing everyone knows where that inspiration came from.

So for those who enjoy the paranormal with a large dose of sexy, I have included an excerpt from Passion’s Poison. And for those who leave me a comment, I will pull one person to win an ecopy of Masque.

Always, Lexi

Excerpt of Passion’s Poison:

Bea’s brain kicked into gear at Zach’s words. She wanted him too, but not for just a night. Her pleasurable heat turned frosty. How could that be? She didn’t even know him, but her heart already named him hers. She pushed against his chest to break his embrace.

He let her go.

She staggered back, her knees shaky, her breaths coming fast. “I’m sorry if you got the wrong idea,” she rasped.

He stared at her quizzically. “What idea would that be? That you’re as attracted to me as I am to you? That this,” he motioned with his hand pointing between them, “is great?”

She shook her head, trying not to look at the large bulge in his jeans. “I-I don’t know. It’s too fast.”

He stared into her eyes. “You mean too hot, don’t you?”

She gulped as his words sent fire racing through her veins. She nodded.

He took a deep breath and jammed his hands into his front pockets. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. But it’s not something we can ignore.”

His gaze changed from polite to possessive. “I want you, Beatrice Rappaccini. I want you naked in my bed. Once you’re there I want to taste you, smell you, feel you and pump into you until I lose myself.”
At his words, Bea’s legs turned to slush and she sank into the nearest chair.

He hunkered down in front of her and took her hands. “Bea, is there any reason why we shouldn’t get together?”

Oh, was there. But none she could tell him. He wouldn’t believe her if she did. Her last long-term relationship back in high school ended with her boyfriend in a coma. Despite his eventual recovery, she still carried a pile of guilt around with her. As much as she wanted Zach, she couldn’t be happy with one night. This wasn’t about her need to cleanse the toxins she produced. This was about the idea of having one special man in her life. The only obstacle standing in her way was her deadly body.

Zach dropped her hands. “What is it? You hesitated for too long.” He stood abruptly. “Are you already seeing someone?”

She jerked her head up, surprised by the anger in his tone. “No, I’m not. It’s complicated.”

He walked away from her and stood behind the other couch. “Why do people always have to make things complicated? This is simple human nature, two adults who are attracted to each other. What’s so complicated about that?”

She straightened her shoulders. “First, I’m supposed to be here on business. I don’t think it appropriate to kiss a vendor on company time. Second, I don’t know anything about you except that you can create amazing statues with a chainsaw and you used to be a logger from Maine. I like to know a lot more about a person before I have sex with him.”

How little she knew about her one-night stands stabbed at her conscience, but she ignored it.

He grinned and came around to sit on the couch perpendicular to her chair. He took her hand again. “If those are your only concerns, I can work with that. You’re being very reasonable and I’m being impatient. Forgive me. You’re so damn beautiful, it’s hard for me to control myself.”

Heat rose in her cheeks and she looked down to see his big calloused hand holding hers. She wished it were so simple.

He raised her chin with his other hand. “Bea, I’ll try to be patient if you’re willing to give it a chance.”
She stared at him, this incredible man that her body and her heart seemed to crave. A man who would suffer if she gave in to her own needs, but she was weak. Her head nodded of its own accord while her mind screamed no.

He leaned forward and brushed a featherlight kiss upon her lips.

She wanted to cry at his tenderness and she silently cursed her deranged ancestor again for the poisonous nature he had inflicted on her, on so many Rappaccinis. “I better go.”

He stood with her hand still in his. “I’ll walk you to your car.”

She let him help her up, wishing she could figure out some way for a relationship to work, but a deep-rooted fruitlessness settled deep in her stomach.

He let go of her hand to cup her face in his palms. “You look as if you’re going to cry.”

She put her hands on his chest. “No, I—oh no.”

His brows drew together in concern and his hold tightened on her face. “What’s wrong?”

She stared at the scene over his shoulder. “I don’t think I’m going anywhere now.”

He turned toward the great windows, his arm coming around her, but he remained silent. He squeezed her waist.

Outside the snow fell hard, and on his massive deck a foot of the beautiful white flakes announced her imprisonment. The Tamwick roads would be impassable. How could she stay in his house overnight without sleeping with him? “Maybe, it’s not as bad as it appears. You must have gusts up here, right?”

He raised his brow. “Study the snow. It’s falling straight down. There’s no way you’ll make it back to Meriden in your vehicle.”

She stared at her silent jailer, unable to fault the large white flakes defined against the dark grayness outside. He was right. In his home with the snow piling up, it was as if they were the only two people on earth. But if that were the case, he would be dead within the week.

She shook herself and the foreboding that flooded her body. They weren’t the only two people in the world. In fact, she needed to call Craig. “I better make a few calls. Let people know where I am.”

He stepped away, the energy in his body palatable. “Sure, I’ll go downstairs and get wood for the fireplace. I’m thinking it’s going to be a cold one.”

Zach gave her a reassuring smile that did everything but reassure her. Then he headed downstairs, leaving her body in jitters, her heart aching and her mind frantically searching for answers like a chickadee caught inside a house, desperate to find a way out and accomplishing nothing but harm to itself.

Blurb of Passion’s Poison:

Beatrice Rappaccini is tired of the one-night stands that keep her alive. Tired of the illness she causes when she releases her sexual poisons into her partners. But when she meets Zach Woodman, everything changes. Desperate for what she can’t have, she puts her heart and life on the line, ignoring the anonymous letters warning her to stay away from Zach.

Zach Woodman, logger turned chainsaw artist, has the perfect life, but no one to share it with after the deaths of the women he loved. Fascinated by the sexually experienced yet naïve Bea, he promises himself he will end their hot relationship before fate takes another beautiful woman from the world.

But he discovers Bea has no idea how to have a relationship, and he is perplexed by her strange behavior, hippie mother, six fathers and her request to give him every man’s sex fantasy. It is only when he might lose her that he realizes he must make a decision that will break his heart either way.

Passion’s Poison is available in electronic formats:



For more information about Lexi Post:

websitehttp://www.lexipostbooks.com/            
twitter:   https://twitter.com/LexiPost              

Thanks, Lexi! Passion's Poison sounds like a smokin' hot read. :)



Saturday, August 17, 2013

Guest author Bernadette Walsh



Please join me in giving a warm welcome to today's guest, Bernadette Walsh.

THK: Tell me about yourself. Anything you would like readers to know about you?

BW: Six years ago I turned 40. After I drowned my sorrows with champagne and chocolate, I made a list of all the things I wanted to do before I die. Morbid, I know, but number one on that list was write a novel. I said to myself, yeah, I've really got to do that, and continued to munch on the Cadbury's chocolate that Dear Husband thoughtfully supplied.

Two years went by. I didn’t lose the day job, no mean feat given that the debacle that was 2008. I continued indulging my interest in (some may say obsession with) reality TV. Not a word was written.

Then on a Sunday afternoon while Dear Husband was taking a nap, I came up with a name: Kate Ryan. Before I knew it Kate had a husband, family, friends and one big problem -- she and her husband had lost their high powered jobs and their savings. Her husband loses his mind and high tails it to Australia. Kate loses her mind and joins the cast of a local cable channel’s reality TV show.

I had a blast writing GOLD COAST WIVES! I wrote what I wanted how I wanted. Then reality sank in. I joined a local writing group, figured out that I made about 100 basic writing mistakes, rewrote it, rewrote it again, entered it into various RWA chapter contests, wrote it again and after two years submitted it to some publishers. In December 2010 I got the best Christmas present ever when Lyrical Press offered me a contract!

THK: Wow. That’s pretty awesome. Tell me about your current and upcoming releases. Please include a blurb and a link to where the book can be purchased. Did I mention I am in LOVE with this cover?

THE DEVLIN WITCH
Genre: paranormal romance
Publisher: Lyrical Press
Cover artist: Valerie Tibbs
Length: 123
Heat rating: hot

Tagline: The Devlin magic can bring your heart’s desire...but at what cost?

Blurb:

Anne Marie Devlin has given up on finding true love. She’d rather just hide out in her opulent apartment on the Upper East Side. Then her grandmother is violently killed. Forced to leave her safe world, Anne Marie must survive a hot, persistent cop, her cousin Rita’s hysterics and her grandmother’s confused ghost.

Rita has everything: a loving husband, a beautiful house, exotic beauty, and she’s a partner at her law firm. Having a baby would make her life complete, but it’s not to be. Or is it? When she and Anne Marie find the ancestral Book of Magic, with powers beyond their imagining, all things become possible.

But someone else in the family wants the Book of Magic too, and they’ll do anything to get it. Even kill. Can Anne Marie and Rita win the struggle for their legacy, becoming the next Devlin witch? There can be only one, and should they fail, not just their lives are at stake--their souls will be lost for eternity.

THK: What genre do you write it? What drew you to write in that genre? If you mix genres talk about that too.

BW: My first book, GOLD COAST WIVES, is a humorous contemporary romance. My second, THE HOUSE ON PROSPECT, is a family saga/women’s fiction. The Devlin Legacy is a four book paranormal romance series of which THE DEVLIN WITCH is the fourth book (although each can be read as a stand alone). While I’ve hopped around genres, my books all have some reoccurring themes: All involve either Irish or Irish-American characters; most involve women in midlife dealing with a crisis; and all are set either in Ireland or New York. I like to say that I write about women dealing with what life throws at them the best way they can.

THK: I like that description. How many books have you written? How many have been published?

BW: Six books of which five have been published by Lyrical Press and one, my women’s fiction title, THE HOUSE ON PROSPECT, was published by Echelon Press.

THK: What is the hardest part of writing? 

BW: Finding time to write is number 1.

THK: Boy, can I ever relate to that. LOL Any words of encouragement for unpublished writers?

BW: Keep at it. You will never have enough time in your life to write. Do it anyway. For years I wanted to write but told myself I didn’t have time with my busy career and family life. Guess what, I still don’t really have time to write, but I make the time. Even if I only have time to write a paragraph, well, it’s a paragraph more than I had the day before--and eventually all those stolen paragraphs written in the margins of your life will add up. If something is important to you, you have to make the time. I’m certainly glad I did, and my only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner!

THK: Great advice! I’m a full time writer and even I feel occasionally like I don’t have the time. Now, for something fun, just because. Werewolf or vampire? 

BW: I’m a little over both to tell you the truth.

THK: Yep, me too.



Thanks again to Bernadette for being my guest. I hope everyone will check out The Devlin Witch. It sounds like a great read. 



Sunday, August 11, 2013

My muse is going crazy

Just when I thought I had my schedule well planned in advance, my muse is going nuts with a new idea. LOL Isn't that just the way it goes? I mean, this has to happen to other writers, right? I can't be the only one.

My plan was to re-release Till the Break of Dawn, then put out Dracula: In the Flesh a week later. Friday the 13th is perfect for a Dracula release, isn't it? Then, in December re-release Three Days of Night and possibly work on the next Lilith Mercury book in January.

Oh, and I've got several books that need a print edition. I was going to be working on those between the other projects. Once most of this was crossed off my list, I was going to go back to working on Bound by Blood.

That was the plan. The problem is I've got a new idea that just won't shut up. It keeps talking to me, whispering the most interesting things in my ear, like a little devil on my shoulder. I've been pushing it aside since June. I keep saying, "I've got too much else to work on. I can't start another project right now." You know what it says? "You can't resist me." And maybe I can't.

This is another erotic horror that will be written as T.K. Hardin. I would say what the subject of the book is, but I don't want to reveal anything too soon. I may have created a monster when I started writing as T.K. Hardin. Ha. Ha.

The plan now (as of this moment) is to hurry up and finish Three Days of Night. That would mean that Till the Break of Dawn, Dracula: In the Flesh, AND Three Days of Night would be totally ready to go. This would free me up (HA!) to write through December, at least. Of course, I'll still be working on Dracula's final edits for another week or so, not to mention a huge blog tour/promo. Again, most of that work is already done.

Damn. I'm tired just thinking about it. Stupid muse. I love what I do, and I never thought I would say this, but I wish that dark, sexy man would stop telling me his story. Okay, I really don't. I just wish he had better timing. ;)

Oh, and today is my publishing anniversary! Six years ago today my very first novel, Red, was published. Maybe his timing is better than I thought. And maybe I should stop typing and take notes. This guy has a lot to say. LOL



Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Interview with a sexy Domme


Interview with Koo from Keeper of My Pleasure 

Join Kayelle Allen as she interviews her character, Koo Ayakura, from the new book Keeper of My Pleasure. This BDSM romance from Ellora's Cave features a female Domme who is older than her hero.

Kayelle:          Koo, tell us about yourself. Start with your education, okay?
Koo:                All right. I recently graduated from Georgia Tech, which is a national research university. I'm back it though, working on my first masters degree.
Kayelle:          Your first? You plan on more than one?
Koo:                Rai thinks I should have at least two. The way she put it, a good mind is not something to waste. I've always been on the Dean's List, and was a top student as far back as grade school. She thinks I should learn as much as possible.
Kayelle:          What do you think of that? Are you eager to go back?
Koo:                Well, it's not the same grind when you're in a master's program. You work more at your own pace. Fortunately, I'm a self-starter. I don't need anyone looking over my shoulder. I meet with an advisor, and of course Rai.
Kayelle:          So she's helping you with school?
Koo:                In the sense that we go over things I've learned, and she challenges me to share two new things every week.
Kayelle:          What's a "for instance" you can share with us?
Koo:                I was studying marketing principles, so I read a book about Steve Jobs. He was known for being a non-conformist in some ways, but overall, he believed that people needed freedom to be able to work. What he practiced in his personal life didn't always jive with what he said and did at work. Maybe that's not what you were going for, though.
Kayelle:          No, that's good. So you talk about this kind of thing with Rai?
Koo:                Yes. She's an amazing advisor, really. And she's so open to learning. Sometimes she'll sit back and go, "Wow. I hadn't thought of that." I love it when I can share a new idea with her.
Kayelle:          What's she like when you're not studying? When it's just you and her, alone.
Koo:                There are times when we just sit on the couch and cuddle, watching a movie or listening to music. She likes to lean back against me, and I love having her close like that. There are times when we're just like any other couple. We go out to eat, or grocery shop, or take the cars in for service.
Kayelle:          And other times?
Koo:                *grins and leans back* Those are the times you wrote your book about.

Yes, I certainly did. Keeper of My Pleasure is about a recent college graduate, Koo Ayakura, who hires Rai Whethen as his attorney after thieves total his car and then dare to sue him. She wins, and takes him out to celebrate. Dinner leads to the hottest sex in his life, and a long-term relationship as her submissive. He adores the way she makes him feel, and the way she makes him burn. He longs to show her he has more to offer. He has a heart, and it's hers, if only she'll let him give it. A successful attorney in her late thirties, Rai has a penchant for handsome young men with long hair. Koo, her newest client, becomes more than her usual boy toy. He likes being tied up and whipped, and he yields the way she'd always dreamed. But he has a future ahead of him, and she's a jaded lawyer. He wants sex, not love. Right? He wouldn't stay with her forever. She trusts him to submit. To keep Koo, Rai is going to have trust her heart.

Buy links:

Trailer for Keeper of My Pleasure

Giveaway
Inside Peek: Keeper of My Pleasure This free, illustrated eBook provides insight about the book, its characters, and its creation. When you click the link, it will either offer you a download, or open in a new window, depending on your settings. To read it, you need Adobe Reader, available free. http://is.gd/meet_Rai_and_Koo

About the Author
Kayelle Allen is a multi-published, EPIC Award winning author. She writes Contemporary Romance, Gay Romance, Erotic Science Fiction Romance, Mainstream Fantasy, BDSM, and non-fiction. She likes to attend Science Fiction conventions, and has been a speaker at DragonCon, Outlantacon, and Gaylaxicon. Kayelle is the founder of the author-mentoring group Marketing for Romance Writers, and manages the successful Romance Lives Forever blog. She is a US Navy Veteran, and founded the graphics and eBook conversion company The Author's Secret. Kayelle is married to her personal hero, and makes her home in the southeast.

Keeper of My Pleasure by Kayelle Allen

Rai trusts Koo to submit. To keep him, she must trust her heart.
A Romantica® BDSM erotic romance from Ellora's Cave
This book is in the Taboo line -- one of the Ellora's Cave Quickies

Blurb

A recent college graduate, Koo hires Rai as his attorney after thieves total his car and then dare to sue him. She wins, and takes him out to celebrate. Dinner leads to the hottest sex in his life, and a long-term relationship as her submissive. He adores the way she makes him feel, and the way she makes him burn. He longs to show her he has more to offer. He has a heart, and it's hers, if only she'll let him give it.
A successful attorney in her late thirties, Rai has a penchant for handsome young men with long hair. Koo, her newest client, becomes more than her usual boy toy. He likes being tied up and whipped, and he yields the way she'd always dreamed. But he has a future ahead of him, and she's a jaded lawyer. He wants sex, not love. Right? He wouldn't stay with her forever. She trusts him to submit. To keep Koo, Rai is going to have trust her heart.

Excerpt 

This scene takes place in Rai Whethen's estate home. She and Koo Ayakura have spent the evening enjoying dinner, flirting, anticipating their session, and now it's time for him to perform for his mistress.

In Rai's bedroom, Koo stood before her. She'd stretched out on the bed and was watching him, hands tucked behind her head, legs crossed at the ankles.
"I'm ready to see you strip, Koo. Do you need music?" She lifted one eyebrow.
"No, mistress, but if you want music, I'll use it."
"Hmm." She picked up a remote and pointed it. A dance tune started, and she skipped it, listened a moment, and skipped again. Two more songs and she turned it off. "No. I only want you. No distractions. Strip for me." She tucked her hands behind her head again. Quite unlike her, she added, "Please."
Koo began by unfastening his hair. Straight, healthy, it reached halfway to his waist, and shone like raven's wings. He'd inherited it from his Japanese father. His Irish mother had imparted the splash of freckles across his nose and shoulders, and grey eyes. Rai liked his hair down, and he ran his fingers through the long tresses, shook his head, and let it fall.
Rai's eyes gleamed, and she licked her lips.
He lifted one foot at a time to unfasten the plain black shoes, and slipped them off, pulling off each sock. He crossed his arms over his chest, slowly opened them, and pulled his tuxedo coat down his shoulders. It slipped down his arms, and he caught it, held it, and then slid it all the way off and tossed it over the hassock.
He reached up to the front of the vest, unfastened it one button at a time, doing it as slow as he could, taking care to keep her gaze on his hands. He pulled it open, let it slip down his arms, and then caught it at his elbows. He crossed his hands over his chest, hands spread.
Rai pushed herself up, hands braced on the bed.
Koo opened his arms, and let the vest fall. He caught it, tossed it after the jacket.
He opened each button on the shirt with the same slow care. Rai tugged up her skirt, and sat with legs folded, watching him like a cat in front of a mouse hole.
He opened the cufflinks, slid them into his pockets, and then shrugged out of his shirt. He held the collar between his teeth, folded the sleeves, and laid it aside.
Rai chewed on a knuckle, but didn't speak.
He reached over his back, pulled off the T-shirt in one move, and cast it onto the pile of clothes. Bare from the waist up, he tucked his hands behind his head, lifted his hair, and let it fall over his shoulders. He'd always worked out; he also ran, and swam. He knew his body pleased women. But the way Rai looked at him, as if he were a tasty treat she craved... that made this more than a strip show. He was preparing himself for his lover.
Koo unfastened the waistband of his trousers, lowered the zipper, and then eased them partway down.






Thursday, August 1, 2013

Dracula: In the Flesh


My upcoming book is exactly what it sounds like, an erotic reimagining of Dracula. Although names and a few locations remain the same, this book is not a re-write of Dracula. Not by any means. (Just FYI, the original Dracula is in the public domain.)

It may sound strange, but I have been waiting my whole life to write this book. I have loved Dracula since I was about 12 years old. To finally have a chance to tell my version of the story is amazing.

Although there is a romance at the heart of the story, Dracula: In the Flesh is erotic horror. I'm writing it as T.K. Hardin, however, I still put my name (Tracey H. Kitts) on the cover. I wanted to let fans know this is still me, but do expect something different from this book.

Dracula: In the Flesh will be released late September 2013. I can hardly wait!

Here are the details:

Jonathan Harker, a young English lawyer, is traveling to Castle Dracula in order to finalize a real estate transaction. He has been personally requested by Count Dracula. What Jonathan doesn't realize is that Dracula’s interests do not lie with him, but with his beautiful fiancée, Mina.

As soon as he saw her face, Dracula knew the ritual was a success. After all these long years, his love has returned to him. However, many things (such as Van Helsing and Jonathan Harker) stand in the way of their happiness. Sure, he could kill them all and take what he wants. However, his greatest desire is not to possess Mina, but to love her and have her return his love.

Therefore, Dracula’s fate and the fate of those closest to her lie in Mina’s hands. She has dreamed of him all her life. But what will she do when she learns her dark prince is real? What will happen when she knows him, not as a dream, but in the flesh?