Excerpt from A Guardian's Heart

A Guardian’s Heart
Guardians of Light, Book 1
Renee Wildes
Urban Fantasy
$ 3.99
Amazon TBD
Kobo TBD
Champagne Books

Strength can be drawn from pain…if the heart can heal faster than it bleeds.

Excerpt:

Dara trembled, realizing she was sprawled across Loren like some tavern wench. The effort it took to meet his heated gaze… Fine brows slanted over wide leaf-green eyes pupiled like a cat’s, set in a pale aristocratic face. She glanced at his hands gripping her upper arms. Fine artisan’s hands with sword calluses, they held like bands of steel, but so gently ’twas nigh a caress. His body warmth was impossible to ignore. She shifted. Unable to hold his gaze, Dara dropped hers—to his mouth. She blushed.

His lips curved in a wry smile. “Now you become shy?” White teeth flashed. “Your hands have already been all over my body.”

Dara groaned and closed her eyes. Her cheeks flamed.

“Look at me, Dara.” Loren slid his arms around her body.

She tingled at his touch. Restless. Achy. “I can’t.” She hated this breathless dizziness. “Whatever you’re thinking, cease.” He was so warm. She feared making a fool of herself and melting against him. The old wives whispered of faerie enchantments; did that happen here? She felt bespelled. She wasn’t some weak woman to soften over a man, as any villager could lament. “You were much less intimidating flat on your back and weak as a kitten.”

“Intimidating you find me? Prefer me flat on my back in your bed? You have me now.” He brought her braid around to his nose and inhaled. “Sunshine and ferns.”

Self-preservation urged Dara to stop him before he did something neither of them could undo. “Loren—”

“Dara Kahn Androcles, protect me you did with your life’s blood. You are neither indestructible nor immortal. They might have killed you.” His hand, still wrapped with her hair, raised her chin ’til her gaze met his. “You must look at me while I speak these next words.”

Dara couldn’t tear her gaze away. The room spun and receded ’til all her world was Loren. “Don’t look at me like that.” The weight behind his words crawled under her skin, into her mind.

“My life I owe you. Life-debt. I bind myself to you. Whenever, whatever your need, to you I shall come. To you do I answer with sword, bow, or blood. My life for yours. My soul to yours, until our last breath.”

The world shifted. Deep as a prayer, more profound than a spell, his words settled within her. Dara couldn’t look away, couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. Her head buzzed. Her mind tried to wrench itself from the binding, recognizing it for what it was, but the rest of her trembled, in thrall to his eyes, to his voice. She had no idea how to counter him.

Loren’s eyes gleamed at her. “Never again shall you be alone. You are mine, in this lifetime and the next. I shall ever be yours, for always. We are one.” With agonizing slowness, he drew her head down ’til her lips brushed his.

His kiss was shocking in its gentleness. As soft as morning dew, it implied, it coaxed, and she was lost. She melted into his heat and swooned against him. With a sigh, she yielded to his lips and returned the kiss. Warmth filled an emptiness she’d not known ’til now that she possessed. Loren had bound them in spirit; where did she end and he begin? He hovered on the edge of her mind, in her heart, in her blood. A part of her flowed into him, with her surrender, with her every breath.

He broke off the kiss. Dara raised her head to stare down at him. “What’ve you done?”

New Releases! Three New Fantasy Novels for Your Delight!

Rush

E. Jourdan Lewis
YA Paranormal Romance

$3.99
Amazon
Kobo
Champagne Books

In a world where humans are below Shifters, a tiger falls for a human girl. To love her is to kill her.

Rush, a tiger shifter with an abusive Alpha, finds himself wishing for more with Jane, a human. The kind of “more” everyone warns them against. Jane may be the love of his life but if their secret is discovered by his Alpha there’ll be more than hearts at stake. There will be blood.



Storm Child
Hobohemia, Book 2
K. M. Tolan
Fantasy
$3.99
Amazon
Kobo
Champagne Books

Being a steam child was supposed to be fun.

Red was meant to live a carefree life among the great steam locomotives as one of Hobohemia’s mischievous steam children.

She leaves her human body behind, but not her childhood demons. A gypsy blessing becomes an unintended curse, releasing an unbridled power inside her making Red an unwilling weapon in the hands of others eager to wield her anger.

Before she can stop them, she must first defeat herself.



A Guardian’s Heart
Guardians of Light, Book 1
Renee Wildes
Urban Fantasy
$ 3.99
Amazon TBD
Kobo TBD
Champagne Books

Strength can be drawn from pain…if the heart can heal faster than it bleeds.

Dara Khan Androcles was trained from childhood to be a healer. But as a demon-possessed invader threatens Safehold, and she defends a wounded warrior on the battlefield, her hidden inner dragon thirsts for blood.

When she lifts the warrior’s blond, blood-encrusted hair away from his ear, she discovers he is more than King Hengist’s outlander ally. He is an immortal. The elven heir to the throne of Cymry.

Loren ta Cedric senses something different about flame-haired, falcon-eyed woman who saves him. A healer, wreathed in raw, dark power, who wields knives with deadly skill. A mortal who prays to the Lady, not the human gods. Now he owes this thoroughly distracting female a Life-Debt. Which, in the heat of their flight to Loren’s homeland to raise an army, somehow becomes Lifemate.

Dragon-human and elf, peasant and prince—logic says they have no future. Yet the power of their unlikely bond could be the only thing that saves their world from a demon poised to tear it apart.

Savvy Saturday: Interview with Renee Wildes, Author of New Release, A Guardian's Heart

Hello all and welcome back to Savvy Saturday! Today we have new author Renee Wildes here to tell us a little bit more about her new book, and her life as a writer. Wildes has her new book, A Guardian's Heart, coming out Monday!

1. When and why did you begin writing?

I first began working on A Guardian's Heart in 2002. I kept having visions of a redhaired woman in a burning room. When I discovered she SET the fire, I had to know why! My writer’s group was like, “Run with it” and so I did!

2. Tell us your latest news.

Signing the Guardians of Light series to Champagne after the demise of Samhain Publishing. Also working on a sci fi romance series, Seduction by Starlight, and also contemporary paranormal shifter romances set in Kootenai National Forest.

3. When did you first consider yourself a writer?

My late Grandma Jeanne first called me a writer when I was 6, penciling horse stories (ala CW Anderson “Billy & Blaze” style). I was the only student in school with a MAXIMUM word count.

4. Do you have a specific writing style?

I grew up reading Mercedes Lackey, and am a huge Joseph Campbell groupie, so I tend to write lyrical, slightly archaic prose that lends itself well to fantasy romance set in a Dark-Ages-type fictional world.

5. How did you come up with the title?

A Guardian's Heart perfectly describes my Cinderella heroine Dara – half-human/half-dragon, healer/warrior/fire mage, peasant/princess

6. Is there a message in your novel you want readers to grasp?

You live by the choices you make – there’s no such thing as pre-ordained destiny. Love is the ultimate playing-field leveler – it can overcome all barriers, will ultimately defeat hate. Good can and will triumph over evil for those who work to make it so.

7. Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

Coming up with various unique cultures, ceremonies, and spells. I love intricate world-building, and can get lost in the research and creative minutia.

8. What was the hardest part of writing your book?

I struggle with smooth transitions between scenes, and have a bad habit of editing as I go, which makes me a slow writer (but a CLEAN writer!)

9. Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?

The old adage of “I dare you to do better.” My Grandma Jeanne listened to me lament over how the books I was SUPPOSED to read were too easy, so she told me to write my own. I’m a Taurus – we never back down from a challenge!

10. Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?
I’m definitely a plotter rather than a pantser, but to trust my characters and let them live their own story – not to be so controlling, but to observe and record.

11. Do you have any advice for other writers?

Write what you want to read; write what you love. Don’t try to fit a mold or write to market. Write from the heart, and you’ll touch the hearts of other readers.

12. Do you have anything specific you want to say to your readers?

Thank you for embracing the Guardians of Light magic, and I hope you’re inspired to shine your own unique Light in this world. May the Light never fall before the Darkness!

13. What inspired you to write your first book?

I loved fantasy and romance, but when I started no one was combining the two together. I decided to fill the gap. Now, there are all kinds of fantasy romance authors out there, but 20 years ago, no so much. I wanted heroines who DID stuff, who got to rescue the prince and slay demons and save the world. I wanted heroes who could appreciate a strong woman and weren’t intimidated by her.

14. Can you share a little of your current work with us?

A Guardian's Heart  – Chapter One – Scene 2 – Uncut

Sifting self from pain, Loren began trance-healing. Banisha verilli far. Gloria verilli far… Breathing and pulse decreased. Blood flow slowed. Seeping wounds clotted together.

He summoned strength from pain and followed its path through his body, checking his injuries. He bled from a half-dozen sword cuts. The worst? A deep laceration in his upper right thigh from an unhorsed Boar’s attempt to confiscate the bay mare. An arrow pierced his chest just below his right collarbone. He sighed. He would heal in time without scarring.

But, Lady, it hurts.

He examined the grove with a practiced eye. He liked not this exposed position in unsecured territory. A twig snapped. A young woodsman approached from the battlefield. Grief and black rage hammered into Loren. The lad—no beard growth—must be half-mad with it. Loss, despair… The dark emotions threatened to drown Loren, and he fell out of trance to shield himself. Watching the other approach, he edged his sword closer.

The lad staggered toward him, not visibly injured, but with such gaping wounds to his soul Loren wondered at his ability to function at all.

“Looking for you.” The lad eyed the bronze sword in Loren’s hand and spread his hands out in a conciliatory gesture. “I’m a Safehold healer.” He took in Loren’s position at a glance. “You know hazel healing. You don’t follow the One Truth.”

Pity. Desire to help. Truth-hidden…not so worrisome. Who in these dark days had naught to hide?

The lad knelt beside him in the damp leaves and cradled Loren’s head in his lap. His slender fingers ran over Loren’s battered body with gentle thoroughness. Sense-casting followed the arrow’s path; Loren shuddered at its touch. This human used the anathema of blood magic as part of him, natural as breathing. The dark shimmering stole Loren’s breath as it coursed through him. His seeming dissipated.

Without the seeming, the lad would see what he was. Nonhuman. Only King Hengist of Riverhead, his one real friend among Arcadian mortals, knew who he really was. Followers of the ascending One Truth would burn Loren as demon born. No nonhuman was safe from the cleansing fires of religious fanaticism and racial supremacy sweeping these lands. Hengist’s stewardship maintained a fragile truce of tolerance under secret cloaks of seemings, but Loren held no illusion what would happen should Count Jalad of Westmarche prevail.

The lad traced pointed ears beneath tangled hair. “You’re no riever. You’re Elder.”

Loren tapped his chest, struggling to make the lad understand. “Loren…” His hand dropped. True names held power, but no harm divulging his first name. It was common enough in Cymry, the Realm of the Dawn.

The lad’s eyes welled. “Lady, for the lives he saved today, may he enter the Hall of Fallen Heroes.”

How did a human know of the afterlife but not how Warriors of the Light got there? How did he know the ritual words? Loren’s suspicion grew. A human wielder of blood magic communed with the Lady of Light, an ancient Elder deity banned by most humans? There was no taint of evil about the lad, but dark fire’s unmistakable touch was upon him.

A mystery.

15. Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

No, it’s a purely fiction twist on Cinderella. I wish I was that bold and daring!

That's all for today folks! I hope you enjoyed learning about Renee Wildes, and remember to check out her new book, A Guardian's Heart, available for preorder at the Champagne Bookstore.

Savvy Saturday: Behind the Scenes of Consuming the Darkness

He needs your heart to live.

Sounds gruesome doesn’t it? It is, and Detective Sienna Storm is in charge of finding the demon responsible. She’s new to Jacobs Cove, but not Supernatural creatures. She happens to be one. The sun is back and slowly Jacobs Cove is picking up from the disaster caused by the ritual that blocked the sun, allowing the vampires to take over the city. Sienna’s got her work cut out for her, enforcing the new laws preventing the vampires from taking whoever they want and find a killer who has no preference for his victims.

While writing the Darkness series, I had planned to end it with Penetrating the Darkness. But something kept pushing me to continue the series. The line, “He needs your heart to live” popped into my head. Often I get random sentences that stick in my brain and nag me to find a story for it. This was the case with Consuming the Darkness. One line. Now what? Aside from paranormal romance, I love writing a good romantic murder mystery and romantic suspense thriller. So I sat down, popped open my laptop and got to work. Once the idea came to me, I was off and running. I become completely emerged into my writing. I’ll forget the time and forget to eat. My fingers can hardly catch up to my brain.

It took me three days to finish the story. But that’s not the end. Now I had to go through the entire book, page by page, jot down names, create new creatures, and make sure everything was cohesive. Not as easy as it seems. All in all, writing and editing the story took me three months.

But just as I had finished it and sent off to the publisher, the next story popped into my head. Surviving the Darkness. Sometimes it's hard for me to let go of my characters, of the story. This time, however, it seemed right. Jacobs Cove is thriving, rebuilding and I feel I’ve done a good job telling the story of a small city, encased in darkness, run by vampires and the heroes and heroines determined to take back their home.

Consuming the Darkness: Bk 7 in the Darkness series is available with Champagne publishing and all other book outlets.

Here’s a glimpse:

In Jacob’s Cove, where death is as common as apple pie, a serial murderer is a first. Lieutenant Sienna Storm, the town’s newly minted homicide detective, is eager to prove she’s up to the job of tracking down the demon who rips out his victims’ still-beating hearts. Even if it means using her abilities.

Detective Nathan Powers lost his partner to the aptly named Heartless Killer, and the trail of bodies leads him to Jacob’s Cove, a strange world populated with bloodthirsty demons and run by a vampire. Still, the leggy blonde, Sienna, is a pleasant distraction. Until he discovers she’s after the same killer—and she’s not sharing.

On the hunt, the more they cross paths, the harder it is to stay apart. Together they discover not only clues, but a searing desire, one that may be their downfall when the killer targets Nathan, and Sienna risks everything to get him back.

***

Jacob’s Cove, 2026

After the Darkness

Lieutenant Sienna Storm’s first day in Jacob’s Cove proved to be a bitch. At one in the morning, five hours since she arrived without any of her furniture or belongings.

Goddamn movers had decided to take a break for the night instead of following through with their promise to deliver her stuff immediately. Instead, they informed her she would have her things late the next day. She really should have packed an overnight bag, but she believed the company when they said, Speedy same day delivery even out of town.

Yeah, right.

When she got the call to arrive at a murder scene, she’d been gung ho to get started. Except, her damn car decided to break down halfway to the scene. If that weren’t bad enough, the damn cab driver she flagged got lost. And he tried to charge her twice the fare. Well, she’d shown him, hadn’t she, shoving her badge in his face and threatening to haul his lumpy ass into a cell for trying to con her. He’d apologized profusely and even gave her the ride for free.

Damn straight.

Hurrying down the dark alley, she hoped her first case would be a smooth one. She spotted an officer standing with his hands in his pockets at the scene up ahead, took a deep breath, and fell into cop mode.

“Lieutenant Storm.” Sienna held up her badge, giving the officer a quick glance. “What have we got?” She approached the body. The instant she caught sight of the victim, she knew it wasn’t going to be a typical case.

The body of a young woman, approximately mid-twenties, lay face up on the ground, with a fist-sized hole in her chest, no heart. Long, brown hair. Blonde highlights. Slim build. Her jeans looked designer, as did the purse tossed a few inches from her, still intact. She didn’t look like the type to be alone in a dark alley. Everything about her read rich girl.

What the hell had she been doing by herself in an alley this late at night?

“Officer Barlow,” the tall, sturdy-looking man with a very ordinary face introduced himself. “This is Sally Grand, according to her ID, twenty-three, five-seven, one twenty-five. A woman taking out her trash found her,” the officer explained. “At least she had the sense to puke away from the body. No witnesses so far, but we’re still early. Same MO as two other murders. Heart missing, hole through the chest and back. This is some sick shit, if you ask me.”

She hadn’t, but everyone was entitled to their opinions. Sienna had to agree, though. She’d never seen anything like it, and she’d seen some disgusting stuff in her career. “Crime scene been here yet?”

The cop chuckled, which didn’t amuse Sienna much. “Lieutenant, we only just got started working the town three months ago. Our CSU consists of one guy who also happens to be the ME and two green wannabes.”

Perfect. Well, she had been warned, hadn’t she? “Where is he?”

“On another call.”

Great. “Who’s collecting the evidence?”

“Well, looks like that’ll be you, me, and Officer Dickie over there taking the witness’s statement.” He pointed at the officer behind him.

Why had she come to Jacob’s Cove again? Oh yeah, to help rebuild the city after the darkness lifted. Right. Still… “Okay, Officer Barlow. What I need is for everyone to stay back from the body. I also need someone to drive me to my car, which is…fuck, probably in the shop by now. Damn it.” Yeah, her day really wasn’t starting out well. “I need a crime scene kit. I don’t suppose you boys would have one in your car?”

“Of course. Dickie already took fingernail scrapings and footprint impressions. A full-body exam will be done when she gets to the morgue. We do know what we’re doing, Lieutenant, even though we’re shorthanded at the moment.”

She took his attitude in stride. “I hope so, because this isn’t going to be an easy one. From the looks of it, it might be Jacob’s Cove’s first serial murder case since the sun returned.”

***

Places to purchase: http://champagnebooks.com/store/index.php?id_product=715&controller=product

And all other book outlets.

My website: www.shielastewartssbooks.com

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShielaSue

Savvy Saturday: Exclusive Excerpt from Upcoming Book, A Guardian's Heart

Hey Savvy Saturday'ers! Check out this super awesome sneak peek we have for you this week from the upcoming paranormal romance, A Guardian's Heart, by Renee Wildes.


Excerpt
Dara trembled, realizing she was sprawled across Loren like some tavern wench. The effort it took to meet his heated gaze… Fine brows slanted over wide leaf-green eyes pupiled like a cat’s, set in a pale aristocratic face. She glanced at his hands gripping her upper arms. Fine artisan’s hands with sword calluses, they held like bands of steel, but so gently ’twas nigh a caress. His body warmth was impossible to ignore. She shifted. Unable to hold his gaze, Dara dropped hers—to his mouth. She blushed.

His lips curved in a wry smile. “Now you become shy?” White teeth flashed. “Your hands have already been all over my body.”

Dara groaned and closed her eyes. Her cheeks flamed.

“Look at me, Dara.” Loren slid his arms around her body.

She tingled at his touch. Restless. Achy. “I can’t.” She hated this breathless dizziness. “Whatever you’re thinking, cease.” He was so warm. She feared making a fool of herself and melting against him. The old wives whispered of faerie enchantments; did that happen here? She felt bespelled. She wasn’t some weak woman to soften over a man, as any villager could lament. “You were much less intimidating flat on your back and weak as a kitten.”

“Intimidating you find me? Prefer me flat on my back in your bed? You have me now.” He brought her braid around to his nose and inhaled. “Sunshine and ferns.”

Self-preservation urged Dara to stop him before he did something neither of them could undo. “Loren—”

“Dara Kahn Androcles, protect me you did with your life’s blood. You are neither indestructible nor immortal. They might have killed you.” His hand, still wrapped with her hair, raised her chin ’til her gaze met his. “You must look at me while I speak these next words.”

Dara couldn’t tear her gaze away. The room spun and receded ’til all her world was Loren. “Don’t look at me like that.” The weight behind his words crawled under her skin, into her mind.

“My life I owe you. Life-debt. I bind myself to you. Whenever, whatever your need, to you I shall come. To you do I answer with sword, bow, or blood. My life for yours. My soul to yours, until our last breath.”

The world shifted. Deep as a prayer, more profound than a spell, his words settled within her. Dara couldn’t look away, couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. Her head buzzed. Her mind tried to wrench itself from the binding, recognizing it for what it was, but the rest of her trembled, in thrall to his eyes, to his voice. She had no idea how to counter him.

Loren’s eyes gleamed at her. “Never again shall you be alone. You are mine, in this lifetime and the next. I shall ever be yours, for always. We are one.” With agonizing slowness, he drew her head down ’til her lips brushed his.

His kiss was shocking in its gentleness. As soft as morning dew, it implied, it coaxed, and she was lost. She melted into his heat and swooned against him. With a sigh, she yielded to his lips and returned the kiss. Warmth filled an emptiness she’d not known ’til now that she possessed. Loren had bound them in spirit; where did she end and he begin? He hovered on the edge of her mind, in her heart, in her blood. A part of her flowed into him, with her surrender, with her every breath.

He broke off the kiss. Dara raised her head to stare down at him. “What’ve you done?”

***

A Guardian's Heart is available for preorder at the Champagne Bookstore. 

New Release! All Mad Here by Brantwijn Serrah

All Mad Here
A Four Courts Novella
By Brantwijn Serrah
Paranormal/Fantasy Erotic Romance
$0.99
Amazon: http://goo.gl/roZYa6
Kobo: https://goo.gl/4a45vi
Champagne Books: http://goo.gl/ehWqMC

Finn expected a quiet birthday: a night off, touring the local bars with his sister Reagan. But his two princesses, Nineva and Nerissa, have already planned a big surprise. Before he knows it, Finn finds himself in a version of Wonderland, racing the Red and White Queens for his fondest birthday wish. Can he best the Red Knight, find the White Rabbit's missing token, and outsmart the Chesire Cat, before he gets turned into a sheep?

And can Nina and Neri possibly know his true birthday wish...is them?

Excerpt from Goblin Fires

Goblin Fires

Chronicles of the Four Courts, 1

By Brantwijn Serrah

Paranormal Romance/Lesbian/F-/F

$3.99

Amazon: http://goo.gl/nZxnnn

Kobo: https://goo.gl/5W6vur

Champagne Books: http://goo.gl/zcjLxy

A Fae Knight's life belongs to the Monarchies. For Reagan, a life is a small price to pay for the princess she loves.

EXCERPT

The fairy ring in Central Park stood near the zoo, a short walk from the scene of the accident. We attracted too many curious onlookers until Erin started warding them off, casting glamours and illusions around us to help avoid notice. At a snap of her fingers, whimsical misleading birds took flight from the hedges near us, and women’s skirts fluttered up as though a wild breeze caught them. Startled shouts erupted from the park-goers and all eyes were drawn away from us.

The ring, as I said, belonged to our House, a Ring of Herne: small white toadstools under a shady oak, dotting the ground in a rough and playful circle. It would open into the deep realms of the Goblin Court.

Normally Finn and his Ladies would not be welcome to cross over into Herne’s part of Thairy without express invitation; it violated the strict laws of fae etiquette, and faeries were unforgiving where custom and courtesy were at stake. Ceridwen led our party though, which would be permission enough.

My princess entered the ring and invoked a thinning of the veil, imploring the spirit guards of the gates of Annwyn to let us pass. We gathered in the ring with her, and as she beseeched them, the day appeared to darken by degrees, as though the sun were going behind a thick cloud cover. Then it kept getting darker, then darker still, until it might as well have been night around us. The air changed from the lovely springtime brightness and warmth to cool, brisk autumn chill. The scent of turning leaves and damp soil surrounded us, perfumed with more distant notes of baked apples and sweet wine. There were other smells, death smells, graves and ghosts and wild things.

Then we were no longer standing in Central Park, New York. We were in Annwyn, a close and shadowy realm, the lands of the Tylwyth Teg and the High King of Goblins.

My home.

The fairy ring transported us directly into the High King’s orchards, outside the castle of Arawn, former King before Herne. The gray stone of the ancient fortress rose up against a bruised sky, solid, indomitable, eternal. The moon, golden and far larger than it would ever be seen from mortal Earth, hung in the night behind the castle like a leering jack-o-lantern.

Puca, once again in the diminutive form of the impish cat, assumed the lead immediately, scampering up the path to the fortress gates. Finn followed and Nineva stayed close behind him. Erin began to go up as well, but stopped when she saw Ceridwen hesitate, waiting for me.

The moment we’d stepped over into Annwyn, I’d dropped to my knees to press my burning palms against the soil. The very air soothed the iron blaze a little, like Erin’s magic, leaching the pain away with slow relief. The surge of fear, anger, and violence began to wear off a little, but I could still feel the thump and roil of animal power in my blood, the hunger of a tigress running hot in my veins.

This is what it meant to be a child of The Morrigan, the war goddess. We weren’t made to be great artists or musicians or muses or sorcerers. I couldn’t hope to master the craft of enchantment like Erin or play the poltergeist like Oberon’s jester Puck. I had a depth of my own power: the power of a fighter, the magic of war. The blessing my Unbridled nature afforded me, the power I had sworn in the service of High King Herne and his daughter. It bled through me, a raging, thrilling power. Sexual, almost: wild, hungry, predatory, and strong.

Lotus Petals Excerpt

Warning: This is a rated-R book. Please read the following excerpt at your own discretion.

Lotus Petals

By Brantwijn Serrah
Paranormal Romance/Lesbian/F-/F

$4.99

Amazon: http://goo.gl/Jc6ztX

Kobo: https://goo.gl/iLRVn0

Aijyn, human slave to a ruthless vampire Lord, would never dare do anything to incur his wrath. Then, she fell in love... with his bride.

Excerpt:

"Rhiannon-sama," she began again, well aware she might be broaching a subject Rhiannon would easily wish to avoid, even to the point of sending her attendant violently away.

"Hm?" the vampire murmured.

"Your bodyguard...she likes to see you in pain."

Rhiannon waited a long time before she answered.

"Perhaps I like pain, mortal."

Aijyn did not argue...but she had seen the expression on Rhiannon’s face when Sölva had tormented her.

"You must hide the scars from the daimyo," she chided gently. "And you cannot allow her to leave any more marks on you, if you do not wish to anger him."

"And if I do wish to anger him?"

"Do not be petulant," Aijyn scolded.

"Does he believe his bride will be untouched? That his kin-born bastard bride will not have experienced acts of the flesh? I am over half a century a living birth-child. Does he realize how most kin-born are meant to earn their keep in demon houses?"

"He expects you will be untouched for him," Aijyn said. "Whatever has gone before, now you are his. And Gohachiro is not a man to share his treasures."

"Doesn’t he like to use pain?" Rhiannon asked. She rolled over under Aijyn’s hands, lying on her side and reaching out to touch the scar she herself had left on the courtesan’s wrist. At the light caress of her finger, a delicious tingle of pleasure ignited under the skin, making Aijyn shiver as the vampire had a moment ago.

Rhiannon pulled Aijyn closer, and lowered herself over the wound to kiss it a second time. The warm arousal intensified, and Aijyn caught her breath as her body awoke to the sensation, nipples stiffening under the soft silk of her kimono.

"Here," Rhiannon whispered, reaching up to brush the dark strands of hair from Aijyn’s shoulder, revealing the tiny, neat scars of bites past. Scars that would never heal the way the vampire’s did, white little lines and half-moons, memories of Gohachiro’s affections.

"Doesn’t he give you pain…" Rhiannon said, following their contours with light but deliberate pressure.

"…so he may turn it into pleasure?"

"Rhiannon-sama…" Aijyn murmured vaguely. One hand had dropped into her lap; the other rested on the vampire’s warm, lean arm. Strange awareness filled her: the touch stirred up the first bloom of eagerness in her loins and the pit of her belly.

"Pain is what we are, courtesan. Pain, hunger, pleasure, death. We are the undead. I am just over half a century old, more than twice your age, and I have been Sölva’s for longer than you have been alive. There are scars you will never see, all over my body: the marks of her fangs, of her whip, the cut of her blade, the pierce of steel needles. And every one of them sings when she touches me, screams when she hurts me...and it is ecstasy."

"Rhiannon-sama…"

Aijyn realized with some dread she had made a mistake. The vampire’s touch brushed against her, terribly light, terribly fleeting, but her voice...soft, beautiful, rich, like strong liquor.

Rhiannon’s hand came to rest on the back of Aijyn’s neck. She gently pulled the courtesan closer, resting forehead-to-forehead and searching deep into Aijyn’s wide, dark eyes.

"You do this for him, too?" she whispered. "You...perform anma for him? You touch his body with such delicate affection?"

"Yes," Aijyn whispered.

"And does it make him want to fuck?"

Before she could think better of it, Aijyn lifted up a hand and slapped her.

The strike was not a hard one. At least, to Rhiannon it would not have been hard. Aijyn’s palm stung as though she had struck it against solid rock, and she quickly pressed it in her other hand, hissing with pain.

Rhiannon did not strike back. She remained perfectly still, her expression unchanging. After a moment, once Aijyn had collected herself, the vampire leaned closer and pressed her mouth against Aijyn’s own.

"It makes me want to fuck," she said. Then she stood, one smooth, languid motion, and retreated to her coffin to at last submit to her daytime sleep.

Damned Before Breakfast Excerpt

Damned Before Breakfast

By Jessica Gleason

Paranormal Romance

$2.99

Amazon: http://goo.gl/R13Irg

Kobo: https://goo.gl/5ItCva

 

Sometimes it isn’t safe for two girls to go out for a night on the town, and it has nothing to do with short skirts and spiked cocktails. 

 

EXCERPT

“Urgle...” It took me a while, but I had managed to pry mycrusted eyes open and was met with darkness. “I think we drank too much last night.”

No response. “Rave... You alive? You even here or am I talking to myself? Fuck, my brain hurts—I think we did more damage last night than those idiot co-eds do ina year.” There was an inaudible gurgle from a few feet away.

 

“What the hell did we do last night?” Rave responded, slowly with the tongue of a half-conscious cotton-mouthed lush.

 

“I don't remember, but I bet it was fun.” The blinding headache was impeding my ability to sort things out.

 

“Why am I in my underwear?” Rave managed.

 

“Hrmpfhhh...You got me. Probably the same reason I'm in my underwear. I'm betting it wasn't some sweet lesbo action.”

 

“Yah, probably not, but there could have been some hard-core bestiality for all I know.”

 

“I don't even want to think about that. You're gross. So, where the hell are we?” I said, sitting up and rubbing my stiff neck. Cold concrete did wonders for the spine.

 

“From what I gather, we're laid out in the dark on a concrete floor.”

 

“Oh, thank you for pointing that out. You are grand-master of all that is obvious. It's good to see the alcohol didn't wipe away your winning sense of humor.” I padded around a bit searching for a wall with a light switch or something, to no avail. It was seriously dark and creep-tacular. “Well, from what I can tell there's a door over here—locked—and a few walls. I bet it's a basement or something, this place is tiny.”

 

“Dammit Mage, why the hell are we half-naked and in a random basement? There could have at least been hunky men here to wake up with. I would not have remembered them, but at least I could have probably deduced that I had been laid. That would have been infinitely better than waking up in a ten by ten windowless cell half-naked with only you to keep me company. This is some creepy Saw shit. If a ventriloquist dummy on a tricycle rolls on in here, you're dead.”

Haven by Celia Breslin

Haven by Celia Breslin is today’s Taste of Champagne. Haven, Breslin’s debut novel, sits at the top of Champagne Books’ Bestseller List. A few pages in and it’s easy to see why. Check out the short excerpt that showcases Breslin’s storytelling/writing skill as Carina looks back on the morning and afternoon of her birthday.

“So, on my twenty-fifth birthday, a day meant for celebration, I found myself with family secrets to unravel, mysterious strangers to meet, and unknown dangers to avoid. Unease slithered up my spine and my head throbbed yet again. I was a pawn in a game I hadn’t even known I played. I didn’t like it one bit.”

Carina Tranquilli is a wealthy nightclub owner in San Francisco who endures a 25th birthday from hell. Her life is a twenty-something’s dream with parties at her own nightclub, friends and family who love her, and a to-die-for wardrobe. Until the morning of her 25th birthday when the witch attacked her, only the death of her parents and a twelve-year-long memory gap troubled her otherwise perfect life.

When vampires arrive claiming to be kin, she’s forced to delve deep into painful memories that she’d rather leave undisturbed. If your relatives are vampires, what does that make you—especially if you’re acquiring a taste for blood? She discovers that these same vampires have been hosting a private night at her nightclub where the only humans invited are those on the menu—willing feasts for vampires she didn’t even know existed.

When she meets Alexander, a gorgeous vampire as drawn to her as she is to him, the action moves from steamy to sizzling—even if it is forbidden by her newfound relatives. The same relatives demand the right to control her life to protect her from unidentified threats until she can protect herself with her vast powers. Those powers, whatever they are, fail to protect her and her friends when the really bad guys, also with fangs, show up.

Haven, the first installment in The Tranquili Bloodline series, is one of the best new stories I’ve read in a long time. The rich plot and compelling characters provide the set up for a long series run. I’m looking forward to the next one.

Click HERE to buy/read excerpt of Haven.