Adriana Kraft
When it's time to heat things up...
On the 15th of every month, I’m featured at Sweet ‘n Sexy Divas to highlight LGBTQ Books.
Today I’m talking about what bi women seek for their Happily Ever Afters – Meg’s good friend and sometimes lover, Lisa, is facing a major dilemma. Sometimes what you wish for and what you fear are one and the same…
Head on over to find out more!
Welcome to MFRW Hooks, where the authors of Marketing for Romance Writers share snippets from their stories to entice you into wanting more. Be sure to click on the links at the end to travel!
All my prior published holiday stories are half off at Extasy Books, now through December 31. Today I’m featuring The Gift Echange, an erotic romance menage holiday story.
It’s Christmas Eve—what gifts will Mack, Carol and Tara unwrap together?
What is Carol up to now? Mack has always known his free-spirited wife is bisexual, but it seems she has new adventures on her mind this Christmas season.
Carol has long entertained fantasies of a threesome with herself, her husband, and their attractive nearby neighbor, Tara. Now that Tara’s troublesome ex is out of the picture, is this the season to make Carol’s fantasies come true?
Tara’s felt a little deprived since breaking things off with her ex, and she’ll admit she envies what Mack and her best friend Carol seem to share. If they invite her to join them, will she dare?
“Cocoa and marshmallows are heavenly after snowshoeing,” Carol said, wrapping her fingers around the hot mug Tara had set on the kitchen table for her. She took another sip and watched Tara inhale the steam of her mug deeply. This was the moment. She couldn’t tell which she wanted more—to watch Mack respond as Tara pleasured him, or to give him the gift of watching her and Tara play together. Both, she decided. Would her fantasies come true?
“You are so right,” Tara responded. “It’s been a grand morning. The air was crisp, but not too cold. And the snow was just right. The snowshoes didn’t sink so deep that we had to work hard.” Tara brushed fingers through her long reddish locks. “Sometimes it felt like we were walking right on top of the snow.”
“Yeah, felt like we were on top of the world. So exhilarating. Not many experiences top that.” She gave Tara a knowing smile.
“Right. Don’t get yourself worked up. You know I have to head into town for an appointment. We only have twenty minutes before I have to leave.”
“I know. I know. Sipping cocoa with you will have to tide me over.” Carol grinned broadly. “I wish we had all day to play.”
“Me, too. But when I get back I’m going to really have to buckle down on my writing. I have an editing deadline just before Christmas. I’ll never accept another deadline like that again—there’s hardly time to think about Christmas. It’s not like I’m going anywhere, but I do so much enjoy the season. When there’s time.”
“Speaking of Christmas…not sure how much we’ll see you before, but Mack and I want you to join us for Christmas Eve.”
“Really?” Tara’s eyes misted. “But I know that’s such a special time for you guys. You’ve told me every year how you celebrate Christmas.” She arched an eyebrow. “Capping it off in bed, if I recall correctly.”
“The Night before Christmas story takes place in bed, right?”
Tara broke up laughing. “Yes, but I believe your night before Christmas is a bit more erotic. I don’t think there’s room for me.”
“Nonsense. We don’t want you to be alone. We’ll have our own little party. We can finish decorating the tree, exchange some gifts, and share a toast or two with eggnog…maybe even play some reindeer games.”
“That sounds like fun. But I wouldn’t want to be a third wheel.”
“You won’t be.”
BUY AT EXTASY BOOKS FOR 80 CENTS https://www.extasybooks.com/the-gift-exchange
BUY AT OTHER RETAIL OUTLETS https://books2read.com/u/bP7rqJ
Click on the links to travel to the rest of today’s Book Hooks:
Welcome to the MFRW Steam Hop,
where the authors of Marketing for Romance Writers
entice you with steamy excerpts from their erotic romance stories.
Scroll to the end for more of this week’s tempting excerpts
It’s the holiday season – Hubs and I wrote Santa’s Boss to show that Santa isn’t just for kids…
Joy Danser has believed in Santa since childhood—now Nick Polaris shows her Santa can deliver an adult package beyond her wildest dreams!
Assistant Mall Manager Joy Danser thrives on authenticity. All her mall Santas must have real beards so children can believe. But even she is unprepared for the very real Santa who visits her bed invisibly this Christmas season. Is she dreaming, or has she gone mad? Joy consults Sophia Nardiz, manager of the Magical Gypsy shop at her mall. Sophia reads her palm and gives her a cryptic message: she is at a crossroads, and she must trust her intuition.
Owner of the Magical Gypsy chain and a true Gypsy himself, Nick Polaris is thrilled to play Joy’s Santa, in the mall and in her bed, but he knows it’s only a lark. For true love, he’ll need someone with Gypsy blood. How can he ever abandon the Scottish redhead he enjoys so much?
Chapter One
“Take me deeper, babe,” Ted Meeks encouraged, lying spread eagled under Joy Danser on their bed.
On her hands and knees between his legs, Joy worked her jaw muscles until her mouth and throat surrounded his entire cock.
“Better,” Ted groaned. “Smooth and steady. Let’s see how long you can manage.”
Joy wanted to snicker. Even after two years of living together, his need to turn sex into a challenge annoyed her. She’d outlast Ted. She always did. Relaxing her muscles, she bobbed slowly up and down his shaft. It would only take a sudden shift in pace or a deft twist of the hand around the base of his cock, and he’d be spurting down her throat in a flash. Or if she squeezed his balls just right. Or, a surefire way of making him come would be slipping her middle finger in his ass. She could win this challenge whenever she chose to.
She suctioned slowly up his shaft until she only held its fleshy crown in her mouth. Ted’s hands curled around her shoulders as if he feared she might leave him. Chuckling around his cock, she drifted back down its length until her lips again smacked against his loins.
Inching her way back up, she felt his hand slip between her legs and begin to palm her pussy. She blinked her eyes open wildly. All ten of Ted’s fingernails still dug into her shoulders. What the hell? Who the hell? She started to rear up.
A large hand pressed against her back. “Easy, Danser. It’s just me, Santa. You wanted to believe,” a deep male voice chortled. “So, here I am.”
The words reverberated in her head. They hadn’t been spoken aloud. She was sure of that. Santa! Damn, her job had finally gotten to her. She was going crazy. She swore she felt soft whiskers caressing her lower back and then her rump. At work, she supervised the eight temporary Santas at the mall as part of her assistant manager position. Yes, she’d been envious of how easily the boys and girls believed and marveled when the Santas went out of their way to listen to them and please them. She’d only hired the best. Each had to have an authentic beard. It could be dyed white, but it had to be real.
“My beard is authentic. You must feel that. Mustache, too.”
“Oh my. You can read my thoughts.” His lips and mustache traced the contour of her rump. She didn’t balk when he grazed the insides of her thighs. She shifted her knees further apart.
“That’s right. Open for me. You may want to remember Ted now and then, or even he may begin to wonder what’s happening to you.”
HALF PRICE AT EXTASY BOOKS https://www.extasybooks.com/santas-boss
BUY AT OTHER RETAIL OUTLETS https://books2read.com/u/3nXJd6
Meanwhile, don’t miss all the other amazing books on sale at Extasy Books.
Backlist Christmas stories are 50% off, and all other backlist releases are 40% off.
Click on the graphic to check them out:
And don’t forget to check out the rest of today’s steamy excerpts!
Today I’m thrilled to welcome fellow eXtasy Books author H K Carlton to our blog. If you love erotic romance suspense thrillers, do check out her Cambridge series, which features one of the best kick-ass heroines I’ve known. But that’s nothing to do with Christmas and why she’s here today – a holiday celebration of a somewhat different nature…
Are there any December babies in the house today? Make sure to leave us a comment below if you are. I’m one of those kids born in the month of December. 🎈 The Kymmie me, that is. (Though if you read my author bio on certain sites my birthday might be listed as August. That’s because the author me, H K Carlton, wasn’t born until my first book was published, August 27, 2012). 😉
I know some of the Sagittarius/Capricorn crowd have issues with their birthday falling in December, feeling perhaps a bit cheated, especially when that date falls on or about the 25th. I’m not one of those people. My lovely mama always made me feel special. 🎂
When I was really young, I had pizza parties with my schoolmates. We had cake and presents, none of which were Christmas-themed or wrapped in festive paper. The one holiday tradition my parents did adhere to every year though was that the Christmas tree didn’t go up until my b’day, even when my siblings begged them to put it up early. It wasn’t lost on me, that my brother and sisters didn’t get a bedazzled evergreen raised on their birthdays. And though I did recognize and respect the symbolism and true significance of the Christmas tree, the fact that my mum and dad waited to put it up, made me feel extra special. And I still adhere to that tradition with my own family. 🎄
Our heroines from Xmas Spouse Swap, Iris and Siri, are also December babies.
Meet the twins who take share and share alike to a whole new level…
Separated at the age of sixteen by selfish battling parents going through a bitter divorce, twin sisters Iris and Siri Beaulieu vow to never be apart on Christmas Eve, which is also their birthday.
Now grown and married and perhaps a bit bored with their husbands, the twins decide to give each other the ultimate birthday present, by switching identities.
One tipsy Christmas Eve leads to a twin swap the husbands will never forget.
How’s that for a Merry Christmas to all?
Excerpt:
Iris downed what was left in her wine glass before topping up all four goblets.
Brett and Kyle continued to toss ornaments on the tree as Siri joined her by the counter. Siri snagged her glass and took a long swallow.
“You okay?” Siri asked.
“Mmm hmm,” Iris answered.
“You still wanna do what we talked about?”
“Mmm hmm.”
“Tonight’s the night? All or bust?” Siri crooked her pinkie finger.
Without hesitation, Iris curled her baby digit around her sister’s. “Pinkie swear,” she whispered.
“Happy birthday, sista-mine.” Siri winked conspiratorially.
“What’s up, ladies?” Brett asked, suddenly towering over them.
“Nothing,” Siri shrugged and guzzled her drink.
“Doesn’t look like nothing to me,” Kyle interjected, joining them. “Do you think they’re up to something, Brett?”
“Guaranteed. Especially when they’ve resorted to the old pinkie swear. That means it’s serious business.”
“We merely wished each other a happy birthday,” Siri said.
It wasn’t a lie. If things worked out, they were giving each other the ultimate gift.
About the Author:
H K Carlton is a multi-genre Canadian author of romance, with over thirty titles in publication. From naughty to nice, contemporary to historical, time travel to space travel and everything in between.
Welcome to Book Hooks, a weekly sampler by author members of Marketing for Romance Writers. Click on the links at the end to travel to this week’s excerpts!
I have four holiday short stories on sale for 50% off at Extasy Books, now through December 31. Here are the opening lines from one of them:
Mortified, Evie Strand looked on in horror at the office Christmas party careening out of control. Her fellow employees stared at her in amazement. Some snickered. Some couldn’t remain silent.
“What a hoot,” Leslie whispered from the seat next to her. “You put old Adam in his place.”
Evie shook her head and swallowed hard, willing herself to be anywhere but in this room. Adam Grant’s dark eyes snapped, mocking her. Did he really think she’d given him that package on purpose? It was meant for Christie, her closest friend. That package wasn’t even supposed to come to the office party. Christie didn’t work for the store.
How could she be such an idiot? She’d wrapped so many Christmas presents late last night. It had never occurred to her that the two packages looked so similar on the outside.
To her dismay, she’d drawn Adam Grant’s name for the annual gift exchange. She hadn’t given it much thought once she’d decided to give him a tie.
Evie blinked as he rummaged through his gift. “No,” she muttered softly, when he held up a second thong. This one, like the last, had hand-stitched lettering.
She should know. She’d painstakingly hand-lettered seven thongs for Christie. They were supposed to be a joke. She doubted Christie would actually wear any of them, but they’d each gone out of their way during the past six seasons to surprise each other with something that was outlandishly sexy. She had to admit she might’ve gone over the top this year.
Home and Garden assistant manager Evie Strand has painstakingly embroidered a set of seven thongs as a gag gift for her best friend – only she brought the wrong box to the store Christmas party, and now Adam Grant from Automotive is holding them up for everyone to see: Kiss my…, Tight Fit – could things get any worse?
Adam may seem like a total rake, but he can tell Evie’s deeply embarrassed and he resolves to make it up to her. Who knew where a simple dinner date would lead?
“Truly brilliant comedic rhythm and delivery ”
“A powerfully good read…”
BUY AT EXTASY BOOKS FOR $1.50 https://www.extasybooks.com/a-gift-for-adam
BUY AT OTHER RETAIL OUTLETS https://books2read.com/u/47gjK7
Click on the links below to travel to more tantalizing excerpts!
I’ve said elsewhere that I learned almost nothing in any of my history courses about the western world before the Renaissance. In recent years, I’ve read widely in both fiction and non-fiction about the British Isles throughout the millennium between the exit of the Romans (roughly 400 A.D.) and the onset of the Renaissance (1400 A.D.). And it has thrilled me to discover that not only is a great deal known about this era, but there is a vast amount of material about the powerful role of women. My next several reviews will feature some of these works.
One of the first Norman era books I picked up – available on Kindle Unlimited, which is always a treat – is Child of Water (The Heirs of Anarchy, Book I), by G. Lawrence. This book is the first of a four book series tracing the life of the only daughter of King Henry I (reigned1100 to 1135). Matilda (1102-1167), or Maude, as she was also known, came into power first as the Holy Roman Empress, through her marriage to the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V in 1110, when she was a mere child of eight; then, following his death, as the rival claimant to the English throne during the years of Anarchy, 1135-1154; and finally in Normandy, often acting as representative for her son, King Henry II, and presiding over the government of the Normandy Duchy
Almost all the events I just enumerated are things I knew nothing about before I picked up this book, but the book is nothing like a history lesson. Lawrence uses the first person point of view masterfully to create an engaging and highly readable narrative. There’s just enough detail about events to enable unfamiliar readers to anchor themselves, but never so much as to overwhelm. Characters and events materialize on the page because Matilda is affected by them. We see what she sees, learn what she learns, and come to know what she fears, hopes, and decides as the events unfold.
Child of Water opens in Rouen, Normandy, shortly before Matilda’s death, as she reflects on her life and her role. Here is a snippet that spoke to me:
One day, when I am gone, my ladies will tell their husbands and children of me. With a touch of pride, something they will attempt to conceal since noble women are not supposed to possess it, they will say that once they attended upon me, the Empress Matilda, Lady of the English, daughter of Henry I, wife to the Count of Anjou and the Holy Roman Emperor … the woman who waged war against men for a throne.
The book then drops us into the mind of eight-year-old Matilda as she waits on the beach for a longboat to bear her on the first step of her sea and land journey to marry the man who has been named Holy Roman Emperor but not yet crowned. We travel with her, study with her in her new home, grow up with her and see her crowned empress. This first volume then traces her life and her inner world as she returns to England upon the death of her husband. It concludes as she marries the man her father has chosen for her, Goeffrey, Count of Anjou – who wore a yellow flower in his hair and eventually ushered in the Plantagenet house of British royalty, through their son, Henry II. The details of these and subsequent events in Matilda’s life form the remaining three volumes in the series.
In summary, I found Child of Water to be an intriguing and informative read. I was especially struck by Matilda’s reflections (naturally the invention of the author, but plausible at the very least) as she navigated the male world of power plays among her husband the emperor, the Pope, the antipope, and the Germanic nobility, and then the world of her father and his holdings in England and Normandy. One might think such modern thoughts are anachronistic, but embedded as they were in very real events, I found them insightful.
I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in early Norman history in England, and even for those who are curious to discover if they might develop such an interest.
Child of Water (Heirs of Anarchy, Book I) is available exclusively at Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084KN8G8J/
Free to read at Kindle Unlimited