Welcome Lauren Wilder!

Inspiration

I would like to thank Beth for having me as a guest on her blog. I really appreciate it. Thank you Beth, you’re a doll!.

My inspiration for my debut novel - ‘Her Heart’s Desire’ sprang from my penchant for sexy, well educated English men and beautiful architecture.

I love England’s stately homes and heritage. I have spent many a happy afternoon strolling through elegant manicured gardens and staring open mouthed at incredible buildings. I have no idea why, but being near such grandeur makes me weak at the knees and the idea of meeting the handsome lord of the manor really gets me going! When I watched Downtown Abbey my desire piqued! I went to Highclere house in Berkshire where the drama is filmed and the ideas came thick and fast (no pun intended)

I decided to write about my own dashing hero and created Highcroft house as his ancestral home. Hence (Lord) James St John was born. He is charming, handsome, titled and super sexy. What more could a woman want?

I also love reading ‘bodice rippers’ and I will read and watch anything with a handsome posh man in it! They really turn me on. I have fallen hard many a time for a suave and sophisticated gent, and subsequently nursed a few broken hearts when the big romances were over. (Cads!)

But my failed romances have not put me off. I still adore a real gent. As long as he is tall, dark and handsome, if he talks classy, opens doors, walks to the outside on the pavement, pays for dinner and calls me darling, I will do almost anything he asks in the bedroom. I would do naked cartwheels if I could! Such is my desire for the love of an English Gentleman.

I like my erotica to be set in an environment that has presence and atmosphere and setting my story in a grand Ancestral home gives it tons of that. Think four poster beds and what can be done in them, creaking floorboards, dark passageways (no pun intended), candlelight and roaring fires and you’re on the right track. Give me loads of romance with a bit of kink thrown in and I’m in fantasy heaven! So I wrote ‘Her Heart’s Desire’ and let my imagination run wild. I created Highcroft to satisfy some of my own Heart’s Desires. Step inside and prepare to blush!

Blurb:

When Marisa applies for a PA job to an English aristocrat, she expects a stuffy, older gentleman. James St John is anything but. He is an extremely good-looking, English charmer. Sparks fly, and the attraction is intense.

Marisa fights her desire, cautious about becoming involved with her boss. But James St John is unable to resist the sexual allure between them, and he will not rest until she is in his bed.

Marisa soon discovers that the walls of Highcroft house hide a hotbed of sin and dark longings. Will its secrets destroy her happiness when love starts to bloom?

http://www.bookstrand.com/her-hearts-desire

www.wilderromance.com

EXCERPT:

He watched her as she bent over to light the candles, her perfect arse showing under the tiny maid’s dress. He felt his cock grow hard instantly as he imagined kneeling behind her and kissing that peachy bottom with fervour. His heartbeat quickened as she lay on the bed and caressed herself, exposing her full breasts. He sucked his breath in. ‘Oh, God,’ he murmured as he watched her open her legs and reveal her silky cunt.

She closed her eyes and moaned gently as she touched herself.

He could see everything. She was exposed for him, her gorgeous, wet pussy. Her perfect breasts spilled out of the bodice. He stared at her nipples, hard and ready for his tongue, and it made his cock twitch.

He watched mesmerised as she continued her teasing. He smiled as he caught her peeking at him beneath her eyelashes. He gazed at her, his eyes burning with desire as he watched her slim fingers playing on her clit. Her tongue licked seductively at her lips, moistening them. He unzipped his pants and his cock sprang out, hard and proud. He began wanking it gently as he watched her breasts heaving and her finger frigging her clit. His excitement intensified when she started speaking in a soft, seductive tone.

‘I want strong hands to massage me and feel me all over, I want to feel my lover’s cock pressing against me.’ She breathed huskily as her eyes glinted in the candlelight, beckoning him, drawing him to her. James remained silent in the shadows, watching her as he pumped his cock slowly, massaging the bulbous head, squeezing the tip to extend his pleasure.

‘Hmm, I want my lover to take me and fuck me without mercy. I’m desperate to feel him. I long for his touch.’

‘Oh, I wish my lord and master were here. I want to feel his tongue on my tits, his fingers on my pussy, his beautiful cock in my cunt.’

James could not restrain himself any longer, striding from the shadows with his erection bobbing in front of him, he moved slowly towards the bed. She feigned surprise. ‘Oh, master, I didn’t realize you were there.’

He grinned wickedly as his eyes travelled all over her body. He loved the kinky maid’s outfit, the stockings and suspenders, frilly knickers pushed sluttishly aside, exposing her pussy.

‘Dear god you are a vision!’ he whispered, his voice husky with desire.

Marisa smiled at him wantonly. He licked his lips at the sight of her lying there. His fingers worked quickly as he pulled at the ribbons on the bodice of her dress. He gasped as the bodice fell apart and she lay there almost naked. He reached out and stroked the soft globes. He groaned as she touched his cock. He sucked his breath in as her soft fingers stroked his shaft. Her touch felt silky against his flesh, and he longed to thrust his hard cock into her tight pussy. But he wanted to make it last. He intended to take his time with her until they were both mad with desire.

‘My, we are a naughty little maid, aren’t we?’ he murmured. He watched her, transfixed. He continued stroking her tits, the nipples straining beneath his fingertips. He bent his head to lick them, making her groan as his hand went down between her legs.

‘Open your legs wide for me,’ he demanded.

Marisa did as he asked. Pulling her knees up, she spread her legs wide for him.

‘Yes, master,’ she said obediently. He grinned. He loved their games. Excitement rushed through his veins, and he longed to tie her up, bind her wrists to the bed, and make her beg to be released so she could touch his cock and suck him. His thoughts ran wild.

He could feel her heart thundering. Her breathing rapid with excitement and it spurred him on.

‘Hmm, you’re so wet,’ he murmured as his fingers worked in and out of her soaking pussy. Marisa was gasping with pleasure, crying out in ecstasy as he talked to her in his deep, masculine English accent.

‘Are you nearly there, are you going to come for me my darling?’

‘Yes!’ she cried out.

He swooped on her, licking her deeply. With a few long, lascivious strokes of his hot, wet tongue he brought her off instantly. He groaned as he felt her coming. He lapped at her juices and sucked her clit as she convulsed on his tongue. She cried out and tugged hard on his hair as she screamed in ecstasy.

He moved up her quivering body and kissed her lips passionately, his tongue darting into her mouth to share her secretions. She gasped and licked at him, wild and hungry.

‘Now it’s my turn,’ he growled, taking her hand and raising her from the bed.

‘Suck me, my naughty maid,’ he demanded.

Thank you Lauren for your deliciously sexy excerpt!! I can't wait to get my hands on James, er, the book!!!

My Upcoming Blog Spots!

I will be guest blogging at a bunch of sights this July in preparation of my newest release, Kismet!

On June 30 come read my blog What's in a Name? at Liz Crowe's site: http://www.brewingpassion.com/

My new cover for Kismet!

This is, I think, my favorite cover so far. It was designed by April Martinez, who has done two other covers for me at Loose Id, and I have to give her a huge round of applause. When I was writing Kismet I envisioned a "green" cover, with Evie and Kris nestled amidst the green Louisiana Bayou grass. And April hit this out of the ball park!

My favorite part is Evie's eyes. I imagine this moment is when they merge into one, her eyes fly to his and she gasps at the pleasure. To me, this cover is very sexy and embodies all of who Evie is.

Burb:

All of her life, Evie Rhoton has had visions of the immediate future. Her dreams are of two men, Kristian Seek and Hyde Galloway, and she travels her adult life tracking them down in the post-apocalyptic world after a virus has devastated the population.

She gets a dream that shows the two men in trouble, and heads to Los Angeles against a lot of trepidation. She finds the stoic side of Kris a perfect match for her soul, but questions her idea of love when her attraction for Hyde flares out of control.

The three race against time, trying to save a colony of survivors from the oncoming deadly earthquake. But will Evie’s choice be her destiny or ultimate destruction.

-Kismet available July 10th at Loose Id. http://www.loose-id.com/Kismet.aspx

Today's feature... Jane Toombs!!

Q) What got you started in the romance genre as a writer and reader?

A)I always liked to read, but until the so-called sweet gothics came along way back when, I didn’t focus especially on romance. These had a mixture of romance, mystery and either paranormal or at least a hint of it. I already enjoyed both mysteries and paranormal, and found I liked romance as well. I read every one I could buy or borrow. (Love libraries!)

Then mysteries, my other favorite read at the time, started having romance subplots and I devoured those as well. Fantasy became popular, much of it written by women who almost always had at least a touch of romance and usually more. Finally it got so if a book I was reading didn’t have any romance, I felt cheated. I was definitely hooked.

Until I was asked this question, I didn’t analyze what the appeal of romance for me was. Thinking about it, I believe my reason for feeling the need to have romance threaded through my reads came from the very human need to see love triumph despite formidable obstacles.

All this said, I don’t read very many romance books that don’t have another element added--mystery or paranormal or humor. If romance authors can make me laugh, I do keep trying their books.

Somewhere about the time I got hooked on sweet gothics, I decided I could write one. I’d been fooling around with short stories, never sending them anywhere (my bad!) and this gothic was my first try at a novel--actually my first serious try at something I would try to sell. So I wrote Tule Witch, blending my love of paranormal with the gothic romance. Since I was a nurse, my heroine became one. She worked in a spooky old hospital in the area where I lived at the time--California’s Central Valley. I’d never heard anyone say “Write what you know,” but it’s good advice for a beginning writer. This was my pantser period. I’d never heard the word synopsis applied to writing.

When Tule Witch sold to Avon, I never looked back--just kept writing sweet gothics until they stopped being popular.

How I learned to write--gasp!--sex scenes and how I learned I was really a plotter and needed a synopsis is another topic entirely. But romance is still within every story I write or read.

Check out my website at www.JaneToombs.com
My most recent book will be out in February from Devine Destinies--Flying High, a historical romance set in Al Capone’s bootlegging Chicago during the Roaring 20s. And, yes, there’s suspense as well as romance--with a touch of paranormal.

Movie Monday - Nine Lives of Chloe King

Have to admit, this is not a "movie" but I enjoyed this new television show so much I thought I would blog about it. It is on Wednesday's on ABC, but since I never really sit to watch tv, I catch it at hulu.com.

The show is about a girl, Chloe, who discovers she is a descendant of the Egyptian Goddess Bast, a protector of sorts. The show starts out with a normal sixteen year old girl decided to break the rules and enter a dance club via the back door. She meets a good looking guy, dances with him, and shares a quick good-bye kiss with him.

But strange things start happening to Chloe. She is almost hit by a car and jumps backward, high in the air to save herself. She is attacked by a homeless man and scratches him across the face with her cat-like nails. She falls out of window and lands on her feet.

There is a mystery, of course, and bad guys chasing her. One pushes her out of a tower and she falls to her death, only to come back alive a moment later. This miraculous feat seems to make her some type of "uniter" who has nine lives. The bad guys, for some reason, want the rest of her eight lives to be quick.

Along with the danger, the super-powers, and the ancient lineage, are cute boys, best friends, and handling school. I'm almost reminded of Buffy, in a non-demony way.

I hope the continuation of the show is as promising as the pilot. I'll be turning to hulu.com to check it out!

What the Future Holds for Print Books in the World of Digital Technology

Digital books are gaining immensely in popularity—some people even think eventually print books will become obsolete. While I do see e-books continuing to gain in popularity, I do not see print books becoming obsolete—at least not any time in the foreseeable future. After all, we still have reference books not to count the ancient works that remain on library shelves. Of course, there are also those like myself and many other readers who still prefer the look and feel of print books.

Statistically Speaking

According to the American Association of Publishers sales of books in all platforms increased 2.4 percent in December 2010 compared to December 2009 and 3.6 percent for the entire year. E-books saw growth of 164.4 percent over 2009 figure, a healthy increase and good portion of the market. Of course, it is unrealistic to provide figures for e-books without including other formats as well. Some of the other figures the AAP compiled for December 2010 include the following:

· Downloads of audio books increased 56.7 percent or 38.8 percent for all of 2010 over 2009 figures

· Purchases of physical audio books such (CDs and tapes) increased 34.5 percent but declined 6.3 percent for all of 2010 compared to 2009.

· Children's and Young Adult paperbacks declined 5.7 percent while the hardcover versions declined 9.5 percent over 2009 totals.

· In the adult category hardbacks decreased by 5.1 percent, paperbacks decreased 2.0 percent and mass market versions decreased 6.3 percent from 2009 figures.

Does this mean we are inching toward a reversal to e-books? The figures don't seem to support that transformation at this time. While there is definitely a decrease in paperback and hardcover print books, there is an increase in audio books. This could mean there is an increase in the overall digital market and not just e-books. For instance, people can listen to audio books while they are driving but they cannot read an e-book or a print book when driving.

Looking to the Future

While e-books will definitely increase in popularity especially with younger readers who are more likely to embrace this new technology, print books will be available—at least in the foreseeable future—for those who prefer holding a book in their hand. There certainly are advantages to e-book technology, especially for those who do a lot of reading while they commute or travel. Having the ability to carry along many of your favorite books in a lightweight e-reader is definitely an advantage. Even those who prefer print books indulge in the pleasure of e-books while they travel or commute.

Compatibility Issues

One of the problems that currently plague the e-book industry, especially when it comes to e-readers is compatibility. Writers that wish to make their work available to all potential readers must plan to make it available in several formats. I often hear writers say, "I just published my latest book on Kindle." Keep in mind Kindle is not the only e-reader available; there are many others including Nook, Sony and many more. If e-books are to survive the future there must be a way to make them more compatible with one another. Kindle, for instance, requires an add-on in order to allow users to read work in e-pub format (the format frequently used by online libraries). Other readers complain they have problems with the PDF format on their Kindles.

The technologic advances that have moved from simply reading e-books on a PC in PDF format to reading on a portable device that will fit in your purse are still fairly new. There is no doubt the technology is here to stay, but many—myself included—hope we will always have a choice between an e-book and a print book. It would be sad to have to take all those wonderful books that authors penned centuries ago and put them into the archives because readers are no longer interested in the work of past centuries.

-Brenda Coxe

Freelance Writer

http://brendacoxe.writersresidence.com

http://bscoxe.blogspot.com

http://joyofwriting.wordpress.com

http://www.facebook.com/author.brenda.coxe

Movie Monday - Kung Fu Panda 2

As a sequel, this movie was really good! I don't think that it would be as entertaining without seeing the first movie because this one takes off where that one ended. So that being said, if you haven't seen the first one then this review probably won't make much sense.

Anywho...SPOILERS!!!

It was great to see that Po hadn't really changed from the first go round, at least all that much. He still craves food with an addiction that makes me sick. The first time we see him he's stuffing 40 steamy buns into his mouth!

The Furious Five have settled in and accepted him as a member of the team, even incorporating some fancy moves (from Crane) to help him along. Po, remember, can't run all that fast...or that far.

The action comes into play from the villian, Lord Chen (voiced by Gary Oldman), who "invents" cannons. He sees cannons as a way of taking control of China. He orders his wolf soldiers to gather up as much metal as possible, which bring the Furious Five and Po to defend the poor minstrals of a small town. It is here that Po sees a brand on the lead Wolf's armour that gives him a vision of a baby panda.

Shaken, confused, Po goes to his father, Mr. Ping, and asks where he has come from. Mr. Ping reluctanly tells the story of how a young baby Po came to him the week's vegetable delivery. Po comes to the conclusion that he was thrown away in the trash. Disheartened, he goes to Master Shifu for a Kung Fu lesson. The lesson is about finding inner peace, which has taken Master Shifu 50 years to find.

And then Lord Shen's plans are found out and the Furious Five plus Po go to defeat the cannons. There are many battles, lots of action, but underneath all of this is the story of how Po comes to find inner peace by making peace with his past.

The parts I really enjoyed were the flashbacks of his mother trying to save Po from the Wolf soldiers, hiding him with vegetables while she leads the pack away and, we assume, to die. As a mother, that really hit home with me. The artists did a wonderful job high-lighting the emotion of a mother leaving her child.

There was definitely a Greek tragedy feel to the story, since Lord Shen went about destroying all Pandas when a soothsayer fortold his demise by a warrior of black and white. Yes, the movie did borrow from a lot of different sources, but it came together nicely. I think one of the things that caught my attention was the great soundtrack.

I highly recommend seeing this movie in 3D. It really made the story all that more interesting, more alive. My son, who is 4 & 1/2 sat through the whole thing with his glasses on, glued to the big screen. He concluded the glasses made it into a Pop-Up movie.

Movie Monday - Zach and Miri Make a Porno

I have to confess, I am becoming a huge fan of Seth Rogan.

When he first hit the scene, I wasn't too much into him, mainly because his movies weren't my cup of tea. But then he did the voice on Kung Fu Panda, and then the Green Hornet, and now I'm starting to get him.

I became aware of this movie, "Zack and Miri Make a Porno", when I read it had to do something with Star Wars. I really didn't expect much from this film, but I must say, I was surprisingly entertained!


Okay, let's start from the beginning. Zach and Miri have been friends since the second grade. They live outside of Pittsburg, struggling to make ends meet. When their electricity, water, and heat all get turned off in December, Zach comes up with this brilliant idea to make a porno! They enlist a friend as a producer (meaning they take his money) and promise him to see "titties" during auditions.

Okay, though the movie also stars legendary porn star Traci Lords, who plays a girl named Bubbles, the only real nudity we see is breasts, a fake shot of a scrotum, and the full monty at the end. There is the F-bomb a-plenty, and crude humor, but overall this is a hilarious movie!

Everything that could go wrong while making a porno, does. Including Zach and Miri falling in love. Seth Rogan and Elizabeth Banks have one of the most beautiful, erotic moments I've ever seen in a non-erotic film, while showing absolutely nothing!

Written and directed by Kevin Smith, this is one movie that is definitely worth chuckling over (when the kids aren't home)!

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I blogged at "Bookin' It" reviews...How to Write a Kiss!

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