Excerpt from Kayelle Allen: At The Mercy of Her Pleasure

As promised, today I bring you an excerpt from Kayelle Allen's

At The Mercy of Her Pleasure.

 

AND A GIVEAWAY

 

"Thank you for popping in to read today. As my gift, please accept The Tarthian Empire Companion Book, First Edition. This is 23 pages of images and info about Tarth and all the other places in the empire. When you click it, this 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/seeTarthCity"

Blurb:
At the Mercy of Her Pleasure will be out of print after February 28th, so this is your last chance to grab a copy of the Loose Id edition. It will be re-released with slightly different material in the fall, along with a new sequel, and its previous one.

Antonello Brothers 1: At the Mercy of Her Pleasure

When the mission goes wrong, risking pleasure is the least of her worries, but Captain NarrAy Jorlan can't get professional thief Senth Antonello out of her mind -- or her heart.

Reader warning: This book is about a professional thief. The author claims no liability for items missing once the book is open, including hearts.


Excerpt:
NarrAy returns to her cabin aboard ship after a debriefing. Because she is a Better, an enhanced human, she has become attuned to Senth. She can physically sense when he is in danger.

All People's Liberation Army Ship Vandal

Officers' Quarters

NarrAy unlocked her cabin and entered.

"Senth?" A darkened, empty room greeted her. She set a hand over her chest. Tight. Hard to breathe for a moment. She shook off the feeling. Guess Senth went for chow. She headed back into the corridor.

"Warning. Weight limit exceeded." The gender-neutral, robotic voice sounded as if it had come from inside her cabin.

NarrAy poked her head back inside. The tightness in her chest increased. "Senth?" His bagbot had been activated; its lights were blinking. She entered the room and shut the door behind her. "Lights on full."

Ambient lighting went to bright.

"Warning," the bagbot announced again. "Weight limit exceeded. Please remove items until optimum weight condition achieved."

NarrAy approached the bagbot. "What the..." It swayed like a drunkard.

"Mmmph!"

"Senth!" NarrAy grabbed the retractable doors and forced them apart.

He fell out of the bot and collapsed onto the floor, gasping for breath.

She helped Senth to the bed. "Who did this to you? What happened? I'm calling security."

"No!" He clutched her arm. "NarrAy. Sorry." He took shallow breaths. "My fault."

"What happened?" She picked up a booklet from the desk and used it to fan him. "Are you all right?"

He grunted and turned on his side, doubled over.

"I'm calling sick bay. You --"

"No! NarrAy." He shook his head and took a deep breath. "My fault. I was trying...test. To see if...if..." His hand tightened on her arm as he looked away from her. "So stupid."

"I don't understand, Senth. What happened?"

"I was bored, so I…" He pushed his face against the bed, avoiding her gaze. "I break into bagbots all the time. I thought I'd try breaking out of one."

"You did what?" She sank to the floor beside the bed to be at eye level with him. "Senth, you could've been killed!"

"Once I got the doors closed, the bot kept trying to compact itself."

All at once she glimpsed the future she'd have with Senth if she pursued him. Her wild missions paled compared to the thought of a life full of stunts like this one. Finding him locked inside some bagbot or cabinet or safe. Having him risk his freedom for the sake of a few rare coins or an old locket like the one he'd stolen for her. Thievery commonplace in her life? Her parents would never, ever have approved.

Which was why she had to give that future a chance.

 

Find at:
Loose Id
Amazon
Amazon (Print)
Powells (Print)
Barnes and Noble
iTunes
Books-A-Million
ARe

Bio:

Kayelle Allen is a multi-published, award-winning Science Fiction Romance author. Her unstoppable heroes and heroines include contemporary characters, role-playing immortal gamers, warriors who purr, and agents who find the unfindable.

Twitter
Facebook
Pinterest
Romance Lives Forever Newsletter http://eepurl.com/G3YND
Homeworld http://kayelleallen.com
Unstoppable Heroes Blog http://kayelleallen.com/blog

Last Friday of the Month Recipe, J. D. Faver's Irish Potato Soup & an excerpt from Bad Karma

 

 

How can one not like a recipe that is called Irish Potato Soup, I'm drooling already.

J.D. Faver’s Family Recipe Irish Potato Soup
 

 

The Irish version of chicken soup came over on the boat with my ancestors during the potato famine. I updated it as I rarely have time to milk the cow and skim the cream off the morning’s milk. We call it “Irish penicillin” because it fixes you right up, no matter what ails you.

3 pounds peeled russet potatoes cut into chunks
1 medium onion, diced
3 stalks celery with leaves, chopped
3 cans chicken stock or water with chicken bouillon cubes
Salt
White pepper
1 tall can evaporated milk
1 stick butter or margarine

Place potatoes, celery and onion in a large stockpot. Add enough chicken stock or water (with bouillon cubes) to generously cover. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and mash the vegetables, slightly. I just use a potato masher or a fork against the side of the pan. You still want it to be chunky, but mashing part of it makes it rich and creamy. Add entire stick of butter and can of evaporated milk. Add white pepper and salt to taste.

Blurb:

With a vengeful stalker on her trail and a hurricane in the Gulf, Skyler Danforth relocates to South Padre Island only to find a new danger when her neighbor, Zach Bailey takes her heart by storm. Sky tries to fit in and be patient when she realizes she is falling fast for Zach, but he's on the rebound and cautious. Sky is a nurse and after two attempts on her life, moves to South Padre to live with her baby sister in hopes of eluding her stalker.

Cassie, a brilliant prodigy, is in over her brainy head when a local heart-breaker and fire fighter, Javier Rios pursues her. He is attracted to her natural innocence and beauty, but thinks she is only a restaurant delivery girl. He falls hard for the geeky, Master’s degree wielding Marine Biologist.

When the storm comes ashore and the island is evacuated, Sky and Cassie are trapped in the fortress-like hospital with a woman in labor, a heart attack victim and the stalker. Locked out, Zach and Javi use their own unique talents to breach the impenetrable medical facility, each sacrificing something of great personal value in the process. The easy going Zach is forced to step way outside his comfort zone and fight to protect the woman he loves.

Excerpt:
 

Skyler was embarrassed. She’d practically thrown herself at Zach and he wasn’t all that interested. Still, he’d kissed her and it was an amazing kiss, stirring her insides like a blender on high speed. She licked her lips, trying to taste its remnants

Zach walked along beside her, but he seemed preoccupied. At least she didn’t have to make conversation. She heaved a little sigh of relief when she spied the house with her Audi parked in front. Cassie was awake by now and she might have prepared breakfast.

“Thank you, Zach for taking me for a walk.” She tried to avoid his penetrating gaze. “I enjoyed it.”

“So did I.”

She flashed him a nervous smile, noting his serious expression. Those green eyes could sure look grim.

He shoved both fists in the pockets of his swim trunks. “I think I gave you the wrong impression.”

Sky ducked her head and swallowed. Yeah, I thought you wanted me to kiss you.

Zach cleared his throat. “The kiss was great, but it’s just that...”

“Don’t worry about it. I shouldn’t have...”

He held up his hand, effectively silencing her. “It’s just that I haven’t kissed anyone in a while and it took me by surprise.” He stared down at her, trying to gauge her reaction.

“Well, I...I haven’t kissed anybody in a long time either and if I misinterpreted your interest, I’m sorry.” She finished all in a rush, aware that her color was rising. Damn that blush reflex.

One side of his mouth quirked up in a lop-sided grin. “You didn’t misinterpret a thing.”

Sky met his gaze, a shiver playing around her spine.

Zach’s fingers grazed her cheek and he bent down to place a gentle kiss against her mouth.

The fluttering of butterfly wings filled her chest. When he drew away he stood gazing down at her, which made her feel tongue-tied. She sucked in a deep breath and blew it out all at once. “Well, now I know.” She grinned up at him, trying to maintain some semblance of control.

He grinned back. “Now you know.”

 

To Buy:

Amazon

Bio:

J.D. Faver lives near Houston, Texas. She writes steamy contemporary romance and romantic thrillers/mystery/suspense.

She loves to kill people...on virtual paper, that is. Although she writes daily, she still finds time to enjoy family and friends.

She is a foodie and an adventurous cook. Determined to preserve generations of family recipes, she is publishing a series of cookbooks entitled A Texan in the Kitchen.

All other interests (painting, drawing, sewing, quilting, crocheting, weaving, stained glass and pottery) have taken a back seat since they require hands-on participation which is difficult if your fingers are always on the keyboard.

An active member of several Houston writer's organizations, she belongs to National RWA and is a member of Houston chapters.
She is owned by two cats and a small, yappy rescue dog. As a former educator and healthcare professional, she is an advocate for children, animals and elderly/disabled individuals.

She would rather be sailing or on a beach somewhere, but if not, you can probably find her with her fingers on a keyboard, pouring word images onto the virtual films playing in her head.

 

Find J.D.:
 

Website
Blog
Twitter
Amazon Author Page
Facebook
Pinterest

 

Meet Author Kayelle Allen and How to Write a Series

 Today, I'm pleased to bring you Kayelle Allen, seriously, one of the busiest women I know and her post on writing a series.

 

And don't forget her excerpt from At the Mercy of Her Pleasure on Saturday.

AND A GIVEAWAY

"Thank you for popping in to read today. As my gift, please accept The Tarthian Empire Companion Book, First Edition. This is 23 pages of images and info about Tarth and all the other places in the empire. When you click it, this 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/seeTarthCity"

 

What Was I Thinking? 

The alternate title for this could be "You Can't Write a SciFi Series Without Losing Your Mind" but I'll settle for the shorter one. Thanks for inviting me today, LA. I appreciate being part of your blog. I know you're busy -- you're an author and have a real life at the same time. That's two full-time jobs right there, not counting family or a day job.

When I started writing the series I've undertaken, I did it because it seemed like the smart thing to do. Writers -- especially SciFi writers -- create new worlds and civilizations, and then craft an entire book around them. Next book, they start all over from scratch. I could not imagine doing that. If I was going to do a bang up job on writing a series, I decided I'd write more than one book in it. I'd get my money's worth, so to speak.

So I sat down and over a period of days, hand sketched my version of the Milky Way galaxy, and decided I needed a history for it. Not past, mind you -- future history. I spent months writing details for that. I wasn't ready for publication yet. I wasn't even ready to write a book yet. I was just world building. I know most people probably don't spend that kind of time, but since I planned to write multiple books, I wanted the details to be right.

Plus, I was scared of being rejected, so the longer I could put off writing, the better. I put it off for about twenty years. I finally realized time was sailing past and I hadn't done what I set out to do, so I knuckled down and started writing. Once I had the plot done for the first story, I wrote it quickly. I started in November, finished it in February, and it was published in July. The next book came out that December. Wham bam thank you ma'am. It was great fun.

But then I realized I had a slew of other books to write, and I needed to make sure the details all jived. I needed a "bible" of details. I had kept notes from the beginning, mind you. I was the queen of advance prep, but I had more work to do. For one thing, I had an alien character with a cat-like language. I developed a lexicon of words, wrote detailed info on how they spoke, and listed an entire bevy of handy phrases to know.

The thing with a series is you need to make sure your left-handed protagonist doesn't become right-handed in book three, unless there's a good reason for it. He should keep the one blue eye, one brown eye all the way through the series. If he's a level 19 thief in the Thieves' Guild in book one, he shouldn't be an 18 in book two unless he's been demoted. Keeping the details straight means keeping notes.

I use combinations of things. I have Excel spreadsheets, documents, lexicons, and lists, and an enormous collection of images to remind myself what something looks like. Was I ever excited to discover Pinterest! I have an entire board there just for two characters. Pinterest can be a writer's dream.

One part of my series takes place in the Tarthian Empire, and there are currently 22 inhabited planets. Naturally I had to write a bit about each one. You can tour them on my website. http://www.kayelleallen.com/TTC-Home.html

If any of you are thinking about writing a series, I'm not suggesting you can't write it unless you spend ages developing your world. But I do think you should write it well enough, with the details in such good order that people will think you did. And please do the number one thing I did when creating it: have a blast.

Blurb:
At the Mercy of Her Pleasure will be out of print after February 28th, so this is your last chance to grab a copy of the Loose Id edition. It will be re-released with slightly different material in the fall, along with a new sequel, and its previous one.

Antonello Brothers 1: At the Mercy of Her Pleasure

When the mission goes wrong, risking pleasure is the least of her worries, but Captain NarrAy Jorlan can't get professional thief Senth Antonello out of her mind -- or her heart.

Reader warning: This book is about a professional thief. The author claims no liability for items missing once the book is open, including hearts.


Loose Id
Amazon
Amazon (Print)
Powells (Print)
Barnes and Noble
iTunes
Books-A-Million
ARe

Bio:

Kayelle Allen is a multi-published, award-winning Science Fiction Romance author. Her unstoppable heroes and heroines include contemporary characters, role-playing immortal gamers, warriors who purr, and agents who find the unfindable.

Twitter
Facebook
Pinterest
Romance Lives Forever Newsletter http://eepurl.com/G3YND
Homeworld http://kayelleallen.com
Unstoppable Heroes Blog http://kayelleallen.com/blog