Playing the Part: Exclusive Excerpt
"Long fingers winding through her hair to anchor her in the perfect spot for him to deepen the kiss."
Fire Inside: Exclusive Excerpt
"I stared into his eyes trying to breathe as his hand at my midriff slid back down, slow, light..."
Shapeshifted: Exclusive Excerpt
"Once upon a time, I dated a zombie and a werewolf. So, you know, the usual."
Sweet Salt Air: Exclusive Excerpt
The truth could cost them their friendship, but it could also free their love.
Hot cars and hot bodies once again feature in the latest installment of the Fast and Furious franchise. There are even more hotties this time around than before including series' regulars, Paul Walker and Vin Diesel, and introducing the new Big Bad, Luke Evans. Will you be seeing the movie? And much more importantly, who would you want to get fast and furious with?
Jacquelyn Frank
Forever
Ballantine / May 28, 2013 / $7.99 print / digital
After being brought back from death, police officer Jackson Waverly receives the shock of his life: he has become host to a Bodywalker, a spirit that is reborn in flesh and blood, and part of a proud, ancient race that uses its extraordinary gifts to battle dark, evil forces. Jackson’s spirit is a powerful one—none other than the Egyptian pharaoh Menes, who longs to reunite with his eternal love, the Egyptian queen Hatshepsut.
While Menes is obsessed with finding the perfect vessel for his queen, Jackson cannot stop thinking about Dr. Marissa Anderson, the gorgeous precinct shrink who keeps pushing him to confront his grief over the loss of his K-9 partner. But what Marissa really arouses most in Jackson is intense desire, which is exactly what Menes is looking for. To fight a great enemy, pharaoh and queen must join; but to host Hatshepsut, Marissa will first have to die. Fate has given Jackson a profound choice: save Marissa from Menes’s plan or keep an entire species from the brink of extinction.
Jacquelyn Frank’s newest World of Nightwalker’s novel, Forever, introduces us to the concept of Bodywalkers—when the ancient Egyptians were worshiping their Gods and practicing their art of preparing the dead for life eternal in the afterworld, they did not realize that this grab for eternal life would anger the God Ra. As a punishment, the humans are eternally barred from heaven, and their mummified bodies tether them to the mortal world. Each time they die, they are returned to the Ether, a type of limbo, where they wait until they are strong enough to Bodywalk again.
As we discovered last week, some of you have a thing for men in and out of uniform—and we do, too! Memorial Day is this coming Monday and to celebrate all of those brave men and women, we've decided to collect some of our favorite men in uniform from film.
We have classics like Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra in Anchors Away! and modern military like Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, and Edward Burns in Saving Private Ryan, and Nate Parker, Ne-Yo, Michael B. Jordan, David Oyelowo, and Tristan Wilds in Red Tails. And of course, Colin Farrell and Matthew Davis in Tigerland.
See who else we included, and don't forget to add your own pics in the comments!
Jill Sorenson
Freefall
Harlequin / May 28, 2013 / $7.99 print, $6.15 digital
HE'S HER ONLY HOPE...
Park ranger Hope Banning's plans for a little R & R are put on hold when a plane crashes at the top of a remote mountain. Hope will have to climb the summit and assess the situation. And the only climbing partner available is Sam Rutherford—the enigmatic man she spent a night with six months ago.
FOR STAYING ALIVE...
Ever since Sam lost his girlfriend in a falling accident, he insists on climbing solo. But Hope and any potential survivors need his help. As Sam and Hope set out on an emergency search-and-rescue mission, he realizes the sparks still sizzle between them. And when they learn a killer is among the survivors, they must place their trust in each other for a chance at happiness.
Jill Sorenson writes gritty romantic suspense novels, and like her earlier novels, Freefall's characters and action makes for an edge-of-your-seat adventure.
Steampunk, Burlesque, Secret Agent Re-imagining of Beauty and the Beast—are you intrigued yet? “Beauty” has been replaced with grad-student-burlesque-dancer Jolie Benoit and the “beast” is secret agent/former soldier Wesley “Hauk” Haukon, who was horrifically burned and scarred. But even that description doesn’t begin to explain how great this series has turned out to be.
Jax Garren is able to fold in socio-political commentary, an electric attraction, and magical elements into this reimagination with an effortlessness that belies the skill with which it is done. With that being said, I have the top reasons why Jax Garren needs to be added to you TBR pile…now!
Jolie <3s Hauk 4ever and so do I:
Hauk is one of my favorite book boyfriends and I might even ask him to go steady. He’s rough looking, unapologetic, raw, but fundamentally gentle, kind, sensitive and one of the most human portrayals of a damaged hero as I’ve ever seen in romance. Hauk isn’t much to look at; he was burned over 82% of his body when a fire started in his sleeping quarters while he was stationed in Afghanistan. Somehow, five years later he’s alive, but horrifically scarred. He knows women scream looking at him and his size alone would be enough to intimidate most hardened warriors, even without the scars. But here’s where the difference comes in with Hauk and other damaged heroes. He’s funny. And not just run of the mill, laugh in your head funny. As in I laughed out loud at some of the banter he and Jolie have going back and forth through this series.
After publicly self-destructing over a heartbreak a year ago, bestselling romance writer Piper James is now making nice with her publisher by agreeing to teach Hollywood's favorite action star how to act like he's in love. Only playboy Mick Blackwell has no clue what love looks like.
When a seductive heat ignites between Piper and Mick, she jumps at the chance for a bit of fun between the sheets, but with two stipulations: she’s kept out of the public eye and things end when she returns to New York. Only Mick keeps changing the rules on her. Tempted by America's favorite bad boy, Piper is wondering how far she's willing to bend...
Get a sneak peek of Robin Covington's Playing the Part (available June 10, 2013) with an exclusive excerpt of a selected scene.
The sound of screaming shook the limousine windows.
Piper shrank back into the plush interior of the vehicle, nudging up against Mick’s side and under the weight of his arm as he scooped her even closer.
“It sounds like a mob scene out there.” She turned to look at Mick, who was calm, cool, and sexily confident. Damn him. “I thought this was just a club opening.”
With season two of this Syfy drama rapidly approaching (it returns Friday, June 7, 10 pm), it’s a great time to catch up on the promising mystery/sci-fi hybrid series Continuum.
Rachel Nichols stars as über-capable cop Kiera Cameron, who was accidentally propelled back to 2012 from her spacecraft-flying, supersuit-wearing existence in 2077 when a shady criminal enterprise used a time-travel device to escape execution. The group, Liber8, was a terrorist cell fighting against the total control of society by corporations, the largest of which was run by Alec Sadler (Eric Knudsen). When Keira lands in 2013, she quickly becomes part of the modern police force, partnering with Carlos Fonnegra (Victor Webster). Our fish-out-of-water heroine gets a little help from that high-tech supersuit and her futuristic “upgrades” which also put her in contact with Alec (his company made the suit), who is now a nerdy teen with a crazy computer grid in his family’s barn.
Got all that? Good. Because now we can get down to what’s really important—the 'ships! So technically, Kiera is married with a kid in 2077 and desperately wants to get back to that family. (Even if there are hints that her husband is shady and possibly in cahoots with Old Alec to do bad things.) Ahem. So the shipping is on the down-low and mostly implied at this point, but shipping is all about having faith when canon tells you not to! Or, uh, something like that. Anyway, here’s the down-low on the potential romances brewing for our kickass lady cop.
“You like movies?”
Here's the trailer for Joseph Gordon Levitt's new movie, Don Jon, where a porn-obsessed guy tries to figure out how to sustain a real-life love, played by Scarlett Johansson. Here's the synopsis:
A New Jersey guy dedicated to his family, friends, and church, develops unrealistic expectations from watching porn and works to find happiness and intimacy with his potential true love.
Don Jon opens in theaters October 18.
Are you intrigued?
Molly Harper
A Witch’s Handbook of Kisses and Curses
Pocket / May 28, 2013 / $7.99 print, $7.59 digital
Nola Leary would have been content to stay in Kilcairy, Ireland, healing villagers at her family’s clinic with a mix of magic and modern medicine. But a series of ill-timed omens and a deathbed promise to her grandmother have sent her on a quest to Half-Moon Hollow, Kentucky, to secure her family’s magical potency for the next generation. Her supernatural task? To unearth four artifacts hidden by her grandfather before a rival magical family beats her to it.
Complication One: The artifacts are lost somewhere in vampire Jane Jameson’s occult bookshop. Complication Two: Her new neighbor Jed Trudeau keeps turning up half-naked at the strangest times, a distraction Nola doesn’t need. And teaming up with a real-life Adonis is as dangerous as it sounds, especially since Jed’s got the face of an angel and the abs of a washboard. Can Nola complete her mission before falling completely under his spell?
A Witch’s Handbook of Kisses and Curses is Molly Harper’s latest trip to Half-Moon Hollow, Kentucky—home to vampires, werewolves and now witches, oh my! Well, maybe just one witch; Nola Leary has come all the way from the very small village of Kilcairy, Ireland, to find Gilbert Wainwright, former lover of her grandmother, although she really doesn’t want to think about that too much. The secret Nana Fee has been keeping all these years is that Gilbert Wainwright is Nola’s grandfather. While Mr. Wainwright might have left Ireland without knowing his passionate encounters with Fiona led to more than just happy memories, Fiona did entrusted him with the McGavock witches’ mystical treasures for safekeeping.
Lanie Heron isn't looking for love-no surprise, considering her last serious relationship nearly got her killed. So when Lanie propositions Hop Kincaid, all she wants is one wild night with the hot-as-hell biker who patrols with the Chaos Motorcycle Club . . .
For Hop, Lanie has always been untouchable. She's too polished and too classy for his taste. But when she gives Hop the once-over with her bedroom eyes and offers him a night in paradise, he can't say no. And he doesn't regret it when he finds that Lanie is the best thing that's ever happened to him-in or out of bed. Now the trick will be to convince her of that.
Get a sneak peek of Kristen Ashley's Fire Inside (available June 4, 2013) with an excerpt of a specially selected scene. After you've read the excerpt, don't forget to comment to enter for a chance to win a copy of....
I settled in and stared into the darkness.
Hop was pissed.
Hop was gone.
Hop was the kind of man who didn’t let you get a word in edgewise when you were somewhat arguing but it was also somewhat not arguing because he wouldn’t let you get a stinking, stupid word in edgewise.
Voyeurism is the practice of spying on people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other actions usually considered to be of a private nature. Voyeurs are most commonly male, though it’s not restricted to gender. For some, the thrill of voyeurism is the secretive nature of the act—the individual being viewed is often unaware of the voyeurs interest. Cameras, webcams, and photographs are tools of the trade. When a voyeur becomes obsessed with their subject, however, it can often lead to stalking. Often regarded as being sexual in nature, it can also be done in a nonsexual nature.
Reality TV is a prime example of nonsexual voyeurism. Shows like Teen Mom, Survivor, and American Idol all give the viewing public an intimate interaction with an particular subject or group with limited outside influence.
Voyeurism often goes hand in hand with exhibitionism. Exhibitionism is the practice of engaging in a deliberate manner in order to garner attention. There are those who like to watch and those who like to be watched. There is no harm, in my honest opinion, in engaging in voyeurism or exhibitonism if all parties and acts involved are consensual. Non-consensual voyeurism and exhibitionism, of course, is a crime.
Art, film, and literature has long used voyeurism as a medium in their creations: Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, David Lynch’s Blue Velvet, and D.J.’s Caruso Disturbia all used voyeurism as the plot device. Master painters such as Rembrandt depicted half clothed woman in various acts of perceived unobserved normality, while Velasquez focused more on how the images are observed, often using an inanimate object to bisect the picture, forcing the viewer to “peep” at the subjects. Nabokov’s Lolita, Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures Through The Looking Glass, and Nadzam’s Lamb are all classic tales which have an underlying theme of voyeurism. Even music has capitalized on it; who doesn’t know the stalker's anthem song, “Every Breath You Take” by the Police?
Yesterday, in partnership with Alloy Entertainment, Amazon announced Kindle Worlds, “the first commercial publishing platform that will enable any writer to create fan fiction based on a range of original stories and characters and earn royalties for doing so.”
Amazon and Alloy have already secured permission to publish fan fiction based on Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl, and The Vampire Diaries, and the World launches in June “with over 50 commissioned works from authors such as #1 New York Times best-selling author Barbara Freethy, Bram Stoker Award-winner John Everson and RITA Award-winner Colleen Thompson.”
With a whole new World awaiting readers, what source material would you like to see made into fan fiction for Kindle Worlds?
Nancy Gideon
Prince of Shadows
Simon & Schuster / May 27, 2013 / $5.69 digital
The fourth original eBook in the steamy Shadows paranormal romance series features a woman forced to choose a mate, and a Shifter prince who may need to give up everything to win her.
Held hostage until she chooses a mate, Kendra Terriot must play a careful courtship game when choosing among the dangerous Shifter heirs. As a prince in the House of Terriot, Cale knows he can be the leader his clan needs with Kendra at his side, but first he must learn to become the kind of man she desires. In a treacherous race for the crown, where weakness means death, the only way to win her trust could mean surrendering his throne. But the only way to win her heart could mean letting her go…
Cale Terriot has loved Kendra Terriot since they were children. Sheltered Kendra has been forcefully brought back to live among the Shifters and ordered to choose one of the Terriot princes as a mate. The one she chooses will gain the throne, when king Bran Terriot dies. Unwilling to let anyone else have Kendra, Cale declares his intent to make her his queen, even if it means he must fight his brothers to do so. In the shifter world, the strongest survive and the weakest die. And family loyalty is not guaranteed. Cale knows this only too well.
It’s that time again, where I gross you out and make you dirty giggle in your office. I can’t believe this is my fourth squick words post; I'd have thought I wouldn’t have to do this anymore. That my posts would serve as a warning of what words not to use. Alas, no one listens and I am sufficiently grossed out once again. So without further ado, let's squick.
Folds: I don’t know about you, but when I hear a vagina described as folds I think one of two things: either folding laundry or folding origami.
Speaking of words to describe vaginas, what is with the references to highways and bodies of water? Channels, tunnels and caves, what are we, riding on the Autobahn?
Flaps: When I see the word flaps in a novel, I automatically think trucker flaps. You know the ones with the half naked ladies on them that hang over your tires? Alas, there is nothing sexy about your flaps. If anyone put the words moist and flap together, I think my eyes would burn.
Today we're pleased to reveal the gorgeous cover for Cat Devon's Love Your Entity, a followup to Sleeping with the Entity and The Entity Within (out in July). Looks like we're in for another deliciously sexy paranormal treat.
In Love Your Entity, writer heroine Sierra discovers that her life is turning out to be way stranger than fiction! Here's the official description:
SOMETIMES LOVE IS A MATTER
Sierra Brennan can inherit her great-uncle’s historic Chicago townhouse under one condition: She must live there for thirty consecutive days. What could possibly go wrong? As a writer and a ghost whisperer, Sierra has a vast imagination and a brave spirit. But not even she is prepared for the gorgeous—and naked—vampire who greets her at the door.
OF LIFE AND UN-DEATH
Ronan McCoy has spent the past century waiting to come home…to this house. The presence of the beautiful, brazen Sierra is one complication he doesn’t expect. The other is Hal, a dangerous ghost and original member of Al Capone’s gang who’s dead-set on revenge. What is a formerly indentured vampire supposed to do to get a moment’s peace? All he knows for sure is that he must protect Sierra from Hal. But once he has her in his arms, can he ever let her go? Life—and love—is becoming stranger than fiction for Sierra…and more delicious than she and Ronan could have ever imagined...
Love Your Entity will be available December 31, 2013.
Nurse Edie Spence is once again called upon to save a life…and this time, it’s personal. Can her new community of zombies, vampires, and shapeshifters come to her rescue when she needs them most?
When Edie was fired from her paranormal nursing job at County Hospital, her whole world came crashing down. Now she’s is once again shaken to her core. Her mother is deathly ill and there’s only one thing that will save her: vampire blood. But with the paranormal community shunning Edie, where can she obtain it…without losing her own life in the process?
SHAPESHIFTED
Edie hopes to procure it at her new job at the clinic across town, where the forces of evil loom large. Vampire gang wars are rampant. Old underground enemies are rising to the surface. And Edie’s zombie ex-boyfriend has arrived at the scene—but is he the same man he used to be? And what should she make of the enigmatic doctor with whom she shares an unexpected connection? She’ll have to figure it out soon, because all hell is about to break loose—literally—and time is running out…
Get a sneak peek of Cassie Alexander's Shapeshifted (available June 4, 2013) with an excerpt of Chapters 1 & 2.
Chapter 1
I’d lost fifteen pounds in six months.
Being a nurse, I’d run through the worst-case scenarios first: cancer, diabetes, TB. When I’d checked my blood sugars and cleared myself of coughs and suspicious lumps, I was left with the much more likely diagnosis of depression.Which was why I was here, even though here was an awkward place to be.
[Log in or register to read the full excerpt of Shapeshifted...]
Acheron and Styxx, twin brothers not of blood but bonded together by the will of the Gods. Not since Caine and Abel has there been a story of two brothers whose relationship is such a tangle of jealously, pain, and rage. In Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter series, Acheron is the leader of the Dark-Hunters. His history goes back over 11,000 years and begins in the Atlantean pantheon. It was foretold to the Atlantean Goddess of Destruction Apollymi that the birth of her son, Apostolos (Acheron), would herald the destruction of the Atlantean Pantheon and bring about the death of all their Gods. So the Gods ordered Apollymi to kill her unborn son. To save him, Apollymi removed him from her womb and put him into the womb of the Queen Aara, Queen of Didymos.
Apollymi twinned him to the son of the King and Queen and tied his life force to that of their own son so they would not destroy him upon his birth.
The boys were born identical to each other, except for one inescapable difference—where Styxx’s eyes are blue, Acheron has the silver swirling eyes of a God, and it was from the moment they opened their eyes that their lives of turmoil began.
“What happened?” I asked.
He looked away.
Kneeling in front of him, I gently brushed the blond hair away from his swollen cheek. “Tell me.”
“She hugged Styxx.”
I knew without asking who she was. He’d been with our mother. I’d never understood how she could be so loving to me and Styxx and yet so cruel to Acheron. “And?”
“I wanted a hug, too.”
Then I saw it. The telltale sign of a boy who wanted nothing more than his mother’s love. —Acheron
Find your future faves with this delightfully convenient shopping list of romance novels coming out in June. We’ve divided them up by subgenre to make it easier for those who’ve got a very specific obsession and there are some great books to look forward to—from steampunk vampires and Dommes to e-serials and a very special motorcycle club. Don’t forget to take this printable version with you when it’s time to shop!
| Heroes and Heartbreakers June 2013 Shopping List! | ||||||
| Paranormal/Urban Fantasy/SfR | ||||||
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A new, yet very old, vampire comes to TV this fall—Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays the titular role of Dracula in the latest incarnation of the legendary vampire.
Here's the show's premise:
The series introduces Dracula as he arrives in London, posing as an American entrepreneur who maintains that he wants to bring modern science to Victorian society. In reality, he hopes to wreak revenge on the people who ruined his life centuries earlier. There's only one circumstance that can potentially thwart his plan: Dracula falls hopelessly in love with a woman who seems to be a reincarnation of his dead wife.
The trailer shows Dracula in an ambiguous light; of course there's the whole vampiric side to him, but he is also capable of emotion, it seems. The producers behind Downton Abbey are also responsible for this, and the director is the same one who worked with Rhys Meyers on The Tudors. With that kind of pedigree, and Rhys Meyers, it seems that the show will at least be lovely to look at.
Will you watch?
Towards the end of season three, Gabrielle Miller (an actress well known in Canada) guest starred on Lost Girl as the ringleader for a small coven of witches. She had enough power to cause a bit of trouble for Bo and the gang, but when it came down to it, she was no match for Bo’s amped up strength. Whether Bo’s help is thanks to friend or foe we’re still not sure yet, but will hopefully discover quickly when the new run begins.
The witches portrayed in Lost Girl were of the suburban variety, complete with talismans and herbal remedies in their retinue, and practicing their ‘craft’ behind closed doors. In fiction, you have everything under the sun when it comes to the composition of a witch. From the green-skinned Wicked Witch in L. Frank Baum’s (and Gregory Maguire’s) stories to the dark, addictive Chess Putnam series by Stacia Kane, no altar stone is left unturned.
In fact, searching for popular fiction that contains this variation of the supernatural provides results that could possibly rival the vast collection of vampire novels out there. From this list, it’s hard to narrow down the best of the best when it comes to witchy literature, but let’s see if a cross section of this subgenre will help.
