Moving the blog!

Hey kids, just a heads up...I've got a new blog addy.

I won't be posting here anymore, so come on over!

http://www.kriskennedy.net/blog/

Medieval Romance Bonanza!

To sweeten the start of your week, here's some good news: there's an amazing medieval/Highlander romance bonanza giveaway waiting for you to enter right now and..wait for it…it's PRINT copies!

Yep, I know.

That's 18 medieval/Highlander romances, by some of your favorite romance authors, waiting to be won by one lucky reader. I'm so honored to be part of this. 

Look at all these gorgeous books!!

So, how to win? 

Click the image above or the link below & answer ONE question (although admittedly, it's a toughie…), and you're done! 

Part of the deal is you get signed up for the newsletter lists of the authors' participating in the giveaway, but that's a good thing, right?? Because then you get to find out whenever new medieval/Highlander romances are releasing.

Enjoy, and good luck!

Release Day-DEFIANT!

Didn't I tell you 2016 was going to be a year of releases??  

Okay, to be fair, this is a re-release, so if it sounds familiar, that's why. 

It originally came out from Simon & Schuster/Gallery Books in 2011.  It's INSANE to think that means I wrote this 6 years ago.

So, what's new?

I've revised & cleaned things up. I tweaked and clarified and tightened scenes and backstory, but was super careful to keep the basic plot and all character arcs the same. I mean, the story exists. I can't turn it into a different story just because 6 years have passed. It IS that story.

So, Jamie's just as hard, Eva's just as clever, they're both on dangerous, colliding missions, and they still have to find their way to each other through pain & darkness & the shattered shards of their hard-broken hearts.

I also revised some of the sex scenes. Okay, all of them.

AMAZON * iBOOKS * KOBO * BARNES & NOBLE

An excerpt for you!  From Eva & Jamie's first kiss...

THEY WERE EACH LEANING halfway across the table, staring at the other, angry and aroused—at least Jamie was; Eva simply looked murderously intent—when she put her hands on his shoulders, leaned forward, and touched her mouth to his.

He went still. Her lips skidded over his, exerting no more pressure than breath itself.

“What are you doing?” he demanded, but kept his voice low, for he knew intrigue, and he knew women, and if a beautiful woman had decided to kiss you in a tavern, you did not simply wrench your mouth away. Not immediately. 

“I am kissing you,” she whispered. “It is a ruse.”

It didn’t feel like a ruse to his cock, which stood at attention at the first brush of her lips. She continued forming whisper-words against his mouth, making him acutely, infuriatingly aware of her as an object of unadulterated lust. 

“They are here,” she whispered. “The brutes who took the padre.” Her slim hands gripped his shoulders more tightly.
“Talking to men at the counter.”

Jamie’s gaze tracked over without moving his face. He saw them, speaking to a pair of captains. One of them—whoever quoted the lower rate, no doubt—would be hired to transport them across the water.

Perfect.

“I do not think they would like to see my face again.”

His attention swung back to her. “What do you mean ‘again’?” he demanded, but he did it against her lips.

Their eyes met, their heads tipped back slightly, their lips barely a breath apart.

“I am of the belief they saw me,” she whispered in the abstract, veiled way she had of communicating.

Oh, the things this woman had to hide.

“Why are you ‘of this belief’?” he asked grimly. The moment those men walked back outside, with their chosen captain, he would follow.

“Because I tried to stop them from abducting Father Peter, and they struck me, and called me an impolite name. Several of them.”

His attention riveted on her more firmly. “You did what?”

“Tried to stop them.”

He cursed softly. “Did they hurt you?”

She blew out an impatient breath that ruffled across his lips. “You must focus, Jamie rogue. It is of no importance what has happened to me. What I am saying is they will recognize me. My face is something that would knock on even their stupid skulls, and they will say, ‘Why is she here, when she was also there?’ and I will have no answer for them.”

Jamie shifted his gaze again. A thick-chested man behind the counter was speaking to the brutes. He pointed toward the door beside their table.

She closed her eyes and tilted her face away, which made her lips brush across his again. “I suppose you cannot do something terrible just now, such as poke out their eyes?” she asked, sounding desperate.

“No,” he said in a calm, measured voice. “That would draw attention.”

She swallowed. “Of course. Then I will keep kissing you.” She touched her lips to his, another tiny kiss. Which may have been why he did not simply shove her back in her seat with a forearm to her throat.

Or mayhap it was the long, black hair trailing out from under the shapeless hood, framing a pale, delicate face with startlingly angular cheekbones. She did not eat enough. Her eyelashes were long, her eyes so dark grey they were almost black. And...a black and blue bruise was forming on her cheekbone.

The brutes had struck her.

Something low-down and hot fired inside him. 

He pushed his hand under her shapeless hood and shoved his fingers up high into her hair, then curled them around the back of her skull and tilted her face up to him.

Her eyes flew open. “Rogue, what are you doing?” 

“I’m going to kiss you,” he murmured back. 

Eva’s world contracted to the beat of her heart, the feel of those hard, gloved fingers gripping her head, and the fiery blue eyes staring down into hers. 

“I already am kissing you,” she whispered.

“No you aren’t,” he said, and lowered his mouth to hers.
***

So, there you go. The beginning of the downhill ride.  :)

Go get it!   Right now, ebook only, but print version coming!

AMAZON - iBOOKS - KOBO - NOOK/BARNES & NOBLE

OT-Awesome Romantic Suspense

This is a little OT, if you think about my blog as a place to find out about my historical romances. But if you think about it as a place to learn about awesome books, then we're rolling right along in-topic.

My friend & critique partner Rachel Grant writes stellar romantic suspense/thrillers: smart, sexy, full of big plots & big adventure with alpha heroes and capable heroines.
What's not to love??

Her short novel, WITHHOLDING EVIDENCE, is currently in a new boxed set featuring Navy SEAL heroes--Wet 'N Wild Navy SEALS.   

Here's an excerpt from the opening of WITHHOLDING EVIDENCE, the first meet between hero & heroine.

***

Trina Sorensen stiffened her spine and rang the town house doorbell. She couldn’t hear a chime, so
after a moment of hesitation, she followed up with a knock. Seconds ticked by without any sound of movement on the other side. She rang the bell again, and then repeated the knock for good measure. The front door was on the ground floor, next to the garage. Glancing upward, she checked out the windows of the two upper floors. No lights on, but at nine in the morning on a hot August day in Falls Church, that didn’t tell her anything. If the man she hoped to meet was home, he’d have to descend at least one flight of stairs, possibly two.

She was about to ring the bell again when the door whipped open, startling her. She stepped back, then remembered she needed to project poise and straightened to meet her target’s gaze.

Keith Hatcher was even more handsome in person than in his official navy photo, but she couldn’t let that fluster her. It just meant he’d been blessed with good genes, a rather superficial measure of a person, really.

She took a deep breath and held out her hand. “Mr. Hatcher, Trina Sorensen, historian with Naval History and Heritage Command. I’d like to ask you a few questions about Somalia.” She cringed as she said the last part. Too perky. Too eager. That was not how to approach a former navy SEAL when asking about a mission.

Sporting tousled dark hair that suggested he may have just gotten out of bed, and wearing low-rise jeans and nothing else, the man leaned an impressive bare bicep against the doorframe and raised a quizzical thick eyebrow. “Trina? Cute name.” He smiled. “It fits.” He reached out and touched the top of her head. “But I think you should go back to the day care center you escaped from and leave me alone.” He stepped back, and the door slammed shut.

She jolted back a step. He did not just pat her on the head and slam the door in her face.

Except that was exactly what Senior Chief Petty Officer Keith Hatcher had done.

She was aware she looked young, but dammit, she was thirty-one freaking years old—the same age as Hatcher. She squared her shoulders and rang the bell again. Seconds ticked by. Then minutes. She pounded with the side of her fist.

Finally the door opened. “Yes?” He leaned against the doorjamb again, this time stretching out an arm to touch the hinged side of the opening. His body language conveyed amusement mixed with annoyance.

“Senior Chief, I’m Dr. Trina Sorensen”—she never referred to herself with the pretentious title of doctor, but figured his crack about day care warranted it—“and I’m researching your SEAL team’s work in Somalia five years ago for Naval History and Heritage Command and the Pentagon. You must answer my questions.”

“Dollface, it’s Sunday morning. The only thing I must do today is jack off.”

She crossed her arms. “Fine. I can wait. It’ll be what, one, maybe two minutes?”
***

Go get this book! It's a standalone too, but you can get it for a limited time as part of the boxed set.

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1WME1eR
iBooks: apple.co/1T8X9jv
Nook: bit.ly/1T2uU67
Kobo: bit.ly/1T4RlL2
Google Play: bit.ly/1TspODz

Claiming Her-Paperback Coming!

I've heard from some readers asking about this, so thought I'd give a little update...I will absolutely be making CLAIMING HER available in paperback!

Since I'm publishing this myself, all ebook and print formatting & cover detail is on me.  It turns out I'm more inept slow on the uptake meticulous than I thought when it comes to print formatting.

It's a detailed job, with lots of cutting and pasting, followed by lots of, "What...how large should the margin be? But wait...I thought I did that...okay, I'll change that and...what? Now what??"

i.e. It's pretty time-consuming.

I'll get better at it, but for now, I decided I'd better write more books than format.

I'll be hiring out the job of  paperback formatting soon, and by sometime this summer, you'll be able to get a paperback copy of CLAIMING HER in your hot little hands, should that be the sort of thing you like having in your hot hands.

Onward, and thanks to the readers who are writing and reviewing,to say how much they love this story in the RENEGADES AND OUTLAWS collection. More on the way!

Sexy Excerpt- Claiming Her

Happy Monday!!

To celebrate it being Monday, I thought a sexy excerpt might be in order.  Or out of order, but in a good way.

If you're reading CLAIMING HER, I hope you're loving it!

If you're not…Aodh's waiting for you.  Because guess what happens?? This!!

(excerpt probably nsfw.  Okay, definitely not.)

(fyi, 'Aodh' is pronounced "Ay' and I put the faintest 'd' sound on the end, the way you'd say the beginning of "Aidan.")

***

Katarina has done something that, in retrospect, she perhaps should not have done.  In any event, Aodh is not pleased, because he fears her actions may have endangered his rebellion. He's about to, um...work it out]

She backed up another step.

His eyes were dark with intent. He meant to do this, whether or not she wished it. Her breath staggered out in unsteady gasps.

“You don’t want me to have to come and get you, lass.”

Head bent, face flaming, she took an extremely small step his direction and peeked out from under lowered lashes. He’d sat down on the edge of the bed.

Bolts of cold fire lanced across her breasts. Her breath came faster and faster as she reached out and laid her hand in his.

He pulled her to stand before him.

Her breasts heaved. They felt full, trapped. He cupped one, his hand hot through the fabric, then he slid his palm down to her waist. His fingertips pinched her chemise.

“Pull it up.”

She pulled it as far as her knees, trembling.

“Come closer.”

She did, at once stunned and stupefied. Her body felt as if it would float right up out of the window. He took her fingers, kissed her knuckles. “Lie down.”

She started to lie on the bed, but he stopped her. He patted his thighs. “On me. On your belly, lass. Right here.”

Fire flared across her cheeks. “Oh, Aodh.”

He took her hand and made her bend her knees, drop to the floor, then tugged her forward to lay her body over his thighs.

Thundering heart, whirling head, blood firing in hot pulses. The room all but spun. Hard-muscled thighs pushed against her breasts. She stared ahead at the wall, the tiny decorations of swirling patterns, hearts and clubs. He rested one palm gently on her bottom. Through the thin linen shift, it was an imprint of heat. She made a tiny sound.

“Pull it up.”

Her body jolted. She reached down for the thin fabric and tugged the chemise the rest of the way up, baring herself to the hips. “Don’t hurt me,” she whispered.

“Och, I’m going to hurt you, lass.” He skidded his palm gently over the cool curve of her bottom. “But I think I’ll make you like it.”

He lifted his hand, and brought it down hard.

Her body jerked as if lightning had surged through it, a shocking, hard shudder of…pleasure. Her head flung up, her mouth rounded around a silent cry.

He bent by her ear. “Did you like that?”
***

Oh boy....

Yay for Irish warlord heroes with (mostly) good hearts and extremely bad carnal intentions!

Amazon * iBooks * Kobo * Nook/BN


Hope you love!  It's a scorcher.

Release Day for Claiming Her!

Today's the Day!

I'm dedicating this book to all the readers over the years who've written me, demanding to know when this story book was coming out.

I have your answer: 
Today! 

Claiming Her

Ireland, 1589

He's a disreputable, dishonorable and sinfully handsome Irish warlord.  

She's an English lady who knows her duty to the Crown. 

When honor and passion collide, who will win their test of wills? 

This is a scorching hot historical with a big bad alpha hero, so get ready.

Come and get it!
Only $2.99 for a limited time.



Amazon
iBooks
Kobo
Nook/BN

Want a sexy excerpt??

(I'll assume you all shouted 'yes!')

He cupped her face and claimed her with a kiss.

It was an openmouthed, unforgiving, conquest of a kiss, his hands holding her face, pulling her down to him. She returned it with full ardor, their tongues tangling. They paused only when he leaned her back with a muttered instruction, so he could sweep the chemise up over her head and fling it away. Then she was naked before him.

He made a dark sound of approval. Cool air washed over her breasts and no matter that she’d been bared to him once before, the urge to hide was the strongest thing in her. It came to the fore, and she began to cover herself.

“No, Katy. I want to see you.”

He took her wrists and gently lifted them, parting her arms, holding them up in the air, stretched out wide, so he could stare at her body.

The breath burst from her. She closed her eyes, unable to withstand the force of desire she saw in him. For she knew it was in her too.

“I’m going to take you now.” Threat, promise, warning, it was all those things, and her body felt as if he’d strung her up on bolts of lightning. “Hard and deep.” Her wrists hung in his hands as he leaned forward and flicked his tongue across her breast. “I’m not going to stop.” He grazed her with his teeth, and her head dropped forward. “Until you’re laid out, tossing your head and crying my name.” His gaze swept up. “And then I'm going to take you harder.”

It's waiting for you now.

Go get it!

Amazon

iBooks 

16 days and counting….

May 6th

Release Day for 

Claiming Her

 This is the story that's been in the wings since 2012. 

It started out as a novella. 

"It'll be easy," the muse said.

"No problem, we got this," the muse said.

Ha.

Heads up: it is not a novella.

Heads really up: it gets scorching hot. Scorch. Ing. 

Be prepared.

Be very prepared.

/hopes you get prepared/ 

Come and get it!!

Special Preorder price

$2.99!!

Available at Amazon

& iBooks as preorder

Available everywhere May 6th.

He's a disreputable, dishonorable and sinfully handsome Irish warlord.  

She's an English lady who knows her duty to the Crown.  

When honor and passion collide, who will win their test of wills? 

Cover Reveal!

DEFIANT 

Revised, re-edited, reloaded

Coming May 25!

Sign up for the newsletter now 

to be alerted when it's released!

The Long Tail of Liberty...

A rather long and thoughtful post…skip if you're in the mood for sexy hijinks! (Go, hijinks!)

I’m no legal historian. In fact, I’m no kind of historian, unless it’s an armchair one.  Or, rather, computer-chair.  My research amuses myself, and informs my stories, that’s all.

That said, I have musings.  And sometimes, current events impinge directly on my historical sensibilities.

I write stories set in the middle ages. For a good portion of that period, liberty was dependent on how much money you could afford to pay the king or local nobleman for his 'goodwill,' or how well you fought in a ring (or again, how much money to had to hire a champion to do it for you), or how well you floated in water, or, most commonly, if the Sherriff of Nottingham was your local law-keeper (bad news for you), or some other local strong-arm was in the mood to plunder. People had very few recognized rights, and they could be compelled to do any number of things, depending on the will of the more powerful.

It was not until King Henry II that the concept of 'common law'--laws that applied to all, and could restrict the king & his agents' actions--came to be an accepted government policy. Next came Magna Carta (based on a charter of liberties from King Henry I), further restricted the government. And so on.

These were hard-fought, and hard-won victories. They were fundamental expansions of the notion of personal liberty and a curb on State's rights, & were therefore core redistributions of power.

Might did not necessarily make right anymore, at least legally.

Liberty requires strong checks on the powers of a State. 

This includes surveillance powers.  It also includes the power to compel private individuals (& companies) to engage in particular actions.

And that is the reason I hope Apple does (& think they should) win their 'appeal' against the FBI's current attempt to force Apple to give them backdoor access so the FBI can bruteforce open the phone of one of the San Bernardino shooters.

In short, this: There will always be crime. There will not always be liberty.

In fact, in the course of human history, liberty has been a rare and precious commodity for a citizenry against powerful, militarized State.

Be careful what powers you give your government, in a state of fear or anger, to encroach on the civil liberties of its citizens, even to "combat crime."  Because next time, it's going to be your civil liberties.

New Release!

Warriors and Celts and sexytimes, oh my!

It's out!

CAPTURED BY A CELTIC WARRIOR

An anthology from four bestselling & award-winning authors, with four completely new stories of sweeping adventure and reckless romance that span the ages from 1193 to 1817.   And for a little extra special fun, a jeweled dagger runs through all the stories!

Only $0.99 for a limited time.

Let me unpack the perhaps hidden tropes in the anthology:

• There are warriors.
• There are Celts. Three Scotsman and an Irishman. But wait, there's more!
• There are abductions.
• There is an abundance of sexytimes. Let me repeat: abundance.
• Things are said like: 

“Lass, you do not want what I have.” As if to prove it, he overturned his hand and dragged a calloused thumb roughly across her bottom lip.

All the breath came out of her in a hot rush. “Oh.”

From The King's Outlaw, my story in the antho, a scorching hot novella of last hopes and second chances.

He has one last hope...

Outlawed and on the run, Irishman Tadhg O’Malley has a single mission: escape with the valuable dagger of Jerusalem before a brutal nobleman hunts him down.   Trapped and almost cornered, his plan is simple: kidnap the innocent merchant with the long hair and complicated eyes and use her as camoflague to sneak through the guarded gates.  

She's given up on hope...

Once winsome and reckless, Magdalena the Tailor has had pragmatism thrust upon her.  Widowed now and barely scraping by, she pays her bills--and the extortions of corrupt officials--with reluctant goodwill, telling herself she is grateful just to be alive.  

One night, she fights back, and that changes everything.   A handsome, dangerous stranger saves her, then seduces her, then abducts her, shaking her belief about who she is, and who she can be.

Can love give them a second chance at everything? 

When a snowstorm traps them in a secluded hut, their undeniable passion flares, and their connection becomes far deeper that either ever thought possible.  As the hunters close in and danger mounts, Tadhg will have to choose between the mission he's pledged his life to, and the woman who's stolen his heart.

So...yes, right??

THE KING'S OUTLAW
by Kris Kennedy
TAKEN BY THE HIGHLANDER
by Eliza Knight
STOLEN BY A HIGHLAND ROGUE
by Vonda Sinclair
HER WICKED HIGHLANDER
by Jennifer Haymore

Go get yourself some warrior fun!!

Amazon
iBooks/iTunes
BN/Nook
Kobo

Day Four...First Kisses for the First of the Year

Day Four of our launch into the new year with Celtic heroes and scorching sexytimes.

All week long, to celebrate the first of the year, I'm sharing all the first kiss scenes from all four stories in my upcoming anthology CAPTURED BY A CELTIC WARRIOR.

 

All the heroes (three Scotsmen and an Irishman) do something pretty bad for (generally) pretty good reasons: they kidnap the heroine.  

That can’t be good…. Except it is, very good! 

Did I mention there’s a legendary dagger that runs through all the stories? 

Here, today, is the intro to the first kiss from Jennifer Haymore’s story:

HER WICKED HIGHLANDER.

Enjoy!

 

….“Having no family…” She looked away from him. “It can be lonely sometimes.”

“And your parents are gone… Died two years ago from plague, was it?”

“How do you ken so much about me?” she asked, stiffening.

“We needed to learn all we could about you once we knew Sutherland was after you.”

She frowned. She didn’t like that. Didn’t like people she didn’t know digging into her past, learning about her parents.

“Do you miss them?” he asked softly. He cupped her cheek in his palm, turning her to face him.

His palm was warm and strong and soft, and she couldn’t help herself. She leaned into it and closed her eyes. “Yes. I miss them. I miss them terribly.”

His mouth touched hers, soft and warm, and she sighed against him.

“Aila,” he murmured, his lips moving against hers. “You’re so bonny. I havena…” He pulled back and dropped his hand, and she opened her eyes. He stared at her with a look that made tingles shudder under her skin. She grabbed onto his shirt, fisting the fabric in her hands, and he made a low noise in his throat. “Dinna test my control, lass.”

A thrill of fear rushed through her, but it wasn’t the kind of fear she’d experienced when she’d thought he was going to hurt her. This was a different animal altogether.

“What if,” she asked softly, “I want to test it?”

 

You can pre-order right now at the special price of 99 cents; it releases Feb 16^th.

Celtic heroes…scorching sexytimes…what are you waiting for??

Day Three...First Kisses for the First of the Year

It's day three of our launch into the new year with Celtic heroes and scorching sexytimes.

All week long, to celebrate the first of the year, I'm sharing the first kiss scenes from all the stories in the upcoming anthology CAPTURED BY A CELTIC WARRIOR.

 

All these heroes (three Scotsman and an Irishman) do something pretty bad for (generally) pretty good reasons: they abduct the heroine.  

That can’t be good…. Except it is, very good! 

Did I mention there’s a legendary dagger that runs through all the stories? 

Here, today, is the intro to the first kiss from Vonda Sinclair’s story:

STOLEN BY A HIGHLAND ROGUE.

Enjoy!

 

Dugald has discovered he kidnapped the wrong woman. Now what is he going to do?

….He met his lady captive in the corridor. Even the dimness of the cloudy morn could not diminish the brilliance of her bonny blue eyes. Her hair had been braided and styled perfectly, but this only made him want to take the pins out, run his fingers through the silken strands, and dishevel her once again. And the rose colored dress she wore—no doubt one of Mairiana's cast-offs—fitted to Camille's lush curves perfectly.

"Did you sleep well last night?" he asked, wondering what he should call her—Camille, m'lady, madame, mademoiselle, lass?

"Oui. Are you going to take me home today?"

"Nay. Not today."

"Why not?" Temper flared in her eyes like a blue flame… lighting the fuse of his arousal. "You know Lindsay will not bring your dagger. He doesn't even know me," she said. "I am of no use to you."

Dugald did not ken that at all. She might be very useful to him, but in a far different way. She was stunningly beautiful. And although the strawberry juice no longer stained her lovely lips, he still craved a taste of them. Need curled through him, tantalizing him to act on these maddening urges which had near claimed his sanity the day before. She had told him countless times that she was unmarried.

"Who is your husband?" he asked, just to be certain, before he did something he might regret.

"I told you! I am not married!" She ground the words out in a strong French accent, intensifying his craving.

He believed her. And thank the saints she was telling the truth, for he did not think he could resist her much longer.

"Why are you looking at me like this, monsieur?"

"Like what?"

She returned his stare, her eyes growing darker. She was bold, and he liked that.

"I think you know," she murmured.

Her words tugged at him, dared him to do exactly what he wanted.

With a swift movement, he slipped one hand around her neck, drew her to him, and captured her lips with his own. Damnation, but she still tasted of strawberries. Had she eaten them for breakfast, too? So sweet and delicious that he wanted to consume her utterly.

Her small hands fisted in the plaid crossing his chest, drawing him closer. When she opened her mouth and allowed him inside, he grew so hard he felt lightheaded. He needed her. Now! Still kissing her, he lifted her off her feet, carried her into his chamber and kicked the door closed.

She gasped and pushed away from him. "What are you about, monsieur?"

He released her, enjoying her dazed expression. Aye, she looked near as stirred up as he was, her face flushed, her blue eyes darkened. "I think you know," he said, throwing her words back at her with a smile.

 

 

You can pre-order right now at the special price of 99 cents; it releases Feb 16^th.

Celtic heroes…scorching sexytimes…what are you waiting for??