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.