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Seven days and counting ...

8/25/2014

While other less tropical climes in these wonderful United States are beginning to feel a hint of fall in the air, sunny Florida remains solidly in the sweaty grip of summer. This is the time of year when the Atlantic hurricane season starts to assert itself and we develop a near-epic yearning from even a brief respite from the unrelenting heat and humidity.

But this Labor Day will be a momentous occasion in the Mardis household. My first full-length novel, The Shore Thing, will be released this Monday, Sept. 1. My goal of being a published novelist has gone from distant dream to distinct possibility to, well, a sure thing. Technically, this will be my second published book because in July 2013, I self-published an e-novella titled Getting Her Money's Worth as a tribute to a close friend who lost her years long battle with cancer-related illnesses. It's the story of two friends, two fates and two little time.

As thrilled as I was to see that book listed on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads and Smashwords, it doesn't compare to the excitement yet to come. And this is only the beginning. My second contemporary romance novel, Shore Feels Right, is scheduled for a Nov. 3 release.

Liquid Silver Books is publishing both Shore novels as part of my Gulf Shore series, and I'm busy writing the third installment, tentatively titled Shore to Please, as I type this. I hope as summer slides into fall in your part of the world, you'll travel vicariously to the land of perpetual summer and spread your beach blanket in the sugar sands of Gulf Shore. I'll be waiting for you with a pina colada and some sunscreen in hand.

To pre-order The Shore Thing, visit

http://www.lsbooks.com/pre-order-coming-soon-romance-books-c322.php

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Psychic Menage series by Houston Havens

8/22/2014

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Today, I'm featuring a novel series that's definitely different and probably unlike anything you've ever read before. It's difficult to categorize this Liquid Silver Books author because she crosses so many genre lines.

Hello everyone, my name is Houston Havens and Annette has allowed me to invade her beautiful blog here to post my COMING SOON news.

For all who enjoyed Sinful Surrender, Book 1 of my Psychic Ménage series, that “edge of the seat” waiting is nearly over.

Book 2 is coming out this fall, and here's a sneak preview of the cover.

For those of you who haven’t discovered me yet, it’s only fair for me to give you a heads up: I’m NOT your normal erotic romance author. I’m an Irish lass who can’t be kept inside that “standard” author’s box that most publishers expect.

But I did find a brave publisher who took a chance on me and published Sinful Surrender of my multigenre series: erotic, paranormal, romance, sci-fi, fantasy, futuristic, ménage (MFMM & MFM), dystopian, post-apocalyptic, suspense with a flavor of light BDSM. A first in the romance and erotic romance world....and I’m proud to say, from all the rave four- and five-star reviews and best-sellers lists at ARe and Amazon (UK and USA), I didn’t disappoint them or my readers.

So, for those of you who dare to walk the wide side and take that leap of faith, or for those who long for a change in reading material ... check me out!

Below is a description for Phantom Desire, and for those who haven’t read Sinful Surrender, you’ll find its blurb below this.

Mind traveler Chandra Lamar is on the run, not only from her post-catastrophic dystopian government but from a past she can’t remember. A psychic vision pushes her to recall her real purpose for being, but it’s a ghost that awakens her desires for a life she feels she’ll never have. Both push her to remember the past because it threatens what she wants in the now: the Nodin men.

Andonis Nodin battles to accept his failures. The heavy burden nearly breaks him when he can’t save the ones he loves from the grim reaper’s grip. He questions his desire for Chandra, the woman he now blames for the death around him. Nikias finds true love with Chandra in his arms but is desperate to stop her from seeking revenge on a mission he knows is a one-way trip. Ortello knows that for them to recapture the love they once felt for each other, he must be willing to let her go. But overcoming his obsession to make Chandra his and his alone isn’t easy.

Will Chandra go through with the vengeance in her heart or give it up for love? Who is the powerful woman in her haunting visions, and will those revealing apparitions crumble her world with the Nodin clan? Does Chandra find true love in the arms of the Nodin men, or does her Phantom Desire forever own her heart?

And now, Sinful Surrender

Top psychic spy Fay Avalon saw too much on her latest mind-traveling mission and is now on the run from her post-catastrophic dystopian government, searching for the truth and proof. She escapes but is shot down, landing in the arms of the enemy.

In Drakker and Arlo’s world, women are so rare the men have accepted a polyandrous lifestyle. When the brothers stumble upon Fay unconscious in the wreckage of an aircraft, they’re immediately attracted to her. Arlo wants to keep her, but Drakker knows they can’t. They must take her to their brother Logan Abán, leader of their people.

Logan struggles with trusting anyone, even himself. When a beautiful, intelligent, and intriguing woman falls into their laps, his denied desires for intimacy challenge his need to trust the spy. He’s frustrated by romantic Arlo’s claims of her innocence. Even when pragmatic and dominating Drakker defends her as well, Logan refuses to trust his gut.

Can one woman satisfy the diverse desires of three men? Will Logan’s fears be realized by betrayal? Is Fay to be sentenced to death as a spy, suffering a fate worse than death by being returned to her government as a traitor, or will she find a new life and love as the wife of three sexy brothers?

Book buying link

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sinful-Surrender-Psychic-M%C3%A9nage-Book-ebook/dp/B00J1RDFUU
:

Author bio
Houston Havens retired from a successful modeling career and an adventurous jet-set lifestyle to set the world on fire with her erotic romance books. A tenacious Irish lass, she strives to entertain with seductive stories created from her decadent imagination and traces of a provocative lifestyle she may or may not admit to.

Her interest in the paranormal, fascination with quantum science, passion with myths, and the lure of her mysterious Celtic Irish-Druid bloodlines are combined with generally unknown truths, strange facts, and questionable fiction. Her novels reflect a mix of the past, present, and future, with sexy blends of futuristic science fiction, paranormal fantasy, western romance, and always love everlasting. An author of six romances, a seven-book erotic romance series, and numerous articles in literary magazines, she has two award-winning blogs. Stop by for a visit and leave a comment at http://houstonhavens.wordpress.com.

Author links

Website: http://houstonhavensauthor.wix.com/houstonhavens

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HoustonHavens

Facebook: www.facebook.com/HoustonHavens

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/104340584560714468515/posts

Tumblr: http://houstonhavens.tumblr.com

Booklikes http://authorhoustonhavens.booklikes.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/24819699-houston-havens

Newsletter signup: http://wordpress.us3.list-manage2.com/subscribe?u=62596b320d3ea4fb2a2f476c9&id=7c4395ff3f

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/houstonhavens/

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuOpU6OsngnhTac_JvTLItQ

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First Choice, Second Chance by Lynn Rae

8/19/2014

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Today we’re going to talk with Paul Ellison, who appears in Lynn Rae’s new small-town contemporary romance, First Choice, Second Chance.

Welcome, Paul. It’s great having you here with us today.

Thanks, it’s good to be here.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

That’s a tricky request since I’m not especially interesting. I live in the same small town I grew up in, I design electronic systems, and I’m in the process of re-landscaping my yard. Other than that, I’m your average Midwestern middle-aged guy. Although I don’t really watch football or grill or get into mowing my lawn. Hmm.

Landscaping sounds like a nice hobby. What’s your favorite plant?

Right now I’m planting a lot of native asters and buddleia for the butterflies, but what I really want to do is put a bog in my front yard. I think my neighbors would object to that, however, so at this point I’m just going to do a rain garden, which means I’ll get to buy some lobelia I’ve had my eye on, probably pick up a few asclepias.

I don’t even know what any of that meant other than butterflies. How about your family?

Well, I lost my wife a few years ago, but my daughter, Courtney, still lives here, along with my sister and her family, so there’s plenty of folks to go around. Maybe too many. They often accuse me of hiding away in my workshop rather than getting out and about, which they think I should be doing by now.

I’m sorry to hear about your wife. What sort of things can get you to socialize in a small town? I imagine you know everyone already.

It’s true, I do know almost everyone I see around here. My sister has asked me to sit in on a committee she just organized to restore a statue here, and so I’m busy with that. I’ve also met a new person as a result, Emily Fontaine, who also serves on the committee. She’s very nice.

Your eyes just lit up when you mentioned her.

They did? Oh, well, that’s probably because I’m supposed to go over to her apartment in a few minutes and fix her dryer, which I should be able to do considering I have a degree in electrical engineering. But she’s nice. Very nice.

I believe you mentioned that before. What does she look like?

She’s ah, very nice. But young. Much younger than me. So there’s nothing going on there.

If you say so. It sounds as if you have another pressing engagement, Paul.

No, I’m not engaged to her, or getting engaged. We just met. I’m sure she has lots of perfectly appropriate young men asking her out. Not that I’m going to ask her out.

With that, I think we’ll conclude our interview with Paul Ellison, from First Choice, Second Chance by Lynn Rae.

Links

Buy the book: on Amazon, http://tinyurl.com/m4txqz7; at Liquid Silver Books, http://tinyurl.com/m4txqz7; from Barnes & Noble, http://tinyurl.com/nteudaj.

Learn more about Lynn Rae and her books at www.lynnraewrites.com.

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Drama Queen by Elle Rush

8/17/2014

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I'm delighted to welcome fellow Liquid Silver Books author Elle Rush to my blog to discuss her latest release, Drama Queen.

I’m much more suited to be a writer than an actress. I know this because I made a movie once and it was a disaster.

If you wanted to measure how bad it was, professionals referred to it as Category Six – Day of Destruction. Instead of bringing down the house, we brought down Chicago. At least the special effects guys did.

Category Six was a disaster film shot in my hometown of Winnipeg, and although I was only on location for one day, it was still a big thrill for me. I didn’t get close to any of the famous actors, but I did get to see myself on television when all my work was said and done.

In the end, there is a scene (yes, one, singular) where, if you freeze it, you can see me through the rear window of the heroine’s jeep, on the far side of the road, hurrying down the sidewalk. I think my performance lasted a tenth of a second.

It was a really cool tenth of a second, though. I love show business.

I recently got to take a set tour at Universal Studios in Los Angeles. I may have been the only person on the trolley who got as excited about driving by the production bungalows as I did when we passed through the earthquake-in-a-subway-station set. I love the behind the scenes stuff — which is probably why I set my books in the fascinating, often deceptive, world of Tinseltown. I recently released the second book in my Hollywood to Olympus series.

Here's what Drama Queen is about:

Layla Andrews isn't really a bitch — she just plays one on television. For the last eighteen months, she's acted like one in real life, too, while she was forced to serve probation for something she didn't do. Now the Queen of Olympus has done her time and she's ready to start living again...but she's forgotten how.

Russ Vukovick, the show's fight coordinator, has been attracted to Layla since the first time he saw her. Recently, he's caught glimpses of a new side of her — one that makes her irresistible. But as he gets closer, he also sees more of what she hides beneath the mask she wears.

As Layla and Russ try to navigate their new relationship, families, danger and secrets work against them at every turn. Can they find a true happily-ever-after when they're surrounded by lies?

Links:

Buy the book from my publisher Liquid Silver Books (MOBI version for Kindle, EPUB for Kobo and iTunes), or get it directly from Amazon, iTunes, Kobo, Barnes and Noble/Nook, and ARe.

For more on this author, visit http://www.ellerush.com/.

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An excerpt from The Shore Thing

8/11/2014

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September 1 is almost here. That's a significant date in my life because Liquid Silver Books will release my first contemporary romance novel, The Shore Thing. It's book one in the Gulf Shore series set in a fictional west-central Florida beach town. Here's what The Shore Thing is all about:

Danielle “Dani” Davidson vows to just say no to workplace romances after her first post-college job is soured by a messy breakup with a manipulative coworker at a fish hatchery. That’s just one reason she doesn’t trust any man with her heart, let alone one who swims with sharks for a living. So why can’t she get cameraman Evan Sanders out of her mind?

Evan is twice shy, too, after an alluring but self-absorbed colleague at Gulf Shore Aquarium takes a bite out of his heart. Thought he’s dead set against dating anyone else he works with, he’s intrigued by Dani’s shyness and tempted by her intelligence and low-key sexiness.

Dani leads tours and educates guests, and Evan is the chief photographer/videographer at the aquarium and marine animal hospital in Gulf Shore. Their attraction smolders until an unfortunate encounter with a stingray sends Dani to the emergency room, and Evan steps up to help her through her recovery.

The two also bond over the rescue of an orphaned baby dolphin. But will Evan’s vindictive ex-lover, his career ambitions, and Dani’s inhibitions tear the young lovers apart?

And here, for the first time, is an excerpt from The Shore Thing:

Evan Sanders felt his swim fins touch bottom as he settled into position with his camera pointed at the two ten-foot nurse sharks circling above him. It was feeding time, and Fred and Barney were restless and hungry. Evan watched as black drum, striped mullet, mangrove snapper, and other smaller fish scurried out of the predators’ way.

He was in full scuba gear and had only his camera for protection, but he wasn’t worried. He’d shot still photos and video in Gulf Shore Aquarium’s Florida Fishes tank many times, and the nurse sharks hadn’t shown the slightest interest in him.

Still, the usually sluggish bottom-dwellers did have thousands of tiny, serrated teeth capable of crushing shellfish and delivering a nasty bite to errant hands or feet, so Evan couldn’t afford to be careless.

Leaning against the clear face of the tank for support, he noticed an attractive young woman watching him. She had her long chestnut hair pulled back in a neat ponytail and wore khaki slacks and the aquarium’s standard-issue teal polo shirt with the GSA logo. A small crowd gathered around her, and Evan knew she was regaling them with facts about how nurse sharks in the wild use vacuum-like suction to snatch fish, mollusks, and crustaceans from their hiding places, sometimes even yanking a sea snail right out of its shell.

He wished he had time to take a closer look at her because he liked what he could see. But duty called.

Evan zoomed in and fired off frame after frame as Fred sucked a freshly thawed herring from the stainless steel grilling tongs a trainer held just beneath the water’s surface. He tracked Fred with his camera as the shark circled around for another handout.

Suddenly, Evan’s peripheral vision picked up a hulking shape closing in fast on his right. He pivoted to find Barney’s snout within inches of the camera lens.

Pulse pounding, Evan barely had time to react. He bumped the shark’s nose just hard enough to discourage him from coming closer. The lumbering fish veered away at the last second and swam up to a second trainer, who enticed him with a hunk of squid.

On the dry side of the Plexiglas, the young woman stared wide-eyed. Evan gave an exaggerated shudder and patted his chest over his heart. She laughed, and he grinned around his regulator mouthpiece and wiggled his fingers. She waved back.

As Evan held her gaze for a moment longer, the young woman blushed.

* * * *

Fifteen minutes earlier, Danielle “Dani” Davidson had returned from an early dinner break to see the diver standing on the concrete deck of the tank, looking like he belonged on the cover of Hot Hunks Monthly. He checked his air tank and hoses, spit in his mask to keep it from fogging, and collected his camera gear. He’d zipped up his wet suit only as far as his flat waist, and it was only natural for Dani to pause and admire the wide set of his shoulders and the muscles rippling over his tanned arms and chest.

Just then, he raised his head as if he felt her gaze roaming his body and, face reddening, she hurried toward the stairs. She stopped on the top step, hidden by a sign identifying the animals in the tank, and watched as he worked his arms down the sleeves of his wet suit and then zipped it closed.

The show over, she headed down to the underwater viewing area to narrate the nurse shark feeding.

Now, as Dani’s heartbeat returned to normal, the guests gave her an expectant look, obviously waiting to hear what she had to say about the diver’s close call.

“Barney was just making sure our photographer got a nice close-up of his handsome face,” she ad-libbed, adding a reassuring smile for good measure.

“You wouldn’t catch me in the water with those monsters,” one woman proclaimed.

“Sharks are awesome!” the boy with her enthused. “During Shark Week on TV, they showed a great white leaping out of the water with a seal in its jaws, and the seal was all bloody and flopping around and stuff, and its guts were hanging out, too. It was so cool!”

“Eeeewww,” a girl behind him squealed. “That’s totally disgusting.”

“Well—” Dani began, but was interrupted by the man beside her.

“So, would that shark have bitten that diver just now?” he asked.

“Nurse sharks usually aren’t aggressive and are tolerant of people,” she told him. “Unless, of course, someone is careless enough to step on the shark or foolish enough to pull its tail. Our diver is anything but an inattentive imbecile.”

Several people laughed.

“Then why did that shark charge him?” the man pressed.

“‘Charge’ is an overstatement. Sharks are attracted by bright and shiny objects, like a camera flash.”

“Won’t they eat those other fish in there?” someone else asked, setting off a flurry of questions from the group.

“Not as long as we keep Fred and Barney well-fed,” Dani said. “Nurse sharks are lazy hunters who forage at night when their prey is resting.”

“How often do you feed them?”

“Four times a week.”

“Why don’t you just throw the food in there instead of using tongs?”

“The trainers need to keep track of how much fish and squid each shark eats,” she explained. “And they also get vitamin supplements in their food.”

“How big do nurse sharks get?”

“They average seven to nine feet, but it’s possible they can reach fourteen feet.”

“How long do they live?”

“About twenty-five years in human care.”

“Human care? Let’s call it what it is—captivity.”

“Well—”

“Are these, like, the only sharks you have? Because they’re, like, totally lame,” said a bored-looking teenage girl.

“We have a lot of other species at Shark Pier, which is near the back of the property,” Dani answered.

“So, um, why are these here, then?”

“Fred and Barney came to us before we built Shark Pier. A local man had them at his home and gave them to us after they outgrew every tank he bought. They’ve settled in here, so why move them again? Think of them as the aquarium’s greeters, like the ones at Walmart, but with much sharper teeth.”

Dani smiled, but the teenager stayed stone-faced.

“What’s the most bloodthirsty shark in this part of Florida?” asked a man wearing a floppy fishing hat and a sticky layer of coconut-scented suntan lotion.

“We prefer not to use words like bloodthirsty and vicious. Yes, they’re top predators, but sharks don’t hunt humans. Of the more than three hundred and fifty species, fewer than ten are considered dangerous to people.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” the man accused, his hands folded across his chest. Then he spoke with a deliberate pause between each word, as if she had rocks for brains. “Which sharks should we be most afraid of when we’re in local waters?”

“Bull sharks. They’re aggressive and unpredictable.” Dani’s smile wavered, but she kept it pasted on her face.

“Anybody been attacked?”

“Off Gulf Shore? No. None reported, anyway. South of here, in the Tampa Bay area? Yes, but not many. You don’t have to worry. I swim in the Gulf all the time.”

“Hey, it only takes one bite! What happened with those attacks? This is stuff we have a right to know!”

“Yes, sir, absolutely,” she agreed. “Nobody’s trying to keep secrets. In 2000, a nine-foot bull shark feeding on mullet killed a retiree who jumped off his dock near St. Pete Beach and Gulfport.”

Several guests gasped, and someone muttered, “Good Lord!”

“That happened in Boca Ciega Bay, where nine years later a teenage girl was swimming—”

“Wait a minute. Boca Ciega Bay? Oh! My! God! We’re staying right near there!” shrieked an older woman who looked like she’d just come off the beach and now regretted sticking even a toe in the surf.

“Did that girl get eaten?” the young Shark Week fan asked before Dani could say anything else.

“No, she was bitten just below the knee. It was serious but not life-threatening.”

“We need to stay someplace else if there are killer sharks in that bay,” the woman insisted, on the verge of a full-blown frenzy.

“Ma’am, sharks are found in every major body of saltwater in the world,” Dani said.

“Is that supposed to make me feel better, young lady?”

Dani’s shirt was sticky with sweat. “Your chances of being attacked are about one in eleven million,” she assured the woman. That didn’t seem to satisfy her, so Dani launched into tips for lessening that already minuscule risk.

“Don’t swim alone, at twilight, after dark, or if you’re bleeding. Don’t wear shiny jewelry. Be extra cautious in murky water. Don’t splash a lot or let pets in the water with you. Avoid going in the water where people are fishing.”

The woman’s face looked like she’d just sucked on a lemon, and the man who’d raised the specter of shark attack gave an impatient huff.

Geez, what’s with these people? Dani thought, sneaking another look at the diver with the camera. I’d be safer in there with him, not to mention with Barney and Fred.

The Shore Thing is available for pre-order from Liquid Silver Books at www.lsbooks.com/pre-order-coming-soon-romance-books-c322.php. Order now and buy the book for $3.99, which is 20 percent off the regular cover price.

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Seven days and counting ...

Psychic Menage series by Houston Havens

First Choice, Second Chance by Lynn Rae

Drama Queen by Elle Rush

An excerpt from The Shore Thing

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