Welcome to Bella Andre!

Congratulations, Estella, you are the winner of Olivia Drake’s Seducing the Heiress! I’ll send you an e-mail for your snail mail. Now, as promised, I have special guest Bella Andre visiting this week! She is one of my very favorite authors, and her firefighters are hot! Leave a comment with your email address to be entered to win a copy of Wild Head, the first in the Men of Fire series, winner to be chosen on May 29th. And with that, I turn it over to Bella!


I'm so thrilled Jasmine invited me back to blog with her. Not only do I adore her as a person, but every time one of her books comes out I devour it that day! :)

My new book - NEVER TOO HOT (the third book in my Men of Fire series) – is officially out on Tuesday, so I was thinking I would share an excerpt and talk a bit about the book. Sound good?

NEVER TOO HOT
A TOUCH IGNITES. A FIRE BURNS...AND THE HEAT HAS JUST BEGUN.
Deep in the cool green mountains of the Adirondacks, wounded firefighter Connor MacKenzie has come to rebuild the 100-year-old MacKenzie family cabin--and to be alone. A horrific blaze has left him scarred inside and out and certain of two things: He'll get back on his Hot Shot crew no matter what it takes, and any woman who ventures too close will not stay long.

Ginger Sinclair has been burned by a different kind of fire. Having just escaped from a bad marriage, she's retreated to the safety of the lakeside vacation town in upstate New York to start a new life. She's done with men, with relationships, with the danger of desires that can rage out of control--until she unexpectedly encounters Connor MacKenzie. As a hot summer on the lake grows ever hotter, they find themselves sharing a cabin and a romance that will swiftly engulf them both.

EXCERPT.....
Ginger was wrapped deep in a dark and swirling dream where she was running through a forest full of falling widow makers when a cross between a scream and a roar woke her. Sitting up in bed, her hand on her heart, it only took a second to realize it was coming from Connor's room.

Her stomach clenched with fear as she threw on a flimsy robe and shot out of her room. My god, what could possibly be happening to him? She shoved his door open.

From the dim light in the hall she could see that he wasn't on the bed, but on his feet now, swinging at the air like a tortured beast, his eyes closed, his beautiful face taken over by rage. And deep, deep pain. His fists were closed so tightly the scars on his knuckles stood in out sharp relief and her heart broke into a million pieces as she watched this big, strong man fighting like hell against some demon in his head.

A voice in the back of her mind told her to leave him. That she should let him fight his battles alone. That he would probably break her in two if she got involved and he didn't wake up.

But she couldn't do that.

Not after he'd rushed in to save her from the falling limb tonight. Not after he'd taken the full force of the hit on his own back.

Not after he'd been so gentle, so protective of her out on the beach just hours before.

She ran over to Connor, any thoughts of fear gone. She put her hand on his arm and as soon as he felt her touch, he grabbed her forearm in a vice grip and pulled her against him, her robe opening and falling off her shoulders.

Oh god, he was squeezing her so tight, and she cried out with whatever breath she could find.

“Connor! It's me. Ginger. You're having a bad dream. It's just a dream. Please wake up.”

His eyes opened but she could tell he didn't see her, that he was still trapped in his own personal hell. And then, in a flash, his eyes cleared and he came back to her, to his bedroom, to Poplar Cove.

His chest was rising and falling hard against hers and as their bare skin rubbed together in the back of her mind it registered that he was naked and she nearly was. But it didn't matter. Not when she'd just seen him go through something so horrible, not when she was so worried about him.

“What are you doing in here?” His words were as gruff and hard as he'd been when she'd first met him on the porch.

“I had to come, when I heard the -” She cut herself off as she realized just how much he was going to hate her having seen him like this. “I had to help you.”

His hands that had been so tightly gripping her shoulders moved, slightly at first, down over her shoulder blades, then farther down her spine, to her hips. His next words were so low she almost couldn't make them out.

“And you thought this was how you could help me?”

She could hardly breathe, certainly couldn't move, not when he was still holding her so tightly. Not when leaving his arms was the very last thing her body wanted. And then one of his hands curled into her hair and her head was tilting back and he was kissing her. Every part of her that was woman wanted to take this moment and give into it. Give into him.

Connor needed healing more than anyone she'd ever met and imprisoned in his arms, with his mouth ravaging hers, while his hands cupped her ass as if he owned her, she wanted to be the woman to heal him.

All the while knowing that it wasn't just giving, it was taking, that she was seeking her own pleasure too.

* * * *

I had the most amazing time writing NEVER TOO HOT. I loved the setting at a lake in the Adirondacks. I loved writing about the town and the locals. And I looooooved my hero. Connor MacKenzie is wounded both in and out and, frankly, was simply delicious to be with for the months I wrote the book. :) I like all kinds of heroes – the funny ones and the cocky ones and even the hot mean ones – but right now, I'll admit to a slight preference for the tortured ones. You know, the heroes who so desperately need to love, who so desperately want to love, but just can't. Fortunately, my heroine knows better – and she's not going to give up on him, even when he tries to push her away. LOL.

And on a totally random final note – does anyone have good / exciting / fun news to share? :) I love hearing about great things happening for other people!

Bella
NEVER TOO HOT ~ coming May 25th! ~ http://www.bellaandre.com/

Finding the Gem!

Congratulations, Alison, on winning Jade Lee’s, The Concubine! I’ll send you an e-mail to get your snail mail.

For this blog, I’m still doing historicals, this one by Olivia Drake called Seducing the Heiress. Olivia Drake is a pseudonym of Barbara Dawson Smith. As always, to be eligible for the drawing, leave a comment, and you must type in your email address. I’ll also add you to my newsletter for updates on all the fun stuff and releases, too. I’ll announce the winner on my next blog in two weeks! And speaking of that blog, I’m having special guest Bella Andre and she’ll be giving away a copy of Wild Heat, so don’t miss it!

Last time I talked about writer’s block and fears. Well, I’ve had a complete turnaround! Thanks to all of you for sharing, of course. My RWA (Romance Writers of America) meeting was on Saturday. Now, first, the meeting place is up in Berkley, an hour and a half drive. And it was so sunny and gorgeous on Saturday and I wanted to write, not be inside in a meeting! And plus, let me tell you about getting back home across the Santa Cruz Mountains on a sunny Saturday when everyone wants to go to the beach!!! Nightmarish is the most polite word I can think of. But, I’d promised to drive some of my friends, so well, I had to go. Oh My God! I’m so glad I did. We had Barry Eisler, a mystery writer, speaking. He was wonderful, and everything he said just hit me the right way, and I was furiously writing notes so I could come home and put into practice everything he said! He gave us all a copy of his latest book, too! So see, sometimes, even when you’re grumpy, the whole day can turn around at the snap of a finger.

Have you experienced any miraculous switches in attitude recently?

Don’t forget that the second Courtesans Tales, Hers for the Evening was out last week! Read an excerpt on my site! I really loved writing the stories in this book. Plus Take Your Pleasure is still available!

Writer’s Block!

Congratulations, Princess Mel, on winning Cheryl Holt’s Double Fantasy. I’ll send you an e-mail to get your snail mail, although, Mel, I swear I have it somewhere...I just don’t know where!

For this blog, I’ve got a wonderful historical by Jade Lee, The Concubine. It was sexy and different, a great story, the setting in China. As always, to be eligible for the drawing, leave a comment, and you must type in your email address. I’ll also add you to my newsletter for updates on all the fun stuff and releases, too. I’ll announce the winner on my next blog in two weeks!

Oh my God, I’ve got writer’s block! I swear, I couldn’t figure out what to write for this blog. I’ve got so much to do today because I’ve got a brainstorming lunch with some friends, then I’m going down to see my mom. I see her every other week (yes, I’m keeping that commitment to make sure I see her often!). She’s got a doctor’s appointment tomorrow that I’m taking her to, so I won’t be back until late. So I was trying to write the blog yesterday to get it out of the way. And I had writer’s block! No clue what to write! That made me realize that a lot of interviews I do ask if I ever get writer’s block, and I usually say no. To me, writer’s block is the inability to sit down and write through whatever you’re afraid of. Sometimes it’s the fear that readers will hate your story or reviewers will, which is the basic I’m-not-good-enough syndrome. Or that your story idea is crap. Or that you don't have an idea. Or that the idea is great but you won’t be able to execute it correctly. Or that you’ll never be able to finish the book. Or sell it once you’ve finished it. Writer’s block to me is letting these fears stop you from sitting down at the keyboard and writing. And of course, despite what I say in interviews, sometimes there are days when I just don’t think I can face it. But I sit down and I write, no matter how bad my own little internal editor tells me it is. See, I even wrote this blog! Everyone has fear, whether you’re a writer or not, everyone has things that get in the way of doing something they need or want to do. It’s a matter of doing them anyway.

Got any fears you’d like to share, things that stop you dead in the water? Don’t worry, we’ll keep them secret!

Thanks for supporting Take Your Pleasure! ! Next week is the release of Hers for the Evening, Courtesan Tales 2, and to celebrate, Tuesday, May 4th I’ll be giving away Yours for the Night on ToteBagsNBlogs so don’t forget to stop by!