(I’m going to be reposting the contest rules at the beginning of each post. If you’ve already read them, scroll down for today’s post and questions.)
To celebrate the release of ENTWINED, I’m giving away a BUNCH of prizes. There are two parts to this contest:
PART ONE : Post the ENTWINED widget (below) on your FB page, blog sidebar, tweet about the contest and/or book, email your friends and spread the word…basically, any way you talk up the book or contest will enter you for one of three $25 gift cards to the online bookstore of your choice. Winners will be selected after I return from RWA Nationals, the first week in August. Once you’ve done that, email me at elisabeth@elisabethnaughton.com and tell me blabbed about ENTWINED. Be sure to put ENTWINED Release Contest in the subject line. (If you already posted the widget from the blog post I did last week, you’re already entered.) Enter as many times as you like. Every time you spread the word about book 2 in the Eternal Guardians series, send me an email.
PART TWO: Each day for the next two weeks I’ll be giving away AWESOME prizes and spotlighting some fabulous authors. Comment on the daily post to be entered into that day’s drawing. Winners will be chosen randomly from comments and will get to pick their prize. Once a prize is chosen, it’s crossed off the list. Here are the prizes you can win:
Farrah’s newest series is centered around a fictional NFL football team, which, as an admitted sports fanatic, is right up her alley. Here’s the blurb for HUDDLE WITH ME TONIGHT, which releases on September 1st:
All Paige Turner wants is to be taken seriously as a journalist. The entertainment columnist and blogger extraordinaire gets more notoriety than she planned when her scathing review of NFL superstar Torrian Smallwood’s memoir sparks an online confrontation. But that’s nothing compared to the sensual heat that tackles her when she meets the heart-stoppingly sexy athlete face-to-face…
Torrian can’t let Paige derail his dream of a new career as a restauranteur. Even if the sassy, sultry writer is making America’s favorite wide receiver yearn to be on the receiving end of her desire. And with a reality TV cook-off propelling them into the spotlight, Torrian can no longer hide his passionate secret goal–to build a future with the woman who’s making an end run around his heart…
(I’m going to be reposting the contest rules at the beginning of each post. If you’ve already read them, scroll down for today’s post and questions.)
To celebrate the release of ENTWINED, I’m giving away a BUNCH of prizes. There are two parts to this contest:
PART ONE : Post the ENTWINED widget (below) on your FB page, blog sidebar, tweet about the contest and/or book, email your friends and spread the word…basically, any way you talk up the book or contest will enter you for one of three $25 gift cards to the online bookstore of your choice. Winners will be selected after I return from RWA Nationals, the first week in August. Once you’ve done that, email me at elisabeth@elisabethnaughton.com and tell me blabbed about ENTWINED. Be sure to put ENTWINED Release Contest in the subject line. (If you already posted the widget from the blog post I did last week, you’re already entered.) Enter as many times as you like. Every time you spread the word about book 2 in the Eternal Guardians series, send me an email.
PART TWO: Each day for the next two weeks I’ll be giving away AWESOME prizes and spotlighting some fabulous authors. Comment on the daily post to be entered into that day’s drawing. Winners will be chosen randomly from comments and will get to pick their prize. Once a prize is chosen, it’s crossed off the list. Here are the prizes you can win:
Today you get a two-fer! Two great new books, two winners chosen from the comments!
First up: Denise Agnew!
Thanks so much to Eli for including me in her blog! I’m honored. This month I have two books out, Dark, Deadly Love July 13 at Samhain Publishing http://www.samhainppublishing.com/ and Daryk Hunter, the first book in my Daryk World trilogy at Samhain Publishng http://www.samhainpublishing.com/ July 14. Today I wanted to give you a snippet of Daryk World I: Daryk Hunter. This trilogy is my first foray into fantasy romance.
When Magonian archaeologist Ketera Aldrancos’ father is imprisoned, she’s determined to save him. Before she can do so, her ship is wrecked. Water laps at her, a man’s strong arms surround her. His husky voice sooths her. Then she realizes she’s on a foreign beach in the arms of a dreaded Dragonian. A man who looks nothing like the men she’s known. His closeness, his touch sends shockwaves of need through Ketera’s deepest core and shame runs through her. After all, passions are sinful. Dane Charger, a Dragonian Daryk One, cradles the Magonian woman in his arms, He aches to introduce her to the headiest lovemaking imaginable. His eyes flame red and a growl vibrates his throat, conscious that he’ll need to protect her from marauding slave traders led by a vicious rogue who just happens to also be his half brother. Two people whose supercontinents are separated by ocean and two thousand years of prejudice and fear. Two people who may be the secret to saving a race from extinction…
And now, take this taste of Daryk Hunter:
Her father’s execution was scheduled. Soon he would be murdered.
Ketera Aldrancos gasped as she came to full consciousness and reality returned, heartless and sharp.
Icy water lapped at her toes and her body ached with a dull throb. The rushing whisper of the ocean filled her ears and lulled her backward into the darkness as it threatened to return her to blessed oblivion. Rain delicately touched her skin and wind ruffled across her body in a gentle caress. For a moment she almost relented and opened her eyes to see why the elements coaxed her so sweetly.
But clear, relentless rage rushed in to choke her.
Father.
Everything she loved would perish if she couldn’t—
She sobbed and then heard a rustling, a deep voice. She didn’t understand the language at first—a strange, guttural spilling of vowels.
Seconds later someone dropped onto the sand near her. A deep voice rumbled, husky and soothing. “Who are you, sprite?”
Ah, the language was clearer now. Odd. The pronunciation different, the accent peculiar, but still her language.
A Dragonian. The enemy.
A warm touch glided over the pulse at her neck. She wanted to move, to fight, but her entire body throbbed. She couldn’t move.
The man grunted. Then with strong but gentle hands hauled her upward into his arms. His thighs beneath her buttocks felt rock-hard, his arms powerful enough to shelter her from the ocean and weather.
“Wake,” the man said, his voice rough with command. “You breathe, therefore you live. Come on now, that’s it. Another deep breath. Don’t fade on me.”
She obeyed, hearing the relentless, almost angry demand in his tone. “Where—?” she rasped the word, her throat sore, her voice raw. She coughed and choked.
“Easy. You’re safe. Here. Drink.”
A container with cool liquid touched her lips and she drank with greed, her thirst tremendous and her throat aching for relief. Water, all around her rushing. She remembered the terrible tempest that had swallowed her ship.
“Slowly.” His tone was harsh. “You’ll take ill.”
She sipped until he drew back the container. “More.”
“No. Open your eyes.”
She sighed, the sound resentful to her own ears. “No. I…”
By the god, she ached to the bone with fatigue. The gruff man caressed her hair. His big hand wandered down over her upper arm then skimmed her legs with impersonal attention. With a hot jolt, one piercing thought came back to her.
Father. I must save him.
It took three tries, but her eyelids peeled open.
Her gaze landed on the man holding her. And her breath stopped. He watched her with a strange feral intent. A thick tousle of dark auburn hair cascaded around his broad shoulders. Thick, dark lashes framed eyes as green as a tyrant stone from a mine in Opali. A few days’ growth of red and gold stubble darkened his handsome jawline. His nose was bold, but not obnoxiously so, and his mouth hardened in heavy concern. His long, impressively carved arms were bare, but he wore a strange, hard metal chest plate over his torso. She couldn’t see his legs.
“There,” he said. “What is your name?”
She glanced past his shoulder and saw the ship mast towering upward not far in the distance. Its torn sails flapped in a persistent wind.
She blinked as her vision fogged. She reached up to rub her eyes. “My name?”
His arms tightened. “What are you called?”
Her head throbbed if she thought too hard. “Ketera Aldrancos.”
She sucked in a pained breath. Her ribs ached.
“Easy. You’re ill and hurt. I’ll take you back to the castle.”
A word launched through his lips she’d never heard before, but it sounded like a curse. He eased her onto her back. He stood and withdrew a huge knife from its sheath.
Terror gripped her heart with a sharp talon. He meant to kill her.
Oh god Magon.
She closed her eyes as weakness eased like liquid into her limbs. She felt almost as if she sank into the sand, her body heavy. Heavier. She opened her eyes, desperate to meet her enemy head-on and show him she wasn’t afraid. If she would die, then she’d face her executioner by looking him in the eye. He turned away from her.
She made an effort to move and found her protesting muscles cooperated. She stifled a deep groan of pain as she struggled to sit up and succeeded. Determination pushed her to rally. She wouldn’t die when her father needed her.
From the back her rescuer stood tall and broad-shouldered. His arms coiled with muscle, a long knife gripped tight in his right hand.
Across from him an equally tall, powerfully built man with spiky, short blond hair stood at the ready, an animal spring-loaded and eager to pounce. His ugly face was distinguished by a lightning bolt blue tattoo zigzagging across his right cheek.
“The spoils can be shared by all.” The lightning-bolt man sneered. “By Draconus there are plenty of riches to go around, including the woman.”
“You’re right.” The man who stood near her shifted on his feet. “It’s a shipwreck, but the spoils go to no one. Especially not this woman.”
“Are you saying you’re claimin’ her as your own?” Lightning Bolt asked.
“I’m claiming her.” The man who’d stood over her walked away toward the other man.
Where was her knife? She looked around for her shoulder pack but didn’t see it anywhere. More than anger stirred inside her. Panic rose up to choke her. She couldn’t lose the pack. Her father’s life depended on her keeping the documents within safe.
“What if I say I’ll take her from you?” the other man asked.
“I’m a Daryk One. If you think you can take anything from me, you are mistaken.”
***
Thanks again, and I hope you enjoyed this tidbit! Stop by my website at http://www.deniseagnew.com/ for more information on this book and all my other novels. Feel free to sign up for the newsletter and monthly contest.
Denise A. Agnew
And last but not least, Alix Rickloff!
In 1815 London, passion and duty, human and Other collide…
Morgan Bligh has honed her body and her magic into weapons, but she’s always lived by her heart. Yet to defeat a traitor whose unspeakable dark power threatens both her worlds, she must forget her feelings— because her partner in the hunt is wicked war hero Cameron Sinclair. He’s broken her heart once, and from the looks of him, he could do it again…
Cam Sinclair wants nothing more than to forget the horrors he’s lived through. He’s done his duty for king and country, turning himself into an assassin and an outcast in the process. Chasing after a sadistic murderer with a sultry Amazon who hates him seems unbearable. Yet though the beautiful Morgan chafes his every nerve and they’re both in constant danger, he can’t help but wonder if this second meeting is truly a second chance…
To learn more about Alix and her upcoming releases, visit www.alixrickloff.com. And to purchase Dangerous as Sinclick here.
***
Like I mentioned before, I’ll be picking two winners today. To be entered into the prize bucket, simply answer the following question:
If you could only read one romance subgenre for the rest of your life (oh, the horror!) what would it be and why? (And hello? Have you ever seen abs like those on Alix’s cover? Yowza.)
(I’m going to be reposting the contest rules at the beginning of each post. If you’ve already read them, scroll down for today’s post and questions. Also, be sure to scroll down for today’s GH Spotlight!)
To celebrate the release of ENTWINED, I’m giving away a BUNCH of prizes. There are two parts to this contest:
PART ONE : Post the ENTWINED widget (below) on your FB page, blog sidebar, tweet about the contest and/or book, email your friends and spread the word…basically, any way you talk up the book or contest will enter you for one of three $25 gift cards to the online bookstore of your choice. Winners will be selected after I return from RWA Nationals, the first week in August. Once you’ve done that, email me at elisabeth@elisabethnaughton.com and tell me blabbed about ENTWINED. Be sure to put ENTWINED Release Contest in the subject line. (If you already posted the widget from the blog post I did last week, you’re already entered.) Enter as many times as you like. Every time you spread the word about book 2 in the Eternal Guardians series, send me an email.
PART TWO: Each day for the next two weeks I’ll be giving away AWESOME prizes and spotlighting some fabulous authors. Comment on the daily post to be entered into that day’s drawing. Winners will be chosen randomly from comments and will get to pick their prize. Once a prize is chosen, it’s crossed off the list. Here are the prizes you can win:
Thirty summers ago I spent four afternoons in the movie theater, watching Raiders of the Lost Ark. I loved the idea of a person who searched for hidden treasures that were magical and had MEANING. I loved the supernatural element and the adventure and of course the reunion romance. (Now that I think about it, I’d love to read Indy and Marion’s “prequel.” How did he allow himself to fall for his mentor’s daughter?)
Years later I fell in love with The Mummy. It is still my favorite movie of all time, and I tell my fourth grade students that it’s required watching. (Story structure, you know.)
I never thought I’d write an archaeology-themed book, though. This was a life that was foreign to me—adventure (I’ve lived in the same city all my life) and rough living conditions (my dad still teases me about my need for running water.) But one night I had a dream and it was so compelling I knew I had to write it.
Of course, in my dream, the archaeologists were kidnapped by guerillas. The dh talked me out of that one, saying nothing good could happen to my heroine if that was the case. So I worked on a plot. Why were my characters there? Why were they together? And who was the bad guy?
Working out all that was hard, but the issue that gave me most trouble was—what were they looking for? I knew from the beginning they’d be marine archaeologists. But what were they looking for?
Most of the research on marine archaeology I found was set in the Mediterranean, because history is so rich there. But for some reason I was hooked on a Central American setting, and my brother had the idea of a Mediterranean ship in the Caribbean, to prove that they’d been to the Americas first.
I toyed with the Phoenicians, who were amazing boatmen. In fact, I think I wrote half of the book with that in mind, but it didn’t feel special enough.
A Mayan ship, maybe. But I couldn’t find enough information to make me comfortable writing it.
I checked out tons of books. And I found what I wanted.
This Byzantine box could hold so many different things. I started writing before I knew what was inside the box, and created my own legend surrounding it and three others. I put my own designs on it, and my own meaning into them. And I could find enough information about Byzantine ships that made me believe they could have made it to the Americas.
Now I’m toying with the idea of writing Adrian’s brother Toney’s story. What adventure could I send him on? What discovery would you find exciting to read about? (Or, if you’re braver than me—not hard, believe me—would you like to participate in?)
So today is July 3rd (in case you lose track like I often do). Someone recently asked me if I was excited about the RITA awards at the end of the month. Honestly, I haven’t thought much about it. Between a deadline (two, really), kids home for the summer, thoughts of moving (a whole other story) and the release of ENTWINED coming up, I haven’t had a lot of time to get excited–or nervous–about the RITAs. I have ordered my dress and got the call that it came in, but I haven’t picked it up yet. And I did buy a really pretty necklace to wear with the dress, but I still don’t have shoes or earrings nor have I even thought about a speech in the event I win. My hubby asked me today if he needs to have a tux. “For what?” I asked. “Your awards,” he said. When I gave him the perplexed expression, he added, “I’ve seen your dress, remember?” That drew a chuckle out of me, followed by a gasp. OMG…there are only three weeks to RWA Nationals!
The hubby is flying in for the awards. It’ll be his first full-on RWA experience. Oh, he’s met local chapter mates of mine, been to some book signings, but he has no clue what the national convention is really like. I think part of me is more interested in seeing his reaction to 2000+ women writers all gathered in one place.
For those who are interested. Here’s the dress I’ll be wearing the night of the awards. Imagine it in persimmon, which is a soft orange:
Okay, on to the fun stuff…
I’m organizing my release contest for ENTWINED! In cast you didn’t hear (and how could you not?!) Book 2 in the Eternal Guardian series releases on July 27, 2010! RT BookReviews just gave it 4.5 stars and top pick status and said…
“This second in Naughton’s Eternal guardians series has wonderful characters. The combination of old world gods and modern technology is fascinating. Violent and bloody, it’s action packed and exciting with a cliffhanger ending.” –Susan Mobley
That’s my first top pick review from RT so I’m pretty happy. They also labeled it “scorching” which is a new “heat level” for me. All my other books have been labeled “hot”. I’m not sure what to make of that. I don’t think it’s any more “scorching” than the rest of my books but maybe I’m not a good judge because I’m so close to it. Either way, it’ll be interesting to see what readers think.
As for the contest…I’ll post all the really fun stuff later this week – prizes, authors,etc. – but mark your calendars. The contest will start on July 12th and run through July 27th, when ENTWINED hits store shelves. And I have some really cool authors and giveaways lined up so you don’t want to miss it!
Happy Reading, and have a fabulous 4th of July holiday!!
And I keep meaning to post this but have been distracted by all the fab GH spotlights. Anyhoo…here’s the widget for my July 27th release, book 2 in the Eternal Guardians Series – ENTWINED! I’m thinking a contest is in order (I haven’t done one in a while), so if you’d like to win a $25 gift card to the bookstore of your choice, simply past this widget on your blog sidebar, FB page, etc and tell me in the comment section of this post where you posted it. I’ll draw a winner in the next couple weeks.
Excerpted from: ENTWINED Eternal Guardians Book #2 Release Date: August 2010 ISBN: 978-0-505-52822-3
“Where do you want me?”
Callia turned away from the window without meeting Zander’s eyes, dropped her arms and pointed toward the end of the king’s now-empty desk. “There. Sit.”
He crossed the floor silently in bare feet and eased a hip onto the end of the king’s long desk. He tested the piece of furniture for stability, and when he was sure it wasn’t going to collapse under his weight, scooted back until his legs were hanging over the edge and his bare feet dangled inches above the floor.
She didn’t say anything about the fact he wasn’t completely naked, and he wasn’t about to bring it up again. To distract himself, he stared down at his toes while she moved around the room. She pulled a small side table with her supplies next to her. Seconds later he felt her hand land on his back and couldn’t stop the way he arched in response. When she said, “Deep breath,” he forced himself to relax as she moved the stethoscope around, obviously listening to his lungs.
The metal against his skin was cold, but her fingers were warm and silky—too warm and silky. His blood was already heating just from being this close to her, and every time she brushed his skin, it set off tremors deep in his body. He focused on his breathing—on the steady in and out—in an attempt to stay calm. When she moved around to stand in front of him, repeating the order, he averted his eyes from her face and focused on the fitted white sweater she wore instead.
Her gasp brought his head up. “What happened to you?”
“Nothing. I’m fine.”
“That’s not nothing.” She focused on his shoulder as she looped the stethoscope around her neck, reached for her bag and came back with gauze and supplies.
“Leave it,” he said before she could touch him. “It’s just a flesh wound.”
She dabbed at the dried blood with a wad of gauze. “The muscle’s torn. You need this stitched closed before infection sets in.”
“It’s already healing.”
“I see that but—”
He grabbed her wrist, stilling her motion. A jolt ran through him at the connection, but he ignored it. The last thing he needed was her hands on his body more than was already necessary. “I said leave it.”
Her eyes slid from the wound to his face and held. And before he realized it, he was staring into eyes like a Caribbean sunset in the human world. Eyes he’d looked into countless times before as they’d made love. Eyes he’d dreamed about numerous times in the years since until he’d woken in a cold and aching sweat.
Thoughts vanished from his mind. The connection they’d had from the first sparked deep in his chest, burned in the bottom of his soul. Tempted him to reach for her and find out if she felt it, too. He couldn’t be the only one who remembered, could he? She had to feel something when she saw him. When she stood this close. When she touched him.
Thoughts, memories, feelings he’d kept buried for a long time pushed in as he stared into her gem-like eyes. A movie of their time together flickered in front of his face. And then when he got to the part where she betrayed him, that blaze went out. Leaving behind nothing but charred ash and ruins.
It didn’t matter what she felt. Their past was over and done with. The Fates had screwed him in more ways than one. There wasn’t anything about her now that could change what had happened back then.
He dropped her hand as quickly as he’d grabbed it. Then glanced back at her sweater. “Finish the exam.”
***
Now check out these other fabulous Saturday Snippets!
ZANDER – The most feared of all the Eternal Guardians. It’s rumored he can’t be killed, and he always fights like he has nothing to lose. But as a descendant of the famed hero Achilles, he’s got to have a vulnerability…somewhere.
Forces of daemons are gathering and have broken through the barriers of the Underworld. Now more than ever the Eternal Guardians are needed to protect both their own realm and the humans’. Zander can’t afford to think about what might have been with the bewitching physician he once regarded as his soul mate. But with eternity stretching before him, he also can’t fathom spending his life without the one woman who makes him feel most alive. Perhaps he’s found his weakness, after all…
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Farrah’s newest series is centered around a fictional NFL football team, which, as an admitted sports fanatic, is right up her alley. Here’s the blurb for HUDDLE WITH ME TONIGHT, which releases on September 1st:
