Monday, July 28, 2014

A PROMISE AT DAWN by Jane Leopold Quinn This week's featured author


ABOUT A PROMISE AT DAWN:

Their affair was scorchingly sensual

Faye Burke, recently widowed, retreated to the coast of Maine to grieve and reassess her future. Her favorite part of the day is watching the sun rise out of the Atlantic Ocean. It’s also when the man she considers her guilty pleasure runs along the beach.

Gil Farrelly, a successful painter, is trying to get his career back on track after the studio fire that destroyed everything. He starts his creative juices flowing every day by running on the beach. The lovely woman who watches him also gets his juices flowing and he’s determined to reinvent his career by painting her.

Faye’s combination of maturity and sensual vulnerability intrigue Gil and he wants to immortalize her on his canvas. She’s flattered, aroused and ultimately frightened of the emotions he incites. He claims not to care he’s younger by twelve years but she believes sooner or later he’ll come to his senses and seek out women his own age. Can Faye conquer her fears? Can Gil prove to her it’s not age separating them but her fear?


EXCERPT

With a clatter of easels, boxes of paints and glass jars of brushes, Gil set up on her porch. A stiff breeze swept across the space but a rattan wind screen at one end did a good job of protecting them. The day had started out cloudy and threatening rain and still held that promise. He had work to do before he could give in to the weather.
Faye had greeted him at the door, looking almost as adorable as she'd looked the night before. Today she wore light makeup and left her hair loose and wavy the way he'd asked her to. Denim cropped pants and a tight red sweater made her look like a teenager. She had to be in her early forties but it didn't matter to him. She was very attractive no matter her age. "Let's get started, shall we Faye?"
"Would you like some coffee or something else to drink?"
"Not right now but I'll take you up on that later, okay? Why don't you stand over there." He indicated the corner of the porch. "Lean one hip on the railing." When he came close, he was enthralled by the warm vanilla fragrance infusing her hair. He lifted a hand to touch the cloud-soft mass. She stilled, then shivered as if waiting for him to make a move. He wrapped his fingers in the silky strands.
She uttered a little cry, more of a whimper. Her lips parted, her eyes widened and met his with a flustered look. At that moment he wanted her fiercely. Before he'd known anything about her, she'd seemed fragile. He didn't know much more now but a woman who still wore her wedding ring a year and a half after her husband's death must have loved him very much. A woman like that would have depths of emotion.
He'd thought he was in pain from losing his studio and his work but Faye's was far more significant. He didn't want to see her grieve any longer but all he knew for sure was that he wanted to paint her for himself. He envisioned the scene in his mind. She was perfect for it. All that was left was to do her justice. Was it because he wanted to capture her beauty on canvas or because she got his juices flowing faster than any running could? He knew it was both.
He rested his forefinger under her chin and turned her face toward him. Giving her his most soothing smile, he said, "Relax, Faye, this won't hurt a bit. Now I'm going over there." He pointed toward his easel. "You're going to lean here." He tapped the railing. "And I'll start some sketches."
She gazed up at him with those incredible turquoise eyes, her confusion and longing speaking to him, raspberry-shaded lips pursed slightly. Mmm, the thought roared through his mind. Kiss her.
It's too soon.
She's not ready.
Just paint her.

A Promise at Dawn is available at Amazon

Amazon Reviews

"Good short story! Faye and Gil have very hot chemistry, and their story is heartwarming. I was surprised at the character development in such a short offering. Faye had suffered such a huge loss, and we were drawn in along on her new path in life."

"Ms Quinn paints a detailed portrait of a woman re-awakening after the loss of her husband. Her emotional state is handled quite deftly. This story has pathos, passion and humor woven together. Gil and Faye's story unfolds quickly and it's a scorcher."

Bio

Sensual fantasies were locked in my mind for years until a friend said, "Why don't you write them down?" Why not, indeed? One spiral notebook, a pen and the unleashing of my imagination later, and here I am with more than a dozen books published. The craft of writing erotic romance has become my passion and my niche in life. I love every part of the creative process — developing characters, designing the plot, even drawing the layout of physical spaces from my stories. My careers have been varied — third grade school teacher, bookkeeper, secretary — none of which gave me a bit of inspiration. But now I'm lucky enough to write romance full time — the best job in the universe!

Labels/Tags:  artist, contemporary, erotic romance, older woman/younger man, young widow


Jane Leopold Quinn
My Romance:  Love With a Scorching Sensuality

Thursday, July 24, 2014

I just learned my debut novel THE NAKED GROOM just jumped up 648,565 places in the sales rankings on www.a

Monday, July 14, 2014

I am featuring COOKING UP A STORM by Ashley Ladd


COOKING UP A STORM by Ashley Ladd

Brooks and Rique desperately want to win a coveted chef’s job offered by an eccentric millionaire in paradise. Even more, Rique desperately wants to stay alive.

Brooks and Rique desperately want to win the head chef’s position offered by an eccentric millionaire Jonah Verleun on his beautiful, private but peculiar island that includes a zoo full of exotic animals, an amusement park and a monster shark tank beneath Jonah’s bedroom floor. While Brooks wants the job to escape his heartache and the lover who thwarted him, Rique is hiding from the mob, hoping to live long enough to pay them off with the prize winnings. Fierce competitors, they cook up a storm in a series of cooking challenges while trying to turn down the heat on their intense attraction. When a hurricane strikes the island, the storm Rique has been cooking up explodes, and no heart—or body—is safe.

Excerpt:
They ran, hunched over, zigging and zagging as bullets flew around them. Rique damned himself for putting Brooks in this mess. He wondered if the mob held the others prisoner and that’s why they didn’t answer the door.
            He turned the first corner they came upon and then the next. He stopped dead and the air left his lungs. A moment later Brooks ran into his back almost knocking him over. He swayed dangerously but managed to stay upright and spread his arms wide to keep Brooks from stumbling forward.
He couldn’t believe his eyes. One of Jonah’s tigers lay in their path crouching low, baring his teeth, and eying them as if they were dinner.
            He tried to quell the jitters attacking his stomach so the animal wouldn’t smell his fear then whispered to Brooks through clenched teeth, “What do we do now? Freeze or run?”
            “Run. But where?” Brooks whispered back, a frown trembling on his lips.
            “To the closest protection.” He prayed their hunters had lost them, that they wouldn’t run back into a barrage of bullets. As Rique bunched his muscles to run, already feeling the animal’s fangs ripping into him, he noted how the tiger’s thick muscles corded in his shoulders, and how saliva ran down his snarling lips.
            “Dear God, we’re going to die.” Panic laced Brooks’ voice. “If we get out of here alive, let’s both turn down the job and move in together.”
            Swallowing hard, Rique couldn’t reply so he nodded. Besides, as much as he wanted to live with Brooks, he couldn’t do it as long as he was indebted to the mob. However, the point was moot. He couldn’t see a scenario in which one of them didn’t die in the next five minutes.
            Feeling responsible, Rique couldn’t let anything happen to Brooks as long as he was alive. He would take on the tiger giving Brooks time to reach safety. “On the count of three, run!”
As Rique whispered, “One,” hisses, then a blood-curdling growl wrenched the air. It was a different sound than the tiger was making. Then a crocodile bellowed and jumped out of the bushes and snatched the tiger by its belly. As it dragged the struggling creature back to the bushes, the tiger howled in surprise and pain. It clawed the air in vain as the reptile’s powerful jaws clamped tighter biting through flesh and bone.



Bio: Ashley Ladd
Ashley Ladd lives in South Florida with her husband, five children, and beloved pets. She loves the water, animals (especially cats), and playing on the computer.

She's been told she has a wicked sense of humour and often incorporates humour and adventure into her books. She also adores very spicy romance, which she weaves into her stories.
You can find Ashley at:


http://www.amazon.com/Ashley-Ladd/e/B002PSKTLU/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1404670854&sr=8-1