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Sunday, August 30, 2015

Sunday Peek!

The Sunday Peek is an opportunity to get a buzz going for your soon-to-be released or re-released novel.  

Post a tempting 300-word snippet from your most recent endeavor. Be sure to add your website/blog link, a release date if you have one, and one link to where your other books can be found. Example: Your Amazon Author's Page.
  
Share your participation with our
ready-to-go tweet or make your own!

See what's next on Exquisite Quills' Sunday Peek! http://exquisitequills.blogspot.com/  

9 comments:

E. Ayers said...

This is an unedited excerpt of a WIP!
It's actually a 'sweet' Christmas story.

Working title: Mariner's Cove Christmas
E. Ayers

"And just what kind of woman are you?"
"Let's just say I'm not going to be swept off my feet by a guy with money."
"Does that mean you're looking for a poor one?"
She giggled. "No thanks. It's all I can do to pay my own bills. I certainly don't want to be supporting someone else."
"Then let me state up front that I'm not poor. Nor am I looking for someone to support me. But I do get the feeling that there's some sort of chemistry going on between us. Like a moth being drawn to the light, I'm feeling something... Something special between us as though I've known you forever. I've felt it since I first laid eyes on you. Except I can't explain it."
She turned and stared at him. "I'm feeling it, too. But I think we need to give ourselves time. I don't want to jump into anything. Maybe I'm overly cautious?"
"I'm used to going after what I want, and I have a tendency to get exactly what I want."
"Well this time, you're going to have to go very slowly."
He ran his index finger down her cheek, across her jaw, and under her chin.
She wanted to melt on the spot because his touch was doing delicious things to her. Instead, she sucked in a deep breath and watched his eyes. "I can see that you are going to have a very difficult time doing anything slowly."
He tilted her chin upwards. His lips found hers. Her knees didn't want to hold her as the heat from his kiss warmed her entire body.
He backed away from his kiss and grinned. "Slow has never part of my vocabulary."

If you'd like to read Mariner's Cove:
Amazon International Stores
CLICK HERE for your AMAZON store link
Or read for FREE as a Kindle Unlimited

Erin OQuinn said...

From a first-ish draft of my WiP, BURNS TOO DEEP. Two men with a secret, both running, meet each other. Now escape needs to yield to human contact...even if that contact brings disaster to both.
~
Shivering at the warm breath fanning his ear, Thomas thought about what was happening to him.

He’d never been much of a lover. From the age of fourteen, making his slow way across Ireland and into Scotland, he’d had a lot of chances. The sheen of his blond hair, the startling blue of his eyes, what others called his fine-boned cheeks … he’d found men who told him they wanted him. Trouble was, those men had always morphed into his Uncle Sean—men who he feared might win his trust and then snap him like a dry stick. The day he ran from home, the running had continued almost nonstop for a decade.

He’d learned to seize the dominant role, to control each of the few men he went to bed with. David, like the others, was a taker, never a giver. So sex for Thomas became an exercise in penetrating the other man and damned little else. If there was any breaking, he vowed it would never again be himself.

Ever since David packed and left, he’d needed to look more deeply into his own motives and decide whether to look for affection, even for temporary satisfaction, or to reject it altogether. Meeting the sensuous Alex Dominguez a few months ago began the thawing-out process.
Being close to him and Rory Drummond for two exhilarating days had awakened his very old feelings of wanting another human being.

And now … after only a few hours, after fate threw him together with a shadow … Thomas had never in his entire life wanted someone as much as he wanted this man he called Bobbie Burns.

Thomas lay with a lover on his back, the man’s prick still halfway hard inside his ass, and smiled. He’d forgotten how good it felt, this closer-than-skin contact with a desirable man. But he’d soiled the sheet and needed to move. And besides, he suddenly felt an overwhelming need to look at the man who’d seduced him.
~
You can find my M/M romance-mystery work on my Amazon author page:
USA http://amzn.to/1w8PVgI
UK http://amzn.to/17DWFzg

Janice Croom said...

DEATH OF AN ISLAND TART
Available now on Amazon

CH 1
There comes a time in every woman’s life when she has to go get her man. My time was now. That’s what put me on a jet, somewhere over the Caribbean, in this hootchie-momma outfit I’d let my friend Charlene talk me into. Everything I normally let hang out was trussed up like a turkey, and the things I always kept covered were out there swinging in the breeze.

Clothes may make the man, but they change the woman. I’m a thirty-something African-American with junk in my trunk and a chest that women go under the knife for; I always dress to downplay that. I want folks judging me for my mind, not my body.
In this stuff, every time I stood, my chest ended up in some man’s face. And when I walked, my butt swished like a Whirlpool on agitate.

Clothes may change the woman, but they make the man lose his mind. They got me to the front of the security line and into first-class on a coach ticket. Terrence didn’t have a prayer.

Death of an Island Tart Available on Amazon
Janice Croom web site

Margo Bond Collins said...

SIREN'S KISS ~ new release

This is not a love story.

It's been over two thousand years since I walked these shores, and even then, the man who broke my heart was centuries gone, sailed away into death—the last journey into yet another land where I will not follow.

Truth be told, though, he left me long before he died, gone away to rejoin a wife he hadn't seen in twenty years, to reclaim a rocky, wind-swept island for a son he barely knew.

Gone home, to spin stories about his absence like his wife spun his death-shroud—picking out the stitches at night and reweaving them anew to postpone the inevitable moment when the stories wear thin and you find the monsters have been in your home all along, posing as suitors who would win your heart.

The poets lie, you know. They say our songs seduce the sailors, draw them into the ocean to drown.

But if the ocean sings to them, it is not our doing—no more than the earth's call to us is theirs.

And Odysseus never tried to resist.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sirens-Kiss-Falling-Collection-Novella-ebook/dp/B0107FLODY/

Website: http://www.MargoBondCollins.net

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Margo-Bond-Collins/e/B00EOU9DEG

Vamp Writer said...

Immortal Relations Coming Out (book three of the series)

Vlad explains why vampires who don't need blood to survive any longer still attack victims: "It provides a rush from the feeling of power over the living.”

Gary: “If I may be so bold, have you had such feelings in the past?”
Vlad smiled and nodded slowly, “It was a very, very long time ago We were fighting ‘an asymmetrical war’ against Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror and his Muslim invaders outnumbering us at least three to one. I was looking for anything to slow them down. I guess you'd say I used psychological warfare building the ‘forest’ of impaled enemies we defeated previously. While we had numerous successes against invading units we were unable to hold off so large an army. It was then I was changed into what I am today - always in the front lines of battle and routinely soaked in blood. Perhaps that is why I'm a vampire. One of my Generals saw me surrounded with blood spurting in the air. Thinking it was mine he sent word I’d been killed. My dear wife was distraught and threw herself from the heights of our Poenari Castle into the Arges River below. Then my second cousin, Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, from whom I sought help in fighting the war, imprisoned me. Locked away, I became crazed with bloodlust I'd otherwise have found on the battlefield. Many fellow prisoners died because of it and after my escape I was a plague on the land. It took all too long before I regained some sense of my lost humanity.”

With downcast eyes Vlad thought, “That's where the myths, legends and stories of me started – I’m afraid I earned them all.”

I reached over and patted his arm saying, “I’m sorry I brought up a topic that has induced clearly painful memories for you.”

Vlad smiled, “It's alright, if you haven’t heard the story before, you need to know the vampire you follow. I hope it won’t detract from our relationship.”

“Never fear of my continued respect. You were a great leader fighting to free your people from an oppressive invader. Since you had no one to guide you after you were changed, you did what came naturally. However, it begs the question, how did you stop?”

“I married again. She helped me overcome my constant thirst by giving me some of her own blood. Then she brought me back to God.”

I replied, “Women are clearly the superior gender, without them we men would be little better than wild beasts. “

For additional information on the series, see http://immortalrelations.blogspot.com/

Andrea Cooper said...

VIKING FLAME - Historical Romance Novella Prequel to Viking Fire

Near the beach, the man yanked out a knife.

Bram didn’t move. “You go against your Captain’s orders t—”

“You made it to shore. That’s all we’s promised.” He spat at Bram’s boots. “No one said anything about you living afterwards.”

Bram ducked to the side and snatched the sailor’s arm, pinning it to his side. When the sailor slung with his free arm, Bram increased the pressure until the man was on his knees.
“Cease, or I will break your arm.” If it wasn’t for his pledge to Morga, he’d have snapped the man’s arm already. Once his contract was signed with the Laird, then he’d be free to fight in Ireland—or at least against other Vikings and rival Irishmen. The man continued to struggle, “Or perhaps a leg as well? What will your Captain say if you return without your weapon and injured? Will he be merciful or throw you to the sharks?”

“Heathen scum!” He twisted his body to escape Bram’s grip.
As he did, Bram snapped the man’s wrist backward and the first mate let out a howl before the blade came closer to Bram’s chest.
“Now, hand me the knife.” As the man glared at him, he increased pressure on the bent wrist. “Or this heathen might do worse so that not even the sharks would want you.”

The first mate gulped and released his hold of the knife.
Bram broke his hold and snatched the blade out of the air before it hit the water. “Tell your Captain, I will not forget his hospitality nor will any of my eight brothers.”
The man paled. “What brings you to our island? To rape our women and pillage our churches?”

“No.” Bram tucked the small blade into his boot. “To find my bride.”

http://amzn.com/B00U1OLDQU

Margaret Fieland said...

From Broken Bonds:

Nidrani followed the others into the embassy half an hour before third meal and followed a guard into a reception room. It held a table pushed against one wall and chairs scattered here and there around the room. The chairs, grouped in twos or threes with small tables between them, appeared well-padded and comfortable. After helping herself to a snack from the platter on a nearby table, Nidrani walked over to where Yukal stood with Imarin, Ardaval, and Keth.
Yukal rolled his shoulders forward and glanced at them out of the corner of one eye. "Imarin, I'm surprised to see you here. You, too, Nidrani."
"I offered my help to Ardaval and he accepted," Imarin said, "nothing more." Imarin's voice remained even and his face relaxed, but Nidrani sensed it was an effort.
"I see." Yukal turned to Ardaval. "I'm surprised you accepted."
Nidrani waited. Ardaval remained silent, and after a moment, Keth spoke.
"Imarin made him an offer he couldn't refuse," Keth murmured in Common. He added in Aleyni, "It's a line from a vidi."
Nidrani found herself grinning, remembering the old film.
“I'm afraid I corrupted the boy by exposing him to the old gangster vidi we used to watch,” Ardaval glanced at Imarin, who grinned back, and then they both started to laugh.
Nidrani shook her head. "I never understood what you two saw in the whole old film saga. You especially, Imra. It's all about Terrans, criminals.”
They'd argued, the three of them, every time they'd watched it; arguments Imra settled by kissing her senseless. Her lips trembled, remembering, and Imarin shook his head and picked up her hand, which he cradled in both of his.
Yukal spread his hands. "I have no opinion. I've never seen the film."
"Imra and I started to watch it together right after we met," Ardaval said. "This was right after I broke up with Mazos."
The third time they'd watched the film together, Nidrani recalled Imarin telling her, he leaned over and kissed Ardaval. They'd become lovers the same night. They'd met her a year or so later.
Check out my author page on MuseItUp Publishing for more about the Novels of Aleyne series and Broken Bonds

http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore/index.php/our-authors/56-our-authors/authors-f/149-author-4764

LindaRae said...

THE DAUGHTERS OF THE ARISTOCRACY: BOXED SET
New Release (8/29/15)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B014MB8G26

http://amazon.com/author/lindaraesande

“I’m afraid we’ll have to make do without a lock.”
Elizabeth gasped and whirled around to find George leaning
against a library table, his arms crossed over his chest
and his face sporting a mischievous grin. Her breath caught
again as she realized the man wasn’t as unattractive as she’d
first thought. In fact, with his sable hair combed into a perfect
Titus style and the close fit of his evening wear and the
grin that lifted his eyes, and indeed, his entire face, Elizabeth
thought him rather handsome. “George!” she whispered
hoarsely, meaning to scold him for startling her.
“I’m sorry, my lady,” he said as he bowed. “I thought you
would at least look about the room before you closed the door,”
he teased, but then his breath caught as he took in the sight of
her again. Auburn curls atop her head were dressed with satin
ribbons and mother-of-pearl combs, a single strand of pearls
graced the base of her long neck, and the satin gown displayed
the tops of her breasts and a rather deep cleavage.
Curtsying to his bow, Elizabeth nearly rolled her eyes. “It
is I who should be apologizing, George. I do hope you have
not been waiting long,” she hedged as she moved to stand
before him.
My whole life, he almost said. “Just a few moments. Enough
time to read The Iliad and half of The Odyssey,” he added as
he waved toward a copy of Homer’s epic poems left open on
the table. Two glasses of champagne stood next to the book.
“Will you join me in a toast?” he wondered as he picked up the
glasses and held one out to her.
Smiling at his attempt at humor, Elizabeth felt the nervousness
leave her body. This was George. Just George.

Nancy said...

Cupid's Beau
By Nan O'Berry

Garrett felt the bite of the snow as he buried his face into flakes that layered the ground.
He waited for the impact and for a few seconds his mind wandered. As a youth, he'd played all those video games. He knew there would be a dull sounding thud, and then he imagined the burn of pain as his bones shattered. How odd, I'm not having flashbacks like in the movies seeing those moments that mean so much?
The sound came. Not like he expected. Metal to metal with more of a scrape, which resembled the noise of someone bringing their fingernails down a blackboard like the teachers he had in Catholic school. The second thought that registered, there was no pain.
Did he die instantly?
With slow precision, he eased his face from the snow-covered ground and blinked. A few feet away, a small two-door coupe sat plastered against a swaying light pole. He was alive! Relief washed over him and the instinct to flee forced him to raise his upper body from the ground.
"Oh, my God! Don't move!" A female voice shouted.
Garrett shifted his gaze from the car to a dark figure rushing past the rear bumper.
"Are you hurt? Did I hit you? Oh, God, of course you're hurt!"
Her rapid-fire questions and answer gave him no room for rebuttal. He took a deep breath as she fell to her knees and reached out for his shoulder. A zap of electricity silenced him.
"Don't move. Something might be broken." She gasped. "Of course something's broken, what am I saying? I just hit you? My cell phone." She shifted her hand to reach into her coat pocket. "I'll call the police…."
Garrett roused from his stupor grabbed her arm and she glanced down at him with round luminous, blue eyes. His chest grew tight. Maybe he had died. If so, this had to be heaven. "Don't."
"Don't?"
He shook his head. "I don't think anything's broken. You-you didn't hit me."


You can read more or purchase your copy of Cupid's Beau using the link below.
http://amzn.to/1MFXEPx