DAY 4 — Christmas Kidnap Mix-Up
Today’s free romance treat comes from Evangeline Anderson, and it’s a holiday mishap you do not want to miss.
Jillian Marks is the sensible sister. The responsible one. The woman who would never—ever—sign up for a custom kinky kidnapping. Her sister, however? Absolutely would.
But when the Dom-for-hire grabs the wrong woman, Jillian suddenly finds herself bound, gagged, and staring into the eyes of Kyle Stephens… a man who just might be everything she never knew she needed.
Kyle wanted a permanent sub with a mind of her own. He wasn’t expecting Jillian.
Yet the moment she’s in his ropes, something clicks... and Christmas turns scorching.Mistaken identity has never been this tempting.
More treats waiting behind every door…
Need to escape? Check these holiday romances...
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Thank you!
Thank you to everyone who picked up a copy of Unbowed and helped it reach #1 in Erotica in the Kindle store. I am grateful for this wave that has lifted the book to a high for a fleeting moment.
It's in keeping with the season and this view from our kitchen window this morning.
In Japanese culture sakura, cherry blossoms, are a reminder of the impermanence of all things. Or, as Joni Mitchell put it, "You don't know what you've got til it's gone."
Yesterday the pink blossoms were a little bit brighter. Tomorrow they will be paler than today. By the weekend almost all the blossoms will be replaced by leaves.
However, I know what I've got - a moment in the sun. Thank you
More free books!
From now until February 15 you’ll find a huge selection of free romance novels here
Free books! Lots of books!
You may have noticed I don’t participate in this type of giveway often. When I do, I sometimes forget to post them here. For that, I apologize. There are so many balls in the air for indie authors. I do cover them in my newsletters.
For a change, I remembered those of you who prefer to find your information when it’s convenient for you, rather than according to my newsletter schedule.
Please browse the many books offered and fill your ereader - for free!
More details here. 😊 Happy reading.
What is love? What is romance?
Last week in the Facebook group, Sexy Spanking Reads, there was a heated discussion about the ‘rules of writing romance.’ My first thought was, “There aren’t any.”
Yes there are rules about writing. Every writer should have proficiency in language. A command of grammar, spelling, and basic story structure is the writer’s equivalent of a musician learning the scales.
Once a writer has mastered essential skills then they get to break some of the rules. The person who posed the question of whether or not the rules had changed asked if examples like cheating and open relationships as fall outside the romance genre.
For all that neither of those situations appeal to me, I can’t decide for others.
Art should be dynamic, challenging and evolving. Different takes on the genre will appeal to different readers.
What is the most romantic thing that has ever happened to you or someone you know? Here’s mine and I have no doubt it won’t be everyone’s idea of romance:
My loving husband has surprised me many times with his ability to make me feel cared for and wanted. The most romantic thing he’s ever done? Years ago we did an 18,000 km camping trip around the Australia outback. One of the most upsetting sights to me was the road kill: animals hit by speeding cars. It wasn’t the dead animals that worried me.
It was the gorgeous wedge-tailed eagles that would land to feed on the carcasses that were upsetting. These eagles are huge, with wing spans up to 2.8 m (9 foot). They can only lift off the ground in the direction they are facing so if a car comes barreling down the highway and the birds are having their fast food lunch and not looking that way, they become a second tragedy.
What did my husband do? Every time we saw a carcas on the highway, he stopped the car, donned gloves, and dragged the eagle-snack far enough off the road so the birds could land safely.
I never loved him more than I did in those moments. And my love for him has grown stronger since then.
But that’s us - two strong people with similar sensibilities in love. While I consider our love and relationship to be extremely romantic, it wouldn’t appeal to a lot of people because they may not care as much about the wild world as we do.
Also our love wouldn’t make much of a novel because there is little conflict between us, even if we do have power exchanges that spice up our intimacy.💝
It’s that time again - a new release today.
Only a delusional author expects everyone to love their books. Still, authors’ lives are spent in fantasy worlds and sometimes we get lost in our dreams.
As much as we may wish for universal acceptance, it will never happen. In fact if we aimed to please everyone, our books would be the written equivalent of the chicken dinner below.
In writing, nobody is right or wrong. Authors are simply telling their stories their way.
If you don’t like my books, I hope you find others that transport you somewhere marvelous.
May as well dream big!
My novella, His To Claim, was part of the anthology Kisses & Kink, released in June 2022 (no longer available). The common denominator shared by the stories in that collection was the setting. The stories took place on cruise ships.
With no more than that to go, I let my imagination loose.
I didn’t see one ship. I saw three.
The first was a catamaran around the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. I’ve done that trip so I didn’t need to do a lot of research for part I of my book. The catamaran I sailed on hosted 10 guests and was run by 3 onboard staff.
The second part took place on a ship more like the ones that come to mind when someone says ‘cruise ship’ - a floating village, population just under 5,000 (3,500 guests & 1,300 staff). I’ve seen these giants from land but I’ve never been on one so I had to research how they operate.
The final ship in my story was based on the National Geographic ships, which are a fraction of the size of the big liners, carrying as few as 60-120 passengers. Being so much smaller, they can explore points where the big ships can’t go.
All of that left me with a fascination about cruise ships and the pampering they offer. This past week I came across this article from the Miami Herald, written by Anna Jean Kaiser. Prepare to enter another dimension.
Here are some of the highlights of the article in case you missed it:
With the help of Miami cruise industry veterans, the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is entering the luxury cruise business with a high-end, 95-suite mega yacht slated to hit the ocean in 2025.
“This is going to be an extraordinary, unique, hybrid product. It has no equal — there is no such animal in cruising and nothing like it in yachting,” said Four Seasons Yachts CEO Larry Pimentel, a Miami cruise executive with decades of experience running luxury cruise ships, including Carnival Corporation’s Seabourn and Azamara, formerly part of the Royal Caribbean family.
“I was tasked with creating the best product at sea; it’s a tall order, but an exciting one,” he said, explaining that he was told not to create a cruise ship or a copy of a yacht. “We created our own vision of what the best product at sea could be.”
Four Seasons Yachts, whose corporate headquarters is in Miami, will be a three-ship fleet, with the first yacht debuting in November 2025, the second in 2026 and the third in 2027. Italian ship builder Fincantieri is building the yachts, which will cost a combined $1.2 billion. The first ship will cost a staggering $4.2 million per suite to build and have room for about 200 passengers.
Four Seasons’ cabins won’t be your average cruise ship suites. Starting at 590 square feet, some suites will have modular walls for families and groups to combine rooms. Some will have their own swimming pools and certain ones will have attached “staff cabins” for guests who have security guards, caretakers or nannies accompanying them. The largest cabin will be the “funnel suite,” a 9,600-square-foot, four-story suite with glass walls facing the ocean.
The yacht will come with 11 bars and restaurants, a spa and fitness center. The yacht’s main swimming pool floor will be able to rise up, spilling the water out and creating a flat space for shows, events and weddings.
[…]
The Four Season’s seafaring venture comes as competing luxury hotelier Ritz-Carlton debuted its first luxury yacht in October. But Pimentel and Levine say, while they think the Ritz-Carlton yacht will do well, they believe their Four Seasons ships cater to a different, higher-paying clientele. They also pointed out that the Ritz-Carlton’s yachting line is a licensing agreement, unlike their partnership.
Pimentel and Levine say it’s too early to share details on the cost of sailing on a Four Seasons yacht, but said it will be comparable to the pricing at Four Seasons hotels and resorts.
When completed in late 2025, the first yacht will sail the Mediterranean in the summer and the Caribbean in the winter. But you’re less likely to see the Four Seasons yachts in the traditional cruise mega ports, where thousands of passengers are unloaded onto an island for a few hours or a day.
“You will not see us in those ports,” Levine said. “We are a yacht, a mega yacht. We’ll be visiting smaller, less accessible ports around the Caribbean. On a cruise, the cruise [line] tells you what you’re gonna do. On Four Seasons Yachts, you tell us what you’d like to do.”
Read the full article here.
Would you like to take a cruise on one of these floating luxury palaces? How big can you dream?
Introducing ~ Delta James
Follow Delta on Amazon here.
What is one unexpected, good thing writing has brought to your life?
That one’s easy—friendships I would never have had without them. Specifically, my two best friends in the world: Renee and Chris
If you could take a January holiday with no limits on cost, location, etc, where would you go? Who would you take with you?
Renee would want me to say a cruise! But honestly, I would love to go back to Great Britain. I went once many years ago planning to see it all, but I fell in love with Cornwall and just couldn’t leave. Had I not had animals and the UK not have had a quarantine for any animals born outside it, I might have stayed.
I’d really love to go to Wales. I’ve felt called to that country for a very long time, which I think is shy my first heroine was born and raised there.
I would take Chris because it was where she was born. And Renee just because we’re kind of a team.
Of all the books you’ve written, do you have a favorite?
It tends to be whichever one I’m writing. But there are those that I remember more than others, usually because of the characters.
Brought to Heel—because of Dylan and Skylar, but also because it was my first paranormal/shifter romance.
Marked and Mated because of Jean-Michel and Darby
Alpha Dog because of Fitz and JJ.
Overlord because of Gareth and Sloan.
The Bargain because of Con and Katy.
Noah because of Noah and Zara.
Advance because of Roark and Sage AND because it was written as a novella and included in an anthology that earned me my USA Today Bestselling Author status.
Submission because of Gabe and Anne. I wanted Anne Boleyn to have a happy ending
What was the first book that made you cry?
Interestingly, I’ve only cried once when reading a book… and it was one I was writing. It was the hero’s death scene. The stupid thing is I knew he wasn’t going to die! I was typing away just crying my eyes out and having to use tissues. Note: I am not a pretty crier!
When did you write your first story or book? Who did you show it to? Did they encourage you?
The first book I ever wrote got looked at by two agents who wanted to work with me. My father was in failing health and I never pursued it. My first book as Delta James was published by Stormy Night Publications in June of 2018. SNP taught me so much and helped me learn a lot of what I needed to as a writer. In April of 2019, I became an indie author and never looked back!
What was the best money you ever spent as a writer?
That one is easy: hiring Renee Brooks to do all of my marketing. Without her, I never could have achieved all I have… and all that is to come! The second would be Skye Warren’s Romance Author Mastermind conference. Neither was inexpensive, but both have been worth every dime I spent.
