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Monday, May 19, 2025

Summer time!

 

 The Prophecy Reincarnated

 

I don't know how you feel about longer days and warmer temperatures - I'm one who can't stay indoors. The warmer it gets, the more I'm outside enjoying time with my horse (even more!) and working in my garden. Right now the plants seem to be bursting with life. The poppies are blooming and attracting big bees, the aquilegia is standing tall in pink and dark purple, and the lavender has sprouted so many leaves that I can't wait for the wonderful scent it will soon give off. The first strawberries are ripe, and the blackberries and raspberries will be next. The whole garden welcomes me every day with new things to discover.

Spending so much time outdoors makes me less interested in writing. Partly because I'm not at home, and partly because when I get home I'm too tired to write. I jot down notes for scenes and ideas and hope for a rainy day when I can fit them into the story.

It's a rhythm I follow every year. Most of my books were written in the fall and winter to be published the following year. I'm not so sure about next year, but we'll see.

So let's take a look at one of my earlier books, written in 2012, The Prophecy Reincarnated.

Description

Worshipped, seduced, hunted—will the Prophecy find some peace again?

Ted’s life after the crash landing on Leroya turns out to be a fast rollercoaster ride with men and women lusting after his body, a ruler out for war, and an empress with different goals of her own. Will Ted find a way out and escape…if he still wants to?

Excerpt

Ted thought about the Empresses’s special abilities while dropping his clothes to wash himself. He didn’t turn when he heard someone enter and was surprised by the touch of warm hands on his hips and butt. “I didn’t know you were that eager.”
“I didn’t know that you were already waiting for me.”
Startled, Ted swiveled around. Nephren faced him with a smut grin.
“You! What are you doing here?”
Nephren gave a graceful shrug. “Share the hut with you.”
Ted wanted to stay angry, to throw Nephren out, but the touch of Nephren’s hands on his bare skin was pleasant, no, exciting, and it stopped all words. He felt warm and comfortable, touched in places deep inside him he hadn’t known existed. His breathing and heartbeat accelerated while Nephren’s palms explored Ted’s chest and inched lower, never losing eye contact. The knots of the chastity device opened like touched by magic and the leather fell away. Ted took a step backward and another. Nephren followed and held Ted by his hips, bowing forward. His tongue moved in sensuous circles across Ted’s chest and nipples.
Ted’s mouth was dry, his eyes closed. He wanted to get away and his mind knew he should, but his body enjoyed the arousal too much to oblige. For a moment, he felt ripped apart, as if his conscience had decided to leave his body to the greedy hands of a would-be lover, unable to control the flesh. The tingling sensation increased until his hair stood on end. He put his hands on Nephren’s upper arms.
The sudden rush of power felt as if finely crushed ice poured over his lower body. Gasping, he jerked away, but Nephren followed, keeping the link by holding fast to his hips. Ted shuddered, unable to move, hardly able to breathe. His mind knew he had fallen into the hands of a great seducer and his body enjoyed it immensely.
Nephren smiled, glancing at Ted’s expecting cock.
“Let it flow, Ted,” he whispered. “Give yourself to me.”
“I’ve never felt anything like that before.” Even to him his voice sounded breathy and afraid. The longing in his loins rose to a new high. He craved to be touched.
Nephren’s smile was like a spark that would soon blossom to flame. “That’s what I wanted to tell you all the time.” His left hand massaged Ted’s cock and stopped his attempt to move away. “We are much more powerful than the Haldru. In so many ways. His reign will end. Nobody will stand against us. No one. The Haldru will dwindle and fall by the snap of our fingers.”
Ted frowned and bowed backward, fighting for control like a swimmer trying to climb out a slippery pool. “That doesn’t give you shit when it comes to reigning this country.”
“Oh, but it does. If you stay at my side, not his.”
Ted fought his body’s growing desire, but it felt like nailing fog to a wall. Breathing seemed hard work, taking a step even harder. In his mind, he already took Nephren down on the soft covers and loved him with his heart’s desire. It cost him a great effort to form words. “I’m not even interested in staying on this planet. Damn you, Nephren, why should I help you rebel against your ruler?”
The drowning emerald eyes gave their best to be persuasive. “Because he won’t let you go. I know that. But if you help me, I promise you that you’ll leave this planet as soon as my reign is established and strong enough to hold without you.”
“That’s a very uncertain measure of time.”
Nephren pressed his body against his, lowering his hands to caress Ted’s accessories with experienced movements. His arguments were very convincing and Ted struggled for a coherent thought. He wanted to close his eyes and give himself to the younger man, right now, without holding back. It would be so easy, so wonderful, so satisfying. It would be unlike anything else he had experienced and he longed for it with all parts of his body.
Nephren’s voice didn’t help. His words trickled into Ted’s mind, clouding it more and more. “You’re much better off with me than with the Haldru. I know he won’t let you go. I heard him tell his new confidant. He’s too afraid you might fall into the hands of his enemies. And that, my dear Ted, would be really bad.”
“You try to frighten me.”
“No, not frighten, Ted.” Nephren rubbed the other man’s cock with more vigor. “Just open your mind to other suggestions and you’ll explore whole new lands.”

***

Find all my books at annraina.com

Sunday, May 18, 2025

New Addition

 My last two weeks have been craaaazy. I'm jut now getting back to normal and let me tell you it's hard when a schedule is tossed into the wind.

But what happened to cause this is just fine with me! My third grandchild was born a week ago. He was two weeks early. There was some drama around it all, lots of trips to and from hospital, midwife visits, late nights. I stayed there to watch the other two ages 5.5 and 2.5 while mommy and daddy cared for the new little one. 

It was wonderful being with them....and exhausting LOL But! Baby is doing well, so is mommy, and I'm home getting my own world put back together.

One of those being prepping my preorder list for my next signing ROSE CITY ROMANCE in Windsor, Ontario June 20 - 22. 



I'm really excited about it. I can drive there and pack up all the things!! When I fly, it makes it so much more difficult. I'm in the scavenger hunt so busy making my giveaways. Something a little different that I hope the readers find useful and enjoy.  I have 150 to make!

Pouches with a variety of swag inside.

Also, I'm working on a new book that I plan to have out in June - Mr. Lover. It's a hot one set in a sex club. Sign up for my newsletter for all the news and get a free downloadable reading tracker.

Click HERE for your freebie 



Saturday, May 17, 2025

Old Hotels, the Far West and Inspiration by J. Arlene Culiner

 


            I live in a hotel…or rather a small country inn in a tiny village in France. These days it’s only the memory of an inn, with a dining room, the main former café, and bedrooms with numbers on the doors. It stopped functioning as an inn back in the 1950s, but the building is four or five hundred years old, so who knows what its history is? The only records I can find begin in 1881. However, living in a hotel, sleeping in the different rooms certainly fires my imagination, but I suppose it would stimulate any writer.  

 

            I took up the challenge in writing A Room in Blake’s Folly, and instead of setting the story in France, I placed the hotel in a semi-ghost town in Nevada, a place of abandoned clapboard shacks, endless wind, and scraggly vegetation. In this book, six stories lead into each another, and over the ensuing century, the same characters either appear, or we learn more about their fate.

 

            Of course, as with any story that takes place in the past, getting the historical context right was a challenge, and I needed to do much research so that people sounded natural in each time period, learning what towns were like, the clothes people of different social classes wore, discovering the prejudices and social movements of each era.

 

            But was it fun to write? Yes, it was wonderful, and I might even go back to visit that world again in another story…

 

Excerpt from A Room in Blake’s Folly

            Hearing the purr of a car’s engine, something rare on these back streets, she turned. A large Oldsmobile, an old-fashioned car, elegant in its antiquated way, and obviously well cared for, was coming in her direction. She knew whose it was.

            The car stopped when it reached her. Out stepped Alexander, smiling, dapper in fine leather driving gloves and a cream-colored suit, the sartorial choice of those with a well-nourished bank account. He removed his flat tweed cap, greeted her, and Susanna noted how his pomaded hair, glossy and silver, stayed perfectly in place. How easy it was for men with no combs or pins to battle with every day.

            “I certainly didn’t expect to run into you out here,” she said, holding out her hand. “But it has given me the perfect opportunity to thank you for the roses. They are beautiful.”

            Briefly, he took her hand in his firm grip and bowed.

            “Yellow. For friendship,” she added.

            He met her gaze evenly. “And joy.”

            Joy? “Ah. I didn’t know.”

            His smile was warm. “I didn’t expect to run into you out here either.”

            Susanna laughed. “I suppose most people do think I’m some strange night creature who never risks daylight.”

            A line of embarrassed confusion appeared between his brows. “I didn’t…Excuse me if I…”

            She couldn’t let him finish. Reaching out again, her fingers touched the soft fabric of his elegant suit jacket. “I know you didn’t mean anything offensive. You’ll have to forgive my frivolity. This spring air does have that effect on me.” With a strange reluctance, she let her hand drop. “However, I do come out walking every day.”

            “So do I.” He cocked a curious eyebrow. “But I’ve never run into you before.”

            “Because I rarely head in this direction, southwest of the town.”

            “And what brings you here today?”

            She was unprepared for the question, and the real answer would be too revealing. Why had she come out this way? Because she’d been curious. She’d wanted to catch a glimpse of that wooden mansion where he lived, that swanky building with its broad front porch and high balcony. Ever since the arrival of those yellow roses, she had thought about him constantly—although why pretty flowers had turned her head in such a way was beyond her comprehension.

 

https://mybook.to/blakesfolly

https://books2read.com/BlakesFollyRomance

Trailer: https://youtu.be/Wt3VkYUTVNk

Author Page https://www.j-arleneculiner.com

 

 


Friday, May 16, 2025

Oberon lingers in the Atrium

Unlisted Passenger

Location: Atrium, DECK B

Oberon lingers in the Atrium, lying on soft undergrowth beneath a giant fern. He’s not fooled by this place, with its affectations of botany and organic intellectualism. He’s not sucked in by the resemblances to the world he once knew, the one he seeded before time was old enough to tell the tale. He remains unmoved by how the one who calls herself Tracy Nielsen looks just like the barbarian princess who bore his half-mortal offspring and how the one they call Nick Button speaks with the same intonation as the man who stood at the edge of a crumbling existence and cursed the name of a false idol, admitting at last that they could not save the world.

They’re just memories now, after all. Stories recalled by old gods adrift in space and time. And one day, this garden, this ship, and everything in it will be someone’s memory too. When all’s said and done, mortals are entropy embodied. Their world does not last. There’s no point to any of this.

But Oberon is here now, at any rate. And what else can he do but pass the time? This afternoon, he spends it spying on two figures in the garden—one human, one his wife.

Titania dallies again with the one called Olek—how she dotes on him.

It’s ridiculous, really, how she teases him with her body like a bird might tease a dog. Olek grasps her naked hips, overwhelmed by his biology which, though alien, is still no match for a creator of life. The silly cow even kept her crown on. Such conceit while the hapless mortal is utterly at her mercy. Is he even aware of how under her spell he is, Oberon wonders, or did the architects of these fragile creatures give them the illusion of free will?

Yet We Sleep, We Dream by JL Peridot

Love triangles get bent out of shape when restless gods come out to play.

Relationships are complicated enough when only humans are involved — something the crew of the starship Athenia know plenty about. These children of a changing climate are no strangers to conflicts of the heart. And it seems there's a lot of conflict going on, even out in space.

When an alien dust finds its way on board, the veil between realms begins to fray. Old gods of a long dead planet resume their own romantic bickering while ancient magic wreaks havoc across the ship. Grudges resurface, friends turn to enemies, unrequited love turns to passion — or does it? It's kinda hard to tell with everyone at each other's throats.

Gentles, perchance you wonder at this show; but wonder on, till truth make all things plain. Yet We Sleep, We Dream is a romantic space-fantasy inspired by Shakespeare's endearing hot mess, A Midsummer Night's Dream.

"I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was."

— Bottom, A Midsummer Night's Dream

Genre(s): Science fiction romance, science fantasy romance, space fantasy, new adult, Australian romance, futuristic romance

Content advisory: Strong language. Drug use. On-page sexual encounters. References to harassment and infertility. Depictions of perilous situations. Depictions of marital disharmony. Awkward social situations. Technical language.

💞 Available at a bunch of ebook retailers 💞

OR

😍 Get it directly from my shop 😍


JL Peridot writes love letters to the future on devices from the past. Visit jlperidot.com for the full catalogue of her work or subscribe to Dot Club for a collection of her tiny stories.

Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Writing: Trying a New Genre

We all get stuck in ruts at different stages in life. I'm in a writing rut right now. I've been writing in romance sub-genres for a few years. If I say how many, I date myself. :)


I'm sick of writing romance and writing sex scenes. How many different ways can you write a sex scene? Don't answer that. I'm sure there are many options for sex scenes, but I just don't want to do it anymore. At least right now.

Maybe if I try something new, that will wipe away my creative cobwebs and bring me back to romance writing with a fresh outlook. Maybe not.

I have this idea for a vampire thriller that's very relevant to all the rising hate and fear we are experiencing here in the U.S. Writing this story is a good way for me to deal with my anxiety and anger over the sorry state of our country. It's cheaper than paying for therapy.

Anyway, I'm working on the first draft, and it's refreshing to write non-romance, but it's also a challenge because I'm not used to it. I'm also writing this in first person from a jaded, grief-stricken, old male vampire's POV, so it can be dark at times to be in his headspace.

I'm excited to see where this new direction will take me.


Stories with fearless females and the men who dare to love them.


www.kelleyheckart.com














Monday, May 12, 2025

Swimming My Way Back to YOU - NEW Release - Contemporary Second-Chance Romance - Surprise Pregnancy - Love Worth Fighting For #TinaDonahueMonthlyNewsletter #Giveaways #EyeCandy #SecondChanceRomance #SurprisePregnancy

 



Swimming My Way Back to YOU

Contemporary Second-Chance Romance
Surprise Pregnancy
Betrayal - Heartbreak
and Love Worth Fighting For.


It’s time to choose herself for once... too bad fate has other plans.

Hazel hoped she’d found her forever with Marcus. Even though their love is a secret, she always held out hope that one day, they'd share something real. But when his ex, Zoe, returns to town, all bets are off. Hazel has no choice but to end things with him, once and for all. As she begins to pick up the pieces of her life, she makes a startling discovery—she's pregnant. What's worse? Marcus reappears with a shocking proposal: marry him in secret.

Torn between the man she longs to love and the future she wants for her unborn child and herself, Hazel is swept into a world she neither wanted nor imagined, one where jealousy, betrayal, and scandal reign supreme. Every stolen glance, every confrontation, every heartbreak brings her closer to her truth—and further from the life she once imagined.

 


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Thanks so much for reading today's post. Hope you enjoyed it!

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Sunday, May 11, 2025

Happy Mothers' Day!

 
 First of all, wishing every mom a very happy Mothers’ Day and thank you for doing one of the hardest jobs in the world! Being a good mom takes patience, consistency, strength, compassion, and lots of unconditional love. The world needs great mothers!!

I think my mom was one of the truly great mothers. She raised me practically on her own, since my dad was in the Navy and gone nearly nine months of the year. Add to that, I had polio as a baby and we had trips to the hospitals (Shriners Children’s Hospitals), surgeries, and endless exercises and physical therapy all while maintaining a full-time job and the household. She was a wonder! When she died suddenly three years ago, her loss left a hole in my life that will never be filled.

Mom taught me lots of good things—not all of which I paid strict attention to. However, she was the best of people and she showed me how and why by example. She also passed on serious tips that I did take to heart: if you meet a man in a bar, don’t be surprised if he keeps going to the bar after you marry. And: if a man will leave his wife for you, he’ll leave you for someone else. And this one I didn’t adopt: it’s as easy to fall in love with a rich man as it is a poor man. I didn’t fall in love with a man rich in money, but rich in goodness and kindness and laughter. Maybe that’s what Mom meant, after all.

Burning Bridges is a book about a mother and daughter and a second chance at love.

Blurb:
Not your typical “secret baby” book! This Southern romance packs in the emotion.

 Consider the role of strangers in our lives. An unknown postman in Virginia hides a bag of mail one day. His simple action set in motion untold consequences for many others—strangers—all over the country. How many bridges were burned in that forgotten mail pouch?

 Sara Richards’s world is rocked when three love letters from 1970 are delivered decades late. The letters were written by Paul Steinert, a young sailor who took her innocence with whispered words of love and promises of forever before leaving for Vietnam. Sara is left behind, broken hearted and secretly pregnant, yearning for letters she never received.

Then Paul died.

Now, years later, she discovers the betrayal wasn’t Paul’s, when her mother confesses to a sin that changed their lives forever. How can Sara reveal to Paul’s parents that they have a granddaughter they’ve missed the chance to know? Even worse, how will she find the words to tell her daughter that she’s lived her life in the shadow of a lie?

 Picking her way through the minefields of secrets, distrust, and betrayal, Sara finds that putting her life together again while crossing burning bridges will be the hardest thing she’s ever done.

 Buy link:
Kindle Unlimited


 Excerpt:
(Sara calls her mother after receiving a package of letters, decades old)

“I thought it would be you. Have you read the letters?”

“No. What happened, do you know?” Scattered on the table, the three packets drew her gaze and she stared as though trying to read their meaning through the sealed paper.

“Only what the Department of Navy letter said. Some bags of mail were lost. I suppose if I weren’t still receiving part of Dad’s retirement, they wouldn’t have found me.”

Sara closed her eyes and leaned against the wall. “I mean, do you know what happened to the rest of the letters?”

“What?” There was no mistaking the naked fear in her mother’s voice.

“The envelopes are numbered. I have twenty-eight through thirty. What do you think happened to the others?” Tension radiated through her shoulders and neck. Her mother was about to say something she didn’t want to hear, she knew it.

“Sara, you have to understand, Dad and I only wanted what was best for you. You were a child, a high school senior with a wonderful future in front of you. You’d been accepted at William and Mary. The last thing you needed was to get mixed up with a sailor who would love you and leave you. Which, I might add, is exactly what he did.”

Sara could barely suck air into her lungs. Her fingers whitened with the hold she had on the phone cord. “What did you do, Mother?”

“More than anything, we didn’t want you hurt.” Moments passed. “Your father made the decision, but I was in favor of it, I want you to know that. He’s not here, so if you’re going to get mad, I suppose it will have to be at me.” She ended with a sigh. “After—that man—left Virginia Beach, we determined it would be best for you to make a clean break. We never had any doubt that he was wrong for you. So, we intercepted the letters.”

The blood drained from Sara’s face and she pulled over a chair. If she didn’t sit she’d fall. “You did what? How could you do that?” Her voice broke.

“You put your letters in the mailbox and I took them out after you left for school. And his…”

All too well, Sara remembered days of rushing into the house to sort through the stack of mail on the hall table, never finding a letter from Paul. Each day with no news added a stone to her wall of doubt that he loved her and depleted her store of faith that he’d stand by her.

Sara moaned. “Do you know what you did with your meddling?”

“Sara, you were seventeen, a child. Do you know what that means? He could have gone to jail. Your father was in favor of going to his commanding officer—even to the police. It was fortunate for your friend that his ship left.”

Sara envisioned her mother sitting alone in her living room. About this time each afternoon, a gin and tonic sat on the table beside her. She’d wear a skirt and blouse and her hair and make-up would be flawless. Sara also didn’t doubt that her mother’s posture was rigid and that her thumb rubbed the tips of her index and middle fingers. Those were indications her mother’s emotions—anger, frustration, fear, whatever—were threatening to override her normal control. Today she deserved every terrible, panicky feeling she was experiencing.

Mary Ellen sighed. “Try to see it from our point of view. You were a good girl with a good future. He destroyed all of that in a matter of weeks. You were our responsibility and we protected you the best way we knew how.”

“Protected me!”

“Yes, protected you. We loved you more than anything on earth.” She quieted, as though considering the next bit. “He died in service to his country. That was at least an honorable thing.”

A sob broke from Sara.

Her mother softened her tone. “I have no doubt he might have been a good man, but not for you, and not at that time. I don’t regret ending the relationship, whatever else happened.”

“I can’t believe you did this. I don’t even know what to say to you.” A headache inched its way forward to throb behind her eyes. She used her free hand to block the light coming through the kitchen windows. “The horrid things I thought about him, the certainty I had that he’d forgotten me…all wrong. I mailed the first letters from school. I wish I’d kept on doing that and asked him to write me at Cindy’s house. Who knows what might have happened?”

“Sara, it’s been so long. I thought you’d be able to understand after all this time, but maybe I was wrong. Put the whole episode with that man behind you, darling. Just throw those letters out. What difference could they possibly make now?”

“I don’t know.”

“Darling? We shouldn’t talk about this over the phone. I can be there in a few minutes and then—”

Sara’s eyes shot open. “No! I may never forgive you for this, Mother. In fact, I’m hanging up before I say something I probably shouldn’t.”

“Sara, let me—”

Sara pressed the end icon and dropped her phone onto the table. Vaulting from the chair, she paced around the kitchen table. Squared stopped eating and turned to watch, his Siamese-blue eyes following her path. In agitation, she picked up the letter from the Navy, glanced unseeing at the words then tossed it back. Stomping to the sink, she poured a glass of water, then drank it all without taking a breath. Finally, she turned and stared at Paul’s envelopes.

 



Reviews:

"I loved it! And now my daughter's reading it." Sherry, a reader

 "I just finished reading BURNING BRIDGES. Thank you for writing such a powerful story about how real love can overcome all obstacles… How nice that characters of middle age were written as attractive and sexual human beings." A reader, Virginia

 "I give Burning Bridges 6 stars out of 5!! A true love story...I'm ready for more." - A reader, Byron, TaylorMade Bod

 "I loved it, just loved it! I was going to take it with me on vacation but I started reading and didn't want to stop. It was addictive." - Chiara, a reader

 "Loved it. Just loved it." - Beverly, a Beaufort reader

 Winner! Coffee Pot Book Club awarded Burning Bridges the Gold Medal for Best Romance 2020!

 A little about me:
A few years ago, Dee S. Knight began writing, making getting up in the morning fun. During the day, her characters killed people, fell in love, became drunk with power, or sober with responsibility. And they had sex, lots of sex.

 After a while, Dee split her personality into thirds. She writes as Anne Krist for sweeter romances, and Jenna Stewart for ménage and shifter stories. All three of her personas are found on the Nomad Authors website. And all three offer some of the best romance you can find! Also, once a month, look for Dee’s Charity Sunday blog posts, where your comment can support a selected charity.

 Author links:

Website: https://nomadauthors.com

Blog: http://nomadauthors.com/blog

Twitter: http://twitter.com/DeeSKnight

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeeSKnight2018

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/265222.Dee_S_Knight

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B079BGZNDN

LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/dee-s-knight-0500749

Sweet ‘n Sassy Divas: http://bit.ly/1ChWN3K