Letter to A Character: Skylar from Tied Up, Tied Down by Lorelei James

Erotic Horizon is hosting the Erotica Romance Reading Challenge this year and she built a beautiful blog devoted to it. One of the features of the blog is 'Letters to A Character' and she asked me for a contribution. I didn’t have to think long about which character I wanted to write to: it had to be Skylar from Tied Up, Tied Down by Lorelei James, because this was the first erotic romance I ever read (that was not a Harlequin’s Blaze). I picked it up at a Barnes & Noble in New York on 5th Avenue, where I was in June last year. It was the beginning of my discovery of this genre I had no idea existed. So Skylar and her adorable Kade McKay rocked my world! (It’s still rocking) I’ve read quite a few erotic romances since Tied Up, Tied Down, but it’s still one of my favorites. And Kade is my all time favorite book boy friend. So go on, read my letter to learn why *sigh*

If you want to join the Erotica Romance Reading Challenge just click the challenge button in my sidebar.

To: Skylar Ellison McKay
(From Tied Up, Tied Down by Lorelei James)


Hi sweetie,

How are you and how are Kade and the kids? Just wanted to tell you that I miss you and I hope to see you at the next McKay family meeting very soon.

I’ve always wanted to ask you something about you and Kade hooking up.
When I look at you two becoming this close over the years I can’t help wondering why it took you so long in those early days to accept Kade’s love for you. Couldn’t you tell with one look at him that he was the one? Because I could! I knew from the first moments you two met that he was a keeper!

I know you had your insecurities and that they were valid, Ms James did a very good job explaining them when she told me your story.
But, girl, everyone could see that your sexy-as-sin-cowboy with his deliciously blue eyes and dark hair was head over heels in love with you. I mean, the way he bonded so quickly with your little daughter and made an effort to help you around the house, told me he was very serious about you. And the scorching passion between you two, wowzah! What were you thinking when you decided to keep him at distance? Good thing for you that he had no doubts whatsoever because maybe then you would’ve missed out on the best and hottest man there is, out there.
I was so thrilled that he finally took control in the bedroom (and trailer, bathroom, front garden etc.) and that you let him! Luckily, you knew a good idea when you heard one! I was aware that he was an alpha kind of guy but when he showed you his kinky side as well, I was completely swooning over him. You certainly are a lucky girl to have all the best features a man can have, combined in one hot guy that only has eyes for you, Sky!
I was so happy when in the end you had the guts to swallow your own pride and go after him to show him your love. And in that moment when he had his own surprising little proof of his love for you, he had me in tears, girl!
I tell you, he is the sweetest, most honest, protecting and caring man I’ve ever met. And let’s not forget he’s the sexiest, hottest cowboy a woman can ever lay her eyes on. If you hadn’t snatched him away already, I would’ve wanted to marry him myself! I mean, he’s definitely good husband material.

So, I’m glad everything worked out fine and you and Kade got your Happily Ever After, because you have to agree with me that your husband certainly deserved it. And so did you!
I hope your love will last forever and that you may live a long and happy life together, sweetie.


Big hugs,

Janna

Lorelei James' website

About the book:

TIED UP, TIED DOWN (Book 4 of the Rough Riders series)
...The strongest bonds are the ones unseen.

Businesswoman Skylar Ellison is firmly in control of her life. So getting tangled up with a sexy Wyoming cowboy—and conceiving a baby in the parking lot of a honky-tonk—wasn’t in her plan. Since it appears the daddy has taken off for greener pastures, the only thing to do is pull up her bootstraps and carry on alone.

Cattle rancher Kade McKay returns home after a year on the range, and is knocked for a loop when he learns he’s the father of a three-month-old baby girl. When Skylar refuses to marry him, Kade grits his teeth, moves in and plays house by her rules to prove he’s a man in for the long haul.

Despite Skylar’s insistence they are to remain strictly parenting partners, their old passions flare hot as a brush fire, spurring Kade to demand absolute sexual surrender from the headstrong woman. Skylar willingly submits her body to the hot-blooded cowboy but she’s leery of handing Kade the reins to her heart.

Can Kade convince Skylar the wicked sex games aren’t a temporary distraction? Or will he have to bust out the ropes to show her he wants to be tied to her…forever?

Warning: this book contains: no holes barred kinky sex scenes, wicked rope play, blunt language, and yowza! lots of hot cowboy nekkidness.

Contest Winner & Short Review of Cuffed and Dangerous by Bronwyn Green

Hi everybody, like I promised I’m about to announce the winner of the pdf copy of Bronwyn Green’s Cuffed and Dangerous! Before I do so I gotta say that I think the winner is one lucky girl, just like I was when Bronwyn sent me her book as a present. I thought I’d take a sneak peek at it before drawing and announcing today’s winner… so I at least had a faint idea about what I was giving away… and I just couldn’t put it down after that!! The first pages pulled me in right away and before I knew it I’d finished the story. I’ve read it in one breath! Luckily it was only about 50 pages long… otherwise I would have been dehydrated or worse ;)… although I wouldn’t have minded reading a little bit longer about Bronwyn’s threesome.
And the funny thing is, it was about shapeshifters! As some of you know I’m postponing reading the paranormal genre for a while now, because I had these doubts if it would be my cup of tea. I courageously bought a few paranormal books and won some others but kept pushing them to the bottom of my TBR tower. The back blurb of Cuffed and Dangerous didn’t say anything about the heroes being werecats, so I was tricked and I didn’t mind at all! I’m just saying so the winner knows what she gets!
If you want to know a wee bit more about my honest thoughts on this book, you can find them at the end of this post.

But let’s not let you wait any longer - the winner of Cuffed and Dangerous is:

Beth

Congratulations Beth! Please email me at eroticromance[at]live[dot]nl so I can send you the ebook, because I don’t have your address.

I want to thank Bronwyn again for making this giveaway possible! Thank you so much! And all of you who played and became followers of my blog, thank you too!

BTW I choose the winner with the help of Random.org.

There were 20 items in your list. Here they are in random order:


1. Beth
2. Marissa
3. Booklover1335
4. elaing8
5. joder
6. Patti
7. Tricia
8. Leontine
9. Cathy M
10. Sweet Vernal Zephyr
11. CynCyn
12. Molly Daniels
13. Minx
14. Cecile
15. Mandi
16. Marquetta
17. adrienne
18. UniquelyMoi
19. Tracy Tabor
20. Andrea

Timestamp: 2010-01-08 12:15:54 UTC

Bronwyn Green
Cuffed and Dangerous
Resplendence Publishing, November 2009

Genre & Keywords: Paranormal, Shapeshifters: Feline, Ménage, M/F/M, Bountyhunting, light bondage play

Rating: êêêê
Heat level: ¹¹¹

The Back Blurb:
When a bounty claim becomes a fight of five against one, Jude Caulfield and Gideon Wells step in to help hunter, Wrenn Saunders, before she’s mortally injured. Wrenn soon learns that three is a good number whether in a fight or in the bedroom. Especially in the bedroom—and that’s just where Jude and Gideon want to keep her.

I’ve said it before, I like a book that opens in mid action and Cuffed and Dangerous did just that and the first pages pulled me straight into the story. I intended to only take a little peek but ended up reading it in one haul. It’s a short story (about 50 pages) and when the space is that limited lust and love are always fighting for attention and the heat is mostly the winner. The same goes for Cuffed and Dangerous. Although there’s a happy ending and a glimpse of love, the romance in this story is not overly developed. The heat on the other hand… o lala… that’s very well done!
The sex scenes were really scorching hot and frequent! From the first to the last love scene the two heroes know how to seduce their girl into some sweet and tender but hot and ultimately satisfying lovin’! And although the three protags didn’t know each other before the encounter in the bar where Jude and Gideon helped Wrenn settle the fight against five werelions there’s an instant attraction and a genuine affection from the beginning between them.

There, the word werelions fell! Yeah, that’s right, I’ve finally read a book about werecats! It was my first, I was kind of a paranormal virgin and… the werecats didn’t freak me out! At first there was only one short shifting involved when they had to fight the lions, but the description of that wasn’t extensive so I could get to know the heroes first as men, and that was good. They were described as good looking hotties with the protecting quality alphas tend to have. Wrenn clearly fell for the men and certainly not for the cats. In fact she hates the fact that they are shapeshifters, since she had a traumatic experience with the sort. Wrenn makes a great heroine, she’s feisty, independent and tough – all qualities I like in my heroines. Ms. Green gave her a plausible background and more depth than Jude and Gideon. Except for their appearances the guys were pretty much interchangeable. I can’t remember which one of them was the cougar and which one the panther. They are rather flat characters and it was easier to identify with Wrenn than with one of them. But then again they played the parts they were meant to play perfectly.

So overall my first experience with the paranormal genre wasn’t bad at all. In fact, it was freakin’ awesome and I’m ready for more! I think, but I can’t really be a good judge of that, that the paranormal aspect was on the light side in Cuffed and Dangerous, since the hot lovin’ was so prominent and the shapeshifting was just a given without elaborate explanations or rules or anything. Most of all I think that Ms. Green’s easy writing and way of making a story flow, helped me a lot with my paranormal deflowering, ‘cause if it wasn’t for that I would have never been sucked into the story like I was now. She really knows how to grab your attention and hold it throughout the story!
I already purchased another one of her stories: Handcuffs and Lies. And of course I couldn’t help myself and take a sneak peek again. And this story also begins in mid action and pulled me in immediately. But I managed to put it down to write this post ;) I’m not sure if there’re shapeshifters involved as well, since the back blurb doesn’t tell… But with or without them, the blurb sounds promising anyway!

Happy Gay Friday

Here's a hot couple to keep you entertained while I finish up two other posts for today. First I will announce the winner of my giveaway of Bronwyn Green's Cuffed and Dangerous in a short while. And later today I will post my contribution to the Erotica Reading Challenge site, which is a letter to one of Lorelei James' characters. So stay tuned ;)

And about Happy Gay Friday: I skipped it a few times because of all the holidays, but from now on I intend to post one of my cookies every Friday again and give you a short update of my M/M week.
The past week was all about Tere Michaels for me. I've read her book Faith & Fidelity and I loved it! I didn't read much else, but that had to do with the EDJ (evil day job) starting again after a week's vacation. It gave me enough time to enjoy Faith & Fidelity though! It had me glued to the pages and sobbing with the characters and grunting with displeasure when I reached the last page... But the good news is, I also have her book Love & Loyalty on my ereader AND Tere Michaels announced today that there's a sequel to Matt and Evan's story on it's way - called Duty & Devotion - which is tentatively scheduled to come out via Loose-Id in March!I have Chris to thank for the heads up on this news, she sent me the link to Tere Michaels' site!

Happy Friday everyone!

My last one: The DIK Book Reading Challenge 2010

Okay, this is my last one, really! But the DIK Book Reading Challenge 2010 just looked too good, I couldn't resist it! The DIK reading list is divers and I'm reading a few paranormal books, since I've really wanted to try this genre for a while now... but it seems I can't get myself to reading it without the added pressure...
There are a lot of other books on this list I like and are on my ereader already!

So, the rules of this challenge are:

1. Pick one book from the DIK book list to read and review.
2. Book reviews can be posted any day during the last week of each month.
3. Link back to the blog when you do a DIK Book Reading Challenge (we'll do a sticky post). If you don’t link to us we won’t know that you’ve posted a review! :)
4. Please clearly state in the title of your post that the review you are posting is for the DIK Book Reading Challenge.

At the end of the year the participants that have posted reviews for all 12 months will be put in one big pot and we will draw a name to win a $50 gift certificate from Amazon/Borders/Barnes and Noble/Books A Million (really it's your choice which place you want the certificate from as long as we can purchase it from our computer!)

If you'd like to join please leave a comment with your name and a link to your blog here>>>

My list:

JANUARY
1. Hard Too Hold by Stephanie Tyler, 3 stars
FEBRUARY
2. Tigers and Devils by Sean Kennedy, 5 stars
MARCH
3. The Darkest Night (Lords of the Underworld, #1) by Gena Showalter, 4 stars
APRIL
4. Happy Ending (Men of Smithfield, #2) by L.B. Gregg, 3.5 stars
MAY
5. Heaven (Heaven Sent, #1) by Jet Mykles, 4 stars
JUNE
6. Caught Running by Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux, 4.75 stars
JULY
7. -
AUGUST
8. -
SEPTEMBER
9. -
OCTOBER
10. -
NOVEMBER
11. -
DECEMBER
12. -

6 / 12 books. 50% done!

FAILED!!

You can also check my list on my DIK Book Reading Challenge shelf in my GoodReads library.

Todays Man Candy & Reminder of My Giveaway of Cuffed and Dangerous

It's been a long day with lots of boring office stuff so I'm just doing a quickie with this hottie ;)

And I wanted to remind you of my Giveaway of Bronwyn Green's Cuffed and Dangerous. Tomorrow is the last day to make a chance of winning this novel by leaving a comment here >>>

Good Night!!