Thursday Taster: Slave - Preorder for only $0.99

Welcome to Thursday Tasters, where my wonderful comrades and I post excerpts from Works in Progress and published works. I have featured Slave on Thursdays past and I am happy to share that it releases officially on Sunday the 15th. Please take advantage of this opportunity to buy it and the original Blue Moon House for only $0.99. You can also sample the other excerpts I have posted here.
Now, one more taste of Slave:

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“So soft,” she murmured, stroking him gently. She’d removed her gloves and her hands were just as soft as Will had imagined. He had stroked himself, but that didn’t prepare him for someone else touching him.
Nothing prepared him for her lips wrapping around his head. He shuddered at the sensation, his head tipping back. When he looked down at the long curls, he felt disappointed. He wanted Bart there.
“Not too much, Martha. I have plans for that.” Bart poured oil into his hand. “And you know you want to watch this.”
Bart bent over the seat of one of the chairs, exposing his ass. His oily hand ran between the cheeks, spreading the glossy liquid. He shoved one finger in, leaving no doubt as to what he wanted.
Martha stopped sucking, releasing Will with a pop. Her tongue lapped his tip once before she rose. “Let me anoint you,” she said, grabbing the crystal decanter. She poured oil over his length, using her hand to smooth it. Will sucked breath through his teeth at how her fingers slid over him. “Are you sure you’re ready for this, Bartholomew? I’d be intimidated.”
Bart scoffed. “He’s not your first black cock.”
“Oh, he is yours? Pardon me,” she said stepping away from Will to take a seat in the chair facing the one Bart bent over, where she could watch.
Will turned to Bart, not entirely sure how to do what he had planned. He took hold of Bart’s hips and tilted his own until he was pointed at the puckered hole. He pushed forward...and nothing happened. It felt like he was trying to press himself into a short length, like he was bending. Will grunted at the discomfort.
Bart groaned and everything changed. Instead of pressed, Will was being drawn in, as though Bart’s hole were pulling him. He slid so easily.
He was being pressed again, but now it was around, as though the hole weren’t made for his thickness. The sounds Bart made assured him it wasn’t painful.
“Yes, Will,” Martha said, breathless. “Fuck him. You look amazing like that.”
Will didn’t turn his head to look at the woman, but he obeyed. He pulled back through the smooth, tight tunnel only to push forward again.
He sank deeper this time and the sensations around him changed subtly. He’d passed some point inside Bart.
“Yes, fuck, so good.” Bart’s hips began to rock and twist. “You’ve got me hard again.”
Will reached around to find that was the case. He stroked Bart in time with his thrusts.
Martha let out a string of raspy curses Will barely noticed in his euphoria. He thought he worshiped the cock, but this, the sensation, it was so much more.
His balls tightened and he knew the moment had come. This would be the most satisfying ejaculation of his life.

---

Please consider ordering a copy of Slave. And be sure to check out all the great samples from the Thursday Tasters.

Tantalizing Tuesday - Moon

Her lungs burned and her legs ached through her lower back and up her spine. Her hands scrabbled, searching for handholds and bruising when she caught them. Clinging to cold rock, she pulled her head above the clouds.
Thick clouds had covered the surface of Denir for over a century. The clouds were not so thick as to leave the planet completely dark, but Bromine’s eyes were whiter than her mother’s, more light-sensitive, a trait being bred. Now she wished she didn’t.
Hers was the first head to break through the cloud layer in recent memory. She was breaking ten laws and a thousand traditions doing this. She had been taught that the Creator brought the clouds to cover Himself and Denir, hiding from those who would harm them.
She had tried to convince others to come with her. It was a painfully lonely climb with no one to help her. At last, she had achieved her goal, one unattainable for decades.
She stared, dumbfounded, and nearly lost her grip on the peak.
The histories told of the moon, large and pale. They said it was always visible, even in daylight, but nothing else.
Now, there was a second moon.

Make sure you pop over to the blog and read all the other fantastic teasers. (Okay maybe not as out-of-this-world as this one, but fantastic!)

7 Lovely Things Bloghop

The spectacular Dariel Raye invited me in on this blog hop. All I need to do is tell you 7 lovely things about myself and send you to 15 of my friends. If you know anything about me, my self esteem is crap, so this is not going to be easy. Here goes anyway.
1. I am a proud mother. I have an amazing 8 year old daughter who forgets to put her dishes away, cries when she realizes she forgot her homework, but can spell reciprocity correctly on the first try. Seriously, her spelling lists are ridiculous! She also was reading at 2 to the point that she read her third birthday cards aloud. My daughter is one of the most lovely things that I have ever created.
2. I can write fast. That's not a boast, or even really a compliment to myself, but it is true. When I have a fully fleshed idea in my head and it begs to be written down, I can spin out 30 words a minute (for comparison, my typing speed is around 45). It's often very rough and riddled with typos and missing punctuation, but the ideas are all there.
3. I crochet. This I mention because I'm in the middle of a marathon. My sister just had her second child, a girl this time, so I started a baby blanket for her. But my other sister is due in June, a boy for her, so at the same time I picked up a giant ball of blue. Then my friends were over this weekend and I realized/remembered that their daughter turns 1 in the fall. Off to the craft store for more yarn!
4. I have a dry sense of humor. It's also a bit abstract or high brow, so most often I tell a joke or make a comment and let it float to see if people laugh or not. It's not an uncommon trait among Canadians.
5. I have maple syrup coloured, curly hair. I love my hair. It's definitely my best feature in my opinion. And it only looks its best when I do absolutely nothing with it. If I shower at night (and I usually do) and fan my hair on my pillow to dry, I will have to-die-for curls in the morning. If I brush it, they come out. If I use any kind of styling product on it, they come out. To be honest, I really thought I'd be grayer at 37, but I just have a few strands.
6. I am a cheerleader. I actually was in Junior High and we were the homliest, geekiest bunch you ever saw. Not sure why the geek squad decided to be cheerleaders, but there we were, shouting our lungs out. Now I'm not as vocal, but very much online a supporter of my friends, their efforts, their successes, even when I sometimes feel bad about myself in the meantime, I'm always there to give a high five or a boost when needed.
7. I am eclectic. My music tastes range from alt-rock, to golden oldies from the 50s and 60s, to Bach (not Bachman Turner, though I love them too) with a splash of country and the right kind of rap topping it all off. My writing is equally eclectic. As Angelica I've written Vampire BDSM, New Adult, Gay, Menage, and vanilla, and that's just in the erotica camp. I also write YA dystopian, scifi, fantasy, contemporary literary, fanfiction... You get the idea.

Well, now that I've shared 7 lovely things about myself, it's time for me to point you to 15 other people so you can learn more about them. Here goes (and some of these may have already participated and I missed it).

Pablo Michaels
Phoenix Johnson
Eden Connor
Erzabet Bishop
Julez Morbius
Elizabeth Black
Muffy Wilson
Denyse Bridger
S.J. Maylee
Doris O'Connor
Ray Sostre
Debra Marie Greene
Athena Marie
Michaela Rhua
Naomi Shaw

Sunday Surprise - Man Love @MLR Press @RJScott_Author @VVeeB @Nicole_Dennis @JackieNacht @NJNielsen1 @Lynch_Mark

The surprise for me this Sunday is the realization that I haven't spotlighted a gay focused press. That changes right now! Let me introduce MLR Press, manlove at its best. Their acronym? Mayhem, Lust and Romance. Who could say no to that? They have a pile of releases from February, so I'm going to go right into them.

Note: I am sorry to say the MLR Press is not allowing me to post their covers. I have removed them.

The first four are books in the Storming Love Series 2, books #3-6. This series comes from a variety of authors, each featuring a couple stranded by the weather and needing to stay warm. Cuddle up with one of these on a grey day. 

Seth & Casey comes from R.J. Scott. The blizzard of the century has stranded teacher Casey McGuire and pupils at a country retreat. As a last resort and fearing for their lives he calls his ex, fireman Seth Wild. The same man who promised that he would always be there for Casey.

Layne, River & Damon is by Vicktor Alexander. It has taken Damion Martin six months to finally start to get over the startling break-up from his partner Layne Haylse. They'd been high school sweethearts and blissfully in love. Then the man suddenly wanted nothing to do with him. Having to work with him at Yale University almost every day made the separation that much harder. Meeting the young marketing major, River Cunningham, may just be the ticket to helping Damion heal.

Nicole Dennis gives us Gavin & Morgan. Drained from forecasting both hurricanes and twisters, Gavin Larson, a meteorologist, accepts a request to become the head forecaster for a Philadelphia television station. He goes for a trial time during winter. A calm, quiet winter where he can recharge. Until he discovers a series of potential events ready to clash.

And in the most recent release, Jackie Nacht introduces us to Strokes & Ford. Stokes has been rooming with Ford ever since the first day of college. Although his feelings had started out as friendly, over time, they have grown deeper. He's fallen for Ford, hard, but how the hell is Stokes going to tell Ford? When college winter break approaches, Stokes decides to take Ford up to his parent's rental to have a fun weekend with Ford and finally let his best friend know what he feels. However, with a blizzard coming in, they will have to weather the storm outside and in their hearts.

Hope is the sequel to Mark Zubro's Safe. Roger Cook and Steve Koemer have been dating. Their world is turned upside down when Steve's father and mother find out he's gay and throw him out of the house. Then the ugliness and fear begin to build. Steve's father is murdered. The Church he was pastor of was in financial trouble, but the man was also involved in a plot against the two boys. A plot which was designed to destroy their relationship and which continues even after his death. The boys must race to find out who the killer is and who is plotting against them. When the whole world seems against them, they have the hope of their love to sustain them.

N.J. Nielsen has released a second volume in the Experimentals Series, Running to Zero Tolerance. While searching for his missing brother, Linc O'Hare stumbles across his mate and willingly gets kidnapped to save a man whose name he doesn't even know. Having his mate live in slavery is not on Linc's to-do list, and he plans to rectify the situation.

Gideon Church was resigned to the hell he's been living. Escaping with Linc is the best day of his life--until he realises his whole existence has been a lie. With the help of Linc and the inhabitants of Zero Tolerance will Gideon be able to separate the lies from the truth and figure out just who he really is?

Hawaiian Trunks comes from Caraway Carter. In Hawaii for the wedding of his lovers, Toby Lee wonders if he'll ever find a love like Clay & Colin. When he meets Wolff, a hot bartender, over the course of a weekend he thinks it could just be possible. Toby Lee puts his foot down and decides that his love life is far more important than the so-called friends who take advantage of him. A broken law, handcuffs and a kiss might just seal the deal on his future.

And on the lighter side, there's Straight is the New Gay by Mark Lynch. If it's funny about the LGBT community, you'll find it in this fabulous collection of quotes and cartoons from celebrated, award-winning Australian cartoonist Mark Lynch. 

Falling Apart by Riley Long introduces us to Ryder and Billy. Playboy and up-and-coming rockstar Ryder Sullivan has it all--a band he loves, a career on the rise, and groupies in his bed whenever he wants. Cowboy Billy Cunningham enjoys his quiet life, but something's missing. Soon he discovers that what's missing is Ryder. Ryder feels the same way, and is ready to cast off his playboy ways and jump into the deep end with Billy. Can Billy face down his fears, put aside the complications of an eager would-be girlfriend and his pushy mother, and accept that he's finally falling in love--with a man?

And here is an excerpt from Falling Apart!

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Ryder Sullivan pushed his way to the packed bar with feigned confidence. He forced a casual look, and managed to maneuver his lean frame, tight jeans and all, onto a high chrome and leather barstool. As he settled in, Ryder glanced around self-consciously, trying to get his bearings. Well, he thought, at least I'll have an audience. Which Way was packed full of bodies, each one moving and bobbing to the pounding rock music blasting through the speakers to his right.

An adorable bartender, probably a few years older than him, tall, with a soft curve to his face, chuckled. He was as far away from Ryder as possible, making it difficult to get a drink. Every grinning, half-drunk patron seemed to know the guy and laughed along with his antics. Ryder's breath hitched a little, but he wouldn't allow himself to think too much about this man right before a show.

The bartender turned and fixed Ryder with sparkling green eyes. Ryder nodded and lifted his slender fingers in a small wave, indicating his growing need for a drink.

"What can I get for ya?" the bartender drawled as he leaned down and eyed Ryder as if he were the only person in the room.

Ryder's stomach fluttered, and he reminded himself that just because he slept with men did not mean this bartender did. With soft brown curls, muscles bared beneath his honest-to-God plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and perfect ass clad in actual Wrangler jeans, the bartender seemed to be flirting with everyone who crossed his path. None of that meant the bartender would be interested in him. Ryder offered a smile, the guarded one he put on for the endless publicity shoots, and swallowed hard.

"Patron. And a glass of water, too, I guess. Can't get too drunk if I'm going to get up there and play, can I?" Ryder's awkward chuckle escaped before he gestured vaguely towards the stage. He grinned, showing off his straight white teeth, and rubbed a hand over the stubble along his jaw.

"No shit, buddy? You're our entertainment for the night?" The bartender's grin took over his face as he turned to grab a bottle. He swiftly poured Ryder a large draft of the clear top-shelf liquor in a highball glass. "On the house." He pushed the drink towards Ryder. "You all right? You look a little outta your element."

Ryder stared into the glass and fought to keep his defenses at bay. He leaned in a bit, letting a cocky smirk slowly cover his face as he locked eyes with the bartender. If he was just a bit closer, Ryder could have kissed the southern-grown man. The palpable heat between them sent chills down Ryder's arms, even with the shiny black bar between them. "I could say the same about you, country boy bartending in a rock and roll bar." He took a sip of the drink before adding, "I'm Ryder." He took another swallow of the liquor, letting its burn slide down his throat. "Sullivan."

"Pleased t' meetcha, Ryder Sullivan. I'm Billy." Billy placed a glass of water in front of Ryder. "Now I suppose I gotta go do my job before one of these good people jumps the bar, but you just holler if you need anything at all, okay? Good luck up there." He winked at Ryder before turning away.

Ryder continued to sip his drink, enjoying the warmth as it worked its magic on his nerves, and watched the other patrons collected in clusters around the bar. This was one of his favorite ways to prepare for a show; he spun on his stool and surveyed the crowd to get a read on them firsthand. He felt someone's gaze on him, and he turned to discover a pretty blonde girl standing a few feet behind him, eying him intently. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and came to rest a hand on Ryder's arm.

"That bartender's pretty hot, isn't he?"

He shrugged noncommittally. "Sure, I guess so."

"Ah, don't lie to me, boy. I could see you eye-fucking him from across the room."

Ryder's cheeks flushed; he had never been able to keep that heat from creeping across his high cheekbones when he'd been caught, and he ducked his head a little before he glanced up at her. "I'm just here for the show."

The girl threw her head back and laughed, squeezing hard on Ryder's arm. She had a head full of curls, cute, petite features, and eyes that showed an undercurrent of fierceness. "I'm Allison. The bartender, that's Billy. He flirts with everything that moves, so don't be too flattered. I'm the one he'll be going home with though." She flashed a smile that seemed more dangerous than friendly. She took a sip of her beer before she walked away.

Ryder was stunned, and wondered if he should regret his decision to haunt the bar before the show. Maybe he should have just had a drink in that supply closet-turned-dressing room and kept out of sight. As he finished the tequila, the familiar warmth coursed through his blood as if he had fire in his veins, leaving his head just a bit light. He downed his glass of water too, and caught Billy's eye again to thank him for the drink.

"Anytime," Billy offered, leaning in again and grinning in a way that made Ryder's mouth go dry. "That's what I'm here for, to take care of whatever you might need."

A beat passed, heavy with meaning, and a blush flooded Ryder's cheeks again. Billy chuckled and clapped Ryder on the bicep.

"Aw, I'm just fuckin' with you, buddy. Shaking up the talent is one of the many things I'm good at."

Ryder was speechless, not used to being tongue-tied. He nodded, feeling like a total idiot. He slipped off of the stool and wound his way through the mass of people. In the backstage hallway, Ryder rounded a corner and nearly crashed into Tyler, the bar's owner, and the woman who was responsible for having him here tonight. They'd met weeks ago when she waited him out after a gig, and they'd become easy friends, though he'd never been here before tonight.

"Sorry about that, honey," she said, pushing her long, dark hair behind her shoulders and embracing him. "I'm excited you're here! I think they're going to really love you tonight. I'm glad your manager could fit us in your schedule before the tour started. Nervous?"

Ryder realized he was fidgeting with the hem of his shirt and stilled his hands. "About tonight?"

"Well, new bar...You worried about the crowd?"

He shrugged. "Nah, not really." He wondered if she could tell he was...not lying exactly, but definitely overstating his calm.

"You've got talent, good music, you're a good-lookin' guy... they're going to eat you up. And knowing you, I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding someone to spend the night with once you leave the stage."

"Hey now, you just happened to catch me on a really good night that night," Ryder protested.

"Oh what, you don't usually have a half dozen girls and a couple of guys waiting to ask you back to their place? Don't even try to tell me a story, you and I both know that you don't have any problems in that department."

Billy stuck his head around the corner. "Hey, Ty, I need you up front. Jack isn't here yet and it's getting busy." And then, in Ryder's direction, "Good luck up there," he said and winked.

Ryder felt his pulse quicken. This guy was not helping.

"Well, gotta get going, I guess," Tyler said, cutting through his fog. "Seems like the help can't function without me."

* * * *

The rest of the night passed in something of a blur. Helping the crew with a final quick sound check; dancing and gyrating on the small stage while belting his heart out, the audience falling under his spell; and finally collapsing backstage in a sweaty mess on the dressing room's couch, his long legs draped over the arm.

Okay, maybe dressing room was a bit much--there was furniture and a fridge, sure, but it was barely big enough to hold those things, and every spare inch of space was crammed with supplies. Stacks of paper towels and rolls of toilet paper filled one corner, kegs waiting to be tapped another.

He considered taking off his shirt to cool down, but since the sofa was probably pretty questionable and he didn't have any clean clothes in his backpack, he just kicked off his shoes and closed his eyes. The electricity from the crowd still coursed through his veins, and he was blissful.

The band had left shortly after Ryder had packed the last amp into the van, which is how he preferred it. He lay there for what felt like an eternity before he felt steady enough to get his things together and get out of the building. As he started to get up, a knock at the door made him jump.

"Y-yeah?" he called out. Who could have any use for me at this time of night...morning...whatever?

"It's me, Billy. The bartender, remember? Can I come in?"

"Oh, uh...yeah...sure, just give me a sec." Ryder stood up, fumbling for his black sneakers.

"Listen, if you've got a girl in there or somethin', I can just come back," Billy said, his smile nearly audible.

Ryder snorted. Bringing girls backstage with him after a show wasn't really his style. He preferred to decompress in peace. Shoes in hand, he flung open the door, pushing a sweaty strand of black hair off of his forehead.

"No, no girls here. Just resting. What can I do for you? Evicting me already?" It hit Ryder all at once just how tall the bartender was as the country boy rested heavily against the frame. He studied Ryder with his green eyes. Ryder could sense heat radiating between the two of them again, the same tingling warmth he'd felt when they had leaned across the bar towards each other. He shifted his weight from one bare foot to the other, trying to contain the nervous energy bubbling up. The pull was so intense that he forced himself to place a hand firmly on the open door to stay in place.

"I just wanted to let you know that was a damn good show you put on up there. I really liked your set, even though it's not the kind of music I listen to very much. We'd be happy to have you back sometime soon."

The bartender liked him. Ryder grinned like a fool for a moment before recovering his cool. "I'll let my manager know. I'm sure she can work something out. And thanks."

Thursday Taster: Pandora 5

Death-sleep, here we come! The whole story is posted on WattPad and you can read other tastes by visiting the blog.

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As the sun set, casting orange light through her window, Pandora arranged her skirts on the bed. She didn't fancy waking up rumpled. Her hair was loose, lying over her shoulders and a gold comb sat on top in place of a tiara. Her head would hurt horribly if she slept lying on something for any length of time.

Magnificent stood at the head of the bed, purple claws resting on the pillow. They retracted and pushed out again, a sign of his anxiety.
“I'm just going to sleep,” she told the dragon, trying to convince herself. “Tabitha will be back soon.”
“I will,” the witch promised, crushing the ingredients in her mortar with a stone pestle. She was breathing carefully, exhaling over the bowl and only inhaling after turning her head. “As soon as I possibly can.”
Only Pandora would find reassurance in such a terrifying face. Her magical prowess wasn't the only thing that kept curious men and children from her doorstep. Pandora, however, saw the mother who had raised her for the last ten years, longer than her real mother had.
“Back up, Magnificent. You don't want to inhale this.” Tabitha pushed the dragon back. She took a careful inhalation and poured the dust into her hand. Then she blew it into Pandora's face.
Her eyes itched, and she longed to sneeze, but the sensation lasted only a fraction of a second, replaced by complete black. All she could do now, was wait.

Tantalizing Tuesday - First Day

Today was the first day of the rest of her life.
She had been born for this, studied beauty and recreated it, on canvas, in her clothing, in music. She was trained in court etiquette and could speak eloquently. She was an accomplished gardener and her flowers had been coming to this castle for many years before she reached it.
Never had she tried to be something else. She’d looked with interest on the boys and men training with weapons and horses, hunting, but rather than the dance of swords, she had learned ballet and other strenuous, graceful dances that kept her body as beautiful without draping and paint as it was with.
Today was the first day she wished she’d been taught some form of self-defense. Horses and men screamed outside her carriage and a man reached in and pulled her out.
“Here’s the real prize, lads.”
She clung to the waist of her captor, afraid of falling. They entered the forest. She had never seen wild beauty before. There were no straight lines or perfect circles.
“You will teach my children,” the man said. “Make them beautiful.”
Today was the first day of the rest of her life.

Be sure to check out all the other teasers on the blog.

Sunday Surprise - Phaze Books @PhazeRomance @BrennaLyons @MarieRIRauthor @AdamMannAuthor

Surprise! Here's another publish that's new to me (but I'm not in the majority, I think), Phaze Books. They have a very wide selection of erotic titles with new releases every week. They also have one of the cutest rating/warning systems I have seen. Here's the one for Unexpected Daddy by Brenna Lyons:

I think it's the anal one that makes me giggle. but they are all fun. Speaking of Unexpected Daddy, let's start there.

When twenty-six-year-old Joey Beirs is summoned to the emergency room one evening, the last thing he expects to find is that his twin brother and Jeremy's wife have both been killed in a car accident, leaving him an unexpected daddy to his newborn niece, Abby. Geoff is in his forties, an out-of-work carpenter whose unemployment is running out. He's also late to come out of the closet, a wounded man who has lost everything by admitting what he is... including his daughter. Geoff is good with kids and adores Abby. It's a match made in heaven.  But can both of them overcome their hurts and accept that the age difference doesn't matter as much as finding what they've both lost... a stable family?

All the Fixin' is a new title from Marie Rochelle. Shea Anderson has longed to feel hazel-eyed hunk Craig Clark Evans' lips pressed against hers. But Craig has hated her since his aunt left her as the sole owner of her company, Luscious Lips. He is determined to uncover how Shea tricked his dying aunt into signing over all the stocks of the family business to her and not him, but every time he looks into her dark eyes, his desire for her grows and other, more pleasurable thoughts enter his mind. It doesn't matter how much he might want the ebony goddess in his bed, he plans to do whatever it takes to get his family business back. Will Craig come to his senses before it's too late and Shea's love for him is gone forever?

Kally Jo Surbeck brings us a supernatural tale with gods and mortals in The Awakening. Some say she dances too close to Hades. Why dance with a god of the Underworld when it’s her power that determines when humans pass? Her sisters call her morbid, and she laughs. Two of her sisters are called artists--a weaver and a mixer. No. Atropos believes it is she who is the true artist. The knowledge of life and death gives humans their ultimate passion and ultimate drive. Therefore, with her shears she breathes passion, hope, sadness, sorrow, drive, and determination, all that and more, she breathes into the human with the snip of her shears. But, what if she miscalculates a life? What if a time is cut too short?

Ghost Love by Nelli Rees is set in Moscow 1989 and present day England. As the Soviet Union crumbles, young, naïve and idealistic Tonia Voronina, meets and falls in love with an English boy, Peter Monroe, while they are studying together in Moscow. Theirs is a forbidden romance, but such is its strength that despite the ever present threat of discovery and public humiliation, Tonia and Peter continue their clandestine meetings. Peter asks Tonia to marry him only to mysteriously disappear. 26 years later, a life-toughened and recently divorced Toni Graham comes to live in ‘The Nook’ and there discovers that Peter had always loved her and tried to protect her from the jealous and vindictive Maintree clan. As strange and disturbing events begin to threaten both her and her daughters, Toni must look to the shade of Peter for help. Toni, being forced to revisit the bitter-sweet memories of those heady days in Moscow, realizes that true love really does conquer all … even death.

The last title I have for you this week is Safari Heat by Adam Mann, which is his first title with Phaze Books. Nick, a widower, arrives in Kenya with the difficult job of working on two former settler estates that the government has allocated to landless African farmers. Involved with horses most of his life, he gravitates to the world of polo and racing in Nairobi. Sophie, a beautiful saree-clad temptress, has recently divorced and is on the prowl like a lioness. Packing her tent in the back of her Jeep, Sophie decides to take Nick on a safari to the Masai Mara. The safari heats up when Nick becomes entangled in the snare set for him.  But will the hunted become the hunter?

Here is a taste of Safari Heat:

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With my impending divorce, neither myself, nor my brother, who had never married, had any prospect of providing my parents with grandchildren, which concerned my mother more than me. Both my parents are now in their early sixties, although working full time, which included frequent visits to the Ngong Race Course in Nairobi, and meeting owners and trainers.

I took a deep breath as I drove into the garden in the front of the house. My mother was in the kitchen preparing dinner. We did not have a cook, but there was a young African maid helping my mother. She kissed me and told me to go and see my father in the stable yard. I did and my father also kissed me and held me tight for a moment.

I wandered around the yard and took some time in the largest paddock, looking at the mares with their foals, all about three months old, as it was mid-year here in Kenya. Some of the foals came to look at me, and one mare remembered me and came to see if I had a present for her. I surrendered one of the carrots I had purloined from my mother’s kitchen, and the mare shook her head as she ate it. One of the foals, a colt, came to see what I had, but refused to taste the carrot, even though he had sniffed it suspiciously.

I went back to the house and up to my room. Nothing much had changed so I took a shower and changed my clothes for dinner with my parents.

As I said earlier, I am nearly 31. I am not a blonde, but have light brown hair with a slight wave in it. I keep it long and often have it tied in a ponytail, but tonight decided to leave it untied. I am about 1.75m tall, that is about 5ft 8ins in the old system, and normally I weigh about 63kgs, but just recently had shed a few pounds, so I was probably about 60kgs, or just over 132lbs. I’ve never been fat and always enjoyed staying fit. I have never gone jogging, but have ridden horses a lot, especially at home. Now you know.

There were just the three of us for dinner.

“Where is Regina?” I asked. Regina has been our housemaid-cum-cook-cum-laundress for many years.

“She’s gone back to her village,” explained my mother, “but maybe she will stay there now, which is why we have a new maid, who is called Rebecca.” We discussed the village and tribe Rebecca had come from, which is important in the Kenya context.

My father had a lot to say about his horses, and smiling, reminded me he needed someone to help with the exercising in the morning. Thank goodness we never talked about my impending divorce, or Johnnie. Perhaps I’m a coward, but we would have plenty of time to talk about that in the days to come.

“I’m going to Nairobi next Sunday,” stated my father. “We’ve a two-year-old in the second race, and maybe you’d like to come?”

My mother smiled her encouragement, but said nothing.

“Can I decide later?” I told, not asked my father, who nodded his agreement.

“I’m thinking about getting a job again,” I said.

“I heard that the Morgans are looking for help,” reported my mother, who had obviously been wondering how she was going to broach the subject, and had been waiting for me to give her an opening.

“Why don’t you drive over there in the morning,” suggested my father. The Morgans are an old settler family with a large estate, who breed cattle for beef, and also grow barley for malt and thence beer, which pleases the government.

“How’s the telephone working?” I countered, as I wanted to go but would have liked to call them first.

My father shrugged, which I understood to be ‘sometimes,’ and pointed at the instrument lying on the sideboard, and which had been stubbornly silent for some time. The mobile phone system had not yet reached these remote farming areas.

We talked a bit more, but I could not help myself yawning and volunteered to go to bed.