Guest Post and Giveaway: Erotic or Erotica by Tina Donahue, Author of Hard Lust

Today, I'm hosting a promo on Tina Donahue's latest release, Hard Lust, as a part of the ongoing VBT. Also accompanying this, there is a guest post penned by the author and an excerpt of the featured book. Hope you enjoy! Note that Hard Lust is free on kindle unlimited!!

Tina Donahue will be awarding a $10 Amazon Gift Card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Erotic or Erotica – There is a Difference

Ever since I started writing sexy romances, I’ve heard readers confusing the types of stories I write. It’s okay. At first, I was confused too and used the terms erotic and erotica interchangeably. How wrong I was, which only led to further reader confusion.

Readers, I discovered, like to know exactly what they’re buying when it comes to a book. I can’t blame them. If I liked cowboy romances, but hated scifi and plunked down good money for what I thought was a cowboy romance but it took place on Saturn, I wouldn’t be happy. In this post, I’ll explain the differences between erotic and erotica.

Erotic romance is what I write. That means, it has a strong plot, well-developed characters, and an HEA (happy ever after) or HFN (happy for now). Even if there are two or three heroes to one heroine, everyone is committed to the relationship. There’s no screwing around with other characters just for the hell of it. An easy way to see the difference is to compare what I write to sweet romance (no sex). The basic storylines are the same except for one thing – mine has explicit sex whereas the other does not.

Erotica, on the other hand, isn’t about plot, HEA, or HFN, it’s about the sex. Think Story of O. There is no committed relationship in that story. It’s about the heroine’s sexual journey. We never learn about her past and what brought her to this point in life.

In erotic romance, the sex is the cherry on top of the sundae – it’s not the main part of the story. Character motivation, plot, and emotional build are what make it work. In erotica, it’s the thrill of the sex and all the myriad ways it can be accomplished.

Both are great, but definitely different.

Guest Post and Giveaway: 5 Reasons Why I Love To Write by Bobbi Smith, Author of Forbidden Fires

Today, I'm hosting a promo on Bobbi Smith's historical romance, Forbidden Fires, as a part of the ongoing VBT. Also find an excerpt for your enjoyment. There's a nice little guest blog accompanying this post, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Note that Forbidden Fires is available free on kindle unlimited!

Bobbi Smith will be awarding $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour

5 Reasons Why I Love To Write

Hi Everybody!
    This is my first ever blogging tour, and it’s been great fun!  Today, I’d like to share with you ‘5 Reasons Why I Love To Write’.

    1.  I was born to do this.  Even when I was a little kid, I was making up stories.  I would play for hours out in the backyard with my cowboys and Indians.  In 5th grade, I had to write an autobiography for a class assignment.  It ended up being quite a few pages long, and I stapled it together to make it look like a real book.  There were certain questions we had to answer.  The last question was – What do you want to be when you grow up?  I answered – I want to be a teacher and I want to be a writer.  When I got it back, I found my teacher had written at the bottom of that page – Roberta, You can do both!  What an inspiration that was for me.  P.S.  I named my autobiography “ME”. ☺

    2.  I am a history lover.  Doing the research for the books is great fun for me.  I love to travel and tour the parts of the country I’m going to write about.  Hiking in the Superstition Mountains in Arizona was awesome.  I love steamboat history and the Mississippi River.  The steamboat Sultana disaster at the end of the Civil War was the inspiration for my second book ‘Forbidden Fires’.

       3.  What’s amazing to me is how my characters always come alive in my mind and help guide the story along.  Some folks might say you’re crazy if you hear voices in your head, but if you’re a writer, you know you’d be lost without them. ☺

    4.  It’s such a thrill to see my books on the shelves in bookstores and for sale on-line.  Just the thought that I’ve created a story someone wants to read, and will hopefully enjoy, is amazing to me – and truly an honor.

    5.  And finally, my most favorite reason I love writing my stories is that I am in control!  I can make my heroes do what I want them to do!  And I can guarantee that everyone lives Happily Ever After!  

Guest Post and Giveaway: Keeping the Romance Alive In Writing by Naomi Bloom, Author of To Entice an Earl

Today, I'm hosting a promo on Naomi Boom's latest historical romance release, To Entice an Earl (Entangled Nobility #3), as a part of the ongoing VBT. Hope you enjoy the guest post and excerpt accompanying this post.

Naomi Boom will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Keeping the Romance Alive – In Writing

They say when a couple has kids, romance in a relationship fizzles.  I’m no relationship expert, so I cannot give tips on that particular subject, but I will explain how I keep the romance alive in my novels. Despite kids.

1.    Write when children are not present. I usually wait for night when everyone else sleeps. That way, I don’t get distracted by the inevitable dirty diaper. Sometimes I go to coffee shops or to my writing room, which is a tiny storage closet with a rocking chair wedged in the corner. The door even has a lock on it, so if I manage to sneak in without my child hearing me, I get some quiet writing time. 

2.    Plot what to write during the day. While doing dishes, cooking, cleaning, the possibilities are endless. But I like to plan out what I will write so I don’t waste time when I work.

3.    Watch/listen to romantic stuff. Listen to music, read books, watch tv. All romantic in nature, of course. And then there’s one of my go-to sources of heart-tugging good fun: The Hallmark Channel. This channel provides plenty of romantic movies which are also child-friendly. So, while those movies are great for making me feel inspired, I can also watch one right before bedtime. Then, I write.

4.    Beverages. Cannot seem to stay awake? Caffeine. Can’t seem to focus? Alcohol. Can’t seem to stay awake and can’t focus? Rum and coke. Or really, any variation of caffeine and alcohol. This seems pretty straight-forward, until I over imbibe in spirits and wake up to find a kissing scene in the first chapter which really did not belong there. Luckily, this has only happened a couple of times because I try to monitor myself.

5.    And the final step – romance in real life. I try to write every night, but sometimes I have to put off writing to spend time with my husband. This usually involves watching Law and Order or some other crime drama. Now, this step is crucial to my process because I cease all other steps and relax. This leaves me longing to write and in a healthy state of mind because I don’t stress over my marriage.

Writing romance is hard, enjoyable work. Overall, my process seems to work although I wouldn’t mind a bit more sleep. But sleep deprivation and children seem to go hand-in-hand so I think I’m doing pretty well.

Guest Post and Giveaway: Chasing My Angels by Janine Ashbless, Author of The Prison of the Angels

Today, I'm really excited to be hosting a guest post by author Janine Ashbless and a promo on her latest dark paranormal romance release, The Prison of the Angels (The Book of the Watchers #3), as a part of the ongoing VBT. If you check my blog and the reviews of the previous two books, you'll know that I'm a huge fan of this series. The Prison of the Angels is the long awaited conclusion that I can't wait to dig into very soon! Meanwhile, the guest post by Ms. Ashbless was quite intriguing and I hope you enjoy it. Don't forget to leave a comment to let us know. :) The giveaway includes a paperback of The Prison of the Angels and a $20 Amazon GC, so don't forget to enter via rafflecopter below!

Chasing My Angels

Every novel in The Book of the Watchers trilogy has drawn upon my travels. My fallen angels zap around the planet in the blink of an eye, so I’ve got to get the details right! While writing Cover Him with Darkness I dragged my parents off to Montenegro, where my heroine Milja grows up and the passionate and vengeful Azazel lies imprisoned under the mountains. For In Bonds of the Earth I persuaded Mr Ashbless that we needed two weeks in Ethiopia, where Milja goes to free the Angel of the Written Word.

When it came to writing the final part of the trilogy, The Prison of the Angels, I didn’t have time to do a research trip but I did call on old travels. It was obvious that Milja would be spending a lot of time in Rome; one of her main antagonists throughout has been the secretive Catholic organization Vidimus, and her would-be-lover Egan is a priest within that order. So she has to go to Italy and delve into the tunnels under the Vatican to see what they’ve hidden away there. It’s a city of ancient holiness, glorious beauty and terrible, ruthless bloodshed – all themes appropriate to my angels.

Incidentally Milja encounters some of the greatest angel/sex art of all time – The Ecstasy of St Teresa by Bernini:

The other big setting I used for this novel is Norway, where Milja and Egan and Azazel head to free the First of the Fallen, the one who played the serpent in the Garden of Eden. He’s been remembered under the guise of a Viking god in that country. The Norwegian setting is almost the opposite of the Roman one – we’re talking huge open spaces, nature not civilization, and dark pagan rites.

But of course when it comes to a war between loyal and rebel angels, nowhere on Earth is safe for my characters. Even angels can be brought low … and then it’s up to mere mortals to try and save the day!

xxx

Janine

Guest Post and Giveaway: Brewing Love by Meg Benjamin, Author of Saison for Love

Today, I'm hosting a promo on Meg Benjamin's latest contemporary romance release, Saison For Love (Brewing Love #2), as a part of the ongoing VBT. Also find an excerpt for you enjoyment. I hope you enjoy the guest post too. :)

Meg Benjamin will be awarding a $30 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour

Brewing Love

When you think of a romantic dinner, beer probably isn’t on the table. I guess it’s the legacy of years of “Budweiser Bros” commercials where beer is linked with mancaves and The Big Game. So why did I decide to write a romantic trilogy about a brewery? Well, living in Colorado—aka, Craft Beer Central—has taught me a few things about beer.

First of all, if your idea of beer is a lukewarm can of Bud Light, you’ve got a whole world of delights awaiting you, from the rich decadence of chocolate stout to the crisp citrus of a summer saison. There’s something for every taste. As a beer aficionado once told me, “People who say they don’t like beer just haven’t tasted the right beer yet.”

But more importantly, beer wasn’t always an exclusively male thing. Until beer production was commercialized, women were the primary brewers in most societies. A good housewife could brew beer just like she could bake bread, and the same grain might be used for both. The ancient Sumerians even had a beer goddess, Ninkasi.

In Saison for Love, my hero, Liam Dempsey, is a brewer alongside his sister Bec, the brewmaster. So it figures that when he falls in love, his idea of a great gift isn’t roses or chocolate, it’s beer. In particular, it’s a saison brewed especially for his lady love, Ruth Colbert, a cheesemaker and restaurateur who appreciates things that taste good. Now there are times when he’s not sure he’ll ever get the chance to give Ruth his saison—the course of true love definitely doesn’t run smoothly for these two. But when he does, it’s worth the wait.

“Hi.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say, any more than he could think of anything he wanted to do more than stare at her. Her short, dark hair was slightly mussed, as usual, and her velvet eyes were brilliant in the late afternoon sunlight. It occurred to him that he could be happy staring at her for the rest of the night. Only she might not be equally happy with being stared at. “Can I come in? I’ve got something for you.”

“Sure.” She stepped back from the door to let him pass, then followed him into the kitchen. “What’s up?”

He placed his paper sack on the kitchen counter, then withdrew the bottle he’d filled at the brewery. “I’ve got something I want you to try.”

Her forehead furrowed. “What is it?”

“It’s a saison I made a while ago. Lemon and basil.”

“Then I’d say it’s time.” She turned to the cupboard and pulled down a couple of glasses. They weren’t beer glasses, but he didn’t care at that point.

He picked up the bottle and poured carefully. Pale gold with a good cap of foam. He waited for her to pick up her glass, then raised his own to his lips and sipped.

Clean, crisp, with the faintest trace of basil on his tongue and the shimmer of citrus at the end. Just as good today as it had been last night.

“Oh my God, that’s good,” Ruth murmured.

“Good for a hot day,” he said slowly. “On a shady patio. With somebody sitting beside you that you really care about.”

Saison for Love is available now at the usual outlets, including Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo.