It's About the Journey

Conflict is good.

It's what makes a good novel and a good romance.

But I've been thinking. It's not all about the conflict. Yes, it makes the reader want to read on. I've read some gripping books - I can't put them down, they're well-written, nail-biting, full of conflict. I've finished them, glad the conflict was resolved, but did I totally enjoy reading the book? No.

Why not?

Because it's all in the journey. Maybe because I'm a romance reader, I like there to be romance and adventure inside the book. I like to be taken on a sensory adventure to another world, go through an experience. It's not just about solving a problem. That's why the sex scenes are such an integral part. I like to see how the couple interact, the pleasures and emotions they experience when they come together. I love it when a romance is set in an exotic location and I get to enter their world. I also bury myself in the world of who they are. But if they're miserable all the time, conflicted, suffering, I don't enjoy it so much. I want to experience that all-time high of falling in love and discovering another person - realising just how much they benefit the character's life.

So, no, it's not all about the conflict. Yes, there should be things holding the couple apart from committing to something long-term, but there should also be many things drawing them together. There should be those heart-rending moments when they separate and decide it's not going to work, but there should also be those times of electric chemistry, great interaction, fun experiences, happiness. Make the reader feel good. That's what I want in my books.

What do you think?

I think that's what makes romance novels so different. Crime novels make the reader scared, tense, suspenseful, curious. Adventure novels make their pulses race and take them through interesting experiences, but romance makes the reader happy and feel good. Isn't it a wonderful thing?

V. S. Morgan's Book, Sam's Temptation

Sam’s Temptation

by

V.S. Morgan

Decadent Publishing

Length: 77 pages, ~20,000 words

Genre(s): Contemporary Erotic Multicultural Western Foodie Rubenesque

Blurb:

On a working vacation in Montana, Cef Gabi Inez’s schedule allows her to enjoy planned activities and hangout with her cousin and his new family. She’s not looking for love, but spending time with a hunky cowboy sounds perfect. Gabi works hard, but every girl needs some fun. What if flirting leads to something more?   Sam Malone is the brains behind Blackbird, a guest and working ranch. Since his parents’ death, his sole purpose has been family and the ranch’s survival. Burned by love in the past, he avoids the distraction that comes with beautiful women. But what’s a cowboy to do when a sweet and sassy chef gets under his skin, only to be told by her overprotective cousin she’s off limits?  

Book Links:

Amazon

Kobo

IBooks/Itunes

About the Author:

V.S. Morgan has lived all over the US but calls Minnesota her home now. Her family includes her hubby, son, and a menagerie of pets. She's been writing stories since she could hold a pencil and dreams of happily ever afters - even for two hot men - because love knows no boundaries. V.S. writes MC/IR contemporary, paranormal, and suspense m/f and m/m with heart. V.S. is a GLBT ally and a lifetime contributor of The Trevor Project.

Website
Twitter
Facebook & Goodreads: V.S. Morgan

Today, I have fellow Decadent Publishing author, Jennah Scott's M/M romance in the spotlight. It's a Beyond Fairytales novel.

Saving Sultan

by Jennah Scott

Blurb

Dillon Sultan never imagined he might some day lose Sultan Ranch. He’s got one month to find the money needed to keep bank from taking his family’s land. One month to find a miracle.

Liam Callahan hasn’t talked to his best friend since the night they kissed six years ago. Now he’s got a chance to make things right and catch the man of his dreams. But first, he has to help Dillon figure out a way to keep Sultan Ranch.

But when Dillon’s family is betrayed, and he learns that Liam hasn’t been totally honest with him, will he lose everything that matters most?

Saving Sultan

Beyond Fairytales

Amazon | Decadent | Kobo | Barnes and Noble | All Romance Ebooks

About the Author:

Born and raised in Texas, Jennah is a transplant to Missouri long enough ago she should probably consider that her hometown. But she will forever be a Texan. She loves to write any story that will make a reader smile, laugh, and maybe even cry (although you won't ever hear her admit that she cries). Whether the next story she writes is contemporary, urban fantasy, LGBT, or whatever other crazy idea she comes up with, there will always be love and romance in the midst of trials and turmoil.

Contact Details:

Website: www.jennahscott.com

Email: Jennah.scott01@gmail.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/authorjennahscott

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Jennah_scott

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/JennahScott

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/jennahscott

Excerpt

Liam moved around the corner of the truck and lifted himself onto the tailgate. His friend set his hand on Dillon’s shoulder and squeezed. He turned to Liam and paused.

“You okay, man?” Dillon asked. Liam’s eyes were dark, his lips pulled tight. Dillon wasn’t sure if he was angry or sad. Could have been the beer.

“Yeah. Just thinking. We start a new chapter of our lives tomorrow. Part of me wishes this one wasn’t done.”

He reached for Liam’s cup. “I think you should call it a night. The beer’s messing with your head. Making you talk like a chick.”

Liam didn’t acknowledge him. He stayed quiet for a few more minutes. “Is there anything you wanted to do before we graduated, but didn’t? Like a high school bucket list.”

“Seriously?”

Liam nodded.

What the hell had come over his friend? “I’m eighteen. I could give a fuck less about a bucket list. We’ve got all the time in the world to do shit. Look at it this way”—Dillon finished his beer, tossed the cup in the back of the truck, and reached for Liam’s glass—“start new right now. Something you want to do? Do it.”

The next thing that happened would forever be burned in Dillon’s memory.

Liam jumped to the ground and stumbled. Dillon grabbed his friend’s shoulders to keep him from face-planting into the grass. Liam turned around so they were face-to-face.

“You’re right,” Liam whispered, then kissed him.

The Love Commission Available on Pre-order

Amazing news! The Love Commission is now available on pre-order and at Decadent Publishing.

Here are the links:

Decadent Publishing
Amazon
Itunes
Kobo

Blurb:

Gelsey is a savannah sprite—a fairy in Africa who works to preserve the earth. She’s a pro at eco-balance, but when the fairy queen gives her a commission to become a human to learn the meaning of love, she’s miserable. She has to give it her best as it’s the only way to get her dream job—to save the African Wild Cat.

After a short time in her new life, Gelsey is swept into the world of Evan’s love. Now, she must make an impossible choice—give up her life with the man who owns her heart or lose her fairyhood forever.

Excerpt:

Gelsey thought her head would spin out of control. The strange warm sensations in her tummy made her loathe to eat despite the hunger pangs. Is this what the human love emotion felt like? Something about this man—the way he spoke to her, the way he looked at her, as if she was so important, as if he cared how she felt, stirred the strange feelings. Even her fairy friends hadn’t connected with a spot deep inside of her. She wished she could tell him of the turmoil in her soul, of the world she had left behind, and of how she missed her home and her friends. Maybe he would care. Maybe he would help her and let her leave early. He would tell her all about human love, so she didn’t have to be trapped a whole year.

“Um, tell me about love,” she said once they were seated opposite each other at the fish restaurant. She could somehow stomach eating seafood but, being an earth fairy, couldn’t bear to eat the animals she’d spent so many years helping out. According to Ziana, she would be human and forget most of her life as a fairy. The thought of losing all touch with her past had prompted a deep fear in her, and she’d determined never to forget. Thankfully, somehow, she could remember almost everything.

She’d skipped lunch, and the smell of seafood cramped her already empty stomach. Evan had sent her whole day in a crazy direction. She’d been quite happy to spend the rest of her year working in the florist, making pretty arrangements, meeting people, and asking them questions. She wasn’t ready for this marriage thing and had no idea what it entailed.

Evan stared at her. “Love?”

“Yes, tell me how it felt when you fell in love. It seems it happens more than once in a man’s life.”

His eyes twinkled. “This is my first time.”

He looked right into her, his gaze giving off some magic as though he’d been the one to sprinkle fairy dust. He’d almost bewitched her. If she hadn’t been a fairy, she would be falling into this love thing right this second.

“Why do you ask?”

She shrugged. “I didn’t expect you to answer in such a way.”

“You cut to the chase, don’t you?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You’re a very innocent person. It’s as if you’ve been sheltered from so much.”

“I’ve lived for the earth and the environment. Love hasn’t featured in my life.”

He took hold of her hand and squeezed it. “I’d like to show you what it’s like.”

New Release - Scores by Kiru Taye

Title: Scores

Author: +Kiru Taye, Author 

Series: Passion Shields, Book 3

Previous books: Scars and Secrets

Genre: Interracial, Erotic, Contemporary, Romance

Content Warning: Strong language, Mild violence, Menage (MFM), BDSM, Public Exhibition

Blurb:

In this dramatic conclusion to Benjamin and Selina Moss's story they must deal with lust and love, dark desires and danger.

His love possesses her. Will it protect her too?

Benjamin Moss has proven how much he cares about his wife, Selina. She pushed him to shred his iron control and bare his soul to her. In return he's earned her much guarded heart as well as her body.

But her past has finally caught up with her and scores will have to be settled before they can have a happy ending. Can Benjamin's love protect her from those who seek to destroy both of them? Or will she finally lose the man who's possessed her body as well as her heart

Teasers:

Excerpt

"I know Selina can be stubborn," Chris said after moments of silence while the men drank. "But is she refusing to take the bracelet back?"

"No. She wants it. But I can't give it back to her until she knows everything about my past. I can't trust that she won't throw it at me when she finds out what my life was really like." Ben sighed, giving in briefly to the fear of what it would do to his heart if she spurned him again.

"I don't blame you," Kenny said, sympathy lacing his words.

"Shit," Chris muttered under his breath.

His friends understood his predicament. They were dominant men. Although Chris wasn't in a committed relationship, he had dated Selina before Benjamin met her. Kenny on the other hand had been married once. Still, they both understood his need for Selina, his overwhelming desire to have her submission.

She was a beam of light shining on the darkness that had lived in his soul since he was a teenager. He loved her. Wanted to possess her like no one ever did.

As a man who made a living from protecting others, no one drew out his protective instincts like Selina did. And he would make sure she was protected no matter the cost to him. If it meant taking down Tony Kana, he would do it in a heartbeat.

"I want to know everything Tony Kana does from now on. If he as much as sneezes, I want to hear about it." Ben tossed the rest of his drink down his throat as the need to be with his wife overwhelmed him. He stood and headed toward the door.

"You've got it." Kenny nodded as he stood too.

"Thank you," Ben said before punching the button to call the elevator.  Chris stepped inside with him when the door opened.

"Why are you so bent on tracking this guy?" his best friend asked. "Is there something I should know?"

Ben had asked Kenny, who had contacts in West Africa, to help him find Tony Kana but he'd never really explained to his friends why.

"Kana is Selina's ex-husband," he said in a matter of fact tone.

"And?" His friend understood him too well.

"He's the reason she has body issues."

"Body issues?" Chris's face puckered in a frown.

"When you dated her, did you ever get to see her full unclothed?"

His friend's dark brows drew together. "No. She always insisted on having those corsets on. They were damn sexy so I never minded. Although once I walked into the bathroom while she was in the shower and she nearly screamed the place down because she wanted me to get out."

Benjamin closed his eyes and sucked in a breath to stave off his rising anger. "Her abdomen is covered in scars. Someone cut her up pretty badly."

"Kana?" Chris growled the question.

"No." Ben opened his eyes and stared at his friend. He could see his anger reflected in his friend's eyes. "But he might as well have wielded the knife himself. He handed Selina over to the militia who wanted to use her as a sex slave. She fought back and they mutilated her for disobedience."

"And all you want to do is watch this guy? I want to put a bullet right between his eyes."

"Selina doesn't want any more bloodshed. I have to respect her wishes. Doesn't mean I can't take the guy down another way."

"Right." Chris nodded. "He has to pay."

"Oh, he's going to pay. No doubt about that."

They entered the bar and loud music erased the need for further conversation.

Buy Links:

Evernight Publishing: http://www.evernightpublishing.com/scores-by-kiru-taye/
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/Scores-Passion-Shields-Book-3-ebook/dp/B00PWN3CRI/
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scores-Passion-Shields-Book-3-ebook/dp/B00PWN3CRI/
All Romance: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-scores-1683934-147.html
Bookstrand: http://www.bookstrand.com/scores

Previous Books

Scars, Passion Shields book 1

Book Sale

Scars is $0.99 for a limited period from Evernight Publishing

http://www.evernightpublishing.com/scars-by-kiru-taye/

Also available on Amazon US | Amazon UK | All Romance eBooks

Add to your TBR on Goodreads

Secrets, Passion Shields book 2

Cover Reveal - The Century Sage

My Beyond Fairytales novel, The Century Sage, has a cover!

I loved writing this book. It's great fun entering into a fantasy world and I loved Lina and Brad's tree-filled world. Don't you love trees? They're so peaceful, they grant us lovely shade and sometimes delicious fruit. They are a vital source of oxygen for the planet.

Blurb:

Lina is a tree sage. She heals trees, but her duty binds her to one place for her whole life until she marries. When rally race winner Brad meets her, he is drawn to her with deep attraction and fascination, but also something more. He senses she has special powers and soon discovers her secret. Lina has to birth a sage daughter before she reaches twenty-eight else her powers will wane and the world will be short two sages. Feeling the need to save the planet, Brad offers to marry her and take her on a world-wide rally tour, nervous of their new and shaky romance. Lina can’t resist her dream of traveling coming true despite her misgivings about the depth of their relationship.

Lina settles in Paris and tends the trees while Brad travels around Europe, hoping to join him later. But dangers threaten their relationship, their lives, and the city where they stay. When an evil enters Paris, Brad has to find a way to save his wife and their relationship, but is too much pitched against them?

Here's an excerpt from the book (unedited):

She led the way through the darkened nursery to her front door. The fresh breeze from the trees seemed to calm her, and she couldn’t resist stopping by the dwarf coral trees with their scarlet trumpet flowers gathered onto tapered spikes.

“These are one of the most popular choices for gardens. They’re hardy, grow fast but don’t take up too much space.” Babbling, her nerves made her babble. She sniffed a flower and caressed a silky leaf.

Surprise shook her when she felt his hand upon the nape of her neck, cool and yet searing heat through her.

“You’re so gentle with them. Kiss me, Lina.” His hands remained on her neck as she slowly turned to find him inches from her. His breath smelled sweet like the rose or lavender bush, warm and fresh at the same time. She instinctively moved closer to kiss him, and as their lips met, shivers ran through her. She closed her eyes and took in the full sensation of Brad wrapping her against his firm chest and surrounding her with solid arms. Joy and hunger for more mingled inside her.

If only she could have him.

He didn’t kiss her long. “Let’s go inside. I want to see you. The dim light coming from your front door doesn’t illuminate your beauty.”

For a first kiss, it was a little disappointing. Too quick, not enough savoring, little exploration.

“Don’t you want to look around?”

“Do you have a brochure I can look at?”

She heard the trees natter amongst themselves. Several of them seemed surprised she’d brought a man home. She smiled a little as she unlocked her front door, snapped on the lights, and directed Brad to her living room.

Immediately, her indoor ferns shimmered and their leaves plumped up at the sight of her return. Brad seemed to notice and stared at them, his mouth open to catch flies.

No one had ever noticed the big part of her life—the way plants responded to her presence. Not even Henk had picked it up.

“I feel it, too,” he whispered by her ear, sending spasms through her core.

“Feel what?” she barely got out, her throat seeming to close up while her body moved toward unmistakable arousal. The disappointment from the hurried kiss faded in the brightness of his male aura.

Could she resist?

“This power, this energy, when you come into a room. What do you have? The trees and plants pick it up?”

“I’m just like anyone else,” she said for that had been her wish her whole life.

“Oh, no you’re not. That’s what drives me crazy about you.” He ran sizzling-hot fingers down her neck to the dip where her collar bones met.

Excerpt from Savannah Sprites 1

I've just finished my final content edit for my fairy fantasy, The Love Commission. Whew, editing is hard, but it will be worth it in the end to have my book for sale. I can't wait. What makes it even more interesting is that this book was my Nano novel last year. So this time last year I was pumping out that word count and telling Gelsey and Evan's story. The book has been through quite a transformation process - beta reading, several self-edits, and then rounds of edits with the publisher.

Anyway, I have to share an excerpt just to give you a taste of it. It hasn't gone through all the editing processes yet, but here goes:

Excerpt:

Gelsey ate with vigor, all strength and courage returning to her. When she’d washed down her meal with pure spring water, the queen touched her wing to catch her attention. Some fairies danced in the center of the room, the banquet reaching fever pitch. The queen must have chosen the noisiest moment to give her the commission.

“You are to enter the human world…as a human.”

Gelsey blinked, her wings trembling against her back. Five fairies had entered the human world and only one had come back safe, having succeeded in her commission. Two others had remained human, and the last one had been killed.

“I don’t understand….”

“You are a young fairy who has an amazing ability to calm down the most frightened bird or insect. I believe you will be as suitable for this commission as you are beautiful and humble. You know you aren’t perfect. Someone humble enough to admit her weaknesses would be just right for the human world. You won’t lose your personality at all when you take your new form. You won’t even lose your wings. They will merely remain dormant. You will be divested of some of your powers, though. But your power to calm down the distressed will remain. That power will enable you to succeed in your commission.”

“What am I to do?”

“You are to marry a man for a year. You will find out why the humans want love and sex but not children. As you may have learned in your studies at nature school, homo sapiens reproduce differently to fairies. They reproduce by sex between a male and female. But the species have devised several means to prevent babies from being formed in the female body even though they continue to have sex. This has lowered the reproduction rate of the creatures who are important for the balance of the earth, specifically in South Africa. For this purpose, I want you to enter into their world and feel what they feel. You are to know what it is to love a male human with their type of love. You will go at the first break of spring and will be able to return home at the start of the following spring. We will give you your own vial of fairy dust. The gold dust should be used only twice. The first time is when you find a suitable man to marry. When you find someone who is single and who cares about the balance of nature, you must sprinkle the fairy dust on his head. The magic will make him want to marry you. Once the magic has worked, you cannot find another man. He is the one for you. If you mistakenly don’t choose a single man, you will get one more chance.”

Gelsey’s wings beat against her back until they ached. Become a human and marry one? How would she know what to do? And a whole year? She would miss out on spring. It had been a long, cold winter, and she wouldn’t get to see or hear all the new baby birds or play with the flying ants when the rains came.

“The second time you should use the fairy dust is to come home. You are to sprinkle the dust on the man you have chosen to make him turn away from you. He will forget every instant shared with you. He will forget his marriage, and so will everyone he knows. Then you can come home without arousing any suspicion. Ziana will explain where you are to go and what job you will take on in the human world to make you fit in there. You have a month to find this man you are to wed. While you are married to him, you need to find out from him or anyone else you meet, like other females, the reason for the humans not wanting as many children. You are to research your own emotions and those of the male’s, and work out what is happening to humans to change their future.”

“What if I don’t find anything of importance?”

“By becoming one of them, you will automatically understand how they think and what is happening in their hearts. Although you may not comprehend in the beginning, marrying a male human will help you to understand. Well, that’s what we believe.”

Gelsey wasn’t so sure. The queen had much more wisdom than the general fairy, but what if she didn’t know everything? Fairies knew little of the human world. They had never understood humans and their strange behaviors.

“If you succeed at your commission, you will be promoted to Head Endangered Animal earth fairy for South Africa.”

Gelsey gasped. To be able to save an animal from extinction had been her dream for years. But could she fulfill this commission?