The first book I read from Musa Publishing was
Shifting Hearts by Dominique
Eastwick. I fell in love with the cover
first. Okay, it was probably lust, but
take a good look at this man and you’ll understand why. He’s Rekkus, head of Wiccan Haus security,
hot alpha male, and a were-tiger.
Mmmrrroeww!
Once I got beyond the cover to start reading, I immediately
fell in love with the Wiccan Haus world.
The setting is a paranormal island off the coast of Maine that’s run by
four siblings, all with different paranormal gifts that they use for spiritual
healing of the humans and not-so-humans who vacation on their island for a week
at a time. Perhaps my favorite character
from this quirky cast was the desk clerk Myron who’s constantly wearing the
wrong name tag and consulting a deck of playing to cards to direct guests on
where they should be and what they should be doing.
Another Musa book I read was
Ivy League Cowboy by Helen Hardt.
Here’s another alpha man (hmm, do I sense a pattern?) who wants to take
care of “his woman.” I thought this was
going to be a predictable cowboy-rodeo-save the ranch romance, but it was
not. The more I read, the more compelled
I was by the story. I can’t say more
without spoiling the heroine’s secret, but suffice to say it was very
satisfying read.
Just to mix things up, I also read the male-male
More Love Notes anthology by Lydia Nyx,
Scarlett Parrish, Viki Lyn and Jenny Urban.
It was
HOT, and I loved the
variety of stories. I also read the
male-male novella
Simple Gifts by LB
Gregg, which was wonderful and sweet and made me want to read everything LB has
ever written.
I have the privilege of being published alongside these wonderful
authors at Musa Publishing. Here are the cover and blurb for my contemporary romance novel
Mr. Forever:
Marriage therapist Caleb Paden has just found out he has a
son from a one-night stand, making a mockery of his core belief of stable
relationships--"friendship above all physical encounters." On his way
to take the child for a paternity test, a snowstorm leaves him stranded with
single mom Olivia Wells, who blames his advice for breaking up her
marriage. Caleb finds himself fighting
the urge for the most basic of physical encounters. Olivia would like nothing more than to
destroy the career he spent a lifetime building, but her maternal instincts
draw her to help Caleb bond with his child.
Soon, she finds herself falling for both of them. Nowhere in any of his advice does Caleb have
an answer for how to make a relationship work if he loses his heart to love.
Excerpt:
She
shoved his hand away. "Don't give
me that mellow, understanding voice.
You're not my therapist."
"I'm
not trying to be. But if there's a
problem with Forever, I want to fix
it."
"That's
not what you want." Maybe coming
close to her wasn't the best idea. She
was livid. "You want me to tell you
something I did, so you can prove your model's perfect and I'm at fault. Yes, my marriage failed, and I carry some
responsibility. I blame myself for
reading your books and believing they held the secret to everlasting
happiness."
He'd
met a lot of irate people over the years.
But they were angry with their spouses, themselves, parents, and
bosses. Not him. He was the one with the answers, the one who
redirected the rage into something healthy.
"I'd like to interview you after we've both cooled down and are
well rested. We'll go through the points
of Forever one by one and determine
where your marriage broke down. If any
problems surface with the model, I can address them in my next book."
"I'll
tell you what's wrong. You underestimate
the power of sex." She advanced
toward him.
All
the physical senses he thought he'd gotten under tight rein ran wild. Caleb backed up a step, trying to regain his
control, but came up hard against the counter.
Olivia kept coming, boxing him in.
He pulled on his tie again, hoping it was knotted tightly. He needed his tightly buttoned image to
remind himself he was a professional, and his question was strictly as a
therapist. "How was the sex in your
marriage?"
"Sometimes
mediocre. Usually lousy."
With
the unholy gleam in her eye, he had trouble comprehending the possibility of a
sexual experience with her being less than earth-shattering. Heat radiated from her. His body was dying for her to lean her hips
into his.
"How's
your sex life?" She reached up and
unknotted his tie with deft, sure fingers.
"Good
enough," he lied. Too late he
realized she'd broken the wall of one-way revelation he always maintained. Even with his lie for an answer, she'd drawn
him in and was consuming him with sexual fantasies.
"Since
you're judging me, I ought to get a chance to judge your statement for
myself." She yanked the tie,
sliding it out from under his starched shirt collar and heating the back of his
neck.
"Stop
it." He was unnerved to find his
voice wasn't quite steady. Women who
wanted to be part of his life wrote letters highlighting the benefits of
friendship. "Let's focus on what
went wrong in your marriage."
She
worked her fingers under his collar, pushing the top button through the
hole. "How can you stand having
this so tight? You can't take a full
breath."
He'd
been able to breathe just fine until her knuckles rubbed over his Adam's
apple. Her fingers were smooth and
competent. Despite his resolve, he could
feel his arousal pulsing with each of her movements.
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