Introducing Vicki Ballante

I'm so excited to be here amongst other paranormal romance lovers. I want to introduce myself as a new reviewer on this site.

I'm new to the genre as far as writing goes, but I have enjoyed reading paranormal romances for a while, mostly shifter romances, but I'm keen to try out others too. I also love watching paranormal shows on TV.

My take on the genre is more from the light / fantasy side. I don't write scary but rather sexy. My most evil villainess was tame. You can read about her in The Century Sage. But I enjoy writing about entering an alternate world where my characters have special powers or magic enters their lives and changes up things for them. As a kid I read The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis and my love for fantasy was born. The way he created a whole new world in Narnia stirred me up. When I first became serious about writing, I naturally gravitated toward romance but started off contemporary. Since taking the plunge and dabbling in fantasy/paranormal, it's been an exciting road.

My first ever fantasy romance was The Love Commission. It's about fairies and gold and silver dust all set in Africa. Then I wrote Her Real-Life Hero about an antique bureau that has magic powers which brought Joanie an unexpected surprise in the form of sexy Theo. Her Real-Life Hero should be released in April/May. After that I wrote The Century Sage which truly was the most fun to write. I don't know why, but I loved the journey of the book. It's about Lina, the tree sage (or type of dryad), who heals trees and has powers to stop fires and floods. I also write sweet romances under another name and have started incorporating magic into those too.

You can find more info about my books here and here.

I Cut My Paranormal Romance Teeth On A Werewolf Book

Technically it was a short story by Tielle St. Clair.

Since it had been so long since I'd had ventured into the world of paranormal romance-- you know since The Lost Boys debacle of the 1980's.  (You can read about it here...)  I was reluctant to read the genre.  I must admit back in the day there wasn't a great selection outside of Laurell K. Hamilton books which weren't my cup of tea.  So I was left floundering in a sea of Fred Saberhagen novels that didn't quite satiate my lusty desire erotic paranormal romance. 

Fast forward to a few years back and I'm totally into my paranormal romance thing again.  I figure I'm going to skip fan fiction and go right to the pros, expert edition... you know Erotic Romance.  I didn't know who was good or what to buy.  

I knew I didn't want to start off reading vampire novels because I think everyone was still in love with Twilight at the time and I was too afraid of delving into reading vampire books for fear of getting a vampire not of my liking.  So I turned to werewolves. It had been my experience Pre- Being Human that werewolves did not make great love interest because they often did horrible things to like everyone even their love interests.  

And though there was Josh from Being Human, he was a vicious werewolf every full moon but it was a generally a sad tortured puppy who piddled on the floor the other four weeks out of the year... so I wouldn't have thought to create an entire erotic romance around him.  Undaunted I charged ahead. 

So after reading tons of promos from fellow authors online I narrowed down the type werewolf book I'd be interested in reading along with some promising authors.  Note I also choose shorter works because I didn't want to buy a long book for fear of not being able to finish it.  

Armed with my knowledge and lust, I went to Ellora's Cave's website. I happened upon Tielle St. Clair's book, After The Ceremony.  It's a part of the Wolf's Heritage series.  The short story which at the time was free, (I got lucky) seemed intriguing. 

It was a menage, an MMF one in fact.    

Here's the blurb- 

Part of the Wolf’s Heritage series.The fun begins. After the ceremony.For Zach, Taylor and Mikhail’s wedding is a bittersweet event. He’s thrilled for his lovers but feels left out. Still, he’s going to do everything in his power so they can have the perfect wedding night. Just the two of them. But Taylor and Mik have other plans. Their perfect wedding night involves Zach and the wicked, wicked things they do together. 

----

So I read it and I loved it.  It was hot and sweet and interesting and I could go on.  It made me want to read the rest of the series!  Talk about going pro/expert edition-- I could teach classes after that one!

Then I thought, I got to have more.  And it's been a blur ever since.  I don't remember specifics about everything that happened since only bits and pieces... a menage here, two werewolves and a were bear over there. You know images...

Well anyway, that's how I wound up helping Peyton start the paranormal romance blog hop and this page because I watched Being Human on Syfy channel. And it was just a downward spiral from there.  

But oh what a ride it has been.  

Clare Dargin

www.theembraced.blogspot.com

www.claresblog2thehaven.blogspot.com

Indulge Your Paranormal Lust by Margo Bond Collins

Welcome to the Paranormal Love Wednesday Blog Hop, where we celebrate paranormal romance in all its many forms! Every Wednesday, we invite authors of paranormal fiction to share snippets of their works, either published or unpublished, involving some aspect of paranormal love.

In my first entry on the Paranormal Love Features page, I noted that even those paranormal stories that don't focus on romance in some way tie in to our deep-seated connection to the sexuality of the paranormal. Sexy vampires, for example, have been with us for quite a while—and long before vampires were openly sexy, they carried a sexual connotation. In Bram Stoker's original novel, for example, Dracula has hairy palms (and for some great information about the historical connections between masturbation and hairy palms, check out this excellent article).  Carmilla, from Sheridan Le Fanu's 1871 novel, seduces her female victim in scenes of pretty heavy-duty sublimated eroticism. Lord Ruthven from Polidori's The Vampyre seduces virtually every woman with whom he crosses paths. And the blood exchange between vampires and their creations is often a heavily eroticized version of other exchanges of bodily fluids.

Similarly, werewolves and other shapeshifters appeal to our animalistic sides—the parts of us that want to let go and revel in violence and/or sexuality. And hardly a traditional monster is without its seductive side. Incubi and succubae are openly sexual, drawing energy to survive from the seduction of their victims. Early witches were said to have "congress with the beast" (or sex with Satan). And demons offered people their hearts' desires in return for their souls.

As a general rule, I would argue (as many others have) that our monsters illustrate our deepest, darkest desires. In our cultures, we create that which both frightens and entices us. And then we depict it over and over again, as many ways as possible, as often as possible, because these depictions are safe outlets for our less cultured selves.

Given that, paranormal love offers us a way to indulge the parts of ourselves that we might not openly share in our daily, structured lives. These stories allow us to be the monsters and the victims, the lover and the beloved. They allow us to delve into the parts of us we don't usually let out into the light—and in doing so, they allow us to understand ourselves, and one another, better than we might otherwise.

So if you love vampires, shapeshifters, demons, witches, faeries, incubi, succubae,  or even the occasional ghost or goblin, click on the entries on our Blog HOP page!

But before you go, tell us: what do you love most about paranormal love?

Cree Storm Blog Page : Aeryn JadenHard to Kill Return of the Originals 1...

Cree Storm Blog Page : Aeryn JadenHard to Kill
Return of the Originals 1...: Aeryn Jaden Hard to Kill Return of the Originals 1 BIO : Aeryn Jaden loves to read. Loves it so much that some days she doesn’t ...

Spellbound - #EroticParanormal #Contest

Are you as hooked on paranormal stories as I am, especially romances?

I used to drool over Cole in Charmed. I absolutely loved when Superman made the earth rotate backwards in order to save Lois Lane's life. And don't get me started on all those sexy vampire tales. *sigh*

One of the things that has always captivated me about paranormal tales is the inherent problem in having supernatural powers. Take Superman for example. Kryptonite really screws up his day. Most vamps can't take even a hint of sunlight (Edward Cullen being the exception).

With that in mind, and wanting to explore the more humorous and romantic side of paranormals, I created Freeing the Beast, book one in my Taming the Beast series.

In Freeing the Beast, Becca Salt is the half-witch proprietress of  From Crud to Stud, a makeover service for supernatural beings. Poor Becca is a crappy witch, can't make a decent potion to save her life. She ain't having too much fun in her bedroom either. Guys have always let her down, until Eric Diletto, a god (in all ways) comes into her life.

Freeing the Beast was a blast to write - scorching hot and humorous too - in fact, the tagline for it is Magic was never as sexy or as much fun...

The book's on pre-order - at a discount!

Amazon

Samhain

B&N

I'm running a Rafflecopter contest to celebrate the upcoming release - your chance to WIN THREE EROTIC ROMANCES - choice of 19 titles - contemporary, paranormal, menage, suspense.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here's the blurb for Freeing the Beast, along with the cover and teasers. Enjoy!

Blurb:

No more Mr. Nice Guy.

Magic is Becca Salt’s business, but it ain’t happening in her bedroom. The half-witch proprietress of From Crud to Stud performs miracle makeovers for paranormal creatures. Once she’s done with them, they’re out the door hunting for hot babes, not hanging around for a too-curvy, plain Jane like her.

Her newest client is hot, hung, mouthwatering perfection. What could she possibly improve upon?

Eric Diletto. Descendant of Cupid, bred for courtship, courtesy, and all that other gentlemanly junk. What has it gotten him? Dumped time and again for bad boys. He needs Becca’s help for an entirely different reason—regression therapy to release his inner beast. Grrrr.

Two potions later, they’re crawling all over each other. Becca aches for a man who loves her as she is, not because he’s under the influence. But Eric isn’t as impaired as she thinks. And he intends to take Becca here, there, and everywhere—anything to convince her his desire isn’t just the potions talking.

Product Warnings

A witchdoctor’s nightmare. Contains potions with weird side effects, a sorceress with limited magical skills and a yearning heart, plus a minor god who wants to get down and dirty. Bad, bad boy!

About Me (You know you want to know!):

I’m an award-winning, bestselling novelist in erotic, paranormal, contemporary and historical romance for Samhain Publishing, Ellora’s Cave, Siren Publishing, Booktrope, and Kensington. Yay! Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, Romantic Times and numerous online sites have praised my work, and trust me, I’m forever grateful for that. I’ve had my books reach finals in the EPIC competition, one title was named Book of the Year at a review site, and others have won awards in RWA-sponsored contests. I’m actually featured in the 2012 Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market. Talk about feeling like a freaking star. Before my writing career, I was the editor of an award–winning Midwestern newspaper and worked in Story Direction for a Hollywood production company. Outside of being an admitted and unrepentant chocoholic, I’ve flown a single-engine plane (scary stuff), rewired an old house using an electricity for dummies book, and have been known to moan like Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally whenever I’m eating anything Mexican or Italian. Yeah, I like to eat (burp).

You can check me out here – yes, I am everywhere!  J

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