Samhain Publishing Ltd. Weblog

The Masochistic Heroine

I started thinking about masochist heroines not because of any fiction I’d read recently but because of some nonfiction—a book by a woman who’d been one of the multiple wives of a Mormon fundamentalist. She’d spent most of her life in grinding poverty bearing thirteen children and dodging her husband’s murderous relatives. I’m afraid my first reaction to the book was “Why on earth didn’t she leave?” Some of the author’s reasons are understandable—she was the descendant of several generations of polygamists, which made her think that kind of life was normal, and she didn’t really have a way to get herself and her children out of the family compound. But some of them are just incomprehensible. Namely, she swears she loved him.
Now, I write romances—love is my stock in trade. But I have a hard time understanding how you can love a man who marries six other women, is seldom around (because he’s off earning money to support these women and his thirty-plus children), and has little time for affection when he is. Unless, of course, you’re a masochist.

The Dark Days of Winter by N.J. Walters

Unless you’re a vampire, you’re probably not too fond of the short days this time of year. It’s February, the time of year where winter has you firmly in her icy grip. The excitement of the Christmas holiday seems like naught but a memory and spring is still far out of reach.

Finding the bright side.

I had equipment malfunction problems this weekend, and wrote a brilliant post about the Death of a Keyboard.

(Goodbye keyboard, you served me well.)

But then last night an email that showed up in my in-box that made my keyboard bit suddenly read more like whining than brilliant sarcasm.

My keyboard of 5 years is dead, but on the 1-5 scale of tragedies it rates about .001. So, no complaining today. Instead I’m going to be thankful.

I am thankful…

It isn't that romantic...

Ah, February… the month when our hearts and minds are turned to love. If the frilly decorations and heart-shaped boxes of candy won’t do it, then the myriad of romantic films and songs just might.

But despite the candy hearts and chocolate confections; all the shades of pink and flounces of lace, I have a confession to make. Are you ready? … I don’t like Valentine’s Day. As a matter of fact, I dislike it intensely.

Veiled Desire: Now Available!

I am so excited to announce the release of Veiled Desire today!

Look, but don’t touch…

Leyla Karimi can’t keep her eyes off the hunky guy living in the house behind her. How could any woman resist ogling Dr. Mason Barrett, especially when he makes it so easy by parading around in his skin and skivvies?

If it was only their age difference, she would have made a move a long time ago. Except Mason is more than a neighbor. He’s her baby brother’s oldest friend. It’s not like they can have a casual fling and walk away in the morning.

Mason’s been doing a little lusting—okay a lot—for quite some time. When he catches Leyla peeking, it’s a sure sign she could finally be ready to heat up his nights with loving. One taste of her lips, though, and he doesn’t want a “little” of anything. He wants it all.

Unwilling to jeopardize a lifetime of friendship for a one-night stand, Leyla is reluctant to throw caution to the wind. When he’s kissing her senseless, though, it’s hard to remember all the reasons why she should hold back…

Warning: Contains a hot hero who doesn’t mind baring it all in the name of love, a heroine who doesn’t settle for less, a sweet romance, steamy sex in a car and more good lovin’ in bed.

Read an Excerpt

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Short and Sweet...

Short and Sweet

Do you find yourself skipping over portions of books? Do you tend to buy shorter 200-300 page books rather than the larger tomes? Why?

I asked myself that question a while ago when I finished a book by a well-known author. The book was over 500 pages and action packed from beginning to end. The main character(s) were constantly on the move and under time crunch to “save” something (the world/another person, it doesn’t matter). Yet I found myself skipping large portions of the book.

Why? Information dump.

I love history. I love conspiracy theories. I love tangled webs. But put them all together and add a fiction plot and more often than not I am disappointed in the book. Make the book a romance on top of that and things can get really tricky.

I feel for authors who are excited about the information, the legend, the myth, and in some cases, the history surrounding an event. It’s a tightrope walk to figure out what is important and what isn’t. I often think the author is more in love with the facts and information than with the characters of the book. The author is so eager to share his/her fascination with the details that they forget they are writing something that is for the beach or the sofa rather than the classroom. The number one thing I dislike more than anything when reading a book for pleasure is to be lectured to. Having an author lecture his/her point of view and using the characters in the story for the vehicle causes me to put that book aside. Fiction reading should be stimulating, satisfying and enjoyable.

While the information may be fascinating, I only need to read the part that connects the dots for the story – the characters and the plot they are involved in. If the plot is so complicated that it requires minute attention to detail and learning obscure fact, chances are the book should have been a series. A series would allow the information to be given to the reader in short doses not all at once.

So to keep this blog short and sweet…what books have you read that are wall-to-wall information dump? Did you like it? Are there situations where that type of book works?

Tantalizing Secrets - Out in print!

The coach lurched to a halt and they were flung forward. Peter flung out a hand to stop Arabella hurting herself, and was rewarded by a handful of fabric and a brief contact with one soft breast. He took her arm and hauled her back on to the seat as the carriage pulled to a halt.
Breathlessly she stared at him and they both heard a gruff voice. “Stand and deliver!”
“Good Lord!” The gleam of battle sparked in him. Cautiously he settled the pistol in his pocket so it came easily to hand.
The door of the carriage was wrenched open. A heavily muffled figure stood outside. “Out,” the man commanded.

Let's Dish... Now in Print!

Catherine Wade’s debut novel Let’s Dish is now available in trade paperback.

Maggie Donnely has problems no Food Network star ever had to deal with. Her coffee shop is running in the red, her EPT just turned pink, and keeping her business partners in line is making her blue in the face. A run-in with her old cooking school nemesis is the last thing she needs.

Kevin Best is a blast from the past with more than Maggie’s mouth-watering recipes on his mind. He knows he made one big mistake with her, but she’s got no idea just how far he’ll go to put her heart back on the menu.

When Maggie loses her shop to a fire, and her partners to a stupid mistake, she’s forced to turn to Kevin to help her win a contest that could save her bacon. Friendless, desperate—and with the proverbial bun in the oven—it’s a choice that could change the rest of her life. If she can learn to love again.

What’s the old saying about too many cooks? Maggie’s about to find out…the hard way.

To read more about Let’s Dish and Catherine’s other books, visit her website..

Sure Things

Every January I set out to do a few projects, you know, the clean up and clear out kind of things. Other than preparing for taxes, everything else is linked together by one word: giving. It didn’t start out that way, just wanted to get a fresh start for the new year, but maybe that’s why I don’t mind taking on my “sure thing” projects.

Wicked Fantasies?

Recently the third book in my Black & White Collection (named because of the beautiful covers created by Tuesday Dube and Dawn Seewer) was released at Samhain. Rough Cut is the latest installment in a series about wicked fantasies and it touches on a BDSM relationship. In the story, author Gwen Preston is contacted by Hollywood’s hottest property, Ty Ransome. Ty’s interested in turning Gwen’s book, Evening Songs, into a movie. She agrees to write the screenplay with him and during the course of the story, they discover they share very similar, dark desires in the bedroom.

The first book in the Black & White Collection, Erotic Research, delved into role playing—the hero and heroine acting out several sexual fantasies, including a harem slave girl scene and a pirate adventure! In the second book, Tequila Truth, the three main characters decide to spend one weekend exploring a menage a trois!

My editor and I have discussed ideas for future books. Some ideas have included a cougar story, m/m/f menage and a Domme book. I thought it might be fun to make an appeal here as well.

So…what wicked fantasies do you dream about? Read about? What dark desires would you like to see explored within the pages of an erotic romance?