Taste of Kiwi: Blog of Author Shelley Munro

Do you have a new ereader? If you’re looking for something to read several of my friends have new releases this month. The genres are varied, so there is bound to be one to suit your tastes.

A Medieval Yule by Kaye Manro

A fortnight ago she left him.

Marcus of Windom stood alone in an empty castle without Lady Liana

by his side. The frigid winds of the Yule Season pressed upon him. He

pulled the parchment from whence he carried it and read her chilling

parting words once again. I can no longer live as your lady-wife… If ever

she returned would her sensual warmth be enough to melt the ice she

had caused to form around his broken heart?

Purchase A Medieval Yule

The Curse of Gremdon by Ciara Knight

In a world where marriage is forbidden, sex is only granted to male warriors, and the outer realm is full of murderous creatures, Arianna fights to protect the life of her only living relative, her brother.

Tardon, an elite warrior, is granted anything he desires by the Elders, but finds little joy in the voluptuous women presented to him. Born for the bloodlust found only in battle, complicated emotions emerge when he discovers his equal in the alluring warrior, Arianna.

Charged by the Elders with saving the castle from attack, Tardon and Arianna risk the curse when they traverse the vast outer realm to retrieve serum from the Tree of Life. If successful, the Elders have promised Tardon the right to marry, and Arianna the cure for her brother’s death fever. Will their love carry them through or will the discovery of a great deception be their ultimate demise?

Purchase The Curse of the Gremdon

Dragons at Midnight by Selena Illyria

One dragon is hot enough, but three can make this tiger shifter burn in the

most delightful ways.Tiger shifter Louisa thought she’d ring in the New

Year all alone. Little did she know that three younger dragon shifters plan

on making sure she celebrates things right. Add a little steam, a few

dragon shifters with dirty minds, and some creative use of furniture and

New Year’s Eve becomes the perfect scorching-hot party for four.
.

Purchase Dragons at Midnight

Marked for Surrender by Jennifer Leeland

When Zevon and Christophe are accused of being traitors to Nylar, they both believe the truth will come out and justice will prevail. But the Blueshift Brotherhood has targeted them and the two men end up with the Nyral Mistresses to be broken. Hope seems gone for the two lovers and they come face to face with their inner secrets when they face the most infamous Mistress of all: the Ball Breaker.

Mistress Andia Cyrus has broken thousands of criminals, turning dominant men into slaves. The two men she’s handed this time, however, are not the usual type she’s used to. They seem to be innocent, for one thing. For another, they’re in love. And for another, she’s starting to fall for them. She begins to dig deeper and soon finds a Blueshift Brotherhood assassin on her tail.

Fate seems to drag them together and Andia, Christophe and Zevon discover they can only survive if they are marked for surrender.

Purchase Marked for Surrender

Make Me Shiver by Aline Hunter

When Lacey loses control of her vehicle and finds herself trapped by ice and snow, she knows there’s only one person to call for help. Unfortunately, Michael may cause more turmoil than relief. She’s lusted for the gorgeous Dom ever since she first laid eyes on him. Trouble is, he doesn’t do vanilla and she’s not a submissive…or is she?

Michael’s hungered for Lacey for months, so when he notices her fleeting glimpses and blush-stained cheeks as he rescues her from an altercation with a guardrail, he decides it’s time to push the sultry beauty’s boundaries…only to discover Lacey’s not as reserved as she thinks.

Physical attraction blossoms into something neither anticipates, taking Michael and Lacey beyond kink, dominance and submission. Their newfound connection is strong. until a flame from Michael’s past returns, shatters the fragile trust he and Lacey have only just developed and threatens to destroy something neither wants to surrender.

Purchase Make Me Shiver

Melt by Natalie Anderson

When two frozen hearts collide…

Emma Reed closed her heart to love years ago after a lifetime spent getting kicked around foster homes and bad relationships. Now she’s on a mission to prove she deserves her recent award to paint a mural for a research base in Antarctica. Nothing and no one is going to get in her way.

After months working in recovery zones around the world, Hunter Wilson planned to escape everything this holiday season by rebuilding a lab at the Kiwi Research Base. Alone. No to family, no to fun. It’s isolation not intimacy he’s aching for. But when he sees the determined artist, that ache becomes an urge – after all, shouldn’t someone show her what two people can do with twenty-four hours of brilliant sunlight?

In the coldest place on earth, even the most frozen hearts can melt.

Purchase Melt

Don’t they sound great? I can’t wait to read the above books. All I have to do is find some reading time.

Do you intend to do some reading during the coming holidays? Do you think there will be ereaders, books or gift cards in your Christmas stocking?

The Rugby World Cup is currently taking place in New Zealand with the quarter-finals this coming weekend. I’m visiting Stephanie Burkhart’s blog today where I’m talking about rugby, my love of the sport and books.

I hope you’ll pop by and say hello. Go All Blacks!

One of my favorite things about taking a holiday, apart from stepping away from my normal routine, is that I get the chance to catch up on my reading. During my visit to China, I managed to get through twenty-eight books in lengths ranging from shorts to long novels. Since I love to talk books, I thought I’d mention some of my favorite holiday reads instead of doing a Tuesday Teaser.

I started off with The Waiting Booth (Whispering Woods) by Brinda Berry. This is a young adult story and was a great start to my reading binge. The Waiting Booth features a missing boy, government agents and an interdimensional portal. The plot moved along and I kept zipping through the pages until I reached the end.

The Devil to Pay by Maria Zannini was an interesting read with great world building. Heaven or hell? Our heroine is in a bad place in her life and wants out. Unluckily, that’s just the start of her problems. This is a self-published book and well worth a read. I’ll be snapping up the second story in Maria’s series when it comes out.

Rock Hard by Olivia Cunning is the second book in her Sinners on Tour series. It took me a while to warm to the hero, but this book was an excellent way to pass a long bus ride. It’s a hot, sexy read, and I’m counting the days until book three hits the shelves.

I’m a sucker for a friends-to-lovers story, and Hot Head by Damon Suede grabbed my attention straight away. Sexy firemen, best friends, lots of emotion and confusion along the way. This is a gay romance, and I really enjoyed it.

Then came my Carina Press binge. Yes, I’m a Carina author, but I have to say if you haven’t tried some of the stories available from Carina you’re missing out. I read Golden by Joely Sue Burkhart. Just excellent. I loved this story, which is a historical set in China. Caddy Girls by VK Sykes and Sweet as Sin by Inez Kelley are both stories I’d recommend to any contemporary fan. I enjoyed reading both stories.

And my final recommendation is Chasin’ Eight by Lorelei James. The hero and heroine really grabbed me in this one, and it was fun watching them both grow during the course of the book. This is book eleven in the Rough Riders series and one of my favorites in the series to date.

Have you read any extra good books this month? What are you reading at present? If you have time give me a two sentence teaser in the comments, because I need to load up my iPad again.

I’ve been a fan of ebooks for a long time, embracing them even before I sold to an epublisher. This is why I like reading ebooks:

1. It’s a “green” way of reading and saves trees.

2. They take up less room.

3. Hubby doesn’t know exactly how many books I have :)

4. The books don’t turn yellow and smell musty with age.

5. I don’t have to dust them.

6. If I want a book, I can purchase one 24 hours a day. Instant gratification!

7. They tend to be cheaper than print books. By the time freight and taxes are added to books in New Zealand, they’re very expensive.

8. I don’t have to wait months to get my hands on new releases. Books (print) take ages to hit the shelves down here. That instant gratification again!

9. I can adjust the font size to suit my needs at the time.

10. I never lose my place because my bookmark has dropped out.

11. My library is portable. I can tote my entire ebook collection with me without breaking my back.

12. I can read a book, no matter what the subject, at any time without worrying e.g. I can read erotic romance in a public place.

Are you an ebook fan? If you prefer print, tell me why. (Don’t fear – I’m truly curious!)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

~ Grab your current read
~ Open to a random page
~ Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
~BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
~ Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser this week comes from JR Ward’s Lover Unleashed. I finished reading this book last night and enjoyed parts of it, although I still prefer the earlier books in the series.

“I would do anything for you. Anything.”

With that, he pushed his way out…and as the door eased shut, she realized that I love you could indeed be said without actually uttering the phrase.

Actions did mean more than words.

page 175, Lover Unleashed

Blurb:

Payne, twin sister of Vishous, is cut from the same dark, warrior cloth as her brother: A fighter by nature, and a maverick when it comes to the traditional role of Chosen females, there is no place for her on the Far Side… and no role for her on the front lines of the war, either.

When she suffers a paralyzing injury, human surgeon Dr. Manuel Manello is called in to treat her as only he can- and he soon gets sucked into her dangerous, secret world. Although he never before believed in things that go bump in the night- like vampires- he finds himself more than willing to be seduced by the powerful female who marks both his body and his soul.

As the two find so much more than an erotic connection, the human and vampire worlds collide … just as a centuries old score catches up with Payne and puts both her love and her life in deadly jeopardy.

Purchase Lover Unleashed

Looking for a good book to read? A bargain? Look no further.

Thirteen Ellora’s Cave Books At A Bargain Price- $1.50 or less–at Amazon

1. Talking Dogs, Aliens & Purple People Eaters – A female alien crash lands in New Zealand. She and her aunt meet a human cop and hook up with a talking dog. Chaos ensues.

2. Sex Idol – Reality shows in the future. Oy, the mind boggles!

3. Summer in the City of Sails – a country girl travels to the big, bad city looking for adventure. She meets a soldier who feels he must babysit her. She leads him a merry chase.

4. Soldier of Fortune – a companion book to Summer in the City of Sails. Vacation lovers have a surprise meeting in a war zone.

5. Playing to Win – A professional rugby player discovers he has a son, but the boy’s aunt and guardian wants nothing to do with him. A romantic suspense with a creepy stalker.

6. Fancy Free – a woman inherits a condom company and is shoved way out of her comfort zone.

7. Make That Man Mine – a secretary decides it’s time to make her move and claim a sexy detective as her own. The detective has other ideas….and a big secret!

8. Issy’s Infatuation – a sports romance featuring rugby. It’s World Cup year for rugby. Get in the mood and follow Issy’s rugby progress.

9. Never Send a Dog to do a Woman’s Job – The talking dog is back again, trying to keep an alien from seducing the heroine. Just quietly…she’s not very good at her job.

10. Wanderlust – Mystery and murder. Become a tourist and go on tour in India. Experience the sights while watching for the murderer.

11. Lynx to the Pharaoh – jump back to the past and visit Egypt…

12. Fallen Idol – more reality shows from the future. This one is a gay romance.

13. Last Wish – a man wants a silver teapot for his mother’s collection and ends up with much more–a testy genie who wants to end his contract. This one is a gay romance.

The above books are also available in other formats at All Romance ebooks. Most of them are selling for $0.74.

Have you purchased any bargain books recently?

I read an interesting blog post in the weekend at Falling in Love With Romance, the blog of author Suzie Quint. The post was titled Don’t Think You’re Writing Historical Novels? Think Again. Suzie mentioned how technology is changing so rapidly, it makes some novels seem like historical novels even before their time.

Some of the examples she cited include:
tapes/compact discs/downloads/
dial-up Internet
telephones/cell phones/home lines/party lines
VCR/tapes/

I know from experience when I received the rights back for Playing To Win, I had to update due to changes in technology in DNA tests and the computerization of birth records. It was tricky to incorporate the advances and still make the plot work.

(I interrupt this post with a sales message–Playing to Win is currently available on sale at a deep discount at Amazon and All Romance ebooks. Go. Buy!)

My mother died at a young age, and I often think of the changes in technology since her death. In the almost thirty years since there have been changes in the way we use credit and debit cards instead of cash, computers, phone, television, the Internet and home entertainment. Heck, some of the changes such as fax are rarely used now, already supplanted by email.

It’s true. We might think we’re writing contemporary novels but, in a handful of years, many of the items we give our characters to use in a book or some of the research methods will be out of date because of the rapid changes in our technology.

I don’t use product specific brand names in my books because I think they help date a book. Technology isn’t as easy to avoid because our characters need to communicate, even if it’s only to ring for take out. They need to entertain themselves, so maybe it’s easier to write historicals after all!

While our novels might go out of date rapidly, changes in technology have made the actual writing of our books much easier. The thought of handwriting or typing a novel using a manual typewriter makes me shudder. I much prefer my computer with its spellcheck and ease of use. Research is also a breeze with many resources available online or just an email away.

As for reading, changes in technology are giving us more options. We can read physical books or ebooks. We can listen to books and interactive stories have also arrived. It’s an exciting time in the world of books.

I adore new technology and have a love of gadgets. I have an iPod, an e-reader, computer etc and enjoy learning how to work new technology. I’m always interested in the new inventions that hit the market. The only thing I don’t enjoy is toting around all the different chargers, and if the power goes out…well, suffice to say you’ll probably hear me from your place. Technology has certainly made us more dependant on electricity.

Do you enjoy the rapid changes in technology?

I was a bit short of inspiration for a post today, but I do have some great books in my to-read pile.

Thirteen Books in My To-Read Pile

1. Scandal of the Year by Olivia Drake, a historical romance with a duke impersonating a footman.

2. Pleasure Me by Monica Burns, a historical romance with a virgin hero.

3. The Missing Ink by Karen E. Olson. This is a mystery, and I chose it because of the tattoo artist heroine.

4. Play Dirty by Lorie O’Clare, a reunion romance featuring a bounty hunter hero.

5. Tyler by C.H. Admirand, a cowboy romance.

6. English Country House by Gervase Jackson-Stops & James Pipkin. This is research for my current work in progress, another gothic historical.

7. Hot Head by Damon Suede, a gay romance featuring firefighters.

8. Love’s Fortress by Samantha Kane, book seven of The Brothers in Arms series.

9. The Great New Zealand Baking Book by Allyson Gofton. I enjoy checking out new recipes.

10. Three to Tango an anthology by Emma Holly, Lauren Dane, Megan Hart and Bethany Kane. Four hot novellas featuring threesomes.

11. Invitation to Ruin by New Zealander Bronwen Evans. A historical where the heroine is discovered in a compromising position.

12. Second Chance at the Sugar Shack by Candis Terry, a contemporary romance. I’m reviewing this one before Candis visits my blog on 19 July. This book is due out on 9 August.

13. River Marked by Patricia Briggs. Mercy and Adam finally tie the knot, but as usual, trouble follows Mercy wherever she goes.

What is the next book on your to-read pile?

I’m visiting Books Like Breathing today and discussing my love of historical romances. There’s also a little about The Spurned Viscountess and I’m doing a giveaway.

Here’s the link to Books Like Breathing.

I’d love to see you there!

All during October I’ve been slaving away in my writing cave. I managed to finish my first draft and I’m now working on coloring my bare-bone scenes. When it came to choosing a topic for today’s TT, my mind went blank (My store of creativity has waned). I turned to my trusty copy of the Flip Dictionary.

I like books – so here is my topic for the week

Thirteen Book Terms

1. Collector or book lover – bibliophile

2. Criticism or review – critique

3. Library classification system – Dewey decimal system

4. A book of synonyms – thesaurus

5. Book cover – jacket

6. Book of maps – atlas

7. Bookbinding cardboard – pasteboard

8. Bookbinding fine parchment – vellum

9. Book publicity notice – blurb

10. List of book corrections – errata

11. Book passage used for promo – excerpt

12. Shortened version of book – abridgment or condensation

13. Surplus books sold at a discount – remainder

Do you have any book terms to add to my list?