My Sexy Howl from Ilona’s Wolf #MySexySaturday

Week 51 of #MySexySaturday is all about shifters, so I had to add a snippet from Ilona’s Wolf: A Fairy Tale. If the opening of the story sounds a bit familiar, it’s because Little Red Riding Hood was my favorite fairy tale when I was but a lass. Perhaps I related to Red more than the princesses because I grew up in a multi-generational household and my grandmothers were part of my everyday life.

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If you’re not familiar with My Sexy Saturday, a weekly blog hop where writers share sexy tidbits 7 paragraphs or 7 sentences or 7 words) from their stories, either published or in progress. It’s the brain child of author, Lynn Crain, who writes “Shifters come in all makes and sizes. They can be a wolf, a bear, an eagle or any variety of things but all meant to protect the one they love… Shifters are hot, shifters are cool and this week shifters are us.”
Ilona's Wolf cover
Sir Rolf of Klosterlupe, the hero of Ilona’s Wolf, was born a werewolf in a land where shifters are banned. Trapped in wolf form by the curse of an evil sorcerer, he wanders the forests of Velosia until the day he senses a young woman in danger. His protective instincts kick in and he charges to the rescue. Princess Ilona fears the wolf at first, then she gets a big surprise.

7 Paragraph Snippet:

She smiled at the canine as she continued to pet it. “Grateful I am for you rescuing me, but ’tis not exactly what a girl dreams of. Where’s my knight on a white steed? ‘Tis he who is supposed to do the rescuing.”

When the wolf lowered his head, sniffing between her legs, she laughed and pushed it away. “Rude creature.”

The animal responded by sitting up and resting its head on her breast. She put both arms around it and hugged it close, dropping a kiss on its head. “Do not misunderstand, Sir Wolf, but I still wish you were a knight. A strong, handsome knight like my Werner.”

The familiar sadness filled her at the memory of her husband. “I miss him so much, you know. Dagmar says another knight will come for me, a handsome knight to protect us and make sweet, passionate love to me.”

The wolf whined and raised his head to lick her cheek. Laughing, she tried to push him away, but he licked her full on the mouth. She closed her eyes, stunned when her powers came rushing back, like a flood of magic coursing around her.

Turning aside, she summoned her basket to her side. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the wolf jump up, staring at the basket. Her vision seemed to blur as the wolf’s face slowly became humanlike, then shifted back. She must have hit her head harder than she’d thought if she was seeing things. She closed her eyes and shook her head, but the aching had receded.

When she peeked again, the wolf was gone, and a naked man crouched in front of her. A handsome, well-built man with shaggy brown hair and golden brown eyes.

Blurb:

Princess Ilona is rescued by a wolf that transforms into a handsome, naked man. Cursed by an evil wizard, Rolf was trapped in wolf form until he tasted the blood of a royal. Now he must escort the princess on a hazardous journey to the castle. Passion flares between them, but both know there is no future for a princess and a werewolf. Or is there in a world where magic and passion combine?

Ilona’s Wolf is available for 99 cents from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and iBooks.

For July only, Ilona’s Wolf is FREE at Smashwords. Use coupon code SW100 at checkout.

What’s your favorite kind of shifter? Leave a comment below to be entered in my monthly drawing for a $15 Starbucks e-gift card.

Lyndi

And follow the linky list below to find more My Sexy Saturday snippets.


Smashwords.

Guest Donna Marie Rogers with #4FunFacts about That Magic Touch

Please welcome Donna Marie Rogers to share #4FunFacts about her release, That Magic Touch: Lake Shelbyville Series, Book 1:

Linda, thank you so much for having me today! Such a fun idea…so let me get started… (**Read on for a chance to win a $10 Starbuck’s gift card)

Four Fun facts about my latest release,
That Magic Touch: Lake Shelbyville Series, Book 1

Fun Fact #1 – My heroine Mia’s thirteen year-old sister, Kat, has a fierce protector of the canine variety, a massive English Mastiff named Mudcat. When I was a kid I was invited up to my friend’s aunt’s cabin for the weekend. As soon as I stepped inside, I saw what I assumed to be a bear rug on the floor. Fascinated, I walked up to get a closer look, bent down and…a huge tongue came out and licked my entire face! Shocked, I screamed, and then bawled like a baby, while everyone else laughed. But soon enough, I was laughing as well. The original Mudcat was actually a Bullmastiff, and I’ve never forgotten that gentle giant.

Fun Fact #2 – That Magic Touch was originally set in the U.P. of Michigan. But after researching for a place to set a Christmas book I wanted to write, I came across a small town in Central Illinois that holds a Festival Of Lights display every year from November thru December. I ended up falling in love with the town and started writing that Christmas story, which eventually ended up on the backburner. Several years later, I decided to make Kent, the hero from the Christmas story, Jack’s cousin from That Magic Touch, and my Lake Shelbyville series was born. P.S. Kent’s story will be Book 2.

Fun Fact #3 – Back in 2006 (yes, this book has been in the making quite awhile…LOL), I entered That Magic Touch (then known as Love Heals All) in Karin Tabke’s First Line Contest. It started with 75 entries, which were judged each week by a different agent or editor, who then culled 5 of the entries. Waiting to see if your manuscript made it to the next week was as exciting as it was nervewracking! The remaining entrants then posted their first line, along with the next line, and so on each week. Somehow, I made it to the top 5 (along with my good friend/co-author of the Welcome To Redemption series, Stacey Joy Netzel). The day the winner was going to be posted, I knew I didn’t have a chance of winning–I’d finaled in many contests, but had never won. And yet…That Magic Touch won! I’d never been so happy to be wrong…LOL

Fun Fact #4 – Jack Sutton was introduced in Meant To Be, Book 2 of my Jamison Family series, and was originally intended to be a villain. But I ended up falling in love with the ex-con, so I changed the course of his story, and I’m so glad I did!

I hope you enjoyed my 4 Fun Facts. Now, I’d like to share a short excerpt with you from That Magic Touch: Lake Shelbyville Series, Book 1:

Cover of That Magic TouchOnce their secrets are revealed, can love heal all?

Living in a small town, Mia Grey has a hard enough time keeping her own unique healing powers secret, never mind those of her thirteen-year-old sister, whose powerful telekinetic abilities grow stronger by the day. Mia’s discovered it’s not so easy keeping a moody teenage witch on the right path while working full-time in her convenience store/bait shop. And her pre-occupation with their gorgeous new neighbor certainly isn’t helping matters.

Jack Sutton spent seven years behind bars for a murder he didn’t commit. Longing for a family connection, he heads to Illinois in search of an aunt he’s never met. He rents an auto garage in the picturesque town of Shelbyville and just starts to settle in when late one night he’s stabbed in an apparent robbery. He wakes the following morning with a throbbing head and an aching gut. The good news is he’s alive. The bad news is he seems to have woken up in an episode of the Twilight Zone—with his beautiful neighbor in the starring role.

EXCERPT:

“And what is it you think about out here all alone?”

The sexy timbre of his voice washed over her like a soothing rain. She shivered in response.

“Cold?” Misinterpreting her reaction, he closed the gap between them and wrapped his arms around her.

“A little.” The mid-sixties temps had nothing to do with her reaction to his nearness, but she had no intention of telling him that.

Mia had only ever been with one man, and he’d turned out to be a ginormous tool; an absolute error in judgment. Not only had he started cheating on her as soon as he got her into bed, but he’d also come damn close to discovering her and Kat’s secret. If Mia hadn’t immediately scrubbed his memory, she could only have imagined the headlines: Modern Day Witches Living in Middle America!

Plain and simple, her instincts sucked when it came to the opposite sex.

And right now, they screamed for her to run as fast as possible in the other direction. But her body dared her to snuggle into his warm embrace and enjoy the moment.

Which is exactly what she did.

THAT MAGIC TOUCH is available NOW!

from Amazon, Nook, AReApple and Kobo

Starbuck’s gift card (random draw), please leave me a comment and tell me a fun fact about yourself. 🙂

~ Donna

Thank you for the great post, Donna. The paranormal twist adds a lot of conflict to the romance. The Mudcat story cracked me up and how exciting to win the contest!

Don’t forget, every comment made in July goes into the kitty for my monthly drawing for a $15 Starbucks GC.

Linda