Judith Leger’s Dragon Wish

Thanks so much Louisa for having me today!  I'm also really excited about my newest release, Dragon Wish.  I suppose you could say it is the book of my heart.  Here's the blurb and a short except.  Hope everyone will enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Blurb:

A vision, a wish, and a journey plagued by evil.



Cold, desolate cliffs and a white dragon’s blue gaze captures Seren Jordan in a terrifying vision. A universe away, Paladin Fulcan--prince, captain, and sorcery-shadowed seed of dragonkind--struggles to overcome his grief during the long journey to where he must bury his wife and son. Seeing a shooting star, he violates all the laws of the dragonseed: he makes a wish. 



A dragonseed's wish can open the gates between realities, can alter fate. But has fate itself decreed this wish? For the throne-less dragonseed's destiny is entwined with that of a mortal mate; their son is fated to be the One True Dragon King to rule over all the dragons. But not all dragons are content to accept one rule, and the rebels quietly gather allies to prevent the birth of Seren's baby.

Excerpt:

Birds appeared on the outer edges of her vision. She shifted her gaze. She watched the wings moving, brilliant white down and bluish gray up. Their feathers along with their shapes reminded her of the herons she often saw in the bayous and marshes around New Orleans. She smiled. The reminder brought wonderful memories of growing up in the Crescent City.



Every summer her parents would take her to beach on Pontchartrain Lake. Water, sand, and sun had covered her from head to toe. She’d loved the summer months with picnics in the park. They’d feed the pigeons in Jackson Square. Then when she’d grown and had her child, she’d done the same for her. She smiled at the memories.



Soft footsteps approached her from behind. The touch of a warm palm on her neck soothed her. A second later, the cushion dipped from the person sitting.



Paladin’s deep voice warmed her more than the sunlight. “You’re awake. You must be much better if you can smile.”



“What kind of birds are those? They look similar to ones on Earth,” she asked, not ready to face him.



Silence answered her for several moments.



When he leaned above her, he cast a shadow over her shoulder and chest. “They are not birds. Those are dracs, fledgling dragons. They are from my clan’s namesake.”



Surprised, she shifted closer to the window, studying the flying beasts. Small, with slender bodies, the creatures showed little to no resemblance to the beast from her vision. “Those are the dragons?”



She glanced at him. What she saw melted away her surprise. Golden strands lay against the high cast of his cheeks. Seren reached up and glided a fingertip across his bottom lip. His smooth, almost silky lips parted. She lowered her hand, returning her gaze to the window.



She struggled to keep her desire under control. Need pounded between her legs. When she spoke, she kept her tone even. “I don’t like the way you make me feel.”



“In what manner do you speak?”



“Heat, lust…passion.”


“Is that so terrible?” His voice had deepened.



She sighed. “For me, yes. I don’t want to feel those emotions. I wanted the vision to end. Desiring you doesn’t fit into the picture.”



“Desire is not bad.” He brushed the back of his hand over her cheek.

______________________

Thanks for Judith for sharing Dragon Wish for this Friday's Feature. For more from the author, visit:

http://judithleger.weebly.com/

http://www.judithleger.blogspot.com/

Dragon Wish can be purchased at Wild Child Publishing, Amazon and All Romance eBooks.

Rising Currents: Louisiana Moon with Lani Rhea

Are you ready to break in Lani Rhea gently? You know she's a virgin guest blogger, and she's granted me the gift of being her first time! Lani and I met a little more than a year ago on Savvy Authors, and it's been writing-lust ever since ... she possesses a passion for adjectives and an Unbound amount of creativity. 

Thank you, Louisa, for sharing your blog with me today. It’s an honor. I would like to start off with a little history about werewolves and vampires, because mine are different, yet share characteristics in the same retrospect. And I’ll toss a little magic in the mix.

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Histories:

Werewolves are ancient, going back far into history from Greek mythology to Latvian folklore. All over the world the myths of werewolves can be found. They have attributed superhuman strength and senses, and mate for life and stay in family groups.  Humans can be turned into a werewolf simply with a bite, or there can be a curse… which might bring a curse to me because my heroine is so stubborn.

Vampires, ah, the mighty vampire, the creature I used to pretend to be as a child. Who am I kidding, I still dress up as vampires at Halloween! Vampires can be so fun. They go back thousands of years in several different cultures. A favorite vampire cult of mine is the Egyptian Cult of Sekhmet. I’ve actually began a story called Rising Currents: Aeon Blood centering around this cult, but in my own creative way.  It is based on Goddess Sekhmet, which is the reason that modern day vampires are around in books and movies today.

Hoodoo, folk magic, is also known as a conjure, witchcraft or rootwork.  In American English, the word hoodoo was first documented in 1875 and is commonly mixed up with voodoo.  Voodoo is a religion and hoodoo is a group of magical practices. And the reason I mention hoodoo is because my story Rising Currents: Louisiana Moon involves hoodoo magic.

Now my characters:

What’s a normal life anyway…

Kristina Knight

Kristina Knight is a kick-ass werewolf bounty hunter. Think of the artist PINK and you can envision Kris, except Kris has long curly brown hair. She is of Royal blood, and in my story Louisiana Moon only Royal bloodlines live forever. Kris has turned her back on her Royal tie and lives a long life alone killing ominous vampires who dare cross her path. Only Royals can hold the beast inside for long periods of time. She is vegan by choice, but tames the beast with tasty treats of alligator and sushi rolls. To help keep Mother Earth clean, Kris recycles and yes, she considers herself a tree hugger. Nature is in her blood and she doesn’t want any creature or being disturbing the natural balance. She lives in a stylish container home and drives a Chevy Volt.  And the only man deemed her lover in the past, a vampire.

The Underworld is not to cross…

Ryant Starga

Ryant Starga is Italian, born centuries long ago in Tuscany. He has hips built for pleasure, a tongue for wicked things and tawny eyes with dark specs like reptiles that could capture any soul. Ryant has locks of raven hair meant for pulling and built like a gladiator. Can you imagine the rousing succulents this man could bring? Ryant does break the rules. His latest and greatest uproar, kicked out of New York for forming a coven. He materializes from thin air and can vaporize into mist with the snap of his fingers to travel to different locations. To some, he may appear ruthless, which is a vampire’s nature. They can be vicious and take what they want at any given point. And let me mention, Ryant could come to my house anytime, I’d invite him inside. Would you? But then again, once his mate, always his mate, and he will let his own self be invited inside…your heart that is.

Trouble stirs deep when a third is involved…

Darin James

Darin James, your all American wannabe war hero, never finding the right woman, until he is saved by Kris before being turned into a vampire. He’s six foot tall with shoulder-length blond hair, and ripped muscles from all those strenuous workouts. Darin lost his parents in a car accident, and brings a natural balance to Kris’s world with his kind humanity and human nature. He’s always ready for a fight, eager to give that helping hand in the right spots, too.

BLURB

Losing her parents to vampires, Kristina Knight, a werewolf bounty hunter, is ready to protect humans from the bloodsuckers. Saving Darin James, a human, from the Truce Brotherhood adds risk to the vampire coven’s wrath. When Ryant, her ex-lover, appears on pretext on protecting her, she isn’t ready to trust him again. Especially not after he’d made his choice clear years ago.

Ryant Starga is driven by the need to protect Kristina, not because she was his world in the past, but because with her blood, the Soulscapes would rule the Underworld. And that means no creature would ever be safe. His plan to convince her that she needs his protection goes awry when he realizes that in spite of the years separating them, he’s unable to keep his hands or mind off her, and the human out of the picture.

With the Soul Demons hot for blood using hoodoo magic, a single drop means sure death.  With the human, Darin, stepping over boundaries, will Ryant gain respect from Kris, only to lose her again? Can he hope for a future? Can there be a love triangle, or will there be separations? Will they all live long enough to find out?

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My dream is to have Rising Currents: Louisiana Moon published sometime this year. This is still a work in progress, but she’s getting there. I also have a few more stories lined up for the series. Keep an eye out.

Thanks again for having me on your blog today, Louisa. It was a pleasure.  And thank you for stopping by to read this!

~Lani

~*~ 

Oooh, Lani! Thank you for the hotness on this Tantalizing Tuesday! In order to keep up with this breakout writer, make sure to friend Lani on Facebook, follow her via Twitter and check out her blog For Your Eyes Only.

So which HOT STUFF do you like the best? And, if you'd like to share on a Tantalizing Tuesday, leave a comment with your email addy, and I'll tell you how!

Watch the Trailer -- "The Vampire, The Witch & The Werewolf"

We're partying over at the Goddess Fish Party Pavilion. Come watch the new trailer for "The Vampire, The Witch & The Werewolf." Unveiling at Goddess Fish.

Some of My Better Addictions with Daisy Harris

As I sit down to write this, I'm having to turn off my Internet access, and practically take Tweetdeck off my computer altogether. Why? Because a little hashtag called #romancekills is cracking me up, sucking my day away, and basically destroying my productivity one tweet at a time. What spawned this hashtag was a jive ass article about how reading romance melts women's brain, makes them unhappy in their god-fearing marriages, and basically is teh evil. Romance was an addiction they claimed. Like, y'know, porn.

I shan't provide a link. It was pseudo-science, religious-extremist drivel and not worth the pixels it was written on.

Anyhoo- the article got me thinking (once I was done steaming.) I considered how much emotional energy I happily wasted commenting and lambasting the article that I could have spent massaging my husband's feet or researching better ways to discipline my children. How many other time-sucks fill my day? Well, there are plenty. More than any good woman should be allowed. Here are just a few. 

1. Twitter, and Tweetdeck in particular. It's like big fat lines of social networking crack.

2. Blogging- because it makes me think thoughts, write them down, and -worse than that- share said thoughts with other people.

3. Smut writing- I'm going to hell for sure. I hope they've got the good porn there.

4. Facebook- I hate it. I love to hate it. I try to love it. I feel guilty when I don't check it. Facebook is the devil.

5. Grooming- wait...I should probably spend more time on grooming, not less. But showers and stuff are so darned time consuming and take precious hours away from teh smut writing! 

6. Firefly- there's really no reason to watch them again. What more could I glean?

7. INTERNET DRAMA- ooh, I loves me some big, juicy Internet drama. Especially when it's all hot and emotional, with an air of the forbidden. Yum!

8. Wait...have I mentioned Twitter?

9. And wine.

10. And UK Being Human-- but that's good wholesome entertainment!

What about you? What are your favorite addictions and time sucks? I can barely fill a top ten list! I need MOAR!

The lovely Miss Daisy Harris' latest issuance of smut-writing is Mercury Rising. Take a sexy romp with the gods in this hilarious and hot ménage! Want to feed your addition? Go check out Daisy on her website, Twitter and Facebook.