Monthly Archives: October 2010

Tarnished Knight…another excerpt…

  By Shiloh Walker | 31 October, 2010 - 8:00 am | ,
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Happy Halloween…

I’m feeling lazy.  Rough week, although I did get to go out Friday with the DH and relax.

Instead of thinking of something wickedly clever, I’m just going to share another excerpt from Tarnished Knight-FYI, it’s out now…

Think you know fairy tales… guess again…

erotic paranormal romance

One look at Jack Wallace and Perci knows he’s going to be trouble. Even surrounded by soul stealers, he’s a one-man wrecking crew. What does he need Grimm training for? He’s already hell on earth, a warrior bent on destruction. And something…more.

He’s too strong and fast to be a mere mortal. Even covered in blood, he makes her forget she’s only here to do a job and get out. It’s twisted. Sick. She hasn’t felt this alive in three centuries.

Born with a natural talent for killing unnatural things, Jack has always known things he shouldn’t. The fact that Perci is one of them glows all over her. Giving him an unholy urge to see just how far he can push her before don’t touch me melts into touch me there.

When they come together, it isn’t careful or cautious. It’s heaven and hell, exposing all their raw and wounded places to healing heat, resurrecting memories of a destined love from the distant past. But the evil that destroyed them once before has tracked them here, threatening their second and last chance at forever. Demanding a sacrifice no one—Grimm or human—should ever be asked to make…

Excerpt


Her mouth…

Jack shuddered as her mouth opened under his. She tasted like cinnamon and cream and honey and heaven and damn it, he didn’t think he’d get enough of that taste. Then she tore her mouth away from his and he growled, reached up and fisted his hand in her short, silken hair. “Kiss me,” he muttered against her cheek.

“This is insane,” she whispered.

“Yeah. Don’t care. Kiss me.”

A sigh shuddered out of her. “I can’t be doing this.” Her shoulders rose and fell and Jack found himself staring at those sleek, pale curves. Soft…

Without realizing it, he found himself lowering his head and pressing his mouth to one shoulder, left all but bare by the skinny strap of her tank. Soft…smooth. Hmmm.

He touched his tongue to her skin. She stiffened, then shuddered.

Turning around, he walked blindly until he could put her down on the counter by the refrigerator. Lifting his head, he stared into her dark eyes, watched her face as he slid his hand under the hem of her shirt. Simple, basic cotton—nothing fancy, and yet it would be a pleasure to peel away from her.

An image flashed through his mind.

Her…her hair long and luxurious. Her lean body had been softer then, clad in a lush gown of velvet.

A man was with her, and he was peeling that velvet away from her body. Slowly. Teasingly. And watching her with a look of such love and awe. They knelt together on a blanket.

He could see them—had seen them. Watched…wanted. Loved.

It hit him in the gut like a punch and he should have pulled away.

Would have pulled away.

But then Perci rested her hands on his forearms, stroked up. The image shattered, fell away under her touch. Need and hunger swamped him. She cupped his face in her hands and tugged his mouth to hers.

“I thought you said this was insane,” he muttered against her lips. Pull away, Jack. Something strange is going on here, man.

“It is. I’ll figure it out later.” She caught his hands and guided them to her breasts. “Touch me…damn it, please touch me. I… Shit, I feel alive when you’re touching me.”

There was something so broken, so raw in her voice.

He couldn’t not touch her. Couldn’t not cup her face in his hands, lift it to his and brush his lips over hers. “I think I like the taste of you,” he muttered. “The feel of you.”

He wanted to make love to her…gentle, slow. Needed it.

But she didn’t want gentle. Greedy, hungry, she skimmed her hands down his sides, grabbed the hem of his shirt and jerked it up and over his head. As she bared his chest, she leaned forward and nipped at his nipple with sharp teeth. “I don’t want slow, and I don’t want soft and sweet words. Fuck me,” she said, tipping her head back and staring at him.

She scraped her nails over the denim-covered ridge of his cock and Jack shuddered. Reaching down, he closed his hand around her wrist. “Is there any reason to rush?” he muttered against her mouth.

She cupped him with her other hand and squeezed.

Groaning, he caught that hand as well and then penned them behind her back. He lifted his head to stare down into her glittering, hungry eyes. “What’s the rush, princess?”

She snarled at him. “Don’t call me that.”

“Fuck, but I think it turns me on when you glare at me,” he muttered, dipping his head and nipping her lower lip. Then he licked it with his tongue and kissed a trail down along her chin, her neck, until he could bite her gently through her bra. “I want to see you naked.”

“Then let go of my hands and I’ll get naked.”

He smiled at the command in her voice. “And what if I’d rather be the one to get you naked?” He let go of her hands, but before she could take care of her shirt, he did it by reaching up and grabbing the neckline. He smiled down into her eyes and watched the surprise flicker as he tore the thin cotton apart.

Her breath caught in her throat and she glanced down, stared at the torn tank top before looking back up at him. “You forgot something.” Then a smirk twisted her mouth. “Although I bet you can’t tear the bra quite so easy. They make them pretty sturdy.”

That smirk…damn but it turned him on, and he was already so fucking hot, he hurt. “I can think of a way to get it off.” Holding her gaze, he reached up and grabbed one of the blades he had on the refrigerator.

He kept sharp, shiny objects in a variety of places all over his house. It had saved his ass a time or two.

But this time, it proved to be worth it for a different reason.

As he pulled the blade down and slipped the tip of it under her bra, he watched her eyes widen, watched as her lashes fluttered.

“You scared?” he teased.

Not that he really thought she would be, and he wasn’t surprised when her brown eyes opened and she smiled at him. “Of you? No way in hell.”

Keeping the knife still, he watched her. “Should I stop?” All it would take was the slightest bit of pressure, just the slightest bit.

“If you stop, how are you going to finish getting me naked?”

He gave the slightest flick of his wrist and watched as the blade cut through the lace and silk. Her eyes went dark, and as he reached up and pushed the straps off her shoulders, she smiled at him.

Holy hell.

Just one look from her was enough to make him weak in the knees.

He laid the knife down and she glanced at it, flicked him a look from under her lashes. “What, you’re not going to cut my pants off too?”

“Don’t tempt me,” he muttered.

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Irony

  By Shiloh Walker | 30 October, 2010 - 8:00 am | , , ,
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Yes…. I haz it.

Say What…

I just got my RWR for the month.  And it has my article on digital self-publishing.  No, I’m not eating my words with Beg Me, because after all, I never said I wouldn’t try it again.  I said it wasn’t likely.

And if it wasn’t for a few friends who kept nagging me at RAW in September, I don’t know that I would have decided to try going independently with Beg Me.  I’m not going into detail about things, but long story short, I figured I’d give the digital self-publishing thing another shot, if I could come up with another idea.  And I did.  Beg Me.  Timing-wise, if I tried sending it to Samhain, it wouldn’t get published for almost a year. I don’t want to wait that long for it, and if I did, it would put off the next Grimm book for that much longer.  It also came along at a time when…well, I needed to control something-completely.  I didn’t want to worry about not getting the title I wanted, or worry if the subject matter was too dark-yes, it’s dark and the story isn’t for everybody, I know this.  I needed to control something and damn it, that’s what I did.

In the long run, this will be an interesting experience-and already has been.  I’ve gotten to work with a great freelance editor, got an idea of what the costs are, got to control the cover aspect from start to finish-realized I can do a blurb without screwing it up, although it’s a good thing a synopsis wasn’t required.  I’ll get a better idea of whether or not it really is a feasible option to consider in the future, because as the article mentions, my previous experience with digital self-publishing?  Complete and total flop.

And… FYI… this is why I rarely say never.  Because I don’t like eating my words or backtracking, and I knew it was possible I might try it in the future.  I just didn’t expect it to happen this soon.

Regardless, it’s not something I see me turning to in the future altogether.  It’s too much work and I want somebody else doing this extra stuff so I don’t need to, and if this had been a harder book to write, or a longer book?  It wouldn’t be going out solo.

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The Friday 56…Rachel Caine’s Ill Wind

  By Shiloh Walker | 29 October, 2010 - 8:00 am |
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Rachel Caine’s Ill Wind

The fantasy had been good; the reality was better.

started reading this Wednesday, am loving it…

About the Friday 56

  • Grab the book nearest you. Right now
  • Turn to page 56.
  • Find the fifth sentence.
  • Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
  • Post a link along with your post back to this blog.
  • Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.
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The blues…

  By Shiloh Walker | 28 October, 2010 - 8:00 am |
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I have them.

Logically, I know it’s probably because of my friend’s passing.  And a bunch of other things, little things and some not so little things that kept piling up-fighting with a tween, a kind of big thing that I was expecting biz-wise from one of my pubs that fell through (no, it’s not new book news and really only important to authors, but still, gave me the blahs), stressing about not one but two new book proposals.

But I’ve got the blues.

If they don’t pass soon, I’m probably going to unplug for a week or two (possibly longer) and just tuck my head low until this passes.

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When there is hate on both sides…

  By Shiloh Walker | 27 October, 2010 - 11:08 am | ,
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The result is ugliness.  Plain and simple.

People who read my blog probably know this-I’m not afraid of confrontation.  I actually kind of…well…enjoy it.  It doesn’t bother me, doesn’t faze me.  But I do get irritated when people think the answer to ugliness is to bring more ugliness into the fray.  It solves nothing.

What am I talking about?

This rather unpleasant piece over at MarieClaire:  Should Fatties Get a Room (FYI… if you want to comment, comment away…but no need to get ugly).  It was written by freelance writer Maura Kelly, regarding a TV show- and had pieces like:

The other day, my editor asked me, “Do you really think people feel uncomfortable when they see overweight people making out on television?”

and

My initial response was: Hmm, being overweight is one thing — those people are downright obese! And while I think our country’s obsession with physical perfection is unhealthy, I also think it’s at least equally crazy, albeit in the other direction, to be implicitly promoting obesity! Yes, anorexia is sick, but at least some slim models are simply naturally skinny.

and

yes, I think I’d be grossed out if I had to watch two characters with rolls and rolls of fat kissing each other … because I’d be grossed out if I had to watch them doing anything.

and

But … I think obesity is something that most people have a ton of control over. It’s something they can change, if only they put their minds to it.

Now, if you’re anything like me, you might be sitting there shocked that a so-called ‘reputable’ magazine actually allowed this to go live.  I kept hearing that Marie-Claire was supposed to be about empowering women, but um… not if they have lots of pieces like this, they aren’t.

Am I digusted by this article? Hell, yes.

But many of the commenters-the ones who are as bothered as I am, have disgusted me even more, I’m afraid.

There were comments made that about how the world would be better if the writer didn’t exist, how she should hang herself, comments calling her an ignorant bitch, etc, etc, etc.  Now it’s easy, very easy to say things when you’re pissed.  When there’s a lynch mob mentality?  Even easier.

Somebody posted the writer’s private info-mailing info, email address.

Now we have lynch mob mentality and there is access to data that the public-especially those in the lynch mob mindset, didn’t need to have.

Guys…guess how cyberbullying starts?  Anger, a lack of empathy, lynch mob mentality… we’ve got anger.  We’ve got the lynch mob mentality.  And regardless of how flippantly it was meant, telling somebody to go hang herself over an ugly, poorly written article?  Well, now we have a lack of empathy as well.

You want to make them see your fight?  Don’t get ugly.  Show them your side.  I saw this over on Jezebel first and I’m copying from there as I’m not wading into the 900+ comment stream to do it.

From commenter Beth over at the Marie Claire post-Should Fatties Get a Room:

Dear Maura Kelly, I sincerely apologize for my disgusting body and all the various rolls of fat on my person. When I married my fat husband back in June I didn’t realize it would offend anyone when we got to that “you may kiss the bride” moment, or we would have skipped it. If I’d realized how unacceptable it is for me to have love or happiness, I would have called the wedding off entirely, of course. I have told my husband that there will be no more kissing or cuddling or FATTY SEX until we both lose some weight. I hope he understands… I really am so sorry for being so fat and happy all this time! In your very honest and sensitively written article “should fatties get a room?” you write that fat people should walk more, yet you also write that fat people walking across a room is something you find disgusting. I take long walks around my neighbourhood most days, is this too much? I want to find the correct balance between getting thin and not upsetting anyone with my jiggling body parts. I also swim twice a week and go to the gym once a week, are these activities also disgusting to you? Perhaps I should start doing these activities at night so nobody has to be offended by them. Do you think that would be best? I don’t own a television so I haven’t seen Mike and Molly. But I do hope they take garbage like off the television soon. As you say, it’s implicitly promoting obesity. Surely anyone who watches it will see the yucky fat people making out and suddenly think to themselves “I should gain some weight, that looks like fun.” And then where would we be? By the way, I haven’t ever had any health problems before but if anything does come up I’ll be sure to stay away from the doctor so as not to be a drain on anyone’s health costs. Thank you for writing this meticulously well researched, world-changing article. I really think you are going to cure obesity with this! Yay! Your plump friends are very lucky to have a friend like you who is in no way a hateful bully or an ignorant sizeist jerk. Best wishes, Beth

Read more: http://jezebel.com/5673680/what-was-marie-claire-thinking-with-this-fatties-piece#ixzz13YgpoSOB

Is she using some snark there? Absolutely.  But she’s also pointing out the numerous flaws in a very flawed article, doing it in a way that probably had the writer cringing-after all, Maura Kelly says she’s disgusted by the sight of fat people walking.  Yet then she wants them to walk more.
So here’s an open letter to all sides, the ugliness that came from Ms. Kelly, the editors at MarieClaire who really should have thought about letting it go up, and those who are going off the handle with their rage:
Ms. Kelly, the editors are Marie Claire & the angry commenters:
Ugliness is a nasty, bitter circle that only stops when somebody breaks that circle.

Was Maura Kelly wrong? Hell yes.  I think Marie Claire was wrong in allowing that piece to get published as it was and if Marie Claire or Maura Kelly didn’t expect to see some sort of response coming, it was foolish on their part.  Maura Kelly is no innocent victim here.

I also think MarieClaire needs to be a little more vigilant in watching comments-particularly when it becomes apparent things are getting out of control-I’m sorry but there is no excuse for you to keep allowing people to post her private info.

Maura Kelly, I feel, would be best served by a more sincere apology.  A sincere apology consists of just that- I was wrong.  I screwed up and I apologize.  No excuses, no rationalizations, just the apology.

Marie Claire would be best served, I feel, by actually empowering women instead of posting things that perpetuate the constant we must look perfect image.  And yeah, I can say that’s the image they perpetuate, because the image that’s now emblazoned on my mind, other than that ugly piece is the unnaturally-thin model they use on their twitter page.

And the commenters who are telling her the world would be better without her?  Calling her nasty names?  Do you really think that’s going to change her mind?  Is it going to make Marie Claire see the problem?  No.  All they are seeing is the fury and the ugliness and it makes them want to form a line of defense, which means they likely won’t change.  I’ve said it before, but ugliness makes nothing change.

Ms. Kelly’s ugliness likely didn’t make any overweight person want to lose weight.  Attacks rarely do.  What often inspires people to lose weight is when they finally find the need to change and that has to come from inside and the ugliness from others will not do it.  Too often, it just makes it worse.

Morbid obesity is becoming a huge problem is the country-it’s something I would see regularly in children when I was the doctor’s office full time and you want to talk about sad?  Try explaining to a slender mom who is letting her obese child eat Fritos right there in front of you, drinking a coke, that she needs to get the eating habits better now before it’s too late, while the child is in preschool, elementary school and she has some control and the mom just smiles and said, oh, it’s baby fat…and five years later, that elementary school child is in middle and almost 300 pounds.  It’s enough to break your heart.

Yes, morbid obesity is something that can be changed.  But if it was as easing as simply moving?  There would be no weight problems, and once you become morbidly obese, it’s not even a matter of cutting calories-it takes more.  Often you have to fight the right foods to eat for you, it takes support from your family, it takes a commitment that is unlike anything you’ve ever imagined.

I wasn’t even in the morbidly obese arena when I decided I’d had enough and it was still the hardest damn thing I’d ever done, the hardest thing I’m still doing.  Another 20 lbs to go before I hit my goal, even though I’m down 60 lbs.  But if it was easy?  I would have done years ago.  If it was easy? Something that, as Maura Kelly says, we have a ton of control over?  There would be no issues with weight.  If Maura Kelly is, as she says, a recovering anorexic, then she should understand the struggles with body image, how the mind plays tricks on you.  And that right there is one of the biggest obstacles and why so many people struggling with their weight fail, why that support system is so crucial…and why hateful articles are so detrimental.

But on the flipside…her hateful commentary doesn’t mean she needs to be told she should go hang herself. She doesn’t need to have people posting her private info.

Hate will only breed more hate, guys.    It’s a nasty bitter cycle.

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more on Beg Me

  By Shiloh Walker | 27 October, 2010 - 8:00 am | , ,
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**Attention…pretty please read…I still don’t have a release date for Beg Me.  I’m doing this independently-releasing it through Kindle & Smashwords (which will also release it *hopefully* to Nook, iPad’s ebookstore, Sony, etc, etc).  I will not be uploading it anywhere until it’s completely done and that won’t be until I’ve had time to go through it again.  I’m working this in around other projects as well other things that are going on.  If you want to make sure you keep up to date on what’s going on with it, you might either want to sign up for my newsletter or for my RSS feedburner deal which will email my daily blogs to your email.  To get the blog emailed to you, just look at the box to the top left of the screen.   The newsletter sign up is also on the left, just a little farther down.

I’ve had a few people ask why I’m doing this on my own.  A couple of reasons.

  1. I’m curious.  A few friends came singing the praises of doing stuff solo and I’ll admit.  I’m skeptical.  I’ve done solo stuff-Hunter’s Choice, for one, and honestly? Not making enough to pay my cell phone bill.  Not even close.  But Hunter’s Choice was a short story-I couldn’t set the price as low as I’d like, it’s probably not the best ‘experiment’ I could do.  Beg Me will give me a better, more objective look at things.
  2. I needed something I was in complete control of.  Whether this flops or flies-I was in complete control this time.   Writing for a living, you very often have to deal with not having as much control as you’d like, and generally, you can work with things-generally, I prefer to have somebody riding along helping with things like covers, titles, etc.  This does mean giving up some (often a lot) of control, but for a while during late summer?  Well, there are times  when a lot of us probably we feel like we have no control.  I had too many of those moments hit me.  And I decided, I wanted something that I controlled-completely.  Whether it flies or flops.
  3. It’s this way or make you all wait close to a year for either this book or another Grimm.  My schedule at Samhain got all out of whack for the coming year and I don’t want to throw things off any more with the Grimm, nor am I interested in putting this book’s release off for a year.
  4. It’s a learning experience.  I’m always getting asked about things like this and other than the Hunter’s Choice thing and such, I don’t have much direct experience.  This is getting me that.  I will tell you–it’s not going to be my preferred method of writing for a living, especially not for books that are time-intensive.  The idea for Beg Me hit me hard and fast, and ideas like that generally are easier, faster to write.  Books that aren’t fast to write?  That I have to invest months and months of time writing?  I’m not taking such a gamble on those.

I’ve gotten the edits back and once I’m done with those, I’ll get the freelance editor to go through it again, and I plan on getting a second person to do it (ummm… I’ve already got a person selected).  After that, then it’s time to format it.  This could take me a few weeks, it could take me a few days, it could take more time, could take less.  I just don’t know.  I’m working this in around my other projects, which do have to come first.  I’m also helping train a new nurse at my old day job which is taking up some time, too, as well as a new book proposal my agent just submitted.

I don’t plan on just putting it up either–I need a few weeks so I can work on a bit of promo-get it posted to my various group sites, newsletters, etc, and all of that requires some lead time.

I’d love to give people a firm date, but I just can’t.  I’m thrilled so many people are excited about it, but trust me… you’ll be happier if it’s edited-some of the typos and stuff I make?  They are insane.

Also, I’m probably not going to be around much to talk about this book (or any book) for a few days… a friend of ours died late last week and I’m attending a funeral today.   I’ll probably need a few more days before I’m up to feeling social.

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Tarnished Knight… now available…

  By Shiloh Walker | 26 October, 2010 - 7:10 am | ,
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Just a heads-up… I’m guest blogging @ Castles & Guns…

Tarnished Knight is available now… FYI-it’s not listed as red-hot, but IMO, that’s what it is.  It’s every bit as hot as Crazed Hearts was-actually a lot hotter but for some reason, it didn’t get the erotic romance/red hots tag.

Now available

Think you know fairy tales… guess again…

erotic paranormal romance

One look at Jack Wallace and Perci knows he’s going to be trouble. Even surrounded by soul stealers, he’s a one-man wrecking crew. What does he need Grimm training for? He’s already hell on earth, a warrior bent on destruction. And something…more.

He’s too strong and fast to be a mere mortal. Even covered in blood, he makes her forget she’s only here to do a job and get out. It’s twisted. Sick. She hasn’t felt this alive in three centuries.

Born with a natural talent for killing unnatural things, Jack has always known things he shouldn’t. The fact that Perci is one of them glows all over her. Giving him an unholy urge to see just how far he can push her before don’t touch me melts into touch me there.

When they come together, it isn’t careful or cautious. It’s heaven and hell, exposing all their raw and wounded places to healing heat, resurrecting memories of a destined love from the distant past. But the evil that destroyed them once before has tracked them here, threatening their second and last chance at forever. Demanding a sacrifice no one—Grimm or human—should ever be asked to make…


Excerpt

Tiny lead-in… Perci (the heroine) is a healer.

~*~

She weighed nothing.

Jack carried her into his house and tried not to think about how fragile she felt, how delicate.

As he lay her on his bed, he sat down beside her and touched the pulse in her neck, although he wasn’t sure why.

It wasn’t like she could die, right?

But she’d coughed up blood. She’d collapsed. She was unconscious, and damn it, why the hell had she done that? It wasn’t like he hadn’t dealt with busted ribs before.

The pulse under his touch was strong, steady, although slower than he would have expected. He sighed and shifted around, buried his face in his hands, and even as he did it, he marveled that he could do it without pain. Not even ten minutes ago, he’d been all but ready to beg for her to just leave him the hell alone just so he could do something about his fucking ribs, and now he was fine.

Driven by curiosity, he stood and moved to the mirror over his bureau, staring at his face. He should have looked like a human punching bag.

But there wasn’t even a damn mark on him.

He grabbed the hem of his bloodied and stained T-shirt and pulled it off. His ribs should have been black and blue, but there was nothing.

In the mirror, he looked at Perci’s reflection, watched as she shifted, watched her face tighten with pain. He clenched his jaw and turned around, strode across the floor.

She’d taken his injuries, his fucking busted ribs. Sitting down on the side of the bed, he caught her shirt and eased it up. And felt like he’d been sucker-punched all over again. Because her ribs looked easily twice as bad as his should have looked.

“It’s…passing.”

Shifting his gaze up, he realized she’d woken up and was staring at him, her brown eyes clouded with pain.

“If you hadn’t fucking done that, there wouldn’t be anything to pass.”

“I still would have been hurting, as long as I was anywhere near you.” She grimaced. “I heal. I can’t be around somebody in physical pain without feeling something, and it’s worse with somebody I know, somebody I’ve…ah…well…”

“Fucked?”

She wrinkled her nose. “I was thinking connected with. If there’s some sort of connection, it’s a lot worse.”

“Then you should have just gotten the hell away from me.” He stared at the bruises, willing them to fade. But it didn’t seem like they were. Impatient, he grabbed the knife from his boot and sliced her shirt open.

Perci glared at him. “Damn it, what are you doing?”

“You said you heal fast. You should heal fast and I’m not seeing it happen.”

“It’s only been a few minutes.” Then she closed her eyes and took a slow, clearly cautious breath. “I can breathe easier, and it’s not hurting as much. The bruises will be the last thing to go. But it’s getting better.”

Gently, he touched one finger to a bruise. It was an ugly stain on her pale, pale skin and just the sight of it was like an obscenity. “You shouldn’t have done this,” he muttered. “It was my fight, my fault. You shouldn’t have had to deal with the pain.”

“I was given a gift to use it.” She stared at him with unconcerned eyes, liked she wasn’t bothered by the fact that her entire torso was a dark rainbow. “And hey, I’ve had worse.”

“You honestly feel the pain of everybody around you?”

She shrugged. “Not all the time. I can shield against it and I don’t help everybody. I can’t. Even my energy isn’t endless. I’ve figured that out.” She closed her eyes. “And the gift has…changed over time. But this was easy.”

“You call this easy?”

“Compared to some of the people I’ve had to heal? Yes.”

He was staring so hard at the bruises it took him a few moments to realize they were actually lessening. Fading away.

It was a slow, gradual thing, and he counted the minutes away as he watched her body slowly absorb the bruises she’d taken from him.

Fifteen minutes after she’d opened her eyes, she squinted at him and demanded, “Are you going to sit there until every last bruise is gone?”

“Yes.” He curled his hand over her hip, rubbed one bruise with his thumb. “They never should have gone to you to begin with.”

“Oh, for crying out loud…” She went to sit up, but then she froze.

Her brown eyes were only inches away from him, her mouth so very, very close.

“I don’t like seeing marks on you,” Jack muttered.

Perci’s lashes lowered over her eyes. “Unfortunately, I get marked up a lot. But I heal fast. Deal with it.”

“Hmmm.” He dipped his head and skimmed his lips down her neck. “Why did you leave so fast?”

“I…” She shuddered. “I needed to think.”

“Thinking can be very overrated.”

“Yeah. But it needed to be done.”

“Okay.” He brushed the ruin of her shirt aside and nipped the soft curve of her shoulder. “Did it help you figure anything out?”

“No. Not a damn thing.” She tilted her head to the side, baring her neck.

Jack took the hint and nuzzled her neck again, scraping the flesh with his teeth and smiling as she shivered. “I like the feel of you, Perci. I like the taste of you.”

“Hmmm. The feeling is mutual.” She stroked a hand up his side and then whispered, “Jack, can I ask you something?”

“Anything.” Damn, he’d give her anything…

Buy…

Samhain Publishing/MBAM | Nook Store | Kindle Store

If anybody is curious about why I decided to totally tear Rapunzel apart…you can blame Lynn Viehl.  She suggested it here…

I always liked Rapunzel, and I’d love to see you rip it to shreds. :)

And shred it is exactly what I did, I think… O.o

Available in ebook only right now… should go to print sometime in the next year or so.

Those who did a review of this book, if you’d like, can you leave a link in the comments?  I’ll try to remember to round them up when I’m a little more back online, but it might be a few more days-I need a few days downtime… Links often get caught & held, but don’t worry, I’ll clear them out.

Reviews (FYI, these are the ones I’ve been notified of via email… I’m still not on twitter much right now)

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Books….

  By Shiloh Walker | 25 October, 2010 - 8:00 am |
5 Comments
Kindle

So I was gone over the weekend.  A friend of mine got married–and the wench lives in Michigan, geez…what is it with most of my best friends being scattered across the country?

Anyway, she’s in Michigan.  I’m invited.  DH can’t go, but we can.  I load up the kids and because I had a new book out, made a booksigning spree out of it.  Hit um…thirteen stores, I think-many of them in Michigan, several in Indiana, and a few in Ohio.  Notably, the Borders on Lohr Rd stands out because the bookseller there was kind of enough to direct me to a place where I got the best margarita…it’s also a gorgeous store.

Hit the Paperbacks n Things in Westland, Michigan-that’s a great little indy, so if you live around there and need an indy bookstore? Check it out.

And because I want to live here…the Books & Co (booksamillion) in Dayton/Beavercreek…the staff was wonderful, and the store is just…well.  Wow.

Pretty, yes?

FYI, I’m posting this Sunday night, and I might go ahead and post a few things for the next few days, but I’m probably going to be MIA for a few days.  A friend of ours passed away and I doubt I’ll feel up to being social or talking much.

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The Friday 56… Kalayna Price’s Grave Witch

  By Shiloh Walker | 22 October, 2010 - 8:45 am |
5 Comments
Kindle

Today’s Friday 56 is from Kalayna Price’s Grave Witch…on my TBR pile.

She wasn’t the only one…

About the Friday 56

  • Grab the book nearest you. Right now
  • Turn to page 56.
  • Find the fifth sentence.
  • Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog.
  • Post a link along with your post back to this blog.
  • Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

FYI, I’m out of town… any comments or questions will be read/addressed when I get home.

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