Gemma Brocato - Exposed to Passion

 Today I am showcasing a book by the extremely talented and absolutely fabulous Gemma Brocato. I've met many wonderful friends along my path to publishing and Gemma is truly a star.

Exposed To Passion (Five Senses Series Book #3)

Gemma Brocato

           

Genre: Contemporary romance

Publisher: Kensington Books/Lyrical Press, Inc

Date of Publication: October 20, 2014

eISBN-13: 978-1-61650-616-2

eISBN-10: 1-61650-616-4

ASIN:

Number of pages: 329

Word Count: approx. 85,000

Cover Artist: Renee Rocco

Available in Digital and Print Formats

Book Description:

They walked through the shadows individually. Will they emerge into the light together?

Leading a vagabond life as a curator for a traveling photography exhibit translates to a lot of bad days for Rikki Salerno. But her trouble doubles when a careless high school student shoves her into a marsh. Being rescued by teacher Sam Kerrigan should have made things better, but Rikki’s inability to confess her true identity casts a shadow over their budding affair.

When Sam refuses an overly aggressive parent’s marriage proposal, she’s determined to ruin him. Not only does she doctor photos to make it look like Sam’s behaved inappropriately in front of students, she hacks the foundation website to reveal Rikki’s true identity. Faster than the blink of a shutter, Rikki’s focus changes from pursuing her full-color future to the black and white necessity of clearing Sam’s name.

Excerpt:

“Holy cow! Consider me seduced.” She didn’t recognize her own voice. Desire rasped through it, whispery and thick at the same time. Allowing her finger to slip from the steamy confines of his mouth, he pressed a kiss to her palm, then released his hold. She curled her hand into a fist around the kiss he’d left, hoping to hold onto the heat and lingering sensation.

 “Oh, Jesus. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kissed you like that. It was too fast, wasn’t it? I mean, we only just met…but I thought, I mean, you seemed to want…and you didn’t say no. Christ, I’m so sorry.” Sam’s tone rattled with a misplaced apology. “I have no excuse. I’m a horndog.”

He eased her away from his chest and helped her to sit up, then pushed himself upright and scooted a respectful distance from her.

The apology in his tone and the loss of his body heat hit her like a cold slap. His words stung. He regretted kissing her. The tingly pulses zipping from her fingertip to her heart did nothing to tamp down the hurt. She hadn’t wanted him to stop. Normally the queen of snarky retorts, words failed her now.

Buy Links

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About the Author:

Gemma's favorite desk accessories for many years were a circular wooden token, better known as a 'round tuit,' and a slip of paper from a fortune cookie proclaiming her a lover of words; some day she'd write a book. All it took was a transfer to the United Kingdom, the lovely English springtime, and a huge dose of homesickness to write her first novel. Once it was completed and sent off with a kiss, even the rejections addressed to 'Dear Author' were gratifying.

After returning to America, she spent a number of years as a copywriter, dedicating her skills to making insurance and the agents who sell them sound sexy. Eventually, her full-time job as a writer interfered with her desire to be a writer full-time and she left the world of financial products behind to pursue an avocation as a romance author.

Social Media Links:

www.Gemmabrocato.com

https://www.facebook.com/gemma.brocato

https://twitter.com/GemmaBrocato

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7229886.Gemma_Brocato

http://www.wattpad.com/user/GemmaBrocato

https://plus.google.com/+GemmaBrocato/posts

Also By Gemma Brocato:

Cooking Up Love

Hearts In Harmony

Blood Gate - Meet the Characters - Parker!

I was tagged for this meme by the talented and wonderful Sonya Clark. I’m a little late posting this, but shh, we won’t tell! 

I’ve just this month released the second novel in The Circle series. These novels are very close to my heart and my vampires are like family by this point after years and years of writing and obsessing over them.

Today I’d like to introduce you to one of the two heroes of the book – Parker. Although Greek God gorgeous, he’s certainly not perfect. He’s conflicted, sarcastic, and has emotionally walled himself away from all of his Circle mates – especially his apprentice, Claire.

While it deals with other darker themes, tearing down Parker’s wall is one of the main plots.

      1) What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person?

Parker is vampire who is a master in the London Circle.  He was Turned approximately seventy years ago just after World War II. He was an American in London where he met the enigmatic and charismatic Master of London, Oliver, who Turned him.  Although Parker can’t see it, he’s always been a favorite of Oliver’s.

2) When and where is the story set?

Blood Gate is set in modern day England. It starts and finishes at a country estate called Edgewood which Oliver owns, but a good chunk of the story also takes place in London.

3) What should we know about him/her?

Parker’s outwardly a very confident, sarcastic guy who takes charge and holds no prisoners, but inside he’s not quite as sardonically amused as he would like everyone to think.

He’s also intensely loyal and honorable. He would give up his life for his apprentice, and the worst thing that ever happened to him was the death of his first apprentice by sunlight. He’s never gotten over the fact he let her down, and it has colored everything he’s done in the forty years since she died.

4) What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?

Parker had successfully alienated the entire Circle, including convincing Oliver to take Claire away and give her to his arch rival, Andre.  The story starts with him preparing to commit suicide by sunlight. Only Claire is Enhanced and can read minds, so she foils his plans when she overhears his thoughts.  She is given back to him as his apprentice in a sort of last ditch effort to save him. He, Claire, her Trigger (the vampire who has a connection with Claire and guides her psychic powers) are sent to Edgewood to work out their differences.  The only problems are Claire’s Trigger is, Andre, and once at Edgewood Claire and Andre enter into a dark game of bondage gone wrong that Parker has to somehow try to fix.

5) What is the personal goal of the character?

To make sure Claire is safe.

6) Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

The title, Blood Gate, refers to the transition point between life on the London/real world side of the Circle, and what happens after vampiric death.  The book is out and you can find it:

Amazon

Loose-Id

B&N

Kobo

Nerine Dorman and the Guardian's Wyrd

Today I have author Nerine Dorman visiting.  She's got a new book out called The Guardian's Wyrd and I've asked her a few questions about it.  You know you want to read this! And then go buy the book!

Ready, set, go!

Me: Most YA features a female protagonist, yet you went with a male? Why?

Nerine: I know it might come off a bit weird, but I feel more comfortable writing male characters. When I was a kid, I always got on better with guys, and this seems to have carried through to my adult years. I don’t really think of myself in female terms, and some of my closest friends are all male, and the women I get on with tend to be similar in outlook. I don’t like stereotypically “girlish” things. I was the girl who fell out of trees, went fishing, rode bikes and played in bands. Not much has changed, except perhaps that I don’t own a bike anymore.

From time to time I will write female characters, when the story calls for it, but a female lead wouldn’t have felt right for the context for The Guardian’s Wyrd, because I was looking to play up the idea of a bromance, and also my feeling that there’s a plethora of wonderful YA stories out there with strong female characters. I wanted to play with the boys for a bit.

Me: You write in several different genres and excel in them all. Why do you write YA and where does it rank against the other genres you publish in as far as personal preference?

Nerine: I don’t really distinguish between whether a book is YA or adult. It’s merely the age of the protagonists that differs, and even that is subject to whim. What is right for the story I want to tell? When I was a kid, loads of the fantasy books (for adults) that I read, had protagonists that started out young, and I followed their progress as they learned to swing swords and slay dragons. Reading is a lot about escapism. What would you do if you could have your life over again? To a degree, that’s exactly what we do when we read certain books – to have those experiences that are impossible for us to have in real life.

Me: Do the characters' names in The Guardian's Wyrd have any special significance?

Nerine: I agonise over naming my characters. Jay is kinda named after a friend of mine, and his surname actually comes from my next-door-neighbour in Hout Bay. Yes, here in South Africa, some folks’ surnames match the months of the year. It’s explained in the story. It’s very much a South African thing, I suspect. I really just liked Rowan’s name. It kinda stuck. If anything, I allow my imagination free rein when names pop up.

Me: I know you are South African, but is that the only reason you set this novel in South Africa?

Nerine: Technically only *half* the novel’s set in South Africa [laughs]. My main motivator was that I wanted to write a story about where I grew up, and that was Hout Bay, which is situated on the Atlantic seaboard on the Cape Peninsula. It used to be a charming fishing village when I was a wee sprog. No one much wanted to live there, as it was very isolated. Then in the 1990s all the yuppies moved in, and housing developments went up, so the entire demographic shifted, especially when a township sprang up after the old Group Areas Act was scrapped.

Me: What does "Wyrd" in the title mean?

Nerine: Not “weird”! [laughs] I look at the older meaning in use by the old European concept of wyrd, which roughly translates as “fate” or that which must “come to pass”. It’s about honour and destiny, and very much ties up to Jay’s journey as he uncovers his path.

Me: Who did the cover art and why did you chose that particular image to represent the novel?

Nerine: I didn’t have much choice in the cover art for the ebook version, but I would like to share a little bit about the cover art of the print version, which will be released soon. This is a bit of a teaser, but I did get to work with my favourite illustrator extraordinaire, Daniël Hugo, who totally captured the essence of the key characters in his deft hand. The ebook artwork, chosen by Wordsmack, who brought out that edition, I feel, is more conceptual, and no less striking. Very different from how I would have envisioned, but I’m nonetheless pleased with the effect as it is very eye-catching.

Follow Nerine on Twitter and sign up for her newsletter Add The Guardian's Wyrd to your Goodreads list and purchase at Amazon or Kobo

What Am I Up To Right Now?

I've been tagged for a What Are You Working On meme by my friend and fellow author, Sonya Clark.  It’s been ages since I updated my blog, so here it goes.  

What am I working on?

Just this week I submitted the sequel to Blood Gift from my vampire series, The Circle, to my Loose Id editor.  The novel is called Blood Gate and features the London Circle of vampires as seen through the eyes of my protagonist, Claire. This one was a roller coaster to write because in addition to being an erotica/bondage novel, I decided to explore it through the lens of possession.  Not owning something, but being possessed by something (or someone) and the fall out that occurs. I’m anxiously awaiting my editor’s reaction, but if all goes well the book should come out this summer.

I’m editing the seventh Wolf Within novel from my shifter series.  This is like coming home again after a long vacation with vampires. I haven’t been in my protagonist, Stanzie’s, world in quite some time. The series is taking an exciting shift because it’s no longer with Lyrical Press. Instead I've taken it to author-run Dark Continents where I have more creative and artistic control over which direction to take the series.  Instead of straddling the paranormal romance/urban fantasy line, it’s going to go to straight ahead urban fantasy. Stanzie is giddy with joy over this because now she can go on adventures for Councilor Jason Allerton without having to be caught up in a love story of her own. She and Murphy are solid and strong as a couple these days. Of course, she’ll likely be instrumental in helping other lovers out, but that can happen organically now instead of being forced into the story.

Here’s the scariest thing I’m doing right now. I am about to plunge into my first contemporary romance sans any sort of paranormal spin. This is challenging to me because I’m a cynic as far as love is concerned. I don’t believe in love at first sight, and I’m pretty sure that love lasts at most seven years before people get bored and move on unless they care enough to really work at reconnecting.  In my experience, there’s more of the former and none of the latter, so working on this sort of novel will make me confront a lot of my issues.  

What good is writing if it doesn't shake you up a little, right? And no matter the fact there will be no paranormal creatures in this one, my readers can rest assured they will not be replaced by cardboard characters labeled Hero, Heroine, Bitchy Ex Girlfriend, Smart Ass Sidekick.  Instead, I am going to take a grieving young woman who misses her grandmother on a trip to Ireland to explore her roots where she’ll meet a gorgeous young Irishman trying desperately to save the pub his family has run for generations.

Side project number 1 is a lesbian sci-fi erotic romance set on a planet based on ancient Greece. This is my friend Kimberly Murphy’s brainchild, and she’s asked me to write the priestess character. We’re going to explore gender roles and techno-magical gizmos that grant wishes, and I’m super excited about this.

Side project number 2 started off as a zombie apocalypse story and has since morphed into a more Old Ones Lovecraftian modern horror tale. Do not even ask how we got here from there because I can’t tell you. It just involved lots of strange angles and Skype conversations.  I’m collaborating with Nerine Dorman, the woman who shoved me screaming from writing on my blog to writing for publication.  She’s edited the Wolf Within novels in the past and is editing them again and I’m pretty damned excited to be working on a story with her. 

These writing endeavors should keep me busy for the next several months, shouldn't they?

2.  How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Let’s take this by series.

My vampire novels, The Circle, differ in that my vampires are more human than supernatural creature.  They live in a sort of closed vacuum without much connection to the human/mortal world save for doing business and for sucking blood once a week.  They are far more interested in each other and in what to do with their immortality than scaring humans or seducing them or even much noticing them.  It’s erotica so there’s plenty of sex, but it’s with each other. 

I’m not much good at coloring within the genre lines, so I know that this series straddles erotica and paranormal urban fantasy, so it differs there too. It’s told from first person POV, so you only ever get to see the world through Claire’s eyes, and she’s sometimes not the most reliable narrator and sees what she wants to instead of what’s really there.

The Wolf Within series – wow. Does it have a genre?  I know I said I was making it urban fantasy going forward, but I’m seven books in now, and I haven’t had a real genre since the beginning.  I think the first book was the most paranormal romance than any of the others, but even then I didn't end it with Stanzie and Murphy living happily ever after. They weren't even in love yet! 

This series is the story of one woman coming back from losing everything. It’s also the story of the Pack and the crossroads the species is coming to.  As of now mankind has no idea there are shifters among them, but many members of the Pack want to change that. Just as many want to keep the status quo.  Who will win?  Jeez, I don’t know myself and I just write the books!

Where I bend the rules in the Circle series, I shatter them in the Wolf Within.  Paranormal romance should have a different couple each book and center around their romance/drama. But I have Stanzie and Murphy.  Their courtship bounced up and down over the course of the first five books. Book four even sees them separated.  So there’s that. 

 Even when I tried to shift to urban fantasy, I still had their romance center stage.  I pretty much ignored the rules because I didn't know the rules.  I started out writing what I wanted to read and never cared about things like genre rules. I've since tried to be more mindful, but the Wolf Within will most likely always be an unruly child who balks at rules.  So be it.

3.  Why do I write what I do?

Hope laced with lots of cynicism. Okay, that’s part of it. I write the worlds I wish existed so I could live in them. I manifest my fantasies and make them breathe. I write because I have to.  At first I wrote only what pleased me and then wondered why I wasn't more of a commercial success.

These days I am trying to write with an eye towards commercial success because I desperately want to make a living writing. I don’t want to work in Corporate America much longer. So I will gladly write the things that people want to read.  However, I won’t ever write something I don’t want to read.  I will try my hardest to work within the guidelines of the genre and promote and market my heart out for my stories because I believe in them.

I want to balance commercial success with artistic joy. Some say this can’t be done, but I’m going to make it work.

4. How does my writing process work?

My writing process is an ever-evolving thing.  At the moment I get my ass out of bed at the ungodly hour of 5:30 a.m. and sit myself in front of my computer with a cup of tea.  I write for at least an hour and a half.  This allows me to finish a 200 plus page novel in two and a half to three months.  I do this every weekday. I hate mornings. I am a grouch.  But funny thing, now I mostly can’t wait to get out of bed so I can visit my latest world and my characters.

I’m about to start juggling three writing projects at the same time.  This is terrifying for me. I get so wrapped up in one world; I am wondering if I can switch between them.  Can I juggle more than one set of characters at a time?  I guess I’ll find out.


Here’s the part where I’m supposed to tap two people to continue this. So I’m tapping Nerine Dorman and Alyssa Breck.  You two can kill..I mean thank me later!