Author of the suspenseful, paranormal romances in my Stranger Creatures series. Also writing poetry, science fiction, and fiction. Sharing info about new book releases by different authors, poems, contests, and more
As the population expands, forests and waterways are torn apart mercilessly to make way for subdivision after subdivision, and for businesses that sell the pointless things we’ve been told to want and need. Meanwhile, the creatures that count on the streams and the trees to live and breathe are pushed back and bulldozed over because real estate developers have been taught that they don’t have to care about anything green except the money that patches the holes of their ever-depleting souls.
Erotic contemporary menage romance Anything You Want by Tina Donahue is now available!
A note from Tina Donahue:
Do you like chocolate? If you do – frankly, I’m an unrepentant chocoholic – then you’ll enjoy my newest release Anything You Want. When my editor at Extasy said they were looking for chocolate-related (and other treat-related) romances, I knew Anything You Want was perfect for them… and anyone else who enjoys two smokin-hot billionaires, a sweet yet feisty heroine, luscious chocolate, a decadent resort, and romance that can’t be stopped.
So sit back, relax, and enjoy this sneak peek… preferably with a box of chocolates nearby. 😊
Blurb:
At a hedonistic resort, her indecent cravings are about to be sated…
With the big three-o only days away, Jamie’s had it with dieting, exercise, and being alone. Off she goes to Wicked Desires, a decadent Caribbean resort where clothing is optional, carnal appetites rule, and food, especially chocolate, is celebrated. If only she had a guy to indulge with…
How about two? Billionaires Creed and Tav are checking out ideas for their new video game. The play features a resort where anything goes and an unlikely heroine as the star. Jamie’s luscious curves and sweet vulnerability make her the perfect type to base their game on. Since she’s also in IT—having put her dream to create candy on hold—she understands their lingo.
Hell, their desires are perfectly in tune with hers, whether it’s food play during meals, punishment in the discipline room, or a romantic evening on the beach.
When it comes to sweet delights and these two hunks…who says she can’t have anything she wants?
EXCERPT:
Pretending she was in full control of her lust, Jamie slipped her fingers across Tav’s palm. God. The heat and texture of his skin was as wonderful as Creed’s, his handshake also meant to embrace, not bruise.
Damn, did she want them to do her.
Both looked at her expectantly.
Why? “What?”
Creed’s smile turned mischievous, even a little tender. “What’s your name?”
“You didn’t tell us,” Tav said.
Right. “Jamie Parker. Nice to meet you. This place is something, isn’t it?”
“Hey there!” A redhead appeared at their side, wiggling her fingers in greeting. “I’m Francine. This is Karen.” She gestured to the brunette next to her then spoke to Tav and Creed. “We need two more for our nude volleyball game. You guys wanna join?”
Tav released Jamie’s hand.
Her spirits nosedived.
She waited for him and Creed to take off, leaving her to start the mingling process again. Sadly, they weren’t hers to keep. Both could go wherever they wanted. If she were a masochist, she could even tag along, like the fifth wheel, and cheer them on while they were play—
“Thanks, but no,” Creed said. “I’m busy.”
Tav nodded. “Same here.”
“No prob.” Francine offered a thousand-watt smile. “We’ll catch you guys later.”
Jamie struggled not to pump her fists, thrilled at how this moment turned out, except she didn’t understand any of it.
They’d actually turned those babes down. Why? And what were they busy with? Her? Seriously?
She hated being so uncertain of herself, but hell, having lived with nothing but rejection from the opposite sex didn’t make one bubble over with confidence. “Do you guys work here?”
Surprise flashed on their faces.
Tav spoke first. “No. What made you think we did?”
Not about to point out the obvious—that they’d focused on her to the exclusion of the other women—she shrugged. “You didn’t want to join the game. Might be fun rather than standing around here.”
Creed tapped his chest. “You don’t seem to mind.”
Already he read her too well. She forced herself to look at his face rather than his pecs. “I’m not into sports.”
“How about this place?” Tav grew serious. “Having a good time?”
She might if she hit it off with them. So far, things looked promising. “I have no complaints…but I only got here an hour ago. You guys?”
“We arrived yesterday,” Creed said.
Tav chimed in, “To look around.”
Yet they were still in the get-acquainted section rather than frolicking like Adam with countless Eves? Didn’t make sense.
However, the cryptic way they’d answered reminded her of the guys she worked with in IT. She always had to frame her questions carefully to get more than a two-word response from them.
“Look around for what?” She gestured to the room in general. “The facilities? Didn’t you plan your itineraries before arriving? The details are online, or you could have video conferenced or Skyped with the Wizard of Wishes.”
Creed scratched his cheek and fought a smile. “God, that name’s so dumb.”
She laughed. “Incredibly so. What packages did you sign up for?” She was betting on sex and all the kinky stuff the resort encouraged.
“We didn’t.” Tav frowned slightly. “We’re here to work.”
She took them in. Hell, she drank in every part of them, including the thick ridges between their legs.
Call her crazy, but those bulges seemed to have grown a little bigger and harder since they’d been speaking with her. “Work at what?”
Tav spoke first. “A project.”
“It was missing an element,” Creed said. “We just couldn’t get it right.”
Tina’s an Amazon and international bestselling novelist who writes passionate romance for every taste – ‘heat with heart’ – for traditional publishers and indie. Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly,Romantic Times and numerous online sites have praised her work. She’s won Readers’ Choice Awards, was named a finalist in the EPIC competition, received a Book of the Year award, The Golden Nib Award, awards of merit in the RWA Holt Medallion competitions, and second place in the NEC RWA contests. She’s featured in the Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market. Before penning romances, she worked at a major Hollywood production company in Story Direction.
On a less serious note: she’s an admitted and unrepentant chocoholic, brakes for Mexican restaurants, and has been known to moan like Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally while wolfing down tostadas. She’s flown a single-engine airplane (freaking scary), rewired an old house using an ‘electricity for dummies’ book, and is horribly shy despite the hot romances she writes.
Coyote’s Vow (Stranger Creatures book 4) is now available! Each story in my Stranger Creatures series features a different couple as they fight for their happily ever after. Coyote’s Vow is Trevor and Kylie’s story.
Kylie was the victim of a brutal experiment that gave her telekinetic abilities. Coyote shifter Trevor doesn’t trust the psy but when his feelings for Kylie grow out of control, will he risk everything to be with her? When a deranged doctor has disturbing plans for shifters and psy, Trevor and Kylie must stop him, or they will be silenced forever.
Excerpt:
Who is she? Trevor tried not to stare at the woman sitting across from Shifters United President Matt Blackwell but damn, she was beautiful. Her long, black hair had a purple, glossy tint. Intricate tattoos wound around her arms and lower legs. He wanted to run his fingers along the ink lines of every single tattoo. Her skin looked so smooth and touchable. Bitable too. Nope. Not appropriate. Not at all. He forced his descending coyote fangs to recede.
Blackwell didn’t introduce Trevor to the mystery woman, though, and that sent his curiosity into caution mode. The purple-haired beauty gave him a wary look before glancing back down at the computer tablet in her hand. Right. Business. Trevor had obviously interrupted a meeting. He’d stopped by Matt Blackwell’s hotel room to drop off a folder full of intel and surveillance photos. He needed to find an excuse to stay and talk to the woman with lovely dark brown eyes.
“Thanks for taking care of the research,” Blackwell gave him a nod. “Set the info on my desk and I’ll take a look before the meeting tonight.”
Trevor walked past the mystery woman and set the folder full of information on the small desk beside the coffee table. He stole another, longer glance at the woman. Her nails were painted indigo blue. His favorite color. The tattoos winding around her arms seemed to be in motion, encircling her in their safety. Weird trick of the light. Had to be. He rubbed his eyes. Blinked. The tattoos went still. The woman smelled amazing, like wildflowers after the rain, but she didn’t smell like a shifter. Didn’t mean she wasn’t one.
Scent blockers made it easy for shifters to mask their unique scent, to a degree. The blockers also did a fairly good job at hiding other smells shifters could detect, like fear, desire, and rage. Even so, Trevor could almost always detect hints of the slightly rancid, faint garbage aroma of the blockers, no matter what brand or what home recipe a person used. Coyote shifters could pick up on smells most other shifters couldn’t.
What is the woman with the willowy tattoos? Was she a threat to Blackwell? Maybe a rabbit shifter? Rabbit shifters were the only animal shifters who carried no animal scent, but their eyes…. Not a specific color, just a look. Plus, they usually liked to flash their double rows of horrifying sharp teeth upon meeting other shifters. Just for a flex. The rabbits could be mean when bothered unnecessarily, but mostly, they were pretty decent. The woman caught him looking again and gave him a little half smile. Her pretty eyes with long, thick lashes were definitely not the strange eyes of a rabbit shifter.
“I’ll see you later, Trevor.” Blackwell gave him a pointed stare.
“You’re alright here?”
“I’m fine. I have Nathan,” Blackwell gestured to his giant assistant and body guard who was seated in a chair in the kitchenette, reading a book.
No code phrases were used, and Trevor didn’t detect any signs of distress from the mountain lion shifter or his bear shifter assistant. Trevor nodded. Apparently, Blackwell had no intention of introducing him to the woman sitting with him. Nathan, grinned at Trevor, like he knew something. Fine, Nathan could keep his secret. But Trevor would get information, one way or another.
A little about the first three books in my Stranger Creatures series:
Each story features imperfect but determined characters who find the courage to love and the strength to survive in a world where there are no guarantees.
Wolf’s Challenge (Stranger Creatures book 1)
When temptingly handsome, powerful shape shifter Derrick dares shy, single mom Sydney to take a chance with him, will she rise to the challenge or will she run for safety, leaving him in the dust?
Bear’s Edge (book 2)
A boss can’t date her employee—simple as that. No matter how much Shayla wants to unravel a few of Grant’s mysteries and take her friendship with the shy, sarcastic man to the next level, she’s determined to keep her fantasies of him to herself.
After bear shifter Grant lost his girlfriend and three best friends in a fire, he did his best to shut himself off from everyone around him. Falling for Shayla wasn’t part of his plan, but after a kiss that leaves them both speechless and hungry for more, Grant can’t keep his desire for his boss under wraps any longer.
When things between the two of them get hotter than he could have imagined, Grant wonders if some of his darker desires will be too much for Shayla or will she embrace the needs he’s kept hidden for so long?
An obnoxious reporter and Shayla’s bitter ex have teamed up to chase down conspiracy theories that could destroy Shayla’s business and worse, put her life in danger. To find their happily ever after, Shayla and Grant will have to trust in each other and find a way to crush all the obstacles standing in their way.
Tiger’s Last Chance (book 3)
While working a case, Sean Whitman is tortured for information, drugged, and bitten against his will by a shape shifter. The fallout ruins his career. Needing a fresh start, he leaves town and opens a private investigation business. Learning to live life sober isn’t easy, but he makes it to the two-year mark.
When Detective Nikki Jackson with the Great Oaks, Virginia Police Department calls him to ask for his help as a consultant on a case, he’s captivated by her sweet, slightly Southern voice. In person, she’s unlike any other woman he’s encountered, and nearly impossible to resist. But could the sexy detective ever want a man like him?
After Nikki’s last dating disaster, the mountain lion shifter has sworn off men. Then she meets Sean, and with every second she spends around the tall, dark-eyed man, her resolve crumbles. Despite the undeniable attraction between them, Sean seems determined to push her away.
An investigation into missing refugees leads Nikki to the discovery of a radical political group’s horrifying plot for dominance. Traitors are embedded within the very organizations meant to keep shifters safe. As the list of people she can trust dwindles, she calls on Sean to help her unravel a web of deceit.
As Nikki and Sean fight for survival, his fear of losing her could become a reality. Will he get one last chance to show her he loves her?
You can visit my amazon author page for buy links and to learn more about the books in my Stranger Creatures series. (also available at other e-book sellers).
Advertisers selling specialized wrinkle creams definitely have a message about aging. They want us to fear it. They use words and images designed to make women feel we should hide ourselves from view unless we’re willing to spend a ton of money on products that give hope for unnecessary results. Those messages are bullshit.
We are all meant to grow and change. We are meant to share our knowledge and experience with those around us. We are meant to speak up and be heard and be comfortable in our skin because no matter what those glossy magazine spreads or greedy corporations and politicians want us to believe, women are phenomenal and valuable, regardless of whether we meet the current manufactured beauty standard.
The older we get, the louder we should shout our message because every trip we make around the sun is another year of insight.
Last month, I got the dreaded co vid which I originally thought was just the flu, and have been feeling pretty rough. My mind is kind of foggy and thinking hurts a bit so I haven’t done any fiction writing but I have been able to write a few poems. Poetry is easier on my brain right now because I can think on the image or feeling I want to describe for a few minutes and come back to it later.
The weather has been not so horrible during the later part of winter and I had planned to start running again. I hate treadmills and refuse to run on one. I don’t really know why. The treadmill just feels like my feet are pounding on jelly and I’m in a hamster wheel but running outside in the fresh air amongst the trees, past the lake, on the pavement, is so much better. This past month, I haven’t run at all. I barely have energy to take the dog for a walk.
Life definitely throws wrenches into our plans. Really, feeling a bit terrible is not the worst thing on earth. Thinking of all the things I could be doing instead of being stuck on the sofa too tired to do anything but too uncomfortable to sleep felt like the biggest waste of time. But why does every moment have to be productive?
Maybe my brain, though it feels foggy right now, is resting and quietly processing some thoughts and ideas that will be ready for me soon, when I’m feeling back to good. Either way, my pets have enjoyed the past month of my stillness. Yuki, my giant Great Pyrenees, has rarely left my side and my two cats, Gerald and Lu, have taken turns sitting on my lap. Hopefully, I will be running in the sunshine in another week or two, but for now, I will sit with the pets and write some more poetry, and also watch Lord of the Rings again and eat ice cream.
Not Ghosts, But Spirits (volume 1) is now available! This anthology features poetry, art, and other work from people in the women’s, queer, trans, and/or non-binary communities.
I’m so excited to have three poems in this beautiful, amazing anthology- Procrastination, I Can’t Contain, and The Night Below.
Warm up this winter season with erotic holiday romance Once Upon a Blizzard: A Bisexual Holiday Romance by Lisabet Sarai
Blurb
No electricity. No water. Plenty of heat. Suzanne and Gino have a history going back to high school. A mistletoe kiss at a Christmas party rekindles the old spark. When Gino rescues her from a blizzard, though, Suzanne learns she’s not the only love in his life. Gino shares his home and his bed with taciturn painter Harry Steele. Is there really a chance for a holiday happy ending?
Excerpt:
The kiss caught her off guard.
One moment Suzanne was standing in the doorway to Helena’s den, scanning the occupants and wondering if she knew anyone at all at this party. The next moment someone twirled her around and fastened a pair of firm lips on hers. Out of instinct or habit, she closed her eyes. The darkness heightened her other senses. Powerful arms circled her body and pulled her against a fuzzy male chest. Her partner’s scent rose around her, a complex mix of soap and musk, evergreen and wood smoke. His tongue teased the seam where her lips met and she let him enter, her self-protective reflexes dulled by his warmth and the glass of merlot she’d downed on her arrival.
His mouth tasted of eggnog and candy canes, appropriately seasonal. He was delicious, in fact—not just his mouth but the quiet confidence of his probing tongue, the sculpted muscle she felt under his sweater, his bold hands wandering across her back to her buttocks. She hadn’t enjoyed a kiss like this in a long time.
She’d felt chilled and tense ever since her plane touched down in frigid Boston but now her muscles began to unknot. He was a miniature sun, melting her, turning her languid and dreamy. She clutched at his solid form and returned his kiss, trading heat for heat. Tropical colors paraded behind her eyelids—fuschia, lime, peach, and aqua—shimmering like the water in her pool back home. She even began to perspire, her long-sleeved velvet dress suddenly too warm for comfort.
He pulled her full hips against his lean ones. A tell-tale lump, wonderfully hard, pressed against her belly. Her panties and tights dampened, too.
Normally she would have resisted but stress and alcohol made her susceptible. She allowed the kiss to lengthen and deepen, sinking into the pure pleasure of it.
A smattering of applause brought her back to awareness. “Whoa there!” hooted one of the guests. “You two want some privacy?”
Suzanne broke away from the man who had ambushed her. “Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” Embarrassment added a sharp edge to her voice.
The dark haired man favored her with a grin. “Mistletoe,” he said, pointing upward. Sure enough, a cluster of green leaves and pale berries dangled from the door frame. He could scarcely contain his laughter.
That laugh. That voice. Something tickled Suzanne’s memory. “Gino!” she exclaimed, finally, chuckling herself. “I can’t believe it! Still acting like we’re in high school.”
“I couldn’t resist, Suzy Q.” The old nickname made her blush. He hadn’t relinquished her hand. “In fact, if you don’t move, I’m very likely to kiss you again.”
Lisabet Sarai became addicted to words at an early age. She began reading when she was four. She wrote her first story at five years old and her first poem at seven. Since then, she has written plays, tutorials, scholarly articles, marketing brochures, software specifications, self-help books, press releases, a five-hundred page dissertation, and lots of erotica and erotic romance – over one hundred titles, and counting, in nearly every sub-genre—paranormal, scifi, ménage, BDSM, GLBT, and more. Regardless of the genre, every one of her stories illustrates her motto: Imagination is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
Paranormal romance novel KISA – Shield-Mates of Dar book 2 is now available!
In a war between humans and shifters, sparks, and fur fly…Until scales appear.
Princess Kisa, the middle daughter in the shifter nation of Dar, is often overlooked and underestimated. Always the devoted caregiver of family and country, she’s come to terms with her future as a Shield-Mate in a political marriage. Many, including Kisa, are surprised when her father names her as heir to his throne.
Kalman, once a privileged son of the former protectorate Sorota, is an outcast and a man without a future. The people of Ruinae consider him a weak, self-indulgent man. Only his trusted servant knows the heart of the soldier beneath the veneer.
Forces are gathering against the two countries, and now dragons, long banished to the outland, have returned. Kisa and Kalman are charged by King Dar to find out how entrenched the dragons are with the enemy. Since a long-ago meeting, Kalman never forgot the spitfire Lynx-shifter. He’s no longer the boy she’d met, but a man. One determined to have her despite their differences. But Kisa can’t fall in love with the enemy. Can she? Would her people accept not only the son of Sorota but one whom her family also seeks retribution?
“How may I serve you, Father?” Kisa glanced around. “It’s been long years since I’ve been in here.”
This was his personal lair. Darkly masculine with shelves filled with books. Maps lined the walls and a side table with a miniature replica of the kingdom and surrounding areas. It was where he could find peace from all the demands of running the empire. Though no respite from the ghosts who haunted him.
Amaya’s portrait stared down at him with accusation I left my daughters in your care. You’ve disappointed me, Shield-Mate.
“We have much to discuss.” He turned from the portrait, his chest tight with pain as he walked behind his writing table and lifted the stack of papers he’d collected. “These are all Shield-Mate offers for you.”
She stared first at them and then him. Barely a whisper squeezed out, “So many?”
“Is it love and Shield-Mate you want?” He asked with a penetrating look. “What is your greatest desire, daughter?”
Kisa’s mouth opened and closed as she stared at him. He had never asked her about her dreams. Shouldn’t a father know his child? “Well, what is it?”
“What do you mean?” She tugged at her earlobe as she’d done since she was a babe.
“If I throw this pile of papers into the fire —” he grasped the stack into his large hand and pointed to the hearth with them, “—will it disappoint you? Or give you relief?”
She blinked at him. “I don’t know what you are asking me.”
“It’s simple––disappointment?” He shook the papers. “Or relief.”
Kisa whispered, “Relief.”
Dar threw the communiqués into the fire, where they flamed and sparked. Neither spoke while the letters—some paper, some parchment—curled at the edges, turning brown, then black, then nothing but ash.
When the last cinders drifted away, his daughter sobbed, and he thought he would too. “Someone must rule when I’m gone.”
“What?” Her voice cracked. “I always thought you intended to bind Lansdowne and Dar into one kingdom, and Orsolo and her Shield-Mate would co-rule.”
“Orsolo is shrewd and intelligent but frivolous. Before her Shield-Mating, I informed your older sister that she would not be Queen here.” Dar folded his arms across his chest. “Before you ask, she was relieved.”
“I know as children of the Darrian royal house, there is no guarantee to ascend the throne.” Kisa hugged her arms around her waist. “Who did you decide it would be?”
Dar went to the matching high-backed chairs near his desk and, with a groan, sank into the cushions. “Come, sit. This will be a lengthy conversation.”
About the Author:
D. V. Stone is an award-winning, multi-genre, traditionally and independently published author. She writes books people want to read. Whether romance or fantasy, contemporary or mid-grade, her stories are about the importance of friends and family. About overcoming obstacles while often with humor.
Around the Fire is a popular weekly blog where she introduces both established and new authors giving an insider’s look into their lives and books as well as tidbits about her own life.
Now retired, she is a full-time author and incorporates her life experiences into her books.
A former Emergency Medical Technician, she volunteered in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania. At the same time, she worked as a professional EMT in a women’s state prison. She was the proprietor of a coffee shop, and a small restaurant/ice cream stand in the years that followed. The years following were as a manager in an animal emergency hospital, while her last position was in a human medical office.
When not behind the wheel of 2Hoots—a 41-foot long 13.2 feet high 5th Wheel camper, she rambles around town in Northern New Jersey in a white Camaro. She also loves travel and history.
D.V. is a wife to an amazing husband, mother to one son, and not your average grandma to three beautiful grands. A woman of faith, she believes and trusts in God.
“My greatest pleasures are spending time outside with friends and family, cooking over the open fire, sipping a glass of wine, and reading.”
Hali, her rescue dog, always reminds her to let readers know, “Woof, woof.” Which is loosely translated as support your local animal rescue.”
You can learn more about D. V. by following her on social media.
