Book Tour and #Review: Alone No More by Terri Rochenski #giveaway

Genre:  Romance / Historical

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press

World Wide Release Date:  December 18, 2013

Happy Friday, everyone! Today I have the pleasure of being a stop on the Alone No More virtual blog tour! This is a book I really enjoyed. Please make sure you scroll all the way down to take part in the giveaway the author is offering.

Book Blurb:

Dismissed from her job as a scullery maid and cast aside by her lover, pregnant Cara Morland has no choice but to return to her father’s farm. While lies of widowhood keep her from disgrace, Cara is faced with a local landowner’s unwanted attentions. Without the social status to do much more than avoid the vile man, she loses hope of ever finding happiness. 

A friendship based on mutual loneliness blossoms between Cara and James Elliot, a young farm hand hired by her father. He offers his protection, and one shared kiss reveals his heart, but propriety and her feigned grieving period hinders what they both desire.

When Cara’s stalker learns the truth of her circumstances, he gives her an ultimatum—submit to his possession or he’ll ruin her second chance at love with James.

Excerpt:

Mr. Collins stood in the opened doorway.

I gasped, my hand flying to my throat. His smile drained the heat from my face and with a shudder, I backed against the wall.

“Cara.” He stalked forward, his lascivious examination traveling from my neck, to boots and back up again.

I wanted to ask what he wanted, but a choking noise escaped instead.

He stopped an arm’s length away. “Cara.”

Although somewhat handsome with his light hair and dark eyes, his voice filled me with disgust. My body trembled. Another step and the reek of onions brushed against me. I squeezed my eyes shut and turned my face into my shoulder.

Hot breath caressed my neck. “I’ve been longing for this moment. I’ve been mad with yearning the past year.”

Throat dry, I struggled to swallow.

Fingertips brushed down my cheek before cupping my chin.

Revulsion swamped me, threatening to bring up my breakfast.

“Someone else may have beaten me to your spoils, but I’m going to have you regardless. Just like I’ve always—”

Two footfalls moved across the barn floor and Mr. Collins’ hand was ripped from me.

Wind rushed. Grunts encouraged my eyelids to open.

Buy Links for Alone No More:

AMAZON 

The Wild Rose Press

Alone No More on Goodreads: 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18045849-alone-no-more?from_search=true

***Nona’s Review***

Cara, the young heroine of this short historical romance, is not the typical virgin one might expect in a story of this type. When the book opens, she’s already pregnant—and unmarried. Far from home and lonely, she fell in love with a married co-worker and foolishly believed his promises that someday they’d be together. Reality crashes in on her all too ruthlessly when her employers discover her situation. Poor Cara loses both her job and her lover and is packed off home in disgrace. Her dilemma gave the story an interesting twist and pulled me in.

The author gave a realistic view of the cheerless life of a scullery maid, with long hours of hard work and very little free time. It’s not hard to see why Cara would have fallen under the spell of a cad who offered her a little affection. The story also doesn't gloss over the dire predicament of an unwed mother in those times. If her parents don't take her back, all that's left for her is prostitution or the workhouse. 

Luckily, her parents agree to pretend she's a widow to save her and themselves from local gossip. Even so, Cara still must endure her father’s silent disappointment and her mother’s bitter wrath.

It's not all gloom, though. When farmhand James appears, he brings happiness and hope into her life. As they fall in love,  Cara's secret torments her. Will James still care for her if he learns she’s not a respectable widow, but an unwed mother-to-be? 

This is a touching story. I enjoyed the sweet romance between Cara and James. Mr. Collins, threatening Cara with his unwanted advances, was a truly despicable villain.

When Cara’s faced with the possibility of losing the only person who brings her happiness, it’s a heart-rending moment. Though she begins as a naïve young woman, as time goes on, Cara matures emotionally and begins making wiser choices. I enjoyed seeing her grow. Her hardships only make the happy ending sweeter (come on, you know there has to be a happy ending, it’s a romance!) 

Alone No More is a very satisfying choice for anyone who enjoys sweet historical romance.

Author's Bio:

Terri started writing stories in the 8th grade, when a little gnome whispered in her brain. Gundi’s Great Adventure never hit the best seller list, but it started a long love affair with storytelling.

Today she enjoys an escape to Middle Earth during the rare ‘me’ moments her three young children allow. When not playing toys, picking them back up, or kissing boo-boos, she can be found sprawled on the couch with a book or pencil in hand, and toothpicks propping her eyelids open.


Follow Terri at:

Website / Blog / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads

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Oh, I must. I really, really MUST!: A Rant from Rach

Hey bloggerverse. First, let me say Nona has been burning up the blog with excerpts from some great erotic romance novels on Santa's Naughty List for the Erotic Cravings blog hop! They've been hot, hot, HOT! And I hope you've enjoyed them as much as I have!


Now... on to my rant of the day...

Fellow Seton Hill Graduate and author friend, Tonya Burrows, posted a link to this article this morning, and as I read through it, all I could do was laugh.

The author of the article, Palash Ghosh, says, "After all, romance novels fall into the same sordid category as soft porn, violent comic books and anything written by Stephen King in the realm of literary "guilty pleasures."'

Oi! Where do I even begin to respond to that one, folks? Sordid, porn, guilty pleasures? YES PLEASE. I mean, sign me up, now. Are these supposed to be negative things, I ask you? In a world where women are finally (FINALLY) starting to own their sexuality, delve into the unknown, come into their own sexual identities, these are all good things. Now this article focuses mostly on historical romances, which I only read occasionally, but when I do, I LOVE them. I've noticed I really enjoy romances of all types, though I do tend to feel like something is missing if they're too saccharine sweet or all the naughty things are BCD. 

Ghosh goes on to say, "I know many... smart, attractive, successful, 'liberated,' modern females who nonetheless find some kind of deep satisfaction and vicarious thrill from delving into hyper-romantic, contrived and extremely unrealistic tales of handsome, manly heroes falling in love with virginal women, enduring a series of adventures, then inexorably ending in a happy resolution." 

Hmmm... let's inspect this. Smart, attractive, successful and liberated women can't enjoy a FANTASY of a handsome, manly hero?? Um, hello? Where is this rule written? And let's just compare the male fantasy portrayed in romance novels to the perfect blonde bombshells in those um... art films the average American Male fantasizes over. How is a man in romance novel any more "contrived and extremely unrealistic" than Pamela Anderson or Jenna Jameson? 

Let's move on to the article's statistics, courtesy of the Romance Writers of America: 

"*More than 9,000 romance titles were released in 2012, yielding sales of about $1.44 billion (more than triple the revenues generated by classic literary fiction), making it the biggest portion of the U.S. consumer market at 16.7 percent.

*Some 75 million people in the country read at least one romance novel in 2008, but most are long-time dedicated consumers of the genre." 

Hmm... then there's this little nugget, "I had thought that romance novels accounted for a very small fringe corner of the literary market." - If that's the case, then you must have been living under a rock, never been inside a store, read the NYTimes Bestseller List, or seen the headers on Amazon, Facebook, or any other type of website advertising romance novels. 

As you're here reading this erotic romance blog, you're an obvious fan and I need not continue on about all the ways in which the romance novel rocks, so I shall just say this... 

Women don't really have any desire to go back and live in a time when petticoats, corsets, and gloves were required at all times, when the only interests she was allowed to have were reading, painting, and childbearing, when she could not own land, earn money (except with her body), vote, have a say in her marriage or anything else as the article suggests ("Perhaps most women [even the ones who get lost in romance novels] do not want to go all the way back – but it is obvious, they are unhappy with how the world has turned out in the contemporary era.") 

It is simply this... 

Sometimes we (men and women alike) get disillusioned with our lives, get bored in the bedroom as well as the courtroom, and yearn for a fictional world on paper where we can live vicariously through words and characters who are bold enough to love with all their hearts, to fight with all their passions, and face all of the world's sometimes insurmountable obstacles to hold tight to the one they love. 

And so I ask you, readers, what the hell is wrong with that? 

~Rach

Nona’s on Santa’s Naughty List! #EroticCravings #giveaway

Hi all, and welcome to the Erotic Cravings “Making Santa’s Naughty List” Promotion! Good girls can make Santa’s “nice” list, but let’s face, it’s much more fun to be naughty! We eight naughty authors of Erotic Cravings are offering some nice presents for the holiday season. Stop by each day to read another Erotic Cravings author’s post, because each of us is offering a giveaway and there’s a grand prize of a $50 Amazon or B&N gift card for one lucky winner!

When it comes to being naughty, a little libation always helps J. One traditional Christmas drink my family always enjoyed is Gløgg or Glögg. (There seems to be variation of spelling and pronunciation. In our house we pronounced it glug.) This is a beverage made with wine, whiskey and spices and served warm.

Here's a recipe that's similar to one we’ve enjoyed:

1 bottle of port wine (my mom always used ruby port, but you might prefer something less sweet)

¼ - ½ bottle whiskey

1 cinnamon stick

A few whole cloves

2 – 3 tablespoons sugar (if desired)

1 cup dark raisins

½ cup blanched slivered almonds

Combine the wine, whiskey and spices in a pot and heat on the stove. Once it's hot, remove spices with a slotted spoon and add the raisins and almonds. Serve in small cups with a spoonful of raisins and nuts in each cup (a treat to eat once you've drunk the glogg).

This can be made in advance and stored in wine bottles. It should be reheated to serve.

Yum. Delicious, but it's some powerful stuff!

The “gift” I’m offering on this promotion is a digital copy of my FFM ménage romance His and Hers and Hers. It fits the holiday theme, as it takes place from late October to shortly after Christmas. There’s a naughty Christmas Eve scene where the two girls have a surprise planned for their guy. Some life-changing events also take place for the trio over the holiday.

Blurb:

Kyla Denster and Jordan Brougham are passionately in love. Kyla knows she's lucky to have a guy who uses all his tricks to keep her happy in and out of bed. Jordan knows he's lucky to have such a hot, adventurous girlfriend.

But neither of them knows that their best friend, Cassie DeSantis, wants them both. Cassie's painful past has taught her not to wear her heart on her sleeve.  She keeps quiet, afraid that revealing her feelings would mean losing the two people she cares for most.  Things change one night when an impulsive kiss leads to the three of them spending an incredibly hot night together.

When the couple wants more of Cassie, she leaps at the chance to be with them. But problems arise at her insistence that no one mention the L word and when Jordan and Kyla clash over how to deal with disapproving family.  Their triad relationship will only survive if they all stand together to prove that three is the perfect number—when all three are in love.

Excerpt:

     She heard Jordan’s low rumble and Ky’s giggle. Then Kyla’s voice came from the doorway. “Cassie.”

     Cassie’s mouth went dry. Kyla stood there wearing nothing but a tiny black thong and an impish grin. Her hard brown nipples pointed straight at Cassie and her generous breasts begged to be caressed and kissed. Cassie’s own nipples tightened in response.

     Kyla’s eyes flashed as though she knew exactly how turned on Cassie was. Her smile hitched a little higher. “Dessert is now being served. In the bedroom.”

     Cassie pushed back her chair and rose, her body tingling with anticipation. Kyla beckoned her with a crooked finger and Cassie followed her down the hall. When they reached the bedroom, Kyla stopped.

     “One thing. Entrance here requires special dress. Or undress, I should say.” She smiled. “Let me help.”

     Ky assisted as Cassie stepped out of her shoes, socks, and pants and peeled off her top. When she stood only in her bra and panties, Ky stepped in close. “I’ll undo your bra.” Her warm breath tickled Cassie’s neck, her bare breasts, and hard brown nipples teased Cassie’s skin as she wrapped her arms around Cass and unfastened her bra.

     “You can keep those on…” Ky traced her finger down the seam of Cassie’s pink bikini panties. “For now.”

     Cream drenched her pussy at the wicked promise in Kyla’s tease. Ky took her hand and drew her through the doorway. “Come on.”

     Jordan sat on the bed, in a pair of black briefs, already distended by his rising cock. Dark hair dusted his chest, and Cassie’s fingers itched to feel its texture, and the warm skin underneath. More than that, she wanted to caress the bulge that grew bigger the more she stared. His green eyes were bright, his expression dreamy. His smile, the smile she loved, still hitched up a little higher in one corner. “Hey, Cass. Ready for dessert?”

His and Hers and Hers is available from:
Loose Id    Amazon    All Romance ebooks   Barnes and Noble

For a chance to win my prize just leave a comment below. Don’t forget to include your email info so we can contact you if you're a winner! To enter for a chance at the GRAND PRIZE just follow the Rafflecopter below!

Have a wonderful day, everyone! Don't forget to stop here every day from December 9 – 16 for another post and another chance to win! I hope you have lots of fun Making Santa’s Naughty List!

Nona Raines

Hot Contemporary Romance
Edgy ~ Emotional ~ Erotic
www.nonaraines.com

Facebook, Twitter, Blog

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Dirt Rotten Scoundrel – Making the Naughty List #EroticCravings #giveaway

Hi every naughty boy and girl, welcome to the Erotic Cravings “Making Santa’s Naughty List.”

Living on the wild side is so much more fun that being “nice.” Tell me who wants to be that!

The eight naughty authors of Erotic Cravings are offering some nice presents for the holiday season. Stop by each day to read another Erotic Cravings author’s post, because each of us is offering a giveaway and there’s a grand prize of a $50 Amazon or B&N gift card for one lucky winner!

So let’s me tell you about my Dirt Rotten Scoundrel...He lies, cheats, and prowls through the night like a panther...wait he’s a shape shifter.  Now, he’s on a quest to win the ultimate prize...to live in paradise again.

All Jack Avery has to do to earn the queen's forgiveness is rescue her missing daughter from the human world. His sources reveal the Princess Noelani is being held by a powerful man who likes a good game of chance. So with twenty borrowed pieces of gold Jack enters the high-stakes game. Only the lady he encounters is no princess. This pretty Kitty makes him want to hear her purr.

Under a memory spell, Kitty recalls nothing before the governor bought her from her parents and offered her protection from those he claims would kill her kind. So what if, in order to control her, he forces Kitty to morph then deprives her of sexual release after transformation. But the crafty card player she is assigned to “entertain” reveals himself as a kindred spirit—a shape shifter—and unravels the lie she’s been forced to live.

Together Jack and Kitty risk it all, for the stakes are high and the prize is worth it...freedom, forgiveness, love.

Excerpt from Banished Scoundrel

The dark night didn’t bother Jack. He enjoyed the peaceful sound of an owl cooing and the cold crisp dirt under his paws. Fresh air filled his lungs, and he quickly recovered from his jaunt through the woods. Sloan had led him on a merry chase, but Jack gained the information he needed.

Still in his panther form, he followed Kitty’s scent. She hadn’t agreed to meet him, but her unique fragrance on the breeze had directed him to her path through the underbrush. The low shrubs helped provide plenty of cover from any wandering guest.

A snap from a twig sang through his sharpened awareness. He scanned the sandy shore of the lake. A sleek female panther stalked to the water’s edge and dipped her head to drink.

With her tail up and lying along her side, the rich scent of her sex filled his senses. He focused on the wide spread of her back legs. The pleasure of pumping his barbed cock deep into her lush pussy enraged his lust. Her scream of completion would echo through the night and alert the humans in the castle of their activities.

Kitty.

The panther turned and stared at the castle. Jack? What are you doing here?

He stepped out from his hiding place. The light from the night beast lit the area in an eerie glow. Unwilling to expose himself to danger, he tossed his head back at the structure glowing in the distance. Many of the bedroom windows faced the lake.

Why don’t we move to a more secure area? I don’t want anyone from Sloan’s party to see us. He turned.

No, Jack. Even though you’ve caught me in my panther form, I’m not following you into the underbrush. I’ve read that male cats have an insatiable hunger to mate. She shuffled her paws in the sand and strolled along the shoreline.

But wait! With a quick burst, he covered the ground between them. He closed his mouth around the hairs on the back of her neck and tugged.

She sighed and stopped. Jack, I’m not fucking you in this form. A quick twist of her head and she broke free of his grip. Now stop.

A deep purr rumbled from his chest. He couldn’t allow her to escape.

So I’m feeling a little naughty and decided to give away a digital copy of my book “Banished – Three Erotic Stories.” This includes all three stories of the Banished series.

Read the blurbs and excerpts for each book at http://www.anitaphilmar.com/banishedbookpg.html

Available at
www.amazon.com
www.smashwords.com
www.barnesandnoble.com

For a chance to win my prize, please leave a comment, including your email addy. For the GRAND PRIZE fill out the info in the Rafflecoper giveaway below.

Don't forget to stop here every day from December 9 – 16 for another post and another chance to win! I hope you have lots of fun Making Santa’s Naughty List!

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Have a wonderful holiday season and give everyone on your naughty list a kiss...after all they need a little something too.

Anita Philmar
www.anitaphilmar.com

Are You on the Naughty List? #EroticCravings #giveaway

Here are some things that might have gotten me on Santa’s Naughty List this year:

1.     Infected something with a fatal virus--my poor little computer will rest in peace. Obituary: Died in Feb. 2013 from…ahem…watching certain questionable videos and looking at erotic photography.]

2.     The Bulge Tour project—if you follow my blog http://hardworkingheroes.wordpress.com/2013/10/07/its-here-bulge-photo-tour/  you’ll find snapshots of unsuspecting men and their packages. I’ve taken a few really good ones, as well as been “caught” a number of times!

3.    Grabbing my children by the hair and forcing them to look at me when they’re committing the ultimate back-talk sin.

4.     Didn’t bother to pay the gas bill and instead purchased lingerie. Whattayathink? http://www.freepeople.com/fp-one-lurex-peplum-tube/?&productOptionIDs=d9856425-7d3f-4c99-96c3-e3d55d5b9e53

5.     Told the school I was not going to volunteer for the bake sale ever again because they always pair me with Lucas’s mom, who is the equivalent of a goldfish swimming back and forth in its bowl and getting excited about the same coral castle. Yeah, I said that.

Sometimes being bad feels really good! Make sure you do 5 naughty things this year AT LEAST. But always balance with kindness and good deeds. What have you done that’s earned you a spot on the Naughty List?

Read on for a naughty excerpt from my latest release STRANDED AND STRADDLED!

Description:

When a freak snowstorm strands Lacey at a crowded Oklahoma rest stop, she thinks things can’t possibly get worse. Until she bumps into Trace Allen. Bull rider, ex-boyfriend, and all-around bad boy, Trace plucks her off her feet and invites her into his warm travel trailer.

But Lacey has her misgivings. Trace is every bit as strong and virile as the bulls he rides--and just as volatile. But when she finds evidence that their bad breakup was a misunderstanding, she begins to question everything she thought she knew about him.

Could Trace’s temper and bad boy exterior hide a tender heart? And will Lacey end up stranded, or straddled by the hottest bad-boy cowboy the rodeo circuit has ever seen?

EXCERPT:

     “Fuck, I missed you.” He closed his fingers over her buds, twisting, stroking in perfect tempo to the pulse between her thighs. Juices slicked her folds. She smoothed her hand over the dips and swells of his chest, aware of his cock waving over her belly.
     As if he couldn’t wait another moment, he prostrated himself on her, mouth on her nipples. The rake of his teeth against her sensitive flesh drew quiet whimpers from her. When he slid a hand over her landing strip of curls to the slick heat of her, she threw her head back and lost herself in sensation.
     He glided a finger over her hard pearl, down over the soaking outer lips, and plunged into her core. She cried out, bucking against his touch. The heel of his hand ground into her clit, and oh, it had never been so intense, so good.

BUY STRANDED AND STRADDLED

ARE https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-strandedandstraddled-1343380-340.html

BN http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/stranded-and-straddled-em-petrova/1117365846?ean=2940148957331

Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Stranded-Straddled-Em-Petrova-ebook/dp/B00GKW4WQU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384132025&sr=8-1&keywords=stranded+and+straddled

Giveaway: promo runs from Dec 9-16. Every comment earns a chance to  receive a book of her choice from my backlist (Dec 9-16)! Use the Rafflecopter below for a chance at the grand prize giveaway, a $50 GC from Amazon or B&N. 

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@neselane is on Santa's Naughty List! #EroticCravings #giveaway

Making Santa’s Naughty List…ever wonder if your thoughts or actions have landed you on that infamous scroll?  If your answer is no, don’t get your tinsel in a tangle, here are a couple of fun ideas to have Santa contemplating a switch for you next year.

Okay, picture this.  You’re at the local coffee house kicked back enjoying your favorite latte or Frappuccino.  You scan the room and your breath catches at the extremely attractive person standing in line.  Close your eyes and picture that person in the throes of a climax.

You’ll be amazed at how your pulse will speed up and your breathing will deepen.  It’s just a fantasy folks, now take that feeling and use it. Endorphins make everything merry and bright :)

Later, you’re sitting at the computer scanning the internet.  The house is quiet and you’ve covered your inbox and other pertinent chores.  Force your mouse to the incognito setting and pull up a search box.  Type in the one sexual fantasy you’ve never had the nerve to share, with anyone. Your palms will sweat as you hover over the search button.  The bottom drops out of your stomach as you click…

Today’s world is all about instant gratification. I’m all for gratification, but take the time to treat yourself to a little fantasy every now and then.  Let the heat build and soon you’ll have more than visions of sugar plums dancing in your head as you sleep.  And remember…Santa is very jolly because he knows where all of the Naughty folks live – especially since he only comes once a year!

*Snort* I can’t believe I went there. Okay, yes I can.  Everyone please have a Happy and Very Naughty Christmas.

Nese Lane

Erotic Romance with a little bit of edge.

I almost forgot the most important part.  Prizes! For a chance to win a digital copy of Angel’s Addiction please leave a comment.  The grand prize is a $50.00 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card so follow the Rafflecopter for your chance to win!

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Smokin’ hot body, a voice that sends shivers down your spine, then top it off with an empathic ability to sense your every desire… Everyone has a rock star fantasy, right?  Take a peek at my new release Angel’s Addiction.

Lustful addiction to an empathic rock star leads to love and deadly games…

His angel...

Gabriella Blanchett can't seem to resist the addictive lure of another pleasure-filled night with the smoldering rock star. He'd be perfect except for the sudden and mysterious disappearances in the middle of the night. His ability to sense her every need, coupled with the secrets he harbors, leave her head spinning, her body humming, and her heart in jeopardy.

Her addiction...

Rock star Auro Moretti tours the world with a goal that's two-fold. He hopes his music is inspiring, but as an empath, he also heals tortured young souls in the audience with his gypsy gift. Protecting his family's secret and Romani heritage proves as difficult a task as keeping Gabriella in his bed.

She fills his soul with light...he feeds her craving for love...and a stalker threatens to destroy both.

Excerpt:

     I peered around the corner into the kitchenette area. Auro stood with his back to me, and I took a moment to appreciate the view. He’d drug on a pair of soft well-worn jeans. The fabric molded his ass in a way that had me drooling. He hadn’t bothered with a shirt, and muscles played across his back when he leaned forward and laid a single red rose on the room service tray.
     Preoccupied with his task, he quietly sang a tune I didn’t recognize. The sound of his voice had me wet in five seconds flat. I’m so easy.
     I slipped behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist. “Mmm, morning.” I slid the long silky strands of his hair over so I could kiss where my lips met his spine. The deep rumble of his chuckle tickled my cheek as I snuggled against his warmth. 
     “Try afternoon, cara, it is after three. I was just coming to bring you something to eat and find out your plans for this evening. I had hoped to wake you in a completely different manner, but this works almost as well.” 
     He turned in my arms, tightened his hold, and lowered his head to brush his lips across my mouth. And there it was…the euphoric feeling of his kiss. The fix I needed from my drug of choice—Auro. It hit my system with enough punch, my knees weakened. I steadied myself by grasping his shoulders, leaning my full weight against his tension-filled frame. 
     “Sorry to spoil your fun. How can I make it up to you?” I murmured against his lips. Heat flashed in his gaze, and I slowly lowered myself to my knees.

Want more?  You can find it here :)  http://amzn.com/B00FZ1O1HM
I would love to hear from you. Shoot me an e-mail at nese@neselane.com

or cruise over to my website http://neselane.com/

#Review & #Giveaway: Peter in Flight by Paul Michael Peters #LiteraryNook

Hello, everyone! Today I'm a stop on the blog tour for Peter in Flight by Paul Michael Peters. There's also a review and giveaway below. To participate in the giveaway, please use the Rafflecopter at the end of the post! 

Synopsis:

Peter can tell you how to run a great marketing campaign. He can tell you everything there is to know about successful trade show programs. He can tell you stories about the thousands of people he has met, miles he has flown, hotel rooms he has stayed in, and ways to work the system to your advantage. Still, he can’t tell the woman he loves how he feels.

Peter in Flight is a novella by Paul Michael Peters designed to be the perfect read for a cross-country flight or extended layover. Life moves fast in this quick read about a “trade show guy” and a love he thinks he can never have.

Goodreads Link -  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17884455-peter-in-flight?ac=1

Buy Links –

Amazon.com Kindle

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CNGK59A/

ASIN: B00CNGK59A

ISBN: 978-0-9891785-0-1

Barnes & Noble Nook

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/peter-in-flight-paul-michael-peters/1116307799

B&N Identifier: 2940148654469

ISBN: 978-0-9891785-2-5

iBOOK

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/peter-in-flight/id683452758?mt=11

9780989178532

iBook# 10000483934

KOBO

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/peter-in-flight

ISBN: 978-0-9891785-4-9

Excerpt –

I’m in Vegas staying at the Hilton next to the convention center. There’s a place in the hotel called Star Trek: The Experience, based on the television series and movies. There are games and a Star Trek-themed bar along with artifacts from the show and a “virtual experience.”

Two years ago during COMDEX, the largest conference I attend, I made friends with a bartender at the Star Trek Experience. Dressed as an alien character called a Ferengi, with a large prosthetic forehead and enormous ears, he stands behind the bar on a riser. Once he is off the riser to grab a drink or walk the floor you realize he is five feet tall at best. I only know him as Phil the Ferengi, but he may be the best bartender I have ever met.  He also owns a string of car washes.

“Hu-mon,” he greets me in character, “what can I get you? Drink? Holodeck? Games?”

“Hello Phil, good to see you again.”

“Ah, yes hu-mon, I thought I recognized you. What are you drinking tonight?”

“I’ll have a gin and tonic please.”

He steps up on his platform with the drink when he returns. I know I can talk to him because it’s a slow night and I know his name.

“How are your travels, hu-mon?”

“They’re good, thank you. How is your car wash?”

“They are very profitable. All of this desert dust can eat away at a car’s finish. But there’s also a new city ordinance; I have to “go green.”

“What will that mean for you?”

“I have to add these tanks that collect used water, then filter it, and use it again. They call it gray water.”

“I can imagine why.”

“Are you sad, hu-mon? Or tired? You don’t look well.”

“I’m losing sleep. I’ve never had this problem before. I can usually sleep anywhere, but in the last week I can’t get a full night.”

“What’s her name?”
“It’s that obvious?”

“It is usually women or money. What’s her name?”

“Tatiana. She is both unavailable and my obsession.”

Phil grabs the bottle of gin and puts in on the bar in front of me. “Do you know Plato?”

“The philosopher? A little.”

“Through Aristophanes, who was a peer of Plato’s, we know this one interesting story about early hu-mons. Hu-mons were not separate from one another, but were made in pairs. They had two heads, four arms, and four legs. And they wouldn’t walk around so much as they would roll around tucked up in a ball.”

“This is not Star Trek?”

“No, ancient Greek philosophers describing the earliest version of humankind.”

“Go on.”

“So here they were—women and women, men and men, men and women—all sorts of these paired creatures rolling at great speed across the countryside of ancient Greece. The speed at which they move, the power they have, starts building confidence in humanity. The confidence turns to pride. And it’s with this pride, what the Greeks call hubris, that they decide they are better than the gods and try to overthrow them.”

A couple comes to the bar interrupting Phil and he takes their order. Once they are settled, he returns.

“So the hu-mons think they can conquer the gods. But when the hu-mons attack the gods, Zeus strikes them with such great power that he splits them all in two. Now the hu-mons are sad, desperate, and alone, and they start to kill themselves because they’re having a hard time without the warmth and comfort of one another. Some remove themselves from the community. Others get lost in the wilderness and are never seen again.”

“So what happens?”

“Zeus is wise. He and the other gods need the hu-mons to worship them. While they are asleep, he changes their bodies to what we know today, so that we walk upright and find it easy to reproduce.”

“Interesting.”

“Well, here’s the part that applies to you, sleepy hu-mon. After all of those changes, the gods left a memory, a longing inside each of them for their other half. That craving for the other half is instilled so deep inside, that we end up traveling the world searching to fill that absence. And when we are fortunate enough to find that other half, we know instantly—getting lost in the entwinement of friendship and love and intimacy—that we have finally found home. People like this will spend their whole lives together. If you ask them what they find attractive or appealing about one another, they can’t explain it—they just know it’s right.”

“It’s a beautiful idea, that something is missing from each of us, and we have to trust others to fill that. I guess the heart wants what the heart wants; there’s no getting around it.”

“Easier to say, but I like my story better.”

“Thanks for your time and the drinks,” I say, getting up.

“Any time, hu-mon.  We’re always open.”

***Nona’s review of Peter in Flight:***

Peter is a frequent flyer who works trade shows for Comp-U-Soft. He’s been all over the country and has shaken the hands of more than a million people. He’s great at the meet and greet, but has few close relationships. He’s closest is to his boss, Tatiana, for whom he carries a torch.  It’s not just the constraints of his job that keep him from making his move—Tatiana is a married woman with children.

This story reminded me a lot of the movie “Up in the Air” with George Clooney. Peter is a lot more likable than the Clooney character, though. For one thing, he doesn’t go around firing people. But they both have the problem of maintaining relationships because their jobs always keep them on the go

I liked Peter. He was good at his job, and he was good at reading people. Of course that was probably a talent honed in his profession. He knows his stuff, is a good listener and rarely gets ruffled. Even when confronted by an obnoxious competitor, he keeps his cool, prevents a scene and gets the guy hustled out by security.

But he’s a good, caring person, too. Especially when it comes to Tatiana. Her marriage is not a particularly happy one, but she has no desire to break up her home. Peter respects that. Though their relationship remains platonic, and Peter is a free agent, he remains surprisingly faithful to her. He’s not a guy who has “a girl in every (air)port.”

Several events happen to shake up not just Peter’s relationship with Tatiana, but the place where he feels the safest—his job. There are a lot of upheavals in the later part of the story. The final event, which eliminates all obstacles in their way, felt rather over the top. But it allowed Peter to prove how much he loves and Tatiana and how much she can depend on him.

I enjoyed Peter in Flight, but if people read it expecting a conventional romance, they may be disappointed. A lot of time is spent with him discussing his job and the people he meets on his travels. But I liked spending time with in the story. And I bet if I met him in an airport in real life, I’d have a good time hanging out with him.

Author Info –  

Paul Michael Peters is an American fiction writer based out of Ann Arbor Michigan. After studying at the Second City in Chicago he spent extended periods of time living in Philadelphia and Toronto before returning home to his beloved big mitten shaped state. "Peter in Flight" is his debut work.

Author Quote
"I wrote this story while I traveled extensively for work between 1998 and 2008 taking notes on the things that happened on each trip. I could not include all the good stories. Looking back on my time on the road, I always liked to think of myself as George Clooney from Up in the Air, but in reality, I was John Candy from Planes, Trains, and Automobiles."

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