Guest blogger -- Lex Valentine!

Welcome guest blogger Lex Valentine!

The Spirit of Gimme Gimme

Christmas is the time of year when we should all take stock of the things we have, be grateful for them, and then do something for others. Tis the Season to be giving! And lots of authors do. They put out free or low cost Christmas stories. Feel good stories that leave you basking in the warmth of kisses under the mistletoe, toasty warm fires, hot chocolate, and steamy sex. Readers can freely indulge in the spirit of gimme gimme and go around to author websites, publisher sites, and bookstore sites like ARe and download a plethora of free and low cost holiday stories. I certainly do my share of gimme gimme downloading. I love a good hot, sexy Christmas feel good story in the vein of my own offering from last year, Christmas Hookup.

This year I’m close to finishing my three 2009 offerings, two shorts based off of Christmas Hookup that will be sold at Pink Petal Books for a whopping $1.98 (I think that’s the price.) The third story will be offered free. I’m giving fans of the Tales series a look at the main characters from those books as they spend Christmas Eve and Christmas, by order of the head of the Antaeus clan, at Sean and Careen’s house. It will be a timely little story since the fourth book in the series, Ride the Lightning, just released in time for Christmas.

I left a couple of characters pregnant at the end of their books, so you’ll get to see how I deal with that circumstance and how the family deals with each other, something that you only get a bare glimpse of in each of the books. Everyone’s favorites will be there: Declan and Elysia, Colin and Eden, Holden and Garret, Emily and Vahid, and Sean and Careen. I’ll have a scene with the three matchmakers Sean, Marius, and Alfred too. It will be everything you’ve come to expect from a Tales story and opens up the characters’ hearts to you.

Since Ride the Lightning just released, I’ll tell you that you should make sure you read it before you read Holiday Hearts because the freebie has spoilers. Truly, Holiday Hearts is not a stand alone story. You really need to have read some of the series in order to understand the dynamics. I love these characters and I hope that you will too.

Now, a little shameless self promotion for Ride the Lightning. This book wrung me out. It is an emotional rollercoaster. I truly hope that fans of the series are pleased with it because it’s the longest story to date and gives you a very good look at two of the most intriguing characters I’ve ever created. Here’s the blurb and an excerpt. I hope you enjoy them!

And make sure you check out Pink Petal Books on December 17 which is my Winter Festival day at the publisher. The two shorts should be available then (one M/F and one M/M) and so should Holiday Hearts. Merry Christmas to you all! May you enjoy the spirit of gimme gimme this holiday season!

Ride the Lightning – available at Pink Petal Books

Buy link - http://pinkpetalbooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6&products_id=49

Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr8M-8vhVqs

Blurb:

Red dragon Emily Carrington found her mate in black dragon Vahid Delrey, but misunderstandings, painful secrets, and distrust keep them apart. Emily thinks Vahid doesn’t want her. Vahid thinks Emily is a stuck up snob who could never truly love him. Both dragons hide crippling secrets from their pasts as their pain at being apart escalates. Emily falls for the strong, sexy black dragon and hides her need of him behind an icy facade. Vahid longs for Emily to need him but can’t bring himself to mate with such a cold woman. When Emily’s secret pain fetish threatens her life, Vahid must decide whether to save her or let her self-destructive ways rid him of the mate he never thought he’d love.

Warning this book contains one asshole hero, one cold as ice heroine, a suicide attempt, USC-UCLA rivalry, mating in shifted form in a haystack, shrinkage courtesy of icy water in the garden hose, spanking, anal play, BDSM and it's all needed to create a very happy ending.

Lex's bio:

Lex Valentine has been writing ever since she could hold a pencil. When she posted snippets of her writing at a serial story on her blog Sunlight Sucks, author Jennifer Leeland encouraged her to submit her writing to publishers. Born and raised on the Central Coast of California, Lex moved to Southern California in 1992. She lives in Orange County with her daughter Nikki and Rott, her long haired, tattooed DH.

You’ll find Lex’s author website at www.lexvalentine.com and her personal blog at www.sunlightsucks.com.