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Release Week Blitz + Excerpt & Giveaway: COMING BACK (INK & CHROME) by LAUREN DANE

December 9, 2015

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COMING BACK by Lauren Dane (December 8, 2015; Forever Trade Paperback; Ink & Chrome Book #3)

Mick Roberts, the newest partner at Twisted Steel’s custom hotrod and motorcycle shop, looks like a man with everything. But secretly he still craves the connection he lost when his best friend Adam and the love of his life Jessilynn walked out. Then, he wasn’t ready for the pleasure they promised. Now, things have changed.

Rich, powerful, and insatiable, Adam Gulati is used to getting what he wants. And there’s nothing he wants more than Mick and Jessi. He hasn’t seen either in over a year, but the second he sets eyes on them again his memories-and his desires-can’t be denied.

After trying to live without them, Jessi Franklin realized no one else can satisfy her like Adam and Mick. The three of them need one another-in more ways than one. It’s time to stop pretending and submit to the hunger they all share. But once they go down this road, there’s no turning back. As deeply devoted as they are, no one knows what great bliss their forbidden fantasy will find-or the price they may pay . . .

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Excerpt:

“Things just unraveled for me when Mick left. Watching Jessi try to process, trying to be there for her and not managing it very well. I felt like an asshole, felt like I’d been tossed away. Felt like I needed to be someone else to see if that’s what I should do for the rest of my life,” Adam said.

His leaving—the way he’d done it—had been a way to allow himself the space to take what he wanted and gorge on it.

Jessi lifted her face from where she’d been buried in Mick’s shirt, locking her gaze on his.

Adam hated that she’d been hurt. Hated that it had been necessary in any case, to step away and be Adam in a completely different context.

“And did you like what you found?”

Adam took her hand. “It was something I had to do. I’m back to you now. For keeps.”

Which didn’t make it any less harsh, he knew. He had a lot of fucking sins to make up for when it came to Jessilyn Franklin. He just had to hope he was man enough to do what it took.

And that she found it within her heart to understand. One day.

As for Mick, that was still complicated, only in a different way.

“For keeps like we’re all close friends again? We hang out and share our lives?” Mick asked, wariness in his voice.

Jessi wore the sweetest confused expression, and Adam refused to think about how terrifying it was that she got to him the way she did just by being herself.

“I didn’t want to assume,” Adam said.

Jessi rolled her eyes. “You realize that all three of us showed up after years of being apart. We all clicked back together pretty much immediately. And now it’s like we’re all shy? After all we’ve shared? That’s what this is, then? We’re all friends but not like before? We just forget those times? You two want to see other people?”

“Is that what you want?” Adam asked carefully.

“You left, Adam. After you left, Mick. I didn’t want to walk away. You two did. So asking me that question sort of makes me mad.”

“You’re the one who lived with someone else and was going to get married,” Mick mumbled.

“You guys are such assholes sometimes. Despite what you both put me through, I accept that you needed to step away. But you come back to me with this? No, thank you. If you want to just be friends, all right. I can deal. But you need to be up front and you can’t be kissing my fingers and Mick needs to stop grinding his cock into my ass. Friends don’t do that.”

“I just wanted you to know I didn’t expect you to hop into bed or anything. I didn’t want to assume,” Adam repeated.

Jessi looked up to Mick. “And you?”

Mick was smarter than Adam, though, because he hugged her tight. “If it was up to me, I’d want us to all be together. Really together.”

“Suck up.” Adam rolled his eyes.

“She’s on my lap though, so I declare that a win.”

Adam reached out to snatch her from Mick’s lap, bringing her to his own. “Looks like she’s in my lap now.”

“Something friends don’t do,” Jessi reminded him. Adam took her cheeks in his hands and then claimed her mouth before she could say anything else.

It slammed into him so hard—a wave of regret that he’d put this aside—that he gasped, sucking in the sigh she gave him.

A sweet enough kiss. For now. Hunger, barely leashed, filled him. He wanted. Wanted what had been freely offered before he’d truly understood how rare and special it was.

“I’m always your friend,” he spoke against her mouth. “But I’d be a liar if I claimed I didn’t want everything from you. Being away from you only underlined it.”

“I was so lonely without you both.” She closed her eyes a moment to avoid his seeing all that pain, but he saw it, felt it cut him to the bone.

“I’m sorry. I was lonely too.” Adam had filled every moment with a pursuit of pleasure, but this was something totally different. Something he might not have really recognized if he hadn’t been without it.

But what he did see was he’d have a job of earning her trust back, even if she was being easy enough right then.

Ink-&-Chrome-Series

OPENING UP by Lauren Dane (June 16, 2015; Forever Trade Paperback; Ink & Chrome Book #1)

The men of Twisted Steel are great with their hands. And they’re not afraid to get dirty.
Asa Barrons is never lonely for long. Co-owner of the Twisted Steel custom motorcycle shop, he works hard and plays harder. But he never allows his after-hours affairs to interfere with business-until he meets racing royalty PJ Colman. While the blue-eyed blonde is all princess on the outside, on the inside Asa can see that this woman is ready to take a walk on the wild side.

PJ knows trouble when she sees it, and Asa is the complete package: fast bike, killer ink, and a sinfully sexy smile that has her imagining things nice girls never do. She talks her way onto the Twisted Steel team to prove her painting skill, and soon learns that Asa is eager to show off some skills of his own.

With the help of Asa’s expert touch, PJ is initiated into a world of wicked desire. No limits. No inhibitions. No turning back. But as perfect as their passion seems, a new challenge awaits, forcing them to ask just how far they are willing to go . . .

FALLING UNDER by Lauren Dane (August 4, 2015; Forever Trade Paperback; Ink & Chrome #2)

Duke Bradshaw, co-owner of the Twisted Steel custom motorcycle and hot rod shop, may devote his days to chrome and leather, but his nights belong to Carmella. His sultry redheaded neighbor has a smile like an angel and a body built for sin, and for the past year both have dominated Duke’s dreams. When a problem at Twisted Steel requires a fast fix, Duke sees his chance to finally make his fantasy a reality.

Ever since she first heard the low rumble of his engine, Carmella Rossi has wondered if Duke Bradshaw handles his women as expertly as he handles his bike. When he shows up at her door offering her a much-needed job at his shop, she gets her chance to find out. Beneath Duke’s masterful touch, Carmella soon submits to a world of unimaginable pleasure.

But history has taught Carmella how bad a boy boy can be. If she doesn’t put on the brakes fast, her hard-bodied heartbreaker could drive her right over the edge . . .

About the author:

Lauren Dane

The story goes like this: While on pregnancy bed rest, Lauren Dane had plenty of down time, so her husband took her comments about “giving that writing thing a serious go” to heart and brought home a secondhand laptop. She wrote her first book on it. Today, Lauren is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than 60 novels and novellas across several genres.

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Categories : Contemporary, Erotic, Giveaway, Release Blitz, Romance Tagged : Coming Back, Excerpt, Ink & Chrome, Lauren Dane

Review, Excerpt & Giveaway: OPENING UP (INK & CHROME #1) by LAUREN DANE

June 21, 2015

OPENING UP by Lauren Dane (June 16, 2015; Forever Trade Paperback; Ink & Chrome Book #1)

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SYNOPSIS:

The men of Twisted Steel are great with their hands. And they’re not afraid to get dirty.

Asa Barrons is never lonely for long. Co-owner of the Twisted Steel custom motorcycle shop, he works hard and plays harder. But he never allows his after-hours affairs to interfere with business-until he meets racing royalty PJ Colman. While the blue-eyed blonde is all princess on the outside, on the inside Asa can see that this woman is ready to take a walk on the wild side.

PJ knows trouble when she sees it, and Asa is the complete package: fast bike, killer ink, and a sinfully sexy smile that has her imagining things nice girls never do. She talks her way onto the Twisted Steel team to prove her painting skill, and soon learns that Asa is eager to show off some skills of his own.

With the help of Asa’s expert touch, PJ is initiated into a world of wicked desire. No limits. No inhibitions. No turning back. But as perfect as their passion seems, a new challenge awaits, forcing them to ask just how far they are willing to go . . .

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MY REVIEW:

Lauren Dane writes an super-sexy story, with a couple who have some piercings in very, um, key places!

Ms. Dane has written some of my favorite and sexiest contemporary romance novels (The Brown Family series is a favorite and highly recommended – they are totally addictive.) Opening Up is the first in her new Ink and Chrome series. The plot is light, steamy, funny, fast-paced and pretty much angst-free.

I couldn’t wait to dive into this book and I read it one sitting. PJ is a young, strong-willed woman who breaks free from her overbearing family and ventures out on her own in the world off body shop painting. She meets Asa, who is older, totally domineering and sex-on-a-stick. He accepts her for who she is and their sex is, to put it mildly, off the charts. Think multiple piercings, sexy tattoos and passionate car sex!

“You’re defiling her in your head right now, aren’t you?”
Hell yes.

There is nothing too dramatic or earth shattering in this book. I loved the chemistry between PJ and Asa and you will need a fan for their scenes together. OPENING UP is the perfect summertime read to take to the pool or beach, and the secondary characters are just as enjoyable! (I cannot wait for Duke, Asa’s friend, to get his story in FALLING UNDER, coming out in August. Hello! Can you say huge, tattooed and sexy?) All in all, OPENING UP is a passionate, funny, dirty and light summer read with a HEA. Enjoy!

“Wait. I want to see you put the condom on over the piercing. I should know this. For future reference.”

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

– Ellen

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BUY THE BOOK:
23119319-2

EXCERPT:

Twisted Steel was magnificent.
PJ turned in a slow circle as she stood in the middle of their showroom. Just to her left, a 1970 Chevelle. Candy-​apple red.
Big windows fronted the space, but they managed to still give it a sort of intentionally gritty feel inside with black leather couches placed in a way to look at the cars and bikes on display like art.
She loved it so very much. Bold and clever. It took itself very seriously when it came to the product but also had a little bit of tongue-in-cheek self-​deprecation. Delicious design choices all over the place, including a custom Harley Softail in black matte that gave her a little shiver.
She’d thought it impossible for Asa to be any hotter, until she saw this place.
“If you’re done getting all wet over cars can we get your makeup done?” Audra called out.
“Do you see this?” PJ pointed at the Softail’s back tire. “It’s so fat and delicious. I might actually be maybe a little wet, yes. But I’m just telling you that because we’re so close.”
PJ plopped down in front of a makeshift makeup station mirror.
“Go look at your outfits with Stella so she can get you styled for each.” Audra had taken on the task of organizing the shoot. She pointed at a rolling rack of clothes that had PJ’s name on it.
“I see a theme here.” Stella, who was acting as their makeup person for the day, took in each outfit.
Tom bounded into their space, amped up on coffee. “What? She’s like a ridiculously sexed-up girl next door. Guys love that. We all know it. So work it and sell my decks!”
“You can’t be here now. I have it handled.” Audra shoved him out and closed the door to the small conference room where they’d set up.
“He’s like a hamster on crack,” PJ muttered.
“The cutest hamster ever, though. Here.” Audra shoved an outfit PJ’s way.
The first dress turned out to be a pale blue-​and-​white gingham.
She wore it with red glitter pumps, and Stella teased PJ’s hair up in the back and curled her bangs before dividing at the nape of her neck into two braids.
Thick liner, red lips, and a beauty mark and she found herself shoved back out.
“PJ, come over and meet Frank, he’s the photographer.” Tom introduced them. “We’re set up in the shop so come on with me.”
She tried not to trip and fall as she kept stopping to gape at things. Where the showroom had been all about the art of the completed project—a perfect experience for a potential client—the shop, with its bays and workstations, was clearly the heart of the operation.
High windows sent shafts of light down onto the shop floor and to the offices that ringed it. It was orderly and tidy without being compulsively so.
She skidded to a halt when she saw the car she’d be posing with.
“Sweet mother of Bob Dylan,” she breathed out at the sight of the deep blue 1950 Cadillac roadster convertible before her.
“I take it that means you approve?” Frank asked her.
“I might need some alone time with this car later.”
“I know the owner. He might allow it.”
She turned to catch sight of Asa walking over. Walking! Ha. Prowling was a far better word. The air seemed to hum around him, and she found it a little harder to breathe. Especially when he came to a halt just inches from where she stood.
“This is yours?” She might have an orgasm just looking at the car. And now she knew it was his.
He nodded, the corner of his mouth hitching up slightly.
“Morning, PJ.”
“Morning, Asa. I’m going to have a moment with your car, but I won’t do anything she doesn’t want.”
He stepped closer. “What if she does? What if she wants it all?”
Man, was she in over her head. Just flirting with him was taking all her effort. What would he be like in bed? What would he kiss like?
“I’d want to take it slow. Just the tip. At first. If she didn’t like it we’d stop.”
The smile on his mouth made her tingly.
“I might try that one. Just the tip has mixed results.”
Oh, well. That one made her a little dizzy. And by the look he wore, he knew the effect he was having.
“I doubt that.”
“What?”
“Mixed results. You strike me as an overachiever.” PJ lowered her lashes a little as she took in the heft of all that steel. Of course he had a Caddy. Big, strong, bold. Totally in charge. Just like him.
“So if I’d given you the ‘just the tip’ line?”
She smiled then. “I don’t know. Why don’t you try it now?”
PJ rather felt as if she was having an out-of-body experience. There was no other explanation for the words she’d just spoken. Out loud.
Asa opened his mouth and everything inside her seemed to still, just waiting to hear what he’d say.
And then Tom called out to get to work and they reluctantly parted.

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Categories : 3.5 Stars, Contemporary Erotic Romance, Giveaway Tagged : Excerpt, Ink & Chrome, Lauren Dane, Opening Up

Interview with Lauren Dane

October 11, 2013

Drawn Together

We are pleased to welcome New York Times bestselling author Lauren Dane. Her latest book DRAWN TOGETHER was recently released, and is the much anticipated story of Raven Smith in the Brown Family series.

Jaded tattoo artist Raven has built a nearly impenetrable wall around her heart, but finally meets her match in smooth-talking and highly successful attorney Jonah Warner. He gets under her skin in a way she never expected and he makes her want to try things she never would have tried before—including love and commitment.

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Synopsis:

Beauty is more than skin-deep…

Tattoo artist Raven Smith is blunt and hard, broken and jaded, dark and beautiful. While she doesn’t hide her painful past, she does keep a wall around her heart. She’s free sexually—but no one gets to the real Raven beneath the prickly exterior.

With a voice like smoke, Jonah Warner is a smooth-talking, highly successful attorney, with a body that should never be hidden by a suit. He’s the kind of man who never takes no for an answer and always gets what he wants. And what he wants is Raven. She’s a survivor, and he finds that incredibly alluring.

Jonah gets under her skin in a way Raven has never experienced. He makes her break all her rules—including her no-monogamy rule.

But when a figure from Raven’s past shows up at the tattoo parlor and drops a bomb into her life, their relationship will face the ultimate challenge…

Interview with Author Lauren Dane

So We are HUGE fans of the Brown Siblings Series! Will Drawn Together be the end of their story?

This part of the series is over. I’ve written books for everyone and I don’t want to drag it out and have readers thinking, “She should have ended this three books ago.” But there’s a whole new generation of Brown/Keenan/Copelands coming up as well as Jonah’s brothers so we haven’t seen the last of these characters.

We know that you began writing while on pregnancy bed rest, but how did you become interested in becoming a writer?

I wrote even when I was very young. I used to write poetry and short stories. I worked on the literary magazine in high school and college but I never really thought I could be a writer as my profession. So I went to college and law school and yep, with a jillion dollars of student loan debt and a high risk pregnancy I thought, why not give it a try since I can’t do anything else right now anyway. It’s pretty awesome that things worked out, LOL.

Do you listen to music when you write?

Always. As I start a new book (and sometimes even before that) I begin to create a tracklist for that book to create a certain sort of atmosphere as I work. Music is a really important part of my creative process (and my life in general).

What is the last book you read?

Seanan McGuire’s Chimes At Midnight (love the October Daye books!)

You write across many different genres, paranormal, erotic romance, urban fantasy to name a few, but who is your favorite book character, and why?

That’s so tough! I think it’s a three way tie between Polly Chase, Nina Reyes-Warden and Rowan Summerwaite.

Each woman has such a strong sense of self and they’re all at different stages of their lives. Polly is the heart of her family. She would slay dragons for them, each and every one. But she’s got her own past and her own hurts she’s gone through. She’s one of those characters who gets on the page and writes herself.

Nina is also a character who has such a sense of herself and her direction. She’s fierce and smart and funny and she loves her family, even when they mess up. She’s not perfect. She makes mistakes but she does apologize when she faces it.

Similarly Rowan is a character who is driven by a sense of duty and honor. She’s sharper than the other two, she’s got more pain in her past, more hurts to heal from. But she’s not so hard she doesn’t let people in, it’s just a slower process. I love how confused she gets sometimes when people reach out and want to help her, I love that she accepts affection with a befuddled embarrassment, but at the same time she soaks it in.

You really connect with your readers through Facebook and Twitter, but what is something surprising that your readers might not know about you?

I’m actually sort of shy. People never believe this, but it’s true. I just have to work through it and once I know the situation a little it’s not quite as painful.

Thanks for chatting with us and thanks for the amazing books.

Author Bio:

Lauren Dane c David Hiller lo res

Lauren Dane is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of several dozen novels. Visit her online at her Website/Facebook/and Twitter

Categories : Author Interview, Contemporary Romance, Erotica Tagged : Author Interview, Brown Family Series, contemporary romance, Erotica, Lauren Dane

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