Purrs, Shapeshifter Lovers, or should that be howls at the moon?Are you ready for BEST OF BREED by Pat Cunningham?This Big Cat just read the excerpt and her answer is a big cougar-yowling YES!BLURB ~
It started out as a joke: a werewolf entering a dog show. Adele Chase has always believed herself ugly, with her doggish wolf form and non-shifter blue eyes. But in the show ring she’s discovered a place where she can be beautiful.
Now, poised on the brink of her biggest win, nothing can deter her-–not even the presence of Bowie, the notorious werewolf hunter. He’s stalking the show in search of a werewolf and found what he thinks is a woman. Adele realizes he could be her destined mate–-or, if he uncovers her secret, her death.
With Best in Show within her reach, she plays a dangerous game with a man who might either love her or kill her…with neither aware of the enemy who’s out to destroy them both.
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EXCERPT ~
Blue. Her eyes were blue, just as he’d imagined. As he’d been hoping, he realized. Pallid as an arctic sky, just like her dog’s. He sucked in a temporizing breath and discovered she smelled of lavender. It couldn’t be coincidence. More like fate. He’d had that smell in his nose all morning, ever since he confronted the Chase boy and the dog. He couldn’t seem to shake it. Encountering it now on Adele, he decided he no longer wanted to.
Those remarkable eyes lifted to meet his. Fear darted through them, swiftly suppressed. Her smile was courteous, but guarded. “Yes?” she prompted.
She couldn’t be were. Not in those shoes that no shifter female would ever subject her feet to, or that dress that clung so tightly to every delightful dip and curve of her body. Not with those blue eyes.
He’d felt those eyes on him up in the stands, dragging at his awareness, demanding response. One look at her and he’d become obsessed, even before he heard Dartmouth identify her. He wanted suddenly to draw her to him and learn the texture of that midnight hair. Learn how she would respond to his most intimate touch. Test the strength of those athletic-looking limbs, discover how the skin between her breasts would taste.
Not at all his normal reaction upon meeting a woman, not even the most attractive ones. That scent of lavender had scrambled his thoughts. He’d been on the trail too long, he decided. Too long hunting weres and nothing else.
He’d slit his throat with his own silver knife before he’d do with a were what he wanted to do with this woman. She must be human. She had to be.
She fidgeted at his continued silence. Her smile had disappeared. She wrenched her gaze from his and darted it at the nearest exit. She tried to slip by him. “If you’ll excuse me—”
He reached for her arm. She shied away, with a quick, instinctive lift of her lip. A were’s reaction. Her eyes thinned to ice-blue slits. “What do you want from me?”
To kill her, if she weren’t the human he desperately wanted her to be. He doubted she’d appreciate hearing that. He found himself groping after an answer. That had never happened to him before.
It was the lavender, of course. And the way she stood before him, head raised and eyes direct, every line of her body proud and sure. Just like the dog in the ring. “You’re very beautiful,” he blurted.
Her jaw dropped. Not the reaction he expected when he complimented a woman. Her voice shot up the scale to a squeak. “What did you say?”
“I said you’re very beautiful, and I meant it. I’m also incredibly rude. My name is Jeff Bauer.” He held out his hand.
“You’re…who?”
“My name is Jeff Bauer,” he repeated. “You are Adele Chase? Owner of Hide in Plain Sight?”
She stared at his hand as if it held poison. Then at his eyes, as if she expected the same. She seemed confused when she found none. He hoped his smile looked reassuring. Smiles did not come to him easily. He let his hand drop. “You’re not thinking I’m somebody else?”
“I’m not sure who you are, Mr.…Bauer. Or what your interest is in me.”
“To be honest, my interest is more in your dog. You bred her yourself?”
She smiled tentatively, as if at a private joke. Even that faint expression transformed her from beautiful into a woman who could shake a man’s soul in her teeth. “My parents bred her, actually, but she belongs to me.”
“And her handler? Your…?”
“Brother. Trevor is my brother, and Heidi’s co-owner.” She eyed him cautiously. “Are you a Husky fancier, Mr. Bauer?”
“I’m becoming one.”
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"I meant to write a funny story–-werewolf undercover at a dog show–-but low self-esteem and bad body image aren't laughing matters for too many young women. Adele proves strong enough to find her own beauty, and triumphs over the ugliness around her. Confidence breeds beauty, no airbrushing required." ~Pat~AVAILABLE: Tuesday, February 2nd ~ http://bookstrand.com/authors/patcunningham ~Plus, take a look at COYOTE MOON by Pat Cunningham ~ Can a half-werewolf woman, unaware of her wolf nature, come to love the WereCoyote determined to free her wild side and make her his mate? ~ http://bookstrand.com/product-coyotemoon-14959-330.html ~++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
ALSO!For Western Erotic Romance readers, this is Gem Sivad’s latest release from Liquid Silver Books.BREED TRUE by Gem Sivad
Blurb:
Half-Apache rancher Grady Hawke owns close to 10,000 acres of water-enriched, Texas grassland.
But as soon as his white father is no longer in control, an Eastern Land Company moves to steal the family ranch, claiming Grady is too Indian to rightfully own Hawks Nest.
Grady decides to apply what he’s learned in mixing different strains of cattle. He needs to find a red-haired woman and breed back to the fair skin and Scottish features of his father. With a white child and wife, he plans to appease his neighbors and out-maneuver the greedy Eastern Consortium of business men who are trying to steal Texas land.
But when Grady meets auburn-haired widow, Julie Fulton, breeding cattle is the last thing on his mind.~~~~~~
NOTE: What about the obvious synchronicity? Yep, *BREED* rules... BREED TRUE by Gem Sivad and BEST OF BREED by Pat Cunningham... *two* of the Kougar’s fave authors.
Meow Wow!HAPPY SHAPESHIFTING VALENTINE’S DAY!
~ MAY YOUR BRIGHTEST READING DREAMS COME TRUE ~Savanna Kougar ~ Run on the Wild Side of Romance ~
Pic of Xena from ~ http://sidrasiberians.com/ ~
The dogs have it right. They’re not the ones obsessing over their looks. They leave that to us. As long as the food dish is full and they can sleep on the couch, they’re happy. There’s a lesson in there somewhere.
