Showing posts with label Werewolf Romance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Werewolf Romance. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

The Love Wolfess ~ Heartbroken Howls Before Valentine's Day


The Love Wolfess ~ Heartbroken Howls Before Valentine’s Day


By the time his potent, to-pant-for scent twitched her nostrils, Sozchy had already answered about every Valentine’s Day question ever thought of, from patrons at Dante’s Pleasure Club, and from her radio show callers...so it felt.

She adjusted her headset, ignoring the spike of her hormones -- probably bouncing off Mother Moon by now -- and punched up the evening’s last call.

“This is the Love Wolfess,” she throatily sang in her on-air voice. “What’s your question, Dharla?”

Sniffles answered her. Then, a tiny sob erupted.

The grand room, bathed by red and pink illumination, and festooned with neon-light heart shapes, faded into the background as Sozchy intuitively focused on the distraught young werewolf woman. The flirtatious and intimate murmurings of the fifty plus couples, along with the singles looking for love mates, also disappeared for her.

“Dharla, dear, I hear heartbroken howls before Valentine’s Day...talk to me...please.”

“How do I...do I? Well...I know he’s my mate...and...”

“How do you know, dear?” Sozchy kept her tone gentle, while her intuition razored her with images of the werewolf lout who had obviously humped and dumped Dharla.

“I...I can’t get him out of my mind. I’m in heat all the time. I can’t sleep...or eat.” The last two words were a pathetic whine. “And...and now I have no one for Valentine’s Day.” Dharla howled, a pitiful strangled sound. “I’m sooooooo miserable. I’m all alone. What do I do?”

Sobs crackled loudly over the line, and Sozchy pressed the mute button. “Dharla,” she softly crooned once the werewolf woman sniffled again. “Listen to me. Do you know about Mating Truth tea?”

“Yes-s-s-s...”

“Have you tried drinking it?”

“No-o-o-o...”

Sozchy inhaled a huge breath and stopped her eyes from rolling. Summoning her most professional voice, she leaned toward the microphone. “This is what you do, Dharla. Brew the tea and sip it slowly. Draw a hot bath, and then take a long soak. If you have violet and oak leaf infused Epsom Salts, add that, or just the Salts. Are you with me so far?”

“Yes.” At least, Dharla’s voice didn’t quaver.

“If you’re still not sleepy go for a long run in the woods. You know the safe areas.”

“Okay.”

“Trust your body, Dharla. Sleep for as long as you need. Then, I want you to go out and find a new party outfit for Valentine’s Day...whether or not you’re in the mood.” Sozchy paused. “Do you understand?”

“I understand.” Dharla spoke after several seconds.

“Good. Good girl. Now, what you’re going to do is decide where to party on Valentine’s Day. With friends. At a special place --“

“I can come to the Pleasure Club...right?”

“Of course, Dharla. We’re celebrating here every night. And, there will be several different party rooms on Valentine’s Day. May I have a party coordinator contact you?”

“Oh hell, yes!” An excited squeal-howl followed.

“Goodnight, Dharla. Love is on it’s way to you.”

Love is on it’s way to you. Sozchy’s own heartfelt words mocked her as she took off the headset, then automatically shut down the broadcasting equipment. Scat! She couldn’t even get the huntress side of her motivated these days.

A strange rabbit, not a shapeshifter, had begun living in her yard. And more bizarre, the cottontail had decided the engine block of her jeep was its favorite place to hangout.

Sozchy had taken to opening the hood before turning on the ignition. More often than not the rabbit gazed back at her. It had done so earlier in the evening, before she’d driven to the Pleasure Club for her radio gig.

To her shame, and she’d told not one other shapeshifter soul, Sozchy had begun cooing and talking to the bunny, while it watched her with one large brown eye. Yip-yeah, just like a tail-whipped human. That is, until the apparently suicidal cottontail decided to hop away on its own.

After a long sigh, Sozchy willed herself to toughen up. So, her life was a stinky pile of scat when it came to love, and having a mate of her own. On the bright-moon side, her radio show had taken off like a chasing sprint with no sign of slowing down.

Sozchy stood straightening her swingy short red dress. After a shake and toss of her long loose hair, she sniffed for the alpha wolf shifter who had skyrocketed her hormones.

To her disappointment, only a trail of his dominant musk scent remained. She knew him as Devil Wind, but to his tribe he was Howling Wolf Wind. The Sheriff of a nearby Indian reservation, no doubt he had arrived to form an alliance with Talbot’s Peak.

And, no doubt, she belonged to the mists of his memory. Sixteen in human years, and running wild as a teenage wolf in the forest, she’d been chasing any prey animal that moved.

She’d consumed her fill, but simply ran for the sport of it, her muscles carrying her swiftly, easily. Well, she’d charged straight into the path of a mother bear and her cub.

With a mighty bellow of outrage, the mother bear lunged upward, and swiped colossal claws at her. Springing out of the way, barely, Sozchy had twisted in midair. About to race for her life, she’d seen a Dire Wolf rush past her.

Snapping like a fiend, Devil Wind darted back and forth, protecting her. Yet, he’d done nothing to harm the mother bear and her squalling cub.

Spinning on her hind legs, Sozchy had joined him. Between the two of them, they’d convinced the mother bear to give up, then amble after her distraught cub.

After their telepathic introductions to each other, Sozchy had tried to thank him. She’d nose-kissed him before heading home. However, he’d remained beside her every inch of the way, a monstrous dark gray wolf on guard.

Once she arrived at her parent’s stone house on the range, about twenty miles outside of Talbot’s Peak, she’d halted behind the barn. Sozchy hadn’t wanted her parents to know about her narrow escape. Not until she’d had time to think about an explanation.

Before she knew it, they’d both shifted to their human forms. As if it had been ordained, they’d flung their naked bodies against each other. Embracing with a passion that still took her breath away, their kisses had been wild, impossibly frantic, yet somehow sumptuous as a feast.

And then, he’d gone away. On the brink of surrendering her virginity to him, Sozchy had been about to speak the words as their gazes seared into one another, as their pants rushed and raged.

How often had she recalled that moment? When nothing could have torn them apart. When her much smaller body desperately pressed against the big brute strength of his... when he’d held her with all the might of his desire for her... when... but, he’d cupped her face between his large, large hands.

She’d seen it in the depths of smoke and amber eyes then. He was leaving. He didn’t want to take her virginity. He didn’t want her.

After shaking her head to erase the remembrance for now, Sozchy waved to those in the club who were acknowledging her with a wave of their hand. Some blew kisses of appreciation toward her, while some wagged furry tails. Spreading her arms wide, she sent her love vibes to the interspecies crowd.

The real smile on her face didn’t last long, though, as she walked toward the small comfy room Dante had provided for her. It served as her office, a changing room and a place to sleep if she didn’t want to drive, or lope home.

“Sozchy.”

About to open the door, she whipped around. He stood there, as ferociously imposing as ever. Not that she’d actually glimpsed him before now... not since she’d tracked him down to his territory a few days after their encounter.

She only knew about his appointment to Sheriff, some seven years ago, because she’d seen it on the local news. Damn, he was as ruggedly-feral handsome as she remembered.

With her mouth suddenly parched, Sozchy stopped herself from licking her lips. Hell’s bite, her vocal chords were frozen, too. And, all she could think about was -- why hadn’t she scented him?

His gaze ravished her face with a hunger that had her backing up. Before Sozchy knew it she practically clung to the door. Her nails scraped, embarrassing her, and she balled her hands.

“The Love Wolfess.” His guttural tone sensually devoured her insides.

“Need some advice?” she choked out, only her voice sounded like a breathy come-on.

“Maybe.” The glint of his black-as-obsidian eyes suggested ‘advice’ wasn’t what he was after.

“Maybe?” Again, her tone sounded like a seductive invitation. If she could reach the door latch...

“Maybe, after I’ve possessed you every which way but loose...little woman wolf.” His gaze flashed wild with need. “My woman wolf,” he growled.

Shockwaves captured her insides as he leapt with deceptive speed, and captured her flush against him. His hand sank into her hair and fisted.

With one tug that claimed her as his, he brought her face beneath his. Briefly his gaze penetrated her soul, then his mouth trapped hers. The crush of his kiss soared her to heaven’s gate, even as her mating lust turned her raw and wickedly hot.

Their mouths fused, too long denied. Holding her hair taut, he slid one hand beneath her dress, and swept his palm over the curves of her hip, her thigh, her ass.

His utterly dominant handling of her didn’t stop as their mouths fiercely tangled -- as his lips blistered her lips with such pleasure, she whimpered for more.

His kisses consumed her for the longest time, as her kisses consumed him. Howl to the goddess, she wanted anything he wanted to give her.

Suddenly releasing her hair, he pushed her against the hard surface of the door. “Sozchy.”

“Sozchy.” He rasped her name again. “Look at me.” When she surrendered her gaze to him, to the twin suns that were his eyes, he caressed between her thighs.

Aroused her to an unbearable wildness, all she could do was feel his large rough hand stroking her inner thighs. All she could do was feel the sweep of his palm over her yielding body.

His name burst past her lips, “Devil Wind.”

His eyes flared, savage with need. Savage for her. His lowered his head and his kiss embraced her mouth. His kiss lingered until her heart thudded ridiculously fast -- until she swooned against him.

With a groan, he blazed kisses down her throat. The sweet torture didn’t end as his lips fondled the sensitive flesh of her breastbone.

When he scorched a kiss on the hollow of her throat, his lips stayed. Sozchy moaned, belonging to him.

His lips caught hers, again. Commanding her passions, he boldly cupped her sex. His big palm kneaded possessively, and Sozchy helplessly keened a moan.

“Mate,” he growled,

“Prove it,” she dared.
~~~~~~

Wanna spread the love...?


~~~~~~

HAPPY SHAPESHIFTING VALENTINE’S DAY ~

Savanna

Savanna Kougar ~ Run on the Wild Side of Romance ~
~~~~~~

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Achieving the Dream: Random Thoughts by Pat Cunningham


Achieving the Dream: Random Thoughts

By Pat Cunningham



This is it – after more years than I’ll admit to, I’ve achieved the dream and published my first novel. Not the first I ever wrote or marketed, by a long shot. I’d put it at #8 or #9 on that list, and that’s not counting all the books I started that went stale and ended up in the closet. This is the first one that got written, finished, sent to a publisher and got itself a contract. Better yet, BookStrand assures me they’ll issue a print version later this year. That’s PRINT, folks. A book with my name on it that I can hold in my trembling, sweaty, dry-skinned little hands and shelve next to my Stephen King hardcovers. I’m doing cartwheels in my head because my body’s so massively out of shape, but I’m sure you understand.

Since I can’t come up with a regular blog, I’m just going to jot random notes. There will not be a quiz and this does not count as part of your grade.

Inspiration: Stuff happens, and that includes books. Sometimes they just come out of nowhere. I was doing rewrites on “Coyote Moon” and trying to think up fresh descriptions for a couple of werewolves. For some reason Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves of London” popped into my head. This segued into memories of director John Landis’s “An American Werewolf in London.’ Twist the title around and voila, suddenly I’m writing a novel. And yes, my hero’s hair is perfect.

The Perils of Pantsing: So I had the situation: English werewolf comes to America. Why? What happens to him here? I think the marriage idea came first, followed closely by the murder plot. I was three chapters in before I figured out who the killer was. Two chapters after that I got an even better idea, and had to go back to make sure I had all the clues and red herrings filled in. This is why pantsers probably shouldn’t try to write mysteries.

In-jokes: I do this to make myself laugh and keep me interested during those long, dry stretches when the words just don’t want to come. Originally Darinda was the granddaughter of Darrin and Samantha Stevens, hinted at but never named directly. I later chickened out and had her named after the character instead. Gotta watch out for those pesky lawyers. Apparently quoting movies is okay, because the editors left in both of my movie references. “The Wizard of Oz” quote is obvious, but brownie points go to whoever spots the reference to “Planet of the Apes.” I love this job.

Revenge is Sweet: I sent this book to Nocturne first. They bounced it in two weeks. I didn’t think the tone was right for them anyway, but I figured I’d take the chance. I doubt if they liked my playing fast and loose with the conventions of the genre either. The alpha male having to be guarded by the love interest? Hey, why not? In a lot of ways she’s tougher than he is. I had a helluva time coming up with situations in which she’d have to be rescued so he could keep his hand in. As for publishers, it found the home it was meant for. Lesson learned: keep sending stuff out until someone says yes. One editor’s reject is another’s sale.

Off the subject, I’m waiting for Harlequin to publish a book called “The Millionaire Vampire’s Secret Baby.” Somebody please tell me when this happens.

Your Turn: How did it feel when you sold your first book? When you held your very own copy of your first published book? What’s it like for you when inspiration hits out of nowhere? Do you sneak little “Easter eggs” into the story to give your friends or just yourself a giggle? Inquiring minds want know! Wishing you all good writing…

~~~~~~

In the mood to vote? Press a paw toe? If so, check out the latest Dark Diva Best Book poll...and if you’re so inclined vote for Pat Cunningham’s BEST OF BREED ~ http://darkdivasreviews.webs.com/bookofthemonthpoll.htm ~
~~~~~~

A LONDON WEREWOLF IN AMERICA
by Pat Cunningham


Blurb ~

British werewolf Roderick Chase has been sent to Philadelphia to get married. Instead he finds himself the target of werecoyote assassins. His only hope: Darinda Lowell, a witch with a low tolerance level for arrogant alpha males. She agrees to act as his bodyguard and use her magic to find out who’s trying to kill him.

There’s no way the pushy wolf and the vegetarian witch can get along, or so Darinda tells herself. However, love tends to work a spell even a witch can’t ignore. Can she claim the wolf who’s won her heart, or will she lose him to a murderer?

"I like comedies. I like murder mysteries. I like paranormals. I like an evenly-matched hero and heroine engaged in snappy dialogue. And I just love me an English accent spoken in a deep sexy voice. I had a blast writing this book. Hope you have as much fun reading it." ~Pat

A BookStrand Mainstream Romance
~~~

EXCERPT ~ A LONDON WEREWOLF IN AMERICA

She set her shoulder bag on the dresser and began to pull vials and drawstring packets out of it. The smug seeped out of Alfie’s face. “Hey. That better not be poison. I got rights.”

“Don’t worry. I’m brewing a truth potion. One good sniff and you’ll tell me everything and be happy to do it.” She smiled. “I would have gotten far less with the touch, but you had to insist on the hard way.”

“Hey. Hey, wait a minute—”

“Too late.” Darinda took a small clay bowl from her bag and poured the contents of a vial into it. Green liquid pooled in the bowl. Into this she sprinkled ground herbs from a pouch. A soft, smoky mist arose from the bowl, thick with the smell of mint. “You’d better wait in the hall,” she told Roderick. “This can have a powerful effect on people with sensitive noses.” She beamed evilly at Alfie. “Just imagine what it can do to a were.”

His imagination was working just fine. She could tell from his worried posture and the way he flinched from the bowl. She swirled the liquid in the bowl, and its steamy billow increased. Anyone other than the spell caster who caught a whiff of it would be compelled to speak the truth. She extended the bowl toward Alfie and watched his eyes glaze over.
And only then became aware of Roderick hovering far too closely over her shoulder. “I said wait in the hall. This stuff’s dangerous.”

“And leave you alone in the room with that?” He thrust his chin at Alfie. His voice slurred over the consonants, and his eyes didn’t seem to be focusing. “He’d kill you the second I turned my back. Fine mate I’d be if I allowed that to happen.”

“Whoa. She’s your mate?” Alfie said in the same fuzzy voice. “Dog, your pack’s standards have fallen.”

“Roderick,” Darinda said, “please wait in the hall. I’ll be all right. He can’t—”

Roderick shouldered her aside to confront Alfie. “You will not speak in that tone to my mate.”

“Holy scat, dog. She’s not even shifter. Don’t you teabags have rules against messing with the lower orders or something?”

“Bugger the rules. Bugger the pack. I never even wanted control of the pack to begin with. Bloody treacherous low-rankers fawning all over you, right before they go for your throat. Rip out your guts soon as look at you. Forget the upper ranks.” He snarled. “Lift your leg too high and it’s taken for threat. You can’t relax for a second. And this is your family. Think what outsiders are like.”

“Dog, that’s rough.”

“This trip is the first chance I’ve had to breathe in years. You are so fortunate,” he said to Darinda. “Free to be whatever you want, mate with whomever you please. I love this country.”

“I’m touched.” She tried to steer him toward the door and away from the misty cloud hovering over the bed. “Roderick, please—”

“I always wanted to be a cowboy,” he said dreamily. “Out in the wide open spaces with no damned pack trailing after you. Like that Eastwood fellow. He’s one of us, you know. A wolf. If he isn’t, he bloody well should be.”

“No way,” Alfie said. “He’s a coyote. Gotta be. He’s got a sense of humor. No wolf on the planet has a sense of humor. That’s why you mutts are doomed.”

“This is all fascinating,” Darinda said, tugging at Roderick’s arm. “However—”

“It would never work,” Roderick said. “The cowboy thing. Horses don’t like me. The predator-prey dynamic.” His wistful smile disappeared, and he seized Darinda’s shoulders. “You like me, don’t you?”

“Um—”

“I wouldn’t blame you if you hated me. You’ve put your life on hold and yourself at risk to protect me, and I’ve been such a perfect brute. I’m a—what’s the Yank word?”

“Putz?” Alfie suggested.

“I was going to say ‘ass,’ but I suppose yours works. Darinda, you’re a lovely, brave, patient woman who’s been kinder to me than I deserve. I’ve never met a wolf I wanted to stand at my side more than you.”

“Roderick you don’t know what you’re saying.”

“The hell I don’t. I’m in love with you.”

“Whoa, dog,” Alfie said.

Darinda got as far as “Rod—” before his mouth closed over hers and smothered all objections. She couldn’t stop her own response. She’d been attuned to him from the beginning, and the emotions that flooded her now through the contact washed away any objections. The female in her surrendered to instinct and rose up to match the male. The cards never lied. This arrogant, overbearing, meat-eating wolf was her perfect mate.

But not here, not now, not under these circumstances. Reluctantly she broke the kiss. “We’ll talk about this later,” she promised him.

“I get her when you’re done,” Alfie said. Roderick snarled, and Alfie recoiled. “Hey. Just asking.”

Darinda turned Roderick’s head to face her. “Do you really love me?”

“Of course I love you. You’re the only she I want.”

“Would you do something for me?”

“Anything, darling.”

“Open that window, stick your head out and take deep breaths.”
~~~~~~

AVAILABLE: Tuesday, March 2nd ~ http://bookstrand.com/a-london-werewolf-in-america ~
~~~~~~
If you haven’t already, 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/pat-cunningham ~

ALSO available: BEST OF BREED by Pat Cunningham ~ “Confidence breeds beauty, no airbrushing required” ~
http://bookstrand.com/pat-cunningham ~
~~~~~~

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

The Red Lioness Returns to Hold Off the Wolves


Shapeshifter lovers, my space opera novella, RED LIONESS TAMED, is now two years old and was my very first release on March 3, 2008.
In celebration here’s a little x-scene I wrote during the year, 2008, that occurred after the e-published story ended.

Oh yeah... Sun Rocket Kahoqua, my red lioness heroine, has granted me permission to tell you that Pat Cunningham’s A LONDON WEREWOLF IN AMERICA is being released today... info below.


Ice on Mars ~ Growls and Giggles

Sun Rocket giggled loudly, her un-shifted shifter fur tickled over what she’d just read on Draxen’s instructional screen. She’d been perusing the history archives of early 21st century Earth, the USA news section. Always good for comic relief during a long day of space travel.
Just for more grins and to quell her growing disbelief, she leaned forward, re-reading the press release.

Phoenix lander confirms ice in Martian soil
From Associated Press
July 31, 2008 3:25 PM EDT
LOS ANGELES - The Phoenix spacecraft has tasted Martian water for the first time.

The robot heated up soil in one of its instruments earlier this week. Scientists say the chemical test confirms the presence of ice near the Martian north pole.
Until now, the evidence for ice has been circumstantial. That was based on photos Phoenix took of a hard splotchy area near its landing site and changes it saw in a trench.

Phoenix landed in the Martian arctic on May 25 on a three-month digging mission. NASA on Thursday said it was extending the mission an additional two months.


Yowling another laugh, she reared back and slapped her thigh. “What a stinky fish meow of a joke,” she muttered derisively, then laughed louder and longer, her head thrown back, one hand on her belly.

“Sun Rocket Cub,” Draxen affectionately spoke, then grinned a teasing leer the instant she gazed at him. He swaggered inside the commerce communications area of his ship, ignoring her momentary scowl.

Standing behind her, he gripped her shoulders with a lover’s tenderness, and looked at the screen.

Sun Rocket erupted with another chuckle, pointing at the primitive news someone had forgotten to lose over the centuries of time. Inside, she became still as claw-captured prey, the niggling memory of her grandmother’s stories of what she’d endured and the horror circumstances her ancestors had lived through on Mars came to the forefront of her mind, large and vivid as a hologram re-enactment.

“There were already black ops troops, top scientists and colonists from Earth crawling all over the surface of Mars, most of it, ” she muttering-growled.

“Top Secret had become Top Syndicate Control of the Earth masses by then, my beautiful one.” His fingers lightly caressed the nape of her neck. “And you and I, or our ancestors, we’re either created by experiment, or were being created in the warehouse labs.”

Sun Rocket turned her face, rubbing her cheek against his arm sensually. “Meow-wow...can’t complain about how you were genetically enhanced.”

“The order of the universe eventually rights all wrongs.” Draxen slipped his palm beneath the loose gossamer-like blouse she wore. With absolute possession he gently claimed her breast. Casually he flicked his thumb over her rising nipple.

“Bad Captain,” she complained, then languidly lightly bit near his wrist. “You’re tempting the lioness to come out and play with that beastly cock of yours. And you’re too busy taking care of the ship.”

“The Dendryff did take a toll on one weapons’ system.” Draxen rolled her plump nipple between his fingers, a delicate finesse that only teased, but didn’t inflame her to raunchy ride-his-handsome-hide, no matter what the danger was, demand. “I have to return, check the progress, put in more restoring calculations, my woman.”

Sun Rocket growled low in her throat. More often, her lioness nature emerged with him, even when in her full human form.

His hand deserted her breast, then cradled the side of her face with a sweetness she was gradually becoming accustomed to from him. Bending down, he caressed a long kiss on her lips, his kiss warming her, charming her, and enchanting her.

“We arrive on the Outer Station soon, my Sun Rocket. You will wear your collar.”

Before she could hiss properly and swipe him with the cut of her words, he had spun around and was nearly through the archway.

“If you don’t purr my pussy to contentment, Captain, your balls are mine to bat, claws promised!”
~~~

Intro ~

If yer partial to a futuristic adventurous romp of lust and love on the high celestial seas of space...if you have a yen for those cat shifter types, lament no longer...
And watch out if yer a bad kitty shifter roaming the galactic ports, there’s a kick-ass Lioness on your fleeing furry tail.
Year 3051, the Earth calendar used on Terra-Mars, a terra-formed moon orbiting Mars, the home world of ‘Sun Rocket’ Kahoqua of the Windgrass Clan.

Blurb ~

What does a lioness shifter do when she's suddenly trapped in an unknown space cruiser's cargo hold? Then, despite her ability to savagely defend herself, she's trapped beneath the handsome human Captain. And next, cat-scratching ridiculously, she finds herself carnal-trapped, and meow yowl! bound by leather straps in his bed?
Answer: She fights tooth and claw. Problem: The loner Captain is nova-hot at seducing her.
~~~

Sun Rocket & Captain Draxen Z invite you to read their love story ~
RED LIONESS TAMED ~ Lioness shifter lost in space with a loner captain who will do anything to keep her, even seduction by leather ~ *5 Flowers* from Book Cravers ~ Available from Liquid Silver Books, Molten Silver ~
http://liquidsilverbooks.com/books/redlionesstamed.htm ~ a spicy sci fi ~ http://liquidsilverbooks.com ~
~~~~~~

Howling Congratulations are in order to Pat Cunningham.

BEST OF BREED ~ Rated 5 Delightful Divas and a Recommended Read by Autumn!

From DARK DIVA REVIEWS ~

Summary: 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.

"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~

A BookStrand Mainstream Romance

Autumn’s Review: Best of Breed is an awesome read! Pat Cunningham combines suspense, paranormal and romance, with great results. From the beginning, Ms. Cunningham grabs your attention and doesn't let go; making you wonder, will Adele (Heidi) win Best in Show, or will Bowie catch her and her brother? How can a were-hunter be Adele's destined mate? Why does Bowie have a beef with were and just what is he hiding? With all these questions, I couldn't put this book down. I had to know, and Ms. Cunningham didn't disappoint. She weaved a story that had me on the edge of my seat, and not only on the suspense, but on the romance aspect as well.

I loved Adele; while she’d been beaten down her whole life, she still believes in herself enough to think she can win Best in Show. Bowie is a were hunter, who’s also destined to be Adele’s mate, not that he realizes it. He also has a thing for Adele before he knows that she’s a were.

The whole story comes together, leaving you satisfied and happy.
~~~~~~
THURSDAY, March 4th ~ Pat will be blogging about her latest release.

A LONDON WEREWOLF IN AMERICA
by Pat Cunningham


British werewolf Roderick Chase has been sent to Philadelphia to get married. Instead he finds himself the target of werecoyote assassins. His only hope: Darinda Lowell, a witch with a low tolerance level for arrogant alpha males. She agrees to act as his bodyguard and use her magic to find out who’s trying to kill him.

There’s no way the pushy wolf and the vegetarian witch can get along, or so Darinda tells herself. However, love tends to work a spell even a witch can’t ignore. Can she claim the wolf who’s won her heart, or will she lose him to a murderer?

"I like comedies. I like murder mysteries. I like paranormals. I like an evenly-matched hero and heroine engaged in snappy dialogue. And I just love me an English accent spoken in a deep sexy voice. I had a blast writing this book. Hope you have as much fun reading it." ~Pat

A BookStrand Mainstream Romance

AVAILABLE: Tuesday, March 2nd


~~~~~~
If you haven’t already, 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/pat-cunningham ~

ALSO available: BEST OF BREED by Pat Cunningham ~ “Confidence breeds beauty, no airbrushing required” ~
http://bookstrand.com/pat-cunningham ~
~~~~~~

HAPPY SHAPESHIFTING MARCH!

~ MAY YOUR BRIGHTEST, MOST ROMANTIC READING DREAMS COME TRUE ~


Savanna Kougar

~ Run on the Wild Side of Romance ~

Author of ~


All Shades of Blue Paradise
Red Lioness Tamed
When a Good Angel Falls ~ In Print
Tangerine Carnal Dreams
Murder by Hair Spray in Gardenia, New Atlantis ~ In Print
Black Cat Beauty
Her Insatiable Dark Heroes ~ In Print
Stallion of Ash and Flame ~
~~~~~~

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Cover Art ~ A LONDON WEREWOLF IN AMERICA


A LONDON WEREWOLF IN AMERICA
by Pat Cunningham


British werewolf Roderick Chase has been sent to Philadelphia to get married. Instead he finds himself the target of werecoyote assassins. His only hope: Darinda Lowell, a witch with a low tolerance level for arrogant alpha males. She agrees to act as his bodyguard and use her magic to find out who’s trying to kill him.

There’s no way the pushy wolf and the vegetarian witch can get along, or so Darinda tells herself. However, love tends to work a spell even a witch can’t ignore. Can she claim the wolf who’s won her heart, or will she lose him to a murderer?


"I like comedies. I like murder mysteries. I like paranormals. I like an evenly-matched hero and heroine engaged in snappy dialogue. And I just love me an English accent spoken in a deep sexy voice. I had a blast writing this book. Hope you have as much fun reading it." ~Pat

A BookStrand Mainstream Romance

AVAILABLE: Tuesday, March 2nd

~~~~~~
If you haven’t already, 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 available: BEST OF BREED by Pat Cunningham ~ “Confidence breeds beauty, no airbrushing required” ~ http://bookstrand.com/authors/patcunningham ~
~~~~~~

Thursday, February 4, 2010

The Ugly Truth


Pic of Xena from ~ http://sidrasiberians.com/ ~

The Ugly Truth

By Pat Cunningham



I really meant to write a funny story. C’mon, look at the plot: a werewolf enters herself in a dog show as a joke, and wins. How can you take that seriously?

But a funny thing happened, and it wasn’t the story. I started exploring my werewolf’s motives. In order to enter a dog show, she’d have to look more dog than wolf. And if she didn’t look that much like a wolf, what did the other wolves think of her? We all know how the reindeer felt about Rudolph, and all he had was the nose.

That’s when I realized: far from being the mischievous, let’s-stick-it-to-the-monkeys shifter I’d been planning to write about, Adele Chase was an insecure young woman with low self-esteem and serious body-image issues, so desperate for others’ approval she was willing to trot around a show ring on the end of a leash for the sake of human applause. If her own kind wouldn’t give her what she craved, she’d go find it elsewhere. Even, as the plot turned out, risk her life to get it.

It must be hell, growing up as a girl these days. Not that it was ever easy, but geez. All that advertising, TV and magazines and now on the Net, bombarding girls with images of unattainable physical perfection. I know Tyra Banks is out there telling viewers her looks are the result of make-up, lighting, professional stylists and a healthy dose of the airbrush, but is anybody listening to her? Or do they just look at the pictures? Their attitudes are shaped by what they see all around them, and what those images tell them. I thought the women’s movement was supposed to free us from the idea that a girl’s worth depends on her appearance. The statistics on teenage eating disorders, depression and even suicide tend to say otherwise. Don’t even get me started on beauty pageants for 5-year-olds. Ye godz.

A lot of ugliness of different varieties crept into this story. The hero despises his own ethnic background and it’s twisted him up inside. The villain is into racial purity and has taken his sick beliefs to a violent extreme. Fortunately, there are bright spots. Adele has the emotional support of her brother, and wins the hero’s heart with her courage as well as her appearance. She, in turn, helps him accept his heritage. The bad guy gets what’s coming to him. Of course, this is fiction. Real life doesn’t always get the happy ending. Ask the 95-pound woman who thinks she’s fat.

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.

The next story will be funny. I promise.

“Best of Breed” is now available from BookStrand.
~~~
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 ~

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

BEST OF BREED by Pat Cunningham


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.
~~~~~~

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.”
~~~~~~

"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 ~