Suspense. Passion. Surrender. Vikings Anthology. #amreading

As promised, I’m reaching out again this month to share another release. This time I’m breaking from the norm in a Viking Anthology unlike any other. I’ve teamed up with eight amazing UK authors to bring you a historical erotic romance connected-world boxed set chock full of riveting stories teeming with volcanic romance.

My contribution, Ragnar, tells the tale of a man determined to remain faithful to the memory of his deceased wife and Myrna, the Pict healer that thaws his cold heart. Hope you love spending time with them as much as I did, and enjoy the unexpected twist that even I didn’t see coming!

Dare to enter our world

A horde of battle-hardened Nordic warriors.

A Pictish village at the mercy of its enemies.

A harrowing bargain struck for nine fearful and reluctant brides.

Delivered into Viking hands, each bride must accept that she belongs to her new master.

But, as wedding nights bring surrender to duty, will fierce lovers also surrender their hearts?

The Highland wilderness is savage, life is perilous, and the future uncertain, but each Viking has sworn protection, and there are no lengths to which a man will not go to safeguard the woman he loves.

Nine tales of suspense, seduction and adventure, told against the forbidding backdrop of medieval Scotland.

Journey together with indomitable heroes and intrepid heroines, as they discover that the raging storms of fear and passion can transform into enduring devotion.

Purchase→books2read.com/VikingSurrender

Available in Kindle Unlimited soon!

Brandr - by Ashe Barker

Forced to wed a fierce Viking warlord to save her people, Eithne must surrender to her husband’s stern discipline, yet his tenderness takes her breath away. A man of his word, Brandr vows to protect her village from its enemies. But what of Eithne? Who will protect her as she learns to care for this ferocious man who now leads her people and holds her heart in his mighty hands?

Steinn - by Lily Harlem

Married to a barbaric beast, Gladys cannot believe her bad fortune. A rough and raw Norseman has taken to her home and her bed as if it’s his right. But never fear, she has plans to do away with him, to rid him from her life…for good.

Steinn is thankful to the gods for his good luck. His new bride Gladys is a sexy little wild cat with curves and an ass to die for. Admittedly she needs a little training, and a fair bit of discipline, but he’ll take her in hand if it’s the last thing he does. Won’t he?

Magnus - by Emmanuelle de Maupassant

Magnus is tortured by memories of his wife’s murder at the hands of savage berserkers, yet commanded to wed.  The valiant warrior finds unexpected passion in his new bride’s arms, but can Modwen’s love heal the wounds of his battle-scarred heart—or will another’s jealousy destroy them both?

Jerrik - by Felicity Brandon

Brigid: The last thing I need is a husband, especially some Viking brute commanding my surrender.

Jerrik: Fight all you want, little Pict. You will yield to my desire...

Forced into a union she didn't seek, Brigid is terrified and aroused by Jerrik's masterful behaviour and carnal demands. But, when he saves her son from the ferocious ocean, Brigid realises he may be the hero she needs, as well as the man she craves.

Graeme - by Gianna Simone

Maimed and bitter, Graeme is forced to take a wife from the barbarians invading his shores. Resentful of her invading his solitary life, he vows to bend her to his will.  Rinda grudgingly weds a man she barely knows—who hates her nearly as much as she despises him. Yet, despite their shared animosity, the wounded warrior and shield-maiden share an unexpected passion that soon consumes them both.

Thorolf - by Vanessa Brooks

Ailsa, a woman scarred by the brutality of men, knowing peace only in the depths of the forest. Thorolf, a cunning warrior, as fierce as the wolves Ailsa adores. Enemies bound by marriage, their attraction is undeniable. But can her Viking husband tame Ailsa’s wounded heart?

Garth - by Sassa Daniels

A proud warrior, he hides a debilitating weakness.  The village outcast, she’s plagued by terrifying visions. Their marriage seems cursed from the start. But, as they come to terms with their union, will they find the love they both need?

Ragnar - by Sky Purington

Intrigued by the symbol on his blade, Myrna chooses Ragnar for her husband. But how is she to love a man who lives in the past? Determined to remain faithful to his deceased wife, Ragnar both fights and craves Myrna, hungry for her healing touch. Will he give in and find sanctuary in her arms? Or will the shocking truth about his dagger end love before it begins?

Bjorn - by Jane Burrelli

A proud shield-maiden vowing never to be possessed by any man.

A ruthless Viking warrior swearing to tame the bold beauty.

A battle of wills and consuming desire.

But who will conquer who?

Purchase→books2read.com/VikingSurrender

Available in Kindle Unlimited soon!

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Vikings: Dare To Enter Our World. #mustread

NINE CONQUERING REASONS TO SURRENDER

Filled with action and suspense, this summer’s hottest beach read comes in the shape of Vikings!

Battle-hardened and broad-chested, with arms strong enough to sweep you off your feet, these warriors are pure muscle, with shoulders built for carrying you to bed. You’ll be wriggling with anticipation for these steamily smouldering stories, filled with scorching scenes of sexy sizzle.

A big hooray for Ashe Barker, Lily Harlem, Felicity Brandon, Gianna Simone, Vanessa Brooks, Sassa Daniels, Sky Purington, Emmanuelle de Maupassant, and Jane Burrelli - who've created a shared-world series of supreme alpha hotness, guaranteed to have you page-turning into the late hours.

About the Set

A tiny Scottish settlement at the mercy of its enemies.

A harrowing bargain struck for nine fearful and reluctant brides.

Delivered into Viking hands, the brides of Achnaryrie now belong to their conquering masters but, as wedding nights bring surrender to duty, will fierce lovers also surrender their hearts?

The Highland wilderness is savage, life is perilous, and the future uncertain, but each Viking has sworn protection, and there are no lengths to which a man will not go to safeguard the woman he loves.

Against the forbidding backdrop of medieval Scotland, join these indomitable heroes and intrepid heroines as they discover that the raging storms of fear and passion can transform into enduring devotion.

This delicious set of all-new Viking romances is currently on pre-order for the heavily discounted price of 99p/99c.

On sale across all outlets until 18th July, then entering Kindle Unlimited (you’ll find it solely on Amazon after that date – and there will be a paperback available).

Now is the time to nab it!

books2read.com/VikingSurrender

Want to see what the earliest readers of the set think?

View on Goodreads: 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46675556-vikings

Ice Age Shifters by Carol Van Natta.

Today it’s my pleasure to feature Carol Van Natta, author of Ice Age Shifters. Enjoy as we roll back the clock to 1993 and learn more about this fascinating series.

What Did You See in 1993?

By Carol Van Natta

Where were you in 1993, and what did you do for entertainment?

Shifter Mate Magic, the first book in my Ice Age Shifters paranormal romance series, is set in 1993. I had fun walking down memory lane when I was researching the time period to get the right details.

Music to Drive By

The hero of Shifter Mate Magic is Trevor. In addition to being a prehistoric bear shifter, he is an independent truck driver. He listened to a lot of music on the road, including new hits “Soul to Squeeze” by Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Are You Gonna Go My Way?” by Lenny Kravitz, and “I Would Do Anything for Love” by Meat Loaf.

The heroine of the story, Jackie, grew up in Texas, where they play a lot of country music. She’s human, but knows the secret the hidden magical world. She heard Reba McEntire & Vince Gill’s “The Heart Won't Lie,” Mariah Carey’s "Dreamlover," and John Michael Montgomery’s “I Love The Way You Love Me.”

It was a banner year for lyrics, such as Sheryl Crow’s “Leaving Las Vegas” and Sting’s “If I Ever Lose My Faith in You.” The catchy outlier, “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” by Crash Test Dummies, proved that authors aren’t the only artists who have trouble coming up with titles. ;-) Everyone was still listening to Whitney Houston’s mega-platinum 1992 cover of a Dolly Parton song, “I Will Always Love You.”

Me? When I wasn’t listening to musical theatre soundtracks and international folk, I was listening to Jane Siberry and k.d. lang’s heartfelt “Calling All Angels.” Heavens, but those two women can sing!

Movies to Live By

Trevor’s job meant he didn’t see many movies—motels didn’t offer in-room VCRs with tapes, and the sleeper section of his truck didn’t have a TV.

Jackie, on the other hand, is a big movie buff. New films out in 1993 were Schindler’s List, which won many well-deserved accolades, including 7 Academy Awards.The other big hit was Jurassic Park, which took home no Academy Awards but sure did take a T-Rex-sized bite out of the box office.

I loved the campy fun of Army of Darkness, starring the comedically gifted Bruce Campbell, and Addams Family Values because of Raul Julia and all the fantastic quotable quotes. (Popular girl Amanda, volunteering for a water lifesaving demonstration: “I'll be the victim!” Wednesday Addams: “All your life.”) 

The World at Your Fingertips...Sort Of

The internet and the World Wide Web were just around the corner. In the meantime, you could sign up for bulletin board services such as Genie and AOL and connect over a phone line via modem. Home PCs were barely affordable (and their specs are laughably bad when compared to even today’s smartphones). User files were stored on easily hidden floppy disks. A plot point in Shifter Mate Magic turns on the fact that heroine Jackie knows this (hint, hint).

WiFi wasn’t even on the horizon, except in the fertile minds of science fiction authors. Trevor is justifiably pleased with his brand new cellular phone that puts him ahead of the competition. It is also the weight and size of a brick and needs the power of his truck to make it work.

Here’s a little excerpt from Shifter Mate Magic in which Trevor uses his phone. His aunt calls with a warning and advice to get him and the woman he rescued—then had to let go—to safety.

EXCERPT:

The ringing of his cellular phone nearly made him leap out of his seat. He reduced his speed and pulled into the right lane, then answered the call using the hands-free speakers he and an electrician friend had rigged.

“Trevor, what are you doing?”

“Aunt Straya? Are you okay?” She disliked phones in general, and only used them for emergencies.

“That’s what I called to ask you.” Cellular phones were a modern miracle, but they made everyone sound like they were in the bottom of a well. “Auris came pounding on my door, wailing about signs and portents. I thought she’d been sampling the fairy moondew again, but she’s sober as a judge.” No one knew what Auris was running from, and she was more than a bit of a drama queen, but his aunt didn’t discriminate against the lost and unwanted who found their way into her woods.

“What did she say?” asked Trevor.

“That you and your mate need to find sanctuary before the full moon, or your blood will paint the canyons. What’s this about a mate, and why do I have to hear it from Auris?” To his aunt, the news about a mate would be much more important than the threat on his life.

He suppressed a frustrated noise. “It’s complicated.” He told her about the disastrous first meeting and what little he knew.

“You always did pick the hardest path up the mountain.” Trevor rolled his eyes. He preferred peace and quiet, but the fates seemed to have other plans for him. “Best you get yourself and your woman to Kotoyeesinay as soon as you can. Ask for sanctuary the moment you cross the glade’s border. The elves will hear you.”

“I will.”

“Bring her here, afterward. I want to meet the woman who has your measure.”

Trevor gave an audible growl. “I will not. You’ll show her your photo album, and she’ll laugh at me the rest of my life.”

“You need laughter. Drive safe.” As usual, when his aunt was done talking, she simply hung up.

-----------------

Carol Van Natta is a USA TODAY bestselling science fiction and fantasy author. Works include the award-winning Central Galactic Concordance space opera series and the Ice Age Shifters paranormal romance series. She shares her Fort Collins, CO home with a sometime mad scientist and various equally eccentric cats. If she ever gets to explore the stars or find a magical sanctuary town, she’s taking them all with her. Find her on the web at Author.CarolVanNatta.com or Facebook.com/CarolVanNattaAuthor. Sign up for her author newsletter to find out about new releases and more at bit.ly/CVN-news.

Shifter Mate Magic (Ice Age Shifters #1): Lonely bear shifter Trevor meets his mate. Jackie is running for her life and doesn’t have time for romance. Can she trust the sexy bear shifter to get them both to a magical sanctuary town in time? 

https://books2read.com/u/4787E8    

Shift of Destiny (Ice Age Shifters #2): Moira doesn’t believe in magic, despite being chased by a crazy billionaire for her supposed “gifts.” Chance, prehistoric lion shifter, believes in Moira, his true mate. He’s determined to protect her and help her find the magic in her blood. But even a top predator can’t guess the lengths to which a desperate billionaire will go to get what he wants. https://books2read.com/u/31xYVv

Heart of a Dire Wolf (Ice Age Shifters #3): Skyla, dire wolf shifter, and Nic, sexy tiger shifter, recognize their true mate in each other. Problem is, they’re prisoners of an underground auction. To stay together, they must escape captivity, avoid ruthless hunters, and solve the mystery of a hidden sanctuary town before greedy wizards take everything—including them. https://books2read.com/u/mqZwv8

Dire Wolf Wanted (Ice Age Shifters #4): The magical world stands on the brink of war, unless two extraordinary shifters can bridge the gulf between them. Dire wolf shifter Rayne Chekal works to take down an illegal auction house that trafficks in shifters. Arvik Inuktan, secret mythic shifter, infiltrated the auction staff with the same mission. The attraction is instant... and impossible. War is coming. When Rayne and Arvik meet on the battlefield, can they overcome their differences and work together to stop the evil, or will this war engulf the magical world? https://books2read.com/u/boZknR 

Sizzling Passion. Fated Mates. Viking's Conquest. #mustread

Waving hello! Hope you’re having a wonderful summer so far. As always, I’m writing like crazy with lots of releases coming up. Today, I’m thrilled to announce Rokar and Tess’s story has finally arrived. Their tale really touched me, and early readers have loved it, so I hope you will too. They’re such a great couple. Well worth spending time with. 

About the Book

An alpha Viking dragon shifter and his destined mate face their demons in a scorching romance about second chances.

Tormented by her past, Tess hits the open road, and never looks back until she’s forced through time to medieval Scandinavia. Caught in an unraveling prophecy, the only way she can defeat the enemy is to take a mate. But first, she must work through heart-wrenching memories. What she doesn't expect is navigating her rocky history alongside a man as broken as her. A Viking who offers not just solace but sparks untouchable desire.

Though determined to end his rival without becoming mated, Viking Rokar Sigdir begins thinking differently when Tess joins him on his quest and awakens feelings he thought long dormant. Yet with passion and a chance to start anew comes dark flashbacks of losing his kin and the unimaginable pain it caused. A misery he fears repeating.

Will Rokar and Tess be able to let their pasts go so they can end their nemesis and share a future? Or are some things just too hard to overcome? Find out as they journey through time and turbulent memories on a fast-paced, otherworldly adventure that becomes not just a conquest of their enemy but of their grief-stricken souls.

Universal Amazon Purchase Link- getbook.at/VikingsConquest

Excerpt

“How did you and Helga meet, anyway?” Tess began walking again. “Or did you grow up together?”

He seemed relieved to speak of lighter things as he joined her. “I met Helga when visiting an allied tribe.” The corner of his mouth inched up. “She was dancing the first time I saw her.”

How ironic. “Do you like dancing then?”

“I did after I met her.” His crooked grin grew a little. “I was very clumsy, but she didn’t seem to mind.”

“Clumsy?” She chuckled. “But you’re a dragon! We’re the epitome of grace.”

“In dragon form,” he agreed. “But I was not so graceful in human form.”

She arched her brows and eyed him. “So you dance well now?”

“I dance…less poorly.”

She chuckled again, detecting a bit of humor lurking beneath all his baggage. “So you saw Helga dancing. Then what?”

“I waited until she was done dancing then approached her.” His gaze went to the trees swaying in the wind. “She continually tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, but the wind kept blowing it across her face as she smiled at me for the first time.” He absently rubbed his fingers together as though he remembered what her hair felt like. “Eventually, I tucked it back for her.”

“Funny the things we remember,” Tess murmured, rubbing her fingers together as well. “I recall the feel of Axle’s leather jacket, the scent of cigar smoke clinging to it. That was my first thought when we finally started chatting. He smoked cigars, and I smoked cigarettes back then…bad combo…mostly cuz I hate the smell of cigars.” She shook her head and spoke without thinking. “I should’ve known then we were a match made in Hell.”

“I don’t smoke anything,” he divulged, wonderfully frank. “But I enjoy drinking.”

“Me too,” she echoed then relented. “Though I might’ve leaned on it a little too heavily lately.” She shrugged a shoulder, not about to apologize. “Or not. Who knows.”

“We all cope with things how we will.” He sounded unapologetic. “I have barely spoken to my kin over the past two years and as you know, shut them out entirely telepathically…until recently.”

“Right,” she said. “Because of me?”

“So it seems,” he conceded. “Yours was the first voice I’ve heard in my head in a long time. Once that happened, it seemed natural to allow my kin back in.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that,” she said. “And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry I busted into your mind without permission.” She met his eyes, guilty though she had no choice. “I had no control over it.”

“You mean your dragon took over?”

“I assume so,” she replied. “Considering we’re supposedly fated mates, right?”

He nodded and looked at her with hesitation, clearly wondering if he should say what he was thinking. 

“What is it, Rokar?” she asked. When he started to shake his head, she urged him on. “You’re the one who said we needed to start somewhere so don’t hold back.”

He hesitated another moment before he relented. “I did not mind.”

“Didn’t mind what?” she prompted when he didn’t go on.

Struggling, he finally said, “You…”

She almost grinned. Was he being bashful? “Me?”

“Yes, you,” he stated bluntly.

She couldn’t help another chuckle as she tried to draw him out. “Me, what, Rokar?”

“You.” He sighed and looked at her like she should know what he was talking about. “I was glad you entered my mind without permission.”

He went to say more but snapped his mouth shut, evidently finished sharing. At least in this regard.

“I’m glad too,” she revealed and meant it. “I like the feel of you within my mind.”

The minute she said it she regretted it mostly because it sounded like she was undermining Helga and she hadn’t meant to do that.

“You do?”

His question caught her off guard. “Of course.”

Had Helga rattled his confidence that badly? While typically she’d find that unattractive in a man, preferring a tough-as-nails sort, she knew deep down Rokar was plenty tough. He was just wounded and vulnerable in a way she understood. So she stopped and told him something a woman should have told him long before her. She gave it to him straight.

In fact, her dragon gave it to him even straighter.

“You sound amazing in a woman’s mind, Rokar,” she said. “Your inner voice is wanna-spread-my-thighs-for-you sexy, and your essence is wrap-around-the soul warm fuzzies, all ‘the feels,’ protective. Not to mention—”

That’s all she got out before he proved he did, in fact, possess a good deal of confidence.

He yanked her close and kissed her hard.   

                

Universal Amazon Purchase Link- getbook.at/VikingsConquest

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