Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Excerpt and Giveaway: Love Potions



Today I have the pleasure of sharing a fun snippet with you all from Michelle McCleod's adult paranormal romance novella Love Potions, and, because Michelle is amazing, I also have a lovely giveaway to offer you as well! Yay! I don't often get to post excerpts on the blog, so I'm excited to bring you guys a little something different today, hope you enjoy it!

“Really, Raven, I don’t think this is necessary. What do you think you’re going to accomplish?” Frowning, Marion fought her friend’s grip.


Aidan waited, intrigued to see what would happen next.


The blonde spotted him and her face lit up in a smile. Dragging Marion with her, she came to stand in front of him. “Hello.”


“Hello,” he said not missing the way she assessed him. From the appreciative gleam in her eye, he must’ve passed inspection.


“My name is Raven and this…” She thrust her companion in front of her, “Is Marion.”


“We’ve met,” Aidan said with a nod to Marion.


“Yeah, we’ve met already. Actually, we’re done meeting.” Marion finally twisted free of her friend’s grasp and glared at them both while rubbing her arm.


“You were the one watching Marion on the dance floor, weren’t you?” Raven asked.


Aidan nodded. “There’s something unique about the way your friend dances.”


Raven laughed. “Yeah, it’s called sexual frustration.”


Marion gasped and hissed, “Raven.”


Raven ignored her. “You see, Marion’s my roommate and she never goes out. She sits at home and blows up love potions in ratty old sweat pants. I can’t take it anymore. She’s ruining my love life. Since you seem interested, I thought I’d facilitate a conversation.”


“I’m going to hex you the second we get home,” Marion said.


“I’ll double-hex you back,” Raven said with a sigh of exasperation.


“Are you looking for love?” Aidan asked, interrupting the two before their spat escalated.


“No.” But Marion wouldn’t meet his eyes when she said it. There was a troubled expression on her face that made him wonder what her previous romantic experiences had been like.


“I’ll leave you two to get acquainted.” Raven edged back toward the door. “I’ll have the bartender send up some mead, okay? My treat.”


Aidan nodded while Marion just glowered at her feet.


Raven shook her head. “Come on, Mar. He’s a perfectly nice elf. It wouldn’t kill you to sit and talk to him.”


“Fine.” Marion stomped over to the chair next to Aidan and plopped down with such force, she started to topple backwards. Aidan reached out and caught her, gently setting her right. She blushed. “Thanks.”


“You’re welcome.”


“See? Perfectly nice,” Raven said with a pleased smile. “I’ll be back to check on you in a little bit. In the meantime, for the love of the gods, talk.”


Marion stuck out her tongue, but Raven had already disappeared down the stairs.


Aidan laughed at her impudence, a response that earned him a dirty look, which he found doubly amusing. He studied Marion, noting the delicate bone structure of her face, the deep brown eyes which flashed bright when she was upset. Dark hair flowed down her back in a glossy wave. She was pretty enough, but her clothes were so baggy that he had no idea what she looked like aside from her face.


“I won’t bite, you know.”


“No?” she said, doubt threading through her voice.


“No.”


She flushed. “Of course not. I mean, it’s not like you’re a vampire or anything.” She paused. “You aren’t, are you?”


“No. I’m an elf.”


“You look like an elf.”


“I do?”


“Well, you have the pointy ears. Vampires don’t have pointy ears.”


“No, they have pointy teeth.”


She gave a nervous laugh in response.


“Why do you blow up love potions if you’re not trying to fall in love?”


“I’m taking a potions class.”


“You’re in school then?”


“Yes. I’m working toward a magic degree. Only...”


“The love potions keep exploding.” He finished.


“Yes.” Marion sighed. “I don’t understand it. I’m doing everything right, but no matter what I do they just go…kablooey.”


A huge thank you to Michelle for allowing me to share this snippet! For more information on her and her books, you can find her here:

Blog
Twitter
Amazon

GIVEAWAY

To help foster a little love this holiday season, Michelle is generously offering up 3 e-book copies of Love Potions to my amazing blog readers! Please note that this novella is an adult paranormal romance, not YA, so keep that in mind when entering. To enter, please leave a comment on this post with a valid email address so I can contact you if you win. As these are e-book copies, this giveaway is open internationally and will run through midnight EST on Friday, December 9th after which time a winner will be chosen and announced on the blog. Good luck everyone!


LOVE POTIONS


An incompetent witch, a cursed elf, and the wizard who wants to kill them.

Witch-in-training, Marion, is about to flunk her Potions class because of a serious case of 'love block'. If her love potions keep exploding like stink bombs, she won't graduate to the magical defense classes she really wants to take. A problem because her ex-boyfriend is out of prison and wants to pick up where they left off...with his hands around her throat.

When Marion learns she'll never make a love potion if she doesn't fall in love, she takes a risk on Aidan, a handsome, charming elf...cursed to break her heart.

Love Potions is a 30,000 word count novella with a touch of humor and a side of hot sex. Includes exclusive sneak peaks of Ashley L. Willis' The Calling and Michelle McCleod's forthcoming Urban Fantasy, Crime Bites.

34 comments:

  1. Oh, that cover and excerpt are steamy!

    rieconley@missiontoread.com

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  2. Thanks for the chance to win! Sounds fabulous!

    andralynn7@gmail.com

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  3. That cover is SO PRETTY! Pink is one of my favourite colours (if you've seen my blog, then that's a total shocker, right? LOL!) and it doesn't get any better than pink and sparkly with hearts! x) And LOL, love potions are always tons of fun to read about because something always goes horribly wrong!

    When I join adulthood, I think I might have to pick this up! Thanks for sharing, Jenny! :)

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  4. Loved the snippet! Thanks for the chance of winning =)

    iluvkimi_220@hotmail.co.uk

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  5. Oh yay! I'm so excited to be on Supernatural Snark today. Thank you Jenny!

    Michelle

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  6. The story sounds good, i hope i win!
    email: priya.1dt@gmail.com

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  7. Sounds like a great read to keep me warm this winter. lol Hot cover too.

    nicnac63 AT hotmail DOT com

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  8. The plot of those one sounds cute. Good to remind people that it's adult not YA.
    alisoncanread at gmail dot com

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  9. So, Elves don't bite...good to know!

    I've been so into romance books lately, that it feels like such a chore to read anything else, so this is perfect for me. I love a dash of humor paired with steamy moments.

    missie at theunreadreader.com

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  10. Yay, love paranormal romance :D Thank you for this giveaway!

    cean.loves.you at gmail dot com

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  11. Not entering but still nice excerpt :)

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  12. Oh that is so cute. I swear that would be me. Always exploding the love potions. LOL

    books (dot) things (at) yahoo (dot) com

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  13. So excited to enter :) Sounds awesome!
    sweettemptation[at]hotmail[dot]de

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  14. Would love to win this book. Sounds so awesome!

    Danni
    dannigv616AThotmailDOTcom

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  15. wow this sounds great. definitely entering...
    ruhmemiah@hotmail.com

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  16. This sounds like a fun book with the right touch of humor.

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  17. An ELF! WIN!! This I definitely NEED!!

    Thebookishbrunette@gmail.com

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  18. I like how she decides he's not a vamp because he has pointy ears. Cute snippet!

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  19. I love the sound of this one. An elf and an incompetent witch? Sounds like a fun read and I'm a sucker for pointy ears. Thanks for the giveaway.
    jen(at)delux(dot)com

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  20. Not entering, but I liked the excerpt. I'd never think of an elf as sexy.

    Heather

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  21. This sounds really good.I want to read more about Marion and Aidan.Thanks for the chance to win a copy.
    elaing8(at)netscape(dot)net

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  22. This sounds sweet and different...definitely cute. I doubt it's my thing though, as I'm inappropriate and sexy enough as it is though, obvs. Thank you anyway for the awesome giveaway, Jenny :)

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  23. OMG! I love the excerpt! LOL It has me needing to read this book! Thanks for the contest! DeAnna @SacredmOOn1 sacredmoon1(at)gmail(dot)com

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  24. I love the cover! Its eyecatching! This sounds so good! Thanks for sharing!
    shadowluvs2read(at)gmail(dot)com

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  25. Thanks for the giveaway!

    mysticsandmoonbeams(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  26. What a cute story! It has humour, chemistry, what more could a reader want? I'd love to read it, thank you!

    stella.exlibris (at) gmail (dot) com

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  27. I love the sound of this book and would really like to read it. Please enter me in contest. Tore923@aol.com

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  28. I could use a light, fun read. sounds great.

    Anne
    acm05atjuno.com

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  29. With the ingredients of love, humor, and paranormal characters, bound to be a great recipe for a fun read.

    alterlisa AT yahoo DOT com

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  30. So, I was totally giggling through the whole thing, but I take that all to mean that the book is kind of adorable. I would like to give this one a try because the whole witch aspect is cool. Plus, love potions? Win!

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  31. Thanks for the giveaway!

    bwithbite (at) gmail (dot) com

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  32. Looks like a fun read.

    Thanks for the give away!

    michelle(dot)lansdowne(at)gmail(dot)com

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  33. Oh I think this is right up my alley :) Incompetent cursed elf---now that is an unusual character :)

    thehistorychic@gmail.com

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  34. @Buried in Books I'd never think of an elf as sexy.

    You didn't think that Legolas (aka the amazing Orlando Bloom) from LOTR was sexy? ;)

    Anyways, this sounds like a fun read- humor and smexyness combined! ;)

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