In the Author Spotlight

Samantha Sommersby

CONTEST INFO: Samantha is currently running a contest that will end on April 30 over at Author Island. She’s giving away an autographed set of the first three books in her very successful Forbidden Series!

To get your name in the hat for this fantastic prize pack, head over to Samantha's Website and read the excerpt of FORBIDDEN: THE TEMPTATION to find out what Jake got the two of them to drink. Submit your answer through Samantha's contact page and be sure to tell her is for her "Welcome to the Island" contest. http://www.authorisland.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=6&Itemid=510

AL: Hi Samantha! Thanks for being In the Author Spotlight this week. It’s the “Year of the Blog” and it’s going great!

SS: Seriously? It’s the “Year of the Blog”? I had no idea. I need to get out more. I’ve had my nose to the grindstone.

AL: LOL. No, it's just the "Year of the Blog" on my blog. I was a terrible blogger, but with the help of wonderful authors I'm getting good at it. So, tell us what’s happening with you.

SS: The next few months are going to be really hectic because I have a lot of travel planned. I’m afraid it’s going to feel like I’m living out of a suitcase! Most of the travel will be to various conventions, but my husband and I just booked a get-away to Napa Valley that I’m excited about. We both really enjoy wine and we have a modest cellar in our house that holds about 800 bottles. It’s been a couple years since we’ve gone away, just the two of us, on a tasting trip. We’re looking forward to a long, relaxed weekend filled with good food, wine, and lovin’. Ahh.

AL: Forbidden… Vampires, wolves, are their bears? Oh my! J Tell us about your newest release and this great series.

SS: LOL! No bears.

Forbidden: The Temptation is the fourth book in my Forbidden series and my first shape-shifter novel. Although it’s set in the Forbidden universe, it really does stand completely on it’s own.

The book’s hero, Jake Madison, is an irreverent, dirty-talkin’ cowboy from Texas who, in the past year, became a werewolf. The heroine, Allison Connelly, is a newly divorced forensic psychologist. They meet during a freak snowstorm. Allison is visiting Yosemite and when the storm kicks up, the bank of snow she’s standing on shears off and she’s plunged down into an icy ravine. Although Jake rescues her, Allison is no damsel in distress. She’s a kick-butt heroine. The chemistry between these two is off the charts, so there’s lots of hot sex. Oh, and somewhere in the mountains Roane Devlin, a rogue Were turned serial killer is lurking. When threatened by Roane, Jake realizes that whatever danger his inner beast may pose to Allison, there’s only one way to protect her—unleash it.

AL: Are you focusing right now just on the Forbidden series, or do you have other sensual tales in the works?

SS: I have a WWI historical under contract with Red Rose Publishing, but I don’t have a release date for that yet. Book 5 in the Forbidden series, Forbidden: The Sacrifice, will be out this fall.

AL: Out of all your stories do you have one that is more near and dear to your heart?

SS: I find that changes over time. My stories are special to me for different reasons. I feel like I grow as a writer with each and every book. If I had to pick one, I think it would be Shelter from the Storm. The hero in that book is a social worker that works for Child Protective Services. That’s what my husband does. Although there’s a bit of him in every hero that I write, there’s an awful lot of him in that particular one.

AL: You’re snowed in for a week in the Swiss Alps. You’ve enough firewood and food to get you through the blizzard waging outside. What are three things that you would have to have with you?

SS:
My laptop
My iPhone with all my books on it
Bubble bath

AL: You’re the actress in a must see blockbuster movie that everyone’s been waiting all summer for. What’s the movie about? Who’s your character? And who’s your leading man?

SS: What a cool question! Something where I get to be smart, unravel a mystery, and kick bad-guy butt. Leading man? Clive Owens.

AL: What’s your all time favorite movie?

SS: Casablanca

AL: What music do you jam to, or relax to?

SS: I have pretty eclectic tastes in music. I don’t listen to music when I write, I find that really distracting. I always have the radio on in the car and enjoy listening to music at the gym or when I’m cooking. This morning I was listening to Frank Sinatra.

AL: If you could go anywhere in the world on a “sweethearts” vacation, where would you go?

SS: Paris. I’ve never been and that’s someplace I’ve always wanted to go.

AL: Please share a favorite quote with us.

SS: “The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.” – Joseph Campbell

AL: Thank you so much Samantha for laying it all out on Blog Bites. I hope you’ll come back and share with us all again down the road.

SS: Thanks so much for having me, Ann. I’ve had a lot of fun!

AL: To find out more about Samantha and her sizzling reads, please visit:

http://www.samanthasommersby.com/

http://www.myspace.com/samanthasommersby

Featured Title

Blurb:

A year ago, Jacob Madison got more than he bargained for during a rock-climbing trip to Yosemite. A freak accident left him badly injured, at the mercy of the elements—and the wolves who rescued him. If it hadn’t been for them, he’d be dead. He’d also still be human. Now he’s back, hoping to find out who he is and what he’s become. Instead, he finds smart, sexy Allison Connelly.

A forensic psychologist, Allison is newly divorced and proudly standing on her own two feet…until an unexpected storm shears off the snow bank she’s standing on. She plunges down an icy ravine, thinking she’s heading for oblivion. Then she lands in the arms of a tall, dark Texan. Jake.

Brought together by circumstance and bound by passion, secrets from their past threaten their future before it can begin. And somewhere in the mountains lurks a rogue Were turned serial killer. Whatever the danger Jake’s inner beast poses to Allison, there’s only one way to protect her—unleash it. Even if it costs him her love.

Warning: This book contains raging winter storms, truly inspiring sex, a kick-butt heroine, and one very hot, dirty-talking cowboy…who’s sometimes furry.

Excerpt:

When I returned to the cabin Allison was standing in front of the stove, wearing the only dress shirt that I’d brought with me.

“The stew has a way to go yet before it’s hot.”

“It sure smells good, though. And that shirt looks far better on you than it does on me,” I said as I kicked the door shut, my arms filled with a half a dozen logs. I dropped them into the wood basket next to the hearth, then pulled my gloves off.

“You don’t mind?”

I tossed one of the logs onto the grate, added some tinder, and stirred the ashes below, blowing on them gently until the fire caught.

“Honestly? I would have preferred you stay naked and in my bed.” I toed off my runners and placed them on the hearth where the heat would dry them out. I unbuttoned, unzipped, and just as I was about to pull down my pants I looked up.

Allison turned around, averting her gaze as I stripped. I hung the jeans over the back of one of the chairs so that the wet legs were closest to the fire, then I slipped on a pair of sweatpants and walked over towards her, wearing only them and a t-shirt. “But barefoot, half naked, and in the kitchen works for me too.”

I snaked one hand around her waist, pulling her against me, wanting her to feel the effect that she had on me. I glanced over her shoulder into the pot of stew. “It’s starting to warm up.”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “It should be ready any minute.”

I swept her hair over one shoulder and leaned down to nibble on her ear. “I’m ready now.”
“I thought you liked it slow, Dallas. This is awfully fast.”

I could smell her arousal. She may have been expressing doubt, but her body wanted mine, that was a certainty that couldn’t be denied.

“You want me to stop?” I moved one hand to her breast and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“No,” Allison gasped. “No, I don’t want you to stop.”

She turned to face me. That’s when I noticed it, a gold chain dangling from her neck and on it a simple gold band. Her tits had distracted me earlier. I hadn’t noticed the ring when I had been undressing her, but I did now. It was a wedding ring.

“You’re married.” I released her.

It sounded like an accusation. I hadn’t meant it to.

Allison shook her head, then she walked around me, moving closer to the fire. “Divorced. It…ended badly.” She wrapped her arms around herself in what appeared to be a protective gesture.

I sat down on the edge of the bed and waited, wondering if she was going to tell me more. She didn’t.

“Last summer I worked on a divorce case that just about killed me,” I told her. “It was a mess. And the worst thing was that they used the kids to get to one another. I swore off divorce law after that. It’s not my cup of tea, watching people who used to be in love tearing one another down.”

Allison walked over to me. I placed my hands on her waist and pulled her closer, spreading my knees to accommodate her.

“And what kind of law is your cup of tea?”

“Criminal law, prosecution.”

“Keeping the world safe from bad guys by day and rescuing damsels in distress by night. You’re a real hero, Dallas,” she teased.

I reached behind me until I found the edge of the covers, then pulled them down and inched back.

“I probably deserve a reward of some kind. Don’t you think?”

There was a pretty obvious tent forming in my sweats and her eyes drifted down to it. She licked her lips.

“I’m not good at this. I’m out of practice,” she murmured, almost to herself. Her cheeks flushed and she started to turn away, unable to look me in the eye.

“I can help with that,” I offered, holding my hand out and encouraging her to climb onto the bed and straddle my hips. “Question is,” I added, cupping the side of her face so that I could gaze searchingly into those dark sable eyes, “how much help do you want?”

Allison smiled, then relaxed, placing her hands on my chest.

“How much you willing to give, Dallas?”

“Shucks, ma’am,” I teased, grinding myself into her pussy, “you ask me real nice, I’ll give this all to you.”

She looked past me, her expression clouded over with momentary indecision.

“You gonna be thinking about him?” I fingered the gold band that still hung from the chain around her neck.

“Would it matter?”

“Yes,” I admitted, much to my chagrin. “I guess I’m old fashioned that way.”

“He proposed to me on that bluff, right where the snow sheared off. This ring was supposed to be a symbol of his love and fidelity. In the end he gave me neither.”

The sadness in her voice was almost palpable. I felt the urge to tell her that I was sorry. Not sorry that it ended, it probably needed to end, sorry for the pain and disappointment. But before I could say anything she shook off the mood, pulled back her shoulders, and continued.

“Jake, I came here intending to throw the ring down into the ravine. Right now, I can assure you, I’m not thinking about anyone but you.”

I turned the necklace around until I could see the clasp. It was delicate with a small catch.
“Were you going to keep the necklace?”

“No.”

I released the catch and the ring slid off the chain, onto the bed. Allison picked it up and placed it in my outstretched palm.

“As soon as the weather clears we’ll go back there, together,” I promised, reaching back to drop the necklace on the nightstand.

“And in the meantime?”

I slipped my hand around her neck and lowered her head towards mine before tracing the outline of her lush lips with the pad of my thumb.

“In the meantime…I’m going to explore this warm, wet mouth.”

The first kiss started tenuously, soft and slow, lips skimming over lips, uncertain. A little nibble, a flick of the tongue and she gasped, opening her mouth so that I could slide inside.

I laced my hands through her long, thick tresses to pull her head closer, make the kiss deeper. I wanted to savor it, savor her. Allison’s tongue responded as I stroked it, curling around mine, then pushing past my lips. She was taking what she wanted and I liked that.

She straddled my thighs, her palms flat on the mattress above my head, one on either side. My cock pressed into her taut stomach. She shifted slightly, her pussy grinding against my hipbone. I could feel her dampness and the anticipation of sinking inside of it, inside of her, was almost my undoing.

Allison broke off the kiss, breathing heavily, her tits rising and falling in time with each exhalation.

“I want to feel you, skin on skin,” I told her, reaching down with both hands.

“Don’t—”

She wasn’t quick enough. I tore through the lace panties, ripping them to shreds.

“Jake! Those were almost forty dollars!”

I lifted her off of me, then in one fluid motion I changed our positions. I wanted on top. I pulled the t-shirt over my head and stripped off my sweats.

“They were in my way.” I hooked one hand underneath her knee so that I could lift her leg and open her up nice and wide. As soon as I did, the tip of my cock found its target, velvety smooth and dripping with desire.

Before becoming a werewolf I would never have even considered having unprotected sex. Now, disease wasn’t an issue. I couldn’t catch a thing. Not even a common cold. And, another strange side effect, I’m only fertile for a couple months in the winter. The rest of the year I can get it up just fine, but I’m shooting blanks.

“God, I want you,” I groaned, silently rejoicing in the fact that despite the snowfall outside, this was spring.

“Wait!”

“Wait?”

“Couples who are about to…” She seemed to be searching for the right word.

“Fuck?” I interjected helpfully.

She frowned. “Have sex.”

That made me smile.“Say fuck,” I begged, letting the head of my dick slide up and down the length of her slick slit. “If you can’t say it, I’m not sure you should be doing it.”