Aphrodisia Authors :: Blog

UPDATE: WINNER!
Barbara Hansen
Congrats I’ll be in touch
Kate

Good morning all!
Luckily for me, I get the first opportunity to offer one blog commenter a copy of our upcoming anthology “Some Like it Rough”. Susan Lyons, Anne Rainey and I had a great time comparing stories and making sure we didn’t end up writing the same thing. But as you’ll see, all the novellas are very distinct and hot as hell in their own ways.
It’s my first contemporary effort for Aphrodisia, but I’m also scheduled to write a full length contemporary, which will come out in 2011. (I haven’t given up on my ‘Simply’s yet, don’t worry!)

So far we’ve had great reviews for the book as well, including 5 cherries from Whipped Cream Reviews.

Here’s the blurbage:

Some Like It Rough by Kate Pearce
Luke Warner wants to chill out when he cashes in his hectic life in Silicon Valley
and returns to his hometown. But things heat up when he reunites with his best
friends, Julia and Paul, and invites them both to share in a sexual adventure like
they’ve never had before…

Private Eyes by Susan Lyons
Assigned to work undercover as an exotic dancer, straight-laced Haley Croft
discovers the thrill of strutting her stuff. And when she catches sexy PI Ry
Montana checking out her moves, she can’t wait to give him his own private
show…

Cherry on Top by Anne Rainey
When massage therapist Cherry DuBois rubs her oil-slicked hands all over Dante
Ricci’s rock-hard body, red-hot desire courses through her. She longs to lose
control and give herself to the pleasures of sexual submission…

Just comment below to get a chance to win. I’ll announce the winner on this post by Wednesday:)
Have a great day!

Firstly, I just want to wish you all happy holidays, however you celebrate it, I hope it is exactly what you wanted and what you wished for. My family will celebrate here in sunny California as if we still lived in the UK with a traditional Christmas dinner, homemade mince pies, Christmas pudding. trifle and Christmas Crackers. We can’t seem to let go of the old traditions despite having lived here for 11 years! Whenever I suggest not doing something, all the kids get up in arms about not changing a thing, so that’s what we do-a Victorian Christmas in the New World

I also wanted to share my new book cover for Simply Insatiable, which comes out in May 2010.

Here’s the blurb:

THE MOST SCANDALOUS PASSION…
Lord Minshom is known throughout London for embracing every illicit longing-the more scandalous the better. When his estranged wife, Lady Jane returns with an ultimatum he flatly refuses-even if it means she will turn to other men. Forced to watch Jane flirt shamelessly at the House of Pleasure, Minshom is enraged…and excited. The innocent girl he wed at seventeen has transformed into a voluptuous woman who still ignites a scorching hunger within him…
ARE ALWAYS THE MOST PLEASURABLE…
After seven years apart from her husband, Jane is now ready to settle their differences and start afresh. But when she is reunited with Minshom, his attitude infuriates her-and she is determined to teach him a lesson. Yet even as Jane accepts the attentions of other men, it is Minshom she truly wants. For she alone knows how to satisfy all of his wicked needs…

Have a great 2010!

WINNER!!!

Estella comment #9

Contact me at contactme@katepearce.com with your address, if I don’t get to you first!

As you all probably know by now, the fourth installment of my ‘House of Pleasure’ series Simply Wicked comes out at the end of September. I’m excited to see what readers think of this addition to the series, as it’s all about Anthony Sokorvsky, a character who has been in all three of the previous books and has attracted a lot of interest.

Here’s what RT had to say about the book:

Simply Wicked
Kate Pearce
4 1/2 stars

SUMMARY: Misfits Anthony Sokorvsky and Marguerite, the widowed daughter of Madam Helene Delornay, help each other get back into society’s good graces. Marguerite’s marriage tragically ended in a duel for which her late husband’s family blames her, while Anthony’s homoerotic proclivities are hardly a rumor. It’s a business arrangement that turns physical, surprising both of them and catching the attention of Anthony’s former lover, a devious man who also has ties to Marguerite’s past. (Aphrodisia, Oct., 304 pp., $13.95)
Michelle Wiener

If you’d like to win the chance of owning a signed copy-please leave a comment below

Kate Pearce x

p.s. I’ll announce the winner on this page by Sunday 27th of September and on my facebook page

Hi everyone! Just wanted to slip this in here and announce that the winner of a copy of Simply Wicked was
STACEY A

I’ll be contacting you shortly
Thanks to everyone who entered. Watch for a contest on my blog on release day Oct 3rd for another chance to win,
Kate Pearce x

SIMPLY WICKED, the fourth on my Regency erotic romances set in the House of Pleasure comes out in about 6 weeks and I just got my author copies of the book. The book is about Lord Anthony Sokorvsky, Val’s half-brother and Marguerite Lockwood, Helene’s oldest daughter. It’s always an exciting moment to open that box and hold a copy of your own book in your hands. Somehow it makes it all seem real.

Of course, this particular book is the one everyone expected to come third instead of fourth in the series, and to be honest, so did I-until I realized that Anthony’s heroine had to appear in the third book…so I explained to my editor why I’d like to reverse the order of the two books and he was fine about it. Then, of course, I felt quite a bit of responsibility for getting Anthony right. He’s always been a favorite of my readers and writing his book wasn’t easy. He’s not exactly your conventional romance hero. He isn’t an alpha male, he’s annoying sometimes and could even be perceived as weak-but by the end of the book he’s finding out who he is, growing up and looking forward to a different future with a woman he loves, and who loves him just as he is.

How do you all feel about less than Alpha-male romance heroes? Do you like them or loathe them?

I’m giving away a signed copy of the book to one commenter here today.

love Kate x

Good morning all! I’m just back from the RWA conference in Washington, where I got the opportunity to meet several of my favorite Aphrodisia authors including Kate Douglas, Susan Lyons, Crystal Jordan, Lydia Parks and Shelli Stevens-there were more, but my brain is still overloaded with names and faces, so forgive me if I met you and didn’t name-check you

It’s always a pleasure to get away from the kids and meet up with other writers who kind of understand my crazy writerly ways much better than my family. It’s also a chance to celebrate-while I was at RWA, I found out that I won first place in the RWA Passionate Plume contest for published historical erotic romance with ‘Simply Sinful’-yay!!

When I got back I found the cover for an upcoming anthology for Aphrodisia in my mail box:

Isn’t it lovely? And I’m thrilled to be the first to show the cover off and also thrilled to have such great Aphrodisia authors in the anthology with me. It’s my first contemporary erotic romance for Kensington, and my novella has the same title as the anthology SOME LIKE IT ROUGH so I hope you all like it. It’s due out in March 2010. I’ll have a full-length contemporary out with Aphrodisia late 2010, if not 2011 because I still have 2 more historicals to publish before I get to that one

And I’m not sure if I showed you all the cover for my upcoming ‘Simply’ book yet? It’s due out in late September/early October and is the fourth in the series. It’s all about Anthony Sokorvsky and it;s called SIMPLY WICKED. Please go and check out my website where there is a excerpt and blurb.

Take care everyone and I’ll be back next month with an excerpt from SIMPLY WICKED!
Kate x

I can’t believe it’s almost time for Simply Shameless to hit the shelves! This book is about Madame Helene Delornay who owns and operates the pleasure house and Mr. Philip Ross a lover from her past who unexpectedly reenters her life and turns it upside down. It feels like I wrote it ages ago. This is the third in the ‘Simply’ series and I’ve already completed the fourth ‘Simply Wicked’ and I’m two-thirds of the way through the fifth, ‘Simply Insatiable’. I’m starting to forget which book I should be talking about. Just to remind me and you, here’s an excerpt:
copyright@Kate Pearce 2009

“My wife would never stoop to such salacious behavior.”
“Perhaps you should bring her here and see if that is true? You might be surprised.”
Philip swung around to face her more fully. “My wife is dead. But I can assure you, that such erotic displays would have shocked her immeasurably.”
How terrible for you. It took all Helene’s resolve not to speak the words out loud. If Philip’s wife had indeed been such a lady, it was no wonder he looked so repressed and unhappy. She took a deep breath.
“I apologize again, sir. I should not have mentioned your wife.”
“Why not? I’m sure you’ve been wondering about her all these years,”
“I beg your pardon?”
Philip shrugged. “You know who I am. Don’t try and lie to me.”
“Indeed I do, monsieur.” Helene paused to gather her defenses. “I thought you must have forgotten me and I hesitated to remind you of my existence.”
His smile was almost a sneer. “How could I forget you? You haven’t changed at all.”
Helene touched her face. “That is hardly true. I am no longer eighteen.”
His laugh was harsh. “Thank God for that.”
“I’m not quite sure what you mean. I’m certainly glad I’m not eighteen any more. I make far wiser choices than I did then.” She swallowed hard. “I sincerely regret my comments about your wife. I did not intend to cause you pain.”
“You did not intend to cause me pain.”
His loaded words hung in the air between them, throwing her back to the nights they’d shared, the feel of his skin against hers, his laughter and the delights of their lovemaking. Had she hurt him? Helene focused her attention on his plain white cravat to avoid looking into his face.
“Why are you here, sir?”
“Because Lord Gideon Harcourt brought me and because I’ve often wondered if the infamous Madame Helene could possibly be you.”
“I am infamous?”
He bowed. “You are renowned as the women who can have five men a night and still be looking for another for breakfast. A woman who only has to look at a man to drive him to his knees and make him forget anything but having you.”
“If that were true, I would indeed be an amazing woman. But I have learned never to listen to gossip.” She tried to laugh. “And now that you have seen me, what will you do now?”
He raised her chin with his finger. “Surely that depends on you?”
“I do not understand.”
He bent his head until his mouth met hers and outlined her lips with his tongue. Before she could protest, he kissed her, backing her up against the wall while he ravaged her mouth. She responded from somewhere deep inside as his remembered texture and taste flooded her, taking her off guard and into a world of pure sensation.
She flattened her hands against the grooved wooden paneling to stop herself from touching him. She couldn’t stop her reaction to his kiss which was as immediate and heated as his own. His body pinned her to the wall from knee to neck, his cock was hard against her stomach.
When he drew back she would’ve stumbled if he hadn’t caught her arm and pushed her back against the wall. She watched as he retrieved his handkerchief and deliberately wiped the red stain of her lip color from his mouth.
“You did say that no one gets paid for engaging in sexual activity in your establishment?”
Unable to speak, Helene simply nodded. He tucked the handkerchief back into his pocket.
“Then perhaps you’ll fit me into your, no doubt, already full roster for tonight.”
A roaring sensation destroyed Helene’s common sense. She stepped forward and slapped him hard on the cheek.
“I also said that everyone here has a choice to participate in sexual acts or not.” She curtsied. “Good night, Mr. Ross.”
He shrugged. “Let me know when you change your mind. I’m sure you’ll run out of men soon.”
“I wouldn’t bed you if you were the last man on earth.”
His eyebrows rose. “Is that a challenge? You should know better than to throw down the gauntlet like that.”
“Good night, Mr. Ross.”
Helene gathered her skirts and turned away from him, heading for the private areas of the house. She wanted to run from the cynicism and dislike on his face but refused to give him the satisfaction. How dare he appear and insinuate that she was in some way responsible for how he had turned out? If anyone had a complaint to make about the results of their night together, surely it was her?”

Let me know if you enjoy it or see it on the shelves!
Kate Pearce x

The winner of a copy of Simply Shameless is Emily Ryan-Davis.

Congrats Emily! Please email me at contactme@katepearce.com to collect your prize.

Thanks to everyone who entered. I’ll be giving away another copy on my blog closer to the release date and a few more around the internet I’m sure!

Kate Pearce x

I loved this cover when I first got to see it about 5 months ago, first as a computer image and then as a cover flat. Last Friday the actual books arrived and it’s always a thrill to see the real thing, a solid chunk of paper made out of all the weird stuff that comes out of my head

I’m not sure I’ll ever convert totally to e-books and readers. I still love the feel of a real book in my hands, be it one of mine or someone else’s. I love to curl up and read and not worry about recharging anything electrical. I have enough problems remembering to charge up my cell phone and my ipod without adding an ebook reader as well. Although I love the idea of all those books in that small space and the ability to instantly download and start reading, I’ll probably vacillate between the two until someone makes a decision for me and stops making paper.

Simply Shameless is the third of the Regency ‘House of Pleasure’ books I’ve written for Aphrodisia and is probably the most conventional-for me anyway. It’s lovely to be able to write a series with continuing characters but hard to remember to make it all fit and be continuous when you don’t write anything down like me I’ve had to scrabble a few times to look up what a particular room looks like or a location or the spelling of someone’s surname. Now that I’m writing #5 I’ll have to start being more organised and make some lists- I bet that’s what Kate Douglas has to do with her Wolf Tales!

Shameless comes out at the beginning of May. Here’s a quick blurb about it:

In escaping the horrors of the French Revolution, Helene Delornay leaves behind her not only her past as a Bastille whore, but her bastard child. Determined to succeed in England, she does not expect to be overwhelmed by the erotic charms of Philip Ross, a young aristocrat returning from India to fulfill his reluctant duty to his family. After a night of passion, his unexpected offer, forces Helene to reveal her unsavory past and drive him away.
Eighteen years later, Philip is a recent widower and Helene has become the Madame of a select fee-paying London pleasure house where every erotic dream can become a reality. While Helene tries to tempt the now dour Philip into sexual excess, he struggles to ignore his reawakened desire for her and his dark fascination with the erotic fantasies she offers him. As they explore the boundaries of their shared taste for the exotic and unusual, Helene realizes that in Philip she has truly met her perfect sexual match. Now all she has to decide is what on earth to do with him…

How do you all feel about e-readers versus print books? Have you formed a definite preference yet?

I have a copy to give away to one person who comments below!

Kate x

When I first moved to the U.S. from the UK ten years ago I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself on all the American holidays. I knew all about the 4th of July but what were President’s day, Labor day and Thanksgiving all about?

In England the most exciting thing that happens in November is Bonfire Night on the 5th of November which commemorates the attempt by Guy Fawkes and his conspirators to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605 when the King came to visit. His plot didn’t work and to celebrate, we Brits light bonfires and set off fireworks. (a bit like the 4th of July I suppose in reverse )

You can imagine me trying to explain this bit of peculiarly British history to my new Californian neighbors- Me: “Yeah, we light a bonfire and toss a guy on it until he goes up in flames.”
Shocked neighbor:”You burn a guy A real one?”

Which leads me to Thanksgiving. As a history major, who wrote her thesis about the Welsh Quakers who settled in Pennsylvania 400+ years ago, I was totally fascinated by the whole Thanksgiving story. I was also surprised to hear that the tradition of commemorating that day hadn’t actually been going on since it happened.

But I get it. In fact, I’ve come to appreciate it as the anti-Christmas, the time when we can all get together as a family and with friends without the frantic gift buying to get in the way. The first couple of years we lived here, we were invited to several homes for Thanksgiving-a gift that made us feel so welcome in a strange land, at a time when our kids who had no other family around them, they were embraced by new ‘aunts’ and ‘uncles’, ‘grandparents’, friends.

This year it will just be us, our 4 kids and Granny from Ireland, but we will enjoy the day and the pleasure of living here and give thanks for being lucky enough to end up in such a beautiful place.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Kate Pearce x