Lori's Book Blog: Making Sense Blog Tour & Double Giveaway

Making Sense: Sensual Healing, Book 2

Author: Serenity Woods

ISBN-13: 9781619211223

ASIN: B008TR5CUO

Buy Links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008TR5CUO

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/making-sense-serenity-woods/1112418361?ean=9781619211223

Samhain: http://store.samhainpublishing.com/making-sense-p-7080.html

Blurb:

One night can loosen the grip of the past. Only love can break it completely.

Sensual Healing, Book 2

Freya Fletcher longs to travel and use her nursing skills abroad. But while her father keeps gambling away her meager savings, she’s anchored to her hospital job and family responsibilities.

When friends ask her to a bar one evening to support a local band, Freya goes along reluctantly. But she’s glad she took the night off when gorgeous Nate Taylor turns out to be the lead guitarist and singer. Too bad there’s no room in her complicated life for anything resembling love.

Following a car accident at age fourteen, Nate awoke with an ability to heal. Now, hounded by the family that used him, haunted by the memory of a boy he couldn’t save, he is a man on the run. Although the promise of peace glows brightly in Freya’s beautiful eyes, his past, weighing heavily on his soul, won’t let him reach for it.

Luckily, the delectable Freya doesn’t want a relationship either. They come together for one night, just casual, no strings. But one night quickly turns into several. Before long they’ve fallen in love, but until they can find a way to break free of their pasts, a happy future will remain only a distant dream.

Warning: An unashamedly romantic and sexy story guaranteed to make you laugh and cry. Please do not read unless you like brooding heroes, fun and feisty heroines, and a touch of the Twilight Zone.

I'd like y'all to welcome Serenity who has stopped by today to talk to us a little about Making Sense, herself, the characters, and some inspirations. She is also giving us a little excerpt as well ;)

Welcome Serenity!!!!

Thanks for having me on your blog today, Lori!

I write sexy contemporary romance set in New Zealand, the home of the movie Lord of the Rings and the most fantastic place to live in the world! My latest book from Samhain is called Making Sense and it’s the second in my Sensual Healing series. If you haven’t read An Uncommon Sense you’ll still be able to enjoy this ‘one-night stand that leads to more’ story about tortured hero Nate—who’s a healer—and how he struggles to fight his love for feisty Freya.

Nate was great fun to write. Coming up with a sexy, brooding hero is often the most fun part of writing romance. The challenge is to write a man that every woman who reads the book will find attractive. Of course there will always be characteristics like “tall, dark and handsome” that are seen as being traditionally appealing, and jobs like firefighters that are seen as being sexy. But for me the most important thing in a romance novel is that when the heroine walks into the room, the hero can’t take his eyes off her. For me, that spark, the chemistry between the hero and heroine, is the key to a successful romance story, whatever their occupations and whatever they look like.

The romance genre is hugely popular at the moment, due in no small measure to the success of Fifty Shades of Grey. This novel has come under huge criticism for varying reasons, but I have to admit I adore all three books, because whatever you think of the writing style and the plot, the stories are packed with passion. And I don’t think there are many people who would deny that the chemistry between the two main characters is pretty explosive.

Fifty Shades has introduced many readers to the sexier side of romance, and with the growth of digital books which means that nobody knows what we’re reading, I think this is only going to continue to expand. Not that reading sexy novels is anything to be ashamed of, IMO. I love a good sexy story—sex and romance are the foundation of our lives and everything else revolves around them. We read romance novels because in real life there’s no guarantee of a happy ending, but we all know that a good sexy romance novel will leave us with an uplifting glow.

I have a rough outline when I begin a book, but after writing twenty romance stories, for me much of the writing process is about gut instinct. I let the characters lead the way and I hope they enjoy the journey as much as I do! I very rarely write the “argue all the way through the book until the end and then they declare their love” sort of romance—my characters fall in love very early on and for one reason or another, try to fight it all the way through, and of course they’re never successful! This means the stories are full of humor and sexy fun, although of course they never have an easy ride (so to speak!). Making Sense is maybe one of the darkest stories I’ve written, and poor tortured Nate has a bit of an emotional rollercoaster ride, but I promise there’s a lovely happy ever after for them both.

Anyway, here’s a snippet to whet your appetite ;-)

He brushed her lips with his thumb, and she parted them, taking his thumb into her mouth, sucking it. He watched her for about ten seconds, closing his eyes briefly as she swirled around the pad with her tongue, and then he slid his thumb out. Slowly, he took both her hands in his, lifted her arms and pinned her hands above her head on the glass.

“Are you sure about this?” He moved closer, his lips hovering above hers.

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my entire life.” She flexed her hands in his. Her heart pounded. The words were mostly true—she absolutely, desperately, wanted to have sex with him. But she had no idea what to expect.

“Are you sure you’re ready for it?” He brushed his lips against hers, kissed up her jaw to her ear, nuzzling it. “If I take you to bed, I’m not going to hold back.” He bit her earlobe, laughing as she shivered, and kissed down her neck, touching his tongue to where her pulse throbbed.

“Oh God…”

“If we do this, we do it a hundred percent.” He covered the pulse point with his mouth, sucking gently.

“What do you mean?” she asked faintly.

He kissed back up to her mouth and pulled back slightly to look into her eyes. “I mean, if you’re expecting a two-minute quickie and a pizza, it’s not going to happen.”

She swallowed. “I thought you said you were used to it being hot and fast.”

“Sometimes hot and fast is good, it hits the spot.” He moved even closer to her, pressing himself along her body, pinning her to the glass. “But if I’m finally going to get you into bed, Aroha, in the dark, with your skin sticking to mine with sweat—” he kissed her neck again and touched his tongue to her damp skin, “—and all night to play with you, there’s no way I’m going to waste a precious second of that time.”

Freya’s head spun. The whisky threaded through her veins, heating her blood, the rugby shirt growing damp against her back and under her breasts. Her heart pounded. She’d half expected him to lift her onto the table and take her then and there, in a brief, glorious burst of sexual passion, and she would have been content with that. But this…

He lifted his head, looked her in the eye. “Well? Still want to go ahead?”

“Oh my God, yes, yes, yes.”

Author Bio:

Serenity Woods lives in the sub-tropical Northland of New Zealand with her wonderful husband and gorgeous teenage son. She writes fun, flirty, and sexy romances in a variety of romantic sub-genres. She’s won several writing competitions and is a member of the Romance Writers of New Zealand. She would much rather immerse herself in reading or writing romance than do the dusting and ironing, which is why it’s not a great idea to pop round if you have any allergies.