Greetings! It’s Wednesday, time for another Marketing for Romance Authors Book Hooks blog hop. Are you looking for something new to read? You’ve come to the right place. Sample a bit from my paranormal erotic romance Rough Weather, below. Then follow the links at the end of this post to discover many more fantastic books!
Blurb
A fated encounter. A familiar stranger. A storm of passion. Can Ondine release her fear, surrender to Marut’s power, and claim her own?
Marine biologist Ondine Ambrose has always felt at home in the sea. Orphaned at birth and raised by her grandmother on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, she has never really questioned her extraordinary affinity for the watery world.
When she encounters an attractive but arrogant engineer on her private beach, surveying the site for a prospective off-shore wind farm, anger is her first reaction. A casual touch, however, transforms that emotion to incomprehensible, irresistible, terrifying lust.
Ebony-skinned Marut has his own talents—aside from his uncanny ability to swamp Ondine with desire. He can control the winds and summon storms. When he insists that they are both more than human, and that she is his destined mate, Ondine responds with skepticism. She tries to resist the charismatic Haitian, but ultimately she cannot deny the evidence of her senses—and her heart.
The Hook
“Wind is far less destructive than fossil fuels. You know that.”
The stranger cupped his tea mug in his big hands. Marut, he called himself. His handsome face wore an earnest expression, while his body was wrapped in her old terrycloth robe, the one she planned to donate to Goodwill. Meanwhile, Ondine herself wore a loose T-shirt and sweatpants that effectively hid her curves. No sense tempting fate.
She hadn’t intended to bring him here, but his clothing was soaked and, like her, he had bloody abrasions on his hands and knees from their fierce encounter on the rocks. So she’d led him over the dunes—careful not to touch him—to the weathered clapboard house she’d inherited from her grandmother. After giving him antiseptic and Band Aids, she’d left him alone in the downstairs bathroom to clean himself up and tend to his wounds. She certainly didn’t intend to play nurse to him, that was certain. She had no idea what had possessed her out on the beach, but she didn’t want to experience it again.
Not that it hadn’t felt wondrous. Indeed, every time she looked at him, she recalled the overwhelming hunger that had seized her. The memory of their frantic encounter unnerved her. The pleasure had been incredible. The loss of control, though, had been terrifying.
Ondine was no virgin, but she’d always been careful about sex. She was normally the one who chose the time and place. And after her mother’s tragic experience, she was unfailingly vigilant about contraception, all the more so because her body would tolerate neither the pill nor an IUD. As she showered off the grit, sweat and semen, she felt grateful that her interactions with Marut had not involved penetration. She didn’t normally carry condoms on a walk to the beach.
He was a stranger, possibly even an enemy. There was something unnatural about the intimacy they’d shared, so sudden and so potent. She would need to remain on her guard.
Rousing herself from her musings, she sipped her own tea and nibbled at one of her ginger snaps. “Of course. Oil, gas, coal—they’re bad news. But why not build your wind farm on dry land? You’d have a much smaller ecological impact.”
“Nobody wants a ninety meter steel tower in their backyard.”
“So you put it where there’s no one to object!”
“In many cases the winds are stronger and more reliable offshore too.”
“And that justifies the cost to wildlife?”
“Global warming’s a bigger threat to ocean life than any wind farm.” Marut’s abruptness suggested annoyance.
Smug satisfaction warmed her, though she recognized that reaction as childish. As a scientist, she was well aware that the tradeoffs and issues were complex. There was no simple answer to the problems facing humanity. Somehow, though, she couldn’t stop herself from baiting him.
“That’s a research question, I think.”
“Look.” He flashed a conciliatory smile that lit up his strong, even features. “Let’s call a truce. My company is in the preliminary stages of design, just studying feasibility and cost-effectiveness for different locations. The installation might turn out to be totally impractical.”
“I certainly hope so.”
Marut chuckled. “Okay, okay! You’ve made your point, Ondine! So do you think my clothes are dry yet?” She’d hung his jeans and shirt out in the hot sun that had followed in the wake of the freak storm.
“Probably. I’ll check.”
“No, I’ll go.” He reached out to arrest her progress. She shrank from his hand.
“Don’t touch me. Please.”
A look of raw pain crossed his face. He sank back into his chair, his fists clenched on the table as though he wanted to smash something. “Do you – do you regret this morning? Because I swear, woman, I don’t.”
“This morning was…I don’t know, an aberration of some sort. I honestly have no idea what happened between us. It was like some drug.”
“It was your nature, calling to mine.”
“What are you talking about? That’s not me. I don’t fuck strangers—men I’ve known for less than ten minutes.”
Marut released a heavy sigh. He opened his hands and stared at his pink-brown palms. “I know you, Ondine. The instant we touched, I remembered.”
“Remembered what? I’m sure we’ve never met.”
“Not in this life. But before.”
Buy Links
Amazon US – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Y2P7741
Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09Y2P7741
Smashwords – https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1142402
Barnes and Noble – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/2940165838149
Kobo – https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/rough-weather-elemental-passions-book-2
Apple Books – https://books.apple.com/us/book/x/id1619557657
Add on Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60820375-rough-weather
Be sure to visit the other authors participating in this week’s Book Hooks hop!
4 comments:
Interesting bit here. "The moment we touched" stirs much emotion
Intriguing excerpt. His touch set them off? They met in another lifetime? Excellent hook. Thanks for sharing!
Oh, I love this - past lives, magic, fated connection, sounds yummy!
oooh - This is gonna be good. Tweeted,
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