Release Day – Again!
The revised version of Healing the Mage, now titled Claimed by the Mage, Book 2 in the Bayou Magiste Chronicles was released today. This is the story of Lily Prentiss and Aidan Marchand. Lily's a Healer who wants nothing to do with magic, thanks to her overbearing parents. Aidan is evolving into a Mage, a particularly painful process. The only thing that will stop his pain completely is Lily's touch. Which creates a whole bunch of dilemmas. Claimed by the Mage has undergone a massive re-edit, has some new content, and is finally the way I originally intended the story to be. It was a long haul getting the books back and fixing all the awful errors and editing, but it's finally done!
Here's the sexy cover – I just love the shot of the French Quarter and damned if I don't wish I was Lily with sexy Aidan pinning me down! 😀
Here's the official blurb:
Lily Prentiss wishes she could ignore her inborn healing magic so she can live life on her terms, not follow the path her Magiste family chose for her. But when she stumbles across Aidan Marchand in the excruciating throes of evolving into a Mage, her touch is all that stops his pain and she can no longer deny her powers. When the sexy Dom seduces her into willing submission, she finds she doesn’t want to resist and actually enjoys giving up control.
Aidan has more to worry about than just his rapidly maturing powers – his business partner is blackmailing him into funding a venture that involves kidnapping young girls both magical and mortal, and selling them as sex slaves. Even as Lily’s touch eases Aidan's pain, he knows staying with her puts her in danger from his enemies. But the gift of her sexual submission helps him even more than her healing magic…so how can he let her go?
The book is available at Amazon now, though if you stop by my blog (http://giannasimone.blogspot.com) , or The Romance Studio's 10th Anniversary Party (http://trsparties.com/), and leave a comment on one of my posts related to the Marchands, I'm giving away a copy!
Updates – and a New Release
The last year has been quite eventful. In the spring I lost my job, though it's not a tragedy and I am enjoying being a SAHM. The severance package was very nice, too, and I really can't complain. I'm lucky enough to be in a situation where I don't have to rush right out and take the first job that comes along. Not to mention, it has been nice to treat the writing career as my number one job focus (though I am really dying for the kids to go back to school). Having the time to focus enabled me to finish and contract two new books, as well.
Anyway, as many of you know, I've spent the last year battling Noble Romance Publishing for the rights back to my two books with them, In the Devil's Arms and Healing the Mage. Earlier this month, I finally succeeded. I can't really talk about the details now, but if any of you have been following my blog, you probably know the dirty details already. Plus, the news last week that Noble is shutting down completely was very pleasing to hear. I'm free and it feels fantastic!
One of the two books I contracted during this time as the third Marchand book. Sizzler Editions loved the story of Regine Marchand, born at the end of In the Devil's Arms, and accepted it within a couple of days. I have to add here, that after being treated so shabbily by Noble, it was a delight to be shown some respect, for both me and my work. Anyone thinking of submitting any erotic works to a publisher, I definitely recommend Sizzler. Anyway, though all three books can stand alone, I really wanted them together, so I sent them to my editor, even before I had the rights officially reverted, so we would be ready to go. We waited while we prepped Regine's story – titled Claimed by the Enchanter. That book came out last week, and the first two will be out again in the next few weeks. Since we now had all three books together (and there are plans for more – historicals, too!), we came up with a series title – the Bayou Magiste Chronicles. Additionally, In the Devil's Arms has been re-titled Claimed by the Devil, and Healing the Mage is now Claimed by the Mage. Not to mention, both have gone through the re-editing process, have been revised and had new content added. The previous editing job was really troubling when I went back in to go through them again. It's nice to have them done right this time around.
Here are the cover and blurb for Claimed by the Enchanter:
Regine Marchand loves being in control – and the role of domme is the perfect way for her to exert that control. An accomplished equestrian, she has her goals of championship in sight and no one will get in her way. Her life and future are in her hands, she doesn’t need to depend on anyone for success and happiness.
Cameron McIntyre is fascinated by the cool façade Regine displays, but senses the depth of passion lurking under her surface. Despite her protests to the contrary, he recognizes in her a desire to submit and be dominated. But when he is forced to suspend her from competition due to performance enhancement spells used on her horse, he worries he may drive her away, instead of into his arms. Believing her innocent of the charges, he vows to help her uncover who set her up while convincing her that submission to him is what she truly wants and needs. Submitting to the tall Irishman brings a new level of pleasure Regine has never known, at the same time making her question everything she knew about herself.
Regine is unaware an enemy from her past has targeted her for revenge. Together she and Cameron must discover who wants to knock her out of competition for good, possibly killing her in the process.
I'll share the new covers for the other two as soon as I have them. The other book news I have to share is that I have also contracted to Pink Flamingo the sequel to Warrior's Vengeance, titled Warrior's Wrath. Like WV, it is a "true-to-the-time" tale, and Aeron, my heroine is caught between Rowan and Gerard. Of course, Rowan, the main hero, has a lot of anger inside, and Aeron suffers as a result, but she also enjoys herself. It's hard not to when you have two virile knights showing you all the wicked and tempting sins of the flesh. 😉 That book will be out in January 2014, and I am about 2/3 of the way through the third book, Warrior's Possession. The characters in that book, Royce Langley and Gillian Marlowe, were first brought to life in 1992! Way back when there were only 6 houses in NY publishing romance, my books were geared toward the style of the time, because that's all those houses wanted. Now, I get to write their tale the way it really should be. Of course, I've added in a bit of the kink factor – Gillian is defiant and determined after being handed over as wife by King Edward to Royce Langley, the Earl of Montchester. Royce doesn't trust any woman, let alone his wife, once he finds out she's half-Welsh. Set in 1284, when the last of the "Welsh Rebellion" was put down by Edward, this creates a conflict between the two that leads to some very interesting interactions. If you know my writing, you know that that means! lol
So I wanted to share my news, it seems I always forget to update LJ. I apologize for that – you guys were the ones who kept me going with OoC and encouraged me to take the chance on rewriting and publishing it as an original, so I feel bad to have been so airheaded about my lack of updates here. Chances are, I'll do it again though, so for (slightly) more frequent updates check out my Gianna Simone blog. I'm a little better over there.
Hey, and spread the word – a few people have reached out to me lately re: OoC, so any fans should check out the Magiste books. I think they'll enjoy them! 😉
Gianna Simone 