Sizzling Saturday

Congratulations to Donna Weaver! Donna will receive an e-book of Kidnapped. Enjoy!

Now for some kisses...
Excerpt is unedited and used with author's permission.)

He turned around and stared at her, and she realized his eyes had changed since that first day when he arrested her. They had been dead, frightening, not caring, but now they were as filled with life and emotions as anyone's. Still, his voice was icy, "I'm a high ranking officer of the corps. I Do Not Like People."


She couldn't tell if the idea offended or scared him. Either way, she had never been good at keeping her mouth shut, so now she smiled and teased, "Really?" before adding, more seriously, "You know, that sounds very lonely to me."

Travis shook his head in frustration, and looked like he wanted to throw something at the wall. She wondered why she didn't just leave: staying out of his way for a while would probably be a good idea. He exclaimed heatedly, "I'm not supposed to be lonely. I'm not supposed to need people or care even for myself, so why do I care about you?"

He started pacing, but the room wasn't all that big, and the second time he passed he grabbed her arms, tugged her closer, and kissed her almost painfully hard. Releasing his grip immediately, he turned away, mumbling, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. Maybe you should go to your room for a bit."

Patricia hesitated, thinking he was insane and she was going crazy too. Maybe she really was sitting in a padded cell somewhere, wearing one of those shirts with very long arms tied to her back, and all this was happening in her mind.

Even while thinking these things, she took a couple of steps closer to him and said softly. "No. It's alright."

Wrapping her arms loosely around his neck, she added, "But be gentle, okay," and pressed her lips against his. Touching him seemed very wrong and forbidden, and she was surprised to find she wanted it very much.

Website: http://www.hammarblad.com/
Maria's blog link is: http://www.scifiromance.info/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mariahammarblad
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mariahammarblad

Purchase link... It will be available here: http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-292/Kidnapped-Maria-Hammarblad/Detail.bok
but not until May 11.

Fickle Friday

Maria isn't fickle when it comes to real life!

I do not have a bucket list, but I do have some quirky interests if you need extra stuff. I play the bass, and played in a few different rock bands “back home.” I like to drive off-road and have done parts of the Sweden Off-Road Tour. It is a yearly event featuring around 400 cars from all over Europe, and goes all through Sweden. It’s around 900 miles (I think) with stops for off-roading.


Hmm, what else… I volunteer at a dog rescue. Oh, I have a good one. I met my husband while roleplaying on Myspace. It was kind of… writing stories together online, in character, and we started talking out of character and really hit it off. After a few months, we decided I would fly over to the US and meet him, and everyone back home thought I would be murdered and dumped in a ditch somewhere, hahaha! I said, “C’mon, I’ve always wanted to go to Florida. I have a cell phone, credit card, and my passport. If it doesn’t work out I’ll rent a car and have a week’s nice vacation.” The custom’s guy on the airport shared my friends’ sentiment. He said, “Oh wow, I shouldn’t let you enter the country. You’ll be dead in a week.” It worked out, and I went over a few more times to see him, and I plunged in and moved late 2008. 

Book Blurb

It's a late winter night when Patricia Risden heads home in her car, on a road she's driven many times before. She doesn't have a care in the world, that is, until a man appears from nowhere, right in front of her.

The next thing she knows is being a prisoner of the unscrupulous Alliance Commander Travis 152; an intimidating man who demands information and complete cooperation. Travis soon realizes his mistake; Tricia doesn't know anything, and she is incapable of even getting a glass of water from the ship's computer.

Infamous for being a ruthless executioner, conditioned since childhood to feel nothing besides fear and pain, he still deems her harmless, and finds enough pity for the lost young woman to let her out of the cell; a decision that will change both their lives forever.

Website: http://www.hammarblad.com/
Maria's blog link is: http://www.scifiromance.info/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mariahammarblad
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mariahammarblad

Purchase link... It will be available here: http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-292/Kidnapped-Maria-Hammarblad/Detail.bok

but not until May 11.

Trailer and Talking with Maria Sadowski

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Today we are talking with Maria Sadowski, author of Kidnapped, a romantic science fiction due to be released May 11th thru Desert Breeze Publishing. So where's home for you?

I’m originally from Sweden and moved to Florida in late 2008. Today I live in the Tampa Bay area with my husband Mike and our three rescue dogs. I like it here, I like the weather and all the sunshine, but I do long for Sweden from time to time. I have always been writing and wanting to make books; when I was a little girl I made my mom staple bundles of colored papers together to resemble books. I was too little to be able to read or write, so I drew suns in them, and declared them to be the “Sun book.” They were all about the sun, and I bet she still has a box of them sitting in the basement. I guess it was the start of my fascination with space. (I also declared I wasn’t supposed to be on this planet. I told her it was all a giant mistake, and that my real family would come to bring me home to my own planet at any moment. Poor mom!)

I don't doubt that your mom is wonderful. So what do you do when you aren't creating "Sun books" or science fiction?

When I’m not writing I enjoy playing bass. I used to play in a couple of rock bands back home, but I haven’t made an effort to find a band since I moved to the US – I don’t have the time to rehearse on a regular basis. I still play, but nowadays it’s mostly for the dogs.

It seems a lot of authors have other creative talents. I've always dreamed (okay when I was young) of being in a band. Tell us more about growing up overseas.

I learned British English in school as a little girl, and one of my biggest challenges when it comes to writing for an American audience is the spelling. I write colour, labour, harbour, realise, defence, and a number of words like those with British spelling.

Thank goodness for the red underlining in Microsoft Word! I get a lot of red in my writing but I think is from my ffatt ffingers! Tell me, what do you love about your latest book?

“Kidnapped” is romantic science fiction. I enjoy the setting of space, and I love the characters. Travis is a very reluctant hero, and even when he decides to try to do the right thing it takes him a while to get the hang of it. I’m also very fond of the bad guy – or gal – Veronica; she’s the epitome of determination and will stop at nothing to get things her way.

I love the name Travis for a hero. Actually I think that is because I left my Travis in quite a bind in one of my upcoming novels. Funny, he doesn't think he's much of a hero either … Tell us about your all time favorite character (of your creating.) Is he/she modeled after a real person?

My all-time favorite character is Stephan Forks in the Goddess’s Saga. He’s not modeled after a real person, but he’s a big personality. He has his flaws, some of them rather big, but he always comes through for the heroine and makes things right. I know exactly what all the characters in those books look like in my head, and to me, writing about them is revisiting old friends.

(Me smiling reminiscently) friends that we sometimes miss. How does it feel when you write?

I am so happy when I write, it becomes an obsession. I enter my own little world populated by my characters, and I don’t want to do anything else. Everything in normal life becomes unwelcome distractions keeping me away from my imaginary friends… I am very fortunate to have an understanding husband; he knows I’ll snap out of it eventually.

Ahh. That is why they are friends, they make you happy, just as mine do me. Do you get ideas for your stories from places you visit, or do you visit places to flesh out your stories?

I get ideas for my stories from everything I see around me. I have an old SUV, and recently when I drove to the supermarket I heard a weird rumbling noise. Looking around I couldn’t see anything outside the car, and the only explanation I could think of was my muffler springing a sudden leak, or why not the entire engine deciding to fall out of the car. It turned out to be a big motorbike sneaking around in my blind spot – I couldn’t even see the guy from my window until I got a red light and he came up next to me. We were going in the same direction and it stirred my imagination, so when I came home I started typing away on a new story where this happens, but the guy on the bike follows the girl in the car… Mwuahahaha!

You are so deliciously wicked … What heat rating would you give your novel?

I would rate “Kidnapped” as Warm –it's cute, but doesn’t contain any explicit love scenes.

Is that how you would classify your life?

Yes, my life is warm too. I am very fortunate to have a romantic husband who impromptu brings me flowers and presents when I least expect it.

Yum! Does he give lessons? Oh we better ask him instead of you. Where can we find you?

Website: http://www.hammarblad.com/
Blog: http://www.hammarblad.blogspot.com/
Maria's blog link is: http://www.scifiromance.info/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mariahammarblad
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mariahammarblad

Purchase link... It will be available here: http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-292/Kidnapped-Maria-Hammarblad/Detail.bok
 but not until May 11.

Tickle Tease Tuesday

(Excerpt is unedited and used by permission of the author.)

Kidnapped

Everyone chosen for the corps was taught at young ages never to feel bored, and never to be lonely. Travis could spend years alone in his craft without anything to do or anyone to talk to. And still, here he was, chatting with a prisoner from a planet so remote most people had forgotten about it.


Giving the young woman a thoughtful glance, he decided he knew all he needed to, more than he had ever wanted to, and it was time to go. He rose up agilely and was surprised to hear her voice call out, "No, wait, please don't leave me alone!"

It was tempting to look back, but he didn't; he marched out into the corridor with its endless rows of cells. A voice from his memory echoed in his head. It was his commanding officer snarling, "Such a pathetic little creature."

He heard a woman's scream, one of many imprints in his brain that would never go away, and his commander's quiet laugh. Through the commotion in his mind, he could also hear the real but muffled sound of Patricia crying on the other side of the wall. Shaking his head made the imagined noises go away, but the weeping was still there. He turned abruptly and entered the cell again. "Don't do that."

Patricia lifted her face up and sniffled, "Don't do what?"

He felt a frown forming, "The thing with your eyes."

She was trying to shout at him, but her voice cracked, and he felt an unfamiliar twinge of sympathy when he heard the forlorn, "I'll stop if you take me home. I didn't do anything."

Shrugging slightly, he answered amiably, "I know. You're really useless, aren't you?"

Website: http://www.hammarblad.com/
Maria's blog link is: http://www.scifiromance.info/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mariahammarblad
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mariahammarblad

Purchase link... It will be available here: http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-292/Kidnapped-Maria-Hammarblad/Detail.bok

but not until May 11.

Contesting Monday

This week the spotlight is on Maria Sadowski and her new release Kidnapped.
Being the awesomely wonderful person Maria is, she is offering a e-copy of her book as a prize this week. Don't mistake this one for the classic! They are not the same.

How to win:

1) Become a follower here if you haven't already. If you are already a follower, leave a comment.
2) Become a follower of Maria's
3) If you would like an additional chance to win, leave a comment !
4) Tweet, Tell a friend on Facebook or email.
5) Maria's links are below let us know where you have shared for extra entries!
Website: http://www.hammarblad.com/
Blog: http://www.hammarblad.blogspot.com/
Maria's blog link is: http://www.scifiromance.info/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mariahammarblad
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mariahammarblad

Purchase link... It will be available here: http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-292/Kidnapped-Maria-Hammarblad/Detail.bok
but not until May 11.

My inspiration for this week!

http://www.wimp.com/casanovaprank/

I just love this little guy! How many amores did you pick up at his age?

A glimpse at what's coming.

You'll never think of being kidnapped quite the same way again.