Merry Christmas!

LissaLogoYellow_reasonably_smallGood Morning and Merry Christmas…

I want to say thank you to you for such a wonderful gift. Support. Friendship. Connection. You’ve bought and read my books, even if you didn’t like them afterward. You’ve sent encouragement my way and you’ve even sent criticism my way…both of which, have made me a better writer and a better person.

I don’t always write what the reader wants or expects and y’all let me know it. In the end though, it’s helped me grow and opened my mind and my eyes.

This year seems to have flown by and I am still wondering where it went. Holiday reading is something I enjoy so much and I haven’t even read a single book this season. It’s my hope that tonight I’ll have a chance to just sit and curl up with some words someone else wrote.

Words that I’ve written in holiday stories come in the form of a new M/M release, More Than This and an older but very fun story, Arrested Holiday.

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Blurb:

Adam Sanchez makes good money, drives a vintage BMW, and is living up to the promise he made that he’d never be poor again. After two years without seeing his family for the holidays, he’s taking time off to give them a dream Christmas. At least, that was the plan.

But after taking a wrong turn off the interstate in search of the Blue Ridge Parkway, he finds himself skidding on a patch of ice and crashing into a big red barn. He wakes up sore, grumpy, and immediately attracted to his less than pleasant host who happens to be the spitting image of a young Elvis Presley.

Army veteran Josh Atkins doesn’t have time to babysit the idiot currently recovering on his family’s Christmas tree farm, but is left with little choice. That the man stirs something deep and primal in Josh can’t and doesn’t matter. It’s the busiest time of year and he’s needed at home.

As the two men begin to talk and share their stories, Josh’s hard-nosed stance softens. When he learns of Adam’s need to get to Asheville before Christmas, Josh is torn between letting him go and asking him to stay.

Maybe Josh can help Adam see that there’s more to happiness and freedom than a large bank account, and maybe Adam can teach Josh to see beyond the surface to the man he is beneath. And maybe, just maybe, they can show each other that there really is more than this.

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Holiday ‘Holli’ James looks forward the week between Christmas and New Year’s. This is her one chance to get away from the hustle and bustle of her successful decorating business. The plan this year is a trip to New York City to see the sights and the lights.

The plan didn’t include a side trip to a small town jail in the middle of Pennsylvania. Nor did the plan include Officer Hunky.

However…

A single police officer, Michael is working the holidays — again. With no local family and no interest in accepting the pity invitations to Christmas dinner from his married friends, he’s content to work and earn extra cash. Besides, this year looks to be as uneventful as ever. Until he pulls Holli over for speeding, only to discover she’s wanted on charges of fraud.

Sexual tension spikes as Michael begins to investigate and discovers Holli isn’t who her record says she is. While they await answers, Michael is granted permission to remove Holli from the jail and place her under house arrest.

Only his idea of house arrest is much more personal than the law ever intended.

If you haven’t checked them out, I hope you’ll do so… Just click on the book covers and it’ll take you to the pages for purchase information!

Cooking is on my agenda for this early holiday morning and I’d best get to it. There’s also many ounces of coffee to look forward to, as well as the last few Christmas movies that are sitting on my DVR. I hope you and yours are enjoying the day with friends and family. Rest up and relax because we have a big year to start on in a few days…;-)

~lissa

BDSM – APalooza

I was, in a word, thrilled when I received an email from my favorite BDSM author, Eden Bradley, inviting me to participate in this event. Just looking at the names on this list… I am truly in exceptional company.

We all feel different about BDSM, what it means, what it signifies. It’s individual in how it plays out in someone’s life and what it is to me will be something else to another. We all have different levels of experience. Some of us may not have any experience at all beyond in depth research. But I think we all have a respect for the lifestyle that comes through in our writing.

My own exploration into BDSM has taught me respect for different opinions, different feelings, different avenues, different sexualities. Pain has taught me focus and to breathe. Bondage has taught me release of control in a way that nothing else ever good and to just accept. Spankings, floggings these things have taught me the benefits of tears, of emotional release of pent up stress. Discipline has taught me…discipline, to do as I should which isn’t always what I want or what is expected, it has taught me to think before I act, to think over what has already been done, to focus me on what is ahead. Punishment has taught me respect of authority, how to face my mistakes and missteps. I have been taught humility, and to accept myself.

BDSM has opened my eyes in a way nothing else I’ve ever encountered has. I am profoundly grateful I happened up on the lifestyle years ago. And yes, the sexual benefits are…incredible. But it’s not all or even mostly about sex. Not for me at least. There’s more, much more below the surface.

The media, in television and movies, has promoted BDSM to be deviant, to be maybe not wrong, but not exactly right or acceptable, that there’s always something that could have been ‘fixed’ about the person or changed about them so they didn’t want or need these things any longer. It’s a shame the lifestyle is viewed this way, is broadcast this way. But, it’s easy to cast a shadow over things that aren’t understood…

I hope you’ll come visit on Wednesday and Thursday over at the Smutketeers blog. There are giveaways, as well as questions and answers.

If you have a chance before then, check out some of the authors listed. You might have read them all or there maybe some new to you ones…

~lissa

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