Today it is my pleasure to welcome Siren author Tasha Blackstone! Tasha's naughty take on an old classic is NOT your average fairy tale! Check out my review on
Goodreads. And she's got more to come! Read on...
What got you started in writing?
I’m an only child and
had a lot of time on my hands as a kid. Lol I’ve been writing since I was old
enough to form a sentence. It was the support of my family though that
encouraged me to take it from hobby to lifestyle. They all rooted for me to go
public and their support has brought me to where I am now.
How did you feel when you got that first acceptance?
I cried! J
Elle is my first erotic romance and Siren was the first publisher that I
submitted it to, so to see the email offering publication was incredible.
What’s your biggest challenge as a brand new author?
Networking. There is
soooo much work to do once the book is done and the publisher accepts it. I
feel like I spend more time attempting to market than I did writing it. J
It’s worth it though. I’ve met some really great people and have learned so much,
although I know there’s a ton more for me to learn.
What’s next for you?
I’m thrilled to announce that my next book, Waking Beauty, is being published by Siren in March! It's the first book in my new series, Windsong Keep. I also have
another WIP that seems to be pulling itself into another series so, all in all
I have 6 books scattered around on my laptop.
Where can fans find you? (Twitter, FB, Website, Blog, etc.)
Click the book cover to buy!
Blurb: A tangled web of love, magic, and seduction, this
retelling of the classic fairy tale Rapunzel is not your mama’s fairy tale.
Elle has lived in solitude, high in the tower, her entire
life. When Emmett appears on her balcony, poisoned from the vicious Witch Weed
and close to death, she knows she must save him at all costs. Her desire for
him becomes unbearable, and when she realizes that he has also stolen her
heart, she must decide—risk it all to be with him or let him walk away, missing
her only chance at true love.
However, Elle's time is short and her life is in danger.
Despina, an Enchantress posing as Elle's mother, needs the magic that lives in
Elle in order to survive. Can Elle save Emmett, embrace the love that awaits
her, and survive her mother’s dark intentions before it is too late?
STORY EXCERPT
As Emmett lay on the bed, watching Rapunzelle weave the
tale, he found himself struggling with an inner conflict. He knew that magic
once ruled the lands. Peppered throughout the history books were tales of
powerful wizards and evil witches who had become consumed by their lust for
power over all of mankind. They were said to be the cause of the War of the
Witches, which had turned into a battle that, ironically, had ended the rule of
magic once and for all. Some creatures of magic still existed, of course.
Faeries and Ogres were spotted from time to time in darker corners of the
woods. A rock troll still lived up in the mountains in a cave hidden by windy
paths and thorn bushes. Even the midwives were gifted healers. It was the fact
that Emmett’s experience of climbing a poisoned vine could be real, rather than
brought on by hallucinations from tainted faerie water, that bothered him.
His thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of Rapunzelle’s
hand on his. He looked up to see her eyes fixed on his with intimidating
intensity. She lifted his hand from where it had been lying on the bed and
turned it so that his palm faced up. When Emmett looked down to see his hand in
hers, his heart skipped a beat. The palm of his hand was covered in red, angry
wounds that were in the midst of healing. Some of the deeper cuts had thread
sewn through them, keeping them closed, while others were slick with what
appeared to be a salve of sorts. Seeing the severity of the wounds caused pain
to surge through Emmett’s hands, and sweat began to bead on his forehead.
“Emmett?”
He pulled his eyes from the wounds and found hers still
fixed on him.
“You asked me where you are. I do not know why or how you
found me, but your memories are not false. You did climb my tower. I found you
on the balcony, covered in blood from your wounds and succumbing to the effects
of the poison from the Witch Weed that protects me. I brought you inside so
that I could heal you, but you’ve been asleep for several days, and I was
starting to think that I’d been too late.”
“Why would you attempt to heal me if you have Witch Weed to
keep intruders out?”
A sweet smile crossed Rapunzelle’s lips as she reached up
and ran her fingers through Emmett’s hair, brushing it back from his forehead.
“Even a pure-hearted man would never survive the climb. He
would have succumbed to the poison and fallen to his death not even halfway up.
I figured that there must be a reason that you were able to make it all the way
to the top, and it is not my place to interfere with your life path. Healing
you seemed to be the only true option.”
A whispered “thank you” was all he could manage, but she
didn’t seem to mind.
“I’ve made a stew for us, hoping that you would awake soon
and be hungry. Let me get you some, and we’ll start working on getting your
strength back.”
Emmett watched as Rapunzelle rushed out of the door to the
bedroom, her black braid following behind her. He slowly looked around the
room, taking it in with newfound awe. The walls were rounded and made from the
same alabaster brick he had been drawn to in the meadow. There was no window,
but the roof was fashioned to allow sunlight to fill the space. The room was
decorated with paintings of flowers and mountain scenes, and books cluttered
the tops of furniture. In the corner, only half-hidden behind a sheer curtain,
he saw a copper tub big enough to lie in while bathing. Off to the side behind
the tub, he could see a door that opened just enough to reveal a room filled
with clothing. The bed sat in the center of the room and was large enough that
two of him could comfortably fit side by side on it. It was covered in lush,
deep-purple blankets and countless pillows that were scented with jasmine and a
spice he was unfamiliar with.
If there had been a choice of being healed in a sterile
nursemaid’s wing of the palace or high above the ground in Rapunzelle’s
bedroom, sealed away from the world below, he would choose her room every time.
Sounds of her preparing his meal drifted in through the bedroom door, and
Emmett found himself comforted by it. He closed his eyes and listened as he
fell asleep.
ADULT EXCERPT
Emmett reached his hand up to her face, gently tucked the
short strands of her rogue hair behind her ear, and traced his fingers down the
side of her neck, stopping just above her breast. A tingling sensation shot
through her as tiny bumps rose across her flesh and she shivered.
“Why did you get out of bed?” His voice was thick and smooth
like honey, and Elle began to feel as if the room was closing in around her.
“I…woke you…but you need your rest…”
“I need a lot of things, Rapunzelle, but right now, rest is
not one of them.” His eyes stared deep into her soul, and it made her knees
weak.
“Wha…what do you need?”
She watched as Emmett slowly licked his lips. “You.”
It was barely a whisper, but the word echoed through her
mind as if he had screamed it at her. Elle didn’t think it possible for a man
as beautiful as Emmett to want a woman as plain as her. She wanted to back
away, to tell him that she was sure he was still suffering delusions from the
poison that lingered, but as he brought his face within an inch of her own, she
couldn’t speak, let alone move.
“You are so beautiful…”
Elle felt Emmett lightly drag his finger down her breast,
across her nipple, and down to rest on the flat of her stomach.
“Does my touch make you nervous?”
Elle slowly moved her head back and forth. “No.”
“Do you like it?”
“Yes, but…”
He moved his face closer. His lips hovered just above hers
as he spoke. “But, what?”
“I don’t know…”
“Yes, you do…I can see it when you look at me. You have
longing in your eyes, and I can feel it burn into me, invite me to come to
you…You do want me, don’t you?” It was more of a statement than a question, but
it didn’t matter. Emmett did not give her a moment to respond. He pressed his
lips to hers, gently at first, as he pulled her body against his. His kiss was
warm and soft, and she felt him slowly slip his tongue in between her lips and
past her teeth. Electricity shot through her body and she responded in kind,
finding herself eager to taste him. He filled her mouth as she wrapped her arms
up around his neck, feeling her hesitation quickly dissipate as passion
overtook her. Arms tight around her waist, Emmett lifted her from the ground,
and Elle instinctively wrapped her legs around his torso. The heat from his
body radiated through her gown, pressing into her, and Elle lost all reserve.
She did not think about how it was wrong to give herself over to a virtual
stranger or how painful it would be to have his long, fully erect cock shoved
into her tight pussy. All she could think of was how amazing it felt to have
her tongue plunged into his mouth, his arms holding her close and his penis at
the ready, teasing, rubbing against her.
In one fluid motion, Emmett pushed Elle’s back up against
the nearest wall and pulled his mouth from hers. He began to kiss down the side
of her neck and his words, thick with desire, danced across her skin. “Can I
have you?”
Barely able to breathe, she whispered, “Yes.”
He’d hardly waited for her to answer and Elle felt him pull
one of his hands from around her waist and slide down her ass and under the
dress that was now so inconveniently in the way. He lifted his mouth from her
neck and stared into her eyes as he found her pussy and slowly slipped a finger
inside of her. A moan escaped her mouth as Emmett began to pump his finger in
and out of her until it was slick with her juices. He brought his wet finger up
to Elle’s mouth and traced it along her bottom lip before pushing it into her
mouth. Eyes still locked, Elle sucked her juice from his finger. Passion burned
in Emmett’s eyes, and he pulled his finger from her mouth and pressed his lips
back onto hers. His tongue licked her bottom lip and he pulled it into his mouth
as he closed his eyes and leaned his head back. “I have never tasted a woman as
sweet as you…” He plunged his finger back into Elle’s hole and pumped harder
and faster than he had before as he shifted her away from the wall and back
toward the bed. As he laid her on the bed, he pulled his finger from deep
inside her pussy, his arm from around her waist, and stood, fully erect, before
her.
“Tell me right now if you are not ready, because I can’t
promise that I will be able to stop if you change your mind.”
“I won’t change my mind. You may have me.”
With permission granted, Emmett lifted Elle’s
leg and brought her foot to his mouth. He kissed each one of her toes and then
moved on to her ankle and up her leg until he was kissing the inside of her thigh.
Elle had never experienced half of the sensations that were dancing through her
body, and it was all she could do to hold in the scream of ecstasy that
threatened to burst free. Emmett’s kisses suddenly changed, and Elle could feel
that he was tracing his tongue up the rest of her thigh and over toward her
pussy. The anticipation of the unknown was almost more than she could handle,
and she held her breath as she waited. She released her breath in a long moan
as she felt Emmett’s mouth consume her. He kissed her between the legs more
intimately than he had her mouth. His movements were slow at first, his tongue
spreading her folds of skin apart as he licked up to her clit. He circled his
tongue around the tip of her clit, igniting extreme desire within Elle, and
then grabbed her thighs in his hands and forcefully spread her legs wide apart,
revealing her dripping pink pussy that anxiously awaited being consumed.
