Welcome to my stop on Lynn Tyler's Virtual Blog Tour. Please be sure to leave a comment or question below for Lynn to let her know you stopped by. You can fill out the Rafflecopter form below to enter her tour wide giveaway. She'll also be giving away a digital copy of the book I'm featuring on the tour today, Redeemed, to one randomly chosen commenter from today's post.
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Heating
up the Holidays ~ by Lynn Tyler
It’s that
time of year again. The time of year where the malls are inundated with
stressed out shoppers, small children on sugar highs and thousands of people
everywhere go into debt in a desperate attempt to live up to holiday
expectation.
Does it
sound like I’m a little disillusioned about the holiday season?
Actually,
aside from the fact that I hate crowds but tend to put off my holiday shopping
until the VERY last second, thereby guaranteeing that I will have to deal with
hoards of people, I quite love the holidays. I mean, come on, when else can you
have double helpings of dessert without everyone looking at you funny?
Sometimes,
though, you need to take a few minutes to yourself during the holiday season.
And why not spice up those minutes while you’re at it?
Here are
a few things to help you heat up your holidays
J.
- Why not get a coupon book to give to your significant other, detailing favors they can cash in? You can find a number of them at some of the Adult novelty stores, or you can make your own. One thing can lead to another and you can let nature take its course.
- Tuck naughty little notes (or photos of yourself if you’re brave enough) into your partner’s lunch. Then think about all the fun you have to look forward to all day.
- Prepare a bunch of finger foods and feed them too each other. Dates dipped in honey, strawberries and chocolate, even bread with cheese. Just keep your morsels bite sized and don’t worry about making a mess. You can always lick away any stray crumbs or drizzles later.
- Go to a movie. Make out with your partner in the dark.
- Champagne. There are all sorts of fun things you can do with champagne. Or tequila.
- Lingerie makes a good stocking stuffer. Just saying.
While
you’re at it, why don’t you treat yourself to a sizzling read, like my book
from Liquid Silver books, Redeemed.
Here’s
just a little taste of what you can expect from Redeemed.
It takes a lot to be expelled from Heaven, but Gabriel seems to have accomplished it with apparent ease. Doomed to walk among humans until he atones for his misdeeds, Gabe finds himself falling for a brilliant, young cardiothoracic surgeon. As things heat up, Gabe must face reality … his only way back to Heaven means the death of the one man who makes him whole!
Heaven ~ 2001
Michael sighed and stared at the
man sprawled across from him. He drummed his fingers on the desk, fighting to
restrain his impatience. Gabriel couldn’t be any more disrespectful if he
tried. The other angel was stretched out on his white office couch, his head
resting on one end with one leg draped across the top of the cushions and the
other bent at the knee so his foot was planted on the ground. Gosh darn it,
Gabe was the most insolent guiding angel he had ever come across. But he was good
at his job, and Michael didn’t relish what he was about to do.
“So,” Gabriel began, “who’s the
next ape you want me to guide? And wasn’t I supposed to get a vacation after
the last primate I set on the right path. I mean, putting up with these humans
is exhausting.”
Michael gritted his teeth. Maybe
this wouldn’t be as hard as he’d thought. He grimaced as Gabe crossed his arms
over his chest and closed his eyes. The angel really had insolence down to an
art. Whoever had thought Gabe would make a good guiding angel needed to give
their head a shake. The man was more suited to create works of art in solitary
than to try and set humans on their proper path. But they all had to deal with
the lot they were dealt. “I didn’t call you here today to give you a new
assignment.”
Something in his tone must have
tipped Gabe off because the other man sat up and leaned forward intently. “Was
my request for a transfer approved?”
“No. It has come to my attention
that you have been disrespectful to the humans you have been assigned to. That
you have acted as if you are better than them.”
Gabe recrossed his arms and
smirked even as a hint of uncertainty glimmered in his eyes. “They’re humans,
Michael. Of course we’re better than them. They do nothing but waste the life
and talents that have been gifted to them.”
Massaging his temple where his
head had started to throb, Michael suppressed another sigh and returned the
other man’s gaze. “Gabriel, because of your behavior and attitude you have been
expelled from heaven.”
Gabe shot to his feet and stormed
over to the desk. He planted his palms on the cherry surface and glared down
angrily. “That’s bullshit and you know it. I have always completed my
assignments with a one hundred percent success rate. You don’t have any other
guiding angels with that achievement level. You can’t get rid of me because
you’d be up shit creek without a paddle.”
“Language, please. You are an
angel, not a heathen.” His head pounded in earnest, and he fervently wished for
a bottle of painkillers.
Pushing away from the desk
violently, Gabe paced the room. “I spend most of my time with those hairless
apes, how else am I supposed to speak?” He shook his head and stopped right at
Michael’s chair, looming over him. “You can’t expel me. You can’t run this department
without me and you know it.”
It was true. He really couldn’t
run this department very efficiently without Gabe. The angel really was the
best he had. But this could not be avoided. “You have been found guilty of the
sin of Pride. You are hereby expelled from heaven. Your case is not without
hope, however.” His headache lifted a little as the irony of the situation
finally hit him. Oh Gabriel would not like what he was about to say. “You will
be accepted back into heaven when a human falls in love with you and willingly
gives their life for yours.”
Gabe rounded on him. “You mean I
have to…” He trailed off as if the thought was too horrible to entertain.
Michael’s lips twitched
uncontrollably. It wouldn’t be loving and righteous of him to take pleasure in
another’s distress. Of course it wasn’t exactly easy to hold back his
amusement. Gabriel had this coming to him. He just hoped the younger angel
would learn his true lesson so he could live on the path that had been chosen
for him. “Yes. You have to live on Earth among humans. Hopefully your
experience with them will teach you humility.”
*
How had this day gone so bad? One
minute Gabe had been anticipating the well-deserved vacation coming his way,
and the next, he was being told by his boss that he had been expelled from
heaven because of the sin of Pride. To top it all off, he had to live amongst
the very humans he detested and make one fall in love with him.
He collapsed onto the couch and
dropped his head into his hands. How could this be happening to him? He had
always done his job and had done it well. He loved and respected God. All he’d
ever wanted to do was honor Him by using the talents that had been gifted to
him. He’d wanted nothing more than to lock himself away and let his brush and
paints convey his reverence.
Sweat poured down his back,
soaking through his shirt, and his heart raced. A sour tasted welled in his
mouth and his stomach heaved threateningly. Wait a minute. Angels didn’t sweat,
and they certainly never felt nauseous. He opened his eyes and found himself
perched on a milk carton in an alley. “What the fuck?”
Michael crouched in front of him,
eyeing him somewhat sympathetically. “God is not without mercy, Gabriel. You
will never want for anything. The apartment in this building is yours outright.
As is the money in the bank account we’ve set up for you. All you have to do is
learn humility and how to love.”
Gabe shuddered with full-body
shakes as he took inventory of his new mortal body. His stomach heaved again,
and this time he vomited from the sensation. His eyes watered, the muscles in
his abdomen ached, and his throat burned. There was an uncomfortable feeling
low in his belly, like some sort of pressure fighting to escape. “What is
happening to me?” His voice croaked, hardly more than a gravelly whisper.
The other man shrugged. “You have
a mortal body now and all the needs and sensations that come with it. You will
experience hunger, the need to eliminate and urinate, fatigue, even arousal.”
Genuine fear coursed through him.
“What happens if this body dies before I find someone to fall in love with me
and willingly give their life for mine? Do I go to hell?”
Michael patted his knee and urged
him to his feet. “No. You will cease to exist.”
Gabe let himself be led into the
apartment building’s lobby and into the elevator. He couldn’t decide what fate
was worse, hell or nothingness. He was so lost in thought he didn’t even
realize Michael had steered him out of the elevator and into an apartment. The
space was dull and drab. Taupe-colored walls and a recently cleaned off-white
carpet greeted him. It was perfectly neutral and normal. The artist in him
rebelled instantly. The walls should be painted an angry red and the carpet
should be ripped up and tossed in the Dumpster where it belonged.
Michael led him to the couch and
gestured for him to sit. “I’ll leave you now. But if you should ever need
anything, do not hesitate to call for me. I will always be here for you.”
He nodded, for once completely
mute. This was the absolute worst thing that could ever happen to him.
Then it hit him. Michael was
going to leave and it meant he would be alone in this world full of ungrateful,
unimaginative, ill-mannered, body-wrecking slobs. “No! Michael,
don’t leave me here. You can’t leave me. What will I do? How
will I survive? I can’t live like them.” Gabe felt desperation welling up in
him.
His boss crouched and stared up
at him. The amusement Gabe had detected earlier had melted into an expression
of pity. It pricked at his pride but he would do anything to avoid this
sentence. “Tell me what to do. Do you want me to beg? I’ll do it.” Lowering
himself to his knees, he gripped Michael’s sleeve and lowered his head to press
his lips to the angel’s hand. “I’m on my knees, Michael. Please.”
Michael gently extracted his hand
from Gabe’s grasp and stood before he stepped back. “You need to learn your
lesson. I’m sorry you detest this so much, but this is where you need to be.”
He faded from sight with one last sympathetic look.
Dropping his head so it
practically hung off his shoulders, Gabe fisted his hands and pounded them
against his thighs. Fury like he’d never felt before ripped through him, and he
screamed his pain and anger to the ceiling. He felt the tendons popping out in
his neck. His throat was raw, his lungs burned for the need of oxygen, and his
eyes felt as if they would explode out of his head any minute. He screamed
until his voice broke. He continued screaming silently until his rage turned to
panic.
The pressure of his bladder and
rectum became too much, and he suddenly realized he had to empty his body.
Having dealt with humans for some 250 years, he knew the toilet was for just
that purpose. Struggling to his feet, he staggered around the apartment looking
for the toilet. By the time he managed to wrap his mind around his predicament
and locate the tiny bathroom, he was desperate to relieve the growing pressure.
His nausea returned as his body
began the process of evacuating itself. He was completely horrified with what
was happening. He was now no better than the human monkeys he’d guided for so
long. The thought of what he might have to do to get a human to fall in love
with him disgusted him. How could he ever lower himself enough to touch a
human, let alone have some sort of meaningful relationship with one?
And getting a human to willingly
give their life for his? Humans were so selfish and only thought about
themselves. He may as well resign himself to a miserable life here on Earth
before his existence was totally snuffed out. No back door into heaven for him.
He dropped his head into his
hands as his body continued to empty and cried for the first time in his long
life.
Want more information on this or any of my other books? Check out my
website at http://lynntylerbooks.com
or my Facebook Page at http://www.facebook.com/lynntylerbooks
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Redeemed
by Lynn Tyler
Publisher: Liquid Silver Books
Release Date: August 26, 2012
Length: 102 Pages
ISBN: 978-1-59578-970-9
ASIN: B0092K064O
Blurb:
It takes a lot to be expelled from Heaven, but Gabriel seems to have accomplished it with apparent ease. Doomed to walk among humans until he atones for his misdeeds, Gabe finds himself falling for a brilliant, young cardiothoracic surgeon. As things heat up, Gabe must face reality … his only way back to Heaven means the death of the one man who makes him whole!
Blog Tour Schedule
11/28 - Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews
11/29 - Harlie's Book Blog
11/30 - Queen of the Night
12/3 - Melissa Kendall
12/4 - Bonnie Bliss
12/5 - Lori's Book Blog
12/6 - Under The Covers
11/29 - Harlie's Book Blog
11/30 - Queen of the Night
12/3 - Melissa Kendall
12/4 - Bonnie Bliss
12/5 - Lori's Book Blog
12/6 - Under The Covers
