Virtual Blog Tour & Review - I Need You For Christmas by Leah Braemel

Welcome to my stop on Leah Braemel's Virtual Blog Tour for I Need You For Christmas.  Please make sure to leave a comment or question for Leah to let her know you stopped by and to enter her giveaway on this blog for 1 digital copy of a book from her backlist to a randomly drawn commenter.  You can also go to Leah's site to enter her I Need A Kindle for Christmas Giveaway here.  

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Guest Post - Leah Braemel

First off, huge thanks to Her Majesty for inviting me to be on her blog today, and letting me talk about my Christmas novella, I Need You for Christmas.  Since I grew up in an area where Christmas trees were the local cash crop, it seemed fitting that when asked to write a Christmas story I’d set it right in my own back yard.  While I didn’t want to follow the standard Canadian stereotypes, I did make my heroine a Mountie. Because I wanted to torture her and the love of her life Ryan. And since Ryan was the one who lived in the Haliburton Highlands in central Ontario, and I wanted them to have been separated by a great distance, Meg ended up serving in Nunavut, one of the three Canadian territories up in the arctic. 

Now they’re together for the holidays, Ryan and Meg are intent on making up for all the months since they’ve last seen each other. Since Ryan is an artist, he can be rather creative in the bedroom. Or the loft. I had a lot of fun writing them, although I did pause when I wrote about a specific creation of Ryan’s, wondering whether I’d gone a little too far.  But I figured he’s a guy, and he’s a sculptor, so why not sculpt something so close at hand. ;)

If you were artistic, and could make a sculpture or carving of anything in the world, what would you create?  Leave a comment for me for a chance to win your choice of one of my backlist.  Then pop over to my website and leave a comment for a chance to win a Kindle in my “I Need A Kindle for Christmas” contest. 

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I Need You for Christmas 
Author:
Leah Braemel 

On sale date: Dec 03, 2012 

Category: Contemporary Romance
               Erotic Romance
               Holiday
               Romance

eISBN: 978-1-426894-76-3
File size: 196KB

Buy Links:

Carina Press

Amazon

Barnes and Noble 

Blurb:

Ryan Porter is a sculptor, and beneath his callused hands, even the most rigid metals bend to his will. So, too, does his girlfriend Megan--a confident, strong woman who delights in submitting to Ryan's dominance in the bedroom.

Megan is a Mountie, and she's spent the past few years in the Arctic following her career dreams. Family obligations kept Ryan at home, but their love survived the distance thanks to several hot visits. A Mountie always gets her man, and Megan is bound and determined to keep Ryan.

Now Megan's with Ryan for the holidays...but how long will this visit last? She's always been willing to do anything Ryan desires, but will he finally tell her that all he needs for Christmas is her?

34,000 words

Excerpt: 

The scent of bacon and cinnamon and coffee penetrated Meg’s consciousness long before she convinced her eyelids to open. Accompanied by Ryan’s off-key warbling of “Baby It’s Cold Outside”, she stretched beneath the duvet and planned out her day. Which consisted of…what? Staying in bed all day was tempting, but that probably wasn’t an option, especially since she’d promised Amy she’d help her do her annual Christmas-cookie-making marathon.

Grumbling about having to get up, yet excited to be spending the day with Ryan, she tossed back the covers and padded to the washroom. Once she’d had a shower and dressed, she wandered out to the kitchen where Ryan was frying bacon wearing only a T-shirt and butt-hugging briefs. Standing in the doorway, she stayed quiet, appreciating the sight of his long legs with their muscular thighs and calves from miles of riding his bike over the hilly gravel roads in the area. Legs that had clenched around her the night before, the rough hair tickling her cheeks when she’d gone down on him. Then later, they’d brushed the insides of her thighs when he’d ridden her until they were both out of breath, sweaty and sore and thoroughly satisfied.

The music changed to “Silver Bells”, or as he sang it, Silver Balls. Guys. For such a talented artist, talk about tone deaf.

“Aren’t you worried about grease splatter?” She grabbed a mug and filled it with coffee.

Ever the wise man, he waited until she’d had her first full hit of caffeine before taking the cup and placing it on the counter. As she was about to protest, he wrapped his arms around her. With one hand firmly cupping her butt, he kissed her until they were both breathless.

“I wasn’t expecting you to wake up so early. You were sleeping like a log when I got up.” Ryan’s satisfied smile told her he knew full well he was the reason she’d slept soundly. “I was planning on bringing you breakfast in bed.” His hand squeezed her behind then released her. “But now you’re up, you sit your butt on the couch while I finish here.”

“You spoil me.” She picked up her coffee and headed to the couch, but not before stopping off to admire the seven-foot live pine taking over the corner. Nestled among the original blown glass ornaments and metal pieces Ryan created were a dozen or more embroidered pieces. They’d been his mother’s creations—he’d told her that until his father remarried and his new wife moved in, his mother’s needlework adorned just about every surface in the house.

She stroked the long needles; the scent of pine brought memories flooding back. “Do you remember our first Christmas tree?”

He chuckled. “Not the tree itself, but I remember trying to impress you by driving you out to Shewchuk’s tree farm and getting stuck in the ditch. Not my finest moment.”

“I was remembering what happened after we brought it home.” How they’d made love after they’d decorated it.

“I’ll never forget that part of the day, babe.” His voice was soft.

While she’d always loved the spirit of Christmas, she’d seldom found it at her family’s home. For some reason her parents fought more over the holidays, and the Christmas carols she’d play seldom drowned out the shouting matches. Though she hadn’t told him, she suspected Ryan had when he had invited her to his family’s place for Christmas their first year together and included her on the tradition of picking out the family’s tree.

If she hadn’t already been falling in love with him, he’d sealed the deal when he’d said he loved her that afternoon.

I Need You For Christmas
Copyright © 2012 Leah Braemel

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Author Bio and Links: 

Growing up in rural Ontario, Leah Braemel (pronounced Bray-mel, with the emphasis on the mel) learned to lose herself in the make-believe worlds in her books. Once she realized she could write her own stories, charts and maps to keep track of her fantasy worlds littered her bedroom. In her early teens she discovered her love of romances and soon all her stories revolved around giving her heroes and heroines their Happy-Ever-After.


Leah Braemel is an amazing talent! ~ NAL Heat author Red Garnier Married to her college sweetheart and the mother of two sons, Leah is the only woman in a houseful of men—even their dog is male. She gained some varied and interesting insights while working with a security firm liaising with Toronto’s Emergency Task Force and bomb squad and later teaching computers to women escaping abusive relationships.

After a conversation with her eldest son about how he needed to follow his dreams, Leah decided to follow her own advice and make her dreams of getting published come true. She was thrilled when her first sizzling romance, Private Property, was published by Samhain Publishing in 2009. In January 2010, the reviewers at The Romance Studio nominated Private Property for a CAPA award for “Best Erotic Romance.” Leah was also nominated in the “Best Erotic Romance Author” category. Reviewers have since awarded her books numerous Top Pick and Recommended Reads designations along with another CAPA nomination for Deliberate Deceptions as “Best Contemporary Romance of 2011″ and her historical erotic romance, Tangled Past, was nominated as “Best Erotic Menage and More of 2011″ by the reviewers at The Romance Reviews.

Leah is a member of Romance Writers of America, the Toronto Romance Writers, Kiss of Death Mystery & Suspense writers, as well as Sisters in Crime.

Follow Leah on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Goodreads. You can also follow Leah on her Amazon Author page or chat with her and other fans on her Yahoo chat loop, Facebook Fanpage Leah’s Lounge, or the Leah’s Lounge group on Goodreads.

Appearances:

Leah will be at the Romantic Times Convention in Kansas City, Missouri from May 1 through May 5, 2013

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My Review:

An fun, hot and updated take on The Gift of the Magi, Leah Braemel's I Need You For Christmas is guaranteed to please any erotic romance reader.  With well developed characters, plenty of emotional angst and just the right amount of sensual romance, I found my attention captured from the first page.  Taking place in Canada during the holiday season, Ms. Braemel's gives us the perfect setting.

Artist Ryan Porter can't wait for girlfriend Megan Sullivan to come home for Christmas.  A Canadian Mountie by training, Megan has been stationed far away at a Northern post only able to come home several times a year.  Determined to spend more time with the woman he loves, Ryan has a surprise gift for Megan this Christmas.

Canadian Mountie Megan Sullivan has missed her man.  Determined to spend the rest of her life with Ryan, Megan plans her own special surprise for Christmas; leaving the Mountie service, Megan has already applied and had her application accepted by the Ontario Provincial Police.  She just has to keep it a secret till Christmas Day.

The scenes between Ryan and Megan are very well written and full of sexual heat; lovers who've been separated by space and time, these two have a lots to make up.  Making sacrifices for others is easy; keeping the surprises they have planned for each other not so much.  Though tempted to tell each other their secrets, both Ryan and Megan manage to hold on.  Ms. Braemel did a great job developing both of these characters; truly in love they're willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for each other.  Learning the history of their relationship through flashbacks is the perfect way to get to know them both as a couple and even as individuals.

What will happen when Ryan and Megan give each other their presents on Christmas day?  Who will get the biggest surprise of all?  You'll have to read I Need You For Christmas to find out.  I really enjoyed it and I think you will too. 

My Rating:  4.5 out of 5 Stars 

FTC Disclosure:  I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.  

Tour Schedule:

December 3

The Smutty Kitty

December 4

Nine Naughty Novelists

December 5 

3P's in a Pod

December 6

Storm Goddess Reviews

December 7 

Under the Covers

December 7

Bringing Passion to Life

December 10th

Confessions from Romaholics

December 11th

My Odd Little World

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Please make sure to leave a comment or question for Leah to let her know you stopped by and to enter her giveaway on this blog for 1 digital copy of a book from her backlist to a randomly drawn commenter.  You can also go to Leah's site to enter her I Need A Kindle for Christmas Giveaway here.