Things That Are Green Today – St. Patrick’s Day!

March 17, 2014 by 2 Comments

chicago river on st paddy's dayThe first St. Patrick’s Day Parade in North America took place in—drum roll— Boston in 1737!

For years my dh convinced our three sons that leprechauns snuck into our home the night before St. Paddy’s Day and colored all the drinks in the house green. The boys were all convinced because the beer was colored green and the bottles were capped! What fun those days were! J Sigh. The days of innocence.

St. Patrick’s Day was once a strictly observed religious holiday in Ireland. That means the pubs were closed and there was no public drinking—go figure!

The International Business Times published ten interesting facts about St. Patrick’s Day and I decided to share them with you:

1. St Patrick wasn’t Irish. He was born in England around 385 AD.

2. His given name was Maewyn Succat.

3. St Patrick was a slave. He was captured at the age of 14 and taken to Ireland, where he was enslaved for six years herding sheep before escaping and returning to his family.

4. He never drove serpents out of Ireland, because evidence suggests there were no serpents to be driven out.

5. St Patrick’s Day was first celebrated in the United States. Boston was the scene of the first Paddy’s knees-up in 1737.

6. It wasn’t until the 19th century that green became the colour of St Patrick. Before then it was blue, the colour of his vestments. Green was picked to commemorate St Patrick’s use of the shamrock.

7. There are nine cities, towns and boroughs in the United States called Dublin – they are in California, Georgia, Indiana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia.

8. In Ireland St Patrick’s Day was an alcohol-free holiday until 1970. Before then it was considered a day of relgious observance, meaning pubs had to be closed for business. In 1970 it was reclassified a national holiday.

9. St Patrick’s Day is celebrated on 17 March because that is the day he was thought to have died in 461 AD.

10. In 2013 Census data revealed that the number of people in the US who identify as Irish-American are seven-times more than the amount of Irish people in Ireland itself.

Have a great St. Paddy’s Day!

Cheers,

Jianne

Facts and photo of the Chicago River courtesy: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/10-st-patricks-day-facts-you-might-not-know-1440389

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Guest Author – Emilia Mancini

January 31, 2014 by 6 Comments

Today it’s my pleasure to welcome author and fellow Love, Lust, and Laptops buddy, Emilia Mancini to the blog. Welcome Emilia and take it away!

seducingkate-510 (1)This is it! The last stop along the release tour for Seducing Kate. This has been such a fun tour and I’m so excited to end here with Jianne.
Seducing Kate is such a fun book, such an exciting release for me, that I am thrilled I got to share my release with so many of my writer friends.
This is a book that demanded to be written. I had a clear idea from start to finish what the book was going to be about and how it was going to end. I am thrilled it is finally here and you are able to share in it with me.
If you’ve been tagging along for the ride, you’ve learned quite a bit about the book, from how Kyle and Kate tortured me until I wrote their story to how the trailer came about. It has been a fun ride, one I hope you have enjoyed.
If you haven’t visited any of the other stops, they are all listed on my blog at www.emiliamancini.wordpress.com.
Silk_Rope_Set_thumbAs part of my release celebration, I am offering you a chance to enter to win not only a copy of Seducing Kate, but also a Silk Rope Set which includes wrist and ankle binds and a satin blindfold. (You’ll want these after reading the book, I’m just helping you out.)
The winner will be notified tomorrow, February 1st.
Thanks again for stopping in! I hope you enjoy meeting Kate as much as I (and Kyle) did!

 
BIO:
emilia mancini - 54af20bbd4f4261341f8a9d65fbcae25Emilia Mancini is the naughtier side to author Marci Boudreaux. Emilia stays hidden in the shadows like a nefarious side kick, slipping out only when the stories Marci wants to share are a little too grown up to be called sweet romance.

Visit Emilia at :
www.emiliamancini.com

https://www.facebook.com/authoremiliamancini
Pinterest board for Seducing Kate: http://www.pinterest.com/emiliamancini/seducing-kate/

Buy link: http://musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=37_36&products_id=736
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvr2dqozsBY

Blurb:
It was lust at first sight for Kyle when he met his roommate Justin’s mother Kate. Kyle, a college transfer, was too far from home to visit on short school breaks, so Justin took him to Minneapolis where his mother was serving up a family meal for Thanksgiving.
One look left Kyle with a healthy obsession for Kate which grew with each visit. When he landed an internship in Minneapolis, he moved in with Kate for the summer, and got in touch with his voyeuristic side. It wasn’t until one late evening and a few too many glasses of wine that Kyle began to suspect his attraction wasn’t one-sided.
When he dared to push the issue, he found Kate more than willing to succumb to his seduction.

Excerpt:

I’d barely spent time with Kate, just a few minutes in the kitchen before John had come strutting in. I had sat across from her at dinner making awkward conversation while Justin and John glared at each other over the spaghetti and garlic bread. It wasn’t like she’d crawled across the floor half naked and begged me to f**k her.
What the hell was it about her? Sure she was beautiful, but I’d dated beautiful women. None of them had pushed me to the point of obsession. I wanted nothing more than to throw Kate down and f**k her until she screamed. Not cried out like she had moments ago, but screamed. And dug her nails in my back. And wrapped her legs so tight around me I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t know why. All I knew was my body was borderline insane with lust, and my dick was so hard it hurt.
“F**k.”
I turned the cold water on and splashed my face a few times to snap out of the Kate-induced haze. When I was finally able to think about something other than having sex with her, I went back downstairs.
I tried like hell to focus on the game, but my mind kept wandering. No, it wasn’t wandering. It was reliving my trip upstairs, from the groans, to the flash of tit, to the blush on Kate’s cheeks.
I held out for another hour of video games before I couldn’t take the agony of wanting her any longer. I went up to my room and slipped between the cool sheets of the guest bed. I put a sock over my dick and got off to images of my roommate’s mother.
I pictured her pale ass sticking in the air as I gripped her hips and slid into her tight pussy. I imagined my fist tangled in her hair as she sucked my cock. I even fantasized about her standing over me in black heels and a tight business suit as she ordered me to jerk myself harder.
As I came—hard—I wondered how I was ever going to control myself around her.

Whoa! Talk about sizzling hot!

Thanks for visiting Emilia and for the great contest and that sexy blindfold and silk rope prize!

Cheers,

Jianne

 

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Happy Birthday to My One and Only!

January 24, 2014 by 7 Comments

abstract-party-1Today is the dh’s sixtieth birthday.

Wow!

Bart eyes onlyI can still remember the first time our eyes met across the bar on our college campus, The Keg. My hubby has the twinkliest blue eyes in the world. He’d spent the summer working in construction, and was tanned a glorious nut brown, and his blonde hair was almost shoulder length (a real hippy back then) and bleached to a remarkable sunlight hue. Broad shoulders, and an ass so grabable that I literally salivated. Heck, I fell hard and fast. He was and still is the one – my one and only.

Without a doubt, I can say we’ve both had an incredible ride. Life has been good to us. We have three amazing sons who we not only love, but like. Our boys turned into wonderful men, and we’re both so proud of them. This year we’ll celebrate our thirty-sixth anniversary, and you know what? There’s no other person whose company I’d rather keep. We’re friends, lovers, and mates. I couldn’t ask for more.

So Happy Birthday my Viking!

All my love always,

Your,

J

 

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Squee! Branded by Étaín hits the Kindle & ARe Best Seller Lists!

December 9, 2013 by 1 Comment

Branded_by_Etain-Jianne_Carlo-banner468x60Well, it didn’t last long, but Branded by Étaín made it onto the Kindle Top 100 list!

That_Pearly_Drop-Jianne_Carlo-banner-468x60

And That Pearly Drop is #40 on the ARe Best Seller list (and it released in October – yay!).

I’ve never paid attention to these lists – too depressing if you never make them and too addictive to chart a new release’s dramatic climb and drop. For Branded though a fan emailed me the book’s rise and fall every couple of hours or so. Yuck. I hope never to know again. Honestly, I’d prefer to be blissfully unaware – it’s too easy to stumble into that I’ve-no-talent-and-should-quit crevasse.

So, today I’m grateful for the news, but plan to stop this maddening, obsessive, endless loop of checking book and author stats constantly.

Branded_by_Etain-Jianne_Carlo-200x320I leave you with another titillating preview of Branded by Étaín:

“When begins The Choosing?”

“I know not if I will wait for it. I am loath to gamble on her choosing me.” Brand fingered the stubble on his chin.

Once every five summers on the last night of the festival of Lúnasa, the women of Caul Cairlinne could choose their mate. The church blessed the unions, which lasted a year and a day. After that time, the couples could decide to remain married or separate.

“’Twould be better if she picked you.”

“Aye, but what if she does not?” Brand’s gaze never wavered from the line of marriageable women weaving their way through the hall.

He held his breath when Étaín came into view. Her glorious golden curls hung in glistening tendrils clear to her knees. She had a habit of flaring her nostrils and firming her chin when all eyes were upon her. He knew in his gut she hated being the center of attention.

’Twas her obvious vulnerability that stirred him.

’Twas her startling beauty that had him hard and aching in a heartbeat.

He had studied her these past months searching for flaws, for the arrogance and conceit that always accompanied females of royal birth, and found naught. She spoke to beggar and princes alike with the same gentle inquiry, gifted all with a sparkling smile that twisted his belly into coils, and appeared unaware of the rough sailors and traders who stared at her with blatant, greedy lust.

A slight draft molded the fine linen of the leine she wore around her firm breasts. She blinked and unerringly swung her head and met his stare. A smile fluttered around her rosy lips.

Those haunting eyes the color of rich molasses spoke to him.

He fisted his hands, the urge to reach for her nigh overwhelming.

Mine.

She halted for a moment as if hearing his silent declaration, and the sheer joy lighting her features dazzled him. All the blood in his body pooled in his groin. Desire speared him.

Taking a deep breath, Brand inclined his head and smiled.

Her teeth gleamed snowy white under the flickering candles when she beamed at him. Giving a little shake of her head, she dipped into her basket and threw petals and green-needled twigs high into the air. A couple of skips and a hop later, she arrived at the dais, the last female to line up below the table, and made a graceful curtsey.

King Mac Eiccnigh mac Dalagh had taken his place on the dais and stood smiling benignly at the women standing before him, his gaze lingering on Étaín. The pride on his face could not be denied, nor the love.

Brand inspected the others present at the high table. He had made it his business to know who was who in Caul Cairlinne.

Étaín’s two younger sisters stood on either side of the king. Irvin, a distant relative, stood at the left end of table speaking with a couple of his warriors. To the right of King Mac Eiccnigh mac Dalagh, three of the men who stood as Caul Cairlinne’s elderly council watched the assembly while sipping from brass goblets. Five women who had seen at least two score summers stood whispering and grinning at the line of young women before the high table.

Two men on either side of the dais put long curved trumpets to their lips and blew. A series of triumphant, melodic blasts echoed around the great hall.

“Hear ye, hear ye,” one of the elders on the dais yelled.

“The ear of corn has been planted, the bull slaughtered,” another declared.

“’Tis time for The Choosing,” the last shouted.

“Princess Étaín, do you choose or not?” King Mac Eiccnigh mac Dalagh asked, his sole focus on his daughter.

The hall fell silent. Every pair of eyes in the packed chamber trained on the petite Princess.

Hope you enjoyed!

Cheers,

Jianne

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Excerpt – Branded by Étaín , The Beasts of Bärvik, Book One

December 2, 2013 by 4 Comments

Branded_by_Etain-Jianne_Carlo-200x320Branded by Étaín releases this Thursday!!!! Yay. I love my Vikings and this story begins a whole new series incorporating Celtic Irish mythology. It’s so much fun weaving ancient legends into tales. This week the dh and I are on a mini-holiday, so I’ve set up for a new excerpt each day until Branded by Étaín is finally unveiled. Here’s the first one:

Excerpt One – Branded by Étaín:

Étaín twisted this way and that, frantically searching the crowd milling about the market. She held her breath.

He had to be here.

The brisk icy wind buffeting her brat, the new emerald-hued cloak she had commissioned for this very day, did naught to chase away the blazing excitement heating her from within. The tips of her fingers tingled. She tiptoed and peeked ’tween two of the five guards surrounding her and Cedilla.

Where was he?

She knew he was here. Only his presence drove her to a giddiness she had not felt since Eachan stole her youth.

Scarlet and gold streaks blazed across the charcoal horizon of the settlement, Caul Cairlinne, famed for its rich soil, abundant forests, and rumored hoards of fairy gold. ’Twas the end of the festival of Lúnasa and the last moon market of summer.

Dozens streamed around the ring of guards protecting her, men on horseback, peddlers pushing carts, women heaving oversized baskets, and children skipping, shouting and dancing with unbridled energy. The hordes thrummed with exhilaration and anticipation.

Roosters crowed, piglets squealed, cows lowed, and ponies brayed.

The yeasty aroma of bread baking tangled with the briny scent of the sea and the mouth-watering smell of meat roasting all combined to tempt the palate, but Étaín craved not food. Though she had not broken her fast this morn, Étaín hungered only for a glimpse of him, the warrior she had dreamed of since their eyes first met at the Spring Market.

In the beginning, he haunted only her nights, but after their encounter two months ago, he had come to her in daylight too. Through his eyes, she learned of his dismal, barren land and the fire-spewing mountain he both abhorred and feared. She tasted both his grief and rigid determination.

Today, she would speak with him, the warrior fated to be hers, if only for a year and a day.

The man she intended to wed, whether Da approved or not.

Hope  you enjoyed and stay tuned for more!

Cheers,

Jianne

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