Guest Post with author Cate Masters

Guest Post with author Cate Masters

What’s up everyone? I have yet another exciting book to tell you all about today. Cate Masters has been on my list of authors I need to check out for a while now. If I had more time in the day I would have been able to read some of her work before. But alas, 24 hours I just not enough. I often wish that time would stand till only while I read book. Wouldn’t that be awesome? Could you imagine how much I could read? Sha! Awesomesauce! But I digress. Just because I am short on time doesn’t mean I can’t tell you about an author who has interested me for some time. PLUS ~ this is Decadent Publishing y’all. I have had really good luck with this publisher. So how about we find out about this new series from the ever-talented :

**CATE  MASTERS**

**BIO**

Cate Masters has made beautiful central Pennsylvania her home, but she’ll always be a Jersey girl at heart. When not spending time with her dear hubby, she can be found in her lair, concocting a magical brew of contemporary, historical, and fantasy/paranormal stories with her cat Chairman Maiow and dog Lily as company. 

Look for her at http://catemasters.blogspot.com, and in strange nooks and far-flung corners of the web. 

Cate loves to hear from readers. Email her at: cate.masters@gmail.com

You can find out more about Ms. Masters in the following places:

Cate Masters  - Magic, mayhem and a little romance

BLOG 

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

GOODREADS 

COFFEETIME ROMANCE

YOUTUBE

AMAZON

SMASHWORDS

GOOGLE+

**CURSED**

**The Vitruvian Man, Book 1**

Paranormal romance novella

**BLURB**

Ten days of freedom. That’s all Fate had allotted me each year. In the streets of Venice, I could walk among them. Mingle. Belong.

During Carnevale, they had no idea who I was. What I was.

For ten days, it didn’t matter.

Until I met her.

Bruno diCesare lives alone by necessity, not choice. An experiment performed by Leonardo da Vinci, who believed having a dual DNA would grant a person immortality, used magic to render Bruno a chimera – the head of a lion, body of a dragon. The only time he can mingle with people is during Carnevale, ten glorious days of masked anonymity, frivolity and intimacy.

Melina Weaver learned fire dancing to enliven her dull existence. A scientist, her long hours at the lab leave no time for a social life. For ten days at Carnevale, she can pretend to be someone else. Someone sexy and daring, who lives on the edge.

Once she meets Bruno, her wish comes true, but everything goes terribly wrong. Beneath Bruno’s costume lurks an alpha male, but is he dangerous? Worse, can she return to an employer who sells her research to the military to make an army of efficient killers? Her only hope may lie with the man she’s just met and never seen.

BUY LINKS

Decadent Publishing 

Amazon 

Barnes & Noble

Coffee Time Romance 

All Romance

Smashwords

**BOOK TRAILER**

Click Here

**GUEST POST**

**Music To Write Stories To**

Did a song ever stop you in your tracks? Or maybe just work its way into your subconscious and keep replaying in your head?

Lots of songs do that to me, lol. I'm not someone who can write with music playing in the background. Oh, I absolutely love music, and have since I was about five and fell in love with Paul McCartney when the Beatles played on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time. Talk about an angel face! I think I was the youngest Beatlemaniac. My love of music grew from there. My record collection became a CD collection, and I could spend countless hours trolling YouTube for favorite bands, lol.

But while I'm writing, I find music too distracting, and I'd end up either singing along or blocking it out completely.

But music often inspires me. And I love to incorporate it into books when it fits the story's theme. Readers will find plenty of musical references, bands and songs alike, in my stories.

But sometimes all I need is a snippet of lyric, and a story evolves from there. That's how Cursed began several years ago. Radio stations played The Goo Goo Dolls almost ad nauseum when they first rose to fame, and later the oldies station my hubby listens to took a particular liking, it seems, to their song Iris.

One day, the station played the song, and one line of lyrics jumped out at me: "I'd give up forever to touch you."

What a powerful notion. Such an incredible sacrifice.

I began jotting notes revolving around that line. But I'd already written several stories about angels who'd given up their heavenly status after falling in love, so I wanted something a little different. An alpha male, for sure, but a little bit unusual.

So Bruno diCesare began to form in my head. Bruno's a music lover, too, and sometimes people strolling through Venice might hear the lovely strains of a Stradivarius violin echoing along the narrow alleyways. They'd never see him because he hides himself away until Carnevale, the ten-day masquerade. And even then, he stays in his disguise.

Until the day he meets Melina. :)

So what about you -- have you ever fallen in love with a song? Or its lyrics?

Here’s a peek at Cursed:

**EXCERPT**

Light danced in his dark eyes. “I must admit, your fire dancing fascinated me. What made you choose such a dangerous skill to master?”

“The thrill of the challenge, I suppose.” It balanced the rest of her mundane life, to a degree. Mastering each new level gave her a sense of achievement, where work couldn’t.

Something flashed through his dark eyes. “Mistakes must be very painful.”

“I practiced a long time before I worked up the nerve to actually light the wands. I found the fire great incentive to focus, however.” God, her grin must be goofy, the way he stared. Such gorgeous eyes, such a deep brown they almost appeared black. He probably had rugged features, if his large hands provided any indication. Too bad he wore gloves, another barrier between them.

“Yes,” he said, “I imagine so.”

“What about you? What other magic do you know?” Oh please, can you get any more ridiculous? It sounded like a line from a bad chick flick.

The crinkle around his eyes was the only evidence of his smile, but enough to charm her.

“Lifetimes of studying the dark arts have provided me with many tricks.”

“Lifetimes?” she blurted.

He stiffened in her arms. “Pardon?”

She watched him carefully. “You said ‘lifetimes’. Plural.” And what the hell did he mean by ‘dark arts’?

Rigidity masked the grace of his movements. “I’m sure you’re mistaken.” He stared over her head as they whirled to the song’s rhythm.

Mistaken my ass. How very strange. More strange that the question upset him. He’d clammed up, and his muscles were so tense, she expected him to bolt. Better to drop it. For now. “Must have been a slip of the tongue.”

“Yes.” Relief sounded in his tone, though guarded.

This man had something to hide. How intriguing.

Well? Enough to whet the appetite? I thought so. But just in case, here in another excerpt provided by Ms. Masters. I’m sure the hook and line is firmly in place, but a sinker wouldn’t hurt. *wink*

**BONUS EXCERPT**

Melina should have stayed in her room. Finding him had seemed like such incredible luck. Now she wondered whether luck had turned against her.

That sound—almost an animal sound—had that come from him? Had she imagined it? Strange things went on during Carnevale, her online friends had said, some so inexplicable no science could explain them. She’d laughed when they warned her she might get in over her head.

The sheer strength of his muscles, the raw power beneath his clothes, thrilled her. His pace conveyed the same urgency.

Pressed to his side, nerves jangling, her foot slipped on the stone step.

In one fluid motion, he scooped her into his arms and continued hurrying along. “Are you all right?”

“Unless embarrassment leaves a mortal wound. I’m normally not so clumsy.” She settled against his broad chest. Such incredible stamina. An image pierced her mind: his muscular, naked torso above her, his hips rocking against hers. His presence overwhelmed her, and she was acutely aware of every motion, every breath.

At the bottom of the stone stairs, he set her on her feet but maintained his firm hold. “Dampness has a habit of lingering here. You’d best allow me to assist you.”

“Please.” She fitted herself against him, acutely aware of the way his body moved against hers.

“In these calle of San Samuele,” he said, “Giacomo Casanova spent his youth.”

“Calle?” She should have brushed up on her Italian.

He dipped his head closer. “Narrow alleyways.”

“Narrow and dark. I wonder how many trysts Casanova had in these alleys?” And Casanova had nothing on Bruno. Women probably flocked around him constantly. Acid flashed through her at the thought.

“Too many to recount.” He paused, then added, “If one believes the writings in his diary. His mentor, the poet Giorgio Baffe, lived just down there.”

“Mentor?” She didn’t recall Casanova writing poetry. Did Bruno as well? Or was he not romantic that way?

“Of a sort. The man who introduced Casanova to worldly pleasures.”

The way the last two words rolled off his tongue, so enticing. She glanced at the dark steps that led to deeper shadows beside the canal.

She surprised herself by steering him down there, tugging him to an abrupt halt. “Do such mentors still exist?”

He whirled her against a wall. “Why? Would you be interested?”

She let her hands wander across the contours of his chest. “You did offer to introduce me to the delights of Venice.”

The same growl as earlier rumbled in his throat, unmistakable this time. “You do like to play with fire, don’t you?”

And he knew how to ignite one.

Yep. That about did it. Totally hooked now. Looks like this would be a good starting place for me to getting going with Ms. Masters work. *nods* What an enticing story to break into. A wonderful setting with all sorts of possibilities. An identity disguised. The potential for just about anything. And the ever-present touch of magical whimsy. Love it!

So not knowing much about Ms. Masters or her books, but being very intrigued by her, I would very much like to hear what the rest of you think. If you are unfamiliar with this author and her books, no worries. Just tell me what you thought about the post. 

I want to thank Ms. Masters for taking the time to both write a fun post for us as well as spending some time with us today. I hope everyone enjoyed getting to know a bit about this wonderful author and her book. And remember to show her some support if you liked what you read by buying a copy of the book for yourself. I hope everyone has a terrific day! Until next time …

HAPPY READING!!!