Spotlight with author Jeffe Kennedy

Spotlight with author Jeffe Kennedy

Hello everyone! HUGE apologies for this beyond late post! We are smack dab in the middle of monsoon season and my internet connectivity keeps getting knocked out. ARGH! Makes me so angry that I can't ever seem to get anything uploaded or downloaded until the storm calms. Finally, things are calm … at least for the moment. According to the weather reports, I have at least another week of this maddening aggravation. I try to tell myself to be calm because we really need the water, but it is easier said than done. Anyway, I will quit my rant for now and get back to business. Today I am welcoming back the talented Jeffe Kennedy. I have featured Ms. Kennedy several times on the blog and was thrilled to have a chance to get her back here again. Today is going to give you all a bit of a treat. Ms. Kennedy is sharing THREE books with us and they each have an excerpt! I love excerpts because they allow us a glimpse into the book if only for just a moment. But I oftentimes find that just a snippet can make or break my decision to read a book. I hope that you all enjoy this look in the the Facets of Passion series! Please join me in welcoming back to the blog:

**JEFFE KENNEDY**

**BIO**

Jeffe Kennedy took the crooked road to writing, stopping off at neurobiology, religious studies and environmental consulting before her creative writing began appearing in places like Redbook, Puerto del Sol, Wyoming Wildlife, Under the Sun and Aeon. An erotic novella, Petals and Thorns, came out under her pen name of Jennifer Paris in 2010, heralding yet another branch of her path, into erotica and romantic fantasy fiction. Since then, an erotic short, Feeding the Vampire, and another erotic novella, Sapphire, have hit the shelves. 

Jeffe lives in Santa Fe, with two Maine coon cats, a border collie, plentiful free-range lizards and frequently serves as a guinea pig for an acupuncturist-in-training.

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

Website

Facebook

Twitter

**SAPPHIRE**

**Facets Of Passion, Book 1**

Publisher: Carina Press

**BLURB**

 

A successful executive, M. Taylor Hamilton is on track with her ten-year plan. Too bad her personal life consists of hitting the gym and grocery shopping. Enter the seductive Adam Kirliss. They may have a working relationship, but everything changes at an office party when he handcuffs her to the rail of a yacht. Taylor writes the adventure off as too much champagne, but when Adam challenges her to a date, she agrees to meet up with him. And follow his rules. They share a night of exquisite intimacy, brimming with both pain and pleasure. But afterwards, fearful of losing her heart, Taylor pulls back emotionally. Adam is determined to prove that she longs for the loss of control he can give her – and the passionate release it provides. How can he make her see that he wants her, and not just her body?

Buy Links

Amazon

**EXCERPT**

By reading any further you are stating you are at least 18 years of age.

If you are under the age of 18, it is necessary for you to exit this site.

Kirliss captured her other wrist and held them close in front of her, his warm fingers massaging her skin, while he studied her face. The boat surged over a wave, disturbing her balance. Kirliss’s unusual eyes caught the light, boring into her.

“This is silly,” she tried.

“Do you want me to make you stay?”

“What?” Taylor choked. She couldn’t let him treat her this way. “No! You’ll do no such—”

She lost her breath entirely when he pressed up against her. Thinking he was trying to embrace her, she pulled away and found herself backed against the brass railing.

By the time she gathered her flustered thoughts, her wrists were handcuffed to the rail behind her. Mortified, a bit afraid and—worse—suddenly and wildly aroused…

**PLATINUM**

**Facets Of Passion, Book 2**

Publisher: Carina Press

**BLURB**

Althea Grant is doing fine. Sure, her Charleston gallery is suffering from the bad economy, and her artistic aspirations have gone nowhere. But she’s happy enough. When rugged metal sculptor Steel rides up on his motorcycle looking to rent studio space, his infusion of cash is more than welcome. But his art is raw, visceral, sexual—and completely inappropriate for her pastel world of watercolor landscapes.

Steel, fascinated by Althea’s rare albino coloring, sees in her the key to his next piece: a metal satyr that can be used for bondage games. Moving into her gallery basement is the first step; seducing the coolly polite lady into modeling for him is the second.

As Steel peels away her careful manners and tasteful outfits, Althea begins to realize her life isn’t just fine at all—it’s as pale and washed-out as the watercolor paintings she’s failing to sell. Can she transform her life and accept her most secret desires?

Buy Links

Amazon

**EXCERPT**

By reading any further you are stating you are at least 18 years of age.

If you are under the age of 18, it is necessary for you to exit this site.

In the morning, Althea dressed carefully in a pretty pale lemon chiffon dress with tiny pearl buttons all down the front. She curled her hair and left it down, thinking it complemented the neckline of the gown better and looked nice with the wide-brimmed matching hat. She looked forward to seeing Brandon for a lovely Sunday outing.

Never mind that she’d spent a nearly feverish night thinking of Steel’s lurid promises. She had no intention of breaking up with Brandon. Steel could hang himself from his own sculpture for all she cared.

She clipped through the gallery as a quick check that all was well, then let herself out through the front and rearmed the alarm. Brandon hadn’t arrived yet, so she busied herself with deadheading the impatiens and lobelia in the window boxes.

“Don’t you look a picture.” Steel leaned against the wall nearby, decked out in his motorcycle leathers. He wore mirrored sunglasses, so she couldn’t see his eyes, but his intrusive gaze consumed her nevertheless.

“What are you doing out here?”

“Taking in the sun, seeing the sights.” He grinned at her. “Gallery’s closed today, I see. Wanna go for a ride on my bike? You’d have to change, though—that skirt would be up over your head in no time. Not that I would mind. In fact the image of you offers some interesting—”

“I have a date,” she snapped.

He raised his eyebrows. “Let me guess—Sunday brunch. How…sweet.”

“I happen to like brunch.”

“And did you like staying home alone on Saturday night?”

“I had a long day, working,” she emphasized. “I preferred some time to unwind.”

He chuckled at that. “Princess, I have no doubt that you could use some unwinding, but I could suggest a dozen more interesting ways to do it. For example, we could start with—”

“I’m not interested.” She cut him off again and turned back to picking off the dried and wilted blossoms.

“You don’t act like a woman who’s not interested.”

“I’ve decided to stick with Brandon. I’m declining your…offer. Not that I seriously considered it. At all.”

“Brandon?” He drew the name out, baaing on the “a” sound like a sheep.

“Oh stop. It’s a perfectly fine name.”

“You think so? Brandon? Sounds like a Momma’s boy to me.”

“Not every guy has a noun for a name.”

“Not unless he’s bold and manly like me.” He winked and she laughed before she caught herself, but with her face still turned down to the window box, he might not have heard. “I notice you never say my name.”

“Sure I do. Steel refinery. Stainless steel silverware. Calphalon steel pans. I say it all the time.”

“I want to hear you gasping it out while I’m riding you,” he spoke from just behind her, in a quiet, intense voice.

She whirled around and had to take a step back, he was so close. “I don’t want you talking to me that way.”

“I think you like it.”

“I don’t.” But her voice faltered.

“I think Brandon treats you like a lady. I bet, when he bothers to pay attention to you, that he ‘makes love’ to you. All clean and polite-like. Sunday brunch sex. Am I right?”

She focused on the prominent Adam’s apple in his tanned throat. He was all over stubble again. She wondered how the scratchiness would feel.

“There’s nothing wrong with love-making.”

“No,” he agreed, and he smiled when she glanced up in surprise. “There’s a place for that too. Long afternoons, lace curtains and taking each other in long, luxurious, slow licks of pleasure.” He stroked her cheek. “I can be into that too. But I’m offering something the Brandons of the world won’t. I think there’s a very dirty girl under all that lovely lady exterior. The one who gets juiced just looking at my art. Who wants it hard and hot and maybe just a little rough. Tell me, has any man dared to tie you up with your legs spread wide, so he could have his way with you?”

She gaped at him and he leaned in. Whispered in her ear.

“I would. One word from you, princess, and I will.”

“Is this your idea of luring me?” She tried to sound indignant, but it came out breathless.

“Absolutely.” He flashed her his wicked grin. “And it’s working too.”

**RUBY**

**Facets Of Passion, Book 3**

Publisher Carina Press

ISBN: 978-14268-9548-7

Genre: Romance, Erotic Romance, Contemporary Romance, BDSM

Release date: May 13

**BLURB**

Danielle Sosna has no problem denying herself in order to achieve her goals—after all, that attitude landed her a dream job at Vogue Paris. But in New Orleans for one last assignment before heading overseas, she's faced with the most decadent of temptations. Seductive Cajun chef Bobby Prejean takes Dani's strength of will as a challenge, and offers her a night of wild indulgence—if she will agree to obey his every command…

Dani can't resist Prejean's invitation to join him in a world of carnal desire, complete with fetish costumes and masks. Determined to keep her emotional distance, she gives Prejean everything but her name. A night becomes a week, as she spends Mardi Gras suspended…in the delicious space where pleasure meets pain.

Too late, she realizes the cloak of anonymity has not protected her—and that chasing her dream might come at the expense of her heart.

Buy Links

Amazon

**EXCERPT**

By reading any further you are stating you are at least 18 years of age.

If you are under the age of 18, it is necessary for you to exit this site.

She headed toward the B&B, at first hurrying through the rain. As she splashed through the deepening puddles on the uneven sidewalk, her stockings soaked through. In fact, all of her was as wet as if she stood under a shower. Since her pace didn’t matter, she slowed, rain running down her face, sliding over her skin. A pack of squealing tourists hustled by, sharing one plastic rain poncho like a tarp. Prepared locals gave her smug smiles from under the umbrellas they always carried.

She smiled back. The rain might be cool, but the feel of it sliding on her skin brought the world into focus. A small discomfort, like her hunger, to make getting indoors that much more pleasurable.

She passed the Court des Deux Pendus without glancing at it, no matter how much she might want to. Up ahead, a man leaned against a courtyard wall, legs crossed at the ankles, an enormous black umbrella protecting his upper half, while his stylish leather shoes—likely Italian—were irretrievably drenched. Idiot.

“You look like a drowned rat, chère.”

The familiar voice brought Dani up short before she realized the stranger was speaking to her. Cautiously, she looked over her shoulder to see he’d tipped the umbrella back and was surveying her, an amused twitch behind that neat black beard.

“Are you following me?” She poured ice into the question.

“Now how could that be when you just came walking by? I should accuse you. Perhaps you’re a stalker.”

“Ha!” She barked out the laugh and turned to go, so not in the mood for more shit, all the pleasant sensuality of walking in the rain gone. “I’ll be sure to take a different route in the future.”

“Are you hungry?” he called out, lightly, mocking.

“Fuck you!” she tossed over her shoulder.

“Well, all right,” he said, from close behind her. “Though you’d have to do that my way too. Your place or mine?”

She spun around and nearly slammed into his chest. Backed up a hasty step and snagged her hair on the umbrella.

“Goddammit.” She tugged at her wet, snarled curls.

“You appear to be trapped.”

“Quit harassing me,” she hissed.

“In point of fact, you accosted my umbrella. Now, here. Hold this.” He pushed the handle at her and she took it, not looking at him while he used both hands to untangle her hair from the spokes. In her four-inch stilettos, she was nearly the same height, and his breath blew warm against her cheek, the rain drumming around them.

“Some temper you have there,” he murmured. “I can’t help but think that if you had something in your belly, you’d be a little sweeter.”

She decided declining to respond to that would be the better part of valor. That had sounded like an invitation. A tempting one.

“Nothing to say?” His lips whispered against her cheek.

“Let me go.”

“You’re free. For now.”

She started to pull back, thrusting the handle at him, but he wrapped his hands over hers.

“Let me make it up to you.”

“What?” Oh yes. Definitely tempting.

He returned her gaze, steady, calm. His eyes weren’t truly black, but a deep brown, framed by thick lashes any of her models would have killed to come by naturally. The gold hoop glinted in his ear and she was seized by the random desire to take it in her teeth. “I’ll make you something to eat. Something fabulous.”

“Absolutely not.”

“No?” His gaze fastened on her mouth and the moment felt oddly intimate, with the curtains of rain falling around the umbrella. “Let me feed you.”

“I’m not going to a strange man’s place—for any reason.”

“Ah.” He nodded. “I am stranger than some, it’s true. I’ll take you somewhere then. Buy you a meal. Maybe a drink. All safe and public.”

“You threw me out of your restaurant.”

“You deserved it.”

“You don’t know what I deserve.”

“Oh, but I’d love to find out. You come to my place, you play my way. If you give yourself over to me, I will show you pleasures that will keep you fed for life. A different extreme.”

Something about his tone, the heat from his body, sent arousal rippling through her. An image of the manacles on the courtyard wall slipped through her mind, taunting, compelling.

“Are we still talking about food?” She tried to sound flip, but his eyes glinted and somehow she knew he heard the desire in her voice.

“When it comes to the sensual delights, it’s all the same. Come with me for now. Let me give you a taste.”

She studied him, definitely tempted. Keeping professional distance was important, so she’d stayed in a different B&B than the rest of her colleagues. But it made for lonely evenings at times. In a week, she’d be in Paris, where she knew no one. Who knew when she’d meet another man this alluring?

“What else will you do?” he asked, as if he read her mind. “A rainy night in New Orleans is for sharing good food, a little booze, a lot of nice company.”

“I don’t know why I’m agreeing to this.”

White teeth flashed in a smile, outrageously sexy. “Because you can’t resist me, chère.”

“You wish.”

“Yes, I do. Can you walk a bit in those sexy heels?”

“What’s a little pain, in the face of what you’re promising?”

“Exactly. C’mon, New York.” He tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow. “Let me show you my city.”

So what did you all think? Do you prefer to read serial books when you know you have something more to look forward to? Or would you rather read a stand alone and then move on to another set of characters? And will you be reading this series? Why or why not? Perhaps you have read Ms. Kennedy before. Tell us what you thought about your experience in her world. I always welcome your feedback, so please feel free to leave a comment below.

I want to thank Ms. Kennedy for coming back to spend some time with us today. It was and is always a pleasure. I hope that you all enjoyed getting to know a bit about Ms. Kennedy and her books as much as I did. If you enjoyed what you experienced here today, please consider purchasing a copy of the book(s) for yourself and show your support for this amazing author. I wish everyone a fabulous day – or night as the case may be – and will be seeing you all again very soon! Until next time ...

HAPPY READING!!!