Last Day for Hot & Deadly Hop & My Sexy Saturday!

Two fun things on one day!

First of all, it's the last day in The Hot and Deadly Blog Hop. I hope you've had fun and found some new authors. The Grand Prize is a Barnes & Noble gift card valued at more than $50. Comment on all blogs with your email to win. Each participant is offering goodies on their blogs too. My prize is a readers-choice pick from my backlist. Read my first chapter excerpts and choose your prize on Amazon .

Click here for the other Hot and Deadly Blog Hop participants

I'm also trying something new today. I've launched a FREE book of 1st and 2nd chapters from all of my books. You've nothing to lose to sample my stories. Check it out. I hope you enjoy.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DIKHDDQ
 
And, it's Saturday and that means My Sexy Saturday! http://mysexysaturday.blogspot.com/
Here's the scoop: Participating authors will either post 7 paragraphs, 7 sentences, or 7 words. This time around, I'm posting 7 paragraphs from my Victorian, polyamorous love story with a touch of reader-interactive art history:

Loving Leonardo - The Quest

Setting the stage: Nicolas, Ellie and Luca discuss the artist's methods as they pore over Leonardo da Vinci's book looking for clues to love messages the artist left for his lover Salai. They realize some of Leonardo's techniques work well outside the realm of art.

Knowing technique like I did, I explained how this process of layering wasn’t generally used among his contemporaries because it was time consuming, taking days to dry between applications. His system allowed him to create the illusion of depth and distance. As an artist in the truest sense of the gift, Leonardo approached painting and sculpture from the mathematical perspective of sacred geometry. This perfect symmetry was what drew the eye all these centuries later.

Though my gaze was drawn time and again to the sfumato on each page, we’d agreed, for the time being, to wait and unravel the mystery one page and one message at a time. My imagination devoured the explicit illustrations on each slowly-turned sheet. Luca’s eyes met mine over a particularly arousing scene. Returning to the script, he translated for us a most beautiful expression of love.

Were I blind, my ears would hear your breath and heartbeat.
Were I deaf as well, my nose would find you by the warm scent of your skin.
Were I deprived of sight and sound and scent, I’d seek your taste.
Were I unable to see and hear and smell and taste, my hands would reach for you.
Were I a husk of a man, my heart would know you.

Ever the minx, Ellie closed the book and set it, and our theories, aside. She went to her trunk and withdrew three silk scarves. These we tied around our heads like blindfolds. Feeling our way to the canopied bed, she drew the velvet curtains closed and we immersed ourselves in total darkness. Deprived of sight, we gave over to our other senses.

I could see why Leonardo blindfolded himself. Submerged in touch and sound, scent and taste, I understood why he sought this heightened sensitivity. Deprived of sight, it was as if I’d been handed a key to unlock my other senses. The dichotomy of experiencing Luca’s firm well-muscled body and Ellie’s soft slender curves in complete sightlessness thrilled me beyond comprehension. Their breathy sighs and gasps filled my ears. Even the small hairs on my skin were as whiskers on a cat with which to feel their bodies in the stygian night.

I maneuvered on and around my lovers. The lavender ghost of their soap mingled with their heady musk of desire, and I tasted the salt and clean sweat of exertion upon their skin. All of it: sound, taste, touch, and scent painted a picture in my imagination. They were two exquisite dreams made flesh, and I swear I saw the glow of their souls through my blind eyes. We praised one another’s perfection with an eye for detail that da Vinci himself would have surely applauded.

Tomorrow we’d find his La Scapigliata.

5-Stars
"I was simply blown away. What a smart, intelligent read. In MHO, this book is definitely a keeper."

What about this "Reader- interactive" business?

The main observer in this romantic tale is Nicolas Halstead, a man of means who has only recently come to discover profound truths about himself. It is through his perspective that we see and feel his Victorian world. An art historian by profession, Nicolas regularly compares life to art. Because of this, he leaves many references to artists and artworks scattered throughout the pages. These weren’t artworks randomly chosen off a list when I wrote the tale. They were carefully-considered art references placed to convey Nicolas’ thoughts, feelings, and impressions in a given moment. All art is emotion, and Nicolas wears his heart upon his sleeve. It isn’t necessary for the reader to look up each artist or artwork, though to see what Nicolas sees will certainly add color to the tale. I hope you enjoy.

Nicolas, Ellie, and Luca may return for other adventures. If you have thoughts or ideas where they might journey next, do drop me a line in comments (top left of the page). Where might an Art Historian, a Suffragette, and a Historian venture in 1887? The Victorian world is wide open, and the sun never sets on the British Empire.

Rose Anderson ~ Love Waits in Unexpected Places

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