A Few of My Favorite Things Back to Blog
Hi, Everyone!
I’m Sylvia Day. Tomorrow (January 25), is the release date of my latest book, Pride and Pleasure. It’s a story about a great many things, but at its core it’s a tale of two people who value privacy and solitude above everything… until they meet each other. Then they learn that life is more vibrant and wondrous when shared with someone you love.
This got me thinking about things I value, which led to me thinking about guilty pleasures. I’ll be hopping around the web this week (if you “like” me on Facebook, you can see where I’ll be), blogging and sharing about Pride and Pleasure, so I’ll spread pieces of my list around (and a few different excerpts). Each chunk will have a different prize, so you hope you’ll join me and share your guilty pleasures.
One commenter on this post will be selected (via random.org) to receive the first three books in my Marked series: Eve of Darkness, Eve of Destruction, and Eve of Chaos, along with some other goodies.
Guilty Pleasures (that I don’t feel all that guilty about…):
1) Good coffee. I’m addicted. Can’t go without it. Unless it’s swill, then I’ll pass. I confess I’m a bit of a coffee snob. In our house, we take coffee very seriously. From selecting the best beans to using the right coffeemaker for the job (we have a few). It’s all worth it when I lift a steaming cup to my lips and taste the exquisiteness.
2) Cynthia Eden books. Oh man… Love ‘em. I’m *rubbing my hands together* in expectation of the midnight download of my pre-ordered copy of Deadly Heat to my Kindle. Bring. It. On. So happy Deadly Lies releases right on its heels. Makes me one very happy C.E. reader!
3) Big, elaborate, blow ‘em action movies. I’m a romance novelist, yes. But I’m not a fan of romantic comedies. Actually, I don’t much like comedies, period. I prefer over-the-top action flicks with romantic elements. Actually, I can even forgo the romantic elements, but lots of explosions and crazy “whoa!” moments are a necessity for my viewing enjoyment.
4) Girls’ retreats. I try to go on at least one a year. It’s such a treat to spend uninterrupted time with dear friends, especially in lovely travel destinations. Freed from the pressures of family/cleaning/looking-after-everyone-but-yourself, you find a lightness of spirit that leads to lots of lovely, intimate discussions. Usually there is laughter and tears, wine and chocolate, spa trips and lengthy meals. Food for the soul.
5) Pedicures. These are a must for every woman. Seriously. We deserve them. The massaging, the pretty designs they can paint on the big toes, the foot soak…
Now it’s your turn! What are some (or at least one!) of your guilty pleasures?
Pride and Pleasure
January 25, 2011
Wealth has its dangers…
There are disadvantages to being an heiress, as Eliza Martin knows well. Fortune hunters flock to her, acquaintances lie and pander, and lately, someone is engineering “accidents” to propel her to the altar. But Eliza will not be bullied, and she will get to the bottom of this plot. All she needs is a man to infiltrate her assemblage of suitors and find the culprit. Someone not easily noticed; a proficient dancer, quiet, and even-tempered.
…so do certain men
Thief-taker Jasper Bond is entirely too large, too handsome, and too dangerous. Who would believe that an intellectual like Eliza would be seduced by a man of action? But the combination of her stubbornness and the mystery makes the case one Jasper can’t resist. Client satisfaction is a point of pride and it’s his pleasure to prove he’s just the man she needs after all…
Excerpt:
“Eliza…” Jasper came to sit beside her.
The air around her became charged with his energy.
I never feel so alive as I do when I am the object of a man’s desire, her mother had said, spinning like a giddy girl with her skirts held in each hand. The blood sings, Eliza. The heart races. It is the most glorious feeling in the world.
Why did Jasper have to be the man to awaken such reactions in her? Why did he have to prove, just by breathing, that she wasn’t immune to needing someone after all? She was so disappointed to realize there were indeed some shades of pleasure that could only be colored by another hand.
His dark eyes were warm with concern. “Please understand, I only wish to be thorough. Your safety is of the utmost importance to me.”
She nodded, believing the sincerity in his tone. A lock of her hair was dislodged by the movement, slipping free of her hastily tied ribbon to slide over her shoulder.
He stood. Holding out a hand, he assisted her to her feet. “Turn around.”
As Eliza pivoted, she disturbed the air, allowing the primitive scent that clung to him–horses and leather, tobacco and bergamot–to tease her senses. She jumped slightly at the feel of his fingers against her nape. Awareness of him swept outward, flowing across her skin like warm water. He lifted the curl from her shoulder and rubbed it between his fingers.
“Like fine silk,” he murmured. He loosened the ribbon securing her hair, returned the errant lock to its former place, and retied the whole more securely.
Her gaze darted around the room, hyperaware of her surroundings. Everything was rendered in brilliant clarity, from the crystals hanging from the many ornate candlesticks, to the inlaid mother-of-pearl glimmering from the tops of the end tables.
In the swirling confusion, she grasped the first thought that came to her… “Are you one of those gentlemen who have an unusually strong interest in red hair?”
“I have an unusually strong interest in you.” He pressed his lips to the bare skin between her shoulder and throat.
“Jasper,” she whispered, shocked by the violent quiver that moved through her. “What are you doing? Why did you come now… tonight… when I’ll be seeing you tomorrow?”
His hands fell to his sides. “I saw the way you looked at Montague. What he said made you see him in a way you haven’t before.”
Eliza faced him. He was more than a head taller, but his frame curved toward her in a way that made their proximity searingly intimate. As if he was about to twirl her into a waltz.
Her heart beat a little faster. Her breathing quickened. “I don’t understand.”
He cupped her chin and tilted her face upward. “You looked at him the way you look at me.”
“That’s impossible.” Montague incited none of this turmoil.
“I need you to regard me in the same manner with which I regard you.”
She was arrested by the way he looked her over. So intent. With a gaze that was fierce. Fervent. His fingertips followed the path of his perusal. Touching her forehead. Tracing her brows. Following the bridge of her nose.
Eliza, in turn, studied him unabashedly. His features were so perfectly formed, beautiful in their symmetry but masculine in their lines. It was such a pleasure to look upon him; he made her want to stare.
“How do I regard you now?” she queried breathlessly.
“Too aware. Trying to reason your way out of this attraction. Stop thinking,” he murmured. Tilting his head, he lowered his mouth toward hers. The approach was slow and deliberate. His grip was loose and without force. “Let yourself feel it.”
She stumbled back, panting because she couldn’t breathe when he was so close.
Jasper watched her retreat with hooded eyes. She was nearly beyond arm’s reach when he growled and caught her back. His lips sealed over hers with a boldness that stole what was left of her air. With one hand at her nape and an arm around her waist, Jasper took her mouth as if he owned it. Undeniably skilled and… hungry. A slanting, suckling, ferocious possession that stunned her completely.
Eliza sagged into him, unable to comprehend the ardor with which he kissed her. His body was astonishingly hard, like warm marble. From shoulder to thigh, he pressed unyieldingly against her. Without the barrier of her stays the sensation was… Dear God, she couldn’t describe the need she had to touch more of him. Her hands clenched and released at her sides, reaching for him, then falling away.
Where should–could–she touch him?
As if he understood, Jasper’s hand at her nape followed the length of her arm down to her wrist. His fingers circled it, then lifted her hand to his chest. Between his coat and waistcoat he urged her palm to splay over his heart. His skin burned through the layers of clothing between them. His heartbeat raced with the same recklessness as hers.
Her other hand clenched the hem of his coat and she whimpered, overwhelmed.
Her capitulation gentled him. The press of his lips softened and his grip slackened enough to allow her lungs to expand. Teasing rather than taking, Jasper licked the lower curve of her lip, goading her to taste him back. She did, trembling, uncertain.
At the first flick of her tongue, he captured it with soft suction. Startled, Eliza jerked in his arms, her breasts flattening against his chest. His groan vibrated against her, tumbling across sensitized nerve endings.
“Eliza.”
The clock on the mantel began to chime on the half hour, but Eliza was lost to time, focused instead on the luxuriant licks stroking deep into her mouth. Her hand moved across Jasper’s torso, feeling the muscles tense beneath her touch. A sound escaped her, a soft plea.
Jasper lifted his head, breathing hard. With heavy-lidded eyes, he studied her face.
“This,” he said gruffly, “is how you should look at me, the way you look at no one else. As if you long for me to finish what I’ve started. As if you ache to feel my mouth on you, my hands on you.”
She did ache. And felt unappeased, as if she had an unquenched thirst. Her skin was too sensitive. Her fingers trembled. She was far too hot.
He stepped back and turned away in a motion as elegant as it was powerful. She couldn’t help but follow him with her gaze. He was such a large and finely built man, yet he moved with such grace.
“Jasper.” Her pulse leaped at the look he shot her.
Happy Monday!
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Good morning Sylvia and good luck with Pride & Pleasure!
Here are my main guilty pleasures:
#1 Books of course! Specifically I am addicted to the One-click purchase of Kindle books on Amazon. I have shocked myself at how much $ I can spend in a few minutes! LOL I enjoy the instant gratification of being able to start a new book within seconds of buying it.
#2 I have a serious thing for Christian Louboutin shoes. This really should be a GUILTY pleasure (all CAPS) because god knows I make myself suffer with those 4+ inch heels! Why I do it to myself I don’t know. Jimmy Choo boots are a distant second.
Stacie
GeishasMom73 on twitter
I couldn’t agree more about one-click purchasing for my Kindle! Love. It! 🙂
Books..books… and more books.. I just love to read and look forward with much anticipation when I’m waiting for a book order to come in. The guilt sometimes comes in when the order is a big one…. sometimes upwards of 15 to 20. lol. and the pure pleasure is in reading. I always have a book with me in my purse..never know when you’ll be delayed and get a few minutes to read.
I have Kindle for Blackberry for that very reason–finding a few pockets of time here and there to read. That turns what could be a bout of raging impatience into a “take as much time as you need” attitude. 🙂
Hi, Sylvia! Thanks so much for blogging with me! I can’t wait to read Pride and Pleasure-I’m planning to make an early trip to the bookstore tomorrow. 🙂 I sure love that cover. Absolutely gorgeous! I’ve been a huge fan of your books since I had the pleasure of reading Bad Boys Ahoy. Since then I’ve been a Sylvia Day addict.
Thank you for having me! ((hugs))
Good Morning Sylvia! Thrilled at being the recipient of Pride and Pleasure. My guilty pleasures are 1) Ice coffee and 2) finding new writers that are not very well known. It’s a very new guilty pleasure of mine, but it’s like finding a diamond in the rough!
Have a wonderful day!
You have a wonderful day, too, Kacie! (and I couldn’t agree with you more about the iced coffee…)
Can’t wait to read this series!
Thank you, Randi. 🙂
white chocolate and snuggly toe socks
meandi09@yahoo.com
I love snuggly toe socks!
Happy Release Day. Loved the excerpt.
My guilty pleasures are:
Expensive lotions,good chocolate and ice cream
I’m with you on good chocolate. Like coffee, it’s totally worth the expense. 🙂
A few of my favorite things are taking pictures (I love taking pictures because I love capturing as many great memories as possible) and reading. I love reading because it takes me to a different place where I don’t have to think and I can just enjoy 🙂
I can’t wait to read this series 🙂 It sounds AMAZING!!!
Thank you, Karen. 🙂
Okay, here I go with my guilty pleasure
#1 Coffee, of course, I’m totally with you on that. I love coffee and can’t function properly without one!
#2 Books: I buy more than 30 books each months (cause I’m a fast reader and I remember everything) in both my native language and English. i really spend way too much on books.
#3 Bags: expensive pleasure but I love them!
Bags! I’ll spend a small fortune on a purse. I love them, too.
Three guilty pleasures…Books, white chocolate mochas and time to myself to enjoy the first two…
Time to myself! Yes. That can be sublime. 🙂
I have two guilty pleasures and they are books and Large Skim Iced Mochas with an extra shot from Caribou Coffee ( get three a week :)).
Much success with Pride and Pleasure. The excerpt is very good. Thank you.
Thank you, Viki. I’ve only had Caribou coffee in my Keurig, but it’s good!
Here are my guilty pleasures:
1. Im seriously ADDICTED to reading !! (paranormal romance, Romantic Suspence, Urban fantasy, Thriller, Erotic romance), in the Christmas break I read an average of 2 books a day. (it was too cold to be going outside)
2. The Vampire Diaries (Damon is HOT)
3. Turkish Pizza’s (3months left till I can eat my mom’s Turkish pizza’s again)
Turkish Pizza? I’m intrigued!
Books and Art Supplies are my pleasures 😉
I wish I were an artist (in the drawing or sculpting sense). I can destroy a stick figure. 🙁
#1 Coffee
#2 Books
Really they go hand in hand, but so that I am not a zombie I need that first cuppa to at least want to get up to go downstairs and pick up a book to read. That reading nook is pretty far away from my sleep space… on purpose 😉
LOL!
My main guilty pleasures are books, coke(the drink), chocolate, and movies. I’m, also, pretty addicted to the internet.
A woman after my own heart!
Great excerpt! My guilty pleasure is sweets. I’m trying to cut down, but I think I need to try harder. lol My other pleasure is, of course, reading books. And I beleive I have all of Cynthia’s. 🙂
Doesn’t Cynthia rock?
My guilty pleasures… books, my DS games, peanut M&Ms, anime, cookie dough ice cream! 😀
Books and chocolate… divine! 🙂
My guilty pleasures are purchasing books and reading them, getting my hair fixed so I don’t have to do it, my new car, and anything chocolate.
I have yet to read one of your books so would love to win one. They sound really good.
I’m with you on getting hair done professionally. (It’s also a great time to read a book and eat chocolate! *g*)
My guilty pleasures are the Starbucks Grande Caramel Frappachino/ anything chocolate/ pedicures and back massages. When I visit my daughter in Pasadena we always go to the day spa for massages and pedicures…what a treat. Would love to win and read your book.
Starbucks! I’m a huge fan, I admit it.
Good Morning Sylvia. I have many guilty pleasures but I tell myslef they are good things for me. ha ha Books yes..I love my books and love to read.that time is mine..mine..mine!!!. Now chocolate is another guilty pleasure and sad to say my waist line announces whenever I get into my chocolates. Now you would think two would be enough to hang my head in shame..right? Well I have another one besides..hanging my head I have to say I love all kinds of tea and have many many flavors around here all the time. Candy and tea at this house will always save me from going insane so I can continue to read my books. ha ha Do you suggest I look for groups to help me with my addictions or guilty pleasures or continue to enjoy them? ha ha susan Leech
Enjoy them!! Fully, completely, and without shame. 🙂
my guilty pleasure has to be my Kindle…since receiving for xmas…I am official addicted and purchase books 1 2 times a week if not more (sometimes multiple books at one time) If I add up all it is still less than I was spending a Borders before…but coming close cuz I order more
I bought a Kindle in September and I love it madly. I read so much more (and buy so many more) books than I did before.
my all time guilty pleasures are
1. chocolate
2. and bookmarks!! I love all kinds of them in every variation possible and can’t have enough of them…
3. another one would be books, but at the moment I try to buy less of them to read those on my TBR pile which is huge *oh my*
wish you all the best, Melanie
I’m doing something different with my bookmarks for my Renegade Angels series. I’ll post pictures when I have them. 🙂
My guilty pleasures include:
1) Books(many genres)
2)Kindle (got for Christmas)
3)Always CHOCOLATE
4)Herbal Tea (especially fruit flavors)
5)Travel
I’m hoping to read PRIDE AND PLEASURE soon.
I love your guilty pleasures!
Major guilty pleasures include
(1) books (obviously)
(2) computer games
(3) procrastinating on the internet (as I am doing right this moment)
Depends on the day—today and last night was buying clothes for the grandgirls on facebook. Chocolate anytime. McDonalds carmel frappe. books, books, books. the beach.
Hello Sylvia and good luck with Pride & Pleasure!
I know it will do you proud i have already added it to my list.
My guilty Pleasure.
#1 Coffee Whole Fresh roasted bean’s We bought a bur grinder Omgoodness it
is the best along with our Coffee press It;s a bit of work
but I have not tasted coffee like this. My fave’s are Costa Rica Kenya Dark.
#2 A hot bath with vanilla bath salts ( I make myself) soft music Usually Enya my book of choice and 1hr to myself divine.
#3 Girl get a way it’s a must A weekend in the spring and a week in the fall we love to see the fall colors.
I hope you ALL have a wonderful Week.
Ann
Oh Sylvia, where to start… First I love this excerpt, must plan to get the book.
As for guilty pleasures… That can get a girl in trouble.
#1: Books (glances at the bookshelves just about everywhere) eh, only around 3000, It’s all my mother’s fault. She handed me my first romance to stop a fight with my brother on a road trip when I was a kid. It’s been a neccessity ever since (And before you ask, yes I still have that first book)
#2: Peppermint Mocha Frappe’s and Chai Latte’s, Coffee and chocolate and hot spiced tea go great with reading, and every other thing I do.
#3: Johnny Depp Movies (ok so that’s a no brainer, but definately a guilty pleasure, because I didn’t stop at the movies but also have every disc of 21 jumpstreet)
and lastly #4: my private sactuary to enjoy the above guilt, without that sactuary liberally stocked with books, chocolate, a coffee maker, and my laptop, I would no doubt go insane.
Can’t wait to read more of your excerpts throughout the week.
Christiana
My guilty pleasure is my Kindle and all my print books!
Plus my slanket (like a snuggie but longer and a lot thicker) and a nice hot cup of tea.
Add potato chips, and I would never get off the couch!! LOL
Love that you treat yourself to those girl’s weekends. Love them myself.
dark chocolate is my guilty pleasure and I also am a huge fan of period movies. Give me a guy with an accent and dressed in breeches and boots and I’m a goner.
Congrats on your release!! The excerpt was wonderful and this one’s going on my TBR stack!
My guilty pleasures include junk food(chips, soda, candy), raunchy comedies(The Hangover, 40 Year Old Virgin, Porky’s) and massages.
My guilty pleasures is books, coke, period movies, gossip girl, grey’s anatomy, teen movies, and the computer.
A few of mines are good books, diet coke and cake with real icing.
My favorite guilty pleasures are :
1 Chocolate coated coffee beans
2 reading a great book while eating chocolate coated coffee beans
3 relaxing in the spa, reading a great book and eating chocolate covered coffee beans
Hugs
Bek
My wicked pleasures are books and chocolate.
Guilty pleasures:
My family
My books
My wine
In that order!
ok I cant wait to read Pride and Pleasure! I am so excited. Also I have a few guilty pleasures:
1) BOOKS…. but I think it is safe to say we are all addicted to those
2) McDonalds french fries dipped in Sweet and Sour sauce (I just cant get all the time cause so not good for you)
3) going for walks with my kids (I love seeing their fascinated faces and wonderment at all the things in nature)
Congrats again
Happy Release Day, Sylvia & Congrats of your success!
My worst / best guilty pleasure is Chocolate. Dark, semi-sweet wonderfully delicious chocolate. Now, if I could just figure out a way to eat as much as I want without is going straight to my hips!
Thank you!
Kate
mleger0546 AT rogers(.)com
My guilty pleasures ; Books and Chocolate 🙂
Congratulations on the new book Sylvia! It looks like another good one. Chocolate and books are my guilty pleasures that I don’t feel guilty about.
Guilty pleasures
1. Books…quiet time alone to read.
2. Going for a spa day
3. Anything chocolate
Gigi
1. Good coffee is also one of mine. Our office changed coffee services; can’t drink it here any more. It’s nasty!
2. Books, books and more books. I have a huge TBR stack. I still have to buy when all these great books are released; might miss something,
Books with a quiet place to read them, a great cup of coffee and some really good chocolate
Great post!!!
Books are my biggest pleasure.
Then anything Cross Stitching….kits, threads, patterns, materials…sigh….
Then coffee latte….I can’t start my day without one and if there happens to be no milk in the house…I go to the coffee shop for my fix.
Hehe…I could add chocolate too…but I am desperately trying to stay away from it to get those Christmas pounds off….another sigh!!!
Valerie
in Germany
valb0302@yahoo.com
Guilty pleasure:
#1 BOOKS, can’t get enough of them
#2 Coffee, so good!
#3 My hubby LOL
Favorite thing in the world is books.
#2 the kid
#3 my I don’t know how to explain him
#4 heated matress pad on the bed
#5 my animals (esp Missy the service dog to be)
#6 Monster Marie and Meanie May, a.k.a. the M&Ms a.k.a. the neices
I think #3 would actually qualify as a guilty pleasure though.
Happy Release Day Sylvia!!! Your hard work is appreciated.
Chocolate, books and my grandkids are my favorite things. I loved the other comments posted and really enjoyed your column. Thanks.
My guilty pleasures are books, sour Jelly Bellys and massages.
[…] pleasures. I’m spreading pieces of my list around (and a few different excerpts – Check out Cynthia Eden’s blog for the first part of the list). Each chunk will have a different prize, so you hope you’ll join […]
I’ve had my eye on Pride and Pleasure since I read an excerpt at the back of a free kindle short story that Sylvia released recently. Guilty pleasures – I guess my biggest one is chocolate chip cookies. I love them hard, soft, dry, moist, I don’t care as long as they have no “extras” polluting them like nuts, coconut, oats, etc. All I want is a pure chocolate chip cookie.
LSU Reader –
Your comment number (#46) was chosen by random.org as the winner of the three-book set of my Marked trilogy. Please email me at sylvia @ sylviaday.com (no spaces) with your mailing address and I’ll drop the book in the mail to you.
Thank you to everyone for sharing your guilty pleasures!
Hugs,
Sylvia