#ManCandy Monday and they're fully dressed. Clothed men can be so sexy.

#foundpics for Man Candy Monday above probably found on Facebook

and below posted on Facebook by my friend writer Katalina Leon

Yum yum

That moment when you delete the last ten thousand words of your WIP #amwriting

I left a story on my computer for six weeks half-written, and suddenly decided that I wanted to finish it. So this weekend I forced myself not to sign into the various social media sites and read the story so that I could continue it.

As soon as I'd finished reading I knew I no longer liked what I'd written. The rest of the story that was in my head wouldn't fit with what was already there. What to do. Be ruthless I told myself. Just cut out what you don't like. The word count swam before my eyes. Was I ready to delete ten thousand words, words I used to like? I took a deep breath. I could copy them onto another document and save them just in case, but no, I know once I fall out of love with my writing it just has to go. 

I deleted ten thousand words, well ten thousand and five words.

I feel much better. Thankfully this doesn't often happen to me, because usually a story drops into my head and I simply write it. I flows down, but my day job has interfered a lot with writing time this last couple of months. I've also been promoting my last story from Evernight Publishing. Promotion takes so much time and energy. I don't know any other author that doesn't feel the same as me about promotion.  

Sometimes writing is such a treat, a joy, and time to write is precious. So I need to take my own promo advice, when I see a chance, take it ...

 Here's a beta (unedited) snippet from the romance WIP, Taking Chances 

Erin was going to have lunch with a couple of work colleagues. They walked down the high street to the café on the corner. She wondered if she should pop into the bookshop to say hello to Hannah as she passed. The older woman was so nice. Then she decided that she’d drop into the shop on the way home instead.

Her colleagues found a table near the window that would seat them all. 

The café was busy, and thankfully, there were three service staff instead of the usual two. Erin ordered soup and a toasted sandwich. As she gazed out of the window waiting for her food, she thought she saw the young man who'd been handing out flyers. He was on his motorcycle moving along slowly. She watched. It is him.

He parked in the spaces specially designated for motorbikes outside the bank on the opposite side of the street, and took off his helmet. The breeze blew his dark hair back. It showed off his angular jaw and the sexy planes of his face. He unzipped his leather jacket as he strode up the sidewalk and went into the big double doors of the bank.

Erin gazed at him longingly. He was so attractive. His dark jeans and mid-calf, black biker boots gave him a dashing air. Erin sighed as she took in the sight of his muscular thighs and his cute ass. The jeans fit perfectly, and there was a frayed rip halfway down the left thigh. He looked good enough to eat. 

One of her colleagues asked her a question and Erin smiled, tearing her thoughts away from the gorgeous young man.

Copyright Elodie Parkes

#TeaserThursday with private detective, Jake Snow #booktrailer

From Jake Snow

Jake was convinced the only reason he didn’t feel nervous about the fashion show was the venue. It was the enormous, flat roof of a very tall building in the city, a hotel with lots of facilities for conferences and events. When he attended the final rehearsal, he had kept away from the edges of the roof. Penny, the model he was walking with, laughed at him, but Jake grinned.

“I didn’t know I was nervous around heights, but obviously I am. Wall or not I’m staying in the middle ground here.” He glanced at the meter high wall of the roof garden thinking it wouldn’t stop anyone falling. Now the place was decked out like a tropical paradise. Tall foam palm trees were dotted around the AstroTurf and fairy lights strung between them. Huge spotlights were directed at the catwalk. Three rows of chairs lined each side and the end of it, where it seemed the most important guests had seats with extra gifts on them.

Jake had looked into the pink and dark blue gift bags placed on the seats, before the guests began arriving. They contained perfume and a silk scarf. Some contained cologne or a silk tie and Jake grinned as he recognized the style. It was the same as the one he’d wear that evening.

His hair had been spiked up a little and he had face powder patted onto his nose. They lined the bottom lid of his eyes with navy blue kohl and Jake made a sound of disgust, until Pixie who was managing parts of the show came over.

“Jake, hell you look gorgeous, so sexy.”

He saw what she was wearing now, close to the start of the show. Her dress was like an opal, a little blue and a little green, and shimmering. It was held up by thin shoulder straps and clung to her as she walked. Her heels were like towers and consisted of three green leather straps and a silver heel that looked lethal. She had more makeup on than Jake had seen her wear before and her hair was down but ruffled somehow. She looked good enough to eat.

“So do you…you’re beautiful.”

The makeup artist standing alongside him smiled at them both and walked off. Jake caught Pixie’s hand and pulled her to his side. He stood up and kissed her on the side of her mouth. “Better not smudge that lip gloss.”

Copyright Elodie Parkes 

Private detective, Jake Snow, is tired of working alone. Bethany his sister and former colleague married two years ago. Now he chooses less high-powered cases, as he decides against teaming with another partner from the Black Agency.

Gradually, Jake realizes he wants the kind of love his sister found, and a different job...

Just before he’s due to take his requested extended leave, he’s sent on what he thinks is a simple surveillance assignment. What he finds is a tangled web of lies, and a fashion designer in trouble...

The question is will he also find love.

With steamy love scenes, and a twist of fun, this book is 18+ available All Amazons, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords now

#SundaySnippets from Evernight release, A Fairy Tale Romance

‘A Fairy Tale Romance’

The story is contemporary, fantasy romance. It’s set along the coast in the sumptuous Mediterranean, and bathed in warmth, which I felt was a fitting venue to contrast with the stark misery of my hero’s predicament.

The story is modelled on old fairy story motifs, where there is a fairy godmother style character, a prince and a princess. I so enjoyed writing this story because Thorn Valmont, my hero, is such a lovely, romantic man and deserves to be freed from the curse that befalls him. This is a sizzler of a story with erotic love scenes and threads of fairy tale mystery as we wonder what has happened to Thorn and how he’ll escape his lonely life.

Read the snippet:

Sandy Carson unlocked her office door, flipped the notice secured in the middle of the glass panel to ‘Open,’ and clattered to her desk. Her stiletto heels echoed in the large half-empty space. She employed an assistant who generally started work at nine, and that’s why she’d made the eight o’clock appointment with poor Thorn Valmont. That’s how she thought of him now. At first, she’d regarded him as ‘that totally dishy young man who’d bought the old palace’ but after ten years of knowing his secret, she pitied him. Though he was still gorgeous, his plight was nothing short of grotesque.

She tossed her briefcase down and pushed the button on her computer. Leaving it to boot, she went to make coffee in the back room of the office. Sandy enjoyed the cool, white, spacious office. She’d chosen the minimalist look for it. At fifty years old, Sandy had discarded her unfaithful husband and changed every facet of her surroundings at home and in her business.

She took her coffee back to her desk and checked through the contract again. At last, Thorn was opening up the vacation accommodation he’d made in the old palace. Three self-contained luxury apartments were available within the huge house. Thorn lived in another on the third floor. Sandy had sold him the place and now she was going to act as the agent to let out the vacation apartments. She hoped to involve him in greeting the tenants, but Thorn might do nothing more than allow access to the cleaners at the end of each rental. She sighed, thinking about the sad figure he cut when he did appear in town. Tall, muscled, dark hair, and lovely blue eyes, his handsome exterior still couldn’t hide his pain. Well, not from me anyway ... maybe that’s because I know.

Copyright Elodie Parkes 2014 Evernight Publishing All Rights Reserved