Tempt Me Tuesday #43 by Mad Hatter Reads

 

Need a last minute gift for your favorite book lover? I found you a few to choose from that will but a smile on their face. So hurry and pick them up so that the elves have time to load them on Santa’s sleigh!

 

Freedom in the Smokies by Becca Jameson

Durham Wolves, #3

With a vampire still threatening the family, Micah Durham has no plans to follow his brothers into matehood. In fact, he'd prefer not to expose anyone else human or shifter to the dangers they face.

Yet when he returns from visiting a horse buyer, he's beyond pissed to find his family has hired a new human trainer. A "female" human trainer whose I'm your mate scent steals his power of speech.

Kaitlyn Winston couldn't wait to get out of California, and out from under her grandmother's thumb, to take her dream job in her beloved Smoky Mountains. Except when she attempts to make nice with her new boss, their attraction sends them to his bedroom to make love.

The haze of passion doesn't make their problems disappear, though. The life Kaitlyn left behind throws a left hook that could pull them apart. And the Durham's old enemy is back, stronger than ever, and threatening to pick off the Durham's and their mates one at a time.

Warning: Steaming hot sex in a tack room, saddles and saw horses put to good use, mutual masturbation, hot showers, and lovers spats smoothed over with intense make-up sex.

 

The Sacred Circle by Rachel James

(Releases December 23, 2013)

Brianna Sage and Devlin Janus have experienced the worst disaster a modern-day witch can face—a Sacred Circle that backfires and kills their best friend. Banished from the coven for the tragedy, each has vowed to never practice the art of magic again. And then the unthinkable happens. Brianna’s mother, a highly competent High Priestess, is intentionally trapped inside a Sacred Circle and left to die.

Returning home, the pair is swept into an unexpected marriage in order to halt the current health epidemic sweeping the commune. Invoking her rights as Interim High Priestess, Brianna pools her magical talents with Devlin to retrieve her mother’s body from the Circle. However, when the cleansing is done, they are faced with even greater obstacles—their growing attraction for one another and proving to the Elder Council there is a master of dark magic amongst them.

Bent on exposing the sinner, Brianna evokes an ancient ritual called The Weaving, hoping to lure the sinner out of hiding. However, as in the past, the invocation backfires, and she is soon engaged in a life-and-death struggle with the sinner in the Sacred Clearing. And then Devlin becomes an unexpected pawn in their struggle, and she is forced to take drastic measures to save him. Summoning all her hereditary powers, Brianna initiates a radical witches’ pyramid to re-invent the original curse. But will she need to sacrifice the love of her life before it can succeed?

 

The Spider by Jennifer Estep

Elemental Assassin, #10

For the first time, the origins of Gin Blanco’s career as the deadly assassin “the Spider” are revealed in full. In a story that pre-dates the other nine books in the series, Gin Blanco goes through her paces to become the most feared assassin in the Ashland.

         

Vengeance by Denise Tompkins

The Niteclif Evolutions, #3

The demons that haunt you don’t have to be your own.

Maddy Niteclif’s world has changed so radically she’s no longer sure she recognizes the face staring back at her in the mirror. Pale skin, wide eyes, new scars, and even newer wounds. They’ll heal. It’s the invisible wounds—the ones that disfigure the soul—that pose the most danger.

Hell’s higher thinkers have organized. They’re seeping into the paranormal world, bypassing easy targets as they run larger prey to ground. Maddy is caught in a mad scramble to identify the next target before the demons find the individual. But when the demons’ mark is someone from under her roof, she finds just how far she’ll go to protect those who belong to her.

Maddy is about to learn the most difficult lesson yet: loving someone, seeing his scars ripped open and watching as he’s driven to his knees…it hurts. To save his life means she’ll have to sacrifice the only other man she’s ever loved. There’s only one guaranteed way to ensure both men survive, but it will require the ultimate sacrifice.

Herself.

Warning: Author shall be held blameless for the following: advanced education in creative cursing, carnal desire for characters who may—or may not—be real, the breaking of one or both eyebrows upon reading explicit m/f sex scenes, and the straining of abdominal muscles from laughing, gasping, and/or holding of breath.