Shouldn't we have all of this, and passionate kisses? Heck, yeah!
Today we get to hear from the authors of the Passionate Kisses Boxed Set: Ten Sizzling Contemporary Romances, who are providing tips for hot summer reads along with what, to them, makes a kiss truly sizzle. To see a bigger image of that sizzling cover, click on the blue arrow in the lower right corner of the image. It'll be worth it! (Here's a tip of the headline hat to Mary Chapin Carpenter for the lyric from her 1992 song Passionate Kisses.)
Magda Alexander, author of Storm Damages
Q: What makes a kiss sizzle for you?
Magda: I'm very touchy-feely, so I love it when my guy sweeps his hand across my jaw and plucks my lower lip before he kisses me. Ahh, I melt every time.
Q: Do you have some summer vacation reading recs for us?
Magda: Tangled by Emma Chase, an erotic romance written from the man's POV. Laugh-out-loud funny. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, a sweeping time travel-romance which debuts as a TV series on Aug. 9 on Starz. Hearts in Darkness by Laura Kaye, a contemporary novella. Two strangers find love in a pitch-black elevator.
Please tell us about your book in the boxed set.
Magda: Promising law student Elizabeth Watson struggled her entire life to claw out of her dirt-poor background. And now the thing she's dreamed of, an associate position at her law firm, is within reach. As long as she keeps up her grades, makes law review. And stays out of trouble. But then British billionaire Gabriel Storm walks into her life. And trouble is his middle name.
Wendy Ely, author of Confessions
Sizzling kiss? When his lips touch mine and the kiss has so much power that everything disappears around us. It's only him and me. Nothing else.
Summer vacation reading recs? Fade to Black by Morgan Kearns, Cowboy Boss and His Destiny by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel and The Mating Moon by Buffy Christopher.
Your book in the set? Can Chelsea and Jordan find their child and rediscover each other? When Chelsea Montgomery vanished 11 years ago, her hometown thought she'd been abducted. In truth, she'd given up the daughter she'd secretly had with Jordan Case. Now he confronts her to help find the child. With a little girl's fate hanging in the balance, the couple must overcome their past to perfect their child's future.
Jessi Gage, author of Reckless
Sizzling kiss? Undeniable chemistry and head support. Before saying our vows, my husband of 15 years and I practiced kissing until he had the head support just right. Very important for height-mismatched couples! We might have practiced a little more than necessary.
Summer vacation reading recs? I just finished reading Hold on Tight by Serena Bell. It was an excellent second-chance book set in the Seattle summer (most beautiful place-season combo ever, in my humble opinion). Other authors I can never resist and have recently read: Charlotte Stein (contemporary romance), Evangeline Anderson (sci-fi romance), Amy Raby (fantasy romance) and Julie Brannagh (sports romance).
Your book in the set? Cami is in a coma. While her body recovers in the hospital, she visits the dreams of the man who acted in anger on the freeway and caused her accident. Can she learn the meaning of forgiveness or will she let a single mistake drive her dream man away forever?
Victoria Barbour, author of Against Her Rules
Sizzling kiss? I'm a sucker for setting and impulsiveness. A walk outside, the sound of the ocean beating against the cliffs below, interrupted by a sudden embrace and thoroughly devouring kiss. That's sizzle right there. I'm also a big fan of hands tangled in hair or cupping face.
Summer vacation reading recs? Mountain Fire by Brenda Margriet, Promised to the Highlander by Kate Robbins and Daisy Does It All by Kylie Gilmore.
Your book in the set? Thriving business? Check. Sexual exploits with a rock star? Check. Complete independence? Check. Elsie Walsh had it all. Or so she thought. Until Scottish hunk Campbell Scott showed up on the doorstep of her bed-and-breakfast. He's making it pretty hard for her to stand by her one rule: No sleeping with the guests. She's denied some of the world's hottest actors, musicians, and even royals... but how can she keep Cam out of her bed, when he's invaded her head and her heart?
Rebecca J. Clark, author of Shameless
Sizzling kiss? For me, I have to be in love with whom I'm kissing. I honestly didn't enjoy kissing until I met my hubby.
Summer vacation reading recs? Something Sweeter by Candis Terry, Fall Into Forever by Beth Hyland and For Love or Money by Cathy Perkins
Your book in the set? John Everest spent his teenage years raising hell and loving every minute of it. One tragic night, he was involved in an accident that forever changed the course of his life, an accident that continues to haunt him 20 years later. Now, he has a chance to redeem himself via a beautiful woman from his past and a boy with no future. Through these two people, John must learn to see beyond the shadows of his youth and accept who he is and what he's done. Only by forgiving himself can he have a future—and the chance for real happiness.
Liz Kelly, author of Good Cop
Sizzling kiss? When I'm watching a kiss play out on TV or the big screen, I want to see the "need" the hero has for the heroine that is represented by his body language. The way he holds her, where he's putting his hands, the expression on his face even.
Summer vacation reading recs? Worth the Weight by Mara Jacobs if you like sexy contemporaries and rekindled old flames. For a historical romance that you just want to savor and might have missed because it's an old one, Shanna by Kathleen Woodiwiss, which has the best hero ever created — Ruark Beauchamp. Oh my! That one is set in the Caribbean for the most part so it's a fabulous beach read. And if you want to laugh yourself silly, Wallbanger by Alice Clayton.
Your book in the set? What happens when best friends fall for the same girl? A bromance, a romance and a love triangle. Lolly DuVal longs for a summer fling that sets off all her bells and whistles. So she agrees to tutor Henderson's hunkiest heroes on what women really want. But now she finds herself caught between two cops and a hard place. And those bells and whistles? They are starting to sound a whole lot more like alarms.
Nikki Lynn Barrett, author of Baby Stetson
Sizzling kiss? A kiss that sizzles for me is something that has passion, a wild spark and is full of emotion.
Summer vacation reading recs? Brenda Dyer's Prophecy Series (great paranormal!), Rebecca J. Clark's Deliver the Moon and The Cowboy's Baby by D'Ann Lindun.
Your book in the set? This story kicks off the Love and Music in Texas series. The first book is about Avery who has a big music dream but hides behind the holes in her past. There's plenty of secrets, drama and love when a few strangers roll into town. The story has plenty of plot twists no one sees coming. And it's only the beginning...
Sydney Holmes, author of Awakening
Sizzling kiss? For a kiss to really sizzle, the build has to be spectacular. There's a moment, a second really, right before a kiss that can make or break it. When two people lean in to each other, if right before their lips touch, one of them hovers a mere centimeter from the other, building tension before their lips finally collide. That kiss sears into their memories and stays there forever. That's a hot kiss.
Summer vacation reading recs? Honestly, our set is perfect summer reading. They are all great, so it's hard to choose just three. I would start with The Opposite of Wild by Kylie Gilmore, Good Cop by Liz Kelly and Shameless by Rebecca J. Clark.
Your book in the set? Once you step over the edge there's no turning back. Ever feel like everyone else has figured out this thing called life but you're just watching it fly by, not really living? Nora Young wants a life filled with passion, purpose and adventure. In walks Ryan Cole and seems to offer everything Nora is looking for: passion, adventure—exhibitionism? But just when Nora starts to open up to Ryan and his crazy adventures, his ex-girlfriend warns her that Ryan's real tastes are dangerously extreme. Does setting boundaries with Ryan mean saying goodbye to the most passionate, sexy man she's ever met?
Allie Boniface, author of Beacon of Love
Sizzling kiss? For me, it's more than the physical ... when there are true feelings, true love, true emotion between two people, that takes a kiss to another "sizzling" level!
Summer vacation reading recs? Anything by Liz Matis, anything by Jill Shalvis and any book by a Passionate Kisses author! (I just finished reading Shameless by Rebecca J. Clark ... you'll love it!)
Your book in the set? Hunky handyman Lucas Oakes meets precocious travel journalist Sophie Smithwaite in this first book of the Hometown Heroes series. Set in the coastal town of Lindsey Point, Connecticut, Beacon of Love features a haunted lighthouse, past family secrets, and small-town secrets galore. Sophie wants to uncover Lindsey Point's mysteries. Lucas wants to protect them at all costs. So what happens when the sparks fly and they fall for each other? And what happens when a series of attacks on the beach forces them both to decide whether true love is worth risking it all?
Kylie Gilmore, author of The Opposite of Wild
Sizzling kiss? A good-looking guy, a strong-willed woman and chemistry that leaps off the page. Oh, did you mean in real life? My husband makes a kiss sizzle. Because of the love.
Summer vacation reading recs? Passionate Kisses Boxed Set (of course!), Happy Pants Café by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff and an oldie but a goodie that never fails to make me laugh, Lady Be Good by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.
Your book in the set? Unleash the wild woman…? Ex-cop Ryan O'Hare takes one look at buttoned-up control freak Liz Garner and just itches to loosen the woman up. Not that he's into her. Because a woman like that comes with way too many expectations. Not to mention, she practically works for him, and he didn't hire Liz to watch after his beloved Harley-stealing Gran so he could turn Liz loose in his bed. Still, there's something about her, a hidden wild side, that makes him wonder what it would take.