PREVIEW: "Hot Chocolate Kiss" by Gianna Bruno

On Thursday, January 7, Gianna Bruno’s short story "Hot Chocolate Kiss" will be released by Eternal Press.

Extreme weather, three witches, two skiers fighting their own demons--and each other…who wins?

Keela Branford’s passion for extreme winter sports, fueled by anger at a cheating soon to be ex-husband, drives her to brave sub-zero wind chills and break a lot of rules--including the one to never ski alone. There are just some battles that have to be fought despite the risks.

Keela doesn't think much of Rick Marston, a ski lift attendant who is brazen enough to question Keela's judgment. And she thinks even less of his invitation for a drink when she comes down from the summit. She's sworn off controlling jocks like her ex, and is determined to exorcise the demon of self-doubt inside her. Will Keela win the battle against The Witches waiting for her on the ski slopes? And will the heat between Keela and the man who gets in the middle rout them for good?

Gianna certainly knows her stuff when it comes to both plotting a story and telling it, and she uses her skills to good effect in this debut novelette. Gianna knows the New England skiing scene well, and her skiing experiences provide a confident background to the piece.

Readers will immediately indentify with Keela, who is a skilful mix of vulnerability and willpower. I shared in Keela’s determination to beat the elements as she battled the witches; I willed her to make the right decision when deliberating over Rick’s interest. In short, I couldn’t help wanting Keela to succeed.

Most of all, though, I sat back and enjoyed the narrative. 'Hot Chocolate Kiss' pulls you along almost like the moods of a river - sometimes fast and furious, at other times more gentle, but always taking you with its flow.

The story is both erotic and romantic, and I finished it wanting to read more about Rick and Keela. I know Gianna has hinted that 'Hot Chocolate Kiss' might be the first of a series, and I for one am looking forward to meeting the characters again.


Hot Chocolate Kiss’s web site at Eternal Press is here: http://www.eternalpress.ca/hotchocolatekiss.html

Readers can connect with Gianna at:

http://giannabruno.com/
http://giannabruno.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/Gianna_Bruno
gianna_bruno@yahoogroups.com

Subscribe to Gianna's webpage forums for Rick and Keela’s upcoming character blogs: http://pub42.bravenet.com/forum/3559210654/

In addition to hanging around on the Eternal Press Readers Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EternalPressReaders/ every day to answer readers' questions, Gianna will be the guest at a live chat on the Eternal Press website http://eternalpress.ca/ on January 7. Please drop in for a trivia contest about New England and skiing, and a chance to win a PDF of Hot Chocolate Kiss. She’ll announce the time on Twitter and her blog.

"The Shoot's" First Review!

"The Shoot" has been given an emphatic 17 by "Seriously Reviwewed"! They gave the story eight and the presentation nine to arrive at that score.

Read the full review here.

Release Day Quiz!

To celebrate "The Shoot's" release, I'll give away a couple of free copies! All you have to do is leave a message, telling me which other Eternal Press release "The Shoot" is a prequel to.

As a strong hint, the answer is in my previous post, below.

Release Day!

“The Shoot’s” release is here!

It forms a prequel to other Eternal Press release, “The Wood”. The books have two common characters: Kath Mahoney, a young and gifted archaeologist, and Pippa Laws, her best friend. “The Shoot” is erotica, while “The Wood” is mainstream horror.

Preview (Thanks to fellow EP author Gianna Bruno)
Interview (Thanks to Carole Ann Moleti)

I’ll be online at EP from 9-10pm EST.

Here’s an excerpt from “The Shoot”:

“And how about you?” Robyn asked.

Kath’s brows rose. “Me?”

“Well, it’s just as easy to take pictures of two as it is of one. And if she’s with someone she knows, it might ensure that your friend—Philippa, isn’t it?—is totally relaxed.”

“I haven’t got anything to wear.” Kath pointed to her casual clothes. “It’s hardly modelling material.”

“Don’t worry about that. I’ve got a wardrobe through there. You can choose whatever you like.” Robyn nodded toward the door Pippa had disappeared through. “Have you ever been photographed before?”

“Not since I was a kid. Mum hired someone every year so she’d have a picture of me and my sister to send to relatives at Christmas.”

Robyn regarded her. “You’re a gorgeous girl, Kath. I’m pretty sure you’d be really photogenic. I’d really encourage you to give it a go.”

Kath’s cheeks warmed. “I want to be an archaeologist, not a model,” she said. She pushed her hair behind an ear in an embarrassed gesture, but agreed to pose. She followed Pippa into the changing room.

She told me I was gorgeous. A smile curled Kath’s lips.

Release Day Approaches!

“The Shoot” will be released by Eternal Press in less than a week – Monday 7th December! Be sure to come back on the 7th, when I’ll have some celebratory prizes to give away.

I’ll be doing a live chat on the Eternal Press website between 9-10pm EST on Monday, and I hope to see loads of people there. There’s also Eternal Press’s monthly launch party at their Reader’s Yahoo Group. These are always fun events. And Eternal Press also have a secret surprise in store. It’s so secret that even I don’t know what it is! Sign up for EP’s eZine to find out.

Thank you to Carole Ann Moleti who has interviewed me to celebrate the release. Fellow EP author Gianna Bruno, for a preview. Gianna’s “Hot Chocolate Kiss” will be released by EP early in 2010. I want to give Gianna a public thank you for her help with “The Shoot’s” early drafts – I doubt it would have got published without your help.

Finally, check out “The Shoot’s” video trailer on my YouTube channel. There are trailers for my other books there, too.