SHIFTING IS IN THE BLOOD by Terry Spear

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Jaguar Pride Excerpt

   by Terry Spear

Stepping through snarled roots and wet and muddy leaf litter, Melissa's paws didn't make any sound as she moved through the towering tropical trees, her ears perked, listening for human voices.

Wearing his black jaguar coat, Huntley was sniffing the air nearby, pausing to listen. Darkness had claimed the area, the trees blocking any hint of light at dusk, not to mention the rainclouds moving in. Though Melissa's golden coat, covered in black rosettes, was difficult to see at night if anyone should shine a flashlight on her, Huntley was even harder to see, making him hauntingly ghost-like. In broad daylight, his rosettes could be seen, but in a darkly elegant way. She'd never tell him though. As hot as he looked, he probably well knew it, and she didn't want him to think she was interested, or anything. Not when they were both currently seeing someone else.

She loved working with him though.

Black jaguars, a melanistic form, averaged about six percent of the regular jaguar population. The jaguar shifters weren't sure about the ratio with their own kind. Huntley's mother was a beautiful black jaguar, and his dad, golden. Both his brother, Everett, and sister, Tammy, were golden also. For whatever reason, Huntley's coat appealed to Melissa, especially on missions like this. He seemed like a Ninja warrior in jaguar form, sleek, agile, and deadly. And she liked that he was wild, like she was, able to live in their native environments without a hitch. Unless they had trouble with poachers.

***

I was reading a “white warrior shifter” book once where there was no shifting. What??? Yep. They had sex, and talked about how she was a white warrior wolf, but never showed how she was, nor did she ever turn wolf. To qualify as a shifter book to me, the heroine or hero have to shift.

Earlier on, I had read this cool fantasy historical where she was at a lake, talking with the animals, and then a black panther is watching her. Later, we have a handsome dude who is panther-like in his movements, but nowhere did the story actually show him shifting or that he was truly a shifter or that the panther was a shifter. Maybe it wasn’t. But then why say the man moved like a black panther and was watching her at the lake like he was a hot panther shifter? Bad form. If someone is a shifter, show it. If not, don’t allude to it. I kept feeling like the author was afraid to show a shifter as if it might hurt sales, so she just alluded to it for coolness sake. But if there is to be a shifter, I want to know it—for real.

The first shifter story I ever read was when I was a kid and fell in love with the handsome prince who had been cursed by a wicked witch to be a polar bear during the day and a handsome man at night, East of the Moon and West of the Sun. It was the first time that I’d ever envisioned that someone that was a wild animal at some point in their life could be the same as a regal and kind and loving and handsome man. Yum.

I loved Ladyhawke where he was cursed to be a wolf and she a hawk and neither could be with each other in their human forms. Of course, it drove me crazy that they couldn’t be together, but I loved the beauty of the characters and their wilder halves.

I fell in love with Dracula when I was thirteen and saw him in a college play. He’s a shapeshifter too, you know. Some show vampires shifting into bats, others, wolves. And still others, all kinds of different things. But I also felt sorry for Dracula and Wolfman, and in both cases, I felt they deserved to be loved, just like anyone. And so when I wrote vampire stories, and shapeshifting stories to include wolves, jaguars, cougars, and next year, a polar bear shifter, I wanted to show that they were real people, based on real animals, needing real love. I also wanted to show that they were their own people, not despising what they are, but comfortable in their skin…or fur.

I love writing contemporary, but I’m also a huge fan of historical, so I’ll be working on a historical wolf story also.

What would you do if the sexier than life prince that you fell in love with was cursed as a polar bear during the day and you only had him at night to have and to hold?

TERRY SPEAR

About the Author

Bestselling and award-winning author Terry Spear has written over fifty paranormal romance novels and four medieval Highland historical romances. Her first werewolf romance, Heart of the Wolf, was named a 2008 Publishers Weekly’s Best Book of the Year, and her subsequent titles have garnered high praise and hit the USA Today bestseller list. A retired officer of the U.S. Army Reserves, Terry lives in Crawford, Texas, where she is working on her next werewolf romance, continuing her new series about shapeshifting jaguars, and cougars, having fun with her young adult novels, and playing with her two Havanese puppies, Max and Tanner. For more information, please visit www.terryspear.com, or follow her on Twitter, @TerrySpear. She is also on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/terry.spear. And on Wordpress at:

Terry Spear's Shifters

http://terryspear.wordpress.com/

ALPHAS UNWRAPPED

FOR THE LOVE OF SHAPESHIFTERS by Susan Lute

DRAGONKIND CHRONICLES
BOOK 1

As I'm writing this post, I'm watching The Wedding Date, a classic romance if ever there was one, and one that's right up my alley. Fun. Quirky. Unexpected. I'm also making a new version of teriyaki chicken with baked potatoes. Multitasking. Since there's never enough time in a day, that's a skill writers need.

But this is about dragons. I'm a little obsessed with them. I've always loved paranormal romances, just never envisioned myself writing one. Nor did I set out to write dragon shapeshifters on purpose. It was more the result of a temper tantrum, believe it or not, and came about while on a flight to Norman, Oklahoma to see the hubby. Women's fiction was tanking. My agent, who worked her little heart out, had just received another rejection from an editor we thought was on the verge of buying.

That's when the shift happened. I thought...I'll try anything. Anything that's not women's fiction or contemporary. So...Logan Pen, Beyla, the Umbra, and The Dragonkind Chronicles were born. At a lusty, crowded bar, in a post apocalyptic New Orleans, they came to life. He'd come to capture an elusive shadow thief. She escapes after stealing his greatest treasure—a talisman forged at his birth on the night of the apocalypse. Of course there's more at stake than the loss of his telein. That's what kept me writing to the end. It took eight months to write that story and I enjoyed every minute of the process.

Why do we, as readers, love paranormal romances? I think we relate to a world gone a bit sideways. We're willing to take the journey in order to see if good overcomes evil. Along the way, the discovery that things are not exactly as they seem answers age old questions. Who are we? Are we alone in this universe? The answer to that in my universe is a world inhabited by dragons, shadow thieves, shaman, the phoenix (a hint of what's to come), Avalon, more dragons, fallen angels, all recorded in the Dragonkind Chronicles. We want to fight on the side of good. Victory is our reward.

The cool thing about paranormal romances is that the genre draws it's multitude of fans into the story's central struggle, takes them on a ride, invites them to be part of the triumphant party at the end. The stories and legends are gripping, interactive, and best of all uber-satisfying. Some of my favorite shapeshifter storytellers are Rebecca Zanetti, Jessa Slade, Elsa Jade, and  J.T. Geissinger. Who are yours?

SUSAN LUTE

Susan Lute is an award winning, multi-published traditional and Indie author. She is published in women's fiction, contemporary romance, and paranormal/fantasy romance. Her most recent release is A FOOL FOR LOVE, Book One of the Sellwood Novellas. Look for the second book in The Dragonkind Chronicles, DRAGON'S FLAME, coming out in 2016. You can find Susan at www.susanlute.com. Visit and sign up for her newsletter, Su's News, to be one of the first to hear about new releases and special deals.

Website: www.susanlute.com

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SHIFTERS! by Cathryn Cade

I wish I could recall the first shifter romance I read. The idea, if not the story, left an indelible impression on me—all the lethal power and grace of a big predator, rolled into one being with a sexy man. I’ve since read and enjoyed many more.

I believe shifter romance is so popular because so much of our real lives are out of our control.

Partners hurt us, ignore us and leave us. They don’t want the children we crave, or refuse to accept their responsibility for assisting in their creation. They decide another, younger woman is more attractive.

Or they love us to pieces, but things happen that they can’t protect us from, even if they wanted to. The world is a frightening place, and we live it waiting for the next crisis to happen. Part of being human, of being a woman, is being a caregiver … and hoping we receive at least a little in return.

And real men aren’t perfect. Love my manly man so much, but he reads hunting magazines and watches football instead of binging on Netflix seasons with me … and he thinks I have too many shoes. I know, right? There is no such thing.

But if an alpha predator fixes on us—come to Papa! Suddenly we are a mate, desired above all other women with a force that borders on obsession. To protect us, he’ll take on multiple other scary beings, and kill if he must. He’ll provide his lair as our new home, surround us with his wealth, and of course desperately want the children we produce. He’ll go alpha-bossy on us, but only so he can give us what we really want and need. And yes, he hunts, but he doesn’t read magazines about it and leave them all over our cute living room.

Nice, if a girl can get it.

Which is why I love to read shifter romance, and why I began writing them.

I also love Halloween—you should see my collection of old-fashioned Halloween decor. So when I decided to write the Halloween romance that’s been rattling around in my head for a while, the hero is … what else? A shifter!

However, he’s not the big, apex predator kind of cat. He doesn’t need to be, not when he can zap opponents with a spell whenever he chooses. He’s a wizard—and since a big cat can’t be running around modern day Sunnyvale, Oregon, his alius magickus is a black tom cat.

Yes, here I delved into another facet of shifter-ness. We all cuddle up with our pets for comfort, reassurance and love. And we talk to them, at least I do. My golden retriever has heard many a tale of woe and aggravation.

Soooo … what if, when you confide in your newly adopted cat that you have a huge crush on your new neighbor, you’re actually talking to the sexy wizard himself? And how embarrassing will it be later, when you realize exactly what secret wishes you poured into his furry ears? Oops.

Touch Not the Cat; a Sexy Halloween Romance by Cathryn Cade.

It will take a Halloween intervention of the furriest kind to get this unlikely pair together.

Egan Warburton can have any woman he wants—so of course this eligible wizard will choose a witch to share his new home. But why can’t he keep his eyes off his pretty neighbor? She’s too innocent for the likes of him … although she does love cats, especially Warlock, his own alter-ego. In either form, he can’t seem to resist playing naughty tricks to get her attention.

Too bad she’s a mortal with no idea his magickal realm even exists.

Paige Turner is the first to admit she’s as vanilla as they come—youth librarian, good neighbor and kind to cats, even black ones. But in her dreams, she’s a femme fatale who’s not afraid to shake off her bonds of caution and go after what she really wants ... such as her mysterious new neighbor, who is suddenly starring in her most erotic fantasies.

Too bad he’s also the most obnoxious man she’s ever met.

Amazon.com http://amzn.to/1ZECXcJ

BN.com http://bit.ly/1hXdglK

Kobo.com  http://bit.ly/1OKJJdv

What’s your favorite shifter romance?

I love Cherise Sinclair’s Hour of the Lion & Winter of the Wolf, Rebecca Zanetti’s Consumed, Jennifer Ashley’s wonderful Shifters Unbound series.

How about a favorite Halloween read? If you need some delish new romance that’s spooky around the edges, join me in The Romance Zone @ Night Owl Reviews FREE Online Magazine.

Cathryn Cade

… red hot romance

Amazon best-selling author of sci fi romance & contemporary too

RT 4.5 Stars and Night Owl Reviews TOP PICK

Goodreads, My Website, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest,

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SHAPESHIFTER ROMANCE by Marie Harte

COUGAR FALLS SERIES

Erotic and Comtemporary Romance Author Marie Harte has written multiple series about different groups of Shifters. Read on to learn more about this popular subgenre!

Shapeshifters. The new black in paranormal romance. It used to be vampires were all the rage. Now it’s things that go all furry and fangy at night. *grin* I love shapeshifters, and I love how varied the types can be. There’s an animal connection, a sense of nature and wildness a lot of us forget surrounded by concrete and computers. When I first started writing them, I envisioned normalcy, for the most part. Small town life populated by people with small town values and a sense of community…who just happened to shift into animals. Contemporary but with a twist—Cougar Falls.

I named my series after the fictional town of Cougar Falls, set in Montana. Big Sky country, open and full of the wildlife my characters often inhabit. There are cougars, wolves, bears, raptors and foxes. And more species I haven’t had the time to dig into, unfortunately. The Cougar Falls series is 8 books long, and I have several more on the backburner waiting to be written.

Another series centered around people changing into animals is my Mark of Lycos series. I recently rewrote all three books, and Totally Bound plans to re-release them next year with shiny new covers. With the Mark of Lycos books I went a little more outside the box and involved magical creatures, demons and gods. There are animal spirits that guard my shifters in their Great Forest. The Wolf in the Forest, the Bear in the Cave, and the Fox in the Den. Clan wars, sorcerers, and demons populate the lands the shifters inhabit, away from humanity. The Mark of Lycos series is different from Cougar Falls, where the shifters are more mainstream.

AUTHOR MARIE HARTE

But my current leaning on shapeshifters is even less traditional. I created my own group of shifters, the Circs. The men of Circe’s Recruits, the surviving squad of Marines, have been genetically modified with the hopes of turning them into supersoldiers. Except the experiments had side effects, and of the 78 men initially tested, only 5 turned out sane. The men of Circe’s Recruits change at will into hulk-like creatures with armored skin, fangs, claws, enhanced senses—and enhanced sex drives.

The newer shifters have psychic abilities as well. My Circs are a ton of fun to play with, because I weave government conspiracy, mating problems, and genetic mutation into the mix. Think mad scientists funded by the rich and immoral.

And of course, there are mating heats. Fated mates are a trope of shapeshifter romances I both like and loathe. So I took out the fated part and forced my shapeshifters to have to mate only with another Circ—gender notwithstanding—to sate that biological imperative to procreate. It’s not an easy transition from human to Circ, and it makes for great conflict. My books also explore sexuality and polyamory. Pack mentality in a carnal sense.

CIRCE'S RECRUITS
(Dawn Endeavor)

When my Circe’s Recruits series first released years ago, they resonated with readers. So I wrote a second series continuing the Circ shapeshifters called Dawn Endeavor. Fast forward a few more years.

Having obtained the rights back to Circe’s Recruits, I decided to write a new Circ book. I wanted to see how my original shifters turned out, and how they’d handled marriage and babies, as well as dealing with a new group of Circs who’ve never played by the rules.

Make no mistake. This book is really about Gideon and his crew. They aren’t disciplined. They aren’t military. Most of them are barely a step up from being criminals, and now they have fangs and claws and drives they can’t control. I can’t wait to see how they turn into the heroes they were born to be.

Visit Marie at http://marieharte.com/

Shapeshifter – One that seems able to change form at will.

Miriam Webster’s Dictionary definition of Shapeshifter - one that seems able to change form or identity at will; especially :  a mythical figure that can assume different forms (as of animals)

Growing up in an area rich in Native American history I have always been curious and empathetic to the band of Nez Perce who summered in Wallowa County many generations before Lewis and Clark entered their lives. This fascination and believing I encountered a Nez Perce spirit warrior one summer while I was riding my horse on the mountain behind our house, gave me the inspiration for a trilogy about three sibling shapeshifting, Nez Perce spirits.

I read several book with Nez Perce myths and legends as well as nonfiction books on how the Nez Perce lived and their beliefs.  Using the myths and legends I came up with the sibling shapeshifters. They were taken from their Nez Perce or Nimiipuu(as they call themselves) band by the Creator. Their father had chosen cowardice over the lives of his fellow band members. By sacrificing the men of his band he made his children scorned by the people. The Creator took them and made them spirits to look over the Lake band of the Nimiipuu. As spirits they can shift into shapes at will or enter other animal bodies to keep the Lake Nimiipuu safe.

The oldest brother I gave the shape of a white wolf. He traveled over the mountain by the Lake where the Nimiipuu summered. Because of his trouble holding his anger and his need to avenge his father’s cowardice, he was forbid to leave the mountain. To leave the mountain he would become nothing but smoke. In his story, Spirit of the Mountain, he must let the mortal maiden he loves go with another off the mountain.

The middle sibling and second brother takes on the shape of a great bull elk. I came up with his animal from a legend I’d heard growing up and read in several of the myth and legend books. As an elk he lived in the lake. The legend says that a great antlered beast lives in Wallowa Lake.  When the Nimiipuu children were bad they were told the great beast would come out of the lake and take them. There was a winter when historians believe a herd of elk tried crossing the frozen lake and the ice broke. They fell in and their antlers remained up above the ice and that is what started the legend.  This elk spirit is the playful, light-hearted sibling. Which infuriates the older, serious wolf spirit. Wewukiye’s book is Spirit of the Lake.

The third sibling, the sister, travels about as a bald eagle. She soars in the sky and is the only one who can converse with the Creator. She sees more and is the most adamant about not allowing the mortals to know they exist or to show themselves to the mortals. Her book is Spirit of the Sky.

   

The spirit entity in these books is all a figment of my imagination, but it felt real to me. My fascination with the Native American culture, their healing herbs, chants, legends, myths, and vision quest all primed my imagination when I came up with the spirit siblings who are the main characters in the books.

While my shapeshifters do shift into animals there are other writers who have shapeshifters that defy Websters definition. One of those authors is Marie Harte. I asked her why she liked to write shapeshifters. This is what she had to say:
There's a wild quality to a shapeshifter that's both sexy and frightening. That uncontrollable aspect to a hero can be sexy. Will he be ruled by his heart or his instincts? And will that rugged side hurt or help him when it comes to finding a mate? I love female shapeshifters because that power to shift forms gives them an extra butt-kicking factor that I love in my leading ladies. Mentally, women can be as tough, if not tougher, than men. But physically men have a biological advantage.That's not necessarily the case when the heroine can grow fangs and claws of her own.

And this is what she had to say about her shapeshifter books and how she has bent the norm on shapeshifters:
I have a few shapeshifter series out. My Cougar Falls and Mark of Lycos series are more traditional, with the shapeshifters turning into animals. But my Circe's Recruits and Dawn Endeavor series involve a different type of shifter. I threw together the military, gene experimentation, government conspiracies, and found a group of men and women who shift into creatures neither man nor beast, but a mix of both. It's been a really fun ride, and I have a new book in the Circe's Recruits series arriving soon--Circe's Recruits: Gideon. His was supposed to be one follow-on book. Instead it looks like Gideon is starting a new series of his own. *sigh* Those Circs are so difficult to control.

Marie's books prove, a writer, with the right incentive and creativity can make any type of shapeshifter "real" in the reader's mind. http://marieharte.com/books/gideon/

Have you read any shapeshifter books?  If so, what were they and what did you like about them?

About Paty Jager

Award-winning author Paty Jager and her husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. On her road to publication she wrote freelance articles for two local newspapers and enjoyed her job with the County Extension service as a 4-H Program Assistant. Raising hay and cattle, riding horses, and battling rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.

All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Her penchant for research takes her on side trips that eventually turn into yet another story. She recently returned to the genre of her heart- Mystery.

You can learn more about Paty at

her blog; Writing into the Sunset 

her website; http://www.patyjager.net  

Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/pages/Paty-Jager/132536633482029

Newsletter: Paty’s Prattle: http://eepurl.com/1CFgX

Paty’s Posse: https://www.facebook.com/groups/402519373168442/?ref=bookmarks

Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1005334.Paty_Jager 

twitter  @patyjag.

If Animals Could Talk ... In my World, They Can!

A famous romance writer was quoted as saying that 'the heart of every romance story is the taming of an alpha male to hearth and home'.

And when you think about it, she's right.

I believe therein lies the fascination for shape-shifters in romance. What is more fascinating to us prey than predators that stalk us in the night? We humans are brainy, but weak and slow. The great predators--wolves, lions and tigers, bears--oh my! They are not only large and powerful, they're deadly.

If only we could combine the brain-power of a man with the best attributes of a predator. And then beguile him to protect us, to stand between us and the dangers that lurk in the world.

A fantasy? Heck, yeah! That's why we read romance after all. To re-live the passionate flush of first love, first lust. And if we can experience along with it an adventure of harrowing danger and thrilling triumph, all the better, I say.

I love a good shape-shifter romance. The creatures needn't be real, either. Dragons, anyone? And what if the shifter is from another galaxy entirely ... what attributes might that endow him?

In my book Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bryght, the strange moons of the planet Bryght call to the males in one cycle, the females in the next.

In Prince of Dragons, only a few of the inhabitants of Serpentia are gifted with the ability to dragon-shift, even to fly - the royal strain of Serpentians known as the Dragolin.

Do you have a favorite fantasy shifter? If not, perhaps I've beguiled you to at least consider ... what if animals could talk and prowl among us? Which would you choose to adventure with?

See you in a great romance,
Cathryn Cade

Best-selling author of sci fi romance

... it's hot in space, red hot!

Goodreads, My Website, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Samhain Author Page,

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I Want To Take You To…Funky Town by Guest Erotic Romance Author Marie Harte

• Alpha male: the growly, overbearing leader-type who’s big and strong yet a push-over when it comes to his perfect love

• Kick-butt heroine: typically found in urban fantasy and paranormal romance, and usually the type I make my heroines

• Shapeshifters: the new black.  Humans who can shift into animal form and back, who are often as much affected by instinct as reason

CLICK TO BUY

• Erotic romance: romance that centers on couples (or more) in love who express that journey through a physical courtship

• Funky town: that place I’ve created to toss in the
  characters like salad in a bowl

Put those all together and I come in. Hi. I’m erotic romance writer Marie Harte.

I write erotic romance in several different genres, mostly paranormal and futuristic, but I do like to play with contemporary stories to keep my mind fresh.

I’m as avid a reader as I am a writer, so I try to figure out what makes me, the reader, like what I, the writer, should be creating. Interesting characters, sure. An engaging plot that’s more than tab A sliding into slot B, definitely. But there’s that something else that makes me read a book and want to know more long after the book ends. A lot of times it’s the world in which the characters interact, the rules by which they live, that intrigues me to no end.

Take Robyn Carr’s Virgin River stories or Debbie Macomber’s small town romances, like in her Cedar Cove series, where the town is a big part of the story. Lora Leigh’s Breed series, where genetically altered men whose DNA is part animal live in structured compounds. Or Christine Feehan’s Carpathians, vampire-like beings so named because of the Carpathian mountains from which they came.

CLICK TO BUY

 Cougar Falls is a small town in Montana outside Glacier National Park. A place where everyone knows everyone else. There’s an ice cream parlor, a popular diner, places to eat and shop down the main street, and a central park where seasonal festivals and fun times are had by all. The sheriff enforces the rules made by the town council, and justice is swift and fair. 

I’d like to live in such a place, where I could feel free to be myself surrounded by friends and family. Unfortunately, I will never find it, because I’m not a shapeshifter.

You have to have some Ac-taw blood to be recognized by the powerful totem protecting the town and its residents. Bummer of it is that I’m all too human. But my characters aren’t. A family of prankster mountain lions rule the catamount pride. There are sly silver foxes, chatty raptors, anti-social bears and obnoxious gray wolves interacting with one another on a daily basis, which makes for equal parts chaos, drama, and sexy shenanigans. And every time I think I know everyone in town, someone new shows up.

That’s the kind of world I want to read about. And I can prove it, because my extensive reading library is filled with books like this, about characters that interact on alternate worlds, in western towns, and in English countrysides. What’s funny is that about a year ago I moved into a place like this. Not the shapeshifter part, which is too bad, the small town part. Bend is in Central Oregon, and I think the population is now somewhere around 86,000. The Cascade Mountains frame my new high desert landscape, and the people are really friendly. I know my neighbors. I say hello to people I recognize in stores, and I’m at one festival or another just about every weekend because there’s always something to do here.

So it makes me wonder if all the stories I read have influenced my life in a larger way than budgeting for books.  The Cougar Falls books were a way for me to reach out to Big Sky country without being there. But the Internet, books and reference material can only get you so far. I currently have a psychic series set in Bend, Oregon, and it feels good to put my characters in places I imagine downtown, or in actual downtown. So I guess it’s time for me to head to Montana and see the places I’ve created in my head. Except the next book I’m writing in the Cougar Falls series is in Miami…  Time for a road trip.

To read more about Cougar Falls or Marie, check out her website  www.marieharte.com.
 
A Matter of Pride is her latest release, available from Samhain.