Welcome Amanda, and thanks for the poem! What a riot. :) Love your covers, too -- they're gorgeous.

Can you tell us more about Tortured when you stop in?

Sam

Hey Sam, thanks for having me here at LIAEC! The convo here is always so much fun!
Since I have talked about Cozette in earlier blogs, I'll give a preview of my upcoming Dark Ages historical, TORTURED!

As you might guess,(from the poem) I am on the deadline at present with TORTURED slated for a late summer release at Harlequin Spice! A Dark Ages-set historical, this book has been a roller coaster ride to research, write and rewrite from day one! There are not many novels out there set in this era, mind you. One, its a very brutal, dark time in many ways and yet there had to be SOME romance and passion, eh? Finding it--was the challenge in my research and making it plausible within the context of my story!

The idea for TORTURED came out of the blue after reading an obscure bit of historical info that there were only 1-2 female executioners during the medieval era of Britannia(now England)

While it seems perhaps obvious the direction a erotic romance author would go with this information, I chose a slightly different path and made my heroine a prisoner of a barbaric Saxon ruler who had brutally defeated the last of the Briton kings. Having lost her family, she carries a guilt that she could not protect her mother (hanged for treason) and younger brother who is cast out of the kingdom and left for dead.

She alone is spared,because of her gift of "sight" (kings back then relied heavily on spiritual magic for guidance) but due to her aggressive nature, the king sentences her to a life imprisoned as his executioners apprentice.

Sentenced to look like a boy, he cuts her hair and dresses her in breeches, but a few years later, when she came of age, the king sees the potential of her womanly attributes being a benfit to him in extracting information from prisoners.

Further, rumors of rebel armies gathering against the Saxon lord make him paranoid and when a Roman warrior is captured who likely has crucial information about the rebellion, the king orders my heroine to persuade the truth from the resilient warrior.

In the process, she determines that he is the one man who has all the right stuff (as it were) to help her escape this miserable life. She partners with him to escape, if she helps him lay a trap to ambush the Saxon king and his army.

Kept secret however, are the images she "sees" when she touches him...images that give her reason to believe that he holds answers to her past she thought was dead, as well as to her future.

Their journey to freedom is riddled with danger and obstacles that they must overcome and as passion heats up between them, the risks grow as their time begins to run out. (TORTURED Aug. '09, Harlequin Spice)

Sort of a "tortured" Valentine tale-but hey, sometimes, the road to love isn't all hearts and flowers, eh?

Amanda
Amanda McIntye Timeless Passion!
www.amandamcintyre.net

I LOVE the poem, Amanda!!

My honey took me out to dinner and That look.
The one that let's me know that I am all he has ever wanted.

My daughter worked in a florist when she was in high school so my husband went there on Valentine's Day to buy me some flowers. He bought me a cute bouquet with a balloon in it which I had on the dining room table. At the end of the day the owners gave my daughter a beautiful dozen long stemmed roses in a big red vase to bring home to me which she put next to my husbands little bouquet. He looks at her and says, "Thanks a lot."

I love the poem!!! My best gift for Valentine's Day is this year. My husband came home from Afghanistan for a two week leave last week. Knowing that for now he is safe and I can cuddle, hug and kiss him zillions of times is the best Valentine's gift in the world!

Hi Amanda. Great poem. A couple of years ago, my husband and my neice's husband went shopping on Valentine's Day and I thought he would give me a Valentine's present when my neice's husband gave her one. I was bewildered when he didn't give me anything. He had never failed to give me a Valentine's gift. When we got home, I opened the door and on the table was a vase of roses, a huge teddy bear and diamond earrings. He had worked really hard to surprise me.

Lovely poem, Amanda. Going out for dinner and coming home to see a little blue box on the counter is the best. I love the cute Tiffany's necklace I received. Happy Valentine's Day.

Great poem, Amanda! I really enjoyed it. I love your covers...they're absolutely gorgeous! Talk about getting kissed by the cover gods! Yum. I can't wait to grab my copy of TORTURED. It sounds fabulous!

As for my best Valentine's Day gift? Hmm...my oldest child was three, I'd just given birth to my second baby two weeks earlier, my husband had just started a new job (the day before the birth) and couldn't take any time off to be home with me, and I was completely exhausted. I took both the kids upstairs for a nap and ended up falling asleep in my toddler's bed. I woke up alone, in the dark. No newborn in the crib, no toddler beside me. I went downstairs to find soft music, bunches of flowers, and a delicious meal waiting for me. My mom had taken both the children for the night, and my husband said he just wanted me to relax, to enjoy my meal without interruption and without having to feed anyone else, and to sleep as late as I wanted to the next morning. To this day, that gift trumps all others.

Nice poem, Amanda.
My husband an I exchange cards. I don't need anything else, I have him.

Nice poem.
Wouldn't it be great if we could all have large houses with maids to clean them and chefs to cook for us, and don't forget the pool boy. (Especially if he looked like the covers of your books!)
My favorite present was the year before i had my son, we deicded that money was tight so we agreed to not exchange presents. I had made dinner, and we'd cuddled and were about to turn in for the night when he handed me a little silver ring box, i opened it to find the amethyst heart ring that i have never taken off since (Except to clean of course).
He smiled and kissed me on the cheek, very proud that he had totally surprised me that year.
I know wear two rings, my amethyst engagement ring/band and my heart.
That's all the jewelry i need.

Great post.
Loved your read on e-harlequin. very spicy.
jody

Great poem! My hubby doesn't buy me gifts, but one year on Valentines day he went out and bought me a pair of ear rings and had them attached to a rose and placed inside of a balloon. I was in total shock when he brought that home because he never buys me gifts.

Welcome, Amanda.

The kids and I spent the entire day painting the living room, so we were exhausted when we realized we hadn't gotten any Valentine Day's gifts. My daughter suggested that we get my husband a cat-hair-remover-roller, cause that's what he really wants. Then she said that what she really wanted was a hand-held vacuum, and if it were red, that would be good for Valentine's Day. My son wanted new shin-guards. So we went to Target, and bought all that stuff. Then when we got home, we couldn't stop laughing--the gifts were so ridiculous. We were all literally on the floor, tears streaming down our faces, when my husband came home. So we gave him his "gift" early.

Well, we certainly won't forget this Valentine's Day....