New book out today! Gunny's Elusive Target

A writing group I belong to proposed the idea of writing a romance story with a military or ex-military hero/heroine. I was fascinated. I’d never written military before. I was also worried about getting vital details wrong. I have enormous respect for those who serve our country and was terrified of making a mistake in something important.
And then I remembered the real Gunny. The man on whom Former Gunnery Sergeant Paul Winters is based. I could lie and say I wined and dined him and romance followed. It was more like, I beer and pizzaed him and a few of his military friends, and took copious notes while they reminisced. They did, however, very patiently answer all my questions while I was writing the story, so I am very grateful to them all.

Blurb
Gunny’s whole life has been the military. He joined the cadets at age 12, the navy at age 17, and was posted overseas the first time just after his eighteenth birthday. But he’s cheated death so often he figured his luck was sure to run out, so now he’s retired. With no money, no qualifications, no civilian friends, no life. He wants Catherine the moment he sees her. But with no job and no desire to return to Afghanistan, he has nothing to offer her, except himself. And who'd want him?
Catherine has her own battles to fight, her own problems to solve, and her own life choices to live with. She hasn’t got time for anything else right now.

Excerpt Gunny
Catherine couldn’t remember the last time she’d just sat and relaxed like this. Or the last time she’d been on a date with anyone at all, far less someone as handsome as Paul. Actually, she’d never dated anyone as nice as him. It was hard to believe he hadn’t given his heart to someone years ago. Or maybe he had and she’d turned him down. But he didn’t seem sad, so that couldn’t be the reason he was still single. And he definitely wasn’t gay. She’d seen him glance at her legs when she’d climbed into his truck and had recognized the look on his face as the same thoughts as she’d had when she’d wished he’d take his shirt off at JoAnn Smith’s house.
And he was so kind and thoughtful and caring of people, as well. Oh. “What happened about the school bus? Were you able to find out about it?”
He turned his head, his square chin, chiseled features, and dark-brown eyes so sexy her heart raced and her breath hitched. When he smiled, his entire face glowed and she wanted to hug him.
How could this happen? She hardly knew him, yet she was lost in a haze of desire that she’d never, ever felt for anyone before.
Catherine forced herself to breathe slowly and deeply and listen to his reply. But it was hard. Sure, she wanted to know the answer, but she wanted to fling herself into his arms as well.
I’m going crazy.

Buy links:
Evernight Publishing: https://www.evernightpublishing.com/gunnys-elusive-target-by-berengaria-brown/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q6ZYR5Y/
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/931738

Berengaria Brown

A Truly Decadent Dessert

I travel a lot for my day job. Mostly it’s just around the country but sometimes it’s overseas. The main problem is that all I see is airports and conference rooms, except if I can sneak a day of personal time here and there to sightsee.
A few years ago I wrote the “Gay Travel Inc.” series, and the owner of Gay Travel Inc., Tyler Robbins, sent Quentin Wood to Australia. In “Gay Lovers Down Under” Quentin’s guide, Juz, introduces Quentin to all sorts of Australian food, but the sexiest of them all is the Chocolate Ripple Cake.

The Gay Travel Inc. books are available here: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Gay+Travel+Inc+series+Berengaria

Ingredients:
1 packet of chocolate ripple biscuits, or any other plain chocolate cookies (not chocolate coated, chocolate flavored)
170 oz of thick cream
1 chocolate bar, shaved or diced for decoration
Small amount of liqueur (optional)

Directions:
Pour cream into a bowl and beat until thick and stiff
Line a long narrow serving dish with a small amount of beaten cream
Brush liqueur onto each cookie (optional)
Sandwich two cookies together with cream and stand them upright on their side in the cream on the serving dish
Continue with all the cookies ensuring each one has cream on both sides
Cover the log cake with cream
Decorate lavishly with chopped or shaved chocolate

Berengaria Brown
Blog: http://berengariasblog.blogspot.com/
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Berengaria-Brown/e/B00541R3YQ/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/berengaria.brown?fref=ts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BerengariaBrown

History Turns Me On

I’ve always loved history.

The only time I ever got caught reading under the desk in school (something I did a lot!) was in the Fifth Grade. I was reading one of my father’s Ian Fleming novels. (I mean, seriously, doesn’t everyone love James Bond?) The teacher was so annoyed that I was reading “trash” (James Bond? Trash? Never!) he handed me a copy of “I Claudius” and told me to write a book report on it. The joke was on him. “I Claudius” is history and I adore history so I loved reading the book. It was more like a reward than a punishment to me.

So it was inevitable that sooner or later I’d write a story set in the past. I have written several Regency-set romances. (I love Georgette Heyer, too. She got me addicted to Regency romances). But one day I sat down to write a medieval romance.

It grew and grew and ended up as a four-book series. It’s set in medieval Europe, but in no particular place or year, and follows the story of a woman whose father and brothers are killed in battle, leaving her in control of the family castle and lands, and all the people dependent on them.

Although women in that time period effectively managed houses, lands, castles, people and more, legally their rights were very limited, so Elinor comes up with a totally-off-the-wall plan to provide for and protect her people and property.

“Elinor’s Stronghold” Book 1: “Pillaging Elinor’s Castle”
“Elinor’s Stronghold” Book 2: “Defending Rhyannon’s Inheritance”
“Elinor’s Stronghold” Book 3: “Restoring Garnet’s Heart”
“Elinor’s Stronghold” Book 4: “Bringing Claire Home”

Buy link: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Elinor%27s+Stronghold+Berengaria
Available in digital and in print.

Berengaria Brown
Blog: http://berengariasblog.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/berengaria.brown#!/berengaria.brown?v=info
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/BerengariaBrown

Bossy Characters

My characters arrive in my head and start talking to me. I don’t start writing until I understand what they want me to do with them. And things do surprise me on the way. A couple years ago I was writing the “Forever Yours” series. All three books are set in the Smith Tower office and apartment building. The first two books have a ghost in them and naively I assumed book three would as well. But while I was still writing book 2 one of the minor characters interrupted me and said, “I’m a vampire. When are you going to write my story?” By the time I’d cleaned up the coffee I’d spat on my screen and gotten my breath back he was busy telling me I should have known that already because of his name. So I googled his name and well… the rest is in “Eternity”.

Buy link: https://www.amazon.com/Eternity-sequel-Intensity-Complexity-Publishing-ebook/dp/B004FV54L0

“Forever Yours” is a contemporary-set series based in the Smith Office Tower building. Each story is a stand-alone novella, but various characters reappear throughout the series, such as Atal, the night security guard and one of the heroes in “Eternity”.

“Intensity”: Amos, Wesley and Keziah have been bed partners for a while. Amos and Wesley want Keziah to move in with them and become a permanent partner but she has refused, wanting to be independent. Then she stands up for her friend and loses her job. Amos and Wesley convince her to move in with them and plan to screw her insensible to make her want to stay. But chaos erupts at the company board meeting as Amos's incompetent father tries to use the menage as a weapon to take control of the company from Amos, so Keziah decides the only solution is for her to leave. And the ghost has his own agenda...

“Complexity”: An asthmatic unwilling to relax enough to enjoy life, two men hell-bent on putting their stamp on her, an embezzler who wants to keep what he has stolen, and the ghost of a murdered girl. Will an endless night of passion with Finn and Simeon be pure pleasure, or only make Tia's life more complex and messy than it already is?
“Eternity”: Yolanda is a bodyguard and used to dealing with men. But falling in love with two vampires is a different kind of challenge. How will she deal with her job AND them? Yolanda is very attracted to night security guard Atal and his partner Zadok. She agrees to a morning of acrobatic sex with the two yummy men, only to find herself falling in love with them, and wondering if they are vampires—if vampires truly exist. And she’s not at all sure that they do.

Three book series: https://www.amazon.com/Forever-Yours-Intensity-Complexity-Publishing/dp/1610342526/

Blog: http://berengariasblog.blogspot.com/

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Berengaria-Brown/e/B00541R3YQ/

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What if the weather….

I know that as a reader, I’m ambivalent about sequels. I like to know the hero and heroine (or whatever combination of main characters) are still living happily ever after. But too often, in books something nasty happens to one or another of them down the track, in a long series. Or even to an important secondary character, like JK Rowling’s Dumbledore.

But sometimes, even though the hero and heroine are satisfactorily together, the story just isn’t finished. Other characters are screaming for their turn in the limelight, the villain escapes from captivity, or something else just appears.

This has happened to me several times now, so in each case I’ve written a stand-alone sequel where the main characters remain HEA, but other characters pick up the storyline.

My most recent sequel situation came about very differently.

The opening scene was a dream I had. I got out of bed, and wrote it down, but I had no idea what it meant, or where it was going. I showed it to author Anny Cook, and asked, “What do I do now?” She told me to keep writing. She said that sort of thing happened to her a lot. Either it turned into a book, or it would just stop. Well, I took her advice, kept writing, and it turned into three books. And finally, with the third book, I realized what the connection was. It is actually what happens more than fifty years after the “Raw Claiming” series I wrote.

What do you think? Do you mind if a former hero or heroine gets killed off in book five? Does it bother you if the end of the story is left hanging?

“Forbidden Future”: Blurb:
More than fifty years ago, wicked winds, carrying deadly diseases, swept across the land, and their ancestors fled to a protected valley. But now the easy-to-gather food and fuel are used up, and the people struggle to feed themselves. The goods their ancestors had brought with them are worn out, and life is hard trying to feed and provide for themselves.
Zuri, Udo, and Tau love each other, but have to meet in the forest to make love. The people decide to go to the city to look for food and fuel. It’s Zuri who finds the ancestors’ truck and asks for a gift in return—that she, Tau, and Udo could be together. Their request is granted. Then everyone plans for the trip to the city. It’ll be very dangerous, but the three of them will be together. But will they find any food? Will they even survive?

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Forbidden+Future+Berengaria

“Embrace the Future” Series: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Embrace+the+Future+Berengaria

Berengaria Brown
Blog: http://berengariasblog.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/berengaria.brown#!/berengaria.brown?v=info
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/BerengariaBrown

I Had A Dream

I know that as a reader, I’m ambivalent about sequels. I like to know the hero and heroine (or whatever combination of main characters) are still living happily ever after. But too often, in books something nasty happens to one or another of them down the track, in a long series. Or even to an important secondary character, like JK Rowling’s Dumbledore.

But sometimes, even though the hero and heroine are satisfactorily together, the story just isn’t finished. Other characters are screaming for their turn in the limelight, the villain escapes from captivity, or something else just appears.

This has happened to me several times now, so in each case I’ve written a stand-alone sequel where the main characters remain HEA, but other characters pick up the storyline.

My most recent sequel situation came about very differently.

The opening scene was a dream I had. I got out of bed, and wrote it down, but I had no idea what it meant, or where it was going. I showed it to author Anny Cook, and asked, “What do I do now?” She told me to keep writing. She said that sort of thing happened to her a lot. Either it turned into a book, or it would just stop. Well, I took her advice, kept writing, and it turned into three books. And finally, with the third book, I realized what the connection was. It is actually what happens more than fifty years after the “Raw Claiming” series I wrote.

What do you think? Do you mind if a former hero or heroine gets killed off in book five? Does it bother you if the end of the story is left hanging?

“Forbidden Future”: Blurb:
More than fifty years ago, wicked winds, carrying deadly diseases, swept across the land, and their ancestors fled to a protected valley. But now the easy-to-gather food and fuel are used up, and the people struggle to feed themselves. The goods their ancestors had brought with them are worn out, and life is hard trying to feed and provide for themselves.
Zuri, Udo, and Tau love each other, but have to meet in the forest to make love. The people decide to go to the city to look for food and fuel. It’s Zuri who finds the ancestors’ truck and asks for a gift in return—that she, Tau, and Udo could be together. Their request is granted. Then everyone plans for the trip to the city. It’ll be very dangerous, but the three of them will be together. But will they find any food? Will they even survive?

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Forbidden+Future+Berengaria

“Embrace the Future” Series: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Embrace+the+Future+Berengaria

Berengaria Brown
Blog: http://berengariasblog.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/berengaria.brown#!/berengaria.brown?v=info
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/BerengariaBrown

Cookbook romance from Berengaria Brown’s, “Terracotta Warriors”

Recipe: Terracotta Baked Potatoes

Ingredients
1 1/2 lb small new potatoes (approximately 24)
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon salt

How to make Terracotta Baked Potatoes
1. Wash the potatoes carefully, trying not to damage the skin which must remain on, and place them in a casserole.
2. Strip the rosemary needles off the sprigs and add them to the potatoes. Sprinkle the lemon juice, water and salt over, put the lid on and shake the pot well.
3. Place in a preheated oven and bake for 60 minutes. Test the potatoes at the end of the cooking time, they may need a few minutes more. Serve hot.

Food flashfiction:
The head waiter, Harry, saw Branden arrive and snapped his fingers for the barista to make Branden's favorite cinnamon mocha latte. The barista just nodded.

Everyone was well aware of Mr. Verwendahl's almost-addiction to coffee. But no one would ever tease him.
He was much too good a tipper.
Branden noticed all this byplay as he was led to his reserved table. I suppose I should cut back on my caffeine intake. But not today.
Sloan arrived at the same time as Branden's coffee, so the server just nodded, raised an eyebrow, and said, "And one for you too, sir?"
"Long black, please."
Branden let his hand rest lightly on Sloan's. The man's hand felt warm and strong and wonderful to his jittery nerves. "If you don't like her, if you don't want this, no pressure. I love you very much. Want you. Want us," he said quietly.
"Relax, I understand. I can't be happy if you aren't happy. I get that you need both. Shh now."
Branden picked up his coffee and sipped it, loving the soothing taste of it sliding down his throat, his gaze moving to the doorway. There she stood. Five foot eight and one hundred percent woman with lush curves -- generous breasts, ample hips and a nicely rounded ass.
God, she made his dick harder than a spike. No other woman ever had that effect on him. He put down his cup to signal her, but she'd already seen him and was walking toward them, her blonde hair bobbing on her shoulders, her gray eyes dark and worried.

“Terracotta Warriors” Blurb
Naomi has a casual sex-buddy relationship with Branden, a bisexual man. When she loses her job Branden offers her a short-term position in the Museum of which he is a director, but more than that, he wonders if she could be the solution to his sexual problem. He and Sloan are very happy together, but Brand needs the softness of a woman as well as the harsher, more animal mating of two males together.
Sloan and Naomi join Branden on a business trip to Xi'an. Will adding Naomi to the mix be a disaster -- or the solution to all their needs?

Naomi called her boss a f**ing idiot. In the lunchroom. Oooops. A Story Excerpt from “Terracotta Warriors”.

"Only a f**ing asshole like Shannon could imagine for one moment that we'd be able to do a brand new test without spending several days running trials and recalibrating the equipment," said Naomi to her best friend Alison in the lunchroom at the scientific laboratory where they both worked.

The usual noisy chatter of the lunchroom had dropped to deathly silence as Naomi spoke, and now that hush was broken by multiple gasps, snorts and sniggers. Alison's mouth was hanging wide open, her eyes filled with horror.

"What's wrong?" asked Naomi.

Alison rolled her eyes and worked her jaw until it finally closed.

"Would you care to retract that comment, Miss Hunter?"

"Oh shit!" Naomi spun around and there in the doorway was Shannon himself. Mr. Shannon Charles, Head of the Organic Chemistry Division of PVT Chemical Industries -- and everyone in the room's boss.

Her head spun, her cheeks blanched and her gut churned, but Naomi knew what she'd said was correct.

Incredibly stupid to say at work, but nonetheless accurate.

Pulling her shoulders back and her spine ramrod straight, Naomi took a deep breath, and then very deliberately threw her job away. "No, sir. I will not retract what I said. As you know perfectly well, I am one of only three people in the state qualified to sign off on the tests we do, and these new samples will not be accurate enough to pass the annual audit unless we spend several days doing trial tests and calibrating the machines properly. Our reputation for accuracy will be in the toilet." Like my job.

Shannon pulled his cell phone from his blazer pocket and clicked through his address book. "Julie, make up Miss Hunter's pay sheet right now. She's leaving us." He clicked again and said, "John, get to the lunchroom now."

No one in the room moved in the brief few minutes it took for John from Security to arrive. "Yes sir?" His hand was on his weapon as if he expected to have to break up a fight or apprehend a criminal.

"Miss Hunter is leaving us. Escort her to her desk and make sure she takes only her own possessions, then take her to Julie's office to get a printout of her salary entitlements and sign for them. That is all."

A few more gasps came from around the room, but Naomi marched through the door, head up, looking neither to the right nor the left as she set a fast pace to the Organic Chemistry Laboratory where her little office was. There she collected a large, empty cardboard box and packed her things by simply upending her desk drawers into the box, dropping the few personal items from the top of her desk into it, then balancing her potted plant and purse on the top of everything else.

Anger was burning through her at her own insanity at voicing the comment, and at the rightness of it. She snagged her jacket off the back of her chair, remembered to collect her log book, lab coat and safety goggles from the lab itself, then nodded to John who had stood well back from her, totally silent.

"Is that it, Naomi? None of your stuff in the bathroom or on anyone else's desk?" he asked carefully.

"No. I could delete my personal files off the computer but Shannon might say I took proprietary information. This way you are witness that I didn't touch it and I don't care if anyone reads my emails anyway," she replied, shrugging. Besides, her personal files were on her flash drive so it wasn't a big deal.

John nodded. "I'll carry the box for you. You take the plant."

When they reached Julie's office the paperwork was all waiting for her sign. Julie's face was alive with curiosity but Naomi simply said, "Goodbye" and "Thank you". She knew Julie would be on the phone to Alison as soon as she'd left.

John walked her to her car, loaded the box into the trunk for her, and she could see him still standing there watching her leave, as she exited the gate and turned onto the highway. She drove for a couple of miles toward her home, then pulled off into a side road, switched off the engine, folded her arms across the steering wheel, and burst into shattering sobs as the anger and tension exploded from her body.

“Terracotta Warriors” is part of the “Naughty Getaways: Eleven Sultry Stories” anthology.

BUY LINK: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072LWRC7W/

Berengaria Brown
Blog: http://berengariasblog.blogspot.com/
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Berengaria-Brown/e/B00541R3YQ/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/berengaria.brown?fref=ts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BerengariaBrown