Blog Tour - Guest Post & Giveaway - Tempting Isabel by Rissa Brahm

Tempting Isabel by Rissa Brahm

Blurb:

Luck. Lust. Love.

Wedding planner Isabel Ruiz is cursed. Her hometown of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico agrees, considering her tragic track record. Alone and loveless, she creates fairy-tale weddings for others. Her only distraction? The occasional anonymous fling. So to avoid further tragedy, her rule, one–night–only, is never broken…

Until Zack.

Self-made millionaire Zack James is in town for his brother’s wedding, when a sudden spell of depression hits. Maybe burned out by his fast and luxurious lifestyle? Not even his two female companions hold any interest.

That is, until he meets Isabel.

She humbles and captivates him, reigniting his thirst for life. With her, Zack feels more alive than ever. To his delight—and her dismay—they share a deep bond, a sensual connection, and one mind-bending night.

Zack must have her – to complete him. And Isabel must escape him – to save him.

Their game of catch and chase leads to lust-turned-love. For Isabel, it's fate’s cruelest joke. But Zack won’t quit, positive he’s the cure to her curse. Can he convince her to risk everything with him? Or will it all go south…in paradise.

Goodreads | Amazon UK

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Guest Post

Getting’ in the Mood

By Rissa Brahm

How do I get in the mood…to write a steamy and sensual sex scene? Just like in real life, I do require a certain setting, environment, and yes, mood to write my couple’s passionate hot and heartfelt encounters.

Writers must dive into any scene headfirst and come back out having written an emotional, believable, and reverberating connection between their characters. It’s the same with sex scenes—whether I’m imagining-while-writing a sweet love making rendezvous or a lustful and electrifying sex-capade, I need to dive in, and to do that, for me, it’s all about context.

Speaking of context… Dr. Emily Nagoski, women’s sexuality professor at Smith College and author of New York Times bestseller, Come as You Are: The Surprising New Science that Will Transform Your Sex Life explains some pretty baffling, mind-blowing truths on sex, including the importance of context. The right context is necessary for achieving passionate,heartfelt, emotionally connected sexual encounters—in real life and for me in the scenes I write. 

So for my contextual rightness… Here are my 5 sexy-time mix-and-match mood setters for writing sex scenes that hit the spot:

1.                  I fly solo. Whether in my car, in my office, in a park under a tree, I need to be essentially alone and uninterrupted (I really get in the zone) for my impending core-tingling fiction to be…satisfying for my readers.

2.                  Listening pleasures. Quiet’s best, but certain music is a definite turn on before hand. In fact, Selena Gomez Good for You had me pulling off the road to write the first (and long awaited) sexual encounter between Jana and Antonio in my second novel Taking Jana—about twenty chapters before I’d gotten to that part of their story. (BTW Selena’s Hands to Myself is another core-clenching favorite!)

3.                   Ingestible aphrodisiacs: Gimme chocolate chunk brownies (Ghirardelli) or mint chocolate chip ice cream (Baskin Robins) with black coffee (Batdorf & Bronson, my family’s favorite) and I’m on! The contrast and inherent sugar and caffeine buzz(es) get me going for the long haul ;)

4.                  Activity: Coupled with a need to keep moving after sitting at a desk all day, I will sometimes take an extra long bike ride before writing a sex scene. Exercise floods the system with oxygen for the creative juices to flow, and the bike trail’s calming scenery is a plus. There is another perk to the bicycle, let me just tell you! What a bike seat can do in way of foreplay, ladies ;) Seriously, it’s a thing (see #5!).

5.                  Read the Heat: Reading soul-deep sex scenes by some of my favorite romance authors reminds me what romantic fiction can deliver—core-electrifying and heart-pounding emotion! Nalini Singh’s Rock Redemption, Megan Hart’s Dirty, and Laura Kaye’s Hearts in Darkness contain a few of my absolute favorite sex scenes.

Those are my top five mood setters. Everyone’s contexts and turn-ons are different. It’s part of what makes our rousing and romantic world go round, right?

What gets you in the mood to read (or write!) a steamy love scene?

Can you recommend a recent romance that got you going like no other?

Bonus Link! Cosmopolitan’s “31 Sexiest Movie Scenes of all Times”

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About the author: 

Contemporary romance writer Rissa Brahm grew up in New York and has since lived in all four corners of the United States, and beyond. e beautiful paradise of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico—the core setting of her hot & heartfelt debut series, Paradise South—is Rissa’s most recent and beloved home.

When not chained-by-choice to her MacBook, she is embarking on out- door adventures with her husband and little girl, laughing to tears with a good rom-com, eating amazing Indian food with something chocolate for dessert; reading good, hot scorchers in bed; biking, long walks, and yoga; zoning out to killer music from across the decades and the globe; and getting lost only to discover a new exciting route home again. You can connect with Rissa on Facebook, Twitter or by email any time by heading to www.RissaBrahm.com and Twitter

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Giveaway

Enter the giveaway here

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