Guest Post with Author Jess Michaels and Giveaway

Today I am happy to have one of my favorite author back on the blog, author Jess Michaels(aka Jenna Petersen). Jess is currently celebrating the release of her new book An Introduction to Pleasure and has stopped by today to chat. But before I give the floor over to Jess, lets get to know a bit about her.

Jess Michaels is a pseudonym used by author Jenna Peterson.

Jenna Petersen knew she wanted to be a writer at a very young age and had a very specific image of what that meant. In her mind, she would live in Los Angeles (why not New York… who knows?), attend book signings, drive a very expensive car and date endlessly (and apparently, unsuccessfully). There was little actual writing involved in the fantasy.

Instead, she got a degree in Psychology from the University of Washington, married her high school sweetheart and moved to Central Illinois. There was much actual writing involved in the reality and she learned a lot in the years she waited to hear she sold a book.

Jenna enjoys travel, history, live baseball, Bears and Eagles football, and of course, all things related to reading and writing. She runs a website for aspiring authors called The Passionate Pen, which has become a popular resource in the romance writing community. She also writes zombie comedy under the pseudonym Jesse Petersen.

Places to find Jess:

| Site | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Passionate Pen |

Back From the Dead

Jess Michaels (Jenna Petersen)

I’m back from the dead. Now this may make you think that I’m blogging as my writing alter ego, Jesse Petersen, who writes zombie novels, but no, I’m speaking as  Jess Michaels. Yeah, I have a lot of writing names.  Jenna Peterson  (historical romance),  Jess Michaels (erotic romance, mostly historical) and that pesky zombie girl, Jesse. For a long time, Jess has been a little… dead. My last erotic romance (aside from a few contemporary ones I self-published last year) was out in 2010 and was written in 2009. So it’s been quite a hiatus while I focused on the other two names and the books they had contracted.

But then, suddenly, opportunity struck. Once I left my other publisher, projects that had been on the backburner were brought back to life. And  Jess Michaels sucked in her breath, sat up from her coffin and said, “I’m still here, you know.” She even brought an equally dead idea with her for a series called “The Mistress Matchmaker”. In it, a celebrated courtesan is known for matching mistresses with protectors… but her track record gets sullied a bit as her friends and their matches begin to fall in love.

Back in 2007, when EVERYTHING FORBIDDEN came out, this idea had been swimming in my head, but my publisher at the time wanted to pursue more books in that series rather than start a new one. I put it aside and figured nothing would come of it. But it kept… nagging at me. Coming to the surface to remind me it was there.

Writers do that. Even when we try to set concepts aside, they never quite leave our minds. At least, the ones we love don’t. This one did it enough that I had to write it. Samhain Publishing bought the series and is putting them out fairly close together (AN INTRODUCTION TO PLEASURE is out today, FOR DESIRE ALONE is out Nov. 6 and HER PERFECT MATCH closes out the series on Match 5 of next year). I must say that writing them has been a relief. At least it’s left more room for all the other whispering stories.

Luckily, Samhain Publishing doesn’t mind living dead writers or their whispering dead stories.


An innocent lady’s education could be a gentleman’s wicked seduction.

Mistress Matchmaker, Book 1

Lysandra Keates is running out of options. Her father is dead, her mother is ill, and her efforts to find respectable employment have ended in failure. With her small savings bleeding away, she swallows her pride—and her terror—and turns to Vivien Manning, an infamous courtesan, to match her with a wealthy protector.

For years, Viscount Andrew Callis has lived a monastic existence at his country estate, hardening his body against the snobbish, lazy young man he once was, hardening his heart against grief over the deaths of his wife and infant son. When Vivien asks him to spend one month training a young woman in the ways of a mistress, his mind resists…but his body responds with an ache he thought long dead.

As Andrew begins his gentle tutelage, he finds himself falling under the spell of Lysandra’s innocent charms. And as they give in to the powerful hunger, the last thing Andrew ever expected, or wanted, forms between them. An emotional connection that could carry them well past the training period—if only Andrew can open his heart to the possibility of love.

Product Warnings: Includes training in all kinds of sexual positions and delights, as well as an emotional romance. May produce swooning.

Places to Purchase:

| Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Samhain Publishing |

Want to win an copy of Taboo? 1 lucky commenter(US ONLY) will win a copy.

To Enter:

• Leave a comment answering the question: What do you think of books with Matchmakers? Would you ever go to see a Matchmaker? 
• Fill out the Rafflecopter form below.  

Good Luck =)

a Rafflecopter giveaway