Ten Nice Things You Can Do For Someone Else

• Make a crossword puzzle with all of your inside jokes with this Crossword Puzzle Maker! Super easy and there are tons online to search from. You could also do a Word Search. 

• Send a homemade card or letter to his or her address, even if you live together - because everyone loves to get mail! I made this one for a friend's valentine. He loves Chopped on Food Network!

• Plan a surprise day trip to somewhere they like to go and tell them what they should wear and bring that morning -- Ideas that are nice are apple picking, going to a special hike or forest, antiquing, walk the ocean!

• Make a favorite snack or drink as a surprise treat on a random week night.

• If you live with the person, draw a hot bath and a cup of tea for when they get home. Candles are not optional.

• Make a collage like you used to in middle school with clippings of his or her favorite celebrities OR a magazine article in Publisher. I made this one for my BFF's bridal shower.

• Write a funny note and hide it somewhere for them to find at a later date. I've hidden some in the microwave!

• Massages, foot rubs, and head rubs are always nice :-)

• Have an early movie date when it's cheaper and sneak in donuts and coffees. You just need a big bag and good balance. You have the whole day ahead of you after!

Fold his or her laundry... everyone hates folding laundry.

Fall is in the Air

Things to Look Forward to Now That Fall is on the Horizon...

I am a bit of a Summer girl, living on the coast of New England... actually I am a huge SEASON girl. I love looking forward to each season and the special feelings it conjures, the way it grounds you and helps you look forward to the things that come. Seasons give us an opportunity to revisit old feelings that we have about the past and to remind us of the relationship between seasons, ourselves, and the world around us.

"Every leaf speaks bliss to me,

Fluttering from the Autumn tree."

Emily Brontë

• Sleeping through the night comfortably with the windows open and a light blanket across you.

• Warm, luxurious baths.

• Apples, pumpkins, squash, and stew.

• Football.

• Hot toddies, cider, pumpkin beer, stouts, and scotch.

• Fireplaces.

• Halloween & Thanksgiving.

• Foliage.

• Sweatshirts, jackets, sweaters, scarfs, boots, and hats. 

• Reminding ourselves that all that dies is reborn again, like the leaves on trees or the grain we harvest.

5 Steamy Reads to Divert You

1) Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey (*****)

This one has always been one of my favorites because it brings you to an old world, filled with gods, mythology, an unlikely heroine, mystery and a new interpretation of sexuality. You will not regret your time in Terre D'Ange with Phedre as you go through her journey to self-discovery and saving those she loves and the kingdom she lives in.

"When Love cast me out, it was Cruelty who took pity on me."

In a kingdom born of angels, Phedre is an anguisette, cursed or blessed to find pleasure in pain. Sold to the Court of Night Blooming Flowers, her fate as a beautiful but anonymous courtesan was sealed. Her bond was purchased by the nobleman Anafiel Delauney, who recognized the scarlet mote in Phedre's eye as the rare mark of one touched by a powerful deity. Under Delauney's patronage she is trained in history, politics, language, and the use of body and mind as the ultimate weapon of subterfuge in a dangerous game of courtly intrigue.

Guided into the bed chambers of Terre D'Ange's most influential nobles, Phedre uncovers a conspiracy against the throne so vast that even her teacher cannot see the whole of it. As her nation is besieged by invading hordes from the north, the most unthinkable threat to her beloved home comes from traitors within. Betrayed and blindsided by her own longings, only Phedre and her trusted bodyguard Josselin are left to cross borders and warring armies in a race to stop the final blow from falling.

Enter a lush world of pleasure houses, ambitious warlords, scheming courtiers, and the harsh justice of blessed deities through the eyes of a heroine like no other. Sprawling and darkly sensual, Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Dart is the start of a truly original fantasy series. (AMAZON summary)

2) Emanuelle  by Emanuelle Arsan (****)

It's a classic for a reason. Any lover of the genre should give this one a read. Emmanuelle is just so beautifully written, especially the descriptions of the titular character's clothing and appearance. There are long chapters of philosophy as it pertains to romance, erotica, and love- but those are just as good as the rest of the more juicy content. 

I also love a novel that starts on a high note... mile high club style. 

This classic book of erotica is, alongside Story of O, the most famous French underground novel of the late twentieth century and a work of seductive literary merit.

It begins with nineteen-year-old Emmanuelle’s flight from London to join her husband in Bangkok. On the airplane, she is seduced by the passenger seated next to her. By the time they land, she has indulged her irrepressible and insatiable sexual appetite, embarking on an odyssey of hedonistic sensual discovery that takes her from the arms of her husband to intimate encounters with the wives of his business associates, to further explorations wherein the philosophical and aesthetic facets of eroticism are expounded—and enacted—to the fullest degree.

Intoxicating and intelligent, Emmanuelle, which has sold hundreds of thousands of copies since its initial clandestine publication in France, follows one woman’s liberation from unconscious to intensely conscious sexuality. (AMAZON summary)

3) Exit to Eden by Anne Rice (****)

AKA my dream vacation. It is the ultimate escape into a world of classy BDSM where the self is totally surrendered... and love?

The bold erotic masterpiece by #1 New York Times bestselling author Anne Rice writing as Anne Rampling

They call her the Perfectionist. A stunning, mysterious, and fearless sexual adventurer, Lisa is founder and supreme mistress of The Club—an exclusive island resort where forbidden fantasy meets willing flesh. Here eager participants who can afford life's most exquisite luxuries can experience the breathtaking pleasures of surrender and submission. Here nothing is taboo.

A thrill-seeking photojournalist, Elliott risks his life daily in the most dangerous, war-torn regions on Earth. Now he has come to Paradise to explore his most savage and vulnerable sexual self, committed to the ultimate plunge into personal risk. (AMAZON summary)

4) At Any Price by Brenna Aubrey (***)

This pick is just fun! It combines geeky gamer themes with contemporary romance. Perfect for gals like me who are into video games, SciFi, nerds, and hot men! 

Achievement Unlocked: Geek Virgin

When Mia Strong, proud geek-girl and popular gaming blogger, auctions off her virginity online, she knows she'll make waves. But what she will not be making is a love connection. Her rules are set in stone: One night. No further contact.

It's a desperate step, but it's the only way she can go to medical school and pay her mother's mounting hospital bills.

Difficulty Level: Millionaire CEO

Adam Drake, the enigmatic auction winner, is a software prodigy who made his first million at seventeen. Now, in his mid-twenties, he's sexy, driven and--as CEO of his own gaming company--he's used to making the rules. Before Mia knows what's happening, he's found the loophole in the rules of her auction. Every stipulation she's made to protect her heart gets tossed by the wayside.

She can't tell if he's playing her...or if he's playing for keeps. (AMAZON summary)

5) The Story of X by A.J. Molloy (***)

I came across this book at the Book Warehouse in North Dartmouth, MA and purchased it for $2.97. My expectations were not high, but I was pleasantly surprised. The mystery, the mafia, the sex, and the setting all came together to make a wonderfully diverting evening (I read this in one night). 

A darkly seductive and passionate tale of secret societies, elaborate rites and sexual experimentation, in the tradition of the captivating classic Story of O and Kubrick’s film Eyes Wide Shut.

Shy American student Alexandra Beckmann—‘X’ to her friends—arrives in Naples desperate for adventures beyond the sheltered life she has led. She is there to study the Camorra, an infamous Italian crime organization. But in the sun-soaked, ancient city streets, her research leads her to a man like no one else she has ever met.

Irresistibly handsome, Lord Marcus Roscarrick is an Italian aristocrat with a mysterious past. Yet, underneath his refined exterior, X senses a man who is well-acquainted with danger.

Soon they begin a passionate affair, and X is drawn into Roscarrick’s world—a world she never dreamed existed. But as she falls ever more deeply under Roscarrick’s spell, X must decide whether she dares to submit entirely to this shadowy realm of dark desire. (AMAZON)