God of Ecstasy with Lena Loneson

Contest reminders: You can still enter my contest from Saturday!

Welcome Lena Loneson to the Pricked Party! I love the colors on her cover. Isn’t it awesome? You can connect with Lena at any of these locations: Website | Twitter | Facebook

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In my new book our hero is Dionysus, the ancient Greek GOD OF ECSTASY, wine, and madness. He was erotically enslaved thousands of years ago by a magic curse stored in the vine tattoos on his arms. Only the love of a woman (our heroine, naturally) can free him. 

Tattoo critics will say getting inked is a curse in itself – you’re stuck with the same image branded on your skin for life. To me, that’s the appeal. It’s unique, it becomes a part of me, and it says something about who I am. But since it’s permanent (or, well, at least as permanent as I am as a mortal being), you have to be careful to get it right. 

In that way, choosing a tattoo artist is a “To death do us part” promise almost akin to wedding vows. Whatever your artist creates will be with you for life. Just like with Jaime and Dionysus, the lovers in my book, when I met my tattoo artist I knew we were Meant To Be. 

I walked into the tattoo parlor for my first consultation with Dana wholly prepared. I had on my laptop photos of tattoos in styles I liked, images of twisty oak, elm, and bonsai trees that inspired me, and paint chips of my favourite autumn colors. It was the dead of winter, minus 20 degrees Celsius, and my computer wouldn’t start. I described my ideas to the flame-haired artist as I tried to boot up my laptop. As I growled at the malfunctioning technology, Dana began to sketch: simple graphite on a pad of paper, quick little scribbles, but when I looked over? It was perfection.

She’d captured every twisty knot in the tree that I held in my mind, without me having to show her any examples. And when she said “Can I make the leaves look like fire?” I knew we were destined for each other, artist and canvas. Two years and many painful sessions later, my back is now as you see in this photo. And I can’t imagine my body any other way.

For Jaime Leighton, the heroine of GOD OF ECSTASY, Dionysus fits into her life in the same way. At first, she has sex with him on a lark: he appears in her bathtub covered in bubbles on the eve of her divorce, and offers to pleasure her in a way she’s never experienced. It’s like something out of a dream: how can a girl say no? In a leap of faith, she goes for it, and he goes down…way down, beneath the bubbles, and between her legs. Like a tattoo, his sensual talents prick at her skin, seeping their way into her soul, at first a superficial and supernatural burst of color in her life, but then meaning so much more, until she can’t imagine life without him.

Of course, with every tattoo, there’s an element of pain—what’s beauty mean, really, if it hasn’t been earned? Jaime and Dionysus must fight for their love in the same way, for their romance is filled with danger as the djinn who originally cursed the god returns to destroy his new love.

To celebrate the release of Ellora’s Cave’s Pricked series and my e-book GOD OF ECSTASY, I’m giving away a copy to one lucky commenter. In honor of the Pricked series, I’d love to know: If you could have one erotic or romantic tattoo that only your beloved could see (i.e., it was invisible to your parents/kids/coworkers), what would it be?

Or, if you’re not an ink fan, tell me your favourite mythological god or goddess from any culture (ladies’ man Zeus? headstrong, sexy Thor? independent Artemis?) for a chance to win.

Leave your answer in the comments to enter, and Sidney will announce the winner via a random draw, here on her blog this Friday. 

GOD OF ECSTASY is out now at Ellora’s Cave, or via Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Read an excerpt as Jaime meets her Greek God for the first time, or check out the synopsis below:

Jaime Leighton has had some pretty unremarkable sex in her lifetime. So when she rubs a bottle of wine and a hot, half-naked tattooed man appears in her bathtub, offering three fantasies, he’s pretty hard to resist. Dionysus claims to be the Greek god of ecstasy, wine and madness—and he can breathe underwater. Thus begins the best three nights of Jaime’s life.

They also turn out to be the most dangerous, when the evil djinn who cursed her new sex partner attacks. Now Jaime must come to terms with her growing feelings for the god and break the magic spell inked into his arms before the djinn snatches away both her love and her life.

Connect with Lena at LenaLoneson.com, or on Facebook, Goodreads, or Twitter.