A Valentine’s Day Steampunk Tale and Sacred Sex. Here's more with Kiki and her views on Valentine's Day...
Valentine’s Day During the Victorian Era and Today by Kiki Howell
I’ve read that Valentine's Day reached its height during Victorian times. At the time cards weren’t commercially printed until about the 1870’s, so prior to that Valentine’s Day cards had more sentimentality to them, were cherished, because they were home-made and more personal. Poems and verses were written on them to one’s love. Then they were highly decorated with lace and ribbons, dried plants and feathers, even read were some had mirrors or glass hearts. While some came in decorative envelopes, many were just so elaborate that they came in presentation boxes. Some unfolded like fans and yet still better some were even mechanical.
In fact, in researching for my steampunk Valentine’s Day story, Love, Creativity & Magick, I saw some gorgeous steampunk versions of Valentine’s Day cards you can buy now. I’m one to easily get sucked into a craft, and I’d love to try my hand at one of my own.
Now, Valentine’s Day has definitely become more commercial, but of course this gave me lots to play with when writing my contemporary Valentine’s Day story, Sacred Sex. Now, there are hundreds of cards to chose from. If you are like me, it takes me forever to pick out any Hallmark type card for any occasion because I want it to have just the right sentiment on it, and as a writer the frustration can be great. I’ve been known to go home and just make my own. Of course, we don’t stop at cards these days with verses written by someone else. No, now we have conversation hearts and boxes of chocolates. There are any number of Valentine’s themed items as well from flowers to bears to t-shirts. Seriously, you can go into a craft store and decorate your house from top to bottom if you wanted.
There is even a house near me that decorates outside for each holiday including Valentine’s. When my kids were little, we left a Christmas tree up all year round and decorated it for everything. I remember having dried vine heart garland, the red and pink and white lights, and making those homemade Valentine’s cards to hang all over it. I tell you though, after reading about some of the Valentine’s Day Balls held back in Regency England though, I would love to be able to time travel back sometime and attend one. I would give up the conversation hearts in a minute *winks*
Whether you want to step back in time too or stay put here in modern day, I have two magical Valentine’s Day Stories for you…
Sacred Sex Blurb:
Just a few days before Valentine’s Day, Margaret visits her aunt’s craft consignment shop hoping for a spell or oil, and any advice on how to re-connect with her husband, Michael, who has become distant since losing his job. Determined to save her marriage, she gets more than she bargained for from Aunt Minny, a practicing witch. Armed with recipes to enhance love, a massage oil type love potion, a new Valentine’s Day candle and a book on Sacred Sex Rituals, Margaret prepares to seduce her husband.
But, his initial reaction is not what she planned for…
Follow Margaret and Michael on a holiday of love journey, a throwback to the kinky pagan sex rituals once practiced long ago on this day before it was named after a saint. You may want to take notes to enhance your own Valentine's Day this year!
Love, Creativity & Magick, A Steampunk Valentine’s Day Tale Blurb:
All acts of magick take on shades of gray in the end, especially for Emma, one of four females witches who by birthright belong in the social circles of the privileged upper ten thousand in London. Yet, by rumor of the unknown and the misunderstood, she stands apart, cut by her peers along with her cousins, because they hold a secret—each is gifted with magick.
Their elders had taught them respect for their powers even when mixed with a spanking amount of fanciful mischief. On the other hand, if a lesson was warranted, then white verses black magick could be hard to define. Nowhere was the color of steam more evident than in the matters of justice, a slippery term to define. Yet, they’d made breaking the laws of society their mission. Most of their nights at parties and balls were spent creating a magickal comedy of errors, helping the uptight aristocracy side step their fastidious standards.
Only this year, days before Valentine’s Day, a damnable day for women without suitors, Emma is not quite sure what is happening to her. Something dark and seductive, something not of this world, is luring her, possessing her, and she has no comprehension of what or who the presence really is. But, when he does show his face finally, and she feels him to be a nightwalker, she must fear not only the threat he poses to her blood and to the energy or magick he can suck from her, but also the danger he poses to her heart. After all of these days feeling him, wanting him, she has to wonder if her feelings are just a matter of his compulsion, if she is under this vampire's own type of magick.
To complicate matters further, the vampire’s propositions are as exciting as they are scandalous, to teach her how to power her magick with the overabundance of sexual energy she bears. But, how he knows such things he remains elusive about. And there is the added attraction that this vampire was a failed inventor in life, one with a basement full of contraptions she finds she can power through the use of her sexual energy. Valentine’s Day seems like it could be all kinds of fun this year now.
Yet, in these days of social unrest and out-of-control creativity, what is a witch to do with a vampire? When Valentine’s Day rolls around, and a secret is revealed, what will be left for her?
Kiki Howell
~where love is a mystical thing~
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And now, Kiki has graciously decided to host a Valentine's Day giveaway. There are five different prizes to be entered for.
Prize Pack 1: Fashion Heart Necklace and Earrings
Prize Pack 2: Steampunk Necklace
Prize Pack 3: E-book Erotic Romance Short Story Bundle
Prize Pack 4: Print Book Sweet Romance Bundle
Prize Pack #5: Print Copy of Torn Asunder Erotic Romance Novel
Prizes are open to only US shipping
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