Tracy Cooper-Posey

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A man of mysterious powers....

....a woman who fights her destiny.

On mid-winter's eve she must decide.

Solstice Surrender

"This is the must-read story of the year." -- Fallen Angels Reviews

Erotic romantic paranormal.
Part of the WINTER WARRIORS anthology.
Hard R rated.
Currently Available at Ellora's Cave

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 Reviews. Outline. Excerpt. Author's Notes.  
Interesting related links & cool stuff.

"Highlander (the series) meets the X-men’s Phoenix". ... casting the movie.


Reader feedback

"I just finished the book. Heavy sigh! You write so well--excellent description so that I can see the settings, great action sequences and great lovemaking scenes, too!  Thank you for this. I really enjoyed it.

I appreciated the Canadian setting.  Banff is such a romantic setting and the way you described it, I could put myself right there. I love exploring that beautiful old hotel.  You are one of those so skilled writers who the reader knows has done days and days of research and back story so the book LIVES. Your descriptions are so well written, as are the action sequences, which are so hard to write well. And your love scenes are graphic enough to steam, but at the same time the connection forming between the two characters is so compelling. They give me that lovely little lurch somewhere in my heart!"

 -- Bonnie, a reader.


Reviews:

Five Stars!

"Solstice Surrender" was an excellent book. This is the must read story of the year. Her characters are fun loving and realistic. The way this author uses her words to draw you into her story is like a work of art. I really enjoyed my time in Ms. Cooper-Posey's world; I will be coming back soon.

Jill for Fallen Angels Reviews

Five Stars!

In "Solstice Surrender" Tracy Cooper-Posey brings the paranormal element into this excellent anthology.  As erotically charged as the first story, this novella is also a bit more on the emotional side.  I admit that I developed a soft spot for Rhys, the hero, who has spent quite some time waiting for his mate.  Fast paced and filled with love scenes of the “OMG” sort, this one will certainly appeal to paranormal romance lovers.  

Mireya Orsini for Just Erotica Romance Review

Five Stars!

I really liked this story. The paranormal aspects makes it really interesting and fun to read. It kept me wondering what would be revealed next. Rhys is sensitive and sensual all rolled into one amazing package. Jenna is confused but willing to search for the truth with a strong will. This story is hotter that hot. The love scenes scorch the pages. This story is a must read for anyone who loves paranormal reads.

Angela Brewer for The Romance Studio

5 stars 

"Solstice Surrender" was an excellent book. This is the must read story of the year. Her characters are fun loving and realistic. The way this author uses her words to draw you into her story is like a work of art. I really enjoyed my time in Ms. Cooper-Posey's world; I will be coming back soon.

Jill Burke for Fallen Angel Reviews

3 stars 

This interesting trio of stories offers a bit of horror, psychic phenomena and fantasy. Three strong, intelligent women prove that love can come in the most dire of circumstances, and often accepting it is the real victory.

Susan Mobley for Romantic Times Magazine (April 2004)

4 stars 

Each story in the Winter Warriors anthology has one thing in common: the main characters kick butt. A common thread runs through all the stories: helping those in need. All together, this is one anthology that will not only stimulate the mind, but also bring a smile to the reader through the character’s adventures and ultimate successes. Awesome read from three authors who joined forces and created cool, kick butt stories.

Melinda for Sizzling Romances

4 stars 

Solstice Surrender is an interesting read with suspense, paranormal, and hot sexual scenes. Rhys is a sensitive man who will do anything to protect Jenna. Jenna is strong- willed woman going through a rough time, yet is still willing to listen to Rhys. This is a great read for paranormal fans.
Overall this is a great anthology that has a little of everything. Don't pass up adding this to your collection.

Pat McGrew for Sensual Romance Reviews

 

 

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Outline:

Jenna MacDonald, cynic extraordinaire, flees to Banff, Canada, for the holiday season to lick her wounds in private after an assignment takes a tragic turn. But trouble manages to find her even in the heart of the Canadian Rockies.

A mystery-clad stranger called Rhys Cellyn exerts a powerful influence over her mind and her body, while Jenna struggles to stay afloat in the mythical world he plunges her into. Time is against her, for at the moment of the winter solstice she must make a fateful choice.

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Excerpt:

Chapter 1

The coffee shop was crowded but Jenna could still hear every contemptuous word the man in the taupe wool coat said. Each cutting phrase rang clear despite three tables and the blended babble of French, English and Japanese that separated them. And if she could hear perfectly well, then the petite brunette sitting next to him must be benefiting from a Dolby surround sound experience.

Shadows dusted the skin under the woman’s eyes, and she kept her gaze on her big round coffee cup. Occasionally she sipped it. Otherwise she left her hands in her lap.

“Why on earth you thought it necessary to order breakfast for five a.m. defies analysis,” the Prince continued, stirring his latte with violent flicks of his fingers. “I booked the guide for this afternoon and I don’t know why I should have to get out of bed before eight a.m. for anyone. My porridge was as cold as a wet herring. A complete waste of food and money.”

It was the second time he had been through this diatribe since Jenna had been drawn to the sound of his rich English baritone and begun to listen.

She looked up at the big clock behind the five girls tripping over each other behind the counter, as they rushed to fill orders. Breakfast for even the most lay-about person in the world would have been three hours ago.

She glanced back at the bowed shoulders of the woman beside the Prince, and shoved her distaste for the man up to active dislike.

“I’m sorry, Charles.” The woman seemed to whisper compared to his penetrating bass. “I thought we might go window shopping before the hike...”

“Shopping?” He almost dropped his coffee cup in his amazement. “We come half way around the world on the trip of a life time, to the most stunning mountains on the North American continent and you want to shop?” The contempt in his voice would have withered the ego of Madonna. The woman shrank into herself even more.

Jenna’s top lip tried to curl up in disgust.

The woman picked up her coffee cup. Her hand trembled a little.

Dump the coffee on him, Jenna silently urged her.

The Prince rolled on as if his companion hadn’t spoken. “Your utter lack of a brain is ruining this entire tour. I should have left you at home, but then you would just get yourself into even deeper trouble there, wouldn’t you? If I wasn’t dancing attendance every hour...good lord, you’d probably die of cold because you’re too stupid to re-start the oil heater, or something or other.”

Pressure built up in Jenna’s temples as she stared at the woman. Her gut clenched, roiling with anger. Dump the goddam coffee in his lap! The mental urging was so powerful Jenna could feel her throat working as if she had actually cried it aloud.

And the woman swung her hand around in a ninety-degree arc until the coffee cup was poised over his thighs. Deliberately, she turned it upside down, emptying it of a steaming half-liter of rich brown mocha.

Jenna’s jaw dropped and her eyes widened.

All hell let loose.

The Prince bounced to his feet with a roar of pain, and cracked his thighs against the edge of the table with a wet slap. The impact produced a sharper scream of agony, and he plopped back down with the suddenness of a puppet whose strings had been severed. Only his chair wasn’t there anymore, for his abrupt rise to his feet had pushed it back out of the way.

He hit the floor, and the thud jarred the ancient beams. Jenna felt the impact reverberate through her table and chair.

The Prince stayed down this time, while the room of tourists gasped and exclaimed in their native tongues. From across the room, Jenna heard a single snigger, quickly muffled.

The woman looked even more amazed than Jenna felt. She still held her cup out at half mast, upside down, drops of coffee beading on the rim. She stared at it as if it had suddenly come alive in her hand.

Those nearest the Prince dived to help him as he flopped about on the floor. He was simultaneously trying to lift his soaked, steaming trousers away from his crotch, and massage his bruised thighs.

But Jenna’s satisfaction over the swift turn of events died as she watched the woman. The brunette lowered the cup to the table with the same care one used to handle an antique crystal decanter...or a rattlesnake.

She stepped away from the cup as if it might leap at her. Then she crouched beside the man, and patted him with her napkin. “Nigel...I don’t know what to say. I have no idea how that happened. It was like watching someone else do it.”

Others around her were smiling, amused. They didn’t believe her any more than the princely Nigel would believe her.

Jenna had watched her pour coffee all over him. Of course the woman had done it herself. Because if she hadn’t acted from her own free will, then what just happened here? She glanced around to see if anyone was staring at her, if anyone thought she had anything to do with this.

A man lounged at the table by the door, a day-old Calgary Herald in his hands. He was watching her, his face bereft of even a hint of the hilarity that gripped the rest of the room.

Her stomach clenched and a strong urge to flee the store gripped her. She drained her coffee cup, then moved towards the only exit—the door the man sat beside.

When his gaze did not move away from her as she approached, Jenna’s heart picked up speed. She talked to herself firmly. Maybe he just likes your hair, Jenna. In this tourist town casual vacation affairs start quick and end quicker.

But she couldn’t discount the pandemonium going on behind her. Every other eye in the store was glued upon the Prince, who was swearing as lustily as any dock worker while staff, customers and the brunette worked to soothe him and clean the mess up.

In a room with a mini-drama unfolding, anyone who could ignore the chaos to focus upon something else was highly motivated.

So what did he want?

The habits of her profession kicked in. Jenna took a mental snapshot of the guy’s face, cataloguing the features for future reference. Large brown eyes, thick brows and blonde hair trimmed neatly. Strong jaw and neck. The neck was layered in muscle and thick, like a body builder’s. The luxurious overcoat hid the rest of him except for the polished toe of an expensive casual leather shoe. Clearly, snow and slush was not an issue for him.

One all-encompassing glance, then she lifted her chin, kept her gaze on the sidewalk outside and headed for the door in what she hoped was a confident, don’t-mess-with-me bearing.

And nearly jumped out of her skin when he stood, clearly intending to halt her.

A hand settled on her shoulder, big and heavy. She felt the body belonging to the hand slide into place on her other side. A quiet voice sounded; “Keep walking, straight past him. Don’t look around. Out onto the street. Quietly, now.”

Dozens of questions arose, but she pushed them aside, focusing instead on the fact that this voice, this body, was helping her. Somehow.

She swallowed, and kept walking as instructed, looking neither left nor right, although sorely tempted to look up at him—from the way his hand rested on her shoulder, she knew he was tall.

Outside in the street, the hand fell from her shoulder and picked up her other hand. “Can you run?”

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Author's note:

This story was both a pain and a pleasure to write.  It was enormous fun because I got to play around with a new fantasy theme that I have been mulling over for a while now, and got to write in a new sub-genre.  Plus, I created a hero that even I would like to know more about.  One day, perhaps....  

The pain came from having to restrict myself to such a short length.  Yes, it's book-length, my preferred format, but as it's included in an anthology, I really had to keep it short.  Keeping a story short is not my best talent!  Therefore, the original story had twenty years of back story for the characters, and quite a few thousand words of extra story and subplot to it before I realized what I was doing wrong, and painfully, bloodily chopped all but the essential story line out of the manuscript.  

But I kept the remains!

    -- Tracy.

 

  Casting the Movie...

I often get asked who I would cast in the movie of my book, if it should ever come to pass, so just for fun:

Movie producer's pitch:

Highlander (the series) meets the X-men’s Phoenix.

Casting call:

Jenna.  Famke Janssen

Rhys.  Adrian Paul.

Don't agree with my picks?  Can think of someone who's just perfect
 Let me know!  I'll add your choices to this page, too!

 

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All contents, except where noted, copyrighted © 2000-2006 (inc.), Tracy Cooper-Posey and Sasha Productions.