Free Books for All - To Get You Hooked!

Free Reads

Greetings, lovely people. I hope 2021 is going well for you and things are looking up after the garbage fire that was 2020. 💖

I thought I would take this opportunity to introduce/remind everyone of the free books I have available out there, which are (mostly) shamelessly trying to get you hooked on the series they are part of.

N.B. On Amazon these books will be price-matched to free where that is possible. I apologise if Amazon does not price-match in your region, but they only allow us to pub for 99c minimum and then price-match if we ask very nicely. They also have a nasty tendency to remove price-matching at random intervals so I have to re-request it. I do my best to keep on top of this, but apologies if I have missed one.

Books by Natasha Duncan-Drake

Soul reader is a series of short stories (free) and novellas (not free). There are 3 books in the series at the moment.

Forgotten Soul (Book 1 of Soul Reader)

John knows that at best he can be described as a male escort and at worst as a whore, but it's what he does and he's good at it. He sells his body and his clients come with fangs so it's more about blood than sex. Hiding behind a false smile and his acting skills is the only way he survives, but when he meets one of his latest clients, Michael, his professional detachment is severely threatened, leading him into very dangerous territory.

     

Fortunate Soul (Book 3 of Soul Reader)

With a lot of help from Michael, John is recovering slowly from his kidnapping ordeal at the hands of his previous employers. However, John has noticed changes in Michael's behaviour towards him now that he has been marked by the organisation's captive vampires. He's worried his scars will be too much for their fledgling relationship.

     

If you would like all 3 books of the series in one package in eBook or paperback, they have been bundled for your reading pleasure:

Soul Reader 1-3 (£1.99, $1.99 or £8.99, $10.99)

       

~*~

Me Myself and I: Superheroes and Supervillains or Concussion? 

(Book 1 of Dark Reflections)

Tristan is an actor and he plays a supervillain in the movies. At least he thought he did, but then he has an accident and he wakes up surrounded by the world of the films. Now he has to figure out if he's hallucinating, if somehow the movies are real and he's been transplanted to another world or if he is actually Devon, a supervillain having a psychotic break. Whatever the answer: it's frighteningly crazy.

   

And the other book in the series so far:

Dreams and Reality: Superheroes, Sex and Succour (£2.19, $3.29)

     

~*~

Books by Virginia Waytes (my alter ego)

A Lamb in Wolf's Clothing: Testing of a Werewolf (The Manor #1 s01e01)

Luciana Smythe, Lucy to her friends, owns and runs The Manor, an adult only establishment nestled in the heart of the English Countryside, specifically designed for fun and games of the sexy, X-rated kind. What makes it unique are the residents, supernatural beings hiding in plain sight. Some, like Lucy, a vampire-succubus hybrid, are very powerful paranormal creatures. Others need The Manor's protection.

The Manor takes in strays and those with nowhere else to go, and Lucy's latest lost sheep is a young werewolf, Joshua, on the run from his own pack. Inside The Manor's walls await a new pack, safety, and possible romance, but first Lucy needs to make sure this asylum seeker is what he appears to be and poses no danger to the rest of her found-family.

     

Training Day: Drawbacks of Werewolf Demonstrability (The Manor #13 s02e01)

Josh is still dealing with an overactive libido as well as unpredictable magic thanks to joining with Lucy and the pack to save his sanity. It has been months and it is clearly not lessening. The obvious solution is to give up being a bartender and join the sexier side of the business at The Manor.

Unfortunately, there are two questions he needs to ask first:

1. As his mate, how will Pippa react to the idea?

2. Can he control his magic and the wolf at his core to be safe taking clients among normal humans?

He needs Pippa and Lucy to help him answer both.

     

Find all the books in the series here:

     

A Free Short Story Every Month

If you would like a free short story to read on the first Friday of every month, sign up to our Wittegen Press Newsletter. Not only will you get 2 free eBooks (Assassin's Blood & Curse of a Banshee) straight away and the links to this month's Free Fiction Friday short story, but an email will arrive every month with a new story to enjoy.

Sign Up to the Wittegen Press Newsletter

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Guest Post - Podcasting - Why - What - How

The wonderful Ronel Janse Van Vuuren aka Ronel the Mythmaker has a fabulous website and blog where she has all sorts of wonderful articles about all aspects of publishing and self-publishing as well as some fabulous books.

She very kindly invited me to guest post about podcasting, since I have been focusing a lot of effort on my podcast: Virginia Waytes Sexy Stories Check out all the details of the podcast at my alter-ego's website VirginiaWaytes.com.

And check out my guest post about why and how I started my podcast over at Ronel's website:

Podcasting: Why - What - How

Recipe: Turkey (or Chicken) Bake with Mushrooms - Great for leftovers

 

Turkey (or Chicken) Bake with Mushrooms

Great for leftovers

Greetings one and all, it's been a while hasn't it. I've been focusing on VirginiaWaytes.com for the last few months. I hope you have missed me 😁. Blessings of the Christmas season and Happy Holidays - I hope you have had a pleasant one this year, even if circumstances made it less than ideal. I return with a recipe that is great for using up all that leftover turkey and it works well with chicken leftovers as well for the rest of the year.

Serves 2-3

Ingredients

• 50g (heaped tbsp) butter
• 50g (heaped tbsp) plain flour
• 1 pint/570ml milk
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
• salt & pepper to taste
• 6x24g packets salt n shake crisps or similar (unsalted potato chips)
• 100-150g (1-1.25cups) grated cheddar cheese
• tbsp oil for frying
• 2-3 cloves garlic minced or equiv garlic puree
• 150g (half a punnet) chestnut mushrooms
• left over turkey 

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/360F.
2. Shred the turkey.
3. Slice the mushrooms into bite sized pieces.
4. In a frying pan heat the oil. Add the garlic and then the mushrooms and cook until they have released all their water and are looking toasty, but not dried out.
5. Mix the turkey and mushrooms and place in the base of an oven proof dish - should cover the bottom in a nice thick layer.
6. Melt the butter in a med saucepan.
7. Add the flour and stir to make a thick paste.
8. Add the milk, little by little, stirring in at each stage until all the milk is combined with the flour and butter mixture in a smooth sauce.
9. Add the rosemary and thyme (I grind mine together in a pestle and mortar first because I don't like the large bits of rosemary and it helps release the flavour even more) and salt and pepper.
10. Cook for a couple of minutes until it begins the thicken.
11. Test for taste and add more seasoning if needed.
12. Pour the white sauce over the turkey and mushrooms and mix through gently. Don't be too vigorous or the sauce may go grey because of the mushrooms - still tasty, just not as pretty. 😉
13. Crush the crisps (potato chips) until they are small pieces, but not too far and place in a bowl.
14. Mix the crisps and half the cheese and spread over the top of the turkey and sauce.
15. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top of the crisps and put in the oven.
16. Bake until cheese has melted and is starting to go golden - between 15-20 mins usually.
17. Serve piping hot.

We had this today - still have turkey left, but it used up a good deal of it and was delicious. Just up the amounts to feed more people - I did double this today for five people and we have leftovers or the leftovers now 😂