Welcome to the last Friday Feast of 2012. Oh, what an amazing year it’s been! So many fabulous authors, foodie tales and drool-worthy recipes. And 2013 is looking even brighter with guests booked right up to November.

That’s next year and right now I have a guest who is just chaffing to show off her balls. Very nice balls they are too. But first, an intro.

I’ve known Suzi Love for nearly 6 years. We met through the Romance Writers of Australia, starting out as critique partners and rapidly becoming friends. So I was over the moon when her historical erotica, The Viscount’s Pleasure House, was picked up for publication.  This book was hot in draft form and now it’s fairly sizzling with great story-telling and memorable characters.

Take a look…

THE VISCOUNT’S PLEASURE HOUSE

Lady Chrissie Wellsby and her two country friends research dozens of rogues before selecting the notorious Viscount Hawkesbury, owner of London’s most exclusive and expensive brothel, to educate them in erotic seduction. The ladies abandon respectability and coerce Justin Tremayne into letting them visit The Pleasure House and to teaching them the sensual tricks mistresses and prostitutes use to entertain men.

Though Justin believes three naive ladies will see the debauched romps in his themed rooms, cover their eyes and ears, and run back to their sheltered lives, he underestimates the desperation of abandoned women who imagine a wider knowledge of sex will keep the men in their lives at home, in their own beds. But despite watching several of their friends, men and women, perform raunchy acts at his brothel, the ladies insist on participating in the last of Justin’s infamous Sultan’s galas, held in numerous silk tents and outdoor bathing areas on his estate.

Justin concedes to Chrissie’s demands only to gain information about his long-lost mother and sisters, but the world-weary viscount falls head over heels in love with his emotionally bruised pupil. He yearns for a wife, children, and an uncomplicated wife, but can he convinced Chrissie to take a chance and marry again? Because Justin never wants to leave her bed.

Yes, Feasters, this one’s guaranteed to get you hot under the collar. So hot, in fact, The Viscount’s Pleasure House was listed under Amazon’s ‘Hot and New’ for December. Perfect for some Christmas escapism!

You can purchase The Viscount’s Pleasure House now as an eBook at Crimson Romance, Amazon, and iTunes. Or, read an excerpt on Suzi’s website.

Now here’s Suzi.

Having A Ball!

Thank you, Cathryn, for having me on your Famous Friday Feast.

When it comes to Christmas and the holiday season, I always cling to my favourite things. Decorating the tree with bits and pieces collected over the years, old Christmas movies, Bing Crosby singing A White Christmas in the background as we have a laugh, or two, with family and friends. And my favourite part is rushing to the letter box each day to collect Christmas cards and family newsletters from all over the world.

Did you know that the sending of Christmas cards came into practice in the Victorian era in England?

Why? Because in 1843 Sir Henry Cole, a civil servant, wanted a way to interest ordinary people in the new ‘Public Post Office’. So he and his artist  friend, John Horsley,  designed a card and sold them for 1 shilling each.

That first Christmas card had three panels and the outer two showed people caring for the poor and the centre was a family having Christmas dinner! But at one shilling each, ordinary Victorians couldn’t afford to buy one so children – including Queen Victoria’s – were encouraged to make their own.

With industrialization, printing improved and large numbers of Christmas cards were produced at much cheaper prices. The spread of railways meant faster post and more could be carried, so the Post Office offered a Penny stamp and even introduced a halfpenny stamp if used with  an unsealed envelope. The card industry increased so much that in 1880 11.5 million cards were produced, and by the early 1900s the custom of posting Christmas cards had spread all over Europe.

I love those early Victorian Christmas cards because it reminds me of all the new innovations and how quickly ordinary life changed. In my new book, The Viscount’s Pleasure House, Justin is longing for changes to happen in his life. He’s giving up his notorious, but extremely profitable, pleasure houses so he can concentrate on his railway investments and his search for his missing mother and sisters.

But in a twist on the old theme where a handsome rake is reformed by an innocent wallflower, Lady Wellsby disrupts Justin’s plan when she demands he retain his title as the Virile Viscount and educate her in the sensual arts. Chrissie transforms from a country mouse into an erotic performer and proves my new theory that sexually-educated women make the best bedroom partners for alpha males.

What do you think of my theory? Will Chrissie, a reformed lady, make the best wife for a retiring rake?

Now, if you’ve been busy reading The Viscount’s Pleasure House and indulging in all sorts of fantasies rather than cooking, here’s three quick and easy ‘Balls’ that are sure to add a little zing to your Christmas party.

These tempting tasters come from an amazing little book called ‘A bit of this and a bit of that’, put out by Marg Stapleton for a Breast Cancer support group in far north Queensland, Australia. They’re just the thing to have handy for unexpected visitors over the holiday season, or for dropping off at the house of a sick friend.

Best of all, they have simple ingredients and the same basic directions, so you can whip them up together and then serve as mixed plates.

Apricot Balls

Choc – Nut Balls

Ginger Balls

Told you they were nice balls! Thanks, Suzi, for that fascinating information about Christmas cards.

Okay, Feasters, who’s your favourite rake? Mine is without doubt Jilly Cooper’s unforgettable Rupert Campbell-Black. He’s so deliciously naughty! It was such fun to follow his shenanigans and final downfall at the hands of a very worthy heroine. I also loved Anne Gracie’s Gideon from A Perfect Rake. That was a gorgeous story. Completely sigh-worthy. But I know there are many more out there and Suzi and I would love to hear your favourites. So comment away!

If you’d like to learn more about Suzi and her books, please visit her website. You can also connect via , Suzi’s Glos.si Magazine, Suzi Love’s Daily Gossip Newspaper, Twitter and Facebook.

Please note, unless I have a rush of blood and decide to start up early, Friday Feast will now be on holiday until the first week of February.