News of the Week!

A lot of things happened this week that made me happy-dance, so I need to take a breather and make sure I didn’t miss anything. First up on the list of Wow, That Just Happened is…

The military holiday homecoming anthology (our editor has been calling it a “duology”, so I think I’ll try and get used to that) finally has a name! She went to Twitter for inspiration and came up with…

GIFTS OF HONOR

I love it, I love it, I love it! *bounces* Can’t get any better than that when it comes to mixing military with Christmas, amirite? :D

One half of GIFTS OF HONOR duology is my novella, STARTING FROM SCRATCH. Miracle of miracles, I actually made my editing deadline of August 6^th (whew!). What does my editor Angela James have to say about this project?

AJ: First, let me say again, the emotional intensity in this book kills me! I really think you should be writing full length contemporary romances. Truly. You have a gift for contemporary. I've loved all your books (clearly since I keep putting you in anthologies) but contemporary--you could do this (STARTING FROM SCRATCH) in novel form.

Because I loved Lucy and Sully so much, I didn't want to let them go when this story reached its HEA. I loved them so much, I wrote a couple scenes that take place AFTER the end of the novella. I told Angela as much, so this is what’s going to happen:

AJ: As for those extra scenes you wrote, you could put them up as bonus scenes on your website, we could put a note about looking for them in the back of the book?

WHEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! I finally have a place for those extra scenes! They’ll be placed on my blog site on a separate page at the same time that the novella will be released. I’m so excited that these scenes are finally going to have a place to stay.

And that leads me to the last thing… STARTING FROM SCRATCH is the 2^nd project to take place in the small town of Bitterthorn, Texas. The first is my latest release, UGLY DUCKLINGS FINISH FIRST, which released this week. Yay! So far it’s been the most successful launch I’ve had with Carina Press, and I’m thrilled. Wiley, the hero of UDFF, is really getting a lot of attention, which makes my little heart get all Grinchy-huge. I’m kinda swoony over him myself. :D

Okay, that’s it for now. A special thanks to all the book bloggers who helped me launch UGLY DUCKLINGS FINISH FIRST this week. Their sites are amazing, so why not drop by and see what they’re up to?

Gin’s Book Notes

Tome Tender

Book-A-Holic Anon

Caribbean Accent Book Reviews

Riverina Romantics

BLURB:

Metal Mouth. Queen Geek. Dr. Payton Pruitt heard it all growing up. But she’s over it, and attending her ten-year high school reunion is the perfect way to prove it to herself. Even if there’s only one person she’s interested in seeing in Bitterthorn, Texas: Wiley Sharpe.

Now a respected lawyer, Wiley didn’t live down to the label Most Likely to Be Slapped with a Paternity Suit. But recent acts of vandalism suggest someone still sees him as a heartbreaker, and the reunion seems a likely place to find the culprit. Instead, Wiley comes face-to-face with his old pal Payton—and is wowed not only by her transformation into a ravishing swan, but by the connection they still share.

Payton is pleased the playboy she used to tutor has grown into an honorable man, but she’s too smart to fall for a guy with roots in a place she couldn’t wait to leave. But while Payton is an academic genius, Wiley is the one with the PhD in pleasure, and he intends to use it to convince her to stay…

63,000 words

FYI: Be on the lookout for the second Bitterthorn book, STARTING FROM SCRATCH, a Carina Press holiday novella coming this November and edited by the amazing Angela James!

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Buy links for UGLY DUCKLINGS FINISH FIRST: