Going to RT Con 2013? Me too!

 

Hey there!  Did you know that for the first time EVER, I'm going to a romance writer’s convention, specifically RT Con?  Yup, I really am, and I’m crazy-excited about it *bounces*  I’m so looking forward to learning more about the business of writing, meeting the friends I’ve made online, and gabbing with fellow readers about the latest book trends that have made us swoon.  Basically, I’m going to talk myself out of a voice by the time RT Con is over, heh.

There’s just one problem.  I don’t know what I’m doing, at least when it comes to the preparations necessary for RT.  I’ve put myself in for the ebook signing on Thursday, May 2^nd, 2013, but seriously, I don’t know how that works.  So I’m mainly going to be playing around with lots of other readers and writers with games and giveaways.  Basically, it’ll be mayhem.  Because mayhem is the one thing I KNOW I can pull off.  I could do it professionally. :D 

I’m also trying to figure out my agenda—what I reaaaallllllly want to see and do while I’m at convention.  There are so many topics I NEED TO KNOW.  Like “Unlocking the Secrets of Self-Publishing” and “Book Promotion 101” and “The Victorian Women’s Clothing from the Inside Out”, and a billion other topics.  How am I supposed to choose???  I need Hermione’s Time-Turner in order to see everything I want. :/

Also, I’d like to know what sort of swag people enjoy the most when they go to these cons.  I’ve got to watch my budget; the last thing I want to do is blow money on something no one will be interested in picking up.  So far, I’m planning on… chocolate.  That’s pretty much it.  Any other suggestions would be OUTSTANDING.

 

If you’re going to RT Con, let me know!  It’ll be such a kick to finally meet all the online peeps I’ve come to know in the past two years since I first got published (man, time flies).  If you’re new like I am, we’ll huddle together and stare in awe at what’s going on around us.  If you’re a veteran, feel free to show me the ropes! Either way, I’m so psyched to bounce into this new adventure (and to cause a little mayhem along the way).  See you there!

BIG NEWS!!!

I don’t know why, but for some reason whenever I go out of town, EVERYTHING HAPPENS.  For instance…

I have PDF-only copies of WOUNDED ANGEL ready for review!!!  While I was on vacation without my laptop, I couldn’t download the PDF file. :(  All I could do was squeal about the email and promise myself to never again go anywhere without a computer (yeah, it was a vacation where no work was supposed to be going on, but life never turns out that way.  Live and learn;) ). 

Then, just three days ago while I was in the midst of vacay madness I received an email from my editor at Carina Press, Andrea Kerr, with some AWESOME news.  Ready?  *ahem*

 

DANGEROUS ANGEL HAS BEEN ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION!!!! *happy dance*

 

This is the fourth and final book in The Earth Angels series, and it’s one of the biggest books I’ve ever written.  It’s also the very first “ensemble” book I’ve written, so I was quite nervous about this submission.  Every main character from the overall series has a role to play in this final book, so I took my time to make sure I did it right. It was well worth it, considering what Andrea had to say:

“I thought the book was a terrific wrap-up of the series. Kyle and Nikita were a lot of fun, very sexy, lots of witty banter--it is clear they've been in lust/love for a long time before our story opens. I really liked the bounty hunter angel and the characters we encounter as a result. I shed some tears over Nikita's past, too, and the whole situation with (demon’s name redacted/NO SPOILERS! :D) is very dark and creepy. The other readers agreed it is an "absorbing, engaging read with good characterization and world building" and that your writing is "strong and vivid".”

 

Woohoo!  There’s no publication date for DANGEROUS ANGEL yet, though Andrea mentioned she’s going to assume the powers-that-be will want to have this wrap-up to The Earth Angels happen sooner rather than later.  That means she’s currently neck-deep in developmental edits for this project and has promised to get them to me posthaste.  If you’re curious about this final Angels book, here’s my own blurb for it:

Despite the possibility of a demon hiding in the human realm in order to bring about an apocalypse, one would think Kyle Beaudecker would be ready to go to war. After all, he's the descendant of the lesser archangel Barakiel, the angel of lightning and the only angel to defeat the demon Envy. But Kyle's a lover, not a fighter, and the only fighting he's interested in is seeing how many moves it takes to pin down rival bounty hunter, Nikita Tesoro. Besides, what are the odds of an apocalypse starting in Miami, the mojito and cruise capital of the world?

A harrowing crossing from Cuba left Nikita orphaned as a young girl and the recipient of some hard lessons. One, numbness is possible if you don't care, and two, relying on oneself is the key to survival. These lessons work--until she comes up against that never-ending distraction she thinks of as Hurricane Kyle. Sexy. Clever. Mercurial. Crazy. The poster boy for ADHD, Kyle is just the right combination of man-parts to curl her toes. For years she's kept him at arm's length out of a long-standing policy to never need anyone, but when they team up to find a bail jumper, distance becomes the last thing on Nikita's mind.

Their case turns ominous when the trail is littered with signs of the demonic: sex, death... and the dead back among the living. This time, though, Kyle won't be alone in holding off the end of the world. But even with the modern-day Nephilim breaking all the rules to stand by his side, the battle of holding onto Nikita's vulnerable heart--and her sanity--is the one fight he'd rather die than lose.

Also, I always put together a Pinterest storyboard for my projects (storyboards help me plan things out and keep track of my research).  If you want to get a really good look of what’s going on in my inner world, feel free to take a look at DANGEROUS ANGEL’s storyboard (and for those of you who know me personally… yeah, yeah.  I know.  Kyle is me *cough*ADHD*cough*).

So, there you have it—my big news!  If you’re a reviewer, please let me know if you’d like a PDF copy of WOUNDED ANGEL, and I’ll get it right out to you.  Thanks for reading!

 

Hitting Send

In the past two months I’ve submitted two projects to various editors with fingers crossed and a knot in my stomach.  I ALWAYS feel this way.  Is it good enough?  Does the motivation of the characters/plot make sense?  Did I tie up all the loose ends?  Are the characters likable and relatable? Does the romance build at an even pace?  These and about a dozen other questions are on a list I keep on my desk to make sure I answer ALL of them to my satisfaction.  But triple-checking this list doesn’t make the butterflies go away.

 

When I confessed my anxiety to a friend, she was surprised I still felt this way.  I’ve been published several times now, so isn’t it a slam dunk?

No.  It’s NEVER a slam dunk for the vast majority of writers.  And I’m glad of that.  When I approach each new submission like it’s the very first one, it’s my hope that I produce a quality project that’ll be good enough to garner the attention of an editor.  My goal isn’t to produce quantity; I’m all about quality.  And every time I hit send, I’m hoping that’s exactly what they’ll see.

But every damn time I feel like it’s a total crap shoot.  And the worst part has just now begun--the waiting.  Why do we writers do this again?  Oh.  I remember.  We can't help but do anything else. *sigh*

I'm off for vacation this week, so until then -- happy reading! :)

Savage Angel Blog Tour Winners, PLUS A Steamy Excerpt!

Hi there!  As the blog tour for Savage Angel just came to a close, it’s time to announce the winners of the Amazon GCs!  Ready? 

First prize, $25 Amazon GC:  Andra Lynn

Second prize, $10 Amazon GC: Chelsea B.

Blog Host prize: Stormgoddess

Also, I’m now a HUGE fan of organized blog tours.  GoddessFish Promotions did an excellent job of getting the word out that there’s this brand new series out there (The Earth Angels) from a brand new author (ME! :D), and that’s something I didn’t know how to do.  It was a lot of work, and I have no idea how many thousands of words in blog posts I did, but it went GREAT.  I’d also like to give a shout-out to every blogger who agrees to be a part of blog tours.  I’m so grateful that they’d let me come into their cyber-home to talk about my new series.  There’s no greater way to get the word out. ;) 

And even though I’m starting to get geared up for promo on the next release, WOUNDED ANGEL (out 5/27/13), there’s still so much I want to share of SAVAGE ANGEL, including this fun little excerpt.  Enjoy! J

EXCERPT:

She pursed her lips, and something changed in her expression, something that made his pulse go from zero to ninety in about a second. “What I have on my mind at this very moment in time is…you.”

“Yeah?” He pushed to a sitting position while his muscles thrummed with heady anticipation. “What about me?”

“Since you’re not a morning person, I can’t help but wonder if you just want to go back to sleep, or if you could be persuaded into keeping me company a while longer.”

He shifted, the sweet anguish of desire lengthening his hardness even more. When was it that she’d gotten so good at twisting him around her little finger? “I might need a bit more persuasion.”

“It’s a good thing I like your company. Otherwise I might not feel you’re worth the effort.” But her smile never wavered as she rolled to her knees to position herself between his, her hands coming to rest on his thighs. “Scratch that. You’re definitely worth the effort.”

The heat of her hands soaking through his jeans ignited a blaze of wildfire along his nerves. “The feeling’s mutual.”

“Good.” She slid a hand higher to cup the now-throbbing bulge behind his zipper. “You know, I think I’m getting used to having another person close to me.” Long, delicate fingers squeezed the sensitive head until his eyes drifted closed on a sighing moan while his whole nervous system rushed to attach to that one point of contact. “I don’t even need any words from you to know you want me. You respond so quickly to me here…and here.”

Just as Gideon was ready to believe this slice of heaven couldn’t get any better, Sara leaned into the cradle between his knees and nuzzled her mouth against the flat hollow that existed between his pectorals.

“My sense of hearing is far better than that of a normal person’s, so when I hear your heartbeat rev I know you’re getting as excited as I am.” Her tongue drew patterns over his flesh while she dragged her fingernails over the thick denim corralling his iron-hard flesh, and he half believed he’d died and gone to heaven without being aware of it. “Oh. It just skipped a beat, Gideon. Does that mean you liked that?”

As if she wanted to test the theory out she caressed his pulsating length again. He arched so hard it was a wonder he didn’t snap his own back. “Damn… Sara.”

Her hair, tied up in its usual high ponytail, tickled his flank as she let the tip of her tongue trace the brown disc of his nipple. “Is that a complaint?”

“You know better.” Helpless to stop himself, his hand came up to cradle the back of her head in a wordless plea for more. “The feel of your mouth on me…I don’t know how I ever lived without it. It’s enough to make me completely lose it.”

“What a waste that would be. You need to find a way to control this—” she gave his stiffened manhood a friendly squeeze, “—while I go about seeing that you are properly persuaded to stick around.”

Gideon ground his teeth on an incoherent curse as the lush heat of building rapture gushed into every corner of his universe. He could do nothing more than thank his lucky stars when at last her lips closed in on the nipple she’d teased so mercilessly, her teeth coming to hold it so her tongue could play with it until he wanted to scream.

“I love how every muscle in your body tenses when I touch you, almost like you’re preparing for hand-to-hand combat.” She was sounding a bit breathless herself when she finally lifted her magic-giving mouth. But she’d only done that so she could concentrate on taking great care in loosening the front of his jeans. Before he could sigh in relief at being free of the confining material at last, she slipped her hand inside and showed him what real tension was all about. “I love knowing you want me, Gideon. You don’t know how excited that makes me.”

There was nothing he could say. In that moment, she closed her fingers around the base of his staff and slid all the way to the tip while her mouth moved lower. His thigh and stomach muscles began to rhythmically flex in time with each spine-shuddering stroke of her hand, and it occurred to him how completely helpless he was. He didn’t care. He was literally and figuratively in her hands, and there was no place he’d rather be.

“Going commando, huh?” With his cooperation, she shucked his jeans aside. Helpless, he shivered with a surge of rapture as she squeezed his swollen sex as if testing his thickness before stroking him from the base to the tip, and back again. “I don’t know why you put on jeans in the first place.”

“You started it.” His capacity for coherent speech was just about at its limit. Who gave a damn about communication when the pleasure was starting to fold in on itself? “You got dressed, so…”

“I had to get dressed. Whoever heard of naked yoga?”

“I think that’s, uh…tantric, or…Sara.” His head fell back as she kissed a path past his navel, her hair sweeping over his lap in a mind-blowing caress. “Oh, God. I don’t know if I can take much more of this.”

"Try and think of something else," she suggested, always ready to help.

***

 

 

BUY LINKS for SAVAGE ANGEL:

Carina Press | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Google Play | ARe | Bookstrand | ebooks. com | Audible

Curious about SAVAGE ANGEL, or want to take a sneak peek at the upcoming Earth Angels books? Please feel free to look through my storyboards on Pinterest.



 

GUSH! 35K words & 23 days later a novella is born. Now I need a nap...

Welp… it’s done.  On February 11^th I subbed a manuscript, and on the 12th I started a holiday novella.  I finished it last night, just shy of 35K, and now I have one measly week to polish it to the best of my abilities before subbing it as well.  23 days isn’t the fastest I’ve ever produced a work.  HOW THE GLITCH SAVED CHRISTMAS was done in 18 days, and I’ve written an 80K book (a YA fantasy/romance I haven’t subbed anywhere) in 41 days.  But I do love it when these works just gush out.  It’s like they’re stories that are DEMANDING to be told.

 

 

Here’s the premise for my latest project, A CRAVING FOR COOKIES:

 

Bitterthorn, Texas might not be big enough for local baker Lucy Crabtree, now that her ex-husband is back in town just in time for Christmas.  From their senior year in high school, she and Sullivan Jax had been virtually inseparable, dreaming of happily-ever-after. Little did Lucy know that when Sully entered the Army Rangers to serve and protect his country, that event would kick off the beginning of the end.

In hindsight, Sully supposed the second tour of duty he’d volunteered for hadn’t been the best idea he’d ever had.  An IED—or improvised explosive device—scrambled his brains and left him finishing up his military tour in various hospitals stateside.  But all things considered, he had it luckier than most.  He was still in one piece and had either relearned or recalled the majority of what his old life had been.  There were only two nagging issues hanging fire—the complete loss of memory when it came to a blue-eyed, smart-mouthed woman everyone said had once been his wife, and an insatiable craving for cookies.

Sully had wanted to do right by Lucy, and insisted on setting her free.  But now that the divorce is final and he’s back in a town so small they have no hope of avoiding each other, his craving for cookies is taking a backseat to his craving for Lucy.  But will the pain of being forgotten and a past he can’t remember keep them apart?  It might take some Christmas magic—and a special cookie—to bring about the happily-ever-after they’d dreamed about so long ago.

 ~~~~~~

 

I have no idea if this book will ever get published, but I’m glad I spent 23 days of my life getting to know Lucy and Sully.  I cried myself into a headache several times during this project, so I’m thinking that might be a good sign.  We’ll see.  :)

Cover Reveal For WOUNDED ANGEL, Plus An Unofficial Excerpt!

Hey there, sports fans!  Last night in my inbox I found Carina Press's final artwork for my May 27^th release, the 3^rd book in The Earth Angels series, WOUNDED ANGEL--wheeee!  I was so excited about it, I instantly hopped over to Jigsaw Planet and made a puzzle out of it. (Nerd girl, that’s me, hehe).  To see the latest in The Earth Angels cover, why not check it out, and have some fun to boot?

WOUNDED ANGEL Cover Puzzle

Annnnd, since I don’t yet have my official ARCs of WA, I’m posting an “unofficial” excerpt!  This scene is one of my faves; it’s from the hero Nate da Luca’s point of view, struggling through a workout session with the heroine, Ella Little.  Nate’s a private investigator who’s been hired to find someone by the name of Gabriella Littlefield, and he thinks Ella might be his target.  But since he’s not sure, he’s hired Ella, a personal trainer, in order to get a closer look at her.  For her part, Ella is a wary, intelligent woman who can spot trouble a mile away.  And right now she clearly has Nate in her sights…

EXCERPT:

What. The. Hell.

Nate ground his teeth, baring them like an animal in pain as he ran up what the machine was telling him was a ten percent incline. Not jogged. Ran. Like his hair was on fire. Like the hounds of hell were nipping at his heels. Like Ella wanted him to die.

The woman was trying to murder him through exercise.

The grade suddenly changed on him, laddering back down to three percent. He nearly fell flat on his face, and he gave serious thought to hitting the kill switch. No harm in giving up, right? Not when he was sure he was about to heave up a lung.

“Three more minutes.” Ella’s voice came from behind him, and in the mirrored wall he could see her past his shoulder, her gaze glued to him as if searching for any sign of weakness. Sheer grit stiffened his spine and he lifted his knees a little higher in renewed effort. There was no way he’d let her get the best of him. Not for another three minutes, anyway.

Wouldn’t she feel bad if he keeled over dead right about now? That’d sure show her.

“You’re almost there.” As she had done countless times in the past half hour, she put a gentle finger on the back of his right hand, which had fallen to grip the handrails. Don’t touch.

Furious with the constant lapse, he concentrated instead on the spot where her fingertip had tapped. It was no bigger than a dime on the back of his hand surface-wise, but its effect was staggering. Like she’d managed to spark a low-level electrical field in that one area, exciting all the nerve endings to jangle out of control until it was as though that one spot was glowing. Maybe that was why he kept using the damned handrail. It was a pathetic excuse to get her to infuse him with a jolt of pleasure in a world that had become filled with a marathon of pain.

“There we go. You made it.” The program shut down, the digital readout going to all zeroes while the treadmill slowed down incrementally into a walk. He kept at it rather than stepping onto the machine’s side rails; no doubt his legs would seize up for all eternity if he came to a full stop. “Congratulations, Nate. You just set The Body Electric record for finishing the Pike’s Peak challenge—basically the equivalent of running up the last three miles of Pike’s Peak—in just under thirty minutes. No one has ever come close to that.”

“Great.” He didn’t take a chance on saying anything more. It would be undignified to throw up on her shoes.

 “Here.” At last the treadmill wound down to a stop. To his relief she handed him a fresh bottle of water, as he’d drained the last of his about ten minutes ago. “Keep hydrating. Are you cramping at all?”

“Does my whole body screaming in agony count as a cramp?”

The hint of a smile flashed before she nodded past his shoulder. “I noticed you have some scars on your back. Old injury?”

“Scars? Oh, those.” He shrugged and downed a third of the water while his heart rate slowly eased out of the danger zone. “It was a birth defect my mother insisted had to be corrected when I was an imperfect little newborn.”

“So you don’t have any pre-existing injuries I should know about?”

“No.”

“I know I’ve already asked, but there are no medical conditions holding you back?”

He frowned. Didn’t she just say he’d broken some sort of record? “No.”

“Then I must confess—you have me mystified.”

That lush hint of magnolias drifted through her Chicago accent yet again, almost distracting him from the actual words. “What are you talking about?"

“You just ran up the last three miles of a mountain at top speed and you’re still daisy-fresh enough to have an amiable conversation with me, rather than being passed out on the floor, the way anyone else would be.”

At last the light went on. Whoops. “So I guess this means I’m in pretty good shape, huh?”

“You’re not just in good shape. As far as I can tell, the shape you’re in borders on demigod status. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you could do the Pike’s Peak challenge all over again.”

Just the thought of it made him want to faint. “No, thank you.”

“The point is that you probably could do it. And that makes me wonder… Why are you really here?"

~~~

Thanks for reading!

 

For more on WOUNDED ANGEL, please feel free to look through my Pinterest storyboard.

Buy Link: Amazon

Back Cover Copy/Release Date for WOUNDED ANGEL is here!

Oh, boy, oh boy, oh boy!  I finally have confirmation on WOUNDED ANGEL’s release date (May 27^th), PLUS the BCC.  Ready?

*ahem*

 

Book three in The Earth Angels

 

A descendant of the Angel of Vengeance, Nate da Luca was gifted with an uncanny ability to find things. It made his job as a detective a breeze—until he learned the hard way that some things should remain hidden. After that, his powers vanished, along with his belief in himself. Which is going to make tracking down Gabriella Littlefield for his latest client a challenge.

 

Personal trainer Ella Little paid a hefty price for her life—now all she wants is to live it in peace. Then a sexy hulk of a man turns up in her gym, reigniting desires she thought she'd left behind along with her real name and hair color.

Desires she can't deny even after she discovers Nate's no stranger to her dark past.

 

Before he can convince her the attraction is mutual, Nate's going to have to earn Ella's trust. But a demon is playing for keeps in the world of humans, using Ella as bait, and the last thing they have is time…

 

Go back to the beginning with Nobody's Angel, available now!

 

63,000 words

(For a closer look at WOUNDED ANGEL, please feel free to look through its storyboard on Pinterest.)

*** 

Wheeeee! I’m so excited!  And at this point, I have to give a shout-out to Carina Press.  They've been wonderful in promoting The Earth Angels series.  Even now NOBODY’S ANGEL is part of their banner on Facebook.  I’m so lucky to be a part of a publishing house that does all it can for its authors. <3

Also, I’m buried knee-deep in trying to get a project done for Carina Press’s holiday antho call.  I have no idea if I’ll make the March 15^th deadline, or if what I’m writing is any good (though I keep making myself cry), or even what category to submit it under.  But I’m almost done with it, and I’m loving the characters. The working title for this novella is A CRAVING FOR COOKIES, and it's a Bitterthorn, Texas book (Bitterthorn, Texas is an open-ended small town contemporary romance series debuting this summer, published by Carina Press).  I swear I’ve gained weight just writing this darned holiday novella.  Who knew that simply writing about sugary, crumbly goodness fresh from the oven could make you want to eat every cookie in existence?

Last thing… I sent off the final book in The Earth Angels series, DANGEROUS ANGEL, and it’s one of the longest books I’ve ever written.  I have no idea if that’s a good or bad thing, or even if it’ll get accepted, so we’ll just have to wait and see.  Too bad I hate waiting. *sigh*

 

For a closer look at DANGEROUS ANGEL, please feel free to look at its Pinterest storyboard.