ONE HOT SECOND is live!

Chandler and Parker’s story is finally here with the release of the 3^rd book in the Bitterthorn,Texas series, ONE HOT SECOND—YESSSSSSS! 

It’s been a long haul getting their story from my brain to the page. Research ate up a lot of time, but it was worth it! Chandler and Parker’s story has that sense of realism while still being sexy as hell. 

Another thing that hung up ONE HOT SECOND was, of all things, the cover art. I love the close-up of the characters kissing on the cover, and I’ve gotten great feedback on it.  But… that’s not how it originally looked.

My publisher, Carina Press, sends these detailed “art fact sheets” for authors to fill out. The more detailed you are when you fill out your art fact sheet, the better the cover artist is going to understand the theme, feel, mood and characters involved. Aside from describing my characters and sending my entire Pinterest storyboard to them, I wrote down no less than four times that it was in Texas, summer, scorching sunshine, and set during a heat wave.  

What I got back was… this:

Yes. That is a blanket. They're sharing a blanket.

Maybe that’s a scorching summer heat wave where the artist comes from...?

Remember, though—all Carina covers come from the Harlequin art department, which means they do thousands of book covers every year. Naturally there’s going to be a crossed wire every now and again. It’s up to the author (read: ME) to catch these boo-boos before the covers get finalized.

Unfortunately, I was, err, distracted when I got the first draft for OHS.

Picture it. I’m at Adult Nationals, rinkside with my competitive skaters, and I hear I've got mail. I even remember what was going on at the time—a double salchow was going screwy and my skater had just hit her knee—so I’m leaning over the boards, going, “Your knee is fine, I don’t see any swelling.” Chime sounds. Glance at tablet.  “Go on and do a flying camel and see how the landing feels.”  Pick up tablet, glance at cover art. Redheaded woman. Dark-haired man. Kissing. Perfect.  “…five. Six. Seven… you need to hold that flying camel for EIGHT ROTATIONS.  EIGHT, DO YOU HEAR ME???”

So, um…. 

I never saw the blanket. 

Until now, I’ve been too embarrassed about my major eff-up to talk about it, but there it is. I NEVER SAW THE BLANKET.  Dear God, somebody get me bifocals.  Or a new brain. Probably both. Yeah, I could really use both.

For those who attended RWA in San Antonio in July, you know how hellishly hot it gets in South Texas. And yes, ONE HOT SECOND takes place just thirty miles south of San Antonio, in the fictional town of Bitterthorn. In the summer. During a heat wave.  I totally should have seen the blanket.  I KNOW.

But I didn't.  I didn't see it because I didn't give the cover art the attention it deserved. I am officially a naughty author.

Ultimately Kingo Ng, a brilliant (and patient!) guy who handled the cover art issue, made it all work and he deserves a medal. Mistakes will happen, and it’s up to the author—whose business is writing and whose books are her products—to make sure everything is as perfect as can be.  This mistake was totally on me.

I have learned my lesson. :)

Oh, and just in case you were wondering, there is no blanket in ONE HOT SECOND.  If there were a blanket, Chandler and Parker would just have super-hot, extra-sweaty sex on top of it, but that would be pretty much it. ;)


Blurb:

Parker Radclyffe is up against a wall. Thorne Mansion, the mysterious Italianate castle she's come to Texas to restore, isn't the problem. No matter how intriguing the relic is, it's merely an ember compared to the blazing magnetism of its owner, Chandler Thorne.

When his family mansion burned down, Chandler had to watch over a hundred years of proud history go up in smoke. After more than a year, he finally has everything in place to rebuild, including a renowned conservation architect to oversee the restoration. But when he lays eyes on Parker he realizes he's gotten more than he paid for. Maybe more than he can handle.

Parker is a military brat who never sits still long enough to get burned. Chandler is her opposite, a man with deep roots and deeper family secrets. It won't be easy to find the common ground it takes to build a home together, but Chandler is a Thorne in every sense. He plans to stick with Parker until she sees that love is more than worth the risk.
64,000 words

BUY LINKS:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Carina Press | Kobo | Google Play

 *****

Don’t forget ONE HOT SECOND’s blog tour starts TODAY. Click the link for deets!

ONE HOT SECOND -- First Kiss

ONE HOT SECOND releases this Monday! I'm so freaking excited!

 Finally I get to share the hottest—both literally and figuratively—story to date in the Bitterthorn, Texas series. Chandler Thorne and Parker Radclyffe strike sizzling sparks off each other from the get-go, and their first kiss is downright incendiary.  Don’t believe me?  Allow me to prove it by sharing Chandler’s and Parker’s very first kiss…

Excerpt from ONE HOT SECOND:

When he returned with several disks, she lifted the heavy fall of hair off her neck and fanned a hand at the overheated flesh there. “I told you Texas was hot.”

“It’s not Texas.” Good grief. Did she actually say it out loud?

“It’s not?”

“No.”

He set the disks on a table beside her. The sound seemed loud in the sudden stillness as he moved close enough to brush against her. It could have been an accident, but they both knew it wasn’t. He’d invaded her space and wanted to see what she’d do about it. “Then what is it, Parker? Tell me what’s got you so…hot.”

He knew, the bastard. “I’m hot because…”

Chandler lowered his head and inhaled. Breathing her in. Though he wasn’t touching her, somehow it was the most intimate thing she’d ever experienced.

“Because?”

“I’m hot because of you.” With a rashness that had always gone hand-in-hand with the rest of her mercurial personality, she made her gaze slam into his with the vaguely mad hope that it would melt him just as he melted her. “Satisfied?”

“Nope.” Then he smiled, and the hunger in it was enough to make her breath back up in her throat. “But I’m hoping I will be. Eventually.”

“Damn.” She shuddered, and it made his smile widen. “When it comes to flirting, you don’t take any prisoners, do you?”

“Flirting’s for indecisive suckers who may or may not know what they want.” She was so absorbed in watching his bow-perfect lips form the words, she almost missed his move behind her. That was why she jumped when he took the mass of hair she held off her neck. “I don’t know if it’s right or wrong to say it—and right now I don’t give a damn, either way—but when I look at you, Parker, I know exactly what I want.”

She opened her mouth to say something—she had no idea what—when air danced over her skin. The sensation was so cool and unexpected, goose bumps broke out as he blew on her hot skin. Her pulse skyrocketed while her knees threatened to liquefy. Yet all he was doing was blowing a soft, cool current of air over her too-hot flesh. If he touched her…

Touch me. God, please touch me…

His mouth brushed against the sensitive skin of her exposed nape. In an instant, her ability to speak vanished like it had never been. Somehow that single, feather-soft caress ignited her nerves with invisible fire. Her eyes fluttered closed, an unconscious move to more fully revel in the tactile delight of his touch. The feel of it was so unexpected and sweet she couldn’t stop her breath from catching, and that one sound of unmistakable arousal all but screamed in the room’s stillness. His whispered huff of laughter tickled along her skin even as he let her hair slowly cascade through his fingers.

“What’s the matter, Parker? Too much for you?”

The teasing tone almost buried the challenge in the words, and it was a challenge she couldn’t pass up. With her system still sizzling, she turned to face him, only to be caught by the devouring hunger in his eyes. She’d been fooled by his tone into thinking this was just for fun, but there was nothing playful about how he watched her. He was focused on her with an intensity that had the power to shut out everything in the world but him. She lifted her mouth to his, overwhelmed by that absolute attention, and let herself fall into him.

If she had thought a faint little kiss along her nape could ignite a fire, the erotic friction of his mouth against hers was downright nuclear. Every instinct she possessed told her she wasn’t alone in that sensation; she felt more than heard his breath catch in a disturbance she understood all too well as he pulled her so close their bodies fused from chest to knee. The difference in height and contours thrilled her, unleashing a fluttery excitement to effervesce through her veins. Their combined body heat was so deliriously molten it made the temperature outside seem downright temperate.

A perfect match, an absolute fit. There was no other way to describe Chandler’s mouth on hers. She’d thought she’d understood basic physical perfection in how separate parts could form a whole; she’d seen breathtaking examples of it in architecture, from the stone monuments of the Mayans to the dry-stone walls in West Ireland. Hell, even the weirdness of a glass pyramid in the middle of the frigging Nevada desert had a kind of Bizarro-World rightness to it.

But Chandler’s kiss opened her eyes to a new reality. It was possible to believe, if only for a moment, that two separate pieces were capable of truly becoming one. She didn’t care that they were strangers. Nor did it bother her that she would eventually put Bitterthorn in the rearview mirror, whereas he had roots buried so deeply in this town it called him back, no matter how far away he roamed. Differences were irrelevant. All that mattered was that fate had crossed their paths to give them this delicious gift of rightness. If anything, her wanderer’s existence had taught her to enjoy whatever came her way while it lasted. Relationships, friendships, even places she’d once called home—were like shooting stars to her. If she could find happiness in the time that they were in her life, then she considered herself lucky for having experienced it at all.

Parker wasn’t sure who took the kiss deeper by opening their lips. All she knew was that they were in a freefall of heady bliss, and she ached to push the limits without applying any brakes. Her pulse shook her as his tongue toyed with hers, the fingers he’d threaded through her hair tightening to pull her more fully into the kiss. A euphoric weightlessness drugged her senses as their tongues danced in an act so much like sex, the cleft between her thighs pulsed with a sweetly agonizing heat. A fractured moan whispered from her mouth and into his as the tension in her most intimate place coiled in anticipation of something more. Something greater.

She wanted him. Strangers or not, client or not, she wanted him with an ardent hunger that made everything else fade.

And yet, they were only kissing.

But there had never been a first kiss like this in her life. She doubted there’d been one like this since kissing had been invented. There was no hesitation, no uncertainty. It was straight-up mouth-to-mouth sex without a hint of apology in sight. She didn’t want to apologize for something so pure. If there was such a thing as magical chemistry, she was only too happy to give herself over to it while she had the chance, and be all the more thankful for having found it. She could only hope he felt the same.

His taste lingered on her tongue as they at last broke apart. By degrees she became aware of faint sounds from the street outside, the raggedness of his breathing that matched her own, and that long, invitingly blank worktable behind him. All too well she could picture putting that blank surface to good use. She’d push him back until his ass—an ass she suspected was just as firm as the front of him had felt as she’d plastered her body against his—bucked up against it. She’d coax him to sprawl back on it like a sacrifice waiting for her to do her worst. And what she wanted to do was nothing short of ravishment. She didn’t know what else to call the fierce desire to rip the shirt off his body so she could find out if he looked as solidly built as he’d felt.

Wow. Since when had she become the kind of woman who wanted to rip men out of their clothes?

*****

Blurb:

Parker Radclyffe is up against a wall. Thorne Mansion, the mysterious Italianate castle she's come to Texas to restore, isn't the problem. No matter how intriguing the relic is, it's merely an ember compared to the blazing magnetism of its owner, Chandler Thorne.

When his family mansion burned down, Chandler had to watch over a hundred years of proud history go up in smoke. After more than a year, he finally has everything in place to rebuild, including a renowned conservation architect to oversee the restoration. But when he lays eyes on Parker he realizes he's gotten more than he paid for. Maybe more than he can handle.

Parker is a military brat who never sits still long enough to get burned. Chandler is her opposite, a man with deep roots and deeper family secrets. It won't be easy to find the common ground it takes to build a home together, but Chandler is a Thorne in every sense. He plans to stick with Parker until she sees that love is more than worth the risk.
64,000 words

BUY LINKS:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Carina Press | Kobo | Google Play

 *****

Also, don’t forget ONE HOT SECOND’s blog tour starting Monday. Click for deets!

IF I STAY, by Tamara Morgan, is on sale NOW!

Hey, you! Yeah, you, the good-looking one who's awesome enough to drop into this blog. :D  Guess what? My Carina Press/Samhain buddy, Tamara Morgan just found out she's got a huge sale coming up--woohoo!

IF I STAY is on sale from today until August 6th for only ninety-nine pennies, y'all.  That's it.  Less than a freakin' buck.  In other words...

$0.99!!!!!!

It's a deal so good it'll make you slap your mama and do the hula.

Question is, why now? IF I STAY is the first book in Tamara's new "Upstairs, Downstairs"-style contemporary romance series, Montgomery Manor, published by Carina.  The second installment, WHEN I FALL, is out August 11th, so it's time to celebrate its imminent release by getting you lovely readers caught up!  IF I STAY will only be on sale for a super-short time, so don't miss out on getting the first book in this fabulous series!

Buy Links:

Amazon | iTunes | Barnes and Noble | Carina Press | Kobo | Google Play

Blog Tour Schedule for ONE HOT SECOND

A WEEK FROM TODAY IS THE RELEASE OF ONE HOT SECOND!!!!

Yeah, I’m a little excited about it, heh. ^_^  And I’m looking forward to the blog tour as well, hosted by Debra at Book Enthusiast Promotions! (Side note: Debra drinks awesomesauce every morning with her Wheaties, I'm absolutely sure of it.) I’m giving away a $25 Amazon GC, a $10 Amazon GC and a complete ebook set of the Bitterthorn series from Carina Press. The more you follow along the blog tour, the more chances you have to enter. :) Here’s the schedule:

August 4

Books A to Z | Roberta’s Dreamworld

August 5

The Book Enthusiast | Book-A-Holic Anon

August 6

Ramblings of a Book Lunatic | Short and Sassy Book Blurbs

August 7

Penny for my thoughts book blog | Coffee Talk Writers

August 8

Crazy Four Books | Book Lovers Obsession

August 11

Bujoijoi22 | Author Sandra Love

August 12

Cheekypee reads and reviews | Give Me Books and Boxes | Ashley’s Addictive Book Blog

August 13

Lustful Literature | The Sassy Bookista

August 14

Love Romance Books | Book Lit Love

August 15

Deal Sharing Aunt | Undercover Book Reviews

See you on the bloggy trail! :D

Blurb for ONE HOT SECOND:

Parker Radclyffe is up against a wall. Thorne Mansion, the mysterious Italianate castle she's come to Texas to restore, isn't the problem. No matter how intriguing the relic is, it's merely an ember compared to the blazing magnetism of its owner, Chandler Thorne.

When his family mansion burned down, Chandler had to watch over a hundred years of proud history go up in smoke. After more than a year, he finally has everything in place to rebuild, including a renowned conservation architect to oversee the restoration. But when he lays eyes on Parker he realizes he's gotten more than he paid for. Maybe more than he can handle.

Parker is a military brat who never sits still long enough to get burned. Chandler is her opposite, a man with deep roots and deeper family secrets. It won't be easy to find the common ground it takes to build a home together, but Chandler is a Thorne in every sense. He plans to stick with Parker until she sees that love is more than worth the risk.

BUY LINKS:

AMAZON | iTUNES | B&N | KOBO | GOOGLE PLAY

COVER REVEAL FOR "HOW THE GLITCH SAVED CHRISTMAS"!

Cover reveal time! I’m thrilled to share the new cover art for my December 3rd release, Sci-Fi holiday novella, HOW THE GLITCH SAVED CHRISTMAS, coming from Carina Press!

 

 

This novella is part of Carina Press's December Anthology, A GALACTIC HOLIDAY (artwork to come).  I CAN'T WAIT!!! *spazzes*

~~~~~~~

Since I don’t yet have an OFFICIAL back cover blurb to share, here’s the one I wrote for my art fact sheet:

Detective REINA VEDETTE’S career in the Chicago PD has plummeted after disobeying a directive to have cybernetic body modifications—or bod-mods—implanted. Her rival EDISON WICKE, on the other hand, was the first to get bod-mods.  Because of this, she would like nothing better than to avoid Edison, but when a strange Grinch-in-reverse case appears, the two must work together to solve this mystery. 

Level five detective EDISON WICKE knows quality when he sees it, and all he can see is Reina.  The biggest mystery in his mind isn’t the Grinch-in-reverse case, but whether or not Reina will accept that he's a hot-blooded man and not some walking appliance.  Ultimately, as they close in on a Christmas-loving perp that can't possibly exist, Edison at last convinces Reina life doesn't have just one narrow-minded definition, and the greatest miracle of all is that love can be found in the most unlikely of places.

~~~~~~~

I’m so proud of this novella, and it’s the just the beginning of Reina’s and Edison’s story.  In the next year I have plans to plunge these two into the most agonizing sort of save-the-world-at-all-cost trouble (MWAHAHAHAHA!), but that’ll make their final HEA all the sweeter.  It's going to be an amazing year! :D

So, Summer Is For Relaxing, Right?

BuNoWriMo Logo by graphics artist, Joris Ammerlaan.

Every June, I look forward to BuNoWriMo, a month-long frenzy of writing a 50K- word novel in 30 days.  But for the past two years I’ve had it interrupted—in a good way, though, so I’m not complaining!  Last year I’d gotten about a third of the way into a superhero novella entitled NOBODY’S ANGEL, when I got hit with various things, like the art form info sheet for CRIME WAVE IN A CORSET, which was to be release during the Christmas holiday season.  As soon as I sweated bullets over the required elevator pitch (OHMYGODITWASSOOOOHARD!!!!), I then got hit with the three phases of editing—developmental edits, line edits and the copy editor’s edits.  By the time CWiaC was done to everyone’s satisfaction, June was over, and I eventually finished my BuNo project at the end of July.

The great thing about this is… I FINISHED.  In my family it’s always been a matter of finishing what you started.  And there are rewards for the determination that goes hand-in-hand with hard labor—NOBODY’S ANGEL was picked up by CarinaPress and will be published in January of 2013.

This year I started BuNoWriMo with pretty much a clean slate.  Nothing was going to hold me back.  I would DEFINITELY be able to finish a project in thirty days this time around!  Then I got SLAMMED with not just one art form sheet, but TWO.  NOBODY’S ANGEL and HOW THE GLITCH SAVED CHRISTMAS (my Sci-Fi holiday novella in Carina Press’s A GALACTIC HOLIDAY Anthology, releasing December 3, 2012).

Did I mention elevator pitches are required on these things?  They're important, because they give the cover artists a broad understanding of what your book is about.  And did I mention I HATE them?  The elevator pitches, not the cover artists.  Cover artists are cool. J

Then came the edits.  All the edits for both NOBODY’S ANGEL and the second book in the series, SAVAGE ANGEL (releasing in February, 2013 by Carina Press) landed in my inbox during the month of June.  Once again I set my BuNo project aside and focused on the job at hand, which was to polish up the projects already under contract.  As June trickled into July, I waved my dream of finishing a book in thirty days a fond farewell.

This past Friday I sent off the copy edits for SAVAGE ANGEL, and last night I completed my BuNo project entitled WOUNDED ANGEL (yeah, it’s a series ;) ).  Only twenty-two days late, but that’s no biggie, right?  Now, to set my sights on finishing up the Earth Angels series by writing a book in the month of August…

Hey, I can dream, can’t I?

CHRISTMAS IN JULY!

It might be sweltering here in the Northern Hemisphere, but down in the southern half of the globe it’s the middle of winter.  To celebrate, my Aussie antho sister, Jenny Schwartz, is giving away a rare print copy of our steampunk Christmas romance anthology, A CLOCKWORK CHRISTMAS here on her website!  These four tales are full of ingenious steampunk gadgetry, magnificent Victorian flair and the moving, twine-around-your-heart emotions that come with falling in love.  To enter, pop on over to her blog and leave a comment with your email addy.  And if you’d like to learn more about A CLOCKWORK CHRISTMAS and its stories written by Jenny, JK Coi, PG Forte and me, check us out here.  Good luck!

So I've been Gone A While...

 

Eep!  The last time I blogged was in December?  REALLY?  Wow, Time flies when you're in the magical Writer's Cave. :/

And make no mistake, I've definitely been writing.  Want proof?  In the past six months I’ve been busily typing my fingers to the bone in order to produce four projects that… *drum roll* have gotten PUBLISHED by Harlequin’s digital-first imprint, CARINA PRESS!

The first project I’m unveiling today is also the first in a paranormal sensual romance series.  It's already through developmental edits, line and copy edits, and the ink is dry on the contract. :)  Ladies and gentlemen, may I present NOBODY’S ANGEL, a 33K novella and opening salvo in the EARTH ANGELS series, scheduled to be released in January, 2013!

UNOFFICIAL BLURB:

When investigative journalist Kendall Glynn moved to San Francisco’s top-rated local TV news station, she’d thought her new workplace was all about reporting the news, not making it. Then their anchorman signed off permanently, attempting a violent murder-suicide while the city watched in horror. The one thing Kendall couldn’t help but notice – aside from the pen sticking out of his jugular – was a cataract-like whiteness veiling his eyes. While no expert, she’d bet her one and only Louis Vuitton purse that he was a man possessed.

He cloaks himself in shadows, hiding his face behind a mask in the hope he’ll be shielded from the eyes of heaven itself. Born under the curse his family has endured for countless generations, he scours the city for the kind of trouble that could make him as dead as the souls he crosses into the next life.

Trouble finds him in the form of a murderous spirit that isn’t what it appears, and in a woman who’s brave enough to not mind the mask… in or out of bed. The question is, can he find the evil lurking behind the spirit before it – and heaven’s judgment – finds them?

*****

NOBODY'S ANGEL is the first in a 4-part series, with a fifth "satellite" book planned.  The second full-length novel, SAVAGE ANGEL, has also been accepted by Carina Press and just yesterday I sent back the the line edits for that project.  Andrea Kerr, editor for both Harlequin and CP, is the editor for this series, and she is EXTRAORDINARY.  I love how she "gets" the world I've created, and she's as much a stickler when it comes to following this world's rules as I am.  I was pretty proud of how these projects turned out before the editing process, but now that they've been in Andrea's magical hands, I can hardly believe the result.  I can't wait for 2013 to share this series!

*****

To learn more about Nobody's Angel and my other current projects, check out my storyboards on Pinterest:

http://pinterest.com/stacygailauthor/

A (Sort OF) Love Letter To The Editor Of A CLOCKWORK CHRISTMAS—Angela James

A CLOCKWORK CHRISTMAS
Releases December 5th!

Dear Angela,

Well, we made it.  It’s almost release-day for your special project—the steampunk Christmas anthology you and the Carina Press staff entitled A CLOCKWORK CHRISTMAS! 

 

In case you haven’t already noticed, I’m new to the scene of publishing.  Pfft, who am I kidding?  I’m so new I squeak.  I’ve had two other releases before my novella with you—A CRIME WAVE IN A CORSET—but since they both happened in the last ninety days or so, I’m still learning the ropes. *cough*GinormousUnderstatement*cough*

 

Angela!

One of those ropes had to do with Twitter.  I’d been told by one of my editors at Samhain Publishing that I needed to be on Twitter to be a presence online, so I dutifully made up an account on March 1^st of this year.  On March 6^th, someone retweeted your call for submissions for a holiday Steampunk project, and I immediately had an idea for a story.  I didn’t know anything about you or Carina Press; I just liked the subject.  I didn’t have a long time to get things together, since the deadline was May 15th, but when the characters Cornelia Peabody and Roderick Coddington pushed their way to the fore, I knew the story was going to be all right.  And when I had 15K written in the first week, I REALLY knew it was going to be all right. 

When a story pushes its bossy way out like that, it’s always a fun ride.

 

I was done with CRIME WAVE IN A CORSET by the time May rolled around.  I even had time to send it off to a beta reader for that all-important feedback.  Twice I read the manuscript aloud, until I felt the character of Cornelia so keenly I actually perfected her faint Irish lilt, and I could see impassioned fire hidden beneath the professorial veneer in Roderick’s vengeful eyes.

But as the deadline inched closer, I weenied out.  I just couldn’t make myself send it to you.

 

Did you know I teach figure skating?  As part of that job I was also a gold-level judge in ISI.  I’ve sat on countless competition panels, doing the job I had spent a lifetime perfecting, so that in turn, the people I judged could be made better (you see where I’m going with this?).  The thing about judging a group of ten to fifteen skaters is basic mathematics—three will see the podium.  The others won’t.  And someone will know that terrible pain of coming in dead last.  I know this sounds cold, so please don’t misunderstand.  It wasn’t that I hated them, or that it was anything personal, and you can bet in my heart of hearts I wanted everyone to come out a winner.  But in every competition I have ever judged, there are those whose efforts don't deserve to see the podium.   That doesn't mean they'll never see it.  There’s always another day, as they say, and that’s something I find myself reminding my broken-hearted students when they (inevitably) produce a bad performance.  There’s always another competition down the road, another shot at the podium.  As long as you keep entering, keep trying, there is no failure.

My Dirty Birdies! I'm the dork
in the glasses. :)

Eventually I realized how stupid I was being by not hitting the Send button.  On May 13^th, my birthday, I gave myself the present of courage and sent off CRIME WAVE IN A CORSET.  I did it with the hope that it would podium, but full of understanding if it didn’t.  After all, as you have been trained to be on a judges’ panel of a different type, it’s your job and your duty to make sure the world you love—the publishing world—gets the best efforts from its creative engine, the writers.  And hey, let's face that really big, ugly fact that no one likes to talk about--no matter how awesome it feels to get that podium spot, I don’t know of any writer who would want a project out there that isn’t worthy of an acceptance, if only because one bad novel can sever a thousand reader relationships. 

So this ends my (sort of) love letter to not just you, Angela, but to all editors who sit in their own kind of judge's seat, filled with the hope of being dazzled, and the determination to say no when they're not.  We writers certainly don’t podium on every attempt, but you remind us—there’s always tomorrow.

Speaking of which… it’s tomorrow.  Happy release day, Angela. :)   Love, Stacy

CRIME WAVE IN A CORSET  is available at:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/uU8dXX

Carina Press: http://bit.ly/udtEfX

Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/sUOBOm

AReBooks: http://bit.ly/vjNOCb

Let's Shine That Spotlight On The Fabulous JK Coi, Author Of FAR FROM BROKEN!

FAR FROM BROKEN Available
DECEMBER 5th!

FAR FROM BROKEN  by JK Coi was the first novella from A CLOCKWORK CHRISTMAS that I had the opportunity to read, and as I’ve told just about anyone who will listen to me, it had me crying from the third page.  My antho sister, JK (who also writes dark fantasy for YA under the name Chloe Jacobs for Entangled Publishing) has that rare gift of being able to dig straight down into the raw, agonizing heart of a story to wrench forth the deepest, most private—and totally relatable—human emotions.  Most writers attempt to do this, but compared to JK’s unbelievable writing style and talent, they only scratch the surface (and I include myself in that regard).

In our tight-knit anthology family, JK is our efficient, never-frazzled dynamo who gets by on maybe 5-6 hours of sleep a night (as far as I can tell).  Someone will come up with an idea, and before you know it, this amazing Energizer Bunny has found a way to make it happen!  While juggling the roles of wife, mother, working a full-time job, PLUS sewing up a fabulous two-book deal with Entangled Publishing as Chloe Jacobs AND getting ready to promote her novella CAGED in the Agony/Ecstasy erotica anthology, she was making up our Romance Trading Cards for A CLOCKWORK CHRISTMAS.  I’ve now become secretly convinced that she is, in fact, Wonder Woman (but don’t tell anyone, shhhh).

FAR FROM BROKEN
RTC back

FAR FROM BROKEN
RTC front

 (Don't ask me why I can't make these bigger; I just sorta can't *sigh*)

             

The Lovely JK Coi <3

FAR FROM BROKEN took me two whole days to get over—I simply couldn’t stand the thought of reading anything else, or for that matter, writing anything else.  I needed to absorb the magnificent emotional rollercoaster ride on which JK had taken me.  The story starts from the point of view of Jasper, the hero, and his grinding desperation and soul-deep pain is palpable.  I was almost sick with loss by the second page.  Then Jasper’s anguish, and the tortured screaming of his beloved Callie, brought me to tears.  I couldn’t stand it.  Yet I couldn’t stand to put it down.  So rarely do you have the black moment start out right from the first chapter, but it was NECESSARY.  Right from the beginning, the reader needed to take each and every agonizing step with Callie and Jasper back into the light, so that by the end of the book, you are literally cheering their multi-faceted victory, and believing that love really can conquer ANYTHING.

The HEA that awaits readers at the end of FAR FROM BROKEN will be one of the most satisfying you’ll ever read.  I'm not kidding, y'all.  EVER.  I guarantee you’ll need a couple of days to recover the way I did, but trust me—you’ll enjoy every second of it.  Romance simply doesn’t get any better than this!

Now really, how can you NOT take a look at the blurb from JK Coi’s FAR FROM BROKEN?

BLURB: 

Soldier. Spymaster. Husband.

Colonel Jasper Carlisle was defined by his work until he met his wife. When the prima ballerina swept into his life with her affection, bright laughter and graceful movements, he knew that she was the reason for his existence, and that their love would be forever.

But their world is shattered when Callie is kidnapped and brutally tortured by the foes Jasper has been hunting. Mechanical parts have replaced her legs, her hand, her eye...and possibly her heart. Though she survived, her anger at Jasper consumes her, while Jasper's guilt drives him from the woman he loves. He longs for the chance to show her their love can withstand anything...including her new clockwork parts.

As the holiday season approaches, Jasper realizes he must fight not just for his wife's love and forgiveness...but also her life, as his enemy once again attempts to tear them apart.

27,000 words

Available at:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/usJfK8

Carina Press: http://bit.ly/tqHMqa

Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/vf9JfT

AReBooks: http://bit.ly/vlFLPc

So there you have it, the inside look at three amazing, talented, generous women whom I have come to know and love.  Jenny Schwartz, PG Forte and JK Coi will always be my anthology sisters, no matter how far afield we go.  We’ve become each other’s cheerleaders, crit partners and sounding boards, and I am so thankful we were all brought together for this project, known as A CLOCKWORK CHRISTMAS.

Tomorrow, be prepared for me to get a little gushy over our editor, Angela James of Carina Press.

A CLOCKWORK CHRISTMAS
Releases Monday, December 5th!