Book News!


Update!

So technically I reached the end of Don’t Touch yesterday but I’m not going to toot that horn just yet because it needs three more scenes to flesh it out. I am however sharing that I just started a new project I’m super excited about. And I wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t won the Cover Designer Directory’s free cover contest.

Through them, I found Stephanie from Alt19 Designs who did a super fun cover for a romcom spin off of the Rogues series. It’s the further adventures of Ransom and Rosamie, the sidekicks from The Mercenary Next Door. I’ve written next to nothing but I can already tell these two are going to be soooo much fun!

Be prepared for laughs, lots of steam, wacky adventures, and murdery hijinks!


Updates!

So I think I’m going to be bad and write the Millionaire’s Mechanic (Rainer Torsten) before Burned Deep (Donovan Carter). I’m just feeling this story more and I have to keep the muse happy to make the words flow faster. I will try to write them at the same time, but I think MM will win cause I have things to say there, although I *must* finish To Hell and Back next because that’s a hard deadline with the ‘Zon.

Knight Takes Queen, R&R3 clocked in at 71K for the rough draft which I finished this Sunday. I will ignore it for the rest of the week before picking it back up. Factoring in my editor’s schedule I am guessing that’s going to be a May release now instead of October. Stay tuned—as soon as I get my act together I’m going to have Mercenary Audiobook review codes in my Street Team on Facebook.


Get a signed book! Offered for the 1st time 😉

I’m participating in a 💋 VIRTUAL SIGNING! 💋

On May 16th, your favorite authors will be participating in a virtual signing in the Love & Devotion Group.

We’ll be setting up our tables, chatting with you, hosting giveaways and signing books for you LIVE on FB!

When it’s all over, we’ll mail you your books along with fun SWAG! We know it’s not the same as an in-person signing, but hopefully this will take some of the sting out of having to miss out on so many events this year.

Here is a link to the order forms for the authors confirmed as of now. Orders will stay open until May 18th (unless specifically stated otherwise) to allow us authors plenty of time to stock up on books/SWAG. (spoiler alert  – I don’t have much swag but I do have gift cards!)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/lovedevotionevents/permalink/638411563398375/

My pre-order form:

https://forms.gle/mfdSRx8QjfXMWUN16

All authors:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19YAZwmYKmAKTfp7sPt7qRUIo5btAtFSFYzeM0FOXNIE/edit?fbclid=IwAR3uR7To7m3wEIwH6h8vDKPtR7o5EIfp6z3Vghk0LEdHQwwh39CQ6NcqHUs#gid=0


Ethan’s Book Official Cover Reveal!

All FBI agent Ethan Thomas wants is to come home to his new apartment venture and enjoy the luxury of his new flat screen TV and some frozen pizza.  Encountering a tiny toddler alone in the hall changes everything for the rough and rugged agent.  Relief sets in when the child’s mother appears.  But when she collapses at his feet just before a blizzard hits Boston, Ethan’s in over his head.  

Now, Ethan’s changing diapers and playing doctor…and loving every minute of it.  The mother and child need a place to stay, and Ethan can’t possibly turn them away. But this investigator knows people–and the woman he’s falling for is keeping secrets.  Can he uncover the truth while protecting them from the dangers of his job? 

Click to find it on Amazon Now!

The Future of the SO Series…

You might be asking yourself what future? I thought the SO series is over with Peyton’s story! Well, yes and no. As many of you know Ethan, our handsome FBI has been patiently waiting in the wings for his own story ever since his introduction in Calen’s Captive. We know he’s a hero without a cause, but I’ve started to give him one.

I decided a while ago that Ethan will launch Of Valor and Villains, a new series with new heroes, including his merc friend Jackson Lang who falls for the waif next door and friend from med school Carter Donovan who meets a ghost from his past.

But there were too many loose ends from the SO series to have this be an entirely new cast of characters. Some of you think Killian, the assassin from Trick’s Trap, needs a redemption arc and I happen to agree! I’ve got my eye on a curvy little accountant/librarian who paints miniatures on the side for our shadowy anti-hero. I also had some plans for our Russian friend Viktor, who will finally deal with the forces ordering him to do unspeakable things against his conscience.

And then there’s Caroline, Liam’s ex-fiancee. I did not expect to like that woman at all. I set her up to a mega-B if you know what I mean, because unlike some people I think there are true villains in life and we should have people to root against. But like in life, once you delve into someone’s story you gain a better understanding of them. And damn, is Caroline under a lot of pressure! Enough so that I don’t think her story is done. Our brittle ice queen needs a smoldering man to melt all that ice to get to the damaged but sensuous woman under that hard shell. He also has to be good with a gun because of course our ice queen stumbled into a mess with her hotel high flyers! Right now I’m think Mason, or intrepid Interpol agent from PP, although that’s not set in stone.

Why do these stories have to be a new series? Well, there are a couple of reasons for that. The hallmark of the Singular Obsession books was the billionaires and the people in their circle. And while some wealthy men and women will appear in the OVAV series it’s not strictly their world anymore. The OVAV series will mainly belong to men and women who live a completely different way.

Also there is a marketing issue to consider. Some people don’t like Step-brother romances and at heart that it what Making Her His, SO #1 is. I wrote the book after reading 50+ Lynne Graham novels back-to-back. The SO series starts as an homage to all those red-cover Harlequin books from my youth (shout out to FahLeena Latrese for her long ago gift of two of these for my 3rd grade bday). But I digress, stepbrothers are not everyone’s cup of tea and I want everyone to read my books. So a hot FBI agent as an alternate entry-point to my work seems like a good idea. Only time will tell if it actually is 😀

So yes. Of Valor and Villains is shaping up to be a companion series to the Singular Obsession books and the marketing will reflect that when the time comes. Ethan’s book has been stalled this summer as a lack of child-care put most of my writing on hold but kiddo goes back to her overpriced pre-school on Wednesday so I’m trying to gear up now. But I thought some of you might like to know where I am and thus this update post.

XOXO to you all!


Take a Sneak Peek at Ethan’s Book! 6

 

The frigid snowy weather was wreaking havoc with the traffic. Ethan got into the apartment way later than he’d intended—well after the blizzard hit.

He stamped his boots to shake the snow off and pulled his wool coat off.

Thank frigging god I fixed the heaters last week. Over the past couple of weeks he and Jason, his partner at the bureau, ripped out the old dysfunctional radiators in his apartment and replaced them with a modern central heating system. He was looking forward to spending the night watching an old New Zealand rugby game and eating frozen pizza in his toasty new living room.

That sounded a lot less lame earlier when he’d debating going to the Caislean, a five-star hotel here in town, to join Jason and Maggie for dinner. His partner lived there with his wife as she was part owner. 

How his geeky partner had managed to land a rich and hot hotel heiress still made his head spin, but there was no accounting for taste. Maggie was cool, though. Not as hot as her best friend Peyton, but still way out of Jason’s league.  

If he’d gotten snowed in at the Caislean he could have had his pick of the hotel’s empty rooms to crash in. Gourmet meals served by a courteous staff, his run of the gym—all for free. Most people would give their eyeteeth for a deal like that, but hanging at the hotel seemed too pathetic now that Peyton was off on her honeymoon. 

Frozen pizza it is. Good thing he’d finally convinced the local grocery store to deliver here. They had thought the building was condemned—or at least that’s what the snide teenager answering the phone had said.

Ethan sniffed. That shitty delivery kid could shove it. The building was starting to shape up. As Jackson had declared, it had good bones. Most of the remaining work was cosmetic. Once they got rid of the crumbling stucco on the exterior and restored the original brickwork it would look pretty damn good. And his weatherproofed windows would be a great place to watch the storm. 

He shoved his lined leather gloves into his pocket to open his mailbox. Damn it. The envelope was back. 

Yesterday, he’d found it in his slot, filled with grubby tens and twenties and a whole lot of singles. The envelope was rent from the building’s last hold-out resident, the girl Jackson hadn’t kicked out because he felt sorry for her. 

Ethan had given all the rent back yesterday along with an extra two hundred out of his own wallet. He’d stuffed it into a manila envelope and shoved it under the corner studio’s door with a warning to vacate by the first of next month. 

In theory that should have given the girl enough time to find a new place. But that was before this blizzard hit. It was supposed to last the better part of the week. The weather would hamper apartment hunting. Which meant he might have to give the woman an extra couple of weeks. However, getting the envelope back was a bad sign. What if she didn’t understand English enough to read his note? 

Damn it. He was going to have to talk to her in person. 

Ethan wasn’t afraid of crushing someone. He did to criminals in interrogation rooms on a regular basis, but this was different. It was a single mom for fuck’s sake. 

Trying not to swear aloud he turned the corner instead of heading for the stairs. Maybe he would finally catch his sneaky little tenant at home this time. She’d been avoiding him for weeks. And he was pretty sure she was tuning out the lights and pretended she wasn’t home whenever she heard him in the hall.

Not this time. This couldn’t go on. Obviously, he needed to look the girl in the eye as she agreed to start looking for a new place. He didn’t want this hanging over his head anymore.

What the hell was the woman’s name again? He squinted down at the on the envelope, but he hadn’t written it down there. The only identifying information was the apartment number drawn in a script so precise it could have been typed. Doesn’t matter. He didn’t need to know her name.

Ethan turned the corner of the short hallway leading to the first-floor units. He stopped short and blinked. 

There was a tiny figure standing in the middle of the hall. The toddler was wearing a puffy hot pink snowsuit, the kind that was so thick it forced your arms wide like the Stay Puft marshmallow man. Ethan couldn’t tell if it was male or female despite the color of the suit. It could have been a hand me down. The patches indicated it was used.

“Hey…kid. Where’s your mom?”

The tiny little face blinked up at him. It tottered, turning around to face the other way. Ethan relaxed as a small, but adult-sized, figure came toward him and the child. 

It had to be the girl, although he would have found it impossible to guess if he’d seen her on the street. She was wrapped in too many layers. Her body was covered in two coats and a multitude of scarves obscured half her face. Nothing looked thick enough for the current weather, which was probably which she’d layered up.

“Hi. I’m glad I finally caught you,” he said, cocking his head at her as she marched down the hall toward him.

Her mittened hand was running along the wall. Behind her and the kid he could see the studio door, open at last. A brown bag partially filled with groceries was resting on the floor outside.

The girl reached down for the kid so slowly Ethan wondered if she was drunk. That was how the inebriated moved—very carefully. 

She didn’t acknowledge his words as she picked up the child and turned around.

Fuck. That was rude. “Did you hear me?” 

How did you say that in Spanish? He racked his brain. Spanish was the easiest of the languages he’d learned back in college. Why couldn’t he remember a damn thing now?

Hey. I’m talking to you.”

Still nothing. The woman was inching down the hall, her progress molasses slow. The toddler in her arms was babbling softly as if it was telling her all about its day.

He took a deep breath, shaking his head as he followed them. “Look lady, we really need to talk about the apartment. I know you talked to my friend Jackson about it. We can’t keep letting you live here when we’re redoing this floor. The old landlord should never have signed a lease so late in the game.”

None of the rentals had been legal by that point. The place was in such bad shape, full of rats and bad wiring. Luckily the other tenants had been quick to find better accommodations when the extent of the problem had been pointed out to them. 

The rats were long gone. It was the first they’d taken care of. But this girl…fuck what was she doing now?

She had stopped half-way to the door, her arm out to wall again. Then the arm dropped. She leaned against the wall, using it for support as she dragged herself forward. It was a familiar move. He’d done the same thing in college when he’d been too wasted to walk in a straight line to his dorm room.

And with a kid too. Did that fucking dive bar pay her in drinks?

Really pissed now he stalked to her before she reached the open doorway. “Are you seriously going to pretend I’m not here?” 

If she shut the fucking door in his face he was going to break it down. He put a hand on her arm and tugged gently. 

Her reaction was instantaneous. The woman reared back and pulled away, holding the puffy pink baby tighter to her chest. He caught a glimpse of a pair huge brown eyes and a flushed face. She leaned against the wall again and looked from him to the door as if weighing the distance. One step was all she could manage. She slid down the wall with the kid in her arms.

Ethan swore and dived after them. He caught them just before the kid slipped out of her arms headfirst onto the ground. The girl slumped, her head falling back, exposing more of her face. Her cheeks were red and she was shivering. 

What the hell? His squatter-tenant wasn’t drunk. 

She was sick.


Trick’s Trap is up for pre-order!

 

💖 I set a release date – April 16th 💖

http://myBook.to/TricksTrap

Also please note this will be my first release at full price. I hope the $2.99 price tag won’t put too many of you off, but it will be in Kindle Unlimited as well at the time of release. Trust me it’s worth every penny and then some .

FYI the cover reveal for Peyton’s Price, the final book in the SO series, will be in the back matter of this book. I’ve been sitting on the cover for a while, and haven’t shared it because the cover is a huge spoiler in of itself. And I mean *HUGE*

I can’t wait for you to see it and to read Trick’s story. Patrick Tyler is currently my favorite SO hero 

Stay tuned for a sneak peek.