A Few Announcements

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Hearts Desire Press, the publisher  I’ve worked with on most of releases, is closing down on July 15th. Because of this, I have a few announcements to make regarding my current and upcoming books.

- July 14th will be your last chance to purchase all three of the stories in the “For Dylan” series. Since I do not plan to write anymore erotic romances, I am not re-releasing these stories.

- I am re-releasing Drawn Together with some changes to the the novel. The current version will be available until July 14th, and I plan on making the new version available by the middle of August at the absolute latest. Check back for the official date.

- I’m currently working on the sequel to Drawn Together. This book will feature Callie and Ben. I’m very excited about this one, and I’ll post updates on my progress.

- Resurrecting Liza is my first urban fantasy romance. I finished writing it and am currently in the editing process. Getting Drawn Together ready to re-release is currently my first priority, but I hope this novella will be out shortly thereafter.

- InkSpell Publishing is releasing A Dream Come True, a contemporary romance novella, in the fall. It’s my first time working with this publisher, and so far things have been great!

I really enjoyed working with everyone at Hearts Desire Press and was sad to hear about the closing. I wish everyone there (authors, editors, etc) the best of luck in everything they do going forward.

With that said, I’m looking forward to getting a bunch of new books out before the end of the year. It’s going to take a fair amount of work, but it’s work I’m happy to do.

Wrestling With Summer Blurb

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Wrestling With Summer comes out on May 29th. Enjoy the blurb below and check back for more updates.

Will Summer’s past stop her from giving her heart to a professional wrestler?

Summer Sullivan is in a slump. Her friends-with-benefits relationship with yoga teacher Drew is going nowhere, and she’s behind schedule on preparing for her upcoming art show. When she hears that a professional wrestler is scheduled to speak at the private school where she works, she’s convinced things have gone from bad to worse. After growing up with a father who changed from a loving family man to a womanizing, heavy-drinking deadbeat while he worked as a wrestler, Summer has wanted nothing to do with the industry.

But Ryan Steele isn’t like the wrestlers from Summer’s past. With boyish good looks and a lean physique, he doesn’t look like the big, bulky wrestlers she used to know. And with his kind heart and romantic tendencies, Ryan doesn’t act like them either.

It doesn’t take long before Summer is smitten with the charming wrestler, but even though

Summer wants to be with Ryan, memories of her past keep getting in the way of their happiness. Will she be able to give Ryan a fair chance or will she let her misconceptions about wrestling stand in the way?

Drawn Together Teaser

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Hello all!

Enjoy this teaser from Drawn Together, my upcoming new adult romance release. The book will be released on February 15th, and it will be available in print and digital form.

 

I looked up from my netbook screen and there he was: Cody West. The boy I’d lusted after throughout high school. The boy who’d changed my life and didn’t even know it.

He’d grown up since I last saw him at Jessica Mitchell’s graduation party. His sandy hair still cascaded down his forehead, but it no longer perpetually hung down over his big brown eyes. Four years of high school football had kept Cody in shape back when I knew him, but four years of college football had added a little bit of bulk to his lean frame. At least, I assumed he played in college. I knew that he headed off to Temple with a sports scholarship.

Rocking back onto his heels, Cody scanned the glass pastry case, probably looking for something sweet to accompany his coffee. He tossed his hair to the side as he inspected the contents of the case. He always liked sweets. He and I used to pass bags of candy back and forth while Mrs. Cole, our art teacher, wasn't looking. After taking a sip of my cappuccino, I smiled at the memory, glad for the first time that I was back in Medford.

Having forgotten about the work waiting for me on my netbook, I watched Cody unabashedly, wishing I could've heard whatever he said to make the barista blush as she held her hand up to her mouth and giggled. He dug into the pockets of his khaki cargo shorts for some cash, playfully pulling it away from the barista before dropping it into her hand. She giggled some more, probably glad that she and Cody had crossed paths that afternoon. I knew that I was certainly glad to see him.

He finally spotted me, tucked away in a quiet corner of the coffeehouse. As soon as recognition set in, the corners of his mouth curled into a relaxed smile, a smile that caused a swarm of butterflies to thrash around inside my stomach. Man, he looked good. Wiggling my fingers, I waved a flirty hello at my old friend. His brown eyes narrowed as his smile increased—a sign that he was just as glad to see me as I was to see him.

Cody held up his index finger to indicate that he’d come over shortly, then peered over the counter to check the barista’s progress on his order, the muscles in his calves flexing as he shifted his weight onto his toes.

He was definitely much stronger than the boy I spent my last night in town with.

More on Figure Skating

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Hello, hello! Thanks for checking in!

I just wrapped up my Hot and Cold blog tour a few weeks ago and was sad to see it end. I hope all of you enjoyed the little book (if you chose to read it, which I really hope you did). It’s been several long years since I’ve been at the rink, so it was fun to live vicariously through Jill as I wrote her story. I have a lot of new books in the works, but before I move on and focus my blog on those, I wanted to dedicate one more entry to my very first book.

Today I’m going to share my favorite skating performance EVER with you. Below you’ll find a link to Jeffrey Buttle’s winning free skate at the 2008 World Figure Skating Championships. Jeffrey has long been a favorite of mine. He was beautiful to watch even though he struggled with his jumps. Because of this, he’d often land on the podium but rarely held the top spot. That was why I was so incredibly excited to see him win here. I remember watching this live and jumping up-and-down on the couch when I saw the final standings. What an awesome memory!

A Quick Update

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Hi, friends! So, it’s been embarrassingly long since I’ve blogged. To say I’ve been busy would be a bit of an understatement. There have been days I’ve started working from the moment I woke up and didn’t stop until I headed to bed. September has always been a pretty chaotic month for me, but this year has been the worst in recent memory. But, I’m not here to complain…

I’m here to write about the good stuff in life, namely the stories and books I have in the works. Hot and Cold was released in August, and I’m smack dab in the middle of a blog tour to promote the sexy, little novella. I just finished writing For Claire, the sequel to For Dylan. I wrote For Dylan almost two years ago, so it was neat to go back and check in with Dylan, Claire, and Jay. I plan to write a third and final installment to that series sometime next year. I have a full-length new adult romance in the editing stages right now, and I can’t wait to share more information about the release and whatnot when I get it. The book’s called Drawn Together, and it’s about two old high school friends who are reunited after four long years away at college. My husband reads all of my books before I send them out to publishers, and he said that this one was his favorite. Also, I’m working on my first paranormal romance. It’s been pretty tricky to write, but fun nonetheless. After nearly a month of planning and research, I’ve finally started on the first chapter.

That’s a lot of stuff! No wonder I’ve been busy, right?

Hot and Cold Excerpt

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Hey, all! Here’s an excerpt from my upcoming release, Hot and Cold. Pick up a copy on August 19th!

“Well, then you’ll just have to show them you can. I mean-” Molly stopped herself mid-sentence, her big blue eyes widening as she spotted something across the rink.

I looked in the direction of whatever had caught her interest. “What’s up, Moll?”

She turned to me, her full cherub cheeks red from the cold and from excitement. “Hot Hockey Dad, straight ahead.”

My eyes widened as I searched the snack bar area outside of the rink for the man Molly and I had been lusting after for months. He was leaning up against the painted brick wall of the snack bar, watching our figure skating girls twirl and glide about. I would never get over how hot he was. His warm, olive-toned skin was complemented by close-cropped, jet black hair and emerald green eyes. Despite the fact I’d never seen him wear anything other than a suit, I could tell his tall, broad frame was covered with a patchwork of well-defined muscles. Muscles that strained ever so slightly against the fabric of his suits. He always looked so dapper. So well put-together. So damn sexy. And there was something undeniably charming about the fact he never seemed to miss his son’s practices or games. Oh, and he never wore a wedding ring.

“You’re staring, ladies,” Evan, another coach and friend of ours, said with a smile as he skated by, trailing one of his students while she stroked around the rink. If he wasn’t in the middle of a lesson, Evan would be leaning up against the boards and staring with us.

I turned to look at Molly. “He’s right, you know - we’re like school girls with this crush.”

Molly, on the other hand, didn’t avert her gaze. “He’s just so...so…” She tried to find the right words to describe Hot Hockey Dad as she ran her fingers through her platinum blonde ponytail, primping for his benefit, hoping he’d finally notice her after months of pining for him from afar.

Knowing Katie had three more laps to complete and didn’t need my full attention, I looked back over at the object of our admiration. “Hot. So incredibly, out-of-this-world hot.”

We sighed in unison, lost in a haze of lust as we eyed Hot Hockey Dad from across the ice and through the rink’s expansive glass doors. I watched as his impossibly bright green eyes scanned the rink, paying attention to no one person or thing in particular...until they landed on me. My breath hitched as his gaze lingered on my body, returning my blatant stare with one of his own. His eyes narrowed as he studied me, one side of his mouth curling up into the most seductive smile I’d ever seen.

Looking Forward to Hot and Cold

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Hi, guys! I’m getting really excited about the release of Hot and Cold, my debut novella. The story follows Jill Davis, a young figure skating coach, as she struggles to prepare one of her students for a prestigious regional competition while navigating her new relationship with Jeremy Rosario, the best looking hockey dad she’d ever laid eyes on.

Now, I’m aware figure skating may not be a popular subject in the romance genre, but it's a sport that has been near-and-dear to me every since I was a little girl. I first fell in love with skating when I watched Kristi Yamaguchi perform in the 1992 Albertville Olympics (which she won, by the way). Later that year, my parents enrolled me in group lesson at a local rink. From there, I moved onto private lessons and began competing.

I even coached for a little bit when I was in college and graduate school.  At one of the rinks I worked at, a handsome, mid-30s hockey dad must have always came straight from work to watch his son play, because I never saw him without a suit on. He became known as “the hot hockey dad” amongst me and some of the staff, which is how I got the idea years later for Jeremy’s character. But, since I never once talked to this guy, the similarities between my personal experience and my book end there. Fantasy is usually more than reality, right?

For the sexier version of that story, pick up a copy of Hot and Cold on August 19th!

Dylan's Perspective

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Hi everyone. Within the next couple of months, I plan to start working on For Claire, the sequel to For Dylan. I really enjoyed writing the first part of Claire and Dylan’s story, and I’m excited to show all of you what’s been going on with Dylan, Claire, and Jay since the last time they met up.

In the mean time, today we’re going to take a glimpse into Dylan’s mind on the night he tells Claire that he’s bisexual. In the story, we get Claire’s take on this pivotal moment in the couple’s relationship, so I thought it would be cool to get Dylan’s take on the tense situation. As soon as Dylan canceled their dinner reservations, Claire could tell that something was up. Her suspicions were confirmed when she arrived at Dylan’s apartment that night to find him perched nervously on his couch. Luckily, both parties are relieved once Dylan cleared the air.

I remember it as one of the most terrifying moments of my life. It was only my fifth date with Claire, but there was something about her that made me want to tell her the truth sooner rather than later. Maybe it was the way she looked at me when I talked, her head tilted to the side and her eyes wide with interest like she truly cared about every word that came out of my mouth. Maybe it was the way my chest flushed with warmth every time she entered a room.

Maybe it was the fact that I already knew I loved her.

I’d never had to tell a woman I was dating that I was bisexual before. I’d never stayed with any of them long enough to justify having the conversation. In fact, Claire was the first woman I’d made it to the fifth date with. She was special, which is exactly why I knew I had to tell her.

I had no idea how she would react, but I definitely didn’t expect her to laugh. Initially, I didn’t know what to make of her reaction. I hadn’t said anything funny; I bared my soul to her. But once I realized that she was laughing because I’d made a big deal out of something she thought was so minor, I couldn’t help but laugh with her.

In that moment, I knew Claire was the one for me: male or female.

Welcome!

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Man, it is really difficult to come up with an opening line for your very first blog. I thought writing the first line of a novel could be tricky, but this is way worse. Maybe it’s because I’m not much of a nonfiction writer. Sure, I wrote a couple well-crafted papers in college and in grad school, but they were absolute torture to write. I’ve actually been trying to start a recipe blog for a few months, but I’m having the hardest time trying to come up with little blurbs to go before the recipes. Everything I write sounds so corny.

I’ve always been more comfortable writing fiction, probably because I’ve been dreaming up stories forever. In fact, the first thing I ever remember writing was a little play for me and a few of my friends to put on for our parents. We were a hit, if I remember correctly.

Anyway, I plan to use this space to provide updates and information about my upcoming books. My next release, Hot and Cold, is due out in August. Within the coming weeks, I'll share the blurb and even some excerpts.

So, once I got going, writing this wasn’t actually that bad. Maybe I’ll get the hang of nonfiction yet, and this blog should be good practice!

Thanks for stopping by, and come back to read about Hot and Cold  and the many books that will follow.