Jocelynn Drake's Blog: Announcements, page 20

The Shiver Sale Is Ending Soon

It has been a simply insane week!

The big news is that Rinda and I did a Bookbub Featured Deal for Shiver, book 1 of the Unbreakable Bonds series, and readers have loved it.

In case you’re not familiar with Bookbub, it’s this great service that notifies you once per day of great ebook sales. You create an account and select your favorite genres…. And that’s it. Once a day, you’ll receive an email with book deals in your selected genres. Neat, huh?

Also, you can sign up to follow your favorite authors — such as Jocelynn Drake and Rinda Elliott. That way you get an email when that specific author has a new book release or a book on sale.

I have discovered so many great books and authors through Bookbub.

Ok… enough Bookbub advocacy from me.

The point…

The ebook for Shiver is still on sale for $0.99… but this sale is not going to last much longer. In fact, it’s going to end Sunday night.

Do you have friends who love m/m romance but haven’t tried the Unbreakable Bonds series yet? Tell them this is the BEST time to start the series. You can get the first book for $0.99 and then pick up the collection of short stories for Lucas and Andrei for only $1.99 on Amazon.

From the short stories, then you get back into a full-length novel with Shatter — mmmmm…. Snow and Jude. We love our damaged Snow. And we love our sweet Jude.

And don’t worry. Torch, book 3 of the Unbreakable Bonds series, will be out in less than three months!

But the first step is to try Shiver. We've had so many new readers discover the book. In fact, Shiver was named a bestseller on All Romance eBooks, topped a list on Kobo, and topped several lists on Amazon around the globe with this sale. We're so excited that the word is spreading about this series and that people are enjoying the books.

If you have tried Shiver for the first time and you’re thinking: “OMG! I need more and I need it now!” Don’t worry. I’ll be back on Monday to give a step-by-step guide on what to do next to feed your need for the Unbreakable Boys.

To get a copy of Shiver for only $0.99, you can pick it up from:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

iBooks

All Romance eBooks

Smashwords

And before I kick off this weekend, writing my very last chapter of Torch, let me say a big THANK YOU to everyone who has tried the Unbreakable Bonds series. Whether you loved it or it wasn’t your cup of tea, we thank you for your support.

A Bracelet for Our Unbreakable Boys

Several years ago, when burnout threatened due to trying to write too many things at once on too short of deadlines, I came to the realization that it can't all be about books all the time. I need a break. I need to walk away from the computer, let the brain cells cool off. But at the same time, I still needed to be creating. My mother taught me to embroider - she has a tradition of making patchwork quilts for new babies in the family. And the squares are embroidered with cute animals. My grandmother taught me to knit and my mother also taught me to crochet. I taught myself to cross-stitch. And I recently begun painting. I've learned the hard way that music just doesn't work for me.

Now, keep in mind that I'm not amazing at any of those things above, but I'm good enough to keep my brain busy for a few hours and create something nice in the process.

After Rinda and I finished  Shatter, it hit me that I wanted to create something to commemorate the series. Something that we would both be able to look at later and remember not only all the awesomeness of the characters, but also the good times we had while writing the series. That's when it came to me that I would try to make a charm bracelet.

Most of the charms were relatively easy to pick but sometimes hard to locate. They are arranged from left to right according to the order of the release of the books.

Lucas - the key - That was actually easy to pick for him. Despite ongoing security concerns, all his friends have a key to the penthouse. And it actually becomes a somewhat uncomfortable issue for Andrei when he finds himself hanging onto the key as they just start dating.

Andrei - the jack-o-lantern - If you don't get this, then you need to read the free short story  Perfect . (Or check out the R-rated version in the Unbreakable Stories: Lucas short story collection.)

Snow - the snow flake - I couldn't resist.

Jude - ambulance/band-aid - This was actually bought as part of a set for people in the medical industry. But obviously, Jude is a paramedic and Jude also helps to heal our dear Snow.

Melissa - the heart crystal - Mel is the only bit of color to the collection and she gets a place of honor in the center of the bracelet. If you don't know why, please check out Shatter .

Rowe - puppy paw print - Rowe has three dogs who you will get to see more of in Torch . He loves his dogs a lot and they help to keep him grounded.

Noah - guitar - This was actually the hardest of all the charms to pick, but as we got to know Noah (sometimes lovingly referred to as Kitten), the clearer this choice became. Don't worry. You'll get to know Noah better in Torch .

Ian - cooking mitt/measuring cup - This one was also part of a cooking set, but the meaning in the same. Ian is our chef. He feeds and cares for all of our boys, no matter how big the family gets.

Hollis - handcuffs - Is this really a surprise considering that he's our detective? This isn't some kinky thing... or... (hmmmm... Rinda, do you think Hollis would let Ian use the cuffs on him?)

I'm really happy with how the bracelet turned out. I'm dropping Rinda's in the mail today so she can have it when she's hard at work on the final chapters of Torch .

A Little Light Reading With Jocelynn

Life got busy. I'm not quite sure how it reached this point, but life has gotten suddenly brisk at the day job, and I find myself putting out random, unexpected fires in my personal life and then there's Torch -- the rough draft is very nearly done. When the dust settles each night, I find myself collapsing in bed and wanting nothing more than to read for an hour and sleep.

So ... that's what I've been doing... getting caught up on some reading. And sinc e I've managed to knock back a few books that I've fallen in love with, I thought I would share them with you.

Strong Signal - by Megan Erickson and Santino Hassell

I loved this book. Garrett was gruff and tight lipped but I loved watching him fall for the sexy but reclusive Kai. It's the story a soldier who is about to finish his service and he finds himself unexpectedly falling in love with someone he met solely online. Garrett has to learn to find his place in the world after years in the Army. And then there's sweet Kai, the brilliant gamer who has developed agoraphobia. These two were so fun together and you see them coming out of their own personal protective shells just to be together.

Go. Read it now!

 

Fast Connection - by Megan Erickson and Santino Hassell

What's more than loved? I don't know, but that's how I feel about this book. It's the sequel to Strong Signal and I'll admit that I put off reading this one a bit. I loved Garrett and Kai. I wasn't sure how the authors could top that book. Plus, you meat Dominic in Strong Signal... and he was an ass. I kept thinking, there's no way they can make this ass interesting. Boy was I wrong! (I love with great authors prove me wrong.)

Dominic is newly exploring his attraction to men and he meets the sexy Luke - an older man with an established life, kids, and rules. Lots of rules.  And you melt watching Luke bend and break his rules for Dominic. And you melt to watch Dominic try to save his family even if it means putting his own life on hold. This was one of those few books that I immediately wanted to read again after I finished it.

 

The Whyborne & Griffin series by Jordan L. Hawk

I could shoot myself for putting off reading this series. Seriously! So, I happened onto her Spectr series - a modern day paranormal series about demons, possessions, and sexiness. I LOVED John and Caleb. LOVED THEM! So... again... I thought... she can't possibly top Caleb and John. I won't enjoy the W&G series as much as Spectr. I've really got to stop thinking these things. If you're looking for something paranormal, please go check out the Whyborn & Griffin series. The first book is Widdershins, but honestly, just go buy the 3-book bundles. It's a better deal and trust me, once you read the first book, you'll just want to keep going. And the eighth book was just released! But I'm rambling...

Whyborne is a scholar specializing in languages and Griffin is a private detective. The two team up to solve a series of lethal paranormal mysteries. And of course, you get to watch Whyborne and Griffin fall in love over several books. What's more, the books are set near the turn of the twentieth century, I believe, so you've got the added fun of them being period pieces.  I am currently on the seventh book, Maelstrom. I honestly can't pick a favorite out of the ones I've read. Every time I think I've got a favorite, the next one just blows me away.

Those are some of my latest reading favs. If you want to see some of my other recent favorite books, you can go here or here.

My Torch Playlist

When working on a new book, building that perfect playlist can be critical so that you stay in the right head space while writing those fast-paced action scenes or those gripping dramatic moments where you are trying very hard to pull tears out of a reader.

When I first started writing novels, I would spend hours constructing that perfect playlist. Mira and Danaus from the Dark Days series had such great playlists. When I wrote Gage for the Asylum Tales series, he tended to gravitate to certain bands rather than song.

Ahh... but when it comes to the boys of the Unbreakable Bonds... I find that there's usually a song or two that just kind of sings to me (forgive the pun).

For fun, I thought I'd pop over to Spotify and create a playlist just for Torch . There are a few songs that I wanted  to include in the playlist but I couldn't find. However, this is pretty solid list and I hope you enjoy it.

To see the playlist, please click here. It looks like Goodreads doesn't like the html coding for it.



In the meantime, Rinda and I are still hard at work finishing up the rough draft of Torch . Checking my assigned chapters, I find that I've goew t only three more chapters to write and the rest is Rinda's. Of course, we still have to make several passes through the entire manuscript revising, rewriting and just making little tweaks as we try to get it a little closer to perfect.

And don't worry... if you loved Shatter , we still have one more free short story we are planning to release before Torch is finished. (If you haven't read the free short stories yet, go here.) We are also planning to start posting sneak peeks of Torch in October.

Rinda and I have also planned a summit meeting/writing retreat for this fall. I will be winging to a secret location, where I will meet with Rinda to discuss our future writing plans for not only the Unbreakable Bonds series but new series as well. My hope is that we cook up a solid writing schedule for 2017 so we can keep readers with a steady supply of books. If we're lucky, we might actually manage to outline a few books/stories while we're together.

If you want to keep up with all new releases and upcoming books, be sure to sign up for our newsletter here. Don't worry. We will never share your email address. We are also planning to do about four newsletters per year so we're not going to spam you either.

You can also keep up with all our sneak peeks on our Facebook Group, Unbreakable Readers.

Stefan Release Day

Yeah... yeah... I'm a day late. I'm finding juggling two book series in two different genres AND holding down a demanding day job isn't the easiest of things. I've done what I can to cut back on the non-essentials (sleep, food, bathing) but there just aren't enough hours in the day.

But enough of my complaining!

Stefan is out in the world.

I've got mixed feelings about it. I'm terrified mostly, but that comes with releasing any book to readers. But there's anxiety regarding dipping back into vampires and the Dark Days world after so long. Seven years have passed in the Dark Days world since the Great Awakening and things have been a bit slow to change. The nightwalkers haven't really changed, but would you really expect that of such a long-lived created over such a short time frame? Humans, on the other hand, are stubborn and angry and fighting the change.

Despite the anxiety and the terror, I'm also excited. I've worked 2.5 books and lots of short stories - all contemporary romance. Yep, that's stories without an ounce of magic (besides the magic of love, of course). It was nice to play in the paranormal again!  It was nice to visit with the vampires and the shifters. It was nice to walk into the grand hall of the Coven on their island in the middle of the Venice Lagoon.

And if you were wondering about whether to give it a try, let me say that it was nice to visit with Mira, Danaus, and Valerio.

Yes, all three characters make an appearance in Stefan's novel.

When I wrote Stefan , I had a few goals in mind. First and foremost was to simply tell a fun and interesting story. I also wanted to give Stefan a happy ending. I wanted to visit with Mira and Danaus, just to make sure they hadn't killed each other yet.

And I think I also wanted to walk through the Dark Days world with a different point of view. When I wrote the Dark Days series, the books were always written from the point of view of powerful magical creatures who already had a few centuries under their belt.

But what about  the point of view of a normal human? How would that person view nightwalkers and their need for violence? And after witnessing that violence, would that person jump at the chance to become immortal?

That's why I like the storyteller of Stefan . She's someone new to the world of the nightwalkers. She's strong and spunky and resourceful, but she's also very normal. She doesn't have any extraordinary gifts beyond a good head on her shoulders. She grounds Stefan when he needs it. Or at least, she tries to.

If you haven't picked up a copy of Stefan yet, click here to learn more about the book and order your copy. Right now, it is available only as an ebook.

Torch Cover Reveal

Since we released the first book of the Unbreakable Bonds series in October 2015, I have to admit that Torch is the book that has been the most shrouded in mystery. Some of it has been intentional and some of it not. There was an important, life-changing event that occurred in Shatter that we didn't want to ruin for new readers of the series, so we tried to keep things quiet for a long time.

But the time has come to share some secrets at last...

You've watched a self-made millionaire fall in love while trying to track down who was threatening both a business deal and his life.

You've followed close on the heels of a maverick surgeon as he chased after a ghost from his past while finally coming to accept that he is deserving of love.

And now, you've got TORCH....

We have been absolutely dying to show off this cover. I love it! I think it fits this book is so many wonderful ways. Stephen Drake with Design By Drake continues to make such awesome covers for us.

I think is also so fun to see all the novel covers lined up together. If you will notice, the covers have become progressively more aggressive. With Shiver, we're still civilized. For Shatter, we get the feel of a man on the run. And for Torch, we now have things on fire -- which really was only a matter of time with these guys.

When you think that we've still got to write Ian's book, well... if I was a reader, I'd be a little worried about now.

But are we upping the ante with Torch?

I'll let you be the judge. Here is a description of Rowe's book:

Nine months ago, Rowan Ward thought he had it all. Now he's fighting to pull his shredded life together, buried in work and battling the kind of grief that destroys a man's soul. When fires spring up around Cincinnati threatening Rowe's friends and clients, he's thrilled to find his old Army buddy, Noah Keegan in town. They were a hell of a team when they served together, so in-sync, it was rumored they could read each other's minds.

Noah thought devoting his life to the Army would be enough. Then he realized he had no family and only one friend he cared about. When his enlistment was up, he found himself standing on Rowe's doorstep, looking only for friendship but secretly hoping for more. He needs to know if their one unbelievable night together years ago wasn't a mistake.

Caught in a dangerous game of fire and bullets, neither expects the inferno of emotion that ignites between them. One Rowe isn't prepared to accept. One that could break Noah.

Squee!!!

Are you excited?!?!  I am so excited for you to get this book!

It will be out Tuesday, October 25. You can pre-order your copy on Amazon. We will have more links to Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Apple soon!

Now is a great time to start the Unbreakable Bonds series!

Read Shiver - Book 1.

Read Unbreakable Stories: Lucas - A short story collection featuring Lucas and Andrei.

Read Shatter - Book 2.

Read the Snow and Jude short stories here.

Pre-order Torch.

Follow Rinda and me on Facebook or Twitter.

Join the Unbreakable Readers Facebook Group to get all the good dirt, gossip, and early sneak previews regarding the series.

Do You Think They Play?

Torch…isn’t ready yet. Rinda and I are hard at work. I’m up to eyeballs in early chapter revisions, filling in new character details and backstory while writing brand new chapters. But don’t worry. We’ve got a release day picked. We’ve got a book description written. We’ve even got a cover…

But we’re not showing any of that good stuff to the world until next week.

This week… you’ve got me and Pokemon Go. Yeah… yeah… I’m one of those people. I’m out wandering around at night, trying to catch magical creatures. It might seem silly but I’ve walked nearly 10 kilometers that I wouldn’t have otherwise and lost some weight. And it’s making me a little more social.

The strangers I’ve encountered while playing the game have been incredibly nice and helpful. Everyone is just trying to play the game and have fun. When you’re slammed day in and day out with negative news online and on the TV, it’s nice to walk around your neighborhood and be reminded that not everyone has lost their mind and not everyone is cruel and hate-filled.

For fun, I thought I'd share a couple pictures that I took while hunting. The first is of a magikarp that showed up while I was having dinner. No, I was not willing to share with the magical flopping fish.

The second picture is of a psyduck who showed up while I was walking around the lake near my home when I had our puppy Max out. Max is not helpful when it comes to hunting pokemon. He doesn't understand that I need him to not pull on the leash while I trying to capture the magical creatures.

Now this Pokemon Go craze does raise a much bigger, more important question that I think we need to consider....

Do the men of Unbreakable Bonds play Pokemon Go?

I will give you my thoughts, but I would also love to hear from readers....

Lucas - Definitely not. He thinks it's ridiculous and just doesn't get the popularity of the game.

Andrei - Yes, but he doesn't stick with it long. I think he tries it for a time to see what all the buzz is about, gets annoyed with the frequent server crashes, and then tends to forget that it's on his phone when he is walking around. He drops it after a couple weeks.

Jude - Yes, and I think he really enjoys it. He uses it partially as an excuse to drag Snow out of the house for a walk in the evenings when they are off together. It's a good distraction and way to unwind from a long day at work.

Snow - No, but secretly yes.  Snow claims that he's not playing it because it's silly, but he always secretly opens the app before going for a walk with Jude so it's registering his steps, which goes to hatching his eggs. It's only when he celebrates attaining a pikachu from a 10-km egg that Jude's on to him. Jude then proceeds to tease him.

Ian - Yes. He loved pokemon when he was young and this brings back good memories for him. He has picture of him and jigglypuff as his avatar on Facebook. He's already a level 16 and knows all the tricks to the game.

Rowe - Yes, but he doesn't play often, gets angry about the server crashes, and is really bad at the game.

"Kitten" - (This is the nickname given to the key character to be introduced in Torch by the Unbreakable Readers group) Yes and he likes the game. However, the highlight would be Kitten and Ian ganging up on Rowe and talking trash about how bad he is at it.

Okay! That's my thoughts. Do you think the boys play?

As you can see, the boys are never far from my mind. I take them shopping with me and hear them whispering in my ear about what they like and don't like. They ride in the car with me and listen to the radio. And when something like this game comes along, I like to imagine how they might react.

Cincinnati: Home of Our Unbreakable Boys

It was a great trip to Cincinnati, but I am home at last and I've got to admit that it's nice to be in Florida again. I love Cincinnati, but Florida, with her beaches and my good friends, has become my home. But that doesn't mean that I didn't have some fun in Cincinnati and take some more pictures of the place the boys from the Unbreakable Bonds series call home. Sadly, it rained a lot while I was in town, so I didn't get to take quite as many pictures as I would have liked or visited all the places that I wanted to, but we made a nice dent in my to-do list. It just means that I'll have to make another trip back soon.

But let's get down to it...

I will admit that one of the places at the top of my list was The Ascent. This unique skyscraper located just across the Ohio River in Northern Kentucky is eye-catching in its design and looks a little out of place when set against the other brown and red brick buildings, but I love it.

But the most important thing to me is who lives in that building. We spent a lot of time in the penthouse at the pinnacle of the Ascent getting to know Lucas and Andrei in Shiver . We spent even more time in Shatter at the Ascent when Snow was forced to crash with his friend.

As Rinda and I work on Torch, we find ourselves drifting back to the penthouse for more gatherings, planning and laughter.

The Ascent has become a central location for the Unbreakable Boys and I'm so glad that it feels like a home for all of them.

Since we're down by the river with the Ascent, let's just stroll across the Suspension Bridge to Smale Park. It'll give us a great view of the bridge and the downtown area. This park is a newly renovated area that was formerly used as just a parking lot for tailgaters ahead of the Cincinnati Bengals football games. But the city scratched together some money, completed some amazing landscape, and activity areas for children. There's an amazing foot piano and a flying pig to climb on. There's a giant checkers and chess set to play with. And so many fun water features to play in to help cool off on a hot day.

My husband and I strolled through the park for a bit and sat on one of the swings to watch the river just quietly flow by. Unfortunately, as you can tell from the pictures that day, a massive storm was moving in so we didn't get to linger long. We actually just managed to get to the car when the sky opened up and dumped considerable rain on the city.

Sweeping up from the river into Mount Adams - which is also home to Ian - we come to Eden Park. If you've read Shiver , you've heard of this park. It's one of my favorites. Eden Park hold the Cincinnati Art Museum, which is where Lucas and Andrei attended that little party that led to the car chase. Yep, that park. At one point, Lucas looks out the window and sees the golden glow of a fountain through the trees.

This is that fountain. I didn't get the chance to get up the Art Museum, but we did wander around Eden Park. I believe the man-made lake is called Mirror Lake. During the winter, when it gets extremely cold and the water freezes, people will come to the park to ice skate on the lake. 

At the other part of this green area is a big gazebo. I've seen lots of wedding pictures taken over the years in this park and at this gazebo. During the summer when I lived in Cincinnati, I would come for long walks in this park. Or I was just drag a blanket and a book, and lay out in the sun and read a book like so many of the other citizens on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

I'd love to find an excuse to bring the boys back to this park that didn't include car chases or life-and-death scenarios.

And because I couldn't resist...

We managed to get to the Cincinnati Zoo while we were in town.

The Cincinnati Zoo is one of the top rated zoos in the United States. It's got amazing exhibits with more than 500 species of animals. You can see polar bears swim, cheetahs run, and feed a giraffe. They were prepping their new exhibit for hippos but it wasn't open yet when we arrived. We also didn't get to see the cheetahs run -- it was their day off. 

While the day started gloomy, it ended up being a beautiful day for the zoo. I'm thinking that a couple of the boys might need to go on a date to the zoo. That could be a fun story....

I hope that you've enjoyed my tour of Cincinnati. When we're working on the stories for the Unbreakable Bonds series, we try to use as many real places as possible. It just makes the stories that much more fun.

And don't worry... we are hard at work on Rowe's story - TORCH. We are hoping to have some announcements for that book very soon. We are still aiming to release the book in Autumn 2016. Right now, we're locking down some editing services as well as some marketing. As soon as we have some dates confirmed, we will be making some announcements.

 

Walking Around the Unbreakable Bonds

I'm back in Cincinnati. My husband and I headed back to our hometown to visit with family, catch up with friends, and let me take some pictures around the city.

We've been in town only a few days and we've hit a few snags, but we managed to get out on Tuesday to take some pictures. Let me share some of my favorite sights that might have appeared in the Unbreakable Bonds series or could eventually appear.

This woodsy pic is actually the view from my parents' house. With Lucas and the boys all living around the downtown area, it's easy to forget that Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky are actually sitting at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.

In most places around the city, you're either in a valley or on top of a hill. There is very little flat ground in the area.

Seeing the hills and the thick carpet of trees on the hills all around us is something that my husband and I have greatly missed since moving out of the region.

Guess whose place that is! Yep, we were cutting through Covington, Kentucky, on our way to downtown Cincinnati and we passed by the Ascent - which has Lucas's penthouse.

It's not an overly pretty pic but I'm hoping to make a stop down in the area before I leave so I can get a better picture.

However, if you recall a scene relatively early in Shatter where Snow is walking around Covington, looking for Gratton, he ends up stopping on the sidewalk and looking up to see the Ascent, thinking of Lucas... and Andrei. This would have been his view when he stopped on his walk.

Of course, getting from the Northern Kentucky to Cincinnati, Ohio means crossing the Ohio River and we used the Suspension Bridge to get there.

It's the bridge that is most frequently mentioned when the boys look out the window from Lucas's penthouse, though you can see other bridges from his place. This view of the bridge also gives you a little bit of the skyline for the city.

For the locals, this bridge is also called the Singing Bridge or the Humming Bridge because of the sound that is made when the car tires run over the grates that make up the flooring of the bridge.

When I was a kid, sometimes we would park in Covington and walk across this bridge when we went to Cincinnati Reds play at the stadium.
Fountain Square

Fountain Square is sort of the heart of the city. It's the gathering place. It's one of many parks withing the city. This is the fountain that is on the cover for Unbreakable Stories: Lucas short story collection.

During the summer, the square has various booths set up on Tuesdays as a sort of mini- farmers' market. There's frequently a stage set up for free concerts. In the winter, they place a giant Christmas tree and menorah as well as a ice skating rink.

Under Fountain Square, there is a parking garage, allowing you to park at a central location so you can easily walk to the various events, shows, restaurants, and bars. I'll admit this where I usually start when I head downtown.

From Fountain Square, you can walk over to the Aronoff Theater to catch a Broadway show or hit the Contemporary Arts Center. Also, from Fountain Square, you are less than a block away from where we placed Ian's restaurant, Rialto. We haven't placed any scenes on the Square just yet, but maybe we can sneak a scene in an upcoming book or story.

I wanted to include one last picture of the fountain. This is a close up of one of the smaller statues lower on the fountain. I know that I've visited this fountain a few dozen times over the years, but there's always a new detail to notice with each visit. That and it really is a beautiful fountain and square.

Since I'm throwing in some fun pictures, I thought I would include this one. We found him when we were walked back toward Fountain Square and passed the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company.

If you're not familiar with Cincinnati, she is also known as the Queen City, Porkopolis, and the City of Flying Pigs. Many years ago, the city commissioned dozens of artists to decorate pigs, which would then be auctioned off. It's been years and years since the auction, but you can still spot the occasional pig while wandering around the city.

With the pig skull balanced on his hoof, I'd wager that this pig is named Hamlet.

Hopping back across the river to Covington, Kentucky, there's a tiny little area called MainStrasse. My husband and I have spent a lot of time bar hopping in this area. It's a very popular spot among the locals - college students and older. Lots of bars, tattoo parlors, unique little shops, and restaurants.

If you remember the bar scene at the beginning of Shatter , this is the part of town the boys were hanging out in. In fact, Snow runs right past the Goose Girl fountain.

Why is there a Goose Girl fountain in MainStrasse? I'll admit that I have no idea. I'm sure there's a plaque on the fountain explaining why there's a bronze girl holding geese, but I just haven't read it. I usually just give her a nod as I head to my destination.

This picture is just a shot down Main Street of the Village (aka MainStrasse) so you can get a feel for the quaintness of the buildings. After the sun sets, this place is packed, particularly on Friday and Saturday.

And finally, here's a picture of the clock tower in Mainstrasse. We were lucky enough to be there right as it turned 2pm. The bells chimed and then the most magical thing happened. During the summer, the clock tower tells the story of the Piped Piper with little moving figures and a voice over. It was just the coolest thing.

If you're a member of our Facebook Group, Unbreakable Readers, you can watch the video I posted of the little show.

Thanks for walking around the city with me. I hope you enjoyed the pictures and tour through the city the Unbreakable Boys call home. If we can sneak out between rain storms, we are hoping to get some more pictures. I would like to get some pictures of the area for the car chase from Shiver and show Rinda some pics of Krohn Conservatory -- a place that definitely needs to be in a book.

Favorite Lines from the Unbreakable Boys

Writing is a strange thing. I don’t advise it for the sane. But if you are cracked enough to proceed, I’ll let you in on a secret. When I write, I tend to forget about the reader…. Okay, maybe that’s not the nicest thing to say, but let me explain…

You see, I get completely lost in the world. There’s only me and the characters and the world and the chaos that I’m unleashing. Well, there’s also Rinda, but she’s there helping me create the chaos and giving the characters voice. But in all of this, I tend to forget that other people are going to follow behind me into this world and experience this adventure.

The reader only comes back to me after I’ve typed “THE END” and then I think, “Holy crap! Are they going to like this? Are they going to love Lucas and Snow and Andrei and Ian and Rowe and Jude?”

Luckily, with Unbreakable Bonds series, the answer has been “yes, readers love our boys.”

I think one of the most exciting things is that Amazon provides a list of the top highlights for a book and it’s interesting to see which lines most resonate with readers.

For Shiver , some of the top highlights include:

“Be safe. Come back to me.” Because if you don’t, the world will burn.

I’ll admit that I’ve always loved that one. It gets right to the heart of Lucas’s feelings for Andrei, even if he wasn’t ready to admit them to himself. It’s also about his need for control and how much it frightens him to give up that control when it means putting Andrei in danger.

Lucas was a comfort for the doctor, even when he was lost to the waking world.

That really just sums up Lucas and Snow’s relationship in one tidy sentence. They would always need each other and sometimes it was enough just to be near one another.

“Shame you also don’t date men, because I can think of a half a dozen places in this room alone that I’d like to fuck you and then I want to take you home and christen every room in that damned penthouse. Hell, everywhere you look in this office and everywhere you look at home, I want you to remember how we fucked there. I want those memories burned into your brain. And that…takes time.”

I remember writing this. And I’ll admit, I’ve got this one highlighted myself. It's a favorite of mine. This little speech from Andrei came in the second or third round of edits. We needed to amp up the scene as well as have Andrei finally push back at Lucas. (Happy, puddle-melting sigh. Andrei is such a good match for Lucas, knowing just when to push the man and how.)

For Shatter :

The top highlight is “Stratige mou,” which is cute because it’s Greek for general. It’s a moment when Snow is trying to get Jude to stop calling him General, so Jude just changes to the Greek version.

“You make my heart stop. I’ve gotta kiss you but don’t you dare lose that smile.”

I love this line. It's another favorite of mine. This is from the moment when Snow accepts that he is so far gone over Jude and when Jude comes into the room, Snow just smiles up at him. Of course, Jude can’t resist that smile. Snow has an absolutely killer smile that transforms his entire body as if his beautiful soul is finally able to shine through.

“General, when this is over, I’m going to fuck you so hard you’re not going to be able to wipe the smile off your face.”

Ahh…. Jude. The poor man was in a tense and frightening situation, but he’d do anything for Snow. I love Snow and Jude together.

 

I hope you’ve enjoyed this stroll through the books. Feel free to share some of your favorite lines. Popular highlights haven’t come up for the Unbreakable Stories: Lucas collection yet, but I think it’s only a matter of time.

I am heading out of town next week for vacation, but I hope to have some great pictures of some of the boys' favorite places. Stay tuned.

Also, we will have more news regarding Torch, book 3 of Unbreakable Bonds, in July. We also have one more free short story coming for Snow and Jude. You can catch up on all the free stories that we have released already here.

And we have already started posting pictures regarding inspiration for Torch on our Facebook Group, Unbreakable Readers. The group also gets first sneak peeks for the series and we pop in to chat with readers about the series. Click here to join the group.