Lulu M. Sylvian's Blog
September 22, 2025
He’s the town libertine. He’s convinced she’s an angel.
Book Boyfriend of the Month:Bobby Cray from Complete, Legatum book 5
She’s the angel he sees glowing. He’s the wolf with a past he can’t hide.
New to town and nursing a shattered heart, Ramona has one goal: rebuild her life in peace. The last thing she needs is a charming small-town playboy trying to reform himself at her expense. But Bobby isn’t like other men. There’s something… different about him. Something magnetic. Something she can’t ignore.
Bobby knows the second he lays eyes on Ramona—She glows. Literally. Bobby doesn’t know what she is… only that he’s drawn to her in a way that feels like fate. Earning her trust won’t be easy, not with the long trail of broken hearts behind him—and definitely not with the secret he’s spent a lifetime hiding.
Ramona isn’t looking for complications. Burned by a toxic relationship in the city, she’s come to this small football-obsessed town for a fresh start—not to fall for a sweet-talking playboy with a reputation for breaking hearts. But when Bobby offers to become her student in how to treat women right, she reluctantly lets him in, she starts to believe he might be more than the womanizer everyone warned her about. But when his past—and his true nature as a wolf shifter—comes to light, the real question isn’t whether Ramona can trust him…
It’s whether loving him will cost her everything.
Steamy, emotional, and full of small-town magic, this installment in the Legatum series is perfect for fans of fated mates, reformed bad boys, and protective wolf shifters willing to risk it all for love.
one click your copy of Complete now
All month we’re discussing Bobby in my Facebook group Lululandia. Come join the conversation.
Interested in reading Complete with your own bookclub?Here are some great questions to get you started
Healing and TrustRamona comes to town seeking peace and healing after a toxic relationship. How does her journey reflect the real-life process of rebuilding trust after heartbreak? What moments in the story show her growth the most?The Reformed Bad Boy Trope
Bobby is introduced as a small-town heartbreaker trying to change. How does the novel handle his redemption arc? Did his transformation feel believable, and what role does Ramona play in that shift?The Glow and the Bond
Bobby literally sees Ramona glowing. How does this mystical element enhance the fated mates trope? Do you think their instant connection is portrayed as romantic destiny, or does it create tension for their relationship?Secrets and Vulnerability
Bobby hides his identity as a wolf shifter, and his reputation creates barriers. How do secrets and past mistakes add depth to his character and their romance? Did you sympathize with his reasons for hiding his true nature?
September 7, 2025
Six Ghostly Romance Reads
Why do ghost stories always have to either be horror or have a sad ending? I know, because: ghosts.How do you get that happily ever after when the love interest is dead?
I know I’m not alone in thinking Ghost (1990) with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore would have been even better if there was a way they could have ended up together.
I think that’s why I love Heaven Can Wait (1978). Yes, its an old movie (and deserves a modern remake), but in the end his angel finds a way of making it work, and he gets to be with the love of his life.
Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem—after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s as good as dead. Romance is most certainly dead… but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love storiesThe Love of My Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood
A recently deceased woman meets “the one” in the afterlife waiting room, scoring a second chance at life (and love!) if she can find him on earth before ten days are up…Ghost Walk by Cassandra Gannon
Grace Rivera just wants to be normal. Trained as a crime scene investigator, she believes in science and cold, hard facts. …So why is she suddenly looking at the ghost of a dead pirate? Now, Grace is helping Jamie set history right. Even if it means some time-traveling forensics work and risking her life by tracking a murderer. Because falling in love with a scoundrel of a ghost is a fact that Grace just can’t deny.Tall, Dark, and Haunted by Mia Harlan and Hanleigh Bradley
Quick word of advice: Don’t shift and die. Rhiannon’s afterlife takes her to a haunted castle and her three fated mates. They’re handsome ghosts… beneath their top hats, sideburns, and nineteenth century mustaches, that is. When an errant spell drops them in a paranormal town, they get our bodies back. But if they don’t find a way to keep them by sunrise, they’ll be doomed to an eternity as ghosts: floating around, unable to touch, kiss, or worse, do the dirty.A Ghost in Shining Armor by Therese Beharrie
Gemma Daniels has never been quite the “down to earth” woman her adoptive parents raised her to be. She even has a unique gift: she can see ghosts—and she likes helping them settle their unfinished business. But the hotter-than-hot stranger she impulsively kisses on a bet is not only a phantom, he’s determined to help her. And the only way Gemma can explain his presence is to pretend they’re a real-life coupleDead Sexy by Lulu M. Sylvian
Medical illustrator Gillian is surprised to discover her talent for communicating with spirits. When forbidden sparks fly with the ghost of former TV heartthrob Peter, their desire blazes into a love that breaks all the rules
August 19, 2025
Fearless: WIP
I’m just getting started on Fearless, book 8 in the Legatum series.Joe Diablo has made minor appearances in previous books, now its his turn to shine.
Here’s a little hint at what’s happening:There are new shifters in the Legatum world. Joes is sent out to track down an anomaly on a DNA report.
He discovers Ruana, she is not what he was expecting, at all.
He’s a redhead and heading out to the desert is never high on his list.
He may be a wolf shifter, but the sun is not his friend. After all he’s redhead and his skin comes in two shades: pale or lobster red.
August 11, 2025
My boyfriends back and theres gonna be some trouble
“Why would I want to get out of trouble? The whole point is to pull on the thread and unravel their organizations. Can’t do that when I look like this.”
He gestured at his chest, and tilted his granite, hard square jaw up.
He was right. Johnny liked to pull on threads and see what came undone. It was one of his redeeming traits. It was also one of his worst.
Johnny Urban is a fiction within a fiction. His origins are woven into the pages of Dead Sexy.
Peter Keith is a washed up teen heart throb. He finds Gil and convinces her to help him fix the mistakes of his past. Together they create Johnny, a character based on Peter. Only Johnny is more perfect than Peter could ever be. After all, Johnny isn’t a ghost, but Peter is. Alone, without Peter’s presence as her muse, Gil takes the story of Johnny Urban and makes it her own, giving the characters a paranormal twist and something more to do other than set up house and make babies.
In the end Gil creates Tails from the Urban Jungle. This is that story.
Get your copy of The Return of Johnny Urban now
If you want to host your own discussion here are some talking points for a conversation
“Why would I want to get out of trouble? The whole point is to pull on the thread and unravel their organizations.”How does this line reflect Johnny’s personality and moral compass? In what ways is chaos a tool for change or healing in the story?Johnny can shift between a tiger and a Maine Coon cat—two drastically different forms.
What do you think each form represents about his personality or emotional state? How does this duality reflect his role as both protector and provocateur?Michelle is a human, but she’s deeply familiar with big cats as a circus handler.
How does her expertise influence her relationship with Johnny? Do you think she understands him on a deeper level because of her work, even though she’s not a shifter?Unlike many shifter romances, Johnny’s story isn’t focused on finding a mate or building a pack.
How does the story use shifter traits to explore identity and freedom rather than domesticity? What new themes does that open up?
~*~*~
All month we’re discussing Johnny in my Facebook group Lululandia. Come join the conversation.
August 3, 2025
Maybe that character should…
I’m looking around at all the potential clean up projects in the garage where my treadmill is located—anything to keep my mind occupied. I haven’t exactly figured out how to multitask while I’m walking. You’d think it would be easy enough to remember to grab my tablet so I could watch a movie or something, but that hasn’t happened yet. I’m also not really walking long enough just yet to get into a show. And I can’t listen to an audio book because my ears sweat and that’s an instant ear infection, and the book I’m listening to requires serious earphones. Who knew gargoyles were so sexy?
Instead, I’m exercising my ability to be quiet and in the moment. Let’s just say it’s not exactly working, because in the moment, all I can focus on is how bad my feet hurt. Right? There’s a reason I don’t walk, and it has nothing to do with being lazy. It has everything to do with the fact that I have chronically bad feet.
My new orthopedic walking shoes are in the mail, and they cannot get here soon enough.
While I’m trying not to focus on my feet, my eyes land on one of my sparkly hula hoops. I have many sparkly hula hoops, and while I know that is so 2005… I still like them. They still bring me joy.
Why don’t I have any characters who hula hoop? I have one Native American hoop dancer in a short story, but he’s a stripper and I practically forgot he existed. Oops.
But why doesn’t Mancey do something like hula hoop? After all, there is more to her than her singular goal of attaining Colin. Or… is there? I want my characters to be more than just flat, single dimensional descriptions on a page. Especially for the novels.
I want my characters—and my locations—to be more. I want the stories I write to invoke a sensory experience. And that means my characters have to have a little bit more going on than being a one-time ghost of a movie starlet turned scientist, all in the name of getting to her man. I want Mancey to be someone you love, someone you hate, someone you wish was your ghostly bestie to help you get the hottie of your choice.
Maybe Mancey should hula hoop? She could say something sassy to Colin like “I know its a kids toy, but its fun. You hula, I hoop.”
Of course, this thought then sparks an entire internet rabbit hole. Once I get off the treadmill, I have to find out: When did hula hoops become popular? And were they around when Mancey was a starlet?
Dear reader, the hula hoop rabbit hole has proven that their popularity in the United States didn’t start until the late 1950s—well past Mancey Heartlove’s heyday. And since the hula hoop resurgence was hot 20 years ago, probably not something she would pick up now.
So, back to my feet.
My feet are swathed in K-tape. And if you aren’t familiar with K-tape, it’s a kinesiology tool used by physical therapists. As soon as I was introduced to it for some knee problems I had several years ago, I became a K-tape devotee.
I don’t care if it’s just Dumbo’s magic feather or not—I’m going to magic-feather up. The K-tape is helping my feet.
It’s something some athletes and dancers really embrace. It seems like the kind of thing that—maybe not Colin—but Bro would use.
Mancey has accused Bro of flashing his knees at her, so why not flash his knees wrapped in some lurid K-tape?
And all these things in the garage I look at keep me distracted while I meet my walking goal—they quickly serve their purpose. My walking goal has been met, and I found a couple of ways to make my characters a little more interesting… and a little less singularly focused on one plot point.
Wait a minute… who is Bro? You met Colin in his parent’s backyard in Falling Star, and Mancey instantly fell in love with the man. In Hidden Gods we finally get Mancey’s romance. Bro, Dr. Brody Nakamura is one of Colin’s colleagues at the university, and on location while taking reading from the active lava flows on Big Island. Hidden Gods has been a perpetual work-in-progress this year. I can’t wait to see where these characters take me, and for you to be able to read all about it.
July 28, 2025
An Improper Derailment Chapter Thirty Nine
Start the adventure from the beginning.
Marshall watched in disbelief…as the rope slithered around the tree branch before slipping away.
The kid fumbled over and over and for all appearances, had no idea how to use his hands.
Captain Forsyth proved yet again to have achieved his status through connections and finances rather than via competency. The man displayed precisely none.
“Stop that!” he yelled. As if his air ship would listen and follow voice commands like a trained dog.
Mary’s pale face appeared, a mask of terror, over the edge of the gondola. At least she had the presence of mind to jump to action. She grabbed a hold of the ladder and it looked as if she was struggling to get her leg over the side. The ship rocked, and she was pitched back away from the side.
“Grab the rudder!” Marshall called out as he ran toward the air ship.
It seemed to float in place, and then dart to the side with a gust of wind. Asif it were playing a game, waiting for him before dancing away, out of his reach.
“What’s the rudder?” Mary’s yells were like a soft whisper as the wind snatched her volume away.
Marshall waved his arms around trying to indicate she needed to move toward the rear of the flying boat. His motions were jerky and not helpful as he was also failing at catching up to the ropes The Profound name trailed behind. “It will let you steer the airship!”
“I know what a rudder does. I can’t tell which of these levers is it. There’s no wheel.” It sounded like she continued to complain about what kind of ship doesn’t have a wheel, but her words got lost as the wind shifted and the airship was carried away at speed.
There was no way for Marshall to keep up with it. Mary was being carried away from him. He needed something as fast as the wind.
In the middle of the commotion a stranger rode into the clearing on horseback. His attention on the airship. “I missed it. I had wanted to see what people were talking about.”
In a few strides, Marshall was next to the horse. He reached up and grabbed the man from the saddle.
“What the hell?” The man’s complaint was ignored as Marshall jumped into the saddle and kicked the horse into action.
The horse was fast, but the damned airship was faster. Uttering more curses and smacking the horse on the flanks with the tails of the reins, Marshall willed them to speed faster.
Luck was on their side. The wind calmed momentarily. The Profound Name slowed, and listed to the side. No longer aligned to the wind, it was buffeted around as it stayed relatively stationary.
Marshall reached out and leaped from the saddle. In a single swift motion he grabbed, and wrapped one of the trailing ropes around his arm.
“Marshall!” Mary called out to him.
“You can’t get away from me that easily, Mary,” he teased even though he was wrestling to climb up the rope while the air ship spun and shifted form side to side in the increasing wind. “Are you all right?”
“I will be.” Mary reached out and grabbed onto the fabric of his shirt in an attempt to help haul him over the side.
She fell back onto her rump as he rolled over the edge and onto the airship.
She gestured with wild hand motions toward the back end of the boat. “I can’t figure any of that out. Nothing looks like any boat I’ve ever been on. I have no idea if this thing even has a rudder.”
Marshall wanted to grab Mary to him and confirm with touch what his eyes told him, she was fine, unhurt. But He needed to figure out how to steady this boat, or they might capsize.
A fall from this height would surely result in a few broken bones, if not worse.
“I think I saw Forsyth use this the most.” He reached up and pulled one of the many levers that occupied this area of the boat.
The airship responded.
“Good.” He adjusted his grip and pushed against it until the airship turned and faced the direction the wind wanted to take them.
“What are you doing?” Mary demanded.
“I don’t know how to land this thing. All I can do is try to keep us from falling out of the sky. You’re welcome to take over, if you like.”
“We have to go back!” She pointed ahead of them. “You have us headed into that storm.”
“Then you had better hold tight, because I can’t get this boat to turn around.”
Will they survive the storm? Tune in next time…
©2025 Lulu M. SylvianJuly 24, 2025
In response to a bad review
It happens. As an author I know how important it is to not respond to the review directly. I still pouted about it. Everyone is allowed their opinion. And I know what I write isn’t for everyone.
But sometimes a review is just wrong. And this one made me angry.
So I’ve turned it into content.
Sorry not sorry, but if the review is going to call my book “nothing but a series of hot wet dreams,” yes, I will use that to advertise a book about a ghost who seduces the heroine in her dreams.
And if a review claims my book has a Black character defending a neo-nazi, I’m going to write a response about it.
I’m not mad the reviewer DNFed (did not finish) the book, that’s their choice. I’m mad they left a damning sentence that is incorrect in a review. What they said that occurred in the story did not. They reported the reaction one character thought was happening.
The Black character is not defending a neo-nazi, but the misinterpretation of markings they want to protect from being taken over by such groups. The reviewer jumped to the same conclusion the FMC did, and that’s what I want to address.
This reader clearly DNFed at the same time the FMC made the assumption that the runic tattoos meant the other character was a white supremacist. The reviewer couldn’t have read the rest of the scene. If they had, they would have learned that the original runes, the written language given to Odin, are not some automatic connection to hate groups. That character’s tattoos had nothing to do with hate groups, but were a significant aspect of his religion.
The character doesn’t even have any of the specific symbols that current hate groups are trying to make use of. He has a small prayer for battle written in runes along the edge of his hair cut. He and his friends, including a Black man, go on to explain that the Norse Heathens they align themselves with are inclusive, and embrace diversity. After all, Loki was a mother—but that’s another story.
The characters even go on to explain how some bastardizations of certain runes are used by those hate groups, but the unaltered rune is not a hate symbol.
There is a group called Heathens Against Hate, and they are very concerned with “misuse of sacred Germanic symbols by alt-right elements within Heathenry.” When I learned about this group, that’s when I got the spark of an idea that eventually became the Berserker Boys trilogy. And that’s what the scene in the book addresses.
The character in question isn’t a reformed white supremacist, because he never was one to begin with. He is a Norse Heathen, and a self-proclaimed Viking. He’s a berserker warrior who shifts into a bear during magical battles. He’s woke AF. He drives an electric vehicle and knows that recycling needs to be done on a massive corporate scale to have impact, but he still cuts up those ring-drink holders because of sea turtles and holds on to his trash so it can get recycled properly.
I’m not going to reply directly to the review, that’s bad form. But talking about it on my blog… damn skippy that’s going to happen.
And if you want to make your own opinions about Berserker Boys and the characters Vik, Wolf, and Scottie, you can now listen to the stories for free on YouTube.
They have been edited/abridged of the spicy scenes to comply with community standards
Ebook available here
July 15, 2025
Hidden Gods: WIP
I’m wrapping up the Second Endings series with the last book Hidden Gods.I don’t have a publication date yet, but its in the writing phase, and I know exactly where this story is headed. There’s dancing, a little danger, and sun screen. IYKYKHere’s a little hint at what’s happening:
I frenetically sketched in my notebook. I had a stacks of them. One waiting to be used, and a second one full of calculations and number crunching.
“I helped you to get a top of the line tablet and you’re drawing with a pencil, in a lined notebook?” Bro teased as he propped himself against the table that was my desk, my center of operations.
“Mark has been showing me how to use a drawing program, but I’m still faster with a pencil,” I admitted.
As I spoke he picked up my GeoTalker, that’s what I started calling the device. He lifted the box frame with both hands— it wasn’t very large. A collection of vacuum tubes and coils wired with a couple of signal LEDs, a mismash of early twentieth century engineering with modern parts. I had used what I could from that fortuitous flea market find, and anything else I could get my hands on.
The pine wood frame— more like a housing cage— was sanded smooth, but I hadn’t had the inclination to stain the wood. Over all it was the size of a hefty cat, and it was showing signs of heat damage with several scorched areas.
“What are you drawing up?” Bro asked, his attention on the GeoTalker as he twisted it back and forth. His hands were just in my periferal vision. They were large and strong, appearing to be perfectly capable. His knees were also in my peripheral, but I was choosing to ignor them. They were nice knees and it took a certain about of will power to not ogle.
Besides, I din’t want to ogle Bro. It’s not that he wasn’t worth a good long gander, he wasn’t Collin. Only Collin wasn’t the one who came to see what I was working on. Collin never made comments about me using a pencil instead of the tablet I spent a pretty penny on. I thought for certain Collin would have been the one interested in communicating with lava. But Bro was the one who came and leaned on my desk and showed off his knees.
To be fair, no one was showing off their knees. Just outside of the heat suits, everyone tended toward wearing shorts. Myself included. Only, I was showing off my knees in a deliberate attempt to gain a certain someone’s attention. I didn’t know why I bothered.
July 14, 2025
This Month’s Book Boyfriend: Scottie
As romance readers we are always in search of the next book boyfriend.
This month I present for your consideration: Scottie.
The himbo, ADHD, gamer, OG pig himself: Scottie. Scottie loves a good running joke, he can’t seem to help it, he’s a pig.
He’s made a name for him self as a content creator, and has a bit of a glow-up through out the trilogy.
Scottie appears in the very first of the Berserker Boys stories. Its his turn to prove he can be a hero in the third and last story: Boar.If you’re thinking of having your own Book Boyfriend of the Month discussion group, Berserker Boys is a great trilogy to read.You get three book boyfriends! Variety is the spice of life. And Vik, Wolf, and Scottie are very different men.
Need some good discussion questions? I’ve got you covered!
Discussion QuestionsYou step through a glowing portal… where do you land? A volcano lair? A castle in the clouds? A post-apocalyptic diner?Maisie and Scottie land in Austratica from the Codex Wars. Good thing Scottie has hundreds of hours of gameplay under his belt.
Question: What game/ what world would you land in and be able to make it through because of your interests?Technology and sorcery collide throughout the narrative.
Question: How are these forces portrayed—are they in harmony or at odds? Does the story lean more toward embracing both, or showing cracks in their alliance?The tagline: “You don’t choose the berserker life. The berserker life chooses you.”
Question: What do you think this means for each character? Is the berserker power a gift, a burden, or both?The protagonists—Vik, Wolf, and Scottie—shift into their berserker forms, merging gamer avatars with real-world selves.
Question: How do these transformations affect their identities? What does the book suggest about the roles we assume, both online and offline?Cosplay isn’t just dress-up here—it’s empowering.
Question: In what ways does cosplay serve as more than a hobby? How does it help characters like Aaliyah or Yeardley connect or find strength?
July 7, 2025
I’m Back!
There is a perfect space for me to put the phone camera and I can start filming those weekly little author talk videos I want to do. Its about two feet in front of the treadmill and slightly up, so it would have that good down tilting angle. If I put myself out there on video while walking on the treadmill odds are I’ll get put in front of the wrong people who would leave all kinds of snarky comments. I should just flip them off right now before I even start– and yes while walking alone on the treadmill, I flipped off imaginary video comments.
Or I could start a random thoughts blog post series.
This would make good time of my dictation practice—yes it takes practice to dictate your writing, not a lot but some and I am falling out of practice. Or I could just get started. I can’t get to my phone to start dictating while I’m currently walking. I might mess up my step count, I don’t want to do that, I’m going for a medal here. I’ve signed up for those walking challenges that give out cool medals. My husband has simply walked to Mordor and back a couple of times. The medals are nifty.
Thinking while walking is like having your best thoughts while in the shower and you just can’t write them down, and you suffer from threshold memory issues, so the second that shower curtain swishes open and you step over the rim of the tub, all is forgotten.
Yes. I’m talking about me.
Hi, OMG its been like forever since I’ve blog-blogged.
In a nut shell, a couple of years ago my website server tanked, I loss my website just around xmas time, so I really really didn’t have the wherewithal to deal with it. I got a fabulous web guy from a recommendation, and he saved what he could. Between us, he revamped the site. And I let the blog go. I couldn’t see how I was going to save all those blog posts. And since most of them were time-sensitive release announcements, I didn’t see a reason why.
I have a good reason why to be back now. I want my website to be a place readers can find me, especially if they are part of the migration away from certain platforms. I don’t blame them, and I still want to connect.
So why am I on a treadmill all of a sudden? And what does this have to do with writing?
I need to walk, and I’m not a walker.
Why isn’t Lulu a walker?
Chronic plantar fasciitisToe joint replacement, when it gets swollen it hurtsChronic fatigue complicated with long covid issues= no energyMy energy levels are starting to come back, slowly, and so I want to regain some strength and stamina. This round of chronic fatigue has put a damper on my writing. Yes, I get brain fog, but its the being too tired to function thats been getting in the way. I have so many stories I want to write, so many I thought would be done by now (Hidden Gods). I need my energy levels to come back up so I can be more productive, and write more.
So, welcome back to my blog!
