Meljean Brook's Blog, page 3

Quarterly Update: Yay, the Blacksmith’s on again!

The only update that really matters…

So, yes — I figured out what in my brain was going wrong with The Blacksmith. So I’m mostly unblocked and will start working on it again very soon (probably starting in July, but I am going to take it one part at a time — there are six parts in this serial) and expect that it will take me the better part of a year, simply because that is what happens with the Iron Seas. But that means you’ll probably see it in 2017 instead of some unidentified time in the future.

What am I working on now?

Vengeance, a Milla Vane barbarian novella. I expect that will be out in June or July, depending on how long it ends up being.

What else are you doing?

Uh, not much since my superhero-inspired workout for writers. I’ve read a few books and posted brief reviews on Goodreads (no romance, really) — heck, I guess I can just post them here? Yay for embeddable stuff.

HEX by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Really enjoyed this though I was somewhat disappointed by the rushed ending, shown to us through one POV. It was sufficiently nightmarishly described (almost like a Hieronymus Bosch painting) but we don’t actually know what happened to several key characters in the story and why they ended up where they ultimately did. We’re given hints, but considering that every step up to that point was shown to us, to have it all skipped over and simply given a confusing scene felt like a letdown.

Aside from that, though, the witch was creepy and the unraveling of the town really well done.

View all my reviews

The Fireman by Joe Hill

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The concept of the Dragonscale was super interesting (and I couldn’t help thinking of The Girl with All the Gifts while I was reading it — similar infections, totally different directions). It’s always hard not to compare Hill to King, partially because there are so many King Easter Eggs thrown in that his books invite that comparison, so I don’t think it’s unfair to say: whoo, this is The Stand Lite. Which isn’t to dismiss it, because who has time to read The Stand again? And of course The Fireman stands on its own perfectly (really didn’t intend that pun, but now that it’s there, it’ll stay) but if you’re looking for the complex interwoven narrative of that older book, it’s not here.

It’s actually simple and focused, and that might be part of the reason it wasn’t a knockout for me. It’s called The Fireman but the titular character kind of spends a lot of time lying around with something broken. Instead we see everything through the eyes of a Mary Poppins-loving nurse (whose character I enjoyed very much, especially through the scenes with the rock) and that was fine, but I always felt very kind of … distant from the narrative, even though she was right in it and had a lot to lose when things went sideways. It’s a long book, so maybe I just spent too much time in her head and I needed a wider perspective. I don’t know.

So I enjoyed this, but more in the vein of admiring the idea and the storyline and having a good time, but without ever having a visceral “God I love this book” feeling. I probably won’t read it again. (But it does kind of make me want to re-read The Stand.)

View all my reviews

I made a few covers — although, actually, I guess that I made them long ago. It’s just that they were recently revealed and stuff. I like these both a lot.

And I guess that’s it for updates for now.

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A Superhero-Inspired Workout for Romance Writers

If you don’t follow my personal Facebook page, you probably aren’t aware of how much I like the new Aquaman (and if you do follow it, this post probably won’t come as a surprise to you.) Things I also like? Wonder Woman, comic books, and action figures.

So when my sister Echo ran across an Aquaman action figure, this is the conversation that took place on Facebook. If you want to scroll past this exchange, basically the conversation went like:

Echo: Look at this Aquaman figure.

Meljean: Is there also a WW?

Echo: Yes.

Meljean: Please buy and take dirty pictures of them and I’ll make a story out of them, kind of like I did with your X-Men and X-files pictures.

And because my sister is awesome, a few days later those dirty pictures showed up in my inbox.

But something happened. Because as I was looking at the photos, I realized they weren’t inspiring dirty thoughts. And perhaps that’s because I’d spent so much time in the past weeks admiring Aquaman’s dedication in the gym as he prepares for his role in the upcoming Justice League movie. So when I saw Echo’s photo of Aquaman here

I thought of how strong Aquaman must be if he could defeat such a giant fish! And when I began thinking of Aquaman’s muscles, I was reminded of this photo, showing Aquaman working out!

A photo posted by Jason Momoa (@prideofgypsies) on Apr 15, 2016 at 10:52am PDT

And so I began looking at Echo’s photos in a different way — and I was inspired to create my own workout!



*please consult your physician before beginning this or any other exercise program*

*but especially before beginning this one*

For the love of Aquaman…we’re all going to be so strong!

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Making your serial killer – handout

Just back from RT, and I got a request for the handout I used in the “Making your serial a killer” panel (which was awesome).

Here is the handout — it was originally a tri-fold brochure, but I rearranged the panels so they’re more easily read in JPEG form. YOU CAN CLICK TO ENLARGE THEM. Or I also have the text printed below for those who are vision impaired. If you’d like a PDF that you can print out and fold like a regular brochure, let me know.

So you’re writing a serial novel?

It’s not a choice everyone will understand. Some readers might recoil from you in horror. But never fear…you can get away with it!

I

Hack up your story with a blade, not a woodchipper!

If I could only offer one bit of advice, it would be this: Give your readers enough meat to chew on with each installment, so they’ll be satisfied until the next is available.

The experience of reading a traditional novel is different from reading a serial novel—much like the difference between watching a full-length movie versus watching episodes of a television show or a mini-series. It’s Silence of the Lambs versus a season of Hannibal. Whether you post one episode or chapter at a time, give your reader reason to come back. Don’t lose them over the week-long wait (or a commercial break, if you’re only posting scenes)—whet their appetite for more, but don’t let them starve for content!

Move the story forward in each installment, even if you’re posting your serial for free, because the time a reader spends on it represents an invisible cost to them. Make sure you offer enough to make their time and money worth it, or you will lose them. And if you don’t have enough story yet, wait until you have more before posting it.

II

It rubs the plot on its skin.

Whether you’re a pantser or a plotter, it helps to have some idea where your story is going. Ideally, you would finish the serial before posting the installments, but we all know it doesn’t always work that way.

You don’t need a detailed outline, but knowing the important plot and character points helps tremendously. Write each installment with a goal in mind (what does this part of the story accomplish?) and with the story focused on the point ahead. Remember, after an installment is posted, it’s difficult to go back and change the story!

III

feed your DARK PASSENGERS regularly.

Try to establish (and adhere to) a schedule when posting your installments. Also recognize that the longer the wait between installments, the more content you should provide. Few readers will stick around for a single scene (or short chapter) once a month; a chapter every week or two is more palatable. You can’t really have too much story per installment, but you can have too little, so keep your writing speed in mind when you plan your posting schedule.

Life can and will happen. It’s a good idea to write one or two installments ahead, just in case—and if a delay is unavoidable, let your readers know as soon as possible (and offer to notify them through an email service or newsletter when the installments resume.)

IV

P ut the #^@%ing cliffHanger in the basket!

Use cliffhangers wisely and sparingly.Cliffhangers can put the reader on the edge of her seat, leave her dying to know what happens next. They can also be emotionally exhausting, frustrating, and disappointing. If you plan to use cliffhangers, consider the following:

Does it interrupt a scene or cut it short? If so, you might want to reconsider and finish the scene before ending your installment. A natural tension and momentum typically increases over the course of a scene; if you break that tension by cutting a scene short, you reader will start the next part at point zero and not at the point where you left her. Finish the action, give the reader a glimpse of the fallout, and open the next part with the fallout and new rising tension. For example, don’t end a scene with a gun firing—let us see who gets shot and pick up the action from there (and rebuild the tension using that character’s death or survival) in the next installment.

Sometimes the fallout is more action (beat one bad guy, and his friend shows up. Uh-oh.)

Is the pain worth the payoff? Let’s be clear: cliffhangers are painful to readers. They are left in a state of uncertainty and anxiety regarding the future of your characters, and unlike a traditional book (in which they can keep going), in a serial they are helpless. There’s no page to turn. So if you continually provide shocks that have little reward—the equivalent of shouting “Boo!” followed by “just kidding”—eventually they will stop allowing themselves any emotional investment in your story. If the cliffhanger and its fallout don’t have a significant impact on your story or characters, leave it out. If a cliffhanger is just a fake-out, leave it out. Write enough tension and conflict into your story and you won’t need cheap tricks to bring readers back.

V

WRITE IT. FINISH IT.

It’s just like every other book in that respect. Get your fingers on a keyboard or pen. After you’ve started, don’t stop until it’s done.

the end

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Find me at the Romantic Times Convention in Las Vegas!

It’s almost that time again! From April 13th-17th, I will be in Las Vegas for the RT Booklovers Convention. I’ll be participating in a panel about writing serials and signing at the giant book fair (since I didn’t sign last year, I’ll be signing THE KRAKEN KING this year). I’ll also be at the Berkley party on Saturday after the book fair.

For my panel and appearance schedule, you can look me up at the RT site.

I also have time in between other events to chat — depending on the layout of the hotel and convention site, I’ll likely be in the lobby/bar or wherever everyone seems to be hanging out. PLEASE feel free to come up to me if you see me, even if I’m talking with someone. My business meetings are scheduled outside of these locations, so you don’t have to worry you’ll be interrupting something that needs to be private. And this is what conventions are for!

Everything can get pretty hectic, but if you want to see if I’m around, it’s probably easiest to poke me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/meljean) or Facebook (http://facebook.com/meljeanbrook) and say, “Hey, dork! You around?” and if I am, I’ll answer as soon as I can. The only day I really plan to be away from the hotel is on Thursday. I might be harder to reach that day. But Wednesday afternoon, Friday, and Saturday between events? I’ll be lurking, dorkily.

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Quarterly (NON) update!

No news! I’m writing, of course. I’m working on a couple of things, though the one I’m most excited about is the barbarians that I hope to have news about by this summer, one way or another. Probably about the time I finish the facelift for the Milla Vane site, which has been fun to design. My first try looked WAY too much like 300 but I’m happier with the direction of the second design (inspiration photo in upper right hand side — that’s an awesome painting by Maciej Kuciara.)

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Hmm, what else? Let’s see. I’m addicted to Harlequin comics. Manga x Harlequin Presents = Meljean has no self control. 

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I’m still making covers on the side because it is a nice thing for my brain. New covers include Jockblocked for Jen Frederick and a sci-fi cover for Jessica Clare/Jessica Sims/Jill Myles’s mom, Noelle Sinclair — Worlds Apart. That was pretty fun and the dude is green. And I made a few others that will pop up here and there, but they haven’t had their cover debut yet, so I’ll add them to the cover page at some future point.

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And I’m listening to Air Supply lately. Because of course I am.

I loved Deadpool, forgot to go see Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, kind of stopped watching Jane the Virgin (although I love it just as much and think it’s so clever and well-done, I just don’t think I can do the long long long nothing is ever resolved serial storyline that’s building), haven’t seen the last X-Files episode because I’m afraid it’s as terrible as everyone says, plan to binge-watch the last few episodes of Agent Carter all at once, and really can’t wait for Daredevil to return to Netflix.

Elektra!

So TL;DR version: I’m writing. Some of it is coming together (yay!) No Blacksmith yet, though. The rest of the time I spend working on Photoshop and bingeing on cheesy entertainment.

 

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2015 Wrap Up: Still alive! Still no updates! And Happy Holidays + Star Wars Day!

I was reminded to update the blog to let you all know what’s going on. Sometimes I forget (mostly because I check in on Facebook and Twitter now and then, but forget about the website because it’s not as interactive.) Right now I’m working, trying to avoid all Star Wars spoilers (I have a ticket for Friday morning, yay!)

Anyway. 2015 was an odd year for me. Although I’ve been writing pretty much every day, it was the first year I haven’t had a release as Meljean Brook since I began publishing. I realized the other day (while giving the therapist at my chiropractor’s office a stack of my books) that it’s been ten years exactly since I finished writing DEMON ANGEL. Yay. Anniversaries are fun. I didn’t expect to have a barren year only ten years after finishing my first novel.

But there’s a lot of crap that happened personally (I’m healthy, my daughter and husband are healthy, but unfortunately not everyone we love got through 2015 unscathed, and that has kind of a snowballing effect on writing time) and professionally things kind of sucked (the BLACKSMITH would *not* pull together, and I had to reboot) this year, so, hey — I got through it, and that’s good. I’ve learned lots of things, like How To Prepare a Pump for Someone with a Feeding Tube! Someday I’ll appreciate that and a killer will strangle someone with a feeding tube and my heroine will have to figure out who that killer is.

So, that’s all a very long and whiney way to say: I don’t have any news for you guys on the release front yet.

But I suppose I can do an end of the year wrap up, huh? Those are fun.

FAVORITE MOVIE: MAD MAX: FURY ROAD.

I don’t care how good Star Wars might be. Nothing is going to knock this off the pedestal.

FAVORITE BOOK: The barbarian book I’m working on.

haha, that was mean! No, really. I think for romance it is probably: EVERYTHING I LEFT UNSAID by M. O’Keefe (this is part one of a two-part story, but the second book is just as good, though I loved the first book the more of the two). Just really lovely. For horror, BIRD BOX by Josh Malarian.

I read others that I really loved, but they were my friends’ books, and that’s always weird. And I like Molly O’Keefe and maybe she would be my friend! But I only met her once so that doesn’t count.

FAVORITE OTHER THING: Hello Fresh meal delivery service.

So, here’s the thing about me.

I’m not a good cook.
I’m not organized.
I spend WAY too much at the grocery store for those reasons.

Both of those things add up to: Meljean usually makes dinner by running to the store just before she has to make it, where she picks up ingredients for either a) tacos, b) spaghetti, c) gyros, because I can grab all the veggies out of the New Seasons’ salad bar instead of, you know, chopping that shit up by hand, and they have great lamb gyro sausage patties that I can break up in the pan, d) Rice a Roni and boneless, skinless chicken breasts that I toss into the oven and forget about until the point where they will break your teeth when you bite into them, and e) … tacos again.

I also end up spending a ton of extra money because of the aforementioned rush to the store. It doesn’t make sense, because the stuff I’m making is relatively cheap, right? But what happens is that I grab stuff when I’m at the store EVERY DAY, too much stuff, forget to make it, a lot of food goes to waste, and blah blah.

So one day when I was lamenting my terrible cooking skills (I tried to make fish tacos for a change and pretty much made myself throw up when I saw the way the cod looked as I was cooking it), Anne Victory mentioned Hello Fresh. They send pre-portioned ingredients for their meals, which come in a nice variety. I have to chop all of the vegetables and cook the meals, but they only take about 30-45 minutes, and they are pretty easy to prepare and the recipes are easy to follow.

I found out that I really like parsnips. I’d never had them before, but it’s like a carrot mated with a potato and came out with some really great weird vegetable. Who knew?

I also like cooking a lot more, I’ve discovered, when the end result doesn’t taste like ass.

Anyway, I started with the three-times-a-week, two-person version and then upgraded to the four-person subscription, because that allows me to stick leftovers into my husband’s lunch (and sometimes there’s enough for dinner the next day, which means, yay! Less cooking.)

But the best part is that, because I’m not running to the store every day, I’m saving money on groceries overall. One day I might get my act together and get better about making lists and only getting what I need for the week, but until then, this has been really great for me.

(If you want to try it, I think I have a referral code around here somewhere, and you get $40 off a box. I can post that in the comments. OH WAIT! here it is.)

And that’s all!

 

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Not much of an update!

So I’ve gotten a couple of emails that are basically: Are you alive? Any news yet? Can you tell us what you’re working on?

Answers: Yes! Not really, boo. I can’t yet.

I am working and writing every day, but at this point, I’m trying not to jinx myself or do anything stupid like get ahead of myself and announce something that doesn’t work out, because there’s something really … creatively freeing … about working on something without any pressure behind it (as much as writing can ever be “without pressure”) and no expectations, either.

I do have a couple of other things that I’m still working on when I can (Into the Light, still trying to figure out Scarsdale’s story, and THE BLACKSMITH!!!) but I’m letting my brain take a break until that comes together.

So when I have something, I’ll announce it when it’s ready to go (either as Meljean Brook or Milla Vane.) I’ll drop it like Beyonce or something.

*I guess I can blog more? The only thing I do, though, is rant about Fear the Walking Dead.

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On mega-disasters and death tolls (and the Rock)

If I could say one thing to every movie maker telling a story about a mega-disaster, it would be this: don’t put all of your emotional eggs in one small basket.

I love disaster flicks, I love the Rock, so of course I went to see San Andreas.

I still love disaster flicks, I still love the Rock. I didn’t love San Andreas, and here’s the reason why: too many people died and there weren’t enough people (with names) who got into danger and lived.

For those of you who haven’t seen this movie [SPOILERS] the basic premise is that, a few years before the movie starts, Ray (who is part of a search & rescue team) lost one of his daughters while whitewater rafting. He and his wife (Emma) split up, although Ray maintains a good relationship with his daughter, Blake.

Time moves on, Emma serves Ray divorce papers and plans to move in with another man, and the guy seems decent enough until the quakes start (and he proves himself a coward.) Ray saves Emma from a building in L.A., and while they make their way up to San Francisco, they talk about their relationship and how Ray couldn’t forgive himself after his daughter drowned. Then they make it to S.F.,  a tsunami comes and his daughter almost drowns, but Ray saves her with CPR. (And again, I love the Rock, but Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio did it much better in The Abyss (“You bitch, you never gave up on anything in your life now fight fight FIGHT!!!!”))

Then the American flag unfurls over the ruins of the Golden Gate Bridge and Ray says, “Now we rebuild.”

…and I’m thinking that this movie is SUCH a disappointment.

As I’m watching the buildings fall and the tsunami come, as I’m watching millions of people die…I’m really supposed to care that Ray and his wife’s problems? I’m really supposed to care that while people are being crushed and drowned, that they’re finding their way back to each other?

And it’s not as if this can’t work well in a movie like this. Remember Jeff Goldblum and Margaret Colin (David & Constance) in Independence Day? They had the same setup: an estranged couple who find their way back to each other over the course of the movie. But it worked there. And it worked there for two reasons:

1) It was communicated through little touches and brief exchanges. There were little touches in San Andreas, but there were also long conversations about their feelings and the past. And it’s simply too much to ask an audience to care THAT MUCH about something that happened years ago — and the guilt the main character feels now — in a movie that always needs to be moving forward.

2) There weren’t any heartfelt conversations going on while PEOPLE WERE DYING. Oh my god, Ray and Emma are talking about their problems from the safety of an airplane and on the ground everything’s burning and exploding but they don’t even talk about how fucking horrible it is. No. Let’s talk about our feelings.

No no no no no no no no. I’m starting to HATE these characters by then. Because although on a visceral level, I totally understand the need to go save your daughter (I sure as hell wouldn’t be thinking of anyone else) the girl in the movie is not MY daughter and when so many people are dying — when the numbers are that freaking staggering and we’re seeing it all close up — focusing the entire movie on saving one person just isn’t enough. IT’S NOT ENOUGH*.

Independence Day knew that. That’s why when the movie is killing off millions and millions of people, it gave us a huge cast to care about. It gave us people from all different walks of life. We didn’t just have one family to care about making it through, we had four different core families to care about.

The latest Superman didn’t know that. And, okay, there were more problems with the mega disaster at the end of Man of Steel than just the number of people dying (like that he is a superhero that should have done everything possible to move the fight outside of the city and save them) but that seeing the small crew at the Daily Planet survive the carnage just wasn’t enough. It didn’t feel like much of a victory for Superman at the end because, sure, he saved the planet. But all of those people died when he was fighting Zod. And not just a few people, but buildings and buildings and buildings full of people. Seeing Kal-El defeat Zod isn’t enough after that. It just isn’t.

So to film makers out there, I would make this plea: if you are going to kill that many people, either give us a lot of people to care about so that seeing a couple of happy endings helps mitigate the absolute horror of millions of people dying and so that it actually feels like a new beginning and enough to build on, or keep your disaster small. Titanic, anyone? It focused on a few main characters. It worked, even though many people died.

Not millions.

*It could be enough if the one character that needs saving will save everyone else in return. But that’s it.

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Scheduling Update #2 (Spoilers: Not an Awesome Update.)

A.B. Stormalong battles a giant octopus.

This sucks, but I’m tabling the Blacksmith for a little while. I’ve been fighting with the book for months — I like all of the little parts but the little parts aren’t coming together. So that means I’m just going to put it aside until I figure out what’s going wrong, instead of smashing my head into a wall day after day.

I’m not canceling it. I want to tell this story. I just don’t want to end up putting out something crappy and forced. It’s probably going to be the last Iron Seas novel, so I want it to be awesome. Right now, it’s not awesome.

What am I doing instead? I’m not sure yet. I suspect my brain just needs a reboot. I’ll be writing (can’t stop writing) and I might poke at Milla Vane, or poke at Into the Light, or maybe something new. Probably no steampunk for a little while until I wrap my head around the Blacksmith’s problem.

It’ll come! Just not right away, unfortunately.

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DABWAHA Giveaways! (All Contests Closed)

One of the best things about DABWAHA (voting is here!) is discovering new authors and books. There are often some awesome romances featured that I’ve heard very little about (or that I forgot about by the time I went to the bookstore.) I also often discover that the authors themselves are pretty freaking awesome and fun, too.

So throughout the contest I’m going to give away books that The Kraken King goes up against. With each round TKK goes through, I’ll give away five copies of its opponent. (That means come back during each round and enter a new contest! I’ll keep this as a sticky post at the top of the blog.)

Each contest will have a different ending date, depending on when it began/when the voting took place. Please remember to return to see if you’ve won. I’ll have instructions for you to follow to claim your prize (which will be either an ebook or print copy of the book in question.) THE CONTEST IS OPEN TO INTERNATIONAL READERS but if you are an international reader, you might only have the option of receiving a print copy. That will be dependent upon geo-restrictions.

To Enter:

Use the Rafflecopter widgets to enter and don’t forget to leave a comment on the blog! You can pretty much say anything you like.

 

Enter Here for Triple Threat

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Is your name listed in the Rafflecopter widget?

Congratulations! You’ve won!

To receive your prize, please go here and fill out the form. If you have won/prefer an ebook, please make sure that you let me know a) which bookstore you’d like to receive your gift from and b) which email address to send the ebook to. You don not have to fill out your physical postal mailing address if you are receiving an ebook, just your email address.

If you are receiving a print book, simply fill out the address form as usual.

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Sabotage…and Seduction! 

The Playwright It’s emerging playwright Holly Nelson’s big break. Broadway. Having survived her traumatic marriage and divorce, Holly is now aiming for success, not love. And any naughty dreams about Nick Damone—the gorgeously dishy star who was her crush back in high school—must remain a fantasy. 

The Star For Nick, Broadway is a chance to go from big-screen eye candy to serious actor, and to explore the lust blazing between him and Holly. But life-threatening accidents will force a chain of events that could bring down the curtain on the whole production…or give Nick and Holly a chance to finish the sexy something that started fifteen years ago!

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Enter Here for Beauty and the Mustache

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Is your name listed in the Rafflecopter widget?

Congratulations! You’ve won!

To receive your prize, please go here and fill out the form. If you have won/prefer an ebook, please make sure that you let me know a) which bookstore you’d like to receive your gift from and b) which email address to send the ebook to. You don not have to fill out your physical postal mailing address if you are receiving an ebook, just your email address.

If you are receiving a print book, simply fill out the address form as usual.

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This is a full-length novel, can be read as a standalone, and is the fourth book in the ‘Knitting in the City’ series.

There are three things you need to know about Ashley Winston: 1) She has six brothers and they all have beards, 2) She is a reader, and 3) She knows how to knit.

Former beauty queen, Ashley Winston’s preferred coping strategy is escapism. She escaped her Tennessee small town, loathsome father, and six brothers eight years ago. Now she escapes life daily via her Amazon kindle one-click addiction. However, when a family tragedy forces her to return home, Ashley can’t escape the notice of Drew Runous— local Game Warden, bear wrestler, philosopher, and everyone’s favorite guy. Drew’s irksome philosophizing in particular makes Ashley want to run for the skyscrapers, especially since he can’t seem to keep his exasperating opinions— or his soulful poetry, steadfast support, and delightful hands— to himself. Pretty soon the girl who wanted nothing more than the escape of the big city finds she’s lost her heart in small town Tennessee.

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Enter Here for Fair Play

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Is your name listed in the Rafflecopter widget?

Congratulations! You’ve won!

To receive your prize, please go here and fill out the form. If you have won/prefer an ebook, please make sure that you let me know a) which bookstore you’d like to receive your gift from and b) which email address to send the ebook to. You don not have to fill out your physical postal mailing address if you are receiving an ebook, just your email address.

If you are receiving a print book, simply fill out the address form as usual.

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Fifty years ago, Roland Mills belonged to a violent activist group. Now, someone is willing to kill to prevent him from publishing his memoirs.

When ex-FBI agent Elliot Mills is called out to examine the charred ruins of his childhood home, he quickly identifies the fire for what it is—arson. A knee injury may have forced Elliot out of the Bureau, but it’s not going to stop him from bringing the man who wants his father dead to justice.

Agent Tucker Lance is still working to find the serial killer who’s obsessed with Elliot and can’t bear the thought of his lover putting himself in additional danger. Straightlaced Tucker has never agreed with radical Roland on much—”opposing political viewpoints” is an understatement—but they’re united on this: Elliot needs to leave the case alone. Now.

Tucker would do nearly anything for the man he loves, but he won’t be used to gain Elliot access to the FBI’s resources. When the past comes back to play and everything both men had known to be true is questioned, their fragile relationship is left hanging in the balance.

See how Tucker and Elliot’s relationship began in Fair Game

68,000 words

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Enter Here for It Happened One Wedding

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Is your name listed in the Rafflecopter widget?

Congratulations! You’ve won!

To receive your prize, please go here and fill out the form. If you have won/prefer an ebook, please make sure that you let me know a) which bookstore you’d like to receive your gift from and b) which email address to send the ebook to. You don not have to fill out your physical postal mailing address if you are receiving an ebook, just your email address.

If you are receiving a print book, simply fill out the address form as usual.

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SHE KNOWS BETTER THAN TO SAY “I DO”
After a humiliating end to her engagement, investment banker Sidney Sinclair is done with commitment-phobic men. But when her sister winds up engaged after a whirlwind courtship, Sidney is thrown into close contact with exactly the kind of sexy playboy she wants to avoid—the gorgeous best man. She’s stuck with him, for better or worse, until her sister walks down the aisle, but that doesn’t mean she has to give in to his smooth advances, no matter how tempting they are…
BUT HE MAKES IT HARD TO SAY “I DON’T”
Special agent Vaughn Roberts always gets his man on the job and his woman in bed. So Sidney’s refusal to fall for his charms only makes him more determined to win over the cool and confident redhead. Only what starts out as a battle of wills ends up as a serious play for her heart. Because the one woman who refuses to be caught may be the only one Vaughn can’t live without…

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The Fine Print and Stuff

For each contest, five winners will be selected using Rafflecopter’s selection application. Only one entry per ISP address per each giveaway. The contest is open to international readers but international readers might not receive an ebook depending upon gifting options and geo-restrictions. No purchase necessary to enter. Odds of winning depend on number of entries received. Void where prohibited.

Deadlines: Each contest will end according to the date on the Rafflecopter widget. 

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