Camy Tang's Blog, page 98

Review: Evernight

Evernight by Kristen Callihan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This is my first book by this author and I was really impressed with the complexity of the story world. In a way, it reminded me of contemporary urban paranormal romance like Sherrilyn Kenyon, but steampunk, which for me was not a bad thing at all.

The hero, Will, was totally hot and very sympathetic. He had a great backstory that made me like him right away.

The secondary characters were numerous but interesting, and their subplot threads wove neatly into the main storyline. The plot also had a lot of twists that kept me guessing.

My only problem with this book is that the heroine didn't really resonate with me. I'm not sure exactly why, and it might just be me. My recommendation would be to try this book out yourself to see how you like the heroine.

There's a lot of very hot sex which is a little more graphic than, say, a Harlequin Blaze. It didn't bother me, but I thought I ought to mention that for any reader who might want to know.

Overall, an entertaining steampunk novel.



View all my reviews

SUSHI FOR ONE: Original chapter 8

I found this yesterday and had completely forgotten about this. I had originally plotted a different set of dates for Lex in Sushi for One and one of them was Duane the Dweeb. He got combined with/switched to George in a later revision, and I rewrote their date scene, but I found the original scene tucked away in my computer.

For those of you who haven’t read Sushi for One, don’t worry, this won’t ruin the book for you. For those of you who have read it, you’ll hopefully get a chuckle over some jokes I didn’t include in the chapter 8 that’s in the book.

I’m also giving away the last of my author copies of Sushi for One over at Goodreads! Click here to enter (you must belong to Goodreads to enter). Ends September 20th.

All she wanted to do was dump him.

Lex Sakai glanced at the Mark Dacascos look-alike sitting across the table from her, pasted a long-suffering smile on her lips, and felt her lipstick crack right down the center of her bottom lip. She couldn't believe she'd made the effort to dig out her makeup and paint it on for this dork.

"Oh, Duane, you crack me up." She couldn't fake a convincing giggle, but she tittered credibly.

Duane had seemed like such a nice guy when her brother Richard brought him to family dinner a few weeks ago. Well, nice and drop-dead gorgeous with that long, lean face, sharp eyes and rock-hard body.

The end of date number two decided it for her. She shouldn't have answered "Yes" when he asked to kiss her goodnight, but who knew his hands would grow to the size of baseball mitts and play catch with her fanny?

She was rarely at a loss for words. She'd never been "speechless with fury" and had thought it was a silly expression. But every scathing thing her brain thought stuck in her throat and she could only stand there choking while he walked away.

Tonight would be her revenge.

Earlier that evening, she called him. "Duane, I'm running late here at work. Can I meet you at the restaurant?"

"Sure, I made reservations for seven o'clock at Crustaceans. On Santana Row, across from Valley Fair shopping mall?"

He knew she grew up here in the San Francisco bay area, but treated her as if she could get lost in her own house. She swallowed a growl. "Great, I'll meet you there."

As a result, her escape vehicle lay ready in the parking lot.

She had crammed her wallet under the front seat to hide it. Then she put on her game face and prepared to cajole and charm him. When the bill came, she would feign shock that her wallet was missing. "Could you pay for me? I'll pay you back."

Then once they left the building: "Duane, sweetie, kiss off."

It was the perfect plan.

Granted, it wasn't the most honest scheme. Okay, so it was downright dirty.

But his tickling fingers had made her feel filthy. That was a good enough reason for her.

She laughed at Duane's inane joke about fruit flies and ignored the twinge to her conscience. God wouldn't want her to repay evil for evil. To harbor unforgiveness.

To shaft the raunchy lecher for taking liberties. She would relish the look on his face...

He droned on about more fruit fly trivia. She clenched her teeth to keep her jaws from yawning wide.

Wait a minute, did he say what she thought he said?

No, no, no. She hadn't been paying attention. Maybe she was hearing things. There wasn't a sexual innuendo in his comment about a fruit fly's--

Duane flashed a million-dollar smile. A knowing twinkle blipped from his eye.

Lex's jaw plunked open like a big-mouthed bass, but she couldn't make it close. She probably had the same wide, glassy-eyed look as a stuffed fish.

"Excuse me?" She sounded like a toad with pneumonia.

"Don't tell me you've never heard about it? Fruit flies..."

Listening to it the second time made it sound even more lewd. She'd love to connect her pointed-toed mules into a certain part of his anatomy. They were killing her feet anyway.

She managed a strained smile. "How do you know all these things? You must be so smart." Oh, gag me. "Do you read a lot? Have you read the bestseller by that Asian author, Long Duck Ding?"

"No, my sister did..."

Diversionary operation successful.

While he regurgitated his sister's thoughts about the controversial novel, Lex's mind wandered. Maybe she'd just bag the plan and tell him off now. Why waste her whole evening?

She jumped when she felt a rasping movement against her pantyhose-clad calf.

Unless this seafood restaurant happened to own snakes that slithered up guests' legs, Duane was just asking to get decked. With a two-by-four. Or maybe the baseball bat she kept in her trunk.

The waitress' approach saved his life.

"I'll have the crab wonton appetizer, caesar salad, and the garlic roasted crab with garlic noodles."

Hm, at least he had good taste in food. "I'll have the same." Lex handed her oversized menu to the waitress.

"So, Lex." Duane leaned his elbows on the table, causing it to rock toward him. Lex rescued the candle before it tipped.

"So, Duane."

"I'm glad we're having dinner tonight." His smile glowed golden in the romantic lighting.

"Me too."

"This is my favorite restaurant."

"Yeah, I like it too."

"But, you know, this just isn't working."

She did a double-take. "What?"

"You know, us." His bright smile didn't even falter.

No way. This wasn't happening. She began to wish she'd let the candle drip into his lap.

Maybe she misunderstood. "Uh...what do you mean?"

"You're a nice girl and all, but I only asked you out because of your brother."

The room darkened. A blood-red haze blurred his face in her vision. "Did Richard tell you to do this?" She could barely spit the words past her gritted teeth.

"No, but I thought it would make him happy. Seeing as how you're still single."

She spoke as slow and measured as a speech therapist. "And-what-is-that-supposed-to-mean?"

He finally seemed to understand the danger of his situation. "Well...I uh...thought you might be lone--I mean, bored. Want a little fun. A little flirting." He winked. "A few nice dinners."

She couldn't speak.

The idiot kept talking. "Richard always seems to be going out, enjoying himself. Lots of pretty girls, parties. Thought you might like a taste." He beamed at her in friendliness mingled with condescension.

She wondered how she could dispose of his body.

Okay, she already knew Duane's loser status. But the smarter thing to do would have been to wait until after dinner to give her the heave-ho. They hadn't even gotten their appetizers. Now the entire evening would be uncomfortable. Dodo-head.

She could walk out. She had been contemplating it only a moment ago. Breathe fresh air, clear her head, shake the dust from her shoes.

Or she could endure the evening and stick him with the bill. This place didn't exactly have McDonalds' prices.

Escape or revenge?

Freedom or suffering?

Peanut butter sandwiches or garlic roasted crab?

The waitress swept by with a steaming plate. Rich, briny crab, nutty brown butter. Her stomach growled.

"Let's just finish dinner and part friends." Granted, it came out sounding a bit strangled, but Duane smiled and tucked his napkin into his shirt collar.

The crab wontons arrived nestled in a butter lettuce leaf, blonde deep-fried dumplings. As she pierced one with her fork, its bubbled surface flaked pastry onto the stainless steel tines. The outer shell crunched against her teeth while the satiny, cheesy filling melted on her tongue. A ribbon of sweetness from the fresh crab lingered in her mouth.

Duane ate a wonton with relish. "I had a girlfriend who could make these."

Lex bit her tongue. The pain made her start and drop her fork with a clatter against the porcelain plate.

Had no one explained to him that praising past women while on a date was like heckling the enemy football team?

Her next wonton didn't taste quite so divine.

He looked like he would expound on the master-chef girlfriend as soon as he finished chewing. She needed a tangent. "Do you cook?"

"I make a jambalaya that women swoon over..."

Could the man ever say something that didn't involve other females? She listened with half an ear to his masterful feats of culinary genius.

The caesar salad arrived, aromatic with garlic, studded with caramel-colored anchovies. The crisp lettuce popped in her mouth with freshness. The perfect balance for the wontons, and a way to ready her palate for the crab to come. The dressing sizzled with flavor.

Speaking of cooking, she had heard caesar dressing was easy to make. She should learn how, since she ate a salad once a day as part of her fitness program. She wasn't anal about her diet--hence the heart-attack dinner tonight--but she usually ate and exercised to keep herself in prime condition for her competitive volleyball leagues.

Duane also kept himself in great shape. One of only a handful of things they had in common.

He cut an anchovy. "Salads are a great way to lose weight."

That was random. "Um-hm."

"But you need exercise, too. Increase muscle mass, increase metabolism."

Where in the world was he going with this? "How often do you work out?"

"Three times a week minimum, but I usually try to make it more often."

"Do you play sports?"

"I'm taking kickboxing right now. You should try it, it's fun."

She'd seen a boxing match once with her cousin Justin, and the guy getting pummeled looked like a raw tri-tip roast. She knew kickboxing was different, but...no thank you. "Maybe, sure."

"It's great exercise. You'd tone your body a bit."

Uneasiness and suspicion caused a prickling at the back of her eyeballs and a humming along her jaw. "What do you mean?"

He flashed a smile that would charm the knife away from a serial killer. "You'd fit your clothes better and feel great about yourself."

Lex didn't say anything for a long time. A weird emotionless feeling had descended on her. She blinked, wondering what her reaction should be.

Gee, I ran five miles yesterday, and the day before that I did lateral movement drills in the sand. Not enough toning?

You know, I didn't care much for sparring sports, but you're making me rethink that.

My life has been completely changed by your sensitive insight into my weight and self-esteem.

She looked down at herself. She valued comfort over fashion, but she never thought her clothes made her an eyesore. Both her pleated khaki slacks and her tucked-in chambray shirt had ballooned out from her waistband when she sat down. She had believed looser fitting tops hid her salt-cellar boobs, but maybe it hid more than that.

She also knew that her bone structure wasn't exactly delicate. Her wide-enough-to-birth-a-ten-pound-baby hips always made her stand out from her petite, size-zero-jeans cousins.

Wait a minute, what was she doing? She'd let his comments make her doubt herself. If he didn't think any girl over one hundred pounds was "fit," she'd show up puny Mr. Three-times-a-week...

He must have charmed the waitress, too, because she appeared once more and saved him from excruciating humiliation. She whisked away the salad plates and presented the crab with a flourish.

Hot, pungent aromas steamed Lex's face as she leaned over the plate for a long, ecstatic breath. An exotic mix of spices melded with the warm richness of browned butter. The crabs had probably been caught this morning, because only a whiff of brine reached her nose. Her mouth watered.

She lifted the top shell and a sweet tang of the sea seduced her senses. She picked out a forkful of feathery meat and took a bite.

She magnanimously forgave Duane for his unmannerly mouth. He was the reason she sat here in pure bliss.

He nattered on about fat cells, he checked out the mini-skirt on the woman sitting at the next table, and she thought he called her Alicia once.

He could call her Big Bird for all she cared. If she was Hindu she would have reached nirvana.

"Hiya Lex!"

She plummeted straight into hell.

Her cousin Mimi posed beside their table. Her sleek black dress revealed every curve of her tiny, four-feet-eight-and-three-quarter-inch body, while her perky C-cups squished under the low, tight scoop neckline. She flashed perfect white teeth framed by lipstick that screamed "Red Light District."

"How nice to see you here, Lex." Mimi tossed her signature ponytail of shimmering ankle-length hair. Lex had to crush her napkin to keep from grabbing it and yanking.

Mimi promptly ignored her, as usual. She sidled up to Duane. "Hi, I'm Mimi, Lex's cousin."

He seemed dazed by the jiggling mounds waving in his face. "Duane."

Her mesmerizing, half-lidded onyx eyes drew close to him. "You seem familiar. Have we met before?"

Wait a cotton-pickin-minute. What was Mimi doing? If the two-hundred-pound hunk of steroid-built muscle glaring at them from across the room was any indication, Mimi already had a tidy armful. Why go after Lex's measley lamb? She sat forgotten on the other end of the table, feeling like a lump on a couch watching a bad soap opera.

Duane lived up to her abysmal expectations with a delighted smile. "I promise, I wouldn't have forgotten you if we had."

Mimi flashed a mouthful of blinding pearly whites. "Are you sure? I could have sworn I saw you at a naked coed Ultimate Frisbee game."

His answering look smoldered with wicked glee. "Oh, darling, I would only flaunt this body for a private audience."

Lex tried not to gag. A gurgle escaped. After Duane's toning statements, he wasn't exactly on Lex's favorite people list, but she expected at least some semblance of consideration while she remained within reasonable distance. Like three feet away across the dinner table.

Mimi gave her a sly sidelong look. Can't keep your date's attention, Lex?

Heat rushed into Lex's face like her head had been stuck in an oven. Her chest tightened in pain, and her lungs felt punctured. She gasped for a breath that burned down her throat.

Barbie-doll Mimi always made her feel masculine, awkward, and neanderthal-ish. She hunched her shoulders, trying to shrink within her clothes, make herself smaller, more delicate, more feminine.

"Oh!" Mimi's graceful hand touched her shell-shaped ear. "Where's my earring?" She bent to search the floor, affording a generous view down her dress.

Duane paused a moment to stare down at her like a predatory wolf. Then he scooted his chair back and bent to peer at the patterned carpet.

When his head fell at level with hers, Mimi lifted her chin at him. He also tilted toward her.

She smiled a slow, sensual bedroom smile, as if daring him to move the scant inches between them and press his lips to hers.

Duane drooled.

A spasm squeezed through Lex's chest. She felt both ignored and spotlighted at the same time. Shut out by the two lovebirds exchanging heated glances. Laughed at by everyone else in the restaurant who witnessed the poor plain Jane losing her handsome escort in front of her eyes.

Mimi rose languidly to her feet. A business card appeared between two fingers. Where had that come from? Her bosom? As she tilted it toward Duane, he plucked it from her without breaking eye contact.

She dragged a seemingly innocent finger down her neck in an unselfconscious gesture. "It was nice meeting you, Duane."

"The pleasure was all mine."

Mimi's eyes flickered to Lex. "How do you two know each other?"

Oh no. Lex's whole body tensed like an olympic weight lifter attacking the winning barbell. Her heart, which had stopped beating only a moment ago, suddenly slammed into overdrive. Her hands gripped the edge of the table.

Her eyes zapped laserbeams at an oblivious Duane. Her tongue felt thick and swollen. A short croak shot out of her throat, but it was too late.

"Me and Lex? Oh, her brother set us up."

Lex felt like a leaking tire. Breath escaped from her open mouth and her chest cavity deflated.

Mimi knew.

She'd tell everyone.

Lex would never live this down.

She closed her eyes to block out the sight of Mimi's sparkling gaze and surprised, mocking expression. In her world of warm darkness, Mimi's high, trilling voice cut through.

"Oh reeeeeally?" A giggle. "Well next time, I'll be sure to take advantage of Richard's dating service."

Lex's eyes flew open. She needed to salvage her pride behind some white-hot anger. "Stow it, Skipper."

Mimi's smile hardened. The nickname--Barbie-doll's adolescent niece--reminded her of her one sore spot, her child-like height. No amount of push-up bras and scanty clothing could make her look taller than an elementary school student.

Lex tilted her head toward the far table. "Now be a good girl and go home to Papa."

Mimi turned to Duane and leaned her face in close. "I hope I see you sometime?"

He gave a confident movie-star impression. "You just might."

She sashayed away.

Lex regarded Duane with a neutral face and burning eyes. His smile faltered.

Over his shoulder, she spotted the waitress approaching. She snapped up a hand.

"I need a box." Lex glanced at Duane's untouched crab. He'd been too busy spewing out pheromones. "He will, too."

The waitress nodded and hurried away.

Duane blinked in astonishment. Then he reasserted his radiant charm. "You didn't like the crab?"

"I'm not hungry."

He seemed oblivious to her clipped tone. "That's good. For you, lower calorie intake will definitely--"

She couldn't believe him. "Do yourself a favor and please stop talking."

He halted mid-sentence, his mouth open. He flashed more teeth at her. "Ah...Lex, your brother and I are good friends."

Another lowering suspicion shot tension down her spine. "And?"

"You see him pretty often, right?"

She pressed her mouth together and regarded him with a narrowed gaze.

"Would you mind asking him to pay you back for my half of tonight's dinner? I, uh...I'm out of cash..."

© 2014 Camy Tang

Cover for TREACHEROUS INTENT

I just turned in book #6 in my Sonoma series, GONE MISSING, which will be out in May 2015, but I also just got the cover art for book #5, TREACHEROUS INTENT! Isn’t it neat?

In the book, the hero and heroine, Liam and Elisabeth, head to a town called Penny Bay, which I based off of Mendocino, California, one of my favorite towns to visit. Mendocino has a beautiful lighthouse on the edge of the cliff. So of course, I write about it in my book with lots of bad guys with guns. :)

(Also in TREACHEROUS INTENT, readers will meet Joslyn, who has her own story in GONE MISSING next year. :)

TREACHEROUS INTENT releases this December!

Terralton Abbey from PRELUDE FOR A LORD

When I wrote Prelude for a Lord, I admit I put Lord Dommick’s home in there deliberately.

I had visited Newstead Abbey in Nottingham, England, and fell in LOVE, and I knew I wanted to have that house and grounds in my book somehow. So when coming up with Dommick’s character and family, I modeled his family seat, Terralton Abbey, after Newstead Abbey, which was the home of the poet Lord Byron.

This is the front of the house, including the circular driveway that Dommick drives up to. I placed the front door a little differently but essentially Terralton Abbey looks the same.



Here is what the front of the house looked like in 1880:


This is the back of the house with one of its lovely gardens:


Here is the square pool and woody lawn area where Alethea plays with Margaret:



And here is the lovely river bank and grotto where Alethea and Dommick kiss:



Sigh! I wish I could go back there again!

Stay tuned for a big PRELUDE FOR A LORD giveaway sometime in mid to late September! If you’ve already bought the book, there will be lots of cool goodies!

A sneak peek at GONE MISSING

I'm working on my romantic suspense manuscript, GONE MISSING, which will be out with Love Inspired Suspense in May next year. Thought I'd post this sneak peek!

The heroine in this story is Joslyn, and this is from the point of view of Clay, the hero.

He looked over at her. She was finally asleep, her head leaning against the window. She looked soft and vulnerable, not like the woman who’d pulled a gun, ready to fire at the two thugs after them and all the Mexican gang members in that parking lot. She’d been scared, but she’d been ready to do what she had to in order to protect them.

If he’d had a normal life and a normal past, he wouldn’t mind getting to know her, all facets of her personality, from her vulnerable side, to the woman with a conceal and carry license, to the woman who had been hurt in her past.

But he didn’t have a normal life—he’d worked for a mob family. He’d done terrible things that he couldn’t undo. He’d gone to prison. He’d even chased away the only person who loved him, his half-sister. He wasn’t someone Joslyn ought to know.

Which was why he hadn’t kissed her, even though everything inside of him wanted to. In everything in his life, he protected people—sometimes the wrong people, like the mob family he’d worked for—but it was what he was best at. And so he knew that in order to protect Joslyn, he had to stay far away from her. There were too many things in his past that would horrify her.

The heroine, Joslyn, is a minor character in my December release, TREACHEROUS INTENT! You can preorder now!

New Christian Regency romance from Camy

Yes, you read that right! I have a Christian Regency romantic mystery novel releasing … tomorrow? I think? Called Prelude for a Lord , and I’m writing it under a pen name, Camille Elliot. Neat, huh? Here’s the back cover blurb:

An awkward young woman. A haunted young man. A forbidden instrument. Can the love of music bring them together . . . or will it tear them apart?

Bath, England—1810

At twenty-eight, Alethea Sutherton is past her prime for courtship; but social mores have never been her forté. She might be a lady, but she is first and foremost a musician.

In Regency England, however, the violin is considered an inappropriate instrument for a lady. Ostracized by society for her passion, Alethea practices in secret and waits for her chance to flee to the Continent, where she can play without scandal.

But when a thief’s interest in her violin endangers her and her family, Alethea is determined to discover the enigmatic origins of her instrument . . . with the help of the dark, brooding Lord Dommick.

Scarred by war, Dommick finds solace only in playing his violin. He is persuaded to help Alethea, and discovers an entirely new yearning in his soul.

Alethea finds her reluctant heart drawn to Dommick in the sweetest of duets . . . just as the thief’s desperation builds to a tragic crescendo . . .

"This very enjoyable book will appeal to fans of Jane Austen and Linore Rose Burkard." —CBA Retailers + Resources

Camy here: I’m so excited for this book! I wrote it originally on a dare. My editor at Zondervan, Sue Brower, loves Regency romances as much as I do and we’re always talking about Regencies we’re recently read and enjoyed. So on a trip to visit my publishing house in Michigan, she tells me, “I want you to write a Regency romance for your next book.”

I was apprehensive because even though I’ve been reading Regencies since I was thirteen years old and I even read Regency research books just for fun, I never seriously attempted to write one. So I listened to a bunch of Jane Austen novels on audiobook and then dove in to the writing.

My marketing team at Zondervan chose my pen name: Camille since it’s close to Camy and Elliot because my favorite Austen character is Anne Elliot from Persuasion. They wanted to use a pen name because Regency romance is SO different from my normal genres of contemporary romance and contemporary romantic suspense. We didn’t want any readers feeling confused or betrayed if they picked up a “Camy Tang” book but was surprised that it was historical romance, so we decided to print it under a different name entirely. It’s almost like reinventing myself!

Around mid-August, I’m planning a fantastic giveaway here on my blog! I’ll be giving away not only copies of Prelude for a Lord, but also hand-knitted lace scarves made by Moi. :) The knitting patterns are late-Regency, early-Victorian patterns, so they’re almost authentic to my book’s time period. I’m also include Jane Austen tea ordered from the Jane Austen Centre in Bath, and little violin Christmas ornaments, all in keeping with my book’s storyline and setting.

If you belong to my Camy Tang email newsletter, you’ll be sure to hear when the contest goes live! To sign up, go to http://www.camytang.com/ and look for the purple chair. My new CamilleElliot.com website should be up this week, too!

Giveaway - Surprise Box of Christian books

To celebrate the 99 cents sale of our Sealed with a Kiss novella collection, I’ll be giving away THREE Surprise Boxes of Christian Books to three winners! The Surprise boxes will each include non-fiction and fiction, a mix of genres. There’ll be something in there for every taste!

Sealed with a Kiss, 4 novellas by Janet Tronstad, Margaret Daley, Camy Tang, and Lacy Williams now only $0.99 for a limited time! Get yours today! Available on Kindle, Nookbook, Kobo, and iBooks.

To enter the contest:

You must join the Inspy Kisses email newsletter to be eligible for this contest (go to the Inspy Kisses website and look for the form on the right side to sign up for the Inspy Kisses newsletter). Fill out the form below. Be sure to read the rules.

Extra Twitter entries: Get one extra entry per day if you tweet about this giveaway:
Giveaway of Surprise Box of Christian Books! http://is.gd/h7Jq9p @inspykisses
(Be sure to include @inspykisses so we can see your tweet and give you your extra entry.)

Extra Facebook entries: Get one extra entry per day if you share this Facebook post on your own Facebook profile and/or page: https://www.facebook.com/CamyTangAuthor/posts/10152340527732620
(Be sure you share the post at the link above--go to the link and then click "share". Make sure you set the privacy of your share to “public” so we can see that you shared it and give you your extra entry.)

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Camy's Sonoma fictional family tree

I’m over at the Love Inspired Authors blog talking about a new family I’ve introduced to my Sonoma series, the Whelans, and how they’re connected to the Grant sisters from my first 3 Sonoma books! Click here to read the blog post!

Necessary Proof ebook novella now FREE on Nook too!

Free! My romantic suspense novella, Necessary Proof , is free on Kindle, iBooks, Smashwords and Kobo, and now Nook also!

Originally published in First Kisses , a novella anthology with Linda Goodnight, Janet Tronstad, Debra Clopton, Margaret Daley, and Lacy Williams.

After opening his heart to Jesus in prison, Alex Villa has left his criminal past behind him. However, his efforts to take down a gang producing meth in Sonoma have made him a target. Set up to look like he’s being bribed by the gang, the police blame him for the death of a cop. Only the evidence on an encrypted laptop can prove he’s innocent.

Software engineer Jane Lawton has been betrayed by the men closest to her, including a God she thought would protect her. She won’t let Alex down, because she knows what it feels like to be disbelieved and abandoned.

However, the men after them have orders to repossess the evidence and make sure Jane and Alex take their knowledge to the grave. Can they prove Alex’s innocence before time runs out for them both?

** Those of you who have read Formula for Danger will recognize Jane and Alex as minor characters from that book. I was excited to finally be able to write their own love story!

Excerpt:

Jane Lawton nearly dropped her steaming pot of Mac-N-Cheese at the sound of a powerful fist knocking at her apartment door. "Coming!" She spooned the gooey, bad-for-you goodness into a bowl, then ran some water in the pot in the sink.

The urgent knocking sounded again. Somehow it didn't sound like one of her neighbors, wanting Jane's help with a computer problem. She looked through the peephole.

She felt a sharp pulse at the base of her throat. "Alex?" She opened the door.

Normally a walking Calvin Klein ad, he now had a grim, serious cast to his face as he hurriedly entered her apartment with a messenger bag slung across one broad shoulder. "Quick, close the door."

"What's going on?" She locked the deadbolt.

It frightened her that he looked so different now, lacking his usual smile and dimples. "I need your help, Jane."

She couldn't control the bitterness that burned the back of her throat. It seemed that was the only thing she was good for, helping the men in her life so they could leave her and move on. She swallowed and said carefully, "Doing what?"

He pulled a laptop from his messenger bag. "There's information on this that I need, but I'm not sure if there's any type of security protecting it."

"Whoa." Jane took a step back. "You're saying that's not your laptop, and you want me to get into it? What's going on?" She knew he had been in prison for a few years, but she thought he'd put his illegal past behind him.

He scrubbed his hand over his high forehead. "It's not what it looks like."

"That makes it sound even worse."

He exhaled and seemed to study her. His intent, dark eyes made her squirm. She knew she'd changed a lot in the past year. She'd only spoken to him once in all that time, a few months ago at the party celebrating his brother's engagement to Rachel, Jane's second cousin but as close as a sister. After a minute or two of chit-chat, he had been quick to leave her to speak to Detective Carter, which had given her a pang even though she hadn't been in a sociable mood. What a difference from when she and Alex had first met years ago. He had seemed interested in her, but she'd been ...

She shoved the memories aside. "I'm only going to ask this one more time. What's going on?"

"I just ... I can trust you, right?"

"Trust me with what?"

Print book:
You can only buy Necessary Proof in print copy in First Kisses , an Inspy Kisses novella anthology.
Amazon.com

Ebook:
The ebook is free on all sites (including Nook!)
Kindle
Nookbook
iBooks
Kobo
Smashwords


Camy's Sonoma series:

#1: Deadly Intent
#2: Formula for Danger
#3: Stalker in the Shadows
#4: Narrow Escape
#4.1: Necessary Proof
#5: Treacherous Intent (coming December 2014)

How can I pray for you?

I’m so honored that so many of you entrusted your prayer requests to me! I am praying for you! Please be sure to fill out the form below with any updates!

For those of you with prayer requests, I would love to pray for you! I asked God to make me a prayer warrior this year, so how can I pray for you?

Prayer requests can sometimes be private things, so to keep your privacy, I’ve made a form you can fill out that will keep your requests just between you and me. :)

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Free! My romantic suspense novella, Necessary Proof , is free on Kindle, iBooks, Smashwords and Kobo!