Avril Ashton's Blog, page 6

All These Hidden Scars is Live!

Merry Christmas!

It has been a year, has it not?

But you didn’t come here for that. You came for what I promised.

Here it is.

All These Hidden Scars is available now, at Amazon and All Romance. Other etailers will take a minute since it’s the holiday season. I made it good for you. Intended to break your heart to make up for that last book, but as it usually happens, the characters took over.

I’m talking maayybee a drop of angst up in here. I’m talking fucked up Dutch and Patel, Levi and Van. I’m talking even more shit and secrets to uncover and just niceness.

Read the thing.

Cover Art by Jay Aheer

Amazon  All Romance

DASHER is here!

Caught up in writing (rewriting now), and I forgot to post about my latest release.

So DASHER is my super short, MF, reindeer shifter romance from ages ago that’s getting a second wind via Evernight Publishing.

If perchance, you’ve read it before, you don’t have to repurchase. Absolutely nothing has changed save for some punctuation, the cover and publisher.

The cover is below.

As are the buy links.

Should you wanna love up on me.

I see you.

 

Exotic dancer Monroe Calliste recognizes the reindeer shifter eyeing her with open curiosity as she performs on stage. She remembers too well the one night they allowed themselves free reign over each other’s bodies. But he doesn’t recall their tryst, or maybe pretends not to. Either way, Monroe sets out to give him a refresher course.

 

Dasher Petrovic has no memory of the coffee-colored temptress insisting they shared more than their bodies at one time. Monroe’s eyes reflect a mutual burn, but she can’t be right. If he’d spent even a second in her bed, he’d know. His ice melts under Monroe’s fire, but the question remains, what happened to his memory?

 

This is a previously published work. It has been edited for Evernight Publishing.

 

EVERNIGHT AMAZON   ALL ROMANCE   BOOKSTRAND

 

After The End

I typed The End on Hidden Scars last night. And as I posted in my FB Group immediately following, the end is really just the beginning. I said the book will be released in December.

It will.

It just so happens that more work comes after The End. There is a reason I don’t try to set release dates. I can’t predict how much work a book will need. Hidden Scars needs work. A lot. What I’ve done is lay the foundation and the frame of a house.

Now I have to go in and add all the other stuff that makes that house a home.

Basically, it means I have about a week or so of revisions/rewrites. Where I have to figure out where I want to take Loose Ends, how far deep into Dutch’s life I want you to see, how do I set up what comes next in Levi and Van’s book. Who gets to die now and whose death is postponed for later. Shit like that.

LOL I haven’t done that yet.

What I’ve done is give you Sullivan and Carter. I still have to smooth out certain things with regards to them. More background. More explanations for stuff. Make sure they’re set up right. Make sure Sullivan is sufficiently broken, the tears-worthy moments are on point, and that Carter doesn’t come across as weak or any of that.

You know the Sinners make an appearance. I have to make sure there’s a reason for that appearance and that I didn’t just make them pop up in thin air without a good explanation. I hate when that happens in books LOL

I have three of these: [ADD SEX HERE] So I have to literally go and add sex scenes in three different places in the manuscript. Not a hard thing because it’s really easy for me to add sex afterwards. For whatever reason, my sex scenes are hotter after The End.

I have threads hanging. So many loose threads. I have to go through, start to finish, and decide what I want to tie up and what I want to leave hanging for you.

I write this all to say… The End is the beginning for me.

No date yet because I don’t know how long it will take me to do all of that. Then send it to my beta readers. Then fix what they don’t like. Then send it to be edited. Then fix what the editor doesn’t like. Then send it to be proofread. Then fix what the proofreader doesn’t like.

See what I’m saying?

You’ll be the first to know when it’s ready, because even though I’m not sure what the hell is going on at the moment with that bunch of words, I can’t wait for you to read it.

Okay Listen…

 It’s after 11 at night, and I’m writing. And I just wrote Levi. Because you know, like I said (pretty sure I said it), this book will be as much about Levi and Donovan, and Dutch and Patel, as it is about Sullivan and Carter.

So yeah, Levi is on screen here. Talking and stuff. And I can’t handle it. I mean, it’s already fucking with me. I cannot wait for this book to be finished so we can talk about it.

I can’t wait.

This is the reason we have waited and waited and waited…

Hidden Scars is the reason we needed to wait, because I’m literally writing along, tapping them keys all carefree and shit then something drops. A Bomb. A secret (you know how I love those) and it’s like aww shiiit!

I’m tearing up while I type.

See? Tears.

Why do you do this to me?

So yeah.

I give you backstory. Everybody’s backstory. Fuck, girl, I give you every goddamn thing up in this book. And you know, this past week I have been hating this fucking book, because it’s all a jumbled convoluted mass of suck. And I’ve been hating it. Writing, but still hating it, and then the secret creeps up and drops on my head and I’m all…

Aww shizzz, I luh this book!

See what I did there?

Pretty sure I’ll hate it again soon, but stick with me.

I got you.

That First Mistake is here!

Finally! I wanted to read something, so I wrote it. And it’s here, in case you want in as well.

That First Mistake signals my step back into what brought some of you to me: MF romance. So yep, it’s filthy. And it’s fucked up. You can say that when you rate/review

Amazon | All Romance | Evernight Publishing | Bookstrand

Cover Reveal!

I have for your viewing pleasure the cover art for my upcoming M/F release from Evernight Publishing.

 

Cover Art by Jay Aheer

 

BLURB

 

A drunken, late night phone call from his twenty-two year old son has Grant Forena driving hundreds of miles to knock some sense into him. Instead he finds himself butting heads with the most stunning young woman he’s ever seen. McKay Priestly is fierce, strong and captivating in ways Grant never expected. She’s also taken, by his son.

 

Grant blames McKay for his son’s reckless behavior, but something else drives his anger and harsh words. McKay feels the same impossible chemistry. To act on it would be crazy, but ignoring it doesn’t make the ache go away. Any time spent in each other’s company is a mistake, every gaze carries words they wouldn’t dare speak out loud. But restraint can only go so far. Something has to give and when it finally does, it sets off an emotional bomb of heartbreak that began with that very first mistake.

 

 

Release Date is November 24th. It’s not affiliated with any other book. Yet.

About Hidden Scars

I began writing All These Hidden Scars, this month. I hope to finish by the end of November. So I’m doing NaNoWriMo, which (for my readers who aren’t on social media and don’t know) is basically a challenge to write 50k words in 30 days. I’m doing it even though I’m allergic to deadlines and all that shit. I’m doing it because I need to get this book to you with a Mother. Fucking. Quickness.

Now. I know you hear she’s writing another book that’s not Levi and Donovan and you get twitchy LOL Shiit. I get twitchy. But let me let you in on a lil some’n some’n.

This sumbitch right here?

So much about Donovan and Levi.

And Dutch.

And other peoples we love.

It’s Sullivan and Carter’s book (Keep Me Wanting). But it’s also Dutch’s book, because I wrote a scene with our mysterious Dutch yesterday that literally made me want to type THE END and publish the book right freaking then. Because I can’t wait for you to read eet!

Dutch.

We shall love Dutch, as if we don’t already. Eat him up with a spoon. And we shall hate Dutch. You know how I do.

Levi.

You get your official first look/glimpse of Levi between these pages. His first “on-screen” appearance. We finally get to see him.

I, my dear readers, I am EXCITE.

So listen, I’m about 12k into this book. I already want to hump this book and have babies with it and shit. I mean, true, Sullivan is fucked up and brimming with angst and true, I literally have you crying on page one. But…

*holds up a finger*

But…

It’s good shit.

To me, it’s good shit.

Pretty sure by the time I hit the halfway point I’m gonna wanna strangle this book. Set the fucker on fire and all that.

You can tell how EXCITE I am by all the vulgarity that permeates this post.

Really need to curb that shit.

Hidden Scars is book #0.5 in the Loose Ends series. Don’t be thinking it’s not Loose Ends. This book births Loose Ends. This is about what happened that led up to Dutch and them finding out that a list with undercover agents’ names is out there for the public to see.

This shows you how, when and why that list exists.

If you don’t know what list I’m talmbout, kindly refer to (Watch Me) Save You.

From here on out, all books I write will be connected in some way.

I should mention: I have a m/f coming sometime this month (more details soon). To you, when you read it, there will be no blatant connection. My brain knows better. Also, I’ll have a re-release of a Christmas short (Dasher) coming Dec 9th (or thereabouts) That one isn’t connected LOL Just a book I wrote years ago that I recently got the rights back for. It’s reindeer shifter (of course) and m/f. About 10k or so. More details will follow.

But she digresses…

Every book from now on is connected.

I signed on to do an anthology with a few authors ages ago, and that book needs to be written and turned in by February. It’s a commitment I can’t renege on. So immediately after I hit the publish button on Hidden Scars I’ll have to buckle down and get that off my schedule, but while not technically Loose Ends, it’s (say it with me) connected.

2016 is about Loose Ends.

I’ll also attempt to do some other stuff, especially m/f, but it’s all about Loose Ends.

Basically what I’m saying is this: Don’t sleep on Hidden Scars.

Also bear with me.

Another also?

I heart you.

LOL

Cover Reveal! …Sullivan

The next book up to be written, is All These Hidden Scars.

It is Sullivan’s book.

He is introduced in Keep Me Wanting.

I keep telling you my brain is a fucked up mess. Y’all don’t listen.

I know you want me to get on with the Loose Ends books. Hell, I want to get on with the Loose Ends books. But I will never be that author who writes it just because. Who forces it out. It needs to come to me. I don’t ever chase the stories.

I never could understand why Levi and Donovan were so hard to pin down, and that was before all that shit popped off with the publisher. I could never quite seem to have their story right. Until I wrote (Watch Me) Body You, and everything seemed to just take form. I was waiting for that book to be written, so I could know more about Donovan.

And now Sullivan shows up. He plays a pivotal role in the lives of these men.

Not that I know what/how for sure, because c’mon, that would be too easy. But Sullivan is a part of Dutch’s crew. And he knows some shit. He’s in the middle of some shit.

His story is the prequel, because what occurs with Sullivan brings us to that list. The list with the names that’s now made public, making all man scatter and take cover. He’s involved with Levi in some way, plus Sullivan and Donovan are colleagues of a sort.

And then there’s his relationship with Dutch…

So with Sullivan I launch the Loose Ends world. I will answer some things, even about Damian and Fin. There might even be Sinner folk sightings. Then I’ll set forth new questions to be answered in the subsequent books.

Directly after Sullivan comes Levi and Donovan. About fucking time, I say.

I hope to have Sullivan ready for you in December.

In the meantime…

Cover Art by Jay Aheer

When I leave, I never return the same

 

Pretending came far too easily for Sullivan Black. One of the reasons he rejected his privileged family and joined the FBI. But those dangerous assignments take something from him every time, leaving him a mess, unfamiliar even to himself. As he struggles to shed the skin of his latest op, he finds solace in the most random of places.

 

Bar manager, Carter Renault’s only intention was to escort the lonely stranger out of his place before he locked up. Yet somehow they end up in an alley, Carter’s pants around his ankles. Their encounter is intense. A onetime thing. Except months later Sullivan is sneaking through Carter’s window, appearing and disappearing at random. The blistering-hot sex doesn’t hide the obvious torment Sullivan is going through, but Carter doesn’t want to be caught in the middle.

 

Just when he thinks he’s seen the end of that undercover life, Sullivan gets pulled back in. But this time, his identity is no longer a secret, and the aggressive need he has for Carter could get the other man killed. To set everything right, Sullivan has to face the one man he loves and hates in equal measure… his twin.

Keep Me Wanting is here!

The last time I tried to write a romance where nothing bad happened, simply two men falling in love, I cranked out So Far Gone. I’m so proud of that book and the way it turned out. Except it didn’t turn out the way I had expected.

Not quite as sweet as I’d have liked.

I figured welp, obviously that sweet shit ain’t for me.

But I still wanted to do that, you know? Write a book where there’s no drama, no angst, no one gets killed, no deep dark secrets. No ugly cry face. None of that.

I mean, it was my white whale.

I finally, finally found the right story to try again. Truth be told, the two chapters of Keep Me Wanting had been written years ago. Even before I wrote Sinner, Savior LOL It just sat in my WIPS folder on my laptop until I opened it up, read it and the story started flowing again. Thing is, my mind kept wanting me to take it there.

You know that place, darkness and sadness and heavy shit.

But I held fast. Gritted my teeth. Softened my tone.

It was a challenge, but I think I pulled it off.

I like the final product. It’s something Av the reader would read and finish with a little smile on her face.

I hope you like it, too.

I really do. And I’d be open to doing more of them, if you want me to.

Next book though, I’m going all out with the heartbreak, not e’en gonna lie. Remember this post when I come to you, cursing you for letting me write about my fucked up men, huh?

Keep Me Wanting is available now.

Amazon | All Romance | Kobo | iBooks| Nook

I’d appreciate your thoughts on it. Don’t hold back, girl. Please rate/review.

I love YOU for letting me indulge.

I really do.

Cover Reveal!

COMING SOON (Later this Month)

 

Cover done by Emmy Ellis

The last thing on Damian Archer’s mind is a relationship. He’s focused on running the family business and keeping up appearances. He’s fine with the way things are, until the tattooed help at a friend’s party takes one look at him and calls him on his bull.

Fired from a brand new job, Fin Thornton is homeless and penniless. He knows men like Damian. He abhors men like Damian. Despite the wealthy man coming to his aid when he desperately needs it, Fin is hesitant to lower his guard. Yet Damian insists on being in Fin’s face, demanding things and offering help.

In spite of their differences, something keeps them wanting each other. The same connection that has Damian desperate to stake a claim on the skittish Fin. But it will take a ghost from Fin’s tragic past to show both men that what they have is worth more than money.