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Scorching Hot Rock Star Romance Books of 2017

Let’s take another trip down memory lane, shall we? I’ve been creating lists of rock star romance novels released since 2011 and now we’re up to 2017. Let’s just say by 2017 we all knew rocker romance was here to stay! Without further ado, let’s take a look at some of the rock star books that came out that year!

January 2017

Stay (Bleeding Stars #5), A.L. Jackson

Hard Rock Tease (Darkest Days #1), Athena Wright

Hard Rock Fling (Darkest Days #2), Athena Wright

February 2017

Riptide (Rock Stars, Surf and Second Chances #2), Michelle Mankin

Dirty Duet (Found in Oblivion #3), Cari Quinn and Taryn Elliott

April 2017

Xander: Part One, The Beginning (ROCKSTAR #7), Anne Mercier

ROCK F*CK CLUB (Girls Ranking the Rock Stars #1), Michelle Mankin

May 2017

Treasure Me (One Night with Sole Regret #10), Olivia Cunning (And oh! The hero’s last name is Jamison. Hmm…maybe we’re related! *wink*)

Stand (Bleeding Stars #6), A.L. Jackson

Lost Lyric (Found in Oblivion #4), Cari Quinn and Taryn Elliott

Passionate Needs (Wicked End #2), Bella Jeanisse

Hard Rock Sin (Darkest Days #3), Athena Wright

Get Rocked! in Vegas, a boxset I was involved in with a bunch of my rock star romance-writing friends. It’s no longer available, but I think some of the stories have been republished. What was fun about it was we wrote stories about a huge rock festival happening in Vegas and they were all intertwined. It was so much fun and I made some great friends (authors in this box set were Jenna Galicki, Jade C. Jamison, Theresa Hissong, Lisa Gillis, Lashell Collins, Jennifer L. Allen, Bella Jeanisse, Maria Bernard, Sadie Grubor, Kacey Hamford, Toni Kenyon, and Lindy S. Hudis–and Gina Kincade kept us all whipped into shape!). We talked about doing this again and who knows? Maybe we will!

June 2017

Love Sex Music, Michelle A. Valentine

Dirty Like Brody (Dirty #2), Jaine Diamond

July 2017

Hard Rock Deceit (Darkest Days #4), Athena Wright

August 2017

Isolation (Metal Prodigy #5), J.S. Snow

September 2017

Scorched (Feverish: a Bullet series spinoff #2), Jade C. Jamison

Perfect Pitch (Lost in Oblivion #5), Cari Quinn and Taryn Elliott

October 2017

Trust Me (One Night with Sole Regret #11), Olivia Cunning

Bang (Hard Rock Harlots #5), Kendall Grey

Missing from Me (Sixth Street Band #3), Jayne Frost (and EEK! Forgive me if I’ve said this before–I’m pretty sure I have–this cover has the gorgeous Brandon Katz!!!)

Loving Storm (Ashes & Embers #5), Carian Cole

Maneuvered (Hammered #4), Cari Quinn and Taryn Elliott

Hard Rock Heat (Darkest Days #5), Athena Wright

November 2017

Raw Rhythm (Found in Oblivion #6), Cari Quinn and Taryn Elliott

Scandalous Beat (Tempest #7), Michelle Mankin

December 2017

Composition (Metal Prodigy), J.S. Snow

And, boy, do the stories keep coming!

If you haven’t already, check out the posts for rock star romance for the years 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016! Or just pick a book and start reading already! Or you can check out 2018.

The post Scorching Hot Rock Star Romance Books of 2017 appeared first on Jade C. Jamison.

Rock Star Romance Books of 2017

Let’s take another trip down memory lane, shall we? I’ve been creating lists of rock star romance novels released since 2011 and now we’re up to 2017. Let’s just say by 2017 we all knew rocker romance was here to stay! Without further ado, let’s take a look at some of the rock star books that came out that year!

January 2017

Stay (Bleeding Stars #5), A.L. Jackson

February 2017

Riptide (Rock Stars, Surf and Second Chances #2), Michelle Mankin

Dirty Duet (Found in Oblivion #3), Cari Quinn and Taryn Elliott

April 2017

Xander: Part One, The Beginning (ROCKSTAR #7), Anne Mercier

ROCK F*CK CLUB (Girls Ranking the Rock Stars #1), Michelle Mankin

May 2017

Treasure Me (One Night with Sole Regret #10), Olivia Cunning (And oh! The hero’s last name is Jamison. Hmm…maybe we’re related! *wink*)

Stand (Bleeding Stars #6), A.L. Jackson

Lost Lyric (Found in Oblivion #4), Cari Quinn and Taryn Elliott

Get Rocked! in Vegas, a boxset I was involved in with a bunch of my rock star romance-writing friends. It’s no longer available, but I think some of the stories have been republished. What was fun about it was we wrote stories about a huge rock festival happening in Vegas and they were all intertwined. It was so much fun and I made some great friends (authors in this box set were Jenna Galicki, Jade C. Jamison, Theresa Hissong, Lisa Gillis, Lashell Collins, Jennifer L. Allen, Bella Jeanisse, Maria Bernard, Sadie Grubor, Kacey Hamford, Toni Kenyon, and Lindy S. Hudis–and Gina Kincade kept us all whipped into shape!). We talked about doing this again and who knows? Maybe we will!

June 2017

Love Sex Music, Michelle A. Valentine

Dirty Like Brody (Dirty #2), Jaine Diamond

September 2017

Scorched (Feverish: a Bullet series spinoff #2), Jade C. Jamison

Perfect Pitch (Lost in Oblivion #5), Cari Quinn and Taryn Elliott

October 2017

Trust Me (One Night with Sole Regret #11), Olivia Cunning

Bang (Hard Rock Harlots #5), Kendall Grey

Missing from Me (Sixth Street Band #3), Jayne Frost (and EEK! Forgive me if I’ve said this before–I’m pretty sure I have–this cover has the gorgeous Brandon Katz!!!)

Loving Storm (Ashes & Embers #5), Carian Cole

November 2017

Raw Rhythm (Found in Oblivion #6), Cari Quinn and Taryn Elliott

Scandalous Beat (Tempest #7), Michelle Mankin

And, boy, do the stories keep coming!

If you haven’t already, check out the posts for rock star romance for the years 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016! Or just pick a book and start reading already!

The Times They are a-Changin’ (with apologies to Bob Dylan)

My youngest son inherited my love of metal music, so much so that he plays guitar and records his own albums. I’m not even sure how many guitars he owns nowadays, but I’d guess it’s at least a dozen or more. And, like a true metal head, he’s also grown his hair quite long. At 18, he’s an adult by legal standards, but he’ll always be my baby.

He informed my husband and me that he has a date this weekend, and I made the mistake of making some comment to the effect that being a metal guy attracts women.

My son promptly informed me, Not nowadays, mom.

Wait a second. Am I out of touch nowadays? I question myself on occasion, and I sometimes feel like the world is starting to move past me. My kids make me feel like that frequently…

But, believe it or not, this post isn’t meant to be about me mourning a generation passed by. Instead, I’m celebrating progress, but that doesn’t mean I always feel like I get what’s going on. I’m sure my parents and grandparents felt the same way when I was younger. Despite that, I really wasn’t wanting to wax poetic about the passing of time but instead reflect on the evolution of the metal culture.

Most of you who have been reading me for some time either know outright or have suspected that I came of age in the 80s (and, if you didn’t know, this is your wake-up call!). I progressed from my teens to adulthood during that decade, so I would say that that the 80s, more than any other period of time, shaped my love of hard rock and metal music, and that love continues to this day. However, the culture and music were different back then, so I just wanted to talk about that.

Before the 80s, all the elements were there, and I would argue that metal was making its appearance in the 70s (and even the 60s to some extent). That’s when we first saw Black Sabbath (and, of course, Ozzy!), AC/DC, Deep Purple, Van Halen, and lots of musicians exploring their electric Les Pauls, figuring out exactly where they belonged creatively.

Side note: When I was in middle school, disco was the thing. It wasn’t just the music; it was the culture—and it defined society as a whole. Whether you loved or hated it, disco infused its tendrils through every nook and cranny of America and took it over.

And then, it died.

When I was a kid, I didn’t really notice that death. Instead, I just kept listening to music. My obsession with Donna Summers and the Bee Gees shifted to Foreigner, REO Speedwagon, and the like. It would still be a year or two before I discovered what would become my music obsession for life. But that’s what led up to it.

So as a little kid, I listened to country, easy listening, and pop—whatever my parents were into—and even though I found my own thing, it was thanks to them (and one music-loving grandmother) that I discovered my love of music. I started high school in the early 80s, and I remember listening to music all the time. The sounds of Duran Duran and Billy Squier gave way to more. For instance, I will never forget when I heard Def Leppard on the radio for the first time. There was something in the music that spoke to me, that made me want to sing. They were the first band where I listened to the whole album and discovered that there are gems on both sides that the radio never shares. After that, I started listening to every album I bought, every single song.

They spoke to me.

The door was open. I started listening to the radio all the time and discovered very quickly that I loved Ozzy, Judas Priest, Aldo Nova, Aerosmith, Quiet Riot, Mötley Crüe—and then it was like everything exploded.  Whatever name you call it by—“hair metal,” “glam metal,” or something else—it was here. It was loud and it was everything I wanted, and just about every paycheck I earned fueled that obsession with purchases not just for albums, but posters, buttons, keychains, t-shirts, and any merch that told the world I was a metalhead. Lita Ford, Twisted Sister, Sammy Hagar, Bon Jovi, Dokken, Ratt, W.A.S.P., Whitesnake—all those guys made high school amazing. (Other bands like Cinderella and Guns N’ Roses appeared when I was in college and I had way more money to blow!)

But, as you know, metal in the 80s wasn’t just about the music. There’s a reason why it was called “glam” or “hair” metal. That’s because it was also about the image. I was in high school when I saw my first music videos, and it just added another element to the music I already loved. Thanks to MTV broadcasting videos constantly (yeah, they actually showed music videos in the 80s), you could see your favorite band performing a song—and it seemed like most of the new stars understood that they weren’t just selling their music; they were also selling their image. So it wasn’t just the music; it was also their looks—so a lot of these guys (and I say guys because there weren’t many women in metal) wore makeup and hairspray, and their clothes were part of it, too. So it was easy for someone like me to dress like the bands I loved in order to signal who I was and what I valued.

But it was more than that. I knew the names of every guy in every band and I sometimes even knew the name of their guitars. It was a magical time. Some of you have read some of my posts about metal and women, so you know that it wasn’t just that there weren’t many women playing metal that was a bummer; it was also the way women were viewed and objectified—but, of course, that’s a topic for a different blog post. Just suffice it to say that, in the 80s in terms of metal, women seemed to be valued solely for their willingness to have sex with a rock star. Back then, I didn’t really see it. Maybe I was too young. But now, I understand that just because women got the right to vote in the United States in 1920, change takes time. Some things, like societal change, move slowly, whereas other things, like music, change more quickly—which brings me closer to the main point of where I’m heading.

What we considered metal back in the 80s (Van Halen, Dokken, Queensrÿche, et al) would possibly not be considered metal nowadays. Metal today is decidedly different—harder, often angrier and darker, growled and screamed vocals. Heavier guitars. Different techniques. I’m okay with that and I love it.

Near the end of the 80s, hair metal died. There are a lot of theories about why—that it was because the image overtook the music or stuff like that—but I’m going to tell you my theory, because I was and am a fan, and I still feel the same way today. I was the person buying the albums, watching the videos, playing the music constantly. I was the person at the music store snagging the new albums. I wasn’t the 13-year-old who’d just discovered it. I’d been living it for the better part of a decade. And guess what? As a fan, it was losing my interest. Why? Because none of it sounded original anymore. It sounded derivative and, dare I say it? BORING. I know a lot of you guys love Skid Row (and I don’t hate them, okay? I bought their first album and listened to all of it), but I remember buying their first album in 1989. I listened to it, but I didn’t devour it. It was good…but it felt like it had been done a thousand times before. And not just them. Dokken was arguably one of my favorite bands in the 80s, mostly due to George Lynch. Because over the years there was a lot of fighting between him and Don Dokken, most of us fans knew a breakup was inevitable—and I joked for years that if George Lynch formed his own band, he should name it Lynch Mob.

Well, guess what? He did. And I bought that damn album as soon as it was released (1990, I believe). It was classic Lynch—but, even with that album, I felt like I wasn’t hearing anything new. It had all been done before.

I sensed that the music I loved down to my core was dying. I knew it. I could sense it. I’d just gotten married and my husband listened to everything out there. He liked it all. We agreed when it came to Ozzy Osbourne, but he had a soft spot for Billy Joel. Fortunately, he listened to GNR with me and I dug Pink Floyd, but I’m a music snob while he loves it all–so he wasn’t in mourning like I was.

Every new metal album I heard during that time either sounded disappointing and unoriginal or it seemed like they were trying too hard in a different way. I got sick to death of acoustic albums (metal MUST be plugged in, I would scream!) done by some of my favorite bands (GNR and Cinderella are the ones I remember off the top of my head). It wasn’t that they weren’t trying, but it felt like they’d lost their inspiration. I give them credit for trying, because doing the same old, same old wasn’t working. I didn’t give a shit about their image. It was always about the music—and it was dying a slow, ugly death.

THAT was why metal died the first time. It had nothing to do with makeup or hair. It was disappointing music. Flat, uninspired, unoriginal.

(Side note: some bands evolved with the times and kept chugging along. Think Metallica. Again, as a fan who lived it, there is a HUGE difference between “old” Metallica and the black album. That was when I started hearing people who’d never listened to shit like Master of Puppets saying they were huge fans. *eye roll*)

So when grunge hit the scene about the same time, guess what I was drawn to? I remember seeing an Alice in Chains video (“Man in the Box”) and thinking it was weird…but the song stuck. Shortly after, I discovered Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam. That shit felt original, inspired. The first time I heard “Smells like Teen Spirit,” I fell in love, and I knew music–tunes I loved–would survive. I can’t impress upon you how revived I felt. There was a period of about a year or so where I was convinced I had outgrown music—but in retrospect I can see exactly what happened.

And grunge and alternative gave way to nu metal and dozens of subgenres—but it survived. And I then discovered my new loves of the day: White Zombie, Godsmack, Korn, Slipknot, and lots more. I don’t give a shit about the subgenre. There are too many and I don’t care to make those distinctions. If it’s metal, I’ll listen. If it speaks to my soul, I’ll love it (and buy it and listen to all the songs on the CD).

We’ve bypassed my 30th high school reunion, so suffice it to say, I’ve listened to a lot of music for a long time—and I know what I love. Metal survived. It evolved and changed with the times.

So where does that leave us in terms of culture, that idea I started talking about in the beginning of this post? Well, times have definitely changed. We can look at the music to make that determination.

But there’s more. My parents raised me to be an independent young woman. And while my parents were decidedly not about feminism, I saw my mother doing things like wearing pants and speaking her mind. She and my father considered themselves antifeminist, but I think that was only because of their religious beliefs. They actually helped our culture progress—but, I suppose, that’s a topic for another day.

The bottom line is WE have changed—and the music we listen to is a reflection of that. Maybe it’s because our children have grown up listening to us talking about wanting equality for everyone. We want people to be treated well, not just women, but everybody, no matter their color, religious beliefs, or sexual preference. And so we have changed our world. And now, as sad as it makes me on some levels, I’m also proud that my children are changing the world today.

At least I still have my metal.

A Whole Slew of Rock Star Romance Books released in 2016 (new release rockstar romance)

It’s been a couple of weeks since I last compiled an annual list of rockstar romance books (check out the one I put together for 2015 here), so it’s time to get back to it. You’ll see like I have that, by this point in time, there was no denying rocker romance was here to stay! We had plenty of new authors entering this subgenre along with some established writers.

So, without further ado, let’s look at all these books that were first released in 2016!

January 2016

River James (Rockers of Steel #3), MJ Fields

Manaconda (Hammered #1), Taryn Elliott and Cari Quinn

Trouble Rising (Trouble #6), Emme Rollins

February 2016

Locked and Loaded (final Bullet book), Jade C. Jamison

Beyond the Music (The Rock Gods #7), Ann Lister (Bonus: the cover features Brandon Katz, one of my favorite models!)

Fused (Lost in Oblivion #9), Cari Quinn and Taryn Elliott

March 2016

Boiling Point (Feverish #0.5), Jade C. Jamison

Billy Jeffers (Rockers of Steel #4), MJ Fields

Where Lightning Strikes (Bleeding Stars #3), A.L. Jackson

Almost Paradise (Sinners on Tour Honeymoon: Eric), Olivia Cunning

Temptation (Metal Prodigy #4), J.S. Snow

April 2016

Forever Rockers (The Rocker Series #12), Terri Anne Browning

Manhandled (Hammered #2), Cari Quinn and Taryn Elliott

May 2016

Wicked Love (Wicked #3), Michelle A. Valentine

Owned (Lost in Oblivion #10), Cari Quinn and Taryn Elliott

July 2016

Rock Wedding (Rock Kiss #4), Nalini Singh

August 2016

Wait (Bleeding Stars #4), A.L. Jackson

Bedded Bliss (Found in Oblivion #1), Cari Quinn and Taryn Elliott

Heart’s Insanity (Angel Fire Rock Romance #1), Ellie Masters

Manipulated (Hammered #3), Taryn Elliott and Cari Quinn

Admiration (Metal Prodigy #4.5), J.S. Snow

September 2016

Outsider (Exodus End World Tour #2), Olivia Cunning

Rockin’ Rhythm (Velocity #1), Bella Jeanisse

October 2016

Forever at Sunrise (The Rock Gods #8), Ann Lister

November 2016

Thrill Me (One Night with Sole Regret #9), Olivia Cunning

Kadence (ROCKSTAR series #6), Anne Mercier

Dirty Like Me (Dirty #1), Jaine Diamond

Triple Trouble (Found in Oblivion #2), Cari Quinn and Taryn Elliott

December 2016

Merry Oblivion (Lost in Oblivion #11), Cari Quinn and Taryn Elliott

Fall with Me (Sixth Street Band #2), Jayne Frost

As I’ve said in other posts where I’m gathering rock star romance books, I’m sure there are quite a few I’ve missed, but I think you can see how lots of new authors and series were showing up on the scene.

Which ones have you read? Which have you just now added to your TBR list?

Want more? You can go forward to 2017 or backward to 2015 with just a click!

The post A Whole Slew of Rock Star Romance Books released in 2016 (new release rockstar romance) appeared first on Jade C. Jamison.

Rock Star Romance Books of 2016

It’s been a couple of weeks since I last compiled an annual list of rockstar romance books (check out the one I put together for 2015 here), so it’s time to get back to it. You’ll see like I have that, by this point in time, there was no denying rocker romance was here to stay! We had plenty of new authors entering this subgenre along with some established writers.

So, without further ado, let’s look at all these books that were first released in 2016!

January 2016

River James (Rockers of Steel #3), MJ Fields

February 2016

Locked and Loaded (final Bullet book), Jade C. Jamison

Beyond the Music (The Rock Gods #7), Ann Lister (Bonus: the cover features Brandon Katz, one of my favorite models!)

March 2016

Boiling Point (Feverish #0.5), Jade C. Jamison

Billy Jeffers (Rockers of Steel #4), MJ Fields

Where Lightning Strikes (Bleeding Stars #3), A.L. Jackson

April 2016

Forever Rockers (The Rocker Series #12), Terri Anne Browning

May 2016

Wicked Love (Wicked #3), Michelle A. Valentine

July 2016

Rock Wedding (Rock Kiss #4), Nalini Singh

August 2016

Wait (Bleeding Stars #4), A.L. Jackson

Bedded Bliss (Found in Oblivion #1), Cari Quinn and Taryn Elliott

Heart’s Insanity (Angel Fire Rock Romance #1), Ellie Masters

September 2016

Outsider (Exodus End World Tour #2), Olivia Cunning

October 2016

Forever at Sunrise (The Rock Gods #8), Ann Lister

November 2016

Thrill Me (One Night with Sole Regret #9), Olivia Cunning

Kadence (ROCKSTAR series #6), Anne Mercier

Dirty Like Me (Dirty #1), Jaine Diamond

Triple Trouble (Found in Oblivion #2), Cari Quinn and Taryn Elliott

As I’ve said in other posts where I’m gathering rock star romance books, I’m sure there are quite a few I’ve missed, but I think you can see how lots of new authors and series were showing up on the scene.

Which ones have you read? Which have you just now added to your TBR list?

Metal music and cyberbullies

Last weekend, family and I watched a Netflix docuseries about something that really happened at the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles (Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel). Several years ago, a young woman named Elisa Lam went missing while staying there and eventually turned up dead. I’m not going to say anything else about it in case you plan to watch the show.

But that said, something about the documentary really hit me hard—and not just me. When we were finished watching, my husband said, “There were two victims in this story.”

Truer words were never spoken.

When Elisa Lam went missing several years ago, there were hundreds of people online obsessed with her story, trying to figure out what happened. These folks were attempting to solve the mystery, simply by viewing some elevator footage and researching her life online prior to her disappearance. While we were watching one of the episodes, I remarked to my husband how impressed I was at how a group of people unrelated and with no prior experience were able to really analyze the evidence they had available and draw some pretty remarkable conclusions.

But, of course, that changed as the documentary progressed. It wasn’t long before the impressive conclusions they were reaching became ridiculous conspiracy theories. Some folks offered a lot of half-baked ideas and theories that were way out in left field. One in particular involved a death metal musician who called himself Morbid. This man had stayed in the Cecil Hotel and filmed a video about it that he posted on his YouTube channel, something he shared with his fans. Some of the things he’d posted on YouTube were a little shocking, but it was all part of his image. That’s death metal, folks. It ain’t death metal if it’s not a little disturbing.

Anyway, a couple of days before Elisa Lam went missing, he had come out with a new music video for one of his songs. The video focused on a frightened young woman running away from the camera through the forest, trying to get away from a pursuer. Well, the people on the internet who were trying to solve the murder decided that this video was Morbid’s way of saying he’d killed Elisa Lam. The mental gymnastics these folks had to do to connect this poor man to her murder were rather impressive: Olympic-sized gymnastics, but they were no more than simple gyrations they made in an attempt to make the “facts” fit. There was NEVER any REAL evidence connecting Morbid to Elisa Lam and no real reason why these people should’ve ever come to this conclusion.

For example, the video that Morbid had filmed of himself in the hotel was taken an entire year before the victim stayed at the hotel. In addition, this man, a citizen of Mexico, wasn’t even in the United States at the time of her disappearance. He was working on a new album in Mexico, and he had the documentation to prove it. When these “internet warriors” began harassing him online, he gave all of this information to them—but they didn’t care. Even when it was clear they had the wrong man, they didn’t offer him an apology, nor did they issue any kind of retraction. And they ruined this man’s life.

I was really glad they featured him in the documentary, because it showed the power of online bullies. This man considered taking his own life because of not only how horrible they made him feel, but also because he’s tried making music since and it’s just not the same. Somehow, he’s lost his muse.

As my husband said, two victims: Elisa Lam and the man who called himself Morbid.

My heart went out to him. I searched for him online, both as Morbid and under his real name, Pablo Vergara. Unfortunately, as he mentioned in the show, YouTube, Google, and Facebook took down his accounts because of his accusers. I still wonder what kind of evidence these people presented that was so compelling, because it looked like utter bulls**t from my perspective. These people with their false claims led to his losing his livelihood, and that pisses me off.

If you’re a fan or hard rock music, you already know that some forms of metal, like death metal, are about more than the music. A lot of the experience has to do with image. It’s as much what you see as what you hear, and Vergara was working his image from all angles. Unfortunately, these internet idiots didn’t get it. Vergara said that he even had Mexico’s equivalent of the FBI come to his home, asking if he had performed any human sacrifices.

Seriously.

Because these people were dogs with bones.

I understand why these folks were seeking justice. Some of the (circumstantial) facts they turned up were rather interesting. Some of the things they discovered were shocking even. But this heavy metal artist? They were flat out wrong about him and, dare I say, stupid. Absolutely idiotic. While we were discussing the show, my husband said, “I know there’s a term for people like that, for people who see conspiracies everywhere and twist the facts to make them fit.” I couldn’t think of the word either, so I instead simply said, “Idiots.”

We all laughed—but what happened to Morbid wasn’t funny. His life was ruined. My hope is that he finds his muse once again, making music for the world. As he said in the docuseries, it was art and nothing more. There was nothing sinister about what he was doing. It was a form of expression. The worst part of all of it was that these people didn’t have the decency to say they were sorry, to publicly come out and apologize to him. The better thing to do would be to actually go to the authorities they complained to in the first place (Google and Facebook) and admit that they were wrong, explain to the world how they had made a mistake. Instead, they moved on with their lives.

If you’ve ever studied psychology, you know about mob mentality. I get it. Sometimes, no matter how good your intentions are, you find yourself going along with the crowd, even if at the back of your mind you know something’s not quite right. That’s the way we are. In essence, we’re herd animals, and it behooves us to stick with the group. It’s a matter of survival. But when will we evolve? Why do we continue to ostracize ONE member of our society? Sadly, Vergara is but one of thousands of victims online. We tend to think that bullies online aren’t as powerful as bullies in person, but this docuseries proves that simply isn’t the case.

So even though I started out this blog post as one thing, to bring people’s attention to the metal artist Morbid (AKA Pablo Vergara)—and I still want to bring attention to that, it’s actually part of a much bigger story. Why in 2021 do we still have bullies? Why do we still allow them to thrive? What is it going to take for us to weed these evil people out? More than once online I have cut ties with people I’ve seen showing signs of being this way, but the behavior is sometimes hard to spot. If you’re like I am, you try to avoid conflict but sometimes, it’s difficult. So I guess that’s my message today. Let’s be good to each other. In some regards, life seems long, but really, it’s short. We’re only here for a short time. So don’t we want our contribution to be the best it can be? I know I do.

Oh…if you see Pablo Vergara online or in person, give him some love.

If you want more information without watching the docuseries, check out this excellent summary on Loudwire—and, good news, it looks like his band, Slitwrist, is making a comeback!

Cover reveal and giveaway for Love and Darkness

2021 will wrap up a project I began back in 2018! I’d decided to take several of my standalone books that were loosely related, rewrite them (some involved a lot of rewriting, others just a little) to make them better–but I also added elements to them all to tie them together in a series (that’s why, if you’d read the original book and didn’t remember the appearance of Nicki Sosebee or the blue-haired waitress, it’s not you!).

But it’s taken this long for lots of reasons. One has been the rewriting. Several of the books were originally written in third person but I changed them all to first person POV. That was quite a feat. Some of them involved more than a little sprucing up. Some, though, just needed a little tightening up to make the story even better.

The latter is Love and Darkness in a nutshell.

If you ever read To Save Him, that’s this book, slightly rewritten. It’s a little different for me, but it definitely belongs in the Small Town Secrets series.

Love and Darkness is book #7 in the series. There are two more coming this year–and I might write other original stories for the series later on. For now, though, 2021 will close the door!

This particular book in the series comes out on August 10 but it’s available for pre-order now. It will be 99 cents for the first week, so if you wanted to get it, do it early!

If you’re on the fence, let me give you a little more info. Otherwise, scroll to the bottom for links and the giveaway. (Side note: the prize for this giveaway is worth over $80, so make sure you enter!)

Love and Darkness, 8/10/21

The blurb:

She’s opened up her heart and home to him…so what if he’s not who he says he is?

Kimberly opens her door to young soldier Brandon who says he was a friend to her oldest son who died while serving in the military. Her heart aches for this young man as they both mourn her son and soon their emotions become so much more. But as she gets to know him better, things don’t quite add up.

Is Brandon really who he says he is?

What does he really know about her son’s death?

And what does that mean for her future?

Through her uneasy trust, she tries to protect herself, but she’s in deep. When she finds out the truth, will it be too late–not just for her heart but for her life?

*** If that’s not enough, you can read the first chapter here!

Meanwhile, here are the links:

Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon CA
Amazon AU
Small Town Secrets series (the first book, Love and Lies, is free from Monday through Friday, 8/9-8/13)

Last but not least…the GIVEAWAY! Good luck and thank you for helping me celebrate my new release!

Cringey writing

Let me start this post by saying HOLY COW.  I am a much better writer than I was when I started out indie publishing.  So I want to start this post out by thanking my faithful readers who’ve stood by me all these years despite my shortcomings.  Was I a decent storyteller back then?  I don’t know.  Because I’m going to admit something to you:  I had a bit of an ego.  Part of it was due to education.  Part of it was thanks to traditional publishing success.

But the truth remained:  I had a lot of growing to do.

Case in point:  a book I originally titled Fabric of Night.  I first wrote that book around 2004 and then rewrote it when I began indie publishing in 2011.  But, truth be told, it was rough.  Unpolished.  Not as good as I thought it was.  Back then, I wondered why that story didn’t do as well as some of my other books but I completely understand now.

It wasn’t publishing worthy.

Again, huge thanks to my lovely readers who tried it anyway!!!  The premise was good enough—a woman wakes up on a riverbank with no memory of how she got there.  Actually, with no memory at all.  She’s starting with a blank slate.  The rest of the story involves her getting to know herself again and discovering that maybe she wasn’t such a nice person before losing her memory.  But she has a second chance now, and she’s not going to blow it.  She also figures out that maybe the accident that caused her memory loss was a murder attempt—and she’d better figure out who and why before they try again.

I published the book in 2011, my third book.  The last couple of years I’ve spent rewriting some of my earlier works.  Some of the rewrites I’ve done publicly (all the books in the Small Town Secrets series and the Nicki Sosebee series, for example) and some I’ve done quietly (like when I did a slight rewrite of Tangled Web a couple of months ago).  I’ve discovered through this process that the stories I wrote later were better in that they were more polished, more realistic, etc.

Fabric of Night?  Not so much.

But this is my do over!  As I was rewriting the story, I cringed on occasion—not just at the dialogue but even some of the story elements.  There was even a sentence in the story that left me scratching my head, because one of the words in it made no sense.  I couldn’t even figure out what I’d meant to say—and that’s sad, because I wrote that book, rewrote it, and then edited it, and I still missed that!

Unlike then, however, I now have a team who helps me out.

But I’m also a much better storyteller.  I want you to know I’m saying this as humbly as possible.  Back then, I had a bit of an ego.  It wasn’t justified, mind you, but it was there.  Today, I approach writing without that albatross, realizing that nothing I write will ever be perfect but, if I examine my work without blind pride, I have an easier time spotting what needs to be corrected.

Why am I telling you this?  Well…if you ever tried to read Fabric of Night in the past, I want to assure you that this version is 100,000 times better.  And I can say that with the utmost of confidence.  The main character is more likeable and believable.  The antagonists aren’t drawn with quite as broad a brush.  The dialogue and the situations are less cringey—and I figured out some cool new twists while updating some of the technology in the book. Seriously, who uses answering machines anymore?

I’m proud of this story now, but not like I was before.  I’m not blind this time.  And I’ll have my team tell me if it’s passable or not.  But, in the meantime, I want to tell you about the upcoming Love and Redemption.  It’s everything Fabric wanted to be but wasn’t ready for.  There’s some mystery, some steam, and, of course, redemption.  And, while a chunk of the story actually takes place in Colorado Springs and in the forest west of Winchester, the main character identifies with the small town.  I know you’re going to love this story, especially if you’ve enjoyed the others in the Small Town Secrets series.

This particular story, #8 in the series, is coming the end of September, and I can’t wait for you to read it!

Later this summer, I’ll give you a preview, because I want you to see just how different this story is now.  But for now, I want to thank all of you, my faithful readers, for sticking with me—not just for Bullet and the stories you loved, but even through the not-so-good stories.  I know you’re going to love this one now.

New release rock star romance books in 2015

One of my readers wrote me an email last week and asked me to keep these lists coming—because, for those of you who discovered rockstar romance before now, this is a trip down memory lane (I know it has been for me!). For those of you new to the genre, I hope you’re finding a few new reads (perhaps even a library full!).

By 2015, I myself had partially published three rock star romance series and a couple of standalones but I tackled a trilogy during that year that I’d been wanting to write for a while. It’s still being discovered (yay!), but it had a few things going against it at the time. First, my designer (my hubby!) wanted to experiment with the cover designs, and I was all for it. I loved the design but now, in retrospect, I realize there was no identifying my book genre when looking at them. They were so artistic and I loved that about them, but readers avoided the books because they didn’t know upon first glance that they were rock star romance—or even romance. And, perhaps, I wasn’t clear in the first few chapters of the book, either. Since then, I’ve lost a good chunk of the first part of the first book (and maybe someday I’ll share those deleted chapters here for posterity) and I’ve rewritten the prologue to make sure readers know it’s a romance novel upon first glance.

But 2015 wasn’t just about me—it was about this hot subgenre of romance novels. So let’s take a look, shall we? What were some of the new releases of rockstar romance back in 2015? Let’s take another trip backward in time, shall we?

January 2015

Slash and Burn (Bullet), Jade C. Jamison

February 2015

Thoughtful (Thoughtless #4), S. C. Stephens Amplify (ROCKSTAR #3), Anne Mercier A Stone in the Sea (Bleeding Stars #1), A.L. Jackson Vandal (Ashes & Embers #2), Carian Cole

March 2015

Rock (Hard Rock Harlots #4), Kendall Grey Deep (Stage Dive #4), Kylie Scott

April 2015

Gone for You (Sixth Street Band #1), Jayne Frost

May 2015

Meant for Me (The Rock Gods #5), Ann Lister

June 2015

Wicked White (Wicked #1), Michelle A. Valentine The Rocker Who Hates Me (The Rocker #10), Terri Anne Browning

July 2015

Interlude (ROCKSTAR #4), Anne Mercier Lukas (Ashes & Embers #3), Carian Cole

August 2015

On the Run (Vagabonds #1), Jade C. JamisonMemphis Black (Rockers of Steel #1), MJ Fields Fighting His Fire (The Rock Gods #6), Ann ListerBroken Without Her (Sand & Fog #1), Susan Ward The original cover

September 2015

On the Road (Vagabonds #2), Jade C. Jamison Drowning to Breathe (Bleeding Stars #2), A.L. Jackson

October 2015

Rock Redemption (Rock Kiss #3), Nalini Singh On the Rocks (Vagabonds #3), Jade C. Jamison The Rocker Who Betrays Me (The Rocker #11), Terri Anne Browning

November 2015

Treat Me (One Night with Sole Regret #8), Olivia Cunning Untamed (Thoughtless #5), S. C. Stephens Ballad (ROCKSTAR #5), Anne Mercier Finn Beckett (Rockers of Steel #2), MJ Fields Talon (Ashes & Embers #4), Carian Cole

December 2015

Wicked Reunion (Wicked #2), Michelle A. Valentine The Storm (The Storm Series #4), Samantha Towle

I can’t keep up anymore, and it’s possible you can’t, either! I’m sure I’m missing some biggies on this list. I’d love to know how many rockstar romance books are published each month or year on Amazon–but I’d guess over one hundred a month or more. There are new ones all the time, but I’m still going to chronicle what I can.

You can help me. If you notice an egregious miss on this or any of my lists, please let me know (I already see where I’ve missed some so I’m hoping to go back later and update the ones I know I’ve missed–but we’ll see. This has turned out to be a far bigger task than I imagined–but that’s also why it’s fun. The explosion of rock star books is easy to see when I’ve mapped it out this way.

Another way you can help–if you notice a broken link or if I’ve incorrectly linked to a book, please let me know. I don’t want to ruin your fun with incorrect links!

Needless to say, I think I can say with certainty that rock star romance is here to stay. Which stories here do you need to read?

#TBT Throwback Thursday: Tangled Web

Tangled Web, in case you didn’t know, is the first book I ever published as an indie author. In April 2011, I clicked PUBLISH for the very first time for the Amazon Kindle. It took me a while to ease into other platforms and to publish other books, but that first part was done. The story, the cover, the blurb. All that stuff, done. I’d figured out how to format, how to write a blurb, how to upload all those digital files. I figured out so many things that, when I look back on that first year, I’m amazed at everything I learned to become an independent publisher.

I don’t regret any of it!

I loved it then.  Even today, although it’s sometimes more frustrating, I still do. My favorite part is talking to my readers. And so every once a while I’ll do a #TBT Throwback Thursday here on the blog tell you about either some research I had to do for a book or inspiration or something fun about one of my older books.  Several years ago, I was doing Throwback Thursday on my blog but I’m taking a different approach this time—and, to kick it off, it would probably be best to start with my first book and tell you the inspiration for that first indie rock star novel of mine.

The inspiration came from the most unlikely of places. My daughter, the previous year, had competed in her first high school talent show. She was a great singer (actually still is!), and she was inspired to get up onstage—but she wanted to sing some of her favorite rock songs (in choir, there was none of that evil rock and roll! ). One of her favorite bands was The Pretty Reckless. My daughter and I actually have quite different music tastes, but she loved their first album—and introduced me to them. To this day, I listen to their music. She does not. But I digress!

So my daughter sang and even dressed as if she were a rock singer. Some of her friends in choir had solo performances as well, but there was a healthy variety of difference acts—comedy skits, a solo electric guitarist playing some classic riffs, some magic, all kinds of good stuff from the talented kids who attended her high school.

One of the final acts was a band played all their own instruments, covering a couple of well-known metal songs.  What really cracked me up was how they treated that auditorium as if it were their first live concert.  Huge speakers blasting out ear-splitting guitars, kids screaming and jumping up and down—and I realized that I might have been one of few parents there who was enjoying it.

But what that whole thing did was take me back to my youth.  I remembered an air guitar concert near the end of my senior year, of so many good-looking boys “playing” songs I loved. I remembered toying with the idea in my youth of becoming a metal goddess (it helps to have musical talent, so I turned my sights elsewhere!).  But, meanwhile, my subconscious began churning…

By this point (fall 2010), I’d already written a few books.  For years, I’d attempted traditional publishing, only succeeding in having smaller works published—but I still had the desire, still needed to tell stories. By the end of that year, all these ideas melded in my brain, and I had to write that story.  I knew it would wind up as a printed document in a drawer somewhere or simply a digital file that I’d pick at on occasion—but, of course, I discovered Amazon and the rest is history.

I am so grateful that I had that story I just had to get down, because, even though Tangled Web is not the longest story I’ve ever told, it’s one of the most heartfelt. I fell in love with those characters, and I had to tell their story. Here’s a short snippet of a scene that has resonated with readers over the years:

~ ~ ~

As she pulled her jeans up, Katie stretched.  Johnny already had his pants zipped up again.  His eyes seemed to sparkle and he had a slight grin on his face.  While Katie couldn’t imagine the future, she knew now that everything would be all right, would even be pretty close to perfect.  Running her fingers through her hair, she couldn’t help but smile back.

She felt shy talking to Johnny about the future now—which was completely stupid.  She had just fucked him in a completely uninhibited manner with dozens of people in the room next door, and now she was tongue tied?  Besides that, they’d known each other since they were kids.  Why now did she feel like she couldn’t even broach the subject?  Biting the corner of her lip, she drew in a deep breath.  As she eased herself up to sit on the counter, she realized it emphasized how short she was as her legs dangled.  But she felt at ease there just the same.  “So now what?”  Just asking a simple question made her cheeks feel warm and flushed.

Johnny looked up from smoothing the vinyl fabric on his thighs.  “Well, I say we go back to the party and eat us some beers.”

Katie chuckled in the back of her throat.  Leave it to Johnny.  “No, I mean…us.”

Johnny straightened and then shook his head.  “What d’ya mean?  Nothing’s really changed, has it?”

The smile on her face waned, but she refused to believe anything was amiss.  “Yeah.  It kinda has.”

Reaching down, Johnny tugged at the tongue of his right boot, straightening it out before making eye contact again.  “No, not really.”  After he finished with his boot, he stood again, leaning his left shoulder against the wall where the floor buffer had once been, looking straight at her.  Katie kept her lips sealed while her eyebrows drew together slightly.  “Here’s the way I see it,” Johnny said, a cocky tone in his voice.  “We were friends walking in here; we’re friends when we leave.  And, hell, it’ll be nice to have a friend here in Colorado when I tour.  You’ll be my woman at this port.”  Holding one hand over his chest, he stuck the other in the air as if reciting a pledge.  “I promise you’ll be the only woman I fuck in Colorado or any adjoining states.”  He shifted his gaze to her breasts before shooting it back to her eyes.  “And holy shit.  Wear that fuckin’ Renaissance top next time I’m here, and I’ll try to figure out how it works.  Goddamn, that makes your rack look fucking incredible.”

What the hell was he saying?  Katie felt like she was hearing a foreign language that she was having to translate as it hit her ears, and it delayed her response.  More than that, she didn’t think she’d ever felt so used, so degraded in her entire life.  Finally, as she felt her mouth slacken in disbelief, she tried to speak, but she still couldn’t bring herself to say anything.  Her face must have given her away, though, because Johnny stood up straight again, folding his arms across his chest.  “That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?  A friend with benefits?”

Finally, Katie moved her tongue.  “Is that what you think?”

Johnny smirked, the corner of his mouth turning upward.  “Where does thought come into play?  Have we actually thought about any of this?”  Suddenly, his eyes lost their twinkle, growing cold.

Katie was seeing a side of Johnny she honestly hadn’t even known existed.  He was being a dick.  “What are you saying?”

Walking toward the door, Johnny pulled the floor buffer to the side and grabbed the doorknob.  “I’m saying that we’re friends, Katie.  We’ll always be friends, no matter what.  And if you wanna be friends with benefits, I’m cool with that, too.  ‘Cause, hey, that was an awesome fuck tonight.  A great way to end a show.”  Tilting his head, he pulled the door open, assaulting them with the noise of the party in the large room.  “Now, I’m gonna go enjoy my fans.  Why don’t you join me?”  With that, he walked out the door, leaving her completely alone as it closed behind him.

Jesus Christ. Katie felt the breath rush out of her lungs, ripping out of her body like a stock car…

~ ~ ~

Last year, I did a light rewrite.  If you’ve read it already, know that the story has not changed. I’ve just made the prose a little smoother.

Maybe you’ve never read the book—and, if not, that’s okay. So many books, so little time. But if you’d like to check out the story, it’s on Amazon in Kindle Unlimited:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Amazon CA

Amazon AU

If you’re wishing it were available in another format, please let me know in the comments section. Over the past year or so, I’ve pulled a lot of my series into KU but I’ve started taking some wide again—so if there’s a retailer you’d rather purchase from, just let me know!

Thank you so much for reading not just this blog post but thank you for reading my books! There are so many stories out there ripe for the reading, so I want you to know how much I appreciate that you also read mine! My pledge to you is to keep writing not just not just rockstar stories but all kinds of tales to keep you entertained and amused and intrigued! As always, there is much more to come!