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Rock star romance books of 2014

If you’ve been following my posts rounding up rock star romance novels over the past few weeks, then you probably knew this post was coming.  If not, check out my lists for 2011, 2012, and 2013 (and let me know what books I might have missed—or, if you’re a fan, check out some books you might not have known about!).

Anyway, by 2014, rock star romance was a solid subgenre of contemporary romance (I released five myself!). We had new rock star romance releases almost every month to feed even the hungriest of appetites. And so, without further ado, let’s check out rock star romances released in 2014!

January 2014

Fully Automatic (Bullet), Jade C. Jamison

March 2014

Sinners at the Altar (Sinners on Tour #6), Olivia Cunning The Rockers’ Babies (The Rocker #6), Terri Anne Browning Play (Stage Dive #2), Kylie Scott Born Wrong (Hard Rock Roots #5), C.M. Stunich Be Careful What You Wish For (Wishes #1)

April 2014

Be Careful What You Wish For (Wishes #1), Jade C. Jamison A Song for Us (White Trash Trilogy #3), Teresa Mummert Bad for You (Sea Breeze #7), Abbi Glines Make You Mine (The Rock Gods #3), Ann Lister

May 2014

Strings of the Heart (Runaway Train #3), Katie Ashley

July 2014

Taming the Storm (The Storm #3), Samantha Towle The Rocker Who Wants Me (The Rocker #7), Terri Anne Browning

September 2014

Rock Addiction (Rock Kiss #1), Nalini Singh Rock Courtship (Rock Kiss #1.5), Nalini Singh Barely Tattooed (Tangled Web #3), Jade C. Jamison – this is not totally rock star romance…but I don’t want to give away why in case you’ve never read it!

October 2014

Tease Me (One Night with Sole Regret #7), Olivia Cunning Dead Serious (Hard Rock Roots #6), C.M. Stunich Melody of the Heart (Runaway Train #4), Katie Ashley

November 2014

Seal All Exits (Tangled Web #4), Jade C. JamisonRock My Body (Black Falcon #4), Michelle A. Valentine Take Me to Paradise (Sinners on Tour), Olivia Cunning The Rocker Who Cherishes Me (The Rocker #8), Terri Anne Browning Lead (Stage Dive #3), Kylie Scott Looking at Forever (The Rock Gods #4), Ann Lister

December 2014

The Rocker Who Shatters Me (The Rocker #9), Terri Anne Browning Repented (Battlescars #4), Sophie Monroe Christmas Stalkings (Bullet), Jade C. Jamison Love Notes (Hard Rock Harlots #3.5), Kendall Grey Doll Face (Hard Rock Roots #7), C.M. Stunich

Let me know which ones of these you’ve read and which ones you haven’t!

Also let me know if you want me to go backwards in time (meaning if you want me to list rockstar romance from 2010 and before–because I’ve found some of them!). I know there were quite a few rock star romance novels released in 2010 and probably before…so I can dig them up if you want me to! But, otherwise, thank you again for taking this journey with me. We’ll be looking at 2015 soon.

Hey, Rock Stars: It’s 2021, isn’t it?

Anyone who’s read my blog (or books) for a while knows how much I love hard rock and heavy metal music—and also how I speak out against real rock stars I feel might be behaving badly (e.g., When Assholes Prosper and Once Upon a Time…). A good chunk of the time, I won’t name names but, this time, I must.

Corey Taylor, I’m coming for you.

I’m being a little melodramatic, so please let me assure you that I love Mr. Taylor. He is one of the most brilliant lyricists of our age and he never ceases to amaze me with how he can capture rage so well in such a poetic way. Many of his songs have truly made life worth living for me. I also think he has an amazing voice and, while I love Slipknot far more than Stone Sour or even his solo stuff, I do like all of it.

Before going on to my rant, I also need to preface it with more information. I came of age in the 80s, during the heyday of what was called “glam” or “hair” metal. I just called it “metal” and I loved it. That form of music spoke to me more than anything else ever had in my life. There was just one problem: the way women were treated in that world was shameful–just as shameful as the impression it left upon those of us onlookers.

If you’re not quite with me, go back and take a look at Mötley Crüe’s “Girls, Girls, Girls” video or even look at the female singers in the “Wild Side” video from the same album, how they’re fawning all over Vince Neil as if he were a prince and they were his concubines.  Or try Warrant’s “Cherry Pie.” That’s good for a cringe, if you want to see just how far we’ve come. Or listen to Guns N’ Roses “Rocket Queen” (and, if you’re not familiar, look up the story behind it). I’d venture a guess that a good many videos (and possibly songs) that I’ve since forgotten pushed the theme that we didn’t realize because we were living it.

Women were objectified.  There were few women in metal (although Lita Ford kicked major ass), and the rock stars of that era thought of women as nothing more than sex objects. While I could dredge up story after story, you need look no further than Stephen Pearcy’s memoir Sex, Drugs, Ratt & Roll. Granted, he admits that he had some sort of sex addiction, but he was not the only one who got as much “trim” back in the day as they could.

But I digress.

Back to last year, 2020. Corey Taylor released an album called CMFT (if you want to know what that means, you need only to listen to the song “CMFT Must be Stopped” on that album). It’s not a bad song. In fact, it’s classic Taylor, chock full of meaningful lyrics that sometimes you need to churn over a time or two to really appreciate their full meaning. The song also features other artists, Tech N9ne and Kid Bookie, whom I believe wrote their sections of the song–but it’s not the song I take issue with.

It’s the video.

The women in it could have been straight from 1987. I mean that in the way that they are only valued for the cheesecake factor they add to the video. There are rappers and rockers appearing all throughout–but the generic women are valued only for the T and A.

Corey, I don’t want to stop your music, not ever. I cannot express enough how much your lyrics have meant to me over the years.

I do, however, want to stop your shitty denigrating videos. Please do it for your young female fans.

Sincerely, one of your older female fans

Kindle Vella: yes, no, or maybe?

I hadn’t made a big deal about writing three different stories for Kindle Vella, because back when Amazon first talked about it, I polled my readers. Very few of them seemed interested at all, because they’re book people—they don’t want episodes doled out one at a time; they want whole stories.

I get that…so other than mentioning it on Facebook and chatting about it a little, I didn’t say anything else. But here’s the thing. I have three stories on Vella and, just like on Amazon, competition already appears to be fierce. That means that, after I finish these three stories, I might not publish anything else on that particular platform.

But my stories need a little love.

I mention it because, if you are checking out Vella, please go check my stories out. Apparently, stories get more visibility if people are giving episodes “thumbs up” or marking stories as “faves.” The first three episodes are free so even if you’re not into episodic reading, you could still get a taste of what I’m writing there.

Unfortunately, Amazon doesn’t let us post episodes on our websites, because that makes the content free, so I can’t share that here—but I figured I’d share a little something here in case you wanted to check out one (or all) of my stories there!

WORLD BABY – rockstar romance. I’ve had this story in my head for a while, but I was inspired to start writing it yesterday! Here’s the blurb and tags (although those might change later on):

Rockstar Elijah Wilder is famous. Married. And a father. I’m poor. Struggling to stay in school. Failing miserably. We don’t belong together. We shouldn’t have even met. But, somehow, we wind up together. Now the question is if we can make it last…

Tags: rockstar romance, new adult, romance, love, drama, contemporary romance, steamy

You can read the first episode here: https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/product/B099JC9D79

SCENE OF THE CRIME – romantic suspense (think: Nicki Sosebee younger and more of a hot mess than ever but less naïve). Blurb and tags for this story (which will be wrapping up soon—I’ve written it in such a way that I can have more installments if, for some reason, people want more. There’s a slow burn romance that I intended to happen between the heroine Jo and the handsome detective Andy—but the story I’ve written wraps up nicely if that’s all that ever happens.

I came to Dalton to escape drama and crime. My mother was a magnet for both, so I worked hard to leave. But what if I’m the magnet? Crime and drama seem to have followed me here. Case in point: My dorm on the third floor is high enough for someone to fall to her death, which (spoiler alert) she did. And since the cops in Dalton are clueless, I’ll have to be the one to figure out what happened. A difficult task, considering I’m totally distracted by the gorgeous detective working the case…

Tags: college, romantic suspense, new adult, drama, murder, female protagonist, detective

Check out the first three episodes here: https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/product/B094F6522J

Last but not least…

DANGEROUS LOVE – As soon as I read that Kindle was going to be offering episodic stories, I initially decided not to write anything.  But when I changed my mind a couple of days later, I came up with this story. It’s a coming of age story with similar themes to lots of stories I’ve written. College girl from a very sheltered life is on her own for the first time—and falls in love…but is he the right guy for her? Here’s the blurb and tags:

Living a sheltered life protected me from harm…but it also gave me the urge to seek what I’ve been missing. Going to college far from home is my first taste of freedom and I’m at war with myself. Part of me wants to drink it all in but the rest of me lives in fear of eternal damnation. When I meet him, all bets are off. He is everything I’ve been looking for, everything I need…and for him, I will gladly burn in a lake of fire. But what if I am nothing but a plaything to him?

Tags: new adult, love triangle, romance, love, coming of age, contemporary romance, college

Check it out here: https://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Love/dp/B092XW8YKM/

Hey, my friends, if you do check out these stories and you like them, please considering giving me a thumbs up (or even fave a story!!!).

2013: An explosion of rock star romance novels

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been making lists of rock star romance books (if you wanted to check those out, I’ve created them for 2011 and 2012 so far).  But we’ve barely scratched the surface.

2013 was HUGE. Some of the biggies that you know and love may well have been released that year.  It was the year I published Bullet and attended my first book signing (Naughty Mafia in Las Vegas that August).  And the rock star romance books kept coming.  There were so many that year (many I’m sure I’m missing) that I’m just going to jump into the list. How many of these have you read?

January 2013

Rock the Band (Black Falcon #1.5), Michelle A. Valentine

February 2013

Hot Ticket (Sinners on Tour #3), Olivia Cunning
Bullet (Bullet #1), Jade C. Jamison – this book was my breakout hit and continues to be a favorite among my faithful readers!
All Access (Brothers of Rock #1), Karolyn James

March 2013

Battlescars: A Rock & Roll Romance (Battlescars #1), Sophie Monroe
Music of the Heart (Runaway Train #1), Katie Ashley
Reckless (Thoughtless #3), S.C. Stephens

April 2013

Rock My Bed (Black Falcon #2), Michelle A. Valentine
The Rocker Who Savors Me (The Rocker Series #2), Terri Anne Browning
Strings (Hard Rock Harlots #1), Kendall Grey: My review!
Rock with Me (A With Me in Seattle Novel), Kristen Proby

May 2013

Afflicted (Battlescars II), Sophie Monroe
Jet (Marked Men #2), Jay Crownover

June 2013

Rock My World (Black Falcon #2.5), Michelle A. Valentine

July 2013

The Rocker Who Needs Me (The Rocker Series #3), Terri Anne Browning

August 2013

My Favorite Mistake (My Favorite Mistake #1), Chelsea M. Cameron
Wethering the Storm (The Storm Series #2), Samantha Towle
Rock Bottom (Bullet), Jade C. Jamison

September 2013

Conflicted (Battlescars III), Sophie Monroe
The Rocker Who Loves Me (The Rocker Series #4), Terri Anne Browning

October 2013

The original cover for Feverish!

Rock the Beat (Black Falcon #3), Michelle A. Valentine
Feverish (Bullet series, Feverish #1), Jade C. Jamison

November 2013

Lick (Stage Dive #1), Kylie Scott
Inhap*pily Ever After (Incidental Happenstance #2), Kim DeSalvo
The Rocker Who Holds Her (The Rocker #5), Terri Anne Browning
Back-up (The Back-up Series #1), A.M. Madden

December 2013

Real Ugly (Hard Rock Roots #1), C.M. Stunich

As I said at the beginning of this post, an explosion! And I’m sure I missed a few (or a bunch!). Which ones did I miss? Which ones have you read? Which ones are still on your TBR? Let me know!

Sneak Peek at Love and Darkness

If you read To Save Him in 2016, then you’ll be familiar with Love and Darkness. I’ve rewritten it, but not much has changed in the new version–save the touches I’ve done with the entire Small Town Secrets series tying all the stories together.

A couple things: this book is releasing in August and the giveaway is going to be huge, so keep your eyes peeled for that. And the cover reveal will be coming soon, too!

In the meantime, though, I wanted to tease you with a chapter. Enjoy!

~ ~ ~

Chapter One of Love and Darkness

After my husband left with his shiny new girlfriend, I tried picking up the pieces but floundered.  I was fortunate enough to already be an established independent author, but I had to step up my game, now spending seven or more hours a day writing and marketing as opposed to a max of thirty hours a week.  Since Mel devolved into irresponsibility after he left and seemed to have forgotten he had kids, I became the sole breadwinner for my family.  It involved hard work and discipline, but I’d done it, emerging a victor.  So screw Mel.

No.  Fuck him.

One afternoon a few years after the sleazeball left, I was busy writing, going at quite a pace.  On this particular day, I had about forty-five minutes left before the kids got home from school and I’d skipped my last break, because I needed to get the words down on paper.  As of yet, I hadn’t met my daily goal.

And now the damned doorbell wasn’t helping.

After typing a couple of notes so I could pick up where I left off, I clicked the save icon and rolled my chair back from the desk.  So big deal.  My routine had been interrupted.  I could handle this.

This was, after all, what grown people had to deal with.

I expected the postal carrier with a package, considering that guy was the only person who stopped by for me anymore.  Most times, if the doorbell rang, it was one of the kids’ friends and it was later in the day.

Instead, I answered the door to a striking young man, one I’d never met before.  I was certain of that, because he had the kind of face I’d never forget.  Dark brown hair that barely grazed his shoulders and deep brown eyes that were the color of rich coffee, cheekbones a model would kill for, and a smile on his lips that his eyes didn’t reflect.  There was a deep sadness in them, beckoning me to ask why.  But that probably wasn’t for me to know.

“Mrs. Morton?”

Should I know him?  Or was this maybe a ruse—another bullshit move by my ex?  Was this young man getting ready to serve me with paperwork?  I steeled myself for the inevitable.  “Yes—er, no.”

“Oh.”

When he started to turn away, I said, “It hasn’t been Mrs. Morton for a very long time.  I used to be Mrs. Morton.”

A look of relief softened his features.  “My name is Brandon Abbott…and I served in the Marines with your son Gabe.”

Those words alone pushed what little oxygen I had left in my lungs out where it evaporated and mingled with the air of the planet.  I tried to take in a deep breath but it caught in my throat.  Seconds later, I felt dizzy.  Worse, my heart felt a familiar ache, one that had dulled as time had passed as I’d accepted that I’d never see my son again.

I realized, though, that this young man might have been one of the last people on this earth to see my beloved firstborn alive…and I had to know more.  “Please come in.”

As I stepped aside, Brandon said, “Thank you, ma’am.”

“Please—no ma’am.”  It made me feel old to be called ma’am, but before he took to calling me Mrs. Morton again, I said, “Call me Kimberly.”  Although he seemed a tad uncomfortable with my directive, he nodded just the same and walked through the doorway.

As he passed by me, I took note of his clothing:  faded blue jeans with black boots and a chain around his neck that disappeared under a black tee topped with a red flannel long-sleeved shirt.  Once I closed the door, I led him into the house proper.  “Please have a seat,” I said, waving my hand toward the living room furniture.

He chose the stuffed gray chair next to the window, and I examined his face once more, trying to picture him and Gabriel hanging around together, struggled to see in my mind what my eldest son would have looked like today.  Gabe had had his father’s dark brown hair paired with blue eyes, but he’d inherited his heart-shaped lips and apple cheeks from me.  I felt another pang of melancholy as I looked at this young man named Brandon, and envy tugged at my heart.  Gabriel had been my rock—solid, steady, and empathetic—when his dad had left.  He’d just been starting his freshman year in high school and could have used some support as well, but he instead became my pillar, and he likely had only felt capable and strong because of his basketball coach, a man who had become my son’s mentor.

So I drank in the vision of this young man, one of the last people on earth to ever have the opportunity to enjoy my son’s company, and I swallowed hard, willing the tears back—and he must have sensed the turmoil inside me.  “I’m sorry.  Maybe this was a bad idea.”

“No, not at all.”

He swallowed.  “It seems like my presence is upsetting you.”

“No.  It’s not you.  It’s just—still hard to accept that he’s gone.  He was…my baby.  Please…” I said, my voice trailing off, hoping my eyes were saying what my lips could not.

His voice was quiet, so I almost had to strain to hear him speak.  “Your son and I were in the same platoon, and some things happened to us that have forever bonded us as brothers.”  When he paused, I wondered if his eyes seemed to lose focus because he was experiencing the moment as if it was happening in front of us.  “The day before he passed, Mrs.—Kimberly, we were talking about our families and how badly we needed to go home, be with the ones we love, and it was clear to me the bond between you and Gabe was strong.  He said you were his ‘recharge,’ and he talked about you so much that night, I felt like I already knew you.  And then…when Gabe died, I knew I had to meet the woman who’d given birth to such an amazing human being…and I had to let you know how very much your son loved you.”

Oh, God.  His words, meant to be like a soft blanket to warm and hold me were instead like a knife plunged straight into my heart.  The water was welling up in my eyes, blurring my vision.  Because the tears were dangerously close and I didn’t want to cry in front of this stranger, I clenched my hands together, digging my nails into my palms.  “Can I get you something to drink?”

He was a sweet young man, understanding that I needed a few moments alone.  “Sure.”

“Iced tea?”

“That would be nice.  Thanks.”

Nodding, I stood, smoothing my hands on my jeans before turning around to walk toward the kitchen.  Although I managed to not sob out loud, the tears started dropping as soon as my head was turned.  By the time I arrived in the kitchen, they were out of control, and I knew there would be no iced tea until I could let out the overpowering emotions that had taken over my heart.  I snatched a napkin off the table and held it up to my eyes, my chest heaving as I let the tears flow.

Several minutes passed before I could get any kind of control over myself, likely because I was holding back from a full-on emotional onslaught.  I didn’t want to sob loudly, but the potential to do so lay dormant inside my chest.  I sighed, letting it go for the moment, and then I blew my nose into the napkin.  Then I ran cool water in the sink, splashing it on my cheeks and under my eyes, hoping to alleviate the redness and puffiness my little crying jag had likely caused.  Next, I quickly threw a kettle on the stove, hoping the fire would bring the water to boiling in a hurry, and, while it heated, I gathered everything else I needed—glasses, sugar, spoons, a tray—and made the tea as quickly as I could.  After another few minutes, I was finally heading back to the living room.

I hoped that Brandon wouldn’t comment on the evidence of crying on my face nor the length of time it had taken me to bring the tea.  He stood in front of the couch with his back to me, looking at the pictures of my family on the wall.  When I set the tray on the coffee table, he pivoted.  “Are these all your kids?”

He was looking at the last formal photo my kids had taken together.  Before then, we’d had photos of all five of us together, but those were stored away in a closet somewhere.  The particular photo Brandon was looking at showed Gabe as a freshman in high school holding his brother on his lap, and both were slightly in front of their sister who was standing.  Annabel had been in second grade at the time and Melvin Jr. wasn’t even in school yet.  The enormity of how time passed by faster and faster every year made my shoulders suddenly feel heavy.  I glanced at the photo of my children’s faces again, marveling that there was no mistaking that they were siblings.  They had the same dark hair, same light eyes, the same oval face.  Gabriel, though—he always looked serious, choosing to shoulder more responsibility than he needed to.

Oh, my sweet boy.

“Yes,” I answered, recognizing the catch in my throat for what it was, and I swallowed, hoping to regain my composure.  After all, I did have two other beautiful, healthy, live children who needed my continued love and nurturing.  “That’s Annabel and JR.”  I was not going to explain how I refused to call my son by his given name, considering he was his father’s namesake.  That my husband had bailed before his youngest was old enough to walk created so much animosity that I refused to say his name except when necessary, and I feared that my innocent infant could potentially sense how much I loathed it.  Thus, Melvin Jr. had become JR—as in the two separate initials, as if they stood for something like James Richard or John Robert, but they instead symbolized my refusal to call him Junior—before his first birthday cake.  “They should be home from school in the next hour.”

“I should probably go then.”

“Oh, no.  Please don’t.  Not yet.  I’d love to hear your favorite moments with my son—over a glass of iced tea.”

After seeming to give it some thought, he said, “All right.”

I poured tea over one of the glasses filled with ice before handing it to Brandon.  He took a lemon wedge off the small plate on the tray and then stirred a spoonful of sugar in the glass.  After I poured some tea for myself, I sat down.  “Thank you for indulging me.”

He sat in the gray chair again.  “I’m sure it must be difficult for you.”

Oh, he had no idea, but I wasn’t going to burden him with it.  Life is for the living…or something like that.  Undoubtedly, he also felt the hole Gabriel’s passing had left in his life, because my son was just one of those kinds of people.  He filled rooms with warmth, love, and laughter, and those same rooms felt very empty after he left them.  I nodded but kept my mouth shut.

Brandon said, “So you wanted to hear a story about Gabe and me?”

“Yes, if you don’t mind.”

“No, not at all.”  After taking a sip of his tea, his voice grew soft.  “There’s one story I want to share.  You might not know it, but there’s a lot of hazing that goes on in the military—especially with new recruits.  People don’t talk about it and it’s not supposed to happen, but it does anyway.  It mostly happens with the new guys, and it’s all part of the experience.  The idea is to either toughen a guy up or push him out—because, either way, he doesn’t belong the way he is.  A huge part of military is belonging and oneness and becoming a team.  That’s drilled in early on, so much that you don’t question it.

“Anyway, that means that when established guys start picking on a newer guy, for whatever reason, you tend to turn a blind eye.  It’s not that you outright condone it, even though by allowing it to happen, you are.  And this poor kid—for days, he was picked on, and it was relentless.  I don’t get why, ‘cause he’d made it through boot camp.  That alone proves something.  But they made fun of everything about him—the pitch of his voice and the twang in it.  His name, his height.  I think his constant torment was putting us all on edge.  One night, we were all returning from mess, and the three main guys who’d been egging each other on decided they were gonna give Edgar a swirlie.  You could see it on the kid’s face that night, that they’d just about broke him.  But Gabe had had enough.  He stood up from his bunk, walking over to Edgar’s before the three troublemakers got there, and he said, ‘I don’t think so.’  That made them angry, of course, because Gabe was ruining their evening’s entertainment.  Never mind that they could have gone to the movie showing on post or anything else.  They wanted to make this guy’s life miserable.  The leader of the bullies said something like, ‘Oh, yeah, whatcha gonna do about it?’  Gabe, though.  He was cool as a cucumber.  ‘You wanna find out?’  I scrambled down off my bunk then so I could get his back if he needed it.”

“That was very kind of you.”

“Not really.  I’d been one of the ones content to let the kid get bullied and turn a blind eye.  Your son, he was a leader.  I tell you what, Mrs.—sorry—Kimberly, that wasn’t the only time he inspired me to act.  He was that kind of guy.”

The tears welled up in my eyes again.  I’d always known my son was a leader as well as caring and compassionate, making him the perfect big brother.  “Thank you for sharing that with me, Brandon.  It’s good to know that he made others’ lives better while he was still here.”

“That he did.”  After taking another drink of tea, he said, “I should probably go now.  I just wanted to let you know how much you meant to your son.”

I wasn’t quite ready to let go yet.  Brandon was probably the only connection I had to my deceased firstborn.  Maybe it was irrational, but that was how my mind saw it.  “Why don’t you stay for dinner?  I know Gabriel’s sister and brother would love to meet you.”

“I’d hate to impose.”

“It’s not an imposition—and I know Annabel and JR would love to visit with you.”

After grappling with my offer for a few moments, he said, “Okay.  Thank you for your hospitality.”

“You’re more than welcome.  I just need to decide what to make for dinner.  Do you have any food allergies or preferences?”  I almost enjoyed the idea of making a special meal—I hadn’t liked cooking in a long time, partly because it felt like no one appreciated it, but adding a guest changed everything.

“No, m—I mean Kimberly.  Sorry.  That’s hard after being drilled in the services for so long.  Anyway, I’m just grateful for a hot meal.  They say not to look a gift horse in the mouth.”

My mind was already probing the contents of my kitchen, trying to think of a meal I could make that Gabriel would have wanted to come home to.  Steak and potatoes?  Chicken and dumplings?  Lasagna?  None of those were possible right now, but then I thought of one of my kids’ favorite meals, something I thought I had all the ingredients on hand for.  “Do you like spaghetti?”

“Yes, but I’ll gladly eat whatever you feed me.  Marine food isn’t known for being palatable so whatever you make I’m sure will be delicious.”

As my throat constricted with another onslaught of emotion, JR crashed through the front door.

“Hey, mom!  Guess who made the baseball team?”  When he saw Brandon, he paused.  “Oh, hey.”

While I wanted to ask him where his sister was, I focused on being polite.  “JR, this is Brandon, a friend of Gabriel’s who’s stopped by to pay us a visit.”

“Gabe?”  My youngest seemed confused at first but he was my hyperactive social butterfly, quickly rebounding.  “Nice to meet you.”

“You as well.”  I was impressed with how polite Brandon was, much like Gabriel.

“So you made the baseball team, son?”

“Yeah.  They posted the results of yesterday’s tryouts during lunch today.  And I’m pretty sure I was their first pick.”

“They were wise to choose you.”  I wanted to hug JR, but I knew he’d have none of it, especially in front of a stranger.  “I’m so proud of you, son.”

Finally, Annabel walked through the door, but her eyes were mostly glued to her cell phone.  Although she waved, acknowledging our existence, she charged up the stairs toward her bedroom without so much as a hello.  “Teenagers,” I offered as an apology.  “I’m sure you figured out that was my daughter.”

“Annabel, you said?”

“Yes.”

“She looks a lot like you.”

I laughed, because she did not, and he really hadn’t seen enough of her to make a fair judgment.  Aside from the mane that flowed to her shoulder blades, she was the spitting image of her father.  “She probably wouldn’t like hearing that.”

JR jumped in the wake left behind our dwindling conversation.  “Can I go to Joey’s to play games till dinner?”

“Since we have a guest, why don’t you either get your homework done or help me entertain while I make dinner?”

I wasn’t sure what the twinkle in JR’s eyes meant until he said, “I’d rather show him the Xbox if that’s okay.”

“The—JR, our guest doesn’t want to watch you play a videogame.”

“Actually, Kimberly, I wouldn’t mind playing a game with your son if that’s what he had in mind.”

“Oh, hell, yeah!”

“JR, watch your mouth.”

“Sorry, mom.”  To Brandon, he said, “C’mon.  It’s in the family room.”  Our guest stood and smiled—the biggest grin I’d seen on his face since his arrival.  Maybe playing a game would be best for both males.  As they walked out of earshot, I heard JR start to ask, “Have you ever played…”

They left me alone with far too many weighty thoughts.

~ ~ ~

Love and Darkness is going to be in KU for the first three months and then I’ll publish it wide sometime after that. It’s available for pre-order if you’d like to check it out:

Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon CA
Amazon AU

17 rock star romance books from 2012

By 2012, I’d already published nine books on Amazon and a couple of other places online.  I’d even published a paperback.  My bestselling book by far was Tangled Web—but by the end of 2012, that was getting ready to change in a huge way.

Anyway, over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been taking a trip down rock star romance memory lane. This week, we’re taking a look back to 2012.  As a reminder, I realize I probably won’t name even half of the books that were released that year, but these were titles I remember seeing, novels that made an impression on me in one way or another (or that I wrote). Which ones have you read?

One thing I’ve discovered going backward in time:  some of these books have been repackaged, republished, and relaunched—so I’m glad to know I’m not the only author who’s done that!

If you decide you want to read any of these books, all links point to Amazon (my apologies if you get your books at another site)—so you can get started right away!  Let’s start reading some sexy rock stars!

February 2012

MADversary, Jade C. Jamison – this book has since been rewritten and republished as Love and Music (Small Town Secrets #3). Also, if you read the original version, you might wonder what’s different. Well, the original was written in third person and the rewrite is in first. Second, I’ve added a couple of small characters to this series to help tie all the books together.

April 2012

Love’s Rhythm, Lexxie Couper (Heart of Fame #1) – she’s changed the cover and republished it, but this book was HUGE in 2012!

June 2012

Devoured, Emily Snow (Devoured #2) – If I’m not mistaken, this book was Devoured #1 at the time it was released, but Snow has since rewritten a prequel (All Over You) to be the first book in the series.

July 2012

Incidental Happenstance, Kim DeSalvo

August 2012

Falling Stars, Sadie Grubor (Falling Stars #1) – Fun fact: Sadie and I both contributed to the coolest rock star romance anthology called Get Rocked! in Vegas, and I interviewed her after that here on my website. What I love about her covers is they’re designed to look like magazine covers!

The Mighty Storm, Samantha Towle (The Storm #1)

The old cover!

Then Kiss Me, Jade C. Jamison – this book has since rewritten and republished as Love and Lies (Small Town Secrets #1)

September 2012

White Trash Beautiful, Teresa Mummert (White Trash Trilogy #1)

Big Girls Do It Better, Jasinda Wilder (Big Girls Do It #1) – she released several books in this series all in 2012 but it looks like she re-released them in 2013 and included several of the shorter books in one larger book called Big Girls Do It.

Everything But, Jade C. Jamison (Tangled Web #2) – the reception of this book let me know that readers were loving my books!

Rock Star, Ginger Voight (Groupie #2)

October 2012

Moving in Reverse, Katy Atlas – to the best of my knowledge, this book is no longer available for purchase

November 2012

Covered in Lace: The Lacey Sheridan Story, Ann Lister

Rock the Heart (Black Falcon #1), Michelle A. Valentine – I was so fortunate to meet Michelle in person in Las Vegas at the Naughty Mafia Book Signing in August 2013. She is down to earth and sweet as can be. Love her!

Tear, Rachel Van Dyken (Seaside #1)

December 2012

Forever My Girl, Heidi McLaughlin (Beaumont #1)

My Misery Muse, Brei Betzold (all three books in the trilogy are 99 cents, so if you’ve never read it…) – Brei was one of the first authors I got to know on social media. Such a sweetheart!

If you didn’t get the idea based on how big my 2012 list is compared to the 2011 one, let’s just say that, by then, readers couldn’t get enough rock star romance.  I didn’t realize that until 2012—but, when I did, I planned to give them what they wanted.  In December 2012, I started writing what would be my biggest book ever—both in length and bestselling status.  But we’ll talk about that when I post the 2013 rock star romance list.

In the meantime, which of these books have you read?  Which do you want to read? 

Which do you want to read AGAIN? Let me know in the comments!

Relentless: A review of The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone

I purchased The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon a few years ago and finally settled into reading it this year. While I can remember shopping Amazon in the late ‘90s, it was fascinating to see how the store started from the ground up.

What struck me throughout the book was how Bezos was driven to be the best—nay, to be the everything—from the beginning.  I personally didn’t become aware of the man as founder and CEO until much later when I think everyone else did, so to get a glimpse at the history is pretty fascinating.  What made the biggest impression on me was learning how Amazon started out as an “every single book” store before branching out into as many other directions as possible—all under the leadership of Bezos.

While I think a good many of us can nod our heads at what we know must have been great sacrifice and unyielding vision to create Amazon out of nothing but a vision, at the same time, I believe we also all have an idea, thanks to the constant press Amazon gets, what kind of person it takes to lead that sort of corporation.  Author Brad Stone, while as diplomatic and neutral as possible, pulls no punches when describing the sort of leader Bezos has been known as: “acerbic,” “stingy with praise,” “prone to melodramatic temper tantrums” (also called “nutters”), and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  On the other hand, Bezos inspired great loyalty in others.

I think one word can sum up all angles of Bezos:  type relentless.com into your web browser and see where it takes you (hint: we’re talking about it).  Even at the beginning, Bezos intended to be just that: relentlessly scooping up customers from every corner of the internet.  And he succeeded when many dot-coms failed at the turn of the century.

What I enjoyed most about The Everything Store was seeing how much Amazon shaped the book world. I’d gone into the book knowing the Kindle made quite an impact (in fact, ebooks were still unloved stepchildren until Amazon changed all that), but I didn’t know how, even before that, Amazon was calling some shots in the industry.  This book will open your eyes like it did mine in terms of the power Amazon quickly amassed and then wielded.  For us independent authors, it was a godsend.  The publishing industry, however, was not amused, but they had to keep up just the same.

It was truly inspiring to see all the avenues Amazon tried out, just to see if they would fit, to discovering how truly “relentless” Amazon is—from mercilessly gobbling up online shoe merchant Zappos.com to bullying other merchants (such as Wüsthof), it is quite clear that Bezos and Amazon won some battles and may likely win a war through its relentless pursuits of offering everything to everybody…but that as yet remains to be seen.

If you shop on Amazon, I encourage you to one-click this book as well.

8 rock star romance books of 2011

If you read my blog post last week, then hopefully you got a good idea for the feel of indie publishing back in 2011.  As a fun celebration of that, I’m going to make some lists with rock star romance titles for each year, starting with 2011.  I know (now!) that there were plenty of books in that genre before I naïvely entered the scene, but I want to start with the year I began publishing and sharing the novels I remember the most.  This doesn’t mean they were the bestselling rock star romance books (although I know for certain that several of them are), nor does it imply that I’ve read them or endorsed them, nor is it even an indication of if it’s indie or traditionally published.  Just, from my author perspective, these are books that got my attention during that particular year—and maybe they did yours as well.

At first, I was going to arrange the titles in no particular order, but then I decided to instead order them by publication date.  If you want more info, you can click on the links that will take you to their respective pages on Amazon (or, if they are no longer available, on Goodreads).

One last thing:  some of these books I discovered back then just by searching on Amazon’s Kindle pages, but a good many of them appeared in the “also bought” section on my book’s pages on Amazon.  Maybe you’ll find a new-to-you rockstar read here!  If you prefer binge reading series, then you’ll be happy to know that a good many of these books offer that as well!

Without further ado, here is a list of 2011 Rock Star Romance Books (by the way, YES…that means that these books are now a DECADE old, but they will still rock you!):

March 2011

Blindsided, Sayer Adams (With the Band #1) – This is one of the first ebooks I bought for the Kindle as I tried to figure out how to format my books and all that good stuff (plus I liked the story!). To the best of my knowledge, this book is no longer available for purchase.

April 2011

Rock Hard, Olivia Cunning (Sinners on Tour #2) – Olivia Cunning was the first rock star romance author to catch my attention. Shortly after publishing my first book, I bought the first book in her Sinners series, and I know lots of my readers have read and loved her books.  What I enjoy most about Cunning’s books is it’s clear she’s a true fan of real hard rock music.  As a fan myself, I appreciate that!

Tangled Web, Jade C. Jamison (Tangled Web #1) – you know the story behind this one…and if you don’t, then you must be new to my website.   In case you are new, here’s the description (which has, admittedly, evolved a bit over time):

He shouldn’t have expected his best friend to stay single forever…

Katie’s had a secret crush on her best friend Johnny Church since high school, but he’s never looked at her the same way. When he leaves home to become a famous rock star, she stays behind, eventually becoming engaged.

But when Johnny comes home to visit this time, things seem different somehow. He’s still her friend—but there’s something else there. And Katie realizes she should have told Johnny she had a fiancé, because maybe the attraction was mutual after all…

May 2011

Breathe, Abbi Glines (Sea Breeze #1) – Glines was another name I quickly became familiar with as I began my quest to discover that I was not writing in a new genre!

June 2011

Effortless, S.C. Stephens (Thoughtless #2) – While Stephens’s books didn’t hit my radar till a little later, I’ve started reading them now…and now I understand why this trilogy and this author is the one my rock star books are most compared to!

September 2011

While both of these books popped up on my radar after 2011, they were both released in September of that year:

Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star, Heather Lynn Rigaud – I’ve not read it myself but based on the title and reviews, I think it’s safe to say it’s a retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

Groupie, Ginger Voight (Groupie #1) – I haven’t read this one, either, but it first caught my notice on Goodreads.

November 2011

What the Heart Wants, Kelli McCracken (Soulmate #1) – I don’t know too much about this book or this series, but I do know they’re now being marketed as paranormal rather than rock star books. It looks like they’re both!

I know there had to be lots more that year, including some I’m just not remembering—but that’s okay. This is a start! Stay tuned for more yearly lists but in the meantime I have some questions for you:

Were you reading rock star romance novels back then? What other contemporary romance books do you remember seeing that year? Let me know in the comments!

Is Rockstar Romance really a thing?

I ask that in the most rhetorical of ways—because, yes, of course it is! For starters, rock stars make awesome romance novel heroes. But bear with me as we take a trip back in time…

The year was late 2010.  I had had a rough couple of years, but I’d found my writing mojo again and I was putting words on a page.  It felt rusty at first but it didn’t take me long to hit my stride again.  In a couple of months, I’d penned what I thought was a truly unique book—it was steamy and it featured an imperfect rock star as the hero.  A couple of things to note:

I didn’t think there was a market for itI was sure I could get a publisher for itI had to write it anyway

Well…those who have followed me for a while probably already know the story of how I discovered the Amazon KDP program that spurred the indie publishing boon and, before I knew it, it was April 2011 and I was pushing the Publish button for the very first time.  I wish I could conjure up the emotions I was feeling at the time, but I really can’t.  All I know is I had feelings of expectation and dread—and hope.

Amazon’s set up was pretty different back then, and although I continued writing other books, I was trying to figure out how to get mine read.  I had no audience, no background in marketing, no freaking clue.  Still, I sold six ebooks that first month.  More importantly, I began the research.  I tried to figure out what I needed to do to be better seen by folks who wanted to read my books.  The main way I did it was by scouring Amazon.  Back then, the “also boughts” worked a little differently in the visual sense, but there were no ads on the book pages, no other distractions.  It was pretty easy as an author to see what folks were reading who also happened to find your book.

So I bought some of them and discovered what you probably already know:  Rockstar Romance IS a thing.

The old cover of Tangled Web

First, I purchased Olivia Cunning’s Backstage Pass—and then I realized something important:  Umm, readers might want some backmatter.  So I added a little something.  I learned formatting more quickly.  Then I purchased a book called Blindsided (With the Band Book 1) by Sayer Adams (and bummer—it doesn’t look to be available to purchase anymore).  After that, I branched out to reading other romance books that popped up in my also boughts and learned so much just from reading those stories.  More importantly, just like with cooking, I learned presentation is important.  My cover was okay, nothing to write home about, but a far cry better than my first several attempts at my Nicki Sosebee series.  In fact, I only refreshed the cover for Tangled Web a couple of years ago, inspired and encouraged by my friend Nicole of Love Kissed Book Bargains.

But I’m veering off course.  Let’s just say it was an incredible year of learning.  I discovered and published on Barnes & Noble for the Nook and Smashwords.  I grew quite frustrated with the Kindle for a while because the formatting was effed up in more ways I can describe.  I’m pleased to say that they have more than fixed those issues as time has gone on, and they supply far more tools to authors nowadays to help with that.

I was writing other books, too, especially focusing on the Nicki series, partly based on other research I’d done, so it took me a while to really truly realize that, yes, friends…rockstar romance is a THING!  I’d been waiting breathlessly for months waiting for reviews and finally got one on my book.  A three-star that was somewhat snarky but I was actually relieved that it was three stars!

And then I got an email from a young fan who said my book meant the world to him.  I still have that email saved in my inbox!  I remember where I was and what I was listening to when I read that email—yes, friends, it made that kind of impact on me.  Then, after having sales slowly build, something happened that autumn that blew my socks off.  Suddenly, my little book was selling dozens of copies.  Over three hundred copies in one month!  It was the little book that could.  But I knew something was up.

Google helped me figure that one out.

I discovered that Maryse of Maryse’s book blog had read and reviewed my book, and I credit her with getting me seen initially all those years ago.  She and I even corresponded a bit, and I devoured her website.  It was then that I learned about book bloggers—more specifically, romance book bloggers.  She had a heck of a following and an engaging personality and I thank her for her help all those years ago.

If I hadn’t realized it before then, I knew afterward…rockstar romance is a serious thing and it’s not going anywhere.  It’s a legitimate contemporary romance subgenre and one of my favorites to write in.  If I had to guess why, it’s probably because I’m a girl of the 80s who loved hair metal, then loved grunge, followed by the resurgence of all kinds of metal that I still love and listen to this day.  And, friends, you already know, it’s not just the music.  It’s everything.  Writing about it was the next best thing to actually living it.

It wasn’t until almost a year later, though, that it dawned on me that Tangled Web had sold far more copies than any other books I had published—combined (just to put that into perspective, I’d published nine other novels by that point!).  Maybe, I thought, I should write another rock star romance book.

So I did.

A book called MADversary helped me find a ton more readers (seriously!!!), including some bloggers whom I consider friends to this day.  (I’ve since rewritten that book and republished it as Love and Music).  And even though the Nicki Sosebee series was my passion project and had a few dedicated readers, my rock star romance titles were the ones getting the attention.  So I wrote two more rock star romance titles that year and realized what you’ve known all along:  Rockstar romance is truly a thing of beauty, and there are readers who can’t get enough of it.

As I look back over the past ten years of my indie publishing career, I marvel at how much things have changed but more so at how much I’ve learned.  Ten years ago, my kids were all still living at home, all still going to school, and I was figuring all this stuff out in my spare time.  Now they’re grown, in various stages of leaving the nest and adulting…and I have lots more stories to tell.  I’m still not done learning and the landscape is no longer fresh and new, but I’m excited for the future.  If you thought finishing off a couple of my long-running series meant I was done writing rock star romance, please know that you were mistaken.  I have plans.  Big plans.  Bullet and Vagabonds are done and Feverish is all but finished, but I still have to wrap up Tangled Web and the barely begun Wishes. And I have a hoard of ideas for new stuff.  Here’s what the next year looks like in terms of rock star romance:

January 2022 (tentative but hopeful date) Taking Chances, a book I was cowriting with the late Selene Chardou when she passed away in 2017. We never finished it, but I’m going to and, when I release it, all proceeds will go to her daughters.  I just haven’t had the heart to finish it, but I’m ready now.February 2022 Shake Me (Rock Stars on the Rise #1)…you are gonna freaking love this book! March 2022 Shame Me (Rock Stars on the Rise #2)April 2022 Save Me (Rock Stars on the Rise #3)May 2022 Tangled Web #5July 2022 Wishes #2August 2022 Wishes #3September 2022 Wishes #4

So 2022 is gonna be a rockstar-romance-alicious year for my readers.  But there will be even more to come.

Now please know that this schedule is tentative but some of these projects are already written or partially written and they’re on my schedule—but they are subject to change, especially if you, my readers, want me to change it.  So let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Oh…one more thing.  If you want to be notified about any of these new releases, you can sign up for my newsletter here. But I want to leave you with one final thought:  Rockstar romance really is a thing, and it’s here to stay, baby.  Rock on!

Slow Burn is live!

Brian’s book (Feverish #4) is now live and I’m excited for you to read it!

The blurb:

LIVE!

When Brian and Sophie meet, there’s spontaneous combustion.
Too bad they hate each other.

Fashion model Sophia Buckley has despised Brian Zimmer from the first time she heard him speak…and so, without even getting to know him, she plots revenge, executing her plan perfectly. Playing a groupie, she engages Brian in a steamy encounter, only to leave him high and dry.

Brian figures she’s simply the mayor of Crazy Town, vowing to forget the experience and move on.

Except she won’t let him because she keeps turning up in his life.

Despite Brian’s protests, the band’s manager forces Last Five Seconds to engage with this woman because she has an innate talent for stirring up drama. Throw in the paparazzi, and both she and the band get some much-needed publicity.

Forced together, Brian and Sophie find their feelings for one another growing.

But it would never work. They are oil and water, not yin and yang.

So why do they keep ending up in each other’s life? In each other’s bed?

When Sophie cuts Brian to the quick in a very public way, he finds the fuel to walk away for good. But will he really be able to stay away?

Some reviews:

“I was intrigued from the first word to the last, and need more of the Feverish world.” Janeane, BJ’s Book Blog

“Jamison is really good at humanizing heavy metal rock stars, showing their insecurities and sensitive sides. It makes it impossible not to fall in love with these considerate, thoughtful guys.” Elizabeth, The Marginatrix

“Brian and Sophia meet up again and sparks FLY. Seems they are so compatible they combust at each turn. Even when they want to apologize, they end up fighting…I enjoyed the story plus…all kinds of excited for what is to come!!!” Angie J, Twinsie Talk Book Reviews

The giveaway is live for less than 24 hours, so if you haven’t entered yet, you’ll want to do it now: https://bit.ly/35AQc7Z

Links:

Amazon
Apple
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
Google Play
Smashwords

One more thing: the book will be moved to Kindle Unlimited soon, so get your copy ASAP!