Z.L. Arkadie's Blog, page 22
October 20, 2015
Problems On Amazon – The Sexy Boss – Sedition (Book 2) — ALL FIXED!
UPDATE!
The issue on Amazon.com (US) has been fixed. You can now use the link to access The Sexy Boss – Sedition (Book 2)
Also, if you like the series and the components of the story, then join the blog! Here’s the link: The Sexy Series
Thanks for your patience!
Problems On Amazon – The Sexy Boss – Sedition (Book 2)
A quick FYI.
Some of you may experience problems finding or accessing The Sexy Boss – Sedition (Book 2) on Amazon.com. I’ve contacted them about the issue and they’re fixing it.
I’ll let you know when it’s available for purchase for all.
Also, if you like the series and the components of the story, then join the blog! Here’s the link: The Sexy Series
I’ll be back! 
October 19, 2015
Get “The Sexy Boss – Sedition”
The Sexy Boss Series!
The Sexy Boss – Sedition (Books 1 & 2)
Check out this new series by Z.L. Arkadie and T.R. Bertrand. The Sexy Series promises to be an engaging, inspirational, and addictive read. The story begins with book one and ends in book two. So there’s no waiting months on end to get to the happily ever after.
The Sexy Boss – Sedition (Books 1 & 2) are the first two books in The Sexy Series. The Sexy Professor duo book series will hit retail outlets in December.
So get The Sexy Boss – Sedition (Books 1 & 2) from your favorite e-tailer outlet! Just click on a link below!
The Sexy Boss – Sedition (Book 1)
iBooks
Amazon
Google Play
Kobo
The Sexy Boss – Sedition (Book 2)
iBooks
Amazon
Google Play
Kobo
The books are not yet available on Nook but I will inform you as soon as I see that they are.
Also, if you missed the excerpt of book 1, then click here!
All Best,
Author Z.L. Arkadie
October 16, 2015
A taste of “The Sexy Boss: Sedition?”
So, as I said, I’m stressing my brain out, working on projects, trying to complete them by the end of the year. Well, The Sexy Series is one of them. The good news is that I’m working with a writing partner, T. R. Bertrand.
Here’s a taste of what will be released soon, very soon! We’re shooting for a release date of Sunday, 10/18/2015.
Hope you like it!
All best,
Z
Description:
I never thought my new, sexy boss would look at me that way. He’s the kind of man that dates male magazine cover models, not confused twenty-something year olds like me. But now we find ourselves trapped by bad weather conditions, and sparks are flying. I wonder if we’ll end up crossing the line?
The Sexy Boss
Sedition
Book ONE
by
Z.L. Arkadie
T.R. Bertrand
I mind my speed because the roads are icy. I’m late for work. Last night, I attended a going-away party for my boss, Liza Patrick-Sharp. Today is the first day of her new life. Liza is nine months pregnant, and now that she’s off on maternity leave, she’s chosen to relinquish her job for a career as a full-time mom. My new boss is Nolan Patrick, Liza’s brother. She hasn’t shared many details about him, other than that he has a serious demeanor and the two of them are pretty close. Nolan has run the Chicago office for the last five years, and the rumor from that office is that Nolan Patrick is thirty-one years old and has been divorced for about a year. They also say he’s a no-nonsense kind of guy, but other than that, he’s fairly nice.
I make a left turn into the parking lot and pull into the first spot I see. I’m fifteen minutes late.
I grab my coat and purse, curse under my breath, and rush out the car to power walk toward the building. My loosely wrapped scarf isn’t doing a good job of keeping the cold wind from moving down my blouse, and I’m virtually an ice statue when I make it inside. Surprisingly, hardly anyone is here. I tug my scarf loose and debate whether or not it’s warm enough to take off my coat. On days like this, the building doesn’t warm up until noon. I grunt, frustrated. I want to take off my coat, but I also want to stay warm. I flip a coin in my mind. Heads, I keep it on. Tails, I take it off. The imaginary coin goes up and hits the floor. I don’t even have to visualize where it ended up.
I keep my coat on, muster up some courage, and walk to Liza’s old office. My heart is beating so fast, and nervousness makes my skin run hot. When I picture Nolan Patrick, I see an anal-retentive bureaucrat afflicted with premature balding. He’ll probably drive me like a slave, but I’m here to do my job, even if that means working my fingers to the bone.
The door is closed, but I knock gently. After waiting for several seconds, I carefully turn the knob and peek inside. The office is empty. I sigh in relief and rush to the break room to make a fresh pot of coffee before Nolan Patrick arrives. I open the cabinet where the coffee is stored.
“Morning, Abby.”
I jump, startled, and look behind me. “Morning, Misty.” I didn’t mean to say that in such a deadpan tone. I’m just freaking out because it seems we’re out of coffee.
She looks at me disapprovingly. “Nice coat.”
I roll my eyes at the siren-red dress she’s wearing. “You do know it’s snowing outside?”
Misty leans against the doorjamb and smirks. “Jealous?”
I squat to search for coffee in the bottom cabinet. “No, just worried you’re going to freeze your butt off.”
“And I’m worried that you look like a snowman in that coat. It’s okay to sex it up once every blue moon.”
I sigh out of frustration. “That doesn’t make any sense, Misty, and where’s the damn coffee!”
She flexes her eyebrows. “So Nolan’s going to be here today.”
Hence the red dress. I slam the cabinet door. “What happened to all the coffee that was in here yesterday?”
She pulls her long blond hair across her shoulder and pets the strands. “Calm yourself, Abby. Just walk to Starbucks and pick up a few bags. Isn’t beverage service scheduled to restock this afternoon?”
She knows the schedule because she flirts with the restock guy every time he shows up. I take a deep breath to get a grip. This morning has been such a rollercoaster. I actually woke up on time but I laid in bed staring at the ceiling. Liza wouldn’t be in the office this morning, and that just made me sad. My life has been so focused on juggling her affairs that I’m not sure what my purpose is at work anymore. Now I’m here and only a good cry sparked by frustration would make me feel better at this point. And why did Misty wear a red dress for Nolan? She’s met him. The two times he came to the Minneapolis office I’ve either been out for lunch or home sick. So I asked her a week ago if she could give me any information about him. She just gave me an indifferent shrug and said, “He’s an okay guy.”
I whip past Misty. “Okay. Going to Starbucks to get coffee. Can I get you anything?” I ask before I can take it back.
“Umm,” she says, faking having to think about her answer. “Caramel latte, skim milk, extra hot.” She smiles. I wait to see if Misty will give me money, but she enhances her smile and says, “I’ll be at my desk.”
She walks right past me. She never pays for the coffee I buy for her. I keep buying her coffee because deep down, I want her to shock the hell out of me by giving me money and proving that she doesn’t always think the world revolves around her. The dwindling time is beating down on me, so I grab my purse and head out without asking her for a dime.
Starbucks is just a block away; I can see the entrance from here. It’s so close, but in this weather, it might as well be a mile away. The icy wind cuts through my coat like a blade. Not even power walking and being nervous is enough to warm me.
I’m shivering like a cold bird when I make it inside the coffee shop. Every morning this place is packed but not today. There’s something strange to the emptiness, but my thoughts are too full. I have to rush back to the office and have the coffee brewed and a list of action items ready before my new boss arrives. I stand in front of a shelf of different kinds of coffee, wondering what Nolan Patrick would like. It’s an impossible question to answer since I’ve never even laid eyes on the man. I make an executive decision and grab two bags of the House Blend, caffeinated and decaffeinated. I waltz right up to the register and pay for them and order a caramel latte with skim milk. Every second that I wait for Misty’s specialty coffee feels like an eternity. I take my cell phone out of my pocket and flip it open. My phone is an older model, which gives it limited ability but I am able to check the local news report on it. Nothing much is going on this early in the morning, other than reports on how bad the weather is supposed to get later today. I should probably go home, but I have so much I want to do before Nolan Patrick arrives—if he even shows up.
“Abby,” the barista calls from behind the espresso machine.
I stuff my phone back into my pocket and scurry to the counter. I’m so relieved to have the drink in my hand that I spin on my heels, ready to get the heck out of here as fast as I can, but my hand that’s holding the coffee slams into what feels like a brick wall. Hot liquid pours everywhere: down my hand, down the front of someone’s camel-colored wool jacket, all over my boots, and all over the floor.
I drop the cup and shake away the heat and sting on my hand. “Shoot.”
I look up and make eye contact with the most handsome face I’ve ever seen off a movie screen.
***
Stay tuned for more!
October 1, 2015
I’m Still Around…
It’s been a long time since I’ve written a post that’s not quite about writing. So I thought, let me return to my roots for a moment. When I first started blogging, I had zero published books. So I mainly used to write about my hectic and confused life. Well… Many years later and that has changed–a lot!
I have returned to my roots–the desert. I’ve been living here since the end of May. Once a California desert rat, always a California desert rat. But I drive up to LA every now and then for…. this or that. I’ve been writing like CRAZY. But that’s my fault. I got caught in the world of endless story. I’ve learned the power of writing a short series, no more than three books, and (swipes hands) move on to the next. So now I’m under pressure to wrap up the stories of Daisy & Belmont, Maggie & Vince, that one for Charlie & Angel and Robert & Carter. That’s 4 more books I have to write for the initial stories of the LOVE in the USA series. Afterwards, I’m writing the stories differently. You’ll see! 
But enough about work.
In real life, I’ve discovered that romance heroes only exist in prose… LOL! Like, I get it. I’m trying to understand why that is. I mean, is it simply that we are only human. I remember reading a saying that goes something like this, “unfortunately there is no cure for being human.” Our condition runs deep and a series of bad experiences during childhood can send us spiraling out of control and into the depths of a condition that takes tons of counseling and doing the hard work to recover from. And so, I think that’s the closest we get to a romance hero or heroine–a person who constantly works on their “shit.” I do that. And I think that’s why I fell for the man that I’m dating in the first place. The night we met, we talked for hours. It was refreshing to meet someone who lived beyond the clouds. That was nine months ago, and we’re still making a go at it. It’s tough–TOUGH. Dealing with your issues is not easy. But as long as I understand, and he does too, that we’re both dealing with human beings, who bring their history into a relationship, then we should be okay, or at least HAPPILY remain lovers or friends, or friends and lovers for a long, long, long time.
Anyway….
We shall see…
So back to work… LOL!
I’m struggling to get through Forget Me Never (Pt. II). I’m writing another book with a writing partner. We had to reconstruct the entire middle because it fell flat story-wise. And since paranormal romance about ADULT characters, high fantasy elements and a lot of sex doesn’t do too well in the current market, Parched doesn’t make me much money. So in essence, I’m writing the series for those who are into it. I know of a few successful indies who abandoned their paranormal series after it stopped paying and now they’re making tons of cash writing contemporary/erotic romance, starring twenty-two year old girls, who men fall in love with because they’re beautiful and the men, usually twenty-eight but with maturity well above his years is some kind of karma sutra of sex–only, the way he’s doing it, gives none of the reactions the 21 year old heroine is displaying. And if one has had a lot sex during your twenties and way better sex in y our 30’s with skilled lovers, she, the reader, would know this. Well, I didn’t do that. So please… bare with me because after all, I have to make a living at this. But I will NEVER write 21-23 year old heroines who falls for a guy because he’s hot and dominating, and he wants her because she beautiful, and needs a daddy–and they live happily ever after on that. That’s why LOVE in the USA goes through the changes that pisses off the average romance reader. But never fear–The Sexy series will be here soon. It’s more to the liking to the connoisseurs of tradition romance elements. No chicks with daddy issues! No incorrect depicting of asshole alpha males–because in real life they’re DICKS and Jack-asses that no one likes–only the woman he’s bought with all the money he needs to make himself feel secure. And no babies for the sake of painting a picture of happily ever after!! I refuse to do that to children in my books. I will not objectify them. As a society we need to STOP that.
Anyway…
So I’m going to drop the price of Forget Me Never Pt. 2 to 99¢ and the book will be between 100-130 pages. It will be jam-packed with action and emotional tie-ups. It’ll be short but GOOD.
September 18, 2015
The Journey to Rediscover the Artist
So I’m playing back yesterday’s episode of Oprah with James Frey. Definitely an interesting discussion between the m both and as a fellow writer I can understand how one decision sparked by pressure from the powers that be, spiraled out of control and the dung came flowing down on top of his head. I still think it’s unfair that not one of them (the powers to be) came out and said, “yeah, he queried it as fiction but WE thought, hey, it’s so gritty, we can make more $ selling it as a memoir.”
Yeah–right–and then I woke up and remembered I don’t live on Mars.
However, that’s not what this post is about. It’s about something he said. The reason why he wrote the “novel” and the process of writing it.
He was so moved after reading Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller that he wanted to write a book just like it. And so he wrote A Million Little Pieces without mechanics, structure or grammar in mind. It was raw, gritty–a Picasso.
And that’s when it hit me like Bam. No… like–BING BAM BAM WAAAM.
I have been such a structuralist for the last six years, while learning structure that I forgot the art of writing. It’s been so long since my heart connected with the tapping of my fingers. I’m always thinking while writing. Building. Constructing. Arranging.
I think at some point we as writers have to LEARN structure and then put it in the back of our minds. In the index mind you. Yet when we sit down before the blank page, we must put the artist in the forefront of our minds. We are artists. I am an artist.
It’s so interesting because if you’ve been reading you know that I’m writing a vampire novel right now. And it’s working out fine. I’m writing it in the first person. I’ve never written anything in the first person but I really need to learn how to merge into my work, become part of it and not stand on the outskirts, telling the reader what’s happening.
And if you remember, I decided to take a step and write as a Mary Sue.
Well, grouping all of my decisions together, one thing is revealed–I have been simply trying to chisel away at the structure I built within myself and carve out a more studied artist–the final stage. And it’s been HARD. I’m actually going to post the beginning of a novel I wrote 6 years ago. It’s so artistic, so in the moment–the heart of the character on display. But the story needed structure.
I’m going back to that kind of writing from this moment on and let the structuralist think only to give the artist a word of guidance! It’s like mental teamwork! The binaries working together!
I love it! (says the artist)
By the way–I’m well aware that the artist has written all of my blog posts… she needs to start writing all of my novels now!
August 23, 2015
Audio Edition of Find Her, Keep Her for $1.99
Just a quick FYI before I get back to writing one of the many books I plan to release before the end of the year!
By December 31st smoke will be snaking out of my ears but you will have Forget Me Never Pt. II, Made To Love Her, He’s So Good and at least two books in a surprise series that I’m working on with a co-writer to read! The good news is that I’m excited about all the books that I’m writing! And I probably won’t slow down until the end of 2016! I want to write a few books in the LOVE in the USA series featuring Monroe and that cutie from Know Her, Lover Her–Dexter Frampton. Ohhh…. I can’t wait to get my hands on him! LOL! Picture that doctor from Grey’s Anatomy–Jackson Avery… That’s who I pictured when I wrote Dexter Frampton. Yummy, right????
July 21, 2015
Next Planned LOVE in the USA release(s)
Now that many of you have read He’s So Bad: A San Francisco Love Story, I can share my plans for the next two book releases in the LOVE in the USA series.
Well, you’ve all met Robert Tango’s new love interest. I can confirm that fate has certainly put them together and they are brave enough to wait for Fate to finish her work. You’ll see more of the two of them together in Made To Love Her (Maggie & Vince). If you read He’s So Bad, then you know why. But I will also release another book along with Made To Love Her titled “He’s So Good.” It will be the ONLY breakout book in the Robert Tango series so I have some serious plans for that story and I can’t wait to start crafting the stories!
If you’ve finished He’s So Bad: A San Francisco Love Story, then you probably feel that Robert Tango has done his work At least I feel that way! Anyway, I’ll leave it at that. I don’t want to give away his future.
Alright. Time to get to work. I just thought it was important to share those details.
Questions??? If you have any, leave them in the comment section and I get to them as fast as I can.
Have a fantastic day!
All best,
Z
July 20, 2015
Nook’s Got it! He’s So Bad: A San Francisco Love Story
The book is finally at Barnes & Noble for Nook.
The link is directly below!
I hope you enjoy Robert’s transformation
All best,
Z
He’s So Bad: A San Francisco Love Story Released!
I’ll make this quick!
He’s So Bad: A San Francisco LOVE Story is now available at the retailers listed below. Nook is having some problems at the moment but once they get it together, I’ll make an updated post. So if you see another post from me, just ignore it.
And so without further ado. Click on the link to your regular retailer below!
***
He’s So Bad: A San Francisco Love Story (LOVE in the USA, Book 8)
A major life decision sends Robert Tango to San Francisco. Will this self-proclaimed bad boy finally find the one true love he hasn’t been looking for?
