Ari McKay's Blog, page 2

Cover peek!

The cover reveal for Asheville Arcana: Forged in Fire will occur later this week! The 2nd edition of the book will be released on October 15! Stay tuned for pre-order info!

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Out of the Ashes release day!

Out of the Ashes 2E is now available on Amazon!

[image error]Gorgeous cover by Lyrical Lines from a photo by Paul Henry Serres

Out of the Ashes preorder!

Out of the Ashes is now available for preorder on Amazon! This is the rerelease of the first book in our Asheville Arcana series, and it will be out on October 1!

Alpha werewolf Eli Hammond returns from a fishing trip to discover five members of his pack have been murdered and the rest are missing. He needs help and he needs it fast. His one hope lies with the supernatural council in Asheville, North Carolina, but they turn their backs on him.

Except for Arden Gilmarin.

Eli is stunned—and not especially thrilled—to discover half-elf Arden is his destined mate. But as Arden and his friends, Whimsy and Julian, help with his quest to find his pack, Eli surrenders to the demands of his wolf—and his heart. They’ll need to bond together, because the evil that stole Eli’s pack now has its sights set on Arden. If Eli wants to save his mate and his pack, he’s in for the fight of his life.

Cover Reveal!

I am pleased and proud to announce the brand new cover for the rerelease of Out of the Ashes, book 1 of the Asheville Arcana series! This second edition book marks the official debut of our Rachel Langella line, which will focus on books with a paranormal focus, which will include both horror and fantasy.

This gorgeous cover was designed by Lyrical Lines! Photo by Paul Henry Serres!

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Out of the Ashes, second edition, will be released on October 1, 2020!

Coming soon…

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The Walker Boys series

Ari and I are pleased to announce that the first three books in our Walker Boys series are now available as second editions with brand new covers! All three are now available on Amazon.

Currently, we’re working on Healing Hearts, the brand new fourth book in the series! This book will focus on Rocky, who was Carter Galloway’s inexperienced chef at the Overlook resort in Breaking Bonds, and Gage, a troubled Walker boy who finds a much-needed change of scenery in the mountains of western North Carolina.

Striking Sparks

The heat isn’t only in the kitchen!

For Jake Parnell, returning home to Buffalo Lick, Texas, is painful in many ways. He’s lost his twin brother to a horrible accident, and he’s given up his own career to run the family restaurant, help to raise his now fatherless niece and nephew, and care for his pregnant sister-in-law. On top of everything else, his old rival and secret obsession, Beau Walker, still hates his guts.

Beau never expected Jake to come back to their tiny home town, but now Beau needs Jake to take his brother’s place in a televised barbecue competition between their restaurants. It’s hard for him to ask for Jake’s help, because even though he’s lusted after Jake for years, he knows that just like oil and water, they will never mix.

The impending competition and the stress take a toll on Jake, and Beau steps in to help. Sparks fly as old hurts and misunderstandings are aired at last. More than the competition is at stake, and when the smoke clears, will the passion that ignites between them have the strength to last, or will it wind up burning them both?

Amazon

Breaking Bonds

Sometimes the ties that bind are also chains that weigh you down.

All Chef Liam Walker ever wanted was to be the best, but climbing to the top of the culinary ladder in a place like New York City isn’t possible without a few slips along the way. After an attack from a restaurant critic on his culinary skills and his personal life leads to a public confrontation, Liam has to take a step back to cool down and regain his perspective.

At the Overlook Resort in North Carolina, Liam meets owner Carter Galloway, who has a passion for the hospitality business that rivals Liam’s own, and it’s not hard to see where their shared interests—and attraction—could lead. But pressure from Carter’s critical parents has left him with no interest in a fling, and Liam’s ambition and sense of duty to his mentor mean he has no intention of walking away from his career. If they want a taste of happiness together, they’ll have to find the strength and courage to break the bonds that threaten to keep them apart.

Amazon

Seeking Solace

There’s nothing like a cruise to help spark romance, but sometimes hidden depths hide in more than just the ocean.

Devin Walker inherited his family’s culinary ability in full measure, but he also has a keen desire to see the world. Working on a cruise ship seems like the ideal solution, so he accepts a job as a bartender on the luxurious Poseidon’s Pearl, hoping to work his way up to the kitchen and the job of his dreams.

Triton Lines executive Paul Bailey is quiet and unassuming, and the car accident that cost him his leg also shattered his confidence. He doesn’t think he’s attractive to other men anymore, and Devin is eager to show him just how wrong he is. Their chemistry is amazing, and their attraction seems destined to deepen into something more—but Paul has a secret that might sink their passionate affair before it ever leaves port.

Amazon

Striking Sparks re-release!

We’ve begun working on getting our former DSP books ready for re-release, and we decided to start with our contemporary series, the Walker Boys!

Shout out to MM Bookworm Reviews, who hosted our new cover reveal for Walker Boys #1: Striking Sparks!

The heat isn’t only in the kitchen!

For Jake Parnell, returning home to Buffalo Lick, Texas, is painful in many ways. He’s lost his twin brother to a horrible accident, and he’s given up his own career to run the family restaurant, help to raise his now fatherless niece and nephew, and care for his pregnant sister-in-law. On top of everything else, his old rival and secret obsession, Beau Walker, still hates his guts. 

Beau never expected Jake to come back to their tiny home town, but now Beau needs Jake to take his brother’s place in a televised barbecue competition between their restaurants. It’s hard for him to ask for Jake’s help, because even though he’s lusted after Jake for years, he knows that just like oil and water, they will never mix.

The impending competition and the stress take a toll on Jake, and Beau steps in to help. Sparks fly as old hurts and misunderstandings are aired at last. More than the competition is at stake, and when the smoke clears, will the passion that ignites between them have the strength to last, or will it wind up burning them both?

Striking Sparks is now available for pre-order on Amazon, and it will be released on July 27, 2020!

A new beginning!

Ari and I are pleased to announce a change of direction! We’ve decided to go 100% self-published and to narrow our writing focus in order to build our brand and audience.

As Ari McKay, we’ll be focusing on action/adventure books like our Herc’s Mercs series. Right now, we have plans for developing a new series, but there may be more books in the Herc’s Mercs series down the line as well!

As Rachel Langella, we’ll be focusing on paranormal/horror/supernatural books like our Blood Bathory series. We’re developing a new Elemental Sins series for this line.

Both brands will be represented here on our website, which means reorganizing and updating our website is on my to-do list this summer. Our books previously published by Dreamspinner Press will be removed temporarily while we work to revise, repackage, and rerelease them through Amazon along with our other self-published books.

Ari does a fantastic job of maintaining our Ari McKay social media, particularly Facebook, and I’ll be maintaining our Rachel Langella Facebook account with the possibility of expanding to other social media venues when time permits.

We’re looking forward to releasing more news and new books as we head toward summer!

Happy Reading Sale

Now through April 16, Dreamspinner Press is having a Happy Reading Sale, and Ari and I have volunteered to participate in the sale to help make the current situation a little more bearable for our readers who are self-isolating/quarantined at home due to COVID-19.

You can now get Fortune’s Slings and Cupid’s Arrows along with any of its translations for $1.99.

We hope all of you are staying safe and healthy!

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Sale and Site

Our books at Dreamspinner Press are currently on sale, including French, German, and Italian translations! So this is a good time to pick up any of our Dreamspinner titles you might be missing.

I’ve given our website a little overhaul, mostly organizational changes. The biggest change is that I updated the navigation menu so that our books are now accessible in a drop-down menu. I like lists, so here’s a list of all the changes I’ve made to the site over the last couple of days.

removed the “New Releases” page because new books are available in the sidebarremoved the sidebar from all pages except the home page for a cleaner look/designadded a link to our newsletter archive to the sidebarstreamlined the navigation menu and tweaked the language; put standalone books, series, collections, translations, audio books, and free books in a drop-down menu under Bookscreated individual pages for French, German, and Italian translations and added the book summarieschanged the layout of the series pagesremoved all cover art from individual pages (it didn’t always align the way I wanted it to on the page) and created a cover art gallery with artist credit in the caption of each imageadded a link to the home page to the navigation menuadded Dreamspinner Press and Amazon links to books available at both places

Little changes, but I’m pleased.

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