Kelly Apple's Blog, page 24

There’s a Read-a-thon Coming!

It’s time for the 3x yearly Bout of Books read-a-thon! Well, nearly time. It starts in a little over a week and it’s SEVEN DAYS OF BOOKISH FUN!

(I feel like I might be over exclamating, but, MAN, a week of books, books, and more books while talking about books with a bunch of other people who read books! HOW CAN YOU EXPECT ME TO REMAIN CALM?!?!?!)

As usual, I’m one of the hosts of this crazy week of reading. I’m also contributing a book to the grand prize, so if you want a crack at free books (one of which is mine. Did I mention that?) and you like dedicating time to talking about books while reading books, SIGN UP!

You won’t regret it.

The post There’s a Read-a-thon Coming! appeared first on Kelly Apple.

Monstrous Short – Her Gargoyle

Her Gargoyle

Cin

Monstrous

 

In the grand scheme of things, finding a job after graduation was…well, it wasn’t really on Cin’s list of Things That Were Important.

That was probably the wrong attitude to have, but there was so much more to focus on than her future that….

Well, shit. If Vane heard her talking like that, he’d get that disappointed look on his face, wouldn’t he?

She was important. Her future was important.

Cin knew this.

It was the idea of getting a mundane job in the mundane world that made her cringe a little inside.

Her world had opened up when Ari had introduced her to the monsters living around them. It still boggled Cin that there had been all these beautiful, wondrous creatures living under her nose that she hadn’t known about.

That she’d found her prince in one of them stunned her even more.

Her monster. Her love. Her gargoyle.

Vane was everything she’d been searching for since she first discovered boys. She’d had relationships with women in between the boys (well, A woman, but still) and she’d still been left feeling like the thing she was looking for was just out of reach.

Her gargoyle had changed that. He was grouchy and grumbly and his waking hours were terrible, but he filled that hollow place inside her she’d begun to think would forever remain empty.

If Ari had been here, she would have gotten a kick out of Cin’s line of thinking. Her nymphly friend could turn pretty much anything into innuendo and Cin thoughts had sounded dirty even to her.

Which hadn’t been her intention.

Mostly.

Chortling to herself, Cin glanced at Vane where he perched in his usual place by the wide window. Even though she knew he wouldn’t wake up if she was too loud, it was second nature to make sure she wasn’t disturbing him. Or anybody else, really.

But no. Her stone darling was still crouched as he had been, his wings partially flared as he stared at the shutters blocking the view of the forest beyond.

The shutters had been Ari’s idea. She’d pointed out—rightly so—that Cin needed a safe place to sleep if she was going to be staying up in Vane’s perch. Vane had growled a little—a very little—before relenting.

Cin knew he didn’t like to feel penned in, but he’d acquiesced for her.

What a sweetheart.

It did make her feel safer when she could lock herself in with her man during the daylight hours. And the shutters kept the sun out which was crucial if she wanted to get enough sleep so she could keep up with her love once night fell.

Plus, when they were closed and latched, they made Cin think she and Vane were in this cozy little bubble.

That thought always put a smile on her face.

She loved spending time with her man. Even if she was studying while he was locked in his daylight slumber, just being around him soothed her nerves.

With Vane around, she was invincible.

Not in a physical sense, but…Shit. With Vane in her corner, she could do anything.

ANYTHING.

She and Ari had figured out how to swap their class schedules around so they could take a mix of online courses and late afternoon classes, which left all her evening hours free to spend with her man.

A year ago, figuring out something like that would have seemed far too complicated and she likely would have given up without succeeding.

Ari changed that. When Ari spilled the beans about the monsters and dragged her into their group, Cin suddenly had a purpose. Finding Vane and realizing they had something between them had only made her focus laser sharp.

That brought Cin around full circle and she stared at the banner at the top of the school website telling her about an upcoming job fair.

While she might have focus about plenty of things, the job thing made her feel vaguely nauseous.

The world was too damn big for her to worry about what she wanted to do after she got her degree.

The monsters were poised on the verge of coming out. Or being revealed. Or however you wanted to look at it.

Ari was right there with them. She was running herself ragged trying o figure out how to keep herself and all her friends safe.

And what was Cin doing? Actively working on avoiding whatever the future had in store for her, was what.

Man, she sucked.

Closing her laptop, Cin flopped over onto her back and looked at the gorgeous line of her man’s back. She wished Vane was awake now. If he was, she could tell him all the things that were bothering her.

Uggh. So much was bothering her.

Lon had been mumbling to himself the other day about how gargoyles weren’t always bound by daylight. Wouldn’t that be nice? Having Vane here. Now. Man, she’d do a lot to make that a reality.

Closing her eyes, Cin tried to imagine the things they could do. Snuggle more. Cuddle more. Do other physical things more. Not that they needed more there. Vane was very satisfying no matter whether their time was abbreviated or not.

A laugh burbled out of her.

Heck. If Vane was any more satisfying, she probably would have trouble walking normally.

Her gargoyle was hung.

Sexy.

Smart.

He knew magic, for goodness sake.

Magic!

He’d admitted that he only remembered a small portion of what gargoyles had once been able to wield. Meaning there had once been a whole lot more out there.

Bizarre.

Awesome, too.

Cin was mated to one of the few beings on the planet still capable of conjuring true magic.

Her gargoyle was legendary. Simply legendary.

And in two hours, when the sun went down, they could be legendary together.

Content with the thought, Cin settled in to wait out the sunset. For her honey, she’d endure anything. Even a few mindless hours staring at his gorgeous body.

Oh, the sacrifices she made.

The End

Want to see how Vane and Cin finally find one another? Monstrous Matchmaker: The Complete Series gives us their story. (Or grab Operation Gargoyle if you prefer to read it as a serial.)

Missed any of the other shorts? Check out the Series Shorts page and get caught up.

The post Monstrous Short – Her Gargoyle appeared first on Kelly Apple.

Looking Back on July

July has come and gone, my friends, and…I got a few things done.

You know, like releasing the first book in the Monstrous Revelations series. No big.

But seriously. NEW RELEASE! And I have book 2 ready to send to edits as soon as I finish this EVERLASTINGLY LONG WEEK. (So long. So very long.)

On the writing front, July wasn’t as spectacular as I was hoping it would be. My plan had been to finish the Monstrous Revelations series so I could focus on my NEXT project in August. Unfortunately, sometimes life throws curveballs. In my case, it was taking on a big project at my day job (which doesn’t involve monsters sexing people up, if you can believe that!) which cut into my productivity time. I’m an early morning writer usually, and adapting to being out of the house before 6am has been a challenge. (Coincidentally, that’s why my looking back post is coming on the 3rd instead of the 1st.)

But that’s neither here nor there. Monstrous Revelations will get finished this month and my next project will start once it’s done.

As for the future, I have an 8 part serialized…something (not really a novel, not set in any already established series, not connected to anything I’ve already written) that I’m will be going out to newsletter subscribers starting in August. Possibly next week, more probably the week after. Once it starts, it’ll hit inboxes once a week (I’m thinking on Thursdays, but we’ll see!) and you can see how the weird story of a lone human on a spaceship full of aliens unfolds.

Ha! Just thinking about it makes me laugh!

The point is, if you haven’t signed up for my newsletter yet, get thee hence and do so. Because these shorts are hilarious and I’m kinda in love with them!

I also have a THING I want to do to feature my older books and I’m excited about it. BUT…I need the time to get it created and, well, time is what I’m lacking at the moment.

ANYWHO. Ari, monsters, writing, and other crazy shenanigans. July was a pretty fun month overall. (Exhausting, but fun!)

Until next month!

The post Looking Back on July appeared first on Kelly Apple.

Monstrous Short – All’s Fair in Love and Cinnamon Rolls

All’s Fair in Love and Cinnamon Rolls

Ella

Monstrous

 

Ari, the little sneak, was hording the last cinnamon roll.

Ella knew she was. She could feel it in her bones. Her damn wings kept twitching whenever Ari walked by with that too-innocent look on her face.

Right now, Ari was in the living room, hunched over her laptop, not paying attention to anything except what was on the screen.

Perfect.

Ella could hunt down those rolls and see what had put that blissed out expression on her friend’s face.

In truth, it could have been residual endorphins from a good round of loving from her mate, but Ella didn’t think so. Ari usually looked mussed and happy after Liam went to town on her, not secretly gleeful.

It had to be the cinnamon rolls.

Ella had done the math and one went mysteriously missing. One perfectly glazed, magical cinnamon roll.

Gods she wanted it.

One hadn’t been enough.

Everyone in the house seemed to agree since the contents of the bakery box had been descended upon as soon as Michael and Ari walked through the door.

Anything brought from the shop was ridiculously good.

In fact, it was probably bespelled.

That would explain why they all went a little crazy whenever the pink box with the Hobb’s bakery sticker on the side appeared in the house.

Yep. Bespelled.

Enchanted to lure unwary supernaturals into its clutches.

There was probably a poor, beleaguered sprite chained to the oven in the back room, forced to create confectionary goodies until she wept glaze.

Blinking, Ella went still at that thought.

Gross. Okay, she’d gone a little too far with that scenario.

There was no sprite. No tears made out of sugar. Nothing nefarious.

Probably.

Listening closely, Ella didn’t hear anything except Ari muttering to herself in the living room. Satisfied she wasn’t going to be found out, she went back to creeping into the kitchen.

If she were the nymph, she’d hide her goodies in plain sight.

In the kitchen. Tucked away in a rarely opened cabinet.

Ella didn’t spend much time in the kitchen, it was Liz’s domain more than anyone else’s. If she were Ari, where would she hide a magical, purloined treat?

Okay. Think like the nymph.

Ari was straightforward, but not stupid. Which meant the first cabinets Ella saw when she walked thought the kitchen door were out. Ari wouldn’t dare put anything in that plain of sight.

A considering glance around had Ella narrowing her eyes.

Right. The pantry.

Big enough something as small as a pastry could be overlooked in it and not in the direct line of sight of the door.

Edging open the door, Ella wrinkled her nose. Right, plus the scents of the herbs Liz had hanging from the shelves would cover the scent of sugar.

Clever nymph.

Right. So there would be no following her nose to the prize.

No big deal. She didn’t normally rely on her nose anyway.

Monster sized bins of flour and sugar were lined up on the floor. Canisters of Liam’s favorite seeds—all carefully separated by type—sat on the shelves.

And the herbs.

So many different herbs.

They hung from the shelves in tight bundles and were crushed and shredded and otherwise stored in little jars that covered a large portion of the—

JACKPOT.

Ella knew Ari had snagged the last roll. The proof sat behind a bowl of peppercorns.

A napkin from the bakery. Carefully wrapped around something the proper size and shape of one of the legendary cinnamon rolls.

Of course this was Ari’s roll. Won in battle from the other patrons of the bakery, to hear Ari tell the story.

It was Ari’s, but it was…so tempting.

All that sugary, cinnamon goodness just shoved into a corner and forgotten.

It was tragic, was what it was.

Downright tragic.

An affront against civilization and everything.

In truth, Ari should be ashamed of herself. To do this to a poor, defenseless cinnamon roll. A creation whose sole purpose was to be consumed and enjoyed.

Ari, uncaring creature that she was, had wrapped it up and hidden it away without allowing it to fulfill that purpose.

That was wrong.

So wrong.

As Ari’s friend, it was her solemn duty to right this wrong.

Fingers brushing the napkin, Ella shivered as she imagined how the taste of cinnamon and sugar would explode on her tongue. She hadn’t managed to get her hands on any of the cinnamon rolls earlier, but she had snagged a good chunk of the sticky pull-apart bread.

It had been divine.

This would transcend that.

She would revel in it. Roll around in—

“Whatcha doing, El?”

Ella snatched her hand back, her eyes going wide. Whoops. Busted.

She’d been so enraptured by the treat that was, literally, at her fingertips, that she hadn’t noticed Michael approaching.

Now he watched her, his shoulder propped against the doorframe of the pantry, his expression somewhere between amused and censorious.

Damn. Her man knew. He knew what she’d been planning.

He kneeeeeew.

“Nothing,” she said, giving him the widest smile she could manage.

His head tilted and he started directly at the napkin on the shelf. “Nothing, huh? So you weren’t planning on taking Ari’s last cinnamon roll and doing things you could never come back from?”

“Nope. Absolutely not.” She probably could have come back from eating that roll. It wouldn’t have weighed on her conscience too heavily.

Probably.

“Good.” Her mate gave her a slow smile and held out his hand. “Then you won’t mind joining me in the kitchen.”

Damn. He was calling her bluff.

Ella sent one last longing look at the wrapped treat before sliding her hand into her mate’s.

It was probably for the best. Ari would have been upset about not getting to eat the cinnamon roll and they’d all have to hear about it.

Still. It would have gone down easy.

So easy.

Michael flipped her hand over and put something soft and slightly warm in it.

It took half a second before what he’d done registered and, when it did, Ella thought she’d start crying.

Her mate—her wonderful, handsome, incredibly virile mate—had given her a fresh cinnamon roll. Still warm. The glaze oozing down the side.

That was way better than the day-old one hidden in the pantry.

“Michael,” she breathed, loving her mate more every moment as the scent of cinnamon surrounded her.

“I noticed you didn’t get one yesterday, so I stopped by and got another box this morning.”

This was love. Right here.

Her man was brilliant and perfect and all hers.

Making sure she didn’t crush the roll between them, Ella threw her free arm around Michael and squeezed him as tight as she could. “I love you,” she choked out.

His chuckle was cut off when the kitchen door was flung open and Ari, the nymph with a nose for sweets, bounded in. “Oh my god. Did you bring more cinnamon rolls?”

Ella tucked her cinnamon-filled hand close enough Ari wouldn’t be tempted to steal it. She remained snuggled against her mate, visions of all the ways she could thank him running through her head.

As if called, the others in the house began to stream in.

Ella watched the box of rolls vanish beneath the seething horde of her friends’ hands.

That was okay, though. She had her cut and it had been made all the sweeter because Michael had gone specifically to get it for her.

All was fair in love and cinnamon rolls and Ella had lucked out on both counts.

The End

Want to see Ella’s arrival with the Monstrous group? Monstrous Matchmaker: The Complete Series is where she comes in. (Or grab Operation Werewolf if you prefer to read it as a serial.)

Missed any of the other shorts? Check out the Series Shorts page and get caught up.

The post Monstrous Short – All’s Fair in Love and Cinnamon Rolls appeared first on Kelly Apple.

Monstrous Short – Going a Little Crazy

Going a Little Crazy

Ari

Monstrous

 

The bakery was busy.

Given it was the middle of the week and it they’d come in late enough they should have missed the early morning rush, this bothered Ari a little.

She’d come for cinnamon rolls, dammit, and she wanted her cinnamon rolls. Now. Immediately.

The thought of how they practically melted in her mouth, the gooey glaze exploding on her tongue in a sweet riot of flavors, made her knees feel weak.

She needed those cinnamon rolls. And that cinnamon pull-apart bread. Oh, and she saw her favorite hazelnut coffee was back on the menu. She’d get an extra large one of those.

This was going to be an epic.

Michael had the best damn ideas.

Wriggling in place, Ari leaned to the left to see what was holding up the line. If she got up there and the cinnamon-based bakery goods were gone, she’d probably pitch a fit. Or cry.

A sharp faced young woman stepped away from the counter, a bakery box in her hand, and the line moved forward a step.

Instead of being excited about being one step closer to her goal, Ari watched the woman. There was something about her…

“Michael Layton,” the woman said, coming to a halt in front of the werewolf.

Ari’s eyes narrowed. She didn’t like the woman’s tone. There was something vaguely disapproving in it.

Not cool. Michael was one of the best supernaturals Ari had ever had the honor of befriending.

Not that she didn’t like all her monstrous friends, obviously, but Michael held s special place in her affections.

He put up with all the stupid shit she came up with, after all. He was her best werewolf friend and a standout guy.

This woman’s tone was uncalled for.

Ari stepped into Michael’s side, her arm winding around his waist. She made sure to keep her smile on as she faced off against the woman, but she had the feeling it was a sharp, feral thing. More wolf-like than nymphly.

Perfect.

“Michael,” she said through her teeth, “who’s this?” Okay, maybe that came off as a little rude and territorial.

Meh. Whatever. She wasn’t Michael’s BFF for nothing.

If a best friend couldn’t go a little crazy sometimes and mark her territory, what was the point?

Michael gave her a cautious look. “Cara Dejeune. She’s the teaching assistant for Professor Shah’s Anthropology class.” That cautious expression moved from her to the other woman. “Cara, this is Ari.”

Cara freed one hand from the bakery box and held it out.

Ari regarded that hand. It didn’t appear to be poisoned. She wasn’t wearing any rings that might hold a concealed spike she’d use to puncture her palm and release a fatal dose of anything into her blood.

In fact, Ari was beginning to expect Cara might even be a pure human.

Teeth still bared in that parody of a smile, Ari took the woman’s hand.

She could crush it. Use her supernatural strength to pulverize her bones until she was—

Michael grabbed her wrist and wrestled Ari’s hand away from the other woman’s before she could follow through on that thought. “Everything okay, Ari?”

Everything was fine. Why was he asking?

Cara’s gaze skipped between them. “I love this place, don’t you?”

Just like that, a switch flipped in Ari’s head. Those cinnamon rolls were calling her. Calllllling. So loudly. Like a siren luring sailors to the rocks.

“I come in every Thursday to pick up cinnamon rolls for the Professor. They make him bearable.”

There was still that faintly disapproving tone in Cara’s voice and Ari was beginning to think it was just her natural tone. Kind of like resting bitch face, but with words.

“In fact,” the other woman went on, oblivious to Ari’s internal musings, “I glad I came in when I did since they were almost out. I’d hate to have to deal with the Professor when he didn’t get his treat. He gets so cranky.”

Wait. What? The bakery was almost out of cinnamon rolls? There were at least three people in front of them. If they ran out before she got up to the cashier, she’d die.

Literally die.

On the spot.

She neeeeeeded those cinnamon rolls.

“I grabbed the last four. Like I said, it would have been a disaster if they’d been out.”

She…no. No. NO. She did not just say she took the last cinnamon rolls, did she?

Eyes wide, Ari turned to Michael. “No cinnamon rolls?”

Michael’s expression flared with panic. “They still have the sticky cinnamon pull-apart bread.”

“Ooh,” Cara said, her voice dreamy. “That sounds delicious.”

Yes. Yes it did. And if Ari couldn’t have her cinnamon rolls, she was going to gorge herself on pull-apart bread instead.

ALL THE PULL-APART BREAD.

Growling, she turned to the counter and craned herself into an impossible angle so she could see the display case through the customers in front of her.

There. Front and center. Sticky cinnamon pull-apart bread.

It was all going to be hers.

The woman behind the counter boxed destroyed her when she reached into the display case and removed her delicious cinnamon-y goodness.

All of it. Gone. Vanquished to a pink bakery box to be given to the man now paying.

Life was unfair. Tragic.

Cinnamon-less.

The man walked away, his bakery box held tightly in his hand. Ari watched him leave, despair in her eyes.

“My cinnamon treat,” she whispered.

Michael pulled her in for a one armed hug. “You can try something else. Oh, look. They still have those blueberry sour cream muffins you like.”

“Cinnamon.” If ever a person sounded pathetic, she was it.

The line moved forward, but the heart had gone out of Ari. Cara stayed with them, a curious expression on her face as she watched Michael trying to tempt Ari with other things in the display.

That damn bakery box held under one arm.

Hmm. There was potential there. If Michael could distract her for a few minutes, Ari could pilfer the other woman’s goodies.

Not in a sexy way, though.

She’d get her hands on those cinnamon rolls and FEAST.

“What can I get you today?” The perky woman behind the counter beamed at them, jerking Ari’s attention from her potential heist to the sad display case.

“A blueberry sour cream muffin and two slices of coffee cake.” Michael kept Ari against him, his expression pleasant.

What? Did he think she was going to go all Hulk-Smash and jump the counter to demand cinnamon baked goods?

Ridiculous.

Planning to divest Cara of her rolls was as deep into that rabbit hole as Ari was willing to go.

A door behind the girl at the counter opened and a man walked out balancing a tray with ease.

When she saw what he was carrying, Ari blinked. This had to be her lucky day.

The empty tray of cinnamon rolls was removed from the case and a fresh one took its place. The man gave her a friendly smile before doing the same to the pull-apart tray.

Oh, god. She was going to cry.

Cinnamon. So much cinnamon.

She wanted it all.

“Six cinnamon rolls and half the pull-aparts, please,” she said before Michael could. She knew her werewolf friend was laughing at her by the way his ribs convulsed against her side, but she didn’t care.

Opportunities like this didn’t come around every day.

Fresh cinnamon rolls. Fresh, sticky pull-apart bread.

Oh, man. She was definitely going to cry.

As the bakery box was packed and handed across the counter to her, Ari smiled. She knew Cara was still there. She knew the two people behind them were watching her lean down to sniff the seam of the box.

She didn’t care.

She had her cinnamon rolls.

Life was good.

The End

Want to see how Ari and Michael first met? Monstrous Tales: The Complete Series is the beginning of their friendship. (Or grab The Wicked Wolf if you prefer to read it as a serial.)

Missed any of the other shorts? Check out the Series Shorts page and get caught up.

The post Monstrous Short – Going a Little Crazy appeared first on Kelly Apple.

Stuff Your Ereader with the Escape into Books Freebie Event!

TODAY ONLY!!!!!

It’s time for FREEBIES! That’s right, kiddos, hop on over to the OMG READS website, pick your platform, download books. It’s that simple.

My offerings this time around are The Wicked Woods and Monstrous Matchmaker: The Complete Series. They’ll only be free for a limited time, so grab ’em while they’re hot! (Also, those two series are Amazon exclusives since *other* platforms don’t want to carry them. Sorry, to all my non-Amazon readers! I’ll see if I can do something different next time!)

Escape into Books with 100+ free romances

Happy reading!

The post Stuff Your Ereader with the Escape into Books Freebie Event! appeared first on Kelly Apple.

Monstrous Connections is Now Available!

Say what? The first book in the Monstrous Revelations series is live? AND IT’S UNDER A BUCK???

It’s true!!!

Grab it while it’s hot, people! That price won’t be around forever.

Monstrous Connections

(Monstrous Revelations #1)

Amazon

Add on Goodreads

Release Date: July 21, 2018

Pages: 58

Genre: Monster Erotica, Paranormal Romance

Ari Colton isn’t your average nymph. She’s brought a community of monsters together, mated herself to the love of her life, and is determined to find a match for every supernatural she comes across. In fact, life is pretty darn good for the woman who once only dreamed about the things that go bump in the night.

But now change is on the horizon. The monsters Ari knows and loves can no longer stay hidden. The world is going to find out about them sooner or later and the wicked nymph knows it’s better to do it on their terms than cower in fear, waiting for it to happen.

What’s a lusty nymph and her band of monstrous friends to do when faced with an impossible task?

Rally around one another and strengthen the connections that bind them all, of course.

Warning: This book contains tree folk. And wolves. And a nymph who can’t keep her panties on. And a tentacled, grabby, completely smitten monster.  In other words, it’s just a typical day in the life of Ari Colton.

Monstrous Planning >>

{series page}

{all books}

The post Monstrous Connections is Now Available! appeared first on Kelly Apple.

Monstrous Short – No Ordinary Muffin

No Ordinary Muffin

Michael

Monstrous

 

“It’s just a muffin, Michael. It’s not like it’s going to bite you back.”

Michael gave Ari a dubious look and sniffed carefully at the monstrosity she’d put in his hand.

Oh, it looked normal on the outside. It was a visually pleasant golden brown, the top forming a nice crust.

But this was no ordinary muffin.

Ari had a hand in making it and that always spelled disaster.

Hell, he could smell the excess salt on it without taking a bite. If he weren’t a werewolf, the smell alone would probably send his blood pressure through the roof.

“Who helped you make these?” he asked, taking another sniff.

“Cin.” Ari frowned. “Well, she watched. I did all the heavy lifting with this recipe.”

Michael considered Ari his best friend. She was loyal and brave and she had never hesitated to speak her mind.

For that reason, Michael considered it his sacred duty to tell the nymph that she should never step foot in the kitchen again with the intention of baking.

Except he couldn’t.

He opened his mouth and looked into those big, blue eyes of hers and just…couldn’t say it.

After all, she probably already knew she wasn’t a good cook. Well, wait. Actually, she wasn’t half bad at making grilled cheese sandwiches and quesadillas.

Maybe that was the trick. She had a decent ability at making cheese-based foods. If he could steer her in that direction—and that direction only going forward—she’d never need to know how unappetizing her baking was.

“You can tell I put too much salt in, can’t you?”

He still held the muffin close enough to his nose to catch the scent and he lowered it and put it carefully on the table as he gave her an apologetic look. “Sorry, yeah.”

Ari made a considering noise in the back of her throat. “Cin said you’d be able to tell. I should have listened.”

She didn’t sound overly upset. More cheerfully clueless that the creation she’d worked on could probably be used as a weapon of mass destruction.

“You can help me with the next batch,” she went on, gloriously oblivious.

Next batch?

Oh, no.

“Or,” Michael said, desperately searching for a way to salvage what looked to be a fruitless afternoon, “we could go to that bakery and get a variety of muffins. They had those blueberry sour cream ones you like earlier in the week.”

Ari’s eyes went hazy. “Blueberry sour cream.”

Wow. That phone sex voice should stay in the bedroom. It was all needy and wanting and something only a woman’s mate should hear.

Michael cleared his throat. “It’s Thursday, too. You know what they have on Thursdays.”

“Oh, god,” Ari moaned. “The sticky cinnamon pull-apart bread.”

Nymphs, man. They could turn anything sexual. “And those giant cinnamon rolls.”

Ella and Ari had been talking about those just the other day. Or moaning about them, if he remembered correctly.

“You’re right. We should go to the bakery.”

Damn right he was right. They should go to the bakery and toss the muffin shaped monstrosities Ari had made in the trash.

“You have the best ideas, Mikey.”

Michael hid his wince. He loved Ari, but he wasn’t all that fond of the nicknames that popped out of her mouth sometimes.

Mikey. Uggh. That made him sound like an eight-year-old with scraped knees and a dirty face.

But if he showed any sign of weakness where that stupid name was involved, Ari would delight in calling him by it every chance she got.

As she sweetly told him once, she teased because she cared.

All he could think was, Dammmmmn, she must love him a lot.

“Go find your shoes and tell your mate we’re heading into town.”

“For cinnamon rolls.”

The nymph had a one-track mind. Which wasn’t a bad thing, but when she fixated, she fixated.

He sent her off and scooped up the offending muffin as soon as she was out of the room. He needed to get rid of this.

No, he needed to get rid of all of them.

Before she came back.

He wouldn’t inflict these on his worst enemy.

Slipping into the kitchen, he found a full batch cooling on the counter.

Michael didn’t feel a smidgen of guilt when he upended the entire rack into a plastic bag and tied it off. Or when he put the first bag into another to further disguise its contents.

It only took a moment to take the bags out to the garbage bin behind the house.

He was fast and stealthy. No one would ever be able to pin this deed on him.

Dumping it inside, he closed the lid with a feeling of satisfaction. No supernatural in the house would be forced to choose between eating one of those muffins or hurting Ari’s feelings.

Turning, he froze when he found Liam behind him.

“Hey. Liam. I, uhh…” Damn. He had nothing.

“Please tell me those were the muffins.”

Oh, good. The big guy was on the same page as him. “Those are the muffins.”

“Thank the gods. I was afraid she’d wear me down and I’d have to eat one.”

“My thought exactly.” Michael glanced toward the kitchen door. No sign of Ari yet. “We’re heading to the bakery to get a few things that are slightly more palatable.”

Liam nodded, all seriousness. “Good idea. Those cinnamon rolls she loves will distract her.”

Which was exactly why Michael had brought them up in the first place. “I’ll keep her occupied for a while. You hide the rest of the baking ingredients before we get back.”

The two men shared a look, in complete agreement over what needed to be done.

Ari was a lot of things—a good friend, a lusty mate, a force of nature—but it was their solemn duty to do everything they could to keep her away from that banana muffin recipe in the future.

Because the one thing she wasn’t was a good baker.

And that was okay.

The End

Want to see how Ari and Michael first met? Monstrous Tales: The Complete Series is the beginning of their friendship. (Or grab The Wicked Wolf if you prefer to read it as a serial.)

Missed any of the other shorts? Check out the Series Shorts page and get caught up.

The post Monstrous Short – No Ordinary Muffin appeared first on Kelly Apple.

Monstrous Breakdown – The Evolution of a Nymph

Hey, there! Happy Friday the 13th, my monstrous friends!

Jason sends his regards.

HAHAHA. Okay, I’m sorry. I’ve had a lot of coffee today and EVERYTHING SEEMS HILARIOUS TO ME. Especially horror-tastic pop culture references. (Seriously. Someone stop me before I start dropping Scream references every other sentence.)

Right. Moving on.

Since it’s Friday the 13th and I’m deeeeep into writing Monstrous Revelations (so deep. So very, very deep.), I got to thinking about monsters and Ari and the evolution of her story. Things have changed for the monster-loving lady and her cadre of supernatural friends. She’s *gasp* grown up some since her introduction in The Wicked Woods.

Don’t get me wrong, Ari’s still a horn-dog who likes to get busy in unconventional places, but she’s…matured slightly. You know, emotionally. Sort of.

Let me explain.

Monstrous Tales

Yeah. Ari’s introduction is fast and furious. She’s a young woman who has good friends and a close family and yet she feels like she’s a little different because, you know, she likes monsters.

She like-likes them, if you know what I mean.

For Ari, Monstrous Tales was that stage in life where you know you should be figuring things out (because everyone else is, right?), but life is big and shiny and who needs a plan? It wasn’t until the naga gave her some insights into a potential future that Ari found direction. Suddenly, there was more to worry about than just her. She had her honey’s future at stake and she found out she wasn’t willing to stand idly by and let bad things happen.

She also came to understand the beauty of the tentacles.

Tentacles make the world a happier place, friends. Or at least they make Ari’s happy place happier.

HA!

Monstrous Matchmaker

After saving her beloved, Ari decided to try her hand at matching up her monstrous friends with other monsters. And sometimes humans. But mostly monsters.

She had a dream. She had a gift. She…mostly got it right. Sometimes she even claimed matches that didn’t require any direct input from her. But that’s Ari for you.

Although it followed hot on the heels of Monstrous Tales chronologically, Monstrous Matchmaker had Ari taking some big steps forward pretty quickly. This was her figuring out she was more than just a flirt with a bunch of supernatural friends. She had a GIFT, dammit, and she was going to use it.

You know, maybe it wasn’t the career her parents thought she’d have, but it was something she was good at. Something she was passionate about. Monstrous Matchmaker was where Ari learned to follow her gut and her heart and to trust she had a solid group of friends at her back.

Whoops! Where did that gif come from? Whatever. I’ll never turn down an opportunity to look at a shirtless Derek Hale.

Monstrous Revelations

The third (and final??? AHHHHH!) book in the Monstrous cycle deals with the big moments in life. The ones you know are coming and try to brace for.

Guess what? You can’t plan for everything.

That’s something Ari’s going to find out. Revelations is all about standing strong in the face of adversity. Together. Yeah, friends and family play a big role in this one. Ari’s cobbled together a group of mismatched supernaturals and she’s going to have to find a way to keep them all safe.

It’s not all sweetness and sunshine, though. Ari deals with doubt and she wonders if she can do the things she set out to do on more than one occasion.

OH, HEY! Just like PRETTY MUCH EVERYONE deals with in life.

That’s right, guys. Ari’s growing up. She’s no longer the slightly insane college co-ed who was perpetually horny and didn’t know why. Now she’s a business owner and the mate to a monster who loves her to distraction. She has friends who depend on her and an entire world full of supernaturals who might fall if she makes the wrong choice.

Never fear, however! Ari’s also still the type who drags her honey into an empty room in the middle of the day to have her wicked way with him.

Because that’s what nymphs do.

I don’t know what’s going on in that gif, but it works.

Anyway. Be like Ari! SPREAD LOVE!

Are you ready for the revelation?

Monstrous Connections, Monstrous Revelations #1, will be hitting ereaders in July. That’s THIS MONTH!

Get caught up with Monstrous Tales and Monstrous Matchmaker available exclusively at Amazon!

The post Monstrous Breakdown – The Evolution of a Nymph appeared first on Kelly Apple.

Monstrous Short – Baking Lessons

Baking Lessons

Cin and Ari

Monstrous

 

“How hard can it be, Cin? I mean, we have a recipe to follow. It’s not like we’re free-balling this.”

Cin rubbed the bridge of her nose and tried mightily not to roll her eyes at her best friend. Ari was awesome at a lot of things, but baking wasn’t one of them. Having a recipe to follow didn’t change that.

“I’m just saying, maybe we should wait until Liz gets back to start.” If Liz got back. She and Akakios had disappeared a while ago and they were nearly as notorious as Ari and her man when it came to how long they spent locked behind closed doors.

Ari didn’t bother trying to conceal her eye-roll. “They’re muffins. We’re not trying to defuse a bomb. If Liz didn’t want us making them, she wouldn’t have left the cookbook open for us.”

It was classic Ari-logic and Cin honestly had no defense against it.

Liz knew Ari. She really shouldn’t have left something as tempting as a cookbook out when Ari was around.

In Liz’s defense, her nymphly friend didn’t usually get it in her head to bake, but Ari had been looking for excuses to avoid work lately and the pictures of fluffy, light muffins had been too much for her to resist.

The recipe wasn’t even that complicated. They needed to mix some dry ingredients first. Mash some bananas and add a few extras. Combine everything together and pour into the muffin tins.

Easy, right?

For most people, maybe. By the way Ari was scowling down at the measuring spoons, though, this wasn’t going to end well.

“Liz will be back soon. We should just—” Cin stopped talking when Ari shoved a measuring cup into the flour canister and brought out an overflowing cupful.

It was like watching a train wreck. Ari cheerfully dumped the flour into a bowl and scooped another one. She didn’t level it off or do anything remotely resembling checking to make sure she had an accurate amount.

She just scooped and dumped. Scooped and dumped.

Flour puffed up in a white cloud every time she shoved the measuring cup into the canister for more. Cin could practically feel it adhering to her hair and skin.

She was going to shower as soon as they were finished here. She’d probably make paste as she rinsed it off, but she was going to do it anyway.

“Are we doubling the recipe? Those werewolves eat a lot.” Another two scoops and Ari’s eyes went comically wide as she giggled. “Whoops. Looks like we’re doubling it now.”

If Ari wasn’t her best friend, Cin would be cringing.

Scratch that. She was cringing. In fact, cringing was the only thing Cin could do.

There was just so much flour. Everywhere. Ari was starting to look a little ghostly.

“Where’s the baking soda?”

They really should have assembled all the ingredients before starting. Not that Cin didn’t think they had everything the recipe called for, but it was better to be safe than realize you were out of salt at the last minute.

“Am I supposed to mix the ingredients in the same order they’re in the recipe?”

Cin started laughing. She couldn’t help it. Ari was a wonderful person with plenty of stellar qualities, but she sucked at baking.

She sucked hard.

“You need to read the directions at the bottom,” she got out between snorts of laughter. “It’ll tell you how to combine everything.”

“Right.” Ari gave her a serious look that was completely ruined by the flour dusting both cheeks. “I knew that.”

Then her best friend proceeded to scoop out cupfuls of sugar with the same casual disregard she’d given the flour.

Man, Liz really needed to finish up with her minotaur if she hoped to have any chance of salvaging this recipe.

A overfull teaspoon full of baking soda later—found in the cabinet with the other baking goods, Cin had been pleased to discover—and Cin revised that thought.

These muffins were shot. They should just throw away Ari’s measuring attempts and start over.

“Here.” A bunch of browned bananas were thrust in Cin’s direction. “The recipe says we need to mash these.”

Cin took the bananas and went in search of a bowl. She could stop Ari—maybe—but Ari was enjoying herself. It had been a while since her friend had looked so carefree.

Making a batch of muffins that would probably be inedible was a small enough price to pay for that.

Besides, if Liz allowed her back into the kitchen after this, Cin would help the quiet werewolf with the next batch. Preferably with Ari somewhere else.

Maybe she could ask Liam to take her somewhere private to keep her occupied while they were making them.

Another round of laughter shook Cin’s shoulders. Yeah, that would work. Ari was physically incapable of denying her mate when he got a certain look in his eye.

Cin knew how that was. Her honey might not get all handsy and tentacle-y, but she had a hard time saying no to Vane when he reached for her.

And, really, why would she want to?

A sexy, ripped, stone supernatural with abs that went on forever wasn’t something any red-blooded woman would turn down.

Okay, maybe some women would, but not Cin.

Nope. She adored her mate and loved when he went all fierce and focused.

“Whoops.”

Cin jerked herself back to the present and found Ari staring into the bowl with a chagrined look on her face. Her friend looked at her and sort of tilted her head, reminding Cin of a naughty puppy trying to get out of punishment.

“Maybe they won’t notice all the extra salt.”

They probably would.

They were supernaturals after all, and all their senses were heightened. But they’d choke down the muffins anyway because they all loved Ari stupid amounts and wouldn’t want to hurt her feelings.

Sometimes you had to make sacrifices for friendship.

Eating crappy muffins didn’t seem like that big of one in the grand scheme of things.

Nudging Ari out of the way with her hip, Cin tried to salvage Ari’s disaster in the making.

Because that’s what friends did.

The End

Want more of Cin and Ari? You can find more of their friendship in Monstrous Tales: The Complete Series and Monstrous Matchmaker: The Complete Series. (Or grab The Wicked Merman if you prefer to read Cin’s first time on-page as a serial.)

Missed any of the other shorts? Check out the Series Shorts page and get caught up.

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