Michelle St. James's Blog, page 2

Meet Farrell Black!

Savage, the first book in the London Mob series, released last week and I was so busy I haven't had a minute to tell you guys until now. Feedback has been great, and I have to say; as much as I loved Nico, I've been dying to write Farrell's story since he first appeared on the scene in Ruthless back in August.

Here's the summary. Hope you all enjoy it!

Farrell Black is dirty, dangerous, and holds nothing sacred. Growing up on the mean streets of London, he clawed his way to the top of a criminal empire with nothing but sheer force of will and the determination to need no one.

Ever.

Then he met Jenna Carver, and all bets were off — until the day she walked out of his life without a backward glance.

Leaving him was the hardest thing she’d ever done.

As a kid, Jenna knew how people looked at her. Like she was stupid. Worthless. Poor. So she spent her life working to become someone else. Then she met Farrell Black, and their all-consuming passion blew a hole in everything she thought she knew about herself.

Until she was forced to make a terrible choice.

Now Jenna is back in London for her father's funeral, desperate to avoid the one man who can banish her hard-earned reason in favor of red-hot ecstasy. But when her father’s death is tied to an abuse of power at the highest levels, she has no choice but to ask Farrell for help.

As they work together to find answers to a puzzle that could have dangerous implications, desire threatens to undo them both — and forces Jenna to choose between keeping the secret of a lifetime and having the one man who can command her body and soul.

Series Complete!

With the release of Lawless last month, the Mob Boss series is complete. I'm SO SAD to say goodbye to Nico and Angel, but I'm super excited to dig into Luca's story in The Muscle, a three part serial that begins November 17th.

Please add it to your bookshelf! I promise you intrigue, romance, and lots of Miami heat -- in more ways than one.
;)

The Muscle will be complete next month, and then I'll be working on my next full-length series, London Mob, featuring Ferrall Black and a woman you've already been introduced to...

Dun-dun-dun-dun-DUN!

Stay tuned for more information. You can also stay apprised of book news and get access to free review copies by signing up for my email list at www.michellezink.com/list.

Bonus; you'll be entered to win a Tiffany necklace at the end of every month.

In the meantime, don't forget to finish the Mob Boss series with Lawless. Nico and Angel have been through so much together, and I'm DYING to know what you guys think of the ending.

One Week to Lawless!

You guys! I've got a little surprise for you.
;)

I've moved up the Lawless release date to October 20th -- which is a week from today. I'm SO EXCITED to share the conclusion of Nico and Angel's story with you.

I'm also happy to report that I'm already at work on a three-part serial featuring Luca -- everyone's favorite second-in-command. That story will be called The Muscle, and will be set in Miami Beach immediately following the end of Lawless.

Please sign up for my Reader List at www.michellezink.com/newsletter to get updates when new books release, and to get opportunities for free review copies (which I'll be giving out soon for The Muscle).
<3

FEARLESS is available for sale!

Technically, it's not out until tomorrow, but I'll let you in on a little secret; I always pad my release dates by a day or two when I don't set up a pre-order. That's because each retailer has wildly different upload times.

Amazon is always the first to make a book live, so those of you reading the Mob Boss series on your Kindle are in luck; FEARLESS IS NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.

I'm still waiting for B&N and iBooks to make the book available for sale, and the paperback is also in processing, but those should be available tomorrow on the technical release date.

In the meantime, happy reading to those of you who are able to pick it up today!
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Fearless

Mob Boss Books Two and Three

Some of you may have noticed something strange; LAWLESS, book three in the Mob Boss series, is now available for preorder. This is only strange because FEARLESS, book two, comes out Monday and is NOT yet available for pre-order.

To make a long story short, Amazon has some weird rules about pre-orders that made me hesitant to list FEARLESS, but many of you have asked for a preorder button, and I know it's especially important with the final book in a series to know when it's coming out.
It's too close to the Fearless release date to list it for preorder, but I did list LAWLESS for you! So now you can look forward to Fearless in just four days AND preorder Lawless, which will be out just a few weeks later.

Plus, you guys get a look at that cover first. Notice how Nico's looking a little rougher around the edges with each book. Trust me, it's fitting.

Thanks so very much for your support. Every time you read, review, and/or recommend, you make it possible for me to keep doing the thing I love most - writing stories.

I couldn't do it without you.
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Fearless Cover Reveal

You guys! Ruthless has raced to the top of the Amazon rankings in both the UK and the US. I've been absolutely stunned by the response, and I can only hope this means you're ready for the release of FEARLESS on September 7th (less than two weeks away!).

Assuming you are... I thought you'd all like to see the cover. I'm sure you'll notice that Nico looks a little rougher around the edges. That is intentional (because.... story), and I think you'll be really excited by the continuation of Nico and Angel's story in this next book. You can add it to your Goodreads shelf here.

In the meantime, if you haven't read RUTHLESS, now's the perfect time to do so. Thanks so much to everyone who has read, reviewed, and recommended to friends.
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Buy RUTHLESS on Amazon

Buy RUTHLESS on Barnes & Noble

Buy RUTHLESS on iBooks

Romance Readers... I <3 You!

Just a quick thank you to the many readers who have recommended and reviewed RUTHLESS. The book continues to defy in convention in how well it's doing during its debut month, and I've been especially gratified by the number of favorable reviews that have been posted on Amazon and Goodreads.

Reviews are so super important to a book's success, and it's always felt a bit like an uphill stubble to get people to leave them, even when they've loved my books. I get it! We're all so busy now. I actually had to make a pact with myself about a year ago that I would leave more book and product reviews, because I noticed that I relied heavily on them when making my own purchases, then never bothered to leave them for others.

D'oh!

Now I do try to leave reviews as often as possible, and I see that YOU GUYS DO, TOO!

So thank you.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

For being part of RUTHLESS and this first foray into self-publishing, for cheering me on, for leaving reviews and recommending the book to friends online and IRL, and for inspiring me to write more stories from my heart.

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RUTHLESS on the Rampage!

You guys! It's 12:09am and I still have A LOT of writing to do before I can go to bed, but I have to give a quick shout out to those of you reading RUTHLESS. After posting last week about how happy I was with my numbers, I've watched it steadily climb in the Amazon rankings.

Basically, Ruthless is killing it at #1,182 Paid in the Kindle Store, #69 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary Fiction > Romance, #277 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Romance > Contemporary, and #296 in Books > Romance > Contemporary.

For the record, I was VERY happy when it was hovering around 12,000 overall. This is far beyond my wildest dreams for a book published under a pseudonym in a genre that is fairly new to me.

There are a couple key things that have happened to make this a reality. I'll share those in a longer post later in the week, but for now, I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who is reading/has read/plans to read RUTHLESS, and for all of you who have spread the word and reviewed the book. And if you haven't done those things and are willing to do so, I'd be forever grateful.

Now someone pinch me!

<3

Ruthless

Sneak Peek of FEARLESS!

Giving you guys a sneak peek of FEARLESS, the second book in the Mob Boss series, as part of Sneak Peek Saturday!

FEARLESS will be out in less than a month (wheeee!). I hope you all get a chance to read RUTHLESS, the first book in the series, before then.

In the meantime, here’s a Nico and Angel fix to tide you over.

;)

She stepped onto the porch and made her way toward the shadow. He came into view a little at a time, and she had to resist the urge to sigh when she finally saw his face. The chiseled line of his jaw, the sharp planes of his cheekbones under a shock of dark hair so lush she had a sudden memory of it, silky and thick, in her fingers. But all of these were nothing compared to his eyes. In an instant, they pierced the armor she’d built over the past six months, and she was again willing prey to Nico’s predator.

Except now she was under no delusion that she wanted to escape.

She almost forgot to breathe while she was held captive by his gaze. His body was mere inches from hers, and she caught his scent — raw masculinity, leather, and soap — on the ocean breeze.

He headed for the back of the house, then turned to look at her. “You coming?”

They entered through the glass doors off the living room. A fire burned in the hearth, and she had a memory of Nico, his naked body entwined with hers on the sofa while rain pelted the windows. She forced her eyes away from the fireplace, taking in the sweep of wood floor, the stone walls, the glass that made the ocean feel like it was part of the house. She’d forgotten how much she loved this place, how at home she’d felt here.

Nico reached for her bag, and a shock of desire winged through her body when his skin brushed her cold fingers. He set the bag on the ground and crossed the room to pull a blanket off the back of the sofa. She watched as he made his way toward her, his eyes locked on hers while he leaned in to wrap the blanket around her shoulders. She hadn’t realized she was shivering until the warmth settled over her skin. He let his hands rest on her arms for a moment before turning away, and she exhaled a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

She had forgotten how hard it was to breathe around him.

“Drink?” he asked, already heading for the bar.

“Please.”

He poured something into a glass and returned to hand it to her.

“Thank you.”

He nodded, and gestured at the couch. “Please, sit.”

She took a seat on the sofa and felt the sting of rejection when he sat at the other end. Complicated was an understatement for all that was between them, but she couldn't deny that all the old feelings were still there. Was it simpler for him? Had his feelings for her changed?

“How are you?” he finally asked.

She took a drink, then looked down at the whiskey in her glass. “I’m… okay. Still getting used to everything the way it is now.”

“And David?”

She looked up, somehow surprised that he would mention her brother. “He’s okay, too,” she said softly. “Dealing with all the unfinished business between him and our father.”

“I’m sure that’s very difficult,” Nico said, his voice full of regret.

She nodded, then took a deep breath. “I’m sorry about Carmine.”

“Thank you.”

She looked into his eyes. “What’s going on, Nico?”

“I thought you might know,” he said.

“Me?” She shook her head. “I’m not involved in the Boston operation, but I doubt Frank has the ambition to come after you.”

“I thought the same thing,” he said.

“Besides,” she said, “why would someone kill Carmine? Wasn’t he just a Consigliere?”

She was still learning the terminology of her father’s illegal businesses, but she knew that Carmine had been a kind of advisor to Nico, the same way Frank had advised her father. Consigliere’s weren’t supposed to be part of the battlefield.

“I’m not sure I would use the word “just” to describe Carmine — or anyone in that role.”

“You know what I mean.” It came out sharper than she intended. She didn’t know much about the business, but she wasn’t stupid.

She thought she saw a flash of appreciation in his eyes. Figures. Nico wasn’t the kind of man to be turned on by complacency, however much he might have railed against her stubbornness.

“I do,” he said. “And you’re right. Someone in Carmine’s position isn’t usually a target for this kind of message.”

The whiskey and blanket conspired to make her more comfortable than she should have been, and she let the blanket slip off her shoulders. “What kind of message is it?”

“If I had to guess, I’d say it was designed to remind me that my allies are rapidly decreasing in number.”

“Why would someone want to do that?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he said. “There could be a hundred reasons.”

She thought about it. “If why isn’t the place to start, how about who?”

“If I knew that,” he said, “I wouldn’t be sitting here.”

“There isn’t anyone you can think of who would want to hurt you?”

A smile touched the corners of his lips. “There are a lot of people who want to hurt me.”

She took a drink of the whiskey, savoring the way it worked its way into her system. Already everything seemed a little less intense. Nico was so close. It would be nothing to cross the space between them, to take his face in her hands and touch her lips to his.

“What are you going to do?” she asked.

He stood, then walked to her end of the couch.“I’m going to go to bed."

He held out his hand.

Leaning In to Life and Work

Man... it has been a crazy couple of months, you guys.

I came off BEA with a huge work high and rode it all the way into July. In the two months since, I've written a whole book, completed a big freelance editing project, completed a smaller freelance editing project, built a pseudonym from the ground up for the Mob Boss series (including new name, domain name, new social media accounts all around, etc.), and developed a new YA concept (with character analysis and synopsis). I've absorbed information about self-publishing until I've felt like my brain will explode (metadata anyone? covers? blurbs? ISBN #s?), and I've connected with lots of awesome new people in the romance genre and in the field of self-publishing. I've read like crazy to keep up on things, maintained my household (including the weekly monster grocery shops that seem to go with the territory of having four young people in the house), and spent time with my kids when I can (and when they're home).

And I'm not going to lie; it hasn't been easy.

The thing is, I've considered self-publishing romance ever since I wrote the Shadowguard novella series (a series of adult romances based on the world in A TEMPTATION OF ANGELS) almost three years ago. I wanted more control over my career, both creatively and financially. I wanted to have the freedom to experiment and to release books as often as I wanted. But there was always a reason why I couldn't.

I was too busy.

I wanted to focus on my contracted YA work.

I was worried about writing romance under a name most well-known in the YA genre.

I was worried about trying to build a new platform for a pseudonym.

All of which were valid concerns, and none of which have really changed or been resolved.

I'm still to busy to be doing this.

I'd still like to focus on my YA work (I'm not under contract at the moment, but I'd like to be).

It's probably not a good idea to write adult romance under a name most well known in the YA genre.

It is difficult and time consuming and humbling to start over with a new name.

But you guys... I'm doing it. I'm working constantly. Some things have fallen by the wayside. I'm up until 3am most nights, even when I'm so tired I don't think I can keep my eyes open. Even when it means I'm only getting four hours of sleep. It's Sunday morning, and I'm writing this blog post instead of doing something else, and I'll spend the rest of the day working, too.

I think a lot about Sheryl Sandberg's advice to lean in, even though it was directed more at women in traditional careers. She's right; it takes guts to lean in. It takes courage to risk everything over and over again. It takes heart to choose your dream over and over again.

And one thing I've learned is that dreams are built not on the big moments, but on the little ones. Every time you work when you want to sleep or play. Every time you push when you want to settle in. Every time you risk when you want to play it safe. Every time you believe when you want to quit. THOSE are the moments that build dreams.

But you MUST have those moments.

Because dreams aren't built by sleeping. They aren't built by doing the same thing over and over. They aren't built by being comfy. And they sure as hell aren't built by quitting.

You have to WERK, my friends.

And the truth is, even that is no guarantee of success. You may fail. You may have to recalibrate. You may have to change course, take a detour, even take a break. But make no mistake; you will not get what you want if you aren't willing to work, sometimes for years, often through countless setbacks. But the time will pass anyway. You may as well pass it in pursuit of something you really want.

This seems like a no brainer, but it's interesting to me how many people I meet who want big things but aren't willing to do the big work. After awhile, it gets boring hearing people TALK about what they want to accomplish.

Watching people DO is so much more interesting, don't you think?

And when it comes to writing, doing doesn't just mean output. It means honing your craft (go back to school if you must), learning from others, reading constantly, experimenting, and writing thousands of words that no one will ever read.

Write now I am WORKING. Because I can't control a lot of things. Maybe no one will like my work. Maybe I won't be able to sell it at all. But the one thing I can control is the work. I can make sure I never have to look back and wonder if I didn't work hard enough, and WHEN I reach my goals (because I will), I can look back and say, when the ugly monster of unworthiness rears its head (for me it always does), "You earned this, baby!"

And I can mean it.

Now stop reading and get to work.

And if you haven't added Michelle St. James and/or Ruthless to your social media sites, would you consider doing so? I'd love to keep you posted on my progress, and all content on those pages is unique to those accounts (i.e. not repeated on the Michelle Zink profiles).

Ruthless

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