Kimberly Loth's Blog, page 2

Women and Our Choices: We Are All Amazing

It’s not often that I enter into conversations about controversial topics. I don’t like contention and confrontation, so I usually just keep my mouth shut about my ideals. Plus, as an author I’ve seen far too many colleagues slaughtered on the interwebs for voicing their opinions.

 

But I’ve had not one, but four experiences in the past couple of weeks that want to make me want to open my mouth. To be fair, it’s not terribly controversial, but still, it’s in the limelight enough that I feel the need to share my story.

 

My week started in church. I love my church fiercely and the people that are in my congregation. But sometimes people say things and I’m like “Wha?????” The topic of our lesson in our women’s meeting was how families are being attacked in today’s world. The question was asked to the group, “What do you think is the main reason families are falling apart?” (or something like that. I can’t remember the exacts.) Lots of valid opinions were offered. A few off the wall ones as well. But then one woman went on a five minute rant about how working mothers were the reason why families were falling apart.

 

Um. Excuse me?  I’m a working mother. Then I realized I was the only working mother in the room. There were other women that work, but they didn’t have kids at home.

 

Now fast forward a couple of days. I read a post written by a millennial about why they didn’t want kids. One of the reasons posted was they wanted their career and felt like they couldn’t do both.

 

Fast forward a few more days. I’m watching a video about the mistreatment of women in workplace, which was decent video but at one point they basically mocked women who want to stay home and take care of their kids.

 

Then I got an email from a good friend relating a story about a friend of hers that illustrates this exact point. I asked if I could use in my blog and she said, “Sure,” and then elaborated. She was discussing how she was insecure because she had a math degree and still felt like people discredited her because she’s a stay at home mom.

 

This is what she said:
Honestly though, I am not sure if it is entirely a stay at home mom thing. There have been a few times when that is the only explanation. But there were a few times before I had kids where I was told I shouldn’t take a math class because it would be too hard for me or that I probably couldn’t handle something that difficult. Which in a way ended up being good because it motivated me to prove them wrong, even though I have no contact with the people who said this to me. But it still frustrates me that I was told in high school and then as a freshman in college. So that is why I wonder if it is a woman thing??? I don’t know! All I know is that I would never tell a girl she can’t do something and that all comes from those experiences.

 

What was my takeaway from all this? That there is large percentage of the US population, both conservative and liberal that believe women can’t have it all. That to be successful they have to choose. Kids or career. But not both. Or that women who have careers are somehow superior to those that don’t and vice versa.

 

The beautiful thing about the age we live in that we have an incredible number of choices. Want a career? Sure. Want to stay home with your kids? Go ahead. Want both? Yep, you can do that too. And you know what? You can do it well. You can have your cake and eat it too. It’s completely possible. I’ve done it and I’m pretty sure, I’ve done it well. I’m tired of other women telling me what I can and can’t do and what I’m capable of.

 

After all this, I feel this incredible need to share my story. And so, here it is.

 

I got married at 18. I can just see all my feminist friends cringing. But what I love about feminism is that is gave us these choices, right? I chose to get married at eighteen. It wasn’t forced upon me. In fact, if anything it was highly discouraged.

 

I met my husband, Will, at church conference. He’s about ten years older than me. I can tell you, my mother had a fit. Our romance was a whirlwind and six months later we were married. After my mother accepted that I was getting married whether she liked it or not, she sat us both down and very clear on one thing.

 

“Kim’s going to get her degree. Before kids.”

To which both of us readily agreed to. I wanted to go to college. It was never a question. Will had just graduated with his Bachelor’s degree so it was fairly easy for me to do so, because he’d already started working. The kids thing wasn’t really an issue either because neither one of us wanted them right away.

 

Fast forward a year. It was a rough year. Marriage isn’t easy. But we made it fairly unscathed but we both got baby fever. We saw them everywhere. Yeah, I was still in school, but we figured we’d work it out.

 

A month after we decided we wanted to have kids I was pregnant.

 

My mother was livid. (But she got over it quickly. As anyone who knows her and they’ll tell you my daughter is one of her favorite people.)

 

I took off the semester she was born, but exactly five weeks after her birth, I was back in school. Sixth months (ish) later I was pregnant again. My son was born in August, so I didn’t take any school off for him.

 

Was it easy?

 

Heck no.

 

I took a lot of night classes so we didn’t need a sitter. But my last two semesters a lot of the classes I needed were only offered during the day so a girl from church watched them while I was in school.

 

Will spent a lot of time with the babies. We never called it babysitting. Those were his kids as much as they were mine. We were a team. Instead of me asking him if he could stay home with the kids, we would sit down and see who was going to be home when. If either one of us had something going on, the other one stayed home. And if plans conflicted we hired a sitter.

 

Looking back on my life, I think this is the number one thing that led to my success.

 

My husband.

 

I married someone who looks at me as his equal in every way (and sometimes probably even his superior, which I was never very comfortable with. I’ve had to remind him time and time again that I am not perfect.) I couldn’t do what I do without him.

 

I’ve digressed. Back to the story.

 

I graduated in December of 2002 with a B.S. in mathematics. It was hard, but rewarding. The day before my graduation, I opened the trunk of my car and found all of my husband’s office in a box. When I asked him about it, he told me he’d been laid off but he didn’t want to tell me until after the graduation because he didn’t want to ruin it.

 

Talk about hard. We’d just moved into a brand new house (with a much higher house payment) and we had no clue what we were going to do.

 

So we hatched out another plan. We weren’t ready to put our kids in day care so we said whoever gets a job first will go to work and the other one will stay home with the kiddos.

 

Guess who got the job?

 

Me.

 

Guess who was miserable? All of us.

 

The job I took worked me way more hours than I was told and it wasn’t rewarding or fun. Will wasn’t having an easy time staying home full time. All in all, not a great time in our life. A few months later, we sat down and hatched a better plan. One where we would decide what was best for our family.

 

And we both went back to school.

 

Fast forward another eighteen months and we both graduated with education degrees. Yep. We were going to be teachers.

 

So by the age of 25, I had two kids, a masters degree, and husband I adored.

 

Who said you can’t have it all????

 

I just celebrated my 18th wedding anniversary and I gotta tell you. I’ve been soooo blessed.  My kids are now 15 and 16 and I hit the kid lottery because they are fantastic (I’m pretty sure some good parenting was involved, but there are some really great parents out there with hard kids and so I’m appreciative of my own children). I had a nice run at a teaching career and after ten years, I quit to pursue my dream as an author (which is amazing, by the way). We’ve traveled the world and I’ve been to places that most people can’t even imagine going. In short, I have it all. I lack nothing.

 

The path wasn’t always easy. As a family we went through our ups and downs. But we made it through and we have an incredible life.

 

Also, I need to come back to my mother because I realized after I wrote this that I talked about her a lot. She’s a huge part of my life and the first tell me when I’m making a mistake. But she’s also the most supportive. At one point (in the middle of our teaching career) Will and I quit our jobs, moved the family into an RV for a year and traveled the U.S. Everyone told us we were crazy, but she said, “while you’re young, you might as well.”

 

She was skeptical when I chose to get married young, but this summer she basically told me the reason I was able to do all these things I wanted to do was because I had “an incredibly supportive husband.” And I totally agree with her, but it was a little ironic to hear her say that.

 

Also, Virginia and I were talking about this and she brought up a really good point. Virginia’s a stay at home mom, which I totally admire. It was not the path for me, but it’s such a worthy path. Just as worthy (if not more) than pursuing a career. But Virginia pointed out a very good point about stay at home moms, something I had no idea about. Here’s a little from her own story.

 

My ultimate goal, from the time I was very young, was to be a wife and a mother.  There are a few of us out there, but we are a rare breed. I would even argue, more rare than women wanting a fulfilling career.  I would go as far as to say I’ve never met another women who would “admit” to having a life goal of having children and raising them and that’s it.  Most of my friends really wish they could have this amazing rewarding career and are “settling.”  I have been in the stay-at-home mom circle for awhile, and let me tell you, mostly it’s “I am taking some time off work while the kids are very young,” or “one of us had to stay home because we feel it’s best for our kids and I drew the short straw” kind of thinking.  I find staying at home very rewarding and fulfilling in my life.  I don’t feel like my talents are wasted or underused.  And, I bet there are other women like me, but they are actually too ashamed it admit it.  It kind of breaks my heart a little.

 

When she told me that all I could think was, really? Allow me to lecture. Just a little. Whatever it is you choose to do, whether it is a permanent stay at home mom, temporary stay at home mom, work at home mom, both career and kids, or awesome career and no kids—make your choice.  Embrace it! Be proud of what you’ve accomplished and who you are. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that your choice was a bad one (So, there are bad choices. At first I was going to say, “If you’re taking drugs, that’s a bad choice,” but then I realized that lots of people are on various medications for things and so that didn’t work. Then I thought, “Okay, if you’ve killed someone, that’s a bad choice,” but what if you killed someone in self defense or something. Like that was a good choice. So, you know…just own your choices is all I’m saying.)

 

Go ahead. Have your cake and eat it too.

YA Scavenger Hunt TEAM ORANGE!

 

Welcome to the 12th Annual YA Scavenger hunt.  I am author Kimberly Loth, and I am so excited to be your host for this leg of the hunt.  This is my 2nd time participating in YASH!  Make sure you check out and enter the giveaway on my page, I am giving away all 4 eBooks in my series The Thorn Chronicles! 

 

A little about me:
I love to travel!  I have visited several different countries and currently live in Schenzen, China.

I was a high school math teacher until this year, when I retired to write full time.

I am a choco-holic!  But only milk chocolate .

I teach a bible study class for teens at 6 am every morning.  Yup, 6 am!  You read that right

How The Dragon Kings Came To Be

As I near the end of The Dragon Kings, I find myself waxing a little nostalgic. You know, for how it all began. I thought you might like to hear the story. (Though, to be truthful, Virginia thought you might like to hear the story and I agreed).  Before I begin though, just FYI, The Dragon Kings will consist of five books. Skye comes out in October and the last book, The Kings will be out in December.

Obsidian began in late 2008 or early 2009. I can’t remember exactly. I do remember the moment I decided I would start writing (more about that here). That was in Oct 2008. Obsidian was the first book I wrote, but I did try my hand at another book first, but I felt it was too “big” for me and I decided to try something simpler. The original book I wanted to write still has not come to be. I keep it in my possibilities folder, but for now, I have too many other ideas.

Obviously, Obsidian is not a simple story, but it started out that way in my head. Two characters-Sid and Aspen. Early drafts were written in first person and I had to label all my chapters with who was speaking. I’m glad I changed that.

While I was drafting, I wanted feedback so I could know if it was even worth me pursuing a career as a writer. I approached two friends from church and asked if they would read for me. Both agreed and both liked the book and so I continued. I actually went looking for those emails because I wanted dates and I found one of the first from Virginia (Yep, she’s been with me that long).

This is what she said, “KIM!! OH MY WORD I WANT MORE MORE MORE!!!”

How could I not finish the book after a comment like that? Over the years Obsidian evolved and evolved again until it finally became two books. The multiple kings was an idea I had for a long time, but those books didn’t come until recently. The three kings remained as I imagined them from the beginning.

This journey has been incredible and I’m sad to see it come to a close (though I’m SOOOOOO excited for the next series.)

I couldn’t love all my incredible fans more!  Thanks for sticking with me!

 

Kim

 

 

What it Takes to Write a Book

Virginia is usually the first person to read one of my books. Sometimes she even reads first drafts (not very often anymore.) When I finished the first draft of Valentine I sent it to her because I was debating whether or not to make some major changes and I wanted her opinion.

The response I got back was something like this: “So how long until this is released, because I think it’s pretty much done.”

To which I responded, “Uh, no. I’ve barely even started.”

Through the conversation that ensued, she told me I had to write a blog post about what it takes to finish a book.

My favorite part of writing is creating a first draft. This is where the story transfers from my head to the paper. I usually draft very quickly, finishing a book in 3-5 weeks. My drafts are short, only about 2/3 the length of the actual book. They usually are missing descriptions and internal thoughts. Sometimes I will outline a little bit, but I’m what writers call a pantser (instead of a plotter). Often I don’t know what will happen in a book until it is written down. I’ve tried heavy outlines because that’s supposed to make it easier to write, but I find them stifling. I tried it with Secrets and I hated that book until I threw the outline away and just allowed the story to go where it wanted. Currently, I’m just getting ready to start The Dragon Kings book 4. (It has a title, but you’re not allowed to know that yet as it is a little spoliery.) This book has been in my head for a VERY long time and I can’t wait to get it out.

After that I send it to my developmental editor. It normally takes her about two weeks to do the edit. She looks at the big things, like plot holes and weak character development. I almost always have a panic attack when I get the book back from her because I feel so overwhelmed by the process. But it’s rare that when I actually sit down to the edit that I disagree with her. After her edit, it takes me 3-5 weeks to fix it. This is where the last third of the book comes from. To me, this is the most difficult part. It where a story becomes a book with a solid plot and characters you can relate to. My books wouldn’t be half as good as they are without a developmental editor. I just finished this process with Valentine and I wasn’t sure it was going to happen on time. But I’m so, so pleased with the changes.

As soon as I finish up with the developmental edit I send it to my line editor. It normally takes her about ten days to go through it. She catches a lot of minor issues, like small plot holes and continuity. She will look for sentence structure and she also corrects grammar and looks for words that I use too often. Once she sends it back to me, it will take me a week or two to fix, depending on how much work I have to do. Then I send it back to her for the copy edit. She’s does a more in depth grammar check and looks for more repeated words and typos.

Once I fix all those mistakes, it’s off to a proofreader and then on to my superfans and beta readers.

And that’s it.

A lot of work, but worth it to make my stories the best they can be.

 

An Inside Look at My Process

Virginia is usually the first person to read one of my books. Sometimes she even reads first drafts (not very often anymore.) When I finished the first draft of Valentine I sent it to her because I was debating whether or not to make some major changes and I wanted her opinion.

The response I got back was something like this: “So how long until this is released, because I think it’s pretty much done.”

To which I responded, “Uh, no. I’ve barely even started.”

Through the conversation that ensued, she told me I had to write a blog post about what it takes to finish a book.

My favorite part of writing is creating a first draft. This is where the story transfers from my head to the paper. I usually draft very quickly, finishing a book in 3-5 weeks. My drafts are short, only about 2/3 the length of the actual book. They usually are missing descriptions and internal thoughts. Sometimes I will outline a little bit, but I’m what writers call a pantser (instead of a plotter). Often I don’t know what will happen in a book until it is written down. I’ve tried heavy outlines because that’s supposed to make it easier to write, but I find them stifling. I tried it with Secrets and I hated that book until I threw the outline away and just allowed the story to go where it wanted. Currently, I’m just getting ready to start The Dragon Kings book 4. (It has a title, but you’re not allowed to know that yet as it is a little spoliery.) This book has been in my head for a VERY long time and I can’t wait to get it out.

After that I send it to my developmental editor. It normally takes her about two weeks to do the edit. She looks at the big things, like plot holes and weak character development. I almost always have a panic attack when I get the book back from her because I feel so overwhelmed by the process. But it’s rare that when I actually sit down to the edit that I disagree with her. After her edit, it takes me 3-5 weeks to fix it. This is where the last third of the book comes from. To me, this is the most difficult part. It where a story becomes a book with a solid plot and characters you can relate to. My books wouldn’t be half as good as they are without a developmental editor. I just finished this process with Valentine and I wasn’t sure it was going to happen on time. But I’m so, so pleased with the changes.

As soon as I finish up with the developmental edit I send it to my line editor. It normally takes her about ten days to go through it. She catches a lot of minor issues, like small plot holes and continuity. She will look for sentence structure and she also corrects grammar and looks for words that I use too often. Once she sends it back to me, it will take me a week or two to fix, depending on how much work I have to do. Then I send it back to her for the copy edit. She’s does a more in depth grammar check and looks for more repeated words and typos.

Once I fix all those mistakes, it’s off to a proofreader and then on to my superfans and beta readers.

And that’s it.

A lot of work, but worth it to make my stories the best they can be.

 

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“Humans who ran got culled…”

Jet is a 19-year-old skag, one of the humans still living free on Earth following an invasion of creatures called the Nirreth. Squatting in the ruins of Vancouver, Jet and her family eke out an existence underground, hiding from culler ships and fighting off raiding humans.

No one knows where the alien ships take the people they steal, but they never return. When a culler finds Jet, she may discover the truth the hard way…and end up living among the very creatures that stole her planet and wiped out most of her race.

Author bio

I’m a USA TODAY bestselling author who writes sexy, cyberpunk-y science fiction romance and mystery books, often with a metaphysical and apocalyptic bent. I currently live in Thailand, but being a nomadic sort, that could change at any time, really.

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EDGE: A Young Adult / New Adult Paranormal Collection

Twenty of today’s favorite YA & NA authors have come together to bring you a collection packed with full-length, spellbinding reads sure to keep you keep you on the edge of your seat and up way past your bedtime!

READER BEWARE: These novels take everything to the edge–and not just the edge of your seat. With authors who aren’t afraid to push the boundaries, you get stories that take everything to limit, creating whimsical reads that teens can actually relate to and that adults can enjoy, too.

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It’s not about Luck (Part three)

This is the final part of this series, but I really think it’s the most important. It’s about faith and passion. I know those are two different things, but they go hand in hand.

 

Do me a favor and watch this video before you keep reading. It’s short, just two minutes, but the rest of the story will make more sense if you watch it first.

This video is a small part of a talk that was given at a church conference several years ago. Before that day I’d never really considered writing. I’d dabbled, but nothing serious. I had no idea that day that a talk would be given that would change my life. But it did. A fire was lit inside of me. I wanted to create something incredible. I wanted to create worlds. I understand that that may make me sound arrogant, but please understand that at that moment in my life, I was at a low. I was depressed, bankrupt, and frustrated by the direction I was heading. Even my faith in God was wavering. Suddenly I had a passion and faith that I could do something with it.

The very next week, I signed up for a writing class and during that class I discovered Obsidian. The scene where Aspen meets him as a dragon on the mountain and he smashes her camera was the first thing I wrote.

Over the last several years, that passion has only grown and I rarely lost faith in what I was doing. (I think there was a time, right after my dad died, that I decided to quit. It didn’t last very long.)

I’m not saying the path was easy. But it’s been so worth it.

Find a way to create and find a passion for it. Don’t limit yourself to normal modes of creativity like writing, art, or music. Those are traditional (and awesome if you can pull them off). But I see people passionately creating all around me in many endeavors. My husband creates these amazing lessons for his students without even thinking about it half the time. I’ve always been in awe of his ability to teach. Virginia (you all know Virginia, by now, right? She’s the one who keeps me on track and does a lot so that I can focus on writing.) She somehow manages to create this system that makes it look like I’m in a thousand places at once. She’s amazing and endlessly passionate about EVERYTHING she does. (Sadly, I’m passionate about only three things—writing, my family, and travel.) There’s a woman I go to church with that I swear creates sunshine. Whenever I’m with her I can’t help but be happy. I admire her people skills. All of these things have one thing in common. Passion and faith.

Find your passion.

Then have the faith to put it out there.

 

 

Edge Author Spotlight: Rebecca Hamilton #amazon‬ ‪#‎ebooks‬ ‪#‎books‬ ‪#‎paranormal‬ ‪#‎romance‬

The bestselling Edge young adult box set introduces The Forever Girl by Rebecca Hamilton. This is just one of 20 page-turning, full length novels for only $.99!

Amazon / Apple / Kobo / Nook

Now Optioned for Film

A Cult. A Murder. A Curse.

At twenty-two, practicing Wiccan Sophia Parsons is scratching out a living waiting tables in her Rocky Mountain hometown, a pariah after a string of unsolved murders with only one thing in common: her.

Sophia can imagine lots of ways to improve her life, but she’d settle for just getting rid of the buzzing noise in her head. When the spell she casts goes wrong, the static turns into voices. Her personal demons get company, and the newcomers are dangerous.

One of them is a man named Charles, who Sophia falls for despite her better judgment. He has connections that might help her unveil the mystery surrounding her ancestor’s hanging, but she gets more than she bargains for when she finally decides to trust him.

The Forever Girl is a full-length Paranormal Fantasy novel that will appeal to lovers of paranormal romance, urban fantasy, witches, vampires, ghosts, paranormal mystery, and paranormal horror.

A USA Today Bestselling Author!

HarperCollins wrote…

“I was really drawn in by the writing from the first instance. The voice is clear and easy-to-read; it’s rare to see such natural flow and tempo from a debut author.”

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Carl Logan of THE MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW, wrote…

“The Forever Girl is an enticing read of Wiccan fiction, very much recommended reading.”

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VOTED ONE OF SUSPENSE MAGAZINE’S BEST BOOKS OF 2012!

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Author bio

Rebecca Hamilton is a USA Today Bestselling Paranormal Romance author who writes books for teens through adult. She lives in Florida with her husband and four kids and enjoys dancing with her kids to television show theme songs. Having a child diagnosed with autism has inspired her to illuminate the world through the eyes of characters who see things differently.

Rebecca is represented by Rossano Trentin of TZLA and has been published internationally, in three languages. You can follow her on twitter @InkMuse

***

Want to be Notified of Rebecca’s New Releases? Join her mailing lists below!

Adult:

http://madmimi.com/signups/143995/join

New Adult:

https://madmimi.com/signups/55109/join

Young Adult (Coming Soon!):

https://madmimi.com/signups/172929/join

***

To learn more about Autism Spectrum Disorder, please visit the website below.

http://www.autisticadvocacy.org

EDGE: A Young Adult / New Adult Paranormal Collection

Twenty of today’s favorite YA & NA authors have come together to bring you a collection packed with full-length, spellbinding reads sure to keep you keep you on the edge of your seat and up way past your bedtime!

READER BEWARE: These novels take everything to the edge–and not just the edge of your seat. With authors who aren’t afraid to push the boundaries, you get stories that take everything to limit, creating whimsical reads that teens can actually relate to and that adults can enjoy, too.

Amazon / Apple / Kobo / Nook

Edge Author Spotlight: Riley J Ford #‎ibooks‬ ‪#‎ebooks‬ ‪#‎books‬ ‪#‎paranormal‬ ‪#‎romance‬

The bestselling Edge young adult box set includes Into You by Riley J. Ford. This is just one of 20 page-turning, full length novels for only $.99! Order your copy today!

What if you could know exactly what your friends are thinking? High school student Winter Reynolds can, but there’s a catch…

She can only read people’s thoughts when she’s kissing them.

When a member of the track team is murdered, Winter has an opportunity to use her special ability to find the killer. Trouble is, kissing everyone on the track team isn’t such a good idea when you have a new boyfriend. Talk about complications!

Should Winter persevere using her secret power to catch the murderer still in their midst, even if it means risking her relationship with her one true love?

Author Bio

Riley J. Ford is a NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY Bestselling Author. She has had tremendous success with her books, reaching #6 on the NEW YORK TIMES bestsellers list and #9 on the USA TODAY bestsellers list within her first two years of publication. She made the USA TODAY bestsellers list again in September of 2014 and November 2015.

Riley writes romantic comedies, humor, romance, mystery, and contemporary fiction. Fast-paced plots, humor, and steamy scenes are her specialty. Her books are available in e-book formats, paperbacks, audio books, and in foreign languages.

Website / Blog / Facebook / Twitter / Amazon

EDGE: A Young Adult / New Adult Paranormal Collection

Twenty of today’s favorite YA & NA authors have come together to bring you a collection packed with full-length, spellbinding reads sure to keep you keep you on the edge of your seat and up way past your bedtime!

READER BEWARE: These novels take everything to the edge–and not just the edge of your seat. With authors who aren’t afraid to push the boundaries, you get stories that take everything to limit, creating whimsical reads that teens can actually relate to and that adults can enjoy, too.

Amazon / Apple / Kobo / Nook

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To become herself she has to turn her back on everything she ever knew

When her best friend is kidnapped, Ruby will stop at nothing to rescue him. Criminals run the streets of Bombay. Jam-packed with the worst degenerates, the city is a shell of the pride and joy it used to be. Ruby knows something must be done, but it isn’t until her best friend is kidnapped by the despotic Dr Braganza that she knows that she and she alone must save city, save her best friend, save the world from total destruction. Armed only with Vikram, a cop-turned-rogue, they are about to embark on a road they may never return from.

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Author bio

She was having an awesome time launching TV channels for MTV and NBC Univeral (Syfy), when a near death experience spurred Laxmi Hariharan to get writing. A one time journalist with The Independent, she is now the author of the multi award winning Many Lives Series. She also blogs for the Huffington post, has written for The Guardian and been featured in various publications. Married to a filmmaker and fellow author, she lives in London. Receive a free starter library of the Many Lives series when you sign up to her newsletter http://bit.ly/NewsletterLH

Reach Laxmi, on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/laxmihariharanauthor

on Twitter https://twitter.com/laxmi

on Instagram http://www.instagram/com/laxmiwrites

on Amazon amazon.com/author/laxmihariharan

Excerpt

A sudden hot thwack to the cheek has me jerking awake. I gasp, taking in a deep breath of air and stare into amber flares. Strong, steady, he burns me up too, but in a different way. His head is silhouetted against the pale pink of dawn creeping in through the open window. The breeze has that dreamy quality, a slight crispness to it, hinting at the rain showers from last night.

It’s blessedly cool; at least a good ten degrees lower than the surly heat of the day outside. I try to bring up my hands to touch his face and find them shackled by his palms. I have scratched his cheek, the fresh marks just beginning to open up the skin. As I watch, a droplet of blood pops out. I raise my head; catch it on the tip of my tongue.

He doesn’t move. Just watches me, those amber eyes alert as always, wary with self-restraint. I can see myself in them. I lean forward and flick out my tongue to brush the drop of blood against his lips.

He deepens the kiss, slanting his lips across mine, pressing me back against the bed so just for a second my breasts are crushed against him. I have borne his weight before, but this is different.

Our lips break apart and I fall back. There’s a strange look on his face. He is aware of me, aroused, no doubt about that. I also see … pity.

He knows.

He knows that I cut myself.

And then, he knows that I know he knows.

Just like that, the fire in his eyes blanks out, replaced by that freezing desert-like brown sheet of glass.

The one I itch to reach out and shatter.

“You are too impetuous, you know that?”

Does that mean I like to follow my heart? “Not anymore …” I say. “Life’s too short to play guessing games.”

“Get dressed,” he orders, but his tone lacks conviction.

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