Rosi S. Phillips's Blog, page 3

An enlightening experience

I like to send out emails to people asking them specifically what they liked and didn't like about my books. I do this so that I can become a better author. It's entirely selfish, I admit that.
But today I had a very sobering, very self-realization moment. A woman that will not be named, answered my email with one expelling some of the less than happy happenings in her life, but she ended it with saying she really liked my book.
I wasn't really sure how to respond because I didn't know her personally, but then I thought, "Well, she knows me personally." Whenever someone reads my book, they're reading a piece of me, a chunk of who I am that I've transcribed into words.
So, instead of disregarding her email, I decided to take it like I would any conversation with a friend. I made it conversational, emphatic, and at the end I said this, "... many times authors are also sound boards for people. I'm simply here to make you laugh when maybe you want to cry, to take your mind off whatever is going on in your life for a few blissful minutes or hours. "
At the end of the day we're all people, and it's important for everyone to realize this. I just want everyone to think as my characters as their friends, read my books like you're hearing about your friends chaotic life. Feel free to shoot me a message or an email about what's going on in your life, and maybe how reading my book impacted it. I don't just want to be some nameless author to you all, I want to be that friend you know who writes really funny or really sad and intricate books.
But please don't send me any messages if you're some kind of murderer, or something. I'll turn you into the police, and well... probably write a book about it and get a Lifetime movie deal from it. :)

A note on the Third Book

Hello Everyone,

I've been getting a fair amount of comments from my various sites telling me that ending the series in book three sucked. Well, let me dispel that completely: BOOK THREE IS NOT THE END!

I'm writing book four right now—actually, I'm beta testing it. Given personal issues, school issues, and other things it's taken me much longer to write it all. I would like to remind everyone that writing is a passion, and I hope one day it'll turn into a full time job. As it stands, I'm still a senior in college, trying to pay my way through my working four jobs, taking four classes, and generally killing myself in the process. I'm so happy that everyone is loving the Peaches series, but don't think that the third is the end. It's not.

Rosi

Dying for a sneak peak?

So, the fourth book is taking longer than expected. Sorry everyone! My only hope is that it is the best book yet. But just to whet your appetite, here's another excerpt. The fourth book will be out at the end of the month! Stay tuned for updates!

 ***

We pulled up to the Texas style ranch house—or what I thought a Texas style ranch house would look like—and I double checked the address my mom had given me. This couldn’t be the place. There were horses running around with cows and chickens everywhere. I couldn’t see anyone but a cowboy with three kids and a wife on a show named Pioneer Woman living here.

“You sure this is the right place, Bane?”

 I was hoping we’d made a wrong turn, and she lived closer to the Holiday Inn we’d passed almost an hour ago. Wasn’t Florida supposed to be tourist-y? They had Miami, Key West, and Disney World. I found it strange that there could be a little town in the middle of nowhere with farm animals running around mixed in with all that.

 “It’s the right place, habibi.”

Super. It didn’t feel wrong at all to pull my God only knows how expensive Lamborghini onto the long stretch of gravely dirt road that was the driveway. Nope, I felt right at home as I stopped for wayward chickens, and rolled down my window to yell at a horse who got too close to the purple paint on my car. Bird crap I could wash off, but horse crap? I wasn’t about to take any chances.

We finally made it, and pulled into a makeshift parking space. I stared through the tinted window toward the house. It was beautiful and huge, painted white with a wrap around porch and two weathered, wicker chairs on it. There were small plants all along the porch and some in the six windows spread evenly across the front of the house. It matched the farm like quality of the place, but still looked modern and maintained.

I cut the engine, smoothed my hand down the front of my jeans, and took a deep breath. Bane reached over and squeezed my knee. “It’ll be fine, Peaches. If she doesn’t know anything we’ll have Samantha wipe her memory.”

I glanced at him. “Just like the cops and the guests at the funeral?”

His smile was twisted. “Needs must.”

I rolled my eyes and looked back towards the house. “What if she does know what I am?”

It felt like Christmas. Of course, I wanted to find out what I’d gotten from “Santa”—my mom and dad—but at the same time I worried that it would be a crappy gift like socks or clothes I’d never wear in a million years. Except this time, I worried about finding out that the “gift” I got, wasn’t crappy but even more dangerous than I'd thought it to be.

Bane’s arms locked around me and dragged me flush against him. He scowled. “For the last fucking time, you’re not dangerous. You’re not a monster. You’re not bad.”

 I tilted my head, and raised an eyebrow. “You forgot to add ‘not fat’ to that.”

“I never thought you were fat,” he growled and lowered his mouth to mine. “I’ve always thought you were the right amount of woman to take me.”

Sneak Peak of fourth book

"He wasn’t really supposed to die, and I wasn’t really supposed to be some former A-list actress in a Lifetime movie..."
Peaches has been through the ringer, had her life turned upside down more times than she can count, but now the dust is starting to settle. In an attempt to uncover the mystery of her new found powers, Peaches goes back to the root of it all—home. But the place she left is not the place she comes back to, and Peaches is faced something that leaves her reeling, floating on a raft out at sea. Not even Bane can reach her.

"Death hadn’t been my end, and it shouldn't be his either."

But there is no rest in Peaches's life, even when her foundation is rocked and crumpling at her feet. Banks is back with his band of misfit Merchants, and Peaches must fight for survival, and protect her secret. A secret that a mysterious aunt in Florida might be able to shine the light on.
In this humorous, and emotionally gripping conclusion to Peaches's journey to discovering what she is, will starting revelations break her? Will she turn out to be the monster of everyone's nightmares? Will her relationship with Bane survive? Find out in the final installment of the Peaches series.

Excerpt:

I looked at Bane. God, I loved him. I loved him too much to watch him fight for me and die. I also didn't trust Banks enough to just walk toward him, surrender, and hope he kept his word.
Why were there no options? The cards I was holding didn't matter anymore because no matter how I looked at it, there was no way out. The Merchants had had time to plan this, a week to set all their traps. I was in a cage trying to see an out where there was none. They'd thought of everything.
I could always spit acid at them or try to get my blood down their throat.
Banks smiled. "A wonderful engineer in Brussels created a gel that neutralizes acid, and acts as a blocking element for all other liquids. It's quite impressive and has been studied extensively."
Unbelievable! I wanted to scream and cry and rage. Life was so unfair. How could it give me mind blowing sex in the most attractive package and then take it away? How could it give me the title of queen, and then reduce that to nothing? How was it that with all my powers, all the specials abilities that were supposed to protect me, I ended up cornered? I was getting real sick of being cornered.
Real. Sick.

Peaches is Published!

OMG! Yup! Finally here! The book has been published. And, as promised, So I'm Not A Vampire? is FREE! (In negotiations. When it went through Amazon, there were complications. Currently it is not free on Amazon, but it is still on wattpad.)


Get it, tell your friends to get it, send it to your friends! And review it! Please, please, please review the book.


The second book is also out! Get Could I Be A Werewolf? Now!

I love reviews because they help me tweak my work, and smooth out those rough edges. Reviews NOW are especially key because I'm writing the fourth book, and I have no desire to look back in like a month and see a review that says I forgot x, y, z, or that this and that didn't make sense. So, please, review it.

And anyone who emails or messages me and tells me they reviewed the book gets an automatic mention in the last book. You have to review before 9/5/14.

Okay! Super exciting! Get it, read it, review it, love it! Thanks everyone!

I'm a What? Fourth Book in the Peaches series (excerpt)

“Congratulations again, Malika.” Lilith curtsied. “We didn’t get a chance to speak much last time.”
I smiled and nodded. I didn’t want to speak, didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of knowing that she’d gotten to me. I also made sure my thoughts were somewhat serene. I’d gotten good at that. Thinking about about two things at once and making the lamer thoughts the ones I projected. It would be better if I just figured out how to control them entirely, but ya work with what ya got.
The Yakuza-mother-of-demons vampire just smiled at me with a hint of fang. Man, did I hate Lilith. It was irrational, or maybe rational now that I was pretty sure she was a bad guy, but I just hated her. Seeing her roasting on a spit in Hell would be the best gift ever.
Her fake smile faltered and her eyes sparked. Well, if she didn’t like what was in my head, then she shouldn’t tune into my thoughts. Lilith turned to Bane and lowered her voice. “I had a wonderful time yesterday, Malik. And if you ever want to … dance again. I’d been more than happy to oblige.”
Who was I kidding? I was the queen of starting scenes. I gave up trying to look docile and shit and went straight for Lilith’s throat. She didn’t expect it. Good. Her hands were still at her side and she didn’t make a move toward me. I wondered if that was because I was a queen and she was on my turf. I hoped so.
“Lilith, dear.” Ah! Finally. I had the condescending voice and chilling look down-packed. “You’re not implying that you and my husband did anything yesterday other than dance are you? Because if you did, well, then I’d just have to kill you. And I’d rather not do that since we already have to pay for the door we broke and I don’t want to add a vampire’s blood and corpse to our room fee.”
She met my look with one of pure hatred. “Not at all.”
I hoped my smile was chillingly cold. “Good. But just to make sure this never happens again, here’s a reminder of who, and what, I am.” I took my other hand and bit down hard. Hurt like a bitch, but the pain was worth it. I carefully smeared my blood all over her face. The minute it hit she started screaming bloody murder and splotches of black popped up on her skin.
I pulled my hand away from her neck, and sat back down. Everyone was looking at me like I was a different person except Bane. Nope, my husband looked proud. He knew I had a vicious streak, and that if I needed to, I would kill to protect the ones I loved. I could have done a lot more to Lilith, but I’d spared her. She was lucky, and Bane and I both knew it.
He looked down at the hand I’d bitten and raised it up to his lips. “You’re hurt.” He licked the wound. I shivered as I watched him. It would heal completely in another few seconds but there was something about watching Bane lick my blood that got me horny.
Lilith was still screaming like a crazy person in the back, and everyone was still freaking out that I’d just smeared my, sometimes poisonous, blood on someone, but Bane was used to it. Oh, if we hadn’t been surrounded by people, I would have climbed on his lap and screwed him until the couch we were sitting on broke. Hmm … that sounded nice.
“We’ll have to cut it out,” I heard someone say.
Lilith cried, but the screams faded and I turned back to realize she was gone. I smiled up at Banks. “Oh, you’re still here.”

Think She's a Zombie? Third Book in the Peaches series (excerpt)

“Uh,” I interuped the evil staring contest the guys had going on. “Hate to interrupt, but it’s actually cold out here, and I’m exhausted and hungry. So, can you all threaten each other another time?”
Barney and Oscar turned back to look at me. “Peaches,” Barney said it like he was tasting the name, seeing if he liked it. If his expression was any key, it tasted like shit. “I do not acknowledge you. Therefore you have no say here.”
I felt Bane’s muscles tighten beneath my arm, but I stepped forward before he could do or say anything. He couldn’t always fight my battles, I needed to learn to fight ‘em myself. “Oh? Did you think that was a question? ‘Cause it wasn’t.” I cocked my hip and slammed my hand down on it. “Now here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to get in one of those cars over there, probably have backseat car sex with my husband, and then we’re going to go to his palace or castle or whatever. And you all aren’t going to say anything, because if you think Bane is dangerous—” I took a step towards them.“—then you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”
Uh-huh, that’s right. Peaches had powers. Peaches was a boss. I did a little mental dance and song in my head, but never stepped away or backed down. I’d been through worse things than two old dudes prospering and strutting around like they were the best thing since sliced bread. Considering everything, I was pretty sure I could take them.
Little specks of red floated in Oscar's eyes. “Control—”
I ruthlessly cut him off. “You better be about to say something that ends with a compliment and me getting in that car.”
He snapped his lips shut, and I could see pure hatred in his eyes. Like I gave a flying crap. He started it! I nodded my head sharply, and turned to look at Bane over my shoulder. “Ready to go?”
A proud smile moved across his face. He liked what I just did. I liked it too. Maybe I’d buy some handcuffs and we could play some role reversal games in the bedroom. I bet I looked great in black leather with a whip. 
His face twisted: half-horrified shock, half-humor. “I’m not sure how to even respond to that, but I know it will never happen.”
I turned, went to his side, and linked my arms with his. I batted my eyelashes up at him. “We’ll see.”

Could I Be a Werewolf? Second Book in the Peaches series (excerpt)

I slipped, and Bane’s arm wrapped around my waist. I puffed out a breath. “I’m fine,” I screamed the last bit because I was suddenly flying in the air and then crashing back down. My stomach rolled, everything clenched, and I wanted to puke.
Casper was beside us. I pushed away from Bane and almost stumbled, but whatever I was standing in felt like quicksand. I struggled and looked down but all I could see was darkness. Bane had flown/jumped us far into the cave. I could barely even see the opening anymore. “What is this stuff?”
“Bat feces,” Luther said matter-of-factly.
I just barely swallowed my scream. But on swallowing that scream I also took a deep breath in and actually gagged. Oh yeah, that was shit all right. I pinched my nose. “We need to get out of here. I can’t … ” I gagged.
Bane sighed and wrapped his arm around me again; then we were jumping high. I closed my eyes tight and held on to him like a baby koala. I didn’t care that I might get poop on him, as long as I stayed attached A few more jumps and the air cleared, the cold wasn’t as biting, and we were falling.
I screamed. Full blown, there’s-a-man-with-an-axe-behind-me screamed. Bane hit the ground with a thud, and it reverberated through us. I shook for a good few minutes.
I couldn’t help what I did next even though I tried. I threw up. All that delicious, fattening food came rushing up and out my throat. I thought it was going to be acid so I could spit it at Bane, but I turned my head away and saw chunks flying. Instead of letting me go, however, the dreadful man stroked my hair away from my face and whispered that it was okay. I wanted to be angry at him, but he was being gentle. Damn his hide.
When I finally stopped, I blinked away the tears and looked around. We were in a meadow, or something. It was grassy with yellow flowers everywhere. But the weirdest thing, but not weird in comparison to everything I’d seen, I guess, was the big ass mansion about three hundred or so feet from us. There were mini houses around it, but only a couple that I could see.
My eyes widened as I wiped my mouth, and then they narrowed and I slowly, like snake slow, turned and faced Bane. “Is that a fucking helipad?”
He shielded his eyes from the sun, and looked at the mansion. “I believe that is.”
I balled my fist and stepped away from my mess. “Do you mean to tell me we could have just taken a helicopter here, instead of jumping and falling?” My pitch was so high at the end, it hurt my ears.
I saw Bane wince. I smiled, all teeth. “I ‘ope that ‘urt, ya blime fecker.” My cockney accent was back and better than ever. I totally sounded wicked pissed and British. Thank you, BBC America.
“No, love.” Luther came up to us with Samantha by his side. “You still sounded like a Yank.”
Samantha pulled a pack of gum from her pocket and handed it to me. I accepted it gracefully, and took two pieces. I chewed the first and tried to get all of the junk out of my throat and then I spit it out and popped in the next one. “You’re British? You don’t sound like it at all.”
He shrugged, and I noticed some of that red was back in his eyes. I wondered how long vamps could go without eating. I felt like every time I saw them their eyes were either red, going red, or clear. Couldn’t they just keep it one color.
“Only if we eat constantly,” Casper chipped in, as he came up behind me. “When we use our powers, we use our energy, and we get energy from the blood we ingest.”
Oh. Well, that made a lot of sense actually. My stomach growled when I was hungry, his eyes turned red when he was hungry. Twisted, but that reasoning worked. I looked at Bane and noticed that his eyes also had red bleeding into them.
“And we couldn’t have used a helicopter, Georgia,” Samantha said softly, laying a hand on my arm. “This is the Pheehan Pack’s territory. We have to follow their rules; and one of those rules is that vampires come through the caves.”
“Why?” The caves were disgusting, I wouldn’t have gone through there by choice. I was dragged.
Than the answer dawned on me. “It’s a test, right? See how badly someone wants to see the pack, and how far they're willing to go?”
Samantha inclined her head. Supernatural beings and their stupid tests. I whipped my head to Luther, side tracked yet again. “You did not steal your name from the British show Luther, did you?”
The kid smiled and wrapped an arm around Samantha's waist, then pulled her back to him. I waited for him to answer, but the kid just kept smiling at me. I so wanted to read his mind, but I couldn’t concentrate. I had bat poop on me, my jacket was starting to get warm, I had just thrown up, and there was a mansion within walking distance that I was sure had some sort of hot water. Finding out where Luther got his name was the least of my worries.
“Can we move it? I want to get in, get changed, and get something to fill my stomach back up.”Now that I could see the place, I was jonesing to get there. But before I could even take one step, a pack of wolves came charging out of nowhere at us. I gawked at the sleek animals, at least twice the size of normal wolves. I hate to say it, given how unreliable movies and books have been for me, but these things seriously looked exactly like I imagined werewolves.
Of course, fear and panic shot through me a second later. I could deal with dogs, pet them on occasion, but become one? Nau-ah. Not in this lifetime. What was I thinking? Werewolf. Why couldn’t I be like a were-pony? I liked ponies.
I was reverting back to my six year-old ways, but Bane snapped me out of it. “Peaches!” His voice was in my head again, and for once I wasn’t annoyed by it. “Ground rules.”
I mentally snorted and physically rolled my eyes. “Yeah, ‘cause that worked so well last time.”
I watched his eyes flicker at me. “Well, at least listen to this one. Kneel.”
The wolves were almost near us, but I was a tad bit more focused on Bane. “Kneel? Do I look like a girl who gets on her knees. Don’t answer that.”
“It’s a wolf thing.” I watched Bane actually get down on one knee, but he wasn’t facing me. “I can’t help you out with this, habibi, and I can’t force you. Kneel or they’ll consider you a threat.”
I felt my knees give out as if my body was saying, “screw you. I ain’t dyin’ today.”
I watched the wolves close in around us, circle, and then tighten until I smelled dog breath. Yeah, okay, I was freaked out. Even more than I had been at the vampire party. At least vampires looked like humans, but werewolves? Whoever said that you could see humanity in something's eyes obviously had never looked at a werewolf. Guess what? They looked like wolf eyes.
I tried not to freak out. Couldn’t animals smell fear? I must’ve reeked of it, took a bath in Eau de scared-for-my-life, all the rage in Peaches's head and brought to you by the verb “fuck” and the pronoun “me.”
I was talking to myself in third person again. I really need to stop that.
I watched a black and grey wolf break away from the pack and come towards us. I thanked my lucky stars that I’d gone to the bathroom at that rest stop, because I was pretty sure I would have peed myself. Would peeing make me less appetizing? Maybe it would. I tried really hard to pee myself.
All three vampires were suddenly in my mind screaming the same thing “Do not pee yourself!”
Luckily for them, I couldn’t.

So, I'm Not a Vampire? First Book in the Peaches series (excerpt)

Bane smirked and planted his hands on either side of my head. “I could have found another way to get you out of there, Peaches,” he began, never taking his eyes off my face, “but I chose to make you my wife.”
I didn’t know exactly what that meant, but I got the gist of it. Bane had chosen me, and from what I’d gathered at the party, Bane didn’t choose people. He didn’t seek people out or try to make alliances. He was a lone wolf, and I was special to him.
God, was that sexy.
I reached up and kissed him, just attacked him with my lips and tongue. I tasted blood and felt his fangs rub against my lips and teeth. Instead of fear, I felt exhilaration. I felt happy and sexy and horny. I wasn’t thinking about my weight when I kissed Bane, or my failed relationships. I wasn’t thinking about how I probably smelled like fear-sweat and vomit because of the party. I wasn’t thinking about a single negative thing because I was enjoying kissing a man who wanted me.
I’d never really been wanted in my life except for Jimmy Patucci in seventh grade, and that was only because he’d been dorky, unattractive, and weird and had heard I screwed anything with a penis. Yeah, no.
It was a novel concept to kiss a guy and have him kiss you like he was trying to suck out your soul. It was the sort of kiss I’d seen in movies so many times: the hard, fast, claiming kiss before they went off and did something dangerous. Bane kissed me like we were about to jump off a bridge onto a moving train, or fight ninja warriors.
“You think too much.” He pulled back, ripped off his shirt, and made short work of my outfit. Sweet baby Jesus, vampire speed was a sight to see. One second fully clothed, next second completely naked. He didn’t even get to see the bra and panty set I picked out.


Bane groaned low and lowered himself back down to me. “Oh, I saw them, habibi.”

The Peaches series moving forward

Yes, I signed a contract for Peaches. That basically means that I can't post anymore stories online for free :( sorry. But on the plus side, all my other stories are still out there. And, the first Peaches book (So, I'm Not a Vampire?) will continue to be free online. Share it with your friend, and read it to your hearts content.

As I said before, I'm writing the second Grim Love book (Can't Fight Fate) and that will be out either late August or early September. I'm hoping the former. 
Flirting the Fence has also had a facelift, and I'll be going through that and rewriting it. 
For more information, please feel free to email me. I always answer emails from my fans. I hope you will continue to read and love my work!