Shiloh Walker's Blog, page 79

Book Club! So… here’s the first one…The Unwanted

Kindle

Are you in a book club?  Did you read about my super awesome idea where I sponsor your book club?

If your bookclub is into ebooks and interested in reading The Unwanted, my July release, you can read it before anybody else.  Well, other than me and my editors.

I’ll pick one (I dunno, maybe two) bookclubs to read it.  Again, this is an ebook.  I’ll send a PDF to the members of the bookclub.  I only have the PDF right now-most ARCs are sent in that version only this early on.

The book!

 

Destin Mortin’s psychic gift comes with an ugly twist—she excels at tracking down violent rapists. But it’s rough on relationships. Once, her partner Caleb was her everything: filter, shield, rescuer, lover. The only man who didn’t think her a freak. Then he walked away.

Destin turned her back on the FBI to work for a private agency, but now a particularly horrendous case has come up, and her boss wants her paired with only the best.

For Caleb Durand, leaving Destin was an act of self-preservation. Every time she flung herself headlong into dangerous situations, every time he nursed her through soul-crushing visions, he’d died a little more inside.

Now they are forced to work together one last time. Tragedy has changed them both, but Caleb knows if he lowers his shields for an instant, he won’t have an icicle’s chance in hell of resisting the temptation to lose himself in her wild power.

But to catch the rapist, it’s exactly what he’ll have to do.

 

This is romantic suspense, with a bit of a paranormal slant…they are psychics.

It’s also a novella.

Now…here is how this works… I provide the bookclub with the book, and I ask for reviews/word of mouth.  Since this is a July release, I’d kind of like to see reviews and such going up in late June or early July.

I’m not asking for positive reviews (well, unless you loved the book and hopefully you will).  I just want honest opinions.  And ideally, more than one review per bookclub…the whole idea is to get some more word of mouth for my books and to get more people out there trying my books.  I don’t ask or require that everybody in a bookclub review the book, but if there are say twenty people in a bookclub, I’d appreciate four or five reviews posted.  More is absolutely wonderful, though.  Reviews can be posted at Amazon, Goodreads, BN, blogs, etc.

Interested?  Leave the name of your bookclub below and the name of the person to contact.  Please check to see if somebody for your bookclub has already posted, just so my fried brain doesn’t get more fried.

Please note, this isn’t a contest and there is an ‘exchange’ of sorts going on…I ask for the reviews/word of mouth, etc in exchange for me providing the book.  I do want honest reviews, and if you hate it, that’s fine and I’m perfectly cool with you saying so, but this isn’t an ‘odds are determined’ by sort of thing.  If your bookclub is more into contemporary or vampires or werewolf aliens on the moon, please keep that in mind when you check out the book.

RT Recap

Kindle

So RT 2013 is over.

It was fun.

This was the view driving into Kansas City.

The registration line looked line this…

 

And there were lots of cool publishers and cool panels and cool people. Including the guy who wrote this…

I met him.  I fricking met the guy who created Rambo.  I was starstruck.

 

And then there was this speech by this awesome writer who made me weepy.

Meljean, you rock.

There was a cool panel with me, Smart Bitches’ Sarah Wendell, Jaye Wells, Liliana Hart and Mandi from Smexy Books.  In a nutshell, we talked about social media and how to make it work for you…and how not to be a douche.  It was fun.  We should do it again.

And then there was this…

I won that for Blade Song.  I don’t remember my speech.  I know I didn’t fall flat on my face.  I know Laura Kinsale Ilona Andrews and David Morrell and Jude Devereaux and John Scalzi and all these other amazing authors were up on that same stage, accepting their awards.  And I got one, too.  I still can’t puzzle that one out.

And my husband was there in the audience…I can remember that.

All in all, RT 2013 was all kinds of awesome.

Nightbound

Anybody who knows anything about me knows I’m a Lynn Viehl fiend.  She has a new book out today. I’m buying two copies. One for me, and one for…one of you.

 

Beaumaris of York has many secrets. No human can know that he’s an immortal Darkyn assigned to Knight’s Realm, the Kyn stronghold disguised as a medieval theme park. And none of his brethren can discover that he’s a half-breed, rescued from slavery as a child. Lately Beau has been yearning for action—and he’s about to find it with his new mission.

Brilliant archaeologist Dr. Alys Stuart is infamous for her extraordinary theories—especially those concerning the mysterious Knights Templar—and she is unaware that her research is funded by the Kyn coffers. When the Kyn sends a vexingly good-looking man to assist—and protect—her, she doesn’t expect the surge of attraction she feels for him.

When a powerful Templar artifact surfaces, Alys and Beau must trust each other enough to stop mankind’s greed for immortality from sparking a war between mortals and Kyn that will destroy the world.

Want it?  Just leave a comment below…tell me whether you’ve read Lynn Viehl or not, because if you haven’t, I’ll have to keep twisting arms. Just kidding.   Maybe.  I dunno.

Open internationally.  If you’re in the US or Canada, you can choose ebook or print, if you’re outside the US or Canada, you’ll have to take a print copy… sorry, I have no control over territory restrictions.

Contest open until Friday and please make sure you read my disclaimer.  You have to check back to see if you win~I’ll probably post the winner early next week.

So… this happened

I won this.

 

Thanks, RT, the reviewers and everybody else who did such an amazing job with the RT convention.

 

 

Her man

Snippet time…

This is just something I’m playing with. Dunno if I’ll finish it or not.

There are four hours a week, outside of my apartment, that are mine.  Any other time I leave, I know he will try to have me watched. I can go to Seth’s, but he and Marla like their time alone.  I can’t always hide over there.  And I don’t trust anybody else.

And these hours…these are mine.  Hours where I’m a little less afraid.  Sooner or later, I suspect he will try to take these from me, too.  He’s been more careful since the incidence with Seth, but I know that caution won’t last forever.  I’m going to enjoy these precious bits of freedom as much as I can.

If only I could reach out and just grab life, let myself take my life back.  I wish I could find the strength to change things, but every time I try to even think about it, the fear comes back and swallows me.

I’ll get there.

That’s what I tell myself.

For now, I make myself almost happy by doing things that I know would enrage him.

Like going out for pizza with Seth and Marla once a week.  Hanging out at their place for a movie night, with the sound too loud and the windows open so the neighbor across the way can hear us laughing and talking.

Like my clothes and my haircut.  My hair was black and thick and shiny and he’d loved it.  Even when he wouldn’t touch me, he’d liked my hair, how it would hang straight as a razor nearly to my butt.  Now it didn’t even reach my shoulders.  Some days, I thought of getting it buzzed, but my hair had once been my vanity. I hated to cut it all over to spite him.  The clothes had been the next rebellion and a step I wouldn’t have been able to take without Marla’s help.

Like the sketchbook…another rebellion.  He’d hated the art that I’d found myself drawn to.  This was my personal art, nothing I’d ever show to anybody. I’d shared it with him before we’d married and he’d told me how much he loved it, how he was proud of me and what a beautiful gift I had.  But after the wedding…

My fingers shook as I clutched the pencil and I made myself stop thinking about it.

That wasn’t this life now.

It was the old life.  The part that was no longer me.  I was no longer that girl.

He couldn’t stop me from expressing myself in any way I chose.  Maybe he could watch me.  Maybe he could try to scare me and control me from afar.

But he could only stop me if I let him.

I wasn’t going to let him.

I was going to sit out here in the sunshine and study people and draw.

From under my lashes, I studied the man I’d first noticed about a month ago.  He wasn’t always here.  I didn’t like it when he wasn’t.  Then again, I didn’t always like when he was.  He was too intense.  Too big.  Too there.  And he had a way about him that made me think he could be cruel.

But he caught my eye and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t look away.  He reminded me of the men I’d been attracted to before.  Back in that other life. Before my marriage.  Back when I’d been young and stupid and dreaming of a guy who’d just…possess me.  Take me over and draw me in.

 

Lissa Matthews

TJ Michaels

Soldiers needing some care packages

This unit is kinda in need of some foodstuffs,

Kyle Lowry

Robert Giles
Bryan Stephens
Conan Kahuhu
Andrey Williams
Timothy Ruffner
Wayne Benge
Jeremy Ingo
Israel Parra
John Fournier
Clifford Hodges
Eric Cantu
Darius Hardrick
Josh Obertance

B-BTRY 4-42 FA lBCT 4lD
Camp Buehring
APO,AE 09330

Kyle is the point of contact and if you want to just address to him, he’ll make sure everything gets divvied out.  Please don’t post to facebook pages, etc.  If you have Qs, please contact Kelley at kelleygranzow@yahoo.com.

They are looking for stuff with a long shelf life, like granola bars, fruit and nut bars, Belvita bars, and peanut butter crackers or cheese crackers.

Waiting for the waves

One of the talks I listened to at the WRWDC retreat was giving by Jane Porter and it was about how much she learned just from being in love with a surfer.  And not just because hey…surfers, that’s gotta be cool, right?

Listening to her talk, you get the feeling that Jane has had one of those careers that has had its ups and downs…and she isn’t generally the person who goes with the flow.  She jokingly talks about her German/Scotch heritage and how that makes her dig and fight change, how she’ll clench her teeth… how she’ll stay on a sinking ship until the water is up over her head.

And she fell in love and married a surfer.

She talks about how a surfer will sit out there and just wait for the waves.  The waves aren’t always there.  You can’t chase the waves down.  It doesn’t matter if you try, because waves will not come to you.  Once the waves do hit, you can chase every little wave… (ie: trend), but the good surfers know when to wait for the right wave…

Translate that to a writer’s life.  We can’t chase every little trend that comes along.  You can either keep writing the best books you know how, or look at the trends that are out there, if you want to write the books that are hot and trending like mad.  Think about what they have, then ask yourself.  What can I add that to these books/this genre that other authors aren’t doing?

Just chasing every little wave, every little trend means when the time is right for you…well, how are you going to know?

You’re going to be too exhausted, or maybe even underwater.

There was a lot more excellent little bits of wisdom in that speech, but that’s one of the gems I got.

Her Wildest Dreams 25% off at EC this week

 

 

This is one of my older books, very erotic, handcuffs and dirty stuff and sexy times.

It’s on sale 25% of this week at EC.

You can read an excerpt here…

snippet!

 

“Are you going to hate me forever for what happened that night?” he asked roughly, his hands curled into loose fists to keep from reaching for her.

Allie blinked. Once, slowly, like a sleepy little cat, he thought. She reached up and ran a hand through her tangled wet hair, an action that lifted her short robe even higher. Her body was still damp and when the robe rode higher, it clung and gaped, hinting at the naked body beneath it, revealing the slope of one breast, the edge of a soft, pink nipple. “I don’t hate you, Alex,” she said, shaking her head slightly. “I’m sorry if I’ve given you that impression.”

“I’ve been avoiding your brother for a while, because I didn’t want to risk running into you. I felt like an ass,” he said gruffly, wanting to close the distance between them and kiss her, to see if her mouth was still as soft and sweet as he remembered. “I hurt you, and I’m sorry for it. That was your first time, wasn’t it?”

Her cheeks flushed and her lashes lowered, followed by a soft, quiet sigh. “Yes. Alex, look—”

“Shh,” he murmured, moving a little closer, pressing one finger to her lips.

He knew women well enough to understand what he was seeing in her eyes. Embarrassment and self-doubt—that was something he hadn’t thought of until it was too late, and he should have, especially with Allie. He decided to risk closing that distance and he backed her up against the wall as he told her, “Do you know I dreamed of that night for weeks? Months?”

Saturday snippets

THE PROTECTED, due out in the fall.

FYI, I love Gus.  He’s mean, he’s snarly, he’s dangerous. And he’s hotter than hell.

Sighing, Vaughnne stretched out her legs and focused on the two males in the room.  Both of them slept, but neither of them did so easily.  Alex’s rest was fitful and he tossed and turned, occasionally muttering in his sleep or crying out.  Although Gus was still and silent, even in sleep, he looked ready to battle.  His hands were clenched, the muscles in his arms bunched, like he was ready to lunge into action at any moment. Ready to fight. Ready to protect.

Without thinking about it, she reached up and stroked a hand down his arm, thinking only to soothe him.

And what a mistake that was-

A split second later, her wrist was trapped and she had to bite back a gasp as he twisted it and jerked her forward.  Caught off-guard, again, she landed against his chest and glared down at him.

His eyes were foggy but clearing every second as he glared up at her.

Taut silence hung between them.

She licked her lips.

His gaze dropped to her mouth and a hunger like nothing she’d ever felt exploded through her.  If it hadn’t been for the boy in the bed just a few feet away, Vaughnne suspected she would have stripped off every damn piece of clothing she wore and rubbed herself against him like a fucking cat.  She might have begged him, might have pleaded… just one night, damn it.  That was all she wanted.

Well, no.  She wanted everything, but one night would suffice.

She sucked in a breath and just like that, the moment shattered.

He let go and she shoved away from him, pushing her hair back from her face and clambering out of the chair as he sat up, looking around.  His gaze lit on the boy in the bed and she said softly, “He’s fine.  He’s sleeping.”

“We need to go.”  The underlying urgency in his voice cut into her heart and she reached out, despite how stupid that had been a minute ago.

But this time, as her hand caught his arm, all he did was freeze.

“Go where?” she asked quietly.  “You know what’s after him now, right?  I know Jones showed you.”

“That’s why we have to go.”

“And how are you going to hide him from all that can come from that?  Can you protect him from an army?”

Gus’s hand shot out, fisting in the front of her shirt. He tugged her closer and lowered his head, pressing his brow to hers.  Hell warred in his eyes as he stared at her.  “Can you?”

Caris Roane

Eliza Gayle

McKenna Jeffries

Taige Crenshaw

Delilah Devlin

HelenKay Dimon

Lissa Matthews

Myla Jackson

Lauren Dane

Jody Wallace

Leah Braemel

Mandy M. Roth

Felicity Heaton

Mari Carr

Selena Blake

National Reader’s Choice Awards… Wheeee!!!

I finaled in not one, but four categories…

Stolen, Hunter’s Rise, The Departed and The Unwilling (Hot in Handcuffs) all finaled!

 

Also…

I have to do another speech.

O.O

See… I won this award.  For Blade Song.  It’s the RT Reviewer’s Choice Winner for Best Self Published Urban Fantasy.  And next week, I have to figure out a way to tell people thanks… well, more than just thanks.  Can’t just say, you all are awesome and I love you?