Gator is here!!!

My first standalone romance is now available at Amazon. The novella features a romance between an assassin dubbed Gator and the woman he claims.

I am currently writing two books for the Damaged series ~ Dragon and Bulldog. My goal is to have the first one released on March 31st and the second on May 6th. Well, I better get back to Ellsberg since those books won't write themselves.

Happy reading!!!

Gator Excerpt

Gator will be published February 25th. Here's a taste of my new standalone romance...

 

*****

 

No longer are we waiting for that special moment. Hell, I don’t know how to make fucking special. Flowers, candles, shitty music feels wrong. Those are lies because we are not romantic people. We are the children of evil. I am a man with blood on my hands while Mia lives with shame in her heart. Broken by life, we can’t lie to each other. This realization is when I understand.

 

Mia knows me. For her, I’m not Gator. I am not the scars or the fearsome look or the body women drool over. I am not a killer or a man to be redeemed. I’m just me. Failed and fucked up. I am ruined by life, yet live on to ruin others. I am complicated and simple. I am her savior and just the kid trapped in the swamp with monsters. I am everything and nothing. Mia knows me in a way no one ever has and this is what makes our kiss special.

 

I know her too. Mia is ruined, but I see the light flickering stronger in her every day we’re together. Wanting to survive and flourish, she can be anything to others, but she’s real to me. I see the child crying in the dark and the whore hiding in her head while servicing evil men. I know her and she is perfect in her flawed fucked up way. She’s everything I need to make life mean something.

Damaged and the Dragon Excerpt

Happy Valentine's Day!!! Here's a tiny bit of Dragon to hold everyone over until the book is ready on March 31 (fingers crossed). I've just started it, but tend to write out of order. Hope you like what I've got so far.

Nick never looked at me. Not really. He looked at other girls. Smiled at them too. I was right there and he didn’t see me.

Maybe it was the gallon of Dr. Pepper I downed before arriving at the study group, but I didn’t want to be ignored anymore. I refused to sit across from him and be invisible. No more playing coy when I wasn’t sure what the hell coy even meant.

When I slammed my hand down on the book he was reading, Nick didn’t even flinch. Never seemed startled at all, though the others jumped. He lifted his gaze to meet mine and waited as if I was a spoiled child and he was the ever patient parent. Fuck him for his patience.

“You suck.”

“Bailey,” Emma said.

I turned my angry gaze to her and she probably pissed herself. I didn’t care about Emma or the others. I wanted Nick to pay attention to me.

“I’m storming out of here,” I hissed at him, “and you better fucking follow after me to see what’s wrong. If you don’t, I’m coming back here and making a scene.”

The corner of Nick’s mouth lifted into a half grin. “You’re already making a scene. Think of a better threat.”

“I’ll set fire to the building,” I growled. “I know how to work dynamite and just love blowing shit up.”

The other half of Nick’s mouth lifted and he smiled at me. Then, his gaze lowered as he returned to reading. The fucker was calling my bluff! Unfortunately, I didn’t know anything about dynamite and loud noises made my head hurt. The fucker knew I wouldn’t do shit.

I still stormed out of the library. No way would I stay there and show him that he’d won.

Outside, I felt like crying. I felt like screaming. Even felt like finding dynamite and proving I wasn’t full of shit. None of those moves would fix my problem, so I sat on a bench and sulked.

Nick was stupid to want Farah even after she hooked up with Cooper. He was a sap. A fool! Much like me wanting a guy who was hung up on my sister-in-law.

I blamed Farah’s fat lips. They were too sexy and made guys think of blowjobs. While I considered putting poison in my lips to make them fat like hers, I didn’t want anyone thinking about blowjobs when they looked at me. I wanted them thinking I was special. No, I wanted Nick thinking that, but he was a loser stuck on a girl who didn’t want him.

“Out of dynamite?” Nick asked from behind me.

“Yep. Used it on the last loser who pissed me off.”

“And you’re pissed why?”

I glanced at Nick who stood next to the bench. His shirt was too tight around his chest and messy around his waist. If he was mine, I would fix it and maybe feel him up a little. Instead, I had to glare at him like he was a piece of shit. I blamed Nick for making me hate him.

“You suck.”

“Okay, but why now?”

“You’ll never have Farah. I mean, it’s not like she’s going to leave my hot, rich, stud brother, so she can slum it with you.”

Nick studied me and I saw nothing in those bright green eyes. He could be examining something on the heel of his boot. That was how interested he looked and I hated him for not jumping me that very moment.

I looked down and found my boobs jutting from my chest. I was hot. Not blowjob lips hot. Not broken little girl needing a savior hot. Just rich girl with great fake boobs hot. What the fuck was Nick’s problem?

“You smell like bacon,” I muttered, standing up. “I hate you for that.”

“Bacon?” he asked, walking towards the parking lot as if I wasn’t standing right there. “I shower more than once a day. That’s weird.”

“You ate a bacon hamburger or some shit,” I said, rushing after him as he dumped his school bag onto the back of his Harley. “You smelled like bacon and I love bacon. I think you did that on purpose.”

“Probably,” he said, taking my backpack and shoving it next to his. “Let’s go.”

“Where?”

Nick climbed on the Harley then focused his beautiful gaze on my face. “Do you care?”

I didn’t dare smile or give away the happy dance happening inside me. Shrugging, I climbed on behind him. My attempt at playing it cool ended when I wrapped my arms around his hard stomach. I’d dreamed of this moment and it was better than my fantasies.

Bijou Babbles: Gator Alert!

With Valentine’s Day nearly here, I suspect we’re all filled with heart flutters and horniness. Something about the holiday makes me especially babbly, so here it goes…

Turns out adding another pen name to my writing drawer is more than just fun. It’s a lot of work. Twitter accounts, Facebook accounts, and blogs need to be created. I already have FIVE Twitter accounts for my various pen names and blogs. The lazy chick in me begged, “No more!!!”

So the romance I was writing for the “Ilaria” pen name will be published under Bijou. Here's a Gator mini-blurb and my hot guy inspiration:

My scars terrify most people, but she views me as the sun, shining light into the darkness of her past. I am a killer, yet gave her life. She is mine and I dare anyone to stand in my way.





So how is Gator different than the Damaged series? Let us count the ways:

1. Story is mainly from the guy’s POV.
2. It’s novella length.
3. It’s a standalone.
4. It’s darker, i.e. a little more f’ed up than the Damaged books.

How is it the same?

1. The guy wants what he wants and refuses to allow anyone to stand in his way.
2. The chick is f’ed up, but gets stronger with the love of a sexy man.
3. HEA, an epilogue, and no cheating.

So Gator is in the hands of my beta readers. Next week, I plan to have a few flash giveaways on Facebook for advance ebooks. Never done those before, so I’m super excited.

With Gator in the editing and proofing stages, I’m focused on Dragon and Bulldog. I am writing them together which might sound crazy, but I usually write two projects at a time. Working on the books simultaneously will ensure a shorter wait time between Dragon and Bulldog. ***Not every guy is a stud, but look at this dork giving it a try. :P

 

I want to leave you with a quote from Gator. On Friday, I’ll post a snippet from Dragon. Oh, and there’s an amazing blog giveaway everyone should check out. My ebooks are included along with gift cards and a ton of cool books by many awesome authors.

 

Here’s the Gator quote. I’ll babble again on Valentine's Day!

 

Mia knows me. I am not Gator. I am not the scars or the fearsome look or the body women drool over. I am not a killer or a man to be redeemed. I am just me. Failed and fucked up. I am ruined by life, yet live on to ruin others. I am complicated and simple. I am her savior and just the kid trapped in the swamp with monsters. I am everything and nothing. Mia knows me in a way no one ever has and this is what makes us special.

Bijou Babbles: Dragon, Bulldog, Oh my!

I suck. I really do. I hoped to have Damaged and the Dragon ready this month. I blame the holidays, weather, my road trip to Texas, and the flu. In the end, I just suck.

 

I’m still working on Gator, a romance novella I have for another pen name. It’ll be finished in a week or two. Afterwards, I’m focusing solely on Ellsberg.

 

My co-blogger, beta reader, and BFF Miranda helped me pick a name for Dylan’s book. I'm naming it Damaged and the Bulldog. I liked the name because my little brother used to wear tees from a surf shop with a bulldog on the front. Since Dylan is the first brother character I’ve writing about, it seems fitting.

 

So the plan is Dragon and Bulldog will be written back to back. No other pen names to interrupt the flow. I’m also working on a novelette from Cooper’s pov of view. It’ll be a free treat for fans. Finally, I want to finish the Damaged series with Saint. My goal is to have all three books and the novelette completed by the end of summer. I might even manage a Judd novelette too.

 

Dragon should be published around March 31st. I’m hoping Bulldog will be close behind.

 

In the next few months, I will be working with a number of cool bloggers to set up fun giveaways. We’ll have signed paperbacks plus chances to receive ebook copies of Dragon and Bulldog before they’re released. I’ve created a new Damaged series FB page to host some of those giveaways. In a week, I’ll post a snippet from Dragon. Until then, happy reading!!!