Had a late night! I was doing one last walk through this book—which, BTW, is releasing May 17th—NEXT TUESDAY!

It’s the latest collection curated by me. We’ll be doing some fun stuff—blogging, partying, etc., to get the word out. If there’s anyone out there who’d like to host us on their website, just let me know! If you haven’t already pre-ordered your copy, why haven’t you? It’s a steal at $0.99! And, for now,  it’s completely free for all you Kindle Unlimited subscribers! I love putting these collections together, because 1) I get to read a ton of great stories as I whittle down the stories to include; 2) I get to play with some wonderful authors—some of whom I already know, but new friends, too; and 3) I get to play in a sandbox of my choice. This time around it’s “rogues”—those wonderful bad boys with the hearts of gold, be they pirates, thieves, highwaymen, tomb raiders—even a geek (in my case), who does a bad thing but for a very good reason. 🙂

So, now that this one is done, I get to think about what’s next. Do you want another cowboy collection? A knights collection? A blue-collar stud collection? What would you like to see?

Rogues! Even the word conjures a special sort of hero—a playful bad boy with a heart of gold—at least when it comes to his lady-love. This volume is filled with the Jack Sparrows of old—pirates sailing the high seas, Regency-era highway men, modern-day jewel thieves, like Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief—men doing bad things, bending or breaking the law, but in a very sexy way. With fourteen stories sure to satisfy the reader who craves that ultimate bad boy, prepare to have your heart stolen!

SWINDLED by Megan Mitcham
OPALS – Axa Lee
HER HEART’S TOMB – Jennifer Kacey
THE HIGHWAYMAN’S TREASURE by Emma Jay
PLUNDER by Delilah Night
THE HEAT by Mia Hopkins
THE HIGHWAYMAN CAME RIDING by Erzabet Bishop
QUEEN HIGH by Cela Winter
ROGUE HEARTS by Delilah Devlin
LADY OF THE HOUSE by T.G. Haynes
BILLIONAIRE AND THE JEWEL THIEF by Elle James
AN EYE FOR LOVE by Cynthia Young
ROGUISHLY HANDSOME, AND OTHER SUPERHERO
PROBLEMS by Tray Ellis
GLASS SLIPPERS, HARDLY WORN by Bibi Rizer

When you write a novel, you are mentally living in the world of your story from beginning to end. Make it a dark fantasy, and you’re living in a hybrid universe with sometimes bizarro events that cast long shadows over your big-arcing plot and, trust me, when you get out of your chair after a writing session, you can feel disoriented. But the weirdness is mitigated by what you know is the end result. Amid the jagged, upward progression of plot points are big reveals and emotional summits and canyons—in other words, a gripping rollercoaster ride. Hell, yeah.

When I conceived Demonesse: Avarus, I knew I wanted readers to be right there in the action with Maia Kelly as she learns who she is—who she was always meant to be—but the point of view for the story wasn’t really a conscious choice. I looked up from my keyboard one day and realized the story was writing itself in first-person present tense. I decided not to fight something so organic. Now my readers get to live Maia’s life with her, connecting in-depth as her life unfolds in sometimes fantastical and catastrophic ways before her.

See, empath Maia Kelly is the virtuous Catholic daughter of an excommunicated nun, for starters. After months of erotic fantasies, Maia awakens into her shocking new life as a seductive killer powerless to resist the moon’s calling, and no one she loves will ever be safe again. With her pious island existence shattered, she must choose between the demon who made her or going it alone in a supernatural sphere of unseen dangers she can scarcely comprehend. Either way, her nightmare has only just begun, and you get to be there when the black hole pulls her in.

Excerpt:

In the rain, Liam and I dash through the soggy fields behind St. Helens neighborhoods to Nigel Wickersham’s neglected farm. Fifteen months after the barrister’s death, burgeoning weeds have strangled a once-robust garlic crop and commandeered the five-hundred-year-old family graveyard. Hand in hand, we trudge between disintegrating headstones, up to our knees in wet, brittle sticks and thorns, until we reach the copses of rowans my ancestors planted to guard the dead against malevolent spirits and black magic. Clusters of crimson berries make them deceptively inviting. It was the Rowan tree on which the devil hanged his mother.

If you believe that sort of thing.

Again, the bitter chill of foreboding settles inside my chest. Lightning illuminates the dense fog descending upon us as we hurry toward Wickersham’s abandoned barn. We’ve almost reached it when a wand-like rowan branch scrapes the back of Liam’s hand—the hand clasping mine. He flinches from the sting, as I do vicariously through him, and he lets go to examine the raised, oozing wound. His reflexive gasp and the alarm in his eyes as he glances sidelong in my direction reveal that his long-held superstition about witches remains intact.

But he wipes the fresh blood on his pants and reclaims my hand. The twitch of his jaw, the flare of his nostrils, and an intrepid gleam in his eyes tell me more than any flashing inside his heart. He is too motivated by the girl at his side to let worry of the supernatural get in his way.

He pushes open the barn door, and we hurry inside. The air heaves with the smell of damp hay, and the tin roof above shivers and moans noisily in protest of the downpour. Liam lunges for the lantern that hangs from a rusty nail in a splintering support beam.

As I squint through the darkness at our musty retreat, I hear the scratch of a match, the whir of the lamp, and the clunky repositioning of the glass chimney. Incandescent light and the oily stench of stale paraffin wash over me, and our shadows shudder eerily across gray wallboards, shrunken and warped from unforgiving gales off the Channel.

Liam removes his newsboy cap, shakes the rainwater from it, and tosses it into the shadows. He sweeps up hay with one hand and sifts it between his fingers until he finds just the right straw and places it between his lips. Then he hikes his leg over a sawhorse and gets comfortable, beaming at me.

“Welcome to my castle,” he announces, arms indicating the vast emptiness of the barn.

Rain drips on my head and pools on the dirty cement floor. “You call this shelter?”

“You’re standing under the holes, lass. Move to the left and you’ll dry quite nicely, I should think.”

For the first time since I’d found myself in the garden staring at him across the fence, the prescience gathering in my spine will not be dismissed. The air particles flutter around me, tap-dancing on my shoulders, causing me to shiver.

“Do you think this place is safe?” I say.

“Safe for what?”

I follow Liam’s gaze across my white blouse. It is soaked, as is my undershirt, and reveals the chilled nipples beneath. I cover them quickly, warming them with my palms.

Liam’s eyes never waver.

I like that.

His admiration stirs a dire yearning inside me that I can’t quite explain. Only in dreams have I acknowledged such desire. Only in my fantasies have I invited a mindless abandon and allowed it to overtake me. But it has never swallowed me whole. I have always woken up just before, terrified and trembling to think what might happen if my body went that little bit further. Would I be changed forever?

I want to find out. What is it like to be swallowed whole? To lose yourself to sensations? To feel instead of think? To welcome submission with every breath instead of fearing the loss of control?

Sex is the one thing my moral compass—and my reverent Mum—reminds me I ought not do; and as if to spurn every pure thought ever instilled in me, I imagine how lovely Liam’s fingers would feel on my bare skin.

I gingerly remove my hands, daring myself to stay still and let him look, until my burning self-consciousness settles in my cheeks, clenches my stomach, and shallows my breathing. A storm is brewing, inside as it is outside, and I weigh running outside into the tempest, or staying right here in the eye of this one.

It is a dare I’m not yet ready to accept, so I turn and wander about while Liam palpates my backside with a hungry gaze. I feel him there, lingering.

“Aye, but you are fine, Maia Kelly,” he says. “Like a graceful rose in a field of scrappy violets. I confess, you had me spellbound from the first.”

I glance over my shoulder at a crooked smile as captivating as it is unnerving. “Liam McGill, the beatnik poet.”

“I’ve written of you many times. When I first saw you, crouched in your garden, you were gathering ripe tomatoes in your skirt and humming. An old Beatles tune I think.”

The apex between my legs tingles and I try to ignore it. “So, you’re a poet and a Peeping Tom?”

I second-guess whether I’d meant to say that. My tongue feels thick and my brain off-kilter, like when I’d first woken up from my nap.

Liam scoffs and smooths the hair from his forehead. “I hid in the barn, but I’m no Peeping Tom. I’ve just been too much of a coward to talk to you. Till now. Not sure why. Maybe it’s because—I don’t know—you accept me?” He disembarks the sawhorse and moves toward me. “You’re chilled. Can I warm you?”

Thunder booms outside and sea winds whistle through cracks between the wall planks, whipping Liam’s scent across my nose. Raw, male, magnetic. My breasts swell and tighten, nipples straining against wet fabric, and my womb feels like it’s vibrating. My breath hitches. My skin is a rippling, prickling cascade of goosebumps. And a wildfire sparks deep inside me—in my sex—as surely as if Liam has torched me with boiling paraffin.

What’s happening?

Liam’s breaths escape his lungs in an evanescent fog, but no silvery streams escape me. My body is not acknowledging the cold, yet I quiver with the feeling that a thousand ants march across me. From the inside. As if I am vibrating with the intensity of an electrified fence. I am so preoccupied by my body’s internal machinations, the simple act of sending a thought to my mouth is a physical struggle.

I try to make the sign of the cross to assure God of my intent to be Mum’s good girl, but my hands refuse to cooperate. I can only pray silently.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

Help me exorcise these maddening cravings. Help me look beyond this farm boy’s alluring eyes, his irresistible aroma, and the bulging curve in his trousers.

I’ll bet his lips are soft and wet, and decadent as warm caramel.

I would like a taste.

­­­­­Want to read more? Get your hands on Demonesse: Avarus, Episode One at Amazon.

Kimberly Jayne is the author of the sexy dark fantasy series Demonesse: Avarus and the hilarious romantic comedy Take My Husband, Please! See more about her and her books at readkimberly.com. You can also catch up with her on Facebook at facebook.com/readkimberlyjayne/.

The other day, my 10-year-old daughter, affectionately known as Diva Daughter, interviewed me out of the blue. She’s an aspiring writer, and cute as all get out, so who was I to say no to such an interview. I thought it would be fun to share. Since she was handwriting the answers, I kept them short, but I’ll embellish the answers for you.

What is your favorite sport to play?

I love to play basketball despite the fact I tore my ACL last November while playing in an alumni game. I’m not sure I’ll be brave enough to play again like that, but maybe I’ll get over the injury once I’m fully healed.

What is your favorite sport to watch?

I love to watch soccer live, especially if my oldest son is playing. He’s got some mad skills. I’ve been to a few Major League Soccer games (Seattle Sounders) and loved the atmosphere and the action. In fact, I loved it so much, I wrote the experience into my first Puget Sound ~ Alive With Love series novel, The Sound of Consequence. That novel was just re-leased as part of a first-in-their-series box set called First Glance. The set features 13 novels for $.99. It’s a great way to meet new authors and get started on new series.

If we’re talking television, football is my favorite sport to watch. Marshawn Lynch – AKA Beast Mode – is my favorite player, but since he decided to retire, looks like I’ll have to find someone new. I married into the Seahawks fandom, but they are a fun team to love!

What is your favorite song?

I have lots of favorites and my answer may change based on my mood, but in a pinch, I will always answer Last Man Standing by Bon Jovi. Part of the reason is due to a concert I went to back in 2006 in Denver when they opened with that song and Jon performed on a small stage that was only about 20 feet from where we sat. It was incredible. Even though I have since met him, that experience still rates in my top 10 memorable experiences!

Who is your favorite musician?

If you’ve followed me longer than 5 minutes, you already know the answer to this question, but for those of you who don’t know me, the answer is Bon Jovi. Did I mention that I met Jon Bon Jovi last summer? This is our engagement photo!

Aside from getting married and having kids, this has been the highlight of my life. During that meeting, I pitched a book idea to him and asked permission to quote lyrics at the beginning of each chapter. HE SAID YES!! This month, I’ll be releasing that book, Whisper to a Scream, the story of a medically discharged, combat injured soldier (Skye Everhart) with PTSD and a prescription drug addiction who finds hope in the healing power of music, friendship, and love. This is the first novel in my romantic women’s fiction series Sunset Valley. Check my website and/or subscribe to my newsletter for release date information.

What is your favorite movie?

Dirty Dancing!! I once watched it five times in a row. This was back in the days of VHS, so I’d watch, rewind, watch, rewind…an entire Saturday afternoon. Nobody puts Baby in the corner!! I love the dancing, the love story, the family dynamic, the way Johnny looks at Baby! Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Gray had incredible chemistry in that movie!

Who is your favorite actor?

Tom Hiddleston! I can’t even really speak when it comes to Tom, I love him so much. I have a life-size Loki cut out in my office and I sleep with a Tom Hiddleston pillowcase covering my favorite pillow. He can sing, he can dance, he can melt panties with that smile.

Who is your favorite actress?

Jennifer Garner. I fell in love with her during Alias, but I love her in every movie she’s done. I love how she can be cute and sweet and then be total kick ass! She’s a good person, too, which makes it so easy to love her!

What is your favorite TV show?

Alias, hands down. I own all five seasons and was devastated when the show ended. I used to binge watch all the episodes leading up to a new season. Diva Daughter and I will pop in a DVD and spend an entire day watching the action!

Who was your childhood best friend?

My childhood best friend is still my best friend, Amy. I even named Diva Daughter after her. We’ve been best friends since the moment we met in kindergarten back in 1977 … just shy of 40 years!!

What is your favorite book?

The Chosen by Chaim Potok. When I was a senior in high school, I was going out with a boy who was a bit of forbidden fruit due to his religion. His parents tried to keep us apart, but for a few months, love prevailed. A friend suggested The Chosen to me. Even though it wasn’t a love story, the theme reflected much of what I was experiencing in that relationship. The story has always stayed with me and I still have the paperback I bought back in 1990.

*~*~*

So what did Diva Daughter miss? Any questions you are dying to ask? Hit me with ‘em!

National Bestselling Author Susan Ann Wall writes racy, rule-breaking romance and women’s fiction. Her newest release, Broken Strings, is romantic suspense novel available in the Love Notes ebook collection.

www.authorsusanannwall.com
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UPDATE: The winner is Colleen C!

* * * * *

I’ll admit it. I love watching TV more than I love reading books. For me, story is story—whether it’s told between pages or shown on a screen. I’m a very visual person. I daydream in brilliant Technicolor with a movie reel playing in my head that I can rewind if I’m dissatisfied with where my imagination took me. I can control those stories, to some extent, which can be dissatisfying in its own way. I give up control when I watch TV. And I get invested in my shows. I know these characters like I know friends.

There are two shows that worry me now. One, I’m afraid will be cancelled. And that won’t do. No, not at all. The other is a love I’ve invested in for years.

~*~*~*~*~

Sleepy Hollow

I’m very worried about Sleepy Hollow. Ichabod has lost his partner, Abby. A new witness must arise to help him do battle against the supernatural baddies in the world. Three seasons ago, he awoke from a mystical slumber after centuries at rest into a very different world. Abby was his anchor, his teacher of all things modern. How the hell is he going to support himself now? He doesn’t have a real job! I’m haunting Tom Mison sightings for hints of whether Sleepy Hollow will die a sudden TV death.

~*~*~*~*~

Supernatural

I’m currently binge-watching last season’s Supernatural. Man, those Winchester boys can get themselves into pickles! Right now, Crowley’s hiding The Darkness (Imara), and the boys are trying to figure out how to defeat her, because she’s basically a goddess—the sister of God—and she’s going to destroy the world. I can easily slip into that world and get lost there for hours and hours…

And dare I admit it, as much as I love the Winchester boys, I adore Crowley, the King of Hell. He’s such a conflicted character. He’s evil, evil, evil, but he has these glimmers of humanity. And he’s smart. He knows the world needs good and bad or it would be very, very boring. And, I think, he genuinely loves Dean. Not a man-love thing, but he wishes they could be friends. I feel bad for him. He has a horrible mother (Rowena the witch is really a glorious character!), stupid minions. Who else can he cozy up to for company? Now, when Supernatural ends, I’ll go into deep, deep mourning.

~*~*~*~*~

So, my question to you is: What are your Top Two TV Worries?

P.S. A comment here, will count as another entry in yesterday’s contest!

UPDATE: The winner is…Sandra Rodriquez!

* * * * *

Wherein: I write a guest post about my ten all-time favorite post-apocalyptic/dystopian TV shows or movies without doing a lick of research—typing on laptop, with a glass of wine on hand. My debut, Die For You, was going live that night, therefore wine.

Possible recipe for disaster, right?

Here’s how it went down. I’m just gonna leave this here, verbatim (spelling errors included):

1. Jericho– Do you guys remember this show from TV? I can’t remember the name of a single actor in the series, but I remember that I loved it. It was about the world being annhililated by Nuclear War. Jericho was a little town in the country and little towns survived. The realistic everyday life of people surviving an extinttion event. Lots of drama and angst. I remember my husband thought there was too much “soap opera” in it, but I don’t know, I liked it just the same. I was sad when it was cancelled. Damn networks.

2. The Last Ship– I love this show so much.

3. Comet– That part in the book where Adam and Rachel are walking through Macys and she gets to pick out whatever she wants because all things are free now- that’s a homage to this movie. From the 80’s. I’m probably the only one who remembers it, but to me it’s special because it’s a girl-centric post apoc movie. Like those ever happen.

4. The Walking Dead– I’m watching this on Netflix right now!!! I’m at the start of season 3, right after they slaughtered all the zombies who were hiding in the barn (and Sophia). This show is effing awesome. If you’re not watching it, you should.

5. Logan’s Run– I remember being younger and this movie played on TV often. It’s seems to have fallen off the map nowadays, but really, it’s a great movie. A future with only young people. You’re killed if you even remotely start to grow old. Ouch. That would suck. What a great reimagining of our future. Epic storytelling. Makes me want to watch it again…

6. Soylent Green– Am I even spelling this right? Oh, f#@K it, I’m not looking it up! I remember they were turning people into a food product that people were innocently eating. Yuck! Charleston Heston was young and not so much into the NRA back then. It was awesome. Freaky. The kind of futuristic sci fi that creeps you out and makes you think hard. Perfect.

7. World War Z– Brad Pitt. Zombies swarming like ants. Brad Pitt. Need I say more?

8. The Last Stand– This started it all in my brain. In fact I like to tell people Die For You is like The Last Stand but without all that God and evil stuff and way more romance. Oh, and not as long. Promise.

9. Virus/Outbreak– It’s all a bit of a blur. I remember there’s a movie with Dustin Hoffman and lots of Hazmat suits and a movie with Matt Damon, both about a worldwide viral I tell you, I can’t get enough of movies like that. In the movie with Matt Damon I remember he watches a neighbor getting brutally murdered by someone pretending to be a cop. Yep, put a reference to that in my book. The ideas come from everywhere! Everywhere, I tell you! *pours more wine*

10. Warm Bodies– The writing is amazing. Literary level, but about zombies. Oh, wait, I’m talking about movies! Yes, the movie based on the book was good, too. This book is why in Die For You, Trevor talks about putting a Van Gogh on the wall. This book (movie!) totally influenced me. I remember I sent a fangirl email to the author, couldn’t help myself.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings. Promise I’m much more coherent when not tipsy!

Oh, by the way, here’s that book of mine I was so excited about:

Kindle | Kobo | Nook | Google | ibook | ARe

Love, in a hopeless place.

Catastrophe Series, Book 1

Two months after a virus took out civilization, Rachel Donnelly is the last living soul in California, as far as she can tell. Until she runs into a Marine sniper, battle-hardened but alive and healthy.

Adam Sanchez would love nothing more than a slamming session of I-can’t-believe-we’re-alive post-apocalyptic sex in the back of his Hummer. But Rachel’s fragility, inexperience—and much younger age—hold him back from exposing her to his raw, aggressive sexuality. If anything, Rachel needs protection. Especially from himself.

As they band together with other survivors to battle feral animals, violent ex-cons, and motorcycle clubs jockeying for power, Rachel grows stronger in mind, body, and spirit—strong enough to give the dangerously sexy Marine what they both crave.

The power of their passion rocks Adam’s world, bringing him to his knees—which, he discovers too late, is the worst possible place to be when danger springs from the shadows.

Warning: Contains a sexy Marine, a tattooed ex-con, a girl who blossoms into a sexually assured young woman, laughter despite the pain, m/f/m ménage, hope, love, and more bad language and violence than are strictly necessary.

Michele Mills teaches High School English to unruly teenagers and enjoys cooking for her husband and two sons. DIE FOR YOU, the first book in her new post-apocalyptic series from Samhain is available now. You can find her pretending to be professional on both Twitter and Facebook.

The Romantic Times Convention was a lot of fun this year. How could it be anything else when it was located in Vegas, baby! I participated in 9 events! But this year, I took my two grown daughters and my new personal assistant.

I could not have done it without them! Between bag stuffing, decorating and getting all of our stuff to and from the conference rooms, we put in over 10,000 steps each one of us every day of the conference. The conference rooms were a long way from our hotel rooms.

My youngest daughter, Megan, and I went to the Thunder Down Under show at the Aria Hotel. And yes! I was called up on the stage. What a thrill to have 5 handsome Aussies dancing all around me! My 23-year-old daughter was green with envy! We also went to see the Zarkana Cirque du Soleil show. Hmm. I had a little too much wine and slept through half of it. Not surprised? I know.

The highlight of my entire RT experience this year was the SOS Military Tribute. The Honor Guard from Nellis, AFB presented the flag, and Brigadier General AJ Tata spoke about his experiences as part of the Army’s combat infantry. Our theme was military heroes. It was amazing! Wish you all could have been there. I had tears in my eyes.

This month, I have two releases. I know. Damned over-achiever! But that’s good for you, because it means more to read! DEADLY OBSESSION Book #5 in the DEVIL’S SHROUD series and a Romantic Times Reviews TOP PICK! and MONTANA D-FORCE book #3 in the BROTHERHOOD PROTECTORS series.

This is what you’ll find in DEADLY OBSESSION…

 A war hero and a sexy realtor fight growing attraction while unraveling deadly secrets of a forgotten past

Available now!

A Romantic Times Reviews TOP PICK!

Amazon | Amazon UK | Kobo | Nook | iBooks |Googleplay

MONTANA D-FORCE:

Former D-FORCE and troubled LA screenwriter struggle against their growing desire while trying to stay alive in the crosshairs of a murderous rapist. Releases May 3rd.

Free on Kindle Unlimited!

Amazon  | Amazon UK

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