One of the (many) things that fascinate me as a Romance reader and as a Romance writer are the beings or other living things a character loves BEFORE he/she finds her/his main romantic love interest(s).

What is her/his basis for love?

For example, in Warlord’s Return, Ariq, the barbarian hero, cares deeply for his brothers-in-arms. They have fought side-by-side for a good portion of his lifespan. He would do anything for them, would trade his life for theirs without hesitation.

I know Ariq is capable of great love and lasting relationships because he experiences that in a platonic way at the beginning of the story. When he meets his heroine, Xareni, I expect his commitment to her to eventually be as strong or stronger than his bond with his brethren.

Xareni, on the flipside, seems to be a loner when we first meet her. She has been hurt…greatly. Due to that not-yet-healed pain, she keeps herself separated from other humans and humanoids, tends to grumble at beings, is admittedly relationship-adverse.

Except she DOES have a relationship. She would kill, would die for Spark, the mini-dragon she considers to be her hunting partner.

She curses at the equally ornery creature but she goes out of her way to feed him the choice bits, often pets him, is more concerned about his reaction to returning to civilization than about her own. Her attachment to Spark is strong and deep.

And I know her relationship with Ariq has the capability of being as strong and as deep. Even when she pushes him away, when she stabs him…multiple times, I have faith she could eventually love him with all her soul.

Knowing this about both characters gives me great hope they will…eventually…have their happy ever after. Their relationship and their love should last.

Question:  What does the hero or heroine love or care for at the beginning of the romance you’re currently reading?

Warlord’s Return

Ariq is a barbarian warrior seeking a war.

He locates that battle when he meets Xareni.

Ariq is one of Chamele’s top warriors. A genetic predisposition to fighting, paired with intensive training and experience, has honed the scarred male into an effective killing machine. He loves war, can’t live without combat.

The Succession Wars, however, have finally ended and the Chamele sector is now at peace. Seeking excitement and purpose, the barbarian warrior accompanies his Second to the Refuge, an outlaw settlement on Carinae E. He hopes to locate the battle he’s been craving there.

Ariq finds that conflict and more when he meets his fated mate.

Xareni owes the Ruler of the Refuge a favor. That’s the only reason she has returned to the settlement. She doesn’t like crowds or structures or a certain barbarian warrior who insists on following her everywhere. It doesn’t matter that there’s a connection between them, that he makes her burn with desire, that he looks at her with heat in his dark eyes.

She’s a monster and monsters don’t need anyone.

Warlord’s Return is a STANDALONE Alien Barbarian Sci-Fi Romance featuring a determined barbarian warrior, an equally resolute human female, and an eyeball-eating mini dragon.

Buy Now:
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About Cynthia Sax

USA Today bestselling author Cynthia Sax writes steamy Cyborg, Alien and Contemporary Romances. Her stories have been featured in Star Magazine, Real Time With Bill Maher, and numerous best of top ten lists.

Sign up for her dirty-joke-filled monthly newsletter and visit her on the web at www.CynthiaSax.com

Website:  https://cynthiasax.com/
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I hadn’t planned on blogging today. I know!!!!!! In five years, I’ve only missed a daily posting two times. I think. Pretty sure, anyway. It’s my morning thing. But today, I got up early, got dressed (an event in itself, because I’ve been on lockdown for months), and went to my tiny community center in the middle of nowhere, driving down a narrow windy road to get there. I voted.

Then I came home and checked the news. About midday, I decided I had to get away from the prognostications because I’m a nervous wreck. I’ll be watching tonight, no doubt, but at least then, there might be some news coming in from around the country. In the meantime, no doomscrolling for me. I turned on Starz and started watching American Gods.

Strangely, it’s not holding my attention. It’s exactly my favorite genre of TV. Or second, behind straight up high octane action films (Die Hard is my favorite movie!!). Maybe it’s just that I’m off today because I am so nervous.

Anyways, the mail came this afternoon, bringing with it a lovely distraction. Christina Thomas, a reader-friend from Wales, made me this gorgeous little House in a Teacup!

And somehow, one of my cat’s hairs drifted right into the saucer. Wouldn’t you know…

Anyways, it’s a lovely gift and a much needed lift to my spirits. Thank you, Christina!

Now, all you Americans, if you haven’t already—GO VOTE!

Today’s my dad’s birthday. He passed away in March of 2019. I still hear his voice in my head. Once, I actually heard his voice from the other side of my bedroom door, calling me by my childhood nickname. I dream about him and my mom, looking a little younger and walking steady on their feet. They’re in the living room, and dad is grinning because he’s just teased her about something, and my mother is looking mildly disgusted and swatting at him. I don’t often have the same dream, but I have this one pretty consistently. I’m convinced it’s their way of telling me they’re together and happy.

I live in the big, solid house he built with my dd and her family, now. Of course, she’s made some changes to the place, but we always ask ourselves whether dad would like this and whether mom would approve. We’re respectful of his labor of love.

Well, Happy Birthday, Dad. I miss you, but you left me with wonderful memories and a home I cherish. You’re the best dad a girl could have had.

Silver Creek Series
Zebra/Kensington
Buy Link: https://amzn.to/384PthF

Do you ever pick up a book and wonder what the story behind it is, and what inspired the author to write it? I always wonder what memories a writer carries with them that come alive again through in their writing.

I believe that a writer cannot write outside of themselves. Real life experiences shape who they are and will always filter through to the story they write. These moments in time give what I term, “meat to the bones” of a story, and add richness and depth to the details that make a book shine and stand out to the reader.

When I was writing my new Silver Creek series, I tapped into my own childhood from the ages of 2 to 9. I have very vivid, keen memories of those years, and what happened during them left a lasting impact that I carry with me to this day. My hope is that the joy I hold of these years is conveyed to readers through my books.

In Book 1, Silver Creek Fire, the heroine, Lea Ryan, is a master carpenter and wood sculpture artist. To create Lea’s character, I channeled my own memories as a little girl sitting with my grandfather in his woodworking shed and superimposed his incredible artistic abilities and love of nature into my heroine. Let me elaborate further….

My grandparents were originally from the Canton, Ohio area. In 1929, with the Great Depression in full swing, they packed their daughter (my mother) and son into their Model T and headed west to California, looking for some kind of chance to start over. They eventually settled in San Diego. My grandfather had been a coal miner back in Ohio and decided to leave the underground work and become a farmer, instead.

My mother grew up in San Diego before moving to Hawaii to work as a secretary on Ford Island, Pearl Harbor. She was there during the attack in 1945 and was eventually sent home to California. During this same period, my grandfather (I called him pop), worked as a master carpenter, making beautiful, custom kitchen cabinets. He also made a good name for himself among the wealthy elite who could afford such luxuries.

From the time I was three, my grandparents babysat me during the week while my mother went to her office job. Grams used to send me out to Pop’s garage where he did all his woodworking magic. I loved being out there with him. I enjoyed going over to the small garbage cans—each one held a different type of wood—and running my small hands over the wood inside. Pop would often come over and kneel beside me, taking out a short piece of wood that he’d cut and share it with me. He would tell me that the wood was alive and urge me to smell it. Each one smelled wonderful and unique. Pop told me to look at the grain, and explained what it was and how each piece of wood varied in color, grain, and texture from the others. Pop’s work was like a wonderful mystery to me. How did he know where and how to cut a piece of lumber? But the real magic was how his cabinets were pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle and slowly took shape. I stood mesmerized day after day as little deer, birds, elk, and butterflies blossomed out of the colors of the wood. I remember smoothing my hands over warm, satiny surface which had come to life through my grandfather’s careful skill and patience.

Silver Creek Fire is out now in e-book and paperback.

UPDATE: The winner is…Monica Lemmers!
*~*~*

It’s November of the most trying year I’ve ever lived—and that’s saying a lot given the losses our family has suffered the past nearly three years. Sometimes, it truly feels like we’re living in the dawn of an “Extinction Event.” We’re doing what we can to keep ourselves healthy. I’m sure we’re making mistakes, but we’re masking, handwashing, keeping kids out of school and online, and trying not to go stir-crazy in all our togetherness. Take Halloween. We’ll be playing Halloween games and holding a scavenger hunt in lieu of trick-or-treating. Family fun. Making an event out of everything (just not an extinction event) is important for us because the kids always have something to look forward to.

All this togetherness has taken a toll on my writing. I’ve produced less than half of my usual number of stories this year. I need alone time to create. After Mom died in January and my dd’s family moved into the house, and then the pandemic forcing everyone into closer quarters 24/7, alone time is something I’m training my brain to find in the midst of kid-chaos. Of course, I wouldn’t trade having family around me for anything, but I really do have to commit to sitting my butt in a chair to write more consistently.

That’s why I’m taking up the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) challenge. It runs from November 1-30. The goal is to write 50,000 words. If you carve that up into a daily wordcount goal, that’s 1667 words a day. Completely doable. I begin tomorrow. So, today, I have to figure out what I’m going to write. I have a title (Preacher), a cover (Two, actually. See below!) and a blurb, but no idea what’s going to happen in the story. Not one clue. But I have today to figure out at least the first scene, and since it’s a Montana Bounty Hunter book, I’ll probably jump right into a takedown because those are the most fun scenes to write.

This month, is also the deadline for submissions for my Cowboys: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology. NOVEMBER 15TH AUTHORS! Tell you what—accept the NaNo challenge just long enough to write that 2500-5500-word story! You can do it! So, you know, I’ll have to add reading submissions to my To Do list! Want the rules? Follow this link.

I’m also trying my hardest to cut out some time to improve my art. I love doing it at night after the hustle and bustle of the day. It’s relaxing. And I think I’m learning. This is last night’s piece. I used Nupastels which, for me, is like drawing with crayons. Completely fun and liberating. I love the foreground, the sky? Not so much, This was taken from a photograph from western Ireland.

So, that’s going to be my November—write, write, write, read, art. 🙂

The Poll

My lovely sister, Elle James, gave me two versions of Preacher. I love the one with the scenery beneath the title, but when I ran them both by my Street Team, they preferred the plainer cover. So, help me make up my mind!

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The Contest

Comment on something I’ve written about today—NaNoWriMo, the poll—for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

Halloween is almost here!

This year the holiday will be celebrated slightly different, given the state of the world, but there is still lots to enjoy about this holiday.

My Top 5 Things I love about Halloween!

1. Pumpkins! I love carving Halloween pumpkins. The designs are limitless and there are plenty you can find online. I don’t even mind having to clean out the guts first. And it’s something the entire family can enjoy.

2. Movies. I’m not a fan of slasher/horror films, but I love films like The Crow, Underworld, Dracula Untold, Sleepy Hollow, and Lost Boys. Again, there is something for everyone, from fun kid’s movies all the way to the classic horror films.

3. Candy. They may be as sweet as sin, but I love candy corn. And mini bars. For some reason I don’t feel as bad if I eat mini bars. Everyone has their favorite.

4. Decorations. As a kid, I couldn’t wait to put up decorations for Halloween. They’ve come a long way since the cardboard cut-outs we’d tape to the living room window. Now there are lights and elaborate outdoor displays to enjoy. I keep it simple, as I live in an apartment, but I do have candles and lights and some pumpkins.

5. Trick or Treat. That’s going to be different this year with many families opting to keep it among close family and friends. The kids will still have fun dressing up and eating candy.

However you chose to celebrate, I hope you have a Spooktacular holiday! And if you’re looking for a sexy vampire book to read, you might want to check out Burning Ash, the latest release in my Forgotten Brotherhood series.

Happy Halloween!

Burning Ash
Forgotten Brotherhood, Book 3

No one is more surprised than Asher, one of the oldest vampires on Earth, that he’s attracted to vamp hunter Jo Radcliffe. She’s smart, a talented slayer, and she’s gorgeous. Something about her pulls at him, like no one ever has before. For a man, whose name strikes fear in everyone––this is something new and intriguing. And quite possibly deadly, if she discovers his secret.

Jo has two things in common with the handsome Asher––they are both slayers and someone is messing with them in a very-much-trying-to-kill-them way. She’s not so happy about joining forces with a dude she doesn’t know. But he’s sexy as hell and really good at his job as one of the Forgotten Brotherhood, whose business it is to execute misbehaving paranormals.

She knows she’s bait in a larger plot to harm Asher and the Brotherhood. And there is nothing he won’t do, no line he won’t cross, to keep her safe––which may be the weakness that destroys them both.

TEASER from Burning Ash

“Stop right there. That’s not happening. I work alone. I’ll take you as far as the nearest town and then we’re done.”

“Until the next email.”

“What are you saying? That the sender wants us together? That doesn’t make sense. We don’t even know each other.”

“We do now,” he reminded her. “If I leave, I’ll bet you everything in my bank account that we’ll both end up at the same place in the near future. For whatever reason, someone is manipulating us. I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sit well with me.”

“You’re damn right it doesn’t. I’m no one’s puppet.”

“Yet, we were both there.”

Shit, he was right. “What are you suggesting?” She wasn’t sure she could handle Asher for an extended period of time. She’d either jump his bones or kill him.

It could go either way.

Buy Burning Ash:

Entangled Publishing: https://entangledpublishing.com/burning-ash.html
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08FGV7C9Q/
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/burning-ash-n-j-walters/1137455950
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/burning-ash
iBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/burning-ash/id1527096039

About the Author

N.J. Walters is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks—all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.

Visit me at:
Website: https://www.njwalters.com
Blog: https://www.njwalters.blogspot.com
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Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/N.J.WaltersAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/njwaltersauthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/NJWalters
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/njwalters
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/n-j-walters

I’ve always believed that reading was an escape. As a child, I read during a lot of playground times because when the other kids were teasing me about wearing glasses, or being fat, or stuttering, the characters in books didn’t make fun of me. They invited me and took me on a journey.

As an adult, I think a lot of this is still true for me. Although, the reality I need an escape from is different. There’s a satisfaction in knowing that at the end of the book in my hands (well, my phone is in my hands!), the two main characters will be happy. Most of the people around them will be happy (unless they’re the focus of the next book, and then we know they’re about to go through some stuff to be happy), and hopefully, anyone who was mean or cruel to the happy couple will have some kind of reckoning.

Predictable? Sure, but isn’t that satisfying?

And being very honest with all of you, I need that.

I think a lot of us do. And that’s what’s awesome about romance. We may be living in places all over the world, but we all want that happiness and for a few hours we know exactly where we can find it!

Characters aren’t as cool as we are. They struggle. They don’t know they’re about to get their happy ending, and that means they can do stupid things, like fighting it. The same actions they think are noble, we’re grumbling about. When they think they’re being smart to protect their hearts from loss, we’re ready to throw something at them…or just throw our books/devices (Don’t do this!).

But Characters, man…they’re work!

And they can be frustrating!! Why won’t they just listen to us, talking to them? The nerve of these people!

When I was writing Shelter for Aylin, my Alpha reader (don’t worry, I have a beta and gamma, too) would get so frustrated with Stillman Rook, my hero… Why was he so difficult and frustrating? Why couldn’t he just let himself go after what he wanted?

I felt bad for her frustration but I also loved it when we came to that magical moment when he pulled his head out of his plot-driven backside and reached out to find happiness!

Contest

So tell me: What kind of Romance book do you like to escape into? Historical? Military? I want to know!

One randomly selected commenter will have their choice of an ebook from my Amazon Author page

Shelter for Aylin

Aylin Blaise, daughter of Station Seven’s Fire Chief, is loving her life. Well, most of it. An extended family of first responders and friends in college are expanding her world in leaps and bounds, but the one person she really wants to spend more time with, is keeping his distance.

Stillman Rook is on the verge of becoming a full-fledged firefighter and fulfilling the dream he’s had since he was a child. The one distraction in his life is Chief Blaise’s daughter. He could easily fall in love with her, but he’s a guy set on his path in life and she’s just discovering hers.

Rook may think he’s being honorable by keeping his distance, but it’s hard to protect the ones you love when you’re not close to them. When the world tries to level her with a crushing blow, will Rook be the Shelter for Aylin?

Get your copy here!