Six Kisses

I posted this little graphic on Facebook a while ago, but I didn’t spend too much time talking about why these are some of my favorite book kisses. So, let’s go!

1. Hope Reclaimed (with Keira Blackwood). I love the first kissing scene where Aidan kisses Hope in the hallway. He’s so bossy and so in tune with her secret desires. Soooo hot.
2. Blood Bounty. There is not a lot of kissing in this book, but the kissing that there is means a LOT to me (and to Gracie, the heroine). I don’t want to say anything else about this one, except it’s really quite sweet–rather different from the steamy RH mentioned above. 😉
3. The Rose King. This is a friends-to-lovers romance, and their first kiss is a delectable mixture of sweet and steamy. Rex has been out of Gemma’s life for years, and they’ve both been pining for each other. She’s so angry with him, she doesn’t want to admit it, but he’s just feeling this total yearning for her, and…ahhhhh. I love it.
4. Filthy Alpha. I cackled while writing Jase and Blythe’s first kiss! They’re doing it because they’re trying to have a fake relationship in the Junkyard, so everyone’s watching to “test” them on their relationship.
5. Savage Redemption (old cover!). I love that their kiss starts with a massage, because I am a sucker for a back rub. There was some definite slow burn in this story, but I felt like the build-up was really worth it.
6. Song of Blood (with Skye MacKinnon). Ahhh, when Lysander and Avery kiss outside the pub, she’s trying to calm him down after he goes all bitey-vampirey bloodlust after a big fight. She uses her budding siren skills to chill him out, and then…kissy times ensue…and it is glorious. I loved working on that scene!

There are so many more I’m thinking about now! I mean, I write kissing books, so it was really hard to only pick six kisses! I’ll have to do another post at a later date with other kisses that make my heart happy. ❤

Cover Reveal for A Wicked Night

Ooh, I’m so excited for this! My brain is working overtime on what, exactly, my story in this anthology will be. I have some tantalizing ideas and cannot wait to get started on the writing. And just look at this gorgeous cover!

A Wicked Night, a Halloween anthology, will be released in October!

Universal Link

Apple Books

Google Play (pre-order coming soon)

Kobo

Barnes & Noble

Amazon US

Are you ready for A WICKED NIGHT?

Prepare to fall under the spell of six paranormal romance stories of angels, fae, dragons, griffins, and more winged creatures! Set during Halloween night, this is sure to be one spooky and electrifying anthology!

Each story in this limited edition anthology is new and exclusive, featuring unique magical abilities and spell-binding romance you won’t soon forget!

One click today to start this mesmerizing adventure!

A WICKED NIGHT is an anthology of Halloween Paranormal Romance tales from your favorite indie authors!

Stories by:

Ophelia Bell

Laura Greenwood

Juliana Haygert

Zoey Indiana

Liza Street

Arizona Tape

2020 in Review

I’m much more of a look-forward than a look-back kind of gal, but it is important to celebrate accomplishments, so I’m gonna force my ass to sit down and recount all the books I published this year. Ready?

I’m including a universal link for each book, so if you haven’t snagged it yet, you can now!

Claimed in Forbidden (with Keira Blackwood)

Ruthless Knight

Fated in Forbidden (with Keira Blackwood)

Bound to Forbidden (with Keira Blackwood)

Filthy Beast

Caught in Forbidden (with Keira Blackwood)

Mated in Forbidden (with Keira Blackwood)

Filthy Wolf

Forever in Forbidden (with Keira Blackwood)

Blood Bounty

Filthy Vandal

Destined in Forbidden (with Keira Blackwood)

Filthy Alpha

Song of Blood (with Skye MacKinnon)

Billionaires and Bodybags (with Keira Blackwood)

(Oh, and I’m leaving out boxed sets and anthologies because…I’m tired, hahaha.)

Sooooo that’s 2020! Book-wise, it’s been great. Everything-else-wise, not so much. I am so looking forward to 2021, and that’s what next week’s post will cover! ❤

These Are a Few of My Favorite Scenes

(To the tune of “My Favorite Things”)

Hera and Blake getting down in the forest

Parker dancing to a 90s pop chorus

Carter and Lena in the fighting ring—

These are a few of my favorite scenes!

Maverick texting his new girlfriend Kate

Jameson finding out Nina’s his mate

Hope with her dragons, and sex on the beach—

These are a few of my favorite scenes!

When real life is getting tough and

I think I could scream,

I fire up my reader and open my books

and re-read my favorite scenes!

Daphne’s flame-thrower and Sophie’s new pet

Blythe wanting Jase and him saying not yet

Sparrow & her bodyguards doing hot things—

These are a few of my favorite scenes!

Hayley and Marius’s fun in the lake

Gwen in the mirror with Doug her new mate

Bryce popping into Margot’s sexy dreams—

These are a few of my favorite scenes!

When real life is getting tough and

I think I could scream,

I fire up my reader and open my books

and re-read my favorite scenes!

If you’ve read my books, do you remember any of those scenes? 🙂

Playground of the Paranormal

This post first appeared on the blog Ravens and Books on March 24, 2020.

I’ve been writing shifter romance since 2016—a little earlier if you count some terrible books which shall never see the light of day. However, I started reading shifter romance much earlier than that, probably in the early 2000s.

Early into my reading, I found that I loved the different paranormal “worlds” almost as much as the characters themselves. They each had their own set of rules, and I was eager to figure them out with each new series I picked up.

My Fierce Mates universe has a few rules that I wanted to follow from the start.

1. I wanted my shifters to be apex predators,
2. clothes don’t shift with my shifters,
3. there is no shifter virus—you’re either born a shifter or you don’t shift,
4. shifters can sense lies and other emotions along with having heightened senses, and
5. the “mundane” world is unaware of shifters and supernatural beings in general.

None of these rules is original in and of itself—I’m not treading new ground or anything like that.

Why have the rules to begin with? Isn’t it limiting? What if I want a hamster shifter? What if a story is just begging for a hapless heroine to be bitten by a wolf so she can become one, herself? Some might think that having the rules in place, and continuing them through several series, would be limiting. For me, however, it has been freeing. When I know the boundaries, I can play through them, stretching my universe where allowed. At times, I can subvert those rules. Shifters can sense lies…but what happens if they meet someone who can successfully lie to them? I tried that in my book Ruthless Misfit and I loved how it turned out. The hero, also a shifter, had been forced to hone dishonesty by a terrible childhood.

When I first started writing shifter romance, in my Sierra Pride series, the only paranormal beings present were shifters. But I never specifically said that vampires didn’t exist, so when I wanted to expand the universe in the Corona Pride series, I was able to do that. Recently, witches were added to the mix, and beings with different abilities, too.

Why not have these other supernatural characters from the start? To be honest, when I started in 2016, I didn’t know how far I was going to take my Fierce Mates world. I’d never published a book on my own, and if this whole independent author thing didn’t work out, I was fully prepared to walk away. But the Fierce Mates books started gathering a small, devoted audience. I needed to write more books. But I wasn’t going to be happy repeating the same stories over and over again, so I made the world bigger by introducing new groups and new supernatural creatures. Some shifters got new abilities—Matt in Ruthless Misfit can tell lies. Doug in Savage Penance can complete his shift from human to animal in half a second. Bryce in Ruthless Outlaw can walk through dreams.

This process has shown me the beauty of creativity, especially within the playground of the paranormal. As I develop a new series, Junkyard Shifters, I’m once again starting with the basics—shifters. And as the world expands, so do the possibilities.