Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Tuesday Tease + cover reveal~!


Happy Tuesday~! Welcome back to the Tuesday tease!
I did it! I finally read through EVANESCENT for the  thousandth final time. *breathes*
I swear, it was an OCD effort on my part. I read it fast, I read it slow, I read it with a finger over each and every word, I read it out loud—twice. In fact, a neighbor knocked on the door and said she came by earlier but I didn’t answer and she didn’t want to bother me because she could hear I was “on the phone.” She then proceeded to gawk at me in horror, crazy eyes and all. I have a serious disdain for talking on the phone for longer than a minute. What she heard was me reading my book. Probably something steamy, or incriminating in a felony suit—both if she was lucky. Anyway, such is life, right?
So EVANESCENT is off to the formatter. I’ll update on FB and let you know what the status is. In the meantime, I’ll set up the blurb and get it one hundred percent ready to roll as soon as I get it back. Which brings me to the newsletter! As soon as the book goes live I’m going to push my newsletter out to let you know. See? Totally not spamming your inbox! Plus, I’m throwing in a bunch of book extra’s and a letter from Gage to Skyla, so if you haven’t signed up, please do!
Now that EVANESCENT is out of my hands I’m one thousand percent all over ELYSIAN. Yay! ELYSIAN is exactly twice as long as EVANESCENT *cries a little* but like all my books I let my characters do the grunt work and I sit back and watch the show. The edits are on Skyla’s shoulders. I’ll be there cheering her on with coffee and chocolate. #Truestory
Off to the teasers!

EVANESCENT (The Countenance Trilogy 2)
(Wes and Laken at Charity Lake. Wes wants an explanation as to why she’s been acting strange.)
*Wesley’s point of view

“Are you ready to hear this?” She shoots the words out like daggers, and a ball of acid rips through my insides. The last thing I expected was Laken to be pissed at me.
“Yes,” I say it low, trying to defuse the situation.
“You never believe a damn thing I say,” she snaps. Her head ticks to the side as if she were readying for a showdown. If a shouting match is what she’s hoping for, she’ll be sorely disappointed. Not one part of me feels like fighting with Laken tonight or ever.
“What do you want me to believe?” I say it calm, sedate, and it only seems to piss her off more.
She takes a breath and holds it before bouncing to her left and gaping at me incredulously.
“Are we in Kansas again?” I shake my head. “Is that what this is about?” I can feel my blood pressure spike out of nowhere. I try to deny myself the right to an argument, but my emotions want to duke it out all the way back to her fictitious town.


ELYSIAN (Celestra Series Book 8) The Final book in the young adult series.
*(Skyla and Marshall, Halloween night.)

Marshall tweaks his brows, amused. “I believe the words you used as you entered my home this evening were trick or treat.
“Oh, so you decide to go for the trick just as Gage and I were about to indulge in a treat.”
“It seems the entire exercise was lost upon you. I, my love, am the treat.”
“Ha!” I yelp in his face a little louder than anticipated. “How was your party?” I pause to take him in. He looks no worse for wear. There’s no sign of external trauma, no bedhead, no claw marks at least anywhere I can see—not one hickey to sexually incriminate him.
“You think I slept with her.” His cheek rides up the side as if he were relishing this.
“Did you?” I stop breathing in the event he paints a picture that I’ll need to grate out of my mind with a razor.
“No, Skyla. I’m perfectly chaste. The only place these lips have been this evening is on your person. And you Ms. Messenger? Can you say the same?” He tips into me ready to roll his eyes if I deny it. “I thought so.”


Hope you enjoyed~!
**Please be sure to sign up for my newsletter that I promise not to spam your inbox with.  You’ll receive updates as soon as books are launched, character extras and exclusive excerpts! It will be made of serious yum~!









Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Tuesday Teasers~!

It’s Tuesday again! It’s like we’re on a loop, oh wait, we are. ;) I hope everyone had a great weekend free from drama and trauma that only holidays can bring. I think I’ve overdosed on chocolate, although that didn’t stop me from lopping the ears off a choco bunny this morning for breakfast. He had it coming all snug in his gold foil suit, that painted on smile, but I digress…
Book news! EVANESCENT is done, done, done! I’m still touching up the cover, and I’ll probably read it for the zillionth time while I take my daughter and her BFF to Color Me Mine this afternoon, but I’ll give it to the formatter ASAP and I’ll let you know as soon as I hit publish. I hope all goes well (I’m looking at you B&N).
In other news, ELYSIAN is looooong but I’m going to tackle edits like my life, and mostly my sanity, depended on it and knock it out. I’ve been getting a steady eight hours of sleep but I’m willing to shave a few Zzz’s off the backend and make this happen. You deserve the conclusion to Skyla’s story. I hope you’ll enjoy the final journey of the young adult series as much as I have. It’s a wild one.
Plus there are the innumerous secret projects which I hope to unveil soon. But that fun is for another day. Off to the teasers!  

EVANESCENT (The Countenance Trilogy 2)
(Laken and Cooper headed to his house)
*Laken’s POV

“So”—Coop nods in my direction as we make our way through the white picket fence—“everything go okay with Wes tonight? You looked like a beauty queen—still do.”
A warm rush filters through me as I blush head to toe. Coop knows how to make me feel like a princess.
“Thank you. And it went fine,” I say as we make our way up the porch. It feels great like this with Coop, coming home with him night after night. His bed feels more like my own than the one waiting for me at Austen House. “I saw you talking to Wes earlier. Anything you want to share?” I’m almost afraid to ask.
“He was feeling me out.” Coop opens the door and lets us in. “He was playing it cool but started asking about Grayson. He wants us to go on a ‘double date.’” Coop mouths the words with a silent laugh. He takes up my hand and electrocutes me with a jolt of excitement. Coop leads us through the dim lit house as if we were on some covert mission. So I guess it’ll be you and me, and him and Grayson, he teases. You think they’ll make out in front of us?

ELYSIAN (Celestra Series Book 8) The Final book in the young adult series.
*(Brielle trying to convince Skyla to take the boyz out for a test drive.)

“Trust me”—Brielle lends a dramatic pause—“you want a man who knows his way around both his equipment and yours.”
“I’m sure each of them could figure it out.” A brief visual of Gage and his equipment runs through my mind and I blink it away.
“You’re right it wouldn’t be fair.” Brielle looks off in a daze for a moment. “It’s obvious Dudley would dominate in that arena. I swear to you I’ve been with a lot of guys and not one of them knew half the things that man did. He was just…it was incredible—it was out of this world.”
“He sort of is out of this world,” I whisper.
My face explodes like a firecracker on the Fourth of July. I had long suspected Marshall would win the gold in the fornicating Olympics. It doesn’t help that he’s got the face and body of a sexual demigod.
“All right, enough.” I run my fingers under the sink and sprinkle both her and I with water in an effort to cool us off. “I’m not having some sexual triathlon, so you can pull your head out of the gutter.”



Hope you enjoyed~!
**Please be sure to sign up for my newsletter that I promise not to spam your inbox with.  You’ll receive updates as soon as books are launched, character extras and exclusive excerpts! It will be made of serious yum~!







Monday, March 25, 2013

The Tuesday Tease and ELYSIAN news!

Welcome back to the Tuesday Tease!

It happened. Celestra came to a conclusion and I penned “the end.” ELYSIAN is finished~!!! It’s just a first draft so it needs edits, and more edits and polishing, like lots of it.  But I’ll get right on that and hopefully by the end of April, beginning of May it will hit e-shelves. *hopes* And, it is looong. On it’s own it will be the longest book in the Celestra series. But I think that’s a good thing because it’s sort of a bittersweet goodbye.
I can’t believe this crazy ride has finally come to an end. It was dizzying at times, and filled with heady love scenes that often spanned three suitors, but I’ve had fun on that island—plus there was Marshall. If you’re interested, you can still see Skyla’s life unfold in her New Adult series. I want to observe her and the peeps from Paragon a little ways into the future and I really hope you’ll join me. It will be different but familiar. I’m not sure how many books will be attached to that series but I have the overall arc. I think it’ll be interesting to see what’s beyond West Paragon High.
In other news I’m on final read-thru’s for EVANESCENT! I’m really loving the three point of views (Laken, Cooper, Wesley). The boys really have a way of adding a new dimension to the story(no not like that. OK, so a little like that…)—especially these boys because they’re basically enemies.
Oh, and one more thing! I’m sponsoring a Kindle Fire giveaway. If you’d like a chance to win, here’s the link: WIN A KINDLE FIRE!
Good luck!

Enjoy the teasers and Happy Easter~!

EVANESCENT (The Countenance Trilogy 2)
* (Wesley’s point of view)

“What I mean is,” I pause in the event I feel the need to bury myself further, “I would never even think of another girl or want one. You’re it for me, Laken. Hand to God, you’re all I’ll ever need. I was serious as death when I took that oath the other night, and I’m equally as serious about getting your name indelibly marked over my skin. I want to have a piece of you near me at all times. You’re all I ever think about from eyelids open until I fall asleep, and then I’m lucky enough to have you greet me in my dreams.”
Her smile expands, and she warms the room with it.
“You dream of me?” There’s a twinkle in her eyes as if she’s picking up on the unchaste nature.
“Damn straight,” I say, lowering my lips to hers. “And one day each one of those deranged fantasies is going to come to life.”


ELYSIAN (Celestra Series Book 8) The Final book in the young adult series.
*(Skyla dancing with Marshall at homecoming)

I can’t believe I let Marshall get to me like this. It’s like he’s a walking sex bomb that goes off every time we touch. This is bad, bad, bad. It is so not right to be hot for teacher.
“Hot for teacher?” He grits it through his teeth as if I said the exact words that had the power to reduce him to a primal level. Marshall’s eyes light up like flames, and sex exudes from his person in a viral—visceral—hormonal explosion.
“It’s an expression. It means—”
“I’m hopeful as to what it might mean.” He depresses a sexy as hell smile. “You realize if you dare lie with an Oliver we’ll have to scrap your carnal knowledge and start from the beginning. Why play with boys Skyla when you can run with men?”
“You mean there’s more than one of you?”
“I can multiply if you like.” His eyes widen at the prospect as if it were the first time this strange arrangement came to mind.
“No thanks. I’d be at a loss where to put things.”


Hope you enjoyed~!
**Please be sure to sign up for my newsletter that I promise not to spam your inbox with.  You’ll receive updates as soon as books are launched, character extras and exclusive excerpts! It will be made of serious yum~!







Tuesday, March 19, 2013

The Tuesday Tease


It’s Tuesday~! Welcome back to the teasers!
I’m at the finish line with ELYSIAN. Finally, right? Then the real fun begins with edits. It’s turning out to be a pretty good size book, much like VEX and EXPEL.  
I’m having such a hard time saying goodbye to the storylines—to the world of Celestra as I’ve come to know it. It feels like a boulder is lying on my back as I pen every word. My biggest comfort is knowing that Skyla gets to move on in her New Adult series, where she is no longer in high school and her love life has narrowed itself down to one suitor. I think it will be so exciting to explore this new world, especially after the long journey it took her to get there. I can’t wait to share more on this with you in the very near future, including the new series title, cover reveal, and format of the books. It’s all going to be different but very familiar at the same time. And did I mention ~steamy? Yeah. We go there.
As for EVANESCENT the edits are rolling in! My editor and betas are loving the alternate POVs. (POV = Point of view). In EPHEMERAL, it was all Laken, all the time, but in EVANESCENT it’s Laken, Cooper, then Wesley. I had the best time crawling into the minds of those boys. I think they really added a new dimension to the trilogy and I’ll continue the triple POV in the final book due out later this year. I’m excited!
And, in odd but true news, SOMEONE TO LOVE is featured in this months issue of Cosmo, which I think is really kind of fun. So, to the kind folks over at Cosmopolitan, thank you! And in case anyone missed it, I have SOMEONE TO LOVE extras as a tab up above (on my blog for those of you reading the teasers on Facebook *waves*). Feel free to enjoy the character interview with Kendall and Cruise as well as a sneak peak into SOMEONE LIKE YOU. (The story of Ally and Morgan).
Onto the teasers!

EVANESCENT (The Countenance Trilogy 2)

(Cooper and Wes at a party)
*Wesley’s point of view

“So who did this to you, man?” Coop slaps me gently on the back as he examines the stitches running up the side of my face.
“Logan and Gage Oliver.” Their names roll off my tongue, rough and hostile, like drilling a jackhammer.
“You sure they’re not from Rycroft?” Coop ticks his head back. His jaw redefines itself as if he’s good and pissed on my behalf.
I know Coop well enough to realize what he’s up to. He’s memorizing their names, running it through the super computer that functions as his memory bank to see if he recognizes them. We used to be friends Coop and I. Good ones.


ELYSIAN (Celestra Series Book 8) The Final book in the young adult series.

*(Skyla with Chloe and Demetri at his estate)

“Skyla,” her voice rasps low.
I look over at her carful, slow, in the event she breaks down and tries to soften my heart with her “please save me” shenanigans.
Her eyes plead with me. Her jaw clenches as she pulls her lips into a razor sharp line. Chloe Bishop is asking for help the only way she knows how, but I turn and run the hell downstairs.
“Mercy can hold powerful rewards, Skyla,” Demetri calls after me.
“So can justice!” I fire back.



*Hope you enjoyed!
**Please be sure to sign up for my newsletter that I promise not to spam your inbox with.  You’ll receive updates as soon as books are launched, character extras and exclusive excerpts! It will be made of serious yum~!