Here goes... since most of you voted for HOT vs. SWEET, I've put it on here. **WARNING language and sexy gif** “How can you tell me this isn’t real?” Jack whispered, his words caressing my mouth. Then his tongue flicked gently across my lower lip. Oh God. A small sound escaped me. I should have stopped him sooner. “This is as real as it gets, Keri Ann. This is Technicolor, when every thing else is black and white. This ...” His hand trailed down over the exposed skin of my chest, then brushed over my dress and the tip of my breast sending shock waves through me, as I arched into his hand, without meaning to. Damn my traitorous self. His hand didn’t stop, but floated down my belly to my thigh, and I tensed, my mouth pressed tight to keep my reactions in, trembling on the edge of a place where my pride would cease to exist. “This ...” he continued, and began bunching up my dress in his fist and drawing it up my thigh. “What we have? ... is extra-sensory overload ... where everything else is a silent fucking movie.”
19 Comments
It's been a crazy month or so since I last posted. As I am sure all you parents can appreciate, trying to get meaningful things done while the kids are out of school for the summer is a challenge. Added to the fact that my beloved "Tuna" died, and you will know that I've been a bit MIA from posting updates etc. First, Tuna: What a great cat she was. And I'm not even a cat person! Or I wasn't anyway. She was diagnosed with renal failure on a Friday, and was still moving around easily. My family got to spend the weekend with her. She went downhill fast, though. Each of my boys got to have a good cry with her and say goodbye. At one point I stumbled upon my nine year old lying on the floor next to his brother's bed (where she'd relocated herself underneath) talking to her, so quietly I could barely hear, all about heaven and how happy she would be there. I listened as best I could from the door, but not wanting to disturb his moment, ended up leaving him there for a while. On Sunday night, I made her as comfortable as I could with me and by Monday in the very early morning she couldn't move and was breathing very shallowly. Holding her in my arms, she began stirring and all of sudden started purring again, within moments it stopped and then she was gone. I cried hard, but felt so grateful that she'd bid me that final goodbye. Luckily, the boys were still sleeping and didn't have to see me sobbing like that! My husband called in late to work and dug a grave. We took Tuna's paw print to remember her by, and each of us wrote her a letter which we read aloud. My youngest drew her a picture. We buried her letters with her. It was sad, and lovely, and the boys really coped quite well having been given the chance to say goodbye and realize she was truly gone. Ha! Here she is peeking out of my grocery bag! Anyway - she was a wonderful part of my day, and since she basically had to either be on or touching my laptop (or me) while I wrote, I am missing her. Keenly. But, life goes on. The boys are back in school and I am spending each day with JACK....... sigh...... And if I don't spend enough time with Jack, I get REPRIMANDED! LIKE THIS!!! Okay, we're done here. I'm getting back to work.
;-) Hi All ~
I had to send an updated Eversea sequel blurb to my agent and thought I'd let you all in on it too :) Jack Eversea's life is in ruins. He's being threatened by the production company of his latest blockbuster movie franchise, and is on the verge of losing his entire career. He's been betrayed by the people he trusted the most, and he's realizing he may have let the only 'real' thing that's ever happened to him slip through his fingers. Against the advice of every one trying to 'manage' him, Jack is coming back to Butler Cove, South Carolina to try and figure out where he went wrong. Keri Ann Butler's life changed the night she met superstar, Jack Eversea. She thought she knew a Jack that was very different to the man adored by fans the world over. In the wake of his betrayal and abandonment, Keri Ann has had to pick up and move forward with the life she was supposed to live, and has put off for far too long. Suddenly, Jack is back, and his explanations for why he did what he did seem more and more plausible, and his declarations more seductive. But being Jack's latest tabloid arm candy isn't on Keri Ann's career agenda, no matter how much she is attracted to him. And she's not even sure her feelings were anything more than physical, or that she can ever trust him again. Jack is now fighting to save his career and his relationship with Keri Ann. The question is, can he really save both? So yesterday I added the sequel to Goodreads. I was going to wait, but a few folks said they felt "panicky" that they couldn't have something to add to their TBR, and one reader dreamt she read the sequel! Ok so it's on goodreads. Here is where you go to "add" it.
In the last few days, the release tour has come to a close. The tour was organized by Giselle at Xpresso Book Tours. Over 110 blogs voluntarily signed up to highlight Eversea in some way, which was amazing and Giselle did an amazing job of making sure everyone had what they needed. I am most grateful to these amazing bloggers/hosts who thought that Eversea was worth featuring! Everyone acted in an enthusiastic and professional manner, it was wonderful. In addition to that, several others have signed up to review Eversea and it is wonderful seeing those reviews come in. There are more to come peppered throughout the month. The two most recent being: The Indie Bookshelf and A Bookish Escape Thank you for your amazing words! But back to the sequel: I worked hard on Jack today ... (wink, wink) so fear not. I've had a pretty amazing day. A few big things have happened. Eversea hit some milestones including breaking into the Amazon Top 100. I can't really even talk about that, because I'm still kind of in shock. In a good way :) But it really makes me realize what a huge THANK YOU I owe.
In no particular order of importance ~ but since he's sitting right here watching the NBA finals ~ My husband. He is wonderful. Like I sometimes can't believe my good luck, wonderful. Oh, and he's cute. That's cool too :) AL Chaput and Dave MacDonald, my critique partners, who have met every tuesday for over ten years, but somehow decided this rookie could join them. I can promise you they hit me over the head enough to make sure I always did my best and gave you my best. They are both extremely talented individuals: Al Chaput writes southern suspense, following a family of vigilantes in Savannah. And Dave MacDonald weaves really detailed and amazing thrillers. I have learned SO much from them. And will continue to do so. My cover designer! Adrian Repasch ~ he is truly talented and just ... ON it. He has a full time job, an intense one, as an art director for some seriously well known brands, but he took my cover just as seriously as he did those. I can't tell you the amount of mentions his cover has gotten. And deservedly so. It's GORGEOUS! My editor Judy Roth. She went above and beyond, replying to every little mini crisis I had trying to really make sure Jack was perfect. That I really captured his depth of feeling, even though it was all in Keri Ann's point of view. She really "got" what I was trying to accomplish. How did I get so lucky to find you? ok wait. Also you guys. If you ar ereading this, I'm thanking you. It means you are supporting me. And for that I am ETERNALLY grateful. Happy Wednesday! Thank you to everyone who has reached out to tell me how much they enjoyed Jack and Keri Ann. Yesterday, one of my critique partners Dave McDonald (you'll know him from my ackowledgements as "Nick" (it's a long story)) gave me initial feedback on the beginning of the sequel to Eversea: Forever, Jack. I think he was a little shocked by Jack. He had some good things to say and some bad things to say. But, as always with both Al and Dave's feedback, invaluable. It's so very exciting working on the next part to this tale! In the meantime, Eversea is climbing steadily up the rankings: At last check it was in the Top 50 of contemporary romance in both the Kindle Store and Books. This is HUGE! And LOOK: You'll notice it has 33 reviews. I think when it gets at least 50, Amazon will start promoting it - so if you loved Jack and Keri Ann, would you do them the honor of leaving a review on Amazon? THANKS! Have a GREAT day! P.S. Eversea is also now on AUTHORGRAPH ! This was a request by a new fan of Eversea (Virginia ~thanks for the suggestion!) Seriously, my husband wakes up this morning and nonchalantly tells me my sales numbers as I stumble bleary-eyed into the bathroom. Now bear in mind, that yesterday he calmly gave me a prediction for book sales by last night that Eversea totally blew through. But this morning? I know it's because you guys have been so amazingly awesome and bought, read, shared and reviewed it and generally started Eversea on an amazing climb up the rankings. I mean, I am #77 in the AUTHOR RANKING (!!), seriously, I've only written ONE book (so far). And how can a girl get anything done while she still looks like that owl up there? I'm sure the shock will wear off so I can move again. But what really gets me geared up is the amazing and awesome reviews and messages from you guys! Thank you! And now that I've told you how I feel about you, I can
FREAK OUT! Good morning! I was so excited to wake up and see what amazing feedback Eversea has had. Thank you to all of you who have bought a copy and have taken time to review it. Some of you have even contact me personally to let me know how much you enjoyed it! Thank you.
This is a quick post because there is lots of blog stuff happening today, I have my meeting with my wonderful critique partners Al Chaput and Dave McDonald tomorrow, AND I HAVE A SEQUEL TO BE GETTING ON WITH ! There are over 8,000,000 book son Amazon. I woke up to discover that in the Kindle Store "Eversea" is currently ranked at 1,464 in paid titles. And even more exciting is that is at #75 in my target genre: New Adult & College (which is to do with the age of the protoganists rather than strictly readers). I had to take a screen shot to capture the moment because I'm a dork like that :) Anyway, I'm sharing the Top 100 with some illustrious company so I am grateful and humbled to be included on the same list!
In other news: Eversea was reviewed/featured on All Romance Reviews today. It is an hilarious post with gifs included. As well as a ... ahem ... very sexy teaser. So it's all systems go, apparently ("buy' links below). EVERSEA is LIVE. Get your beach read ON. The outpouring of support has been amazing! Thank you. You have NO idea how much it means to me that you guys are so excited for me ! It's great, coz i'm scared as sh*t.
Eversea is available as a paperback, on Kindle, on Sony KOBO, and Barnes & Noble nook. SO FAR! It's in process for iBookstore and Google Play - and potentially a couple of others. |