Reader Divorce

When Characters Betray Your Trust I read a trilogy this weekend, which I’m not going to name because, although I liked the first book very much, by the third I was so wholly disenchanted that I skipped the last thirty pages and just flipped to the end to find out what happened and then closed…

Freebie Friday!

Give it away, give it away, give it away now . . . Grab these fourteen free reads on Friday, April 27th! Some are dark, some are angsty, all are smoking hot! Click on any cover to access the freebie!        Any trouble with the covers? Links below: Scarred Queen by Nikita Slater…

The Dreaded Sex Scene

Long ago (in a galaxy far, far away) I work-shopped a novel in an online writing workshop. One of the draws of the workshop was the “Editor’s Choice”: a professional critique given by the editor in residence to two lucky selections a month. I had the honor of having a chapter selected as “Editor’s Choice”…

Haunted by Shari Nichols

It's my pleasure to welcome Shari Nichols to my blog for the release of her new paranormal romance, Haunted! Here's an excerpt: Karly made sure to keep her head down, wanting to avoid another run-in. Her gaze skittered over fallen leaves and flagstone tiles. Through the corner of her eye, she spotted a man in…

Drawing on the Dark

(Spoilers for Stranger Things, Season 2, and X-Men: First Class.) I’ve finally gotten to Stranger Things on my Netflix queue, a series my teen has been talking about (non-stop) for months. I enjoyed both seasons. It felt like a cross between The Goonies and Aliens, both among my favorite movies. I liked the show’s adoration…

Wicked Dance Interview

Now that Wicked Dance is available, I'm delighted to have author Olivia Boothe on my blog today to talk about her book and the process of writing it. *** Me:  What was your inspiration in coming up with the plot in the story? Olivia:  Growing up, dance was a way for me to escape. My…

What Scares Me: The Implacable Villain

For the ongoing (unending) rewrite of Throwing Fire, I’ve been thinking a lot about what scares me. I want my main character to be really, really scared. More scared than he’s ever been before, even in a number of life-threatening situations. What induces that level of fear? Part of the problem with the current draft…