Shannen Got Married!

Congrats Shannen!  This last Saturday, My daughter/ writing partner/best friend married the love of her life. 

May you both always live your Happily Ever After!

Love you both - Mom

Welcome new readers!

We're happy to announce that the Strong Woman Giveaway was a rousing success! We have so many new subscribers and we can't wait to welcome you all! We'll be sending out an introductory email with a new story shortly, and a newsletter next month!
XOXO Shannen and Sarah

We are fortunate to be getting together with some truly amazing authors for a month long giveaway featuring books with strong female characters.  Iris from Unexpected Gifts fits that to a tee so we're joining  the party.  During the month of August, click here to go to the contest page.  You'll find dozens of great books, sorted by genre and heat level.  Sign up for newsletter from the authors in the areas you like to read and get entered for over $2,500 in prizes.  The promotion goes on for the whole month of August. Sign up, find amazing new books, and get a chance for some cash.

Release Day is Upon Us! Woot!

Unexpected Gifts comes out tomorrow from Decadent Publishing.  See your favorite ebook retailer Tuesday, July 19, 2016.  Check out a bit of the new novella below.

 

Such a colossal waste of time. That was the real bitch about all this. Iris had, of course, checked out the company website, and that whole “perfect match” crap was just that. Crap. Despite all the hearts and flowers floating around Aaron and Ramón these days, she knew better. There’s no such thing. Goddess only knew she’d known enough guys to figure that out.
     Aaron had one thing right—she did like men. She liked hard, muscular bodies, rough hairy chests, and the hot spicy scent of a sweaty man. For a minute. the image of Mike Connolly the last time they all went swimming in the creek behind the farm popped into her head. Whoa! Where the hell did that come from? Having that picture show up was a little disconcerting, but she had to smile. They all called him Brother Bear for a reason. The guy’d had a thick brown pelt since they were sixteen. So much more appealing than the manscaped pretty boy barflies she’d get if she walked into that fancy lounge in this getup. Give me a real man any day.

Too bad men like him didn’t really go for strong women. Guys got off on the whole Lara Croft fantasy of a hot warrior babe, but they didn’t want to bring one home to Mama. No, the few times she’d thought there might be a point in trying to get serious about a guy, they always got pissed when she had to be gone for long stretches doing security work, or when she came home bloody if a job went south. They all wanted to wrap her up in Bubble Wrap and turn her into something she wasn’t and wouldn’t want to be. Even Mike, one of the few guys she could stand being around for any length of time, went back and forth between treating her like one of the boys and someone in need of a padded room.

     Iris picked her way between icy puddles on the wet cobblestone walk in front of the hotel. Behind her, a car jerked to a sudden stop at the valet station and the resulting splash kissed the back of her bare leg with a tongue of freezing water. Shit! Always aware of her surroundings, she had expected the car, but the cold water sent a jolt through her body and her keys slipped out of her chilly fingers. She made a grab for them but wasn’t fast enough, and she cursed again as they slid into the small storm drain on the edge of the walkway.

That’s just perfect. Now I get to choose between flashing my ass to the valet boys while I crawl on the ground in this ridiculous dress or play damsel in distress and ask one of them to dig for them. Not cool at all. Iris stood next to the small iron grate. She could see a flash of silver where water tumbled over the pile of keys, a few inches below the walkway level. She pretended to dig through her useless little evening bag. The tiny thing was barely big enough for condoms, cash, and her smallest tactical knife but matched the dress so she’d made do.

     A few yards away, valets and hotel guests went about their business. No one seemed to be paying much attention to her, even in the siren red outfit. Perfect. She reached out with her Gift, keeping her eyes on the people around her. She felt the cold steel of the grate. Icy water rolled past, and she felt the freezing cold as if was touching her skin. Her talent slid over metal pipe rough with ice and dirt. A little farther…got it. She smiled absently at a passing businessman as her braided keychain slithered up the side of the storm drain and laid itself obediently on the grate next to her shoe.

She crouched quickly and picked up her keys before sauntering into the hotel. She headed for the elevator according to Madame Eve’s instructions, making sure no one had noticed her application of telekinesis. Yet another reason why the old happily-ever-after wasn’t for her. If her being a trained mercenary wasn’t enough to send any normal guy running off with his tail between his legs, being Gifted would surely finish the job. No matter what Mr. Romantic Ramón wanted to think, hoping for more than a quick bang was pointless. She’d have to make that clear to her blind date at the start. Happily-ever-after is a fairy tale for children, and there’s no such thing as true love.

 

Our hearts are with Orlando.

I've been thinking about and processing the news of the Orlando shooting for the last few days - the largest U.S. mass shooting since the battle of Wounded Knee in 1890, but the sixth this week. And I think it's important for all of us to ponder and talk about a few things: 
1. This attack targeted the LGBT+ community. This wasn't just an ISIS attack on America, and framing it as such erases not only the lives of the Orlando victims, but the thousands of lives of queer people - particularly queer people of color - throughout history. This was an attack on a queer sanctuary, something nightclubs have been since pre-Stonewall. And leaving that out of tweets and speeches makes it disappear. I'm not having it. The shooter was a U.S. born American citizen who loved the police force, was obsessed with firearms and hated gay people. It doesn't get more American than that. And the sad part is, for the queer community 
2. This isn't new. We have been murdered, raped, burned at the stake, beat with baseball bats, fists and feet. We have been denied housing, denied safety, routinely victimized and criminalized. So this, this is the result of years of societal violence, of acceptable homophobia, of legalized transphobia. We aren't surprised. But you might be, to find out 
3. It's your fault. And mine. And all of ours. Every time you hear a homophobic comment and can safely refute it but refuse to do so, you are responsible. Every time you see an LGBT person being harassed but convince yourself it's none of your business, you are responsible. EVERY TIME you hold up or vote for or silently agree with a person like Mike Huckabee or Donald Trump, who oozes hatred from his very pores, or one of the hundreds on U.S. senators who have introduced more than 100 anti-LGBT bills in the last year, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE. Which brings me to a little reminder, 
4. That your thoughts and prayers are worthless. They do absolutely nothing for a community that has been repeatedly marginalized. Posting a rainbow flag and a hashtag on Facebook are MEANINGLESS. Don't pray for us. Be active. Protest. Get involved. Volunteer. DO SOMETHING, because hypocritical thoughts and prayers do nothing for me. At the moment, one of the best things you can do is donate blood. No, no. No excuses. Just do it. It really is the least you can do. Keep in mind that non-celibate gay men are still discriminated against and cannot donate to help their brothers and sisters. And another thing, 
5. People keep saying ‪#‎stayproud‬. But if this hasn't demonstrated that pride is the last thing on many of our minds, I don't know what will. I will be proud and vocal and loud and obnoxious because so many of us can't. So many, including those that will be outed against their will and without their consent because of this tragedy. I've noticed time and again that allies love Pride, but don't appreciate or even know about the work that went into allowing such an event to happen. So to my LGBT+ family, I want you to be able to #stayproud. But more importantly, I want you to ‪#‎staysafe‬.

Coming soon from Decadent Publishing! A Gifted/1NS story.

Unexpected Gifts

   

 

     Having paranormal Gifts in a world that fears what it doesn’t understand is tough. Luckily, Iris Kosta is tough too. She’s already lost her twin brother to Homeland Security's paranoia and greed; add in her job as a kickass security operative and it makes for a lonely life. Which is too bad, because Iris likes men – a lot. She makes do with plenty of dates and hook ups, convinced there’s no such thing as true love.

     Mike Connolly does believe in true love, and its name is Iris. Too bad she’ll never see him as anything but one of the boys. When he finally despairs of getting anything more than friendship from her, he reaches out to Madam Eve for help in finding a woman who can eclipse his obsession.

     Thanks to meddlesome relatives and Madam Eve’s talents, both Mike and Iris find themselves the recipients of some unexpected gifts. Let’s hope they can survive long enough to enjoy them.

 This novella from Decadent Publishing's  1Night Stand series features some of the same Gifted characters you met in Healer and Sweet Fire.  This time it's Cousin Iris's chance to find love and danger (and a sexy man.) Release date Tuesday, July 19th, 2016.

 

We'll be posting teasers and excerpts and giveaways throughout the month.  Watch this space for more.

 

 



Work vs. Corg

Look at this little face! I'm getting married later this year, and this is our little pup during our engagement photos.  His cuteness: great for pictures, not so great for my productivity. All I want to do is snuggle this tiny goofball. Sigh.