#TeaserTuesday: The Storm Was Ava

 

Sometimes, spring storms popped up spontaneously: a sudden streak of lightning, a mass of clouds that boiled up out of a sunny day. Startling cracks of thunder and sudden buckets of rain that soaked all the unsuspecting pedestrians who’d assumed they wouldn’t need an umbrella. But sometimes those storms were forecasted a week in advance. For days, the TV meteorologists warned of strong winds, torrential downpours, hail, and pop-up tornadoes. It’s going to be bad, they said. Make a plan. Have flashlights and radios at the ready. Be sure to get to the lowest level of your house, preferably in a room without windows. The whole week leading up to the day of predicted storms would be clear, and crisp, and it seemed impossible: how could anyone know that far in advance that the weather would be sinister five days from now?

But, sure enough, on the day, the sun rose up into a tumultuous sky; the air felt soupy and electric. Charged. Birds flocked high overhead, running ahead of the nasty red line you could see on radar, inching closer and closer as the day progressed, and the humidity piled up like wet quilts.

Maggie felt as if she’d been living one of those days: watching the bands of severe weather sweep across the state all day; breathing labored thanks to the thickness of the air; all the fine hairs on her arms standing on end as the static electricity built and built. When it struck, the lightning would not be a surprise, but it would still be devastating. And in so many ways, knowing a storm was coming, the dread of it, was worse than dealing with the sudden, unexpected appearance of one.

The storm was Ava, and it was brewing up like a pot of coffee, spitting tongues of lighting, grumbling with thunder. 

#ReadingLife: The Tommyknockers

[I]t was good to be with your friends, good to be where you belonged...good to have some safe haven to come to.

After last year's unintentionally timely, and much-needed It reread, I decided I was going to spend 2024 tackling the Stephen King novels I haven't yet read. The man's written a lot of books, so that should keep me happily in doorstop novels well into next year, especially given my lack of reading time.

My first read of the year was The Tommyknockers. 

Despite its whopping 864 pages, this one reads as a much quicker book than It. As opposed to the monolithic study on childhood, and the impossibility of returning to it that is It, The Tommyknockers has a distinctly pulpy feel. That's not a mark against the novel; I love the way pulp novels can bravely throw wild, sometimes silly ideas out there and then catch you with a sideswipe that cuts straight to the bone. There's often a lot of truth in silly, and The Tommyknockers is no exception. It left me very nostalgic for the books of the eighties and nineties which were concerned with storytelling in the truest sense, as opposed to "being edgy," whatever the heck that actually means. 

The horror in this novel is of the big, existential kind, and is undercut by the personal horror of, in Gard's case especially, the struggle with addiction. The "Becoming" is a science-fiction means of amplifying all the ways the people of Haven are terrible; these are ways in which all people, to a certain extent, are terrible in a non-evil, but still oftentimes harmful way. Horror - effective horror - takes real world, small-scale fears, and spins them into something supernatural and fanged. King's great gift when it comes to the genre, and storytelling in general, is rooting that horror deeply and believably in a cast of very flesh-and-blood characters who feel knowable to the audience. 

My favorite lines are always those little nuggets of broader-reaching gold that are so terribly true, and perhaps not the sort of thing general audiences would expect to find in a novel of this sort - but which I'm always counting on from one of my all-time favorite authors. 

All the intelligence and determination in the world cannot create art without a bit of talent, but intelligence and determination can create some great forgeries. 

Last night I started Needful Things, and it's another great big chunky book, so I look forward to falling into its version of Maine for the next couple of months. 

#CollegeTown: Insecurity

 

Lawson opens his door and climbs out because he can’t take Tommy’s pitying look any longer. “Come on if you’re coming,” he says, slings his bag over his shoulder, and doesn’t wait up. “Let’s get this over with.”

The car door shuts behind him, and Tommy’s fancy shoes grit over the loose patch in the concrete of the driveway.

Lawson’s spurt of defiant bravery lasts all the way up the (not a ramp) back steps to the door, and then he pauses, and rattles his keys in his hand, and wonders if he should have called ahead. He entrusted Dana with his parents, with the explanations, and though he’s had two days to think of it, he still has no idea what he’s going to say.

He lets out a long, slow breath as he stares at his haggard expression in the little square windows set in the door.

A hand lands in the middle of his back, a specter of a supportive touch, quickly withdrawn.

He fits the key in the door and lets them in.

Today’s Thursday – is it really only Thursday? – which means that Mom will be elbow-deep in alterations today. As expected, the kitchen is cool, and clean, the breakfast dishes in the drying rack by the sink, the pan she fries the eggs in still soaking inside it. He hears the TV on in the living room, some old rerun with a laugh track, which means that Dad was still wakeful after breakfast, and is in there with her while she works.

Lawson stands a moment by the table, looks reluctantly over at Tommy to see what his reaction is. He expects more pity, or even disgust. How could someone who dines at exclusive restaurants and wears fifteen-thousand-dollar watches be anything but disgusted by this suburban time capsule?

But Tommy is smiling. It’s a small, private thing at first, but as he takes a slow turn and gazes around the room, dark eyes flicking back and forth in quick snaps, it grows and grows, and he’s flashing teeth by the time he gets back around to Lawson. “It’s the same,” he says, like that’s a good thing, giving a disbelieving, but obviously delighted shake of his head. “The curtains! And, look.” He goes to the molding around the pantry door and taps at the old marker lines where Mom used to measure Lawson’s height as he grew. “You were never this little,” he chuckles, bending to tap the lowest line.

Lawson swallows, and swallows again. “Yeah, well, you still are,” he says, weakly.

Tommy chuckles some more. 

College Town is, at its heart, about home, and about happiness. About the ways home and happiness look different to different people; the ways our own insecurities can lead us to assume that someone living somewhere else, doing something else, will find the place we lay our heads to be lacking, to be insufficient. That sort of insecurity shapes so much of what we fear, and what we present to the world. I've seen readers say they want their book protagonists to be confident, but it's insecurity - and learning to live with it, and learning not to listen to it so much - that provides tension, and, therefore, a story. 

College Town is live for all your contemporary, second chance, standalone romance needs; it's a perfect Sunday night indulgent read. You can find it here: 

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#CollegeTown: Let's Go Home

 The following post contains spoilers for my latest novel, College Town, a standalone, second chance romance. If you haven't had a chance to read it yet, you can grab it here:

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The final chapter of College Town is one my favorite chapters out of all my projects. It goes back and forth between Tommy's hospital stay and subsequent release, and the night of the 20-year high school reunion. 

“You know,” Lawson says, “when I first got this email, I was dreading this party.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. But it was fun.” 

Chapter one opens with Dana breaking the bad news to Lawson that she agreed they would co-host the reunion, so it was fitting to close the book with the party itself. Lawson's world looks completely different than it did when he first started dreading the event; he and Tommy went through a whole heck of a lot in a short amount of time. It's a well-earned happy ending. 

I had a reader ask me several years ago if I felt "pressured" to write a happy ending for each of my books. College Town being a proper romance, it of course had to have one: that's one of the non-negotiable hallmarks of any romance novel, the happy ending. But I write happy endings for all my books, romance or otherwise, not because I feel any sort of pressure to do so, but because I don't have any interest in writing an ending that isn't happy. I've certainly read books with melancholy, bittersweet, and even haunting endings that were fantastic...but, personally, I always want to leave readers with a sweet, warm feeling as the book closes. I do enjoy torturing my characters with drama and angst, but at the end of the story, I want to reward them for hanging in there. 

One of the things I've always asked myself with regards to sad endings, or major character deaths is: Aside from "reflecting reality," does this tragedy actually enhance the story? Or is it simply a means of adding grit? As a younger writer, when I was in college, my peers were very into realism, and I admit to getting swept up into that idea, too. Real life isn't always happy; a story can't be good unless it's strictly realistic. But the older I get, the more strongly I reject that idea. Life is hard, sometimes it sucks, and there's no shortage of real-world heartbreak - why can't our stories be an escape from that? 

I enjoyed Lawson and Tommy - and their friends; the girls were the real MVP of this book - so much that I could have easily written another dozen chapters of domestic bliss and day-to-day activity, but I'm very happy with where I left things for them. They're going home, in more ways than one. 

#CollegeTown: Setting

College Town has been live in the wild for one week! Honestly, at my current level of fatigue, it feels more like a month. I've been spamming the heck out of y'all with promo posts, and I can't claim I'll be quitting that anytime soon. It was a delightful book to write, a great way to stretch and grow as a writer, and a story I'm really proud of. You can find it here:

Amazon

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Kobo

In today's debrief, I want to talk about setting, and my different approach to it with this novel. Turn back now if you don't want to read any spoilers.

#TeaserTuesday: Reveals

 The following post contains spoilers for my new standalone romance, College Town, which I've placed beneath a cut for safe keeping. If you haven't read the book yet, and don't want to be spoiled, backspace now and come back later. If you're looking for a copy of the book, it's available for Kindle, paperback, Nook, and Kobo.

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“Can’t have that.”

“Lawson. Do you have any idea how amazing that is?” He tips his head back toward the laptop.

“It’s weird.”

“Yeah, and that’s why it’s amazing. It’s you!”

“Because I’m weird. I get it.”

“No.” Tommy rolls his eyes. “Because it’s unique, and it’s full of your voice, and it’s alive. Your characters feel like people I know.”

“To be fair, there’s a fair bit of you in the Luke Thomas character.”

“Yeah.” Tommy snorts. “That’s kinda hard to miss.”

#TeaserTuesday: Call Him

 

“I don’t know what Boyle wants,” Reese said, “other than Mercy. And Mercy’s the only one who can get Remy back. He’s his son: he deserves to know.”

Tenny made a considering face, and glanced up at him through his lashes.

“What if Fox hadn’t told you?” he prompted. “What if, in New York, no one told you what happened to me?”

Tenny didn’t breathe for a moment. Then he took a drag off the smoke that was still jammed in the corner of his mouth, and spoke around it. “Call him.”

Reese did.

The Brain is a Muscle

I've you've been hanging around the blog for a while, then you'll know that I love comparing writing to participating in a sport. In my particular case, that sport is horseback riding, specifically dressage, but it can apply to any physical endeavor that requires practice, dedication, attention to detail, and which requires you to learn, grow, and stretch yourself over time. Your imagination may be this spinning sphere of untapped magic in your brain, but your brain itself is a muscle, and it requires pushing if you want to become a stronger writer. 

Every book in this photo (Fortunes of War is just a corner down in the bottom) represents a push. A stretch of some sort; trying something I've never tried before in a novel. I like to think every novel's been a stretch, and in many ways, they have been, but my '22, '23, and now '24 releases have been very active exercises in playing around with mental muscles I was too cautious to touch before. I've been very actively engaging with more subtle, nuanced forms of literary expression: leaving old crutches on the cutting room floor, and knowing better when to hold, and when to twirl. I can look back at Fearless, and then look at College Town, and I can see that in Fearless I was in a big, swinging working trot, and in College Town I piaffed all the way through. That's dressage-speak for saying I've really stepped up scene-setting in the most effective way possible in the intervening eight years.

One of my personal mantras is: I don't like to suck at things. If I'm going to do something, I want to do it well, and I want to continue to get better as I go along. Not because improving my craft will help me be more successful - it won't; I've come to terms with that - but because there is such joy in improving. In gaining new skills. In being able to chart your progress. As much as I love the sport of dressage, I hated showing, mostly because I had the dry heaves for twelve hours straight and then almost passed out when I finally got out of the saddle; stupid nerves. But also because I didn't need that sort of recognition. I derive immense satisfaction out of gaining new knowledge and witnessing my own improvement. 

For all that College Town is a small book, it's one that's the direct result of stretching, and pushing, and learning, and practicing over the past decade plus, and for that reason it's a wonderful bright spot (for me) in my writing career to date. In fact, each book in this photo is very special to me for different reasons. They're all so different, and writing each one enabled me to write the next, and the next. 

Thanks for coming along on this journey with me. I would write no matter what, but I'm glad I get to share it with you all 💕

Here's where I drop the obligatory College Town links: 

Amazon

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Kobo

#CollegeTown: The Playlist

A shallow grave where I can keep it safe

Or hide away, for just in case I need it

My old friend, it's time to say goodbye again

No need to tell me where you've been

I feel it

Shallow graves for shallow hearts

For pick-me-ups and fall-aparts

For promises that never started right

 

~ "No Place Like Home," Marianas Trench

 

 

I have extremely eclectic taste in music, but this book playlist just might take the cake. The top list is songs I listened to while drafting the novel, some of which would slot easily into a soundtrack, some which Lawson would listen to with headphones in the middle of his teen angst, but a few which were simply fun to revisit to get in a late 90s, early 2000s mindset. 

The Stardust Set List is all the songs most frequently played during my own roller rink days at Sparkles, and which Lawson, Dana, Tommy, and Noah definitely skated to before they got too cool for the rink and migrated permanently to the arcade. 

College Town is live for Kindle, paperback, Nook, and Kindle:

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"Everything You Want" - Vertical Horizon 

"By Now" - Marianas Trench 

"Every Day Is Exactly the Same" - Nine Inch Nails 

"Photograph" - Def Leppard 

"All You Wanted" - Michelle Branch 

"Easy Lover" - Philip Bailey & Phil Collins 

"Deep" - Nine Inch Nails 

"I Can't Make You Love Me" - George Michael 

"Four-Thirty" - Sara Evans 

"Grown Men Don't Cry" - Tim McGraw 

"No Place Like Home" - Marianas Trench 

Stardust Set List

"Quit Playing Games With My Heart" - Backstreet Boys 

"Wannabe" - Spice Girls 

"Barbie Girl" - Aqua 

"Jump Around" - House of Pain 

"Want You Back" - Nsync 

"I Wanna Dance With Somebody" - Whitney Houston 

"Freedom" - George Michael 

"No Scrubs" - TLC

"Everybody" - Backstreet Boys 

#CollegeTown: The Unbearable Burden

The following post contains spoilers for my new standalone romance, College Town, which I've placed beneath a cut for safe keeping. If you haven't read the book yet, and don't want to be spoiled, backspace now and come back later. If you're looking for a copy of the book, it's available for Kindle, paperback, Nook, and Kobo.

Amazon

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Kobo

Thusly warned, proceed. Breaking my debriefing for Fortunate Son down into smaller, thematic chunks was much more enjoyable and manageable than my usual info dump, so I'm doing that here as well. Ready? Let's go.

He's the Same #CollegeTown

 

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When they were teenagers, Dana and Tommy were the pool sharks of their group. Dead-on-balls accuracy, trick shots, patience, and killer stares. They consistently wiped the felt with the other kids at Stardust until it wasn’t even fun any longer.

One night, Dana’s uncle – good old childless Uncle Trey, never opposed to sneaking them a beer or a joint or a handy excuse to feed their parents – brought them right in here to Flanagan’s, a memory that, like the play, assaults Lawson with savage poignancy. It was a Friday, the place packed to the gills, the air thick with cigarette smoke because the practice hadn’t been outlawed indoors yet. Trey offered to play a guy for use of his table, and then handed the cues over to Dana and Tommy, which inspired uproarious laughter from the guy and his friends.

“They’re just kids!”

“You shouldn’t have any trouble beating them, then.” Trey slapped a twenty down on the edge of the table, and clapped a hand on Dana’s shoulder. “My girl here’ll break.”

Friday Updates 2/16

 

Friday greetings from the farm! I always know that the grass is greening up - before you can see it, really - when the horses start venturing farther and farther out in the pasture. They have something like eight acres on that side of the driveway, but if the grass is dead and brown, they loiter up at the barn and wait for handouts.  

 

On a personal front, Kit Kat's been here for almost two months, and she's definitely settled in at this point. She and AB are BFFs now, and even Max has come around and likes her now. Yay! She's growing, and learning, and is - so far - the friendliest, loveliest little baby. I can't wait to see what color she is once she sheds out for spring.

Speaking of spring, brace yourselves for flower photos. The pears are budded, and the daffodils are just starting to bloom. The landscape is still dead and brown at a glance, but spring is poking her first fingers up through the soil. This weekend, I'm starting my seed trays for tomatoes, dahlias, and geraniums. Now's the time to add compost to the cutting beds and prune back the roses. It's also time to divide my dahlia tubers, which is going to be tricky and tedious, and I'm honestly not looking forward to it, but it should make for an even bigger dahlia harvest this year. 

Okay, now for the updates you're really here for: book stuff. 

This past Wednesday, I released my second book of 2024, College Town, a standalone, second chance, small town M/M romance. You can read more about it here, and purchase it at one of the links below. 

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

This was a really fun project, and I enjoyed the change of pace. I'll post a debriefing sometime next week to talk about nostalgia, creative decisions, and Lawson and Tommy's sweet (mostly) love story. I hope you'll all enjoy it, and if you do, a review would be a lovely boost for the ol' ratings 💝

As far as current projects go, I'm working on Lord Have Mercy Part III: Rising Sun, which I'll be playing close to the vest during the writing phase. I overshared while I was drafting Part II, so I'm going to post more cautiously about WIPs going forward. 

If you haven't yet read them, Parts I and II are available, and are necessary reading before Part III drops sometime in the next couple of months. More details on an exact date coming soon.

Speaking of posting, though, I'm hoping to do more of it. The algorithms on all the social media sites are a nightmare, and I've had readers reach out weeks later in surprise that a book has gone live, so I'm working on a more regular post schedule to hopefully combat that. 

If you have any questions you'd like me to address in my College Town debriefing, you can drop them below, and I'll incorporate them into my post. Have a lovely weekend, everyone, and I hope the grass is starting to green up in your neck of the woods as well. 

Sparkles...I mean, Stardust

 As much as I enjoy writing all the drama, and violence, and chaos of my series, be they biker or dragon or vampire, there's something really special - to me at least - about writing the domestic details of a story. That's where I sometimes-sneakily, sometimes not-so-sneakily work tidbits of my own real life into a story that is otherwise not at all about me. 

I like to think it was a universal Nineties Kid experience to go to the roller-skating rink. That was Sparkles where I grew up, which serves as the direct inspiration for Stardust in College Town. All the local schools had their own designated night, and inevitably, without fail, I woke the next morning with a horrific stomach bug. It turns out that if you skate around for hours holding a boy's sweaty hand, you will wake up puking later that night. Worth it. 

Sparkles gave me rotavirus, but it also gave me the incredible childhood memory of my friend Drew trying to show off, slipping, and falling butt-first into the fluorescent-orange cheese of the nachos he had set aside for safe keeping. Oh, Drew. Poor Nacho Butt. Wherever you are out there in the grownup world, I hope you haven't fallen into any more Velveeta nachos. 

College Town was, overall, a real Nineties Kid experience, and more than a little bit of a current "what am I doing with my life writing books?" experience, too, and that's part of what makes it special for me. 

It took two whole weeks for the Cattaneo twins’ story to come out: hinted at in fits and starts by Noah, while he went pale and rubbed at the back of his neck, and finally revealed in full, in a very flat voice accompanied by an uncomfortable little shrug by Tommy when Lawson tried to invite him to Stardust Roller Rink for Eastman Middle Night.

“Everyone goes, not just me and Dana. We take our own rollerblades, but you can rent skates for free on Middle Night if you’re not afraid of catching gangrene and losing both feet.”

“What? Gangrene, that’s not how…” Tommy sighed and shook his head, and glanced away down the sidewalk as they walked toward the buses. “Whatever. I’ll…” The shrug. “I don’t know if my mom will let us come. She’s been…” A fidget of his backpack strap.

Lawson was trying to watch him only in his periphery, trying not to stare, but he turned his head when he caught the shift in his voice. The way he went airless, and uncertain; that clench of pain low in his throat. “What?” he prompted, as gently as he knew how.

The shrug came again, and Tommy took a deep breath that he let out in a rush. After, as if by rote, without any emotion, he said, “You know how we moved here from New York? Well, the reason was because my dad died, and my mom got scared, and moved us all the way out here, and now she’s really overprotective of us, and wants us to come home right after school. And.” He stalled out, and chewed at his lip.

Tommy’s hand swung along at his side, small and curled-tight and lonely-looking.

Lawson said, “Hey, man, that’s okay. Even if you can’t make it, I still wanted to invite you.” When Tommy glanced over – brows lowered, skittish – he offered his best smile, and after a beat, Tommy’s brow smoothed, and he returned it, crookedly.

Later that night, Lawson tried and failed to prove that he could skate backward, landed hard on his butt on the polished wood of the roller rink, and felt his face go up in flames. Mark and his friends laughed and whooped as they flew past, and Dana shot them the bird before she offered Lawson a hand.

When he was upright again, he turned, face still hot with shame – and then hot for another reason, when he saw a familiar pair of figures at the carpeted bench that ran the length of the rink. One tall, one short, both with brown hair gleaming green beneath the neon lights. Both were in the process of tugging on pairs of shitty rented skates, but Tommy paused, and caught his gaze, and grinned, still a little crooked, but wider this time, eyes big and black in the dimness of the room.

“Oh,” Lawson murmured, before he could catch himself. “They came.”

Dana dug her knuckles into his spine. “Don’t just stand here. Go tell him hi.”

He did. 

College Town is available now across all platforms! Links below:

Amazon

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Kobo

Once More For the Evening Crowd: College Town is Live!

 

Because we have seen the fragility of happiness, we treasure the little things. Our hope is of a modest variety, but it’s still hope.

A hope for fresh starts. For first steps. For quiet, earnest words of love that are not confessions, nor declarations, because we know the love already exists, it is our constant companion, but hearing it still warms the cockles of our grownup, glued and taped-together hearts.

I suppose what I’m trying to say is: children think that only one thing will make them happy, but that simply isn’t true. Happiness is a tapestry, rather than a rare artifact. And so is love.

It takes us a little time, and no small amount of effort, to pick out all the knots and lay the threads. And that effort is what makes it ours. 

Hi, evening crowd! I want to work this year on posting more often, because all those pesky algorithms hide posts from followers across every social media platform. So in case you haven't seen the news already today, my latest release is now live! College Town is a sweet and spicy, emotional and angsty standalone M/M romance in which two childhood friends turned lovers get a second chance at happiness twenty years later, although thanks to scary and uncertain circumstances. The paperbacks just went live, and it's also available for Kindle, Nook, and Kobo.

I hope you all had a lovely holiday, and I hope you'll enjoy Lawson and Tommy's story. 

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College Town

Tommy stands, but he grabs Lawson by the face. “What do you need?” he asks, very seriously.

Lawson closes his eyes and presses his forehead to Tommy’s chest. “For this to be real,” he admits.

Amazon - B&N - Kobo

College Town, a standalone M/M romance, is now live in all the usual places, links for which are provided above. This was the first time in a looooong time that I've written a self-contained story, and I enjoyed it so much I can't wait to do it again. 

Look for a debrief in the next week or so, and until then, happy reading. I'm posting chapter one under the cut below so you can check it out. Thanks so much, everyone, and reviews are love! 

Warnings for language and self-conscious angst... 

New Release: College Town

 

The gross thing about love is the way it can make your whole life feel bigger. It makes you feel bigger. Like you’re important; like your feet barely touch the ground.

And then, when it’s snatched away – when it runs away – nothing cuts like the pain of being reminded how terribly small you are. 

Happy Valentine's Day! College Town is live! 

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You can read more about the book here. Hope you enjoy my sweet little standalone while you wait for the next Lord Have Mercy installment. 

#TeaserTuesday: Tomorrow's the Day

Tomorrow's the day! (Amazon permitting. Fingers crossed the upload goes through.) My next release is a standalone romance called College Town, and for today's Teaser Tuesday post, I wanted to offer a quick overview of what to expect, since this will be the first standalone I've published in quite some time, and since it's formatted a little differently from my series work. 

Title: College Town

Genre: M/M romance 

Length: ~120,000 words 

POV: 3rd person limited (single narrator)

Prose style: present tense, with past tense used for flashbacks

Tropes: Second Chance Romance; Childhood Friends to Lovers; Reunited Years Later

Content Warnings/Additional Tags: misunderstandings; miscommunication; unreliable narrator; self-esteem issues; teenage heartbreak; coffeeshop; mafia; sick/disabled parent; strong language; explicit sex; violence; idiots in love; hospitals; injury  

I think that covers everything. The main points of note are the fact that the novel is written in present tense for all the present-day action (he says), and in past tense for flashbacks (he said). I used present tense back in 2016 when I wrote Walking Wounded, and I find it adds a real sense of immediacy to the story; it felt like the right choice here, and I think it really establishes a reader connection with Lawson right away. The other point would be: the explicit sex. There's only two main scenes, with mentions of others, but they're steamy, so be prepared for that. 

*Sidenote: some, but not every chapter begins with an italicized, first-first person blurb that's a sample from the manuscript Lawson's working on in the novel. He's a writer, so the blurbs give a little more insight into his reflections on love and life. 

I'm calling this one "A Romance" because it fits the bill better than the majority of my work. It's a technical, categorization label, only, but one I've learned over the years is very important to most of the book world. Generally, my books have too many secondary and tertiary storylines to earn the title, but with this book I set out to write a straight-up romance. It's something I'd like to do more of, because it's a unique challenge! Lawson is the sole narrator in this book, which is another departure for me, but as such, the story stays tightly focused on the romance, and our romantic leads. Despite the word count, it makes for quick-feeling read.

There's a lot of cursing, hot-and-heavy bedroom action, and a healthy dash of mafia drama, but for all of that, I'd describe it as a sweet and emotional story. I'll post links when it becomes available tomorrow, and I hope you'll really enjoy it! 

Here's the blurb:

Welcome to Eastman, home of the Eastman University Eagles. They’ve got twelve bars, twice as many coffeeshops, and Lawson Granger’s probably going to die behind the counter of Coffee Town, watching all the bright young people in town get their degrees and get on with their lives. He’s not miserable, exactly, but between working retail, writing books that’ll never get published, and helping take care of his infirm father, his life’s running a little short on joy. He has his family, though, and his best friend, Dana, and dreaming about being published is somehow better than accepting that he never will be.

Then the boy who broke his heart twenty years ago walks into the shop one day and throws Lawson’s entire small world into chaos. Tommy Cattaneo grew up handsome. And rich, clearly, judging by his suit, and his watch, and his chauffeured Lincoln. If Lawson’s shocked to see him, Tommy is dumbfounded. Lawson’s happy to pretend they’re strangers, despite the traitorous racing of his heart, but Tommy is adamant that they talk. He wants to explain why he left town suddenly…and returned twenty years later, with a beautiful fiancée, and a mansion, and a wardrobe that costs more than Lawson’s car.

When it becomes clear that Tommy means to stay in town for a while, and that he won’t take no for an answer, Lawson agrees to hear him out. Just once, and then he can lay his old heartache to rest. It’s probably a stupid excuse, anyway. I mean, t’s not like Tommy’s in the mafia…right? 

#ThrowbackThursday: Halfway There

 

Sometimes I worry that I talk too much about my new releases, and I try to keep things chill. Don't want to bore anyone with repetition. But I had a comment on Instagram this week from someone who didn't know that Lord Have Mercy Part Two: Fortunate Son had released yet, so today's Throwback Thursday is a reminder that Part Two IS in fact live, along with Part One. We're halfway through the four-part Lord Have Mercy extravaganza! 

Today, I'm splitting time between editing College Town - which releases 2/14! - and writing Lord Have Mercy Part Three: Rising Sun. 

As I've mentioned previously, I will be releasing a final, compiled addition of Lord Have Mercy once all four parts are finished, though I'm not yet sure if the entire novel will fit in a singular paperback volume. Time will tell. Thank you so much to everyone who's reading along as we go! The end of Part Two leaves off at a perilous moment, so I'm working fast and furious to get Part Three out ASAP. 

Here are the purchase links ICYMI:

Kindle/Paperback

Nook

Kobo