Dirty Santa Release Day! • Advent Calendar Book Freebie • Upcoming Events • and a Big Thank You!

Happy December!

2021 is nearly over, and 2022 is barrelling our way. If you’d asked me a year ago where I thought we’d all be today, I would have guessed a hell of a lot closer to back to normal. I’d have predicted we’d have all seen the inside of more restaurants, and even a movie theater or two. But I’ve been lucky during the pandemic. Or luckier than many. And being an introvert, I’ve coped well with so much time at home. And when nothing else could, writing has kept me sane.

Including today’s new release, I will have published three novellas and two short stories. I’ve tried my hand at my first truly self-published series—House of Witches—and have been lucky enough to hook up with JMS Books, who I adore, and they’ve given me the structure and support I crave when working with a publisher.

In all these ways, it’s been a good year. And I am someone who needs to focus on the positives!

So today is the big release day for How to Cheat at Dirty Santa! It’s available on most online retailers, though as of the time I’m writing this, there might be a few still dragging their feet. *cough Google Play cough* but even those will be up, eventually. My first true Christmas book includes a hopeful romantic, a lot of insanity, and a frightful number of tidbits pulled from my real life. LOL

You can check out the buy links below—you can even still grab it at the pre-order 20% discount price directly from JMS Books—and the blurb. If you’d like to read an excerpt, you can check out my website HERE! And for another, longer excerpt, check out my guest post on Ofelia Gränd’s blog—which I believe posts today around 8 AM EST—by clicking HERE!

How to Cheat at Dirty Santa

Some things are worth risking the naughty list.

Jonah Newfeld is not someone men fall for at a glance. They have to get to know him first. So when he meets the perfect man, he knows he needs to play the long game.

Nathan Sharp is the newest guy on the customer service floor. He’s clever, kind, blessedly single, and volunteers weekends at a local animal shelter. Jonah wants to raise babies with him. But when Nathan’s sister starts trying to fix him up with her veterinarian, Jonah’s dream is put into jeopardy.

Jonah needs the perfect plan if he wants to win over the man of his dreams. But a terrible plan will have to do, and more than a little help from his friends. If Jonah can pull it off and manage to get the boy, it’ll be more than worth being put on Santa’s naughty list for good.

ADVENT CALENDAR FREE BOOK GIVEAWAY

As part of JMS Books’ Advent Calendar 24 Days of Free Books, I’m giving away Big Flames and Small. This was my first title published through JMS Books, and it is part of my Short North series. A series of contemporary, trope-y standalone romances that are all connected by location.

It’s FREE for December 15th—midnight to midnight EST—only! So, if you don’t already have a copy, you can click on the cover image below and grab it for free.

Big Flames and Small

Oliver Stoll’s life has gone up in smoke. Literally. Escaping an apartment fire, he’s made it out with little more than the clothes on his back and his best friend and downstairs neighbor, Mia. With few other options, he agrees to stay with David Elliston, Mia’s older brother. David was Oliver’s first crush, first kiss, first everything. That is, until the day they broke up five years before. It hadn’t been pretty.

David Elliston is back in town. Offered the chance to oversee the Kellmen Group’s newest magazine acquisition, he isn’t going to let a years old heartbreak stop him. But being thrown together with Oliver is harder than expected. And the flicker of hope he’s long tried to bury becomes even more difficult to contain.

Ex-lovers, best friends, and angry parents don’t make the best backdrop for rekindling a romance. But it’s the lies from the past that might just extinguish any chance they have of starting over.

Holly Day • Celebrating 12 Releases in 12 Months!

Looking for some book fun this weekend? Join me on Facebook this Saturday—December 18th—in celebrating Holly Day’s twelfth book in twelve months.

Holly Day writes stories celebrating the weird and obscure of the holiday world. From Kiss a Ginger Day to … Alien Abduction Day (???) and a lot of authors are showing up to help celebrate the true feat of publishing a story every month for this entire year.

There will be games and giveaways. And lots of book fun. So make sure to swing by the Ofelia and Holly group and check it out!

Not a member? You can join HERE!

THANK YOU!

And last, but not least, I wanted to thank everyone for their support over the last seven years. Seven years and hundreds of thousands of words. It’s hard to believe.

As much as I love to write, there are enough highs and lows that I know that without the support of my readers—your messages, your reviews, even just opening this email to see what I’m going on about *this* time—I doubt I’d still be sharing the weird stories and quirky characters that take up real estate in my mind.

This coming year, I have a lot more things to share and stories to write, and I hope you’ll stick around for the ride.

And however you celebrate, have a wonderful and safe holiday and a happy and healthy new year.

Halloween Release Day for The Whiskey Den (House of Witches Book 2)!

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Happy Halloween!

Not only is it Halloween—my favorite day of the year—it’s also release day for The Whiskey Den (House of Witches Book 2).

I wanted to thank everyone who picked up an ARC copy of The Whiskey Den last week. I got a late start, so I don’t expect to see reviews for probably another week, but I hope everyone enjoys it.

If you like witches, and shifters and vampires, and sad, lowly humans—LOL—The House of Witches series might just be up your alley.

When I originally started writing Club 669 (House of Witches Book 1), I didn’t expect it to be more than a little one-off. I'd started it as a Tattooed Corpse Story, a series I have worked on with the amazingly talented author Ofelia Gränd where the two of us could play with genres and have a little fun. But by the time I’d made it through the first draft I knew I wanted to write more. So, yeah, sorry about that Ofelia. It just keeps happening!

With The Whiskey Den, we spend time with the witch Sebastian—the handsy one from Club 669— and he was a hell of a lot of fun to write. And, while I’m told it works as a standalone—I can never tell because I remember everything I’ve written far too well—it is still closely connected to the events of the first book.

Check out the blurb and an excerpt below…

Blurb

Bad things happen for a reason.

Adam Neive’s expiration date is closer than he would like, and it’s only a matter of time before he loses his position as a Ganymede counter-boy. When a friend helps him secure a part-time job at a whiskey bar, his only thought is to escape the looming shadow of the brothels. He never expected another run-in with the witch Sebastian.

Fourteen months after being booted from his coven, Sebastian has become convinced his brother’s death is connected to the wolves of The Whiskey Den. He just needs Adam’s help to discover how. But things are not always as they seem, and justice is more elusive than expected.

When an announcement from the House of Witches changes everything, Adam will need to choose between life within the safety of the king's Monastery and the uncertainty of the city. While Sebastian will have to decide if his family's honor and the life he thought he had lost forever is worth more than the life he's only begun to realize he wants.

Excerpt

After the doors were locked at two-thirty, and most of the staff had gone home, M had introduced himself, and he and Sebastian had shared a few drinks together at the bar.

M made small talk about the business and his family, and if it hadn’t been obvious to Sebastian that it was all a ploy to get him naked, he would have thought he had the wrong guy. Hugo would have found the conversation tiresome. Too tiresome to wade through for that first quickie.

His brother had never been good at feigning interest in other people’s lives. He’d barely been able to feign interest in the lives of his own siblings. Unless, of course, they crossed some invisible line he’d drawn.

“But enough talk.” M pulled the glass from Sebastian’s hand and smiled. “I have a better idea.”

“Finally. I was beginning to wonder whether you even liked men.”

Sebastian allowed himself to be manhandled—nudged and nipped—and expertly herded down the long, dim hall. They pushed through a door and into a dark room, and M flipped on the lights. The walls were lined with nearly empty racks, a few stray coats, left-behinds from who knew when, and a long counter with a set of drawers marked ‘Lost and Found.’

The moment he pushed the door closed, M began unbuttoning his shirt, and in moments had discarded it and pulled his T over his head.

Sebastian had to admire his speed, and the expanse of his chest, even if he had no interest at all in the wolf.

“You don’t mind if I smoke, right?” Sebastian pulled out his lighter, as he pretended to search for a cigarette with his other hand.

“No, you don’t.” M swiped it from his fingers and tossed it into the pile of discarded clothes. “No smoking in my place. Ever.”

Well, fuck. That had been his father’s lighter.

“Now take that off. I want to see you.”

Sebastian smiled, taking his time removing his coat and dropping it to the floor as he murmured a few simple words of an incantation, and then reached to splay his fingers over M’s breastbone.

“Not exactly what I had in mind, my little witch.” M grabbed his wrist, stopping him, and spun Sebastian around, pushing him hard against the wall. Empty metal hangers scattered across the floor, and M tugged at the waistband of Sebastian’s pants. “You’re right that we’ve wasted too much time already.”

In other circumstances, Sebastian might have found it a great start to a night. But not like this. Before he’d even thought about it, orange flames sparked from his fingers—his instinct for survival kicking in—overriding years of discipline to not reveal himself in public.

Conjured fire was far more powerful than any lighter, so it took only a thought to send M tumbling backward. He slammed hard against the floor, and Sebastian moved fast to press his hand, now wreathed in flames, against the wolf’s muscled chest.

“Tell me what—”

“Shit, shit, M.” A man stood at the door, eyes squeezed shut, mortified. He began backing out of the room but bumped into the doorframe. Sebastian had been so distracted that he hadn’t heard anyone walk in. “I’m so sorry.”

“Adam?” Even after all these months, just seeing him again made Sebastian’s heart pound in his chest.

Adam opened his eyes, this time truly taking in the scene, his gaze landing on where Sebastian’s hand flickered against M’s chest.

“Sebastian? What in the fuck is going on?”

“It’s not what it looks like.” The wolf stirred underneath his hand, and Sebastian focused harder on his spell.

“Really? M wasn’t trying to fuck you in the coatroom?”

“Okay, well maybe it does.”

“Did you drug him?”

“What? No, of course not.” Sebastian knew that for all Adam knew about him, there was no of course about it. “Now hush, so I can concentrate.”

He looked back down at the man under him. Shifters weren’t like humans. Humans were easy to manipulate through magic, but shifters took far more effort.

“I’m calling for help.”

“No, you’re not.” Sebastian didn’t want to have to cast on Adam as well. Not because he wasn’t sure he was strong enough to control both him and the shifter, but because of a whole slew of other reasons he didn’t want to examine. “Tell me about Hugo.”

The wolf’s eyes blinked open, but he didn’t answer.

“My brother came here the night he died. Was it to see you?”

“No.” The wolf shook his head slowly, his eyes vacant as if he was looking right through him. “Hugo.”

“What happened to him?” Sebastian was aware that Adam had moved to his side and knelt to get a closer look. “Who would want him dead?”

“M? Adam? Everything okay?” The call came from somewhere in the bar, and Sebastian and Adam looked at one another.

“Fuck.” They said the word in unison, and Adam pushed up.

“Just grab your coat and go home. If I can buy you time, I will.”

You can pick up The Whiskey Den by clicking the universal buy link below.

Not sure? You can check out another excerpt on my website.