Freddie Mercury

You can't go past a bit of Queen for some motivation and inspiration. Loving the way he works the crowd with his energy and charisma.
Classic Freddie =)

Kylie Griffin Winners

Don't forget the winners of Kylie's post!! And yes - I did say WINNERS *smiles*

And they are...

Jodie Riverina Romantics - a signed copy of VENGEANCE BORN

Nicky Strickland - Light Blade prize pack 1

Pippa J. - Light Blade prize pack 2

To grab your prize,  contact Kylie: kyliegriffin71 (at) optusnet (dot) com (dot) au with your postal information.

 

FREE book!

Looking for a FREE read?? For a limited time I'm offering my novella IDENTITY SHIFT -**free** - to anyone who would be happy to post a review on Amazon (and anywhere else they're inclined eg Goodreads, Amazon UK, B&N) 
This is my way of helping to spread the word on my Indie book, which is a bit lost in the huge self-publishing tide...
If you're interested either comment here with your email address details and I'll send a PDF to you - or you can email me privately if you prefer =))
Happy Reading!!



Excerpt:

Guns ‘N’ Roses blared from inside nondescript apartment fourteen. She took a deep, calming breath as adrenaline surged within. She had him. At last her quarry was within reach. She raised a fist and hammered on the flimsy, peeling wooden door.

The music shut down. A baby wailed a few apartments down, a small dog yapping into life inside another. Heavy footsteps approached from the other side of the door.

“Yes.”

One word. One deep, masculine, primal intonation.

Her pulses jerked in response, her nipples beading tight beneath her black leather jacket and tight burgundy singlet.

If this is what he could do to a woman with one monosyllable behind a closed door, she could only imagine what he could do with a whole sentence, and up close and personal.

She cursed under her breath. She’d clearly been too long without a man, someone to ease the heavy ache of her breasts, the deep throb between her thighs. Just as well she wanted nothing more from him than answers.

 Hesitating for a beat, she asked, “Mr. Powell?”

A long pause. “Maybe.”

Impatience drummed a loud tattoo behind her skull. A migraine was all she needed right now!

“I’m here on behalf of my father. He is—“ she swallowed back a wave of bitter loss and grief ”—was an archaeologist. You may have heard of him? Professor Thomas Leigh.” At the thick, almost suffocating silence that followed she continued more loudly, “He believed in the existence of human-panther shape-shifters—”

Her sentence ended on a startled gasp as the door flung open and she was jerked unceremoniously inside.

“Enough already,” Blake growled.

She hissed out a breath at the current of electricity sizzling through her arm’s every nerve ending; at the cheek of him dragging her inside. She tugged free, and looked up...and up.

Beneath scruffy dark jeans and a white t-shirt, the man was a mountain of fluid muscle and sinew, repressed energy that vibrated with emotion and patently raw sex appeal.

“Are you mad?” she said through gritted teeth. “All I wanted was a civilized discussion, not to be dragged inside like I’m nothing more than a cave woman!”

He slammed the door shut behind her and pushed home a large bolt. When he peeled off his dark sunglasses—ludicrous inside the near dark room lit only by a naked bulb—she took an involuntary step back. His eyes were an unnatural gold-yellow. Beautiful, but deadly.

She sucked in some oxygen, forcing a calm she didn’t feel. Damn it all to hell, he really was sinfully delicious, with more vague hints of darkness beneath his honey-warm skin that tantalized and teased even as it repelled.

“I know who you are,” he said.

WINNERS from Kylie Griffin's post!

Kylie has graciously decided to award more than one person a prize for her post on my blog WOOT!!! And the winners are...

Jodie Riverina Romantics wins the signed copy of VENGEANCE BORN

Nicky Strickland - Light Blade prize pack 1

Pippa J. - Light Blade prize pack 2

Please contact Kylie: kyliegriffin71 (at) optusnet (dot) com (dot) au with your postal information.

Thanks Kylie! =))

Music to Write to...

So I've got a pretty eclectic taste when it comes to music, and thought I'd share this latest song I've been humming along to (a Britney song)  while writing my new series - along with the 2 novellas that keep ripping me from my story (oh ye of short attention span!)
I quite like the little story introduction too =)

Something Wicked now in PRINT!!!

Today the release of Something Wicked This Way Comes - is in print! I get to hold this baby in my hands, to sniff in that fresh ink smell and gaze in wonder (in part) at my author-ly greatness LOL!! *wink*

You can buy SWTWC here in print or here as an ebook. As well as Amazon, B&N and loads of other great book stores =))

Welcome: Kylie Griffin

Kylie Griffin’s obsession with all things paranormal/fantasy started at an early age, when she used to imagine the jacaranda tree in her front yard was a spaceship used to defend the world from invading enemies. Writing stories seemed a natural extension to her childhood adventures.

Today, she’s a primary school teacher sharing her love for the written word with young children. In her spare time, she writes and reads all things paranormal.

Kylie lives in a small rural village in outback New South Wales, Australia, where she volunteers in a number of emergency service organizations in her local community. Visit her website at www.kyliegriffin.com

Hi Kylie, Welcome to my blog!

Mel, it’s wonderful to be here – I’ve been anticipating this visit for so long!

Tell us a little about THE Kylie Griffin. 

For a crust, I’m a primary school teacher in a 2-teacher school, and in my spare time (snort!) I volunteer in a number of volunteer community organizations – the State Emergency Service & Community First Responder, the Rural Fire Service, Community Transport & Meals on Wheel, Progress Association and the village library.

I live in a very small, outback rural village (pop.200). Geographical isolation plays a huge part in the lack of basic services in the area, so the area relies on the volunteer services of individuals. Originally I joined many of the organizations as they were a way of getting to know people in the area and the skills involved were so different to teaching. Now I get a huge amount of personal satisfaction of helping others.

What else? Oh, addicted SF/F/paranormal/romance reader, goal-orientated, quirky, stubborn, a risk-taker, a dreamer, a cat-slave and unashamed chocoholic.

Do you have a writing routine?

Most days I get up at 5am and write solidly until lunch. After that I edit what I’ve written (in afternoons I tend to tire, unless I’m on deadline and then I write on through the day and night!), or I work on other writing related tasks like my copy edits, interviews like this one or blog posts, .

When I do start writing for the day I put up my “DO NOT DISTURB” sign that says “Turn around, walk away quietly and no one will get hurt”, put on the answering machine, unplug the internet, light up some incense and implement BISFOK – bum in seat, fingers on keyboard.

This routine helps on the days I find it hard to get going or I’m having a “my work is crap” day. On days like that it boils down to sheer bloody mindedness and relying on an established habit. Usually once I get into it, I’m right.

 What ultimately made you decide on writing as a career?

The wonderful Debbie Macomber was definitely a catalyst for my wanting to make writing a career. I heard her speak at a Romance Writers of Australia conference and she talked about goal setting – it was a huge “a-ha”moment for me.

Up until then I’d been serious but not career orientated about my writing. I was drifting and not actually setting tangible goals. I was waiting for “something to happen”, not “making it happen” myself. There’s a huge difference between the two.

But I also need to acknowledge two wonderful high school English teachers – Mrs Jackson & Miss Simmington. They encouraged and supported my fledgling attempts all the way through high school.

Do you have a writing mascot for your desk or perhaps a pet to warm your lap, rest your feet on? 

I have three writing mascots of the feline persuasion – Splat,  Pandamonium, and Furball. All take turns at keeping me company as I write during the day.

They even like to ‘help out’ by tromping across the keyboard – I strongly suspect though that they’re trying to tell me the food dish is empty or that it’s time to let them go outside! They also try to lap sit but three cats on one lap doesn’t always work.

Oh, and I recently added a gryphon statue to my desk – the official author mascot and overseer of my work space (and a convenient place for the cats to get a cheek rub from his beak, although I don’t think Gryph appreciates them doing that!).

I have to ask about your gorgeous dragon tattoo. Is it related to your writing in some way? And are you planning on more?

Ahh, the dragon tattoo! He is cool, eh? (nicknamed Bob by a friend because I haven’t thought of an appropriate one yet)  Is it related to my writing? You betcha!

Bob is my reward for achieving my goal of getting published – and milestones should be celebrated in style. Some people like to pop the cork on a fine bottle of wine, others go out for a meal at a fancy restaurant. I decided to get a tattoo.

People ask why I put Bob in such a prominent place (he’s takes up my whole right forearm) – I just can’t see the point of getting a tattoo only to cover it up or put it on a place on my body where I’d need a mirror to see it.

Will I get more? I think so, but it would have to be for something really special – like publishing 10 books, hitting the NYTimes best-seller list or winning a RITA or R*BY. Time will tell whether I achieve these milestones. J

Vengeance Born (released Feb 7^th) is the first book of your Light Blade series. Can you tell us about it and the series in general?

VENGEANCE BORN is very much Annika’s story as you can see when you read the blurb.

There is no mercy in the demon realm. No escape. In this place of desperation and conflict, anyone who is not pure bred is virtually powerless. Until an unlikely champion is born…

Annika, half-blood daughter of the Na’Reish King, longs for more than her tormented life among her father’s people. Conceived in hatred and bred as a tool of retribution, she’s gifted with a special talent that can heal as well as destroy.

With the Na’Reish vastly outnumbering them, Kalan, a Light Blade warrior, knows the future of humankind depends on him alone. Incursions into human territory and raids for blood-slaves by the Na’Reish Horde have increased. As Chosen-leader, he faces the task of stopping the demons—and convincing the Council of aging Light Blade warriors that change is necessary for survival.

When Annika learns Kalan is a prisoner in her father’s dungeon, her dream of escape seems within reach. She agrees to free him in exchange for his protection once they reach human territory. Now, marked for death for helping him, Annika must learn to trust Kalan as they face not only the perilous journey to the border but enemies within the Council—and discover a shocking truth that could throw the human race into civil war… 

When I first started playing with ideas for this series, I knew I wanted to make it (at a minimum) a trilogy. The scope of the external plot wasn’t going to fit in just one book.

While the series isn’t epic fantasy in its purest form, it does have similar elements. The world is entirely fictional, there are different races (not just humans), the plots employ typical themes such as a quest, a guiding deity, struggles against an opposing force, the threat of world domination, revenge and redemption, but readers also get to focus on a romance between main characters.

Without giving away any spoilers, in VENGEANCE BORN readers quickly learn the Na’Reish outnumber the humans, and that the human race is under threat of enslavement. Annika and the other Na’Chi prove to be the key to humanity’s survival, although no one realises it at the time, and it takes Kalan to engineer a change.

This change and some of the broader themes continue throughout ALLIANCE FORGED and Book #3 in the series, although we see them unfolding through other characters and their personal stories and romances. Readers will also get to learn more about each of the races in these stories.

So if readers like this sort of epic-style story with a good romance, some mystery and intrigue, and lots of action then the Light Blade series is one to try. J Each can be read as stand-alone romances but I’d recommend reading them in sequence for the full impact.

You’ve been blessed with gorgeous covers, did you have a say in any/all of them?

Thanks, Mel, I’m also thrilled with the book covers I’ve received. For so long I’d heard authors say ‘don’t expect too much input, if any, into the cover of your book’, so when my editor asked for my ideas to take to the first cover conference, I was ecstatic.

I put together a mini-portfolio of pivotal scenes, character descriptions, diagrams, photos of models, clothing, jewellery, weapons, scenery, and buildings. From theme my editor and the Berkley art department came up with a brief for the cover designer (btw, his name is Gene Mollica).

I was gob-smacked and awed when I saw the cover of VENGEANCE BORN. Her physical look, the expression/emotion on her face, the healers’ satchel - Gene had chosen a cover model who epitomised Annika (the heroine) and he’d nailed the landscape from a scene in the book.

This process was repeated with ALLIANCE FORGED, Book #2 in the series.

Any new books/series planned, or perhaps more Light Blade books in the works? (

With the Light Blade series, ALLIANCE FORGED, the second book is out in early July, so I’m at the tail end of the publishing process with it as I type.

And, all going  well, Book #3 (untitled) is scheduled for an early 2013 release. Both feature characters introduced in VENGEANCE BORN.

This trilogy will tie up some over-arching plot threads along with three romance stories, but there’s plenty of scope to incorporate other threads and extend the series beyond these books. Some more secondary characters are already demanding that their stories be told, so I hope I get the chance to tell them.

On the new manuscript/writing front I’m thinking of finishing off a sci-fi/space opera romance that I started just before I received ‘the call’ from Berkley back in late 2010…unless, of course, I’m contracted for more in the Light Blade series!

Advice to writers out there who are just starting out? (Aside from joining RWA, of course!)

Definitely join RWAustralia (or NZ or America) or barring that, find a great support group of other writers. A group you can meet face to face or online with regularly is vital.

As writers we spend enough time alone involved following our goals and dreams, and sometimes we do it without the understanding or support of those closest to us.

Getting a story written and your work published, in whatever form, is hard, hard work – it can take years to achieve, and there will be times when you need to celebrate the successes, vent, cry or scream with those who truly understand everything you’re going through.

A good writers group will be there for you. They’ll toast your successes, big and small; laugh with you when you make mistakes; they’ll let you wallow and sulk when those rejections or contest scoresheets come in; but they’ll also encourage you to keep going (sometimes with a smack upside the head J if you need it).

And finally, if you were to host a dinner for any five authors today, who would you invite?

Only 5???

Hmm, OK – Anne McCaffrey (she was such an inspiration to me as a young teen reader), Shakespeare (his tragedies are among my keeper collection), Nalini Singh (when I grow up I want to be just like her!), Debbie Macomber (she gave me one of my real first a-ha moments about getting serious with my writing) and Valerie Parv (my wonderful Jedi-mentor who helped me take that final step just before being published).

I’d definitely have a backyard BBQ – snags, fish, steak, salad with our drinks of choice. A great meal, great conversation and great company!

You can find Kylie at:

Contact: kyliegriffin71@optusnet.com 

Website: http://www.kyliegriffin.com

Blog: www.kyliegriffinromance.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kylie-Griffin-paranormal-romance/152760788151938

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/KylieGriffin1

GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4882841.Kylie_Griffin

Shelfari: http://www.shelfari.com/Kylie_Griffin-author

Pre-order her books:

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million,

BookDepo, Fishpond, IndieBound, Penguin

Kylie is giving away a copy of Vengeance Born to one lucky commentator. Just answer this question: how do you celebrate personal milestones?

 

"Peopled with intriguing characters, the world of Vengeance Born is unique and filled with compelling mystery. I'm looking forward to seeing where Kylie Griffin takes that world next." – Nalini Singh, NYTimes best-selling author

Underworld Awakening

So I finally got to see this movie with my para-loving daughter (and since our local cinema doesn't screen 3D we had a nice drive to the coast) - we loved it =)
Really enjoyed the lycan effects and the new hero character - though I was disappointed in the lack of Michael-gazing. I also thought the daughter she-didn't-know who was brought into the mix was a fabulous addition too. My only complaint, aside from them not featuring Michael, is that it seemed far too short. 
But plenty of action and a nice storyline. 8/10

A Proud Parent & Grandma!!

I'm usually pretty quiet with my private life - but yesterday my beautiful eldest daughter (Teagan) and grandson (pictured) moved from where they lived close-by, to 10 hours drive North from here, and *wow* am I missing them already.
I've shared a LOT with my daughter, in my mind - more than a lot since she grew up with a terrible physical disability (juvenile polyarticular rheumatoid arthritis) where much of her life was spent at hospitals, doctors, specialists, physios, OT's, naturapaths... you get the picture - if there was someone who I thought could help, we'd see them - even resorting to some questionable therapies. 
Well in the end modern medicine has helped her a lot and she's been able to fall pregnant with her second child. Unfortunately this time around her arthritis has not disappeared - or lessened - like what happened with her first child, and she's had to go on cortisone to keep her knee swelling down and the swelling/inflammation behind one of her eye's under control (she's almost blind in that one eye).
Anyway, long story short - I'm so damn proud of her and what she's achieved, I get teary eyed even now just thinking about her! 
And all going well, by May she'll make me a proud grandmother for the 2nd time!!

Shona Husk

I'd like to welcome multi-published author Shona Husk to my blog today. She writes for Ellora's Cave, Samhain, Source Books and Carina Press and has also been published with The Wild Rose Press. Her book, The Goblin King (on my 'must buy' list) is a finalist in the fav paranormal romance of 2011 category of the ARRAwards!

Phew!! She's been busy!

Shona's latest release with Ellora's Cave is out today - and I have to say it looks HOT! (what a cover!!)

Take it away Shona =)

And then there were three…

I was reading erotic romance long before I started writing it. In part I was reading for pleasure, but also to learn how to write sexy love scenes.

I read everything from cowboys to aliens, hot vanilla to BDSM, m/m and ménage. There was always something about a ménage that I loved—reading about one that is.

So I knew one of my Lucinda’s Lover (Vampire rock band) stories would involve one. Because I like to push my boundaries as a writer I wanted it to be mmf instead of mfm. Usually I write mf. It’s nice and simple and there are only two sets of feelings to consider. Writing Owen and Jack was fun; they were in an existing relationship, but needing to bring Katya into it. Adding that third person complicated everything.

The relationship dynamic changed and the sex scenes became more tricky (His hand is where? Who is she kissing? Is that physically possible?)

After writing a ménage story of my own I have developed a new level of respect for writers who tackle the ménage or more on a regular basis. Of course now I’ve done three I wonder if I could do four?

Sharing Sirius is book 3 of the Lucinda’s Lover Vampires.

In ancient Vampires, boredom can literally kill. When Jack sees Owen beginning to succumb, he knows he is no longer enough. Owen needs the blood of another lover to survive. So Jack turns to Katya, hoping she can entice Owen into living again.

At first Katya denies her lust to her boss, even though she’s wanted him for years. With Jack promising to look the other way, she has a scorching-hot encounter with Owen.

Owen doesn’t want to admit what is happening to him. He doesn’t want to cheat and break Jack’s heart, and yet he can’t resist Katya. But Katya and Jack have their own sexy plan. And neither of them intend to lose Owen.

http://www.jasminejade.com/m-717-shona-husk.aspx

www.shonahusk.com

www.twitter.com/shonahusk

www.facebook.com/shonahusk

Working on...

So many manuscripts! LOL. I'm sure it's only my writing goals for 2012 taped on the desk beside me that keeps me grounded.

But now that I've sent in book 2 of Alien Hunger, I've restarted work on my single title book Dimensional, and retrieved 2 stories that I've started (as in around 2k lol) in the last few years, but had no time to finish. These will both be novella's that I hope to finish this year in-between my 'true' writing goals. One of the novella's is about a woman and cats - yes, the moggy variety (that's all I'm saying without giving the story away). The other is a fantasy story - think a harem, a king and the woman who has caught his eye *g*

Aside from that I plan to finish book 1 and 2 of a new shape-shifter series, involving 3 different packs. And then if my goals are going well, Alien Hunger book 3 will begin - possibly on the world of the aliens.


That should keep me busy this year!!

Wicked In Print

February 6th the SWTWC anthology is coming out in print!!!! Yes, I'm a tad excited - it's my first print book =))))

Something Wicked...

There's been lots of great reviews for this anthology, but I couldn't resist putting up one more 5 star review from Romance Writers Reviews.

WOW! Love these stories, Scorching Hot and Super sexy! Each one was unique, but equally enjoyable…a great collection!

Captain of Nara’s Heart. This book had a very different storyline, very interesting. Characters were amazing; the chemistry between the characters was fantastic. The story was extremely well written; the author grabs your attention from first page and holds it until the last!

Dragon Heat. Love the characters, and storyline. The story had a perfect amount of suspense that kept the story very interesting. This story takes you on a very different journey, and you just don’t know what will happen until the very end.

Dangerous Addiction. HOT HOT HOT with lots of sexy details! The story is sexy and sweet with a positive message about finding happiness again, even after a bad experience.

Highland Tryst. Certainly not a typical romance story, characters were far fetch, but surprisingly almost believable. The story was sweet, interesting and very funny. It was interesting to compare our lifestyle to that of many many years ago.

Tattoo Witch. The story was Interesting and held my attention the entire time. It was a very hot and sexy. You just didn’t know what was going to happen. I certainly couldn’t predict what happened at the end…but was very happy with the ending.

The Addiction. I enjoyed this story very much; it was sweet, with an ending that will melt your heart.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Reviewer: Wanda

Dexter!

After buying the full series of Dexter last Christmas, I'm totally blown away by the show, the skill of the writers, the amazing actors and most especially by 'Dexter' himself. He hides behind the mask of an unassuming blood splatter expert, while inside he feels no emotions and is a cold-blooded killer raised by his law enforcement stepdad to 'take care' of  the people who don't deserve the oxygen they breathe.
Wow. What a premise! And just watching everything come undone around him before he somehow escapes the net that almost traps him as the 'true' killer, is just amazing.
I adore this show and if I had to rate it I would definitely give it a 10 out of 10 and a 'highly recommend to watch'
 

Excerpt : Identity Shift (Part 1)

 IDENTITY SHIFT  
 (Cover by Helzcat Designs)
        Guns ‘N’ Roses blared from inside nondescript apartment fourteen. She took a deep, calming breath as adrenaline surged within. She had him. At last her quarry was within reach. She raised a fist and hammered on the flimsy, peeling wooden door.

The music shut down. A baby wailed a few apartments down, a small dog yapping into life inside another. Heavy footsteps approached from the other side of the door.

“Yes.”

One word. One deep, masculine, primal intonation.

Her pulses jerked in response, her nipples beading tight beneath her black leather jacket and tight burgundy singlet.

If this is what he could do to a woman with one monosyllable behind a closed door, she could only imagine what he could do with a whole sentence, and up close and personal.

She cursed under her breath. She’d clearly been too long without a man, someone to ease the heavy ache of her breasts, the deep throb between her thighs. Just as well she wanted nothing more from him than answers.

 Hesitating for a beat, she asked, “Mr. Powell?”

A long pause. “Maybe.”

Impatience drummed a loud tattoo behind her skull. A migraine was all she needed right now!

“I’m here on behalf of my father. He is—“ she swallowed back a wave of bitter loss and grief ”—was an archaeologist. You may have heard of him? Professor Thomas Leigh.” At the thick, almost suffocating silence that followed she continued more loudly, “He believed in the existence of human-panther shape-shifters—”

Her sentence ended on a startled gasp as the door flung open and she was jerked unceremoniously inside.

“Enough already,” Blake growled.

She hissed out a breath at the current of electricity sizzling through her arm’s every nerve ending; at the cheek of him dragging her inside. She tugged free, and looked up...and up.

Beneath scruffy dark jeans and a white t-shirt, the man was a mountain of fluid muscle and sinew, repressed energy that vibrated with emotion and patently raw sex appeal.

“Are you mad?” she said through gritted teeth. “All I wanted was a civilized discussion, not to be dragged inside like I’m nothing more than a cave woman!”

He slammed the door shut behind her and pushed home a large bolt. When he peeled off his dark sunglasses—ludicrous inside the near dark room lit only by a naked bulb—she took an involuntary step back. His eyes were an unnatural gold-yellow. Beautiful, but deadly.

She sucked in some oxygen, forcing a calm she didn’t feel. Damn it all to hell, he really was sinfully delicious, with more vague hints of darkness beneath his honey-warm skin that tantalized and teased even as it repelled.

“I know who you are,” he said.

Woot!!!

I'm just now finishing the last couple of pages - 500 words or so - to my 2nd book in the Alien Hunger story, tentatively titled Galactic Inferno. I totally love this story and think what some readers didn't like in the first one, they'll love in this one BWG!! 
After this is handed in, hopefully tomorrow!! I'm going to concentrate on the single title story - it will be finished this year. I've also started on a long length new series with a group of shape shifters - can't wait!!!!
Now...back to my last few pages with Nickleback blaring me into the finale LOL! 

Unexplainable Healing

I'm over at the Darksiders blog talking about "unexplainable healing" and giving away a PDF copy of Something Wicked This Way Comes. Come say hello! =))

An Authors Life...

I'm over at Kylie Griffin's blog today talking about my life as an author! Come say hi if you get a chance =)

USA Today Review for Something Wicked This Way Comes

It's been so great to see some brilliant reviews for this anthology, and I'm stoked to be part of it with some even more brilliant authors =)

USA Today posted a very cool review for the book. Here is what reviewer, Lea Franczak said about Dragon Heat:


Dragon Heat by Mel Teshco is a paranormal romance about Grace Macintosh who is a top agent with the Paranormal Detection Agency. Grace is sent on a mission to apprehend Benson Marres, a billionaire recluse, suspected of being a rare dragon shifter (a Kezmak). Benson is a known womanizer, and Grace poses as a high-class prostitute to gain access to his penthouse.
I quite liked Teshco's characterization of Grace and Benson. The former is haunted by a troubled past, and the later is the last of his kind, struggling to survive. As it turns out, Benson knows what Grace is up to, having orchestrated her involvement in the mission. These two are inexorably drawn together by an instinctual need to mate. You see, unknown to Grace, she is a rare Kezmak breeder, and Benson needs her if there is any hope for the survival of his species.
Teshco weaves an intriguing subplot of manipulation and betrayal into this short story, which I felt was extremely well-crafted. Grace and Benson must flee for their lives from a skilled, highly trained enemy who is bent on their capture for nefarious purposes. Readers can expect plenty of action sequences, a very seductive dragon shifter and hot love scenes.

Music & Writing.

I go through stages with my writing where certain songs and/or bands helps me to push forward with my writing. (And then of course there's the times I need absolute silence to let the muse loose.)

For the last few books I've been having a Breaking Benjamin fest, I especially love their song, So Cold. And I just can't go past Muse, adore these guys. Most especially Bliss, Uprising, Undisclosed Desires, Resistance, Hysteria... the list goes on. But I should add my very favourite song from Muse: Unintended. I could sit and listen to that over and over (and have for this book lol!) OMG - LOVE their music =)
 
What bands/songs do you like? Any recommendations?

Laurann hits NYT Best Selling rank!

A huge congrats to friend and fellow EC author, Laurann Dohner for hitting the New York Times & USA Today bestseller lists with BRAWN!!! A first for any EC author and a HUGE achievement that couldn't have happened to a nicer person. 
So proud of you Laurann!! =))

Identity Shift, review

Out of curiosity I decided a few months ago to join the long queue of authors to have a go at self publishing. I have little doubt IDENTITY SHIFT will be my only Indie book (aside from an anthology with other authors) but it was an interesting experience to say the least! (BTW, if anyone else loves the cover as much as I do and are looking for a cover or banner, check out HelzKat designs. She's very affordable.)

I've been very happy with the five stars I've seen on Goodreads and now a 4 star rating from Yadkney of Night Owl Reviews! Thank you =))


Review: 


Action-packed, dangerous, sexy, and romantic – with words like those you'll definitely want to check out this new short by Mel Teshco.

Ducati riding, leather-clad Alexia is about to go on the ride of her life after leaving her father's burial service. The misgivings and unanswered questions surrounding her father's apparent suicide, drive her to hunt down the one man she knows can set the public memory of her father to rights. One look at Blake is all it takes to change everything, but before she can get answers they must first dodge the bullets being aimed at them.

After reading an excerpt, I was definitely excited to dive right in to this story only to be stopped a bit short by the page length. Ms. Teshco packs a lot into this story, but perhaps more length would've better fleshed out the characters and their individual stories. Regardless, it is enjoyable and leaves me wanting more of these characters, so my hope is that Ms. Teshco has plans to continue this story. If readers like their paranormal romance with a healthy dose of mystery and an instantaneous whirlwind romance, then this story is a must read!