Author: Chelsey M. Ortega

The Alien Stories I Do Like…

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

I do not care for alien invasion movies, except for Independence Day. Super 8 was pretty good as well. But the rest? Two thumbs down. 

I came across a book called Princess by Mistake by Aurelia Skye. The blurb gave a description of a bounty hunter chasing down a runaway princess in order to return her to the prince she’s supposed to marry. Said bounty hunter captures the wrong woman, the female MC. They go on an adventure as he tries to take her to this mysterious prince and she tries to convince him she’s not the missing princess.

What I failed to understand from the blurb was that all the characters, except the female MC, were aliens. By the time I figured that out, I thought, “I’m already reading it for free. I might as well give it a try.” I LOVED it. And ever since, I have fallen down the alien romance rabbit hole.

Princess by Mistake has a “sequel” called Wrong Place, Right Mate. It takes place two hundred years later, and neither character is connected to the original characters. It simply takes place in the same world and the male aliens are from the same planet. A scientist from earth crashlands on the wrong planet. A bounty hunter alien comes across her and takes her on his hunting adventure. It was wonderful as well. The epilogue implies more are coming and I’m anxiously waiting. 

The next author I came across was Nancey Cummings. She has two of her own alien romance series, and has a book in 3 different multi-author alien romance series.

Her first and largest series is Warriors of Sangrin. There are currently 11 books in the main series, and 3 side stories. This series covers life after an alien invasion opens Earth up to the rest of the universe. The invading species, the Shulik, murder all of Earth’s leaders on international television, plunging the unprepared terrans (what other species call humans) into a war for their lives. The Mahdfel show up and ally with earth to defeat the Shulik. The Mahdfel have a very specific treaty negotiation for this alliance: brides. Mahdfel are a warrior species who are genetically engineered to produce only males, so they must mate with females from other planets. 

The scent of their fated mate calls to them, and one of their top scientists invents a mouth swab test to speed up the mate finding process. Females of marriageable age living on Mahdfel-allied planets must submit to testing once a year. The year they match, they are transported across the stars to wherever their mate is. Health conditions, already being married, being engaged, or already having children can exempt a female from being tested. And many of our heroines will do such things to avoid the test – at first. 

Each book covers a novella length adventure for a different couple. However, they are all interconnected via siblings, best friends, being in the same clan, or dealing with the same villain. Like the previous alien stories, I fell into this one by accident and read two of the side stories and the 8th book before I discovered the correct order. I was hooked from chapter 1, and have only the 11th book left to read. You can find a list of completed works here: https://nanceycummings.com/warlord-brides-universe/. 

Nancey’s second series is called Tail and Claw. I have only read the first one, Have Tail, Will Travel. So I’m not as well-versed in the lore and worldbuilding as I am the Warriors of Sangrin. But what I can tell so far is that Earth is aware of aliens and has relationships with the rest of the universe. There is a dating app called Celestial Mates that matches sentient beings based on a questionnaire. They get married over a tablet, and one of them travels to wherever the other is. 

Have Tail, Will Travel reminds me of that old children’s book Sarah, Plain and Tall. A human woman is matched with an alien male, Merit, who has ended up as sole guardian of his orphaned niece and nephew. Merit uses Celestial Mates to find a female to be a nanny. His “nanny” wants love and adventure. They’ll have to overcome their miscommunication amongst dangerous monsters and a plotting sister-in-law.

I’m excited to read the rest of the series.

The intimacy scenes for both series are at a heat level of spicy.  

And that’s where I’m at with my latest guilty pleasure. Once I get caught up on Nancey Cummings’ books, I’ll definitely be checking out other authors like her. 

Do you like alien stories? What’s your favorite? (They don’t have to be a romance.) Let me know in the comments!

Giving in to the HEA

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

It was October 2021, and I was trying to figure out if I had accidentally written a romance when I was trying to write a fantasy adventure. I had experienced a less than successful response from beta readers. Most didn’t finish, and different versions of the same reason stuck out: “I didn’t know this was going to be a romance.”

It’s not. I mean, there’s a romantic subplot that is heavily intertwined with the main plot (and the romantic subplot does become the main plot of the sequel). But if the romance isn’t the main plot, then it’s not a romance, right? With this confusion, I had to stop preparing a query letter and research romance, because I needed to query the right publishers.

I came across a week-long webinar all about writing romance put on by ProWriting Aid called “Romance Writers Week.” Almost every presenter stressed the same thing: in order for a story to qualify as a romance, the relationship between the love interests is the focus of the story and it must end in Happy-Ever-After (HEA) or Happy-For-Now (HFN). 

Right away, I was like, “Um, excuse me? What about Nicholas Sparks?” Someone else asked that question, but more respectfully. The presenter said, “Nicholas Sparks doesn’t write romance, he writes love stories.” It turns out, a love story does not require a HEA, but a romance does.  

As I talked to other writers and studied what makes a romance a romance, I was correct in originally thinking that I did not write a romance. But the romantic subplot was important enough that I needed to market to romance readers, and make sure the subplot matched romance expectations. But I struggled with the HEA/HFN aspect. I felt like if the ending required a guarantee that the romantic interests end up together, then if a story is a romance, the ending is already spoiled the moment I open the book.

I went through a little identity crisis as a romance reader. The love stories I have read where the couple goes their separate ways or one of them dies, gave me enough pause to believe that any romance could end that way. So the tension and roller coasters the characters go through, I went through with them. But knowing ahead of time they are going to overcome it, temporarily took that magic away from me. I felt like “the man behind the curtain” had been exposed, and I was struggling with what I saw.

In the next romance I read after learning about HEA, the female MC was in a carriage accident. The final sentence of that chapter is, “And he watched his wife die.” I snorted and rolled my eyes. No he didn’t. She can’t die if this is a romance. The next romance I read had a gunshot at the end of a chapter, but who did the bullet hit? Well, before turning the page, I knew it wasn’t the female MC. How was I ever going to enjoy a romance again?

As I reached out to other romance readers about this identity crisis, most of them said something along the lines of, “I like knowing I’m guaranteed a happy ending. I read romance to feel happy. So it’s not about a surprise ending. It’s about the journey. How is the author going to bring them tension, danger, and drama to test their relationship? How are they going to overcome it? Is the journey believable, relatable, and entertaining?”

It took me a while to accept that mindset. And I had to read through several romances where I practiced viewing the story from that angle. But I eventually got it, and I’m back to enjoying romances. 

This has also helped me in my own writing. Since as the author, I know the ending, I need to make sure that the journey to that ending is believable, relatable, and entertaining for my readers. 

Are you a romance reader? What’s your favorite romance? What’s your favorite type of romance or trope?

When History and Magic Collide: Stone Heart

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

When a book is close to its release date, the author usually offers ARCs (Advance Reader Copy). Readers get a FREE copy with the hope that they will provide an early review. I’m so excited and honored to have read Stone Heart by Kitty Shields early. 

Stone Heart combines my two loves: history and magic. I actually haven’t read a lot of fantasy stories that take place in the past, and I found I really enjoyed such a combination.

Our hero, Edward, the Marquess of Winchester has struggled for the past decade. His father died in the colonist rebellion (a.k.a. The American Revolution), thrusting the noble mantle on him much earlier than anticipated. He thought he found love with his best friend’s cousin, Phoebe, but knowledge of her past causes him to end things. The story opens with Edward attending the opening night of a new opera, accompanied by his mother and a new young woman his mother wants him to court. The lead singer dies on stage in front of the entire audience. 

Edward gets wrapped up in the investigation and learns that Phoebe is in danger of dying in a similar way. Although he is still convinced that their relationship is over, Edward isn’t so cold he would allow Phoebe to die, so he races to the continent to save Phoebe. On his journey, Edward will learn to accept help from old friends, new friends, and unexpected allies. What true love is and what lengths one goes to get that love is the center of all characters’ motivations and actions. Different types of love are explored throughout the story that gives hope for a happily ever after.

When it comes to the historical aspects of the story, Kitty Shields does an excellent job of weaving the aftermath of the war into her characters’ lives and conversation. She also puts several real people and places into the story as side characters. I didn’t know about any of them, and so I appreciated the appendix at the end of the book that gave the factual history of each person and why Kitty chose to put them in her story.

The magic in Stone Heart was really unique. There are descendents of a mythical creature called a stone giant. The stone giants had the ability to remove their hearts from their chests to prevent themselves from dying in battle. Their descendants can grow their heart into a red diamond and give it to their love for safe keeping. Phoebe does this and gives her heart to Edward. He doesn’t fully understand or believe, so he unintentionally literally breaks her heart. 

While Edward is racing to save Phoebe, he runs into Roma travelers, who also participate in different forms of magic. The types of magic the reader gets to experience with the Roma are sending nightmares to their slumbering victims, reading tarot cards, listening to the wind, and using flowers for spells. There is even one paranormal monster that Edward has to fight in a cemetery. 

The third and final plot line that makes Stone Heart so great is a side character who stole the show: Tilton. Tilton is a young aristocrat going on his rite of passage tour of Europe. Tilton is energetic and friendly, two things Edward is not. Tilton inserts himself into Edward’s quest and ends up going on an adventure. Tilton is my absolute favorite part of the story. 

In reviewing this lighthearted adventure, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to interview the author, and she agreed! So, without further ado, I present Kitty Shields.

Introduce yourself as a person and a writer.

Hello, Gentle Readers. I am Kitty Shields. I live outside Philadelphia with a black cat named Jinx who is plotting to kill me. I started writing as a way to cope with insomnia when I was a kid. When I couldn’t fall asleep, I’d sneak downstairs, hop on a computer, and write weird stories. Well, first I’d go down and play video games, but after a while I beat all the games and turned to writing.

As a writer, I start with a nugget of emotion and a scene. So Stone Heart came from the opening scene of Edward on the docks heading to the ship filled with regret. My book Pillar of Heaven, which is like The Devil Wears Prada as an urban fantasy, began with the main protagonist dealing with crappy customers at her barista job and her planning to sabotage all their lattes. The story Star Eater, which is about a sleep-walking teenage boy and his demon, began with him waking up on a golf course in the middle of the night.

I imagine these tiny scenes and from there I build the stories forwards and backwards, adding a dash of magic as I go.

What inspired Stone Heart?

Like I said, Stone Heart evolved from that opening scene. I clearly saw this guy on the docks heading towards a ship and weighed down with regret because of something he had done, so much so that he wasn’t sure he would sink the ship or not. I really liked the notion of emotions manifesting to the point where it brings about this leap of faith moment—is he going to survive getting on the ship or not?

At the time, I was in grad school getting my writing degree and I was experimenting with different genres and voices. I had never tried historical fiction before so this was an initial experiment. My cohort hated it. They hated everything about it: the voice, the scene, the allusions to mythology, the flowery language. They ripped it apart.

That was a little disheartening, so I put it aside. But that character and scene kept drawing me back. Every now and then I’d revisit the story and write a moment here or there. Nothing was really connected yet just a bunch of ideas. Tilton came from one of those exercises. I had began filling out Edward’s journey on the boat and it depressed me! So I created Tilton to cut through Edward’s melancholy and bring some humor into the story.

If you want to learn more about Stone Heart or perhaps see who I’d cast for each of the characters, check out my website: https://www.kittyshieldsauthor.com/stoneheart.html .

I really enjoyed the historical slang, though most of it I had never heard of before. Would you introduce these fun words to our readers and what they mean?

Sure! Here are some fun words for you:

Toffs: Slang for someone with an aristocratic background or belonging to the landed gentry, particularly someone who exudes an air of superiority.

Dandy: a man unduly devoted to style, neatness, and fashion in dress and appearance.

Roma: a people originating in South Asia and traditionally having an itinerant way of life, living widely dispersed across Europe and North and South America and speaking a language (Romani) that is related to Hindi. Commonly known as gypsies, although that is a derogatory word.

Doshman: a word that means ‘enemy.’

It’s clear you did extensive historical research for the historical aspects of Stone Heart. What about the magical aspects? Was any magic inspired by European folklore of the day? Or did you make it all up?

Yes, the magic threads are all based on actual myths. I did a lot of research which, to be honest, was a lot of fun. It was more of a challenge to edit out what I really didn’t need. Hrungnir is a Viking giant and he could remove his heart so that when he went into battle, no one could kill him. The part I made up was about his descendants, about this line of families that could grow gems out of their chests.

Revenants are souls of the damned that come back. Based on the Old French word, revenir, which means ‘to return.’ The part I made up was them sucking the life force out of victims. Even the smaller bits, like the farnblume, is based on a Baltic myth about a healing flower. Most of what you’ll find in the story is based on a real myth. I invite you to look something up if it intrigues. I fully blame most of the story on falling down some really interesting research rabbit holes.

The side characters are so fascinating. Particularly Tilton. Will we see any of them again in future works? What’s next in your writing career?

Yes! Tilton is definitely my favorite and he will return. The sequel will be Tilton’s story. I’ll tease you with the title: Crow Heart. I’ve already gotten a first draft done and am in the middle of editing. The third book will follow Halkerstone. I’ve also got a few ideas for side stories. I’d love to see more of the St. Germaines; they were a blast to write. And who knows what other fun characters will appear on the way.

Stone Heart releases August 16, 2023. 

New Release: Trevor’s Redemption by Amber Daulton

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

Listening to my Characters – The Story Behind the Story: Trevor’s Redemption

Shea O’Bannon and Trevor Madero co-star in Trevor’s Redemption, a steamy romantic suspense novella in Amber Daulton’s Arresting Onyx series. Onyx is an underground crime organization with a foothold in several American cities, and Trevor is a reluctant, guilt-ridden enforcer among their ranks. Shea is a graphics designer with no clue about her new boyfriend’s gang affiliations, but she knows he’s hiding something from her. The return of his manipulative ex puts their relationship—and their lives—in jeopardy. When his secrets come to light, Trevor and Shea will have to find a way to work together, or kiss their love goodbye.

Hi, everyone. I’m Amber Daulton. Of all the books in the Arresting Onyx series, Trevor’s Redemption is one of my favorites, but it almost didn’t happen. As I was revising the final novel in the series, a little voice in the back of my mind kept telling me to go back and write this novella. I’d introduced Shea as a minor character in book one and developed her further as the series went on. Before long, I was having daydreams about Shea and what kind of man she would go for, but my writing schedule was already mapped out for the foreseeable future. I just didn’t have time to write her story. Well, Shea wasn’t having any of that. She kept pestering me, and soon I couldn’t sleep because I needed to write this story. Eventually, I gave up and jotted down the plot, and slept like a baby that night. I had a wonderful time bringing Shea’s romance to life, so I’m grateful I let her have her way.

As for my writing process, I use paper, pens, and colored pencils to outline each chapter, but sometimes I take the easy road and plot in a Word doc. I try to follow my notes exactly, but more often than not, my characters steer the story in another direction (Trevor did this in spades!). I spent about six weeks writing the first draft of Trevor’s Redemption, and after a few months of editing, tearing the story apart, rewriting, and more editing, I finally created a story I could be proud of.

Trevor’s Redemption is now available for preorder and can be read as a standalone, so if you haven’t read the previous books in the series, you can jump right in with this one and follow along without any problems. However, the couples from the other books return as secondary characters, so you might get a few spoilers. For the sake of enjoyment and fully immersing yourself in my fictional world, I do suggest you start at the beginning with Arresting Mason, but it’s not necessary.

Amber Daulton is the author of the romantic-suspense series Arresting Onyx and several standalone novellas. Her books are published through Daulton Publishing, The Wild Rose Press, and Books to Go Now, and are available in ebook, print on demand, audio, and foreign language formats. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and demanding cats. Follow Amber on your preferred social platform here: https://linktr.ee/AmberDaulton

The danger and lies are more than she can handle.

Shea O’Bannon feels like a fifth wheel around her romantically paired-off friends, but there’s too much slime in the dating pool for her to bother with it. Then she sees her two-timing ex, Trevor Madero, serenading the mostly female crowd at a live-music bar. God knows trouble follows him around, but her desire for him rushes back in anyway. After he rescues her from a handsy drunk, temptation takes over.

Determined to prove he never stepped out on Shea, Trevor slides back into her life—and her heart—with forever in mind. Even with the wall he keeps up to protect her, his secret criminal life weighs heavy on his soul and drives a wedge between them.

When the truth comes out and his enemies target them both, they’ll have to fight for their love, or kiss it goodbye.

Trevor’s Redemption releases August 22, 2023 and can be pre-ordered here: https://books.amberdaulton.com/trevorsredemption

New Release: The Vampire’s Retribution by M. Flagg

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

Welcome to my world of mystical warriors, gutsy humans, good witches and empaths. And of course, there has to be at least one creature of the night. But if you think you’ve read everything about vampires, I urge you to think again. In my paranormal world, the themes of love and redemption are full of real human emotion. The paradoxes of love are real as well.  

The Vampire’s Retribution is the story of an anomaly, a mystically enhanced vampire that many consider a champion. Michael reclaimed his soul in 1890 after two-hundred years of the drink and drain. It takes another century for him to fall madly in love with a Guardian of Souls, mystical warriors tasked with ending every demon’s existence. Mysteriously, he was able to father a child with a dark seer. So his world is quite complicated. This first novel chronicles the beginning of his unexpected journey… something even he can’t believe is really happening. It begins in 2005 when the woman he loves is an ocean away and fifteen-year-old Lukas is a truly troubled boy. A cast of characters come to his aid, the kind of people you’d want on your side when fighting evil things. But Michael’s rescue won’t be anything like the dream of survival he creates. For that story, you’ll have to read Book 2, Mystical Consequences, available November 1, 2023.

The inspiration: During a time in my life when nothing felt normal, my son told me to write. On a whim, I decided to redeem a vampire. Don’t ask why. There were too many reasons. But all that chaos cranked up the creativity and Michael’s story turned into a novel. That was 2006. And two other novels continuing Michael’s story were published with TWRP before 2011. But life happens, doesn’t it? My career change in 2010 didn’t jive with vampires, mystical warriors, or witches and empaths. My new position required my full attention. When my rights reverted back to me, I was far removed from my creative side. But I dreamed that someday, somehow, I’d return to Michael’s world.  

In the second year of retirement, I started writing again. The new novel revolved around Martine, a very minor character in the original three books. She was Lukas’s age, which now put them both in their early thirties. Some 40,000 words in, I hit a roadblock. A big one. Martine’s love interest just didn’t work. It was flat. I sat at a red light while driving when those creative wheels started turning in my head. I loved writing Michael’s troubled son. But what type of man had Lukas become? What if… Hmmm…  Oh, I couldn’t wait to get to my laptop! A month later, Book 4 in The Champion Chronicles was complete.

But wait. That meant that parts of the first three books had to be altered some. This new novel expanded my paranormal world. I opened the original manuscripts and as my gifted editor from 2007 read Night of the Crescent Moon, I ‘revamped’ the first three books from years ago and remodeled the trope to align with the new novel. After TWRP contracted Book 4 in 2022, the first three revised novels, were submitted and contracted as well. I am, once again a proud author with The Wild Rose Press working with my fantastic editor from some fifteen years ago. So yes, readers and writers, dreams do become reality.

On writing: I am a true-to-the-word pantser. The main characters show themselves, secondary characters as well. I can see and hear them in my head. The situations they get into develop like a scene out of a movie and I start writing. The major plot drives the story, but I give it a few twists and turns along the way. Research is always a must, and it often leads to sub-plots. I’ve written three more novels in the series this past year because I became, well, a bit driven (okay, obsessed) when my creative muse returned. Now having time in retirement to develop my stories, I’m an eclectic writer. Somedays, it’s morning till night. Somedays, not one word on the page. The edit process is much more intense than the story writing. I’ll edit many times, listen to it out loud, read in different fonts even after querying my editor.

My advice for anyone just starting is to hold on tight and take the ride. Learn the craft. Join writing groups and network at conferences. Believe in yourself, the ability to spin a tale or two. I didn’t expect to circle back to writing about Michael and his world again. It is a blessing that I am humbled by, and grateful to experience after so many years when writing anything creative was just not possible. I’m fortunate to take the steps back to that proverbial fork in the road and start a new journey.   

Always an avid reader, the realm of paranormal fiction is the perfect landing point for Mickey Flagg. After a successful career as a music teacher and an urban school administrator, she continues to spin stories of passion, love and redemption. She’s been a contributor in a book on urban music education and has also authored an article for Still Standing, a web-magazine about loss and healing. Named a Distinguished Music Educator at the 2010 Yale Music Symposium, Mickey is a life-long New Jersey resident, a member of Liberty States Fiction Writers, and a Professor in Residence with a local university. Author Website: http://www.mflagg-author.com

Dreams are often hidden desires… even if they are terrifying. Michael Malone, a mystically enhanced vampire, destroys three immortal sorcerers and takes on their vengeful army of hell-beasts in an unprecedented battle. Poisoned and captured, he’s guided by a heavenly entity  to spin a fantasy full of deep love and devotion to the one woman he treasures and his very troubled human son. Michael’s fading mind creates emotional twists and unexpected turns, passionate highs and very realistic lows. Is there deliverance or is this the end to his immortal existence? Each revelation offers hope. Yet Michael’s last words doggedly remain “Let me die.” His original reasons for the singular battle are noble. One is retribution. The other is love.

The Vampire’s Retribution can be purchased at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Going in Blind: Dragons Walk Among Us

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

I’m about to eat my own words. In a previous post, I talked about how important a good cover and blurb are to convince potential readers to buy your book. Well, I put Dragons Walk Among Us by Dan Rice on my to-be-read list based on the title alone. I read it in an email (Dan is also with The Wild Rose Press), and put it on my list right away. I didn’t see the cover until I started following Dan on social media. I have never read the blurb. 

Allison Lee is an angsty teenager who participates in environmental rallies, takes photos for the school newspaper, and is navigating her feelings for her crush. In addition to typical teenage drama, Allison also deals with racism as a biracial Chinese American. Her best friends, Dalia and Haji, stick with her through her ups and downs. 

Allison is friends with a homeless veteran named Joe. One night, on her way to visit him, she is attacked. She wakes up in the hospital a couple weeks later completely blind. She lost her spot in her school’s social standing during her coma, and with her blindness, risks never regaining it. Her father introduces her to the creator of an experimental procedure that could give her eyesight back. Allison agrees to it, and after a few more weeks of surgery and healing, she is finally back at school with her friends.

There are a few unsavory side effects to Allison’s new eyesight, but the one she was not prepared for is a giant holographic dragon following her father’s colleague around. Allison makes the bold decision to tell the professor that she can see his dragon. Her confession pulls her into the world of dragons and an impending war with their enemies, the skaags. 

Dan Rice expertly wove Allison’s human struggles into the tensions of the dragon community. The bigotry and prejudice Allison faces as a biracial human also plagues the dragon world in its own way. Allison was abandoned by her mother at birth, allowing her to bond with dragon characters who also struggle with feelings of abandonment. 

Mr. Rice also captured the American teenager perfectly. Allison is quick to anger, quick to love, and quick to react. She struggles with self-esteem about her personal appearance. And she is passionate about her interests. Her friends, and even her enemies, are all believable high school students that I can see in my classroom. 

I thoroughly enjoyed each and every scene, and I can’t wait to read the sequel. 

In addition to my review, I am pleased to introduce Dan Rice, who kindly granted me an interview:

First, would you introduce yourself as a person and a writer?

Hi, I’m Dan. I pen the young adult urban fantasy series The Allison Lee Chronicles in the wee hours of the morning. The series kicks off with my award-winning debut, Dragons Walk Among Us, which Kirkus Reviews calls, “An inspirational and socially relevant fantasy.”

While not pulling down the 9 to 5 or chauffeuring my soccer fanatic sons to practices and games, I enjoy photography and hiking through the wilderness.

What inspired Dragons Walk Among Us?

I wanted to write a book from a relatively young age. I grew up reading fantasy and science fiction and naturally gravitated toward writing those genres. For a long time, I wanted to write gritty epic fantasy like Game of Thrones or Joe Abercrombie’s novels. Eventually, I discovered my authorial voice is more suited to young adult material.

The opening scene in Dragons Walk Among Us was inspired by my older son being harassed for his biracial appearance at summer camp. Allison’s encounter with Leslie grew from that seed, and the rest of the story flowed from there.

There is a lot of great racial diversity in Dragons Walk Among Us. Was this a conscious choice? Or did the characters tell you who they were as you created them?

My sons’ schools are far more diverse than the institutions I attended. I wanted to write a story that would ring true with young adult readers. So I created a diverse cast to match what I observed at school events and read in news articles about the increasing diversity across the United States.

You did an excellent job portraying the angsty teenager. What experience do you have with teenagers and/or what research did you do that helped you bring these believable characters to life?

Well, people were all or will be teenagers, angsty or otherwise, at some point in life. My oldest son still isn’t a teenager, but he’s been acting like one since about the age of eight. I often imagine what his antics might be like if he were a bit older.

Allison describes dragons as “European” and skaags as “Chinese”. In your worldbuilding, are both creatures somehow related?

The original skaags were laboratory creations the dragons made to hunt down rebels. The draconic empire deploys magic to bind the skaags as loyal soldiers. The magic is believed to be unbreakable.

The third book is coming out soon. Is this the end of Allison’s story, or does she have more adventures ahead of her? What’s next in your writing career?

The entire series will be four books. Right now, I plan to participate in a haunted high school series my publisher is doing. After finishing those projects, I will try penning a dystopian novel.

Follow Dan at his website: https://www.danscifi.com/

New Release: Grave-Reaping Shrew by Everlyn C. Thompson

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

Grave-Reaping Shrew is the second book in my Grave Reaper Series. I came up with the idea for the series during the summer at my family’s cabin. I’ve run into bears five times, but never anyone from another realm. (I’ve still got my fingers crossed that it will happen one of these days) 

My FMC lives in a rundown cabin in the woods outside Tamarac, a fictional town in northern Saskatchewan. She discovers a portal to Fairie when a dark fae attacks her and she becomes infected with his magic. 

When I wrote the first book, Grave-Reaping Hermit, I had the story laid out so that Theo and her love interest, Farranen, ended up with a nice neat happily ever after – but halfway through the book I realized her cynical nature wouldn’t let her fall in love so easily. I redid the outline and added two more books so that Theo would eventually get her happy ending, but not until she had an adventure or two. And since I’m a really big fan of having multiple love interests… Enter the dark prince of Fairie. The third book won’t be released until later this year, so I’m not saying who’s in it or what Theo’s HEA looks like. I also realized that Theo needed someone to show her that she’s worth loving, so I gave her Dog. I didn’t want her to be completely alone at the end of book one, and her friendship with Dog helped bring out a softer side of Theo that I didn’t even realize was there until he was able to win her affection with his big soulful doggy eyes and never-ending appetite. 

It took me six months of writing at night once everyone else was asleep to complete each book, and even longer to find a publisher that would take them. I also have another book, A Flock of Vampires, that I published through a different publisher. These days I split my time between my latest WIP, and trying to market myself on social media. I can honestly say I prefer the writing to the marketing.

Born and raised on the beautiful Canadian prairies, Everlyn prefers to spend her time outdoors with her family kayaking, skating, fishing, and hunting. She loves reading and writing about vampires, witches, fae and zombies that get to find their own version of happily ever after. Keep up to date with Everlyn at her website: https://everlyncthompson.com/

After surviving a horrific attack by a dark fae, Theodora Edwards is happy to put the magical world of Fairie in the past – until she learns the reason behind the abrupt disappearance of Farranen, the guardian of the gate. Unfortunately, her improvised rescue attempt ends in death – her death.

As if surviving death isn’t weird enough, her magic takes on a life of its own and starts creating flawed ghosts. While struggling to control her magic, she’s forced to deal with a deadly band of pixies, amorous advances from the intimidating dark prince, and political upheaval in Fairie that’s left the entire realm in chaos.

A Hidden Werewolf Gem: The Alpha and Her Hunter

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

Shifter romances probably outnumber all other romances on reading apps like Dreame, Readict, Radish, etc. And because of that, there are common and expected tropes and world building details within those stories. I often love it when an author “breaks the rules” for the genre they are writing in, especially when it’s done well and it’s not an obvious they-were-trying-to-be-different situation. 

The Alpha and Her Hunter by Lauren Rutherford falls into the well-done category of breaking the norm for shifter romances.

Willow is a wolf shifter in a world where the females are the strongest and the leaders. Garin is a Hunter, born into the most ruthless Hunter family in existence, the Red Hoods. Garin’s family has moved into Willow’s town with the purpose to stir up trouble. Despite their families’ feudal past, Garin and Willow can’t fight the attraction between them. They will face jealousy, bigotry, and death plots in order to earn the approval to love. In this enemies-to-lovers/Romeo & Juliette romance, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I fell in love with Willow and Garin and rooted for them until the last page.

The majority of what sets this shifter romance apart from others is the world building. In this world, female shifters are bigger and stronger than males when they are in their wolf form, and thus females are the Alphas of their families and clans. The Alpha is determined by the physical and mental/psychological strength of their wolf. Each pack or clan has an Alpha, and within that group, each family group has an Alpha.

There is a type of mate bond called imprinting (like in Twilight), but finding one’s true mate is rare, so most shifters settle for arranged marriages. Willow is betrothed to a male shifter who she is not feeling it for at all. 

Hunters are humans who hunt werewolves. Now, not just any human can be a Hunter. They have extra abilities: they are stronger than your average human, go to special schools to train, and they can smell werewolves. Because of this, Hunters also participate in arranged marriages in order to keep their bloodlines strong.

The unique world building changes are only part of why I loved this book so much. The characters are likable, and the pacing for their growth (as they transition from enemies to lovers) is believable and satisfactory. And if you prefer a clean romance, the heat level is sweet. 

While there is an official resolution to the plot, it’s clear a sequel should be coming, and I can’t wait to read it. 

I give The Alpha and Her Hunter 5 stars. It can be read on the following apps: WebNovel, Mangatoon, Tapas, Dreame, and AnyStories.

New Release: A Sour Note by Jill Piscitello

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

When murder provides a welcome distraction…

On the heels of a public, broken engagement, Maeve Cleary returns to her childhood home in Hampton Beach, NH. When a dead body turns up behind her mother’s music school, three old friends land on the suspect list. Licking her wounds soon takes a back seat to outrunning the paparazzi who spin into a frenzy, casting her in a cloud of suspicion. Maeve juggles her high school sweetheart, a cousin with a touch of clairvoyance, a no-nonsense detective, and an apologetic, two-timing ex-fiancé. Will the negative publicity impact business at the Music Box— the very place she’d hoped to make a fresh start?

What inspired your story?

I wanted to write a mystery for quite some time but always veered into sweet romance territory. The summer of 2019, I was strolling along the beach in Hampton, NH when the idea to drop my next book into that setting took shape. The idea snowballed into the realization that a cozy mystery could include elements of sweet romance while staying true to the cozy mystery genre. My hope was for readers to enjoy following the trials and tribulations of a relatable character as she navigates a new path while managing a variety of family dynamics and extracting herself from a limelight she never planned on stepping into.

Give us a brief look at your writing process. Are you a plotter or pantser? How much time did you spend on this project? What is your writing schedule like?

I begin each manuscript as a pantser but eventually make periodic stops to draft and update an outline. I spent a few years writing and editing A Sour Note. The summer of 2020 limited social activities, so that allowed for more time for writing. I am also a teacher and am limited to nights and weekends during the school year.

Enjoy an excerpt of A Sour Note:

With his mouth set in a grim line, he waited.

If anyone else had enough nerve to presume she owed them an explanation, she would respond with a solid mind your own business. Instead, the seventeen-year-old still inside her refused to tell him to get lost. “He was hiding money in his office.” This was one of those times when learning how to wait a few beats before blurting out inflammatory information would come in handy. Each second of passing silence decreased her ability to breathe in the confined space. She turned the ignition and switched on the air conditioner.

“How do you know?” His volume just above a whisper, each dragged-out word hung in the air.

“I found it.”

“When were you in his office?” He swiped at a bead of sweat trickling down the side of his face, then positioned a vent toward him.

“Last night.” When would she learn to bite her tongue? Finn’s switch from rapid-fire scolding to slow, deliberate questioning left her unable to swallow over the sandpaper lump in her throat.

“Where was Vic?”

She stared at the back of the building, wishing she’d kept her mouth shut. “He’d left for the night.” If she averted her gaze, she could pretend his eyeballs weren’t bugging out of his head, and his jaw didn’t need a crane to haul it off his chest.

“You were at the town hall after hours? Did anyone see you?”

“A custodian opened his door for me.” She snuck a glance. Sure enough, features contorted in shock and horror replaced his boy-next-door good looks.

A Sour Note can be purchased at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Jill Piscitello is a teacher, author, and an avid fan of multiple literary genres. Although she divides her reading hours among several books at a time, a lighthearted story offering an escape from the real world can always be found on her nightstand.

A native of New England, Jill lives with her family and three well-loved cats. When not planning lessons or reading and writing, she can be found spending time with her family, trying out new restaurants, traveling, and going on light hikes.

Follow Jill at her website: https://jillpiscitello.com/

Why I Chose a “Small” Press

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

When I finished my first draft of Bondwitch, I googled “how to publish a book”, and boy, did I have a long road ahead of me. After lots and lots of editing, comments from beta readers, and more editing, I had a choice to make: query an agent, query a small press, or self-publish.

Querying an agent seems to be the more traditional path. Once an author signs with an agent, their agent will then pitch the author’s book to a publisher. If the publisher accepts the book, then the book gets published. The publisher has an editor, artist, and marketing team to help with the process

Going with a small press is very similar to the above, just minus the agent. The author acts as their own agent. They query the publisher, the publisher either accepts or rejects the book. These publishers are called “small press” because they either don’t publish as many books as “The Big Five” publishers per year, or they aren’t as well known, or they don’t offer the “whole package” (for example, one author friend is with a publisher who requires its authors to hire their own editor and cover artist, and the publisher covers everything else). Even with the label of “small”,  some are still pretty large. 

Self-publishing is where the author does everything on their own: editing, cover art, formatting, and marketing – or they pay someone to do it.

Of the three, self-publishing is the only one that guarantees your book will get published. If you want a publisher to publish your book, they have to accept it. That is often a long and painful road of rejections before someone believes your book is marketable. 

Regardless of which path an author takes, marketing is something the author must be heavily involved in. We have to create ways in which potential readers will come across our book and hopefully buy it. 

At first, I thought I wanted to go the agent route. As I researched agents who repped fantasy and romance, I discovered something. Most agents don’t accept a broad genre. They have something called a Manuscript Wish-List, which specifies what kind of stories within a chosen genre they are interested in. For example, one agent may list “Urban Fantasy with a strong female protagonist”. See how more specific that is than just “fantasy”? So as I looked at agents’ MSWLs, very few of them were asking for the kind of story Bondwitch is – or, at least it seemed that way to me. And the ones who did, wanted to rep authors from marginal backgrounds; and as a straight white Christian, that’s not me. Now, I want it understood that I am not victimizing myself here. I completely respect those agents for wanting to give diverse authors a better chance in the publishing world. It just simply meant that I needed to choose a different publishing path. 

As I started looking at small publishers, I came across a similar problem with agents. Many of them are so small, that they publish a very specific type of story, that once, again, Bondwitch did not fit into. Bondwitch falls under “mainstream” YA Fantasy, and many small publishers pride themselves on publishing more “unique” stories. 

At the same time that I was researching agents and small publishers, I started getting feedback from beta readers. Many of them couldn’t finish because they said they didn’t care for romance. I didn’t think I wrote a romance. Yes, there is a strong romantic subplot, but the main plot is not a romance. But, if the subplot was that big of a deal to potential readers, I needed to look at my genre categories differently. This led to a lot of research that I’ll talk about in a future post. But long story short, I was able to find a list of small publishers that had fantasy lines and romance lines, that way Bondwitch could fit into both. 

I actually found The Wild Rose Press by accident. Several of the stories I read on Readict  had “Published by The Wild Rose Press” at the end. I looked them up, and they didn’t require an agent for an author to query them! The stories I had been reading fell under the same aesthetic as Bondwitch, and I felt deep in my soul that The Wild Rose Press was the publisher for me. (My experience querying them can be read here.)

After all that research, and lots of thinking and going back and forth, I decided that querying a small press was the route for me. I like the idea of being my own agent, but I also need help with everything beyond writing the story. So the small press seemed like a great choice for me. I also believe in my story enough, that if all the publishers I queried rejected me, I was going to self-publish. While I queried, I created a self-publishing plan, just in case. Luckily I didn’t have to implement it, but at least I have it on the back burner if I ever want to, or if a future story doesn’t work for traditional publishers. 

I am very happy with The Wild Rose Press and I hope to stay with them for a long time. They will always be my first choice.