Thursday, January 31, 2013

PROMISE ME

I am IN LOVE with this cover. Maybe because it's -40 with the windchill where I live. Or maybe because I just flat-out love this story, too. No link to click on yet--it's publishing on Amazon as I type--but here's the blurb so you know what it's all about!





Emma Wakefield needs a little direction.

Fresh off a cultural exchange trip to rural Mexico, she's back home in San Diego, contemplating her next move. She knows what she's promised to do—sign up for a couple of college classes, spend time with her germaphobic boyfriend and find a job—but none of these things sound very appealing. She doesn't want to just keep spinning her wheels. She wants to move forward, with purpose. But something is holding her back.

A chance meeting with a fellow student at the local community college may afford her the opportunity she's looking for...and an overheard conversation may just provide the incentive she needs to kick start her life. It might mean taking a risk and stepping outside of her comfort zone.

And it definitely means breaking promises...so she can make one to herself.


Wednesday, January 9, 2013

PROMISE ME Sneak Peek!

On my Facebook page, I posted a picture of a beautiful beach and asked people to guess the locale. The prize? A sneak peek at PROMISE ME. A couple of you guessed correctly -- Mission Beach in San Diego, one of my favorite places on earth.

So here it is, the first chapter of the new Me novella, PROMISE ME (to be released January 2013).





ONE




The smell hit me first. I walked through the sliding doors that led me out of the San Diego airport, my backpack hitched over my shoulder, and breathed in.
It smelled liked home.
Ocean. The soft hint of flowers. A little car exhaust, too, but I didn't focus on that. There was no stench of rotting garbage, of unclean bodies, of sickness and disease and poverty. Mexico might be a mere thirty miles to the south but it was worlds away by the smell of things.
A horn honked twice in quick succession and I searched the curb. I spotted Grant's white BMW idling a few yards away. I maneuvered my way to his car, sidestepping out-of-towners as they loaded cartfuls of luggage into waiting SUVs and hotel busses.
Grant opened the driver's side door just as I got to the curb, a smile plastered on his face. He crossed the pavement in three quick steps and reached for me.
His arms enveloped me but he didn't kiss me. “Hey, babe.”
I snuggled into his chest, my lips almost touching the place where the collar of his t-shirt ended and the smooth expanse of tanned skin began. I didn't want to kiss his neck. I wanted to bury my lips against his, sink my teeth gently into his lower lip, thrust my tongue into his mouth.
But Grant didn't kiss like that.
I pulled away and planted a kiss on his cheek and then, before he could stop me, brushed my lips across his. I opened my eyes as I did this and smiled inwardly when he didn't frown. Maybe three months apart had made him less of a germaphobe.
He disentangled from my arms. “Come on, Emma. Not here,” he said quickly.
Or maybe not. I sighed. It wasn't like I expected anything different. Two years off and on with him since junior year had taught me a lot. Sex was more than fine with him. Deep throat kissing was not.
“How are you?” he asked as he lifted my backpack off my shoulders. He opened the back passenger seat and set it on the pristine carpet.
“Tired,” I said. “Hungry.”
I glanced at him, at his sun-kissed hair and sea-green eyes and I felt desire bubble up inside of me. Tired and hungry and horny, I thought. But I kept that to myself.
He nodded. “You look like you've lost about twenty pounds.”
I was pretty sure I had. And I hadn't needed to lose any.
I slipped into the front seat. The air conditioner was on full-blast and I shivered. I'd spent the last three months living in an adobe-walled, tin-roofed shanty just outside of Puerto Vallarta. No one had air conditioning there. No one had cars.
Grant eased the BMW into gear and pulled away from the curb. His hand found my thigh. “You want to grab something to eat first? Or head home? Or my place?”
I thought for a minute. I was starving. I'd spent weeks living on beans and rice and tortillas. Most days, just tortillas. I'd be happy to never eat Mexican food again. I wanted a hamburger and french fries and a massive diet Coke from In-n-Out.
But I also hadn't had sex in ninety-one days. Not like I was counting.
More than anything, though, I was filthy. I ran my hand across my ponytail, my fingers sliding easily across the greasy strands. A shower with hot water and scented soap and clean, fluffy towels sounded better than an entire tray full of burgers and fries. Or a romp in bed.
I decided. “Home.”
Within minutes, we were northbound on 5, cruising past Bay Park. Grant chatted about people we knew and what he'd been up to, bringing me up to speed on the summer I'd missed out on. We'd only talked a few times during my impromptu trip and I'd wondered what it would be like, coming home. I'd asked him when I'd called the night before, finally able to recharge my cell phone as I waited for my flight out of the airport in Puerto Vallarta. He'd assured me that he still loved me, that there was still an “us,” that nothing had changed.
I watched the sailboats bob in the bay, focused on the jet-skis whizzing through the water off Fiesta Island. Bikers and joggers clogged the sidewalks that meandered through the park, passing the Hilton Resort where I'd gone to my senior Prom. Palm trees lined the cobalt blue bay and seagulls soared overhead, squawking and searching for food. Children played and flew kites and teetered on bikes and scooters.
It was another picture perfect day in paradise. It all looked exactly the same, exactly the way I'd left it three months ago.
Nothing had changed.
Except me.
*******
Stay tuned for the full novella -- coming soon!

Friday, October 26, 2012

CHOOSE ME now available!

CHOOSE ME, the latest in the "Me" novellas is now available.



Wondering what it's about?


Meg Adams couldn't be happier. An artist living in Minneapolis, she's making a decent living doing what she loves. She has a house full of great roommates and Andy, a boyfriend she adores. Life is good. Better than good.

When an opportunity to take her art to the next level presents itself, Meg decides to give it a shot. She exhibits in a local art show, with minor success. But that show leads her to an important connection that just might allow her to break out in the national art scene. The only problem? She'll have to go to Washington, D.C. to do it. Which means leaving her home and Andy.

Meg visits D.C. to explore the opportunity and soon discovers that the situation is far more complicated than she thought. There are some tough choices to make, choices that will affect far more than her success as an artist. They just might affect her entire future, including her relationship with Andy.

Can she live with the choice she has to make?



If you've read SAVE ME, you'll see some familiar characters in this novella...and some new ones, too!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

LOVE ME is free today!

If you're reading this on October 25th -- GOOD NEWS!! LOVE ME is free on Amazon today. This novella features characters from MATCH ME -- most notably, Bonnie's best friend Jill and her boyfriend Domenico. 

It was super fun to write and I hope you enjoy it!


Wednesday, October 3, 2012

LOVE ME is here!


Love Me is available on Amazon!



For Jill Wegman, there’s just one thing standing in the way of finishing law school.

Her fabulous boyfriend, Domenico.

Despite her best friend’s objections, she decides to end the relationship so she can stay focused on her studies. Her best friend, Bonnie, has other ideas, though, and concocts a scheme to throw the two back together so Jill can see just what she’s giving up. Tricked into going on an impromptu vacation, Jill is forced to spend time with her ex-boyfriend, who is still reeling and angry from the unexpected break up.

When she finds herself with no money and no phone, and her ex as her only companion, Jill is forced to consider why she's willing to give up a guy most women would beg for. 

Is she being honest with herself? Or is there something else, something that’s haunted her for longer than she cares to admit, that is now threatening her own happiness?

Will Jill stick to her guns and focus on law school? Or will she take a chance on Domenico and on love?

Friday, September 28, 2012

LOVE ME: Music That Inspired Me

Love Me will be available soon -- like, in a couple of days soon! If you've read Match Me, you probably already know how much music inspires my writing. After all, the premise of that book was inspired by Taylor Swift's Speak Now.

This song has been on steady rotation on both Sirius and my favorite radio station here in the Cities. And it was a big inspiration for Love Me, Jill's story. 

In a couple of days, you'll see why. :)

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy I Will Wait by Mumford and Sons. Brilliant song.





Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Will The Real "ME" Please Stand Up?

There is a little bit of me in all of the characters I write. Always has been. Sometimes it's just a mannerism, or a favorite food, or something else infinitesimally small. In Set In Stone, my YA novel, the Chinese restaurant in the book really is one of my favorite restaurants. In Nine Lives, Nick has conversations with his mom that are eerily similar to the ones I have with my own 11-year-old.

But then there are the ME books. Now, to be clear, I have never crashed an ex-boyfriend's wedding like Bonnie does in Match Me. But I did work in a crazy toy store while I was in college. And I do have a pack of tarot cards that I am woefully inept at using. And the turtle is my totem animal. :)

It's easy to use fact when crafting fiction, to weave it in and tweak it in just such a way that it is similar to real life...yet different. 

Writing instructors often tell students: Write what you knowAbsolutely. In my case, with the Me novellas, I am simply writing who I am. :)

Save Me has even more pieces of me threaded into the story. But I'll save that for next time...