Wow, as more than one reader has reminded me, this post is WAY overdue. Sorry about that! I plead Deadline Brain, which pushes a lot of things to the back burner in favor of the almighty word count, heh. Anyway, better late than never, right? Without further ado, here is the “playlist” of songs that I listened to while I wrote Into The Fire, the fourth and final Night Prince novel. Some of these songs, I also listened to when I wrote the first three Night Prince books. See? Who says I can’t be sentimental? ;).

Usual disclaimer: As many of you know, writing to specific music helps put me in the right frame of mind because I’m conditioning myself to write a particular story whenever I hear those songs (not saying this will work for every writer, but it works for me). That being said, there’s no hidden meaning for the book in these songs. Some of these songs are recommendations that you, readers, have given me, so thank you again! But, music tastes are as personal as reading tastes, so if you don’t like some of the bands/songs, no problem. Just please don’t tell me that I shouldn’t like them, because if a song/band is listed, then I do like it, and no arguing on your part will change my mind :).

Layout is artist name: songs. Artists are in alphabetical order for ease of listing, but this isn’t the order that I listened to while writing because I’m not that organized.

Adele: Set Fire To The Rain, Hello, I Miss You, Water Under The Bridge, Love In The Dark

Alexander Cardinale: Made For You

Amber Run: Noah, Just My Soul Responding, 

Brendon McCreary/Fyfe Monroe: Doll Parts

Colton Dixon: Through All Of It

Dommin: My Heart, Your Hands

Eminem/Rihanna: The Monster

Florence and the Machine: Queen Of Peace, Long and Lost, Third Eye, Which Witch, Cosmic Love

The Fray: The Fighter, Break Your Plans, Munich, Rainy Zurich

Halestorm: I Am The Fire

Hillsong United: Touch The Sky

Kari Kimmel: Nothing Left To Lose

Kings Of Leon: Beautiful War

Kylie Minogue: Into The Blue

Madi Diaz: Ashes

Mat Kearney: Air I Breathe

Morgan Page: Running Wild

Newsboys: Glorious

P!nk: Try

Placebo: Running Up That Hill

The Pretty Reckless: Make Me Wanna Die

Remedy: All Along

Ruelle: Deep End, Take It All

Shinedown: Thick As Thieves

Sia: Bang My Head, Alive

Snow Patrol: In The End

Third Day: Call My Name

Vance Joy: From Afar, Georgia, Fire And The Flood

Vertical Horizon: Underwater

Wish I Was (featuring Cameron Walker): Cutting Ties

Within Temptation: Shot In The Dark, Where Is The Edge

Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Soft Shock

30 Seconds To Mars: War

 

Hi, everyone! I’m so pleased to release the book trailer for THE SWEETEST BURN, book two in the Broken Destiny series. Once again, I partnered with the fabulous Book Candy Studios. Enjoy!

If the “play” button above doesn’t work, go here for the direct link.

Also, below is the entire first chapter of The Sweetest Burn. SPOILER WARNING: If you haven’t read book one, The Beautiful Ashes, you will be spoiled for some events, so proceed with caution. 

Finally, I know some of you have been waiting a long, long, looooong time for this book, so to celebrate its release, I’m going to post a chapter a week from now until its release on June 27th. That will give you an early look at the first four chapters. Happy reading! 🙂

CHAPTER ONE

“Et tu, Brute?” I muttered as I walked along the beach, pulling my cardigan a little tighter against the salt-scented breeze. It would be hot soon, as per usual in Miami, but at this predawn hour, the spring air was a little cool for the knee-length dress I’d thrown on to look for my missing pet.

“Brutus!” I called out, loudly this time. “Where are you?”

I’d been calling him for over fifteen minutes with no response, and I was getting worried. He had never been away from home this close to dawn before. I might not have wanted Brutus when he’d been dumped on me, and he definitely wasn’t anyone’s idea of a normal pet, but over the past couple months, I’d really come to care for him.

Every night for the past two months, he left the house at dusk and was back by 5:00 a.m. at the latest. Before me, Brutus had spent his entire life in darkness, so he didn’t just hate sun; he was afraid of it. That’s why, when he hadn’t shown up by five thirty this morning, I’d gone looking for him. North Shore Open Space Park in Miami was one of his favorite places, and at this hour, the stretch of beach I walked along was deserted.

I scowled at the slowly lightening horizon, my worry increasing. “Brutus!” I yelled again. He’d better not be avoiding me because he’d broken the rules and had eaten someone.

Even if he’d done nothing wrong, if I didn’t find him soon, he’d probably break into someone’s house to avoid the sunlight. If that happened, God help the homeowner if they noticed him and tried to shoo him outside. Talk about an incident that would make the evening news.

“Did you lose something?” an unfamiliar male voice asked from right behind me.

I stiffened. No one else had been on the beach mo­ments ago. Even with the sounds of the surf, my recently upgraded senses should have picked up on someone running straight at me, and he would’ve had to run to cover that much distance in mere seconds.

There was another explanation for how the man be­hind me had so suddenly and soundlessly appeared, but if that was the case, then one of us wouldn’t be leaving this beach alive.

I couldn’t let on that I knew something might be wrong. I turned around and fixed a false smile on my face.

“You startled me!” I said, hoping I sounded more surprised than scared.

A lock of black hair fell over the stranger’s face as he smiled back at me. “Sorry. I heard you yelling, so I came over to see if you needed any help.”

He looked a few years older than me, putting him in his early to midtwenties. Though he was on the skinny side, he was also cute in a boyish sort of way. If I’d have met him when I was back at college last semester, I would’ve thought the shadows that appeared and disap­peared beneath his skin were figments of my imagina­tion. After all, I’d been diagnosed with hallucinations by more than a few doctors. Problem was, now I knew I wasn’t crazy, although some days, I wished I were.

Then, I saw his eyes shine like an animal’s that had caught the light, evidence of the supernatural equivalent of tapetum lucidum. My suspicions had been correct. The guy in front of me might look human to anyone who didn’t have my abilities—which was over 99 percent of the world—but he wasn’t. He was a demon minion.

“I do need a little help,” I said, still smiling although my heart had started to race. “I’m looking for my, ah, dog.”

“Sure,” he said, casually taking my arm. “I think I saw a dog over this way.”

Both of us were lying. Brutus was no dog, and there hadn’t been one anywhere around here. Still, I let him lead me toward the brush that grew along the sea wall. As I walked, I hitched my dress up on the side that he couldn’t see. I’d learned a few things in the past sev­eral months since I discovered that minions and demons existed. The most important lesson? Never leave your house unarmed.

Even as I reached for the knife strapped to my thigh, I glanced at the sky. Brutus was over nine feet tall, as wide as two gorillas and had leathery wings that could double as swords, so now would be a really good time for him to show up.

He didn’t, though, and I drew in a deep breath for courage. Okay, so I was alone on a dark, deserted beach with a minion who’d been endowed with superhuman strength from whatever demon he served. Not good, but hysterics wouldn’t help. I knew that from experience.

“You seem nervous,” the minion remarked.

He sounded amused by the prospect, and that was like a shot of adrenaline to my body. Minions and de­mons had ruined countless lives, not to mention killed my parents, kidnapped my sister and almost killed me more times than I could count. This jerk thought that I was just another human slave to bring back to his demon master’s realm. Well, I had a surprise for him.

I whirled, balancing my weight on my right leg while kicking out with my left. At the same time, I pulled the knife out, smashing it into his face with more force than any human should be able to muster. That, combined with the minion’s downward momentum from suddenly getting his feet kicked out from under him, caused him to drop like a stone. My roommate, Costa, had been training me in hand-to-hand combat, and it had paid off. For the barest second, the minion’s shocked gaze met mine, and I felt a savage thrill at the disbelief in his gaze.

Who’s afraid now? I thought fiercely.

I shouldn’t have taken that brief moment to celebrate. Even with a knife sticking out of his face, he was still deadly. His hands closed over my ankles, yanking hard. I lost my balance and fell backward, twisting away at once to avoid his immediate tackle. He landed on sand instead of me, but then his fists smashed into my lower body. I doubled over, feeling like I’d been hit by a truck. He held on and started to crawl up my body, his grin visible even through the streams of blood coming from where the knife stuck out of his face.

I couldn’t break his grip, so I didn’t try. When he made it up to my thigh, my knee smashed into his face with all the extrahuman strength I had in me. Pain re­verberated up my leg, but this time, I didn’t spare a sin­gle second before attacking again. I grabbed his head and yanked it to the side as hard as I could. A crack sounded and the minion’s whole body went limp.

I managed to roll away, my knees and ribs throb­bing so much that vomiting felt like a good way to cel­ebrate. Still, I was exultant. Looks like those fighting lessons had really paid off! In fact, Costa had trained me so well, my actions had felt more like muscle mem­ory instead of a conscious decision to kill someone. I had killed the minion, though, and he wasn’t the first one, although he was the first one that I’d taken on by myself with only a normal weapon.

Being a killer hadn’t been anywhere on my list of life goals six months ago, when I’d been a junior at WMU. Since then, I’d had to learn how to do that as well as do a lot of other strange, unpleasant things. Thank you, unexpected supernatural lineage. You are the gift that keeps on giving.

With a suddenness that still startled me, the min­ion’s body dissolved until nothing but ashes remained. They began to blow away in the same ocean breeze that whipped my hair around like dozens of dark brown scarves. The way minions and demons turned to ash after death was the only considerate thing they did.

Even though everything hurt, I heaved myself up from the sand. Bruised and battered or no, I still had to find Brutus.

I was in the process of brushing the sand off me when my surroundings changed in an instant. The sand turned to sheets of ice, the light became pitch darkness and the sounds from the surf ceased with such abrupt­ness that the new silence was ominous. The worst part was the cold. My teeth began to chatter, and the frigid air felt like it scattered razors across my skin.

Just as quickly, the dark, frozen world disappeared, leaving me back on the beach with a warm, salt-scented breeze and mauve-colored shades of dawn starting to the paint the horizon. Still, I felt stiff from more than the cold that seemed to linger on the air. That hazy, alter­nate version of this area wasn’t a full-on sensory hal­lucination, although all of my former doctors would’ve sworn otherwise. Instead, it was a glimpse of a realm that hovered right over this one.

Physicists call it M theory—the idea that different dimensional layers existed next to each other. I called it a shitload of trouble, because that sunless, icy world was a demon realm. My lineage gave me the ability to catch glimpses of these deadly realms, but for some reason, I hadn’t spotted this one before. If I’d known that a demon realm existed right on top of this place, I would’ve never walked this beach at all, let alone by myself before the sun was fully up.

Before I could turn around to leave, a large slash sud­denly appeared in the air and three people stepped out of it. At once, the supernatural tattoo on my right arm began to burn. I gripped it without looking away, and the part of my brain that wasn’t freaking out figured out what was going on.

The minion I’d killed hadn’t snuck up on me using his supernatural stealth and speed. He’d simply crossed from a demon realm into this one through a gateway that I hadn’t known was there.

I didn’t have time to wonder if the realm was new, or if it had always been there and was now accessible to this world through an ominous crack. The three new minions seemed startled to see me, but then their gazes roved from the blood on my dress and cardigan to the very incriminating pile of minion ashes near my feet. When the palest one stretched out hands that turned into living, writhing snakes, it was all I could do not to scream.

Not three minions. Two minions and an unkillable, shape-shifting demon.

Standing and fighting would be suicide, so I snatched my knife from the pile of minion ashes and began to run. The demon barked out an order in a language I recognized all too well, then the minions gave chase, and they were fast. If I had been a normal human, they would have had me in five seconds flat, but I wasn’t normal, and right now, I was glad about that.

I was also glad I had a mental map of the closest hallowed ground near the North Shore park. In fact, I’d memorized every plot of hallowed ground near my house just in case something like this happened. St Jo­seph’s Catholic Church was about seven streets away. If I made it, the demon couldn’t touch me because de­mons couldn’t cross hallowed ground. Minions could, but I’d already killed one today. Why not go for more?

Since sand was harder to run on, I headed toward the sidewalk along the park, needing the flat ground to increase my speed. Behind me, I could hear the min­ions cursing. They hadn’t expected me to make them work for this. That gave me grim satisfaction as I darted around benches and tables in the deserted picnic area. My knees and ribs still throbbed from my earlier fight, but nothing was as great a painkiller as survival in­stinct. As I ran, I counted down the wooden street mark­ers in the park for encouragement. Eighty-Third Street. Eighty-Fourth. The church was just after Eighty-Sev­enth Street. I was going to make it.

Then, even though he was much farther away, I heard the demon yell, “She’s the Davidian!” in a rage-filled roar, and I knew all bets were off. My speed might have been preventing the minions from capturing me, but it also outed me as number one on the demon’s most‑wanted list.

The demon was no longer content to send his min­ions ahead of him like a bunch of hunting dogs. Several quick glances over my shoulder showed him now tear­ing after me himself, and he made the minions look as if they’d been moving in slow motion. Benches, tables and other large objects were hurtled my way as he didn’t just chase me, but actively tried to kill me.

I ducked and weaved around as many as I could, but some still found their mark. I cursed when something heavy smacked me in the back, and while it made me stumble, I forced myself not to fall. Instead, I put all of my energy into running, staying within the limits of the park despite its greater dangers of projectiles. Tak­ing the main road, A1A, would give me a straight shot to the church, but even at this hour, cars were on it. I couldn’t risk someone else getting hurt, and demons loved nothing more than collateral damage.

I’d just rounded a corner that brought me briefly back onto the beach when something slammed into my legs, knocking me over. I rolled at once, making sure not to stab myself in the process, and was back up when a loud, trumpeting snarl sounded overhead.

Brutus, my pet gargoyle, flew toward me, the dawn’s rays highlighting his large, beastly form in different shades of pink. I would’ve been relieved to see him, but I was too shocked by the man riding on Brutus’s back.

The minions and demon saw them, too, and at their confused expressions, I remembered that they didn’t see a large man on the back of a hulking, grayish-blue gargoyle. Due to Archon glamour, all they saw was an angrily squawking seagull somehow carrying his muscular male passenger, and from the way they cocked their heads, they didn’t know what to make of the sight.

“Ivy, duck!” the man yelled.

I hit the sand even as I reeled with shock. Only one person in the world could treat the deadly gargoyle like a winged pony, and that was the same person who’d broken my heart months ago, and then disappeared.

Adrian.

***

Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! You can pre-order your copy of The Sweetest Burn here or at your favorite retailer.

Feeling happy and nostalgic today. My first heroine icon was Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter’s version. I even had the underoos (yes, I’m dating myself by admitting that!) and I wore them all the time. I also regularly swiped my mom’s arm bangles and used a gold belt around my head as a mock crown, as my sisters can attest. Wonder Woman was one of my first inspirations to dare to dream big, and I am so happy that this new Wonder Woman will be an inspiration to countless girls today,too. I know it’s refresher inspiration for me :). The photo below (courtesy of @ MikePEIston on Twitter) pretty much sums it up:

Still feverishly trying to finish this book, but as the subject line says, I wanted to give a last reminder about my upcoming joint appearance & signing with author Ilona Andrews. As I’ve said before, “Ilona Andrews” is actually two people: Ilona and her husband, Gordon. Together, they co-write the #1 New York Times bestselling Kate Daniels series as well as the new and fantastic Hidden Legacy series. In addition to their fabulous writing, they are simply hilarious in person, so if you’re able to attend, I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll have a good time. 

Because I am lazy, I am copying all the info that Ilona helpfully put up on her website post:

When: Tuesday, May 30, 2017, 6:30pm

Where: FOX TALE BOOK SHOPPE
105 E Main ST Number 138
Woodstock, GA 30188
770-516-9989

If you want to hang out a little beforehand, too, there is a “Meet and Greet” with Ilona, Gordon and I at Copper Coin at 5:00 pm. Address: 400 Chambers St, Woodstock, GA 30188 (thanks to Kathryn for arranging this.) A note about Meet & Greets: these are informal chats and chance for you to ask questions.  Because we do not want to compete with the signings at the store: we will not sign anything at Meet  & Greets. Hope to see some of you there!

Finally, if you’re wondering what my other appearances are for the remainder of 2017, go here. They are limited in quantity and location because I am trying to get caught up on my deadlines, so apologies in advance if I won’t be near your area.

Hi, all! If you didn’t read my last post, you might not realize that my recent blog silence has been because I am feverishly trying to finish writing The Brightest Embers, the third and final book in the Broken Destiny series. Shameless side note: book two, The Sweetest Burn, releases on June 27th, so don’t forget to mark your calendars!

Anyway, if all goes well, the book will be finished this month, so it’s all hands on deck keyboard until then. In the meantime, sorry for the cobwebs on the blog. At least it means good productivity, right? 

However, how could I leave you with nothing but excuses for why I’m not blogging more? I couldn’t! Therefore, I give you this hilarious text exchange between a husband and wife. Apparently, the wife is a bit of a practical joker and thought it would be fun to psyche her husband out by pretending that she’d adopted a new “dog.” However, as you can see below, this is no ordinary dog ;). 

I especially got a kick out of this exchange because from childhood, I have brought home many an unusual animal. There was the chipmunk I thought I could keep hidden in my room as a new pet, and who made his appearance known to my father by jumping onto the back of the toilet while my dad was peeing (I was SO grounded after that one!) Then there were the many stray dogs, abandoned baby birds or lost baby duckies I’d find in streets or other not-safe areas, so I’d take them home while I looked up a local wildlife refuge or no-kill shelter, all while hearing my husband say “We are NOT keeping them, Jeaniene!” because (1) at the time, we lived in a small apartment that didn’t allow pets, plus we both worked crazy hours so we were rarely home, yet (2) left to my own devices, I probably would have tried to keep every one of them anyway ;). I also had, at one point, six ferrets, so I really cracked up about the husband’s ferret comment in the text exchange below. Click on the picture to read and enjoy!

Hi all! I know, my blog has been rather silent lately. This is because I’m in the last 30 days of an overdue deadline. Progress on the book is good (yay!), so until it’s finished, I’m just adding my blog to the list of other things not getting their usual amount of attention, such as my inbox, my friends, my husband, my sanity… you get the drift ;).

However, I had to pop up to tell you about a special, limited-time sale for NOLA StoryCon, the “Mardi Gras for readers” convention. As the name suggestions, it’s in New Orleans, LA, from Friday, September 15th through Sunday, September 17th.

Hosts: Jeaniene Frost, Melissa Marr and Kelley Amstrong. 

Special guests: Charlaine Harris and Christine Feehan.

Guest authors: Lara Adrian, Renee Ahdieh, Lou Anders, Lenore Appelhans, Jeanette Battista, Jenna Black, Allison Brennan, Rachel Caine, Kiera Cass, Kristin Cast, PC Cast, Matthew Cody, Bruce Coville, Zoraida Cordova, Delilah Dawson, Alyssa Day, Kimberly Derting, Sonali Dev, Jennifer Estep, Kami Garcia, Molly Harper, Kevin Hearne, Lorraine Heath, Beverly Jenkins, Darynda Jones, Toni L. P. Kelner, Chelsea Mueller, Pamela Palmer, Tom Pollock, Aprilynne Pike, Kerrelyn Sparks, Rachel Vincent and Jaye Wells.

The sale is 15% off all tickets, starting now and ending on May 17th. Just enter the code “Tax_relief” under the “enter promotional code” option at the bottom of our Eventbrite page. Author Molly Harper even made a pretty graphic, which you are welcome to copy and share. Hope to see some of you there!

 

Good news for two-for-one deal lovers: FORBIDDEN CRAVING, the combo collection of both my first Broken Destiny novel, The Beautiful Ashes AND fabulous author Gena Showalter’s revamped novel, The Nymph King, is now available! From the back cover copy:

Two unforgettable fan-favorite novels from the biggest stars of paranormal romance!

The Nymph King by Gena Showalter 

Females young and old, beautiful and plain crave Valerian’s touch. None can resist his blatant sensuality and potent allure—until he steals Shaye Holling from a Florida beach and holds her prisoner in his underwater kingdom. Now Valerian must fight for the privilege of claiming her as his own. Because there’s one thing Shaye doesn’t know…when a nymph discovers his true mate, she’s his for life.  Includes all-new scenes! 

The Beautiful Ashes by Jeaniene Frost 

With her sister missing, Ivy discovers a startling truth—the disturbing, otherworldly hallucinations she’s always had are real, and her sister is trapped in a demon realm. The one person who can help her is the dangerously attractive rebel who’s bound by an ancient legacy to betray her. Adrian and Ivy must battle their desires if they’re to save her sister, but Adrian knows the truth about Ivy’s destiny, and sooner or later, it will be Ivy on one side, Adrian on the other and nothing but ashes in between…

I have been a longtime fan of Gena’s, so I am thrilled to be in this special, two-for-one collection with her. If you haven’t yet read either of these novels, get both for the price of one here or at your favorite book store.

Happy reading, everyone!

Before I get into the new appearances, I have to give a big thank-you to Jennifer L. Armentrout and the staff for ApollyCon 2017. I had a great time this weekend, aside from starting to feel under the weather and thus missing the After Party festivities on Saturday night. However, I’m sure they were as fabulous as the rest of the convention. I look forward to seeing everyone again at ApollyCon 2018!

Next up, as the subject line states, my publisher has added some new, joint appearances on my 2017 schedule. Now, I’m not doing many events this year because I’m trying to get caught up on deadlines, but when I heard that these would be (1) close to where I live, and (2) with BFF Ilona Andrews, how could I say no? I couldn’t, you’d agree! So, here are the three new events that I’m adding to my 2017 calendar:

Tuesday, May 30, 2017,  7:00 PM EDT

Book Event & Signing with Ilona Andrews and Jeaniene Frost
FOX TALE BOOK SHOPPE
105 E Main ST Number 138
Woodstock, GA 30188

 

Thursday, July 27, 2017, 7:00 PM

Book Event & Signing with Ilona Andrews and Jeaniene Frost
BARNES AND NOBLE
2418 E Colonial Drive
Orlando, FL 32803
 

Friday, July 28, 2017, 7:00 PM EDT

Book Event & Signing with Ilona Andrews and Jeaniene Frost
BOOKMARK
220 First ST
Neptune Beach, FL 32266

 

If you didn’t already know this, Ilona Andrews is actually two people: Ilona and her husband, Gordon. Together, they co-write the #1 New York Times bestselling Kate Daniels series as well as the new and fantastic Hidden Legacy series. In addition to their fabulous writing, they are simply hilarious in person, so if you’re able to attend any of these events, I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll have a good time, so mark your calendars! 

That’s it from me for now. My keyboard is calling, so back to work I go ;).