Books are friends...

Friday Five - A random mix for today...

A new after school date with Kat...

This is Kat's first year of middle school and the knowledge that with each passing year, the time she's going to want to spend with me is going to lessen. So, this year we started something new. Almost every week, we go out after I pick her up from school for a treat. Our favorite place to go is a new smoothie place that just recently opened up...Tropical Smoothie Cafe.

Even more surprising...I've discovered my favorite smoothie is the Detox Island Green which has spinach, kale, mango, pineapple, banana, and fresh ginger in it. I never would have ever ordered it on my own...because it sounds disgusting, but Ben ordered one so I tried his and fell in love. It's seriously refreshing...and good for me. WIN/WIN!

ARC/Readers Group...

I'm giving serious thought to starting one of these. It would be on Facebook as a group and would be open to anyone who wants to join (at least for right now). This group would get a bit more insider info about what I'm currently working on with possible exclusive sneak excerpts and cover reveals early. 

The people in this group would also have the chance to get FREE advanced reader copies of upcoming releases in the hopes that you would like it enough to give it a review online. What do you think? Do you like this idea? Give me feedback. 

(Note...all ARC's are completely voluntary...you would never be under obligation to read a certain book as I know that I write all over the place and not everything is to everyone's taste.)

Also, if you're interested...I have ARC's to give away of CRAZY LOVE. 

Just leave a message here, or email me your thoughts/requests... snowchris_01@yahoo.com

Rascal...

Anyone that follows along my Instagram account is probably familiar with my three cats. Our mustached one, Rascal, has been facing some medical issues. The vet thinks he's figured out what's going on (he has a pancreatic disease). It should be treatable, but we're going on a month of treatment now and Rascal still isn't getting better. Long story short...because his pancreas isn't functioning right, it doesn't matter how much he eats, he's basically starving to death because his body isn't processing the food right. 

Life is so hard right now for us trying to take care of him and him...he's so hungry even though I'm feeding him three times/day...so if you all could offer up some positive thoughts for him, I'd appreciate it. He needs all the good vibes he can get right now.

Rust & Wire Boutique...

It's been a while since I talked about some of my favorite things (Note...that's the theme for next week's Friday Five since we're coming into the holidays.)

Recently, I discovered a new etsy shop that I love and thought I'd share two of the signs I've bought there just because I love them both so much.

Welcome to Rust & Wire Boutique.

Five things about CRAZY LOVE...

Crazy Love just released last week, so you know I'm not through talking about it yet...

So, today I'm going to share five characters from the book (and yes, I consider the actual bookstore one of those characters because it plays a huge part in the story).

You can buy Crazy Love here...

link to all retailers

1. Em-Dash...This book is the first in the Bookstore Love duology, so it makes sense to tell you about the bookstore, Em-Dash. Em-Dash is Kali Winters baby. She's the owner. Kali has a really tragic background and part of the reason she made it through those tough times, was her love of the Harry Potter books...another person who had a really tragic childhood. She connected to Harry and her bookstore reflects that. The entire place is filled with HP decor...from a Whomping Willow tree by the kids area to Platform 9 3/4 which is part of a seating area (where the hero, Ten, tends to hang out). 

(Book #2, Tasty Love, takes place in the bakery located in the back of the bookstore. It's run by Val, Kali's best friend.)

2. Ten...The hero of our story. Tennyson Helms fell into becoming a YouTuber when he was in college. His YouTube show, Ten with Tennyson, became hugely popular, much to his surprise. It was never meant to be a career. It was just something he did for fun, but now it's getting in the way of what he really wants to do, investigative journalism. It doesn't help that Kali considers his show a joke (she has no idea how truly big and successful it really is...she just knows he has some sort of vlog.) 

3. Kali...Kaliope Winters is not your typical heroine...or bookstore owner. She's had a horrifically tragic life, something that no one in her life is aware of besides her foster brother, Zach. She's seriously tough and her heart is filled with walls and roadblocks, but gah...when someone gets inside there, she is total mush. She's awesome...and covered in literary tattoos. This is a girl who's life was saved by books and that shows in every part of her...if anyone can get close enough to see it.

4. Zach...Zach is Kali's foster brother and when she moved to Aspenridge, she brought him with her. He's a tattoo artist, is gay, and is the only person to really know the true Kali...the hurt little girl behind the mask. He loves and protects her in everything.

5. Val...Valentina Garcia is the owner and baker of the bakery inside Em-Dash. She's Kali's other best friend, although not even Val knows most of Kali's secrets. Val is curvy, Latina, and the girl that everyone in town loves without question. She's also the heroine of the next book in the series, Tasty Love. (which is, hands down, my favorite book that Sarah and I have written together...That's saying a lot because I adore all these books!)

You can buy Crazy Love here...

link to all retailers

Have a great weekend, everyone!

And don't forget to drop me a line if you want an ARC for Crazy Love or are interested in an exclusive readers group.

smiles,

Christi

It's RELEASE DAY for ***Crazy Love***

It's time for some Bookstore Love...

In the next month, Sarah Nego and I are releasing the Bookstore Love duology. These two standalone series books take place in the bookstore, Em-Dash. The heroine for book #1, Crazy Love, is Kali, the owner of the bookstore. The heroine of book #2, Tasty Love, is Val the owner of the bakery in the back of the bookstore.

It's no secret that bookstores have a special place in my heart, but WOW...I adore these two books so much.

They feature two of my favorite tropes...Crazy Love is a enemies to lovers story, while Tasty Love is a second chance at love story. I hope you all love them as much as I do!

She has secrets that need to stay hidden. He’s digging into her life and her heart. Now they have to work together to organize the Aspenridge masquerade ball. It’s going to be a disaster.

When Kaliope Winters opened Em-Dash, the local bookstore, she did it because of a pure love of books...and the need to stay under the radar. But the vlog hottie stealing her wifi keeps making her blow her cool, which isn’t good, because she doesn’t need to draw his attention. He’s too gorgeous, too charming, and way too nosy.

When Tennyson Helms started his YouTube channel, he planned it to be temporary, not his forever career. Now Ten is trying to prove he’s got the chops to make it as an investigative journalist and thinks Kali will be his next big story. She’s acting way too suspicious. Unfortunately, he can’t decide if he wants to investigate her or kiss her.

Enemies-to-lovers takes a whole new meaning when the masks are dropped...

The Bookstore Love duology...

1. Crazy Love
2. Tasty Love (coming November, 2018)

Buy Now...HERE!

Chapter One

Tennyson

I settled into the deep-red velvet club chair with a relieved sigh. Quiet . . . finally. The tension in my shoulders released. I’d been carrying that since I’d stormed out of my house.

Closing my eyes, I inhaled the distinctive scent of books, paper, and words. This right here was a perfect moment. If only she would walk through. I eyed the closed door to her office.

She hated me, but since discovering her, I’d realized I had a masochistic side.

I liked pissing her off.

When her eyes began to flash, my blood started to flow to all the right places.

I should be thanking my clueless roommate, who had driven me here, instead of cursing him.

If I had to go hide out some place in Aspenridge, there were a lot worse places than this tiny corner in Em-Dash, the local bookstore. Here in this corner, under the gilt wood sign identifying this part of the store as Platform 9¾, I’d found my escape, my secret place to work, my place to create, my place to fantasize about the sexy owner who’d otherwise never give me the time of day. Although she liked to give me a hard time.

She never failed to let me know how much I annoyed her, but if annoying her was what it took to get her to lay those beautiful eyes on me, then I was just the guy for the job. I could be obnoxious with the best of them. It was my secret superpower that had kept me labeled as the class clown instead of the nerdy dweeb who got beat up and stuffed into a locker. And for the last few years, I’d managed to make that pay off because it had brought me my YouTube following.

So, yeah. I was basically dipping the tips of her pigtails in ink to get the girl to notice me, but if it worked . . . I shrugged. I could be okay with looking the role of the fool.

Luckily for me, the store was almost always deserted, although that didn’t bode well for the long-term security of my newly claimed workspace.

How did this store stay open and stocked? They always had the newest titles on the shelves but few, if any, customers. If I didn’t know better, I’d say the owner had to be channeling some of the Harry-Potter witchcraft that she was so obsessed with to produce profit. But since that wasn’t the way the real world worked, there had to be something else at play.

The entire store was decorated with the HP theme . . . lots of black-stained wood, gilt letters, and the distinctive touches that signified the various houses from the popular series. It should have seemed childish, but instead it came across as elegant and even kind of cozy.

It was the perfect place for me to escape and write. I opened up my iPad to a new doc and began typing.

Ten with Tennyson – Episode 87

Top Ten Reasons to Live Alone

(Intro sequence)

Beginning: Hello, my minions. Today we’re going to talk about something almost every person out there has to deal with at some point in time. Roommates. The scourge of adulting everywhere. If you are one of those who has never had to deal with this life-blow, consider yourself a lucky bastard—and note (side-eye the camera)—I hate you even while I wish I was you.

Unfortunately, roommates are a fact of most of our lives. But you don’t have to live in this hell-on-Earth forever. Today I’m here to share with you why it’s so important that you rectify this heinous situation as quickly as humanly possible. In other words, find yourself a sugar-daddy/momma, or make sure you’re setting yourself up in a job that makes more than minimum wage.

Reason Number One.

If you don’t come up with another circumstance, you could be condemning yourself to twenty years to life living with a roommate, although this one will call you his bitch. Roommates tempt a person to murder, and that’s never a good solution. Prison means a roommate for life. (Shudder)

Reason Number Two.

Every guy out there likes porn. Admit it guys, you may tell your girl or guy otherwise, but we all know it’s the truth. But it’s just plain creepy when it’s live-action inside your house. Getting horny from your roommate's girl’s orgasmic noises is guaranteed to make breakfast awkward. Trust me on this. (Grimace with distaste)

I shifted uncomfortably as that particular memory reared its head.

Aiden, my roommate, wasn’t that bad. In fact, I really liked him. That was why I still lived with him. There were just times when he got on my nerves, like when he was having loud, awkward sex on our couch when I walked in the front door. It was better to vent my frustrations through making fun of the situation on my show than confronting him and causing a big fight.

Overall, I liked to keep the peace, be the nice guy. Here in her bookstore was the only place where I let my other side out to play, the one who wanted to push her buttons, actually encourage a fight.

Where was the little diva/vixen?

I glanced around the empty bookstore, and the cover of a book on rock climbing caught my eye. What would it be like to be doing that as a career rather than making my life as a YouTube vlogger? Hell, I could get one of those GoPro cameras and do vlogs about my adventures on the edge of a rock face. That had to be more exciting than my current job of making up inane top-ten lists.

Maybe if I broke that story on . . .

“Hey, Ten.”

I looked up into Val’s open, smiling expression. The baker at Em-Dash had girl-next-door good looks with red hair; a bronzed Latina, porcelain-smooth complexion; and dark eyes.

Unlike the owner of the store, who haunted my every dream, Val was actually the nice one in the duo. It would be so much easier if I could crush on her. Hell, Val would probably say yes to a date. If I dared to ask Kali, the odds were good that I’d lose some fingers.

But it wasn’t Val’s open smile that caught my attention. No, my attention focused on the delectable aroma coming from the muffin she held on a plate in her hands. Immediately my mouth watered.

“Tell me that’s for me?” I was already reaching for it, not even waiting for her answer.

She laughed. “Yes. I need you to be my guinea pig. I made this new raspberry cheesecake mocha chip muffin for the girls in the book club, but I’m not sure it works. Will you taste test it?”

I had it shoved halfway into my mouth before her words computed. “Book club? Today?” I asked the question around the delicious muffin melting in my mouth. I moaned at the burst of sugary goodness. “Oh, my god, this is so good.”

“Val!”

My heart rate leapt. The one black blight—albeit a gorgeous one—on my utopian existence in this small corner of the bookstore stalked out of the back room, shooting daggers at the innocent baker.

I rose, ready to step in front of Val to protect her from the wrath of Kaliope DeWinters—chaos in every sense of the word and the owner of Em-Dash.

Her mother had named her correctly as the Queen of Chaos. Kali was dark to Val’s light, wrath to Val’s open smiles, a goddess of vengeance circling the edges of the room, ready to smite any unwanted visitor to her store.

God, she was sexy as hell.

She glared at me even while she lectured Val. “If you feed the wildlife, they come back. I’ve warned you about that.”

Yeah, she didn’t like me much. Her silvery eyes flashed when she was in a temper, and I liked getting under her skin, especially when the result made her even more beautiful. I definitely had a masochistic streak.

She presented herself to the whole of Aspenridge as a normal, respectable shop owner, but I’d seen glimpses of other that made my investigative brain stand up and take notice.

Under her cardigan sweaters, I’d seen little peeks of tattoos.

Even her bookstore, decorated in the benign Harry-Potter theme, gave me a sense that there was much more to Kali DeWinters than she wanted the world to know. It was like the Harry-Potter front was there to divert attention from the reality that she was so much more Slytherin than Hufflepuff.

I, for one, wanted to dig, find out all her secrets, find out what she hid under her layers of respectability and clothing. I was pretty positive that she had a serious wild-child underneath. That intrigued me.

“Oh, come on, Kali.” Val shook her head at her business partner. “Ten doesn’t hurt anything. If you keep driving off our customers, especially the good-looking ones . . .” She waved a hand toward me.

My face heated red. Val thought I was good looking? I studied Kali closer. Did she think so, too? But I couldn’t read anything like that from Kali. My stomach sank a little bit. She just continued to look annoyed . . . at me.

“The girls from the book club are going to start hanging out over at Outdoor Highs for their fireman fix,” Val continued.

Outdoor Highs was the clothing store on the other side of the street that catered to backpackers. The unfortunate result of its clientele, who were usually in the mountains without access to a shower, meant that it smelled much more like body odor and feet than the cinnamon and vanilla that wafted throughout Em-Dash. The women in town tended to avoid it.

I stopped their discussion. “Wait a minute. Book club is today? I thought that was on Thursdays.” And it was Monday. I sure as hell didn’t want to be subjected to the embarrassing comments from the book-club horde. Nothing made a guy feel more like he didn’t measure up than to hear a group of women drooling over the number of abs the local firefighters had on them. I tried to stay fit, but . . . damn.

In every other city in America, book club meant getting together to discuss the merits of one author’s style of writing over another, or hypothesizing about the symbolism the author meant to include in the text. Those were the kinds of book clubs I always imagined my mom attending with her lady friends.

This was not the case in Aspenridge. No, here, book club was a reason for the women of the village to gather and ogle the fire station studs as they washed their fire trucks. The meetings were legendary, and almost every guy in town resented—or hell, if we wanted to be really honest, envied—the guys they focused on for that lust. Although I’d heard rumblings from the married set that evenings on book-club days were the highlight of their week.

Information to be filed under facts you never wanted to know about your neighbors.

Val raised a mischievous, gleeful eyebrow. “Hawke found some rust on one of the new trucks, so now the boys have to wash twice a week.” She let out a lusty sigh. “I do love rust.” She cleared her throat and tried to fake an innocent expression. “And books. It’s always about the books.”

I snorted. “Yeah, you can keep lying to yourself all you want, but the fact is this entire town knows what book club is really about.” I was talking to Val, but I focused on Kali, letting the challenge show in my expression.

She narrowed her eyes at me and rested her hands on her hips, which pulled her sweater just enough that I got a tiny glimpse of black ink at her neckline.

My mouth went dry. I wanted to see more so bad I almost ached. I wanted to strip her clothes from her body. My dick began to thicken, and then she opened her mouth.

“Since you know all about it, you can leave.” She nodded her head toward the front of the store. “Don’t let the door hit you on the ass on the way out.” She turned on her heel and marched back to the rear of the store.

She really didn’t like me much. To be honest, she really wasn’t very nice. She’d never win a Miss Congeniality title, but for some reason, that worked for me. God, I was an idiot, but an idiot who would jump at the chance to earn one of her rare smiles, learn what makes her tick, and get into her pants.

She was sexier than sin, and I wanted to sin. With her. And that was why I couldn’t stay away from her bookstore, no matter how much she insulted me.

WANT TO READ MORE???

BUY NOW

Shhh, guess what's live early...

Now Available on all retailers... 

https://books2read.com/u/bOAD7W

She has secrets that need to stay hidden. He’s digging into her life and her heart. Now they have to work together to organize the Aspenridge masquerade ball. It’s going to be a disaster.

When Kaliope Winters opened Em-Dash, the local bookstore, she did it because of a pure love of books...and the need to stay under the radar. But the vlog hottie stealing her wifi keeps making her blow her cool, which isn’t good, because she doesn’t need to draw his attention. He’s too gorgeous, too charming, and way too nosy.

When Tennyson Helms started his YouTube channel, he planned it to be temporary, not his forever career. Now Ten is trying to prove he’s got the chops to make it as an investigative journalist and thinks Kali will be his next big story. She’s acting way too suspicious. Unfortunately, he can’t decide if he wants to investigate her or kiss her.

Enemies-to-lovers takes a whole new meaning when the masks are dropped...

The Bookstore Love duology...

1. Crazy Love
2. Tasty Love (coming November, 2018)

A Friday Five on Sunday! But I have COVERS and RELEASE NEWS!

Whoa...how is it Sunday already? I swear I was going to get this out to you on Friday...and then life happened. Yikes. I am so sorry...

Especially since I have some HUGE THINGS to share with you in this one.

I HAVE NEW COVERS...and release dates...and I'm so dang excited about all THREE of them!

Yes, you read that right. I have THREE MORE RELEASES COMING IN 2018!!

WHOOHOO!

So, let's get to it.

The first two releases are NEW releases from Sarah Nego and I. 

Crazy Love is the first book in the Bookstore Love duology. 

Yep, you read that right.

This is a brand new release and both books in this series take place inside a bookstore.

Does it get any better than that??

Oh...maybe it does, because both these books are holiday books. Crazy Love takes place in October and is building toward an epic masquerade party. While Tasty Love takes place over Thanksgiving and Christmas. This is a magical time in the Colorado Rockies and I love both these books so much. I hope you love them just as much.

Crazy Love...

RELEASING WEDNESDAY

(October 24)

She has secrets that need to stay hidden. He’s digging into her life and her heart. Now they have to work together to organize the Aspenridge masquerade ball. It’s going to be a disaster.

When Kaliope Winters opened Em-Dash, the local bookstore, she did it because of a pure love of books...and the need to stay under the radar. But the vlog hottie stealing her wifi keeps making her blow her cool, which isn’t good, because she doesn’t need to draw his attention. He’s too gorgeous, too charming, and way too nosy.

When Tennyson Helms started his YouTube channel, he planned it to be temporary, not his forever career. Now Ten is trying to prove he’s got the chops to make it as an investigative journalist and thinks Kali will be his next big story. She’s acting way too suspicious. Unfortunately, he can’t decide if he wants to investigate her or kiss her.

Enemies-to-lovers takes a whole new meaning when the masks are dropped...

The Bookstore Love duology...

1. Crazy Love
2. Tasty Love (coming November, 2018)

 *****

Tasty Love...

RELEASING NOVEMBER

Eight years ago, she broke his heart.

Eight years ago, he vowed never to let her hurt him again.

Now, they have to work together to keep their town safe.

At the age of sixteen, Val Garcia made the worst mistake of her life. She trusted the wrong guy, and hurt the guy she loved. She can never atone for that one mistake, but she’s trying.

As a cop, Spencer Murdock is trained in the art of evasion, but that isn’t helping him avoid the pariah in his life...his first love, Val. It doesn’t help that as the town baker, his friends and coworkers are always moaning over her cupcakes. Yeah, it sounds dirty to him when they do it, too.

Now, he has to work with her daily, see her daily, listen to her soft voice and see her smooth skin...daily. And daily he’s seeing her more as the girl he fell in love with, not the girl who destroyed him.

There’s no way they can have a second chance. That trust is broken. But every day there are glimpses that make them both ask...what if?

*****

Found at the Rock Concert...

RELEASING DECEMBER

A wounded rock star, a bodyguard, and a CEO get trapped in a snowed-in cabin...

It sounds like the beginning of a joke, but it’s not. This is the start of an epic love story between three men. Three men who have a history twined together with encounters and impressions that have marked their years.

They just never realized how all those brief encounters would eventually change their lives forever.

Daniel, the rock star who survived a plane crash who’s trying to figure out how to live his life without his legs.

Luke, the bodyguard who made so many mistakes and now thinks he doesn’t deserve the man he’s loved for years.

Austin, the CEO who thinks he’s on the outside pulling the strings, but what he doesn’t realize is without him at the core, this relationship will never work...for any of them.

Three men, one snowy winter cabin, one epic love story waiting to be discovered...

*****

Doing the research...

I have a book to share with you just because I loved reading it so much!

One of the best ways I've discovered to research is by reading biographies. 

This week, I picked up a couple that were about men who've lost limbs. 

The first was Stronger by Jeff Bauman.

Wow.

This was an incredibly engrossing story about one of the survivors from the Boston Marathon bombing. I highly recommend it. I hardly put it down once I started it (note...this book is a LOT of the reason why I didn't get this post up Friday...hehe).

The New York Times bestselling memoir of the 27-year-old Boston Marathon bombing survivor.

When Jeff Bauman woke up on Tuesday, April 16th, 2013 in the Boston Medical Center, groggy from a series of lifesaving surgeries and missing his legs, the first thing he did was try to speak. When he realized he couldn't, he asked for a pad and paper and wrote down seven words: Saw the guy. Looked right at me, setting off one of the biggest manhunts in the country's history.

Just thirty hours before, Jeff had been at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon cheering on his girlfriend, Erin, when the first bomb went off at his feet. As he was rushed to the hospital, he realized he was severely injured and that he might die, but he didn't know that a photograph of him in a wheelchair was circulating throughout the world, making him the human face of the Boston Marathon bombing victims, or that what he'd seen would give the Boston police their most important breakthrough.

In Stronger, Jeff describes the chaos and terror of the bombing itself and the ongoing FBI investigation in which he was a key witness. He takes us inside his grueling rehabilitation, and discusses his attempt to reconcile the world's admiration with his own guilt and frustration. . Brave, compassionate, and emotionally compelling, Jeff Bauman's story is not just his, but ours as well.

*****

The song that I have on constant repeat right now...

Right now, I'm writing Found at the Rock Concert. It is a tough story...just because there's so much to these three guys and their complex relationship.

But this song right here IS Daniel.
Daniel is the rock star who lost his legs when his plane crashed in the ocean...so this song fits him in so many ways.

He's trying not to drown under his family's need to take care of him.
He's trying not to drown under the unknown of how his life will work from now on.
And he's trying not to drown under the unfathomable loss of his legs, but also his music that's disappeared from his mind as depression has taken hold.

See, I told you...emotional.
But wow, I'm LOVING this story...and this song.
Go listen to it. It's powerful!

Whew, that was a lot.
But there's more to come!
I'll be back Wednesday with all the New Release information for Crazy Love.

Are you ready?
smiles,
Christi