Welcome to the blog hop, and Happy Labor Day!

If you’re ready to feast your eyes on some delicious man candy then click the banner above or follow this link. There will be several grand prizes awarded after the long weekend, so don’t be shy! Click your way through all of the blogs and your name will be entered into the prize drawings.

If you’re interested in winning a copy of my dark fantasy novel, Everlong, leave a comment to be entered into the drawing exclusive to my site.

Now, it looks like these bosses need a little help unwinding. Anyone care to help them? I hear those tie knots can be tricky.

I’ll give you a little context on this week’s Six. Bran is Nathaniel’s godson. He was injured about two chapters ago and the heroine, who hasn’t realized what her hero (or his godson) is yet, sent a balloon bouquet and a teddy bear as get well gifts.

“It’s no joke,” Nathaniel said. “You just had a handful of zeros shaved off your age.”

Tilting his head to one side, Bran entered a staring match with the stuffed toy, as if he couldn’t decide what to make of it. “Is there a reason your friend thinks I’m Little League material?”

“My friend thinks I’m human. That makes you human by default.”

Check out more SSS excerpts on the official blog here.

Here are six more lines from Wicked.

She reached towards his knee. “Stay.” Her lips moved without making a sound before slacking as her eyes rolled back in her head.

He cupped her mouth with his palm, but no air stirred. As he searched for a pulse, her heartbeat vanished beneath his fingertips. A hard shudder wracked her body, lolling her head and turning her face into his palm.

Check out more excerpts on the SSS blog, right here.

Keep in mind, the Kindle 1 is Dad’s. He takes it everywhere. And yes, that means he brings it to work every night as well. He works in computers/maintenance, so his has seen its share of grease, grime, and gunk. It’s still trucking along and has had no issues from his hard use. Kindle 3 was a gift to Mom from Mom. You know how those are.

Also, the living room is off limits because of our various projects. So, today’s comparisons are brought to you by Mom’s ironing board.

Kindle 1 is on the left. Kindle 3 is on the right.

While Kindle 1 is tapered, Kindle 3 is uniformly thin and weighs less than nothing. <-Probably not a technical term.

As you can see, the screens are the same size. The Kindle 3 is ever-so-slightly shorter and narrower.

This is another shot to show the thickness. This shows the chunkier side of the Kindle 1.

(Ignore the tile in the background there.)

I’ve said it before, I love the Kindle. It’s not perfect, but nothing is.

I do think the new $139 pricetag makes it that much more appealing.

Check it out here.

I was surprised that even though I needed help [read as: LOTS of help], everyone seemed to like the story idea. Even better, everyone loved my characters.

Still, I needed help with grammar/commas/everything else you can possibly think of outside of characterization and description…

Enter my first CP, Leigh.

God bless her, she answered my ad for a critique partner right off the bat. She taught me a lot. My pages bled with every edit, but I was learning. She stuck with me until I revised that book, my baby, Blood Tithe.

Sadly, I lacked the skills necessary to have it published at a press I thought would do good by it. Although, it’s my most-offered on MS to date. I always chickened out before signing, and I’m glad I did. I wasn’t ready, the book wasn’t ready, and it is too important to throw away.

A few things happened then. I talked Leigh into taking an editor spot with Liquid Silver Books, which paid her for her time. I wrote the phoenix novellas, and she edited From the Ashes, but let’s not go there…

After that, I planned a year off to write my butt off and study. And study. And study. Then study some more.

Instead, at the end of six months, I had written Everlong. I didn’t think it would sell. I thought it was too sweet, too “me” to be marketable. I was wrong. It got me in the door at Samhain, which continues to astound me. If I didn’t get the royalty checks every month, I wouldn’t believe it happened.

[Insert shameless squeeing--Everlong goes to print on January 4th!!!!]

Anyway…all this happened. Years passed. We both moved on.

Then I get an email from her yesterday. Out of the blue, she thought up a solution to an old plot hole I hadn’t considered. I was humbled that my characters stuck with her this long, that she still believes in that book, and in my ability to write that book.

It’s sort of amazing, really.

Here are a few more lines from my favorite leading man.

Nathaniel growled low in his throat as the overhead lights flipped on and seared his eyes. He’d been sitting in the dark for a reason.

“What are you doing?” Sais sniffed the air as he rounded the arm of the couch. “Holy hell, what have you done?”

He’d tried to numb his conscience and failed.

Head on over to the official SSS blog for more Six Sunday Snippets. Enjoy!

As for the book itself, I can’t begin to tell you how pleased I am with Everlong by Hailey Edwards. It’s a story about forgiveness, breaking out of your shell, and allowing yourself to love someone with all your heart. Madelyn is stubborn, spoiled, but willing to admit when she’s made a mistake. Her growth throughout the book is extensive, transforming her from the naïve princess to a woman who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to go after it. Clayton was a complete surprise. He’s the leader of the colony and can insight drooling from any female at fifty paces. Normally, these characteristics go hand in hand with a stereotypical alpha male: controlling, if not loyal, headstrong, and ready to take what he believes is his. Clayton is nothing like that. Yes, he’s loyal and he can be headstrong, but his feelings for Maddie are so intense he’s willing to whatever it takes to make sure she’s happy, even give her up.

I sincerely hope there will be more stories in this world. An uprising is on the horizon, and I picked out a few side characters I’d love to learn more about. It’s rare to find a book with this much emotion and sexual tension without being bombarded by an overload of the actual sexual act. Again, I was surprised. Maddie and Clayton waited until they were both sure before taking their relationship to the next level. That’s just another reason why Everlong receives 5 tombstones. Very well done, Hailey!