USA Today Bestselling Author of Urban Fantasy Romance and Fantasy Romance
Another Wicked six for your Sunday enjoyment.
With her face cradled in his hands, he leaned in close enough her tongue could have traced his lips. Near enough she smelled caramel on his breath and decided he had a thing for hard candy. “Forget your plan. I’ve forgotten mine.”
His mouth covered hers and she had no trouble forgetting everything but his taste. His kiss migrated down her chin and throat as he sank to his knees.
Check out more SSS excerpts on the official blog, right here.
I guess it must be, because I found a review for it on Naughty in the Backseat today. 😉
Everlong by Hailey Edwards
Review by PepperEverlong by Hailey Edwards is a thoroughly enjoyable read. Edwards has created a complex world filled with danger and intrigue. Her characters are complicated and well developed. The pace is fairly fast for most of the book, and even when it slowed a bit, the characters and their world were enough to hold my interest. And the touches of humor only add to the appeal.
Everlong is told from the point of view of Maddie, the demon princess with her tragically amputated wings, who is thrust into a new life in a strange place, where her royal blood is more of a handicap than an asset. In this earth-like world, where coffee is addictive —the demons’ drug of choice—our hero, Clayton Delaney runs a settlement for demon who have escaped the slavery enforced by the queen, Maddie’s mother. When Maddie ends up in his settlement, she blames her attraction to Clayton on his resemblance to his brother Harper, Maddie’s long-lost first love. She tries to resist Clayton, but he refuses to be denied. Gotta love a demon that just won’t give up!
One of the things I particularly liked about Edwards is that she wasn’t afraid to have Maddie fall for someone other than Clayton prior to their first meeting. So many times in romantic fiction, the hero and heroine come together never having loved anyone before each other. Which to my mind, isn’t the way the real world works. In Everlong, Maddie comes to Clayton, not only still harboring feelings for her first love, but thinking that first love is dead. That makes him almost a legend in her mind, so Clayton has a great deal to overcome.
Maddie’s life is no picnic either, especially with all the complications of being a demon about to come into her first heat. Still, with all the luscious demons she had to choose from, I’d put up with all the problems just to be Maddie’s situation myself. Too bad things like this only happen in fiction.Maddie’s story is told in first person, which I normally don’t care for, but Edwards handled it well-enough I could lose myself in Everlong despite my obvious bias. Read it and see if you don’t agree.
Find the rest of the review here.
I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating. This is a book I didn’t think would ever be published. I knew it was different. I knew the characters were flawed and scarred and their situations aren’t exactly typical in romance. I can’t thank my editor at Samhain enough for loving this book as much as I do and being willing to give me the chance to tell a story the way I wanted.
(Okay, that part’s a lie. I do what the characters tell me to. Shh.)
Although I didn’t have concrete plans to write a sequel, reader response has encouraged me to write a second novel set in this world.
When I complete my revisions on Wicked Kin and submit it, I plan to start writing Everafter, which will be Harper and Emma’s story.
It will be told from Emma’s pov, and it will reveal how very little Maddie knew about her sister. In this novel, we’ll see the underbelly of the colony and Askara, instead of the often rose-colored version Maddie saw. And then there’s Harper. Emma survived his loss by coddling Maddie. Now Maddie has Clayton, and Emma has…a pissed off Evanti demon who has waited five years to claim his mate and consummate their bond.
Now I don’t know about you, but I’m thinking he won’t take no for an answer. 😉
Earlier today, while Cait was hard at work on her homework, and I was hard at work on revisions, this link to a song perfect for the future Mrs. Jericho Barrons (You might know her as Jayzee) somehow found its way from Cait’s computer to mine.
(Let’s not over analyze here.)
Now, I’m not a fan of country music. I like some of the older stuff I grew up listening to, and I do love me some Taylor Swift, but this Sugarland video is worth watching for laughs.
I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. 🙂
Here’s another six from Wicked. Things are starting to get interesting in Piedmont. 😉
“That boy’s got it, and he doesn’t even know how bad.” Tilting her head to one side, she smiled. “They’re kind of cute at that stage.”
Raising a hand to her mouth, Chloe said, “I feel like I just caught a tiger by the tail.” She glanced at Neve. “Now what do I do with it?”
“You remember how grumpy you were when you woke up alone this morning,” she offered a wry grin, “and you do whatever it takes to avoid having an empty bed tonight.”
For more delightfully naughty fun, check out the official SSS blog right here.
I learned a valuable lesson about writing a synopsis yesterday. I’ve only written three, ever, so my efforts were seriously lacking.
I did a great job of giving a chapter by chapter rundown of events and characters. (Exactly what every editor says they don’t want.) So if you read the synopsis, you knew exactly what my plot was and how the major events occurred. You also probably knew all my cast of characters and the roles they played in the story.
What you didn’t know was why. I mean, I’m sure any seasoned editor could guess the hero and heroine’s motivations. Editors are smart like that. 😉
But it’s my job as the author to tell the story of my book in my synopsis. It is not my job to give a play-by-play of every event in the book.
So rather than saying:
Little Timmy went to the store. He bought ice cream. Then he brought it home. His mom was happy.
It should be more along the lines of:
Little Timmy’s mom is an ice cream aficionado. There’s a new parlor in town but a broken hip leaves her on mandatory bed rest. She’s unable to attend the grand opening, even though she had her heart set on it.
Careful not to rouse her suspicions, Little Timmy sneaks out of the house (with the help of his grandfather or other responsible adult, I’m sure) and heads to the parlor. While there, he purchases a scoop of her favorite flavor as well as one of the special editions. When he returns home, his mother wraps him in her arms and tells him he is the best son in the whole wide world.
Okay. My examples are kind of horrible, but I hope they illustrate the point. It’s not enough to know what happened. Your editor/agent needs to know what’s happening behind the scenes. Why it was so important for Little Timmy to go to town and why his mother was so pleased upon his return.
You want your editor/agent swept up in your story. If your synopsis is bland, they might assume your novel is too. And that’s definitely not the impression you want to give them after months of laboring over your project.
So the next time you’re synopsizing, keep motivation in mind. We don’t need to know about your secondary characters, no matter how awesome they are. We don’t need to know every single event that takes place. We need the broad strokes and a reason to care for your main characters as much as you do.
Disclaimer: There are as many ways to write a synopsis as there are subgenres in fantasy–almost infinite. I don’t think two people have ever given me the same advice. It’s like writing, you have to take a little here and there, mash it together, and use what makes sense to you. We’re all learning as we go, and that’s the most anyone can ask of you.
Hailey writes about questionable applications of otherwise perfectly good magic, the transformative power of love, the family you choose for yourself, and blowing stuff up. Not necessarily all at once. That could get messy.
