#Beltane Blessings! #MayDay #celebration

Today is Beltane, a day to celebrate fertility, fire, and abundance. As a Leo (not that I'm really a follower of astrology) and a redhead, I have a strong kinship for all things fiery. I'll keep quiet about all the secret little fires I used to set as a child--hey, I never burnt anything down! Other than a few of my parents' flowerpots...
The first of May also marks the first anniversary of losing my main publisher as Breathless and Lycaon Press shut their doors and my publishing dream went down in flames. It was, however, also the day I decided to fully commit to being a self published author, partly to save myself more heartbreak at losing a publisher again. After all, it was my third experience of doing so in just three years as a published author. Over the past year I've seen more publishers closing - most shockingly Samhain - while others have cut their expenses and shifted their strategies in an attempt to remain viable. The early success of small presses pioneering ebooks has not been long lived. It just shows how changeable and unpredictable publishing can be, and why authors need to learn flexibility among our many other skills.
And in just over a month my final contract with a publisher will expire. It's a peculiar thought. Five years ago I had a very different view of my future, and it certainly didn't include being self published. In fact, I very much doubted I'd ever be published at all. I'd spent a year submitting to agents in the UK to no avail, and was in the process of submitting to various small digital-first presses in the US. I'd released a scifi short - The Bones of the Sea - on Smashwords, more as an experiment than as an official debut publication. How things change... A year later my debut novel Keir released via Lyrical Press.
So May is a month of special significance. I celebrate two anniversaries - my official debut as an author and my wedding. It was also the month my mum was born, now gone for 15 years. But I try to dwell on the positive. This year I will have been a published author for four years. This year I will have been married for 23 years - now more than half my lifetime - to a very wonderful man who has held my hand through highs and lows and all the bits in between.
Beltane marks an auspicious time and the beginning of summer. Here's hoping May will bring you good things too! And if you're setting fires, be safe and avoid the flowerpots. :P

Sales, A Shiny Thing and a New Schedule

Until my publisher finally shuts up shop on the 1st of May, there's a real sweetner of a sale - all books just $0.49!! Trust me, you won't get that good a deal on all my books ever again. All my titles are HERE. And to answer a concern raised on Facebook - yes, I will get the royalties from these sales. It's in our contracts, and royalties will continue to come through until money stops being paid to the publisher from external retailers. Since I don't have a definite date for re-release, I'll say this again - if you really want my books, this is the best time to grab them. And especially Zombie Girl: Dead Awakened, since I have no current plans to re-release that one title. I've just signed the official rights reversions for all my books, and will be going ahead with preparing them for a return.

So, as a bit of good news to counter all the sadness. Yesterday I got notification that Restless In Peaceville got an Honourable mention in the YA/NA category of the LR Cafe's Best of 2014 Awards. So stoked! This is the first award for my adorable zombie story, and I guess it's good to be leaving my publisher with a shiny thing for a book that, if not for Breathless/Lycaon, I might have consigned to the dusty depths of the hard drive. It was the first thing I submitted to them, as an unfinished sample during one of their NaNoWriMo critique sessions. I never expected anything more than the 5 page critique they offered. Instead I got a request for the full once it was complete. I was stunned! I had so many doubts with the story but it wouldn't leave me alone. It was the first time I'd had a request for a thing not yet finished. It was my first contract with BP, even though it ended up being my second release there.

But now, for the new schedule. Due to Justyn's extraordinary offer to allow us to keep and use the edited versions of our books (the publishing standard is simply rights reversion of you unedited original, and often including the clause that you cannot use any of the edits provided by the publisher) and to buy our covers, I have my year planned back out. I have to wait on cover art, both adjusted versions from BP and two new covers from my freelance designer Dani, and reformat the insides of my four BP/LP titles. However, I'm confident I will have these all back up at retail sites by the end of May. This means five re-releases in May, including Keir. 

I'll be starting edits for Keir's Fall in June, and I already have the cover art for it (squee!), so that will definitely release before the end of the year. To prevent myself from the same freak-out over deadlines, I won't be announcing a release date until edits are completed. Work on a side story in the series (set directly after Keir) is the project for October. This will initially be offered as a free gift to those who have bought, read and reviewed Keir, then offered for sale at a later date. In the new year I will be working on something tied to the same universe for release in June 2016.

Because of the BP closure and my current intention not to re-release Zombie Girl, I've also stopped work on ZG2 for Camp NaNoWriMo (technically I've already won because I've surpassed the 20K target though the story isn't complete). Because it had no chance to prove itself through sales and because my ideas for it have changed in the last few days, I'm going to shelve the trilogy. Some of you might ask how I can drop a project half done, with so much work gone into it already and when it would-be so easy to put book one straight back up. Well, firstly I wrote book one specifically in answer to a request by Lycaon for YA short stories. Now Lycaon is gone. The idea for the trilogy came after I completed book one, but it was a struggle to fit writing the remaining two books in the editing/releasing/touring chaos of the past year. I had scheduled the two remaining books for both Camp NaNoWriMo events, but obviously the closure came as I worked on book two. Now I need to get my other Breathless titles back up, because not only do they sell but they are in various contests that require them to be available to buy. Otherwise I lose my entry fee and they're only eligibility for the contests (they are all first publication date restricted).

So, I just don't have time to work on a whole trilogy right now. And I'm considering other plans for Zombie Girl. As I wrote the second and realized it was going to go well over my 20K estimate (I had the story mapped out in my head), I knew book three would also be over. Potentially it could give me a 70K+ novel that could stay in its three parts, each section told by the central POV character, but still a complete novel in its own right. Not one I can pitch to an agent (a plan that still hovers at the back of my mind but not my ambition just now) because I've seen too many tweet about being burned out over YA dystopia. But one I could publish myself in the future.

Or, there's serialization, either to sell or to post for free on WattPad. I'll admit I've looked at the current trend of serialization and thought, nah, not for me. Not for MY books. But with the success of TV series The 100, and me more than willing to take risks with Zombie Girl and feeling it's a suitable candidate for such a project, it's tempting. Stay tuned!

First Anniversary @BreathlessPress

Today marks a year ago that I signed my first contract with Breathless Press. Well, technically it was with their YA imprint at Lycaon Press, but BP is on the contract which was confirmed on the 6th March, 2014. And wow, what a year it's been! I have two novellas and a short with BP, and a novella and upcoming short with LP. This year also sees my three novellas coming out in PRINT! Love my digital titles, but holding a paperback with my name on the cover is still magical.

I'm grateful to Breathless Press for that first contract, not just because it saw a turn around it what started out as my worst year in publishing, but because it was for my freaky story - Restless In Peaceville. The one muse insisted I wrote despite all my protests. The one I was convinced would disappear into a virtual drawer unseen. It also turned 2014 from being my worst year into my best.

And what's to come? Well, the short I have releasing in April is the first part of a trilogy of YA dystopias. I still have the print of Tethered and When Dark Falls, releasing March and June respectively (pssst, Tethered is currently on the top ten best seller list on the site!). And I hope to write a sequel to When Dark Falls for my November NaNoWriMo.

And right now, Breathless Press is running March Madness. You can grab my ebooks (or any others on the site) for 25% off, AND get free shipping on all print book orders $20.00 and over for the whole of March!

#Print Deals from @BreathlessPress #romance #scifi #fantasy #paranormal

Is that a deal or is that a deal?! If you buy five print books at Breathless Press (and I'll bet you'll be tempted to buy more) and add the Wonderland Tales anthology to your basket, then use coupon B5G1 at checkout, you get the anthology for FREE! Just click on the banner to check out their books. ^-^

12 Days of Christmas #Giveaway @BreathlessPress

Who wants free books? Of course you do. To celebrate Christmas, my publisher Breathless Press is offering TWO free book a day for its newsletter subscribers. It's so simple. All you have to do is sign up HERE, and for 12 days (starting the 14th December) you'll be able to get a free book - a different one each day! (pssst, my futuristic urban fantasy No Angel will be one of the titles up for grabs, giving you the chance to meet my charming incubus Lucien de la Fae). But here's the full list:

A Night Time Jaunt... - The SFRB Showcase #2 #scifi #superhero #romance

Welcome to the second SFRB Showcase, and this time I'm sharing our first meeting with two of the central characters from my superhero romance story--When Dark Falls--which releases on the 21st of November from Breathless Press. 

Nocturnelle perched on the carved griffin statue decorating the tower's cornerstone, with hundreds of feet of empty space between her and the ground below. Her second skin felt tight. It was a familiar sensation and yet always the first thing she noticed on waking, as if her body needed to remind her of the fact. She stretched and her outer skin crackled like leather. She flexed her fingers, the delicate oh-so-white digits a stark contrast to her black arms. Silver lines marked her left forearm, and she frowned at them. She was meant to be impervious to blades and bullets, and yet somehow, not too long ago, she must have injured herself.

As she rose, her skin creaked. She stretched again, and then tugged her hands through her hair, pulling the thick swathe of black silk from her face and knotting it at the back. Darkest Night forbid it should get in her way. The second skin pressed tight against her forehead, running around her eyes and mouth, cradling her chin. She ran her fingers around the edges, tracing the outline. Perfect. Her body tingled as though electricity danced in her veins, and she smiled. Breathed in the evening air. This was her time.

Viscous and reeking, the night sky hung over the city of Art Deco towers and buildings like an oil-slick. Behind her, the metallic chinking of the cloudburner cooling after a day spent scorching the sky ticked away the seconds like a clock.

"Nelle?"

The deep male voice sent a shiver down her back, and she turned. "Ah, my faithful Shadow. Ready for another night-time jaunt?"

A figure stepped out of the shadows to join her. He matched her for height; his whipcord frame clad in a charcoal-colored armor vest, black combats, and a hip-length military jacket. When the rooftop lights hit his face, the chiseled jawline showed; his skin a dark tan. He wore a mask over his eyes, but his teeth gleamed white when he smiled. And when he smiled, something inside Nelle set her heart racing.

"Ready and set, Nelle."

"Excellent." She nodded to him. As one they yanked grapple hooks with lines from their belts and tossed them toward the spire of girders that surmounted every tower run by Dark. The auto-clamps engaged on contact, grasping the metal post tight in unrelenting jaws. Nelle jumped from the rooftop first, and gravity snatched the air from her chest.

Floor after floor of lit apartment windows rushed by her, as dizzying as the wind whipping through her hair. The jolt as she hit the cable's end made her laugh. She let loose an exultant cry as she swung in a graceful arc around the edges of the tower and the rotund shape of one of Dark's airships cruised toward her.

She angled her body, feet braced ahead of her, as she flew at and then over the curved plane of its left wing. As she skimmed across the surface, she reached the fullest extent of her swing, and she slowed. Gravity began to pull her back. She hit the release and landed in a perfectly balanced crouch, grasping the wing ridge to keep her steady. An instant later, Shadow was by her side.

She grinned at him. "Great way to start the night!" she yelled over the rotating blades of the steering propellers.

To read more from the SFRB Showcase participants, please click on the banner at the top to return to the homepage.

Tethered Tour - Final Days #scifi #romance #giveaway

EXCERPT |  GOODREADS
Available at... Breathless Press |
Smashwords | ARe | Bookstrand
Amazon US | Amazon UK

So the tour for Tethered is now winding down, with just four more days to enter the giveaway for the shiny DNA necklace and gift card. Hurry! But you'll have to go visit my hosts to find out about that.

And here they are!

Cate Peace review - 3rd
Kyndra Hatch spotlight - 8th

Liza O'Connor Fears - 9th

Karen Y Bynum Succubi in spaaaaaaaace! - 10th

Liana Brooks Five SF Heroines Who Inspired Mine - 11th

Patty Hammond Creating A Universe - 12th

Celia Breslin The Making of a Kick Ass Heroine - 13th

Samantha Holt excerpt - 13th

Jessica Subject Five Facts about Tethered - 14th

Kristina Stutts A Female SF Icon - 15th

Elle Clouse quickie interview - 15th
SE Gilchrist book spotlight - 16th

Pam Mandingo spotlight and review - 17th

Cassandra Page – 18th

Anna Hackett book spotlight - 19th

Layna Pimentel – 20th

Winter Bayne – 21st

Sonya Clark – 22nd

Don't forget, as well as the giveaway, you can pick up Tethered from my publisher Breathless Press for half price during August, as part of their fifth birthday celebration! Just click on the Breathless Press link under the book cover.

Wonderland Party Time - #giveaway

Right now my publisher is having a Facebook party to celebrate the release of their Wonderland series of stories. Here are the details:

18 + Adults only please. Join Breathless Press authors as they celebrate. Every half hour starting at 4:30 pm Mountain Standard Time there will be author giveaways, 12 authors total. 

Ivy Bateman - 4:30-5pm (MST)
Shelli Rosewarn -5-5:30pm (MST)
Monica Schroeder - 5:30- 6pm (MST)
Gayl Taylor - 6- 6:30pm (MST)
Kelliea Ashley 6:30-7pm (MST)
Sheri Velarde 7-7:30pm (MST)
Jo March Hosted by Sheri - 7:30-8pm (MST)
Jen Bradlee - 8-8:30pm (MST)
Mia Aeon-Epsilon 8:30-9pm (MST)
Torie James 9-9:30pm (MST)
Rebekah Lewis (posting as Victoria Miller) 9:30-10pm (MST)
Brantwijn Serrah 10-10:30pm (MST)

Go HERE to join the fun!

Happy Fifth Birthday to @BreathlessPress! #sale

To celebrate their 5th birthday, not only are Breathless Press holding a month long party with a 50% discount on their site, but they're releasing a special collection of Alice in Wonderland themed stories to entertain you. Check back at BreathlessPress.com throughout the month! And to add to the excitement, there's a rafflecopter giveaway HERE. This is what you could win!

The sale also means you can pick up my new scifi romance novella Tethered for half price HERE!

EXCERPT |  GOODREADS
Available at... Breathless Press |
Smashwords | ARe | Bookstrand

There's also a huge Wonderland party happening on Facebook HERE from the 1st of August, although the main event kicks off on the 13th. Enjoy!

Happy 4th of July! #sale #ebooks

To celeberate the 4th of July, and a batch of new releases today too, Breathless Press are offering you 40% off their ebooks. Grab 'em fast HERE! This also means you can pre-order my upcoming new SciFi romance novella Tethered at the discounted price of $2.39 from HERE!

She can kill with a kiss. But can assassin Tyree also heal one man's grief, and bring peace to a galaxy threatened by war?

For Tyree of the Su, being an assassin isn't simply something she was trained for. It's the sole reason for her existence. A genetically enhanced clone—one of many in Refuge—she's about to learn her secluded lifestyle, and that of all her kind, is under threat by a race capable of neutralizing their special talents to leave them defenseless.

For Zander D'joren, being a diplomat has not only cost him his appearance, but also the love of his life. Scarred, grieving, he must nonetheless continue in his role as co-delegate to the fearsome Tier-vane or risk a conflict that could only end one way.

Now both of them need to keep each other alive and maintain a perilous deception long enough to renegotiate the treaty with the Tier-vane, or throw their people into a war that could wipe out Terrans and Inc-Su alike. But there's more at stake than humanity, whether true or modified. Can the love growing between them save them both? Or merely hasten their destruction?

Happy Canada Day! #sale #books

To celebrate Canada Day, Breathless Press are offering 40% off all their ebooks for today only. Run over HERE and grab 'em fast! This also means you can pre-order my upcoming new SciFi romance novella Tethered at the discounted price of $2.39 from HERE!

She can kill with a kiss. But can assassin Tyree also heal one man's grief, and bring peace to a galaxy threatened by war?

For Tyree of the Su, being an assassin isn't simply something she was trained for. It's the sole reason for her existence. A genetically enhanced clone—one of many in Refuge—she's about to learn her secluded lifestyle, and that of all her kind, is under threat by a race capable of neutralizing their special talents to leave them defenseless.

For Zander D'joren, being a diplomat has not only cost him his appearance, but also the love of his life. Scarred, grieving, he must nonetheless continue in his role as co-delegate to the fearsome Tier-vane or risk a conflict that could only end one way.

Now both of them need to keep each other alive and maintain a perilous deception long enough to renegotiate the treaty with the Tier-vane, or throw their people into a war that could wipe out Terrans and Inc-Su alike. But there's more at stake than humanity, whether true or modified. Can the love growing between them save them both? Or merely hasten their destruction?

Tuesday Teaser - You want me to be a what?

Tyree spun on her heels, her long hair lashing around her as she faced the council. "You want me to be a what?"

Thirteen elderly Inc-Su met her scream of outrage with angry stares. The last syllable echoed around the chamber. If sound could penetrate metaglass, it would have scattered the saurian lowri gliding past the panoramic windows on membranous wings.

Tyree swore G'vorek, one of her former mentors, winked at her, and her irritation eased a fraction at his silent support. Some of the other council members shifted in their hover seats as she cast her gaze over them. Several scowled. Beyond the oval table and the council members, clouds drifted past the window obscuring the slender sky towers of Refuge, a serene background that conflicted with the turmoil suddenly seething in her chest.

"I didn't think the phrase 'co-delegate' would be considered such an offensive term even by you, Tyree," Great Mother M'roc said.

Tyree latched her attention onto the matriarch. Unlike the majority of the Inc-Su, M'roc had a generous, matronly figure and caramel-colored skin. Dark braids tinted with gray framed her broad face. There was a saying among the Inc-Su, twisted from the old Terran phrase—as solid as M'roc. Unbending, reliable, consistent, and strong. Good traits in a leader, but it meant once she'd made a decision, nothing could change her mind. If she'd chosen this role for Tyree...

"I'm an assassin, not a frigging diplomat," Tyree retorted, but the initial fire of her resistance had guttered. Arguing already felt like a lost cause, but she had to make the point. 

Scifi romance Tethered, releasing 25th July from Breathless Press. Add it to your Goodreads shelf HERE. Sign up to my newletter for sneak previews and release news HERE. Pop back on Friday the 13th for the cover reveal!

#Cover #reveal - Wedding Belle Blues by Mia Epsilon (@MiaEpsilon)

Short Blurb:

What do you do when the woman you love is marrying the wrong man? Sabotage the wedding!

Long Blurb:

Anna is planning the perfect wedding, but she doesn't anticipate her future mother-in-law's offer of help' which translates into take over. Her groom-to-be avoids her and insists their growing problems are just 'bridal nerves'. Worst of all, her best friend, Robin, begins to act strange. Everyone around her has his or her own agenda. What's a girl to do when she begins to realize the perfect life she envisioned is all a lie?

Robin has two great loves in his life: his best friend Anna and his motorcycle. Not one to make a scene, he supports Anna in her plan to marry the wrong man and regrets she can't accept his 'dare devil' lifestyle. But when push comes to shove, he's more than willing to make the necessary sacrifice and prove he is the man she needs.

As the wedding date grows closer and plans shift into high gear, Robin and Anna grow closer and not just as friends. Each must decide what the perfect life truly means while trying to negotiate the maze of wedding plans, secrets, and hidden motives. Will someone be left singing the blues?

EXCERPT:

"Chasing you would be a wasted effort." Robin waved the half eaten slice before he set the crust back in the box.

Anna slammed the lid on his hand. "What do you mean? I'm not worth the chase?"

"Hey, starving teacher here." He knocked on the inside of the box and glared at her. "And don't be ridiculous. Of course you're worth a chase, but even I can recognize a no win situation regardless if I can't fully give up on it or you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He was hiding something besides his hand in the box. "Robin?"

The liquid blue fire in his eyes singed her as he spoke. "I didn't give the let's-forget-this-ever-happened-and-just-be-friends speech. I didn't stay too afraid to see where our relationship might have gone. No win situation."

Stunned, she gaped at him. "I thought...but you never said...I mean we'd..."

He just stared at her, face unmoving, his chest rising and falling as his breaths increased. He was, she realized, getting angrier by the second.

She swallowed and tried to find words, any words, to defuse the tension. "I couldn't bear to think of losing you as my friend. We did the best thing for us."

"We did the best thing for you."

"But you...you agreed with me. You said you didn't want to risk our friendship either."

"What the hell could I say?" He shot to his feet, knocking the pizza box to the floor. "You didn't give me a choice. Either be your friend, only your friend, or leave your life."

"I never said we couldn't be friends or you had to leave my life." She whispered the words. Yet it had been close.

"Even now you won't face it." He muttered a curse which shocked her with the anger behind it. "Will you? You won't admit maybe we could have—"

"I faced it the morning after. I'm not an idiot, Robin. When you date a woman, it's like your skydiving adventures. You have a thrill, anything goes, and it's awesome and you're on the high of it all. Then you land and it's over. You never talk to the woman again, let alone have a friendship with her. I didn't want our friendship to be over. I still don't. I can't give more than I am. I can't."

"Why, Anna?" He stopped right in front of her, hands on his hips balled into fists. "Why can't you give more? Because of Doug Dufuss?"

            "No. Because I can't just have sex with you and then watch you leave!

Buy Links

www.breathlesspress.com

www.Amazon.com

www.BarnesandNoble.com

Author Bio

Mia Epsilon lives with her enduring soul mate hubby in the gorgeous Blue Ridge Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, USA. She's an avid reader of almost anything but particularly romance, a never-miss-an-episode viewer of Doctor Who and Sherlock, and happily suffers a coffee and chocolate addiction. She can most often be found at her computer, spinning new stories, or in a quiet padded nook with her e reader. Look for more stories in the 'Weddings by C & C' line.

Author Links (Website, Facebook, etc)

Breathless Press: www.breathlesspress.com: Mia Epsilon

Face Book: MiaEwrites@facebook.com

Amazon Authors Page: Amazon.com/author/miaepsilon

Blog Website: miaepsilon.blogsopt.com

Twitter: Mia Epsilon@MiaEpsilon

Good Reads: Mia Epsilon

50% off @BreathlessPress books!

You'd like 50% off a book, right? And news about the latest hot releases too? Sign up to the Breathless Press newsletter HERE and you can get both! A coupon is included in the latest newsletter valid from this Friday to Monday. Happy weekend!

Even Villains go to the Movies Blog Tour - #Excerpt & #Giveaway

BLURB:

When your mother is America’s Superhero Sweetheart and your daddy’s the Number One Super Villain, you grow up feeling a little conflicted.

Angela Smith has superpowers—nothing that will ever make her comic-book famous—but her ability to psychically sense and manipulate the emotions of people around her has drawn unwanted government attention. Forced to choose between her quiet life as a teacher under constant surveillance or the life of a rogue, she chooses the latter. She plans to hide out in sunny Los Angeles where being a blue-eyed blonde won’t make anyone bat a false eyelash.  

Silver screen star by day, superhero by night, Arktos is a triple-threat. He can fly, freeze anything, and see glimpses of the future, all of which he needs to keep the city of Los Angeles safe, but which does nothing for his social life. When a frightening vision of an explosion leads him to rescue a damsel in distress, he finds himself trading Shakespearean insults with a rogue.

Angela knows just how dangerous well-intentioned superheroes can be: one tried to kill her family when she was young. Arktos knows he should hand the rogue over to Company justice; it’s not safe for someone like her to be in the middle of a fight.

But they can’t seem to stay apart. And together, they just might be able to melt all the obstacles standing between true love for a hero and a villain.

EXCERPT:

Angela tossed the red curls of her wig and parked Luiz’s bike in the alley behind the conference center. She hadn’t put on her Rage getup since arriving in LA, but tonight the mental screams of terror echoing from the center warranted the kind of investigation that would attract questionable attention.

Tight black jeans, a bright red tank top that matched her hair, and a leather duster that was too heavy for the L.A. heat were a start. She’d added a black domino mask that obscured the shape of her nose and cheekbones when she’d moved to New York, because no one needed to see their favorite school teacher beating down the local thugs. The heart and star pendant around her neck— a little invention of her Daddy’s that would shield her from most things—completed the outfit.

The ‘most’ still worried her some days.

Terror radiated from the building, escalating until the headache tearing into her brain was a living fire. Whatever was happening, she would hit back. Hard.

Checking to make sure the alley was empty, Angela sauntered towards the back door and hoped someone inside had been kind enough to leave it open. More often than not the people hired to cater at these places would stick a rock in the door to keep it from locking every time they slipped out for fresh air.

If not she could always pick the lock. Angela sighed. The whole point of moving away from her sisters was to avoid a life filled with crime and superheroes.

 Angela reached for the door and someone hit her. A breeze ruffled her wig and she found herself on her back in the alleyway, staring up at a masked man. No hate tainted the aura around him, nothing that suggested that he was dangerous except that he was bigger than her.

She raised an eyebrow. "Hello?"

The man took a deep breath. "Hi." He smelled like mint.

"I’m new to the area, so I’m not familiar with the protocol when you’re jumped by a masked man in an alleyway. Is there a secret handshake or something?" she asked, sarcastically.

"I’m here to save your life."

Angela looked around for signs of danger. The man was the only thing in the alley, and he was cradling her, hand cushioning her head, muscular arms suspending him in a pushup so his body weight wasn’t resting on her.

"Right. What danger am I in, exactly?"

"The door is going to explode and kill you," he said in a very serious tone.

She lifted her head to peer over his shoulder at the door. It was a mistake. The movement meant gyrating under him in his spandex suit, and she caught a whiff of cologne, soap, and clean sweat. His emotions shifted, becoming tinged with desire and arousal.

Angela cleared her throat and lay back down, trying to put space between herself and her captor. "Mm hmm. Tell you what, let me up and I’ll help you find your doctor. I bet someone is very worried about you missing your medicine."

My Review:

Discalimer - I received an early draft of the story free from the author.

I LOVE this series. Ever since I read the first book back in April 2012  after being hooked by the blurb in the 2012 SFR Brigade Pitch Contest, I've been waiting impatiently for book two. As with book one, this is full of excitement, an edge of humor, some smokingly hot sensual scenes that can warm you up yet without any explicit detail, and some serious edge-of-your seat tension to get your pulse racing. Some of the scenes are gut-wrenching emotionally, especially Angela's dealings with traumatized student Travys, her heart-breaking choice over superhero Arktos, and the looming threat of a trio of superhero rogues and The Company, all set against the falsely bright glitz and glamor of Hollywood. This book will make you think, make you laugh, cry, and have you hoping for your own superhero to turn up. Forget about going to the movies - read this book!
An unreserved -

BIO:

Liana Brooks would like to SCUBA dive Europa (that moon around Jupiter), but with the NASA shuttle program shut down she’s resorted to writing science fiction instead.  She likes southern beaches, warm weather, sharks, and striped socks. Her superhero romance series started with EVEN VILLAINS FALL IN LOVE and continues with EVEN VILLAINS GO TO THE MOVIES. For those who prefer their romance without a side order of spandex she’s written PRIME SENSATIONS (part of the Tales From the SFR Brigades anthology) and FEY LIGHTS.

You can find Liana on the web at www.lianabrooks.com, on Twitter as @LianaBrooks, or on Face Book under the same name. 

*Social Media*
Website
Liana's Biography Page
Twitter
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*Buy Links*
Breathless Press
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
All Romance eBooks
Kobo
iTunes

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Even Villains Fall In Love by Liana Brooks - Review

My review of Even Villains Fall In Love is now live on the Critique de Book site here. Thoroughly enjoyable and a new twist on the old 'good vs. evil' in the greatest comic book tradition - but all grown up. :)

Love for the Bad Boys - Guest post by Liana Brooks

Who doesn't love a Bad Boy? You know what I mean, the rebel, the one who shot first, the one whose rough around the edges...

You know why we love them? Because they are the bad guys.

Everyone loves a villain. Name any book, and the protagonist is a villain. Want some examples?

The Odyssey - Possibly one of the most studied texts of human history is about a man who not only invades a neighboring country for the fun of it, but who spend the next twenty years wrecking every civilization he encounters between Troy and home. That's trespassing, invasion, armed robbery, murder, vandalism... all by the end of chapter one!

Taken from Wikipedia

Lord of The Rings - Take a look at Aragorn. He's a known terrorist (just ask the residents of Bree) who invades lawfully held territories of other sentient species so he can hack off their heads and then goes to a town that has lived with a pseudo-constitution for centuries to claim the throne because he passed medical school and knows how to make a tree bloom. Around here we call people like that scam artists, not kings.

Star Wars - Where to start! Look at the main characters: a traitor worthy of Benedict Arnold's fame, a known smuggler and murderer, and a slave trader. You could excuse Princess Leia by saying she made a moral choice, but she's still a woman rebelling against the legal government as voted by the citizens of the constituency who murders poor infantry men. Han is an unapologetic criminal, and Luke buys and sells sentient beings. Yeah, he's slave owner, or did you think C3PO was getting paid?

Taken from Wikipedia

Harry Potter - The entire series Harry spends doing what? Go ahead, admit it... he spent seven books rebelling against authority for no other reason than he could! He should have been in a correctional facility not Hogwarts!

And the list goes on.

We love villains because they are the agents of change. In normal, everyday life these are the people and practices we would shun. No one wants a racist murderer next door, but change that to Orlando Bloom with pointy ears shooting orcs and you'll get a queue a mile long!

The protagonists in fiction are often people with criminal tendencies. We like them that way. We don't want to read about a perfectly virtuous and upright person because that isn't how we see ourselves. We all know we're a little flawed. And we all have situations where we'd like to haul off and beat the living daylights out of someone. We can sympathize with the villains in fiction because, secretly, that's who we want to be.

In EVEN VILLAINS FALL IN LOVE the protagonist, Evan, fully indulges his wicked side and is an unapologetic super villain. He knows he's in the wrong. He knows he's not the good guy, and he doesn't care!

Here's the other thing we love about our villainous characters, we love for them to reform. Odysseus returns to his wife and son, Aragorn actually makes a good king, Han Solo gives up crime, Luke frees his slaves, and Harry eventually learns how to work with the authorities instead of thumbing his nose at them.

Evan starts as a super villain, the question throughout the book is will he stay one? When the chips are down and he has to choose between taking over the world or winning back the woman he loves, will the villain reform?

Do you have a favorite villain? A new way at looking at some favorite characters? A rousing defense of the wonderful characters I've so shamelessly defamed? Hit me with it in the comments. :o)

EVEN VILLAINS FALL IN LOVE by Liana Brooks   

Blurb

 A super villain at the top of his game must choose between the world he wants and the woman he loves.

If you believe the rumors you know that Doctor Charm, the wickedly sexy super villain, retired in shame seven years ago after his last fight with the superhero Zephyr Girl. The fact that the charming Evan Smith - father of four and husband of the too-beautiful-to-be-real Tabitha - bears a resemblance to the defeated Doctor is pure coincidence. And, please, ignore the minions.

Everything is perfect in the Smith household until Tabitha announces her return to work as a superhero. Evan was hoping to keep her distracted until after he rigged the 2012 presidential election, but – genius that he is – Evan has a backup plan. In his basement lab Evan has a machine whose sole purpose is keeping Tabitha hungry for him.

But children and labs don’t mix. The machine is broken, and Tabitha storms out, claiming she no longer knows him. World domination takes a back seat to meeting his daughters’ demands to get Mommy back right now. This time his genius isn’t going to be enough – he’s going to need both his evil alter-ego and the blooming super abilities of his children to save his wife. But even his most charming self might not be enough to save their marriage.

Bio

Liana Brooks was born in San Diego, California. Years later she was disappointed to learn that The Shire was not some place she could move to, nor was Rider of Rohan an acceptable career choice. Studying marine biology  so she could play with sharks seemed to be the only alternative. After college Liana settled down to work as a full-time author and mother because logical career progression is something that happens to other people. When she grows up, Liana wants to be an Evil Overlord and take over the world.

In the meantime, she writes sci-fi and SFR in between trips to the beach. She can be found wearing colorful socks on the Emerald Coast, or online at www.lianabrooks.com.

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