Saturday, April 20, 2013

Against the Dark: release weekend!!

Against the Dark, the first book in my new romantic suspense series, is here! 

This series follows the Association, an undercover organization of badass agents who use their expertise in nerdy things like logistics and linguistics (as well as plenty of muscle and firepower) to fight international crime. And they get tangled up with strong, smart heroines. Every book in the series stands alone.

Against the Dark (Book #1 of the Associates) 62k words, $2.99

ebook: Kindle | Nook | Kobo | ARE | Smashwords | Sony

print: Books #1 &  #2 will appear in print together this summer



SHE’S AN EX-SAFECRACKER FORCED INTO ONE LAST HEIST

Angel Ramirez left the safecracking game five years ago, and she’s worked hard to make amends and build an honest life. But when a beloved aunt is kidnapped, she must reunite with her girl gang to acquire the unique ransom: Walter Borgola’s prized diamonds. It’s a simple job that turns into a nightmare, thanks to a surprisingly clever—and searingly sexy—security guard named Cole Hawkins.

HE’S AN UNDERCOVER AGENT WITH BIG PLANS FOR HIS GORGEOUS THIEF

Cole is one of the Association’s most brilliant agents, under deep cover investigating a ruthless killer. He’s also running out of time: hundreds will die if he doesn’t stop the plan Borgola’s set into motion. Catching Angel is the break he needed–he promises not to turn her in if she poses as his lover and uses her unique talents to unlock the sociopath’s dungeon vaults.

But as pretend passions turn real, Cole regrets drawing Angel into his deadly game…and danger is closer than either of them could ever imagine.



I didn't round up any author blurbs for this one. But I so loved something that one of my critique partners, Jeffe, said on the version she read:

"... I think it’s the best thing you’ve written since Dis. It might be better than Dis." 
-Author Jeffe Kennedy, on critique copy

This made me so happy, especially coming from the woman who once told me to completely dump an entire 50% of a book. (It was an Annika Martin book, and, yes, it was good advice that I followed.)

Anyway, it's out! *wipes fevered brow*

My mom is in town for the weekend, so I'm barely going to be around. We are going to see the movie Quartet today and bang around Minneapolis together. I will also be stuffing my face like a pig and trying to relax.

I hope everybody has such a lovely weekend. Special thanks to my early readers who won the ARCs  in my contest! And also, thanks to everybody else who has been so supportive.

XXOO
Carolyn

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Diary of my website disappearance


My website completely self-destructed over the weekend. It’s partly the fault of my host, or at least, a phone support guy there who cleared out the wrong subdomain, but partly my fault for not having a decent backup. So, if you are looking for info on my stuff, it's coming. Slowly. Because I have been busy going through stages!!  

Stages on Saturday

Tearful disbelief 
I become tearful on the phone with the host support when I learn the site is gone. Just...gone. And their backup they made is of the blank site. And I have a release out this week! (AGAINST THE DARK out on the 19th; info here).

Anger and freakout! 
Chocolate consumption begins early that day.

 Gratitude for my twitter friends
You guys, it was so nice to go on there and for people to be all kindness and feeling sorry for me.

Acceptance. 
I accepted the site was gone late Saturday. And there was a small thought in the corner of my mind that my site sucked anyway.  The old site was cool and all, but it was 90% geared toward ‘let’s have fun!’ and 10% geared toward…oh yeah, I have these books.

Did you ever see my old site? The front page was just my header and than a whole bunch of pictures. it was very artistic! Like:
This deer picture, above, took you to the news page. I  had a caption something like "I have something to tell you." Please note the fangs, which I lovingly photoshopped onto this deer last year. Not the best use of a writer's time, I'll admit.


This square was "where is gumby?" and if you clicked on it, it would take you to a page that told you
how to spot the gumby on the Head Rush cover. Click here for instructions if you're curious.



This is fun, but probably not really an effective way of suggesting that I am a writer of steamy and suspenseful fiction. AKA not the best branding. 


Users would click here to get to my facebook page.



So, really, I could use a new site. What is kind of amusing is that I actually am in advertising, so you'd think I'd know better about things like, oh, marketing and websites, but I'm in the part where somebody tells me to think of ideas or write this or that, and I obey. Nobody in their right mind would rely on me for an overall branding vision. And I think the above examples demonstrate why that might be. 


Silver lining:
Husband suggests we order pizza for dinner. Yay!!


Sunday

Eerie calm 
I begin to redo site. Things are not going well, as I am not tech savvy, but I still feel calm. As in, not upset. I check the calendar and confirm that, indeed, I am nowhere near PMS zone. Probably for the best.

Shock at what I have lost
Every now and then I have to write things on my new site, and I'll remember a perfected version of it on my old site, but no, it is gone. Everything must be rewritten, except what exists in some form on this blog. Oh, thank heavens I was too lazy to convert my blogger blog to wordpress. Kiss kiss, blogger, even though I complain bitterly about you sometimes!!! 

Art project zone-out
I worked way too long on my new header on Sunday. I think it still needs something else, like an explosion and crosshairs, maybe. Jeffe Kennedy suggested the crosshairs be placed over the man’s heart. Oh, cruel and evil Jeffe!!

It's not the most amazing header, but hey, it's not a deer with fangs, right? 

Monday
I only had a little bit of free time to work on the site today, and I made it way, way worse. My navigation has purple in it and it WON’T GET OFF. The terms are all wrong, too, but I can fix that. I can't fix the purple!!! I’m writing this as I wait for somebody to help me in the support forums. It is really way past my bedtime. Uh. 

Above, my impressive site nav scheme. Doesn't the purple look attractive?
It's like the spot that wouldn't come out in that Dr. Seuss book.
I am going to have nightmares about that purple tonight. 

Okay! The phases of my site! Okay, I am giving up on the support forums and going to bed. Well, check back - maybe I'll have more exciting phases tomorrow!!

EDITED to add: Thank  you Stumbling over Chaos Chris & Carolyn Jewel for alerting me to the existence of CACHES!!! I have my text back. Omg, I am so happy. Thank you!! 

Saturday, April 6, 2013

My mad and fabulous ARC drawing!!


Every time I think about Against the Dark, I just feel so happy. I can’t wait for people to read my new romantic suspense series! I’ve set a release date: April 19th. And I’m also doing something kind of wild (for me) and holding a drawing to give out 30 free ebooks ten days early, on the 9th.

Thirty!! And one could be yours!


All you have to do to get one is enter your name in my ARC drawing. (ARC=Advanced Review Copy) and agree to slap up a review of it by April 25th on Amazon and one other place of your choice (B&N, Kobo, Goodreads, your blog, anywhere! Okay, okay. . . maybe not the bathroom wall at Arby’s).

Your review can be anything from two silly sentences to a whole write-up and everything from one-star to five stars works. Just make it your honest opinion.  



AND, if you follow through on your mission, you’ll get the next book in the series, tentatively titled Lethal Liaisons, for free. (When it’s ready, which will likely be summer). Just as a thank you. No review strings attached.

So, that’s two ebooks you get for free. Because I roll like Ronco! 

Here is the link to sign up for the drawing: [UPDATE: Contest is closed.] 

I will be choosing 30 random names on Tuesday, April 9th. 




Against the Dark is the first in my new romantic suspense series, the Associates. It's steamy and action-packed and you can read all about it on my website here. ..or in the post below this one.

Good Luck! 

Monday, April 1, 2013

The Associates: cover and blurb reveal!


Look! It's my new cover and blurb for the first book in The Associates, my new romantic suspense series.

This is the kind of series I’ve been dying to write. I’m so excited about it! 

The Associates revolves around the Association, a powerful undercover organization of badass agents who use their expertise in nerdy things like logistics and linguistics as well as muscle and firepower to fight some seriously evil people. And they get tangled up with strong, smart heroines. Every book in the series stands alone. 




le blurb:

SHE’S AN EX-SAFECRACKER FORCED INTO ONE LAST HEIST

Angel Ramirez left the safecracking game five years ago, and she’s worked hard to make amends and build an honest life. But when a beloved aunt is kidnapped, she must reunite with her girl gang to acquire the unique ransom: Walter Borgola’s prized diamonds. It’s a simple job that turns into a nightmare, thanks to a surprisingly clever—and searingly sexy—security guard named Cole Hawkins.

HE’S AN UNDERCOVER AGENT WITH BIG PLANS FOR HIS GORGEOUS THIEF

Cole is one of the Association’s most brilliant agents, under deep cover investigating a ruthless killer. He’s also running out of time: hundreds will die if he doesn’t stop the plan Borgola’s set into motion. Catching Angel is the break he needed--he promises not to turn her in if she poses as his lover and uses her unique talents to unlock the sociopath’s dungeon vaults.

But as pretend passions turn real, Cole regrets drawing Angel into his deadly game…and danger is closer than either of them could ever imagine.


***

The cover is by the fabulous Su at Earthly Charms. Book 1 is due out this spring. Book 2 is due out in summer. It will be out in ebook in all the usual vendors. I'm not sure how I'll do print yet. The books in this series come in at around 50K-60K words each, so I may double up stories to make print more economical for people.