Howdy All!  I have a brand new series launching today, and it’s a little different than anything I’ve written before.  Yes, it has some romance, suspense, and intrigue in it…and a lot of humor.  I felt like writing something lighter for a change, and I think Disorderly Conduct is it.

Here’s the blurb, and below is an excerpt if you’re interested.  Thanks and have a wonderful rest of August – stay as safe and healthy as you can!

Bullets and Kisses Can Burn

The last person Anna Albertini expects to see in an orange jumpsuit in District Court—a place she SO doesn’t belong as a new prosecuting attorney—is Aiden Devlin, the man who’d saved her life when they were kids. For years, she has dreamed about him. Now here he is—his eyes blue, his chest wide, and his hands in cuffs.

Sure, Aiden says he doesn’t want her help, and his ties to a deadly motorcycle club should give her warning. Yes, her new boss is a sexy Italian bad boy who might be using the case to climb to the top. Plus, the detective assigned to the case, with his green eyes and broad shoulders, wants her to stay out of his way.

With so much testosterone surrounding her all of a sudden, most women would find it hard to concentrate. This might be why the case leads Anna to yelp during a spa appointment, fall out of a tree, and chase a naked old man around the courtroom. It’s a good thing Anna learned a long time ago to be her own hero, no matter how fast the bullets fly or the kisses consume…

EXCERPT:

“I see,” the judge said, turning to the small stack of case files in front of her, clearly disappointed at the lack of gossip. “Let’s get to business, then. Georgiana Lambertini,” she called out in a clear voice.

I turned as Georgiana and Thelma shuffled up to my table. Georgiana had donned a pirate’s black eye patch.

I shifted my attention to the judge. “This is Georgiana and also Thelma Mullen. They were charged together.”

The judge raised her eyebrows. “For breaking and entering?”

Georgiana’s hands clasped against her chest. “It was a mistake, judge,” she said solemnly, her visible brown eye earnest and cloudy. “We were just trying to be good neighbors. We’re getting close to heaven’s gates, you know.”

“But,” Thelma started, then, “Ouch!” She grimaced down at her foot.

Georgiana smiled angelically next to her. “Yeah, we were just watering our dear neighbor’s plants,” she continued, her face beseeching and sad.

Thelma hummed and fluttered mascara-caked eyelashes. “Well, all right then,” she said.

The judge nodded at Georgiana’s eye patch. “Were you injured?”

“Oh no.” Georgiana flipped the eye patch up, revealing a cataract riddled brown eye. “I thought it was a good look for the big house. You know, so the bad bitches don’t mess with us.”

The judge buried her head in the file, and I couldn’t move. The lady had just sworn in court. It was funny, but…I couldn’t move.

Also, click here to link to the trailer that Jill made, and it’s AWESOME!

 

 

So, I received my first one-star customer review the other day.  Reviews are popping up on book seller sites as well as reader sites.  On this particular site, I have eleven reviews.  Ten people loved FATED and gave it either four or five stars – mostly five.  One person hated it with the passion of a hundred suns.

They tell you not to read the customer reviews.  People get ticked over prices, over covers, over stuff the writer has no control over…and then rant about it in a review.

I read the review.  It was hilarious.  She hated the book.  Not the cover, or the price or anything like that…the actual book.  She took great pleasure in deleting FATED for all time from her e-reader.  The review made me laugh.  I mean that sincerely and not with sarcasm.  While this woman went into great detail about how much she hated the book, she was kind of…well, funny.  Great sense of humor.  And the things she disliked were the very things other people loved.

I’m tempted to send her CLAIMED when it comes out just to see if she hates it as much.  I’m not going to, of course.  You don’t send free books to people who hate your writing.  That’s just dumb.  But, I am curious.

There’s an expression in this business that I dislike.  “Nobody likes hearing your baby is ugly.”  Here’s the thing.  I have two babies and if someone calls them ugly, we’re heading outside.  This is my book.  Not my baby.  Some people aren’t going to like it.  I’ve always known that.  But I truly didn’t expect to enjoy the scathing remarks. 

I guess if I had a bunch of one-starred reviews, I wouldn’t be so tickled.  Or maybe if the attack was on me and not the actual book, I’d be upset.  But this gal kept to the story and explained her position, using some pretty good humor.

Everyone says writers need a thick skin.  I don’t have one.  Really.  I’m rather sensitive.  But I am able to put things into perspective.  One person’s opinion is only that.  An opinion.  The other people who’ve left reviews so far love the book.  I love it.  My agent, my editor and my critique partner love it.  Publisher’s Weekly recommended it.  Yet, this woman with her sense of humor didn’t.  That’s okay.

Perspective is crucial in this business.  If your first form rejection from an agent destroys you…then find another creative outlet.  Because that’s only the beginning.  I find that a sense of humor helps as well.  See the humor.  We need it.