Can you believe we’re only 2 weeks away from Rising Star??? I can’t!

This year has passed so quickly, it doesn’t feel real. I know it’s been a while since I released a new book, and I’m so grateful for everyone who’s waited patiently these last months.

But it’s almost here!!! I’m so excited and proud of this book! Alice and Griffin are two of my favorite characters I’ve ever written, and I can’t wait for you to meet them. I hope you fall as much in love with them as they fall in love with each other.

There's some stuff I should probably tell you about this book before you read it. For one thing, it's a lot steamier than the Chemistry Lessons series. Instead of closed door love scenes, I'm throwing the doors wide open, so gird your loins! 

For another thing, although it's not mentioned in the blurb, Rising Star features a subplot about sexual harassment that was inspired by #MeToo. It's not a major part of the plot—the harassment occurs before the events of the book and doesn't involve the hero in any way--but it definitely affects the heroine and the way she reacts to the events of the story. It's still a light and funny read for the most part, similar in tone to the Chemistry Lessons books, but maybe a little more emotional and topical.

Finally, I hope you like movie star romances, because I'm already hard at work on the next book in the Starstruck series, which will probably hit stores in March 2019! 

Assuming I haven't scared you away or bored you to tears yet, here's the part where I gently nudge you toward the preorder links. You do want your copy of Rising Star to be magically delivered to your favorite ereader on release day, don't you? 

Readers! In anticipation of my next book release, I am once more looking to expand my ARC team.

What is an ARC? It's an Advance Reading Copy given out to select readers in order to create buzz and increase awareness of a book prior to release. ARCs are distributed in the hope that recipients will leave honest and thoughtful reviews on the major retailer sites and other book communities like Goodreads and BookBub on launch day. They may also choose to post about the book on social media.

If you're interested being one of my Advance Readers and would be willing to post reviews on or before launch day, please fill out the form below:

SIGN UP HERE ➔ https://goo.gl/forms/KJx0H9z6EMZYYKcC2

ARE YOU A BOOK BLOGGER? Then you can sign up for special release events and ARCs through InkSlinger PR at https://goo.gl/forms/NiQ2nC6H7ViMCYj12.

Alice grabbed her clothes and shower tote, stepped out into the hall—and found herself face to face with Griffin.

Wearing nothing but a towel.

A towel that was sagging dangerously low on his hips and only barely covering his man parts.

She froze, so startled she let the shower tote tip, dumping its contents all over the floor. “Damn,” she said, dropping to her knees to gather up her things, which at least gave her something to look at that wasn’t Griffin and his sagging towel.

“Hey,” he said sheepishly. “Morning.”

“Morning,” she muttered, trying to ignore Griffin’s mostly naked—and extremely impressive—body.

Settle down. It’s not like it’s the first time you’ve seen his abs. He’d done plenty of shirtless scenes on TV, not to mention a cover of Men’s Health last year that she may or may not have drooled over at the checkout stand.

This was just the first time she’d seen his abs in person. It was one thing to see Griffin Beach’s abs on screen or in an airbrushed photo, and something else entirely to see them standing two feet away from her in the flesh, with mere millimeters of sagging terrycloth hiding his unmentionables. Apparently they hadn’t done that much airbrushing for the magazine cover. His six-pack was very real, as was his Adonis belt and the vein leading down to his—yeah. Wow.

Griffin squatted down to help her pick up her things, which unfortunately caused his towel to gap, exposing an alarming amount of skin on his muscular upper leg, all the way up to--

Alice tore her eyes away again, hoping he didn’t notice her blushing as she accepted the bottle of shampoo he held out. She hurriedly shoved the rest of her stuff back into her tote and stood, trying to keep her eyes averted.

“Sorry.” As Griffin got to his feet, he finally seemed to notice his towel wasn’t covering him as well as it could and tugged it up higher on his hips, grimacing. “I realized as I was about to get in the shower that I left my clothes in the dryer. I promise I won’t make a habit of parading around the house in a towel.”

Too bad.

I’m thrilled to reveal the cover and blurb for my next book, RISING STAR! It’s the first in a new series of movie star romances debuting this fall.

The covers for this series are a departure from my last one, but rest assured the books will feature the same smart heroines, hunky heroes, and relatable stories you’ve come to expect—only STEAMIER! 🔥🔥🔥

Release Date: Nov. 8, 2018
Cover Design: Okay Creations

Preorder on AMAZON ➤ https://amzn.to/2OsMLFL
Preorder on APPLE ➤ https://apple.co/2OHEIWz
Preorder on B&N ➤ http://bit.ly/2MnqRDn
Preorder on KOBO ➤ http://bit.ly/2Ktz7zX
Preorder on GOOGLE ➤ http://bit.ly/2P1b6DE

And now for the blurb…

Alice Carlisle has problems.

Her sociology Ph.D. dissertation is going nowhere, she’s about to lose the TV extra job that’s been paying her bills, and her roommate is kicking her out. She needs to find a new place to live ASAP, so she can focus on finally finishing her doctorate.

Enter Griffin, one of Hollywood’s rising stars, who offers to let her move into his guest room if she’ll dog sit for him. Four months rent free in a nice house with an adorable dog is an offer Alice can’t turn down—even if she has major qualms about her movie star roommate.

Griffin Beach has it all.

He’s gorgeous, newly jacked, and poised to make the leap from TV show regular to box office superstar. Until his dog sitter bails, leaving him desperate to find a replacement.

Enter Alice, the extra who’s never seemed to like him but loves his dog. Griffin has his doubts about the arrangement, but living with Alice opens his eyes to how empty his workaholic lifestyle has become. The more time they spend together, the more he realizes she might be exactly what he needs in his life.

Can Alice let her guard down and learn to trust again? Can Griffin stop trying to please everyone else long enough to show her how he feels? Will they get their Hollywood happy ending? Or will their love story bomb at the box office?

✫*¨*✶.¸ RISING STAR ¸.✶*¨*✫
Book One in the Starstruck Series

Hard at work on my next book, RISING STAR. Stay tuned to this space, because I should have some exciting news on that front soon! ​

Today was a good reminder that there is a light at the end of the writing tunnel.

Yesterday, I had a terrible writing day. Couldn’t focus, couldn’t get past a scene I was stuck on, couldn’t figure out what needed to happen next in the story. After a few hours of frustration, I tried to distract myself by working on the blurb for my next book. But blurbs are always torture (ask any author—they’re universally considered the worst part of the entire process of writing and publishing a book). I only managed to jot down a few terrible, disjointed phrases before throwing in the towel and wallowing in my failure for the rest of the night.

This morning I wasn’t feeling any better about any of it. But I sat down to work and tried anyway. And what do you know, it started to get better. Not right away. I had to work at it for a while, feeling miserable and discouraged. But I kept at it, and suddenly it got a little easier. I had an idea for how fix one small thing. And then another small thing. And that lead me to a way to fix a bigger thing.

Before I knew it, I’d thrown out one whole troublesome chapter that didn’t need to be there, edited two others that did, and sketched out four new ones where previously there’d just been a big question mark in my outline. Go me!

Feeling buoyed by my successes, I decided to tackle that blurb again. And again, it totally sucked at first. I had no ideas, and everything I wrote down was total crap. But gradually, through perseverance, it started to come together. I came up with a sentence that didn’t completely suck. And another one. And another. Until I had that whole damn blurb written. Ha! So there.

Anyway, the point of all this is to say that it’s easy to get worn down by the bad days and feel like that’s all you’ll ever have. But if you stick with it, and keep trying, eventually, bit by bit, it will get better. Maybe not all at once. Maybe not today. But one day. One bit at a time.

So don’t give up, writer friends. Or non-writer friends. Because this applies to so many things in life. It’s easy to get discouraged, and it’s hard to keep trying anyway. But the payoff for all that trying is out there waiting for you. It’s just around the corner. If you keep putting one foot in front of the other, eventually you’ll get there.

And there is a great place to be!

Look what's on the shelves at The Ripped Bodice!!! 💗💗💗 Talk about a dream come true! 😊

Los Angeles area readers can now find my first two books at the only exclusively romance bookstore in the U.S. And those outside of LA can support a terrific indie bookstore by ordering paperback copies through their web site:
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For a limited time, the second book in the Chemistry Lessons series, Intermediate Thermodynamics, is on sale for only 99 cents at ebook retailers everywhere!

Find it at your favorite store here: https://www.books2read.com/it

✅ Aerospace engineer heroine
✅ Sensitive screenwriter hero
✅ Neighbors + enemies to lovers
Also features: knitting, horror movies, and a cat named Sally Ride!

If you haven't read this feel-good STANDALONE rom com, now's the perfect time to grab your copy at this special low-low price.

Intermediate Thermodynamics is ​also available in paperback and audiobook.

Big news!

The Chemistry Lessons series is available at all major ebook retailers! Now you can get your geeky/STEM romance fix at iBooks, Google Play, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble, in addition to Amazon!
​
REMEDIAL ROCKET SCIENCE ➤ books2read.com/rrs
INTERMEDIATE THERMODYNAMICS ➤ books2read.com/it
ADVANCED PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY ➤ books2read.com/apc​