Author: Raleigh Damson
You’d never know I was a former blogger by glancing at this place.
I know, I am horrible at keeping this space updated.
But here is my small recap of 2023.
I wrote some books.
So, the whole month of November did not go as planned. I was sick of it for half the month and then some other stuff happened, my mate took his own vacay (okay, it was for a job – technically speaking) and I scrambled to get book stuff done.
Flame For Two and Flame For A Weekend are both on sale for $0.99 till the end of the year and I am writing the next Mercy book, finishing off the auction book…and then…getting back to Ares and Josie.
I know, it might feel like I forgot them.
But I haven’t, I swear. As soon as the calendar flips, a new pre-order will go up and if you’re subscribed to my list, a sneak peek is coming soon.
It’s snowing here and cold and I am very, very much over it. Hope the weather agrees with you, wherever you are, friends.
Yesterday was the first day of NanoWriMo and maybe…maybe nobody read that my own NanoWriMo-inspired challenge was to blog here every day…?
It’s okay.
Other words in other places had to be prioritized.
I’m kind of impressed that I remembered this was a thing I did – or was trying to do?
Anyways, my coffee is getting cold, I have edits waiting for me and the humans I co-exist with did the whole, “Now it’s your turn to have the cold,” thing… which is right on par for the first day of November.
On my second cup of coffee, and I can’t get my brain going. But I really want to get into these words and this story.
It’s been raining here for the past three days, and it’s raining still and in the forecast, it’s rain and flurries for the next three. And as background music, I have a rain track going on the background. I’m wondering why I don’t live in a warmer climate and why I don’t have a fireplace in every room.
It’s possible to hold two opposing thoughts at the same time.
Flame For A Weekend: A Bandit Brothers Novella is on sale for $.99 if office workplace romances and Daddy Doms and Babygirls are your kind of read. Light age play with spankings.
We are in the season of “Looks warm out there, but isn’t,” with the nights on their way to lengthening as the wheel moves into the darker months of the year. I’ve been thinking about nourishment and how we eat for nutritional reasons but also for nourishment or wanting to feel satisfied reasons and one thing I appreciate about my marriage as I open my kitchen cupboards and see spices I didn’t have growing up, is the abundance of new food it brought (new recipes, new celebrations).
I made breaded eggplant last night, served with turkey left over from our Thanksgiving, and the idea of that feast feeding everyone now is a really nice one to kind of take on in this chilly morning. Nourishment can be found in simple, unfrilled ways.
Also, thinking about how as a writer, I do better when I know someone is waiting on my words and how as a former blogger, I kind of miss having an immediate audience. November is National Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and I’ve challenged myself to blog here every day of November to see if it nourishes some of my writing that I have missed while having a blog. No promises that I’ll be interesting or entertaining, going to do my best to show up here.
For the past few weeks, I have tossed a writer friend pages to read while they’ve tossed theirs at me and that exchange has given me new energy and I got a book done for my alter-ego (ready for betas soon). There is something to this having an audience thing that spurs creativity.
Since I was last here, Flame For Foe has been released into the wild.
The temperature swings are hell on my body. It’s crisp and chilly and making me want that fireplace – it feels slightly too early to crave that but here we are. ARC’s for Flame For Foe went out and I am so exicited about this book!
If you’d like to win a copy of Flame For Foe, check this out! I am so grateful to El for hosting this giveaway!
EBOOK GIVEAWAY! 
Giveaway link: https://kingsumo.com/g/2fowd4/win-a-free-copy-of-flame-for-foe
Release date: September 27
Shares appreciated!
Blurb, preorder, and save to TBR links below.It feels like autumn is coming at us, quickly and insistently and I am continuing the once-over of Flame For Foe wearing Mr. Damson’s sweatshirt this morning. The coffee got cold too quickly as other things called for my attention.
I am so excited about this book! I mean, this book totally wrung me right out and I didn’t think I was going to make it but here it is, almost ready to go to my ARC Team (a couple of weeks) and I couldn’t be any happier with it.
Here’s a teaser from Flame For Foe. You can pre-order it here: https://books2read.com/flameforfoe
“Control.” He rubbed his thumb along her lip. “But if you want to know what my kink is, it’s taking a willing sub to the edge. It’s making them fear and pushing them past that.”
“That’s the thing with the knives?”
“Yeah.”
He took her wrists in his hand, pulled her against him. Her sharp indrawn breath sent the blood rushing to his cock.
“I learned how much fear having a knife on me could cause and how to use that as a shield. But later, I learned that knife play was a whole thing. I’ll show you the knives tomorrow.”
Her heart thundered against her chest, her breaths came out panicky as his rough finger pads pressed against her skin. A red haze swam in her vision for a moment, she licked her lip. Whatever he was offering? A part of her wanted it.
As if sensing her thought and like, he chose to stop it right then and there, he let go of her wrists.
Happy August, friends!
I am drinking lukewarm coffee and about to start working on edits for Flame For Foe. I don’t think I have ever written a book that feels so … hard to come together before this one, but with each book, there is a point where I tear my hair out.
Have you tried Kobo Plus? It’s a great deal for authors (no exclusive cause! That means we can publish on Kobo/Kobo Plus and Kindle and Apple Books and Google Books and Barnes & Noble), and a lot of readers feel the subscription price is pretty fair.
This month, I am taking part in a Summer Romance Reading Binge promotion featuring books on Kobo Plus! Check it out here: Summer Romance Reading Binge on Kobo Plus.
New this month, Flame For A Weekend: A Bandit Brothers Novella, Flame For You and Flame True all got new covers.
The rest of the books will follow. It was time for an upgrade for these books, and I’m so happy with the changes.
Enjoy this teaser from Flame True, a slow-burn, fake-dating bodyguard romance and I hope August is good to you!
***
Super hard to believe but a year ago, Ivy and Gabe’s story was released. And you know, I’m not sure you are supposed to have favourites, and this is funny considering the roller coaster I went through while writing this book, but I think that maybe, just maybe, Flame Again is my favourite book.
I like that Ivy is independent and speaks her mind. That out there, she is intent on climbing the corporate ladder. That she’s a plus-size woman but makes no apologies for it. I love her wit and how much she loves Gabe.
And I think what I love most about Ivy is that when her life starts to crumble, she takes charge and saves herself. Is there such a thing as a reverse damsel-in-distress romance? I think Flame Again might be a poster book for it if there was.
In honour of Flame Again’s one-year-out-in-the-world, here is an new bonus scene: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/r4ou5mxpoq
You can read chapter one of Flame Again here: https://raleighdamson.com/first-chapter-of-flame-again-bandit-brothers-book-three/
There goes the first week of July!
Hope it was kind to you, friends. I am still in the weeds with Flame For Foe but I can’t wait to send it off because, in celebration of Flame Again’s one-year-Bookversary, I have a new bonus scene between Gabe and Ivy to share.
Leaving you with this week’s Friday Kiss. The prompt was “think” and this bit of banter between Mulberry and Nick came to mind.
