Category: Daily Musings

The auction is starting!

The first book in the A Night to Remember Auction series is out today! I love this Shared World & I’m so excited for readers to discover it!

 

Virginity Sold: A Night to Remember Auction by Bre Rose is available in KU! 

 

 

Bre Rose Virginity Sold

I hate my life.

I’m twenty and should be living my best life at my college of choice. Being part of a sorority, dating the man of my dreams and getting a degree.

But I’m not.

Instead I’m working my fingers to the bone at two jobs to make sure my mother and I keep a roof over our heads. It would be even better if she didn’t squander every dime I made on her habit.

I’m slowly losing hope.

The bills are piling up and now we risk being evicted from the only home I’ve ever

known. The only thing you have left of your father, even though he was a cruel man.

What do you do?

The only thing you can do! Auction off your virginity to the highest bidder!

The only problem is there’s three of them and they have much different plans than me.

I’m their plaything. It’s up to me to settle a debt owed to them.

 

 

Going about the success

I’m currently deep in the editing cave and coming out for a bit of air, to see what is going on in Romancelandia and to mull the thoughts.

I don’t have goals, in general because I can’t think of anything more stressful – setting goals feels limiting to me (if it works for you, have at!). So when I see posts of authorgoals or writergoals or authors sharing their page reads, I’m cheering them on but for myself, it’s not how I measure success.

Because of being stressed – not the book but everything, literally everything aside from writing and book stuff – I haven’t planned 2025. And while I may not have goals, I am a huge planner and love to plan and not having a plan doesn’t make me that happy.

But I have Flame For Keeps coming out in December and ideally another – yet unannounced Mercy Book – that will finish off 2024. My readers have been waiting for Ares and Josie’s story and I am striving to make the wait worthwhile.

Looking ahead to 2025…bodyguards? or Club books? is still the question I don’t have an answer for, yet.

This year, writing literally kept food on my table and kept my lights on and even though, it’s at odds to say, with my current utility bills, I’m so close to achieving the steady roll with my books. Yeah, releasing them on a schedule will help with that – I’m not unaware.

But success? If you define it like this (see below) yes, absolutely. I’m so grateful to be writing and for having amazing readers!

Speaking of Mercy – it seems I am locked out of Mercy’s Instagram right now. Funny, when I thought that I could hide my disabilities in this author gig yet they affect everything I do – including remembering passwords and constantly getting them wrong. You may recall I had the same issue with my main IG not that long ago and though this one isn’t quite a loss like Raleigh’s would have been, it’s annoying to have to go through the hoops and maybe start over. Weary side.

Heading back to the cave and getting this book polished and delivered.

success quote

The problem with safe space

As someone who wishes to one day go to a book conference/signing – even though I have done a fair number of cons with my Artist and I know how hard it would be physically and mentally, and how crowded it is and overwhelming and overstimulating – the discourse after RTD has been interesting to watch unfold.

And as someone who recently realized that I actually do need mobility aids, despite being “you don’t look disabled” (more on that later) the conversation about disability and accessibility makes me a little twitchy.

But nothing makes me feel like out of my mind and want to scream more than seeing the words, “safe space,” thrown around.

Why? Isn’t it good that organizers are recognizing they need to be a “safe place?” Doesn’t it give legitimacy and reassurance to those who need a “safe space”?

Maybe. But it only goes so far.

A lot of the time, places designated as “safe” are the complete opposite. A whole organization, no matter how trauma-informed they are, no matter how many plans they have in place, cannot take into account everyone’s behavior and guarantee an environment is “safe” for everyone.

What’s the solution?

Get specific about the kind of “safe” you are and how you got there and what you are doing to ensure the safety of those particular groups.

Be upfront about how you are supporting the needs of the different groups you are creating “safe space” for and how you are ensuring it is safe for everyone.

When you break it down, you realize how impossible it is to be safe for everyone because that would be knowing everyone’s personal limitations or triggers and no matter how much screening you’ve done or how much security you have, you cannot guarantee personal boundaries are never violated and personal needs met.

But you can be an inclusive space (to whom? And how?)

You can be a supportive space. (what resources are you offering? What support needs can you meet?)

You can be a zero tolerance space for harassment. (what’s your policy? No questions asked or do you require proof? What is the consequence for harassment on your site?)

You can be a space that’s open to feedback and learning and doing better (if there are action steps actually taken and not bullet pointed in a social media post)

Still hoping that I can get myself to a conference.

They sound fun.

 

At the start again

When I came back to writing out of necessity, I had to learn to be a plotter. Knowing what I was going to write before going into that space of time where I had a free hour was the only way I could get words down and finish a book — especially because I didn’t have a lot of free time.

But in some cases, that makes the start of writing a new book slow – because I won’t start till I have a solid outline. And after writing 3 books in the 1st POV, coming back to Josie and Ares in 3rd POV is um, my brain feels like it’s going to melt.

But it’s reminding me of all the things I love about Bandit Brothers. I’m proud of these books, I love these stories, and I’m so grateful to have them out in the world.

Josie and Ares’s story was written halfway, but then I changed the timing, so that’s what brought me to this restart. I feel like I’m existing in some kind of limbo at the start of a new book. Kind of like I’m gathering up all that energy to go and create something new.

In my NL poll, I asked if readers wanted Bodyguards or  BDSM Club, and the club won out. Now the question is, what POV do I write it in? As someone who is by nature a solitary, asking these questions makes me feel weird, but I truly love hearing what my readers have to say.

Speaking of being reminded of how much I love these books, Flame Again has a new cover. This book has my heart in so many ways. Watch for it  to be on sale for $2.99USd this week.

Get it here

flame again

 

The distractions are afoul

This Wednesday finds me loving that the sun is shining it’s warm enough to be outside with just a sweater and my coffee is only half cold.

But these edits are kicking my butt, so I’m not around much-ish and my KDP dashboard shows 0 reads on Five Days to Be Mine. It’s fine. It’s fine.

Because I’m kind of in a Mercy brain, I’m sharing a snippet from Sold to Her Enemy. This book has been wild to write, this collab amazing to be apart of. It’s out in June and I hope you like it!

In this scene, Mckenna realizes that it’s Adrian who won her at the Club Lust Auction. She has a history with him.

 

“Obey, Mckenna. Don’t talk back to me. I don’t care if you don’t have other shoes. I’m not taking the chance of  you stabbing me with your pointy heel.”
I bite my lip hard, my hand pressing to my cheek.
I glare at him because I hadn’t thought of stabbing him with my stiletto.

“You tried to ruin my reputation. I am not taking chances.”
With a comment to a journalist, I might have made life hard for Adrian. But it doesn’t compare to how impossible he made my life when he took everything my father built away from my mother and I.

 Excerpt from Sold to Her Enemy by Mercy Denton Pre-Order here

 

 

A praise kink is more than a “good girl”

It’s Friday and it’s not snowing and those are definitely wins!

In Flame For A Weekend, Dax and Gardenia finally give into the attraction that’s sizzled between them. This is a novella where the FMC is exploring age play, submission and a power exchange dynamic. It’s also where in a 35k novella, “Good girl” is said 35 times. Because the character Dax, loves to give out praise.  But a praise kink is more than “good girl.”

From Bad Girls Bible, “Praise kink, which is sometimes known as “affirmation play” or a good girl kink, involves the dominant or top showering their submissive/bottom partner with compliments, kind words, and other sorts of praise. Now, praise kink doesn’t just mean including praise. After all, that’s a common component of most power exchange relationships or kinky scenes. So if you have this kink or want to include it as an activity, it’s the focus of your interactions.” [https://badgirlsbible.com/praise-kink] 

Dax heaps the compliments on Gardenia because he likes how she reacts like:

“Gardenia, your breasts look beautiful in that top.” Dax smiled, coming forward to greet her. “I’m so pleased you decided to spend the weekend with me.”
I love how my shirt looks on you, by the way. Your body is gorgeous.”
She flushed at his compliment. “I don’t think… I’m always too….”

And

“And you were so gorgeous as your eyes closed and you clutched my shirt, and the orgasm spiraled through your body.”

When I was writing Flame For A Weekend, I had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to explore praise kink beyond just the good girl. For a little novella, this book was actually a turning point for me as I realized that I love writing instant love romance and I started to have a hankering to play with softer, tender Doms that eventually led to Mercy.

In Five Days to Be Mine, “good girl” is said 56 times. Is this too much? I don’t think so, considering that Evan is a pleasure Dom and not only is he a pleasure Dom, he is a Dom that thrives on taking care of his partner.

In Flame For Two, “good girl” is only said 7 times and only once by Xander. Xander isn’t the type of Dom to give praise away like candy.

 

But “good girl” has become so popular as a reader requested praise kink it’s almost a whole sub-genre but it also has to fit the character.

My mutual on Instagram, Stacy Jane, wrote a post where she talks about “good girl” having to fit the character. I love what she says here:

“Once the praise kink hit mainstream, everyone was squeezing it in somehow. And while it absolutely works in the right scenes, it should never be forced to work in others. When any kind of tropes or things like this become overused, they can easily slip into the “parody” realm of things.” [https://www.instagram.com/p/C4zRq8lr6hm/]

The line between “real life” and fiction is always one I’m aware of and even though I write about private operatives and take lots of liberties in a fictionalized way, I shudder at kink becoming a parody in my work.

For this Follow Friday, check out Stacy Jane’s Rain in the Wastelands on Kindle Vella here and her standalone novel, Saving Gypsy

 

Saving Gypsy Stacy Jane

 

Gypsy Jones moved from New Orleans to Chicago in search of life’s next adventure. What she ended up with instead was a boring and lonely life. Stuck in an office job she hates and living in a tiny apartment she can barely afford, her life is far from what she dreamt it would be. Now, wherever she goes, she envisions the stars aligning and putting her on the path to her soulmate.
None fit the bill until Xander Larson. Gypsy is quick to fall for his charms and desperate enough for companionship to give into her lust for him just minutes after they meet. It’s not until Gypsy is in an afterglow that Xander tells her his name, revealing himself to be a man wanted by the FBI for domestic terrorism. By the time she learns his true identity, she’s already addicted to him and in complete denial he could ever be the monster she’s heard him described as.
Special Agent King Renzo is the FBI agent heading the Larson investigation. When footage of the wanted man is brought to his attention, he’s surprised to see Larson seduce a woman within mere minutes. He’s seen enough cases of women falling for the wrong man to know he needs to get her away from the terrorist before Larson destroys her. The only thing he didn’t expect was just how hard and fast he would fall.
Stand Alone novel with a happy ending.
Trigger warnings: violence and one brief rape scene.

Another new cover … She’s a damsel in distress and doesn’t know it…

Flame For You, the first book in the Bandit Brothers Series, came out in March 2022.

That’s wild! I can’t believe it’s been two years, and I can’t believe all the books that have followed since.

I’m so, so grateful to be doing this indie author thing.

A post came across my feed, from a mom wanting to desperately write and not being able to find the time. That pulled hard on my heartstrings because I remember being absolutely desperate to write, feeling like it was never, ever going to happen …  those blank pages and all the clamoring for your attention are both hard things to get through, no question.

But I hope it happens for you. I hope you find a way to section off time, make it important enough, matter enough that you’re at peace with carving out that time and when you do, you have energy to face that first blank page and I hope the words flow for you.

And then tell me about it when it does. I want to cheer you on.

***

If you haven’t seen it, here is Flame For You’s new cover! I still love Quinn and Simone.

new cover for Flame For You

 

 

 

OMG! ARC Readers

(I’m Returning to a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday blogging schedule and still updating the site for mobile. Thanks for being patient!)

 

Sign–up for an ARC, with the amount of discourse that is going around! Yikes.

What do readers owe us? Nothing. Nada.

We get to write the books; we don’t get to dictate how readers respond to those books.

Would I love all 5-star reviews? Sure. But what I want more than that is to connect to readers. I love it when a reader slides into my DM’s telling me that they wish Xander was their Dom. Okay, that makes me have a moment of panic and say, “No! Nooo.” And sometimes, when a reader tells me that one of the Bandit Brothers Books, is their first intro to BDSM, it makes me question my life choices… but…

I appreciate it all the same.

I get to write the books. I don’t get to tell readers what to do with them or how to write reviews, or if they can tag me or not tag me. Do I want to be tagged in one-star reviews? No…not really. Some of them make me laugh….because you have to laugh.

But I don’t wanna tell readers how they should be reading – even ARC readers, with three asterisks***

If you’re a past ARC reader of mine, thank you! You are amazing. My books are better because of ARC readers catching things like my vegetarian character eating bacon, wonky formatting, and three different spellings of Chantal.

I don’t have any expectation other than you’ll read the book and post a review.

I’ve started asking ARC Readers if they want a release day graphic to share because readers have asked me but I clearly say that it is not a requirement.

Here’s my *** for my ARC Readers:

* Don’t be a pirate. I know you would never pirate it, but it happens and I feel like it’s a CYA I have to have on the form

* If you are going to give it less than 2 stars, please reach out before you post your review. I ask this for two reasons: a) It gives me a chance to fix something that needs to be fixed before publication, if it’s something technical b) It gives me a heads-up that this book isn’t landing the way I wanted it to. That’s me asking you to reach out, not me telling you not to post the review. Why do I ask this?
Ah, because of a huge formatting error Flame For Two had this past year when I added an updated file, fixing minor things (backmatter) and I put it into a service, hoping to boost the book. It’s my bestselling book in the series. But I suddenly got all these reviews back talking about grammar. I had beta readers re-read it, I begged peers to re-read it, I broke my rule and questioned friends who I know had read the book and they all said, it’s fine. We were all looking for grammar errors in the original file, not checking the updated, new file I had sent into this review service (sighs – this plan totally backfired, I lost sales). In an effort to prevent this error – which is a known sideloading error through BookFunnel from happening, I now put in that clause on my ARC Form, with the words, “I promise not to freak on your head.” And it worked! That error was caught in Flame For Foe and fixed before publication.

I know that ARC’s are supposed to be the version, the cleanest, error free version and I strive for that but I’m doing this without a cook or a nanny and the tiniest of budgets.

*Have read at least one of my books & posted a book review before joining my ARC Team, anywhere. That’s a new * I added this year for the Bandit Brothers Series. I want you on my team and this is me, trying to cut down on readers who sign up on a whim – I want you here, if you want to be here.

I appreciate my ARC Readers so very much! They’ve kept me writing this year when I have felt burnt out. They slide into my DM’s and check in on me and tell me they’re waiting for the next book and that makes me feel so writerly I wanna squish you.

Thanks for reading!

The one about the bodyguard and brat.

Why am I re-doing the covers?

I know some readers loved the OG flame covers but I’m trying to get into more promotions and wanted all the covers to match. Updated paperbacks are coming. When I went in to update the front page on Flame For Chance today, I read. And kept reading and kind of loved it.

What’s not to love about a brat who kind of , not really, knows what she wants?

cringe for sasha

Follow Friday: These covers? Gorgeous

I had Friday’s post all set, but critters got into one of the major transmitters, and we have a power outage.

#truestory

This Friday brought a weather change, that prompted a migraine the size of Venus and … words got down but it’s like slogging through mud.

Let’s go old school for a moment here and do Follow Friday because when I saw the new covers from M Kay Noir, they stopped my scroll.

I know what I’m going to  be reading this weekend! Check them out! 

 

M Kay Noir novels