Jessie

The Next Rogue Queen Serial is Delayed :(

December 13, 2019 / Author News, Writing

Let’s rip this bandaid off fast: the next Rogue Queen serial is going to be delayed by a month or so. I was hoping to start it by the end of the year, but edits for Chaos Reigning just landed. And while my editor liked the story overall (yay! always a relief), it needs a few fairly big edits and not a lot of time to complete them.

All of the house stuff and moving has put me super behind schedule. Usually, at this point in December, I’d have about 5-10k of the serial written already, because I need to be a little ahead of what is posted due to my writing style (aka go back and change earlier things as I write).

Let’s just say that I am nowhere near that mark. :(

That means if I started posting around Christmas as I planned, the updates would be short, sporadic, and lower quality than I would like. So, delayed it is. I’m so sorry. I know a lot of you are looking forward to the third book—it’s one of the things people email me about the most.

Edits are due mid-January, so depending on how they go, the serial will hopefully start late January.

As a small consolation, and to give you something to look forward to, book three has a title: The Queen’s Triumph. And here’s a peek at Samara:

For those of you who wait for the published ebook, this shouldn’t affect that schedule. Right now, it is tentatively scheduled for late summer.

I won’t be around too much while editing, so I hope you all have a great holiday season! See you in 2020!

(Also, where did this year go? If anyone sees my missing months lying around, please return them.)

Incredible Book Bundle for a Good Cause!

December 5, 2019 / Author News, Books

23 Authors. 42 Books. Pay what you can for a good cause.

As some of you may know, I’ve become friends with Bree and Donna (the duo behind Kit Rocha). They’ve been incredibly kind and generous as I learn to navigate this wild world of being an author.

This week, Donna got some bad news and needs emergency surgery, which is awful anytime, but especially awful during the holidays. In order to help defray the costs, Bree put together an INCREDIBLE pay-what-you-can book bundle.

42 Books.

23 Authors.

Starting at just $10.

If you can only give $10, you’re helping out and getting an amazing deal. If you can give more, you’re STILL getting an amazing deal, and you’re helping Donna tell her left boob to fuck off (really). Just don’t wait too long, because this is a limited-time offer.

Some of my very favorite authors are included in this bundle and I’m so happy I could be a tiny part of it. I mean, just look at this list!!

The Queen’s Gambit is included, so if you’ve been meaning to pick it up, now you can get it and 41 other awesome books for one ridiculous price. The hardest part for me is going to be deciding which book to read first.

Thank you for helping out, and please share!

Chaos Reigning Cover Reveal and Snippet!

November 21, 2019 / Author News, Chaos Reigning, Writing

The cover for Chaos Reigning, the final book in the Consortium Rebellion trilogy, is here!! It is gorgeous and I can’t wait to hold the book in my hands! Behold!

Isn’t is awesome? I feel so blessed to have such amazing covers. 🥰

CR is also available for preorder, so if you’re planning to pick it up at release on May 19, 2020, I hope you’ll consider preordering it early. Here are some handy links for you! :)

And the back cover copy:

Interplanetary intrigue and romance combine in this electrifying finale to the Consortium Rebellion series.

As the youngest member of her High House, Catarina von Hasenberg is used to being underestimated, but her youth and flighty, bubbly personality mask a clever mind and stubborn determination. Her enemies, blind to her true strength, do not suspect that Cat is a spy—which makes her the perfect candidate to go undercover at a rival House’s summer retreat to gather intelligence on their recent treachery.

Cat’s overprotective older sister reluctantly agrees, but on one condition: Cat cannot go alone. Alexander Sterling, a quiet, gorgeous bodyguard, will accompany her, posing as her lover. After Cat tries, and fails, to ditch Alex, she grudgingly agrees, confident in her ability to manage him. After all, she’s never found a person she can’t manipulate.

But Alex proves more difficult—and more desirable—than Cat anticipated. When she’s attacked and nearly killed, she and Alex are forced to work together to figure out how deep the treason goes. With rumors of widespread assaults on Serenity raging, communications down, and the rest of her family trapped off-planet, Catarina must persuade Alex to return to Earth to expose the truth and finish this deadly battle once and for all.

But Cat can’t explain why she’s the perfect person to infiltrate hostile territory without revealing secrets she’d rather keep buried. . . .

And, as promised, here’s a little snippet. This has not been edited (at all!), so it’s subject to change, removal, etc. I think I removed the spoilers for AB, so it should be okay even if you haven’t read book two. Happy reading!

Bianca’s living room was a study of retro-industrial looks. Silver chain link curtains spanned the large windows and glittered in the sun. The furniture was sleek and black. Exposed ducting in the high ceilings added additional visual interest, and a single vivid painting saved the room from being utterly colorless.

The air was rich with the smell of cinnamon and sugar, but my sister was conspicuously absent. “Bee?” I called.

“We’re in the kitchen!” she yelled back.

My smile slipped at the we. I didn’t know anyone else was joining us for breakfast, but if Bianca was yelling like that, then it couldn’t be anyone too important. Maybe our oldest sister Hannah was back on Earth. She had taken some much-needed time away while we [redacted], but I hadn’t expected her back for another month or two.

…

Chaos Reigning Cover Reveal and Snippet!Read More »

New House, New Office

November 20, 2019 / Life

After weeks of work and prep, we finally moved yesterday! It took all day and was exhausting, but we are now in our new house. Woohoo!

We put the bed together first, because we needed a place to sleep, but after that we worked on getting the office into a useable state. When we started, it was just a pile of boxes so deep we couldn’t get to the desks, but we ended up with this:

(Notice how all of the remaining boxes are conveniently out of frame. 😉)

We still need some art on the walls, but that will come after we’ve found the rest of the house, which is just a pile of boxes right now. Priorities, I has them. :)

Updates and Other News

November 4, 2019 / Life

Hello, friends, it’s been a while! Can someone please explain how it’s already November? I seem to have blinked and missed all of October. Aurora Blazing has been out for over a month and it both seems like no time at all and an eternity since the release.

A couple weekends ago I handed north to Dallas for the Buns & Roses Romance Tea for Literacy and had a lovely time meeting all of the readers at my table and everyone who came to the signing afterwards. Thank you all so much!

This amazing quilt was one of the things they raffled off for charity. I felt so bad signing it because my signature looks like a five-year-old drew it. I blame Mr. Mihalik, because I had a nice easy to write last name before we were married. Now it’s all a heap of loops that turns into a mountain range. Err… at least it’s unique? 😅

Alisha Rai gave the Buns & Roses keynote, and it was one of the best speeches I’ve seen. If you get a chance to see her speak—GO! Overall, the event raised over $26,000 for the Richardson Adult Literacy Center, which is incredible. Thank you to everyone who made it possible!

In new house news, the floors are in, and we’re in the middle of cleaning and packing our old house. It’s been an ordeal and there is still an overwhelming amount of work left to do, but I can see the end. Maybe, in the far distance. :)

The new floors looks great, though. Here is a picture of my future office. I can’t wait to be moved!

In work news, I’m behind on everything. I haven’t written anything in ages and I’m not even sure I remember how to write. I still need to pitch a new series, do edits for CR, and write Rogue Queen 3. I’m hoping to start posting the serial version of that last one by the end of the year, but it’s going to be closer to Christmas than Thanksgiving. Like a lot closer. In fact, expect Santa to deliver it. 😂

I have seen the cover for Chaos Reigning and it’s fabulous! I can’t wait until I can share it! I’m also getting close to nailing down the cover for RQ3, so that should be good to go once I figure out what the actual story is going to be. :)

I hope you all are doing well and enjoying the fall weather. And if you’re doing NaNoWriMo, good luck! I’m cheering for you!