Darkest Caress is Unleashed!

It's release day! Darkest Caress is officially unleashed upon the world. I hope you fall in love with this new cast of characters.

I'm at the lovely Cynthia Eden's blog today, as well as at Novel Thoughts to do a digital giveaway of the book. To enter, just stop by either site and leave a comment.

Happy reading and I hope you all have a great week!

Kaylea :)

Darkest Caress Giveaway

Holy smokes, it's only six days until release day! *gasps*

Today I'm at the paranormal Darker Temptations blog talking about my wild and wonderful adventures in Lithuania that gave rise to the premise for Darkest Caress, as well as some particular events of the trip that I absolutely have to include in the next two books. They're just too good to pass up! Plus you'll get to learn a bit about my favorite cousin, Mike, whom I will introduce a bit more in a future post. I adore him, and he's really the reason I went on the trip to the Baltic States in 2009. So really, Darkest Caress and my venture into paranormal waters are all his fault. (Thus I will blame him for any bad reviews! He's got broad shoulders--he can take it.)

I'm giving away a digital copy of Darkest Caress to a commenter, so please drop by to enter.

Have a great week, everyone!

Darkest Caress: The Empowered Series

I promised I'd post the cover and blurb for Darkest Caress, which is due out April 23rd from Carina Press. This book is a bit of a departure for me, since it's a paranormal romance, and many readers have asked me why I chose to write something outside of romantic suspense. 

The short answer is, I wanted to find an agent to represent me, and since the few military romantic suspense titles I'd submitted to agents didn't get me anywhere, I thought I'd try a "hotter" genre and see if that helped. At the time paranormal romance was very hot, and after taking a trip to the Baltic States, some folklore I learned about in Lithuania piqued my interest enough that it inspired an idea for a new series. Hence, the idea for the Empowered was born, and Darkest Caress is the first installment. The manuscript did not garner me an agent after all, but I was lucky enough that my current publisher wanted to acquire it.

I don't plan to stop writing military romance, though I'm not sure yet whether I'll write the remaining books in the Empowered series. I intend to finish Danger Close (2nd Bagram Special Ops book, Ace and Ryan's story) as soon as possible, then simultaneously work on book three of that series, along with the 2nd Empowered book (Cade's story). Right now it's a case of wait and see on the paranormal stories, to find out if there's even any reader interest for more Empowered books.

For those of you waiting for word on Ace and Ryan's story, I hope to have news about Danger Close within the next few months. Fingers crossed! In the meantime, here's what Darkest Caress is all about. The story is dark and the hero extremely yummy, but the Baltic mythology woven into the book is what inspired me to write it in the first place.

Blurb: Two-hundred-year-old Daegan Blackwell is one of the last remaining Empowered, an ancient magical race. Daegan’s duty is to lead and protect his remaining Brethren in the coming war foretold by prophecy. The last thing he expects is to meet the one woman who will either save or destroy him—his destined mate. Fiercely independent Realtor Olivia Farrell believes darkly handsome Daegan is simply a prospective client. Until she’s attacked by a man with a strange aura—and Daegan fights him off, taking away her pain with just his touch. At first, Olivia refuses to believe she’s part of a magical race, yet mounting evidence and her powerful chemistry with Daegan are too strong to deny.
But as Daegan’s partner, Olivia becomes a target in the battle between good and evil that threatens her life, as well as the very existence of the Empowered. And the only one who can save her is the man claiming to be her destiny…

Home Again

Got home from our holiday obscenely early on Tuesday morning, so now it's back to the grind. It's hard, as this is the only vacation where I wish I could have stayed another month. Kauai was paradise found, and we had so much fun. We kayaked and hiked up to a waterfall, we tubed down an old irrigation canal on a former sugar cane plantation, we took a catamaran sail to see humpback whales in the wild, and we even fit in a bike ride along the beach, a luau and a horseback ride right down to the ocean. All of us are eagerly anticipating our return next March when my favorite cousin gets married there.

Here's the view from one of the restaurants at our hotel. Pretty nice, eh?

And here's a shot of me kayaking down the Wailua River.

Hubby's in the back helping me paddle since we're towing the weasels behind us upriver against a head wind. Had a great time.

Got my cover for Darkest Caress, which comes out April 23rd. It's my favorite cover to date and I'll post it next week.

Ben's a Winner!

Yesterday I received word that No Turning Back won the romantic suspense category of the 2011 Aspen Gold Awards. Ben's psyched, of course, and now his ego is bigger than ever.

Right now I'm completing line edits on Darkest Caress, a paranormal romance coming out next April from Carina Press. Once those are done I'm going to hack away at this first draft of the second Bagram book, featuring Ryan and Ace. I've got everything plotted out now, so it's just a matter of getting the words down.

We're also in the middle of renovations on our master bathroom right now, and of course it's taking longer than expected. Trades not showing up when they're supposed to, which pushes the whole project back. What can you do, right? It's going to be purty when it's done, so I'm holding on to that thought.

New Book Contracts!

I thought this picture was especially appropriate considering the writing slump I've been in recently. However, I'm pleased to announce that Carina Press has offered a contract for the first of a paranormal trilogy I've written. I'm excited about this and hope to strengthen my world building in the book during edits, and with any luck my military romance fans will like it too. Darkest Caress is based on some Lithuanian folklore I learned about during my tour of the Baltic States in 2009, specifically to the idyllic village of Nida on the Curonian Spit. The book will be out sometime next year.

I also received word that same day that The Wild Rose Press wants to contract the second erotic romance I wrote (as Callie Croix) for the Dumen Ranch Series. The first book, Deacon's Touch, will release August 26th, and the second, Dillon's Claim, will probably be out sometime this winter.

It's the August long weekend here in BC, and we've been celebrating with family that have been in town since last weekend. Right now I'm cooking a big dinner for 15 of us: sweet glazed meatloaf (hubby's absolute fave), cream cheese mashed potatoes, spinach salad with fresh fruit and a raspberry vinaigrette dressing, a vegetable medley baked in homemade cheese sauce, and for dessert, a very decadent chocolate mousse layer cake. A totally low cal dinner for their last meal here in Vancouver :) I think a long family walk after dinner is in order, maybe down to the Spirit of the Sea Festival here at the beach to watch the fireworks later on.