Reading Update and You Can Pre-Order Finding the Perfect Mate!

I really got brave this week. I listed Finding the Perfect Mate with a release date of April 1, 2020. The book is currently being edited, so I don’t think I’ll have any problem meeting that date. But I’ve never put a book out that early before. Gives me lots of time to advertise, I suppose. We’ll see how it goes.

And what’s a pre-order without the pre-order buy links?

Amazon          Barnes and Noble

Apple              Kobo

Goodreads

I haven’t set it up on Google Play yet because it appears they don’t allow pre-orders without uploading the book. I’m not ready to upload anything yet (heard too many horror stories of the wrong file being sent to customers), so it will be awhile before I set it up there. And the pre-order price is $2.99. After release day it will go up to $4.99. So better to pre-order than wait!

I added the Goodreads link in case you’d like to add it to your reading list. You do, don’t you? J

Last week, Author Voices asked if they could interview me. Me. Yeah, I was skeptical at first, but it appears they’re legit. On Monday, my interview went live. You can check it out HERE.

Here’s what I read since my last update:

Book #49

Dates read: November 14-26
Title: Demons Are a Girl’s Best Friend
Year of publication: 2018
Author: AE Jones
Genre: Paranormal romance
Series:  The Realm Book 2
# of Pages: 231
Paper or plastic: Trade paperback
How obtained: Purchased
Blurb from book:. Aleksei Chesnokov is one busy demon. Between leading the immigration team to bring realm demons to earth and preparing to one day succeed his father as clan leader, his priorities and current project plans do not include finding a mate.
    When his clan is attacked by the very demons he’s trying to help, Aleksei must enlist the help of Naya, the leader of the realm guard. A strong, determined, frustrating female, she challenges his decisions and acts before she thinks.
    As they work together to stop an impending war, Aleksei is drawn to Naya and the world she protects. When she’s taken hostage, Aleksei will move earth and the realm to save her. Because with all his agendas, checklists, and timelines, the one thing Aleksei never planned to do was fall in love.
My thoughts: The first half of this book kind of repeated the story from the previous one, just in different points of view. And frankly, I didn’t like it. But once it got past the first book’s story, I became interested again. I hope the third doesn’t overlap as much, but seeing as that brother wasn’t in it all that much, I’m guessing it’ll be a completely different story. At least I hope so.

I had to erase a LOT of words from my current project yesterday. But I think I got it all straight now. At least I hope so. If I think positively, that should help. Right? If you celebrate, have a Happy Thanksgiving and try not to eat too much!

Happy Reading!

Stacy

Reading Update and Starting Over

It’s never a good feeling to start over. At least, not for me.

I realized I messed up something in Ghostly Protector when the ending was happening too soon and I hadn’t even really gotten started on the romance! Luckily my friends gave me some suggestions, but it still comes down to starting over. It’s not like I haven’t done that before. In fact, that’s what I did with the last ghost book, Ghostly Interlude.

Oh hell. Am I doomed to do that with all the books in this series? Gosh, I hope not!! Not fun. Not fun at all!

Here’s what I read since my last update:

Book #48

Dates read: October 30-November 12
Title: Demons Will Be Demons
Year of publication: 2018
Author: AE Jones
Genre: Paranormal romance
Series:  The Realm Book 1
# of Pages: 223
Paper or plastic: Trade paperback
How obtained: Purchased
Blurb from book: When hotel inspector, Tallulah Thompson, is called in along with her pug, Franny, to investigate renovation delays, she meets an extremely annoyed and dapper turn-of-the-century innkeeper. The only problem is he’s in limbo, neither dead nor alive, and Tallulah and the pug are the first to see him in a hundred years. Cursed by a medicine woman, “Love ‘em and Leave ‘em Lucius” Stewart is stuck between worlds until he finds his true love and gives her his heart. When he first sees Tallulah, he doesn’t know what he’s feeling. Yet, her stunning beauty, and feisty attitude pull him in. With the fate of Hotel LaBelle on the line, Tallulah with the help of a powerful medicine woman turns Lucius back into a flesh and blood man. She and Lucius team up to save the hotel, but Tallulah can't help but wonder if he will ever let go of his past love and learn to love again. Misha Sokolov is one frustrated demon. While his professional life with the Bureau of Supernatural Relations is rewarding, his personal life is woefully lacking. His teammates Kyle and Jean Luc have found their mates (with his help, he might add). Was it too much to ask for his happy ever after?
    When Misha finally meets an amazing demon female who could be THE ONE, Fate conspires against him. With the escalating tensions between the earth and realm demons, and his newest case involving supernatural seven-year-old twins, he’s too busy for romance.
    Callie, a human female, can’t seem to convince her half-demon sons that using their powers in front of humans is a bad thing. The more time Misha spends with her, the more he realizes she’s keeping secrets. When these secrets jeopardize both her and her sons, Misha will stop at nothing to keep them safe.. Because instead of conspiring against him, Fate may have put a spunky, green-eyed woman and her incorrigible sons in his path for a reason.
My thoughts: This was cute and I enjoyed reading it. It’s a spinoff of another one of her series, but I wasn’t confused or anything, so a nice way to become introduced to this author. Although I purchased this series from the author when I met her a couple of months ago, I’m really glad I liked her writing and will have no problems reading the other two next.

So … when you discover you’ve messed up, are you gung ho in fixing it or do you get depressed looking at all the work laying ahead? I wish I was gung ho, but I will fix my story. After I’ve had time to sulk about it. The snow on the ground ain’t helping my mood any, either.

Happy Reading!

Stacy

Biting the Curse Is a Finalist!!

First off, Happy Veterans Day. If you served, thank you for your service. And if you’re like me, take advantage of a free meal somewhere. There are lots of restaurants treating veterans today. I plan on visiting a couple. Why not, right?

Last week I got some WONDERFUL news! My book, Biting the Curse, was a finalist in the Oklahoma Romance Writers International Digital Awards contest. I got a badge! Ain’t that cool?

A great review AND a finalist. I’m feeling really good about this book. Don’t know if I’ll enter it in as many contests as I did Ghostly Interlude, but I will definitely enter it in the Ritas (Romance Writers of America’s contest). Not that these contest actually help sell books. At least, not that I’ve been told. I guess I just feel the need to be recognized since I suck at advertising!


I’m hoping now that I’ve sent my next release, Finding the Perfect Mate, off to my beta reader I’ll be able to write more on the next ghost book. Of course, I think I screwed up somewhere. Good thing I meet with my plotting group tonight. I really need the help!!

I plan on revealing the cover to Finding the Perfect Mate in my next newsletter. Also plan on giving away some neat Buffy and Supernatural cards I picked up at Dragon Con last year. If that interests you, then sign up for my newsletter. The link is on the sidebar of this blog and at my website http://stacymckitrick.com.

So … Do you think awards help books? How about movies? I have to admit, I never planned on watching Rocky until it won the Oscar for Best Picture. And then it turned out I loved the movie. Go figure!

Happy Monday! And Happy Veterans Day!

Stacy

Vacation Pictures, Part II

Oh my! Yesterday was quite a Halloween. We went from 50s and rain to 30s and flurries. And the wind was brutal! I’m surprised we had as many trick-or-treaters that we did. Still way more than we ever got at our last residence on a good weather night!

I was still hoping for more, though (and would have gotten them if the weather cooperated), so yeah, I have lots of candy leftover.

But was October one crazy month or what? Started out breaking records in the 90s and ended on flurries. And I thought March was bad!

Good time to post pictures of Florida, right? To think the warm weather wasn’t all that long ago.

Can you see that little creature on the walkway? That's a gecko. There were bunches of them around the hotel we were staying at in Key West. Maybe he was waiting for the shuttle. :)

On this visit to Key West, we toured Ernest Hemmingway's house. His house was the first one to have a built-in pool. Not by his choice, though. That would be his ex-wife's.

Hemmingway's favorite bar was Sloppy Joe's (not the one that's there now). When it closed down, he decided to take one of the urinals and use it here as a fountain.

This is where Hemmingway did a lot of his writing. I could easily write in there, too. It was a very nice space.

One of the many six-toed cats roaming on the premises. They allow each female one litter before having them fixed. You can tell they are all well taken care of.

Chickens and roosters like to roam Key West, too. This one managed to sneak into the restaurant. The wait staff ran after it, squirting it with water to get it to leave!

I finally had a chance to wear my swimsuit (no, I don't have a picture of me in it) and make it to the beach. The water was so warm! We only spent about an hour out there (didn't want to get sunburned, and didn't!), but it was a wonderful hour.

One of the few houses I saw decorated for Halloween. They went a little crazy, didn't they?

After our stay in Key West, we headed up to Sarasota/Bradenton to watch Daughter play Footy in the the US Australian Football League Nationals. Her team won their last game and came in fifth place. In case you're wondering about the scoring, her team had 4 goals (6 points each) + 6 behinds (1 point each) = 30 points. The other team only had 3 behinds.

We've been to Sarasota before but had never visited the beach. We were told we needed to see the Siesta Key Beach. That it is considered the #1 beach in the U.S. So we made it out there just after sunset. Wow, were we impressed! The beach is HUGE!

And the sand! It was the softest sand I'd ever felt. Powder soft!

I would have liked to have seen the sun set, but this was pretty, too!

Oh, and while the sun set, the moon was rising. It was an absolutely lovely night. I hope Nationals are held there again. I'll make a point of going back to this beach during the day! In my swimsuit, even!


So … Can you believe it’s November already? I miss summer.

Happy Friday!

Stacy