THE CURSE OF WHITE OAK GROVE Soundtrack

Hello again! Here's a playlist for my upcoming novel. I chose songs that capture the vibes of the book: dark, ominous, sexy, terrifying, etc. You know, the usual.

“What Else Is There” - Enslaved
“Murder Song (5, 4, 3, 2, 1)” - AURORA
“Helm” - Ritual Howls
“Wasting” - The Soft Moon
“Dancing Barefoot” - Caress
“Strange Harvest” - Tempers
“Vicious Pastimes” - House of Harm
“This Place Called Nowhere” - Box and the Twins
“Into the Wild” - Agent Side Grinder
“The Storm” - Hante.
“Goodbye Gemini” - Blood Ceremony
“House of Metal” - Chelsea Wolfe
“The Darker the Weather // The Better the Man” - MISSIO
“Dark Stone” - Holy Fawn
“Don’t Fear the Reaper” - Keep Shelly in Athens

Shoutout to my friend Nenia for suggesting the Chelsea Wolfe and MISSIO songs!

I'm currently on my second round of editing. CURSE should be out soon! More updates to come. :)

Add The Curse of White Oak Grove on Goodreads!

Writing Update!

I feel like sharing a few details about my WIP! For once! Usually I shy away from that before I've written a complete rough draft, but whatever, here we go.

The working title is THE CURSE OF WHITE OAK GROVE, but it's a title that's growing on me, so it might stick around. It's about a girl who visited her grandma one summer at age 13, and bad things happened, so she tried to forget the town even exists. But after a death in the family twenty years later she returns, and guess what? She hasn't quite escaped those bad things! Luckily, this time she gets to bang a couple of hot dudes who may or may not have their own agendas, and probably don't care about her best interests.

- small town with dark secrets and horrifying traditions (of course)
- creepy ghost mansion
- non-virgin heroine who has a young daughter (not an overly precocious or annoying one, don't worry)
- heroine has sex with two different guys (not together, and not concurrently)
- the sex is explicit and spicy AF
- villianous love interest(s)
- dub-con
- one love interest has been celibate a long time
- messy relationships, etc. etc.
- me trying to out-toxic myself, let's goooo

My heroine, Aubyn, is a fool for love, which means she makes really bad romantic decisions and tends to ignore obvious red flags. She's not an idiot or TSTL; she just really wants love, and sometimes this translates into sex that may be detrimental to her emotional well-being. It just so happens that the sex in this book is too hot to resist, so maybe that's understandable. And I just really want to write a bunch of toxic smut. :P

I'm currently at about 74000 words (yay me!). I haven't quite decided on the ending, because I tend not to do things like "plan ahead" when I'm writing, so some details will probably change. I do have a good idea where I'm going though, and I'm pretty excited. I know I'll go through several stages of agony before I finally finish it, but that's just the way it goes. I'm hoping to have the book out later this year, so stay tuned. :)

DEAD LOVE: Coming Soon

I've been working hard (AND hardly working) on DEAD LOVE, the next installment in the DREAMS FOR THE DEAD series. It was difficult to come up with a plot (WHAT EVEN ARE PLOTS) and then it was difficult to implement that plot, but I think I've managed to do it in a way that will segue into the next book (which I'm planning to make full-length, hopefully). I have almost 30k words, and it won't be much longer. I didn't want to drag this out for very long, because oh my god, Leila is TRAUMATIZED. But she deserves a happy ending, and I hope some people will want to read it.

In the meantime, here's the playlist!

Up Next!

It's been almost two months since I published my latest book, Some Velvet Sin, a dark YA love story. I promised myself I'd take a good long break before starting my next project, because when I write I tend to neglect things like my health (although I sometimes neglect that when I'm not writing, because being healthy is hard!!!).

Anyway, I did take a little break, but I also wrote. Because that's what I do. I already have almost 20k words! The difference is that this time I'm really trying not to put added pressure on myself. Even just sending rough chapters to my wonderful beta reader, Nenia, I feel such pressure to be perfect. But I really shouldn't hold myself to standards that I don't hold others to!

So, yes, my next book is underway, and I will do everything in my power to make it great, but I want to make the process just a little more enjoyable.

I don't have a title yet, but this book will feature toxic love in a small town, murder, weird families, and a haunted house! Oh, and plenty of smut. There will probably be a few trigger warnings, I'm guessing. I'm already pretty much in love with June and Dante, and I'm basically shouting "NOW KISS" as I write (they have not yet reached the point of kissing).

Now I'm off to do something that is not writing, because I DO deserve breaks! But rest assured, I'm always mentally plotting. :)

SOME VELVET SIN Soundtrack + Update

It's been two and a half months since my last update, and I've been working hard to finish my next release. SOME VELVET SIN is a YA love story full of angst and death and cool teens, set in the 1950s. Love is doomed... or is it???

I have another round of edits to do before the final draft is ready, and a synopsis to write (gulp). I've also been working on the cover! The release date (no set date, just whenever I'm done) is getting close. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm actually really sad to be finished writing about these characters. That's not normally something I feel when I'm done with a book, so I'm taking that as a good sign.

As usual, I've put together a list of songs. This one ranges from 1950s rock 'n' roll to psychobilly, with a couple others thrown in for mood.

"Poor Little Fool" - Ricky Nelson
"Young Blood" - The Coasters
"Need Your Lovin' (Oh So Bad)" - Ronnie Hawkins
"Let's Elope Baby" - Janis Martin
"You're My Halo" - Jeremy and the Harlequins
"Please Don't Leave Me" - Johnny Burnette and the Rock 'N' Roll Trio
"You Break My Heart" - Charlie Thompson
"Insane" - The Meteors
"Fallen Angel" - Pokey LaFarge
"Lust" - The Raveonettes
"Graveyard Tree II" - Koffin Kats
"DESPERATE LOVE" = J.D. McPherson
"Flowers by the Door" - T.S.O.L.

Bonus songs for the prologue and epilogue: "Don't You Want Me" by Human League and "Space Age Love Song" by A Flock of Seagulls

Listen on Spotify!

Add SOME VELVET SIN on Goodreads!

Writing Update, One Year Later

It's been almost a year since I did a writing update, and I've published two books since then! I thought I'd take the time to list some new projects I have planned, including my WIP.

Some Velvet Sin: This is my WIP, and it will be the first YA I've written since Psychopomp. Like PSYCHOPOMP, it's a mature YA with dark themes. My inspiration for it comes from many places: a dream I had years ago, movies made in the 80s/90s but set in the 50s, psychobilly music, and a dash of mythology, to name a few. SVS is about cool dead teens and love that lasts beyond the grave. It takes place in the 1950s U.S. and the underworld.

Untitled: My next smutty romantic thriller has no title yet, but I've been thinking a lot about it (which is annoying since I'm not currently writing it). I have a lot of characters to work with and some evil plotting to do. This will take place in a small, desert Texas town, where everyone remembers the past and dark secrets make people do bad things. Like in A Pale Shadow, I plan to make the romance hot and toxic. >:D

Dead Love: OH HI LEILA. I haven't forgotten about you. I've come up with a new idea for how to tell Leila's story, and I hope to feel inspired enough to write it soon. It won't be a long book, but I'm having trouble making her story interesting because I happen to have no idea how she ends up with a fulfilling life. Poor girl, she can't catch a break. Stay tuned.

I have a few other ideas on the back burner, but they aren't realized enough for me to say much about them just yet. These ideas include supernatural men up to no-good shenanigans (obvs) and a third book in the Aecoria series! So many ideas, so little time.

A PALE SHADOW update + soundtrack

A PALE SHADOW is now available to buy on Amazon! You can also add it on Goodreads. I love how it turned out, and I hope others do too. I'm still thinking about the characters even though I'm done writing it!

This book does come with trigger warnings, and I've done my best to list them all in the Goodreads blurb. I'll list them here too: neglect, mentions of alcoholism, mentions of abuse, abuse of minors, suicide, rape, death, mature sexual situations

As usual, I've made a soundtrack for the book! I wanted to keep it somewhat nostalgic, as much of the book takes place in the nineties and early 2000s. But there's also some random stuff thrown in for fun.

"Hey Everybody" - Rubblebucket
"No Signs of Pain" - Azure Ray
"Sugar Kane" - Sonic Youth
"Graffiti" - Throwing Muses
"July Flame" - Laura Veirs
"Landmines" - The Action Design
"Found Out About You" - Gin Blossoms
"Violet" - Hole
"Heaven or Las Vegas" - Cocteau Twins
"Goddess on a Hiway" - Mercury Rev
"Mistaken for Strangers" - The National
"Rusted Wheel" - Silversun Pickups
"Night Time, My Time" - Sky Ferreira
"Blinding" - Florence + the Machine
"Feeling This" - blink-182
"Love" - Caress
"Ghost" - Gouge Away
"Lemon Eyes" - Meg Myers

Happy reading!

WILDFLOWER HEART Soundtrack

With WILDFLOWER HEART coming out soon (hopefully in the next month, which would be about a year since I released Lament!), I thought I'd share the soundtrack that helped inspire me to write. It was tough to pick songs for this book, but I think my choices fit it well.

"Ashes on the Riverbank" - Thieving Irons
"A Forest" - Bat For Lashes
"Be Wild" - M83
"It's A Good Life" - The Horrors
"Your Way" - Ecca Vandal
"Fish" - Wye Oak
"Time to Wander" - Gypsy and the Cat
"Warm Water" - Bear in Heaven
"The Death of Me" - Meg Myers
"Holy Places" - BRANDENBURG
"Dancing Barefoot" - Caress
"NARC" - Interpol
"Old Leaves Shiver" - Laura Carbone
"Lover" - In the Valley Below
"I Feel Free" - DILLY DALLY
"Drift Away" - GOLD ZEBRA
"Madder Red" - Yeasayer
"Dreams Never End" - New Order
"Armida" - Lust for Youth

Listen on Spotify!

Updates to follow! Find me on Goodreads in the meantime!

Writing Update!

Hey all! I can't believe it's been only four months since my last book came out. Feels like an eternity. Anyway, here's the timeline of my upcoming projects.

Wildflower (tentatively titled): This is a sequel to Sea and Sky. It takes place in the same world (Aecoria) but follows all new characters. I'm also moving it away from the sea and into a mist-shrouded valley beside the forest. There's an adventuresome heroine and a grumpy but secretly sweet hero. Plus a silly brother who drinks a little too much! Plus a forest sprite who keeps trying to kill people!

Dead Love: This is going to be a short installment in my Dreams for the Dead series. It will follow Leila, Dawn's best friend, as she deals with the trauma of having been held captive by a psycho vampire. I've written a little so far, and it's pretty bleak. Because... trauma. Not everyone wants to bang a vampire, you know?

A Pale Shadow: I have always planned to write a coming-of-age story, but I kept running into dead ends with my ideas. They were all just so blah and boring. Then I finally figured out a way to put my own spin on the genre, and like magic, the ideas started flowing. So this will be a sexy coming-of-age story (thriller, perhaps?) about a girl who moves to a town with deadly secrets. I'm very excited, since these characters having been sitting around for years with nothing to do.

And that's it for now! Happy reading! <3

Sex, Blood, and Rock 'n' Roll

Heyyyyy. My new book is out now! The Dead Rule the Night is only $0.99 in the Kindle store, and it's also available in KU! A few things to know about it: smut, smut, blood, creepiness, smut.

Anyway, you know what a new book means: a super awesome soundtrack to go along with it.

"KILL4ME" - Marilyn Manson
"Your Joy Is My Low" - IAMX
"Gloom Forever" - American Nightmare
"6 Undergound" - Sneaker Pimps
"My Heart Is Immortal" - Cold Cave
"Can't Be Love" - Pink Turns Blue
"Colors (Take Me Away)" - T.S.O.L.
"Pretty Baby Scream" - Lords of the New Church
"Dead Love" - The Soft Moon
"Ghost Dream" - Blouse
"Sedated" - Hozier
"I Get Off" - Halestorm
"Chokehold" - Adam Lambert
"A Little Death" - The Neighbourhood
"Masochism World" - Hüsker Dü
"Orphans of the Smog" - Death of Lovers
"Motel" - Meg Myers
"Blood Bitch" - Cocteau Twins
"Neon Gleam" - Night Sins

Listen on Spotify!

Special thanks to my amazing pals Karly and Nenia for suggesting some of the songs! <3

LAMENT Soundtrack

It's getting closer to Lament's tentative release date of November 27th! (It could be sooner but most likely not later.) I've decided to share the book soundtrack, as I always do. One of my favorite parts of creating a book is gathering songs that help set the mood (and would be perfect in a movie. Hollywood: Call me).

"When Words Fail" - GOLD ZEBRA
"Who Taught You How To Love" - King Dude
"Vex" - Chelsea Wolfe
"Something to Remember Me By" - The Horrors
"Dark Allies" - Light Asylum
"Friends in the Dark" - Specimen
"Glycerine" - Bush
"Underworld USA" - Cold Cave
"Face Meets Glass" - ACTORS
"Never Tear Us Apart" - INXS
"Burn My Name" - Shotgun Babies, Lydia Lunch
"Little Sister" - Queens of the Stone Age
"Come My Sunshine" - The Comas
"Kissing the Ground" - Drab Majesty
"Hemorrhage (In My Hands)" - Fuel
"Dance Macabre" - Ghost
"Mouthful" - Rule of Thirds
"Take Her Down" - Ruben Young

I feel a wave of despair, regret, and sexiness crushing me now.

Here's the link to the Spotify playlist!

Thanks to my good friend Nenia for suggesting the Ruben Young song! It goes perfectly with one of the scenes.

Add Lament on Goodreads!

LAMENT Cover

I haven't written a synopsis for my upcoming book yet, but you're damn right I made a cover. So here it is! Trying to make the right cover for this book was a journey, and I'm proud of the result.

I plan to publish mid to late November, as soon as my last beta reader finishes and I give the book another read-through myself to correct any lingering mistakes. For now, you can add it on Goodreads! (Also, the synopsis will arrive soon, I hope.)

New Projects!!!

It's been so long since I last posted! That's mostly because my WIP, tentatively titled LAMENT, was being very difficult for quite some time. I had difficulties bringing the story together, and I didn't want to jinx it by doing too many updates. But I've written the last line and done the first round of editing on the complete draft, so I'm ready to talk about it a little.

LAMENT is a story about a girl who ran away from home nine years ago after a terrible experience. Now she's back, but she's not quite ready to revisit her past or face her first and only love. Will she overcome the trauma that's slowly taking her over?

My wonderful friends Nenia and Karly are currenty beta-reading for me! I hope to have the book out by the end of November. Here's the aesthetic I made for it:

This book includes teenage angst and wonder, bad memories, trauma, arson, and spooky woods. Oh yeah, and plenty of smut.

I'm planning to devote much of October to drawing and other artistic pursuits besides writing, but I do have a super secret project that I'm planning to release before Halloween. Stay tuned!

GIRLS LIKE YOU: Free for three days!

It's been two years since I wrote GIRLS LIKE YOU! In honor of its anniversary, I've made it free for three days! From Feb. 12th to the 14th, you can download it from Amazon for zero dollars!!!

GIRLS LIKE YOU is about two unlikely lovers—a happy-go-lucky rich girl and an angsty poor boy—who find their lives entwined in unexpected ways. Add in an irreverent best friend, a couple of parties (for sneaking in romantic tension, of course), a kidnapping, and smexy times, and that about sums up the book. Hope you enjoy it!

Add GIRLS LIKE YOU on Goodreads!

Buy GIRLS LIKE YOU on Amazon!

Happy reading!

This is my most badass soundtrack yet.

I just published my newest release, DEAD HEART, a prequel to my vampire book DREAMS FOR THE DEAD that tells Branek's story (links go to Amazon). Naturally, I had to put together a soundtrack JUST IN CASE my book ever becomes a movie (don't laugh).

Since this is Branek we're talking about—a psychotic vampire who loves corpses just a little too much—I had to make this soundtrack special. With some help from my friend Nenia, who suggested Depeche Mode's "In Your Room" as one of the songs, I managed to put one together and I LOVE IT.

So here it is, my shortest and yet most badass soundtrack to date!

"Detention Home" - Dead Boys

"Dead" - Pixies
"Goo Goo Muck" - The Cramps
"Blitz" - Red Lorry Yellow Lorry
"Ring Me, Elise" - Dag för Dag
"In Your Room" - Depeche Mode (thanks, Nenia!)
"Down to This" - Wire
"Gonna Raise Hell" - Cheap Trick
"Again and Again" - Lowlife
"The Sky Is A Poisonous Garden" - Concrete Blonde
"These Evil Things" - Meteors
"Animal" - Def Leppard
"Xiola Blue" - The Priests



Note: "Xiola Blue" is such a dark and sexy song, but it isn't available to listen to online anywhere that I can find. If you like punk and/or psychobilly, you'll have to hunt down a hard copy of The Priests' self-titled album, which isn't on Amazon! (I inherited a digital copy from my brother-in-law.) This album is, however. Just don't get this band confused with the actual priests who sing, or The Priests with a female singer.

You can buy DEAD HEART for 99 cents on Amazon, where it's also available on KU. Be sure to check it out on Goodreads as well!

SEA AND SKY Cover + Soundtrack

I'm happy to announce that my upcoming fantasy romance, SEA AND SKY, finally has a cover! I had a lot more trouble than usual deciding on a design and then making my ideas actually work, and I'm pleased with the result.

SEA AND SKY is a romance story between a mermaid princess and a human prince (who is super beta, FYI). This is the culmination of yet another of those ideas I've had in my head for like 15 years, so it's really satisfying to finally have it completed. I'll be making some adjustments in the coming days, but I hope to have it released this month. In the meantime, you can add it on Goodreads!

She was mer, one of the ghastly creatures that lurked beneath the waves. He was human, brilliant as the sun. Forced into an unwanted marriage, they never expected to find passion in each other's arms.

Isolde knows she must murder her new husband to fulfill her father's hunger for revenge. She has every intention of doing so, even if her husband is painfully beautiful. Even if he's the only one who ever made her feel something approaching happiness.

Nishad knows never to trust a mer, but he is arrogant enough to believe his docile wife incapable of betrayal. He allows himself to succumb to forbidden desire with her, never suspecting that any moment could be his last.

With illusions shattered and long-held secrets laid bare, the unlikely lovers struggle with truth as tensions rise between their realms. Their fragile bond will never survive unless they come to see that love is more important than duty, and that magic can happen when sea meets sky.


The soundtrack was a little difficult to compile, since this is fantasy and not a modern setting, but I managed to gather some songs I love that I think represent the story well.

"Heavy Water/I'd Rather Be Sleeping" - Grouper
"Crystalised" - The xx
"Into the Depths" - Soft Moon
"Write in Water" - Love Spirals Downwards
"Absolution" - Gary Numan
"Low Red Moon" - Belly
"Possession" - Sarah McLachlan
"Tether Beat" - Twin Shadow
"Human Desire" - Gypsy & the Cat
"Because The Night" - Patti Smith
"Live For Today" - Lords of the New Church
"The Water" - Wild Cub
"All Eyes On Me" - Goo Goo Dolls
"King" - The Romanovs
"My Love Paramour" - Cocteau Twins
"The Blue Dress" - Wild Nothing
"Love Never Dies" - Theatres Des Vampires
"I Will Not Eat the Darkness" - Over the Rhine
"Awake" - Finch




Happy reading/listening!

Current projects

Hello! I thought I'd do a post about my current WIPs since I haven't said anything about them. I'm actually working on two at once, which I never do, because then I would never finish anything. But only one of them is novel-length, so I figured I could pull it off. And if I tell people about them, I really have to finish.

First, I'm writing a romance novel with a mermaid heroine. She can shift to have legs, which is convenient as most of the story takes place on land. She's a princess who has to marry a human prince in order to secure an alliance between their two realms, but everyone has a hidden agenda... And, of course, the two leads don't expect to fall in love, but they clearly don't know they're in a romance novel.

I haven't read any mermaid books that I truly enjoyed, so I decided to write the one I want. And the one I want turned out to have a sharp-toothed mermaid suffering from possible depression who desires her aloof prince husband even though she's supposed to kill him. You know, the usual things.

Source

Second, I'm working on a prequel to Dreams for the Dead. It doesn't have a title yet, but it will tell Branek's back story. I've been thinking about this ever since my friend Nenia asked for (well, demanded) it, and today I got a burst of inspiration. I just have to make sure I write Branek as the sadistic asshole he is while still making him somewhat likeable.

Whatever happens, he's hot.

Back to writing!

GIRLS LIKE YOU is live!

FINALLY. Amazon pulled a fast one on me and now the time to go live is longer than 10 hours—up to 72 hours they say! I should have listened to my instinct and made this available for pre-order. Oh well. As it went live at 10:41 p.m., technically this was still a Valentine's Day release!

I really love the soundtrack I made for this book. Basically all the songs make me feel like a girl in an indie music video. When listening to these songs, suddenly everything you do becomes super cool and film-worthy.


Bonus song: "Defeatist" by Cameras, which is not on Spotify. You can listen to it (and watch the weird but interesting video) on Youtube though. And thanks to Karly for "I Found" by Amber Run! <3

Happy reading! (And listening.)

Buy GIRLS LIKE YOU on Amazon!
Add GIRLS LIKE YOU on Goodreads!

GIRLS LIKE YOU Cover + Release Date

She wore her heart on her sleeve…

Eighteen-year-old Allison has never had to worry about anything in her easy, privileged life. But when an ordinary summer night spirals out of control, nothing will ever be the same for her again. She finds herself hiding out with the two men who saved her life and wants only to forget the pain of her recent past.

He had dangerous secrets…

Allison is everything Fox has always despised—rich, shallow, pretty—and yet he finds himself reluctantly drawn to her bright personality. Their growing attraction is powerful, but a normal relationship isn’t an option. There are people who want Allison dead, and Fox isn’t telling her the truth about why he saved her.

Together, they face a perilously uncertain future, and their love might not be enough to save them…

I had a lot of fun writing about Fox and Allison (and Hugh too). This story was inspired by some casino gossip I heard from my mom when I was a teenager. Allegedly, a janitor found thirty thousand dollars in a bathroom. However, my mom doesn't even remember telling me this so I have no idea what actually happened or if I just made it up. Anyway, although this story has undergone quite the transformation since then (can you believe it was originally going to have vampires? Oh wait, you probably can), certain things remained the same: Hugh's contentiousness, Allison being a shallow rich girl, and Fox's red hair.

 

I plan to release this on Valentine's Day (because that's adorable and I'm a nerd).

Add GIRLS LIKE YOU on Goodreads!

Author Interview at Chaotic Array

So I did my third ever author interview today with the awesome @JinxMyRide! I talked about my research, inspiration, my earliest attempts at writing, AND my next book, among other things.

Check it out at Chaotic Array!