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!