Our friend QB is looking for an author… who’s gone missing? Someone call Jessica Fletcher!

Hey Bamster!

Are you interested in another mystery to solve? I just read this book… Forever Crossed by A. Leigh Jones. I’ve had it on my Constant Cravings list for awhile and can’t remember who recommended it to me. So last week, I finally ordered it in print from Amazon, but it was originally released through Imajinn Books in 2004. This was a damn good Urban Fantasy and appears to be the start of a series.

So here’s the mystery… I can’t find any more books by this author. I’ve checked Amazon, Imajinn Books, RT, AAR, and I’ve googled the author’s name. Zip. Nada. Zilch. Released 3 years ago, Forever Crossed is apparently the only book released by someone with that name. However, I just HAVE to believe that she may have taken this series to another publisher using a different pen name. Since your readers include a huge amount of authors currently releasing through epubs, I was hoping you might post a plea to find A. Leigh Jones.

Here’s the Amazon link for it.

And here’s the Imajinn link.

BTW, don’t let those blurbs fool you– this was NOT an Anita Blake knock-off!

Thanks,
Bev

So where are you, A. Leigh Jones? Come by and say hello! Let us know what you’re up to!

Oh, and speaking of e-books… uh… Skin to Skin received 4 Angels from Fallen Angel Reviews. Kickass.

P.S. If you like free books, stop by at Jackie Kessler’s blog. She’s giving away 10 free copies of her upcoming book, The Road to Hell.

If there was one reviewer I feared, it was this woman (because she don’t bullshit with no one and especially not with me). Okay, and Karen Scott. Jane of Dear Author has reviewed Skin to Skin and here’s what she has to say:

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I shamelessly stole these quotes from Annie Dean. They’re advance reviews for Boundless, our upcoming anthology, which will be released by Liquid Silver Books on September 3rd (which is next week, dudes!). [Shameless begging alert!] Please, please read it. You won’t be sorry, we promise.

Lainey:

WOW…AWESOME…F’N GREAT. Really unique concept. I sat to give it just a glance this morning and wound up still in my jammies an hour later. I don’t generally think of those type stories as my cuppa, but you meshed the real with the unreal so cleverly and penned her temptation so well, I couldn’t pull myself out of the story. Terrific, and way more depth than your average ’short’. I felt as though I was in Dev’s POV by times, his actions and dialogue were so poignant. Again: WOW.

Ella / L:

I didn’t know what quite to expect from Boundless when I started reading it. I mean, I knew the cover was awesome, but I didn’t let my hopes get too high. Anthologies always seem to leave me a bit disappointed. I have worked out so many crack-pot theories on why, but it doesn’t lessen the blows to my long-suffering reader’s soul.

Didn’t take me long to say, “Screw it” and devour the whole thing in an afternoon’s worth of time.

Anthologies, they terrify me. Many brilliant authors I love seem to think nothing of just publishing awful drivel in an anthology.

Who reads them? they ask in chortling tones.

And alone in the dark, one voice cries out, “I do! For ten bucks a pop I do, you bet your sorry ass! May all the gods of literary finances show mercy and refrain from smiting.”

But lo, look! There is light at the end of the tunnel.

Did I have to do some eye-brow raising while reading Boundless?

Yes, on account of the things I learned about nuns. I did a lot more laughing and sympathizing and cheering on behalf of the characters, and it’s on my keeper shelf.

Erm, on my…internet keeper folder.

It’s somewhere important, that’s what I’m saying.

Boundless features three women yearning for change, any change, that might make their lives more full than empty. And each got her change all right, though, in ways they most certainly were not expecting.

This is a sentiment I related to easily, and I saw pieces of myself in each heroine.

Teresa, who yearns for something more and pure to put the past behind her; Marie, who wants the tide of loneliness to recede and find companionship in another; and Kitty, who takes a wild ride to find out what it feels like to be someone else.

That’s not to say that the men don’t shine. From Dev, tortured and endearingly sweet (for being an incubus); to Sam, Marie’s dream man come true (and mine); to Jack, a worldly cynic (a man after my own heart) who gets a whole new view on possibilities.

Though each tale held its own drawbacks, these characters, both the normal and…not-so-much, have found themselves chained down by something intangible and unable to be more than they can be until fate it seems steps in, and helps them out by letting them find each other and a little faith in miracles.

Boundless, I think, is a solid buy to introduce readers (who are like me, always the last to know about stuff like this) to three great writers who will hopefully keep churning out more books. Some of these ladies have frightfully small backlists, I know, but maybe plots will multiply like bunnies and they won’t hear a thing about it from me. Maybe.

No, not really.

Joan:

I was really excited when Ann asked me if I wanted an ARC of Boundless if I would read it before the release and give her my reaction. I don’t even know where to start. The stories are erotic, but it’s a subtle sensuality sometimes, and they’re underpinned with the most delicious intensity. The ladies have imbued their heroes and heroines with so much yearning, but at the same time, like in Waking Kitty, there is a sense of displacement and of longing for home. The writing is just beautiful. Bonnie Dee has such a gift for imagery, she brings fall to life for me. And Sam is just so… I don’t know what to say. I wanted him for myself. I think you should buy it. This is the best anthology I’ve seen all year. Usually there’s a weak story, but I liked all of these.

Kelly:

Ok, I wasn’t sure how I would feel about this because I don’t like paranormal stuff. I know that makes me weird, but I hate vampires and werewolves, and I can’t stand stuff where there’s a lot of magic and foofy crap. I didn’t even really want to read this tbh but it was a free book, so I said what the hell. And the first story has a freakin’ heroine who is about to turn into a nun. But she got me, I’m not sure how. The descriptions were really vivid and moving, and pretty soon she was getting naked and teasing him. Dev was great, he seemed so desperate to be human and yet…not. He just wasn’t. I don’t know exactly how she did that fine line, but it was there. And I didn’t even mind it.

Once I started liking that one, the rest of them were just good. I mean, the second one had magic in it and I still liked it. Bonnie Dee writes a hell of a sex scene. The last story was the weirdest one yet, but it was so funny, omg. And Jack was just grungy enough to make me think I’d date him. You guys should get this, even if you don’t like these kinds of stories. They’re magical but in a good way.

Oh, dudes, I told myself I wasn’t going to geek out over the reviews of my book (Skin to Skin, out on Aug. 17, yo!), but as soon as I checked out this link, I just totally lost my shit. Like, I had zero dignity left. It was embarrassing. Tim was all, “Can you remember this feeling when you’re down and depressed and telling yourself you suck?” Whatevs. It’s still a happy day.

The summer seems to drag on, the heat unbearable. Leilani is dead set on gaining the attention of her new neighbor who seems to avoid her at every turn. After all, she’s paraded up and down the street in her sexiest next-to-nothing clothes while she walks another neighbor’s dog. That should have gotten his attention but didn’t. Even the drastic measure of bending over and giving him a peek of her pink thong didn’t work. What is it with this guy anyway?

Oliver hasn’t missed one of Leilani’s tricks. In fact, he’d give anything to strip those few scraps of clothes off her body and get to know her better. Unfortunately, his thigh wound is giving him fits. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now he’s on disability leave from the police department while he heals. He has plenty of time to watch his sexy next-door neighbor go through her antics to gain his attention.

When Leilani takes drastic measures and pushes the issue, Oliver has no choice but to react. He no longer has the option of sitting back and watching, wishing she was his. The man is clever, though. She took the first step and now he’ll take the final one.

Dionne Galace has written a wonderfully funny and emotionally charged addition to the MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S STEAM series with her SKIN TO SKIN offering. As the reader, you sit back and watch these two characters as they assess one another. It’s almost like watching two combatants in an arena. You wait for one of them to make that pivotal move that’ll send them into physical combat. This one is definitely worth the wait.

SKIN TO SKIN is a must read and a keeper.

Thanks to Nickie Langdon for the very eloquent review. If you don’t believe me, you can check it out here. Heh.

[Title edited ’cause I don’t want to keep breaking my momma’s heart. It was originally titled Motherfucking Fuck Yeah!!11!!1, by the way.]

I have always admired Mrs. Giggles. I always thought of her as the sassy grandma I never had. I FUCKING LOVE HER.

AND SHE GAVE ME A MOTHERFUCKING 82! FUCK YEAH!!! SHIIIIIIIIIET!!

*jumping up and down with joy*

THIS IS BETTER THAN GETTING TAG-TEAMED BY JARED PADALECKI AND JENSEN ACKLES BAREBACK!

*takes a deep breath*

Some choice stuff:

[Leilani] is a perfect fit for Skin To Skin as she makes a great extroverted girlfriend to coax and tease the introverted Clayton into being naughty. These two are polar opposites in some ways but they fit together very nicely.

There is a nice playfulness in their relationship that convinces me that they like each other as much as they want to jump each other’s bones. The story is too short for the romance to be as well-developed as it could have been, but what the heck, this story makes me smile. It’s naughty, sizzling, and the main characters are fun to follow.

Skin To Skin is a pretty enjoyable sexy little teaser to introduce Dionne Galace to readers apart from the regular visitors of her popular online blog It’s Not Chick Porn. There’s plenty of sass and a hard-to-miss ball of energy behind the prose. Now all the author has to do to seal the deal is to write something that is a little longer to show the world what she is really capable of.

Schyeah… I’m cool. Wasssup?

*flashing gang signs* Weessssst siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide! Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta.

I gotta call my momma.

P.S. Since I’m feeling smug, I’m gonna go ahead and share these:

“Skin to Skin does more than sizzle – it’s smart, funny, and sensual. Ms. Galace is a refreshing new voice in erotica who is, thankfully, just beginning to entertain us.” PC Cast, award winning author of the Goddess Summoning books

“A heatwave is an appropriate setting for this scorching novella! Fun and sexy, with wonderful characterization and authentic dialogue, Skin to Skin is a fantastic read!” Meljean Brook, critically acclaimed author of Demon Angel and Demon Moon