Six Years. Countless Drafts and Formatting. Ridiculously Late Nights. So Ready.

 

“Her mother loved him – this had become apparent to him. Through the thick, arbitrary levels of her bitter derision laid a softer woman, much like Natalie,who, at all costs, resisted every attempt at exhibiting affection toward men.”

Can’t Believe It’s Been ONE YEAR Since Kiawah Was Released! Have You Read It Yet?

Simply put, I love this story. I started it not too long after I graduated from college in 2008. I was lost, I was in love, and I was fighting for independence. So, marks Loren Soto’s origins. At face value, she’s a scorned bitch who’s having difficulty getting over the fact that her first love is in love with her childhood friend. Hell, at the very beginning of the novel she’s watching them get married. Yes, it’s a love story: but it’s one with some bite to it. While Loren and Nicholas’ decade-long love affair comes to an end, she must decide if she can start anew with a fresh-face musician who’s just returned to town from an inexplicable hiatus.

Without say too much, I encourage you all to read it at your leisure and absorb it.

Loren is a smart, witty girl and gravely misunderstood. Her sexuality, her cursing and her drinking make for an interesting heroine.

Interested?  Read some sample chapters below 🙂

Kiawah Excerpt | Twenty-Nine

Skin Like Dawn is well on its way to completion – and I couldn’t be happier!

I hope everyone is enjoying their November so far!

It’s officially National Novel Writing Month, and I’m working hard.

I started writing this in June after meticulously creating an outline, which I have since deviated from.  Since then, I have written more than 100 pages of frantic, soul-biting prose, that will turn Brandon and Natalie into monsters.

Well, it’s not as dramatic as that, but you get the picture.

Brandon and Natalie will both turn into the types of people they used to judge once upon a time.  And at this point in the writing process, I’m not really sure if I want them to go back.

I’ve also introduced a couple of new characters: one opinionated lesbian, and a spoiled rotten heir with a genius IQ.  One of which will affect Natalie and her sense of self-control for the rest of her life.

A lot of this couldn’t have happened without the help of my closest friends who’ve listened to every single one of my ideas, and we’ve been brainstorming like crazy.  This entire venture wouldn’t be possible without them.

While Skin Like Dawn highlights the endurance of Brandon and Natalie’s love now that they are married, I will essentially present it as a tragedy of sorts.  With that type of love ushers a particular kind of exposure and pain. And although this is a sequel, it is intended to stand on its own.

This has been a 5-year endeavor, I am elated that it is finally taking shape.

In the event that you need to catch up before this book comes out, you can read its predecessor When You Come to Me for free!

Interested in learning more about National Novel Writing Month? Go Here!

My Short Story “Rusted Halo” has sold more than 2,000 copies! Read it for FREE now!

As you can tell I’m pretty happy about it! I cannot describe how incredible it feels to see such a small project balloon into something that several people have enjoyed.  I definitely love the direction I went in with this particular story, and I intend on writing things like this in the near future.

For a limited time, I am offering this story for free.  Please share it with your friends and fellow book lovers!

DOWNLOAD NOW: Rusted Halo Short Story

Kiawah Novel Lines

Have You Added One of My Books to Your Summer Reading List Yet?

 

 

Tritely put, the summer season is probably one of the best times to catch up on reading.  There’s just something about the balmy heat and the breeze sweeping across our faces that lulls us into succumbing to our own imaginations. And what better way is there than to pick up a good book and get lost in it?

June 1st will mark one year since my first book was published.  Since then, I’ve managed to release 4 more publications, all of which have sold over 100 copies each.  For an independent author, that’s more than I could have ever dreamed.

This comes as no surprise that I love to write. But what excites me more is someone reading what I’ve written and loving it.  So, as I meticulously compose The Trail’s End and form it for its release this fall, I want people to read my work, get lost in the words, the characters, learn about my inspiration.

Add these to your summer reading list – you won’t be disappointed 🙂

 

Star-Crossed Lovers, Driven to Madness on a Suffocating Island of Memories

Loren Soto meets Nicholas Grey at the age of fourteen on sleepy Kiawah Island – and ever since she can’t seem to shake him no matter how hard she tries. They grow together, developing a love affair torrid enough to send a mountain crumbling to the ground. And just as everything appears to be set in place, Nicholas interrupts the course and marries Loren’s oldest friend and Charleston’s princess, Sadie Vansant instead. Disillusioned and angry, Loren then occupies her time with Oliver Russo, a Vansant childhood friend who mysteriously returns home just in time for the wedding. Loren then begins to notice that there may be more to Oliver and Sadie’s friendship than they let on, and subtle truths and revelations inevitably lead toward an unveiling of secrets that no one, least of all, Loren, is prepared for.

Throughout the novel, I combined a little bit of what I loved best in life: music, art and love. Without these three things, I don’t think life would be nearly as worth it.

In this excerpt I pulled inspiration from the classical Arabic tale: Layla and Majnun and listened to Nayanna Holley’s On Love and Fear extensively.

The concept of star-crossed lovers driven to a semblance of madness by their feelings and the inevitably of their proximity to each other has always fascinated me.

WANT A PREVIEW? Here you go: Kiawah Excerpt / Twenty-Nine / KiawahExcerpt1

Already read it?

When You Come to Me (Special Edition) is HERE! Read it for FREE now :)

WHEN TRUE LOVE COMES IN THE FORM OF A FLYING BEER BOTTLE.

When Brandon Greene, an oatmeal-skinned junior from upstate New York, drunkenly hurls a beer bottle at an unsuspecting, brown-skinned Natalie Chandler, both their worlds are changed indefinitely.

Brandon makes his intentions clear from the beginning: he is hopelessly in love with his girlfriend, Sophia, but does not want to marry her. He does, however, want to be friends with Natalie.

Neither Brandon nor her curiosities about him make sense to her at all, and her complacency begins to tumble, as she and Brandon grow closer. She’s thrust into a love triangle that she wants no part of and suddenly, a streamlined future to success in the medical field is the last thing on her mind — all she sees now is a shade of gray. Brandon and Natalie have a powerful dynamic; but can it stand the weight that time, spatial disparity and color have placed on them? When You Come to Me is a sometimes humorous, sometimes dramatic take on the loss of innocence in its most colorful form.

I am exceptionally fond of this story.  I’ve written countless pieces, and each have meant something to me.  But there will always be something about the characters in this novel that will always touch me.

Brandon and Natalie are quite normal in the grand scheme of things: they’re both young and attractive, they both come from large, tight-knit families, they’re both strong-minded and intelligent.

But what sets them apart?

Of course there’s the obvious: one is white and one is black. One comes from the North and one comes from the South.

But what else?

I’ve read my fair share of love stories and have even experienced love in a realistic form.  But the thing that makes Brandon Greene and Natalie Chandler so different is that their dynamic felt real.

The most common feedback I’ve gotten from readers is that Brandon and Natalie, despite their obvious flaws, never lost sight of each other.  Their believable, tangible chemistry had everyone rooting for them in the end.

I ultimately wanted their relationship to be successful, but I wanted it to be as realistic as possible.

It was never about the destination per se, but more so about their journey.

Natalie had to grow, had to learn how to love a man, had to adapt to change better.  Brandon needed to be more patient and understanding of her needs, Brandon needed to find himself altogether.

In the novel, their love stretches a span of 8 years. And while some have complained that the story was “too long”, I wanted it to be that way.  I wanted the readers to become a part of their lives, empathize with them, become them.

With that, I present to you a free, updated version of When You Come to Me.

Don’t Have an iPad? No worries! Download a PDF version of what it would look like on an iPad! When You Come to Me (iPad PDF Version)