This... isn't my usual sale update, but if you want to get to that part, scroll down. Otherwise, hug your loved ones and bear with me while I get this off my chest.
On December 12th, 2025, my Sansa Stark and Sandor Clegane homage, To Wed A Warrior was released. Aside from a blog post and a low-budget Amazon ad, I didn't do too much promotion for it as money was tight, I was exhausted from writing the thing, which had grown more bigger than I'd anticipated. In retrospect, I'm not surprised, given that a Game of Thrones inspired tale ended up with Game of Thrones complexity and expansive world-building.
However, with Christmas coming, dayjob stuff, and housework to catch up, I didn't do much for the couple days after release day. I can't remember if I had a celebratory dinner with my real life romance hero and my son for writing 30 novels. If so, it was small with something bigger planned for the weekend.
But I'd had plans for more marketing. And possibly even doing a hardcover with maps (something much needed and long overdue for the Brides of Prophecy universe in general) and maybe some art.
And with the penultimate BoP book being next, I was inspired to make a graphic guide to how to read the Brides of Prophecy series and its two standalones depending on the reader's tastes. After all, some of the books are urban fantasy and/or paranormal romance. Others, like To Wed a Warrior, are pure romantasy.
I started working on that graphic the night of December 14th. Kent chuckled about it and told me not to stay up too late as I kissed him goodnight. As usual, I didn't listen to him. I didn't crawl in bed beside him until 3am.
At 5am, December 15th, I awoke to a deafening crash and looked up to see the ceiling explode as the tree by our bedroom window fell through. Tree limbs, pine needles, and roof beams struck me as I screamed and swallowed god knows how much insulation. I don't remember how long I was trapped beneath all of it as I mindlessly screamed for Kent to help me before looking over to his side of the bed and seeing the tree trunk where he should have been next to me. And the silence. The chilling silence and emptiness as I realized I was alone.
I don't remember how I got out from under the tree boughs and roofing. I remember crying to 9-11 and my relief as they told me that my son, whose bedroom was right below us, was on the other line. Somehow he'd only been struck by drywall and the ceiling, bookcase, half our bed, and our floor that caved in on top of him left him a gap big enough to get out.
The firemen who came had to chainsaw the bedroom door to get me out. The windstorm was still going on, and they made us get out of the house because they worried the other tree would fall on the house too. I had to wear Kent's shoes and a bathrobe. After they verified that Kent was gone, we were ordered to go to the ER before the news crews showed up to watch them extract the tree and recover his body.
After that was a neverending struggle of finding places to stay, getting the cats safe, and salvaging our stuff.
So the last thing I was thinking of was promoting my new release. And honestly, between periods of catatonia, panic attacks with flashbacks, and figuring out how to survive without my other half, I had flashes of worry that I would never be able to write again.
But I know Kent wouldn't want that for me. He was always so proud of me and supportive of my work, even back when he was just that super kind dude who hung out with my neighbor and seemed like the first man to see me and care about me as a person.
And deep down, I mustn't want that for me either. Otherwise, I wouldn't have risked my life going back there at night and carefully belly-crawling on top of my dresser to reach my desk and rescue my laptop with all my books on it. If my aunt had seen the crater where Kent's and my bed used to be, she would have tried to stop me. I would have still taken the risk. Aside from my livelihood, this computer is my connection to most of the outside world.
And it's a good thing I got it back when I did because soon after, the caution tape was up and mine and Kent's bedroom was barricaded for safety while we focused on getting the rest of the valuables out of the house.
But though I got my computer back right away, I was in no condition to write stories, or even promote my new release. I wasn't even able to do my dayjob work. For the first few months after the disaster, I was in constant states of catatonia and unable to process verbal conversations very well. So instead, I processed what had happened as best as able via Facebook posts. Probably not the healthiest venue, but so many of my friends, family, and readers are over there and their support kept me from completely checking out.
Eventually I regained enough faculties to get back to my author career, I had mostly horror projects due. Aside from the lovely audiobook adaptation of Bite at First Sight. And my expanded edition of my 80s haunted house horror romance, Her Haunted Heart.
Then of course, there's the necessary evil of promotion. I've done a couple Bookfunnel features, but missed out on the Stuff Your Kindle event and others.
I STILL didn't do much for To Wed a Warrior. I think because of all the pain it ended up attached to. 30 novels is a huge milestone and it killed me that I couldn't celebrate it like I was supposed to, with the love of my life beside me.
But I worked hard on that book and I really do believe it is special. Especially as it was the last thing I wrote when my heart was whole.
So now is the time.
To Wed A Warrior got accepted for an International Featured Deal on Bookbub!
I never did more than earn out the money I paid for International only Bookbubs, and with them changing to not sending notices to the full list of subscribers for a genre, and general burnout of free and discounted book emails, I probably won't even get there. However, I still accepted the deal because I think it's time this book gets to find some readers.
If you're in the US, the Bookbub page of the book won't show that it's on sale, however, you can see that is by picking your preferred retailer there. You can also follow me and wishlist that one, or any others you'd like to see discounted or free.
Or you can go to my page, where I have my own store, and/or, if you're on the fence, you can read an excerpt, HERE
(It also has possibly the best playlist I've ever compiled for one of my books, if you're one who wants to listen to the soundtrack as you read.)
If you enjoyed Game of Thrones, or if you like romantasy, or if you think most of my usual heroes aren't as rough around the edges as you'd like, I know you'll like this one.
It's also a great intro to my Brides of Prophecy series while also giving existing fans a ton of very interesting insight for into the intrigue and upheaval going on beyond the scope of those main characters. A lot of it surprised me.
Book 11, Romancing the Necromancer, is definitely going to be a doozy!
Oh, and just for fun, I also discounted the other Brides of Prophecy standalone, To Tempt a Sorcerer. So you can get twice the magic and double the grumpy, sexy heroes.
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