RainbowCon 2015, Forgiving Thayne, and Protecting Kai

Evening, all my beautiful readers. Wow, I didn't realize how long it truly had been since I posted on here. I am such a slacker! I can only offer the excuse of the evil day job snatching away my time. I am truly sorry about that. I am going to work at posting at least once a week. There has to be something worth posting about once a week. I think.

I attended RainbowCon 2015 in Tampa this year. Once again, a wonderful, amazing time! This time we had a whole lot more readers which was a great thing to see. I even had several requests for signatures! Such a humbling experience to be perfectly honest. Even after all this time I still get nervous about being recognized. Does that ever go away though? I guess if you're someone big time like J.K. Rowling or Stephen King, I suppose. This year the charity supported by RainbowCon was The Big Cat Rescue in Tampa. BEAUTIFUL sanctuary. Gorgeous animals and the wonderful thing to see is how well cared for they are. If you ever visit Tampa, you should definitely see about taking a tour. And even if you aren't, consider donating to such a wonderful sanctuary that cares for these beautiful animals.
 
What I love about attending events like RainbowCon is that it renews my inspiration. For the first time in a while I have started writing again and I am going to push myself to add at least a thousand words a day. If I can do that, it won't take long at all to get a book done. :) So I hope to have Protecting Kai completed sometime soon. While I don't have a sneak peek for you just yet, I will say that I'm at about 18k words into it, starting on chapter five now.  Protecting Kai is the next installment in the True Mates series centered around Cole Ferris and his runaway mate. Kai is rather... stubborn, lol. To say the least. But he has reason to be which you'll find out once the story is available. I've included a couple of images of what I basically see in my head of Kai and Cole, except Cole is dark auburn haired with bright green eyes. Tried to find an image of a guy with red hair that fit, but there were limited images out there, unfortunately. :(

Kai

 Kai Renard, 22 years old, on the run from an abusive family member, and stubborn to a fault. 5' 11". Bright blond hair, hazel eyes, and rather slender to start.

Cole

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cole Ferris, future Alpha to the Emerald Lake Hills Pack, 30 years old. 6' 5", dark auburn hair, and bright green eyes. Kind, fiercely protective of his own, and extremely optimistic with most things in life. Owns and operates Ferris Organics.




Forgiving Thayne is the most recently released True Mates novel. I know a lot of people were angry with Thayne for being such an asshole, but sometimes, a mate isn't perfect. The people in our lives hurt us, but we forgive their trespasses and allow them to continue to be in our lives out of love. While there was a lot still left to resolve between Nick and Thayne, the boys, and those in Chasing Seth, Seth and Kasey, will continue to appear in the coming novels so hopefully those who disliked Thayne will see the growth as he learns to trust and accept the bond between himself and Nick. :)

That's all for tonight, I'm afraid. Want to get in a little bit of writing before going to bed. Good Morning to those just waking up and Good Night to those just going to sleep! Hope your day is well tomorrow/today!

~ J.R.~

Forgiving Thayne Cover Reveal & Giveaway!

Well, it is finally here! The cover has been finalized for Forgiving Thayne and I absolutely love it! Anne Cain is an amazing artist and awesome to work with. She comes up with covers I could never even begin to imagine or see with an artist's eye like her.

Along with the reveal right here on my blog, I am also doing a giveaway. I have a black tote bag with the Chasing Seth cover on it and will also be giving away a t-shirt (will get the winner's size after the contest is over) with the Forgiving Thayne cover on it!! All you have to do to win is comment below and tell me who your favorite character from the world of Chasing Seth is (And don't forget to leave your email address for me to be able to reach you if you win!). :) Easy right? Entry deadline is September 4th at midnight.

And now what everyone has been waiting for.... *drumroll*

Forgiving Thayne Cover Art

DSP Christmas in July Celebration! - His Salvation only 99c! (GIVEAWAY)

Today is officially Christmas! Well... in July at least! :)  Dreamspinner Press is having a HUGE sale this month to celebrate Christmas in July. As you can see from the banner, all holiday stories are 25% off while everything else is 20% off! Great deal, right? Well they've sweetened the deal by making several stories each day only .99c and today is when you can get my book His Salvation for only .99c! If you haven't read it, head over to pick it up now. Every day they have new stories for .99c so make sure to check into the site each day for some great reads to add to your list. 

Since 2010 I have been blessed with the opportunity to live out my dream as a writer and have had multiple novels and short stories published. It's a very humbling and very amazing thing to experience. Every time a new contract comes or the next cover is shown to me, I can't quite stifle the giddy 'child on Christmas morning' feeling I get. When I see how many people have read my stories and even more so the ones who loved them it makes me want to pinch myself to see if it's real. Every day I spend with my readers on Facebook or Twitter, or the ones who take the time out of their busy days to email me, is like receiving a new gift. I am also grateful for my health, my family, my every day job (even though it takes away from my writing), my furbaby's health, and waking up each day to know I get to experience them all over again.

(not the official cover yet!)

And I have been blessed once more this year with another upcoming novel from Dreamspinner Press. The follow up to Chasing Seth featuring the ever loveable Nick Cartwright and the arrogant ass Thayne Whitedove. Look for Forgiving Thayne release information in the coming months. Due out in Sept/Oct this year!

  

To offer my own Christmas in July gift, I am having a mini give away. I want to know what you're grateful for in your life. Have you accomplished your dream? Do you have a wonderful family? What about a great job you go to every day? What makes your life worth getting up every morning and facing each new day with a beautiful smile and a happy heart? Tell me in the comments below, on my Facebook Page (LINK), or Tweet me on Twitter (twitter link) to enter! No restrictions on country either. So anyone can enter. You must post your comment by no later than 11:59:59 pm Eastern Standard Time July 31st to be eligible to win.

 

What's the present? Well it wouldn't be a present if it wasn't a surprise, right? ;)  I promise you'll love it!

Happy Christmas in July, everyone! Gift yourself by checking out the .99c month long deals over at Dreamspinner Press. There's still six days left in the month. ;)

Update on Works in Progress & Overall Life Information

Hogtied and gagged

So my sequel to Chasing Seth took a major hit in progress because of some things going on in my life. There is nothing quite like going full steam ahead only to hit the crossroads in the track and end up running off the rails. It can really damage your motivation and your muse. I think my muse ended up hogtied with dynamite wrapped around her.

A little over a month ago my baby pup, Yoshi, got sick and during an exploratory surgery, my vet of nine years tells me that Yoshi has pancreatic cancer. He says its inoperable and that he wants my decision to put him to sleep. Needless to say I was devastated and blown away by this information as I expected them to extract what we thought was the problem, a hair tie he'd swallowed and got stuck. (DON'T let your cats or dogs play with those rubber band hair ties, you know the ones.)  

 

Yoshi - My baby boy

But that wasn't the case. I brought Yoshi home that weekend and located a specialist to see if there was anything they could do. The specialist Dr. Rebecca Seaman at Broward Veterinary Specialists is a very kind and wonderful person who gave me the options of what they could do. An ultra sound and a needle aspiration to see what we were dealing with. My vet of nine years, no longer my vet now, did not do a biopsy during the surgery and Dr. Seaman did not believe it would be prudent to open him again so soon as he had only had the surgery mere days before. The problem was that the needle aspiration is not 100%, but the pathologist did not find any cancer cells in the needle aspiration. So we are hopeful it isn't cancer.

Stressed!

It has been a long road over the last month with constant worry and stress about what's going on inside of Yoshi and whether or not I will lose my baby before I was expecting to. Now, I know dogs don't live forever. That's impossible. But I did believe that Yoshi would live to be the normal amount of dog years, 14 to 16 years. So to be told otherwise at such a young age was like a ton of bricks. It impacted my frame of mind and has really left me wanting to do nothing more than zone in on something that wasn't my life. There is still not clear definite answer on what is wrong though. So there is still hope it isn't cancer and that it is merely a flare up of pancreatitis or something similar to do with the pancreas. I take him back tomorrow for another ultra sound and x-rays of his chest to make sure there is nothing going on there. He developed what we thought is kennel cough. The emergency vet last night said she didn't think it was that. So... another worry to add on top of the pile. Is it cancer? Has it spread to his lungs? Am I going to lose him?

I was able to add an additional 2k words to my WIP of Chasing Seth's sequel, Forgiving Thayne though, bringing me up to 40% complete. That's an excellent sight to see of course for me and I am certain for the many readers waiting for it. I am going to try and work on it as much as possible. Whenever Yoshi is not feeling well, I tend to find it hard to focus. My attention is on him because I'm afraid if I look away... Anyway, that's my progress at the moment. I wanted to let those anxiously awaiting for the sequel know that I didn't fall off the face of the Earth and I am writing as I can. My goal is to at least have it out this year through Dreamspinner Press and to begin working on some of the other projects I have in the works. You'll see on my sidebar that I have three WIPs and what their progress is at. I have two of them that I wanted to make into a series of novellas, but I've always found it hard to write those types of continuing stories. I want to write all of them before I submit. That way I know I won't disappoint my readers. :)

Yoshi - 1 and a 1/2 years old.

Please keep my pup Yoshi in your prayers and send positive thoughts that he will be with us for another several years. He is my heart and soul. The idea of him not being there, following me, loving me, letting me love him, breaks my heart.

9 Years old this year. He's such a goofball and loves people and attention. His favorite thing to do is chase the neighbor's dog up and down the fence separating them. I pray that he has a lot more time to do his favorite thing and to be his smiling, happy self.