Featured Author for BTGN

Books to Go Now published my debut novella, Forever Winter, in March of 2013. Thank you for hosting me on your blog and for my great author feature!

Forever Winter isn’t your typical love story. Sure, a man and woman fall madly in love but you, as the reader, don’t see the blossoming of their relationship firsthand or even how they met. Instead, you met the couple on their wedding day.

I’m not sure where the idea came from for this novella. I just started thinking about all the horrible things that could go wrong on a wedding day and, from an outsider’s point-of-view, how funny it could be.

Once I decided on the basic plot, I needed to decide if it would be a historical or a modern day telling of a wedding from hell. So what would be even worse than a disastrous wedding with a bridezilla? A bride that can’t act like a bridezilla. Due to social customs of the English Regency period, poor Susanna struggled to keep her indignation silent and to tamper her anger but a lady wronged on her most precious day won’t sit idly by and twiddle her thumbs, no matter the era. Come hell or high water, no disaster so great would keep a determined young miss from the altar and out of her beloved’s arms. At least not for long…  

So commence the torture of the lovebirds!

Blurb:

Just imagine the perfect wedding… and then everything that could go wrong.

A Christmas Eve snowstorm barrels through the English countryside and wreaks havoc on the residents of Lorican Manor. Susanna Lorican and her fiancé, Viscount Camden Beckinworth, had planned the perfect wedding but with the dress and several guests delayed, the reverend injured, and after a confrontation with Susanna’s repulsive brother-in-law, reaching the altar seemed impossible. Despite one setback after another, Susanna and Camden vowed to marry, their love too great to deny any longer…

Excerpt:

“I’m glad you chose winter—Christmas time.” Camden gripped the loose braid of her chestnut hair. “Even though the timing isn’t great, considering everything that has happened, it’s perfect for us.” He gently grasped her chin and forced her face up. He brushed his lips across her eyebrows. “I want to get married on the day that everything changed for me. On the day I finally found the one woman I could love and cherish all my life. No one is more important to me than you.” He suckled her pink lower lip between his teeth. A soft moan escaped her throat.

He pulled back and stared deep into her eyes. “You are so kind, love. I wish you realized that. Enjoy today, no matter what, but if something else horrible happens and prohibits our union, God forbid, we will marry as soon as possible.” He clenched his jaw against the idea of waiting.

Susanna nodded. Emotional but intelligent, she understood logic and common sense when she heard it. Sometimes, it just had to be pounded into her.

Camden stroked a stray hair behind her ear and lowered his mouth to hers. Air filled her lungs seconds before his mouth clasped hers. His talented lips tasted and teased hers. A moan gurgled in the back of her throat.

“Camden,” she gasped his name like a plea once he finally pulled back for air. “The door is wide open and we are without a chaperone.” She blinked several times to clear her clouded vision. She licked her lips and nodded to the entryway. “Anyone could see.”

He smirked roguishly. “Let them. We are betrothed. Two people in love, who are about to wed, are expected to kiss.”

“Kiss, yes,” she whispered. “You, my lord, make love with your lips.” Susanna suddenly flamed scarlet. Her eyes widened like saucers and the temperature in the room skyrocketed.

Camden laughed as his embarrassed fiancée fumed. An arrogant grin spread across his face. “Do I? You have never admitted that before.”

She scowled, her cheeks so hot she could barely stand it. “Well, there are some things you shouldn’t be privy to.”

His smirk lengthened. “Really? I am honored that my bride appreciates the way I kiss. If she didn’t, what kind of man would that make me?”