Well, Finders Keepers is almost here! ARCs have gone out and the first reports back to me is that it is incredibly sweet and lovely! So, yay!! And thank God! LOL

Waiting for that first feedback, to say what they think, is terrifying! But I can breathe a little easier now knowing that people have enjoyed it <3

So, who wants an excerpt??

Griffin

I got all moved into my new place and had everything unpacked on day one. I’d met my downstairs landlady for the first time as the two bulky removalists were lugging my bed up the stairs. I was at the bottom of the stairs watching them, not entirely ogling, when a tiny, five-foot-tall woman stood beside me.

She didn’t say anything for a while, just stared at the men straining to get the wooden bedhead up the flight of stairs. Still without looking at me, she hummed. “Nice arse.”

I almost choked on my sip of water. “Uh…”

“Don’t tell me you weren’t looking. I might be a little hard of hearing, but I ain’t blind.”

Right then.

I held out my hand. “Name’s Griffin Burke.”

She shook my hand, and her hard, firm grip surprised me. She looked kind of frail at first, but then I noticed her tattoos. Her entire right arm was now a mottled, wrinkled mass of blue and coloured ink on sun-leathered skin. Given she looked to be in her seventies, she must have had a full sleeve done forty or fifty years ago.

Jesus.

“Bernice Warren.”

She was wearing a sleeveless tank top and a flowing skirt. Upon closer inspection, she looked like a hippy that peace, love, and time forgot. Her face had seen too much sun as well, wrinkled and leathered, though I imagined she would have once been stunningly beautiful. Her blue eyes still had spark, her long once-blonde hair now ash grey.

“Come with me,” she said, turning on her heel and walking toward the roller door. When she turned, I noticed her left arm. Old, mottled blue tattoos went to her elbow, as well as two scars that looked like lightning strikes. They looked surgical and my first thought was shoulder reconstruction, but then I noticed one scar ran underneath her shirt and up her neck. She turned the latch on the roller door, and using her right arm only, lifted the door to review a storage space. Inside was a lawnmower, wheelbarrow, and some gardening tools.

Ah, right. I was the resident mower of lawns.

“I’d do it myself,” she said. “But the old arm doesn’t work like it used to.” She lifted her left arm rigidly. It didn’t hang useless but there was definitely restricted movement.

“It’s fine,” I said. “I don’t mind mowing lawns at all. My weekends will be Monday and Tuesday though, not Saturday and Sunday. If that’s okay?”

“It’s fine. Don’t much care what day you do ’em.” She nodded to herself. “Last tenant was a nice girl. Started out with good intentions, and she was gonna do all sorts of things to help me out, but that didn’t last long.” Bernice looked up at me and stared for a good long minute. “You’re not the churchgoing type, are you?”

“Uh…”

“I don’t mind if you are, I just don’t wanna offer you one of my special brownies and for you to totally hash out on me and start mumbling biblical shit at me every time you see me.”

I fought a smile and lost, and I tried not to laugh but couldn’t help that either. “Not biblical. Not in that sense, anyway. Unless you consider my earlier staring at that guy’s arse a religion. As for the special brownies, I haven’t had any for a while. Not since college.”

Bernice grinned and nodded slowly. “So you know what I mean when I say special brownie. Not like the last poor girl who thought it was my grandma’s special recipe or some shit.” She shook her head slowly. “Dunno what she was thinking. Do I look like Betty Fucking Crocker to you?”

<3

My God, I love Bernice!

Finders Keepers will be live on February 2nd, if the Amazon gods are willing.

In other news, I’ve signed contracts for the translations of Cronin’s Key series, Red Dirt Heart series, and Sixty Five Hours into Thai. That’s EIGHT books!! I’m super excited about seeing my books in the Asian market. <3

When I started this writing thing, I never imagined it would go this far. It’s truly incredible, and I have moments when I’m humbled and honoured and wonder how on earth I ever got so lucky.

And I owe it all to my readers. <3

I’ve started a new WIP and it’s working title is “Galaxies and Oceans” which will probably change. My working titles usually do. LOL  I’m only 7K words into it but I think these boys might be something special… And I’ve only said that once or twice before. *sigh* Their names are Aubrey Hobbs and Patrick Carney.  Patrick’s 15 years older than Aubrey and both have a tonne of baggage and emotional scars. I just hope hope hope I can do them justice.

A little pic to whet your appetite…

I’ll have some new covers to show off soon!!  The incredible Reese Dante is working on three for me at the moment: the re-release of Three’s Company and Taxes and TARDIS, and the cover for Evolved.

I do have the cover of Galaxies and Oceans (title pending) but will wait until I have the title confirmed before I show it. It was a pre-made cover from Harper Design (the fabulous artist who made my Imago and Imagines covers) and I’m hoping for a late June / early July release date.

That’s it for now. As always, until next week…