Well, October had its pluses and minuses. I had an exciting new release, a fabulous review, and a not so fulfilling word count goal.
Let’s start with the release.
I’m ecstatic to announce that Airos: Finding Home Series book 3 was released at Totally Bound on October 18th! Here’s the blurb and a tantalizing excerpt. š
Book blurb
Zane has everything in his life under control and in order, but can he keep it that way when a young dragon is thrown into his life?
Zane was meant to be a warriorāend of story. Though he may not have had the most pleasant life living at the coven, he still loved being there. But the steadiness of his world came to a halt all within one dayās events. A man he never saw coming has pushed the boundaries of what little normalcy he has, and learning of a secret love is just confusing him even more. Zane has never felt more torn on what he should be feelingā¦and for whom. Though, if he assumed having two men plaguing his every waking thought was hard enough, learning of the danger his mother is in nearly has his head spinning off into another dimension.
The leader of the DrĆ”guns is threatening to take everything away from him, his best friend is slipping further and further away from him, and a little dragon is managing to get under his skin in more ways than one. Sorting out what he has to do, what he wants, and whatās right for him will be the biggest challenge heās ever been faced with. Will he follow his heart or will he take the easy pathā¦or is the easy path the right path to begin with?
Excerpt
Larken watched the tiny snowflake drift down from the sky. He reached out and let it fall into his hand, melting the moment it touched his skin.
If it were only that easy, to simply melt away and exist no more.
āLarken?ā
Larken stilled at the sound of Zaneās voice.
āThere you are. What are you doing out here? Itās fucking freezing.ā Zane joined him on the balcony but didnāt come up to stand next to him, instead leaning against the ledge a few feet away. āI, uhā¦ I was wondering if we could talk.ā
Larken remained silentāhe had nothing to say. And even if he did, he didnāt think heād be capable of forming the words and speaking them out loud.
āAll right, Iāll talkāyou listen. Can we go inside, though? Itās colder than hell out here.ā
Larken made no move to go inside, he just stared at the woods and at the tiny snowflakes that were slowly gathering on the leaves of the trees.
āAll right, I guess weāll stay out here then.ā There was a moment of silence and Larken could hear Zane shuffling next to him. āI imagine today came as quite a surprise for you. Even though I hated to do so, that side of my life had to remain a secret. I did it for my mother.ā
His half-breed side, thatās what he came to talk about? Of course, I should have knownā¦why else would he be here.
āYou have to know, though, that keeping it from you hurt the most.ā
Not nearly as much as Iām hurting now.
āThere were so many times that I wanted to tell you, to share that side of my life with you.ā
Only a side? But I want all of it. I would have given anything to have itā¦to have you.
āI hate that you had to find out this way. But I just couldnātā¦ Bo had been hurt, and I had to go find him.ā
Larken closed his eyes as a knot formed in his chest, stealing his breath away. The dragon. Zane exposed himself for Bo. His secret was important enough to go a century and a half without telling anyoneā¦and he gave it up for the dragon.
When Larken had left the gathering room the hurt inside him had clutched at his soul and had been slowly sucking the life out of him. The ache had consumed him and spread throughout his body, attacking every nerve and every emotionāthe last bit of it tearing at his heart just then, as the man he loved spoke of another.
āDo you have nothing to say?ā Zane asked, concern lacing his words.
Larken let the silence linger between them, trying to figure out in his mind how everything had gone so wrong. āI donāt care that youāre a half-breed,ā he finally replied. It was true, he didnāt care, and it was the least of his concerns. He looked over to Zane. So many times heād gazed into those sapphire eyes, praying that someday his friend would look at him in the same way. āYeah, Iām a little mad that you didnāt tell me before, but it doesnāt matter.ā
āThen why do you seem so upset?ā
Hereās your chance, heās asking you up front, do not cower away this time.
Larken wanted to curse at the voice inside his head. He had never cowered away beforeāhe just knew that heād needed to give Zane time to come around on his own.
Bullshit! The time for excuses is overāyou and him are over. You let him slip away. You were weakātoo scared that heād reject you, and look where itās gotten you.
Larken mentally shook his head, shaking away the harsh words. He wanted to argue back, deny everything, but ultimately he knew the voice was right. This was his last chance to tell Zane how he felt, but there were no words to even begin to describe his love for him.
He would just have to show him instead.
Closing the distance between them, Larken framed Zaneās face with his hands and crushed their mouths together. He put all the love he had into the kiss, handing over every ounce of his heart. He wanted to devour every inch of Zaneās mouth, but he held back, keeping the kiss passionateānot possessive. Finally, he pulled back and rested their foreheads together.
Larken brushed his thumbs across Zaneās cheeks. āTell me you felt something,ā he whispered, then placed a chaste kiss on Zaneās lips. āTell me you felt something for me.ā
Buy and read it today at Totally Bound!
To add to my excitement, the lovely Jackie from The Novel Approach Reviews gave Airos a fantastic 5 Star review!
Here’s a little bit of what she had to say.
“If you are a fan of the series, you have been waiting for this book for a long time, and I believe it was well worth the wait. As much as I was rooting for Zane and Larken in the beginning, I found myself equally rooting for Zane and Boek. I think I would have been happy with either outcome, but the final choice was a good one in my opinion.
Jennifer Wright had me on the edge of my seat and I didnāt relax until I read the final word. I highly recommend this book, but I will warn you, if you donāt read the first two books, a lot of this book wonāt make much sense. I love this series and the next books have been set up wonderfully, and I cannot wait to see who is next in line.”
Click HERE for the full review.
And lastly, I’ve yet again disappointed myself by not meeting my 15k word count goal for the month. It’s so frustrating seeing the numbers I want not being met, but things have been incredibly busy and exhausting on the personal side of my life – yet I still don’t like having excuses for not meeting my goal. Oh well, there’s not a lot I can do about it now, I only wrote 8,552 of the 15k that I wanted.
But I’ve set a new and even bigger goal for November. I know what you’re thinking, I can’t even reach the easier one I set, why make it more difficult? Well, I’ve been inspired by NaNo. I know there’s no way I’d be able to accomplish what the authors participating in NaNo are doing (major props to y’all!), but instead of writing a whole new book, they have inspired me to pass up the 15k word goal and go straight for finishing Athis Dey: Finding Home Series book 4. FYI, I’m at 37,802 words out of an estimated 60,000 words (63% complete).
So, here’s a *fingers crossed* to me!
Wish me luck!
Ta ta for now. š
