Good morning Everyone!
As always, we’ve had another successful Agent Shop. I’ll keep the same rhythm here as any other Agent Shopping day…
My thoughts, Stats, Winners, Pitches.
So, here we go!
I kinda expected a big turnout, and yes, I got it. Not complaining, but on pitch days like this, I like to remind everyone that I do not CHOOSE which pitches make it in. I simply start at the first pitch that came in after I posted GO, and weed out the ones that don’t follow the rules until I hit #30.
It’s nothing personal. It’s all a matter of how the email hits and if YOU, the author, followed guidelines.
If you can’t follow my simple guidelines for pitching, and need to send hate mail because of it, you’re in for an even loooooooonger road in the writing world. Please, if you take anything from this pitch session, let it be this: Agents and editors are SWAMPED. There are enough factors already working against you! A good story CAN win out, but shooting yourself in the foot by doing the opposite of what an industry professional requests is only hurting yourself.
If you want to ‘your baby’ to have a chance, follow the guidelines!
(BTW – Most guidelines are in place to streamline an agent/editors process. I ask for specific information so that when I get 30-100 pitches, I can keep up. Imagine an agent/editors daily submissions! Once again, I am amazed by what they must see through their inboxes on any given day!)
Okay – on to our stats.
Pitches Received: 71
Pitches Accepted: 30
Pitches Rejected: 41
- 13!!!! – Missing information (Title, wordcount, contact info etc.)
- 2 – SPAM (Really? Yep.)
- 9 – Too Long (200 word pitch peeps. Wagging finger. One of these was the second in my inbox after I posted GO! Shooting self in foot exampli-perfecta)
- 1 – NO PITCH! (Sending me a list of your previous novels and an idea for a new, unwritten novel is not a pitch.)
- 16 – Over the 30 pitch limit (Sorry folks. You didn’t do anything wrong, as far as I know. Your pitch just came in a bit late. L Having a limit is hard.)
Now that we have the deets out of the way, we also have WINNERS!
Ecopy of Jeannie’s The Temporary Wife…………….. IndianaWanderer
ARC of STAY…………………………………………………………Marilyn Baron
Top Pitch Slot……………………………………………………….Here There Be Witches
Indiana and Marilyn – Please contact me via candi_agent_shop @ yahoo.com with your choice of e-book format and I’ll get you your prize! Here There Be Witches – Congrats!
Now, please welcome Becky Vinter! Woot!
Hi Becky. 
Thanks so much for participating in Agent Shop, and for letting us get to know a little about Jeannie and her May 21st release The Temporary Wife! I know how busy you are, and I hope you find something to your liking in the pitches listed below. If you do, simply email me at dancillaw @ yahoo.com with the pitch number, title, what you’d like to see from the author, and how you’d like the information sent.
Happy shopping, and I hope you’ll join us again in the future.
~Candi
***
#1 – Top Pitch Slot Winner
Here There Be Witches
YA paranormal
62,264 words
Cali French, a seventeen year old witch-in-training, is ostracized by her friends for refusing to assist them in casting a spell to turn Jami into a James. Cali’s fear of their using bad magic angers her friends. Alienation accelerates into aggression. Now Cali has a target on her back. And her three former pals take deadly aim.
The terrible trio, that Cali calls the Evil Triumvirate, must have Cali—alive or dead—to change a girl into a guy. But their first attempt to grab Cali is thwarted by the arrival of Cali’s guardian angel, Alastair. Cali learns two things in their botched attempt: there are such things as guardian angels, and hers is very handsome.
***
#2
Ink Pool Lullabies
Young Adult Suspense Horror
68,000 words
Sixteen-year-old Jackson Hart would rather put in overtime at the funeral home putting makeup on the dead than socialize with the in-crowd at school. When she finds out her new crush is only dating her for a bet, she’s devastated—but she’s not so wounded she’d seek revenge by killing him … would she?
After a car crash leaves him dead, Jackson tries to piece her memories of the wreck together, but each time she gets close to solving the puzzle, her mother shoves another pill down her throat to make it all go away. Despite the sheriff’s firm report, there was another girl on the scene—Jackson is sure of it—and now the apparition won’t leave her alone.
The spirit needs something from Jackson, and she won’t stop hurting people until she gets it.
With the body count rising, and evidence piling up against Jackson, if she is to prove her innocence and prevent the next brutal murder, Jackson must confront the vengeful spirit and decipher the ghost girl’s cryptic message.
But what if everyone is right and the ghost girl doesn’t exist at all?
***
#3
Seal Of Awakening
Paranormal Romance
65,000 words
Formula for imminent disaster:
Take one techno-savvy immortal warrior and give him the honor of heading his first covert mission—go undercover in a genetics lab to protect the unwitting human host of the third Seal of the Apocalypse. He’s driven by equal measures of professional duty, pride in his alpha-geek abilities, and a secret personal vendetta for the ancient half-breed enemy who threatens his success.
Add the woman he’s duty-sworn to protect—a prickly female bioengineering researcher who’s close to making the discovery of a lifetime, a serum capable of eradicating worldwide famine. She’s beyond prim, happy in her solitude, and more than a tad suspicious of this new lab assistant who claims to want to help her achieve her life’s work. He’s too cocky, too good looking, and much too masculine and enigmatic for her own good. She wants nothing to do with him… until he becomes her only solution.
Divide by a group of banished heavenly rejects hell-bent on liberation through control of both the scientist’s untapped power and her top-secret invention. With a new leader at their helm, they intend to stop at nothing on their rise to power.
Synthesize conflicting components.
Let the reckoning begin.
***
#4
Alien Contact for Idiots
Science Fiction Romance
93,000 words
Seattle biologist Ell Harmon leads a team to investigate a duplicate Vancouver Island that mysteriously appears overnight in the Pacific. Discovering intelligent aliens is Ell’s dream, and it comes true when she encounters Tro Eaglesbrood: human, gorgeous, and a prince. Seeking an uninhabited Eden, Tro directed his kingdom’s high-tech escape from environmental collapse on their alternate Earth. Unfortunately, his 23rd century nation lands instead in our world, which bristles with weaponry.
Because Ell and Tro shook hands, they are quarantined together for three weeks. While the world holds its breath, they broadcast a simple interview show that Ell sarcastically names “Alien Contact for Idiots”. People around the world are fascinated as Ell and Tro learn to care about each other … until disaster strikes, and Tro’s darkest secret. Can they salvage the love and passion they yearn for—and guide Tro’s people to a peaceful welcome?
***
#5
Everything She Wants
Contemporary romance
90K words
Alyson returns home from years away at boarding school, undecided on what to do with her future. Michael is the manager of her estate and her legal guardian. They haven’t seen each other in years, but share an instant mutual attraction. While she doesn’t have a problem with their fourteen-year age gap, he does. Michael also has a bigger problem – aside from despising and avoiding relationships – with his photography business, scandalous pictures and pending lawsuit. Alyson considers waiting for Michael to get past his issues, but then he invites Christopher into their home. She loses sight of her initial goal (Michael) and takes a convenient and blissful detour into Chris’ arms. She happy having someone who wants her for her. But once Michael realizes what’s going on behind his back, he makes her feel guilty, dirty, and wrong for having feelings for someone else. Chris might not be perfect, but Alyson isn’t looking for perfection. She’s just looking for someone to love. Now she has two men to deal with and she can’t choose between them. She doesn’t want anyone to get hurt, especially herself. She figures out a way to get everything she wants
***
#6
Seducing the Courtesan’s Wife
Historical Romance
100,000 words
The daughter of an illustrious duke, sheltered Lady Violetta never imagined she’d wind up as a brothel madam, whoring out her husband to the rich wives of Montana.
Against her father’s wishes, she married dashing, debonair—penniless—Charles Ashford. She traded in satin slippers and sumptuous ballgowns to follow her new husband on his quest for gold in the wild frontiers of America. Their fortunes plummet instead, sending them down a harrowing course where morals are a bygone luxury. A cruel twist of events tears them apart and Violetta returns to England, shattered and alone. She vows to atone for her sins. And she’ll never forgive him.
Seven years later, her respectable life is upended when Charles abruptly returns. He’s hell-bent on charming his way back into her good graces—and into her bed. More darkly potent than ever, his carnal sensuality provokes her. Tempts her and unnerves her hard-won peace. Haunted by past demons, she refuses to succumb to his wicked games of seduction. When a dangerous enemy threatens to expose their sordid history, they must each choose their own path to redemption. Can Charles win her heart before her thirst for revenge destroys their chance for everlasting bliss?
***
#7
A Ghostly Undertaking
Cozy Paranormal Mystery
60K words
Another day.
Another funeral.
Another ghost.
Another average day in the life of young funeral home director, Emma Lee Raines.
After a perilous run-in with a plastic Santa Claus, Emma Lee, co-owner of Eternal Slumber Funeral Home in Sleepy Hollow, Kentucky, sees the ghost of town gossip Ruthie Sue Payne, who is proving to be a real pain, more so in death than while living. Recently deceased, Ruthie reveals to Emma Lee that her demise wasn’t caused by accidentally falling down the steps at the Sleepy Hollow Inn as everyone believes—she was pushed…murdered.
In order for the ghost to cross over—and for Emma Lee to be rid of Ruthie for good—she must find a desperate killer…or risk being haunted forever.
***
#8
Once Upon a Masquerade
Historical Romance-Regency
155,771 words
Cordelia Clarke waited two long years, in vain for her brother’s best friend to view her more than a sisterly acquaintance. The night of his family’s masquerade ball, she produces a false identity and wears a costume in colors he adores. She proceeds to show him she is a desirable lady and not as he has called her many times before, dear girl. Her wildest dreams come true when he kisses her upon the balcony. Alas, she leaves him quivering wanting more.
Andrew Daventry, Viscount Sutton does not see himself as a usual aristocrat. He is a gentleman in every sense of the word. But, on the night of his masquerade, he meets an enchantress who beguiles him, sets him aflame. After the encounter, he is changed. Annoyed and bitter by her rejection to become acquainted with one another out of costume, he sets out to find her identity.
His search leads him to a woman he never knew he even wanted.
Their lives become complicated when another suitor vies for her affection. Nosy relatives, secrets and misunderstandings keep them apart. Yet, they have the most powerful means to live out their happily ever after, a very close friendship.
#9
The Colonoscopy Club
Humorous Women’s Fiction
90,000 words
A 90,000-word humorous coming-of-middle age novel. A woman desperately seeks closure by trying to reconnect with her first love, who is unaware he is also the father of her son, on the eve of their son’s wedding.
Colonoscopy Club finaled in the Georgia Romance Writers Unpublished Maggie Award for Excellence in the Single Title category.
***
#10
The Gamekeeper’s Daughter
Historical Romance with Elements of Suspense.
109,000 words
Queen Victoria’s top assassin, Lord Alexander Stokes harbors his fair share of dark secrets. Chief among them is his love of bondage and discipline. When a damsel-in-distress appeals for his help, he ponders the consequences, yet her similarity to his first love intrigues him. He offers to help her with a single condition: that the beauty consents to play his games of dominance and submission for an entire year.
Given no choice, Mrs. Julia Foxworth agrees to his indecent terms. Anything is better than serving time for a murder she did not commit, especially when the killer is stalking her. Despite her misgiving about being the mysterious masked man’s chattel, his raw masculine power lures her in like a hawk to her falconer.
Alexander learns she is his beloved Julia, the former gamekeeper’s daughter, he thought long dead. He’s been betrayed by her and his manipulative father. His heart darkens. Combating their deceptions, the lovers fight for the passion they once shared, amidst the threatening danger of Alexander’s nefarious enemies and her husband’s killer. Can they learn to trust one another and live long enough to know true love again?
***
#11
Tell Me My Name
Romantic-Suspense
100,000 words
When twenty-five year old Reece Stewart regains consciousness in a small town emergency room, she discovers three critical things have happened that have altered her life. She doesn’t remember the bullets meant for her that killed her boss and co-worker, nor does she remember her kidnapping, and the car accident that occurred while trying to escape. What she does remember, is that her first name is Reece, and somebody wants her dead.
Dr. Rafe Haulster doesn’t know what to think, she says someone wants to kill her, but doesn’t know who. Rafe wants to believe the hysterical emerald eyed amnesiac, but is hesitant because she stirs in him an emotion he has no right ever to feel again. His indecision comes at a very high price when his nursing assistant is tortured, and killed, for information as to Reece’s whereabouts. The girl leaves a cryptic message for Rafe before dying; that the killer is coming for Reece and Rafe needs to get her to safety. A deadly game of cat and mouse begins through the forests of the Grand Teton Mountains of Wyoming. Against their unknown killer, they’re afraid the return of Reece’s memory, is their only chance of survival.
***
#12
The Wanderers, Book One in the Soul Divisions Trilogy
YA paranormal romance
65,942 words
Evie Michaels would say she’s a typical teen growing up in podunk Riverview , Indiana . Well, typical except for the fact that she met her guardian angel in a brush with death eleven years ago. And that she and said angel just might be breaking a rule or two by staying in touch.
When her parents died in a freak fire, it was Gabe who helped keep her sane. But now that dreamy Trevor Jones has arrived in town, Gabe is acting a bit overprotective. Annoyingly so. Evie chalks it up to jealousy and ignores his warnings in her pursuit of Trevor. Only, she should have listened to her angel, because Trevor’s affections aren’t completely his own—he’s an unsuspecting pawn in a battle of souls, sent to lure Evie out as bait. Because the Wanderers have discovered Evie and Gabe’s ongoing breach between realms, and they’re eager to gain entry into a more rewarding eternal resting place. The cost of admission: one reckless angel.
The Wanderers is book one in the Soul Divisions trilogy, and follows Evie as she begins to grapple with the age-old questions of ‘who am I?’ and ‘where do I fit in?’.
***
#13
Just Desserts
Contemporary Romance
53,000 words
Sadie Maxon’s almost done baking desserts and waitressing at her father’s trendy diner in Lake Geneva. She’s anxious to leave the resort town to finish grad school in Chicago. When Quinn Laughton, a contractor renovating the Wrigley mansion, offers to buy the crumbling diner, she can’t resist his deal or sexy, down-to-earth sweetness. But Sadie returns to Chicago and discovers Quinn is really a member of the prestigious Wrigley family. Sadie’s unsure if it was her or her family’s legendary diner that attracted Quinn. To convince Sadie of his intentions, Quinn mixes up a batch of passion and romance for her. But will Sadie’s small town sensibilities be swayed by Quinn’s big city charm?
***
#14
Where’s My Underwear Anyway?
Contemporary Romance with erotic elements
108,000 words
An uptight American lawyer cuts loose in an Edinburgh pub, tempted by her sexy Scottish ex–lover to rekindle old passions – but he not only displays her underwear as a trophy, he’s a shrewd courtroom rival!
***
#15
Sin On The Strip
Romantic Suspense, single title
100,000 words
Sin on the Strip is a romantic suspense about Maggie Anderson, a televangelist’s daughter and street counselor. Years earlier a violent near miss with a human trafficker destroyed Maggie’s confidence forcing her to use her strip club as a means to reach women in need. When a serial killer kidnaps her friend, Maggie must finally face her old demons and runs to the rescue, hoping to God this time she’ll do whatever is needed to defend herself.
Search and rescue investigator, Christian Beck has been on too many ‘damsel in distress’ missions to stomach another one. But when his latest assignment leads him to a reckless club manager determined to put herself in danger, professional distance no longer seems to be his motto. As the serial killer sets his sights on Maggie, Beck can’t risk losing her to the same psycho he believes killed his kid sister, twenty years earlier.
Maggie and Christian discover that on the strip, sin is a relative term and to have a future they must conquer their pasts.
***
#16
If You Can See Me
Paranormal Romance
132,022 words
Some curses stay with a family for generations…
Nate Bentley is a man on a mission. To rid himself of a house h considers a monstrosity before he falls victim to the curse that strikes all the men in his family before their thirty-fifth birthday. But two things stand in his way: a headstrong sister and a woman who can see spirits of the dead.
…it just takes the right combination to break them…
Phaedra Delaney is the woman with the gift. To communicate with the dead. She is also the key to breaking the curse that has bound her family to the Bentley’s for over a century. All she has to do is get a Bentley man to fall in love with her before he turns thirty-five. If only he didn’t take an instant disliking to her upon their first meeting.
Destiny and determination collide when these two powerful people meet and their lives become inextricably entangled with those of their ancestors. Can they break the curse before Nate reaches his next birthday? Or will he fall victim to the same fate that claimed his father – and every male in the family for the past one hundred plus years?
***
#17
Promised Blood
Paranormal new adult explicit romance
50,000 words
Trinity lives in a world ruled by ancient tradition. As a shifter, she knows her community is a safeguard against the human world. Her parents have always existed on the fringe of their community and she never understood why until the king’s private police show up at her door.
Her life is forfeit until the king feels her parent’s debt is paid. Her service belongs to his three sons. Her blissful days of college and her part time job are over and her time as a slave in the king’s house begins. She’s a guest in his home until he uses her to control his family. Then she feels the force of his brutality. When two of the McCade boys want her for a mate, her emotions stretch between the brothers. Her heartaches as the close friendship between the brothers crumble. As the king manipulates the game by giving Trin to one of his sons, the other McCade boys call upon an ancient rite and face their paranoid father in a battle to save their community and the woman they both love.
***
#18
Bard’s Lair – The Book of Ruins
Young Adult
129, 877 words
Not everyone is pleased with the new resort.
Bard’s Lair is the keeper of a secret, an old one.
The six-hole Gnome Course, the lake with its water faery, the spiffy cottages and pristine walkways are eye candy to the VEEPS and VIPS who visit to relax and eat the many mouthwatering delicacies from the Woodie the re-defined fine dining restaurant.
For those who like a challenge the Gnome Course with its spitting tee can send one to spittle for the antidote and if the be-speckled balls don’t bite you first a gnarly Gnome or one of the gaggle of geese certainly will. It’s a losing game but one which brings visitors from afar.
Now the good stuff.
There’s a ghost name BeJewelled, the Dark One who has been summoned by a new master, the after math of a nasty War Between the States of service and servitude and even a forbidden romance between Murfle and numah.
Will Uran save the property from ruins? Will Julius find his lost treasure? Will the Dark One find a new master?
Bard’s Lair is both beguiling and bewitching; a fabled (I mean fated) mess.
***
#19
To Stand A Lifetime
Historical Romance – Regency
105,000 words
When wealthy rakehell Nicolas Thornton sees Lady Imogen Bonhaven across the opera halls, he approaches her with an indecent proposition: her body in exchange for his silence on their torrid past. He hasn’t forgiven her for denying his love, denying him, so consumed is he with thoughts of revenge.
Years ago, he was a lowly smithy’s son. Beaten and tortured by an abusive father, he had only a lifetime of endless toil to look forward to. Starved for love and affection, when an impetuous fey blackmailed him for a kiss, he succumbed to her enchanting allure.
All Imogen ever wanted was one measly kiss from him, the village sex god. But his tawny charisma overwhelmed the sheltered country miss, and she succumbed to him. When their illicit passion was discovered, Nic was booted from the county believing she betrayed him, and she was banished from the country.
Now, given an unexpected chance to rejoin high society, the menacing brute is all that obstructs Imogen from respectability. Wills clash as they embark on a tempestuous affair so scorching it incinerates everything in their path…but a mysterious marquess threatens to destroy their last chance for ever after.
***
#20
Above The Game
Literary Fiction
70,000 words
Eliot MacKenzie dreams of escaping his small New England town of Granite Harbor. Suddenly, there is no more dreaming, no escaping. Eliot MacKenzie is dead.
His life is over but not his tale.
Over a several year period in the mid 1990’s, Eliot narrates his story of grief, anger, conflict, estrangement and resolution as family members struggle to deal with their loss.
Eliot’s abrupt death shatters the deceptive harmony of his family’s life. His twin brothers reaffirm their private bond, but each pursues a separate path out of the rage and confusion rising from the loss of their older brother. Eliot’s mother contends with a second family crisis that not only provides escape, but also helps her deal with the death of her son. His father remains
lost in the present and tied to the past as he indulges in one-sided conversations with his dead son.
Eliot alone exists above the game –confined to Granite Harbor forever. ABOVE THE GAME presents adult issues narrated by an eighteen year old and renders teenage characters and their struggles as engaging subjects for the adult reader. The book was shortlisted for the 2012 Faulkner Society Novel-In-Progress Award.
***
#21
Wild Temptation
Contemporary Category Romance
54,000 words
They’re stranded together in the wilderness, and things are getting…wild!
To inherit her father’s estate, Hanna Berlet travels into the rugged wilderness of Northern Minnesota. She thinks falling for her sexy guide is her only risk, but she’s wrong.
Wilderness guide and ex-Marine Cord Samuels can handle this simple mission, and he should be able to keep his hands off Hanna, except she’s determined to share his sleeping bag.
But someone is lurking in the forest, sabotaging their trip, and Hanna and Cord may not make it out alive!
***
#22
Son Of A (Hired) Gun
YA Contemp
86,000 words
Yesterday, 16-year-old Bixby Darwin had a different name, wrote a successful blog and was dreading the get-to-know-my-son lunch with his mother’s new beau—a man Bix was pretty sure might be a terrorist.
Today, he’s been relocated—via Witness Protection—because said boyfriend was blown up and they believe Bix’s absentee assassin father is responsible.
Plagued by secrets he can’t tell, Bix is determined to infiltrate the tight ranks at the small-town school and navigate himself into a successful junior year. Unable to blog for security reasons, Bix becomes a reporter where he does battle with the editor-in-chief and mayor’s daughter, Caitlyn Storm.
In the paintball-militant town of Cypher, Indiana, Bix learns to stand-up and take aim—at bullies, targets, and control of his future. Uncovering a conspiracy big enough to take down the town, Bix will have to decide between the truth and the fabrication that holds the town together, and whether he can live with the choice he makes.
***
#23
Message in the Roses
Romantic Thriller
82,500 Words
My recently completed novel, Message in the Roses, is loosely based on a murder trial I covered as a journalist in Atlanta. It’s also a love story.
Protagonist Carrie Sue Justice, 25, is a fearless and tenacious journalist with a chaotic personal life.
Marcus, 35, is a seasoned newspaper man and decorated war veteran unable to forgive himself for the accidental death of his late wife.
They begin a steamy love affair at a time when the community is in turmoil. Four black boys have been accused of shooting and killing a white boy. Before the trial begins, one of the boys allegedly hangs himself in his jail cell. Another boy pleads guilty. The two remaining youths are to be tried as adults. Tatum’s defense attorney calls Carrie Sue’s best friend and “black brother” to testify. Freemont swears he spotted Tatum blocks away from the crime scene during the time of the shooting death. As a result of Freemont’s testimony, Freemont and Carrie Sue become targets.
***
#24
Meant To Be Mine
Paranormal Historical Romance
90,000 words
Reincarnated goddess Raven LeFevre was raised as a human in New Orleans with her mother, grandmother and brother. Make that raised in a crazy, magical version of the witness protection program. Frustrated by the veil of secrecy surrounding her upbringing, she spurned her powers, vowing to live as normally as any other woman obsessed with real estate and shoes.
When Raven receives a mysterious packet of letters supposedly written by the father she’s never known but always longed for, she breaks that vow and hurls herself back in time. She’s a bit rusty with the supernatural shenanigans and things don’t go quite as planned on her journey back in time. Not only does she hit her head and not remember how she came to be in 1808, or how to return to the present, she lands at the feet of Simon Durand, the ancestor and lookalike of her modern lover, Alexander Durand.
Raven doesn’t realize until it’s almost too late her rashness unraveled the thread of protection, woven by her family, that’s encircled her for so long. Now she’s in danger no matter what time period, and will need all her powers to get back to the one she loves.
***
#25
Without Borders
Women’s Fiction
80,000 words
While in Hungary researching her grandpapa’s childhood, Amanda falls in love with a Gypsy and discovers a shocking secret involving his family and hers. The Gypsy family rejects
Amanda, and even her fiancé walks away because of clan loyalties. Now she questions everything she knew about her beloved grandpapa and must repair the wounds she didn’t intend to open.
***
#26
Deceptive Cadence
YA/NA Crossover, Contemporary Romance
85,000 words
Cadence awakes in a hospital to find her husband and daughter dead, killed in an earthquake. So when her guardian angel appears and offers her a chance to go back in time with all the knowledge she has, she accepts, desperate to prevent their deaths.
She shoots back eleven years to her fourteen-year-old self, and faces high school all over again. She is determined to do everything better, including preventing the loss of her best friend and not dating any of her original, drama-inducing boyfriends. Her main focus is on her future husband, who she won’t meet for several years.
But James Gordon crosses her path. While she wishes to remain single, the bad boy pursues her.
He threatens to disrupt everything that is to come as she begins to develop unwanted feelings for him, and distract her from her original goal: to save her future family.
***
#27
Sheik’s Ruby
Romantic Suspense
74,900 words
Born and raised in a typical small town, Shelby is trying to break the mold, and make a name for herself in the journalism world when she meets Hakim, a mysterious stranger who she believes to be simply a handsome tourist. But Hakim is actually the prince and only heir of the Middle Eastern kingdom of Khali-dar. Unfortunately, princes rarely have casual relationships that go unnoticed, and when his enemies learn of Hakim’s connection to an American girl, they know exactly how to get his attention. Shelby becomes the target of terrorists who seek to hurt Hakim, and Hakim vows to protect her at all costs. Fleeing to the safety of Khali-dar, Shelby finds herself falling deeper in love not only with the prince, but with his country. As she struggles to survive terrorist attacks, withstand the Sheik’s prejudice and find her place in a world she doesn’t understand, she realizes that she must choose which life she is willing to sacrifice—the comfortable life she has worked so hard to create for herself, or the life with the man she loves.
***
#28
Power Struggles
YA Speculative Fiction
88,000 words
Melody’s first power brought her to boot camp, but it’s her second one that could land her in prison.
Sixteen-year-old Melody Vander wants to master her telekinesis so she can defeat Psyfons, the power-draining monsters who killed her father. Although focused on her Psyfon-destroying goal, she catches the attention of Jonas, the gorgeous junior trainer whose very presence makes her feel dizzy and distracted.
Boot camp is beyond frustrating. She’s out in the middle of freaking nowhere with kids who only care about which powers rank highest, not how to use them better. A few trainees collapse, and Melody fears Psyfons have infiltrated the camp.
Before she can figure out who to trust, a bunkmate goes into anaphylactic shock. Despite the risk, Melody uses her healing power to save the girl’s life. Jonas witnesses the rescue and swears to keep Melody’s secret so that she won’t be branded a Psyfon and taken away.
But he already knew about her other power. Melody’s been their target since his leaders killed her father.
***
#29
Desert Rose
Romantic Suspense
74,963 words
Rebecca Blake has it all: designer clothes, elite education, and successful law career. But when a former client is arrested for murder, she feels responsible, and the perfect life she’s built in Chicago starts to unravel fast. To keep her out of the press’s sites, Rebecca’s boss sends her to a dude ranch in Arizona, where she finds herself reluctantly wearing sensible shoes while birthing cows, shooting guns, stepping over manure, and battling unexpected feelings for Ty, the ranch foreman who has a low tolerance for high-maintenance tourists, especially when they insult his lifestyle and make no mystery of their feelings toward the small town life he loves. When Rebecca finds a clue and begins investigating the mysterious disappearance of Ty’s mother—against his wishes, she discovers that secrets kept in a small town aren’t easily revealed. Once Ty overcomes his own prejudice against Rebecca and her designer boots, he is amazed to find that she may be the key to his past, and Rebecca realizes that cheesy belt buckle and all, Ty may be the key to her future, if only they can survive the evil that lurks in the Doo’ya-tehwe Mountain.
***
#30
Winter Song
Mystery
83,000 words
Grieving widower, detective Noah Daugherty, focuses his energy on winning over his late wife’s resentful Yorkie and taking scumbags off the street. Scumbags like The Driver, an honest-to-God hit man who advertises on Craig’s list. Noah has never believed in hit men, at least not ones who offer their services to the public, and he certainly never envisioned The Driver, a teenage killer who professes to take jobs to pay his college tuition, but in fact, simply loves his work.
When The Driver senses Noah closing in on his true identity, he takes steps to eliminate the detective and his annoying little dog. But Noah isn’t that easy to kill. After his first attempt fails, The Driver is left wondering─what’s it going to take to kill this man, silver bullets? A stake through the heart? He’d better think of something quick, because now it’s personal, and Noah is aiming for him.
Winter Song is the first book in a four part series. I am currently published through Soul Mate Publishing, but this series is in a different genre. My writing has won awards in the TARA, IDA and Dixie first Chapter contests.
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Thanks to every author brave enough/willing to put their work out there. It can be terrifying, and incredibly rewarding! Keep at it, learn, learn, learn, and above all else, KEEP WRITING!
~Candi
