I write sweet and steamy rom-coms with tear-jerker happy-ever-afters.
  • Home
  • Books and Series
  • FOR READERS
  • Free Stories
  • For Writers
  • BOOK LIST AND CHARACTER DATABASE
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • Contact

where i play the role of romance author, reader, and geek

The Ice Around My Heart: How Not to be Seduced by Dukes 2

2/1/2014

38 Comments

 
But first - Happy Chinese New Year! I was extremely busy in the past few days because of that particular holiday, which is pretty important to us Chinese peeps. :) We went to the temple again and thankfully the master there didn't list my sign (Year of the Dog) as being unlucky this year. 

Okay, back to business.

As you know, my two solo boxed sets are now out and thanks to YOU guys, both are doing quite well! :) Actually, they're doing a lot better than I've hoped for, with Eternally Seduced in Amazon's Top 800 and To Love a Shifter in Amazon's Top 500. Not bad! :)

One thing that did NOT make it to the boxed set was the excerpt I prepared for the second half of Rathe and Mary's story. You didn't really think How Not to be Seduced by Dukes was the end of it, did you? :)
Picture
Mary Ashton is the mistress of Rathe Wellesley, the Duke of Flanders and England’s #1 Heartthrob. As winter approaches, they leave behind the tragedies they’ve overcome together and set for Rathe’s homeland, where they are instantly swept into the dazzling world of Europe’s high society.

However, what was supposed to be a secret romantic holiday explodes into a dirty scandal when the Ton, London’s centuries-old clique of aristocrats, challenge their still-fragile feelings for each other.

He is thirty-four years old, a man in his prime and with a wealth of experience behind him. She is eighteen years old, a girl who has just blossomed into womanhood and whose innocence cannot be completely concealed.

Is he really too old for her…and is she really too young for him? And if everyone say it’s so, should that be enough for them to turn their backs on each other?

“What are you doing here?” His voice was colder than what she had been used to in the past few weeks, reminding her that he had not always been just Rathe, the man she loved and the man who loved her back.

Rathe was also a Wellesley, the present Duke of Flanders, a descendant of Wellington, the Iron Duke himself.

He came to his feet in one lithe graceful motion, and just seeing him move so beautifully was enough to have her heart beating madly. Since she had fallen in love with him, he only had to look at her and she felt like she was flying.

But now when their gazes met, she realized that the feelings were no longer mutual.

Somewhere along the way, something had changed.

“Are you not going to answer me?”

She flinched at the cutting edge of his British accent, a duke reprimanding a servant. That was how it sounded to her, but Mary willed herself not to lose her rarely roused temper. He loved her. He loved her. He had told her so. He would not be acting like this if something wasn’t badly wrong.

She said haltingly, “I just wanted to surprise you.”

The words in itself were a surprise, Rathe sucking in his breath at hearing them. An unbidden image came to him, of him surprising her by teaching her to waltz on a snow-covered ground and of her, surprising him with a poem she wrote and read for him alone.

It felt like those things had happened an eternity ago, like they happened to another couple or at least in a world where they were not judged.

He said harshly, “It’s not a good time.”

She stumbled back at his words, the stricken look on her face making him feel like he had stabbed her in the heart.

“What’s wrong?” Mary whispered. “Tell me, please.”

“Nothing is wrong except you being too hard-headed and acting like a child.”

She flinched again, knowing that the barb had been deliberate. She was perhaps acting like a child, acting like her age, but it was also as if he was driving her to it. “Rathe, we need to talk about this.”

He was silent.

“Rathe, please.”

The pain in her voice reached him and he shuddered, the blackness lifting from his shoulders for a second – long enough for him to tell her hoarsely, “Just go back to our home, Mary.”

“It’s not home when you’re no longer there.”

“I will visit you---”

“When?” She didn’t want to cry but it was impossible and she ended up sniffing her tears back, just like the dreaded child she mustn’t be.

The hurt on her face was too much. He never wanted to hurt her. She was his bloody life. But things had become so complicated he was no longer sure if their love was worth it. So many lives were now being ruined simply because they loved.

He said wearily, “Mary---”

His tone terrified her and she shook her head jerkily, retreating from his office.

“Mary---”

“I’ll come back some other time,” she babbled. “I won’t bother you again like this.”

He took a step back and she cried out.

Rathe stilled, his face white. “Mary---”

She looked at him, unshed tears shining in her eyes. “Please just don’t keep pushing me away, Rathe,” she whispered brokenly before swiftly turning around and walking away.

And he was letting her.

She started to cry.

He had let her walk away a long time ago, and she had to accept that.

38 Comments

Let's talk about sequels!

7/9/2013

8 Comments

 
But first things first---

I'm really, really very happy with how well Park and Violet is doing! I know it's too early to tell, but even so I'm glad PNV reached this high in its first week. That's more than enough of me. As always, I was extremely - and I mean EXTREMELY - nervous about the reception of Park and Violet. You don't always have an European guy adopted by Asian parents as a hero, after all.

Reading the reviews, I was actually surprised that some of you still wanted more of these 2 - I thought I tidied things up nicely with their story - I did promise this was a standalone after all. But apparently, I didn't. =P lol. Ah well, I'll take it as a compliment that readers want more of these two.

Now... let's talk about those sequels.

The first thing I can promise you is that we'll have When Fangirls Cry out right after Suit and Fangs - no ifs and buts. After that, we should have the second / last part of Warning: Love Moderately. These were the two books you requested the most after all so we'll definitely get them out. 

After that ----

I'm pretty excited about My Secret Professor Boyfriend. I've never had a crush on any teacher - firstly, I studied in an all-girls high school, which meant we also had all-female professors. When I was in college, there wasn't anyone hot or young enough to crush on. BUT I do get to read a lot of steamy teacher-student romances (yes, definitely S.R.'s Gabriel's Inferno is one of my absolute favorites) so I do have a clue about how these, umm, encounters work. And this is a common plot device in manga, too, and you all know how much I love those. 

Another sequel in my mind is Dyvian's book in Evren. This one is probably the story I'm struggling the most with because I know where his story is going but the nitty-gritty details aren't that clear yet. All I know is that there's going to be a HUGE confrontation. If you read the excerpt for this then you'll know what that confrontation will be about!

Lastly, we have When I Moan - I'm really, really taking my time with this. I'm very detailed with my Good Girls with Secrets series, so it may be out late this year - maybe just in time for Christmas. Recently, I read the first three books of Terri Anne Browning's The Rocker series. I really, really love that series and I can't help but compare how they are with Em to how my three Grachyov brothers are to Seri. Of course, there are significant differences - my Grachyov brothers aren't quite as wild. They're more the intimidatingly sophisticated type - but I can promise you that they all will have their own stories. Maybe Fyodor, too, coz he's still really hot and he's just in his forties! Haha. 

I'm thinking of sharing a scene - not included in the book - just so you can all see how these three spoil Seri. :) Would you be interested in reading that? 





8 Comments

The Date You've Been Waiting for

4/30/2013

46 Comments

 
Drum roll, please------
Picture
According to my publisher, she will have When Fangirls Lie and A Royal Heartbreak out on the same day. Just like old times! :)

So thank you everyone for waiting this long. As mentioned way way back, I will raffle out advance copies of ARH - one for those who have commented here in my site, one from my subscription list, and one from my Facebook page. I also recently started a contest for ONE ADVANCE COPY FOR WHEN FANGIRLS LIE and you can still join that. Just comment on my post about it! 

Just a last few announcements---
  • I lost my list of email addresses of those who want to have the old newsletter issues sent to them. If you are one of them, please give me your email address HERE IN THIS POST. just so I'll have an easier time listing everything. 
  • I will be working hard until maybe May 8 or May 9 on these two books, proofing them over and over. Just a heads up in case you guys think I'm gone and died again. =D
  • I will post two new chapters on May for my free fan fic on Vampire Knight at fanfiction.net --- if someone would be kind enough to tell me how to reply to those who posted comments on my fan fic, I would really, really appreciate it. I still have a hard time figuring that site out, which is one major reason why I have a hard time updating my story there.
  • For those who are still wondering about my Sceleri series (Heart's Stain), Park and Violet, Warning: Love Moderately - Part II, My Secret Professor Boyfriend, IT Girls Are Smart, Too --- we will get them all out this year. I'm just figuring out which to write first. Well, okay it is very likely I will jump into MSPB and IGAST next.
  • Sequels to Death Loves Me Not, Drawn, and Evren - we'll get there eventually. Right now I'm prioritizing series or books that need their HEA endings. 

So there you go!


46 Comments

    Author's corner

    Here is where I talk about behind-the-scene stuff that readers may want to know more about.

    Archives

    March 2023
    January 2023
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    August 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    January 2019
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012

    Categories

    All
    Blurb Alert
    Brimstone
    Contest Alert
    Controversies
    Cover Reveal
    Death Loves Me Not
    Drawn
    Evren
    Excerpt
    Greek Billionaire Romance Serials
    Happy Times
    Heart Racer
    Horror
    How Not To Be Seduced By Billionaires
    Jason And Keanne
    Moretti
    Newsletter
    Nick And Lilac
    Poll
    Promo
    Pusketeers
    Release Schedule
    Release Schedule
    Sceleri
    Suit And Fangs
    Supernaturally Yours
    When I Moan
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.