Sunday, June 10, 2018

Upcoming Awesomeness!

There's a lot going on in Angel-land, not the least of which is I'm going to start trying to be a more active blogger. Not daily or anything, but if I can get something up once a week or once every two weeks if things are slow, that sounds great!

In case you haven't been keeping up with me elsewhere - I'm pregnant and I'm currently about halfway through my pregnancy. She's a girl and she's doing great (better than I am in fact, Type 2 diabetes meant I had to get my blood sugar - which had been in great ranges for a diabetic - down even further so now I'm on the keto diet... on the other hand, I'm loving the diet and I'm doing well enough on it that the doctor mentioned I might actually be able to reverse my diabetes). She's due in October and I'm gonna be really upset if she comes early because I'm also doing my first convention this year... which I signed up for before I became pregnant and of course it's 2 weeks before her due date.

So if you're interested in romance conventions and *hopefully* meeting me, as far as I'm concerned I'm going to be at RomCon 2018. =P

Other things going on!

I've started a YouTube Channel because I finally found a concept for it that I loved lol. First video is now up! WOOT!

I'm part of some really great upcoming multi-author projects, including a hush-hush box set that will be out in August (more on that when I can), a sexy-nerd anthology (not sure when that's coming out), and I'm going to be part of the next wave of Celestial Mates books! Mine is called Mated on Hades and will be released on July 6th. It will be available on Kindle Unlimited but is also on a special pre-order sale for 99c through July 6th, so if you prefer to own the best price is NOW.


US Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DMDWXPM
UK Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07DMDWXPM
AU Amazon - https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07DMDWXPM
CA Amazon - https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07DMDWXPM

Then it's off to the races... how much writing can I get done before baby arrives? LOL

The goals for this summer: co-write a book with Lee Savino, release one alternate penname book, and finish the last Stronghold Doms book for release on September 15th =)

I'd also really love to get the first book in my reverse harem series, and epilogue novella for Stronghold, and the two prequel novellas for my two new series out later this year but we'll see... I've gotta be somewhat loose on scheduling to see how baby affects everything! Still, that's a LOT to be excited about =)

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Arabella's Taming- Last day at special 99c price!


JUST 99 PENNIES FOR ONE MORE DAY!

Have you gotten your copy of Arabella's Taming yet?



It's available everywhere:


BLURB:
Lady Arabella Windham, sister to the Duke of Manchester, has given up on ever attracting the positive attention of Lord Thomas Hood. After discovering he still sees her as the same hoydenish young woman she was in the past, no matter her current perfectly ladylike behavior, and realizing she will never match up to his infamous list of attributes for a wife, she throws caution to the wind and becomes more reckless than ever.
Why bother being good if it's not going to even be noticed, much less acknowledged?
When her return to feckless and indiscreet behavior results in disgrace however, it's Lord Thomas Hood who is caught up in the scandal with her. With a strong-willed bride determined to make her new husband dance to her tune and a stubborn lord determined to curb his new wife's imprudent ways, is a happily-ever-after even possible?
Despite being part of a series, Arabella's Taming may be read and enjoyed as a standalone. 



Find Me Online!
BookBub → http://bit.ly/2G68e3O
Goodreads → http://bit.ly/2rt4rdL
Facebook → http://bit.ly/2Ds7c0e

Website → http://bit.ly/2wczWv7

Saturday, June 2, 2018

How To #FightLikeARomanceAuthor

I've shared a lot of this information over the past few weeks, ever since #cockygate started, and I decided it would be good to have it all in one place. If you think this will be helpful, feel free to share the link.

Basically, Romancelandia has woken up to a lot of the problems that were being hushed up or talked very quietly but not very loudly about, and a lot of people want to know - what can I do to help? Which is wonderful!

So I've put together this list and if anyone thinks I'm missing anything please let me know (you can comment or email me at goldeniangel@gmail.com) and I'll add to it.

1. Follow @cockybot on twitter - you'll get daily updates about trademark filings - @cockybot is the fastest and easiest way to stay apprised of new trademark filings and it's pretty clear which ones are legitimate and which ones are way too generic.

2. If you see trademark popping up that you think is too generic, the good news is it's easy to protest once it's been filed!:

Here's the letter of protest: https://teas.uspto.gov/ccr/lop
The form is easy. Check "too generic" and upload screen shots of similar books as evidence.

Kevin Kneupper also provided a "how-to" on twitter for a more in-depth explanation

3. Check out the affected authors - Tara Crescent, Jamila Jasper, Nana Malone - Tara is being sued by FH and Jamila and Nana both had to change covers at the last minute due to FH's threats - as well as the heroes of #cockygate - Bianca Sommerland and Jenny Trout who broke the story after talking with Jamila (I also highly recommend following them on Twitter and Bianca's YouTube channel as they have been ON TOP of updates); Kevin Kneupper who saw the original tweets and immediately jumped in with his invaluable knowledge of IP law to file a petition; Courtney Milan who has been providing legal updates and commentary along the way, paid for the hearing transcript out of her own pocket, and is on the RWA board; and Suzan Tisdale, who lent her powerful voice and platform to #cockygate. 

4. Contribute to the RWA's perseverance fund, which is used to help fund the memberships for authors who wouldt' otherwise be able to afford them (and if you're wondering why membership is important, just look to how they and the Author's Guild are funding Tara's defense in #cockygate)

5. Buy a copy of Cocktales! It's a limited release anthology which will be on sale through August and all proceeds are going to "authors already impacted by creative obstruction" and the RWA's advocacy fund. 

6. But trademarks aren't the only issue! What about book stuffing? Report them to Amazon. You should be able to do that from your Kindle. Also, check out Heather C. Leigh's video on what's happening, why it's bad, and give her some love because the scammers threatened legal action for exposing their scammy tactics.

7. You've heard of something new? #GetLoud <--- and follow that hashtag on twitter. If you're not comfortable getting loud, talk to someone. I don't have the platform of someone like Bianca or Jenny, but my door is always open just to chat or if you want someone to help you get loud. Keeping things in the dark is how people get away with doing shady things, and they WANT everyone to be quiet about it because that way they can continue doing what they're doing. If you're unsure and just want to chat privately, that's ALWAYS okay, sometimes it's hard to get loud, but there is support here for you if and when you're ready to. 

8. Engage your readers - this goes with GetLoud! Don't just be loud with other authors or in author groups. You don't have to name names or anything, but one of the first things I did when I decided to pull the vast majority of my books from KU was explain WHY. They had NO idea some of the things Amazon was doing to innocent authors who had been unwittingly caught up in Amazon's determined but overly wide sweep to get rid of scammers. I'm already out but I'll be bringing up book stuffing to them soon, just so they know. And I see a lot of readers on twitter who have become a huge part of reporting when they see something wrong. The readers are the biggest part of the romance community, so they need to know what's going on.

That's all I have so far - please, if you know of something I'm missing, definitely let me know and I'll add it! I'd like to have all of this in one, easy-to-find place for both myself and others. 

Stay Sassy <3


Cocky Judge - an erotic short story

Is this what I should have been working on today? Definitely not. But my brain wouldn't let me be. This is just a short erotic story, not a lot of plot, that wouldn't get out of my head after reading through the transcript for the #cockygate hearing yesterday. Literally, would not get out of my head and woke me up at 7am this morning demanding I write on it. In the interest of being able to work on the things I actually need to be writing today, I complied. I hope you enjoy... and I hope to see many more cocky judges and lawyers in the future!

This is in no way meant to depict a real person.

******


Lauren was sitting on the couch reading her the latest ebook release by her favorite author when she heard the garage door opening. Smiling to herself, she tapped her finger to turn the page while she waited for her husband to come inside the house. He was home a little early, which was nice. She usually managed to make it home before him, but this time she’d only been reading for about five minutes – and she hadn’t been expecting him for at least another thirty.

A few seconds later, the door between the garage and the house opened and she looked up from where she was seated on the couch. Seeing her curled up there, Simon’s face immediately relaxed from its normal grumpy expression – her hubby definitely had whatever the male version of resting bitch face would be called – and relaxed into a smile.

“Hey honey,” she said, uncurling from her position and setting her ebook down on the coffee table as he took off his favorite brown hat. “How was work?”

“It was a day,” he replied, meeting her halfway through the room for a kiss.

She hadn’t been expecting a real answer, on Fridays he liked to come home and unwind. Likely she wouldn’t hear about his day today until tomorrow, but she always asked.

When their lips parted, he smiled down at her. “How was your day?”

“Not bad,” she said, following him as he let her go and went to sit down in his armchair with a slight groan. Chuckling, she moved around behind the chair and began to massage his shoulders. With a much louder, although still low, groan, he leaned forward to give her better access to his tense muscles.

Digging her fingers in to his shoulder blades, Lauren worked at the knot she could feel there as she began to tell him about her day. Most people wouldn’t think that being an accountant was all that interesting, but some of the things her clients did… Of course she never shared confidential information with him, as a judge he’d be pretty disapproving of that even if she wanted to, but there were always funny little stories she could tell him.

“Really?” her husband asked, laughing.

“Yup. We spent thirty minutes trying to figure out why he’d been charged an extra dollar and twelve cents on his cable bill.” One of her most well-to do clients, the man had only ever had one job – which he’d barely managed to last a few days at – and had spent his life living off his trust fund. He was happy to throw his money around when he chose, but even a dollar extra on any of his bills and he had to know WHY.

“Maybe he just wanted your company,” her husband teased, twisting around as he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her to him. Lauren laughed as she ended up tumbling into his lap, his arms easily catching her. Simon nuzzled the side of her neck. “I know I always do.”

“Well, I hope so,” she teased. “You are married to me.” Which made her one lucky girl. Simon was the whole package – smart, handsome, confident without being arrogant (okay, maybe a little arrogant sometimes but deservedly so) a wicked sense of humor, great in bed, and even though he did often look grumpy he wasn’t actually a grump. He was her cocky silver fox and she loved him as much now as they day she’d married him.

“Best decision I ever made,” he said, sliding his hand up her shirt and making her giggle as he tipped her back for another romantic kiss. Lauren wrapped her hand around the back of her neck to keep her from feeling like she was falling as she opened her mouth to him, her body coming alive as his tongue swept into her mouth and his hand closed over her breast.

It wasn’t often that Simon came home amorous immediately, but she certainly didn’t mind when he did.

She kissed him back passionately, her fingers sliding into his hair. He’d turned grey early, but it looked good on him, making him appear handsomely distinguished. She hummed in the back of her throat as his hand caressed her breast, making the little bud of her nipple harden and swell inside of her bra.

And she couldn’t help giggling again when he couldn’t get the cup of that particular garment down. Simon hated bras. Well, Simon hated her bras.

His hand slid out from underneath her shirt and Lauren squeaked as she found herself being lifted up in his arms. The hand in his hair slid down as she threw her arms around his neck.

“What are you doing?” she scolded. “You shouldn’t be carrying something as heavy as me!”

Simon’s dark eyes skewered her with a look as he started towards their bedroom – since the master bedroom was on the first floor it wasn’t far away at least. “Woman, you’d better not be putting yourself down.”

Dammit. She never should have told him about the spanking books she’d read.

“That’s not what I meant,” she protested. It had totally been what she’d meant.

He raised his eyebrow at her, looking almost haughty as he stared down at her, shouldering the door to their bedroom open. “Then are you saying I’m not strong enough to carry you?”

“That’s definitely not what I meant,” she said more firmly. Simon was in great shape. She on the other hand… but if he wanted to carry her off to bed like some kind of 1970s romance book cover hero, who was she to argue? “Just shut up and kiss me.”

Laughing, Simon complied and Lauren tightened her arms around him. The kissing became more enthusiastic as he set down her legs so she could stand and their hands busily got to work. Clothes fell between caresses, and then his lips pulled away from hers so they could follow where his hands were going. Lauren let out a soft moan as his mouth closed around her nipple, his fingers kneading the soft flesh of her breast and stirring an aching need in her pussy.

She threaded her fingers through his hair, her other hand caressing his upper back, which was what she could reach… and the Simon was pushing her back against the bed, his lips moving back up to hers.

They fell on the bed together, her softer body cradling his hard one, her legs parting as he knelt between them. She dragged her nails over his chest, not hard enough to leave a mark, but enough to send a shudder through his whole body. The weight of his cock pressed against her thigh as he stroked her sides and his mouth moved down to her neck. Seeking out his nipples, Lauren matched him caress for caress, stoking his arousal as much as he did hers.

The blunt tip of his cock brushed over swollen pussy, which was when he realized how wet she was. Hey – being picked up and carried off had just flat out done it for her. Simon definitely enjoyed the result. A small shift of his hips and his cock slid through the wet, slick folds of her pussy, finding her entrance almost immediately. They knew each other’s bodies intimately by now, and he hadn’t even needed to adjust himself.

“Ohh…” Lauren sucked in a breath, her back arching as Simon pressed in, stretching her open. She always loved the initial feeling of him sliding inside of her, the emptiness being filled, the ache being soothed. The thick girth of his cock thrust in and then receded, before returning and going deeper, filling her more fully.

Her legs wrapped around him, heels against the backs of his thighs as she spread herself more fully to him, using the new leverage to lift her hips up to meet his thrusts.

Simon groaned with pleasure, dropping kisses across her collarbone and neck on his way back to her lips, his hips moving rhythmically, each hard thrust pressing her into the mattress. She loved the feel of him atop her, inside of her, making her feel small but safe under his hard body, vulnerable to him and yet he gave her nothing but pleasure.

The wiry hair on his chest brushed against her hard nipples, stimulating the sensitive buds and sending sensations curling through her straight down to her pussy which clenched around his cock. They moved together, their combined passions rising and feeding the other’s as he surged inside of her. The friction of his cock sliding in and out of her slick heat, the rubbing of his groin against her swollen clit every time he slid home, had her writhing as her climax neared.

His thrusts became harder, wilder, and his lips pulled away from hers as their movements made kissing more and more difficult.

“Oh yes…” Lauren cried out, her nails digging into his shoulders. She arched as he ground himself against her, rubbing her clit with his body in exactly the way he knew she liked best. “Simon!  Oh… Simon!”

Ecstasy rippled and burst, spreading through her on waves of rapture that had her toes curling and her body clenching around him as he began to thrust again, hard and fast. Every thrust sent another wave crashing into her, and Lauren writhed beneath him as he reached his own climax, groaning her name into her ear as his cock hardened even more inside of her, making him feel even larger. He pulsed against the walls of her pussy, their mutual pleasure shuddering through them as he released.

Panting, they both slumped together, the urgency sliding away and leaving them in the hazy cocoon of intimacy that always followed love-making.

Lauren smiled lazily as she ran her fingers over the tattoo on Simon’s chest, the one which always amused her because she’d never pictured a judge with a tattoo. He was still slumped over her, but had his arms braced so his full weight wasn’t on her. Not that she would have minded. She liked feeling his weight pressing her down into the mattress, but he was too considerate for that.

Her husband muttered something and she frowned in confusion.

Had he just said ‘prowess’?

Thursday, May 31, 2018

The #CockyGate Conundrum - Why Is She Doing This?

I have been following #cockygate since it broke.

I'm a long-time reader of Faleena Hopkins - I found her on KU when she released the second Werewolves of New York book and I had been reading her ever since up until Cocky Heart-Surgeon which I didn't read before #cockygate broke and now I probably never will.

I'm a long-time reader of Tara Crescent, ever since her Nights In Venice series, and have been honored to virtually meet her on Facebook through another author whom she co-writes with, and have chatted with her in groups and PMs often enough that she's one of the authors I've come to consider a friend. Caveat - I have no idea if she feels the same way about me =P But that's how I feel about her.

I'm an indie author.

And so, because of these three things, I have been heavily invested in watching #cockygate unfold. But I don't want to talk about that. I want to talk about the question I keep seeing come up, over and over again, which is "Why is she doing this?"

That question is often followed by others - "Does she seriously see herself as the victim?"

I kept thinking to myself - This feels so familiar. Why does this feel so familiar? And it finally hit me today, when I was reading her blog post. I've seen all of this before. Recently.

It had nothing to do with books or publishing, it was actually a man - a friend at the time - who had made several women of mutual acquaintance feel harassed and unsafe in his presence. Many of us who were mutual friends tried to explain to him 1. why they felt harassed and 2. that just because he didn't MEAN for them to feel harassed didn't mean that he was falsely accused, and that it actually didn't matter that he didn't mean for them to feel harassed. That his response was to demand further contact with them so he couldn't explain why they shouldn't feel harassed was even more troubling to the rest of us, and he didn't understand that either.

Suffice to say, we're no longer friends, but even though these situations are vastly different, this morning I realized that they have a lot of similarities too.

He didn't see himself as the bad guy. In his head, the bad guy would have malicious intentions to do harm, to harass, to make someone else feel unsafe, and because his intention was NOT that, then he couldn't possibly have done anything wrong.

I feel like this can be applied to Faleena too. I honestly don't think she sees this as punitive to other authors. I think she DOES feel as though she has claim to the word. I think that she has been isolated enough from other indie authors that she hasn't seen first hand the amount of sharing and support within the community and that she views other authors with 'cocky' books as competition rather than compatriots or a support system. She doesn't think she's the bad guy, and because her intention is to protect herself, not necessarily to hurt others, it seems to her like she's being falsely accused and picked on for trying to create and protect her brand.

Everyone is the hero in their own story.

The problem is, there often comes a point in the heroes journey where he/she makes a mistake that needs to be rectified before the happily-ever-after can come. And instead of listening to the others who reached out to her, she interpreted anyone with a differing opinion from hers as attacking her or not understanding where she was coming from or as being against her. I'm sure she's received some truly awful private messages, I don't doubt that at all, but I also have no doubt that she's received quite a few from people saying "Hey, here's what the problem is, can you not do ______, can we talk about this?"and somehow those got lumped together on the "side of people against me"

Granted, it is not an easy thing she's being asked to do - she's being asked to realize and acknowledge that she's wrong. Not only that she's wrong, but that she's been wrong for months. That she was wrong to send C&Ds, wrong to contact Amazon about other authors' books, wrong to have trademarked the word cocky in the first place. There are so many steps that she would have to backtrack, so many points along the way where she's felt that what she's done is absolutely right, that I'm sure it is an incredibly difficult thing to realize, even more difficult to admit to after all the time she's spend defending her actions, and just as difficult to see - where do I go from here if I give this up?

At this point, I don't see her turning back. She's too wrapped up in her quest to see anything else, and that makes me incredibly sad for her. There were so many points where she could, and should, have turned back. Just like my male friend, she's going to keep losing people over this because she won't look at anything other than how SHE feels about it.

How to make someone realize? If anyone can figure that out, let me know.

I just know I won't be reading her books and I truly hope that her trademark for the word "Cocky" gets shut down because it's not just an overreach, it's an incredibly dangerous precedent - but these were just my thoughts on the question of "Why? Why is she doing this?" and that was something I hadn't really seen being addressed and for some reason I felt like writing a blog post about it.

Maybe because this week I've said multiple times that I really need to do more with this blog. At any rate, I use this blog to ramble sometimes and that's what I'm doing here. Not sure if it'll be of interest to anyone else, but honestly I feel a little better after typing all my thoughts out.

Let's all hope that June brings less drama <3

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

ARABELLA'S TAMING NOW AVAILABLE! 99c through June 5th!!!


She'll behave however she pleases...
Until Lord Hood has his say in the matter.
Arabella's Taming by Golden Angel is LIVE!!!

And it's JUST 99 PENNIES until June 5th!

GET YOUR COPY ON YOUR FAVORITE PLATFORM:

Lady Arabella Windham, sister to the Duke of Manchester, has given up on ever
attracting the positive attention of Lord Thomas Hood. After discovering he still
sees her as the same hoydenish young woman she was in the past, no matter
her current perfectly ladylike behavior, and realizing she will never match up to
his infamous list of attributes for a wife, she throws caution to the wind
and becomes more reckless than ever.

Why bother being good if it's not going to even be noticed, much less acknowledged?

When her return to feckless and indiscreet behavior results in disgrace however,
it's Lord Thomas Hood who is caught up in the scandal with her. With a strong-willed
bride determined to make her new husband dance to her tune and a stubborn lord
determined to curb his new wife's imprudent ways, is a happily-ever-after e
ven possible?

Despite being part of a series, Arabella's Taming may
be read and enjoyed as a standalone.

CHECK OUT THE ENTIRE BRIDAL DISCIPLINE SERIES!!!

Philip's Rules
Upon marrying the Marquess of Dunbury, Cordelia Astley is relieved to be free of her past. Though
she accepts that her union is not one of love, she's grateful to her new husband and well suited to
him. All would be perfect but for her difficult stepdaughter, Gabrielle. What will become of the
Marquess's new bride and her demanding stepdaughter under his stern discipline?

Undisciplined
Gabrielle Astley is receiving her debut and finds herself drawn to the rakishly attractive Felix Hood,
her guardian's best friend, in her search for a husband. And though Felix is taken with both the
young woman and her smart mouth, he's quite certain he's not ready for marriage.

Gabrielle's Discipline
Wed to protect the bride's honor, it's their lovely country honeymoon that reveals to both Felix and
Gabrielle that they are, at the very least, a smart match behind closed doors. But when the couple
returns to London society, will Gabrielle's affections for her husband be spurned by his eyes for
her stepmother?

Lydia's Penance
The heavy-handed Duke of Manchester is falling for the desperate woman who trapped him into
marriage. And though he's tempted by his bride, he will not rest until he's discovered all of Lydia's
secrets.

Benedict's Commands
Merry widow Lady Christina Rowan realizes she's become far too emotionally attached to her lover,
the dashing Benedict Windham, but dismissing him proves more difficult than anticipated. Can
Benedict convince the Dowager-Marchioness of Stanhope to to once again have a lover that she
truly loves?