A Holiday Update from Author Ashlynn Monroe

Thanks for having me on your blog Anne! I’m having a great holiday season so far. Being a published author is all I’ve wanted from Santa Claus forever and the fat guy in red finally delivered this year!

I love how the Wild Horse Press Redemption anthology came together. I’m so proud to have been able to work with Jessica, BethAnn, J. L, and Lila! So much talent, whoot, love it! I have a couple of things to plug shamelessly today. I hope you don’t mind.

All I Want for Christmas is Redemption, here’s a blurb about it.

On the boarder of West Virginia and Pennsylvania sits a town deep in history, Redemption. The name itself would speculate a place for second chances. In a town bound by a curse, strange is a state of mind. Condemned for the murder of a young white witch in 1699, the descendents of the towns founders are far from “normal." The town’s punishment for their hate means living and loving despite the special challenges of their “difference."

Christmas is a time of goodwill and love…even in a place like Redemption.

My story is "Witch Way to the New Year," and here’s a sneak peak.

Dropping her toast onto the floor, Phoebe Penn bit her lip to keep the curse word from tumbling from her lips. She cast a fugitive glance at her three-year-old son, Simon. He played contently with his matchbox car, running it over the surface of the secondhand kitchen table and paying no attention to his mother’s vocabulary. Making little engine noises, he focused on his imaginary world.

Every time she looked at him, he took Phoebe’s breath away. She loved her son with every ounce of her heart and soul! It was hard to raise him alone. She'd lost her parents in her early teens, resulting in her home hopping through the foster care system. When she'd discovered that she was pregnant at seventeen, she didn't want to give him away; she loved him from the second she'd heard his first heartbeat. Simon’s father didn't want any responsibility to her or their son, so she'd been caring for him alone.

Phoebe was a bit different because of her family heritage. She often wondered if she'd been a normal woman from an ordinary family would it have made a difference. Would Simon’s father have decided to stick around if no one had ever stared at her or whispered about her?

All of her life, people pointed her out as “one of those Penns." Generation after generation of her family had lived in Redemption just on the border between Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and because of that, everyone in town knew what she was and what she could do. Often times she'd thought of taking her son and going somewhere where no one would know that she was a witch!

But Redemption was in her blood. The wild rugged beauty held her very soul. Redemption was her home; she was honestly afraid to leave. And if Simon’s father ever came to his senses and wanted a relationship with his son, she didn't want to deprive her little boy of a father because of the distance. Hopefully someday her adorable son would have the opportunity to know his father. Each time the idea of leaving crossed her mind she would reject it. She was just another of the town’s many oddities; Phoebe stayed ignoring the stares.

I’ve begun something delightful. Blog Talk Radio is a collection of internet radio talk shows. I started with 15 min but I’ve had a very positive response so I’ve lengthened to 30 minutes. I’d loved having you on the pilot episode Anne and I’d love it if you call in again soon! The show airs at 5:30 pm CST every Sunday night. Just search mustlovebooks (all one word) or click here.

It’s a show about books and the kooky guys and gals who write them! I love it! Learning about other authors, publishers, and readers is why I created the show. I’d love to have an artist or distributor call in too! The number to call is (619) 789-1934. I’m going to start doing live chats too for those folks who don’t want to hear themselves on the radio. This is another way to get a shout out on the show. Type in your book info and I’ll read it on the air, or ask my callers anything you’ve been wondering! I reserve the right to refuse to ask them if its boxers or briefs, but most anything goes, the show is rated adult.

My (long awaited by me) novel Blood Kin is now available for purchases at Wicked Ink Press. It’s my longest work, a full length novel, currently released. Here’s a blurb about the book:

Following the brutal deaths of her family, Danya Adams finds herself alone and responsible for her small niece. After finding a last message from her mother and sister-in-law, she realizes that her family has been keeping a big secret from her. Calling a long lost aunt, Danya soon finds herself embroiled in a world she never imagined could be real. Pushed to her limits, Danya struggles to become a vampire hunter while discovering a heritage of tragedy.

The only thing that makes her new life bearable is a young man named Valin. Her need for vengeance pushes her forward. Trying to balance all the new responsibility and find her place in the world is hard enough without learning new and disturbing family secrets at every turn. Danya learns why the leader of the vampires hates her aunt, yet wants her to join him. The secret leads to her losing the one man she loves to the creatures she’s vowed to destroy.

I also have Aloha Christmas and Eternal Gift from Wicked Nights this month. Both are short 0.99 hot vampire stories, because what’s Christmas without hot vampire sex? Ok, maybe that’s my Christmas wish, but yumm-o I love hot vampires! Aloha Christmas is the second release in a series of sexy romance set in Hawaii during Christmas from Wicked Nights. Here’s a quick bite.

Fighting the painful memories, she stumbled back against her date, Van. He’d brought her with him on the special Hawaiian Christmas get away. It was a dream come true, she’d never been anywhere as exotic or beautiful before. The smells and sights had filled her with awe. Yet, here she stood wishing she’d never come! Kyler was here. Once she’d loved him so passionately she thought it might kill her, literally.

Why was a vampire in Hawaii? It’s not as if he’d come for the sun bathing.

She’d been his blood-giver, a living blood donor, for three of the best years of her life. He was so handsome, and worldly, it was easy to love him. She would still be with him if he’d never asked her for eternity. Remembering the terrible decision like it happened yesterday made her feel sick to her stomach.

“I want you Cat, forever. I can’t live without you Darling. Please accept the dark gift, you can be as you are right now, perfect and beautiful, for eternity. Catlin, will you be with me for eternity? I want you to be my wife; I want to turn you. It’s your choice, but if you refuse, I’ll understand. When you die your human death, I’ll end my existence as well. Will you marry me Cat?”

The diamond ring he displayed to her was the most breathtaking gem she’d ever seen. Tears burned behind her eyes. How could she say no to the most wonderful man she’d ever known? Thinking about her mother and brother her decision was obvious.

“I’m sorry; I can’t be with you anymore. Goodbye Kyler, I love you.”

She got up and left. Her last sight of him had broken her heart. Sorrow filled his beautiful face. She’d put that sadness in his eyes, and in that moment Cat hated herself. If she stayed with him, she’d age. She knew him always to be true to his words, staying with him would be a death sentence. She couldn’t bear knowing that each day she brought him one day closer to his death. For love and for her family she made the hardest choice of her life and walked away.

Eternal Gift will be available December 19th and it’s a very dark but sexy story about getting a gift that’s definitely not returnable but oh so sexy.

Silver Publishing will be releasing yet another vampire Christmas tale by little old me. This one is a novella called Vampires and Mistletoe and it’s the sexy story about a young woman whose long time grudge against her very unusual family finds a measure of healing with the love of one very sexy vampire. You can buy this book on December 15th.

Give yourself the gift of vampires this Christmas season when you buy my books. (The short ones are perfect for those long checkout lines!) Happy Holidays, God bless you and yours this holiday season!

Thanks for the shameless plug time Anne. I love your blog!