Uncaged: Can you tell readers more about your Rise series?

The Rise series has been in my head for a long, long time in one form or another. I wrote as a teenager, completing my first ‘novel’ at around twelve or thirteen. Predictably, it was horrible. However, the seeds of my heroine, Sydney, are in that book. Like Syd, my first heroine was psychic and asked to take on way more responsibility than she’s ready for. If I’ve done my job right (write?) the Rise series is quick-paced, dark and gritty, sexy and keeps the reader guessing.

Uncaged: The third book in the series releases in 2020, how many books are planned for the series? Do people need to read them in order?

For myself, I’m a bit militaristic about reading a series in order, even if the books are standalone. So I’m going to say the best opportunity for maximum enjoyment comes from reading the books in order. There is a sequence of events in the series, building up as the story goes along. There are some bits of information that have been written into book one that haven’t fully come to fruition yet. But if you happened to pick up Curse of Ashes (book two) before Pledge of Ashes, it wouldn’t be the end of the world and you should be able to understand what’s happening.

As far as how many books are planned, I do have an idea how the series ends, but I’m not 100% on how many books it will take to get there.

Uncaged: What are you working on now that you can tell us about?

I’m editing Fallen From Ashes right now, book three in the Rise series. And if things go according to my master plan, I’ll be editing a fantasy romance which will go out on submission through my agency later in the year. I’d also love to draft book four of the Rise series this year. But the creative process can be less than linear sometimes, so we’ll see!

Uncaged: Past or present, which authors would you love to sit and have lunch with and why?

I love J.R. Ward. I’ve gone to several of her signings and she’d be a riot to talk with and learn from. I’m a big advocate for women and what we’re capable of, so I’d like to have time with some of the first and most significant women authors like Mary Wollstonecraft, Jane Austin, or Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Amy Sevan has been writing about angels, demons and other super natural stuff for a very long time. In the meantime, she’s bartended, taught piano lessons, earned her stockbroker’s license, and built a dog training business. The spirit of Detroit holds a certain forbidden magic she’s drawn to, so, she usually writes about those two things. Magic and Detroit.

She’s a member of Detroit Working Writers and Greater Detroit Romance Writers. Sarah Younger of the Nancy Yost Literary Agency represents her.

Amy has a supportive husband and a home with enough creatures shedding at any given moment to knit a blanket. If she knitted. Which she doesn’t.

Amysevan.com

Pledge of Ashes
Amy Sevan
Urban Fantasy

There’s no twelve-step program for recovering psychics, but Detroit mechanic Sydney Hoven has been working hard on her supernatural sobriety.
Too bad Hell didn’t get the memo.
When Syd meets Devon on her first night back out, she doesn’t have to be psychic to see ‘really bad idea’ written all over his stunningly gorgeous face. He says an Archangel wants her protected. But why?

When one of Lucifer’s lieutenants is sent to kill Sydney, the demon might be too strong for even Devon and the angelic forces he represents. With no true allies, Syd must stand on her own, destroy the demon, and claim her power. Otherwise, staying supernaturally sober might just kill her.

~~
Pledge of Ashes is the first book in the Rise romantic urban fantasy series that features angels and demons, men who have no business looking that good, and a heroine who is learning to wield incredible power.

Excerpt

Detroit came alive under the cover of darkness. Noisy clubbers laughed raucously, ear-deadening bass pounded from cars with twenty-four-inch rims, and thick steam billowed from the sewer grates.

Syd slammed the door of her cab and glanced around. Damn straight she took someone else’s ride. Like she’d risk door dings on the GTO? That’s a firm no. The Dive, looking exactly as the name would imply, leered at her with its crumbling concrete and prison-style windows, the electronic music reverbing through her chest even as she stood outside. Her booted feet seemed content to plant themselves on the broken pavement, but she couldn’t stay out here forever. In seconds, the October chill had already worked through her cropped leather jacket.

Feeling the buzz in her back pocket, Syd pulled out her phone. Nina’s text was pleading. Still coming, right? I’m @ the bar. Syd stared a moment more and put the phone away.

So here she was. Attempting the friend thing. Syd rolled her shoulders.
She closed her eyes and drew her mental wall around her, thick like a shield. If she were the praying type, now would be the time. Instead, she shook out her hands and willed her feet forward. The club’s scarred oak door was cold in her grip. She pulled and was assaulted by the beating sounds, alcoholic vapor, and the sensual movement of sex-about-to-happen on the dance floor.

Syd pushed forward, jostling as little as possible, but making slow progress nonetheless. A waitress with a skimpy outfit and bored expression split the crowd, and Syd made use of the trail she left.

A shiver of apprehension traveled through her, and she stalled, losing her path. People brushed at her from all sides, and her breath hitched.
She double-checked the lock on her mind, defied the warning bells in her head. Syd wouldn’t stand up Nina for some weird psychic social anxiety. She’d said she’d go out, and she would. Step by step, inch by inch, her intuition, the part of herself she understood least, fought her.

She glanced down at her deep-red polished nails with a bit of grease around the edges that wouldn’t come out for anything. Man, she wished she had stayed in the garage with her GTO. The car was a puzzle. Parts had specific places, and when you put them back just right, wonderful things happened. You went fast. Sometimes fast enough to forget.

Read the rest of the excerpt in the issue below

Uncaged: You have a new book releasing on February 18, called The Lady is Trouble. Can you tell readers more about this book? This is the first in a series, how many books are planned for the series?

The Lady is Trouble is a book I had in my mind for YEARS! There’s a scene I don’t actually show in the book (though it is mentioned) that I can still see that was the start of the book for me. (The hero and heroine meeting as children.) The Lady is Trouble is a bit of a departure for me because so far I’ve only published historical romances set in the south. Trouble is set in England AND features magical realism (think supernatural activities that were actually very popular in the Victorian era). It tells the story of Julian Alexander, Viscount Beauchamp, and Lady Piper Scott — soulmates who find a second chance at love, mostly due to Piper’s stubborn conviction that they are destined to be together. Julian has the gift of sight and Piper is a healer. He has sworn to protect her but not love her–and the love story rolls from there. My books are fairly high heat (steamy) and aside from the mystical slant, it’s a true Victorian romance.

Trouble is the first in the League of Lords series, which will run five books (maybe one of those being a holiday novella) unless I’m loving the characters and it runs more! I’m already hard at work on the next in the series, Finn Alexander’s love story. Supposedly the most gorgeous man in England, so there is that. 😉

Uncaged: What inspired you to write in the historical romance genre?

Oh, boy. I started reading romance in college and the first I picked up was a historical. I called them the Lords & Ladies books. I just loved them and still do (I’m a huge reader of the genre — check out my Bookbub, that’s only from like the last 1.5 years!) So, when I decided to write (I was a journalism major, so writing no far off from what I wanted to do), I started a historical. But I’m southern, even though at that time I lived in New York City, so I set them there. I love the deep south settings. Small town, etc!

Uncaged: Several of your books are already in audio format. Is that a long process to turn the book into audio? Has it been well received by readers/listeners?

Yes, audiobooks are just booming! I’ve released three so far (The Garrett Brothers series) with three more coming up by March (including The Lady is Trouble). All can be found on Audible or my website www.tracy-sumner.com. I’ve worked with two narrators — and reviews are great so far. I’m just happy to reach readers in any way. It’s a love of the genre thing for me. And…it’s a new world out there for writers.

Uncaged: What are you working on next that you can tell us about?

I’m working on the second book in the League of Lords series. Still percolating about the title. He’s gorgeous, intelligent, sensitive (but alpha when he needs to be) and a mindreader. 😉 Yes, really. Of course he falls for the only person whose mind he can’t read. And…he’s the bastard of a viscount, so life is complicated. I love him already!

Read the rest of this interview in the issue below

Tracy’s story telling career began when she picked up a copy of LaVyrle Spencer’s Vows on a college beach trip. A couple of degrees (BA, Journalism-MA, Media Arts) and a thousand romance novels later, she decided to try her hand at writing a southern version of the perfect love story. With a great deal of luck and more than a bit of perseverance, she sold her first novel to Kensington Publishing.

Tracy has been awarded the National Reader’s Choice, HOLT Medallion, the Write Touch and the Beacon – with finalist nominations in the HOLT Medallion, Heart of Romance, Rising Stars and Reader’s Choice. Her books have been translated into German, Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish.

She lives in the south, but after spending a few years in NYC, considers herself a New Yorker at heart. She loves hearing from readers about why she tends to pit her hero and heroine against each other or that great novel she simply must read.

FUN FACT

Tracy wrote part of To Seduce a Rogue in a hostel in Taipei, Taiwan and Tides of Love while living in Paris, in a building George Sand occupied on Rue de Seine.

tracy-sumner.com

The Lady is Trouble
Tracy Sumner
Historical Regency

In the first in Tracy Sumner’s captivating League of Lord series, mysticism in Victorian England is the setting for a captivating love affair . . .

What’s a rebellious woman to do when the man she’s meant for doesn’t believe in love?

After three years of waiting for Julian Alexander to realize they are destined to be together, Lady Piper Scott takes matters into her own hands. Because her gift as a healer has never done anything but distance her from the most principled man in England. A meaningless diversion as a medium, all done to gain a certain wandering viscount’s attention, backfires. As most endeavors have for a woman known in the ton as Scandalous Scott.

What’s a reluctant viscount to do when the woman he can’t have becomes the woman he can’t live without?

Julian Alexander, Lord Beauchamp, battled his way from the lowliest slum to assume his title. He carries not only a turbulent past, but a mystical gift that separates him from society. Honorable to his core, he is committed to protecting a community of outcasts with abilities like his own. He has no time, no place, for love. Or repeatedly rescuing the most outrageous, beguiling woman he’s ever known. Even if she needs his protection most—and he desires her above all others.

Seduction, intrigue and desire lead to an explosive passion…
Julian vowed to shield Piper from the deadly foes seeking to possess her powerful gift. Although he needs her help in controlling his own, the mix could be deadly. Soon what was once a simple agreement to work together becomes enchantingly complex as they surrender to a timeless love…

Excerpt

There is nothing stable in the world; uproar’s your only music.
John Keats

Chapter One
London, 1865

Allowing the lady to lure him into her carriage had been a brilliant idea.

Julian Alexander stared at a spider crack in the ceiling of his Mayfair townhome and wondered when he might start to believe it. He could presume encountering a former lover outside Hatchards on an otherwise lonely evening was a fortuitous event if there weren’t the niggling—familiar—pinch of regret the moment his cock settled.

A faint sense of having erred, gone off the path and into a twilight woodland where one could be easily lost.

As lost as he’d felt stepping into her dimly lit carriage.

Julian watched Marianne wrap herself in his silk dressing gown, her chatter lulling him into a state of satiated distraction. Only the first and third word of each sentence filtering through, he found the conversation definitively complete. Earl, garden, tryst, scandal. Titles and the men who held them occupied her undivided interest. Each day spent investigating a riddle that had no solution.

Was not, in fact, worth the attention she devoted to it.

In all fairness, Julian could not judge.

His mystical gift separated him from a normal existence and made the world he’d been born into at times unrecognizable. Out of a sense of duty, he played the part of the gentleman for the solitary purpose of propping up the viscountcy, adhering to society’s rules while struggling to preserve his secrets and the secrets of those he protected. Of course, he tendered his title when it benefited himself or the League. But a barony would have profited as well and knocked him down a notch, perhaps enough to slip beneath the waves and be carried from view.

He closed his eyes and let the waves crash over him.

Then Marianne mucked it up by kicking the door to the past wide open.

He rose to his elbow, knocking the counterpane aside. Dragging his hand through his hair, he asked, “Repeat that, will you?” Alarm vibrated through his belly, like swimming in the sea and realizing a massive wave crested behind you. No, it couldn’t be. “Come again?”
Marianne’s gaze settled where the sheet hung low on his hips. “So, you were listening.” She reached to touch, a stroke on air. Licked her lips in the event he didn’t register her appreciation. “Jules, with you, I never know.”

He slid high in the bed, suppressing his annoyance. Jules. He’d asked her to refrain from calling him that. Too. Many. Memories. “Marianne, the clairvoyant?”

Her smile grew luminous, her delight underscoring the scant attention he offered. Without trying to be a disdainful cad, it seemed he was precisely that. “Oh, darling, it was the most farcical evening! Ashcroft arranged for a fortune teller to entertain, and you know him. For a duke, he pushes the boundaries of propriety while always staying within the limit.” She leaned in, clutching the lapels of his dressing gown to her bosom. “I heard there was absinthe served to the men. Why, the festivities were enough to make a stuffed bird laugh!”

Julian hummed low in his throat and rose from the bed. He didn’t know but could imagine. Hell’s teeth, he thought and reached for his clothes, which lay in a tidy pile next to the chiffonier. Taken off without haste, neatly folded.

Read the rest of the excerpt in the issue below

Uncaged: You have had a very busy 2019, and you are not slowing down at all in 2020! You have two new releases in January with co-writer Dawn Brower. Can you tell readers more about how that collaboration came about?

Dawn Brower and I have often worked together. When we started talking about an idea for heroines who do unusual things-fence, racehorses, run gaming hells-we knew we had to write it! As we talked about the possibilities, we decided it would be fun to write the series together, and so we did. What we planned as a four-book series has turned into eight books, with the final two releasing in early
February.

Uncaged: You also have collaborated on several new box sets coming out in 2020. Can you tell readers more about them?

Oh Yes! 2020 is going to be an exciting and busy year! I am leading 5 box sets to release in February, May, August, September, and November 2020. The first two, Mad About Dukes and A May Day to Remember, are on preorder now! All of them are Regency/Victorian collaborations, including 6-9 authors, and two of them will be all-new material. In addition to the sets, I have 5 new books planned to release in 2020.

Uncaged: I’m almost afraid to ask this, but what are you working on next that you can tell us about?

I am currently finishing up Believe in Love, my January 21, 2020 release. It is book 5 in the Scandal Meets Love Series we talked about above. This one features Lady Brooke, who is a card shark and a horsewoman. “Lady Brooke Linwood never could have guessed what would happen after she saved the Earl of Templeton from a cutthroat in the ally behind Fortuna’s Parlor.” It is a blast to write!! After Believe in Love is completed, I will be starting work on book three in my A Rogue’s Kiss series, His Perfect Hellion. A fun Regency with a little spice, and the final book in that series. His Perfect Hellion is also on preorder and releases in March of 2020. After that, I will be writing my novella for one of the new material box sets, then diving into a secret connected worlds project with several other fabulously talented authors. In the meantime, I am also working on having my books translated into French, German, Italian, and Portuguese. Many of them already are. And I also have audiobooks in the works.

Uncaged: Past or present, which authors would you love to sit and have lunch with and why?

Johanna Lindsey would be my top pick. She is one hundred percent responsible for my love of Historical Romance, and I can only imagine she’d be a wealth of knowledge.

Read more of this interview in the issue below

USA Today Bestselling author Amanda Mariel dreams of days gone by when life moved at a slower pace. She enjoys taking pen to paper and exploring historical time periods through her imagination and the written word. When she is not writing she can be found reading, crocheting, traveling, practicing her photography skills, or spending time with her family.

Visit www.amandamariel.com to learn more about Amanda and her books. Sign up for Amanda’s newsletter while you are on her website to stay up-to-date on all things Amanda Mariel and receive a free eBook!

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Forever in Your Arms
Amanda Mariel
Historical Regency

Can a scoundrel not also be a gentleman?

A chance encounter…
Finding herself in a rogue’s arms was the last thing Lady Phoebe Summerville imagined would happen while she was perched in the branches of a tree. Startled at her willingness while in the mystery man’s arms, she determined to forget him and return to Yorkshire. Little did she know, they would meet again.

An undeniable attraction…
Graham Markham, Duke of Fairfax, knew better than to trifle with a debutante. Yet he found himself unable to refrain where Lady Phoebe was concerned. The woman created a desire in him that could not be ignored. A passion, that much to his dismay, did not cease when her family demanded he marry her.

A love that won’t be denied…
Sickened at the notion that his past would bring shame and hurt to Phoebe, Graham does all in his power to end their engagement. Equally determined, Phoebe refuses to beg off and sets out to win the dukes heart. Unbeknownst to her, she already has. It is the very reason Graham wishes to protect her.

Can true love be denied? Or will Phoebe and Graham embrace their hearts desire come what may?

Excerpt

Graham stared up at the woman perched like a curious little bird in flowing skirts. What the devil was she doing in the tree? And who was the lovely creature?

He held out a hand as though he could reach her. “Allow me to help you down.”
The woman did not reply but continued to stare back at him, her face shielded behind a plume of white feathers. His curiosity grew more with each beat of his heart. Who was the woman? A guest from the ball no doubt, but what was her name? And why was she stashed away in a tree? “What are you doing up there?” he asked.

She wriggled on the branch. “Go away. Forget you saw me, and I shall do the same.”

“I cannot leave you up there. For all I know, you’re stuck. A gentleman does not abandon a lady in need.” Even through the darkness he saw her eyes spark with annoyance, or was it anger? Either way it amused him.

“I am not in need of anything you have to offer. If you are a gentleman, you will leave me alone as I’ve asked you to do.”
“Prove that you are not in need of rescue and I shall.”

She peered down at him. “I have no reason to prove anything.”

“Oh, but you do.” He stepped back, his gaze moving to the branches. He looked back up as he grasped a branch.

She watched in horror as he hefted himself into the tree. “Stop,” she called from her perch. “I’ll come down on my own.”

Graham fought the urge to continue his climb and dropped back to the ground, his gaze trained on the woman who now ascended the trees limbs. He should not give a damn about her reasons for being up there, but for some reason found himself beyond curious.

After all, t wasn’t everyday one found a lady in a tree.

Read the rest of this excerpt in the issue below