Monday, March 26, 2018

Echo, Pierce Securities #9 #RELEASE Simon's story is here!


Echo is HERE!  Simon's long-awaited story is available for you to get on your e-reader, now!  Find out why Advanced Readers are saying it's "Bittersweet," a "New Favorite," and "What a book to conclude the series with."

Blurb:One attack in her home is enough to make Lacie Hill freak out, but a second is enough to make her check out. Lacie was happy with her solitary life—kindergarten teacher, weekly girls’ nights out, and a father she’s close to. When she’s targeted for sick games with unknown players, she forces herself to act normally and hope everything will go away. You know, ostrich impersonation. The police are doing everything they can to help. Nothing left for her to do, right? 

Wrong. 

When Lacie’s father hires Pierce Securities to help her, the only person not working a job would be the boss man, Simon— a control freak who loves his rules. He’s trying to find his sister’s stalker while keeping his micromanaging eyes on all the guys in the office. He has policies in place for reasons. For safety. For professionalism. 

For his heart. 

But will Lacie’s case be an echo of his past? Or will he be able to protect her and love her at the same time, breaking all his hard and fast rules?


After school, Simon called Quinten and grabbed the bottle of Glenlivet he’d rescued from his bottom drawer before taking this job. It was some skewed sense of needing something to resist in his possession. The last two days, it had been in plain sight, untouched, next to Tanya’s picture. Tonight would be a different story. Since he couldn’t resist the woman across the street, he didn’t see why he needed to resist this too.

He was so fucked.

When Quinten arrived, Simon was well on the way to being drunk.

“Hey, what’s got you twisted?”

Waving his glass at the window, Simon muttered, “Her.”

 “Trip down memory lane? Man, you have to know you did what you had to. Anybody could have been put in that situation. She was good.” The table with Tanya’s picture was in front of the window, and Quinten clearly misunderstood, thinking Simon was talking about the photo.

Simon did a double-take when he figured out who Quinten was referring to. “No, not her.” Lacie chose that moment to walk to her mailbox, gauzy skirt flowing in the wind. “Her,” he waved at the picture, “and her, too, prolly.” He finished off his two fingers of scotch and poured two more.

For a grand total of ten fingers in an hour and a half. Too much.

Quinten studied the woman through the glass but remained silent. Finally, he looked at Simon. “What’s the problem?”

“She’s making it all too hard. She won’t talk to me or even look at me. She knows I’m here to protect her, and she’s making my job so hard.” Simon sounded like a petulant child, but the scotch was doing that. He felt raw, and the only person he could be that way around was patiently sitting in front of him, his finger rubbing his jaw.

“Why?”

Simon laid it all out there. “I kissed her. I lost control and kissed her.”

Quinten remained silent while Simon drank. “Are you afraid she’s like Tanya?”

The scotch didn’t burn anymore. It was smooth going down his throat into his belly, sloshing around with other scotch and lunch’s protein shake. He should eat a loaf of bread to soak up the alcohol, but he didn’t want that. He needed to feel all the alcohol and take a one-way train to oblivion.

“No.” Simon leaned his head against the chair back. “Yes.” He sighed, a rough sound in the silent room. “I mean, she’s not like Tanya. I don’t think she’s going to kill me, but when I’m with her, I feel so …”


“Happy?” Quinten grinned as if Simon was talking about Santa Claus.

“No. Edgy, uncomfortable, I don’t know how to describe it, but I don’t like it. And I can’t control it. It’s like I’m out of sync with myself around her, and I don’t know how to fix that.” 
He looked his brother square in the eyes. “I imagine myself having a family with her. What the fuck do I do with that?”

“Is she in danger?”

Simon remembered the man at the bar last night. “Fuck yes. A lot of danger, and I don’t know where it’s coming from. It’s like she has an army out to get her, in a dozen tiny battles. It’s killing me that I don’t know what to protect her from.”

“Is the scotch helping?”

Simon put his head in his hands. “No.”

“Then get your ass in a shower, sober up, and continue your job. She either lets you in or she doesn’t, but these feelings you’ve got for her …”

“What about them?”

“You have two choices. You can follow your own advice and keep it strictly professional, which is safe but won’t really help you man up about your issues with Tanya, or you can explore them and see how they relate.”


“I can’t explore them. I’ll get distracted and Lacie’ll get hurt. You don’t know the danger. Someone’s setting her up with all these guys who have her whereabouts and trying to get her away from me.” Simon knew how he sounded. He heard the words, the disconnect in personalizing the case like this, but he was powerless to stop it. It only reinforced things for him, but he was too drunk to figure out what.

“I think you need to. You asked me over here for something, and that’s what I’m leaving you with.” Quinten stood. “I love you, brother. If you need me, call.”

Haven't started the series yet?  The first one, Craze is FREE, and the second is only .99.  Grab Echo while it's still at the release price of 2.99!




Craze

Wire

Click

Grab

Murmur

Bond 

Seek links
Amazon:  http://amzn.to/2wM2c7d
Amazon UK:  http://amzn.to/2wboXQk
Barnes and Noble:  http://bit.ly/2wCAklp
Kobo:  http://bit.ly/2vkmSmd
iTunes:  http://apple.co/2vvZD4P

Hitch
Amazon:  http://amzn.to/2yhz3C7
Amazon UK:  http://amzn.to/2zTPwst
iTunes:  http://apple.co/2A3eMgM
Barnes and Noble:  http://bit.ly/2yi7AjH
Kobo:  http://bit.ly/2gSLyZw

Echo:
Amazon:  http://amzn.to/2HOEusx
Amazon UK:  http://amzn.to/2FNTavj
Nook:  http://bit.ly/2HP2YBS
iTunes:  https://apple.co/2HO1bNb
KOBO:  http://bit.ly/2u4mlEN


 Stalk Anne EVERYWHERE!

Website/newsletter/blog: www.anneconley.com
Facebook:  www.facebook.com/anneconleyauthor
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Anne's Bio:

Anne has written her entire life and has the boxes of angst-filled journals and poetry to prove it. She’s been writing for public consumption for the past several years. She lives in rural East Texas with her husband and children in her own private oasis, where she prides herself in her complete lack of social skills, choosing instead to live with the people inside her head.


Currently, she has five romance series.  Playing with Fire explores the trials and tribulations of a small team of fire fighters in the fictional mountain town of Pamona Gulch. In Pierce Securities, she gives us Ryan, Evan, Miriam, Zack, Quinten, Jordan, Hollerman, and Simon. Her favorite series, Book B!tches, is all about a group of women in Mystic, Texas who get into all sorts of shenanigans. In Stories of Serendipity, she explores real people living real lives in small town Texas in a contemporary romance setting. In The Four Winds, she chronicles God’s four closest archangels, Uriel, Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael, falling in love and becoming human.




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Monday, March 19, 2018

#EndOfAnEra

You guys remember Craze?  Craze is the first book in my Pierce Securities series, and I published it in April of 2015.  That means I worked on it for at least a year before that.  So for the last four years, the Pierce Securities books have been at the forefront of my brain.  Writing them, making them better, marketing them, trying to get readers to like them as much as I do.

And now, with the release of Echo, I have other projects on my plate, and I'm done with the Pierce boys. 

For now.

I won't say I'm not ever writing another Pierce story, because never say never, right?  But I don't have the time, at the moment.  I don't want to write Pierce stories for the rest of my life, honestly.  I have other guys in my head.  I've got firefighters, special forces guys, and some utter romantic beta dudes.

But I'm terrified you won't read them, because they're not Pierce guys.

There.  I said it.

I'm scared.

Pierce Securities has paid my bills, put food on the table, bought my washer and dryer, my laptop, and a new mattress, in addition to copious amounts of beer over the years. 

I'm scared you all won't like my firefighters as much as my securities team.  I'm scared my special forces guys won't have the umph you love so much.  I'm scared my romantic betas won't hold the appeal.  I'm scared I won't sell any more books and I'll have to do something else with my life.

I love writing.  I love making up stories and writing them down for you to read them.  And I love the fact that my readers love them enough to buy them and I can make a living with what I'm passionate about.  That's why I'm nervous about this release.  Simon's story is it for now, for the Pierce Securities guys.

Don't get me wrong.  I have other story ideas involving these men, BUT I really want to write some different stuff too.  I want to finish the Book B!tches series.  I want to write some NEW stuff.

But I want you to love it too.

And it's not that I don't have stories to write.  I have tons of stories.  Like, I would be certifiable if I didn't write them all down.

This is not a woe is me, pity fest, buy my books type of post.  I just wanted to put into words how scary it is to actually end this series.

Like, what if readers don't like my smexy firemen that I've worked so hard to bring in August?  I have a release plan to keep readers from getting bored waiting, and will have them release consecutively--August, September, October, and November.  That's the plan anyway, and I'm working super hard to make that happen.  But what if readers don't buy them?  All the time I've spent is wasted.

And the Book B!tches... I'm planning on hitting them pretty hard, and getting those books out in the next two years.  What if there's no point in that, and the rebranding I have planned, and all the money I spend on that series is totally wasted.

And the series that I really want to write that I haven't even started yet. 

What if I'm completely obsolete and irrelevant when the Pierce Boys are done?

I'm just going to spend the rest of this Monday sobbing in a corner.
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Monday, March 12, 2018

Echo is coming sooooooon!






Echo will be available for preorder in about eight days, but in the meanwhile, enjoy this special unedited sneak peek!

Add it to your Goodreads TBR pile!  http://bit.ly/2oDbtYQ


Simon was out of his element, and completely out of control. He didn’t like it, but couldn’t dwell on it, as he was surrounded by twenty-four kindergarteners, intent on painting masterpieces.

He didn’t even have time to watch the woman, although he wished he could. After the first five awkward minutes, where he’d tried to break the ice with his self-deprecating comments about his suit, he’d been inundated with smelly five-year-olds.

And his suit was ruined, no doubt.

Honestly, he’d thought Mr. Hill wanted him on staff as security or something. He hadn’t clarified, which was his own damn mistake. Of course Mr. Hill would want him working alongside his daughter, in the most hands-on capacity he could.

He’d taken off the suit jacket after one kid—Alicia?—had splattered paint on it while he was helping her rinse her brushes. But he was afraid the dress shirt underneath was beyond repair, even though he was wearing a tie-died apron over his clothes. Thank god his sidearm was concealed in the holster under his shirt in the small of his back. He have to find something different for tomorrow. He was quickly realizing these kiddos had no concept of personal space, and he didn’t want to be the root cause of a tragic accident. Like shooting off his own ass.

After art time, was a snack, and Simon thought he was safe from more spills, but there he went thinking again. A young boy accidentally sprayed Simon through the straw of his juice box, and now Simon looked like he had a pee stain down his trouser leg. Oh well, at least it wasn’t his best suit.

By the time lunch rolled around, and another teacher had picked up the kids to take them to the cafeteria, Simon was a frazzled wreck. Thankful for the relative peace of the teacher’s lounge, Simon followed Lacie Hill like a beaten puppy dog down the hallway.

He’d packed a protein shake for lunch, not having a clue what would happen, and needing something easy. Now, he’d wished he had a shot of scotch instead.

“Is it always so loud?” He asked as he sat in the mildewed seats scattered around a long table.
Lacie only laughed at him, along with another woman.

Churlishly, he crossed his arms, drink in hand, and chugged it. This was a mistake. He should have assigned somebody else. Anybody else to the job. He’d rather get a contact high from following around a hippie folk singer.

“So you’ll sign the petition to get a margarita machine in the teacher’s lounge?” The other woman asked with a wry smile.

“Shit. I’ll buy it for us,” Simon muttered as he shook what was left in his shake before upturning it for the dregs.

Lacie was still laughing, a tinkling peal that sounded heavenly. Looking over at her, Simon marveled at the ever-present smile she wore. How could a woman who’d been attacked so many times over the past month be so damn happy? But the more he watched her, the more he noticed. She sat facing the door, and when someone came out of the restroom behind her, she snapped her neck around to see who it was. She tapped her fingers restlessly on the tabletop, a nervous gesture she may have inherited from her dad.

He wondered just how genuine the smile was.

“So, what brings you to our little part of the woods? You don’t look like you need the job.” Lacie was lounging in her chair, long legs stretched out in front of her, covered in some gauzy, broomstick style skirt. She wore a filmy, baggy blouse over the top of it, and her wrists were weighed down by clunky wooden bracelets. A matching necklace hung from her neck, strung with enormous wooden beads. Her long brown hair was braided down the side of her face—an open face, innocent, yet wary. She 
knew he didn’t belong here.

“I wanted something different. I used to be on the force in San Antonio, but retired.” He was keeping his lie as close to the truth as possible. Having done some undercover work, the lie rolled smoothly off his tongue. “I don’t necessary need the money, but I needed something to do with myself. I thought working with kids would be nice.” Okay, that last part was a stretch, but he was trying.

“Well, that makes more sense then. You didn’t realize you’d been hired as a classroom aide? That’s why you wore a suit?”

He chuckled, feeling more than a little sheepish. “Yeah. I thought it would be some sort of security position.”

“It probably is,” Lacie mused as she cast her friend a side-long glance. Thankfully, her friend changed the subject.

“So, Lacie, you up for drinks Thursday? You’re welcome to come too.” She turned to Simon. “It’s sort of our let our hair down night.”

His smile this time was genuine. “I’d like that.” He looked back over at Lacie, who was looking at him funny, and his smile dropped. She kept looking at him like that, and it made a volcano erupt inside him. Her mahogany colored eyes took on this sheen and her cheeks got a little ruddy, and Simon would get slammed with a heat so intense he felt like lava was running through his veins. Then she would drop her eyes to her lap or a kid or something, and he’d look away and everything would go back to normal.

He shifted in his seat. This kept happening between them. This heat. This was about the fourth time he’d been slammed with the volcano under his skin, and he needed it to stop.

“Trent will be there,” Lacie told her friend. “He’s gotten weird lately, so I don’t know how long he’ll stay, but he’s trying to make more of a point of spending more time with me.”

Shit. If Lacie were his girlfriend, he’d be with her twenty-four hours a fucking day, especially if there were guys stalking her. What sort of guy didn’t want to hang out with his girlfriend? He slapped that thought straight out of his head. He had absolutely no business going down that road, and had no idea where it had come from. Sure, Lacie was attractive. But she wasn’t his type. At all.

He needed to get laid.




But first he needed to call the office, see how Miriam was doing with the paperwork, and see if Quinten would help him move into his new house.




Not caught up on the series yet?  Craze is FREE!  All books are standalones, not cliffhangers.


Craze

Wire

Click

Grab

Murmur

Bond 

Seek links
Amazon:  http://amzn.to/2wM2c7d
Amazon UK:  http://amzn.to/2wboXQk
Barnes and Noble:  http://bit.ly/2wCAklp
Kobo:  http://bit.ly/2vkmSmd
iTunes:  http://apple.co/2vvZD4P

Hitch
Amazon:  http://amzn.to/2yhz3C7
Amazon UK:  http://amzn.to/2zTPwst
iTunes:  http://apple.co/2A3eMgM
Barnes and Noble:  http://bit.ly/2yi7AjH
Kobo:  http://bit.ly/2gSLyZw








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Friday, March 9, 2018

A day in the life of an author...


I can't tell you what exactly I've accomplished today, but I've been at my desk working most of the it...

Like, I've been monitoring a couple of facebook ads, watching my money go down the toilet.  This week, I've spoken with two facebook ad "experts," one actually FROM facebook, so I'm implementing some of their strategies (like the ever elusive pixel). 

And since I'm spending money on FB ads, I'm monitoring my sales numbers, which is a lot like watching a stagnant pond with a small eddy in the middle.  Spending more on ads than I'm making.  Sweet.  Good times.

But I woke up with one goal in mind: To finish revisions on Chapter six.  Chapter six is pretty wasted, in my opinion.  It's an opportunity to introduce lots of backstory and motivations through dialogue with different characters, thereby introducing them as well.  I've been reading some Kristen Ashley books, and realized her secondary characters are as well-drawn as her primary characters, and I want to be like Kristen Ashley.  Richness, detail, awesome story telling.  I've opened this chapter no less than nine times this morning to get this in there, and get it way better than an "Almost-Kissing Scene" without much else.

Alas, I've started my Pinterest board for this book series that releases in August, IF I CAN FINISH THE FREAKING BOOK.  I've had a conversation with a former firefighter about the fact all available images of bunker gear have firefighters posing, looking like cover models, instead of real firefighters. (Newsflash:  They actually wear clothes under the gear!)   AND I've had a fabulous discussion with a fellow author about the motivations and redemption of a character in a novel we both read and loved.  Oh, and I learned what SnowThunder is.

I have written about 500 words, but the chapter isn't finished.  I have some notes on what to do next, but not much else.  I'm thinking about the pub I go to more than my manuscript.  I may go write there.  It IS Friday after all...


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