Vixenwriter

This is a spin off of my Witches Knot series and a standalone. You’ll see some familiar faces but meet a new cast of characters! It’s now available from Ellora’s Cave.
Blurb: Mei NiaAine spent a three thousand years in a demon prison in the outer circle of hell. Escaping with her life, it’s taken another two thousand years to get her life back together with the help and love of her husband and mate, Card.

Mei is a Warrior For the Balance. She stands between good and evil. So when her boss tells her she’s got to head to Tir na nOg to help the Fae, she is most displeased. Mei’s mother, Aine, the queen of the Fae betrayed and exiled her those millennia ago. Or so she’s been led to believe.

But it was a lie. Aine was mislead by her own sister, Mei’s aunt and suddenly, everything Mei has thought was true for thousands of years falls down around her ears as she looks up to see the face of her husband. Her first husband, a man she’d thought was dead.

Jayce MacTavish is surprised to find that not only is his wife, thought millennia dead, is alive, but his joy is tempered by the
realization that she’s got another mate.

Mei, Card and Jayce must find a way to be together as three while the threat from the Dark Fae and a new enemy darkens the horizon.

THREAT OF DARKNESS BY LAUREN DANE
Copyright 2007, Lauren Dane
All Rights Reserved, Ellora’s Cave
Now Available!
Excerpt for those 18 and older behind the cut…

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I finished editing and revising Reading Between The Lines and sent it to my editor, wheee! I’m also up 1305 words yesterday when I began to input all my edits, etc. Tonight I’ll start on Wolf Unbound but I’ve got a book releasing tomorrow and my sister-in-law is coming over to hang out a while with my nephew so the middle part of the day I’ll be making sure no kids kill each other in the back yard.

All told, in the first 15 days of the 70 Days of Sweat Challenge, I’ve written 40,081 words! WHHEEEEE!

Threat of Darkness releases tomorrow from Ellora’s Cave! This is Jayce’s story. Many of you have written to me over the last two years since we met Jayce in a Touch of Fae, asking for his book and so you get it. He’s got to share his story, and his life with Mei nia Aine and Cardinian Leviathan but they’ve both got a lot to say and add to Jayce’s life too. This is related to the Witches Knot series, you’ll see some familiar faces, but it’s standalone and a different group of people for the most part. I hope everyone enjoys this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. This was one of those tricksy books that wants to be something and then you try to fight it because you have other ideas but it won’t fit into the box! I re-started this book from scratch twice because it kept trying to be a menage and I wanted it to be about Jayce and Mei. Once I gave in and let it be a menage, the story just flowed and was really easy to write. I have a very bossy imagination apparently.

A brief excerpt is behind the “more” cut… 18 and over only please.
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2006 has been an amazing year for me. Probably the best year of my entire life. 2005 was hard, lots of high highs and very low lows but 2006 I think was the year I finally hit my stride and met a lot of goals I had for myself.

January - I spent a lot of time recovering from the end of 2005, LOL. I got a new website design from the most incredible Frauke and Croco Designs. I sent out Giving Chase to Samhain, got a cover for Sleight of Hand.

February - Sleight of Hand released from Whispers - my first release of 2006 and my first novella! I hit the first major block in writing Threat of Darkness (way back then) and I worked on Tri Mates.

March - went to Las Vegas with Megan and Anya and had such a great time. Celebrated Megan’s book deal with Spice, Anya landed an agent and shortly thereafter I did too. It’s been a very good year for the Mavericks! Got the idea for GWAB.

April - Cascadia Wolves: Enforcer released from EC. Tri Mates is contracted. I sent in Thrice United to my editor as well. Got some pretty covers as well.

May - Offered contracts on Thrice Bound and Reluctant. Got edits on multiple books. Finished Sword and Crown

June - Giving Chase releases! Sudden Desire releases - both are new arenas for me - romantic suspense and a contemporary quickie - both did very well but Giving Chase did so well it renewed my confidence. Anya Bast sold two books to Berkley - Witch Fire comes out in June of 07! Taking Chase was contracted.

July - my hard drive died and I lost pictures of my children. Oh that sucked! I wrote and wrote and wrote.

August - Vengeance Due released. I took my first solo vacation with my husband in over a decade - to Las Vegas. Got the idea for Stripped. Dealt with the death of our hard drive, took a family vacation. My four year old turned 5, my 1 year old turned 2. My agent hooked me up with Jodi Lynn Copeland and Anya Bast to pitch a Vegas themed anthology and I start writing Stripped.

September - Reluctant releases. I get deep into writing and editing. My agent pitches the What Happens in Vegas anthology and Goddess With a Blade.

October - Threat of Darkness and I continue to be at odds. I pick it up and put it down several times. Finally, at month’s end, I figure out the problem and finish up in relative ease and get it to my editor. Did edits for Sword and Crown and Taking Chase.

November - Tri Mates releases and I find out Thrice United will also release. On the same day Taking Chase releases. November was a very, very busy month. I SOLD STRIPPED TO HARLEQUIN SPICE! I sold Ascension and Threat of Darkness to EC and I got started on Chased. All told, I wrote right about 90K words in the month of November between original wip, edits, etc. November was a month that was incredibly productive and also gave me so much to be thankful for. It fueled me and got me back on track.

December - Finished Chased, finished a revision of Enclave - crits, more revision, off to editor and agent. Nearly done with partial of The Others, started revision of the next book after Ascension that is currently without a title. Wonderful holidays with my friends and family. Three CAPA nominations.

All in all, I’ve got a whole hell of a lot to be thankful and grateful for. Yes, I have worked damned hard, but without my family, without my readers and my friends, without my editors and my agent who all believe in me and support me - I don’t know where I’d be, but not here, looking back at a year of wonderful moments and successes.

As a way to say thank you, I’m going to do a contest. All you need to do is comment on the blog. Between now and January 3 - I’ll take the commenters and toss em into the randomizer and pick three winners who’ll win one of their choice of my available titles - including paper. Good luck!

I just got news from my editor at EC that they want to contract Threat of Darkness! Sadly, I may have to change the title but I’ve gotten less sentimental about my titles over time (after having to change them from time to time). This one is Jayce’s story and a menage.

No other info for now, I’ll know more as it goes on.

My poor husband is now the sickest person in the house as my daughter and I begin to feel better. I can breathe about 30% of the time and my throat doesn’t hurt nearly as much. I did throw the turkey in the oven yesterday, it seemed a waste not to. Shoved some garlic cloves into the skin and meat, basted it every 45 minutes to an hour. It turned out quite nice. I had plans to make potatoes au gratin with leeks but that was way more energy than I had so I’ll make them soon, perhaps with a roasted chicken.

Finished Born in Death, Valley of Silence and Cold as Ice in the last few days. I really liked the whole Nora trilogy. For me, it was far more paranormal than romance so I wasn’t as agitated by the balance tipped by story over romance. In fact I enjoyed it more that way. BID was, as always, a fabulous read. I’ve given up thinking that Nora is going to miss one day with this series and just accepted that she’s like the magic eraser (her and Elizabeth Lowell for different reasons) I think they’re magic, could be made through a compact with satan but they work perfectly so I don’t question what’s in them. I liked Black Ice better than Cold as Ice but they were both very enjoyable reads.

I’ve also gotten a lot of work done on Chased and I hit 23 thousand words earlier this afternoon. Uh, Marc has turned out to be kind of kinky. Yep. That first sex scene was fourteen pages long and took place in three different venues. This one is probably going to end up hotter than Giving Chase and Taking Chase but Marc has been a surprise to me and to Liv.

Finished Threat of Darkness last night and it’s off to beta this morning! I’d originally meant for this to be a foray into the world of the Fae but I think in the end it’s more a foray into the world of these warriors I’ve written. There are some familiar faces here and there - Aine, the queen of the Fae, Jayce, Con and Em and at the end we see Lee, Alex and Kael so that was fun.

Then I got back to Chased and I’m about 3K in now. I like Marc a lot and he’s fun to write dialog for.

Got two very lovely reviews for Tri Mates in JERR this morning! Both Five stars…

Tallyn gives TM an O and says: Lauren Dane has created an intriguing, suspenseful and erotic romantic tale about two dominating alpha males and their even more domineering mate. Tracy is a sassy, highly independent, intellectual, tattoo and piercing fanatic female who can hold her own. Nick is a clean cut, high maintenance second-in-command, while Gabe is a confident, self-assured, very professional high ranking alpha wolf. Both men are drawn to high maintenance women until they meet the very spirited Tracy. I found Tracy’s edgy and mischievous presence a likeable quality in a heroine and I can see why both men were drawn to her. The physical connection between the three characters is erotically explosive. Nick and Gabe’s need to protect, conquer and seduce just makes me envious of Tracy! The intimacy and love between Tracy, Nick and Gabe will have you prolonging your playtime with your partner. Definitely hot, hot, hot! I enjoyed the complexity of the political aspect of the storyline; it was quite fascinating and easy to follow. I found the interesting secondary and villainous characters to have depth and definitely added to my enjoyment of this story. Cascadia Wolves: Tri Mates can be read independently but I would suggest reading the first installment to better understand the unique and exciting world Ms. Dane has created. I look forward to reading future installments of this captivating series. A definite keeper!

and LT gives TM an H and says: Tri Mates has everything that I love about a book - werewolves, lots of sex, action, and two men to one female. HOT! I just loved this story. Tracy is a young woman not afraid of her sexuality. She has the nice girl appearance with the sex kitten appeal. Nick Lawrence is one sexy man and he was confident enough to know it without being arrogant. The sexual chemistry between Nick and Tracy was just plain hot. The friction between the Alphas from the Pacific clan against Tracy coming in as Nick’s mate and second was believable and fit with the plot. When Gabe volunteers to be Tracy’s anchor, I was a little disappointed because I was expecting a triad always and not just once. Ms. Dane is a master of her craft. The sex was so good between Gabe and Tracy that you felt their guilt and began to feel sorry for Nick. It isn’t until later when Tracy’s grandmother points out the Tri Mate bond that I lost the guilt and the triad became very real. All of the characters played a major part in the story and I couldn’t imagine any of them being left out. I am looking forward to how the series will end and can’t wait to read more about the Cascadia, Pacifica and National packs.

Busy week here! I’m sooooooo close to finishing Threat of Darkness I can taste it. Finished the last big sex scene, which sort of snuck up on me. Now all I have is the final scene in the book and I’m done and it’s off to beta and I can get started on Chased. Which by the way, releases March 6!

I also have really exciting news but I can’t announce it just yet. I’m waiting for all the final stuff to be taken care of and then I can say. I was pretty incoherent yesterday for a while.

This morning I woke up to find an ARC of Shelley Munro’s, FALLEN IDOL in my inbox. HEE! I can’t wait to read it and I’ll tell you all about it when I do.

Later today my husband is taking our 9 year old and a few of his friends out for a birthday thing at the local game center. Laser tag and video games and ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s. I’ll be here (thank heaven!) having a pizza party with the 5 year old who feels left out and the 2 year old who doesn’t care, LOL.

And now I need to finish a blurb. Enjoy your weekend!

Just a short note, I’m at 49K words on Threat of Darkness! My kids are sugared up from birthday cake while their father and I are dead on our feet, LOL. Little vampires is what they are.

I finished a few books this last week - Murphy’s Law, Morrigan’s Cross and Grave Surprise. I’ll do mini reviews of them this coming week.

I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend!