Moving On

This blog is moving. I have a new website, and with that a new blog. Hope you will follow me over.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

So it's been a few months since I last posted. I do realized I am absolutely the worst blogger in the world. But I have really good excuse. A few months ago, I signed a contract for all three books in my Devil's Eye series with Harlequin for their new Shivers line--a line specific to Gothic romance.

I seriously can not express how excited I am about this as a writer and a reader. Clearly, I am thrilled to see my series find such a great fit, but I'm also excited to find more Gothic titles to read.

The Devil's Eye will release in January, along with four other titles in the Shivers line. As I get more details, I will be sure to share them. I promise I will be blogging more frequently. In the meantime, here is my gorgeous cover for The Devil's Eye, which I am in love with. It could not be more perfect.

Check out the other Harlequin Shivers writers with book releasing January 2014: Barbara J. Hancock, Jenna Ryan and Jane Godman.

A Little Late Posting This

So sorry. It's been a crazy week. So without further ado...

Congratulations, Robin. I will contact you by email to get your book to you. Thanks to everyone who played along.

I can hardly believe it's the last week of June. Where did the month go?

I'm starting to rewrite The Devil's Shadow this week, and getting ready to start The Devil's Due. Finally book three. I have mixed feelings here. A part of me is looking forward to finishing this series, seeing it all come together, and working on something new, but a part of me will miss these characters.

This past weekend the hot weather finally hit. I'm officeless again until I find a window air conditioner for the attic. Kijji here I come.

Hope everyone is enjoying the lovely summer weather.

Win a Signed Copy of Blood and Bone!

Today, I'm giving away a signed print copy of Blood and Bone. You know the drill. Leave a comment and be sure to include your email address so I have a way to contact you. I'll announce the winner Monday. Good luck!!

The deeper they dig into the past, the closer they come to a killer.

Crime writer Shayne Reynolds is looking for the next book that’ll get her out of her parents’ basement and on track to rebuilding her life. She’s found it in Robert Anderson, a confessed murderer who’s out on parole. Something’s never added up about that case.

From the moment she sets foot in Dark Water, nothing goes as planned. Anderson’s family wants her to drop the story—especially surviving son Des. A man who ignites sizzling heat even as he stands firmly in her way.

Laboring under his father’s crushing legacy and his grandmother’s iron resolve to get rid of the nosy writer at any cost, Des struggles to save the self-destructive sister who once saved him. There’s something honest and forthright about Shayne, though, that tempts him to help her get to the truth. Even if it means double-crossing his powerful grandmother.

Despite their resolve to keep it strictly business, sexual sparks quickly set fire to tangled emotions. And threads of a fragile bond that someone with a vendetta could use to weave their death shroud…

Product Warnings

This story contains a feisty writer, a sexy younger man and a mystery with enough twists and turns to cause vertigo.

Copyright © 2011 Dawn Brown
All rights reserved — Samhain Publishing, Ltd. publication

Excerpt

Des gripped her heel tightly, with quick fingers pulled out the glass and pressed a gauze pad against the wound to stem the bleeding. Fresh pain soared up her leg, before settling into a dull throb.

“Your foot’s really bleeding.” He lifted the gauze. She tried to pull her foot away, but his hold tightened, and he grinned. “I still need to clean the cut and bandage you up.”

She glared while he opened the antiseptic pad’s foil package. The same brand he’d complained hurt when she’d used it on his face. “Remember, I could have left you at the side of the road last night.”

“Duly noted.” He applied the damp wipe to her oozing injury. Stinging flames licked at her nerve endings.

“Sadist,” she hissed. Closing her eyes, she bit her lip and waited for him to finish. At last, the pain receded. When she opened her eyes, he was carefully applying a bandage.

“All done.” He bent his head and pressed his lips to the arch of her foot in a feathery kiss. A delicious tingle rippled over her skin. He peered up at her, those smoky eyes watching her through the hair that had fallen into his face.

She forgot the pain in her foot and a new ache settled low and deep inside her.

Monday's Winner and Living Lies

Congrats to Denise! She has won an ecopy of Blood and Bone. I will be contacting you by email to find out which format you prefer.

Today, I'm giving away an ecopy of Living Lies. Leave a comment and tomorrow I'll draw a name when I announce Wednesday's contest. (Remember to include your email so I can contact you.)

Doing whatever it takes could get them both killed.

Twelve years after her sister’s disappearance, Haley Carling spends her days trying to hold what’s left of her family together, running her late father’s shop and caring for her alcoholic mother. Then her sister’s remains are uncovered in the basement of their old home, and fingers start pointing. At the Carlings.

Dean Lawson, long the prime suspect in the Carling girl’s disappearance, is sure he’s got evidence proving who the killer is. He’s determined to clear his name, and he won’t let anything stand in his way. Not even his lingering attraction to Haley.

Haley is just as determined to protect her family from the former town bad boy’s accusations. But now someone is stalking her, and Haley realizes Dean’s the only one she can trust.

With a killer closing in, Dean wonders if he’s made the biggest mistake of his life…a mistake that could cost Haley her life.

Living Lies - Excerpt
Copyright © Dawn Brown 2008

Haley left Dean at his car across the street from her store then started home. The name Sandra still played through her brain. Why did it sound so familiar? Where had she heard it before?

Absently, she nibbled at the corner of her lip. The only thing more perplexing than the name tickling her memory was her uneasy alliance with Dean. Who would have guessed he would become a strange sort of ally in all this? Ally or not, Sandra wasn’t a whole lot to go on, for either of them.

She pulled into her driveway and got out of the car. Her muscles had stiffened from the long drive and an air of defeat seemed to have settled over her. Maybe after she ate something she’d feel better.

She followed the narrow cement walk to her doorstep, digging for her keys in her purse. They jingled maddeningly just out of reach as she searched blindly, through the receipts, gum wrappers and ATM statements. She needed to clean this crap out.

At last her fingers closed over the cold metal, but as she reached out to push the key into the lock she realized she didn’t need it. The door stood open. Barely a quarter of an inch, but open just the same.

Her heart rate tripled as she pushed the door the rest of the way, fisting her keys in her other hand so that each one stuck out between her knuckles. A vague recollection from a self-defense class in high school phys-ed.

Maybe she should call the police. She shook her head as if answering herself. What if she just hadn’t closed the door properly when she left that morning? She’d look like an idiot.

From the small front hall, the pale kitchen light spilled into the living room. Had she left that light on this morning? She struggled to remember, but came up empty as she ran her hand over the switches for the light overhead and the lamp next to the couch.

Nothing moved, or seemed out of place in the sudden brightness. The house was silent except for the familiar tick of the furnace and the ever-present hum of the refrigerator. She stepped farther into the house, half expecting someone to jump out at her from the dining room, but no one did.

With her heart pounding in her ears, she went into the kitchen. Everything was as she left it. From the dregs of coffee still in the pot, to the mug, plate and knife on the counter, to the crumbs next to the toaster. But then, what had she expected? That an intruder would break in and tidy her kitchen?

She considered grabbing one of the serrated knives from the wooden block on the counter, but rolled her eyes at her own foolishness. She’d probably forgotten to turn off the light in the kitchen this morning. God knew she’d been a touch preoccupied lately. The door probably hadn’t closed properly behind her when she’d left for work. And the only reason she was climbing the stairs to make sure everything was how she left it was simply for her own peace of mind. Just so she could say "I told you so" to her overactive imagination.

Her breath locked in her throat as she reached the small hallway at the top of the stairs. Soft, pale light flickered through the narrow gap between the wall and her partially closed bedroom door. With feet that felt as if they were made of stone, she dragged herself forward and pushed open the door with one trembling hand.

Her stomach dropped and a strange sound escaped her lips, something between a whimper and a gasp. The room glowed as if on fire. Candles of every shape and color flickered on her dresser, vanity, and on the floor surrounding the bed. Someone had pulled back the bedspread as if in invitation and scattered dark red rose petals across the sheets.

She covered her gaping mouth with her hand and took a step back. Who could have done this? And more importantly why?

A dull thump from below made her freeze where she stood. Someone was in the house. She should have brought the knife.

My New Website has Launched!

My new website is up and running. dawnbrown.ca Be sure to pop over and have look.

To celebrate I'm giving away a book every day this week. Today, I'm giving away an ecopy of Blood and Bone. To win all you have to do is leave a comment (include your email so I can contact you if you win) and I'll draw a winner tomorrow when I post Tuesday's giveaway.

The deeper they dig into the past, the closer they come to a killer.

Crime writer Shayne Reynolds is looking for the next book that’ll get her out of her parents’ basement and on track to rebuilding her life. She’s found it in Robert Anderson, a confessed murderer who’s out on parole. Something’s never added up about that case.

From the moment she sets foot in Dark Water, nothing goes as planned. Anderson’s family wants her to drop the story—especially surviving son Des. A man who ignites sizzling heat even as he stands firmly in her way.

Laboring under his father’s crushing legacy and his grandmother’s iron resolve to get rid of the nosy writer at any cost, Des struggles to save the self-destructive sister who once saved him. There’s something honest and forthright about Shayne, though, that tempts him to help her get to the truth. Even if it means double-crossing his powerful grandmother.

Despite their resolve to keep it strictly business, sexual sparks quickly set fire to tangled emotions. And threads of a fragile bond that someone with a vendetta could use to weave their death shroud…

Product Warnings

This story contains a feisty writer, a sexy younger man and a mystery with enough twists and turns to cause vertigo.

Copyright © 2011 Dawn Brown
All rights reserved — Samhain Publishing, Ltd. publication

Excerpt

The sucking slop of footsteps in wet mud rose from the surrounding black. The hair on the back of her neck bristled, and a chill tickled along her spine.

Was it Hudson coming back to finish her off? Tic?

What was she doing standing around out here anyway? A woman alone, late at night, on a deserted country road, during a thunderstorm? The scene had slasher flick written all over it.

She started for the driver’s side door, but a low moan rose up from the darkness.

The wind? Had to be. Still, she picked up her pace.

The moan came again, louder this time. Shayne stopped and turned. A dark, hunched figure staggered toward her.

“Christ.” She gripped the door handle and yanked open the door.

The stooped outline lurched in front of her single headlight, and the glare illuminated the ugliest Hawaiian shirt she’d ever seen. Relief swamped her like a tidal wave, turning her muscles soft for the second time in one night. The feeling, however, was short-lived. He may not have been the homicidal maniac she’d imagined, but the jerk had scared the life out of her. And all because he was staggering drunk. Even from this distance, the smell of beer was nearly overpowering.

As he pitched forward, the light cast a ghostly pallor over his face. Dark smudges beneath his left eye, along his lip and circling the edges of each nostril stood out from the stark whiteness of his skin.

Blood.

He wasn’t just drunk, he was hurt.

Books I Read in May

I didn’t read a lot this month. Between getting my new website done (should be launching the first week of June) and wrapping up The Devil’s Shadow, I’ve been swamped. I did however manage to get some reading done.

The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson.

I have been wanting to read this for a while, happened to see it while I was book shopping and picked it up right then. Worth the wait? Absolutely. I love a good gothic and Hill House certainly fits the bill. While there are no grab you by the throat, terrifying moments, the general creepiness is wonderfully written. The subtlety of Nell’s possession is also brilliant. And could anyone not love prose that include lines like this, “insist on your cup of stars. Once they force you to be like everyone else, you’ll never see your cups of stars again.”

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

Yes, I realize that I am probably the only person left on Earth who had not yet read this book. But I had the flu this week and spent a couple of days in bed, so figured why not? To be fair, I had already seen the movie so there was really nothing new for me. I was impressed with how close the movie stayed to the book. It was good quick read, and I will likely read the next two books in the series.