DEEPER WATER releases today!!

It's out, y'all! And you can get your copy here:

Amazon, iBooks, Nook,Google Play, and Kobo

Every book release is a little scary but, since it's been so long since I had one, this one is brutal. But I'm so thrilled with the reactions of Deeper Water's early readers. I can't even tell you.

By the way, if you want to know why there was so much time between my last release and this one, I vaguely explain why in my author notes at the end of the book.

And now an excerpt from Carson!

As I happily drifted off into post-hurrah bliss, Lane rolled off me and went over to a shower stall made entirely out of glass. Someday I’d have to track down the architect who designed this place and thank him.

I ogled her as she soaped herself up. The only thing that would make this better would be if she started dancing.

“We were supposed to meet everyone fifteen minutes ago.” Before her hands reached her breasts, she stopped and looked at me. “So stop gawking at me like a pervert and get in here…” She laughed. “Like a pervert.”

I’d follow directions like that any time. I stepped into the waterfall of warm water and slipped my arms around her from the back.

She turned toward me and started washing my chest. “Everyone’s meeting in the bar.”

“Says who?”

“Clare emailed the weekend’s itinerary to everyone. Didn’t you read it?”

“Nope.” Not only did I never check my email, but I never, ever checked my email for messages from my family.

Even though Clare was no longer married to my older brother, she hadn’t divorced my family for some reason, so she still counted.

“The last thing I want is written proof I’m going to be forced to spend time with my family. It’s less painful to make it a surprise—less pre-event anxiety and more in-the-moment adrenaline.”

“Makes perfect sense.” She pushed me back a step so she could rinse off. Then, trying to avoid any soap transfer from me to her, she squeezed against the glass wall to get past me and left me to rinse myself.

After drying off, she slipped a thin blue dress over her head. “Don’t you think it’s weird Hayden’s ex-wife is planning a wedding for him and his next wife?”

“You should know by now, everything about my family is weird. Weird or tragic.” It should have been engraved on the Bennett crest.

I didn’t say anything more until I’d turned the water off and stepped out from behind the glass. “For instance, my brother actually invited Renee and Anna here. If that’s not tragic, I don’t know what is.”

“It’s tragic that Hayden wants your mother and your stepsister at his wedding?”

“It’s bad juju. Renee and Anna are each walking bad luck charms for relationships, so having both of them? In one place? At the same time? Honestly, I won’t be surprised if this island sinks into the ocean tonight. We should wear masks and snorkels to bed.”

“You’re too hard on them. Yes, your mom and stepsister have…questionable taste in relationships.”

“Nope. No question about it. It’s horrific.”

“But Hayden and Andi also invited Andi’s friends, two of whom have been happily married to each other for four years or so.”

“Emilia and Rob? Sure, they’re alright. Or they hide their dysfunction well.”

“Hillary and Eric will get here tomorrow—they’re happy.”

“He’s only here to photograph the wedding, and Hillary’s pretending to be his assistant so she can tag along. Nope, they don’t count.”

She sighed, sticking one hip out and crossing her arms. “We’re here. Are you going to tell me we don’t count either?”

“Hmmm…” I hung my towel over a hook, grabbed her arm, and yanked her into me. “You have a point. But, just in case, we’re going to have to work overtime on the lovin’ parts to create enough good juju to counteract their bad mojo.”

“For the sake of Hayden’s and Andi’s future happiness, of course.”

“Obviously. Why else would we do it?”

“Get dressed.” She pulled away from me and tossed me a t-shirt. “I promised them we’d be there.”

“And I promised myself we’d use all these condoms before going home. I allocated a certain number for each day, and we can’t fall behind.” I shrugged. “One of us is going to have to break their promise, Lane. Guess what my priority is.”

“There’s another option.”

“If you’re about to suggest we split up—you go hang out with my family and I stay here alone with the condoms—I definitely vote no.”

“How about we go meet your family now…?”

I waited. Impatiently and not particularly excitedly. Whatever idea she came up with would be a step down from what I wanted.

“And then, when we come back here tonight, we stay up as long as it takes to make up for the time we missed.”

My cock instantly perked up and listened. Lane’s sex drive was never lacking, but it had been a while since we did a marathon. “What if it takes all night?”

“I said, ‘As long as it takes,’ Carson.”

I pretended to consider the idea, weigh all the options. “All in favor say, ‘Fuck, yeah.’”

“Fuck, yeah,” we said simultaneously.

She laughed as we left the hut and walked over the wooden dock that led to dry land. “I love how well our voices go together.”

“Me too.” I took her hand and pulled her closer to me. “Almost as much as I love how well we go together.”

When she looked up at me and ahhed, I realized she thought I was being romantic. Had to break those expectations before they had a chance to take hold.

So I added, “Which will be happening repeatedly tonight.”

“Why do I feel like you made a big deal about your family just to get what you’d been hoping for all along?”

I shrugged. “No idea. Hope and my family are two things that have never entered my mind at the same time.”

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Grab your copy today!

Find Deeper Water on:

Amazon, iBooks, Nook,Google Play, and Kobo

Paperback link coming soon.

Plus, this week DARKER WATER – the beginning of Carson and Laney's story – IS ON SALE FOR ONLY A BUCK!
So if you know anyone who could really use a wickedly sexy book boyfriend this Valentine's Day, why not gift them a copy?

But hurry – the sale ends on Feb 15th!

Next up!

IMMATERIAL DEFENSE (Once and Forever #4) is set to release sometime in April (fingers crossed). If you want to be notified as soon as the pre-order goes up for it and my future books in this series, then…

15 Day Book Giveaway

 

Happy New Year! Good luck, everyone!

eBook Giveaway

I should've added that people who've signed up for my newsletter and people who comment on my blog, FB pages, or Tsu page are all entered into each day's giveaway as well. And names are chosen by random.org.

Jan 15th winner – Sheena Soller!
Jan 14th winner – Thalia Ramirez and Clarissa!
Jan 13th winner – Simone Peacock!
Jan 12th winner – Kristi Spinneweber and Mariann Reilly!
Jan 11th winner – Barbara White and Rachelle Marie!
Jan 10th winner – Ashley McDonald!
Jan 9th winner – Rochelle Thorne!
Jan 8th winner – Cassady Guest!
Jan 7th winner – Angela Conforti!
Jan 6th winner – Catherine Summers!
Jan 5th winner – Lori Mitchell and Keeley Smith!
Jan 4th winner – Paige Johnson!
Jan 3rd winners – Sara Lopez and Brenda Flores Crispin!
Jan 2nd winners – Viviana Varona and Cheri Anna!
Jan 1st winner – Michelle Simmons!

Darker Water Blog Tour (Giveaway, Interviews, Excerpts)

From Dec 1-5, Darker Water is going to be all over the place. I'll be giving away eBooks of it and of Hyde, as well as a swag pack (with cool, secret stuff in it) to celebrate the blog tour.

There will be author interviews, excerpts, teasers, reviews, and a totally fun character interview that Carson and Laney took over and turned into an epilogue to their book. So if you want to know how they are doing post the happy ending you read, here's a quick glimpse on The Literary Gossip.

A special and huge thanks to the wonderful Ing of As the Pages Turn who is hosting the blog tour. The girl knows how to work a tour btw, so if you're in the market, definitely check her out. And to Nadine Colling of Hook Me Up Book Blog who is slowly convincing me that she really is as supportive and generous as she pretends to be. Which means she isn't pretending, I guess, huh?

Please join me on the tour and help me out by stopping by to leave a comment, check out the great blogs who are reviewing and posting stuff about my book. And don't forget to enter the giveaway!

December 1st

December 2nd

December 3rd

December 4th

December 5th

 

New Release!

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DARKER WATER is now available on all retailers!

If you pre-ordered it, it should already be on your eReader.
If you didn't pre-order, click on one of these links.

Amazon          iBooks          B&N        Kobo      Smashwords

This project was a challenge in many ways. There were a lot of tears shed, mostly because it was so much damn work to get it just right. Not to mention that I probably shouldn't try to work while I'm hormonal. :)

Honestly, this story, characters, and situations were very real to me. Even though the book has what I think are some of the funniest scenes I've ever written, it also has some of the hardest. My hope is that it makes you laugh and think and feel.

If you enjoy it, please leave a short review and tell your friends.

Happy reading!

– Lauren

The fairytale behind DARKER WATER

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In my upcoming contemporary romance series, Once and Forever, the stories are rooted in fairytales but, of course, they don't take the pretty route. Their moral is twisted and turned into a gritty, modern story about real people who go through as much cruelty as I can throw at them, but who come out stronger. Ready to be the person they should be and have the love they deserve.

Each novel in the series will begin and end with their own fairytale, as I see it.
This is the fairy tale of DARKER WATER:

Prologue:

Once upon a time there was a young woman who lived in a tall glass tower in the middle of a city. She wasn’t incredibly beautiful but she was attractive, probably somewhere around the eighty-fifth percentile. She was smart, kind, honest, and good with animals.

But the most beautiful thing about her was her heart, for it was made of the purest of golds. Unfortunately, she wasn’t very good at taking care of it, and over the years, it lost its shine. Because every time she met a prince, she believed him to be perfect—strong but gentle, brave, and caring. So, she would show him her heart and give it to him to hold, thinking he would take care of it.

What she hadn’t yet realized was that there was a curse put on her…at some time…by someone. And the curse was this: The moment the woman gave her heart away and kissed the prince—believing it to be true love—the prince would begin to change. Sometimes slowly, other times quickly. But he always turned into a frog. And although the frog would give her heart back to her, each time it was a little more worn, a little less brilliant.

But the woman didn’t give up trying to find a prince who would remain a prince, knowing that somewhere out there was someone who could heal her heart and break the curse by remaining a prince after she kissed him.
Then one day, she finally understood the curse’s power. No one could heal her, she would never find a prince, and the curse would never be broken.

And so, clutching what was left of her heart, she gave up her search.

Epilogue:

Once upon a time there was a woman who though not stunningly beautiful, thought herself to be. Because she was in love with a man who made her feel that way. And despite himself, he was in love with her.

After all of the princes who’d turned into frogs and had damaged the woman’s heart, it took a man who was not a prince to mend it. And in return she mended his. For even though he’d long believed himself the lowest of creatures, he wasn’t. His heart was locked away, deep inside of him, and he had never allowed anyone in for fear they would discover how truly ugly it was.

But what he didn’t know was that his heart was pure and beautiful and strong. And all he needed was the right woman to unlock it and set him free…with a kiss.

 

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DARKER WATER is available for pre-order now. Sign up for my newsletter to hear the moments it's released. Or, you know, click one of the links below to buy it now. Then it'll show up on your eReader magically on October 3rd.

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Amazon             iBooks             B&N             Smashwords