Liza Street's Blog: not your grandma's romantic fiction

Using his nose as his guide, Marcus followed the boundary. After he’d walked a few yards, he saw Jessica stomping along the edge.

“Jessica,” he called.

She turned around, flipped him off, then turned again and continued on her way.

No longer panicked at her absence, he laughed. It was part relief, part exasperation. He couldn’t sense anyone else nearby, although if she kept walking, eventually she’d reach the dump and all the shifters who lived around it.

“Hey, stop,” he said.

She shook her head and grumbled something to herself. It sounded like “bossy pants butt smear,” but that couldn’t be right, could it?

Walking faster after her, he said, “If you don’t come back to the trailer right the hell now, I will throw you over my shoulder and carry you there.”

“Ha,” she said, kicking a pine cone from her path. “I dare you to try.”

His inner wolf liked the challenge in her voice, the feistiness. He caught up with her in two seconds and she gave a little squeak when he caught her in his arms and lifted her over his shoulder.

“What—the hell—are you doing?” she gasped.

“You dared me to try throwing you over my shoulder to take you back to the trailer. So here I am.”

“I have never met a person more aggravating than you,” she spat.

“Yes, well, the feeling’s mutual,” he grumbled, resting his hand on her backside to keep her from squirming free. He rather liked her slung over his shoulder like this.

“You are a terrible, awful man. And when I get free, I’m going to pick you up and…and then I’ll throw you in the lake.”

He abruptly switched course. “The lake. That’s a great idea.”

“Wait, what? No!”

She spun around awkwardly to get a view of where he was taking them.

“Can you swim?” he asked.

“No. I sink like a stone.”

It was a lie, and he laughed.

“Marcus, I was just kidding,” she said desperately. “I’d never throw you in the lake. I wouldn’t even be able to, remember? Frail human woman, no muscles, no speed. How could I even try? Besides, I like you. You’re really quite nice and your ass is tight. I bet you could bounce a quarter off it. Maybe we should try that, right now? I think there’s a quarter in my backpack.”

The lake was in view and her scrambling—and panicked reasoning—increased. He grinned to himself. This was the most fun he’d had in…well, since he couldn’t remember.

“Marcus,” she said sweetly, “I’ll be your best friend…”

He waded into the water, not caring about his shoes and jeans getting wet. They’d dry in the afternoon heat.

“I make a great friend,” she said. “I have half a bottle of tequila. I’ll give it to you, my new best friend.”

“I’m not interested in your tequila,” he said.

“Then what?”

He wasn’t about to answer that question, because what he was interested in was her naked body, writhing beneath his, her beautiful lips parted while she was in the throes of an orgasm.

Once he was in water up to his thighs, he stopped.

“Marcus, don’t do this, I swear, I’ll—”

Her words ended in a shriek as she flew through the air and landed in the water.

*Please note, this is an unedited, early version!

Chapter 1

Melody shivered as she walked along the path to the alpha’s mansion. Her little cabin was farthest from it, making her the last to arrive when everyone was called together. This was great for everyone else in the Moonclaw Pack. They could make more jokes about her short legs and call her Runt.

It wasn’t so great for Melody, but she was used to it.

Walking ahead of her on the shadowy path were Sara and JD, a mated couple who lived close-ish to Melody. Jogging to catch up with them, she said, “Hey. Do you know why Cameron called a meeting?”

JD ignored her, as most of the pack members did, but Sara spared Melody a glance. “He finally convinced Leanne to do his reading.”

“His reading?” Melody asked. Leanne was their local witch, but she didn’t often come to the territory.

“To figure out where his mate might be,” Sara said.

“Ah. Thanks.”

Cameron had power. He had prestige. He had the command of an entire, twenty-strong pack of wolf shifters.

But he still didn’t have a mate.

The lack of a mate seemed to grate on his nerves. He would come close to Melody during pack runs, bump his shoulder against hers and growl. She would immediately fall away from him, not wanting to risk more of his ire. At the same time, she was strangely drawn to him.

Yet he was so freaking mean to her all the time, it was getting easier and easier to hang back, to keep her distance.

On the path toward Cameron Stebbins’s house, Melody kept her pace the same, but sure enough, Sara and JD sped up. They wouldn’t want to arrive with Melody—nobody did.

Melody looked up at the oak limbs that stretched across the wooded path, trying to see the stars beyond them. Moonlight filtered through. Not for the first time, Melody considered leaving the Moonclaw Pack. There was nothing for her here. There hadn’t been, since her father had died during a challenge with another pack member. The guy who’d won that battle wasn’t even around anymore—he’d died in a subsequent challenge. The cycle would continue indefinitely. Eventually, Cameron wouldn’t be around, either, and that was a day Melody would celebrate.

But did she need to remain here and endure everyone’s scorn in the meantime?

Maybe not. Maybe it was time to go.

But where?

There wasn’t much around this section of northern California. The closest thing to the Moonclaws was south of them—the Sierra Pride. And not far from that, the Junkyard prison. East would be the Graves Pack, but they were so snobbish and exclusive, Melody didn’t think they’d appreciate her any more than the Moonclaws did.

But if she went east, she could stop with the Graves for a brief spell. And if south, the Sierra Pride might even help her find a new place to go, if they didn’t have room for her there. They had a reputation of being kind and fair.

Melody wouldn’t recognize kind or fair if they took a chunk of her hide—it had been so long since she’d seen either sentiment in action.

Rumbling murmurs filled her ears as she approached Cameron’s cabin. Everyone had gathered in the yard out front. Melody found the witch in the crowd immediately—her long, red hair was piled on her head and her lithe arms gleamed in the moonlight as she raised them to the sky.

The pack went quiet while the witch did her work. Melody swayed in place, her feet growing tired after a long day of cleaning motel rooms in town—one of the few jobs Cameron had approved for her. The cool September evening raised goosebumps over Melody’s skin. Or maybe that was the magic.

“Move over, Runt,” a rough voice said from behind her.

Melody turned her head. George Stebbins—Cameron’s brother. He’d never been kind to Melody, not once.

There was plenty of space to get by, but he shoved her, anyway. Melody bit her tongue to keep from responding. The brutish asshole would only wallop her the next chance he got, or have Cameron come up with some other punishment. Probably both.

In front of them, the witch’s arms fell to her sides. Her eyes opened and she looked directly at Cameron. “You seek your mate.”

“Yes, Leanne, I do,” Cameron said, his voice deep and serious.

“Well, you must be blind in the heart,” Leanne said.

“What?” Gone was Cameron’s reverent tone. “What are you talking about?”

“Your mate is here.” Leanne’s voice was matter-of-fact, unconcerned, although the meaning sent a ripple of excitement through the pack.

There were a few unmated women in the group, and a couple of unmated men, as well. They would all probably jump at the chance to be Cameron’s mate.

Melody sighed, wondering when this would be over. She just wanted to crawl into her bed and sleep until it was time to go back to work. Cameron’s mate was no concern of hers.

“There,” Leanne said, pointing.

Melody frowned. It looked like Leanne was pointing at her, Melody. Couldn’t be. Melody stepped aside and looked behind her, but there was no one else here.

“That can’t be true,” Cameron said, his voice icy.

“Yes, her—the little blond woman.” Leanne nodded and dropped her hand.

Melody froze in place, her feet rooted to the earth as if held there by chunks of ice. All those times that Cameron had stared at her. All those times she felt like she needed to find some excuse to stop by his cabin and ask a question. Yeah, she’d always felt drawn to Cameron, but she’d figured it was the alpha’s innate charisma, even though she hated his guts because he was such an asshole.

All the hours she’d spent feeling like the lowest member of the pack, feeling like the runt.

And all along…she’d been the alpha’s freaking mate?

Holy shit.

Cameron raised his gaze to hers, and his fierce, hazel eyes pinned her in place, stronger than a set of jaws on her neck, forcing her to yield.

He wasn’t happy about this revelation, that much was evident.

Leanne packed up her bag of crystals and potions and whatever the hell else she’d brought with her. She held her palm out to Cameron, waiting.

“Oh, right,” he said, taking his wallet from his jeans and peeling out several bills before placing them in her hand.

Leanne disappeared around the corner of Cameron’s cabin. A minute later, her car engine rumbled to life. Melody watched the red eyes of the taillights fade.

She didn’t want to look at Cameron.

“I don’t want to be mated to the fucking runt,” Cameron growled.

Well, the feeling was mutual. But now that they knew what the weird draw was between them, maybe they could move past it.

Maybe they could love each other, given time.

“I won’t do it.” Cameron marched up to Melody and stared down at her. “You are weak and you disgust me.”

Yeah, so that thought she’d just had about loving each other, given time? Didn’t sound like that was going to happen.

“If you reject me,” Melody said, “you won’t find another mate. We’re fated to be together.”

Shifters mated for life.

He gripped the sides of his head in his hands and roared.

Melody flinched, causing several people to laugh. Cameron’s breath smelled like grilled onions. Not caring that the move would make her look frightened, Melody took a step back.

“You can break the bond, Cameron,” JD said from the side of the group.

“Yeah?” he said, his hateful gaze never leaving Melody. “How?”

“If she dies,” George said.

Panic fluttered in Melody’s chest. Cameron wouldn’t even entertain that idea, would he? He and Melody were fated mates. He wouldn’t allow harm to come to her. That’s what it meant. He couldn’t hurt her. Nobody would be able to. As the alpha’s mate, maybe Melody could stay here, remain in her pack, in her home. Cameron would protect her.

But Cameron turned away from her, his expression considering. “If she dies?”

“Like in an accident,” George said, and a few others snickered.

“An accident,” he said.

“With your fated mate dead, you’d be free to find another one,” JD said. “It happens all the time.”

Melody glanced around at her packmates. “You can’t be serious, guys. You’re talking about murdering me.”

“Nobody’s saying that,” Cameron said, his voice growing soft and reassuring. “Let’s be calm and keep a level head. In fact, this has been quite the revelation. We should all rest, and we can discuss the matter tomorrow.”

There wasn’t a lie in his words, but Melody, like all the other pack members, had grown up learning how to lie with half-true statements. We should all rest. We can discuss the matter tomorrow. Not: We will all rest. We will discuss the matter tomorrow.

“Right,” Melody said, struggling to speak past her tight throat. “Right. We should rest. Tomorrow, we can discuss.”

Cameron nodded.

“Well, okay, then,” Melody said. “I’ll head back to my cabin now.”

She turned around, giving them her back. It felt wrong, so wrong, to just walk away. Dangerous. But it would be far more dangerous to force a confrontation here and now.

“Goodnight, Melody,” Cameron called from behind her.

She turned and flashed a smile at him over her shoulder. “Goodnight, mate.”

Nobody followed her. She knew, because she listened for footfalls. The idiots must have thought they’d tricked her, which was insulting, really. And they didn’t need to follow her, because they thought they’d know where to find her. They would come into her cabin while she slept, and get rid of her then.

Except she wasn’t going to sleep in her cabin. She was going to keep on walking past it. She’d reach inside for her purse and a change of clothes, maybe some granola bars, and then walk her ass right off of the Moonclaw territory. She’d go east, toward the Graves Pack, because Cameron and the others would probably expect her to go south.

When she reached the doorstep of her cabin, she paused. The surrounding woods were too quiet.

Shit. There wasn’t time to get her purse or clothes or anything. She’d been wrong in guessing the lack of footsteps meant they weren’t following. They were freaking right here, and they’d shifted into their wolf forms to be silent.

They weren’t going to wait until she went to sleep—they were doing this now.

She yanked off her shirt and pushed her jeans and panties down to her knees. Then she dropped to the ground, and shifted, not even bothering to take her clothes all the way off. If her packmates were watching, she didn’t have any time to waste. The shirt had to go, because she could get tangled in it, otherwise. But everything else would slip off once she took her wolf form.

Fur sprouted over her skin. For a long moment, she had to breathe through the agony of muscles shifting, bones grinding and lengthening, rearranging. Then it was done.

With stronger eyes, she looked into the forest.

A growl rose up from the darkness, beyond the moon’s reach into the trees.

Wolves waited in the depths of the forest. Wolves who were bigger than she was. Wolves who would happily tear her to pieces.

Her path to the road was blocked. She couldn’t see who waited in there, but her instincts screamed at her to run the other direction…toward the river.

So she kicked her jeans, panties, and shoes away. Then she ran.

Her paws skidded and slipped on pine needles and dry vegetation. It had been another parched summer and everything crackled beneath her footfalls. It was impossible to flee quietly.

A baying howl rose up behind her.

They knew she was running, and they were giving chase.

Was Cameron among them? It didn’t really matter, did it? Something cracked in her heart, though—maybe the bindings of their connection, maybe the latent feelings she’d always had for him. Impossible to know.

Running footsteps grew louder in her wake. They were gaining on her.

How many times had she run with them, chasing down prey in the woods during pack hunts? Rabbits, the occasional deer? Despite being the runt of the pack, she’d always been a predator.

Now, she was prey.

Soon, the sound of her pursuers’ footfalls faded, overcome with the sound of rushing water. Even during a drought, the river was powerful, cutting through a gorge, its current swift and merciless.

Melody skidded to a halt on a short cliff overlooking the water. She peered down, praying for a gradual path she could take. If she traveled along the river, maybe they would lose her scent.

There was no path—only a steep drop.

She turned to travel along the cliff and search for another way down.

But it was too late. Her packmates were here. She recognized JD’s brown coat, George’s gray and black one. Even Sara, with her beautiful white fur, was here. There were others, too, but Cameron wasn’t among them. Maybe, as Melody’s fated mate, he couldn’t kill her himself. He wasn’t stopping the rest of them, though. He could stop them if he wanted to, though, as the alpha.

She faced her packmates. One after another, they inched closer to her. Melody backed up a step, then another. A bit of ground gave way beneath her rear paw, so she scrambled forward again.

George lunged at her. With a yelp, Melody jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding him. He spun for another attack. From the corner of her eye, she saw JD readying to spring, as well.

She tried backing up again. This time, when the ground gave way beneath her, there was no escaping it.

She fell.

Better to fall, maybe, than be torn to pieces by people she would’ve defended with her life, had the situation called for it. Any one of them, she would have fought to save.

Instead of slamming into rock, she slammed into water. Its icy claws dug through her fur, pulling her down. She kicked her legs, scrambling to right herself. Which way was up? All she could feel was the black water stinging her eyes, the cold freezing her muscles, holding her fast.

She wasn’t dead. Not yet. But they were waiting up there, beyond the surface of the water, waiting to kill her, waiting to tear her wolf body to pieces.

The current ushered her forward. She could guess at the surface, now. But if she popped her head up, they would know she’d survived the fall.

She held her breath. Long. Longer. The current carried her, and she let it, trying to keep her paws angled downcurrent so if she hit a tree or boulder, she wouldn’t crush her skull.

Was it safe to come up for air? If she didn’t take a breath soon, she’d die. Her lungs ached for release and her mind begged for oxygen. She was in danger of passing out. Still, she kept her head beneath the surface.

At the count of thirty, she would come up. One. Two. Every second that ticked by was a second that sealed her fate, one way or another. She would get away, or they would be there on the shore, waiting to tear into her hide.

Twenty-eight. Twenty-nine. Thirty. Heart thudding desperately, she lifted her head above the rippling surface of the river.

“Where the fuck did she go?” a loud voice asked—but it was far away. They were still up on the cliff, nowhere near the riverbank. Some of them must have shifted to discuss what to do next.

“No way could she have survived that fall,” someone else said.

Melody took a deep breath, ducked back under the water, and swam with the current. This wasn’t the best escape, but it was the escape she had. Fate had fucked her over in a major way, setting her up with Cameron. The least Fate could do for her now was keep her moving in the river’s current.

Some time passed. She didn’t try to track it. But she had to be at least a mile away from where she’d fallen. Her paws were completely numb and her fatigued legs didn’t want to swim anymore. Gingerly, she aimed herself toward the bank. There, the water was shallower and slower moving. She shook off excess water and closed her eyes, taking stock of her body. Nothing seemed to be broken. She took an experimental step, then another. She could walk. If she could walk, she could run.

She probably looked like a drowned rat. Runt, they’d always called her. She certainly looked the part now.

Unwilling to leave her scent anywhere along the shore, she waded in the quieter shallows, shivering with every step.

She was a runt. A reject. A runaway.

***

I hope you enjoyed the preview. You can preorder your copy of Filthy Reject from your favorite retailer! (Except not from Google Play, just yet!)

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It’s finally here! The final book in Keira Blackwood’s and my Spellbound Shifters: Fates & Visions series! *throws confetti*

Wren knew all along that something was sketchy about Charlize Geard, and now that her best friend (and one of her mates’ sister) is missing, she knows Geard is behind it. A seemingly straightforward rescue mission has them traveling all over the country, and Wren and her three mates will have to trust in each other more than ever.

Also, we’re very happy to see Nibbles, Wren’s lapinfee friend, make a reappearance!

Grab Spellcaster Embraced from your favorite retailer!

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Disclaimers first!

This post was born from the comments thread of a months-old post on the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books blog, where a few other readers and I talked briefly about the reverse harem trope and its popularity. While I have coauthored several reverse harem (RH) romance books, I should say that I do not see myself as an absolute authority on the subject, and readers and authors alike will probably agree with some of my points and disagree with others.

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What is reverse harem?Definition

The most common definition for Western RH that I’ve seen floating around RH reader groups is that there’s one female main character and three or more male characters who fall in love with her, and she enjoys a relationship with each man. The largely held expectation is that the female main character never has to choose between the love interests, and she should end up with all of them. #WhyChoose is a popular hashtag denoting an RH story both on book retailer sales pages and on social media. As an author, if you break this “rule” of the heroine not needing to choose, you risk alienating a large and vocal group of readers.

The definition can get a little fuzzy, as there’s some debate whether books marketed as MFMM+ ménage or polyamory are the same thing as reverse harem romances. I am not going to attempt solving that puzzle in this post, but author T.B. Mann was generous enough to share with me how she once explained it at an author-reader event: RH books focus on relationships over sex. “It’s not group sex, dating around before picking one, or even open relationships,” she says, “but rather a closed group relationship where the men have a relationship as well, even if it isn’t sexual.”

Variations

There are variations within the definition, however. Some series marketed as RH will include polyamorous romances, with two or more of the harem members loving each other romantically and/or sexually just as much as they love the female main character. Some authors introduce female members into their protagonists’ harems. The possibilities abound, and that’s what makes it so much fun—there’s something for everyone!

RH romances can be written as standalones, but series are very popular. Readers might also enjoy new additions to the harem as a series continues. Joely Sue Burkhart did this in her Their Vampire Queen series to great effect.

Trope or genre?

Many people (myself included) have called RH a genre or subgenre, but I would argue that it is actually a trope. However, it’s a trope that, at least in the Western indie book world, seems to want a specific definition. Most other tropes seem broad in scope. “Friends to lovers” doesn’t specify how long the couple had to be friends before they were lovers, or how good of friends they were. “Secret baby” doesn’t say how old the baby has to be. “May/December” doesn’t tell us how many years’ difference is necessary to fit that particular trope. But RH requires three or more harem members loving one woman, and the woman not choosing between them.

Because RH is a trope and not a genre or subgenre, it can be found in any genre. Contemporary? You got it. Paranormal? They are everywhere. Sci-fi and dystopian and fantasy, too. I’m hard-pressed to come up with a historical RH book or series off the top of my head, but I’ve no doubt several exist.

The origin of RH and its rise in popularity

From my limited understanding of the origin of reverse harem, it began in Japanese manga and anime. This Wikipedia page supports that understanding. At the bottom of the page, we’re informed that the finales of manga and anime reverse harem series have the main character choosing one of their harem members, or choosing none of them. It also states, “American erotica does not follow this pattern.” I disagree with the use of the word “erotica,” which doesn’t fit with my views of RH.

Given my admittedly nonexistent experience with reverse harem in Japanese manga and anime, I will not be covering it in this post. This is not to discount RH’s origin, but to focus on what I know. However, a close friend of mine loves manga, and she recommends Ouran High School Host Club, Fruits Basket, Fushigi Yuugi, Yona of the Dawn, and Kamisama Kiss. (I asked for two, and she recommended five, and this is why we are BFFs.)

The first RH I read was not manga or anime—it was Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series. The series wasn’t categorized as RH at the time (and I’ve seen fans of RH debate whether Anita Blake qualifies even now, saying it’s polyamorous romance instead), but hers are the books I would count as my first introduction.

RH in the indie book world is harder to pin down. In the mid-2000s, Samhain published Maya Banks’s Colters’ Legacy series. 2011 showed Amira Press publishing Eve Langlais’s Defying Pack Law. Laura Jo Phillips’s Soul-Linked Saga is now sometimes called reverse harem.

As far as I can tell, the words “reverse harem” were not used to describe the abovementioned books at the time of their publication; rather, “multiple ménage” was the term employed. A few early indie series that either used the words “reverse harem” in marketing from the outset or now use it include C.L. Stone’s Ghost Bird, Eve Newton’s Forever, AS Oren’s Spearwood Academy, and Amy Sumida’s Godhunter. In 2016, after RH became A Thing, early indies put together the first RH anthology, titled Falling for Them. It’s no longer available, but you can find the Goodreads link here if you’re interested in seeing which Western indie authors were among the first to embrace the RH term.

The first time I encountered the term “reverse harem,” I was working on a freelance editing project in 2017. My client’s manuscript came with the subtitle A Reverse Harem Fantasy Romance. I’d never heard of such a thing, but I could guess what it was about, and I was super enthusiastic to find out more.

Over the next few months, I saw much discussion of the trope in author groups on Facebook and I discussed it with my reader and author friends. RH had already been around—2017 was not early in the RH game by any stretch, but it suddenly seemed like RH was everywhere on Amazon. RH was exploding in multigenre fireworks, with fans posting picture collages of their celebrity harems, authors gleefully writing more and more books, and reader groups welcoming new members every day.

Can we please talk about all the dicks?

The concept itself sounds very steamy and even scandalous to some—one woman and multiple dudes! Oh my! But RH can have little to no steam, where nobody even kisses until several books into a series (for example, C.L. Stone’s Ghost Bird, mentioned above, and B.L. Brunnemer’s Veil Diaries). Readers describe those series as “slow burn.” “Fast burn” series can get crazy hot, crazy fast. As with any romance, the explicitness of the sexytimes varies, although we’ll see most fast burn RH getting rather descriptive.

Some might question the purpose of romance between one woman and multiple partners without the steam, and I think that question gets at the heart of reverse harem’s appeal: the fantasy is for the reader, who likely wants to imagine herself as the single object of multiple love interests. RH fulfills a desire of the reader’s psyche, just as any other trope does, and that desire doesn’t have to be sexual.

One challenge in writing or reading RH is similar to that of reading or writing any book with an ensemble cast—it’s difficult to get to know several characters in 250 pages. I’d argue that this is one reason why series are so popular in RH romance. Even then, in some of my favorite series, I don’t feel the harem members were as fleshed out as I wanted them to be.

Has RH run its course?

Reverse harem had a meteoric rise in 2017 and 2018, at least from my perspective as an indie author and publisher. The bulk of RH books were written and published by indie authors, many of whom placed their books in the Kindle Unlimited program to reach a voracious audience. These savvy authors utilized Amazon ads to build their reach. The downside of this popularity was that the trope soon became a target for scammers who abused weaknesses in the Kindle Unlimited system. In spring of 2018, several authors’ Amazon accounts were suspended and their projected royalties slashed in half. (To provide a fuller picture, I’d like to clarify that it was not only RH romance authors who were affected by the scamming and Amazon’s attempts to thwart it. However, there were enough of us affected to make a guess that RH had been a popular target for scammers.)

I believe the scamming dampened some authors’ enthusiasm for the trope; I know I felt crushed by it! However, my coauthor and I kept writing, and the audience was still there, and they remain. Readers still want RH, and I expect this to continue indefinitely.

My personal take is that RH is a long-lived trend that will remain super popular with its core fans. It may eventually return to being another trope that readers occasionally seek out as they would second-chance romances or billionaire romances, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

Whatever happens with RH, I’ve found much delight in not only penning novels, but in discovering new authors and stories, and in watching how the harems play out in very different and vivid imaginations, from sweet to steamy.

I hope this post satisfies the curiosity of readers who might’ve been questioning the appeal of reverse harem. Maybe it will encourage some to give it a try!

We’ve been reading all the books, studying the different strategies. If you’re the heroine in a paranormal romance novel, this here is your all-inclusive, how-to guide on catching your alpha shifter boyfriend.

(We love gay, lesbian, and poly PNR, too! So please mentally substitute whichever pronouns work for your purposes.)

Be Sassy in the Face of Gruff Alphaholishness

That’s right. Don’t let his bossiness throw you off your game. Snark away, my friend, and soon you will captivate any nearby alpha shifters.

Have His Baby

In a shifter romance novel, this is pure gold. Works like a charm. If it doesn’t work on your target, don’t you worry, his equally alpha best friend or brother will be at your and the baby’s beck and call.

Work for Him

If he’s your boss, you’re practically guaranteed to bone. HR might care, but don’t let them cockblock you. Get it, gurl.

Get Snowed-in with Him

Only one bed? Y’all will totally be taking advantage. I hope you brought condoms to your unscheduled mountain retreat.

Break Up with Him

If you’ve previously dated or boned, break up with the guy. When you next find yourself in a romance novel with him, don’t you worry. Things will all work out, history will be addressed, and there may even be tearful groveling (so wear waterproof boots).

Fake the Relationship

Neither of you likes the other, yeah, we get it. But for Reasons, you must pretend. As you pretend, he will develop feelings for you, and you will buy two tickets to O-town by the midpoint of your novel.

Face Mortal Peril

Obviously, this is a tough one to pull off and it isn’t recommended for newbies or the faint of heart. In fact, I would avoid this one at all costs. HOWEVER, if you do find yourself in dire straits, you can be sure your nearest alpha shifter will be ready to bail you out, and he’ll bite your neck to mark you as his mate.

Despite my extensive study of this topic, we’ve probably missed one or two methods for capturing alpha shifter boyfriends. If you have another idea for heroes and heroines looking for their very own alpha shifter, please share in the comments!

Otherwise, you’re all set! Go catch your alpha shifter boyfriend!

(Here’s something I wrote a little while ago when I finally decided to kick these bad boys to the curb! We did rebound again after the break-up letter, but it’s been a few weeks we’ve been “off” again, haha.)

Dear PB M&Ms,

I first want to say how grateful I am for the time you’ve spent with me over the past year. 2020 (and, it seems, going forward into 2021) has been kindly and tactfully called an “unprecedented time,” although I usually describe it as a “dumpster fire” or a “shitshow.” I leaned on you, PB M&Ms, taking what solace your unique chemical and sugar-laden make-up could offer.

But I’ve been taking too much comfort. Our relationship always had an end date, and as I consider wearing the jeans that I last wore in March 2020, I’m starting to think our end date is coming up sooner than I’d thought.

I tried, I truly did, to savor you. I thought if I bought a party-sized bag, that I could make it last. Please take this as a compliment, but PB M&Ms, you’re irresistible! When you’re around, I can’t seem to help gobbling you up by the handful, randomly throughout the day. A party-sized bag for a party of one has been lasting an embarrassingly short period of time.

What it comes down to, PB M&Ms, is that we aren’t good for each other. It’s an unhealthy relationship. I can’t savor you in the way you ought to be savored, and you can’t offer me much more than diabetes and the kind of stomach that makes strangers congratulate me on my pregnancy.

I truly do appreciate all you’ve done for me throughout this pandemic. When my coping skills were all coped out, you were there in my closet, hidden away like a guilty secret, ready to let me sink into your chocolatey, peanut buttery, saccharine comfort. The crinkle of the bag followed by the first crunch through your candy shell was the beginning of a ritual where I could fill the emotional holes caused by panic, sorrow, and rage with your sweet relief.

But no more.

I know this will be hard. I’ve tried several times to cut ties with you, although each of those times, it was “just a break.” A “slowing down” of our rapidly deepening dependence on each other. But with you, PB M&Ms, I can’t take breaks and I can’t slow down, because I don’t have control. It’s all or nothing, and all hasn’t been working.

Which leaves nothing.

I’ll think of you fondly, but I have to be honest: I won’t miss the headaches, the lethargy, or the low-grade nausea you gave to me.

You were a good companion during hard times. Thank you.

Goodbye, PB M&Ms. Goodbye.

Wolf shifters! Who doesn’t love them? I’m assuming if you love shifters in general, then you also love them wolves. What makes them so appealing?

The hierarchy of the pack. It may not be entirely based on the real world. In fact, I’ve read a couple of articles (here’s one) that say the whole “alpha” thing is wrong…apologies to anyone whose dreams this might crush, but I’ve chosen to keep going with the alpha designations because it’s great for fiction! Having a pecking order is great for added conflict.Relating to #1, that alpha–a lot of us like a tough, commanding hero (who is, of course, also sweet and tender and caring). It’s the whole deal. He bosses the pack around, but he’s also a protector and caregiver. HAWT.The “band of brothers” trope. This isn’t specific to wolf shifters (in fact, now that I think of it, few of these are…hmm). But I love me some groups of guys who joke around with each other. They make fun of each other and play practical jokes, and it’s a blast.Okay, I’m going for something wolf-specific here: their coats. So lovely. They come in so many different shades, with different patterns. Truly beautiful.Those intelligent eyes. I mean, wolves are smart. It isn’t hard to imagine where the werewolf myth came from, when you look at the eyes of a wolf.

When did I first fall in love with wolves? Jean Craighead George’s book, Julie of the Wolves. I read that many times as a girl. I’ve thought of reading it again as an adult, but I’m so scared it won’t live up to the pedestal I put it on as a child!

Then, fast-forward many years, and I started reading Kelley Armstrong’s Otherworld books, starting with Bitten. Actually, I think I started with Stolen, not realizing it was a series, and then I had to go back. Either way, she got me very interested in shapeshifters. And from there, I started writing stories featuring these sexy beasts.

How about you? What do you love about wolves and wolf shifters?

Ooh, I’m so excited that folks can read Filthy Grizzly now! I had such a blast writing the “best friend’s little sister” trope.

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Every quarter or so, I like to take a look back at which books have been tickling my eyeballs. Most of my reading choices come from BookBub deals and from the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books blog (reviews, sales, the Help a Bitch Out feature, and the Hide Your Wallet feature). And of course, word-of-mouth recommendations from friends.

I don’t read a lot of paranormal romance anymore, probably because I write it! When I read, I want to relax, but if I read PNR, it begins to feel like “work,” if that makes sense?

Also? There’s a lot of teal here.

Usually I limit these “what I’ve been reading” posts to five or six books, but I’ve been reading a LOT of great books, so I’m just going to go for it and share some of my favorites in the order I read them. Please note, some of these have affiliate links, meaning I earn a tiny amount if you purchase them. This helps me keep my blog/website alive:

The 3d20 Series Anthology, by Allyson Lindt. Each book in this series set is fairly short and super satisfying. I blazed through each one of these steamy mmf books!Slade House, by David Mitchell was utterly terrifying. I hadn’t realized it would end so badly for so many characters. So reader beware unless you truly love the horror genre.The Pool Boy, by Nikki Sloane. Not gonna lie, I bought it for the cover. There are a ton of tropes and a ton of plot packed into this erotic romance. May/December (where the woman is the older person in the m/f relationship), rock star/music scene, boss/employee…oh, and he’s her best friend’s SON.Spoiler Alert, by Olivia Dade. This skyrocketed immediately into my Top Five of the year. Funny, sexy, and the FEELINGS. I knew I’d love it after reading the dedication, and I wasn’t wrong. The heroine and hero write fanfic, but meet in a whole different crazysauce way, and I absolutely adored them both.All the Feels, by Olivia Dade. I lucked out and got an ARC of this one (it comes out in October). Preorder it now, because I loved it just as much, if not more, than Spoiler Alert!The Empress of Salt and Fortune, by Nghi Vo. This is an absolutely lovely fantasy novella. I want to read it once more now that I know how it ends.Upright Women Wanted, by Sarah Gailey. This is a weird western, alternative history. Cars and tanks and tech exists, but only for the purposes of war, it seems. Everyone else is riding horses. It was incredibly cool. The cover hooked me, as well as the tagline: “Are you a coward, or are you a librarian?”Act Your Age, Eve Brown, by Talia Hibbert. I’ve read these books all out of order. First #2, then #3. Cannot wait to get my hands on #1! These are funny and steamy, and I love the characters.The Kiss Quotient, by Helen Hoang. This one had been recommended to me several times, and I finally got around to reading it, kind of by accident. I was looking for Hoang’s The Bride Test at the library, but it must have been on a different shelf. This one, however, was right there, so I decided to give it a go. So glad I did!

This is not a complete list, but it includes some of my favorites! Maybe you’ll find something you want to read in here.

Well, I am absolutely in awe of Keira’s skills with graphic design and art and all those neat things, because these covers are amazing! Tap the cover collection below for the universal link to go to the first book, Claimed in Forbidden. Which happens to be free right now. Just sayin’.

In other news, there’s a big freebie grab-a-thon going on! These are all novellas, so short, satisfying books. Click the image below to check them out and fill your e-reader!