V.J. Chambers's Blog

Release date 3/15/26
Amazon
Enjoy this sneak peek at the first chapter!

CHAPTER ONE

THE SECOND TIME Miss Jane Austen met Lord Byron, she found him considerably less pleasant than the first time. This was really saying something, because the first meeting was, by no means, very pleasant at all.

The second meeting found Lord Byron to be rather excitable and full of a great deal of anxiety. He was quite insistent that Miss Austen must assist him during the second meeting.

In the first meeting, he was, instead, quite calm, quite amused, rather droll, in fact. He seemed as if he were the sort of man who was unbothered by anything or anyone.

The meetings took place in Jane’s own house, well, the house where she lived with her mother and her sister Cassandra. It was really her brother Edward’s house, if one wanted to be entirely precise about it, for he was the one who owned it. It had been, however, reserved entirely for his mother’s and sisters’ use. They lived there with their two housemaids, a cook, and a manservant. It was nothing luxurious, nothing like wherever it was Lord Byron lived, of course, but it was very comfortable.

This, obviously, is what she said to Lord Byron. “You must forgive us for the shabbiness of our reception, but we had absolutely no warning you were to arrive today,” she said to him, and she tried to keep ire out of her voice when she said this, for several reasons.

One, it didn’t do to be rude to guests. It wasn’t hospitable, and Jane prided herself on following the basic rules of human decency.

Two, she had a tendency to be termed a bit sharp by certain others on occasion, and she was always mindful to try to keep this in check. She was rather struck by all the ins and outs of human folly, and she could not but point them out from time to time. She was aware, however, that it was not well received to have one’s own folly pointed out to one’s face.

“Oh, heavens,” said Lord Byron, “please, you mustn’t think we have any expectations of any reception at all. Why, we have descended upon you out of the clear blue sky. No one even knows where we are.”

Lord Byron’s female companion giggled quite a bit at this pronunciation.

He turned to her and giggled back, and the two went on that way for a time, giggling fools, as if they might have been drunk.

As noted, this first meeting was not truly very pleasant at all.

“Our cook has little in the way of anything sweet made up,” said Jane, glancing sidelong at her sister, Cassandra. This lack of refreshment was really Cassandra’s fault, because Cassandra had decided somewhat recently that she wished to reduce and, to this end, a moratorium was placed on all sweets. Cassandra did not really need to reduce. For one thing, she was not very large. For another, no one really looked at either of them anymore.

They were spinsters, very, very old now, both in their thirties, and there was no chance that either of them were ever going to get married. And Jane wasn’t exaggerating about this, not at all. There really was simply no chance. Not at all. So, might as well be very plump and very pleased about it, Jane had decided.

“Have I introduced Lady Caroline?” said Byron.

“No, don’t introduce me.” Lady Caroline slapped Byron on the thigh with a loud crack.

He looked at her, giving her a rather insouciant grin that seemed to indicate he had liked that slap. “I think it’s only polite, Caro.”

“Well, considering no one knows I am here, and considering we do not really wish my husband to know I am here, I think it’s better if I am entirely anonymous, don’t you?”

Jane was fairly sure that was Lady Caroline Lamb, formerly Caroline Posonby, daughter of the Earl of Bessborough. This was why she was ‘Lady,’ for her husband, William Lamb, currently held no title, though he was the heir to the Viscount Melbourne and would inherit the title upon his father’s death.

Jane and Lady Caroline did not exactly travel in the same circles, but sometimes the circles they did travel in tended to have bits of juxtaposition. She’d seen the woman from afar once or twice.

“Mmm,” said Lord Byron. “Just so.” He smiled at Jane. “Well, you must be wondering why we’re here.”

“No, of course, it’s quite a common thing for a baron and his anonymous female companion to show up in Hampshire entirely unannounced in the midst of the afternoon,” said Jane, smiling faintly. “I assure you, it happens all the time.”

Byron smirked. “You’re funny.”

“It’s her, isn’t it?” said Lady Caroline, leaning forward. “You’re the one, not your silent sister.”

“You see,” said Byron, “I asked my publisher, and he told me that your brother, Henry Austen, had put up the money on commission to Thomas Egerton to publish Sense and Sensibility, and my publisher, that is Mr. John Murray, went on for some time about how Egerton mostly only publishes military books, and Mr. Murray, you know, he would be quite keen, so if you ever find yourself dissatisfied with Egerton, you might consider publishing with—”

“What are you going on about?” interrupted Jane as politely as she could.

“Anyway, I’ve never read the novel,” Byron said, “but Caro adores it.”

“I really do,” said Lady Caroline, smiling brilliantly. “It’s really just the very best. You ought to be commended.”

“Don’t worry,” said Byron, “I won’t tell anyone that it’s you.”

“I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about,” said Jane. “Cassandra, have you ever written a novel? I mean, one you intended to publish?”

Cassandra smiled serenely. “It would be entirely untoward for a well-bred lady to publish a novel.”

“Indeed,” said Jane. “I’m afraid you’ve got me confused with someone else.”

“Oh, come now,” said Byron. “We know it’s you. I got old Murray to tell me about you, and I made some inquiries about Henry Austen’s sisters, and I know all about you. I know that here you are, you and your sister, in this house, and that you wrote a book about two sisters sent off to a small house in the middle of nowhere with no hope of marriage and that, by the end, both are happily settled. So, tell me, which one are you? Elinor or Marianne?”

“I thought you hadn’t read it,” said Jane, folding her hands in her lap.

He grinned at her. “It’s very good.”

Jane shook her head at him. “It’s not an epic poem about getting drunk on the continent and chasing skirts and having everything one could ever wish for and yet still being maddeningly melancholy, of course.”

His grin widened. “You’re ever so sharp, really you are.”

There it was again. She was being termed sharp. But this was somewhat different, as if he was admiring of it within her, and she felt herself flush a little, rather pleased by that.

He noticed and waggled his eyebrows at her and she smirked and looked away, wondering at herself.

When she looked back, Lady Caroline had narrowed her eyes at Byron. “We are here because of me, Georgie.”

“Right, yes, of course we are.” Byron cleared his throat. “Ask her whatever you’d like, Caro.”

“Well,” said Lady Caroline, “which one are you? Elinor or Marianne?”

“I am Jane,” said Jane. “Jane Austen. And I did not write that book, but if I had, I would point out there are three sisters. There’s a younger one. Margaret. And, if I did write something, anything at all, I would have only written it for my own amusement. I certainly wouldn’t have published it. How gauche. I would never do such a thing.”

“Yes, that’s not our Jane,” said Cassandra. “She would never do such a thing.”

Amazon

Release date 3/8/26

Amazon

Sybil Moore wants to contribute to the community, so she volunteers to help clean an old property with the historical society and ends up accidentally locked in a closet with alpha Vaughn Jackson for her trouble.

Nothing happens, except they both get pretty bothered, and everyone in town won’t stop talking about how Vaughn broke the door down to get away from her scent.

Vaughn’s girlfriend Rosalind Lee isn’t pleased. She’s even less pleased when she goes into a surprise heat and needs Vaughn’s help while she’s really annoyed with him.

But when Vaughn leaves before her heat is quite broken, she goes looking for someone to help…

And runs into a solitary alpha in the woods. He’s a stranger, but she’s in heat. When she begs for a bite, he can’t stop himself.

In this second installment of this soapy small town omegaverse serial, things get twistier! Will Vaughn and Rosalind ever break up, even if she’s got another alpha’s bite? Will Rafe admit he’s falling for Sybil? Can Sybil choose between Rafe and Vaughn? And where can a person buy craft supplies to make Mardi Gras masks in a town the size of Shade Hollow, anyway?

Release date: 2/8/26

Amazon

When Sybil Moore inherits a bed and breakfast in a small town in the Appalachian hills, her intention is to sell it quick, pocket the cash, and move on.

She’s not interested in even visiting Shade Hollow, which everyone knows is full of alphas and omegas and crazy packs and knotting and everything else. Sure, she’s an omega, but she’s got all that taken care of with suppressants and hormonal supplements. She’s normal and she’s not interested in letting that side of her out. Ever.

So, she could not explain why she came up here to look at the Daisy Chain Inn or to meet this prospective buyer face to face.

Just like she can’t explain her reaction this man, who smells like coffee and lust and who calls her “omega” and who says she scents like her heat’s coming in. He gives her a card. “Call me if you want some help with that,” he says.

He means that kind of help.

She doesn’t even know him.

But this heat is crashing through all her defenses, sweeping her away like the winter breeze through the mountains, and she can’t help but be caught up in it.

Amazon

She’s the plaything of the big, bad wolf. But the man who finds her can’t save either of them.

Caleb Forrester’s life is in freefall, everything unraveling—his marriage ending, his private investigation business not paying the bills, his mortgages forfeit.

Maybe he becomes obsessed with this case, this missing nineteen-year-old girl named Sienna, because it’s one thing he’s always been good at, finding people.

He finds her.

She is being held captive by a wolf of a man, Lyall Biggs. He has a twisted psyche, and he keeps women like toys. He uses them and molds them to his will, his amusement, his pleasure.

Caleb comes to rescue Sienna, but he doesn’t manage it.

Instead, they end up trapped there together.

Lyall says he’s never had a male toy before, but he thinks he might be curious.

Verge notes: This dark romance is for fans of books like Still Beating or Irreparable Damage, a story about love forged in trauma. Both the mmc and fmc are assaulted in this book, and both are forced to do acts to each other against their own will. This is a very dark book. Discretion is advised. See the author’s note inside the book for a list of triggers.

Release date: 12/25/25

All links

Wren Delacroix and Caius Reilly lost their cushy FBI jobs nine months ago when their task force was shuttered.

Which is fine.

They’re resourceful people. Reilly is currently working for the Cardinal Falls Police Department, and Wren is doing YouTube videos about cults while staying home with their daughter, three-year-old Jasmine.

Everything is fine. And they can’t stop insisting that. Because, after all, it is. Fine.

But they don’t call Cardinal Falls the serial killer capital of the world for nothing. It’s hardly a surprise when the CFPD catches a case. The killer is slaughtering couples in their homes.

It’s like a spark lights up between Wren and Reilly, a spark that quickly kindles into a blaze. Working this case reminds them of who they are and why they’re special.

They’re going to solve this case.

And then, they’re going to find a way to be better than fine.

Amazon

Into every generation, three women are called to slay, to sing the demons to their doom.

According to the demon who’s blackmailing Monroe Kang, she’s always been killing her own kind.

Monroe has never really thought of it that way. She’s never thought of herself as half-demon, though she’s always known a demon contributed to her DNA by forcing himself on her mother, and she’s always hidden that fact. She’s always thought demons were monstrous and soulless, barely better than animals. She certainly never thought they were capable of blackmail.

As a member of The Trine, Monroe is an international pop sensation, but it’s just part of the job. She and the other members perform to fund their demon slaying. It’s a tradition that stretches back a thousand years.
Now, suddenly, everything seems confusing.

One thing she can always count on is the other members of The Trine. They’re all best friends. They sing together, slay together, and most especially snack together. Snacks are very important. So, together, they are going to get to the bottom of this demon scheme.

Monroe has to get close to the demon to find out his secrets. She has to pretend to be sympathetic to his side. It shouldn’t be easy. He’s cocky and insulting. Of course, he does have dark hair that falls in waves around his cheekbones and a deep, husky voice.

Not that she finds him attractive.

She does not.

And no matter what he says, she’ll never believe that she’s truly one of his kind.

For fans of K-Pop Demon Hunters who wish it was just a little more grown-up. This demon romance contains enemies-to-lovers action, besties, singing, tail play, mountains of carbs, horn kissing, kick-butt girl power, and a full helping of demon spice.

Amazon

An unsolved murder
What does Peyton Nashby do two years after her high school best friend was senselessly stabbed to death, the killer never found?

A party in the middle of nowhere
Obviously, she goes to a reunion with all her old friends in a plush, remote Airbnb cabin, where there’s no cell phone service. Obviously, she and her friends drink hard cider in the hot tub and obviously, when someone goes missing, they all split up to look for her.

Peyton ends up searching the dark woods with Ezra Middleton—dork in high school, but now somehow grown into something hot, rippled, and stubbled, more man than boy. She hates Ezra, though, because of what he did to her back then. He says it’s because he had a crush on her, but that’s no excuse.

A killer amongst friends
Of course, now Peyton and Ezra are finding bodies in the woods and they’re being chased by a psychopath in a robe and mask with a knife. (One that catches Ezra and just lets him go, though, and what’s up with that?)

She doesn’t mean to kiss Ezra. Who does that? Hiding from a masked madman is no time to kindle a romance, after all.

And, anyway, can she even trust Ezra?

This tongue-in-cheek slashermance is a sharp and wicked ride of twists, turns, and spice. Warnings for dubcon, noncon, violence, and disturbing content. But it’s fun, y’all, I swear. Wink.

Release Date 8/19/2025
Amazon

When Miss Rae Smith’s father cannot pay his debts, she is taken away by the Marquis de Fateux, a lesson for others in his debt. This is what Fateux will do to men who do not pay. Does he marry Rae? Of course not. But he uses her. He takes her into his bed. She is ruined, ravaged, destroyed.

The Duke of Rutchester is Fateux’s enforcer. In the beginning, he tells her he doesn’t like the way Fateux treats her, but also, he can’t go against him. Rutchester owes Fateux, he says.

Anyway, with the way Rutchester looks at her, it wouldn’t be a rescue anyway, just a changing of the guard. One predator in place of another. Debauched by Fateux or Rutchester, would it really be different?

Yes.

It would.

He… something about him… something about the two of them…

One night, Rutchester comes to her, smearing red stains on her thighs as he parts them.

“Where is Fateux?” she breathes.

Gone.

Has she been rescued, then? Rescued by Rutchester? Rescued by a monster?

Rutchester’s book is the darkest yet, my pretties. Read at your own risk. Contains non-consensual and dubiously consensual activity. But never fear, because a happily-ever-after is guaranteed.

Amazon

Lotus and her mates take shelter on a Polloi compound, where they must navigate the matriarchal hierarchy that demands alphas should be seen and not heard, and that omegas command.

An alpha’s desire is to his omega. She helps him best by having him serve her whims.

All of which might be fine, if they could just get their bonding bites and secure the pack. However, they have the evil scientist Dr. Acker locked in their basement, and she keeps triggering the alphas’ deadly training to kill omegas.

They should just kill Dr. Acker.

They should just bite Lotus.

They should just give in to their instincts.

But when they do, everything changes.

Contains: dub con, blood play, Knight’s-brand-of-sweet-is-psycho, feral violence, biting frenzies, discussion of cult-like religions, thoughtful discussions about polyamory versus monogamy, trauma healing, heat, nesting, and all the feels.

Amazon
Release date 5/21/25

Jack Sigler wants Slade Russo and Claire Ingles to go undercover.

Russo and Ingles don’t trust that man as far as they could throw him. They’re convinced he’s playing an elaborate game with the entire populace and it’s likely he’s perpetrating the aliens as a hoax.

Jack Sigler claims he wants to prove the aliens aren’t real because he wants to destroy The Way of the Seven signs, the creepy alien cult. Jack Sigler claims a lot of things.

Jack Sigler is a liar.

They’re not working for him or with him.

But as to whether or not warring aliens who already destroyed their own home planet are coming to fight a big, splashy interstellar war in our own solar system?

Well, they need to know the truth.