She Gets What She Wants is the first book I’ve read by Denise n. Wheatley and I’m glad I did. She is definitely an author I will continue to read.
About The Book
The first rule of conquering Hollywood? Get there.
Newspaper columnist Devon Jacobs is hiding more secrets than just the chocolate bars and half-finished screenplays stuffed in her desk. Kind-hearted and insecure, she dreams of escaping her stifling hometown of Berman, Indiana, and moving to Hollywood to write for television. When she drunkenly confesses her feelings to her best friend, Jason, his painful snub finally spurs Devon to action. She quits her job, packs up and flies to Los Angeles to begin the rest of her life.
Devon’s newfound drive lands her a production assistant role on a hit television sitcom. As she transforms into a confident and talented professional, she gains the attention of the show’s handsome and charming leading man, Ryan Roberts. But just as Devon’s star is in full ascent, Jason resurfaces. Used to being an extra in the background instead of the lead, Devon must decide whether her long-standing feelings for Jason are worth a second risk, or if she should pursue her developing attraction and friendship with Ryan.
If you like contemporary romance with a kind of love triangle element then this book is for you. It has a little bit of betrayal, drama but also show a woman overcoming disappointments. Devon confesses her love for Jason, who happens to be one of her best friends. He doesn’t respond as she wanted, which changes their friendship. Devon has a opportunity to leave her hometown in Indiana for California and she takes it.
It was refreshing to read a story with dynamic characters that were so relatable, I didn’t want the story to end. I was intrigued with Devon’s new employment being in the entertainment industry especially on a television show, Here To Stay. To see her work her way up from production assistant to the writing room was inspiring. I will say the issues Devon experienced were typical but moved the story along and kept my interest.
Devon did frustrate me when she accepted jason back into her life like nothing happened. She knew Ryan Roberts was really into her. She also finds out that things move and change quick when working in Hollywood. Overall, this was a well-written story about Devon finding herself and learning to make the right decisions. I recommend it to readers of contemporary romance and women fiction.
Discover Cecy Robson’s sensational Weird Girls series for the first time—or go back to the beginning …—
The rest of the werewolf pack might consider Aric Connor to be omniscient and destined to save the world when evil returns to claim it. But for the most part, fifteen-year-old Aric ignores the confirmations of his powers, taking everything in stride until he meets her.
Celia Wird wasn’t supposed to awaken naked in the mountains of Colorado, not when she was just stalking her prey in a filthy alley several states away. She especially wasn’t supposed to meet Aric, the handsome werewolf who comes to her aid.
As a supernatural tasked with protecting the earth, Aric sympathizes with Celia’s dangerous situation. He’s also struck by her beauty and kindness. Yet, as much as Aric welcomes Celia, her arrival isn’t a peaceful one.
Dark forces stir in Celia’s presence, resolute on killing her. Aric and his inner beast are adamant about keeping Celia safe and with them. But there’s a time and a place for love, and Aric and Celia might not survive long enough to find it.
Howling Wolf Dark Background. Full Moon and the Wilderness. 3d illustration
Read an Excerpt
]Excerpt from Gone Hunting
I glide down the steep incline on four paws, digging my claws into the thick forest bed to keep my balance. The weight of my three-hundred-pound wolf form leaves deep indentations in the soil. There wasn’t just one elk. There was a massive herd. We separated them as a pack, targeting the eldest and weakest, as nature demands.
The one I’m chasing stumbles down the ravine, his immense body crashing into the river bank and sending waves of muddy water to drench my face. I shake off the thick drops blinding me and hurtle forward. I’m almost on him, my excitement of snapping his neck and bringing home a feast propelling me faster.
I bare my teeth at the scent of his fear. Despite his weariness, he’s fighting the kill. I can respect him as my prey. That doesn’t mean I’ll let him go. My supernatural strength jets me faster, ghosting over the slippery rocks when the elk stumbles. He quickly recovers on wobbly limbs. It doesn’t matter. I have him. My family will have a sweet meal tonight.
We round the bend as I leap toward his neck. My fangs barely graze his tough pelt before I crash into what feels like an invisible wall. The force flings me backward, slamming me into the river bed. I whirl up, wondering what happened and pissed that it did.
The sound of beating hooves grows distant as the elk disappears. I ignore his escape and growl with murderous rage.
My paws keep my footing over the uneven and rocky bank as I stalk forward. I poke at the air with my nose, trying to sense the wall or whatever it was that caused my fall.
My nose twitches, latching onto something . . . weird. It’s not elk, not deer, not even rabbit.
I smell predator.
A challenging growl rumbles through my torso and down my legs, causing a ripple across the water. My eyes sweep my surroundings, up the incline where the woods are thickest and back down where small, gentle waves splash over the river rocks.
Where are you? I growl again.
I angle my body to the left and frown. Something like rot permeates from the forest. It reeks of dead prey and danger, but then it moves further away from me and the predator I seek.
My eyes round with surprise when I hone in on a different scent. In the breeze, cascading along the bank, the fragrance of water misting over roses overtakes the aroma of pine, rich soil, and thick beds of moss, ensnaring me in its beauty.
An excited chill runs down my spine, standing my fur on end. I shake my head, trying to clear a scent that has no business latched to another predator . . . especially one warning me to keep my distance.
My ears perk up and my eyes hone in on a thick mound of blackberry brambles a few feet away.
There you are . . .
I prowl forward, my steps quiet and purposeful and my jaws set to sink into bone.
This isn’t a cougar. They run from us.
This is hungry.
Dangerous.
Weird.
My body quivers with growing excitement and my thunderous growls echo. I snap my jaws in challenge, letting my prey know I sense him.
It’s time to flee or fight. The choice is his. I’m not going anywhere.
The brush shifts. Slowly, very slowly, my prey rises. My lips peel back, yet the next growl dissipates before it can fully form.
Instead of fur, wet, wavy brown hair with streaks of gold catches the faint sunlight, spilling over slender shoulders and flawless olive skin while droplets of river water trickle around large green eyes and full pink lips.
Cecy Robson is an international and multi-award-winning author of over twenty-five character driven novels.A registered nurse of eighteen years, Cecy spends her free time creating magical worlds, heart-stopping romance, and young adult adventure. After receiving two RITA® nominations, the Maggie Award, the Award of Excellence, and a National Reader’s Choice Award nomination, you can still find Cecy laughing, crying, and cheering on her characters as she pens her next story.
In Episode 7 we are discussing great places to relax and read. This is a minisode and if you remember from the last episode, the podcast will change a little bit for the new season. Enjoy these great places to read along with a few bonus ones.
Hi. I’m Brandon Barrows. Maybe we’ve met before. Maybe you know me from my previous novel Burn Me Out, or from stories of mine that have appeared in various magazines and anthologies. Burn Me Out and many of those stories are lodged firmly in the noir category of crime fiction, so Strangers’ Kingdom is something a little different for me: a true mystery. It’s also a police procedural set in rural Vermont, which was harder to write than it sounds.
So it’s something different for me as a writer. So what, you might think. Well, I’ll tell you: because it’s a novel I put a tremendous amount of effort, heart, and hopefully you’ll agree, soul into that I know you’ll enjoy.
Let’s start with the basics – the blurb.
Politically blacklisted detective Luke Campbell’s last chance in law-enforcement is a job with the police department of rural Granton, Vermont. It’s a beautiful town, home to a beautiful, intriguing girl who’s caught his eye, and it’s a chance at redemption. Even if his new boss seems strange, secretive, and vaguely sinister, Campbell is willing to give this opportunity a shot. And no sooner does he make that decision than the first in a series of murders is discovered, starting a chain of events that will change the lives of everyone in this once-quiet town…
How does that grab you? Interested in knowing a little more, hopefully?
Well, the setting came first. While the town of Granton is fictional, the area where the book is set, Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, is very real. In fact, it’s where my mother grew up and a place I still have family. Being in a sort of triangle between two states and Canada, there’s a lot that goes on up there, probably more than we’ll ever know. Despite everything that can happen in such a setting, though, for most people, a rural town is a very small world and that’s certainly true of the main character, Luke Campbell. Luke grew up in Vermont, but lived most of his adult life in Albany, New York before coming to Granton. Because of that, it’s less a homecoming for him than it is a brand-new world, something both he as the protagonist and I, as the writer, were continually discovering while I wrote it.
So why a police procedural mystery? Truthfully, it didn’t start out that way. It began as a rural noir, like many of my short stories, but I discovered early on that it just wasn’t working for me. I couldn’t tell the story the way it needed to be told if I stuck to that and I liked the ideas I had for this book so much, I wasn’t willing to create something I felt inferior, so I played around with the format, switched it up, and ended up creating an entirely new protagonist to go along with the new format.
And you know, I really liked Luke Campbell, right from the start. He’s had a rough go of it, and he’s still trying to make the best of it, while going out of his way to help people—like a lonely, bullied little boy and his mother, both of him Luke comes to care about deeply—even though he’s got every right to be bitter about his situation.
Of course, he’s just one of the characters, but he is the main character and I like to think he both embodies the central theme of the novel and recognizes it for himself in the course of the work: that there are no “bad guys” or “good guys” out there, just people. Everyone does terrible things at some point in their life—whether intentionally or not—and not one of us is completely “bad”. Everyone is just trying to get along and do the best they can. Sometimes we fail at that. There are certainly criminals in this novel, but everyone in it is guilty to some extent and everyone has their good qualities, too. I always try to infuse my work with emotion, and this is something that really hit me as I was writing Strangers’ Kingdom, so I hope it’s something that comes across to you, the readers.
As I said, this is a book I put a lot of effort into. It took me nearly three years, off and on, to write – longer than any of my other novels, by far. But it was worth it. I’m very happy with it and I hope you will be, too. So do us both a favor and give it a read, will you? If you like mysteries, crime, and small-town stories about people doing their best I know you’ll love it as much as I do.
Strangers’ Kingdom
by Brandon Barrows
Genre: Mystery
Politically blacklisted detective Luke Campbell’s last chance in law-enforcement is a job with the police department of rural Granton, Vermont. It’s a beautiful town, home to a beautiful, intriguing girl who’s caught his eye, and it’s a chance at redemption. Even if his new boss seems strange, secretive, and vaguely sinister, Campbell is willing to give this opportunity a shot. And no sooner does he make that decision than the first in a series of murders is discovered, starting a chain of events that will change the lives of everyone in this once-quiet town.
Brandon Barrows is the award-nominated authors of the novels Burn Me Out and This Rough Old World as well as over fifty published stories, selected of which have been collected into the books The Altar in the Hills and The Castle-Town Tragedy.
He is also the writer of nearly one-hundred individual comic book issues.
He is an active member of both the Private Eye Writers of America and International Thriller Writers.
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