Author: Z. Elizabeth

Smutty author
Posted in My Book

Character Highlights: Jamie from The Deal

Posted on by Z. Elizabeth

The Deal No 10 Kopie

The last post about The Deal was a week or so ago now and since I have been on holiday (or vacation to many of you) and only just coming home on Tuesday morning, I haven’t been able to write any more posts until now.

Zili, from Zili In The Sky book blog was one of my beta readers and she has been a big help in ripping apart The Deal and helping me better it…well duh.

You all know there are nine friends and although some are bigger than others, one character that Zili took a liking to was Jamie. Now, Jamie hasn’t got a massive part in the book, but he does work with Nic and there is a part with him and Nic where he is kind of the Agony Aunt and is giving her advice. I loved writing that part as I felt that was who Jamie was. He’s a bit of a joker, he’s confident and a bit cocky too, but he’s friendly, and protective and he’s there with advice whenever Nic asks for it. Also, as the last one to befriend the group, he is welcomed warmly by everyone…well he starts off rocky with Craig, but you will see why when The Deal is out.

This is how Nic describes him: –

“With his caramel eyes, messy sexed-up hair, thick, black rimmed glasses and from what I can tell, a ripped body, he is the definition of geeky and chic rolled into one…our very own Clark Kent”

And here is a line from Jamie: –

“It’s to gag your woman. I know she’s a chatterbox and it will do her some good to have something constantly in her mouth other than your dick.”

When Zili told me she liked him, I was surprised. I hadn’t given too much thought about Jamie, my mind being on Nic and Craig and of course, Matt, who book two is about, but Zili told me she would love Jamie to get his own book or even a novella. Although I don’t have a book story for Jamie, it would be nice to delve deeper into him. I loved writing the parts he is in, and I think a small novella about him and a certain someone would be a great idea. Perhaps sometime in the future, after book two is written and complete. I’ll make your dream come true, Zili, don’t worry 😉

So, Zili asked me to revive Mancandy Monday for Jamie, and it took a lot of hard work stalking pictures of guys to find Jamie…I had a vision of him but it was difficult to find him…until now.

Here is my Jamie, just for you: (Ignore the tatts and the nose ring, just focus on the hair and the glasses and you have Jamie!)

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His name is Mateus Verdelho and if you google him, he is a fucking badass. I love these two photos of him though as I feel it’s Jamie, so just picture Jamie as this and not the other half naked, tattooed up photos of Mateus 😉

 

Posted in My Book, Notes

The Deal behind the cover.

Posted on by Z. Elizabeth

The Deal No 10 Kopie

Now with my cover out in the world, I want to give you some background on why I ended up with my lovely cover.

You should all know by now that The Deal was written eight years ago when I was 15 – it was actually a fanfiction for McFly *blush* and I have no idea how the hell I came up with the story! I’m now 23 and of course, everything written in the young The Deal – otherwise known as ‘Love, Sex and Marriage’ (Don’t ask why it was called that when the only sex scene was at the end when they got married, other than that it was tame, apart from a coma scene, which is NOT in The Deal) has changed a hell of a lot. I have life experience and sex and relationship experience and when I was 15 I did not have any other these, so yes, The Deal was completely rewritten but the storyline is still kind of along the same lines as L, S & M.

If you followed me when I was a book blogger, you will see the majority of my reads are NA or Erotica/Romance and when I stumbled upon L, S & M one day on my laptop, I was going to re-write it as YA…well, that story was YA anyway, but after I found the sequel, yup, I started a sequel, I read a sex scene I had written and I sent it to some blogging and author friends who told me that L, S & M should not be YA. It should be NA. So I got down to writing NA but then the sex scenes came along and I couldn’t be tame with them, I had to make you see the sexual tension, the burning touches, the passion that exploded between them in the bedroom and I couldn’t do it if I held back on how they made each other feel. So the book changed to Erotic Romance.

So with the book being Erotic Romance, I had to make sure the sex scenes weren’t just a filler but a build-up to spilling their guts to each other. From the synopsis, you know that Nic and Craig have been in love with each other since they were sixteen, but they were enemies and they didn’t communicate unless they had to despite desperately wanting to be with each other. I’m hoping you can see and feel the longing they both have for each other, which is why I wrote it in a dual POV too, because I wanted you to know Craig’s side, know his feelings for Nic, much like Nic shares hers about Craig. He was so easy to write! Why are guys’ POV easy? I hated writing Nic’s haha.

If you have read the introduction to Nic and Craig, you will see that because of their personalities, it took me FOREVER to find the right cover. I was sending Anna Bloom links upon links of possible covers but when I came across this one, I knew, just knew that it showcased Nic and Craig perfectly. It’s not overly sexy and it has a touch of longing too. Craig longing for Nic from afar (okay, across the bed) and Nic ‘asleep’ after a sex workout. I wanted to convey my character’s feelings, especially Craig’s, on the cover and Laura Beege, my amazing friend went through a few different designs until she sent me this and that was it. I knew it was the one. The lightening, the colours, just everything spoke The Deal to me and that’s the cover you are seeing now!

I hope you can make the connection between the cover models and Nic and Craig when you read The Deal. Feel the heartache, the love, the longing in secret for one another. That is definitely how I feel when I look at the cover, and I hope you do too!

Posted in My Book

Behind the scenes of The Deal

Posted on by Z. Elizabeth

The Deal No 10 Kopie

So three posts have been made so far about The Deal but I think this one is pretty important in setting the scene of Swansea in The Deal.

If you have read the introduction to Nic and Craig, I tell you why I chose Swansea over basing The Deal in Newport or Cardiff. One of the main reasons was due to the beach and how, to Nic, it’s her sanctuary, so I needed to place her near the beach, but also I wanted to base my book in Wales, as to me, Wales is utterly beautiful and has some of the best beaches in the UK.

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Nic, Craig and Kelsie live within a 20 minute walk to the beach. You can see how close the houses are to the beach.swansea_uni_picThis is Swansea uni. Although none of my characters went there, you can see how close the beach is.

Swansea’s beach is beautiful and as you can see from the picture, it stretches so far too. I actually spent Bonfire Night on this beach about 2/3 years ago, and it was just picturesque, if not a little scary with all the students with their own fireworks. I haven’t actually been there in the summer, but as any beach, you know it’s going to be packed, that everyone will be finding somewhere to sun bathe, to have fun and chill out for the day. Nic loves the beach, and the sunset/rise. You’l understand a bit more when you get to read The Deal. But just relish in the photos. I definitely need to visit Swansea beach soon!

The Flat 

I had a vision in my head of what the flat looked like, what the building looked like and the street and this photo (of the building) is the closest I could get to it (minus the colours & the B&B that seems to be in the picture). I wanted houses/flats along the road and at the other end of the street would be Kelsie’s flat. I kind of based it on the flat and street I lived in last year, just not the inside of the flat. I definitely made that up.

property_for_sale_in_Plymouth_2There aren’t any photos of what I envisioned for the floor plan, so with my amazing paint skills – they suck so hard! – this is how i think of the flat. You may have a completely different vision, mind you.

My vision

 

Definitely should have been an architect HA! I’m not going to post photos of what I think the inside looks like because i want YOU to envision that anyway you want to. It’s more fun to think of the flat how you want to, so I will leave that part to your imagination 😉

I won’t spoil the book any more, but the flat and the beach are a big part in the book and now you know how I envisioned and what I took from each part.

 

Posted in My Book

Those pesky English sayings in The Deal

Posted on by Z. Elizabeth

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As a welsh girl and someone who lives in the UK, The Deal is ultimately going to have some sayings that some of you won’t understand. It’s been brought to my attention that perhaps I should be nice enough to write a list of the sayings in my book before you get your pretty little heads in a tizzy over just what the hell they mean.

I’ve gone through The Deal, and really, there aren’t that many welsh words (There is one – my favourite!) or English sayings that haven’t been mentioned in thousands of books before…but just to ease my and your worries, here are the ones that I think may confuse many a reader.

University:
College to you Americans.

Cwtch:
It’s the welsh word for ‘Cuddle’. It’s so much bloody better than the word ‘cuddle’. It’s cuter and a word I use all the time. You pronounce it as ‘Cutch’.

Pissed:
My beta highlighted this saying (she’s American). It basically means ‘Let’s all go out and get drunk’ in this sense anyway.

Pissed off:
Angry.

Note: We use Pissed, as you can see, in two separate ways.

Shag:
You probably all know this one, but just in case, it means ‘sex’

Knickers:
‘Panties’ to all you Americans.

Roast dinner:
I had to google if you did this, and it seems you do, but not as often as us UK’ers. Basically a meal with meat, veg, gravy and cannot forget, Yorkshire puddings!

Football:
Soccer to all of you.

Clubbing:
I did google ‘Do Americans use ‘clubbing’. It didn’t give me anything. Anyway, clubbing is when you go to a nightclub.

Bunk- off:
Basically means ‘skip/skive’ a certain activity. eg. Let’s bunk off school today and go shopping.

Wanker:
Can be used as someone who ‘jacks off’ haha, but in this case, I used it as someone who is an idiot/dickhead.

Bubs:
A term of endearment, bit like ‘babe’

Bugger off:
‘piss off’

Bollocking:
Getting told off

Mingers/minging:
Ugly

Underwear:
Knickers and bra.

Primarni:
It’s a fashionably cheap shop we call Primark. We try to make it sound cooler than it is by calling it Primarni.

Cool your tits:
Calm down.

Advent Calender:
A Christmas calender with numbers windows counting down the days until Christmas Day. Chocolate are behind them.

Pig out:
Eat everything in sight.

Smashed:
Another word for drunk.

Peachy-Keen:
All good

BOF:
My word for ‘boyfriend’

JLS:
A British boyband, whom are no longer together.

 Skank
A derogatory word – kind of like ‘slut’

Off your face
Another saying for ‘drunk’

DILF
*cough* Dad I’d like to fuck

Curvy grip
Hair clip

I’m pretty sure this is everything ‘English’ you may or may not know. I probably missed some so if you have no idea what the word means when you read The Deal, throw me over a tweet and I’ll straighten out the meaning…or go on Urban Dictionary 😉 That website has some unbelievably funny examples of the words.

Posted in My Book

Introducing the best friends from The Deal

Posted on by Z. Elizabeth

The Deal No 10 KopieYou’ve been introduced to Nic and Craig and now it’s time to meet the friends.

So I’ve gone a little overboard with the friends in The Deal. In their group there is eleven of them. Yupp, you did read that right, there is eleven people and I love them all.

Why?
Well, Why not?

It’s been mentioned that having too many people in your book can make you lose focus, can make it hard to distinguish between every character you mention, but I can’t take them out. Each one is special one way or another to Nic and Craig and hopefully, the ones who don’t play such a great deal in The Deal, will in book two. Actually, I’m sure they will have bigger cameos in book two.

So let’s break them down.

School friends:
Craig – Rob, Matt, Danny & Tom
Nicole – Kelsie

University:
Nic – Tammy, Sophie and Joe

Work:
Nic – Jamie

Yupp, eleven friends.

The main BFF’s to Nic and Craig are called Kelsie and Rob – they, too, are a couple, and really, a reason why Craig and Nic got to spend so much time together – I say that loosely – in their young-ish years before they got together for the deal.

Kelsie and Nic have been BFF’s since they were in nappies, and have grown up together, even going to the same university before moving back to Swansea. Nic lives five minutes down the road from Kelsie. It’s always great to have your BFF close and you will see that Nic runs to Kelsie more often than not.

Kelsie’s personality is a mix of my own BFF’s. She’s feisty and protective and honest and says things she really shouldn’t share (okay, this one was me). She tells Nic how it is and won’t take any shit off her. But then she’s quirky, and funny and offers great advice, in her own special way. I know every girl needs a best friend like this, and thank God, in real life, I have a bff like Kelsie…or maybe I am Kelsie to my bff.

She was a hoot to write and everything that came out of her mouth had me laughing or agreeing with her. She just goes with the flow. I love her banter with everyone too, she knows how to hold her own around the guys and that is something that I wanted from a BFF, especially as they are surrounded by seven guys, with only four girls…

Let’s introduce the other two girls:

Tammy is a university friend and, can I say, a former slut. She has a very out-going personality and objectifies men. She goes out to pull and if the night isn’t a success it’s classed as a fail. But we see her calm down a lot, we see her transform from slut to someone who becomes a one-men woman.

Then there is Sophie. She’s been classed the same as Tammy. She goes out to pull and becomes disheartened if she doesn’t. She loves guys and I think deep down, she likes Tom but doesn’t feel worthy of him. We’ll have to see what happens with these two as Tom is smitten with her. Both her and Tammy have realised how important friendship is and you do see them calm down their antics a lot!

Now the guys!

With Rob, he and Craig have been best friends since school along with the other three guys. Rob is a hard one to analyse, mainly because he’s not in The Deal as much as Kelsie is. I feel bad about this but Matt pushed his way in and the more I wrote him, the more I needed his story written so book two is dedicated to Matt. And I’ve gone slightly off target here. Right, Rob. He keeps Kelsie balanced. As a nutcase, he is her calm. He keeps her crazy arse in line. He’s sweet and loveable and head over heels in love with Kelsie.

He’s a joker, too and keeps Craig in check during some scenes where Craig’s jealousy gets a bit too much. He can be crude and is a great friend to Craig and Nic. There is one part that makes me chuckle with Nic and Rob – it’s like a move they do together and it’s based on something I used to do when I was younger – I did steal it from a movie though, so I can’t take credit.

Other than that, Rob is a part of the glue of the group, too and I can’t wait to write more of him in book two. There is a big moment in book one with Kelsie and Rob so I want to progress their relationship as well as Nic and Craig’s and of course, my Matty boy who book two is focused on.

Tom and Danny are my ginger twins. They could not be any different. Danny is confident in himself, in his ability to bag any girl he wants whereas Tom, although confident, exhumes this timidness. He likes Sophie, the girl’s university friend and although she doesn’t know, he doesnt give up hope to be with her.

We then have Jamie. He is a work colleague of Nic’s and has only really known her for a few months. He moved from Devon to Swansea for the job. I like Jamie because he is a joker, and he looks after Nic. He fits in great with the guys too, despite a rocky start with Craig but he has his eye on someone else in the group. He’s confident and a little cocky too, but he’s loveable and friendly.

The last guy we have is Joe. He went to university with the girls and is their gay friend. He is the epitomise of alpha male and you wouldn’t know he was gay unless he told you. Girls flock to him despite him not being interested. He loves the gym, he’s confident and he is so open about his sexuality and what he does in the bedroom, as you will see from one scene I wrote about him.

Now that I’ve spilt the beans on who book two is about, Matt is someone who I just fell in love with when writing The Deal. He’s special to me and I hope you all love him. I know my Beta, Mallory, does and so does Anna Bloom. I was only going to write The Deal but Matt wanted his story told. He wanted to find love like Nic and Craig even if he didn’t know it. So I granted him his wish.

I’ve got a rough outline of what his story is going to entail but as I did with The Deal, I didn’t plan it. It all came to me in snippets and I have notes and notes of little scenes to expand on. Matt doesn’t believe in love and he uses sexual innuendos and comments when he is uncomfortable. You will most definitely see this throughout The Deal, but there is hope for him, I will make sure of it. He will change his perspective of love by the time I am through with him 😉

So there we have it. The friends of The Deal.

Posted in My Book

Introducing Craig and Nic from The Deal

Posted on by Z. Elizabeth

The Deal No 10 Kopie

With my cover now out in the wide world and with The Deal out with Beta’s while they rip it apart for me to make it the best book I can have, I’ve decided to start posting more about The Deal, hopefully getting you excited for 1st December when my little baby will be released for all you lovely lot to read.

So I want to start off with the two most important people in The Deal – Craig Thomas and Nicole Jones.

These two are my babies, my work of art and I have loved every moment of writing their story that I hope you will fall in love with them too. I made both my character Welsh mainly because I’m Welsh and wouldn’t feel comfortable writing about an area I don’t know. And really, there aren’t enough British based books out there. I’d love for that to change because the UK does have some pretty awesome places but I suppose the majority of book lovers prefer to read about the US. Sorry, you’ll have to read about the lush beach of Swansea and have Welsh words and English sayings in my book.

I live about an hour away from where I based The Deal and the reason I didn’t base the book in Newport/Cardiff is because Swansea is gorgeous and they have a beach – which is pivotal in my book, whereas you would have to travel to Barry – about a 30 minute drive from Cardiff to get to Barry Island and I wanted Nic and Craig closer than that, and with Swansea they can be.

Anyway, back to Nic and Craig. Despite Nicole and Craig not being Welsh names, their surnames are. Of course they are, they are like one of the dominant surnames in Wales. I’ve always liked the name Nicole so it was an easy option when I started writing the YA version of this book and when I began the Erotic Romance version, I saw her grow up right before me and I couldn’t change her name. She fit the vision perfectly – kind of the same of Craig. His name exhumes masculinity to me and then when I began writing the grown-up version, I knew I had the perfect names for my characters.

Nic and Craig aren’t your usual NA or Erotic Romance characters. I’m not hating on these storylines because I do read them but Nic isn’t a ‘damaged’ girl or a blushing virgin who tames the bad boy because Craig isn’t a bad boy at all. Craig isn’t a billionaire, an MMA fighter or a drug lord, he’s just a regular guy from Swansea who teaches Geography. Pretty boring, hey?

He’s just a 22 year old who has been in love with Nic since he was 16 and has put determination into making it as a teacher and giving back. He loves his job, loves teaching and really, who cares what the character does as long as you can connect with the character on other levels.

Craig comes across as a cocky bastard when you first meet him, because that’s all he’s ever known to do, but underneath, he’s just a guy who is in love and keeping it a secret. He wants to fix the past so he can have Nic for real. He gets jealous and angry and there is one scene which tore my heart apart and I cried for Craig but he has determination, and he fights for what he wants. He has his sweet sides too. Some of the things he says make my heart swoon and I bloody wrote them! He has his dominating sexy sides as well and most importantly, he can be scared of losing everything, especially Nic.

I based Craig on my boyfriend, (I wish) Leigh Halfpenny. If you don’t know who Leigh is, he plays rugby from Wales and French team, Toulon. He is just the perfect vision for Craig, from his curly hair to his eyes to his delicious body. But I’d love to know who your Craig is!

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Nic, as mentioned, isn’t the blushing virgin or someone who is running away from her past life because of some big secret, she’s actually just a regular girl who works as a Digital Marketer and dreams of owning her own business one day. I kind of gave her my job and degree, because I know what I am talking about when you see Nic in work – although you don’t see a hell of a lot of her at work, just mentions of a few things she does.

She’s feisty, sarcastic and loveable, but underneath she is scared and vulnerable and is over her head in love with Craig that sometimes it becomes too much for her. You will see what I mean. There are times when I want to bash her head in and you will want to as well. But I hope you will see her grow up and become into herself. Watch her embrace everything around her. It takes time but she gets there in the end. She fights herself a lot and wants to protect herself, but she finally makes it in the end.

I based Nic on two people. Firstly Emmy Rossum and Danneel Harris. Emmy is who I envisioned Nic to look like (with green eyes, not brown), although I haven’t seen her in anything, she seemed like the calm and cute side to Nic’s personality. And then I used Danneel Harris for Nic’s feisty and sexy side. I loved Danneel in One Tree Hill and I used part of her sexiness to inject into Nic.

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"Fired Up" Los Angeles Premiere - Arrivals

So there we have it, my two characters who have loved from afar and are together for a deal. It will be awesome to see who you envision as Nic and Craig and I think, apart from if you love The Deal or not, I want to know who you would pick as them!

 

Posted in Book Blitz, New Adult

BOOK TOUR: Hard Knox – Nicole Williams

Posted on by Z. Elizabeth

Hard Knox FrontSynopsis

Knox Jagger. The name inspires resent in every male at Sinclair University, want in every female, and contempt in Charlie Chase.

Charlie can be summed up in three words: independent, independent, and independent. To Charlie, Knox epitomizes everything that’s wrong with college males: prolific one-night stands, drunken senseless fights, and a body that hints at prioritizing gym time over study time.

As an up-and-coming writer for Sinclair University’s newspaper, Charlie’s tasked with getting to the bottom of who’s been dropping little white pills into girls’ drinks at parties. In an ocean of All-American boys sporting polo shirts and innocent smiles, Knox is the obvious suspect. As evidence piles up against the bad boy of Sinclair, Charlie becomes more and more certain it isn’t Knox. But when her drink is dosed at a party and she wakes up on Knox’s couch the next morning, Charlie’s left with more questions than answers when it comes to Knox Jagger.

How can Charlie ever hope to uncover the truth behind a guy so closed off he’s become . . .

Hard Knox.

4 out of 5 stars

6f6f1-addtogoodreads

 

 

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My Review

***I received an copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*** 

I’ve loved Nicole Williams since reading Crash. Jude Ryder is my first book boyfriend from her and know I can Knox Jagger to that list as well.

I knew I had to be on the tour for Hard Knox once I had read the synopsis. It was and is definitely a book to read. It has mystery and suspense and hella laugh out loud parts. You will be infuriated with characters, love them and be a part of their story all the way to the end.

It took me a little while to get into the story, mainly because I found Charlie a little hard to like. She’s passionate and feisty and independent and will put herself in dangerous situations, not caring about her safety, just wanting to get the story. She also doesnt care who hates or likes her. Yeah, she’s really not got many, if any friends, apart from her roommate. I found her to be a bit too much at times. I was angry at her for being an idiot, angry at her for putting herself in situations she needn’t be in and of course, she made me want to pull my hair out with her idiocy in parts of the book which definitely put her life in the risk zone. On her own she was infuriating but I liked her with Knox. I liked the back and forth of them and I did enjoy seeing her break free, at times, from being so GAH at times. She let loose and I liked that about her. I liked that she stripped back and she still didn’t give a rats arse, and that was okay, because she was showing us, her. Showing us that she isn’t just some annoying journalism student who keeps people away from her. She can let them in. Like she let Knox.

Now Knox. I love a bad boy in books and at the beginning I thought he was obnoxious, a little up himself. He’s known around the university as a playboy, especially when girls come up to him at parties and put their knickers in the back of his pocket with their numbers on. He has an air of mystery around him that you just want to find out, and the more you do, the more you see the layers to him. He isn’t this bad boy, and the things he does is because of his past. He’s trying to make a difference and I loved finding that out about him. I loved finding out the secret and why he does what he does. Okay, very vague, but it will become SO clear when you get to the end and it all comes out. You will think back and be like ‘Holy crap’. He is so protective of Charlie and I loved seeing this side of him. He was also a little vulnerable in the fact he was so protective, but as I mentioned, you will see why. I loved loved loved seeing him slowly fall for Charlie but trying to stay away. He and Charlie felt very real. They went from strangers to living together and becoming friends. Their chemistry was obvious, their banter and fights were passionate and you can see the fire in both of them. Their feelings for each other. And when it comes to blows, dear God, does it come to blows 😉

I have to mention the date-rape part. I felt that although this book is about it, it was handled with care and consideration. I was freaking out at one part and I had guessed from the beginning who the culprit was – I love it when I can do that haha. Despite the fact that I felt that the date-rape storyline kind of took a back story in some parts, it all came together in the end and really did ficus on Charlie and Knox finding out who is doing this to the female college students.

If you love Nicole Williams’ books, then Hard Knox is another book to read. It’s a great read and Knox will definitely end up on your BBF list!

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About the author

8860209I’m the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of the CRASH series (HarperTeen, S&S UK), LOST & FOUND series, UP IN FLAMES (S&S UK), The EDEN TRILOGY, and a handful of others. I write stories about everyday kinds of people who find themselves in extraordinary kinds of situations. I tell love stories with happy endings because I believe in making the world a better place, and that’s one tiny way I can make it so. I’m one of those people who still believe in true love and soul mates, and would rather keep my head in the clouds any day over having my feet firmly on the ground.

Blog | Twitter | Facebook

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Buy Links

Amazon UK || Amazon US || Barns & Noble || Kobo || IBooks

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Posted in Cover Reveal, My Book

My COVER REVEAL: The Deal

Posted on by Z. Elizabeth

I can finally, finally, FINALLY reveal my cover for The Deal.

I’ve been sitting on this cover for the past 6 weeks, vying for this day to be here and it is, and now I can show you the beautiful cover designed by my lovely friend and fellow author Laura Beege.

I want to say a MASSIVE thanks to Between The Sheets Promotion, especially Mary, for arranging the reveal – they were so helpful – and to all the  awesome blogs and bloggers who signed-up to reveal my cover. I hope you love the cover too and will, hopefully, want to read The Deal when it is released.

So here is my cover. Let me know what you think;

The Deal No 10 Kopie

 

TITLE: The Deal (#1)
GENRE: Erotic Romance
RELEASE DATE: December 1st 2014
DESIGNED BY: Laura Beege
Hosted By: Between The Sheets PR

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Synopsis

One feud.
Two families.
One secret.

What happens when you fall for the enemy?

Thanks to their fathers’ feud, Nicole and Craig have been enemies since the moment they were born. But six years ago they fell in love… They just never told each other.

Motivated by their grandparents’ money, they agree to a simple deal: Stay married for a year and unravel the secrets and lies surrounding their fathers. Bound together, they must figure out why the two former best friends have spent the last thirty years ignoring one another and prohibited any contact between Nicole and Craig.

Craig is more than happy to uncover their fathers’ past if it means he gets Nicole for real.
Nicole wants to keep the past exactly where it is and she will fight Craig every step of the way.
With only limited time together, delving into their family history could be the mistake that will break both their hearts.

What happens when secrets and lies are revealed? Can Nicole and Craig live their Happily Ever After after waiting six long years to be together? Or will one secret be enough to break them apart, just like their fathers?

‘I’m doing this for us, Nic’

*THE DEAL is suitable for 17+ due to graphic sex scenes and language*

*This is a STANDALONE novel. Book two is a companion novel.

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Excerpt

Craig has me backed against the wall, his hands either side of my head and his face is within inches of mine. I can feel his hot breath spurt on my face and his eyes are burning with anger. He look like he wants to punch everything in sight. Okay, so maybe I went a bit too far, but fuck him. I wanted a reaction from him and I sure as hell got one.

I plaster myself to the wall. I know he would never touch me in a million years, but something primal is in front of me and between being scared of Craig, I am getting turned on by this too. We have yet to have angry make-up sex and right now, as much as I want my bath, sex would not go amiss.

“Are you trying to fuck me up, Nic? Trying to turn me into a jealous fucker because I damn well am right now.” He spits out. His eyes are all over my face, from my lips to my eyes to my lips again. “I nearly punched the shit out of your little work buddy earlier. You fucking LEFT ME in bed this morning after our fight last night and then I see you all fucking happy as Larry with dickwad. Do you know how that made me feel?”

I shake my head and go to push him off me, but that only spurs him on and his body becomes flush with mine. I have to bite back a groan at the contact. He wraps his hands in my hair and brings my face even closer to his. I can literally taste the beer on his lips and all I want to do is taste it on his tongue. But I need to stand my ground and not let him get one over on me.

“Well maybe you should stop trying to dig into the past, Craig, leave it the fuck alone. I’ve already told you I feel fucking bad for this morning but you’re a big boy, you should have learned how to set an alarm by now.” I bite back, “And I didn’t bring Jamie along to make you jealous, you wanker, I brought him along to meet you all. But no, you turned it into a pissing contest. I am no ones okay? I am not yours so calm your fucking jealousy.”

He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. He unravels one hand from my hair and punches the wall next to me. I jump at the thud his fist makes and he falls forward, his face resting on my shoulder. I stand still, wondering what he is doing and I feel him wrap both hands around my waist. My hands are still idle at my waist, not wanting to touch him.

“Nic, you are mine. No matter what the hell happens. You. Are. Mine.” He murmurs into my ear and plants a kiss on my neck.

“Yeah, yours for 8ish more months.” I say and feel him shake his head and tighten his grip on me.

“No.” is all I hear from him. His words are confusing me and unless he cannot count how long we have left, he’s going insane.

“Yes.”

“No.” and with that he lifts himself back up and slams his lips onto mine. I falter back into the wall and Craig moves with me. His lips are hard and rough against my own and I try to keep up his pace. I wrap my arms around his neck, wanting to be closer to him, needing him closer. Our tongues are battling against each other, I can taste the beer and a moan escapes from the back of my throat. I feel Craig’s hands move down towards my arse and one hand grabs a cheek while the other grips my thigh and he hoists me up so my legs are wrapped around his waist. He pushes up further into the wall, so he can hold me in place and I can mould myself to his body; all the while our lips never parting. His kisses are like my next breath. I crave them all day and when I do get them upon mine, its like everything is put into place, I can breathe and let out everything I have been holding in all day.

Craig moans into my mouth when I take over dominance and bite his lip, sucking it between my teeth before running my tongue to sooth it. My hands pull at his hair, his hands are gripping my arse and I am writhing against him. I can feel him pulsating through his jeans and I can feel the hardness of his dick pushing into my own jeans and each time I move it causes friction for both of us and guttural groans escape us both.

Craig rips his mouth from mine and begins to attack my neck. He bites, sucks, licks and all I can do is roll my head to the side to grant him more access while I purr with need and want for this man in front of me.

“Craig, I need you to fuck me.” I whisper while he’s biting my pressure point. I swallow hard and suddenly we are on the move towards the bedroom. His lips don’t leave my neck until he throws me down on the bed and right there, that very second I can see just how jealous and angry and pissed off my husband is, but I can also see the passion and the need and want for me, and fucking too right, I am going to be another statistic to prove just how fucking awesome angry make-up sex is.

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Posted in Kaite Kavinsky, YA

ARC: Still Point (#3) – Katie Kacvinsky

Posted on by Z. Elizabeth

17393016Synopsis

In the final installment to the trilogy begun with “Awaken, ” Maddie returns home to make her final stand against Digital School, and uncovers deeply guarded secrets about her family an new truths about herself.

5 out of 5 Stars

2012 review of Awaken
2013 review of Middle Ground

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My Review

 

 Parents show you life is a paved road. Friends show you the road isn’t there yet, its waiting for you to carve it out. Parents show you life is a handbook, with rules set in place. Friends show you how to break the rules you’re handed.

*ARC from the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

I first read Awaken back in 2012. I was captivated by this dystopian novel because it spoke truth. It’s about a digital era where everyone hides behind a computer, too afriad to go outside and converse face-to-face. And it got me thinking about right now. How we are all attached to our phones and computers and anything else that is digital and means you don’t have to speak to anyone in person. I used to look around the train station on the way to work and count how many were on their phones. It was nearly everyone, including myself. And I think that’s why I became attached to this series, that and because it is amazing. It has so much depth into the storyline, it evolves at every turn and you become fascinated about the characters, the digitalisation of everything, of where Katie is going to take you.

I’m not one for reading YA. It takes my fancy every now and again but this is one series I pined over. For each book released, I have been anxious for them to release so I can get my next fix of Justin and Maddie, the next chapter in the Digital world and how everything will or wont play out.

Still Point is the third and final book in the Awaken and holy crap, it’s full of twists and shocks. I cant even give you a brief overview without spoiling the story, Let’s just say, it shocked me; I was not expecting anything of what happened, to happen in book three!

After the slight cliffy in Middle Ground, I was waiting to see what Maddie was going to do. And although her decision is one I didn’t think would happen, I was proud of her for doing it. She has always been up against her father, fighting against his creation since she was fifteen and she wants to destroy the digital world, wanting people to actually talk face-to-face, go to school in a classroom, and just spend time together without a computer screen in front of them.

I was proud of her for pushing and seeing it through. Although my heart pained when you could see her dilemma about her dad, about Justin, about her feelings, about how she just didn’t know what to do anymore. I felt so sorry for her, because Justin is obsessed with taking down the digital world and yes, Maddie wants it too, but she wants to be at the top of the list, not third or forth and you could see it did effect her to be pushed down the list. You watch her fight against herself, dig deep into her soul and watch her see exactly what she really wants; from herself and from her life. And yes, I was just a little bit shocked at her choice but you know what, I could definitely see it. And I really want to write more about that, but I cant. It will spoil it all so I will just smile to myself and mentally high-five Maddie for taking charge of her life and making the right choice – for her!

Also the tattoo makes an awful lot of sense now. I have read Maddie’s tattoo, the short novella about how she got her tattoo and how it came about. We also meet the guy who designed it, Jax and he is swoon worthy. I really liked him. And that’s all I am saying on him haha. You need to find out about him throughout this book. It was a push and pull situation and I was in the middle not knowing what to do.

Justin’s whole life is taking down the DS (Digital Schools) and DC’s (Detention centers). It goes 1) Destroying DS 2) Maddie and although I completely love Justin; he’s passionate and determined and completely focused on the plan at hand, DS would always be his number one, no matter how much he wants to be with Maddie. And picking and choosing is a hard decision, when your heart wants both.

I loved how selfless he was at the end though. How he actually put Maddie’s feelings first for once. He wanted to see her happy and not sad and broken over him and I felt proud of him for doing what he did, even if I wasn’t expecting it. He has gone through so much in his life – with fighting against DS, recruiting members and then falling for Maddie but when the time came, her happiness definitely meant more to him and although I was shocked at how it ended, it was kind of perfect for Justin too. He got what he had always wanted and he fought the hard way to get there but he deserved it after the hard work he has put in year after year.

I would love to see a little novella about him, Katie. Hint hint;) I think it would be amazing to see him after Still Point or even before Awaken, how he began to be so passionate about taking down the DS and finding Maddie. To be honest, I am being greedy and want more Justin haha.

There are a lot of twists and turns throughout Still Point – many had me gasping and eyes wide open. I was not expecting any of the things to happen. And I love that! I loved that everything I thought I knew during the first two books, just completely messed me over and it wasn’t all that it seemed. But it completely made sense, and I trusted that Katie knew what she were doing and it worked! I also was not expecting that ending. Not after everything that happened in Awaken and Middle Ground. But as I said, it made sense. And I really want to blab about what happened, but I know I cant. I need someone else to read this book so I can talk about it because, man, I NEED to talk about it. I need to know someone else was like “Oh holy crap” and “Oh holy crap, I cant believe Justin did that, but bless him.” SEE, I’m being vague, but you will understand when you get the chance to read this book.

If you haven’t had the chance to get acquainted with this series, I demand that you do. It is one of my favourite dystopian series because, really, it could happen.

Posted in My Book

The song that started The Deal…

Posted on by Z. Elizabeth

When I read, I always have music on. I always love read a chapter and then a song will come on that just highlights that chapter perfectly. The lyrics just suit that scene beautifully and when that happens, every time i hear the song, I revert back to the book and the passage with whatever emotion i felt during the song and reading it.

It’s the same with my book, The Deal.

Every time a song comes on, I  listen to the lyrics to see if they suit Nic and Craig. I can;t tell you how many songs I have on my Spotify playlist that suits their story. But each other represents a scene, or their love, or their dark times and it helps me zone into them when I am writing or editing.

I’m going to copy Anna Bloom now, but I want you to listen to this song. It started off the re-writing of The Deal and it fits my characters perfectly. Anna sent it over to me last year and it was on repeat for days, while I honed in on who Craig and Nic really were. It had been years since I wrote them, but I finally knew them again. I knew their voices, their back story and how I would write them. And, alas, The Deal was updated a hell of a lot and made sexier and I knew my characters. And the more I wrote, the more I fell in love with them.

The song that began this process again is Paloma Faith – Agony.

When you read The Deal you will understand why this song fits my characters perfectly. But for now, have a listen…