Available Now
Christmas Angel
An Angels in the Afterlife Story
"You’ve heard this story a hundred times before. Well. A dozen times, anyway. It’s a Christmas classic: Cranky guy dies without learning the true meaning of the season, gets turned into an angel and is given the job of saving someone else from suffering the same unhappy fate.
Usually it’s billed as a romantasy, or a dramady, or some other such shit; perfect for a night of feel-good, family fun. Which is ridiculous. Even Dickens, the man who invented cheesy Christmas stories, knew better than that. His Marley was miserable, as who wouldn’t be in his situation? Which also happens to be my situation.
Hi. My name is Jacob. I’m an angel. And this is my story. "
Light Up The Night
A Children of Night/Ugly Christmas Sweater Story
Her love will light up his night. If they both can survive that long.
Heather is having the worst Christmas ever! Or, at least, the worst Christmas since she was forced to become a vampire. Her sire's distracted, her nest-mates have forgotten her existence, and a bunch of weirdos have taken over her lair. The only bright spot in her life right now is Drew--who didn't even used to like her! She knows he's coming around, but that's not good enough. She wants more. She wants everything. She wants him. And she's not giving up.
Drew Geiger gave up on love a long time ago. Such tender emotions have no place in a vampire's heart. But, somehow, the girl he once described as a "feral kitten" has got her claws in him, and she's not letting go. That would be fine, if only someone didn't want her dead--and if her sire didn't still inconveniently remember that it was Drew who'd once suggested that maybe she'd be better off that way.
***This story features characters from the Children of Night series. It takes place between books six and seven in the series and follows Going Back to Find You.***
The Spirit of the Place
Oberon Book 6.0
'Tis the season to be jolly, but Jasmine Quinn is far from happy about her mother's latest folly: her upcoming wedding to former Wall Street financier, Sam Sterling. Jasmine doesn't like her future stepfather, or his values. Anybody with as much money as Sam, should be spreading it around, aiding worthy causes, making it count for something. Instead, he seems intent on using his wealth to embarrass her mother by throwing a ridiculously lavish wedding. But there's one thing about Sam that Jasmine can't help but admire, no matter how much she'd like to--the graduate student he's hired as an intern.
Brandon Ablemarle is also finding it hard to get into the holiday spirit. Especially since his dream job has just become a nightmare, thanks in part to the fiery redhead with some of the goofiest ideas he's ever heard of. But what else can you expect from the daughter of a self-proclaimed psychic? Marsha Quinn has a lot to answer for. Not only has she encouraged her daughter's esoteric craziness, she's also turned one of the most brilliant stock analysts Wall Street had ever seen into a nutcase as well. One who actually appears to believe that the answers to the stock market can be found in the stars!
It's a clash of ideologies when Jasmine and Brandon get together. Can the spirit of the season, and the spirit of the place help them to see beyond their differences?
Releasing this December!
Christmasing With You
An LA Love Lessons/Ugly Christmas Sweater Story
The sweater was just the beginning…
Mike's been a very good boy this year and Santa Claire has the perfect present picked out for him—one that's both naughty and nice!
One more disaster could be the end…
Mike and Claire were hoping their first Christmas together would be unforgettable. But when their sexy, adult-film-themed weekend abruptly veers into low-budget, chiller-diller territory, they’re left to worry that this Christmas will turn out to be memorable in all the worst ways.
An isolated cabin, a winter storm, a hungry cougar—what could possibly go wrong? In a word: everything.
This Ugly Christmas Sweater short story features the characters Mike and Claire from Let Me Count the Ways (LA Love Lessons, book 3).
Releasing next Christmas as part of the Snowed in and Spiteful project.
Spicy Nick
Part of the Naughty List
An Oberon Christmas Story
It’s beginning to look a lot like NIX-mas!
Nick Greco is getting worried. His wife has never been a big fan of the holiday season, but this year she seems more distant than ever before. In fact, the last time that he can remember seeing her this distracted was right before their wedding—when she tried to back out of marrying him.
Can you get cold feet after the fact? Is Scout feeling overwhelmed by the holidays? Or underwhelmed by…gulp…him?
Whatever the cause, Nick has a plan. He’s going to spice up their marriage and put the heat back in the holidays. And when he’s done, Scout won’t be saying, “Bah Humbug!” She’ll be saying, “ho, ho…OH!”
Releasing December 8, 2024 as part of The Naughty List.
Now available for pre-order.
Scheduled for release December 8, 2024 as part of The Naughty List collection.
If Only in my Dreams
An Oberon Christmas Story
'Twas the night before Christmas and Scout Patterson was flying home to Oberon after a business trip to LA. But now, thanks to a chance, mid-air meeting with an angel, she's dreaming of a weird Christmas—one in which she sees what the town would have been like if she had never returned.
All Scout wanted this holiday season was to be home for Christmas. But when your home is in quirky, magical Oberon, California, things are rarely ever that simple!
Sea Change
An Oberon Novella
In this sequel to the Oberon series, Cara and Liam are still trying to find their footing on the sometimes rocky road to happily ever after...
When the going gets tough...the tough go cruising?
Love is supposed to overcome any obstacles—that’s what Cara always thought. But when love alone is not enough to help her overcome the trauma in her past, she knows it’s time to get creative.
Surely a change of scenery would help. A week at sea—new faces, new places, a fresh start with no expectations—how could that be anything but fun? At least that’s what her boyfriend Liam thinks when he books them on a romantic cruise vacation along the California coast.
Cara’s not so sure. She thinks the trip is likely to be a lot of things—memorable, life altering, a turning point. Fun isn’t one of them.
But, with so much at stake, and a New Year fast approaching, there’s only one thing the two of them can agree on: they’re both willing to try just about anything to make love last.
Free For The Holidays
Counting On Christmas
I originally wrote this short story for the Nine Naughty Novelists' Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. It's short—just two scenes--about Mike and Claire's (Let Me Count the Ways) first Christmas together. I always wondered how their weekend might have turned out. Did it live up to their expectations? Were all their fantasies fulfilled?
This year I got to explore the answer when I wrote Christmasing With You which will release next year as part of the Snowed in and Spiteful project! (see below for details).
And, in the meantime, download Counting On Christmas HERE
Gingerbread Kisses
I was busy writing Christmas Angel when I was asked to write a piece of holiday-themed flash fiction using the prompts: lamppost, gingerbread, stockings. And this is what came out. It's a flashback scene (ten years earlier) showing the heroes moving from friends to lovers during their first Christmas together. It's short and sweet and the cover is just fun!
You can read it online on my blog: Rhymes With Foreplay
Or, if you want to download the ebook, join my readers group: The Crone's Nest
This Winter Night
Winter Hearts 0.25
Newlyweds Dario and Ophelia Leonides are passionately in love. The only things marring their happiness are Lia's homesickness and continued inability to conceive a child.
Dario would do anything to make Lia smile again. He's hoping to use the miraculous technology his father-in-law has pioneered, combined with the magic inherent in his native land. But calling upon the forces of Kokopeli may have unintended consequences.
This prequel to This Winter Heart is available as a FREE READ.
Click HERE to download.
Winter World of Love
Winter Hearts 0.75
December 24, 1871
Just one short year ago, Ophelia Leonides returned to New Texacali hoping to reconcile with her husband. And, for a while, it seemed that most, if not all, her dreams were coming true. But as the holiday season approaches, Ophelia can’t help but notice that Dario has begun to brood. He says it has nothing to do with her, but trust, once lost, is hard to regain.
Dario is frustrated by his inability to give Ophelia the life he knows she deserves. Now, as old ghosts from his past draw close, and the bright future he’s promised his wife grows increasingly dim, he’s on the brink of making a last, desperate gamble--one that might destroy everything they've been hoping to achieve.
Currently available ONLY to members of my Facebook Group.
Click here to join: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheCronesNest
Also In The Works...
Last Room at the Inn
An LA Love Lessons/Ugly Christmas Sweater Story
All April and Zach had planned for Christmas was a quiet getaway...but even the best plans can go awry. Especially at Christmas time.
This Ugly Christmas Sweater short story features the characters April and Zach from Love from A to Z (LA Love Lessons, book 2).
The White Elephant Gift Exchange
A Games We Play/Ugly Christmas Sweater Story
It was not a pretty sweater.
I had tried my hardest, but perhaps a sweater was not the smartest project for a beginning knitter to attempt. I always feel like I can do just about anything I set my mind to, and that confidence usually serves me well. But this time, even I have to admit that’s not the case.
I had just wanted Jackson to know how much I’d thought about him while he was gone. I’d wanted him to take this sweater back with him to college, and to wear it every day…or at least until the weather broke. I’d hoped he’d be reminded of me every time he put it on. And that that connection—that sense of his being literally, physically, virtually, and in every-other-which-way wrapped in my love—would help us both feel closer to each other. And maybe a little less lonely.
That didn't work out either.
Chasing Daylight
A Children of Night/Ugly Christmas Sweater Story
This story takes place at the same time as Light Up the Night, but the focus is on Jason and Liz (Going Back to Find You) and their introduction to the BitterRidge Werewolf Pack.
Liz and Jason are star-crossed lovers who got a second chance at love. But the years apart have changed them. When their friend, Brook, is kidnapped by werewolves the two must work together as a team in order to help save her.
As the BiitterRidge pack's alpha, Madclaws (Klaus) Winterborn has his hands full when a botched and unauthorized "rescue and recovery" mission results in a potentially violent confrontation with some very angry vampires and their fae ally.
Going Home for Christmas
An Oberon/LA Love Lessons Crossover story
Waiting on Santa
An Oberon/LA Love Lessons Crossover story
If Every Day Was Christmas
An Oberon Christmas Story
After a Christmas where everything went wrong, Lucy wishes for a do-over. And, you know what they say: "Be careful what you wish for!"
Love Knows No Season
An Oberon Christmas Story
No real blurb yet, just this small tease: When Kate and Cole's GiGi visits the family for Christmas, she brings her new beau along with her, which sends her son, suspicious cop Nick, into a tizzy.
Lucy: "You didn't know he was coming with her?"
Nick: "Of course I didn't know! I didn't know he even existed! Wait. Did you know?"
Lucy: "Well...my parents might have mentioned something about it."
Nick: "Un-freaking-believable. You know what this means, don't you? My Mom's been keeping secrets from me!"
Lucy. "Looks like. But you know what's interesting about that?"
Nick: "What?"
Lucy: "I swear I remember overhearing your mom and mine having a very similar conversation about you back when we were teens. Funny, isn't it?"
Nick: "Yeah, it's freaking hilarious."
Dancing in the Dark
A Children of Night Story
Sometimes living forever is not all it's cracked up to be.
1956 Winnipeg, Canada. Once Armand Renaud realizes that eternal youth is a real possibility, nothing will deter him from achieving his goal. And after one hundred years of solitude, Conrad can’t bring himself to resist the handsome young dancer who’s hellbent on being turned.
They both know they’re not destined to be the great loves of each other’s lives, but there are worse ways to pass a long and lonely decade or two than in the arms of a passionate stranger.
Living forever might not be everything they’d hoped for. But, at least they can still get a few things right. Can't they?
Christmas Makes Me Cry
A Children of Night/Ugly Christmas Sweater Story
Hawk's been in love with Heather for a long time. Now she's found someone else and he's having a blue Christmas. But perhaps a New Year's Eve kiss will change all of that?
The Heart of Christmas
A Heartwood, TX/Ugly Christmas Sweater Story
Description coming soon.
Future Collections...
A Very Oberon Christmas
An Oberon Christmas Collection
A very special collection of Oberon Christmas stories. Includes the short stories, If Only in My Dreams, Love Knows No Season, and If Everyday Was Christmas, AS WELL AS the full length novel, The Spirit of the Place.
Winterlude
A Winter Hearts Christmas Collection
Includes This Winter's Night, Winter World of Love and Winter of Our Discontent, and a sneak peek at Lightning in a Bottle.
Currently available only to newsletter subscribers.
'Twas the Bite Before Christmas
A Children of Night Holiday Collection
Combines Going Back to Find You, Light Up the Night, and Chasing Daylight plus bonus content, Can't Fight the Moonlight.
All Through the Night
A Children of Night Holiday Collection
Combines Light Up the Night, Christmas Makes Me Cry and Dancing in the Dark.
Sweater Weather
An Ugly Christmas Sweater Holiday Collection
Will include Christmasing with You and Last Room at the Inn, and possibly the Oberon/LA Love Lessons Crossover novellas, Waiting On Santa and Going Home For Christmas.