“We might get that first snowfall they were talking about after all,” I remark.
I slow down on the highway and turn off onto a secondary road with a large sign to one side. Kylie doesn’t know Tanner Springs very well yet, so she doesn’t know where I’m taking her. She leans forward in her seat to read the sign. When she has, she lets out a little squeak of excitement.
“A Christmas tree farm?” she cries. “Oh my gosh, that’s the best! I’ve never done this before! Hell, I don’t even think I’ve ever had a real tree before!”
“I figured since it’s gonna be our first Christmas together, we should do it up right.”
Kylie’s like a little kid as we wander through the farm together. There’s cider and hot cocoa, and all around us there are couples and families scattered around.
We walk through the rows of different trees for a while, and Kylie decides we should buy one of the ones that are already cut. We go over to the pre-cut area, and she examines practically every damn tree like it’s a life or death decision. She chatters about where we should put it, and how big it should be.
“We don’t have any ornaments, though,” she says, looking serious as she sips her hot cocoa. “We’ll have to work on that.”
We finally choose one she likes, and I pay for it. Just as we’re loading it into the pickup, sure enough, a few light flakes of snow start to fall.
Kylie turns to me, her eyes shining. “It’s so perfect,” she whispers. “I can’t believe it.”
I reach for her hand, and fold it into mine.
“Merry first Christmas, babe,” I murmur.
“Merry first Christmas. I love you so much, Cam,” she breathes.
“I love you, too, Ky,” I tell her. “Always.”
Daphne talks out her ass about Hale
Hey there!
I’ve decided to start telling readers about some of the stuff that’s going on in my life as I finish my books. Why? Well, because even though as an indie author, I am very lucky to have a pretty decent amount of personal contact with my readers, I sometimes still feel like there’s a bit of a “mysterious veil” over authors. Like we’re these celebrities with fabulous lives – or, alternately, like we’re basically writing bots, who sit at our computers and write all the wordz every day, and then someone presses a button and we go into the closet in sleep mode until the next day.
Another thing is, there are often little bits of my conversations with readers that end up going into my books in unexpected ways. Sometimes they end up as characters. Or sometimes, they inspire a scene in the book. So, I thought I’d tell you about some of them, as they occur to me.
So. Let me tell you about one of the scenes in this book:
I have a reader who has come to see me at a couple of different book signings. Her name is Rachelle, and she’s awesome. The last time I saw her was in September, when I was at a signing in Madison, Wisconsin. She came over to my table and was chatting with me and Mr. Loveling. I had brought with me a little motorcycle squeeze/stress ball as a swag item, which I had had personalized with the Lords of Carnage logo. The thing is, I had planned to bring a bunch of these things, but unfortunately, the swag didn’t arrive in time, so all I had for that signing was the sample one that the company had sent me.
As we were talking, I decided to give Rachelle that one – because she’s awesome and I wanted her to have the only one of these that were currently in existence! She thanked me, and then a few days later she messaged me and told me that her son, Timothy, had immediately commandeered it when she got home and basically hadn’t let go of it since!
Well, I was working on this book at the time, and I was looking toward the epilogue, when Angel and Jewel were going to have their baby. I actually hadn’t decided yet whether the baby was going to be a boy or a girl. I had great reasons for both, but I just couldn’t talk myself into one or the other. But a day or so after Rachelle told me about Timothy and the squeeze motorcycle, I suddenly had my answer.
So, Angel and Jewel’s little boy is named Timothy. For Rachelle’s son.
And the motorcycle? Well, as you’ve already seen, I turned it into a stuffed toy. Because let’s face it, a stress ball is kind of a weird as shit present for a newborn.
Love and margaritas,
Daphne
Coming January 8, 2019
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Did you like HALE?
There are more books in the Lords of Carnage series! Each of them is completely stand-alone, with no cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed HEA!
GHOST: Lords of Carnage MC Book 1
CAS
They call me Ghost for a reason. Silent and in the shadows, I don't make my move until I am absolutely sure of everything.
Four years ago I was sure about Jenna. My best friend's kid sister had grown up into a spitfire I couldn't resist.
One night we stopped resisting...
We promised we'd keep it a secret. It was a one-time mistake, but we'd put it behind us. Jenna left but I kept my word.
Jenna tried to get out of our corrupt town, but it pulled her back in again. Now she needs help. She needs protection.
I'll do all of that for her, if she'll just shut the hell up and let me.
She can even keep all of her secrets, except for one...
JENNA
The Lords of Carnage MC has haunted me from the moment I was born.
No matter how much I try to get away, they are there -- waiting to pull me back into the life that stole my father, my mother and then my brother from me.
The ghosts of my past keep rising from the dead.
Now the past is stirring again and all I want to do is run away.
I'm back in the world I fled, and the secrets and lies of my whole family are about to be laid bare.
But it's not just me anymore. I've got my little boy to look out for, too. I’m his only family.
And his father has no idea he exists.
I swore I would never go back to the MC. I swore I would never make the same mistakes again.
But making mistakes with Casper Watkins is too hard to resist…
Click here to read GHOST
Other books in the series can be found HERE!
Did you like this book?
You can make a big difference!
Reviews are the most powerful tool in any independent author’s toolbox when it comes to getting attention for our books.
I don’t have the financial power of a big New York publisher, so I can’t take out huge full-page ads in the paper to advertise my novels.
But I do have something even better:
A wonderful group of loyal and dedicated readers.
Honest reviews of my books help bring them to the attention of other readers.
If you liked this book, I would be so grateful if you would leave a review of it on the book’s Amazon page. It can be as short as you like. You can jump right to the page by clicking on this link.
Thank you so much!
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Warmly,
Daphne
Daphne Loveling is a small-town girl who moved to the big city as a young adult in search of adventure. She lives in the American Midwest with her fabulous husband and the two cats who own them.
Someday, she hopes to retire to a sandy beach and continue writing with sand between her toes.
You can connect with Daphne on Twitter at @daphneloveling, on her Facebook personal page at https://www.facebook.com/daphnelovelingwrites or her author page at https://www.facebook.com/authordaphneloveling
Her website is http://www.daphneloveling.com
Contact her via email at [email protected]
Books by Daphne Loveling
Motorcycle Club Romance
Rush: A Stone Kings Motorcycle Club Romance
Crash: A Stone Kings Motorcycle Club Romance
Ride: A Stone Kings Motorcycle Club Romance
Stand: A Stone Kings Motorcycle Club Romance
STONE KINGS MOTORCYCLE CLUB: The Complete Collection
GHOST: Lords of Carnage MC
HAWK: Lords of Carnage MC
BRICK: Lords of Carnage MC
GUNNER: Lords of Carnage MC
THORN: Lords of Carnage MC
BEAST: Lords of Carnage MC
ANGEL: Lords of Carnage MC
Los Perdidos MC
Fugitives MC
Throttle: A Stepbrother Romance
Sports Romance
Getting the Down
Snap Count
Zone Blitz
Players: The Springville Rockets Collection
Paranormal Romance
Untamed Moon
Collections
Daphne’s Delights: The Paranormal Collection
Daphne’s Delights: The Billionaire Collection
HALE: Lords of Carnage MC Page 17