Guest Blogger & Contest with THE ARMS OF WINTER's Romance Author Donya Lynne

THE ARMS IOF WINTER

GUEST BLOG

WITH

ROMANCE AUTHOR

DONYA LYNNE

Hello, everybody! I'm so happy to be guesting here today, introducing you to my new book, The Arms of Winter, which was just released on June 30 by Silver Publishing. The Arms of Winter is a touching M/M love story about two best friends who find their way back to each other after a tragic event forces Sam Winter from the military career he thought he would always have.

I write both M/F and M/M romance. To me, romance is romance, and M/M allows me to explore powerful sources of conflict and adversity. And anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE adding conflict to my stories. Doing so is a fabulous way of evoking emotions, and when I have readers tell me my stories make them cry, I know I've done my job and used conflict effectively. With the social issues surrounding homosexuality, the potential for adversity is immense.

Additionally, the reading public has spoken. Readers want M/M romance. My M/M pieces out-sell my M/F pieces by almost two to one. If a romance author isn't writing M/M, they're missing an opportunity to reach a wider audience and to give readers what they are screaming they want.

With that said, I'm normally all about the paranormal. Vampires, fairies, mystical creatures. That's where I typically live when I write. If you've read the first two books (Rise of the Fallen and Heart of the Warrior) in my All the King's Men series, you already know this. I just love straying from the human world into one of dark fantasy and magical powers.

However, a call for submission by Silver Publishing last year caught my eye. They wanted stories about men and women in uniform. I've got a thing for snipers, so this appealed to me, and I very quickly found the idea forming for The Arms of Winter. Immediately, I sat down and cranked out the draft and sent it off to my beta readers. One loved it so much that she said it was her favorite piece of all she'd read by me. I submitted it, and several weeks later Silver contacted me to inform me they'd accepted the piece.

The Arms of Winter is what I would call an erotic love story, and it's full of all my trademark emotional upheaval, conflict, and adversity, only in smaller doses than I use in my paranormal work. In my world, a story just isn't a story without a good dose of conflict and adversity. It's like Miracle Whip for fiction. LOL.

Hopefully, you will enjoy The Arms of Winter as much as my beta readers did. And if your thing is more paranormal, look up my All the King's Men series. You're sure to sink your fangs into those stories as much as this one. I never thought I'd branch away from my paranormal roots, but now that I've written The Arms of Winter, I think I'll venture down more normal and "human" roads in my stories more often, and if things work out, there might just be a sequel to The Arms of Winter. I've already had a couple of fans suggest there needs to be one, so stay tuned. There might be more where this came from.

Book blurb:

After spending four months recovering from a brutal beating for being gay, Sam Winter is medically discharged from the Army. At his family's estate in Kentucky, he faces his father's condemnation and his mother's denial about his homosexuality. The one thing he is certain about is his feelings for his best friend, Cooper Brown, whom Sam has secretly been attracted to since high school.

For years, Cooper has harbored a secret attraction toward Sam and is finally ready to tell him. During a camping trip to their childhood stomping grounds, they open up and their friendship expands in ways neither thought possible.

However, when an explosive confrontation occurs, Sam's and Cooper's fates are decided in one harsh moment of truth.

Currently available at Silver Publishing and on Amazon, but will be available at Barnes & Noble, All Romance ebooks, and everywhere by July 15.

The Arms of Winter on Amazon

The Arms of Winter at Silver Publishing

File Size:318 KB

Print Length:181 pages

Publisher:Phoenix Press; 1 edition (March 23, 2012)

Sold by:Amazon Digital Services

Language:English

Book One - All the King's Men: Vampire enforcer Micah Black falls into despair after losing his mate, only to bond to spunky blonde Sam Garrett when she saves his life from an enemy who will stop at nothing to kill them both.

In the streets of Chicago exists an uneasy, centuries-old truce between vampires and their distant cousins, a race of shifters called drecks. Vampire enforcement agency, All the King’s Men (AKM), is charged with maintaining the truce, but when volatile enforcer Micah Black loses his mate and falls into the biological agony that results from the broken bond, he tests the boundaries of the truce by seeking out Apostle, a leader in the dreck community. Micah wants Apostle to kill him, a request Apostle is more than happy to fulfill.

When ex-Army medic Samantha Garrett inadvertently disrupts the plot and saves Micah’s life, a chain reaction sets Micah’s heart on a collision course with Sam’s, but he will have to protect her from Apostle and her obsessive ex-husband, Steve, if they will have a chance at forever. Can Micah hold his emotions together to keep Sam alive?

File Size:401 KB

Publisher:Phoenix Press; 1 edition (May 23, 2012)

Sold by:Amazon Digital Services

Language:English

Book Two - All the King's Men: Arion and Severin are vampire enforcers with deep secrets and oppressive pasts they struggle to overcome and which threaten their relationship as they come to terms with their feelings for each other.

Severin was born to be a warrior. Conceived as a mixed-blood when his vampire father raped his dreck mother over two centuries ago, Severin retained the power of iron skin inherent to newborn drecks. However, Sev keeps this secret closely guarded. If it's discovered that inferior dreck blood flows in his vampire veins, it could destroy his life. And to make matters worse, his father suddenly wants to make amends for his transgressions. Sev wants nothing of his father's apology, especially now, as he contends with both an assassin who has marked Sev for blood vengeance and his obsessive attraction to his teammate, Arion.

Arion is the son of King Bain's liaison, Gregos Savakis, who had Ari's course plotted before he was even born. But what Ari's overbearing parents wanted for him wasn't what Arion wanted for himself, and a lifetime spent fighting through one relationship after another with females from all walks of life has left him weary in his search for a mate. After a startling and erotic encounter with Sev, Ari has begun to realize why. He's gay. And now he can't stop thinking about Sev. Arion suddenly realizes he's been forcing himself to be with females because that's what his parents expected. But what he wants is a male, and not just any male. Arion wants Severin.

Can the two overcome the secrets, prejudice, plotting, and the threat on Severin's life to find happily ever after with each other?

Meet Donya Lynne:

Donya resides in Indianapolis, Indiana, with her husband and a small zoo of cats and dogs. In fact, her writing buddy, Lucky, serves as her writing assistant most days, staying right by her side and distracting Donya with her adorable-ness when needed. Because, hey, every author needs a distraction once in a while.

 As a little girl, Donya always had a book in her hand. As she got older, the books became pens and notebooks, which she filled with stories and poetry. For as long as she remembers, she has been writing and studying the writing craft with the goal of being published one day. She is passionate about providing readers with what she calls an experience. She wants readers to be able to sink into her stories and escape reality for just a little while, and every word is written, and every sentence structured, with that goal in mind.

 Donya loves music and often finds inspiration for her stories in the wide range of music she listens to. But occasionally it's a movie, a book, or just a drive around town that inspires her work. She constantly reads new material, new authors, and different styles of writing as a means to improve her own, and believes the writing process is one an author should always strive to perfect, even though perfecting it is an impossible feat. It's the thrill of the chase and the challenge that keeps her from getting stagnant in her own work.

 She has several projects planned and in progress, including eight more novels and two novellas in the All the King's Men series, as well as several stand-alone novels, another series, and several short stories and novellas. She would love to share her journey with you in this exciting venture.

CONTEST 

THE PRIZE: One (1) lucky reader will win an ebook copy of THE ARMS OF WINTER by Donya Lynne. 


TO ENTER: Leave a comment for Donya Lynne including your email address (Email address are required for ALL entries.) 

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*Connect with RCJR eZine at:

 

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Contest is open to ALL

It will runs until July 8,2012

I will contact the winners directly on July 9, 2012

HAPPY READING! =)