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My CRAZY Life

Mad Cruel World

3/4/2021

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Mad Cruel World
A Dystopian Romance Anthology


with stories by:
Katia Rose, Victoria Ellis, T.L. Anderson, Cady Verdiramo, J.R. Rogue, Kim Deister,
Amanda Richardson, K Leigh, D.S. Wrights, Amanda Cuff, A.M. Johnson, Caitlyn Fournier




The world as we knew it was gone...
And we were the ones left to pick up its pieces.


Mad Cruel World


As the world began to recover from a global pandemic, an unknown event caused the planet to go dark. No phones, no cars, no hospital equipment, no electricity whatsoever. The world is now a wasteland through and through. Disease, famine, and war spread like wildfire. Some are lucky enough to have found refuge, and some have been left to fend for themselves.


Some have lost their husbands, their wives, their best friends…


Will they ever see them again?


Mad Cruel World asks the question: what happens to love in a world gone dark?
All of the stories featured in the Mad Cruel World Anthology are meant to be read as complete standalones and are not continuations of each other.


Goodreads * Amazon



Follow the tour HEREfor special content and a giveaway!


$10 Amazon Gift Card, 
 Paperback (a thriller) 
and swag from Victoria Ellis
 – 1 winner! 


a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Check out this freebie!

3/3/2021

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Title: Tattooed Dots
Author: Kimberly Knight
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Hosted by: Lady Amber's PR

Blurb:

From USA Today bestselling author Kimberly Knight, comes book one in her heartfelt and sexy Halo series.

 

Inspired by a True Story.

 

People are brought into our lives for many reasons. Over time, we find out who is meant to be a temporary acquaintance and who will be there for a lifetime.

 

Easton Crawford put his modeling career before his marriage until it was ending in divorce. Years later, he is finally learning how to be the father his daughter needs him to be. He’s not looking for someone to step into the mother role—just nightly casual hook-ups.

 

When his best friend convinces him that a good way to meet single women is to go on a singles cruise, he finds more than just a one night stand.

 

At age thirteen, Brooke Bradley became an adult, raising her younger sister while her mother continually ignored her parenting responsibilities. Since then, Brooke has continued to take care of the people in her life, including her deadbeat boyfriend, Jared.

 

For Brooke’s thirtieth birthday, her best friend surprises her with a cruise but fails to mention it’s a singles cruise. When Brooke meets Easton, the one man willing to be her constant, will she finally find the courage to leave Jared?

 

Easton knows that Brooke is someone who is meant to be in his life forever, but when a health scare threatens to change everything, Brooke and Easton are faced with unanswered questions and unspoken fears. Are Brooke and Easton only meant to be temporary acquaintances or are they brought into each other lives for a lifetime?

FREE FOR A LIMITED TIME!



Kimberly Knight is a USA Today Bestselling author who lives in the mountains near a lake in California with her loving husband, who is a great research assistant, and daughter, who keeps Kimberly on her toes. Kimberly writes in a variety of genres including romantic suspense, contemporary romance, erotic romance, and paranormal romance. Her books will make you laugh, cry, swoon, and fall in love before she throws you curve balls you never see coming.
When Kimberly isn’t writing, you can find her watching her favorite reality TV shows, binge-watching true crime documentaries, and going to San Francisco Giants games. She’s also a two-time desmoid tumor/cancer fighter, which has made her stronger and an inspiration to her fans.

Amazon | Goodreads | Facebook | Bookbub | Newsletter | Twitter | Website | Instagram

FREE FOR A LIMITED TIME!



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Releasing in two weeks!

3/2/2021

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Possessed by Passion: A Dark Romance Paranormal Collection
Published by Crazy Ink Publishing, LLC @CrazyInkPub
 
Releasing: March 16, 2021!
 
#PNR #Darkromance #Writingcommunity #Possessedbypassion #Possessed
 
UBL: https://books2read.com/POSSESSEDBP
 
 
Amazon: mybook.to/PBP
Apple: https://apple.co/3kqjj3e
 
Nook: https://bit.ly/33GUjhw
 
Kobo: https://bit.ly/35FXys0
 
 
 
✦•••✦ TWENTY-ONE NOVELLAS ✦•••✦
 
Passions pulsate.
Destinies collide.
Humans, angels, and demons alike are possessed with a common bind—desire.

Experience exquisite and sultry seraphs, demonic witches, a hellfire phoenix, a vengeful gargoyle, ordinary humans with dark sides, vampires, werewolves, ghostly spirits, and other creatures of the night, who will whet your desire for romance and seduction. Travel with them into their worlds as they lust for love, romance, and pleasure.

Will they find what they are searching for? Will you?
Find out in this twenty-plus, limited time paranormal and dark romance collection by USA Today, international bestselling, and award-winning authors.

Experience the passion.
Readers of Anne Rice, Debbie Paterson, Linda Howard, Dean Koontz, Kristen Ashley, and Paul Tremblay will love this dark collection! One click now to become POSSESSED…
 
✦•••✦ ONE PASSION ✦•••✦
 
Featuring the works of USA Today and International Bestselling Authors:
 
Bella Emy – USA Today Bestseller – For Better or For Cursed
Alyssa Drake – USA Today Bestseller – For Better or For Cursed
Cora Kenborn - USA Today Bestseller – Cast Stones
Catherine Wiltcher – Amazon All Star – Cast Stones
Erin Lee - USA Today Bestseller – Blank Slate
Olivia Marie –USA Today Bestseller– Blood Bound
Lorah Jaiyn - USA Today Bestseller – The Immortal Stone
Murphy Wallace – International Bestseller – Death in the Flames
N Isabelle Blanco – International Bestseller – Malice
Rena Marin - International Bestseller – The Arisen
Rita Delude - International Bestseller – Driven by Desire
M W Brown - International Bestseller – Under the Moonlight
Diana Register – International Bestseller – Electric Man
Stephanie Ayers - International Bestseller – Blood White
Yolanda Allard - International Bestseller – Gargoyles: Stone Curse
Sian B. Claven - International Bestseller – Neutral Ground
LJC Fynn - International Bestseller – Blank Slate
John Watson - International Bestseller – The Hollow-Eyed Girl
Tiffany Carby - International Bestseller – Meet Cut(e)
Michelle Edwards - International Bestseller – Demonic Destiny
Tracy A. Ball - International Bestseller – Blood Like Rain
Eve Corso – International Bestseller – Spellbound
Marie Ahls – International Bestseller – Villainous
Rheanon Nicole – International Bestseller – His Soul to Keep
Cloud S Riser – International Bestseller – Queen of Stone
 
✦•••✦ GET POSSESSED ✦•••✦
 
Like our page:
Possessed by Passion facebook.com/PossessedbyPassion/

Join our party room: 
facebook.com/groups/PossessedbyPassion/
 
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/PossessdPassion

Instagram: 
https://www.instagram.com/possessedbypassion/

Website:
http://www.possessedbypassion.com/

Pinterest:
https://www.pinterest.com/erinlee1974/possessed-by-passion/

MeWe:
https://mewe.com/group/5d261d2c7de78327357cdb67
​
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The Half that You See

2/27/2021

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The Half That You See
Genre: Horror Anthology
Edited by Rebecca Rowland

“Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.”
-The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether by Edgar Allan Poe (1845)

Poe’s classic tale told of a state of the art hospital boasting a curiously experimental treatment, but things were not as they seemed. In The Half That You See, twenty-six writers from around the globe share their literary optical illusions in never before seen stories of portentous visions and haunting memories, altered consciousness and virulent nightmares, disordered thinking and descents into madness. Take a walk down the paths of perception that these dark fiction raconteurs have tunneled for you, but keep a tight grip on your flashlight: the course twists and turns, and once you’re on route to your destination, there is no turning back. That which creeps about in the poorly lit corners of the human mind has teeth, and it’s waiting for you.


"Chalk" by Elin Olausson
A young man rents a room at a bed & breakfast and meets a girl who sleepwalks during the day and is only herself at night. 


"Winnebago Indian Motorhome by Tonka" by Eddie Generous
Chasing down nostalgia, Josh Dolan buys a vintage Tonka Winnebago, but it isn't quite like the toy he'd had as a kid; this Winnebago knows the future, and it knows Claire Dolan's secrets.


"Sepia Grass" by Sam Hicks
A young man begins to question the recurrent visions he has always believed to be flashbacks to a childhood drug overdose.


"Prisoner "by T.M. Starnes
Kidnapped prisoners sometimes survive, but that's when their terror truly begins.


"Turn a Blind Eye" by Kelly Griffiths
An explosion leaves an ornery pharmacist with shards of mortar in his eyes and disturbing changes to his vision, especially when he looks in the mirror.


"Falling Asleep in the Rain" by Robert P. Ottone
A man recounts his youth through a dream, revealing as a young boy his experiments with love for another boy, only to face the ire of his murderous father.


"Black Dog Blues" by Luciano Marano
In a story inspired by an actual urban legend popular among American truckers about a spectral black dog that appears to drivers just before a lethal crash, a haunted man recounts his own devastating encounter with the creature and sets out for revenge with a hapless hitchhiker reluctantly in tow. 


"Imaginary Friends" by Nicole Wolverton
Julie Strawbridge is called in to see the principal of her nephew Augie's school after he is expelled for selling imaginary friends to his classmates for a dollar.


"Boogeyman" by Susie Schwartz
One boogeyman; two perspectives, and the horror of mental illness that torments them both.


"Safe as Houses" by Alex Giannini
Carrie and Will moved into a new home, into a new phase of their lives. But every love story is a ghost story, and theirs is no different. 


"The New Daddy" by Scotty Milder
A crumbling marriage and a new home is filtered through the eyes of its smallest witness.


"Cauterization" by Mack Moyer
A woman on a methamphetamine binge harbors a dark secret from her past that begins to manifest in vivid waking nightmares that may, or may not, be real.


"The Tapping at Cranburgh Grange" by Felice Picano
When an American couple leases and then buys a manse in England, they become aware of a strange noise only some people can hear. 


"Elsewhere" by Bill Davidson
Colin lives a stressful life in an overcrowded flat with a sick daughter and a mother with dementia, in the middle of crammed and noisy London. More and more, however, he is elsewhere.


"Daughters of the Sun" by Matt Masucci
A retired homicide detective living in Florida finds that a past case investigating a dark nature cult twists into his reality.


"The Coffin" by Victoria Dalpe
A young woman still grieving a recent loss discovers an exhumed coffin on the street. 


"Old Times" by Mark Towse
A man suspects his wife is cheating on him, and when she leaves for the evening, he considers the possibility over a bottle with an old friend.


"Lonely is the Starfish" by Lena Ng
Many people have pets, but one lonely young man becomes too close to his pet starfish.


"Hagride" by Justine Gardner
A cormorant speaks, and Josie tries not to listen as it begins to resemble ghosts from her past.


"Raven O’Clock" by Holley Cornetto
A man seeking shelter from the tragedies of his life finds more than he bargained for in a mysterious cabin.


"Officer Baby Boy Blue" by Douglas Ford
An eye injury and a grotesque gift from a police officer in a hospital emergency room ultimately leads a young man to special properties of sight.


"The Intruder" by Lamont A. Turner

Suspecting someone has invaded her home and the homes of those close to her, a woman struggles with delusions that may not have originated with her.


"Alone in the Woods in the Deep Dark Night" by Edward R. Rosick
Trapped in his cabin by a howling snowstorm in the desolate wildness of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Gary Chandler finds that freezing isolation is only the beginning of a descent into bloody madness.

"Mesh" by Michael W. Clark
A regular guy wants too much control in the modern global community: over both his home and his wives.

"Der Hölle Racht" by Laura Saint Martin
A victim of domestic violence embarks on a drug-fueled journey and rampage.

"The Red Portrait" by Mahlon Smoke
A frustrated artist spies a forgotten portrait in a shop and finds himself consumed by its beauty.


**Get the anthology for $5 off or get $10 off the book/candle set HERE!**

Goodreads* Amazon





The Half That You See is written by twenty-six authors from five different countries, including Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award finalist Felice Picano, Feature Writer of the Year recipient Luciano Marano, and honorees from Ellen Datlow’s most recent Best Horror of the Year, Bill Davidson and Sam Hicks. Editor Rebecca Rowland is a dark fiction writer whose previous Dark Ink anthology curation work includes Ghosts, Goblins, Murder, and Madness and Shadowy Natures: Stories of Psychological Horror. Dark Ink Books is the proud home of UnMasked, the best-selling memoir of horror legend Kane Hodder, and Savini, the special effects icon’s coffee table biography.


Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram



Follow the tour HEREfor special content and a giveaway!

$10 Amazon giftcard, 
Mystery Box of Books
 – 1 winner each! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway



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The Master of My Life

2/21/2021

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Title: Master of My Life (Finding Sabrina, #3)
Author: Marissa Honeycutt
Genre: Dark Romance, Dark Paranormal Romance, Suspense, Political Thriller
Cover Designer: Dani Rene-Raven Designs
Editor: Ms.K Edits
Developmental Editor: Kristi Cramer
Publication Date: March 18th,2021
Hosted by: Lady Amber’s PR

Blurb:
Evil is Coming…

 

Between her love of dance and Chase, Sabrina finally feels she found her place in the world. Yet somewhere in the darkness her Master is waiting... watching for the perfect opportunity to wield her as his greatest weapon.

 

Chase would give her his heart and build a beautiful future with her, if Sabrina could battle back the darkness brewing within her. But the Master’s control is clawing at her, tempting her into submission.

 

The war between good and evil has begun, with Sabrina as its unwilling target. Loyalties will be tested. Patience rewarded. As the powers that be rise and fall, who will be left standing in the end? And what side will Sabrina choose?

 

The compelling conclusion to the Finding Sabrina Series ends with Master of My Life, the epic finale fans have been waiting for!

 

***Please Note: The series was originally designated as a four-book series. Because of the amount of time that has passed since I published Part Two, I've decided to conclude the series with one large volume. Sabrina's story is now a three-book series.

 NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!



I started my first writing journal in 7th grade after a dream about my favorite boy band, New Kids on the Block. A dream also inspired the writing of The Life of Anna and Distorted Hope. I dreamed I was kidnapped with Adam Savage from Mythbusters and taken to Mexico. That dream ultimately morphed into the book now known as Distorted Hope.

 

I never set out to become a published author. I never imagined that there were other people out there with twisted minds like my own. But after sharing rough drafts of The Life of Anna, I decided to be brave and publish the first part of Anna's story, Enslaved. When The Life of Anna took off as it did, I was in complete shock. The success of the books humbled and encouraged me. I've made such good friends through my writing and I can't imagine ever stopping.

 

I write for myself, but always keep my reader's hearts in mind. I follow my characters' lead and sometimes they lead me into the darkness, but there's always light somewhere, if you look hard enough. There's always hope.

 

I love hearing from my readers. They keep me going; keep me writing. An author is nothing without a reader.

 

Author Links:

Newsletter | Marissa’sWebsite | FacebookReaders Group | Amazon

Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter(@marihoneycutt) | Instagram | Bookbub


 NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!







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Sex dolls and soda shops! #Dollsfordays #romcom

2/19/2021

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Love to laugh? You won't be able to resist this book! It's time for the sex dolls to hit the soda shop! *Can be read as a standalone....

Petunias and Cream The Soda Shop Series
A Dollhouse Series Novella
Erin Lee and Rena Marin
#humorous #humor #romcom #romance #CrazyInk #DollhouseSeries #ShopSeries
Buy link: mybook.to/PetuniasNCreamSS

Sugar, spice and all the things nice:That’s what sex dolls are made of? Even Petunia is having a hard time getting her head around the old cliché. Lately, and after more than a year of domestic bliss, she’s had hankerings to break outside the proverbial cardboard travel box. Armed with a plan to show her Guy some fun, Petunia becomes determined to spice things up not only in the bedroom but kitchen too. If all goes to plan, it will start with a trip to the soda shop and end with a pop only a silicone princess could dream up…
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Finding Forever

2/10/2021

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Finding Forever
A Shifter Anthology
Genre: Mixed Paranormal Shifter Fantasy, Romance


People long for their happy ending in life.
Crossing over to the dark side may be where mine is hiding.
Do I have the courage to cross, or am I locked in a world where I will never be happy?

Includes:
More Than My Eyes – Jessica Gleave
Wish – K.O. Newman
Heart of a Raven - Nathalie M.L. Römer
Bree – Gemma Arlington
Translucent Moon – Grein Murray
Shadowed Water – S.E. Welsh

A Shifter Anthology brought to you by Kay Maree.


Add to Goodreads
Amazon US * Amazon UK * Amazon CA



Follow the tour HEREfor special content and a giveaway!

$10 Amazon giftcard, 
ebook of The Dirty Dozen Cowboy Edition, 
ebook of Finding Forever 
– 1 winner each! 


 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

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To Hell and Back: A reverse harem paranormal

2/9/2021

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Title: To Hell and Back
Author: Harper A. Brooks & Mila Young
Genre: Paranormal Reverse Harem
Editor: Dara Horcasitas
Cover Designer: Phoenix Premade Designs
Publication Date: April 29th, 2021
Hosted by: Lady Amber's PR

Blurb:

They were trying to get back to Hell... But Hell showed up at our door.

The epic and alluring demon romance continues with To Hell and Back! Don't be left in the dark. 1-click to get your copy today!



Harper A. Brooks lives in a small town on the New Jersey shore. Even though classic authors have always filled her bookshelves, she finds her writing muse drawn to the dark, magical, and romantic. But when she isn't creating entire worlds with sexy shifters or legendary love stories, you can find her either with a good cup of coffee in hand or at home snuggling with her furry, four-legged son, Sammy.

She writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance.

RONE Award Winner

USA TODAY Bestselling Author

International Bestselling Author

Author Links:

Amazon | Twitter | Goodreads | Website 

Instagram | Facebook | Bookbub | Reader Group



Bestselling Author, Mila Young tackles everything with the zeal and bravado of the fairytale heroes she grew up reading about. She slays monsters, real and imaginary, like there's no tomorrow. By day she rocks a keyboard as a marketing extraordinaire. At night she battles with her mighty pen-sword, creating fairytale retellings, and sexy ever after tales. In her spare time, she loves pretending she's a mighty warrior, cuddling up with her cats, and devouring every fantasy tale she can get her pinkies on.

Author Links:

Facebook | ReaderGroup | Twitter | Instagram

Website | Goodreads | Bookbub | Amazon







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Eternally Yours...

2/8/2021

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Title: Eternally Yours
Author: Harper A. Brooks & Olivia Boothe
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Editor: Amalie Editorial
Cover Designer: Ravenborn Covers
Publication Date: Feb. 16th, 2021
Hosted by: Lady Amber's PR

Blurb:

She wasn’t looking for love. He gave her forever…

 

After being attacked by a wolf-like creature and left for dead, Loren Stone wakes in the house of a mysterious and sexy stranger. Something within her has changed. Her veins crave human blood. But it’s another type of hunger she finds herself fighting to control... her unrelenting need for Nicholas Guerra. She should hate the vampire who took everything she loved from her, yet is thrust into a battle against her own burning desire for him.

 

After centuries of being groomed to be the next vampire leader, Nicholas turned his back on his family to live among the humans. The last thing he expected was for his immortal life to collide with that of a mortal’s. Then... he watched Loren get attacked by the beast sent for him. Unwilling to let her die, he's forced to sire her. However Nicholas never expected to fall in love, and now he aches for the one woman he's forbidden to have.

 

From USA Today Bestselling Author Harper A. Brooks & Romance Author Olivia Boothe, comes a new sizzling paranormal romance that will leave you thirsting for more.

 

One-click to get your copy today!

 

**Eternally Yours is a standalone novel**

NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!



Harper A. Brooks lives in a small town on the New Jersey shore. Even though classic authors have always filled her bookshelves, she finds her writing muse drawn to the dark, magical, and romantic. But when she isn't creating entire worlds with sexy shifters or legendary love stories, you can find her either with a good cup of coffee in hand or at home snuggling with her furry, four-legged son, Sammy.

She writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance.

RONE Award Winner

USA TODAY Bestselling Author

International Bestselling Author

Author Links:

Amazon | Twitter | Goodreads | Website 

Instagram | Facebook | Bookbub | Reader Group

REAL LOVE AS IT IS. MESSY. COMPLICATED. AND SINFULLY ADDICTIVE.

 

Olivia enjoys crafting novels with deep, layered plots. Because it's not just about the first kiss and the happily ever after, it's about everything in between.

 

In addition to writing contemporary romance, Boothe also ventures in romantic suspense and adult fantasy.

 

When not locked away in her writing tower at the wee hours of the night, Olivia manages working a 9-5 job and wrangling a pack of alphas (a husband, three boys, and a doggo named Hunter). On occasion, she summons her tribe for a night of wine and shenanigans.

Author Links:

Amazon | Twitter | Goodreads | Website

Instagram | Facebook | Bookbub | Reader Group

NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!

She narrowed her eyes, the regret I’d seen in her gaze turning to contempt. “Fuck. You.”

I shouldn’t have enjoyed the pain flickering in her eyes, but dammit, she’d hit a part of me that only knew how to push back. “That’s the second time you’ve said it. Is that what you want then, for me to fuck you?”

Her hand met the side of my face so fast, I felt the sting and heard the sharp sound before I realized what happened. Startled, I stared at her, and the blue in her eyes changed to red, fangs pushing past her lips.

I deserved that slap and more for being such a prick. But shit, there was something maddeningly sexy about seeing her so full of rage and transformed. As I gazed into the glow of her eyes, I felt a stream of hot liquid trickle down my chin. Reaching up to touch my face, I smelled the blood before feeling its warmth coat my fingers. I rotated my jaw to ease the throbbing pain of her blow. She’d not only clocked me good, she’d cut me. From the amount of blood, the gash had been deep.

She’d wanted to piss me off, but her anger and defiance only made me burn hotter for her. Using my thumb, I smeared the blood across her lips, mocking her attempts to rile me, but also needing to quell my need to touch her. “How’s that taste, Beastie?”

Her eyes became glossy as she licked the blood off her lips, the sight of her tongue brushing across her plump mouth making my body stiffen and sending an electric current straight to my cock.

“Do it,” she said, leaning in, her voice breathy. “Fuck me. Or are you only about empty threats?”

I loved the mischief in her eyes and the challenge in her words. She could try to deny it if she wanted, but I felt it. How badly she wanted me to kiss her. How needy she was for my blood. The smart thing would’ve been to end this dangerous game. There was no point in playing if I didn’t intend to finish.

But I was too weak against the lure of her shiny gaze and the warm scent of her skin. Drawing in close, I caged her in my arms as I placed my palms against the tree trunk, taking in that sweetness that perfumed her entire body. Bending my head down, I feathered my lips against the soft flesh of her neck, and whispered, “Oh, Beastie. I’ll only give you what you want if you beg for it.”

NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER!





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Excerpt from SHRINKING TINK!

2/5/2021

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To say I'm having a little fun with this one is an understatement! Curious about the AFTER TALES SERIES? Check out this unedited excerpt from #ShrinkingTink!

Chapter One
 
‘Atypical.’ Bullshit. They were the ones who didn’t get it. So what if I didn’t know when to smile or understand why it wasn’t perfectly logical to take things at face value? I was sick of being analyzed. Tink was too.
I slammed the door shut behind me, knowing full-well narky Leena would tell Mom that that kind of behavior ‘wasn’t appropriate’ for Neverland Heights High and how I needed more practice with my social skills. I’d get another year of Wendy Darhling’s one-on-one time for retards with another aide who didn’t get it. Whatever. Nothing had really changed since the first grade in my Sharks reading group for kids who were ‘slow.’ I was used to being followed around by aides and bouncing from one counselor to the next. Hell, my last ‘Wendy’s dreaming again’ situation was what landed us here. It wasn’t gonna change no matter what I did.
My new school was no different than the rest. And if the social worker, Leena Johnson was so stupid that she’d think I’d be mildly impressed by some peer support group for atypical kids, she had another thing coming. I’d known long before my diagnosis just what atypical meant. It stood for weirdos. I was one of them. I was proud of it. Why the adults in my life felt there was something I should do different? I didn’t get it.
I’d done my reading on Generation Z the exact same way I researched everything. I knew we were entitled, addicted to the internet, and even how we were the most tolerant generation yet. I also knew we were perpetually anxious and chronically depressed. Everyone knew that shit. Hell, we lived it.
Glancing at my iWatch, complete with a Tinkerbell band, it wasn’t lost on me that my next class in Neverland Heights was life skills. Rolling my eyes, I walked past the senior class hallway with the endless murals of some girl who’d died too soon but would at least be forever young. If I remembered right, it was two more lefts and three classrooms down where I’d find the group of weirdos other people’s parents and the shrinks had deemed ‘atypical.’
Sighing, I tried to remember if today was the day we cooked for the rest of the school. Yesterday, they’d dragged us out in groups to do the grocery shopping. We’d stood exactly six feet apart wearing droopy masks and listened to Mrs. Nelson’s lecture on counting change and saving receipts for later. Praying today was the day we put the minestrone soup together and not the one for a grocery list budgeting lecture, I made my way down an empty corridor.
Knowing I should have asked Leena for a hall pass, I hoped I wouldn’t run into a hall monitor. The last time that had happened, I’d been so late Mrs. Nelson had marked me absent and called home to Mom. Like I needed a lecture from her either.
I was the one who always got lectured since John left for Hook University. With Micheal the eternal ‘baby,’ or maybe because I was the only girl and the rules were just different for me, my parents were more fixated on me then usual. In a way, I wished we were still in Bloomsbury, Michigan, where Mom had been so glued to her phone that she didn’t bother to micromanage my IEP. Since moving to Neverland Heights, Vermont, she’d had more time to worry about the stupid things like how I was dressing or whether or not I was following Leena’s treatment plan.
We hated it here – me and Tink. I had a few friends, but nothing important. It didn’t help that the kids in the special ed classes weren’t much like me. I found myself mostly protecting them. Two of them couldn’t even speak, a few had such outrageous stemming habits that it was, well, embarrassing to be seen with them in the halls. It wasn’t like everyone didn’t already stare at the new girl. For as much as I wanted to hang out with Tina, a girl with pink hair and a boyfriend from the bowling ally who everyone in Special Olympics crushed on because he could shoot a three-pointer from mid court, her incessant counting and twirling was just too much. I hated myself for feeling that way but, unlike any of my shrinks would say, I refused to lie to myself.
I entered the classroom to the rank scent of onions. They sizzled from the bottom of the pan Tina was hanging onto. Over her shoulder were Tom and Hayden; arguing over who’d get to stir next. Relieved, I plopped my Lost Boys backpack on a large desk in the back of the room usually reserved for kids working with paras on senior projects.
“Nice of you to join us, Wendy,” Mrs. Nelson said. “Fashionably late again?”
Everything in me wanted to tell her that there was nothing fashionable abut her. Her face was covered in the usual pink blotchy spots and the skin on her neck waved as she pointed her finger in my direction.
“Got a hall pass?”
“No. I forgot. I was with Leena.”
“Mmmm hmmm. You need a pass.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
“Bring one back before the late bus today or I’ll have to mark you as absent.”
Right. I was going to somehow track Leena Johnson down through her clients. Hell if I knew what school, court, or family therapy session she’d be at by 2:35 p.m. It wasn’t like I was in the habit of asking Leena questions. But Mrs. Nelson wasn’t worth arguing with. “Okay,” I said, shrugging.
“You can help Dan cut the carrots,” she said.
It might have been the best thing she’d said all week. Dan was a quiet kid whose diagnosis evaded me. If I had to guess, I’d put him on the spectrum or maybe it was just some mild developmental delays. He was what the shrinks would call ‘high-functioning’ like me. And of all the kids in the class, he was the one I probably connected to best. Problem was, he was gay. And he made no attempt to hid it. While we could be friends, it was hard to look at him and not wish things could get romantic. Either way, it was better than listening to Tom flip his shit over salt and pepper.
Moving to the far back corner of the room by a long set of windows, I grabbed a knife from the drawer by the second row of sinks. “Hey, Mrs. Nelson said I should help,” I told Dan, who was washing carrots in the sink closest to me.
“K,” he said, smiling and waving three fat, wet carrots in my direction. “Gotta peel um first.”
Grabbing the carrots with one hand, I reached for the peeler in another drawer before putting everything on a cutting board and moving back to the sink to wash my hands.
We worked in silence as Tom flipped his shit about the spices and Mrs. Nelson finally snapped and made him sit in the quiet room. In other schools, it’d be surreal but not in Neverland. Here, as they told themselves they were teaching us to live independently as adults, they treated us like infants. How a closet turned into a quiet room where a kid was literally locked in with an aide was beyond me. I didn’t know who to feel more sorry for, the aide, whose arms were often marked with bruises from the bigger kids, or Tom.
I wondered what it was like for Tom at home. He was one of the kids who showered at school in the massive bathroom attached to our skills room. Dan had told me that it was because Tom’s mother couldn’t handle him. It wasn’t a surprise, really. I’d seen him bite Jennifer Cruiz more than once as she’d walked the halls with him collecting the recycling bins. The kid was fucked up. Twenty-one and about to age out of the system, I figured his next stop would be some kind of long-term placement.
Telling myself he’d probably be happier there, I dumped the carrots into boiling water as Tina asked me if I liked her hair. Ignoring the massive line of pink hair dye that crowned not only her forehead but the side of her face, I told her I did. Wondering if I should suggest Vaseline, I decided against it. I knew Gina Vincent, my social skills therapist from Michigan would advise against it though I wasn’t quite sure why.
It was like that a lot. I knew what I was supposed to do but neither Tink or I could ever figure out why and asking adults to explain it was an exercise in straight up wasting time. If it was me, I’d want to know. A tip like that could save me from looking like an idiot, but, whatever. I mean, it wasn’t like it looked terrible. If you didn’t get too close, all you could really see was the neon hue and it did suit her. It reminded me of the flamingos we saw last year at Disney.
“I did it myself,” she said, snapping her watermelon gum.
Wincing and telling myself to breath through my mouth, I smiled. “Cool.”
“I could do yours too. We could do a sleepover if you want.”
The last time I’d slept over Tina’s house, we’d spent the night making crank calls to half the freshman on Tina’s brother’s phone. If I was honest, I’d have to admit it was kind of fun. And maybe I could dye her hair.
“I’m not allowed to dye mine.”
“Dumb.”
“I know.”
“But we could still sleepover.”
“Okay.”
“When?”
I shrugged. “I’ve got to ask my mom.” I knew that without that pass, I’d be grounded again. It wouldn’t be worth it to explain why I’d forgotten a pass from Leena and how I wasn’t a miracle worker who could chase a social worker down.
“K,” Tina said, wrinkling her nose. “Stupid Tom. Too much pepper.”
I could see Tina growing up to be a chef. Even though her plan was to work at the General Dollar for the discounts, I could see more for her. The girl could cook.
“Well, it’s just for the teachers, really,” I said, trying to make her feel better. For all the shit I took about empathy, the adults were wrong about me.
“Yeah,” she said, giggling and grabbing the pepper.
I watched her as she spun the wheel and little flakes of pepper fell into the pot. Over and over she turned that grinder. Laughing, I looked over my shoulder praying Mrs. Nelson wasn’t watching. And to our luck, she was gone – off by the quiet room to check on Tom. 


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    Erin Lee, who also writes as EL George, is a USA Today Bestselling multi genre author unafraid to chase the madness. Author of more than 100 titles and creator of Crazy Ink Publishing, LLC, she'll try anything once and never turns down a dare. 

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