February 2018 – Jeffe Kennedy Blog

Keep It Simple, Sister

Jeffe Kennedy / February 25, 2018 / Blog

I’m so pleased with how this cover turned out that I just had to. SHOOTING STAR is a contemporary romance, darker and edgier than my Missed Connections series. I’m really excited to see this one finally come out as I’ve been working on it for years. Releasing March 6!

Our topic this week at the SFF Seven is “How do you keep your story from being too complex?”

#MeToo

Jeffe Kennedy / February 18, 2018 / Blog

This week at the SFF Seven is a topic of our choice – whatever is on our minds. So, I’ve decided to tell a story I haven’t publicly told before. There’s been a lot of conversation in publishing this last month about sexual harassment in the industry, largely springing from this article in the School Library Journal and the followup survey by Anne Ursu. This is my #MeToo story.

Preorder live for THE SNOWS OF WINDROVEN!

Jeffe Kennedy / February 14, 2018 / Blog

I shared this cover for THE SNOWS OF WINDROVEN in the newsletter, but now I’m posting it widely. Ash is the first of my heroes to get a cover – fitting, huh? – and it was interesting to work with the artist on how he should look. Giving an actual face to the image in my head isn’t easy, and even worse knowing all you Ash-lovers would have strong opinions! On the last pass I realized that she’d made his eyes kind of gray/blue and the final change I asked for was to make them Ash’s distinctive, uncanny apple-green. She pointed out that no one would see his eyes as they’re so small on the cover, and I was all, OH NO, YOU DON’T KNOW THESE PEOPLE – THEY ARE GOING TO ZOOM IN.

Right?

C’mon. You know you did.

Anyway, for those who’ve been out of the loop, THE SNOWS OF WINDROVEN is a novella that takes place in the Twelve Kingdoms/Uncharted Realms timeline kind of concurrent with THE PAGES OF THE MIND and THE EDGE OF THE BLADE, but just before THE SHIFT OF THE TIDE. It is a romantic continuation, however, of Ash and Amy’s affair way back in THE TEARS OF THE ROSE – and told from Ash’s point of view.

Are you all going to start asking for more from the heroes? It could maybe happen.

Right now you can still get this novella in AMID THE WINTER SNOW, where you’ll also get amazing midwinter novellas from Grace Draven, Thea Harrison and Elizabeth Hunter. But on March 12, that anthology will disappear forever and this will go on sale as a standalone.

Preorder

Kindle Kobo Smashwords

A new power is at work in the Twelve Kingdoms, unbalancing the fragile peace. For the High Queen and her sisters, it might mean a new alliance—or the end of the love of a lifetime…

As a howling blizzard batters the mountain keep of Windroven, Ami, Queen of Avonlidgh, and her unofficial consort Ash face their own storm. Their passion saved them from despair, but Ash knows a scarred, jumpy ex-convict isn’t the companion his queen needs. He’s been bracing himself for the end since their liaison began. When it finally comes, the shattering of his heart is almost a relief.

With a man haunted by nightmares and silent as stone, Ami knows only that Ash’s wounds are his own to hide or reveal. She can’t command trust. But just as they are moving apart, a vicious attack confines them together, snowbound and isolated with an ancient force awakening within Windroven itself. If they truly mean to break their bond, Ami and Ash must first burn through a midwinter that will test every instinct—and bring temptation all too near…

Missed Connections Boxed Set 1-3

Jeffe Kennedy / February 13, 2018September 11, 2018 / Books, Contemporary Romance, Missed Connections

Backlist Valentine: PETALS & THORNS

Jeffe Kennedy / February 11, 2018February 11, 2018 / Blog

This week we’re giving a valentine to the books of years’ past and sharing a title from our backlists. A little love for those publications that might even predate the creation of this blog!

For mine, I’m sharing my first standalone fiction publication. It was my first sale as a novelist, even though it’s technically a novella at 81 pages, and I originally published it with Loose ID. (Now sadly going out of business.) It’s an erotic fantasy – a BDSM Beauty and the Beast – and is still one of my best-selling titles ever. Also, I originally published it under the pseudonym “Jennifer Paris,” the one time I used that name. When I got the rights back and self-published the book (also my first venture into self-publishing), I did it under my own name. A bit of history there.

In exchange for her father’s life, Amarantha agrees to marry the dreadful Beast and be his wife for seven days. Though the Beast cannot take Amarantha’s virginity unless she begs him to, he can and does take her in every other way. From the moment they are alone together, the Beast relentlessly strips Amarantha of all her resistance.

If Amarantha can resist her cloaked and terrifying husband, she gains his entire fortune and will be allowed to return to her family and a normal life. But the Beast seduces her at every turn, exposing, binding, tormenting, and pleasuring Amarantha until she no longer knows her own deepest desires. Increasingly desperate to break the curse that chains his humanity, the Beast drives Amarantha past every boundary. But her desire for a normal life may jeopardize the love that will save them both.