Accidentally...Over?: Accidentally Yours 5 (43 page)

Niccolo DiConti:
General of the Vampire Army. Now that the vampire queen is dead, the army remains loyal to him. He shares power with his wife Helena Strauss and has a half-vampire daughter, Matty—a wedding gift from Cimil.

Nick (short for Niccole):
(From Book #1, not to be confused with Kinich). Similar to Anne and Jess, I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but some of you on Facebook definitely guessed right!

Penelope Trudeau:
After inheriting her mate Kinich’s power of the sun, Penelope rules the House of the Gods alongside her man.

Philippe:
Roberto the Ancient One’s evil brother. He is killed by Kinich, thereby exterminating all evil vampires.

Reyna:
The dead vampire queen.

Roberto (Narmer):
Originally an Egyptian pharaoh, Narmer was one of the six Ancient Ones—the very first vampires. He eventually changed his name to Roberto and moved to Spain—something to do with one of Cimil’s little schemes. He now spends his days lovingly undoing Cimil’s treachery and taking her unicorn Minky for a ride.

Sentin:
One of Niccolo’s loyal vampire soldiers. Viktor turned him into a vampire after finding him in a ditch during World War II.

Tommaso:
Oh, boy. Where to start. Once an Uchben, Tommaso’s mind was poisoned with black jade. He tried
to kill Emma, Votan’s mate, but redeemed himself by turning into a spy for the gods.

Viktor:
Niccolo’s right hand and BFF. He’s approximately one thousand years old and originally a Viking. He’s big. He’s blond. He’s mated to Penelope’s ex-angel mother. He’s also Helena’s maker.

A
LSO BY
M
IMI
J
EAN
P
AMFILOFF

Accidentally In Love With… A God?

Accidentally Married to… A Vampire?

Sun God Seeks… Surrogate?

Accidentally… Evil?
(novella)

Vampires Need Not… Apply?

Accidentally… Cimil?
(novella)

PRAISE FOR MIMI JEAN PAMFILOFF’S
ACCIDENTALLY YOURS SERIES

“The story really made an impression and she definitely makes me want to continue on with her series… witty and catchy.”

—BookMaven623.wordpress.com on
Accidentally In Love With… A God?

“Pamfiloff’s knack for deeply engaging and funny storytelling is on clear display… The intense, fiery attraction between the two main characters, along with their crackling yet comfortable banter, will leave readers riveted… One truly delicious tale, which you’ll savor with the turn of each page. 4½ stars, Top Pick!”

—
RT Book Reviews
on
Accidentally In Love With… A God?

“
Accidentally Married to… A Vampire?
remains one of the funniest paranormal novels I’ve read in a long time.”

—IndieBookSpot.com

“It was fun, the pace was fast, there were laugh-out-loud funny lines, plenty of pop-culture references, and lots of very sexy moments. I am
definitely
going to be reading the author’s other books!”

—SarahsBookshelves.blogspot.com on
Accidentally Married to… A Vampire?

“Hot sex, a big misunderstanding, and a shocker of an ending that made me want the next book in the series now! I can’t wait to go back and read the other books in the series.”

—Romancing-the-Book.com on
Accidentally… Evil?

“If you’re looking for a read that’s a little bit silly, a little bit sexy, and a whole lot of fun, you need to pick up
Accidentally… Evil?
I’m off to pick up the other three now. Damn, it was a funny one.”

—HerdingCats-BurningSoup.blogspot.com

“Strikes a balance between outrageous humor and a thoroughly satisfying love story with aplomb. 4½ stars.”

—
RT Book Reviews
on
Vampires Need Not… Apply?

THE DISH

Where Authors Give You the Inside Scoop

From the desk of Marilyn Pappano

Dear Reader,

The first time Jessy Lawrence, the heroine of my newest novel, A LOVE TO CALL HER OWN, opened her mouth, I knew she was going to be one of my favorite Tallgrass characters. She’s mouthy, brassy, and bold, but underneath the sass, she’s keeping a secret or two that threatens her tenuous hold on herself. She loves her friends fiercely with the kind of loyalty I value. Oh, and she’s a redhead, too. I can always relate to another “ginger,” lol.

I love characters with faults—like me. Characters who do stupid things, good things, bad things, unforgivable things. Characters whose lives haven’t been the easiest, but they still show up; they still do their best. They know too well it might not be good enough, but they try, and that’s what matters, right?

Jessy is one of those characters in spades—estranged from her family, alone in the world except for the margarita girls, dealing with widowhood, guilt, low self-esteem, and addiction—but she meets her match in Dalton Smith.

I was plotting the first book in the series,
A Hero to Come Home To
, when it occurred to me that there’s a
lot of talk about the men who die in war and the wives they leave behind, but people seem not to notice that some of our casualties are women, who also leave behind spouses, fiancés, family whose lives are drastically altered. Seconds behind that thought, an image popped into my head of the margarita club gathered around their table at The Three Amigos, talking their girl talk, when a broad-shouldered, six-foot-plus, smokin’ handsome cowboy walked up, Stetson in hand, and quietly announced that his wife had died in the war.

Now, when I started writing the first scene from Dalton’s point of view, I knew immediately that scene was never going to happen. Dalton has more grief than just the loss of a wife. He’s angry, bitter, has isolated himself, and damn sure isn’t going to ask anyone for help. He’s not just wounded but broken—my favorite kind of hero.

It’s easy to write love stories for perfect characters, or for one who’s tortured when the other’s not. I tend to gravitate to the challenge of finding the happily-ever-after for two seriously broken people. They deserve love and happiness, but they have to work so hard for it. There are no simple solutions for these people. Jessy finds it hard to get out of bed in the morning; Dalton has reached rock bottom with no one in his life but his horses and cattle. It says a lot about them that they’re willing to work, to risk their hearts, to take those scary steps out of their grief and sorrow and guilt and back into their lives.

Oh yeah, and I can’t forget to mention my other two favorite characters in A LOVE TO CALL HER OWN: Oz, the handsome Australian shepherd on the cover; and Oliver, a mistreated, distrusting dog of unknown breed.
I love my puppers, both real and fictional, and hope you like them, too.

Happy reading!

MarilynPappano.net

Twitter @MarilynPappano

Facebook.com/MarilynPappanoFanPage

From the desk of Kristen Ashley

Dear Reader,

In starting to write
Lady Luck
, the book where Chace Keaton was introduced, I was certain Chace was a bad guy. A dirty cop who was complicit in sending a man to jail for a crime he didn’t commit.

Color me stunned when Chace showed up at Ty and Lexie’s in
Lady Luck
and a totally different character introduced himself to me.

Now, I am often not the white hat–wearing guy type of girl. My boys have to have at least a bit of an edge (and usually way more than a bit).

That’s not to say that I don’t get drawn in by the boy next door (quite literally, for instance, with Mitch Lawson of
Law Man
). It just always surprises me when I do.

Therefore, it surprised me when Chace drew me in while he was in Lexie and Ty’s closet in
Lady Luck
. I knew in that instant that he had to have his own happily-ever-after. And when Faye Goodknight was introduced later in that book, I knew the path to that was going to be a doozy!

Mentally rubbing my hands together with excitement, when I got down to writing BREATHE, I was certain that it was Chace who would sweep me away.

And he did.

But I
adored
writing Faye.

I love writing about complex, flawed characters, watching them build strength from adversity. Or lean on the strength from adversity they’ve already built in their lives so they can get through dealing with falling in love with a badass, bossy alpha. The exploration of that is always a thing of beauty for me to be involved in.

Faye, however, knew who she was and what she wanted from life. She had a good family. She lived where she wanted to be. She was shy, but that was her nature. She was no pushover. She had a backbone. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t thoughtful, sensitive, and loving. She had no issues, no hang-ups, or at least nothing major.

And she was a geek girl.

The inspiration for her came from my nieces, both incredibly intelligent, funny, caring and, beautiful—and both total geek girls. I loved the idea of diving into that (being a bit of a geek girl myself), this concept that is considered stereotypically “on the fringe” but is actually an enormous sect of society that is quite proud of their geekdom. And when I published BREATHE, the geek girls came out of the woodwork, loving seeing one of their own land her hot guy.

But also, it was a pleasure seeing Chace, the one who had major issues and hang-ups, find himself sorted out by
his geek girl. I loved watching Faye surprise him, hold up the mirror so he could truly see himself, and take the lead into guiding them both into the happily-ever-after they deserved.

This was one of those books of mine where I could have kept writing forever. Just the antics of the kitties Chace gives to his Faye would be worth a chapter!

But alas, I had to let them go.

Luckily, I get to revisit them whenever I want and let fly the warm thoughts I have of the simple, yet extraordinary lives led by a small-town cop and the librarian wife he adores.