Fridays at Ofelia’s | Wandering a Luminous Sea

Interview

Today, Kayleigh Sky is here on a visit, and she’s gonna answer some questions for us 😀 Welcome, Kayleigh!

Which writers inspire you and why?

Off the top of my head, I can name Cormac McCarthy and Ernest Hemingway. Both use a spare, clear prose that just sings to me. Ernest Hemingway has one of the most exquisite first paragraphs (in A Farewell to Arms) I’ve ever read, and Cormac McCarthy has one of the most emotional and heartbreaking last paragraphs (in The Road) I’ve ever read. Both wrote down to the bone in terms of the truth about the human experience. Neither one shied away from the hard stuff, and I love both their works.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

So many things! Lol. Most of what I do actually fuels my writing in one way or another. I love to meditate and practice yoga, and I’m a huge advocate of walking. I also really love photography, and I read tarot. I don’t think I could function without my bullet journal. Other times, I enjoy getting together with family or friends, playing with my cats, and reading, of course!

As a writer, what would choose as your mascot/spirit animal?

My forever cat, Sammy. I lost him two and a half years ago, but he was with me day and night as I wrote. And he was the sweetest, happiest, most loving animal I’ve ever known. I write to him everyday in my journal, so I like to think he’s still a part of my journey.

How do you select the names of your characters?

Mostly by osmosis. I’m only half joking. If I don’t get the name right, the character won’t speak to me clearly. I wrote the first draft of A Vampire’s Heart with the wrong name for Jessa. I just couldn’t get his character down. I kept looking through books and online for the right name, and then I saw Jessamine, and thought, yes! I rewrote all his parts, and he just came alive in all his sunny sweetness. For Doll Baby, I instantly knew the character’s initials, but not their full names, so I had to go looking again. Sometimes the name just comes to me without any problems. Jody in Wandering a Luminous Sea was Jody right away. In my WIP, I had so much trouble with one of MC’s names, I finally just said, fine, be a dick. In fact, that’s what I’ll call you. Dick. So I did and realized not far into the story, that that was his name! So anyway, it’s always a challenge, and I come to their names in many different ways.

Wandering a Luminous Sea

Wandering a Luminous Sea

Happy ever after, pearls, and murder—what else is true love made of?

After escaping his cold fish of an ex, Jody Knox had everything—a new career, his goofy dog, and the love of his life, Merik. He couldn’t believe his luck…

Until it changed. In the worst way.

After stumbling onto the love of his life, Merik Lighthouse had a dilemna—solve the mystery of the missing mer and return to the sea, or confess his secret identity and risk losing Jody. He couldn’t decide…

Until someone decided for him. Permanently.

Or maybe not…

Wandering a Luminous Sea is for you if you love paranormal contemporary fantasy, gay love stories, fairytales, and suspense.

Oh… and a loveable poodle named Ellery Queen.

Buy now or read on Kindle Unlimited today!

Please note: this is an intense love story with a happy ending, but it is not a traditional romance. It is a paranormal fantasy with a central love story.

Excerpt:

Soft kisses dragged sparks across his jaw, glowing like hot coals against his neck. He groaned and hugged the strong body in his arms.

Why not believe in magic and happy endings? What if all it took was Jody opening his eyes and letting the pixie dust be real? Not telling himself it wasn’t? Not playing along with what everybody else said?

What if he believed?

And Merik’s words were as though Jody had written them. “I came back for you.” From the ends of the earth. From the deeps of the sea. From across time. “For you.”

For me.

Buy link:

https://smarturl.it/LuminousSea

Summer – Winter Sale

Summer-Winter-SaleI just realized I haven’t posted anything about the Summer-Winter Sale over at Smashwords. Most of my books are 50% off till the end of the month.

50% off

Get them here!

I’ve most likely forgotten one or two, you’ll find all discouted books if you hop to my profile.

100%

Worth His SaltEldred Henstare is a not so powerful witch who’s been left in charge of helping the city’s lingering spirits to move on. He usually handles it pretty well, but something’s wrong with the spirit leading him to the abandoned lighthouse.

Mo Vin likes his quiet life in the cottage next to the lighthouse, at least it’s quiet until one night when Eldred Henstare—young, beautiful and crazy—arrives. After that night things aren’t the same. A man is found dead on the beach outside Mo’s cottage, and he’s almost sure he’s the one who killed him, except it doesn’t make sense. Why would he kill anyone?

Eldred needs to get rid of the ghost haunting Mo. If he doesn’t Mo’s life is in danger, but to do it he needs both Mo and his brother Lachtin to help out.

Grab it here!

Kindle Unlimited | Five Books Added to the Catalogue

Now in KU

As a Swede, I don’t have access to Kindle Unlimited. I can see that some books are in KU, but most often, I don’t even see that. It hasn’t escaped my notice that it’s kind of a big deal though LOL 

My publisher and I talked it over and decided to put the books published in 2019 in the KU catalogue. They will still be available wide, so you can still grab Nine Stones or one of the other titles in the JMS shop or on B&N, Kobo, Apple or wherever you prefer to shop, but they’ll also be available through KU. So, if you have a subscription, you can read them at no extra cost. 

Side note, writing this post, I’ve misspelt available every time I’ve written it 🤯. In case you just went back to check, I corrected it. And my coffee’s gone cold 😩 LOL 

Okay, back to KU! The titles available are: (and if you wondered, yes, I misspelt it again. I’m changing place of the i and the l for some reason.) 

 

Nine Stones

Trying something new here! if you click the free preview, you get to read the first chapter or so 📚☕️

Blurb:

The only thing worse than having a hot neighbor you’re too intimidated to talk to is accidentally hitting his cat with your car.

Felix Lane was perfectly content to spend the rest of his days with Sunny, his canary life companion, in their quiet little corner of the suburbs. But then Kirk Shoo with his unusual eyes moved in across the street, and Felix’s carefully constructed life is starting to unravel.

When your every bad-boy fantasy lingers at the mailbox, stands too close and smells too damn good, what’s an under-appreciated administrative assistant to do? Besides sneak out the backdoor to go to work? But when Kirk’s cat runs out in front of Felix on his way home, he has no choice but to face the music and his dream man. Unless …

What starts as a tragic accident turns into something far more bizarre. And when Felix’s backyard begins to look like a pet cemetery, he has no choice but to come clean. That is, if he can manage to find his sexy neighbor at all.

Jaeger’s Lost and Found

 Blurb:

Jaeger’s Lost and Found is the only finder shop to be had on the whole of the west coast. The problem is, Archibald Jaeger, the last of the Jaeger line, seems to be defective. A result of too many generations of crossbreeding with humans. But Jaegers are finders, and there’s nothing to be done about it.

Gael Murray has lost his connections. A vampire can’t survive without the energy exchange he has with the members of his coven through mental links. And, as of this morning, they’ve all vanished. Gael will die if he doesn’t reinstate his connections through a blood exchange. And his only hope to find the other members of his coven is to hire a finder.

Even a terrible finder is better than none at all.

Together Gael and Archie set out to save Gael’s life, but what was an already difficult task becomes nearly insurmountable. And Archie, who can never find what he’s looking for, finds himself falling in love with a man he’ll be hard pressed to save.

Cup o’ Sugar

Blurb:

Roarak Halfhide of the Halfhide pack understands his duty. He’s found his pack a home, now he just needs to keep them safe and fed. It doesn’t matter that Sam, one of the workers at Cup o’ Sugar, makes him want to shirk his duties and spend his time sipping coffee in one of the booths.

He doesn’t even like coffee.

But things don’t always go as planned, and when there is a threat to Sam, Roarak can’t pretend to be just another coffee-loving customer. He has to protect his mate.

Pine Tree Mary

Blurb:

Detective Quinn Manning wants nothing more than to see Diamond Dace, one of Fagerdal’s most notorious drug lords, behind bars. After years of the man eluding the authorities, when Manning accidentally stumbles onto an opportunity to catch the powerful dealer red-handed, he doesn’t hesitate. But what should be a simple tail instead drops Manning into a real-life world of myth and legend.

Hush is a hulder, a forest spirit also known as a pine tree Mary. Since the beginning of time, his people have lived in the forest, feeding off the energy they derive from the lust and desires of passing hunters. But Hush is an abomination, the only male of his kind.

After a lifetime of starvation, Hush has struck a deal with a human. A simple trade that will give the human what he desires and keep Hush from wasting away completely.

When Manning saves a young man from Diamond and one of his men, his view of reality is altered forever. And Hush, who has never met anyone like Manning, finds the man’s attraction to him enough to finally stave off his constant hunger.

Together they set out to rescue Manning’s partner, and their connection to one another grows. But can a human detective have a future with a creature of the forest, a creature who isn’t supposed to exist?

Turning Wood

And last but not least, a Christmas read 🎄

Blurb:

For Otho Newcomer, the small village of Snowmelt is a haven from his old life. If he isn’t exactly a changed man, he at least hopes to keep his distance from all those easy romances, and the inevitable heartache and disappointment that always follow.

Mason Dager is an idiot. His ex has cleared out his bank account, sold his car, and got him thrown out of his apartment. And he has no one to blame but himself. But what better way to celebrate a new chapter in his life — one that includes homelessness and the humiliation of telling his family they were right all along — than to spend Christmas at a swanky winter resort like River Cove? It’s already paid for, after all.

When a very drunk Mason makes yet another dumb decision, Otho comes to the rescue, throwing the men together during the most magical time of the year.

What should be the wrong choice for both of them might be exactly what they need. They’ll just have to survive a nosy best friend, an asshole of an ex, and the scars of their pasts if they hope to find something together.