Kelli's Quill Newsletter - June 2016 Issue

Kelli’s Quill

All Romance Double Issue

May/June 2016

Hi everyone,
The warm weather is finally here, and believe it or not, summer is just around the corner. This issue of the Quill is loaded with info about my new romances. Why not add a few to your summer reading list? 

3 HOT ROMANCES

Kelli’s contemporary wrestling romances, A Deceptive Match and A Secret Match, were released in May. Although these books are related and share characters, they each stand alone as individual reads. Here are the summaries and links:

A Deceptive Match

Falling for the wrestler she had been assigned to interview wasn’t part of Danni’s plan, until Vinnie Valentine pinned her heart in a flash.

Disgruntled with her job as the office assistant for a national sports magazine, Danni Stone impersonates a reporter to prove herself to her boss. Her assignment? Spend thirty days on the road with Vinnie Valentine, a sexy professional wrestler.
Life isn’t going well for the Heavyweight Champ. Vinnie is struggling with a manipulative boss, prepping for the most important match of his career, and feuding with his arch-enemy, Thorn. The last thing he needs is a nosy reporter following him around—even if she is hot.
Thrown together in close quarters, Danni can’t help falling for Vinnie, and she unwittingly becomes a key player in his title match. Their mutual attraction grows, and late one night, they give in to the lustful feelings they’ve been fighting. 

As their relationship deepens, Danni considers telling Vinnie her secret. But before she can confess the truth, Vinnie discovers she isn't the reporter she claims to be. Her lie threatens to ruin everything between them. Will their relationship be destroyed by her deception or will their love win out?

Order your copy of A Deceptive Match here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F18X3XQ

A SECRET MATCH
Everett Kinkade is a world-famous professional wrestler and the sexy heartthrob of millions of adoring female fans. But Ev has a secret he doesn’t dare share with anyone. He’s gay.
After years of being Ev’s secret lover, Josh is tired of hiding in the shadows and wants Ev to openly acknowledge their relationship. Coming out is the last thing Ev wants and fears it will ruin his career.
One night in a moment of truth, Everett outs himself on live TV. There’s no going back, and his announcement sparks a firestorm of problems—both personally and professionally. He’s forced to come to grips with who he really is while facing down a manipulative boss and a tag-team out to destroy him.
Torn between living a lie and losing the man he loves, Ev has risked everything… can he find a balance between his career and his heart?

Order your copy of A Secret Match here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FERW65A

In June, Kelli released Killer in Wolf’s Clothing. This super-hot gay paranormal/shifter is a fun look at the werewolf legend and blends romance, mystery, danger, humor, and sizzling love scenes.

KILLER IN WOLF’S CLOTHING

A super aggressive Alpha male, a serial killer, and a visit to a kinky sex club…What has Larry gotten himself into?

When Larry learns that his boyfriend Greg changes into another man during the full moon, he has a hard time accepting it—until he meets Deke, Greg’s alternate Alpha personality.

Deke doesn’t play nice and has no time for games. He only wants two things—to get laid and to get revenge against the arsonist who murdered his friends. Finally free from Greg’s restraints, Deke is ready for action, and Larry is more than willing to submit to Deke’s needs.

Together, Larry and Deke set out to find the killer. Their hunt takes them to an all-night Alpha sex club where things heat up for the two of them. But when Larry unwittingly falls into the clutches of the murderer, it’s up to Deke—and Greg—to save him before it’s too late. 

 

Order your copy of Killer in Wolf’s Clothing here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01G3V9VWW

RECENTLY RELEASED: The Royal Desires Series

This spring Kelli released the Royal Desires Series. This trilogy of spicy historical/fantasy romances is made up of A Most Unusual Princess, A Most Intriguing Temptation, and A Most Unfortunate Prince. As an added bonus, each book contains a sneak peek excerpt from the next book in the series.

Here are the summaries and links:

A Most Unusual Princess

Princess Elara needs to find a royal husband, but claims that no man can satisfy her. Her father hires Dalton, a special guard, to watch over her while she’s courting suitors. Dalton finds her unusual behaviors charming—and enthralling.

Dalton’s aloof manner intrigues Elara, and despite their differences, they share tender moments and intimate nighttime encounters. Elara is heartbroken when her father chooses a “proper” husband for her—until she meets the mystery man.

Order A Most Unusual Princess, here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CBX43D8

And… A Most Unusual Princess got a new 4 Star review:

http://www.lovelustandlipstickstains.com/2016/04/book-spotlight-and-review-most-unusual.html

A Most Intriguing Temptation

After only four months of marriage to Princess Elara, Prince Dalton is sent to Emperor Salizar’s pleasure palace on business. Not wanting to be left behind, Elara risks her personal safety and sneaks along on the trip.

Aided by her mischievous brother, Prince Allan, she disguises herself as one of Salizar’s sultry kharim women and decides to test Dalton’s loyalty. Masquerading as Oonish, Elara goes out of her way to tempt Dalton at every turn. Despite Dalton’s resolve to resist the indulgent girls, he finds himself falling under the spell of the mysterious Oonish.

After nearly giving in to temptation, Dalton discovers Elara’s trickery and turns the tables on her, making her into his submissive playmate. Their fun and games are quickly shattered when Emperor Salizar learns about Elara’s deception. He holds the royals prisoner and condemns Elara to a fate worse than death.

Can Dalton save Elara before it’s too late, or will her prank bring about the end of their love?

Order your copy of A Most Intriguing Temptation here:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D8P8604

A Most Unfortunate Prince

This time, it’s all about Allan… and he never expected to fall in love!

Banished by the Royal Family, pampered Prince Allan is forced to abandon his life of luxury. The former Royal Shipmaster General is sent to the worst part of the kingdom and manages to find work at the docks. Lost in a commoner’s world, Allan is miserable—until he has an unusual encounter with a saucy shop girl named Claudette.
Allan must earn the respect of the woman he loves while keeping his true identity a secret. In an effort to redeem himself in his father’s eyes, he exposes a dangerous smuggling operation involving the Royal Fleet. But his loyalty to duty comes with a deadly price.

Can he keep Claudette and his royal title? Or will he lose her forever when she discovers his secret?

Order your copy of Book 3, A Most Unfortunate Prince here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DMBYJ6E

KELLI’S BEEN GUEST BLOGGING!

Read about the making of the Royal Desires Series: http://dawnsreadingnook.blogspot.com/2016/05/series-spotlight-kelli-wilkins-royal.html

Learn more about A Most Unfortunate Prince: http://fallenoverbookreviews.blogspot.com/2016/05/spotlight-most-unfortunate-prince-by.html

Get an inside look at A Most Intriguing Temptation:

http://celticladysreviews.blogspot.com/2016/04/a-most-intriguing-temptation-by-kelli.html

Read about the making of Kelli’s hot wrestling romance, A Deceptive Match here: http://lushbookreviewss.blogspot.com/2016/05/spotlight-deceptive-match-by-kelli.html?m=0

IF YOU LIKE HISTORICAL ROMANCES - DON'T MISS:

A naughty interview with Ashton Bailey, the hero from Kelli’s Colonial historical/mystery romance, Dangerous Indenture:

http://dawnsreadingnook.blogspot.com/2016/02/meet-character-day-with-kelli-wilkins.html

A spicy excerpt from Dangerous Indenture:

http://dawnsreadingnook.blogspot.com/2016/02/book-spotlight-dangerous-indenture-by.html

This Month’s Writing Exercise: Secrets…

Each month, I’ll leave you with a writing prompt or short exercise. Use it for a freewriting warm-up, write a few paragraphs about it for fun, play the “what if” game, or just muse it over. 

To celebrate the release of A Secret Match, this month’s writing prompt is all about secrets! In A Secret Match, Ev (our hero) is hiding a secret from the world (he’s gay). During the course of the book we learn that keeping this secret is causing Ev a lot of grief, anguish, and heartache. (Danni, the heroine in A Deceptive Match, is also hiding a secret from Vin. Lots of secrets in these books!)

Do your characters have secrets? (Most people do, so your fictional “people” should too!) If not, why not give them one? Secrets, deception, and lies (whether innocent or down-right deliberate) can add layers of drama to your story, increase the tension, and let you explore your characters’ emotions from many different angles. All of this can enhance the story and give your characters some heavy-duty motivation.

Ask yourself: What secret can I give my hero or heroine? Maybe he’s hiding the fact that he’s being blackmailed; she’s keeping quiet about her role in a murder; a husband knows his wife is cheating, but keeps the information to himself to avoid a scandal; or a worker discovers something strange about his boss…

Once you know the secret, you can really turn up the heat on your characters. Start asking: What happens if someone else finds out the secret? What if the person feels the need to confess? (Who does he or she confess to and then what happens?) How does holding this secret make him/her feel? (guilty, like a phony, has no remorse about it, nervous at being found out, tired of holding the secret?) What (if anything) will make the character confess the secret? 

Secrets and deception add twists and turns to your plot and can make things very interesting for everyone involved. What sort of secrets you can invent for your next story?

I hope you enjoyed this issue of the Quill. Next month, I’ll be sharing more about my romances, links to guest blogs, writing prompts, and more!

Enjoy the summer!

Kelli

An Inside Look at... A Deceptive Match

Hi everyone,

Today I’m sharing an inside look at the making of my sizzling contemporary romance, A Deceptive Match.

A Deceptive Match is a full length novel set in the world of professional wrestling. Wrestling has always been a part of my life, so it was only natural that one day I’d write a book with wrestling as the backdrop. But this book is different from all of my other books because the entire story came to me in a rather unusual way—in a dream.

One morning I woke up and said “Uh-oh!” and grabbed the pen and paper next to the bed. (I keep it there in case of inspiration.) I knew that if I didn’t immediately start writing down everything in my head, it would be lost forever. So I sat there, furiously scribbling the outline. At this point, it was just the bare bones of the plot and the characters, but I knew I was onto something.

Over the course of the day, more bits and pieces came through. Now I had a subplot, secondary characters, and knew more about what was happening in this wrestling romance that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I was fortunate enough to actually “see” the book in my head like a movie—some scenes were missing, but I had a clear picture to work from.

People who have read the book and know about my love of wrestling always ask me the same questions: Which wrestlers are the characters based on? How do you know all this stuff? How much of it is real?

It’s easier to answer the second question first. Many years ago, I was fortunate enough to be on friendly terms with a bunch of wrestlers. My husband and I would go to matches and hang out with the guys after the shows. (No, I wasn’t a ring rat.) I picked up a lot of terms and got a real feel for what they did and how they experienced life on the road.

At the time, the thought of being a writer never even crossed my mind, so I had no idea that one day I’d use what I learned in a book. When I got the idea for A Deceptive Match, I was able to incorporate much of what I knew into the plot through Danni’s point of view.

The male characters in the book (Vinnie, Ev, Thorn, and Nick) aren’t based on any one wrestler or any real person. I specifically made sure that Vinnie and the others aren’t linked to real wrestlers, because it would take away from the story. Like characters in any book, I invented whatever quirks, flaws, and backstory I needed to help move the plot along.

And how much of it is real? Well, anyone who knows anything about wrestling can tell you that it’s technically termed “sports entertainment” for a reason. But that doesn’t discredit all the training, hard work, and other sacrifices the wrestlers go through every day. A Deceptive Match touches on the subject of what’s “real” and what goes on behind the scenes that most fans are unaware of.

Here’s the book summary:

A Deceptive Match

Falling for the wrestler she had been assigned to interview wasn’t part of Danni’s plan, until Vinnie Valentine pinned her heart in a flash.

Disgruntled with her job as the office assistant for a national sports magazine, Danni Stone impersonates a reporter to prove herself to her boss. Her assignment? Spend thirty days on the road with Vinnie Valentine, a sexy professional wrestler.
Life isn’t going well for the Heavyweight Champ. Vinnie is struggling with a manipulative boss, prepping for the most important match of his career, and feuding with his arch-enemy, Thorn. The last thing he needs is a nosy reporter following him around—even if she is hot.
Thrown together in close quarters, Danni can’t help falling for Vinnie, and she unwittingly becomes a key player in his title match. Their mutual attraction grows, and late one night, they give in to the lustful feelings they’ve been fighting.

As their relationship deepens, Danni considers telling Vinnie her secret. But before she can confess the truth, Vinnie discovers she isn’t the reporter she claims to be. Her lie threatens to ruin everything between them. Will their relationship be destroyed by her deception or will their love win out?

***

I enjoyed creating the characters in this wrestling universe, and as I was writing, I fell in love with Everett, Vinnie’s best friend. I knew I had to tell Ev’s story and give him his own book, so I wrote A Secret Match. That book is all about Everett, but Danni and Vinnie play supporting roles in the storyline. Although the books are connected, they each stand alone as individual reads.

I hope romance fans and wrestling fans alike will check out A Deceptive Match and A Secret Match. They’re a good blend of action, drama, romance, humor, and spicy love scenes.

  

Order your copy of A Deceptive Match here:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F18X3XQ

Order your copy of A Secret Match here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FERW65A

Happy Reading!

Kelli