I should probably say something...

It's been around ten days since I've said anything on here. Oops. But not gonna lie, I've been super busy.

Book IV (Tattered & Torn) is at the editor's and like a nervous parent I'm waiting to hear back about this one. I had a lot going on inside these characters heads between the h finally finding the bravery and the will to both speak her truth and come into her own and the H trying to let go of some pretty deeply etched preconceived notions, there was a whole lot of inner dialogue and learning to deal with both things and each other in a healthier more adult way moving forward into a new relationship.

Yeah, that was a mouthful.

Still, everything in this book happened for a reason and I am half afraid that it's, well... boring. So far my editor assures me it's not and I really hope that's true! But I won't really know for sure until you guys get your hands on it in March.

Woah! Hey! Calm your shit! I can hear several of you exclaiming already, "MARCH!? ASDJKF!"

You guys still have Cracked & Crushed coming in December and unlike a solid three month wait between books, you have Masked & Miserable, Squick's novella, to tide you over in January/February.

Now, as to why I haven't been on here... As much as I needed a friggin' break, the characters in Book V (Tentatively titled Fractured & Formidable) missed it in kindergarten when the finer points of 'how to wait your turn' were gone over. Okay, well she was patient, but him not so much but that's sort of to be expected.

So as soon as the fourth book was finished the characters in Book V threw up their hands and were like "It's about time bitch!" and so I am a touch over 30,000 words into that one as we speak... er I write at you... yeah. Whatever.

Now being into Book V by 30k words is awesome! I know right where I'm going with this one and I'm moving right along and it's great... sort of... until I get to the part that's going to rip my guts out and yours, but it's fine! I promise! It'll be fine. Don't you worry.

(Please don't stalk me and go Misery on my ass! I like walking without benefit of a cane and would like to continue to do so.)

Books V and VI are heading into some dark territory for me. So you might encounter some whining and whimpering and even some out and out bitching from me in the near future either here or on Facebook. Just ignore me. Sometimes even I need to cope with the ugly things inside my head. So far I haven't dumber anything down and so far no one has written and screamed at me about what a horrible awful no good very bad person I am so that's at least something right?

Well.

I hope this has been a decent enough update about what's going on in The Sacred Hearts world.

Looks like six books and a couple of novellas aren't quite going to finish this thing after all, so you can expect a Book 7 and maybe some bonus short stories. Pretty sure there will be a bonus short story after Book V, depending how long it goes I may tack it on to the end of the novel if it goes over 30 - 40k words it'll be a .99 center between books V & VI.

I got a lot going on as you can tell with just getting these things on the page. Add to that the blogging and Facebooking and talking with cover artists and now, thanks to all you awesome folks, having to make appointments with tax people to get the income tax side of things straight so I don't get a spanking from Uncle Sam (Seriously, have you seen that guy? Can we say gross?) I'm a busy girl.

Still, if you message me or respond to something I've said, I will *always always always* answer.

Ask one of my Facebook peeps. She messaged me before five this morning my time and my cell phone woke me up and I answered! Sometimes if I am in a groove of things those answers might have a time delay of a day or a week but I ALWAYS answer.

Happy to field questions, love talking about this world, so don't ever feel like you aren't worth my time because if it weren't for you, this wouldn't exist! You have no idea how incredibly grateful I am for that!

Okay. I've rambled way too long on here and need to bounce!

You know where to find me!

Cleaning House

Took the time to clean some house over on good reads by combining the two editions of Broken & Burned into one and clarifying both Shattered & Scarred and Broken & Burned's titles to include what order the books appear in the series.

Additionally, added the as-yet-to-be-released title of Cracked & Crushed to my small but growing pile of titles because *gasp* I've been giving a few advanced copies of the work away through Facebook.

I'm not asking for reviews on those giveaways buuuut if someone wanted to leave one it was high time I provided them a place to leave it.

Cracked & Crushed will be available for pre-order in November so keep an eye out for that.
Also, keep an eye on my FB page at www.Facebook.com/authorajdowney The closer we get to release, a few more advanced copies will go out!

I will probably have a giveaway here through my blog as well, so keep an eye out here for an opportunity.

Well until later my lovelies! I just finished writing Book IV of The Sacred Hearts series and it is safely in the hands of my wonderful, beautiful, kind, smart and overworked and severely underpaid editor, Tracie Warren.

You can thank her for the massive improvements to spelling/grammar/punctuation between S&S and B&B and it's only getting better from here.

Again. Keep an eye out. You never know when I feel like popping off with some goodies!

Sneak Peek! Cracked & Crushed The Sacred Hearts MC Book III

 

Coming Soon…

December of 2014

 

Cracked & Crushed

 

Synopsis:

 

He’s Cracked…

 

Reaver has always been a little weird, a little strange, okay MORE than a little of each. His psyche cracked right down the middle a long time ago. He holds the official title of ‘Treasurer’ for the Sacred Hearts MC but he’s much more than that. He’s the club’s enforcer, the one they call on when things need to be done quickly, quietly, efficiently and have no traces left behind. Which is good for Reaver, very good, because it keeps the monster inside his head satisfied and in check for the most part… but then Hayden Michaels entered the picture and Reaver decided that he wanted much more.

 

She’s Crushed…

 

The day was supposed to be the happiest day of Hayden’s life, instead it left her crushed beneath a pile of emotional rubble. Is it any surprise that Reaver would be the one to pull her from the emotional wreckage left behind? Sweet, funny, caring Reaver with eyes like the bluest winter skies and a smile that left her breath hitching every time he turned it on her. Trouble is, Reaver has a darker side, one that he has never given Hayden any illusions about. Will it be something Hayden can handle? Or will the cracks his psyche contains be the cracks in the dam that crushes her under a river of never ending pain?

 

**Mature Audiences Only (18+)**

**Language, Extreme Violence, and Sexual Content including anal & a MFM threesome.**

 

 

Excerpt:

 

She sucked in a tremulous deep breath and her beautiful, bright green eyes flicked open and snapped to me.

 

“You’re back…” and the sound of her voice was the sweetest thing I’d ever heard.

 

I plucked at the sleeve of her pajamas.

 

“I threw these away.” I said. She rolled her eyes at me.

 

“And I rescued them from the trash.” She said.

 

“No dice. Take ‘em off.” I said and smiled serenely.

 

“They’re my pajamas Reaver.” She said and I raised an eyebrow.

 

“I said take ‘em off…” she looked at me and tried to change the subject.

 

“How did it go?” she asked.

 

“Got us invited to a beach party tomorrow night.” I said, it was her turn to arch one delicate dark brow.

 

“I see. So your winning personality won out this time huh?” she said and I laughed softly.

 

“I’m waiting Hayden.” I said.

 

“Well you’re going to be waiting a long time.” She said and stuck her tongue out at me and I sailed right over the limits of my self-control. I kicked off my shoes and let my cut fall to the floor. Yeah, the floor, the mother fucking floor, my cut which we treated better than our countries’ flag. I bounded onto the bed and trapped her between my knees.

 

My cock was straining against my jeans but I didn’t want that, not yet. No, I couldn’t help myself I wanted her fear. Her eyes flashed wide and she put up her hands and I easily captured both her wrists in one of my hands and pinned them both to the bed up over her head.

 

“Reaver! What are you doing!?” She asked, voice high and breathy with panic and I drank it in like fine wine, letting it soak into every one of my senses. Her heart beat rapidly inside the cage of her ribs, so hard, so fast, like a little rabbit’s, fluttering against the insides of my thighs through the thick denim there.

 

I looked down on her impersonally. All personality, all feeling bled from my eyes, my features slack and expressionless and met her eyes with that of my stone, cold, killer’s. Her fear ratcheted up a notch and she bucked beneath me.

 

“Shhhh.” I soothed and it had the opposite effect of the intent of the noise, just like I knew it would. She gasped and went very still when I showed her what I had in my other hand.

 

“I’m a fucked up individual Hayden.” I said and waited for a moment. “Do you believe me?” I asked her.

 

“Yes and no.” she said softly, her eyes glued to the black and silver handle of the switchblade in my hand. Her answer perplexed me and would bear further scrutiny later but right now I wanted to play. I needed to play.

 

“Do you trust me, Hayden?” I asked and my voice was cold and deep. I expected her to say no, to struggle to begin to cry but again she surprised me. She swallowed hard, her expression resolute and she told me, unequivocally,

 

“Yes.”

 

It was all over her face, in the deepest facets of her eyes, holy fucking shit… She was going to let me do whatever I wanted. I had to test my limits with her. I always had to test my fucking limits… I flicked the switch and the sharp blade came free of the knife’s handle. Hayden sucked in a breath as sharp as the blade and went very, very still. She trusted me, sure, but that didn’t keep her from being afraid and I lapped that shit up.

 

“I don’t like these pajamas.” I said and snagged the front with the tip of my blade. She looked down her body at me and I carefully punched a hole in the pink cotton. I ran the knife tip along the inside of the material as far as I could go. Up the chest, all the way up the arm the material parting smoothly before the blade, gaping behind it to give me glimpses of her silky smooth skin.

 

Hayden moaned, she mother fucking moaned and I nearly jizzed in my fucking pants from the sound. Her breast showed through the gaping material, the nipple dusky, a deeper nude against her creamy skin and I wanted so badly to take it into my mouth and turn that little moan into something deeper, throatier… decadent-sweet, a sound I could suck on and have melt on my tongue like fine chocolate.

I captured her eyes with my own and gave her a dark, wickedly sinful smile and cut the ugly ass pajama set off her lithe and sexy body. She glistened with moisture at the apex of her thighs and I wanted to taste her. Finger her and tease her into an orgasm, bury myself balls deep inside of her but I did none of those things, instead I folded the blade back into its hilt and I relinquished her wrists and backed off both her and the bed abruptly. Pulling myself back from the brink, but just barely.

 

My breath came hot and heavy and I swept her beautiful body with my eyes and wrestled the beast back into its cage. She covered her chest with her arms and curled up hiding her beautiful pussy with it’s barely there wisp of hair from my sight.

 

“I’m… I…” I was sorry but not in the way she would think. I couldn’t’ bring myself to say it out loud. I didn’t want her to think I didn’t want her because holy mother fucking balls I wanted her so damned bad it felt like my nuts were in a vice right now.

 

“I’ll buy you something different Baby, I promise.” I said and like a jackass I bolted leaving the door swinging wide behind me. I needed distance I needed away from her right now because what I just did was so not cool, not after yesterday not with the hurt that had been put on her.

 

Holy fucking shit, what the fuck did I just do?

 

I needed to get a grip and fast.

 

Text Copyright © 2014 A.J. Downey

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

All Rights Reserved

Best way to wake up EVER!!!

Thank you so much to those of you in the UK that made this happen for me. For real, I'm on cloud 9!

Fun & Games Reaver's Style!

Head on over to my Facebook page and have a look at my latest status update, and let me know... Are you ready?

https://www.facebook.com/authorajdowney

Worst Booklaunch Ever

So yesterday was a real treat... Thank you amazon! As most of you know, I hit the publish button at 21:30PST Monday night but for some reason there were significant publication delays world wide for the release of Broken & Burned and it didn't go through State Side and in the UK until almost 24hrs later!

This left me just as frustrated if not more frustrated than my poor readers trying to download it with no success. To make matters worse I was getting messages from a few more enterprising gals who phoned amazon only to be told the reason my book wasn't available in their country was because the publisher had chosen not to publish there.

*Cough* *Cough* *Cough* BULLSHIT! *Cough* *Cough*

I'm a 100% indie author and as such am my own publisher. I would never do that to you guys, especially in the two countries where I get the most love!

All that aside, it's out now. For reals this time, no more false starts. If you tried in vain to download Broken & Burned yesterday or last night and felt even a little frustrated my offer still stands! Just private message me here, on Good reads, or on Facebook an email address and I will sent you the prologue and first chapter of Cracked & Crushed The Sacred Hearts MC in an exclusive, early, by now not so secret squirrel sneak peak at Reaver's story.

Again. I am so sorry for the inconvenience yesterday and I am making strides to ensure that it doesn't happen for Cracked & Crushed come December. Thank you everyone for your patience during yesterday's fiasco. I really appreciate it.

-A.J.

Broken & Burned out 9/9!!

Here is a sneak peek from later on in Broken & Burned The Sacred Hearts MC Book II:

I turned to see a slim girl our age standing at my desk. She wore black from head to toe and her short pixie cut platinum blonde hair was parted on the side and smoothed tight to her head. Her hands were planted on her hips and her bright blue eyes fixed on the motorcycle club patches on my bag.

“Yeah, you can tell me who’s Old Lady you are.” She said and her eyes flicked to mine. Her eyes were familiar but I just couldn’t place them.

“I’m no one’s Old Lady.” I said frowning and her light eyebrows shot into her hairline.

“What’re you doin’ with a bag with Sacred Heart patches all over it then?” she demanded.

“The Vice President, Dray, gave it to me.” I said and my eyebrows knit together. Mandy bit her lower lip and her eyebrows went up.

“Dray!?” the blonde girl asked surprised her cell phone appearing in her hand.

“Now I know you’re lyin’!” she exclaimed and her phone was ringing on speaker in her hand. We still had a half an hour before class but still, I was nonplussed. Not only had she interrupted the conversation with my BFF, she had called me a liar in her next breath. I was getting pissed.

“Yellow?” a male voice through the phone line.

“Hey Cuz, you’re not gonna believe this. There’s this bitch in my class with a backpack covered in Sacred Hearts patches and she’s trying to tell me Dray gave it to her.” She looked at me with cold blue eyes and it was right there at the edge of my mind.

“Mmmm Shells?” the male voice asked.

“Yeah?”

“You got me on speaker?”

“Yeah?”

“Girl there?” he asked.

“Oh I’m here.” I said and my voice was strained with the suppression of my temper.

“Irish!” The voice crowed, “That you!?” I closed my eyes.

“Yeah Reaver, it’s me.” I said and put my face in my palm.

“Hey Shells, it’s totally cool! Dray licked her, she’s his. I saw it with my own eyes!” he sounded entirely too happy about it and people in the classroom including my best friend were turning to look at me. My face flamed with embarrassment.

“No shit!?” The blonde pixie haired girl asked.

“Uhhh do I carry a knife every day of the week?” he asked.

“‘nuff said. Thanks Cuz!” the mysterious ‘Shells’ said and hung up on him. She dropped into the seat on my other side and beamed at me.

“Reaver’s your cousin?” I asked.

“Yep! Sorry, so Dray licked you and you’re his now? How does that work?” she asked all trace of hostility gone. I sighed.

“Yes Everett. Do tell.” Mandy crossed her arms.

“As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted,” I said pointedly looking at ‘Shells’

“Shelly.” She stuck out her hand. “I guess you could say my official title is Sacred Heart club whore, I’m no one’s Old Lady, but no one messes with me on account Reaver would flay them alive.” I shook her hand and settled on doing some damage control with Mandy before she throttled me from the suspense.

Again, Broken & Burned, Dray's story is out next Tuesday, September 9th!