Things to Come...

Hey, everyone! I want to remind everyone about Ellie's Wounded Heroes, available now at http://www.bookstrand.com/ellies-wounded-heroes . 

Also, I am happy to say my newest book Bound by Their Kisses, which is book 4 of the Knights in Black Leather series, will be available on May 2nd! It is already on pre-order at http://www.bookstrand.com/bound-by-their-kisses .

Speaking of my Knights in Black Leather series, it's a BDSM series. Which brings me to... I will be attending the first of its kind BDSM Writers Con in New York! It will be August 21-24th. It includes 40 hours of workshops and live demos, a BDSM club night, an award ceremony, a reader-writer mix and mingle, and book signings. AND, if you are an aspiring author of BDSM books, they are having a book contest. The winner gets a BOOK CONTRACT! Not to mention the book signing event is FREE.

To learn more about the first BDSM Writers Con, visit http://bdsmwriterscon.com/ .

Winners In Today's Drawings! And We All Win!

Thank you all who participated in this release party. You've not only put me at number 3 on the Siren Bookstrand list, but you've publicly voiced your support of our troops and the troops of all who keep us safe.

The winners today are:
Stacy Wilson
Deana Nedrane (Not sure if this is your last name or not)
Janice Greenlee
Emily Lanham

Please message me on Facebook your address so I can send out your winnings! https://www.facebook.com/marla.monroe.7
 

Everyone else who answered following my instructions, I have your names in my basket. If you will send me your address as well in a message, I will send you all a signed postcard and another little gift.

Thank you all for your support, of me and of our peace keepers and protectors!

Marla Monroe
www.marlamonroe.com
 

In Honor of the Release of Ellie's Wounded Warrior...

I am so excited about my new series. It’s one that is very special to me. It used to be that when a warrior, a Marine, a soldier, a Ranger, or any of our veterans returned home after serving our country they were greeted with love, honor, and respect. That’s not as true today as it used to be. Many of our vets return to broken marriages and a country who no longer recognizes the sacrifices they’ve made to defend their country. Not only do they give up four or more years of their lives, they do it for low pay, few benefits, and no promise of having something to go back home to once they had completed their tour.

For those who do return, having escaped the pine box transport, nothing will ever be the same again for them. They saw and sometimes did things that will haunt them forever. Some suffer from PTSD while others must learn to cope without a limb or four. They are blind, deaf, and scared both inside and out. We avert our eyes from their suffering because it makes us uncomfortable. I am ashamed that I’m part of a culture that has forgotten their service and their sacrifices. I’m dismayed that we’ve failed to teach our children to honor those men and women whenever we see them. I’m afraid that our children have no idea of the cost of our freedoms we take for granted. We can’t take them for granted anymore. Those freedoms have been compromised and the men and women who fought and bought those freedoms with their blood, their sweat, and their very lives, are growing weary in their fight. Why fight when we don’t value or appreciate what they’ve given us?

Wounded Warriors is the ongoing story of men and women who sacrificed everything and returned home to have to deal with what they have left. Battered and broken, they believe they are no longer worthy of love. But I tell you this. Everyone deserves a Happy Ever After, especially our veterans. The first book, "Ellie's Wounded Heroes", is out now at Siren Bookstrand! http://www.bookstrand.com/node/868327

 

 

In honor of this, I'm giving away some great prizes! I’ll be choosing names for a couple of gifts tomorrow and Saturday as well as Sunday. To enter, all you have to do is comment here on my blog or on my Facebook page on why you are thankful for our veterans and soldiers. What about them do you value? Then check back each day to see what else I’ve posted and look for your name to be announced as a winner. 

 

Ellie’s Wounded Heroes is the story of two soldiers who returned with challenges to overcome in order to function like everyday people. Rex and Clark were friends even before their return, but through the struggle to regain their independence, the two bonded even closer.  The heroine, Ellie, is a social worker who works for the city dealing mainly with issues like finding homes for the elderly and the homeless or arbitrating disagreements within neighborhoods. Ellie meets Rex first then is introduced to Clark and she falls for them both. The journey hits some bumps along the way but love prevails. Read an excerpt below.

The next time you see a veteran or someone in uniform, tell them thank you.

 

Rex pulled into his drive ten minutes later still thinking about the pretty Ellie. Her honey gold hair swirling around her in the warm wind as she’d glared with murderous intent at her engine had caught his eyes at first. The way her jeans hugged her generous hips and sweet, squeezable ass had prodded him to see what other delights might be part of the package. When she’d looked up at him with the lightest hazel eyes he’d ever seen, Rex had known she was the one. For one moment, everything else had faded away, and all he saw was her.

Ellie's Wounded Heroes

Then her eyes had registered his leathers and scruffy look, and those amazing eyes displayed unease, if not downright fear. It had taken him a second to realize that he probably looked the part of an evil biker gang member. Well, that was because he was, in a way. Maybe not the evil part, but he was a biker gang member, just not the type she probably thought.

As he drove up the long drive, his garage door opened so that he could pull inside next to his truck. The door closed automatically, and Rex climbed off the bike, jerking the snaps on the chinstrap so he could pull off the head cage. After setting it on the shelf next to the bike, he opened one of the saddle bags, pulled out the bag from the VA, and carried it with him as he crossed the garage to unlock the door to his house.

Once inside, Rex quickly decoded the alarm before entering the kitchen from the mudroom. He tossed the bag on the counter next to the fridge. He’d worry about it later. Right now, all he wanted was a beer and to think.

Ellie.

Her name seemed to whisper relief through his aching soul. Looking into her slightly unsure eyes had been like seeing his future in a different light. One of his old buddies had once said that when he’d found the woman who would become his wife, he had seen their unborn children in her eyes. Maybe there was something to that after all. He would swear he’d seen her sitting with him on his front porch swing.

Shaking his head, Rex grabbed a bottle from the fridge and walked over to his favorite chair and sat down as he removed the cap on his beer. One long, ice-cold swallow later, he set the nearly half-empty bottle on the side table and toed off both boots. After pulling off his socks and stuffing them in the boots, he pulled the seam along the left leg of his jeans from the hem, and it split halfway up his leg so that he could get to his leg.

Well, it was where part of his leg used to be. Now he stared at the new and improved part of him that continued to burn and ache despite its lack of nerves. Metal and silicone formed his lower leg instead of the bone, sinew, muscle, and skin he’d been born with. It didn’t take but a few seconds to remove the offending part, but it did take a while before he was able to touch the remaining stump to massage away some of the irritation that never seemed to totally disappear.

“Fuck. This is bullshit.” Rex grabbed the bottle off the table and upended it, gulping down the still-cold brew, then slamming the empty bottle down on the coaster.

He leaned back in the chair and shoved with his hands until it reclined. He closed his eyes and ran both hands over his face several times to push past the stinging tears that burned just below the surface. Too often he found himself in this spot, alone and angry, struggling to find his next reason to wake up to another day of his life. Yesterday it was because he was riding with his gang to say good-bye to someone he’d never met before. The man deserved an escort and protection for his family from protesters who always seemed to find the time to show up. Today it had been because he had to show up at the VA to help the new guys navigate the gym with someone who’d already been there and done that.

Tomorrow? What would be his reason to wake up tomorrow? No funerals to attend, and it was a Sunday so no one needed his help with therapy. Maybe tomorrow would be the day he didn’t wake up.

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Ellie's Wounded Heroes - Soon! In the meantime...

Hey everyone! Hope you're amped and ready for my newest series, Wounded Warriors.  The first edition, Ellie's Wounded Heroes, is scheduled to be released on April 18!  I think it will be on pre-order soon, hopefully next week.

Just in case anyone needs a little more information, I have an alternate description for Ellie's Wounded Heroes! Just for fun, I'll include both.

The original:

Rex is a disabled veteran who ended up with part of his leg amputated after a roadside bombing. He also had a severe head injury and suffers from extreme short term memory loss that leaves him waking up to a new day every day. His friend, Clark suffers from PTSD and bouts of dark depression that are nearly debilitating at times. Neither man feels that they have anything to offer a woman but while Rex has abstained form dating, Clark tends to date them on a short term basis.

When Rex meets Ellie, he’s instantly attracted to the pretty social worker and asks her to go out with him. At the last minute, his nerves overwhelm him and he asks Clark to join them for moral support. To his surprise they hit it off as well.

In the meantime, Clark asks Rex for help finding a safe place for a family in an abusive home. Rex offers one of his rental houses and they enlist Ellie’s help to convince the mother to leave.

The move doesn’t go as they had planned and when Rex’s injured leg fails him, it’s Clark who steps in to save Ellie and in turn is stabbed in the chest. Ellie learns the extent of Rex’s war injuries as well as the dark depression that Clark suffers as a result of his service while they help Clark recover from the attack.

Rex realizes that individually, neither of them would be able to keep Ellie happy and safe, but together, they could have the family they all want. He sets out to convince Clark then together they convince Ellie to give them a chance. She’s unsure if such a relationship can work, but knows that she loves them both too much to walk away from one of them much less both and agrees to be their wife.

The Alternate:

When the heroes feel more like zeroes, it's time to bring in reinforcements. Enter Ellie, a social worker with a passion for fixing others. Or at least finding ways to ease the troubles of others. When she meets Rex, he looks like a typical bad boy, motorcycle and all. She has no idea that her passion for helping others is about to change Rex's life forever.

Rex, a disabled veteran with extreme short term memory loss, lives his life by leaving himself notes. His friend and fellow veteran Clark helps him as much as he can, but his own PTSD and deep depression sometimes does more damage than good. When Rex gets a date with a sexy social worker, Clark is super supportive of his friend that hasn't had a date in years. Going along with him wasn't in the plan, but he'd do anything to boost Rex's morale.

On the date, everyone has confused emotions. It would seem that Ellie enjoys the company of both men, and it doesn't help that they're both sexy as hell. Clark mirrors Ellie's thoughts, but he would never get in the way of Rex's chance at happiness. Can the three of them realize that it will take all of them to make it work?

Don't forget to comment and let me know what you think! And, as always, feel free to check out my other books at http://www.bookstrand.com/marla-monroe .

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Marla Monroe: Gatlinburg For Writing

Marla Monroe: Gatlinburg For Writing: I'm in Gatlinburg, TN this week writing. I came with some friends who are out tearing up the town and generally causing havoc everywhere...

Gatlinburg For Writing

I'm in Gatlinburg, TN this week writing. I came with some friends who are out tearing up the town and generally causing havoc everywhere. I'm here writing, available to post bail if they need it.

It's been a wonderful few days and I still have two more left to go. The quiet time really helps get the words on paper, or in my case, the computer. No distracting TV's blaring or phones ringing and I don't feel guilty about not washing clothes or anything. I need one of these a week. :-)

Funny thing here though. It was 74 degrees yesterday and today it's chilling out at a cold 42 and going all the way down to 27 tonight with the chance of up to 3 inches of snow in the morning. No wonder half of us are sick all the time.

Working on book 12 of the Men of the Border Lands series. Wade is an ex-cowboy who used to work ranches but is just drifting around now. Stanton was a stock broker in Manhattan before the year of catastrophes. The fact that he's managed to survive in the world for the last ten years is amazing even to him. Wade thinks he's damn lucky but admits he has to have more skills than crunching numbers and sitting behind a desk.

Lyssa was a nurse practitioner in a charity hospital before it all ended. Now she's with two men after spending the last seven years in a prison cell in Border Town. The world is a scary place for her.

Where are they going to end up and will they come to care about each other along the journey? What do you think?

Here are a few pictures of my trip so far. Some are of men in a swat team that were running around a building across the street. I wished I'd had my good camera with me, so I could have gotten much better pictures.

Then there is the parrot guy! LOL  What do you think of this one?

I'll post more pics later. If we get that snow, I'll for sure have some for you. I'll be playing in it!

Marla Monroe
www.marlamonroe.com

 

Writing Can Help When You Are Down

Everyone has those days when things are tough. I've always turned to books to help me through the hard parts of my life. Sometimes reading and sometimes writing, and lately, listening to them. Getting lost in a story gives your mind and heart the rest it needs to be able to deal with reality when it's time to step back out again. As a writer, I can better appreciate this because I was first a reader. I can remember many times in my teenage life when everything was MAJOR serious that books helped me get through what I had, at the time, imagined to be the worst, worst thing to every happen in my life. Now I know the difference.

We as writers need to remember how important it is to weave stories that readers can totally immerse themselves in to escape the tough times in their lives. They need to be of such believability that a reader will become lost in the story and live the hero or heroine's life from the book, so that when they reach the end, the happy every after ending, they are left with a feeling of peace if only for a moment. Then, just maybe, that reader will be able to draw from that experience that there is still the possibility of a happy every after at the end of their personal journey.

Hope is something we have the ability to provide our readers. It's something we all need in our lives because storybook lives are nearly impossible. If not for hope, how many of us as writers would have given up on becoming published many years before? Hope gives strength to the heart to continue pumping and breath to the soul to continue seeking.

I want to write that book that will hold someone's hand as they walk a dark path. I want to write that book that reappears in someone's life as a joke or important line that they needed in that moment. I want to write the book that can help someone endure one more chemo treatment or hide for a while from the pain they are in. I want to write that book that will empower one woman to do something they've needed to do for a long time.

It might take me a lifetime to do this, but for every book I do finish, I'm one step closer to seeing my goal to fruition. Sometimes we have to take the steps slowly, one at a time, instead of bounding up them like there's no tomorrow. When we rush through it all, we miss the precious things along the way. Life is living the journey, not rushing to the end because there is no going back—ever.

I lost a part of myself today that I can never recover. It was just one piece of me, but there have been so many of those pieces along the way. I shore up my heart and soul with words, hiding my pain and losing myself with them in order to continue on to a new day.

Marla Monroe