Hey, Y’all!

Happy November! We’ve officially been in the Fall season in September, but now it really feels like it. Temps are finally below 80 degF on a daily basis. Whew!🥵

I got a big treat when I went out to check on my lonely little bell pepper plant. The sweet potatoes I planted have come in beautifully! I didn’t harvest them all, but the ones I did harvest...🫨

My gardening hopes dwindled after my tomatoes and cucumbers didn’t produce. So, I’m super proud of those gigantic sweet potatoes. Oh! And my hot peppers (Cayenne and Hungarian Wax) came in great as well. I’d neglected them, so they proved resilient. So, pepper sauce and hot sauce on deck.

Book Event

I attended my last book event of 2025 in the great city of Chicago the debut stop on the Boozy Book Tour. I had a great time hanging with and meeting new author friends. Bonus that I got the chance to hang with a couple of my cousins at well.

I love the Boozy Book Tour ladies. And I’ll connect with them again at the Denver stop on the Tour in June of 2026. I’ll post the link for you to take a look.

https://www.boozybooktour.com/

New Book Alert/ Cover Reveal

I told you last month that I finished the expansion of Just Kiss Me. Well, I’ve gotten it back from the editor and I'm putting the finishing touches on it. Which means I can now share the cover and release date with my newsletter subscribers. Coming November 20, 2025!

As you can see, I went a new direction with the cover, opting for animated. Patreon subscribers got first look. And the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Which makes me very happy.

I think animated Ryker and Ensley are super cute! This is also the first time I’ve been able to put both of my main characters together on the cover. So, get ready for possibly seeing more of this in the future.

Keep reading below for an excerpt and a chance to meet Ensley and Ryker, and see how it all begins.

Writing Update

In keeping with expanding my shorter stories, I’ve started on Power. If you didn’t read it in the Loving Day anthology, Power is Desiree and Troy’s story. Desiree is a retired figure skater who runs a non-profit geared toward disadvantaged youth and Troy is a business mogul with a particular request. A request Desiree denied him. So...what’s a over-the-top a-hole who always gets what he wants to do? Why blackmail her of course.

If you want to read along as I update and expand their story, it’s happening now on my Patreon. Subscribe to join the discussion. So far, the ladies have come up with some pretty entertaining nicknames for Troy Michaelson. 😂

Also, we're really getting into with The Blacktooth Summit Series. Quinlin has met his mate. Let's just say he got more than one surprise in Soraya. I know I'm going to love writing these two.

That’s all for now. As always, thank y’all for rocking with me. I sincerely appreciate you!

If you like having the inside track on what I write, you should join my Patreon to read along as each story is shaped.

Pre-Order Now!

Just Kiss Me

Love wasn’t on the table, but he’s all in.

Ensley Warren hasn’t been very lucky in love. In fact, it seems like she dated a variation of the same guy over and over. Taking a self-care day, she walked through the doors of Anton’s High Roller Casino and everything changed.

Ryker Stephens was just minding his business, playing blackjack at Anton’s, when he laid eyes on a beauty who immediately captured his attention. Love was the last thing on his mind. However, from the moment she walked into his arms, literally, his new mission became providing whatever she needed—and he didn’t even know her name yet.

Ensley and Ryker’s attraction is undeniable. Can Ensley trust in what she feels for Ryker, or will she allow societal norms to get in the way? Will Ryker win in his quest to provide Ensley with not only protection, but the desires of her heart?

Buy Now or Start Reading in KU!

Her Reluctant Cowboy

Old Wounds. New beginnings. One unexpected chance to get it right.

Four years out of the army, Vivienne Daley finds something which brought her peace. Working with the horses at the Silver Creek Ranch. It’s just her and the sweet beasts who need her TLC. And, as far as she’s concerned that’s all she needs. Going home to Lone Star Ridge isn’t in her plans, until the future of the Daley family ranch is on the line, and she has to seek aid from the one man she’s avoided for years. 

Rhinehart Stephens has spent the majority of his adulthood ranch-life adjacent, but not actually participating. He’d even given up his share of the Stephens family ranch to his brother to pursue a career in business. However, no amount of distancing himself from ranch life could keep him away when Vivienne Daley returns to Lone Star Ridge and asks for his help.

Her desire to save the Daley ranch will take more than Vivienne can do alone. But losing the ranch isn’t the only thing at risk with Rhinehart Stephens involved. Can they put their past behind them and work together? Or, will their history cause her reluctant cowboy to turn his back on their future?

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The Diviner's Soul

Some bonds are forged in blood. Theirs was written in the threads of destiny.

As a Soulkin, Kieran is gifted with a rare Blessing: he can see the invisible threads that tether souls together. Their colors reveal connection, loyalty, love—truths most can only guess at. But he never expected to see one binding him to another. Not until he meets the curvy, bronzed skinned Diviner he was sent to protect.

Dianthe sees the future in tea leaves and sometimes with a single touch. When the leaves warn of danger surrounding her little brother, she has no choice but to flee the only home they’ve ever known. She doesn’t expect to cross paths with a Soulkin—let alone one as captivating as Kieran. His amber eyes, burnished brown skin, and long, flowing locs are distraction enough… but it’s what she feels when they touch that truly unsettles her.

Haunted by what she’s seen, Dianthe clings to her mistrust. But Kieran is determined to shield her and her brother from the coming storm. Though only he can see the bond glowing between them, Dianthe can feel it—pulling them ever closer. As they journey into the unknown, Kieran offers her more than just protection. He offers her a future rewritten.

But trusting in their Blessings is one thing. Trusting in love is another.

Can Dianthe open her heart to what lies beyond fate?

Or will the path she feared become the one they’re destined to walk—together?

Start Listening Now!

Corso Deluca

She's the law. I'm an outlaw. Now that Jessie has entered my world, I am the only justice she'll get.

Jessie

I came prepared to take on the mafia’s devil—Corso DeLuca.

He took the only person who mattered to me.

I stormed into his kingdom ready for battle, but he was waiting…for me.

Corso

FBI Agent Jessie NuCalla barged into my establishment demanding I surrender. What this fierce female failed to realize is The Governor Hotel is my sovereign territory. Within these walls, I am the justice system.

One of us has fallen into a trap, but I’m not sure if either of us wants to escape. Who who will escape what's happening between us?

Read an excerpt from Just Kiss Me

Prologue

“I'm out!” 

Foster’s red face matched the anger in his voice as he stomped toward the door, leaving without a backward glance and slamming it shut behind him.

As if he hadn’t just blown up at her for no apparent reason, Ensley turned back to the TV, flipping through channels like he had never said a word. 

“Are you just going to let him leave?” 

Disbelief coated Jocelyn’s expression and voice.

“Yup.”

“Girl, that's how you lose a man. You could have at least taken his side or hugged him or something. He had a bad day.”

Ensley shot her a look before immediately refocusing on the channel menu options. 

“So.”

“That's so cold. Don't you care?”

“Not today, I don't.”  

Surprisingly, Ensley realized she really didn’t care. Not even a little. Let Foster have his tantrum. She was done trying to please him to the detriment of herself.

“Why not? That's your man.”

Dropping the remote into her lap, Ensley turned to face Jocelyn. The other woman seemed determined to get into a discussion Ensley didn’t want to have. It was bad enough Foster had shown his ass while she had company.  

Now, Jocelyn wanted to dig into her relationship, which, for all intents and purposes, had just ended. Ensley didn’t even understand why Jocelyn had popped up to visit her in the first place. They weren’t that close, but Ensley was all out of fucks when it came to Foster.

“Maybe you should tell him that. He walked through the door and immediately made everything about himself. He didn't say ‘hello,’ ‘cat,’ ‘dog,’ ‘scratch my ass.’ Nothing. It was all about him and his problems.”

Grabbing the remote again, Ensley resumed to scrolling for a show or at least a good sports matchup. Apparently, her response wasn’t good enough for Jocelyn, who continued to offer unsolicited advice.

“Girl, in relationships, you have to be supportive—especially if you want to keep a man.”  

Jocelyn’s tone implied Ensley was to blame for having a career and not catering to Foster’s every whim. Either that or she was too independent and didn’t give him space to be a man. Bullshit.  

“I am supportive, but I'm also tired. While you're telling me what I should be doing, do you want to know what he does when I tell him I've had a bad day?”

Jocelyn leaned in as if Ensley was about to share something good. She wasn’t, but Jocelyn didn’t know that.

“What?”

Wearing a deadpan expression, Ensley replied, “He scratches his balls and asks me what's for dinner and when it will be ready.” 

A deafening silence followed her statement. Turning her gaze back to the television, Ensley went back to scrolling through the show listings. When Jocelyn had no comeback, Ensley smirked.

“Yeah... that's what I thought. He can take his ass somewhere and never come back,” she muttered.

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Jocelyn came up with a flimsy excuse to leave. Ensley didn’t mind; she didn’t want company anyway. Jocelyn was lucky she even answered the door, considering the woman hadn’t called in advance.

Her grumbling stomach reminded Ensley that she had skipped lunch. She was definitely ordering in for dinner because cooking wasn’t happening after the day she had. 

On one hand, she refused to acknowledge that she had essentially ended a two-year relationship as coolly as she handled paperwork for her clients’ slam-dunk cases. It shouldn’t have been that easy, but part of her had known it was coming. 

Ensley was tired of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, and she refused to hang on just to say she had a man. She didn’t subscribe to the old-school philosophy. Having a piece of man was not better than having no man at all. And if Foster really didn’t come back, she’d survive.

Chapter One

They Meet

Ensley couldn’t believe she had let Denise talk her into using one of those dang dating apps. It had been more than a year since she ended things with Foster, and she enjoyed the freedom from someone else’s demands on her time and attention.  

She had forgotten how good it felt to be spontaneous about how to spend her day. Now, she could go wherever she wanted, whenever she wanted—without concern for pleasing anyone but herself. Embracing her newfound freedom to do as she pleased, she woke up and made plans to spend the day in Las Vegas, pretending to be a tourist.  

Coryville was essentially a suburb of Las Vegas. Having lived there for years, she’d visited the city countless times. But, today, she felt like letting the sun touch her skin while she took in the sights on the Strip. In honor of the unseasonably warm January day, she wore a strappy sundress.

Until she completely removed the scales from her eyes, Ensley hadn’t realized how uneven her relationships with Foster and many of her previous boyfriends had been.

 In retrospect, she had dated the same type of guy, in different shades and ethnicities, over and over again.  

Seeing one of her best friends in a healthy relationship gave her hope. That’s how she ended up listening to Denise’s happily married ass, and subscribing to one of the dating apps that supposedly wasn’t full of fuck-boys and man-children. Lies. All lies. It might’ve taken six months of therapy, but she had improved her picker. Now, she could spot her former type from a hundred yards away. 

It took months of sessions on that lady’s couch to get to the bottom of her issues. Afterward, they worked on ways for her to recognize her patterns and make better choices. Part of it involved remaining single for a while—getting to know who she was without being someone’s plus one.

It was eye-opening. But if she was honest with herself, it could be lonely at times. So, when she and her therapist agreed, Ensley slowly began dipping her toes back into the dating pool. No one warned her it had poop in it.

Despite her newfound sense of direction, some undesirables squeezed through the cracks, and she found herself on a series of dates with varying degrees of podcast guys. While she was enamored with podcasts that stimulated her mind or promoted self-love, these guys seemed to be in virtual cults led by so-called high-value men.

They somehow managed to keep their misogyny well-hidden during the initial chats. Not surprisingly, they couldn’t maintain the act on an actual date. Ensley was over it. 

Quite honestly, Denise was one of the few women she knew who was married to a man she genuinely liked as well as loved. Ensley twisted her lips thinking about her friend.  

She didn’t begrudge her best friend a moment of happiness, but she felt some kind of way about Denise holding the good man cheat code hostage.  

She could tell a sista how she managed to snag one of the good ones. 

In the mood for a hand-scooped milkshake, Ensley veered right, leaving the moderately busy sidewalk. Entering the best creamery this side of the Mississippi, in her opinion, she treated herself to a large chocolate shake with whipped cream.

As she left, an eerie feeling sent a shiver down her spine. Adjusting the sleeve wrapped around her cold drink, she surreptitiously looked around. Nothing looked out of the ordinary; or at least, she didn’t spot anyone giving her the creep stare.

As she passed the water show in front of the Bellagio, she couldn’t shake what her instincts told her. It was time to go home, but she needed to figure out how to get there. She cursed herself for not having driven and parked at one of the casinos. Instead, she’d taken a rideshare into the city. Accessing the app on her phone would require her to focus on the device instead of her surroundings, so that option was out.

Half a block ahead, she spotted the platinum and gold fixtures on the front façade of Anton’s. Relief flooded her. Anton’s was a high-roller casino, known for providing privacy and freedom from harassment once patrons entered those tempered glass doors.

When she suddenly veered off the sidewalk to enter the casino, she finally identified the source of her unease. Normally, the man wouldn’t have stood out with his medium height and build, but Ensley recognized him from the dating app, Balance. They had initially matched, but after exchanging a few messages, Ensley sniffed out his crazy and blocked him.

Fuck! How did this happen?  

She’d been careful not to divulge any personal information beyond what was required to register for the app. Was it possible he just happened to be strolling the strip, and she was making too much out of the whole thing? Deciding she would rather look a little foolish than end up on an episode of a crime documentary, Ensley picked up her as she entered the casino.

Cool air hit her skin, causing goosebumps to rise on her flesh, which had nothing to do with the man she was now certain was following her. She’d made it no further than thirty feet inside the door when she saw him casually stroll in.  

Simply being inside Anton’s wasn’t enough. While the casino’s top-notch security would pounce in an instant if they saw anything suspicious, they were also trained to be unseen. There wasn’t a single visible member of the security team about for her to approach for assistance.  

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!

As she moved farther into the establishment, near the gaming tables, a deep, gravelly voice reached her ears. The sound was decadent and slightly reminded her of home. But that wasn’t a Mississippi drawl. It sounded more like... Ensley couldn’t immediately put place the Southern state the voice and its owner reminded her of.  

However, it was compelling enough to draw her attention to a tall, thickly built man wearing a dark tan cowboy hat paired with a starched white button-down and thigh-hugging jeans. From the looks of them, his cowboy boots had to be specially made. Seated at a blackjack table, she could see only his face and body in profile. Yet, what she saw stirred something inside her.

“Andrei, I’m just sayin’ you’ve gotten bougie since you started living in the U.S. full-time. Back in the old days, you wouldn’t allow anything but vodka straight up to be served in your presence.”

Tipping the lowball glass between his thumb and index finger, the cowboy held it up to the big Russian, who remarkably looked kind of small in comparison. 

Where did they grow men like that? Texas.  

Once she heard him speak a little more, through her brain fog, she placed the accent.

Ensley lost the ability to hear the casino owner’s response because the cowboy’s head turned in her direction. His eyes, no longer on his drink, were focused on her face, making the whole world fall away.  

How did he do that?  

Without consulting her, her feet lifted and lowered, bringing her closer to him.

While she was immediately drawn to him, she was still very much in fight-or-flight mode. Something told her that the big man, who looked like he felled trees in the mountains, was a safe place in the form of a person. As her brain tried to get a handle on what was happening, her body moved toward that safe place, like being pulled by a high-powered magnet or controlled like a marionette.

When her feet carried her to his side, he automatically turned in his seat, slipped an arm around her waist, and tugged her between the vee of his legs. The heat of his body chased away the chill that her thin-strapped sundress couldn’t combat. But he did more than dispel the cold casino air.

Tilting his head to the side, he leaned in, speaking directly into her ear.

“Hey there, Darlin’.”  

Ensley’s brain stuttered, making it impossible for her to respond immediately. Holy shit. His voice was even more decadent up close.

Taking the milkshake from her trembling fingers, he set it on the table in front of him. Fulfilling its role in her body’s rebellion, her now-empty hand splayed on his broad chest directly above his heart. A part of her brain finally began to function again, allowing her to reply to his greeting.

“Hey,” she replied breathlessly.

To read more, pre-order your copy of Just Kiss Me