Writing Space

I have to admit, I LOVE seeing other people's writing spaces. There's something almost voyeuristic about it, like we're seeing into their secret worlds, see where the "magic" happens.

In my case, Disarm was written in Salinas, California back in 2012. A lot of it was written in a coffeeshop called The Cherry Bean, but the novelettes were also mostly written in my makeshift office in the sitting area of our bedroom.

I mean, seriously, a folding plastic table!

And here, in the breakfast nook. And no, I don't have two giant iMacs. I just have the one that kept moving around the house depending on my mood.

We had the best view of the mountains behind our house.


Arrest, on the other hand, was written in several different states. Started in California, then as we PCSed out, was written partially in Oklahoma City, Norfolk, and finally finished in Miami.

Here my office is once again just the sitting area in our master bedroom. The problem with this new space is that it's considerably smaller than the one in California (ergo, messier!), and it quickly became too small and confining, even for a shorty like me. I don't even know how I managed to write Surrender with all that glare behind me.

Eye-spy a list of my current and future projects on the board. ;)

So I kicked the kids out of the toy room and made it my new office. It's HUGE, airy, and has a wonderful view of the lake. I can even do some weightlifting in here, it's so large.

Astro, our mini-schnauzer, loves it too.
 
There's a lake outside that window, promise. ;)

I hope you've enjoyed this little look into my life. How about you—do you have a writing space? I'd love to see it!

RELEASE DAY GIVEAWAY!

To celebrate the release of Arrest, I have created a "thin blue line" necklace especially for Elsie made of crystal beads on a sterling silver chain, with a pendant of St. Michael (patron saint of law enforcement) at the back.


 


I will be giving away this necklace along with a signed paperback copy of Arrest.


But wait, there's more!

I'm also adding a signed paperback of Disarm as well as a set of Henry's dog tags.



I will announce ONE winner on Wednesday morning. The giveaway is open worldwide. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

TWO DAYS UNTIL ARREST!

 

You can pre-order your copy here:

Amazon  |  BN  |  Kobo  | iTunes

You can also buy a signed paperback HERE.


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A few other things of note:

• It only NOW just came to my attention that a lot of my previous emails sent to the mailing list bounced, and it apparently had something to do with the return yahoo address I was using. I apologize if you didn't get emails about my previous releases. Fingers crossed that I've fixed the problem.

• If you'd like hints on what's to come, you can take a looksie inside my DISARM/ARREST Pinterest board. But beware, there may or may not be spoilers. ;) 

The Italian DISARM




I've been notified that there's a bit of confusion when it comes to the Italian translation of DISARM, published by Newton Compton. Hopefully I can shed some light into the matter.

Back in 2012, I wrote a series of six novelettes about Henry and Elsie. After the series was done, I combined the six novelettes to make a full-length novel, titled DISARM, which is the first book in the Disarm Trilogy. The second full-length book is titled ARREST, and the third book is titled SURRENDER.

To summarize:
• DISARM: About Henry and Elsie
• ARREST: Also about Henry and Elsie
• SURRENDER: About Julie Keaton

I hope this clears up any confusion.

A small addition to Heading East...


*Spoiler Alert! Do not proceed if you have not read Heading East.*

I've seen a few reviews mentioning that the Sabrina issue was left unresolved. Honestly, this came as a bit of a surprise to me because I thought that Sabrina was not that important. She was the embodiment of Kat's insecurity with West, and so when Kat finally found her confidence at her fashion show, Sabrina and all the drama she brought with her faded away. To confront her was to give her more power over Kat's emotions, and I really wanted Kat to progress past that jealous, insecure person she used to be.
However, I failed in making that clear enough. That was my bad. So I added a little more to her conversation with West after her fashion show to clarify the point. I hope the few extra sentences help explain why Sabrina was not heard from again, why Kat never even gave her another thought.
Here's the scene in question:

I fell into him easily, pressing my face into his chest and breathing him in. I wrapped my arms around him and felt the strong thud of his heart against my cheek.
“I missed you,” he said, sliding his hand up my neck and bringing our lips together for a kiss that was hot and needy. “God, I missed you.”
 “Me too.” I looked up at him to let him see the effects of last night on my face.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know how soon I could get back,” he said, running his thumb along the hollows under my eyes.
“So you went to Alaska and brought my dad here?” I asked, glancing back towards the screen that separated us from the audience.
“I had to make sure he was here for this day.” He bent down and took my lower lip between his own, sucking it into his mouth gently.
I pulled away. “When you didn’t come home last night, I thought you…”
He cradled my face in his hands and pressed his forehead to mine. “I thought you said you trusted me?”
“I do. At least, I tried.”
“About Sabrina—”
I shook my head. “You know what? It doesn’t matter.”
“I dropped my phone during sound check and she found it. She didn’t give it back until later—”
I raised a finger up to his lips. “I don’t care about Sabrina.” So she’d tried to play on my insecurities to ruin what I had with West but in the end she was the one who lost.
“You mean you’re not going to confront her and kick her ass?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
 I let out a laugh. “The old me would have relished punching her in the throat. But something happened between last night and today. I realized she didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things,” I said. “I wasted so much energy worrying about her, worrying if she’d seduce you, when I should have been concentrating on us.”
“You’re not even the least bit—”
I grabbed the back of his head and rose to my toes, kissing the words right out of his mouth. He slowed and I felt his lips form a smile against mine. “Did you just shut me up with a kiss?”
I laughed. “Maybe,” I said and kissed him again before he could form a reply. 
 
---

What do you think?
 

We have a release date!

Heading East is going to be available for the Kindle, Nook, and Kobo readers. 

 

Thank you so much for your patience! I've spent the past few months writing SURRENDER, the third in the DISARM trilogy. It has been a long, emotional road writing Julie's story and now that it's done, I feel like I'm surfacing from the depths of the ocean.

Now that the manuscript has been handed in to the editor, I can now concentrate on writing books to self-publish, starting first with Heading East. After that, a standalone story about Sheriff Drew, though I'm not sure how long that story will turn out to be.

Also in the works is a 4-part series of novellas about four people living together, each story focusing on a roommate. This series is not going to be as emotional as my previous works, but it will be fun and—hopefully—entertaining!

So stay tuned!


A DISARM Giveaway!

To celebrate the upcoming release of DISARM in paperback, I am giving away TEN (count 'em ten) signed paperbacks with a set of Henry Logan's dog tags.



In case you can't read it, one tag is embossed with Henry's details and the other tag says, "Disarm by June Gray."

I will choose the winners on the release day, February 4, so get your entries in!

Note: Giveaway is limited to US residents only. 


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The One with the Bad News...

Hey all, I have some bad news that I've put off telling you for the longest time: I won't be able to get Heading East done before Christmas. I thought I'd be able to get the bulk of it done in November, but with Thanksgiving, family visiting, and my daughter's birthday all in the same month, I wasn't able to hit my goal. I'm still working on it, but it looks like it won't be out until January. I'M SORRY!!! Trust me, nobody feels worse about delaying the release than me!

But look, here's the cover for ARREST! Ooh, shiny! 

New Finding West cover

Hi all! Sorry I've been AWOL! October and November are busy, busy months! My aim is to have Heading East (the sequel to Finding West) at the end of November. If I can't make that deadline, I'll be sure to let you know asap.

In the mean time, I've redesigned the cover for Finding West to avoid the whole Amazon/BN/Kobo debacle as I've heard they've targeted books with nude bodies on the cover. 

Anyway, I hope you like the new covers!

Is a sequel really necessary?

I wanted to address the question: why have a sequel?

If you've read Finding West, you'll know that the story isn't complete at the end of the novel. I originally intended on writing one stand-alone novel but my publishing contract for another book restricts me from self-publishing anything over 70,000 words. Finding West clocks in at nearly 60,000 words. I couldn't finish telling the story in 10K words. Just not possible.

I hope this clears up any confusion. I'll be working on the sequel, Heading East, in September and will hopefully have it out by November *crossing fingers*.


Cover Re-Reveal!

I've redesigned the cover to Finding West because I really wasn't feeling the first cover. But now I love it, and I hope you do too!

And now, without more ado:


Coming August 21, 2013

Teaser Tuesday #3

It's Teaser Tuesday!

Here's another unedited teaser from Finding West:




---

Holy shit.

I pressed my back against the door, trying to control my breathing. My body felt like it was on fire—my throat dry and my crotch throbbing from that one kiss.

Kiss: that one word didn’t seem enough for what we’d just done. Mouth-fucking more like. I could still taste him, could still feel his warm tongue invading my mouth, could still feel his hands sliding all over my body. My face heated up at the thought of his hard length digging into my hip. He’d felt so ready.

The question was: was I?

I changed out of my dress and shoes and into my usual sweats and hung the dress up in my closet, a little surprised that the seams were holding together. It was safer to be in my regular baggy clothes, far easier to evade the advances of an incredibly sexy man. If he found me attractive in this grey cotton cloak of ambiguity, then there was definitely something wrong with his head.

He looked up from the couch when I came out of my room. Apparently I’d been gone long enough that he had time to clean up the table and wash the dishes. “We need to talk about that kiss,” he said, standing up.

“No, we don’t,” I said.

The skin between his eyebrows wrinkled. “We can’t just ignore what happened.” He motioned to the space between us. “Something’s happening here.”

I swallowed hard, my heart pounding wildly at the thought of confronting my growing feelings for him. There had been something in that kiss, but what would it cost me to admit it aloud?

“Know what? You can pretend to yourself that you don’t feel it, but you’re not fooling me. You’re not fooling the Sheriff either.”

“What would you know about me and Drew?”

“Absolutely nothing apart from the fact that even he could tell you wanted me here,” he said. “And he wasn’t very happy about it.”

I toyed with the sleeves of my sweatshirt. “This isn’t about him.”

“You’re right. This is ninety percent about you.” His eyes bore into mine, trying his best to unnerve me. “And ten percent me.”

“I’d be fucking stupid if I developed feelings for someone who doesn’t remember who they are,” I finally said. “What if you’re married? What if you have kids?”

He held out his left hand. “I’m not wearing a ring, or the telltale white line that means I used to wear one.”

I smacked his hand away. “That doesn’t mean anything.”

“It proves I’m not married,” he said, slipping his hands in his pants pocket. “Your real worry is that I’ll get my memory back and I won’t want you anymore. You think that the person I used to be won’t think you’re worthy.”

My chest hurt with his words, because even though they weren’t said with malice, they were still tinged with the same spite as the taunts back in high school. “Fuck off,” I said, feeling the sting of tears at my tear ducts. I turned away, wishing he was a vampire so I could rescind my invitation. “I’m going to bed.”

He stepped around me and blocked the way to my bedroom with his large body, his arms folded across his chest. He looked so daunting and a little more than irritated. “Fine, but think about this—” He grabbed the sides of my head and kissed me hard. There was a desperation to this kiss; the way his lips mashed against mine, the insistent thrust of his tongue as he devoured me.

My body gave in, and I found myself sighing into his mouth once again despite myself. To be so easily manipulated made me feel so weak but I couldn’t fight it, not when my entire body wanted him so badly it trembled with his touch.

He bit my lower lip and sucked on it a moment before pulling away. He pressed a soft kiss to my cheek and then breathed against my ear, “With or without my memory, I still want you, Kat."

Then he left me standing by myself, aching all over from his absence.

---

Finding West is due out in August 2013.

Teaser #2 from Finding West

-->

Note: This excerpt is still unedited and may change before final publication.

___

I ate my sandwich in the living room while he remained at the dining table, both of us needing some space, which was hard to get in such a small house. Every move I made, every breath I took, I felt him with me. I realized with a start that I felt comforted by his presence; the thought made my face burn with anger.
I have always prided myself on my independence. Ever since my father went off to prison, I’d taken care of myself and I’d be damned if I let someone else come in and invade my space, making me dependent and weak and shit.

No freaking way.

After finishing my lunch, I stalked over to the sink and washed my plate. As I made my way back to my studio, the stranger’s deep voice reached out to me, stopping me in my tracks. “Don’t be mad, Kat.”

I looked over my shoulder, surprised once again by the face of the man looking back. “I’m not mad.”

He raised an eyebrow. “So this is happy, then?”

“Fucking elated,” I said deadpan.

He chuckled. “You have nothing to be embarrassed about, you know,” he said. “You have a nice body.”

My pulse picked up again, despite my wishes. “Nice. Yep. Right.”

“What, you don’t think you have a nice body?”

“I think I have a strong body,” I shot back.

“Don’t tell me you think you’re fat?”

I whirled around, my hands already clenched. “God, you’re so confrontational.”

His eyes burned into mine. “So are you.”

“For fuck’s sake, no, I don’t think I’m fat,” I said. “Do I think there are better bodies out there than mine? Sure. Do I bemoan the fact that I’ll never have a sexy, Hollywood body? Hell no. Do I care about what I look like? Take one guess.”

“Do me a favor, Kat,” he said gently from across the room. “When I’m gone, stand in front of your mirror and take a look at yourself. Really look. Pretend you’re seeing through someone else’s eyes.”

“What’s the point in that little exercise in futility?”

“I want you to see yourself for what you really are,” he said. “Don’t be afraid to look.”

Okay, that incensed me. Nothing like telling me I’m a scaredy-cat to piss me off. “I’m not afraid. I just don’t want to be all gussied up for absolutely no reason. I live alone; the only person I have to please is me. And you’d better believe I’m okay with what I see.”

“There’s a distinct difference between okay and happy.”

“I was happy before you came along.”

“Were you really?”

___


Finding West is due out August 2013. 


Teaser from Finding West.

Note: This excerpt is still unedited and may change before final publication.

___


“Hey, did you hear what I said?” I closed the fridge door and found the man staring at the computer screen, his face pale from shock. I walked over and set the bottles on the table. “What is it?”

He tried to shut the laptop, but I wedged my fingers in between. “It’s uh—”

“Don’t say it’s nothing because I will punch you in the throat,” I said, wrestling the computer away from him. He gave up without a fight.

I flipped open the computer screen, studied the picture, then laughed. “That’s not you.”

He blinked a few times, relief seeping into his taut features. “Are you sure?”

I set the computer back down and pointed at the screen. “Look, the bridge of your nose is thinner and you have a little less forehead than he does.”

He stared at the picture, still apparently unconvinced.

“I’ve been looking at your face all morning, I think I can spot the difference.”

“Please be certain.”

I rolled my eyes before focusing on his face, starting with that bushy beard that covered a good portion of his face, to the straight nose, and ending with those luminous grey eyes, which were looking straight into my own, seemingly holding me in place. My chest felt tight, which was in itself a scary reaction to studying the face of a stranger.

I don’t know how long I stared at him—probably longer than was socially acceptable—but I finally wrenched myself away from his gaze and straightened. “I’m…” I cleared my throat. “I’m sure.”

Then he smiled and any lingering doubts in my head melted away as his eyes wrinkled at the corners and his nearly perfect teeth shone against his dark beard. The kind of look that seemed genuine enough to make me feel warm inside. Uncomfortably so.

I grabbed my beer and made a big production of opening it in order to ease the tension. I didn’t know this guy; he had no business making my stomach feel this way.

For the first time, I questioned my decision to bring this man into my home. For the first time, I felt fear.

___


Finding West is due out August 2013. 

The Dutch cover!

Here's the Dutch cover for the DISARM series! 


It has a different feel from my original covers, but Bruna's designers had to stick with a certain look for their Amber line. What do you think?

What in the world is June Gray working on?

I know I've been quiet for a while, not releasing anything for what seems like forever. I wish I was as fast as some other authors out there! Seriously! I feel like a snail compared to some of y'all!

So what have I been working on?

Let's see... I'm 2/3 of the way through the first draft of ARREST, the sequel to DISARM. As I was writing ARREST, an idea struck me so hard I had to write it down right away. Now it won't let go. Henry and Elsie will probably force me to write that story after ARREST is done. But I guess that will all depend on how DISARM/ARREST are received by the public, if the publisher wants another book, and most importantly, if readers even want another H&E story. Which is to say, I don't know if there will be a third H&E novel.

(This is probably not good news considering the whole Crossfire Series debacle, huh?).

As for self-publishing endeavors, I am in the midst of writing another erotic romance, which may become two or three books. To honor my contract with Berkley, I have to keep anything I self-pub under 70K words, so you see why the story might be broken up into two or three books if it becomes overlong.

I'm expecting the first (maybe only?) book to be done by August 2013. For now, I have a blurb and a cover to show you, though it might change over and over seeing as I'm a little anal retentive when it comes to my covers.





West
(A True North novel)

Kat Hollister is a tomboy who lives in t-shirts and dirty jeans and doesn’t give a shit what the world thinks. She lives alone and closes everyone out, with only her dog Josie by her side. For Kat, love and relationships are for the weak, and she is anything but.

Until one cold night when she finds a stranger stumbling on the side of a dark road, a man who has lost his memory.

She gives him temporary shelter against the snowstorm, but what she doesn’t count on is the friendship that blooms. This man—who has no identity—starts to teach her things about herself she never knew, and she begins to wonder if maybe she'd been wrong about love and trust all along.
 

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 If you'd like to add this on Goodreads, you can go here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18041650-west

 Stay tuned. I'll post teasers and such in the months leading up to publication!