Release Weekend Party Kickoff!!! Giveaway #1

Thanks for joining me in the kickoff to my Release Weekend Party for Nobody's Perfect (Rescue Me #4). Yesterday morning, I made an announcement on my Facebook Author Page and on my Amazon Author Central Page's discussion on Nobody's Perfect to say that the book won't be cleaned up for you until this weekend, most likely Sunday. I could apologize again, but I'd be more embarrassed if I'd released the book before I thought it was the best book I'd ever written. Now I'm satisfied to say that I have achieved my goal. 

This book certainly was aptly named, though! I have struggled with the ending for four months, which was why I wouldn't publish it on the originally expected June date. Yesterday morning, I finally got the ending the way I wanted it.  

It took me a long time to break down that last emotional hurdle--the last trigger, the one I didn't want to face. A wonderful sub, Ekatarina "Saya" Sayanova, whom I first met when she e-mailed me in June wondering when the heck the book was coming out, helped give me the courage to face the scene and #finishthefuckingbook (my original and favorite hashtag on Twitter, although I can't understand why other writers haven't picked up on it yet).  

Anyway, writing this last scene (chapters 24 and 25) yesterday morning provided the catharsis both Savi and I needed. RELEASE! But with that monumental event happening the day before the expected release date (and edits still happening), I announced that the book would come out this weekend instead. 

So, today we're going to kick off a 3-day Release Watch Party. I know everyone blocked reading time today, so you'll also find out about some of my friends' new releases (some today, I believe), and chances to win more books and goodies. Visiting today (in alpha order, not necessarily posting order) will be Chris Almeida & Cecilia Aubrey, Shayla Black, Lexi Blake, Eliza Gayle, Joey W. Hill, Alannah Lynne, Teresa Reasor, and Bianca Sommerland! 

Prizes will be drawn be after 12 midnight CDT Saturday (which gives you all day Sept. 14 & 15 to enter). See below for more details about today's party.  

And while you all are partying here, I'll be going back and forth all day with my editorial team and beta readers, so that I can send it to the formatter. 

We are going to have this book all cleaned up and in your hands no later than end of day Sunday, Sept. 16. 

Thanks for your continued support and patience on this incredible journey for me! On Facebook, I've described this last month as the 9th month of pregnancy. (My DIL is due Oct. 1 with my first grandchild--a boy--so that's also foremost in my consciousness right now.) Labor began about a week ago, I believe the place where I posted STFU as a comment to someone who posted a tick-tock message on my Facebook wall as the transition stage. Yesterday, was the pushing stage and the baby will be born today--but it's a big baby! (Right now, about 160,000 words with NO subplots. As announced in my Aug. 31 newsletter, I removed Marc and Angelina's subplot because it was a distraction to Damian and Savi's story. But I plan to complete their story in a separate book--now book 5 in the series, but am reluctant to make any promises on when you will get it.)

So, while we clean up this baby, you all enjoy yourselves today, discover some new authors and/or new books, and just hang on a little longer. No more delays.

And thanks for your ongoing support and patience. I hope to God I never have to birth to another baby like this one, but I was determined when I started this series over a year ago that I would write a book about the realities of become a sexual being again after the traumas of child sexual abuse. This book will be an intensely emotional read for survivors of abuse, rape, incest, as well as those suffering from PTSD from combat and other traumatic events. Too many times in the Romances I've read, the heroine's emotional scars just disappear with the love of a good hero. If I'm going to bring you more realistic BDSM, I also want to show the reality of being a survivor of any kind of sexual abuse. It doesn't go away--ever. 

But the overall message I hope readers will take away from this book is one of hope and healing. None of us is broken--trust me, don't EVER let Sir Damian hear you say that--and none is too wounded that she or he can't find love. The hardest step is building trust and then lowering the defenses enough to let that worthy person inside your heart. {{hugs}}

My thanks to my assistant, Leagh, for pulling off this party. She truly did ALL the work of getting postings from the authors and will be on here much more today than I will. Please be sure and let her know how much you appreciate her! I know I wouldn't have been able to do a release party for another month if it were solely up to me!


There will be new blog posts all day long. So without further ado, here are the details. 

Each hour today (beginning with this post), there will be a new author visiting my blog bringing prizes, guest posts, and fun book information. There are lots of chances to win. All giveaways will be open until 12 midnight CDT tomorrow (Saturday) so you have plenty of time to enter. All winners will be chosen and contacted by e-mail next week.

GIVEAWAY!

For your first chance to win, fill out the Rafflecopter below. (You will need to fill out a new form at EACH of the posts today for all chances to win.) 

(While I *love* to read comments and welcome them--THE WINNER WILL ONLY BE CHOSEN FROM ENTRIES TO THE FORM!)

So to kick things off today I have a special gift package for one of my readers. I am offering one randomly drawn winner a copy of any Rescue Me book (including this one or a future one), swag (pen, trading cards, bookmarks, and an autographed hand fan), and a $10 Gift Certificate for a bookseller of your choice (chosen from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and All Romance eBooks). 

To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter below. THIS drawing is open internationally. (Please watch for details in each specific drawing, especially those involving prizes other than e-books, to see if international entries are included.)

Thank you to everyone who is celebrating with me! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cocked & Loaded, Shootin' Stars & Blasting Giveaway Hop

Blog Hop hosted by:

Queentutt's World of Escapism (Ronda)

&

Close Encounters of the Night Kind (Nikki)

As those of you who have been reading my RESCUE ME series of BDSM erotic romances, you know that the first four books in the series are about some very honorable, heroic Marines, all of whom are wounded warriors. And many of you also know that the Wounded Warrior Project is my favorite charity. I just joined the Advance Guard there with a monthly donation and the fleece blanket they'll be sending me in 4-6 weeks (along with some RESCUE ME swag and an e-book) is going to go to the winning commenter below. 


In a bit, I'm going to share a bit of a scene from my upcoming release about one of the wounded warriors in my series, but first I want to honor some wounded warriors who have touched my heart. 


First, Dane Christopher Sattler, who served in the Army in Iraq and lost his battle with PTSD in January 2011. His mother, Sue, is one of my loyal readers and misses her son so much. This family really brings home to me the sacrifices our military personnel and their families make every day to preserve our freedom. Their service and sacrifice doesn't end with discharge papers.


Another is an anonymous Master Sergeant, US Marine Corps (Retired) who served in active service 22 years and continues to serve as a military contractor now. After reading the first three books in my series, he became a fan and contacted me and has been a big help to me in getting the Marine mindset right in my books--and just before Masters at Arms was released as a free book, he went through the entire book and added even more realism to it, as well as helping me improve the firefight scene at the Second Battle of Fallujah (Iraq) in 2004, the incident that bonds Marc, Adam, and Damian as "family" in this series. 


Last, but not least, is my dad, Joe. He served in the Navy in World War II (lied about his age to get in early) and in the Army in the Korean War. He came home from Korea with PTSD before it had become known as that--and, of course, went without treatment. At family reunions to this day, his brothers and their wives still talk about how bad it was when he first came home. I remember my uncle telling me that his mother and he would roll my dad in a bedroll and sit on him to try and keep him from hurting himself or anyone else. And my mother said one night they were sleeping; she was very pregnant at the time. He suddenly rose up, jumped over her and landed on the floor in the midst of a night terror, but didn't even touch her belly. The memories plagued him for the rest of his life--and he never talked about it, so we don't know what he went through to this day. He died in 1985, but will never be forgotten. When I visited Washington, D.C., a dozen years ago, I went to the Korean War memorial and still remember those haunted faces in the statues there, plus the words "Freedom is not free."


Now, the scene. This is my upcoming (due to be released later this summer) Nobody's Perfect (Rescue Me #4), which continues the story of Damian Orlando, an amputee from Iraq, and Savannah/Savi, the woman he dreamt about for eight long years, who suddenly showed up on his doorstep in need of his help. In this scene, he prepares to reveal his amputation to Savi. 

She held her breath. He seemed so serious, his jaw and body held rigid, guarded.

"Sit down."

Savi looked around. The only place to sit was on the bed. That didn't seem like a good idea.

"Sit. Down." He pointed at the bed, clearly upset with her. She wasn't sure why that bothered her so much. "Savi, I'm not going to…touch you. We're just going to talk."

Savi crossed the room and sat on the same side of the bed, keeping a safe distance away. She wasn't sure what she was afraid of. Damián wouldn't hurt her. He'd been nothing but gentle and supportive since she and Marisol had arrived here.

But he was still a man.

So, what was it he needed to tell her that made him so uncomfortable? She didn't want to know anything bad about him.

"When I got out of Iraq, I was fucked up."

"Damián, that's not unusual. You saw horrific things. War is…"

He held his hand up and halted her string of supportive words. She supposed they sounded trite, but she hadn't meant them to be.

"Don't go into therapist mode on me, Savi." He grinned, so maybe he wasn't upset with her for naturally trying to put him at ease. He was such a gentle soul. Last night, when Marisol had surprised him with the cake, he'd had unshed tears in his eyes. Processing the horrors of war would be difficult for someone who was much better at making love than war.

Don't think about making love with him. That would never happen again.

His grin faded and he ran his fingers through his hair, pulling it back from his face. She wondered why he didn't have it tied back. She didn't see it loose like this except when he got up in the morning.

"I fucked up a mission."

Savi's heart went out to him. She knew how hard it was for Marine to fail on a mission.

"We lost our sergeant because I couldn't act fast enough…"

"Damián, you can't blame yourself for…"

He glared at her. "Hear me out. This is hard enough to admit as it is."

"I'm sorry. Go on."

"I still have nightmares about it, especially around my Alive Day."

"Alive Day?"

He looked down at his feet. "That's the day I should have died, too. But I surv…I didn't die."

Savi knew not to interrupt anymore. He needed to talk and she needed to just listen. His body was held so stiffly, he barely breathed. She waited. After several moments, he continued.

"A grenade came over onto the roof where we'd held our position all day. I saw the damned thing, but I froze until it was too late to get away. When it went off, Sergeant Miller was killed. He…" Damián's breathing became rapid and she scooted closer to him on the bed, laying her hand on his thigh. She squeezed, hoping to help him focus on the present and not get lost in the memories. He placed his hand over hers and squeezed her back as if she were a lifeline.

"He died on top of me."

"Oh, God, Damián. I'm so sorry!" Savi shuddered as she thought about how that must have felt for him. Thoughts of having a weight like that on her caused beads of sweat to break out on her upper lip. But that was different. What Damián had been through was even more horrific.

"I'll never block out that image as long as I live. I could have saved him, but I…froze."

Hearing him take the blame for something beyond his control broke her heart. Not unusual for those in combat situations, though. They were trained to watch out for each other. Nothing she could say would help assuage his guilt that a member of his unit was killed, even if she could come up with the words to say. She just squeezed his thigh again, knowing there probably was more to come. She braced herself mentally.

"I came to in a military hospital in Germany. When I realized what I'd lost, I didn't want to go on."

"Lost?" Instantly, she knew he wasn't talking about his sergeant now.

He avoided making eye contact with her, but nodded, his gaze remaining on his feet. Oh, God, no! It became clear to her why she'd seen him limping so many times. She looked down at his feet. For the first time, she realized she'd never seen him without his shoes or boots on. Odd, considering they'd lived in such close quarters for two months.

Dread washed over her as she slid off the bed onto the floor. With shaking hands, she sat in front of his feet and reached out to touch his legs. Starting at his knees, which were flesh on solid muscle, she ran each of her hands down the backs of his legs until her left hand bumped into straps on his right leg. On the other leg she felt sinew and muscle. Unharmed.

She reached down to the hem of his jeans leg and folded up the right one. Damián reached out and stayed her hand, but she brushed him away.

"Please, Damián. I need to see what they did to you."

His hand went to her chin and he lifted her face to his. The pain—no, the torment—there told her how hard this was for him. She needed to back off and give him time to prepare himself. This wasn't about what she needed. She had to do what Damián needed.

Two Giveaways
Contest Information

There are two types of contests as part of this blog hop. The first (see #1) is provided by the hosts of this blog hop--Queentutt's World of Escapism blog and Close Encounters of the Night Kind blog. The second (see #2) is a chance to win a prize package I'm providing. 


1) To enter into the Cocked and Loaded Grand Prize drawing for one of two Kindle Fires and lots of other cool prizes, you must go HERE and sign up using the Rafflecopter form provided. 

2) To enter to win your choice of e-book from my Rescue Me series, some swag (bookmark, Master Adam hand fan, Rescue Me trading cards, and a pen), plus the Wounded warrior Project fleece blanket, please sign up for my newsletter HERE (if you haven't already done so) and comment below WITH your email address. (Please allow up to 8 weeks to receive the blanket, because I won't get it from the WWP for 4-6 weeks from today.)

This hop ends midnight on July 11 and winners will be chosen and emailed by the 13th. Thanks for stopping by--and please keep our wounded warriors in your thoughts and prayers! If you are able, consider a donation to help the good people at the Wounded Warrior Project continue to provide services and support to those who have given so much to us. 

My Perfect Blog Tour

NOTE 9/18/12: This is the ImPerfect Blog Tour from June. For the PERFECT Blog Tour (Sept. 17-22), click here.


Hello everyone! To celebrate the release of the 4th book in my Rescue Me series ~ NOBODY'S PERFECT ~ Damian and Savi's story, we (Damian, Savi, and me, along with some special friends) are going on  a virtual book tour. Yes, that's right! Starting June 20, we are going to take you on an adventure filled with interviews, guest posts, excerpts, and giveaways with a $10 Gift Card Daily prize and a Grand Prize of a $200 GC, each to the bookseller of your choice (selected from Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, or All Romance Ebooks). Each day, you will have a chance to enter in the grand prize drawing, too, using a special form, so don't miss a day! Come join the fun! 

Book Tour Schedule

June 20 ~ Teresa Reasor (plus pre-tour interview)
June 21 ~ Guilty Pleasures
June 22 ~ Books-n-Kisses
June 23 ~ CS Maxwell
June 24 ~ Queen of the Night Reviews
June 25 ~ Kinky Book Reviews
June 26 ~ Simply Ali
June 27 ~ My Secret Romance
June 28 ~ BDSM Book Reviews
June 29 ~ United By Books
June 30 ~ Harlie's Book Blog


*You are welcome to comment here, because I love hearing from you (even the ones cracking the whip on finishing this book), but these comments will NOT be counted toward any of the prize drawings. You must follow the tour from stop to stop, leave comments for the daily drawings and sign up using the form for the Grand Prize drawing, in order to be entered in each one.  


Hope you have a fabulous time and I can't wait to see you there!
Good Luck! 

6/26/12 UPDATE ON THE PERFECT RELEASE DAY! 

Nobody's Perfect *will* be out this month (well, I hoped so, anyway, but...)!  Where'd this month go? Yikes!

The line editor is waiting for more, as are the beta readers and experts and I ran into some technical glitches last night, but am now determined to do nothing but work on this until it's done. (My poor hubby wants to have some of my attention, too, since we're on vacation and I promised I'd be done by the 25th. So, if you think YOU'RE frustrated!)

When it's ready for you, Leagh and I will notify you via my newsletter (sign up for it above right!), on Twitter and Facebook, and then here at the blog. 

Thanks for your continued patience! I promise to never tell you a release date again until the book is totally finished and edited!

Nobody's Perfect Cover Reveal with Unedited Excerpt, and Birthday Contest!

So happy to unveil the cover for NOBODY'S PERFECT, Damian and Savi's story. What an awesome birthday present! (Read on for an excerpt and link to a great birthday giveaway on Facebook.)


But whips AND chains. What's not to love? I don't know about you but I think it is beautiful. (Savi's a little underweight, but Master Damian will work on that with her.)

UNEDITED Excerpt from NOBODY'S  PERFECT © Kallypso Masters, 2012

For my excerpt, I take you to the opening pages of this book (#4 in the Rescue Me series). This is a few days before the scene in the epilogue of Nobody's Hero.

NOBODY'S PERFECT

Prologue

Savi circled another job listing in the classifieds as Christmas music played in the background. Office clerk. All her years of college and clinicals, she had finally achieved her dream of working as a social worker with young abuse victims. That work had ended abruptly three weeks ago. She needed to find a way to support her daughter and herself until her supervisor could fight Savi's recent firing with the higher-ups in the state's department of mental health services. Unraveling bureaucracy took time. She didn't have time.

Savi opened her laptop mini to update her résumé and do a cover letter, hoping to make it through several more letters before Mari got home from practicing for the children's pageant at church.

The doorbell interrupted her work some unknown amount of time later. She looked at the clock on her desk. Too early for Mari to be dropped off—unless something had happened. Heart hammering against her chest, Savi nearly ran to the front door and opened it, expecting to see one of the youth leaders from the church group.

Lyle.

Bile rose in her throat and she moved to slam the door again. Stupid. Why hadn't she looked through the peephole first? He wedged his foot into the doorway, keeping her from closing the door in his face.

"What kind of greeting is that for an old friend, Savannah?"

Not a friend. Enemy. She gasped to fill her lungs with much-needed air. Dangerous. She needed to get rid of him before Mari came home.

"What do you want, Lyle?"

"Invite me inside and we'll talk."

"You're not coming in. Now leave before I call the police."

He narrowed his eyes and Savi felt the familiar ligatures of fear circling her neck. Vile man. Could she fight him off?

"Let me in, Savannah, or you and your little girl will regret your misplaced bravery."

Marisol. Did he know where she was? Oh, God, she prayed. Don't let Mari come home early. She needed to get rid of Lyle. Now.

"Just state your business. I'm not letting you inside my…"

Without warning, Lyle leaned back then his body slammed against the door sending the edge of the wood into Savi's eye and cheekbone, hurtling her backward until she lay sprawled on the floor staring at his navy-blue dress pants and wingtip shoes. She shuddered as a memory enveloped her. Looking up at the angry man in the three-piece suit towering over her, she realized he didn't even muss a hair on his blond head.

"Ah, just where a slut like you needs to be, Savannah. At my feet. Now let's see if we can hear you scream the way you used to for me."

No! Memories of the degrading things he'd subjected her to at her father's orders, including a most shameful mark she could never erase, she turned over and got on all fours as she scrambled away. Just when she'd thought she was far enough away to stand up and set her feet to defend herself, Lyle's wingtip gouged into her side. The air whooshed from her lungs and she gasped to try and recover her breath.

"Your father asked me to bring you and his granddaughter to him. But I thought perhaps we would enjoy a little playtime first. For old time's sake. What your father doesn't know…"

Another blow struck her side near the same place and panic set in as her breathing became labored.

Breathe!

Maman, help me. Give me the strength to fight him off.

Savi pulled herself up using the hallway table and tried to regulate her breathing again. She turned to find Lyle smirking at her. Bastard. Picking up a brass candlestick from the table, she didn't hesitate as she swung it at his head, striking a blow she hoped had left him stunned. Not waiting for him to recover, she followed up by kicking him in the groin. He doubled over and fell to the floor. As he lay moaning, holding his privates as his head bled on her hardwood floor, she remembered the lessons in cutting off the blood flow to the brain that she'd learned from a veteran Marine who had studied with her in college. She cringed as she touched his neck, hating to place her hands anywhere on him, but finally found the point she sought in his neck and pressed—hard. She counted. By thirty seconds, Lyle's body grew even more limp. She didn't wait around to see how long he'd be out.

Running to the bedroom, she pulled out a suitcase to throw a few clothes into it, but when she tried to lift it, her breathing became constricted again, forcing her to leave it on the floor near the closet. After she filled half of it, she wheeled it to Mari's room and threw in some of her daughter's things, then zipped it up and wheeled it to the kitchen. After grabbing her purse and keys, she stumbled out the back door.

A black BMW sat parked behind her little blue Nissan. She glanced back at her bungalow. Home, but no longer her safe place.

No sign of Lyle yet, but she knew he wouldn't be unconscious forever. She fought to control her breathing again, but refused to escape into her head to dull the pain. Taking as deep a breath as she could and holding it, she swung the suitcase into the trunk and slammed the lid down. Oh dear Lord. She couldn't breathe! She pressed her arm against her chest and the place where Lyle had kicked her repeatedly as she opened the door, got behind the steering wheel, and turned the key in the ignition. She couldn't zone out now. She needed to get to San Miguel's…to Mari.

Then what?

Oh, Savi just breaks my heart! I so can't wait for her and Damian to be together and for him to slay her dragons! 

GIFT CARD & SWAG BIRTHDAY CONTEST

It looks like the book will be published May 31, so I continue to write and edit frantically. In the meantime, I'm celebrating my 54th birthday with a contest on at my Facebook author page . Yes, I am 54 today (April 24) so I am giving away some of the Rescue Me swag (bookmark, romance trading cards, pen, Master Adam "eyes on me" hand fan) AND a $54 gift card to the bookseller (winner's choice--Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance eBooks, or Smashwords). Open internationally! Random drawing will be held April 25.


Head over to the author page to enter. Just "Like" the page and comment on the Birthday Blast Giveaway thread for a chance to win. (Look for the Nobody's Perfect photo and comment on that thread.)


Thanks for all who posted birthday greetings on my Facebook and Twitter walls! It's been an awesome day--and tonight I'll be having dinner with a fan! 


But first, I'd better get back to writing!

Six Sunday: Hey, chica! (Nobody's Perfect)

This is just a little later in the scene I pulled my Six from last week, an unedited Six from Nobody's Perfect (due out in late May 2012). Savi has shown up on Damian's doorstep. He's trying to determine what brought her to him, battered and bruised. At one point, he comments that he liked her better as a blonde, which he remembers from when they first met eight years earlier. Of course, a month earlier when he came upon her by accident, she was a brunette. Now she's a red head. He asked why she changed it.

She hadn't been a blonde in eight years. “None of your business.”

His irritation showed as he leaned toward her and she tried not to let him intimidate her, but he did. 

“Hey, chica, you just showed up on my doorstep out of nowhere, beaten up and on the run. You’re the one who asked me for help, so don’t go getting all defensive. I’m just trying to figure out what the hell’s going on.”

Excerpt from NOBODY'S  PERFECT © Kallypso Masters, 2012

Thanks for stopping by to read my Six this week. Each week, the new listing of Six Sentence Sunday (SSS) blogs go live at 9 a.m. EDT Sunday. This is a great way to find new authors to follow or read or to get exposure for your own writing! For a list of this week's participants in the SSS blog tour, go to http://www.sixsunday.com/. Search #sixsunday on Twitter, as well!

Two chances this week to win great prizes from Kally:
Hoppy Easter Blog Hop
and
Under the Covers Blog 
(excerpt from Damian & Savi eight years earlier)



Three e-books have been published to date in the RESCUE ME series. 

For a list of all of the books and links to purchase sites, 

go to the Books by Kallypso Masters tab in this blog site.  

Kally loves to find new friends 

on Facebook and Goodreads. 

Or you can follow her on Twitter.
  

Six Sunday: The reveal (Nobody's Perfect)

After leaving you with such an awful Six last week, I thought I needed to bring you into the new story, where she has shown up on Damian's doorstep late one December night. This is an excerpt from Savi's point of view in Nobody's Perfect, due out in May 2012. (The same scene is shown from Damian's POV in the epilogue of Nobody's Hero.)


Oh, and I've decided Jennifer Morrison has the closest look to Savi eight years after Masters at Arms. Thanks to the input from my readers on my Facebook author page for helping me look over the potential candidates. Of course, Savi's hair is red in the scene I am about to share--but she's a natural blonde. 

“We need your help.”

“We?”

She turned away again to glance over the railing. When she turned back, she saw that Damián had followed her gaze. Time for the reveal. Savi removed the glasses.

Excerpt from NOBODY'S  PERFECT © Kallypso Masters, 2012

Thanks for stopping by to read my Six this week. Each week, the new listing of Six Sentence Sunday (SSS) blogs go live at 9 a.m. EDT Sunday. This is a great way to find new authors to follow or read or to get exposure for your own writing! For a list of this week's participants in the SSS blog tour, go to http://www.sixsunday.com/. Search #sixsunday on Twitter, as well!

Three e-books have been published to date in the RESCUE ME series. 

For a list of all of the books and links to purchase sites, 

go to the Books by Kallypso Masters tab in this blog site.  

Kally loves to find new friends 

on Facebook and Goodreads. 

Or follow her on Twitter.

  

Six Sunday: Savannah's Torture (Masters at Arms)

WARNING: This scene includes a description of an incest victim's torture. 


This week's Six Sunday blog is much darker than my previous ones, because I am immersed right now in writing Nobody's Perfect, which will finally bring healing and justice for my most broken character, Savannah Gentry, from Masters at Arms. (See below for a link to a free copy if you haven't read it. I also will post a link for survivors seeking healing of their own.) 


A 19-year-old incest victim in this scene, by the time she reappears eight years later in the series in a scene in Nobody's Hero, she will have become Savi Baker and learned to cope and heal many parts of her abusive past.  

But there is one abuse session that has been burned into her memory and is something she hasn't been able to share with her therapist or anyone. As I prepare to write the scenes where Damián will discover what she refers to as "her shame," I went back to reread the scene in Section Two of Masters at Arms. It's written as backstory even in the prequel, because it's so horrific, but it's necessary to see where she has been in order to appreciate how far she has come--and to take her the rest of the way home to healing her psyche and her body, merging them again so that she can have the life she deserves. Here's Savannah at nineteen. The readers on my author page on Facebook are helping me find a model/image to age her to the 27/28 she will be in Nobody's Perfect.

Setup: She is sitting in a restaurant with her father's business partner and henchman, who is reminding her of her place, her shame, as they wait for two potential clients who will be allowed to use her body in a torture scene that night to help cement a business relationship. I've stopped short of the most graphic memories, because you may not have come here expecting that from me. The speaker is Lyle.

"...They’re going to love finding your secret. They love shit like that.”

When Lyle’s words registered, bile rose in her throat. If she’d eaten today, she’d have vomited. Last month, Lyle had restrained her face down on her father’s desk in the home that should have been her haven. Her legs had been spread open and secured, while her father’s weight held her down so she would remain still enough. 

The good news is that a retired Marine has given me a scenario for Nobody's Perfect that will include a justice scene for Savi. There's nothing like a little Marine justice--but throw in a sadist and it really will be very satisfying, if long overdue.

For those seeking help to heal their own abusive pasts, please go to RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network for resources). 

Thanks for stopping by to read my sad Six this week. Each week, the new listing of Six Sentence Sunday (SSS) blogs go live at 9 a.m. EDT Sunday. This is a great way to find new authors to follow or read or to get exposure for your own writing! For a list of this week's participants in the SSS blog tour, go to http://www.sixsunday.com/. Search #sixsunday on Twitter, as well!

Today after 12 noon Eastern I will be drawing for the winner of the great prize package in the Small Press Treasures Giveaway Blog Hop entry.  You also can get a free copy of Masters at Arms there with a coupon code at Smashwords. 

Six Sunday: No plans to rescue the ice princess

This week's Six is a continuation of a WIP Excerpt: "Do you like princesses?" I posted Friday from Chapter One of the unedited Nobody's Perfect, due out in May. (I'm still writing and only 14,063 words into it so far, so it's still rough.) 

As many of you know, I write realistic BDSM stories about a growing "family" of three men who bonded in war and started a BDSM club afterward. In this scene, Damian is just coming to the realization that little Marisol is his daughter from that perfect day at the beach with Savannah in 2003.

Friday's excerpt ended with Damian thinking: Shit. The calculating expression in the little girl's eyes told him he was being sized up to take on the role of her mama's rescuing prince.

No thanks. Her mother wasn't going to find her perfect prince inside this man's broken body and soul.

Besides, his days of scaling towers to rescue princesses, especially ice princesses, were long gone. Hadn't he tried to rescue Savannah once, only to be shown in no uncertain terms she'd wanted nothing more to do with him?

Damián's focus shifted beyond Marisol's head to the door leading back to the examination rooms. How the hell long did it take Marc and his doctor friend to figure out if Savi's rib was cracked or not?

Thanks for stopping by to read my Six this week! Each week, the new listing of Six Sentence Sunday (SSS) blogs go live at 9 a.m. EDT Sunday. This is a great way to find new authors to follow or read or to get exposure for your own writing! For a list of this week's participants in the SSS blog tour, go to http://www.sixsunday.com/. Search #sixsunday on Twitter, as well!

Three e-books have been published to date in the RESCUE ME series. 

For a list of all of the books and links to purchase sites, 

go to the book listing tab in this blog.  

 

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Six Sunday: Master Damian meets Marisol

This week, I wrote 600 news words in Nobody's Perfect (the now May 2012 release that will tell Damian and Savi's story), so I thought I'd post a Six Sentence Sunday blog from a scene with them from the already released Nobody's Hero.

 

SSS SETUP: In this scene from Nobody's Hero, Damian has run into Savannah, now Savi, and her daughter. Of course, Marisol is Damian's daughter, he just hasn't put the pieces together yet to figure that out.

 

“Hi, I’m Damián. What’s your name?”

“Marisol.”

Marisol—surf and sun. His mind went back to the cave at Thousand Steps Beach with Savannah. Best not to remember that day.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by to read my Six this week! Each week, the new listing of Six Sentence Sunday (SSS) blogs go live at 9 a.m. EDT Sunday. This is a great way to find new authors to follow or read or to get exposure for your own writing! For a list of this week's participants in the SSS blog tour, go to http://www.sixsunday.com/. Search #sixsunday on Twitter, as well!

Nobody's Hero and all of the e-books in the Rescue Me series are sold at 

  Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and All Romance eBooks.  

 

Kally loves to find new friends

on Facebook and Goodreads. 

 
Or follow her on Twitter.