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Alyssa Richards

Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense

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The Fine Art of Deception

Free Romantic Suspense Friday

May 22, 2015 by Alyssa Leave a Comment

The Fine Art of Deception Book Cover - Alyssa Richards (Paranormal Romance Books)Welcome to Free Romantic Suspense Friday! Hope you enjoy!

I smoothed a few long strands behind my ears and stared into the large, round mirror. As usual, a related image of my father stared back at me. My sisters favored our mother with their thicker hair and warm, ginger skin tones, but there was no mistaking that I was my father’s child.
My parents named me Adeline, but Daddy nicknamed me Addie, and it stuck. I switched to Adeline when I moved to New York because it sounded more professional. My fingers traced the antique silver frame, which sat on the wooden countertop of the dressing table. It encircled one of my favorite childhood memories of my father. He held the tow-headed, one-year-old me in his arms, my pink cotton dress sufficiently delicate for his princess. His proud smile was bright enough to light up the room, and I beamed as I placed a tiny hand on either side of his face.
I held my hand over the photo and hesitated, not wanting to feel what would inevitably come after it was over. But reliving what used to be was all I had now. So I shut my eyes. Then pressed my fingertips onto the cool photograph. The smell of his cologne reached me first, and then the sound of his laugh thundered in my ears, took over my heart, and made me feel invincible. His love for me and the rest his family made each of us feel like superheroes.
“Addie, my angel,” his voice echoed from beyond. “Promise me you’ll never leave me.” I leaned in with the limitless love that all baby girls feel for their daddies and hugged his neck. As my palms flattened against the gold chain normally hidden by his shirts, his worst fear was revealed to me: he would be without us one day. I squeezed him a little tighter.
The vision began to fade and emptiness crept in with the silence. At least the sound of his voice held strong this time. I missed hearing him call me Addie.
As the past went back to its place in my history, and the present became clearer, I sighed and stared at the two jewelry boxes that sat on my vanity.

 

Copyright 2015 Alyssa Richards

***

If you’d like more Free Romantic Suspense, sign up here to receive the first nine chapters of The Fine Art of Deception, Book 1 — free!

Filed Under: Giveaways Tagged With: free romantic suspense, The Fine Art of Deception

The Fine Art of Deception Soundtrack

March 27, 2015 by Alyssa Leave a Comment

Addie & Blake's Playlist

Did you know that each day of the week is ruled by a particular planet?

Yep. You’ve probably even felt the unique energetic and planetary influence on each day.

Friday is ruled by Venus and is associated with the Roman Goddess, Venus, Goddess of romance, love and beauty.

Who doesn’t love Friday? Our favorite day of the week, the perfect date night, the day when romance fills the air, perhaps even the day you might feel your most beautiful.

Celebrate romance, love and true inner beauty today and enjoy the soundtrack to The Fine Art of Deception, Undoing Time (Book One).

From Bryan Ferry to Alec Clare, these artists sing the story of The Fine Art of Deception. If you’ve read the book, (or even if you haven’t…) click the following link to: enjoy the soundtrack!

Happy Friday!

Alyssa oxox

 

Filed Under: Giveaways, Romance Tagged With: Love and Romance, Soundtrack, The Fine Art of Deception

Paranormal Romance Playlist on Spotify

January 7, 2015 by Alyssa Leave a Comment

Addie & Blake's Playlist

Addie’s Favorite Music

Click above to listen to the free playlist for The Fine Art of Deception as listed on Spotify. These songs really capture the mood and give voice to the themes of this Paranormal Romance Book. Plus, it’s just fun to listen to!!

You’ll enjoy such artists as Bryan Ferry, Alex Clare, The Fray, Snow Patrol, Cyndi Lauper and more. 18 of your favorite songs in one fine art of a place. (See what I did just here? 🙂

Start a nice fire, pour yourself a glass of French wine, hit PLAY on Addie’s Favorite Music and enjoy !!  See if you can guess what the themes to the book are going to be, just by listening to these songs …

Have fun!!

Alyssa ox

PS Need a recommendation for a good wine?  Try the Chateau Cambon La Pelouse Bordeaux http://www.cambon-la-pelouse.com/en/

It’s not expensive, it’s French and it doesn’t have any sulfites! Voila!

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: Addie's Favorite Music, Paranormal Romance, playlist, Spotify, The Fine Art of Deception

And the New Paranormal Romance Book Subtitle Is …

January 6, 2015 by Alyssa Leave a Comment

Adobe Photoshop PDFOne of the interesting challenges in writing a paranormal romance book series is coming up with a unique subtitle for each book.

Which is fine, but I think I stink at titling. I love coming up with the 100,000 or so words that fit between the front and back covers. But ask me to come up with 5 or 10 words to put on the front cover and I freeze. So when my editor, who enjoys coming up with creative titles, graciously agreed to help with the new subtitle, I enthusiastically accepted her offer.

She came up with a list of 7 or 8 options. And the winner is …

Undoing Time

I love it! I hope you do, too!  It fits one of the main themes of the story so beautifully.

So, now we’re gathering momentum and moving fast into the home stretch of a Book Launch …  The Fine Art of Deception, Undoing Time is complete and undergoing its formatting. Yah!

Launch date is Valentine’s Day, 2015

If you’d like an Advanced Review Copy to read and review, please contact me through the Contact Form on this site, or via my FB page at https://www.facebook.com/alyssa.richards.942 and I’ll be sure to get one to you!

If you’d like to join the Alyssa Richards’ Street Team, click here for details: https://www.alyssarichards.com/news/calling-readers/

Alyssa ox

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: The Fine Art of Deception

The Fine Art of Completion

December 16, 2014 by Alyssa Leave a Comment

grd7159Just emailed the last draft of The Fine Art of Deception, Book 1 to the proofreader for the final read-through. YAH!! Completion. What an amazing feeling. My husband and I celebrated by enjoying a bottle of French wine in front of the nearly-decorated Christmas tree. (Love French wine – no sulfites!)

It was a little over a year ago a friend interrupted our tome of an email thread to say I ought to write fiction. And I took her up on the challenge. Yes, so it took me over a year to complete Book 1. Glacial speed, I admit. But I’d never written fiction before so I kept taking writing breaks to educate myself on the process.

Here’s hoping that Books 2 & 3 move along far more quickly! Yes, Books 2 and 3 🙂 I’m already 32,000 words into Book 2, and having so much fun with it. I so vividly remember the day I literally sat down that day and starting writing! 95,000 words later, here we are. Fat and happy.

Ok, not really all that fat. But really happy. Though I do think that writing should burn far more calories than it does. It’s hard work and it should show in the waistline.

Book 1 will probably release in late January or early February. Valentine’s Day? Maybe 🙂 It’s a great love story. And a great mystery.

Meanwhile, I’m letting readers know that ARCs (Advance Review Copies) are due to be mailed out January 12th. Maybe sooner! All depends upon how quickly the proofreader returns the ms. If you’d like to read an ARC just email me and I’ll make sure you get one! alyssa@paranormalromancebooks.com

Now I have to get back to writing. You won’t believe it. Blake & Addie just -. Well, you’ll see. 🙂

oxox

 

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: The Fine Art of Deception, writing

Love and Romance Echoes from Jane Austen’s ring

July 7, 2014 by Alyssa 1 Comment

130802141334-jane-austen-ring-story-topHenri, our most experienced appraiser, took Jane Austen’s delicate and simple gold ring from my glove-laden hand to inspect it once more. As I released the ring, the vision released my mind. The sight of the brown-eyed man with the kind face and rosy cheeks faded like watercolors in the rain.

“The stone is a cabochon of natural turquoise…” Henri spoke again in description of the ring. But I wasn’t listening. All I could think about was Jane Austen’s story. The one that lay embedded in the gold that touched her skin over 200 years ago.

I nodded as Henri suggested certain values to be attributed based upon Jane Austen’s fame and the world’s endless love of her work. But my heart was not on the project. Instead it longed to step back into Jane’s late 1700s life. To wear her simple cotton dress with the empire waist and to stare into the wide eyes of the true gentleman who asked me – or rather her – to dance.

“Love and romance will never go out of style,” I sighed. Henri, being French, understood.

Like an answered prayer, perhaps from the Roman gods of love and romance themselves, Henri’s phone began to vibrate. He placed the ring back into its original box, slipped off his white cotton gloves and peeked at his phone screen. “Speaking of love and romance, I’d better take this call. I’ll just be a moment,” he said in his French accent as he stepped out of the room.

“Take your time,” I said quietly as he disappeared from view.

My fingertips danced across the original black box and the darkened ivory satin interior. Flashes of the 1795 scene I’d lived just moments before began to sputter. As I slip the ring between my fingers the music from the ball serenades me from its place in distant time, bringing me closer to the candlelit room where 20 year old Jane Austen dreams of finding her true love, her husband.

I stroked the pad of my left-handed middle finger over the turquoise stone and land – most unfortunately – on the shrewd glare of Jane Austen’s mother.  A light sweat coats my palms at her intensity. I ran my hand across my chest to soothe my nerves, and my nerve. I could feel Jane’s simultaneous disgust over the societal gauge of a woman’s worth as it related to her ability to marry, combined with her excitement at the potential of finding love.

I wondered which emotion would motivate her more.

As luck would have it the man with the rosy cheeks is in front of me once more and it’s all I can do not to throw myself into his arms, feel his warm lips press against mine. Of course to do this would have shamed me and my family for the entirety of Jane’s life. So, both she and I are restrained. But I am in love with him from the moment we see one another.

And it’s obvious. At least to me. That he feels the same way toward me. His eyes sparkle, his smile is warm and gentle and we laugh as if we are the only ones in the room.

I curtsy as he bows.

“May I have the honour of the next dance, Jane?”

The lilt in his voice, his accent, he’s Irish. And there is a streak of independence in his energy that matches mine. Though his is more well-contained.

One dance after another, he is the only one I dance with at this evening’s elegant ball and it isn’t enough. A lifetime with him would not be enough time to share.

To be in the arms of a man who sees no one else in the world but you, is more intoxicating than any wine. I’ve known this experience in my own life with only one man. Blake Greenwood. A man whose affect on me I still don’t quite understand.

“Whatever it is you’re dreaming of, I need to share some of that with my girlfriend.”

I turn toward the voice and see Henri walking into the ball, walking through dancing couples and melting the edges of Jane’s reverie that is held safely in her ring.

“You are positively glowing!” he exclaims. “My girlfriend. I wish she would look at me like that again. She is most unhappy wis me right now.” Henri shook his head and waved his hands in frustration.

I held Jane’s ring between my hands like a child grasping its’ cherished lollipop. “Do you love her?” I asked.

“Oui,” Henri answered as he helplessly ran both hands through his dark, wavy hair.

“Does she love you?” I asked.

“I think so. Though right now I’m not very sure.”

“Perhaps you should go to her. Make things right. Nothing is more important in life than love.”

Henri gave a heavy sigh and glanced at Jane’s ring in my hands.

“You have a special relationship with Ms. Austen’s ring, no?”

“Oui,” I said with a smile that came from the love in Jane’s heart.

“Maybe you’re right. We could take a little break and come back to the appraisal this afternoon.”

Henri walked toward me to collect the ring and I took a step away from him.

 

Tune in tomorrow for the next scene …

 http://www.pinterest.com/pin/397020523373418570/

Filed Under: Romance Tagged With: Jane Austen, Jane Austen's ring, Love and Romance, Paranormal Romance, The Fine Art of Deception

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