Are you ready for Bet Me Something? I am! So much so that I tried to see if there was a button I could push to publish early, but I think I’m too close to the actual release date as Amazon wouldn’t let me select an earlier date. Darn. I know, I should sit back and keep the teasers coming and wait…but I don’t want to! 🙂 Good thing my characters have more patience than I do.
So June 30th is it! Are you ready to spend some time with Colby Singer?
The ARCs are out and some reviews are coming in and now only 7 days remaining until Bet Me Something is live. I can’t tell you how excited I am for you to read Kenzie and Colby’s story!
I have to say (and judging from the reviews most agree) that this is my favorite book so far. Just to be clear, I adore my first two books-but because I’m able to bring the four main characters from the first two books into this one, it’s just made it that much better. As a reader that’s what I enjoy about a series, the ability to follow along with previous characters as they continue their journey past their HEA. Plus there’s something about Colby and Kenzie’s banter and relationship that really did have their dialogue pouring onto the page as quickly as I could write it!
And I was blown away by having Bet Me Something included in the USAToday’s HEA blog as a summer recommendation:
One more week…have I mentioned, 1 more week!
RedHot Romance gave me the opportunity in their latest edition to interview the duo known to the Erotica world as Alexa Riley. AMAZING! Not only am I a fan, but I had so many questions. Absolutely loved their answers! Check it out the entire interview here (not to mention the rest of the issue (because you don’t want to miss it for all the latest things romance related in the world of books!):
And be sure to stay tuned for more teasers coming up for Bet Me Something, available June 30th!
Lots of love,
Aubrey
Here it is coming June 30th. I’m so excited to share the third book in the Something Series Colby and Kenzie’s story in Bet Me Something. Pre-order links are below!
US: http://goo.gl/2nnUeR
UK: http://goo.gl/2dIXaI
AU: http://goo.gl/yVgaqa
CA: http://goo.gl/BB9ih4
Being able to stand on your own two feet, sometimes requires getting knocked off them completely…
McKenzie “Kenzie” Lane is newly graduated from college and looking forward to a dream internship she has lined up for the summer in LA. Unfortunately, her controlling mother has other plans.
Colby Singer, with his hot-as-sin looks and wicked charm, is never without attention from the ladies. Despite suspecting how Kenzie feels about him, he’s always kept her comfortably off-limits since she’s the baby sister of one of his best friends. But when he’s determined to distract her temporarily from the stress of her mother’s ultimatum, deciding to show her some fun, he quickly finds that keeping her in the friend zone is not as easy as he’d hoped.
Once Kenzie realizes this may be her last opportunity to gauge her long-time crush’s true feelings, she puts it all out there in the form of a bet. It’s the perfect idea for her perfect man.
Until he isn’t.
Will a dose of reality lead to true love? Or will it crash and burn before it can even get started?
I can’t speak for other authors, but I will say the first chapter as well as the last one are the hardest to write.
There’s a good reason in that the first chapter should be your hook. What has the reader so interested that they absolutely have to turn the page? I will say with Tell Me Something, (my first book) I lucked out in it coming more easily. Then again it was the first book in a series and they meet in the first chapter. That in and of itself is intriguing when you have a couple first meet and sparks fly. Books #2 and 3 are harder because I’m dealing with couples who already know one another. So instead of the mystery of meeting one another, it’s WHY NOW? After years or months, what is it that starts their relationship at this point in time? So as I go through and do revisions, I’ve literally rewritten the first chapter ten times. Keeping in mind the history of the other characters, making decisions of who and what to bring in from previous books is tough to. As the writer, you kind of go into it knowing your characters, but just because you’ve all met Kenzie in the last book doesn’t mean I don’t have to properly re-introduce her in this one, through her eyes. So that’s the first chapter.
The last chapter, I’m talking as both a reader and an author should be the most satisfying. Things come to an end (unless you’re writing a cliff-hanger which I assure you-I will not ever do)..anyhooo this is the part that I finally get why movies can have “alternate endings” because there really isn’t a right answer, it’s all subjective in how I see the characters figuring out their issues. But it does have to leave you with a smile (in my opinion at least) and that’s where I spend a lot of time trying to find the very best version of that happy ending.
As an aside, the epilogue in my first book was as most are, a glimpse into the future with some sweet moments. But in Ask Me Something I literally came up with the idea at the last minute and elevated the epilogue into a little bit more than just the future, but a continuation of that smile every writer (well maybe not the ones that write horror or heartbreak) hope to leave you with. So there’s pressure to make this one just as good, if not better.
So this is me and my writing evolution. I think as I’ve stated before writers get better at their craft as they go along…I’m just not sure that I’ve gotten any faster at it. Maybe someday that will come too. In the meantime Bet Me Something is coming along nicely and I can’t wait for you to read about Kenzie and Colby!
Aubrey
What a treat to be given the opportunity to interview USA Today Bestselling author, MJ Fields. She talks about her new book as well as passes on advice with regard to her writing journey. Check it out in the current edition of RedHot Romance’s magazine.
I’m pleased to announce that Bet Me Something (the story of Kenzie and Colby) will be book #3 in the Something Series scheduled to be released in June. (I should have an exact date in the next few weeks).
Hope you enjoy the cover!!
Sincerely,
Aubrey Bondurant
So I’m busy writing on the third book and it’s coming along great. Matter of fact..I’m down to the last few chapters. Of course my method goes something like this. Write it, change it, start sending to my editor for beta, re-write parts, re-write more, finish beta with editor, re-write, read, read, read. Are you sensing a theme?
I thought my re-writing habit was only because the first book was so very long and I had to cut things and re-write them to put them back together. (over 100K words were cut). It’s my very own Frankenstein book and I can see where some readers could say it jumps around in the scenes…But the second book was much more cohesive and flowing (at least in process of not having to cut up front), but I still cut over 50K words in the end…and these were the new words that I wrote and then re-wrote…now with the third book, I’m already up to 40K cut words (more than I initially started with) so obviously this isn’t a fluke this is the way that I tend to write.
For me I write an idea or a scene, then I revise it constantly thinking how it could be better. My worst fear is that I will publish a book and think of how I WISHED I would’ve done a scene differently…matter of fact the epilogue to Ask Me Something was literally 2 days before I had to hit the publish button and came to me in the middle of the night as to how Brian could do the proposal in the unique way he did. It’s now one of my fav scenes of the book…(by the way, as a writer that is the very best feeling in the world when you are thinking of your scene in your book and it just comes to you-I swear I was smiling the entire time I rewrote that scene).
Sometimes I wish I was one of those writers that writes straight through, ships to her editor and presses publish, (I’m in awe that some writers can do that). But it seems that this tends to be my habit in my quest for perfection. Writing, re-writing and reading until I can’t possibly take another look at my own book. (no seriously I read it like twenty times even after the edits making more little changes). But I want the very best version of my characters to give to you. It may take more time, but I’m hoping for those that love my books, you appreciate why.
Hoping to have the cover reveal for Bet Me Something in the next few weeks….along with a release date! I can’t wait!
x Aubrey
Remember the blizzard…yeah, it’s all its fault. I fell of the wagon and into a vat of sugar. But in better news (and to totally distract you) the writing on the third book is going very well! Perhaps there is a correlation and going off of the sugar and cutting carbs was preventing me from reaching my true writing potential…..ha
So I’ve discovered writing is amazing, but what it’s not is conducive towards weight loss. Nope, turns out hours over a laptop and late nights do not inspire healthy eating or exercise habits. On Sunday however (before the Superbowl where my Denver Broncos won! YAY!) I did make myself get on the treadmill at an incline for 30 minutes before I could do any writing….
I was sore until Wednesday by the way..so here’s the thing about being sore. Shouldn’t you look skinnier? I mean your muscles are so tight that it hurts to squat down on the toilet seat, so how on earth can they not have shrunk by being that tight?? Sigh…
So here’s for getting back into healthy eating habits (for the 100,000th time come Monday) because no one ever said let’s start a diet on a Saturday 🙂
Oh, the next book’s title by the way because you’ve listened to me whine this entire post an deserve some reward: Bet Me Something…I’m hoping to share the cover and a release date for you in the next month! Very exciting!
xo Aubrey
We got nearly three feet of snow here between Friday and Saturday so today was the big dig out. Schools are already cancelled for tomorrow and I’m hoping work will be closed as well (even though I’ll have to work from home…sigh) because my back needs it. Seriously, shoveling hurts. BUT, it also burns calories, so I guess there’s that.
Fun fact: Did you know that calories and carbs completely don’t count during a snow storm?? Because after 17 days without a coca-cola or sugar…yeah, I totally fell off the wagon…into a pile of sugary goodness…and of course if work is cancelled tomorrow, that means the extended weekend continues right? It only makes sense!
It really gives more incentive to hope for a snow day, doesn’t it?? 🙂
Hope everyone is staying safe and warm this weekend!!
Aubrey Bondurant - Romance Author 