Michelle Manus

michelle.m.manus

What I’m Working On – February Refusal-to-Admit-Defeat Edition

First off, let’s talk about success. No, I’m not about to give you a motivational speech on the true definition of success. I mean, if I was good at motivational speeches, sure, I would definitely consider it, but I’m not. When I say let’s talk about success, what I mean is that working during February was like that scene in the first episode of Alias where Sydney has her teeth pulled out as a torture method. Scene briefly reprised to fit the current situation:

Me, Talking to My Works-in-Progress: “I’m your worst enemy. I’ve got nothing left to lose.”

My Works-in-Progress, Cool and Assessing: “That’s not exactly true. You have your sanity.”

It was a rough month and I have no idea why, so I’m starting off with what I accomplished. In UBER EXCITING NEWS, I got the final edit of the first Nyx novel, Guardian of Chaos, finished, AND I got the first cover draft in. Which means Nyx Fortuna will be hitting the shelves in a couple months, as soon as I finish getting the bonus content worked out and I COULD NOT BE MORE EXCITED. The Nyx books are truly the series of my heart, and I can’t wait for you to meet her.

I also got the final self-edit of the second Nyx book, Guardian of Shadows, off to the content editor. I stalled up until the last minute on sending it off, because the creeping it’s-not-good-enough fear wouldn’t let go of me. My content editor really liked the first Nyx book, and she is an author I truly admire, which naturally means I’m terrified I forgot how to write and she will hate the second book and I will have disappointed Nyx’s first reader.

All of which is to say, if you write books or engage in other creative endeavors and have not yet gone through the nausea-inducing, anxiety-riddled, adrenaline-fueled, paralyzing crucible of a rollercoaster ride that is putting your work out into the world and asking people to pay money for it. . . Well, I’m not going to tell you to NOT do it, because I would still do it over again, but maybe have someone around who doesn’t mind constantly reassuring you of your own self-worth. For the job, I highly recommend SO’s, best friends, horses, cats and dogs, or that alternate version of yourself that lives in the back of your mind. Possibly all of the aforementioned.

On the less successful side of things, I have not yet finished the first draft of Valkyrie’s Call. As of this post, I am at 69k words (it’s projected finished at 85k) and the climactic scene is kicking my ass. I have no idea why. I’ve had this scene in my head since I first started writing the book. I was eager to get to it. But four days in a row I opened Scrivener, stared at it for an hour, during which I maybe wrote one sentence, and gave up and went to do something productive. I had really, really wanted to finish the book before this blog post went out, and was refusing to admit defeat, which is why the post is later than usual for the month. I finally admitted defeated, so here I am.

Naturally, since I’m having so much trouble with Valkyrie’s Call, Meredith’s book, Truthfinder’s Promise, saw fit to info-dump its entire plot-line into my head. Prior to this, I really had no idea what Meredith’s book was about. I am not an outline writer by nature, so the fact hadn’t bothered me. I knew what Meredith was about, and I knew the rest would come to me in time. Apparently, in time meant the story flaunting itself enticingly before me while I struggle to get Valkyrie to annihilate someone in an end-battle scene. I mean, really, who would have thought writing Valkyrie annihilating people would be difficult?

The secret New Shiny project is also coming along apace, up to 30K now, though I dropped it for a week or so because I was trying to force myself to finish Valkyrie’s Call. It’s still a side project though, so everything else takes precedence over it. Everything else being, once VC is finished, it’s time to write the third Nyx book, and then Truthfinder’s Promise.

All in all, nothing too terribly exciting going on here in writer life, just the ordinary sexy of the daily grind. I promise a cover reveal of Guardian of Chaos once I get the final edited version back. I love love love love LOVE it, and hope you will too. Take care of yourselves out there.

Valkyrie’s Call Snippet

It’s probably no secret that Valkyrie and Random are my favorite Aspect Society couple. I know they say you’re not supposed to have favorites but, *sighs*, Random. So, anyway, in honor of Valentine’s Day, here is a kissy snippet from Valkyrie’s Call.

In Which Random and Valkyrie Discuss the Particulars of Going on a Fake Date

“Then we’d better hope we both manage to convincingly fake it,” Valkyrie said.

“Indeed,” Random said. He stepped closer. Too close. Whatever aftershave he wore smelled like it was probably named something along the lines of Waterfalls and Sin. It made her want to bury her face in the curve of his neck and breathe him in. “Which is why we should probably practice.”

“Practice what?” she asked. He shouldn’t be allowed to stand this close to her. It screwed with her head. 

“Kissing.”

She’d been staring at his collarbone–it had seemed like a safe enough place to stare–but her gaze snapped up to meet his, now, and that was a mistake. His dark brown eyes held a touch of heat, and she couldn’t help but note that the two of them stood conveniently right next to a bed.

“I don’t need to practice,” she said automatically. “I know how to kiss you.” I’d really like to do it now.

“I’m not sure you do.” A smile played at the corners of his lips. “The first time we kissed, you broke my nose. The second time, you fucked me. The third time, you destroyed my soul. I’d like to know that if I need to kiss you tonight, none of those things will happen, as none are appropriate for public consumption.”

Yes, her body agreed, let’s practice. She ignored her body. “In what scenario do you envision us actually needing to kiss?”

He arched one eyebrow. “You and me on a date? It’s a hard pill for most to swallow. You’d be surprised what a well-placed parking lot kiss can do for the credibility of a fake date. So may I?” He lifted his hand, brushed the backs of his fingertips across her cheekbone.

Yes, she wanted to say, yes, you definitely may. “It isn’t necessary. I can guarantee none of the previous reactions will occur.” Which was a complete lie. Oh, she could guarantee she wouldn’t punch him, and she could guarantee she wouldn’t destroy his soul, because it was an exaggeration to claim she’d done so before. He was prone to those where she was concerned. It was his pride she’d broken, and she could avoid doing so again. 

No, it was the second outcome she couldn’t promise wouldn’t happen again. Because when he touched her, she never wanted him to stop.

“Perhaps I need to be convinced,” he murmured.

Perhaps she needed to convince herself. “Fine.”

She kissed him. She’d intended for it to be a brief, dispassionate action, but the second her lips touched his, he came alive. His mouth met hers hungrily. His hands settled on her waist and she stupidly wrapped hers behind his neck, let her fingers bury themselves in the softness of his hair. His tongue parted her lips. 

She wanted to press her body against his, to arch into his touch like a satisfied cat. She wanted to rip his clothes off and throw him on the bed, to have him beneath her. The thought almost made her moan, but she couldn’t do that. If she did, he’d know. He’d know exactly what she wanted and she’d never be able to resist if he was hellbent on giving it to her.

Sex was what Random did.

She broke the kiss and leaned back against the hold he had on her waist. She held her breathing steady, held his gaze, which had gone from heated to a full-on bonfire.

“As promised,” she said, her voice even and cool, betraying none of the unsteadiness she felt. “I haven’t harmed you, fucked you, or said anything cruel.”

January 2021 Reading Roundup

Welcome back to another edition of the Reading Roundup, where I herd all of the books I read this month into a corral and rate them on things like attractiveness, form, substance, and generally just how fun they were to hang out with.

I don’t say mean things about books, so if read something I wouldn’t recommend, I don’t list it. For transparency’s sake, I will disclose the number of books I read that didn’t make it into the corral at the end of the post.

For various reasons, January was a bit of a rough month for me, so I didn’t get as much reading done as I’d intended. I’m always on a quest to find new authors I can add to my Must-Read list, and I started a lot of books I ended up having to admit I just couldn’t finish. However, I did find one awesome new author, so let me start with her:

Temporary Wife Temptation (Heirs of Hansol) by Jayci Lee

This was one of those books where, after furiously reading it as fast as possible, I was delighted to discover the two remaining books in the trilogy were already out, and I chain-read them as well. As I mentioned, January was a rough month for me, and I desperately needed a book where I loved the characters and the romance, but the stakes weren’t so high I was going to be ugly-crying in my room at any point.

This was that book. The main characters, Garrett and Natalie, have amazing chemistry, and felt like developed, fully realized characters, which can be difficult to do in the shorter book-lengths allotted to Harlequin imprints. I also usually find it difficult to buy the fake-marriage plot, but again, this author really knocked it out of the park with creating a believable plot, and characters whose motivations and personalities were such that I could see them making the choices they did.

If you’re looking for a quick, easy read with sizzling romance, great writing, and not too much heartbreak before we get to HEA, I highly recommend this book, and the entire Heirs of Hansol series.

I guess I should also point out–considering pretty much everything I read is fantasy or some sub-genre thereof–that this is a contemporary romance series. Usually I don’t get on too well with books set in everyday reality but, *shrugs shoulders,* if the book is good, the book is good.

Amazon | Kobo

Blood Heir by Ilona Andrews

All right, January was an Ilona Andrews release month, so you had to know this would be on here! As usual, I am already resisting the urge to immediately reread the entire book. I did not resist the urge to reread a few key scenes, which I may, or may not, have done multiple times already.

Okay. So if you’ve read the Kate Daniels series (in which case you probably know everything I’m about to say) this book is set in the Kate Daniels universe, and follows Kate’s adopted daughter, Julie, as she returns to Atlanta to try and stop a prophecy. If you haven’t read the Kate Daniels books, you absolutely can start with Blood Heir as an entry point into the universe, but as it takes place several years after the end of the other series, it will by necessity spoil certain series plot-lines of the Kate Daniels books. I do honestly feel like it doesn’t spoil too much, so if you’re thinking of entering the universe, I’d say go ahead and start here if you want to.

SO MANY GOOD THINGS IN THIS BOOK. When you have characters as badass as Kate and Curran were in the original series, it can be difficult to move on to new characters and make them just as exciting, but as usual, Ilona Andrews does not disappoint. I think one of the funnest things about this book was that, for reasons you will discover upon reading, Julie no longer looks like she used to, so when she returns to Atlanta, none of her old acquaintances recognize her, and it’s necessary for her to keep it that way. I am a sucker for characters interacting with people they know without those people knowing who they are (I don’t know why, but that trope really does it for me).

Julie has also leveled up magically since the KD books, as have certain other side characters I will not mention because I don’t want to spoil anything if you’re a KD reader. I’m now curious about who would win in a fight between Kate Daniels and Julie (theoretically, as obviously they are family and would not fight) and I’m not sure what the outcome would be. Before I read this book I would have said Kate, but I am no longer so sure.

I could ramble on all day about how much I loved this book but I will just stop here and say read it if you want to be happy. That’s it, that’s the review.

Amazon | Kobo

Vengeance in Death by JD Robb (In Death Book Six)

So at this point, it is no secret that JD Robb is the Queen of Romance herself, Nora Roberts, but if you’re unfamiliar with this particular series, it is basically futuristic sci-fi/romance/mystery. I’d never looked at it before because I didn’t realize it had the sci-fi element, and I don’t read a lot of general mystery, but at any rate, twitter informed me of the sci-fi part and I was like, sure, why not?

The In Death series follows homicide detective Eve Dallas, who in book one gets together with mysterious, hunky Irish billionaire Roarke who, by this book, still has no other name. Is Roarke his first name? His last name? WE DON’T KNOW. The series is up to 50+ books and counting, so it could be a long time before we find out, if we ever do.

So, when a series is this long-running I generally expect a lot of repetition, and I mean that in the best way possible. Murder mysteries tend to be very formulaic, and if I choose to embark on a lengthy series of such a nature, I am mostly there for the ambience, the familiar characters and witty repertoire, and I really couldn’t care less about who did it.

All of which is to say, I am legitimately wondering if Roarke is going to be implicated for, or at least tangentially connected to, every murder in the entire series and Eve spends fifty some-odd books proving his innocence again and again and let me tell you, I totally hope that’s the case. It’s a plot-line that will somehow never get old for me, and like, it’s Nora Roberts so I trust her and all that jazz. PLEASE NO ONE RUIN IT FOR ME. I would like to spend the next forty books or so wondering about it.

So, given how many books there are in this series I am not going to review every time I read one, as you’d all get very bored of me saying, “Another fantastic edition to the series in which Eve almost dies, but solves the murder and makes hot, passionate love to Roarke, whom she clears of all wrongdoing,” but I did want to throw it in the mix in case you, like me, were unaware of the sci-fi element to this particular series, and that sort of thing is your jam.

Amazon | Kobo

Number of books I read this month that didn’t make it into the corral: 1

What I’m Working On-January 2021 Edition

Welcome back to another edition of What I’m Working On. Mostly guaranteed to come out sometime in the first half of every month, I talk about what writing projects I’m doing, editing steps, behind-the-scenes business parts of said writing, and probably whine about something. You have been warned.

So I guess the big news is that the first novel is out! SIren’s Song released on January 5th, which essentially made me an emotional wreck. It’s funny, because I was certain I wouldn’t be that way. Authors are basically my social media heroes (yes, I realize this makes me a huge dork) so over the years I’ve seen an untold number of release-day nerves chronicled online. Ergo, I thought I was well-prepared to be calm about the whole thing. But it turns out, when you put your heart and soul out into the world, reason goes out the window. But the good news is, it’s out there, release week is past, and my brain has settled back into the rhythm of work.

Sort of.

Let me digress, for a moment, to a short tale of my college years. Yes, I promise it has something to do with work. I worked 35 hours/week in college while taking a full course load, which meant I had very little free time. I had a tendency to spend that free time on myself and not worry about things like essays (I was a dual English Lit/Philosophy major so everything was essays) until the night before they had to be done. (If any of my college professors are reading this now, I apologize. Know that if I took more than one class from you, you were an excellent professor and I didn’t deserve you!)

I tried to start the essays earlier. I really did. But it was always the night before. If you’re picturing me furiously typing away at my computer for twelve hours straight leading up to the class period in which the essay was due, you would be . . . half right. The night before usually went something like this: my best friend and I headed to the gas station, where we loaded up on Red Bull and other forms of sugar, before heading to the campus library where we were certain we would be inspired to diligently work by the sheer volume of knowledge around us. An hour was usually spent scouring the various floors until one of the private study rooms could be nabbed. A half hour was spent settling into the space. It was usually 7 or 8 pm by this point. We then proceeded to spend the hours until the library closed (I think that was at 1am or 2? I can’t remember now.) . . . not working.

A few paragraphs would be written, for sure. The general idea of the essay would coalesce in my brain, in between eating entire packages of Spree and FunDip (God, I’m aging myself, aren’t I?) and talking about whatever it was we talked about that clearly deserved precedence over our impending intellectual deadlines. When the library closed we would bemoan the unfinished states of our essays and quickly decamp to one of two all-night establishments in our town, WaffleHouse, where we were certain the hash browns and over-boiled hot coffee would inspire us. I usually ended up super-sleepy about half an hour in, and my best friend would take pity on me and we would head home.

It was now approximately 3 to 4 in the morning, depending on the given night. My essay was due between 8 and 10, depending on the class. I would decide the thing to do was sleep. Without aid of an alarm, it was a given that I would wake at 5am in absolute sheer terror, at which point the adrenaline coursing through my body would accomplish what a metric ton of sugar and caffeine did not. I would tear through my essay in approximately one to two hours. Let me reassure you, lest you think this approach didn’t work, I graduated with a 3.9 GPA. It wasn’t a 4.0 because a particularly snobbish English professor who didn’t like having a freshman in her class told me I didn’t know how to use the word lest, so I inserted it into this paragraph out of sheer spite. Did I use it right? You decide.

Okay, you say, we charitably read along while you rambled about your misspent youth, what does it have to do with settling back into the rhythm of work, last referenced quite some time ago? Mostly, that I balk at deadlines, even self-imposed ones, and am easily distracted. The easier something is and the better it’s going, the more I decide it’s going so well that I can ignore it.

Which means I’ve written 48k on Valkyrie’s Call, was scheduled to finish it by the end of January and . . . promptly allowed myself to be distracted by The New Shiny Idea. It’s a secret, I can’t talk about it, but I now have over 10k of it written, along with an entire series plot-line. I’ve started switching days between Valkyrie’s Call and New Shiny, and am just trying to write faster to have everything I want. Which is both books.

It helped a little to take a short break on VC, too. I’d hit a bit of a block, because I was pretty damn certain Random and Valkyrie weren’t going to seal the deal, so to speak, until a particular scene, but they kept telling me it was going to happen sooner, and I didn’t want to listen. In the end, I was right (rarely happens), but the space gave me time to figure out the emotional shit that was happening between them that I needed to get just right.

Other than that, I desperately need to do a reread/brush-up edit on the second Guardian book, Shadows, which is due to the editor at the beginning of February (checks calendar, shudders). That, my friends, is a perfect night-before-the-essay is due scenario. Unfortunately, if I drank a giant Red Bull and ate a mountain of candy now, I’d probably die.

And that, more or less, is What I’m Working On.

December Reading Roundup and Year-End Herd Count

Welcome back to another edition of the Reading Roundup, where I herd all of the books I read this month into a corral and rate them on things like attractiveness, form, substance, and generally just how fun they were to hang out with.

I don’t say mean things about books, so if read something I wouldn’t recommend, I don’t list it. For transparency’s sake, I will disclose the number of books I read that didn’t make it into the corral at the end of the post.

Year-End Herd Count: Since it’s the end of the year, I also get to tally all the books that joined the herd this year, so here we go:

Fiction Books Read: 42

Novellas Read: 12 (Apparently this was the year of novellas?)

Audiobooks: 11

Nonfiction: 6

I was surprised to find my numbers pretty on-par for my average year-end totals, despite the craziness of 2020 itself, and deciding to start a business in the middle of a pandemic. I’m chalking it up as a win. I usually listen to a much larger volume of audiobooks, but they suffered this year because I mainlined pretty much every self-publishing podcast known to humankind, on top of the ones I already listen to. Do podcasts need to join the herd?! A question for 2021, perhaps. Okay, on to the Roundup.

The Queen’s Triumph (Rogue Queen Book 3) by Jessie Mihalik

Hey hey, the conclusion to The Rogue Queen trilogy arrived in December, and I obligingly devoured it. This is a must-be-read-in-order series, so start with The Queen’s Gambit if you’re interested, I promise not to do spoilers.

The Queen’s Triumph is everything you want in the conclusion to this series. From the romance side, we as readers have waited patiently for the main characters to finally get it on. Cue sex. Lots and lots of hot, passionate sex. I was very pleased with this, along with all the snark about said activities from Samara’s friends. From the science fiction side, that revenge you’ve been waiting for is finally served, but oh my god did Mihalik deliver it in the most tense way possible. Like, every time you think it is the last time something will go wrong for the characters, just look at the remaining page count in the book and realize that things are going to go wrong again.

Overall, great sex. great space station setting, and really cool fun battles on said space station. REVENGE. I was pleased. One always worries about the finale to a series but here, there is nothing to fear.

Amazon | Kobo

A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes Book 4) by Sabaa Tahir

Here is my usual disclaimer that this is the last book in a series that should be read sequentially, I will not do spoilers, and if you haven’t read it and are interested you should start with An Ember in the Ashes.

Okay, so I know all of the internet has long beat me to the punch of talking about how their hearts were destroyed by this book but, like, is there a support group for those of us just finishing the novel who are NOT OKAY? My favorite character, who I most identify with, had their heart absolutely annihilated, like full-on destroyed, and I may never recover, even if the glimmer of hope at the end of the novel indicates that said character probably will.

Truly masterfully crafted. I always worry about the end book in a series, and especially the final battle in fantasy novels, and I will just say that this one did not go where I thought it was going to go. Like, nowhere near where I thought it would go, and this was good. Heartbreaking, soul-crushing, possibly life-altering, but also good.

It feels like the end of an era, but we must all somehow find the strength to go on. “May death claim me first” (*sobs*, you will understand when you get there).

Amazon | Kobo

The Silent Places by Skyla Dawn Cameron

Cameron’s books are like that really really hot person who blinds you so much that when you try to talk to them (or about them, in the case of books) you forget what words are. If I actually tried to do justice to my feelings I’d sit around all day and never write a review, so I’m just going to do the best I can.

For my overused descriptive words, this book is amazing. Spellbinding, but also haunting. Excellent as a thriller, but so much more than that, too. It struck a deep chord within me, verbalizing all the calculations women constantly have to make around men regarding safety, and how nearly impossible it is for many people to escape domestic violence.

I feel like one of the truly wonderful things this book does is take every moment where you had to be extra-cautious, every moment you got a weird feeling about someone and decided to adjust your actions to account for a potential threat, and lets the reader know, Hey. Good instincts there. It shouldn’t be this way, but all too often, it is.

So often people (women, for certain, but by no means is it wholly gender restricted) are told we overreact to the way people treat us, the things they say, but the truth is, our bodies give us warning signs for a reason, but we are often conditioned to ignore those signs. I want to give this book to every woman I know, and then everyone else I know, because really I think everyone should read it.

Okay, now that I’ve bungled this review and failed to express how truly fantastic this book is, take pity on me and go read it.

Amazon | Kobo

My Fake Rake by Eva Leigh

For some reason, y’all, I have been hitting the historical romance genre up a lot more than usual. Okay, it’s Courtney Milan’s fault, her books got me hooked. Anyways, My Fake Rake is a wonderful, delightful romp. If you need some good laughs and historical is your jam, give it a try. Gender-swapping the oh-my-god-we-took-off-this-character’s-glasses-and-gave-them-nice-clothes-and-now-they-are-HOT trope (yes, I really did string that many hyphens together to modify the word trope because I can’t get away with doing this in my actual novels), I enjoyed absolutely every line of this book.

Basically, the heroine (Grace) needs a husband, but no one will look twice at her because she’s super smart and into science, so she decides to fashion her other science friend (Sebastian) into a fake rake to shower public attention on her to make other men notice her. So usually when this trope is done, the person making over the other person legitimately did not realize said person was attractive/worthy of affection/had good qualities before their outer appearance changed and this. . .does not work for me. Like, if you were that clueless beforehand, why would we want our bravely-made-over person to grant you their affections? Fortunately, in My Fake Rake, Grace did realize these things about Sebastian pre-makeover, and was interested, she just thought Sebastian wasn’t interested in her.

Cue the hysterical journey of two science-minded, socially clueless people trying to make one of them fashionable (luckily, a non-clueless person comes along to help them out before they embarrass themselves too much). The book had just the perfect amount of back-and-forth yearning, wherein each person wants the other but thinks the other doesn’t want them, which is so one of my favorite romantic plot devices. Ten out of ten, highly recommend.

Amazon | Kobo

Number of books I read this month that didn’t make it into the corral: 0