Friday, March 27, 2015

Friday's Film Adaptions: The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett


Summary:
Sam Spade is hired by the fragrant Miss Wonderley to track down her sister, who has eloped with a louse called Floyd Thursby. But Miss Wonderley is in fact the beautiful and treacherous Brigid O'Shaughnessy, and when Spade's partner Miles Archer is shot while on Thursby's trail, Spade finds himself both hunter and hunted: can he track down the jewel-encrusted bird, a treasure worth killing for, before the Fat Man finds him?


....Samuel Spade's jaw was long and bony, his chin a jutting v under the more flexible v of his mouth. His nostrils curved back to make another, smaller, v. His yellow-grey eyes were horizontal. The v motif was picked up again by thickish brows rising outward from twin creases above a hooked nose, and his pale brown hair grew down-- from high flat temples--in a point on his forehead. He looked rather pleasantly like a blond satan.

......He said to Effie Perine: 'Yes, sweetheart?"

......She was a lanky sunburned girl whose tan dress of thin woolen stuff clung to her with an effect of dampness. Her eyes were brown and playful in a shiny boyish face. She finished shutting the door behind her, leaned against it, and said: "There's a girl wants to see you. Her name's Wonderly."

......"A customer?"

......"I guess so. You'll want to see her anyway: she's a knockout."

......"Shoo her in, darling," said Spade. "Shoo her in."

......Effie Perine opened the door again, following it back into the outer office, standing with a hand on the knob while saying: "Will you come in, Miss Wonderly?"

......A voice said, "Thank you," so softly that only the purest articulation made the words intelligible, and a young woman came through the doorway. She advanced slowly, with tentative steps, looking at Spade with cobalt-blue eyes that were both shy and probing.

......She was tall and pliantly slender, without angularity anywhere. Her body was erect and high-breasted, her legs long, her hands and feet narrow. She wore two shades of blue that had been selected because of her eyes. The hair curling from under her blue hat was darkly red, her full lips more brightly red. White teeth glistened in the crescent her timid smile made

......Spade rose bowing and indicating with a thick-fingered hand the oaken armchair beside his desk. He was quite six feet tall. The steep rounded slope of his shoulders made his body seem almost conical--no broader than it was thick--and kept his freshly pressed grey coat from fitting very well.

......Miss Wonderly murmured, "Thank you," softly as before and sat down on the edge of the chair's wooden seat.

......Spade sank into his swivel-chair, made a quarter-turn to face her, smiled politely. He smiled without separating his lips. All the v's in his face grew longer.

The tappity-tap-tap and the thin bell and muffled whir of Effie Perine's typewriting came through the closed door. Somewhere in a neighboring office a power-driven machine vibrated dully. On Spade's desk a limp cigarette smoldered in a brass tray filled with the re-mains of limp cigarettes. Ragged grey flakes of cigarette-ash dotted the yellow top of the desk and the green blotter and the papers that were there. A buff-curtained window, eight or ten inches open, let in from the court a current of air faintly scented with ammonia. The ashes on the desk twitched and crawled in the current.

Miss Wonderly watched the grey flakes twitch and crawl. Her eyes were uneasy. She sat on the very edge of the chair. Her feet were flat on the floor, as if she were about to rise. Her hands in dark gloves clasped a flat dark handbag in her lap.

Spade rocked back in his chair and asked: "Now what can I do for you, Miss Wonderly?"

She caught her breath and looked at him. She swallowed and said hurriedly: "Could you--? I thought--I--that is--" Then she tortured her lower lip with glistening teeth and said nothing. Only her dark eyes spoke now, pleading.

Spade smiled and nodded as if he understood her, but pleas-antly, as if nothing serious were involved. He said: "Suppose you tell me about it, from the beginning, and then we'll know what needs doing. Better begin as far back as you can.

"That was in New York."

"Yes."

"I don't know where she met him. I mean I don't know where in New York. She's five years younger than I--only seventeen--and we didn't have the same friends. I don't suppose we've ever been as close as sisters should be. Mama and Papa are in Europe. It would kill them. I've got to get her back before they come home."

"Yes," he said.

"They're coming home the first of the month."

Spade's eyes brightened. "Then we've two weeks," he said.

"I didn't know what she had done until her letter came. I was frantic." Her lips trembled. Her hands mashed the dark handbag in her lap. "I was too afraid she had done something like this to go to the police, and the fear that something had happened to her kept urging me to go. There wasn't anyone I could go to for advice. I didn't know what to do. What could I do?"

"Nothing, of course," Spade said, "but then her letter came?"

"Yes, and I sent her a telegram asking her to come home. I sent it to General Delivery here. That was the only address she gave me. I waited a whole week, but no answer came, not another word from her. And Mama and Papa's return was drawing nearer and nearer. So I came to San Francisco to get her. I wrote her I was coming. I shouldn't have done that, should I?"

"Maybe not. It's not always easy to know what to do. You haven't found her?"

"No, I haven't. I wrote her that I would go to the St. Mark, and I begged her to come and let me talk to her even if she didn't intend to go home with me. But she didn't come. I waited three days, and she didn't come, didn't even send me a message of any sort."

Spade nodded his blond satan's head, frowned sympathetically, and tightened his lips together.

"It was horrible," Miss Wonderly said, trying to smile. "I couldn't sit there like that--waiting--not knowing what had happened to her, what might be happening to her." She stopped trying to smile. She shuddered. "The only address I had was General Delivery. I wrote her another letter, and yesterday afternoon I went to the Post Office. I stayed there until after dark, but I didn't see her. I went there again this morning, and still didn't see Corinne, but I saw Floyd Thursby."

Spade nodded again. His frown went away. In its place came a look of sharp attentiveness.

"He wouldn't tell me where Corinne was," she went on, hope-lessly. "He wouldn't tell me anything, except that she was well and happy. But how can I believe that? That is what he would tell me anyhow, isn't it?"

"Sure," Spade agreed. "But it might be true."

"I hope it is. I do hope it is," she exclaimed. "But I can't go back home like this, without having seen her, without even having talked to her on the phone. He wouldn't take me to her. He said she didn't want to see me. I can't believe that. He promised to tell her he had seen me, and to bring her to see me--if she would come--this evening at the hotel. He said he knew she wouldn't. He promised to come himself if she wouldn't. He--"

She broke off with a startled hand to her mouth as the door opened.

The man who had opened the door came in a step, said, "Oh, excuse me!" hastily took his brown hat from his head, and backed out.

"It's all right, Miles," Spade told him. "Come in. Miss Wonderly, this is Mr. Archer, my partner.

Miles Archer came into the office again, shutting the door behind him, ducking his head and smiling at Miss Wonderly, making a vaguely polite gesture with the hat in his hand. He was of medium height, solidly built, wide in the shoulders, thick in the neck, with a jovial heavy-jawed red face and some grey in his close-trimmed hair. He was apparently as many years past forty as Spade was past thirty.

Spade said: "Miss Wonderly's sister ran away from New York with a fellow named Floyd Thursby. They're here. Miss Wonderly has seen Thursby and has a date with him tonight. Maybe he'll bring the sister with him. The chances are he won't. Miss Wonderly wants us to find the sister and get her away from him and back home." He looked at Miss Wonderly. "Right?"

"Yes," she said indistinctly. The embarrassment that had gradually been driven away by Spade's ingratiating smiles and nods and assurances was pinkening her face again. She looked at the bag in her lap and picked nervously at it with a gloved finger.

Spade winked at his partner.

Miles Archer came forward to stand at a corner of the desk. While the girl looked at her bag he looked at her. His little brown eyes ran their bold appraising gaze from her lowered face to her feet and up to her face again. Then he looked at Spade and made a silent whistling mouth of appreciation.

Spade lifted two fingers from the arm of his chair in a brief warning gesture and said:

"We shouldn't have any trouble with it. It's simply a matter of having a man at the hotel this evening to shadow him away when he leaves, and shadow him until he leads us to your sister. If she comes with him, and you persuade her to return with you, so much the better. Otherwise--if she doesn't want to leave him after we've found her--well, we'll find a way of managing that."

Archer said: "Yeh." His voice was heavy, coarse.

Miss Wonderly looked up at Spade, quickly, puckering her forehead between her eyebrows.

"Oh, but you must be careful!" Her voice shook a little, and her lips shaped the words with nervous jerkiness. "I'm deathly afraid of him, of what he might do. She's so young and his bringing her here from New York is such a serious-- Mightn't he--mightn't he do--something to her?"

Spade smiled and patted the arms of his chair.

"Just leave that to us," he said. "We'll know how to handle him.

"But mightn't he?" she insisted.

"There's always a chance." Spade nodded judicially. "But you can trust us to take care of that."

"I do trust you," she said earnestly, "but I want you to know that he's a dangerous man. I honestly don't think he'd stop at any-thing. I don't believe he'd hesitate to--to kill Corinne if he thought it would save him. Mightn't he do that?"

"You didn't threaten him, did you?"

"I told him that all I wanted was to get her home before Mama and Papa came so they'd never know what she had done. I promised him I'd never say a word to them about it if he helped me, but if he didn't Papa would certainly see that he was punished. I--I don't suppose he believed me, altogether."

"Can he cover up by marrying her?" Archer asked.

The girl blushed and replied in a confused voice: "He has a wife and three children in England. Corinne wrote me that, to explain why she had gone off with him."

"They usually do," Spade said, "though not always in En-gland." He leaned forward to reach for pencil and pad of paper. "What does he look like?"

"Oh, he's thirty-five years old, perhaps, and as tall as you, and either naturally dark or quite sunburned. His hair is dark too, and he has thick eyebrows. He talks in a rather loud, blustery way and has a nervous, irritable manner. He gives the impression of being--of violence."

Spade, scribbling on the pad, asked without looking up: "What color eyes?"

"They're blue-grey and watery, though not in a weak way. And--oh, yes--he has a marked cleft in his chin."

"Thin, medium, or heavy build?"

"Quite athletic. He's broad-shouldered and carries himself erect, has what could be called a decidedly military carriage. He was wearing a light grey suit and a grey hat when I saw him this morning."

"What does he do for a living?" Spade asked as he laid down his pencil.

"I don't know," she said. "I haven't the slightest idea."

"What time is he coming to see you?"

"After eight o'clock."

"All right, Miss Wonderly, we'll have a man there. It'll help if--"

"Mr. Spade, could either you or Mr. Archer?" She made an appealing gesture with both hands. "Could either of you look after it personally? I don't mean that the man you'd send wouldn't be capable, but--oh!--I'm so afraid of what might happen to Corinne. I'm afraid of him. Could you? I'd be--I'd expect to be charged more, of course." She opened her handbag with nervous fingers and put two hundred-dollar bills on Spade's desk. "Would that be enough?"

"Yeh," Archer said, "and I'll look after it myself."

Miss Wonderly stood up, impulsively holding a hand out to him.

"Thank you! Thank you!" she exclaimed, and then gave Spade her hand, repeating: "Thank you!"

"Not at all," Spade said over it. "Glad to. It'll help some if you either meet Thursby downstairs or let yourself be seen in the lobby with him at some time."

"I will," she promised, and thanked the partners again.

"And don't look for me," Archer cautioned her. "I'll see you all right."

Spade went to the corridor-door with Miss Wonderly. When he returned to his desk Archer nodded at the hundred-dollar bills there, growled complacently, "They're right enough," picked one up, folded it, and tucked it into a vest-pocket. "And they had brothers in her bag."

Spade pocketed the other bill before he sat down. Then he said: "Well, don't dynamite her too much. What do you think of her?"

"Sweet! And you telling me not to dynamite her." Archer guffawed suddenly without merriment. "Maybe you saw her first, Sam, but I spoke first." He put his hands in his trousers-pockets and teetered on his heels.

"You'll play hell with her, you will." Spade grinned wolfishly, showing the edges of teeth far back in his jaw. "You've got brains, yes you have." He began to make a cigarette.

Films:
1931 (Pre-Code Hollywood)
Release dates: June 13, 1931 
Running time: 80 minutes

Cast:
Bebe Daniels as Ruth Wonderly
Ricardo Cortez as Sam Spade
Dudley Digges as Casper Gutman
Una Merkel as Effie Perine
Robert Elliott as Detective Lieutenant Dundy
Thelma Todd as Iva Archer
Otto Matieson as Dr. Joel Cairo
Walter Long as Miles Archer
Dwight Frye as Wilmer Cook
J. Farrell MacDonald as Detective Sergeant Tom Polhaus















Clips:





1941
Introductory text appearing after the film's opening credits
In 1539 the Knight Templars of Malta, paid tribute to Charles V of Spain, by sending him a Golden Falcon encrusted from beak to claw with rarest jewels—but pirates seized the galley carrying this priceless token and the fate of the Maltese Falcon remains a mystery to this day

Release dates: October 3, 1941
Running time: 101 minutes

Cast:
Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade
Mary Astor as Brigid O'Shaughnessy
Gladys George as Iva Archer
Peter Lorre as Joel Cairo
Barton MacLane as Lieutenant Dundy
Lee Patrick as Effie Perine
Sydney Greenstreet as Kasper Gutman
Ward Bond as Detective Tom Polhaus
Jerome Cowan as Miles Archer
Elisha Cook, Jr. as Wilmer Cook
James Burke as Luke
Murray Alper as Frank Richman
John Hamilton as District Attorney Bryan
Walter Huston as Captain Jacobi (uncredited)
Emory Parnell as Mate of the La Paloma (uncredited)

As the author wrote of the character in 1934:
Spade has no original. He is a dream man in the sense that he is what most of the private detectives I worked with would like to have been, and, in their cockier moments, thought they approached.

Following a September 1941 preview, Variety called it "one of the best examples of actionful and suspenseful melodramatic story telling in cinematic form":
"Unfolding a most intriguing and entertaining murder mystery, picture displays outstanding excellence in writing, direction, acting and editing—combining in overall as a prize package of entertainment for widest audience appeal. Due for hefty grosses in all runs, it's textured with ingredients presaging numerous holdovers in the keys—and strong word-of-mouth will make the b.o. wickets spin."

American Film Institute Recognition
1998 – AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies: No. 23
2001 – AFI's 100 Years…100 Thrills: No. 26
2003 – AFI's 100 Years…100 Heroes and Villains:
Kasper Gutman – Nominated Villain
Brigid O'Shaughnessy – Nominated Villain
2005 – AFI's 100 Years…100 Movie Quotes:
"The stuff that dreams are made of." – No. 14. The expression is based on act 4 of Shakespeare's play The Tempest, wherein Prospero says, "We are such stuff / As dreams are made on".
"You're good, you're very good." – Nominated
2007 – AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition): No. 31
2008 – AFI's 10 Top 10: No. 6 Mystery Film

Trailer:


Clips:








I have not read the original book, although it is included in a Dashiell Hammett Collection that I do have on my bookshelf.  I have seen both film versions and highly recommend both.  Film noir at it's best as only classic Hollywood can create.  I have to admit that the more famous 1941 Bogey version is my favorite of the two.  Both are well written, perfectly acted, and are cinematic perfection.  There's nothing more that I can possibly say about The Maltese Falcon that could even come close to describing it's true nature without giving spoilers.  I guess, the best way is to just simply say, the films speak for themselves and if you love mystery then this is definitely something you need to see.  As the movie line goes as it fades to black:
Detective Tom Polhaus: [picks up the falcon] Heavy. What is it? 
Sam Spade: The, uh, stuff that dreams are made of. 
Detective Tom Polhaus: Huh?
Pretty much sums it all up, in my opinion.

RATING: 

Author Bio:
Also wrote as Peter Collinson, Daghull Hammett, Samuel Dashiell, Mary Jane Hammett

Samuel Dashiell Hammett was an American author of hardboiled detective novels and short stories. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade (The Maltese Falcon), Nick and Nora Charles (The Thin Man), and the Continental Op (Red Harvest and The Dain Curse). In addition to the significant influence his novels and stories had on film, Hammett "is now widely regarded as one of the finest mystery writers of all time" and was called, in his obituary in the New York Times, "the dean of the... 'hard-boiled' school of detective fiction."


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Films
1931
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1941
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Sales Blitz: Awakening Fire by Larissa Emerald

Title: Awakening Fire
Author: Larissa Emerald
Series: The Divine Tree Guardians #1
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Cover Designer: Robin Ludwig
Publisher: Castle Oak Publishing LLC
Release Date: March 5, 2015
Summary:
The return of sculptor Emma Grant to her Georgia home town sparks the return of the visions she tries to deny and rekindles a centuries-old feud between shape shifters Venn Hearst, guardian of the Divine Tree (The Tree Of Knowledge) and his nemesis. Emma is determined to place and dedicate the statue honoring her beloved grandmother despite Venn’s opposition; despite the fact she is in love with Venn, despite his sacred duty not to permit it. Will she overcome a test of evil or shatter Venn's world?


When he entered the shop, her scent grabbed him—plumeria and cinnamon—an instant turn-on. Even the heady aroma of coffee couldn't rob him of her sweet, luscious fragrance,a perfume he’d profoundly missed. He drew a deep breath as he stepped behind her in line and enjoyed the sound of her voice while she spoke into a cell phone.

Instantly, she seemed to sense him as she stopped mid-sentence and turned.

He smiled and couldn't help but flirt with her. “Something with whipped cream?”

She narrowed her eyes and angled her cell away from her ear with an incredulous nod. “Excuse me?”

“To drink.”

“Oh.” Her cheeks flushed a pretty pink. “Yes. Umm, and your recommendation is?” She cleared her throat, her green eyes now glinting with pale fire, and then her brows pinched as if she were trying to recall something.

Was it possible she recalled him? That would make things so much easier. He was already finding it difficult to behave as though he didn't know her.

“Anything with chocolate,” he answered as his lupine senses went into overdrive. Her fragrance intensified, warmed, indicating to him that her body knew what her mind did not.

Her subconscious recognized him.

She gave her head a shake, confusion painted on her face. “Sorry. I . . .” She paused a beat, steeling her features, and then pointed to her phone.

Her voice drove him to the brink of desperation. He wanted to get her alone. He needed her to remember what they’d shared.

And his beasts concurred with a beat of wings and hammer of paws.

“Miss. What would you like?” the clerk behind the counter asked.

She faced forward again, leaving him to stare at her long, sleek, shimmering hair. He’d kill to slide his fingers through those rich strands.

“For some reason I’m craving something I haven’t had before.” Her voice was soft and sweet. “A mocha latte. And forget the calories. Add on some extra whipped cream.”

He swallowed. He had cravings, too, ones he hadn't given in to for a very long time. “Good choice,” he said to her back.

Now to convince her of a few other things . . .

Hell, she’d fallen for him before, she would again.

Author Bio:
Larissa Emerald writes paranormal, futuristic and contemporary romances. She is a Romance Writers of America 2013 Golden Heart Finalist for her romantic suspense, RAMPANT PERFECTION which will be available in the fall of 2015.

A combination of her love of reading and her vivid imagination―plus a strong desire to rewrite the endings of movies that just didn’t end right―lead Larissa into the world of writing.

Larissa has lived in Florida for her entire life. In her spare time, she enjoys teaching baton twirling and dance, traveling with her husband of 41 years, baking and cooking―usually altering the recipe―and playing dress up with the brightest lights in her life, her four grandchildren.


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EMAIL: larissaemerald@gmail.com



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Leather & Lace by Maggie Adams

Title: Leather and Lace
Author: Maggie Adams
Series: Tempered Steel #2
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: February 27, 2015
Summary:
Sam Coalson, ex-Navy Seal, has returned to Grafton for the wedding of his brother. After being run out of town fifteen years ago for a crime he didn’t commit, he’s determined to claim what is rightfully his and take on anyone crazy enough to try and stop him.

Angel Devereaux is smart, sexy and definitely on Sam’s blacklist. After siding with Sam’s enemy fifteen years ago, Angel can’t help but wonder what if….what if Sam had never left? What if he could forgive her now? She had her reasons, but he won’t listen. So enough with words, sometimes action is exactly what’s called for.


        His eyes admired her beauty as he lowered himself between her legs. He knew that there would never be anything sexier than the way she looked right at this moment. He was surrounded by her feminine scent. Her passion lured him like the mythical sea sirens of old. He had to touch her, taste her. Claim her as his forever. She was presenting herself in all of her beauty to her man. She beckoned him with her womanly charms. She tantalized him with her very essence. She was his woman to love, and she offered herself with a joyous smile.
He flicked his tongue against her clit and she groaned. With a smile, he swirled his tongue around and around her sensitive nub, felt her body tighten and press toward him. “Not yet, Angel baby,” he whispered against her flesh, making her quiver. “I’ll tell you when you can come.”
“Bossy,” she gasped and her breath hitched as he forced his tongue inside her, his face pressed against her flesh.
His head came up and he slapped her mound lightly. “Damn straight, baby. Get used to it.” He took her clit between his lips and tugged lightly. Angel whimpered.
He glanced up at her from between her legs and smiled. “I want you to grab hold of the brass spindles and don’t let go.” When she did as he required, he spread her legs wider. “Hold tight, baby. This is going to feel so good.”
Sam stared at her creamy perfection, spreading her lips apart and prepared to feast. His finger found her entrance and ruthlessly pushed in and up until he found her sweet spot. She tensed. “Tighter, baby. Hold yourself tighter. Come off the bed if you need to. I’ve got you.”
  He grabbed her ass as she lifted and her heels dug into the mattress. His tongue continued its relentless assault on her clitoris as he added another finger to her tight passage. Angel cried out.
“Not yet, baby. Soon. Just let me…..,” Sam twisted his finger slightly. He felt Angel’s muscles contract against them. “Now, Angel. Come for me!” He pressed higher and bit down lightly on her clit. She screamed in climax while Sam greedily lapped up all her sweetness.


Trailer:


Whistlin' Dixie #1
Summary:
A man on a mission....

Mackenzie Coalson was determined to rebuild his hometown after a devastating flood left it in ruins. He has no time for a relationship and all the romantic junk that goes with it. He has a vandal to catch and no sweet smelling bundle of femininity is going to sway him.

A woman protecting her family.....

Dixie Harris charged into the county sheriff's office with a sassy sway and a smart mouth, eager to give the sheriff, and anyone else, a piece of her mind. When she locks horns with the devil himself, in the form of Mac Coalson, she quickly learns he has a temper to rival hers, even if he's the living epitome of her sexual fantasies.

When the two unite to catch a potential murderer, it's in everyone's best interest to keep it, "business only". But that's hard to do when their combined attraction is volatile enough to burn down the town.

Author Bio:
I live in Southern Illinois with my high school sweetheart and two terrific kids.  I've always loved books and dreamed of one day making writing my career.  Life happens while dreaming but I never gave up.  I believe humor can be found in the most awkward situations as my family can attest, and happily ever after is work but true love is worth it.
In addition to contemporary romance, I also write paranormal romance, erotic romance, and women's fiction.


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Leather & Lace #2

Whistlin' Dixie #1
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Release Day Blitz: Captured by Aden Lowe

Title: Captured
Author: Aden Lowe
Series: Hunted #3
Genre: MC/Military Romance, Western Romance
Release Date: March 27, 2015
Summary:
Jakob and Kate from Big Game continue to explore the possibilities of their attraction, as disaster and violence head their way. A new foe prepares to rain hell down on their heads in the form of an outlaw Motorcycle Club and Kellen, a killer with a grudge against Jakob. Having overheard the plot, Jakob's old Army buddy, Falon, and Rita, from Bounty, race to help, but can they get there in time?

Kellen will do whatever it takes to have his revenge on Jakob and carry out his orders to force Kate into a brand new horror. Will she be able to count on Jakob's love to sustain her in the darkness? When Falon and Rita interfere with Kellen's plans, they become his targets as well, but since they have no value to him, he simply wants them eliminated. Can they trust in their new love to help them get through?



Author Bio:
Growing up an only child, I was lucky enough to have a huge brood of cousins to help me get into all sorts of trouble. Long summers spent on various family members' farms gave me a deep appreciation for the outdoors and horses. I worked my way through college training horses as a result of those summers.

After 15 years editing books for strangers, I decided to try my own hand at writing. Big Game: Hunted Love #1 was my debut, and my story idea file is endless. Now that the Hunted Love series is finished, I might work on a romance series featuring soldiers returning from war and set twenty years in the future. And after that, there's a Roman Gladiator who keeps insisting on telling me his story... or maybe the pirate, or even the spy, will be next. We'll see...


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Captured #3

 Big Game #1

Bounty #2