Ashlyn Mathews - Paranormal and Contemporary Romance Author

I’m so excited to be sharing Asher and Ezekiel’s enemy to friends to lovers story. Read on for a smoking hot sneak peak of Kissing Game, now available at all major eBook retailers.

To purchase the book at Amazon, click here.

To purchase the book at other retailers, including Nook, Kobo, and Apple, click here.

Kissing Game, Sneak Peek

Asher sticks her hand in the bag. Grabs what’s inside. Hold the packages of paper in assorted sizes and designs in front of her face. Her eyes are wide. She’s got a shit-eating grin.

“Origami paper. Aw, Zeke, you’re so thoughtful.” She reaches across the small kitchen table and pats my arm.

I seize the opportunity. Reach out and cocoon her elbow in my large hand. Our arms run side-by-side. Skin on skin. Her fingers are small…delicate. Mine are thick, calloused, and scraped along the knuckles from my fierce matches.

Our skin is equally tan. Hers, naturally. Mine, from hours practicing under the blazing sun. Sprinkle of hair on her arm. Almost unnoticeable, she’s got so little of it. My arm is covered with dark hair and bulging muscles.

I tug her closer. Move my hand up her arm. Skim my fingers over her dragonfly tattoo. Goosebumps rise over her smooth and soft skin.

“When did you have this done?”

“The week after high school graduation. The start of my journey to becoming an adult.” Low laughter.

I smile, digging her sexy sound.

“Why two dragonflies and in the shape of a heart?”

“Life isn’t meant to be lived in a bubble. It should be shared. That’s why there are two dragonflies. The second one symbolizes friendship. Friendship is important. The shape of the heart is for love. Love makes life worth living for.”

Poetry from a beautiful and kind-hearted girl.

“Are you inked other places?”

She locks her gaze on mine. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

I can’t look away from her dark-as-fuck eyes. They sparkle. Pull me in. Get my motor revving down there. The shade of her eyes and her hair along with her naturally tan skin reminds me of the cookies I’d devoured.

I want a piece of Asher.

Taste her from head to toe.

“Show me one.” My voice is low and husky. My attention drops to her mouth. “Minus the tattoo artist, show me a tat you’ve never shown anyone else.”

“Minus the tattoo artist, no one has seen my other tats.”

Other than her dragonfly tat, Asher’s not inked in places that are visible, which means these unseen tats are inked on private places.

“No one?” I rasp, lightheaded from the thought.

“Nada.” Sexy-as-fuck smile.

Fuck me. Did Asher Tran admit to being untouched, a virgin? Or she likes to do the dirty in complete darkness or half-naked. I shift in my seat. Readjust the boner in my pants.

“Thus with a kiss, I die. Would you show me one?” I beg her with my eyes to spare me a peek.

Back in April, I had the opportunity to participate in Coffee Time Romance and More’s Blog post question: Which comes first when you start a new story? The title? The characters’ names? The plot? Explain your starting process and what you need before you can write the first words. My response is below.

Writing one book isn’t too difficult, but a series? It takes some serious planning. My Kiss Starter series follows three different couples over the same 4-5 weeks. There are some scenes that are carried from one book to the other but obviously seen through the respective characters from each book’s POV. Yes, tough! And lots of comparing WIPs.

Before You ( my most recent work that I had used to explain my process below) is available in ebook and print format. Kissing Game, the second book in my Kiss Starter series, will be released end of July. For Kissing Game, I had already set up a potential frenemies to friends to lovers trope by including two paragraphs in Before You:

They walk backwards to my truck and wave. Asher stumbles. Zeke picks her up and carries her. The way he’s holding her with his head buried in her hair… I run the pad of my thumb across my jaw.

No way could Zeke be interested in Asher that way. If he is, he might as well count on being disowned by his family. Zeke’s family is racist to their core.

For Nora Ever After, I also started setting up Nora and Galley’s interest in one another in Kissing Game:

“What happened?” Nora asks.

Soft voice. Big, wide innocent eyes. Short-sleeve, loose shirt buttoned up to her neck. Baggy pants.

Conservative. Quiet. Nice. Not my type. Or Galley’s.

“I’m sorry for the bad language, Nora. Someone vandalized mine and the guys’ place.”

Galley’s apologizing for his filthy mouth? I glance from him to Nora and notice how Galley’s body relaxes just from looking at her looking at him. Shit, he’s damn curious about this no touching deal of hers.

For the third book in the series, Nora Ever After, the trope is more of a friends to lovers as well as first love as the heroine, Nora, navigates through her feelings for Galley, a guy with with very unconventional sexual habits (by her standards). When I introduced Nora in the beginning of Before You, I knew she’d meet her perfect match as soon as Galley walked inside Jimmy’s Bar with his friends. She doesn’t touch or like to be touched. He’s very much into touching. Their lives were shaped by what had happened with their parents’ marriages, and I’m so excited to explore how those experiences will shape their feelings for one another.

Which Comes First When I Begin a Story?

When I begin writing a story, I start with a general plot or decide on a particular trope. For example, my upcoming release, Before You, is all about the fake boyfriend-girlfriend trope. In romance, I believe tropes help ground readers as to what to expect from the story. And one story doesn’t have to be about one trope. Before You is a new adult romance that deals also with first love, new love, as well as another trope I love, a secret double life.

After having a general idea of plot and tropes, I put together my ensemble of characters starting with the main characters’ names. Names are important. I’ll be spending weeks writing their story. Readers will spend hours or days reading about them. There’s advice out there about staying away from similar names or names starting with the same letter, but once I have a name and an image in my mind of what that character looks like and acts like, I don’t change their names. For example, in Before You, there’s Nora, Nick, and Noah. There’s also Ryan, Ruby, and Remy. Not changing their names. Uh-uh.

Once the names are decided, I write the book blurb. The book blurb keeps me on track. Helps me stick with the story arc. Is the story about working together to solve a crime while trying hard not to fall in love? Are they different people brought together under a stressful situation and now they’re finding they’re more alike than different? And by the way, he finds her to be sexy as hell and she thinks he’s over the moon hot. The book blurb gives me direction. I also write a short tag line. Tag line helps package a story into one or two lines. My tag line for Before You is:  A young college woman questions her future plans when she unexpectedly falls for her fake boyfriend.

After the book blurb and tag line, and while I’m writing the story, I begin my search for a book cover. I love premade book covers and have a handful of cover designers as my go-to designers. I also go on sites such as Deposit Photo and Pinterest to search for and save images of what my characters look like in my mind. The image helps me stay in character on the pages, especially when writing from a male POV.

And that is my writing process in a nutshell.

Releasing a book into the world after slaving over it for months can be joyous, stressful, nerve-wracking. (Feel free to insert other adjectives.) In addition to the emotions, a multitude of questions fill my mind. Will readers like my story? Will I sell ANY copies?

There’s a reason I’m keeping my day job. Year after year since I started in 2012, I’ve never been in the black. Translation, my costs far outpace my earnings.

Consider this:  An ebook sold at Amazon for $0.99 will earn a royalty rate of 35%. That’s 35 cents to the author. 35 cents! A book at and above $2.99 earns a royalty rate of 70%. At $2.99 that’s $2.09 to the author.

There are authors out there who do really well, have found their niche and their “tribe.” Can earn out what they put into a book (time, cover design, the full spectrum of editing, promotions, not to mention blood, sweat, and tears plus hungry kids and burnt food, lol). I’m not one of those lucky authors. This year alone I’m spending a third of my budget on the upkeep of my website. A third will be spent on editing. A third on covers. And the last ten percent will be used to promote my backlist.

If writing and publishing is time consuming, costly, and an emotional roller coaster ride (one star ratings, anyone?), why am I still in this seven years later?

One reason. I love to write. To tell a story. To engage the creative side of my brain. I love to see the product from beginning to end. It’s the pride of ownership and accomplishment. The joy of getting the voices of my characters out of my head and into a finished book.

Speaking of finished book, I wrote “The End” to Kissing Game, the second book in my Kiss Starter series. And last night, in my excitement to get started on Nora Ever After, I revisited one of my shelved work-in-progresses. The result? Another story percolating in my head. I love Dumas and Dumas University so much in my Kiss Starter series, I’ll be writing an offshoot book. You heard it here first. The title is set. I’ve written the blurb. Picked a cover. And have decided on names.

More to come in the next couple of months including the cover reveal.

 So what’s the best way to handle post-book release nerves? Take a break. Catch up on sleep. Celebrate with a massage or a pedi. Go for long walks. Garden. Read. Listen to music. Brush the dogs. They’ll love you for it and it really is relaxing and therapeutic. Then be ready to start on the next book!

Happy Book Release Day to Xander Brody and Ryan Allie Allistar from Before You. I can’t believe the day is finally here. I had so much fun writing Before You. The story incorporates one of my favorite romance tropes–the fake relationship that becomes something much more real than our hero or heroine believes it’ll be when they’d agreed to become a “fake” couple.

Before You is available in print and ebook format at the below retailers. I hope you pick up your copy.

A fake boyfriend she never wanted.

Ryan Allie Allistar understood from a young age true love and happy-ever-after doesn’t exist. Her college mantra? Head down, grades up, and stay away from the guys until after graduation. Period.

The chance for a memorable year.

When a night of celebrating leads to a scary run-in with a guy from her past, and sexy rugby team captain, Xander Brody, steps in and declares he’s her boyfriend, Ryan faces rethinking how she wants to live her last year of college.

They’re not anyone’s idea of the perfect match.

She’s not into college guys. And definitely not guys with commitment issues. He prefers coeds with experience in the sack. But to survive the mayhem of a stalker on the loose, an unsolved murder, and a secret double life on the verge of unraveling before their eyes, Ryan and Xander will have to convince everyone they’re “the real deal” even if it means crossing the unspoken boundaries of their friend zone.

Amazon: Print, ebook

Nook

Apple Books

Kobo

24Symbols

Playster

Scribd

I can’t believe there’s only ten days left before my newest book, Before You, becomes available. The print version is already available for purchase at Amazon.com. The cover is beautiful. I absolutely love it! Readers can also get the book early by entering my Goodreads giveaway. Enter for a chance to win one of 100 (!) copies of Before You. Winners will be able to download the ebook to their Kindle on May 25th.

Be sure to get your copy at the special new release price of $2.99 (available for Kindle, Nook, Apple, and Kobo) before the price increases to $4.99 after June 18th. Okay, enough with the business side of book promotion right? Get right to what the headlines about, yeah? Well, here you go…

BEFORE YOU SNEAK PEEK

We’re getting close to the exit for DU. I give Xander directions to my place, and we drive in comfortable silence for the rest of the ride. Soon, he’s parking alongside the curb in front of my place. The lights are on, set to a timer.

“Looks cute.” He turns off the engine.

“Cute?”

He clears his throat. Avoids eye contact. I’ve embarrassed him.

“Cute is the perfect word to describe my one bedroom, one bathroom rental with a backyard that’s a privacy lover’s dream come true. Thanks, Xander.”

“You don’t live far from campus.”

He’s stating the obvious, but I don’t call him out on it. I’ve already embarrassed him.

“Nope,” I answer. The “P” pops. Crap, I’m sounding like a clueless high schooler.

Is he as nervous as I am wondering what our next step is? Do we pretend tonight, including our kiss, didn’t happen? Or do we pretend to be a couple? I tug at my collar. I’ll have a swath of red and irritated skin tomorrow after my unwise wardrobe pick.

“I’ll help.”

“Help?”

“With the house.”

“You don’t owe me, Xander.”

“I want to. Gives me something to do. Will keep me out of trouble off the field.”

“How’s practice? Must be nice with all this sunshine when normally the temperature starts to cool.” I sound like a weather nut.

A sly smile. “What is it I’m practicing?”

I roll my eyes. “Xander, you can’t be that clueless. The stands are packed with girls ogling you and your teammates’ bodies.”

And that’s just at practice. The games are crazier.

“I was teasing, Allistar. And yeah, I noticed. I have my own group of groupies, the XXB.”

“XXB? What does that even stand for?” Dirty thoughts click in my head. I suck in a breath. “Don’t tell me it’s short for something like double extra-large boner.” I cover my on-fire face and groan. “I can’t believe I said the ‘B’ word.”

He laughs. “It was cute.”

I peel my fingers off my face. “Boner is cute?”

“When you say it? Yep. Do you ‘ogle’ my XXB?”

“We are not calling your penis that. No way.”

“If I tell what XXB stands for, can we?”

I do want to know. “Okay, tell.”

I’m so excited to be sharing news of my newest new adult romance series, Kiss Starter, including the covers and the book blurbs.

The craziness all started with a kiss. At a bar. That rocks a hulking mechanical bull. Three very different girls with secret lives. Three hunky guys ready to do whatever it takes to protect them.

Welcome to the Kiss Starter series! Enjoy everyone! Before You (Kiss Starter Book 1) and Kissing Game (Kiss Starter Book 2) is available for pre-order at Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo, and Barnes&Noble. The print version of Before You will be available soon.

Before You

A fake boyfriend she never wanted.

Ryan Allie Allistar understood from a young age true love and happy-ever-after doesn’t exist. Her college mantra? Head down, grades up, and stay away from the guys until after graduation. Period.

The chance for a memorable year.

When a night of celebrating leads to a scary run-in with a guy from her past, and sexy rugby team captain, Xander Brody, steps in and declares he’s her boyfriend, Ryan faces rethinking how she wants to live her last year of college.

They’re not anyone’s idea of the perfect match.

She’s not into college guys. And definitely not guys with commitment issues. He prefers coeds with experience in the sack. But to survive the mayhem of a stalker on the loose, an unsolved murder, and a secret double life on the verge of unraveling before their eyes, Ryan and Xander will have to convince everyone they’re “the real deal” even if it means crossing the unspoken boundaries of their friend zone.

Kissing Game

Sworn enemies

Asher Tran has disliked Ezekiel Harrington since the day he yanked on her ponytail and stuck his tongue down her throat on a dare. That was in grade school. Fast forward to their last year of college and Asher is confident she’s changed for the better. Ezekiel? He’s the same. Rich. Cocky. Could care less whose feelings he hurts. Has a following of love-struck coeds.

So he plays rugby and has a super fine body? Big deal. A jerk is a jerk is a jerk.

A dangerous proposition

When Ezekiel asks for her help—he’s failing one of his classes (no surprise there)—Asher counteroffers with a dangerous proposition. It’s time someone reforms the bad boy.

Putting their hearts on the line

But when their arrangement brings them closer than they’ve ever let anyone in, Asher and Zeke are left wondering if their differences will keep them together or…tear them apart.

Nora Ever After

Playing it safe

“Safe” is Nora Sanchez’s friend. “Danger” is her enemy. Stick with those two words and she’ll never hurt again.

Opposites attract

Nora avoids physical contact. Galley Rutherford can’t get enough of the coeds touching him. Him touching them. When a night of trouble brings Nora and Galley in proximity, they’re drawn to one another. Why doesn’t she like to be touched? Why can’t he keep his hands to himself?

Hearts beating as one

The more they learn to use touch and words to understand one another, the harder they’re falling into a safe friend zone. Or is it dangerous when words and touching take them down a path toward heartbreak?

Interested in what comes first when I start a new story? Is it plot? Characters’ names? The book blurb? I’m at Coffee Time Romance dishing on how my stories come to life. Stop on by!

I am so excited to be sharing with you the cover, blurb, and a sneak peek of my upcoming new adult romance, Before You. I loved writing this story. Fell in love with the three couples that will take up the majority of my writing time this year. Ryan Allie and Xander Brody in Before You. Asher Tran and Ezekiel (Zeke) Harrington in Kissing Game. Nora Sanchez and Galley Rutherford in Nora Ever After. Before You will be available in print and ebook May 28th. Enjoy the sexy cover!

A fake boyfriend she never wanted.

Ryan Allie Allistar understood from a young age true love and happy-ever-after doesn’t exist. Her college mantra? Head down, grades up, and stay away from the guys until after graduation. Period.

The chance for a memorable year.

When a night of celebrating leads to a scary run-in with a guy from her past, and sexy rugby team captain, Xander Brody, steps in and declares he’s her boyfriend, Ryan faces rethinking how she wants to live her last year of college.

They’re not anyone’s idea of the perfect match.

She’s not into college guys. And definitely not guys with commitment issues. He prefers coeds with experience in the sack. But to survive the mayhem of a stalker on the loose, an unsolved murder, and a secret double life on the verge of unraveling before their eyes, Ryan and Xander will have to convince everyone they’re “the real deal” even if it means crossing the unspoken boundaries of their friend zone

Sneak Peek

“Hey, you okay?” He’s so close, his minty, warm breath caresses the shell of my ear. “Look, it’s okay to say, ‘no’. No one will blame you if you back out. I won’t think less of you, either.”

I don’t care what Xander thinks. It’s what my friends think that matter most. Minutes ago, I made a vow and now I’m reneging? I have to follow through. Follow through is important. That’s what Nick taught me.

“From this day forward, I vow to go outside my comfort zone. Riding the bull in front of a small crowd counts, don’t you think?”

A slow nod of his head. “It sure does.”

I like too much the gleam in his eyes but refuse to be charmed. There’s a hint of a smirk hidden in his crooked smile. He squeezes my knee.

My sight rest on his hand. Swollen and scraped up across the knuckles.

Was he in a fight, or are the scrapes from his rugby matches? I want to smooth my fingers over the imperfections on his skin, but I hold back. What does it matter how he got hurt? College guys with commitment issues don’t interest me.

Not that I’m interested.

But as I walk to that bull, Xander’s touch stays with me, on my skin through my jeans.

And… that worries me.