Check out the great review Elisa Rolle wrote for Just Perfect: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1576270.html.
My favorite line is “I’m pretty sure some readers will find questionable most of Cody and Draven’s behaviour, but if you are used to Rowan McBride’s stories, you are already accustomed to them.” XD
A couple of months ago, my editor at Torquere suggested I write a bit of bonus material for Just Perfect. Something from Cody’s point of view that showed what he might see in Draven. At first I had reservations, but when I started, I felt…good. So good that the piece came out 300 words over word count.
It reminded me how much I really do love the sweet and fluffy stories. I’ve been in a dark place lately and I think my stories have been reflecting that (in really fun and twisty ways), but this tiny little excerpt made me smile. The combination of my editor’s suggestion and the card my friend sent me a while back is probably what got me going on One Good Year. It’s funny how events sometimes come together in odd and perfect ways.
Not that I have any plans to abandon my twisty stories. 😉
We had to cut the word count down to 500 before posting it on the Torquere social group, but I got permission to post the original version on my site. You can read it here.
I hope you like it.
If you’ve been following my stuff a while, you’ve probably noticed that I’ve got a bit of a…hang up when it comes to sequels. In that I don’t have any. The recent release of Just Perfect is a prequel to a dark little story I wrote a while back called Just Wait, but Just Wait’s been out of print since 2007, so does Just Perfect even count as a prequel? I labeled it #1 in the Drayner series so I’m guessing not.
But now, finally, I have a bonafide Book Two. It seems right that it’s part of the One Good series, since that’s what I was working on when I angsted about sequels in Dude, where’s your sequel? Of course, it’s also kind of ironic (or maybe just sad—I don’t have a good grasp of irony) that back then I was working on One Good Verse.
Turns out, Book Two in the One Good series will not be One Good Verse.
It’s called One Good Year and it’s an Ace & Spade story. XD
The novella’s tentatively scheduled to release March 13th, 2012 from Loose Id. You can read a little more about it here.
I’m excited. Are you exited?
Note: While hidden, the new One Good series pages have been available to view for newsletter members since this past Sunday. One of the perks of being on that list is getting to peek at stuff a few days (if I’m on top of my game) before it goes live. They’ll be getting another sneak peek this Sunday, so if you’d like to join the list, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rowan_mcbride/. It’s newsletter-only and very low traffic, plus you can decide if you want to have all posts delivered to your inbox, or just the ones that include chapter/installment/story announcements by choosing the “special notice” option. Special notices do not include sneak peeks unless I’ve just posted a new installment to one of my serials.
Wow, that was a very long post script.
But I’m still excited. Are you still excited? 😀
My new novella, Drayner Series #1 – Just Perfect, is officially available from Torquere Press.
I hope you like it. 😉
Blurb:
Three years ago, Draven was forced to leave behind his human best friend to become a Drayner Assassin. Cody knew nothing of Draven’s ability to steal a person’s physical attributes by touch, and the Drayner intends to keep it that way when he returns to Maryland. Remembering the innocent, flawless human he left behind, he looks forward to rekindling his relationship with his friend.
He’s taken aback to find Cody a different man, and Draven is stunned by his own attraction to a harder, more brilliant kind of perfection. But getting close to the human is not easy—Draven has more secrets than ever. Like that day, all those years ago…
When he used his magic to steal from Cody.
Excerpt: Just Perfect
Rowan McBride
Available January 18th from Torquere Press 🙂
Just Perfect © 2012 by Rowan McBride. All rights reserved. This story may not be reproduced in whole or in part without author’s permission.
Flagging down a taxi was easy enough. I settled him inside and climbed in after. “Cody, tell the cabbie your address.”
He turned his head, his cheeks flushed with liquor. “You’re coming home with me?””Yeah,” I said, keeping my gaze fixed on the seat in front of me.
Cody chuckled and told the driver his address.
“What’s so funny?”
“I don’t know,” he said, his shoulders shaking. “I just feel like laughing.”
I glanced at him, taking in that smooth, flawless skin. “For a second there I didn’t think you’d ever laugh around me again. Not like that.”
“Back in the bar…” He rubbed at the tears forming in his eyes. “It felt like you were coming to my rescue. Like old times.” He focused on me, his gaze going from playful to piercing and back again. “Silly, huh?”
I’d never seen eyes like that. “I don’t think it is.”
He curled his legs into the seat, tucked his arm under his head. “I think I’m drunk.”
“I think you are too.” But hell if it wasn’t adorable.
Cody went quiet, staring at me. I tried not to squirm under the attention, but damn. He didn’t say another word until we’d arrived at his apartment complex.
He fumbled for his wallet and I stayed his hand. “I’ve got the cash; don’t worry.”
His arm fell to the side. I paid the cabbie and scooped Cody into my arms, lifting him out of the taxi and surveying the complex.
Cody laughed. “This is just like when I twisted my ankle and you carried me to the nurse’s office. Remember that?”
I smiled down at him, held him a little closer. “I remember you begged me to put you down the whole way there. Is that what you want now?”
“Nah.” He waved his hand, like he was trying to sweep the question out of the air. “It’s late. Doubt anyone’ll see us this time around.”
This time around. Hopefully that meant I had a second chance in more ways than one. “Where to?”
He flung his arm out and pointed to our right.
I carried him to the building and through the lobby. We rode the elevator to the seventh floor, and he threw his arm to the left.
“It’s number 706,” he said lightly.
When I stopped in front of his door, he wriggled his way out of my arms.
Shit, his body felt good.
Cody fumbled for his keys, managed to get the door open. I helped him inside and closed it behind us.
His knees buckled and I hooked an arm around his waist, holding him against me.
“Thanks,” he said, smiling again.
The breath skittered in my chest. I’d never been dazzled by a smile before. “Any time.”
“So this is my place,” he said, gesturing to the studio apartment before sliding his palms up my arms. His head fell onto my shoulder. “You smell like fresh-tilled earth.” He chuckled into my shirt. “Shit, I really am drunk.”
My body tensed–could he smell the death around me? Was he saying I smelled like a grave?
“Hard as a rock,” he murmured. “Just like I remember.”
I groaned, unable to take it anymore as I tipped him backward. “Cody,” I said, getting brave because he was drunk, “what kind of guys are you in to?”
He laughed and thrust his hand into my hair. “I like them tall and dark.” He gave my head a hard tug. “I like them to have all the muscle I could never pack on to my own body.”
My lips parted.
His gaze dipped to my mouth, and he lifted his other hand to brush a thumb against it. “Draven Donnor,” he murmured, all humor draining away. “My first crush.”
Learn more about Just Perfect at www.RowanMcBride.com.
There are so many horrible horrible ways to work the title of my latest novella into a sentence, and you will quite possibly see me use every single one of them eventually. For that, I apologize in advance. But there is a bright side. My brand new cover, for instance!
Snazzy, yeah? And you’ll be able to get both the cover and the story from Torquere Press on January 18th, 2012. 🙂
I’m backsliding into terrible title territory. And rampant alliteration, apparently. Still, I don’t think it’s as bad as Recharging with My Einstein Hair or Down with OTP (yeah you know me).
Ahem. Anyway.
I have news! And salutations! And prizes!
News: Just Perfect is tentatively slated for release in January 2012 from Torquere Press. W00t!
Salutations: Happy Pepero Day! This is a Valentine-like holiday celebrated in South Korea where candy is given to friends and loved ones. Pepero is usually the gift of choice, because Pepero comes in the form of delicious sticks of goodness and the sticks resemble elevens. Hence the November 11th date. And this year is particularly cool because it’s 11-11-11. In Japan it’s Pocky Day for the same reasons, although I hear the holiday itself is not as popular there.
Prizes: See these cylinders of heaven pictured below?
Yeah, giving them away. All you have to do is comment on this blog post any time today (11.11.11, Central Standard Time) and tell me which one you’d prefer. I’ll pick two names at random. One lucky person will win the strawberry Pepero, and one lucky person will win the dark chocolate Pepero.
Winners will be announced 11.12.11, so be sure to check back here to see if you’ve got yourself a cylinder.
It’s also Veterans Day but I’m always unsure how to go about observing that one. My dad and brother are both vets and sometimes it seems wildly out of place to say “Happy Veterans Day.” So I’ll just say thank you to all those who’ve served their country. You’ve made tremendous sacrifices on our behalf, and I am humbled by your courage.
It’s called Just Perfect, and it’s going to be published by Torquere Press. I can’t share a lot of details yet, but you can read the blurb as well as a short rambling about the story by me at: http://www.rowanmcbride.com/stories/drayners/justperfect/. Right now you can’t actually get to that page from anywhere on my site—the link I just posted is one of two access points to it. The first was posted on my newsletter back on Friday, which is one of the perks of being on the mailing list. 😉
Just Perfect is the (hopefully) first in my Drayner series. Unless you happened to catch my now out-of-print short story Just Wait back in 2007, then for you it’s a prequel. Although Just Wait may or may not still be an official part of the series anymore. It’s complicated. There were twins involved. Sexy, scary twins.
But hey, my first book in two years. And it’s all…dark and twisty and such. Should be good times whatever happens, yeah?