The Assignment—Cover Reveal!

Posted on August 30, 2016November 5, 2016 by Jade A. Waters

Hi everybody! I’ve been super quiet for a while, working away on my forthcoming Lessons in Control series—but today, I’m so enthralled to share all sorts of good stuff with you about my debut novel and the first book in the series, The Assignment. I’ve got news, excitement, and perhaps most importantly,

A COVER!

—and—

BACK COVER COPY!

Wowsa! Yes, that’s right! I do! So, let’s start with the cover…

Cover of The Assignment by Jade A. Waters

OMG. I can’t even tell you how pumped I am over this cover! First, there’s the super snazzy lettering that I love. Then there’s the hot ass couple the design team picked to represent the book’s heroine, Maya Clery, and the entrancing hero Dean Sova, who leads her out into a world of all sorts of sexy fun. On top of that, Carina Press rocked my world by managing to capture a touch of the Bay Area water scenery in that glorious pier in the background. Why is this so awesome? The Assignment and all sequential books are set in this very area, where coastal views are everywhere—and since in real life I’m rather fond of these views, I wanted that love of the area to transfer into the books. I’m just so ecstatic you can catch a glimpse of that on the cover. Hurray!

Speaking of the Carina Press team, I need to say they’ve been phenomenal in every stage of working on this series, from editing to all the ins and outs of setting up for press time. I’m tickled to be working with them, and of course, as we get closer to the December release date (currently listed as December 12^th, but these things sometimes fluctuate), I’ll have tons more news and info for you.

Okay. Before I get to the blurb (I know, I know, delayed gratification!), I wanted to let you know a few things. First, you can pre-order The Assignment on Amazon Kindle or at various other e-tailers linked below. I’d also love for you to mark it as “Want to Read” on Goodreads or add the book to your shelves over on Booklikes if you’re a member there. And, while I will be posting news about the series here on my blog, I’ll be sending out more info about various events and other exclusive ditties through my currently quarterly newsletter, which will launch at the end of September. Not a subscriber? I’d love for you to join the fun, and as a special incentive, I’m offering all those who have subscribed by September 15^th, 2016 a free, never before published flash story (about 1100 words) by me. That’s right—free story for you if you subscribe by 9/15/16! I do hope you will, and those of you who are already subscribed will be able to get this freebie after the deadline, too. 🙂 Thanks so much for subscribing!

All right. I think it’s time for something that tells you about the story, hmm? Ready? Without further ado, I’m delighted to share the official blurb for book one in Lessons in Control, The Assignment:

What would you do if someone offered to fulfill your wildest fantasies?

Seductive.

Charming.

Dominant.

Dean Sova is everything Maya Clery craves. From the first touch, their connection is intense. After leaving her troubled past behind, Maya thought she was happy—she is happy—but meeting Dean forces her to acknowledge dark needs she longs to explore yet has never had the courage to face.

Her perfect match, Dean encourages Maya to set loose the submissive urges inside her in a series of assignments intended to open her mind and test the limits of pleasure…but Maya isn’t sure she can fully let go of her inhibitions.

What would you do if someone offered to fulfill your wildest fantasies?

The answer seems obvious. You take the offer and hope the price isn’t too high.

Book one of Lessons in Control

This book is approximately 81,000 words

One-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise: all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise! Find out more at CarinaPress.com/RomancePromise.

Wow. I am way damn excited. Are you? I sure hope so! I promise I have more info to come, but in the meantime, if you’re intrigued and needing something to tide you over until the official release of The Assignment, please check out my Free Reads page to enjoy some of my work. And if you’re a visual person, feel free to hop on over to my Pinterest boards for some Maya and Dean visuals that inspired me as I worked. Also, make sure you’re following me on Twitter if you aren’t already since I’ll be posting lots of info there, too, and please subscribe to the newsletter—don’t forget, a free flash story awaits for anyone subscribed by September 15!

Finally, I hope you’ll pre-order The Assignment at any of the links below. Thanks so much for reading and joining me on this exciting journey, because—in case it’s at all unclear—I’m bouncing off the walls for the release of this series! Yippee!!

Pre-order book one, The Assignment, today:

(eISBN: 9781459293588)

<br />

XX,
Jade

P.S. We are planning a blog tour for The Assignment starting somewhere around late November and running through late December-ish. Interested in taking part? I’d love it so much! Please send me an email at jade@jadeawaters.com with your name and website address if this intrigues you, and I’ll get you info once I have it!

Looking Up

Posted on December 18, 2015July 20, 2016 by Jade A. Waters

Up until about a month ago, things over here were—oh, how to put this?—really fucking cray-cray in the brain department. There was a lot of good going on (and more I’ll get to shortly), and I tried to center my online attention to that—but offline, I was a wreck. This has all passed now, thank god, but things were pretty dark for a bit there.

I talked in a previous post about the sensory migraines that took over my life—but what I stayed pretty quiet on was the adjustment to the medication my doctor prescribed. Once it kicked in, it helped tremendously—but the month-long adjustment period was torture. My brain was definitely not my own for that wild ride, and, honestly, if you and I had a conversation anywhere in that month, I probably have no solid recollection of what we talked about. On top of that, other than one flash piece inspired by my migraines and a couple poems I scribbled in brief moments of clarity, I wrote little (coherently, anyway). It wasn’t until after I signed off of Skype from my interview with the wonderful Rose Caraway about my story in Libidinous Zombie that I realized how wildly out of my head I felt. Yikes!

Fortunately, my doctor turned out to be a genius. After that month of adjustment—and practically overnight—everything turned…well, normal. My migraines damn near disappeared, and all the side effects I was experiencing completely vanished. I keep describing it as the way the sky looks after a storm, when the clouds pull back to reveal a clear blue world—but I kid you not, it’s what my head felt like after that period passed. My spirits soared, and my usual optimist Fuck half full, I have a glass! self was ready to go screaming from the rooftops about how damn amazing I felt.

And that’s where I’ve been cruising for almost a month now—appreciating all the awesome things going on, and enjoying having my brain back to participate in them! Woo hoo!

So, let’s move along to the good department, shall we? First, some book news—I’ve been cruising away on edits for The Assignment, book one in my forthcoming Lessons in Control series. We had to do a few schedule adjustments, but I’m pleased to announce that it will be released in December 2016—and hey, you can already pre-order it on Amazon! 🙂 There’s no cover or blurb up yet, and I believe it might still say it’s coming out in June, but that’s soon to be fixed. I have much more to tell you about this book and the entire series as we get closer to publication, but let’s just say that as I’m working on edits, I’m getting really excited. It doesn’t hurt that I landed Rhonda Helms on this project, who is possibly the most enthusiastic editor on the planet and making me squeal. A lot. (Okay, and I admit—I’m one of those weird authors who loves editing almost as much as I love writing, so I’m having fun in this process either way.)

Meanwhile, I’ve still been keeping up on my poetry, and even wrote a piece loosely inspired by a scene in The Assignment. In the short story world, I got confirmation there will be a San Francisco reading for Best Women’s Erotica, Volume 1 on January 19^th at 6:30pm at the Good Vibrations Polk Street location (mark your calendars!). My BWE story “Ophelia the Second” is one I’m rather fond of, and I can’t wait to tell you more about the it and to hopefully meet you at the reading!

Speaking of reading…back in July, Rose asked me in my first KMQ’s interview what I’d be doing if I wasn’t a writer—and I told her I was looking into voice over as a future day job. Since then, I’ve taken a couple weekend workshops and learned all sorts of intriguing things, and decided this little dream will need to become a reality over the coming years. I even set up a recording space, which I officially used for the first time to record “Longing” in honor of the release of Coming Together: In Verse (a smokin’ erotic poetry anthology)! This voice over adventure is on hold while I work on books 2 and 3 in the Lessons in Control series…but it’s on my radar!

Finally, since it’s nearly Christmas, I couldn’t possibly skip mentioning my always free holiday short story, “Office Santa.” It’s about an office superstar named Kristi who has a major thing for the Santa suit—especially when it’s worn by one of her very favorite colleagues. Kristi was a character I had way too much fun writing, so I hope you’ll please check out her adventures. Also free for the holidays is a new flash piece called “Missing You,” hosted over at Tamsin’s Superotica as part of her hot annual advent calendar—please be sure to check out both my story and the others on this holiday countdown!

So, all in all, I’m thrilled to say things are looking up. WAY up.

Just in time for the start of a brand new (and super exciting) year, don’t you think?

XX,
Jade

“Will You Be the Lucky One?” – Interviewed on the KMQ’s!

Posted on November 14, 2015November 14, 2015 by Jade A. Waters

Hi everyone!

A couple weeks ago, the wonderful Rose Caraway released her dream project, Libidinous Zombie, out into the world. As I mentioned in my post on the book, this anthology is a tremendous one, both for its roster of talent (editor included!), and for its exploration of the erotic horror convention. I am still so grateful Rose invited me to join the project, and then that she and the awesome Big Daddy were so excited about my contribution, “The Lucky One.”

As if all that wasn’t enough of a thrill ride, Rose invited me to join The Sexy Librarian’s Podcast today. She’s interviewing all the authors in this book, and I’m delighted to have gotten to share more of the backstory for “The Lucky One” in the process. In the interview, Rose asked me a little about my new book deal and karaoke antics, so, if you’d like to find out more, please hop on over and check out the interview right here.

If you haven’t already started listening to The Sexy Librarian Podcast, or Rose’s main podcast, The Kiss Me Quick’s, be sure to check them out! I have no doubt you’ll enjoy every word.

Thank you so much for listening!

XX,
Jade

N.B. You can also catch my last interview with Rose about my contribution to The Sexy Librarian’s Dirty 30 right here, or listen to my stories, “The Doll” and “Soundscapes,” as featured on The Kiss Me Quick’s Podcast. All podcasts are free for your ears! 🙂

On a Scale of 1 to 10…(News!)

Posted on October 26, 2015October 26, 2015 by Jade A. Waters

On a scale of 1 to 10…I’m this excited:

To translate, that’s, like, 15. Or maybe 20…

Or, maybe I’m just too excited to put a number on it!

See, I’ve had some news under my hat for a bit now, but, um, the word is officially out:

Screen shot of Jade's series announcement on Pub Lunch

Official posting from Pub Lunch

I am so, so thrilled to get to share this news! My fabulous agent Jessica Alvarez has been shopping around my erotic romance book for a little while, and I’m ecstatic that it’s been picked up by Carina Press—along with the rest of the series! The Assignment, The Discipline, and The Reward are all slated to be published starting sometime in late 2016 in the Lessons in Control series, and I seriously can’t be more delighted!

You may recall me mentioning the process of writing the first book in the series a couple times—it was a wild thing that just poured out of me at a bizarrely fast pace, and even though I put the continuation of the series aside for a while, I couldn’t stop imagining my characters resuming their tale. Theirs is a sexy, edgy, BDSM experience full of all sorts of adventures and heated exploration—and I have so much more to share with you in the coming months about not just the first book, but the whole series.

A giant thank you to Carina Press for taking a chance on my debut novel (and then second and third, too!), and to Jessica Alvarez for helping me on this journey!

Much more to report in the future, folks—but for now, please picture me bouncing around my house squealing (because it is totally happening)! 🙂

Thank you so much for being part of the excitement with me!

XX,
Jade