MY BIG NEWS: The ONES WHO GOT AWAY Series has sold to Sourcebooks!

If you've been hanging around here lately, you know I've been hinting for a while that I had some big news to share. Well, I finally can talk about it! Yay!

I've sold a three-book contemporary romance series to Sourcebooks!!! 

Here's the official announcement:

From Publishers Weekly:

New York Times bestselling and RITA award-winning, Roni Loren’s THE ONES WHO GOT AWAY, a contemporary romance series following the survivors of a school shooting twelve years later, damaged souls who discover they are worthy of receiving and giving love, to Cat Clyne at Sourcebooks, in a three-book deal, for publication in 2017, by Sara Megibow of KT Literary Agency.

I'm so, so excited to be working on this new project and am thrilled to partner with Sourcebooks to do it. Tackling school violence as part of a romance is a little out there, I know. But when this idea came to me, it was one that wouldn't leave me alone. I really wanted to explore the idea of how people heal and find their HEA after not just tragedy but after being part of something that defined their existence both privately and publicly, when you're labeled as a "survivor" or in this case, The Ones Who Got Away.

But be assured, this will still be what you've (hopefully) come to expect from my books--emotional romance, sexy/steamy times, and humor to balance out the heavy stuff. Though, note that these will be contemporary romance not erotic romance. 

I don't have a set release date yet, but the tentative plan right now is for the first to release in the Fall of 2017. The books will be available in both ebook and mass market paperback. I can't wait to start this new journey! :)

Also, this does not mean that I'm shutting down my other series or erotic romance. I'll blog more on the details of that tomorrow. But for now *throws confetti*

Cover Reveal: The Loving on the Edge Novella E-Bundle!

I've got a special Saturday treat for y'all. A cover reveal! 

I'm not sure if I've mentioned yet but on October 18th, there will be an e-bundle available of FOUR of my novellas in one boxed set (ebook only.) 

From the New York Times bestselling author of Crash Into You comes four previously published Loving on the Edge novellas, together for the first time... 

In Still Into You, married couple Seth and Leila head to The Ranch, a resort where any sexual fantasy can be had. Seth hopes to put the spark back in their marriage and to show Leila why he’s the only man for her...

In Forever Starts Tonight, two Dominant men and one submissive woman attempt to jumpstart their relationship with a getaway at a mountain cabin. When they get snowed in, however, the heat between them reaches a fever pitch, and secrets come out...

In Yours All Along, two men, Devon and Hunter, shared a hot night in college, but an accident tore their relationship apart. Four years later, Hunter is a professional baseball player, engaged to a woman, and in Devon’s bar. Neither man can get that one night off their minds...

In Break Me Down, Samantha Dunbar and sexy executive Gibson Andrews are Dominants, and according to Gibson, that makes them incompatible. But after an attack shakes Sam to her core, Gibson finds himself unable to let her go...

You'll get approximately 160k words of story, which is like two full length novels for the price of one.

So if you missed the stories in between the Loving on the Edge novels, now's your chance to get them all together! OR if you've never read the series and want to try some of the stories out, this is a good way to dip into it. 

And I have a sexy cover to deliver in them. Ready?

Here you go!

What do y'all think? It's been a little while since I've had shirtless man for you. ;) 

The bundle is up for pre-order now. Grab your copy: Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Kobo

Finding my Beloved 80s-Style Horror in Stranger Things

I know that people usually fall on one side of the fence or the other about scary movies, but I love a good horror movie. There's something about the safety of getting scared when you know you're actually safe that does it for me. I don't do roller coasters but give me a good horror flick any day and I'm good to go. 

However, I've found (and this is going to make me sound old) that I often have trouble satisfying my need for a good horror movie with the ones coming out these days. There are exceptions. I liked The Conjuring. The Ring freaked me the hell out. The Strangers was great. But I often find with newer horror movies that either A) they don't scare me B) they rely on too many special effects or C) they're just too gory. 

I blame the 80s for my snobbery when it comes to this. Horror when I was growing up was creepy. Poltergeist. Halloween. It by Stephen King. Nightmare on Elm Street. The Exorcist. Sometimes you saw the monsters. And sure, there was gore. But they had that ultimate horror drug: DREAD. That feeling of not knowing quite what's going to happen but knowing that it's not going to be any kind of good. That's what I crave in a good scary movie.

So went I went online to vaguely complain about a recent horror film I didn't love, a number of people suggested I check out the show Stranger Things on Netflix. My mom had already mentioned it to me, so I decided to give it a try. It's set in the 80s, first of all, which got me interested immediately. But once I started watching it, I realized that they didn't just set it in that time period, they tried to nod to what horror movies were like in that era and even layer in references from movies from that time. I love it. It's creepy and there's a good level of "WTF is going on?" and monsters and government conspiracies and a band of kids trying to figure everything out. Love. It. I only have 3 episodes left of the first season, but it's already a winner for me.

So if you're like me and love a little old school scary, then you might want to check it out. Here's the trailer:

Oh and if you do watch it or already watching it, then you'll get why what happened in the video below freaked me out. Hubs and I had just finished watching two episodes when we shut off the TV and he left the room. I turned on the lamp and this is what happened. o.0 The show plays a lot with the idea of electricity and people communicating through it. Needless to say I was a little freaked out by my lamp's behavior lol. I called hubs back in the room and he was like, "Oh hell no. I don't want any part of that." Ha.

When you finish watching an episode of #StrangerThings , turn on your lamp and this happens. 0.o pic.twitter.com/YCmS6q86B5

— Roni Loren (@RoniLoren) August 3, 2016

Anyway, if you watch it, let me know what you think of the show. Any other horror movie fans out there? Which are your favorite movies or shows? I'll take recommendations! 

Exclusive Sneak Peek: Loving You Easy

It's almost time, y'all. LOVING YOU EASY is only one month away!!!

I'm so excited for you to read this one. It's been a while since I got to invite you back to The Loving on the Edge world. This time you get to meet Cora, Ren, and Hayes and can introduced to the virtual world of Hayven (a sexy online role-playing game in the book). And of course, things don't stay virtual for long. ;) 

So this afternoon, I wanted to give you a sneak peek. In this scene, Cora is at a party at Grant's winery (next to The Ranch, but she has no idea what happens there) and she accidentally spies on Ren having a hot hookup. She watches for too long, Ren sees, and she runs out. The scene picks up there.

And if you'd like to picture Ren how I imagine him, let me introduce you to Godfrey Gao. You're welcome. 

From Loving You Easy

(copyright Roni Loren 2016 - please do not repost without permission)

Warning: Language is pretty mild but it's not all that safe for work. 

Cora inhaled through her nose, trying to calm herself. She should be okay. The party was crowded and blending in shouldn’t be a problem.

She moved through the main part of the room, grabbing a glass of wine off a passing waiter’s tray and scanning faces for Grace. Usually her friend was hard to miss, but Cora didn’t see her blond head anywhere. Dammit.

She spotted a table in the farthest spot from the hallway. Two women were sitting there, but there was a chair free. She headed that way and retrieved her phone from her purse so she could text Grace.

The women looked up when she reached their table. Cora smiled. “Hi, do you mind if I sit?”

The older of the two women waved a hand. “Not at all, please do. We were just about to go to the bar anyway.”

“Oh, you don’t have to get up. I—”

But they were already up and gathering their things.

God. She was apparently wearing people repellant tonight. She resisted doing a sniff test to make sure her deodorant was working and then plopped down in one of the chairs. The last thing she wanted to do was sit at a table alone again, but she needed to text Grace, and standing around with no one to talk to looked even more conspicuous. She set down her wine so she could type two-thumbed.

Cora: Where r u??? #911

The message sent, but as Cora stared at the screen, no little dots popped up to indicate that Grace was responding. “Come on, where the hell are you?”

She opened up her favorites list, ready to call Grace until she answered, but before she could hit the button to dial, a hand planted on the table right next to Cora’s wine, rattling the glass.

She startled but didn’t look up. That hand was all she could focus on. Because somehow, she knew. Tan skin and long fingers, the edge of a colorful tattoo peeking out from a shirt cuff.

Cora prayed for a trap door. An eject button. An invisibility cloak.

None appeared.

In one fluid motion, the chair across from her was pulled out and dragged closer. Her guest slid into the spot. Uninvited. Unapologetic. His mere presence demanded she respond. There was a sense of . . . provocation. Almost a dare. Cora forced herself to look up.

Shit. The curse almost slipped out.

It was worse than she’d thought—the looking. The guy could’ve just stepped off the red carpet. Charcoal suit, plum-colored T-shirt, a mess of perfectly styled jet-black hair, and a face that was so beautiful it’d almost seem feminine if not for the hard angle of his jaw and the shadow of stubble. This was a guy who knew he looked good and wasn’t afraid to use it like a weapon.

He gave her an unreadable smile. “This seat taken?”

Her throat felt like it’d narrowed to nothing, but she forced words out. “Seems a little late to ask.”

The man’s coal eyes sparkled, like he was in on some eternal joke. And he was. He knew. Somehow in this sea of people he’d picked out the girl from the dark. He knew she’d just watched him in the hallway, and she couldn’t play it off.

“I’m sorry.” She blurted—too loud, too sharp. One hundred percent without grace. Fantastic.

He leaned back in his chair, grabbed a drink off a passing waiter’s tray, and hooked an ankle over his knee, looking like he could literally be comfortable anywhere with anyone. “You were there first. Maybe I should apologize. Though, what you were doing all alone in the dark has got me curious.”

She cleared her throat, trying to tap the brakes on her body’s railroading response to this man. He was a stranger, but they’d shared this intensely sexual moment. Her wires were crossed, her body confused. “I was just trying to find a quiet place to make a call. But I . . . couldn’t get a good signal. Then . . . you walked in with your . . . a woman.”

He smiled and his gaze strayed toward the bar. Cora couldn’t help but follow it. It’s like he’d put his hand on her head to make it turn. At the bar, a woman with a long ponytail and blue maxi dress was in the arms of a man with salt-and-pepper hair. They were kissing—a little too passionately for this kind of party.

And Cora couldn’t help it—she had the thought. Can he taste this mane on his girlfriend’s lips? The thought tripped a wire inside her. One it shouldn’t. Her cheeks burned. “If you’re worried that I’m going to say anything, I’m not. Not my business.”

“You’re right. It’s not.” Her companion looked back to her, a secret smile playing around the edges of his mouth. “But it wouldn’t matter if you did. He already knows. He was the one who set it up.”

Cora’s lips parted. On some level, she knew that kind of thing happened. She was no innocent. But she couldn’t hide her knee-jerk reaction or shake off the sense that this man was toying with her. “Then why did you come over here? If you’re not worried about me outing you?”

He frowned, a line appearing between his dark brows. “I don’t recognize you. Have you been to one of Grant’s parties before?”

She straightened. Technically, she wasn’t crashing this thing. Grace’s boss had been the one to get the invite and had let Grace come on his behalf with a plus one. But Cora suddenly felt one hundred percent out of her league and like she’d been left out of some joke. Not that she was going to let this guy know that. “No. Haven’t had time to get to one before now.”

“Well, then I’m over here because things seen out of context by those who don’t know what they’re looking at can be misconstrued and get people in trouble. From the outside looking in, what happened could look . . . non-consensual. I needed to make sure you understood.”

“You needed to cover your ass. Got it,” she said, unsure why it came out with a biting edge to it. “You’re good.”

His eyebrow arched and he shifted forward in his seat, bracing his forearms on his thighs and pinning her with that gaze. “Plus, I thought I should know the name of the woman who chose to stay and watch while another woman sucked me off.”

The words hit her like a stun gun. Zap! And all she could hear in her head was him saying, Suck it.

Suck. It.

She should be offended, disgusted. They should not be having this conversation. Instead, her heart tried to pound out of her chest and her skin went tingly. “You don’t need my name.”

“Mmm.” He nodded. “True. But you want to tell me anyway. Just like you wanted to stay longer and watch it all.”

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Checking Off the Bucket List: Guns 'n' Roses Live

Hey, y'all! I know it's been a few weeks since I've popped in. When I disappear it's usually for the same reason--I'm writing my butt off. That's been the case since I've gotten back from RWA. My super secret project is underway, and I'm hoping I can share the news of it with all of you next week! :)

But today I wanted to share a little from my bucket list night last night. Yesterday was mine and hub's 15-year wedding anniversary. Here we are all those years ago with my super fabulous arm dancing.

So the day was awesome already, but what we did to celebrate was even better. We saw Guns 'n' Roses, the band that we never thought we'd get to see (with original band members) in our lifetime. In fact, the tour is called Not In This Lifetime, lol, so we weren't the only ones thinking that.

GNR is hubs' favorite band and very high on my list as well. If you know us at all, we're concert people. We have a wall of albums in our living room marking some our favorite bands we've seen in concerts. 

But this was that band. The one we always went back to with, "Man, I wish they could get it together and tour." So it was one of those life moments to be standing in a stadium with sixty thousand people and hearing Axl Rose belt you, "Do you know where the f**k you are? You're in the jungle, baby!" (Video below, but warning, it has the f-bomb.) 

For those asking about Axl’s voice last night. The intro to Welcome to the Jungle (warning: f-bomb): pic.twitter.com/HqMBStWl4s

— Roni Loren (@RoniLoren) August 4, 2016

Cue full body goosebumps and the adrenaline rush to end all adrenaline rushes. It's all that childhood memory stuff wrapped in with loud music and residual teenage angst/rebellion and knowing that you'll probably never see this again. I highly recommend it. :)

Also, Duff and Slash are still hot. Just sayin'.

And super talented. Here's the opening to Sweet Child O' Mine.

Opening riff of Sweet Child O' Mine. Never thought I'd get to see this live. GNR was fantastic. pic.twitter.com/EmvxQ94gee

— Roni Loren (@RoniLoren) August 4, 2016

So if anyone asks why I write books about rockstars, like Wanderlust and Call on Me, it's because it's me. This is what I love. So if I can't BE a rockstar, then I damn well am going to write about them, lol.

Do you have any bucket list singers/bands you want to see? What's the best concert you've ever been to?