Posted on by sarahmichellelynch · 4 Comments

The #PeterboroughAuthorEvent 2015 and a PLEA TO REVIEW!

This will be a rather self-indulgent blog post and I will not apologise for this! LOL.

It was around a year ago (I think) that I agreed to attend this event thinking, it’s ages away, it’ll be a laugh, yet as the day approached I realised I had no idea what I had got myself into! I had to get serious all of a sudden. I needed stuff to take with me for a start and trust my luck, some of my recent novels didn’t arrive through the post on time, including a batch of Unbinds – and I still don’t know where the shipment is!

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On the morning of the event, I suddenly felt a little bit sick. I was reminded of the morning of my wedding when I stepped into the shower and vomited into my hand just because so much preparation had gone into that one day. Anyway, on March 14th I was thankfully not sick but I only managed a pot of tea and a miniature patisserie at my hotel before we had to make the walk to another hotel down the road, where said author signing was taking place. Once inside the Great Northern in Peterborough, I was greeted by chaos and activity and the nerves disappeared because it was time to get on with it all!

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9f4c8-afineprofessionwebsiteuseThe first girl to my table told me she thought A Fine Profession was amazing and refreshing, she really liked it, and she bought a copy of A Fine Pursuit there and then. Great start, right! While sat at our table, my hub and I got to talking about my back catalogue and his favourite of the bunch remains A Fine Pursuit. I asked why and he said the psychology and the challenge of unpicking a character as interesting as Noah Yeardley. Anyway, (I did mention this would be a self-indulgent post, but I’m feeling a rare sense of pride right now), yet more people came to my table either just to chat, have me sign books, take swag or whatever. I was just happy people were approaching me!

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I was shocked when one lady had one of my protagonists’ names printed on her t-shirt. O.M.G. Feckin’ fab. Said lady was very nice, asked for my picture with her, and mentioned she’d endeavoured to work her way through a book from each of the authors attending which was no easy job, given there were 30+ authors at said event. Not only romance authors but crime, horror and all kinds in between.

My favourite burlesque blogger, the lovely Louise from Passionate Page Turner
My favourite burlesque blogger, the lovely Louise from Passionate Page Turner

I was also blown away when quite a few people produced photo books with a page dedicated to each author, book covers on show and some quotes too! It’s at that point I realised that people have access to me and not only that, they’re interested too and want to make me a part of their community. Most of the time, authors sit at a laptop with only their own company because that’s the life of an author. Or so it always seemed to me!

Anyway like I said, I had no expectations of this event and it was my first big event, so I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I certainly felt a bit more assured than I did when I did my first library talk a couple of years ago, and certainly more assured than when I did a writers’ group talk last year and a book club one too – and I’ll tell you why! Last Saturday I was actually in the company of other authors who’ve also taken the step, as I have, to either self-publish or publish their work and ‘put themselves out there’. It’s really not something I did lightly and I know most other Indies like me didn’t take that step lightly either. To have that camaraderie is amazing, regardless of which route in publishing you’ve taken.

With author Lisa Fulham
With author Lisa Fulham

The overall feeling I took away from Peterborough was that most people want to read and most people want to write for all the right reasons. Everyone was so supportive and gracious of one another. The people I spoke to were more than aware how hard it is to get a footing in the writing world and yet we all do it for the love of words. Everyone I spoke to that day was genuinely passionate about books! They’re the best people in my eyes!

It was refreshing to step away from my laptop for a day or two and actually reflect on everything I’ve achieved so far. I think a lot of writers forget to reflect because we live in such a fast-paced world and hardly have time to draw breath! Sometimes we just have ideas we have to pursue and the world moves around us as we dedicate ourselves to writing a book, which is a risk and a sacrifice, but never not worth it (as I’ve come to realise).

Some readers told me they absolutely got one book of mine and others told me they got another. From my point of view, all I’m ever working with is the fact I know I can write and if I get an idea then great, I follow it. I write it and hope someone gets it. That’s all I do, because I love writing SO much. So when a person came to my table and said one of my books was their favourite last year, I was like WOW. Total bonus. One hundred thousand per cent bonus.

The thing with events like signings or whatever is the fear that you won’t get to speak to everyone for long enough or you forget to thank people, forget to meet everyone. I didn’t get round everyone because there were so many authors but there were some people I don’t think I will ever forget! I took away the feeling that it’s not always important to conquer the world, but to own what you do and really stand proud and represent that thing you do, whether it be as an author or as a reader or blogger or whomever or whatever your vocation in life is. Just own whatever it is you do well and be proud of your niche, because variety is what keeps the world evolving and without that, we really wouldn’t ever have change and that’s what I strive for all the time. Change might lead to something new and exciting.

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With my husband, aka Jimmy Carr
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Beautifully decorated table with book covers featuring all the attending authors’ books

angel avenue

After the books were signed that day and the banners and swag and tins of sweets put away, we sat down for a dinner and ball and that was when the day really got started for me. Speaking to one woman on my table, she asked me which is the book I’ve written that I believe in most. She also asked which book did I enjoy writing the most. I still say the book I enjoyed writing the most was Angel Avenue and I don’t think my opinion on that will ever change. I also happen to believe in that one the most. I explained to this lady that it’s a book some people just don’t get for whatever reason but I tried to tell her that sometimes it’s not about understanding everything in a book, it’s about how that book makes us feel about characters. I personally love books where you can read between the lines and take a moral away with you or just a feeling of thankfulness for everything we have in our own lives. I’ve written some pretty erotic stuff in the past, involving whips, chains, belts, dildos, you name it – I’ve never been shy of exploring all that. Human sexuality is the single most written-about thing on the planet. Yet despite all those other erotic books I’ve written, I still feel such a powerful, deep, not even sentimental but overawed emotion whenever I go back and pick up Angel Avenue and Warrick Jones (the guy printed on that lady’s t-shirt). He is the one male character I’ve written that I still think about. I’ll love him forever. So as we sat at that table, said lady clicked a few buttons on her phone and downloaded that book. That’s the world we live in now. Convenience. Expectation. Volume. Ease of access. Standing out in the crowd will never be easy because of this mass outpouring of creativity. It’s a blessing and a curse that anyone can publish relatively easily now. However, this particular author event proved to me that the people who succeed and the ones who remain authentic and original are the people who never sacrifice who they are and now I am glad to say I know some of those people personally! Passion really translates – and it really sells!

Far be it from me to reveal what us authors got up to later on in the night but the night owls amongst us who didn’t get to bed before 2.30a.m. laughed our socks off so much, we’re still talking about this and will be for months to come! A sign of a truly nourishing and fulfilling day! Amen to the organisers Hourglass Events and Orchard Book Club. They did a fantastic job, made a lot of authors realise they’re not alone in their fears, aspirations, dreams and endeavours… and more importantly we’ll all be back!

Many of us have signing hangovers for a number of reasons and I know I’m itching to meet people all over again very soon! Roll on Leeds 2016!

***

On a side note, I want to ask anyone who has enjoyed my books to please, please review them! Many people tell me they’ve loved my work and I just don’t see this love reflected on Amazon or Goodreads. Please do me the honour of just writing a line or two of review. It makes all the difference. It’s easy to read a book and leave it there, I am also guilty of this, but I try to review whenever I get chance. It not only helps other readers make a decision about their purchase but also drives more clicks to our pages and therefore hopefully more sales and hopefully more happy readers! Please review today and make everyone happy! Thank you!

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Sarah On Amazon

Sarah On Goodreads

Posted on by sarahmichellelynch · 2 Comments

#New #Release – The Second Book in the Sub Rosa Trilogy

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I’ll stab you in the heart.
I’m coming for you.
No secret dies.
But you will.

In the concluding part of Chloe and Cai’s tale of frantic, tempestuous, meaningful love…

When news breaks that enigmatic magazine editor Jennifer Matthews is dead, it irks Chloe that Cai refuses to shed even one tear. What she doesn’t know is that he was expecting it, perhaps even, hoping for it.

In this dark, romantic tale of revenge, Cai explodes the deepest, most destructive aspects of his past as he comes to terms with the tragedy at the heart of Jennifer’s downfall. With Chloe’s love and support, he must brave his demons and dodge death to finally end a bitter feud between two damaged families.

**This book is not intended to stand alone and is the second in a three-part series, concluding in UNLEASH – Kayla Tate’s story.**

unfurl collageEXCERPT:

“Tell me, when was it the hottest for you? Just now… or some other time?” she asked giggling, running her hands across my chest, nibbling my ear at my side.

“Hmm,” I murmured, stroking her butt, “it’s always hot.”

“No, I wanna know when… when was it the hottest for you, you can be honest.”

I licked the sweat from her neck and thought carefully. “Two times. I’m not sure which wins the contest, we might have to re-run.”

She cackled, her hand squeezing my butt beneath my slack jeans.

“Those two times, then?”

“The first time we ever did it,” I admitted, though that was a one-off I’d always told myself, “maybe, the time you tied me up, licked me all over, sucked my ass and rode me backwards cowgirl.”

She groaned. “Good times. Wanna know my favourites?”

I nodded against her shoulder. “Of course.”

“Well, Barbados… the first night of our honeymoon. I bathed in front of the ocean in that roll-top bath on the terrace, remember?”

“How could I forget?” I chuckled. “I thought someone would see.”

“You wrapped me in a towel afterwards and carried me to bed. You were angry the hotel forgot we didn’t ask for roses, but you lowered me to the roses on the bed anyway. You kissed every inch of me and I remember feeling so full, so womanly, as you worshipped my pregnant body.”

I ran my hands over her breasts and her flat stomach. “I love it when you’re so full and blooming. I love seeing you come alive.”

Her smile was carefree and she was so giggly. “I loved that night, it was the first time I couldn’t control my orgasms, the first time I felt like I really had no control of my body or my love for you. It scared me… but it was wonderful.”

I stared down into her eyes, our noses touching, knowing I would never feel so close to another human being for as long as I lived. “And the other time memorable for you?”

She smiled and held my cheek, one eyebrow cocked dramatically. “The night I tied you up.”

“Ding, ding, ding. I think we have a winner.” I growled in her ear, and asked, “I think it stands out because we haven’t done it since, yeah?”

“Yeah… I didn’t know whether you’d wanna do it again,” she said clawing her hands through my hair.

I laughed, it was ironic! “I was worried you did it that one time to humour me, that you didn’t initiate it again because you didn’t really like it. I thought ’cause that fuck Klaus made you spank him and you didn’t enjoy it, I thought you didn’t really go for that sort of stuff!”

She rolled on top and tickled my armpits. “To be honest, I think I knew even back then his intentions weren’t honourable. I think a woman knows these things, Cai, even if sometimes she doesn’t want to admit it.”

“Feminine intuition?” I cocked a brow.

“Something like that,” she admitted, “he was nice, but somehow I dunno, not right.”

I grabbed her ass and kneaded it. “Men are simple in some ways, complex in others. Sometimes a man’s desires can make him feel a little out of control. Like, he can’t concentrate on a thing else. I know my libido sometimes takes precedent… and I’d hump you every chance I got if we didn’t have company, if we didn’t have kids. I suppose when a woman’s in charge and she lets you know it’s okay to be nasty, it’s such a turn on. When she tells you that you’re filthy and bad, dirty and disgusting, but you see it in her eyes that she enjoys that… fuck, just that is making me hard thinking about it. Just you, wearing something racy… something black and tight, a paddle in your hand or something… wanting to strike me. I could probably come on the spot, Chloe. It’s not in me to want to mark you, but I’d love it if you did that to me! Don’t ask me why, but fuck, I just think about it… I think I know why my mother did it to so many men. I think it gave her some outlet when she didn’t want sex, you know?”

She bit my chest, rolling a nipple under her thumb, my arousal steadily climbing. “I want to dominate you again. It’s one of the nights amongst the many amazing nights we’ve had that I’ve thought about a lot since.”

“God, me too. Me too, Chloe. Shall we go online now and order a ton of shit?”

She shook her head, her voice low and warning. “You div. I’m in charge. You’ll do as I say… you’ll do it when I say, how I say, you’ll do as you’re told, and you’ll come on demand for Mistress Chloe.”

eBook purchase: http://mybook.to/unfurl

paperback purchase: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Unfurl-Volume-2-Sub-Rosa/dp/1508778248/

Click cover to buy Book One in the series:

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Posted on by sarahmichellelynch

UNFURL – PROLOGUE

COMING SOON!!

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EVERYDAY I WOKE, and I was nothing. I went to sleep, and I was less. When I opened my eyes to the world on my 21st birthday, it wasn’t a day to celebrate. It was the same as any other.

I lifted my head to look at the blinding, ignorant world outside the window and felt an instant need to spew. I ran from my bed to the toilet and evacuated my guts into the bowl.

Everyday, the same.

I swallowed hard and panted as I rested back against the cold tile. I couldn’t keep doing this to my body, I knew it. Breaking myself down just so I could build myself back up, fuelling the demons just so I could kill them again in the ring.

The cycle, perpetual.

I stood and walked back out into the apartment she bought for me. At the window, I looked down on Brooklyn and Manhattan beyond that… and I felt, nothing.

Nothing.

On my skin and in my hair I detected more than one female aroma, though the memory of all that was a blurred recollection. I pressed my hand to the glass window and held myself up, the urge to vomit still there.

In my stomach I felt empty and in my heart, there was less than an ounce of anything. My vision was skewed by rainbows of light that weren’t on the spectrum and I didn’t recognise the reflection that stared back at me in the tinted window.

The night before, a Friday, I’d partied hard. Nothing unusual.

I didn’t vomit because of the drink, but because I indulged on everything to excess.

Everything.

Everything that was bad. Everything I didn’t want, but had to have anyway.

I threw my sack of shit body into the shower and burned the entrails away, from my skin at least. From my exterior, just not the inside.

Inside, decay and desolation remained.

I walked out for some breakfast—some orange juice and oatmeal—and picked up my mail as I walked back into the building.

Back in my apartment upstairs, I noticed a parcel amongst the junk—and was surprised to find it contained a number of legal documents. I had only moved in a couple days ago but Jennifer’s people had seen to all the admin on the apartment, so what this was I didn’t know. I feared the contents, unsure what was going on. I didn’t know about this kind of stuff. Since moving to New York I’d never had to worry about anything monetary because Jennifer had always taken care of that for me.

I scanned through and noticed the lawyers on the letterhead weren’t the people Jennifer used. I deduced I had become the owner of some other property and was convinced there had been some error. I called them and said, “You sent me all this stuff but I think there’s been a mistake…”

There hadn’t.

This, was genuine?

I signed a couple of things and personally returned the papers to the lawyers’ office on Third Avenue, first thing Monday.

I asked ‘Turner, Ace and Patrick LLP’ who’d done this for me? They wouldn’t say; they couldn’t disclose a benefactor who’d asked to remain anonymous. All that they’d say was that he had an unusual look.

In exchange I got handed the keys to a potential enterprise that was all mine and though I was suspicious, I went to inspect it anyway.

I walked around the empty space and envisaged how the building had been used before. There were too many tall windows to count and some of those industrial tube lights in the ceiling. It was clearly meant to be used as gallery space but needed work. Doors hung off hinges, damp lurked in places, the floors were a mess and the brick needed repairing—in fact it needed knocking down and starting from scratch! The place didn’t just pose an aesthetic challenge, but a structural one too.

With plenty of wall space available, I should’ve just bought a couple cans of spray paint and made it my own, called it art—had the hoards come through and pay to see the inside of my shattered mind.

I frequently dreamed of bleak landscapes… burning effigies. Bloodied and battered faces and piles of rotting corpses. If I unleashed my mind, who knew what I might create? No doubt something akin to the inside of her mind, something controversial enough to warrant a craze.

No, no! I had to switch that impulse off. It would be a place to sell photographs, not a canvas for the paintings that refused to erase themselves from my burnt vision.

It would cost a bomb just to keep the building standing, so I needed to find work—and fast. As I absorbed my surroundings, she texted and asked if I liked the apartment, my birthday present from her. I thought about my reply for a long time before I finally replied: It suffices.

I thought my response cold, to the point, unquestionable. Succinct. Nothing for her to chew through and spit out.

Moving out of her place on Fifth Avenue had been a long time coming. I never brought women home—I kept all that at the clubs. However, she brought her lovers home with her; men, women, multiple partners. It caused too many arguments between us.

So this gift—the gallery—definitely wasn’t from her. She only ever gave to receive and never without motive. She wouldn’t hand over a gallery in secret, it wasn’t her style. She was all about the showy gestures, all about the control.

This gallery wasn’t her idea. Whose, though? I couldn’t be sure.

As I wandered my own floors and checked out my new patch, I saw a chance. Possibility. Somebody out there wanted me to succeed. Who? I didn’t know! Yet someone could see in me some sort of potential. I had to believe that.

During the days that followed I returned to the gallery again and again, drawing up plans of what I would do with the place if I had money. I didn’t tell Jennifer I was in possession of a gallery but she found out anyway. She knew everything. She had spies, everywhere. She scoffed, of course, warned she would decimate any attempt of mine to make good on such a venture. I didn’t let her snide comments get to me because I had a gallery and that meant someone, somewhere, thought well of me. From then on, I would be better. I would.

I poured my liquor supply down the sink, this simple act already distancing me from who I didn’t want to be. I flushed my pill packets, too. It was time. I didn’t like that stuff and now I had something to work toward, I couldn’t be doing that shit anymore.

What more could she do to hurt me, anyway? There was no mortgage to sabotage, no reputation to ruin. My gallery, like my work, was the pits. Yet it had room for growth and she couldn’t touch that, even though she hated it.

I just didn’t know what lay in store for me.

If only I knew then, what I know now…

**********************************

Read the first book in the series for 99 cents or 99 pence. Unfurl will be available, very, very soon!!

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Posted on by sarahmichellelynch

CONFIRMATION OF THE SUB ROSA SERIES

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BOOK ONE

We should chase away from what we’re scared of, right? Run as fast as we can. Yet some of us seem to veer toward chaos and destruction…

Chloe sees anguish and despair lurking beneath the surface of Cai Matthews, the dark and dangerously handsome freelance photographer she meets on her first day in a new job. She can’t see straight in his presence—blinded by a blistering sexual attraction that has the potential to sweep her clean off her feet.

When Cai disappears from the workplace and doesn’t come back, Chloe tries to find out more about his life but all she knows is he’s set to inherit a ton of money and his aunt runs one of the most famous fashion magazines in the world.

Cai is running from a complicated past he doesn’t like talking about. Gossip columns rage with speculation concerning him and his aunt, who took guardianship of Cai after his parents died.

Conscientious journalist Chloe has a mind for details and once she gains access to his world, Cai realises she could undo every, single dirty little secret that he and his aunt have tried desperately to cover up.

CLICK COVER TO BUY IN PAPERBACK OR EBOOK

 

 

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BOOK TWO

I’ll stab you in the heart.

I’m coming for you.

No secret dies.

But you will.

When news breaks that enigmatic magazine editor Jennifer Matthews is dead, it irks Chloe that Cai refuses to shed even one tear. What she doesn’t know is that he was expecting it, perhaps even, hoping for it.

In this dark, romantic tale of revenge, Cai explodes the deepest, most destructive aspects of his past as he comes to terms with the tragedy at the heart of Jennifer’s downfall. With Chloe’s love and support, he must brave his demons and dodge death to finally end a bitter feud between two damaged families.

***This is the sequel to Unbind and is not intended to stand alone.***

RELEASE DATE: February 26th.

ADD TO GOODREADS

 

 AN UNEXPECTED ADDITION!!

 

wipAround a year ago I began planning this series and toyed with the idea of three books. I was just so unsure. I’ve written series before and you just never know if you’ll have the energy or if you have enough material to sustain that amount of words.

A certain side character always toyed with my heart and this character will be the voice of Book Three, UNLEASH. The plot continues on and the story develops onwards from Unfurl but from an entirely new voice. I am excited to complete this series and almost have the major plot points covered. It now remains for me to make this presentable for other’s eyes!

ANOTHER ★★★★★ REVIEW

I am loving every moment of writing Unleash and if you’re debating whether to get started with the series, check out the latest review of UNBIND, which I am quite frankly thrilled by…

5.0 out of 5 stars Gifted by author in exchange for an honest review. January 22, 2015
By Books and Beyond Fifty Shades
Format:Kindle Edition
Journalist Chloe is leaving her past behind to start a new job in a new city. Everything is going great until she meets Cai Matthews. He is a mysterious photographer who she cannot stop thinking about. She believes that he feels the same way, until he randomly stops coming into work.
Chloe then finds she is not the only one who is trying to forget her past. Cai’s aunt, Jennifer, seems to want to keep Cai and Chloe apart. Can Chloe and Cai forget their past, be together, and live happily ever after? Or will everything come crumbling down?

Wow! Where do I begin? I am a huge fan of love stories with a twist of mystery but this book blew my mind. I have no idea how Sarah Michelle Lynch managed to mix together the perfect amount of love, intimacy, and mystery. There were so many twists in this story, you never saw any of them coming. No spoilers here, but prepare to lose it when a BIG twist comes your way.

You will also fall in love with the characters. I wish I was as cool as Chloe, and as lucky as she was to find a man to fall madly in love. You might also sympathize with Cai; someone who struggles to find who he is. These characters are so relatable, which draws you in even more. The past effects all those in this story, and you get to see how they will move on from the things memories that haunt them. There are 2 stories intertwined: the past and the present, but both could stand on their own. The way the author mixed them together is pure genius.

I honestly could not put this book down, and luckily there is a 2nd book coming sometime this year. I cannot wait to get my hands on it. I strongly suggest you take a chance on this book; you won’t be disappointed!

Posted on by sarahmichellelynch

New year, new book, new stuff…!

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged and that is because I have been so busy editing and getting back up to speed after such a lovely Christmas break!

2015 certainly hasn’t begun without its trials and tribulations! My love of Paris is evident in my work and I thought it was frightening and truly saddening to watch communities being terrorised last week! It was even more scary to think that could happen anywhere and seems to be happening more often. As a former journalist I can’t help having strong opinions on a lot of things and as a Christian, I hold mine and other people’s faiths dearly. Faith in anything good is healthy, I believe, and underpins a strong moral belief system. I could write books shoving my beliefs down your throats but I don’t, I just write stories; fiction. I guess some days I am very thankful I am not a journalist anymore. Goodness knows I am well aware of the world in which we live. My husband is a writer too and tells me, “Don’t watch the news. For every bad story they report, there are ten good ones out there you could be immersing yourself instead.” Need I say more? There are heroes on the streets every day.

So, personally, I got this in my hand this week…

 10854320_535672739869814_996808118508988806_oIt’s my first proof copy of Unbind. Obviously I was really happy to finally hold all those physical words in my hands. And, actually, I got two copies. I gave one to my husband for him to keep and I am using the other one to highlight, scribble and make a mess of before I release the book for real! Yes, I am hopefully going to be making it available for sale on Amazon (in paperback) within the next week or so. I am signing in the UK, in Peterborough on March 14th and all the details can be found through this website, so soon you will be able to get your copy if you’re coming to meet me! Don’t forget A Fine Profession, Angel Avenue and A Fine Pursuit are in paperback already.

 

I’ve been scouring Unbind for the threads I laid for Unfurl to later unravel the mystery of Jennifer Matthews. I’ve received some messages from readers who are desperate to know more and are even a little bit worried about what I might do with Unfurl!! I guess people will just have to read the book! It’s been a challenge meshing the puzzle together but a really healthy one. Perhaps the purpose of Unbind was to show Chloe as just any ordinary girl in love, just desperate to keep her man and keep him happy. Sometimes in the early days, we don’t pursue answers from our lovers because we’re just so enmeshed in those honeymoon throes. So, Unfurl will be a much different beast because it follows the couple as they begin a family and to complicate matters, a DEATH is going to throw up some definite trouble. I hope it will be a most rewarding book for those who have already read Unbind. More on Unfurl soon: the cover and synopsis reveal are on MONDAY!

There is still time to sign up for the cover reveal here.

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Finally, I was most pleased to receive this review of Unbind last week! It made my day! Reviews are amazing and really help authors, so thanks to this lady who I hadn’t asked to review my book but she did anyway! The most valuable reviews in my opinion come from actual readers as opposed to those who’ve agreed to read in exchange for an honest review. It’s my aim to find readers and I will keep trying!

5.0 out of 5 stars Understandable emotions in twisted characters make for a great read. 9 Jan. 2015
By Fieldcene
Format:Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
I found the book a pleasure to read, down to earth and showing understandable emotions in the twisted characters. Surrounded by luxury yet weighed down with sickening memories, Cai and Chloe fall in love. I’m not interested in explicit sex, yet the scenes will appeal to some readers, and are written so well that they hardly offend. I skipped those sections, relying on the plot to entice me forward. Chloe’s unique thoughts drew me into her rise in a career of journalism, featuring fashion descriptions and with various personalities of those around to guide her. Despite self doubts, she does well. Her lover Cai remains a mystery although he hints at events from his sordid childhood. Worried for Chloe, I followed the fantastic plot, which kept my attention with twists and turns to the very end. With it’s faultless writing, I can do no better than give this book five stars.
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Posted on by sarahmichellelynch

Freebies, sales and news….

Freebies for your kindles, download now…

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Centuries ago Fabien was thrown from his coven for betraying the queen who had claimed him as hers. Leticia chose him for his sexual prowess and never expected he would fall in love with a pathetic human, something she couldn’t forgive. Cursed to live alone, Fabien harbours a small hope he will one day encounter the reincarnation of his one true love.

One cold Christmas Eve Fabien bites a man who he believes could lead him to the one woman who might break the curse he’s been forced to bear for far too long.

The ancient vampire sets out to woo her in the only way he knows how but unfortunately for Fabien, love proves to be his constant undoing . . .

***

angel avenueAn unconventional, standalone contemporary romance…

Jules waits on a street corner every Saturday hoping something or someone will take the pain away. Nothing ever does.

She once loved the area she inhabits but a heartbreaking event marred its former meaning. She fell out of love and decided to focus on her career as an English teacher.

What she does not realise is that Warrick has been watching her and wants to know why she is always there, stood on that corner. She convinces herself it is the social worker in him that thinks he can save her from the loneliness and despair so evident about her person. Little does she know just what kind of life he has led.

When true love blossoms, neither of them appreciate just how their union is not only going to change their lives, but also shake up a problem at the very heart of their community.

SALES… 99 cents/77 pence erotic reads…

cropped-9f4c8-afineprofessionwebsiteuse.jpgCharlotte “Lottie” Taylor survived childhood cancer and then spent years feeling at odds with who she was and where her life was heading. A chambermaid at a run-of-the-mill hotel chain, she found escape in her imagination and eventually discovered expression in a sideline dominating men.

She spent nights disciplining her “initiates” and delivering a service their wives often ordered on their behalf. What she didn’t expect was to fall in love when a chance encounter put her in the arms of Noah Yeardley, a man with a history as interesting as her own. The only man to ever dominate Lottie, together they explored their fantasies. Yet the fantasy broke down and Lottie was forced to revisit past issues.

Charlotte’s erotic tale is one of sexual awakening and self fulfilment—a human story of making mistakes, learning to love yourself and finding true love with another.

**FEATURING BONUS MATERIAL**

The story continues in A Fine Pursuit, a continuation of the story from Noah’s POV.

***

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????We should chase away from what we’re scared of, right? Run as fast as we can. Yet some of us seem to veer toward chaos and destruction…

Chloe sees anguish and despair lurking beneath the surface of Cai Matthews, the dark and dangerously handsome freelance photographer she meets on her first day in a new job. She can’t see straight in his presence—blinded by a blistering sexual attraction that has the potential to sweep her clean off her feet.

When Cai disappears from the workplace and doesn’t come back, Chloe tries to find out more about his life but all she knows is he’s set to inherit a ton of money and his aunt runs one of the most famous fashion magazines in the world.

Cai is running from a complicated past he doesn’t like talking about. Gossip columns rage with speculation concerning him and his aunt, who took guardianship of Cai after his parents died.

Conscientious journalist Chloe has a mind for details and once she gains access to his world, Cai realises she could undo every, single dirty little secret that he and his aunt have tried desperately to cover up.

News

Happy Christmas greetings! Please have a look through my sales and freebies list! They won’t last long. Fabien is free through Christmas Day and Angel Avenue is only free until the end of tomorrow! A Fine Profession and Unbind will be on sale for the rest of the year!

I have a cover for the next book in the SUB ROSA series, UNFURL, and I also have one for the next instalment of Fabien! I have so much to reveal, but all in good time – the new year is when I’ll have time to tell you more about my next projects!

All that’s left for me to say is thank you for reading, it’s been a strange and reflective year, and I currently seem to have caught the “can’t stop writing bug” so I’m working on the last and third book in the SUB ROSA series before I go back and edit UNFURL.

Best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2015!

Posted on by sarahmichellelynch

Reaching 100,000 Words and Knowing…

…you now have another novel. That recently happened for me. It’s a point where you feel achievement, also a point where you know there’s much more work to do!

Often the story of creation is a story in itself, one you feel loathe to tell, but might be just as important as the work you’re creating.

A lot of my books centre on psychology and it’s something I have always been fascinated by. The human mind and its strengths, weaknesses and possibilities are why we write after all. I’ve found with my recent books, 100K is around about the stage I find myself with a first draft. In the first draft I’ve told myself the story, and now instead of telling it, I need to build upon what I’ve already established and embellish the events that make sense of the mystery. It is time to slow it down and explode the smells, sights, feelings, thoughts and dialogue… et al. So in other words, I need to ensure the reader can see exactly what I see.

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????When I was writing UNBIND, the prequel to the novel I’m currently writing, I didn’t want to put a label on the complex psychology of one person in that novel. I still don’t. We all know mental illness is a complex thing, a grey area, and I consciously created a character you can’t put into one box or another. Going forward into the sequel, I had a job on my hands to keep away from that box and still not put this particular person into one category or another.

So when you’ve written about difficult topics in the past (i.e. issues of the mind), you feel like you have to find different ways of exploring those avenues…

I probably would have made myself ill in trying to keep UNBIND at just the one book. I know that sounds freaking crazy!! There was too much story and what I took out of UNBIND, I did purposely, so I could write a whole other story in UNFURL. No way is the sequel a retelling of the first book or a rehash. It’s not the same book, it’s got its own plot, yet some bits elevate and expand upon UNBIND. As an author, it is the hardest thing to know your characters and to try to write their stories without ruining the suspense.

UNFURL came to me so thick and fast and when I read it through last week, I felt the arrangement set into place inside my mind and I knew after that… I knew what I had left to do.

Yet still, the mysterious character I’ve alluded to in this blog is more than just a victim. She’s so much more. She’s an enigma, a mystery that will never be solved. She’s an artist and what I hope I am doing with UNFURL is showing how and why we use art. Why, even, we need art, and what it evokes in our souls.

Cai, our hero, is a dual artist – a photographer and a painter. He has the same gifts his mother mastered – and more. The purpose of Cai’s point of view in UNFURL is to explore that struggle we share, as artists, during the process of creation. A pain that is necessary to produce something that actually speaks to other people.

Instead of focusing on the label, then, I tried to focus on the confusion and mindset of a person who refuses to be misunderstood or even, understood. There isn’t even a middle ground. There is an unrealistic place where things make sense and another place, a worldly place, where nothing makes sense. Basically, there’s an artist who had her talent ripped from her… and her ability to create was tainted. Imagine if you’re born to create, and you just can’t. The reasons are hard to bear, but must be.

I wrote about life as art in another blog and I’m trying to follow through on that with UNFURL, a book that doesn’t play by the rules but when knotted to UNBIND, side by side, makes sense and yet, whether an injustice can be ever be truly resolved, we may never know…

As a writer, you know, anything can happen during the editing process. It’s a miraculous, thing, editing. Maybe like Rorschach in Watchmen, whose mood changes constantly, whose mask expresses him better than his own face, a writer can keep trying to paint the truth but only the reader can give the book its truth. So like an artist trying to paint a picture, I’m trying to use the tools (words) at my fingertips to explain what creation feels like, to explain why creatives need creation and what could happen if someone born to create had that ability tragically stolen from them.

Perhaps that’s why a novel is a novel and why sometimes, you can write all those words, only for one truth to come out of all of it.

It’s a work in progress… for sure!

(Hopefully this was an annoyingly spoiler-free preview)!

Posted on by sarahmichellelynch · 2 Comments

#NaNoWriMo – THE VERDICT!

I’ve been writing fiction for three years now and this is the first time I attempted November Writing Month. I admit I have been doing this unofficially because I have a couple of projects on the go and it was a test to myself to see what I could do when really pushed. Could I write 50,000 words in one month? That was the test.

Well, I have written at least 60,000 words this month… I’ll explain…

I am currently quite deep into my ninth novel, Unfurl, which is the sequel to Unbind. Unfurl had its claws in me before November 1st dawned so my first aim with November Writing Month was to see how many words I could add to the novel in one month. Well, I added around 39,000 words to that book.

At around 39,000 words I knew in myself I was burnt out. I knew I had reached a certain barrier and there was no going beyond that. Unfurl is a planned 120,000-word novel and yet when I reached 89,000 words… I knew that was it for me, for the time being. I am a writer who listens to my gut and my gut was telling me that if I continued on, I would be writing a load of air. The thing is, the novel in question is a slap-bang-wallop thriller and when you’re writing this kind of book, it is mind taxing on every page. Every sentence. The only other book I’ve written that was like this i.e. slap-bang-wallop… was Beneath the Veil, now The Radical. Unfurl will be the type of book where you simply cannot put it down… you simply have to know what evil lurks beneath the pages. It is an evil I was reluctant to explore in the first book, Unbind, but I have someone to do justice and their will is bidding me to tell their story.

So I gave up at 39,000 words and moved onto something else. I wrote a little vampirism (an Xmas novella) and because that was already pre-planned in my head and a lot less complex than Unfurl, it was easy to churn out and actually a great relief after the aforementioned block of stuff I had given to Unfurl. 60K words to two separate projects was being kinder to myself than forcing 50K words into a novel I knew I needed a break from. As a seasoned writer, you know your own strengths and limitations and gradually, you work out what works for you and what doesn’t. Be kind to yourself, sometimes, something just isn’t meant to be.

Writing, writing, writing… with just a wing and a prayer… is not a bad method. Sometimes writing freefall as I sometimes term it, or by the seat of your pants, can help spring an idea you never would have thought of. Writing with no onus other than to get the words out has its benefits, but also its drawbacks too. I know from those 39K I added to Unfurl, I will be scrapping around 10-15K or re-writing a hefty chunk of it. I have now had a period of reflection; I’ve given the editing side of my brain enough chance to absorb and consider – reflection is invaluable when creating a novel. If you have a period of reflection during which no regrets and no doubts emerge, then you know that work is done. If however you realise it all adds up but not as perfectly as you would like, you know you have more work to do.

I suppose what I am surmising here is that NaNoWriMo is good but only for experimentation purposes. Even a seasoned writer such as myself was tested to meet that 1,600+ words a day quota required to complete the task. Though what I often ended up doing was writing 500 words most days and on good days, when an idea was straining to get out, I might have written a healthy or indulgent 8,000. I am a mood writer, like some people are mood readers, and sometimes I have to wait all day to be able to get my precious writing time in. After working and looking after my husband and daughter, the idea has to be good for me to want to write, otherwise I am too tired to struggle with something that I am not quite feeling.

Word count is irrelevant, however. I firmly believe that. A story will be told in how ever few or many words it needs to be told in. I advise writers who take part in NaNoWriMo to step into the experience with the knowledge that what they write in one month is very likely to need plenty of work afterwards. You might even *shock horror* just want to put it in the bin. Yet the experience might have been worth it for exactly that – the experience. I also advise that if you don’t finish NaNoWriMo, it isn’t because you’re not good enough to be a novelist, it’s just that the story you were writing at the time wasn’t meant to be written so quickly or in so many words, or so few in my case. As I said, Unfurl will be around 120K when complete. If not a little less, maybe a little more! It will have as many words as it needs. I have said things in the past that my future self has disproved, so you know…

I can honestly say, I found the NaNoWriMo experience helpful but I won’t pressure myself to take part in this again. Especially when half the battle of being a writer is connecting to your readers and having enough time away from the laptop to actually generate the content and ideas that make your novel what it is… i.e. an enjoyable reading experience which doesn’t give away the fact that the writer rushed, struggled or compromised themselves during. Readers can tell, they can always tell.

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Posted on by sarahmichellelynch

UNBIND CHAPTER 40 ‒ INSIGHT INTO CAI’S MIND

Guys and gals,

I am currently writing UNFURL, the sequel to UNBIND. #NaNoWriMo has so far helped me add 30,000 words to this WIP.

The following extract does NOT appear in UNBIND, neither will it appear in UNFURL. This is extra material, for those of you wondering about the content of UNFURL…

UNFURL is a dual POV novel that will take Chloe and Cai right up until present day. The tagline is “NO SECRET DIES”.

UNFURL will answer a ton of questions but also take Cai and Chloe’s relationship to another level… so here is a tiny, little *unedited* insight into the mind of CAI MATTHEWS…

***

I felt torn between maintaining composure and doing what she was trying to do earlier—rip the punch bag from the ceiling and then kick the stuffing from it until there was nothing left.

I wanted to smash something. Hard. Chloe didn’t know but I was an undefeated champion on the underground boxing circuit in New York. She didn’t know that all the stuff she was telling me—she used to compete and then gave up—made her more like me than even I could have guessed. I was stock still on my gallery floor just because I was terrified if I moved, I’d start punching and I wouldn’t be able to stop.

She’d just told me the horrific circumstances surrounding that scar on her head. Worse—she’d told me about the one man in the world who was meant to protect her no matter what—and he hadn’t.

“I have this memory,” she said pointing to her skull. “I can remember all the names and faces of people I’ve ever met. I remember when I fell from a rope swing into a stream when I was little, I was wearing some cheap high-top trainers I loved. They were ruined by the mud. I remember what top I wore to a school disco when I was 13, a thing I spent hours picking out. I remember the day Kay got her first tattoo,” she smiled such a sad smile it made me swell with love for her, “I remember how long she spent making sure the design was right, how faint she looked when the dude doing her ink brought the needle toward her skin. I remember the ringlets in Amanda’s hair and how innocent they were and I remember every, single moment of pure evil he ever wrought on us. You see I can’t forgive, Cai, not when I can’t forget.”

I shut my eyes, the red fury replaced by incensed, overprotective love. “I wish you’d told me all this sooner, tigress. I wish you had.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ve spanked you and hit you. I didn’t know, Chlo.” I finally allowed myself to react and slammed my fist against the floor, the urge to keep hitting something there… but quelled by her resounding presence.

“Yes, you’ve spanked me lots of times and I never said stop because I like it that we’re open enough to do that. It’s not the same, Cai. It’s just not… you’re not spanking me to hurt me, you’re doing it because you’re expressing our bond, our passion… I love it when you spank me. I love you.”

I wanted to rip her father’s insides out, then my own. “Look… the truth is… I don’t like spanking, Chloe. I don’t fucking like it. I just do it because I think you want it.”

I didn’t like it. I didn’t. Yet I wanted it. Wanted it like I wanted to fight. Hated that aspect of myself, couldn’t caution myself enough about the danger of letting myself loose, yet all the ways she made me feel unleashed me. Set me free. Made me who I really was. It was just that, he was a man I didn’t like, wasn’t yet happy to be. I didn’t want to be ME.

“I do want it, but only if you want it too,” she said passionately, like she thought she was saying the right thing. She was saying what she thought I wanted to hear but it wasn’t her fault she didn’t know the whole of me—I’d tried to keep the dark away from her shining light.

I felt manic, shaking my head side to side. “I want to please you, I always said that. I want to give you everything you need.”

“I only want you to make love to me, how ever you need to make love to me. I don’t care how… I love you. I just need you holding me. I don’t care about the rest, Cai! I don’t care!”

She was yelling, trying to make me listen. I was listening. It was just she didn’t know… she needed to know… but she didn’t know about the real me.

The demons danced constantly on both my shoulders.

I had to divert this away from me, so I stood and started pacing the room rapidly. “You’ll fight everyday now, Chlo. I’m not having you hide who you really are anymore. You’ll fight me and I’ll teach you some better tricks than the ones you learned. I’ll teach you and protect you. I don’t care if you hurt me, you can hurt me because I can take it. Chlo, you have to be who you are, do you hear me? You don’t know how much I need that from you? Please… say you’ll fight again, for me? Please baby.”

Her soft, plump body captured mine from behind and pressed against my back to give me shelter. “I’ll do it for you, if you ask it of me.”

I turned and put my hands on her warm cheeks, asking, “Fight for me.”

“I’ll do it.”

She let the demons keep dancing by not asking any more, but I didn’t mind, I’d rather they danced on both my shoulders than touch a patch of hers. “Good. You’ll still keep your figure. I want breasts and my big ass, still.”

“Okay,” she said, and then to quell the conversation, I took her upstairs.

I had something to prove to myself, not just to her. I had to give over control. I could do it. I could be different, I could break the cycle. I removed my clothes and told Chloe, “Tie me up. Do whatever you want to do to me. I need this. Now, do it. Damn it. Tie me up, tigress and use me. I’m yours to use, baby.”

She proceeded to bind me and dominate me. I was hard for the touch and scent of her before she even began kissing my body, inch by inch. I begged for her soft layers to take me home and it was a temporary reprieve from the raging war inside my mind.

The man I wanted to be and the man I was didn’t much like one another.

BUY UNBIND ON AMAZON…

**IMPORTANT NOTE** UNBIND does not have a cliffhanger. It was originally intended to be a standalone. Readers said they wanted more answers, so….

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Posted on by sarahmichellelynch

****NEWS NEWS NEWS****

UNFURLMy Latest Series…. the SUB ROSA books!!!!! Yes it’s a series now!

When I was writing Unbind, I was so conflicted about where I was taking the story. I wanted to write a standalone and in many respects, the novel does work as a standalone. There isn’t a cliffy.

However, there are a lot of aspects of the novel that can be expanded upon. There are deep, dark secrets and nothing in Unbind is ever as it seems.

In my mind, there were always going to be three books in this series and there will be three. I just didn’t know if I had it in me to write more. Cai and Chloe are complex and their FULL story just doesn’t fit into one book.

Unfurl will be an expansion of Unbind and that is all I am prepared to tell you right now.

The third novel will feature the story of a different character. A really, interesting character.

I didn’t want this to be a series but all the time, certain ideas niggled the back of my mind. I wasn’t sure if I had the energy to continue writing these characters’ stories but it appears I do!!!

Add to goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23454305-unfurl