Authors: Kristine Wyllys

Wild Ones (The Lane)

Wild Ones
By Kristine
Wyllys

Bri Martin likes her skirts too short, her heels too high,
and trouble close at hand. So when big, brooding underground boxer Luke Turner
comes into the bar where she works and starts a fight before she brings his
first drink, she can’t help being intrigued. Luke is everything she never wanted
and everything she can’t resist.

Soon, Luke is showing up everywhere Bri is, and she can’t
break free of his hold on her, nor does she want to. When her best friend turns
on her, it’s Luke who is there. When Luke’s opponent comes after her to send
Luke a message, it’s he who comes to her rescue.

Before Bri knows it, she’s caught in the midst of a rivalry
between her boyfriend and her boss, both of whom are not content to settle their
scores inside the ring. She swore she’d never live this life, so like the one
she once ran from. But only by confronting her past can she decide where her
future lies...and whether Luke can be a part of it.

61,000 words

Dear Reader,

Happy 2014! You know, I love futuristic romance, and I swear it wasn’t that long ago that I was reading books in the genre that used years like 2014 and 2015 to indicate a time that seemed really far out. Of course, I suppose I’ll be saying something similar twenty years from now, when it’s 2035. (And isn’t
that
a weird thought?) As it happens, in the lineup this month we have both a futuristic romance and a hero who travels
from
the future, and both give a unique look into a future that’s actually a little further out.

I love the premise of Libby Drew’s time-travel male/male romance,
Paradox Lost
, in which a time-travel guide who takes clients to “whenever” must travel
back
to 2020 and enlist the aid of a PI to find a missing client. And in PJ Schnyder’s
Fighting Kat
, Kat and Rygard go deep undercover, posing as gladiators. In the interstellar arena, it’s all about who’s the strongest predator…

I mentioned futuristic romance, but how about a trip to the past in Jeannie Ruesch’s historical romantic suspense,
Cloaked in Danger.
Aria Whitney’s life has taken her from the sands of Egypt to the ballrooms of London, but when her father goes missing, can the handsome earl with a dark secret help her find him, or will a dangerous scandal threaten both their lives?

In
Mistress by Magick
, Laura Navarre concludes her fallen angel Magick Trilogy, a riveting historical fantasy romance trilogy set in Tudor times. Also wrapping up a trilogy this month is Fiona Lowe. In
Runaway Groom
, the third book in the Wedding Fever trilogy, can a Harley-riding Aussie guy on the road trip of his life allow an uptight and disgraced lawyer to steal his heart? The first two books,
Saved by the Bride
and
Picture Perfect Wedding
, are now available, as well.

Debut author Anna Richland delivers
First to Burn
, the first book in her Immortal Vikings series with a hero straight from the time of Beowulf. Wulf Wardsen is an elite soldier whose very existence breaks all the rules—and he’s deep in the military zone of Afghanistan with an army doctor determined to do everything by the book. Meanwhile, Cindy Spencer Pape brings back her very popular steampunk romance series, The Gaslight Chronicles, with the latest installment,
Ashes
&
Alchemy.

This January, Heather Long delivers the start of a new series of contemporary romances. If you like your romance a little on the crazy, cracktastic side, this book is sure to please. Cinderella had her fairy godmother and Princess Mia had her grandmother, but Alyx—she gets a software magnate who knows that in his world,
Some Like It Royal.
And speaking of cracktastic, Kelsey Browning has another installment in her steamy Texas Nights series. Roxanne Eberly wants nothing more than to make her lingerie store a success. Enter up-and-coming attorney Jamie Wright, who’s all tangled up in Roxanne’s life...and her lingerie...in
Running the Red Light.
If you want to start from the beginning, pick up
Personal Assets!

Mystery fans will be glad to welcome another installment from Jean Harrington in her Murders by Design series. In
Rooms to Die For
, when interior designer Deva Dunne finds a body hanging from a balcony in the gorgeous Naples Design Mall, she soon learns she’s caught up in a mall drug bust gone viral.

We’re thrilled to offer a large lineup of debut authors this month, in addition to Anna Richland. Joining us with books in the new-adult, erotic romance and contemporary genres are a new group of incredibly talented authors we’re proud to welcome to Carina Press. Elia Winters debuts with erotic romance
Purely Professional.
When a journalist explores the submissive side of her sexuality with her Dominant neighbor, she must confront what these encounters mean for her own sexual identity, her career and her budding relationship.

Three debut authors bring new-adult offerings to Carina Press. Danube Adele proves the new-adult genre is more than just contemporary romance in
Quicksilver Dreams.
One moment Taylor was just a regular girl working two jobs to pay her bills, and the next, she was reading minds, dreamwalking and being saved from bad guys by her sexy neighbor, Ryder Langston. In
Tell Me When
by Stina Lindenblatt, college freshman Amber Scott begrudgingly lets Marcus Reid into her life, but she didn’t expect the king of hookups would share his painful past. And Kristine Wyllys brings us the first of two steamy, dark-edged stories full of action, vivid storytelling and emotional intensity. Don’t miss
Wild Ones.

Our last debut author, Rhonda Shaw, caught me by surprise with her book,
The Changeup.
People who know my sports tastes know I don’t normally go in for baseball. And those who know my reading tastes know I don’t usually go for an older heroine/younger man set-up. But Rhonda’s story hooked me from the start and I’m pleased to be releasing her first book this month. I hope you enjoy this contemporary sports romance as much as I did, and perhaps find a new book boyfriend in sweet and sexy pitching phenom Chase Patton!

I’m not one for making New Year’s resolutions, but I will make one—we’ll continue to strive to bring you a variety of fantastic books from authors who deliver stories that you’ll want to talk about. Thank you for joining us for another year of publishing at Carina Press—we’ll do our absolute best to make it an amazing one!

We love to hear from readers, and you can email us your thoughts, comments and questions to
[email protected]
. You can also interact with Carina Press staff and authors on our blog, Twitter stream and Facebook fan page.

Happy reading!

~Angela James

Editorial Director, Carina Press

www.carinapress.com
www.twitter.com/carinapress
www.facebook.com/carinapress

Dedication

To Mr. Niner.

They say doing what the naysayers said you couldn’t is the sweetest revenge.

They were right.

It’s sweeter than cake.

Acknowledgments

So many people went into the telling of this story, who were there for me from conception to birth, that I don’t know how I could possibly thank them all. To those people: thank you for standing behind me, encouraging me, cheering me on and answering all my frantic emails. Thank you for not being offended if I’ve forgotten to name you personally because, hand to God, you were not forgotten in the scheme of things.

A special thank-you goes out to my twin-girl, colonel, the Tina Fey to my Amy Poehler, Nina, who dropped everything she was doing to tell me to drop everything I was doing and tell Bri and Luke’s story. Girlfriend, you were my first reader and biggest supporter. Thank you for being you and indulging the wild one in me with inappropriate haikus, booze and tree houses. You’re my Plus One, my sweatpants, and I would have never chased this dream had you not been there encouraging me to do so.

Rachel, the rocket ship to my moon shoes, thank you for being my pocket Asian and knitting me the magic gloves and always reading everything I’ve ever written. Everyone should be lucky enough to have a bestie like you. We’ll always have Home Depot.

To my editor, Deb, once upon a time I followed you on Twitter and dreamed of having someone in my corner like you. Thank you. Thank you a million times over. You made this all come true. You believed in my world, you got my Bri, and you never cringed at the newbie writer who lost her train of thought on the phone with kids talking in the background and sent you emails agonizing over details.

To Angela James and the rest of the team over at Carina, I’m on my knees thanking you for this opportunity. The day I got The Call, informing me I got my first choice in publishers, will always be one of my shiniest moments.

To Justine, thank you for always laughing when I referred to this thing as my ten-year project and for using the word
awesome
as much as I do.

Alissa, Bonnie, Cat, Micah, Rachel S and Sarah: ’Sup, girlfriends. Thank you for being the firsts and so bloody supportive. I couldn’t have done this without knowing I had friends like you who were cheering on the sidelines, reading glasses at the ready.

To Mr. Elliott, never Bill, thank you for introducing me to Shakespeare and teachers who care about their students long after they’ve left the classroom. Also, it’s not gratis if you have earned it, and you earned it a long time ago when you believed in a kid who argued that Romeo and Juliet was not a love story.

Aunt Julie, thank you for your “yes, you ares” and proclamations that you would be first in line to get a copy. You’ll never have to fight that line as long as it’s coming from my pantsless corner.

Da, Grandma and Kortny, thank you for always plying the reader in me with books and Kindles and Nerd Apparel and basically everything a geek like me lives and breathes. And to the rest of my huge, wonderful, slightly insane extended family, thank you for sharing your last names with me and cheering on that weird girl who you were forced to claim through blood or marriage.

To my mama, thank you for the years’ worth of pens and paper and pride and faith. You bought me books when you couldn’t afford them and bragged about your writer daughter before I would even call myself that. You read me
Oh
,
the Places You’ll Go!
then pushed me to move my own mountains. You’re my biggest fan, my constant and my home.

To my husband, thank you for letting me disappear into the cave and never expecting dinner and always finding the perfect movies for me. Everything I am is because of you, because I’m yours and you’re mine, and I couldn’t love you more if my life depended on it.

My magical boychildren with lightning eyes and booming thunder laughs and souls made of stardust: I love you. You taught me what dreams really look like and no matter what I accomplish in this life, you two will always be the best things I’ve ever made.

And lastly, to you, the reader, thank you for looking twice and giving these crazy kids a chance. Their story isn’t perfect but it’s theirs, every dirty, broken, grimy piece of it, and I can’t thank you enough for letting me tell it.

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