inspiration

Curious about my books? Like drama, suspense, or romance?

The Downey Series consists of The Downey Trilogy (First, I Love You; Second of All; and Third Time’s The Charm) as well as the spin-off romances featuring Dom & Kate (The Bird Day Battalion , The V-Day Aversion, and The Good Life).

The Downey Trilogy novels are contemporary drama/suspense with a romance subplot set in Chicago and Omaha. The Dom & Kate stories are contemporary romance set in the Omaha-Lincoln area of Nebraska. It is not necessary to read The Downey Trilogy to understand the Dom & Kate stories OR vice-versa.

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[Start reading First, I Love You for FREE here on my website: Chapter One]

birddaycover(Free!)  valentinescover (Free!)  TheGoodLifeDigitalCover

KikibannerHow are the books connected?

For starters, both Detective Tommy Gates and his criminal-mastermind father Mickey Downey from The Downey Trilogy are mentioned in The Bird Day Battalion.

Not only that, but Officer Kyle Anderson (who is in all three Dom & Kate books) is briefly mentioned at the end of First, I Love You and shows up again at the end of Second of All. Tommy Gates also makes an appearance in The Good Life.

The Bird Day Battalion  occurs before First, I Love You chronologically, but The V-Day Aversion occurs the same month Tommy heads to Chicago for his human trafficking task force in The Downey Trilogy. The Good Life is set after the end of Third Time’s The Charm

It’s not just Kyle and Tommy that connect the books; Mary Gates’ best friend Claire Underwood from First, I Love You–Agent Jack Underwood’s wife–is an Anderson by birth. Her brother, Tom Anderson, is Kyle and Katelyn Anderson’s father. When Kyle Anderson refers to his Aunt Claire in the Tommy Flashback, she is literally his Aunt, versus the fictive use of the moniker by Tommy. Claire also makes a cameo in the Mickey & Mary Flashback.

You can read MORE about the characters from the Downey series here:

CHARACTER TIDBITS

MICKEY’S FAMILY TREE

You can read the free supplemental Flash-fictions here:

NEW BEGINNINGS (A Tommy Gates and Kyle Anderson Flashback)

This short scene features a young Tommy Gates and Kyle Anderson and is set shortly before the flashback scene in the first chapter of First, I Love You in which Mickey finds Mary & Tommy.

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SPIN THE BOTTLE (A Dominic Valentini and Katelyn Anderson Flashback)

This is a look at the spin the bottle game that Kate references in Bird Day Battalion. Little Tommy Gates makes a brief cameo at the party.

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ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS MY TWO FRONT KNEES (A Dominic Valentini and Katelyn Anderson Flashback)

This is a short holiday scene between Dom and Kate set the Christmas before they get together in Bird Day Battalion. It is very fluffy and G-rated. Published in A World of Joy Anthology.

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HER PRINCE (A Mickey Downey & Mary Gates Flashback)

This scene features a nineteen year old Mary Gates, freshly arrived in New York, talking with her new best friend Claire (Anderson) Underwood about the mysterious new man she started seeing, Michael…something or another.

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CONVERSATIONS AT 30,000 FT (A Maeve Downey & Ginny Sommers Missing Scene)

This is a quick missing moment from Second of All set aboard the flight to Dublin that both Maeve and Ginny are on.

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SPECIAL DELIVERY  (A Kiki Downey & James Hoffman Missing Scene)

A Kiki Downey & James Hoffman missing love scene from First, I Love You set shortly after they “hook up” for the first time as Kiki puts it. Published in A World of Romance Anthology — (Warning! 18+ For Sexual Material!)

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SECOND CHANCES (A Mickey Downey & Mary Gates Flashback)

A flashback to when Mary tells Mickey she is pregnant with Tommy, and Mickey persuades her to be his mistress. — (Warning: 18+ For Language and Brief Sexual Material)

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LETTERS FROM MICKEY DOWNEY (Letters Mickey Downey wrote to his loved ones)

These are the letters referenced in The Downey Trilogy that Mickey wrote to his loved ones over the years. In the books, the reader rarely gets to see the contents of these letters so I have begun sharing them as periodic blog posts. Check back as I add more.

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Fluffy, frisky, angsty!

No, they’re not Snow White’s naughty dwarfs, just missing scenes!

If you’re new here and you’d like a no-commitment taste of my books, or maybe you’re just bored, below are links to the free supplemental scenes from my novels. Some are fluffy, some frisky, well, you get the idea…

(And FYI: In between writing on my super angsty work-in-progress, and real life, I am working on another Downey/Anderson outtake set the Christmas AFTER all the books!)

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NEW BEGINNINGS (A Tommy Gates and Kyle Anderson Flashback)

This short scene features a young Tommy Gates and Kyle Anderson and is set shortly before the flashback scene in the first chapter of First, I Love You in which Mickey finds Mary & Tommy. Rated G.

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SPIN THE BOTTLE (A Dominic Valentini and Katelyn Anderson Flashback)

This is a look at the spin the bottle game that Kate references in Bird Day Battalion. Little Tommy Gates makes a brief cameo at the party. Rated PG.

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THE GOOD LIFE PROLOGUE (A Dominic Valentini and Kyle Anderson Flashback)

This is a wedding jitters scene between Dom and Kyle set before Dom’s wedding to Isabel Alesio, about three years before Dom and Kate get together in Bird Day Battalion. It’s not technically a missing scene, but I’m including it here anyway. Rated PG.

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ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS MY TWO FRONT KNEES (A Dominic Valentini and Katelyn Anderson Flashback)

This is a short holiday scene between Dom and Kate set the Christmas before they get together in Bird Day Battalion. Published in A World of Joy Anthology. Rated G.

~~~~~

HER PRINCE (A Mickey Downey & Mary Gates Flashback)

This scene features a nineteen year old Mary Gates, freshly arrived in New York, talking with her new best friend Claire (Anderson) Underwood about the mysterious new man she started seeing, Michael…something or another. Rated PG.

~~~~~

CONVERSATIONS AT 30,000 FT (A Maeve Downey & Ginny Sommers Missing Scene)

This is a quick missing moment from Second of All set aboard the flight to Dublin that both Maeve and Ginny are on. Rated PG.

~~~~~

SPECIAL DELIVERY  (A Kiki Downey & James Hoffman Missing Scene)

A Kiki Downey & James Hoffman missing love scene from First, I Love You set shortly after they “hook up” for the first time as Kiki puts it. Published in A World of Romance Anthology – Rated R, For Sexual Material.

~~~~~

SECOND CHANCES (A Mickey Downey & Mary Gates Flashback)

A flashback to when Mary tells Mickey she is pregnant with Tommy, and Mickey persuades her to be his mistress. – Rated R, For Language and Sexual Material.

~~~~~

LETTERS FROM MICKEY DOWNEY (Letters Mickey Downey wrote to his loved ones)

These are the letters referenced in The Downey Trilogy that Mickey wrote to his loved ones over the years. In the books, the reader rarely gets to see the contents of these letters so I have begun sharing them as periodic blog posts. Check back as I add more. Rated PG-13.

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Be done with it and just do the work.

Saw this the other day on Pinterest and it’s stuck with me. I don’t know about you, but I often have trouble letting the day “go”, and certainly while writing, I am thinking of all the other “places” in the story I need to be, or get to, or polish.

But you’ve GOT to just let it go, and begin each day with fresh enthusiasm.

bedonewithit

#ASMSG #BYNR Just a reminder for my fellow authors, poets, artists…

Here’s some advice I frequently forget to take myself:

On those days where it seems like you’re that person on the sidewalk playing your guitar to an audience of none and you ask yourself, “Why am I doing this? Who is even appreciating this?”; on those days, don’t forget the person stuck working a shift inside the building you’re sitting next to who appreciates the music but may never get a chance to say a thing.

Play/write/create for you.

You never know who’s inspired by you… just being you.

 

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A friendly reminder for my friends doing NaNoWriMo…

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Haha! Nothing like a dose of Jason Statham  to get you motivated, huh?

I’m busy writing on The Good Life, the Dom & Kate novel (which is actually just as much a Kyle Anderson novel).

By the way, not to sound too needy or anything, but feel free to rate/review Third Time’s The Charm wherever you bought it or at Goodreads! I adore all the tweets and inboxes I’m getting, but why not share those thoughts with others?

Don’t be shy, I appreciate you more than you can possibly know! 🙂

Write ON! REBLOG of “You’re Not a Writer” by Lissa Bryan

From Lissa Bryan:

“You’re Not a Real Writer”–RUBBISH!

“…In the end, it seems to boil down to a few critics and authors who want to keep up these crumbling walls of distinction as a way of differentiating a select few from the hoi polloi, like a society matron appalled at the influx of “new money.” But their insecurity does not constitute a valid definition.

There are real writers everywhere.

Click to read more. It’s a fantastic blog post! (I’d just Reblog it, but alas, Blogger and WordPress do not play well with each other so I have to manually do it.)
And speaking of things that are full of Truthy-truthiness:

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There isn’t a day that goes by that Ireland Calling doesn’t have the right cheer me up, which sometimes comes in the form of “rub some dirt in it” as my maternal Grandfather would say and he was full of salty Irish wisdom. Haha!

You can go to their website www.irelandcalling.ie by clicking on the meme or follow them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/IrelandCalling and Celtic Quotes www.facebook.com/pages/Celtic-Quotes/ !!!

Good advice.

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In fact, I think that will be an opening quote for Third Time’s The Charm.

;P

HOLY COW! Downey Trilogy fans are the best fans EVER! #ASMSG |

Guess what?! As some of you know I am in the middle of working on getting First, I Love You (Downey #1) a facelift in the form of a super sexy new cover after which I am hoping to go on a promoting frenzy. That, and I’ve been trying to write on Third Time’s The Charm (Downey #3). Anyway, this makes for occasionally stressed, slightly frazzled Gen. So today, when I got this in my inbox from someone who recently read First, I Love You, I swear it was like ambrosia for the soul! Holy cow, I adore the fact this scene meant enough to her that she took the time to make something! Some of you may know I have been inclined to make my own fan art for stories that have captured my imagination, so to think someone else did that for something *I* wrote is… is….. Hell, I’m speechless with gratitude.

 

So tell me, how awesome is this?

 

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THANK YOU, Rosette!

The journey’s half the fun!

So let’s go together!
Sometimes we get this sense of urgency;
write, promote, sell, edit, teach, create, train, motivate, do, do, DO!
There is a great compliment in knowing
people are waiting on your next piece of work,
but, don’t forget to take a deep breath,
look around,
smile at your companions,
and enjoy the journey!

That’s a lovely thought… #ASMSG

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(reblog)