Bitterroot: Part 1 is available now!

There is nothing quite like a new release--I get so excited and nervous and silly every single time. This one is no different. Except that it is.... Werewolves AND vampires!??! 

If you know me or have read any interviews I've given on the subject, then you know that vampires have always scared me. I've been too afraid to write them and get them wrong somehow. So, I've refrained. and finally--I've done it. Owen is delicious and moody and slippery and mysterious--and deadly. I hope you like him!!! I want to hear from you guys! Please let me know your thoughts after reading! Then again, being a werewolf girl myself, Carter holds a special place in my heart too. Who is your favorite?? I can't wait to hear!

BITTERROOT Part 1

by Heather Hildenbrand & SM Reine

Seventeen year-old Regan Vuk has lived her whole life under the shadow of her future: the pack alpha. She is fast, smart, and determined. According to her own pack members, she is a shoo-in. But Regan’s dad has a secret.

Seventeen year-old Charlie spent her adolescence drifting from place to place with a mother desperate to hide her illegitimate daughter from the unforgiving reality of werewolf pack dynamics. All Charlie has ever wanted is to know her father--and the family that's been kept from her all these years. But most of all, she wants a place to belong in the world. Where she doesn’t have to pretend she can’t sprout fur and paws at will. Being kidnapped on her way home from prom was not she Charlie had in mind.

When Charlie finds out the only way to fit in with her new family is to defeat her long-lost sister for the role of alpha, she refuses. That is until she learns that the strange and alluring vampire she's befriended, Owen, is the same vampire prince that's been promised the winner.

Regan has no doubt that, although she loathes the vampires, it will be her who "wins" Owen.

Only problem: Charlie's already fallen for him.

Bitterroot is a Young Adult Paranormal with a dose of sibling rivalry... Who will you root for?

Just .99 for a limited time! 
Get it for: Kindle / Nook / iBooks

Contest! Help spread the word about Bitterroot!

Share the following message on Twitter, FB, or IG OR follow me on any of these platforms and get entered to win a signed swag pack including a paperback of Seasons of the Moon by SM Reine & Dirty Blood by ME! Contest ends 9/26!*

2 sisters. 1 vampires prince. Can family survive forbidden love? #Bitterroot for .99. http://bit.ly/Bitterroot1

*Contest not affiliated with FB, IG, Twitter, or any other outside entity. Must be 13 years or older. Void where prohibited.

Happy reading!

(slightly more than) Seven 11 Blog Hop & a giveaway

It's time for another Seven 11 Blog hop. Which means you get a random seven lines from my current draft!... Only, this month, it seems I forgot how to count :) I'm giving you the first SNEAK PEEK of a new project I'm working on with SM Reine due out this Fall. It's called Bitterroot. A YA paranormal with (drum roll...) werewolves vs. vampires!

Read on and then click the links at the end for a sweet giveaway and more authors who have posted teasers. And if you want more info on Bitterroot (teasers, release date, cover reveal, etc) make sure you get signed up for my Love Birds newsletter and be the first to know!

I bounded down the steps and darted in among the parked cars, heading straight for the treeline at the edge of the blacktop. I glanced around as I ran, making sure no one witnessed my strange exit--you never knew who’d stepped out the back door to sneak a cigarette--but it looked like the coast was clear.

I sniffed. Yep. I was alone.

My body relaxed when I stepped off the pavement and onto the soft ground of the woods. A collective exhale.

The change was fast and easy these days, but it wasn’t always that way. It was kind of embarrassing as a kid. Lots of torn clothes and nudity. But there was a trick to it, and my mom and I had practiced enough that everything went much smoother these days. Now, I knew how to shift at will--and still have my clothes on when I shifted back.

I held my breath and focused on keeping everything together as I shifted into my wolf form. Skin and muscles rippled. The air around me shivered. I fell onto all fours, and it was paws that hit the ground instead of fingers.

Starting out with an easy run, I increased my speed until the depressions of my prints were so slight, they barely left a mark. I’d been denying myself this all week. It was too difficult to give in often here, among so many humans. But tonight, with the rain to mask my scent, and all of the nocturnal creatures hiding from the deluge, I could run. I gave in to my stolen minutes of guilty freedom and let everything fall away but my wolf.

The run home was entirely too short, but at least I made curfew. I shifted at the edge of the woods, bracing against the chill of the night air on my bare skin as my fur fell away. My dress remained intact, though a little muddy around the hem (which would annoy my mom to no end). The shoes weren’t so lucky. I must have left them behind.

“Stupid heels,” I muttered. For whatever reason, they were so much harder to hang on to than sneakers.

I stomped toward the house, bare feet sucking in and out of the mud. Halfway up the back steps, voices drifted over. I halted mid-step and looked around for the source.

“I’m telling you, I just scented someone, and it wasn’t Anita. I think she’s almost here,” said a voice. The speaker sounded young, close to my age maybe.

“Must be on foot, then,” said another. This one was deeply male. Older.

Their conversation caught my attention. They smelled me? A human couldn’t have…

No way. It couldn’t be.

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

I was kind of uncertain about posting this or putting it out. Some people say paranormal romance is dead right now. I think they're crazy. In the comments, let me know what you think! 

When you're finished, click the links below to read more great teasers from some authors I love....

Bethany Lopez

Felicia Tatum

Justine Winter

SC Ellington

Kayla Smith

From now until June 17, I'm giving away one of my favorite planners: The Passion Planner! The best way to keep focused and balanced as it prompts you to remember things like self-care and introspection along with your daily life and work.

To get entered, share about the Connective Collective, a monthly conference call for authors, and use the rafflecopter to record your entry.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Breaking Radio Silence

I'm such a slacker.

I just looked at the date of my last blog post and it's been a ridiculous amount of time. So much so that I now have people/readers/bloggers emailing me asking if I'm okay or still here or whatever. Sorry, guys. I'm fine, just slacking.

To be fair, I think I had some slacking time coming, though. I've already published two books this year and three last year and before the indie movement of publishing books faster than we change our underwear that would've been a lot. Either way, I've been holing up in my blood-red-walled dining room and concocting sentences out of everyday words and putting them to digital paper at a much slower rate than usual. Also, there's Real Life, which has been chaotic and unpredictable and spinning me around like Dorothy inside that twister. (And yes, I've officially landed in Oz. I mean, it must be Oz because I don't recognize ANY of the scenery here.) All of that adds up to the fact that I've become a hermit and a stalker even by internet standards, reading FB posts without commenting and dialing back my obsessiveness with Twitter in a way that a 12-stepper would be jealous of. (Side note: Instagram is where you'll probably find me these days.)

The thing is, I miss you guys. And apparently you miss me too--or you're just nosy, if the emails I'm getting daily are any indication. Let's go with you miss me. I like that one better.

Here's my solution: Since half the questions and emails I'm getting revolve around Dirty Blood and the series and "when the hell is the next book coming out anyway?" I propose a Q&A via vlog wherein YOU, the reader, send ME, the author, all your nosy, um, I mean, well-thought-out and concerned questions about WHATEVER YOU WANT and I will answer them and post the video here for your viewing (and listening) pleasure.

And to sweeten the pot--because that's how I roll--I am offering up a signed paperback set of ALL 3 BOOKS: Dirty Blood, Cold Blood, and Blood Bond to one winner and e-book sets of the same titles to TWO more lucky winners.

Check out the new cover for the omnibus currently available on Amazon:

Sweet, right? SM Reine has mad skills...

You can enter for the set via the rafflecopter below. PLEASE be aware that I will pick and choose which questions I answer. If you ask me something dumb, be prepared for a dumb response. I reserve that right as someone who is good with words on paper but not always via vocal cords. You've been warned.

P.S. Contest ends 11/15 (or midnight 11/16 to be exact). I will (hopefully) post the vlog on Fri 11/16 and announce winners then. Yay!


a Rafflecopter giveaway