The Thing About Mistletoe & Mr. Right

You may recall that last year, about this time, I released an ebook with Bloomsbury Spark called Mistletoe & Mr. Right – some of you have even read it! Now, here I am all pumped and excited about…the same book?

Not quite.

This pretty new HARDCOVER version of Mistletoe & Mr. Right does includeJessica and Grady’s story in Fanore Ireland. It also includes Christina and Cary’s story – one that takes place in London and follows two people who fell in love as teenagers try to figure out if they can do it again…or if they ever stopped. That second story is called Sleigh Bells & Second Chances, and it’s part of this beautiful book that you can go and find in real stores in your town.

I’ve published a lot of books, you guys, but I’ve never done this before now–seen my book on a shelf at a national bookstore chain. Never had readers sending me pictures from those same stores in their hometowns.

It’s a special day, and as always, I want to thank you so much for stepping onto this journey with me.

Below are buy links if you want to grab the ebook, or grab a hard copy online. I may be a bit biased, but I think it would make a great holiday gift for all of those romance readers in your lives!

xo
Lyla Payne

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Don’t forget to preorder Not Quite Clear (Lowcountry #5) – out October 27th!

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You Scratch My Back…

I’ll Scratch Yours! That’s how the saying goes, right (and it’s a good saying, because I mean, who doesn’t love a good back rub now and again)?

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If you’re friends with authors, or follow authors on social media, or are (un)fortunate enough to have an author in your family, you probably know that we’re crazy for reviews. And it’s not just because we’re masochists who enjoy weeping into our wine glasses while we read what people think about our little darlings (good or bad), either – reviews matter for a whole host of reasons, not the least of which that the more we have, the more appealing the books are when we submit them for advertising and promotion.

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All of that little insight into the terrifying author mind was to tell you this – I recently bundled the first three books plus a novella in my Lowcountry Mystery series (a series about a young woman who returns to the small, South Carolina town where she spent her summers growing up in the hopes that it will provide some shelter in the storm of her life, but instead finds that things are not what they were – and that even the ghosts won’t leave her be) into a boxed set.

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It’s for sale on all platforms for $7.99 currently (which is $2 cheaper than buying them all separately), so it’s a good deal as is if you haven’t checked out the series!

I know that many of you have read Gracie’s adventures (thank you thank you thank you!), so of course you wouldn’t need to purchase the bundle, but that doesn’t mean you can’t help me out (or enter the giveaway)!

Here are the links:

Amazon : iBooks : B&N : Google Play : Kobo

***GIVEAWAY***

Here’s the long and short of it: It’s my hope to use this boxed set in a promotional capacity going forward (putting it on sale to get readers hooked for future books) but in order for sites like BookBub and BookGorilla, etc to consider advertising, the boxed set needs it’s OWN reviews. If you’ve read the stories separately, you’re all set – just type up a little review of your thoughts on these 3.5 installments and post!

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If you haven’t read the series, now’s your chance!

Once you’ve written and posted a review (any retail site is fine, but Amazon is best!), just come back here and post a link in the comments.

***PRIZES***

EVERYONE WHO LEAVES A REVIEW FOR THE BOXED SET WILL RECEIVE A SURPRISE SWAG PACK IN THE MAIL and be entered to win a grand prize.

THREE people who leave review will have the opportunity to NAME A CHARACTER in the series going forward!

ONE person will win a $25 GIFT CARD to the bookstore of your choice.

***RULES***

The review must be posted by September 15th, 2015.

The giveaway IS open internationally.

Enjoy!

Need a Little Christmas in Your July?

***Heather Markowski is the winner of my ARC! Thank you everyone for entering AND for sharing your stories – I’m almost in the holiday mood, now!!***

 

So, I don’t know how the weather is where YOU live, but here in the middle of the USA it is swelteringly, meltingly, humidly, BOILINGLY HOT. Now, I’m not much of a winter person, myself, but even those of us who hate bundling up on those cold winter days might be dreaming of a little frost, cocoa, crackling fires, and dinners with family about now.

What better time to give away one of my paperback ARCs of Mistletoe & Mr. Right (Two Stories of Holiday Romance)?? 

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That’s right – there are TWO novellas combined in this hard copy version, and guess what else – Kirkus says “These fluffy yet sexy romances will wrap readers in warm blankets.” (Romance. 16-20)

HOW COOL IS THAT? SUPER COOL.

Okay. In order to enter to win the paperback ARC, tell me the Christmas/Holiday tradition that you look forward to the most – especially when you’re sweating in the summer heat! I’ll choose one winner at midnight on July 26th so make sure and enter before then!

I’d also appreciate some shares if you have the time! Happy Christmas in July!

Why Not Try Something New?!

Hey, y’all!

So, the majority of you came to read my writing through Broken at Love, the first (and by far most read) installment of the Whitman University series. They’re standard New Adult contemporary romance fare, although I like to think I bring a little something different to the table with my gender-swapped storylines (and of course, my obsessions with tennis and Gossip Girl).

A few months ago I decided to try something different, and released a ghost story-romance-history-mystery-Southern small town tale that tackles the issues of family and friends and the age old question of whether or not it’s possible to go home again with Not Quite Dead.

Guys. I’m so proud of this book. I love Graciela, my main character, with my whole heart and the majority of the book’s reviews make me so happy, because they’re loving the book, too.

It’s ON SALE right now across all platforms for just $.99, and I’d love it if you’d check it out! I know how easy it is to say “meh, doesn’t sound like my thing,” but if I’d stuck to my thing, I would have missed out on some of my absolute favorite books in the past 5 years – Hunger Games, Game of Thrones, Graceline, Shadow and Bone, If I Stay – and my life would be less rich.

Which is not to say my books will change your life, but I have confidence that Gracie will make you smile at least once, and maybe make you cry, too.

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And you know what else? If you like it, there’s good news – the sequel, Not Quite Cold, is available now.

Happy Reading!

xoxo

NOT QUITE DEAD Cover Reveal!!!

Time for a big, group SQUEEEEEE, people! I’m excited, pumped, thrilled, and more over being able to share this new adventure with you! Not Quite Dead is an ADULT romance/mystery/supernatural tale that’s the first in a series titled Lowcountry Ghosts. The first installment comes out April 1st, and there’s a summary on Goodreads, but let’s get to what you REALLY CAME HERE FOR, YEAH?

THE COVER!!

Oh, one more thing first – stick around at the bottom of the post to enter to win some FANTASTIC prizes (if I do say so myself).

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FRONT….

THE WHOLE BEAUTIFUL THING.

THE WHOLE BEAUTIFUL THING.

What do you think?!?!

It’s original photography by an AMAZING, talented young photographer, and I can’t wait to work with her again and again on the subsequent books in this series. I just love that it’s unique, that it captures Graciela’s mood and struggles, and of course…the apparition on the back.

Photo credit to Iona Nicole, and cover design credit to Eisley Jacobs (both at Complete Pixels).

BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE. I PROMISED YOU MORE.

Enter using the Rafflecopter below and you could win a $25 gift card to the online bookstore of your choice, or a print ARC, or 1 of 3 eARCs of the book! There will be FIVE winners chosen, so your chances are pretty good!

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Stay tuned over the next couple of weeks for some fun teasers and excerpts! Until now, bring on those entries…do YOU believe in ghosts??

xoxo

Find Out What’s Coming Your Way April 1!

Hey readers! As some of you know, I’ve decided to take a break from the lives and scandals streaking through Whitman University. The series is not finished, and I have promised a book from Sebastian Blair’s point-of-view – I assure you I have no intention on reneging on that!

I felt a little stale, and a lot like it was time to branch out and try something a little bit different. What came out of those feelings is a book that’s not a simple contemporary romance – although there’s plenty of sexiness offered up by my newest hero, Beauregard Drayton – and lets me explore some of the things I love best…history and ghosts.

In short, the first book in my new series, titled LOWCOUNTRY GHOSTS, will release April 1, 2014. It stars a girl whose life has been upended, leaving her a little angry and a lot lost, whose days get infinitely more complicated when she can’t shake a local ghost whose decided they should be best friends.

The title of the first installment is NOT QUITE DEAD. The synopsis is below, and the cover reveal is scheduled for March 1st (if you’re a blogger and would like to help with the reveal, please email me! lylapayneauthor at gmail).

A broken engagement sends Graciela Harper crawling back to Heron Creek with her tail between her legs, but finds the sleepy little town too changed to set her life right. Not even her budding drinking problem can obscure her Gramps’s failing health, or erase the mental picture of her first love happily married to her childhood best friend. To top it all off, she’s having a heck of time convincing the town’s dashing young mayor of her unfit-for-dating status.

 

When the ghost of 18th century lady pirate Anne Bonny starts insisting on a near daily audience, Graciela has to confront something else she never expected—being certifiably nuts at twenty-five years old.

Her brand new “I don’t give a crap” attitude makes it easy to dismiss the mysterious threats that seem to be tied to her search for more information on the long dead pirate, but when her family becomes a target, Gracie knows she needs to find out why the ghost insists on being a constant, reeking companion.

 

If Graciela can put aside her prejudice against people without a pulse, she may discover that Anne Bonny’s problems are intricately linked with her own. The past harbors answers could help the cantankerous spirit find closure, but she is, after all, already dead. If Graciela doesn’t move fast, she might find herself doing the haunting, instead of the other way around.

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What do you think? Are you excited to take a new path along with me, because I hope to keep entertaining all of you beautiful readers for as long as you’ll have me!

If the book sounds like something you’d want to read, make sure and add it to your to-be-read list on Goodreads!

xoxo