Tag Archives: Preview

Preview: Lighthouse

Posted in Books, Entertainment by

Jase and Devlin and the entire gang are back!

If you’ve read my debut novel The Heart Wants What It Wants and you are eagerly waiting for what happens next in the saga, then I have a treat for you! The sequel of the contemporary romance novel is set to release later this year and is entitled Lighthouse, and I’ve decided to share a portion of the first chapter for free! Just like the title of the first book made sense a bit into the story, Lighthouse will become clear as you read the sequel.

Now I should mention that if you choose to read further, there are OBVIOUS SPOILERS REGARDING THE FIRST BOOK of the series, so if you haven’t read The Heart Wants What It Wants and wish to, I highly suggest you don’t read any further. If you wish to purchase The Heart Wants What It Wants, follow this link for several e-book options.

The sequel to my debut novel will be released soon! Watch this space!

 

At the end of The Heart Wants What It Wants, Jase Morgan got his happy ending with Jordan McMahon, and Devlin Blackthorn wandered the world trying to find himself after suffering the heartbreak of his unrequited love. The friendship between the two main characters had been salvaged, but Devlin felt incomplete. After a drunken night in Las Vegas and one bad decision, Devlin found himself married to the arrogant and charming Atticus Brady. And this is where Lighthouse begins.

Similar to the format of The Heart Wants What It Wants, Lighthouse goes into a first person perspective of both of the main characters – Devlin Blackthorn and Atticus Brady. For the Jase fans, don’t worry; Prince Charming makes his presence well known in this sequel.

Without further ado, here is a sneak preview of Chapter One of Lighthouse! Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Devlin Blackthorn

Early-mid 2015…

 

I couldn’t imagine alcohol would be the cause of anything worse than last year – oh God, last year – but here I was, sitting in my apartment, staring at the impressive rock on my ring finger, wondering what the hell happened that fateful night in Las Vegas.

A handsome stranger – whom I admittedly despised from the get go – bought me a couple of drinks and after some very fuzzy details, I woke up next to him in bed legally married to him. Just another tragic wedding story to be added to Las Vegas’ archive.

If I needed a bigger slap in the face to stop drinking alcohol than almost losing my best friend, it was marrying someone I had only known for a few hours. Even though I was wrapped up on my warm bed in my sheets, I shivered. Married. I still didn’t know how to comprehend the fact that I was married.

Despite absolutely hating the idea of being married to someone I didn’t know – and I wasn’t exactly sure of his current whereabouts after leaving him in Vegas – I did quite like the ring he had chosen out for me. Sitting next to the more conservative platinum wedding band was a small yellow diamond surrounded by tiny, encrusted silver gems that complimented the modest, silver design; if it told me anything about my mysterious husband, it said that he had nice taste in jewellery, and a lot of money to irrationally spend on it.

I could barely make out the face of the man who had been lawfully wed to me in front of an Elvis impersonator and, God, I don’t even know who else. He was tall and handsome, with a lean, muscular build, and was arrogant as all hell. That’s all I could remember about Atticus.

Atticus…

Something told me I had to get used to that name for the foreseeable future. Well, of course I had to – he was my husband, after all.

I groaned out loud and sunk my head back into the soft cushioning of the pillow. I hadn’t told anyone of my Vegas wedding; not Jase, not Jordan, not my brother Garrett, not even my loyal confidante Monique. I could just imagine Jase’s reaction in my head, and it was enough to make me cringe.

“You what?!” he would shout at me. “Why on earth would you do something as careless and irresponsible as that? As a matter of fact, why were you drinking in the first place? You need to get your life together, Dev.”

I would be lying if I said a small part of me wasn’t still madly in love with Jase. In fact, I’d also be lying if I said a small part of me wasn’t about to use this surprise marriage as a way to show him that I was going to move on from him, as difficult as it was. The year 2014 had been hell for us, and I was glad that somehow, someway, we had come out of the other end of the tunnel barely functioning. I was going to let Jase live his life and hope that I would be in it as much as I was before.

Dwelling on my infatuation for Jase only briefly distracted me from my current situation. What on earth was I going to do?

I was sitting on my bed in Sydney, the evening before I was scheduled to move back to Velvet Springs, and this platinum circle was burning into my ring finger, reminding me of how awful my getaway escape had been. I couldn’t wait to get home and be in a familiar setting, even if it meant revealing to Jase what I had done in Vegas.

After having months off work, I couldn’t wait to get back into my writing at the Velvet Chronicle. Although the sport reporter position had been filled after my quick departure, Harvey, my editor and friend, had found a spot for me on the features team for the newspaper after my moderate amount of success in the same role at Isla Bordeaux magazine. I was fortunate enough to have this opportunity handed to me, but it certainly wasn’t the first thing on my mind right now.

There was a feint knock on my door and, sighing with relief, I got up to answer it. I had ordered a box of greasy cheese pizza to be delivered after I had finished packing; I wanted to spend my last night in the state’s capital with no regrets.

I fished the twenty-dollar note out of my back pocket and opened the door.

“Devlin?”

Oh. No. It couldn’t be… no. There was no way.

I panicked and bounced off the spot, throwing my fist out in an uncharacteristic knee-jerk reaction. The shot caught him on his eye and he let out a quick yelp of pain, but remained rooted to the ground.

I just Superman punched my husband.

“Atticus? What the f-”

“You seem surprised to see me,” he said, his brows furrowing in anger.

Watch this space. As soon as Lighthouse is released on various e-book platforms, Widow’s Lure will be the first to let you know!

– by The Black Widow

Preview: The Heart Wants What It Wants

Posted in Books, Entertainment, The Heart Wants What It Wants by

I have a birthday treat for all of my loyal followers and readers.

It’s my 23rd birthday today, so I thought it was fitting that I pay it forward and give everyone else a little present for following my blog as it goes onto its third birthday.

Yes I am wishing myself a happy birthday on my own website. What of it?

Yes I am wishing myself a happy birthday on my own website. What of it?

For those of you who may not know, for the past two years I have been writing a full-length romance novel and, up until recently, it didn’t have an official name. I had tossed up several titles, including “Jase and Devlin”, “My Best Friend and I” and “Sparks”, but I have settled for its official title: The Heart Wants What It Wants, not to be confused with the Selena Gomez song.

What started as a way to get my creative writing juices flowing into a healthy medium turned out to be a completed novel. I’ve had an editor go through it twice and I have an artist currently designing a sexy cover for it. I’ve decided to go down the self-publishing route for this novel, so my debut book should be available to purchase very soon. As soon as it is, it will be announced on Widow’s Lure.

What is The Heart Wants What It Wants about? Well, I don’t want to give too much away. So I’ll leave you with a few hints:
– It’s a contemporary romance novel, but it isn’t what you’re expecting.
– Set in the fictional city Velvet Springs in New South Wales, Australia, it features two main protagonists: Jase Morgan and Devlin Blackthorn, whom are childhood best friends.
– It is written in first person from the perspective of both Jase and Devlin, so you get to experience both sides of the story.
– Despite being a romance novel, it explores other issues in life, including alcoholism, anxiety, grief and homophobia.
– The most noteworthy point to be made about my novel: it’s not a love story; it’s a story about love.

Just to give you a teaser of my novel – and to also plug it as I encourage you all to BUY IT WHEN IT IS RELEASED – here is the prologue of the story.

Prologue

Devlin Blackthorn

Early 2001…

I always hated the awkward formalities of passing on to a new grade in primary school: you had to be divided into new classes; your new teacher would go over things you’ve heard about a million times before; you’d have to be sat in girl-boy-girl-boy order as if that was a reasonable punishment for friendly chatter; and the new kids that started the year off would have to introduce themselves in front of their new peers, as if coming to a new school wasn’t humiliating enough.

Being in sixth grade – and my final year at Velvet Springs Public School – I was hoping this would be the last boring introduction speech I would have to hear. Ever.

“And we have a new boy joining us from Melbourne, in Victoria!” Mrs. Palmer said excitedly, like the rest of us didn’t know which state Melbourne was in.

From behind the shadows appeared a tall, lean boy with a natural tanned complexion and an interesting caramel-coloured mop of hair that complimented his skin tone. Contrary to the other deathly awkward introductions I was used to, this boy stood up confidently in front of us and waved his hand.

“Hello, I’m Jase,” he said, his voice surprisingly deep for a 12-year-old boy.

“Welcome to Velvet Springs Public, Jase,” Mrs. Palmer squealed in delight. “Can we all give Jase a Velvet welcome?”

“Welcome to Velvet Spriiiings, Jase,” we all sung in boring, monotone unison.

“We have a girl-boy system here,” explained Mrs. Palmer, “but seeing as we have a gender imbalance in this class, you can take the seat next to Devlin Blackthorn in the back corner there.” She effortlessly gestured in my direction and Jase’s gaze immediately pierced me; he politely smiled at me and walked to the back of the classroom as a couple of the girls turned to watch him.

He took the seat next to me and held his hand out to me.

“Nice to meet you, Devlin,” he said.

Despite thinking it was an odd thing to do, I took his hand and shook it.

“Nice to meet you too, Jase.”

I turned back to face the front as Mrs. Palmer began her boring welcome-to-the-new-year speech and completely zoned her out. This would usually take about half an hour, but with someone as chatty as Mrs. Palmer, it would usually take up until recess, and…

DING DING DING!

Like clockwork, Mrs. Palmer apologised for dragging her speech out and stepped aside as a few of the kids ran out of the classroom with their colourful backpacks slung over their shoulders. Having not unpacked a single thing from my bag, I placed the straps over my shoulders and began to walk out, eager to catch up with some friends who had been placed in other classes.

“Hey Devlin,” Jase’s voice rang from behind me, “wait up.”

I looked over my shoulder at the new boy chasing to catch up with me.

“Could I sit with you? I haven’t really met anyone else.”

“Sure,” I said with a smile.

Jase accompanied me onto the oval where a bunch of other boys and girls from sixth grade sat. The girls usually formed a circle and sat down, talking about the latest music videos they watched on the weekend, while the boys opted to toss a ball around.

“Hey Devlin!”

A ball soared through the sky towards me and I caught it with relative ease. I placed my bag on the ground and Jase quickly followed suit.

“Hey guys, I’m Jase,” he introduced himself.

He walked around and shook the hands of all the boys while I stood there and wondered what on earth they put in the water down in Melbourne.

“Hey Jase – catch!”

I passed the rugby ball to him over my shoulder, much like an American footballer, and Jase quickly caught it.

“Good throw!” he said.

“I know, I know,” I said, pretending to wave to all of my adoring fans.

Unlike the other boys who didn’t entertain my borderline narcissistic sense of humour, Jase laughed and flashed me a thumbs up. I smiled; I had a feeling that Jase and I were going to be the best of friends.

The Heart Wants What It Wants will be released soon, and you’ll hear it here first.

– by The Black Widow

Black Widow Predicts Wrestlemania 31

Posted in Sports by

It’s my favourite time of the year! Even moreso than my birthday, Christmas, and the one night a girl gets to dress like a total slut and no one can say anything about it.

Introducing Wrestlemania 31, the first Wrestlemania pay-per-view I’ll get to watch on my WWE Network account (which you can get for just $9.99) and roughly my 13th Wrestlemania I’ve ordered and watched live. Aptly named the greatest spectacle of sports entertainment in the world, this year will see the WWE debut of legend Sting, the first championship bout for the ever-controversial Roman Reigns, and the Wrestlemania debut for the greatest thing to happen to women’s wrestling in years, Paige.

But seriously, why is Nikki Bella's face not on this poster?

But seriously, why is Nikki Bella’s face not on this poster?

In no particular order, here are my predictions for each of the matches:

Pre-show
Fatal 4-Way Tag Team Title Match
Tyson Kidd and Cesaro (C) (w/ Natalya) vs. The Usos (w/ Naomi) vs. Big E and Kofi Kingston (w/ Xavier Woods) vs. Los Matadores (w/ El Torito)
Winner: Tyson Kidd and Cesaro retain
I think this one’s a given. Kidd and Cesaro are the most technically sound tag team in recent years and all the momentum is going their way. Plus, I don’t see them dropping the titles soon. I’m going for a Natalya interference for the sneaky victory.

Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
AKA the match used as an excuse to make sure every superstar is on the card
Winner: Damien Mizdow… or Sandow, whatever he’s using
The stunt double gimmick has worked wonders for Sandow’s career and he’s made it into his thing. I see Sandow and The Miz as the last two in the ring and Miz ordering Sandow out, but Sandow swerves and eliminates him to a huge ovation from the crowd.

Main Card
Singles Match
Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins (w/ J&J Security)
Winner: Randy Orton
As much as I want Seth Rollins to win, I don’t see that happening. Randy Orton has come back with a vengeance and it’d make all the sense in the world for him to get his revenge by beating The Architect on the grandest stage of them all. Expect some backfired J&J Security interference.

7-man Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship
Bad News Barrett (C) vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Daniel Bryan vs. R-Truth vs. Stardust vs. Luke Harper
Winner: Daniel Bryan
So the man who turned last year’s Wrestlemania into HIS show has been “demoted” to an Intercontinental title match, but even still, I see Bryan winning this one. I mean, people can’t get enough of his Cinderella-ness and, well, I love him.

Divalicious Tag Team Match
The Bella Twins vs. Paige and AJ Lee
Winner: Paige and AJ Lee
There’s no secret that the Bellas are the backstage darlings of the WWE, and the face of the Divas division, but the outcasts sometimes known as PaiJ are the babyfaces and will come out victorious in this one. If recent reports of a changing Divas division are to be believed, expect a great match between the Fantastic Four.

Singles Match
Bray Wyatt vs. The Undertaker
Winner: The Undertaker
This one’s hard to call. I mean, I’m expecting an Undertaker win, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Undertaker lost to put over the “new face of fear” in Bray Wyatt. The streak’s already been broken so there’s no real breathtaking hype to this one. Undertaker to win via all his finishers… performed at least twice each.

Singles Match for the United States Championship
Rusev (C) w/ Lana vs. John Cena
Winner: John Cena
This one is too easy to call. Rusev’s never been pinned or submitted. John Cena is Superman. Superman will overcome the odds and be the first to pin Rusev or make him submit on the grandest stage of them all. I hope Lana’s there.

Singles Match
Sting vs. Triple H
Winner: Sting
Say what you want about Triple H, but he will put over a talent if he needs to (as made apparent against D Bryan), and expect him to do so again with Sting. Sting is an Icon (and I wish Cole would stop calling him the Vigilante), and in his first ever sanctioned WWE match, he’ll win. No question about it.

Singles Match for the World Heavyweight Championship
Brock Lesnar (C) w/ Paul Heyman vs. Roman Reigns
Winner: Brock Lesnar
If you asked me a week ago who I thought would take the win, I would’ve said Roman. Now that Brock has re-signed, I’m leaning more to the Lesnar side. I don’t think WWE are going to pul the trigger on Roman’s push right now, especially after the “lovely” reception he’s been getting from ignorant fans, so I expect a dominant Lesnar win here. SWERVE!! While Lesnar is down an out, Rollins cashes in and wins the World title. Brock takes a vacation and Rollins vs. Reigns is reborn!

Make sure you get work off, take the day off school or uni, or find a pub playing this event. You won’t wanna miss it!

– by Noah La’ulu