For Cortney, signing on the dotted line was a no brainer. All she had to do was agree to spend a month getting to know a phoenix shifter—if she was a suitable match—and her student loans were paid. With one in fifty thousand odds, it was a risk she was willing to take. She hadn’t counted on being that one in fifty thousand, or on Draven being so sexy. Resisting his charms wouldn’t be easy, but at the end of the month, she would walk away. Debt free.
When one of Draven’s young phoenixes ends up dead in a hospital emergency room, Draven has to act fast. Otherwise, human lives will go up in flames—literally. A rising phoenix isn’t harmful to their kind, but to humans it is deadly. But when a spitfire of a nurse steps in and refuses to let him through, his whole world changes. Any other day, nothing would have stopped him, but the longer she’s in his presence, the brighter her aura shines. She’s not only a suitable mate—she’s his.
Hi there, it’s such a pleasure to be here speaking with you today. Thank you for having me and letting me rattle on about my work.
Tell us about your title featured in this set:
My contribution to Coming in Hot is called Burn Deep. It’s a paranormal medical romance, and I had a blast writing it. I probably had a bit of an advantage with this one since my evil day job is in the health care field, so writing it only took me a little over a month. It was so much fun that I plan on making this one into a series.
Tell us something about yourself.
What can I say about myself that won’t bore you all to tears? Well, I live in a small-ish town in Northern Ontario with my husband (my very own real life hero, though he doesn’t sprout fur or scales when he’s angry) and children. We have three pets, two cats, and an elderly dog. Although this story is about phoenix shifters, I also write about wolves, large cats (coming next year), angels and demons, and of course, dragons! I adore dragons!
Tell us about your writing process.
One thing I cannot have while I’m writing is noise. I get distracted by the smallest thing. If someone is watching television in the same room, I tend to look up and watch (yes, even commercials – and I’ll admit, it annoys the heck out of me). I like to write in the mornings, but that’s not always possible. Especially during summer break, so I grab the time I need when I can get it. Funny thing that I finally figured out while writing Burn Deep was that when I get hung up on my story and the words don’t seem to want to come to me, if I grab spiral notebook and pen, the words flow again. And amazingly, my word count isn’t a whole lot slower on paper than it is on the keyboard. Of course, then I have to transcribe what I’ve written, but at least the small writer’s block has been avoided, and the story can continue.
What is your favourite genre to read?
That’s a tough question. I read just about anything. One of my favourite books of all time is The Diary of Anne Frank. I remember reading it in grade school, and for the first time in my life, the story the book told tugged on my heart strings. I can tell you that my love of reading developed after reading that story. Now, having said that, I will freely admit that I’m a romance reader through and through. I love all genres of romance. I adore paranormal romance and will always read those, but I also read sci-fi romance. A new favourite of mine is m/m romance. I never thought I’d enjoy it, but after reading a few exceptionally well written ones, I’m hooked!
What would you say is the one thing are you most passionate about?
Outside of the writing world? My family. Hands down. My life revolves around my husband and children. Now if you’re talking about within the writing world, then I’d have to say it’s helping other authors get their books out there. I think the romance author’s world is amazing in this aspect. I have yet to meet (in person, or online) a romance author who wasn’t genuine and happy to help a fellow author out. I often work with other authors to promote and cross promote stories, and most of the time, it’s the reader who benefits with free reads and awesome gifts. J
When you are not writing, what do you like to do?
Boy, that’s a tough one. I’m always writing. Lol Honestly, life has been so busy over the past couple of years that I don’t honestly know how to answer that. Between doing renovations on our house in preparation for a big move (hopefully sooner rather than later), writing, and my evil day job, there is little time left in a day. Mind you, once we do move, I plan on making writing my full time career, so I’m really looking forward to that.
I can tell you the things I enjoy doing and wish I did more of. Other than the usual spending time with my family, I absolutely love being out in the woods. If I could have a cabin by a lake with all the things I’d need for survival, I’d be a happy camper.
If someone who hasn’t read any your books Asked you to describe your story in this set (the elevator pitch!) what would you say?
Burn Deep is a super-hot phoenix shifter medical romance story.
Draven, the head of a phoenix shifter clan, goes into the hospital emergency room to remove one of his clan mates who has perished and will rise again in a blaze that will not only threaten to burn the building to the ground, but endanger human lives as well.
Cortney, a nurse, stands up to him and stops him from going in. This is where the story begins. When Cortney’s aura changes color, Draven knows she’s not only a suitable phoenix shifter mate—she’s his. After lifetimes alone, he’s thrilled to have found her and invokes the Phoenix Mates Acquisition Contract, which stipulates that a woman found to be a mate match must spend thirty days with the phoenix shifter to see if they are compatible.
Draven is determined to convince her to stay past the thirty days, and Cortney is just as resolved to return to her career once her time is up. But things are never that simple. Shifter mates are rare, and there are others out there who would do anything to get their hands on his mate. All Draven has to do is convince her that he’s worth sticking around for, and keep her safe.
Where can readers connect with you?
Readers can connect with me at the following places:
Website: www.elianneadams.com
Newsletter: https://app.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/p7z4d7
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorElianneAdams
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElianneAdams
E-mail: elianne.adams@gmail.com
Thank you so much for having me here today. It’s been a real pleasure working on this set with all these amazing authors. I can’t wait for it to be released to the world.
Before she could say anything else, Draven came up to her. “Ready? We’re taking the bike. Pretty boy here is too banged up to ride.”
“Can we get some of my things before we go? I’ll need some clothes and toiletries and stuff,” she asked him. Though for the life of her, she had no idea how the hell she would get a month’s supply of things in a bag small enough for her to carry on her back.
“We won’t be able to carry much with the bike, but we can grab what you need for right now, and I’ll bring you home to get more stuff tomorrow or the next day. Would that be alright?” he asked her, but there was no other option to be had.
“I could always just follow you in my car,” she suggested.
He immediately shook his head. “That wouldn’t be safe. They won’t recognize the vehicle.”
Cortney looked at Trista, who just shrugged. “Okay, so the bike it is.”
When they reached the vehicle, Draven handed her a helmet. “Have you ever ridden before? Do you need help with the helmet?”
“Not often, but yes, I’ve ridden before, and no, I don’t need help.” She sounded bitchy even to her own ears, but she couldn’t’ help it. Things were getting out of hand fast. She had the helmet secured over her head when he came close again and checked on the fit. He didn’t say a word as he pulled his own on and slipped the visor down.
Trista came over, her smile now gone. “You okay, Cort? You’re looking a little pale.”
She pulled Trista a few feet further from Draven. “No, not really. Have you seen how gorgeous he is? How the hell am I supposed to resist him? And now I have to have my body wrapped around him for God knows how long until we get there. What if that mate chemistry thing starts happening right away? Remember those articles we were reading last week? I’m going to be one of those women we were laughing about in those articles.”
Trista burst out laughing. “Dude, you have to chill. We’ll just take our vacation and come home. So you get to jump his bones while we’re there. If you ask me, that’s a mighty fine perk.”
A faint crackling sound came at her from the inside of the helmet. “It’s two and a half hours to the Odyssey,” Draven said, his voice, coming through the helmet, sounding way too much like laughter.
“Fuck my life,” she whispered under her breath as she glanced over, and sure enough, his shoulders were shaking. Not only did she have to hang on to him for two and a half hours, but now he knew she was worrying about it. Without even saying goodbye to Trista, she got on the bike. It was going to be a long month.