Lipstick & Bolsheviks, The New Maria #VSsaga

"WHY IS IT TAKING YOU SO LONG!???" I hear this a lot. Either in all caps or in person with a teenage girl yanking angrily on my arm. Local readers can be a hazard. :) 
First, it was research. 
Then I was convinced it was the effect of the few scathing reviews I had read regarding Filter and Bluestocking Girl. But I haven't read any reviews since...oh, January. 
So what is taking me so long?
I am in mourning. I will never write one of my favorite characters again. 
Or will I?
But that is for another day.

To prove I am working, slowly, painfully, through my fictional grief, here is a snippet:

FROM LIPSTICK AND BOLSHEVIKS: THE VON STRASSENBERG SAGA, book 3

She turned her gaze upon him, the fury crackling in her eyes. “Take me with you,” she begged, kneeling beside him on the floor.

“Your parents would never forgive me,” he scooped up her hand. “Your father would hunt me down, as any father would. Ocean or not.” The stubble on his cheek scratched against her skin as he pressed her hand to his cheek, leaning into her touch, pressing her heat into his flesh.

“We would be gone before they ever knew,” she yanked her hand from his cheek, grasped his calloused fingers and held them to her heart. “And they would never know who I had gone with.”

“Or who had introduced you to the devil,” his lip quirked, but she knew he regretted their unorthodox relationship.

“None of it is your fault Sasha,” she tilted his chin, demanding his blue eyes rise to meet her own. “I was wicked well before we met. Ask my father.”

“I think I prefer to never have the opportunity.”

“Oh,” her hand shot out and pinched his side. “Are you a coward then?” Frightfully ticklish, he twisted away, laughing and pulling her with him. “Are you scared of my daddy? Big, strong Sasha?” ©2012GwennWright 

Books 1 & 2 are available for Kindle, Nook, and in paperback (which I prefer because it's all lovely with the fonts)You can also find me on Goodreads 

Book Giveaway! The von Strassenberg Saga

Enter to Win at Goodreads! 

~3~

My life is hard. No one would rob me of that. The clothes I am wearing came out of a knotted up black plastic trash bag from a resale shop downtown. And not the downtown where shiny cars wink at you in the sunlight. If a car winks at you in this area it’s being driven by a person you would be best to avoid.

My side of downtown is crumbling and skirted by chain link fences.

Kevin’s out of work again. Staying sober for eight hours out of the day was too much for him.

It always is.

So I work here, at Dobson’s Market, fifteen hours a week during the school year. That’s my Friday, Saturday, Sunday job.

Since Dobson doesn’t want to get in trouble for overworking a minor we worked it out with his younger brother that I would work the rest of the week at the family restaurant. Fifteen hours here. Fifteen hours there. No benefits anywhere and crap pay everywhere.

But for now, it’s holding us. We’ve been in the same place for three months now. I’ve opened my own bank account, that Kevin knows nothing about, and I’m paying the bills as they roll in.

And we’re finally making it.

Eventually, though, he’ll come out of his stupor and realize things are getting comfortable and he’ll want to know where the money is.

But maybe by then I’ll be gone.

(c) 2010 by Gwenn Wright

Available for Kindle and in Paperback

The Tragedy of Tom Welling's Age

It's something I think all writers do. We imagine who we would like to play our characters if and when the book goes to film. Filter: Book One of the von Strassenberg Saga will require three very tall, very handsome young men. Two are 18, one is 22.  So, it is tragic that Tom Welling is himself two years older than I am. That makes him 34. Ridiculous. Shame. While he still looks fairly young for his age he could never pull off 18. That would be going back to the 80's movies wherein they had 25 year-olds playing the roles of 16 and 17 year olds regardless of whether or not they looked that young. Sigh. It is most unfortunate. 


PICTURE THIS: (Tom Welling as Viktor, an excerpt from Filter)

The scent of him thrilled her senses as it mingled with the smell of promised rains. He drove the horse at full speed through the open field, reminding her every so often to hold tight or she would fall. She needn’t be reminded. She only wished the ride home was longer. Her body melded into his, melting into the strong sinews of his back, appreciating the hard feel of his abdomen beneath.....

UPDATE! The Bluestocking Girl (Book Two of The von Strassenberg Saga) is now available for Nook, Kindle and in paperback (you can only buy it online)! I thought I loved the idea of Tom Welling Viktor in Filter but he would be TOTALLY swoon worthy in The Bluestocking Girl. He MUST play Viktor! Tweet him, Facebook him, write him letters and tell Tom Welling he MUST play Viktor von Strassenberg!


For Kindle or paperback click here --->> AMAZON


For Nook click here ---->> BARNES AND NOBLE


As of 12/28/2012 Filter has 70 ratings on Goodreads with a 4.34/5 average! Woohoo!


Also as of 2/28/2012, Filter is undergoing a makeover now that Bluestocking is out. The paperback may be unavailable for sale until the end of the week. I'm thinking the new paperback will look like this (of course this is a view of the back, front and spine)