Please see the full post at Will Read for Feels. Also check out their awesome reviews and blog posts!

The playlist for Flame’s Dawn (Songs are listed in the order they appear in the novella.)

Here's the awesome YouTube video of the playlist -- again, thanks to Will Read for Feels! 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcwqCmEi9Jc&list=PLL9Ccxm_X9baIA0KbpgbOe1p43j-YpkqL

• Jackie Wilson “Higher and Higher”
• Herman’s Hermits “There’s a Kind of Hush All Over the World”
• The Monkees “Daydream Believer”
• The 5th Dimension “Up, Up and Away”
• Santana “Evil Ways”
• Jimi Hendrix “Machine Gun”
• Blue Swede “Hooked on a Feeling”
• The Carpenters “Top of the World”
• Kool & the Gang “Jungle Boogie”
• Elton John “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me”
• Bachman-Turner Overdrive “Takin’ Care of Business”
• Grand Funk Railroad “The Loco-Motion”
• Jim Croce “Time in a Bottle”
• John Denver “Sunshine on My Shoulders”

Although it wasn’t listed specifically in the text of the novel, while editing this novella, I had Melanie’s “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)” on eternal repeat. I had never heard of this song until I stumbled upon it while searching for songs from 1970. (Long story, I got the year wrong for part of the story on my first draft and for a while looking for songs from the wrong year. Anyway.) Now I can’t get “Lay Down” out of my head. The live version at Woodstock with the Edwin Hawkins Singers gives me goose bumps.

In a sleep-deprived state (thank you, little 3am vampire baby delivery), it occurred to me that the advice I give for medical care is pretty good. (The fact that only about 1.3% of patients listen to it is another thing entirely.) But then I got to thinking: what health behaviors do my characters portray? Am I sending the wrong message?
 
Hmm.
 
I give you: Things my characters do that I would never recommend.
 
#10) Drive really fast. Ok, maybe if there’s a reason, fine, just be aware of surroundings and careful of other vehicles/pedestrians.
 
#9) Drink far too much coffee. Which is funny, because I don’t like coffee. But my characters do. Don’t the women know that lots of coffee will increase fibrocystic breast changes? Don’t the guys know that it just makes them annoying as hell when they’re that peppy and talkative in the mornings?
 
#8) Leave the Emergency Department AMA (Against Medical Advice) while not yet recovered from life-threatening injuries. Don’t give me this BS about how you're almost immortal. You need neuro checks and vitals q hour for overnight observation.
 
#7) Walk around with a strange man you only met a few hours ago. Ok, fine, he’s hot, but really, what do you know about him? Nada. Except that he’s hot. So there’s that. At least have your pepper spray ready. Oh wait, you did have your pepper spray ready? Ok.
 
#6) Jump off of tall buildings, like you don’t care. Sorry, what? You really don’t care if you live or die because you hate your existence? Oh, well. Hmm.
 
#5) Have unprotected sex. Yes, that’s the biggie. The only time I would ever give a pass on using the big johnson wrapper is in paranormal, because you can suspend disbelief and push reality a smidge. So we’re going to say if you’re 400 years old and quick-healing, then it’s unlikely that you can A) get someone pregnant (but you never know…) or B) have STD’s. Those are the rules of the world I created. Now, in my contemporary suspenses? Condoms all day long.
 
#4) Crawl into dark places like caves and tunnels without a helmet. How many times do you people have to get hit on the head to figure this one out?
 
#3) Not dress properly for inclement weather. Like snow, frigid temperatures, molten lava. When will they learn?
 
#2) For my female characters, stroll around the really bad parts of town. Ok, I get that you’re a badass nearly-immortal, but why take such chances? Oh, you don’t care if you live or die because you hate your existence? Ok, then. Got it.
 
#1) Blindly sign bogus contracts with creepy, really old dudes. At least read the fine print, people. That’s what got you into this mess in the first place!

Poor Odie, hero of the third book in the Hell to Pay series, Flame Unleashed, has been neglected. I've previously explained in great detail with requisite gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands why I would never date the previous two heroes of my books. (Earlier posts this year.) But what about Odie? He must have some qualities that make him undateable, unsexy, un-forever-loveable. 

So here goes.

#10) Perfect beard scruff, not too much, not too little. Like a kid brother of Joe Manganiello. Dis. Gust. Ing. Who likes rugged guys like that?

#9) Intense green eyes? Naw.

#8) A guy who sacrifices himself to save his young daughters? What a turn off. Give me selfish fellas all day long.

#7) Immortal strength and stamina...in bed? That's a big cup of NOPE.

#6) Desire to make the world safer from evil? Boring.

#5) Desire to make a woman's toes curl? I can get that if I hit my thumb with a hammer. 

#4) Compound interest x 200 years = hot billionaire? Bleeeh. So yesterday. Give me something interesting, like a "Kudzillionaire's Secret Lover". 

#3) 2% body fat? Oh, ouch. My fingers hurt at the thought of being forced to trace the rock-hard, bulging, ripped pecs and abs. Um, well now.... Hmmm. Uh oh.

#2) Willingness to protect the woman he loves? Ok, maybe a tiny swoon. Just a little one.

#1) Cajun accent coming from a tall, handsome, cut, perfectly-bearded guy, who cares about children and the woman he loves? No way in....Hell. Yes.....

To update you: Dante Blackstone is the proportionally-superior hero of my second novel, Relentless Flame. I've shared with brutal honesty why I would definitely date my first hero, Peter Blackstone. Now I'm going to explain why I'd never date Dante Blackstone. Let's press forward with this onerous task.

#10) Rippling muscles and the big frame to carry them. Yuck-o-rama. Who wants beefcake? I'm a vegetarian.

#9) Glacier blue eyes that see into a woman's soul. On a dude? Come on, we all know that looks weird. And not hot...at all....>sigh<....

#8) Rumbling/vibrating bass voice in a Swedish accent. Bleeack. Mrrrfff. Feeling nauseous just thinking about it.

#7) Thick, blond -- yet manly-coiffed -- hair. No way. Give me a bald dude any day. And make him short while you're at it.

#6) Ability to quote romantic fine literature. Um....barf. What woman wants that? Oh, wait, that's pretty awesome....

#5) Intense desire to protect the woman he loves. Nuh uh. I like my guys cowering in fear and leaving me to fend for myself.

#4) Hilarious sense of humor. Forget it. Only grumps will do for me.

#3) Willingness to sacrifice himself completely for the woman he loves. Not my style. Just call me "speed bump." I'll take the brunt of the attack, no problem. He can just stay over there and look pretty.

#2) Heat-breaking sensitivity combined with tremendous desire to pleasure a woman, plus demonstrated prowess in bed. Triple yuck. What woman wants THAT? Uh, hello? Blind groping and unfulfilled dissatisfaction for 3 minutes will be just fine, thanks for asking.

#1) Need to overcome evil and help the underdog. Dis. Gusting. Like this guy is freakin' Mother Teresa or something? Except with big, bulging biceps and a voice that makes your toes tingle and....

So as an author, I kind of fell in love with the hero, Peter Blackstone, from my first novel Immortal Flame. "Who wouldn't" (based on a great review, thanks, ESR Reviews!) fall in love with him?

For the record, I am happily married to a sweet and funny guy. So anything I share presumes a non-martial status prior to aforementioned dating situation….

Here's why I would date Peter Blackstone:

#1) Such intense eyes

#2) Sacrifice for a woman he loves (twice)

#3) Single-minded focus on his work, which becomes single-minded focus on the woman he loves. Yum.

#4) Hard, corded muscles ("I hate nice, toned muscles," said no red-blooded woman, ever.)

#5) That sensitive spot he has for children

#6) He's protective and powerful but recognizes Allie's own strengths

#7) Amazing, mind-blowing, powerful…conversation. Yeah. Please pass the ice water.

#8) Even when he's hurting (physically or emotionally), he keeps fighting for his woman

#9) Rises above the evil that defines him to become something much more

#10) Ok, I secretly wish I were Allie. (Darn it, I'm just not that awesome and cool.)

Please feel free to add any other reasons of your own. :)