What happens when a major earthquake changes life as you know it and the boy you thought you hated ends up saving you? Three times!

Courtland Reese is the guy everyone hates and makes fun of because … well, he is weird. He communicates with animals. Strange or interesting, seventeen-year-old Adela Castielle can’t quite figure out, but when he saves her from being trampled by her own horse, she begins to understand him a little better and wants to learn more about him.

But, Max–her best friend/dream guy/someday-to-be-her-husband-only-he-doesn’t-know-it-yet–hates Courtland with a passion. Adela wants to know why, except neither boy is talking.

When Max leaves her stranded in his parents’ wine cave with his worst enemy, Courtland, after what the experts are calling a “megathrust” earthquake, Adela starts to question her loyalty to Max as steamy kisses in a dark damp cellar only fuel her emotions with more conflict.

But does she really have time to worry about that when fire, destruction and mayhem surround her?

Guest Post: Susan's Writing Process

Believe it or not, my writing process changes all the time. I don’t have any set time that I write, mainly because there are too many different things happening each day that I can’t count on a certain hour to be sitting at my computer. I wish it were that easy. But when I have a story in mind, the first thing I do is start jotting down notes about the plot or what type of storyline it is actually going to be.

Then once I get the premise figured out, I work on the plot and make an outline. The plot takes the longest to figure out and sometimes even changes from what I originally intended, because characters sometimes have a mind of their own and take over. That’s when the story becomes really fun for me to write. I have been known to wake up in the middle of the night and go to work, because I’ve had a thought or a dream and need to get it out before it goes away.

Character names are always a plus if you have some in mind before you start, but character names sometimes get changed based on personality traits. I like my character names to go with the personality of the character; it helps make them much more believable.

This is all in the first draft of the story, which usually end up being somewhere around 50,000 to 70,000 words for the first draft. By time I finish the second draft, I’ve usually added on another 20-30K words because the second draft is where I add in a lot of the settings and more character emotions.

Then it’s off to the editor. This is a very important step that no author should ever skip. I usually always go with what my editor says when it comes to grammar and sentence structure. I may or may not make changes that the editor has suggested throughout if I don’t agree. Then I send the MS off to some beta readers. A group of readers, some other authors that I trust to make other suggestions. Then after making more changes, it goes back to the editor, then back to me again for finishing. Then I upload it from a word doc directly to my Kindle and read it. This helps me find typos and other little annoying mistakes that pop up during the editing process. After that? Well it’s ready for the world.

Thanks for having me on your blog today, I really enjoyed it.
Susan Griscom daydreams often. And sometimes her daydreams interfere with her daydreams not to mention real life. Because, let’s face it, her character’s lives are so much more exciting. Sometimes it’s young adult or new adult or just plain old mainstream fiction and sometimes it’s paranormal romance, where her playing field delves into a different milieu than the usual vampires and werewolves. Some day she might write about fangs and fur, but for now she prefers sticking to strong heroes and heroines confronted with extraordinary forces of nature, powers and abilities beyond the norm, mixed with some steamy romance to get the blood boiling. Susan lives in the Sierra Foothills in Northern California with her very romantic husband, her small yippy dog, Riley, and her humongous black cat, Saké. Her family consists of his and hers; four wonderful sons and one beautiful daughter, and seven grand angels. Susan loves when a story takes hold and pulls her into the fantasy, that’s magic.