I have a book out today. In paper or digital.
It’s the prettiest.
This is Book 3 in my Can’t Help It contemporary rockstar romance series, written as Ophelia Leigh. It’s a modern-day reimagining of the Lancelot-Guinevere-Arthur story, and I had more fun writing it than ought to be allowed.
Please enjoy!
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If you like absolutely ridiculous space-based misadventures, food that talks back, a spaceship with attitude, and have a strong desire to read a book you don’t have to take seriously, do I have news for you. ALSO, the first book in the Cosmic Coffee series, is free for a couple of days.
WAY less expensive than the cup of coffee I get at my local café, but only until April 3.
I’m delighted to bring you DUET, the second book in my alter ego’s CAN’T HELP IT rock romance series. It’s available now on Amazon in both digital and print format, and also available to read on Kindle Unlimited.
Electricity pulses between Lightning Bolts frontman Johnny and a precocious prickly pear of a musician named Lila when up-and-coming band Stash joins their tour. Taking her under his wing, Johnny does his best to help her navigate the hills and valleys of rock stardom. Lila, with an agenda of her own, certainly doesn’t intend to twist everything he’s taught her into a knot so tight it’s impossible to unravel. But she just…can’t help it.
Stash have never played anywhere bigger than a nightclub. When they’re tapped to sign on as the replacement opening act mid-tour for the Lightning Bolts, saying “yes” is a no-brainer. Even though they’re too inexperienced for the task, and even though Lila Devereaux, lead guitarist and rock star wannabe, thinks that the Bolts—and superstar Johnny Blue in particular—are nothing but plastic, studio-manufactured press darling pop stars.
When the reality of opening for a band that big hits, all three members of Stash determine to learn from the Bolts, one-on-one, instrument for instrument. Lila decides she’ll do whatever it takes to show the world that she and Stash can leapfrog to the top of the charts without selling out, without sacrificing their gritty club roots integrity in the name of popularity.
When she asks Johnny to help her achieve the rock stardom she’s always dreamed of, he agrees—as long as she can keep up with him. He knows there’s no such thing as reward without risk, and Lila can never be the key to his complex emotional puzzle until he lets her in. For someone used to being used, that’s a huge risk indeed. But if Johnny opens up his heart to Lila, it’s practically guaranteed she’ll stomp all over it on her scramble to the top.
There used to be a day when I was embarrassed to say that. As if writing a romance novel was something that needed to be tucked away out of shame, or because it’s somehow a lesser endeavor than writing “serious” fiction. I’ve even been in settings where, when asked what I write, my answer puts a complete halt to the conversation.
Books are books are books. Genre books are no less valid than any other type of book. Over the years I’ve learned so much about the heart and skill of writing, the artistry involved, the necessary steps to take.
For my novel publishing debut, I chose a romance-adjacent genre with my adventure sci-fi. Writing the Cosmic Coffee books was a complete, utter joy. A realization that writing for fun was as valid as writing for any other reason. Those books make me laugh; they make me happy. They’re beyond silly—ridiculous, really—and I don’t care what people call them. They were still an absolute blast to write.
Now I’m back squarely in the contemporary romance arena with ALL SONGS ARE LOVE SONGS, the first of four books in my Can’t Help It series. If you read the books, both the title and the series title will become self-explanatory.
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like behind the scenes on a major rock tour, you’ll get a small taste of it with All Songs are Love Songs. Life on the crew as an adjunct to the main event can be every bit as sparkly and fulfilling as life onstage. In fact, some people prefer to stay well out of the spotlight. They’re the ones that make the magic happen on a daily basis, and the ones I’ve chosen to write about in this book. But hold onto your hats. They may not be the ones in the spotlight, but the roller coaster ride is every bit as wild.
Available on Amazon. Free to read with Kindle Unlimited. Hope you enjoy the read as much as I enjoyed writing for you.
I realize I am all books all the time these days, but that’s the way it goes.
I’ve been working on this one for a really long time. If you were with me back in the days of my Pitch Wars menteeship, you might remember this title. The road to getting it out there has been long, and I’ve rewritten this book more times than any other book I’ve ever worked on.
ALL SONGS ARE LOVE SONGS is a fast-paced, high-heat slow burn of a romance. You can read more information about the series or read the book description on my author website, and the ebook is available for preorder on Amazon right now. The print version will be available for order on 12/25/23…and it’s a beauty. The designs of all four book covers intersect for maximum shelf display dazzle; my designer did an amazing job.
Please take a look and if you have anything kind to say, I’d love to hear it. I’m also doing promo for the release on my author IG, so if you’re interested and not already following me there, go ahead and don’t worry. The link won’t bite back.
But what, you might be wondering, is Cosmic Coffee?
If you picked Answer 5–or honestly, if you picked any of the answers–you’re a winner!
As long as you’re in the mood for some fun and breezy space-based misadventures featuring an opportunistic barista, an almost naive but drop-dead-sexy [REDACTED], a spaceship with attitude, weird wacky worlds, universal translator scarves, food that can’t stop dancing, plenty (and I do mean plenty) of romance, and just enough science fact to make the science fiction almost plausible, then the Cosmic Coffee series of novels is for you.
Plus, they’re FREE, but only on September 20, 2023. Only in ebook format, only on Amazon (at least on this planet).
The end of August is a weird time to write a “my year in review” post, but it makes sense! I promise!
Last June, I had a germ of an idea for a book. To be perfectly transparent, I get germs of ideas for books all the time, but most of them flit out the exact same window they flitted in, and within moments. In June of 2022, I decided it would be really, really fun to write a quick, down-and-dirty alien romance. Other people were doing it with great success. Those books followed a pretty straightforward formula: Earth girl meets HOT DAMN hot alien boy, misunderstandings ensue, then lots of hot sex happens (don’t mind the anatomy). Earth girl and HOT DAMN hot alien boy fall passionately and forever in love, and usually end up on HOT DAMN hot alien boy’s planet, where they are able to reproduce biologically and save an entire society. Lots of these books are kitschy AF, because alien anatomy is often mind-bogglingly different/larger/more complex than human. There are tails, horns, more than one of the usual body parts, and so on.
Thinking that this would be an easy subgenre of romance to work with, I sat down to write my own quick, down-and-dirty alien romance. The first thing I got hung up on (no pun intended) was the implausibility factor. I’ve read some absolutely brilliant concepts on how Earth women and their alien counterparts get together, and I’ll leave you to explore the world of alien romance to pick your own favorites. I didn’t want my Earthling scooped up against her will, and while I hoped I could write a heroine open-minded enough to not spend 40,000 words gaping at her sweetheart’s anatomy, it seemed to me that I would have to spend a decent chunk of time exploring that aspect of their relationship. Because that’s the kind of writer I am–the differences are what’s most interesting, and far be it for me to take them for granted.
However, I didn’t want the novel to reek of speciesism. By definition, an alien lover is an exotic other (how can it be any different?). To be fair to those twelve-foot-tall furry brightly hued horned horny strongbeings, their anatomies and lifestyles would turn a quick, down-and-dirty alien romance into a socioeconomic exploration. I’m not the type of reader who finds that super sexy, although if you are, bonus points, tell me how you do it! So I decided on a humanoid alien. This put me squarely into Star Trek: The Original Series territory, where the aliens Captain Kirk & Co. played with were largely humanoid. It’s something I grew up with, and with which I’m absolutely comfortable. Score! One problem solved! Plus, my original germ of an idea started with the concept of an Earth woman meeting her One True Love at speed dating. Making that One True Love an alien being felt like icing on an already pretty good fresh-from-the-oven donut, so I ran with it.
I’ve long been a fan of Douglas Adams, and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is (to me) a nearly perfect book in so many ways. It’s interesting, it’s funny, it has great characters who are more complex than they seem on the surface, and it has a great deal of implausibility. If, as Samuel Taylor Coleridge posited, reading calls for “that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith,” then Douglas Adams really nailed it for me. The thing I love most about Adams’s work is that it’s completely infused with irreverence. If I could pick one trait about his writing to emulate, it’s that.
I decided my book needed to be exactly as irreverent as The Hitchhiker’s Guide, contain at least as much mortal peril, as many unexpected occurrences, as healthy a dose of moral ambiguity, and be in every possible way both as silly and brilliant. No pressure on me, though! I just wanted a lot more romance, because leaving those types of possibilities unexplored is not in my DNA. The same with pop culture references, because grounding the story in Earth experiences is key for my main character.
Grace the clumsy barista was born, then, along with a heaping fresh dose of Rhodes, my humanoid alien. Because geology is sexy in an underrated way Rhodes declared himself a rock hound, and became a galaxy-traversing crystal hunter. And because nothing about romance is ever smooth, he also declared himself on the run, for offenses both major and minor. I won’t spoil the books for you by telling you what those are, but that became a great impetus for both him and Grace to get the hell out of Dodge ASAP. To space they went.
Fast forward a year, almost exactly, and the entire three-book series was done. Writing friends, I hope you can find something to work on that brings you as much joy and satisfaction as these books have brought me. I’ve spent more time cackling over the concepts popping into my brain than I could ever have imagined. I couldn’t wait to sit down and write, because the ideas were overflowing. I kept lists of all the loose ends that needed tying up, and decided that unlike most alien romances where one book equals one couple’s story, I would make this a trilogy with all three books featuring both Grace and Rhodes, and their ever-evolving little family of beings coming along for the ride.
Today, I published the third and final book in the Cosmic Coffee series. I know I’m miserable at marketing, so finding them takes a minute (if you’re curious, there’s a buy link in my previous blog post). I’m also miserable at begging for reviews and recommendations, at running ads, at talking about my books so much that people start running away when they see me. But I’m really glad these books are out in the world, and that lovers of all things irreverent yet sexy, funny yet at least partially grounded in science fact, and adventurous yet comforting have the opportunity to find them. Read them. Enjoy them.
That’s what I’ve done this year. I’m happy about it, and beaming with a lot of pride. Thanks for reading!
Tomorrow, my sci-fi romance trilogy will be completed when book 3 (MAYBE…) releases.
For me, finishing things is always so bittersweet. I’ve been working on these silly, fun, romantic bits of escapism for the past year. In a world where things have so often gone horribly wrong, these books have been a balm to my soul.
I use a pen name since they are so different from the types of books I normally write. They not only border on the ridiculous but jump in feet first; the world they take place in is almost totally fabricated (but with just enough science to make it seem somewhat illogically logical). It’s a series that sprung nearly fully-formed from my imagination, and I’ve had so much fun writing these stories that it ought to be illegal. Fortunately, it isn’t.
Hopefully, that translates to a fun experience for my readers. So tomorrow, once the series is complete, all three books will be available on KU for those who don’t want to spend their hard-earned coffee money on ebooks. They’ll also be available to download for a few bucks each. You can find them here.
If you’re in the mood for a silly, pretty sweet, all-up-in-the-wilds-of-space adventure with
Then Cosmic Coffee is for you.
Bringing you these sexy space romances has been my absolute pleasure.
A year ago I crafted a WordPress goodbye post, based on the idea that my time of online blogging was at an end. It’s still sitting here in my draft folder. My personal reality is that I’m not one to make grand statements about “oh, this phase of my life is over, I won’t be using it anymore” or “I’m quitting writing forever” or any of those things. Because who knows what life will bring?
In my case, it brought a pen name and a new (to me) genre: humorous adventure sci-fi–think Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but with romance and even more romance. Over the course of the past year, I’ve written the Cosmic Coffee series of three novels, two of which are published with the third available in just under a month. So rather than blogging, I’ve been drafting and editing books, researching the ins and outs of getting them published, and basically enjoying myself as a writer in ways that I haven’t in a long, long time.
To me, enjoying the process is what it’s all about. I’ve laughed, cackled, giggled, rolled my eyes at my own words, and had more fun this past year than I can remember as a writer. My hope is that the joy I’ve had writing translates to an equal amount of joy for readers. But carving out an audience is no simple thing, and growing the audience is even more difficult. Marketing has become nearly a full-time job. Like many writers, it’s one I’m not very good at.
I am willing to use all the exposure I can get, though. So here I am, dusting off my trusty blog which, for reasons absolutely unknown to me, still gets some traffic despite my two-year gap in posting, for promo purposes. I’d like to direct you to my other site, ophelialeigh.com, where you can find links to all my books, play a cute make-your-own-adventure game, and find out more about the mysterious author Ophelia Leigh and what makes her tick.
Clicking the image below will take you to the series page on Amazon. Thank you in advance for giving these books a try–and if you like them, even better!
For a long time, I’ve been providing weekly prompts on Twitter under the hashtag #FridayKiss. We’re far from the first group to have a long-standing “here, have a prompt, let’s see what you can do with this by posting a line from your work in progress” — that kind of thing has been around forever.
#FridayKiss was intended at first for writers of romance only. It started as a “sweet or sexy line from your WIP,” but quickly adapted to include writers of any and all genres. While a lot of participants still share the sweetest and sexiest, the prompt doesn’t have to be used that way. It can highlight anything, from any type of work in progress.
With the recent changes in management at Twitter, we’ve expanded a bit. We always shared the prompts on the Friday Kiss Facebook group (one of the perks of being a member there is that you get a sneak peek of the prompt on Wednesday morning). I’m also now providing the prompt on both Instagram and Mastodon. I’ll continue providing the prompts on Twitter until or unless it becomes unusable or intolerable. I’m hoping that won’t happen.
Writers are invited to use the exact word in the prompt, a variation on that word, or the general “feel” the word invokes. It’s been fascinating to see some of the creative prompt interpretations over the years.
Prompts are posted on Thursday night at 7pm Pacific time on all three platforms — all you need to do is search for the #FridayKiss hashtag. The rules are minimal: no promo, no advertising or buy links. It’s not the place to pimp sales information for your book (I mean, if the book is a work in progress there shouldn’t be one anyway) and it’s not the place to critique anyone else’s writing. It’s been a joyous sharing and a way to build up the writing community.
I hope it continues that way!
Find the weekly prompts on these accounts: Instagram | Mastodon | Twitter | Facebook – or simply search the hashtag #FridayKiss
Dreaming in Character 