There's lots going on here at Casa Clare, so here’s a quick catchup.

I finished working with Kaleo Griffith on the audiobook edition of Dead By Midnight: An I-Team Christmas. The audiobook should be out late this week or perhaps next week. Kaleo did an amazing job narrating the story — as he always does — with the sex scenes pretty much melting my earbuds as I “proofed” the recordings. All of you OKD sufferers — that’s Obsessive Kaleo Disorder, for those of you who aren’t yet addicts — are going to get a huge fix soon.

I am so excited to share this with you. I had forgotten that the story starts with Kat and Gabe getting it on, so I went from nothing to meltdown in about 2.2 seconds. You’ll have to be wearing asbestos panties not to get hot and bothered by the sound of Kaleo’s voice reading that scene (or the one of Marc and Sophie in the bathroom or the one of Zach and Natalie or Julian and Tessa at the end).

If you haven’t yet read Dead By Midnight, the most exciting of all the I-Team stories in my opinion, it is available in both ebook and paperback.

Close to Heaven is out in paperback

Close To Heaven: A Colorado High Country Christmas is out in paperback now. Thanks to those of you who took the time to read the story and share your reviews on Goodreads and Amazon.

If you haven’t snagged your copy of Joe and Rain’s sweet and sexy Christmas story, it’s available on Amazon, iBooks, B&N, and Kobo, as well as Smashwords.

I'm about to start working on Joaquin’s story. Yes, you read that right. An I-Team story.

After writing straight contemporary romance for the past year and a half, it will be fun to return to romantic suspense. (Yes, the Colorado High Country series was straight contemporary, something I tried very hard to communicate with readers, who nonethless complained that there wasn't enough suspense. Er... There's no suspense in straight contemporaries.)

No, I’m not abandoning the Colorado High Country series. I love the characters far too much to just skip town. But Joaquin’s story finally gelled in my imagination, so it’s time to give the poor guy his own HEA. He’s been waiting for years!

It’s been a while since I've hung out with the I-Team gang, but working on the audiobook for Dead By Midnight was a good warm-up for taking the series foward. I hope you’re as excited as I am.

Follow me on Book+Main Bites

Also, I have joined Books+Main Bites, so register if you want to come hang and read excerpts from your favorite authors all day. You can find me under @PamelaClare. There are no sales pushes on Books+Main Bites, just sexy photos and lots of exerpts and deleted chapters, etc. This gives authors and readers a snark-free place to hang out that is blissfully far from the chaos and negativity of Facebook.

On the home front...

On the personal side, my sister is flying in for the Christmas holiday on Thursday. She lives in Stockholm, so this is the only time of the year I really get to spend with her. She is my best friend, so I’m very excited to see her again.

As a final bit of good news, I decided to get my blood work for my January oncology checkup done early so that I didn’t have it hanging over my head during the Christmas season. I got the results back today, and everything was normal! Hallelujah. Dec. 9 will mark the three-year anniversary of my last day of radiation. That’s the day I’ll be able to call myself a three-year breast cancer survivor.

That makes my Christmas bright all by itself.

Watch for news about the release of the audiobook edition of Dead By Midnight coming soon!

The day finally arrived!

Seduction Game (I-Team #7) is finally available in paperback wherever books are sold. You can find it through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Indiebound, which is independent and delivers around the world.

CIA officer Nick Andris wants revenge. His last mission failed after a Georgian arms smuggler killed his lover. He’s been tailing a woman for three weeks hoping she will lead him to his target. But there’s a problem with the intel. Holly Elise Bradshaw is nothing more than an entertainment writer with a love for sex and designer clothes. Clearly someone at Langley made a mistake...

When Holly finds herself in trouble, the only weapons at her disposal are her brains and her body. But they won’t be enough to handle the man who’s following her. He’s going to turn her world upside down.

The book has a 4.8 average after 110 reviews on Amazon and a 4.33 average after 824 ratings on Goodreads and is the lightest, most humorous I-Team story to date.

The story is also available for Kindle, Nook, iBooks, Google Play, Kobo, and in audiobook via Amazon, Audible, and iTunes.

When you finish, be sure to pick up Dead by Midnight: An I-Team Christmas. Christmas is merely the backdrop for this story of danger, loyalty, and courage.





Marc and Sophie Hunter, Gabe and Kat Rossiter, Holly Andris and the rest of the I-Team gang find themselves in the same historic Denver hotel celebrating the approach of Christmas at different holiday parties. What starts out as a fun winter evening with friends soon becomes a brutal fight to survive when the hotel is taken over by a group of ruthless narcoterrorists who will stop at nothing to get what they want. On the outside, Julian Darcangelo, Zach McBride, Nick Andris, and others join together with the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team in a desperate bid to free their friends, knowing that if they fail, the people they love will be… Dead by Midnight. 

Featuring cameo appearances by the men of the FBI Hostage Rescue Team, a series by New York Times bestselling author Kaylea Cross.

Dead By Midnight is available in paperback, for Kindle, Nook, iBooks, Kobo and in all ebook formats internationally via Smashwords.

Happy reading!

My Christmas shopping is done. Last night’s snow is shoveled. The gifts are wrapped — or at least stuffed artfully into pretty gift bags. (Am I the only one who prefers bags to the misery of wrapping presents?) The Christmas cards are written and mailed. The groceries are packed into the fridge and the cupboards.

Christmas is almost here! My very favorite time of year.


Before I vanish to celebrate my first Christmas with my new baby grandson Oliver, I wanted to make sure you all knew that Seduction Game, which had been slated for a March 2016 release, has been bumped up to Jan. 5.

That’s right around the corner. You won’t even have time to work off the egg nog — to say nothing of the turkey, stuffing, chocolate, Christmas cookies, and fudge — before Seduction Game hits bookstore shelves. Jot it down on your calendar before you forget — January 5.

This is the first time the book is out in paperback. It was released in ebook and audiobook formats in October, a kind gesture from my publisher, who wanted to help me get back on my feet financially after last year’s health struggles.

If you missed the ebook release, you can grab it for Kindle, Nook, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play and in audiobook formats. It’s also available in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia in ebook and soon in print.

Seduction Game marks the last long novel in the series, with Dead By Midnight: An I-Team Christmas marking the series grand finale. Like the big burst of fireworks at the end of a Fourth of July celebration, Dead By Midnight, a short novel, pulls out all the stops, bringing the I-Team cast together in a fight for their lives.

The story features cameos by the men from the FBI Hostage Rescue Series by New York Times Bestselling author Kaylea Cross. And what fun that was! (Tip: Marked, the first book in that series is FREE right now for ebooks!)

One thing is for certain: The bad guys in this story have no idea what they’ve set in motion. You might say — and Tuck does — that they took the wrong damned group of people hostage. Too bad for them.

Reviewer Blithley Bookish called Dead By Midnight “hands down the best holiday read of the season,” which made my day, of course.

Dead By Midnight: An I-Team Christmas is available in paperback and around the world in ebook for Kindle, Nook, iBooks, and Kobo. It’s also available in all ebook formats at Smashwords.

The great thing about these two stories is how much fun I had writing them. I hope you’ll check them out!

Now, back to baking and wrapping and last-minute shopping!

Merry Christmas to all my friends readers around the world who celebrate! I wish you and your families every happiness this holiday season and in the new year ahead.

You’ve been emailing me and asking me about T-shirts and I-Team schwag for years. I finally had time to do something about it.

Today, I’m announcing the opening of the I-Team Shop at Cafe Press. There you’ll find everything from T-shirts and hoodies to canvas bags and keychains to shower curtains and iPhone cases—all featuring the official I-Team logo.

But first, the background and why these logos mean so much to me.

My friend Lynsey Marion designed the logos for me a couple of years ago with a Cafe Press shop in mind. I was diganosed with breast cancer before I got a chance to do anything with them, and the logos sat unused (apart from the banner on the Facebook I-Team group page). Then real tragedy struck, and Lysey died suddenly.

She and I had worked at the newspaper together in Boulder and had become good friends. I was heartbroken. She was only 41.



I had drafts of the logos, but not the final files. The images she’d sent had been for me to proof and weren’t large enough to use on T-shirts or anything else. I contacted Carrie Divine of Seductive Designs and asked her whether she thought she’d be able to rebuild the logos so that I could use them. She went to work on it—a very special project—and she was able to do it.

A HUGE thanks to Carrie for that.

Another huge thank you to Sara Jackson, who stepped in when I was pulling my hair out to design and set up the Cafe Press shop, giving it a nice store front and figuring out how to get the logos on various products.

Thanks to their help and kindness, Lynsey’s designs live on—a way of keeping my friend with me.

And although the I-Team series is over—for now—you can keep it with you, too, on a water bottle or coffee mug.  A portion of the proceeds goes to me, which will be a big help in getting me back on my financial feet again after the disaster that was 2014.

Click here to check it out!




Many thanks to those of you who’ve read Dead by Midnight: An I-Team Christmas. The reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. One reader called the short novel “a love letter to your readers, those who have been loyal to the I-Team for so long. A Christmas gift. Emotionally satisfying.” Another called it the best end to a series she’d ever read.

If you haven’t gotten your copy yet, you can get it in ebook on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iBooks and Smashwords, or in paperback.

I strongly recommend you read Seduction Game first because Dead By Midnight takes place after that story and contains spoilers.

Thanks to everyone who has read both books and posted reviews. I really appreciate your support!

Happy Holidays!

In a nutshell: After a crazy writing marathon that has left my house looking like a tornado went through it, I finished DEAD BY MIDNIGHT: AN I-TEAM CHRISTMAS, edited it, and, with my son Benjamin’s help, got it uploaded.

I love the cover, by the way. There’s been some debate about who this is on the cover. It’s Marc. But if you’re Team Gabe, you could think of him as Gabe. (It’s Marc!)

I had planned on Tuesday, Nov. 17, being release day, but Amazon got the book up within hours. So if you’re a Kindle reader, there’s no waiting. If you prefer Nook or iBooks, it should be out right on time. Kobo and paperback might take a while.

Click here for Amazon UK, Amazon AU, and Amazon CA.

What can I tell you about this book? It’s not even up on my website yet. I was too busy writing it to spend time writing about it.

One reader who just finished it wrote to me to say, “Pamela, this was an amazing, gut-wrenching, crying, scared spitless thriller.” And that about sums it up. It tells the story of one night that brings all of our favorite I-Team couples together in a fight for survival.

Here’s the blurb from the back of the book:

Marc and Sophie Hunter, Gabe and Kat Rossiter, Holly Andris and the rest of the I-Team gang find themselves in the same historic Denver hotel celebrating the approach of Christmas at different holiday parties. What starts out as a fun winter evening with friends soon becomes a brutal fight to survive when the hotel is taken over by a group of ruthless narcoterrorists who will stop at nothing to get what they want. 

On the outside, Julian Darcangelo, Zach McBride, Nick Andris, and others join together with the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team in a desperate bid to free their friends, knowing that if they fail, the people they love will be… 

Dead by Midnight. 

Featuring cameo appearances by the men of the FBI Hostage Rescue Team, a series by New York Times bestselling author Kaylea Cross.

Yes, DeLuca, Tuck, Evers, Vance, Cruz, Bauer, Schroder, and Blackwell spend some time with my I-Team guys, trying to save lives. It was a fun cross-pollination, and I hope it encourages my readers to try Kaylea Cross's Hostage Rescue Team series.

How about an excerpt?

________________________

From DEAD BY MIDNIGHT: AN I-TEAM CHRISTMAS

Marc stopped, fought to catch his breath, pressing a hand against the painful graze on his ribs. His fingers came away bloody. There was nothing he could do about that now. He had bigger problems. He could just hear the bad guys talking to one another somewhere on the roof above. He wouldn’t be able to sneak up on them breathing like he’d just run up seven flights of stairs.

That’s why they call it FAT Tire, Hunter.

Yeah, too much beer—and too little time in the gym.

He’d ditched the idea of taking an elevator when the doors had opened with a loud ding that had made every asshole in the lobby look up. The fuckers had started shooting. He’d been lucky to get out of there alive.

He’d had to take off his fancy dress shoes because the soles made so much noise, every step he took echoing in the stairwell. Now he was running around with a pistol in his hand and wearing nothing but socks, tuxedo pants, a starched white shirt stained red with his own blood—and a fine black tie.

Just like James fucking Bond.

His heartbeat and respiration slowed, Sophie’s lingering scent reminding him with every breath exactly what was at stake tonight. He did his best to put her out of his mind. He wouldn’t be able to help her or anyone else if he didn’t focus.

Sheridan will keep her safe. She’ll be okay.

So now what?

He leaned back against the cold concrete wall, mulled over the possibilities.
 
There were four of them, and he had four bullets. Even if he snuck up on them, he doubted he’d be able to squeeze off four rounds with absolute accuracy using only a pistol before one of them lit him up. What he needed was a way to eliminate all four of them at once without giving himself away.

Dream on, buddy.

He slowly climbed the last flight of stairs, stopping to the left of the open door, frigid night air pouring in from the darkness. He glanced around the corner.

Nothing.

He stepped outside. It wasn’t as dark as he’d thought it would be, security lights on the parapets casting an eerie yellow glow. He glanced around, pistol raised, finger on the trigger. The hotel’s triangular roof was a maze of external ductwork, enormous ventilation and air conditioning units, what looked like a greenhouse and…

Beehives?

Keeping low, he made his way around the bulkhead and along a long line of ductwork. A movement in the darkness. Voices.

He froze.

All four of them were gathered at the south end of the building, near its prow where The Palace overlooked the star-shaped intersection of Broadway, Seventeenth, and Court Place, with its public park and bus stops. They were bent over something with flashlights. One of them moved, giving Marc a glance.

A Ma Deuce.

The bastards had a fucking Ma Deuce—a Browning M2 machine gun. If they managed to get that thing up and running, they would have enough firepower to take down targets up to two thousand yards away.

Marc’s SWAT team would be fish in a barrel.

He took a moment to think, trying to ignore the fact that he was fucking freezing, the frigid wind cutting right through him. He made his way back along the ductwork to a place he felt was secure, then pulled out his cell phone and sent Irving a quick text.

Four perps on roof setting up a Browning M2 .50 cal. May have RPGs, etc. I’m going to try to take them out.

If he failed, at least Irving and Marc’s teams would be warned.

Quickly and quietly, he retraced his path along the ductwork, moving in closer this time, trying to make up for the limited range of his pistol. He tried to line up a shot, felt himself shivering.

Get a grip, Hunter!

He willed his body to relax, surrendered to the cold, then set it out of his mind.

He lined up his shot and … squeezed the trigger.

Bam!

One down.

Shouting at one another, the others grabbed their weapons, one aiming into the darkness and spraying bullets in Marc’s general direction, rounds slamming into the ductwork around him with a dull thwack thwack thwack thwack thwack.

Bent low, he ran, taking cover behind some AC vents and peering out at the three men, ignoring the vibration of his cell phone. Two perps had gone back to work on the M2, while the third stood sentry, rifle in his hands, cell phone in his hand, thumb moving over the keys. He was probably calling for backup.

Well, Marc couldn’t let him get away with that. He took aim, fired again.

Bam!

Another one down.

The others had laid their weapons aside to work on the Ma Deuce.

Marc saw his chance.

He rushed them, stopping to fire at the first one to aim a rifle at him.

Bam!

A miss.

Shit!

Fueled by a surge of adrenaline, Marc dove for cover.

(c) 2015 Pamela Clare