Guest Blog: The Evolution of Dead Reality, by Jess Anastasi

Greetings, folks! Let's all give a warm, warm welcome to the very first guest blogger ever at Fantasy Unbound, Jess Anastasi!

Jess has a new novel with Noble Romance, and before I turn the floor over to her to talk about its evolution, let's start off with a blurb:

FBI Special Agent Ella Waverly is wrapping up one last assignment before heading off on her first holiday in five years. But thoughts of flip-flops and cocktails are the last thing on her mind when she meets the new team leader, Special Agent Bryce Lain, and finds out her long-planned-for holiday is being scuttled for an undercover assignment.

Agent Lain is gorgeous, the kind of gorgeous that guarantees he's an arrogant jerk. The news that he'll be her partner in the dangerous mission is almost enough to make her head explode. Before the day is out, Ella finds herself at Little Palm Island Resort in Florida, masquerading as a contestant on the latest reality TV show—Lord Bachelor. The bachelor in question, a disgraced British peer, is suspected of raping and murdering several women back in London.

Though Ella knows it safer where her heart's concerned to deny it, the longer she's stuck with Bryce, the more she sees there could be a man worth loving beneath the impossibly good-looking exterior.

As humidity frizzes her hair beyond the help of any type of de-frizzing, smoothing, glossing product, Ella tries to wrangle working against nineteen husband-hungry bimbos, one suspected serial killer, and one seriously hot agent who's trying everything he can to get under her skin.

And now Jess, below the jump.

Better Shovel the Walk, We're Having Visitors!

Morning, folks. Like so many of you, I am once again buried under a foot of snow. Not so crazy about shoveling out the walk and the car (which decided yesterday that it no longer wanted to start, grrr), but I do love being up before dawn and staring out at a world blanketed in silent, sparkly white. Few things in life are more beautiful than a fresh, deep coating of snow.

But enough about the weather outside; we've got some exciting things going on inside this week, too!

First--and yeah, okay, this may not exactly qualify as "exciting"--I'm being interviewed today over at S.R. Claridge's blog. Pop in and say hi; it gets cold and lonely out there by yourself. And while you're there, check out her place. She does some fun things.

Tomorrow, author Jess Anastasi will be stopping by right here to talk about the evolution of her new book, Dead Reality. Any book whose opening line is "They didn't have a nuclear bomb." is probably going to be a thrill a minute, so be sure to pop in and say hello.

Then on Friday, of course, the Anchored Release Party Blog Tour kicks off!

First stop is author Nina Pierce's blog, where you can read about how the Anchor idea was born (and also goatees), and comment to win a free book or a swag bag! Second stop, also on Friday, is the first exclusive excerpt from Anchored, and an interview with me by author Angela White. There too you can comment to win a free book or a swag bag. For those of you who have been waiting to read the book, this is your first chance. At both stops, I'll be hanging throughout the day to chat with you all in the comments. Ooh, and look, I have a shiny new book page over at Noble! This is where the book will go up for sale on January 17.

And now off to finish final proofing on Anchored and go ruin all that pretty fresh snow :-)