client releases

2023’s first quarter has been very busy with editing, but I do have a couple client publications to announce.

Popular sci-fi romance author Ami Wright has launched a new series co-written with Maddie Syn: Fated Mates of the Qol’rakii. The first two books in the series, The Alien Protector’s Lady and The Alien Protector’s Sunshine have been released. The series has Wright’s popular mix of strong-minded, independent modern female leads meeting alien males. The Qol’rakii males, mind-bonded to flying “dragons” called Ta’qol, essentially have taken oaths of chastity while they are charged with protecting the rakii, an endangered species on their home planet. But a Fated Mate bond is hard to resist – especially when aided by aphrodisiac hormones given off by the rakii. The genre is definitely erotic romance.

Ami also published book 2 in another alien sci-fi romance series, Alien Billionaires. The Alien Billionaire’s Fake Girlfriend features a playboy needing a girlfriend to get his parents off his back about an arranged marriage. Enter Cassie, the best friend of his best friend’s girl. This is a delightful romance within the universe Wright first created for The Lost Romans series, but now featuring the Ximians, polar-bear-human hybrids, of the third planet in her colonized by Earth system. It also brings forefront the situation for those living in the junkyard floating around Earth called Fortuna and how the people there are being exploited. Frequent readers of Wright’s stories will appreciate the social commentary underpinning her stories even as things “heat” up between Cassie and Lennox.

A new client to LZ Edits, in February 2023, January Bell delivered book 5 of her popular series Accidental Alien Brides, Wed to the Alien Beast. Giving a new twist to the familiar Beauty and the Beast story, a young woman finds herself taken captive and married to a beast of a guy – who then gets amnesia in a dangerous wilderness. The self-sufficient young woman pilot proves herself quite capable in this alien wilderness, but there are just some dangers he’s more familiar with handling than she is. If only he could remember…

In April, YA spec-fic author Marlena Frank delivered the fifth book in The Wolves of Kanta series, The Howl of Kanta. A cure for lycanthropy may be Kanta’s last best hope and Mercy is determined to save her friends from wrongful execution. Can both be done? A thrilling struggle right to the end, this series has just been getting better and better. Mercy’s maturation throughout this series as she struggles to find her place and make a difference has been a joy to read.

I just finished edits on Annie Ballard’s third book in the Sisters of Stella Mare series, A Home out of Ashes. It’s available for pre-order and will be published in August 2023. This wonderful domestic drama series is set in the Canadian Maritimes and centers around the Madison sisters. Book 3 tells Rett’s story. She’s going through a quite a struggle. Her husband Harry is off to the wild north to do his Ph.D. and what she thinks is just a few days off from her nursing responsibilities to adjust to caring for their three children on her own becomes an indefinite suspension when deaths in the end of life facility where she works as a nurse become the focus of a law enforcement investigation. Rett must figure out financial solutions fast as her income dries up. She relocates her family from Saint Jacques to Stella Mare to save money and draw on the support of her family (father James, aunt Corrine, and sisters Dorie, Evie, and Helen). Meanwhile, Harry’s discovering some hard truths about himself at mid-life. Going from stay-at-home dad to Ph.D. student isn’t the easiest transition in the world. Societal questions about cultural heritage, environmental sustainability, and the compassionate care for patients at the end-of-life are threaded throughout this delightful read.

Another delightful newcomer to LZ Edits, Norah Pritchard will have her debut fiction The Other Side of Forever published in June 2023. Newly divorced mom Allie Hart returns to her hometown and meets the owner of her rental, construction company owner Davis Henderson, a widower with two children. Both are immediately aware of attraction, but both also have strong reasons for avoiding romance. This is a slow-burn “small towns are gossipy matchmaking places” romance with some serious spice when these two finally get together. There’s a small age gap (Allie’s not quite 30, Davis is over-40) that also plays into their romance. Warning: there’s a couple scenes that could be triggering or traumatic for readers: a nightmare recalling the night Davis’s wife died, and a medical scare with Allie’s son, who has type 1 diabetes. It’s a strong lead-in for a series that will share the same setting. Several of the supporting cast get well-rounded characterizations, clearly preparing for their own lead roles in subsequent books.

I’ll post about more client releases soon, but you can always find a list of my clients’ books here.

~ Lara

PS – If you’re looking for an editor, I do have openings for new clients starting in June. You can read about my services using the links at the top of the page, or tell me about your story and get a no-obligation quote by clicking below.