Coastal Magic Featured Author & Giveaway - - Seressia Glass

Welcome back for this month's Coastal Magic Convention 2024 Featured Author Post. In the spotlight today is Featured Author Seressia Glass. Seressia is known for a variety of writing genres as shown below in her bio. I'm currently reading her new (12/12/23) romcom, GAME ON. Only 28% in and I'm already hooked. Let me tell you, straight up, you do not have to be a gamer (I am so not) to enjoy this book! Scroll below for more information about Seressia, her books, an excerpt from GAME ON, and a giveaway.

Seressia Glass is an award-winning author of more than twenty-five contemporary and paranormal romance and urban fantasy stories. Her paranormal series, (Shadowchasers, Sons of Anubis) are steeped in Egyptian mythology. Her most recent release is THE LOVE CON, a story about a plus-sized nerd in a cosplaying reality show competition. She lives south of Atlanta with her guitar-wielding husband, gamer son, and two attack poodles. When not writing, she’s at her day job as an instructional designer or watching K-dramas.

Seressia has always been a voracious reader and turned to writing at an early age, using her fantastical tales for extra credit in school. Her proudest writing moment remains winning the first Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday “Living the Dream” essay contest as a high school senior and getting to meet Coretta Scott King and read her essay to the King family. Since then, she’s gone on to write a motley crew of characters and creatures including witches, werewolves, djinn, demons, Egyptian deities and jackal shapeshifters with a few humans thrown into the mix. No matter who or what she’s writing about, Seressia weaves in the universal themes of acceptance and being comfortable in one’s own skin. 

GAME ON

by Seressia Glass

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: December 12, 2023

Samara Reynolds has built a large following as a gamer under an anonymous screen name, and uses her skills as a DEIA consultant to advocate for equal representation in video games. When she posted a video critiquing the popular game Legendsfall, she knew she’d get a reaction from her fans, but the video leads to hundreds of female gamers critiquing the game and its company, Artemis Games. The only thing more unexpected than starting an online movement is getting a job offer from the handsome CEO of Artemis.

Aron Galanis has been on a mission to get his company certified to create gaming content for people with disabilities. When he sees Artemis trending online for all the wrong reasons, he’s determined to right his wrongs and offers the originator a mea culpa, as well as a job offer to overhaul the character options in Legendsfall.

Working together turns Aron and Samara from adversaries into allies, allies into friends, and after that—something more. But once their relationship goes public, will Aron and Samara be able to weather the storm and fight for their happy ending, or is it game over?

EXCERPT

“Hey, Aron.”

He looked up from the documents he’d spread across the coffee table. “Yes?

Samara grabbed a file folder, then rose. She opened it to read as she walked toward him. “Did you see this report on five-year pro—ah!”

Time slowed. He watched in horror as Samara tripped, then pitched forward, her head on a crash course with the table. Fear rose like bile in his throat as he sprang to his feet to break her fall. He managed to grab her, but her forward momentum sent him falling back. They landed on the couch, bumped foreheads, then lips.

Just a couple of seconds of their lips touching, but it seemed like more as she stared at him in undeniable shock. Then she scrambled backward and shot to her feet, rubbing at her forehead.

He stood too. “Are you okay?”

She put her left hand on her hip while still massaging her forehead with her right. “Other than falling into a rom-com situation, I’m fine.”

What? He scrunched his eyebrows in bewilderment. “A rom-com situation? Is this something that happens often?”

“In a romantic comedy, yes. In real life, no.”

His bewilderment deepened. “So that was supposed to be romantic?”

She dropped her hand. “No . . . well, I did discover that your eyes are even more gorgeous nose to nose, and your lips are damnably soft and kissable.”

“Kissable?” He touched a finger to his mouth, still feeling Samara’s lips against his. Her body against his. “Do you consider that a kiss?”

“Yes, albeit an accidental one, not a good one.”

“I think I’ve just been insulted.” He took a step closer to her with a smile. “I think I need to correct that.”

She sucked in a breath, then spoke, her voice as soft as night. “Correct what?”

“That bad kiss. I can’t leave you with that memory. I need to give you a better one. Is that reckless of me?”

She gazed at him, silently considering. He stared back just as long, longer, an eternity of waiting. Finally, she spoke. “Can it really be called reckless if it’s something we’ve both wanted to do since that night with the dinosaurs?”

She—did she—did he hear her right? He had to make sure. “Can I kiss you right now?”

Her eyes softened. “How about we kiss each other?”

Somehow, he managed to answer her. “I would like that very much.”

Instead of moving forward, she drew her hands up to frame his face. Her thumb brushed beneath his eye, a soft caress that burned him to his core. “I can finally touch you like this.”

“Touch me all you want.” Okay, maybe not all she wanted. He didn’t need to pop off like a firecracker with a short fuse. “Just remember to kiss me.”

“Oh, trust and believe, I won’t forget that.”

The low, husky laugh made his body tighten in ways that had to be obvious to her. Yet she continued to stroke his cheeks as if oblivious as she held his gaze. “I’m sure you’ve had lots of ladies tell you how beautiful your eyes are.”

Maybe, but in that moment he couldn’t recall a single one. “I don’t remember,” he confessed, bringing his hands up to mirror her gesture. “But you can bet that I’ll definitely remember this.”

He stared at her for a long moment, just drinking in the reality of having her with him like this. She’d talked about his eyes, but hers were deep pools of onyx with sparks of amber shooting through. He wanted to dive in headfirst and knew if he did, he’d never want to come back out.

“So much hidden here,” he whispered, grazing his thumbs beneath her eyes. He raised his head, closing the distance between them until their mouths met, meshed. She hadn’t reapplied her lipstick after dinner, and her lips were soft and full and wonderful against his. It was a sweet, exploring kiss that made his muscles tremble with the need to clutch her closer.

She drew back, dark eyes hazy. “Mm-hmm, pizza and cider and kisses. I need more of alla that.”

They came together again, and this time, oh, this time it was game on. He turned, putting her beneath him, so that he could kiss her with all the bottled-up need he possessed. Her hands slid up his shoulders to clasp together around his neck, her mouth hungry against his.

It took a superhuman effort to pull away from her, but he managed. Barely. “I should . . . probably go home now.”

She pushed her hair back, blowing out a breath. “You are home.”

“Oh yeah.” He looked around. “I forgot.”

“So did I.” She touched a fingertip to her lips with a soft smile that produced a shadow of her dimple. “But I do need to go. It’s way later than I thought, and we both have work to do in the morning.”

“I want to date you.”

 ~~~~~~~~~~

Readers, have you read any of Seressia's books yet?

Do you enjoy video games? How about cosplay?

One randomly chosen person who posts a comment before 11:00 PM, December 16 will receive a signed copy of GAME ON.

*U.S. only

*Must be 18