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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.
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.
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.”
