by Amanda Milo
Twenty-eight stubby, thick-boned legs gallop after Kota who leaps on the flatbed and wags her tail madly as she stares down at all of her new friends/playmates from a safe distance.
With their prey out of their reach, they’re stymied, and I’m chuckling until they turn as one for my female.
“Not a chance, you little ankle-munching aliens,” I chastise, and I sweep Sanna up and into the safety of my arms. “Would you like to meet them one at a time, salk?” I ask her, thinking to set her on the flatbed with Kota and handing her pups one by one.
Her tear-dampened lashes sweep her cheeks as her face splits in a wide grin. “Nah, let me be covered in toothy puppies. But save me if I start to scream!” she laughs. “How many are there?” She kicks her feet happily. “They sound like shepherd puppies. Am I wrong?”
Before I answer, I devour her mouth.
Tiny pinprick teeth lock around my calf muscle. It must be an alienbreed trait. I let Sanna up for air, but nibble her lip as I answer. “You’re not wrong. Prepare to meet the foundations of your very own kennel.”
Sanna’s hands catch me by my jaw spikes. “I love you so much.”
I smile down at her radiant face. “Ready to love me more?”
“Is that even possible?”
She’s talked so animatedly about her family’s lines, I started committing ranch names—called kennel names for the species Earthens call canines—to memory. Then I supplied Ekan with what he needed to know in order to begin tracking them down.
I rattle off the kennels this juvenile stock hails from—and Sanna begins to cry. By the time I reach the name of her own family’s kennel, the same one Kota is out of—Sanna is sobbing.
“Sanna,” I say thickly as I raise her tighter to my chest in a bid to heartmeld her tears away. “My intention was not to break your heart.”
“You didn’t,” she cries. “You just made it fall for you a little more.”
“Ah, in that case, I’m glad to see that my plan worked,” I mutter huskily. I want to kiss her again, but now I’ve collected five distinct sets of jaws clamped at various points on my legs, and the woman I love has professed an enthusiasm for catching these furred menace’s interest. “I’m going to lower you as a puppy sacrifice now. Prepare yourself.”
She’s trying not to cry even as she’s bursting with laughter. “I’m ready! Drop me!”
Shifting her to a—momentarily—puppy-free area, I do as my laughing female says: I open my arms and let her fall.
Is the dog okay?
^^THIS has been the number one question, again and again, since Stolen by an Alien came out. Kota was only mentioned in Two Sentences, but the response was beautifully astounding. Amazon to Bookbub, the burning need to know about this guide dog’s welfare has popped up as questions and comments as readers were driven to close their kindle covers and hunt for answers.
That. Is. COOL.
Thank you to everyone who reached out to me and offered to fact check a story lived through a blind woman. You guys are amazing! To author Shannon Gayle for dropping everything for this story and for saying yes to an interview. THANK YOU.
Loud cheers and free S’mores to my ARC Team for pulling double duty and being AWESOME. =D
Thank you to the amazing book blogs who help spread the word and share booklove: Nancy at East Coast Book Chicks & VanSpunky, Boundless Book Reviews, Veronica Scott’s beautiful slice of Happy Ever After at USA Today, Nights of Passion Blog, Bubbles the Book Pimp, Psychotic Chipmunk’s blog, Under the Covers Book Blog, After Dark Book Lovers blog, Lisa with Unlimited Book Reviews on Youtube, and more—you’re gems.
To everyone who nominated Arokh and voted for him in the Best Possessive Hero Awards, awww! *HEART EYES* YOU GUYS!!! *Thank You.*
Thank you to April and Megan for running the Book Recommendations group on Facebook like bosses. <3 Thank you to the members of both groups for bringing great memes, funny clips, the *perfect* GIFS to get through the day, and the most heartwarming well wishes. I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!
And thank YOU for clicking this story: if you’re new to alien romance or if you’re an alien-rom veteran with a fictional bookharem of more alien boyfriends than you’ve got rooms in your house—I hope you enjoyed the ride. :}
I know this book is a little different from the rest of the series and readers are going to be wondering if you think this story is worth their time. All of the unicorn-horn powder I was able to trade for has been stuffed into these pages with the yearning that it’ll hit you in the happy feels and if you get the time to tap out a review to tell them so, you have my sincerest gratitude! ♥
Thanks for reading Sanna and Breslin and Kota’s story! :D
(...And Meesahrah’s XD)
Much, much love,
Amanda
www.AmandaMilo.com
Newsletter: https://bit.ly/2DlAKR7
P.S. Read on for a cool Interview, Book Recommendations and Book Links…
Interview with Shannon Gayle
When people learned that I was writing this book, they had questions about those who experience the world different than they do. So when Author Shannon Gayle approached me with, “I happen to be blind myself, and, if you ever do decide to write that story, I’d love to offer any help I can about getting blindness right,” I did what anyone would do: I captured her to keep next to my writing desk (not really, but kind of) and asked if she’d be up for being interviewed too.
Spoiler alert: She said yes. :D
I’ve since had many, many wonderful individuals introduce themselves and offer help. It’s been fascinating—everybody’s experience is different, everybody’s preferences are different. For example: some blind individuals are perfectly happy with their canes as their mobility aids and for various reasons choose not to have a guide dog.
To everyone that reached to me: THANK YOU.
Without further ado, let’s hop into the interview.
Amanda: Danke schön, Shannon! Are ya Ready? =D
Amanda: Tell us about your job. Please =)
Shannon: I work for our state’s library for the blind, so I know that the experience of a young person who is blind and an elderly person is different. I’ve never been able to see, so it’s always been easier for me to adapt and find accommodations I need because I’ve always had to. Most of my elderly patrons don’t have that frame of reference and a loss of vision is just one more way their body shuts down, you know?
Amanda: You’re on Facebook! How do you read?
Shannon: I use a screen reader that renders text both on my computer and my phone.
Amanda: Can it read emojis?
Shannon: It handles emojis pretty well, so I can read them! Although I was using the old-fashioned emoticons all the time before that was a thing. :P
Amanda: That’s so cool!! Can your reader read GIFs?
Shannon: Sadly, no gifs. I can make memes work sometimes because I can port the photo into another app that will read the text, but gifs don’t render at all. So half the time I feel like I’m having the Facebook equivalent of conversations where I’m listening in to one half of a telephone call.
Amanda: In the story, Sanna mentions she wears dark glasses to avoid being harassed when she takes Kota to certain establishments. Possibly due to portrayl in television shows and movies, there’s a perception that if a person is blind, they automatically wear dark shades--but what’s your experience?
Shannon: My personal experience is that I don’t. But a lot of blind people find it easier to wear them, especially if they’re sensitive to light. I’m not especially light-sensitive, and in fact I have pretty good light perception, so the shades would hinder me more than they’d help.
These were submitted questions:
I’m always spilling/feeding food to my shirt. How does a blind person clean up stains on their clothing?
Shannon: If I catch it, I always daub the area with cold water right away. Sometimes I have to get some help applying stain remover, but the real answer t
o this question is that I try really hard not to wear white if I can avoid it. And periodically I get people to help me go through my clothes and throw anything away that has obvious stains I didn’t notice.
When you’re walking around town or a city, how often do you get lost?
Shannon: I know the routes I take to work, and to some of the places I go to most frequently. When I don’t, I try to take steps to mitigate that, like by getting clear directions beforehand or taking a taxi somewhere so I don’t have to walk through several blocks of unfamiliar neighborhoods.
Do you have a guide dog?
Shannon: I do not. I’d like to, but at this point it’s not practical. (I keep getting really close to applying to guide dog schools, and then my circumstances keep changing. At this point who knows if it’ll ever happen?)
Do you read braille?
Shannon: I do! Also I’m very passionate about Braille literacy. These days for fun I mostly listen to books, but I do read Braille for my job. I don’t have statistics, but I do know that 90 percent of the blind people I know who are employed are fluent Braille readers.
Amanda: THANK YOU SO MUCH, Shannon!! Is there anything you wished more people knew?
Shannon: Honestly, I wish people wouldn’t be afraid [of being blind]. People have a perception that blindness has to be a state of complete dependence, but I live a fulfilling life on my own terms, the same way anyone else would.
Book Recs and Book Linkage!
To every one of you that’s said “I liked the book recommendations at the end”—this is for you! =)
I really, *really* liked His Contract, a BDSM romance by Rebecca Grace Allen: https://amzn.to/2F8P6pt
She has a second book I hope to get to next, and although reviews say its style is a little different to accommodate the characters, I’m still in!
Is it just me or is this next one HOT??! I’m only part way in, and I think my Kindle caught fire. Get ready for Reverse Harem deliciousness (Seriously: this is NSFW.) Princess Shanyin by Jeannie Lin writing as Liliana Lee: https://amzn.to/2F87gHX
I read very few contemporary (Mariana Zapata and Jana Aston being two auto-buy exceptions—ladies, I’m patiently waiting to devour your next one: no pressure!) so I want to thank you guys for telling me to grab Showmance by L.H. Cosway: https://amzn.to/2JLbmoc
Low drama, sweet romance, slow burn, and a hot hero with an accent that I hope to hear in audio someday. (Hint, L.H. Cosway, Hint!)
Mariana Zapata’s From Lukov with Love had me trying not to laugh out loud—and failing fantastically at it. Frenchies and Figure Skating: https://amzn.to/2QnN3in
Jana Aston’s Sure Thing in audio was a treat to hear. I laughed, my toes curled. I cleaned the ferret cage and did the dishes with a smile. (Not in that order!) https://amzn.to/2yTzLU7
As soon as Logan St James strolled onto the page, I was like screw the royals! Gimme that hot bodyguard!! Emma Chase, Royally Endowed: https://amzn.to/2DoNXZs
You will wish hard for pages of satisfyingly hot & dirty love scenes in this next one, but it wasn’t the done thing at the time this book was released. Instead, it’s your emotions that get ridden hard and put up wet. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir was recommended to me for the electric banter between the protagonists and the bittersweet love story: https://amzn.to/2RAiF4E
(I’m told the movie is has made many a reader swoon but it is different than the book, so try out both!)
And since we’re on the topic of books that don’t contain hot love scenes yet will steal your heart, make you cry, and somehow be your comfort read for the rest of your days: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott https://amzn.to/2JG1hso
Links to my ebooks and audiobooks (paperbacks really are coming soon, they really are! ;D)
Arokh and Angie’s story ebook: https://amzn.to/2A6sH9T
Audiobook: https://adbl.co/2N7WXHF
This book is also available in Audio, narrated by the talented Nick Cracknell: https://amzn.to/2uPivO5
Zadeon and Callie’s story ebook: http://amzn.to/2EZEitg
Audiobook: https://adbl.co/2Nx8WxR
(WARNING: This one has some Dark times. This couple’s love is beautiful though, and they get their Happily Ever After.)
Brax, Tara, and Tac’Mot’s story is here: http://amzn.to/2FeuFGl
(If you had to classify this one, it’s almost Reverse Harem. This is a MFM book, which means there are two (alien) guys and one woman but it’s not *quite* menage, because Brax is a Rakhii, and you know this means he doesn’t share his female. Slight problem: his female is bonded to Tac’Mot.)
Dohrein and Gracie’s story: https://amzn.to/2Qn4lwo
Audiobook coming soon!
A fun side project *Not* related to the Stolen series:
Valos of Sonhadra Series
Alluvial, Book 1: https://amzn.to/2OhfX33
Tempest, Book 2, written by Poppy Rhys: https://amzn.to/2uPfihv
Galvanizing Sol, Book 3, by Amanda Milo & Poppy Rhys: https://amzn.to/2AgxDZE
About the Author
Amanda Milo is a collector of the randomest trivia. Did you know that Kiwi fruit plants have seperate genders? You need both in order to make Kiwi fruits happen. Isn’t that cool??
She’s concerned about river otter bite pressure—she hasn’t had a chance to test this out, but frankly, this is the part that’s holding her back from appropriating and testing the relocation (aka wildlife theft) of a small family of adorable river otters.
...To the bathtub. (They’re basically like slick-furred rubber duckies, but with lots of teeth, right? Right.)
Extended contemplation of this plan has led to the permission to adopt more ferrets, which makes her very happy. So does her extensive, wacky-patterned, thigh-high sock collection—though ferrets, it must be noted, do not play well with pretty socks. The crazy, clawed thieves!
She invites you to hang out with her in the Amanda Milo’s Minions Facebook group. (She didn’t name the group! XD Readers have great senses of humor!)
If you haven’t been sucked into Facebook yet, she’s not quite as easy to capture—but when she has an internet connection, she’ll do her best to reply at [email protected]
