Find Nicki Elson a Platform
Er, not much other than the fact that they’re both premises dreamed up by the same author — moi. I apparently wasn’t paying much attention in Author Branding class. Could be I blew it off entirely. So…help an author out? The NA/Adult Kindle includes both titles, Three Daves and Divine Temptation, in the hopes that after reading, you’ll be able to identify common denominators and help me define my platform beyond simply Romantic Women’s Fiction.
But it’s not like I expect you to do all the work. I’ll start you off with a couple observations that might help: while elements of faith are much stronger in the angel story, obviously, they’re not entirely missing from Three Daves. Readers see little blips into Jen’s beliefs, which impact her attempts to balance being a “good girl” with the realities of coming of age. Another similarity is that the overarching theme for each of the books is, in a word, sex. The crux of Three Daves is Jen’s quest to lose her virginity while maintaining her values, and in Divine Temptation, it’s Maggie’s struggle with her growing desire for an off-limits heavenly being.
So that’s what you’ve got to work with: faith and sex. Now, go forth and enjoy!
EXCERPTS:
Three Daves
“I gotta get a car,” he complained.
The cold weather kept conversation to a minimum, so Jen was able to torture herself by replaying the last hour in her mind. She wasn’t Gigi anymore. But wasn’t that what Dave wanted? Hadn’t he been pushing her to be bad? So why when she gave in did he suddenly seem to want nothing to do with her? Was there something else that had changed his mind about her?
“David?”
“Yeah,” his muffled voice answered.
“Have you ever said anything to Dave about you and me...last year?”
“No.” His tone had an irritated edge. “That’s nobody else’s business.”
“Okay.” She believed him. Unfortunately, that meant she couldn’t blame anyone but herself for messing things up with Dave.
Divine Temptation
“I don’t know,” the angel said.
“Great. So I can lose you and Father Tom both at the same time.”
“You wouldn’t lose me. I’ve always been around and will continue to be.”
“It wouldn’t be the same. I want to see you, talk to you. Touch you.” She reached to his sides and slid her fingers between his. “I don’t know how I would’ve gotten through these last few months if you weren’t right here.”
“You’ve gotten through many tough situations without me. You’d have been fine.”
Frowning and shaking her head slowly, she curled into him, wrapping her arms around his waist and nuzzling into his chest. She didn’t want to have to get through things by herself anymore. In the quietness and the closeness, she inhaled his mildly spiced scent and noticed things she hadn’t before. “Your heart beats,” she murmured. “Fully human form…” Spreading her fingers, she traced up and down his lower back with her thumbs.
“Maggie…” he warned, and the hands he’d molded to her back stiffened. She didn’t miss the corresponding increase in his heart rate.
She stopped moving her fingers, but remained pressed to him. With fabric between them, he felt firm and solid, exactly like a man. “I know humans weren’t made to be with angels,” she said, “but humans weren’t made to travel into outer space either, and yet we still do it. We weren’t made to glide over water, but we figured out a way. Maybe you and I can figure out a way too.”
When Evan didn’t answer right away, she let her fingertips resume roving ever so cautiously along the indent of his spine. She only got halfway up before he reached his hands behind to grab hers and hold them still. “That isn’t why I’m here,” he said, though the tremor of his tone conflicted with the certainty of his words.
ABOUT NICKI
Nicki
writes with two goals in mind: #1 to keep the characters realistic, even when
their circumstances are anything but, and #2 to make the reader feel.
