Taste of Cyn

Leap Year And Character Goals

By Cynthia Sax on August 20, 2021

Please Note: This post will share spoilers about Leap Year. If you’re like me and have been delaying watching this 2010 movie, consider skipping this post until you’ve seen it.

I finally watched Leap Year! I’ve been avoiding watching it because the premise – a woman seeking to propose to her longtime boyfriend and then falling in love with a different guy—had a high likelihood of me feeling sad for one of the men. But it was on the TV and it captured my attention within mere moments of watching it.

Leap Year has its issues yet I found it entertaining and it does some things VERY well.

One of the things it does well is show us the difference between what a character thinks she needs and what she truly needs.

Anna, the heroine, grew up with a father she couldn’t depend upon. She is looking for safety and she interprets this as financial safety.

Her longtime boyfriend gives her financial safety and that’s it. He is a successful surgeon and makes a sh*tload of cash.

But we see from the start he doesn’t give her emotional security. He doesn’t hesitate to leave her alone when they’re surrounded by strangers. He doesn’t offer her the stability of marriage. He isn’t there for her in any way other than financial.

Anna takes matters into her own hands and decides to go to Ireland and propose to him. Everything possible goes wrong and she ends up in a rural area with the snarly, grumpy hero.

At first, Declan, the hero, looks like he’s the absolutely wrong guy for her. His restaurant/hotel/bar is in financial peril. His kitchen is about to be repossessed. And he refuses to help her. In any way.

He eventually relents. They bicker. Anna isn’t at all impressed with him.

That attitude starts to soften when Declan refuses to abandon her, trailing her all over the country. He is THERE for her, even when she destroys his beloved car. He doesn’t yell. He is quietly, grumpily behind her literally every step of the way.

Her view of him significantly shifts when he fights baddies for her. He might not be able to make her feel financially safe but he makes her feel physically and emotionally safe. The man even cooks for her, showing he can care for her in that way also.

This is a romance so Declan does become financially stable also but Anna doesn’t know this when she chooses him. All she knows is she feels safe with him. She can depend on him. He is there for her.

And that is exactly what she needs to secure lasting happiness.

***

Subscribe To My Newsletter: http://cynthiasax.com/newsletter/

Baring Grudge

No one in the universe is more determined than a cyborg warrior tracking his female.

***

Grudge, a C Model cyborg, has been assigned a mission – safeguard a Humanoid Alliance space station for his kind. Honor was once all he had, and he is determined to fulfill his duty.

That resolve is tested when a tiny human female enters the space station and sets the prettiest little explosives the warrior has ever seen. She is Grudge’s genetic match, the one being manufactured for him. He wants to touch her, kiss her, claim her in all ways, but first he has to stop her from blasting him into the next galaxy.

Taelyn has a self-appointed mission—to destroy every battle robot the Humanoid Alliance has ever manufactured. A huge gray-skinned, blue-eyed cyborg warrior with mismatched arms won’t prevent her from achieving her goal. She’ll escape him, leaving destruction in her wake.

Before she departs, she’ll experience one toe-curling moment of hatred-edged passion with her handsome foe. She’ll show him how skilled with detonations she truly is. He will have his universe rocked.

Then she’ll disappear.

Her cyborg, however, has no intention of ever letting her go.

***

Baring Grudge is a STANDALONE Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.

It features a determined, damaged warrior, an equally resolute human female, and an explosive game of predator and prey played across galaxies.

Baring Grudge is the third of five core stories in the Rebel Cyborgs Series.
Book 1: Containing Malice
Book 2: Under Strain
Book 3: Baring Grudge
Book 4: B Free
Book 5: Seizing Power

Buy Now:

Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08ZL2D986

Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08ZL2D986

Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B08ZL2D986

Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/baring-grudge/id1559566673

B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/baring-grudge-cynthia-sax/1139086727

Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/baring-grudge

Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1075600

Topics: Movie Reviews | Comments Off on Leap Year And Character Goals

Savvy Marketing Vs Simply Having Fun

By Cynthia Sax on May 28, 2021

I talked with a newer writer a few days ago. She is sharing updates on characters in her newsletters, hoping to increase her sales. I do that, she told me, so it must work.

Except…

I don’t share updates on characters to increase sales of my stories. I suspect it doesn’t increase sales at all.

I share updates because that’s fun for me. I like visiting with Rage and Joan and Kralj and other characters. It is like spending time with dear sometimes murderous friends. (grins)

I post the updates in my newsletters because I think you and some of my other reading buddies might enjoy them also. It might make you smile when you receive my newsletters. It might be the reason you agreed to receive communications from me. It might make you more excited about my next book release.

Who knows? (shrugs) The key thing is… I have fun with the updates.

I do many things simply because they’re fun. These things might look like marketing efforts. Because I continue doing them, other writers might believe they’re successful marketing efforts. But often, they’re simply fun things I like doing and think reading buddies might enjoy.

If you’re in doubt about whether a tactic is savvy marketing for me or merely me having some fun, contact me. I’ll happily tell you which one it is.

***

Subscribe To My Newsletter: http://cynthiasax.com/newsletter/

Under Strain

A damaged cyborg warrior is hunted by a peace-loving human female.

***

Strain is severely malfunctioning. The D Model cyborg was the sole survivor after a horrific decision was made by his cruel manufacturers. He hates all humans, and when he attacks one who is under his cyborg leader’s protection, he is reprimanded, stripped of his weapons, and told to watch and not actively participate in the next mission.

That mission takes place on a small remote planet. Its lush terrain should only be inhabited by the cyborgs they were sent to rescue, but Strain senses another presence on the surface. She is watching him, tracking him, hunting him.

A fully operational cyborg would end her lifespan.

Strain wants to claim her. Forever.

Kamyelle is the only one left of her kind. Warriors have killed the other nonviolent human inhabitants of her planet. She survived…barely…by hiding in the trees, observing her enemies, and covering herself with lifeform scan-concealing mud.

When a handsome, gray-skinned, brilliant-blue-eyed male arrives, surrounded by weapon-carrying warriors, she has to save him. Warriors harm and they kill. That is what they do.

She won’t allow them to hurt Strain.

***

Under Strain is a STANDALONE Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.

It features a broken warrior, a human female who thinks he’s perfect, and velociraptor-like dinosaurs who view them both as light, tasty snacks.

Buy Now:

Amazon US:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08R322L7S

Amazon UK:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08R322L7S

Amazon AUS:

https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B08R322L7S

Apple Books:

https://books.apple.com/us/book/under-strain/id1545957749

B&N:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/under-strain-cynthia-sax/1138505613

Kobo:

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/under-strain

Smashwords:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/10602

Topics: Writing Tips | Comments Off on Savvy Marketing Vs Simply Having Fun

How Long Should Your Book Series Be?

By Cynthia Sax on March 20, 2021

I shared my thoughts on The Wicked Writing Corner about how many stories a series should have (I’ve figured out the right length for my series but that likely won’t be the right length for every writer or every series.)

Here is a snippet…

“I’m a pantser, a writer who writes by the seat of her pants. Sometimes, I’ll start a series with the intention of it being X stories long and the series becomes X+12 stories long. That happens. I write as many stories as I have to write to give readers a satisfactory end to the series.

But my ideal series length at this moment is five.

That’s because I’m self-published so I know my publisher (me – grins) will give me those five stories to run with. It is because my current favorite marketing strategy is to price the first story in the series, after a few years of being published, at permafree. And it is because, in cyborg romance, I see readership of a series dramatically drop off after five stories.

That might not be your ideal series length.”

You can read the full post here –

https://thewickedwritingcorner.blogspot.com/2021/03/guest-post-how-long-should-series-be.html

***

Subscribe To My Newsletter: http://cynthiasax.com/newsletter/

Containing Malice

This tormented cyborg craves vengeance…and her.

***

Malice, a C Model cyborg, has spent his long lifespan enslaved by the Humanoid Alliance. His cruel manufacturers have hurt him in all the ways a male could be hurt.

His enemy has now added a new weapon to their arsenal—a tiny human medic with soft hands and a delectable scent. She experiments on him multiple times a shift, delivering pain…and frustration.

He wants her. He also seeks retribution.

Once Malice frees himself, he plans to achieve both of his goals, taking Medic Illona captive and ending her research…permanently.

Illona is as much a prisoner as the cyborgs she experiments on. Since her arrival at the Human Alliance’s secret laboratory, she has carefully, stealthily, crafted a plot to free her test subjects. To conceal her covert activities, the medic has been forced to harm beings rather than heal them.

The being she has damaged the most is also the cyborg she fiercely desires— Malice, a huge, gray-skinned, blue-eyed C Model with massive hands and a voice deeper than space. He hates her, has good reason to do so, and, when he’s freed, there’s a high probability he’ll kill her.

Illona will take that risk to ensure he survives.

***

Containing Malice is a STANDALONE enemies-to-lovers Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.

It is the first of five core stories in the Rebel Cyborgs Series.

Book 1: Containing Malice
Book 2: Under Strain
Book 3: Baring Grudge
Book 4: B Free
Book 5: Seizing Power

Buy Today:

Amazon US:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LK4CWHS

Amazon UK:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08LK4CWHS

Amazon AUS:

https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B08LK4CWHS