Sian should be tucked in bed when she meets Alisha Hart—beautiful, talented, and the star of a band that’s on its way up.

Alisha doesn’t have to worry about curfews or homework or overprotective parents; in fact, she doesn’t seem to care about rules at all. She makes her own, and lives life her way—something Sian can only dream of, and which draws her helplessly to Alisha.

But love is complicated, and if there’s such a thing as fate, it seems dead set against them.

Amazon * Amazon UK * Less Than Three

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I want to talk today about the upcoming re-release of a story I wrote a few years back. Keeping it Together is a novella originally published as part of Less Than Three’s Rocking Hard anthology. The original call was for stories about rock stars. Alisha is the frontwoman for a rock band heading for good things. She meets Sian, a 19-year-old college girl, after a gig in some dive bar. For Sian, this is her first relationship, the first time she’s felt this way about someone else, and it’s something of a surprise to her that that someone is female. But the promise of something real, something wonderful comes with the fear of her parents finding out about it.

Below is an extract from the book, and the chance to get your own copy for free.

Enjoy.

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Alisha was lounging against the old smoker’s shelter, disused since the college faculty had stopped students from smoking on site. She wore a pair of dark denim jeans that clung to her figure and a dark green t-shirt. An unlit cigarette was tucked behind one ear, and her hands were shoved deep in her pockets.

Sian paused, watching her for a moment, drinking in the sight of her. Alisha was beautiful, with her cropped dark hair, pointed chin and well defined cheekbones. Her arms showed beneath the short sleeves of her top, muscle cording her upper arms like she lifted weights at the gym instead of dieting to keep herself slim. But, more than that, there was an art to everything she did—the way she stood, slouching against the shelter, the way she lifted her hand to brush her hair back from her face, the way she turned to look straight at Sian, a mischievous grin spreading across her face.

Alisha raised one hand in greeting, and Sian gave a small wave back, stepping off the kerb into the road, toward the patch of gravel and grass where Alisha waited.

“Coffee?” Alisha asked, her tone hopeful. “I could do with some.”

“Why? Just crawled out of bed?” Sian teased as they began to walk towards the gates.

“Yes, actually. Specially to see you, so some gratitude would be nice.”

Sian gave a slight curtsy. “I am most honoured, my lady.”

Alisha chuckled, and it made Sian’s heart skip, a smile she couldn’t hold back working onto her face. Sian wasn’t used to being the one to make people laugh, but now that she was, she found she liked it, and she especially liked the way it lit up Alisha’s face, made her eyes glitter like precious gems in the sunlight, teeth showing as she smiled.

Enter to win a copy of KEEPING IT TOGETHER here! 

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S. A. Winters is a British writer with a penchant for the gothic. When they aren’t writing, they like to listen to heavy metal, watch horror films, or piss off down the pub, sometimes all at once.

S. A. Winters most enjoys writing paranormal, but likes to play with other genres from time to time and has been known to dabble in contemporary, steampunk and historical.