Parts 1 & 2 of my standalone dark romance novella Her Mercy are now live! Read this prequel to the River Reapers MC on its own, or as your appetizer for the series. Free when you join my email list!
🖤 Her Mercy Parts 1 & 2 are now live! 🖤
In case you missed it, I’ve been serializing my dark fake marriage romance Her Mercy on my website, free for all email subscribers.
This novella is a standalone prequel to the River Reapers series, and a little less dark than the main series. If you haven’t read it yet, now’s the perfect time!
what you can expect
standalone novella 📖
prequel to the River Reapers MC series 🖤
he’s 19 years older 😉
second chance romance spanning decades 💔
runaway bride 👰🏻♀️
SA survivor heroine 🙌🏼
wounded warrior biker hero 🎖
surprise baby (it’s not his) 🤰🏻
healing together ❤️🩹
quick read ⌛️
The last time Bree ran away, she put the love of her life Mercy in prison. Now that he’s out, he’s got to find her and convince her they belong together so they can both be free.
Bree has been running for decades. Every time she gets into trouble, the River Reapers MC covers her tracks. That’s how she met Mercy, the only man who’s ever loved her, and the reason she’s running again.
Mercy has an ache in his bones that not even freedom can soothe. When Bree disappeared, she put him in prison both metaphorically and physically.
Mercy needs to find Bree and reclaim the home they once found in each other. But Bree is still buckling under the weight of her own prison, and if Mercy doesn’t find her before her past does, she’ll disappear forever.
Catch Up on Part 1
Read part 2: The War Hero
Part 3 begins Tuesday, May 6th! Be sure to join my free email list so you don’t miss a chapter.
If you’re enjoying this serialized edition of Her Mercy, give this post a like! And if you’re excited for more River Reapers stories, give this post a like for that. 🖤
Part 1 of my standalone dark romance novella Her Mercy is now live! Read this prequel to the River Reapers MC on its own, or as your appetizer for the series.
The last time Bree ran away, she put the love of her life Mercy in prison. Now that he’s out, he’s got to find her and convince her they belong together so they can both be free.
Bree has been running for decades. Every time she gets into trouble, the River Reapers MC covers her tracks. That’s how she met Mercy, the only man who’s ever loved her, and the reason she’s running again.
Mercy has an ache in his bones that not even freedom can soothe. When Bree disappeared, she put him in prison both metaphorically and physically.
Mercy needs to find Bree and reclaim the home they once found in each other. But Bree is still buckling under the weight of her own prison, and if Mercy doesn’t find her before her past does, she’ll disappear forever.
what you can expect
standalone novella 📖
prequel to the River Reapers MC series 🖤
he’s 19 years older 😉
second chance romance spanning decades 💔
runaway biker bride 👰🏻♀️
SA survivor heroine 🙌🏼
wounded warrior biker hero 🎖
surprise baby (it’s not his) 🤰🏻
healing together ❤️🩹
quick read ⌛️
Her Mercy, part 1: The Drifter
Part 2 begins April 8th! Be sure to join my free email list so you don’t miss a chapter.
If you’re enjoying this serialized edition of Her Mercy, give this post a like! And if you’re excited for more River Reapers stories, give this post a like for that. 🖤
In the April edition of author Elizabeth Barone’s reader newsletter, Romance with a Body Count, I share what I’m working on, how we can all support each other during boycotts and tariff wars, and why I’m pirating my own books.
I’m trying to find my footing after all the things life’s been throwing at me, in an industry that’s more tumultuous than ever. With everything going on, I’ve had to make some big changes.
My dear readers, I pulled a classic “me.” I meant to send a March newsletter weeks ago, said weeks flew by, and now it’s April! On the plus side, it’s spring. And I’ve got even more updates for you, so let’s dive in.
what I’m working on 💻
I’ve been floundering these last few months, trying to find my footing after all the life-y things life’s been throwing at me, in an industry that’s more tumultuous than ever. With everything going on, I’ve really had to fortify my mental fortress. It no longer serves me to be frozen in anxiety from or reactive to every crisis that arises. Instead I’m focusing on being proactive where I can, and writing rather than worrying I’m not active enough on social media or booking enough appearances.
This means I’m less active on Instagram (Meta sucks anyway, more on that in a sec), my new podcast is on hiatus (at least until Mike and I find a peaceful home), and I’m no longer actively booking events.
I’m still working on Sleeve of Hearts revisions, even though my progress has slowed quite a bit with this latest flare a la peripheral neuropathy. PN really, really sucks! I’ve had it as a “side” symptom for a while, so I’m not exactly new to it, but this is the first time it’s gone full throttle on me, and that I’m not used to. Luckily it usually responds well to my Tylenol, ibuprofen, and cannabis cocktail, except when the New England weather is weather-ing, which is frequently. It responded beautifully to both courses of prednisone I did in March, but I think at this point I need a stronger, longer course. It’s tricky.
With all that said, 2025 is officially a writing year for me, and with everything on, it’s exactly what I need.
book tariffs are coming to publishing what readers need to know 📖
Unfortunately, U.S. tariffs on books go into effect this week. This means readers could see a drastic increase in cover prices. Right now, indie books shouldn’t be effected at all, since most self-published authors use IngramSpark or Kindle Direct Publishing, and the tariffs are on books printed in China. We could see indie prices increase, though, depending on how well publishers and printers adjust to a forecast increase in demand.
It’s really just my forecast, though, so we might not see much impact on indies at all. Only time will tell.
If you’re interested in the deets, or if you’re an author who might be effected, I wrote a quick blog post about it with some recommendations.
Just kidding—I was actually already serializing the River Reapers MC series with plans to serialize my other indie romances. Just when I was thinking Should I continue?, The Atlantic published their database of the books that Meta copied, cementing my plans. The RRMC books were sort of a test balloon for me, and now I’ll almost definitely be “pirating” the rest of my books.
Why am I posting my books online for free?
I’ve always offered alternatives for readers on no, low-, or fixed incomes, because I believe reading should be accessible. That’s why I’ve always enrolled my books in library catalogs and why I chose Kobo Originals to publish my first trad series (they’re sisters to Overdrive/Libby, the most widely used ebook distributor for libraries). I enjoyed posting on sites like Wattpad and Radish, where my stories did pretty well if I do say so myself. I was fortunate to be able to set up something similar using WordPress, which also gave me the ability to offer paid subscriptions. Some of my serialized books will be free for all, some will be free for those subscribed to my (free) email list, and some will be exclusively for (paid) Sponsors.
Right now, you can read the first two books in the River Reapers series, and I post new episodes of Her Mercy every Tuesday and Thursday!
I’m also considering reopening my review program. It was wildly successful when I launched it a few years ago. Basically, readers could request a review copy of a book of mine they weren’t able to purchase, no questions asked, as long as they posted an honest review. If you think I should do this again, hit the like button below!
How Canadian readers can still support american authors 🇨🇦
Or, low-key, how American authors can support #BuyCanadian and #BoycottUS 🙌🏼
With all the shots our strangely orange president’s been taking at Canada, it’s no surprise that Canadians are boycotting U.S.-made products and services. In some bookish spaces, it’s getting pretty ugly on all sides. I don’t think any of my readers are like that, but I believe we all succeed when we work together, so I put together some recommendations.
I’m still working on my mega list of ways people can boycott Amazon while supporting authors. It started off as like 10 things and now it’s grown monstrous—a wonderful problem to have, so I’m breaking it into several parts. The first will go out this week, probably Wednesday or Friday.
Leave me an emoji comment if you’re a proud reader! 🇨🇦🇺🇸📚🙌🏼
It’s been a bumpy year, and it’s only April. We will get through this, though, I really believe that. We just have to stick together and get creative. That goes for anything in life, not just dictators and religious crazies. Nothing can get ya when you’re stubborn. 😉
Happy resisting, and happy reading! 🖤
Thank you to March and April’s Sponsors: Katy Nicole, Dee, B., and Lauren!
