Yesterday, Fierce was officially released. I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who participated in the release blitz, who entered the giveaway, who spread the word with your own tweets/posts/blogs and by retweets. Seriously, thank you so much!

I am still getting through the blogs that participated. It may take me another day, but I will get to yours!
I thought I would link to a few of be to that have reviewed it. As a writer, I believe reviews are mostly for readers, and aren't my place to poke around in, but here are some snippets from reviewers that participated in the blitz  (link to full review) that I wanted to share. Below is my face while reading these. Love them! 

"Fierce is original and has definitely lived up to its title. I have never read a material like this" -Liza from From I Dare You To Read, 5/5 stars. Read the entire review & post here, 

"Where do I even begin with this book? I absolutely LOVED it. It was refreshing, realistic, heartfelt and powerful. The characters were so well written and brought to life off the pages of this book. The storyline was believable and I stayed up till the wee morning hours to finish this book!... In a world of characters and storylines with needy situations and dependent personalities, this book was refreshing."- From Tina at Typical Distractions Blog, 5/5 stars. Read the entire review & post here. 

 "This is a beautiful story and I highly recommend it to lovers of romance." Sue from BookLover Sue Blog, 5/5 stars. Read the entire review  & post here. 

"...I would highly recommend this book to others, he fact that it was not your typical MMA fighter book drew me in and keep me intrigued until the very last sentence." -Sassy Divas Book Blog, 3.5/5 stars. Read the rest of the review & post here (ALSO, they made some awesome image teasers! Check them out!).

"I love her and Max together."- She Hearts Books, 4/5 stars. Read the entire review & post here. 


And, while this is not from the blitz, my amazing CP and one of my best friends wrote this awesome post. 
"she deals with constructing her identity from the complex and complicated constructions of womanhood, of femininity, of athleticism, and of romance. She's a flawed character and a blunt narrator; she's both strong and weak, and knowledgeable and ignorant, and she can totally kick your ass. Through Tori and Fierce, Kelso gives readers a detailed, realistic, and sometimes unforgiving glimpse into the MMA world. It's incredibly obvious that both narrator and author are passionate about MMA, and the sport is given ample respect and critique." - Bailey Knight. You can read the rest of her thoughts here. 

Thank you all again for helping spread the word. Thank you reviewers for reviewing!

 I TRULY TRULY hope you'll consider reading Fierce and if you do, I really hope you enjoy it. 

As of now, there are a few hours still before the giveaway ends (for a copy of Fierce and a giftcard). You can get to it through any of the release blitz blogs, but also at Inkslingers PR. 

And Monday, I'll have Invicta Pro-Fighter Jodie Esquibel on the blog, so be sure to stop by! We'll talk MMA, her career, and being a women in the professional fighting world. 

Tori's MMA career was taking off...
...until she beat the wrong man. Her training partner, nursing a bruised ego, snapped—shattering her trust and confidence.

Three years later, Tori’s keeping her fists to herself as she struggles to put herself through college. But when a group of gangbangers hassle her at work, old habits kick in and her fists fly. Max Estrada, a frequent diner customer, steps in and gets them out of hot water, but Tori is still fired... days before tuition is due.

With no other option, she’s forced to take a desk job at her old pounding grounds, where her demons still haunt the cage and the temptation to go glove-to-glove with familiar pro-fighter, Max Estrada, is too much. The sexy Colombian draws her back into the world of MMA and revives her dreams of becoming a professional face-puncher—until Will, her old partner and current Middleweight Champion, struts back into the gym. The secret they share is an unexpected liability to his career, and he's determined to keep her silent. 

With her life on the ropes, Tori will have to face the past for a shot at winning back her future, or carry the weight of a loss even greater than before.

Fierce is a NA Contemporary Sports Romance/ Sports fiction with romantic elements. It's suitable for upper YA and adults, in my opinion.  Formats available: ebook and paperback

Here is an excerpt shared for the Release Day Blitz (this excerpt is for you, romance fans)

Thank you all for helping me share this day!
For the next two weeks, I'm going to host some interviews and guest post about people who are super passionate about their sport/art/hobby, and also about/by women in male-dominated sports. I have some fighters you may know of stopping by the site, and some authors and writers you may know as well! 

One more Fierce note: Release Blitz, through Inkslinger PR, is going on today, and there is a giveaway. THANK YOU TO ALL PARTICIPATING!!!

CONTINUE READING CHAPTER ONE HERE

Last week, we got a look at Tori, the main character in Fierce. This week, I want to introduce you to Max.
Max 'The Lobo' Estrada: I'm not going to give too much away here. You can find out about Max in the synopsis (pro-fighter, Colombian), but there's also a nice surprise (at least I think so) that you'll find out only by reading (hint:  it involves books!)

Here's a teaser of your leading man in Fierce. I'll be honest, these teaser stirs up my emotions, because I know the exact scene it's from, obviously. And, well, it's nice to look at, right?

I'll post another Max teaser on Thursday

Want to know more about how I picture Max, and my physical inspiration for him? Check out my Pinterest Fierce Board. You can also google Roger Huerta :) 

We are less than a month away from the release of FIERCE (8/14/14)! So, in preparation, I thought I'd share with you a little bit about the characters, and some teasers, over the next few weeks.
Today, here's a glimpse at your leading lady, Tori "the Amazon" Rhoads:

When you first meet Tori, she's an ex-pro MMA fighter. You will have to read to find out why she left her dream of becoming a professional face-puncher behind.. Ever since, she's been trying to live up to her plan: graduate college, career, marry a guy who can't throw a punch to save his life, get old, die, and all the while keep her fists to herself. 

She can be rough around the edges, a little explosive, and her exterior isn't exactly soft. After all, she's grown up in a male-dominated world.  Not only has she grown up in it, but she's lived it. But, of course, there's always a side of themselves everyone keeps hidden. 
She may have been called a tomboy a time or two (or maybe more than that), she says things that surprise even the guys, and she's always prepared for a fight. 

Here's one last quote from her:
"...where my dreams were fermented in the bloodstains on the mat, and the ghosts of my nightmares still haunted the cage..."

Happy Wednesday! Hang in there- Friday is almost here.
I've decided to brighten my Wednesday (and maybe some of yours?) with an announcement...

My New Adult Contemporary Sports Romance Fierce will be released in late summer 2014. Exact date still to be announced. 

Name: Fierce
Author: L.G. Kelso
Category/Genre: NA Sports Romance

Tori's MMA career was taking off, until she beat the wrong man. Her training partner, nursing a bruised ego, snapped—shattering her trust and confidence.

Three years later, Tori’s keeping her fists to herself as she struggles to put herself through college. But when a group of gangbangers hassle her at work, old habits kick in and her fists fly. Max Estrada, a frequent diner customer, steps in and gets them out of hot water, but Tori is still fired... days before tuition is due.

With no other option, she’s forced to take a desk job at her old pounding grounds, where her demons still haunt the cage and the temptation to go glove-to-glove with familiar pro-fighter, Max Estrada, is too much. The sexy Colombian draws her back into the world of MMA and revives her dreams of becoming a professional face-puncher—until Will, her old partner and current Middleweight Champion, struts back into the gym. The secret they share is an unexpected liability to his career, and he's determined to keep her silent. 

With her life on the ropes, Tori will have to face the past for a shot at winning back her future, or carry the weight of a loss even greater than before.

I'm very excited, nervous, anxious, and happy to share Fierce with readers. Fierce has never been in my usual "writing comfort zone"- ie, it's not fantasy, but it has been an adventure to write and I'm excited to work on the companion novels. 
I had a few different options for Fierce, and it took me some time to really look at each one. I feel good about the choice I made. Fierce is close to my heart and soul, and keeping certain aspects (the martial arts) of it authentic were a requirement for me. It doesn't mean I won't go a different route later, I'm still open to all of it, but I believe I made the best choice for Fierce at this time.
Martial arts are an important part of my life and so is writing.  I was able to merge the two with this project. 
The first time anyone saw Fierce was in last years #pitchwars. I was so lucky to end up on the wonderful #teamdangerzone with the beyond amazing Diana Gallagher. I'm also still ridiculously embarrassed at the draft that she saw, but that's a different story. Regardless, Diana gave me priceless feedback and encouragement. You can read what a bit of her take (and about my awesome teammates) HERE.  Diana mentioned two very important things I wanted with this book- Tori standing out in the NA crowd of heroines, and the authentic look at MMA. 


I'll be posting more about the cover reveal soon, as well as the exact date.

Please please check out some of my other links for Fierce:
GoodReads ( You can add it to your TBR list ;) )
Pinterest (Check out the Fierce board!)


And don't forget, I'm also on Twitter and Facebook. I will post updates on those platforms as well.
Thank you ahead of time for any RTs, sharing etc!

<3 
-L

Happy Happy weekend! I, for one, am so thrilled it's Saturday. This past week was particularly long at work, and while I could probably pick out specifics from actual work that made it that way, I know it's really because of this face to the right.

I got a donkey last week. Yes, a donkey. Technically, he's a miniature donkey. My horse--who is a beautiful and huge black beauty--needed a friend. He's freaking adorable; the pic really does do his adorableness justice.

What else have I been up to?
-I  started reading again. I had stopped for a few weeks because I was in the stage of editing in which I have to really be in my character's head and not distracted by other characters. 
-I'm starting to do some revisions on an old project-- Oath Heir is getting a makeover. When I first wrote it, I went against my gut on a few things, and I've decided to go back and fix that. It may make a few aspects more challenging, but it's needed. Once that is finished, I've got a new project that is really going to be a challenge, and I'm so excited for it. (I'll write a post another day by what I mean by challenge, because there are various types of writing challenges). 

-Fierce is getting prepared for I'm not entirely sure what yet, honestly. #PitchWars helped get it in shape, and now it's a matter of the next step. Whatever the next step will be.

-I'm working on a facebook page. Stay tuned.

-I tried out a new gym. This will also probably get its own post at some point--or more so, the fact of sometimes having to move on from one place. Most of us have something that we will, inevitably, hit a stage that requires us to make a change. For me, I've reached a point in one of my boxing classes that the class no longer fits what I need. And it's tough, because there are times the class does fit what I need and because my coach is awesome. It's also made me really think about what I want when it comes to this, and I honestly don't know if the gym I tried is that or not. For the most part, I think it is, but only time will tell. I also do have pretty high expectations, and I'm acutely aware of that. You can probably expect a post dedicated to this matter sometime soon. 

What have you all been up to? 

Thanks for stopping by my new blog. My previous blog is still up, because, well, I like a few of the posts. Feel free to go through them. 

As you can tell, I finally got a website. 


The website, and this blog, are still works-in-progress. I'll be posting some blurbs and such in the near-ish future. 

I usually blog about writing-related things, kickass characters (check out the Femme Fatale Friday section on my old blog), medical things and physiological and psychological processes that impact your characters. I'm also a boxer/kickboxer and mma addict, so that sport/art may pop up every now and then. I also love horses and fast cars. So, you've been warned.

What do I write? As you can probably see, I write Fantasy and Contemporary. I will write YA, NA and Adult fantasy, though my current series is NA paranormal. My next project is an Adult epic fantasy. Speculative fiction in the fantasy realm is my writing passion. I love genre-mashing and incorporating mythology. 

I also write NA contemporary sports romance. Refer to the above paragraphs if you need help figuring out what sports I write about ;)

Thanks again for stopping by!