Exiles of Aur Series

Maria Rubine.  She has always known she's been living on borrowed time.  She is Aurian and also an Impure, born with a genetic curse she cannot escape.  Eventually, she knows, she will transform into a monster, both in body and soul. Her time has run out all too soon in the form of the military forces of the King of Aur, the Emissary, who show up one day while she's at a coffee house in downtown Portland, Oregon, minding her own business. It also shows up in the form of an uncommunicative but much too attractive High Scholar from Aur.  He also seems bent on taking her back to Aur and probable death in some thoroughly unpleasant manner, for that's what High Scholars do to her kind. If only she didn't find herself inexplicably falling for him. Maxens Adamas.  He is an Aurian High Scholar, born with the ability to weld control over matter and energy.  But, disillusioned and carrying with him a secret shame, he gave up his life of privilege at the Scholar's College on Aur, and exiled himself to the far corners of the world. His exile is curtailed, however, when he is called in to fulfill a magically enforced debt of honor.  Or die.  He must bring the Impure woman, Maria Rubine, back to the ruthless Chancellor of the College, Nazar Callaina. Maria, though, is nothing like what he expected. When he is forced to choose between her life and his own, he finds that it isn't so hard to choose, after all.  But is their growing bond enough to help them overcome not only Nazar, but also Maria's horrible destiny? Red Like Rubies is a paranormal romance, first in the Exiles of Aur Series.  It contains a very mild dosing of sensuality and language, and some fairly mild (by today's standards, especially) violence. Length approximately 69,000 words.

Edie Brown has gone through life as if she were almost invisible, barely remembered.  Even after becoming a doctor, her own patients and colleagues have a hard time recalling who she is. So when she is invited to interview for a position at the prestigious medical center, the Aurel Foundation, Edie can't begin to understand how or why.  And once there, she can't shake the impression that something is terribly wrong about the Foundation and the resort-like mountain community where it's situated. Beginning with the Foundation's disturbing, enigmatic chauffeur, James, puzzling events quickly add up, and Edie starts piecing together the startling real reason she has been brought there, one that goes beyond ordinary science and medicine, and one that is tied to her own mysterious past. She finds herself being inexorably drawn into a world of myth, magic, and monsters, a world that leads to chaos, imprisonment, and violence. An Amber Stone, Set in Silver is the second in the Exiles of Aur series.  Like all the books, it can be read as a stand-alone, though the books chronologically follow each other, and often characters from earlier books make subsequent appearances. It scores in the mild range for sensuality and language, with a couple of scenes containing mild to moderate violence.

Inda Young has spent the last six years trying to perfect being virtually invisible, just a drab, boring twenty-something no one thinks to remember.  She hopes to leave behind a painful childhood and secrets that culminated in public humiliation and infamy, and never look back. It's a lonely sort of existence, but a safe one. But, just as she's celebrating the first year of her employment at the Westerly Corporation as a web designer, her quiet, isolated bubble-life gets burst wide open when she unexpectedly comes across an enigmatic, all-too-attractive stranger.  He turns out to be Dr. Simon Chryse, visiting the Westerly Corporation as a delegate from the island nation of Aur, and is involved in dangerous dealings Inda can't begin to comprehend. As Inda attempts to help him, she finds herself embroiled in an ever-deepening and terrifying mystery, one involving magic, myth, and madness, and one starting to look all too familiar to her.  All to soon, she finds her past catching up with her as she must face the truth of who, of what she is, even if it means separating her forever from the man she loves. Through the Cat's Eye is the fourth book in the Exiles of Aur series.  It can be read as a stand-alone, though it brings back some characters who figured heavily in An Amber Stone, Set In Silver, as well as characters from other novels in the series.

She wakes up one day, stark naked, in a stranger's living room, without a clue of how she got there, who she is, or, really, anything that came before.  Everyone seems to think she's Bia, or Beatrice Kodaly, an old woman addicted to black lotus tea, which has given her the illusion of eternal youth and also made her forget everything else.  With nothing to go on but some photographs and fleeting, fragmented memories, Bia doesn't have much choice but to go along. But as time passes, she shows no signs of aging, and Bia finds it increasingly hard to believe that too much black lotus tea is the reason for her amnesia.  The only thing, the only person, who seems real to her is Pliny Steward.  But to him, she is only a lotus eater.  And he is henchman to the sadistic Lucas King, dealer of black lotus, and her enemy. Bia's search for answers seems to lead to black market dealings with the secretive island nation of Aur.  Perhaps the solution to the mystery, to herself, lies in that world of magic and nightmares.  But first, Bia must escape Lucas King, and she isn't sure she'll survive long enough to even discover who she is. Black Onyx Heart is a paranormal romance, third in the Exiles of Aur series.  It can be read as a stand-alone or in conjunction with the other books in the series.  Overall rating for sex, language, and violence is mild to moderate.

On the island nation of Aur, where social status is valued above all things, Ione of the House of Sapphe is a liability to her family.  As a child, she showed promise of being one of the exalted Scholars, those gifted with the ability to wield magic.  At the age of ten, she began her studies at the Scholar College.  Only, she failed miserably and was kicked out, an embarrassment her family has yet to recover from. When her younger sister, Vivne, runs off with a boy from the lowest social tier, she causes catastrophic damage to the House of Sapphe's already tenuous reputation.  She and Ione are sent off to a relative at an outpost Embassy in the barbaric, non-magical world, in a country called the United States of America. Ione has long been in the habit of rescuing Vivne from her various scrapes, a task that has been increasingly more difficult as Vivne has gotten older.  It becomes considerably more difficult in this foreign land.  Yet, this strange new world across the Gloaming Lands also brings Ione the opportunity to escape the social constraints of Aur and, perhaps, even a chance at love. Across the Gloaming Lands is part of the Exiles of Aur series though it can be read as a standalone.  It scores in the mild range for sex, language, and violence.

Sylvie Baker's memories hit a wall beyond three months ago.  That was when she was discovered buried in the charred rubble of an apartment complex fire.  She wonders if her past could possibly have been as strange as her three-month old life has been to date.  As it is, she's not quite sure she's sane. To begin with, she's periodically transported to a world of caves, black-tree forests, and a fairytale castle.  She keeps finding little moonstones there, only to find herself back in "reality," in Portland, Oregon, again.  Then there's the part where she seems to be able to heal people with the touch of her hand – though at a cost. Her brief life gets more complicated when she comes across another person in that other world, a man.  Then her two worlds collide when she also finds him in Portland.  He and others, who call themselves Scholars, seem bent on exploiting her "magical" powers.  That is, assuming she's not imagining it all. As Sylvie tries to solve the mystery of herself – and stay alive – she may discover that reality will need some serious redefining.  She may find that she's part of a greater mystery that ties her to the secretive island nation of Aur, which changed the rules of reality long ago. She may also fall in love along the way. Welcome to the Exiles of Aur series, paranormal romances that tell the stories of loners and lost souls from the mysterious Aur, a place of myth, magic, and monsters.  The Underground Girl is the sixth book in the sequence.  Like all the books, it can be read as a stand-alone, though the books chronologically follow each other, and often characters from earlier books make subsequent appearances.  This is an angsty but clean romance with mild graphic violence and little to no profanity. Approximately 63,000 words.