SERVING SIN now available!!

It’s HEEEEEERRRRREEEEE!

At long last, Serving Sin, my final book in the Filthy Rich series, the book that wraps up the story of the Monte del Vino Real and its three siblings hoping to make a better kingdom for their people and a better life for themselves, is here.

With the Filthy Rich series, I was able to tell the story of three self-made, hard-working, world-dominating, alpha heroines who make their world a better place with their strength.

Early reviewers of Serving Sin seemed to enjoy my kickass heroines!

I have really enjoyed Angelina M. Lopez’s spectacularly soapy Filthy Rich series. The series has the melodrama and glamour of a 1980’s nighttime soap, but with a lot less misogyny….Cen is a great character – strong and dynamic enough to make Roman upend everything he has ever thought about himself.—Emmalita, Cannonball Read

One of the things I really enjoy about Angelina M. Lopez’s writing is how she writes her female characters. They are strong and fierce, smart and savvy, fully aware of what they want in life and how to go about getting it. Cenobia, no longer the trembling, scared 18-year-old Roman rescued from kidnappers 13 years ago, is on the verge of becoming the permanent CEO of her father’s company. I have to say, I really loved her character….She’s gutsy, she’s not one to suffer fools, and in an industry and culture and country known for its machismo and condescension towards women, she’s well able to hold her own.—Melanie, Smexy Books

Serving Sin is available in paperback and ebook now, and will be available in audiobook on June 15. Check out the video below to find out all the fun stuff I’ve got going on with the Serving Sin release and to discover what’s coming up next!

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Check out books 1 and 2 in the Filthy Rich series

Celebrating new beginnings with small-town series

(Author’s note: My next book, After Hours on Milagro Street, is now available for preorder. See the bottom of the blog.)

In one week, the final book in the Filthy Rich series will hit retailers. As I celebrate endings, I’m thrilled to also announce new beginnings!

I can’t wait to work with Carina Press and my fantastic editor, executive editor Kerri Buckley, once again!

This new series comes from the depths of my heart. I was born in southeastern Kansas to a multi-generational Mexican-American family. When people ask me where I’m from, I tell them, “Kansas.” It's not uncommon for them to respond with, “No, where are you originally from?”

“Kansas,” I say, looking them dead in the eye.

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This series will explore how strong women of color make the world around them – even a small Kansas town – magical.

I’m hard at work on Book 1, about a Mexican-American middle sister and black sheep who returns to her small Kansas hometown to save the family bar and discovers an uptight and irritatingly hot East Coast professor with designs on their historical building standing in her way.

Its tentative release date is July 2022.

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Stay up to date on all the announcements about the new series!

Celebrating endings

When Serving Sin comes out in one month, it will mark the end of my debut romance series. In the hustle of writing, publishing, promoting and deadlines, it’s so easy to lose sight of accomplishments like these. I’m trying to take a moment to celebrate and be grateful.

I WROTE THREE BOOKS, PEOPLE!!!!

When Serving Sin releases on May 25, I will have three books out in the world with my name on it. I will have successfully completed a three-story arc about the loves and lives of a wine-growing royal family in the mountains of Spain. I will have told a series of stories based on a theme intensely important to me: What does power look like when strong, worthy, alpha heroines wield it, and strong, worthy, alpha heroes support them?

I was a 20-year aspiring author, but I wanted this job for my whole life. As a longtime romance fan, I can’t help but reflect on series that I’ve loved – Cecilia Grant’s Blackshear Family series, Susan Elizabeth Phillips’s Chicago Stars series, J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood – and hope that someday, somehow, some way, my Filthy Rich series joins their ranks.

Hey, I write fantasies for a living!

With the publication of Serving Sin, I say goodbye to:

• Roxanne and Mateo, the billionaire businesswoman and winegrowing prince of Lush Money, who are now the responsible royals and semi-frazzled parents they were always meant to be

• Sofia and Aish, the star-crossed ex-lovers of Hate Crush, who’ve grown out of their childish, tempestuous love affair and into their strong, focused, and happy forever

• Roman, the former Army Ranger and reluctant prince with secret wounds finally healed

• the Monte del Vino Real, the beautiful winegrowing village in the mountains of Northern Spain, and the hardworking people who populated it, who at long last are prosperous and excited about their futures

• incredible side characters who enriched the Filthy Rich universe – bodyguard Henry and his barrel-making wife Gina, friend and grower Carmen Louisa, the best nanny in the world Titi, and the awesome priest and father figure, Father Juan.

Wrapping up all of their stories in the Epilogue of Serving Sin was one of the proudest moments of my life. It was so wonderful seeing them all on the page together, toasting what they’ve (and I’ve) created.

I’ve never cried harder.

Want a sneak peek of the Epilogue?

Click the cover above or here to sign up for my newsletter and get a sneak peek at the end of the Filthy Rich series. Newsletter subscribers also get a free short story, bonus chapters of Lush Money, and other free stuff!

Join me as I chat with Supernatural's bodyguard Clif Kosterman

(Author’s note: You can watch my interview with Clif Kosterman here.)

Click to register for the event!

Calling all Supernatural fans!!

I am thrilled -- beyond thrilled, actually, more flabbergasted and still in shock -- to announce that, to celebrate the release of my bodyguard romance, Serving Sin, I will be chatting with bodyguard-to-the-stars Clif Kosterman, close protection specialist for Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, stars of the TV show, Supernatural.

The event will be Saturday, June 12 at 5 pm CT/6 pm ET, and will be streamed live over the YouTube page of my favorite indie bookstore, One More Page Books in Falls Church, VA. Signed copies of Serving Sin will only be available through One More Page Books in June.

I contacted Clif because Roman Sheppard, the hero of Serving Sin, is the head of an elite security firm and the protector of the Mexican CEO heroine he tries hard not to fall in love with. Clif and I will be chatting about the perils and rewards of being a bodyguard to the rich and famous.

Clif Kosterman was already recognized as one of the top close-protection specialist’s out of Vancouver -- having protected celebrities like Sharon Stone, Justin Timberlake, Selena Gomez, and Morgan Freeman -- when he was hired to protect Jared Padalecki's visiting family during the show's first season. On that day, Kosterman’s life changed. For the last 13 years, Kosterman has worked exclusively to protect stars Jared and Jensen and their families, a unique role of longevity in his constantly shifting industry.

Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Clif Kosterman, and Genevieve Padalecki at Jared and Gen’s wedding

Jensen Ackles and Clif Kosterman at Clif’s wedding

Clif and I will chat about his journey to becoming a close protection specialist, the fascinating ups and downs of the job, and his role protecting two popular TV stars and their families for the last thirteen years.

"I've always been a defender," he told me. "When I played football, I played defense. When I played hockey, I played defense. When you're dedicated to something you love, it isn't hard to do."

It was at this moment that I felt super blessed to connect this awesome guy to my hero!

Clif is well known by Supernatural fans, having appeared in two episodes of the show as well as always appearing at Supernatural conventions to keep the stars safe. He's an understated and laidback celebrity in his own right, with 45K followers on Instagram and 94K followers on Twitter. It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

I can't wait for you all to meet him!

The Alpha Roll: The Perfect Man?

The former military protection specialist from Serving Sin also cooks and makes sure everyone gets enough sleep. He’s the prefect Alpha Role!

I had a blog all planned out for the week.

And then the brilliant romance author Charish Reid had to go and ruin it with this excellent Tweet.

To explain, a “cinnamon roll” is a romance character who is all soft on the inside. This term came into play as a contrast to “alpha,” a lead character who displays a dominant, take-no-prisoners attitude.

More often than not, these terms are applied to male heroes: Mr. Ooey-Gooey-Sensitive vs. Mr. “I will shove you up against a wall and take you.”

Charish plucked a prefect kumquat from the air when everybody else was looking at the apples and oranges. The Alpha Roll. Hard and tough on the outside, soft and sweet on the inside.

In my opinion, the perfect man.

Evolution of the Alpha and the Cinnamon Roll

The romance genre has been flooded with alphas since the dawn of its creation. Kathleen Woodiwiss’ The Flame and the Flower, which catapulted romance into a genre-fiction leader, featured a strapping ship’s captain who raped his soon-to-be-wife (I know; that’s for another blog) because he thought she was a prostitute just playing coy. In the modern era, Fifty Shades of Grey cemented the alpha into the modern consciousness. Alphas were rich, powerful, grunty, closed-off emotionally except for that one special woman who thought that all of his single-word sexual commands were charming, and great in bed.

After a lot of books with single, suggestive objects on the cover (a tie, an apple, a rose, what does it mean?), authors and readers were ready for a change. Thus was birthed the cinnamon role: Sweet guys who didn’t base their egos on being the biggest dick in the room. Or sweet ladies who were fine with being ooey and gooey. Jen DeLuca’s Well Played, Roan Parrish’s The Remaking of Corbin Wale, Alisha Rai’s Girl Gone Viral, and, like, all of Talia Hibbert’s phenomenal books have cinnamon-role characters.

But the alpha roll?

In her tweet, Charish Reid, author of the contemporary romances The Write Escape and Hearts on Hold, realized she was writing one.

Her tweet made me realize I’d written one, too.

Hero in Serving Sin = Alpha Roll

Roman Sheppard, my taciturn prince bodyguard in my upcoming release, Serving Sin, is without a doubt an alpha roll.

On paper, Roman’s totally an alpha. He’s a former Army Ranger who saved his squad, head of an elite security firm that protects the wealthy and the vulnerable, and a reluctant prince. He likes action more than words, and every action is exacting. His words are few, and his smiles are practically non-existent.

But the big, big heart on this guy. Readers who got to know Roman in Lush Money and Hate Crush will remember him swooping in to help save the kingdom for a half-brother and half-sister he didn’t even know very well. “I don’t want your kingdom, man,” he told his brother in Lush Money. “I’m a soldier, not a king. I had to pick a side and I pick yours.”

In those two books, we got to see Roman’s loyalty, love, and need to protect.

But in Serving Sin, we get to see his inclination to nurture.

Cenobia “Cen” Trujillo, the Mexican-heiress-turned-CEO who Roman is in Mexico to protect in Serving Sin, is so busy launching the first made-in-Mexico-by-Mexicans-for-Mexicans car company that she doesn’t worry too much about food. Or sleep. Roman makes sure she has good meals. He urges her to forgo the late night café de ollas she adores and get a good night’s rest. One of the sexiest scenes without any sex in it is when he feeds her from a ballroom hors d'oeuvres table while she’s distracted.

With his thick, capable fingers, this warrior prince had been feeding her. Right now, he was holding up a small taco and she’d been about to take a bite.

“What are you doing?” she asked, rearing back.

His green eyes looked darker in the shadows here at the edge of the gilded room. “Have you eaten today?”

She realized she’d skipped lunch. “No.”

“Then you need to eat, Cenobia.” His voice was like black silk over sand. “I said I’d take care of you.”

To any curious eyes, they simply looked like two longtime friends juggling a plate and two champagne glasses.

Heart pounding, she slowly tilted her head and opened her mouth. He kept his eyes on hers as she fit her lips around the corn tortilla and bit into it. She’d never been more aware of the simple mechanics of eating. He lifted the rest of the taco to his mouth and finished it in one bite. He’d been sharing food with her as if their mouths had already shared other intimacies.

When the threats against Cenobia and her family ratchet up, and Roman takes her, her little brother Adán, and her brother’s bodyguard to his sister-in-law’s lake-side home in Kansas, Cenobia quickly realizes that he is a great cook, a well-organized event coordinator, and an excellent trail guide. Her taciturn warrior prince has all the makings of an ideal camp counselor.

He worked so hard to convince her, the world, and himself that he was nothing more than a stone-faced soldier. But in the Monte del Vino Real, he had a royal brother who trusted him as second-in-command, a royal sister who’d embraced him as a big brother, and a niece and nephew who feted him with homemade jewelry. With their little family here, he’d become head chef and entertainment director, grocery list maker and boardgame referee.

He wasn’t a taciturn soldier. He was a den mother. He was a devoted son and a beloved brother and a leader of heroes and the savior of lost causes.

In Spain, Roman (who not-so-secretely loves high-end men’s fashion) helps 12-year-old Adán pick out just the right outfit when he’s going to meet the king.

I mean…

Romance aficionados have their favorites — alpha or cinnamon roll — and will fight to the death on their hills. But with the alpha roll, we can all get along.

Because I’ve decided. The alpha roll is the perfect man.

Take a tour of Guanajuato, Mexico in SERVING SIN

In two months, my third book in the Filthy Rich series, Serving Sin, will be out in the world.

One of the things I’ve loved about the series is taking readers to places and settings I adore: the mountains and villages of Northern Spain, downtown San Francisco, small towns in the Midwest.

In Serving Sin, I get to show readers the beautiful city of Guanajuato, Mexico.

Guanajuato is the home of Cenobia Trujillo, a Mexican-heiress who is now the CEO of her family’s automotive manufacturing conglomerate. Cenobia asks reluctant prince Roman Sheppard, head of a top security firm, to come to Guanajuato to protect her from growing threats while she prepares for the launch of her company’s first designed-and-made-in-Mexico eco-car. 

Roman rescued her from her kidnappers when she was eighteen, and although they haven’t seen each other since, there’s still a connection.

Readers get to explore the beautiful canyon city of Guanajuato along with Roman and Cenobia. My family and I got to explore Guanajuato in 2019.

Guanajuato is five hours north of Mexico City in an area called the Bajío, an area in the central plains of Mexico known for its quality of life, agriculture, and colonial architecture. The Bajío was also where the spark of the Mexican Revolution began. And the state of Guanajuato was where my father’s family immigrated from in the early 1900s to work on the railroad in Kansas.

Driving into Guanajuato is truly shocking. It’s built in a canyon – you can’t even see the city without driving through tunnels. American tourists will head straight to San Miguel de Allende from the León airport without even knowing what they’re missing! Roads are practically non-existent in the interior of Guanajuato – or at least, roads you can see. Spaniards re-routed the river that flowed through the bottom of the canyon because of persistent flooding. Now, those old river shafts through the limestone are the roads.

Once through the tunnels, you’re instantly greeted with the shock of candy-colored homes climbing the canyon walls, and Baroque churches, hotels, and museums in the central plaza paid for by its wealthy silver-mining past.

Many of the homes up the canyon walls are only accessible by the narrow winding alleys and stairwells called callejones. As we walked up (and up and up and up) to get to the top of a canyon, we realized why all the Guanajuatans were in great shape!

The indigenous people were a group of tribes known collectively as Chichimecans. They were nomads described as barbarians by the Spaniards. Well, these “barbarians” gave the Spaniards the longest war and the only war they never won during their Mexican conquest!

The University of Guanajuato gives the city a college-town feel, and the Cervantes Festival brings people from all over the world to Guanajuato every October to celebrate the writer. They actually began painting their homes the bright colors to beautify them for the Cervantes Festival! We didn’t see many European or American tourists while we were there, but there were many Mexican tourists visiting the beautiful city.

Discover more about this incredible city in my upcoming book, Serving Sin.

AND PLEASE HELP SPREAD THE WORD!

• Mark it "To-Read" on Goodreads

• Vote for Serving Sin on any of these Goodreads lists

• Book reviewers, book bloggers, & bookstagrammers, request on NetGalley

• Click on the “Share” link below ⬇︎to share this blog with your friends

SERVING SIN cover reveal!

Preorder now!

The reveal of this gorgeous cover for Serving Sin is bittersweet: While it is my next book release (YAY!!!), it is also the last book in the Filthy Rich series (😢).

Serving Sin wraps up my debut, stand-alone series about the royal family of the Monte del Vino Real and the three powerful women who got what they want because they'd earned it. I love these three couples -- my alpha heroines and their strong heroes who stand by them -- and the wine growing community in the mountains that they've made their home.

I wrote an epilogue in Serving Sin that wraps the whole series up. There was ugly crying. I hope you enjoy it, too!

BUT, before we get to the end, we have the story of Roman and Cenobia...

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO, DECORATED FORMER ARMY RANGER ROMAN SHEPPARD RESCUED MEXICAN HEIRESS CENOBIA TRUJILLO FROM A SHOCKING KIDNAPPING THAT RIVETED THE WORLD.

In the years since, Roman’s risen from his humble Texas roots: he is now the head of an elite security firm and the reluctant half prince of a glamorous wine-growing Spanish kingdom.

And today, Cenobia—"Cen"—is finally in the CEO role she’s trained for her whole life. But serious, growing threats against her are derailing a product launch that will change the Mexican industrial landscape forever. She’s done the hard work to recover from her kidnapping, but therapy has't changed the fact that Roman Sheppard will forever represent safety in her mind.

He's the only one she can trust.

And his coming to Mexico will allow Cenobia to finally figure out if what she feels is a teenager’s daydream or a grown woman’s reality…

But there’s a reason Roman has stayed a continent away. His mission is to save people. And nothing—not duty to family, not the mistakes of his past and certainly not love—is going to get in his way.

He'll go to Mexico. He'll help Cen. He'll keep her safe.

What he won't allow himself to do?

Desire Cenobia Trujillo. He won’t allow her to become his sweet Cen.

Serving Sin, available May 25

Book reviewers, bloggers, and bookstagrammers: Request Serving Sin on NetGalley

AND PLEASE HELP SPREAD THE WORD!

• Sign up for my newsletter to read an exclusive Serving Sin excerpt.

• Mark it "To-Read" on Goodreads.

• Vote for Serving Sin on any of these Goodreads lists.

• Click on the links below ⬇︎to share this blog with your friends.

LUSH MONEY now available at Wal-Mart!

I'm thrilled to announce that Lush Money with its new beautiful cover is now available in Wal-Mart stores in the United States and Canada!

Since my publisher, Carina Press, is an e-book first publisher, this is an opportunity to share Lush Money with more readers. If you have friends or family who are Wal-Mart shoppers, please ask them to see if the book is in their stores!

To celebrate, I'm offering a signed bookplate to Lush Money readers. Send me a picture of your receipt, a picture of you with your Wal-Mart copy of Lush Money, or (even better!!) tag me with your picture on social media, and I'll send you a signed bookplate that makes you a "Certified Hyperromantic."

If you read my books, I already know you're a hyperromantic!! But don't you want a bookplate that tells the world????

Order Lush Money from Wal-Mart, let me know (tag me on social media or send me receipt and/or picture) and I’ll send you a signed bookplate!

Cocktail Recipe: Cranberry Sauce Old Fashioned

You might be scraping up the last of your cranberry sauce as you finish up Thanksgiving leftovers. But before you put it on your plate, I have another suggestion: put it in a cocktail shaker.

When you think about it, cranberry sauce — with softened cranberries, sugar, spices, and orange juice and zest — is a perfect base for the sweet-and-savory Old Fashioned.

Cranberry Sauce Old Fashioned

2 jiggers bourbon (I used Maker’s Mark)
1/2 Tbls cranberry sauce (I use this recipe)
1/4 jigger ginger simple syrup*
2 dashes orange-flavored bitters

Add all ingredients to cocktail shaker. Add ice. Shake hard, 15-20 seconds (shake hard so the ice can break up the sauce). Add ice and drink to rocks glass. Twist orange peel swath over top then add to glass. Enjoy!

*A recipe for ginger simple syrup is pretty easy to find online. I also provide a recipe on the free stuff page for my newsletter subscribers.

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Read Henry's love story, DREAM GIRL, for free!

Read in 20 parts on Harlequin Online Reads.

Dream Girl, the love story of Henry, our sunny Texas bodyguard in the Filthy Rich series, is now available to read for free on Harlequin Online Reads. The story will be released over 20 days, from Nov. 23, 2020-Dec. 20, 2020, so it will take a little patience to discover how Henry’s one night stand turns into so much more!

You can catch up on his journey through the Filthy Rich series in my previous blog.

And you can get a sneak peek below!

I hope you love it. Please let me know what you think in the comment section!! And share with your friends if you’re enjoying it!

Dream Girl

by Angelina M. Lopez

Chapter One

Henry Walker didn't want anything getting between him and his whisky. Especially not the gorgeous redhead who sidled up to him at the mahogany-and-brass bar of the San Francisco hotel and laser-beamed him with her eyes while specifically ordering a bottle of wine produced by his world-famous best friend.

He might be known for his sunny Texas disposition and good ol' boy manners. But if she'd wanted to make his dark mood blacker, reminding him of his connection to PrincesaSofia de Esperanza y Santos, winemaker and owner of Bodega Sofia, was certainly the way. His best friend in the whole world was going to kill him. He'd just told that winemaker's sister-in-law—his boss, in fact—that he was quitting the job of his dreams.

He used all of his six-foot, three-inch height and healthy 260 pounds to glower away the pretty hanger-on. Then he finished off the double of twelve-year-old single malt Japanese whisky and signaled for another.

He needed to drown the image of his billionaire boss's hurt brown eyes.Henry Walker didn't want anything getting between him and his whisky. Especially not the gorgeous redhead who sidled up to him at the mahogany-and-brass bar of the San Francisco hotel and laser-beamed him with her eyes while specifically ordering a bottle of wine produced by his world-famous best friend.

He might be known for his sunny Texas disposition and good ol' boy manners. But if she'd wanted to make his dark mood blacker, reminding him of his connection to PrincesaSofia de Esperanza y Santos, winemaker and owner of Bodega Sofia, was certainly the way. His best friend in the whole world was going to kill him. He'd just told that winemaker's sister-in-law—his boss, in fact—that he was quitting the job of his dreams.

He used all of his six-foot, three-inch height and healthy 260 pounds to glower away the pretty hanger-on. Then he finished off the double of twelve-year-old single malt Japanese whisky and signaled for another.

He needed to drown the image of his billionaire boss's hurt brown eyes.

continue reading Dream Girl…