Multi-published and award-winning Raleigh author, Nancy Lee Badger, presents a paranormal romance set in North Carolina filled with a fabulous art museum, the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the terror of the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Hatteras. A love of art, especially the bronze sculptures by the French master, August Rodin, helped give her ideas that brought this story to life. Although previously published by a small publishing house, this series never had a chance to get into the hands of many readers. She has re-edited Heaven Sent Warrior and will widely distribute the series. This is a stand-alone full-length book is the first book in the Warriors in Bronze novels to be followed by Heaven-sent Highlander. Heaven Sent Warrior released 4/15/25!

Asleep inside a bronze statue, a naked Frenchman wakes a century later to save a half-Fae, museum curator from a demon bent on ruling our present-day world.

Henrí Chevalier’s last memory, before stumbling naked into a museum’s moonlit garden, was Auguste Rodin and his dusty Paris studio in 1886. To escape his broken heart, Henrí volunteered to sleep inside a statue until needed. Expecting to die, he discovers he must learn to use the unexpected powers Heaven has given him. Without them he will fail his mission against otherworldly creatures, such as demons and faeries.

Kenzie Mackintosh, a dedicated art museum’s curator, spies a naked man hiding among bronze statues. A quick glance ignites desire within her, but she is too tied-up in work to act on it. Unaware of her fae heritage, their relationship heats up as he disrupts her job. While Henrí tries to process modern buildings, cars, and a broken elevator, a demon attacks and forces Henrí and Kenzie to enlist the aid of her powerful fae relatives. When the demon possesses the body of her ex-lover and threatens to kill him, then use her to take over the world, Henrí and Kenzie must learn to trust each other, even if Kenzie’s death might be the only answer to the world’s salvation.

Excerpt –

“We’re trapped.” Kenzie’s whispered words made Henrí’s shoulder muscles tense. She twisted her fingers into claws that gripped his waist and trembled.

He gathered her close, while fear rattled him.

Mon Dieu! My nightmare has come true.

This time period seemed fraught with more dangers than any he had faced during the Siege de Paris. The battle against the Prussians had caused his sixteen-year-old self to grow up fast. Henrí forced memories of death, blood, and needless carnage back inside the dark place in his mind.

Concentrate on here and now. On her.

“Are you okay?” she asked with a shaky voice.

“This is strange and makes dark memories return,” he answered. She smelled wonderful, of meadows in spring, and forests filled with the rich scent of moss. He focused on her fragrance to calm his thudding heart. Fear fed on fear. He had learned that on the eve of battle, from his commanding officer. If he showed no fear, and she followed his example, she would tell him what to do next.

“The elevator might start by itself. We can wait a few minutes. Tell me more about . . . Rodin,” she whispered.

“I recall how regally my master had stood before me in that cold, dark studio. Rodin said he planned to send me into the beyond inside a statue.”

“And you said yes? Were you crazy?”

“Oui, I agreed by reciting the pledge.”

“Why would you do such a thing?” Her hand stroked his cheek in the dark confines of the unmoving moving room.

Heat penetrated his skin, making him feel more alive than when he first awoke. The dark interior of the small space warmed, and his body inched forward until his chest pressed against her. He blinked, though the darkness did not waver.

Amazon

Paperback and Hardcover coming soon!

See all of Nancy’s books Here

Nancy Lee Badger grew up in Huntington on New York’s Long Island. After attending Plymouth State, in New Hampshire, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree and met and married her college sweetheart. They raised two handsome sons in Rumney, New Hampshire while she dreamed of being a writer. When the children had left the nest, and shoveling snow became a chore, she retired from her satisfying job as a 911 Emergency Medical Dispatcher and moved to North Carolina, where she writes full-time.

Nancy is a former member of Romance Writers of America and its local chapter, The Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, as well as the Fantasy-Futuristic & Paranormal Romance Writers. She is currently a member of the Triangle Association of Freelancers based in the Raleigh area. She finds story ideas in the most unusual places.

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I’m thrilled to announce that my time travel series – The Guardians of Now – is back up. I received the rights back from SoulMate Publishing when they closed their doors and with the help of Leslie Ray (as always my deepest thanks!!) all three are now available!

Another Time, A Different Time, and A New Time.

Another Time is the first book I ever had to reach #1 at Amazon and it did it twice! A really great memory for me.

Exercept –

The atmosphere in the bar was nearly as dark as Dusty Williams’ mood.

Hunched over the Scotch in front of him, he peered at his hazy reflection in the shiny wood counter. In the midst of wondering if he had time to change jobs before tomorrow, he gave the bar a onceover. Dark wood, some touches of chrome, the place could at most be called ‘trendy.’

A first-timer to the bar, Dusty’d come here tonight for a self-pity drink or two. Wouldn’t do to be hungover—in addition to his already abrasive personality—for tomorrow’s presentation. He was surprised to find he’d zeroed in on the place tonight like a long-sought destination, bypassing places more familiar to him. Maybe he’d wanted the anonymity more than he realized.

One other patron dignified the place, a redhead at the far end of the bar. She appeared about as happy as he was to be here. What the hell, I’m in the mood to get my face slapped.

At least no one would be able to give him grief about a failed attempt.

“A drink for the redhead.” He turned away from watching her to speak to the bartender.

“I don’t think she wants a drink, but I’m happy to sell it to you,” the young smartass replied.

The kid was probably right. Dusty longed to ditch the suit, trash the briefcase, and get the hell out of Dodge. Unfortunately, none of that was an option. Tomorrow he had to get on a plane with his boss as babysitter and head west.

Rather than contemplate a pending disaster he needed a distraction, anything to keep his mind off the upcoming meeting.

Having a watchdog bugged Dusty though it was probably necessary keep him from ruining the deal. He was better at research than meeting with talking heads; he admitted to the lack within himself. So why did they continue to trot him out for this kind of thing? His social skills sucked, therefore he should stay in the damn lab.

His ideas sold. If the idiots couldn’t follow his designs, then maybe they weren’t capable of using the product.

The redhead demurred from the drink, giving Dusty the excuse to move in her direction. He knew women looked at him, though he wasn’t sure why. The inner package didn’t match the outer, fortunately they wouldn’t know until later, right?

“Thank you,” she began before he could speak, “but—”

“Your day looks as lousy as mine. I thought we could commiserate.” He was close enough now to take the seat beside her. Dusty stopped and glanced around. There was a vibration, an electrical hum of some kind, and the buzz was getting stronger. She seemed to notice the disturbance too, yet the smartass bartender hadn’t reacted.

After a tiny hesitation he took the seat beside her.

“Do you feel that?” she asked as he settled beside her.

“Yeah, but I don’t know…” His hand brushed hers on the bar. Accidental, because he didn’t grab women, though more than one had grabbed his ass in places like this.

There was no actual spark though they both obviously felt the slight jolt. For the first time his eyes met hers, a pretty soft blue. She seemed as startled as he felt.

“What the hell was that?” Dusty blurted. She hastily withdrew her hand from the bar. “Sorry.”

Some reviews —

I loved Donna Steele’s newest book, Another Time. In this book, like many of her others, she can take someone like me – a non-science fiction reader, and draw me into a wonderful story. There are so many things I liked about this book. There were social issues, not preached, but discussed as you would discuss with your friends. So many thought provoking ‘what if’s’ and woven through it all a love story to make anyone envious. I’m glad to know that there will be a sequel to this book. – PKC

I love time travels. Usually, either the hero or the heroine goes back in time or travels forward in time. But in Donna Steele’s Another Time, both the hero and heroine travel back in time. This allows for more interaction and less introspection so they come to the realization that time travel is real much sooner. Another Time is a spicy romance with an eco message that doesn’t bash you on the head but instead, makes you reflect on how the world might have turned out differently. Filled with humor and bits of interesting details, this is one of the most unique time travel romances I’ve ever read. I’m looking forward to the next book in this new series. – GG

A very interesting take on time travel that drew you in from the start. Both characters were very developed and made you fall in love with them. They made the best out of an awkward and complex situation and ended up making some interesting discoveries about themselves and the world. The author was able to blend both the past and the future perfectly so you didnt get confused and were able to feel as though you were really there. Based on the content this book is for a mature audience of 18+. I am an independent reviewer for Romance Authors That Rock and am giving this book 4 Hearts. – SJ

Uncaged Review: Dusty and Dee are perfect strangers who hit it off on night in a bar. After a one night stand Dee is driving Dusty to the airport for a business meeting when they crash and are thrown into another time period. Believe they ended up here for a reason, they begin putting their skills to the use of the town. This is book one in the series Featuring Dusty and Dee and the way it ends we are surely going to be seeing more of them. I for one love this storyline and found what they accomplished in this story amazing. A very entertaining read can’t wait to see what’s next in store for them. – J

Hope you check it out and thank you!!

This is in tribute to Linda Sedgewick, an extremely talented writer and artist that we lost to cancer today.

I never actually met Linda in person, but we worked together for several years editing and publishing her SunRunner series. These books are – Voyage of the SunRunner, Blue Crab Bay, Return of the SunRunner, and A Nasty Cast.

We met through a mutual friend who knew I was a writer and that Linda had written a book but never done anything with it. I contacted her and the SunRunner series is what emerged. She did her writing at the library, as she didn’t have a computer. When she was no longer able to travel to the library, she dictated the chapters on her phone and I formatted them for her.

I have to admit I didn’t realize this YA series was a series until the third book. Her genius at weaving the tales over different times was incredible and I came to love her characters. The last book Heaven’s Gate which she was unable to complete is a little darker but tells a wonderful story in the same universe. I promised her it would be published and as soon as her family is able, they will be sending me her notes to complete the last couple of chapters. I will do my best to ghost write those few chapters as close to her voice as I can manage.

In addition to writing, she was an outstanding artist. I have some of her prints she gifted me in thanks for helping with the books.

I will miss her and I’ll let you know when Heaven’s Gate is released. Enjoy her work.

I have to admit I really didn’t see this day coming when I sent out my first manuscript for rejection. Okay, you know what I mean, a novice writer with no experience… I know I was lucky. Rebel Ink Press read my first book, Rth Rising, and of all the strange things, bought it! I was a published author. I still remember the wonder of it all. My thanks always to Cherry Adair, the speaker at the HCRW annual conference that year, who I met for the first time the next day after receiving this news. I’ll always remember how she jumped up and ran around the table to hug me.

Rebel Ink was a small eBook only publisher at the time – now most of my books are also in paper and I have two audio books with more on the horizon.

Other books and publishers followed and I’m now a hybrid writer – traditionally and self-published. I retired from my office job and began writing full time in 2015 and was able to finish up a lot of books that I’d started but hadn’t had the time to finish. I got into the groove of writing every day for at least four hours and that still holds true. “Retiring” was a misnomer, I have no idea how I got everything done when I still “worked”.

Now I’m publishing my 50^th book, Alien Embraces, sequel to Alien Embrace. Who’da thunk it?? My love for the paranormal and science fiction has grown and I’ve added contemporary to my repertoire. My annual Christmas novellas are now anticipated and requested – talk about an ego boost!

I have found my niche with an incredible critique group of fellow writers that have been more help than I could ever express. My years with Heart of Carolina Romance Writers taught be at least as much if not more than I learned in school. And the best part is I’m still learning and attempting to improve my craft.

I’m often asked what advice I’d give a new writer – that’s easy. Write. Yes, some days it’s trash, and some days you’re pushing rather than have it flow. Good, that means you’re just like the rest of us. Best advice I was given… You can’t edit an empty page (thank you Nora Roberts). It happens to be true. On those days go back and read something you wrote previously or write something that’s been nagging you that has nothing to do with your current work-in-progress. It’s not like you’re cheating on your current book and those notes will come in handy when you get around to your next book.

I’m fortunate to have the time to write, but when I began, I had two young children at home, I worked full-time, and my husband traveled for his job. The writing just refused to take a complete backseat. It was a lot slower but it still got done and was stored in boxes under the bed. Like I had a choice…

So here’s # 50 – Alien Embraces, sequel to Alien Embrace. My thanks to a fan who jolted this one out of that box and demanded to know what happened. Never underestimate what a reader can do for their writer.

Thank you all for your encouragement and support!