Wicked Lucidity Is Back, and I Have Feelings About It

I wrote Wicked Lucidity in 2004.

Let that sink in for a second, because I still have to remind myself sometimes. This book came out when paranormal romance was having its big moment, but most of what was on the shelves looked very different from what I was putting on the page. The genre was leaning heavy into alpha males who growled a lot and heroines who needed saving. And I loved those books. I read them by the stack. But when I sat down to write, what came out was Karri-Lynn O’Higgins, and Karri was not interested in being saved by anyone.

Karri was a mess. A beautiful, fierce, funny, deeply wounded mess who cracked jokes while bleeding, who carried weapons under her jogging outfit, who fought demons in the dark while her best friend thought she was out partying. She had a mouth on her that could make a sailor blush and a heart so big it nearly got her killed more than once.

She was also a survivor.

I didn’t set out to write a book about childhood trauma. I set out to write a dark, sexy, funny urban fantasy romance with a heroine who could hold her own in any fight. But Karri’s past kept pushing its way into the story, and I let it, because that’s what real people carry. The toughest woman in the room still has a history. The one cracking jokes the loudest is sometimes the one hurting the most. I wanted to write that truth, even inside a world full of vampires and lycans and magik.

Back in 2004, dark urban fantasy existed, but it wasn’t nearly as widespread as it is now. And books that went this deep? That was rare. You could have a tortured hero with a dark past, absolutely, but a heroine who carried that kind of weight, who had survived that kind of evil, and who still managed to be the most magnetic person in every room she walked into? That was harder to find. Readers who found Wicked Lucidity got it immediately. They connected with Karri in a way that still makes me emotional when I think about the messages I received over the years.

But the book didn’t fit neatly into boxes. It was too dark for some of the romance shelves and too romantic for some of the urban fantasy shelves. It had humor that sat right next to heartbreak. It had a heroine who talked to ghosts and made up holidays about green beans and also had PTSD she refused to acknowledge. It was messy and big and unapologetically itself. Sound like anyone you know? Yeah, that part Karri and I have in common.

The genre has changed so much since then. Dark romance found its audience. Romantasy exploded. Readers are hungry for heroines who have been through hell and came out swinging. Complex female characters with complicated pasts aren’t a hard sell anymore. They’re what readers are actively searching for.

So when I had the chance to bring Wicked Lucidity back, I jumped at it.

This book was always supposed to find its people. I think the world is finally ready for Karri-Lynn.

One thing I want to mention about this edition: I added a resource page at the back of the book. Some of the themes in Karri’s story, the childhood abuse, the trauma, the long road to trusting anyone, those aren’t just fiction for a lot of people. If this book resonates with you in ways that feel personal, I want you to know that I see you, and that there is help available. The back of the book has links to the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline, RAINN, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, and more. Because stories can crack open things we’ve been carrying, and when they do, no one should have to sit with that alone.

If you’ve never read Wicked Lucidity, you’re about to meet one of my favorite characters I’ve ever written. If you read it years ago and remember Karri fondly, she’s been waiting for you.

She’s still cracking jokes. She’s still fighting. She’s still here.

Wicked Lucidity is a dark urban fantasy shifter romance. It contains themes of childhood abuse (handled off-page), attempted sexual assault (not depicted), dark humor, violence, strong language, and a heroine who will absolutely steal your heart.