December Drake | Pepper Dane
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decemberdrake.bsky.social
December Drake | Pepper Dane
@decemberdrake.bsky.social
1.1K followers 510 following 280 posts
Indie author writing under December Drake & Pepper Dane (PNR). Spicy author of both sweet & very dark things. Beware dark corners; check triggers.

decemberdrake.com / pepperdane.com
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decemberdrake.bsky.social
I'm on semi-hiatus to support my terminal cat through the last stages of his journey. On Oct. 22nd, my Ream will lock to new subscribers/upgrades. After which, all members will enjoy two months free.

All the sweet, spicy, and very dark, on Ream. 🌶️📚

reamstories.com/decemberdrake
A banner which reads: Ream closing to new members on October 22nd. Three months of Ream for the price of one. Lock in access to: All published books (binge & luxe tiers), all WIP updates (Luxe tier), non-dark books plus WIP updates (Sweet+Spicy tier), completed dark works only (dark tier). The website is https://reamstories.com/decemberdrake. The background is black, against which a dried rose is shown on fire.
October 19, 2025 at 1:29 AM
decemberdrake.bsky.social
Happy Friday! It's a fine time to check out some great romance and spicy reads from indie authors today on Kobo Plus! 📚🌶️

Be sure to browse BOTH links this time, because there's no overlap.

koboplusromancebinge.com

www.kobo.com/us/en/p/kobo-plus-romance-binge
A marketing graphic for YOLO WITH KOBO featuring an open book with its innermost pages curved into a heart, against a black background. A red bookmark is visible in the pages. The graphic says, YOLO WITH KOBO, August 8th, Free with Kobo Plus, and Support Indie Authors. The two URLs are linked separately on this post.
August 9, 2025 at 3:06 AM
decemberdrake.bsky.social
I'm extra cautious about triggering any readers, so I separate out my work with morally grey/black male leads into a category called Bad. Warnings all over it.

In my newsletter welcome sequence and on my site, everyone clicks it. Everyone. 😳

I might as well have labelled it: Don't Click This Link
Screenshot of part of my newsletter welcome email, which also mirrors the wording on my author site. It says, "Below, I list my most dangerous stories in the Bad category, which all list relevant trigger warnings. Feel free to avoid this category if it isn't your cup of tea." The screenshot then shows two images for two different story categories of my books: Romance & Spice, featuring a rose lit on fire, and Bad Stories, featuring a set of woman's hands tied behind her back.
August 3, 2025 at 2:22 AM
decemberdrake.bsky.social
Not the best week to have a huge, west-facing picture window

(Sensor is registering 102F/39C behind the window curtain; the rest of the house is limping along on AC)
An internal window temperature sensor reporting 102.0F (39C) and 44% humidity
June 24, 2025 at 10:39 PM
decemberdrake.bsky.social
Want a freebie from my new author store? STOLEN VALENTINE is free to buy right now. A silver fox steals his son's neglected girlfriend during a carefully crafted Valentine's Day dinner in this ultra short romance 📚🌶️

All other titles (including audiobooks) are also 50% off!

store.decemberdrake.ink
A marketing poster for my direct store grand opening sale, at https://store.decemberdrake.ink. The featured book is STOLEN VALENTINE, which is currently free to buy. The cover features a martini glass with a tiny red heart inside. Beneath the book are several other titles from my Primal Regression and Rogue Cupid series, as well as The Investor.
June 23, 2025 at 3:57 AM
decemberdrake.bsky.social
Claiming His Professor is FINALLY out and only $0.99 through Monday! books2read.com/u/3Rg0wR

This ends the original Primal Regression series, long live Primal Regression: Aftermath! Mafia, assassins, MCs, and there's something in the water..?!

So excited for the new spin-off! 🌶️📚
A poster for the original Primal Regression series, prominently featuring the latest, final, and sixth book: Claiming His Professor. The other previous titles are displayed as well. It also mentions the upcoming spin-off series and its first title, Claiming the Sheriff's Daughter. The books are available in all stores such as Google, Apple, BN, Amazon, etc.
June 8, 2025 at 12:13 AM
decemberdrake.bsky.social
Cupid's patience is exhausted. He's not afraid of a little blackmail to unite some fated loves in these spicy short romances! I've (finally) added the Rogue Cupid series to all stores. books2read.com/b/492ok8 📚🌶️

These were fun to write and design. Now brainstorming the fourth book!
A poster featuring all three released #books in the Rogue Cupid series, along with some store icons: Amazon, Google Play, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo Plus, Smashwords, Eden, and Ream. In one corner, Cupid is seen in a leather jacket with sunglasses on while lighting a cigarette. The first book, Fated to Strip, shows a woman's legs in a provocative pose with red leg warmers over platform heels. The theme is a secret office crush. Fated to Suck, the second title, shows a woman licking a lollipop. In love with her best friend is this book's theme. Fated to Steal shows a woman in a purple velvet dress wearing rubber gloves, while wearing mask over her eyes. She looks nervous with her hands up, as though caught in the act of stealing. The theme is stealing from her fated love, a mafia boss.
May 22, 2025 at 12:49 AM
decemberdrake.bsky.social
Made it to the weekend? Stock up on curated romance and spicy reads from indie authors today on Kobo Plus! 📚🌶️

koboplusromancebinge.com

www.kobo.com/us/en/p/kobo...
A promo image showing an open book, whose center pages are gently curved into a heart. A red bookmark is beside it. The text reads: YOLO WITH KOBO, April 25th. Curated Romance & Spice, Free with Kobo Plus. The website is https://koboplusromancebinge.com.
April 26, 2025 at 12:41 AM
decemberdrake.bsky.social
First I laughed at this inaccurately "good" sleep score by my fitness ring. Then I realized my sleep in this hellish month is so bad this is considered good for me

It's not good. My car's transmission died and on this level of sleep, it felt like getting punched in the face. Still picking myself up
A screenshot from my Oura fitness tracker ring, which is saying the three hours and thirty-two minutes of sleep I got last night equals a "good" sleep score of 78 out of 100. Resilience is also listed as "strong."
April 21, 2025 at 4:20 AM
decemberdrake.bsky.social
Taxes done
The meme of Ben Affleck looking exhausted while standing outside smoking
April 15, 2025 at 8:23 AM
decemberdrake.bsky.social
The first 3 Primal Regression audiobooks are now out in all stores including Audible, Spotify, Google, LibroFM, & Apple!

And Kobo Plus! The first is featured on Indie Audiobook Deals right now, along with these lovely other featured Kobo Plus audiobooks by talented authors

indieaudiobookdeals.com
A poster showing six December Drake professionally narrated audiobooks. Three books are now available in all stores: Claiming His Friend's Daughter, Claiming His Nanny, and Claiming His Patient. These are the first three books in the Primal Regression series. Current available stores include Audible, Amazon, Spotify, Google, Apple, Kobo Plus, LibroFM, Barnes & Noble, Bookbeat, Storytel, and Ream. Three more books are listed as coming soon: Claiming His Target, Claimed by Her Security Guard, and The Investor. A poster for Indie Audiobook Deals, a blog that features audiobooks by indie authors. The website is indieaudiobookdeals.com. The image shows five audiobooks that are currently featured in the Kobo Plus section on Indie Audiobook Deals: Cut & Run by Lucy Felthouse, Claiming His Friend's Daughter by December Drake, Flames and Frying Pans by Kate Moseman, And So It Begins by TK Eldridge, and Cold Spite by Toni Anderson.
April 13, 2025 at 4:46 AM
decemberdrake.bsky.social
I've been struggling with low energy writing this week (I have POTS), so I was surprised to see Claiming His Friend's Daughter hit Top 5 in Free on Google Play with no promo?!

What a pleasant surprise. Definitely cheered me up. Maybe grab a 🌶️📚 short romance freebie!
Screenshot of the Google Play Books page (desktop mode) with Claiming His Friend's Daughter shown in the Top 5 Free ebook titles. Mobile screenshot of Top 5 Free in ebooks on Google Play, showing Claiming His Friend's Daughter in 5th position.
March 17, 2025 at 6:55 PM
decemberdrake.bsky.social
After many auditions, a few tears, and a ton of work by some talented narrators, The Investor along with all released short romance titles in the Primal Regression series will be out on audiobook soon to all stores.

Thrilled to be able to release this many of my titles in the span of a few months!
A poster showing 6 book covers, and announcing they will be out on audiobook soon with professional human narrators. The book covers are for: The Investor (a dark romance novella), with a champagne bottle in a dark bucket against a black background, and the first five books of the original Primal Regression series, showing couples in spicy romantic embraces. The five books are: Claiming His Friend's Daughter, Claiming His Nanny, Claiming His Patient, Claiming His Target, and Claimed by Her Security Guard.
March 13, 2025 at 7:34 AM
decemberdrake.bsky.social
Outlining Me: Add Book 5's MMC to Book 6 as a supporting character! Continuity is fun!

Developmental Me: Make him the antagonist

Book 6 of Primal Regression is almost here. It completes the setup for the coming spin-off series: Primal Regression: Aftermath.
The book cover for Claiming His Professor, Book 6 in the original Primal Regression series. A topless man is tugging on a woman's hair, forcing her to arch backward in front of him. Her eyes are closed, and she has a serene expression of surrender.
March 6, 2025 at 6:30 AM
decemberdrake.bsky.social
The Smashwords Read an Ebook Week sale is here through March 8th. Support your favorite authors! I've set most of my back catalog to 50% off 🌶️📚💙

www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos

(Made this last night, seems I was in alignment with the original marketing team. 😅 You can use my alt-text for both)!
The promo art has an ereader propped up against a stack of books against a dark background. The words on the ereader say "Support Your Favorite Authors" while the title says "Smashwords Read an Ebook Week Sale, 02 March through 08 March." Website: www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos. This alt-text also mostly works for the original Smashwords image as the two are very similar in design!
March 2, 2025 at 9:37 PM
decemberdrake.bsky.social
After listening to so many talented auditions, I'm thrilled to announce The Investor is in audiobook production! (It's also on sale for $0.99 in stores 😉) 📚🌶️

An age gap dark romance novella, with a morally grey MMC. My tech industry cynicism also crept into this one...

books2read.com/u/mgeZ97
A marketing post for The Investor. The book cover features a black champagne bucket with a bottle of champagne sticking out, and only the bottle's unopened gold foil visible. It's against an entirely black background and slightly shadowed in a vaguely sinister way. Tropes mentioned are age gap, secret arrangement, morally grey billionaire, and revenge. Icons for available stores: Amazon, Google, Apple, Kobo, Smashwords, Eden, and Ream. Author site: decemberdrake.com. A book description says: "Eva will do anything to make the billionaire funding her dad's company stay. But 'anything' is a big word, and means far more than the very inexperienced Eva realized: Any time, any place. Anywhere." There's also a quote from the MMC in larger letters: "Those boys’ demands won’t be anything like mine. It’s your move, Eva. You have ten minutes. Sell me."
March 2, 2025 at 2:17 AM
decemberdrake.bsky.social
Sheesh, I'm one of the rare Bluesky Desktop users for accessibility reasons, and didn't realize how trash a wide text screenshot looks on mobile. Same excerpt, but in portrait
Another view of the same screenshot from the last post, but in portrait mode: “Imagine waking up tomorrow to discover that a second government had formed, one never ratified into law. You didn’t vote for it, and you sure as fuck didn’t elect it. No executive order decreed it. The Supreme Court never reviewed it. Yet, that’s exactly what’s happened. A new government set up shop right next to the first. With the powers of the executive, judicial, and legislative branches, all rolled into fucking one.” His voice trembled with such barely contained rage that most of the crowd remained frozen, listening. Some lifted their phones to record, panning their cameras around the park as they searched for the hidden voice. Fervent emotion was Jackson’s specialty. The first few times she’d heard him speak, Mira had stood there slack-jawed, too. One of the event staff scurried over to the stage, checking the speakers before turning to shake his head at the security officers. “The original government keeps limping along in its usual, ineffective way,” Jackson continued. “Because the new one is only concerned with a third of the country. A third of your neighbors. Its singular goal is to repress, disenfranchise, and incarcerate one-third of humans. That new, unlawful government is the North American Council, and it calls its victims demons.”
February 25, 2025 at 8:50 PM
decemberdrake.bsky.social
The Demon's Obsession (Book 2) was published mid-December. I set out to write a light dystopian PNR short romance series, but it's getting uncomfortably real 😔

While writing Book 3, I've had to step back and consider curving the plot a little further from current reality 🌶️📚

amzn.to/41wigHn
Excerpt from The Demon's Obsession, reading as follows: “Imagine waking up tomorrow to discover that a second government had formed, one never ratified into law. You didn’t vote for it, and you sure as fuck didn’t elect it. No executive order decreed it. The Supreme Court never reviewed it. Yet, that’s exactly what’s happened. A new government set up shop right next to the first. With the powers of the executive, judicial, and legislative branches, all rolled into fucking one.” His voice trembled with such barely contained rage that most of the crowd remained frozen, listening. Some lifted their phones to record, panning their cameras around the park as they searched for the hidden voice. Fervent emotion was Jackson’s specialty. The first few times she’d heard him speak, Mira had stood there slack-jawed, too. One of the event staff scurried over to the stage, checking the speakers before turning to shake his head at the security officers. “The original government keeps limping along in its usual, ineffective way,” Jackson continued. “Because the new one is only concerned with a third of the country. A third of your neighbors. Its singular goal is to repress, disenfranchise, and incarcerate one-third of humans. That new, unlawful government is the North American Council, and it calls its victims demons.” The cover for The Demon's Obsession by Pepper Dane, Book 2 in The Smoke Demon Mates PNR short romance series on Amazon. The cover features a bare-chested, fully humanoid demon in jeans with glowing silver eyes, with swirling white smoke around him.
February 25, 2025 at 8:33 PM
decemberdrake.bsky.social
I've been shopping vintage Ennis covers this month too! I love his color use. These two arrived in the mail this week: Promise Me Forever by Cara Miles & Sea Mistress by Candace McCarthy (opened to the gorgeous stepback flap). Starlight Child is on the way
Two vintage romance novels illustrated by John Ennis: Promise Me Forever by Cara Miles, showing man embracing a woman while holding onto a ship's rope in the water, as well as Sea Mistress by Candace McCarthy, opened to show the inside stepback illustration with a very similarly posed couple.
February 22, 2025 at 5:28 AM
decemberdrake.bsky.social
I did it! Carved out joy time & visited my first thrift store to scoop up romance novels & vinyls (mostly Tchaikovsky, Mel Tormé, Pavarotti etc)

I also bought 6 more old clinch cover editions online off my wish list, mostly John Ennis covers

I'm adding a dedicated bookcase & I'm so excited
A photo showing a stack of used vinyl classic records, mostly Tchaikovsky, Mel Torme, etc. Above them are 6 used romance novels from the early 1980s to late 1990s showing clinch covers, aka couples in passionate embrace. Titles: From Love's Ashes by Frances Statham, The Steadfast Heart by Colleen Shannon, Love Me with Fury by Janelle Taylor, Sage by Norah Hess, Savage Shadows by Cassie Edwards (with a notably problematic "savage" stepback cover), and Until Forever by Johanna Lindsey (this has a gold foil cover with hidden stepback cover that is very racy with a full nude guy inside).
February 14, 2025 at 9:42 PM
decemberdrake.bsky.social
Happy #YOLOWithKobo Day! 475+ curated romance books. All of my wide titles + many other authors can be found on #koboplus.

Browse Yolo with Kobo Plus by Category:
koboplusromancebinge.com

Browse the 475+ books on Kobo's site by Cover:
geni.us/YOLOWithKobo
A marketing banner showing three red hearts against a black background, with the title Yolo with Kobo at the top, as well as the date, February 7th. Other info listed: 475+ curated romance books, free with Kobo Plus. An additional website, https://koboplusromancebinge.com, is listed.
February 8, 2025 at 1:06 AM
decemberdrake.bsky.social
This made my day! I'm glad folks are enjoying it. Stolen Valentine is currently marked down to $0.99, so grab a copy and enjoy a quick Valentine's Day age gap read! 📚🌶️
A screenshot of my Stolen Valentine book in the Amazon store, showing that it's currently ranked number 3 on the 45-Minute Short Romance New Releases chart.
February 7, 2025 at 8:16 PM
decemberdrake.bsky.social
The Demon's Secret is free today on Amazon for FaRoBub! 💙📚🌶️ Over 200 books are free, so check them out here:

farofeb.com/freebooks/

#farofeb #pnr #fantasyromance #freebooks
A selection of beautiful book covers (as well as the cover for The Demon's Secret) that are free today for FaRoBub.
February 3, 2025 at 6:49 PM
decemberdrake.bsky.social
Stolen Valentine: A new short read for Valentine's Day, now live in all stores!

A daring father longs for his son's neglected girlfriend. Now, he has one hour. One dinner. One night, to show her she belongs with him instead. 📚🌶️
books2read.com/u/bz9Poz

Lots of transparency fun making this cover...
The cover for Stolen Valentine, featuring a cocktail glass against a black background. A tiny red heart floats through water toward the bottom of the glass. The word Stolen is in white block letters dipping into the glass, while the word Valentine is in red cursive near the bottom. The caption reads: One hour. One dinner. One night, to make her his.
February 1, 2025 at 12:17 AM
decemberdrake.bsky.social
It's that magical time: the Romance Book Blast! 1k+ freebies to scoop up on January 28th in this SYK event. 🌶️📚 #romancelandia

I have a new Smoke Demon Mates short story, a stolen bride mafia novella, and a spicy pheromone doctor/patient story in the blast!

www.romancebooklovers.com
A marketing banner for the Romance Book Blast on January 28th, a SYK event with 1000 freebie books. All romance genres, all retailers. The website is listed as romancebooklovers.com.
January 28, 2025 at 5:23 AM