SATIN'S BOOKISH CORNER

Jim Lester - Till The Rivers All Run Dry - PROMO Blitz

2016-09-07T00:30:00.000-07:00

Coming of Age, Historical Fiction

Date Published: July 27, 2016

In 1941, when thirteen-year-old Ricky Parker’s family is uprooted from their home in Arkansas and relocated to Venezuela, Ricky thinks his life is over. But what he finds in a rough and tumble oil camp on the banks of Lake Maracaibo is the adventure of a lifetime. An adventure filled with Nazi spies, treachery, betrayal, true love, and even murder.

While touching on issues that remain relevant today, such as racism and America’s reliance on foreign oil, this coming-of-age novel is a page turning, high-octane suspense tale of star-crossed young lovers set in exotic wartime Venezuela.

Excerpt

One Friday evening right before the Fourth of July in the summer of 1941, I answered the front door and my whole life changed.

Two men in suits stood on the porch. One of them was an older fellow, wearing a cheap brown suit and a high starched collar that was wilting from the summer heat. The band in his rumpled fedora was stained with sweat. He had a droopy mustache that was part black and part white and an Adam’s apple that looked about the size of a baseball.

The other man was younger and had on a nicer suit. He removed his hat and showed off a thick head of blond hair. His face was pasty white, and I knew right off that he’d never done a lick of farmwork in his life.

“Is Mr. Chester Parker at home? We’d like a word with him if it would be convenient.” The younger man sounded like Mr. Hunter who taught English over at El Dorado Junior High, where I had just finished the seventh grade. They both talked real educated and proper-like.

“I reckon he’s out back,” I said. “Y’all come on in and I’ll get him.” I looked past the two men on the porch and saw some angry-looking dark clouds gathering off to the east, promising a summer rain.

The two men stepped into the living room. The older man removed his hat and scratched his bald head.

Before I could fetch Daddy, Mama stepped into the living room from the kitchen. She was wearing her big red apron that was dusty with flour from making the biscuits for supper. She had a dot of flour on her nose. “Who is it, Ricky? Did you . . .” She pulled up short in the doorway and drew in a quick breath.

“Howdy, Dixie,” the older man said. “How you been?”

Mama eyed the man like a dead garden snake she’d found on the back porch. “Evening, Mr. Taggert. I reckon I’m fine.” Mama’s tone filled the living room with a chilling frost.

The older man ignored Mama’s coldness. “This here is Mr. George Quinn. He’s from Washington. We need to have a word with Mr. Ches if we might.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Washington? What on earth would some stranger from Washington, DC, want with my father?

Mama wiped her hands on her apron. “Ricky, run on out to the shed and fetch your daddy. Be quick now.”

I scampered back through the kitchen and out the screen door and sprinted across the yard to the shed. I found Daddy hunched over his worktable lost in thought, staring at the parts of a radio he had spread out in front of him.

Daddy could fix anything as long as it was mechanical. Big machines, little machines. It didn’t make any difference. My father could fix all of them.

His pipe was clinched tight in his teeth and the sticky sweet smell of his burning tobacco filled the tiny shed.

“There’s a pair of fellows in suits here to see you,” I said, a little breathless from the ru

n across the yard. “I don’t think they want you to fix anything. I think they just want to talk.”

Daddy smiled and stood up from the worktable. “Then I guess we better go in the house and see what’s going on.”

My father was a tall man, skinny as a rail as the saying went. He had black hair slicked back with Brylcreem. Some folks said he looked Italian, but that was mainly because he’d spent so much time out in the sun that his skin was all brown and leathery looking. He always wore a blue work shirt with the sleeves rolled up past his elbows even in the summer.

Daddy had been a drilling supervisor at Murphy Oil and a real good one from what everybody said, but one day back in ’39 something happened out on one of the rigs and Daddy came home, put his lunch pail on the high shelf up in the pantry and announced that he’d never work for Murphy or any oil company again. And that was that.

My father didn’t do much but hang around the house for a few weeks. He’d sit at the kitchen table and take old radios apart and put them back together. Finally other folks started bringing him their busted radios and percolators and mix masters and stuff to fix and Daddy cleared out a space in the old shed out near the chicken coop and went into the small appliance repair business.

Daddy never hurried anywhere. Even after I told him about the two visitors, he ambled across the yard as if he were just heading up to the house for a drink of water.

Back in the living room, Mama had served ice tea to the two men, who were sitting on the blue sofa when Daddy and I came in. They stood up and shook hands all around. Mama brought Daddy a glass of tea. He drained half of it in one gulp.

“It’s good to see you again, Mr. Ches,” Taggert said.

Daddy nodded. “What can I do for you?” He sounded unfriendly and I could tell my father didn’t have much truck with the Taggert fellow.

The first plunks of the summer rain hit the roof. The smell of Daddy’s tobacco overpowered the living room.

Taggert and Quinn sat back down, balancing their hats in their laps. Mama leaned on the doorsill, wiping flour off her hands with her apron.

“Mr. Ches,” Taggert said. “We need to talk some business if you have a few minutes.” Daddy shrugged.

Taggert turned and looked at me. “Son, why don’t you run outside and play for a while. This won’t take long.”

“It’s raining,” I said, indicated the front window where the summer storm was pelting the glass.

Taggert gnawed on his lower lip.

“Come on, Ricky.” Mama came to Taggert’s rescue. “Let’s you and me run out to the henhouse and fix up those stalls like we been promising to do since school let out.”

I didn’t want to leave the living room. Something was going on. Something big. You could just feel it in the air. You could see it on Daddy’s face, hear it in Mama's voice. This was important. And I had to go out and fix up the stalls in the henhouse. I was not happy.

But I went.

By the time Mama and I hammered all the loose boards back into the chicken stalls, replaced the straw, swept out the walkway, and went back to the house, Taggert and Quinn were gone.

Daddy sat in the chair in the living room, staring out the window at the rain. The drops pounded the glass and ran down the panes in fast flowing rivulets.

It was getting dark, but Daddy hadn’t turned on any lights. He just sat there in the chair, smoking his pipe and staring out the window. He didn’t even turn around when Mama and I came back into the house. He just sat and stared and smoked. I’d never seen him look like that.

“Daddy? Are you all right?” I stood in the doorway to the kitchen, fighting back that awful sense that something was bad wrong.

My father didn’t say anything. Blue smoke drifted out of his pipe and floated toward the ceiling. The room got darker and darker.

Two weeks later, he and Mama and I took a train down to New Orleans, got on a big ship, and headed for Venezuela.

Jim Lester is the author of two previous coming of age novels-Fallout, which Booklist called " a fast paced, clever coming of age story, Salingeresque in spirit and The Great Pretender, which received consistently excellent reviews on Amazon. He is also the author of the sports history book Hoop Crazy: College Basketball in the 1950s.

Contact Links

Website: http://www.jimlesterbooks.com

Bookbuzz: http://bookbuzz.net/blog/coming-of-age-historical-fiction-till-the-rivers-all-run-dry/

Purchase Links

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Till-Rivers-All-Run-Dry-ebook/dp/B01J6JL1Q2

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/till-the-rivers-all-run-dry-dr-jim-lester/1124266709?ean=9780692750742

Kevin E. Hatt - Full Circle - PROMO Blitz

2016-09-05T00:30:00.000-07:00

A Haszard Narrative

Crime, Mystery

Date Published: September 1, 2016

When asked to look into the death of a man in a town known for pagan connections, Haszard quickly makes progress, and it isn't long before matters become dangerous. With little to work with, Haszard makes progress, yet the task is a daunting one, and not everyone he encounters is friendly.

Collating interesting and significant information from various sources along the way, Haszard has to link factors linked with the past, and as he does so, he realizes that in order to save someone from certain death, he is in a race against time.

Other Books in A Haszard Narrative Series

A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

Unfortunate in life and unlucky in love, the mysterious Haszard is intrigued by the death of an acquaintance at the local hospital, in which he works. Suspicious about the circumstances, he begins to look into the matter, meeting the woman of his dreams along the way.

After joining forces a local businessman, he speaks to a number of people, discovering irregularities in the life of the murdered woman. As he makes progress, he realises that the key to the matter lies in the dark and murky world of drug dealers, and has to face the possibility that the killer may well be someone he knows . . .

MAPS, LEGENDS AND MISDEMEANOURS

When asked to frame an old map, Haszard discovers that it’s linked to lost valuables from the past. Intrigued, he begins looking into the legend, discovering there to be cryptic clues on the map that must be deciphered. Unfortunately, though, Haszard isn’t the only person interested in the whereabouts of the missing items, and the other contingent resorts to violent tactics, which leads to a chilling climax . . .

PHOENIX FROM THE FLAME

When told by a former colleague that she saw her dead husband walking around a quaint market town, Haszard’s curiosity is engaged. As he begins to look into the matter, he unearths a number of facts that lead him to believe that there’s more to the sighting than merely a dead man walking. Also, there are people who are prepared to kill for something that’s worth a lot of money . . .

THE HEIRLOOM REPOSITORY

Haszard is asked to look for a family’s missing inheritance. Guided by words provided by a medium, he goes about the case with his typical fervour. Side-tracked by other matters, and spooked by a mysterious man in the woods, Haszard soon comes to realise that he isn’t alone in his quest, and persons unknown are not afraid to kill . . .

RACE FOR THE PRIZE

When on holiday with his friends, Haszard sees a girl who went missing a number of weeks previous. Fuelled with his usual determination, he sets about looking into the matter, although all is not as it appears, and it isn’t long before matters become eventful.
Having befriended a local artist, Haszard moves closer to an answer, yet the odds are stacked heavily against him. In order to win through, he must endure his most arduous and perilous challenge yet . . .

NO REASON FOR INSANITY

Intrigued by the bizarre events surrounding the murder of a friend, Haszard is asked by the family to look into the matter. Against the advice of his friends, he begins making enquiries, and is disturbed when he realizes that it may well be someone he knows. As progress is made, further events occur, endangering the life of Haszard and his friends, and he is forced to delve into the deepest recesses of his resourcefulness . . .

Excerpt

Driving away we agreed that a chat with Ed Loughmann, a friend of ours who owned a number of pubs, clubs, and gyms, along with a security protection service for the local businesses, would be of value. My immediate thought was to look obviously at what had been said, therefore finding out something about Paul Tudor should be the first move. If anyone could find out anything about him, it would be Ed. Once we had some facts on the table, we’d then be able to look at the situation differently.

Another immediate thought was the fact that Dean had been in Lamesford, a place that he was unfamiliar with. With him being a creature of habit, this threw up a major question, possibly even being the key to the entire affair; however, it was far too early for blind conjecture.

Our destination was a pub owned by Ed—the Railway Tavern, the jewel in Ed’s crown. A grand old building in the area of the main rail depot, the Tavern stood out as out of place. Ed had refurbished every aspect of the establishment, from the interior and exterior decor through to the catering, which was among the finest around.

After parking up we made our way in to see Ed sitting at his usual table, grinning as we approached. Ed was ex-British Special Forces, and in his early forties. He had short light-brown hair, and stood at around six feet, his features somewhat rugged, though they brightened considerably when he smiled.

“Sabrina, you survived the weekend with this lunatic. Congratulations,” Ed said, raising himself, holding a seat out for Sabrina, and leaving me to fend for myself as always. Ed was an imposing figure, feared by the local criminals. He ran a security service for local businesses and select private residences. “No mishaps or misdemeanors we should hear about?”

“Other than eyeing the waitress up, no,” Sabrina said, smiling at me.

“I was only returning her admiring glances,” I defended. “Is it my fault I’m irresistible? Who’s for a drink?”

Ed told me what he’d like, and I returned minutes later to see Ed with a serious expression. “Sabrina’s told me. Why don’t you leave this one alone?” He paused and looked around the room. “Did you hear that? That was the sound of me wasting my breath!”

I grinned. “I don’t think there’s anything dangerous this time.”

“Haszard, you say that every time, and every bloody time it gets worse,” Ed said bluntly. “What’s more, this happened in bloody Lamesford of all places!”

“I don’t know Lamesford; what’s it like?’ I said, realizing that I’d regret asking.

“It’s full of inbred bloody sheep-shaggers that still consider cows lying down as a weather forecast. They’re all as mad as March hares, worshipping and sacrificing God alone knows what!”

“It can’t be that bad,” I said, suddenly thinking back to the name. Lamesford, I should point out is actually pronounced lambs-ford. I thought, there can’t be anything in that, surely.

“I’ve heard a few things about it,” Sabrina said. “I’ve a cousin who lived there. She didn’t for long. She couldn’t get away fast enough.”

I shook my head. “All we’re doing is finding out why he was seen in Southington at the moment of his death. If anything, we’ll be concentrating our efforts there.”

Ed didn’t look convinced. “If laddo did the big splat in Lamesford, I’d say that Lamesford is where you’ll be looking, unless Old Nick had a hand in it, of course.”

“Ed!” Sabrina snapped. “Dean was the brother of an old friend of mine!”

Ed held his hands up. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I can’t see his death having anything to do with Southington, that’s all.”

“I suppose you’re right,” I said, “but I’ll have to bear Southington in mind. It may hold the key as to why he was seen by another party, but why he was killed—well, that’ll be another matter. Maybe it is something to do with Southington, maybe it isn’t. You putting the feelers out on this Paul Tudor would come in handy, though.”

Ed raised his eyes to the heavens. “How did I know that was coming? When do you want the info for?”

“Tomorrow would be great,” I said.

“No pressure, then,” Ed said with a wry smile. “On one condition.”

“Go on.”

“We’ve a twenty-twenty match next Friday. You’re captain.” For those not in the know, twenty-twenty is cricket.

I smiled. “You just try stopping me.”

“Good man.”

I thought back to Grace’s call and the request for Phil to pick her up from Cardiff. “Ed, can you get Phil to call Grace? She wants him to pick her up from the airport and says to take his overnight bag. Apparently, there’s a party on.”

Ed grimaced and sighed heavily. “If it’s anything like the last one, we may not see him for a few days, and I need my members of staff here.”

“I’m sure it won’t be for long,” I said.

Ed looked me in the eye. “Haz, that bloody mad woman creates chaos wherever she goes. Yes, Phil has a few days of leave, but I’d like him compos mentis when he gets back. Whoever has shares in rubber, I’d say they’re in for a decent payout. Anyway, now for some good news, your car should be ready in the next week or so. I had a sneak preview and it looks better than it ever did.”

“Great,” I said excitedly. My car was badly damaged due to a fire a month or so back. I used to work part-time at the hospital and spend the rest of the time at my shop, but I’d been working in theatres full-time of late, having to use Sabrina’s cabriolet, or Grace’s V12 five hundred-horsepower rocket of a car, when I wasn’t cadging lifts here and there. “Ed, I could kiss you.”

Ed shook his head. “Haz, I know how much you love that roadster, but there’s no need to come across as a bloody pansy.”

Kevin E. Hatt is the author of the Haszard series of narratives. His interest in writing began at school, and he carried it on into his twenties, writing for fun. He wrote the first two Haszard stories in the late eighties, but shelved the project until 2009, when he revived and updated it, going on to write seventeen stories. With the stories having been well received by friends, Kevin published the first five books, and after good reviews is furthering the project.

In 1984 he commenced his training as an Operating Department Practitioner, rising to the height of deputy head, before leaving the profession in 1999 to pursue his other love, that of art. Kevin worked as an art consultant, demonstrator, teacher, retailer and framer, but returned to the medical profession in 2010. His main passions are cricket, running, humour, ale and curries. He lives with his wife of twenty-five years and his twenty-three-year-old daughter. Kevin has never been to Ipswich. Or Scunthorpe.

Contact Links

Website: http://www.kevin-e-hatt.co.uk/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KevinEHatt

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kevin-E-Hatt-Author-776502679078110/

Purchase Links

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Full-Circle-Narrative-Kevin-Hatt-ebook/dp/B01JK5Z0XC

Beth D. Carter - Between You and I - PROMO Blitz

2016-09-02T00:30:00.001-07:00

Contemporary Erotica Romance

Date Published Aug 11, 2016

A broken engagement left Madeline Shawl feeling like a shattered woman. When she meets Hunter Caligari, he seems to be the perfect man for some friends-with-benefits action. But when the easy affair turns into something more, it threatens her comfortable grief.

The passion of the younger man nearly infects her until Hunter tries to articulate it with the three words she refuses to hear. When she pushes him away, wounding his heart, she finds her own broken all over again.

Still, Madeline struggles to leave the past behind and accept that when Hunter said, "I love you," he wasn't just speaking for himself.

Excerpt

“I had a great time,” Hunter murmured.

Madeline wet her dry lips with her tongue. His head moved fractionally closer.

“Me…” She had to clear her throat from the huskiness coming through. “Me too.”

He smiled and their gazes met. Locked. She had this sense of free falling, just plunging head first into an unknown abyss. Had she ever felt like this with Kevin? With him everything had been easy. Simplistic. Nothing like what she was feeling now, with Hunter. He brought his hand up to cup her cheek, and she leaned into it, absorbing his heat. His eyelids narrowed a bit and his attention shifted to her mouth. All sorts of delicious tingles spread through her body because she knew he was going to kiss her. God! She wanted to kiss him back so much it was an ache deep in her gut. His head descended and her eyes fluttered shut just as the first touch of his mouth on hers brushed her lips. So gentle, like the dewy wisp of butterfly wings, and she wondered if he had kissed her at all.

She opened her eyes. The desire pooling in his blue eyes brought a gasp to her lips. His head descended again and this time, he held nothing back. Wild. Erotic. He slid his tongue over hers, tangling, dancing, and sending delicious sensations vibrating over all her nerve endings. Hot and smooth, tasting of everything dark and velvety. She’d never experienced a kiss quite like it before.

And she wanted more

I like writing about the very ordinary girl thrust into extraordinary circumstances, so my heroines will probably never be lawyers, doctors or corporate highrollers. I try to write characters who aren't cookie cutters and push myself to write complicated situations that I have no idea how to resolve, forcing me to think outside the box. I love writing characters who are real, complex and full of flaws, heroes and heroines who find redemption through love.

I’ve been pretty fortunate in life to experience some amazing things. I’ve lived in France, travelled throughout Europe, Australia and New Zealand. I am a mom to an amazing little boy. I’ve walked a red carpet event and visited the USS Voyager. I hate washing dishes but I love cooking. I hate washing clothes but I love wearing them. Writing my bio is difficult because I never know what to say so I hope you like this one. My favorite color is red but I look best in black (it’s slimming). I hate people who don't pick up their dog's crap in public places, people who don’t use turn signals, and I really hate people who are rude and condescending. I especially hate discrimination in all and every form. And although I love holding a book in my hand, I absolutely adore my ereader, whom I’ve named Ruby. I love to hear from readers so I’ve made it really easy to find me on the web.

Contact Links

Website: www.bethdcarter.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bethdcarterauthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BethDCarter

Blog: http://bethdcarter.blogspot.com/

Any Others: http://www.amazon.com/BethD.Carter/e/B00EOTD1T0/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1385417145&sr=8-1

Purchase Links

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Between-You-Beth-D-Carter-ebook/dp/B01K7TO3TM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1470927837&sr=8-2&keywords=beth+d.+carter

All Romance Ebooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-betweenyouandi-2087035-149.html

Evernight Publishing: http://www.evernightpublishing.com/between-you-and-i-by-beth-d-carter/

Connie Ann Michael - A Thousand Shattered Moments - Week Blitz

2016-09-02T00:30:00.000-07:00

Contemporary Christian Military Romance/ Women’s Fiction

Date Published: Aug. 9th (print/POD)

Publisher: Anaiah Romance

Sawyer and Raven finally see a future away from the war—if they can only get through this last deployment. But when the military separates them, Raven finds it impossible to protect her, and he worries her post traumatic stress disorder will return. Soon, Raven finds out PTSD is the least of his troubles.

Sawyer is assigned to a bomb removal unit being sent into the most dangerous area in Afghanistan where she’s taken and held captive for weeks. Expecting the worst, Sawyer is ready to die for her country. But when death doesn’t come, Sawyer turns her back on her faith. believing God has left her to deal with the aftermath of her capture alone.

Devastated at the news of Sawyer’s disappearance, Raven’s commitment to her never falters, even when her injuries threaten to take her from him. To make matters worse, he’s being kept from his wife by an angry mother-in-law. Raven is determined to bring Sawyer back to him—But is it be too late? Unfaltering in his faith, Raven knows with God’s help, he will prove his love to Sawyer

EXCERPT

CHAPTER ONE

Sawyer wiped a hand across her forehead, interrupting the drips of sweat heading toward her chin. She settled into a shady spot on the side of the metal structure of the hospital she was currently assigned to in Qatar, Afghanistan. Sawyer balanced her laptop on her knees. Glancing down at her watch, she opened the case and logged on. Raven was supposed to be back from his patrol tonight, and they were going to attempt to video chat. Camp Grady was one of the best set ups in Afghanistan and provided consistent climate control within the tents but lacked the privacy she wanted to talk to her husband. She laughed to herself. She still couldn’t believe Raven was her husband.

“Hey babe,” Raven’s voice broke through the quiet of her hiding spot.

Sawyer pushed a few buttons to get the screen to show the face of the man she loved. His big smile came through at the same time she assumed her face appeared on Raven’s screen.

“Hey babe,” he said again with a sigh.

Sawyer reached out and ran her fingers down the screen, caressing his cheek.

“Can you hear me?”

“Yeah. I can.” Sawyer swallowed down the lump in her throat. “Don’t call me babe. I’m Navy.” Sawyer and Raven had gone round and round on her status as a Navy Corpsman with the Marines. Now it was a topic of levity.

“Not when it’s you and me, babe. You’re not Navy, you’re my wife.” Raven gave her a sad smile.

“You look tired.” Raven’s eyes were shadowed with fatigue, and the lines around his mouth seemed deeper.

Raven nodded. “You look beautiful.”

“I appreciate your ability to lie.”

Raven rubbed at his eyes then gave her a small smile.

“Just got back?” she asked.

Raven closed his eyes and rested his forehead against the screen. “I miss you so much.”

Sawyer wiped a tear that escaped and cleared her throat. “I miss you, too.”

Raven glanced to the side then sat back up and resumed a comfortable slouch in the chair he was sitting in. The torso of another soldier passed behind him on the screen.

“Where are you?” Sawyer shifted on the sand, getting more comfortable. If he was in the Coms center it would explain his quick change of posture. After the past few weeks of silence, being able to truly share their feelings would be difficult.

Raven glanced over his shoulder. “Coms. The internet doesn’t work anywhere else. I can’t guarantee I’ll be with you for long. Things have been worse than normal lately.”

Raven had been redeployed to Camp Dietz, the base where they’d originally met. Raven kicking her out of his unit and the inconvenience of marrying her commanding officer made it impossible to be redeployed together. But at least they were both in Afghanistan, even if they were hundreds of miles apart with bad internet.

“So, what have you been up to?” Raven glanced backward again. Suddenly a bottle of water appeared over his shoulder. “Thanks,” he told the disembodied hand before Raven’s right hand man, Thommy pushed into view.

“Hey, Doogie. Good to see you.” Thommy smiled into the screen.

“Hey.” Thommy had been with them in Dietz and after the mess they went through during their last deployment, the three of them had become close friends.

“Chief telling you about the mess we got ourselves into?” Thommy continued.

Raven punched him in the arm, and after a mumbled conversation, Thommy disappeared.

“You got into trouble?” Raven’s unit was supposed to find trouble. That was their job. They were sent in to find the worst of the worst and eliminate them.

“How are you?” Raven’s expression cleared as he put on his game face and leaned forward, plainly ignoring her inquiry.

Sawyer sighed. He’d been her commanding officer, and she knew that until he was ready, there was no getting information out of him. She pulled the computer closer. “I miss you.”

Raven rubbed the short hair over his ears. He had only recently arrived at Dietz and was almost immediately sent out on a mission. Sawyer had been deployed two months before him. Three weeks after their wedding.

“You doing okay? Staying on base? Not heading out with any teams?” Raven had made her promise to do her best to stay on the base and out of combat, but she was a corpsman and changing her job title to nurse wasn’t going well. Sawyer had suffered a tough bit of PTSD after her last deployment. The guard assigned to her while on her last mission had become a close friend and when he stepped on an IED and blew up in front of her, things got rough. Raven had helped but more so the pastor they had been seeing had allowed her to move forward and ultimately redeploy. Something Raven was not happy about.

“I’ve stayed on base,” she started.

“You’re going out, aren’t you?” His voice was tight. Whereas he had mastered the ability to hide his emotions, Sawyer was an open book when it came to him.

“You do. You just got back.” It was a weak argument but a valid one. It was also the only argument she’d come up with when she’d prepared for this conversation in her head.

“That really isn’t the point. I didn’t pull a gun on my neighbor after I got stateside. You need to take it slow.”

“Raven,” was all she got out before he nailed her with one of his famous cold-as-ice stares.

Sawyer took a breath and tried to approach the conversation calmly. She knew he worried and although bringing up her past wasn’t exactly fair, she knew her actions after her last trip home were hard to forget. “I’m doing fine. But this is my job, and until I fulfill my time, I have to do it. I’ll be careful. I always am, just like I need you to be.”

“I know, baby. I know. But it makes me feel better if I at least ask you to try and be careful.”

Sawyer looked at the new lines appearing around Raven’s eyes. He was always so concerned for his men’s safety. Adding her to that worry was taking a toll on him.

“I’ve been able to stay close for the last couple of weeks.” She reached out and touched the screen again. Raven placed his fingers against hers.

“I know.”

The screen flickered, and Sawyer knew she was going to lose him soon. “I love you, Moses.”

“I love you, too, Emme.” Raven kissed his fingers and touched the screen again. Sawyer did the same.

Raven and Sawyer sat silently, staring at a grainy picture on a dusty computer screen. Their time together had been so short. Their marriage one of long distance conversations behind barracks and sweating in poorly air conditioned tech centers.

“Have you talked to your mom?” Raven’s voice was quiet.

Sawyer closed her eyes and shook her head. “No.”

“Why?”

Sawyer looked into the deep brown eyes that veiled so many emotions and knew Raven was hurt by her not telling her mom she had gotten married.

“Are you ashamed? Embarrassed?” he started.

“Why would I be either of those?”

“Regretful?” he added.

“Are you?” she snapped back.

“Me?” Raven snorted a laugh. “You’re my heart. You’re my life, Emme. I want to shout from the roof tops how much I love you. And I did. I told my family. The difference is they don’t care, yours will. Why won’t you tell your mom?”

“I.” She paused. “I have always had a strained relationship with her. I want to be able to tell her with you there. I don’t want to do it on my own.”

“You need back up.”

Sawyer smiled, and he winked. “Yeah. I guess I do. It’s harder to tell me I made a mistake if the infamous Sergeant Ravenscar is standing beside me.”

“I’m a mistake?”

“No. Never. She just thinks anything I do that wasn’t her idea is a mistake. I want you with me so she can see how you could never be a mistake.”

“Then I shall stand by you, Mrs. Sergeant Ravenscar.”

“It’s still Sawyer,” she corrected him.

“Not for long. The paperwork should be through soon. The Navy just likes to do things slow. Now if you were a Marine…”

“So now I’m not a Marine?” she teased back.

Raven’s jovial mood subsided, and he looked to the side, something or someone was talking to him just to the right of the screen.

When he looked back, the expression on his face made it clear he was getting a directive to get off the computer. “I got assigned to an EOD Convoy.” Sawyer couldn’t let him go without knowing as many details of her mission as she could give him. They had promised to tell as much as they could so they could pray for each other’s safety, and she needed as much help as she could get to keep her head out in the field.

The curtain of a non-emotional Marine dropped over Raven’s face as he kept his emotions in check. “An Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team? Why do they need a corpsman? Don’t they sit in the trucks and play with robots?”

Sawyer laughed. The men on the EOD teams spent a lot of time playing with little robotic machines whose job was to disarm IED’s. Improvised Explosive Devises were the number one killers in this war with over fifteen thousand people having been killed in the last year. The team’s job was to go out and clean routes so the Army or Marines could move forward without fear of blowing up. The problem was the insurgents could replace bombs faster than the team could find them, so often times they ended up running over bombs in areas they thought they had just cleaned.

“Sergeant Holloway, he’s the commanding officer, asked me to come.” She shrugged. “Told me I was coming.”

“Do you know where?” Raven wiped at something on his side of the screen.

Sawyer knew Raven was doing his best not to explode at the prospect of her being out with a bomb patrol. Which was another reason she was thankful she couldn’t tell him where exactly she was going.

“You can’t tell me where you’re going?” he asked.

“No.”

“I’ll tell you where I’m going if you tell me,” he teased, his commanding officer façade slipping a little.

“All I was told is we are headed to Gor Tepa on a route referred to only as Route Z.”

“That sounds safe.”

“I’ll be fine,” was all she got out before the computer fizzled, and Raven disappeared into the blackness of the screen.

Sawyer needed to see Raven’s face and looked forward to the video chat sessions, but more often than not the internet connection failed, and they were cut off without closure, leaving her feeling uncomfortable walking away. Conversations always left hanging. Words left unspoken.

Sawyer snapped the laptop closed, collected her things and headed back to the bunk she shared with a nurse. They were on opposite shifts most of the time so they rarely slept in the room at the same time. Storing her laptop in a box sworn to keep the sand out but lacking the actual ability to do so, Sawyer sat on the edge of her bed and waited for the sense of unfinished words to subside.

A courtesy knock came just before the door swung open and Petty Officer 2nd Class Omar stuck his head in. “We’re meeting in the mess hall for a briefing in five.”

“Roger that.”

Sawyer barely saw the man’s face before Omar closed the door behind him. With a sigh, she got out the ammo box where she kept her personal possessions. Inside were the paper cranes Raven made her with messages of love as well as candy and the tiny heart given to her by Tahk, her guard who had been killed during her last tour. Sawyer tucked them into her pockets as reminders that they were always with her and headed to the mess hall.

The men from EOD Platoon 432 had settled in long green lines at the tables that set parallel to each other. Sawyer had avoided making any close friends on the teams. She hadn’t been assigned a guard this time around and was frustrated about the barrier it caused between the men and her. Tahk allowed an access point to the team that was difficult to find without a senior team member on her side. Sawyer tried to tell herself it was easier if she kept her feelings in check and developing relationships made the inevitability of war that much more difficult. But keeping to herself was hard, and life with this team was lonely. Sawyer hung in the back and leaned against a wall to listen to the plan—alone.

SSG Halloway stepped up to the front of the room, waving a hand until the men quieted. “Our orders came in. We will be taking three Buffalos out with full teams.”

The Buffalos were six wheeled, mine resistant, ambush protected, armored vehicles. All the wheels and the centerline were mine resistant. The bottom of the truck was fitted with a ‘V’ shaped chassis that was supposed to keep the force of a blast away from the occupants. Each truck was fitted with a large, articulated arm used for ordinance disposal. Plainly speaking, it got rid of bombs.

“The Afghanistan National Army is going to be riding in the sweeper truck.” He pointed to a few of the men. “You won’t be taking WALL-E with you. We’ll pack them in the lead and second truck.”

WALL-E was the name the men gave the Cobham tEODor, the Navy’s technical term for a robot they used for bomb clearing. Each truck carried at least one when they went out on sweeper missions.

There were some groans from the team having to ride with the ANA. None of the men really enjoyed being paired with a group that was supposed to be taking the lead on this war but most of the time were a bunch of clowns with guns.

Halloway waited for the group to quiet down before continuing. “The Army is going to attempt to take over a town known for heavy Taliban activity, and they need the route cleared. Route Z is the heaviest bombed road in Afghanistan. There is a good chance as soon as we get the bombs off the road and past them there will be guys going in and replacing them. It’s going to be a tight mission. All eyes need to be watching and ready. We don’t want to get blown up, and we don’t want the Army coming in on hot soil after we’ve cleared it.”

Sawyer fidgeted with the zipper on her digis. When she avoided telling Raven where they were going, she hadn’t been trying to be elusive. The people of this culture didn’t name things. The military had spent the majority of their time in the country making maps trying to give the teams some direction as to where they had been and where they were going. However, Route Z seemed as scary as the name implied.

“Doogie.” Halloway nodded toward where Sawyer stood. The men turned to look in her direction, and she lifted her hand in a half salute. Sawyer had been given the nickname Doogie during her last deployment. It was an honor to be given a nickname by the Marines, but the majority of the time the nickname wasn’t meant to be nice. Hers’ was in reference to the young age when she had joined up. “She’s our corpsman. She’ll be watching out for us and the Army if needed.”

The men nodded back at her then shifted around to listen to the rest of the briefing. Sawyer had been impressed with Raven’s unit. There were some incredibly brave individuals serving under him. But this new group of men took service to a new level. The EOD’s were the ultimate bomb squad. They were trained to disarm not only explosive devices but to neutralize chemical threats and even nuclear weapons. The Navy Explosive Techs were trained to perform some of the most harrowing, dangerous work in order to keep others safe. And Sawyer was going out with them. If injuries occurred, they would be severe and most likely deadly. The pressure of her task sat heavy on her shoulders.

“We’re pulling out at zero eight hundred. Dismissed.” They had approximately thirty minutes to pull themselves together and meet on the Buffalos.

Sawyer only needed fifteen. She had learned through her first deployment to always be ready. Taking long enough to gather her ruck, a gun, and email Raven to tell him she loved him, Sawyer was the first to arrive at the large armored truck that would be her ride down the deadliest road in Afghanistan.

Connie Michael began her writing career after her two boys grew up and didn’t want to hang out with their mom anymore. A graduate of Washington State University Connie has been a teacher for twenty-five years. Specializing in Bilingual Education she recently left her home state of Washington to begin an adventure with her best friend and husband in Montana. Currently a fifth grade teacher on the Crow Reservation, Connie can be found biking, hiking, kayaking, or just hanging out with her two dogs

Contact Links

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/connieannmichael

Twitter: https://twitter.com/connieamichael

Blog: http://connie-avidreader.blogspot.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31017833-a-thousand-shattered-moments?from_search=true

Purchase Links

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Shattered-Moments-Book-ebook/dp/B01IBVXETS/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1470324021&sr=1-1

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Penelope Powell - A Powerful Voice - Week Blitz

2016-08-31T00:00:00.000-07:00

Contemporary Christian Romance/ Women’s Fiction

Date Published: Jun 10th (digital) / Aug. 9th (print/POD)

Publisher: Anaiah Romance

Gloria Fielder is trying her best to live with sincere faith, but regret for a past decision makes it difficult to live with herself.

Justin Case knows first-hand the consequences of bad choices, but he doesn’t believe in burying past mistakes. He openly shares his testimony with the purpose of showing there is hope and freedom for those who come to Christ.

Justin is the new worship leader for the church service Gloria attends, and he also leads a new Bible study she knows will help her. To complicate matters, once Justin becomes aware of Gloria’s struggle, he seems intent on drawing her out of her self-imposed shell of guilt and regret. If she trusts him with her secret and her heart, will their friendship evolve into something more, or will it simply be her undoing

Excerpt

Chapter One

Time heals all wounds…unless you deserve to suffer.

When the thought from her internal mantra struck, Gloria Fielder froze mid-step. As if punctuating the accusation, an icy wind howled, the force of it wrenching the glass door from her grasp and slamming it against the stopper.

“A few more minutes and you would’ve missed us entirely.”

Gloria looked up into the unsmiling face of a rail-thin woman standing sentinel over a group of children. Gloria assumed she was the children’s director, as they were all dressed in the festive colors of Christmas, their bright reds and deep greens reminding her of the candlelight service in progress.

She hesitated, her gaze shifting to the plaster nativity figures less than ten feet away, the babe in particular so…lifelike. Would it be better to leave and apologize later for having missed the program?

“Could you shut the door please? It’s hard to keep everyone’s attention while a draft is blowing through, and it’s almost time for us to begin.” Seeming to barely hang on to her patience, the director’s smile was as tight as her collar.

Being late was bad enough, but being made to feel like she was an annoying interruption was well…worse. Gloria shifted to close the door.

After an inquisitive glance toward Gloria, a chubby boy with flushed cheeks pulled on the director’s sleeve. “Mrs. Parker, when do we get our candles?”

“Patience, Tommy. We need to wait for the lady to go inside the auditorium, don’t we?”

Glancing from the boy to Mrs. Parker, Gloria apologized.

“That’s all right. We’re happy to wait for you to get settled.” Mrs. Parker’s smile stretched.

Gloria glanced back toward the woman, wondering if she meant what she said. She’d grown up in a house where a smile often held duplicity. Committed to stay, she hurried toward the partition crammed with winter coats. She unfurled the red scarf from her neck, then squished it and her coat into the mix.

Hushed giggles drew her gaze back to the director, who was busy giving each child a candle with detailed instructions. Everything about them seemed to contrast her. Was it just last year she wore red, putting on a good front? She wasn’t interested in being that person anymore. The clingy dress and all it represented was exiled to the corner of her closet. Proof she was different.

The past few weeks had been particularly hard. When something like seeing the babe in the manger shook her confidence instead of giving her hope, she questioned her faith as a believer in Christ. The possibility of seeing someone at this service she’d rather avoid tightened her chest with further worry.

“Ma’am, they’re waiting for us to start.” Apparently losing her patience, Mrs. Parker nodded toward the doors going into the auditorium.

Gloria tamped down her misgivings, straightened her shoulders, and walked toward the sanctuary. As she edged around the children to reach for one of the doors, a little girl dressed in an evergreen velvet dress took a candle from a basket and offered it to her.

“Thank you.” Gloria smiled.

The girl’s pink lips curved in reply.

Suddenly, blinking back the unwelcome pressure of tears, she turned and eased through the doors. Assailed by the scent of melting wax and pine, she waited for her eyesight to adjust to the soft glow of dimmed lighting, giving her a chance to scan the room for empty seats.

Soon an usher stood next to her, his face brightening when he smiled. “Is anyone joining you?” His generous teeth gleamed in the darkness.

Just me. She shook her head.

He motioned for her to follow him, then pointed to some empty chairs. As she made a beeline for them, his parting greeting followed. “Merry Christmas.”

Gloria glanced over her shoulder and forced a smile. She wanted to be merry. Wanted to simply feel peace. Wanted a reprieve from the recording in her head. Some days, the indictment playing over and over—tightening the tendrils of regret—putting her back on the treadmill of if-only. Making forgetting impossible.

If time was linear, and the passing of it promised things would get easier, then why hadn’t the grip of shame and sorrow weakened?

She settled into a chair as the children from the lobby entered and dispersed down the center aisle, the sound of their voices rising as they moved toward the front, their song offering her a distraction from her turmoil. With a deep breath, she closed her eyes and tried to escape into the words.

Joy to the World. A feeling she had yet to muster.

After several carols and a reenactment of the birth of Christ, the pastor walked up on the stage.

Bobby Jordan had thinning gray hair, a solid middle-aged build, and the demeanor and voice of an authoritative grandfather. But that was her opinion now that she knew him. Their first meeting was at her office. His friendly and forthright manner reminded her of the old Southern gentlemen at home. He explained he was a pastor hoping to refer church members who were house hunting, said a friend had recommended her.

Her peace of mind wavered at the memory. Fortunately, the uncomfortable connection led to providential results. If she had not been going through such a rough time, and if Bobby had not sought her out, she might never have begun a relationship with Christ. If only she could find a way to reconcile how the two connected without all the bad stuff. She rubbed her forehead.

“Thank you children, you may join your parents,” Bobby said.

Gloria glanced up as Bobby laid a hand on the shoulder of a little boy after dismissing the others to finds their seats.

“This is Johnny, one of our shepherds in tonight’s program. He’s seven. I asked Johnny a question earlier, and I wanted you to hear his response.” Bobby crouched down. “Johnny, what’s Christmas all about?” He tilted a microphone toward Johnny.

“Pweth-sents.” The boy turned toward the audience and smiled, the gap in his front teeth sparking chuckles from the crowd.

“What’s so great about presents?”

“They’we fwee.”

Bobby ruffled Johnny’s hair and told him to join his parents. When the laughter trickling through the congregation died down, Bobby stood at the edge of the platform. “Each Christmas, we decorate our homes with nativity scenes and our Christmas trees with lights.”

Gloria swallowed, the nativity from the lobby edging back into her thoughts.

“We send cards, sing carols, and we exchange gifts.” Eyes down, Bobby paused. “I agree with Johnny. Big or small, presents are special, but are they truly free? Certainly, they’re free to the recipients, but to the giver there is always a cost.” Bobby raised his arms. “But to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Paul wrote this to the Ephesians. God’s gift of grace. Undeserved favor for us.”

Undeserved. That was certainly her. She’d never measured up to expectations, which was one of the reasons why she worked so hard at her job.

“As recipients, God’s gift of grace costs us nothing because Jesus paid for it. He gave his life, so we might receive forgiveness. Receive life. In this season of giving, in addition to the wrapped packages we place under our trees, let’s give grace to one another. Offer forgiveness when needed, even underserved.” Then Bobby prayed.

As before, the children assembled across the front. Once their candles were lit, they disbursed down each aisle, lighting the candles of people sitting on the end as they went. Music played in the background.

Eyes closed, Gloria focused on Bobby’s words. She prayed the message would wash over her. Because there was hope in knowing Christ had already forgiven her. And she could do the same.

“Excuse me.”

Startled from someone’s touch, Gloria slapped a hand to her chest.

A man barely visible, given the darkness and shadows cast by candlelight, leaned closer. “Sorry to disturb you, but I thought you might want to light your candle.” Highlighting his explanation, he lifted his candle. For one brief moment, a striking, masculine face with eyes so dark they glittered like pools in moonlight stared back at her.

She swallowed, her heart still pounding from having been disturbed. “Sorry.” She fumbled for the candle amongst her things. Finding it, she held it toward him and tilted her wick toward his flame. A cool, woodsy scent wafted toward her, reminiscent of an autumn breeze. She inhaled the refreshing smell and relaxed a bit.

When her candle was lit, the flare illuminated his face once more. He looked up and caught her staring. Embarrassed, she turned away. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

When the lights came up, she hit the aisle, determined to get through the lobby then home. The last thing she wanted to do was linger. Not that she didn’t enjoy talking with people afterward, but tonight she felt fragile.

Though her roots are buried deep in the hills of Middle Tennessee, she now lives in Indiana with her family and serves in her local church. She loves to entertain, give life to old things, antiquing, reading and of course writing.

Like the things we experience, I believe good Christian fiction can inspire and change someone’s perspective, and hopefully point them to Christ.

Contact Links

Website: http://penelopepowell.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30356893-a-powerful-voice

Purchase Links

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GNCI7JE

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-powerful-voice-penelope-powell/1123886059?ean=2940153055947

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/a-powerful-voice

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/a-powerful-voice/id1125135956?mt=11

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/641478

Jess Haines - Smoke and Mirrors - Virtual Book Tour

2016-08-29T00:30:00.000-07:00

Young Adult / New Adult Fantasy

Date Published: May 1, 2016

A girl who uses her illusions to fool the world into thinking she's just like all the other magi.

A dragon who sees through her lies.

Together they just might survive a world that wants to control or destroy them both.

Kimberly may wield ultimate cosmic power, but even a mage has to pay the rent. No one will hire her for her magic talents until she's got the credentials, so she’s stuck in a crappy rent controlled apartment with her mother, yearning for treats she can't afford at her part time job in a café, counting down the days until she graduates the secret Blackhollow Academy school for magi. Only then will she have the certificate she needs to land her dream job in a coven.

The problem? She needs a familiar to graduate.

As an illusionist, she doesn't have the ability to summon or create a familiar of her own. Her only option is to convince a supernatural creature to let her bind it instead. Since having a powerful Other at her beck and call would guarantee her a place in a coven after she graduates—and legendary treasure hoards are an added bonus—she thinks binding a dragon as her familiar will solve all her problems...

Because sometimes a girl needs a dragon, not a knight

EXCERPT: SMOKE AND MIRRORS
Blackhollow Academy – Book 1
By Jess Haines

Viper made a soft hissing sound of irritation between his teeth, pulling back from her. “Cormac has no vision. I know what I want and I’m prepared to offer anything to get it. You have but to ask.”
Well. There was one thing. Her cheeks flared crimson and she squirmed a bit before stuttering out another question, swallowing back her embarrassment.
“You keep a hoard like a dragon, right? I don’t suppose you would consider loaning me a little? I swear I’d pay it back.”
His head tipped to one side, and he looked her up and down anew. She suspected he was just noticing her frayed cuffs and cheap shoes. He’d been so intent on getting whatever it was he wanted out of her that he hadn’t paid attention to the package it came in until now. When she caught the very slight curl of his lip, there and gone in a flash, embarrassed heat filled her cheeks.
Feeling both dirty and humiliated, she ducked her head. “Never mind. I shouldn’t have asked. I’m sorry, I don’t think I can do this.”
“Come now, I’m sure it’s not that hard. All it takes is a yes.”
“No,” she said, this time with a bit more vehemence. Cormac was right. There was something off about Viper, and never mind what a perfect ass she’d just made of herself. Worst of all, that flash of disgust showed he obviously had no respect for her. At least Cormac never made her feel tolerated. “Thank you for the offer, but I’ll find some other way of getting what I need.”
He slowly rose to stand, heaving a sigh as he settled back on his heels.
“That’s unfortunate. This would have been much easier if you had agreed.”
Kimberly would have asked what he meant by that, but the look in his eyes froze her in place.
His eyes burned a molten gold as he spread his arms, which were expanding and shifting at an alarming rate. Faster than she might have thought possible, he was growing, his clothing melting and skin disappearing under a layer of metallic scales. Nearby, people were noticing, shouting and screaming in fear as they stampeded in every direction to escape the shapechanging Other in their midst.
When he ceased growing, from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail, he was over thirty feet long, with a wingspan half again that size.
Kimberly sat immobile, unable to so much as squeak in terror as the beast before her lurched back to arch its neck and spread its wings, barbed tail lashing as it growled at her. One thick, talon-tipped paw lashed out, flattening her on the grass and squeezing the air out of her lungs. It gave an awkward, one-legged hop forward to catch its balance before clenching its claws to dig deep furrows in the grass and close around her waist and legs, pinning her.
Then those wide, ribbed wings began to flap, the sun playing off the tones of brass and copper and gold. The ground fell away, people scattering before the airborne monster.
And Kimberly could do nothing but pray, staring up at this great beast that had her in its claws.
She’d gotten what she’d asked for. Now she would have to pay the price.

Shortcuts for Smoke and Mirrors: Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Smoke-Mirrors-Blackhollow-Academy-Book-ebook/dp/B01EQF5CAW Amazon Everywhere Else: http://hyperurl.co/d7dv3u Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/smoke-and-mirrors-jess-haines/1123723781?ean=2940152987492 Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/632146 Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/smoke-and-mirrors-42 All Romance Ebooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-smokeandmirrors-2028707-143.html Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29979322-smoke-and-mirrors LibraryThing: https://www.librarything.com/work/17656592

Author Social Media, Etc.: www.JessHaines.com Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Jess-Haines/e/B002XHFC1U/ Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jess-haines Twitter: http://twitter.com/jess_haines Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JessHainesAuthor/ Tumblr: http://authorjesshaines.tumblr.com/ Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3149825.Jess_Haines

I'm a displaced New Yorker with a penchant for the silly, the obscure, and the fantastical. These days, you can find me in the Tampa area. I'm currently working on the H&W Investigations urban fantasy series and the Blackhollow Academy young adult/new adult contemporary fantasy series. Find out more about my books, drop me a line, or join my mailing list at www.jesshaines.com!

Contact Information

Website: www.JessHaines.com

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Jess-Haines/e/B002XHFC1U/

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jess-haines

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Purchase Links

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Smoke-Mirrors-Blackhollow-Academy-Book-ebook/dp/B01EQF5CAW

Amazon Everywhere Else: http://hyperurl.co/d7dv3u

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/smoke-and-mirrors-jess-haines/1123723781?ean=2940152987492

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Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/smoke-and-mirrors-42

All Romance Ebooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-smokeandmirrors-2028707-143.html

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29979322-smoke-and-mirrors

LibraryThing: https://www.librarything.com/work/17656592

THE BASTARD SON Book Blitz

2016-08-28T00:30:00.001-07:00

The Bastard Son

by Jerri Hines

Series: Winds of Change, #2

Genre: Historical Romance

Cover Designer: Erin Dameron-Hill at edhGraphics

Release Date: July 26, 2016

Sumner Meador walked in a world of wealth and privilege as part of Charles Town’s elite, but that was years ago. Now he fights in the Southern backwoods driven by the passion he holds for the Patriot cause, shadowed by his past. Reeling from a devastating defeat at the hands of the British, Sumner seeks haven at his farm, only to find an interloper—an unwelcome and unwanted distraction. He has no time for the young woman or the complications she brings with her, but soon discovers he has no option but to give aid to the stubborn, courageous beauty whether she wants it or not.

Jane Kilmer has been violently thrust into the midst of the civil war ensuing in the backwoods. Hiding from one of the most dangerous vigilantes, Jane trusts no one. Suddenly, she has no choice but to put her life in Sumner’s hands. Both desire revenge, but neither wants what happens—to fall completely, undeniably in love with each other. As the war rages around them, their love is put to the ultimate test. The question becomes not whether their love will survive, but will they.

Author's Note: This book was previously published with Whiskey Creek Press as Another Night Falls under the Tides of Charleston Series.

Night had fallen. Everything had been set for the evening. The horses fed; the dishes cleaned. Warren promised to bring a cow next time out, although Sumner didn’t see the necessity since he wasn’t planning to be around here for long. But there again, the girl might enjoy fresh milk.

Jane prepared another fine meal for supper. She was a good cook, but he expected she had cooked from an early age.

Walking back from the barn, he found her sitting on the porch, smiling up at him. In the fading light, she looked beautiful. She had taken off her cap, leaving her hair down in a braid over her shoulder.

For the life of him, he couldn’t get the thought of having her in his arms out of his head, with her firm breasts pressed against him…her body arching instinctively to his.

Warren hadn’t even suggested it would be harmful to leave a young, innocent in his care. Perhaps, Warren thought it the lesser of the evils in her life.

“Thank you for the supper, Jane. I was thinking of retiring for the night.”

“I will do so shortly.” Rising, she moved over to the railing and stared out into the coming night.

Go, leave her. Instead, he came up behind her. “Are you feeling well? I know you still have the effects of the bump upon your head.”

“I have recovered,” she whispered. “It is not what bothers me. I feel so lost. I had thought I would at least have my grandfather’s land after…”

“We are working on a plan to remove you from this area. I know of people where you would be safe and won’t have to worry until after this war is finally over.”

Turning, her eyes met his. “I don’t want your pity.”

“It isn’t pity I feel for you.” With the words, all his good intentions dissipated with a strong craving to have her back in his arms. He gently caressed her cheek. “Run, Jane, from me.”

She made no movement to leave him. She lifted her face up to his. He needed nothing else for his lips to descend upon hers. He would have stopped if she pulled away. She did not.

His kiss deepened, devouring her with his lips. His hand lowered, caressing and smoothing along the curves of her body.

“I want you, Jane,” he whispered. “More than I have ever wanted another. You feel it also…this longing between us. Tell me you do.”

“Yes, Sumner, yes.”

He talked no more, but swept her in his arms and answered the dictates of his body. In quick strides, they were in the bedroom, making quick work of the barrier that lay between their bodies and their desire.

Book One: The Governor's Daughter

Jerri Hines is an Amazon bestselling author of the Winds of the Betrayal series and Southern Legacy serial that were inspired by her fascination with history. She is a Southern gal who has lived the last thirty years near Boston with her Yankee husband. She believes in love and the power it holds. It is the reason she writes romances. Her next release under Jerri Hines will be the much anticipated conclusion to Winds of Betrayal, Set Fire To the Rain, coming in 2016.

She is also an Amazon Bestselling author under her penname, Colleen Connally. Her historical romance series, Secret Lives, is riddled with romantic suspense and a touch of paranormal. Fragmented, Book One Boston's Crimes of Passion, marks her first contemporary suspense thriller. Framed, Book Two, will be released in 2016.

She is a supporter of The Home For Little Wanderers in Boston and the Alzheimer's Association.

Jerri has limited spots open on her Street Team. If you are interested, please click here to send her an email.

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THE BASTARD SON Book Blitz

2016-08-28T00:30:00.000-07:00

The Bastard Son

by Jerri Hines

Series: Winds of Change, #2

Genre: Historical Romance

Cover Designer: Erin Dameron-Hill at edhGraphics

Release Date: July 26, 2016

Book One: The Governor's Daughter

Jerri has limited spots open on her Street Team. If you are interested, please click here to send her an email.

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Dennis Frahmann - The Devil's Analyst - PROMO Blitz

2016-08-25T00:30:00.000-07:00

Mystery, Thriller, Crime

Date Published: 08/11/2016

Danny Lahti had it all: fame, fortune, friends, love - and an obsessed stalker.

Obsession can be a powerful curse. What happens when you think your world is perfect, but someone behind the scenes is determined to test you in every way possible? As the clock ticks toward the year 2000, Danny's world starts unraveling without explanation. An unknown hacker unleashes a digital attach on his Internet company just months before its public debut. A prowler attempts to break into his historic mansion which houses, according to Hollywood rumor, secret vaults. A long-time friend goes missing. Is it all coincidence, or are these just the first feats by a crazed admirer determined to force the truth from Danny?

And what is the truth? The complicated days that follow force Danny to have another look at his own relationships, misdeeds, and damaged past. But will he ever learn the lesson that will satisfy the devil who taunts him?

Excerpt

C H A P T E R O N E

Midnight

Twenty minutes to midnight, and the ice on the frozen lake outside cracked. The loud reverberations of winter echoed through the night and invaded Danny Lahti’s peace.

Danny was prepared to let time move forward in whatever incremental way it chose. At that moment . . . sitting on a sofa in an enormous room near midnight . . . huddled within a century-old hunting lodge of a long-dead lumber tycoon . . . on the shoreline of a lake nearly forgotten in the isolated woods of northern Wisconsin, Danny Lahti was not concerned about the potential for a technological apocalypse as time turned to the year 2000.

But he did feel on the brink. Something was about to happen. Things should change; they needed to change. He couldn’t really say why. Danny never felt he was the introspective type. But he had always felt connected to a larger universe, one in which he received premonitions of what was to come.

The end of the century. Or maybe the start of a new millennium. It depended on the pundit. But computers only knew what they were programmed to know, and they weren’t programmed to deal with changing from 1999 to 2000. Maybe early computer scientists never thought about a century starting anew. December 31, 1999 could prove an existential threat. They called it “Y2K.” Who knows, maybe every generation deserved its opportunity to restart the clock.

For Danny, his past was too painful, but the future felt too uncertain. In a way, his life could be the snowdrift-covered lawns that surrounded this house. On the surface, the drifts were unblemished and glistening in the weak moonlight. But beneath their surface, under the shapeless accumulated flakes, were the remains of years of living. If Danny had the time and the tools and the energy, he could shovel his way into discovering the dead flowerbeds, the abandoned lawn furniture, and the century’s worth of trails across the grounds. But who could be bothered? Eventually, the warm sun of spring would surely melt the snow. Just wait. The past would be exposed.

Danny had always been the kind of person willing to wait. When he was only twelve, his mother committed suicide and he found her dead body. He waited then, always expecting someone would eventually arrive to explain what had happened and why. When his father withdrew into a hermit-like life that barely acknowledged his adolescent son’s existence, Danny still waited. Someone would surely make his father forget his dead wife and remember his child. He was still waiting.

And when Josh came into his life, promising an escape from these cold woods into the warm, loving life of the Los Angeles sun, Danny followed and waited for Josh’s direction.

He waited. He always had. Perhaps he always would. It was his nature not to rebel and not to question, to try to be good and not rock the boat. A new year, a new century, a new millennium, not even “Y2K” could change that. Because Danny Lahti had never been able to find the energy to grab the reins of his own life. And he didn’t intend to start now. And yet something was changing. He felt it.

The ice cracked again. Nineteen minutes to midnight.

Dennis Frahmann is a former journalist and marketer,who now resides in Cambria, CA. He is the author of two other novels: Tales from the Loon Town Cafe and The Finnish Girl.

Contact Links

Website: http://www.loontown.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dfrahmann

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LoonTownCafe/

Purchase Links

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Devils-Analyst-Dennis-Frahmann-ebook/dp/B01I7D77UW

Lisa Ricard Claro - Love To Win - PROMO Blitz

2016-08-23T00:30:00.000-07:00

Fireflies Series, Book Three

Contemporary Romance

Date Published:July 30, 2016

She hates to lose…

Competitive barista Brenna Kinkaid loves a challenge, and she’ll do whatever it takes to win, especially when it comes to her nemesis, Dante Caravicci. But when forced to team up to save their best friends’ wedding, Brenna recognizes that Dante might just be her ultimate win.

He plays to win…

Restaurateur Dante Caravicci won’t quit anything until he can claim success. He’s bided his time, but he’s used to taking big risks and surviving, so he figures he’s got nothing to lose by playing for Brenna.

Hearts at risk…

These two fall fast, and it looks like a win-win—until a competition pits them head-to-head and one of them goes way too far. A nudge from an improbable source may be the only way these two competitors will ever admit that the only way to win is to lose their hearts

Other Books in the Fireflies Series:

Publisher: Black Opal Books

Published: June 2015

She can’t let go of her dead husband…

Maddie Kinkaid believes her late husband, Jack, gives her advice on everything from ordering a pizza to hiring a carpenter, so when she finds Caleb Walker’s business card on Jack’s desk, she’s convinced that he’s the guy to remodel her kitchen.

He can’t decide if she’s worth the risk…

Caleb is a single father, and protecting his young son means avoiding romantic entanglements. But there’s heat in every kitchen, and sparks ignite between Caleb and Maddie—until disaster strikes.

When Jack goes silent, Maddie’s guilt consumes her, and it looks as if she and Caleb will never find their happily-ever-after—at least, not without a little help from Jack…

LOVE BUILT TO LAST began as the award-winning short story Fireflies, and is now the first novel in the Fireflies series.

Excerpt

“Well, I like that,” Brenna said. “My own mother likes your cake better.”

Dante regarded her with amusement. “Not everything has to be a competition between us, does it? What difference does it make which of us bakes the better cake?”

“Or sautés the better shrimp?” Brenna said, remembering Dante’s shrimp dish from Thanksgiving that she, Rebecca, and Maddie had all deemed to be almost better than sex. Not that she’d tell Dante that. She blew out a tired sigh. “I’m sick of losing to you in the food department. I try to so hard to be creative, and you whip something up at the last minute that takes home the gold.”

“Is it really that big a deal?” He raised his brows.

Brenna stared at him a moment and made him laugh when she said, “Bet your ass! I hate coming in second on anything, especially to you. And say what you will—” She poked his chest with her finger for emphasis. “—but you’re just as competitive as I am.” He moved back a step and she poked him again. “You don’t like to lose at anything either.” One more poke. “You always do whatever you have to do to win.”

Dante’s eyes narrowed, but his lips curved. He stepped forward against the press of her finger, forcing her to step back—once, twice, thrice—and she sucked in a breath when her hips bumped against the counter. She reached behind her to grab the edge of the countertop, and her eyes widened when Dante rested his hands on either side of hers, hemming her in as he had done in the storeroom.

Brenna’s heart sped to triple speed. Dante leaned down and she parted her lips, in spite of herself, when his mouth stopped a mere breath away from hers, so close she swore she felt the radiating heat. A second passed, and another. His gaze dipped to her mouth. Brenna licked her lips and her eyes fluttered shut in anticipation, and then the stubble darkening his jaw tickled the skin of her cheek with the barest touch, and his warm breath against her ear made her shiver when he whispered, “You’re right. I’ll do whatever I have to do to win. You’d do well to remember that, sweetheart.”

He pressed his lips against the tender skin just below her earlobe and made her shiver again, then stepped back. Brenna stared at him, her mind whirling.

“It’s late. I’ll follow you home when you’re ready to go, make sure you get there safe,” he said. “And relax, I don’t expect to be invited in. I know you just want to be friends.”

Brenna still gripped the edges of the counter, her eyes wide and lips parted in surprise when he disappeared out to the porch.

Lisa Ricard Claro is a professional editor, award-winning author, and Pushcart Prize nominee with published articles and stories spanning multiple media. She resides in Georgia with her husband of more than three decades and counting, is mother to three (a ruggedly handsome son and two stunningly beautiful daughters—Lisa might be a little biased), and dreams of one day living at the beach. Seriously dreams of it. As in, she’s already decorating her dream beach house. In addition to an array of sand dollars and seashells, she keeps a framed sign hanging in her office: Sandy Toes and Salty Kisses Welcome Here.

Lisa is also a lover of dogs and cats, and has a heart for rescues. This is why you will find a rescued pet companion in every one of her books. Sometimes they are part of the story line (Pirate the dog, in Love Built to Last), and sometimes they’re already ensconced in their forever home with one of Lisa’s characters (Pavarotti the cat, in Love to Win). As you read Lisa’s books, watch for the rescues!

While Lisa is a fan of storytelling in all genres, Romance is her favorite because she believes everyone deserves love and a happily-ever-after. But she adores a little mystery now and then, too, so keep an eye out for Lisa’s authorship of a whodunit one of these days soon.

Contact Information

http://www.LisaRicardClaro.com

https://twitter.com/lisaricardclaro

https://www.facebook.com/LisaRicardClaroAuthor/

Purchase Links

https://www.amazon.com/Love-Win-Book-3-Fireflies-ebook/dp/B01JARXBG8

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/love-to-win

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/love-to-win-fireflies-book-3-lisa-ricard-claro/1124151292?ean=2940157001414

Michelle Lynn - Choices - Virtual Book Tour

2016-08-20T00:30:00.000-07:00

Contemporary Romance

Date Published: January 25, 2016

Everyone makes lots of little decisions from the moment they wake up until they sink back into sleep at night. Decisions that have no consequences or expectations. But, what about the rare choices that could change everything? How do you know what is right for you?

Happiness is something you have to choose again and again, each day.

Michaela Matthews wants that more than anything. Standing in her way is a family pushing her down a specific path and the man she loves preventing her from choosing anything different. When she moves to the city for the next step in her parent’s plan, she starts to figure out what she wants - or more importantly, what she doesn’t want. She thinks she has to leave her old life behind to discover a new one. This throws every choice she has made into question. It isn’t until tragedy strikes that she learns that sometimes there is no choice at all. Sometimes you can have it all.

Jason Marks has had the kind of life where things have seemed to just happen to him, no choice involved at all. It’s a struggle for him to keep the past at bay while he tries to move forward. He is no longer the unwanted foster kid. He is a business owner, surrounded by people that love him. But, he isn’t in love. He’s not even sure he believes in it. Not anymore. At least, not until a heartbroken girl falls apart in his arms. It’s enough to make him a believer. Make him a dreamer. Enough to force him to answer that question. Do you give all of yourself to someone who might not choose you in return?

Yes. Yes, you do.

Michelle Lynn is a pretty simple person. A good book and a comfy chair is all she needs to be content. She reads … a lot and is also a big TV and hockey buff. But it is writing that means so much to her. Most of her life has been spent ill and that has not changed. Soon after college she found herself unable to pursue a career with her business degree and on disability. Then she started to write and it changed everything for her.

In the years since, she has published a YA dystopian trilogy, Dawn of Rebellion, as well as three books in her New Beginnings romance series.

Contact Links

Website: authormichellelynn.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Michelle-Lynn-706537056079631/

Twitter: @AuthorMichelleL

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8107147.Michelle_Lynn

Purchase Links

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Choices-New-Beginnings-Book-1-ebook/dp/B01AII0W10/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467253248&sr=8-1&keywords=choices+by+michelle+lynn#nav-subnav

Princess Blog Tour,

2016-08-18T00:30:00.000-07:00

Title: Princess

Series: Oath Keepers MC/Nomad #1

Author: Sapphire Knight

Genre: MC Romance

Release Date: June 27

*STANDALONE MC NOVEL*

Biker bitch? Not this chick.

I can’t stand my father and his group of criminals and what better way to get back at my father, the President, then to sleep with one of them?

Poor little Prospect, he never saw me coming.

When my safety is jeopardized yet again by the MC, it’s not the Prospect to my rescue though, it’s a hell bound Nomad out for blood and my heart.

Wearing a cruel smile as he grabs my shirt, he slices up the thin tank top material. Once he has most of it cut away, he pulls the scraps off, tossing it to the floor.

I’m left in my bra, panting, my anxiety making me feel as if I’m about to have a heart attack. “You seriously need to stop; you don’t know what you’re doing!”

“That’s where you’re wrong. I’ll do whatever the fuck I want, whenever the fuck I want to. You see this patch here.” He points to the one percenter sign, and I nod, well aware of what it is. “Means, I make my own rules, and some snatch isn’t gonna tell me what the fuck to do.” He grabs my bra between my breasts; I try to wrench away, but they’re too strong. I don’t get back far enough, and when he slides the blade underneath to cut the bra, he draws my blood.

The sting to my sensitive skin is enough to have me spewing threats. “Do you have any clue who the hell my father is, you fuckwad?” I scream furiously. “He’ll kill you! You’re all fucking dead!”

**AMAZON * B&N * KOBO**

**iBOOKS * GOOGLE PLAY**

Sapphire Knight is the International Bestselling Author of Secrets, Exposed, Relinquish, Corrupted, Forsaken Control, Unwanted Sacrifices, Friction, Unexpected Forfeit, Russian Roulette, Princess and 1st Time Love. The series are called Russkaya Mafiya, Oath Keepers MC, Ground and Pound, and Dirty Down South.

Her books all reflect on what she loves to read herself.

Sapphire's a Texas girl who is crazy about football. She's always had a knack for writing, whether it is poems or stories. She originally studied psychology and believes that it's added to her passion for writing.

Sapphire is the proud mom of two boys and has been married for twelve years. When she's not busy in her writing cave, she's playing with her three Doberman Pinschers. She loves to donate to help animals and watch a good action movie.

Website * Facebook * Twitter

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Donna Del Oro - A Bodyguard of Lies - PROMO Blitz

2016-08-17T09:52:00.000-07:00

Romantic Suspense

Date Published: 06/08/2016

FBI analyst Jake Bernstein is recruited to go undercover and investigate an American grandmother wanted for war crimes during WWII but currently on a tour of England and Ireland with her granddaughter. Jake joins them and runs into complications when his growing attraction to the woman's granddaughter challenges his obligation to remain emotionally detached. As the investigation intensifies, a neo-Nazi group tries to prevent him from learning the truth and Jake struggles to stay alive long enough to either prove the woman's guilt or exonerate her.

Despite Meg Larsen's mounting passion for the stranger who has joined their tour, she suspects he's not who he claims to be. When she realizes her grandmother, the woman who raised her, is the target of the man's investigation, her first instinct is to protect her. Eventually, however, Meg must face the possibility of her grandmother's lifetime of lies while forced to trust a man who has become both their nemesis and bodyguard.

NY Times bestselling author Brenda Novak says of A BODYGUARD OF LIES, Book One in the Jake Bernstein Mystery Thriller series, "The past and the present collide in this intriguing romantic thriller that captures the angst and pain a lifetime of lies can cause...combines politics, romance and history. This story positively captivates!"

Contact Links

Website: http://www.donnadeloro.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WildRosePress

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Donna-Del-Oro-Award-Winning-Author-of-Smart-Romantic-Thrillers-326564600705968/

Purchase Links

Website http://www.donnadeloro.com/

Publisher http://catalog.thewildrosepress.com/all-titles/4346-a-bodyguard-of-lies.html

HOTSHOT DESIRE Book Blitz/giveaway

2016-08-17T00:30:00.001-07:00

Hotshot Desire: Love After Dark

by Sable Hunter, Rachelle Ayala, Mimi Barbour, Taylor Lavati, Dani Evans, Chantel Rhondeau

Genre: Romance

Desire so hot and needy. Passion uncontrolled. Lust and desperation heat up the nights in Hotshot Desire: Love After Dark. Six full-length romance novels and one bonus novella from NY Times, USA Today, and National bestselling authors. From billionaire bikers to special agents, jocks and bad boys, emotions run hot and the action never stops when love and life is on the line. Spend your sultry days and steamy nights addicted to these unforgettable romances where desire overrides reason. LIMITED TIME ONLY!

Clocking in at 500,000 words, this super boxed set is packed with action, romance, suspense, love, danger, and fun. Look for other Hotshot Romance Collections: Hotshot Heroes: Strong Enough to Love, Hotshot Danger: Packing the Heat, and Hotshot Alphas: Too Hot to Handle for more full-length stories from your favorite romance authors.

UNCHAINED MELODY: HILL COUNTRY HEART by Sable Hunter

Sparks fly when Annalise walks through the door of Ethan Stewart's Bed & Breakfast, turning his life upside down... again. Six years ago she simply vanished into thin air after eight short days of earth-shattering passion. Annalise Ramsey has, once again, come to face with the man of her dreams. Tragedy tore her away from him years before, and now she fears the shadows of a terrible secret will keep them apart forever.

ROARING HOT: BILLIONAIRE BIKER by Rachelle Ayala

Teo Alexiou is an arrogant playboy who gets what he wants. He meets his match in actress Amy Suzuki, a woman he hired to play his girlfriend. The fun starts when he falls for her, and suddenly, the billionaire bad boy is wishing she'd cut the act and show him her true heart.

SPECIAL AGENT: KANDICE by Mimi Barbour

Stalked, kidnapped and beaten doesn't break Kandice from being the sweetheart of her team. They're used to her kind ways. It's her overly protective new boss who won't accept she knows her job.

A RELIANT LOVE by Taylor Lavati

Nathalie, a naive eighteen-year old, falls in love with a struggling drug addict, Samuel Torrington. Two things impossible to fight--addiction and attraction.

THE NEXT CONTESTANT by Dani Evans

He's a player. She's determined not to fall prey. He's in command, but she's no slouch. The game? Too much to risk. Dirty secrets, lust, and jealousy push and pull an arrogant frat boy and a sexy dancer into a game neither can win--unless love intervenes.

MURDEROUS LIES by Chantel Rhondeau

Wrongly imprisoned for eight years, Max Kensington returns home. With his release, Rosemary Spelling is forced to confront the past. The day Max allegedly killed her sister destroyed her life. When the murders start again and all evidence points to Max, Rose teams up with him to catch her sister's real killer.

SERVING UP LOVE by Chantel Rhondeau (Bonus Novella)

Rising tennis star Melanie Rush has a crush on her sexy tennis coach, Ethan Patterson. He has strict rules against relationships within his tennis program, but Melanie wants to break them all. How much is love worth when scandal slams their careers into the ground?

Sable Hunter

Sable Hunter is a New York Times, USA Today bestselling author of nearly 50 books in 7 series. She writes sexy contemporary stories full of emotion and suspense. Her focus is mainly cowboy and novels set in Louisiana with a hint of the supernatural. Sable writes what she likes to read and enjoys putting her fantasies on paper. Her books are emotional tales where the heroine is faced with challenges. Her aim is to write a story that will make you laugh, cry and swoon. If she can wring those emotions from a reader, she has done her job. Sable resides in Austin, Texas with her two dogs. Passionate about all animals, she has been known to charm creatures from a one ton bull to a family of raccoons. For fun, Sable haunts cemeteries and battlefields armed with night-vision cameras and digital recorders hunting proof that love survives beyond the grave. Welcome to her world of magic, alpha heroes, sexy cowboys and hot, steamy to-die-for sex. Step into the shoes of her heroines and escape to places where right prevails, love conquers all and holding out for a hero is not an impossible dream.

Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Website ~ Newsletter

Rachelle Ayala

Rachelle Ayala is a bestselling author of contemporary romance and romantic suspense. She writes from sweet to steamy and believes that everyone should find love as often as possible, even if it's within the pages of a book. Rachelle is working on a sweet series of romances with pets and firemen, Have a Hart Romances, and one full of bad boys, Bad Boys for Hire. She also writes sports romances in both football and baseball, as well as many holiday romances, both sweet and spicy.

Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Website ~ Newsletter

Mimi Barbour

Mimi Barbour is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who's sold over 500,000 copies of her books world-wide. Her five romance series: The Vicarage Bench/ time travel at it's best, Angels with Attitudes / angels love romance, Vegas / fast-paced plotting, Elvis / make a song a book and her newest, Undercover FBI / with sizzling conflicts and lots of humor.

Mimi's been heard to say: "I'm an author who loves to read uplifting stories about romance. Add in some time travel, or maybe an angel, or even a little romantic suspense and it makes the story more fascinating because of the incredible possibilities."

Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Website ~ Newsletter

Taylor Lavati

Taylor Lavati is the twenty-four year old author of the bestselling fantasy trilogy, A Curse Books, and award-winning novel, A Reliant Love. She also writes contemporary romances, such as For The Love of Ash. She has another Young Adult fantasy series called Wingless.

Raised in a small Connecticut town, Taylor now works at a local gym, writing in her free time and going to school at night to be an elementary school teacher. She loves to read--the author who most inspires her: Jodi Picoult.

She's a Gemini to the core. She's married as of August 2014, and has a pretty little fur-baby. She was on the varsity Ice Hockey team in high school. She performed dance at various arenas, like Disney World Epcot center and Madison Square Garden.

Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Website ~ Newsletter

Dani Evans

Dani Evan studies Romance-ology where she travels abroad many fictitious places and lives in the hearts of countless heroines and heroes. She experiences the greatest love stories, heartbreaks, high levels of angst, and scorching seductions. All adventures have been, thus far, rather… orgasmic! She hopes her characters will bring the same joy to the romance community as so many Indie and traditionally published authors have given her.

Reading enlightens all of our worlds and is the greatest escape from the daily stresses of life.

Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Website ~ Amazon

Chantel Rhondeau

Chantel Rhondeau is hooked on romance and suspense. She thinks there’s nothing better than a great mystery, but basically an optimist, Chantel loves a book to end ‘happily ever after.’ When she isn’t writing, Chantel enjoys playing cards with her family, bowling, and snuggling with her four kitty ‘children.’

Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Website ~ Newsletter

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Conquering Stones Release Blitz

2016-08-17T00:30:00.000-07:00

Title: Conquering Stones

Series: Stones Duet #2

Author: L.M. Carr

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: August 17

Right is not always right; wrong is not always wrong.

Faced with the truth about the woman he loves, Shane Davis has a choice to make—again. Accept Remy Scott or leave her for good.

The internal struggle to see beyond misconceptions and pre-conceived notions about life is not an easy one. The vow he once made to love and protect Remy is now challenged at every turn as circumstances change and new threats emerge.

After having lived a tumultuous life with her mother, Remy Scott views the world through a different lens. Her eyes are wide open, always looking to see what lies ahead in her bright future yet not forgetting what lurks behind in her dark past.

When unforeseen events become wildly out of control, Remy must make some tough choices to save the ones she loves—again. Will she choose her old life or will she leave it all behind? Will the man she loves be there by her side or will he walk away?

As Shane and Remy have already learned, one thing remains true —every choice has a consequence.

“What if I don’t want you here?” she counters with a de She releases a loud sigh filled with exasperation. “Just leave me alone, Shane. Please just leave me alone.”

If she thinks turning over and facing away is going to deter me, she obviously doesn’t know me well.

As quiet determination builds, I walk around the bed and lower myself until I’m at her eye level. Even though our eyes meet, I know she’s not really looking at me. I raise a slow hand to brush away the stray hair beneath the gauze. My eyes close as my lips hover, tentatively, before finally placing a soft kiss on her forehead.

“I’ll be back later.”

The contact with her smooth skin sends a flutter through my heart. It’s as if the world has been set right because in this moment I realize several things. I’ve missed her so much. We belong together. I’m so incredibly in love with her. With my lips pressed against her skin, I open my eyes and notice the tell-tale signs. She inhales sharply as her face softens and flushes lightly. Hope swells in my heart when her body reacts. I know she still feels it until a sad and silent tear slips through her closed lids.

**AMAZON * AMAZON UK * AMAZON CA**

**AMAZON AU * B&N * KOBO * iBOOKS**

**AMAZON * AMAZON UK * AMAZON CA**

**AMAZON AU * B&N * KOBO**

L.M. Carr, author of The Giving Trilogy and The Stones Duet, is a wife, a mom, an educator, a reader and a writer who lives in central Connecticut with her family and two dogs. When she's not sitting at her computer writing, she loves to read or spend time with family and friends.

The idea for the trilogy formed in the summer of 2013 and wouldn't leave her alone until she picked up a pen and jotted the thoughts down. Before long, words flowed as the story began to unravel about Mia Delaney, a small town school teacher, and the mysterious and sexy newcomer, Adam Lawson. Their story is an emotional roller coaster ride full of unexpected twists and turns.

Since then, she has written and released Casting Stones, book 1 of the Stones Duet, which follows the story of Shane Davis' journey to find love. Many readers disliked him in the trilogy because he made a mistake- a huge one. This is his story of redemption and forgiveness. Conquering Stones, book 2, the epic conclusion will release on August 17, 2016.

Looking to expand beyond Contemporary Romance, L.M. is considering co-writing a Young Adult novel and has several New Adult titles brewing on the back burner.

L.M. Carr is a lover of "Happily Ever Afters" because the world is filled with enough sadness. Reading is an escape in which anything is possible. But like in reality, stories sometimes take you on a journey through Hell before you can reach Heaven.

Follow along as we begin this journey together.

Author Social Media Links

Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Amazon * Goodreads

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Stain Release Blitz

2016-08-16T10:57:00.005-07:00

Title: Stain

Series: King's Harlots MC #2

Author: JM Walker

Genre: MC/Military Romance

Release Date: August 15

*CAN BE READ AS A STANDALONE

"An unexpected evil brings both the MC and Military world together in this brand new series by J.M. Walker"

He wants to be alone.
Nightmares from his past keep him guarded and afraid.
Vice-One is his life. They’re his brothers—the only people who helped keep him out of his own head long enough to move on from the childhood he never asked for.

His therapy has been protecting his country, barely taking a break before beginning his next mission. But no amount of training can prepare him for his great challenge yet—convincing Meeka Cline that she will be his.

She wants out.
Her world fell apart when King’s Harlots no longer trusted her, but she continues to fight to gain back their respect.
All she wants is to help those wronged by the evil that has put a shadow on everyone she knows.
Asher Donovan comes to her for help when he needs her most only to have passion flare up between them. One problem: He’s her best friend.

Putting aside their friendship, they use the heat between them to please the depraved minds they now understand…

**AMAZON * B&N * KOBO * iBOOKS**

AMAZON

J.M. Walker is an Amazon bestselling author who loves all things books, pigs and lip gloss. She is happily married to the man who inspires all of her Heroes and continues to make her weak in the knees every single day.

Website * Facebook * Twitter

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S. Briones Lim - Plan A: Lycaon's Kiss - Virtual Book Tour

2016-08-16T00:30:00.000-07:00

Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Romance

Date Published: May 15, 2016

Publisher: Fifth Ink Publishing

Jensen was the perfect boyfriend - or so Morgan thought. Left as collateral for his gambling debts, Morgan finds herself held captive by a group of "Rabid" werewolves and their overly eccentric leader, Greg. As if things couldn’t get any worse, she finds herself accidentally turned into one of them!

Enter Braedon. Tall, dark, devastatingly handsome. Braedon is the Alpha of his own pack of wolves who are determined to make Morgan one of their own. After saving her from the Rabids he takes it upon himself to train and prepare her for his pack’s mission, Plan A.

As a new pup, will Morgan be able to hold her own alongside the Alpha pack? Will her feelings for Braedon get in the way? Better yet, what the heck is Plan A?

The warmth of a fire warmed my body. It relaxed my muscles, for a brief moment made me forget all the horror I had experienced in the last week and a half…
“Where am I?!” I gasped, sitting straight up. I frantically scanned the room. It was a large apartment, decked in Modern Décor. In fact, the fire wasn’t a real fire after all. It was some sort of televised wall decoration with heat radiating from it. Beside the virtual fireplace, I was perched on a black leather couch, with my leg hung up in a makeshift leg suspension. Quickly, I propped myself up on my elbows. I looked around to make sure I was alone and once satisfied, I began fidgeting with my leg sling.
“I wouldn’t touch that if I were you.”
My hands immediately froze in place. “Who’s there?” I called out, attempting to hide the fear in my voice. When no one answered I reached for the sling. “Where are you?” I demanded, still struggling to free my foot from its new prison. “Great, finally escaped that stupid room and now I’m tied up in this place,” I muttered under my breath.
“You’re not exactly tied up,” the same voice chuckled.
At that moment I unclasped the sling. “Got it!” I exclaimed. My foot was freed and fell onto the couch. I yelped in pain and grasped my calf.
“Told you not to touch the sling.”
Still in pain, I pushed myself into a standing position. I scanned around, but once again saw that I was alone. Spotting the door, I limped my way towards the far end of the room. The smell of musky cologne tickled my nostrils, I feared my new captor was nearby. As painful as it was, I broke into a run. I reached the door in basically no time at all. I was so focused on the task at hand that I failed to question my newfound speed. Instead, I hurriedly reached for the knob only to find a hand around my wrist.
“Now, why must you insist on running after I did everything in my power to save you?”
Still facing the door, I opened my mouth to scream, but felt another hand placed over my
mouth.
“Just promise not to bite,” the deep voice instructed.

Thanks to her Mom’s unwavering devotion to read a childhood bedtime story to her every single night, S. BRIONES LIM’s love for books began before she could even speak.

Raised in Southern California, Lim initially dreamt of becoming an artist. After a Psychology Degree (Summa cum Laude), a stint in Art School, and a career in Advertising/Media she is finally diving back into her first love – books. As a self-renowned bookworm, Lim’s love for reading has inspired her to pen her own novels and hopes her readers will fall in love with her stories as much as she enjoys writing them.

Her obsessions include time with family, Cherry Coke, popcorn with jalapeños, watching movies and her dogs, Tobi and Roscoe. She currently lives in Virginia with her husband.

Contact Links

Website: www.sbrioneslim.com

Facebook: facebook.com/sbrioneslim and facebook.com/authorsbrioneslim

Twitter: @sbrioneslim

Blog: www.sbrioneslim.com

Pinterest: @sbrioneslim

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7155647.S_Briones_Lim

Purchase Links

iBooks- https://itun.es/us/Ww8Acb.l

Amazon US- https://amzn.com/B01FOYOCVY

Amazon UK- http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01FOYOCVY

Amazon CA- http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01FOYOCVY

Kobo- https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/plan-a-lycaon-s-kiss

Megan Morgan - The Burning City - Release Blitz

2016-08-13T00:30:00.000-07:00

Urban Fantasy

Date Published: July 5, 2016

Book #3 of the Siren Song series:

When the smoke clears, who will be left standing?

Tattoo artist June Coffin has another, more hidden talent: she’s a Siren who can influence people with the sound of her voice. But in the wake of a murder and shake-up at the Institute of Supernatural Research, her own powers are starting to kill her. The only chance she has of saving herself—as well as her kidnapped brother and best friend—is to become a vampire. But joining the ranks of the vengeful vamp, Occam Reed, is the last thing June wants to do.

Occam isn’t the only danger June needs to worry about. Power hungry telepath Robbie Beecher will stop at nothing to gain control over Chicago. He’ll destroy anyone who gets in his way—and June’s lover, Sam, is high on the hit list since his bid for Mayor. With the city and June’s heart being pulled in different directions, it’s only a matter of time before the powder keg explodes…and time isn’t something June has much of left. With a city on fire, can she rise from its ashes?

EXCERPT

Like a bored, despondent child, she dragged around the house, on the verge of throwing a tantrum because there was nothing to do. She walked out on the front porch. Night had fallen, the stars out. She trudged down the long set of stairs from the porch to the driveway. Dipity plunked down the steps after her.

“Don’t run away,” June told the cat as they reached the bottom. “I’m not digging through the bushes to find you. You’ll be sleeping outside tonight.”

June sat down on the bottom step. Dipity walked around the yard, sniffing things. Lightning bugs flickered in the darkness, little yellow pulses of light. The driveway was packed with cars.

She picked at her fingernails, trying to shake the looming sense of awkwardness hanging over her, the loneliness of being an outsider, of being that left-out kid she once was. She’d vowed she would never be that girl again, yet here she was.

A nearby sound startled her. She jerked her head up.

What she’d heard was strange and alarming—the sound of leaves rustling and a weird, heavy thump.

Dipity shot back over to the stairs and stopped next to June, tail in the air, staring across the yard.

June got to her feet. She squinted into the shadows under the line of trees across the yard. The trees weren’t too far away, maybe fifty feet, but it was so dark now she couldn’t make out anything.

“Hello?” she called. Maybe one of the guards was patrolling the grounds.

Silence.

She was tired of being spooked, of hearing bizarre sounds and not knowing their source. She crossed the yard toward the trees, the grass prickling her bare feet. Dipity sprinted back up the stairs to the porch.

“Hello?” she called again. “Is someone there?”

As she drew closer to the trees, the shadows lessened in density, and she could make out something—a shape—lying on the ground. She slowed, holding her breath. She didn’t want to be attacked by a nervous possum or sprayed by a skunk.

However, the shape was much too big to be an animal. In fact, it looked like a person.

She stopped, about ten feet away, standing beneath the overhanging branches. She tried to convince herself she wasn’t seeing clearly.

“Hello?” She considered using her power. “Hey, can you hear me?”

The shape didn’t move. It couldn’t be a person. What the hell would a person be doing lying underneath the trees in Sam’s yard?

Unless he wasn’t alive.

Then came the unmistakable soft swish of someone walking through the grass behind her. Before she could turn around, someone whispered close to her ear.

“For you, darling. Come home soon.”

She spun around, a scream catching in her throat.

No one was there.

“Occam!”

Megan Morgan is an award winning urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and erotica author from Cleveland, Ohio. RWA member, bartender by day, and purveyor of things that go bump in the night, she’s trying to turn writing into her day job so she can be on the other side of the bar for a change. Hailing from the often-wintry shores of Lake Erie, she lives with an attention-seeking cat and her adult son, both of which shed too much.

Contact Information

Website: http://www.meganmorganauthor.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/megan.morgan.author

Twitter: https://twitter.com/morgan_romance

Blog: https://meganmorganauthor.com/blog/

G+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+MeganMorganAuthor

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/mmorganauthor/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/meganmorganauthor

Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/Megan-Morgan/e/B00LBHTUSE/

Purchase Links

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Burning-City-Siren-Song-Book-ebook/dp/B016GRJ83U/

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781616506872

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Megan_Morgan_The_Burning_City?id=j-W1CgAAQBAJ

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-burning-city/id1066487567?mt=11

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/the-burning-city-3

All Romance Ebooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-theburningcity-1979320-143.html

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Colleen Helme - Hidden Deception - Release Blitz

2016-08-12T00:30:00.000-07:00

Mystery (cozy, psychic)

Date Published: August 12, 2016

Just back from Paris, Shelby barely has time to get over her jet lag before she is right back in the thick of things. Uncle Joey, the local mob boss, needs her help to find out what his son is hiding from him. Detective Harris, AKA Dimples, has an unsolved homicide on his hands, along with a missing engagement ring. Shelby's husband, Chris, just got promoted to partner in his law firm, and she has yet to see his new office or meet his new secretary. Add to that the opportunity to purchase a beautiful home, and Shelby is racing from one thing to the next while trying to keep them all straight.

When a courier in Uncle Joey’s organization turns up dead, it’s up to Shelby and her mind-reading powers to find out who killed him and why. The house Shelby wants to buy has a few problems that go beyond the building code, and the murder she’s helping Dimples solve has ties to Chris’ law firm. Even using all of her skills, Shelby finds one hidden deception after another. And if she’s not careful, it might be the one she least expects that will kill her.

EXCERPT

Today began like any other Monday.

The routine of getting my kids off to school was just the same as it had always been, and I found it a little disconcerting to think that I’d just had the adventure of my life in Paris, and now it seemed like I’d never been gone.

We’d gotten home on Friday, so with the weekend to get over my jet-lag, there was no excuse for not going back to my everyday life. It would have been depressing except for the fact that I had something to look forward to. Just thinking about it sent a thrill of excitement through me.

My husband, Chris, had just made partner at his law firm. With that came a few other benefits, one of which was a big raise in pay. On the plane ride home from Paris, Chris had mentioned this to me, along with the news that the house I’d always admired from afar was for sale. Now, there was a real possibility we could afford it.

I’d had my eye on that house ever since we’d moved into the area. It had a certain enchantment about it that fueled my imagination. It was situated on a beautiful, stately, tree-lined street, and was built in the Old Victorian style. It even had a round turret on one side that spanned two floors, and another in the back. A wrap-around porch had recently been added, making it even more inviting.

It wasn’t a huge house, but big enough for our family, and I’d always thought it would be cool to live there. Even better, it was in our neighborhood and school district. So if we did buy it, our kids could stay in their schools and keep their friends.

The only drawback I could see? People moved in and out a lot, so it might need some fixing up, especially the yard. But that also meant the price would be lower, so it could all work out in the end. Chris had called a realtor on Saturday, and I had an appointment to meet him there this afternoon.

This fit into my plans perfectly, since I needed to visit Thrasher Development this morning and have a talk with Uncle Joey. He was the local mob-boss and my employer. And he wasn’t even my real uncle. But since he knew my secret, I was more or less coerced into working for him.

Recently, he’d sent his hit-man, Ramos, to look after me when I’d accompanied a federal agent to Paris on a routine trip. It had turned out to be a heck of a lot more than I’d bargained for. In fact, without Ramos’ help and protection, I’d be dead.

The last time I’d talked with Uncle Joey, he wasn’t too happy with me. And since he’d basically saved my life by sending Ramos… again, I owed him big-time, probably for as long as I lived. Or at least until my mind-reading abilities stopped. So far, that hadn’t happened. And deep inside, I hoped it never would.

It had been a whole year since my life changed during a bank robbery at the grocery store while I was shopping for carrots. A bullet wound to my head had changed something in my brain, and now I could hear people’s thoughts. I could hardly believe how fast the time had gone since then.

In fact, reading minds had become so much a part of my identity that I didn’t think I could ever go back to the person I was before. So, even though it might get me out of helping a mob-boss, and keep me out of trouble, and even keep me from getting killed, I’d hate to lose it. How crazy was that?

On the other hand, Uncle Joey was getting older. He had to be over sixty-five. That meant he should retire at some point in the next few years. Maybe by then, he’d let me off the hook. Ha! Who was I kidding? Uncle Joey didn’t seem like the retiring type. He liked power way too much. And barring death, either his or mine, I didn’t think I’d ever be out from under his thumb.

It also worried me a little that the circle of people who actually knew my secret had just widened to include French Inspector Gabriel Dumont. But since I’d helped save a chunk of Paris, he’d readily agreed to keep it to himself.

So, including Uncle Joey, Ramos, my husband, Chris, and Detective Harris, whom I called Dimples, that still added up to only five people, so maybe it wasn’t so bad. Oh wait, there was one more… Kate.

How could I forget her? She was the main reason I got involved with Uncle Joey in the first place. As a new lawyer at Chris’ law firm, she’d set her sights on Chris, even though she knew he was happily married to me. In order to stop her, I’d threatened to expose her ties to the local mob-boss, Joe ‘The Knife’ Manetto, whom she called Uncle Joey.

That’s when it all went wrong, and I had to tell Uncle Joey my secret in order to stay alive. Kate had since been banished to run Uncle Joey’s operations in Seattle, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t pop back up in my life at any time.

Just thinking about her brought a sick feeling to my stomach, but now that she was involved with Alec Passini and his shipping company, I hoped that kept her occupied. Still, I wouldn’t put it past her to ask for my help if she needed it. So, of all the people who knew my secret, Kate was the one I worried about the most. Good thing I had Uncle Joey on my side. Everyone else thought I had ‘premonitions,’ and I needed to make sure it stayed that way.

Now that I was back in the real world, it hit me that I had a lot to worry about, so to alleviate those worries, I decided to change my focus to the possibility of purchasing my dream home. That helped revive me and, with anticipation, I jumped into the shower to get ready for my day.

An hour later, I pulled into the parking garage of Thrasher Development and gathered the special gifts I’d purchased in Paris for Uncle Joey, his secretary and wife, Jackie, and Ramos. I was excited about the gifts I’d bought for Uncle Joey and Jackie, but more than a little nervous about the one I’d bought for Ramos. I mean, what could I possibly give to the man who’d rescued me from a bunch of crazy terrorists?

Not only that, but he’d stuck by my side when he could have easily been blown up. The little Eiffel Tower I’d gotten him seemed kind of silly, but it was also personal. The first time I’d seen it sparkle was the night he’d saved my life and took me there to help settle me down. Now, when I thought of the Eiffel Tower, it was always of that moment standing there with him.

It was bad of me in so many ways, especially considering the kiss. Of course it wasn’t a personal kiss since Gabriel had kissed me too. It was kind of a French thing to celebrate not getting blown up; Joie de Vivre, and all that.

Still, I had to admit that I’d liked it, and that I didn’t feel too guilty about it. That probably made me even more of a bad person, but it’s not like I’d ever do it again. I loved my husband more than I could say, and we had two great kids together.

But Ramos was special to me too, and always would be. So giving him the Eiffel Tower was an okay thing to do, right? Still, maybe I should forget about it and just give him the extra chocolates instead. Then I wouldn’t have to worry that I’d crossed some sort of line.

“Babe.”

As the author of the Shelby Nichols Adventure Series, Colleen is often asked if Shelby Nichols is her alter-ego. “Definitely,” she says. “Shelby is the epitome of everything I wish I dared to be.” Known for her laugh since she was a kid, Colleen has always tried to find the humor in every situation and continues to enjoy writing about Shelby’s adventures. “I love getting Shelby into trouble…I just don’t always know how to get her out of it!” Colleen lives in the Rocky Mountains with her family. Besides writing, she loves a good book, biking, hiking, and playing board and card games with family and friends. She loves to connect with readers and admits that fans of the series keep her writing.

Purchase Links

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Deception-Shelby-Nichols-Adventure-ebook/dp/B01IMIJLNI

Contact Links

Website: http://www.colleenhelme.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ColleenHelmeAuthor/

Twitter: @ColleenHelme

Blog: http://www.shelbynicholsconsulting.com

Giveaway

Amazon $25.00 gift card

REVIEW: FALLEN SERIES BY LAUREN KATE

2016-08-11T12:35:00.001-07:00

What if the person you were meant to be with could never be yours?

17-year-old Lucinda falls in love with a gorgeous, intelligent boy, Daniel, at her new school, the grim, foreboding Sword & Cross . . . only to find out that Daniel is a fallen angel, and that they have spent lifetimes finding and losing one another as good & evil forces plot to keep them apart.

Get ready to fall .

How many lives do you need to live before you find someone worth dying for?

In the aftermath of what happened at Sword & Cross, Luce has been hidden away by her cursed angelic boyfriend, Daniel, in a new school filled with Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans. Daniel promises she will be safe here, protected from those who would kill her. At the school Luce discovers what the Shadows that have followed her all her life mean – and how to manipulate them to see into her other lives. Yet the more Luce learns about herself, the more she realizes that the past is her only key to unlocking her future . . . and that Daniel hasn't told her everything. What if his version of the past isn't actually the way things happened . . . what if Luce was really meant to be with someone else?

The second novel in the addictive FALLEN series...where love never dies.

‘Every single lifetime, I'll choose you. Just as you have chosen me. Forever.’

Luce would die for Daniel. And she has. Over and over again. Throughout time, Luce and Daniel have found each other, only to be painfully torn apart: Luce dead, Daniel left broken and alone. But perhaps it doesn’t need to be that way . . . Luce is certain that something – or someone – in a past life can help her in her present one. So she begins the most important journey of this lifetime . . . going back eternities to witness firsthand her romances with Daniel . . . and finally unlock the key to making their love last.
Cam and the legions of angels and Outcasts are desperate to catch Luce, but none are as frantic as Daniel. He chases Luce through their shared pasts, terrified of what might happen if she rewrites history. Because their romance for the ages could go up in flames . . . forever

The sky is dark with wings . . .

And time is running out for Luce and Daniel.
In order to stop Lucifer from erasing the past, they must find the place where the Fall began. Only Luce can break the curse, and it is her choice alone that will decide all of their fates.
But as Dark Forces gather, great sacrifices will have to be made in this final, epic struggle . . .
In the fight for Luce, and for Love, who will win?
The astonishing climax to the Fallen series. Heaven can't wait any longer

REVIEW:

In this book series we meet Luce , her life starts out in an awful mess, seeing strange things, shadows following her . one night things take a turn for the worse and Luces ends up in big trouble for things she cant explain to herself never mind anyone else. She gets sent off to a special school for troubled kids and things only get more confusing for a while but she meets new friends that make her feel more normal and excepted. but as always things are not as they seem and her new friends are hiding things from Luce and she has to set off on a journey to find out about her self and her past life and the soul mate she didn't know she had. feeling drawn to Daniel makes Luce feel things she so deep she doesn't know how to explain them. but she knows she wants Daniel and only Daniel and she will do any amount of searching that it takes to get there love back in track.

Daniel is a fallen angel and has spent a very long time roaming the earth looking for the soul mate who has been taken from him time and time again. living a life of torment until they are able to break the curse that was put on them by Lucifer himself.

Its not just the curse they need to break, they need to come together with other fallen angels to stop Lucifer from wiping out the past and turning back time so he can use it to take power over the throne.

I have mixed views on this series. It started out really well, I loved all the characters and the idea of the story but by book 3 the story dipped a little. it went on a little to much about Luces past lives and there wasn't much action in it. but by book 4 it picked back up again and read a little bit better. Iloved the love story between Daniel and Luce. I loved the tortured soul part of it but a tiny bit of me wanted her to end up with Cam as I thought his character had a little bit more about him..

Book 1 I really liked and it got me interested right away, Book two was ok but could of been better, Book 3 was so/so needed so much more done to it then the other two books, Book 4 was amazing.

I think it is a series you really have to try for your self and make up your own mind. but even though it dipped a little in book 3 it was so worth the read. the Angels are amazing and you some of them you will click with right away. there is some twists and turns in these books and I really thing most people will enjoy them

RATING 4 LIPS

White Lies Cover Reveal

2016-08-11T00:30:00.000-07:00

Title: White Lies

Series: Twisted Fate Series #1

Author: Kristin Mayer

Cover Designer: Just Write Creations

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Release Date: September 19

Nothing is as it seems. Our love. Our life. Our future.

Were the lies to protect me? Or was it something else?

There has to be a reason behind all of this. Finding out he doesn't love me would devastate me beyond belief.

They say white lies are harmless, but I don’t believe it. There has to be more to our story.

Kristin Mayer is a wife, a proud mother, and a full-time Analyst and Import Manager. Since an early age, she has always enjoyed reading and writing. While visiting her father one weekend, he suggested that she should take up writing again. With family and a career, she didn’t give it a lot of thought, until a story entered her mind and wouldn’t leave. It just kept forming and developing over a couple of months.

At the beginning of 2013, she decided to sit down and write it all down, but she kept it to herself. One sentence developed into two, and before she knew it, she had the makings of a novel.

Kristin tries to live life to the fullest during every moment. She loves to travel and meet new people. She holds a degree in International Business and uses it daily in her job. Kristin now adds “author” on her list of jobs, and feels very blessed and thankful.

Website * Facebook * Twitter

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Shamlessly Spellbound Cover Reveal

2016-08-10T11:09:00.002-07:00

Title: Shamelessly Spellbound

Series: Spells That Bind #2

Author: Cassandra Lawson

Cover Designer: J.N. Sheats

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Release Date: August 25

No man has ever tempted Melina Blackwood to break her rules about getting involved with warlocks. At least, that was the case before meeting Trevor Dupree—a warlock who would need an accountant to figure out how many witches he’s been with. Trevor infuriates her, confuses her, but most of all, he makes her long for his touch. Turning him down wasn’t easy the first time, and she’s not sure she can resist the temptation now that Trevor is willing to do anything to make her his.

Trevor Dupree has been infatuated with far too many witches, believing every witch he’s dated had the potential to be the one he’d spend the rest of his life with. Melina Blackwood changed all of that, but the irritating witch not only turned him down, she practically filed a restraining order to keep him away. Six months later, she’s still the only witch he wants, and he has no intention of letting her walk away again.

One woman can prevent Melina and Trevor from finding their happily ever after. Her obsession with Trevor will drive her to do whatever it takes to possess him.

AMAZON

Cassandra Lawson is an author and homeschooling mother of three from the San Francisco Bay area. She has always had a very active imagination and loves making up stories. When she is not writing, she enjoys baking, spending time with her family, listening to music, or curling up with a good book.

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The Phoenix Decree Release Boost

2016-08-08T00:30:00.001-07:00

Title: The Phoenix Decree

Series: The Phoenix Decree Sage #1

Author: Anna Albergucci

Re-Release Date: August 1

It’s nineteenth-century England. Social decorum reigns. Devon Phoenix, Marquess of Phoxdale and first-born son of the Duke of Seton, shuns

society when he is bound to his soul mate through the discovery of a buried family secret. He learns she will need his protection from those drawn to her because of her lineage. When he crosses two centuries into present day to claim her, it is not without cost. The life of Boston artist and history buff Elz Valli is about to be irreversibly altered. Coming face-to-face with Devon, she feels certain this striking, intellectual man bears more than a shocking resemblance to the man marked in the pages of her history books. Even so, she does not expect the chain of events that unfold because of one heated dance with him. With the pendulum in motion, there is no turning back as Devon’s presence in today’s world ignites raging fires both good and evil. Driven by his insane love for her, Devon will stop at nothing to have and protect Elz. But will this be enough to overcome the powers that will attach themselves to her?

This book is intended for mature audiences.

NOW FREE!!!

**AMAZON * B&N * iBOOKS**

Anna Albergucci has always had a vivid imagination. When she was a child, she entertained her mother and anyone who would listen with the telling of her intricate dreams. Now she puts that inspiration to paper, weaving her stories into deeply passionate characters that live lives the rest of us only dream about.

Married to her high school sweetheart, Anna lives in Texas surrounded by her ever-growing family and her fur babies. She serves as president of Cisco Writers Club, and is the founder of a yearly writers’ retreat she hosts at her estate each fall.

She loves mornings, coffee, and sitting on the porch appreciating her life. She’s a sucker for hosting parties, especially historical costume parties. And in her spare time you can find her touring old mansions, shopping for antiques, or curled up reading a romance, paranormal, or thriller, whether historical or contemporary.

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Filthy Release Blitz

2016-08-08T00:30:00.000-07:00

Title: Filthy

Series: The Reckless Series

Author: HJ Bellus

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: August 8

From the USA Today and AMAZON best seller, HJ Bellus, comes a sexy romance: FILTHY.

It was just a summer fling.

He taught me his bad boy ways.

And now I’m beyond being saved.

At first it was fun, but now it’s an addiction my skin craves.

All sense of reality disappears and there’s no boundaries holding me in.

My name is Darby and this is FILTHY.

**AMAZON * B&N * KOBO * iBOOKS**

AMAZON

HJ Bellus is a small town girl who loves the art of storytelling. When not making readers laugh or cry, she's a part-time livestock wrangler that can be found in the middle of Idaho, shot gunning a beer while listening to some Miranda Lambert on her Beats and rocking out in her boots.

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Garon Whited - Nightlord: Sunset - PROMO Blitz

2016-08-07T00:30:00.000-07:00

Fantasy / Epic Fantasy

Date Published: September 2014

Eric didn't ask to be a vampire. In fact, he didn't even believe in them. Then he hooks up with a hot babe, wakes up with a hangover, and bites his tongue with his own fangs.

Which pretty much settles the question.

Now he's trying to hold down his day job while learning the rules of the Undead -- the most important being that bloodthirsty urges and predatory instincts are a real bitch.

Upside; Eric has the beautiful Sasha to teach him the ropes, including the magic he'll need to survive.

Downside; they're being hunted by members of the Church of Light, who are determined to rid the world of vampires.

Then Sasha is killed, and Eric is thrust into an alternate world in his quest to avenge her death. There he becomes a Nightlord, fights a dragon with the help of his magical steed, Bronze, and upchucks a sword named Firebrand.

But things get really interesting when Eric finally finds Tobias, head of the Church of Light. Soon Eric finds himself at the center of an epic battle at the literal edge of the world in a fight to keep a terrible darkness at bay.

In other words, just another day in the life of the Nightlord.

"When you fall off the Edge of the World into hordes of demonic Things from the Outer Darkness, you really start to wonder if you haven't made some mistakes." --Eric, part-time undead, expectant father, and short-term astronaut.

Other Books in the Nightlord Series:

Published: August 2015

“I’ve awakened in a stone box about the size of a large coffin… I’m filthy, everything aches, and, by the various so-called gods, I smell awful.

“I’ve woken up in worse places.

“Hmm. What does that say about my life choices?” —Eric, amateur magician, part-time vampire, and accidental king.

It's not easy, being King. Especially when you've got an allergy to sunrise and sunset, a fire-goddess for a mother-in-law, demonic adversaries, random assassins, and a basement full of insecurities to cope with.

Add to that his daughter, the fire-priestess/princess, a couple of lightly-deranged professional magicians, a whole city full of wizards, and enough squabbling princes to resemble a kindergarten argument.

It's enough to make a man want to just go home.

Luckily for Eric, he has the world's fastest pet rock, a smart-mouthed sword, and a horse that not only understands him, but likes him anyway.

“An awful lot of young ladies seem to be up all night, wandering around the halls on the off-chance they’ll bump into the King when he’s in the mood for a snack. Since when did I become sexy? And why didn’t anybody warn me it was going to be work?” —Eric, elder geek and occasional idiot.

Published: May 2016

We all have inner demons. We fight them all the time. Some of us achieve inner peace by coming to terms with them.

But how do you come to terms with inner demons that tear free and become outer demons?

Eric has been a vampire for nearly a century, and his demons are more than metaphors. While they controlled him, he was the Demon King. Now he has to avoid the monsters in his own mind, as well as angry nobles, fanatical religions, assassins, magi, other vampires, criminal organizations, and the neighborhood gossip.

He wants two things: To find Tort, and to have someplace to call home.

It may be too much to ask.

EXCERPT

I ignored the susurrus of voices, dashed up the avenue between the ruined monuments, and took the broad stairs before the door in three skipping jumps. The door itself was a carefully-balanced block of stone. It stood about eight feet tall and was perhaps twice that in width. Opening it required it to pivot around the center, its balance. Judging by the scrapes along the dusty portico, Tobias had found it no trouble at all. I, however, shoved on each side of the block in turn without result. Maybe he locked it.

I backed off, got a running start, and jumped. I kicked it with both feet, as high up as I could manage. Something snapped in the wall as I hit the door. I came to a sudden halt, thudding into the stone like a cannonball, then fell heavily to the dusty floor. I rolled to my feet awkwardly—Firebrand can be an annoyingly large chunk of metal—and was in time to watch the whole block of stone finish a slow, majestic topple inward. It landed flat with an echoing, tomb-door thud and sent up a huge cloud of white dust.

I was over that stone and past the cloud in an instant, dashing down a long tunnel before the echoes had finished. Directly ahead, far distant, I could see Tobias out in the open air. I came out of the mouth of the tunnel like the bullet from a gun.

The plaza was large. Two football games and a cricket match could have been held concurrently in that space—complete with spectators. The tunnel I exited was at the floor level of a grandly-curving amphitheater facing Tobias. All of this was scoured from rock and worn by years of use. The floor was also natural stone, cut only to smooth it down and level it. There was no roof at all.

Perhaps a quarter-mile away, the radius of the half-circle, Tobias had his back to me. Shada was lying naked on a slab of rock just beyond him. And beyond her…

The world ended.

I once wondered about the nature of the world I’m in. Is it round? Is it flat? Does it go around the Sun or vice versa?

The world is flat. Sure, it may be round—like a coin. But it has an edge, very real, and sharply defined. I know. I’ve seen it. At least that explained why my compass never found north.

Beyond that edge exists a gulf of yawning blackness, speckled here and there by the distant stars—or are they stars? I don’t know what they are. Maybe they’re just lights on the inside of a great sphere of crystal, or holes in that sphere to an even greater space that happens to be better illuminated. Maybe the stars are really angels with flaming swords and glowing halos.

Maybe they really are distant suns… but I doubt it.

Right up near the edge live the Things. I recognized a few from having seen them before. The rubbery monstrosity from the lab in Baret, along with the multi-tentacled creature that tried to eat me outside the gata camp. They had a bunch of brothers with them, along with a whole lot of more distant relations. There were hundreds, no, thousands of the Things in every shape and size imaginable—and many I wouldn’t choose to imagine without serious drugs. They seemed to have no gravity out there. They weren’t a flat crowd, but a wall, extending up and to the sides, as though they were all pressing against a barrier of glass, trying to get in. They were clustered most thickly near Tobias, thinner out away from him. All of them were fairly frothing at the mouth to pour from the outer darkness onto the stone floor of the world. They chattered and chittered, hissed and clacked and moaned. Their sounds were muted, as though there really was a barrier, but there was nothing to be seen holding them at bay.

Tobias was chanting. He had some tools in his hands—I couldn’t tell quite what, but one seemed to be a knife.

Garon Whited was supposedly born in either 1969 or 1970; the original birth certificate is suspiciously unavailable and other records do not agree. After spending some years in college playing with computers, he finally joined a radical group of jellyfish herding nomads. Having fought zombie dolphins, quasi-corporeal spirits, and brain-sucking mole rats, he is uniquely qualified to write fantastic fiction. His subsequent attempts at professional salsa repairman and key line salesman met with similar success. He claims to live in Texarkana, on Earth, but people have been known to disagree.

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Website: http://www.garonwhited.com

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