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Tainted Bride - Blurb Blitz and Giveaway

9/30/2016

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Tainted Bride
by A.S. Fenichel
GENRE
: Historical Romance

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Only trust can save her….
Sailing to London, Sophia Braighton only hopes to escape certain ruin. But when she arrives, her Great Aunt Daphne has other plans for the American-born beauty. Determined to marry off her niece to a man of means, she propels Sophia into London society, not knowing that the young woman’s trust in men is shattered. In fact, Sophia never expects to ever feel anything for a man. Then again, she never expects to find herself in the company of the dashing earl of Marlton….
From the moment he sees Sophia, Daniel Fallon feels alive in a way he has not since his broken engagement. Though the vulnerable beauty shies from the passion burning bright between them, Daniel is determined to court her and make her his bride. And when he learns of the painful secret she harbors, he is equally determined to take revenge on the man responsible. But will the quest destroy him—and his future with his beloved?
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​“I think you will marry.” Regret dripped from his voice.
“No.” Her eyes filled with tears and she moved away to hide in the shadow of one of the pillars surrounding the veranda.
His mind screamed at him to apologize and walk away, but his body disobeyed and he followed her into the shadows. He tugged the glove from his hand and gently caressed the soft skin from her elbow to the cap sleeve of her gown. He dropped his hand.
She turned, only a breath away. The warmth of her body reached him though they didn’t touch.
“Please do not cry.” The soft tone hardly resembled his voice. She moved him in a way no one else ever had.
“I won’t. I’m sorry to make such a scene.” She dabbed at her eyes. Once again, the tigress returned, sad, fierce and distant. The tears made her seem even fiercer, somehow making her even more perfect. This was no stuffy debutante, with little thought for anyone but herself. She was soft, emotional, filled with life and he wanted nothing else in the world but to pull her into his arms, to watch her tigress’s eyes close as his lips covered hers.
“I think I’m going to kiss you, Miss Braighton.” He inched closer.
Her eyes widened and she gasped, as he rubbed his lips lightly against hers. “No.” The word was less than a whisper.
“Are you sure?” He asked, pressing his cheek to hers.

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A.S. Fenichel adores writing stories filled with love, passion, desire, magic and maybe a little mayhem tossed in for good measure. Books have always been her perfect escape and she still relishes diving into one and staying up all night to finish a good story. Originally from New York, she grew up in New Jersey. She now lives in the southwest with her real life hero, her wonderful husband. When she is not reading or writing she enjoys cooking, travel, history and puttering in her garden.

Author Links:
Website: http://asfenichel.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/A.S.Fenichel
Twitter: https://twitter.com/asfenichel

Buy the book:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2bjGDO1
Apple: http://apple.co/2bjGGcX
Google Play: http://bit.ly/2bjGJp9
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2bjGH0n
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/2bjG7j0

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Something I Need - Book Tour and Giveaway

9/30/2016

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Something I Need
Lena Lowe
(xoxo Nashville, #1)
Publication date: September 14th 2016
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

Jonte Williamson has a dream: become Nashville’s next big star. Finding herself unexpectedly homeless hot off the plane wasn’t part of her grand plan.

Cash Bellini is a simple man: he loves his twin sister, Dolly, hates country music, and stays far away from anything more complicated than that.

When Jonte stumbles into Cash’s bar, helping out the homeless country music wannabe is the last thing on his agenda. Pity someone forgot to send the memo to his too-big heart and meddling twin. Throw in a pair of baby blue cowboy boots, a pool table and a splash of tequila, and these two are set to ignite in a hot sexy mess! Will either of their hearts survive the tug-o-war between what they want and what they need?

Goodreads / Amazon


Author Bio:

Lena lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband and three daughters. She completed a MA in Writing in 2013 and has been working on a New Adult series based in Nashville. The first book in the series, Something I Need, was a 2014 RWA Contemporary Romance Stiletto finalist in the New Adult category.

In early 2015, Lena and her family spent 5 weeks road tripping across the US. It was an amazing once in a lifetime family holiday and research for her debut series all rolled into one!

Lena is an avid reader, especially in the New Adult genre. She is a mad Colleen Hoover, Samantha Young and KA Tucker fan, and is more than a little bit in love with Becca and Krista Richie’s Addicted series, Jay Crownover’s Marked Men series and Kylie Scott’s Stage Dive series.

Website / Facebook / Goodreads


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The Coven Enforcers Series - Book Tour

9/30/2016

1 Comment

 
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Coven Enforcers = Dark, Dangerous, Magical Men
Coven Witches bow to no one—least of all Enforcers.
Sparks ignite. Tempers run high. Passion explodes. Hot. Sweet. Impossible to ignore....

Blood and Magic
Coven Enforcers Book One
By Ann Gimpel
Dream Shadow Press 63K words
Release Date: 7/18/16
Genre: Historical paranormal romance with a steampunk edge 

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Magic didn’t just find Luke Caulfield. It chased him down, bludgeoned him, and has been dogging him ever since. Some lessons are harder than others, but Luke embraces danger, upping the ante to give it one better. An enforcer for the Coven, a large, established group of witches, his latest assignment is playing bodyguard to the daughter of Coven leaders.

Abigail Ruskin is chaperoning a spoiled twelve-year-old from New York to her parents’ home in Utah Territory when Luke gets on their stagecoach in Colorado. A powerful witch herself, Abigail senses Luke’s magic, but has no idea what he’s doing on her stagecoach. Stuck between the petulant child and Luke’s raw sexual energy, Abigail can’t wait for the trip to end.


Unpleasant truths surface about the child. While Abigail’s struggling with those, wraiths, wolves, and dark mages launch an attack. Luke’s so attracted to Abigail, she’s almost all he can think about, but he’s leery too. The child is just plain evil. Is Abigail in league with her? It might explain the odd attack that took out their driver and one of their horses. In over his head, he summons enforcer backup.
Will they help him save the woman he’s falling in love with, or demand her immediate execution?

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​…Cursing her long skirts and cumbersome petticoats, Abigail used magic to skip the coach steps. Power blazed from her hands before she could see what she was aiming at. She was afraid if she took even a few seconds to hunt for a target, something would get her. Being dead wasn’t desirable, but it was better than the other things wraiths could do to her. Those turned her blood to ice chips.
With her booted feet planted firmly on the ground, Abigail finally got a good look at the wraiths. She drew magic from deep in the earth and sent it chasing after them when they jumped sideways to evade her magic. Insubstantial as tall, thin puffs of smoke, they had glowing charcoal eyes. Long, blood red claws graced what passed for hands. Binding their victims with fiery strands was a favorite trick—just before they sucked your soul right out of you, leaving a handy vessel for one of their masters to occupy. Wraiths used to feed only on the living, making them into new wraiths. They’d been bad enough then, but now they functioned as hired thugs for practitioners of the Black Arts. It lent them the ability to operate in broad daylight. Abigail wondered which group of sorcerers this crew worked for. The Alchemical Council? Black Magick?
Good God but there were a lot of them. Why? Surely they weren’t interested in the contents of the coach, which only carried mail and Carolyn’s substantial luggage. Ducking and spinning to escape being entwined in a blazing net, she thought about the girl’s steamer trunks. Abigail only helped pack two of them. The third had been locked and ready to go. Could that possibly be what the wraiths were after?
She shut off her thoughts so she could focus. The ragged sound of her own panting thrummed loud in her ears as she chucked one killing blow after another. Bolts of blue-white light flared from both hands. No point in running anything less than wide open. For each wraith she obliterated, three more showed up to take its place. Her chest ached from breathing sooty air and wraith stench.
Heat seared her back. Damnation! Her skirts were on fire. Abigail funneled magic behind her to quell the flames, but it didn’t work. Smoke stung her nostrils. Fire had already eaten a long gouge in one of her hands. If she dropped to the ground to deal with her burning clothes, the wraiths would pounce. Terror licked at her along with the flames.
In spite of her brave thoughts earlier, she didn’t want to die. Not here. And not like this. She cursed her corset. It was hard to get a decent breath. If she’d known she was going to have to fight--
“Keep after ’em,” Luke growled from behind her. “I have your dress under control.” She felt him drape something heavy around her shoulders—a lap robe he must’ve snatched from inside the coach—and press it close against her with his body. Gratitude wrapped warm tentacles around her. Having him right next to her made her already pounding heart do flip-flops, but she forced herself to focus on something other than all those rock-hard muscles jammed against her back.
“Are they all on this side of the coach?” she wheezed, still struggling to breathe. Between the smoke, her stays, and Luke’s body so near, it was a losing battle.
“Pretty much. Guess they want you more than me. Actually, they’ve been trying to get to the trunks up top.”
A discordant warning note sounded in the back of her mind. What the hell was in the girl’s luggage that would draw wraiths? Her back wasn’t hot anymore, so she assumed the fire was out.
That fire, maybe. The one inside me is just getting going…
She squirmed from more than the smoke and struggled not to turn around and press the front of herself against Luke. They had bigger problems than his undeniable charisma. Luke didn’t seem to be in a hurry to move away, though. He remained front to back with her, and she absorbed power flowing from him. Damn, but he was strong. What she wouldn’t give for that kind of magic.
It would help if I could breathe…
With difficulty, Abigail forced her mind away from Luke’s charms. “The driver?” She hadn’t been round to the front of the wagon to check.
“Dead.”
“Ever driven one of these things?”
“Concentrate on killing, woman. If we can’t get shut of the wraiths, ’twon’t matter a diddly damn.”

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Blood and Sorcery
Coven Enforcers Book Two
By Ann Gimpel ​

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Joshua committed his life to fighting Black Magick. Not sure who he hates worse, dark sorcerers or the clerics who tortured and mutilated his family, he lives on the road with his horse and his magic, working as a Coven enforcer. Breana Giraud is the only woman he’s ever loved, and until very recently she was married to someone else.

Breana’s husband, Don, sold his soul to the devil, embracing dark practices. Along the way, he corrupted their daughter. While Breana could’ve turned him in to Coven justice without a second thought, she couldn’t bring herself to implicate her child. Still reeling from her daughter’s death at the hands of evil, and grateful her husband met the vicious end he deserved, she feels broken, damaged. The last thing on her mind is falling in love.

Joshua tries to hold back, give Breana room to mourn her losses, but if he has his way, she’ll become his wife. With Don dead, and the path to his heart’s true love finally clear, he’ll do anything he can to make her his. Even if it means fighting his way past the dark mages’ leader, who wants her for his own.
Salt Lake City, Utah Territory
Breana Giraud bolted upright in her bed, the darkness around her shattering into fire-tinged motes of black. Heart thudding hard against her chest, throat constricted with fear, she reached for power, intent on shrouding herself in a protective spell. Goddamn her husband. He was at it again. It was like him to wait until she was sleeping—and she had to sleep sometime.
Once upon a time, she’d cared about Don—a witch with power to match her own. But he’d been seduced by the dark and become deeply entrenched in Black Magick. Shielding herself against him drained her, but she didn’t have any choice. Sucking air around the narrow place that used to be her throat, she sent magic spiraling outward. She didn’t sense him near, but the enchantment that just dragged her from a sound sleep had Don’s name—and sliminess—stamped all over it.
Her eyes snapped open. Don was dead.
Dead.
What the hell was happening to her?
He couldn’t harm her anymore, so why was his stench all over the room? It wasn’t even the bedroom they’d shared. She’d moved to the far end of the hall to escape the horrible memories that swamped her every time she thought about him.
Guess that didn’t work very well.
She pressed her tongue hard against her teeth and reached for her magic again. Surely she could summon a mage light. Simplest of spells, it required almost nothing in the way of power. Finally, after she was shaking and sweating with effort, a wavery blue light formed, casting the bedroom in eerie shadows. Breana urged her light to burn hotter, brighter. Her teeth were chattering, and she felt as if she’d never be warm again. Icy sweat dripped down her sides.
She tugged the heavy, wool blanket around her shuddering form, but it didn’t help so she dragged air hard into lungs that had nearly forgotten how to cooperate. And then did it again. And again, until she was able to clamp her jaws in a harsh, desperate line.
Her light flickered and brightened, and the ball of fear making it hard to breathe eased the slightest bit. Falling back asleep was laughable, so she dug her way out from under the covers and pulled a robe woven from soft, cream-colored wool over her linen nightdress. Sheepskin slippers came next.
At least the godawful chill that had permeated the air was dissipating, and the reek of evil along with it. Brimstone held a sulfur taint that burned the back of her throat and made her skin prickle with a million points of discomfort.
She blinked back tears as she made her way downstairs, her mage light bouncing over one shoulder. The dark had taken both her husband and her daughter, and robbed her of what had once been a warm and comfortable marriage. She hated Black Magick with a passion. Hated what it had almost done to her as she walked a tightrope between her husband’s demands and her responsibility to the Coven.
“Yeah, and I did a shitty job all the way round,” she muttered as she poured a cup of tepid coffee into a mug. It was bitter as all get out from sitting on the back of the woodstove since early the previous morning, but she gulped it down anyway, wanting the quick stimulation.
Too keyed up to sit, she wandered to a window and looked to the east. Dawn wasn’t far off, but the horizon was still dark. Days were growing longer, but it was still winter, and it might not get light until seven. She’d sent a meticulous letter to Coven headquarters in New York. Within it, she detailed her sins in not turning her husband and daughter over to Coven justice—once she fully understood their allegiance had shifted to dark power.
That letter had certainly arrived by now.
What would they do to her?
A snort of derision curled her mouth into a bitter smile. She knew what she’d do to someone in her position. Banish them from the Coven for starters. After that, it would be anyone’s guess, but the Coven wouldn’t be out of line demanding her life as punishment for shielding her family from what they deserved.
Not much she could do. About any of it. No. She needed to keep going, day by day, and let the wheel spin as it would. She’d find out soon enough. Certainly by this coming summer when most—if not all—of the Coven had relocated to Utah Territory. At least she’d given Luke and Abigail a good start by marrying them. Memories of that day—and their joy—kept her going through the hardest spots.
She plodded back to the stove and poured the last of the coffee into her cup before she opened the woodstove door and sent a jot of magic to stir the embers. Once they crackled merrily, she added chunks of wood and refilled the kettle on the back of the stove with water from the pump next to the sink. The chores were automatic, and they settled her nerves enough to dissect what had driven her awake.
Coven enforcers, a group of hard-bodied, sharp-eyed men, who kept witches on the straight and narrow, had seen to it that both Don and her daughter, Carolyn, met their end in mage fire, purging their souls of darkness. And they’d killed Alistair MacDuff, head of the Alchemical Council. She and Abigail had seen to the death of Alistair’s henchman before he, too, was dumped in the purification of mage fire.
“Guess we didn’t get them all,” she muttered as she ground coffee beans with a mortar and pestle.
“If them refers to who I think it does,” Joshua drawled from the kitchen doorway, “of course they’re not all dead. That fresh coffee I smell?”
Breana curved her mouth into a soft smile. “You know damn good and well it is. I drank the dregs from yesterday morning. Hang on till the water boils, and I’ll brew a fresh pot.”
“Don’t rush. I got time.” Joshua moved closer to the stove, extending his hands toward its warmth. Tight-fitting, buff-colored leathers, similar to what most Coven enforcers wore, hugged him like a second skin. Flame red hair hung loose to the middle of his back.
Breana turned to face him squarely and crossed her arms beneath her breasts. “Looks as if you got up in a hurry. Your hair’s not braided.”

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Blood and Illusion
Coven Enforcers Book Three
By Ann Gimpel

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Not all witches join the Coven. Fiercely independent, Isla heads up her own small band in the San Francisco area. She’s never needed help before, but dark sorcerers drive her and her group into hiding, trapping them.

Sam’s worked for the Coven as one of their enforcers forever. He’s been there so long, the Coven is the only mistress he knows. It’s a lonely life on the road thwarting wickedness and Black Magick with his guns, his magic, and his horse, but it’s been enough to satisfy him. Until now.

A group of witches is in deep trouble. They’re not part of the Coven, but Sam is sworn to protect all witches and he rides to their assistance with several of his brothers. Nothing prepares him for the outspoken spitfire who ends up riding double with him. She’s forthright, opinionated, and downright hostile, but he’s drawn to her self-sufficiency—and her undeniable beauty. Soon, Isla is all he can think about.

Dark forces are on the move. Protecting the woman he’s falling in love with is at the very top of Sam’s list. If they manage to survive, he’ll tame her. Claim her. Make her his.
​…Isla huddled with six other witches in a basement beneath one of the warehouses lining San Francisco’s docks. Her hair hung in filthy strands. Grime caked beneath her nails, and she stank, but at least she was alive. Russian sorcerers—or at least sorcerers who spoke Russian—had killed four of her sisters before she’d dragged the rest of their small band to a defensible position and swathed them in layers and layers of magic.
It had been a short-term solution, but they hadn’t had any choice. Not really. Only problem was they had no easy way out. If they dismantled their spell, the sorcerers would find them in a trice. If they remained where they were, eventually they’d starve to death. She was far weaker than she’d been a week ago when they’d barricaded themselves into the underground room with its dirt floor and dirt walls. Small cutouts high on two walls coincided with ground level, and provided their only source of light.
In desperation, she’d used her power stone to call Hester Thorne, a witch who’d been instrumental drawing their group into a cohesive unit. Hester promised help, but it had yet to materialize. Breath steamed through Isla’s teeth as she bent forward and stirred the shallow pool she’d created from a broken pot made of crockery and water dripping down the walls. It took a while, but the water had finally grown deep enough to become a scrying instrument.
Weariness dogged her, and her vision blurred. She squeezed her eyes shut, willing them to focus next time she dragged her lids open. Thinking it might help, she pushed herself upright and walked around the six- by ten-foot room.
“What are you doing?” Kat eyed her balefully out of bloodshot blue eyes. “I was asleep.” Dirty blonde hair had been braided to keep it out of the way.
“Aye, and ye’ll be asleep permanently if ye’re not careful,” Isla shot back, the brogue from her native Scotland thicker than usual. It was one of the reasons she and Hester had bonded so tightly. Shared roots from Scotland’s Highlands and islands.
“Isla! Come look at your pool!” Rowan cried. Silver hair fell about her, dragging in the dirt, but her brown eyes were lit with hope.
Isla skidded to her knees and stared at the water’s surface. Nine men strutted down the rock-strewn sand fronting the ocean. Tall, rangy, hard-bodied and clad in leathers, it was obvious they were used to ruling the world. At first she thought they were a new passel of sorcerers, but she forced herself to look closer.
Not trusting her first take, she took a ragged breath. Maybe she wished for salvation from the room that was likely to become their crypt so desperately, she was imagining things, “What does it look like to you?” she asked Rowan.
The other woman turned to face her. “Help. That’s what it looks like. Those men are bleeding power, and it’s the good kind.”
The other women skittered across the floor, jostling one another to get close to the pool so they could see.
“Be careful!” Isla cautioned. “Else ye’ll tip the dish, and we might not live long enough for me to refill it.”
Her heart hammered against her ribs as she took in the men. One of them in particular caught her attention and held it. Long, blond hair spilled across his shoulders, and his eyes were a bright, turquoise blue. Strong bones carved his cheekbones into bas-relief, and his jaw was square, determined. Buff colored leathers covered him, and they were skintight, leaving virtually nothing to her imagination. Broad shoulders led to deeply muscled arms and narrow hips with a high, tight ass. Long legs disappeared into boots that laced to his knees.
Her throat grew dry. Many a year had passed since she’d experienced such an immediate reaction to a man, and it confused her.
Must be because I’m half-staved.
Och aye, and ye know better, the other half of her brain inserted dryly. Whoever he was, he was one gorgeous man.
Understanding slammed into her, and she was ashamed she hadn’t put two and two together immediately. “They must be the aid Hester promised.” She glanced at the other women.
Rowan lurched upright. “If that’s true, then we need to go outside and help them.”
Isla licked her chapped lips. “They’re not looking as if they need any help, but at least that way they won’t have to hunt for us, and mayhap we can leave this accursed place.”
“You’re the one with the strongest magic,” Kat pointed out. “And the only one who can project telepathy beyond the enchantment hiding us. See if they answer.”
Isla exhaled sharply. It was a reasonable suggestion, but not without risk. If she was wrong, and those men were actually allied with the dark, she’d have given away their position. Opened them to a certain death. Or worse, imprisonment at the hands of evil.
“I was in your mind,” Rowan said, her voice surprisingly gentle. “We’re as good as dead now. I say we chance it.”
“I was coming around to the same conclusion.” Isla breathed deeply to center herself and drew out her pink moonstone. Before she could think things to death, and her courage failed utterly, she linked to the stone and sent her magic thrumming outward. No need to make things fancy, so she settled on the shortest phrase imaginable.
“Are ye who Hester sent?”
Depending on the answer, she’d ask for proof and take things from there.


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Ann Gimpel is a national bestselling author. A lifelong aficionado of the unusual, she began writing speculative fiction a few years ago. Since then her short fiction has appeared in a number of webzines and anthologies. Her longer books run the gamut from urban fantasy to paranormal romance. Once upon a time, she nurtured clients, now she nurtures dark, gritty fantasy stories that push hard against reality. When she’s not writing, she’s in the backcountry getting down and dirty with her camera. She’s published over 30 books to date, with several more planned for 2016 and beyond. A husband, grown children, grandchildren and wolf hybrids round out her family.


Find Ann At:
www.anngimpel.com
http://anngimpel.blogspot.com
http://www.amazon.com/author/anngimpel
http://www.facebook.com/anngimpel.author
@AnnGimpel (for Twitter)
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The Soldier's Scoundrel - Book Tour and Giveaway

9/30/2016

1 Comment

 
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The Soldier's Scoundrel
By: Cat Sebastian
Releasing September 20, 2016
Avon Impulse

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A scoundrel who lives in the shadows 

Jack Turner grew up in the darkness of London’s slums, born into a life of crime and willing to do anything to keep his belly full and his siblings safe. Now he uses the tricks and schemes of the underworld to help those who need the kind of assistance only a scoundrel can provide. His distrust of the nobility runs deep and his services do not extend to the gorgeous high-born soldier who personifies everything Jack will never be. 


A soldier untarnished by vice 

After the chaos of war, Oliver Rivington craves the safe predictability of a gentleman’s life-one that doesn’t include sparring with a ne’er-do-well who flouts the law at every turn. But Jack tempts Oliver like no other man has before. Soon his yearning for the unapologetic criminal is only matched by Jack’s pleasure in watching his genteel polish crumble every time they’re together. 


Two men only meant for each other

Link to Follow Tour: http://www.tastybooktours.com/2016/08/the-soldiers-scoundrel-by-cat-sebastian.html
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29875088-the-soldier-s-scoundrel

Buy Links:    
Amazon | B & N | Google | iTunes | Kobo
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​Jack absently skimmed his finger along the surface of his desk, tracing a swirl through the sand he had used to blot his notes. Another case was solved and done with, another gentleman too drunk on his own power and consequence to remember to pay servants and tradesmen, too dissipated to bother being faithful to his wife. Nearly every client’s problems were variations on that same theme. Jack might have been bored if he weren’t so angry.
A knock sounded at the door, a welcome distraction. His sister always knocked, as if she didn’t want to interrupt whatever depravities Jack was conducting on the other side of the door. She did it out of an excess of consideration, but Jack still felt like she was waiting for him to do something unspeakable at any moment.
She was right, of course, but still it grated.
“Come in, Sarah.
“There’s a gentleman here to see you,” she said, packing a world of both disapproval and deference into those few words.
Really, it was a pity she hadn’t been born a man because the world had lost a first rate butler there. The butlers Jack had served under would have been put fairly to shame.
“Tell him to bugger off.” Sarah knew perfectly well he didn’t take gentlemen as clients. He tried to keep any trace of impatience out of his voice, but didn’t think he quite managed it.
“I have customers downstairs and I don’t want a scene.” She had pins jammed into the sleeve of her gown, a sign that she had been interrupted in the middle of a fitting. No wonder her lips were pursed.
“And I don’t want any gentlemen.” Too late, he realized he had set her up for a smart-mouthed response. Now she was going to press her advantage because that’s what older sisters did. But Sarah must have been developing some restraint, or maybe she was only in a hurry, because all she did was raise a single eyebrow as if to say, like hell you don’t.
“I’m not your gatekeeper,” she said a moment later, her tone deceptively mild. But on her last word Jack could hear a trace of that old accent they had both worked so hard to shed. Sarah had to be driven to distraction if she was letting her accent slip.
“Send him up, then,” he conceded. This arrangement of theirs depended on a certain amount of compromise on both sides.
She vanished, her shoes scarcely making any sound on the stairs. A moment later he heard the heavier tread of a man not at all concerned about disturbing the clients below.
This man didn’t bother knocking. He simply sailed through the door Sarah had left ajar as if he had every right in the world to enter whatever place he pleased, at whatever time he wanted.
To hell with that. Jack took his time stacking his cards, pausing a moment to examine one with feigned and hopefully infuriating interest. The gentleman coughed impatiently; Jack mentally awarded himself the first point.
“Yes?” Jack looked up for the first time, as if only now noticing the stranger’s presence. He could see why Sarah had pegged him straight away as a gentleman. Everything about him, from his mahogany walking stick to his snowy white linen, proclaimed his status.
“You’re Jack Turner?”
There was something about his voice—the absurd level of polish, perhaps—that made Jack look more carefully at his visitor’s face.
Could it—it couldn’t be. But it was.
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Cat Sebastian lives in a swampy part of the South with her husband, three kids, and two dogs. Before her kids were born, she practiced law and taught high school and college writing. When she isn't reading or writing, she's doing crossword puzzles, bird watching, and wondering where she put her coffee cup.

Author Links:
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Website | Twitter | Facebook | GoodReads
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Challenges of writing about m/m romances in historical times:
The main challenge of writing m/m historical romance is creating a satisfying happy ending without sugarcoating the fact that same-sex couples faced enormous obstacles. The happily ever after in a same-sex historical romance is going to take a different shape than it does in an opposite-sex romance. I can’t even think of a m/f historical romance in which the characters don’t get married or plan to get married (if I’m wrong, I’d love to know about it!). Obviously, this was not an option for same sex couples in the period I’m writing about, so there needs to be some way for the characters to commit to building a future together.
At the same time, secrecy was vital. The happy ending for two men who fall in love during that time needs to explain how they can be together but also keep the true nature of their relationship secret from anyone who can’t be trusted. Sodomy was, of course, a crime in 19th century Britain. Men were hanged and pilloried for sodomy convictions.
But even when it’s dangerous or impractical, people fall in love. It’s a basic thing that humans do! I love that I get to fill the (fictional) past with the love stories that have been erased or forgotten about.


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My Father's Dream - Blog Tour with Excerpt

9/30/2016

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Living In My Father’s Dream: Weep Me Not
Author: Ms. Johnnie Renee
Publisher: JR Perez Imprint
Pages: 426
Genre: Urban Fiction

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 A powerful love story, not between a man and a woman, but a real father and his Mafia-bred son ANTONIO "SHAWN" PEREZ, JR. The only grandson of a Mafia drug lord, Shawn wanted to become a drug dealer at the age of twelve, but his dad said no. Just to teach Shawn that drugs are a killer, his dad made him sit in a country chair and watch him OD. Twenty-one years later, and still mentally screwed, all Shawn wants now is to be free from the memories of his dad's death, and for his grandfather to stay out of his life. Little did Shawn know, that the day he sat in that chair, his grandfather saw his strengths to watch his dad die, and wanted him as a one-time hitman for the family. Now, in order to be free, he must complete the job assigned to him by his grandfather. His job: To kill the baddest drug dealer in the hood. 
Living in My Father’s Dream is available at Amazon.
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​First Chapter:
Commanding Officer Antonio “Shawn” Perez, Jr. remained calm while the Navy medically discharged him. With all the money his grandfather had, he didn’t care. He walked out of headquarters. He then stilled in disbelief. As the back door of the cab opened, bitterness seeped into his soul. His uncle Donny Perez, a family member he despised, stepped out of the cab. Donny walked up to him with two letters of unknown relevance in his hand.
“Naples is beautiful, isn’t it?” Donny said. “My great-grandmother was born here.”
Shawn didn’t look away from the deceit hidden in Donny’s hazel eyes. He searched them for just cause, until he spoke again.
“The family misses you, nephew. It will be nice having you home again.”
Shawn glanced at the idling cab, and then back at Donny. “You came all the way to Italy in a cab just to tell me that?” Shawn refused to adjust his frown causing Donny to view the grounds.
“It’s a nice place, wouldn’t you say? May I ask why you are getting out?”
“Who told you I was getting out?”
“Word gets around.”
“Can I help you with something?” Shawn said.
“Tony wants you to kill him.”
“Kill who?”
“Richard Jackson.”
“Who?” Shawn winced. “Who is Richard Jackson?”
“A heroin king.”
“What does he have to do with me?”
“Mafia blood is a different breed. You know that. Unlike the Navy, you can’t just walk away from the family. But I guess you wouldn’t understand that since . . . you’re mixed?”
Shawn’s hand clenched. He drew it nearer to Donny’s chest.
“You know better than to raise your hand and hit me. You never have, and you never will.” Donny edged forward. “I have no doubt that you’re suffering mentally. However, you have avoided your obligations to this family long enough.”
“My father--”
“Your father is my brother. If he had allowed you to leave the family, how would that have changed your mentality? You would still hate Tony.” Donny stepped back. “I know your father taught you better. In this family, you can’t just walk away.”
“I already have. I want nothing to do with that man or you.”
“That man is your grandfather. You need to put your hatred for him behind you.”
“How? I still see his eyes watching me the day I sat and watched my father breathe his last breath. He allowed my dad to die, and I will always hate him for that. Furthermore, I will never forgive him for destroying my life. As I said, he has hurt me severely. I don’t want that man near me. I’m not doing a job for him, and I will do anything to keep him out of my life and Victoria’s.”
“I know how you feel, but your grandfather is not out to hurt you. He never was and never will be. However, he does want you to allow him to visit with Victoria, and he wants you in his life. That might create some problems. But, remember, nephew, you are his only grandson, and whether you like it or not, he does have rights to visit with Victoria. After all, he is her great-grandfather.”
“Great-Godfather. He may have rights to visit with his thugs on the street, since he’s a godfather to them, but he has no rights with Victoria. I promise you, I will strangle him with his own collar if he steps one foot close to Victoria.”
“I doubt it. You’ll have to come through me first.”
Shawn didn’t flinch. Neither did he correct his defiance.
“So, you’re telling me you’re going to cause trouble for this peaceful family?”
“So much so, you will need to build a new post office in the community just for my pictures alone.”
“I see, and I guess Maria will need to take Victoria across to the post office once in a while and point you out . . . That’s your uncle. Or, should she say, that’s your father?”
This time Shawn stepped closer. He kept his glare leveled with Donny’s eyes.
“That was not said to disrespect you or Victoria.”
“Then why did you say it?”
“Tony’s a big-time drug dealer. You know that. He wants--”
“He killed my father, or don’t you remember? I don’t want that man exposing his global affairs to Victoria.”
“Why? Because you hate him? On what grounds? You can’t blame your father’s death on Tony. Now . . . your father died some time ago. You need to get over it, or you will never be mentally free.”
“True. Just looking at you makes me sick. I’m not about to do a job for him or for you for that matter. And until I am mentally free, I want you, him, and the rest of his breed to stay out of my life.”
Donny edged closer. “Okay. Have it your way. But just let me say, you’re not the head honcho in the family. According to Tony’s records, you’re the last male born of his breed. You’ll do best to remember that, or need I tell you again? Now, Tony wants you to do a job for him . . .”
The feel of Donny’s face against his caused Shawn to step back. The sudden movement of his hand made Shawn’s eyes flutter. He glanced down at the letters Donny extended to him.
“. . . and, your job is to kill a rising heroin king.”
Stunned by the handwritings on the letters, Shawn flinched. Both letters, addressed to him, sealed tight, had a postal mark on them. As Donny backed away, Shawn kept his gaze on the letters now resting in his hands.
“May I give you a ride to the airport, nephew? I am headed that way.”
“I’ll walk. I’m not leaving today.”
“Remember, nephew, we all love you, and we miss you dearly.”
Shawn didn’t look up when Donny walked away. As the cab pulled off, Shawn did notice. But the only true visions he had in his mind were those of the child’s handwritings on the letters, and that of his grandfather, who had just walked back into his life, uninvited. Moreover, he knew he would never be mentally free.


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​Ms. Johnnie Renee is a first time author. She is the mother of an at-risk adult child, so she is accustomed to street life, visions, and dreams. Inspired by the eyes of a dead rapper, Ms. Johnnie Renee hopes that by writing this book (though it depicts street life) that a child's mind can be freed from violence, and drugs.
Her latest book is Living In My Father’s Dream: Weep Me Not.
For More Information
  • Visit Johnnie Renee’s website.
  • Connect with the author on Twitter.
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In the Line of Duty - Release Promo

9/29/2016

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in-the-line-of-duty-worldwind-banner-1   itlofdBLURB He devoted his life to seeking justice. But would she get any for him? It was an ordinary day for police officer Barry Weir. It was the end of shift, he was tired, and he just wanted to get home to his wife and kids. But someone had other plans for him, shooting him down and forcing him to make the ultimate sacrifice. When news of Weir’s murder reaches the department, it leaves Detective Madison Knight and every cop in the Stiles PD itching for revenge. It cuts Madison’s boyfriend, colleague, and Weir’s childhood friend, Troy Matthews, deepest of all, driving him away from everyone he loves just when they need one another the most. With evidence pointing to a gang-related drive-by, Madison and her team investigate the town’s seedy underbelly in search of justice for their fallen brother. But the deeper they dig, the more convoluted the case becomes. Now they need to figure out if this was a random shooting as part of a gang initiation, a straight-up hate crime, or a targeted kill. But with members of the Stiles PD under attack, they have to do it fast…before more officers pay with their lives.    

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http://carolynarnold.net/in-the-line-of-duty/

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  ABOUT THE DETECTIVE MADISON KNIGHT SERIES Murder. Investigation. The pursuit of justice. Do you love trying to figure out whodunit? How about investigating alongside police detectives from the crime scene to the forensics lab and everywhere in between? Do you love a strong female lead? Then I invite you to meet Detective Madison Knight as she solves murders with her male partner, utilizing good old-fashioned investigative work aided by modern technology. This is the perfect book series for fans of Law & Order, CSI, Blue Bloods, Rizzoli & Isles, Women’s Murder Club, and Hawaii Five-O. Read in any order or follow the series from the beginning: Ties That Bind, Justified, Sacrifice, Found Innocent, Just Cause, Deadly Impulse, In the Line of Duty, Life Sentence (Bonus Prequel).   Author Biocarolyn CAROLYN ARNOLD is an international best-selling and award-winning author, as well as a speaker, teacher, and inspirational mentor. She has four continuing fiction series—Detective Madison Knight, Brandon Fisher FBI, McKinley Mysteries, and Matthew Connor Adventures—and has written nearly thirty books. Her genre diversity offers her readers everything from cozy to hard-boiled mysteries, and thrillers to action adventures. Both her female detective and FBI profiler series have been praised by those in law enforcement as being accurate and entertaining, leading her to adopt the trademark: POLICE PROCEDURALS RESPECTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT™. Carolyn was born in a small town and enjoys spending time outdoors, but she also loves the lights of a big city. Grounded by her roots and lifted by her dreams, her overactive imagination insists that she tell her stories. Her intention is to touch the hearts of millions with her books, to entertain, inspire, and empower. She currently lives just west of Toronto with her husband and beagle and is a member of Crime Writers of Canada and Sisters in Crime.   Connect with CAROLYN ARNOLD Online: Website - http://carolynarnold.net/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/Carolyn_Arnold Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AuthorCarolynArnold   And don’t forget to sign up for her newsletter for up-to-date information on release and special offers at http://carolynarnold.net/newsletters.
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Silver - Book Tour

9/29/2016

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        Silver-by-KA-Linde HIGH RES2Stacia Palmer had one goal in life--to become an NFL quarterback’s wife. For the past three years, she’s seduced her way through the university’s football line-up. But when she finally has a quarterback fresh off the draft, Stacia experiences a shocking change of heart. One that sends her back to the place she never thought she'd return to. Vegas. Once there, she finds that no one believes her. Least of all Pace Larson, her sexy on-again off-again ex who has never quite gotten over her leaving him for someone else. Of course, he’s now the starting quarterback and determined to claim her as his prize. But can Stacia give him a second chance when he’s toyed with her emotions into the fourth quarter? Or will they run out of time?      

Books | AMAZON

        silver_teaser3       Stacia felt a presence at her shoulder. She recognized his cologne before she even looked up. It smelled like desire and late-night sex marathons. Pace. “What do you want?” Stacia asked, not looking up. “Just coming to check on you,” Pace said in a sexy low tone that sent a shot of need straight between her legs. Damn him for being able to do that to me! She jerked her head up. “Why?” “Because you look miserable, even from across the room.” “I do not!” He raised an eyebrow, and she had to keep from sighing. That face. God, if he wasn’t such an asshole… “The hair flip earlier, Pink? Really? Sure sign of distress. You practically called me over here.” “Don’t call me that,” she said through gritted teeth. He smirked at her response. “And I didn’t call you over here. I don’t even want to see you.” “You can talk to me, you know.” He leaned his hip against the bar. He was almost touching her but not quite. She could feel the heat of his skin. “Come on, let’s go outside. Away from all this noise.” “If you think for one second that I’m going to go anywhere with you, you’re insane,” she said, straightening. He brushed her hair off one shoulder and just barely skimmed his finger across her exposed collarbone. She stiffened. Her entire body throbbed. No one else elicited these primal emotions from her. Not even the guy she’d given her virginity to. The guy no one knew about. “I promise I won’t touch you,” he growled out. “Unless you beg me to.” Stacia smacked him in the chest and stormed away. What an arrogant jackass! How dare he say those things to her! For all he knew, she was still dating Marshall. Pace was so testy over the fact that he thought she’d slept with Marshall when they were together, yet here he was, seducing her, while he still believed she was with Marshall. Ass! Pace chuckled behind her. “Come on, Stacia. I’m just messing with you.” He followed her across the crowded room until she reached the restroom. Then, he did exactly what he’d said he wouldn’t. He grabbed her arm and kept her from entering a place he wouldn’t follow. “Seriously, what’s up?” he asked. “Do you really want to know?” Fury and also desperation coated her features. She really wanted to tell someone. She wanted it off her chest. “Yeah. Though this fire is pretty hot.” He raised an eyebrow. “God, is everything just a joke to you?” she asked. His eyes shot straight through her. “Not everything.” “Feels like it. I feel like a joke to you.” “Most things, Pink,” he said, stepping closer, “but not you. Never you.” Stacia tensed as she forgot the world around her. Pace had a way of doing that—making her lose herself. But all she did by losing herself was open herself up for him to hurt her. Time and time again. “Pace,” she said through a shuddering breath. “I won’t take what isn’t mine.” “Good.” “I just still consider you mine.”          

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editkylaK.A. Linde is  the USA Today bestselling author of the Avoiding series and the All That Glitters series as well as seven additional novels. She get up as a military brat traveling the United States and even landing for a brief stint in Australia. She has a Masters degree in political science from the University of Georgia and is the current head coach of the Duke University dance team.

An avid traveler, reader, and bargain hunter, K.A. Linda currently lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with her husband and two super adorable puppies.

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Othello Greene - Book Tour and Giveaway

9/29/2016

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Othello Greene: The Story Begins
Author: Anthony Baltimore
Publisher: JourStarr Quality Publications
Pages: 780
Genre: Scifi/Fantasy

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​Lt. Othello Greene, the leader of America’s most lethal and efficient elite special ops group is captured, tortured, and mutilated by a ruthless, maniacal terrorist named Genesis and his group, the Global Supremacy Federation (G.S.F), who is hell bent on world domination.
Moments before his execution, Othello is rescued by a centuries old Islamic group intent on convincing him to use his unmatched skills and abilities for the good of mankind.In the backdrop, is the story of Othello’s past and the events which led to his life as an elite assassin.The entire world is racing towards the war to end all wars. Will Genesis prevail or will Othello put an end to his reign of terror?
For More Information
  • Othello Greene: The Story Begins is available at Amazon.
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​Every inch of his body was in pain. Its intensity caused a numbing effect. The stench of blood, urine, feces, and burnt flesh permeated the room. The air was acrid and unbearably hot, making it difficult to breathe. The unfamiliar room was dimly lit, a single flickering bulb hanging from the ceiling. His newly awakened eyes had yet to acclimate themselves to the environment. His head was pounding like a sledgehammer against a wall. Over the clamor of confusion in his mind, he could hear the faint murmur of a sobbing woman.
“Name!” he heard a voice scream in his head.
“Othello Greene,” he answered.
“Rank!” the voice continued.
“First lieutenant,” he mumbled, as his senses began to gain clarity. His heart sank like an anchor at the sight of the severed head of his longtime friend and counterintelligence operative Second Lieutenant Jack Strong. The cloud in his mind completely dissipated when he saw Jack’s nude, mutilated body lying slumped over in a corner several feet from the head. Their termination mission, he realized, had gone terribly wrong.
Othello’s unclothed body lay in a pool of his own blood. A fierce pain exploded through his torso as he stuck the severely burned stub where his right hand used to be into the ground beneath him. The failed attempt to get to his feet caused him to instantaneously collapse, quivering in agony.
He teetered between consciousness and death, staring into the face of his dead friend. Suddenly the eyes of the severed head opened and a menacing expression appeared. “This is all your fault!” it growled. “Look what the hell you got us into! You and all your guts and glory bullshit!”
“This is not my fault. I didn’t put a gun to your head. I didn’t make you do shit!” Othello screamed, blood and drool flying from his mouth.
“Huh,” Jack grunted. “Look at your dear sweet Ramirez over there. What a shame. They’ve been taking turns raping her for the last eighteen hours.” One of the arms on the headless body motioned across the room.

Othello was horrified to see his intimate friend and partner, First Sergeant Helena Ramirez, lying naked in a fetal position, brutalized and cowering in a corner. She was whimpering like a child. He felt helpless and ashamed, not for himself but for the team he had let down.
“You’re one self-righteous bastard. You knew she would have gone to hell to assassinate Satan with you. Now, because of you, she’s seen more dicks than Kim Kardashian,” said Jack with a sinister grin.
“Shut the fuck up, damn it!” Othello continued to scream. “This is not real! You’re dead!”
“This is very much real, hero. But don’t worry. You’ll be joining me soon. And speaking of Satan, he told me to tell you that he’s keeping your side of the bed warm, and that you and he are going to get real personal when you arrive,” Jack responded with laughter.
“I am not paying attention to you. You are not real,” Othello said, to himself. He tried once again to get to his feet. This time, using his still operable left hand, he pushed himself up but could not feel his legs.
Turning over on his back, he was in shock to see both of his legs severed at the knees. The miasma of burning flesh was his own. His captors had burned the stumps to stop the bleeding. The hopelessness of the situation hit him like a pile of bricks. Despair set in as he collapsed, waiting for the moment of death.
Helena crawled over to him and gently kissed his forehead. The Latina beauty who could make any man risk it all for one night of passion was unrecognizable.
“Othello, I thought you were dead,” she cried.
“Helena, I’m sorry,” he replied, looking away, not able to look at her bloodied battered face and racked with guilt.
“Shhh. It’s not important,” she said, with tears flowing, caressing the side of his swollen face. “Baby, I need you to help me.”
“There’s nothing I can do. It’s over, Helena. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“No, don’t apologize. I knew the risks and I loved the ride. But I need you to listen to me. Please,” she begged, turning his face back toward hers. “I need you to help me.
“It’s over, Helena. Only God can help us now.”
“No. That’s not true,” she cried, grabbing his hand and placing it on her throat.
“No . . . No, I can’t,” he sighed, attempting to pull his hand away.

Even under these nightmare conditions, the touch of his hand against her skin brought back a flood of memories. How much he loved her. The thousand times they shared each other, holding nothing back. She grabbed it tightly, with both hands, kneeling her broken, battered, and violated body in the pool of blood around him. “Yes, you can. I’m already gone. Please don’t let them hurt me again. Those bastards did so many terrible things to me. Please . . . Please . . .,” she pleaded, pulling his hand harder against her throat.
​
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​Born on November 17, 1969 in Washington D.C.. Graduated from Mackin Catholic High School and went on to attend Howard University. He became a successful entrepreneur at an early age, but fell victim to the lure of the streets. He quickly became entrenched in the often violent world of drug trafficking and was consumed by its illusions of power and prominence.
In 2009 over 22,000 individuals were convicted of federal drug charges, less than 25 of those were convicted of 21 USC 848 (Kingpin Statute). Mr. Baltimore Sr. was one of them.
He is now serving a mandatory life sentence at USP Lewisburg in central Pennsylvania.
He utilizes his time fervently fighting his case, furthering his education, and fostering his passion for writing. He is also a loving father and devout Muslim.
For More Information
  • Visit Anthony Baltimore’s website.
  • Connect with Anthony on Facebook and Twitter.​
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I am currently serving a mandatory life sentence under the federal drug kingpin statue 18 U.S.C. 848(b) at Lewisburg U.S.P.. I wanted to get that out of the way first. It may give you more insight into my answers to your future questions.
 
I am a Muslim and I love Islam, but my books are written to be enjoyed by anyone who loves raw intense action and colorful language.
 
The gym is my second home. I love working out, especially weightlifting, but I just got addicted to rowing. 2000 meters of rowing, for time, separates the men from the boys. No, I will not tell you my row time.
 
I'm originally from Washington D.C. but moved to Dayton, Ohio in the early 90's. I love the Midwest, but D.C. is my home.
 
All praise due to Allah my case is currently in front of a judge who could ultimately decide if I will regain my freedom. A decision could come at anytime.
 
I began writing this book three years ago. Originally, I wanted to write a book explaining the falsehoods and misconceptions about Islam, but quickly realized that people don't really care to read about that. So I decided to write an easily lovable character who felt very negatively about Islam and place him in an extremely difficult position in which he is force to listen to the truth.
 
I wrote the first chapter and the last chapter and let the characters guide me through the middle. I was definitely flying by the seat of my pants. Many of the characters are raw and gritty and I let them be just that. No cut card. I write everyday at different times. I enjoy writing outside, where my imagination can run wild.
 
Othello Greene: The Story Begins take you on an emotional rollercoaster ride from the very first page to the last. The characters are infectious and the tragedies are heart wrenching. The sci-fi aspect of the book is imaginative and I tried to make it easy to understand and follow. You will talk about this book well after you have turned the last page.


Othello is by far my favorite character. He is cerebral and I sometimes find it difficult to write dialogue for him. I like the challenge to keep him true to himself.
 
Being in prison makes writing, completing, and getting a good novel published next to impossible. Ninety percent of the individuals in the publishing industry from typist and editors to agents and publishers do not want to deal with people in prison. All praise due to Allah Jourstarr Quality Publishing took the time to read my work and accepted it.
Stephen King is my all time favorite author. The Stand is my favorite book by him. I have also read everything by Sydney Sheldon at least twice. My favorite book is The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy. I enjoy reading Sister Soulja, Guy Johnson, Walter Mosley, Jerome Dickey and somehow got hooked on zombie books.


I'm working on the sequel to Othello Greene. I believe it is going to be much better than the first.
 
My advice to new writers is to write everyday and purchase Stephen Kings book on writing. It helped me greatly.

​
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Seam Stalkers - Book Tour and Giveaway

9/29/2016

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The Shattered Seam
Kathleen Groger
(Seam Stalkers, #1)
Publication date: September 13th 2016
Genres: Horror, Paranormal, Young Adult

Spending spring break on an isolated island rumored to be haunted is not sixteen-year-old Sam’s idea of fun. Spending spring break with her uncle and his ghost-hunting film crew on an isolated island is even worse.

Way worse.

Her family’s secrets—and a genetic ability she can no longer deny—surface, along with the ghost of a rich serial killer who left behind a trail of trapped souls.

And he’s not through yet.

With only one chance for escape, Sam must embrace her family’s curse and close the Seam between the living and the dead. Or be lost, forever.

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Author Bio:

Kathleen wrote her first story in elementary school about a pegasus named Sir Lancelot. It had no plot or conflict, but it sparked a dream. After serving a fifteen-year sentence in retail management, the bulk in big box bookstores, she turned her love of reading into a full-time career writing dark and haunting characters and stories. She writes paranormal, fantasy, suspense, horror YA books. She is a contributing member of READerlicious, writers who love readers. Check out her blogs here.

She lives by the mantra that a day is not complete without tea. Lots of tea. Kathleen lives in Ohio with her husband, two boys, and two attention-demanding dogs. When not writing or editing or revising, you can find her reading, cooking, spending time with her family, or photographing abandoned buildings.

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In the Line of Duty - Book Promo

9/29/2016

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For the Love of Police

pecially hot topics right now, whether it be in regards to police brutality or the use of excessive force. It seems there is a clear line between people who respect them and people who despise them. But how does that choice come to be?
We all make decisions based on information that comes our way, but what if everything we read in the media about police taking harsh action isn’t correct? What if these articles are missing key intel? Unless we were in an officer’s shoes, how can we really know what transpired?
All of us have played—or at least are familiar with—the telephone game. In this, it’s easy to see how a message changes as it moves down the line. The same, too, I would suspect, is the case when it comes to reporting. But that’s only one way that information can get garbled, making it uncertain and difficult to claim as truth. Reports are also often colored by the viewpoint of a source. If that source is prejudiced against the police, it will immediately taint his or her reaction to a situation; before knowing any facts, the police will be cast in an unfavorable light.
I’m not saying that police always make the right decisions; they are human, after all. There are even some corrupt cops. However, I feel that people need to appreciate that unless they are there, in the moment, there’s no way of truly knowing why a certain course of action was taken.
As a result of my own respect for law enforcement, I have dedicated In the Line of Duty to all the fine men and women who serve or have served, and in memory of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. While most of us would run from gunfire, they run toward it. That right there is enough to warrant my respect. Just imagine what the world would be like without police. In two words, utter chaos.
--Carolyn Arnold
Author of In the Line of Duty (Detective Madison Knight series)

Excerpt from In the Line of Duty, Chapter 4:

A life of sacrifice to the higher good was what Madison had signed up for. She’d defend the innocent and protect and serve if it took her life to do so, and she’d do it despite the way the media painted things to make officers look like the bad guys more often than not. They applied too much use of force to a situation, or they shot someone who wasn’t armed. Meanwhile, it wasn’t disclosed that the officer approached a subject in the dark of night and the subject was holding a bicycle pump extended in the fashion of a gun. The officer had to make a split-second decision that, if it had been a loaded gun, the officer or his backup would have been shot.
And rarely did the news share the stories of courage and bravery—how the actions of officers saved lives and put criminals behind bars. They never reported about the officers who resuscitated a woman who was clinically dead, saving her life while waiting on the local paramedics to show up. No—law enforcement always fell under the microscope of scrutiny and judgment, and yet she and her brothers put their lives on the line every day because it was what many of them believed they were born to do. Of course, there were some who viewed the job as simply that, but not her. Donning her badge wasn’t something she gave thought or consideration to each morning. It wasn’t an option. It was the same as putting on a pair of pants or brushing her teeth.
You’ve reached the end of the excerpt, but In the Line of Duty is available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover from popular retailers.
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About In the Line of Duty:

He devoted his life to seeking justice. But would she get any for him?
It was an ordinary day for police officer Barry Weir. It was the end of shift, he was tired, and he just wanted to get home to his wife and kids. But someone had other plans for him, shooting him down and forcing him to make the ultimate sacrifice.
When news of Weir’s murder reaches the precinct, it leaves Detective Madison Knight and every cop in the Stiles PD itching for revenge. It cuts Madison’s boyfriend, colleague, and Weir’s childhood friend, Troy Matthews, deepest of all, driving him away from everyone he loves just when they need one another the most.
With evidence pointing to a gang-related drive-by, Madison and her team investigate the town’s seedy underbelly in search of justice for their fallen brother. But the deeper they dig, the more convoluted the case becomes. Now they need to figure out if this was a random shooting as part of a gang initiation, a straight-up hate crime, or a targeted kill. But with members of the Stiles PD under attack, they have to do it fast…before more officers pay with their lives.

About the Detective Madison Knight Series:

Murder. Investigation. The pursuit of justice. Do you love trying to figure out whodunit? How about investigating alongside police detectives from the crime scene to the forensics lab and everywhere in between? Do you love a strong female lead? Then I invite you to meet Detective Madison Knight as she solves murders with her male partner, utilizing good old-fashioned investigative work aided by modern technology.
This is the perfect book series for fans of Law & Order, CSI, Blue Bloods, Rizzoli & Isles, Women’s Murder Club, and Hawaii Five-O.
Read in any order or follow the series from the beginning: Ties That Bind, Justified, Sacrifice, Found Innocent, Just Cause, Deadly Impulse, In the Line of Duty, Life Sentence (Bonus Prequel).

 About the Author

Carolyn Arnold is an international bestselling and award-winning author, as well as a speaker, teacher, and inspirational mentor. She has four continuing fiction series and has written nearly thirty books. Both her female detective and FBI profiler series have been praised by those in law enforcement as being accurate and entertaining, leading her to adopt the trademark, POLICE PROCEDURALS RESPECTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT™.
Connect with CAROLYN ARNOLD Online:
Website - Twitter - Facebook
And don’t forget to sign up for her newsletter for up-to-date information on release and special offers at http://carolynarnold.net/newsletters.
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Dark Deliverance - Book Tour and Giveaway

9/29/2016

12 Comments

 
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Dark Deliverance
by Tamela Miles
GENRE:
Paranormal Romance

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Elle Connor's life is as grim as she had always feared. Years of demon slaying have left her with nothing to show for her trouble. She's convinced a "normal" life was never meant for her.
Patrick Holt wants nothing more than to be away from the holy wars and has lived quietly for years as an average human. The trouble is that he's anything but average--he's a fallen hybrid angel.
When Tagas the guardian angel pairs them up to investigate the brutal slayings of young women in Los Angeles, Elle wants nothing to do with Patrick. As Elle and Patrick begin to understand each other, irritation is forgotten and fiery passion ignites between them. "No ties" is how they both live, but Elle soon begins to long for much more. As they become sucked deeper into the mysterious killings, Elle fears that, in this battle, Hell will win.

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​She covered his phone with one hand, forcing him to look up. Her full lips curved in a gentle smile. “I see what Tagas meant by your superior wisdom and experience. I didn’t mean to come across like a badass demon hunter who knows it all. You hunted demons long before I was even born.”
“So, now I’m old? Thanks.” He clicked off the phone and set it beside him on the seat. Elle gave a chuckle.
“Let’s just agree that you have a glorious past when it comes to slaying demons that has given you certain…um, insights into it that I don’t have.”
Elle watched his expression change, his eyes focusing intently on her as he smiled. Her heart began to beat a little faster. She wasn’t prepared to deal with this other, blatantly sensual part of Patrick in such close confines and moved to make more space between them.
He moved with her until their shoulders touched. “I have insights into many other things. Would you like to hear them, Elle?”
The heat of his glance and the softness of his tone made her hyperaware, her skin tingling. She cleared her throat nervously. “Sure, go ahead.”
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Tamela Miles is a California State University San Bernardino School Psychologist graduate student with a Bachelor of Science degree in Child Development and a former flight attendant. She grew up in Altadena, California in that tumultuous time known as the 1980s. She now resides with her family in the Inland Empire, CA. She's a horror/paranormal romance writer mainly because it feels so good having her characters do bad things and, later, pondering what makes them so bad and why they can never seem to change their wicked ways.
She enjoy emails from people who like her work. In fact, she loves emails. She can be contacted at tamelamiles@yahoo.com or her Facebook page, Tamela Miles Books. She also welcomes reader reviews and enjoys the feedback from people who love to read as much as she does. 

Ms. Miles has a current short novella 3 story series on her writing plate with The Wild Rose Press, entitled the Hell On Heels Series. #1 of the series, entitled "Heart of a Hunter", is now available. #2 of the series, "Dark Deliverance" is coming July 2016. For those who are excited about it (yippee!), please feel free to check out the author's soundtrack playlist for Hell On Heels on YouTube.com, listed as Hell On Heels:Songs from the Edge by Tamela Miles. 

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/Tamela-Miles-Books-350618404965591/
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/jackiebrown20

​Buy Links:

Amazon.com
https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Hunter-Heels-Tamela-Miles-ebook/dp/B01CAYGX8G
https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Deliverance-Tamela-Miles-ebook/dp/B01GAF04OK
The Wild Rose Press:
http://catalog.thewildrosepress.com/all-titles/4132-heart-of-a-hunter.html
http://catalog.thewildrosepress.com/all-titles/4425-dark-deliverance.html
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​Thanks for chatting books with me today!


What inspired me to write this book?


“Dark Deliverance” is actually Book 2 in my Hell On Heels series. What inspired me to create it was a summer of binge watching old Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes and other movies about the whole demon/vampire hunting lore, like Van Helsing. I had forgotten just how good those oldie shows and movies are until I had the chance to invest time and energy into re-watching them. It was late, about 12am, and I started turning over my favorite parts in my mind. I thought to myself, “If it’s on my mind this much, there must be a great story I have to tell in there, somewhere. I imagined a pretty, multicultural, kick butt girl, on the edge of adulthood, who hunts demons in black stiletto boots with a silver dagger. As she was on my mind, I gave her a name – Elle. Elle bugged me for days to write her story down, giving me no peace late at night while I was working on another WIP. I set that WIP aside as an actual story began forming in my head -setting, other characters, the romance – it all began to take shape as I worked on the outline for the Hell On Heels series.
After I had feverishly finished Book 1 in the series, “Heart of a Hunter”, I knew that I had to write more about Elle and her dark world. I couldn’t leave it with such a downer ending, her life in shambles. She, like all of us, needed love to light the shadows in the corner. I created the manly and intriguingly hot Patrick Holt while listening to some good alt rock music by my favorite bands. I ended up creating a complex hybrid angel, sometimes demon hunter, and musician rolled into one with Patrick and I knew right away that he would be the one to love Elle like she needed to be loved. I wanted their love to be an inspiration, with all their emotional intensity and darkly comic moments. I can only hope that I’ve accomplished that goal when readers give “Dark Deliverance” a go!      
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Love Me Crazy - Blog Tour with Excerpt and Giveaway

9/28/2016

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love-me-crazy-bt-ban Today we have the blog tour for Love Me Crazy by Camden Leigh. We are so excited to share this fantastic new contemporary romance with you! Be sure to check it out and grab your copy today!    love-me-crazy   About Love Me Crazy:   “We’re broken in the most screwed-up perfect way. It was inevitable we’d end up together.”   Cassidy Beck is focused on one thing, and one thing only: planning the Southern wedding of the century in Lucas Hill, South Carolina. Fresh from a tragic breakup, Cassidy’s not in the mood for any distractions. But when antebellum hottie Quinn Covington arrives in all his sexy, tattooed glory, he might prove to be the biggest distraction of them all.   MIA ever since his father’s death, Quinn doesn’t plan to stay any longer than it takes to start his dad’s vintage truck. But the sight of Cassidy trying to fend off his family’s pet turkey sends him for a loop. Red-haired and fierce, she’s just as broken as he is. But even though Cassidy’s past makes her the only one able to understand Quinn’s own scars, they also make her wary. After all, how can she trust him with her heart when everyone else she’s ever given it to has thrown it away?   Sexy, heart-wrenching, and full of Southern charm, this new contemporary romance from Camden Leigh shows just what happens when two people who are perfectly broken end up piecing each other back together.   Get your copy today! Publisher | Amazon/Kindle | iBook | Nook | Kobo | Google Play Excerpt  I turn around, naked and cold, teeth chattering, to find him searching my eyes. Water drips over the linear clefts marking his abs, following a barbed vine south. His jeans, soaked through, suction to his curves, especially the bulge locked behind his zipper. His eyes peruse my body. I straighten as I do when I’m working an outfit at a club. Realizing what I’d done a second too late, I reach past him and turn the water lever. “I suppose, at this point, it won’t hurt to add heat.” Crap. He’ll misread that. His eyes darken. Yup. Totally misread. His hand rings my wrist, stopping me from turning away and making me flinch. But the oddest thing happens. The flinch fades and calm follows. I don’t want to hear anything else personal, nothing to make me feel more than I already do. Yet at the same time, I want to hear everything. I want to be . . . personal. A hungry desire fills the crystals in his eyes with a dark yearning. He glances at his grip on my arm then his hand pressing against my breast. He leans forward and pauses, eyes checking mine for guidance. God, those lips. That delicious curve leading to his dimple. He leans in, lips parted. This is what I want. He is what I want. Instead of closing my eyes like I always do, I leave them open to watch his lazily close. His lips part to meet mine. Though he moves slowly and precisely, there’s an undeniable urgency to pull him to me, get his lips on mine a little bit faster. But the anticipation might be what I’ve been missing. The other night, we hurried through sex and pretty much nixed the foreplay. Partially my fault because if I’d slowed to enjoy it I would’ve thrown him out the second his shorts hit the floor. Watching him take his time with something as simple as a kiss rekindles the warm and fuzzy feels I’ve neglected since Preston. I’m glad we had quick-and-done sex last night, because this proves it could be so much better, and last night was pretty damn good. Last night he heated me up, but he was just warming my engine. This kiss, if it ever happens, and God I want it to, already has my engine revved and awful close to overheating. I push my hands over his warm pecs. Water drizzles down his shoulders and between my fingers. I lean into the kiss. “You’re torturing me.” “On purpose.” I comb my fingers into his wet hair and pull him to me. The heat of the water, the steam around us and the zing of his lips against mine makes my knees tremble. He wraps his arms around me and pushes me against the wall of the shower. He’s more brazen then last night, like he has something to prove. But he doesn’t. It’s me who has to prove to him I won’t push him away again. I press my hands against him, making him pull away to check in with me. “I’m sure this time.” His sideways smile kills me, and I melt a little more against the cool wall. He leans in and rests his head against mine. “I promise you won’t regret letting me in.” Water streams down his back, fondling him the way I want to fondle him. I hook my fingers in his belt loops and jerk him closer. “I know. Because you already are.” About Camden Leigh: author-photo Camden Leigh is a sucker for first kisses, first hook-ups and anything that adds the unforgettable first sparks of love–humor, seduction, hot-n-sexy bods, angsty determination...what have you! Her stories expose the real dirt, grime and grit that befalls a seemingly perfect relationship, the heartache as a result, and the growth, perseverance and strength it takes to make flaws work for her characters. She wants her characters to experience love that wraps arounds their hearts, turns them into sizzling flames and results in a grand finale of fireworks.   When Camden isn’t writing, she’s either crafting, flicking through images of gorgeous paper, saturated palettes or...um, lip-lickin' washboard abs. When feeling guilty, she attempts to keep up with her energetic kiddos by beach combing, kayaking, golfing (can it really be called golfing if a seven-year-old beats you?) or being that crazy person at a concert. Her addictions: chocolate covered raspberries, real southern sweet tea (not the fake stuff with the sugar crystals hanging out in the bottom of the cup), her pups and pretty paper she’ll never use.   Connect with Camden: twitter: https://twitter.com/Camden_Leigh instagram: https://www.instagram.com/camden_leigh/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/camden_leigh/ facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Camden-Leigh-912698852155676/?pnref=story goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/camdenleigh   Giveaway Details: lmc-giveaway a Rafflecopter giveaway    

Blog Tour Schedule:

September 28th

Captain Reads A Lot        Excerpt

Aly's Miscellany                Excerpt

AC Book Blog                    Excerpt

Reese's Reviews               Excerpt

Barbara's Book Reviews                Excerpt

September 29th

The Silver Dagger Scriptorium                     Excerpt

Roxy's Reviews                 Excerpt

Ashley Book Blog             Review

September 30th

Reading Tigress                Excerpt

Two Girls with Books                     Review

Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents        Excerpt

SBB Reviews                      Review

Spunky N Sassy                 Excerpt

Kitty's Book Spot!            Excerpt

October 1st

More Books Than Livros                Review

Kick Back & Review         Excerpt

Those Crazy Book Chicks               Excerpt

October 2nd

Bad boys and Bedtime stories book previews                      Review

Literary Dust       Excerpt

October 3rd

Socially Awkward Book Nerd       Excerpt

V's Reads             Review

Book Junkiez       Excerpt

An Aussie Girls WILD Book Addiction!      Dreamcast

October 4th

Alpha Book Club               Review

Book Fancy         Review

Cruising Susan Book Reviews       Review

October 5th

My Slanted Bookish Ramblings    Review

Evermore Books               Excerpt

Crazii Bitches Book Blog                Review

October 6th

Lucky 13              Review

EskieMama Reads            Excerpt

Rock Out With Sweet Reads        Excerpt

October 7th

KatyaRath           Review

Ramblings From This Chick           Review

The Book Sirens                Review

October 8th

The Book Tree                  Excerpt

Romance Book Nerd                      Excerpt

The Power of Three Readers                      Review

October 9th

Fictional rendezvous book blog                Excerpt

Southern Yankee Book Reviews                 Review

Dog-Eared Daydreams    Review

October 10th

Princess Reads                  Review

Seraphim Book Reviews                Guest Post

Novel Addiction                Review

October 11th

G & T's Indie Café            Excerpt

Books 2 Blog      Review

Teatime and Books         Excerpt

One girl lost in romance books   Review

Southern Vixens Book Obsessions            Review

 
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Your Best Age Is Now - Blog Tour and Giveaway

9/28/2016

11 Comments

 
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​Although we’ve been conditioned to think “middle aged” is practically a four-letter word, the realities of women in midlife today are far different than what our mothers experienced. Women in their 40s, 50s, and even 60s are living younger, vibrant lives. But influenced by our youth-obsessed culture, we fear that when we hit midlife, we stop being relevant and no longer have options—that it’s simply too late for us.
Contradicting long-ingrained beliefs, Robi Ludwig draws on myth-busting data from scientific research and on her experience as a therapist to show midlife is not the beginning of our decline—it is actually a time to pursue our dreams. In Your Best Age Is Now, she offers specific advice on how to change our perception of this next life phase and make the best of it by:
·      Letting go of stress to create a more balanced life;
·      Identifying false thinking that is holding us back;
·      Taking charge of our love life and relationships;
·      Staying relevant in the workplace or starting new, exciting careers;
·      Becoming more spiritual and leading a life of gratitude; and more.
Your Best Age Is Now provides the guidance you need to reject the status quo, become more “you” than ever before, and find the kind of happiness you never thought possible.

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Robi Ludwig, Psy.D. is a nationally known psychotherapist, award-winning reporter, and author. She is a relationship contributor for Investigation Discovery Network’s Scorned, and has hosted TLC’s reality show One Week to Save Your Marriage and GSN’s Without Prejudice? Dr. Ludwig is a regular guest on CNN, Fox News, and Headline News, discussing psychological and lifestyle issues as well as the criminal mind. She has appeared on Today, Entertainment Tonight, 20/20, World News Tonight, Nightline, The View, Fox and Friends, Steve Harvey, The Wendy Williams Show, and is on the medical board and a contributor for BELLA Magazine. She also writes for the Huffington Post. Dr. Ludwig lives in New York City.

Social media links:
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/drrobiludwig
Twitter - https://twitter.com/drrobiludwig
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/drrobiludwig/
Google + - https://plus.google.com/u/0/+DrRobiLudwig/
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/user/DrRobiLudwig
Blogspot - http://drrobiludwig.blogspot.com/ 

Purchase links      
http://drrobiludwig.com/book/



Blurb Review from fellow experts
“A must-read for any woman who fears her prime is in her past. Ludwig’s practical and perspective-changing advice will help you embrace midlife’s unique opportunities and navigate challenges with ease, so you can live your fullest life yet.”—Holly Phillips, M.D., general internist, author of The Exhaustion Breakthrough, and CBS News medical contributor
“Every woman needs to read this book. Robi Ludwig will convince you that a youthful mindset, plus new adventures and opportunities and even new or deeper love, are all highly possible, no matter what the number on your birth certificate is.”—Bonnie Fuller, president and editor-in-chief of HollywoodLife.com
“Robi Ludwig shows us how to feel ageless, beautiful, and relevant. A superb book that will shift and transform your beliefs about midlife and aging.” —Laura Geller, founder of Laura Geller Beauty and board member of the Cosmetic Executive Women Foundation
“In this revolutionary and riveting book, Robi Ludwig brilliantly helps women break through the disabling myths we’ve been fed about midlife. She redefines it, using science and inspiring stories from her practice, empowering us to enjoy this truly fantastic time of life.”—Lisa Bloom, civil rights attorney, legal analyst for NBC News and Avvo.com, andNew York Times bestselling author of Think
“Robi Ludwig nails it! She makes it clear that midlife is the time for wise, effective women to advance the whole damn species! Robi makes us roar!”—Dr. Wendy Walsh, Emmy-nominated former cohost of The Doctors and CNN commentator

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Mia Found- Blog Tour and Giveaway

9/28/2016

0 Comments

 
  Title: Mia Found
By: Makenzie Smith
Publication Date: September 28, 2016
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Cover Design: Mayhem Cover Creations
I was lost, a little girl with big dreams in her eyes. I was insecure, not knowing if I was capable of chasing them. And then I met him. He never let me doubt. He didn’t let me second guess. I’d never known a soul like his. Believing, encouraging, loving. But above everything else, Paul Macione had found me. I only hoped I could keep him.
Amazon US - http://amzn.to/2cYGKnc
Amazon UK - https://goo.gl/bD33Cz
Amazon CA - https://goo.gl/pjbtWi
 
Amazon US - http://amzn.to/2bv5X78
Amazon UK - https://goo.gl/XryYyN
Amazon CA - https://goo.gl/VYNBEX
Amazon US - http://amzn.to/2b9S7S0
Amazon UK - https://goo.gl/KXMKDp
Amazon CA - https://goo.gl/iGpMVA
Makenzie Smith is an independent writer residing in Louisiana. She is obsessed with books, fantasy, and her daughter. If she isn't indulging in one of her infatuations, she is daydreaming. Contact her, she'd love to hear from you.
Social Media Links
Facebook - www.facebook.com/authormakenziesmith Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9872141.Makenzie_Smith Website - authormakenziesmith.com Twitter - @makenzieherself Instagram - makenzieherself
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Bygones - Blurb Blitz and Giveaway

9/28/2016

12 Comments

 
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Bygones
by Lisa K. Nielsen
GENRE
: Romantic Suspense

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Dr. Alexandra Hadley would prefer to leave small town life behind forever, but her father’s death forces her hand. In his will, he has left her his medical practice and Georgian-style mansion, and it is up to her to hire a new doctor and settle his estate. Fresh out of medical school, Lexi is happily settled in Chicago, doing research in tandem with her boyfriend. Brian, fifteen years older with impressive credentials and sophisticated tastes, has no interest in visiting her birthplace of Glenmore, Illinois. Lexi soon discovers that home has its attractions, the first being the handsome contractor Joe Manning, her secret crush in high school. Seeing patients is also surprisingly satisfying. When Joe offers to remodel her father’s den, Lexi jumps at the chance to erase sad memories and become better acquainted with her gorgeous handyman. Even as the charms of Glenmore draw her in, a series of break-ins at her father’s house make her fear for her safety. Is the intruder searching for something other than valuables? And how determined is the culprit? Lexi finds her fragile happiness at risk, including her newfound love for Joe Manning.
​

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​Lexi yanked her suitcase zipper closed and set the bag on the floor. She’d spent the day in the city—brunch with Brian, a little shopping and back to her place to pack up some clothes to take back to Glenmore.
“What’s the matter, honey?”
She’d been tense all day. It seemed she’d finally gotten through to Brian, her angst now so acute it had poked a hole in his force field of calm. “You mean other than the fact my father’s funeral was yesterday? And now I’m stepping into his practice and I’m reasonably certain I’ll hate it? And some asshole broke into the house? Besides those things, what’s the matter? Is that what you’re asking?”
Hurt shone in his brown eyes until his features relaxed into an expression of appeasement. She’d recently come to resent his way of making her feel like a crazy person in need of placating. Why couldn’t he acknowledge her right to be angry and anxious about taking over her father’s practice?
“Lexi, calm down.” He laid a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t you think you’re overreacting a little bit?”
“No, I don’t.” She pulled away from him and stomped to the window. Despite her pique, she tried to take a mental picture of the city view that would tide her over in suburbia. She felt Brian lurking behind her all the while, judging. She whirled around. “Why didn’t you come to the funeral?”
He did a double take. “Excuse me?”
She spoke slowly and evenly.
“Why ... didn’t ... you—”

He held up a hand. “You told me not to come.”

She groaned, crossing her arms, frustrated. “You told me you had work to catch up on.”
“I did. But all you had to do was ask. Of course I would have come.”

“When you said you had to work, I didn’t feel I could ask. I know your work is important to you, but it was my father’s funeral.” Her voice caught. When she was angry, she had a tendency to get teary. She considered it a personal weakness. And that made her angrier.
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Lisa K. Nielsen was born and raised in West Dundee, Illinois. Her love of books started early on, with a particular interest in mysteries.
Lisa received a B.S. degree in zoology from Iowa State University. She then attended the Physician Assistant program at the University of Iowa.
After graduation, she moved to Peoria, Illinois where her first position as a physician assistant was in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery. She then moved on to the specialty of urology.
Her work was busy and time consuming, but she always made time to read. After years of dreaming about it, she finally put a pen to paper and wrote down some stories of her own.

Website: www.lisaknielsen.com
Facebook: 478063095686575
Twitter: @lisakaynielsen
https://www.amazon.com/Bygones-Lisa-K-Nielsen-ebook/dp/B01F9FAK0A/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bygones-lisa-k-nielsen/1123401420 ​
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Storm of Arranon - Blog Tour and Giveaway

9/28/2016

2 Comments

 
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Storm of Arranon
By R.E. Sheahan
Genre: YA Science Fiction , Fantasy

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A forbidden birth. A remarkable young woman. A marauding alien society. The battle begins.
A brutal alien society invades Korin and Arranon, intent on destroying the two worlds that make up Cadet Erynn Yager's home. Forced to expose her strange abilities and reveal her forbidden birth, a guarded web of secrets unravels.
   Stranded on an unfamiliar planet of eternal winter and predatory wildlife, the mysterious living consciousness of Arranon intervenes, leading Erynn on a mystical journey. 
   Aware of Erynn's potential, the alien enemy pursues her. She struggles to gain control of her growing powers while in a constant race to elude the invaders, and join the forces preparing to fight a mounting occupation. 
   Erynn’s secret may be her worlds' only hope, but at the cost of her life. Swept up in a chain reaction of events, Erynn's dedication extends far beyond service and duty. She learns the true meaning of sacrifice. 
   Along with courage and hope, Erynn finds something unexpected on her journey of awareness and growth.
   Love.

Amazon

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Birk rolled on top of her. Leaves and twigs stuck in his dirty, windblown hair. Dust swirled. Debris from the windstorm dug into her back. He straddled her. One hand grasping her throat, he squeezed.
Erynn coughed, clawing at his hand, and arm.
Birk’s laugh rumbled low and menacing from deep in his chest. His strange pale eyes sparked and burned with anger. His arm drew back, hand fisted.
In Erynn’s peripheral vision, the jeweled dagger shimmered in the sunlight. Blue tendrils wound around her hands. She released the current. Energy arced through the air. Time slowed to a measured beat. She reached out, her fingers grasping through dirt, stems, and leaves, finding and clasping the hilt. Static popped in the air. Erynn lifted the dagger and swung the tip down, driving the point into Birk’s thigh.
Birk screamed and released his hold, rolling off her. He leapt up, holding his leg. Blood poured around his fingers. His eyes glazed over. “You’re dead,” he snarled, limping forward.

Jaer sighed. “I will get you there, Erynn.” His hand stroked her hair.

I’m Erynn again. She angled her face to see him. “Why do you do that?”
He tipped his head. His hand stopped its soft movement and dropped. “I am sorry. I will not do it again.” His arms stiffened.
“No. I mean sometimes you call me Lieutenant, or Lieutenant Yager, but rarely Erynn. Why?”
“I guess the same reason you call me, sir, and not Jaer.”
She stared at the dark outline of his face, quiet for a long moment. “So if I call you Jaer, you’ll stop calling me Lieutenant?”
He laughed quietly. “Yes, Erynn.” His hand moved back to her hair, sliding around to hold her face. His lips brushed hers, tentative at first, then with more pressure, but still gentle.
Erynn put one arm around him and the other up to his jacket, grasping the collar and pulling him, returning the kiss. Electric blue tendrils wove around, slow and graceful, encompassing them in a soft light.

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I have always been a reader. I’d come home from grade school with stacks of books every week, and during the summer, I’d get my fix from the library. I love books. Later, while working every day outside at the ranch, I’d listen to audio books on cassette with one of those Sportswalk players I’d hook to my belt. I could go through three or four books a week.
I started writing while working as a Paramedic/Firefighter in Northern California. 
Trust me, it’s not always like it appears on TV. There was plenty of time for reading. 
Writing got serious for me when I moved to my ranch in Oregon. While waiting for lambs to be born in the middle of the night, I would head back to the house for an hour or two and sit down at the computer. Before I knew it, I had a manuscript. One hundred and twenty-two thousand words that desperately needed help, but it was a start. 
The characters demanded their story be told, so I joined critique groups and attended writer's conferences. I was on the fast track to learning what I needed to know to write well, and tell, show, an engaging story. 
In 2013, I received an honorable mention in Writer’s Digest’s Self Published book awards for MG/YA, so I guess I had learned something! BTW, I’m still learning.
      Ideas from dreams follow me into warm sunny days or the quiet of falling snow. “What ifs” feed a vivid imagination. Even mistyped phrases may lead to an "aha" moment. Brain storming sessions standing in dark, windy parking lots with fellow writers release thoughts that pry at the corners of my mind, grasping for purchase. Sometimes the ideas pursue me, with persistence.
 
Contact Links
Website:  http://resheahan.wix.com/mysite
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/AuthorRobynn
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The Forgotten Fairytales - Blog Tour and Giveaway

9/28/2016

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The Forgotten Fairytales
by
 Angela Parkhurst
Genre: YA Fantasy
Release Date: February 10th 2014

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Once upon a time, seventeen-year-old Norah Hart believed in the lure of fairytales and happily ever afters. That was before she was forced to live in a fairy tale nightmare.

A psychotic, couture-clad, shoe obsessed Princess.
A not-so-charming, alcoholic Prince.
A hot Big Bad Wolf that she absolutely cannot fall for—no matter how well he kisses.

If Norah had known she’d be attending a boarding school for the nut job reincarnations of fairy tale characters, she would have insisted on going to Moscow with her father. But getting out isn’t as easy as she thought. Especially once Norah realizes she, too, is a storybook character. An Unknown. The first one in over one hundred years. Soon Norah learns she has the ability to rewrite the stories, putting everyone’s Happily Ever After in jeopardy.

Some princesses will do whatever it takes to protect their endings. Even if it means betraying the one closest to you.


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​ Every scene between Norah and Wolf was fun to write, even more fun to reread over and over again because I love their chemistry, I hope you do too!!


“Why are you staring at me like that?”
A five o’clock shadow coated his rough skin and he breathed in, as if to smell me. I shivered, but not in a disgusted way, in a way that made me want to take a step closer, his eyes were beautifully intoxicating.
“Most princesses run at the sight of me.”
I leaned against the tree for support. “You’re not scary.”
“Of course I am. I’m a villain.” Wolf flashed his big white teeth at me. They were slightly bigger and sharper than the average person, not that I spent a lot of time looking at people’s teeth, but they stood out. Come to think of it, his ears were a little bigger too, and his eyes.
“Let me guess, the Big Bad Wolf?” I examined him, wondering why I never noticed it before. His burly hands could kill someone. “Frightening.” I raised my hands and pretended to be terrified. “But you’re wrong about one thing. I’m not a princess. I don’t claim to be perfect like the others. What if I’m a villain, too? Hell, maybe we’re all villains, we just don’t know it because not everyone has snapped yet.”
“Naw. You wouldn’t be so worried about Kate if you were.”
He was right, but only about the Kate thing. Order wasn’t something I’d obsessed over. And I sure as hell wasn’t going to start because someone told me to.
“You’re so wound up, like a volcano ready to explode.” Wolf’s hand grazed my shoulder. A strand of my sandy hair slipped between his fingers and he twisted it, his attention pinned to the smoothness. A lump built in my throat, his touch clouding my mind. “There’s a party tonight at the south end of the woods. You should come, and release some of that tension. I, for one, would love to see an unleashed princess.”
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I am the author of the Forgotten Fairytales series. 
I love reading YA and NA books. I have 2 toddler boys, 2 mini doxins & I'm married to my high school sweetheart. I have an obsession with books, Disney, and am fueled by a wicked coffee addiction. 
In addition to YA fantasy, I write contemporary young adult and new adult novels.


Author Links:
Website | Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook
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8 REASONS WHY READERS WILL LOVE THE FORGOTTEN FAIRYTALES SERIES

8. Cinderella is a royal B

7. Sword fighting is an actual class
6. Jam-packed with your favorite fairytale characters
5. Princes take classes on how to be charming
4. The Headmaster is a Fairy Godmother
3. There are a lot of epic kisses
2. The Big Bad Wolf is what fantasies are made of
1. Norah is a kick ass, fierce protagonist

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Stolen Away - Blog Tour and Giveaway

9/27/2016

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STOLEN AWAY

by Jennie Marts Hearts of Montana #3 Publication Date: September 26, 2016 Genres: Adult, Entangled: Select, Contemporary Romance

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Synopsis: Elusive charmer Cash Walker is a tough-as-nails cowboy, except when it comes to the shy woman who shows up with a pretty smile, a wounded spirit, and a goat riding shotgun in her passenger seat.Recently divorced from an abusive husband, Emma Frank has come home to Broken Falls, Montana. Lost, alone, and unable to escape the bullying tactics of her ex-brothers-in-law, she finds solace and friendship at the Tucked Away farm and with the handsome cowboy who believes in her and who helps her find her own courage. There’s a darkness in Cash’s past that’s kept him from ever letting anyone get too close, but he can’t seem to stay away from Emma, who seems to be the one to finally break through his tough exterior and steal this cowboy’s heart. goodreads-badge-add-38px

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Synopsis: Sometimes you find what you need in the most unlikely places... Charlie Ryan's cheating fiancé left her with a broken heart and even broker bank account. She's hit rock bottom, but everything is about to change. Suddenly, she's inherited a Montana farm named Tucked Away from a grandmother she never knew existed. A fresh start is just what she needs - and no men in her future this time, even if the local vet is as hot as a Montana summer. Zack Cooper is content with his simple life. Running his veterinary practice and raising his daughter are enough to keep him busy, and he doesn't need a high-maintenance city girl like his ex who plans to sell her grandma's ranch and split faster than a setting sun. So why can't he stop thinking about Charlie and her hot-pink cowboy boots...and the way her eyes say she wants to stay while her lips tease him with plans of leaving? Just when both start to believe love might be worth the risk...one night will change everything.
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Synopsis: Secrets have a way of revealing themselves…. Right after a fire breaks out in her diner, a phone call changes Cherry Hill’s life. The tragic death of her cousin leaves Cherry sole guardian of her eight-year-old nephew. But the upper crust side of the Hill family deems her unfit and is determined to take Sam away from her. The only one on her side is the sexy sheriff, Taylor Johnson, the man who broke her heart nine years ago when he left town. Taylor Johnson has sworn to protect the citizens of Broken Falls, but should that extend to a fake engagement to the woman who captured his heart so long ago? It doesn’t take long for his pretend feelings to turn real for both Cherry and her adorable nephew, Sam. But Cherry’s been hiding a secret from Taylor that could rip this new family apart…
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ABOUT JENNIE MARTS

Jennie Marts Jennie Marts loves to make readers laugh as she weaves stories filled with love, friendship and intrigue. She is a USA TODAY Best-selling author and writes for Entangled Publishing. Reviewers call her books “laugh out loud” funny and full of great characters that are “endearing and relatable.”

She is living her own happily ever after in the mountains of Colorado with her husband, two sons, two dogs and a parakeet that loves to tweet to the oldies. She’s addicted to Diet Coke, adores Cheetos, and believes you can’t have too many books, shoes, or friends.

Her books include the contemporary western romance Hearts of Montana series, the romantic comedy/ cozy mysteries of The Page Turners series, and her latest series about hot hockey players, the Bannister Brothers Books. Jennie loves to hear from readers. Follow her on Facebook at Jennie Marts Books , or Twitter at @JennieMarts. Visit her at www.jenniemarts.com and sign up for her newsletter to keep up with the latest news and releases.

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The Raveners - Book Tour and Giveaway

9/27/2016

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The Raveners
Book 1
By LD Towers
Genre: Paranormal Thriller

On 26 May 1897, Bram Stoker brought us the story of Dracula; an undead creature who terrorised the living by drinking their blood. He based his creature on the legends of Ireland and Eastern Europe, bringing it to life with all the pomp of Victorian literature. What if his concept was correct, but the execution was not? What if there was not one creature, but a band of twenty-four? Crusader knights who committed such a terrible act that the Pope of Rome and the Rabbis of Jerusalem joined together in petitioning God to bring a terrible curse upon them.Sentenced to eternal life as punishment for their crimes, yet hounded by both the clerical and the secular as they struggle to live them. The Jews called them Ga’ashekelah: the Raveners. To the Catholic Church, they are the Accursed Ones. Feasting on the bodies of the living to maintain their power.

What starts as a simple trip on the Eurostar to the buried trenches of World War One in Northern France is going to take Imperial War Museum expert Dr. Alexandra Horne on a journey she could never have conceived. From the bustling streets of Paris to the azure waters of Collioure and the very Vatican itself, Lexa will discover the Raveners and those who have sworn to hunt them down.

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​She found herself going from map to map. This was sometime around the second phase of the battle, before Beaumont-Hamel was finally taken. Thiepval as well. “This must be from the middle of September 1916. Maybe October. It’s obvious from this that he was trying to bring men around to penetrate the Allied lines from the areas they couldn’t budge.” She found herself gnawing on a thumbnail. “Dear God! With a counteroffensive like this, he might have shifted them. It’s a bold plan. Whether or not he could have managed it, with the Germans bleeding to death at Verdun, would have been the question. But damn! This might have changed the battle. Maybe even the war.”
“I wondered about that.” Another voice behind her.
Lexa turned and coloured, realising that in her wonder she had completely ignored the stranger in the room. “Oh! I am Sorry! Dr. Lexa Horne of the Imperial War Museum.” She held her hand out.
“Dr. Jack Bennett. Pleased to meet you.” Bennett was a large, fit man in his mid fifties with close-cropped, iron grey hair and a face lined from years digging in the sun. He had a bit of the George Clooney about him and Lexa was sure that all the archeology undergrads wanted him as a prof. He was a trifle swoon worthy. “Call me Jack. It was great that you could come out here at such short notice. We will be wrapping all this up in the next week or two.”
“The pleasure is entirely all mine,” Lexa told him in all earnestness. “This is simply unbelievable. This is like walking into heaven for me.” Ok. A small lie. Dead men and unexploded ordinance aside, it was heaven.
Bennett gestured back with his head and stepped aside. “I doubt the major there would agree.”
Lexa gasped as she saw the body at the desk. He was perfectly mummified, just as Darby had told her. He was hunched over, as if sleeping, and his golden hair gleamed in the light. His skin was the colour and texture of tanned leather, and his lips under a large moustache had pulled back to show his teeth. His head lay on on crossed arms, sunken eyes closed in eternal repose. The fingers were slightly curled; a large ring on one hand and a wedding ring on another. His light blue uniform hung on what was left of his frame, but was in decent condition through the shoulders. In fact, there were no real decomposition of the fabric. His side arm rested on the chair, the belt having slid down with time. The silver bullion on his uniform had a dull tarnish and the aiguillettes on his shoulder seemed suspended as if by magic. Beside him, his uniform cap was on the desk.
“Oh dear God!” Lexa exclaimed. “You’ve just left him there? How could you do that?”
“The question is how to get him out of the trapdoor without disturbing him. We have another specialist coming in from Germany. He is one of theirs, after all,” Bennett shrugged. “And you know the Germans. They are trying to find the right person. I would move him, but he is perfectly preserved. Outside of this environment, I expect he would not last long. It seems a shame to compromise his remains unnecessarily.”
The body rooted Lexa to the spot. She felt a terrible weight on her chest. “I’ve never seen a dead body before.”
Darby walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s ok. He can’t hurt you.”
“It also feels a bit indecent to be looking at him.” But she found she couldn’t tear her eyes away.
“We treat all remains with the greatest respect,” Bennett said quietly. “As you know, there is a lot we can learn from him. He is so perfectly preserved. When we have learned from him, we can return him to his family, if they still exist. He can be reburied with honour. He was lost and we found him. There is nothing indecent about that.”
“I just feel so strange with him there. I feel like a thief in his home.”
“The first time you see remains is always the hardest,” Darby told her. “Just remember that he is gone. What made him a person is gone. He is in a better place.”
Lexa nodded and walked closer to the desk. Her mouth was rather dry but now curiosity was getting the better of her. They were right. She was just being a ninny. Yes. This man was dead and he couldn’t hurt her. “Yes. I suppose you are right.”
Bennett quirked up a little smile. “Just don’t touch him.”
It was the moustache. The moustache was so familiar. Even in death, it had that upwards curl which was so familiar. A vain bushiness. When she had seen it in pictures, it always made her smile. “I think I know who this is!” Lexa exclaimed and reached into her bag for her iPad.

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LD Towers travels the world like a rootless vagabond! A military historian, she searches out places of conflict to find a deeper insight to the things she writes about. Presently enjoying the warm weather and azure seas of Central America, she has lived all over Western Europe, including 5.5 years in the incomparable Berlin.
Primarily working in Historical and Military Fiction, LD sometimes sneaks in the odd Dystopian or Modern Thriller piece. In fact, her new book is a complete redo on the vampire concept. Look for The Raveners; coming September 20, 2016.
https://ldtowers.net

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4309377.L_D_Towers
https://www.facebook.com/LDTowerswalks
https://twitter.com/L_D_Towers
http://www.amazon.com/LD-Towers/e/B00ZMFTJTQ

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What inspired me to write The Raveners?

Werewolf slash selling so much on Amazon about two years ago. Originally it was supposed to be a piece of erotica to cash in on the exploding market. I kid you not. A friend of my sister’s was making a surprising amount of money and I thought- perhaps I can hop on that train. The problem is? That’s not my train. While there are 1.5 steamy scenes in The Raveners, I don’t really like writing erotica. Or at least- pages and pages of it.

I also began to develop my world. I read Dracula when I was about 11 and I loved it. The whole idea of blood-sucking immortality really hits me in all the right places. Sadly, I find a lot of the recent versions of vampires are a little… toothless. I wanted to bring them back to the original idea in a world where the power of God and the Earth are a little more front and center.
The Raveners were a band of Crusaders and their followers who were ordered to retrieve an artifact of the Second Temple of Jerusalem by the Pope. Instead of taking it back to Rome, they decided to keep it for themselves and carve out their own kingdom in Judea. The Jews— angry that their artifact is being used against them— and the Church —angry that the knights defied their orders and kept the artifact— band together to call on the power of God to curse these renegades. They are forced to eat the flesh of the living; both a Christian and Jewish punishment as this makes one unclean. But Jewish curses and warnings are very interesting. In Jewish culture, one should have time to remember one’s sin so The Raveners are given immortality to never be able to escape their crimes. Always unclean and unable to die.
In the end, I did a lot of research for this book into curses and spiritualism. I tried to accurately portray the cultures involved and I also tried to express my own feelings on the matter of the Almighty. Don’t worry. It’s not a religious book. :) But one can’t start writing about mysticism without having a few ideas they want to pass along. It’s such an interesting topic to me. There are a lot of threads in The Raveners which I hope to pick up as the series progresses. The book is just a speck in the middle of the story, but there are coming stories which will be set both before and after this one.
When I think back on it being a piece of erotica now, it gives me a bit of a chuckle. It’s become so much more to me than that. Soon, I hope it will be a fandom of its own! In my perfect little dream world.
​

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Impatience - Book Tour

9/27/2016

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impatiencetourimp_medIn the second full novel in an Atlantic Maritime series, an assumed loyal son is the first suspect after his invalid mother’s surprise death. Was the suspect impatient for his inheritance? Or did old age catch up to the dear elderly lady? Can Aaron and Mandy teaming up again help explain his patient’s death before the wrong man is arrested?

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    betrayal_med   Welcome to the first full novel in an Atlantic Maritime series soaked in romance and murder. When a family friend of Mandy Hays washes up on shore, everything points to homicide. But how, when he was alone on a fishing trip? Her sexy neighbor, Dr. Aaron Nicholson, knows much more than he can say. As the evidence piles up, all of the victim’s family and closest friends seem guilty. Need to know more? Grab your copy of this “enticing page turner!” today.

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    With an overactive imagination and a love for writing, Laura Stapleton decided to type out her daydreams and what-laura_stapleton_ifs in order to share her lovable characters and their worlds with readers. She currently lives in Kansas City with her husband, daughter, dog, and a few cats. When not at the computer, you'll find her in the park for a jog or at the yarn store's clearance section. Find Laura online at https://twitter.com/LauraLStapleton, https://www.facebook.com/LLStapleton, and at http://lauralstapleton.com. Subscribe to Laura’s newsletter and keep up on the latest updates and new releases.       Follow the Book Tour
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If I Had You - Promo Tour and Giveaway

9/27/2016

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IF I HAD YOU
The Grand Russe Hotel book #1

by Heather Hiestand

Genre: Historical Romance


Inside the glittering walls of a famous hotel, an ingénue experiences first passion . . .

As she stands before the gilded doors of The Grand Russe Hotel, Alecia Loudon is poised on the threshold of a profound awakening. It is the Roaring Twenties, and London is buzzing with opportunities for adventure . . . and indiscretion. The young personal secretary knows nothing of the ways of men, but a chance meeting with the hotel’s handsome night watchman sets her imagination afire.

Ivan Salter has noticed the quiet Englishwoman and wonders what delicate beauty might be lurking behind Alecia’s plain clothes. As the handsome Russian draws Alecia further into the hotel’s luxurious world, he introduces her to fine food, cool jazz, and forbidden assignations. Their dalliance is tested, however, by a surprising link between Ivan’s family history and Alecia’s bosses. Tangled up in international intrigue, the lovers must decide if their sparkling new romance is worth the cost . . .


“It isn’t midnight yet,” Alecia said when she spotted Ivan Salter coming toward her. She told her traitorous heart rate to slow. While he might be handsome, he wasn’t kind. She’d asked the Russian chambermaid who cleaned her room what myshka meant. Little mouse, indeed. An insult. She had thought him a creature out of a fairy tale.

As he approached, not speaking, she lifted herself from her slouched pose along the wall and straightened her shoulders. Pins holding her too heavy hair in its prim bun dug into her scalp. She needed to take it down and go to bed, but the music had drawn her. Better than a lumpy mattress, the Lusitania sinking.

When he was two feet from her, he stopped. His gaze wandered the space, taking in the empty sofa, and, oddly enough, the carpet.

“What?” she demanded, very un-mouselike. She had resolved to be as belligerent as a maiden aunt. “There isn’t a sign saying hotel guests are not allowed back here.”

He cocked his head. She wilted when he sucked in his cheeks, highlighting the magnificent structure of his cheekbones. No. He may have every blessing God might offer a man, but he was only a night watchman. She was just a secretary. Unless she was breaking a rule, he had no right to intimidate her. She would not be cowed.

“Say something,” she said very crisply, as if she was dressing down a young nephew.

His lips curved. She felt a sinking sensation in her midsection. How dare he look so knowing?

“Young ladies wandering about unchaperoned are looking to be kissed.”

“By you?” How stupid she was, to say this.

His teeth were exposed by his widening smile. The top row was perfect, but his two lower front teeth were just a little crooked. She fell in love even more. In lust?

“You knew you would see me tonight. I am the watchman.”

“Very well then.” She lifted her chin. “It is unlikely that I am looking to be kissed. I like to wander and have never been kissed.”

“Never, myshka? Such a pity. You are somewhat pretty.”

“How dare you!” Outrage bubbled in her lungs. She could not find any other words.

But the truth was, she could find another thought, even if she couldn’t say it aloud. She wanted to be kissed. By him.


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FEBRUARY 14, 2017

I WANNA BE LOVED BY YOU

For a young woman swept into international adventure, romance can’t be far behind…

The 1920s are in full swing when Sadie Loudon leaves her grandfather’s stodgy vicarage, and she dreams of the glamour and excitement she’s seen on the silver screen. But before she even begins work at the storied Grand Russe Hotel, she is ushered into London’s glittering nightlife by a handsome young businessman intent on introducing her to the pleasures available to a Bright Young Thing. Is it a fleeting romance…or something even more intriguing?

Les Drake is on the lookout for Bolsheviks when he encounters sweet, sexy Sadie. A British Secret Intelligence agent, Les has more experience with the seedy underside of the city than with innocent chambermaids, but he can’t deny that Sadie tempts him. Using her as part of his cover seems like a brilliant plan until the danger of his assignment threatens what has suddenly become a love he can’t bear to lose…



Heather Hiestand was born in Illinois, but her family migrated west before she started school. Since then she has claimed Washington State as home, except for a few years in California. She wrote her first story at age seven and went on to major in creative writing at the University of Washington. Her first published fiction was a mystery short story, but since then it has been all about the many flavors of romance. Heather’s first published romance short story was set in the Victorian period, and she continues to return to historical fiction as well as other subgenres. The author of many novels, novellas, and short stories, she has achieved best-seller status at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. With her husband and son, she makes her home in a small town and supposedly works out of her tiny office, though she mostly writes in her easy chair in the living room.

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Between Breaths - Blog tour with Excerpt

9/27/2016

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Between Breaths
Author: Alexa Padgett ​
Series: Seattle Sound Series (Book 2)
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: TBA

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Grief brought them together
A hospice center is no place to fall in lust. But with his world cracking during his estranged mother’s last days, Hayden Crewe needs something sweet to focus on. It doesn’t matter that he’s the backbone of Australia’s hottest international rock group—here, watching his mother die, he’s more alone than ever. So when he meets long-legged, clear-minded Briar Moore, he suddenly knows exactly what will fill the hole inside.
Fortune will drag them apart
Briar has just escaped a job and relationship that nearly crushed her. Crawling out of the wreckage of her previous life, she’s done playing it safe. Sexy, vibrant Hayden is what she wants, and Briar is going to take him. For as long as she can…
Out of heartbreak comes hope
With their time short and the ghosts of their pasts haunting every moment, Briar and Hayden know they’ve fallen too deep. While those few, intense days changed them both forever, everyone knows a connection this intense should burn out as fast as it ignited…

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​I stared into those beautiful blue eyes. The tightness eased. Breathing wasn’t a chore. “I’m not saying tomorrow will be better.”
Her lips flipped up in a sardonic smile. “It’s possible tomorrow will be worse. This is hospice after all.”
“I’m expecting worse.” I tilted my head back and groaned. “I don’t want my mum’s death to drag out. Too many people are counting on me.”
“You’ll do the best you can.”
“Doesn’t feel good enough.”
“Welcome to the club. Speaking of, my sister doesn’t believe I met you, Mr. World Famous Rock Star.”
I raised my eyebrow. I cradled her shoulders. I liked holding Briar. Wasn’t a briar some kind of rose? Sweet but with enough defenses to bloom. I liked that—she’d fight for her chances.
“We’ll have to take a selfie. For digital proof.”
“Thought you didn’t like digital proof and journos, as you call them.”
“Reckon I don’t. But . . . I’m making an exception.”
Her lips curved up and her eyes sparkled. The weight from my chest eased a little and I could draw a full breath. “I’d like that. Ready to go?”
“Photo first.”
I grabbed her phone and positioned us together before snapping a few photos. “For posterity or whatever.”
She smiled again and the world shone brighter. I didn’t want to turn around and look at the building again.
“I know just the place to go.”
She snagged my hand, her cool fingers sliding between mine, our palms fusing softly. Something in me clicked, like I’d just latched into a safety belt. I followed behind her as she pulled me toward her car again. After she unlocked it, I opened her door and waited for her to slide in. Instead, she stepped in closer, her body heat mingling with mine.
“I’ve done a lot of soul-searching these past few months, Hayden. But today, with Ken’s comments, my purpose clicked.” She closed her eyes, reliving something. “I’m tired of closing off, pushing people away,” she whispered. “It’s all I’ve done for years.” She opened her eyes, filled with the fire of new determination. “So I mean it when I say I’ll be here with you. Through this. As your friend.”
I ran my knuckle down her cheek, marveling at the smooth, firm texture of her skin. “I don’t know how I got so lucky in the friend department, but I’m chuffed you’re here. And such a gorgeous lady at that.”
She rolled her eyes, and I winked. Walking around the car, I curled my fingers tight to hold in the fading heat from her skin. I glanced up at the building. Whatever my mum needed to tell me, I needed to hear. I could process her reasons and come to terms with her years of rejection later, but for now, she wanted me to know her side of the story. And I’d listen.
As I eased into the car, Briar’s floral scent wrapped around me, cradling me almost as well as her arms had just moments before.
​
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With a degree in international marketing and a varied career path as a content manager for a web firm at the height of the tech boom, marketing director for a high-profile sports agency and a two-year stint with a renowned literary agency, Alexa Padgett has returned to her first love: writing fiction. She is a card-carrying member of RWA, or would be if Romance Writers of America had cards. She’s also a member of Land of Enchantment Romance Authors (LERA), and Fantasy, Futuristic, and Paranormal (FF&P) chapters, where she’s met fabulous writers. She aspires to be as witty and kind as her writing family is.


Alexa spent a good part of her youth traveling. From Budapest to Belize, Calgary to Coober Pedy, Alexa soaked in the myriad smells, sounds, and feels of these gorgeous places, wishing she could live in them all – at least for a while. And she does in her books.


Alexa loves to read, especially her friends’ stories. She also spends a great deal of time in her tiny kitchen, channeling her inner Barefoot Contessa.


Author Links
Amazon Author Page
Facebook Author Page
Facebook
Instagram (IG) @alexapadgett
Twitter @AlexaPadgett
Website


Other Works by Alexa Padgett
Seattle Sound Series
Sweet Solace Book 1
Between Breaths Book 2
The Echo Series
The Spirit Seducer Book 1
The Magician's Ruins Book 2
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Soul Finder - Blog Tour and Giveaway

9/27/2016

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Soul Finder
(The Immortal Gene #2)
by 
Jacinta Maree
Genre: NA Supernatural/Dystopian
Release Date: September 16th 2016

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Since being discovered as Soulless, Nadia has become a target for both terrorist groups and government corporations. Now, her only hope for survival rests in the hands of the man sent out to kill her: Diesel, the Mad Dog terrorist.
Diesel is determined to free himself of the never ending curse of reincarnation and the haunting memories that plague his mind. But when his search leads him to Nadia, a greater desire stills him from taking her life.
Unable to see into Diesel's cracking mind, Nadia instead puts her faith into his strength, fueled by eleven generations of unmatched rage and insanity. Their tight-rope relationship balances the two between life and death, love and rage, trust and betrayal.
Tension pulls at the hems of their dangerous companionship, and as time runs out all madmen must eventually make their choice.

Book two of the thrilling Immortal Gene series dives deeper into the danger of trusting your heart over your head.


Readers discretion: Adult language, violence and some adult scenes. For mature audiences only. 

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Beyond the bodies left on the ground was a line of faces huddled opposite us. There must have been another fifteen prisoners inside the bunker, easily outnumbering me and Diesel. They clung to each other’s elbows and hips, moving in a single awkward unit like a spider, long limbs and shallow eyes. All of them were men, with the exception of some that were mere boys, no older than fourteen. Dirty. Starving. Wild. They didn’t look at Diesel but watched me. I was suddenly aware that I was the only female inside the hole. That was, until the next prisoner dropped in.
A blonde girl fell through the roof, landing on her side. All at once fifteen pairs of eyes turned to her. I looked at her too. She squinted into the darkness, blinded as I was as the lid locked shut above her head. The wheel knob turned. She didn’t move. I pushed off to reach her first, but Diesel grabbed me and shoved me back. He covered my mouth again as though expecting me to scream. I wanted to shout at her to run. Hide. Arm herself.
Fifteen pairs of feet moved quickly. Diesel covered my ears. 

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Don't miss the first book in the series!

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Soulless (The Immortal Gene #1) on Goodreads
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Born in Melbourne Australia, Jacinta Maree considers herself a chocoholic with an obsession with dragons, video gaming and Japan. She writes a variety of genres including YA paranormal, steampunk, horror, new adult, dystopian and fantasy. Winner of 2014 Horror of the year and bestselling author, Jacinta writes to bring enjoyment to others while fulfilling her own need to explore the weird and the impossible.

Author Links:
Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook ​
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Fall of Thrones and Thorns - Blog Tour and Giveaway

9/27/2016

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Fall of Thrones and Thorns
Jennifer Ellision
(Threats of Sky and Sea #3)
Publication date: September 27th 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

War hurtles in, a typhoon over the sea.

After Bree’s life was torn apart, Nereidium had represented a haven to her. A place that—if she could save it—was beyond the King’s reach.

And, at last, she’s arrived upon its shores. But things in Nereidium are not what they should be.

The land is plagued by a rash of mysterious earthquakes, the likes of which it’s never known. The governors are distracted by old traditions, while Bree and her friends grapple with changing identities and the sense that the longer they wait to take action… the greater the danger from Egria grows.

Bree is tired of living under the shadow of King Langdon’s power. And she’s tired of waiting for him to be the first to act.

In this final chapter of the Threats of Sky and Sea series, it all comes down to Nereidium or Egria. To Bree or the King. It’s kill… or be killed.

And not everyone will escape the battle unscathed.

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Previous books in the series:
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Author Bio:

Jennifer Ellision was born and raised in South Florida and lives in perpetual fear of temperatures below 60F. She spent a great deal of her childhood staying up past her bedtime with a book and a flashlight. When she couldn’t find the stories she wanted to read, she started writing them. She has an OTP, loves character analysis, and is a master of the fangirl flail, with a particular soft spot for fanfiction. She frequently bursts into song (and they are often of a Disney persuasion). Sailor Moon is one of her favorite things on this planet.

Threats of Sky and Sea is her first novel.

She also blogs at The Bevy Bibliotheque, where she talks about books, TV, movies, and other things that she goes fangirl over. For review requests or blog inquiries, please visit http://www.thebevybibliotheque.net to contact the blogger who best suits your request.

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Almost Me - Blog Tour and Giveaway

9/27/2016

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Book Title: Almost Me (Phoenix, #1) 
Author: K. Leigh Winters 
Genre: New Adult/Contemporary Romance 
Release Date: October 7, 2016 
Hosted by: Book Enthusiast Promotions

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Claire is months away from becoming an adult and she has given up on her dreams of the 'Perfect Sitcom Life,' giving up on being a normal kid, and giving up on being loved.

Irish bartender, Liam, has watched the fiery auburn hair girl with the emerald green eyes, the ones that remind him so much of home. The wild carefree girl is growing up to be a beautiful woman, but hidden in her eyes is a pain so deep that she is drowning and Liam is more than willing to be her lifeline, if she would only let him.

Will Claire let anyone in before it's too late?

Can Liam survive depths of her darkness and bring her to the light before it's too late?

A Note From the Author



Dear Reader;

This book has been a long time in the making even though this will be my first completed and published work. As a child through my turbulent teenage years I always had something to write on. Journals, scrap papers, blank book pages, I had them all and they were hidden everywhere. I had so many journals and all only had a few pages and maybe some even made it to the halfway point. One theme was of a girl, my alter ego maybe, who lived a life like mine but her choices and environment took her to a different path than me.

A few years back I had a serious case of the ‘mean reds’ and finally found myself in a place that no one would ever want to be stuck in, no it wasn't jail although it felt close to it. I learned a lot about myself from that experience and realized maybe I should've gone many years sooner but life has a way of going exactly the way it needs to in order to make you who you are meant to be.

Once out I finally found a therapist that I could work with, basically she took no shit from me and called me out when ever I tried to manipulate her or anyone else for that matter. I never do assignments but I thought I’d indulge her, she wanted a journal, yuck. So I decided she needed to know me from the beginning not just who she saw in front of her. I put on some work clothes and climbed my not too happy ass up into the attic of my Florida home and after 3 hours, a ton of boxes, and nearly falling through the ceiling a few times I found almost all of them. My journals.

I spent days reading them, cutting out important stuff and filling up my KnockKnock journal. There were bits and pieces of Claire everywhere and she wanted her story told. She kept me awake for days on end and after two months I finished her and Liam’s story and learned a lot about myself in the process.

I was for sure this was going to be a one time thing but then Alex needed his story told then of course Tristan and Evony who played such huge roles in Claire and Liam’s story with little hints of a budding romance through ‘Almost Me.’ Thus the Phoenix Chronicles were created. I wanted to call it the ‘Almost books’ or something of the like until my close friend and self appointed editor said that each of the characters reminded her of a phoenix much the same way she thinks of me. A phoenix will ignite into a fiery display before being reborn again. Some legends describe the phoenix as a large raven. Never less it is a symbol for rebirth and healing. Shakespeare refers to the Phoenix in his play “Henry the VIII”

“Nor shall this peace sleep with her; but as when
The bird of wonder dies, the maiden phoenix,
Her ashes new create another heir
As great in admiration as herself;
So shall she leave her blessedness to one,
When heaven shall call her from this cloud of darkness,
Who from the sacred ashes of her honour
Shall star-like rise as great in fame as she was,
And so stand fix’d.”

Each of the books in this series is about rebirth in a sense, Claire has faced many trails and in a way she is set ablaze but rises anew with a grace and beauty greater than before. Yes her story ends in a cliffhanger but I promise it will be worth it! Alex’s story deals with his addiction, which we saw snippets of throughout Claire and Liam’s. I look forward to introducing you to everyone of them and encourage you to please sign up for the newsletter.

Also after the Playlist read the first 3 chapters of Almost Gone, Alex & Naomi’s story.

Follow me on social media; www.kleighwinters.com 
Facebook; @kleigh.winters 
Twitter; @K_Leigh_Winters 
Email; kleighwinters@gmail.com

excerpt

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Letting Him In
Liam


It’s just after sunrise and in her world this is late but being it’s the day after Thanksgiving and according to Claire the only other thing the “Skater Mom’s” love more is shopping so for Claire this means sleeping in an extra hour. I still can’t figure how she convinced the poor rink manager to come in on his day off to not only open the rink for her but he even ran the Zamboni to clean the ice mirror smooth just for her. I am standing up on the second floor staring down at the newly laid ice, the smooth white surface even to me looks inviting. I jam my hands in my jeans after pulling my jacket tighter. This is the first time she has ever invited me here and at this hour it is not just freezing but strangely very foggy and eerily quiet. I can understand her affinity for this particular time here.

“Hey, I’m Brian.” I turn and see a guy in jeans and a Detroit Red Wings jersey that’s practically swallowing him up, a baseball cap pulled down low shading his eyes. He seems hesitant to approach me, shuffling side to side on his feet, shoulders slumped. I decide to take the initiative and step towards the kid extending my hand; he shakes it then quickly steps back.

“I’m Liam, thank you for this.” I turn and motion towards the ice rink below like a game show host. At that moment Claire steps on the ice wearing solid black head to toe, the rink is a contrast of black and white with her bright auburn hair pulled tight on top of her head in a severe bun. She’s skating laps around the rink going forward and backwards with dizzying speed and smooth transition. I am no expert but to me she looks tiny and perfect out there all alone in an odd melancholic way that only Claire could pull off with such elegant beauty.

“She’s something else isn’t she?” All I could do is stand there with what I assume is a stupid look on my face, mouth open and eyes wide. My only response, all that I could muster see she is shocking me with some amazing flying jump split moves, again I am no expert but she looks like she is jumping from cloud to cloud. The only sound coming from the rink below is an odd groaning or more like a moan. It is all sensory overload. I wasn’t even aware that I moved but I am now leaning over the balcony hands braced on the cold unforgiving metal railing. I am totally drawn into her.

“That noise is the ice, her edges are so deep and precise it makes that sound. It’s louder here cause the rink is sand based so it echoes from below into the acoustics.” I turn and stare at the kid who appears to be just as enraptured by her, my sweet girl. “Not many skaters can do that and you can only hear it when it’s quiet” Brian points up to what looks like AC ducts, “And humid.” I look back down at him quizzically.

“You know I’m just a simple Irish guy.” Brian seems to relax with that comment he chuckles and starts walking and I can only assume he expects me to follow. As we walk he points to a large machine, “That’s the dehumidifier, the owner won’t let us run it at night. He’s cheap.” He shrugs his shoulders and keeps walking. “You know there are nicer and newer rinks and Claire could have her pick but she stays here. Much to her parents dismay.” He winks as we descend a set of stairs.

“Anyway the humidity makes the ice a little difficult but she likes it that way. That and she doesn’t like to be here around all the parents when they come in. I don’t think she minds the other skaters too much. They think she is snobby but she’s not, she just tries too hard to fit in. And well the adults I think she could care less for them.” We reach the landing and Brian moves over to a cabinet and opens it to reveal a kind of mini DJ booth. I hadn’t even heard her approach but she must have because there is now an iPod sitting on top of the rinks boards. Brian seemed to be completely in sync with her needs because he just moves without prompt just knowing the little device would be sitting there at that exact moment. He turns and docks it scrolling through till he finds what he is looking for; he looks back over to Claire and nods in confirmation and taps play. The rink fills with the sounds of a sultry guitar intro. I turn and look at Brian. “How did you know?”

“I saw where she was standing, this program is amazing! Very sexy” This is the most animated Brian has been since we stepped in here half an hour ago. I raise an eyebrow towards Brian and he blushes looking down on the dirty floor.

“Sorry, um so what’s the story? It’s just that she’s never really brought anyone here during this time.” Good question, I’m not sure what to tell him. I look back and watch as Claire is skating very seductively, flirting with her invisible audience she makes a move down the ice and sways her hips from side to side then bends forward pulling her hair free from its confines, her hair cascades in perfect red waves down to the middle of her back becoming apart of her performance she moves down the ice continuing to sway her hips to the seductive guitar rifts and the throaty female voice, “…and I’m the only one who’d walk across the fire for you…”

“We’re friends.” I state plainly hoping it would be the end of that conversation. But to my dismay he doesn’t seem to be satisfied. “Uh huh, sure. Well all I’m saying is she NEVER let’s people in at this time. She tore Alex a new one a few months ago when I let him in.”

“Why did you let him in?” He doesn’t seem like the brave kind of guy to dare and risk her wrath that she is apparently infamous for; I am learning though that her tantrums are usually the result of frustration. A break in her routine, a change in plans, or her failure at getting her point across.

“I thought it would help her. She was just acting different. You know she used to come hang out with us? She’s actually kind of fun.” He pauses gauging my response, I nod indicating I’m listening.

“Well this is all speculation but you know most of us rink rats, uh kids that work and hang out here, well we’ve all watched her grow up here and you know a few years ago she really started to withdrawal and become, well not really stand offish just different.”

I look back to see Claire is now practicing a jump, she is doing the same thing over and over again, falling hard on her hips, back, and knees. I’m stuck in place for a moment watching her jump and fall, every now and then nailing it but there was no time to celebrate. She’d land on one leg in one fluid move and hold the speed just long enough before taking off again to try for another. Every time she hit the ice my stomach would drop and my heart would falter. I look at Brian horrified he isn’t doing anything; my feet move forward towards her when a hand shoots out across my chest, Brian shakes his head.

“I don’t know what you two are to each other but I can tell you she’d flip her shit if you interrupt her right now.” He nods at me and doesn’t release his grip until I nod in return, how strange this all is.

“Come on let’s put on a cup of coffee, from the looks of it your going to be here for a while.” I follow Brian back into the lobby and behind a snack bar counter where he gets to work on some coffee pulling out a bag of ground Starbucks I give him a pointed look and he simply shrugs with a lopsided grin. “Claire’s?” I ask.

“Yeah, I’ll not lie to you but I’ve had a crush on her for years but no matter how hard I try,” he looks through the window out to the rink watching her, “she’s never looked at me as anything more than a brotherly figure.” Seems to be a running theme with her. We sit in companionable silence at a booth in the lobby watching the morning news as she pounds away in the background withAWOLNATION blasting through the speakers.

Claire


I don’t know why I am hitting it so hard today but I have this strange feeling, this need, to punish myself and no amount of pain is ebbing these strange feelings that are clawing their way to the surface. I’m free gliding down center ice lost in thought, I don’t know what possessed me to invite Liam in, but I felt I needed to. I may not be able to open myself up fully in the emotional verbal sense but this is as intimate as I can be, here I am my most naked and vulnerable self and I wanted so desperately to let him in to see me as I am. Now that I have would it change things for us? For him, will he look at me differently? I’ve been pounding away and failing for almost an hour since I saw him and Brian move into the lobby to give me space no doubt. I can’t stop the constant dialogue running circles in my mind; will he think me weak and imperfect? What about my morning routine does it seem silly to him? Anticlimactic? My new show piece is very seductive and I only half assed the piece not sure how much to perform in front of him. Brian loves it but will Liam think it’s ridiculous? Slutty even? All this is running through my head and I have beaten myself up for some time now literally and figuratively it’s time to throw the proverbial towel in, which is something I never do until I am black and blue and practically crawling of the ice. I never relent when I am in one of these moods of self-punishment but for some reason today is different. I just don’t feel the need anymore.

I check on the boys again, I can see them through one of the windows into the lobby they are drinking coffee and watching the news. I trust Brian, despite his misstep a few months ago, to not spill all my secrets but I really am done and just want to be held by Liam. As I am watching him he turns his head around and catches my eyes it’s like he sensed me there that one move tugged at my heart a little but then he smiled. A simple facial expression but one that can be so easily faked but Liam never does, his whole heart is put into everything he does even in something as simple as a smile. My lips move of their own accord and slide up in a very contented smile and I feel my whole body relax in this one move. I wave then point towards my locker room indicating I am done.

I stand still in the shower letting the scalding water run over my sore body while resting my head on my arms against the wall. I’ve been in here for a while but I am processing so many feelings right now and I feel exhausted from it all. I am working hard on stilling the noise in my head when I hear the door open then close, “Oh, sorry babe I didn’t realize.”

“No, it’s OK I’m just done. Can you bring me a towel please?” I don’t think anything of being naked, I should, but I don’t. I’m use to the showbiz scene, being around people and having to change quickly. There is never any thought, I pull open the curtain while I wait for him but when Liam returns he nearly trips on the slippery tile floor and fumbles with the towel quickly opening it up for me. He’s looking up and away and mumbling apologies. I take the proffered towel and after wrapping my body I let a giggle out, “It’s OK Liam, I’m sorry I just don’t think of it really.” I shrug and his eyes bug out questioningly at me. I just shrug again to his now visible agitation, “Showbiz.” I state in a very matter of fact manner.

I turned away from him and walked back into my locker room it’s not pretty but in a way it’s mine, Brian found a couch, cabinet and mirror for me and the floor isn’t really that bad. I have a key so besides me only Brian can come in and I trust him enough not to do anything in here.

I walk over to the couch and snatch up the other towel then bend forward to dry my hair. Strong hands grip my hips and I can hear heavy breathing behind me and for once I am not scared, Liam seems to be the only person who can approach me from behind. I slowly straighten up and Liam does his best to keep his body, apart from his hands, from pressing into me. Silently he reaches around me and takes the towel from my head and starts to rub my hair in sections. When he stops I hear him walk away, I see the towel folded on the arm of the couch before I can turn to look for him he is back with my brush. Is he really going to brush my hair? My question is quickly answered when he starts to separate my hair in parts and begins to work on the first section. I sway a little from the intense relaxing feeling he is creating in me. Liam takes the cue and pulls us down to the couch without breaking from his task. Once I am complete Jell-O and my hair is tangle free Liam takes it all and sweeps it to one shoulder leaning in to lavish my other exposed shoulder in sweet slow kisses working his way up to my ear he nuzzles his nose into the skin behind my ear. “I have never felt like this before and don’t take this wrong,” he continues to work his mouth back down to my shoulder and takes my hand in his, “I don’t want anyone looking at this body but me.” Jealous Liam? Before I can really process it his other hand turns me to face him giving me hard and possessive kisses with such hot passion I have yet to experience from him.

“My sweet girl let’s get you home before something happens in here.” His eyes are actually twinkling. “I, unfortunately have school and work, but I promise you that we have much to discuss and the sooner the better.” I hope it’s a good discussion but I am terrified it won’t be. I push the uneasy feeling to the back of my mind and just for once live in the moment.

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meet the author
Born and raised in sunny Florida my feet rarely touch the sand.

I have no horse, no boat and no land to hunt.

I think it is beautiful when it is rainy, overcast and cold.

I am kind of partial to spending my time with the people I live with, but I definitely have no aversion to spending time with the voices in my head.

I draw inspiration from life and I am thankful for everyday I am given to live it.

I am an advocate for mental health awareness and eliminating stigmatism through education and open conversation.

I love it when people ask questions because if I don't know the answer it means I get to learn something new and that is one of my favorite things to do!

I have an amazing husband and two wonderful boys. All of whom brighten my every day.
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