Obedience - Book Tour with Giveaway

Obedience
Ties That Bind Book 1
by Liza Snow
Genre: Romantic Suspense 

Cassandra
Growing up, I was mesmerized by a man soaring the skies.
The greatest silk aerialist in the world, Chandler Moreau.
The day before my parents died, they took me to see his circus, and it was then I knew my fate was sealed.
I would do everything in my power to perform with them one day.
To perform with him.
Little did I realize, he would be far more than I’d ever imagined him being.
Far more than just a mentor.
He was a man I didn’t want to live without.
And someone I wanted to keep safe from a past that seemed to keep following me.


Chandler
My entire career, I’d been waiting for the right student to take under my wing.
A protégé with whom I could share my lifelong journey in the circus.
Little did I know it would be Cassandra Blackstone.
A woman who'd grown up admiring me from afar.
I never intended to fall in love with the student I was supposed to protect—from myself and the demons that lurked in my shadows.
But sometimes fate has other plans.
My grandfather's taunting words still linger.
Mieux vaut plier que rompre.
Adapt and survive.
They weren’t just his adage but also unmistakably true.
A reminder that Cassandra and my shared history seemed to intertwine us more than the silks we’d spent our lives mastering ever could…


More to Love:
In addition to the paperback, Obedience is also available in a full-cast narrated audiobook, starring Daniel Zbel and Rapunzaroo, along with a cast of additional voiceover actresses. Brought to life in the way the story is meant to be told, and it will be the best audiobook you listen to this year—possibly for a very long time. You’ll love listening to the two voices of these iconic characters. And don’t forget to read along with them and enjoy a fantastic, immersive experience. You’ll need the paperback copy to fan yourself off from some of the narration!


Amazon * Audible* Goodreads

Listen to the audio excerpt as you read along for a better experience!

​I hadn’t needed to prompt her. She began, pulling herself upward, drawing those silks around her small frame as she went. Climbing high into the air as the two women began their duet. The French lyrics pulled me in every time. It was perhaps one of the reasons that while I simply tolerated most opera songs I’d heard, I adored this song.
Every time I heard it, every time I got lost in those little nuances of the language, it brought me back to summertime in Melun, France. Playing on the hills overlooking the city, lost in the grasses filled with wildflowers. Climbing into Meme’s apple trees. Perhaps the time in my life when it had felt so simple. All there were, were the memories of when I’d been happy.
And if there was any place I wanted to be, as I watched Cassandra ascending above me, knowing in seconds I would be right beside her, it was in those memories again. Bringing her with me.
The first stanza finished, and my mind immediately centered. My hands had already been wrapped in the silks without having to think about it. She paused, and I saw her attention drift downward. We fell captive to one another, and it was all I needed to see. I knew it was my turn to go to her. She was waiting for me.
In the same fashion she had moments earlier, I began my way up the silks beside hers, which had been a deep royal purple color. The entire time I made my way high into the room, I immersed myself in the French lyrics, the strings complimenting every rise and fall of the two women’s voices. Some moments, I’d lose myself in what I was doing, taking careful note of all the little adjustments my body was making. Other times, my attention drifted upward. Until finally, I was just beneath Cassandra.
When I paused again, I took a few deep breaths, steadying myself. Focused entirely on the beautiful woman above me, who was just as attentive to me. I nodded to her, signaling I was ready, prepared to follow her in whatever she had thought to do next.
At the precise moment when I had met her, she had already begun moving herself into a sailor pose above me, legs splitting, and much to my satisfaction, every single part of her in perfect position. All the small details I’d shown her the first lesson we’d had together were as pristine as when I’d helped her myself.
I would have taken more time to truly enjoy how proud of her I felt if she hadn’t twisted downward, dropping her torso straight toward me in a graceful fall. Before she’d completed it, I knew what she’d done. A Rainbow Marchenko. A famous move of Jeanne’s for many years. But watching her as she settled into it, I would have thought it was hers alone.
Cassandra’s hands dropped, releasing the silks. Dangling inches away. The only thing holding her in the air was the precise folds of those green fabrics wrapped around her legs.
Looking into her eyes as she hung there, waiting for me to act, all I could do was smile. She’d been focused, lost in her own world, but she’d come back to me. We were together again in the very place I had wanted to be with her ever since I’d seen her flying through the silks at her audition. I had dreamt about it every time since, every lesson we had, every time I’d watched her from the shadows of the theater while she practiced.
I had taken her to those fields in Melun with me, high in the trees. Trapped us both in those treasured memories, made all the better knowing she was there. 
“I’ve got you, Cassandra,” I called out to her, gently. Steadying myself, my body locked in place. Breathing slow and rhythmic and calm. I watched her take the same breath as I had, waiting for the little drop in the lyrics before the next few lines began.
The moment their voices bellowed into the theater again, she let herself drop in a salto. In a gentle sweep of my body, I caught her gracefully into my arms. Twisted us together, letting the silks take hold of the two of us as we swung across the room, dozens of feet above the stage below us. Falling like two feathers locked together, dancing into the wind.
When the fabrics released us, I swung us outward. Our bodies drifted apart again as she spun around me, both of us still descending toward the floor. As beautiful as she looked, circling outward away from me, the moment she had, I wanted her back. I used my legs to give myself enough momentum to swing forward, latching on again once she’d appeared.
Cassandra had been so close I’d felt her breath against my face while we dangled above the stage. I got lost in the way it felt to be tangled up with her, a mess of bodies and fabric. Consumed by it. Convinced I might never let go of her again.
As we’d traversed the rest of the way back to the stage, I didn’t. The two of us descended together as a singular unit, just her and I and the fabrics. Improvising the graceful fall we were doing, finding little tricks and motions to carry out, all the while never leaving her side.
We’d both reached the floor, perfectly in sync with one another. I heard a gentle thump as we landed. Followed by the sound of both of our light, audible breaths. Steadying ourselves back on the ground.
Even having left the air, the silks still wrapped around us. Neither of us had freed ourselves. Cassandra was still in my arms, something I realized, when I hadn’t been so caught up in what we were doing all those feet above us, was happening for the very first time. 
The sweet smell of oranges overwhelmed me. Her beautiful hazel eyes, those captivating flecks of grays and greens and browns, drowned out the world around us. I watched her breathing softly, holding her to me and those silks holding me to her. 
And in those next few moments, every single solitary thing keeping me from her since the day we had met no longer existed in the little reality we were trapped in. Every fear I had, every reservation, disappeared. I tightened her to me, my hands capturing the sides of her face in a gentle sweep, as elegant as every other thing we’d done those last few minutes.
Our mouths fell together, and I lost myself in her. Trapped in those profound and so unbelievably relieving seconds in which the things that had stood in our way no longer mattered. 
I hadn’t thought anything could have surpassed the experience the two of us just shared. Undeniably, it had been the best minutes I had ever spent in those silks in my entire career. As simple as it had been. And we had barely started. This was only the beginning.
But this moment now was just as wonderful. As perfect as I could have hoped.

​

A bestselling independent author from Florida, Liza has been putting romance books into her readers hands for over a half decade, and has loved every minute of it.

​Liza lives with her husband, her two dogs and her cat, ten minutes from the beach. When she isn't writing, you can often find her walking and enjoying outside, with a coffee and a book in hand.


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​Chandler Moreau’s Lemon Yogurt Birthday Cake: A Liza Snow Recipe
Liza Snow


Many years ago I was privileged to try a very special cake at a French bakery called a Lemon Yogurt cake. When I started writing the second book to my series Ties That Bind, which is called Discipline, in one chapter we celebrated my main male character Chandler Moreau’s birthday. In the scene, I featured the Lemon Yogurt cake, which is Chandler’s favorite and also mine. Which is funny, because Chandler doesn’t normally indulge in bread, but he makes an exception for this cake…because it is freaking delicious!
In celebration of my book releasing, I thought I’d share Chandler’s version of this birthday cake that he had every year growing up, made courtesy of his mother Madelyn. I just made it this weekend to celebrate, and it is absolutely divine!
The whole story behind this Yogurt cake is that in France, it is something that grandmothers are renowned for. In French, this cake is called Gâteaux de Mamie, which means ‘Granny Cake.’
Yogurt in France has been traditionally sold in small, round glass jars. The recipe traditionally used measurements that went by how much of these jars you would fill with the ingredients. Don’t worry though! You don’t need French yogurt available to make this. It turns out that each jar holds one-half cup, so it’s easy to translate.
This is also one of the easiest cakes I’ve ever made—and I’m not a baker! So, if you are intimidated to try baking, take it from someone who fails more often than not when I try baking anything, and that includes boxed cakes and brownies and such… this is a…piece of cake! Ha!

Tips for making this cake:

• I often use Greek yogurt for this cake but you can also use regular yogurt. In fact, in a pinch, you could also use buttermilk or sour cream. They'll all work!
• Any type of neutral-flavored oil works well in this recipe.
• This recipe calls for lemon zest and lemon juice. Always zest your fruit before squeezing for the juice.

IngredientsFor the cake:

• ½ cup plain yogurt or Greek yogurt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• grated lemon zest from 1 medium-size lemon
• ½ cup sunflower grape seed or canola oil

For the glaze:

• ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
• ¾ cup of powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F (175˚C). Spray an 8-inch round cake pan with baking spray, rub inside the surface of the pan with a paper towel to cover evenly with the spray. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and spray parchment paper lightly. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, sugar, and eggs - stirring until well blended.
3. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and zest, mixing to just combine.
4. Add the oil and stir well. Don’t worry, at first it will seem to separate, but keep stirring till smooth.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
6. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the cake feels springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (every oven is different, so check with the toothpick test rather than the time). Be careful not to overbake though.
7. Cool cake on a wire rack for 10 minutes; then turn it out of the pan onto the rack.
8. Combine the lemon juice and powdered sugar in a small bowl and stir until smooth. With a pastry brush, gently pat the glaze all over the cake. Just keep going over the cake till the glaze is gone. Some of it will drip off, but most of it will soak in. Allow the cake to cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired and serve.

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