Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Fire and Midnight by Sandra Renee Appet

Fire and Midnight

Sandra Renee Appet

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Evernight Publishing

Date of Publication: October 18, 2016

ISBN: 9781773390

ASIN: B01M25WE6V

Number of pages: 232

Word Count: 75,000

Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

Book Description:

"Fire and Midnight is a delightful story full of characters you won't soon forget. I didn't want it to end!" ~ New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Evanovich

He could be her best worst decision…

With a glass of wine in hand, Jane Keegan’s finger is poised to delete the account her pushy BFF created for her on “The Cowboys” escort service website. Sure, she’s lonely, but not desperate. Then an image of sky-blue eyes and warm, tanned muscles jumps off the screen. And she finds herself hitting the “Book Now” button.

After all, why not? She’s a free, divorced woman on business in San Antonio. There’s nothing to lose…except her nerve. Especially when Mr. Tall Dark And Incredibly Sexy meets her at a River Walk bar—and his only-for-you smile turns her insides into a quivering mass of second thoughts.

Ryan Zeigler is enduring one last escort assignment as a favor before hanging up his Cowboys hat to run his own restaurant. Yet there’s something about the pretty New Yorker’s vulnerable grin and I’ve-got-baggage eyes that halts his usual dating M.O. in its tracks.

When Ryan sweetens the deal—no strings, no payment expected—Jane the good girl takes the bold step of letting her vixen out to play. But when it’s time to go home, her heart is at a crossroads. Is Ryan the real deal? Or is she letting yet another man take her heart for a ride?

Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/Qsep_gCRPtE

Amazon ARe Evernight Publishing

Excerpt:

Ryan eased her
body against his car. Warmth from the metal of the door seeped through her thin
skirt, doing nothing to cool down her heated skin. "You're sexy,
intelligent, and a hell of a lot of fun, and it's taking every ounce of
self-control for me to not kiss you, right here and now," he said, his
voice low and silky.

The air slipped
from Jane's lungs. She searched his face, wondering if he meant the words as a
joke. She tried to look away, but his body was so close to hers that he
dominated her field of vision, from the white shirt stretched over his broad
shoulder, with a smattering of dark hair peeking from his unbuttoned collar, to
his stubbled jaw and his full lips.

God, those lips.

She needed him
to kiss her more than she needed to draw a fresh breath of air into her lungs.
But what if she wasn't good at it? She hadn't kissed any man other than Nick in
… how long? Almost twenty years?

"Querida."
He hooked his thumb under her chin, challenging her to meet his gaze.

"I love
when you say that," she whispered.

"Querida,"
he repeated slower and trailed his fingers up her cheek and threaded them
through her hair to the nape of her neck, pulling her closer.

She froze.

"What’s
wrong?" he asked, capturing her stare.

“It's
just…" Truth seemed to be her only option. "This is embarrassing to
admit, but I haven't kissed anyone else in a very long time."

"It's just
like riding a bicycle."

"That's
easy for you to say."

"And it'll
be easy for you to do, especially with those lips." The palm of his free
hand cupped her face, and he traced her bottom lip with his thumb. "Like I
said, I've wanted to kiss you all night. Actually, all day and all night."

Everything
became dark as Ryan leaned in closer. His intoxicating scent overpowered Jane's
senses as his lips brushed hers, feather-soft, as if he was testing her. She
opened her mouth just a little as a slow heat blanketed her body.

"Just like
a bicycle," he repeated and reclaimed her lips.

As if they knew
exactly where to go, her hands snaked around his back, locking her body into
his embrace. She whimpered into his mouth as his tongue began a leisurely
exploration of her mouth.

Holy crap. Not
only had it been a long time since she kissed someone else, it had been a very
long time, maybe never, since someone had kissed her like that.

After a minute,
Ryan pulled away but kept his hand on her chin. "Well, was it?" he
murmured.

Jane's eyes were
still closed as she savored the kiss. "Was it what?" she asked,
wishing time would stop so that they could remain leaning against his car on
this quiet street forever.

"Was it just
like riding a bike?"

She smiled.
"I'm not sure. I think you'd better try it again so I can take off the
training wheels."

About the Author:

Sandra is an author of romance who stays up too late dreaming up sexy heroes. When she's not writing, shoe shopping or saving wayward turtles, Sandra can be found with a cup of coffee browsing the shelves of an indie bookstore.

Website: www.sandrareneeappet.com

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SandraRAppet

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sandrareneeappet/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15646638.Sandra_Renee_Appet

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Wild Poppy by Vivian Winslow blitz

Wild Poppy
Vivian Winslow
(Wildflowers, #4)
Publication date: December 6th 2016
Genres: New Adult, Romance

The daughter of a renown media mogul, Poppy Koslowski has her life turned upside down overnight when her father is indicted for a massive fraud that leads to the loss of her family’s fortune. In the wake of the scandal, Poppy moves to Paris at the behest of her aunt, the Countess Domel, who, unbeknownst to Poppy, intends to find a wealthy husband for her niece in order to ensure her future. Poppy, however, has her own dreams of finishing school and realizing her goal of becoming an award-winning journalist. When she meets Henri Olin, the passionate and seductive illegitimate son of one of France’s most powerful politicians, his political and social ideology introduces Poppy to a world very different from her own. Yet, Poppy ultimately learns that everything comes at a price, even love. After suffering a devastating loss, Poppy finds herself alone and virtually penniless, and is forced to make her way back to America to piece together the remnants of her life in New York City. There, she rediscovers her passion once again, only to be confronted with yet another life choice, one that will forever shape her destiny.

Goodreads / Amazon

Previous books in the series:

—

EXCERPT:

“What?” He asks, unable to keep from laughing. He knew she’d have a beautiful laugh. He just knew by the way she smiled when she delivered his drink. If only he’d been bold enough to touch her hand when she did. But she doesn’t seem like the kind of person who wants to be touched, at least not without her permission.

“Nothing,” Poppy replies, shifting her weight from one leg to the other. She begins to scrape at the loose gravel in the wall, not caring when she chips a nail.

He lowers his head so he can be eye level with her. Poppy figures he’s at least five inches taller than she is, in heels. “Come on, I can’t be that ridiculous can I?”

Poppy shrugs. “How would I know, we only just met. But I think it’s cute the way your brow goes like this.” She imitates his bemusement, wrinkling her face to make lines between her brows and points to it.

“I don’t look like that.”

Before Poppy can reply, a noise makes her turn toward West 10th again. Just inside the black iron gate that frames the alley, she spots a young woman who looks to be about her age. The woman tosses back her long dark hair as she talks to a guy whose arm is wound tightly around her waist. Poppy recognizes the intimacy, the way every inch of their bodies touch as they speak. She studies their unspoken language, wondering if that’s how she looked with Henri that first night.

A peal of laughter escapes the woman as the guy lifts her hips around his and presses her against the wall, squeezing the flesh beneath her skirt and kissing her neck.

The brown-eyed stranger follows her gaze. “I didn’t think I’d be getting two shows tonight,” he whispers.

The low sound of his voice ignites something in Poppy’s chest that travels down to her cunt. Desire, like everything post Henri and Paul, had seemed like a far-off notion, until tonight that is. Something about this stranger is awakening the kinds of feelings she believed she’d buried. Denial, Poppy realizes, isn’t the same as burying a truth. The former makes you want to pretend something never happened while the latter at least makes you acknowledge it before you shove it so deep underground it can’t touch you. The reality is that Poppy hasn’t been able to do either well. Some days Paris and Paul seem like a faint memory, so distant that it’s as if it all happened in a previous lifetime, while others it’s as if the truth is beating on her so hard that it hurts to breathe. Clearly she has to find a better coping mechanism.

The stranger’s warm breath on the side of her face draws Poppy out of her thoughts again. How easily distracted she is tonight, one thought jumping to the next. She attempts to make them melt together until she can’t distinguish them. It helps to lose herself in the moment, in the now which doesn’t allow any space for the past to reside. She gazes at the enamored couple, although enamored seems like a bit of a stretch. She didn’t love Henri that first night. Not that it took very long to make her feel something akin to love. Sometimes, though, she wonders if she wasn’t just picking up on his emotions and making them her own. He’s the one who pursued her, right? He’s the one who insisted they keep the baby, to get married in order to be a family. Where were her decisions in any of it? She had made them, of course. Her feelings had told her to agree, to make it alright. For whom though? For him? To make Henri happy? To give him some sense of peace and closure regarding his own painful childhood? How much control of her own life had she sublimated in order to make him whole? How much had she really loved him versus how much had she thought she loved him? Can she even remember anymore?

Once again, Poppy swallows back each question like a bitter pill. The answers are a luxury she can’t afford at the moment. There’s no one to give them to her anyway. Poppy tilts her head against the wall and focuses on the couple. She figures there’s no need to give the couple any privacy. If they wanted that, they could’ve chosen a different place. But they didn’t. Instead they opted for an alley, and not a particularly dark one either. They want to be seen, to be on display. It fascinates her to be the voyeur this time. When she was the woman up against the wall, she had never considered what it would be like to watch. God how she loved feeling so uninhibited. God how she misses the freedom that comes with not caring that her actions could ever have consequences. She loved the power she derived from that freedom, how it impressed upon her a feeling of invincibility. She can see on the young woman’s face that she’s experiencing the same thing. It’s the distant gaze that gives her away as the man pushes his cock inside of her. She’s there, but she’s also deep inside herself, taking the energy from the moment and storing it inside of her for a later time. It’s life force she’s seeking, and it’s life force she’s giving. If only she’d known what she would have to give in exchange for what she took, Poppy thinks to herself.

wildpoppy-teaser-1-copy

Author Bio:
Vivian Winslow was born and raised in Southern California. Before becoming a writer, she made a career out of moving around the world every couple of years thanks to her husband’s job and her incurable wanderlust. She currently lives in New York City with her husband and two elementary school age children, and is grateful to finally have a place to call home for more than two years.
New York is the perfect city to indulge her love of fashion, the arts and especially food. If she’s not at home writing or running around the city with her kids, you’ll most likely find her eating at the newest restaurant in her beloved Lower East Side or having a cocktail at her favorite bar in Alphabet City. That said, she’s still a California girl at heart and would gladly trade in her heels for a pair of flip-flops to catch a sunset on the beach.
Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

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The Gilded Cage Teaser Tuesday

TEASER TUESDAY

YA/Historical

Date Published: 12/1/16

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Masie, the flaxen-haired daughter of notorious bootlegger Dutch Schultz, returns home from boarding school to find her family in crisis. Her mother is dangerously unstable, her father’s empire is on the brink of ruin, and the boy she once loved has become a ruthless killer for hire. To keep her family’s dangerous secrets Masie is forced into a lie that will change the course of her future—and leave her trapped in a gilded cage of her own making. As she watches her world fall apart, Masie must decide whether to take her place in the hierarchy, or spread her wings, leaving the people she loves, and the life she despises, far behind her.

Website

Excerpt

“How you feelin’, Mas?” Vinny asks.

Relaxing back into the chair I look up, unable to keep the sour grin from my face. “Never better.”

Releasing me he steps around the table, helping himself to a seat. “That’s not how I hear it. I hear you lay in bed all day feelin’ sorry for yourself”

“Can you blame me?” I ask harshly, straightening in my chair.

He’s still for a minute, then pulls the fedora off his head and plays with it in his hands. “I’m sorry about your ma, she was a fine lady.”

I snort, the booze in my belly making me bold. “She was a nut job and everyone knew it.”

Now he looks up, his thin lips downturned at the edges, “She was good to me.”

Sighing I stand, helping myself to the crystal decanters on the tray. “She loved you like her own,” I offer gently as I pour myself another drink. “It’s the only thing she was good at, loving people. Wasn’t great at taking care of them, though.”

She’d tried to take care of Daddy at first. I know she always secretly hoped he’d change his ways, as if her love could make him a better man. But, as much as they may want to, people don’t really change. Time passes, choices are made, but we are who we are in the end.

“Is there anything I can do?” he asks, twisting in his chair to look at me.

I just hold up my glass, “This seems to be helping.”

Standing, Vinny walks over, taking the glass from my hand he swallows back the contents in one gulp. “Never drink to feel better, Mas. That’s not how the stuff works.”

I frown, pushing past him, “Don’t tell me what to do.”

He stops me, grabbing my arm and pulling me toward him until the tip of his crooked nose is touching my forehead, “I’m not gonna let you throw yourself away like she did.”

His words are sharp and they cut like glass

I shut my eyes against them, against the closeness of him, the heat radiating off his body, the smell of bourbon on his breath. Part of me demanding to push him away, the other part wanting to lose myself in him.

“You left,” he continues, his tone accusatory. “You left so you wouldn’t have to watch—but I watched. I watched the light in her go out. I won’t watch that happen to you, Masie. I can’t. So you’re going to have to be strong. Because we need you. I need you. It’s awful dark here, Mas. We need you to be the light.”

The first tear slips from beneath my closed lids. Maybe it’s the desperation in his voice, or the fact that he’s right, but something in his words strikes me to the core. It’s tempting, far too tempting, to drink the pain away, to let it eat me from the inside out until there’s nothing left to hurt.

But I can’t.

I can’t be like my mother.

I won’t.

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The Goblin Child and Other Stories by Michael Forester

The Goblin Child and Other Stories

Michael Forester

Genre: Short stories,

Contemporary fiction

Publisher: Pegasus House Publishing

Publication date: 1st October 2016

ISBN: 978-0-9955248-1-1

Book Description:

Michael Forester’s award winning short stories and flash fiction range from fantasy to young love and old fear, LGBT relationships to spirituality & religion, metaphor to morals, to literary fiction. Always these powerful, highly original tales are gripping and readable, stories that surprise, illuminate, engage and enrich:

• A man who remembers his birth in terrifying detail

• A woman who is certain she has given birth to a goblin child

• A child who takes his god to school for show and tell

• A youth who prefers his revenge served cold

• A teenage girl who, due to her love of nature, falls under the spell of a sexual predator

• A priest confronted by a man who believes he is Santa

• A worker in a care home who is never permitted to leave

• A man who sees the purpose of his life only after he dies

• A dying poet who searches desperately for the interracial love of his youth

In this apparently unconnected and eclectic group of tales, Michael Forester explores the circularity of our lives. The collection culminates unexpectedly in the story of a dying poet who finds, then loses, interracial love in a racist age, and discovers with TS Eliot that he ‘arrives where he began, to know the place for the first time.’ In so doing Forester reveals to us the circularity of our lives and that the events in them, so independent, so seemingly random, are truly interdependent, connected, planned.

Amazon

“Venture into the world of Michael Forester’s short story collection and it’s unlikely you’ll want to step away. You’ll experience a rollercoaster of emotions as you read the 30 stories that have emerged over 16 years, emanating from eclectic themes including ecology, racism, child abuse, politics, family, relationships, war, anti-exploitation in all its guises, and so much more. This is a fascinating, raw, heart-wrenching, beautiful and shocking collection of stories that are crying out to be read.”

About the Author:

Some are born with silver spoons in their mouths. Michael Forester was born with a pen in his hand. He is a deafened writer living in, and drawing his inspiration from, Hampshire’s New Forest. Michael’s most recent book, The Goblin Child, is a disarmingly eclectic collection of prize winning short stories exploring the circularity of our lives and the events in them, so independent, so seemingly random, yet truly interdependent, connected, planned. It follows his first published creative work in 2009, If It Wasn’t For That Dog, about his first year with his hearing dog, and his hugely successful 2016 novel in rhyming verse, Dragonsong.

Michael is a Winchester Writer’s Festival prizewinner and has been long/shortlisted three times in the Fish Writing Contest. His work has appeared several international journals and competitions.

His children look on aghast as he squanders their inheritance on such profligacies as A4 printing paper. They need have no concern. He plans to leave them the pen.

Michael divides his time between Hampshire and Somerset, and is regularly to be found at book signings and events across the country talking about storytelling or his beloved hearing dog Matt. He attended Oxford University.

Website: http://www.michaelforester.co.uk

Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorforester1

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

Release Blitz Trying Sophie, A Dublin Rugby Romance by Rebecca Norinne

Trying Sophie

by Rebecca Norinne
Dublin Rugby #1
Publication Date: December 6, 2016
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Rugby, Sports Romance

BUY:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2gpJhTE

Paperback: http://amzn.to/2fXcSaX

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2h39d7v

BN: http://bit.ly/2g8Mfyh

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2g8KscG

iBooks: http://apple.co/2g8ICZe

SYNOPSIS:

She doesn't date players...

Sophie loves her life: she's travelled the world and lived by her own rules. But when she finds out about her grandfather's heart attack, she drops everything and boards a plane to Ireland. Two weeks, that's the plan. Until one look at her childhood nemesis has her rethinking everything. She's sworn off athletes, but she might just give him a try...

He's the biggest player of all.

Sex and rugby. Those were the only two things Declan cared about, right up until his first love waltzed back into his life. Even as he slept his way through Dublin, he never stopped thinking about her. Never stopped wondering if she thought about him, too. So even though he's never gone after a woman the way he chases down opponents on the field, this time, he won't let her get away.

On the field, he's invincible, but she just might break him.

EXCERPT

I dropped my eyes and stared at the floor. “I want you, Declan. Really, I do, but I’m worried about being just another notch on your bedpost.”

Pushing off the window, he crossed the room in three purposeful strides. Wrapping his large hands around my arms, he squeezed them gently. I raised my eyes to his.

“How can I make you see that’s not true?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you can’t.”

When I looked away he groaned and loosened his grip. Trying a different tactic, he asked, “What are you most afraid of?”

Man up Sophie, I thought to myself. If you’re not brave enough to have The Talk, you’re not mature enough to have The Sex.

I couldn’t help how I felt and if we didn’t get this out in the open, it might always be between us. And despite this being a difficult conversation, it was more important to tell him how I felt than to keep it bottled up inside and resent him in the future because I hadn’t been honest with him from the get go.

I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders. “The thing I’m most afraid of is you’re going to be with me today, then turn around and fuck someone else three days from now. I’m worried that if we do this, it’s not going to mean the same thing to you that it’ll mean to me.”

He closed his eyes and exhaled loudly as he pinched his fingers around the bridge of his nose. When he opened them, he dropped his hand and leveled an indecipherable gaze on me.

“How can you think that?”

“I know it’s not fair of me to judge you for your past, but you don’t exactly have a solid track record here. Tell me I’m wrong. Convince me that when we walk out of here you’re not going to think, ‘That Sophie, she was one hell of a lay. Who’s next?’”

“Is that really what you think of me?” he asked somberly.

“That’s what I was talking about earlier,” I answered sadly. “I don’t really know you, do I? What if you forget about me tomorrow?”

“That won’t happen.”

I continued as if he hadn’t spoken because if I didn’t, I’d never say what needed to be said.

“I know I’m leaving soon and less than an hour ago I told you we should just enjoy each other while we had the chance, but I think I’ve been fooling myself. I can’t be casual with you, Declan. If we’re going to be together, it has to be more than just sex.”

My eyes dropped to the patterned rug at our feet and I held my breath, waiting for him to laugh, scoff, or otherwise indicate I was being completely unrealistic with my expectations. Which is why I was taken by surprise when he lifted my chin with his finger and, staring into my eyes, chased away all my doubt and fear.

“Done,” he promised, finality in that one word. “And just so you know, there was never any question that’s what this would be. I’ve thought about this for so long, wanted you as much as I’ve ever wanted anything. I have no intention of screwing up one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.”

He rubbed his rough, calloused thumb across my cheek. Dropping his eyes, he cradled my face in his hands and watched his fingers stroke along the apples of my cheeks. Finally, his eyes landed back on mine. “Do you have any idea what you do to me?”

I shook my head because I couldn’t seem to find my voice.

“You ruin me.” He dropped a soft kiss on my lips. “Just completely destroy me,” he added, taking the kiss deeper.

“Let me show you Sophie,” he whispered, his gaze locked on mine. “I promise it’ll be good. I’ll be so good to you.”

I nodded and he licked the seam of my lips. Opening to him, felt the tangle of his tongue against my own, the taste of him imprinted forever on my memory.

“Yes,” I whispered and kissed him back, hungrily.

He scooped me into his arms and carried me to the bed.

ABOUT REBECCA NORINNE

Rebecca read her first book when she was four years old and has been hooked on the written word ever since. While working in technology PR in Silicon Valley, she began writing her debut novel and eventually published it six years later. At the end of 2014, she left behind her career in corporate communications to become a full time author. When she's not writing, you can find Rebecca exploring her new city of Dublin, Ireland, watching Leinster Rugby matches, or traveling the globe searching for inspiration for her next book.

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Monday, December 5, 2016

BETTER OFF THREAD BOOK TOUR

Better Off Thread
by Amanda Lee

Better Off Thread (Embroidery Mystery)
Series: Embroidery Mystery (Book 10)
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Berkley (December 6, 2016)
ISBN-13: 978-0451473851
E-Book ASIN: B01CZCW26A

Santa finds himself in a stitch of trouble in the tenth in the series from the national bestselling author of The Stitching Hour…

Marcy is busy helping her customers make hand-crafted ornaments at her embroidery shop, the Seven-Year Stitch. But despite the yuletide bustle, when her friend Captain Moe asks for her help, she can’t refuse—especially when the favor is to play the elf to his Santa for sick children at a local hospital. Despite the ridiculous outfit, Marcy finds herself enjoying spreading cheer—until the hospital’s administrator is found murdered.

Although the deceased had plenty of people willing to fill her stocking with coal, evidence pins the crime on Moe. Now it’s up to Marcy, with the help of her police officer boyfriend Ted and her Irish Wolfhound Angus, to stitch together the clues to clear Moe’s name—before someone else winds up crossed off Santa’s list for good…

About This Author

Your Biography Information for your tour page and for use by the bloggers – Gayle Trent (and pseudonym Amanda Lee) writes the Daphne Martin Cake Decorating series

and the Embroidery Mystery series. The cake decorating series features a heroine who is starting her life over in Southwest Virginia after a nasty divorce. The Embroidery Mystery series