Garrett
Tucker inherits his grandfather's casino empire and steps into the
reclusive billionaire's shoes as the "Prince of Vegas." His
first act is to buy a bankrupt casino in Biloxi. When he discovers
embezzling in his new operation, Garrett goes undercover. His prime
suspect is the new finance supervisor—the spitfire brunette who
stole his heart at first sight.
Andi
Ryan moves to Biloxi to care for her godmother and takes a job as
finance supervisor for the renovated Bayou Princess casino. She
discovers someone is skimming from the till and starts her own
investigation, worried she will be blamed for the theft when the new
owner discovers her godmother has a gambling addiction.
A
rival Vegas competitor has sent a spy in to ruin the Bayou Princess,
and Garrett and Andi are forced to work together to prove her
innocence and discover the identity of their casino spy.
Petie
spent a large part of her career working at Walt Disney World -- "The
Most Magical Place on Earth" -- where she enjoyed working in the
land of fairy tales by day and creating her own romantic fairy tales
by night, including her new series, The Cinderella Romances. She
eventually said good-bye to her "day" job to write her
stories full-time. These days Petie spends her time writing sequels
to her regency time travel series, Lords in Time, and her
cozy-mystery-with-a-dash-of-romantic-suspense series, the Mystery
Angel Romances.
Petie shares
her home on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee with her
horticulturist husband, a spoiled-rotten English Springer spaniel
addicted to pimento-stuffed green olives, and a noisy Nanday conure
named Sassy who made a cameo appearance in Angel to the Rescue.
Ivy
Phillips is on a mission. She’s an investigative reporter for the
Pasadena Tribune, and is hoping to write the story of the century by
infiltrating Pleasure Island claiming to be a submissive. Except,
when she gets there, she inadvertently finds herself auctioned off
for charity and now has two hunky cowboys who want to own her body
and soul.
Dax
Johnson and Nate Banks have been a rodeo team – and lovers – for
years. But they’ve yearned to add a sweet submissive to their
union. When they meet Ivy, Dax knows she is the one for them, and the
duo set out on a seductive campaign to win Ivy’s affection.
But
when the truth is revealed, will their newfound relationship survive?
Or will the two cowboys ride off into the sunset without her?
Publisher’s
Note: This is the ninth – and final – instalment of Anya Summers’
bestselling Pleasure Island series. While we recommend all the books,
it can be enjoyed on its own.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt
Two:
“You
cried?” Kevin asked aghast, a hand against his chest and his eyes
wide with horror at her perceived faux pas.
“Nope.
My date did. Going on and on about his ex. Clearly the guy wasn’t
ready to get back out into the meat market. After listening for two
hours about how much he loved Kelli with an ‘i,’ I was done,”
she replied, getting up from her desk with her iPad in her hand to
take notes during the meeting. Since she was the ‘horoscope
girl’—as in, that was the only column she wrote—her boss, Don
Moss, tended to have her perform secretarial duties as well. Like
taking the meeting minutes during the weekly bull pen meeting on
Monday mornings.
“Oh
god, well, you’re better off, sweetie. I know this guy—”
“The
men you know are gay. Not that I don’t love you and every gay man
on the planet—because how would I know what to wear otherwise?—but
I can’t date a gay man.”
Kevin
cast her a patronizing glance. “Why not, honey? We make the best
boyfriends.”
“Yeah,
but there’s that whole ‘I’d like to have sex this decade with
something not battery-operated’ thing. Aren’t you guys
anti-vaginas anyhow? I kind of have the wrong equipment for a gay
man,” she said with a laugh.
Kevin
gave her a wicked grin. “Oh, honey, just because we don’t
actively pursue women doesn’t mean we don’t know how to please
one in bed. And after a few good orgasms, we’d make you the best
damn quiche with a buttery crust that would melt in your mouth, and
mimosas with freshly squeezed orange juice. And then we’d go get
some mani-pedis together.”
Ivy
sighed. That sounded like heaven. Having someone else take care of
things, of her, for a change. The fact she was actually considering
his offer was a rather disconcerting discourse about the state of her
life. “If the men I date don’t improve soon, I promise to let you
fix me up.”
“You
won’t regret it,” Kevin assured her with a saucy grin and wink as
they walked through the office.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR
Bio and Links:
Born in
St. Louis, Missouri, Anya grew up listening to Cardinals baseball and
reading anything she could get her hands on. She remembers her mother
saying if only she would read the right type of books instead binging
her way through the romance aisles at the bookstore, she’d have
been a doctor. While Anya never did get that doctorate, she graduated
cum laude from the University of Missouri-St. Louis with an M.A. in
History.
Anya is
a bestselling and award-winning author published in multiple fiction
genres. She also writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance under
the name Maggie Mae Gallagher. A total geek at her core, when she is
not writing, she adores attending the latest comic con or spending
time with her family. She currently lives in the Midwest with her two
furry felines.
Winter Belafonte, Princess of Stoneshire, is a girl with her heart set on finding a handsome prince to live out her happily ever after. However, when the expectations of running her father’s kingdom conflict with the love she so desires, she realizes the pursuit of happiness comes with a hefty price, leaving her with one question to answer, how far will I go for love?
Estevan St. Claire, Prince of Farrington, is the prince of every woman’s fantasy. He attends the Annual Winter’s ball to meet Gwendolyn Balavarr, Princess of Adonis, the woman he is arranged to marry, with the promise of strengthening the alliance of their kingdoms. But when he locks eyes with an undeniable beauty—another princess with cherry red lips and skin so temptingly sweet—Gwendolyn nor any other woman in the room no longer exists.
Until he learns their kingdoms have a long-standing vendetta.
Still, the sexual tension between Winter and Estevan is too intense for them to ignore, placing the fate of their kingdoms in jeopardy. This predicament leaves the prince with one question to answer, can I risk it all for love?
Will Winter and Estevan’s all-consuming love conquer all, or are they just a devastating tragedy waiting to happen?
About the Book
Winter's Kiss by J.P. Uvalle Series n/a Genre Adult Erotic Romance Fantasy Publisher Beautifully Twisted Publishing Publication Date January 8, 2018 Available On
About the Author
J. P. Uvalle is a beautifully twisted soul who has a passion for writing paranormal romance and has the divine ability to make the unbelievable, believable. She was born and raised in Colorado Springs, went to Bel-Rea Institute of Animal Technology and graduated with an Associate’s degree in Applied Science and Technology. JP works part-time as an ICU technician in Highlands Ranch, Colorado at an emergency/specialty hospital.
Aside from being a technician and a writer, she runs two businesses in her spare time— Beautifully Twisted Publishing, and Mary Kay. On top of that, she also contributes her time to the Beneath the Ashes Blog as a Promotions Manager.
When she’s not saving lives, coming up with her next plot twist or making women feel pretty and pampered, she’s spending time with family and friends.
These are super cute solar Garden stake lights. The lights rotate through several colors. There are 3 stakes in the set a butterfly, a hummingbird, and a dragonfly. The stakes are metal and 2 piece. The lower piece is about 16 inches long and the upper piece is about 12 inches long. They simply slide together. The Solar part is attached to the top piece. You also just slide the butterfly, hummingbird, and dragonfly onto the top of the stake. There is a sliding power switch on the bottom of the solar panel to turn the lights on.
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I also love these there are 2 modes to choose from solid and flashing. The strand is 19.7 feet long and there are 30 lights on the strand. I can go around my flower bed or even use these on a porch. My husband has put a slit a in the screen of my porch to be able to attach the solar box outside of the porch in full sunlight. But I have also just set these on the ledge around my porch and they have charged, where the sun shines in several hours of the day. The floral bulbs are beautiful where ever you put them and could even be used as part of any holiday light display.
Content Rating: PG + M (Please be aware that TWOFER MURDER is a murder mystery. There are depictions of murder and some violence--though easy on the gore contents. No f-words but there may be some mild profanity, and mild religious expletives such as "damn", "hell" and "Oh God!". Some depictions of brief sexual content (kissing). No drug use or underage drinking among the protagonists.)
Book Description:
Twofer murder? What’s a twofer murder?
Twofer Murder is a treat for fans of best-selling author Lauren Carr’s fast-paced mysteries! Lauren’s latest novel contains the main characters from her three successful series: Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, and Thorny Rose mysteries. The guys go away for a fishing weekend only to get caught up in the murder of a journalist investigating fraud at a timber company. Meanwhile, the ladies are spending the weekend in the presidential suite at a posh resort where Jessica Faraday is to accept a lifetime achievement award for her late grandmother at a murder mystery writers conference. But before they have time to get their facials, they get wrapped up in their own real mystery when an up and coming author ends up dead!
Lauren Carr’s Twofer Murder is a 2-for-1—making it a must-read for any mystery fan!
Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, and Thorny Rose Mysteries—over twenty titles across three fast-paced mystery series filled with twists and turns!
Book reviewers and readers alike rave about how Lauren Carr’s seamlessly crosses genres to include mystery, suspense, romance, and humor.
Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She lives with her husband, and three dogs on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.
Anyone who has read even one of my murder mysteries learns one thing instantly about me—I love animals. That’s love with a capital “L”. I can’t help it. I was raised on a farm surrounded by dogs, cats, cattle, horses, rabbits. When I moved out on my own, it was a given that I would have a cat or dog. I didn’t care which. If it has fur, feathers, paws or claws, I’m all over it.
So, when I started writing books, I naturally had to include furry characters. Now, if you haven’t read one of my mysteries, then don’t assume that I have animal detectives. No, my fur-covered characters are more realistic. They don’t talk or even do detective work. But, they are still characters who interact with the humans enough to be worthy of being listed in my cast of characters at the front of the book.
Let me illustrate.
Recently, we took Storm, our female German shepherd, to the vet for a check up. I was concerned that she has been looking more pudgy than she should. Now Storm (aka Sweetheart) is the sweetest, gentlest darling-est canine you would ever want to meet. But she gets very nervous when she goes for a ride in the car and my husband went along to hold her paw. When the vet came into the office, Storm squeezed in behind Jack's knees. The vet had to get down on her hands and knees to examine her. As she was putting the stethoscope to Storm's ribs, she turned to me and said, "You're right. She is overweight."
Suddenly, Storm's eyes bulged and she lunged for the vet--barking and snarling. The vet jumped up to her feet and backed away. Jack held her back saying, "It's okay, Storm. You look good."
As the vet was backing out of the room, she apologized and said she should have been more sensitive. "Most women react that way when they're told they're overweight."
Storm prefers to think of herself as "voluptuous."
Now, any dog expert will immediately declare that Storm was not reacting to the vet’s comment as much as she attacked out of fear when the vet got too close. However, the imaginative writer in me, and my husband and vet as well, saw the pure humor in Storm’s timing to become violently offended at the vet’s comment about her full figure.
As a writer, I am constantly watching and studying people in my search for interesting characters. Often, one or two traits in a real-life individual will serve as a jumping off point to make for a wildly memorable character. I can honestly say that this is abundantly true with my fur-covered characters as well.
The famous Gnarly (Or should I say infamous?) is based on Ziggy, an Australian shepherd, that my son acquired as a puppy at a football game. I had had dogs all my life, but never did I have a dog who was as mischievous and smart as this one—until years later when I adopted a German shepherd puppy who I had named Gnarly after my fictional character. Ziggy was so troublesome that I had him analyzed by an animal behavioral expert who said that the pup was so intelligent that he was easily bored. Therefore, he looked for trouble to amuse himself.
Thus, Mac Faraday’s Gnarly was born!
Cat owners, have you ever met a one-person cat? Irving, the black and white Maine Coon who is identical to a skunk in my Lovers and Crime mystery series, is based on Duchess. Unlike Irving, Duchess’s markings were the reverse of a skunk. She was white with a black stripe down her back.
Like Irving, Duchess was a one-woman cat. She was intensely jealous of my husband when he stole me away from her. One evening, I had spent a whole evening making a romantic dinner—chateaubriand for two for my new husband. We had candlelight, fire in the fireplace, champagne, the works. In our small first apartment, the dining area was in a great room, with the table set up next to the back of the sofa.
We had just started to eat when Duchess jumped up onto the back of the sofa and made her way down the whole length of it to where Jack was sitting. We couldn’t help but notice her because she slithered toward him with such a sense of purpose.
“Look at that,” Jack said as she moved up to his shoulder.
Looking right at Jack, Duchess moved in closer and then shot a giant hairball straight at his plate. Two points as the hairball landed right on top of the chateaubriand!
Jack and I screamed. Duchess flew off the sofa and disappeared for a very long time. No one missed the fact that she had deposited that hairball in Jack’s plate to send a message meant only for him—the homewrecker who had stolen her human.
It was that incident that inspired Irving, Cameron Gate’s one woman cat, who views her husband Joshua Thornton as competition for her affection. Recently, I decided to give Irving a break by giving him another human to attach himself to in Izzy, the Thornton’s adopted daughter.
I can’t resist using animal character because they are characters.
In Three Days to Forever and the Thorny Rose Mysteries, readers metSpencer is Jessica’s sheltie, a blue merle (her fur is bluish in color and she has blue eyes). Admittedly, Spencer is not very bright, but she is as adorable as can be. Murphy calls her Candi and she answers to that. The inspiration for this was my own family. My husband always renames our pets, who will then answer to anything.
Then, we have Newman. He is The Man in the Thorny Rose mysteries! Newman is based on our beagle, Beagle Bailey. A number of readers have told me about their canine couch potatoes. Newman has his chair, which no one is allowed to sit in, a television remote which he slaps with his paw to change channels, and he refuses to go for walks.
In a nutshell, Newman is the dog who doesn’t do anything—just like some people I know.
Some may arch an eyebrow at the notion of pets ranking high enough to be an actual character in a book. Those people, I must assume have never actually had a pet. Anyone who has welcomed an animal into their family knows that pets possess full blown personalities and even quirks just like humans.
Where does all these furry characters end? I really don’t know. Recently, I’ve been interviewing a rabbit named Thor, who would like a role in my new series, The Chris Matheson Mysteries …
What are readers saying about Lauren Carr's mysteries?
They
think she's a monster, but she's their only hope…
In
a divided nation, 14-year-old Jetta belongs nowhere. Her face is
split right down the middle: half-black and half-white. The non-white
residents of her New Orleans camp call her a demon. The white
oppressors who took over during the 2nd American Civil War have
called her much worse…
After
years as an outcast, Jetta uncovers her true heritage as the daughter
of an African storm god and a Finnish death goddess. As she attempts
to harness her terrible new abilities to turn the tide in the war,
trouble comes to those she tries to help. Only Jetta has the power to
heal her divided homeland… or destroy everything in her path…
Girl
Dividedis a post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel infused
with magical forces. If you like immersive worlds, strong characters,
and a tale that reads like Neil Gaiman and Stephen King combined,
then you'll love Willow Rose's provocative story.
The
Queen of Scream aka Willow Rose is a #1 Amazon Best-selling Author
and an Amazon ALL-star Author of more than 40 novels. She writes
Mystery, Suspense, Horror, Supernatural thrillers, and Fantasy.
She
lives on Florida's Space Coast with her husband and two daughters.
When she is not writing or reading, you will find her surfing and
watch the dolphins play in the waves of the Atlantic
Ocean.
Willow's
books are fast-paced, nail-biting pageturners.
Several
of her books have reached the Kindle top 20 of ALL books in the US,
UK, and Canada.
How Far Would You Go For Happily Ever After?
