Cover Reveal! Dirty Promises, Dirty Angels #3 by Karina Halle

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Blood. Sex. Revenge.

Being king comes at a brutal price.

Drug lord Javier Bernal has sliced and diced his way to the top of the Mexican drug trade, presiding over the country's largest cartel. But his rise to power comes at a brutal price: the death of his sister, Alana. Devastated and wracked with guilt, he turns away from his new wife, Luisa, forcing their marriage into a steady decline. But it isn't until she's pushed into the waiting arms of Esteban Mendoza, his right-hand man, that Javier realizes everything he's lost.

And it isn't until he learns the truth about Alana, that he realizes everything there is to gain.

Blood will spill.

Cities will burn.

Heads will roll.

Because Javier will stop at nothing until he gets what he wants.

And what he wants is raw, ruthless revenge.

Dirty Promises is the third and final book in the Dirty Angels Trilogy. While the other two books - Dirty Angels and Dirty Deeds - can be read as standalones, it is recommended you read at least Dirty Angels before reading Dirty Promises.

All my life, I thought I could operate under my own code of morals and ideals. It was no different than most, I supposed. The cop who has to shoot someone in self-defense. The soldiers that go to war and raid villages in the name of freedom. Everyone makes excuses for what they do, because they believe in it. Because they believe they are in the right.

I had always thought of myself as a somewhat civilized, almost classy, narco. I at least wanted to bring purpose and grace to what I did. I didn’t believe in killing mercilessly. I believed in mercy, in forgiveness, in giving people second chances. I believed in letting people go after I got what I wanted from them.

I believed that to snitch was an outrage, that even though we were dealing and fighting and killing to be in a billion dollar industry. I believed that religious celebrations were to be respected. I believed that family came first. I believed that women and children would not be harmed.

For a moment, I thought that perhaps I had lost my mind. Never mind the needless, senseless deaths that were already at my hands over the last few months. Never mind that I had broken promises to others, to myself. Dirty, filthy promises. It was then and only then that I knew I had lost who I was. That every moral fibre that I based myself on was threadbare and I was close, oh so close, to losing all sense of myself forever.

It scared me. I watched Luisa leave the room and though I was reeling from her own words, the callous ones that reached deep inside me and left a scar, I knew I might have damaged her beyond repair. I could heal myself in time, but could she? Would we? 

I didn’t think so.

Karina Halle is a former travel writer and music journalist and The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling author of Where Sea Meets Sky, Racing the Sun, The Pact, Love, in English, The Artists Trilogy, Dirty Angels and over 20 other wild and romantic reads. She lives on an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband and her rescue pup, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails and devours a lot of books.

Halle is represented by the Waxman Leavell Agency and is both self-published and published by Atria Books/Simon & Schuster and Hachette in North America and in the UK.

Hit her up on Instagram at @authorHalle , on Twitter at @MetalBlonde and on Facebook. You can also visit www.authorkarinahalle.com and sign up for the newsletter for news, excerpts, previews, private book signing sales and more.

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Book Blitz! Guest Post & Giveaway! All At Sea by Pepper Ellison

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When eighteen-year-old American Amelia Beauchamp arrives in Honolulu for a three-month stay on her family’s yacht, the only thing she has on her mind is conquering her fear of water and hopefully—for once in her life—making a few friends. The last thing she expects is to fall for cocky surf instructor, Kody Murdock.

Twenty-two-year-old Kody has fled Australia. Kody’s not looking for love, he’s not looking for a hook-up, he just wants to surf. But when pale, awkward Amelia comes walking down the beach he can’t help but think she’s kind of adorable. The pair strike up a complicated friendship.

Can these two people from different worlds find a way to interact without strangling each other? And what, or whom, is Kody running from?

A surfer romance told through text messages and emails, ALL AT SEA will appeal to fans of Meg Cabot’s THE BOY NEXT DOOR and Alyson Noel’s LAGUNA COVE.

Phrases American Girls Should Know Before 

Dating An Aussie Bloke

by Pepper Ellison

For an American girl, if you’re going to date an Aussie guy, it’s not just the accent that is hard to understand. They seem to speak a language that is not English. Your guy might lean to you and say, ‘Stone the crows! How blotto is that bush pig from whoop whoop?’ Or, ‘I’m totally spewing that I missed those cracker bumnuts smornin.’ 

Never mind. Pepper is here to translate for you.

‘Chuck a sickie’ is to feign sickness, this is also called ‘bludging’. ‘Chuck a u-ie’ is to make a u turn in traffic. To ‘chuck a wobbler’ means to throw a tantrum, just ‘chuck’ on its own means to vomit. ‘Spewing’ on the other hand means feeling disappointed.

To ‘wear the wobbly boot’ means to be drunk. You can also be ‘blotto’. ‘Off your chops’ means to be intoxicated. To ‘carry on like a pork chop’ also means to throw a tantrum. To have ‘chops’ means to be a skilled musician.

‘Sinking’ generally means drinking, as in ‘sink a coldie’, ‘sink a tinny’, ‘sink a brew’. These are all drinking beer, so you are likely to hear them a lot. (‘Sink a knuckle’ means something else…) You can also ‘crack a tinny/coldie/brew’. (To ‘crack a fat’ means something else…) 

If something is a ‘cracker’, that means very good. A ‘ticker’ is your heart. To ‘have ticker’, means to be courageous.

Your freckle is… Well, your freckle is your bum – as in ‘don’t fret your freckle’.

‘Whoop whoop’ means a long way away. ‘Within cooee’ means not far from here. It’s equivalent to a ‘stone’s throw’. ‘Stone the crows’ means, ‘I am astonished!’

‘Smornin’ is a contraction of ‘this morning’, and later in the day is ‘sarvo’.

Having a ‘Barry Crocker’ (shocker) means having a bad day.

‘Pig’s arse’ means ‘I find your story unlikely’. However, ‘rat’s arse’ means ‘I don’t care’.

A ‘boogie’ is a half-sized surf board that you ride on your belly. A ‘booger’ is snot. (Either way you don’t want to date this guy, because boogie boarding is not real surfing.)

A ‘blue’ is a fight. Most red heads are also called ‘Bluey’, or ‘bloodnut’. Your ‘nut’ is your head, unless it’s a testicle – you can assess this from context. …usually. 

‘Bum nuts’ are eggs, as are ‘cackleberries’ and ‘googs’.

To take a ‘slash’, a ‘wet’, a ‘snake’s hiss’, or to ‘drain the lizard’ all mean to urinate. Females might ‘split the whisker’.

A ‘bush pig’ is an unattractive woman. She might have a face ‘like a busted arse’.

A ‘servo’ is a petrol station. A ‘servie’ is a napkin.

‘Dommies’ are condoms.

Aussie males also have a tendency for rhetorical questions. For example:

‘How good is this brew?’

‘Doesn’t that Bluey have a cracker of a coin slot?’

‘How blotto is that bush pig from whoop whoop?’

You are generally not required to answer, but you could say something like, ‘I don’t give a rats. I’m going to split the whisker. Don’t fret your freckle. I’ll be within cooee.’

Pepper Ellison was born in 1991 on a Royal Navy ice patrol ship stationed near Ross Island along the coast of Antarctica. Currently, she divides her time between Waipahu, Hawaii and Sydney, Australia. She has worked as a marine science research assistant, specialising in sea mammals, a brand ambassador for a craft beer company, and most recently, a Harley-Davidson joy-ride driver out of Kings Creek Station in Central Australia. She is a keen surfer and gymnast. ALL AT SEA is her first novel.

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Mikky's Review! Prickly Business, Portland Pack Chronicles #1 by Piper Vaughn & Kenzie Cade

Amazon Dremspinner Press

Some people might call Avery Babineaux a prick. He’s a hedgehog shifter from an old-money Louisiana family with a penchant for expensive shoes and a reputation for being a judgmental snob. His attitude is why he and his fated mate are estranged. Not that Avery cares. He doesn’t want to be mated to some blue-collar werewolf anyway. Or so he keeps telling himself.

No werewolf likes to be looked down upon, least of all Dylan Green. He doesn’t need a mate, especially not some snotty hedgehog who sneers at his custom motorcycle shop and calls him a grease monkey. But when Avery gets into trouble with a shady loan shark, Dylan can’t stand by and let him be hurt—whether he wants the brat or not.

Yet once Dylan steps into Avery’s world, he realizes there’s more to Avery than his prickly exterior, and that unexpected vulnerability calls to Dylan’s protective instincts. The sassy little hedgehog needs a keeper, and despite their horrible first impressions, Dylan starts to believe he might be the wolf for the job.

Take a dash of stubborn, sexy as hell wolf shifter and mix with a drop of equally stubborn, half drama queen, spoiled hedgehog (I kid you not) shifter and what you get is an explosive, funny and sexy as hell concoction.

Avery is well-known for his haughty attitude and penchant for expensive things. Born in a wealthy family, he’s always had everything he ever wanted. That, until he met his mate.

Dylan is a hard working guy who’s proud of everything he’s accomplished. He hates people looking down on him and that goes for the one who is supposed to be his mate.

Let’s say that their first meeting doesn’t go very well and they end up keeping their distance from each other for a long time. 

But fate has a way of screwing up with one’s plan.

This is a great novel and I really enjoyed it. Shape shifters stories are not exactly my cup of tea but, every once in a while, it happens to find a book that I can’t put down.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how Avery changes and becomes a totally different person when the situation requires it. Because, let’s face it, in the beginning I’ve been tempted to punch him more than once.

When life kicks him, he gets up, pulls himself together and tries to find a way to survive and pay his dues.

Dylan is not the jerk he appears to be, either. 

The chemistry between these two is off the charts. Piper and Kenzie were so good at building the tension until I thought I’d explode waiting for IT to happen. Well done, ladies. Well done.

The writing style is really, really good. There’s action, suspense, romance, steamy scenes, interesting, lovable and well developed characters and lots of passion. In a few words – a little bit for everything. 

Trust me, you won’t be able to put it down and I cannot wait to get my hands on the next volume. 

Absolutely worth it and I highly recommend it! Five well deserved and “prickly” stars. *wink*

Happy Reading!

Piper Vaughn wrote her first love story at eleven and never looked back. Since then, she’s known that writing in some form was exactly what she wanted to do. A reader at the core, Piper loves nothing more than getting lost in a great book—fantasy, young adult, romance, she loves them all (and has a two thousand book library to prove it!). She grew up in Chicago, in an ethnically diverse neighborhood, and loves to put faces and characters of every ethnicity in her stories, so her fictional worlds are as colorful as the real one. Above all, she believes that everyone needs a little true love in their life…even if it’s only in a book.

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Kenzie Cade was born and raised in the South where she spends her days in the sometimes stressful field of private medicine observing interesting people and committing them to memory for later use. When she isn’t reading, experimenting with recipes, or being distracted by social media, Kenzie spends time with her family, friends, and the Pomeranian/Long-haired Chihuahua mix who likes to keep her company while she writes. As a young girl, Kenzie dreamed of princesses and their white knights. As an adult (or sort of adult), she dreams of princes and their proverbial white knights, which she attributes the fellow Arkansan S.E. Hinton and her novel The Outsiders. Writing to keep the fictional voices at bay, Kenzie enjoys the journeys her characters travel to find their happy endings, and she loves the challenge of writing a great love story.

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Release Day Blitz! Excerpt & Giveaway! Sutphin Boulevard (Five Boroughs #1) by Santino Hassell

Dreamspinner Press | All Romance ebooks

Michael Rodriguez and Nunzio Medici have been friends for two decades. From escaping their dysfunctional families in the working-class neighborhood of South Jamaica, Queens to teaching in one of the city’s most queer friendly schools in Brooklyn, the two men have shared everything. Or so they thought until a sweltering night of dancing leads to an unexpected encounter that forever changes their friendship.

Now, casual touches and lingering looks are packed with sexual tension, and Michael can’t forget the feel of his best friend’s hands on him. Once problems rear up at work and home, Michael finds himself seeking constant escape in the effortless intimacy and mind-blowing sex he has with Nunzio. But things don’t stay easy for long.

When Michael’s world begins to crumble in a sea of tragedy and complications, he knows he has to make a choice: find solace in a path of self-destruction or accept the love of the man who has been by his side for twenty years.

TEACHER HAPPY hour started at four thirty. By the time the typical party crowd showed up, the remaining stragglers from McCleary were well and truly shitfaced. Nunzio and I were among them, which was a surprise to nobody at all.

The good thing about the outing being at a so-called beer garden in Williamsburg was that it was spacious enough for conversations to be carried out in the brisk October wind, and I was a good distance from the rest of our colleagues. Things were fine until I saw David and Nunzio getting cozy at the bar.

I choked on my beer, causing bubbles to rise in the Viking-style stein that I was holding with both hands. My throat burned in protest, and I gasped a couple of times before setting the stein on the table I’d moved to on the side of the patio. Nunzio had only invited a select group of teachers from McCleary, but they talked about work with a single-minded focus that I couldn’t handle— especially not when Nunzio was playing games.

All of a sudden, Nunzio was leering at David and giving him come-suck-me smiles. Even David had seemed caught off guard by the sudden shift in Nunzio’s behavior and had avoided him for most of the night. 

Until now. 

An enormous guy with a blond beard and a faux-hawk got in my line of sight, and I had to stop myself from shoving him out of the way. He stood there with his miniature can of PBR and ranted on like a goddamned idiot about being a bona fide zombie survivalist. The conversation was so absurd that I quit eyeballing Nunzio and David to sneer at Mr. Faux-Hawk and his skewer of minisausages. He beamed up at me, oblivious to my hatred, and asked if I watched The Walking Dead. 

I shot him my most baleful stare and walked around him to return to my spying. David was close to Nunzio’s side, grinning as they looked at his phone while one of his hands rested on the small of David’s back. The motherfucker was rubbing it, but the movement was so subtle, I wouldn’t have noticed it if I hadn’t zeroed in on it with guided-missile precision.

What the hell was wrong with me? What did I care if Nunzio suddenly wanted to bang David? We both hooked up with random people all the time. Why did it matter if his fingers were slipping under the hem of David’s T-shirt? When had I reacted this adversely to the sight of Nunzio about to score?

For the past two decades, I’d watched him suck in scores of guys and had never felt this level of irritation, but I wanted to punch someone in the face at the sight of Mr. Ivy League leaning into Nunzio’s touch.

Santino is a dedicated gamer, a former fanfic writer, an ASoIaF mega nerd, a Grindr enthusiast, but most of all he is a writer of queer fiction that is heavily influenced by the gritty, urban landscape of New York City, his belief that human relationships are complex and flawed, and his own life experiences.

Read Maria's review of Sutphin Boulevard HERE!!

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Excerpt & Giveaway! More Than Fashion (Chasing the Dream #3) by Elizabeth Briggs

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They’re enemies who will do anything to win...including each other.

When pre-med student Julie Hong wins a spot on a fashion design reality TV show, she celebrates by picking up a hot English guy in a hotel bar. But too many drinks leads to a night of embarrassment and a major hangover, and wow is she glad she’ll never see him again.

Until the show starts, and he’s on it too.

Julie quickly realizes she’s out of her league among the other designers, and Gavin Bennett, with his cocky grin and sexy accent, is her biggest competition. Julie can't decide if she wants to kiss him or kill him. Or both.

After she’s almost kicked off, Julie convinces Gavin to pretend they’re sleeping together for the camera. The ploy works, but as they get closer to the show’s finale their fake relationship starts to become too real. But only one of them can win the show—and they might both end up heartbroken.

“So your name’s Julie?” he asked, his voice low enough that no one else could hear us. Except for the mic recording everything, of course.

I gestured to my name tag. “That’s what it says.”

“Sorry, it’s just a bit…anticlimactic.”

I rolled my eyes. “What did you expect, something more exotic?”

“No, but after all that build-up, I expected something a little more… I don’t know. Dramatic. Mysterious.” His gaze skimmed down my body. “Naughty.”

“Sorry to disappoint you.”

One side of his mouth curled up. “I suppose I’ll have to keep calling you ‘love.’”

“That really won’t be necessary. Julie is fine.”

“Oh no, I can’t do that. You said no names, after all.”

I quickly switched off my mic. Did Gavin not understand this was all being recorded? That the sound guys were probably listening to our every word? Or did he just not care?

I moved closer, reaching for his shirt as though I was flirting with him. He didn’t pull away, and I heard his sharp intake of breath as my fingers slipped inside his collar. I turned off his mic and kept my voice low.

“That was last night. Things have changed. Obviously.” I dropped my hand and stepped back. “And you need to be careful what you say while the mics are on.”

“Speaking of last night, how are you feeling today, love?”

“I’m fine, Gavin,” I snapped. “How are you? Get lots of sleep after you took off without a word?”

“I did, actually.” He gave me a devious grin that only annoyed me more. “I admit, I never expected to see you again. I’m quite surprised you’re here.”

“You’re surprised? You told me you were an artist visiting from London!”

“I am an artist visiting from London. You said you were a pre-med student.”

“I am a pre-med student!”

“Then what are you doing on the show?”

“Same as you, I imagine. Trying to win.”

“That’s too bad, love. Because I’m going to win.”

I snorted. “I’d tell you to kiss my ass, but you’d probably fall in love with me and then I’d never get rid of you.”

He gave a sharp laugh. “Trust me, there is zero chance of that happening.”

“Good. Because I don’t have time for complications like you.”

“Oh, now I’m a complication? You didn’t seem to think that last night when I was between your legs.”

His words sent a rush of unwanted desire through me. “Last night never happened,” I whispered, stabbing a finger into his chest. “And we’re never going to speak of it again.”

Elizabeth Briggs is a full-time geek who writes books for teens and adults. She graduated from UCLA with a degree in Sociology, currently mentors teens in writing, and volunteers with a dog rescue group. She's the author of the new adult Chasing The Dream series and the upcoming young adult novel Future Shock. Elizabeth lives in Los Angeles with her husband and a pack of fluffy dogs.

Elizabeth is represented by Kate Schafer Testerman of KT Literary and is a member of SCBWI and RWA.

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Book Promo & Giveaway!Just South of Biloxi (Asylum #4) by Lauren Hammond

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Just south of Biloxi there was a girl with spunk, a girl with spirit. 

A girl with fire. 

A girl with a heart full of rebellion. 

Just south of Biloxi there was a boy, with a dazzling smile and a kind demeanor. 

A boy with morals. 

A boy in love. 

Just south of Biloxi there were a boy and a girl who realized too quickly, too swiftly, that there is such a thing as shattered hearts and cracked dreams. 

Just south of Biloxi there were a boy and a girl who would never truly understand the meaning of some hearts and some worlds are better left broken. 

Aurora O'Reilly always prided herself in the fact that she was different. She was a rebel, never really fitting into the ideals that society had set up for her. But Aurora O'Reilly was also full of secrets and deep, dark thoughts. Dark thoughts that weren't normal. Dark thoughts that plagued her and tormented her on most nights. 

After deciding to trust her best friend and the love of her life by divulging her deepest darkest secrets, Aurora is faced with the fact that she might have found someone that she can really and truly trust or she just might have made the biggest mistake of her life. 

Lauren Hammond knew from a young age that she was born to be a writer. After publishing her first novel in 2007, she then went on to write several screenplays and a few award winning poems.She aspires to be a positive role model for young people who have a pencil, a piece of paper, and a dream. Never give up on your dreams, you might wake up one day and regret not pursuing them.She has two more novels in the works, as well as some film projects

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Excerpt & Giveaway! The Tempest, Bowers and Hunter Mysteries by James Lilliefors

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James Lilliefors's unlikely detective duo, Pastor Luke Bowers and homicide investigator Amy Hunter, return in a new murder mystery set in Maryland's picturesque Tidewater County

Tourists like Susan Champlain pass through the Chesapeake Bay region every year. But when Susan pays Pastor Luke Bowers a visit, he's disturbed by what she shares with him. Her husband has a short temper, she says, and recently threatened to make her "disappear" because of a photo Susan took on her phone.

Luke is concerned enough to tip off Tidewater County's chief homicide investigator, Amy Hunter. That night, Susan's body is found at the foot of the Widow's Point bluff. Hunter soon discovers Susan left behind clues that may connect her fate to a series of killings in the Northeast, a powerful criminal enterprise, and to a missing Rembrandt masterpiece, The Storm on the Sea of Galilee.

Whoever is behind the killings has created a storm of deception and betrayal, a deliberate "tempest" designed to obscure the truth. Now Hunter and Bowers must join forces to trace the dangerous secret glimpsed in Susan's photo. But will they be the next targets on a killer's deadly agenda . . . ?

Prologue

Spring

“Miracles. What can I tell you? In a skeptical world, if a real miracle occurred, it wouldn’t even make the evening news. Who would believe it? This one, though, will be different. This one, the skeptics won’t be able to explain. People will want to see for themselves; they’ll line up around the block to have a look. That’s what we need to talk about.”

Walter Kepler watched his attorney’s own skepticism harden slightly as he waited on the details of Kepler’s plan. Jacob Weber was used to this, to Kepler’s Barnum-like enthusiasms as he introduced a new idea. Weber had precise, dark eyes, a narrow face, bristly white hair cut close to the scalp. Seen from behind, he could appear as small and fragile as a child. But he also possessed that rarest of human qualities—consistent good judgment; unerringly good, in Kepler’s estimation.

As presented, Kepler’s plan consisted of three parts: A sells a painting to B; B sells the painting to C; and C (who was Kepler) uses the painting to bring about a “miracle.” The first two parts of the plan he would handle himself, with the assistance of Nicholas Champlain and, of course, Belasco. It was for third part that he needed Jacob Weber’s help—needed his judgment, and, ultimately, his skills as a negotiator.

Kepler had been formulating versions of this plan in his head since he was a boy, trailing his father through the great art museums of the Northeast and Europe, stopping to stare at some painting or sculpture that, his father insisted, was not only an important work but also a masterpiece. With time, Kepler had learned to tell the difference, to understand why certain paintings—like certain people, and ideas—held greater intrinsic value than others. He had spent much of his adult life refining that understanding, through the storms of sudden wealth, divorce and the more mundane trials of daily living.

When he finished telling Weber his plan, Kepler turned the conversation to the painting. He watched Weber’s face flush with a new interest as he described the masterpiece that had dominated his thoughts for the past three weeks, ever since he’d ascertained that it was the real thing. The tempest. Fourteen men trapped on a boat. Each responds differently to a life-threatening storm: one trying valiantly to fix the main sail, another cowering in terror from the waves, one calmly steering the rudder. Fourteen men, fourteen reactions. Kepler imagined how his attorney would react once the waters began to churn in another several months.

Then Kepler sat back and let Jacob Weber voice his concerns. They were much as he had expected—candid, well-reasoned, occasionally surprising. Kepler managed to fend off most; those he couldn’t, he stored away.

“So what are we looking at?” his attorney asked. “When would it need to happen?”

Kepler glanced at Weber’s right hand, absently tracing the stem of the coffee cup. It was a pleasant April morning, the bay shivering with whitecaps.

“Late summer,” he said. “August, I’m thinking.”

His attorney thought about that, showing no expression. Calculating how the plan would interrupt and impact his own life, no doubt. Jacob Weber finally closed and opened his eyes. He nodded. “It’s do-able,” he said. After a thoughtful pause, he added, “Actually, I kind of like it.”

Weber’s response would have sounded lukewarm to an outsider. To Kepler, it was a hearty endorsement. In fact, he had never known Jacob Weber to be quite so enthusiastic about one of his ideas. All in all, it was a very good start.

James Lilliefors is the author of the geopolitical thriller novels The Levianthan Effect and Viral. A journalist and novelist who grew up near Washington DC, Lilliefors is also the author of three nonfiction books. He writes the Luke Bowers and Amy Hunter series for Witness.

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