Release Day Blitz! Excerpt & Giveaway! Bad Intentions by Nacole Stayton

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She’s careful, but wants to be reckless. 

She’s cute, but wants to be sexy. 

She’s innocent, but wants to be bad.

When ex-Olympic gymnast, Adaley Knight wakes on her eighteenth birthday she only has one wish, to leave the only town she’s ever known and start fresh.

Finding herself enrolled at a college across the globe, the once modest Adaley is almost unrecognizable. Her new persona dances on the wild side by sinking her teeth into the first bad boy she sees. The only problem is he’s not the least bit interested.

Ryle Benson, baseball extraordinaire and brooding campus bad-boy keeps everyone at an arms length. Things have never come easy for him and the last thing he needs is getting involved with any female.

The tables are reversed as she tries to be bad, tempting fate, and he tries to fight his. The push and pull is half the fun. But what happens when one pushes a little too hard?

“Dare.” Ryle’s voice is cool, calm and collected as he mumbles his answer, like there isn’t another option.

“I dare you to—” Bradley’s interrupted by several females shouting in unison. “Take off your shirt!” 

Ryle nods his head to the adorning crowd and grabs the rim of his shirt. Everyone with lady parts around the fire starts to drool. Me included. His movements are slow and sensual, and he doesn’t even bat an eye. Apparently removing an article of clothing in front of a crowd is a typical thing for him to do on a Saturday night. My needy eyes take notice to the “V” that waves hello to me as cloth is lifted from his body.

I melt.

Literally. My body fills like goo, and I wilt until nothing is left but a puddle of want and need.

“Ow ow.”

“Yumola!”

“Sexy beast.”

I feel like I need to wash my ears out. Rolling my eyes, I snatch Tank’s drink out of his hands and down it. Bottoms up.

Nacole Stayton is twenty-something years young and currently resides in the Bluegrass State where she spends her nights writing vigorously. She has a passion for helping others and wears her University of Kentucky gear proudly. While her husband loves all things outdoors, Nacole enjoys the finer things in life, like getting pedicures while reading on her Kindle. She is passionate about her faith, family, and The Vampire Diaries.

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In The Spotlight! Excerpt & Giveaway! What You Left Behind, Left Behind #1 by Len Webster

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No amount of white sand or distance could bury their past.

Some things are just never meant to be forgotten. When Julian Moors returned from Thailand he left behind all his belongings, his father and only brother in Melbourne and moved to Sydney. One girl shattered his world and left him with more questions than answers. Behind the persona, Stevie Appleton tries to outrun her past. Nightmares and memories have started to collide, putting her future and her heart at risk. No one can know the secrets she tries to keep locked away, even if it means betraying the people she loves the most. Everyone has a story but not everyone has a past quite like Stevie and Julian. When they meet years later, don't expect a happy ending. The past holds skeletons and not even these skeletons can be buried.

“Blondie, wake up for a second,” Julian whispered in her ear. Stephanie groaned and shrugged away from his touch. “Could you maybe put your erection away?” He peeked over to see her eyes still closed and her cheek rested on the back of her hand. Julian shook her once again. “You’re naked. Are you always this distracting in the morning? I’d like to wake up just once without a hard-on.” “Julian, I’m going to give you something for your ego.” She pulled the blanket higher, covering her perfect breasts. Her breasts are magic. Perfect rack. Ducking down, he pressed his lips against the smoothness of her neck. “My ego is ready.” “I bet it is.” Stephanie took a deep breath. “You are annoyingly good at sex. Go to work and let me somehow deal with the fact that I like having sex with you. Okay?” Julian had smiled against her skin before he quickly sat up. “Blondie, Blondie, Blondie!” he honeyed while he shook her with more force. Stephanie groaned before she finally sat up and rubbed her eyes. Pissed off Stephanie Appleton was a sight. So was just woken and admitted he was a satisfying lover Stephanie Appleton. She was an all-round vision. “WHAT?” Julian formed a fist and held it towards her, waiting. She glanced down at it and frowned. Her adorable frown distracted him from the fact that her breasts greeted him this morning. “Put it there.” He lifted his fist a little higher. Stephanie’s eyebrows furrowed. “You want me to bump fists with you? Why?” The smirk on his face had caused her to roll his eyes at him. “You said I’m good at sex. I like to believe I’m awesome at it, but we’ll save that kind of correction for later. You said you also like having sex with me. My ego loves that very much. And for your ego, I’m gonna tell ya that you are ridiculously good in bed. We have to bump fists for great teamwork. I come. You come. We come. What a lovely partnership we have going.” “Oh, my God! I am never having sex with you again!” He tilted his chin up at her and then cocked a brow. “What an empty threat. Seriously, put it there. Let’s celebrate what an awesome pair we are.” Stephanie playfully pushed at his shoulder and got off the bed. “You’re an idiot. I am not bumping fists with you for that. I’m going to find a way to dent that damn ego of yours. You’re going to slip up sometime, Moors. You can’t be that great in bed all the time.”

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Len Webster is a romance-loving Melburnian with dreams of finding her version of 'The One.' But until that moment happens, she writes. Having just completed her BBusCom from Monash University, Len is now busy writing her next romance about how a boy met a girl, and how they fell completely and hopelessly in love.

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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

Amazon

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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