July 29, 2015

Excerpt & Giveaway! The Orchard at the Edge of Town, Apple Valley #3 by Shirlee McCoy



Apple Valley, Washington, is where starting over means surprising new chances, facing trouble always brings a helping hand—and the most unlikely hopes can forever come true…

Apricot Sunshine Devereux-Miller needs to stay lost. Her eccentric aunt's home in Apple Valley is the perfect place to forget her cheating ex-fiancĂ© and get her no-longer-perfect life back under control. Plus, it couldn't hurt to fix up the house and turn its neglected orchard into a thriving business. And if Apricot can keep Deputy Sheriff Simon Baylor's two lively young daughters out of mischief, maybe she can ignore that he’s downright irresistible—and everything she never dreamed she'd find ...

Simon isn't looking to have his heart broken again. He already has his hands full raising his girls. And lately he's thinking way too much about Apricot's take-charge energy and unwitting knack for stirring up trouble. He can't see a single way they could ever be right for each other. Unless they can take a crazy chance on trusting their hearts—and risking the courage to finally find their way home.


“Taking a plane trip somewhere?” Deputy Baylor stood beside her as she dragged the carry-on case from the trailer. He smelled like the outdoors. Clean and fresh with just a hint of something darkly masculine. She might have been intrigued if she weren’t completely done with men.

“Was going to take a plane trip.” She unzipped the front compartment.

“To?”

“Aruba.” She pulled out her passport and driver’s license. Thank God. She really didn’t want to spend time in the local jail. She especially didn’t want to have to call her family to come bail her out. She loved every one of them, but they were bigger than life.

At least, bigger than her life.

She might own a multimillion-dollar business, but she enjoyed peace and quiet. She liked fireplaces and good books, hot chocolate and strolls at midnight.

She did not like chaos and noise and . . . well . . . everything her family stood for—free love, self expression above personal responsibility, pursuit of happiness rather than financial stability.

“Is that your license?” Deputy Baylor prodded, and she realized she’d been standing there in that blasted dress, staring at her driver’s license like it could reveal the secret to self-actualization.

“Yes. Here you are.” She held it out to him, blinking as she looked into those forest-green eyes. He had long, black lashes that any woman would have coveted, but somehow they didn’t add any femininity to his craggy face.

No. Not craggy.

Lived-in. Fine lines near the corners of his eyes. Deep creases on either side of his mouth. He didn’t look much older than her. Maybe thirty-five, but he looked like he’d lived through some tough times.

Deputy Baylor glanced at her license. He didn’t mention that she’d been a bleached blonde when the photo was taken. Lionel’s stupid idea. Now that she was thinking about it, he’d had a lot of stupid ideas.

“No-good, two-timing son of a chimney sweep,” she muttered under her breath.

The deputy looked up, a puzzled smile easing the hard lines of his face. “Did you just call me a two timing son of a chimney sweep?”

“Not you. My ex. He arrived at the wedding late. Not a good beginning to forever.”

“You were married?”

“Almost.” She lifted the poufy skirt of her dress. “Isn’t that obvious?”

“I’m not much in the know about women’s wedding fashion,” he responded, that hint of the Deep South even more pronounced. “I’m not much in the know about women’s fashion in general.”

“You’re not from around here,” she said. It sounded like a pickup line, and she wanted to pull the dang words right back into her mouth as soon as she said them.

“Neither are you,” he replied, without even a hint of flirtation in his voice. That was exactly how she wanted it, but for some reason her cheeks were hot and she couldn’t quite meet his eyes as he handed the license back.


 


Shirlee McCoy spent her childhood making up stories and acting them out with her sister. It wasn’t long before she discovered Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, her mother’s gothic romances . . . and became an ardent fan of romantic suspense. She still enjoys losing herself in a good book. And she still loves making up stories. Shirlee and her husband live in Washington and have five children. 
Readers can visit her website at www.shirleemccoy.com.




Excerpt & Giveaway! If He's Noble, Wherlocke #7 by Hannah Howell



New York Times bestselling author Hannah Howell delivers adventure and instant attraction in this all-new Wherlocke Family novel...

For Lady Primrose Wootten nothing has been ordinary since her father the Baron died and his wayward family filled the estate with greed and treachery. Primrose knows if she can just track down her brother, he can send the odious relations on their way. But instead she finds this enormous, powerful stranger, and forgets entirely what she was doing in the first place...

Sir Bened Vaughn isn't much afraid of a pistol. But he is a bit afraid of the woman holding it, who stirs up something so primal he's not sure he can shake it off. Vaughn is an honorable man, and he knows he has no right to desire Primrose. Yet he does have an obligation to help her, and as they learn more about her brother's disappearance, he realizes that means staying by her side...wanting her all the while... and wondering how much longer they can resist temptation...


She sat up straight when she heard the faint echo of the sound of greetings exchanged and the inn workers responding to a new arrival. Primrose prayed it was Sir Bened. Now that he might have returned safely she realized just how deeply afraid for him she had been.

The door opened. Bened stepped in and shut the door behind him. He watched her, smiling faintly but with a look of caution in his eyes. Primrose did not even consider the good or bad sides of what she did next as she stood up, ran over to him, and hugged him. To her shock it was not just relief she felt as her body was pressed up against his and his strong arms wrapped around her. Beneath the lightness of the relief she felt over seeing him return unharmed, a warmth spread through her. Innocent she might be, but Primrose was almost certain that heat was born of desire. Blushing, she stepped back.

“My apologies,” she murmured when he grasped her hands to halt her retreat. “I fear I did naught but sit here and fret after you left to find the horse thieves and the relief I felt to see you return safely proved stronger than good sense and good manners.”

“I did not hear myself complain,” Bened said.

Primrose laughed but knew it was a shaky sound. She had not put on her gloves and she could feel the warmth of his large, lightly calloused hands spreading through her. It troubled her when she found it took a great deal of effort to move her gaze from his mouth and look into his beautiful eyes. The warmth of his gaze only increased the growing urge she had to throw herself back into his arms, to feel that warm, strong body pressed against her again. She nervously cleared her throat and tugged her hands free of his. The disappointment that came over her at the loss of the warmth of his touch worried her.

The man was a sore temptation, Primrose decided. It was odd for she was not one who was often tempted by a man, certainly not by just looking at him. Bened was not a man who drew the sighs of delight from many women as her brother Simeon did. There was no prettiness to Bened, just strength. He was handsome but not exceptionally so, his cheekbones a little too sharply defined, his skin good but a bit too swarthy to please some. His thick long lashes surrounding his beautiful eyes and, perhaps, his attractive mouth were the only hints of softness on his face.

His mouth was what kept drawing her gaze and she was not sure why. It was a little wide but that suited his square face. The bottom lip was fuller than the top, which she supposed was what gave it that tempting softness. Finally she found one reason she was attracted to that mouth. She wanted to taste it, to see if it was as warm and soft as its appearance promised it would be. And that was not an urge she should give in to, she told herself firmly.





Hannah D. Howell is a highly regarded and prolific romance writer. Since Amber Flame, her first historical romance, was released in February 1988, she has published 25 novels and short stories, with more on the way. Her writing has been repeatedly recognized for its excellence and has "made Waldenbooks Romance Bestseller list a time or two" as well as was nominated twice by Romantic Times for Best Medieval Romance (Promised Passion and Elfking's Lady). She has also won Romantic Times' Best British Isles Historical Romance for Beauty and the Beast; and, in 1991-92 she received Romantic Times' Career Achievement Award for Historical Storyteller of the Year.
Hannah was born and raised in Massachusetts (the maternal side of her family has been there since the 1630's). She has been married to her husband Stephen for 28 years, who she met in England while visiting relatives, and decided to import him. They have two sons Samuel, 27, and Keir, 24. She is addicted to crocheting, reads and plays piano, attempts to garden, and collects things like dolls, faerie and cat figurines, and music boxes. She also seems to collect cats, as she now has four of them, Clousseau, Banshee, Spooky, and Oliver Cromwell.




Release Day Blitz, Excerpt & Giveaway! Every Last Breath, The Dark Elements #3 by Jennifer L. Armentrout


Some loves will last ’til your dying breath

Every choice has consequences—but seventeen-year-old Layla faces tougher choices than most. Light or darkness. Wickedly sexy demon prince Roth, or Zayne, the gorgeous, protective Warden she never thought could be hers. Hardest of all, Layla has to decide which side of herself to trust.

Layla has a new problem, too. A Lilin—the deadliest of demons—has been unleashed, wreaking havoc on those around her…including her best friend. To keep Sam from a fate much, much worse than death, Layla must strike a deal with the enemy while saving her city—and her race—from destruction.

Torn between two worlds and two different boys, Layla has no certainties, least of all survival, especially when an old bargain comes back to haunt them all. But sometimes, when secrets are everywhere and the truth seems unknowable, you have to listen to your heart, pick a side—and then fight like hell… 


Roth cleared his throat. “Shortie, look…look at your hand.”

Look at my hand? Why in the world would he be asking me to do that in the midst of all the cray?

“Do it,” he said quietly and too gently.

The dread exploded in my gut like buckshot, and my gaze dropped to my left hand. I expected to see the weird marbling of black and gray, a mixture of the demon and Warden that existed inside of me and a combination I’d become almost familiar with by now. My nails had lengthened and sharpened, and I could tell they were hard enough to cut through steel, as hard as my skin, but my skin…it was still pink. Really pink.

“What the…?” My gaze traveled to my other hand. It was the same. Just pink. My wings twitched, reminding me that I had shifted.

Zayne swallowed. “Your…your wings…”

“What about my wings?” I almost screeched, reaching be‑ hind me. “Are they broken? Did they not come out—” The tips of my fingers came into contact with something as soft as silk. My hand jerked back. “What…”

Stacey’s watery eyes had doubled in size. “Um, Layla, there’s a mirror above the fireplace. I think you need to look in it.”

I met Roth’s gaze for a second before I spun around and all but ran to the fireplace I was sure Stacey’s mom had never used. Clutching the white mantel, I stared at my reflection.

I looked normal, like I did before I shifted…like I was going to class or something. My eyes were the palest shade of gray, a watered-down blue. My hair was so blond it was almost white, and a mess of waves that went in every direction like usual. I looked like a colorless china doll, which was nothing new, except for the two fangs jutting out of my mouth. I wouldn’t show them off at school, but that wasn’t what caught my attention and held it.

It was my wings.

They were large, not as massive as Zayne’s or Roth’s, and normally they were almost leathery in texture, but now they were black…black and feathered. Like legit feathered. That soft, silky thing I’d felt? It had been tiny feathers.

Feathers.

“Oh my God,” I whispered at my reflection. “I have feathers.”

“Those are definitely feathered wings,” Roth commented.

I whipped around, knocking over a lamp with my feathered right wing. “I have feathers on my wings!”

Roth cocked his head to the side. “Yeah, you do.”

He was absolutely no help, so I turned to Zayne. “Why do I have feathers on my wings?”

Zayne shook his head slowly. “I don’t know, Layla. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“Liar,” hissed Roth, shooting him a dark look. “You’ve seen that before. So have I.”








# 1 New York Times and # 1 International Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing, she spends her time reading, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki.

Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her book Obsidian has been optioned for a major motion picture and her Covenant Series has been optioned for TV. Her young adult romantic suspense novel DON’T LOOK BACK was a 2014 nominated Best in Young Adult Fiction by YALSA.

She also writes Adult and New Adult contemporary and paranormal romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.




July 28, 2015

Release Day Blitz & Giveaway! Mind Over Matter, Loose Ends #3 by Kaia Bennett

MindOverMatterEbook


They said they would try. They said they would give their love a chance. But when the mistakes of Gabriel's past clashed with Nicole's hopes for the future, they realized love wasn't enough. They tied up the loose ends of their broken hearts and walked away. Now, Gabriel's career is on a meteoric rise and he is back to his bachelor ways. He told Nicole he couldn't promise forever and did his best to let her go, but these days he wonders if he spoke too soon. Nicole has a new life, a new man, and she refuses to look back. To everyone around her though, not looking back looks an awful lot like running scared from the past. With Jackie and Ian's wedding approaching, a reunion between the best man and the maid of honor is to be expected. What they don't expect is for the olive branch of friendship to catch fire with a love and need that is stronger than even their best intentions. They called it quits. But is it really over? They still love each other. But does that even matter when they've made up their minds that there's no going back? *NOTE* Mind Over Matter is the third and final book in the Loose Ends series.

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Closer cover


After a whirlwind week of hot sex and growing affection, Nicole and Gabriel were forced to part ways and to return to real life. For a while they danced around each other, meeting up when they could, the distance between them rivaled only by their desire to be together again. Now these lovers are no longer star-crossed. They’re in the same city at the same time and can finally indulge their insatiable passion. At least until Gabriel’s increasingly popular band goes on tour. But the ticking clock of his budding music career isn’t the only obstacle to contend with. A blast from Gabriel’s wild past, a guy that kept Nicole warm in Gabriel’s absence, and fear of what the future holds all converge just as they’ve begun to realize this might be love… Author's Note: This book contains strong language and sexual content with dark elements, some of which readers may find uncomfortable.


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#1 Crush Cover

Nicole Langley’s #1 Crush has always been Gabriel Roberts, but settling for being a friendly acquaintance has had to be enough. Gabriel has always seen Nicole as his good friend’s very pretty, but extremely off limits baby sister. Then a hot summer day and an even hotter discovery pushes them over the lines of friendship, over the lines of unrequited desire, and into each other's arms. Will they indulge and move on? Or will this crush turn into something more, something deeper? Something that leaves loose ends begging to be tied…

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Kaia Bennett is a native of New Jersey, a college graduate and U.S. Army veteran who loves music, movies, astrology, tattoos, martial arts, animals and, of course, the written word. She heard the siren call of the writer as a teenage girl, but took her sweet time answering it until she had lived and loved enough to share her work with the masses. She is an erotic author who loves to write stories with diversity, depth, realism and viscerally hot encounters that flirt shamelessly with the taboo. A lover of all genres and a voracious reader, she aims to write stories that are transformative for her characters and readers alike.




Release Day Blitz & Giveaway! You Loved Me At My Ugliest, You Loved Me #3 by Evie Harper



She’s no stranger to love and loss…

By age eighteen, Alexa Kingsley had lost everyone. Only Joey, the lonely boy next door, remained. He’d clung to Alexa like a lifeline through years of abuse at the hands of his father, and she vowed to protect him as best she could. Alexa thought Joey was the one person who’d always be there—until the day he left her as well. Finally forced to go it alone, Alexa finds this latest loss may hurt worst of all. 

He’s no stranger to lack of love…

Joseph O’Connor was every bit the villain his father trained him to be, his young heart twisted into something ugly, corrupted. But his father underestimated the girl next door, miscalculated the impact Lexi would have on Joey’s life, the spark she ignited that eventually, despite all odds, grew to an inferno of hope. To reclaim her, Joey must first become a man Lexi can be proud of…the kind of man she deserves.

Amidst a shadowy world of guns and drugs, will Joey’s ultimate sacrifice—a declaration of love from a man who was never shown any at all—be enough to finally set him free?






Evie is an Australian author whose passion for reading lead her into writing. Evie spends her days writing heartbreaking, suspense filled love stories with happily ever afters. Evie's characters are strong alphas with even stronger heroines who bring sexy sass to the relationship.





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