Book Promo: Excerpt & Giveaway! Unforgettable Sun, Hale Brothers #3 by Kathryn Andrews

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Genre: New Adult, Contemporary Romance

Matt Hale

I’ve never really been included. I’ve never felt like I truly belonged. But then again, how could I? Living on this island, I’ve seen and heard too many things. Lies. Secrets.

“Lies I’ve been forced to tell and secrets I’ve been forced to keep. They keep me locked to myself.”

They’re the reason I stand on the edge of the horizon and watch from afar. Other people’s lives have evolved, but not mine. It’s exactly the same. Day after day, the sun rises, and every time its rays penetrate my skin, I’m reminded that no matter how desperately I don’t want to be, I’m trapped. I want to live. I want to breathe. I just want to be . . . free.

Elle Summers

If I had my way, I would have walked off the catwalk and straight out of the public eye years ago. Never-ending contracts and obligations have kept me prisoner until recently.

“Now it is fear that has me trapped and running from my life.”

I’m now hiding in a tiny beach cottage in my mother’s hometown, praying no one will find me. No one understands. The demands, lack of control, threats ... I just want it all gone. I want to escape. When do I finally get to be me? Free.

Matt

With one foot in front of the other I start running. Over the dunes and into the sand, I push as hard as I can. With tears streaming down my cheeks, visions of the fire play out before me. Gasping for air, the smell of smoke fills my senses. I didn’t notice it before but now it is so strong I almost gag. Wiping my nose with the back of my hand, I desperately try to find some fresh air. But no, there it is again, that smell. It’s on my skin. It’s like it isn’t just following me, but now permanently a part of me. Charging into the water, I dive under into the silence. My hands run over my arms, my face, and through my hair. I’m frantic and I have to get rid of the smell.

Washing up on to the shore, I curl up into a ball on the wet sand. My heart is broken for Beau and I’m so afraid. So very afraid. He’s the one and only person who has ever shown me love and the thought of losing him paralyzes me with fear. My sobs are still silent. I’ve been taught not to make a sound. But they hurt so much. Without a voice, I mouth his name over and over again. I just want Beau. I need Beau. He’s the only one who can make this all better, and make everything about this dreadful night disappear.

But he isn’t here and he can’t be.

With my eyes pinched shut, the smell of smoke in my nose, and the feel of a nonexistent heat against my skin, I know. I know it with a certainty that has robbed me of my voice and permeated itself into my pores that, no matter what, everything about this night will be . . . unforgettable.

 

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OVER TEN YEARS ago my husband and I were driving from Chicago to Tampa and somewhere in Kentucky I remember seeing a billboard that was all black with five white words, “I do, therefore I am!” I’m certain that it was a Nike ad, but for me I found this to be completely profound.
Take running for example. Most will say that a runner is someone who runs five days a week and runs under a ten minute mile pace. Well, I can tell you that I never run five days a week and on my best days my pace is an eleven minute mile. I have run quite a few half marathons and one full marathon. No matter what anyone says . . . I run, therefore I am a runner.
I’ve taken this same thought and applied it to so many areas of my life: cooking, gardening, quilting, and yes . . . writing.
I may not be culinary trained, but I love to cook and my family and friends loves to eat my food. I cook, therefore I am a chef!
My thumb is not black. I love to grow herbs, tomatoes, roses, and lavender. I garden, therefore I am a gardener!
I love beautiful fabrics and I can follow a pattern. My triangles may not line up perfectly . . . but who cares, my quilts are still beautiful when they are finished. I quilt, therefore I am a quilter.
I have been writing my entire life. It is my husband who finally said, “Who cares if people like your books or not? If you enjoy writing them and you love your stories…then write them.” He has always been my biggest fan and he was right. Being a writer has always been my dream and what I said I wanted to be when I grew up.
So, I’ve told you who I am and what I love to do . . . now I’m going to tell you the why.
I have two boys that are three years a part. My husband and I want to instill in them adventure, courage, and passion. We don’t expect them to be perfect at things, we just want them to try and do. It’s not about winning the race; it’s about showing up in the first place. We don’t want them to be discouraged by society stereotypes, we want them to embrace who they are and what they love. After all, we only get one life.
In the end, they won’t care how many books I actually sell . . . all that matters to them is that I said I was going to do it, I did it, and I have loved every minute of it.
Find something that you love and tell yourself, “I do, therefore I am.”

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Cover Reveal & Giveaway! The Rearranged Life by Annika Sharma

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Nithya, a vivacious, intelligent and driven college senior has always known what she's wanted: a successful career in medicine and the love of her family. She's even come to terms with the idea of an arranged marriage, a tradition her conservative Indian family has held up for thousands of years. 

When a night of partying puts her on a collision course with danger, Nithya's entire life changes. Enter James St. Clair, the smart, challenging and heartbreakingly handsome American. As Nithya and James fall in love, she questions the future she and her parents have always planned. To make matters worse, Nishanth, the son of newly reunited family friends is the perfect match for her in the eyes of her loved ones. 

Now, Nithya has a choice to make: become a doctor and a good Indian bride, or step away from her family and centuries of culture to forge her own path. The decision she comes to takes her on a journey that transforms how she sees her future, her relationships with loved ones, and how she learns to put herself back together when even her best-laid plans fall apart.

Annika Sharma was born in India and moved to the United States (Pennsylvania!) when she was a baby. Annika was a daydreamer from day one, always coming up with stories and games of pretend that seemed real. She was a serious journal-writer from fifth grade to college and wrote dramatic scenes for stories often, inspired by soap operas she watched in summers off from school.

Eventually, when the time for college came around, Annika’s parents encouraged her to pursue journalism. Convinced she couldn’t make a living from writing, Annika disagreed. After five years, two degrees, two minors, working with children, being a dancer teacher, and creating a two-and-a-half page resume in college that had interests so all-over-the-place that even she couldn’t make sense of it, Annika finally decided her parents were right. Writing was where her heart was, all along.

In the month before graduate school, the idea Annika had in my mind for years finally poured out in the form of the novel, The Rearranged Life. Annika began editing in earnest after she finished her Master’s degree in Early Childhood Special Education, landing Stacey Donaghy of Donaghy Literary Group as an agent. Three months later, she had a book deal with Curiosity Quills.

In her spare time, Annika loves spending time with her family and friends, often indulging in the three S’s: Starbucks, shopping and superhero movies. As a chocolate lover and general all-around vegetarian foodie, Annika also adores cooking.

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Book Promo & Giveaway! Ethan Walker's Road to Wonderland by L.J. Stock

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Genre: New Adult

At nineteen, the world has so many possibilities. 

Ethan Walker was a typical teenager in that respect. He was happy, living at home with his family and partying when the mood struck. He was in no rush to grow up. His life was a blank page just waiting to be written, but that couldn’t last forever. 

Unfortunately, reality came knocking at Ethan’s door, forcing him to face truths he’d never allowed himself to see in the past - truths that soon robbed him of his innocence and youth. With the life he’d always known gone forever, Ethan found himself battling demons in disguise, only to find his own weakness was his worst enemy. 

When temptation turned to indulgence, and the ghosts of his past encouraged him to dig deeper, Ethan sought salvation in the form of violence. His fists and fortitude became his bread and butter, but the new turn in his life rejected the familiar and opened the door to more evil.

Inevitably, the darkness tried to sink him, and there was only one constant light that somehow seemed to shine brighter than the promise of escape: the mystery girl with the golden hair. 

In order to survive, Ethan had to dig deep and find a strength in himself not even he was sure existed. Only when he found himself on a path to Wonderland did he start to see a future beyond his past. All he had to do to get there was learn to breathe and not get himself killed in the process. **Book 3 in the Road to Wonderland Series, Ethan Walker can be read in conjunction with Izzy Moffit's Road to Wonderland by Victoria L. James and Paris Hemsworth's Road to Wonderland by Francesca Marlow or standalone.

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From a young age L.J. Stock was led by her imagination. From the moment she could read she fell into worlds where trees could talk and little girls could move things with their minds. In no hurry to grow up, she found stories all around her, in the forests of Plym Bridge, the moss covered hills of Dartmoor, then, as she grew older, the wide spread city of Houston, where she currently resides and works. A constant daydreamer, she hopes that one day, her passion can become something more than just a hobby for her. Still led by her imagination, the worlds have slowly grown from childish adventures to urban fantasies and romances. With inspirational authors such as Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl, Judy Blume, John Grisham and Stephen King guiding her through her life so far, L.J. Stock has finally decided that it is time for her to go for gold and try land herself on someone else’s future list of favorites. Putting words on paper is as essential as breathing to her, but on the rare occasions that she isn’t writing, she can be found with a video game remote in hand or curled up on the couch with her pup and a good book. Music is also such an important part of her life, it’s a wonder there isn’t a background soundtrack playing wherever she goes. A good girl to most, a bad girl to a few, L.J. believes that every genre should be attempted and is more than likely to have tried to release three hundred series’ ranging from vampires and werewolves, to dystopian and even classic romance, before she reaches even middle age. At least, that’s the plan for now.

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Book Promo: Excerpt & Giveaway! Out From Under, Pea Pod Investigations #1 by Melanie Donithan, Dee Middleton-Taylor & Suzanne Curry

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Three small town, middle-aged women with big town dreams open up The Pea Pod Girls’ Investigations. Gigi VanWey, the Amazon Queen, Tallulah Dewy Townz, the pint-sized rebel who can open a can of whoop ass, and Babs Rosencrantz, the Jewish Guru, had no idea how much trouble they could stir up with their first case. These extremely resourceful women are three peas in a pod who know how to get a job done.

Their first client, trophy wife and recovering-sugar-daddy-addict Cyndi Lou Montgomery, wants to find out how one minute she’s watching the Douglas County 4th of July celebration and the next, waking up in the Douglas County Prize Bull Barn in a most un-lady-like situation. Now Cyndi is being blackmailed, and given specific instructions to follow. The Pea Pod Girls didn’t know that a home explosion, being shot at, missing evidence and unwanted help from the new town sheriff, Jackson Lee – who, by the way, is so hot you could fry an egg on his fine ass – would be part of the job.

The case comes to a head when the Pea Pod Girls set a trap for the blackmailer at the annual Midnight Madness Costume Ball. Will the Pea Pod Girls be able to solve the mystery before the clock strikes midnight?

Pea Pod Girls all think on the same wavelength; some would say we can read each other’s minds. We work so well together, we often finish each other’s sentences, and our priorities are similar. Instead of escaping, I asked Cyndi Lou how she was being blackmailed. Immediately, she reached into her designer Italian bag, telling us that she had received the bag prior to being saved. The bag was as big as the carry-on luggage I purchased at Shop-N-Go.

Anyway, Cyndi pulled out a purple box tied with a pink bow. She told us she found the box on her door step three days ago when she was on her way to the Venus Gym for Real Women. She thought it was a surprise from Ham, but quickly changed her mind after opening it.

Just then, we were startled by a knock on our office door. Arizona popped her head in and informed us that we were as slow as slugs and to hurry up and open the damn box! She was holding a glass in her hand and I just knew she was using it to eavesdrop on our interview. OMG! How can one argue with Arizona and win? The answer is: you don’t argue and you don’t win.

Cyndi Lou opened the box and all of us peered inside. The box contained a small cassette tape and some black and white photos of Cyndi Lou in all sorts of compromising positions. Gigi started to grab the cassette tape and stopped mid-way to ask if I had purchased any rubber gloves for handling evidence? While Babs was reminding us that we’re a latexfree zone, Arizona barged in again with a pair of yellow rubber dish gloves she used to clean the toilet. In unison, we told each other we needed to purchase rubber gloves and Ziploc bags for evidence purposes. We agreed in the interim to use Arizona’s rubbers.

Gigi quickly put the gloves on and picked up the tape. Gigi is rather resourceful and broke out the fingerprint kit that she had purchased at a policeman’s garage sale. She dusted the tape for prints and found a few. Cyndi told Gigi she had touched the tape only once and then put it back in the box before coming to us. Gigi got three usable prints off the tape. Next, she took the photos out and dusted them, too. This time she managed to get two prints off one photo. Babs

left the office quickly, saying she had to go to her car while Gigi and I looked at the photos. There were six photos of Cyndi. Two of them showed her on her knees facing a partially-clothed male. Her arms were wrapped around his bare ass and she was at an angle with her head tipped back and a smile of joy on her face. Well, Gigi and I knew Cyndi was tinkering with the guy’s plumbing. One of the three remaining photos showed Cyndi lying in a pile of hay with her tank top hiked up so half of her expensive, bought boobies were at full salute and her size zero jean shorts were down at her knees. Cyndi informed us we were viewing her imported French magenta silk thong panties she wore that day.

I was just about to blurt out I was wearing my beige nylon panties imported from China when Babs scuttled back with a cassette player in hand. Gigi had a smirk on her face because she knew what had been going through my brain and what almost came out of my mouth. At that point, I was considering taking one of Babs’ “Get Balanced in 5 Easy Steps” seminars. Babs popped the cassette in and turned the volume up as we all leaned in to listen. We were all—even Arizona—quiet as mice. Then we heard the laughter of Mrs. Bling-Bling along with some groans and “Ooh! That feels wonderful and I want more.” Cyndi’s voice was somewhat slurred and in the background we heard various noises, all of which we would hopefully identify later.

The tape lasted about three minutes and at the end a garbled voice said, “The demands are $100,000 in unmarked bills and no cops involved. If the demand is not met, your beloved husband, Ham, will receive the same package, and other people you care for will get hurt. Further instructions will be coming soon.”

Melanie, aka Pea Pod Girl Number One, is a forty-something mother of two. She works in the legal field in her hometown of Wenatchee, WA, and is a member of Write on the River.

Dee, aka Pea Pod Girl in the Middle, lives in Wenatchee with her husband Glenn and American Bulldog Abbee. She has a BS in Corrections and has worked in the criminal justice field for more than 28 years. She expresses her abundance of creative energy through writing mysteries, drawing, remodeling her home, sewing Pea Pod costumes, and cooking.

Suz, aka Pea Pod Girl Number Three, lives with her husband Dennis in Tucson, AZ, where she enjoys watching sunsets, practicing tai chi, painting, and Skyping on a regular basis with Mel and Dee. Suz has a Master’s degree in school counseling and has worked with at-risk youth and families for the past 20 years.

The longtime friends are hard at work on Book 2 in the Pea Pod Girls Series. Out from Under is their debut novel.

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Cover Reveal & Giveaway! A Taylor-Made Love, Taylor-Made #2 by Kary Rader

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When fate spares your life, your destiny is always love

Twenty-year-old widow and cancer survivor Taylor Smith-Taylor is running her late husband’s billion-dollar gaming business because she’smade a vow to keep TME—and Gavin’s memory—alive. But she’s falling hard for her sexy attorney Brad Richards, and it’s not just their professional connection that has her tied in knots.

When Taylor’s new idea takes off, she relies on Brad to help. Using company funds to back the innovative project, they begin a tumultuous affair and a multi-million dollar negotiation that could dominate the market or put the company in jeopardy.

As the corporate dealings escalate, their volatile relationship leaves their priorities more tangled than their bed sheets, and a fatal accounting error divides them. Brad pushes Taylor to embrace her idea, and him, by selling TME—a decision that, for her, goes deeper than money. When she refuses, it seems easier for both to walk away, and only a perspective from the grave can help her realize her future comes down to one choice: the love she’ll lose or the love she’ll make.

Kary Rader is a stay-at-home mother of three, avid reader and slave to the characters and worlds inside her head.

Always creative, she's drawn to stories with fantastical worlds and creatures. With a little bit of magic and divine guidance, there isn't anything that can't be accomplished with words. It's the power of words that creates and destroys.

Vanquishing evil and injustice while finding eternal love in the process is all in a day's work. And with the help of her critique partners and master cartographer imaginary places come to life.

Let the fantasy begin...

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Happy Release Day! An Ordinary Me by Brooklyn Taylor

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From the outside looking in Garrison Davis seems like every other senior in high school. On the inside though, he’s an emotional wreck promising to not love anyone. He chooses to protect himself by vowing solitude. His dad is in prison for dealing drugs; his mother is a recovering addict and an emotional mess. The only thing that brings him joy is playing the drums and that feeling of being needed by his band. It is his escape, his passion. No one gets hurt or disappointed. That is until he lays his eyes on Reese at school. She is the exact example of what he cannot let himself get involved in. He would do nothing but drag her down with him.

“I want to tell her and show her how much I love her. I had loved her from the first time I spotted her in that courtyard smiling but I can’t, I won’t. She deserves so much more than I can offer. I’m the spawn of a drug dealer and an addict. I have never let myself love another person and now… I love her so much it hurts.” 

Reese Owens is the exact opposite of Garrison. Inside she’s beaming; growing up in a happy home and on the outside she was a duck out of water. Her parents are the over protective set but are finally loosening the jail bars. Sophomore year in high school, she has never dated a boy and is envious of the social life her best friend Autumn Welch has. She meets Garrison and is instantly attracted to him. He pulls away when she pushes in. A whole new world opens up to Reese and she finds herself falling into situations she can’t get herself out of. Making bad decision after bad decision, she finds out the hard way on how life is full of choices. The one thing she wants more than anything is Garrison’s attention which she doesn’t get in return.

“How is it possible to love someone and keep it quiet? Never to utter those very words knowing he doesn’t feel the same way. I finally fall in love and he only wants to be friends. He is everything I have always wanted and he keeps me at a distance making sure we don’t get too close. How can I ignore my feelings and act like I don’t have them when we are around each other? How do I resist the urge to move my lips towards his when he is talking to me?” 

Garrison realizes he has to be honest with Reese and tell her how he really feels before he loses her for good. Just maybe, he will get love in return for the first time in his life. When he finally convinces himself to come forth, a life changing event occurs that could take away the only person in his life that truly loves him. 

Is it too late? Does he get the chance to tell her? And when he confesses does it matter?

*Garrison*

Morning after morning, I wake myself up. I don’t have the normal mother or father to tell me to have a good day or make me breakfast. Sure I’m a senior in high school, but I’ve never had that. Even in elementary I took care of myself. My dad was dealing heavy drugs at the time and when he wasn’t dealing he was high or sleeping. Mom had tried several times to stay drug free but wasn’t successful with it. My dad wanted her just like him, destroyed. I have never really known what it was like to have parents that care. They didn’t understand why I hated the life we lived. More times than not they voiced their frustration that I thought I was better than them.

I listened to people talk about how their parents were annoying and watched them like hawks. They had to lie to do things they wanted to do when caring parents would try to provide them a net, so they wouldn’t get hurt, something that was only a dream for me. I yearned for that and knew I was never going to get it. I saw things I shouldn’t have seen but all it did was make me want to strive even more to make it, to get away from it. I was going to make it, and I was going to be nothing like my parents.

My evenings were pretty identical to my mornings. I did my homework, drummed with the band and then made myself something to eat. Mom worked at a hotel in housekeeping and when she was home she was either sleeping or sitting in her room in silence. I don’t know if she knew if I was dead or alive half the time nor would she have cared. Well that’s not true. If I was dead Aunt Ellen wouldn’t be paying our bills.

This is my senior year and all of my friends were going to be hanging out, partying, and having a good time, while I was just going to be living my life. It was a vicious cycle, and I was willing to do it because I knew I would survive it all. I was going to go to college and do the one thing that would piss my parents off the most and I would have full satisfaction in doing just that. It was going to make me happy to put people away that made and sold drugs and destroyed lives just like mine was.

I am a Texas girl, mother of 2 amazing kiddos and married to my gorgeous soulmate for almost 20 years. I have a full time job in the medical field but hope one day to strictly write. I love to spend my free time reading, being outside and playing with my family and 4 fur babies. I am blessed to have very supportive friends and family that make my life worth living! I started to write at the instinct of "hey maybe I can do that!" and here I am. I have enjoyed every step of the journey. Every single person I hear from about my stories touches me and confirms the reason why I ventured into this insane dream of mine.

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