Archive for the Category »Promo Stop «
Title: Beautiful Freaks
Author: Katie M. John
Series: Stand Alone
Genre: YA/Paranormal/Gothic/Romance
Publisher: Little Bird Publishing House, London
Release Date: Ebook October 2012 Print February 2013
Edition/Formats Available In: Currently just ebook print coming soon Feb 14 2013.
Synopsis:
**** A PARANORMAL GOTHIC DETECTIVE TALE ****
Between these pages you will find yourself transported back in time to the high Gothic. Victorian London.
The year is 1899 and both the century and the Queen are dying.
As the London populace is gripped by a terrifying series of paranormal murders, eighteen year old Kaspian Blackthorne finds himself on a decadent journey of self discovery. Victorian London is a place where appearance is everything, but sometimes appearances can be deceiving. Behind the grand houses, carriages and silks, London is a dark labyrinth of sorrow and violence. Amongst the gambling dens, dancehalls, and brothels you’ll find No 7, known to its members as Eve’s; the most exclusive club in London, infamous for its ‘Palace of Beautiful Freaks’.
Each exhibit has a history, each their own unique story.
Purchase Links:
Amazon UK | Amazon US | Smashwords
Author Bio:
Katie. M John is a writer of YA, Dark Fairytales, Contemporary Paranormal Fantasy and Horror.
She lives in the London suburbs, is married to a dashingly handsome giant and is mummy to a 3ft Mud-puddle Fairy. Katie likes to write whilst eating Jaffa cakes and listening to her i-Pod.
Katie’s Contemporary Arthurian series, ‘The Knight Trilogy’ was launched in December 2010 with the release of ‘The Forest of Adventures’ and the subsequent release of ‘Immortal Beloved’ in 2011. Both books have been in the UK top 10 Amazon charts for Contemporary Fantasy and Fairytales. The final book ‘Star Fire’ was released this summer.
She has recently released a standalone YA novel called ‘Beautiful Freaks’, a steam punk, Victorian Gothic detective fairytale in London, which has gained a loyal fan base.
She is currently working on a seven book series called the ‘Pentacle Chronicles’, a tale of witchcraft and other supernatural happenings in a quaint English village.
She is a founding member of Dark Heart & Night Shade; a twice yearly anthology publication that showcases emerging YA talent.
Author Links:
Blog | Beautiful Freaks Website | Website | Facebook: Beautiful Freaks | Twitter | Goodreads
Excerpt:
Chapter One
Kaspian pondered his eighteen years as he walked through the evening gloom of the London streets. The rain had forced most people inside, creating the impression that the great metropolis had turned into a ghost town. Kaspian liked walking at times like this. It made him feel as if he were walking through his own silent empire.
Then he saw her.
She was standing under the streetlight, a newspaper held out in front of her as if she were reading it. Kaspian thought it obvious that she wasn’t; she was watching the church on the other side of the cobbled street. He stopped midstride and pulled himself behind a tree; spied on her as she took a pocket-watch from her pocket and flip open the lid. He thought it strange she should read it by placing flat in front of her eyes rather than looking down on it – it was as if she were taking a reading from a compass. Kaspian looked over to where she was watching. The church was empty and he couldn’t fathom what could possibly be of interest. The lights were out, the door locked, and the whole place had the impression of sleeping.
The woman was tall and slender; striking in a slightly over-powerful way. Despite wearing a full, black silk skirt, the fitted waistcoat and black necktie were more manish in dress than ladylike. Kaspian had never seen a woman like her, although he had heard of ‘her sort’ as Heartlock’s companions would say.
When he looked closer, he could see she wore a monocle in her left eye and was at least ten years younger than he’d guessed from the first impression: twenty one was the age he now settled on in his mind.
She must have sensed him looking at her because she turned towards him and, seeing him poking out from behind a tree, smiled. It was a strange reaction to the discovery that someone was spying on you. The boldness of her action unsettled Kaspian in a way he couldn’t quite understand. He bent down, pretending that he had been about to tie his shoelaces. When he was sure she had returned to her own secret observations, he scuttled past her and almost ran all the way to the safety of home.
By the time he pushed open the imposing, black front door, Kaspian carried the strangest sense that something deep within him had changed, and things would never be quite as before.
We are honoured to join Beth Ann Masarik today as she reveals her brand new cover for the eagerly awaited The Prince Of Darkness.
Title: Prince of Darkness (Book 1)
Author: Beth Ann Masarik
Series: The World Among Us
Genre: Mature YA/Urban Fantasy/Romance
Publisher: Hydra Publications
Release Date: Summer 2013 (exact date TBA)
Blurb/Synopsis:
Hades is hell-bent on taking over the world, but in order to do so, he has to remove his nemesis, Gaia from power. But one thing stands in the way and she goes by the name of Selene.
Cue Damien, son of Hades and Persephone. He happens to be in love with Selene, and will stop at nothing to make sure that she is safe even though their love is forbidden. Furious with his son’s treachery, Hades tricks Damien into killing the only woman that he has ever loved. He does so by telling Damien that he will spend the rest of his eternal life in the Fields of Asphodel if he does not prove his loyalty. Torn between his un-beating heart and his family, Damien does the only thing a true demon prince knows how: killing those closest to him.
Will Damien follow through with his father’s evil scheme? Or will he be banished to the Fields of Asphodel for his treachery?
Beth Ann Masarik is a Young Adult author and writer, indie publisher, and youth advocate. She writes Young Adult fantasy and urban fantasy novels that are mostly about forbidden romance and have some sort of magical creatures in them. Her debut novel, The World Among Us: Prince of Darkness was first published with Otherworld Publications. Unfortunately, OWP closed on December 31, 2012, and the book is no longer available. However, she has signed with Hydra Publications, and it will be released sometime in 2013. You can visit her author website at www.bethannmasarik.com and the series website at www.theworldamongussaga.com for more details on my publishing adventures.
As a youth advocate, she, along with her new husband, is one of the adult coordinators of the Our Lady of Fatima youth group that is supported by the current pastor and the parents of the kids in the group.
In addition to writing, she also publishes a bi-monthly e-zine called Literary Lunes Magazine. It is offered as a free black and white e-copy and also offers a low-cost full colored paperback copy of each issue. For more information, please visit the magazine website at www.literarylunespublications.com
Author Links:
Blog | Facebook Author Page | Facebook The World Among Us Page | Goodreads | Twitter | Website
Genre: Realms
Heat Rating: 4
Publisher: Breathless Press
Formats Available In: All eBook formats
Word Count: 20,625
Release Date: 17th May 2013
ISBN: 978-1-77101-140-2
RRP: 2.99
Blurb:
A strange phenomenon casts unending night and irrepressible feelings of lust over Kaliana. She must discover the cause, but she can’t seem to stay focused…
When night falls over Meso and does not end, Chancellor Kaliana and Master Ganshi must find the cause. As they search for the truth, they discover more than science can explain. Within the night lives a boundless sexual energy, turning scholars into seducers and musicians into man eaters. Beneath the earth a fire moves and rumbles, bringing forth a creature that will envelop and consume all that call it. In the endless night, all boundaries are broken. Can Kaliana and Ganshi overcome the onslaught of lust long enough to restore the balance between shadow and light?
Book Links:
Excerpt:
When the sun shone, it flooded the valley with a beam that struck and splashed between twin mountains. It danced outward, skittering through the mountain valley toward opposite civilizations advancing. The peoples moved each to the other, slowly, like seeds in the earth waiting for the right combination of warmth and moisture to coax their substance from the soil.
To the east, light meandered over green terraces that descended between rock-lined funnels, joining the streams that irrigated miles of pasture, and wound a slow and steady route to the geometric city of Meso. A solar system of paved streets orbited a central blinding compound of glass, stone, and steel. The people of this city reflected their own reverence for the aesthetic machinations of the universe they tried to emulate. Their lines were sharp. Their angles pristine. Their movements productive and efficient. Sunlight that did not succumb to the walls of glass enclosing the structure melted over the bodies of these people. The rest flowed over the sharp angles and refracted, fractioning crystalline and settling over the far eastern forest, where it disappeared into the maze of trees.
Light spared none in the west. The earth cracked beneath its weight, crushing moisture from rocks and opening the veins of plants, desiccating. It painted self-portraits on jagged sunset bluffs, gazing into the mirror of dominion. The light enveloped completely any river that once shaped the red and orange cliffs, leaving a dusty trail for rodents and lizards dashing in and out of shade. Men and women scratched hoes in the dirt, pulling free meager crops that seemed as if they sprouted old and worn. The men and women lived, and the children played and learned, among a vast cornucopia of poisons and potions.
They were hard, shaped by the same wind that aged the banks of empty riverbeds. The people’s hard-bought respect approached religious devotion to the dry land. Sobered by the relentless light, the people of the western border mercilessly clung together, commanding of the earth just enough to survive.
This is the light from which the young man traveled.
It happened at Two Mountains Standing, under the moon of the summer solstice. Presiding over the ceremony, the moon bathed the dancers in the pale white reflection of the sun. The dancers disappeared and reappeared in flickers of shadow and light, reflections of the red and yellow fire surrounding them and within them. Their bodies surged, throwing black shadows across the sacred fire circle and onto the two mountains framing them. The moon smiled down on the shadows looming giant on the mountainsides, mimicking their owners’ frenzied movements.
The shadows came together and parted, came together and parted, circled and leapt over the fire, leaping from mountain to mountain. Sweat ran down the dancers’ arms and legs and they pounded it into the packed earth. A turbulent, wordless harmony brought forth the incantations. Curved backs raised heaving breasts higher, spines rippled, and hot, slippery tits bounced in the bodies’ rhythmic undulating.
In the center of this frenetic circle a man lay, immobile. He was a stranger to this place. A solid short mound of earth covered each of his arms; his legs extended toward the sacred fire and also disappeared into the earth. When dancers leapt the fire, they sometimes landed on his submerged arms and legs, pounding them deeper into the ground. The man’s eyes stared unblinking up at the moon. No lines marred the man’s face, which was dark and unmoving. A braid ran down the back of his head, and the tail of it fanned out loose behind his shoulders where he lay. His eyes were fixed on the moon.
There was no telling how many dancers circled the fire. Sweat poured from their bodies, turning the packed earth to mud. The mud splashed with each pounding step, covering the dancers’ legs and the silent man with specks of reddish brown. Sweat turned the specks quickly to streaks, which ran down their bodies like tears. Harmonies rose in pure ecstatic emotion, and hands began to smear rivulets of mud over the arching and writhing bodies.
About The Author:
Between writing and slinging organic veggies at local farmers’ markets, K.R.R. Bridgstreet teaches English Literature and Composition to unsuspecting college freshmen. Bridgstreet and her partner live in the woods in central New York with their cats and chickens. Visit krrbridgstreet.com for news on latest releases and upcoming books.
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Heat Rating: 1
Publisher: Breathless Press
Formats Available In: All eBook formats
Word Count: 13,762
Release Date: 17th May 2013
ISBN: 978-1-77101-994-1
RRP: 1.99
Blurb:
When Sage stumbles across a man hanging by his coat in a tree, she’s torn between fear and curiosity. He introduces himself as Sir Cade, and though his English accent sends a tingle through her, Sage finds his Renaissance clothing and archaic choice of words odd. An accidental touch sends a jolt of inexplicable electricity through her and after they kiss, Sage finds herself on an enchanted adventure filled with medieval mayhem and the possibility of a new life. Will Sage go out on a limb and believe in the magic he professes? Or will she remain rooted to her time without him?
Book Links:
Excerpt:
“Shit.” She removed her hand, but the after effect still resonated within her. Showered in the sensation, yet oddly chilled without the warmth of his touch, an involuntary shiver ran through her. “Who the hell are you?” she whispered.
“C-Cade. Sir Cade—of Surrey.” His eyes clouded. “Damnation, woman, are ye a witch?”
Despite the seriousness of the moment, she couldn’t help but smile. “A witch? Um, definitely not. I think it’s you.” She braced herself. “Watch.” As soon as she laced her fingers through his, he sucked in a breath.
Her eyelids twitched then closed, and she fell into the depths. The pulse of pleasure, like a bubble of air in a pond, slowly rose and popped at the surface of her mind then rippled. It felt…right.
“Pray thee! Ye must cease this.” Cade slipped from her grasp, his eyes wide.
She gasped at the sudden disconnection. “I didn’t do…whatever that was.”
He took several steps back, his eyes nearly black with…was that fury? “Ye harbor power over my…emotions.”
Oh, that wasn’t fury she imagined, but passion.
“I—” What could she say? It was as if there was an electric current pulsing through him. One that singed the very core of her and made her quake with need. Her heart quickened at the thought of his fingers running over her body, searing her with his touch. She had no doubt it could ignite into something truly magical. Kiss him, a voice inside her urged. Surprised by the thought, she almost followed through. Who was this strange man with electrifying hands?
“Is Surrey a planet?” she blurted. “Are you an alien?” The shock created stupidity, the only explanation for her ignorant remark. “I mean, where is Surrey?”
He tilted his head, a crooked smile conflicting with his furrowed brow. “I dare not ask what an alien is. Or a planet for that matter. But, I assure ye, Surrey is here in England.”
It took a moment for his words to sink in. “Oh, Cade.” She took his hand, but he snatched it away. She eyed the muscles straining against his shirt when he ran his hand over his face. She wanted to rip his friggin’ clothes off. “You’re in New York.”
“York, England?”
Shit, the hope in his eyes was painful. She hated to snuff it out. “No. Upstate New York.” His blank stare made her continue. “Have you heard of Grand Island?” Still nothing. “In between Niagara Falls and Buffalo?”
He slumped to the forest floor. “Hell’s teeth,” he whispered. “‘Tis not a place I have ever heard of.”
“Well, the island is tiny, but surely you’ve heard of Niagara Falls?” Her giggle cut short at the shake of his head. “Oh shit.” She sat beside him. “You’re teasing me, right?”
He raked his fingers through his hair. “I jest not.”
A thought gnawed at the edge of her mind. A weird, outlandish thought. “Okay.” She opened her mouth, clamped it shut, then tried again. “Now let me get this straight. You’re from England.”
“Aye.” He propped his elbows on his knees and cradled his face.
“And you’ve never heard of New York?” Her words sounded wooden, even to her own ears.
“Or the place of falls.” His hair draped over his face. She wanted to brush it aside to see if he was smiling. Messing with her. Anything to ease her racing heart.
About The Author:
J.M. Powers is the alter ego of a woman named Jeannie. Jeannie works a day job while J.M. creates new adventures in the romance genre.
J.M. lives on an island in upstate New York where she tolerates the harsh winters and relishes rare sunny days.
Jeannie, a mother of five, is proficient at crust-free tuna sandwiches, Buffalo chicken wings, and embarrassing her kids by wearing skinny jeans to the grocery store.
Both women juggle between work, play, teaching teenagers to drive, and writing romance novels. Though the days can be hectic and schedules full, everything falls together without broken bones or hearts.
You can find this multi-published author at the following links:
Facebook
J.M. Powers Romance
Five For Fiction
Manic Readers Author Page
Amazon Author page
Book Title: Sliding Beneath the Surface (Book 1)
Release Date: August 24, 2011
Series: The St. Augustine Trilogy
Author: Doug Dillon
Print Length: 166 Pages
Genre: YA Paranormal
Presented by: As You Wish Tours
Hello St. Augustine Fans! Let’s not forget the YA Paranormal Fans!
For two days, the Kindle version for Sliding Beneath the Surface will be available FOR FREE on Amazon.com—a special promotion. Those days will be May 18th & 19th. Spread the word and tell everyone you know about this wonderful opportunity.
BRIEF SYNOPSIS:
In old St. Augustine, Florida, fifteen-year-old Jeff Golden’s recurring dream of being stabbed in the chest and bleeding all over his bed is driving him crazy. It’s causing him to lose sleep and giving him severe headaches. When his psychically gifted friend Carla and an ornery Native American shaman named Lobo try to help, Jeff is inundated with terrifying paranormal Reaching out of Florida’s distant past, something increasingly entangles Jeff in tentacles of danger that threaten his sanity and eventually his life. But the harder he tries to understand, the deeper he gets. When comprehension finally dawns though, time has almost run out. Lobo does his best to prepare Jeff for what he must face in order to survive but it may be too little and It’s at this point that both Jeff and Carla find themselves swept headlong into an alternative reality from which they may never return. If they don’t quickly and fully adapt to this situation, all hope is lost. From Lobo they know how it might be possible to change what is happening but the question is, can they? Repeatedly, Lobo has told both teens, “You create your own reality whether in this world or in another.” If acted upon properly, that advice just might save their lives and end suffering on an even wider scale.
BLURB:
A new resident of America’s oldest and most haunted city, St. Augustine, Florida, fifteen-year-old Jeff Golden suddenly finds himself up to his eyeballs in frightening paranormal experiences. At the end of his rope in trying to figure out what is happening to him, Jeff decides to rely on his friend Carla Rodriguez, and Lobo, an old Native American shaman, for help.
Despite this guidance, things get even worse. Jeff’s spine tingling encounters increase in number and intensity at an alarming rate, scaring him even more. Eventually, he makes the startling discovery that unresolved circumstances involving a bloody event directly out of Florida’s distant past threatens his sanity and possibly his life.
Finally, overwhelmed by forces he cannot understand or control, Jeff’s world shifts from frightening to downright terrifying. In desperation, and on Lobo’s advice, he leaps headlong into the unknown in order to save himself. What Jeff discovers though is that he has entered a level of reality he is completely unprepared to handle while unwittingly dragging Carla with him.
Like all the books in THE ST. AUGUSTINE TRILOGY, the premise for Sliding Beneath the Surface is simply this: You create your own reality.
EXCERPT:
With a final laugh, Carla coughed, caught her breath, and said, “That alarm system is Lobo‘s way of scaring off unwanted visitors without actually having to use real dogs. So, are you finally “Anything to get away from you letting me get attacked by wild dogs,” I said, trying to sound serious, even though I realized I probably had looked pretty silly.
“Oh poor baby,” Carla said with one of her sly, sexy smiles.
God she looks so good when she smiles. I mean she looks good all the time, but her smiles are something else, like a flash of warm sunshine. Ruining the moment, the screech of a power saw sliced the air for a short time and stopped. It sounded like it came from the small, unpainted building. I remembered hearing that saw noise from Carla‘s back yard.
“He‘s in his workshop,” she said. “Not good. He doesn‘t like being interrupted when he‘s concentrating on his carvings. He might even be a little grumpier than usual, so try not to be “Great, can‘t wait.” I groaned, massaging my left temple with the tips of my fingers when Carla turned away. “Sounds like so much freakin‘ fun.” The idea of facing some bad tempered old man was not really how I wanted to end my day, you know? Bad dream or no bad dream. By then though, we were approaching Mr. Lobo‘s beat-up truck. To the left of the truck, light shown between the blinds of the two large windows in the workshop, but I couldn‘t really see anything “Being sarcastic isn‘t going to make things any better,” Carla said. “We‘re not here to have fun, we‘re here to get you some help, OK?” She sounded like a mother taking her child to see the doctor for the first time.
“Yes, momma,” I kidded, using a squeaky child‘s voice, “I promise I‘ll be good.”
Carla rolled her eyes, shook her head and punched me in the arm. “You are absolutely hopeless sometimes.” When I say punch, I mean punch! For a small person, she packs a wallop.
A remarkable trip into a stunning new world with Rys Rising, an epic fantasy series brought to you by Tracy Falbe
Rys Rising: Book I by Tracy Falbe
Blurb:
Onja can control what others see. The day will come when everyone sees things her way.
She and all rys are the reviled creations of the tabre of Nufal. Onja longs to expel her hated masters and sees her best hope for an ally in Dacian. He’s a prodigy among rys but is loyal to the ruling tabre order and dreams of winning equality for the rys nonviolently. He holds tenaciously to his ideals even as the tabre brutally subjugate him. Will he endure more dark abuses for the sake of peace or reach out to Onja?
This unique epic of complex heroes and villains engulfs readers from many angles. Packed with primitive energy, the intertwining stories of this fantasy world will indulge your cravings for intrigue, bravery, desire, and freedom.
Links
Rys Rising: Book I is available worldwide at these retailers:
RY’S RISING BOOK 1-FREE ON AMAZON RIGHT NOW
Experience Her LadyShips Quest Here
Connect with Tracy on Facebook
About Tracy Falbe
I was born in Michigan in 1972 and grew up in Mount Pleasant. It’s called the “Mountain Town” but there is no mountain and it’s debatable about whether it’s pleasant. They say it’s a party town and based on extensive research as a young adult I can concur.
Because I always had the childhood fantasy of running away and joining the circus, I moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1995 and lived there until 1997. Those who only stay a week are wimps, but I will say that it’s the second year in Vegas that wears you down. Then I realized the pioneers were trying to get to California, so I moved to Chico, in Northern California and lived there until 2009.
In 2000, I earned a journalism degree from California State University, Chico with the conscious ambition of becoming a fiction writer. With the rapid demise of the newspaper industry and journalism in general, novelist is not such a daft pursuit after all. It’s not like I’m actually going to get a job that values my education. Luckily I’m cursed with the impulse to write in a popular yet competitive genre.
My wandering has circled back and I’m currently residing in Battle Creek, Michigan, and for now my existence within the post-apocalyptic Rust Belt is suitably fascinating.
Stay tuned for the Ry’s Rising Review Only Blog Tour coming in July!
CURRENTLY SEEKING REVIEWERS/BLOG TOUR HOSTS FOR THIS AWESOME BLOG TOUR.
PLEASE EMAIL HEATHER IF INTERESTED
@
earthsbooknook@gmail.com
Brought to you by
Title: The Loneliest Alpha
Author: T. A. Grey
Series: The MacKellen Alphas
Genre: Paranormal Erotic Romance
Publisher: T. A. Grey
Release Date: June 14th, 2013
Synopsis:
One look will change their lives forever.
Lingerie designer Alicia Clarkson just had to open her stupid mouth. Now thanks to trying to defend a fellow pack mate, Alicia’s been blindfolded, tied up, and carted off to the new alpha of the Oregon pack—Gavin MacKellen.
However, the blindfold doesn’t come off so soon as Gavin reveals he’s searching for a mate. But Alicia’s curiosity gets fired up when Gavin refuses to reveal his face to her. Just what happened to him? He talks to her from shadowy corners and behind closed doors. The man is as allusive as a squirrely fox. But Alicia doesn’t play games and the quiet spoken, hoarse voiced alpha doesn’t stand a chance against her. They settle on an agreement, thirty days for them to get to know each other because that’s the only way this cowboy alpha will have it.
Gavin MacKellen needs a mate. But he knows no good woman would ever want to look at his face after the incident he suffered. After one look at Alicia Clarkson all his plans fly out the window. The woman’s beauty has stunned him damn near speechless. She torments his thoughts and Gavin finds himself yearning to know everything about her. He admires her creativity and intelligence, the cool way she handles herself in stressful situations. Most of all, he aches deep in his chest to taste her lips. Those beautiful sweet lips, but in order to kiss her without showing her what a monster he was, he has to get creative.
A relationship forms and as love threatens to grow between them Gavin struggles to cope with his physical appearance in the face of the beautiful Alicia. Will she be the one to stand in the face of a monster and accept or will she turn her back on him as everyone else has?
Author Information:
I love to write the kind of stories that will keep you up late at night and make your heart pound. It’s my goal in writing to make each new book better, more exciting, more action-packed, not only to test myself as a writer but to keep thrilling you. I’m always trying to push the boundaries with my imagination, and yours, to create something new and different.
If you’re a fan of paranormal romance novels then you’ll love my Bellum Sisters Trilogy. This isn’t your typical romance story, so be prepared for a kick of heat and tons of action. The Bellum Sisters Trilogy has received excellent reviews from paranormal bloggers and two of the three books are Top Picks from Night Owl Reviews.
Now, if you like shorter books with quite a bit of heat, humor, and action then I’d recommend the Kategan Alphas series. This erotic series features the sexy Kategan family and all the lucky men and women who get to meet them and complete their lives.
Visit my website to learn more about me and my books HERE.
Social Media Links:
Genre: Adonis
Heat Rating: 3
Publisher: Breathless Press
Formats Available In: All eBook formats
Word Count: 8,807
Release Date: 10th May 2013
ISBN: 978-1-77101-953-8
RRP: 1.99
Blurb:
Short of funds, Gareth proposes to wager for love. Does Gideon dare play out this hand?
Gideon Westwood is passing time at a debutante ball when he encounters a man from his past he’d give anything to avoid.
Unfortunately for him, Gareth Belmain isn’t in the mood to be pushed aside.
A wager leads to a walk in the garden and a kiss to angry words.
Will a public challenge put an end to any hope they might have for a future together?
Book Links:
Breathless Press
All Romance eBooks
Bookstrand
Excerpt:
“If you’re short of funds, I don’t wish to gamble with you for money.”
Gareth smirked, painted lips twisting. “Such an honorable man you are. Fine then, if we shall not play for money, then we play for love.”
A chill washed over Gideon. He shifted on the delicate chair, fearing it might splinter if he abused it too much. “For love?”
Gareth whispered, “You were used to love me dearly. We could play for that.” Gideon’s dismay must have shown on his face, and again he cursed his inability to master the stoic boredom society expected of its young men and women.
“Or maybe not. What stakes would you care to play for, my Corinthian friend?”
The sardonic emphasis on Corinthian hurt a bit, as he had no doubt that Gareth intended it to. It angered Gideon that Gareth held such power over him still, to arouse his emotions, his body this way. Instead of answering the question Gareth had asked, he let his hurt and anger have sway. “Why are you without funds? Too many hours of shopping in Bond Street, my dear?”
Gareth’s blue eyes flickered and his narrow jaw tightened. Gideon’s gaze focused on the tight pinch of his full lips. Those lips had touched his… He bit back a curse as his pantaloons grew uncomfortably tight. “Fuck.” The coarse word was a hoarse whisper that he hoped no one else picked up on.
Gareth’s tension faded and his eyes sparkled with mirth. “No, dear heart. A gentleman never pays his tailor before his gaming debts. If you must know, I played a little too deep the other night at that new hell, off Curzon street.”
The lure of cards had always been impossible for Gareth to resist. They’d often played together at school and through long rainy days at home. So Gideon knew that Gareth might be susceptible to the lure of the cards, but he wasn’t a bad player. While losing wasn’t unheard of, it was rare. “I can float you a bit till quarter day if you like.” Gideon offered.
“Kind of you, but no. If you were inclined to lose to me, that would be one thing. But I am not in need of charity.” The cards were snapped down onto the table sharply. “Cut.”
About The Author:
I’m an avid reader and former teacher of grammar and composition who believes that falling in love is the grandest adventure anyone can have. In a nutshell, that’s every story I have to tell.
Relocating from the crazy pace of life in Southern California’s Orange County to the beautiful and leisurely atmosphere of the Illinois countryside has given me the time to indulge the desire to write, which I’d set aside when I started teaching fourteen years ago. Readers can find out more about me and my writing by visiting my blog, Lee’s Musings, or finding me on Facebook.
Genre: Romance
Heat Rating: 3
Publisher: Breathless Press
Formats Available In: All eBook formats
Word Count: 58,055
Release Date: 10th May 2013
ISBN: 978-1-77101-989-7
RRP: 5.99
Blurb:
A blizzard, a hunky chef, and an accident-prone milkmaid—ingredients for a passionate fling, or a recipe for a blazing romance, hot enough for a lifetime of winters?
When Maxine Grant finds herself out in the freezing rain of a winter storm, an unlikely hero comes to her rescue. Brice Vanzetti is not only a moody hunky chef, he’s the owner of a new black Lexus sporting a red scratch on the bumper. A red that perfectly matches Jilly, her beloved car. Maxine isn’t looking for a knight in shining armor, but is it too much to ask that he comes with a sense of humor along with the hot, hard body?
Brice already has a lot on his plate just keeping his restaurant running. He doesn’t have the time to deal with a woman who drives a rust bucket and doesn’t know when to come in out of the icy rain. She may have left a mark on his car, but Brice is determined she won’t put a dent in his resolve to remain a bachelor. No matter how sexy she looks when she’s mad!
Forced to seek shelter together in his house, more heats up than Brice’s hot chocolate! Stormed in with nowhere to go, Brice and Maxine can keep their differences between them, or give in to the sensual heat and accept the gifts winter has bestowed upon them.
Book Links:
Breathless Press
All Romance eBooks
Bookstrand
Excerpt:
“Miss Grant, what can I do for you this morning? Let me guess, you want me to turn my car around so you can hit the front bumper?” His unfriendly sarcasm irked her right out of her friendly mood.
“Can I come in a second?” Max wanted to toss her check in his arrogant face and leave before he could get another slam to her character in, but she held her ground. He seemed to consider her for a moment and then stepped back to hold the door open for her. At least his father had instilled some good manners on the handsome devil. Max moved to step past him, but her heavy boots caught on the strip of metal separating the restaurant’s carpet from the cement. She would have pitched forward and fallen flat on her face if his muscular arm hadn’t snapped out to catch her.
“Damn, you’re a walking disaster waiting to happen!” Brice righted her before letting go of the door. “Why don’t you stay right here and tell me why you’ve come to see me.” He placed his hands on his hips in a confrontational stance that would have made a full-sized man nervous. Max took a deep breath and turned toward him.
“Thank you.” She grudgingly remembered her manners before giving in to the strong urge to kick him in the chins for being rude. So much for those manners, she mentally shrugged as she clenched her fists at her sides.
“Out with it. I’ve got a lot of prep work to do this morning.” His impatience was evident in the harsh set of his jaw as he watched her with suspicious eyes.
“You’re such a joy to talk to.” She met his sarcasm with her own. “I came to give you this.” She yanked off her mitten before pulling a folded check out of her pocket. She held it out to him. He looked at it as if it were a poisonous snake she’d whipped out instead of a check. She heaved a frustrated sigh. “I called a friend, told him about the damage to your bumper, and he gave me an estimate. This will cover the cost as long as you don’t have them replace the entire bumper. Take it, it won’t bite.” She coaxed him with the tone of voice she used on the kids when they didn’t want to try new things.
“I told you not to worry about it.” He stood like an immovable statue. One that wasn’t the least bit grateful for her offer to pay.
“No, you told me I couldn’t afford to pay for it. I can.” She waved the check at him. “You’re from the Grant farm, then.” His gray eyes narrowed at her. The flesh on the back of her neck rose and she shivered in her coat.
“Yes. I want to pay for what I did to your car. Let me.” She thrust the check at him once more.
“Your money isn’t wanted. I’ll handle the repairs myself. You can leave, now.” He dismissed her and started to walk past her.
“Excuse me?” She grabbed his arm, her fingers registering the tight muscle beneath the soft gray sweater he was wearing. She fought the urge to let him go and run for the door, but instead she held her ground as he stared down at her fingers. “My money is just as good as anyone else’s around this town. I damaged your flipping car, so I’m paying for it.” She let go of his arm awkwardly.
“My ‘flipping’ car?” Brice stared down at her with an inherited arrogance that annoyed her, pricking her temper into over drive.
“I work with kids. I don’t swear, but your crumby attitude is testing my control here. Take the stinking check, Vanzetti.” She thrust the check out to him once more.
About The Author:
Kelliea Ashley lives near the Canadian Border in upstate New York with her husband, a cat named Copperkitty, a dog named Sammy, and several fish, who do not have names and are very lucky her husband feeds them.
Kelliea grew up an only child with a devoted single mother. She looked at books as companions and writing as a favorite escape. She has always been a bookworm who steadfastly refused to give up her paperbacks until her loving hubby bought her a Kindle for Christmas. Secretly she still adores the smell of a well read book, but sh… don’t tell her husband.
She has a habit in the form of chocolate and loves a glass of sweet red wine. Romance has always been her favorite genre because she sees the miracle and magic in finding ones’ true love.
We are honoured to join Bernadette Marie today as she reveals her brand new cover for the eagerly awaited next part in the Keller Family Series, Lost And Found.
LOST AND FOUND IS ALSO RELEASED TODAY!!
PURCHASE LINK
Darcy McCary came to Nashville with some big expectations–to find her birth parents. She had no plans of making a life in Tennessee. But when her sources lead her to Eduardo Keller, her heart took over, and plans changed.
Eduardo Keller is a man who goes after what he wants and he doesn’t have time for playing games. Darcy is exactly the woman he’s been looking for to assist him in business and be his partner in life.
Because he loves Darcy, Ed promises to help her find the answers she seeks. What he doesn’t know is that if Darcy finds the secret to her past it might mend her curiosity; however, it might also tear apart a branch of the Keller family.
~*~
Excerpt:
Ed Keller leaned back in his chair and kicked his feet up on his desk. The view from his office would never cease to amaze him. The view from his uncle’s office was much more spectacular, but he had no reason to complain.
Who would have thought, nearly twenty years ago when he’d asked for an after-school job to afford a limo ride to take a girl to prom, that he’d end up with the title Vice President on his business cards.
He laughed. He couldn’t even think of the girl’s name that had squeezed at his heart. She’d been older. That he remembered. But he’d never done well with older women.
Now he sat atop an empire that his uncle’s grandfather had started and his uncle’s father had carried on. But it was Zach Benson who made it what it was today.
Benson, Benson, and Hart built big—built on time—and built under budget. Nothing had changed.
Ed didn’t have a foreman like Zach had. His other uncle, John Forrester, had been the best foreman any company could have asked for. A loyal employee until Ed’s Aunt Arianna made him retire only two years earlier. But another would come along. Right now he had to focus on a new assistant.
Interviewing people for a position shouldn’t be an issue. He’d been doing it for years. But a personal assistant had to be in your business, and he didn’t like that.
He’d fought it for years. Temps were good. They came, did the work, and left. He figured it was kind of like dating the wrong girl. There weren’t any he wanted to spend his life with.
Perhaps his expectations were too high. After all, his Aunt Regan had been Zach’s assistant. They’d been married nearly twenty-five years, and she still took care of him. It wouldn’t be long before Tyler and Spencer, their sons, would be sitting in Ed’s seat.
Ed dropped his feet to the floor and pushed up from his chair. When the time was right, he’d find the assistant of his dreams. He’d given up on the woman of his dreams, so an assistant would have to do.
He walked to the elevator and pressed the button to go down to the lobby. There was a Starbucks there now, and he’d grown very fond of caramel lattes, thanks to his Aunt Arianna, though he didn’t go for the skinny version. His Uncle John would say it was a bit too frilly a drink for a man in the construction business. His Uncle Zach, on the other hand, would argue that it was a good stress reliever.
Ed laughed at himself. What an eclectic bunch of people he had in his family. And even without them there with him, he still enjoyed them.
The gathering of the masses in the Starbucks also entertained him, almost as much as the thoughts of his family and their differences.
Ed ordered his drink and stood at the counter waiting for it to be handed to him.
As he looked around the store, he mentally spotted and named each kind of person. There was the tourist, the executive, and the assistant. There was a couple, obviously just downtown for the day and…hmmm, one that stumped him.
She was professional, probably interviewing by the way she was dressed, but she wasn’t comfortable with the big building and the mass of people. She was using Starbucks as a common ground, something familiar, to ease her nerves.
He listened as she ordered her drink—decaf and nonfat. What fun was in that, he wondered.
She tucked her change back into her purse, walked to the end of the counter, and stood behind to Ed to wait for her drink.
Flowery perfume filled his nose. She had a sweet side.
The lady behind the counter handed Ed his iced caramel latte. He turned to leave and, he’d say so himself, that was when things got interesting.
The woman who had been standing behind him, searching in her bag for something, looked up just as Ed turned around. She shifted to move out of his way, but instead she moved right into him.
Ed’s hands slipped from the condensation on the cup, and the entire, cold drink poured down the front of the woman.
She let out a stifled scream, and her hands went into the air. “Oh-my-God!”
“I’m very sorry.”
Ed turned toward the counter and grabbed a handful of napkins. He would have helped to mop up her clothes, but he noticed that the white, silk shirt clung to her and decided it just wasn’t a good idea to try.
“Look what you did!” She ripped the napkins from his hand and began to blot away the coffee, which had already stained the shirt.
“Sorry, but I think you ran into me.”
She snapped her head up again. “Oh, men. You’re not always right, you know. Sometimes you do make mistakes.”
Not only was she not as sweet as her flowery perfume, she was jaded. Bad news.
“Again, I’m very sorry. How can I help you?” He turned and reached for more napkins, but when she pulled them from his hand, he noticed she was crying.
“I think you’ve done enough.”
“I still think I can help in some way.”
“Listen. My suit is ruined. This is the only one I have. I was searching for a job, and I can’t do that now. I can’t hand out resumes looking like this.”
Ed watched as the woman continued to wipe off her blouse, but to no avail. It was ruined, but he still wasn’t going to take the blame.
“Are you looking for a job in this building?”
She let out a grunt. “Why else would I be here?”
“I was just asking. I know most of the businesses in the building. Perhaps I can help you out.”
The woman pursed her lips. “I don’t need your charity.”
“It’s not charity. You seem to be in need of a job, and
I’m sure I can help you find one.”
“What, do you own this place?” She waved her arms in the air.
“Let me see your resume.”
The woman stared at him as if he’d lost his mind. That wasn’t new. You didn’t run a multi-million dollar company in your mid-thirties without people giving you a shifty eye.
Her coffee was set on the counter. He moved in to grab it, but she moved quicker. “I’ll get this. I can’t afford to waste a sip of this. It’s my breakfast and lunch.”
She picked up the coffee and moved to a table where she set down the cup and pulled a resume from her bag.
She handed it to Ed. “Here it is. I hate to say it, but I’m desperate. If I don’t find a job in three days, I have to go home.”
“Why? Does that suit turn back into a pumpkin and your glass slipper breaks?”
“Have you ever been desperate for anything in your life?”
~*~
About Bernadette Marie:
Bernadette Marie has been an avid writer since the early age of 13, when she’d fill notebook after notebook with stories that she’d share with her friends. Her journey into novel writing started the summer before eighth grade when her father gave her an old typewriter. At all times of the day and night you would find her on the back porch penning her first work, which she would continue to write for the next 22 years.
In 2007 – after marriage, filling her chronic entrepreneurial needs, and having five children – Bernadette began to write seriously with the goal of being published. That year she wrote 12 books. In 2009 she was contracted for her first trilogy and the published author was born. In 2011 she (being the entrepreneur that she is) opened her own publishing house, 5 Prince Publishing, and has released contemporary titles and began the process of taking on other authors in other genres.
In 2012 Bernadette Marie found herself on the bestsellers lists of iTunes and Amazon to name a few. Her office wall is lined with colorful PostIt notes with the titles of books she will be releasing in the very near future, with hope that they too will grace the bestsellers lists.
Bernadette spends most of her free time driving her kids to their many events. She is also an accomplished martial artist who will earn her conditional second degree black belt in Tang Soo Do in October 2012. An avid reader, she enjoys most, the works of Nora Roberts, Karen White, Megan Hart, to name a few. She loves to meet readers who enjoy reading contemporary romances and she always promises Happily Ever After.
Author Contact Info:
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