Wednesday, January 21, 2015

PROMO: One Last Hold




Romantic Suspense
Date Published: November 5, 2014

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Wesley Webb is at the pinnacle of his auto racing career when his main rival is murdered hours after their confrontation. That, along with evidence found at the scene, shades him as prime suspect. Now he’s under intense press scrutiny, particularly from Caitlyn Daniels, an ex-girlfriend who knows all about his secret past.


Caitlyn thought to never see Wesley again. Now, his life could be in her hands. Ten years ago, a tragedy tore apart everything she held dear, including their relationship. When she’s assigned to do an exclusive story with the reluctant race car driver she once loved, she believes this could be her purging. But chemistry tears apart her resolve to stay strong. Can they work out their differences and fall in love again, or will tragedy keep them apart?



Excerpt
She took a deep breath. Usually her interviews became more personal. She wasn’t sure how personal to get with him. She knew a lot about him—at least she used to—but she was scared of asking him the wrong thing. She didn’t want to set him off.

“What’s your favorite color?” Caitlyn held a pen in her hand, poised to write, trying to concentrate on the task at hand. Her focus, though, was Wesley’s deep green eyes. Eyes able to pierce her and reach a part of her no one had ever been able to touch before. Something about the way he looked at her, like he saw only her, deep down, clear to her soul.

A hint of danger lurked in his eyes, a predator-like stance that made her sense he was ready to devour her, sexually and otherwise. A vulnerability that made Caitlyn yearn to take him in her arms, to be as close to him as possible. His gaze held no arrogance, no indifference, and no deceit.

Her throat felt parched. His eyes devoured every morsel of her power and well-being.

She couldn’t think of a decent thing to say. Thank God it was his turn to talk.

“My favorite color,” he said as he leaned across the table, closer to Caitlyn, “is the capricious color of your eyes.”

His lips were only inches from hers so that his breath licked against her skin. His eyes possessed her.

She clutched her pen in midair, frozen in space for a mere second. He touched her hand.

The pen fell.

“Blueberry,” he said as he trailed a light kiss across her knuckle, his eyes still magnetizing hers. Her heart stopped in her throat. “Dark and wounded. Cornflower blue, tantalizing with banter and witticism.” He kissed the tip of her pinkie and went on to taste each finger, slowly taking his time with each one. “Sea blue, bright and sparkling like the waves catching a sunset, when you’re happy.”

Caitlyn, entranced with his words, was amazed he even noticed her eyes and more amazed he practically recited poetry. Where had he come up with this?

“Storm clouds,” he continued as he stroked the inside of her palm. “Brewing with a passion and desire you’re too afraid to feel. Sometimes periwinkle, sometimes almost lavender and sometimes a sultry gray. Right now though, they are definitely–”

She pulled her hand away and scooted back in her chair. Thoroughly aroused, she squeezed her thighs tighter in an attempt to bury the spark.

“You’re full of it,” she said. “My eyes don’t change colors that much and even if they did, you wouldn’t notice.”

“What makes you say that?” He leaned back in his chair, taking the two back legs to its haunches, something they both used to get in trouble for when they were kids.

She shook her head and didn’t answer. The touch of his warm mouth on her fingers still burned in her core.

“I always notice your eyes.”



About the Author

During her senior year in high school, Angela Smith was dubbed most likely to write a novel, and that has been her dream ever since her mother read stories of 'Brer Rabbit' to her and her sister so often that they were able to recite it back to each other before they learned to read. She hasn't stopped reading or writing since. A certified paralegal, work gives her perfect fodder for her romantic suspense stories. When not caring for her small farm or spending time with her husband of two decades, she enjoys 4-wheeling, crafting, reading, and dreaming of the places she'll visit one day.


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Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Join the In For the Kill Thunderclap




Romantic Suspense
Date Published: January 27, 2015

Years ago, the McClouds and their friends rescued little Sveti Ardova from ruthless organ traffickers. Now she’s all grown up, and getting into some scorching trouble of her own . . .
NO SURRENDER

The risks ex-cop Sam Petrie has taken have turned his life into a train wreck. So he has nothing to lose by doubling down as the elusive Svetlana Ardova’s unwanted bodyguard on her ill-advised trip to Italy. Her crusade against modern slavery has blazoned a bullseye on her chest, but when one of the death threats against her almost hits the mark, Sam’s protective instincts go into overdrive. Every lethal obstacle and trap they encounter ups the stakes—and the undeniable heat between them.
Now they’re spiraling in on a deadly and explosive secret—one that could either redeem them or destroy them … and the closer they get, the shorter the fuse …



Praise for Shannon McKenna

"The McCloud series is an auto buy for me." --Maya Banks

"McKenna writes intense, sensual stories." --The B&N Review

"Shannon McKenna makes the pulse pound." –BookPage

 




Shannon McKenna is the NYT bestselling author of over ten action packed, turbocharged romantic thrillers, among which are the stories of the wildly popular McCloud series. She loves tough and heroic alpha males, heroines with the brains and guts to match them, villains who challenge them to their utmost, adventure, scorching sensuality, and most of all, the redemptive power of true love. Since she was small she has loved abandoning herself to the magic of a good book, and her fond childhood fantasy was that writing would be just like that, but with the added benefit of being able to take credit for the story at the end. Alas, the alchemy of writing turned out to be messier than she'd ever dreamed. But what the hell, she loves it anyway, and hopes that readers enjoy the results of her alchemical experiments. She loves to hear from her readers. Contact her at her website, http://shannonmckenna.com, or join the newsletter by signing up here: http://shannonmckenna.com/connect.php.

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Review Wrap Up: Tranquility by @lauriegardiner1


Women's Fiction  
Date Published: December 2014


   
Tranquility belies its name. Behind the nursing home's serene exterior hides a sinister secret.
Soon after transferring to Tranquility's dementia unit, support worker Sarah Scott suspects a co-worker of abuse. Doing the right thing could mean losing her job, and unemployment is not an option for the young, single mom.
Meanwhile, Sarah questions whether her newest resident, Edie, belongs in the locked unit. The feisty, Scottish woman certainly doesn't act as though she has dementia. Sarah is determined to have Edie released, but her plans are thwarted when Edie risks her own freedom to help find the proof needed to stop the abuse.



This novel has a current Amazon Rating of 3.5*'s.
Get your copy for $3.99.






REVIEWS FROM THIS TOUR
January 5 - Texas Book Nook
January 6 - A Life Through Books
January 7 -  My Reading Addiction
January 8 - Book Junkie Mom
January 9 - The Indie Express
January 10 - Steamy Side
January 11 - Coffee Bean Zone
January 12 - Wall to Wall Books
January 14 - Coffee Hobby 
January 15 - Reecas Pieces



Laurie grew up on a farm in a small Northern Ontario community in Canada. She left home at seventeen to experience life in the city and now lives in Cambridge, Ontario with her husband of twenty-seven years.
Raising three kids, teaching fitness and operating a home daycare left little time for writing, but she did have some poetry published in various anthologies over the years. In 1997, her short story “Til Death Do Us Part” placed first in the Cambridge Writers Collective anthology.
At the age of forty, Laurie went back to school and began a new career as a personal support worker. Though she ended up working in homecare, it was a placement in the dementia unit of a long-term care facility that inspired her to write her first novel, Tranquility.
Laurie is currently enrolled in the Creative Writing Program through the local community college and is working on her second novel.
Twitter: @lauriegardiner1


Friday, January 16, 2015

Review Wrap Up: The Girl In the Black Pajamas by @CHRISBIRDY1

Murder / Mystery / Suspense 
Date Published: July 2014


   
R&B Investigations is under attack. Their employee is shot in the back as he enters the building, and a hacker is trying to compromise their secure network. While the Boston police investigate the shooting, Bogie McGruder needs to find the culprit who is trying to put them out of business. Bogie and his partner Rose Jones can’t disclose their internet problems to the cops since Bogie is a hacker himself. Bogie McGruder returns to Boston with his four- year-old daughter Isabella. He joins up with Rose Jones’ uncle Walter who is fresh for Lompoc Prison. Bogie and Walter strengthen their firewalls while they try to determine who is behind the invasion. As the R&B team hones in on the culprit, they uncover several murders and discover a plot to wipe out the financial institutions in Boston. While Bogie is in Boston, his extended family in Palm Beach becomes enmeshed in a sex scandal that threatens to ruin lives and careers in the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office. Feeling like a wishbone about to snap, Bogie tries to handle problems in both cities while Isabella continues her quest for someone to teach her the Five-Point-Palm-Exploding-Heart technique as seen in Kill Bill Volume 2. This tale of murder, revenge and greed takes the reader on a whirlwind trip from Boston to Palm Beach and back.

The Girl in Black Pajamas is available in both print and ebook format. 



This Novel has a current Amazon Rating of 4.8*'s.
Get your copy for FREE on Amazon Kindle!




REVIEWS FROM THIS TOUR
January 7 - A Life Through Books - Review
January 9 - Texas Book Nook - Review
January 11 - Simpliread - Review
January 12 -  The Pulp Den - Review
January 14 - Books are Love - Review



Chris Birdy is an award-winning author of the Mystery/Suspense Pajama Series. She was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After graduating from high school, she did a four year stint in the Middle East. When she returned to the States, Chris settled down in the Boston area and became a true Bostonian by collecting college degrees while raising a family.
For more than twenty years, Chris has been a member of the legal community performing investigative work for Boston law firms.
Chris lives outside of Boston and in Palm Beach, Florida with her husband.



Review Wrap Up: Heartnapped by @daydreamingj


Contemporary / Interracial Romance
Date Published: July 9, 2014


   
Jayla Simmons never imagined herself working in a place like Vice, but what's a girl to do when she has a child to support all on her own? Her disdain for the place isn't limited to her occupation. Her boss, Carter Rossi, has had a strange fixation on her since she started dancing at Vice, and though she's reluctant to admit it, she's drawn to him as well. Carter Rossi is tired of the cat and mouse game he's been playing with Jayla's since the day she walked into his club. The son of Don Antonio Rossi has been denied few things in life, and Jayla Simmons will be no exception. He'll have her by any means necessary.






This Novel has a current Amazon Rating of 4.1*'s.
Get your copy for $2.99!






REVIEWS FROM THIS TOUR
January 7 - Obsessed By Books - Review
January 12 - A Life Through Books - Review
January 13 - Musings From an Addicted Reader - Review
January 14 - Twin Opinions - Review





I grew up in a tiny town with lots of room for my imagination to grow, and never outgrew my love for playing make believe. I developed my love for storytelling when I was very young, and used it as a way to escape and explain the world around me. That storytelling ability has grown and evolved a lot since then and taken me many different places. I'm having fun following where it leads me. I've been writing since I was a child; seriously, my mom has the crayon illustrated short stories to prove it. My writing has been mostly private since the end of my UIL creative writing days circa 1998. The writing bug bit me again when I was a freshman in high school, and I finally had the guts to publish my first e-book, Purple Hearts, in July of 2013! Now, I'm hooked, and determined to make a career out of this little passion of mine. My writing style is very direct with a little bit of humor. Alpha males are my guilty pleasure, but don't expect my female main characters to be passive damsels in distress. Every girl needs a little spark to her to keep the guys on their toes, right? I write mostly interracial/paranormal romance, but I've been toying with contemporary and historical romance plots as well. In short, I'm a dreamer by nature and an artist by trade. I endeavor to take my readers on a different journey with every new story I write.


Thursday, January 15, 2015

PROMO: Tied With a Bow and No Place to Go



Mystery / Humor
Date Published: August 2014

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Texas Ranger Ridge Cooper has investigated some odd cases during his career, but when local chicken farmer, Jay Roy Hobbs, is found dead, wearing nothing but boots and a bow, it becomes the strangest one yet. On the positive side, the lawman won’t lack for suspects. Turns out the victim got up close and personal with most of the girls in his graduating class and they’re in town for a reunion. All Ridge has to do is tolerate a talking parrot and consult a color wheel as he tries to determine if the culprit is one of Jay Roy’s three ex-wives or a high school conquest.

While her husband looks into his latest murder case, Tizzy Cooper has problems of her own. She’s joined forces with first cousin and local PI, Jinx Monroe, to follow a possible cheating husband, confront their Nana about baking Boom Brownies, and drench-a-wench at the local Renaissance Faire.


Excerpt

Jay Roy Hobbs held the county record for talking women out of their panties. At least that’s what Tizzy Cooper had heard. Rumor said ladies ignored his lack of good looks and fell for his quick wit. Now, staring at him through binoculars, she wasn’t so sure humor was his main appeal.

She swallowed the lump that’d been lodged in her throat since arriving on the scene. It wasn’t the sight of a dead body that bothered her. She’d seen plenty of those over the years. Her talent for talking to the dearly departed made it a frequent occurrence. But while the rest of Brownsboro’s citizens were having their first cup of coffee, she was five miles out of town, at the edge of a field, swatting mosquitos. Not the way she intended to start her day.
Sunlight filtered through naked limbs of an old tree and cast shadows across colonies of Bishop’s Weed standing tall like lacy parasols. The only thing ruining the spring array, Jay Roy’s lifeless body.

At first, Tizzy considered he might be asleep or unconscious, but after calling out to him with no response, and given the color of his skin, along with the buzzards overhead, she decided on a third choice.

Stepping onto an old stump to get a better view, she focused the field glasses. About fifty yards away, the man lay naked, except for boots and a bow, on a patch-work quilt, face toward heaven, arms outstretched. Something twisted in Tizzy’s chest. Jay Roy and her mom had graduated high school together which made him much too young to die.

A few feet to the right, Tizzy’s friends, Synola Harper and Rayann Tatum, shaded their faces and squinted toward the dead man. Tizzy stepped off the stump, adjusted the straps of her sundress and decided they must be as surprised as she by the sight, because neither of them said a word until she passed the field glasses to Synola.

“Lord, can you believe the size of that thing?” Synola let the binoculars dangle around her neck. She tugged her red tank top against warm mocha skin, tucked it into the slender waist of her jeans and smirked at Rayann. “I don’t suppose you’ve ever seen anything that big.”
Rayann tossed her head, blonde curls bouncing with the movement, then narrowed her green eyes and frowned. “Of course I have. I watch HBO.”



About the Author

Ann Everett embraces her small town upbringing and thinks Texans are some of the funniest people on earth.  When speaking to writing groups, businesses, book clubs, and non-profit organizations, she incorporates her special brand of wit, making her programs on marketing, self-publishing, and the benefits of laughter, informative and fun.

An award winning author, she’s also a member of Northeast Texas Writers’ Organization and a top ten reviewer on thenextbigwriter.com

When Ann’s not writing, she spends her days listening in on people’s conversations at the local Wal-Mart, beauty shop, Goodwill, and numerous other gathering spots. She draws from that research to pen her romantic suspense novels full of southern sass and Texas twang. For her new adult romance stories, she blends her dramatic writing style with a kick of humor.

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Sunday, January 11, 2015

PROMO: Silk



Mystery / Suspense / Thriller
Date Published: December 14, 2015

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Silk on the skin—luxurious, luscious..lethal.
London-Fall, 1888

The city is in a panic as Jack the Ripper continues his murderous spree. While the Whitechapel police struggle to find him, Detective Inspector Rudyard Bloodstone and his partner are working feverishly to find their own serial killer. The British Museum's beautiful gardens have become a killing ground for young women strangled as they stroll through.

Their investigation has them brushing up against Viscount Everhard, a powerful member of the House of Lords, and a friend to Queen Victoria. When the circumstantial evidence  points to him as a suspect, Rudyard must deal with the political blowback, and knows if they are going to go after the viscount, they'd better be right and have proof.

As the body count grows and the public clamor for the detectives to do more, inter-department rivalries complicate the already difficult case.



EXCERPT

He wrapped an end in each hand and pulled. His fingers crept up the silk and he tugged a bit harder still. The material pressed deeper into the flesh of her neck. Bright pink dotted her cheeks and radiated down to her jaw. The veins in her temples popped out and pulsed in time to her heartbeat. She moaned, pushed her hips upward and writhed against him. Her soft pubic hair tickled his testicles. Isabeau’s unsubtle way of letting him know she wanted him inside her. He obliged.

Her hands encircled his wrists. She tugged hard outward, harder than usual. A choked sigh escaped her. He paid no attention. This was standard. Isabeau always insisted he maintain pressure until she signaled for him to release his hold. In the past, when she reached the edge of consciousness, she’d beat along his upper arms. This time she thrashed her head back and forth, something he hadn’t seen before. Her eyes bulged in an unattractive way and she clawed at him. Her nails gouged the skin on his hands, drawing blood.

She hurt him and he wanted to slap her. He almost let go of one end of the scarf to do that. Instead, he pulled tighter. Isabeau tried to insert her fingers into the spot where the material crossed over. Her mouth opened and shut, soundless and fishlike. She swatted at the mattress wildly. Red-faced to the point of being near purple, she bucked beneath him.

She fired his blood with her lack of inhibition. Never had she responded with such intensity. Raw power surged through him, primitive, animalistic. He pumped hard. Ready to climax, William clenched his fists, twisting the scarf one last turn. Odd, feathery touches tapped his biceps, feminine and subtle grazes, and then she went limp. Spent, he released his hold and collapsed on top of her, his heart pounding while he caught his breath.

Isabeau didn’t move and her head stayed turned to the side. She hadn’t cried out the way she normally did when sated. Perhaps she was disappointed with his effort. He gave the thought a mental shrug. At the end of the day, it really didn’t matter. He’d arrange for her departure first thing in the morning.

William rolled over and slung a sweaty arm over his eyes. He tried to decide which was worse, telling her tonight the affair was over or waiting until morning. The idea of doing it after such a rambunctious sexual endeavor seemed bad form, but he wanted to get it over with. He turned onto his side, prepared for histrionics, caterwauling, great tears and verbal abuse.

“Isabeau, look at me. I’ve come to a decision and it will likely distress you.” Nothing. She didn’t stir. “Isabeau?”

He shook her by the arm. Still no response. William let go and her arm dropped listless to the mattress. He raised her arm again and let go. Again, it fell listless. He straddled her and patted her cheeks. Nothing. Her head twisted without resistance first right then left depending on the direction of his pat. He slapped her harder. Nothing. Vacant eyes stared fixed on the ceiling. He bent an ear to her chest. Nothing. William leapt from the bed, snatched a silver mirror from the dressing table, and held it under her nose. Nothing.

“Bitch.” William hurled the mirror against the wall. “Bitch, whore,” he raged and paced along the side of the bed. “I will not allow you to make my life a nightmare. This was your doing. I told you to leave me alone.”




About the Author

I was born and raised in Chicago. My father was a history professor and my mother was, and is, a voracious reader.

I grew up with a love of history and books.


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