Restoration

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When your life is shattered you can live damaged or repair it.
With a signed death warrant and final appeals running out, Tess Olsen anticipates the execution of the man her mother deserted her family for thirteen years ago. Randall Wright s death will expel his disturbing legacy and return her mother to her; it s as simple as that, or so she believes. But Wright robbed her life of more than just her mother and like a splinter slowly and painfully working its way to the surface, those stolen pieces begin emerging.
Working as an art conservator in New York City, Tess keeps an emotional distance from co-workers. She has no close ties since isolating herself during her teen years when the tale of Wright s crimes, trial, and marriage to her mother was published in a Pulitzer Prize winning article. She yearns for the family she had and is unable to accept who they are now.
Tess is dating Ben Elliot, an art critic for the New York Times. The relationship both intrigues and unnerves her. Unlike men she s dated in the past, he is more interested in her than her physical attributes and any sex she can offer. Although drawn to Ben, she is more comfortable with men like Kenyon LeMere, a brazen artist Ben introduces her to who has a reputation for translating his sexual liaisons into art.
Restoration chronicles Tess Olsen s challenge to restore her life, relationships, and dreams back to the promise they held before Randal Wright.

Review

****Barks Out Loud through NetGalley provided me with a copy of this book for my honest review****
This book in a beautifully emotionally charged story that will leave the reader on the edge of your seat. This is the journey of Tess, a girl who has been abandoned by her own mother, discarded and left to fend for herself. She thinks that her stepfather's death will bring about healing and return the one woman who she should have always been able to rely on. While she waits she allows her life to always be missing something, she allows her mother to take more than her support and love from her, she allows her to take the spark from her very soul. Restoration is a story of just that, Tess journey to restore her life and herself. It's a powerful journey that I found riveting and deep. Tess was a superbly developed character that I enjoyed following on her journey. I didn't find many of the side characters redeeming but it only added onto the feeling of hope you felt for this character as she grew. The ending didn't tie everything in a neat bow, it allowed the reader's imagination to shape a little bit to suite them. A very powerful book!

 

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Bonds of Hope (Wicked Play #4)

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1/2

Quinn Andrews has a lot to learn about the world of BDSM. Once America's sweetheart, she has an opportunity to revive her career by playing a sexual submissive in a highly anticipated new series. Quinn is ready to throw herself into the role, and her hometown's premier sex club, The Den, is the ideal place for a crash course.
At first Marcus Reese is reluctant to take on Quinn's erotic education, despite his intense attraction to the stunning starlet. While she fulfills his every command perfectly, she's also a consummate actress—and Marcus is determined to uncover the real woman hidden behind the mask.
Quinn's been taking direction all her life, so submitting to a Dom comes easily. But it's not just the most amazing sex she's ever had—Marcus challenges her to define her own needs and make her own decisions. And when her training is over, Quinn will have to choose between continuing to play a part in her own life, or living by her own rules.

Review

****Carina Press through NetGalley provided me with a copy of this book for my honest review****
Bonds of Hope was a fun and sexy addition to the Wicked Play series. Just being introduced recently to the series, I've gotten to know the characters and enjoyed them. This is a great series for the lighter BDSM reader, the "glitter kink" fans if you will. For me I would have liked to see that part of things go a little more in depth, but it was still a lighter romance with some nice flogging thrown in. Marcus was delicious and kept things going for me where Quinn lacked. Quinn wasn't completely ignorable as a character but she was a little 2D, flat. Her constant stereotypes drove me up a wall, even after meeting Marcus and people in the lifestyle she was adamant about her impressions and opinions and I couldn't help but want to smack her. The hypocritical issues Quinn had with Marcus's job were a little extreme and they never really felt resolved which stuck with me, these two just didn't communicate and I think that gave the reader a bit of an issue. Eventually things turned around with a satisfying ending. All in all something worth picking up for the reader looking for HEA romance with a kinky twist.

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Eternal Blades (Sekhmet's Guardians 3)

 

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Tshering Snow never meant to fall hopelessly in love with her savior, the Ancient, known as Lance, but she did. He seems to care deeply for her, spending every available hour with her, but will he be able to give up his past and settle down with one woman? After all, he has the reputation of a playboy. Lance hates the personification he has created around himself. Afraid the others might not understand why; he has held back the truth from Gabriel and the other Guardians, he has waited for the right woman, the one Sekhmet prophesized so long ago. And now he has found her. When he is accused of fathering a child by both Gabriel and Tshering, how can he make them believe the child is not his, even if the boy is a spitting imagine of him? After the women are attacked by Set’s Legions while relaxing on Jennifer’s new yacht, they come to the unanimous decision; they will train and join the Guardian forces. But that’s not as easy as it was meant to be. Old fashioned and hard headed, Gabriel is determined he will not having women fighting in their war. When Tshering, Jennifer and Jessica are taken hostage by Set’s Legions all hell breaks loose on the Guardian’s compound. Lost without their mates, brother fights brother while they try save their women and put an end to the Legion’s terror. Will Sekhmet, the goddess they serve, step in and reveal the truth or will she leave them to find their own solutions to a never ending war as she has in the past?

Excerpt
Raziel slammed on the breaks and the bus came to a screeching halt. Those standing up were forced to grab hold of the seats to keep from being thrown to the floor.
There parked on the side of the street was a brand new white Maybach, identical to Jennifer’s. Couldn’t be. Gabriel he ran over to the rear of the car to check the plate. Oh, dear God, no. Sure enough it was Jennifer’s.
It hadn’t dawn on him to look inside the warehouse for the three women his soldiers mentioned. Nor did dawn on him, the two blonds and brunette, would be anyone he knew. He assumed they were either girlfriends of the guards or ….shit, that didn’t’ matter now.
Back on board the bus, he tried to call Jennifer on her cell just in case she was still somewhere in the area. He told Raphael to call Jessica and Lance to get hold of Tshering. He wasn’t positive who the two blonds were, but he knew in his heart the brunette had to be Jennifer. He was guessing, but he had a sneaky suspicion who the other two were.
When Jessica’s and Tshering’s phones went unanswered, Gabe called Johnson and told him to take a head count on the women. He needed to know just how many women from the estate, accompanied Jen on her little expedition. Damn her and her independent rebellious streak. It was just like her to pull off something like this.
Lance hung up his phone and stared at Gabriel. “You don’t think?”
“I do… Lance, Jen said she was in the command center earlier when she learned you suspected the mothers were the homicide victims. What exactly did she see while she was in there?”
Lance’s photographic memory recalled Jennifer’s reaction to the monitors under his control. He forgot the warehouse and its address were on one of them, presuming she was concentrating on the one that was running the identification software. It would have been all too easy for her to see and memorize the address.
“Gabe, I never gave it a second thought…the warehouse and address was up on one of the monitors….but she couldn’t have been the one to shut down the security…”
“No, I think we have your lovely Tshering to thank for that.”  

 

With a love for history, Native American author V.S. Nelson, instructed elementary, high school and college in the U.S. and abroad before launching her second writing career. V has been a story-teller all her life, always creating stories about people discovering the courage to make a difference. This drove her into writing her paranormal series centering on strong relationships and led her to coin the term: Ancient Legends, New Worlds. She is well known for her “time management and sprint style writing,” producing well over five thousand words daily - consecutively. V is available for speaking engagements, appearances and is more than willing to share her methodology with others in a variety of workshops. A member of three RWA chapters she sits on several committees and judges writing contests across the states. In Jan, 2013, Eternal Lovers, the first book in her eleven book paranormal series, Sekhmet’s Guardians launched with a fury. Being a series reader herself, she has held true to her promise by releasing no less than two books in the series per year in addition to her other work.
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A Medical Affair

While under the care of her pulmonologist after a life-threatening asthma attack, Heather Morrison enters into an affair with her doctor. This affair violates the state’s code of conduct and his medical treatment violates the Hippocratic oath. Heather’s life is shattered as a result. After the doctor terminates the relationship, Heather begins research for her own healing, and armed with this information, she initiates a civil lawsuit. Although it is a work of fiction, A Medical Affair was extensively researched. A Medical Affair is a critical book for women who want to make educated decisions regarding their relationships with their doctors.
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Excerpt
Jeff
Thoughts of Heather clogged his mind as Jeff stared out to sea. Behind him, the ocean parted in the wake of the ship as it headed for St. Martin. Over dinner last night, his wife Priscilla’s face had morphed into Heather’s, and when they made love in their stateroom, Priscilla’s body had become Heather’s body. And in his dreams, she was there again—or still.
Maybe I just need to get her out of my system. Screw her and be done with it. He remembered the way her nipples had grown hard as he’d examined her, her breasts firm behind the hospital gown. He exhaled hard and imagined what it would be like to have her. Shit! I can’t screw a patient. Not this one. She’s too smart, too independent. Her chart said she was single. I might as well tear up my medical degree.
He recalled the thrill of having sex on the couch in his office with drug reps and nurses and medical consultants. Most had been easy marks. He preferred his women to be married; it was less complicated. There had been late night sex on the tables of exam rooms and daytime sex on the couch of his private office when the surrounding exam rooms were filled with doctors and patients. Any way he could get it, sex reaffirmed life for him when his patients were deathly ill and even more so when one had died. He had to have sex as quickly as possible after a patient died. And preferably, not with his wife. It had to be with someone new, tantalizing, and life-affirming.
No one had died, but Heather Morrison stuck in his thoughts like gum on a shoe. Physically, she was exactly his type—petite and blond with big boobs. Her trust in him—her gratitude—was clear. It seemed to be coupled with an almost neurotic need for security—that sense of physical safety that only he, as her doctor, could provide. He loved the fact that taking her next breath literally depended on his professional decisions. This was why he had become a doctor and what made him feel most like a man.
Jeff knew Priscilla had put him on this ship because it was the only way she could keep him from eighteen-hour days at the office and hospital. And so, for the tenth time in as many years of marriage, Priscilla Wellington Davis had taken her husband out to sea—away from patients, colleagues, emergencies, and temptations. It was clear to Jeff that Pris couldn’t have known how targeted her timing had been this time. He chuckled, wondering if he’d have been able to resist trying to see Heather immediately if he wasn’t trapped at sea.
This cruise was his wife’s gift for his fortieth birthday. Forty! He reached into the pocket of his Dockers, pulling out a pack of Parliaments. He glanced around to ensure that no patients or colleagues were in sight as he lit up his smoke. Oh, right, I’m on a cruise. I don’t have to play doctor here. Fighting the ocean breeze, he struggled to light his cigarette. He inhaled the acrid smoke, longing instead for one taste of Heather.
“Don’t go there,” he said out loud, the wind blowing his words back at him mockingly. “She’s a patient. A single patient.”
“Who you talking to, Daddy?” a small voice responded.
Engrossed in his thoughts, he hadn’t heard the pair of children approaching until they were running circles around him. “Dad-DEE, Dad-DEE.” He reached first to catch the girl and then her brother. Beautiful children with their mother’s light brown hair and his turquoise eyes, the seven-year-old twins were the perfect complement to an apparently ideal life.
“Hey, baby girl,” he greeted his daughter, lifting the child in his arms.
“I thought we’d never find you!” Priscilla said, putting her arm around Jeff’s waist and resting her head on his shoulder. “We’ve scoured every deck on the ship.”
“What’s so important?” he asked. “You know I couldn’t escape this ship without a helicopter or a life raft.”
“Exactly why we’re on board,” she said.
I won’t give in to one of these trips next year. I get so stir-crazy.
“Dinner’s early tonight, remember?” Priscilla said. “At four. With special entertainment for the children.”
“Oh, right,” he fumbled. It had skipped his mind entirely. “Some sort of costume party, isn’t it?”
“Why else would Sam and Hannah be dressed like ragamuffins?”
For the first time, he noticed the twins were wearing torn patchworked shirts and jeans rubbed with black crayon to look like grease. A far cry from the kiddie designer boy-girl clothing Priscilla normally outfitted them in.
“Jeff, where is your head today?” she asked.
“Out there somewhere,” he said, indicating the vast ocean that surrounded them.
“Reel it in, honey,” Priscilla said. “For the kids.”
They made love quickly and quietly in their stateroom when they were certain the children were asleep in their adjoining room. Afterwards, Jeff listened to Priscilla’s content postorgasmic breathing as it alternated with the roar of the higher-than-normal seas. Against the backdrop of his wife’s breath, he heard Heather’s relieved voice repeating, Thanks, doctor…for saving me… He grew hard again at the thought of eliciting such a powerful statement from another human being! Thanks, doctor…for saving me.
Even in the throes of an asthma attack, she had been beautiful. Despite wearing a hospital gown and not a speck of makeup, Heather Morrison was hot. Slim but curvy, delicate yet strong. A jumble of contradictions that were somehow tied together in a perfect package.
He’d felt the immediate connection between them just as much as he was sure she had—maybe more. He wanted her—and he was used to getting what he wanted. He felt the familiar warm urge in his cock, a literal ache to possess something others would say he shouldn’t have.
The ship would dock at St. Martin in the morning. Just two more of these freaking islands before I can go home, he thought, slipping into a fantastic dream in which he finally possessed her.

  

Anne McCarthy Strauss is a survivor. She survived ovarian cancer, a femoral blood clot, 17 years as a single mother with a fulltime job, and, within five years of her marriage, stood by her husband’s side through his battle with lung cancer metastasized to the brain. Persistence is her mantra. Truly, this woman has never given up. In A Medical Affair, she writes about a woman who finds herself entangled in a twisted affair with her pulmonologist. The protagonist, Heather Morrison, doesn’t realize that by having sex with his patient, Dr. Jeffrey Davis is violating the sacred trust of the Hippocratic Oath. When the doctor starts plying Heather with psychotropic drugs and treating her psychological issues with a twisted form of therapy, he is committing a crime. She learns these things during their relationship and, when the doctor ends the affair, she is armed to bring him down both legally and medically. Anne’s goal is to write what she calls “the self-help novel.” Rather than writing in traditional non-fiction self-help mode, she creates a protagonist who is a conglomerate of people experiencing the issue on which the book focuses. It conveys, in a story like fashion, what a person caught in a similar circumstance might do to resolve the problem. In the process, the book directs its readers toward helpful resources while retaining the format of a novel. Told by chapter from various points of view, A Medical Affair lets us see the thoughts of all the characters in a way no other form of writing can. “I look forward to writing more novels of this type that will both provide an enjoyable reading experience to their readers, but also direct them to the proper resources if they require them,” McCarthy Strauss says. A lifelong New Yorker, Anne makes her home on Long Island with her husband Mel (yes, he, too survived despite incredible odds) and their two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Cookie and Ollie.
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Vivian's List

 

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Vivian Sorenson is in a verbally abusive relationship, and all the abuse has left her feeling lost and disoriented. When her boyfriend, Brody, calls her "frigid" and "boring ol' vanilla," Vivian ends the toxic relationship and embarks on a journey of sexual self-discovery. Hence, the sexual bucket list or as she calls it: Vivian's List.
Liam Sykes has known Vivian all his life. He's always been overly protective of her and perhaps half in love with her, too. When he happens upon Vivian's sexual bucket list, he agrees to be her sexual partner. Soon it becomes more than just sex as Liam picks up every jagged little shard of Vivian's shattered heart and pieces it back together, replacing it with a piece of his own.

 ** New Adult Erotic Romance intended for readers 18+ due to language and sexual content

Review

****The author provided me with a copy of this book for my honest review****
Vivian's boyfriend Brody is verbally abusive; she breaks things off with him and writes a "sexual bucket list". Liam, Vivian’s brother’s best friend who is staying with her, finds it and the two of them start to mark of things on the list. Can they keep it as just sex or will they realize that it's more. The plot is interesting if not a bit cliché, but the author wrote it in a way that kept you reading and not rolling your eyes. I liked the premise of the book Vivian’s bucket list wasn't really out there, I was thinking that it would be more adventurous but everything on it was normal, which is kind of sad for Vivian. I liked the idea and the authors writing more than I liked the book itself. Yes the book was good, but I didn't feel an emotional connection to the main characters that brings a book from good to great. I will be getting Liam's List the next part of the story to find out what happens.

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Author Toni Aleo is hosting an Instagram #BlueLines Party event! 

For those who are new to the series, you can learn all about the books and her hot hockey men HERE. Each book can be read as a standalone. 

Before we jump into details on this event, author Toni Aleo has a little message for her readers. :0)

There you have it! We hope you will join us and help spread the word about #BlueLines!

Opposites do more than just attract in Toni Aleo’s latest Nashville Assassins novel about a very bad boy and the good girl he can’t resist.

The instant Piper Allen sees Erik Titov, she wants him—wants his rock-hard body, sure, but the strength and mystery that lies behind that superstar hockey jock demeanor, too. So when he sidles up to her at a bar and slinks his arm around her waist, she’s lost. What follows is the wildest night of her life . . . followed by inevitable heartbreak the next morning. And then, a few weeks later, a very big surprise: two blue lines on a pregnancy test.

Only a check to the head could make Erik fall for a nice girl like Piper. But since their crazy-sexy night together, he’s been trying to forget about her alluring body by falling into bed with every woman in Nashville, and it’s not working. So when Piper shows up at his house with a baby-bomb to drop, it doesn’t take much for Erik to suggest the nuclear option: marriage. While it’s supposed to be all for show, the second they say “I do,” the ice between them starts to melt into sizzling steam.

Includes a special message from the editor, as well as excerpts from these Loveswept titles: Taking Shots, Trying to Score, and Empty Net.

Pre-order #BLUELINES TODAY!
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How can you help spread the word about #BlueLines?

It's easy! You create an instagram video telling readers why you need #BlueLines? If you are new to the series, no worries! You can still enter. Just get creative! :) 

Don't have instagram? You can download the app for FREE on any mobile phone. 

Make sure to tag @ToniAleo1 in your video on Instagram and use hashtag #BlueLines so that Toni Aleo can keep up with all your videos. 

What do you win?

As a huge THANK YOU, Toni Aleo will be giving away THREE gift cards to the most creative WHY I NEED #BLUELINES? video. Third place will win a $5 gift card, Second place will win a $10 gift card, and first place will win a $20 gift card. 

Enter via rafflecopter below. Everything on the rafflecopter is optional. 

Rules:

• Must be 18 or older to enter.
• Giveaway is open international.
• Winners will be announced on November 25th on Toni Aleo's website, Facebook and Twitter.
• Must tag @ToniAleo1 and #BlueLines in your post. 

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Toni Aleo is the author of the Nasvhille Assassins series: Taking Shots, Trying to Score, Empty Net, Falling for the Backup, and Blue Lines.

When not rooting for her beloved Nashville Predators, she’s probably going to her husband’s and son’s hockey games and her daughter’s dance competitions, taking pictures, scrapbooking, or reading the latest romance novel.

She lives in the Nashville area with her husband, two children, and a bulldog. Read more about Toni here.

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Some Kind of Wonderful

What would you do if you found a baby?

Late one night in Christmas, California, Carol Baker sees unexpected movement in the manger of the year-round nativity scene. A real baby! Alive. Abandoned. With the help of the local sheriff, Carol will care for the precious newborn until her mother can be found... but what then? Will Carol be forced to give up the two people who are beginning to feel like family?

Praise for Some Kind of Wonderful:

"Child deftly invokes the full range of human emotion in this contemporary romance set in the determinedly festive town of Christmas, California...thoroughly satisfying." Lynne Welch, Booklist

For one week only you can download SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL on Kindle! 

GET YOUR COPY HERE!

Some Kind of Wonderful by USA Today bestselling author Maureen Child is on sale for 99 cents for the Kindle from November 14-20! We asked Maureen to answer a few questions about the book and about her own holiday traditions.

What is Some Kind of Wonderful about?

I love this book so much! It's set in Christmas, California, a small town where 'Tis the Season all year long. When Carol Baker finds a baby abandoned in the manger, her heart is immediately captured. She always wanted to be a mom, but she never imagined it would happen like this. Still, the baby is only hers until the sexy local sheriff, Jack Reilly, can find the real mom. Carol's trying very hard not to fall in love with the precious baby – or with Jack – because life has taught her that love can be ripped away in a heartbeat.

Some Kind of Wonderful is a contemporary, small town romance, a perfect heartwarming read for this time of year. I'm really excited to offer it for just 99 cents this week for the Kindle. This is a 352-page book, not a novella. I hope lots of people will snap it up.

http://www.amazon.com/Some-Kind-Wonderful-Maureen-Child-ebook/dp/B00E9GAFDS/

Describe Sheriff Jack Reilly in 5 words.

Alpha. Sexy. Protective. Hurting. Nurturing.

Describe Carol Baker in 5 words.

Vulnerable. Loving. Yearning. Alone. Generous.

What do you love best about the holidays?

What I love best is the time with my family, with a focus not on gifts, but on demonstrating our love for each other in tangible ways. We'll do the whole, big Thanksgiving dinner – turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, pumpkin pie – gathered around a table so overloaded with food, it ought to collapse. Before we eat, we each say one thing we're thankful for. It's fun to see what the kids come up with every year.

I recently moved to Utah, so this will be my second Christmas with snow. I love it! When the world is blanketed by white, everything is hushed and peaceful. This is the most beautiful time of the year.

Thank you for spending some time with us today.

Thank you for helping to spread the word about my sale on Some Kind of Wonderful! Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

USA Today best selling author Maureen Child is the author of more than ninety romance novels and novellas. Maureen is a five time nominee for the prestigious Rita award from Romance Writers of America.

One of her novels, A POCKETFUL OF PARADISE, was made into a CBS-TV movie called The Soul Collector, starring Melissa Gilbert, Bruce Greenwood and Ossie Davis.

Maureen was not only on the Texas set to watch her characters come to life in front of the cameras, she was also tossed into the last scene by her husband and the producer, who both thought this would be a fun way to humiliate an author!

When her kids were small, Maureen started writing as not only a way to stay sane, but in the hopes of finding a job she could do and stay at home with them. Sanity is still an issue, but she did manage to write her way into a career she wouldn’t trade for anything.

Over the years, she’s written under lots of different names and she prefers the term ‘pseudonym’ to ‘alias’. As Ann Carberry, she wrote western historical romances. As Kathleen Kane, she wrote not only Americana romances, but western paranormal romances as well. As Sarah Hart, she wrote one really spectacular western paranormal that is still one of her favorites. And once, Ann Carberry even wrote a Victorian historical which she absolutely loved doing.

Under her own name, Maureen writes short contemporary novels for Silhouette Desire—books she loves to write because of their fast pace and condensed story telling. Maureen is also writing funny, contemporary paranormal romances for NAL and darker paranormal stories for Silhouette Nocturne.

Life is busy but when she isn’t writing you can find Maureen sitting under her ‘thinking tree’, coming up with new ideas for even more stories. When she isn’t dreaming up a new book or writing a current one, Maureen loves to travel. Her favorite vacation spot is Ireland, with Scotland coming in a very close second. She and her husband love a good road trip and Maureen’s looking forward to the day when she can actually drive to Ireland. Talk about the best of both worlds!

Maureen Child is a native Southern Californian who has recently moved with her family to the mountains of Utah where she's learning to deal with snow on the road and deer in the yard.

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Marry Me

 

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She'd vowed never to fall in love... Julia Richardson is no fan of weddings. A lifetime of watching her parents treat relationships like the flavor of the month has taught her that love is for fools. Then she learns her former stepsister is having a crisis with her pregnancy. The crisis has Julia returning to the small Southern town – and the family – she’s been avoiding for years. Before she knows it, Julia’s been pressed into service running her former stepsister’s wedding planning business, Marry Me. Julia doesn’t know a garter from a garden hose, but now she must navigate couples along the bumpy path down the aisle - despite wardrobe malfunctions, killer bees, and plenty of near disasters. In the midst of it all, Julia makes the most unexpected discovery of all…Love, with Seth Graham, the widowed local minister! Julia’s been running from love and everything spiritual for most of her life. It’s not until she finds the courage to stop running that she finds her own “I Do” moment.

The Story of Marry Me

I write contemporary, inspirational and general market women’s fiction.  I will confess that never thought I’d write an Inspirational romance. I had (a perhaps unfair) impression of Christian romance as overly sappy or preachy. The covers always featured some girl who looked like an extra from Little House on the Prairie. That just wasn’t the kind of book I wrote or read. My books had snark and humor and sassy heroines.

Then came this idea for a book. At first all I knew about the story was that my heroine would be a woman who never wanted to get married – and who in fact hated weddings – who wound up having to run a wedding planning business. Don’t ask me where the idea came from. I don’t have an unnatural loathing of weddings. I simply thought the idea was funny.

Armed with this funny idea, I then spent a long time trying to figure out “…the rest of the story” as Paul Harvey used to say. I had to ask myself a lot of questions…

Who is this woman?

Why is she so cynical about marriage and why does she hate weddings?

Why is she running this wedding planning business?

What would compel her to do it?

And the big question…who could be the love interest?

I went through many possibilities. It would have to be someone she’d run into a lot while she was planning these weddings. Then one day I stumbled upon the answer…a minister!

Then an amazing thing happened. The story practically came together in an instant like Athena jumping out of Zeus’ head dressed in full body armor. Suddenly, I knew exactly who my heroine was, I knew her past, why she would take on the business, I knew his past, too. Along with the plot came an entire fictional Southern town called Covington Falls.

And with the idea to have the hero be a minister, I realized the story could have a faith element as well. I could write an inspirational romance that was funny and sweet and snarky, but still had a positive, faith message. I could write an inspirational story I would want to read and that hopefully others would, too…even if they weren’t religious.

I wrote MARRY ME (formally called Here Comes The Wedding Planner). Rewrote it a couple of times, taking it from a first person point-of-view book to third person (that’s a whole other story, too). It finaled in the Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Contest in 2010. My agent sent it out to publishers…and it didn’t sell.

MARRY ME sat in my computer until this year when I decided to try again. You, see in the last couple years the entire publishing industry had undergone a seismic shift. The rise of ebook publishers, Amazon & self-publishing changed everything. Then in April I pitched the book to two editors on a website called Savvy Authors. I got two requests for full manuscripts…and two offers!!! Yes, that’s right…TWO!!! Within a week! I accepted the offer from Astraea Press.

I have a special place in my heart for this book because it helped me figure out the kind of writer I wanted to be. And I am so completely smitten by my hero and heroine, Julia and Seth (especially Seth because frankly I believe he wrote the book so I blame it all on him). And I’m so glad everyone will be able to FINALLY read their story.

Growing up Kristin devoured books like bags of Dove Dark Chocolate. Everything from Nancy Drew & Encyclopedia Brown to C.S. Lewis and the Sweet Valley High series. Later she discovered romance novels. It’s no surprise then that Kristin would one day try her hand at writing them. She writes inspirational romance and women’s fiction filled with love, laughter and a leap of faith. In May 2013, Kristin sold her first novel, MARRY ME, to Astraea Press. Publication date to come! When she’s not writing her next novel, Kristin works as an advertising copywriter. She also enjoys singing in her church choir and playing flute in a community orchestra.
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Love Waltzes In

 

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To her millions of fans, ballroom champion Selena Marcil seems to have the perfect life: a great dance partner, a hit reality show, and celebrity perks. But underneath the glamorous ball gowns, Selena longs to find someone to share her life with when the stage lights dim. Selena’s childhood sweetheart, Bret Lord, hung up his dance shoes after winning two national titles with her as a teenager, and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He never saw his former fiancée again, except on television and on the cover of men’s magazines. Ten years and three deployments later, Bret gets an offer to audition for Selena’s dance show. When the Marine Corps gives him temporary leave to appear on the series, Bret can’t refuse the quick cash that will enable him to provide financially for the widow of his buddy, even if it does mean coming face to face with his past. When Bret shows up at her national championship, Selena is shocked. For years she searched for him to no avail. After spending time with Bret, Selena realizes despite their past romance, they have no future. He has no desire to live under a spotlight and she has no desire to leave it. Can Selena and Bret recognize when Love Waltzes In?






                                       

                                        Top Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Alana

                                                  1. I was a professional ballroom dancer.

                                                  2. I learned to speak Russian so I could understand my dance coach.

                                                  3. My secret dream job is to be a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader.

                                                  4. I used to be a professional Spice Girl Impersonator! Ginger!

                                                  5. I run a dog rescue and have saved 150 dogs from high kill shelters.

                                                  6. I took drum lessons from a top heavy metal guitarist.

                                                  7. I have two sons—age 3 and age 7 months

                                                  8. I love Round Table Pizza.

                                                  9. I’ve never ridden a bicycle.

                                                  10. I detest mayonnaise.

Alana Albertson is the former President of both Romance Writers of Americas’s Young Adult and Chick Lit chapters and the founder of Academe Advantage, a college admissions & test preparation company. Alana Albertson holds a Masters of Education from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Stanford University. A recovering professional ballroom dancer, Alana currently writes contemporary romance and young adult fiction. She lives in San Diego, California, with her husband, two young sons, and four dogs. When she’s not spending her time needlepointing, dancing, or saving dogs from high kill shelters through Pugs N Roses, the rescue she founded, she can be found watching episodes of House Hunters, Homeland, or Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team.

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Finding the Right Girl

Finding the Right Girl by Violet Duke
Published October 30, 2013

From the New York Times & USA Today bestselling author who brought you the Nice Girl to Love trilogy, comes a Nice GUY to Love spin-off…

Brian Sullivan has been in love twice in his lifetime.  He lost his first love to early-onset Huntington’s, and he lost the other more recently…to his brother.  And somehow, his heart has managed to heal itself after both.  Amazingly, without therapy. That doesn’t mean he hasn’t gotten more wary along the way, however. In fact, he’s been thinking lately that maybe his brother’s now retired nothing-but-flings rule isn’t such a bad idea. Unfortunately, being the nice guy poster boy and all, Brian isn’t exactly versed in the fine art of flings.  So he looks to the outrageously ‘unique,’ provokingly button-pushing Tessa Daniels for a crash course.

There’s absolutely no way he’s falling in love with this one…right?

Tessa has no idea what she was thinking telling Brian that she was some sort of fling expert. She’s never been flung before and she sure as heck doesn’t know where or how to begin flinging a guy like Brian.  It was a temporary lapse in sanity, really—no doubt because of the can’t-help-but-fall-for-him brain fuzz that hits her whenever he’s around.  Not only does the man have her being more herself than she’s ever been in her life, but he’s the only person she knows who seems to have as many demons and skeletons in the closet as she does.  What’s more, he’s got her thinking of the one thing she stopped letting herself even hope for years ago.

A happily ever after.

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   The door slammed shut behind him, cloaking them in darkness.

   “You drive me crazy, you know that?”

   God, his voice had dropped even lower, to a sexy thunder down under rumble.

   “Crazy in a good way or a bad way?” Tessa managed to ask as her eyes adjusted to the lack of light.

   “Both.”  He circled slowly around her as if she were a dangerous animal…he was getting ready to pounce on.  “You have no filter whatsoever.  Not with what you do or say, and especially not with how you react.”

   “That’s not my fault. You can just point that finger at yourself buddy,” she grumbled back before snapping her mouth shut.

   Alright, so maybe he was right about the filter thing.

   “What?”   

   Man, if looks could strip.  She’d never felt this naked before, this out of control.  Inwardly, she sighed. The guy just brought out the uncivilized in her.

   Oh well, she came this far, may as well see where this ride ends.  “You heard me.”  Her chin came up defiantly.  “I can’t think when you talk in that ridiculously sexy voice.  Or when your biceps suddenly double in size in the middle of even the simplest of tasks, like lifting a coffee mug.  And don’t get me started on your eyes.  My god, I almost walked into a wall the last time you smiled and your eyes went from that soft ocean blue to deep turquoise.  I mean who does that?!”  

   It was like she just couldn’t stop talking.

   When he came to a standstill and simply stared at her like she’d lost her mind, she huffed.  “It’s simply not reasonable to expect a girl to have a filter with all that steamy-eyed, bicep-popping, talking-like-a-wet-dream-voice-over madness going on!”

   Silence.

   Huh, so where might one buy one of these filters, she wondered.

   With a quiet curse, he stomped toward her and picked her by the waist, not even pausing in his stride as he kept right on walking to the bed.  Well, if he going to take her for a ride…she speared her hands into his thick, tousled waves and nearly purred with pleasure.

   “Stop being so damn open,” he rasped, sounding like a man about ready to do the unimaginable, his lips a whisper away from hers.

    “Stop being so damn irresistible,” she threw back, digging her heels into the carpet until his body ran flush into hers and bulldozed her straight back, flat onto the bed.

   The air wedged in her throat as she watched the outline of his granite-etched jaw clench and release.  He was so beautiful.  Oh to hell with it.  She wrapped her arms around his neck and touched her lips to his throat.  The quiet male hiss she heard shot her attention down to the fact that he was more than a little happy to see her.  Impressively so.  And her sigh of pleasure against his throat served as a live current of electricity that she felt run through him…everywhere.

New York Times & USA Today bestselling author Violet Duke is a former professor of English Education who is ecstatic to now be on the other side of the page writing wickedly fun contemporary romance novels. When she's not arguing with her story characters or feeding her book-a-day reading addiction, she enjoys tackling reno projects with her power tools while trying pretty much anything without reading the directions first and cooking 'special edition' dishes that laugh in the face of recipes. Violet lives in Hawai'i with her two cute kids and similarly adorable husband. 

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Awakening

 

  

River Rock, Vermont, 2011. This is the story of Claire Ryan and Evan Lang. 35-year-old Claire joins a local book club for romance readers in order to get over the breakdown of her 10-year relationship, there she meets book shop owner Evan, a dominant man who has never recovered from the sudden death of his submissive wife. As their relationship develops and they embark on the path of Claire's submission, it becomes harder and harder for Evan to keep his emotional distance. Claire is open and responsive and he wants her badly, but refuses to let himself go. As Claire falls deeper in love with Evan, she realises that he is holding back and decides to end their relationship, forcing Evan to confront his own past and his feelings in order to save his new love.

Review

 ****SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca, via NetGalley provided me with a copy of this book for my honest review****
Claire Ryan is about to embark on a journey she never saw coming. After a hard break up from an unhealthy relationship she should have ended long ago, she decides to join the world one step at a time. Claire decides to start with a book club at a quaint local book store named Bibliophile.
Evan Lang is still in love with his wife who he lost to cancer, so he fills his days with the other love in his life, his book store. When he sees a woman who stirs long dead feelings he's angry with her and himself. To make mattes worse, he sees her quietly sneaking to read the store's erotica, embarrassed but aroused. An overheard conversation later he knows she's way more than he expected, and he's just the man to give her the awakening she needs. However, when his own demons come to surface he may have underestimated just how much he needs her in return.
Awakening was one of the more unique tales of a woman's journey into discovering her submission. Although the insta love was a disappointment, the heartbreak and struggle was inspirational .Palatable emotions and deep characters lead way to a nicely flowing storyline suitable for an array of readers. The sex was hot but didn't take away or make up the storyline. The depth of emotion between the characters and involved in the D/s relationship was accurate and led to a believable HEA. And of course I wish Bibliophile was a real book story because it made me want to curl up in the reading section in the back and enjoy. 

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Ungifted

Ungifted by Kelly Oram

Book 2 in the Supernaturals series

YA paranormal/fantasy

Even though her father is running for President of the United States, Grace St. Claire is as normal a girl as they come. She’s clumsy, shy, and an outcast among her peers. She even manages to nearly die in a freak accident in front of the entire school. But when Grace survives a vampire attack she quickly learns that she is anything but ordinary.

There’s something about human Grace that has all the supernaturals around her going crazy. Her best friend’s brother suddenly wants to date her. Her worst enemy has sworn to protect her even against her wishes. Someone with very powerful magic wants her dead, and the vampire that attacked her has developed an obsession with making her his eternal mate.

In order to survive—and not as Count Dracula’s undead bride—Grace dives head first into the terrifying world of the supernatural. She teams up with a charming but mysterious warlock who strolled into town causing trouble and spouting stories of a Prophesy and Chosen One that looks exactly like Grace. Together they must figure out why Grace is different, who wants her dead, how she’s connected to the Chosen One, and who they can really trust.

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