@BipBopBooks Presents The Spice Up #BookTour from @sabrina_york @sidney_bristol @lisafoxromance #Contest

Posted by eloreenmoon

Welcome to the Moonbeams over Atlanta stop of the Spice Up Blog Tour: Three authors are participating in this tour. Welcome Sabrina, Sidney, and Lisa! This is part of a book tour with BippityBoppityBook, so be sure to check out the other tour stops to read exclusive excerpts and see what others thought about the book with their review.

Sidney Bristol brings us the heat with her Romantic Suspense with BDSM Elements title Duty Bound, Book 2 in her Bayou Bound series. Lisa Fox is introducing us to her Midnight Kiss Contemporary Romance series with One Kiss and the soon-to-be-released Her Perfect Lips. And a Contemporary Erotic Romance series from Sabrina York, her titles Rebound, Dragonfly Kisses, Smoking Holt, Heart of Ash, Devlin’s Dare and Parker’s Passion are all part of the Tryst Island Series. Join us in meeting these authors and spice up your shelves (or start your holiday shopping early) with one of these wonderful romances.

Duty Bound
Bayou Bound # 2
Sidney Bristol

Romantic Suspense / BDSM Elements
331 Pages
See on Goodreads
Available at Amazon ♦ Barnes ♦ ARe ♦ Kobo ♦ iBooks

About the book:

Sometimes one kiss can change everything.

New Year’s Eve is supposed to be a night for celebration and new beginnings. For best friends Kat and Dean, it is a nightmare filled with disastrous dates and enraged ex-girlfriends!

Lucky for them, they’ve got each other to help laugh off the embarrassing, and downright inappropriate, moments. But then midnight rolls around and neither of them have anyone to kiss…

There’s no doubt this is a night they will always remember.

The real question is whether it will be a night they want to forget…

Excerpt:

Lisette froze with a piece of bread poised over the skillet, holding her breath as someone stopped outside Mathieu’s apartment. She’d spent the whole day jumping whenever footsteps echoed past. This time, the lock scraped and the door swung inward. She exhaled, soaking up Mathieu’s presence like a balm.

“What kind of a person doesn’t have internet?” She turned toward the front door as it closed. The sight of him hit her in the solar plexus. There was no preparing for him and the way being in his space brought up all her old questions and desires. But mostly, he made her feel safe. She’d had her first night of uninterrupted sleep, no startling awake or lying frozen in place from imagined sounds.

Mathieu paused taking off his coat, his gaze flicking over her, ignoring the dog wiggling its whole body at his feet. “Good afternoon to you, too.”

“Hi. What’s up with no wifi?” Lisette dropped the bread onto the skillet and nudged it over to make room for more. She’d spent a handful of hours in his space and already she craved his presence.

“I don’t need it.” Mathieu bent and scratched Gator behind the ears, muttering something for the dog alone. “When did you get tattoos?”

The skin on the back of Lisette’s neck prickled. Maybe it was the inflection in his voice, or maybe she was just sensitive about it. Either way, she sucked in a deep breath and finished toasting the bread for their lunch. According to Mathieu he only had so long before he needed to get back to work.

“Six years ago, I think. How old am I?” She paused to do the math. At twenty-nine, she’d had her left arm wrapped, from shoulder to elbow, in a colorful bouquet of flowers for a while. “No, five years.”

“What are you making?” Mathieu stepped into the galley kitchen and peered over her shoulder.

“Sandwiches, but I’m toasting them. Sort of like a poor man’s Panini. You still like ham and Swiss, right?” She flipped the bread onto a plate. There was something about the act of cooking for someone else she flat-out enjoyed.

“Uh, yeah.” He leaned against the refrigerator, watching her with Gator sprawled on the floor between them. The space was crowded, but comfortable. But a person wouldn’t assume that from the expression creasing Mathieu’s face.

She scooped out a bit of pesto from a jar she’d found in his pantry, layered the sandwich with spinach, Swiss, and ham. The secret was returning the sandwich to the skillet for just a moment so the cheese got to the ooey-gooey-yummy consistency.

“What’s up with the serious face?” she asked, glancing at him as she moved both their sandwiches to the skillet.

“I’ll wait till you’re done,” he replied.

“Okay.” She shrugged and kept her attention on the skillet.

“Gator been out lately?”

“I took him out about half an hour ago.” He’d mentioned that he came home during lunch to walk Gator and eat, but with the impending rain she’d taken the chance when it presented itself to get the dog out for a while.

Mathieu lived in a tiny one-bedroom apartment. She didn’t know what he made working as a detective, but she’d expected someplace a little nicer than the third floor walk-up in an old, refurbished brick building with shutters tacked on outside the windows and a balcony about to fall off the wall. It wasn’t so much the place he lived as the feel of being with him that had unnerved her.

It was nice. Pleasant even.

About Sidney Bristol:

It can never be said that Sidney Bristol has had a ‘normal’ life. She is a recovering roller derby queen, former missionary, and tattoo addict. She grew up in a motor-home on the US highways (with an occasional jaunt into Canada and Mexico), traveling the rodeo circuit with her parents. Sidney has lived abroad in both Russia and Thailand, working with children and teenagers. She now lives in Texas where she splits her time between a job she loves, writing, reading and belly dancing.

Website ♦ Twitter ♦ Facebook ♦ Reader Lounge ♦ Newsletter ♦ Goodreads

One Kiss
Midnight Kiss # 1
Lisa Fox

Excerpt:

Kat finished her champagne and rolled her ankle around while she searched for another waiter. She was going to get shitfaced drunk tonight, she decided, righteously fucked-up, then she was going to sleep with Eric, and ring in the New Year with a motherfucking bang. If she had to settle, then she was going to do it in style. She just needed some more alcohol.

She caught a waiter’s eye and was about to commence on her mission when a hand fell on her shoulder. Her head jerked to the right and she blinked, surprised to find Dean beside her. “Kat,” he said. His face was serious, but his eyes held an impish light.

“Hello, Dean.” She gave him a questioning look, but he just smiled. Curious. “Eric, this is Dean Kirkwell.”

The men nodded to one another and Dean’s hand skimmed down the back of her arm to hold her elbow. “I know this is probably a bad time,” he said, trying to look apologetic, but failing miserably.

“And I hate to interrupt, but I saw you over here and I had to take the chance. I have a really important question about the Fisher account. It’s quick, I swear.” He looked from her, to Eric, back to her again. “But I completely understand if you can’t do it right now.”

Kat wanted to laugh out loud. He was saving her. And even worse, she was actually grateful. He did it so smoothly too, leaving it open for to her to say yes or no. The decision was entirely hers. She could stay with Eric, have some righteous New Year’s sex, and maybe enjoy an encore or two after that, but the whole thing would be over by Spring. Or, she could hang out with Dean.

“I’m sorry,” she said, turning to Eric. She tried to put on her most regretful face. She didn’t want to be mean or offend him, but it was not working for her. “Do you mind? This project is important.”

Dean let go of her elbow and moved his hand to her lower back. He met Eric’s gaze over the top of her head and something passed between them, something tense and very male. She scowled, pissed off by the posturing, but they ignored her.

It passed quickly and Eric looked from Dean to Kat. “Of course,” he said, his voice betraying the insincerity of his smile. “He obviously needs you very badly.”

Dean’s smile showed lots of teeth. “I do.”

Kat sighed. This was not what she wanted. “Thanks,” she said, mostly because she couldn’t think of anything else to say.

Eric nodded and she allowed Dean to guide her away. Once they got to an isolated corner on the other side of the room, he pulled two glasses off a passing waiter’s tray and handed one to her.

She downed it instantly and then traded her empty glass for a full one before the man could walk away.

Dean eyed her closely. “It’s like that, huh?”

“He wanted to show me his Motobeast.” It seemed to sum up the entire craptastic night perfectly.

About the Book:

Sometimes one kiss can change everything.

New Year’s Eve is supposed to be a night for celebration and new beginnings. For best friends Kat and Dean, it is a nightmare filled with disastrous dates and enraged ex-girlfriends!

Lucky for them, they’ve got each other to help laugh off the embarrassing, and downright inappropriate, moments. But then midnight rolls around and neither of them have anyone to kiss…

There’s no doubt this is a night they will always remember.

The real question is whether it will be a night they want to forget…

Her Perfect Lips
Midnight Kiss # 2
Lisa Fox

Excerpt:

Stacy took a sip of her drink, the sweetness exploding on her tongue. The familiar lightheadedness of intoxication warmed her skull, and she frowned. She might not have the tolerance to take on Mardi Gras anymore, but she was no lightweight either. She held up the plastic cup, the low light reflecting in the funky yellow-green liquid. “What’s in these things?”

Ten gave her that wicked grin again. “Good old-fashioned New Orleans grain alcohol.”

Even as her eyes widened, she had to chuckle. No wonder she was feeling it. The drink in her hand was a one hundred and ninety proof bomb of pure alcohol. “Are you trying to get me drunk?”

“Maybe.” His gaze moved over her, so slowly and thoroughly it almost felt like a physical caress. “Wasn’t that part of your plan?”

Her gaze flicked to his lips and then quickly away. God, she still had it so bad for him. She took a quick sip of her cocktail to try to cool herself down.

He reached over took her hand. “I’ve thought about you.”

Every molecule in the air between them instantly ignited. “Have you?” Heat rushed to her cheeks, her pulse raced in her veins. “What’d you think about?”

He ran his thumb over her knuckles. “Do you remember that night?”

“Of course I remember.” She would never forget the night before she left for New York. The night she spent with him. The memory often came to her in the darkest hours, when she was home, alone in her bed. No one had ever held her the way he did, no one’s skin had ever felt quite so good against hers. “I almost missed my plane.”

He traced patterns over the back her hand with his thumb, a delicate caress that made her blood run hot. When he met her eyes again, tension exploded between them, turning her insides liquid.

Her gaze fell back to his lips, and she couldn’t help but remember the taste of his kiss. The way he’d touched her. The texture of his skin. Given the chance to have it all again, she’d start right there at his mouth and then work her way down to his—

“Hey,” Peter said as he and Melanie returned to the table. “Do you want another drink?”

“No,” Stacy said, rising to her feet. This was too much. “I have to get back to the hotel.” And take an ice cold shower.

Ten stood up as well. “I’ll walk with you.”

She waved him off. The last thing she needed was Ten anywhere near her hotel room. That was just too much temptation. She wasn’t a kid anymore, and she wasn’t in New Orleans to get laid. She needed to remember that. “Thanks, but it’s just around the corner.”

“Stacy,” he said, his voice stern, a tone she knew all too well. It was the one he used whenever he thought she was being unreasonable. She’d heard it a lot. “This city is dangerous.”

She couldn’t really argue with that. He was right. The city was dangerous. And it wasn’t smart to walk alone. She knew that all too well. The very first night she moved out of the Loyola dorms and into the Marigny was a night that should have been like any other. But that night, seven murders occurred in a sixteen-hour span. Seven different people were killed for seven different reasons in seven different places all within the city limits. She had missed one of those murders by a single block. If she had turned left instead of right… A graveyard chill raced down her back. It wasn’t something she liked to think about. “Okay,” she said, and turned to the others. “Do you guys want to walk back with us?”

They wanted to stay, so Stacy and Ten said their goodbyes and exited the bar. They turned onto Canal, and Ten grabbed her around the waist to keep her from colliding with a Lucky Dog vendor heading into the Quarter for his shift. She wrapped her arm around him, enjoying the heat of his body.

About Lisa Fox:

World-renowned neurosurgeon, jet fighter pilot, secret member of American royalty, seducer of legions of beautiful, outrageously sexy angels and demons and vampires and werewolves and the occasional pirate, Lisa Fox has done it all…in her own mind. In reality, she can generally be found at her desk with a cup of coffee close at hand. Or maybe a martini. It really depends on the day.
Feedback, comments, opinions, words of wisdom, chocolate cake and the addresses of super hot men are always appreciated and encouraged. Please feel free to contact me any time.

Rebound
Tryst Island # 1
Sabrina York

Contemporary Erotic Romance
200 pgs (approx)
See on Goodreads
Purchase Now: Amazon | Barnes | iTunes | Kobo

About the Book:

Kristi Cross has had the hots for her friend, Cameron Jackson as long as she can remember, but she knows she’s not his type. She’s nothing like the women he dates. So when he suggests they play for a kiss over a game of Hearts, Kristi can’t resist. Even if she loses, she wins. Because she’s finally going to taste him.
Of course, one kiss can quickly become something altogether steamier, especially when both parties are on the rebound…
Fall in Love on Tryst Island… When a group of friends share a vacation house, wild hijinks, unexpected hook-ups and steamy sex ensue.

Excerpt:

“I’d like to turn you over my knee.”

She chuckled. “Me? What did I do?”

He gaped at her. “Other than passionately kissing Holt?”

“I wasn’t kissing Holt, and you know it.”

“Really?” He crossed the rumpus room and shouldered into his bedroom and tossed her onto the bed. She bounced. “Then what the hell was that?” He waved at the ceiling.

Kristi straightened her nightgown, primly covering her bare calves. “He was kissing me.”

His brows bunched. “Not okay. Do you know what seeing that did to me? God, Kristi. It ripped me up inside. I wanted to kill him.”

“He had to know.”

“Know?” He hit a warbling tone that would make America Idol contestants green with envy. “What did he have to know?”

“That I feel nothing for him.”

That shut him up. He stopped, stock-still and stared at her. “Nothing?” This, in a little boy voice.

Other than shock that two of her longtime friends had declared their intentions in the space of one evening? “Not a thing.” She wormed her way off the bed and sashayed toward him, swinging her hips. “Less than nothing, in fact.” She stood on tiptoe to press a kiss on his lips. “It was like kissing my brother. Or my uncle. Or Professor Layhea.”

“Professor Layhea?” Against his will, his lips tweaked. She could tell he was fighting it. His pout was kind of adorable. “Professor Layhea was pretty sexy.”

She kissed him again. Made her way along the line of his jaw to his lobe. Dabbed her tongue in his ear. He shuddered.

“I do find nostril-beards über sexy. And older men who take their baths in Old Spice—ha cha cha.”

His brow rose. His fingers curved around her waist and he pulled her closer. His cock stirred against her belly. “Did you ever kiss Professor Layhea?”

“Just the once.” She laughed when his eyes boggled at her boldfaced lie. She rubbed against his growing ardor. “I had to. I needed an A.”

“Hussy.” He eased her back onto the mattress pinning her there with his hardness, his heat. He hovered over her, staring at her for a long while. Then he slowly lowered his head and kissed her.

It didn’t take long for their teasing mood to completely evaporate. It was replaced by a crackling arousal. His cock pressed into her with an uncomfortable insistence. She wiggled a little bit and he shifted so it pressed against her cleft instead. He rubbed, up and down, like a cat, until she moaned.

“I shouldn’t want you again,” he murmured against her lips.

“Of course you should.”

“You drained me completely fucking dry earlier.”

“We forgot to use a condom.”

He nibbled her neck. “You’re on the pill.”

She hiked up her nightgown, enough so she could hook her legs around his butt. Tugged him closer. “I can’t believe how many times you made me come.”

“How many?”

“I lost count.”

“Really? I noticed two.”

“Oh, there were more than two.” She scored his back with her nails; he shivered. “It was probably a fluke though.”

He reared back. “What?”

“You know. On account of the fact I was so horny.”

“How, um, how horny were you?”

“Pretty horny.”

“How long… I mean, how long since—”

She drew his head back down. “I don’t want to talk about it. Point is, it was probably a fluke.”

“It wasn’t a fluke. I’ll have you know, I’m damn good in bed.”

“We’ll see.”

“What? We’ll see?”

“We haven’t done it in a bed.” This, she stated rather prosaically. “We’ll just see if you can do it again. Make me come like that again.”

A slow smile quirked his lips. “That sounds like a challenge.”

“I do believe it was.”

“Well, madam, if there’s one thing Cameron Jackson cannot do, it’s resist a challenge.” He teased her hem higher and she laughed.

“Yes,” she said. “I know.”

See the series trailer HERE

Other Titles in Tryst Island Include (Soon to be available at all major eBook Retailers!) :

Dragonfly Kisses: Amazon | Goodreads

Smoking Holt: Amazon | Goodreads

Heart of Ash: Amazon | Goodreads

Devlin’s Dare: Amazon | Goodreads

Parker’s Passion: Amazon | Goodreads

About Sabrina York:

Her Royal Hotness, Sabrina York, is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of hot, humorous stories for smart and sexy readers. Her titles range from sweet & sexy to scorching erotic romance.

Connect with her on twitter @sabrina_york, on Facebook or on Pintrest. Check out Sabrina’s books and read an excerpt on Amazon or wherever e-books are sold. Visit her website to check out her books, excerpts and contests. Get the Free Teaser Book, and don’t forget to enter to win the royal tiara! Want more? Sign up to be a member of Sabrina’s Street Team on Facebook!

Website • Twitter • Facebook • Goodreads • Street Team • Newsletter • Pinterest

As a special treat…

FUN BONUS FACTS ABOUT THE AUTHORS

LISA FOX

Your Last 5 Google Searches (research (or not) related )

Captain Hook Once Upon a Time (For research! I swear!)
Meliá Caribe Tropical All Inclusive Beach & Golf Resort – Punta Cana (I’m going there for my birthday and I’m a little obsessive. The pictures are so pretty!)
Male model boat cruise
Henry Watkins
Red Shoe Diaries

SIDNEY BRISTOL

FIVE little known facts about you (make them funny / interesting /unique)

I will wear tank tops until I freeze
I have a huge shoe collection, and yet I prefer to be barefoot
I really was a kid-rodeo clown
I love cherry sours
I have a light Cthulhu obsession

SABRINA YORK

5 little known facts about Sabrina York

I once rode on a camel and climbed up inside the Great Pyramid of Giza
The first book I finished was an epic fantasy of one hundred and seventy thousand words. It did not get published.
I moved 19 times before I graduated from high school.
My hair started turning silver when I was 18 years old.
I am directly descended from Mary Queen of Scots. Hence the fascination with hot Highlanders.

Giveaway

3 winners will get copies of Picture Her Bound by Sidney Bristol, One Kiss by Lisa Fox and Rebound by Sabrina York
(Book 1 of the series from each author)

Drawing ends at 11:59 PM EST on 25 November – winner has 24 hours to respond. 18+ only

http://giveawaytools2.com/share.php?giveaway=42438434996

Follow the TOUR

@SensuousPromos #BlogTour: “Unraveling the Earl” by @lynnebarron06 #Contest #Excerpt #Historical #EroticRomance

Posted by eloreenmoon

Welcome to Sensuous Promo’s UNRAVELING THE EARL Book Tour. Watch for the Giveaway Below!

Unraveling the Earl, Book 3 in the Idyllwild series:

The Earl of Hastings’s reputation as London’s greatest gift to the ladies has taken on a life of its own, one he is only too happy to live up to in one Mayfair bedchamber after another. Until he encounters a lady more interested in poking around his country estate than sampling his lauded charms.

Georgiana Buchanan is possessed of murky morals, skewed notions of right and wrong, a talent for dancing around the truth, and a penchant for crashing weddings, funerals and charity balls.

When Georgie catches Henry’s roving eye, she turns the tables on the arrogant scoundrel, introducing him to a world of sensual delights and unraveling his vaunted control before fleeing into the night.

Henry is determined to make the elusive Georgiana his mistress while the lady wants only to use his desire to further her own schemes. When they find themselves marooned at Idyllwild during a summer storm, they will both discover they’ve gotten more than they bargained for.

– EXCERPT –

“Damn it to hell.”

“Such language, Lord Hasty,” a husky voice called out.

Swiveling around in the saddle Henry found Georgiana Buchanan gliding to a stop just beyond his horse’s flank. In her customary fashion she’d adorned herself in yards of silk and lace, from the frilly edge of the modest square-cut bodice of her lavender gown, to the wide ribbon cinched around her waist, to the layers of ruffles and furbelows of her full skirts.

Atop her head she wore a ridiculous concoction of straw, flowers, ribbons and bows, hiding her glorious hair but for one long spiral that had escaped its pins to flutter over her shoulder.

“And in front of two young ladies.” She smiled up at him, her eyes shining in the sunlight that had yet to be chased off by the gathering clouds. “Poorly done even for a libertine, my lord.”

Henry could only stare at the lady, too surprised by her sudden appearance to form words.

“Miss Georgiana, there you are,” Miss Margery called, hurrying over to join the lady, her gaze flitting over Henry atop his horse. “We waited for you as long as we could, but there is the loveliest lace shawl in Mrs. Peabody’s shop that I simply must have.”

“You will not,” the dark-haired goddess warned as she stopped beside the blonde.

“Lord Hasty, are you acquainted with Miss Eleanor Brooks and her sister Miss Margery?” Georgiana asked, her eyes never leaving Henry’s face that suddenly felt too hot.

“Lord Hastings, silly,” Miss Margery corrected with a smile. “We have had the pleasure of making his lordship’s acquaintance two years past when he visited Idyllwild. How do you do, my lord?”

The sisters dropped into curtsies that showed off trim ankles in satin slippers. Georgiana did not follow suit, instead continuing to look at him, her smile growing wider with each passing second.

“A pleasure to see you again,” Henry replied with a nod, barely sparing a glance for the ladies he had no memory of having met.

“Have you come to spend some time at Idyllwild?” Miss Margery asked, her gaze darting between Henry and Georgiana.

“What in blazes are you doing here?” he barked.

The Misses Brooks looked at one another and back to Henry, two sets of green eyes round and unblinking.

“We are just coming from Matilda Marshall’s wedding,” Georgiana replied as calmly as if he hadn’t shouted at her on the street. “And what a lovely wedding it was, too.”

Huffing out a frustrated breath, Henry climbed from his mount to join the ladies on the walkway. “What are you doing in Deerfield? Why are you not in London where you belong?”

“I wasn’t aware I belonged in London, or anywhere else for that matter,” she answered, wrapping her hand around his arm. “Will you walk with us, my lord?”

“Oh yes, please do, Lord Hastings,” Miss Margery urged while her sister bobbed her head. “Perhaps Jilly and Laura will see you escorting us.”

As he looped the horse’s reins around a hitching post, it occurred to Henry that the Misses Brooks were quite young, likely barely out of the schoolroom, which would explain why he did not remember meeting them. Two years ago they’d still been in braids and pinafores.

“Oh I’d wager they are in the bakery,” Miss Margery told her sister.

“Shall we run ahead and see?” Miss Eleanor asked with a giggle.

“Please do,” Henry muttered.

“We’ll stay to the street so that you might readily find us again,” Georgiana offered, turning her smile on the exuberant girls. “His lordship will be certain to fawn all over the both of you when you return. That’ll pickle Silly and Laurel’s insides to no end.”

Beaming their gratitude before spinning away, the two girls with curves too generous for their young minds hurried down the street hand-in-hand.

“Aren’t they darling?” Georgiana asked, tucking her hand more firmly around his arm and tugging him forward along the sidewalk.

“What are you doing here?” Henry asked for the third time, his frustration falling away as his balls twitched and his cock pulsed.

“Is there some reason I should not be here?” she asked.

“Why did you run off?” Henry watched her as they set off toward the center of the village, quite unable to look away from her profile and the smile that coasted around her full bottom lip. “I awoke to discover you’d fled in the night. In my shirt, no less.”

“There was no need to linger,” she replied airily. “I’d gotten what I wanted, after all.”

Dumbstruck by her blasé words and the slow lift of her lips into a full-blown grin, Henry halted beside her.

“Never fear, my lord. I shall return your shirt.” Georgiana peered up at him through her lashes.

“I don’t give a damn about my shirt,” he muttered. “I am not accustomed to falling asleep with a lady only to awake alone.”

“No, you likely lie abed devising ways to remove either the lady or yourself from the premises,” she agreed. “Have you contemplated sawing off your arm?”

“Sawing off my arm?”

“Killjoy once told me he has considered such drastic measures on more than one occasion, most especially when he awoke to find Prudence McIver curled up beside him.”

Henry barked out a laugh.

“You have imagined it!” Georgiana skipped ahead of him and spun about to face him, clapping her hands and beaming up at him. “Who inspired you to meditate upon life with one arm?”

“I have never—”

“Come, come, my lord. You can tell me. Who was she?”

Henry shook his head, enchanted by her smile, by the dimple that winked beside her wide mouth, by the humor shining from her eyes.

“Tit for tat,” she teased, falling in beside him again and twining her hand through his elbow, her fingers curling around his arm.

Dropping his hand over hers, he laced their fingers together. “What are you offering up in trade?”

“To be sure I’ve never thought to lop off my arm,” she drawled, her voice taking on a soft lyrical cadence.

“You must share some dark secret from your past,” he told her.

Tapping one long finger against her chin, she hummed softly.

“Too many to choose from?”

– BUY LINKS –

Amazon | B&N | Publisher

– Where to find Lynne –

Website | Facebook | Twitter

a Rafflecopter giveaway

@BitnBookPromote #BookTour: “Steampunk Carnival” by Cassandra Leuthold #Contest #Interview #Excerpt

Posted by eloreenmoon

STEAMPUNK CARNIVAL By Cassandra Leuthold

Genre: Science Fiction/ Steampunk

Katya Romanova gave up everything to work at the one-of-a-kind Steampunk Carnival – her family, her home, her reputation. She wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.As a guide to the guests, Katya enjoys more freedom than most. She makes time to gossip with her best friend, Magdalene.

She basks in the elaborate costumes that bring her awed attention, hoping they might also win her a husband. And no man pays her more attention than her boss and carnival owner, William Warden.

But in the summer of 1887, death threats against Mr. Warden break the spell. Katya knows he might be as underhanded as he is charming, but who would
actually want him dead?

When Katya finds unexpected evidence about the carnival’s true origins, the stakes jump even higher.

Not sure whom they can trust, Katya and Magdalene work to unravel the carnival’s mysteries. Who really invented the innovative rides?

Is Mr. Warden protecting his employees or only himself from the looming violence? And will Katya cling to the better side of his nature or eventually turn her affections for him into a powerful rivalry?

BOOK LINKS

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR – Cassandra Leuthold

Cassandra grew up in the small town of La Porte, Indiana, exploring wooded parks and sparkling lakes. Making South Bend her home, the scenery hasn’t changed much – inspiring trees and a long, winding river. From the time she started writing in second grade up to the projects she works on now, the nature, history, and people around her inspire the stories she tells. You can find her work listed under many different genres, but the heart of each story remains the same. What keeps us together, and what pulls us apart? She lives with her writer husband and their moody cat, Gaia, in a house three sizes too big. She holds a Bachelor’s in Liberal Studies and a Master’s in English. When she’s not writing, you can find her sewing, enjoying nature, listening to music, researching family history, and watching TV.

Facebook | Goodreads | Blog | Pinterest

EXCERPT

With a gentle lurch, the car rose into the air. Katya grabbed hold of the partitions between the seats, her knuckles bumping the hand of the guest on her left, who had also grabbed for it. Maddox did not reach for a stronghold. His mouth twisted in amusement, watching Katya seek security as everything that held her ascended ten, twenty, thirty feet.

The climb proved gradual and effortless. Once Katya began to relax, she realized how far she could see. The lamplights of the carnival looked beautiful and elegant below them. The slight flickering of the burning gas gleamed off the metal structures throughout the carnival. It lost itself in the velvet of patron jackets and glimmered off their silks. It flashed across buckles on top hats and shoes. It lit up gold and silver jewelry.

Katya could barely breathe. She almost forgot how nervous she had been moments before. The car reached the top of the tower and stopped there, offering its occupants a rare view at the world around them. Katya stared down at the carnival, trying to pick out the details of the band playing in the center of it all. The massive Beast behind it still intimidated, but from this height, Katya marveled in the majesty of its design.

The car shuddered and lowered itself, detaching from its part of the sky. The other occupants chattered to each other excitedly, but Katya could barely form thoughts in her head.

“What do you think?” Maddox asked her.

Katya recited the first thing that came to mind. “The ride lasts for three cycles.” She admonished herself for relying on the only words she knew about the carnival and gave in to sharing Maddox’s enthusiasm. “It’s thrilling.”

The car paused briefly at the bottom before lifting again. Each time it rose, Katya focused on a different part of the carnival. She looked across to the other side, where the Kaleidoscope competed against the game stalls and the Cannon for popularity. It really did shift like a kaleidoscope from this height, the colors of the booths smearing in her vision as they rotated. She looked past Maddox to the El and the food stall beyond it. Magdalene would be handing out cinnamon-sugar desserts and sausages on buns, but Katya was riding the carnival they had staked their lives on. She was riding the dream Brady had worked on years ago. She doubted even he had been able to enjoy it.

The car rested on the ground and stayed there. The operator made his rounds again, helping the patrons get unbuckled and return to their feet. He directed them to an exit gate in the fence. Katya and Maddox filed out with the others to the common grounds of the carnival.

“Where to next?” Maddox prompted.

Katya’s heart pounded with the possibilities. “The coaster.”

“The big one?”

“No, I don’t think I’ll ever be brave enough for that.” Katya watched the Beast’s cars roar high above them. “The smaller one here.”

Katya linked her hand around Maddox’s arm, and they walked to the nearby El. Maddox repeated Katya’s lie to the ticket taker. “Mr. Warden wants us to make sure the coaster’s operating properly.”

The man hurried them past, offering a more courteous front to the waiting customers. “You’ll all have a turn, I assure you. Just a routine inspection.”

Another operator stood a few feet inside the fence, and he motioned for Katya and Maddox to stop where they were. They watched the coaster cars slide and weave their way along the track. A minute later, they slowed into loading position on the platform. The operator stepped over to help the guests out, and once they left the platform, his flexing fingers invited Katya and Maddox toward him. He buckled them into the front seat of the first car.

“Are you nervous now?” Maddox whispered into Katya’s ear.

Katya nodded, but she felt the rush of anticipation filling her chest. “It’s not too fast, is it?”

“You should know.”

“I don’t know. I can’t think of anything except how fun this is.”

The operator filled the remaining seats in the connected cars. With a signal to the ticket taker and the man Katya could not see who ran the switches, the cars jerked forward. This time, Katya and Maddox both reached for the metal grab bar in front of them. A mechanism in the track pulled the train of cars up the initial slope. The passengers behind Katya and Maddox murmured with apprehension and breathed audibly, awaiting the first of many drops.

The train rose steadily, taking its passengers up to a short plateau. Within seconds, the cars slid down, lifting Katya’s stomach into the top of her chest. She let out a shriek amidst the screams and shouts behind her. The train twisted to the left, curving to parallel the outer fence of the carnival. It rose a short distance and fell again, racing its passengers lower toward the ground. A second mechanism pulled the cars even higher than before.

In one graceful motion, the cars slipped down the next slope of track, curving away from the back of the grounds. They dipped down beside the side stage, where Katya could not tell what contest was taking place. The cars sped along, turning left only to bend back to the right. The track led them down beneath the iron structure and returned them safely to the platform.

Katya barely had time to catch her breath before the ride operator unbuckled her belt. She walked with Maddox to the exit gate, where a small wooden sign bore the words Thank You in painted, curling letters.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

What is the best comment that a readers has given you?

I’ve gotten great support from a lot of people that keeps me going when the work gets tough. One of the best things a reader told me recently was in a voice mail my mother-in-law left me when she finished my novel, XZA. She said it was awesome and now that she knew the ending, she wanted to reread the whole book to enjoy it even more. That’s a high compliment, creating a book readers want to revisit instead of always reaching for a new story. There are so many great stories out there.

Where do you prefer to write? In your home? In a café?

I work from home for my day job, so I already have a home office set up where I can type for eight hours a day. I have to be comfortable without too many distractions in order to write, and I like knowing I already have everything I might need at hand – pens, paper, my desk planner, a glass of water, my phone, and some lip balm. I used to be more fluid about where I wrote, and I’ve written in some unexpected places – during class, while sitting waiting for an appointment, bored at a restaurant, watching TV. Most of my writing is computer-based now unless I get an idea I have to write down.

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done?

I wrote and published for an entire year based only on belief. Belief in myself. Belief it would be worth it. Belief readers would find and enjoy my books. It was a tough year as I learned the new landscape of publishing. I have a beautiful deck of cards with a different word and picture on each of them, and I stood the card for Believe where I could see it every day. I made sure I looked at it, especially when I didn’t believe what I was doing would make a difference. When I finally felt ready to move on to a new word, I realized it’d been a year since I started. I knew then – and I feel now – I never could’ve willingly gone a whole year on belief if I’d known how long it would be ahead of time. Focusing on what I was doing and the results I wanted pulled me through it. I learned a lot about myself, and even though I still have lessons to learn about life and publishing, I’m much more confident today than I was then.

TRAILER

http://youtu.be/PXH02pnBtjM

PLAYLIST

http://open.spotify.com/user/knovitzke/playlist/69TP9kW9jha9Vmidx6IMO3

“What I Wouldn’t Do,” She Swings, She Sways

The first chapter of Steampunk Carnival is different than the rest of the book. It’s narrated by someone whose name isn’t revealed for several chapters. The reason he’s obsessed with filling a journal with his ideas isn’t clear until we find out who he is, but the song gives insight into his situation. He’s a man driven by longing, loneliness, and desperation. It adds extra layers and emotions to what’s shared at that point in the book.

“Kill The Lights,” The Birthday Massacre

I’m a big fan of the movie “Moulin Rouge.” In the director’s commentary, Baz Luhrmann talks about the interesting difference between points of view in the climactic scene when Satine dies after the big, pulse-pounding performance. The audience applauds. They loved what they saw. But what they missed was a murder attempt, and what they can’t see after the curtain closes is Satine’s heartbreaking death. This song represents that for Steampunk Carnival. All the guests see are beautiful costumes, spectacular rides, fun games, and delicious treats. They don’t know about the death threats, the violence, and the arguments. They never find out the games are rigged.

“Common Reaction,” Uh Huh Her

As the story unwinds, Katya finds herself in deeper and deeper trouble. She acquires more to lose – friends, her safety, a boyfriend – and realizes there are fewer things she can be sure of. A lot she took for granted isn’t true. This song expresses Katya’s confusion and caution. She doesn’t know how much to trust her boss, William Warden. She hopes everything will work out all right, but she knows any ending is possible.

“Hold My Hand,” Mister Heavenly

This song reminds me of Maddox’s approach to Katya in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way. If Maddox has one thing going for him, it’s persistence. He tries several different tricks to get Katya to go out with him, and she turns him down several times. She’s not easily persuaded to trade her love of money for appreciation of simple fun.

“Shake It Out,” Florence & the Machine

This song provides the perfect backdrop to the night Katya finally gives in to spending time with Maddox. She leaves her fear, her distrust, and her rigid ideas about dating behind. Katya and Maddox ride three attractions at the carnival, which thrills Katya more than she anticipated. But more importantly, they’re finally able to share more about themselves and build a solid foundation for their relationship.

“Baptized by Fire,” Spinnerette

The lyrics and driving guitar in this song mirror what Katya and her friends are feeling by the time they confront the forces conspiring against them. Katya has seen William Warden’s inner nature, and she doesn’t like it. His security guards, allegedly hired to keep the employees safe, have been watching Magdalene like a hawk for weeks. Katya’s tired of meeting in secret, worrying about how the carnival’s reputation will survive the truth about its origins. But true to the song, with going to battle against powerful rivals comes a new beginning for all of them.

GIVEAWAY

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@masqtours #BlogTour: “Aranya” by @marcauthor #AranyaTour #Contest #Spotlight

Posted by eloreenmoon

Evil has a new enemy…

Title: Aranya

Series: Shapshifter Dragons #1

Author: Marc Secchia

Publication Date: June 12, 2013

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Chained to a rock and tossed off a cliff by her boyfriend, Aranya is executed for high treason against the Sylakian Empire. Falling a league into the deadly Cloudlands is not a fate she ever envisaged. But what if she did not die? What if she could spread her wings and fly?

Long ago, Dragons ruled the Island-World above the Cloudlands. But their Human slaves cast off the chains of Dragonish tyranny. Humans spread across the Islands in their flying Dragonships, colonising, building and warring. Now, the all-conquering Sylakians have defeated the last bastion of freedom–the Island-Kingdom of Immadia.

Evil has a new enemy. Aranya, Princess of Immadia. Dragon Shapeshifter.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Oyda quelled him with a fierce scowl of her own. “Right, my fledgling. Memorise these flowers.”

“I–um, what’s this got to do with–”

“Now, or it’s none of my honey biscuits for you later, you churlish wretch.”

Aranya studied the wildflowers. Five meadow daisies, a sprinkling of tiny blue-tinkles and three each of peonies, red anemones and tall bursts of fireflowers, made up her posy.

“Now, you will make a pass above the dell,” Oyda instructed. “While you fly, you will tell your Human brain to paint these flowers in every detail. I will question you afterward. And–do shut your yawning trap, petal. You’re catching flies.”

Grumbling to herself about how direct Nak and Oyda could be at times, Aranya thumped four-pawed over to the edge of the cliff, to her favourite outcropping, and threw herself into the air. This bit at least she had grasped. As usual, the moment she was aloft, her Human and Dragon brains went to war in her head. She immediately wallowed in the air. Every wing beat was a struggle.

Fine. She would paint flowers.

Aranya shot through the morning air. The deep golden sunbeams of a partial eclipse, the twin suns almost completely hidden behind Iridith’s bulk, seemed thick enough to swim in. She wheeled a thousand feet out and spun back on her wingtip for the required pass over the dell, where the figures of two tiny old people watched her intently.

She shaped meadow daisies. She concentrated on the finely bearded leaves of the fireflowers.

And she flew like a Dragon.

She raced across the sword-grass of the dell, almost brushing the blade-tips with her wingtips, before corkscrewing up above the forest bordering the heights and doubling back for a graceful landing that barely disturbed the still morning air.

Nak and Oyda smiled mysteriously at Aranya.

“Well? How was that?”

Nak wiped his eye. “Got a gnat stuck …”

“You old charlatan.” Oyda clipped the back of his head fondly. “That was Dragon, Aranya. Pure Dragon.”

Copyright © Marc Secchia

Marc is a South African-born author who lives and works in Ethiopia with his wife and 4 children, 2 dogs, a rabbit, and a variable number of marabou storks that roost on the acacia trees out back. On a good night there are also hyenas patrolling the back fence.

When he’s not writing about Africa Marc can be found travelling to remote locations. He thinks there’s nothing better than standing on a mountaintop wondering what lies over the next horizon.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

A $25 Amazon/B&N Giftcard or a Book Depository shopping spree of the same value.

One winner. Open Internationally. Ends 10/24. Void where prohibited.

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@pumpupyourbook Tour: “Order of the Seers Trilogy” by @CereceRMurphy #PUYB #VBT

Posted by eloreenmoon

Please welcome to Moonbeams over Atlanta Order of the Seers Trilogy by Cerece Rennie Murphy.

About The Books

Title: Order Of The Seers Trilogy

Author: Cerece Rennie Murphy

Publisher: LionSky Publishing

Publication Date: September 30, 2014

Pages: 164

ISBN: 978-0985621049

Genre: Science Fiction

Format: Paperback, eBook, PDF

What would you do if you held infinite power in the palm of your hand?

The Order of the Seers trilogy poses this question within a story that fuses action, mystery, and romance within a science fiction adventure that keeps you at the edge of your seat.

Captured and enslaved for their extraordinary gift, a group of individuals, known as Seers, are forced to serve a ruthless world organization that uses the power of the Seers to exploit the ultimate advantage: knowing the future. While a brother and his Seer sister fight to evade the group that hunts them, an unlikely captured Seer plots his escape from within the organization and sets off a chain of events that will change the world.

The journey begins with Order of the Seers (Book I) and continues with The Red Order (Book II). The final chapter in the Order of the Seers trilogy, titled The Last Seer (Book III), will be released on September 30, 2014.

Purchase The Book- Amazon | B&N | Goodreads

Link to trailer for Book I: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dJHEfETnAE

Link to trailer for Book II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL20RBdgji4

Order of the Seers - The Last Seer (Book 3)

Link to trailer for Book III: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvduqiK_x8o

Book Excerpt:

Chapter 1: The End

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Liam was losing his patience. “Aw, come on! Are you serious? You can’t want to ride this thing again!”

Instead of answering her older brother, Lilli remained in her seat as the Ferris wheel conductor looked on expectantly, hand outstretched and waiting for another two tokens.

The way Lilli’s skinny arms hugged her book bag while she stared blankly at the pressed metal floor of their “Fairy Land Caboose” made it hard for Liam to stay angry. The sight of her looking so dejected softened him enough to give the conductor his fifth set of tokens in less than 45 minutes. Liam settled back into his seat just as the lap bar clamped down uncomfortably against his thighs.

“Lilli,say something. Why’d you drag me out here if you were just gonna sulk? I hate the carnival, you know that.”

“I know something… okay? Just… trust me. We have to stay here.” Her voice was so low he could barely hear her over the wind-up music that was blaring from the overhead speakers.

“Did Mom say something to you?”

Lilli responded to his question with silence and a barely discernable shake of her head back and forth. He tried again.

“Lilli! Did Mom…?”

“Yes,” she snapped.

They both fell silent again as Liam took in the latest weird thing day. Lilith Knight, or Lilli as she preferred to be called, had always been of the strange. Even when she was five,she could beat Liam at chess lazily, without even thinking about it. She would find things and give them to you before you asked for them. Before you, or even she, knew why. Up until recently, he thought she was just a freak. No biggie. All little sisters are like that, he told himself.

It was only in the past few months that his perception of her began to shift, after her prediction that he would catch his new girlfriend, Krista, kissing his teammate Lance in the locker room after their championship game. At the time, he’d brushed off her premonition as meddling. Krista wasn’t even his girlfriend and his team was 1-1 with the whole basketball season ahead of them.

He’d forgotten her warning completely until two months later when he ran back into the locker room after winning the championship to get the jacket he’d left behind and immediately smelled Krista’s perfume. When he found them, two thoughts overshadowed the scene unfolding in front of him. The first was that what they were doing wasn’t really “kissing,” though he could see how a sheltered thirteen-year-old would describe it that way. His second thought was that Lilli was right; she was exactly right. He was so stunned by Lilli’s accuracy that he didn’t even bother to disturb them, leaving his new ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend to their business. From that moment, Liam understood that Lilli wasn’t just a freak, or more accurately, that she wasn’t a freak at all. She was special…gifted.

The sound of Lilli’s sniffling followed by the trembling of her body as she began to cry uncontrollably broke the long silence that had fallen between them. What the…, Liam half-mumbled as his mind swung from irritation to absolute bewilderment. Slowly and deliberately, Liam moved his palms down the front of his face as he fought the urge to shake the truth right out of her and end whatever this was. But he couldn’t. She’s so brittle already, he thought, without any idea as to why. So instead, he reached out to envelop his sister in his arms, trying to soothe her and comfort her from some unknown force.

“Lilli, it’s all right. I’m sorry, okay? Don’t cry. Just… tell me what’s going on. Why are we here?”

He tried to wait patiently, to rein in the confusion and frustration that had been piercing through the calm day he had planned for himself when he woke up that morning, as cool and carefree as any sixteen-year-old boy. It was Lilli who had dragged him out of the house before he could even wolf down his second bowl of Honeycombs. “Mom said you have to take me to the carnival. NOW!” She had demanded.

He had started to head upstairs to launch his appeal when his eye caught his mother’s note on the refrigerator door. “Take Lilli to the fair. NOW.—Love, Mom,” it read.He knew that meant his mother had left the house early; there was no appeal to be made. Begrudgingly, he slipped on his sneakers and grabbed the car keys, all the while wondering if Lilli was still too young to be left at the fair by herself.

His earlier thoughts of abandonment brought him back to his sister’s form beside him. Not knowing what else to do, Liam simply held her tight as her convulsing turned to trembling, and finally, back to stillness. At the top of the Ferris wheel,she finally spoke.

“It’s over now, we can go home,” she whispered. But as impatient for answers and a reprieve from big brother duties as he was, Liam knew that it was not over. The emotionless tone in her voice scared him. It made him want to stay on the Ferris wheel he’d been begging to get off of a few short minutes ago. As the music died down and their feet got closer to the ground, he suddenly felt conflicting urges to stay where he was and to rush home to his mother. As the ride came to a stop, he suddenly realized with profound certainty that this was much more than one of Lilli’s “episodes.” Something was very, very wrong

When Liam pulled his father’s green 2002 Saab in front of their small brick house, everything seemed as it always did—quiet and predictable in their modest yet comfortable home. They had lived in a much bigger house before his father died, but Liam never minded sharing a bathroom with his mother and sister. All the toys and trinkets that had mattered to him when he was a child were rendered insignificant the moment his mother told him that his father would never come home again. As he got out of the car and began to take the front steps two at a time, he noticed that Lilli had stopped at the tree stump his mother had cut down the week before. Sitting down, her eyes remained on the ground. Just as his mouth formed the shape of a question,she spoke.

“No, you go. I can’t see it again.”

Liam didn’t stop to ask what she meant. Whatever she meant, he was sure it was worse than he thought. He tried to hold back the swell of fear in his chest as he ran to the front door, but his emotions spun out of control the moment he tested the front door knob and found it opened—easily. They never left the front door unlocked.

When he stepped into the house, he actually felt the life, the person he had been, rush past him and out the door as his eyes took in the overturned, splintered remains of their living room. It was a feeling he’d felt only once before, when his father died. But what made it worse, what made it permanent, was lying in the middle of the floor, with its contents thrown everywhere. It was his mother’s purse, which had not been there when he left that morning.

“Mom!” he shouted as he raced up the stairs to her room. “Mom. Please!” he shouted again, but no one answered. In every room he looked, it was the same – scattered clothes, broken mirrors, and silence—a deafening silence that rang louder than the sound of his own shallow breathing.

If he took the stairs at lightning speed to make it to the second floor, an age could have passed during his descent. The entire house consisted of three bedrooms, one and a half bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a small open dining area that you could see clearly from the front door. As he walked down the steps, he knew there was only one room left to check. His mind was frozen on what to hope for as his hand reached the end of the banister. If she wasn’t in the kitchen, she might have been taken, but at least there was a chance she was still alive. If she was in the kitchen, it was unthinkable.

Lilli’s words came to him just as he rounded the doorway to the kitchen.

“No, you go. I can’t see it again.”He found his mother sitting with her feet planted on the floor, shoulder width apart, bright eyes open and cast to the ceiling, with a hole blown through the middle of her chest.

Cerece Rennie Murphy fell in love with science fiction at the age of seven, watching “Empire Strikes Back” at the Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C., with her sister and mom. It’s a love affair that has grown ever since. As an ardent fan of John Donne, Alice Walker, Kurt Vonnegut and Alexander Pope from an early age, Cerece began exploring her own creative writing through poetry. She earned her master’s degrees in social work and international relations at Boston College and Johns Hopkins School for Advance International Studies, respectively, and built a rewarding 15-year career in program development, management and fundraising in the community and international development arenas – all while appreciating the stories of human connection told in science fiction through works like Octavia Butler’s “Wild Seed,” Frank Herbert’s “Dune” and “The X-Files.” In 2011, Cerece experienced her own supernatural event – a vision of her first science fiction story. Shortly after, she began developing and writing what would become the “Order of the Seers” trilogy. Cerece lives just outside of her hometown of Washington, D.C., with her husband, two children and the family dog, Yoda.

For more information, follow Cerece at http://www.cerecerenniemurphy.com

Connect with Cerece Rennie Murphy – Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Discuss this book in our PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads by clicking HERE

http://www.pumpupyourbook.com/2014/09/21/pump-up-your-book-tours-presents-order-of-the-seers-trilogy-virtual-book-tour/

@Eyes_on_Books Tour: “Dakota Skies” by @TaylinClavelli #LGBT #Excerpt

Posted by Dana Piazzi

Title: Dakota Skies

Authors: Taylin Clavelli

Pages: 359

Publisher: Wayward Ink Publishing

Synopsis

Born in the wrong time…

In 1875 Dakota, Sheriff Jamie Carter has to hide his interest in men, even from his gutsy twin sister, Anna. On a good day, the truth can mean a bullet between the eyes, and on a bad, one in the back.

A man on a mission…

Jamie leaves Anna in charge of Blackrock and he hits the bounty hunting trail, along with his faithful equine companion, Houston. Five territories, scores of ‘Wanted’ posters, and many bullets later, his path unexpectedly converges with that of enigmatic loner, Kit Brooks.

Two men with one soul…

Will the smoldering fire between them rage into an inferno and break down protective barriers, allowing them to find love? Or will it separate and kill them?

Beneath Dakota skies…

Jamie and Kit’s story is a sweeping saga of cowboys, Indians, persistent broads, and vengeful villains, where the cowboys aren’t always the good guys, and love can’t be taken for granted.

Book Trailer:

http://youtu.be/63nJgZNMJGg

Excerpt

Lila skipped over, eating something big and orange. Her nose was already twitching at the smell. Carrots were a major thing in town. When they came in via the big boats, Mr. Miller always bought as many as his storerooms could handle. Jay wondered for a moment how such a small thing managed to sink her teeth into one.

Maybe her mouth is the strongest part of her, considering she rarely stops talking.

Leading Houston to his stall, Jay hoped to escape. Unfortunately, Lila followed and just… didn’t… shut… up.

“I heard you were back, where have you been? You’ve been gone for so long. You didn’t say good-bye, and I’ve been worried sick. Anna never did give me an explanation.”

Anna scowled, backing it up with a growl. “Probably ‘cause it weren’t none of your business, and it’s Sheriff Carter to you,” she spat.

Anna’s reply only momentarily interrupted Lila.

“Humph, anyway, I’m glad you’re back. You’ll have to come over for afternoon tea. Mother will be so pleased to see you, and I’m free today.”

The girl never took a breath. Jay hoped the gods would be kind and let her keel over from lack of air.

No such luck.

If he’d considered her annoying before, it was nothing to what she’d become—unbearable. While she screeched, Jay released Houston and closed the door to his stall.

Lila was between Jay and freedom. Each time he moved to walk around her, his exit was blocked. All the time Lila bounced on the spot, spouting off at a pace that made her words roll into one. Dangerously, as her mouth constantly moved, so did her hands. She waved her carrot perilously close to Houston’s head as it hung over the gate. Jay could see him following its movements, waiting for the opportune moment.

Houston’s big weakness was apples. Jay could never let him loose in an orchard. He’d get drunk on the juice that would fester in his stomach. Carrots were next in line.

Lila’s animated actions came to a stop as she waited for Jay’s answer, though he’d lost track of what the question was. The carrot dangling in Lila’s hand was under Houston’s nose. The moment arrived and the horse made his move. In one swoop, he gobbled it easily from her clutches. Her shriek caused all the horses to shuffle to the back of their enclosures.

When she noticed everyone doubled over with laughter—including Joseph—tiny Lila became enraged. She didn’t see the funny side of it. Instead, she stormed off, waving her arms, muttering to herself.

To the trio’s surprise, she shortly returned with a gun and aimed it at Houston. Merriment abruptly stopped as the shock of what she was about to do took root. Thankfully, the weapon was too big for Lila’s small hands; she was having trouble cocking it. With rage contorting her face, and her tongue between her teeth, she concentrated on pulling back the hammer for a few seconds. She completed her task, then refocused her aim.

Buy Links

WIP | Amazon US | Amazon UK | B&N

About the Author:

Taylin Clavelli lives in the United Kingdom, about 15 miles south of Birmingham, and a short journey from the world famous Cadbury’s Chocolate factory. She’s married with children and loves her family with all her heart.

Her love of books has been a long standing affair, with Taylin liking nothing better than to lose herself in an imaginary world.

Until she met Lily Velden, she never considered trying her hand at writing. However, after talking ideas, Lily encouraged her to put pen to paper—or rather, fingers to keyboard. Since, with a few virtual kicks in the right place, she hasn’t stopped. Her confidence eventually led to her writing an original work for submission.

Her first published work was Boys, Toys, and Carpet Fitters, developed for the Dreamspinner Press Anthology – Don’t Try This At Home.

Now she absolutely adores immersing herself into the characters she creates, and transferring the pictures in her brain to paper, finding it liberating, therapeutic, and wonderful.

Outside of writing, her interests include; martial arts (she’s a 2nd Degree Black Belt in Taekwon-do), horse-riding, all of which facilitates her love of a wide variety of movies. Her action heroes include Jet Li and Tony Jaa—finding the dedication these men have for their art combined with their skill both amazing and a privilege to watch. If pressed, she’ll admit to thinking that the screen entrance of Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean – Curse of the Black Pearl, and Shadowfax in LOTR, to be the greatest screen entrances ever. Her all-time favorite movies are Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.

The simple things in life that make her day, putting a smile on her face are:

Laughter – especially that of her children.

The smell of lasagna cooking – it makes her mouth salivate.

The dawn chorus – no symphony ever written can beat the waking greetings of the birds.

Social Media Links

Website: http://www.taylinclavelli.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005234535413

Twitter: https://twitter.com/taylinclavelli

Giveaway

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@MyFamHrtBookRvw Tour: “Night Magic” by @SusanSquires #Paranormal #Romance

Posted by eloreenmoon

Welcome to Moonbeams over Atlanta, the last day of the blog tour for Night Magic by Susan Squires!

BOOK INFORMATION

TITLE – Night Magic
SERIES – Magic Series
AUTHOR – Susan Squires
GENRE – Contemporary Paranormal Romance
PUBLICATION DATE – September 8, 2014
LENGTH (Pages/# Words) – 374 pages, 110,000 words (including excerpt from next book)
PUBLISHER – Susan Squires
COVER ARTIST – Rebecca Poole – Dreams2Media

BOOK SYNOPSIS

DESTINY ISN’T CALLING. Kemble Tremaine is thirty-seven. He knows he’ll never get magic like the rest of his family. The Merlin gene has passed him by. No true love, no magic power to help the family in their fight against the descendants of Morgan Le Fay. Since it doesn’t matter who he marries, he asks his sister’s best friend, Jane. At least he’ll be rescuing her from a horrible home life.

CINDERELLA MISSES THE BALL. Jane Butler has loved Kemble since she was twelve years old. She’s well aware he’s not marrying her for love, but she hopes she can make him comfortable.

HAPPINESS IS RELATIVE. Comfort isn’t on the menu for the Tremaines. Kemble’s sister has been having visions of tragedy. The family finds one of Merlin’s precious artifacts, meant to increase the power of those with magic. Morgan and her Clan want it too. They can’t be far behind. Can Kemble and Jane find destiny in the face of danger and even death?

BUY & TBR LINKS

AMAZON KINDLE US – AMAZON KINDLE CA – AMAZON KINDLE UK
AMAZON PAPERBACK – SMASHWORDS – ITUNES – GOODREADS

EXCERPT

Kemble strode around the car without a word, got behind the wheel and slammed the door. His lips were a thin, determined line. Then he seemed to see her for the first time. “Jane, that…that cheek looks really painful.” His face contorted with an angry look. “I should have been over here first thing this morning.” He was angry with himself, of course.
“I could have gone to the doctor if I needed to, you know,” she said.
He snorted. “You never want anything for yourself, Jane. I’ll take care of that too.”
What did he mean by that? The motor purred to life and Kemble put his arm over the back of her seat to turn and look out the rear window as he backed out. His fingers brushed her shoulder. She closed her eyes as the sensation shot up her spine. Did he have to be so careless?
As they turned onto Palos Verdes West she glanced over to him. He was fairly vibrating with…nervous tension? Determination? She couldn’t quite figure it out. He surprised her by sliding into the little shopping center behind the Admiral Risty, an old-school, red-booth dinner place with a wide-water view of the Pacific. “Aren’t you going to be late for dinner at home?”
“Yes, I am.” He nodded his head convulsively. The man was sweating.
“You want to loosen the tie or something?” He really looked like he was about to choke.
“No.” He took a big breath and let it out slowly. Then he turned to her. “I have something I want to ask you, Jane. And I don’t want you to say anything until I’m done explaining.”
“Uh. Okay.” Jane was getting a very bad feeling about this. It was going to be something about what he wanted to do with her mother. She just knew it. And she wouldn’t be able to accept his largesse, so he’d try to bully her into it.
He looked out over the parked cars. “I’m never going to get magic. I talked to Senior and he agrees. We think the gene is recessive in me. I’ve known it for a while.”
She started to protest, but he held up a hand. It was shaking a little. That stopped her far more effectively than anything he could have said. He wasn’t the kind of guy to tremble.
“So.” He acted as though that settled everything. “So he agrees that I ought to get on with my life. Settle down. And if I’m not waiting for the bolt of lightning, well, then I can marry whomever I want. So I’m asking you.”
Jane felt like she’d been struck deaf, dumb and blind by that lightning bolt. Kemble was… asking her to… marry him? After all these years, he’d realized he loved her…
“Now don’t say no,” he rushed on. “Just because we’re not in love doesn’t mean this can’t work out. You need a refuge Jane, and if we marry, I can give that to you.”
Jane carefully shut her mouth, though that didn’t mean she could breathe.
Kemble looked down at his hands, still on the steering wheel. “The family already loves you. And I’ll make sure your mother is taken care of. Enough money cures everything, Jane, and if it’s one thing I have, it’s money.” His eyes were so earnest it might break her heart.
He’d given up. So he might as well marry her. Something heavy sat on her chest.
He got an anxious look. “So…uh…what do you think?”
She hardly trusted herself to speak.
“Oh. Wait.” He lifted his hips to get his hand into the pocket of his slacks, and drew out a small square velveteen box. It said the name of the department store at the top of the hill on the bottom. He fumbled with it until he got it right side up and popped it open. A diamond ring gleamed in the rosy light of the setting sun. The setting was simple, just a band with three medium diamonds set in it. They glinted in the afternoon light.
“I didn’t think you’d want one of those big diamonds that are always catching on everything. These… these are nice stones though.” He cleared his throat.
It was actually just the kind of ring she would want the man she loved to give her. But not like this. She took a breath. “Kemble, you don’t want to marry me.” It took all the courage she had to speak those words.
“But I do,” he protested. “You’re perfect. You’re smart. You’re a calming influence on the family, especially the younger ones.” His voice softened. “And marrying me will give you a place, Jane. Let me take care of you.”
She couldn’t marry Kemble when he didn’t love her. That would be too selfish.
He put the box with the ring on the dashboard and took both her hands in his larger ones. After the shock that went straight to her groin and the points of her breasts, what she noticed was that the warmth, the slight moisture born of his anxiety, enveloped her with his inherent goodness. She felt…maybe not loved, but at least treasured. “I need you, Jane,” he said. “And I think you need me too. Sometimes life just provides solutions we aren’t expecting.”
The words were simple, spoken from his heart. He needed her. It was the one ploy that might get her to agree to this. She couldn’t bear how unhappy he’d been lately. Maybe this solution freed him from the razor-sharp pain of wondering if magic would ever happen for him, thinking he’d never be good enough. She wanted to believe that, because suddenly, she wanted to throw all sense and caution off the cliffs at the Breakers and accept him. Married to Kemble Tremaine, just as she’d dreamed since she was fourteen. A real member of the Tremaine family, with a right to make tira misu for their dinner or cut fresh flowers for the table.
There was another problem. “What if you find your destined love after we’re married?”
“Never going to happen.” He shrugged as though it didn’t matter to him. But in his blue eyes she saw that it did. He wasn’t over mourning his loss yet.
But maybe someday he could be. Maybe time would heal his regret. Maybe they could have something together, if not true love, then companionship, respect. That was more than she was like to have any other way. “You have to promise me something, Kemble Tremaine.”
“Anything.”
He didn’t mean that, of course. He couldn’t give her the one thing she really wanted. And God, he was so close to her, he was overwhelming any sense she had at all.
“Promise that if you ever do find the one really meant for you, you’ll tell me. I’ll set you free the next moment with no regrets.” Well, none she wouldn’t have anyway, whether she married him or not. She’d always regret he didn’t love her.
His brows drew together sharply. He really hadn’t thought this out, had he?
Finally he nodded. “Okay.” He cleared his throat. “Does that mean you will do me the honor of being my wife?”
God help her. She nodded.

AUTHOR BIO

NYT Bestselling author Susan Squires published twenty-two novels and novellas with Dorchester Publishing and St. Martin’s Press, as well as self-publishing her new Magic Series. She’s won the Golden Heart and the Holt Medallion, been a finalist in the Rita contest and garnered several Reviewer’s Choice awards from Romantic Times BookReviews. Publisher’s Weekly named Body Electric one of the most influential mass-market books and One with the Shadows a Best Book of Year. She lives at the beach in Southern California with her husband, who is also a writer, and two Belgian Sheepdogs who help her by laying their chins on the keyboardddddddd.

AUTHOR FOLLOW LINKS

WEBSITE / BLOG – FACEBOOK – TWITTER – GOOGLE+

TOUR GIVEAWAY

$25 Amazon Giftcard

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This tour has been organized by

@MyFamHrtBookRvw Tour: “Night Magic” by @SusanSquires #Paranormal

Posted by eloreenmoon

BOOK INFORMATION

BOOK SYNOPSIS

CINDERELLA MISSES THE BALL. Jane Butler has loved Kemble since she was twelve years old. She’s well aware he’s not marrying her for love, but she hopes she can make him comfortable.

BUY & TBR LINKS

AMAZON KINDLE US – AMAZON KINDLE CA – AMAZON KINDLE UK
AMAZON PAPERBACK – SMASHWORDS – ITUNES – GOODREADS

EXCERPT

Kemble strode around the car without a word, got behind the wheel and slammed the door. His lips were a thin, determined line. Then he seemed to see her for the first time. “Jane, that…that cheek looks really painful.” His face contorted with an angry look. “I should have been over here first thing this morning.” He was angry with himself, of course.
“I could have gone to the doctor if I needed to, you know,” she said.
He snorted. “You never want anything for yourself, Jane. I’ll take care of that too.”
What did he mean by that? The motor purred to life and Kemble put his arm over the back of her seat to turn and look out the rear window as he backed out. His fingers brushed her shoulder. She closed her eyes as the sensation shot up her spine. Did he have to be so careless?
As they turned onto Palos Verdes West she glanced over to him. He was fairly vibrating with…nervous tension? Determination? She couldn’t quite figure it out. He surprised her by sliding into the little shopping center behind the Admiral Risty, an old-school, red-booth dinner place with a wide-water view of the Pacific. “Aren’t you going to be late for dinner at home?”
“Yes, I am.” He nodded his head convulsively. The man was sweating.
“You want to loosen the tie or something?” He really looked like he was about to choke.
“No.” He took a big breath and let it out slowly. Then he turned to her. “I have something I want to ask you, Jane. And I don’t want you to say anything until I’m done explaining.”
“Uh. Okay.” Jane was getting a very bad feeling about this. It was going to be something about what he wanted to do with her mother. She just knew it. And she wouldn’t be able to accept his largesse, so he’d try to bully her into it.
He looked out over the parked cars. “I’m never going to get magic. I talked to Senior and he agrees. We think the gene is recessive in me. I’ve known it for a while.”
She started to protest, but he held up a hand. It was shaking a little. That stopped her far more effectively than anything he could have said. He wasn’t the kind of guy to tremble.
“So.” He acted as though that settled everything. “So he agrees that I ought to get on with my life. Settle down. And if I’m not waiting for the bolt of lightning, well, then I can marry whomever I want. So I’m asking you.”
Jane felt like she’d been struck deaf, dumb and blind by that lightning bolt. Kemble was… asking her to… marry him? After all these years, he’d realized he loved her…
“Now don’t say no,” he rushed on. “Just because we’re not in love doesn’t mean this can’t work out. You need a refuge Jane, and if we marry, I can give that to you.”
Jane carefully shut her mouth, though that didn’t mean she could breathe.
Kemble looked down at his hands, still on the steering wheel. “The family already loves you. And I’ll make sure your mother is taken care of. Enough money cures everything, Jane, and if it’s one thing I have, it’s money.” His eyes were so earnest it might break her heart.
He’d given up. So he might as well marry her. Something heavy sat on her chest.
He got an anxious look. “So…uh…what do you think?”
She hardly trusted herself to speak.
“Oh. Wait.” He lifted his hips to get his hand into the pocket of his slacks, and drew out a small square velveteen box. It said the name of the department store at the top of the hill on the bottom. He fumbled with it until he got it right side up and popped it open. A diamond ring gleamed in the rosy light of the setting sun. The setting was simple, just a band with three medium diamonds set in it. They glinted in the afternoon light.
“I didn’t think you’d want one of those big diamonds that are always catching on everything. These… these are nice stones though.” He cleared his throat.
It was actually just the kind of ring she would want the man she loved to give her. But not like this. She took a breath. “Kemble, you don’t want to marry me.” It took all the courage she had to speak those words.
“But I do,” he protested. “You’re perfect. You’re smart. You’re a calming influence on the family, especially the younger ones.” His voice softened. “And marrying me will give you a place, Jane. Let me take care of you.”
She couldn’t marry Kemble when he didn’t love her. That would be too selfish.
He put the box with the ring on the dashboard and took both her hands in his larger ones. After the shock that went straight to her groin and the points of her breasts, what she noticed was that the warmth, the slight moisture born of his anxiety, enveloped her with his inherent goodness. She felt…maybe not loved, but at least treasured. “I need you, Jane,” he said. “And I think you need me too. Sometimes life just provides solutions we aren’t expecting.”
The words were simple, spoken from his heart. He needed her. It was the one ploy that might get her to agree to this. She couldn’t bear how unhappy he’d been lately. Maybe this solution freed him from the razor-sharp pain of wondering if magic would ever happen for him, thinking he’d never be good enough. She wanted to believe that, because suddenly, she wanted to throw all sense and caution off the cliffs at the Breakers and accept him. Married to Kemble Tremaine, just as she’d dreamed since she was fourteen. A real member of the Tremaine family, with a right to make tira misu for their dinner or cut fresh flowers for the table.
There was another problem. “What if you find your destined love after we’re married?”
“Never going to happen.” He shrugged as though it didn’t matter to him. But in his blue eyes she saw that it did. He wasn’t over mourning his loss yet.
But maybe someday he could be. Maybe time would heal his regret. Maybe they could have something together, if not true love, then companionship, respect. That was more than she was like to have any other way. “You have to promise me something, Kemble Tremaine.”
“Anything.”
He didn’t mean that, of course. He couldn’t give her the one thing she really wanted. And God, he was so close to her, he was overwhelming any sense she had at all.
“Promise that if you ever do find the one really meant for you, you’ll tell me. I’ll set you free the next moment with no regrets.” Well, none she wouldn’t have anyway, whether she married him or not. She’d always regret he didn’t love her.
His brows drew together sharply. He really hadn’t thought this out, had he?
Finally he nodded. “Okay.” He cleared his throat. “Does that mean you will do me the honor of being my wife?”
God help her. She nodded.

AUTHOR BIO

AUTHOR FOLLOW LINKS

WEBSITE / BLOG – FACEBOOK – TWITTER – GOOGLE+

TOUR GIVEAWAY

$25 Amazon Giftcard

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This tour has been organized by