As if being newly single isn’t brutal
enough, Sloane Chatfield's friends are getting obnoxious about setting her up.
When Sloane insists she's waiting for a certain sexy fictional Highlander to
come along, her friends surprise her with a trip to Scotland to find her a new
boyfriend. She’d rather have a root canal. But if she can find a Highland hunk
to “break her heart” before her friends arrive…
In a remote Highland village, Galen
Buchanan is struggling to keep the family pub afloat. Everything is falling
apart, he’s running out of money, and now there's an opinionated American lass
parked at his best table, driving him mad. But then Sloane asks Galen to be her
pretend Highland boyfriend...and offers him enough money to save the pub. It’s
only for a few days, he figures. What's the worst that could happen?
Julia London is the New York
Times, USA Today, and Publisher's Weekly bestselling author of more than thirty
romantic fiction novels. She is the author of the popular Cabot Sisters
historical series, including The Trouble with Honor, The Devil Takes a Bride,
and the The Scoundrel and the Debutante. She is also the author of several
acclaimed contemporary romances, including The Cedar Springs series, and the
recent Homecoming Ranch, Return to Homecoming Ranch, and The Perfect
Homecoming. Julia has added a short contemporary series to her titles as well,
including The Perfect Bargain, writing under the name Jessa McAdams.
Julia is the recipient of the RT Bookclub Award for Best
Historical Romance and a four time finalist for the prestigious RITA award for
excellence in romantic fiction. To keep up with all the Julia London news,
please visit http://www.julialondon.com. Follow her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/julialondon
We are so excited to bring you the Release Week Blitz for Laura
Kaye's HARD TO LET GO! HARD TO LET GO is the 4thnovel in Laura's Hard Ink Series,published by Avon Romance. Grab your copy of this sexy, suspenseful book
today!!
Taking a deep breath, Beckett knocked on
the door.
No answer.
He turned the knob,
and the door opened.
“Go away,” came a
strained voice.
Beckett poked his head
through the opening. Kat sat in a ball in the corner, her legs pulled up to her
chest, her arms hugging herself tight.
“Aw, Jesus, Beckett.
Really?” Her face was splotchy and her eyes watery, though he didn’t see any
tears.
Ten-to-one she was
going through some adrenaline letdown right now, too. Which no doubt made it
all worse. That shit could fuck you up even when you were used to how it left
you feeling drained and shaky, by how all the stress you’d suppressed during
the height of the crisis boomeranged twice over after the fact.
He came into the room,
closed the door, and turned the lock for good measure. And then he crossed to
Kat, scooped his arms under her knees and behind her back and lifted her up
against him.
She smacked his chest.
“Put me down.”
“No.” He moved to the
edge of the bed.
“I don’t need this
right now, Beckett. Put me down.”
“Yes, you do,” he
said, sitting on the edge of the mattress. He pulled her face in against his
throat and smoothed her hair back from her cheek. She trembled against him,
just the littlest bit, her skin hot to the touch. He pressed a kiss to her
forehead and hugged her tighter. “You did good, kid.”
Every one of her
muscles went tight. Her hand fisted in his shirt. And her breath caught as she
buried her face against his neck and shoulder.
Then Kat burst out
crying.
And it was like being
torn apart and put back together, all at once. He hated her pain, but he adored
that she wasn’t hiding herself from him, and that she was letting him be there
for her.
He didn’t shush her,
or try to talk her down, or encourage her to dry her eyes. To be sure, her
tears were like daggers in his heart—they hurt like fucking hell. But the only
way she was going to feel better was to let this shit out. Ironic realization
for him—he did actually see that. But just because you could see what was good
for others didn’t mean you had the first goddamned idea how to apply those
principles in your own life. And that was a problem for another time anyway.
What mattered right
now was Kat. What mattered … was Kat.
Beckett Murda hates to dwell on the past.
But his investigation into the ambush that killed half his Special Forces team
and ended his Army career gives him little choice. Just when his team learns
how powerful their enemies are, hard-ass Beckett encounters his biggest
complication yet—a seductive, feisty Katherine Rixey.
A tough, stubborn prosecutor, Kat visits
her brothers’ Hard Ink Tattoo shop following a bad break-up—and finds herself
staring down the barrel of a stranger’s gun. Beckett is hard-bodied and sexy as
hell, but he’s also the most infuriating man ever. Worse, Kat’s brothers are at
war with the criminals her office is investigating. When Kat joins the fight,
she lands straight in Beckett’s sights . . . and in his arms. Not to mention
their enemies’ crosshairs.
Now Beckett and Kat must set aside their
differences to work together, because the only thing sweeter than justice is
finding love and never letting go.
Praise for HARD TO LET GO
“Kaye wraps up her bestselling series with
this action-packed story, highlighting her talent for alpha military heroes,
hot romance, and an ensemble cast of characters who are unique and engaging. A
super sexy, high-octane romantic suspense novel that concludes the popular Hard
Ink series in a completely satisfying way.” ~Kirkus Reviews
“TOP PICK! Kaye brings her Hard Ink series
to a spectacular conclusion that successfully wraps up the overarching mystery
and brings closure to her compelling characters. Kaye really nails it with this
awesome book and series!” ~RT Book
Reviews
“HARD TO LET GO will blow you away! Anyone
who has been following Laura Kaye’s fantastic Hard Ink series will expect
something great for the last book in the series, and to say HARD TO LET GO does
not disappoint would be the understatement of the year! Ms. Kaye writes sex
scenes like it’s nobody’s business, and the blistering chemistry between Kat
and Becket will leave you panting and begging for more! If you expected
world-class action in HARD TO LET GO, think again and multiply that by ten!
HARD TO LET GO has to be the most explosive conclusion to a series ever! Do not
miss it at any cost!” ~Fresh Fiction
And don’t miss the other Hard Ink books, now available:
"TOP PICK! If you're looking for
danger, gritty action, and sizzling passion, then Kaye has just the book and
the series for you." ~RT Book
Reviews Magazine
Laura
is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over twenty books in
contemporary and paranormal romance and romantic suspense. Growing up, Laura’s
large extended family believed in the supernatural, and family lore involving
angels, ghosts, and evil-eye curses cemented in Laura a life-long fascination
with storytelling and all things paranormal. She lives in Maryland with her
husband, two daughters, and cute-but-bad dog, and appreciates her view of the
Chesapeake Bay every day.
Today,
I am so excited to be able to post about one of my favorite author's newest
book, POWER PLAY! This is the first
installment of the RISKY BUSINESS series and I must say that Tiffany Snow has
totally outdone herself with the start of this series. POWER PLAY is AMAZING and you can read my
review by clicking HERE. Be sure to read the excerpt included in this
post and enter the Giveaway while you are here for a chance to win a copy of POWER PLAY.
Sage Reese lives for her
job. More precisely, she lives for her debonair boss, Parker Andersen. Sage
handles everything for Parker, even as she fantasizes about the one thing that
isn't in her job description: him. But when a high-stakes account crosses the
line from shady to deadly, a tough cop starts giving Sage the attention she
wishes Parker would . . .
Detective Dean Ryker couldn't be more different from Parker. While Parker wears
expensive suits like a second skin and drives a BMW, Ryker's uniform is leather
jackets and jeans . . . and his ride of choice is a Harley. While Parker's
sexiness is a reserved, slow burn, Ryker is completely upfront about what-and
who-he's after. And Sage tops his list.
Now, as Ryker digs deeper into the dark side of Parker's business, Sage finds
herself caught between two men: the one she's always wanted-and the one who
makes her feel wanted
like never before . . .
I eyed him suspiciously, tapping the nameplate that sat on
the counter rather than answer him.
“Sage Reese,” he read. “Executive Administrative Assistant.”
“You can read,” I said, raising an eyebrow. “I was worried
you’d have trouble with the big words.” If Ryker didn’t like Parker, and it
seemed pretty clear he didn’t, chances were I wasn’t going to like him either.
He grinned at me despite my sass and he had an honest-to-God
dimple in his cheek. His teeth were perfectly straight and white, his smile
drastically altering the hard expression on his face to one of sexy mischief. I
momentarily lost my train of thought.
Ryker leaned down like he was going to tell me a secret. The
aroma of leather and something musky drifted in the air and I caught myself
taking a deep whiff of it.
“I know what you’re doing after work,” he said.
I looked at him in confusion. “What?”
“You’re having dinner with me.”
This was the absolute last thing I expected him to say. I
gaped at him.
Ryker reached toward me and my breath caught. His fingers
brushed the fabric of the scarf tied around my throat. I was frozen in place,
my eyes wide as I looked up at him and my pulse racing. I felt the softest
touch of the back of his knuckles against my jaw, then he was reaching past me
to snag a couple of peanut M&Ms from the little candy dish on my desk for
when I absolutely had to have a bite of chocolate. Tossing them in his mouth,
he grinned again, the knowing look in his eyes telling me he knew exactly how
he was affecting me.
“Pick you up at six,” he said with a wink, and then he was
gone, striding toward the elevators, his jeans and leather jacket utterly out
of place in the sea of suits and business attire. But you would have thought he
was a model wearing the latest from Armani by the way he walked.
When he got to the elevator, it dinged as though it already
knew he was coming. He’d slid his sunglasses back on and he turned before he
stepped inside. I was still staring at him and he caught me at it, another
knowing grin spreading across his face before he disappeared from my view.
“Wow. Who was that?”
I turned around to see Megan, my friend and fellow
secretary. She worked for a group of analysts who reported to Parker.
Sliding her glasses up her nose, she turned to me.
“Seriously. Please tell me he was interviewing and starts work tomorrow.”
I laughed. Megan was an incongruous package. She was tiny,
barely five foot, with curly blonde hair, a heart-shaped face, and thick
glasses—a stereotypical sweet, shy type. She was sweet, that much was true, but
she had a biting wit and an irreverent humor that made her a favorite with
nearly everyone there at KLP.
“Sorry,” I said with an exaggerated sigh. “He already has a
job.”
“As a movie star, right?”
“He’s a detective,” I said with a grin. “And I think I have
a date with him tonight.”
“Get out!”
I shrugged. “He asked me out.” I thought for a second.
“Actually, he didn’t ask. He just told me I was going to dinner with him.”
Which should have ticked me off, but instead I found to be kind of…sexy.
A native
of St. Louis, Missouri, Tiffany Snow earned degrees in Education and History
from the University of Missouri-Columbia, before launching a career in
Information Technology. After over a decade in IT, she switched
careers to what she always dreamed of doing - writing. Tiffany is the author of
romantic suspense novels such as the Kathleen Turner Series, which includes No Turning Back, Turn to Me and Turning Point. Since she's drawn to
character-driven books herself, that's what she loves to write, and the guy
always gets his girl. She feeds her love of books with avid reading, yet she
manages to spare time and considerable affection for trivia, eighties hair
bands, the St. Louis Cardinals, and Elvis. She and her husband have two
daughters and one dog.
Be sure to enter the
giveaway found at the end of the post!
Katya
knows all about Stalin’s big plans; she learned of them in school. But those
plans mean little to her until the secret police arrest Papa and seize their
family farm. With Mama and her younger siblings, Katya is shoved into a crowded
train headed for a forced labour camp in Siberia. Torn from everything she has
ever known, Katya faces cold and hunger, and the ever-present threat of lost
hope. As she clings to a single red stone from the fields of her homeland, she
questions life. Where is Papa? Will she ever see him again? And what will
become of Katya’s family?
Inspired by a true story, Red Stone explores the trauma and heart¬break
suffered by many families in the Soviet Union during the 1930s when Stalin
seized individual property and villainized property owners as kulaks.
Red Stone by Gabriele
Goldstone
Publisher: Rebelight Publishing
Middle grade/Historical
It’s March 7, 1930 and today is my
birthday. I’m eleven years old. There’ll be no celebration, though. Sofie and Marthe
are sick with fever and cough, and Mama says it’s better not to bring any
visitors along after school.
So it’ll be just another day.
When I approach the school a crowd of
students are gathered around a shiny black government automobile. That’s
strange. I’m even more surprised when Uncle Leo climbs out of it.
He’s wearing a long brown overcoat
with a red belt and an OGPU badge
on the sleeve. So
that’s his job with the government—he belongs to the secret police. Is he here on official business? Or will he
embarrass me with a birthday gift in front of all my classmates?
He doesn’t look my way. Instead, he
marches straight through the crowd and over to Comrade Muenster. The two stand
by the door talking. As we line-up outside, Uncle Leo watches each of us. He
pulls out a notebook and writes things down. What is he writing? I don’t trust
him!
“Katya?” Uncle Leo asks, when it’s my
turn to enter. He looks down at his notebook and scribbles something with a
pencil.
“Hello, Uncle Leo.” I offer
cautiously.
“My name is Comrade Bonkowski, you
little twit.”
I look away, my face burning and my
heart thumping.
Uncle Leo turns to the teacher. “You
must teach these children to respect their leaders.”
“Yes, Comrade.” Comrade Muenster looks
anxious.
I slink to my classroom. At my desk, I
keep my head down, even when Uncle Leo is introduced and begins his speech.
“I have here a list of the property
owners of Federofka and the surrounding area.
The executive
committee of the local Soviet has instructed me to remind you that on January
30th of this year, the decree to liquefy all kulaks was made
official. I have brought a poster that will be displayed in this classroom to
help you understand.”
He unrolls the poster and passes it to
Comrade Muenster, who puts it up beside Stalin’s portrait. The poster shows a
giant tractor running over animals and farmers. “Destroy the kulaks as a class”
is sprawled across it in big letters.
I sink further down into my desk,
feeling like a tractor has already run me over. Uncle
Leo’s not finished. “All private landowners are bloodsuckers.” I glance up and
see Uncle Leo staring right at me. “There’s no such thing as a good kulak. All
are exploiters. All are class enemies. We will find the extra food that you
kulaks hoard. We will round up the livestock for our collectives. We will take
your servants and make them into proud workers, not impoverished slaves.”
He nods to Comrade Muenster, who
motions us to rise. We stand at attention and sing The Internationale. Stanza
three begins with the words, “You’ve sucked enough of our blood, you vampires,”
and Uncle Leo’s grim face breaks into an ugly smile.
I feel the power of that smile for the
rest of the day. It smirks at me when I’m reading or solving arithmetic
problems. It makes it impossible to swallow the piece of cherry cake that Mama
put in my lunch.
GABRIELE
GOLDSTONE, the oldest daughter of European immigrants, always looked for
stories about her parents’ past. She majored in 20th century German literature
at university but was disappointed that she could not find the stories she
sought. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, her mother’s anecdotes and
history began to click together. In 2004, Gabriele traveled to Ukraine and
searched through former KGB files to find more missing pieces—and Katya’s red
stone. Gabriele lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba and has three adult children along
with a silver-grey cat and a golden-haired dog.
by Mya Robarts
Publication date: June 20th 2014
Genres: Dystopia, Young Adult
ROMANTIC DYSTOPIA FOR MATURE YA
READERS
YOUNG NA READERS
In post-apocalyptic North America,
rape and sexual slavery are legal. Lila Velez, desperately wants to lose her
virginity before the troops visit her town, and can take it away by force. She
makes plans to seduce her only friend, Rey, the most attractive man in her
town. Lila does not love him, but he is the only man who has shown her true
affection, an affection she is willing to take as a substitute of love.
Lila’s coping mechanism to her
mother’s violent attack is her secret. A secret that will bring her closer to
Aleksey Fürst, a foreign, broody man that she distrusts because his links to
the troops and his rough, yet irresistible appearance. He offers Lila an
alternative to her plans, a possibility that terrifies her…and tempts her in
spite of herself.
All the while Lila will have to find
a way to live in the constant company of death, slavery, starvation, sexual
abuse and the danger of losing the people she loves the most.
Due to strong language, violent
scenes and sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age
of 18.
I realize we’ve been unconsciously leaning toward each other. I step
back, but he closes the distance again. His subtle, clean, masculine scent
intoxicates me.
“I’m your best option. I have enough experience to guide you, teach you,
and protect you from harm. If you want to, of course.”
“What harm?”
He brushes my cheek lightly with his enormous finger. The touch
electrifies my skin. “Harm from other guys, from your friend, from yourself.”
I think about his size, knowing I’m not ready for this man. “If I don’t want to go all the way …”
“Then we won’t.If you want to,
this could be an addition to the other skills I’ll train you on …”
I keep stepping back, shortening the distance to the trees. “Wouldn’t that be fraternizing? You’re not
supposed to fraternize with Nats. They’ll deport you.”
He looks at me as though I’m crazy. “So? The world if full of places for
us to go if you wanted to come with me.”
He’s deluded. No country would admit me without a passport tattoo. But hearing those
words from his deep, masculine voice is heaven. “They’ll execute you.”
“I’ve put my life at risk for others
ever since I joined the Army. It’d be a nice change to risk my life for
something I want for me.” His humorless face smolders. “I
crave you.”
Aleksey craves me. My
cheeks warm at his words, and I don’t
know what to say. He looks as though he has been dying to let those words out
for a while. His eyes look at me expectantly. I can recognize his lust but … is
there a difference between lusting
and craving?
I shake my
head. It doesn’t matter, anyway. He is an
ex-soldier, and he looks more dangerous
and violent than actual soldiers, so he’s off-limits. But I’m overwhelmed with feelings I haven’t ever felt before.
I look at
him questioningly. “I don’t know anything about
you.”
The cop looks down at himself and smiles wickedly. “You know my feet are
big. What is left to know?”
I spent years trying to become a contemporary dance choreographer. Eventually I
realized that I enjoyed writing my stories rather than creating dances for
them.
I am obsessed with books that present damaged characters, swoon worthy guys,
controversial topics and happy endings.
