Pages

Friday, May 29, 2015

RELEASE BLITZ & GIVEAWAY: Afraid to Fly by S.L. Jennings



Meet Dirty Dom in this fantastic stand-alone!

AVAILABLE NOW!

Amazon:
Amazon UK:
Barnes & Noble:
iBooks:
Kobo:



I’d like to tell you that I’m ok.

That the meaningless sex with countless women has somehow numbed the pain. That it’s deciphered the constant confusion in my head. Eased the self-hatred that sinks into my gut every time I look in the mirror.

I’d like to tell you that time heals all wounds.

That we evolve and grow into well-adjusted, stable adults, set on a path to right the world’s wrongs. That we are not our past…we are not our pain.

I want to tell you all those things. Hell, I want to believe all those things. But I’d be lying. I’m good at that. Living a lie is the only way I truly know how to survive.
But the day I saw her, I stopped surviving. I stopped existing. And for the first time in 24 years, I started living.

She brought me back to life. Set me free and sent my soul soaring. Made this useless shell of a man feel like…something. Something whole and real and good.

She saved me.
Although she believes I wasn’t even worth saving.

This story chronicles the journey of Dominic Trevino, a character from Fear of Falling. However, it can be read as a standalone.





EXCERPT

I approached her slowly, letting my eyes take in her soft, feminine curves. That’s what I loved the most about women—their softness, their delicateness. It made them appear breakable, just like me. And it made me appreciate that vulnerability, in hopes that someone could—and would—one day, appreciate mine.

That’s why even though I never offered more than a few hours of toe-curling pleasure, I assured each second was spent tending to their sexual desires and making them feel treasured. Just because I was a whore, it didn’t make me callous or uncaring. If anything, it made me more aware of my humanity.

I pushed it all away, trading my own hang-ups and idiosyncrasies for the mental numbness that sex could provide and did what I do best: Fuck. I was good at this part—touching, kissing, licking. And when we were both ready—too ravenous with desire to consider my aversions—I drove into her slowly, all the way to the hilt. Until her body completely covered mine and soothed the ache of loneliness with wet warmth. This was the feeling I had been chasing since I was just a child, barely a man. That sweet oblivion that only mindless sex could provide. I was made whole by emptying myself into another, and for the barest of moments, I became separate from my pain and anger. I became the type of man that could look himself in the mirror and not see the horror of his past standing behind him, its razor sharp claws cutting into the skin of his shoulders while it smiled in that sinister way that still made my skin crawl.

I had seen that malevolence in my dreams every day since as long as I could remember. Sometimes it was in the form of a smile, a laugh. Sometimes it wore the face of ecstasy and passion. But it was always terrifying.

I lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling long after Alyssa had passed out in blissful exhaustion. She came twice, once by my tongue, the other with her ankles on my shoulders. She was a screamer, and I kept wondering if Angel would bust in here, wondering if I was fucking or killing the girl. Then, if Alyssa was up for it, she’d join, like she had just this past weekend with Cherri. It wasn’t that we wanted each other in that way—oh hell no. We were just better…together. It made it even easier to get out of our heads and lost in the movement of our bodies.

It was co-dependent like a motherfucker. And unhealthy. And unconventional. But it was all we knew.


Fear of Falling (A Fearless Novel) 
ON SALE FOR $0.99

Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1LpE7Qt


S.L. Jennings is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling author of contemporary and paranormal romance, reality TV junkie, obsessive coffee drinker and collector of crazy.

Website | Facebook | Twitter |Goodreads



a Rafflecopter giveaway

COVER REVEAL & SCAVENGER HUNT: Dare to Run (Sons of Steel Row #1) by Jen McLaughlin

dare to run comps_final.indd

Today we are celebrating the release of the DARE TO RUN cover! DARE TO RUN is a gritty, super sexy, adult title coming out on February 2, 2016 from Jen McLaughlin and published by Penguin (NAL Signet). To celebrate, we are having a scavenger hunt! 

There are 8 clues scattered around groups of bloggers hosting this feature. All you have to do is find all 8 clues and figure out the scrambled word.

To make it easy for you, we will tell you where you can find Clue #1. 

In order to find the groups of bloggers posting, go to Jen McLaughlin's blog and she will have the lists so you can check out each group and find the remaining 7 clues.

For this site, the clue is listed below, along with the rafflecopter.

DTR_SHunt_Clue5  


a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

DARE TO RUN Summary:

The New York times bestselling author of the Out of Line Novels takes readers to Boston where one gang of criminals knows how being bad can be so good… 

She knows what he’s like on Boston’s mean streets. Now she’s going to find out if he’s got some heart.

Lucas Donahue is not ashamed of his criminal past, but after a brief stint in prison, he’s ready to go legit and live a normal life. The problem is, no one leaves the gang without permission—even if he is one of the boss’s top men. Plus someone’s placed a hit on him. And then there’s that feisty little bartender who’s going to cause him even more trouble.

Heidi Greene knows to keep her distance from a ladies’ man like Lucas—even if she can’t keep her eyes off him. When he rescues her from an attack in the alley outside her bar, she’s forced to stay by his side for safety. But the longer she spends time with him, the greater her chances are for getting hurt in more ways than one.


PRE-ORDER THE BOOK NOW


Jen McLaughlin is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of sexy New Adult books. Under her pen name Diane Alberts, she is a multi-published, bestselling author of Contemporary Romance with Entangled Publishing. Her first release as Jen McLaughlin, Out of Line, released September 6 2013, and hit the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal lists. She was mentioned in Forbes alongside E. L. James as one of the breakout independent authors to dominate the bestselling lists. She is represented by Louise Fury at The Bent Agency. Though she lives in the mountains, she really wishes she was surrounded by a hot, sunny beach with crystal-clear water. Though she lives in the mountains, she really wishes she was surrounded by a hot, sunny beach with crystal-clear water. She lives in Northeast Pennsylvania with her four kids, a husband, a schnauzer mutt, and a cat. Her goal is to write so many well-crafted romance books that even a non-romance reader will know her name.

Thursday, May 28, 2015

BLOG TOUR & REVIEW: Chasing the Dragon (Deception Duet #1) by TK Leigh













He’s trying to protect his heart…

She’s a shell of the girl she once was…

Can he chase away the demons threatening to destroy her?

Mackenzie Delano craves control. After tragedy strikes during her freshman year of college, she compensates for the helplessness she felt by micro-managing every aspect of her life, from her business life to her social life…to her love life. But she wasn’t expecting to cross paths with a mysterious man who seems to invade her every thought.

Tyler Burnham has been living his life with one rule in mind…never fall in love. Focusing solely on his career, he is able to remain a detached observer of life…Until a case is dropped in his lap, forcing him to form an intimate relationship with a sharp-tongued woman in order to obtain the location of a man deemed an enemy of the State.

When Tyler finds himself falling for Mackenzie, will he be able push his feelings aside and recover the information he needs? Or will he put the mission and their lives at risk to follow his heart?

Chasing The Dragon is the first installment of a two part series of deception and betrayal where nothing is as it seems. 

***Note - Chasing The Dragon is the first book in a two-book duet and is a spin-off of T.K. Leigh's USA Today Best Selling Beautiful Mess series. It is not necessary to have read that series in order to read this duet, but it will contain a mild spoiler from the third book in the Beautiful Mess series, Gorgeous Chaos.***










“Dance with me, Mackenzie,” he said, holding my hand in his, sensually placing the other just below my hip bone.


“What are you−”

“Shhh…,” he admonished, expertly leading me in our dance, the band playing Cole Porter’s Every Time We Say Goodbye. 

“Just enjoy it and don’t think.”

I simply nodded, turning my head to scan the restaurant.

“Mackenzie, eyes on me. I need to know you’re with me.”

I snapped my eyes back to his, my mouth slightly agape as my heart pounded in my chest. He was warm and spellbinding. The way he held me in his arms comforted me and made me feel as if they were made to hold me.

“Are you with me?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Yes,” I said, my voice soft.

He leaned toward me and the bit of stubble on his chin brushed my skin. “Yes what?” he whispered.

“I’m with you.”

The corners of his lips turned up slightly and there was a spark about him that wasn’t present yesterday. “I like the sound of that, Miss Delano.”

He pulled me closer and I tilted my head to peer into his striking eyes, needing the connection I felt at that moment. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced, all because of a well-placed hand, a sinfully sexy voice, eyes that made me want to melt, and arms that felt like home.

“Who would have thought that the Mackenzie whose lips I couldn’t stop seeing in my dreams last night would turn out to be Mackenzie Delano, proprietor of South Padre’s hottest 
new spot?”

“How did−”

“Shhh,” he said once more. “You think too much. Just enjoy the moment because it’s over once the band plays the final note to this melody.”

I snapped my mouth shut, a strange awareness of loss washing over me at the prospect of this complete stranger walking away from me once the song came to an end, wondering if I would ever see him again.

“You’re a lovely dancer, Miss Delano,” he commented.

“Thank you,” I answered, unsure of whether to say anything further. He seemed to be in complete control of the dance, of his words…and of mine. And, for the first time, I was okay with someone else calling the shots.

“You have a dancer’s body. I’m confident you’ve bewitched quite a few men with the way you can seamlessly navigate the dance floor.” He leaned toward me and whispered, “I must confess… You’ve bewitched me.”

His voice was sweet as it crooned in my ear, and I was left a silent, blubbering mute, the sincerity in his declaration sparking a renewed sense of longing I had ignored for years. My breathing grew ragged, and I was unable to formulate any response. I simply lost myself in the moment of our dance, wanting his sensual words to ring in the recesses of my mind for all eternity. I wished I could have recorded his voice murmuring those endearing words to me so I could replay them over and over again when I needed to feel something I didn’t think I would ever feel again.

He molded my frame to his, our bodies swaying to the classic tune, and began to sing along with the band. I imagined he was singing to me, and me alone. His voice was deep and guttural, but sweet as he leaned toward my neck and crooned the last verse into my ear. I closed my eyes, losing myself in his warmth, his voice, his everything.

All too soon, the final note rang out, silence encompassing the room, but we continued to sway to the music in our heads, our rhythm perfectly in tune to each other. A loud drum kick echoed, startling me, and I opened my eyes, almost expecting it all to be a dream. But it wasn’t, and I was met with my mysterious stranger’s strong face. Time stood still as we simply stared at each other, neither one of us moving. I licked my dry lips, nerves causing my breathing to grow more intense and labored.

He grabbed my hand and brought it to his soft lips, placing a kiss on it. The contact caused a rush of adrenaline to run through me. Before I could ask his name, he was gone, leaving me stunned and alone once more.






My Review

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. 


Move over Alexander Burnham. Your brother, Tyler, is the man of the moment. I really liked Tyler in the Beautiful Mess series and I couldn't wait to read his story. But seriously, you're KILLING ME TK!!! But I do take comfort in the fact that this series is only a duet and not a trilogy like Beautiful Mess. I don't think I could handle another cliffhanger going into a third book!  

If you have read any of TK's books, you know that they aren't your run of the mill romance novels. Sure they have a little bit of the "boy meets girl...they fall in love..they live happily ever after" story line. But her books' story lines are SO MUCH MORE than that. Her characters may get the happy ending we want them to have, but they have to go through A LOT of stuff to get there. Mackenzie and Tyler are no different.

Mackenzie was only ten years old when she and her mother were woken up in the middle of the night to be taken away from the only life they ever knew. From that point on they built a new life, thinking that Mackenzie's father had died. Fast forward sixteen years and Mackenzie is a grown woman about to open up her own restaurant. She has worked hard to get where she is today. She is a planner. She plans her days out to the minute. She can control her schedule. She likes that control. She needs that control. Unfortunately for Mackenzie, she has been receiving threats in the form of phone calls that throw a wrench in her life.

Enter Tyler Burnham, who is about to turn Mackenzie's world upside down! They meet by "chance" at a bar and they both make very interesting first impressions on each other. They continue to run into each other and after the person leaving her threats gets up close and personal at a club, Tyler is there to play her knight in shining armor. When she tells Tyler about the phone calls she has been receiving, he puts the pieces together and realizes that it is related to the reason he is there. They start spending time together and before they know it, Mackenzie and Tyler are in a relationship. Unfortunately for both of them, they are BOTH keeping secrets, that may ultimately cause the end of their relationship. 

I LOVED Tyler and Mackenzie as a couple. They are an extremely HOT couple and they complement each other perfectly. But what starts off as just job for Tyler, quickly turns into something very real and I never once doubted his feelings for Mackenzie. It has been six years since the events at the end of A Gorgeous Chaos and it is clear that Tyler was still holding on to some ties to his past. He hasn't been able to move on, but then he meets Mackenzie. This fact is referenced multiple times throughout the book and everyone in Tyler's life can see that he really does care about her, well almost everyone (but I won't say anymore about that).

We do get a little bit of Alexander and Olivia in this book, which is nice...I do miss them. AND we get to see not one, but BOTH of the Burnham men interact with a toddler. So yeah.....**cue ovary explosion** 

While this book doesn't really end on a cliffhanger, there are a lot of questions that are left unanswered and I can't wait to get those answers. And of course there will also be the love story that is at the heart of this story. Is it time for the next book yet???  











T.K. Leigh, otherwise known as Tracy Leigh Kellam, is the USA Today Best Selling author of the Beautiful Mess series. Originally from New England, she now resides in sunny Southern California with her husband, dog and three cats, all of which she has rescued (including the husband). She always had a knack for writing, but mostly in the legal field. It wasn't until recently that she decided to try her hand at creative writing and is now addicted to creating different characters and new and unique story lines in the Contemporary Romantic Suspense genre.

When she's not planted in front of her computer, writing away, she can be found running and training for her next marathon (of which she has run over fifteen fulls and far too many halfs to recall). Unlike Olivia, the main character in her Beautiful Mess series, she has yet to qualify for the Boston Marathon.








BLOG PROMO: Cactus Creek Series by Violet Duke




"A new must-read series from Violet Duke. Not only will you fall in love with the characters, you'll fall in love with romance." --New York Times Bestselling Author Kathleen Brooks

Cactus Creek's most romantic eligible bachelor, new-to-town and new-to-singlehood chocolatier Luke Bradford believes in old school romance, fighting wars waged over love, and deploying his dimples whenever an impossible-to-resist woman instigates it.  But for once, he's trying not to platter up his heart to get stomped on.  Luckily, he has a brand new hobby to keep him from falling:

...driving the addictively easy to incite beer-brewing beauty next door crazy.

Cactus Creek's feisty brewmaster and town sweetheart Dani Dobson cannot believe how well that maddeningly charming man next door with all his chocolate-covered romantic idealism--the kind her heart has been shattered by before--can push all her buttons.  If she's not careful, he'll sneak right past all her defenses.  Luckily, she has her go-to hobby to keep her mind off him:

...playing her own version of cupid for everyone in town but herself.

When Dani and Luke's inexplicable chemistry escalates their ensuing chocolate and beer feud into so much more, old wounds and new demons surface to bring them face-to-face with exactly what they've been protecting themselves from:

...the kind of love that can break their hearts all over again.


LOVE, CHOCOLATE, AND BEER

99¢ Amazon = http://amzn.to/1zoq6Se



"Guaranteed feel-good, swoon-worthy romance!" -- New York Times Bestselling Author Erin Nicholas
From the author of the New York Times bestselling Can't Resist series, comes a fan-requested surprise addition to the USA Today bestselling Cactus Creek series.

She’s the Self-Proclaimed Wicked ‘Witch’ of the West

Fiercely independent single mom Quinn Christiansen is used to flying solo. She’s been raising her young son and figuring out how to pay his pediatric hospital bills on her own for years now. And truth is, Quinn loves the notorious reputation she’s already gained in town of having a heart too hard for any man to break. Because it is. Two carats too hard, to be exact. Courtesy of the two-carat heirloom she’d had to barter to cover her ex’s debts when he took off after she got pregnant. The day she’d promised herself never again.

So color her pissed when the universe goes and decides to make the one man in Cactus Creek not afraid of her natural ball-busting charm another gambling musician. A ridiculously handsome, wickedly gruff and gritty, pushy one at that.

He’s Everything She’s Sure She Can’t Possibly Want

Rylan Grey isn’t used to getting a woman so worked up…well, not in a bad way, at least. But somehow, his mere existence seems to annoy the guarded and gorgeous Quinn to no end. Surprising, really. A dirt-and-jeans landscaper by day with a regular gig to perform for a packed house by night, Rylan considers himself a decent guy. Sure, he’s made some gambles to get to where he’s at, but they were all of the life variety, with risks as important as the rewards, fate betting as the house, and not a single dollar in play.

While Rylan never wagers anything he’s not willing to lose—namely his heart—he’s more than ready to ante up once he sees past Quinn’s icy defenses. Quick as a firecracker, loyal to a fault, and sweet when no one’s looking, she could be his riskiest gamble yet.

LOVE, DIAMONDS, AND SPADES

99¢ Amazon = http://amzn.to/1ENxC9B




"Heart-melting and guaranteed to make you laugh and cry before you finish the last page." -- New York Times Bestselling Author Sawyer Bennett

He's a better fighter...but she has all the weapons.

After his combat injuries retire him from the military career he wasn't ready to give up, battle-scarred Hudson Reyes now spends his new life as a movie industry fight scene and weapons specialist simply doing what he knows best: surviving.

Until he meets her. The one woman who makes him want to live again.

An antique arms authenticator with a lifetime of martial arts training, Liana Lin has made a living turning the demons of her past into the passions that fuel, and fill, her life. She's a scrappy little thing. A sweet, angel-faced wrecking ball to his good intentions capable of making him laugh, and turning him inside out. Hell's bells, watching her execute that wicked roundhouse kick of hers shouldn't be a turn-on--especially not when his head is the receiving target--but hot damn, it is. She's a fiery, unpredictable paradox who wears her heart on her sleeve, despite the wounds he knows she has hidden as deeply as he hides his own.

Even though she's everything he's told himself he can't have, Hudson can't help but want her. Sure as sin, if one woman could sneak past the barbed wires he's wrapped around his heart, it'd be Lia.

Now if only they could stop sparring long enough to find out...

LOVE, TUSSLES, AND TAKEDOWNS

99¢ Amazon = http://amzn.to/1DUX8WH



He may very well be the perfect ex...

Isaac McKnight has had enough loss in his life to know never to take anything for granted. So when the perfectly-imperfect-woman-for-him puts an end to their relationship out of the blue, it's Isaac that makes sure they remain friends. Now a year later, whether it's at his gym or her brewpub, or the dog park they visit every weekend--though neither of them own a dog--he and Xoey are steadily getting sucked deeper into buddy-zone galaxy, with its dangerous proximity to watch-me-settle-down-with-someone-else abyss. It's a reality he's resigned himself to. That is...until one drunken confession changes everything.

But she's looking for the perfect oh...

For Xoey Montenegro, history has taught her that sometimes, it's Prince Charming who vanishes without a trace. And fairytale love? Highly overrated. Heck, give her a real and perfect 'oh' over that fantasy any day. So as far as rock-solid tequila-fueled plans for her love life go, coming up with a match-finding formula based on the qualities of the men responsible for her three most epic ohs seems brilliant. Except for the fact that one-third of her genius little man-quation is all about her friend Isaac. Actually, more than a third if Xoey were being honest with herself--which she's not. Because full honesty would require thinking not just about how perfect Isaac really is, but also about how perfect the fourth epic oh she's kept buried deep in her past once was. 

An easy enough thing to keep ignoring...until her past isn't past tense anymore.



LOVE, EXES, AND OHS

99¢ Amazon = http://amzn.to/1GHml7z 




NEW YORK TIMES & USA TODAY bestselling author Violet Duke is a former professor of English Education who is ecstatic to now be on the other side of the page writing wickedly fun contemporary romance novels. Her NYT and USA Today bestselling books have been Top 10 bestsellers across the major eretailers both in the US and internationally. When she's not writing or feeding her book-a-day reading addiction, Violet enjoys tackling reno projects with her power tools, trying pretty much anything without reading the directions first, and cooking 'special edition' dishes that laugh in the face of recipes. A born and raised island girl, she spends her days getting into creatively fun trouble in Hawai'i alongside her two cute kids (daughter Violet & son Duke) and similarly adorable husband.

Find the latest on her books and fan giveaways at www.facebook.com/VioletDukeBooks