Sarah Ballance's Blog, page 33

Cover Reveal, #Giveaway, and #Preorder Links: Malicious Mischief by Marianne Harden

Malicious Mischief

Career chameleon, Rylie Keyes, must keep her current job. If not, the tax assessor will evict her ailing grandfather and auction off their ancestral home. When a senior she shuttles for a Bellevue, Washington retirement home winds up dead in her minibus, sticky with a half-eaten s’more, head clad in a cellophane bag, and a pocketed complaint letter accusing her of driving by Braille, her goal to keep her job hits a road bump.

The deceased was thought to be a penniless Nazi concentration camp survivor with a silly grudge against Rylie. However, the victim has enemies who will stop at nothing to keep their part in the murder a secret.

Forced to dust off the PI training she’s kept hidden from her ex-detective grandfather, Rylie must align with a circus-bike-wheeling Samoan to solve the murder, all while juggling the attentions of two very hot police officers.

Pre-Order Now @ Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Add to Goodreads

Malicious Mischief | Excerpt

~When the chips are down, the buffalo is empty~

Am I a flake? Sort of. But I’m trying to change. My grandfather has property tax issues, and what troubles Granddad, troubles me. Good thing I’ve held down a steady job for months. A major big deal. Not the getting a job part—I’ve had lots—but the held down aspect. Somehow, I always end up unemployed, but not today.

Today, I am Rylie Tabitha Keyes, chauffeur to the seniors at Fountain of Youth Retirement Home (FoY.)

It was dawn Sunday as I eased my employer’s van from one freeway onto another. After that, I concentrated on the wet asphalt up ahead. I didn’t want to think about my job history or our financial woes. Instead I focused on the summery sunrise over the Cascade Mountains due east. I stared at it a moment, charmed by its contrast to the more typical Bellevue, Washington gloom brooding overhead.

I should’ve been asleep, but I needed to toss trash from a fundraiser rolling around in the back of the van. Leland Rosenberg, my boss at Fountain of Youth Retirement Home, had asked me to dump the bags at his second business, Rosenberg Laboratory, as FoY’s Dumpsters were full from a recent bathroom remodel. His mood had been edgy, kind of insistent I dispose of them last night. I confess, before I could carry out this task, a minor traffic accident and an all-important overnight obligation had waylaid me. I didn’t bother to sigh over how blunders always seemed to pepper my work performance. Some things were fated to be. After all, I slogged at my job for money not joy. It isn’t that I don’t like working at FoY, it just isn’t my dream gig. You see, I yearned to be a private detective, a Veronica Mars 2.0. Problem is, my grandfather is against the idea. Dead set against it.

So with the stench from the trash bags mounting, I steered FoY’s van onto the off-ramp and headed toward Rosenberg Laboratory just off the freeway exit. My mind was filled with thoughts of a steamy shower, maybe a few hours of shut-eye before punching the clock at nine. I stared forward, squinted. And iced over. Up ahead. Wrong-way traveling. A panel truck advanced, peeling rubber.

Faster.

Closer.

Zeroed in to hit me.

I whipped the van off the road, the red, white, and blue panel truck whizzing past. I slammed on the brakes, fighting to control the wheel. I wrestled with it, panicked, my mind flashing on one fortunate thing: no seniors were in the van.

Tons of hazards burst before my eyes. I struggled to absorb them. A mangled guardrail zigzagged up ahead; its many gaps from other out-of-control vehicles big as life. Worse was the wall of giant Douglas-firs growing beyond, lower trunks scarred, limbs low and swaying.

I was going to careen through the railing.

I was going to hit the trees.

I was going to die.

Pre-Order Now @ Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Add to Goodreads

Marianne Harden

Marianne Harden loves a good laugh. So much so, she cannot stop humor from spilling into her books. Over the years she has backpacked through the wilds of Australia, explored the exotics of Asia, soaked up the sun in the Caribbean, and delighted in the historic riches of Europe. Her goals in life are simple: do more good than harm and someday master the do-not-mess-with-me look. She divides her time between Switzerland and Washington State where she lives with her husband and two children.

Find her @ Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Giveaway

Marianne is giving away a $25 gift card to the book retailer of the winner’s choice. Enter via Rafflecopter by clicking here.

Release Day: South of Surrender by Laura Kaye (Hearts of the Anemoi)

South of Surrender

She’s the only one who can see through his golden boy façade to the broken god within…

Chrysander Notos, Supreme God of the South Wind and Summer, is on a mission: save Eurus from his death sentence, and prove his troubled brother can be redeemed. But Eurus fights back, triggering vicious summer storms that threaten the mortal realm, dangerously drain Chrys, and earn the ire of the Olympic gods who ordered Eurus dead.

Laney Summerlyn refuses to give up her grandfather’s horse farm, despite her deteriorating vision. More than ever, she needs the organized routine of her life at Summerlyn Stables, until a ferocious storm brings an impossible–and beautiful–creature crashing down from the heavens.

Injured while fighting Eurus, Chrys finds himself at the mercy of a mortal woman whose compassion and acceptance he can’t resist. As they surrender to the passion flaring between them, immortal enemies close in, forcing Chrys to choose between his brother and the only woman who’s ever loved the real him.

Available from

Amazon Kindle or Paperback
Barnes & Noble (Nook or Paperback)
Kobo Books
iBookstore

Also see

North of Need (Hearts of the Anemoi #1)
West of Want (Hears of the Anemoi #2)

Book Details

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Author: Laura Kaye
Series: Hearts of Anemoi
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
ISBN: 9781620610336
Release Date: May 28, 2013
Length: 400 pages (E-Book, Paperback)
Formats: E-Book, Paperback

Book Blast: Mail Order Man by Heather Gray (Inspirational Historical Romance)

Mail Order Man

A well-meaning friend places an ad to find a mail order husband for Sarah, the proprietress of Larkspur’s stage and mail office. Sarah, who is generally quiet and reserved, doesn’t know about the ad and has no idea what to do with all the people that are showing up in her community. Before long, the town is overrun with men and mail alike. Sarah is trying to avoid some men who have accosted her on the street when she stumbles into Samuel. Through long days spent together at the stage office, some very adventurous pots of coffee and a shared faith, the two become friends.

Sarah knows that Samuel is hiding something from her, something important, but that doesn’t stop her heart from leaping wildly into love. Lacking the confidence to trust her heart, Sarah wars with herself over the feelings she can no longer deny. When some of the men who have come to town show their true intentions, a shootout follows. Sarah finally gets answers to many of the questions circling through her mind. One question remains, though. Where will her mail order man go when the dust settles?

Mail Order Man on Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo Books

Mail Order Man | Excerpt

Right then Claudio and Cesar came through the door. Both boys chimed a “Good morning!” in Sarah’s direction as they headed straight for the coffee on the stove. Sarah saw their intent and inwardly cringed. Not only was she not sure about how many scoops of grounds she’d put in, but the coffee had been percolating much longer than normal because she got distracted with the letters.

Samuel had his back to the stove and did not see the boys as they each poured a cup of coffee. Sarah was about to warn them as Claudio, the middle boy at age sixteen, took a big swig of the hot brew while Cesar, the youngest, opted to blow on his first. Claudio’s eyes grew wide as he swallowed. “Miss Sarah, I do believe that’s the best coffee you’ve ever made. That’s the kind of coffee vaqueros drink!”

Samuel visibly perked up at the mention of coffee. Sarah was sure he couldn’t know a vaquero was a Mexican cowboy and that they drink their camp coffee strong. If he understood what the boys were saying, he definitely wouldn’t be in a hurry to get a cup of his own. Cesar finally took a drink of his coffee. Sarah could see him trying not to make a face as he swallowed the brew. “Vaquero coffee for sure, Miss Sarah. Papa would be proud.”

Sarah had barely started to warn, “Uh, Samuel…” when he took a big gulp of the coffee Claudio had poured for him. She watched the shock on his face as he first paled and then grew red. His eyes flew wide as he tried desperately to swallow the coffee. He finally ran out the front door and spit the coffee out over the edge of the stage platform.

The boys could not contain their howling laughter as Samuel walked back into the stage office, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

Mail Order Man on Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo Books

About Heather Gray

Aside from her long-standing love affair with coffee, Heather’s greatest joys in life are her relationship with her Savior, her family, and writing. Years ago, she decided it would be better to laugh than yell. Heather carries that theme over into her writing where she strives to create characters that experience both the highs and lows of life and, through it all, find a way to love God, embrace each day, and laugh out loud right along with her.

Heather’s Website | Twitter | Facebook

May.26.2013 #WeWriWa #SnipSun with Hawthorne

Welcome to Sunday and another round of short snippets! We’re now working our way through HAWTHORNE, a sweet romance set in a haunted house. It’s available for just 99 cents through most vendors, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

(The first line of this snippet was last week’s final line. It is repeated for clarity).

Emma Hawthorne tensed in the seat of the Mustang convertible, staring at her past with ice sluicing her spine. Anywhere else, the view would have been gorgeous. The drive, lined on both sides with live oak laden with Spanish moss, was the South personified. At the end, Hawthorne Manor held court. Pristine, proud, the boastful antebellum home beamed, lording  over its acreage.

But it harbored the unspeakable. No amount of time could erase what had happened to her on the other side of the expanse of green lawn. Nothing could change what she’d seen there.

HAWTHORNE is available from: Astraea Press, Amazon, Paperback, Barnes & Noble, Apple iTunes,Kobo, Books on Board, and more! Click here to add to Goodreads or here for reviews.

“This is a marvelous ghost story. The mystery, the suspense, the eeriness – all collaborate to weave a spell-binding tale . . . The story seamlessly flows to a shocking ending that is utterly brilliant.” – Coffee Time Romance 

“When I finished it, honestly, all I could do was sit there – a little awestruck.” – Kick Back & Review

“Hawthorne is a well-crafted story that will amaze the reader and leave them gasping. It’s a story of literary merit, and I highly recommend Hawthorne to those who love a tale that will haunt them even after they put it down.” – Two Lips Reviews awarded HAWTHORNE “Recommended Read”

#Giveaway Week: Winners Announced

I’m thrilled — and immensely flattered — by how many of you entered to win copies of my books. You guys are the BEST! And though I can’t send books to all of you, I offer tons of giveaways. Readers who follow my blog or like my Facebook page are always the first to know what’s up for grabs, so if you’re not signed up I hope you’ll consider doing so.

As for our winners, I gave random.org the honors of choosing because I never, ever could, LOL. And here they are…

CONGRATULATIONS!

Irene – FAMILIAR LIGHT (Monday)

Eli Yanti – TIDE OF LIES (Tuesday)

Chris Bails – UNFORGIVEN (Wednesday)

Megan Stith – HAWTHORNE (Thursday)

Martha Lawson – LAST CALL (Friday)

Winners, keep an eye on your email. And for everyone who entered, my sincerest thanks to each and every one of you for participating. I still have one open giveaway, which you can access in the sidebar or by clicking here. Hope to see you there!

Have a fantastic weekend!

#Giveaway Week: Last Call (Romantic Suspense) by Sarah Ballance

Welcome to Giveaway week, where every day you can enter to win a copy of one of my books! Giveaways will remain open all week with drawings and winners announced Saturday, May 25. Before we get to today’s featured title, here’s a look at the week’s giveaways:

Monday – FAMILIAR LIGHT (romantic suspense) – Enter here
Tuesday – TIDE OF LIES (romantic suspense) – Enter here
Wednesday – UNFORGIVEN (romantic suspense) – Enter here
Thursday – HAWTHORNE (ghost story romance) – Enter here
Friday – LAST CALL (romantic suspense) – You are here

Now that you know what to look forward to later in the week, here’s a look at today’s giveaway title. Check out the blurb and excerpt, and if you’d like a chance to win it you can enter by leaving a comment below. (As long as you leave your email addy in the comment form, you do NOT need to post it publicly).

LAST CALL

In a perilous game of trust, a shocking betrayal deals a dangerous hand.

An accidental witness to a murder-for-hire, ex-cop Rhys Clark becomes the target of ruthless killer—one determined to silence her at any cost. Playing dead seems to be the most likely way to stay alive, but when her protection comes in the form of mega-sexy former adversary Nick Massey, Rhys can think of  a few fates worse than death.

Nick Massey may have walked away from his troubles, but he never got past wanting Rhys. Once paired undercover, they’d been nothing but fireworks until a botched assignment ended her career, sending his into a tailspin. Now a mysterious client threatens Nick’s life if he doesn’t keep Rhys safe, but it isn’t until fate takes a critical turn that he realizes the devastating truth: he’s been her greatest threat all along.

Title: LAST CALL
Author: Sarah Ballance
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: For the Muse Publishing, 2013
ISBN 13: 978-0-9889995-0-3
Audio ISBN: N/A
Available format(s): ebook

LAST CALL is available from: For the Muse Publishing, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords (formats: .mobi, .epub, HTML, PDF, RTF, LRF, PalmDoc, and Plain Text). Click here to add to Goodreads or here for reviews.

Cover art by For the Muse Design

Last Call | Excerpt

Rhys Clark swore and jerked her foot from the murky puddle that had just claimed one of her new running shoes. Perfect. The day was now officially perfect.

She blamed Nick Massey.

Blaming him was easy enough. She didn’t know which required more nerve on his part—leaving town or crawling back—but both events left her bitter and raw. And wet, she grumbled inwardly. With the sky spitting rain and the occasional pellet of sleet smacking her face, she should have skipped her evening jog. The street was little more than a concrete alley of shuttered businesses, and the bleak weather amplified the emptiness. But tonight, with Nick hot on her mind, running through the cold was her last ditch effort to return to her senses.

It hadn’t worked.

Another blast of icy air howled through the narrow street. If she hadn’t been standing still, she probably wouldn’t have heard the shouting that followed.

A few months ago, an altercation wouldn’t have been unusual in this part of town. But the whole area was under reconstruction. Local crime dissipated to nothing with the razing of several apartment buildings, and until now Rhys had long found her route to be a place of solace. She glanced around as the voices drew closer and more intense. Rapid footsteps smacked the wet pavement. Then the echo of a gunshot cracked the night.

Where fear left her paralyzed, instinct insisted she get out of sight. She looked around and found an unbroken expanse of concrete wall offering few options. Heart pounding, Rhys ducked into the recessed doorway of a vacant storefront and hoped the deep shadows would keep her concealed.

Terrifying seconds passed. The sound of her own suppressed breath roared in her ears.

Voices came, clearer this time. Close.

“If we screw this up…” The words, terse and hushed, were encapsulated in panic.

“Shut up,” demanded a second voice. “No one messed up. He’s as good as dead.”

“You think you’re going to sell that without a body? We didn’t get paid to lose him.”

“He took one to the gut. He won’t get far. We’ll find him.”

“He’s leaving a trail. Blood. We got the big bucks for a clean—”

“Shut up.”

A hit? Rhys shuddered, fear scaling her spine. A professional hit would have been silent—something not accomplished by the gunshot or the ensuing conversation—but in this game, experience wasn’t always a prerequisite for willingness to pull the trigger. Two years of undercover work had taught her as much.

So had a bullet.

Rhys froze, waiting for the voices to pass. But luck was not on her side. Rather than drawing away, the footsteps ceased.

“Well, well, well,” said the confident one. “Looks like our little game of hide and seek is over.”

Hope crumbled. The voice was far too close. Had they seen her?

She dared not move. Through her lashes, she saw nothing in her narrow view of the dimly lit street but dirty puddles and the occasional bit of trash plastered to wet pavement. She prayed they didn’t look her way should they walk past.

Grunts erupted nearby, followed by the sound of sneakers scuffling on concrete. Then two shots fired, and all sounds of struggle gave way to profane celebration.

In the same instant, a man fell to the sidewalk in front of Rhys. His eyes, sightless and familiar, bore into her.

She choked a gasp.

A man stepped into her line of sight, his weapon at the ready. Before she could stop herself, she locked eyes with him. Big mistake. The decision threw her into a cloud of emotional shrapnel, the past flying at her in shards. She’d been shot once before.

It hadn’t ended well.

The gunman opened his mouth and formed an ugly grin, his breath coming in visible puffs through yellowed teeth. “Looks like a double header tonight, T,” he said, never taking his gaze off Rhys.

“Whaddya mean?” came the reply. The voice . . . she blinked until the second man shifted into focus.

She knew him. From where? She couldn’t think.

She glanced to the dead man, and her vision wavered. Panic shifted her world into a screen of jarred pixels, the flashback jagged and severe.

“Rhys! Stay with me, Rhys. Do you hear me? Rhys!”

Blood. So much blood.

“Nick.” She touched his face, feeling stubble beneath her fingertips. Then the weight of her arm was too much; as gravity won he slipped away. The world twisted into a sickening spiral until all that was left was his voice, the desperation in his tone bringing warmth to the darkness.

“Rhys!”

Motion jarred her to the present.

The gunman gestured. “Our witness here is about to have an unfortunate accident.” He raised the weapon, aiming for the kill.

It was a short view down the barrel at point blank range. She expected that.

What she didn’t anticipate was the speed with which he pulled the trigger.

Or how quickly the pain hit.

#Giveaway Week: Hawthorne (Paranormal Romance / Ghost Story) by Sarah Ballance

Welcome to Giveaway week, where every day you can enter to win a copy of one of my books! Giveaways will remain open all week with drawings and winners announced Saturday, May 25. Before we get to today’s featured title, here’s a look at the week ahead:

Monday – FAMILIAR LIGHT (romantic suspense) – Enter here
Tuesday – TIDE OF LIES (romantic suspense) – Enter here
Wednesday – UNFORGIVEN (romantic suspense) – Enter here
Thursday – HAWTHORNE (ghost story romance) – You are here
Friday – LAST CALL (romantic suspense)

Now that you know what to look forward to later in the week, here’s a look at today’s giveaway title. Check out the blurb and excerpt, and if you’d like a chance to win it you can enter by leaving a comment below. (As long as you leave your email addy in the comment form, you do NOT need to post it publicly).

HAWTHORNE

After a terrifying encounter with the unexplained, it took ten years and the news of her grandmother’s passing for Emma Grace Hawthorne to return to her childhood home.   She sought peace in saying a proper goodbye, but what she found was an old love, a sordid family history, and a wrong only she could right.

Living in the shadow of Hawthorne Manor, Noah Garrett never forgot about Emma Grace.  In a house full of secrets, his search for missing documents revealed a truth that could cost him everything.  What he found gave Emma the freedom to walk away from the mansion, her heart free and clear, but at what price to Noah?

Title: HAWTHORNE
Author: Sarah Ballance
Genre: Paranormal Romance (ghost)
Publisher: Astraea Press, 2011
ISBN 13: 978-1-93685-244-4
Audio ISBN: N/A
Available format(s): ebook, paperback

HAWTHORNE is available from: Astraea Press, Amazon, Paperback, Barnes & Noble, Apple iTunes, Kobo, Books on Board, and more! Click here to add to Goodreads or here for reviews.

Hawthorne | excerpt

The car slowed to a stop and a decade’s worth of memories tumbled onto the sun-blanched asphalt.

Hawthorne Manor.

The hand-painted sign hadn’t changed in years. In the thick, damp air filling the Louisiana landscape, the wood display remain inexplicably unaffected. There it sat—every meticulously scripted letter as crisp and clean as the stark white walls of the manor it lauded, oblivious to the passage of time.

Emma Hawthorne tensed in the seat of the Mustang convertible, staring at her past with ice sluicing her spine. Anywhere else, the view would have been gorgeous. The drive, lined on both sides with live oak laden with Spanish moss, was the South personified. At the end, Hawthorne Manor held court. Pristine, proud, the boastful antebellum home beamed, lording over its acreage.

But it harbored the unspeakable. No amount of time could erase what happened to her on the other side of the expanse of green lawn. Nothing could change what she’d seen there. Some might say she was crazy—that she’d imagined or invented the whole ordeal—but her scars were all the proof she needed. Whether the shadows lurking behind the façade of the picturesque plantation were real or born of an overactive imagination, there was no way she was going back into that house.

Especially not for a dead woman.

Sparing a glance in the rearview, Emma steeled herself against a trembling in her hands that threatened to overtake her body. She released a pent-up breath, her heart settling into a less acrobatic rhythm at the thought of leaving. She didn’t have to stay here.

Let the South win this one. She was going home.

A split second after she decided to go, something caught her eye. She blinked, trying to see through the swaying canopy of leaves and moss, certain a figure stood atop the widow’s walk straddling the roofline of the house. But no one—

Something brushed the car, rocking it. Swallowing panic, Emma tried to tear her focus from Hawthorne Manor, but fear kept her from looking anywhere else. Time and distance hadn’t done her any favors; she was a fool for coming anywhere near this place, much less with the ragtop down.

The car rocked harder. The something refused to be ignored.

Fighting the grip of panic tightening her throat–fighting the ghosts of her past—Emma forced herself to look away from the house, toward the intrusion over her left shoulder.

The first thing she saw was an aged set of gnarled fingers resting on the door, blue automotive paint showing through an ugly translucence.

The second was the face—withered, centurion, and expressionless. Haunting.

Familiar.

Her.

Emma screamed.

****

It couldn’t be her.

Noah Garrett tore down the drive, slapping through a muggy afternoon haze comprised of mosquitoes and humidity. He couldn’t know that scream, but he felt the connection the moment the sound of her fear pierced the thick air.

Emma Grace.

The one reason he allowed himself to stagnate on the old plantation, long after life and reason moved on without him. Long after she had.

A blue Mustang sat at the end of the driveway. He wondered if it could be hers—even as he knew it impossible—but she was nowhere in sight.

He slowed to a trot. The sprint left him drenched with sweat and not entirely disappointed his imagination had gotten away from him. His  dream of one more chance to see Emma Grace had never included himself as a dripping mess. He wiped the moisture from his brow, fast concluding the car must belong to a tourist. They often parked at the end of the drive and took pictures of the condescending mansion most thought beautiful. He assumed the intrusion seemed small to their frequent guests, but the constant ding of the hidden bell announcing a visitor could drive a man to the edge.

As if losing Emma Grace hadn’t already accomplished that.

Noah closed in on the convertible, giving the nearby grounds a cursory look. The lawn was meticulous, the beds overflowing with sprays of purple garden phlox which trailed around the bend in the road and disappeared. A riot of white and rust-red irises backed the smaller purple flowers, their leaves deep green and glossy. Overhead, Spanish moss swayed only occasionally atop a maze of live oak, more likely a result of a passing swarm of insects than an actual air current. The land was still. If there were tourists snapping photos of the historic plantation—or doing anything else—he didn’t see them. But someone had been there, the seemingly familiar scream so real.

Wasn’t it always?

Resigned to another night alone with his memories, Noah pivoted.

And found himself nose to nose with Emma Grace.

Astounded, he opened his mouth, then closed it. He wanted to reach for her, but his arms refused the notion; they hung uselessly by his sides, the effort futile. His mouth wasn’t much on cooperation, either. Finally, he found his tongue. “Em—”

Her expression cut him off. Green eyes wide, skin pale, her small frame shaking, she spoke. “I saw her, Noah. She’s back.” The words, nearly soundless, seemed to catch in the thick air. Lingering. Threatening.

And ripping the heart from his chest.

 

#Giveaway Week: Unforgiven (Romantic Suspense) by Sarah Ballance

Welcome to Giveaway week, where every day you can enter to win a copy of one of my books! Giveaways will remain open all week with drawings and winners announced Saturday, May 25. Before we get to today’s featured title, here’s a look at the week ahead:

Monday – FAMILIAR LIGHT (romantic suspense) – Enter here
Tuesday – TIDE OF LIES (romantic suspense) – Enter here
Wednesday – UNFORGIVEN (romantic suspense)
Thursday – HAWTHORNE (ghost story romance)
Friday – LAST CALL (romantic suspense)

Now that you know what to look forward to later in the week, here’s a look at today’s giveaway title. Check out the blurb and excerpt, and if you’d like a chance to win it you can enter by leaving a comment below. (As long as you leave your email addy in the comment form, you do NOT need to post it publicly).

UNFORGIVEN | Packing Heat

Riley Beckett’s past just came back to haunt her … and this time, he’s got a gun.

When Gage Lawton finds his brother shot dead on his back porch, every shred of evidence points to one person: his former lover, Riley.   They didn’t part ways on good terms, and they’re not going to reconnect there, either—not when he’s got a revolver pointed at her head and a finger on the trigger.

A year after Riley swore she and Gage were over, he returns in a hail of gunfire.  One look into those achingly familiar blue eyes and she knows how wrong she was to let him go, but now far more than their heated past stands in the way.  A twist of fate puts them in the cross hairs of a killer, leaving Riley with two slim options:  trust her greatest betrayer, or face a murderer on her own.

Title: UNFORGIVEN
Author: Sarah Ballance
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Noble Romance Publishing, 2011
ISBN 13: 978-1-60592-636-0
Audio ISBN: N/A
Available format(s): ebook

UNFORGIVEN is available from: Noble Romance, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance eBooks, and more! Click here to add to Goodreads or here for reviews.

Unforgiven | Excerpt

Something was wrong. Was the dark playing tricks on her? Riley Beckett froze, arm outstretched, hand poised to toss her keys on the table just inside her front door. But she didn’t let go. Instead of dropping them in their usual spot, instinct whispered for her to feather pieces of the makeshift weapon between her knuckles. Heart pounding, she pressed the keys in a silent, white-knuckle grip and prayed her concerns were her imagination, that the paranoia of coming home alone to a dark house was getting the better of her.

One, two steps in. Wood planks echoed underfoot. She fought to breathe in air that grew thinner with every tense second.

Three steps.

Then it hit her. The scent. His scent. And with it a flush of memories. The burn of hot grass on her bare skin. Rough hands, a tender touch. Love so sweet she ached for it, her dreams raging, and her body drenched with need.

Their first time.

Her last.

“Gage?” Her voice broke on the single syllable. Riley’s grip on the keys tightened, her blood raging hot and cold all at once.

A creak sounded from the corner chair. Her eyes refused to adjust in the darkness, but not even the faint light kept the blond streaks in his russet hair from giving him away. Like rays of sunshine, she used to tease, and her words never failed to draw a scowl across his rugged face.

“Riley.”

God help her, her name on his lips sounded as it always had. Coarse. Dangerous. Forbidden. Even before . . . The memory surged, hot and vivid, leaving a metallic taste in her mouth. White heat assaulted her from every corner of the room.

The keys fell to the floor with a clink.

“An eye for an eye, is it?” His voice sounded unpracticed, as if he hadn’t spoken in a long while.

She couldn’t see his face, but she knew his expression. Flat and humorless. Broken. She remembered the day he stopped smiling. Every part of her wanted to flee, but she stood frozen to the spot.

“What do you mean?” Riley wondered if the words, whispered and weak, had the strength to make it across the room. Hadn’t she always known she’d shatter the next time she saw him? Hadn’t she dreamed of it anyway?

“You have to ask?” Gage laughed, cold and hollow. “Billy’s dead. Hell of a thing to come home to, Riley. My brother blown to bits on my back porch.”

“Oh, God.” Riley swayed, bile rising in her throat. The room filled with a distant buzzing. She took one unsteady step to the side and stumbled.

When she found his gaze, it was over the business end of a revolver.

He leveled the gun in her direction. Everything else in her world trembled, but his aim held rock steady. Unyielding.

His eyes burned blue and bright. “What I want to know, sweetheart, is why you did it.”

He worked his finger over the trigger, and a veil of blackness threatened her last discerning thought.

Find it @ Noble Romance | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

#Giveaway Week: Tide of Lies (Romantic Suspense) by Sarah Ballance

Welcome to Giveaway week, where every day you can enter to win a copy of one of my books! Giveaways will remain open all week with drawings and winners announced Saturday, May 25. Before we get to today’s featured title, here’s a look at the week ahead:

Monday – FAMILIAR LIGHT (romantic suspense) – Enter here
Tuesday – TIDE OF LIES (romantic suspense)
Wednesday – UNFORGIVEN (romantic suspense)
Thursday – HAWTHORNE (ghost story romance)
Friday – LAST CALL (romantic suspense)

Now that you know what to look forward to later in the week, here’s a look at today’s giveaway title. Check out the blurb and excerpt, and if you’d like a chance to win it you can enter by leaving a comment below. (As long as you leave your email addy in the comment form, you do NOT need to post it publicly).

Tide of Lies

romantic suspense | April 2, 2012

A devastating secret. A shocking betrayal. A deadly obsession.

Haunted by three unsolved murders, Detective Holden Whitlow is stunned when his cold case takes a heated turn. Julia Cohen, his ex-lover, is back in town, and in the face of a brutal attack she’s ready to run. No matter how tightly she holds her secrets, for Holden, turning away from the woman he’s spent a decade trying to forget isn’t any more an option than walking away from his job . . . even when it threatens to cost Julia her life.

Julia is still reeling from a past she can’t bear to face. When she becomes the target of a killer, fate throws her back into Holden’s arms, but she’s yet to recover from a truth that has stripped her of everything—and everyone—she loves. Will she tell him the secret that will destroy him, or will her lie destroy them both?

Title: TIDE OF LIES
Author: Sarah Ballance
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Noble Romance Publishing, 2012
ISBN 13: 978-1-60592-408-3
Audio ISBN: N/A
Available format(s): ebook

TIDE OF LIES is available from: Noble Romance, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance eBooks, and more! Click here to add to Goodreads or here for reviews.

Tide of Lies | Excerpt

Julia Cohen. The name wasn’t familiar, but the nagging feeling Holden should know it tailed him all the way to the hospital. The unease kept him company in the otherwise empty elevator where he now stood, thumbs hooked in his pockets with his fingers tapping his thighs. The numbers above the doors lit in rapid succession before landing on six with a quiet ping.

Julia . . . Julia . . . .

The doors slid open to reveal a bustling nurses’ station. Ahead, a uniformed officer leaned against the wall, saving Holden the trouble of asking directions. He flashed his badge to the desk nurse and made his way down the hall, sidestepping an elderly woman in a wheelchair and food cart with a stack of covered dishes. The smell of the waiting dinners made his stomach rumble, reminding him he’d skipped lunch.

His stride faltered as he neared the room. He should have stopped for an update on Ms. Cohen’s condition. Now, thanks to his bull-nosed curiosity, he had no idea what to expect. With a nod to the officer, Holden knocked lightly on the door, and then waited a few seconds before letting himself in.

Afternoon sunlight bathed the room in an earthy glow, casting a deep shadow over her face and masking her identity from him. His only clue was the shape of the blankets draped over her, which suggested her frame was slight, her height petite. Lacking anything else to go on, Holden took her name for another spin. Julia . . .

“You cut your hair,” she said.

Startled, Holden drew his hand to his head, his palm pressing the soft spikes aside.

Quiet laughter met his ears. “You didn’t know?”

Holden squirmed inside, feeling every bit the schmuck for not recognizing her, though she clearly felt she knew him. But her voice . . . it might have been familiar if not for the dry, raspy undertones—a beating could do that to a person, though. Damn. His victim knew him—or thought she did—and he hadn’t a clue who she was. After the trio of murders hit Barrier Shoals, he’d had plenty of cameras shoved in his face. Was she one of those so-called murder groupies? Either way, she had the advantage. If he could only see her . . . he struggled with the urge to turn on the overhead light, eliminating the shadows. Grasping, he tried to remember when he’d last made a change to his hair.

Seventeen. Right before his first semester of college, his mom pleaded with him to ditch the shaggy surfer cut—something to do with the world not taking him seriously with his hair in his face. She equated grooming with respectability, and Holden had fast learned the fine art of choosing his battles. Maybe that’s why he felt for the kid standing in his socks at the crime scene—Holden had been there and done a little too much of that.

But choosing battles wasn’t the only thing Holden had done that summer.

He’d been engaged . . . .

Recognition slammed into him.

“Jules.” His voice broke. He tried to hide it by clearing his throat. This was a hellfire state of awkward. It wasn’t every day a man ran into the woman who’d made a dizzying, mind-blowing play for his virginity . . . and won.

That part had been amazing. The rest, he had just tried to forget.

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#Giveaway Week: Familiar Light (Romantic Suspense) by Sarah Ballance

Welcome to Giveaway week, where every day you can enter to win a copy of one of my books! Giveaways will remain open all week with drawings and winners announced Saturday, May 25. Before we get to today’s featured title, here’s a look at the week ahead:

Monday – FAMILIAR LIGHT (romantic suspense)
Tuesday – TIDE OF LIES (romantic suspense)
Wednesday – UNFORGIVEN (romantic suspense)
Thursday – HAWTHORNE (ghost story romance)
Friday – LAST CALL (romantic suspense)

Now that you know what to look forward to later in the week, here’s a look at today’s giveaway title. Check out the blurb and excerpt, and if you’d like a chance to win it you can enter by leaving a comment below. (As long as you leave your email addy in the comment form, you do NOT need to post it publicly).

Familiar Light

Seven years of longing comes down to just one night.

Laney Kent returns to Barrier Shoals hoping to reunite with her first love, Bridger. She anticipates his reception might be chilly, but what she doesn’t expect is to become the victim of a deadly obsession . . . or that this night with Bridger could be her last.

Bridger Jansen tangled a lot of sheets trying to forget about Laney, but his heart knew what the rest of him refused to admit: he could love no one else. He’s determined not to forgive her for leaving him without explanation, but when he fails to protect her from a viscous attack, the person he can’t forgive just might be himself.

Title: FAMILIAR LIGHT
Author: Sarah Ballance
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Noble Romance Publishing, 2011
ISBN 13: 978-1-60592-388-8
Audio ISBN: N/A
Available format(s): ebook

FAMILIAR LIGHT is available from: Noble Romance, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple iTunes, All Romance eBooks, and more! Click here to add to Goodreads or here for reviews.

Familiar Light | Excerpt

“Can I help you?” The gruff question trickled through the cavernous space like water leaking through pipes. He seemed to materialize from the shadows as he strode toward her, the rise of heat from the concrete floor keeping him just out of focus.

But her heart knew.

She swallowed a hard knob of regret. “Bridger?”

He couldn’t have heard her—not with the way she clung to his name, as if saying it out loud would be to lose another piece of him. But his step faltered, and the recognition in that interrupted cadence brought the burn of tears to her eyes.

No regrets.

She stood, trembling, as the fifty feet between them dwindled to ten. When he was close enough for her to make out the stubble lining his jaw, his legs stopped moving, but his gaze tore over her. The impassioned glare was without direction, a harsh reflection of the hard lines edging his face. The warm brown eyes she remembered were now a bitter shade of espresso.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

The words, tense with fury, sent her backpedaling against the concrete wall. Too late, she realized she no longer knew this man. They were kids when they’d parted ways, too naïve to realize they’d never keep those breathless promises. At least she’d been that way. His tone suggested otherwise.

They were alone in the deeply shadowed belly of Barrier Shoals Light. And for the first time within those walls, Laney tasted fear.

“Was I supposed to wait for you?” he asked.

Seven years had passed since her weak-kneed promise to return to him. She didn’t have an answer for that.

He took another step, boxing her against the curvature of the rock. He stood close—so close, she had to tip her head to meet his eyes.

And she summoned courage to do it.

“Was I?” he asked, his voice softer now. He leaned closer. The stifling heat morphed into sexual innuendo, his skin slick with sweat, daring her to touch.

She was one careless thought away from taking him up on that unspoken suggestion. Her fingers itched to claw through his hair, to draw him closer until the distance between them evaporated. Memories of frantically grasping for purchase against the stone wall besieged her, curling fear into boundless adrenaline. “Did you?”

Her words coaxed a slow grin from his sensual mouth. “Was I supposed to?”

Wait for me, Bridger I’ll be back.

The thought came from nowhere, peeling away seven years to their last night together. He’d held her, caressed the hair from her face, and kissed every salty inch of her skin. Stay. A single word. A plea from a man who asked for nothing—and yet owned it all. Every piece of her was his.

She’d just taken too long to realize it. And those eyes . . . . They bore into her, dark with the kind of passion that made anger futile and sex magnificent.

She remembered the latter well.

“Can we talk?” she asked. Lame. But in that moment, all that mattered.

He ran his index finger along her jaw—a slow, teasing exploration he abandoned in short order to toy with a strand of her hair. Dipping his head so his lips grazed her ear, he said, “To think I have anything to say is to assume I still give a damn, Laney. And I think I left that behind a long time ago.”

His words were so much at odds with his actions she failed to reconcile the two. Lack of awareness might also be blamed on the hand curling at her nape, the gentle touch drawing her against his chest. Or the heat of his mouth lingering on her flesh, following the coy path his finger trailed across her jaw. Every nuance of touch electrified her, each moment captured in a single thud of her heartbeat.

He stood so close she saw only snapshots of memories, each one triggering another landslide of emotion. His mouth closing over her skin. His fingers laced through hers. That wicked grin he wore as he held her captive with his touch, her wrists pressed overhead against the sand. The dark shadow of his profile blotting out the dance of moonlight on water, their heavy breaths intoxicated with salt air and lust . . . and a promise she failed to keep.

“If I were less of a man,” he said, “I’d tell you what you wanted to hear. We’d have a good time, and then I’d walk. Let you spend the next few years wondering what the hell you did to lose me.”

“Bridger—”

“But no one deserves that. Not even you.” His tight smile brought hard lines to his jaw, but no trace of forgiveness. Holding fast to her gaze, he stepped away, taking twenty degrees of Fahrenheit with him.

Laney shivered. He may have put distance between them, but the narrow darkness in his eyes clutched her throat. She’d mistaken the flat, slated glare for fury, but it wasn’t anger . . . it was hurt. She’d hurt him by not coming back. And that was far worse than his wrath.

“You should go.”

She opened her mouth and closed it. Every reason she counted for coming back begged her to stay and stand up for what they once had, but there was one thing missing from her fight: a leg upon which to stand.

So, with nothing left to say, she went.

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