Krista Ames's Blog, page 84
July 14, 2014
Cover Reveal: Finding Forever by L.L. Collins
Finding Forever
Living Again Series #4Author- L.L. Collins Genre- Contemporary Romance
Blurb-
Lacey Russell has had enough heartbreak and loss for one lifetime. Turning tragedy into motivation, she becomes a veterinarian to honor her mother's memory. She knows the path her life is on and she decided long ago that falling in love is not part of that plan. She's seen firsthand that all it does is cause sorrow and pain.
Brantley Tucker is the heir to Tucker Ranch, the most well-known ranch in all of Nashville. Much to the dismay of his parents, he doesn't want it. It's always been his dream to model, and he's worked hard to achieve success. All he wants is to be supported and loved, but he wonders if that will ever happen for him.
After many chance encounters throw Lacey and Brant together, it feels like something bigger than them is at work. When Lacey gets news that shatters her entire world, can she accept the support and love that Brant offers, or will the fear of the unknown make her turn down the chance at finding her forever?
Stalker LinksFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/llcollinsauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorLLCollinsGoodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7181481.L_L_Collins?from_search=trueAmazon: http://www.amazon.com/L.L.-Collins/e/B00FM8GAZO/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1404582908&sr=8-1
Buy her other books in the series--
Living Again
Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00FLGRNYE
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/living-again-ll-collins/1116894508?ean=9781490984797
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/living-again-5
Reaching Rachel
Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00HY1EGMG
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/reaching-rachel?store=allproducts&keyword=reaching+rachel
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/reaching-rachel
Guarding Hearts
Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00KGTDGF0
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/guarding-hearts-ll-collins/1119581430?ean=2940149383023
Kobo- http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/guarding-hearts-living-again-3-1
Author, author... Zebra Fish by Janna Yeshanova
*A Contemporary Romance short story, the 3rd in the Love Is Never Past Tense Series*
Newly reunited lovers Janna and Serge thought the world had given them another chance at happiness. After years of separation following a heartbreaking divorce and harrowing escape from post-cold-war Russia, the couple had reconnected through emails, and finally took the leap to see each other in person.
Their reignited spark burns ever brighter as they travel to Egypt for new experiences. Through an impromptu arrest by customs officials, they emerge to a sun-kissed beach paradise. Egypt is everything they hoped it would be and more. On a desert trek with the Bedouins they find a guide, an old friend of Serge’s from Russia.
Experience this poignant tale of a love that spans decades and continents, as this amazing couple travel the world, discovering both their past and their future together.
Praise for LOVE IS NEVER PAST TENSE
“A sensual love story set across contemporary Russian culture. It is inspiring as a reminder of passionate love beyond early youth.” - Dorothy E. Siminovitch, Ph.D., MCC, Coach, Author, Conference speaker and learning consultant
“Can the power of love stand up to time, politics and distance? Two young lovers face turmoil, separation and the fall of their homeland. This intriguing and often painful love story spans for decades of life-altering years, life-altering events, but proves that true love will endure as long as the human heart beats.” - Amazon top 1000 reviewer
“The portrayal of Communist and post-1991 Russia is brilliantly done and made the story so much more than 'just' a romance.” - Amazon top 500 reviewer, Christoph Fischer
“This very modern love story, translated from the original Russian, lets you feel the sorrow, fear and joy of a couple coping with events that reshaped the world. A great, dramatic romance in classic Russian style.” - Amazon reviewerAnyone who’s ever pondered the eternal question, “What makes life worth living?” can find the answer within the pages of LOVE IS NEVER PAST TENSE
Excerpt:
There were no more splashes. Serge looked around the dark water, but he did not observe any signs of a sea monster. Gradually they calmed down, and again the cold began to occupy all their attention. They again rubbed each other and embraced. But it only helped for a short time. Serge’s predictions began to come true. A large shiver shook their bodies, and their lower jaws would not submit to the commands of their brains. The lower jaw dangled as if on strings and sparred with the top jaw, producing an intolerable knocking of teeth.
“Serge, are we going to die?” Janna cried out.
“No.”
“We will die. Serge, we will not be able to bear it. Isn’t this terrifying to you?”
“No,” he insisted, “it’s not terrifying, because we will not die. Or, at least, we’ll die somewhere and sometime, but not here, and not now.”
“I feel that for me, this place will be the last. Wait. Don’t speak. Listen. When I am gone, don’t linger. Fasten a lead belt around my body and send me to the depths. You can come here like it’s my grave. Don’t waste your efforts on superfluous expenses: a coffin, transportation to the States, or a funeral. To me it’s all the same, but you would have huge expenses.”
“Are you finished?”
“Promise me!”
“I won’t even think about it. You always taught me that one should only believe in the best, and then it will come true. Stop all this talk about death.”
“One often thinks of death, especially at times like this.”
“While a person lives, he should only think of life, and you’re not going to change my mind about that. I speak as someone who already tried to drown in the bottom of the sea. I crept out then from an impossibly complex situation. This is a piece of cake compared to what happened there, on the Black Sea.”
“The Black Sea is my native sea, and this is a stranger's sea. Red, the color of blood…”
“You are driving yourself into a condition where your body will cease to struggle. Once you convince the body not to resist, the end is inevitable and close.”
Serge took her shoulders and began to shake them in a frenzy. “Get this nonsense out of your head—I’m not asking, I’m ordering you to!”
“Are you the boss, then?” Janna asked, barely audible, and Serge understood that her life forces were quickly leaving her.
BUY LINKS
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1rSpHxv
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1i9DfUk
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/love-is-never-past-tense-1
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/love-is-never-past-tense…/id754506839?mt=11
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/372640
About Janna Yeshanova: Originally from the former Soviet Union, Janna Yeshanova, M.A., M.Ed., escaped to the United States when persecution became violent during the crumbling of her country. Arriving in the United States with her mother and daughter in tow, $126 in her pocket and knowing not a soul, Janna’s talent, experiences and education have helped her become a high end organizational training and development professional. Her exodus story is included in the book.
Founder and principal of Life-Spark, LLC, Janna is a dynamic and powerful life coach, premier trainer and motivational speaker. She leverages her passion and engaging style to help others to overcome adversity and spark the possibilities of their lives.
Love Is Never Past Tense… was published first in Russia and Ukraine in 2009, and is now available in English. It is a fascinating adventurous romance based on a true story. The two fictional sequels In The Land Of Scarabs and Zebra Fish were published in 2014.
Where to find Janna Yeshanova online:
Website: http://www.loveisneverpasttense.com
Twitter: @NeverPastTense
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/loveisneverpasttense
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jannayeshanova
Blog: http://jannayeshanova.wordpress.com/
SmashWords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JannaYeshanova
Book trailer: http://ow.ly/q5RMm
Amazon: http://ow.ly/q5Sdx
Author, author... Enemies on Tap by Avery Flynn
...read all about it !!
Enemies on TapAvery Flynn
Enemies …After years away, Miranda Sweet returns to Salvation, Virginia to save her family’s brewery, but her fate is in the hands of her lover-turned-enemy, Logan. What’s a girl to do when the only person who can help her is the man who betrayed her?
Lovers …Logan Martin can’t believe his luck when the woman who smashed his heart to smithereens walks into his bank asking for his help. What she doesn’t know is that he needs the land her brewery is on—and he’ll do whatever it takes to get it.
An Irresistible Combination …Their wager becomes a battle between their attraction and their determination to win. But it’s in each other’s arms that they realize there might be more at stake now than their bet. With the town against the Sweet Salvation Brewery’s success, Logan has to choose between what’s expected of him and what he really wants…
Buy Links: Goodreads Amazon B&N Entangled
Entangled Ignite:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IndulgenceBooksTwitter: @IndulgenceBooks Steals and Deals
Excerpt:
For the love of Pete, the man was injured and all Miranda could think about was jumping Logan’s bones and riding him like a rented pony.
She hadn’t just drunk the Salvation Kool-Aid—she’d started to brew her own.
That was not good.
Not good at all.
She needed to bandage him up and get him the hell out before she forgot who he was—again. She grabbed the kit from under the sink and hurried back into the kitchen.
“Okay, I got the—what are you doing?”
A barefoot Logan stood at the sink, holding a yellow and green I heart NORML glass in one hand. “Getting a drink of water.”
“You should be sitting down.” The last thing he needed was to pass out, or whatever it was that people did after getting conked on the head with a garden gnome.
She threw out one arm and pointed toward the table. “Sit.”
He shut off the water and walked over to the chair facing out toward the rest of the kitchen.
With exquisite slowness, he unbuttoned his light blue shirt, which had a small reddish-brown stain on the collar. Inch by inch, he revealed his broad chest and the happy trail that disappeared beneath his waistband.
The sight made Miranda’s tongue stick to the roof of her mouth, and her thighs quivered. Desperate to stick to the plan, she leaned against the doorframe to anchor herself to the here and now instead of the if and when and why nots.
He never lost eye contact as he shucked off the shirt and laid it across one of the empty chairs. God, he shouldn’t but he looked perfectly at home in the farmhouse kitchen. Big and brawny and sexy as all hell with his mahogany hair ruffled and the fuck-me-now pheromones coming off him in waves. She tried to remember he was an injured man. A very sexy injured man.
He sat down in a chair and spread his legs, drawing her gaze to the outline of his hard cock pressing against his pants. “I’m all yours.”
***
Thirsty for more? Check out Enemies on Tap (Sweet Salvation Brewery 1)!
EnemiesWhat’s a girl to do when the only person who can help her is the man who betrayed her? After years away, Miranda returns to Salvation, Virginia to save her family’s brewery, but her fate is in the hands of her first lover turned enemy, Logan Martin.
LoversLogan, Salvation’s de facto prince, can’t believe his luck when the woman who smashed his heart to smithereens walks into his bank asking for his help. What she doesn’t know is he needs the land is on.
An Irresistible CombinationBut soon it’s a battle between their attraction for each other and their determination to win. With the town dead set against the Sweet Salvation Brewery’s success, Logan has to choose between what’s expected of him and what he really wants.
Book Links:
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22...
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Enemies-Salvati...
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/enemi...
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/enem...)
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/eboo...
Author Bio: Avery Flynn has three slightly-wild children, loves a hockey-addicted husband and is desperately hoping someone invents the coffee IV drip.She fell in love with romance while reading Johanna Lindsey's Mallory books. It wasn't long before Avery had read through all the romance offerings at her local library. Needing a romance fix, she turned to Harlequin's four books a month home delivery service to ease the withdrawal symptoms. That worked for a short time, but it wasn't long before the local book stores' staffs knew her by name.
Avery was a reader before she was a writer and hopes to always be both. She loves to write about smartass alpha heroes who are as good with a quip as they are with their *ahem* other God-given talents. Her heroines are feisty, fierce and fantastic. Brainy and brave, these ladies know how to stand on their own two feet and knock the bad guys off theirs.
Website Twitter Facebook Goodreads
Giveaway Info: $50 Amazon GC, I love reading ring, beer lovers coasters
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Enemies on TapAvery Flynn
Enemies …After years away, Miranda Sweet returns to Salvation, Virginia to save her family’s brewery, but her fate is in the hands of her lover-turned-enemy, Logan. What’s a girl to do when the only person who can help her is the man who betrayed her?Lovers …Logan Martin can’t believe his luck when the woman who smashed his heart to smithereens walks into his bank asking for his help. What she doesn’t know is that he needs the land her brewery is on—and he’ll do whatever it takes to get it.
An Irresistible Combination …Their wager becomes a battle between their attraction and their determination to win. But it’s in each other’s arms that they realize there might be more at stake now than their bet. With the town against the Sweet Salvation Brewery’s success, Logan has to choose between what’s expected of him and what he really wants…
Buy Links: Goodreads Amazon B&N Entangled
Entangled Ignite:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IndulgenceBooksTwitter: @IndulgenceBooks Steals and Deals
Excerpt:
For the love of Pete, the man was injured and all Miranda could think about was jumping Logan’s bones and riding him like a rented pony.
She hadn’t just drunk the Salvation Kool-Aid—she’d started to brew her own.
That was not good.
Not good at all.
She needed to bandage him up and get him the hell out before she forgot who he was—again. She grabbed the kit from under the sink and hurried back into the kitchen.
“Okay, I got the—what are you doing?”
A barefoot Logan stood at the sink, holding a yellow and green I heart NORML glass in one hand. “Getting a drink of water.”
“You should be sitting down.” The last thing he needed was to pass out, or whatever it was that people did after getting conked on the head with a garden gnome.
She threw out one arm and pointed toward the table. “Sit.”
He shut off the water and walked over to the chair facing out toward the rest of the kitchen.
With exquisite slowness, he unbuttoned his light blue shirt, which had a small reddish-brown stain on the collar. Inch by inch, he revealed his broad chest and the happy trail that disappeared beneath his waistband.
The sight made Miranda’s tongue stick to the roof of her mouth, and her thighs quivered. Desperate to stick to the plan, she leaned against the doorframe to anchor herself to the here and now instead of the if and when and why nots.
He never lost eye contact as he shucked off the shirt and laid it across one of the empty chairs. God, he shouldn’t but he looked perfectly at home in the farmhouse kitchen. Big and brawny and sexy as all hell with his mahogany hair ruffled and the fuck-me-now pheromones coming off him in waves. She tried to remember he was an injured man. A very sexy injured man.
He sat down in a chair and spread his legs, drawing her gaze to the outline of his hard cock pressing against his pants. “I’m all yours.”
***
Thirsty for more? Check out Enemies on Tap (Sweet Salvation Brewery 1)!
EnemiesWhat’s a girl to do when the only person who can help her is the man who betrayed her? After years away, Miranda returns to Salvation, Virginia to save her family’s brewery, but her fate is in the hands of her first lover turned enemy, Logan Martin.
LoversLogan, Salvation’s de facto prince, can’t believe his luck when the woman who smashed his heart to smithereens walks into his bank asking for his help. What she doesn’t know is he needs the land is on.
An Irresistible CombinationBut soon it’s a battle between their attraction for each other and their determination to win. With the town dead set against the Sweet Salvation Brewery’s success, Logan has to choose between what’s expected of him and what he really wants.
Book Links:
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22...
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Enemies-Salvati...
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/enemi...
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/enem...)
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/eboo...
Author Bio: Avery Flynn has three slightly-wild children, loves a hockey-addicted husband and is desperately hoping someone invents the coffee IV drip.She fell in love with romance while reading Johanna Lindsey's Mallory books. It wasn't long before Avery had read through all the romance offerings at her local library. Needing a romance fix, she turned to Harlequin's four books a month home delivery service to ease the withdrawal symptoms. That worked for a short time, but it wasn't long before the local book stores' staffs knew her by name.Avery was a reader before she was a writer and hopes to always be both. She loves to write about smartass alpha heroes who are as good with a quip as they are with their *ahem* other God-given talents. Her heroines are feisty, fierce and fantastic. Brainy and brave, these ladies know how to stand on their own two feet and knock the bad guys off theirs.
Website Twitter Facebook Goodreads
Giveaway Info: $50 Amazon GC, I love reading ring, beer lovers coasters
a Rafflecopter giveaway
July 11, 2014
Author, author... Truth and Other Lies by Foxglove Lee
...read all about it !!
Foxglove Lee interviews Millie from Truth and Other Lies
Foxglove: Before we get started, I want to say a big thank you our hosts. It was most gracious of A Passion for Romance to invite me here today to talk to my good friend Millie, who stars in the new book Truth and Other Lies.
Millie: Ha! I star in it? Yeah right! You killed me off in the first chapter.
Foxglove: True… but it was kind of necessary. I hope you understand.
Millie: *shrugs* We all gotta go some time, I guess.
Foxglove: This leads in nicely to my first question, actually, because I was going to ask you what it’s like to be a ghost.
Millie: Don’t get crafty, sister. You know I can’t answer that.
Foxglove: Why not?
Millie: Vow of silence.
Foxglove: You’re talking right now.
Millie: Vow of secrecy, then.
Foxglove: I think we’re getting off track. We’re supposed to be talking about this book I wrote, Truth and Other Lies. Maybe we should say… hmm… do you want to tell the people how you died?
Millie: I had the cancer. It was no fun.
Foxglove: I am truly sorry, Millie. I’m being serious right now. I’m sorry for all the pain you went through.
Millie: Meh, my whole like was pain. It helps to have a sense of humour.
Foxglove: But when you were alive you never really told anyone how bad things were. You went through a lot of rough times and you kept it all to yourself. That must have been hard.
Millie: That’s just how I was raised, I guess.
Foxglove: And you’re a lesbian…
Millie: Whoa! Wow! That came out of nowhere.
Foxglove: Sorry, I lost my place with these questions, but I know that was leading to something. Oh, right, I wanted to talk about how you came out to your parents when you were fifteen and they promptly kicked you out of the house.
Millie: Kicked me out? They disowned me, told me I was dead.
Foxglove: And that’s when you went to live with your good friend Kenny.
Millie: His mom took me in like I was family. They made it so easy. This probably sounds weird, but it was almost a relief. I needed to get out of my parents’ house. Things were not good there. Kenny and his mother were like the family I never had, or the family I wished I’d had all along.
Foxglove: You and Kenny were really close all through high school. Did you ever feel like maybe he had a bit of a crush on you?
Millie: Oh, don’t ask me that.
Foxglove: Why not?
Millie: Because it’s weird. I mean… I know he did, but he was like my brother. And anyway, guys never really did it for me.
Foxglove: Kids at school thought Kenny was gay.
Millie: Yeah, I knew he wasn’t. But I knew he wasn’t straight, either. It’s weird because I was always comfortable keeping secrets. Kenny’s secrets made him so angsty, like his truth might burst out of his mouth at any moment.
Foxglove: But you must have wanted to tell your story in some way, because at the end of your life you wrote “Truth and Other Lies.”
Millie: “Truth and Other Lies” is Kenny’s title for it. I just called the book “My Memoir” because that’s what it was. One day I started typing and my whole life spilled out onto the page.
Foxglove: You typed out your memoirs and you sent them to Kenny because he’s the writer of the house, right? He’s been self-publishing sci-fi stories since you were both in high school.
Millie: Right.
Foxglove: And you didn’t tell anybody else you’d written this huge book?
Millie: Right.
Foxglove: Why not?
Millie: *shrugs* Who would I tell?
Foxglove: Did plan on publishing your memoir?
Millie: *furrows brow* I was on my deathbed. I knew I’d never live long enough to see that happen.
Foxglove: So when your best friend Kenny slapped his own name on the story of your life and published it as fiction after you’d died, how did that make you feel?
Millie: You make it sound like he stole from me.
Foxglove: Well, didn’t he? It’s not like he attributed your work to you.
Millie: I would never in a million years want the whole world knowing all those things happened to me. I’d have been madder if he’d published it under my name!
Foxglove: You sound upset.
Millie: Yeah, but not with Kenny! With you! For asking these questions that make it sound like my best friend screwed me over.
Foxglove: Didn’t he?
Millie: You really expect me to waste my valuable ghost time listening to this? Nope. Good luck with your book. I’m outta here. *poof*
Foxglove: Hmm… I thought this interview would go a lot better than that. Sorry to Ghost Millie, wherever you poofed off to. Didn’t mean to upset you. I really just wanted to give readers some background on “Truth and Other Lies” but it looks like I messed up my opportunity. Well, thanks again to A Passion for Romance for hosting this interview. I’m sure they’ll never have me back now. Oh dear…
* * * * * *
TRUTH and other liesby Foxglove Lee
An Evernight Teen ~ Alternative Young Adult
Blurb:
Have you ever wanted to get noticed? Have you ever felt like no matter how hard you worked or how hard you tried, nobody in the entire world cared what you did? Well, what if someone famous—and we’re talking Oprah-famous, here—noticed you for the one thing you wish you could hide? For your one big secret…
That’s exactly what happens to 18-year-old Kenneth McIntyre when television guru Prahna Mehta hails his self-published novel as the next bestseller. Little do his new fans know Truth and Other Lies wasn’t written by Kenny at all… and it isn’t fiction. Kenny’s been keeping secrets for years. Sometimes he feels like he’s lying to everybody he loves.
When Kenny gets swept into stardom, how will he hide the secrets he’s kept for years? And, if his lies are exposed, will anyone stay by his side?
Buy Links:
Evernight Teen - Amazon
Excerpt:
Nobody cried more than Kenny’s mom. Not even Kenny.
He started to understand that saying, “he was beside himself,” because that’s exactly how he felt. At Millie’s funeral, he kept glancing at the empty seat beside him—one of five they’d reserved in the front row for Millie’s family—because he felt like the real Kenny was sitting in the next chair, and his body was just an empty shell.
Millie was right, all those times she’d said her parents wouldn’t come to her funeral. She’d told Kenny and his mom, “You don’t understand, guys. I’m already dead to them. Why would they go to my funeral when I died three years ago? I died when I came out.”
Kenny didn’t believe that, of course. When he and his mom made the funeral arrangements, they even asked to have some of the readings done in Chinese. If her parents did come—and Kenny really and truly believed they would—they’d certainly appreciate the scripture in their mother tongue. They were very religious people, from what Millie said.
He stared at the grey chair beside him while the funeral people played one of Millie’s favorite songs. Any other day, he’d have been fuming that her family hadn’t shown up. But today? Today he didn’t have enough energy to feel anger. He didn’t have enough energy to feel anything, not even sadness. It was like a total absence of emotion. He was an empty shell.
The funeral went by in a haze. As they drove to the cemetery, all he could think about was the look of serenity on Millie’s face as she lay in that coffin. That gleaming white coffin, like Liberace’s piano. She would have laughed at it. She would have thrown her head back, cackled, and said, “You’re gonna bury me in that?”
Kenny could still hear her laughter.
When his mother pulled into the cemetery parking lot, he pressed his head against the cool glass and cried. More than cried. Sobbed. He felt like his heart had been ripped out of his chest. It was an actual, physical pain, and it hurt so badly he worried that, when he opened his jacket, his crisp white shirt would be stained in blood. He almost wished it was. He wished his wounds could be obvious to the world. He wanted everybody to understand. Nobody did.
Except his mom. She squeezed his hand so hard she jammed his knuckles together. That was a good pain, a useful pain. He couldn’t bring himself to look at her, but he gripped her hand, trying to show some support. Because she was hurting too.“Come on, buddy.” Mom snapped a tissue from the box and blotted her face, wiped her nose. “Let’s get out to the gravesite.”
Millie would have thought all this grief was hilarious.
Plenty of people from school had come to the service. Far fewer had come out for the burial. Kenny’s mom had paid for everything—the funeral, the coffin, the plot—and it didn’t come cheap. In all, she’d spent nearly ten grand, most of it on credit. But Millie was worth the expense. She was the daughter Mom never had.
Kenny felt old before his time, having to deal with all this death stuff. But there he went, thinking about himself again. If Millie were there, she’d tell him to be happy. “Be happy you’re still alive. Be happy the sun is shining and the birds are chirping. Be happy spring is in the air.”
Well the sun wasn’t shining and the birds weren’t chirping, not for Kenny. And spring? Spring was just a pile of mud. Slick mud and stinking dog crap under a mound of melting snow.
That’s all Kenny could think of during the burial: how Millie was going underground, under all the mud and crap and snow. She’d never feel the sunlight on her skin. She’d never hear the birds. She’d died in the springtime of her life.
Author bio:
Foxglove Lee is a former aspiring Broadway Baby who now writes queer fiction for young adults. She tries not to be too theatrical, but her characters often take over. Like Noah from her OmniLit Bestseller "The Secret to a Perfect Latke" who comes out in the most unforgettable way imaginable. Or Stefani from "Token Lesbians" in the "Year's End" horror anthology (Untreed Reads), whose defiance incurs the wrath of the subway system. Or Mila and Laura, who make each other laugh a bit in "I Hate Love" and a lot in "Happy Birthday, Klutzface!" And who can forget her debut novel "Tiffany and Tiger's Eye"? It's set in the 80s and features an evil doll!
Blog: http://foxglovelee.blogspot.ca/
Twitter: @FoxgloveLee
Giveaway: $10 Evernight Teen Gift Certificate
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Foxglove Lee interviews Millie from Truth and Other Lies
Foxglove: Before we get started, I want to say a big thank you our hosts. It was most gracious of A Passion for Romance to invite me here today to talk to my good friend Millie, who stars in the new book Truth and Other Lies.
Millie: Ha! I star in it? Yeah right! You killed me off in the first chapter.
Foxglove: True… but it was kind of necessary. I hope you understand.
Millie: *shrugs* We all gotta go some time, I guess.
Foxglove: This leads in nicely to my first question, actually, because I was going to ask you what it’s like to be a ghost.
Millie: Don’t get crafty, sister. You know I can’t answer that.
Foxglove: Why not?
Millie: Vow of silence.
Foxglove: You’re talking right now.
Millie: Vow of secrecy, then.
Foxglove: I think we’re getting off track. We’re supposed to be talking about this book I wrote, Truth and Other Lies. Maybe we should say… hmm… do you want to tell the people how you died?
Millie: I had the cancer. It was no fun.
Foxglove: I am truly sorry, Millie. I’m being serious right now. I’m sorry for all the pain you went through.
Millie: Meh, my whole like was pain. It helps to have a sense of humour.
Foxglove: But when you were alive you never really told anyone how bad things were. You went through a lot of rough times and you kept it all to yourself. That must have been hard.
Millie: That’s just how I was raised, I guess.
Foxglove: And you’re a lesbian…
Millie: Whoa! Wow! That came out of nowhere.
Foxglove: Sorry, I lost my place with these questions, but I know that was leading to something. Oh, right, I wanted to talk about how you came out to your parents when you were fifteen and they promptly kicked you out of the house.
Millie: Kicked me out? They disowned me, told me I was dead.
Foxglove: And that’s when you went to live with your good friend Kenny.
Millie: His mom took me in like I was family. They made it so easy. This probably sounds weird, but it was almost a relief. I needed to get out of my parents’ house. Things were not good there. Kenny and his mother were like the family I never had, or the family I wished I’d had all along.
Foxglove: You and Kenny were really close all through high school. Did you ever feel like maybe he had a bit of a crush on you?
Millie: Oh, don’t ask me that.
Foxglove: Why not?
Millie: Because it’s weird. I mean… I know he did, but he was like my brother. And anyway, guys never really did it for me.
Foxglove: Kids at school thought Kenny was gay.
Millie: Yeah, I knew he wasn’t. But I knew he wasn’t straight, either. It’s weird because I was always comfortable keeping secrets. Kenny’s secrets made him so angsty, like his truth might burst out of his mouth at any moment.
Foxglove: But you must have wanted to tell your story in some way, because at the end of your life you wrote “Truth and Other Lies.”
Millie: “Truth and Other Lies” is Kenny’s title for it. I just called the book “My Memoir” because that’s what it was. One day I started typing and my whole life spilled out onto the page.
Foxglove: You typed out your memoirs and you sent them to Kenny because he’s the writer of the house, right? He’s been self-publishing sci-fi stories since you were both in high school.
Millie: Right.
Foxglove: And you didn’t tell anybody else you’d written this huge book?
Millie: Right.
Foxglove: Why not?
Millie: *shrugs* Who would I tell?
Foxglove: Did plan on publishing your memoir?
Millie: *furrows brow* I was on my deathbed. I knew I’d never live long enough to see that happen.
Foxglove: So when your best friend Kenny slapped his own name on the story of your life and published it as fiction after you’d died, how did that make you feel?
Millie: You make it sound like he stole from me.
Foxglove: Well, didn’t he? It’s not like he attributed your work to you.
Millie: I would never in a million years want the whole world knowing all those things happened to me. I’d have been madder if he’d published it under my name!
Foxglove: You sound upset.
Millie: Yeah, but not with Kenny! With you! For asking these questions that make it sound like my best friend screwed me over.
Foxglove: Didn’t he?
Millie: You really expect me to waste my valuable ghost time listening to this? Nope. Good luck with your book. I’m outta here. *poof*
Foxglove: Hmm… I thought this interview would go a lot better than that. Sorry to Ghost Millie, wherever you poofed off to. Didn’t mean to upset you. I really just wanted to give readers some background on “Truth and Other Lies” but it looks like I messed up my opportunity. Well, thanks again to A Passion for Romance for hosting this interview. I’m sure they’ll never have me back now. Oh dear…
* * * * * *
TRUTH and other liesby Foxglove Lee
An Evernight Teen ~ Alternative Young Adult
Blurb:
Have you ever wanted to get noticed? Have you ever felt like no matter how hard you worked or how hard you tried, nobody in the entire world cared what you did? Well, what if someone famous—and we’re talking Oprah-famous, here—noticed you for the one thing you wish you could hide? For your one big secret…That’s exactly what happens to 18-year-old Kenneth McIntyre when television guru Prahna Mehta hails his self-published novel as the next bestseller. Little do his new fans know Truth and Other Lies wasn’t written by Kenny at all… and it isn’t fiction. Kenny’s been keeping secrets for years. Sometimes he feels like he’s lying to everybody he loves.
When Kenny gets swept into stardom, how will he hide the secrets he’s kept for years? And, if his lies are exposed, will anyone stay by his side?
Buy Links:
Evernight Teen - Amazon
Excerpt:
Nobody cried more than Kenny’s mom. Not even Kenny.
He started to understand that saying, “he was beside himself,” because that’s exactly how he felt. At Millie’s funeral, he kept glancing at the empty seat beside him—one of five they’d reserved in the front row for Millie’s family—because he felt like the real Kenny was sitting in the next chair, and his body was just an empty shell.
Millie was right, all those times she’d said her parents wouldn’t come to her funeral. She’d told Kenny and his mom, “You don’t understand, guys. I’m already dead to them. Why would they go to my funeral when I died three years ago? I died when I came out.”
Kenny didn’t believe that, of course. When he and his mom made the funeral arrangements, they even asked to have some of the readings done in Chinese. If her parents did come—and Kenny really and truly believed they would—they’d certainly appreciate the scripture in their mother tongue. They were very religious people, from what Millie said.
He stared at the grey chair beside him while the funeral people played one of Millie’s favorite songs. Any other day, he’d have been fuming that her family hadn’t shown up. But today? Today he didn’t have enough energy to feel anger. He didn’t have enough energy to feel anything, not even sadness. It was like a total absence of emotion. He was an empty shell.
The funeral went by in a haze. As they drove to the cemetery, all he could think about was the look of serenity on Millie’s face as she lay in that coffin. That gleaming white coffin, like Liberace’s piano. She would have laughed at it. She would have thrown her head back, cackled, and said, “You’re gonna bury me in that?”
Kenny could still hear her laughter.
When his mother pulled into the cemetery parking lot, he pressed his head against the cool glass and cried. More than cried. Sobbed. He felt like his heart had been ripped out of his chest. It was an actual, physical pain, and it hurt so badly he worried that, when he opened his jacket, his crisp white shirt would be stained in blood. He almost wished it was. He wished his wounds could be obvious to the world. He wanted everybody to understand. Nobody did.
Except his mom. She squeezed his hand so hard she jammed his knuckles together. That was a good pain, a useful pain. He couldn’t bring himself to look at her, but he gripped her hand, trying to show some support. Because she was hurting too.“Come on, buddy.” Mom snapped a tissue from the box and blotted her face, wiped her nose. “Let’s get out to the gravesite.”
Millie would have thought all this grief was hilarious.
Plenty of people from school had come to the service. Far fewer had come out for the burial. Kenny’s mom had paid for everything—the funeral, the coffin, the plot—and it didn’t come cheap. In all, she’d spent nearly ten grand, most of it on credit. But Millie was worth the expense. She was the daughter Mom never had.
Kenny felt old before his time, having to deal with all this death stuff. But there he went, thinking about himself again. If Millie were there, she’d tell him to be happy. “Be happy you’re still alive. Be happy the sun is shining and the birds are chirping. Be happy spring is in the air.”
Well the sun wasn’t shining and the birds weren’t chirping, not for Kenny. And spring? Spring was just a pile of mud. Slick mud and stinking dog crap under a mound of melting snow.
That’s all Kenny could think of during the burial: how Millie was going underground, under all the mud and crap and snow. She’d never feel the sunlight on her skin. She’d never hear the birds. She’d died in the springtime of her life.
Author bio:
Foxglove Lee is a former aspiring Broadway Baby who now writes queer fiction for young adults. She tries not to be too theatrical, but her characters often take over. Like Noah from her OmniLit Bestseller "The Secret to a Perfect Latke" who comes out in the most unforgettable way imaginable. Or Stefani from "Token Lesbians" in the "Year's End" horror anthology (Untreed Reads), whose defiance incurs the wrath of the subway system. Or Mila and Laura, who make each other laugh a bit in "I Hate Love" and a lot in "Happy Birthday, Klutzface!" And who can forget her debut novel "Tiffany and Tiger's Eye"? It's set in the 80s and features an evil doll!Blog: http://foxglovelee.blogspot.ca/
Twitter: @FoxgloveLee
Giveaway: $10 Evernight Teen Gift Certificate
a Rafflecopter giveaway
July 10, 2014
Author, author... Black Widow Witch by A.J. Locke
...read all about it !!
Black Widow Witch
an Urban Fantasy
by
A. J. Locke
A deadly curse, a deadly assassin, and one shot to save everyone she loves…
Malachi Erami can’t fall in love. After she’s caught with Knave, the witch Queen’s favorite lover, she’s cursed to savagely butcher any man she falls for. Exiled to live among humans, Malachi runs a bar that serves magic-laced drinks, but since her curse labels her high risk, she’s also closely monitored. Julian Vira is her latest babysitter, but he’s also the first man since Knave that she’s been attracted to. Good-looking and nonjudgmental of her horrible curse? Yeah, he’s hard to resist.
But when Malachi finds a body behind her bar, she knows she’s in trouble. If the Witches Control Council gets wind of it, she’ll be accused of murder and sent to her death. And when her friends start getting framed for murder, she realizes she’s not the only target. Malachi and Julian dig into the evidence to clear her name, but the closer they get to answers, the closer the curse comes to taking over. So when Malachi uncovers a plot to kill the witch Queen, she finds herself suddenly recruited into service, with the promise of having her curse lifted and a reunion with Knave as well. But if she fails, Knave will die. And she and Julian might not live long enough to see that happen.
Buy Links: Amazon ARe B&N Kobo
Excerpt:
Chapter One
Today was the anniversary of the worst day of my life, and I’d been trying to forget about it by consuming a vast amount of booze. The fact that I owned a bar greatly helped with that endeavor, and the fact that I was drunk was an accomplishment, since witches weren’t easily susceptible to alcohol. Humans were onto something with this whole drinking-to-forget-one’s-crappy-life thing.Behind the bar, I poured a shot for an eager customer. Amaretto, Southern Comfort peach liqueur, and sweet-and-sour mix went into the glass, then I held my hand over the drink and let a stream of purple magic, the same color as my eyes, flow into it. The drink glowed purple for a few seconds, then I handed it to the customer, who drank it with no hesitation. After slamming the glass down, he grabbed the tipsy woman who’d been hanging on him and gave her a sloppy kiss, then led her out of the bar. I smiled and shook my head. The magic I’d put into the shot, aptly named Piece of Ass, would ensure they didn’t leave the bedroom tonight.
Somewhere in the room I heard riotous laughter, and above that the voice eliciting that laughter. Xiune was having a good night for a change and wasn’t holed up in my office. Though since she was just a head inside a clear acrylic box, it was understandable that sometimes all she wanted to do was hide.
“Malachi, darling!” Xiune called. “Seven handsome young men have requested the Challenge!” I smiled slyly. I loved administering the Challenge.
“It’s time for the Seven Deadly Sins Challenge!” I announced, filling up eight shot glasses with vodka, one of which I downed. “Which sin will it be and what will its victim do?” People shouted their guesses while I sent tendrils of magic into the shots. My magic sparked like tiny bolts of lightning, and like the shot I had just made, the liquid briefly glowed purple. I focused on one of the glasses and started whispering a spell, channeling the essence of one of the seven deadly sins through my body. For a brief moment, my body became flushed with a feeling of ravenous desire, then it flowed out of me into the shot glass. I felt rather charged and wondered if this had been the right sin to choose tonight. But hey, I was drunk, and I kind of wanted to see someone suffer. Misery loves company right?
I levitated the shot glasses onto a tray and sauntered over to the table where Xiune was entertaining the men who thought they were up for the Challenge. With her flawless complexion, golden eyes, and vibrant red hair, Xiune didn’t need a body to be beautiful. I’d known her when she had one though, and if she’d been sitting there in all her glory, she’d have every man kneeling at her feet. Her allure was only heightened by the fact that she was a bodiless beauty who used her magic to float herself around in a box. The box wasn’t necessary for Xiune to move around, but she felt safer inside it when she was out in public. That way if a witch hater spat on her, she’d have a shield. It also prevented those on the other end of the spectrum, people who were fascinated by witches, from getting too close. I set the shot glasses down and motioned for the men to stand around the table. They looked like your typical college fare: unkempt hair, sagging pants, and some sort of ironic or sports themed T-shirt. High-fives and shit talking all around.
“Now boys,” I said, leaning forward on my forearms, giving my cleavage time to shine. “Are you sure you’re ready for this? One of you is moments away from experiencing a sin you may or may not enjoy.” They assured me they were man enough to handle any sin, and I smiled. The fun thing about the Challenge was that everyone handled it differently. One man caught with gluttony had run across the street to McDonalds, spent over a hundred dollars on food, then sat on the floor and gorged himself. A woman under the same gluttony spell had tried to eat her friend’s purse.
“Let’s hope it’s lust and let’s hope it’s me,” one of the men said, winking at me. He stood a couple of inches over six feet, had brown hair and a lanky physique. If he started spending time at the gym, maybe his lame come-ons would give him more luck getting laid.
“Honey, I would eat you up,” I said with a slow smile. Normally I would never have said such a line, but all the alcohol I had consumed was speaking for me. He probably had no idea how true those words were though, because his smile never wavered. However, for a moment after I spoke, I saw another face in place of his, and it cut through my drunken haze like a knife. I gasped, and he must have thought that was a sign he had a chance with me, because his smile became more lascivious. Lucky for him, he did nothing for me.
“Malachi, let’s get this show going.” Xiune slid her box over to nudge me, and I shook my head and turned back to the waiting crowd.
“All right, it’s about to go down!” I yelled. “For anyone who hasn’t witnessed the Challenge before, I’ll explain how it works. One of these shot glasses is infused with the essence of one of the seven deadly sins, and the recipient will be overcome with that sin for the next half hour, while the others will experience the most euphoric feeling they’ve ever experienced from a shot of alcohol.” I motioned for the men to pick up a glass, and Mister Flirtatious had one more wink for me.
“Gentlemen, take your shot of sin!” They took their shots to the head. When they slammed their glasses down, every eye in the room was on them. After about twenty seconds, one of the men—not Winky—suddenly gasped, whipped his head around, and bolted from among his friends to accost a mildly attractive woman standing nearby.
“Fuck me! Fuck me, please!” He shook her by the upper arms while she stared at him, mortified, as his friends tried to pry him off her. I brayed with laughter, as did Xiune and everyone else in the bar.
“Oh god, I’m so horny. Someone please, fuck me!” He struggled against his laughing friends, trying to reach any female in sight, with his erection leading the way. Lust had been the winner tonight, and for the next thirty minutes this poor sap would be lusting after every woman he saw, whether she was twenty-eight or eighty-two. He even lurched toward Xiune, but she floated out of the way. Xiune was one sexy head in a box and had a mouth she could work wonders with. She often came out of her box to work those wonders on any willing man. There were more than you’d think.
“Right sin, wrong guy, right?” brown-haired dude said to me.
I rolled my eyes. “You and your friends will have your hands full for the next half hour. I suggest you hold on to him real good and don’t be surprised if he turns to one of you when it starts to look like he won’t be getting any women.”
He laughed and pulled out his cell phone. “I’ll call his girlfriend, though she’ll probably be too pissed at him for doing this to alleviate his lust.” He left the bar to make the call, while the other five continued to hold on to their friend, laughing like they’d never experienced anything so hilarious in their lives. Some of the more mischievous or drunk women teased the guy by parading in front of him and doing dirty little stripper moves. Only his friends’ hold stopped him from tackling one of them and trying to rip her clothes off.
I wasn’t afraid of things getting out of hand because I could break the spell any time I wanted. There was always a point where things stopped being amusing and started getting annoying. I left them and headed back behind the bar, while Xiune found another table of people to entertain. She was a wonderful songstress, and soon her melodic voice filled the bar as I went back to making magicked drinks. I glanced at my watch, noting that it was almost midnight, which meant the day was almost over. That didn’t actually mean anything though. The day passing didn’t mean I would forget the curse that was hanging over my life.
“Hey, Malachi, can you pass me a knife?”
“Knave?” I quickly turned to the busboy, James, who was bent over a box behind the bar.“No, I said knife,” he said. My throat was suddenly tight, but I reached under the bar, got a knife, and handed it to him. I stood back and ran my hands through my short black curls, blowing out a slow breath as I tried to rein in my reaction to thinking I had heard the name Knave. That was the name attached to the face I did not like to think about, but no amount of alcohol and rowdy college boys taking the Challenge could truly put him from my mind. I didn’t want to see Knave’s face, didn’t want to think about the hard muscles my hands used to slide over, following the planes of his body to his waist and not stopping until I touched something that arched his back and made him whisper my name. I didn’t want to think about the nights we’d spent wrapped in each other’s arms, feeling our hearts beating against each other. But of course, since his name crossed my lips, he was all I could think about.
Falling in love with Knave was why I was cursed. And I could only blame myself. I should have known better than to take someone else’s lover to my bed. Especially if the woman crossed was a witch queen who was powerful, sadistic, and known to curse people just for sneezing out of place.“Malachi? Excuse me, Malachi?” I blinked and brought myself out of my thoughts, turning to see that one of the other busboys, Dan, was trying to get my attention. He held a box of empty liquor bottles and needed me to move so he could pass. I shuffled out of the way, but thinking of Knave and my curse, along with all the beer and shots I’d drunk tonight, made me feel slightly unstable. Suddenly, the rowdiness in my bar wasn’t fun; it was obnoxious, and I wanted to get away from it. I headed through the door Dan had passed through, into the hallway that led to my office and the Dumpster out back. Halfway down the hallway, I heard a crash, followed by a scream. I ran through the back door, taking in several things at once that left me rooted to the spot. One, the revolting stench that went far beyond what our single Dumpster could give off. Two, Dan standing rigidly a few feet away with broken bottles scattered at his feet. And three, the thing that had caused him to drop the bottles and scream. Behind the Dumpster was a dead body.
Authors Bio:
A.J. Locke is an author and artist, originally from Trinidad, now residing in New York City. Black Widow Witch is her second published novel, and other than writing she enjoys reading, drawing, painting, graphic design, and watching too much television.
Blog: http://iqurae.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/AJ-Locke/522250584507699
Twitter: @maqueripe
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20643885-black-widow-witch
Other books: Affairs of the Dead Elemental Inferno
Black Widow Witch
an Urban Fantasy
by
A. J. Locke
A deadly curse, a deadly assassin, and one shot to save everyone she loves…
Malachi Erami can’t fall in love. After she’s caught with Knave, the witch Queen’s favorite lover, she’s cursed to savagely butcher any man she falls for. Exiled to live among humans, Malachi runs a bar that serves magic-laced drinks, but since her curse labels her high risk, she’s also closely monitored. Julian Vira is her latest babysitter, but he’s also the first man since Knave that she’s been attracted to. Good-looking and nonjudgmental of her horrible curse? Yeah, he’s hard to resist.But when Malachi finds a body behind her bar, she knows she’s in trouble. If the Witches Control Council gets wind of it, she’ll be accused of murder and sent to her death. And when her friends start getting framed for murder, she realizes she’s not the only target. Malachi and Julian dig into the evidence to clear her name, but the closer they get to answers, the closer the curse comes to taking over. So when Malachi uncovers a plot to kill the witch Queen, she finds herself suddenly recruited into service, with the promise of having her curse lifted and a reunion with Knave as well. But if she fails, Knave will die. And she and Julian might not live long enough to see that happen.
Buy Links: Amazon ARe B&N Kobo
Excerpt:
Chapter One
Today was the anniversary of the worst day of my life, and I’d been trying to forget about it by consuming a vast amount of booze. The fact that I owned a bar greatly helped with that endeavor, and the fact that I was drunk was an accomplishment, since witches weren’t easily susceptible to alcohol. Humans were onto something with this whole drinking-to-forget-one’s-crappy-life thing.Behind the bar, I poured a shot for an eager customer. Amaretto, Southern Comfort peach liqueur, and sweet-and-sour mix went into the glass, then I held my hand over the drink and let a stream of purple magic, the same color as my eyes, flow into it. The drink glowed purple for a few seconds, then I handed it to the customer, who drank it with no hesitation. After slamming the glass down, he grabbed the tipsy woman who’d been hanging on him and gave her a sloppy kiss, then led her out of the bar. I smiled and shook my head. The magic I’d put into the shot, aptly named Piece of Ass, would ensure they didn’t leave the bedroom tonight.
Somewhere in the room I heard riotous laughter, and above that the voice eliciting that laughter. Xiune was having a good night for a change and wasn’t holed up in my office. Though since she was just a head inside a clear acrylic box, it was understandable that sometimes all she wanted to do was hide.
“Malachi, darling!” Xiune called. “Seven handsome young men have requested the Challenge!” I smiled slyly. I loved administering the Challenge.
“It’s time for the Seven Deadly Sins Challenge!” I announced, filling up eight shot glasses with vodka, one of which I downed. “Which sin will it be and what will its victim do?” People shouted their guesses while I sent tendrils of magic into the shots. My magic sparked like tiny bolts of lightning, and like the shot I had just made, the liquid briefly glowed purple. I focused on one of the glasses and started whispering a spell, channeling the essence of one of the seven deadly sins through my body. For a brief moment, my body became flushed with a feeling of ravenous desire, then it flowed out of me into the shot glass. I felt rather charged and wondered if this had been the right sin to choose tonight. But hey, I was drunk, and I kind of wanted to see someone suffer. Misery loves company right?
I levitated the shot glasses onto a tray and sauntered over to the table where Xiune was entertaining the men who thought they were up for the Challenge. With her flawless complexion, golden eyes, and vibrant red hair, Xiune didn’t need a body to be beautiful. I’d known her when she had one though, and if she’d been sitting there in all her glory, she’d have every man kneeling at her feet. Her allure was only heightened by the fact that she was a bodiless beauty who used her magic to float herself around in a box. The box wasn’t necessary for Xiune to move around, but she felt safer inside it when she was out in public. That way if a witch hater spat on her, she’d have a shield. It also prevented those on the other end of the spectrum, people who were fascinated by witches, from getting too close. I set the shot glasses down and motioned for the men to stand around the table. They looked like your typical college fare: unkempt hair, sagging pants, and some sort of ironic or sports themed T-shirt. High-fives and shit talking all around.
“Now boys,” I said, leaning forward on my forearms, giving my cleavage time to shine. “Are you sure you’re ready for this? One of you is moments away from experiencing a sin you may or may not enjoy.” They assured me they were man enough to handle any sin, and I smiled. The fun thing about the Challenge was that everyone handled it differently. One man caught with gluttony had run across the street to McDonalds, spent over a hundred dollars on food, then sat on the floor and gorged himself. A woman under the same gluttony spell had tried to eat her friend’s purse.
“Let’s hope it’s lust and let’s hope it’s me,” one of the men said, winking at me. He stood a couple of inches over six feet, had brown hair and a lanky physique. If he started spending time at the gym, maybe his lame come-ons would give him more luck getting laid.
“Honey, I would eat you up,” I said with a slow smile. Normally I would never have said such a line, but all the alcohol I had consumed was speaking for me. He probably had no idea how true those words were though, because his smile never wavered. However, for a moment after I spoke, I saw another face in place of his, and it cut through my drunken haze like a knife. I gasped, and he must have thought that was a sign he had a chance with me, because his smile became more lascivious. Lucky for him, he did nothing for me.
“Malachi, let’s get this show going.” Xiune slid her box over to nudge me, and I shook my head and turned back to the waiting crowd.
“All right, it’s about to go down!” I yelled. “For anyone who hasn’t witnessed the Challenge before, I’ll explain how it works. One of these shot glasses is infused with the essence of one of the seven deadly sins, and the recipient will be overcome with that sin for the next half hour, while the others will experience the most euphoric feeling they’ve ever experienced from a shot of alcohol.” I motioned for the men to pick up a glass, and Mister Flirtatious had one more wink for me.
“Gentlemen, take your shot of sin!” They took their shots to the head. When they slammed their glasses down, every eye in the room was on them. After about twenty seconds, one of the men—not Winky—suddenly gasped, whipped his head around, and bolted from among his friends to accost a mildly attractive woman standing nearby.
“Fuck me! Fuck me, please!” He shook her by the upper arms while she stared at him, mortified, as his friends tried to pry him off her. I brayed with laughter, as did Xiune and everyone else in the bar.
“Oh god, I’m so horny. Someone please, fuck me!” He struggled against his laughing friends, trying to reach any female in sight, with his erection leading the way. Lust had been the winner tonight, and for the next thirty minutes this poor sap would be lusting after every woman he saw, whether she was twenty-eight or eighty-two. He even lurched toward Xiune, but she floated out of the way. Xiune was one sexy head in a box and had a mouth she could work wonders with. She often came out of her box to work those wonders on any willing man. There were more than you’d think.
“Right sin, wrong guy, right?” brown-haired dude said to me.
I rolled my eyes. “You and your friends will have your hands full for the next half hour. I suggest you hold on to him real good and don’t be surprised if he turns to one of you when it starts to look like he won’t be getting any women.”
He laughed and pulled out his cell phone. “I’ll call his girlfriend, though she’ll probably be too pissed at him for doing this to alleviate his lust.” He left the bar to make the call, while the other five continued to hold on to their friend, laughing like they’d never experienced anything so hilarious in their lives. Some of the more mischievous or drunk women teased the guy by parading in front of him and doing dirty little stripper moves. Only his friends’ hold stopped him from tackling one of them and trying to rip her clothes off.
I wasn’t afraid of things getting out of hand because I could break the spell any time I wanted. There was always a point where things stopped being amusing and started getting annoying. I left them and headed back behind the bar, while Xiune found another table of people to entertain. She was a wonderful songstress, and soon her melodic voice filled the bar as I went back to making magicked drinks. I glanced at my watch, noting that it was almost midnight, which meant the day was almost over. That didn’t actually mean anything though. The day passing didn’t mean I would forget the curse that was hanging over my life.
“Hey, Malachi, can you pass me a knife?”
“Knave?” I quickly turned to the busboy, James, who was bent over a box behind the bar.“No, I said knife,” he said. My throat was suddenly tight, but I reached under the bar, got a knife, and handed it to him. I stood back and ran my hands through my short black curls, blowing out a slow breath as I tried to rein in my reaction to thinking I had heard the name Knave. That was the name attached to the face I did not like to think about, but no amount of alcohol and rowdy college boys taking the Challenge could truly put him from my mind. I didn’t want to see Knave’s face, didn’t want to think about the hard muscles my hands used to slide over, following the planes of his body to his waist and not stopping until I touched something that arched his back and made him whisper my name. I didn’t want to think about the nights we’d spent wrapped in each other’s arms, feeling our hearts beating against each other. But of course, since his name crossed my lips, he was all I could think about.
Falling in love with Knave was why I was cursed. And I could only blame myself. I should have known better than to take someone else’s lover to my bed. Especially if the woman crossed was a witch queen who was powerful, sadistic, and known to curse people just for sneezing out of place.“Malachi? Excuse me, Malachi?” I blinked and brought myself out of my thoughts, turning to see that one of the other busboys, Dan, was trying to get my attention. He held a box of empty liquor bottles and needed me to move so he could pass. I shuffled out of the way, but thinking of Knave and my curse, along with all the beer and shots I’d drunk tonight, made me feel slightly unstable. Suddenly, the rowdiness in my bar wasn’t fun; it was obnoxious, and I wanted to get away from it. I headed through the door Dan had passed through, into the hallway that led to my office and the Dumpster out back. Halfway down the hallway, I heard a crash, followed by a scream. I ran through the back door, taking in several things at once that left me rooted to the spot. One, the revolting stench that went far beyond what our single Dumpster could give off. Two, Dan standing rigidly a few feet away with broken bottles scattered at his feet. And three, the thing that had caused him to drop the bottles and scream. Behind the Dumpster was a dead body.
Authors Bio: A.J. Locke is an author and artist, originally from Trinidad, now residing in New York City. Black Widow Witch is her second published novel, and other than writing she enjoys reading, drawing, painting, graphic design, and watching too much television.
Blog: http://iqurae.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/AJ-Locke/522250584507699
Twitter: @maqueripe
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20643885-black-widow-witch
Other books: Affairs of the Dead Elemental Inferno
July 9, 2014
Special Guest: Tara Quan with Operation Owl ~ Beyond Fairytales
www.TaraQuan.com/OwlTara Quan’s Operation Owl Tour of the Capital – Navy Memorial Plaza
I owe Krista Ames a huge thank you for hosting me today. I’m trying something new, which is to chat up my book prior to getting a firm release date. Because of my impending move to Rome, I may soon experience a prolonged Internet blackout and have prescheduled my stops. To the best of my knowledge, my latest multicultural romance from Decadent Publishing comes out some time in July 2014 (so, depending on when you stumble upon this blog, it might be available now). For updates as well as a chance to win a $25 gift card, drop by my website: TaraQuan.com/Owl
In honor of the place I consider home (what the government terms the National Capital Area), I’m dedicating the posts on this tour to Washington, D.C. and its surrounding suburbs. The romantic comedy I’m very blatantly promoting is set entirely in the US capital. A Beyond Fairytales adaptation of The Owl by Brothers Grimm, Operation Owl features a geeky hacker hero and his bookish best friend. They team up to expose a cyber conspiracy at the heart of the US government and end up indulging in some other equally exciting activities.
Waypoint: Navy Memorial Plaza
Since Krista’s most recent release, Second Nature, features a Navy man, I thought it appropriate to highlight the (not very well-known) US Navy Memorial, which is an outdoor Plaza featuring a “Granite Sea” map of the world. Conveniently located opposite the National Archives (and, more importantly, its gift shop), it’s worth a quick glance as you mosey down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the National Gallery of Art, or if you’re catching a show at the Shakespeare Theater company.
It also happens to be near Paul (yes, I’m recommending a chain restaurant), a bakery and café that serves delicious Quiche Lorraine (by D.C. standards). It’s a great place for a casual breakfast or lunch, and is a reasonably priced alternative to grabbing a hotdog from a food truck. This café is also located near the Hoover Building/FBI headquarters, where I’ve set a very special scene in Operation Owl.
And thus concludes my Capital Area tip for the day. Follow along at TaraQuan.com/Owlas I continue my tour at the blogs of some awesome romance authors.
* * * * * *
Operation Owl
Five years ago, Maya Jain kissed her best friend only to have him run out of her dorm room and leave the state. When he shows up in Washington, D.C., a wanted fugitive sought after by every branch of the US government, she can’t bring herself to ignore his plight. As their physical relationship picks up where it left off, she decides it’s time to make him see her as more than the bespectacled, bookish girl he once called “Owl.”After being accused of espionage and treason, Zack Strong needs a forensic accountant to help clear his name. Not knowing who he can trust, this white-hat hacker has no choice but to ask his former best friend and math tutor for help. Together they unravel a cyber conspiracy at the Barn, an NSA facility tasked to intercept electronic communications. But as they traverse the nation’s capital to avoid capture, Maya insists on letting their simmering sexual tension take its natural course. Even though he’s never been able to shake the memory of their one kiss, he refuses to let her give up her life for a man with no future. Genre: Contemporary Romantic Comedy, Multicultural
Buy Links: Amazon| B&N | AllRomance| Decadent| GoodReads
About Tara Quan
Globetrotter, lover of languages, and romance author, Tara Quan has an addiction for crafting tales with a pinch of spice and a smidgen of kink. Inspired by her travels, Tara enjoys tossing her kick-ass heroines and alpha males into exotic contemporary locales, fantasy worlds, and post-apocalyptic futures. Armed with magical powers or conventional weapons, her characters are guaranteed a suspenseful and sensual ride, as well as their own happily ever after. Learn more at www.taraquan.com
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | Goodreads | Pinterest | Amazon
Short Blurb
Inspired by a Grimm’s fairy tale, Operation Owl is a multicultural romantic comedy featuring a pair of best friends—a geek hero and bookish heroine—who work together to expose cyber conspiracy at the heart of the US government.
Excerpt Hesitating at the threshold of stalker-like activity, the logical part of his brain made one last-ditch attempt to stall his fingers. This wasn’t acceptable behavior, not by any stretch of the imagination. He should wait and see what happened. If push came to shove, he could always abandon his post and knock on her door.But he’d been sitting there for ages, an abnormal amount of time for anyone to spend in the bathroom. She could have passed out in there, and then where would they be? His brain’s paranoid frontal lobe ended up winning the battle. He needed a quick peek, a brief glance to confirm her location. If the trick gave him a glimpse of her in the shower, the curtain would obscure his view. If he saw even a hint of skin, he’d shut the damn feed off. No harm could come of this.He accessed her webcam and turned it on. As luck would have it, the computer was angled at the open bathroom door, the only part of her apartment he couldn’t see into from the street. With the wall-to-wall mirror completely visible on screen, it wouldn’t be hard to ascertain her presence. A few keystrokes allowed him to enhance the high definition feed and zoom in. A light coating of condensation blurred the reflection by a fraction, but the open doors allowed most of it to dissipate. The reflected image was clear enough to make out shapes and colors.The footage presented a profile view of Maya lying in a bathtub. Since he could only make out her face, neck, and left arm, he didn’t see an immediate need to cease and desist. Her head rested against the tub’s lip, cushioned by her long, dark hair. With her eyes closed and lips parted, he couldn’t tell if she was conscious. What if she had slipped in the shower and hit her head?He cranked up the microphone’s sensitivity. The great thing about modern-day computers was their much-improved capability to process audio and video. As soon as she made a sound or moved, he’d stop watching.A soft, throaty moan crackled over the speakers. Her left hand lifted in the air before clenching over the side of the tub. Her back and neck arched.“Shit.”Slapping down his laptop screen, Zack leaned back against the leather headrest and massaged his temples. Struggling not to draw any conclusions, he muttered, “Don’t go there, man. Just don’t go there.”
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July 7, 2014
Guest Blog: Once Upon a Marriage by Sara Daniel
Once Upon a MarriageRetelling The Three Army SurgeonsBy Sara Daniel
My favorite school assignment ever was modernizing and retelling a fairy tale (sophomore English – Aced it AND got extra credit – Thanks Ms. Seckler!), so when Decadent Publishing put out the call for a retelling of a Grimm’s Fairy Tale, my hand immediately shot in the air. I was given The Three Army Surgeons, an obscure, somewhat gruesome story that was definitely not a romance. (Read it here.)
At the beginning of the initial brainstorming, I thought, “You have got to be kidding me. What I have I gotten myself into?” But then I plunged in. Before long, I was giggling as I typed because Once Upon a Marriage was SO MUCH FUN to write. Yep, favorite assignment ever!
Once Upon a Marriage
Time is running out for Armina Keer to have the baby she’s always wanted. Before she can move on with her life, she needs her estranged husband to sign their divorce papers. When she can’t get him to respond, her meddling uncles arrange for a trip to his inn. Despite vowing to guard her broken heart, she has to settle the past before she can have a future.Ian Keer might not deserve a second chance with his wife, but he’s not going to give up one either, not with the immediate flaming attraction still between them. While her uncles’ antics wreak havoc on life at The Inn, he offers her the ultimate gamble: Spend the night with him, and afterwards he’ll sign the papers if she still wants to leave.
With everything riding on one night together, Ian must convince her that their love is strong enough the second time around, and Armina must decide if love is worth sacrificing her dreams.
Excerpt:
“You hate me,” Ian whispered, feeling more nauseous than if he’d ingested a prosthetic eyeball. How could she not hate him when she believed their personal relationship had meant less to him than an employment issue?
Armina gazed beyond his left shoulder. “I don’t hate you. I’ve never hated you. When we got married, I understood you had a strong work ethic combined with an unusual drive to succeed and a consuming passion for the Inn. I knew I’d come in second to this place.”
He opened his mouth, wanting to argue, but couldn’t. If she’d made him choose, he wouldn’t have picked her.
“I thought I was okay with it,” she continued. “After all, I loved the Inn, too, and wanted you to realize your vision for it. Turns out I wasn’t okay. I didn’t realize how distant second place actually was.” She shrugged her slim shoulders. “Live and learn, right?”
Not right. He wanted to take back the lesson and teach her about real love instead. “You never should have had to settle for second place. With me or with anyone else. No one has the right to ask that of you.”
“Agreed.” Her voice came out stronger, her shoulders squared, and she looked him directly in the eye. “Now you understand why I want a divorce.”
Buy links:Amazon Barnes & Noble All Romance ebooks Decadent Publishing
Sara Daniel writes what she loves—irresistible romance, from sweet to erotic and everything in between. She lives her own happily-ever-after romance with her hero husband. Connect with her online at:Subscribe to Sara’s newsletter: http://eepurl.com/rx_ALWebsite: http://www.SaraDaniel.comFacebook page: http://www.facebook.com/SaraDanielSaraShaferTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/SSaraDanielBlog: http://saradanielromance.blogspot.comPinterest: http://pinterest.com/ssaradaniel/Giveaway:
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Cover Reveal: Welcome to Paradise by London Saint James
Welcome to ParadiseContemporary Western Romance NovellaBy London Saint James
Release Date: August 18, 2014, Roane Publishing
Just three days before her thirtieth birthday, acquisition editor for Starling Press, Sutton Callaway, has buried the last of her family in the cemetery on the plot of land that she inherited. After turning down the powerful and wealthy owner of Triple Bar-S Ranch to sell her inheritance and walk away from the obligations of running one of the biggest cattle ranches in West Texas, Sutton puts her Dallas condo on the market, resigns her position from SP, packs the contents of her life into boxes, and heads for the one place filled with bittersweet memories—Paradise Ranch.
Will Sutton be able to handle the pressures of being the newly appointed cattle baroness, the rough and tumble men under her employ, and the temptation of a sexy mystery man? Or will walking in her grandmother’s matriarchal boots be too much to fill?
Roane Publishing
About London Saint James
London wrote her first short story in the second grade. Her teacher informed her parents she had a big imagination, and as far as he was concerned, having a big imagination wasn’t necessarily a good thing, so she placed her vivid characters, her childhood stories, along with her imagination on the shelf, where they would wither for a while. After all, she needed to grow up and do the “sensible thing.”
Life moved on, London grew up, and the sensible thing earned London a degree in Psychology. She took a serious job in the real world, doing serious things and being a responsible adult, although the need to be a little irresponsible crept in. As a result, she started scribbling again.
Happy to find her imagination was still alive and kicking, she decided to pursue writing, walked away from doing the sensible thing, took on the world of the written word, and has never looked back!
Links:Web: http://www.londonsaintjames.comBlog: http://londonsj.blogspot.comTwitter: http://twitter.com/LSJRomanceGoodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/LSJRomanceAmazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/London-Saint-James/e/B005I7KJWYFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/LSaintJamesRomanceFacebook Author page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/London-Saint-James/154331444626603Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/lsjromanceKindlegraph: http://www.kindlegraph.com/authors/LSJRomance
July 4, 2014
Author, author... Vows & Victims by Laina Turner
...read all about it !!
Vows & Victims
Cozy mystery/chick lit
by
Laina Turner
Blurb:
Presley goes back home to help Katy plan for her wedding to Chris and instead of nuptial bliss, realtor Bethany Granville is found dead in Katy’s salon. Katy didn’t even know Bethany. Ever curious Presley wants to solve the murder but as usual things aren’t that simple and grow even more complicated when ex-friend Dirt who was in jail for murder escapes.
Is he headed back into town? And did Chris know Bethany? All these are questions Presley is determined to get the answers to.
Buy Links: Amazon B&N Smashwords
Excerpt:
“I can’t believe you’re actually getting married,” I said to my best friend from back home, Katy, while packing to head down there for the upcoming nuptials.
“You mean you can’t believe I’m actually getting married to Chris. I know you don’t approve.”
“Katy, it’s not that I don’t approve. I just want you to be happy. And Chris doesn’t have the best track record in making you happy.”
“I know, Presley, but he’s changed. I realize you’re not going to believe me until you see for yourself which you will, I promise, when you get here. He’s a completely different person. You just need to spend some time with him. He’s really been trying hard.”I held back a sigh. I wanted to be happy for her, but there was a lot of negative history there. However, Katy was a grown woman and could make her own decisions, or mistakes, as I saw it. I just needed to be the supportive friend and if things fell apart, be there to pick up the pieces and not say I told you so.
“So you’ll be here by noon, right? In time to go with me to the florist, and the caterers, oh yeah, and by the hall to make sure everything is set, just to name a few things?”
I plopped down on the bed, phone still in my hand and sighed quietly so Katy wouldn’t hear me. It was taking a lot of effort to try and show genuine enthusiasm not just for the whole wedding in general but for all the work the maid-of-honor was supposed to do. I was happy to be a part of her wedding, but I wasn’t the best at all the organization and stuff.
“Yes, I’m going to pack tonight and head out first thing tomorrow. I can’t wait!”
Katy laughed. “Whatever. I’ll see you then.”
I got off the phone and sat up, taking a mental inventory of what clothes I had clean that I should pack. My bridesmaid dress was there already waiting for me. Hope to God it still fit, since six weeks ago when I had it fitted and altered it had been a little tight and I just hadn’t been in the dieting mood. Food was so good.I quickly made my clothing decisions and got everything together, except what I needed in the morning to get ready. I got in my pajamas, set my alarm and laid down to try and get some sleep but my mind kept thinking about what Katy was about to do. It reminded me too much of the problems I was currently having with Cooper and I wasn’t sure sleep would be too forthcoming.
When the alarm went off at six, I wanted to hit the snooze once, or twice, as was my normal practice, but I knew I needed to get up and on the road if I was going to make to it to Alkon in time for the many meetings Katy had planned for us.
At seven fifteen, I was in my black Kia Sportage pulling into traffic to head out of town. Jared, my roommate, was still sleeping when I left so I wrote him a note to not forget it was garbage day. I joked that taking out the garbage was the only reason I kept him around.
I’m Presley, thirty-something, auburn-haired, size eight on a good day, size 10 most of the time, Thurman. I live in Chicago in a condo with my friend Jared and was heading back to my hometown of Alkon, which was a couple of hours south of the city. While I left that small town the minute after graduation, not all of my friends did. Katy, for example, and my parents were still there, so I frequently went back to visit.
This was only the second time I had been back since the murder of Senator Tom Daniels. I had become involved in the murder, no fault of my own of course, and some of the key players had been friends of mine. Coming back stirred up some not-so-great memories and with Katy’s wedding I had a great big memory smacking me right in the face.I merged onto the freeway and thought about Chris the guy Katy was marrying. He had never treated Katy very well, in my opinion. Not only had Chris and Katy been on again and off again since high school, but he had also been involved romantically with Helen, the wife of Senator Daniels, when he was murdered. Chris had been played by Helen so, of course, when he got his heart broken he ran back to Katy who, God knows why, took him back. It had been their pattern for so many years I almost wondered if it was just her habit.
I tried to put it out of my mind because I truly did want to be supportive for Katy and obsessing over all the reasons why she shouldn’t marry Chris wasn’t going to help that. So instead, I thought of my own current situation. I had recently started a job as a food blogger. It didn’t pay much and was basically a start-up column for a local paper which had started taking their product online, much like the writing gig I’d started before that had indirectly gotten me involved with the murder of Senator Daniels.
In that case, I had been an online journalist and the online magazine had sent me to interview the Senator because he was visiting my hometown where Helen was from. Shortly after the murder, in an unrelated series of events, the online magazine went under. It was sad, not only because I lost my new job, but my friend Trevor had been the editor and was instrumental in getting it off the ground. He had lost his job, as well as his investment. Lucky for him, he had found another job quickly, not surprisingly though because he was talented. Me on the other hand, I was still searching. I was, by definition of my college degree, a human resource professional. I had spent many years after college climbing the corporate ladder working toward that golden job in the C-suite. Then I became disillusioned, was sexually harassed by my slime ball of a boss, and walked out one day. It was the best, and most scary, day of my professional life. While I had never regretted leaving the business world, it had left me at a loss of where my true passions lay. Since then, I had tried to follow my childhood passion which was writing but while working on the great American novel, I had to make my condo payment. So I worked a variety of different job leading up to this latest one. I wanted to find a way to make a living doing what I loved, but it wasn’t easy. Life was funny. When you were young you thought you would have it all figured out by the time you left high school. Ha! I had left high school a long time ago and I still had no idea of what I wanted to be when I grew up. Writing this food blog scared me a little.
What I knew about food mainly centered around eating it but I was convincing enough, or they were desperate enough, that they hired me. My first piece was due Friday, in three days, another reason I was stressed about the wedding. I had to find time to write five hundred words on a topic I knew little about. Coming to Alkon was also a great opportunity to talk to my mom, who really was a person who knew about food and I was hoping she could help me. If only I could get her to write it for me.
I turned on the radio and station surfed, distracting myself from everything and tried to just enjoy the drive. A couple of coffee stops and a couple hours later, I made it into Alkon and went straight to Katy’s salon. As I pulled in I was surprised I didn’t see any cars in the lot and then I remembered she didn’t open until 1 p.m. on Tuesdays as it was one of her late nights.I had made such good time I had arrived twenty minutes early so not even Katy was there yet. I got out of my car to stretch my legs and walked around in circles in the parking lot. Then headed over to peek in the window of the salon. Katy was always changing the décor and I was curious to see what the latest look was.
I shaded my eyes with my hands and leaned against the front window to eliminate glare so I could see in better. I could see she had replaced the tile colors with a softer blue which gave the salon a much lighter feel than it had before. As I looked around I saw a mannequin sitting, or rather slumped over in one of the hair styling chairs. Why would she have one of those? Or was it a mannequin? I squinted to see better and almost wished I hadn’t. Holy crap that was most certainly not a mannequin. I reached for my phone thinking what were the odds this would happen to me twice. I had just found a dead body.
Author’s Bio:
As a child Laina thought she would either be a truck driver (thanks to Jerry Reed in Smokey and the Bandit) or work at Taco Bell (her favorite restaurant as a child). As she grew older she realized her talents lay in academics and business and for the last several years has been a business consultant and college professor where she uses the analytical side of her brain and not the side that makes up stories.
Through all her career choices she has continued to have a passion for writing. This stemmed from childhood whereas an only child she developed a vivid imagination spending most of her time making things up and thinking the Incredible Hulk lived in her closet.
Proud of her vast experiences in life from barrel racing to being on the dance team for a semi pro basketball team to being a mom of 2 amazing kids, she tells her family and friends that no one is safe from their escapades slipping in to her books.
Taking the plunge to write books that she actually lets people read in 2010, she has worked her way up to having 5 fans (maybe 6 now). Her blog, The Art Of Living Fabulously, was launched to share the daily fun in the life of a Real Housewife of the Midwest along with the musing of other fabulous ladies.
Author's Website: www.lainaturner.com http://www.lainaturner.com/books/vows-victims-cozy-mystery/ https://twitter.com/laina_turner https://www.facebook.com/LainaTurner https://plus.google.com/u/0/+LainaTurner/posts http://www.pinterest.com/lainaturner/
Vows & Victims
Cozy mystery/chick lit
by
Laina Turner
Blurb:
Presley goes back home to help Katy plan for her wedding to Chris and instead of nuptial bliss, realtor Bethany Granville is found dead in Katy’s salon. Katy didn’t even know Bethany. Ever curious Presley wants to solve the murder but as usual things aren’t that simple and grow even more complicated when ex-friend Dirt who was in jail for murder escapes. Is he headed back into town? And did Chris know Bethany? All these are questions Presley is determined to get the answers to.
Buy Links: Amazon B&N Smashwords
Excerpt:
“I can’t believe you’re actually getting married,” I said to my best friend from back home, Katy, while packing to head down there for the upcoming nuptials.
“You mean you can’t believe I’m actually getting married to Chris. I know you don’t approve.”
“Katy, it’s not that I don’t approve. I just want you to be happy. And Chris doesn’t have the best track record in making you happy.”
“I know, Presley, but he’s changed. I realize you’re not going to believe me until you see for yourself which you will, I promise, when you get here. He’s a completely different person. You just need to spend some time with him. He’s really been trying hard.”I held back a sigh. I wanted to be happy for her, but there was a lot of negative history there. However, Katy was a grown woman and could make her own decisions, or mistakes, as I saw it. I just needed to be the supportive friend and if things fell apart, be there to pick up the pieces and not say I told you so.
“So you’ll be here by noon, right? In time to go with me to the florist, and the caterers, oh yeah, and by the hall to make sure everything is set, just to name a few things?”
I plopped down on the bed, phone still in my hand and sighed quietly so Katy wouldn’t hear me. It was taking a lot of effort to try and show genuine enthusiasm not just for the whole wedding in general but for all the work the maid-of-honor was supposed to do. I was happy to be a part of her wedding, but I wasn’t the best at all the organization and stuff.
“Yes, I’m going to pack tonight and head out first thing tomorrow. I can’t wait!”
Katy laughed. “Whatever. I’ll see you then.”
I got off the phone and sat up, taking a mental inventory of what clothes I had clean that I should pack. My bridesmaid dress was there already waiting for me. Hope to God it still fit, since six weeks ago when I had it fitted and altered it had been a little tight and I just hadn’t been in the dieting mood. Food was so good.I quickly made my clothing decisions and got everything together, except what I needed in the morning to get ready. I got in my pajamas, set my alarm and laid down to try and get some sleep but my mind kept thinking about what Katy was about to do. It reminded me too much of the problems I was currently having with Cooper and I wasn’t sure sleep would be too forthcoming.
When the alarm went off at six, I wanted to hit the snooze once, or twice, as was my normal practice, but I knew I needed to get up and on the road if I was going to make to it to Alkon in time for the many meetings Katy had planned for us.
At seven fifteen, I was in my black Kia Sportage pulling into traffic to head out of town. Jared, my roommate, was still sleeping when I left so I wrote him a note to not forget it was garbage day. I joked that taking out the garbage was the only reason I kept him around.
I’m Presley, thirty-something, auburn-haired, size eight on a good day, size 10 most of the time, Thurman. I live in Chicago in a condo with my friend Jared and was heading back to my hometown of Alkon, which was a couple of hours south of the city. While I left that small town the minute after graduation, not all of my friends did. Katy, for example, and my parents were still there, so I frequently went back to visit.
This was only the second time I had been back since the murder of Senator Tom Daniels. I had become involved in the murder, no fault of my own of course, and some of the key players had been friends of mine. Coming back stirred up some not-so-great memories and with Katy’s wedding I had a great big memory smacking me right in the face.I merged onto the freeway and thought about Chris the guy Katy was marrying. He had never treated Katy very well, in my opinion. Not only had Chris and Katy been on again and off again since high school, but he had also been involved romantically with Helen, the wife of Senator Daniels, when he was murdered. Chris had been played by Helen so, of course, when he got his heart broken he ran back to Katy who, God knows why, took him back. It had been their pattern for so many years I almost wondered if it was just her habit.
I tried to put it out of my mind because I truly did want to be supportive for Katy and obsessing over all the reasons why she shouldn’t marry Chris wasn’t going to help that. So instead, I thought of my own current situation. I had recently started a job as a food blogger. It didn’t pay much and was basically a start-up column for a local paper which had started taking their product online, much like the writing gig I’d started before that had indirectly gotten me involved with the murder of Senator Daniels.
In that case, I had been an online journalist and the online magazine had sent me to interview the Senator because he was visiting my hometown where Helen was from. Shortly after the murder, in an unrelated series of events, the online magazine went under. It was sad, not only because I lost my new job, but my friend Trevor had been the editor and was instrumental in getting it off the ground. He had lost his job, as well as his investment. Lucky for him, he had found another job quickly, not surprisingly though because he was talented. Me on the other hand, I was still searching. I was, by definition of my college degree, a human resource professional. I had spent many years after college climbing the corporate ladder working toward that golden job in the C-suite. Then I became disillusioned, was sexually harassed by my slime ball of a boss, and walked out one day. It was the best, and most scary, day of my professional life. While I had never regretted leaving the business world, it had left me at a loss of where my true passions lay. Since then, I had tried to follow my childhood passion which was writing but while working on the great American novel, I had to make my condo payment. So I worked a variety of different job leading up to this latest one. I wanted to find a way to make a living doing what I loved, but it wasn’t easy. Life was funny. When you were young you thought you would have it all figured out by the time you left high school. Ha! I had left high school a long time ago and I still had no idea of what I wanted to be when I grew up. Writing this food blog scared me a little.
What I knew about food mainly centered around eating it but I was convincing enough, or they were desperate enough, that they hired me. My first piece was due Friday, in three days, another reason I was stressed about the wedding. I had to find time to write five hundred words on a topic I knew little about. Coming to Alkon was also a great opportunity to talk to my mom, who really was a person who knew about food and I was hoping she could help me. If only I could get her to write it for me.
I turned on the radio and station surfed, distracting myself from everything and tried to just enjoy the drive. A couple of coffee stops and a couple hours later, I made it into Alkon and went straight to Katy’s salon. As I pulled in I was surprised I didn’t see any cars in the lot and then I remembered she didn’t open until 1 p.m. on Tuesdays as it was one of her late nights.I had made such good time I had arrived twenty minutes early so not even Katy was there yet. I got out of my car to stretch my legs and walked around in circles in the parking lot. Then headed over to peek in the window of the salon. Katy was always changing the décor and I was curious to see what the latest look was.
I shaded my eyes with my hands and leaned against the front window to eliminate glare so I could see in better. I could see she had replaced the tile colors with a softer blue which gave the salon a much lighter feel than it had before. As I looked around I saw a mannequin sitting, or rather slumped over in one of the hair styling chairs. Why would she have one of those? Or was it a mannequin? I squinted to see better and almost wished I hadn’t. Holy crap that was most certainly not a mannequin. I reached for my phone thinking what were the odds this would happen to me twice. I had just found a dead body.
Author’s Bio:
As a child Laina thought she would either be a truck driver (thanks to Jerry Reed in Smokey and the Bandit) or work at Taco Bell (her favorite restaurant as a child). As she grew older she realized her talents lay in academics and business and for the last several years has been a business consultant and college professor where she uses the analytical side of her brain and not the side that makes up stories.
Through all her career choices she has continued to have a passion for writing. This stemmed from childhood whereas an only child she developed a vivid imagination spending most of her time making things up and thinking the Incredible Hulk lived in her closet.
Proud of her vast experiences in life from barrel racing to being on the dance team for a semi pro basketball team to being a mom of 2 amazing kids, she tells her family and friends that no one is safe from their escapades slipping in to her books.
Taking the plunge to write books that she actually lets people read in 2010, she has worked her way up to having 5 fans (maybe 6 now). Her blog, The Art Of Living Fabulously, was launched to share the daily fun in the life of a Real Housewife of the Midwest along with the musing of other fabulous ladies.
Author's Website: www.lainaturner.com http://www.lainaturner.com/books/vows-victims-cozy-mystery/ https://twitter.com/laina_turner https://www.facebook.com/LainaTurner https://plus.google.com/u/0/+LainaTurner/posts http://www.pinterest.com/lainaturner/
July 3, 2014
Marissa Dobson's Military Romance Sale July 3 - July 7
In honor of 4th of July Marissa Dobson is having her military romance books on sale on All Romance Ebooks ONLY.
Free - Ace in the Hole - SEALed for You 1Ace Diamond left behind the woman he loved when he joined the Navy SEALs. For years he focused on his career, risking life and limb on missions for his country. Now home on leave, he must face his past and ask himself if leaving her was a mistake.
At seventeen, Gwyneth London gave her heart away only to have it broken. More than a dozen years later, she decides to embrace her single life and have a child on her own. Ready to start over in her hometown, she doesn’t expect to see the man who still holds her heart, but when he walks back into her life she’s unable to push him away.
Can Gwyneth and Ace claim the life they were supposed to have, or will they let love pass them by?
Free - Winterbloom - Clearwater 1 What she needs…. Prepping Winterbloom for the incoming snowstorm is the only thing on Chloe Frost’s agenda when a stranger comes in from the cold.
What he’s looking for… Tortured by the past, Jordan Sheppard fled everything he knew until his car broke down and sidelined him.
Trapped together… When this unexpected guest needs a room, these two lonely souls find refuge in each other. Can Chloe help Jordan discover a path through the pain and anger to find love?
$0.99 - Unexpected Forever - Clearwater 2
Pregnant… The stick turned blue and Tessa Bradley’s world fell apart. But unplanned turns out to be the best thing that ever happened to her. Add a marriage of convenience to her best friend, and unplanned just might give her the happily ever after with the man she’s always loved.
Deployment… Gunny Cameron White devoted his life to God, country, and the Corps. Marriage has never been a blip on his radar. When his best friend—a woman he’s always loved—turns up pregnant and alone, he throws out the rule book and commits to her like a Marine.
Marriage… Can two people overcome the choices of their past when an unplanned baby gives them the chance of an unexpected forever?
$0.99 - Losing to Win - Clearwater 3 The war vet… Juan Carlos Marquez lost everything he valued in one fateful Marine mission. Now an amputee, trying to put the pieces of his life back together, and to still be a provider for his mother and siblings, might be all he can handle.
The lonely barista… Rebecca James found a new beginning in Clearwater after running from a disastrous past. As a part-time barista and studying for her business degree, she rarely has time for socializing, let alone a relationship.
The instant connection… They weren’t looking for love, love found them. Will the sparks between Juan Carlos and Rebecca be just what they need to give them both a happy ending?
About the Author:
Born and raised in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, Marissa Dobson now resides about an hour from Washington, D.C. She’s a lady who likes to keep busy, and is always busy doing something. With two different college degrees, she believes you are never done learning. Being the first daughter to an avid reader, this gave her the advantage of learning to read at a young age. Since learning to read she has always had her nose in a book. It wasn’t until she was a teenager that she started writing down the stories she came up with.
Marissa is blessed with a wonderful supportive husband, Thomas. He’s her other half and allows her to stay home and pursue her writing. He puts up with all her quirks and listens to her brainstorm in the middle of the night. Her writing buddies Max (a cocker spaniel) and Dawne (a beagle mix) are always around to listen to her bounce ideas off them. They might not be able to answer, but they’re helpful in their own ways. She love to hear from readers so send her an email at marissa@marissadobson.com or visit her online at http://www.marissadobson.com.
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