R.E. Hargrave's Blog, page 105
March 15, 2021
PreORDER & #GIVEAWAY from Reily Garrett: Deadly Interception
Deadly Interception (Moonlight and Murder Book) by Reily Garrett
Harlyn Colton has never run from a fight, not until her best friend’s murder sends her to the mountains of Pennsylvania. Shredding her ID and ditching electronics, she assumes she’s bought time to sort the mystery before federal officers knock on her door.
Brice Crenshaw works with the Ferndel foundation, a group organized to help returning military Veterans learn valuable skills and smooth out the rough edges before joining civilian life.
When a kickass, knife-wielding female arrives with a target on her back, the group closes ranks to protect one of their own.
Accidents stack up while dead bodies reveal conflicting evidence. With the help of her K9 companion and the distraction of a well-intended protector, Harlyn must uncover the identity of the killer before he eliminates his final witness. Harlyn.
Edited by R.E. HargraveExcerpt:
Harlyn bristled under the weight of unknown eyes dissecting her every move. Skin at her nape crawled from the mal intent focused in her direction. From behind the trunk of a spreading oak, she scanned the isolated meadow in search of the unknown threat.
Nothing stirred but shadow arms sprouting budding leaves.
It’d been years since she’d turned the tables on a predator intent on breaking her. Preparation for round two increased self-awareness and steadied the hand resting on her knife’s hilt.
Tonight’s mission to gather evidence had equated to a lark during the light of day. Under a full moon casting splintered shadows through fragmented clouds, the self-assigned task plunged her into doubt and uncertainty. She was an electrician—not a spy.
There! Approaching from the south side.
The dark shadow’s stealthy grace offered no indication of gender or intent. Neither Dylan nor Lonnie should’ve reached the trailer, yet.
$25 Amazon GC GIVEAWAY running Mar. 14- Apr 12, 2024
About the Author:
Reily Garrett is a writer, mother, and companion to three long coat German shepherds. When not working with her dogs, she's sitting at her desk with her furkids by her side.
Author of chilling suspense and snarky romance, her stories span the distance of romantic thrillers, paranormal romance, and erotic romance. Regardless of genre, each book delves into a dark and twisted imagination yet is tempered with romance and a touch of humor.
Reviews by Kirkus Reviews, San Francisco Bay Review, and BestThrillers.com best describe her work:
"This could be James Patterson, Lee Child, and Tess Gerritsen rolled into one, but the dark, twisted methods used by the serial killer could surprise even those readers..." - San Francisco Bay Review
"...steamy, seductive police procedural..." - BestThrillers.com
"...well-researched thriller that remains romantically genuine throughout." - Kirkus Review
Prior experience in the Military Police, private investigations, and as an ICU nurse gives her fiction a real-world flavor.
Visit her on
B@@K REVEAL: Devil Duet by J.L. Beck & C. Hallman #PreORDER
The Devil You Hate
J.L. Beck & C. Hallman
(The Devil Duet #1 )
Publication date: April 9th 2021
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Dark Romance, Romance
They call me “The Devil.”Deranged and violent.Gorgeous but frightening.I’m a businessman so when one of my debtors offers me his fiancé in exchange for a debt settled I figure why not.
Repayment comes in the form of a beautiful but haunted young woman.
The light in her tempts the darkness inside of me.Teases it, tortures it.
I want to hurt her.I want to break her.I want to keep her.Luckily for Celia she fails to see that there is no goodness in me and when she attempts to draw me in with her innocence, and sweet naive heart I thrive to show her the cruel monster I am.
--
The Devil You Know
J.L. Beck & C. Hallman
(The Devil Duet #1 )
Publication date: May 14th 2021
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Dark Romance, Romance
Description TBA
Author Bios:
J.L. Beck is a USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR, she has written over fifty different romance novels. She started her journey of writing back in 2014 and hasn't slowed down a second since then.
She's captivated by real romance, and loves reading about strong "ALPHA" males, as well as sassy heroines that know or may not know what they want. She is best known for delivering a happily ever after but has ended things on a cliffhanger a time or two.
When she's not typing away at her next book you can find her being a mom to her two adorable kiddos and wife to her high school sweetheart.
She's obsessed with Starbucks, social media, and is definitely more of a dog person than cat.
Author links:
Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / InstagramBorn and raised in Germany, Cassandra moved to the United States when she was eighteen. She always had a love for reading, that love slowly transpired into writing. She put fingers to the keyboard and started writing about the dark side of romance.
Cassandra is one half of the international bestselling author duo Beck & Hallman, who are most knows for the writing the Northwood University series.The pair also write under the pen name Jenna Reed.Author links:
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BOOK BLITZ: Seducing Mattie by Sahara Roberts #GIVEAWAY
Seducing Mattie
Sahara Roberts
(Blood Ties, #3)
Publication date: March 2nd 2021
Genres: Adult, Dark Romance
In my line of work, I know where the bodies are buried.This time, that knowledge has delivered danger to my doorstep.
After a cartel member goes missing, his disappearance is somehow traced back to me. That’s when Montoya–my brother’s business partner– bursts back into my life, vowing to protect me.
But I want nothing from him.
I watched my brother lose himself to the demands of the cartel, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to get swept up in the same web. In my younger days I fantasized about Montoya’s lips on mine. Now, I’m a grown woman who knows the price of giving in to those desires.
Unable to deter him, I find myself locked down with Montoya steadfast by my side. Can we escape the noose of danger tightening around my throat? Or will our magnetic attraction provide the nearing enemy with a weapon to wield against us?
**This is a Dark Mafia Billionaire Romance series containing mature themes, adult situations, and graphic violence. If you are not prepared to deal with this, please pass on the opportunity.
**The story starts with Stealing Iris, continues with Saving Bonnie, and ends in Seducing Mattie.
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—
CHAPTER ONE:
Mattie
“You’ve been a bad boy,” I whisper to the man whose body is laid out on the table before me. “A very bad boy.” I adjust the surgical light over the wound. “I know you’re in there.” I set my teeth on the tip of my tongue, as if doing so would help me concentrate, then find something solid. Squeezing the finger rings on the stainless-steel forceps, I grasp the fragment. “Gotcha.” With a steady hand, I extract the piece and study it under the added light. Bullet fragment. I don’t need to irrigate to know for sure. I release it into a nearby kidney tray with the other pieces. Metal hits metal with a satisfying ping.
“You should have been a surgeon.” Father Martinez, or the man currently known as Father Martinez, nods in approval from nearby. He’s tall, well-built, and muscular. A man who would look more at home in an underground fighting ring than he does on the pulpit. Though he’s managed to make a name for himself. Even with glasses and a mask covering half his face, he’s managed to more than doubled the size of the congregation.
I straighten my back, rolling my shoulders to work the stiff muscles. My satisfaction fades as I gaze down the table. “The best surgeon in the world wouldn’t have been able to help this guy.”
“With those wounds, he wasn’t meant to be saved by anyone but our Lord.” He makes a sign of the cross. “Don’t worry yourself over them, hija,” Father says in a sympathetic tone. “These men live a life of violence and anger. They expect to die in a similar manner.”
“He’s all yours,” I say, removing my face shield.
“You’re doing an excellent job.” Father steps forward, making the sign of the cross.
I stand to one side, absorbed in my own thoughts so I don’t disturb the ritual. Whether the deceased was religious or not, I’m spiritual and a big believer in karma. Someday it’ll be my body laid out on a table, and I hope to have a peaceful afterlife.
I’ve often wondered what goes through these men’s mind at the end. When I was a child I thought most killed with no regard for their own humanity. My perception changed when my brother was taken hostage by the cartel. I thought we’d lost him forever, but he came back. Though he came back different. Gone was the little boy who used to kick around a soccer ball with his friends and get in trouble in school. He was tortured and starved and thrown in to fight for his life. He learned to kill in order to survive. Then they taught him to kill for their own benefit.
It was the biggest mistake those people ever made.
I saw something different in him the night he met Bonnie. The simple fact she was alive raised a flag. Then he called me in while she was there to witness the cleaning. Tension was in the air, her life had been on the line, and her future was uncertain. While I hoped he wouldn’t turn his back on her, I didn’t expect for things to move along so well. My interference may or may not have had a hand in what happened, but Bonnie’s a smart girl. She found the man beneath the killer and reeled him in like a prize catch. I call that karma.
The thought of him finding someone seems so foreign. He’s always been my big brother. The guy who goes all-in with no regard for his own life. I suddenly realized he might actually have a heart, and she might be the one holding it.
I’ve always been alone, but I’ve never been lonely…until now. I’ve been hit with a longing I’ve never experienced. Despite swearing I would never give him a single thought, my mind turns to the man who befriended me when I was young. The one who shunned me when I was of age. The one who broke my heart. Montoya.
Author Bio:
Sahara Roberts caught the writing bug early in life. She enjoys writing Dark Romance and Romantic Suspense. Her days are filled with international trade issues (the legal kind) and her evenings writing steamy romance.
She is currently working on Blood Ties, a Dark Mafia Romance series, along with a Contemporary Romance series due out in 2021.
When she's not at her usual hangout, Savvy Authors, she enjoys socializing on Facebook and Instagram or watching The Blacklist, Pure, and My Hero Academia.
Sahara lives in South Texas with her beloved husband and their three furry overlords. She enjoys cooking, baking, and cake decorating, but she would certainly prefer to have someone else do the dishes.
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BOOK BLITZ: Earl of Brecken by Aubrey Wynne #GIVEAWAY
Earl of Brecken (Wicked Earls’ Club)
Aubrey Wynne
(Once Upon A Widow, #5)
Publication date: March 9th 2021
Genres: Adult, Historical Romance, Romance
A seductive Welsh earl on the brink of ruin. A wealthy cit in search of a hero.
Miss Evelina Franklin reads too many romance novels. She’s certain a handsome duke—or dashing highwayman—is in her future. In the meantime, Evie entertains herself with the admirers vying for her fortune.
The Earl of Brecken needs cash. His late father left their Welsh estate in ruin, and his mother will not let him rest until it is restored to its former glory. Notorious for his seductive charm, he searches the ballrooms for a wealthy heiress. His choices are dismal until he meets Miss Franklin. Guileless and gorgeous with an enormous dowry, she seems the answer to his prayers. Until his conscience makes an unexpected appearance.
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—
EXCERPT:
How the devil had he gone from a spy for His Majesty’s government to a sacrificial lamb? He hated this place, with its lemonade and thin, delicate finger sandwiches that would never fill a man’s stomach. Yet, here he stood in breeches instead of his usual trousers, on parade for all the simpering mamas and the silly, bird-witted girls. A cluster of females giggled under the musicians’ balcony, casting glances about the room and settling on him. I feel like a new hat in a shop window, he thought as he leaned against one of Almack’s white plaster pillars.
His mother had been correct, though. The patronesses had sent a voucher upon request. The infamous marriage mart now greeted him with enthusiasm. One visit to these infamous halls, and he was ready to sign on for the next war. Perhaps he’d start one. In the meantime, he shared the misery of several female wallflowers trying to blend into the woodwork. Madoc squinted at a tall blonde in a sea-green dress, attempting to hide behind a flimsy plant. He chuckled at her effort. Until she was joined by another petite lady with soft brown curls.
His heart jolted.
It was the skating goddess from Hyde Park. He’d put her out of his mind since his last trip to Town. She was dressed in a pale pink silk, with capped sleeves giving way to creamy shoulders and a hint of cleavage. Her caramel hair was swept up, paste gems twinkling from the light of the wall sconce. Wispy ringlets framed her heart-shaped face.
Simply exquisite, he thought as she took the long-legged blonde by the hand and pulled her away from the wall. Madoc realized the other woman had also been one of the party on the Serpentine. As if sensing his attention, she turned to look over her shoulder and caught his eye. Madoc held his breath. Those toffee-color orbs held him in a trance. The sounds around him muffled, and everything around him moved slower as they drank each other in. It could have been a moment or five.
He stepped forward, eager to make her acquaintance, then stopped. Don’t be a green-boy. You’ve never been introduced, he scolded himself. In that fleeting moment, she disappeared. Blast!
Author Bio:
Bestselling and award-winning author Aubrey Wynne is an elementary teacher by trade, champion of children and animals by conscience, and author by night. She resides in the Midwest with her husband, dogs, horses, mule, and barn cats. Obsessions include wine, history, travel, trail riding, and all things Christmas. Her Chicago Christmas series has received the Golden Quill, Aspen Gold, Heart of Excellence, and the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence and twice nominated as a Rone finalist by InD’tale Magazine.
Aubrey’s first love is medieval romance but after dipping her toe in the Regency period in 2018 with the Wicked Earls’ Club, she was smitten. This inspired her spin-off series Once Upon a Widow and the Scottish Regency series A MacNaughton Castle Romance with Dragonblade Novels.
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March 14, 2021
BOOK BLITZ: Absolute Silence by Jill Ramsower #GIVEAWAY
Absolute Silence
Jill Ramsower
(The Five Families, #5)
Publication date: March 10th 2021
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
The Lion’s Den club was better than I ever imagined and my worst nightmares, all combined.
I thought I was going to explore my darkest fantasies. Gain a better understanding of myself and discover what I’d been missing in life.
Instead, I made a deal with the devil.
I had hoped I wouldn’t see anyone I knew at the club.
Coming face-to-face with Filip De Luca was a worst-case scenario.
Filip was effortless power seething beneath a playboy exterior. A host of sharp edges disguised behind a cavalier grin. Inescapably alluring and devastatingly dangerous.
He promised he wouldn’t tell my father about seeing me at the club.I had his blessing to dip my toes into the dark waters of deviancy.
The catch?Filip would guide me on this journey.He would control every aspect of my exploration.Set every boundary and command my obedience to his rules.
I thought I could live with his terms.Gain the experience I wanted from a partner I could trust.What a naïve fool I’d been to think our bargain could ever be so simple.
**Absolute Silence is the fifth book in The Five Families series but can be read as a standalone novel. This book is a mafia romance containing adult themes and may not be suitable for sensitive readers.
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Get your copy today for only $2.99 through March (Reg $4.99)!
PLUS! Book 1 is FREE for a limited time!
—
EXCERPT:
“We need to talk. Privately,” I told him.
He nodded and motioned to the elevator. When his hand grazed my lower back, I stiffened. His touch was too seductive to be allowed. Not when I had more pressing matters to delve into. I would not allow lust to break down my resolve. Nothing would come between me and what I had to say.
I charged past the main room, not taking notice of the activities within. I had one purpose, one directive, and I wasn’t interested in distractions. When the door to his room closed behind us, a swell of words and emotions wedged a knot in my throat. I wasn’t the crying type. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d shed a tear, yet my nose began to sting with the telltale signs.
I took a deep, steadying breath before meeting Filip’s wary gaze. “How dare you blacklist me from another club.” My words were unsteady but still laced with venom. “You had no right.”
His eyes narrowed to angry slits. “You went to another club without even trying to talk through this with me first?”
“I don’t owe you anything. If I want to join another club, that’s my choice. My life.” I jabbed a finger at my chest, my voice growing stronger.
“I was trying to keep you safe, Camilla.”
“You were trying to control me!” I shouted back.
Filip charged, pinning me against the wall. His shallow breaths came unevenly through parted lips. The jagged flint in his eyes sparked as his gaze bore relentlessly deep into my soul. “I’ve always been perfectly honest with you about my need for control. I never pretended to be a saint, and I certainly didn’t give you the impression I was some kind of fucking Boy Scout. I do whatever is needed to protect what I value. My family. My home. You. Not to mention the fact that we made an agreement, and under the terms of our agreement, every inch of this body is mine. I’m not letting another man anywhere near you.”
“You don’t own me,” I hissed back, shoving my hands hard against his chest.
Filip clamped his hands around my wrists and subdued my assault with ease. “No, I don’t own you, but I do have a responsibility to protect you. You won’t always like my methods, but at least I know I’ve done my job.”
“It was a simple arrangement! It wasn’t like we signed in blood or something, which was evident since you’ve changed the terms. And besides, it sounds like this is more about you than me. It’s your duty that’s important to you, your ability to control those around you, and not my actual safety that’s so critical.”
His nostrils flared, and I got the sense I’d struck a nerve.
He took in three even breaths before delivering a devastating defense. “My mother was killed when I was only five,” he deadpanned in a hollow voice. “I spent the next half a decade being tossed from one relative to the next with zero stability in my life or control over what happened to me. I don’t just have a need for control; I can’t survive without it. When I feel the things that mean the most to me slipping from my control, I become crazed, and I can’t think straight. You, more than anything else, cause me to lose my fucking mind.”
Author Bio:
Award-winning author of contemporary and fantasy romance. With Jill’s books, you can count on confident heroines, plenty of steamy tension, and deliciously assertive leading men. There are no guarantees in life, but with her books, you know everything will work out in the end. However, a perfect ending would not be nearly as satisfying without a seemingly insurmountable challenge. Jill loves to add plenty of adversity in her stories, creating unforgettably dynamic characters and sneaky plot twists you will never see coming.
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March 13, 2021
BOOK BLITZ: We Have Till Monday by Cara Dee #GIVEAWAY
We Have Till Monday
Cara Dee
Publication date: March 11th 2021
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
When it seemed like everyone around Anthony Fender was reaching a goal or falling in love, he blamed an early midlife crisis for throwing him far outside of his comfort zone. Nashville was a long way from New York and his everyday life that’d lost all color lately.
Hopefully, this vacation would reenergize him, and maybe a cooking class with celebrity chef August King could end Anthony’s reign as the only Italian in Brooklyn who couldn’t boil water. But when he met August and his much younger husband Camden, every plan and all rational thought flew out the window. Their dynamic grabbed hold of Anthony and reeled him in before he even heard the magic word.
“Daddy.”
—
EXCERPT:
Taking a swig of my beer, I returned to my notifications to see if there was anything else. A couple new followers, one of whom was a student. I didn’t recognize the other follower, not the username or the profile photo. I clicked on the profile and felt my eyebrows crawl up toward my hairline.
Definitely a random NSFW user. I didn’t follow those. My account was essentially the official account for the Initiative, and God forbid a student checked out who I followed.
I scrolled down a little, because why not, and shifted in my seat. Someone was into kink. Gay kink, to boot. I had two friends who were into this too. By day, Greg and Moshe worked in accounting and education, and they raised two children together. When they had babysitters, Greg was a Daddy Dom who called Moshe his little boy.
All the photos on this account were black-and-white, not to mention heavily shadowed. Both sexy and beautiful. One hinted at a man kneeling in front of another, and he had his cheek resting against the dominant man’s thigh. Without revealing any details or features, the picture had peacefulness written all over it.
Must be a nice feeling.
Oh, hands. I clicked on a photo displaying two hands, one gripping the wrist of the other, and I squinted at a small tattoo. Hadn’t I seen that before? I assumed it was the submissive guy who had his wrist in someone’s hold, and he had a small snake that slithered up along the side of his thumb. I was sure I’d seen it before.
Author Bio:
I’m often awkwardly silent or, if the topic interests me, a chronic rambler. In other words, I can discuss writing forever and ever. Fiction, in particular. The love story—while a huge draw and constantly present—is secondary for me, because there’s so much more to writing romance fiction than just making two (or more) people fall in love and have hot sex.
There’s a world to build, characters to develop, interests to create, and a topic or two to research thoroughly.
Every book is a challenge for me, an opportunity to learn something new, and a puzzle to piece together. I want my characters to come to life, and the only way I know to do that is to give them substance—passions, history, goals, quirks, and strong opinions—and to let them evolve.
I want my men and women to be relatable. That means allowing room for everyday problems and, for lack of a better word, flaws. My characters will never be perfect.
Wait… this was supposed to be about me, not my writing.
I'm a writey person who loves to write. Always wanderlusting, twitterpating, kinking, cooking, baking, and geeking. There’s time for hockey and family, too. But mostly, I just love to write.
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BOOK BLITZ: Relentless by Jade West #GIVEAWAY
Relentless
Jade West
(Starcrossed Lovers Trilogy #3)
Publication date: March 9th 2021
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
I’m an heiress with a broken past. It should have been the end for me, but now my mortal enemy has become my savior. He hides me away from the world as if he can save me.
Lucian Morelli is a billionaire who doesn’t know how to feel anything.Except when he’s with me.Love between a Morelli and a Constantine will never survive. The war between both families turns into an inferno, consuming the entire city of Bishop’s Landing. The world is soaked in blood. No one is left standing, not even the couple who vowed their final breaths.
I would sacrifice everything for the man I love, and I just may have to.
RELENTLESS is the explosive finale of Jade West’s Starcrossed Lovers trilogy set in the world of Midnight Dynasty.
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—
EXCERPT:
“So what do we do?” I asked him. “We have to do something, right? There has to be something we can do, because I can’t go back there. I can’t, Lucian.”
“Every second is one step closer to our doom,” he told me. “We have to move. Quickly.”
I was nodding, frantic. “Yes, we move! We move anywhere! I don’t care where we go, just as long as I’m with you. Please, Lucian, let’s run. Let’s run now!”
His cell sounded out again. A message. He picked it up and I watched his face as he read it. I saw his mouth drop. “That’s my good friend, Hunter Sparro. He’s asking me what the hell is going on. Says everyone is talking about Lucian Morelli and Elaine Constantine and how I’ve been hunting you down.”
My head was spinning, trying to work out some miracle solution. I’d been a fool to think a single note would condemn the Power Brothers for wiping me out without anyone questioning a thing. Only I hadn’t cared about Lucian Morelli then. Not enough to attempt something less questionable.
Lucian’s fingers were still hitting his cell screen.
“I’ll make some calls,” he said. “Get an exit plan together.”
“An exit plan?”
“Fake IDs. We need to get out of here, overseas as soon as possible.”
“Okay. Right,” I said. “I guess you have loads of them, right? Fake IDs and stuff. I know people do. People like you, I mean.”
He sneered, but there was affection in it. “People like me. I love how you’ve been raised to believe that I really am some monster from the underworld and your family is on the other end of the spectrum. Believe me, sweetheart, your family will have as many fake IDs as mine will. They’re as fucked up in the evil shit as we are.”
I tipped my head. “Yeah, okay, well, I don’t have any fake IDs. I’ve never seen one in my life.”
He smirked. “I love your innocence.”
I rolled my eyes. “Not many people would say a party girl with a debt so huge it would cost her her life had a huge amount of innocence about her.”
“Still,” he said. “You’re innocent. I love you for it.”
Hearing those words from him made my soul sing. I love you. Lucian Morelli really loved me. A Morelli really did love a Constantine.
And a Constantine loved him right back.
“You know this is like some fucked-up version of Romeo and Juliet, right?” I said. “It’s like a modern-day Shakespeare, just a whole load less… picturesque.”
I adored his smile, even though it was a sad one. “Just a shame Romeo and Juliet both die at the end of it, isn’t it? Let’s do our best to make sure we don’t follow in their fucking footsteps.”
He finished his coffee and wandered away with his cell in his hand, fingers busy. I finished mine and headed through to the living room, daring to put the TV on to check out the latest news.
It was all still the same, pleas for information from my family and people saying random shit about where they’d seen me. It seemed the mainstream media wasn’t anywhere closer to the truth. I doubted they ever would be.
I could hear Lucian speaking, his voice low and his tone his usual icy pitch. I didn’t focus on what he was saying. There was a strange calmness in me somehow, even with the looming carnage. It was trust. I trusted Lucian to take care. Of me. Of us.
He was gone a while before he came through to the living room.
“The UK,” he said to me. “We’ll go to the UK. We’ll be running, but we stand more chance of surviving with the Atlantic as a buffer, at least.”
I hadn’t been to the UK since I was a little girl. We’d gone there as a family, smiling for the cameras as we checked out London with a few of the aristocrats we were such good family friends with. I’d been in awe of the place. I’d loved it. The London Eye and Buckingham Palace and the quaint countryside surrounding the city.
“Can we get there?” I asked him. “Will we manage to make the journey?”
“Only one way to find out.”
One thing was for sure, I’d risk my life trying.
Author Bio:
Jade has increasingly little to say about herself as time goes on, other than the fact she is an author, but she's plenty happy with this. Living in imaginary realities and having a legitimate excuse for it is really all she's ever wanted.Jade is as dirty as you'd expect from her novels, and talking smut makes her smile.She lives in the Herefordshire countryside with a couple of hounds and a guy who's able to cope with her inherent weirdness.She has a red living room, decorated with far more zebra print than most people could bear, and fights a constant battle with her addiction to Coca-Cola.Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Newsletter
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March 12, 2021
BOOK BLITZ: Private Property by Skye Warren #GIVEAWAY
Private Property
Skye Warren
(Rochester Trilogy #1)
Publication date: March 9th 2021
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
“This. Book. The characters. You will fall in love with them, and you will devour this book so quickly, you’ll end up wanting to read it all over again. I loved it!” – New York Times bestselling author Monica Murphy
When I signed up for the nanny agency, I didn’t expect a remote mansion on a windswept isle. Or a brooding billionaire who resents his new role. His brother’s death means he’s now in charge of a moody seven year old girl. She’s lashing out at the world, but I can handle her. I have to. I need the money to finish my college degree. As long as I can avoid the boss who alternately mocks me and coaxes me to reveal my darkest secrets.
“An incredible five star read! Skye Warren delivers an unconventional, yet utterly explosive romance in Private Property.” – USA Today bestselling author Jenika Snow
PRIVATE PROPERTY is a full-length contemporary novel from New York Times bestselling author Skye Warren about secrets and redemption. It’s the first book in the emotional Rochester trilogy.
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—
EXCERPT:
“Who are you?”
“Nobody. Absolutely fucking nobody.”
I glare at him. “Don’t mock me.”
He smiles. “I created a company. I didn’t really give a flying shit about shipping, but I saw there was an opening. It’s basically an Uber for commercial purposes. I didn’t care; just wanted the money. And I made it. That’s the dream, isn’t it? Make billions. Show the cheerleader back in high school that she missed out by not sucking my dick.”
“You’re disgusting.”
“If you think every man who tries to get rich doesn’t think about that, you’re fooling yourself. And I’m sure more than one man has imagined you that way.”
“I was no cheerleader.”
“No, but every boy who saw those lips thought the same thing that I do. You probably scurried through the high school halls, your books pressed to your chest to try to hide the fact that you were becoming a woman, but they could tell anyway, couldn’t they?”
I shift to stand up, but he’s somehow already in front of me. He looks down at me from above. I can’t see his expression. The firelight draws him in deep charcoal. My heart beats faster. I should be afraid of the way he’s standing over me, afraid of the way he’s blocking my only exit. Other men have done this. Other men have hurt me. I don’t want him to hurt me, but I want him to touch me. It’s a strange sensation. Something about hearing him say the word woman in relation to my body. I’m not a woman, not really. I’m something before that. A bud all tight and green and white, only the faintest hint of pink at the tip. That’s me. And he’s the heat from the sun, drawing me open. I look up at him, waiting to see what he’ll do next.
And what he does is run a finger across my jaw.
I shiver in the warm room.
It’s such a soft touch. A cannonball across the boundaries of what’s allowed between an employer and his employee, between the man of the house and the nanny. I hold my breath, waiting for him to tell me what to do. That seems like the real reward of this man, the upside of dealing with his meanness, that he will tell me what to do. Not like Noah, who looks and looks and looks. He wants me, but he doesn’t know any more than I do.
Mr. Rochester touches lightly along my shoulder. He reaches down to pick up my two hands, palms up. They look dark and gruesome in the firelight. The bleeding stopped after my shower, but the scabs look ugly. “These must hurt,” he murmurs.
“I don’t feel them,” I whisper. All I can feel is his hands holding mine from beneath.
“Because you’re hurting. Isn’t that right? You’re beyond hurting. You’re numb with it.”
That’s what I told him earlier. When you’re grieving like that, you can’t feel physical pain the same way. And it’s true. For years I’ve lived in this ice-cold space. He’s the only person who makes me feel anything. I want more of it even as I shrink away.
He lets my hands drop to my lap and walks out of the room.
Author Bio:
Skye Warren is the New York Times bestselling author of dangerous romance. Her books have sold over one million copies. She makes her home in Texas with her loving family, sweet dogs, and evil cat.
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March 11, 2021
B@@K REVEAL: Jagged Line Paradise by Brynn Ford
Jagged Line Paradise
Brynn Ford
Publication date: April 15th 2021
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
A single moment of human brutality marks the difference between heaven and hell. It’s a rapid free fall from paradise and the drop is catastrophic.
Back then, we were just a couple of dirt poor teenagers who had nothing except for our friendship. I wanted it to be more and one night I made my move. Everything was perfect then, but perfection is fleeting. For one brief shining moment, everything was beautiful, but an inconceivable nightmare sent us straight to hell…to depths from which we could never return.
I left our hometown—a place she once called paradise—to flee the aftermath of that brutal event that broke us so completely. I left her behind to pick up the broken pieces of her soul that had shattered irreparably. And now, I’m going back to face the wreckage that I thought I’d put behind me—my father’s gruesome legacy, the trauma of our past, and the girl who survived it all without me by her side.
She hates me now for leaving her behind and I don’t blame her.I don’t blame her, but I want her.I want her, even though I know I should stay away from her.
I could be dangerous.I am my father’s son, after all.
Content Warning: This book contains brief scenes of violence and is premised around a theme of trauma and healing.
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Author Bio:
Brynn Ford is an independent author of romance in all of its beautiful and sensually taboo forms. She is a lover of the dark, twisted, and playful and strives to bring the unmentionable aspects of passionate romance into her stories.
Brynn resides in the Midwest with her husband and sons, whom she expects will someday be embarrassed by their mom's books. When she isn't obsessively writing, you may find her binge watching favorite shows while eating far too much junk food or fanatically reading, always seeking to lose herself in the emotional roller coaster of a damn good story.
She is quite the idealist, despite her fascination with the wicked and warped aspects of humanity. Some of her stories may run out of words before a happily ever after, but she's a firm believer that her characters continue to live on outside the pages in the minds of her readers. Stories don't end just because there aren't anymore pages to turn.
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BOOK BLITZ: The Warrior King by Abigail Owen #GIVEAWAY
The Warrior King
Abigail Owen
(Inferno Rising #3)
Published by: Entangled: Amara
Publication date: March 9th 2021
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance
Meira Amon is the most reserved of the phoenixes, finding computers easier to deal with than people and their messy emotions. But she wants revenge against the Rotting King Pytheios for the murder of her parents just as much as her sisters. Offering herself as a queen for their ally, dragon shifter King Gorgon of the Black Clan, only makes sense.
Just one problem…
Samael Veles worked his lowborn ass off to become the fiercest warrior of the Black Clan. He has pledged his life to protect his king at all costs. Yet somehow, in the middle of war, he took one look at a woman in a reflection and gave up his heart. When that woman turns out to be the phoenix promised to mate his king and help bring peace to their kind, he has no choice but to accept it.
Until her fire unexpectedly destroys the king after they’ve wed. Now Samael must choose between his loyalty to his clan and protecting the queen who might be his mate from his people’s wrath, one of which will unlock a destiny no one could have ever imagined…
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—
EXCERPT:
No. Gods, don’t let this happen.
Meira tried to get closer to Gorgon, tried to take it back, to pull her fire back into herself. Bile stung her throat, blending with the vomit-inducing stench of burning flesh. The king stared back with shocked, awful, horror-filled eyes as her flames consumed him. He fell to his knees, and she could see him fighting the flames, his own black fire flaring out like sunspots only to be devoured by the red gold of her own fire in an instant.
One kiss was all it had taken.
They hadn’t even gotten to the undressing part, let alone the sex part. She’d turned on her flames and he’d kissed her lightly, so sweet. Except then he jerked back, a silent howl of pain contorting his features.
Already his bronze skin had turned charred before cooling to gray. Other parts continued to burn, glowing bright embers, and parts of him were sifting to ash. Like her mother in that field all alone.
“No, no, no,” Meira cried, hardly aware of the words pouring from her mouth.
She fell to her knees beside him, reaching in past the flames, which didn’t hurt her, to take his hand, already ashy against hers. “I’m so sorry. I’m here. Look at me.”
His eyes, already solid gray, shifted in his face as if searching. Could he see her? “I won’t let you die alone.”
A thunderous thud rattled the door. Samael.
By this time, most of the body had turned to ash.
Another slam against the door, this one causing a crack to appear in the thick wood. “Let me in!” Samael shouted, his voice muffled.
Meira forced herself to her feet. Her hands were shaking so hard, it took three tries for her to manage to unlock the door. She jumped back in time to get out of the way as Samael slammed it open. The door hit the wall behind with such force it embedded in the rock, small fragments of wood and stone falling to the floor, the gritty sound loud in the sudden silence as the man on the floor finished disintegrating and the fire disappeared all at the same time.
Samael ran to the heap of burned flesh and knelt beside it, he ran his fingers through the dust and ash then made a fist, seeming to grasp for control.
He won’t hurt me.
Meira shouldn’t be sure of that. He was Gorgon’s captain and would believe what his eyes were telling him. That she’d killed his king, the man he was sworn to protect.
“What have you done?” Samael asked in a low voice.
Hands to her mouth, Meira could only shake her head in horror. Was he asking her? Or asking his king?
Samael turned his head to spear her with a dark gaze full of rage, his fire sparking, like looking into an abyss that was reaching out for her. “What. Have. You. Done?”
No mistaking those growled words were directed her way. “It’s—” She had to stop and swallow around a throat so dry it felt coated in dust. Coated in a nameless man’s ashes. “It’s not—”
Samael bolted to his feet, crossing the room in two long strides, backing Meira up against the rock wall of the cavern the suite was carved from. “Don’t you dare say it’s not your fault.”
She should be terrified. This man had every right to kill her here and now. She’d heard many of Ladon’s men speak in hushed tones of respect about Samael’s skills when it came to killing. A rational person would be cowering and begging for her life.
But part of her she didn’t know even existed refused to be that woman. Not in front of him.
Samael’s emotions, released from their bonds, swirled and eddied around her like a riptide—anger, grief, blame. And one other, above all others. Protectiveness.
For her? Or his clan?
Author Bio:
Multi-award-winning paranormal romance author, Abigail Owen, loves plots that move hot and fast, feisty heroines with sass, alpha heroes with heart, a dash of snark, and oodles of sexy shifters! Other titles include wife, mother, Star Wars geek, ex-competitive skydiver, spreadsheet lover, Dr. Seuss quoter, eMBA, organizational guru, Texan, Aggie, and chocoholic.
Abigail grew up consuming books and exploring the world through her writing. She attempted to find a practical career related to her favorite pastime by earning a degree in English Rhetoric (Technical Writing). However, she swiftly discovered that writing without imagination is not nearly as fun as writing with it.
Abigail currently resides in Austin, Texas, with her own personal hero (who she totally married!) and their two children, who are growing up way too fast.
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