Aubrey Wynne's Blog, page 23
May 26, 2023
Drink Wine and Be Beautiful by Kimberly Sullivan with excerpt and giftcard giveaway
Drink Wine and Be Beautiful
Kimberly Sullivan
Publication date: May 26th 2023
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Women’s Fiction
Italian Tales of love, betrayal, longing, desire – and hope
Italy serves as the backdrop for stories of Italian women and expatriate women living in Italy.
A freak snowstorm in Rome changes the travel plans of two women, touching their lives in ways they could never have imagined. An ambitious Italian professional working in Brussels rails inwardly at her privileged boss, until fate presents her with a rare opportunity. A long desired trip to Bali, Indonesia serves as a needed chance for introspection. A cautious housewife in Rome thinks back to a fateful missed connection in Florence. A first-time mother feels debilitating guilt for not bonding with her newborn, until an elderly neighbor provides her with a new perspective.
The twenty-one stories in this collection follow women’s lives as they confront betrayal and love, alienation and community, despair and-ultimately-hope.
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EXCERPT:
Snake Charmers and Donkey Carts
Marrakech
THE HAWKERS’ CRIES FILLED THE SQUARE, the guttural sounds of Arabic throbbing in Manuela’s ears. All around her, men yelled out in that strange language. Men were everywhere. They brushed past her in the marketplace crowds, and she shrank back. Unfamiliar smells filled the air.
She clung to Adriano’s hand as they walked through the Jemaa el-Fna square, willing herself not to cry. A cobra reared up his ugly head, its black tongue flickering, only a few feet from where she stood. She bit her tongue to keep herself from screaming. The snake swayed from side to side as the snake charmer played music on his pipe. A fat man in dirty robes approached her with another snake, trying to wrap it around her neck.
She stumbled backward, afraid she might faint, but thankfully Adriano was pulling her away, toward the dark, labyrinthine streets of the souk. Here she would do battle with the scooters and the donkey carts, but at least there were no snake charmers poised to place a slimy, wriggling serpent around her neck in exchange for coins.
Manuela breathed in deeply. It was all too much. The blood coursed through her veins at double-speed. Her heart pounded in fear and revulsion. She leaned in closer to Adriano, his comforting solidity managing to calm her and provide her with the courage she lacked in this odd city.
“Min fadlak,” said a robed man, indicating his wares.
Manuela instinctively shrunk from his attentions, but Adriano stepped closer, examining the delicate lamps shining in the dark marketplace. Their intricate patterns cast colorful, elaborate illuminations through inky night sky. Even she could recognize its mystic beauty.
“Kam else’er?” said Adriano.
The two men began haggling over the price, and Manuela stood silently, a spectator to the show. Life was a spectacle here, but one she took no pleasure in observing.
Three days into her holiday in Marrakech, Manuela felt only anxious and confused. The streets were too narrow. She had to remain vigilant not to step in the droppings left behind after the donkey carts passed. There were too many people pressed too closely together. People stood so close when they spoke to you. Adriano told her it was rude to step back, but she couldn’t help herself. The yells in Arabic sounded harsh and threatening to her ears. The sights and sounds, the colors and smells were too exotic.
Manuela could only relax when they returned to their riad in the evening, though even there she could not completely escape the lingering sense of foreignness. The wooden keyhole doors were too small, and she kept bumping her head on their frame. The sweet smell of spices filled the apartment with a cloying scent she was unable to banish, even after opening the windows for long periods of time in the hopes of airing the room.
She would step into the shower and rinse the city’s dirt and grime from her body, before enveloping her skin in a soft robe. When Adriano pushed her gently down to the bed, a sense of familiarity would calm her, and she could temporarily forget all about the stresses of this chaotic city.
Yet each morning she felt drained and exhausted once again, unable to face another day, desperate to return home, where things were safe and familiar. She longed to hear Italian spoken in the squares, to enter a restaurant and know that familiar foods were on the menu, to be capable of conversing with the shopkeepers.
To belong.
But what could she do? Adriano seemed to thrive in this new environment. He craved exotic places. Where had he learned to count in Arabic? He and the hawker were aggressively shouting figures back and forth, and she saw the spark of excitement in Adriano’s eyes. For her, this city was hell on earth. For him, an exotic tale out of Arabian Nights.
She breathed in deeply once again, attempting to quell the panic attack she could feel working its way through her body. The hawkers came closer with their oils and their soaps and their leather slippers. She closed her eyes and suppressed the desire to scream.
Back home, her days were spent cutting through the red tape of property purchases in Tivoli and placating demanding clients. Her hard-earned vacation was supposed to relax her, not cause greater stress.
She’d begged Adriano to go back to the Sardinian resort they’d visited this past spring, with its well-designed bungalows, soft, white sand beaches, perfectly ordered rows of umbrellas and beach chairs, and crystalline waters beckoning just before them.
Just smelling the salt air caused a sense of well-being to wash over her body. She’d thought Adriano would book the tickets for the resort, as they discussed. It was charged to her account, after all. Instead, he stopped off at her house with two tickets to Marrakech.
“You’re going to love it,” he said, kissing her on the neck. “It will be an adventure. I swear, you’ll never want to come back to Italy.”
She sighed. Not wanting to return to Italy wasn’t the problem. It was Morocco where she never wished to set foot again.
Author Bio:
Kimberly grew up in the suburbs of Boston and in Saratoga Springs, New York, although she now calls the Harlem neighborhood of New York City home when she’s back in the US. She studied political science and history at Cornell University and earned her MBA, with a concentration in strategy and marketing, from Bocconi University in Milan.
Afflicted with a severe case of Wanderlust, she worked in journalism and government in the US, Czech Republic and Austria, before settling down in Rome, where she works in international development, and writes fiction any chance she gets.
She is a member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association (WFWA) and The Historical Novel Society and has published several short stories and three novels: Three Coins, Dark Blue Waves and In The Shadow of The Apennines.
After years spent living in Italy with her Italian husband and sons, she’s fluent in speaking with her hands, and she loves setting her stories in her beautiful, adoptive country.
Website / Goodreads / Instagram / Twitter / Bookbub
GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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May 22, 2023
A Summer With the Hermit King by William Todd
Welcome to the tour for A Summer with the Hermit King by William Todd. Read on for more details!
A Summer with the Hermit King
Publication Date: December 2022
Genre: YA/ Cozy Mystery
Year: 1888. Diminutive sixteen-year-old Auggie Rose decides he can no longer take the physical and mental abuse at the hands of other boys living at the orphanage. He decides to leave and cast his lot living as a recluse on the nearby beautiful Presque Isle, a peninsula on the shores of Lake Erie. After sneaking out in the middle of the night, on his way to the peninsula, he witnesses a murder at the hands of ‘the man with a limp’.The murderer initially does not know he was witnessed. Not knowing what else to do that wouldn’t jeopardize him being sent back to the orphanage, Auggie tries as best he can to put the incident out of his head and so begins his new life adjusting to the wilds of Presque Isle. To that end, Auggie is helped along by Joe Root, a hermit himself and a curiosity among the locals, who has been living on the beaches of Presque Isle for decades. He is also befriended by kitchen help, Maisy, who works at a resort at the entrance to the peninsula. Over time, his relationship with Maisy blossoms into more than just friendship as he adjusts to his new life. During this time, he also slowly begins to realize that the murder he had witnessed is part of a larger plan that has something to do with the peninsula itself. Auggie inadvertently inserts himself into the investigation and is befriended by Will Weston, the detective investigating the murder. As businesses around Presque Isle are being bought then shuttered by a mysterious businessman, one of these owners is murdered. It is then that Auggie begins to realize that whatever nefarious plan ‘the man with the limp’ has, it is putting his life and the lives of those closest to him in mortal danger.
About the Author
William Todd has been writing for over 20 years, primarily gothic horror stories in the style of Lovecraft, Poe, and Shelley. Loving all things Victorian, he was inspired to read (and later to write) by Arthur Conan Doyle. The first book he ever read cover to cover was Hound of the Baskervilles, which also fed his appetite for horror. William Todd has written two short story compilations of gothic horror, Dead of Night and Beyond the Gossamer Veil and one sci-fi/horror hybrid genre Something Wicked This Way Comes. He has also written multiple Sherlock Holmes pastiches, Murder in Keswick, A Reflection of Evil, Mystery of the Broken Window, and Elementary—a short story compilation, which were picked up for republish by Spellbound Publishing, LTD. Three of his short stories were part of MX Publishing’s New Sherlock Holmes Stories with proceeds going to a charity for special needs children housed in Undershaw, the very home Conan Doyle penned Hound of the Baskervilles. Writing for the books was a special privilege because his daughter, Alina, has Down Syndrome. In 2022, he published his first YA/historical novel A Summer with the Hermit King, which was an Amazon #1 New Release, and he has started yet another Sherlock Holmes compilation. When not writing (which isn’t often!) William spends his time walking the trails and beaches of Presque Isle in his home of Erie, Pennsylvania, and spending time with his family.
Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Book Tour Schedule
May 22nd
http://rrbooktours.com – Kick-Off
https://aubreywynne.com/ – Feature
https://www.instagram.com/brandikaedesigns/ – Feature
https://bookwormbunnyreviews.blogspot.com/ – Feature
https://christinebialczak.com/ – Feature
May 23rd
https://www.instagram.com/louturnspages/ – Review
https://www.instagram.com/caffeinatedbookowl/ – Review
https://lshadowlynauthor.com/ – Feature
https://www.instagram.com/okuta.otherside/?hl=id – Feature
http://ramblingmads.com – Feature
May 24th
http://www.thefaeriereview.com – Review
https://www.tiktok.com/@bratzlibrary?_t=8YgzeawOzHu&_r=1 – Review
http://readsandreels.com – Feature
May 25th
https://www.instagram.com/countrymamaswithkids/ – Review
https://bforbookreview.wordpress.com – Feature
May 26th
https://www.instagram.com/amanda_coffee_books/ – Review
https://www.instagram.com/books_coffee_and_pao/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D – Review
https://www.instagram.com/bingingbooksandcoffee/ – Feature
https://www.instagram.com/read.em.if.you.got.em/ – Feature
Book Tour Organized By:
May 19, 2023
New Release – Pity Date by Whitney Dineen with an excerpt and giveaway
Pity Date
Whitney Dineen
(Pity Series, #1)
Publication date: May 18th 2023
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance
Faith
I should’ve known it wouldn’t work out.
In all my twenty-nine years, life has never been smooth sailing when a man was involved. Astor Hill was everything I’ve ever wanted in a partner—handsome, successful, and interested in me. Until he started cheating. The cherry on the sundae is finding out the truth less than two weeks before we’re supposed to stand up for our best friends at their wedding.
When a staggeringly good-looking and kind stranger comes to town and offers to take me to the wedding, I jump at his proposal. Who cares if he’s gay? Astor doesn’t need to know that.
Teddy
She thinks I’m gay?!
I’m taking a vacation from Hollywood and going back to Elk Lake. My grandfather hasn’t been doing well after Gram died and he needs my support. Luckily, I’m between blockbuster movies so I can make the time.
My first stop is Rosemary’s Bakery for one of the gingersnaps I remember so fondly from my childhood. The only problem is that the girl at the counter has eaten them all. After spilling my tea on me, she bursts into tears and tells me her troubles. I should be annoyed but I’m oddly charmed.
I know what it’s like to be dumped by a cheater, so I do the only thing I can think of: I offer to take her to the wedding to make her ex jealous. Unfortunately, with the help of the tabloids, things quickly spiral out of control…
—
EXCERPT:
Faith
I’ve had an invisible target painted on me that only members of the opposite sex can see. And boy are they determined to shoot me through the heart.
It started with Bobby McEntire in the first grade. My best friend, Anna, used to help me chase him around the playground as a way of declaring my undying devotion. He missed the point entirely and tripped me so that I fell face first into a mud puddle. That single act of war ended any love I’d once felt for him.
In the fourth grade, Kenny Franks caught my eye. He wasn’t the typical boy girls pined for, which made me think he could possibly share my feelings. He had moderately bucked teeth, a nose that turned up just enough to appear porcine, and he wore glasses. Surely, I was enough to catch the heart of one such as him.
Alas, when I asked him to be my boyfriend on Sadie Hawkins Day that same year, he laughed in my face. Laughed. At me. The disdain I felt lasted through our senior year in high school. When he approached me at a friend’s graduation party and asked why I hated him so much, I reverted to childish ways and threw my drink on him before walking away. How dare he forget his transgression?
Then there was that tourist I kissed—my first!—at a beach party the summer before my freshman year. I never got his name, nor did I see him any summers after that. I can’t really say what I felt for him was love, but a definite hormonal reaction took place. Also, I may have pretended that he was my long-distance boyfriend at Katie Ramsey’s big back to school sleepover the week before we entered the hallowed halls of Elk Creek High School. Go, Crappies!—as in the fish, not the poop emoji.
In high school, I was all about Adam Sanchez. Adam was so far out of my league, I knew nothing could ever come of us, but that didn’t stop my fantasies. I spent the whole four years imagining scenarios where he would claim me for his own. My favorite was the one where he strode into the lunchroom like a rock star taking center stage. He stopped right in front of me before loudly declaring my perfection to one and all. Then he got down on one knee and asked me to homecoming/prom/the spring formal—basically, whichever dance was on the horizon. None of that ever happened.
Obviously.
Junior year in college, I thought I’d found my life partner in Trevor Blake. Trevor was your typical tall, dark, and handsome specimen. He was sporty and studious. But more important than both of those things, he had a sense of humor that kept me laughing. The only problem was that after a year of dating, Trevor still hadn’t put any serious moves on me. When confronted with why, he claimed it was because he wanted us to save ourselves until we were married.
He saw us getting married, so, yay! But also, we did not live in Victorian times, so it was kind of hard to trust that was the real reason. In retrospect, I’m hugely grateful I didn’t believe him. A happenstance that was firmly cemented when I caught him making out with his roommate at a kegger their fraternity was throwing. As far as gaydar goes, I didn’t have any.
I dated a few different guys in my twenties, but none of them sent my heart into atrial fibrillation. I simply enjoyed going out with them while I was waiting for “the one.”
Enter Astor Hill. I knew he was it for me the night we met. One look at his sandy-haired Leonardo de Caprio (from Titanic) savoir faire, and my heart rate took off like a particularly vigorous Fourth of July fireworks display. Boom, boom, boom! Everything about him shouted he was destined to be Mr. Faith Reynolds. Although, I’m sure I would have taken his last name instead. I mean, Faith Hill worked so well for, you know … Faith Hill, that I was sure to have equal success. Even though I was no singer …
But then Astor showed his true colors and once again I was left behind. That’s when I should have probably converted to Catholicism and committed my life to God, a la the convent life.
I might have actually done that too, had it not been for the pity date …
Author Bio:
Whitney loves to laugh, play with her kids, bake, and eat french fries — not always in that order.
Whitney is a multi-award-winning author of romcoms, non-fiction humor, and middle reader fiction. Basically, she writes whatever the voices in her head tell her to.
She lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her husband, Jimmy, where they raise children, chickens, and organic vegetables.
Gold Medal winner at the International Readers’ Favorite Awards, 2017.
Silver medal winner at the International Readers’ Favorite Awards, 2015, 2016.
Finalist RONE Awards, 2016.
Finalist at the IRFA 2016, 2017.
Finalist at the Book Excellence Awards, 2017
Finalist Top Shelf Indie Book Awards, 2017
Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram
GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
—
May 18, 2023
It’s a MacNaughton Castle Romance Sale!
It’s a hot sale you won’t want to miss! Deception and Desire is FREE for four days only – plus the next two books in the series are just #99cents. One Click before May 22!
Deception and Desire https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08...
Allusive Love https://amzn.to/3tDVfSf
Bonny Pretender https://amzn.to/33P8GnD
May 15, 2023
The Timewalker Archives by Emily Vanderbent special edition preorder
This gorgeous special edition by Emily VanderBent is now available for preorder and contains both Crimson Time and Fractured Past. The Timewalker Archives will make a beautiful addition to any bookshelf! This special edition includes:
An exclusive cover designed by @jeaninecroft with diamond 3D letteringFull color character art by @colouranomalyColored pages including a signing page, book playlist, note from the author, and title page3 bonus scenes (one woven directly into the story and two in the book’s back matter told from Kolt and Teo’s perspective)In-text graphics including articles, letters, and newspaper clippingsExclusive trace pages designed by @marissamillerbooks
The Timewalker ArchivesExpected Publication Date: May 25, 2023Genre: YA Historical FantasyTropes
Time TravelHistorical DescendantsSecret SocietyHidden AbilitiesDeadly CompetitionSlow BurnForced ProximityRivals to LoversUnlikely alliances, ancient lineages, and a rich history shrouded in secrets propel Adelaide Anson in her search for the only thing that matters—the truth behind the fire that claimed her parents’ lives.
When a mysterious letter appears promising answers, she finds herself joining the exclusive time traveling order of the Red Rose Society. As she makes her way from the French Revolution to the American Civil War and back again, Adelaide is left wondering who she can trust, and more importantly, who she’ll be. With danger and dashing companions at every turn, her emerging ability to see fragments of history leads her on a path to uncover the answers she seeks—and some she did not ask for.
While time unravels in ways she never thought possible, she’s forced to examine her role in history’s making. But as she quickly learns, the truth comes with a price and some secrets are better left buried.
Adelaide’s tale of twisted time will leave her asking the ultimate question—is protecting the past worth sacrificing your future? The Timewalker Archives Vol. 1 combines Crimson Time and Fractured Past, the first two books in a young adult historical fantasy series perfect for fans of NBC’s Timeless and Alyson Noël’s Stealing Infinity.
Preorder Here!
About the Author
Emily VanderBent is a natural-born storyteller. As a writer and historian, she desires to celebrate women in history. Through her books, VanderBent uses elements of history to creatively engage readers with the past. She hopes her writing will encourage young women to fearlessly pursue their passions and own the narrative of their individual story.
While living in the real world, Emily dreams of days long past and stories yet to be told.
Instagram: @emilyvanderbent_author
Twitter: @emvan6
TikTok: @emilyvanderbent_author
Facebook: Emily VanderBent: Author
Book Blitz Organized By:
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HOW TO BURY YOUR DOG by Eva Silverfine with excerpt and gift card giveaway
How to Bury Your Dog
by Eva Silverfine
GENRE: Literary/Upmarket fiction
BLURB:
Lizzy has largely retreated from the world: she tends her adopted strays and goes to work, but she has forsaken lifelong pastimes and declines invitations from old friends. On the day she buries Happy, the abandoned basset hound she adopted years before, she learns a real estate developer is threatening the heart of her rural community—a tranquil pond and a relict stand of hemlocks. For Lizzy this is a magical place, hidden from the modern world.
Coaxed by an old friend to join a group fighting the development, Lizzy is reluctant—she wants to avoid both hope and him. But she realizes she can no longer keep the outside world at bay. As the battle over the development unfolds, Lizzy opens herself to two young neighbors who share her love of the natural environment—an awkward sixteen-year-old and an inquisitive ten-year-old. And as Happy’s elements return to the earth, buried memories find their way to the surface in increasingly curious ways.
Excerpt:
Lizzy had planted another two rows of green beans late in the summer, and now the broad-leaved bushy plants dangled their tender fruit. She had relocated her grandmother’s recipe for dilly beans, and she needed young, tender beans to make it. Systematically working down the first row, she pulled the beans from the stems gently so that she wouldn’t pull the entire plant from the damp soil. Beans were still coming on, and she might be able to harvest more if the weather held another week or so.
The ground had largely soaked up the rain from the previous night, but the garden was a bit muddy. Toward the end of the second row, she stretched her arm to reach under the last bean plant and scraped her finger against something sharp—a thorn. She looked at her finger; a thin line of blood marked the cut.
Lizzy examined her hands—they were full of scrapes. She had dug in the earth this past spring so that she could again witness green emerging from seed, food coming forth from the earth, life continuing as it had for a time she could not fathom even if she could ascribe a number. Her hands held the scars of returning to gardening; they were scars of living. None of them—her hands, the vegetation, the earth’s surface—passed through life without scars. Bean leaves grew with the trenches of leaf miners embedded, oak leaves with the galls of wasps. These leaves persevered, mostly; they were scarred but still able to perform their miraculous photosynthesis.
She looked at the cut again. It stung. She had better go clean it.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
From living above her parents’ hardware store in Brooklyn, New York, to living a mile down a gravel road in semi-rural Texas with her husband, sons, and the local wildlife, Eva Silverfine has explored a variety of urban to rural landscapes. On that journey, she earned two degrees in the environmental sciences, worked in an entomological research lab, and eventually retooled as a copyeditor. She freelances for several academic presses and writes personal narrative and fiction in the in-between spaces. Her short fiction has appeared in a variety of online journals; she has published a collection of essays, Elastic Walls: From Brooklyn to Texas and Points in Between; and her novels, How to Bury Your Dog and Ephemeral Wings, have been published by Black Rose Writing. Find her at www.evasilverfine.com and on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100034819616151
https://www.instagram.com/evasilverfine/
https://twitter.com/EvaSilverfine
Shop Now on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/How-Bury-Your-Dog-Silverfine/dp/1684338212/
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Zora Books Her Happy Ever by Taj McCoy
Zora Books Her Happy Ever After
Taj McCoy
Publication date: April 25th 2023
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance
“Doesn’t miss a romantic beat . . . McCoy expertly crafts a well-balanced love triangle between empathetic and passionate characters—and delivers plenty of comic relief in the form of Zora’s lovable matchmaking grandmother.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
A heart-pounding, curvy romance about an indie bookstore owner who finds herself in a love triangle when she meets the author she’s had a crush on for years…and his best friend.
Zora has committed every inch of her life to establishing her thriving DC bookstore, making it into a pillar of the community, and she just hasn’t had time for romance. But when a mystery author she’s been crushing on for years agrees to have an event at her store, she starts to rethink her priorities. Lawrence is every bit as charming as she imagined, even if his understanding of his own books seems just a bit shallow. When he asks her out after his reading, she’s almost elated enough to forget about the grumpy guy who sat next to her making snide comments all evening. Apparently the grouch is Lawrence’s best friend, Reid, but she can’t imagine what kind of friendship that must be. They couldn’t be more different.
But as she starts seeing Lawrence, and spending more and more time with Reid, Zora finds first impressions can be deceiving. Reid is smart and thoughtful—he’s also interested. After years of avoiding dating, she suddenly has two handsome men competing for her affection. But even as she struggles to choose between them, she can’t shake the feeling that they’re both hiding something—a mystery she’s determined to solve before she can find her HEA.
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo / Google Play
Author Bio:
Oakland-born law grad, Taj McCoy, is committed to writing stories championing Black and biracial women of color, plus-sized protagonists, Black love, Black joy, and characters with a strong sense of sisterhood and familial bonds.
Taj started writing as a small child, enjoying the success of her first publications in elementary school. Since then, her dream has always been to become a professional writer. As a law student, she attempted her first novels and joined the Twitter writing community. Though Taj has spent more than ten years working in higher education administration, she continued to pursue her goal and ultimately finished her first novel in 2018, securing her agent in 2019.
When she’s not writing, Taj may be on Twitter boosting other marginalized writers, trying to zen out in yoga, sharing recipes on her website, binge-watching her favorite reality tv, or cooking private supper club meals for close friends. Catch her producing and co-hosting the Fat Like Me Podcast, which celebrates body diversity in publishing and entertainment, or watch her join forces with several writer friends on Sundays for the Better Than Brunch video podcast. When time permits, she serves as the #DVdebut Program Manager for Diverse Voices, Inc. and as a mentor for 2020 Pitch Wars.
Website / Goodreads / Instagram / Twitter
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May 5, 2023
EDEN by Bobbi Smith with excerpt and giveaway
Eden
by Bobbi Smith
GENRE: Historical Romance
BLURB:
“Just know that, no matter what, I truly do love you.”
Those words and a Bible were all that remained of Logan when Eden awoke. Their romance had been born amid the ravages of war. Love had struck Eden and she had surrendered to it. She had exchanged wedding vows with the handsome stranger who had saved her life, but she realized now that their life together had been a lie. Her husband was a Yankee spy, who had used her to infiltrate the Confederate cause. The hardening of her heart should have been as rapid as the loss of it, but one question remained—Had he left her with a final truth?
Excerpt
As Eden stared up at Logan, she could see the concern in his expression and she was touched by it. Since he was a minister, though, she didn’t think he’d appreciate what she’d done to those Yankees that night and she didn’t want to tell him. “Nothing’s wrong, so you can go.”
“But, Eden—why are you disguised this way?” Logan wanted to find out what she’d been up to, but the sight of her wearing pants and a shirt that was partially unbuttoned distracted him. He grew irritated with himself and struggled to keep his focus on her possible spying. “If you’re in trouble, I can help you.”
“This was something I had to do myself.” She looked up at him and found herself lost in his dark-eyed gaze. The intensity of his regard left her breathless and very much aware of him as a man.
“It had to have been dangerous if you dressed this way. What if something had happened to you?” Logan moved closer to her, knowing she was like no other woman he’d ever known.
“Nothing happened to me, and those two Yankees didn’t look very dangerous when I got done with them.”
“What did you do?”
“Considering your vocation, the less you know, the better.’
His expression turned fierce, and he wasn’t feeling religious right then. “My vocation calls me to save souls and worry about innocents who find themselves in trouble.”
At his words, she looked up at him, her heartbeat quickened and she found herself remembering the kiss they’d shared in the garden.
“I’m not in trouble.”
“Thank God you’re safe.” Logan reached out and took her in his arms and kissed her.
Reason told Logan this was crazy. This was Eden. She might be his sworn enemy. He told himself, too, that he was supposed to be Reverend Matthews, but his desire for her was too powerful. Nothing mattered at that moment except that Eden was in his arms, returning his kiss with equal fervor.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
After working as a department manager for Famous-Barr, and briefly as a clerk at a bookstore, Bobbi Smith gave up on career security and began writing. She sold her first book to Zebra in 1982. Since then, Bobbi has written over 40 books and several short stories. To date, there are more than five million of her novels in print. She has been awarded the prestigious Romantic Times Storyteller of the Year Award and two Career Achievement Awards. Her books have appeared on numerous bestseller lists. When she’s not working on her novels, she is frequently a guest speaker for writer’s groups. Bobbi is mother of two sons and resides in St. Charles, Missouri with her husband and three dogs.
Website: https://bobbismithauthor.com/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13375.Bobbi_Smith
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Defiant-Bobbi-Smith-ebook/dp/B009NXLUKE
Buy Link:
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Eden-Bobbi-Smith-ebook/dp/B00EW40O8I
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New Normal by Michelle Paris
Welcome to the tour for Michelle Paris’ new book, New Normal. Read on for more details!
New Normal
Publication Date: May 2nd, 2023
Genre: Women’s Fiction/ Light-Hearted
Publisher:Apprentice House Press
After the sudden death of her husband, Emilie Russell just wants to feel normal. But being a middle-aged widow doesn’t come with a how-to manual. Her well-meaning friend, Viv, believes the cure to all that ails is simple: a new man. So, she sets Emilie up with her handsome and charming new neighbor, widower Colin. There’s only one problem with the plan—Colin is gay.
Emilie embarks on a rollicking journey of self-discovery with Colin as her mentor and best friend. From learning to swipe right without cringing while midlife dating in constricting shapeware to cougar moments in Key West, Emilie reenters the dating pool with both humorous and soul-crushing results.
With the encouragement of her friends, including a new furry one, plus a little therapy, Emilie begins forging a new life, one where she exchanges tears for laughter, and one that maybe—just maybe—includes the courage to find love again.
Add to Goodreads
Available on Amazon
About the Author
Michelle Paris is a Maryland writer who believes laughter can heal the heart. Her debut novel, New Normal is loosely based on her own experience as a young widow. Her personal story of overcoming grief was featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. And her essays about grief and mid-life dating have appeared in multiple editions of the Chicken Soup for the Soul inspirational book series as well as in other media outlets. She is a member of the Romance Writers of America, the Maryland Writers’ Association, and the Women’s Fiction Writers’ Association. Currently, Michelle is enjoying chapter two of her life with her new husband, Kevin, who keeps her from being a cat lady but only on technicality.
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May 1, 2023
Undertaking Love by Megan Montgomery – read an excerpt and enter the giveaway
Undertaking Love
Megan Montgomery
Publication date: April 1st 2023
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Bethany West upgraded her lucrative career as a sex worker for her dream job as a death worker when she partnered at Smythe & Co. Mortuary. She expected her eco-friendly innovations and death positive attitude to blow the roof off the Victorian-era relic. But that was seven months ago, and during that time, she’s only managed to piss off her embittered business partner, George Smythe, a man dead set on maintaining the status quo and driving Bethany out of his namesake business.
When the pair reluctantly travel together to a mortuary conference in New Orleans—and compete in dueling embalming demonstrations—George finally recognizes the value of Bethany’s business model for the first time. He’s also starting to recognize a growing attraction to his blonde bombshell business partner. Meanwhile, Bethany learns the truth behind George’s cold contempt, and it’s much worse than she thought, stemming not from a single incident, but from the constant on-call status, the compassion fatigue, and the overwhelming stress of the job.
Bethany has 4 days to crack open his tough outer shell to reveal the compassionate man she knows is inside, and she has a plan, but unless George learns to open his heart and lean on her, at the risk of succumbing to their cremation-level attraction in a dangerous way, he’ll jeopardize both the business and their hearts by refusing the true partnership they both need.
Excerpt
Bethany
My body was broken.
I blinked hard to lubricate my eyes, struggling to stay awake behind the wheel. The vent blasted tepid air into my face, trying its damnedest to desiccate my skin and sabotage the efforts of my latest hyaluronic acid injections.
My stomach churned from too much coffee and too little sleep.
A sweat broke out under my arms and boobs.
Great. Now I could smell all that coffee excreting from my pores and ruining my favorite silk blouse.
I glanced at the man in the passenger seat.
George’s pores were looking perfectly dry, as usual. He wouldn’t think of sweating, even from the most strenuous effort.
I’d seen him pull a rotund, decomposing man out of that impossible space between the toilet and the bathtub and plop him on a mortuary cot in an un-air-conditioned, third-floor apartment in the middle of August without breaking a sweat.
The man never had a hair out of place, was never not freshly shaven, and he never forgot to button his suit jacket when he stood, or unbutton it when he sat.
And he was a consummate professional—as long as you didn’t work with him.
And as long as your name wasn’t Bethany West.
I breathed in a lungful of stale air. Even now, in the mortuary van, George managed to smell fresh, yet intensely masculine. The faintest notes of sandalwood and citrus wafted toward me as he fiddled with his ear, pushing his earbud deeper in.
I suspected he wasn’t listening to anything producing actual sound; the earbuds were just a tactic to try to keep me from making “unnecessary” conversation.
I was almost too tired to care.
I stifled a yawn, hoping he wouldn’t catch it.
He did, of course.
I saw the tick of his jaw from the corner of my eye. Glaring at the screen of the laptop balanced on his crossed legs, his flexed fingers hovering over the keyboard, a ballpoint pen clutched in his teeth.
I’d never seen the man smile except for a wince-like approximation of the real thing, and he saved that stingy expression for our clients.
After an entire life spent in the trenches of the funeral business, his handsome face was permanently etched into a show of bland sympathy—except when he scowled in contempt.
That expression was reserved exclusively for me.
Author Bio:
Megan Montgomery writes romance. Sometimes they’re funny. Sometimes they’re morbid, but all her characters have cool jobs. She and her husband, Johnathon Olavarria co-host Forced Proximity podcast, a weekly romance book and movie club.
Her debut novel, Well . . . THAT Was Awkward was inspired by her homesickness for southern Maryland. She now lives halfway across the US on the prairie with her husband, son, and mom.
When she’s not writing, reading, lifting weights, or cooking dinners her son won’t eat, you’ll find her toiling in the garden or brewing potions from her medicinal herbs.
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