Sherry Ewing's Blog, page 51

First Kiss Friday with guest Christine Harvey & a Giveaway!

It’s First Kiss Friday and today I’d like to introduce you to a fellow San Francisco Area of Romance Writers of America author, Christine Harvey. Today Christine will be sharing an excerpt from her novel In Concert. Be sure to leave her a comment to be in the running for an eBook copy of her book. Happy reading, my lovelies!

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Excerpt:

(After a day with cameras following him everywhere, all Luke wants to do

is escape with the date he set up earlier, and forget about the reality TV producer who’s constantly on his mind. But he has just found out Victoria and her crew are setting up to film that date.)

Luke stared at Victoria. He couldn’t believe she’d heard him dirty-talking Isabelle and planned to film their hookup like it was no never mind. “Call them off,” he said.

She looked up from her notebook. “I beg your pardon?”

“Call them off. There’s no date.”

“It sounded pretty definite to me.”

“And it felt pretty private to me.”

Victoria closed the notebook with a thump and tossed it on the table next to her. “You have no privacy, Mr. Tyler. It’s in your contract. I realize you’ve been reluctant to do this from the start, and I’ve tried to be patient, but it’s wearing thin.” She put her hands on her hips. “You’re on a reality show about your life, and the lives of your band mates. The audience won’t just want to see you practicing and playing at Tony’s Tavern. They’ll want to know what you eat for breakfast, what you wear, who you date, and everything in between. You’ve agreed to be filmed during all of these occasions, and you’re just going to have to suck it up and let it happen.”

Luke pointed in the direction of the door and the van outside. “You ever have those things turned on you? You know what it’s like?”

“I would imagine it’s intrusive at first, and fine eventually.” She reached for her bag and added, “Now, can we continue to the next segment?”

“That segment’s been canceled,” he said and turned for the stairs.

“Where are you going?” she called after him.

“To cancel my date.”

“You can’t do that.” She sounded irritated, and a touch anxious.

He turned at the base of the stairs. “You need to film it before you’ll believe it’s true?”

Her lips compressed and she dropped her bag on the table next to the notebook. She hobbled closer in her cast with a pained expression on her face; it took some of the fire out of him. He’d rather she could charge right over and at least keep the disagreement equal; he could tell she liked to pace, to move when she was thinking. Or angry. He liked that about her. He liked too much about her. Except for her damn cameras.

Before she could say anything, he said, “Would those cameras follow you if you were my date?”

She stopped in front of him, her head jerking back. “What? Why?”

“Because whenever I’m around you, all I can think of doing is throwing you over my shoulder, carrying you upstairs, pushing you against a wall, and screwing you senseless,” he said.

Her big eyes got bigger and he could see she’d lost her composure, but his speech had just made its way to his body, and his body took over. He stepped forward, took her face in his hands, tilted it up, and kissed her.

She held herself rigid at first, her mouth hard, but he ran his tongue along the seam and she gasped, her lips opening and softening under his. He pushed his hands into her hair, dislodging the clip and feeling the thick strands surrounding him, brushing against his skin, and he slipped his arms around her and pulled her up tight. Grabbing his belt loops, she moaned, and he darted his tongue in, brushing it against hers, tasting her, wanting more.

She pressed closer, her breasts crushed against his chest and he slid down, imagining her naked body sliding across his, kissing a path down his chest, her hair caressing his hips, her hands touching, grabbing, stroking. He groaned, kissing her harder, and wrapped his arms tighter to lift her up, get her as close as possible, bring her upstairs and—

“Victoria, we’re ready to—whoopsy,” said the sister from the doorway.

Victoria pulled away from him with a sharp inhalation, pushing her hands against his chest until he lowered her to the floor.

“What are you doing?”

“I reckon I’m kissing you.”

“Well, that’s obvious.” She brushed her hair back from her face and wouldn’t meet his gaze. “What I’d like to know is what you’re about. I mean…you…you’re…”

“I’m about frustrated to high heaven being attracted to you and not touching you, so I thought I’d see what that might be like.”

“Oh.” She stared at him, face flushed a pretty pink.

“And on my side, it was pretty damn nice. For both of us.” He leaned close. “Would you disagree?”

Blurb

What happens when you mix a reality TV producer who won’t take “no” for

an answer with a country western singer with a different goal in mind?

Hot shot reality TV producer Victoria Clausen loves only one thing:

creating hit shows. Luke Tyler’s two main goals in life are getting out

of the shadow of his famous father and being a successful country music

star in his own right. When Victoria convinces him that his band would

make a great subject for a reality series, Luke reluctantly agrees. The

cameras are everywhere as filming begins, and both of their lives change

in unexpected ways when Luke explores a new goal, and Victoria learns

real life is more desirable.

Buy Links

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZTJONDW

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1122163212

iBooks:

https://itunes.apple.com/ie/book/in-concert-thats-entertainment/id1008546285?mt=11

Kobo:

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/in-concert-that-s-entertainment-book-two

Smashwords:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/551302?ref=MeadowViewPress

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Bio:

Christine Harvey has been a writer all her life: from a children’s book

at the age of eleven to novels in many genres. Both she and her

characters know that a pair of colorful cowboy boots can change your

life. Christine lives in California with her husband and far too many books.

Sign up for her newsletter at www.christineharvey.net and get updates on

new releases, giveaways, and special content, including an exclusive

deleted scene from /Take Two/, the first book in the That’s

Entertainment series. (The books can be read in any order)

Website: www.christineharvey.net

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Christine-Harvey-Author-240904929405251/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CHarveyAuthor

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/charveyauthor/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14029852.Christine_Harvey

Medieval Monday with yours truly, Sherry Ewing

Welcome to our last Medieval Monday for this round. This theme was Author’s Choice. If you’ve been following along for the past 13 weeks, were you able to guess at my theme? Be sure to leave me a comment to be in the running for this themes giveaway. Here’s the last snippet for Only For You: The Knights of Berwyck, A Quest Through Time Novel (Book 2).

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Excerpt from Only For You:

 Katherine felt slightly miffed that he would be ordering her on what she could or could not do, but if it got her out of this room before she threw up, she was all for it. She tugged on his sleeve to get his attention, and he leaned down so she could whisper in his ear. “I don’t trust her, Riorden.”

She felt his lips as he kissed her forehead. “She is naught but a woman, my dear, and no longer has any hold on my heart. Rest assured.”

“I will not rest assured anything, darling, until you send her on her merry way,” Katherine huffed. “Be careful.”

“There is nothing for you to worry your pretty head about, my sweet.”

“Ha! You obviously haven’t heard about the fury of a woman scorned,” she replied sourly. She took one last glance at Riorden before she reluctantly left the hall without him. A feeling of unease overcame her. She had the notion the green eyed monster of jealousy would be rearing its ugly head to taunt her far sooner than she would have expected!

Blurb ~ Only For You:

Sometimes it’s hard to remember that true love conquers all only after the battle is over…

Katherine de Deveraux has it all or so she believes when she begins her life with her husband Riorden. But as she starts to settle into her duties as the Countess of Warkworth Castle, she finds that an easy life is not only difficult but downright dangerous to her well-being.

Consumed with the haunting memories of his father, Riorden must deal with his sire’s widow who just happens to also be his ex-lover. Yet how could he know just how far Marguerite is willing to go in order to have the life she feels they were truly meant to live?

Torn apart by circumstances neither Katherine nor Riorden could ever imagine, Time becomes their true enemy even while Marguerite continues her ploy to keep Riorden at her side. With all hope lost, will Katherine and Riorden find a way to save their marriage and have their happily ever after ending, or will Katherine be whisked back to where Time truly feels she belongs?

 Buy Links ~ Read for #FREE in Kindle Unlimited:

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1MLVECd

AU: http://bit.ly/1EQxFBo

CA: http://amzn.to/1BUjhZj

UK: http://amzn.to/1CBMCHX

First Kiss Friday with guest Jude Knight

Welcome, my lovelies, to another First Kiss Friday. It’s my pleasure to bring back fellow Bluestocking Bell, Jude Knight and an excerpt from A Raging Madness. In this excerpt, Ella has just shown Alex, who has been invalided out of the army, a path to a possible future. What starts as a spontaneous thank-you develops into more. Happy reading and enjoy!

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Excerpt:

Alex said nothing for a moment, and in the silence, she remembered he was an earl’s grandson. “I suppose you cannot, can you? Gentlemen do not go into trade.”

But his voice in the darkness was rich with warmth and excitement. “This gentleman can and will. That’s a marvellous idea, Ella. And I would not need to beg from Rede and Anne. I have money of my own. They paid me for being a human pincushion in the stead of my Distinguished Personage. They would have preferred me to die, I think, since a posthumous medal would have been cheaper, but I pleased myself instead of them, and so they gave me a reward. I have a good sum invested, and it is growing larger thanks to my cousin’s gift for making money.”

The sound was Alex shifting and dropping to the floor. Before she was aware of his intent, he was bending over her. Perhaps he meant to kiss her cheek, but she had turned her face towards the sound of his movement, and his lips dropped on her mouth, paused, and then moulded themselves to hers.

She had been right to be afraid. One touch of his lips and she burned for more, shifting to allow him better access, opening her mouth to welcome his invading tongue. No. Not invading; no conquering assault to batter down her defences, but a long-awaited and cherished caress that set her aflame, so she moaned and locked her hands behind his head to prevent his escape, and he stretched above her on the narrow bed and placed his own hands gently either side of her face.

“Ella,” he said, into her open mouth, and crushed his lips to her again before she could speak, though what would she say? Alex? Yes? Stop?

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He was aroused. Though he took most of his weight on his elbows and his knees, still the length of him poked into her belly. If she shifted, even a little, it would rub the place that burned. Only the cotton of her shift and his shirt kept them apart, and all the good reasons for not lifting both garments out of the way had melted in the heat of his kiss.

Thoughts scattered. She pushed herself up against him, her nipples so hard the cotton hurt, and it was a good hurt, like the burning he both relieved and heightened as he rubbed his male organ against her, setting her squirming and moaning.

Suddenly he moved, sliding down the bed to nudge her shift sideways down one arm, freeing one breast, and seizing on the nipple with his mouth, his teeth, his tongue.

She moaned again, helpless to keep the sound from escaping, as he used one hand to tease the other nipple, and the other to gather the hem of her shift until her woman’s place was uncovered, and his hand was doing delicious things that narrowed her world to him. To Alex, and his hands and mouth and body, and what was happening to hers.

Alex tensed suddenly and raised his head, his hands stilling. Ella suppressed a whimper, caught and subdued the involuntary movement to draw him back, surfaced from the sea of sensation, and finally heard what he had heard. Voices, speaking low. Footsteps. The soft clap of a hand on the roof of the cabin—Jonno’s nightly salute, too soft to wake them but a signal they heard more evenings than not.

Jonno and the O’Haras were back from the tavern, and the spell was broken.

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She dropped her hands from his shoulders, tried to cover her breast and pull down her hem, and blushed furiously in the dark. “I am so sorry, Alex,” she said. Though whether she was sorry to stop or sorry they had ever started, she had no idea.

After a moment, he pulled away, swinging his legs around so that he sat beside her on the bed.

“I am not that kind of woman,” she said, trying to sound convincing to herself when her whole body was screaming to complete what they had begun.

“Right.” He sounded strained. He sucked a breath in, then let it slowly out through his teeth.

“I cannot apologise enough…” Ella began, but Alex interrupted, his voice as courteous as ever, though strained.

“The fault is mine, Ella. I meant only to salute you for the gift of my future, and I forgot myself. I…” He stopped and took another deep breath. “I cannot bring myself to apologise. For any impression of disrespect, yes, indeed. I beg your pardon with all my heart if I have offended. But for offending you, not for kissing you.” He stood, and moved away from the bed. She could not make out what he was doing, but he had not returned to his own bed.

“It was everything I have dreamed this age,” he said, almost under his breath. This age? He had been dreaming of kissing her this age?

But she had to correct his misapprehension. “Each other,” she said.

Whatever he was doing—it sounded as if he was putting on his boots—he stopped. “Each other?”

“We kissed each other,” she explained.

The amusement was back when he replied. “We did, and very nicely, too.”

“And we cannot do it again,” Ella warned, hoping her regret was not obvious.

“No, I suppose not. I am going to take a short walk, Ella. I won’t go far, but the cold will be… beneficial.”

He had opened the hatch and was leaving before she spoke again, giving him a gift of words in return for those he had given her.

“It was better than I dreamed.”

His only response was a catch in his step before he continued, but a few minutes later, he began to whistle as he walked the canal path. It took her only a few bars to recognise the tune, and she smiled in the dark, mouthing the lyrics in time to his whistling.

Their marriage is a fiction. Their enemies are all too real.

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“Envy is a raging madness that cannot bear the wealth or fortune of others.”

François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld

Ella survived an abusive and philandering husband, in-laws who hate her, and public scorn. But she’s not sure she will survive love. It is too late to guard her heart from the man forced to pretend he has married such a disreputable widow, but at least she will not burden him with feelings he can never return.

Alex understands his supposed wife never wishes to remarry. And if she had chosen to wed, it would not have been to him. He should have wooed her when he was whole, when he could have had her love, not her pity. But it is too late now. She looks at him and sees a broken man. Perhaps she will learn to bear him.

In their masquerade of a marriage, Ella and Alex soon discover they are more well-matched than they expected. But then the couple’s blossoming trust is ripped apart by a malicious enemy. Two lost souls must together face the demons of their past to save their lives and give their love a future.

Buy links

Jude Knight’s book page: http://judeknightauthor.com/books/a-raging-madness/

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/717569

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/nz/book/a-raging-madness/

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-raging-madness-jude-knight/1126227273

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07111TCLR

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About Jude Knight

Jude Knight’s writing goal is to transport readers to another time, another place, where they can enjoy adventure and romance, thrill to trials and challenges, uncover secrets and solve mysteries, delight in a happy ending, and return from their virtual holiday refreshed and ready for anything.

Website and blog: http://judeknightauthor.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JudeKnightAuthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JudeKnightBooks

Pinterest: https://nz.pinterest.com/jknight1033/

Email: jude@judeknightauthor.com

Medieval Monday with guest Elisabeth Hobbes

Today I’d like to welcome my last guest for Medieval Monday and this author’s choice theme. Show Elisabeth Hobbes some love by leaving a comment and we hope you enjoy this snippet from her novel Redeeming the Rogue Knight. Happy reading my lovelies!

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Excerpt:

The gesture was so unexpected after her venomous outburst that Roger accepted her touch without thinking. She looked into his eyes, piercing his soul with her intensity.

‘Now you know what sort of woman I am, do you still want me?’

He did. Despite what he had seen, the thought of touching her ran like molten iron through his blood. She was in his arms, her breasts pushing against his chest, sending a surge of longing through him. His lips craved hers…

‘You have money now. Will you spend your winnings on rutting in my bed?’

Blurb

The spy who sought refuge… When injured spy Sir Roger Danby comes asking for shelter at her inn, Lucy Carew is wary. He may be strikingly handsome, but the disgraced single mother has learned the hard way with men like him. Against her better judgment, she gives him refuge. Sir Roger has never been at the mercy of a woman before, and he’s never met one as mysterious and bewitching as Lucy. He hasn’t come looking for redemption, but Lucy is a woman who could reach in and touch his closely guarded heart…

Buy links

Amazon viewBook.at/RogueKnight

Harlequin https://www.harlequin.com/shop/books/9780373299461_redeeming-the-rogue-knight.html

B&N https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/redeeming-the-rogue-knight-elisabeth-hobbes/1125684149?ean=9781488021688

Book Depository https://www.bookdepository.com/search/Redeeming-the-Rogue-Knight-Elisabeth-Hobbes/9780373299461

Read the final excerpt on Elisabeth Hobbes’ blog next Monday

First Kiss Friday with Caroline Warfield

Welcome to another First Kiss Friday! It’s always a pleasure when I have author Caroline Warfield on my blog. Today, Caroline is sharing the first kiss scene from The Reluctant Wife. Happy reading and enjoy!

In The Reluctant Wife, Clare and Fred come together slowly, but with an inevitability that pulls readers along with them. This is their first gentle kiss. It occurs while they are searching for his runaway children and he is truant from a disciplinary hearing. As Clare would later note, she would endure the remembrance of his tender embrace, his thumb rubbing the back of her neck, and the kiss to the side of her head for many months.

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Excerpt:

They searched down the middle of the park as one, but they had as little luck as before, and the first signs of night crept up with the sunset. Fred’s steps slowed until he could go no farther, and he leaned back against a date palm and closed his eyes in exhaustion.

I should get this woman home. The Davis dragon will be having six kinds of fits. He couldn’t make himself move. He needed her calm, her strength.

The feel of Clare’s hand on his arm, a gesture of comfort, proved too much for Fred’s self-control. He pulled her into his arms, a slow gentle embrace she didn’t resist, and lay his head against hers where it tucked perfectly against his shoulder, breathing deeply of her lavender scent and the sweet smell of a woman who had labored on his behalf in the heat of the day.

“We’ll find them, Captain. You mustn’t despair,” she murmured. She sagged against him in exhaustion.

He kissed a spot above her ear. “Fred. We’ve been partners all day. Could you dispense with rank? We’re comrades in this pursuit.”

“Fred then.” He thought he felt her smile against his shirt.

Comrades. Except she has a ship waiting in the morning, and I’ll— I’ll be under guard by noon tomorrow. There had been a hearing set for two o’clock that afternoon; he hadn’t even sent word about why he was detained. They wouldn’t have cared.

The two of them stood, he leaning against the tree, she leaning against his chest, for long moments while the sky around them changed from pale orange to a deeper shade and then to purple. He knew he would face failure and regret, though he hoped he could quickly resume his desperate search—or send Singh if he had to. For now, he just wanted to hold the woman who came when he needed her.

I shared a far steamier kiss from later in their journey on First Kiss Friday once before.  You can find that excerpt here.

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The Reluctant Wife is Book 2 in Caroline Warfield’s Children of Empire Series.

Three cousins, who grew up together in the English countryside, have been driven apart by deceit and lies. (You may guess a woman was involved!) Though they all escape to the outposts of The British Empire, they all make their way home to England, facing their demons and finding love and the support of women of character and backbone. They are:

Randolph Baldwin Wheatly who has become a recluse, and lives in isolation in frontier Canada intent on becoming a timber baron, until a desperate woman invades his peace. (The Renegade Wife)
Captain Frederick Arthur Wheatly, an officer in the Bengal army, who enjoys his comfortable life on the fringes until his mistress dies, and he’s forced to choose between honor and the army. (The Reluctant Wife)
Charles, Duke of Murnane, tied to a miserable marriage, throws himself into government work to escape bad memories. He accepts a commission from the Queen that takes him to Canton and Macau, only to face his past there. (The Unexpected Wife)

Who are their ladies?

Meggy Campeau, the daughter of a French trapper and Ojibwe mother who has made mistakes, but is fierce in protecting her children. (The Renegade Wife)
Clare Armbruster, fiercely independent woman of means, who is determined to make her own way in life, but can’t resist helping a foolish captain sort out his responsibilities. (The Reluctant Wife)
Zambak Hayden, eldest child of the Duke of Sudbury, who knows she’d make a better heir than her feckless younger brother, but can’t help protecting the boy to the point of following him to China. She may just try to sort out the Empire’s entangled tea trade–and its ugly underpinning, opium, while she’s there. (The Unexpected Wife)

Book 3, The Unexpected Wife, will be released on July 25.

Here’s a short video about it:

https://www.facebook.com/carolinewarfield7/videos/924791187669849/

For more about the series and all of Caroline’s books, look here:https://www.carolinewarfield.com/bookshelf/

Buy Link: Amazon

About Caroline Warfield

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Traveler, poet, librarian, technology manager—award winning author Caroline Warfield has been many things (even a nun), but above all she is a romantic. Having retired to the urban wilds of eastern Pennsylvania, she reckons she is on at least her third act, happily working in an office surrounded by windows while she lets her characters lead her to adventures in England and the far-flung corners of the British Empire. She nudges them to explore the riskiest territory of all, the human heart.

Caroline has an active blog and her newsletter list recently zoomed past 3000.  She is a RONE award winner and has five star reviews from Readers’ Favorite, Night Owl Reviews, and InD’Tale. She is also a member of the writers’ co-operative, the Bluestocking Belles. With partners she manages and regularly writes for both The Teatime Tattler and History Imagined.

Website http://www.carolinewarfield.com/

Amazon Author http://www.amazon.com/Caroline-Warfield/e/B00N9PZZZS/ 

Good Reads http://bit.ly/1C5blTm 

Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/carolinewarfield7 

Twitter @CaroWarfield

Email warfieldcaro@gmail.com

Medieval Monday with guest Ashley York

It’s Medieval Monday and I have the pleasure of welcoming back my guest Ashley York! Today’s snippet from Ashley is from her novel Eyes of the Seer. Leave Ashley a comment to show her some love and happy reading!

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Excerpt:

If only she’d trusted Marcán instead of Pádraig, the disaster in the woods could have been averted. Pádraig would have forced her. Forced her to do anything he wanted, and she would not have been able to stop him. Marcán had warned her, he’d tried to protect her, but she’d fought him every step of the way. She had been determined to speak to Pádraig. Alone and in the dark had been fine with her.

Back outside, Astrid pulled the covering tight around her and headed toward the trees.

“Marcán?”

An owl answered her. Trying for a lightheartedness she did not truly feel, she said, “I know my Marcán and ye are not him.”

“Yer Marcán?”

BLURB

In ancient Ireland, men and women take to the legends for answers. Different-colored eyes are the mark of a Seer, it is said, and those who can see the future are in league with the devil. They cannot be suffered to live.

He wishes to prove himself…

Marcán of Clonascara bears the bloodline of Brian Boru, the legendary high king, and his prowess as a warrior has earned him great respect. But he was born with different-colored eyes, and there are some who would have him suffer a Seer’s fate. His fiercest adversary is Beibhinn, mother to Diarmuid, his close friend and king, and Astrid, the woman who holds his heart. If Astrid ever showed him any interest, he would fight Beibhinn and any army to wed her.

She is desperate to escape…

Astrid is sick of her mother’s belittling, but her brother is in no hurry to see her married, so she decides to see to her own match-making. The man she approaches quickly reveals his lack of honor, but her overbearing mother pushes her to wed him anyway. When Astrid discovers Marcán’s love for her, she realizes that what she wants has been in front of her all along. True happiness awaits them, but only if they can put a stop to her mother’s plans.

Buy Links

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  iTunes  |  KOBO

 

 

 

 

First Kiss Friday with Lizzi Tremayne & a Giveaway!

It’s First Kiss Friday and today’s guest is fellow Bluestocking Belle, Lizzie Tremayne. Lizzi is sharing the first kiss scene from her Contemporary novel, Once Upon a Vet School. Be sure to leave her a comment to be in the running for her giveaway. Happy reading, my lovelies, and take it away Lizzi!

Hello! Thanks for coming by today, and thank you, Sherry, for having me here!

Once Upon a Vet School #7: Lena Takes a Foal.

Did you ever want to become a veterinarian? Didn’t quite get there?

Now you can live it with Once Upon a Vet School—tales of a girl who dreamed of becoming a vet… her life on the way and beyond.

Once Upon a Vet School is a new series of contemporary veterinary fiction. Share Lena’s escapades, and that of some of her classmates, from the time they decide to become veterinarians, through their education and practice time in the USA, to their careers, Lena’s as a rural equine and sometimes zoo-dentistry veterinarian in New Zealand.

In my excerpt, life had been going from bad to worse for my heroine, Lena, and she’d finally spilled the beans to Kit, her veterinary school resident… who was also something more.

He was about to become something more, anyway!

I’m giving away a digital copy of Once Upon a Vet School #7: Lena Takes a Foal, Book Seven of The Once Upon a Vet School series.

We pick up our story as Kit is holding Lena close, her tears flowing…

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Excerpt:

I stared at him, then slapped my jaw shut.

“I can’t believe you’d do that. Not you,” I argued.

“I may not have abandoned her for another woman, but I abandoned her nonetheless… for my practice, my clients, my patients. I was there for them… always… but never for her.” He swallowed hard, his jaw locked tight. I took a deep breath and held it, then let it out slowly. “So, with nothing left, I came back… back to the place I loved the most, where horses were king and caring for them could be my life… without hurting anyone else… or letting anyone in that could hurt me. It was easier just not to feel…” He stopped and looked down at me. “And then you come along.”

“Me?”

“You. You with those sea green eyes…”

“Same as yours,” I whispered.

“Same as mine,” he agreed. “I tried to leave you alone, stay away… but…” He closed his eyes for a moment.

“Me too.”

“And so, you see, I find I want someone to care again… and I want to care about someone… you, specifically. I fought it, damned if I didn’t try to keep you away, keep you at arm’s length, but you kept coming back for more… your desire to help horses… it was like a drug to me.”

I swallowed hard. I wanted it so much, but…

But what?

My memory of why I shouldn’t get involved with anyone was fading fast.

“I’d always wanted to do a surgery residency here…” Kit hesitated, “and now I’m here and almost done, it’s not nearly enough. I want to stay, permanently, to teach… get on a tenure track, become a professor.”

“You’ll be the best they’ve ever had.” He let out his breath in a snort.

“Hardly,” he gave me a soft smile, “but I’d like to think I could at least make a difference to a lot of horses and students.”

“You already do that,” I said, and leaned harder against his solid chest. “And you’re easy to talk to.”

“And you understand how I feel about horses.”

I tried to look away, but his eyes drew me back.

“But we can’t…” It came out on a sob, wrenched from me, unwillingly. “I’m a student, you’re faculty.”

“There are no written rules on that, by the way,” he said, with a twist of his lips. “I checked.”

“But it couldn’t help your chances with the faculty — it would be ‘frowned upon’…and the way I see it, you’ll need every point in your favor — plenty of people want tenure here.”

“And, as others would say, and maybe they’re right, I’m too old and you’re too young,” he said, with a wistful smile.

“That’s not true, actually,” I said. “You’re over ten years younger than my last fiancé.”

He blinked.

“Seriously?”

I nodded.

“And…” I whispered, “the third argument, I don’t want to get hurt anymore.”

“That makes two of us.”

“You’ll never get that professorship, though, if you hang around with students, much less sleep with them,” I said flatly, and turned my head away. “I don’t want to wreck your chances.”

“I’m beginning to think it doesn’t matter… as much as this…” Kit turned my chin toward him with the side of his finger, then lowered his lips to mine.

I could have fallen into his warm lips, his touch… and I let it happen. I returned his kiss with all the feeling I’d kept hidden for so long.

“So…” I said, panting a bit, when he finally let me breathe again.

“What are we going to do about it, you mean?”

“Yes,” I said. My firm tone came out as more of a breathy whisper.

“Well, first, we’re going to get you over this fear of foaling.”

I gulped and the chill started up in my guts again.

“Hold on, there. It’ll be okay. Just hold on. Again, you were how old? And had how much veterinary training?”

“Fifteen, no training.”

“Think about this, with your head and not your emotions. Is that reasonable?”

“Y — no,” I said, and the tears began to fall again. “But my heart, it just…locks up and I can’t breathe, or think.”

“We’ll fix all that. Deal? I help you do that and you help me fix my heart and learn to trust again?” He was silent for a moment. “Maybe you can start learning to trust again too, eh?”

“That’s a big ask, with my history, but — ”

“— deal?” he cut in.

“Deal.”

I turned my face up to his and we kissed again. He leaned back against the wall, holding me tightly in his arms.

The warmth, the closeness, the safety.

I wanted it to go on forever.

But nothing lasts — I stopped myself.

Why not? Why not you?

That blasted little voice again.

I focused on Kit’s eyes. For the first time ever, no vagueness — or had it been avoidance? — showed in their depths. His green eyes were nearly black, intense, close before me.

I froze as a flash of green — a figure in surgical scrubs — showed, silhouetted, in the doorway behind Kit’s head.

About the story:

  She needs help… he needs to stay away…

Lena’s got a problem–one that might prevent her from graduating. When her horse flips over and lands on her, it has to be the dashing resident, Kit, who finds her. Luckily, she’s sworn off relationships after her last debacle and sea-green eyes and rugged good looks are the last things on her mind. Besides, to a veterinary school faculty, relationships between residents and students are like oil and water; they just don’t mix.

Buy Links:

Digital: Free on Kindle Unlimited or buy from Amazon here: https://lizzitremayne.com/OnceUponVet7  

Paperback: from Amazon here: https://lizzitremayne.com/OnceUponVet7

Paperback: for New Zealanders, buy direct from the author: https://www.fishpond.co.nz/q/Lizzi+Tremayne

Be the first to know about new releases, special offers, and news by signing up for Lizzi Tremayne’s Newsletter and get a copy of her Lizzi Tremayne Sampler for free! It’s here: https://lizzitremayne.com/signupsampler/

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Author Bio:

Lizzi writes about the Old West, Russia, and Colonial New Zealand, as well as veterinary fiction and non-fiction—all with a horsey flair. She’s also one of the newest members of the Bluestocking Belles!

She grew up riding wild in the Santa Cruz Mountain redwoods, became an equine veterinarian at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, and practiced in the California Pony Express and Gold Country before emigrating to New Zealand.

Lizzi has two wonderful, grown-up boys, a new grandbaby, and an awesome partner in this sea of green. When she’s not writing, she’s swinging a rapier or shooting a bow in medieval garb, riding, driving a carriage or playing on her hobby farm, singing, or working as an equine veterinarian or science teacher. She’s multiply published and awarded in fiction, special interest magazines and veterinary periodicals.

Sign up for Lizzi Tremayne’s Newsletter and get a copy of her Lizzi Tremayne Sampler for free. Be the first to know about new releases, special offers, and news here:  https://lizzitremayne.com/signupsampler/

Connect with Lizzi:

Lizzi’s Website :   http://www.lizzitremayne.com

Facebook:   www.facebook.com/lizzitremayneauthor

 

First Kiss Friday with Lizzie Tremayne & a Giveaway!

It’s First Kiss Friday and today’s guest is fellow Bluestocking Belle, Lizzie Tremayne. Lizzie is sharing the first kiss scene from her Contemporary novel, Once Upon a Vet School. Be sure to leave her a comment to be in the running for her giveaway. Happy reading, my lovelies, and take it away Lizzie!

Hello! Thanks for coming by today, and thank you, Sherry, for having me here!

Once Upon a Vet School #7: Lena Takes a Foal.

Did you ever want to become a veterinarian? Didn’t quite get there?

Now you can live it with Once Upon a Vet School—tales of a girl who dreamed of becoming a vet… her life on the way and beyond.

Once Upon a Vet School is a new series of contemporary veterinary fiction. Share Lena’s escapades, and that of some of her classmates, from the time they decide to become veterinarians, through their education and practice time in the USA, to their careers, Lena’s as a rural equine and sometimes zoo-dentistry veterinarian in New Zealand.

In my excerpt, life had been going from bad to worse for my heroine, Lena, and she’d finally spilled the beans to Kit, her veterinary school resident… who was also something more.

He was about to become something more, anyway!

I’m giving away a digital copy of Once Upon a Vet School #7: Lena Takes a Foal, Book Seven of The Once Upon a Vet School series.

We pick up our story as Kit is holding Lena close, her tears flowing…

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Excerpt:

I stared at him, then slapped my jaw shut.

“I can’t believe you’d do that. Not you,” I argued.

“I may not have abandoned her for another woman, but I abandoned her nonetheless… for my practice, my clients, my patients. I was there for them… always… but never for her.” He swallowed hard, his jaw locked tight. I took a deep breath and held it, then let it out slowly. “So, with nothing left, I came back… back to the place I loved the most, where horses were king and caring for them could be my life… without hurting anyone else… or letting anyone in that could hurt me. It was easier just not to feel…” He stopped and looked down at me. “And then you come along.”

“Me?”

“You. You with those sea green eyes…”

“Same as yours,” I whispered.

“Same as mine,” he agreed. “I tried to leave you alone, stay away… but…” He closed his eyes for a moment.

“Me too.”

“And so, you see, I find I want someone to care again… and I want to care about someone… you, specifically. I fought it, damned if I didn’t try to keep you away, keep you at arm’s length, but you kept coming back for more… your desire to help horses… it was like a drug to me.”

I swallowed hard. I wanted it so much, but…

But what?

My memory of why I shouldn’t get involved with anyone was fading fast.

“I’d always wanted to do a surgery residency here…” Kit hesitated, “and now I’m here and almost done, it’s not nearly enough. I want to stay, permanently, to teach… get on a tenure track, become a professor.”

“You’ll be the best they’ve ever had.” He let out his breath in a snort.

“Hardly,” he gave me a soft smile, “but I’d like to think I could at least make a difference to a lot of horses and students.”

“You already do that,” I said, and leaned harder against his solid chest. “And you’re easy to talk to.”

“And you understand how I feel about horses.”

I tried to look away, but his eyes drew me back.

“But we can’t…” It came out on a sob, wrenched from me, unwillingly. “I’m a student, you’re faculty.”

“There are no written rules on that, by the way,” he said, with a twist of his lips. “I checked.”

“But it couldn’t help your chances with the faculty — it would be ‘frowned upon’…and the way I see it, you’ll need every point in your favor — plenty of people want tenure here.”

“And, as others would say, and maybe they’re right, I’m too old and you’re too young,” he said, with a wistful smile.

“That’s not true, actually,” I said. “You’re over ten years younger than my last fiancé.”

He blinked.

“Seriously?”

I nodded.

“And…” I whispered, “the third argument, I don’t want to get hurt anymore.”

“That makes two of us.”

“You’ll never get that professorship, though, if you hang around with students, much less sleep with them,” I said flatly, and turned my head away. “I don’t want to wreck your chances.”

“I’m beginning to think it doesn’t matter… as much as this…” Kit turned my chin toward him with the side of his finger, then lowered his lips to mine.

I could have fallen into his warm lips, his touch… and I let it happen. I returned his kiss with all the feeling I’d kept hidden for so long.

“So…” I said, panting a bit, when he finally let me breathe again.

“What are we going to do about it, you mean?”

“Yes,” I said. My firm tone came out as more of a breathy whisper.

“Well, first, we’re going to get you over this fear of foaling.”

I gulped and the chill started up in my guts again.

“Hold on, there. It’ll be okay. Just hold on. Again, you were how old? And had how much veterinary training?”

“Fifteen, no training.”

“Think about this, with your head and not your emotions. Is that reasonable?”

“Y — no,” I said, and the tears began to fall again. “But my heart, it just…locks up and I can’t breathe, or think.”

“We’ll fix all that. Deal? I help you do that and you help me fix my heart and learn to trust again?” He was silent for a moment. “Maybe you can start learning to trust again too, eh?”

“That’s a big ask, with my history, but — ”

“— deal?” he cut in.

“Deal.”

I turned my face up to his and we kissed again. He leaned back against the wall, holding me tightly in his arms.

The warmth, the closeness, the safety.

I wanted it to go on forever.

But nothing lasts — I stopped myself.

Why not? Why not you?

That blasted little voice again.

I focused on Kit’s eyes. For the first time ever, no vagueness — or had it been avoidance? — showed in their depths. His green eyes were nearly black, intense, close before me.

I froze as a flash of green — a figure in surgical scrubs — showed, silhouetted, in the doorway behind Kit’s head.

About the story:

  She needs help… he needs to stay away…

Lena’s got a problem–one that might prevent her from graduating. When her horse flips over and lands on her, it has to be the dashing resident, Kit, who finds her. Luckily, she’s sworn off relationships after her last debacle and sea-green eyes and rugged good looks are the last things on her mind. Besides, to a veterinary school faculty, relationships between residents and students are like oil and water; they just don’t mix.

Buy Links:

Digital: Free on Kindle Unlimited or buy from Amazon here: https://lizzitremayne.com/OnceUponVet7  

Paperback: from Amazon here: https://lizzitremayne.com/OnceUponVet7

Paperback: for New Zealanders, buy direct from the author: https://www.fishpond.co.nz/q/Lizzi+Tremayne

Be the first to know about new releases, special offers, and news by signing up for Lizzi Tremayne’s Newsletter and get a copy of her Lizzi Tremayne Sampler for free! It’s here: https://lizzitremayne.com/signupsampler/

[image error]

Author Bio:

Lizzi writes about the Old West, Russia, and Colonial New Zealand, as well as veterinary fiction and non-fiction—all with a horsey flair. She’s also one of the newest members of the Bluestocking Belles!

She grew up riding wild in the Santa Cruz Mountain redwoods, became an equine veterinarian at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, and practiced in the California Pony Express and Gold Country before emigrating to New Zealand.

Lizzi has two wonderful, grown-up boys, a new grandbaby, and an awesome partner in this sea of green. When she’s not writing, she’s swinging a rapier or shooting a bow in medieval garb, riding, driving a carriage or playing on her hobby farm, singing, or working as an equine veterinarian or science teacher. She’s multiply published and awarded in fiction, special interest magazines and veterinary periodicals.

Sign up for Lizzi Tremayne’s Newsletter and get a copy of her Lizzi Tremayne Sampler for free. Be the first to know about new releases, special offers, and news here:  https://lizzitremayne.com/signupsampler/

Connect with Lizzi:

Lizzi’s Website :   http://www.lizzitremayne.com

Facebook:   www.facebook.com/lizzitremayneauthor

 

Medieval Monday with Laurel O’Donnell

It’s my pleasure to welcome back my guest Laurel O’Donnell for another Medieval Monday! Today Laurel is sharing a snippet from her novel A Knight with Grace. Isn’t this cover just gorgeous? Remember to show some love to Laurel by leaving a comment and happy reading!

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Excerpt:

It worked. Her face fell; hurt shone in her vulnerable eyes before she turned away. Without a word, she moved back to her spot beneath the tree opposite of his. She lay down, keeping her back to him.

Blurb

Lady Grace Willoughby defies her father’s orders to marry Sir William de Tracy and escapes with a friend. She has no intention of wedding a cursed man, a man ostracized from the church, a man who would only doom any future children they might have to the fires of Hell. She prays for a knight to rescue her.

Excommunicated and outcast for a horrible crime in his past, Sir William de Tracy searches for forgiveness. Marriage has never crossed his mind until Lord Willoughby commissions him to retrieve his fleeing daughter and honor the dying wish of his father by marrying Grace.

But things are not as they seem. And when an assassin tries to kill Grace, William must choose between his soul and the woman he has come to love. Can William and Grace overcome their past and find the redemption and love both are so desperately seeking?

Buy Link –

Amazon – http://a.co/1LG3mx8

Please join Laurel for the continuing excerpt next week at Jenni Fletcher’s blog at http://jennifletcher.com/

 

First Kiss Friday with For All of Ever

On today’s First Kiss Friday, I’d like to give you an excerpt from my medieval time travel, For All of Ever (which is also in the box set Hearts Across Time). In this scene, Riorden has just “rescued” Katherine after she was skinny dipping with her friends in a pond. Happy reading and enjoy their first kiss.

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Excerpt:

The smile she gave him disarmed him to his very core. Afore common sense could prevail, he grabbed her about her waist and brought them chest to chest. She gasped as they made contact, skin to skin. She lovingly wound her arms around his neck. He swore she gave him the most seductive purr he had ever heard in his entire life. ’Twas most pleasing to his ears.

“Do you feel it, Riorden?” she asked huskily.

He gave a brief laugh, since he certainly felt all kinds of sensations, especially a part of him rising to the occasion. “What?” he asked. He easily held her with one arm whilst his free hand moved a stray lock of wet hair from her face.

“Your heartbeat next to mine,” Katherine whispered, ever so softly.

He was momentarily startled at her words until the reality of them hit him full force. They were actually his own words spoken from his heart when they were both nothing more than shadows of what might have been. It humbled him whilst he did indeed feel her steady heartbeat next to his own. They were no longer ghosts, but flesh and blood. She had crossed time for him, and he vowed he would keep her forever by his side.

“Aye, my dearest Katherine, I feel it, too,” he replied profoundly, and watched in fascination whilst the pulse at her throat ticked rapidly. He was pleased to know he had such an effect on her, since the same held true of him. He felt her clasp her arms around his neck more fully as she molded her body to his own. It was almost his undoing.

“Isn’t it wonderful when dreams come true,” she added whilst she began to trace the planes of his face.

Riorden trembled beneath her gentle touch. “Aye, my lady, ’tis indeed most wondrous.”

“Will you do me a favor?” Katherine asked timidly.

“Aye, my lady, anything you wish. I am yours to command.”

“Anything?”

“Aye.” He did not trust himself with an attempt at a longer response whilst she looked at him with those scorching aquamarine eyes.

“Then kiss me,” she begged. Her words lingered in the air between them. “Please…”

His resolve to remain a gentleman vanished abruptly with her plea. His head swooped down and his mouth took possession of hers in a ravenous kiss. ’Twas as if he was starving, and only she could satisfy his hunger. His tongue plunged into her mouth and danced in tune with hers. He moaned at the contact. She moaned in response. His hands roamed down her backside and brought her closer, if that was at all humanly possible. He felt every glorious inch of her and knew in his heart he had found his soul mate. She was the other half of him, making him complete. She was what he had always been missing in his life. She was perfect for him, and she was his.

He deepened their kiss and felt as if time no longer had meaning to them. Time. He vowed Time would not steal her back and take her from his life. He broke their kiss. She took his lower lip and gave it a small nibble. Merde! Where did she learn to be such a seductress?

He reluctantly began to lower her back down the length of him, never taking his eyes from hers. He could tell by the look she gave him, she was disappointed. Wondering what she would do next, he had to remember to inhale when she surprised him by reaching out her hands to place them on his chest. He gave a sharp intake of breath as air rushed into his lungs whilst her fingers began to slowly explore his muscles, moving ever downward on his stomach.

“My God. You must be the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen,” she murmured in awe, biting her lower lip.

’Twas taking everything within him not to smother that delicious mouth of hers in another searing kiss. “A man cannot be called beautiful, my lady,” Riorden managed to choke out.

Katherine stopped her fingertips and laid her palms fully upon him. He sucked in his breath yet again, when she leveled her exquisite bluish-green eyes on him. “Oh, but you are…” Her words trailed off and hovered between them. She gave a tiny smile that could only be termed intimate before she continued touching him.

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For All of Ever: The Knights of Berwyck, A Quest Through Time series Book One

Sometimes to find your future, you must look to the past…

Katherine Wakefield has dreamed and written of her knight in shining armor all her life. Never finding a man to measure up to the one of her imagination, she and her three closest friends take a dream vacation to England. Yet, strange things begin happening while visiting Bamburgh Castle, but how could they have known they’d find themselves thrown back more than eight hundred years into the past?

Riorden de Deveraux travels to Bamburgh answering the summons of King Henry II knowing his past life is about to catch up with him. But nothing prepares him for the beautiful vision of a strangely clad ghost who first appears in his chamber, let alone the fact he begins having a conversation with her.

Centuries are keeping them apart until Time gives them a chance at finding love. But there are obstacles threatening the fragile bit of hope that Riorden and Katherine can remain together. Will the past of one consume what their future may hold, or will Time take the decision from them and hurtle Katherine forward to where she truly belongs?

Read it for FREE in Kindle Unlimited!

Buy Links:

Amazon US | Amazon AU | Amazon CA | Amazon UK

For All of Ever is also a part of a special box set entitled Hearts Across Time. It has Katherine and Riorden’s complete journey that includes Only For You. For links, see my book tab above.