The Divorce Planner Angela Lam Published by: The Wild Rose Press Publication date: May 20th 2019 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
When her daughter suggests Darcy Madison attend her ex-husband’s wedding, Darcy enlists the help of her colleague, divorce attorney Victor Costello, to pose as her dashing young date. But when Victor proposes to Darcy at the reception, Darcy forgets they are pretending and says, “Yes!” Between her false engagement to Victor and her daughter’s suggestion to have a double wedding, Darcy falls even further in the fantasy of being a blushing midlife bride. The longer the masquerade continues, the more Darcy starts to wonder what is love and can it last forever in a world where divorce is the only language she knows?
“Yes.” A flash of disappointment descended over her shoulders. “I think I’ll go.”
“Let me walk you to your car.”
“But you’ll miss the live auction and the dancing.”
He offered his arm. “I’d rather spend the time with you.”
A touch of kinship united them.
She wove her arm through his. How delightful to find someone who enjoyed her company as much as she enjoyed his.
Matching strides, they walked around the tables of guests. A few people stopped them to comment on how cute a couple they made.
She blushed from the compliments.
He nudged open the double doors.
A gust of cool summer air blasted against her face. She shivered.
He tugged her closer. “Would you like my jacket?”
“No, thank you. I’m parked over there.” She waved toward the left.
They strode over to an ancient sports sedan.
Darcy unlocked her door and tossed her clutch inside. As she turned to say good night, she trembled with anticipation. Would he kiss her again?
Standing in silence, he gazed into her eyes.
A flicker of desire lapped at her feet and licked up into her belly. She had never seen eyes so big, so bold, and so beautiful. Oh, why wouldn’t he kiss her?
Author Bio:
Angela is a San Francisco Bay Area native.
She studied journalism at Northwestern University as a Cherub scholar. She received her B.A. in English and Creative Writing from Sonoma State University.
Her nonfiction articles on real estate, lending, and finance can be found online at SFGate.com. Her short stories, essays, and poetry are published in a number of magazines, newspapers, and anthologies, including The Dollar Stretcher, Foliate Oak , Kenwood Press, The Phoenix, Potpourri, The Sun, The Writer, and Women’s Voices.
When she is not writing, she is either painting, reading, running, or spending time with her family and friends.
Fire Wolf H. Danielle Crabtree (Fire & Reign, #1) Publication date: May 21st 2019 Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Since the fall of the royal house, the four kingdoms have been divided and at war, leaving many without necessities to survive. Lady Myah Leicht would do anything for her people, even risk herself—the future high lady of Nordlin—to join her friends to raid supply convoys and storehouses belonging to the enemy army against her uncle and his council’s wishes.
Garrett wants nothing more than to be done with the Osten Elite Guard, but his position as master keeps him close to the queen and close the secrets the resistance needs. But only one secret he keeps matters to the future of the four kingdoms.
And that secret could burn Myah’s world to the ground.
The wind picked up, howling through the unsheltered channel. It prickled every inch of Myah’s skin, blasting through her damp clothes. A chill raced up her spine when the gust died.
It was not the wind marking her end, but the cries of the wolves.
Myah would die to their song.
—
“I find you baffling.”
He laughed quietly. “I get that a lot.”
“If you don’t want to blackmail me, then what do you want?” she pushed.
He leaned forward as if to get a better look at her in the moonlight. “To test a theory.”
“And what is your conclusion?” She was curious now, much less afraid, although still untrusting.
“Undetermined …”
—
Garrett’s breaths were becoming ragged. His blood, warm and hot and sticky, dripped down his chest. He could feel the moisture on his skin. He blocked a swing aiming for his head, and then took a knife to his left side. It was shallow, but his muscles knotted. He stumbled backward, lost his footing as he slipped in the snow, and went down hard on his side.
When he looked up, the man’s arms were raised over his head, the blade angled to drive it through Garrett’s chest. His breath caught.
Author Bio:
H. Danielle Crabtree graduated from the University of Oregon in 2004 with a professional journalism degree and worked in journalism as a writer and editor in Oregon and Arizona. She started freelancing as an editor in 2011.
Her poetry has been published in several literary magazines and anthologies, and she wrote with the G10 Writers group. Her first book with the group was published in 2011.
She lives in the heart of Oregon’s Willamette Valley with her two dogs. Outside her career in health care and her passion for writing, she enjoys hiking, gardening, and dog training, and she is pursuing a master’s degree in public health at Oregon State University.
A police procedural sci fi thriller ripped from future headlines!
After Jake shoots and kills a murder suspect who turns out to be the son of a powerful city councilman, he finds himself demoted to the Artificial Crimes Unit, tracking down androids hacked and programmed to be hit men.
When his case of an “extra-judicial” divorce settlement takes a nasty turn with DNA from a hundred-year-old murder in Boston and a signature that harkens back to the very first serial killer ever in London, Jake finds himself tangled up in the brutal slayings of prostitutes being investigated by his former Robbery/Homicide partner, Maddie–who is now his lover.
But a madman, The Baron, is just getting started with his AI recreations of Jack the Ripper’s brutal crimes. And Maddie and Jake are teamed up again to stop the carnage as the Baron’s army of human replicants imitate history’s most notorious serial killers.
“It might not make sense, but the beloved Media tags it ‘Murder by Munchausen.’ For a price, there are hackers out there who will reprogram a synthoid to do your dirty work. The bad news: no fingerprints or DNA left at the crime scene. The good news—at least for us—is that they’re like missiles: once they hit their target, they’re usually as harmless as empty brass. The trick is to get them before they melt down their core OS data, so you can get the unit into forensics for analysis and, hopefully, an arrest.” [excerpt from Murder by Munchausen]
Artificial Intelligence? Fuhgeddaboudit!
Artificial Evil has a name…Munchausen.
Read an Excerpt
From The Invisible Mind (#3)
It sat on a bench outside the dormitory of nursing students, waiting with its kind’s infinite patience. Originally acquired and programmed for landscaping at the Cleveland Clinic, the synthoid was one of a brigade of units which had been hacked and Munchausened, then returned to their menial daily services to mankind to await the Baron’s call.
There was no adrenalin surge behind the extremely life-like facade of humanity when that call came. Data packets, sent scatter-shot through the Atlas Grid, coalesced at the location outside the Cole Eye Institute, where it methodically trimmed and shaped the immaculate shrubbery around the building. To avoid Q’s metadata sniffing algorithms from detecting a download spike in the grid, the information came in digital sprinkles over the course of its human handler’s work shift, slowly building a malevolent intent to be executed that night. In the middle of the afternoon, it left the topiary unfinished to melt into the hospital shift change and disappeared.
Personality modules were a Gen-3 feature upgrade, which is why the earlier models were initially preferred. Swapping out a few IC chips and uploading hacked firmware was a relatively easy way to turn a quick buck with an automated contract killing. But evil innovates, too, and the same features that made synthoids even more human-like in their behavior also helped create robotic assassins which could better camouflage their malicious intents and evade the reach of the Artificial Crimes Unit by melting into and moving undetected through the humanity that surrounded them. For the Baron, it allowed for a greater measure of artistic expression in programming the synthoid’s behavior to not only recreate infamous crimes of the past, but to mimic the behavior of their perpetrators, which intensified the thrill of watching the video feed through the eyes of Jack the Ripper, Ted Bundy or, this particular evening, Richard Speck. Jake wasn’t the only history buff and it amused Jamal that London police had photographed the eyes of Jack the Ripper’s victims, hoping to capture the last thing they ever saw: their killer’s face. If only Scotland Yard could have imagined the future.
The Gen-3 personality modules also supported the ANSI Adaptive Artificial Intelligence Protocol #9 to enhance the artificial human experience of real men and women who interacted with synthoids. The constant writing and rewriting of code in the personality/experience loop formed unique individual synthoid consciousnesses, which manufacturers uploaded to their servers for product improvement teams to study. In Munchausened units, that feed was hijacked and routed to another portal in the Darknet to build a collective id of evil.
At eleven PM, it rose from the bench and entered the dormitory. The bodies of nine women would be found the next day, having been strangled and stabbed to death. Unlike 1966, no eyewitness was left alive, though the phrase “Born to Raise Hell” was written on the wall in blood.
About the Author:
M.T. Bass is a scribbler of fiction who holds fast to the notion that while victors may get to write history, novelists get to write/right reality. He lives, writes, flies and makes music in Mudcat Falls, USA.
Born in Athens, Ohio, M.T. Bass grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University, majoring in English and Philosophy, then worked in the private sector (where they expect “results”) mainly in the Aerospace & Defense manufacturing market. During those years, Bass continued to write fiction. He is the author of eight novels: My Brother’s Keeper, Crossroads, In the Black, Somethin’ for Nothin’, Murder by Munchausen, The Darknet (Murder by Munchausen Mystery #2), The Invisible Mind (Murder by Munchausen Mystery #3) and Article 15. His writing spans various genres, including Mystery, Adventure, Romance, Black Comedy and TechnoThrillers. A Commercial Pilot and Certified Flight Instructor, airplanes and pilots are featured in many of his stories. Bass currently lives on the shores of Lake Erie near Lorain, Ohio.
If you could have one paranormal ability, what would it
be?
Kelly: I think I would most love the
ability to shapeshift… into anything or anyone. To be able to experience
moments as another person or a pet or wild animal would be amazing. Although, I
may spend long periods of time as a cat or dog, sleeping.
Mindy: I would love to have the same
telepathic and telekinetic powers as Jean Gray/Dark Phoenix from the X-Men. I
live in a congested city, so having the power to move people/vehicles out of my
way when I’m trying to get somewhere in a hurry.
What is one thing your readers would be most surprised to
learn about you?
People may be surprised to learn that
Mikea Howard is not one person, but to co-writers, and that we happen to be
sisters-in-law that live on opposite sides of the country.
When writing descriptions of your hero/ine, what feature
do you start with?
We tend to start with their stature.
Our first book described how large the hero was as he loomed over the heroine.
Are you a plotter or a pantser?
We started out as pantsers, and would
write about ⅔ of each book randomly from our seats, before outlining to fill in
the holes. Recently Mindy attempted plotting for our third book, and we are
having a difficult time adapting to that process.
Did you learn anything from writing this book? If
so, what?
From writing this book we learned
that even if we think it’s a standalone, thanks to our expansive world, we have
to be careful how many past story details we add. This was hard for us because
we love adding cameos of our favorite characters in each book.
SOUL MATE TREE SERIES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Fantasy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB
Dottie thought she had it all: a successful singing career,
a handsome fiancé, and a starlet’s wardrobe. Sudden betrayal brought it all
crashing down around her. Those she trusted most played her as nothing more
than a pawn. One misstep while fleeing the scene trapped her in another world
alone, save a mysterious visitor.
Guatimozin, an eagle shifter, has spent ages assisting
people through the realm between life and death, leading them to join loved
ones on either side. No one had ever made him want anything for himself until
he discovered this city girl.
Forces plot against them and time is short. Soon, their
chance for a happily ever after will be too late.
EXCERPT
Dottie wiped the tears from her face. Damn him, and damn his
floosy too. She’d do what her mother constantly threatened her stepdad with,
and remove his cock to wear it proudly on a chain around her neck.
I jus’ gotta find a way out of this kooky forest first.
Making her way back onto her feet, she dusted off her dress
in a mindless motion. The fabric passed beneath her strokes smooth and dirt
free. She studied the once vibrant red dress she’d worn on stage. The satin now
appeared drab and colorless. Her bare feet peeked from beneath its hem, as
clean as the moment she’d dabbed them dry from her bath. The blind sprint from
her dressing room, across town, and up the hill, should have left them covered
in filth.
In exasperation, she threw her arms in the air. “Swell. I
mus’ be dead and I’m . . .”
She moved away from the tree to scrutinize her surroundings.
As much as Dottie hoped she’d end up in heaven, her mother always insisted
that, as a willful child trying to pass as something she wasn’t, her final
destination would be a bit further down.
The sensation of electricity passing through the air made
every hair stand on end as a matter-of-fact reply came from behind. “No, you
aren’t dead, but you’re not exactly alive either. You’re in a realm known as the
in-between.”
Spinning around, Dottie came face to face with a stranger.
Like the tree, he appeared in color, only he wasn’t pink and purple. Instead, a
tall man with reddish tan skin, swirling silver eyes, and waist length striking
black hair, stared at her as though regarding a ghost. Thick muscular arms
crossed over his chest as his shocked expression ease into a slow smirk,
highlighting the defined beak-like nose, high cheekbones, and strong chin
framing his mouth.
Nervously
licking her lips, she couldn’t help but muse, Di Mi. Well hello, sailor.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Writing under Mikea Howard, we are actually Mindy Howard and Kelly Smith, sisters-in-law who share a love for romance, usually paranormal. We have spent the last several years reading and sharing books as well as authors, often making comments about how we’d love to write our own when we ran out of things to read.
While based on our TBR piles, we have not run out of reading
material, yet we decided to write when the muse hit Kelly with a dystopian
diesel world and an opening scene with the heroine running out into the woods.
Mindy then saw her hero step in, and The Diesel War series was born.
Mindy is an IT professional at a telecom company. She is
married to a musician and teacher, who also happens to be Kelly’s brother. She
has one adult son and is living out west.
Kelly is a Registered Nurse working in maternal-fetal
medicine. She has a great husband, who happens to be Mindy’s husband’s best
friend. She has one son in high school, one daughter in middle school, and is
living on the east coast.
Graye Manor is known throughout the BDSM community for producing the best
trained, specialty submissives in the world, and caters to matching
these ladies with the perfect partner to guarantee a
Happily-Ever-After. But what happens to those girls who aren’t
accepted into the program, especially those naturally pulled toward
an age-play dynamic? They are matched with Billionaire Daddy Doms…
and rarely just one…
LONNIE
Lonnie Stuart is facing a prison sentence for felony shoplifting. Instead of
entering the courtroom, she’s summoned into the judge’s chambers.
There she meets Maxwell Tohler who offers her placement in an
experimental reform program designed to give young women a second
chance to achieve their greatest goals and live their dreams. She’d
be assigned a ‘guardian’ who’d provide for her every need and lavish
her with the care she’s always desired. The downside is the
requirement to follow the guardian’s rules or risk some unpleasant
time across his knee.
Her first inclination to Max’s proposal is to run, except she’s drawn to
his handsome face, strong body, and the ‘thing’ in his voice that
makes her feel small, vulnerable, and safe. Not only does he stir a
heart that yearns love and acceptance, but her body as well. So, when
Max rejects her request to be her guardian, she’s crushed.
Max, the case-worker for the Guardian Program, is sent by his old friend
Dorian to evaluate and match one of the denied applicants for Manor
submissive training. Taking the bench in the Hampton’s as a favor for
the regular judge, Max ends up face to face with the girl he was sent
to meet! She was everything he ever wanted in a woman and more-smart,
beautiful, sweet and a little broken. Refusing her request to belong
to him is one of the hardest things he’d even done, but the program
was to help the women, not himself.
Little does he know, but their meeting is one of Dorian Graye’s grand
schemes to match the perfect girl with her perfect Daddy Dom!
To her delight, Lonnie’s unexpected assignment to the stern alpha male
begins a journey of personal growth and sexual exploration. Max takes
her from New York to his stunning home on the edge of Lake Tahoe.
She’s in for a second surprise when she meets Mik, Max’s identical
twin. For the first time in her life, she is confident that genuine
love would be hers in the embrace of the two Daddy Doms!
Her action-filled fairytale ending falters when her vicious aunt starts
to stir up trouble by trying to gain control of Lonnie’s considerable
trust fund. The cross-country investigation and legal conflicts bring
up some ugly secrets and deception, causing a rift that might easily
destroy Lonnie’s dreams of a HEA and tear the twin brothers apart forever.
Facing the most difficult decision of her life, Lonnie turns to an
unexpected resource for advice. Should she chose one of the men for
herself or save the brothers’ relationship by walking away with a
broken heart?
Note: This new series is brought to you by the author who started the
Age-Play phenomena, Breanna Hayse. As a BDSM/AP lifestyler, she
ensured that the reader enjoys the dynamic in the way it exists in
real life. If you haven’t read realistic AP literature, or believe
it’s not your cup of tea, give this book a try. You might be
surprised at what you find inside this full-length novel!
After escaping the ghettos of New York City, Lonnie is finally free to live
her Happily-Ever-After in beautiful Lake Tahoe with her identical
twin Daddy Doms, Max and Mik Tohler. In addition, Dorian and Meredith
Graye, and her future mother-in-law step into her life and give her
the love of a family that she’s longed for.
Princess rooms, tea parties, and a surprise trip to a very special house at
Mt. Shasta encouraged the emergence of her ‘Tween’ and all the
sass, trouble, adventure, laughter, and attitude that comes with the
title. Spurred on by her Daddy Doms, Lonnie explores the wants and
needs of her long-neglected inner child; but when she slips into her
‘adult’ mode, her womanly desires are awakened. Her innocence and
vulnerability are tested when the twins plan a surprise that takes
her to ‘The Lair’ in San Francisco and the unique BDSM playroom.
There her eyes are opened to another level of sensuality, trust, and
love. She also faces a fear she can’t ignore and an object of past
abuse. Can she summon the courage to face a terror of long-ago and
clear the path for future joy, or will she do what comes naturally
and run?
Max and Mik are as opposite as they are the same. One is creative and
spontaneous while the other is controlling and disciplined, yet
through the woman they share, the twins’ strengths and weakness
blend together. They soon discover Lonnie’s presence brings out the
fun-loving banter and play that a past betrayal stripped from their
lives. She turns their world upside down and, with that, they learn
the freedom of creative control—when it comes to both discipline
and the bedroom!
Together, Max and Mik give Lonnie what she needs the most. She is spoiled and
disciplined, and her life is filled with more love and care that she
knows how to handle. Yet, an obstacle seems to be waiting at every
turn, and she starts to question her decisions. After all the
turmoil, jealousy, insecurities, and fears are exposed, the choice to
make the relationship a permanent commitment has to be made. The last
thing she wants is to hurt the men that saved her life and offered a
second chance at happiness, especially before the holidays, but she’s
learned the hard way that everything good comes with a hefty, and
usually painful, price.
Publisher’s Note: This book, the characters, court scenes, etc is FICTION. Please
sit back and enjoy a story for what it is– Entertainment and fun!
What can one Little girl and her four handsome Daddy-Doms do to keep warm
during cold, Alaskan nights in Denali National Park?
Jennifer Hudson lives in a world that has no place for her other than being
the ‘reward’ given to her owners’ clients. She’s beautiful, smart,
and sexy, but years of pain and fear have left her emotions and
desires caged and without a key. She knows that she won’t survive
much longer in her present circumstance and needs to decide-
Does she run and risk her life, or remain where she is and never have one?
With the aid of Dorian Graye and the Guardian program, Jennie is placed in
emergency care of the four-unit team of Daddy Doms who vow to do
whatever is needed to keep her safe, happy and whole- even if it
means applying some uncomfortable disciplinary measures. One by one,
the brothers-in-arms break down Jennie’s hard exterior and draw out
the little girl hiding behind the walls of her heart. She soon
discovers that the price of vulnerability is high, and the cost dear.
But is love worth the risk?
Author’s Note: This Reverse Harem introduces the town of Northern Lights- an
age-play community where ‘it takes a village’ (or, at least three
daddies) to raise a happy Little submissive.
What can one Little girl and her four handsome Daddy Doms do to keep the
fires burning on long, endless nights in a remote Alaskan lodge?
Jennie, and her four-man Recon team, continue their adventures in this action
packed (and ever so romantic) sequel that explores their unique poly
relationship and the little age-play village of Northern Lights.
After being stalked, and surviving a brutal attack, Jennie discovers that
there’s so much more to life than satisfying her unceasing appetite
for the men who’ve taken her in and given her their hearts. Her trust
unfolds and, with it, a mischievous part of her nature in the form of
a Middle. Of course, there’s only one way to handle a naughty Middle-
and it’s NOT by giving her caramel apples and peppermint sticks.
Then there’s Slater…
After a rocky start, Slater Foxx, the mysterious fourth member of the team,
awakens Jennie’s sassiness by taking her up Mount Denali where he
introduces her to his rescued wolf pack and the glorious beauty of
the Alaskan wilderness. Before they know it, daylight is gone and the
couple has no choice but to bunk in Slater’s amazing little
‘ice-castle.’ The unexpected getaway sparks something neither of
them could have prepared for.
That’s only the beginning!
As the holidays approach, the little family of five grow closer than
ever, but come face to face with the possibility of being torn apart
by an outside source. Jennie, once again, is caught between a rock
and a hard place- and has to decide what’s more important-
The truth or continuing to live in her ultimate fantasy?
Jennie and her four handsome Daddy Doms have returned with more
laughs, tears, and hot times as they find ways to occupy themselves
on the long, winter nights in Alaska.
The tiny town of Northern Lights is preparing for their fourth annual WIN (Winter Ice
Night) campout. Hot cocoa, an igloo building contest, ice-skating,
winter games, bonfires, ball gowns, and loads of CANDY are just a
glimpse of what the ladies get to look forward to.
Being a Big girl in a poly-household is fun and satisfying, but so exhausting! It’s
been a happy challenge for Jennie to adjust to the needs of the men,
but well worth the effort. They treat her like a princess when she
behaves, and a naughty little girl when she doesn’t, but are always
there with love and A LOT of guidance- whether she wants it or not.
With WIN around the corner, she’s trying SO hard to be
extra good- but mischief has a way of working itself into the
picture. Add to that a dose of stubbornness, and it’s recipe for
trouble.
Jenn’s not alone.
Her BFF and fellow mischief maker, Lena, introduces her to the
greatest delight in the WIN celebration- the girls are
allowed to do ANYTHING they want without consequences! Of course,
their Daddy Doms are experts with maneuvering around the rules and
find ways to ‘show their love’ that even stuns Jennie-the queen
of loopholes herself!
So many wonderful things have happened since the four-man team took her in. Who
would’ve thought that the day she traveled to the polar regions of
Alaska, she’d fall in love with the beautiful winter snows of
Denali, learn eskimo bushcraft, and would even be able to hold her
own on the ice? She’s happy, loved and desired, and there is
nowhere else in the world that she’d rather be.
But she never prepared for what was waiting around the corner that will change the
lives of her, and her four wonderful men, forever…
BDSM/AP lifestyler Breanna Hayse strives to give her readers truth and
reality of the BDSM/Age-Play/Total Power and Erotic Exchange lifestyle.
Who am I?
I’m a native Californian gone ‘wild’, and had the opportunity to travel
the globe and discover the world through the eyes of both a Marine
Intelligence specialist and a BDSM lifestyler. I left the service to
go into hospice nursing and grief counseling, eventually working as a
marriage and family therapist for those involved in alternative
lifestyle development. This experience has allowed me to gain unique
inspiration for my books and offer realistic plots and relatable characters.
In 2004, my husband, John, and I joined forces to work with both
submissives and dominants- teaching, training, listening and loving.
Our goal was to take the mystery and fear out of the lifestyle and
mentor people in safe, consensual and healthy relationships.
My first book, The Game Plan, was published in 2012 and opened the door
to the now-booming world of Age-Play literature. Since that time,
I’ve devoted my ‘spare’ time to writing, researching, community
involvement, and private and group pro bono counseling in deviant
behavior, alternative lifestyle, and addiction recovery.
I was formally ‘dungeon trained’ as a Domme before discovering my
submissive side when I joined the service. My scenarios are pulled
primarily from either personal experience or observation, including
spending time in BDSM clubs as the safety/medical officer. My
multi-faceted background allows me to glean from many avenues and
give a unique and intelligent literary experience through elements of
fantasy and fiction. I also discuss the questions and psychology of
the lifestyle in a manner that is fun and informative, and based on
‘the real deal.’
I live with my husband, musician, and fellow-author, John Hayse, and
two border collies in southern California. We practice a 24/7 D&S
relationship with speckles of AP (and many trips to Build-A-Bear),
and happily spend every moment together that we can. My hobbies
include my puppies, hiding my vanilla salt-water taffy where John
can’t find it, exotic art, collecting inspirational trinkets, and
developing my own paddle line. You can also see me as a featured
author/instructor in professional conference settings and as a
Sexpert for kinkyliterature.com.
He’s a Brute Chloe Liese (Tough Love, #1) Publication date: May 6th 2019 Genres: Adult, Romance, Suspense
One dark and handsome control-freak sports star meets one smarty pants bioengineer with hair to match her fiery temper. It’s an experiment straight out of sexual thermodynamics.
Every good scientist knows the second law of thermodynamics: the universe’s disorder, entropy, is always increasing. Professionally and personally speaking, Nairne’s familiar with the principle. After a streak of costly fame, now she’s set on saving the world, microscope in hand, and there’s no time for romance. Problem is, when a rude, despicably sexy Adonis shows up to run their board meeting, chemistry and its ensuing chaos become more than a formula—now they’re a burning hot reality.
Mafia prince. Professional footballer. Bad boy demeanor and a reputation for being as talented between the sheets as he is on the pitch. Rumors are the man’s an absolute brute. And he turns out to be just as demanding, controlling and vicious in person as he is on paper. The Law of Attraction’s proven true, as Nairne finds herself accepting Zed’s proposal: rough, wild stress release, more orgasms than she can count, and most importantly—no falling in love.
Agreement in place. End date secured.
No attachments. No forever.
What could possibly go wrong?
Book One in the Tough Love Series—an enemies to lovers, suspenseful romance, full of sexy Italians, bedroom negotiations, feisty heroines, and an ending that’ll both satisfy you and leave you ready for more!”
I took a few careful steps toward her because something about her made me uneasy. From the other end of the table, she’d been lovely. A pretty face with a pouty frown. By the time I was one third the way down the conference table toward her, she was devastating. I stopped because she was affecting me plenty from twelve feet away. Long and glossy dark auburn hair. Ivory skin. Fine bones, a smattering of freckles, and a warm glow to her cheeks. Her eyes were the real showstopper, though. They were an unfairly high chroma green, like blades of grass darkened after rain. They glittered with defiance and not a little contempt for me as she spoke.
“Understood, Mr. Salvatore. I look forward to showing you how misplaced your concern is. Until then, I’ll remember not to take such stingy optimism personally.”
No one spoke to me like that. I was Zedekiah Lazaro Salvatore, Deirdre O’Shea and Brando Salvatore’s firstborn. Boston fucking royalty, king of the soccer field, and prince of the city’s Italian criminal underworld. People kissed my ass and rolled out the red carpet. They bowed their heads and averted their eyes. Nobody gave me shit. Except Nairne MacGregor, apparently.
I dropped my grip on my jacket to hide the boner her sharp mouth gave me and feigned a smile. “You’ll excuse me.”
Waiting for her polite acknowledgment was out of the question. If I stuck around, she’d know exactly what her sass did to my body. I stormed out, knocked shoulders with someone and muttered an apology, then barreled toward the exit. I wasn’t normally clumsy—both of my professions were predicated on exceptional coordination and hyper-awareness—but I chalked it up to ninety-five percent of my blood gathering in my dick rather than my brain. Finally, I landed outside where I sucked in a breath and oriented myself.
Observing her during the meeting had been torture. Elbow on the table, jotting things down then setting her pen exactly parallel to the paper’s edge. Precise. Perfectionist. She’d listened while her wide green eyes darted between people as they spoke. Nairne was neurotically observant, cunning even. Watching her gears turning had turned me on. Big time.
She hadn’t spoken much, but when she had, I’d noted her vowels were off. She had an accent, and it wasn’t Southie. I couldn’t place it, and just like her hair that wouldn’t make up its mind between mahogany and rich red, her speech was another wrinkle in my morning. I’d never been this simultaneously annoyed and aroused.
Author Bio:
Chloe’s always been a sucker for a suspenseful steamy romance, ever since she managed to find the one saucy mystery series hiding in her high school’s prim little library. Nothing drives her crazier than a story that cranks up the heat, then closes the door on the reader’s face, so don’t read her books if you don’t want to know what actually happens when the lights fade to black…
When she’s not writing, Chloe’s busy reading books of all genres, rereading Harry Potter (which she can’t help but make her characters similarly obsessed over), and playing catch-up with her bad@$$ little girls. She’s also been known to scramble around the pitch for a pick-up soccer match and run along the river while dreaming up her next book.
Nobody’s Fool Ophelia Bell (Fate’s Fools #5) Publication date: May 7th 2019 Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance
Deva Rainsong has a mission to take revenge on a god, but all she really wants is to understand why one mortal man doesn’t love her. Once upon a time, Ozzie West was her first love, her savior, and the man she always believed she could count on no matter what. But to him it’s as if she never existed.
Unfortunately Deva’s mission won’t wait, and she needs Ozzie’s love to fulfill her promise to Fate or their entire world could come crashing down around them. Because when you piss off a god, you’d better have the power to strike back.
I plucked at the strings again, restarting the song and finding my voice. Despite a tongue clumsy from drink, I had no trouble singing clearly. Call it my superpower; I may not have been able to walk a straight line, but I could still make flawless music while wasted.
Her eyelids fluttered closed and some of the tension in her expression eased. Her spine became less rigid and she seemed to flow across the room toward me. The way she moved may have been the most graceful thing I’d ever seen. She was just walking, but it felt like a dance, each step matching the beat of my song. My pulse raced, my body heated, and I could hear my heartbeat in my ears, thrumming to the same tempo.
My mouth had gone dry by the time she climbed up on the bed. She crawled across the covers, her movements seductive though her eyes were closed now. She only paused for a second to listen before continuing toward me, straddling my legs.
I pushed back against the pillows, the notes faltering, then stopped entirely when her breasts grazed my hand.
“Uh, I can’t play if you’re going to climb all over me. You understand that, right?”
“Sing,” she demanded.
I got the impression her vocabulary must have been limited to singular syllables in this form, and I doubted the wisdom of allowing her to just crawl on top of me the way she was doing. I clutched the guitar, deciding it was probably better to keep some barrier between us, considering she was looking at me as if she wanted to eat me.
“Why don’t you just sit next to me here, and I’ll sing you all the songs you want?” I patted the bed beside me and then started in on a different song—one I knew all the words to.
Her face twisted with displeasure. “No!” She tore the guitar from me with surprising strength and sent it crashing to the floor in a dissonant clatter. She surged up close, her breath hot against my ear, her full breasts warm through the thin fabric of my shirt.
“Sing,” she rasped.
I cleared my throat and hummed a bar of the unfinished song, then stopped. “You mean that one?”
“Mmm,” she said, a small smile gracing her lips and her eyelids fluttering closed again.
“All right, but I need you to—ah—move off me.”
I grasped her by the shoulders and attempted to twist around to position her beside me. The next thing I knew, I was pinned flat to the bed, her wild eyes staring down at me as vines snaked down and coiled around my wrists.
“Sing.”
“Fucking hell,” I muttered, staring at the vines. I tugged hard, but they held tight.
Her lovely, dark face hovered over me, eyes a maelstrom of need, but a flicker of deeper awareness made me think Deva was still in there, perhaps along for the ride while her instincts had control. Up close, her lips were a deep blue, as was her tongue as it swept across her lower lip.
Fuck, now she did look like she was going to eat me, and I was only more convinced of that when she grasped the sides of my shirt and wrenched it open, leaving me absently relieved it had snaps instead of buttons.
She raked her blunt nails down my chest, the sensation more arousing than painful. My body came alive under her touch despite the fact that I knew she was off-limits. But holy fuck, was this hot. If she went any further, all bets were off.
Author Bio:
Ophelia Bell loves a good bad-boy and especially strong women in her stories. Women who aren’t apologetic about enjoying sex and bad boys who don’t mind being with a woman who’s in charge, at least on the surface, because pretty much anything goes in the bedroom.
Ophelia grew up on a rural farm in North Carolina and now lives in Los Angeles with her own tattooed bad-boy husband and four attention-whoring cats.
If you’d like to receive regular updates on Ophelia’s publications, freebies, and discounts, please subscribe to her mailing list: http://opheliabell.com/subscribe/
More Time Kissed Moments Tracy Cooper-Posey (Kiss Across Time #8.1) Publication date: May 2nd 2019 Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance, Time-Travel
Where is Rafael?
Rafael is missing, with not a trace of him to be found, not even on the Timescape.
In a volume of interconnected short stories, snippets and conversations, Veris’ extended family of vampires and time jumpers comes together in unexpected ways, united by their need to find Rafael and get him back.
Reader Advisory: This time travel ménage romance collection features at least two super-hot alpha vampire heroes, multiple sex scenes, including anal sex and MM sexual play. Do not read this book if frank sexual language and sex scenes offend you. The time-space continuum was restored to order at the end of this book. Promise.
This book is part of the Kiss Across Time paranormal time travel series:
1.0: Kiss Across Time
2.0: Kiss Across Swords
2.5: Time Kissed Moments*
3.0: Kiss Across Chains
4.0: Kiss Across Deserts
5.0: Kiss Across Kingdoms
5.1: Time And Tyra Again*
6.0: Kiss Across Seas
7.0: Kiss Across Worlds
7.1: Time And Remembrance*
8.0: Kiss Across Tomorrow
8.1: More Time Kissed Moments*
The characters and events in this series are interconnected from book to book. Reading the books in order is strongly encouraged.
[*Short stories and novellas featuring the characters and situations featured in the Kiss Across Time series].
As soon as Veris was low enough to see into the big room, he looked down at the colorful rag rugs covering the hardwood floor and the worn sofas and armchairs—veterans of a dozen different lives and houses. Their used, comfortable patina matched the warm golden wood paneling on the walls. The lighting was also a pleasant yellow, although daylight emitting overhead fluorescents could be switched on if decent working light was needed.
Sydney stood with her arms crossed, chewing at the ball of her thumb, her golden brows creased together. She wore gym pants and no makeup and watched the monitors on the wall which showed views of the main floor of the house and every potential angle of approach on the outside.
Veris glanced at Alex, then came to a halt on the stairs, for Alex was covered in dried blood, his clothes ripped and dirty, his hair ruffled and his eyes haunted.
“What the hell happened?” Veris demanded, moving down the rest of the stairs at a speed that would have made Kit McDonald’s jaw drop.
Sydney dropped her arms and turned to Veris, her jaw working. “Rafe is missing.”
Veris frowned. “Missing,” he repeated, trying to encompass how anyone could go missing, when at least five people in the family—including Sydney—could reach across the timescape and find anyone, no matter where they were.
“He was taken,” Alex said, his voice strained.
Author Bio:
Tracy Cooper-Posey is a #1 Best Selling Author. She writes romantic suspense, historical, paranormal and science fiction romance. She has published over 100 novels since 1999, been nominated for five CAPAs including Favourite Author, and won the Emma Darcy Award.
She turned to indie publishing in 2011. Her indie titles have been nominated four times for Book Of The Year. Tracy won the award in 2012, and an SFR Galaxy Award in 2016 for “Most Intriguing Philosophical/Social Science Questions in Galaxybuilding”. She has been a national magazine editor and for a decade she taught romance writing at MacEwan University.
She is addicted to Irish Breakfast tea and chocolate, sometimes taken together. In her spare time she enjoys history, Sherlock Holmes, science fiction and ignoring her treadmill. An Australian Canadian, she lives in Edmonton, Canada with her husband, a former professional wrestler, where she moved in 1996 after meeting him on-line.
His Little Wife Lie Sloan Storm Publication date: April 26th 2019 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
IT’S NOT A LIE IF WE BELIEVE IT’S TRUE.
That’s what Griff Foster said right after he asked me to be his wife.
Sweet, isn’t he?
Let’s be real: his proposal had nothing to do with romance. Falling in love isn’t in his DNA. With piercing blue eyes and a hard body to match, he goes through women like candy.
But he saved my life.
I promised I’d repay him. I should learn when to keep my mouth shut.
Griff needs a Mrs. Right Now, and he’s convinced I’m the perfect actress.
In case I have any doubts, there are seven badly needed zeroes on a check with my name on it to help make up my mind.
Ugh.
We’re totally fake. Nothing but lies.
Except the way his lips feel on mine.
Except the way his touch sets my body ablaze.
Except the way my soul aches when he looks into my eyes.
He says that without me, he loses everything.
But if I’ve got the upper hand, why does it feel like he’s in control?
There’s only one thing missing from this arrangement.
What happens to my heart when it’s over?
What kind of fucking game was he trying to play? I made a complete fool out of myself, then he tried to turn it around on me! No one was going to treat me like this, especially not him.
Once in my room, I raced toward the closet, grabbed my bag, and dragged it out. Fuck this place!
Tiny Me chimed in. No, no! Wait! What are you doing? The money!
“I don’t care about the money!” I yelped, clutching my fingers into fists. “Don’t you understand? I care about him!” Oh shit. No. No.
I sensed a presence in the doorway. “What did you say?”
“Stay away from me.” I spun in place, biting my lip and sputtering hate. “I’m leaving. You can’t stop me.”
He didn’t listen. Of course. I mean, why start now?
Marching right toward me, Griff continued, “You said you cared about me. Don’t try and deny it.”
Yeah, no kidding. You ass. “Of course, I do! Jesus! Do you know how many men I’ve offered my virginity to? Do you? Take a wild guess.”
Griff didn’t respond. What could he say? He already knew the answer.
I poked him in the chest. “Just one. Guess how that went over?”
Griff’s nostrils flared. His eyes narrowed. I was pissing him off. Well. Good! Now he knew how I felt!
“Move,” I snarled, edging past him.
I felt the handle of my suitcase rip free from my hand. By the time I turned to look and see what happened, he’d swept me up me in his arms, racing for the bed.
No!
“Put me down!” I floated in his embrace until he slammed me with a thump, pinning me beneath him. Struggle was useless, but I gave it everything I had, jerking from side-to-side until the instant his lips found mine.
Oh fuck. No! Yes. Yes. Yeeessss…
The passion from his kiss ripped through my body like wildfire, reigniting the embers he left smoldering inside of me with his refusal. Griff’s pelvis pressed into me, the impossible hardness between his legs threatened to reawaken my lust into an inferno until my wits returned.
“Stop!” I gasped, breaking my mouth free. My palms went flat, shoving against his torso. “Get off of me!”
His gaze gave me the answer. Never. Griff ignored my pleas and gripped harder, making me feel he’d crush me into dust if I uttered another word. Reaching up, I clawed and scratched, digging my nails into the steel of his thick chest. But my rage only stoked him, and he groaned, his mouth invading mine again, filling it with his tongue. My resistance turned to vapor, whisps of hate floating away from me while Griff took what he wanted.
At last, he pulled away. I looked at him, my vision glassy from the struggle, each of us fighting for a breath.
“We can’t.” I exhaled. “It’s a mistake.”
Wait. That wasn’t no. Was it?
He licked his lips and sank his pelvis deeper, driving it hard between my legs. I stifled a whimper.
“You’re right,” he hummed, reaching for one of my tits, cupping it in his grasp. Uhhh. My eyes rolled back in my head, his touch had me on the verge of blackout
“It’s the biggest mistake of all,” he warned. “No turning back. No way out.”
No way out. His words reached into my soul, giving me the answer my brain couldn’t. I don’t want one. Don’t give me one. If you do, I might take it.
Wordless, Griff moved over me, a shadow threatening the last shreds of my chastity. With my legs spread and my innocence at risk, I inched my mouth toward his lips when he whispered his final threat.
“At last.”
Author Bio:
Sloan Storm pens imaginative yarns based on dominant men and the women who challenge them. As such, power plays and passion are the heart of each and every story.
The writer’s creative tendencies may drift as the mood strikes, but the essence of all tales told wind up back at the same place… the polarizing difference between the sexes.
After all, what else is there in life?
When not glued to a keyboard creating tales of whimsy, Sloan loves to talk to fans! If you want to connect, you can do it in any number of ways:
Forgiven Are the Starry-Eyed Christine Doré Miller Published by: Evernight Teen Publication date: April 26th 2019 Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
Naïve sixteen-year-old Andrea Cavanaugh is elated when Josh, a charismatic, bright-eyed piano prodigy, becomes her first boyfriend. But the closer she gets to him, the more she realizes that he is not the boy she first fell for. In its poignancy and emotional darkness, Forgiven Are the Starry-Eyed takes you deep into the delicate and devastating web of shame that spirals from the depths of dating violence when dreamy teenage love turns dark. Andrea must find not only an escape, but a belief that she is even worthy of freedom.
My eyelids closed as if they were being drawn down by sluggish, unhurried weights. When I forced them open after several seemingly endless moments, nothing had changed. I could still make out a blurry image of Josh standing nearby, Mr. Thompson’s hands clenched firmly on Josh’s shoulders from behind. There was a crowd, I think, and muffled voices. The steel school locker felt cold against my back and I recognized the familiar feeling that lately seemed to just dwell and ache in my bones. Fear, I think it was, mixed with just enough madness to keep the blood racing through my veins … fast. Too fast.
“Why did you do that, Andrea?” Josh shouted in my direction.
My eyes fell closed again. I don’t remember what else he said. I just remember the feeling of each overly pronounced syllable piercing the air while he said it. I stared through the darkness that danced behind my heavy eyelids. What had I done?
I tried to pry open my hazy eyes to examine the faces of the expanding crowd as they stood, mouths agape. I only recognized a few. There were hardcover music books sprawled open on the tile floor at my feet. Confused, I looked to Josh, but the heavy silence of the room deafened any words he may have been saying. I gripped the ends of my soft, thin hair between my slender fingers and waited. Each thought sunk deeper than the last.
There was a poster taped sloppily against the locker behind me. I turned my head to face it and focused. The ends were curled up and there were ripples in the masking tape adorned to the edges. “Oakwood High School Invitational—TONIGHT” it read in handwritten purple block letters. There was a pixelated saxophone image pasted underneath the words, “Brought to you by Mr. Thompson and the Oakwood High Jazz Band.” I brought my hand up to trace the edges. The poster board felt crisp and thick under my fingertips. I could smell the aftermath of the permanent marker. The loud reverberating voice behind me got softer until it resembled a deep echo I could easily ignore. I started to pick at the tape from the bottom left corner of the poster until I felt the sticky residue ball up underneath my fingernail.
Suddenly the life reentered my body in one abrupt breath when I felt a strong tug on my arm. I turned and saw Ethan Marks. Everyone else was gone. Had it been minutes this time? Hours?
“Andrea! Come on,” he barked at me, interlacing my arm, tucking it quickly under his. He jerked me to a standing position and pulled me down the hall, speeding up his gate as I stumbled to catch up.
“Where’s Josh?” I asked worriedly, but he didn’t answer. We were silent as we walked through the empty hallway. I lifted my gaze, trying to catch Ethan’s eye, trying to read his thoughts. His light blue eyes, usually sparkling with laughter, were steely and somber as he charged forward, dragging me with him, away from the wreckage I’d caused.
He stopped short and took a deep breath. His eyes were unyielding and dismal as they studied me, and slowly his frustration melted into a deep sadness.
“What happened, Andrea? What was that back there?”
“I don’t know…” My voice began breaking. My thoughts were muddled beyond recognition and I couldn’t form the right words, or any words, to explain.
Ethan wrapped himself around me in a gentle, firm embrace. It felt kind. And warm. And wonderfully different. My muscles unclenched for the first time in months, and I didn’t know I was crying until I tasted the salt as it stained my face. I buried my head into Ethan’s chest as he tightened his hold on me. I wanted him to say something, to tell me everything would be all right, but we both knew better. So we just stood there, Ethan supporting me as I clasped the back of his cotton t-shirt between my fingers.
After a few minutes, I fully returned to my body as my breathing calmed. I steadied my stance and took a step backward, shakily holding Ethan’s forearms as I regained my balance. Wiping smudged mascara from my pale face, I met Ethan’s eyes and quickly looked down, fixating on a crack in the tile below me.
“Hey,” he started, “Andrea … it’s…”
“I’m okay. Ethan, I’m sorry. I’m sorry you had to … I’m sorry I … ugh your shirt.” I motioned to the tear stains on his light green tee that crept from his chest to his shoulder.
“Oh God, don’t worry about that. Andie, I just…”
“It’s fine.” I wiped my face and took a deep breath. “Thanks,” I said, squeezing Ethan’s hand and looking in his eyes sincerely, so he knew I meant it. “I should go. But thanks.” I shook my head and turned around to walk back into the havoc and face what I had done. I felt Ethan staring at me as I left. He was just another person whose life would’ve been better if he hadn’t met me. I swallowed, took a breath, and kept walking.
It was over for now, that latest incident, and there was no way to tell when there would be another one … but there would definitely be another one. I was too broken for it to be any other way.
Author Bio:
Christine lives in the Los Angeles area with her husband and their two children. She works full-time as a senior marketing manager for a large media company and holds a Bachelor’s of Business Administration degree from Western Michigan University where she studied marketing. Growing up in the chilly midwest, she developed a deep passion for dramatic writing and alternative music at an early age, which still peaks through in her adult-corporate-mom life today. Forgiven Are the Starry-Eyed is Christine’s debut novel.
