Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Pre-Order Tour: Inclined to Scandal by Zoë Mullins

Title: Inclined to Scandal
Author: Zoë Mullins
Genre: Historical, Erotica Romance
Expected Release Date: July 10, 2018
Publisher: Totally Bound


Summary:
A misfit in proper society, Lady Georgiana will risk her future for a night of pleasure with Captain Wrath.

Lady Georgiana Knolls is a misfit in proper society, only there because her brother insists she have a Season and learn what it means to be ‘a lady’. The rules and etiquette forced upon unmarried women of her class are stifling and she breaks them more often and more publicly than is wise.

Which is how she meets Captain Wrath. His arrogance and confidence are nearly a match for her own and for a chance of pleasure with him, she will risk the future she’s been waiting for.

After years at sea, Captain Wrath is ready to resume the mantle of the Earl of Rathbridge. His first good deed? To save his best friend’s sister from blackmail by offering her the protection of his name…as her fiancé. The faux betrothal turns real when he realizes she is the same beauty who’s been sharing his bed since his return.

The earl is ready to make things right, but to do that, he will have to unmask a blackmailer, convince his best friend that he is suitable marriage material for his beloved sister and prove to Georgie that becoming his wife won’t stifle the independence she craves.


This had been, Georgiana decided, a no-good, horrible day. She had just lost five hundred pounds. Her stern Methodist uncle was bound to find out and Kit would likely tear a strip off her as well. Not that Kit would care that she’d played, just that she’d lost. He’d taught her better than that.

She looked at her opponent with consternation. She felt as if she should know him, but she couldn’t place him. He wasn’t fashionable, though his clothes were obviously from the best tailor. No one with that much money should look like that, she thought.

From his wide-shouldered, well-sculpted chest, narrow waist and muscled thighs, he was built like a laborer but he dressed better than the prince regent. You’d almost think he was a gentleman, she thought, except for his raven hair, which though gleaming, was too long to be fashionable, as it fell not just past his collar but past his shoulders.

“I was hoping you’d be up for another game.” He leaned forward in his chair and raised an eyebrow arrogantly. She wondered if they taught that look to men in school. Her brother could give her the same look. Usually when he knew she was lying about something.

“As much as I would love not to have to explain to my uncle why I need to withdraw the funds, I really shouldn’t play with you. I have nothing left to offer,” she drawled, then chastised herself. She should not be flirting with this man. She had no excuse. Your aunt and uncle are trying to marry you off to an old goat, a little voice in her head reminded her. That is no excuse, she told it.

“Darling,” he purred, “I think you have a lot to offer.”

Goosebumps rose where his dark eyes roamed over her, caressing her. Her chest flushed when his gaze lingered on her breasts. 

“But I am unwilling to wager my body to your pleasure.”

“I promise you, when you give yourself to me it will be for pleasure not because you lost a wager. When I take you to bed, it will be because you want to be there, beneath me. You want to feel me inside of you.”

She was spellbound by his bold words, and the heat uncurling in her belly. She didn’t notice when he reached out and pulled on the ties of her mask. It dropped to her lap.

“No hiding, love.” He grinned at her. “The choice is yours.”

He didn’t have piggy eyes or fetid breath, she’d give him that. He was strong and virile, and she realized she was being offered an unparalleled opportunity. With the safety of anonymity inside this room, she could afford whatever the evening held. She thought of her uncle threatening to marry her off. She was a spinster after all, and had only been kissed three times. How can I afford to say no? she wondered.

“Deal the cards, Captain.”



Author Bio:
A prolific writer, even in elementary school, she was jotting down poems and stories whenever she had the chance - usually during math class.

After many years of working in corporate communications, Zoë decided in 2015 it was time to focus her energy on the kind of writing she loved – hot romances with strong, alpha heroes and quirky, independent heroines.

Zoë’s husband of nearly 20 years threw his full support behind that dream and loves to tell people his wife is a romance author. They live in Atlantic Canada with their two crazy collies. When not at her computer, you will find Zoë chasing after her muddy dogs, working in the garden or helping to renovate their money-pit of a house.


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Book Blast: Just A by Jena Wade

Titles: Just a Week & Just a Year
Author: Jena Wade
Series: Just A #1 & #2
Genre: M/M Romance
Release Date: May 12, 2018

Just a Week #1
Summary:
Just a week is not enough time to fall in love, but Fate doesn’t care. Seth’s carefully crafted plan for how his life will go doesn’t include falling in love with a guy in his horrible hometown. He wants to start a new life anywhere but at home. Until Maddox storms in with his multi-colored hair and carefree attitude.

Long distance relationships don’t work and Seth isn’t into gambling with his future. But the more time he spends with Maddox, the more he’s willing to throw caution to the wind. Now his plan for the rest of his life has been turned upside down and seems to include things Seth never thought possible, including a lifetime of happiness in his hometown.

Just a Year #2
Summary:
Just a year is too much time to spend apart from the man you love, but Seth has a carefully crafted plan for how to make it work. Taking an internship four hours away from Maddox may not have been the smartest choice Seth has ever made, but he is determined to make it work. Until life throws a wrench in his plans and turns his and Maddox’s world upside down.


Just a Year #2
Just a year. No more, no less. Three hundred sixty-five days. Five hundred, twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes.

Great, now I would have the Rentsoundtrack playing in my head throughout the entire ceremony.

I took a deep breath and focused on the commencement speaker. After five long years, the last one and a half being the longest by far, I’d finished my degree. No more term papers, no more eight a.m. classes, no more all-nighters in the library so I could have a homework free weekend with my boyfriend.

Maddox.

He sat out there in the crowd with my parents. I felt his eyes on me, but I couldn’t see him. I’m not even sure which section they were in. The Breslin Center was filled to the brim with graduates and their families. All waiting for their individual name to be called so they could walk across the stage and collect a fake diploma. The real one wouldn’t arrive in the mail for a few weeks.

Just a year. That wasn’t that long, was it?

Maddox and I had survived the past year and a half getting to know each other over Skype and Facetime, chatting, Snapchatting, the works. Thank God for the digital age. On the rare occasions that we physically saw each other, well, I mean, I don’t really have to explain how those encounters went.

Jobs right out of college were hard to come by, everyone knew that. Maddox would understand.

Just a year.

“Seth Brown, Masters of Science in Marketing Research.”

I took a deep breath, walked across the stage, accepted my fake diploma from the university president, smiled for a picture and then I was done.

Five years, would have been six if I hadn’t busted my ass taking summer courses, done.

I smiled as I looked around the crowd, searching for Maddox.  He’d make this whole thing worthwhile. It was his idea for me to walk at graduation. I was all set to skip it, but he insisted that I needed to do the traditional thing, and he and my parents would drive up for a nice visit.

Against the odds, I found him. His pink spiked hair stood out. How could it not? He grinned and waved frantically.

Worth it. Totally worth it. I would do anything to see that smile. To earn that smile.

Let’s hope it stayed in place after I told him about the job offer.

Just a year.

Author Bio:
Jena began writing in January of 2013 as a New Year's Resolution--and so far she has stuck to it!

She lives in Michigan. By day she works as a web developer, and at night she writes. Born and raised on a farm, she spends most of her free time outdoors, playing in the garden, or riding her horses. She also helps run the family dairy farm.





Just a Week #1

Just a Year #2

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Book Blitz: Renegade by Sharonlee Holder

Title: Renegade
Author: Sharonlee Holder
Series: Blood of the Custodians #2
Genre: Adult, Paranormal, Romance
Release Date: May 28, 2018
Publisher: Changing Tides Publishing
Summary:
He’ll risk his heart to save her soul.

As the war between the Fates and the resistance rages on, Colin Murphy—bastard son of Hades—finds himself caught between his loyalty to Eros and a past that threatens to destroy him.

Pursued by Persephone’s bounty hunters, and with a pissed-off daemon to contend with, there is one thing that Murphy knows for sure – Hailey, the human he now shares his mind and body with, is innocent in all of it. She is a firefly flickering in the darkness of his black existence, and he will do anything and everything to protect her.

Hailey was groomed to be a socialite, with her entire future mapped out for her. Nothing could have prepared her for the abrupt ending to that life—or the impact of living in such close, intimate confines with a forsaken son of Hell. He’s powerful, he’s dangerous…and he’s her only hope of escaping the dark forces that pursue her.

Boundaries will be tested, loyalties questioned, and hearts pushed to the limits in this action-packed paranormal romance that continues the epic Blood of the Custodians saga by Sharonlee Holder.

This steamy, fast-paced paranormal romance series by Sharonlee Holder is perfect for fans of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward and Sacrificed to the Dragon by Jessie Donovan.


Chapter 22
Through Murphy’s eyes, Hailey saw the black and white tiles with smaller gold ones set into their corners. Through his skin, she felt the hot water sluicing over tense shoulders, rushing over his body. With his ears, she heard it hitting the smooth rounded pebbles he was standing on. Murphy had, however, become a statue. A solid mass of brawn rooted to the spot as if he were unsure of what to do next.

Conflict tangled through him.

Compassion rose up. Hailey had caught glimpses of the memories that dredged through his mind shortly after he’d stirred back to consciousness. Experienced the crushing guilt and regret every one of those bones on that god-awful bridge represented. Her questions, though ones her female pride had needed answering, had also been a means to distract him and draw him back from the brink of self-loathing.

Frustration pecked at her. She wanted to help. Wished to understand and ease the bonds that tortured. Wanted to nurture the good she felt sure existed until it grew large enough to choke the weeds of his regret.
Summoning what she had learnt over the past few weeks, Hailey closed her eyes and concentrated on what her newly established connections to Murphy were telling her. Sight, sound, smell…

She reached down further, imposing herself upon his senses…

Taste…

Touch.

Flexing her fingers, Hailey felt his twitch. She focussed harder and balled her hands into fists. His followed suit. She scrunched her toes. Murphy’s curled in response. Lifting her hands, she pressed them to her temples, made small circular motions and felt him do the same.

******

Cruising on autopilot, Murphy leant back against the shower cubicle and closed his eyes, finding temporal relief in the massage of his fingers to the sides of his head.

They stayed there a while and then slipped into his hair, threading through shoulder-length strands. Light, gentle, soothing … alien, as if his hands no longer belonged to him. Unfamiliar caring in the way they moved from his hair to trace fingertips along his jaw and then trailed down his neck…

Murphy stiffened. “Hailey?”

His hands paused, curled over the thick slab of muscles joined to the sides of his neck. Her response when it came after a few moments was hesitant, quiet. “Yes?”

“What are you doing, lass?”

Uncertainty lingered in her voice even as his thumbs stroked up and down his neck. “You don’t like it?” she whispered.

More than is safe for either of us, he thought. “It’s dangerous,” he replied.

Again, his hands hesitated and then dropped to his sides. “Why?”

“Because…I think…I like you.” Murphy said it before logic could catch sentiment and issue a gag order.

He heard the smile in her voice, felt the way she snuggled closer, warming him in unfamiliar ways. “Is that such a bad thing?”

He sighed and palmed a hand down his face, the action all his this time. “You know what I am.”

“Yes. I do. But I also know that you’re more than Mayhem.” Her reply punched him in the gut and sawed through his chest with a rusty blade.

Murphy slid down the tiled wall and sat heavily on the pebbled floor. “How do you know that name?”


What is the most unusual thing you’ve Googled?


Have you ever wondered about the kind of research an author does when writing a novel?

It never occurred to me as a reader.

Before now, my search history has been rather tame consisting of looking up a favourite author’s next release, knitting or crochet patterns, the specs on the fast cars that I adore, accommodation for a trip away etc.

These days, however, my browser history is awash with Greek mythology (who shagged who and which gods had personal feuds going on), anything and everything to do with the craft of writing and publishing, in-depth virtual tours and location shots, as well as topics that would have a nun blushing 😉

And then, there is this:



Yup, while writing Renegade, I had reason to research how long it would take to dig a grave by hand. And it didn’t end there. Due to the setting and nature of Renegade research covered topics such as:

⦁ Creepy abandoned hospital –
The location I researched is 12mins away from where I live and listed as one of the top ten haunted places in South Africa. Perfect inspiration for an integral location in Renegade.

⦁ Chloroform –
It’s not what film and television make it out to be 

⦁ Coma awareness –
A subject so fascinating that I fell down a rabbit hole and didn’t emerge until an hour later.

⦁ Crucifixion –
Such a savage practise that extends well before and after Christianity’s awareness of it. One that has several differing forms of execution.

⦁ Ancient weapons –
The men and women who wielded them were honest-to-gods warriors. No other way of putting it.

⦁ Night vision goggles –
Again, what I thought I knew from film and television was a fifty-fifty split of inaccuracy and assumption on my part.

⦁ Special forces (extraction teams) –
Fascinating stuff and totally had me wanting to re-watch S.W.A.T. starring the delicious Colin Farrell 

⦁ Hand grenade damage to structures –
Wow! This was a real eye opener for me as again, it’s not what we perceive it to be in film and television.

⦁ Scrying –
Very interesting and offered up a fantastic means to an end in terms of plot.

⦁ Sign language –
This is something I’ve always wanted to learn and has gone on my bucket list. I love that in Renegade I was able to feature a character that communicates in this way. What a lovely dance of hands.

⦁ The Chicago Bean –
Yes! We get to pay a brief visit to Chicago in Renegade. Having visited the famed Windy City, I was thrilled to no end to have the opportunity to draw on my wintery experience as well as the inclusion of a quaint little house I encountered just off Millennium Mile.

⦁ Fractal light –
Another research topic that had me falling down a hole. So many beautiful pieces of digital art out there that have been created using this technique. A technique that lends itself perfectly to what I needed it for in Renegade.

And much, much more.

Resurgence #1
Summary:
The last thing Antara remembers about yesterday was her piece of crap car breaking down in the middle of the road, and a too-sexy-for-his-own-good stranger offering his assistance. Neither explains why she woke up naked in his bed, nor why she feels sicker than she's ever been in her life.

Caught in the grips of a terrible fever, nothing's making much sense to Antara. There are only two things she's fairly certain about. One—the unearthly hot stranger's name is Eros and he's definitely not a human. And two—she's pretty sure she was drugged and is currently his hostage.

This steamy, fast-paced paranormal romance by Sharonlee Holder is perfect for fans of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward and Sacrificed to the Dragon by Jessie Donovan.

Author Bio:
South African, born and bred, Sharonlee Holder lives in one of the outer suburbs of Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa.

Life is a happy and creative jumble consisting of a husband, three grown daughters, one super cute grand-daughter, three dogs, a cat, and a mouthy African Grey parrot.

Endless hours at the keyboard are supported by copious amounts of frothy coffee and ‘What ifs?’. Writing breaks are a blend of the big outdoors astride a motorbike, reading or watching anything and everything to do with fantasy, romance and the paranormal.


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Renegade #1
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Resurgence #1
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