Showing posts with label cunningham. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cunningham. Show all posts

Saturday, May 2, 2026

Saturday's Series Spotlight(Star Wars Week): Star Wars Legends - The New Jedi Order by Troy Denning and Elaine Cunningham Part 4




Star by Star by Troy Denning
Summary:
New Jedi Order #9
The New York Times bestselling Star Wars series The New Jedi Order enthralls readers with its epic drama and thrilling adventure. Now readers will pierce the very heart of darkness. . . .

It is a solemn time for the New Republic, as the merciless Yuuzhan Vong continue their campaign of destruction. The brutal enemy has unleashed a savage creature capable of finding—and killing—Jedi Knights. And now Leia Organa Solo faces a terrible ultimatum. If the location of the secret Jedi base is not revealed within one week, the Yuuzhan Vong will blast millions of refugee ships into oblivion.

As the battered but still unbroken Jedi scramble to deal with the newest onslaught, Leia’s son Anakin lays out a daring plan. He will lead a Jedi strike force into the heart of enemy territory in order to sabotage the Yuuzhan Vong’s deadliest weapons. There, with his brother and sister at his side, he will come face-to-face with his destiny—as the New Republic, still fighting the good fight, will come face-to-face with theirs. . . .

Features a bonus section following the novel that includes a primer on the Star Wars expanded universe, and over half a dozen excerpts from some of the most popular Star Wars books of the last thirty years!







Dark Journey by Elaine Cunningham
Summary:
New Jedi Order #10
The New Jedi Order continues as Jaina Solo struggles with anger and despair after the Jedi Knights' harrowing adventure behind enemy lines.

Though the Jedi strike force completed its deadly mission into Yuuzhan Vong territory, the price of success was tragedy: not everyone made it out alive. In a daring getaway, hotshop pilot Jaina Solo stole an enemy ship, taking along her fellow survivors--and leaving behind a huge piece of her heart.

With the enemy in hot pursuit, Jaina is forced to seek haven in the unprotected, unfriendly Hapes Cluster, where the Jedi are held responsible for a past tragedy--and where the royal family has grim plans for their famous Jedi guest. Even more sinister are the intentions of the Yuuvhan Vong, desperate to capture Jaina for a hideous sacrifice.

Grief-stricken and obsessed with revenge, Jaina is blind to these threats--and to the overpowering evil dangerously close to consuming her. In the coming conflagration, Jaina will be fighting not for victory or vengeance, but fore her very being . . .

Features a bonus section following the novel that includes a primer on the Star Wars expanded universe, and over half a dozen excerpts from some of the most popular Star Wars books of the last thirty years!




Star by Star by Troy Denning
Been too long since I last read this story and unfortunately right now I don't have time to listen to the audio but as I was putting this post together, everything came back. I remember so much of the details but most of all I just recall how much I loved the story.  There have been many enemies in the Star Wars universe, both canon and non-canon but few have been as evil and hard to fight as the Yuuzhan Vong IMO.  Beyond the fight of good and evil, they add a whole new level of creepy, bordering on horror. Just so good. NJO may be non-canon now but I still highly recommend reading the entire SWEU now branded Legends. Star Wars fans won't be disappointed.



Dark Journey by Elaine Cunningham
Just as my review for Star by Star, everything came flooding back while putting my blog post together. This entry is a bit harder to read just because of the grief Jaina is dealing with on top of the war with the Yuuzhan Vong. I won't say more so I don't spoil it for anyone who wants to read the Legends non-canon stories, just know, it can be a hard one at times but a very important and fitting SW story. I certainly look forward to listening to the audio in the future.

RATING:






Star by Star by Troy Denning
ONE
Outside the medcenter viewport, a ragged crescent of white twinkles known as the Drall’s Hat drooped across the violet sky, its lower tip slashing through the Ronto to touch a red star named the Eye of the Pirate. The constellations above Corellia had not changed since Han Solo was a child, when he had spent his nights contemplating the galactic depths and dreaming of life as a starship captain. He had believed then that stars never changed, that they always kept the same company and migrated each year across the same slice of sky. Now he knew better. Like everything in the galaxy, stars were born, grew old, and died. They swelled into red giants or withered into white dwarfs, exploded into novas and supernovas, vanished into black holes.

All too often, they changed hands.

It had been nearly three weeks since the fall of the Duro system, and Han still found it hard to believe that the Yuuzhan Vong had a stronghold in the Core. From there, the invaders could strike at Commenor, Balmorra, Kuat, and—first in line—Corellia. Even Coruscant was no longer safe, lying as it did at the opposite end of the Corellian Trade Spine.

Harder to accept than Duro’s loss—though easier to believe—was the enthusiasm with which the cowards of the galaxy had embraced the enemy’s offer of peace in exchange for Jedi. Already a lynch mob on Ando had killed Dorsk 82, and on Cujicor the Peace Brigade had captured Swilja Fenn. Han’s own son Jacen was the most hunted Jedi in the galaxy, and his wife and other children, Anakin and Jaina, were sought almost as eagerly. If it were up to him, the Jedi would leave the collaborators to their fate and go find a safe refuge somewhere in the Unknown Regions. But the decision was not his, and Luke Skywalker was not listening.

A raspy murmur sounded from the lift station, shattering the electronic silence of the monitoring post outside Leia’s door. Han opaqued the transparisteel viewport, then stepped around the bed where his wife lay in a therapeutic coma, her eyelids rimmed by purple circles and her flesh as pallid as wampa fur. Though he had been assured Leia would survive, his heart still ached whenever he looked at her. He had almost lost her during the fall of Duro, and a stubborn series of necrotic infections continued to threaten her mangled legs. Even more in doubt was their future together. She had greeted him warmly enough after they found each other again, but Chewbacca’s death had changed too much for their marriage to continue as before. Han felt brittle now, older and less sure of his place in the galaxy. And in the few hours she had been coherent enough to talk, Leia had seemed hesitant, more tentative and reluctant to speak her mind around him.

At the door, Han peered out of the darkened room to find four human orderlies outside flanking the MD droid at the monitoring post. Though they had a covered repulsor gurney and fresh white scrubs, they were not wearing the masks and sterile gloves standard for visitors to the isolation ward.

“. . . don’t look like orderlies to me,” the MD droid was say- ing. “Your fingernails are absolute bacterial beds.”

“We’ve been cleaning disposal chutes,” said the group’s leader, a slash-eyed woman with black hair and the jagged snarl of a hungry rancor. “But don’t worry, we came through decon.”

As she spoke, one of the men with her was sliding across the counter behind the droid. Han drew back into the room and retrieved his blaster from a satchel beneath Leia’s bed. Though he had been dreading this moment for three weeks, now that it had come, he felt almost relieved. The enemy had not arrived when he was sleeping or out of the room, and there were only four.

Han returned to the door to find the MD droid standing with darkened photoreceptors, his vocabulator slumped against his chest. The orderly behind the counter was scowling down at the data display.

“Don’t see her on the register, Roxi,” he said to the woman.

“Of course not,” Roxi growled. “Slug, do you think a Jedi would use her own name? Look for a human female with amphistaff wounds.”

Slug, a moonfaced man with a bald head and a week’s worth of stubble on his face, scrolled down the screen and began to read symptoms off the display. “Parietal swelling . . . thoracic lacerations . . . double severed sartorius . . .” He stopped and looked up. “You understand this stuff?”

Roxi glared at the man as though the question were a challenge, then asked, “What was that second one?”

Slug glanced back at the display. “Thoracic lacerations?”

“That could be it.” Roxi glanced at her other companions and, seeing that they had no better idea what thoracic meant than she did, continued, “Well, lacerations sounds right. What room?”

Slug gave her the number, and the four impostors started down the opposite corridor. Han allowed them a few moments to clear the area, then slipped into the monitoring post and used the controls to seal his wife’s room with a quarantine code. The thought of leaving her alone made his stomach queasy, but he had to handle this problem quietly and by himself. Though a Jedi-friendly doctor had admitted Leia under a false name and Han had sent the famous Solo children home with Luke and Mara, the alias would not withstand a CorSec incident investigation. And with a new Yuuzhan Vong base rising at the edge of the sector, no one associated with the Jedi would dare trust Corellia’s always erratic government for protection. Had Leia’s condition not forced them to divert soon after escaping Duro, this was the last place Han would have stopped.

He peered around the corner of the monitoring post and, in the night-shift twilight, saw the impostors disappearing into a bacta tank parlor about halfway down the corridor. Taking a datapad from the recharger on the counter and a breath mask, hygienic cap, gloves, and lab coat from the supply locker, he did his best to disguise himself as someone official and followed.

The intruders were gathered around tank number three in the parlor’s far corner, studying a slender human with a trio of freshly stitched lacerations angling down across her chest. Like Leia’s wounds, the cuts were atypically inflamed and almost black at the edges, a sign that some toxin was proving a challenge for the bacta. The only other occupied tank contained a Selonian female whose severed tail stump was covered by a graft of unfurred hide.

“The contract said she’d shaved her head,” Roxi complained, staring at the long hair of the patient in tank three. “Even in bacta, I don’t think it would grow back this fast.”

“Maybe not, but they are amphistaff cuts,” Slug said. He was standing next to a deactivated attendant droid, reading from a data display. “And no one’s saying how she got them.”

Roxi lifted her brow and thought for a moment, then said, “We’d better bring her along. Start the tank draining. We’ll pick her up after we’ve checked the other rooms.”

Han drew back and tucked the blaster under his lab coat, then made sure his breath mask was secure and waited. When he heard the impostors coming, he turned the corner with the datapad before him. He ran headlong into the burliest of the impostors and was nearly knocked off his feet.

“Uh, sorry,” Han said, looking up. “Entirely my . . .” He let the sentence dangle off, then gasped, “You’re not wearing a breather!”

The burly impostor frowned. “What breather?”

“Your safety mask.” Han tapped the breath mask on his face, then looked from one impostor to the other. “None of you are. Didn’t you check the hazard indicator?”

“Hazard indicator?” Roxi asked, pushing her way to the front. “I didn’t see any indicator.”

“In the decontamination lock,” Han said. “Red means no entry. Orange means full biosuit. Yellow means breath masks and gloves. The light was yellow. We’ve had a leuma outbreak.”

“Leuma?” Slug asked.

“You’ll be all right,” Han said, striking just the right note of insincere reassurance. He waved Roxi toward the monitoring post. “But we’ve got to get you some breath masks. Then you’ll need inoculations—”

Roxi made no move to leave the bacta parlor. “I’ve never heard of any disease called leuma.”

“Airborne virus,” Han said. “A new one—or maybe it’s a spore. We really don’t know yet, but there’s talk of it being a Yuuzhan Vong weapon.”

That was enough to bring Slug and the burly impostor out into the corridor.

“Hold up, you two!” Roxi snapped.

The pair stopped, then Slug frowned and said, “But we need those breath masks.”

“And soon,” Han pressed, turning his attention to Slug. “You can still be saved, but the chances are going down with every breath you take.”

Three of the impostors—the three men—clamped their mouths shut. Roxi only glared at Han.

“You know this how?” She stepped into the door and stood nose-to-chin with him. “Because you’re a doctor?”

Han’s stomach sank. “That’s right.” He had to resist an urge to check his appearance. “Senior xenoepidemiologist, to be exact.” He pretended to scrutinize her white scrubs. “And you are?”

“Wondering why the senior xenoepidemiologist would make his rounds in patient slippers.” Roxi glanced at his feet. “Without socks.”

She flexed her fingers, and a hold-out blaster dropped out of a sleeve holster. Han cursed and brought the datapad down on her wrist. Her weapon clattered to the floor, and he kicked it away, then retreated, fumbling for his own blaster. Roxi withdrew into the parlor, shrieking orders and pushing her companions at the door. Only Slug went. He ignored Han and ran up the corridor.

“Slug!” Roxi screamed.

“M-masks!” Slug called. “Gotta get—”

Han found his blaster and planted a stun bolt between Slug’s shoulder blades. The impostor thumped to the floor.

Weapon flashes sprayed from the bacta parlor. Han dived behind a low half wall in the small waiting area opposite. His attackers continued to fire, and the thin plasteel started to smoke and disintegrate. He thumbed his own power to high, then stuck the blaster through a melt hole and returned fire.

The bolt storm quieted. Han dropped to his belly and peered around the corner. The impostors were nowhere to be seen, but their repulsor gurney remained at the back of the parlor. The woman in tank three had opened her eyes and was looking around. Considering that she was caught in the middle of a firefight, her expression seemed surprisingly calm. Maybe she was too sedated to comprehend what was happening. Han hoped so. If she didn’t use the microphone in her breathing mask to call for help, there was still a chance—a slim chance—that he could take care of this without CorSec connecting the incident to Leia’s room.

The woman’s gaze shifted, then Roxi’s voice cried, “Go!”

The male impostors leaped into view and began to lay suppression fire. Han burned a hole through one man’s chest. Roxi pulled something long from beneath the gurney sheet, and when Han switched targets, she took cover behind tank three. He stopped firing. The woman in the bacta seemed to smile her thanks.

“On two, Dex,” Roxi called. “One—”

Roxi stepped into view, and “two” was lost to the shrieking cacophony of the repeating blaster in her hands. Han concentrated fire on her. A faint hiss sounded somewhere deep in the parlor, and Dex’s blaster fell quiet.

Roxi’s bolts stitched their way across the floor toward Han’s head. He drew back and popped up in the corner, blaster trained on the parlor entrance. She poured fire into the corridor, but stayed out of sight until she appeared at the door and began to chew through his flimsy cover.

Han fired back, but to little effect. There was no sign of Dex, and that worried him, too. Seeing that his angle was hopeless, he stopped firing and looked to the back of the parlor.

“Now!” he yelled.

Nothing happened, except that Roxi glanced away long enough for Han to hurl himself across the waiting room. She adjusted her aim and began to burn more holes through the half wall. Han returned fire. Now that his angle was better, at least he was making her cringe.

Then the repulsor gurney glided into view, moving sideways, no one pushing. Han’s jaw must have dropped. Roxi sneered, shook her head, and, not one to be fooled twice, nearly burned his head off.

The gurney caught her in the hip. Her weapon stitched craters across the ceiling, and she stumbled into the doorway. Han blasted her chest and shoulder, spinning her around so that she fell over the gurney. The repeating blaster clattered to the floor inside the bacta parlor, where Dex could get at it. Cursing his luck, Han poured fire through the door and charged.





Dark Journey by Elaine Cunningham
ONE
A sunrise corona limned one edge of the planet Myrkr, setting its vast northern forests alight with a verdant glow. Viewed from space, the planet appeared as lush and green as Yuuzhan’tar, the long-lost homeworld of Yuuzhan Vong legend.

Two Yuuzhan Vong males stood at the viewport of a priestship, deep in contemplation of the scene before them. One was tall and gaunt, with a sloping forehead and sharp, aristocratic features scarred by many acts of devotion. These marks, and his cunningly wrapped head cloth, identified him as a priest of high rank. His companion was younger, broader, and so physically imposing that a first glance yielded no perceptible boundaries between armor and weapons and the warrior who wore them. He struck the eye in a single blow, leaving an indelible impression of a complex, living weapon. His countenance was somber, and there was an intensity about him that suggested movement even though he stood at respectful attention.

The priest swept a three-fingered hand toward the scene below. “Dawn: bright death of mortal night,” he recited.

Harrar’s words followed the well-worn path of proverb, but there was genuine reverence in his eyes as he gazed upon the distant world. The young warrior touched two fingers to his forehead in a pious gesture, but his attention was absorbed less by the glowing vision of Myrkr than by the battle raging above it.

Silhouetted against the green world was a fist-sized lump of black yorik coral. This, an aging worldship housing hundreds of Yuuzhan Vong and their slaves and creature-servants, looked to be nothing more than lifeless rock. But as Harrar’s priestship drew closer, he could make out signs of battle—tiny coral fliers buzzing and stinging like fire gnats, plasma bolts surging in a frantic, erratic pulse. If life was pain, then the worldship was very much alive.

“Our arrival is timely,” the priest observed, glancing at the young warrior. “These young Jeedai seem determined to prove themselves a worthy sacrifice!”

“As you say, Eminence.”

The words were polite, but distracted, as if the warrior gave scant attention. Harrar turned a measuring gaze upon his companion. Discord between the priest and warrior castes was growing more common, but he could discern nothing amiss in Khalee Lah.

The son of Warmaster Tsavong Lah stood tall among the Yuuzhan Vong. His skin’s original gray hue was visible only in the faint strips and whorls separating numerous black scars and tattoos. A cloak of command flowed from hooks embedded in his shoulders. Other implants added spikes to his elbows and to the knuckles on his hands. A single short, thick horn thrust out from the center of his forehead—a difficult implant, and the mark of a truly worthy host.

Harrar knew himself honored when this promising warrior was assigned to his military escort, but he was also wary and more than a little intrigued. Like any true priest of Yun-Harla, goddess of trickery, Harrar relished games of deception and strategy. His old friend Tsavong Lah was a master of the multilayered agenda, and Harrar expected nothing less from the young commander.

Khalee turned to meet the priest’s scrutiny. His gaze was respectful, but direct. “May I speak freely, Eminence?”

Harrar began to suspect Tsavong Lah’s purpose in sending his son to a Trickster priest. Candor was a weakness—a potentially fatal one.

“In this matter, consider the warmaster’s judgment,” he advised, hiding words of caution in seeming assent.

The young male nodded solemnly. “Tsavong Lah entrusted you with the sacrifice of the twin Jeedai. The success of his latest implant is still in the hands of the gods, and you are his chosen intercessor. What the warmaster honors, I reverence.” He concluded his words by dropping to one knee and lowering his head in a respectful bow.

This was hardly the message Harrar intended to send, but Khalee Lah seemed content with their exchange. He rose and directed his attention back to the worldship.

“In plain speech, then. It appears the battle is not going as well as anticipated. Perhaps not even as well as Nom Anor reported.”

Harrar’s scarred forehead creased in a scowl. He himself held a dubious opinion of the Yuuzhan Vong spy. But Nom Anor enjoyed the rank of executor and was not to be lightly criticized.

“Such words veer dangerously close to treason, my young friend.”

“Truth is never treason,” Khalee Lah stated.

The priest carefully weighed these words. To the priesthood of Yun-Harla and among certain other factions, this proverb was an ironic jest, but there was no mistaking the ringing sincerity in the younger male’s tones.

Harrar schooled his face to match the warrior’s earnest expression. “Explain.”

Khalee Lah pointed to a small, dark shape hurtling away from the worldship at an oblique vector to the priestship’s approach. “That is the Ksstarr, the frigate that brought Nom Anor to Myrkr.”

The priest leaned closer to the viewport, but his eyes were not nearly as keen as Khalee Lah’s enhanced implants. He tapped one hand against the portal. In response, a thin membrane nictitated from side to side, cleaning the transparent surface. The living tissue reshaped, exaggerating the convex curve to provide sharper focus and faint magnification.

“Yes,” the priest murmured, noting the distinctive knobs and bumps on the underside of the approaching ship. “And if the battle against the Jeedai is all but won, as Nom Anor reported, why does he flee? I must speak to him at once!”

Khalee Lah turned toward the door and repeated Harrar’s words as an order. The guards stationed there thumped their fists to opposite shoulders and strode off to tend their commander’s bidding.

The swift click of chitinous boots announced a subordinate’s approach. A female warrior garishly tattooed in green and yellow entered the room, a crenellated form cradled in her taloned hands. She bowed, presented the villip to Harrar, and placed it on a small stand.

The priest dismissed her with an absent wave and began to stroke the sentient globe. The outer layer peeled back, and the soft tissue within began to rearrange itself into a rough semblance of Nom Anor’s scarred visage. One eye socket was empty and sunken, and the bruised eyelid seemed to sag into the blue crescent sack beneath. The venom-spitting plaeyrin bol that had once distinguished Nom Anor’s countenance was gone, and evidently he had not yet been permitted to replace it.

Harrar’s eyes narrowed in satisfaction. Nom Anor had failed repeatedly, but never once had he accepted responsibility for his actions. In a manner most unworthy a Yuuzhan Vong, he had foisted blame upon others. Harrar had suffered a temporary demotion for his part in a failed espionage scheme; Nom Anor had merely received a reprimand, even though his agents played a significant role in the plot’s failure. In Harrar’s opinion, the blurred face testified that the gods’ justice would, in time, be served.

The image of Nom Anor, imprecise though it was, nevertheless managed to convey a sense of impatience, perhaps even anxiety.

“Your Eminence,” Nom Anor began.

“Your report,” Harrar broke in curtly.

Nom Anor’s one eye narrowed, and for a moment Harrar thought the executor would protest. As a field agent, Nom Anor was seldom required to answer to the priesthood. His silence stretched beyond the bounds of pride, however, and Harrar began to fear that Khalee Lah’s suspicions had fallen short of grim truth.

“You have lost?”

“We have losses,” Nom Anor corrected. “The voxyn queen and her spawn were destroyed. Two Jedi prisoners held on the worldship were freed. They escaped, as did several of the others.”

Harrar looked to Khalee Lah. “You have sighted the infidels’ escape ship?”

The warrior’s eyes widened, and for a moment his scarred face held horrified enlightenment—a fleeting emotion that swiftly darkened to wrath.

“Ask who flies the Ksstarr: the executor or the infidels?”

This possibility had not occurred to Harrar. He quickly relayed the question through the attuned villip.

“Some of the Jedi managed to commandeer the frigate,” Nom Anor admitted. “We are pursuing, and feel confident that we will add the capture of this ship to our other victories.”

Capture. Harrar’s gut tightened, for that single word confirmed the identity of the escaped Jedi. “Capture!” Khalee Lah echoed derisively. “Better to reduce the defiled thing to coral dust! What Yuuzhan Vong pilot would wish to enjoin with an infidel-tainted ship?”

“Several Jedi fell to our warriors,” Nom Anor continued, oblivious to both the priest’s epiphany and the warrior’s scorn. “The younger Solo brother was slain. The warmaster will be pleased to learn that Jacen Solo is alive, and our captive.”

“Jacen Solo,” Harrar repeated. “What of Jaina Solo, his twin?”

The silence held for so long that the villip began to invert back to its original form.

“We are in pursuit,” Nom Anor said at last. “The Jedi will not be able to fly a ship such as the Ksstarr well or long.”

“It is an outrage that they fly it at all!” Khalee Lah interjected.

Harrar sent him a stern glance and then turned back to the villip. “I assume that you will not take this Jacen Solo with you as you pursue his twin. It is said the Jeedai can communicate with each other over long distances, without either villips or mechanical abominations to aid them. If this is so, he will surely warn his female counterpart of your approach.”

Khalee Lah sniffed scornfully. “What manner of hunter hangs bells around the necks of his bissop pack?”

This remark, impolitic though it was, surprised a smirk from Harrar. In his opinion, Nom Anor had become tainted by the infidels’ decadence and weakness. The image of the executor plunging through muck and swamp water on the heels of a pack of fierce lizard-hounds was both incongruous and appealing.

The executor took time to consider Harrar’s observation. “You have a military escort?” “Twelve coralskippers accompany the priestship, yes. Do you wish us to break off in pursuit of Jaina Solo?”

The villip face-shape rolled downward and back in a semblance of a nod. “As you rightly observed, the risk of contact between these twin Jedi is considerable. I will take Jacen Solo directly to the warmaster.”

“And so the glory goes to the executor, while his failure is thrust upon the priest,” Khalee Lah said, snarling.

Harrar turned away from the villip. “You are learning,” he observed softly. “But for the moment, let us disregard Nom Anor’s ambitions. You were assigned to accompany me to Myrkr, no more. It is my task to oversee the sacrifice of the twin Jeedai. I must pursue. You are not obligated to accompany me.”

The warrior didn’t require time to consider. “This Jeedai, this Jaina Solo, flies upon a living vessel. That offends me. She escaped a worldship. That should not have been possible. She is a twin, which is rightly reserved as the province of the gods, or a portent of greatness. That is blasphemy. I would pursue her to the most wretched corner of this galaxy if it meant adhering myself to a pair of molting grutchins.”

“Forcefully argued,” Harrar said dryly. He turned back to the waiting executor. “We will retrieve Jaina Solo.”

“You hesitate. Are you certain you can succeed?”

“It is the warmaster’s command,” Harrar said simply. He glanced at Khalee Lah and added with a touch of asperity, “And a holy crusade.”

His sarcasm was lost on Khalee Lah. The warrior inclined his head in grave agreement, and his face shone with something Harrar had occasionally glimpsed, but never quite embraced.

A sudden chill shuddered down the priest’s spine. Fervor such as Khalee Lah’s had always struck Harrar as vaguely dangerous. The warrior’s faith held a shaper’s art, imbuing Harrar’s facetious words with the sly irony the priest had always associated with his goddess.

And was it not said that Yun-Harla reserved her most cunning tricks for those who served her best?



Saturday's Series Spotlight
Part 1  /  Part 2  /  Part 3  /  Part 4






Troy Denning
Troy Denning is the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Tatooine Ghost and Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Star by Star, as well as Waterdeep, Pages of Pain, Beyond the High Road, The Summoning, and many other novels. His most recent Star Wars novel is Star Wars: Crucible. A former game designer and editor, he lives in western Wisconsin with his wife, Andria.












Elaine Cunningham
Elaine Cunningham is a history geek and former music teacher, an avid reader with a lifelong interest in mythology and folklore. This would explain why many of her characters are bards and the rest are elves. (An exaggeration, but only a slight one…)

By day, Elaine is the executive director of the Providence Singers, a symphonic choir that performs with the Rhode Island Philharmonic and other ensembles.





Troy Denning
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Elaine Cunningham


Star by Star by Troy Denning
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Dark Journey by Elaine Cunningham
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Sunday, March 6, 2016

Love in Bloom: The Remingtons Kindle World Spin-offs Part 2


THE REMINGTONS join the LOVE IN BLOOM series by New York Times & USA Today bestselling and award-winning author Melissa Foster. This 5-book steamy contemporary romance series features alpha male heroes and sexy, empowered women. They're flawed, funny, passionate, and very relatable to readers who enjoy new adult romance, contemporary romance, and women's fiction.

18 incredible authors have written spinoff books based on characters from different books in the LOVE IN BLOOM series. These books are all featured through the Kindle World. Enjoy the first installment of these books.

ENJOY the second installment of these books by these incredible authors.


Harvesting Love by Christine Cunningham
Summary:
“No Beatrice, I don’t love you.”

For ten years those words echoed in the mind of professional organizer Beatrice Sanders. She buried her painful past beneath a life of order, control, and solitude.

William Connors passes the days by losing himself in woodworking and farming in his family owned apple orchard. He’s haunted by the moment he chose a woman who made sense for the farm, but not for himself, just like his father had.

Five years after William’s divorce, he makes a decision he hopes will change his life, and seeks out Beatrice, the only woman he ever loved--and the one he betrayed. William hopes to plant a seed of forgiveness in her heart, but does time really heal all wounds?


Some Kind Of Love by Magan Vernon
Summary:
Nothing is sweeter than love.

Willa Stowe left her small town for the bright lights of New York to follow in the footsteps of her literary idol, Kurt Remington.

She didn't expect that her great apartment was actually a Craigslist scam or that she'd be broke in a new city.

With nowhere else to go, she buys a jar of jam at the Brooklyn Flea and relays her story to the lady behind the booth who hires her on the spot. Her first job? Deliver jam to the most eligible bachelor in Brooklyn and the owner of the FO winery, Justin Foster.

Justin spent his years since graduating from college, focusing on building his winery and proving to his blue blood parents that he could build something on his own.

He didn't expect the wide-eyed Midwestern girl to walk into his winery, or to fall head over heels for her.

But when a trip to Justin's parent's family vineyard brings some unexpected guests from his past, Willa and Justin have to find out if this urban businessman and aspiring author can find some kind of love.

Nailed by Love by Kelly Collins
Summary:
When the planes crashed into the World Trade Center on 9/11, Brock Westhaven didn’t just lose his dad, he lost his future. Now the project manager for Aspen Construction, Brock had two goals—to rebuild the family business, and get his still-grieving mother out of her less than desirable circumstances. His plan was simple until Charlotte Cruise appeared.

Charlotte Cruise lost everything to corporate greed. Despite a deathbed promise to her cancer-stricken mother, Charlie wasn’t a real activist. So when the construction company responsible for her mother’s death showed up with yet another potentially lethal project, Charlie chained herself to the front door to stop their progress. She wasn’t expecting the project manager to be tall, dark and unforgettable. 

Two lives pushed together by fate and torn apart by circumstances. Can they beat the odds and give into their desires, or will their stubborn dispositions get in the way of true love?

Recipe for Love by Jamie Lee Scott
Summary:
Diem Keegan's cupcake bakery is working the wedding of what's proving to be bridzilla of the year, fashion model Lili Crew. After a particular trying meeting with the bride-to-be, Diem uncharacteristically complains about her client while drinking at a bar in the hotel where the wedding his being held. Just when Diem thinks the wedding can't get more stressful, she realizes the bartender was none other that the owner of the hotel, Sterling Crew, Lili's brother. Will this be a disaster, or a recipe for love?


Race of Love by Melissa McClone
Summary:
Harboring secrets has jeopardized Bree Winthrop's spot on the US Ski Team. She's lost her focus and drive to win. Her only hope to remain on the team is Riley "Ry" Guyette—the one man she doesn't trust. Bree must let go of the past if she wants to keep her dreams alive.

Ry knows what it's like to crash and burn after a ski accident sidelined him from competition two years ago. But his coach wants Ry to help a teammate regain her focus and competitive edge. Too bad he hasn't spoken to Bree in six years—six very long years.

Bree and Ry face a mountain of struggles. Will they be able to learn that forgiveness isn't the steepest slope they must conquer?


Love on the Wind by P.C. Zick
Summary:
Six years of traveling for her television series has left host Kiley Nelson longing for a place to call her own. Spending a weekend at her girlfriend’s beach house is the perfect reprieve, especially when she purchases property to finally settle down. But her peaceful escape is shaken when she smashes into a car containing the sinfully sexy and infuriated passenger, Jeff Hammond, who immediately melts her heart.

Jeff, staying at his friend’s Montauk home to relax after a trying week of building a home for a spoiled diva, doesn’t count on sharing his weekend with the flaky, yet incredibly sexy, Kiley. He agrees to build her house, despite the tug on his heart as Kiley turns him on in every delicious way. 

Passionate weekends and shared dreams begin to shape the house they start to build together. As their relationship deepens, so do the wounds from past hurts, rousing ghosts from Jeff’s traumatic past. When a summer storm rolls in at the nearly complete house, they’re forced to deal with the past before it shakes and cracks the very foundation they’ve built.


Harvesting Love by Christine Cunningham
“How…how is he?”

Jodi chewed on her lower lip for a moment.

“You know I don’t like going down this road, it never ends well.”

Beatrice rolled her eyes.

“And I like going down the road of having my best friend trying to set me up with every guy with a pulse?”

“Point taken, but remember when you feel the urge to start collecting more useless hobbies after I tell you how he is, I didn’t start it.”

“Jodi, I’m a big girl.”

“He’s fine, and no he hasn’t asked about you, William has moved on and so should you.”

“But he is divorced, right?”

Jodi balled up her napkin and nodded.

“For two years, but I think he’s seeing someone now.”

“Are they serious?”

“Sure, maybe, I don’t know, I teach him martial arts and we don’t discuss his love life.”

Another buzz from Beatrice’s vibrates the table.

“Why can’t your hobby be settling down?”

Swiping the surface of her phone to silence the alarm and putting it in her pocket, Beatrice signaled the waiter for the check.

“Not everyone gets it right the first time. You and Trent are clearly a match, but don’t mistake your luck in finding the right one as expertise in romance.”

Some Kind Of Love by Magan Vernon
"Are you trying to tell me I should give you some inspiration?" I stepped closer, not wanting to do anything she didn't want me to, but the more she licked her lips, the more I wanted to taste them.

"What have you got for me?" she whispered, looking up at me with those bright hazel eyes dancing.

I ran my fingers along her jawline, her body shivering as I stepped closer. "I think maybe you should look into writing romance."

Without thinking any further, I leaned in and pressed my lips to hers. She gasped, her mouth opening to mine. She had the sweetest lips and an even more intoxicating taste. Her tongue found mine and my body pulsed as she wrapped her arms around my neck, moving closer to me.

I put my hands on her hips, feeling the curves of her body under my fingertips. I wanted to push her up against the wall and take her right there against all the barrels. When she moaned and bit my lip, I gripped onto the thin fabric of her dress, trying to hold myself back from doing just that.

Nailed by Love by Kelly Collins
She had a voice as sweet as maple syrup and a body that sizzled with sin. My curiosity was sparked. “I just moved here from New York City.” I gave a cursory look over the menu. “Some silver-haired lady told me to come here and order the chicken and taters. She said to tell Charlie that she sent me. Is he around?” I peeked past Charlotte into the cutout window of the kitchen, but I didn’t see anyone.

“You’re looking at her.” She leaned forward and into my personal space. “Charlotte … remember? Charlie for short.” She placed a napkin and silverware in front of me.

“You’re hard to forget.” And she was. She was quirky and strange, but I found that a refreshing change to the girls I met in New York. They were brand names and fine dining, whereas Charlie gave me the impression she was the salt of the earth.

“Oh, you won’t forget me.”

Recipe for Love by Jamie Lee Scott
Lili gave me an entire thirty minutes of her time. By the time she’d tasted, and rejected every sample of cake I’d brought, my legs were asleep, and I could barely get off the floor.

“This has no flavor.” She threw it back in the box.

“This is delicious, but I can’t have red cake for my wedding. Can you make it with white cake?” It was red velvet cake.

When I suggested it was red velvet, but I could make the frosting very white, and thick liners, she threw the sample across the hallway. I took a deep breath.

It was no wonder her brother didn’t have the hotel wedding staff planning her wedding. He needed to keep them. They’d have quit after the first week of planning. She’d been pleasant for the first ten minutes when we sat down, even asked me how things had been going since high school, so I thought maybe Siena had gotten through to her.

“Was that Siena Remington I saw you with?” Yes, it took me that long to get up the nerve to ask her.

Absentmindedly, she responded, “Uh, huh. I’ll be right back.” She stood and dashed down the hallway.

Race of Love by Melissa McClone
“I’ll make my final decision when I see how the cookies turn out.”

“You won’t be disappointed.”

Her gaze met his.

Awareness passed between them, strong and undeniable. The connection felt real, almost electric, and pulled him in.

She tilted her head, exposing her neck. All he could think about was leaving a trail of kisses from her collar to her lips.

Moisture filled Ry’s mouth. His pulse accelerated. The temperature in the condo rose twenty degrees. He took a step toward her, wanting to get closer, then stopped.

Uh-oh.

He moved back, went around the breakfast bar, and gathered the ingredients in the kitchen. Her scent—something citrusy—hung in the air. Every nerve ending seemed conscious of Bree, the rise and fall of her chest with each breath, her adjusting the ice pack against her hip.

Yes, she was pretty. Hot, actually.

But her appearance shouldn’t matter.

He was used to being around gorgeous models—holding them, touching them, kissing them. All for the camera.

But this sudden connection with Bree?

The low ache might be familiar, but the longing in his chest wasn’t.

Love on the Wind by P.C. Zick
As they swam out again to wait for the next one, they turned toward one another. Jeff pulled her to him, and she wrapped her legs around his waist without thinking that it was a pretty intimate position to be in with a man she’d only met a few hours earlier.

His strong arms encircled her back, and he drew her closer until their lips met. Kiley thought of nothing else but the taste of salt on his mouth. They both opened their lips at the same time, and tongues entwined as the water swirled around them. Only when the next wave hit and pulled them both under did they pull apart.

“I didn’t expect that,” she sputtered when she surfaced. “That was some kiss.”

Jeff grinned. “Didn’t you like it?”

“I loved it, but I don’t even know you. Don’t you think it’s kind of sudden?”

“You mean, you need to find out if I’m a mass murderer or something?”

She splashed water on him and then dove under, swimming closer to shore. When she came up for air, he was right next to her.



Author Bios:
Christine Cunningham
Bestselling author Christine Cunningham loves stories and loves to share stories with her audience. She’s a cat lover and tea enthusiast who infuses her own experiences and adventures in her books. Several of her books have earned five star ratings because she works to write a book that will give you a thrill, tease your heart strings, and make you cheer for the hero to win.

Magan Vernon
Magan Vernon has been living off of reader tears since she wrote her first short story in 2004. She now spends her time killing off fictional characters, pretending to plot while she really just watches Netflix, and she tries to do this all while her two young children run amok around her Texas ranch.






Kelly Collins
Kelly Collins writes with the intention of keeping the love alive.

Always a romantic, she is inspired by real time events mixed with a dose of fiction. She encourages her readers to reach the happily ever after and bask in the afterglow of the perfectly imperfect love.

Kelly lives in Colorado with her husband of twenty-five years. She loves hockey, shiny objects, and has a passion for lemon drop martinis.

Kelly has a landing page that hosts all her books.

Jamie Lee Scott
USA Today Bestselling author, Jamie Lee Scott, loves killing people. I mean writing a good mystery, or a good romance. She lives in the Midwest with her husband, two dogs, two cats, and three horses on a small farm. When she's not writing novels she's writing screenplays and making indie films, or competing at barrel races.





Melissa McClone
USA Today bestselling author, Melissa McClone has published over thirty novels with Harlequin and Tule Publishing Group and been nominated for Romance Writers of America’s RITA® award. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, three school-aged children, two spoiled Norwegian Elkhounds and cats who think they rule the house.




P.C. Zick
Bestselling author, P.C. Zick describes herself as a storyteller no matter what she writes. And she writes in a variety of genres, including romance, contemporary fiction, and nonfiction. She's won various awards for her essays, columns, editorials, articles, and fiction.

Many of her novels contain stories of Florida and its people and environment, which she credits as giving her a rich base for her storytelling. "Florida's quirky and abundant wildlife - both human and animal - supply my fiction with tales almost too weird to be believable." Her Behind the Love trilogy - contemporary romance - is also set in Florida, but she's now working on a series set in the Smoky Mountains.

Her fiction contains the elements most dear to her heart, ranging from love to the environment. All of her novels contain elements of romance with strong female characters and descriptive settings. She believes in living lightly upon this earth with love, laughter, and passion, and through her fiction she imparts this philosophy in an entertaining manner with an obvious love for her characters, plot, and themes.



Christine Cunningham
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Magan Vernon
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Kelly Collins
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Jamie Lee Scott
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Melissa McClone
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P.C. Zick
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Melissa Foster
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Harvesting Love by Christine Cunningham

Some Kind Of Love by Magan Vernon

Nailed by Love by Kelly Collins

Recipe for Love by Jamie Lee Scott

Race of Love by Melissa McClone

Love on the Wind by P.C. Zick


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