Jul 15, 2013

Sucker Literary

Sucker Literary – Volume 2 Blurb
When Alex’s bandmates invite a girl to sing lead, a battle of the sexes becomes a battle over something unexpected. . . A girl tells her friend about hooking up with longtime crush Fred, but his kisses are not what makes that night in his car memorable. . . A therapy session with Doug might just make Jason go insane again. . . Wallflower Aubrey hooks up with Gordon after the cast party, which would be fine if he weren’t the most forbidden fruit of them all…Savannah certainly doesn’t sound like a convict’s name, so maybe hanging out with her isn’t all that dangerous. Miki is committed to getting over Dex, yet she can’t get him off her answering machine—or her doorstep. In between puffs of cigarettes and attempts to smear lipstick on her face, Allie’s grandmother dishes out advice that maybe Allie should take. . . And finally, what’s a girl to do with Satan as both her boss and father? Nine short stories pose the questions we obsess over whether we’re growing up or all grown up: Who should I love? Am I doing the right thing? Is there ever an end to heartbreak? In its second volume, SUCKER continues to showcase the very best emerging talent in young adult literature and give (some of) the answers to Life’s Big Questions along the way.


Excerpt from “Miki & Dex” by Hannah R. Goodman, Sucker Literary Volume 2

Beep.
I roll over and look across the room at the source of the beep—the answering machine, which I resurrected from a box of Mom’s old college stuff in the garage; I was desperate after she took away my cell phone, though I knew it was a fitting punishment for being too wrapped up in a boy I shouldn’t talk to so much. Of course, all the machine has done is allow me to replay old messages from him over and over, so the irony is that it’s actually harder to disconnect.
I get up sleepily, hit the play button, and flop back onto the bed.
“Are you even playing these messages? ’Cause I’ve called like, fifteen friggin’ times, Miki.”
I rub my eyes.
“I have something really important to ask you. I know you think I’m bullshit, but I swear to God I’m not, so just call me back, okay?”
The machine clicks off. The phone rings again. I run over and press the volume button, then sit down at the edge of the bed and listen.
“Fine, you don’t want to call me back. Okay, here it is . . . Miki, will you go to Homecoming with me?” My heart stops and a tiny hope bubble floats in my belly, but then: “Okay, I’m totally kidding. Listen. Just pick up the phone. Okay?”
Asshole.
I snatch a pillow and bonk the machine. It clatters to the floor. Good. Now there’s no way to get me. I’ll just disconnect the line, and Dex can’t wake me up in the middle of the night with this bullshit.
Back to bed, except there’s no escape; he’s still going.
“I saw you with that jock dickhead. What the hell’s his name? Jimbo or Jammy—whatever. Listen, you deserve much better than that fucknut—”
I cover my head with my pillow and listen to the muffled rant.
Click.
Silence.

The phone rings again.


Sucker will reopen the doors for Volume 3 submissions. One day ONLY, August 1, 2013. Find the guidelines HERE.
Sucker Free Day – July 20th and 21st
Get a free digital copy of Sucker Literary Volume 2 on Amazon.

Amazon | Website | Facebook | Goodreads

Not My Mother : A Memoir by Ashley Rae

Genre: New Age

 

By the age of twelve, Ashley Rae had survived incest, child abuse, and the deaths of both her biological parents. Born to Baptists but raised by Buddhists, Rae found peace and healing on a Pagan spiritual path while obtaining her college degree and starting the career of her dreams.

Rae thought the hardships in her life were over…until she lost her job, started a new relationship, and found out she was pregnant with another man’s child all in the same week. Terrified of cesarean surgery, Rae vowed to give birth to her child at home – but first, she had to find one.

Alternately haunting, humorous, and heart-warming, Not My Mother: A Memoirfollows Rae over a nine-month quest to break her family’s generational pattern of abuse and victimhood in order to become for her unborn child the mother she had always wanted for herself.


Excerpt:

From the moment Dad rushed us through the dark living room, too quickly for me to see her body, I'd been looking for my mother. Even after her funeral in Virginia, I kept looking for my mother. She came to me in my dreams and told me it had all been a mistake, and she wasn't really dead at all. I'd wake up and jump out of bed in a hurry to continue our conversation, then freeze and fold in half, hyperventilating as reality hit me.At twenty-two, I had not yet explored how the violence that I couldn't remember witnessing affected my life and my relationships. Ike died when I was five. Mom hated him. His mom loved him. I, on the other hand, had never given myself permission to have feelings about this man who'd loved me and killed my mother. Until I saw him staring back at me through my mirror in the flickering light of a white candle.
Buy Links:  Amazon  


About the Author:
Ashley Rae has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Central Florida and resides with her precious 3 year old in gorgeous Sarasota, FL. She leads weekend retreats for psychics, kids, and writers, and teaches workshops on using writing as a self-healing tool, developing intuition, and about The Incredible Vagina, which is simply the best title anyone has ever come up with for any class, ever. She is presently working on her second memoir, tentatively titled “Sentence Interrupted: Memoir of a Moody Mama.” Also a professional psychic, energy healer, and a Love-Your-Life Coach.

Author Links:    Site    Facebook

Jul 13, 2013

The Unraveling of Lady Fury by Shehanne Moore

Genre: Romance




Rule One: There will be no kissing. Rule two: There will be no touching…

Widowed Lady Fury Shelton hasn’t lost everything—yet. As long as she produces the heir to the Beaumont dukedom, she just might be able to keep her position. And her secrets. But when the callously irresistible Captain James “Flint” Blackmoore sails back into her life, Lady Fury panics. She must find a way to protect herself—and her future—from the man she’d rather see rotting in hell than sleeping in her bed. If she must bed him to keep her secrets, so be it. But she doesn’t have to like it. A set of firm rules for the bedroom will ensure that nothing goes awry. Because above all else, she must stop herself from wanting the one thing that Flint can never give her. His heart.

Ex-privateer Flint Blackmoore has never been good at following the rules. Now, once again embroiled in a situation with the aptly named Lady Fury, he has no idea why he doesn’t simply do the wise thing and walk away. He knows he’s playing with fire, and that getting involved with her again is more dangerous than anything on the high seas. But he can’t understand why she’s so determined to hate him. He isn’t sure if the secret she keeps will make things harder—or easier—for him, but as the battle in the bedroom heats up, he knows at least one thing. Those silly rules of hers will have to go…

Excerpt:

     Fury sat down and dipped the quill into the ink. She detected the faintest trace of nerves. It must be the fact Thomas lay in the cellar. Why else would a man, so great, so stalwart, so worldly as Captain Flint be nervous of her?

    “Well, yes,” she said, listening to the pleasing scratch of the nib on the soft paper.

“Babies are not always made in a night. Of course, you wouldn’t know that, being you. It will take time.”

    “All the more reason then to just get going. After all this time, sweetheart, you don’t know how eager I am.”

     He strode across the tiled floor and the ink trailed a long dark path across the paper as he dragged her to her feet. Had it blobbed it might have been something to worry about. But she was very set on this. And calm. As calm as one could be having this man in her bedroom, knowing what was coming next out of dire necessity, her husband in a box in the cellar and her cast off, potential lovers on their way out the door.

    “No, James.” She held a hand up between their lips. “There will be no kissing.”

    “No kissing? Why in hell not?”

     It displaced her calm to see him grin. She would have preferred that he was indignant. Especially as he was a man who thought he could settle all his arguments—with women anyway—with a kiss. But she kept her face cold, blank.

   “Because.” In some ways she was cold. Cold with rage.

   “Aw, come on Fury, didn’t you like my kissing? Hmm?” His breath, hot and male, brushed her fingertips. He wrapped his arms around her, splaying his hands across her back, so her hand might as well not have been there for all the protection it was.

     But she was calm. Didn’t she have to get into bed with him after all? So, even the impulse to squirm was one she would squash. When she thought of all he had done to her, she would give him nothing. Not even the knowledge she found his proximity so unsettling that she sought to pull away.

    “Your kissing was fine, in its way, I suppose. But kissing is a sign of affection.”

     “How do you make that out?”

     She knew exactly why he scratched his head. Their love-making had been torrid. It     had been sensual. It had been shaming. And it had been absent of any affection. Certainly on his part. So, why on earth would a kiss be a sign of anything? To him anyway. She was the damn fool who had thought it had. Who even now was forced to concede the pleasure it would be to take her hand across his face to assist his understanding of her feelings. The impertinence of the damn man, the stinging ignorance.

     “It just is.” She eased the distance between them a whisper. “So there will be none. Not now. Not at all.”
    “All right then. Saves time. It means—”

    “Rule two.” She saw his eyes freeze as he readied himself to yank off his shirt. She persisted anyway. Why not? In many ways she walked a tightrope here. If she paused it might be to her detriment. “You will be fully dressed at all times.”

    “What? How the hell am I meant to—”

     “I am sure you will manage. You managed plenty before. But I do not desire to look at your body before, during, or after. Nor in any shape or form wandering about this house in just your breeches. Is that understood?”

    He dropped his hands from his shirt and glared, so he must have. “You wanted to look at it plenty before. In fact, it makes my head spin, just how often you—”

    True. But that was then. “Rule three.” Clasping her fingers around the cool edge of the dressing table to create another inch of distance, she continued.

   “Rule three? You mean there’s more?”

    “I will not touch you in any place, intimate or otherwise. I will lie. You will perform.”




About the Author: 

Shehanne Moore, a Scottish author, who writes gritty, witty, as much risky as risqué, historical romance, set wherever takes her fancy. Stories that detail the best and worst of human behaviour, as opposed to pouts and flounces. For years she worked at various things, while pursuing her dream of becoming a published writer, so she was gobsmacked to sell her book, The Unraveling of Lady Fury, written in three months,  to U.S. publishers, Etopia Press,  six days after subbing it.


Shehanne still lives in Scotland,  with her husband Mr Shey. She has two daughters. When not writing intriguing historical romance, where goals and desires of sassy, unconventional heroines and ruthless men, mean worlds do collide, she fantasizes about cleaning the house, plays the odd musical instrument and loves what in any other country, would not be defined, as hill-walking.

Author Links:  Site      Facebook      Twitter       Pinterest

Jul 12, 2013

Jessica by Laura DeLuca



FREE on Amazon July 11th -12th







Wilbur was used to going to his college formals alone. He thought the Halloween Ball would be no different. He’s amazed when a beautiful girl in a Victorian costume displays an interest in him and even more amazed to find himself alone with her on one of the campus nature trails.


What Wilbur doesn’t realize is that another woman has her eye on him too. The White Lady returns every Halloween to take revenge on the men of the campus for her brutal murder. She has chosen Wilbur as her next victim.






Jul 11, 2013

Decadent Thursday Spotlight: Interchangeable by Kim Carmichael

Five years ago Dahlia Adair left her business partners, the two men she loved. Unable to choose between them, she vanished with their venture capital and their hearts. Betrayed by the woman they both love, Todd Shelton and Cooper Montgomery dissolved their company and their friendship.

When Todd and Cooper reunite, they can't move forward with their new business until they confront the woman who called them "interchangeable" before she disappeared.

Five years later, Dahlia wants to live without looking over her shoulder, Todd wants his love and his friend back, and Cooper wants answers. With the help of Madame Eve and 1Night Stand, they give Dahlia the chance to live free of repercussions for her crimes if she’ll agree to spend one night with them, vowing to make her aware of their differences, and offer her a life they're sure she can't refuse.

~Excerpt~

“We want what you didn’t give us before.” Though he tried to appear casual, relaxed, Cooper’s jaw twitched, betraying his tension.

The money. No doubt the money. She took hold of the edge of the table, trying to stop her shaking. “What might that be?”

“The chance to know about the other.” He strummed his fingers on his knee.

Todd put a hand on her shoulder. “The chance to show you the difference.”

They didn’t mention anything about money. Her stomach twisted at the way Cooper stared her down as if daring her to say no, and she shifted her gaze to Todd.

His eyes remained clouded, half closed. The answer to her question came in the form of heat igniting between her thighs. She shifted in her seat. What were they offering, a challenge, a choice, or her ultimate fantasy?

“What if I say no?”

Neither man answered.

One night with them. Her mind screeched to a halt. Instead of her dream, she pictured tomorrow morning, getting back on a plane to South America, returning to the small marketing consulting gigs that barely paid her rent, and spending her nights waiting to be found out. She needed to locate her spine and get what she truly needed out of the night. “One night and we part?”

Todd moved in closer. “Isn’t this what you always wanted?”

Yes, that was everything she wanted and planned for five years ago. Of course, back then it wasn’t one night, it was forever.

Wait, she couldn’t want. Her wants didn’t count.

What she needed was to get up in the morning without a bulls-eye on her back. She licked her lips. “No repercussions or retaliation?” They both knew her well and understood her question.

Silence. Even the waves seemed to stop.

At last, they both nodded.

She took a breath. When she walked away tomorrow, she’d make sure she didn’t replace the bull’s-eye with a heart broken beyond repair, and haunting memories.

Decision made, she pushed her chair back, and stood. “Did you get a room?”

Rather than living her fantasy, she would give them theirs and take nothing more from them. No enjoyment, no dreams, not one more thing.

Maybe she’d walk away with something she hadn’t had in years.

Peace.





Author Bio:

Kim Carmichael began writing eight years ago when her need for graphic sex scenes and love of happy endings inspired her to create her own. She has a weakness for bad boys and techno geeks, and married her own computer whiz after he proved he could keep her all her gadgets running. When not writing, she can usually be found slathered in sunscreen trolling Los Angeles and helping top doctors build their practices.

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Jul 8, 2013

Blood Moon by Andrew P. Weston



FREE on Amazon July 8th - 10th




Once every few hundred years, the Blood-Moon rises on an unsuspecting world. When it does—the very stuff of myth and legend comes to life.


He was sixth generation military, his path laid before him by his family. To secure his spot in the elite British Special Forces he found himself up against one of the harshest environments known to man. It is here that he will face an ancient horror.



What do you think might happen when nightmare becomes reality?








Jul 7, 2013

Legacy Reborn by Genie Gabriel

Tour is organized by Goddess Fish

An attorney devoted to social causes and a burned out women's advocate help save their home town while struggling not to fall in love. However, an unintended pregnancy and a gift from the heart lead them on a journey to new possibilities and love.



Excerpt

As CJ stepped onto the floor to dance with his sister, Phoenix couldn't tear her gaze away from his leanly muscled frame in a white tuxedo. His longish hair brushed his shoulders, bringing to mind a gentleman of the Old West, fitting perfectly with the mood of this celebration.

She started out playing it cool, thinking CJ would immediately ask her to dance. However, when yet another dance started and he passed her by with no more than a wink, she began to feel a bit perturbed.

I'm a wallflower. Standing by a beautifully inlaid wood wall of the ballroom in Waring House, but a wallflower nonetheless.

Had she grown warts on her nose since the waltzing started? Missed a piece of salad between her teeth from dinner? Had her deodorant given out?  

Discreetly, Phoenix checked out the possible offenses. She took a quick glance in one of the gilded mirrors placed strategically around the room to reflect the twirling dancers. Stretched her arms upward with quick sniff to the side.

Nope. Everything seemed normal.

"What are you doing?" CJ stood in front of her, curiosity in his eyes.

"Ah...practicing my dance moves," Phoenix said. "I used to be a disco queen."

CJ lifted an eyebrow. "Unless my math is really bad, you're too young to be a disco queen. But would you like to waltz?"

Phoenix almost refused just to be contrary. But she so wanted CJ to hold her in his arms. So with what she hoped was casual indifference, she said, "I believe I have room on my dance card for perhaps one waltz."

CJ grinned and twirled Phoenix onto the dance floor. After a few basic box steps, he turned and swept her into a graceful swirl. Phoenix followed as if drawn by a magnet.

Staring into her eyes, he back-stepped and turned. She followed flawlessly. Another turn and a swoop. A swirl and another. A backstep and CJ twirled Phoenix away from him and under his arm. Swirls and dips round and round left her breathless. Wanting more than a dance. Wanting...

About The Author

I'm an optimist whose rose-colored glasses have bent frames and cracked lenses. When life kicks me in the teeth, I find miracles and lessons I refused to learn an easier way. In fact, I live with a small herd of miracles in the furry forms of dogs, who are constantly trying to teach me to forgive, to play more, and to love without limits. I write about people who find courage and integrity in the darkest times of their lives, who rescue stray dogs and kittens, who find a person they would willingly give their lives for, and who make their little corners of the world a better place. People have remarked my stories "aren't what they expected." With rose-colored glasses firmly in place, I take that as a compliment. I invite you to share a piece of my world in the pages of a book, and hope you find some surprises, some tears, some laughter, and always a happy ending.



All nine books in the Halo Legacy Series will be $0.99 the day of the tour!


Genie will be awarding eight $9 Amazon GCs to a random commenter during the tour, the more you comment the more chances you have to win!  Follow the tour 


Jun 28, 2013

Snapshot to Destiny


FREE on Amazon June 27th – 28th


Willow Reese has always been drawn to photography. So much, that she owns a small photo lab where her customers who haven’t moved into the digital age can still get their film developed.

Her clientele range from grandmothers with photos of grandkids, to morticians with pictures to make you cringe, and one very sexy professional photographer named Spencer, who she’s always been sweet on.

But one day, her whole world shatters when a she finds that a series of photos cause her to have a reaction that will shake the foundation of everything she’s always believed in. Her life will never be the same, not unless she chooses to make it remain as it was destined. 

Can Willow find happiness in what life already has destined for her, or will she change everything that she desires?
  


Dark Tales Diaries: Volume Two by London Saint James

Genre: Romance


Blackthorn Printing made a splash in the publishing world with the introduction of Dark Tales Diaries, yet despite his efforts, Tristan Blackthorn isn’t any closer to finding the woman he seeks. Unwilling to give up on his lost love, his search for Keira continues in Volume Two.

A voyeuristic moment leads an astronomy professor and his assistant to a steamy endeavor on The Observation Deck.

An invitation for cocktails has the reclusive woman who lives in 204-B pondering why the handsome, wealthy owner of her building would invite her to anything. Does she have enough guts to go to The Top Floor?

And a Maestro strikes the right cord with a young and talented cellist who is trying to find her passion.



Excerpt:

     “Come on, Tristan,” Keira said, giggling playfully as she shut her diary.

     “What new story have you added? One of love? Intrigue? A tale of the forbidden?” I inquired while eyeing the leather bound book.

     Keira laid it aside, and rose to her feet. “I’ll read them to you, someday.”

     She slipped out of her white cotton dress, leaving her sandals in the wake of snow-colored material at my feet. I leaned my back against the trunk of the tree, pretending to rest, but in truth, rest was the furthest thing from my mind.

     Keira twirled on the ball of her foot, more graceful than any dancer.

     “Do that again,” I said.

     The sun broke through the leaves on the trees, and set her long raven tresses into brilliant highlights that shimmered in deepened shades of blue-black. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She alone encapsulated perfection, with her small, pert breasts slightly covered by her long hair, and when she moved, the gumdrop point of a pale-pink nipple peeked through some of the strands. She raised her arms above her head, giving me a full view of her extended frame, and did something of a provocative pirouette before turning to face the pond.

     Her slender waist gave way to rounded hips that swayed seductively as she tiptoed, nude, toward the edge of the water. She stuck one toe in, and looked at me over her slender shoulder. Her jewel-green eyes penetrated my soul.

      Keira twisted her long hair up, and used the dark pieces that fell from her fingers to weave her tresses into a tied-off knot, freeing the canvas of her back. The dappled shade that fell from one of the overhanging branches caressed the curve of her spine like a long lost lover, and in that instant I wanted to kiss the dimples above her heart-shaped ass. The thought stirred up something much more primal.

     “Are you coming?” she asked.

     When Keira licked the plumpness of her lips, my cock ached for her.

     “Definitely,” I said, and stood from my shaded spot under the oak, toeing off my shoes in a hurry, before ridding myself of my shirt and pants.

     Once free of my clothing, I bounded toward her. She grinned and jumped before my hand made contact with her arm. I wasted no time, and followed in behind her. Our heads popped to the surface in unison, with her joyous laughter filling the air.

     “I bet you can’t catch me,” she taunted in a cutesy voice before diving beneath the murky pool.

     I studied the trail of bubbles and waves she made, guessing where she might come up, then made my way onto the grassy bank, crossed over the plank bridge, and hopped into the water off the south bank. When she resurfaced, I snatched her up.

     “Got you,” I said, and placed a kiss to her lips.

     She wiggled. Her moist mouth left mine. “No fair, Tristan. You were supposed to swim and catch me, not cheat, and wait until I ran out of air.”

     “You never outlined the rules. And besides, I play to win.”

     Keira, shook her head. Water rolled along her nose, over her parted lips, and down her chin before the wandering drop found its home in the pond.

     “I know you do,” she said, rubbing her nose against mine. “That’s one of the things I love about you.”  

     “What else do you love about me?”

     “I’m not telling.”

     I placed my lips to her tempting neck, traced a line with the tip of my nose to the end of her ear, and sucked her lobe into my mouth. “What if I persuade you to tell me?”

    She moaned my name, and draped her arms around my neck. “Don’t stop doing that, and I might be persuaded.”

     Keira wrapped her long legs around my waist. The head of my hard cock slipped between our two intertwined bodies. She pressed herself against me, tighter. Warmth worked its way through my essence as I slid my manhood in-between her parted lower lips. I wanted to explore all of her with my hands, my dick, and my mouth. One hand remained on the back of her slim neck while the other left her lower back to discover the wonder of her ass. Flames, not water lapped at my skin with a desire beyond words.

Buy Link:  Evernight Publishing 


Dark Tales Diaries: Volume One

For years, Tristan Blackthorn has toiled to find his lost love. He finally decides to use Blackthorn Printing, along with his newly created Dark Tales Diaries, as a way to find her. Will her story be one of the three tales in Volume One?
Mistress Guinevere’s calling card is her Red Stilettos. She specializes in a particular fetish and always maintains her control, until a man from her past returns to test her will. 

A recently divorced woman experiences the effects of empty nest syndrome after her twins head off to college. With the clock ticking away, she decides it’s far past time to seek out something that has always eluded her. Will she find what she’s looking for withThe Leather’s Edge?

And a bored computer programmer learns what it’s like to feel sexual freedom after being bound by a Master in Safe Word.

Be Warned: bondage, anal sex, sex toys, fetish



Buy Links:    Evernight Publishing       All Romance eBooks       Amazon       Barnes & Noble

About the Author:

London wrote her first short story in the second grade.  Her teacher informed her parents London had a big imagination, but having a big imagination wasn’t necessarily a good thing as far as he was concerned.  Without watering that seed of imagination, London placed her vivid characters, her childhood stories, along with her imagination on the shelf, where they would wither for a while.  At the urging of her eighth grade English teacher, London pulled her imagination off that shelf, and wrote her second short story.  To no surprise, it was a love story inspired by a song.  Then as life does, it moves on, so yet again London placed her imagination on the shelf to wither for a while.  She needed to do the “sensible thing.”

The sensible thing earned London a degree in Psychology, but while in college she traversed into writing once more, and was encouraged by a couple of professors to pursue that endeavor.  She took on the world of written word, and has never looked back. 

London writes erotic romance from sweet to downright naughty.  She is an author for Evernight Publishing, a member of the Romance Writers of America, and a member of Passionate Ink.

Connect with the Author:    Site       Blog        Facebook       Twitter