Friday, January 29, 2016

Excerpt & Giveaway - Divide and Conquer (Champions of Elonia, Book 1) by Carmen Fox


Divide and Conquer
Champions of Elonia, Book 1
Carmen Fox 

Genre: Urban Fantasy with romance elements
Publisher: Champagne Books
Date of Publication: March 2, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-77155-175-5 * ASIN: B00U0W2BIM
Number of pages: 377 print pages * Word Count: 97k
Cover Artist: Ellie Smith 

Book Description:
Two women. One prophecy. Zero places to hide.
Flung from her mundane Seattle existence into a world of magic, scientist Lea struggles to make sense of a destiny she doesn’t want. The moment she finds comfort in the arms of a man who appreciates her inner nerd, a new magic sweeps the realms.
Nieve, Lea’s instructor, may be seasoned in the art of war, but she’s clueless when it comes to romance. To save her world, she allies herself with her enemy, a kindred warrior soul, who leaves no doubt he’s after more than her cooperation.
As each tick of the clock swallows another person’s memory, Lea and Nieve will do anything to hang on to theirs, but betrayal drives a wedge in their friendship. Can they reconcile and rally the troops before the magic wipes out their pasts? 

Video Trailer: http://youtu.be/jLmIiCumCQE 

Amazon
    
BN     Kobo
 

Spotlight & Giveaway - Cowboy, Mine (Boxed Set)


Cowboy, Mine
He'll Leave You Breathless...

6 Cowboy stories by 6 best-selling and award-winning authors….
Kathleen Ball, Krista Ames, Cheryl Gorman,
Melissa Keir, Lyssa Layne, and D’Ann Lindun

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-939590-99-2
 


BUY LINKS:
  
Amazon eBook
 
Amazon print

 


Texas Haven by Kathleen Ball
 
Can love shine through the clouds of treachery and misunderstanding?
 
Advertising for a wife seems like the answer to all of Burke Dawson's problems. He wants a wife and kids without emotional attachments, but he has no idea how much havoc one woman can cause.
 
Annie Douglas has her heart set on her hunky cowboy's love and she isn't about to stop until she gets it.


Take Me Home, Cowboy by Krista Ames
 
When tragedy strikes, will building tension and pride destroy a growing attraction or show them the way home?
 
Ally Kincaid returns to Rock Creek, Wyoming, to see her father after a two year absence. Anticipating a quiet family reunion, she finds herself butting heads with Matt Gentry—her father’s foreman—instead. The man’s arrogance and sexy drawl push all her buttons, making her wonder what he’s hiding beneath his cowboy swagger.
 
When tragedy strikes, will building tension and pride destroy their growing attraction or show them the way home?


Honeymoon Ranch by Cheryl Gorman
 
Can two reluctant partners ride off into their own blissful sunset on Honeymoon Ranch?
 
When wedding planner, Summer Conroy, discovers she has inherited half of Silver Creek Ranch, she is stunned to learn the other half is owned by sexy cowboy, Bryce Jericho. Her idea of turning the ranch into an exclusive wedding and honeymoon destination is met with a wall of resistance from Bryce who doesn’t want his ranch ruined with a bunch of wedding nonsense. He is determined to conceal his vulnerable heart that beats in fear of being betrayed again. Will this woman with dreams of happily-ever-after in her eyes transform his fear into love everlasting?


Chalkboard Romance by Melissa Keir
 
Will a One Night Stand prove to be their disaster or their salvation?
 
Lauren Walsh, a divorcee and elementary teacher, wants to feel sexy again after her ex tosses her aside for a younger woman. Her best friend encourages her to sign up for The Playhouse--a renowned dating agency. Forced to stay away from his young son, Mac Thomas lost the ability to trust. After the death of his wife, he returned to care for his son but his sister wants more for him. She sets him up with The Playhouse.
 
Passion ignites but Mac’s a parent of one of Lauren’s students. A teacher and a parent dating could cost Lauren her job and her chance at happiness. Will Mac be able to convince the school and Lauren, that love is the most important thing?


Until You Fall in Love by Lyssa Layne
 
Can a longtime friendship suddenly blossom into love?
 
Single mom Jordan Glastetter doesn't know how she'd survive without her best friend, Abram Tomko. He's the father her son never knew and he's the rock she's always leaned on.
 
When Abram's father suffers a heart attack, it's Abram's turn to depend on Jordan, finally seeing her as the woman she's become and not the little girl he grew up with.
 
Will they risk their friendship for a chance at love?


The Cowboy’s Baby by D’Ann Lindun
 
Cat wanted to keep her baby: Tanner insisted she give it up...can they find common ground seventeen years later?
 
Cat O’Brien left her heart in Granite, Colorado, seventeen years ago—her first love, Tanner Burke, and the baby girl she gave birth to at sixteen. Suddenly, both Tanner’s high school sweetheart and the teenage daughter they gave up for adoption are back in his life.
 
Cat is adamant their daughter keep her baby; Tanner isn’t as sure. Just like seventeen years before, he and Cat are butting heads over the fate of an unborn child.



Tour wide Giveaway US & INTL:
 
Kindle Fire, filled with books from our Authors
 
Disclaimer:  if the winner is INTL, the kindle $ equivalent
will be provided via an Amazon Gift Card.  Winner must return contact
within 24 hours or a new winner will be drawn.


Thursday, January 28, 2016

Excerpt & Giveaway - Life's A Beach (Hawaii Heat Series, Book 1) by Jamie K. Schmidt


 
Life’s A Beach
Hawaii Heat Series, Book One
Jamie K. Schmidt
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Random House, Loveswept
Date of Publication: 1/5/16
ISBN: 9781101886588 * ASIN:  B00VZZ2PA2
Number of pages: 232 * Word Count: 65,000-words 

Book Description:
Amelia Parker has booked a two-week vacation to Maui to surprise her boyfriend on their second anniversary. She works as a concierge in a boutique hotel in Manhattan. Her boss demands she cancels her vacation because her back-up has quit, leaving him without coverage for a major convention. Amelia won’t be able to get her money back and her boss won’t reimburse her. When she stands firm about still going on the vacation she booked a year ago, she gets fired. Amelia goes back home to her boyfriend’s apartment that she shares with him. She catches him in bed with the barista of her favorite coffee shop.
Amelia is out of a job
Out of an apartment
Out of a relationship
And shit out of coffee
When Amelia arrives in Maui, newly single and unemployed, she’s shocked to discover the resort she booked is actually a ramshackle little beachside hotel. At least the scenery is easy on the eyes—as is the toned, laid-back snorkel instructor, “Dude.” After two weeks of sun, serenity, and mind-blowing sex, she even accepts a job as the hotel’s concierge. But what Amelia really wants is to relaunch the place completely. And that means convincing the absentee Wall Street billionaire owner, Samuel Kincaide, to take a chance on her.
Samuel has a plan, too: selling off every last reminder of his former life and chilling all day, every day as his slacker alter ego . . . Dude. He loves his romps in the ocean, and under the sheets, with the feisty Amelia. If she discovers his true identity, her boundless enthusiasm and innovative business plan will seriously diminish his hammock time. But when Amelia runs into real trouble on the island, he’ll put everything on the line to keep her safe. He just hopes that the woman who’s falling for Dude will feel the same about Samuel. 

Amazon
   
BN    BooksAMillion  
 
   GooglePlay    iTunes    Kobo

Spotlight - Brooke (Secret Confessions: Down & Dusty) by Eden Summers



Secret Confessions: Down & Dusty
Brooke
by Eden Summers
Blog Tour

GET YOUR COPY TODAY
Amazon  | iBooks | Google Play | Kobo  
Welcome to the heart—and heat—of Australia…
They say that no one has secrets in a small town—these women prove them wrong.
Eight brand-new stories from some of Australia's hottest writers in Australia's hottest genre. From the bar stools of the local pub to the wide open plains of the biggest stations in the world, these tales travel the dusty roads to the heart of Australia and the women who understand how to work hard—and play even harder.
In the latest in the wildly successful Secret Confessions series from Escape Publishing, the women of Down & Dusty invite you into their lives—and their bedrooms.

Brooke’s brothers practically define over-protective, and while Brooke appreciates their concern, their efforts have left her climbing the walls in sexual frustration. But no man in town is willing to risk their ire, and all Brooke wants is one guy who thinks she is worth the effort. One guy who will stand up for himself—and for her—against her overbearing, old-fashioned family, and whisk her away to sexual and emotional fulfilment. The only issue is that the one guy who looks like he might is the one guy who broke her heart—the one guy that she can’t risk falling for again.

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Excerpt - Moon Over Alcatraz by Patricia Yager Delagrange



Moon Over Alcatraz
Author: Patricia Yager Delagrange
Publisher: Ravenswood Publishing/Black Hawk
Pages: 308
Genre: Romantic Women’s Fiction
 

Brandy Chambers was looking forward to the birth of her first child. She and Weston move from San Francisco to the small town of Alameda to start a family, she’s writing her second book, and Weston has a fantastic job working on the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge project. Having this baby would make her already-wonderful life perfect. 

But when the baby dies after a difficult birth, Brandy’s perfect life blows up in her face. Stricken with grief, she and Weston pull apart. This new distance leads them both to disaster. Not until a chance encounter with her high school friend, Edward Barnes, does Brandy pull herself together. Brandy and Weston agree to recommit to each other, striving to forgive infidelity and recreate their previous existence. 

Everything is once again going according to plan—until Brandy discovers she’s pregnant. While she struggles to cope with this new obstacle, Edward Barnes returns to town and discovers she’s having a baby, while Weston is torn between his love for his wife and his anger at her betrayal. Can Brandy manage to keep her marriage to Weston together? Will Edward be a part of Brandy’s life if she and Weston separate?

For More Information:

Spotlight & Giveaway - The Backup by Erica Kudisch



Hi all! Erica Kudisch here, promoting my debut novel THE BACKUP, queer urban fantasy with a side of myth and music.
Thanks so much for keeping up with the blog tour!
Be sure to swing by the other stops for awesome multimedia content and a $50 prize package giveaway! 

 
 

About The Backup: 

I’m supposed to be better than this. I'm supposed to have a tenure-track job teaching music history to undergrads, writing papers about Bach, and proving to kids like me that you can work your way out of Harlem. I'm not supposed to be following a rock star around the country, fetching his mail, making sure his groupies are of age. 

I'm definitely not supposed to be sleeping with said rock star, who claims to be the Greek God Dionysus. At first I thought it was a load of crap. Nik's fans might think his music captures their hearts—and souls—but I knew better. Until one of Nik's orgiastic concerts gets out of hand and I don’t know which is worse: that he might be a god after all, or that he has a body count. 

Nik doesn’t care what I want or what I should be. He wants to tear down the world I've built, warping all I am, until his music is all that's left of me. I can't let him do that. I shouldn't believe in him. I've seen what happens to the people who believe in him.

But I can't get his song out of my head.


 ******************

About Erica Kudisch: 

Erica Kudisch lives, writes, sings, and often trips over things in New York City. When not in pursuit of about five different creative vocations, none of which pay her nearly enough, you can usually find her pontificating about dead gay video games, shopping for thigh-high socks, and making her beleaguered characters wait forty thousand words before they get in the sack. 

In addition to publishing novellas and short stories as fantastika-focused alter-ego Kaye Chazan (What Aelister Found Here and The Ashkenazi Candidate, both available at Candlemark & Gleam) Erica is responsible for the BDSM musical Dogboy & Justine, and serves as creative director and co-founder of Treble Entendre Productions. 

She also has issues with authority. And curses too fucking much.
 

Connect with Erica: 

Facebook: Erica Kudisch

Instagram: hardhandmaiden


Twitter: @EricaKudisch

 

The Giveaway: 
To celebrate the release of The Backup, Erica is giving away iTunes and Riptide credit totaling $50!
 Your first comment at each stop on this tour enters you in the drawing. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on January 30, 2016.
Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. Entries.
Follow the tour for more opportunities to enter the giveaway.
Don’t forget to leave your email or method of contact so Riptide can reach you if you win!

Excerpt & Giveaway - Unquiet (Resilient Love #3) by Melanie Hansen

 

UNQUIET

Resilient Love #3
Melanie Hansen
Releasing on January 22, 2016.
Dreamspinner Press


Loren Smith has been in love with Eliot Devlin almost his entire life. During their turbulent childhood and teen years, Loren didn’t always understand Eliot, and sometimes he could be a challenge, but Eliot was the only one to ever truly ease Loren’s deep loneliness and accept him. When Eliot’s increasingly erratic and self-destructive behavior culminates in a suicide attempt at seventeen, Loren is devastated.
Upon meeting again by chance nine years later, Loren is enjoying a successful career as a police officer while Eliot’s life has been a constant struggle for stability. In and out of mental hospitals, with a rap sheet a mile long, he continues to be buffeted by the twin storms of mania and depression. Loren’s love and protectiveness for Eliot are deeply ingrained in him, however, and their feelings for each other are quickly rekindled.
Loren has issues of his own he’s dealing with, and trying to understand and cope with Eliot’s bipolar disorder isn’t easy. They believe they’re meant to be, and Eliot brings a fulfillment to Loren’s life that no one else will ever match. But as they both come to realize, love by itself can’t cure all.

BUY NOW:

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Spotlight w/Fun Facts - Flight of the Dragon Queen by Thea Landen


Flight of the Dragon Queen
by Thea Landen
Genre: Fantasy Erotic Romance
 



For his entire life, Caleb has always been more comfortable surrounded by books and games than other people. When 1Night Stand is recommended to him, he contacts Madame Eve but is too shy to actually meet any of the women she finds for him. Together, they reach a workable solution: a simulated dating experience in a setting reminiscent of his favorite stories.

After following Madame Eve’s instructions, Caleb finds himself in a vivid fantasy world, complete with a damsel in distress who needs rescuing. His objective is clear, but he must find a way around the many obstacles standing between him and Alizeira, the mysterious woman imprisoned in an underground cell.

While working on his plans to save her, Caleb spends time getting to know Alizeira beyond her role as prisoner, and a mutual attraction develops between them. He is unsure whether she’s a real person playing a part like him, or if she’s simply one piece of the elaborate simulation that’s been programmed for his date. Setting her free is the first step to discovering the truth, but how many secrets is Alizeira hiding?

*******************

Thea Landen lives in New York with her husband and two children. A former educator, she strives to encourage creativity and passion in all those around her, and uses writing to help inspire. Though she reads and writes in nearly all genres, she has a special fondness for science fiction, fantasy, and adventure and anything that pushes the imagination beyond its usual limits. When she’s not writing, or thinking about writing, her hands and mind are occupied by either yarn crafts or role-playing games.

Author Media Links:

Google+: https://plus.google.com/110059409754775712023/posts



25 Fun Facts about Flight of the Dragon Queen

1. This story came about because I wanted to write about a woman who could turn into a dragon. Then I had to work backwards to figure out the rest of the plot!

2. My favorite woman-who-can-turn-into-a-dragon is Flemeth from the Dragon Age video game series. Aside from being awesome (and the whole dragon thing), there aren’t a ton of similarities between Flemeth and Alizeira, the heroine of FotDQ.

3. Because I love Flemeth’s dragon shapeshifting skills so much, I actually crocheted a reversible doll. You can see the video (which was featured on the Bioware/Dragon Age fan blog!) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5kdIG22lPI . Maybe next I’ll have to crochet a reversible Alizeira!

4. It wasn’t until I was about halfway through writing the book that I realized Alizeira bears a striking resemblance to Cassima from Kings Quest VI, both in appearance and situation. KQVI was one of THE games of my formative years, though, so it must have been rooted pretty deep in my subconscious.

5. When writing the character of Mirtran, I sort of had Latrine from Robin Hood: Men in Tights in mind. (Cue: “It used to be Shithouse!”)

6. And when writing Spectre, I definitely was thinking about Maximus from Tangled.

7. Originally Captain Sampson was unnamed, but when he played a larger role than initially planned, I had to name him. I’d just finished playing Dragon Age: Inquisition, where Samson from DA2 can show up, so I, ahem, *borrowed* the name and gave it a little tweak.

8. Right after submitting this manuscript to my publisher, I found out via Facebook that a friend of mine from high school had a baby and named him Sampson. Oooooops.

9. I’ve never worked in a corporate environment and the scenes that take place in Caleb’s office are based on nothing but what I’ve gleaned from things like The Office and Office Space. If forced to establish what he actually does for a living…yeah, I have no idea. I’d probably have to ask my brother-in-law to come up with something for me.

10. I intentionally never gave Caleb a physical description because of all the video games where you can design your own player character.

11. A lot of games where you can design your own character give you a bit of wiggle room. While writing Caleb, I was reminded of some YouTube videos I’ve seen where Mass Effect players tried to make the ugliest Shepards they could. So I suppose it’s completely within the realm of possibility that Caleb is rather unfortunate-looking. (But true love doesn’t care!)

12. I took a long break in the middle of writing this book because 1) DA: Inquisition came out, and we’re not going to talk about how many hours I clocked with just my first playthrough, and 2) not long after starting, I learned I was pregnant and spent a lot of free time researching EVERYTHING. Then I found out I was pregnant with twins, and that meant researching EVERYTHING X2.

13. I pushed to get this manuscript ready to submit to my publisher before giving birth. The babies came early, so I only made it by about three weeks!

14. I like both fantasy and sci-fi, but given the choice of where I’d want to unexpectedly find myself, I’d pick a sci-fi setting. I like showering regularly, thank you very much. (Though to be fair, the food usually sounds pretty good in medieval fantasy.)

15. My fantastic editor pushed for more descriptions of the manor where much of the action takes place. I went with “thatched-roof cottages” at one point because of Trogdor the Burninator (another one of my favorite dragons).

16. Because of the aforementioned Trogdor, when discussing the writing of this book with my friends, we sometimes simply referred to it as “DAGRON”.

17. My previous book in the 1Night Stand series, Elysium, also dealt with virtual reality. I like to think Drew, the male lead from that book, somehow had a hand in helping program Caleb’s virtual date.

18. This is my third contribution to 1Night Stand, and so far, all of my stories in the series have had some sort of twist to make the required matchmaking plot not so straightforward. When compiling this list, I almost slipped and gave away the twist in FotDQ, but I caught myself in time!

19. Until doing research for this book, I didn’t realize how dangerous feeding pigs can be. Eeek.

20. Though I had a general idea, I had to research the equipment necessary for riding a horse. When Caleb says he has no experience with horseback riding besides maybe being led around on some ponies as a child, that’s pretty much my own experience shining through.

21. My favorite color is green. Obviously the titular dragon was going to be green.

22. I hate naming fictional locations. This time, I just didn’t. No regrets.

23. I shuffled around the letters in Alizeira’s name at least three times before making the final decision. I think it was the placement of the E that was giving me trouble.

24. There are some similarities between this book and another book of mine from a couple years ago, The Edge of the Sphere. I wouldn’t necessarily say it was deliberate; I just happen to like writing strong women who, if put in the “damsel in distress” role, play a role in helping rescue themselves.

25. The title for this book was inspired by the wind band piece Flight of the Griffin, by Brian Balmages. It’s a pretty cool piece of music, and I’d sometimes listen to it when I needed to get in the mood for writing. Listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP0J6MNq4Us .