BookLover Sue

Friday, August 29, 2014

Book Blitz & Giveaway- Charity's Secrets by Maya James

SYNOPSIS:

The unbridled heat continues between the beautiful Charity Powers and her gorgeous and passionate assassin for hire, Justin Collins. He exists only to love her and keep her safe, but that’s not so easy when she is such a force of life. Charity makes it her mission to heal Justin’s wounded path, but to do it, she must hide terrible, dangerous secrets from him that risk their entire relationship.

The holidays arrive filled with wonderful sentiments that leave each of these lovers closer than ever, but just as the celebrations come to a close, one of their dearest friends is brutally attacked. There needs to be retribution, and both Justin and Charity deliver it. In the process, evidence of a traitor is discovered on the Panther team, jeopardizing not just everything they’ve worked for—but their very lives.

Discovering Charity’s secrets devastates Justin, but his broken heart is no rival to the fury of learning that his beautiful obsession is being hunted. Rescuing her leads him to the truths of this past.

Nothing can contain Justin’s devotion and intensity. Charity has to be kept safe. The traitor and their enemies, personal and political, must be eliminated if they are going to survive.

PURCHASING LINKS:

Amazon Kindle:
http://amzn.to/1oX1O5t

Barnes & Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/charitys-secrets-maya-james/1117598477?ean=2940148963516

Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/387474

Createspace (Paperback):

https://www.createspace.com/4561003

EXCERPT:

Behind me, the door swung shut quietly in its hinges, locking itself after it clicked into the jamb.

"Justin?"

There's no answer. Maybe he's not home yet.

I'm putting my bag down when I hear the voice behind me. "Get up against the wall—NOW! Put your hands out," he demands.

There's no point in resisting. I step up to the foyer wall and nervously place my hands against it, waiting to see what the next move will be. My pulse is a loud whomp in my ears.

The sound of his footfalls fill the small space, approaching on me slowly, deliberately, until I see his feet on the floor between mine, his bare feet and bare legs. Strong hands lift the heavy coat off me and toss it to the floor beside us and then return to my shoulders where they begin to coil up my hair. A familiar hardness presses into the small of my back.

"I've been thinking about you all day," Justin whispers into my ear, making my knees weak.

"And what, exactly, were you thinking about?" I breathe, praying for his magical hands.

His left hand pulls my hair, turning my face toward his. "I thought about making you cry with pleasure. It's the only way I can tolerate your devastating absence." He quickly bites my lower lip, tempting me. "I love you, Warrior. And I need you."

Justin's right hand slithers around to the front of me under the bottom of my shirt, rising up between my breasts to grab my bra like a handle. Then both of his hands pull me tightly against him, molding me into his warm body.

My lips ache for him, my hunger for the taste of his tongue spills over. "Kiss me, please!" I beg. "Touch me like a man should touch a woman.

"I'm going to do everything to you that a man should," he growls.

His mouth finds mine, the pleasure of it searing all of my senses. He tugs my hair a little more and completes the seal between our lips, circling his tongue around mine. Underneath my shirt, his powerful hand lets go of my bra and gently grabs my breast, pressing the fleshiness between his fingers. He lets me hear a low moan deep in his chest. It's more felt against my body than it's heard by my ears.

It doesn't matter that I want more, that my clit is throbbing for his touch, Justin makes me wait for it. He releases my hair and my breast, both hands moving to the bottom of my shirt where he pulls at it uncaringly, ripping it over my head and tossing it on top of my coat. My bra comes off me with the same ease, and he spins me around to face him, pushing my back against the wall.

"My fucking God! I will never get tired of looking at you," his deep voice confesses while his eyes widen with lust.

There's no misunderstanding him. My own eyes were taking in his fully unclothed body with the same excitement and enthusiasm. The thick muscles of his chest rise and fall with his heavy breathing, and his well-defined shoulders beg me to claw my nails into them.

Christ! How does he stay in that shape?

Fuck it—I don't care!

AUTHOR BIO:

Indie Author with my first Romance novel, Charity's Warrior, and now the second in the series, Charity’s Secrets, publishing on Amazon Kindle, Creatspace, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords.

I'm very passionate about writing stories full of love, lust, eroticism, and strong characters entwined around each other in an interesting, suspenseful journey.

East coast born and raised, I'm married, extremely happily, with 4 kids, 3 of which are now young adults (not sure when that happened).

I’m a COO in my technology-based "day job,” which requires a mix of technical and creative writing for both internal and client-facing materials, but it was not satisfying my artistic spirit. Writing the “Charity” series has been absolutely fulfilling and exciting.

My favorite writing takes place on my phone while lying on the Southernmost Beach in Key West, where I try to go at least twice a year.

AUTHOR LINKS:

Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/authormayajames

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/authormayajames

Amazon Author page:

http://www.amazon.com/Maya-James/e/B00E22C76W

PLAYLIST:

"Feel This Moment" by Pitbull and Christina Aguilera

"Roar" Katy Perry

"Thrift shop" Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

"Royals" by Lorde

"I love it" Icona Pop

"Screw You" Cheryl Cole

"Blurred Lines" Robin Thicke

"Boys 'Round Here" Blake Shelton

"Bad Romance" Lady GaGa

"Radioactive" Imagine Dragons

Giveaway:

http://tinyurl.com/meralwm

BOOK BLITZ HOSTED BY:

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Virtual Book Tour: Interview & Giveaway - Second Skin by Jesse Pearle

Second Skin

by Jesse Pearl

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

Obsession is never just skin deep.

Sam Blanco’s greatest desire is to escape his abusive father and violent neighborhood the only way he can—by earning money as a tattoo artist for a street gang. He’s befriended their leader, the deadly Leo Reyes, and gained a measure of safety under their protection. But just when things are going right for the first time in Sam’s life, Leo’s girlfriend, Pilar Flores, walks in and requests a tattoo in an unusual location. Sam obliges, but the experience leaves them both reeling. Unable to focus for days, Sam finds himself craving Pilar’s touch, but she’s exactly the kind of trouble he doesn’t need.

Pilar Flores is her father’s daughter. Being the daughter of a drug lord is not an easy role to fill, but she aspires to live up to the title and make her father proud. But her father has no plans to allow her into the business, and Pilar hates being sidelined. She hates that Leo is away for days on end, and she especially hates being treated like an incompetent female by every man she sees. Except for Sam. She decides to take control of her life the only way she knows how—through seduction. But she’s not prepared for how eager and passionate a lover Sam is, or how deeply she’s drawn to him. Even though she knows their ill-fated affair can’t possibly end well…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excerpt:

(Sam’s POV)

“So you just leave the pictures in here until they’re done or what?” Benny asked, flipping through the loose-leaf leather-bound book that Sam always kept with him wherever he went.

“Yeah, if I’m finished working on them I might take them out, give them away or what not. But it’s hard to know when I’m done. Some take a while.”

Sam set out the pieces of his machine in the usual, methodical order to begin assembling it once his client arrived. Something niggled at the back of his mind, however—somewhere behind the image of Pilar tied to her bed, her sweet dimples challenging him to do exactly the thing he planned to do as soon as he finished his drawing.

“Motherfucker,” Benny muttered under his breath.

A hot rush of panic infused Sam at the same instant he realized what he’d done…or failed to do.

“Like this one?” Benny turned the sketchbook around.

Sam’s stomach lurched when he saw the detailed nude sketch he’d made of Pilar Sunday morning. He’d spent enough time rendering her face that there was no mistaking who she was.

“Tell me you just drew her face from memory on some other girl’s body.”

Sam was sure he had a deer-in-the-headlights look when he said, “Not exactly…”

Benny gaped at him then looked back at the drawing. After a second more of studying it he just shook his head.

“Man, you are something else. I seriously think you must have a death wish. Or one huge pair of cojones.”

Sam had lost the ability to speak. His brain frantically attempted to process the implications of his friend seeing the picture of Pilar. Fuck, fuck, fuck, this wasn’t supposed to happen. You’re a fucking idiot, Sam.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Let's Learn a Little about Jesse Pearle:

What is your writing environment?

At the moment it’s somewhat messy since I’ve been on a deadline and haven’t cleaned my desk in awhile. There’s almost always a cat within reach (or in my face). It’s a very light, quiet corner of my house, with a skylight above and sliding door on one side. It’s also about six feet from my coffee maker, which is crucial! I have a whiteboard for my weekly and monthly schedules and a wolf calendar hanging on the wall right above my monitor. Music is an essential element, and is almost always playing (Florence and the Machine is what’s playing as I write this).

Who is your perfect hero and why?

My perfect hero is imperfect. I don’t know that I can pinpoint a single character I love above all others, but the ones I tend to love the most usually have a combination of excellent qualities as well as flaws. They always have some defining inner conflict they deal with that drives the choices they make. Harry Dresden is one of my favorites. He never quite gets the girl and things never quite go exactly right for him, yet he still manages to kick ass and take names while he tries to avoid burning down Chicago. Geralt of Rivia, the hero in the popular video game series The Witcher, and the fantasy series the game was based on, was probably the first hero I felt compelled me to write about (via fan fiction). He considers himself devoid of humanity in some ways, because he isn’t strictly human. He was created with the singular purpose of protecting humans from the monsters that plague his world, yet somehow always ends up getting caught up in human wars that ultimately shine the light on who the monsters in the world really are, and they aren’t the ones he was created to fight.

What authors have caught your interest lately and why?

Jeffe Kennedy is one author whose book I read recently. I met her at a recent conference and picked up a signed copy of “Going Under”, which I loved because she writes a good strong heroine struggling to make her way in an industry largely monopolized by men (she’s a video game developer). It also has incredibly hot love scenes.

An author whose book I picked up but haven’t read yet is Cora Brent, who mostly writes MC Club romances, but just released a New Adult novel called “Draw”, which I hear is even better than her other books. I’ve read a few New Adult novels recently with varying opinions so I’m looking forward to seeing how she pulls it off. I also love Brenna Aubrey’s books, partly for one of the same reasons I loved Jeffe Kennedy’s book - because part of her story involves geek culture and I’m a pretty avid gamer.

What type of book have you always wanted to write?

I’d love to be able to pull off a timeless love story like Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series. A story like that relies just as much on the setting as the characters and I see so few popular romances anymore that truly succeed at it.

Top 3 things on your bucket list?

Write that timeless love story.

Become a bestselling author.

Retire in comfort.

(I’m really pretty easily entertained.)

How did you get the idea for this particular novel?

The true inspiration for Second Skin was from a fan fiction I wrote back in 2012 that needed a fresh, original character to play a small role—the role of a rough and world-weary tattoo artist approaching his 50s. The character sprang to life so vividly in my mind at the time that I just had to know what his life story was, so I began writing it, beginning with the character of Sam as a teenager.

What is your favorite scene in your new release?

Probably the scene when Benny discovers the illicit sketches Sam has in his sketchbook.

What are you working on now and when can we expect it to be available?

My current project is a series of erotica novellas written under a separate pen name (to protect the guilty). The books are easy enough to find in the menu on my website, however. I haven’t yet finished the sequel to Second Skin, but expect to have it done before too long.

What do you like to do when you are not writing?

I play tabletop RPGs and videogames, read, catch up on TV shows, and spend time with my husband who tends to get a little neglected since I spend so much of my time writing.

What would you consider a perfect date?

The kind where he cooks an amazing meal and we eat, talk, and drink wine late into the night (then maybe he cooks breakfast the next morning, too).

What is one interesting fact about you that readers don’t know?

I have a secret crush on Gordon Ramsay (shhh!).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Jesse Pearle grew up in the mountains of Western North Carolina in a place where there was no danger in dancing naked in the moonlight at the top of a mountain. Always possessed of a creative mind, but never quite the right amount of focus, she wandered for decades. She received a degree in fine art which she put to poor use working an uneventful desk job for an engineering company when she started writing her first really ambitious piece of fiction. She lives in sunny Southern California with her ever supportive husband and four attention-whoring cats.

Author Links:

http://jessepearle.com/

https://www.facebook.com/JessePearle

https://twitter.com/JessePearle

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Buy Links:

Amazon US

B&N

All Romance

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giveaway:

Jesse will be awarding a $25 Amazon GC to two randomly drawn winners via rafflecopter during the tour.

The more you comment, the better your chances of winning!

Follow the tour HERE

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Release Blitz: Review & Giveaway - Ten Below Zero by Whitney Barbetti

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Ten Below Zero

Author: Whitney Barbetti

Release Date: August 28, 2014

Genre: New Adult Romance

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Synopsis:

“In here,” he said, pushing on the skin above my heart, “you're ten below zero. And you’re closer to death than I am.”

My name is Parker. My body is marked with scars from an attack I don’t remember. I don’t want to remember. I choose to live my life by observation, not through experience. While people are laughing and kissing and connecting, I’m in the corner. Watching them live. I’m indifferent to everything, everyone. The only emotion I feel with any kind of depth is annoyance, and I feel it often.

A text message sent to the wrong number proves to be my undoing.

His name is Everett, but I call him rude. He’s pushy, he’s arrogant, he crowds my personal space, and worst of all: he makes me feel.

He chooses to wear all black, all the time, as if he’s waiting to attend a funeral. Probably because he is.

Everett is dying. And he’s spending his final days living, truly living. In doing so, he’s forcing me to feel, to heal. To come face to face with the demons I suppressed in my memory.

He hurts me, he fulfills me, he completes me. And still, he's dying.

Excerpt:

“Your roommates are nosey,” Everett commented, sitting back on the bed. He reached into the suitcase again.

“You would know,” I said, snatching a bra from his hands.

Everett shrugged. “It’s underwear. More specifically, it’s your underwear. I’m intrigued.”

“Yeah, well don’t get any ideas.”

Everett leaned back into the pillows, resting his hands behind his head again. “Oh, but I have a lot of ideas.” He winked at me.

I stalked away towards my dresser and began pulling things from drawers. When I turned back around, Everett was holding another bra.

“You don’t wear padding,” he commented, his fingers feeling along the lined cup.

“No.”

“I like that.”

My hands stilled. And then I moved them again. “Why?” I didn’t care. Really, I didn’t.

“Lies.”

I turned around. “Lies?”

“I like the truth. In every way.” He seemed lost in thought so I turned back around and packed my things.

“Am I really doing this?” I asked myself.

“Yes, you are.”

I turned around again. “Why?”

It wasn’t a question he should know the answer to. But he did. “Because you hate and you love the way I make you feel.”

I was naked under his gaze. Skin was just that: skin. But to see your soul stripped, laid bare for the eyes of someone you barely knew – that was terrifying. I’d walk down the street naked a hundred times before I would let someone see what lay underneath.

I’d spent my life alone. Bounced from foster home to foster home. When my tastes outgrew my age as a teenager, I traded boys for men and found myself still alone. I reveled in the loneliness. No one could hurt me but me, and did I really care if I hurt me? Did I care? If I found pleasure in anything, it was my lack of feeling.

And that’s how I knew, when Everett told me not to fall in love with him, that I wouldn’t. I didn’t love myself. And wasn’t loving someone also loving yourself, the parts that saw the beauty in other people? I didn’t have that part. And I didn’t want it.

“I don’t love anything,” I said.

“I know.” His eyes were unsmiling.

My Review:

I went into this story knowing tissues would be needed and they definitely were. This is a very emotional journey for two unusual people. Parker is a woman who survived an attack but turned to indifference to get through her life while Everett is a man Parker finds fascinating for no apparent reason. She learns that Everett has a big secret, he is dying, and she is unsure how to deal with it. Everett decides to embark on a road trip and asks Parker to join him. Surprisingly, she agrees and now these two virtual strangers who have a connection undertake this last journey. This book grabbed me and took me on a roller coaster of emotions. Parker is such an unusual woman yet I found myself liking her and her uniqueness. Everett is a mystery who gets slowly revealed as the readers follow along with him and Parker on their road trip. I loved this well written and curious story with its unusual characters. I highly recommend this book for readers of characters and storylines that have emotional depth and wounded souls. ~Booklover Sue

Amazon * iBooks * Kobo * B&N * Amazon UK

About the Author:

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I am the author of new adult romance novels. He Found Me (May 2014) is the first in a two-part series. Ten Below Zero (August 2014) is a standalone.

I am married with two boys. When I’m not changing diapers or cutting food into tiny bites, I escape to Starbucks for hours. I could drink my weight in their black iced tea.

I love music and have a playlist for everything.

I have about 20 bacon things in my fridge.

Connect with Whitney:

Facebook | Goodreads | Website | Twitter

Giveaway!

Signed copy of TEN BELOW ZERO and a $10 amazon gift card.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Spotlight & Giveaway - Love Spirits (What Happens in Venice, Book 1) by Diana Cachey

Love Spirits

What Happens In Venice, Book One

by Diana Cachey

Genre: Romance/paranormal.

ISBN: 1481031767

ISBN: 9781481031769

Number of pages: 160

Word Count: 40,000

Among the romantic canals of Venice—and oh so many Italian distractions—can a stunning American lawyer and her psychic sister help the Ghosts of Venice solve a hushed-up crime?

Book Description:

Louisa Mangotti is a gorgeous American lawyer and Interpol expert who, after being offered a job working with the international crime unit in Venice, receives a mysterious postcard from the Venetian Ghosts, the ancient protectors of the Republic. But Louisa assumes her bad-boy ex, Matteo, sent it in a quixotic attempt to gain her attention. Louisa may have dismissed the ghosts, but the ghosts aren’t quite done with her.

When the bodies of two glassmakers wash up on Murano Island, the cryptic messages persist. Reluctantly, Louisa calls upon Matteo to help decipher the clues. And before she knows it, a flame that was never fully extinguished is rekindled. Sensing that her sister is in over her head, Barbara Mangotti rushes to the rescue, only to be lured away by two handsome Venetian men.

With time running out, can the two beauties solve a crime that could threaten the city of Venice itself?

Book Trailers:

Love Spirits -- Take One http://video214.com/play/t6LZ8mFclEqpBCQlb11gGw/s/dark

Love Spirits -- ghost story http://video214.com/play/R71iLBUayFB0CJEg02UFkg/s/dark

What Happens In Venice -- A Trinity

Book One, Love Spirits

Book Two, Lagoon Lure

Book Three, Magic Island

Excerpt:

Flights, hotels, apartments. Clothes, jewelry, shoes. Check, check, check. She’d tried on sweaters, jeans, jackets, surveyed each item to determine the most Italian look and picked only the most flattering combinations. She lined up toiletries, stockings, scarves, lingerie and make-up, but not too much, she’d buy better stuff in Italy. Cat sitters were called to assess availability and suitability. Processed food was sneered at in grocery stores for savoring of fresh Venetian produce. The voluntary time-off she scoffed at months earlier when offered it, turned out to be a perk, not a temporary discharge due to shortage of work. For Barbara, getting to Venice was easy. Finding ghosts in Venice? Harder. Fetching Louisa and releasing Matteo’s grip?

Impossibile.

Louisa would scheme and stick until everyone else became unglued. If ghosts were to be found, Louisa would find them. Barbara hadn’t stopped Louisa from going to Venice so how would she get her home? Investigate the ghosts, disprove their existence? Barbara imagined her own escape into those Venetian palaces, their moldy facades toppling into canals. Those quiet evenings with no traffic, strolling along sea water, visiting quaint bars or vegetable markets that hugged tiny bridges. Foggy thoughts of Venice led Barbara to recall how Louisa had written her about a fall, not into the arms of Matteo, but into a canal. She’d slipped on the algae-coated steps leading into a traghetto that ferries passengers across the Grand Canal and the only gondolas still in regular use by Venetians. This traghetto was her daily ride to work, so exposed algae didn’t concern her. Yet, one day she’d been unable to maintain her balance long enough to avoid the dive. She’d fallen into the drink, straight out of the helpful hand of the gondolier, with her expensive Italian boots, cell phone and all.

“Venetians rallied so fast,” she’d written to Barbara. “that my shoulders barely touched the water when they lifted me out of the canal as easily as a floating plastic bag.” Her Venetian rescuers assured Louisa that all self-respecting residents fell into canals at some point in their lives. She’d been baptized, Venetian-style. The young gondolier, feeling somewhat responsible for not holding her securely enough, made up for it by embracing her tightly. With both arms, he enveloped Louisa in his goose down parka and rubbed her wet body vigorously and lovingly. Barbara smiled as she sensed Louisa’s presence deep in her heart, thousands of miles across the pond--as was the Atlantic Ocean referred to by jet-setters like Louisa. Don’t fall in again, dear one, Barbara quietly prayed, until I get there. She tried sending those words to Louisa, knowing not whether they fell onto her sister’s distant ears.

About the Author:

Diana Cachey is a licensed attorney, published academic, and former adjunct law professor. She also holds a BA in English, and while in law school, she was the first female editor in chief of her university’s law review. The author of the novel Love Spirits, she has trained with several New York Times best-selling writers, including Robert Allen, with more than seventy-two million books sold. For more than a decade, Cachey has been traveling to Venice, the setting of her novel, on extended trips several times a year. The cafés, restaurants, and many other haunts of Venice play a prominent role in her sexy paranormal mystery-romance about a beautiful American lawyer guided by the Ghosts of Venice in the investigation of a hushed-up crime.

https://www.youtube.com/user/dcachey

https://www.whathappensinvenice.com

http://www.twitter.com/dianacachey

https://www.facebook.com/diana.cachey

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Diana-Cachey/153347544749839

Tour Giveaway:

3 prize packs with a signed book and custom beaded bookmark- open to US Shipping

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

August 11 Interview

Roxanne’s Realm

www.roxannerhoads.com