Monday, March 31, 2014

[Blog Tour] Guest Blog & Excerpt: Cover to Covers by Alexandrea Weis

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Cover to CoversAlexandrea Weis Genre: Contemporary Romance Publisher: World Castle Publishing Word Count: 79,000 Cover Artist: Laura Hildalgo Amazon Book Description:
 A man driven by his desires
 Tyler Moore is considered cold, ruthless, and determined to get everything he wants. CEO of a flourishing oil company, he thrives on order and never gives up control to anyone. The woman from his past
 Monique Delome has left her unhappy past behind to pursue her dream of becoming a writer. Love is something she believes is better suited to the pages of her novels and not meant for real life.
 Whether in the boardroom or the bedroom, Tyler Moore is always in charge. But when Monique Delome walks back into his life, everything changes. A successful romance author, all the sexy leading men Monique writes about strangely remind everyone of Tyler. Intrigued, Tyler sets out to seduce the one woman he could never forget. Soon Tyler gets more than he bargained for, and his grip on his well-ordered life is turned upside down.
 Tyler Moore is about to find out what happens when a romantic tale jumps from the pages and comes to life between the sheets.  
EXCERPT 
“If I can be of any further assistance, Mr. Moore,” a peppy blonde with too much black eyeliner said to the man in the impeccably tailored, dark blue Hugo Boss suit. “Please, let me know. I have your suite key.” She pushed the white key-card over the surface of the front desk. “Your usual order of Veuve Clicquot and strawberries will be waiting in your room,” she added with a welcoming smile.
     The self-assured gentleman removed his dark Porsche sunglasses and let his deep-set dark brown eyes linger over the young woman’s attractive face. “Afraid I won’t be needing that this time, Missy,” he murmured, getting a glimpse at her nametag.
     “Oh, I’m sorry, Mr. Moore. I was informed you are always to have a bottle of Veuve Clicquot waiting in your room whenever you stay with us.”
     Wandering over Missy’s stout figure, his eyes fixated on the way her blue blazer clung to her ample bosom. “I usually do when I’m staying here for a relaxing weekend. This time, however, is all business.” He placed his sunglasses in his jacket pocket.
     Missy leaned forward, revealing her cleavage as her blue eyes meandered up and down his body. “I am very sorry to hear that, Mr. Moore.”
     The flirtatious pout that puckered her red lips made Tyler Moore wipe his hand across his chin, attempting to hide his cocky grin. At six-foot-one, with black, wavy hair outlining his chiseled cheekbones and determined, square jaw, he was used to getting such suggestive looks from the opposite sex. But he knew that looks could only get you so far with a woman.
     “How sorry are you?”
     Missy’s eyes popped with interest. “I…I’m not sure what you mean, Mr. Moore.”   
     “How sorry are you that I won’t be having any fun this weekend, Missy?”
     She fingered the lapel on her blue blazer adjacent to her right breast. “I would hate to think your stay here would only be about business, Mr. Moore. If there was anything I could do to change that….”
     He felt a kick of satisfaction as he gazed into her hopeful eyes. “Perhaps you might come up with a few suggestions of other ways I could spend my weekend in your wonderful hotel? We could go over them later…at the bar, after you get off work.”
     The pale blush blossoming on her cheeks was so becoming that Tyler almost began to believe their playful repartee had been worth the effort.
     “I’ll think about it, Mr. Moore.”
     “You do that, Missy. When you have an answer, you know where to find me.” He motioned to his overnight bag and black suitcase by the desk. “Be a sweetheart, and have the porter take my bags to my room. I have to meet a client in the bar before I go up to my suite.”
     The flush on Missy’s cheeks was positively radiant. “Yes, Mr. Moore. Right away.”
     Tyler turned from the polished reception desk, unable to hide his smug grin. No matter where he went, the lust in a woman’s eyes never got old. The entire episode with the desk clerk had only reinforced his belief that it was his confidence, and not his looks, that always got a woman to give him what he wanted. He had learned long ago that his handsome face could only take him so far in life, and had made a concerted effort to take control of any situation. It was a philosophy he had incorporated into every arena of his life.  
     “I’ll have to check back in with sweet little Missy. See how she looks without the blazer.” He strutted across the lobby toward the arched entrance of the Rattlesnake Bar.
     A warm glow of honey, onyx, and a contemporary Western-theme greeted him as he stepped into the cool bar. Perched on the brown leather barstools, an array of women sipped on a myriad of colorful alcoholic concoctions while trying to chase away the sweltering afternoon heat. Tyler noted how more than one set of eyes turned his way as he strolled up to the bar. He checked his confidence at the door and pushed all thoughts of possible late night hookups from his mind.
     His flourishing oil and gas business was always more important than women. Besides, women were nothing more than a distraction at this point in his life. Having just passed the milestone of his fiftieth birthday, Tyler pondered that perhaps it was time for him to stop pursuing such meaningless liaisons and settle down with a tolerable woman who could cater to all of his needs.
     “Two divorces is plenty,” he reasoned as he arrived at the onyx marble and teak-topped bar. Lightly stroking the smooth surface of the marble, he remembered many of the encounters he had experienced in that very bar. Snapshots of blurred faces and forgettable names skipped across his mind. Some of the women had been exciting, a few horrific, but none had been…memorable.

     You know who was memorable, don’t you, Ty? his inner voice taunted. She was the one you let slip through your fingers.

     Tyler snickered at his self-remonstrations. He hated to admit his inner demon was right, but it was. She had happened so long ago, but he found it funny how advancing age only seemed to make the memories of youth more poignant. It was as if growing older brought into focus the emotions that the impetuosity of youth seemed to blur.    

About the Author:      


Alexandrea Weis is an advanced practice registered nurse who was born and raised in New Orleans. Her first novel, To My Senses, introduced readers to the world of Nicci Beauvoir and garnered numerous awards and rave reviews.

Her popular second Nicci Beauvoir novel, Recovery, won the Gold Medal for best romantic suspense from The Reader’s Favorite Book Awards 2011, and was named best Romantic Suspense novel by the Spring 2011 NABE Pinnacle Book Awards.

Her fourth novel, Broken Wings, won best Contemporary Romance by the NABE Pinnacle Book Awards in 2012, was a Silver Medal winner in the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards for Romance, as well as a finalist in the USA Book Awards for Romance in 2012, and a finalist in the Reader’s Favorite Book Awards for Contemporary Romance for 2012.

Diary of a One-Night Stand, was released in August 2012 and was named a Paranormal Romance Guild’s Best Reviewed of 2012. Her last novel, Acadian Waltz was a Readers’ Favorite Book Awards honorable mention winner for Best Contemporary Romance, and finalist in Best Southern Fiction.

A permitted wildlife rehabber with the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries, Weis rescues orphaned and injured wildlife. She lives with her husband and pets in New Orleans.







Saturday, March 29, 2014

[Book Blast] Series Spotlight: Dragon Shifters of Derkesthai Academy by Mackenzie Lucas

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The Dragon Shifters of Derkesthai Academy
The Dragon Shifters of Derkesthai Academy series is a paranormal romance series with mystery and suspense elements where dragon shifters hunt a magickal hoard thief who threatens to bring down the entire dragon mage race.


TO HAVE & TO HOLD
The Dragon Shifters of Derkesthai Academy, #1
Release Date: December 2013

American-born heiress Cate Cooper never believed her sexy, stalwart English husband of two years, Grayson, could be a monster of epic proportions until he shifted into a fire-breathing dragon right in front of her eyes. After several near-miss encounters with the dragon who almost killed her, Cate trapped the beast in the attic using her own magickal skills as spell-caster and an enchanted chatelaine left to her by her grandparents. She agreed to give her husband one year in the magickal confines of their attic to battle the dragon within before she gives up on him for good.

During the year Grayson Cooper has been trapped in his attic fighting for his life and his marriage, his best friend and legal partner, Michael James, seduces his wife and devises a plan to take over her fortune. If that’s not bad enough, clues in an intricate embezzlement scheme all point to Grayson, who, according to the world, disappeared without a trace the year before along with a million dollars. Only Grayson and Cate know the truth of where he’s been.

In this paranormal romantic suspense novella, Grayson Cooper must embrace his dragon shifter heritage, clear his sullied name, and save the only woman he’s ever truly loved from a ruthless villain bent on destroying him and Cate as well as the whole dragon shifter race.

AVAILABLE AT:


FROM THIS DAY FORWARD
The Dragon Shifters of Derkesthai Academy, #2
Release Date: January 15, 2014

This is a contemporary paranormal romance novella with mystery and suspense elements. This is the second story in the Derkesthai Dragon Mage Academy series. Derkesthai Academy is Hogwarts for dragon shifters.

Noah Easton, a Special Forces dragon shifter, escapes the torture of a hoard thief bent on stealing dragon hoard stones and their elemental power from the mages who possess them, but the situation becomes personal when the hoard thief targets the woman he loves. He must return to his hometown of Mystic Springs to protect those he loves from a magickal threat he cannot identify before he loses everything.

April is a modern day oracle. She reads tea leaves and just about anything else that can predict coming events. However, past abandonment issues make her resistant to reading her own signs. But when evil comes to Mystic Springs, April must face her biggest fears of abandonment and betrayal in order to save what’s most important to her. Only by studying the past and owning her future can she stop a magickal criminal who threatens to steal everything she’s ever loved and destroy the dragon mage who holds her heart.

AVAILABLE AT:

UNTIL DEATH DO US PART
The Dragon Shifters of Derkesthai Academy, #3
Coming Soon

Look for Until Death Do Us Part, the next story in The Dragon Shifters of Derkesthai Academy series, out later this year. In Until Death, David Pearson hunts the wounded hoard thief who is a dragon shifter herself and his ex-wife, whom he still loves. Iona LeFay only ever wanted the attention of the one man she’s always loved, her ex-husband David Pearson. Unfortunately, now he must kill her in order to stop the wheels of a huge conspiracy that could bring down the whole dragon shifter race.

Author Bio & Contact Links:

Mackenzie Lucas is a lover of story in any form. She’s an avid reader of genre fiction, she writes contemporary and paranormal romance, and she listens to an eclectic mix of music that spans from pop/rock to country to gospel. She loves a good story whether it’s an erotic short, a full-length romance novel, or the narrative slice-of-life found in country music. In any story, emotional integrity and authenticity are most important to her as well as a big dose of romping hot sexual tension. She enjoys smart-mouthed, sexy heroines, hunky alpha heroes who know how to take care of their women, and plot twists that surprise her, but most of all, she just wants to experience a satisfying emotional arc of a character falling in love and finding what he or she needs most in life.

Mac is a small-town country girl with a world-traveler’s soul. She grew up in the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania and she’s lived in Dublin, Ireland, in Long Island for a summer, and now resides in the Washington, D.C. area. She obtained her undergraduate degree in English Literature from Dickinson College and received her M.F.A. in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. She’s currently an author, writing coach, president of Washington Romance Writers, a mother, and a wife. Her latest contemporary romance, Essence, was published by Soul Mate Pulishing in January 2014.

With Mackenzie Lucas--whether you’re reading her light paranormal romance or her small-town-based contemporary romance--you’ll always get a story about connectedness, community, and emotional authenticity, and, at its core, love. No, and it doesn’t hurt that all her heroes are panty-melting gorgeous alphas and all their sexy, sensually aware heroines know how to stand up to them, give no quarter, and love them just as they are.

To find Mackenzie Lucas online go to: http://www.mackenzielucas.com. You can also find her on Twitter at: @MacLucas_writer. Follow her on Facebook at: MackenzieLucasFanPage to keep up with her latest releases and book news. Or sign up for her newsletter at: http://www.mackenzielucas.com/newsletter.

Website:  http://www.mackenzielucas.com

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Feature and Follow #6

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The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!

How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!

Question of the Week:
How have your reading habits changed in the past few years? Did you get interested in a new genre? Do you read more? Less? Why do you think your habits changed, if they did.

I wasn't much of a reader to begin with. I started reading more books during my first year of high school and those were only graphic novels. I started reading novels during my third year high school when I was curious to read my grandmother's novels but she told me that I couldn't read those yet (because they involved s*x scenes). What she let me started reading were books by Barbara Cartland. She told me to start reading those first because I might get bored reading the thicker ones. That's when my love for historical romance started. I only read them during my summer because I was busy for school. During my last year of high school that's when I started reading her other historical romance novels by Laurie McBane, Kathleen Woodiwiss, and Johanna Lindsey.

I started to read YA novels some time in 3rd year high school when my friend introduce me to this trilogy series (I forgot the name but it was a fantasy and the hero was the main character) then at the same time Twilight became popular that I started reading it. Ever since then I started to anything YA that involved paranormal romance. It was later that I started reading the contemporary ones. I also started reading books by Harlequinn and there was a time I loved reading books about the Scots and Sheiks as the hero of the book.

After that time, when I was in first year college I started reading the adult genre and I loved it as well. Although I do enjoy reading paranormal than those that are not. Then some time later the genre NA became popular as well and I got hooked. I'd also read some mystery time to time but just never plain mystery.

So, every week I would start reading one genre that's the same or the same author like there was a time I did a marathon reading of Abbi Glines books, later I would read YA paranormal like VA by Richelle Mead and The Immortals series by Alyson Noel on that same week. I'm a fast reader but that depends on the content of the book.

Up to now, I still do that unless there are books that I have to review for my blog and others. And I would always need to read a book each day because it's my stress reliever. I can say that I'm an eclectic reader and I do believe my reading habits has change these past years. I read more books each month but I can say I read at least 5 - 7 books each week. My habits just changed throughout the years because I wanted to read more than anything else. Although lately I'm cutting it down because I have to study for my big exams and only read 3 - 4 books a week. Although I do need to start reading the books in my TBR.

 

Monday, March 24, 2014

[Blitz] Spotlight & Giveaway & Review: The Submission Gift by Solace Ames

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The Submission Gift
LA Doms
Book 2 (stand-alone)
Solace Ames

Genre: Erotic Romance, Ménage

Publisher: Carina Press

Date of Publication: March 24, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-4268-9828-0.
ASIN: B00GKBIPLY

Number of pages: 254
Word Count: 100,000




Book Description:


Newlyweds Jay and Adriana had a happy marriage and a spectacular sex life—until tragedy struck. Wounded in a car accident, Jay spent a year recuperating while Adriana worked overtime as a chef to pay their bills. Though he’s made nearly a full recovery, some aspects of their intimate play will never be the same. It’s a small price to pay, all things considered.

But when a long struggle with the insurance company results in an overdue payout, Jay has a plan. He’ll take some of it and hire a high-end rent boy who specializes in sexual dominance. Not for him, but as a gift for Adriana, for taking care of him for the past twelve months.

Paul is the handsome stranger they choose…and the one who changes everything. What starts out as a onetime session to fulfill a fantasy turns into something bigger than all of them. But when the money runs out and Paul’s dangerous past resurfaces, the sacrifices required to stay together may end up tearing them apart…
Amazon          BN             ARe

Kobo          Google Play     iTunes

REVIEW TO FOLLOW 

About the Author:

Solace Ames has roots in the Southeast US, although her heart lives somewhere along the Pacific coast of Mexico. She's worked in restaurants, strip clubs, academia and the corporate world and studied everything from the philosophy of science to queer theory to medieval Spanish literature. Rejecting neat categories, her writing sprawls across genres and genders and swings from high art to low art, marching with the erotic avant-garde, tongue sometimes in cheek and at other times... well. Along with writing, education and political activism are her passions. Family takes up most of her time, but she loves to keep learning.


Tour giveaway 

1 bracelet with three heart charms

 
2 copies of The Dom Project, LA Doms Book #1

[Book Blast] Giveaway: Stormbound (Grimm Series #2) by Dani Harper

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STORM BOUND
Grim Series, Book 2
Published by: Montlake Romance
Publication Date:  March 28, 2014

Kidnapped on his wedding day in the twelfth century and forced into a thousand years of servitude by a cold-hearted faery princess, rugged blacksmith Aidan dreams of nothing but revenge on his captor. Then the spell of a beautiful witch awakens him to the modern world—and a passionate desire. But to build a future, he must first confront his past…

Modern witch and magic-shop owner Brooke doesn’t think her life is missing anything, until a wayward enchantment lands a brooding medieval blacksmith in her spell room—and in her arms. Yet even after their passion proves to be truly magical, Aidan’s first commitment is to vengeance. Now Brooke must team up with friends and ancient warriors alike—and push her own powers to their limits—to save her love from the wrath of an evil fae.

From the best-selling author of Changeling Moon, this thrilling and sensual novel adds a new chapter to Dani Harper’s Celtic folklore-themed Grim Series. Available in trade paperback, ebook and Audible.

STORM WARRIOR
Grimm Series, Book 1
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Publication Date:  August 6, 2013

From the best-selling author of Changeling Moon, this stirring novel of passion and magic launches an addictive new series for fans of paranormal romance.

Enslaved for millennia by the masters of the Welsh faery realm, the fierce Celtic warrior Rhys is doomed to wander the earth forever. But when a brave beauty unwittingly breaks the enchantment, he is drawn into a strange new world…and an all-consuming desire.

Sensible Morgan doesn’t believe in magic—until a mysterious being saves her from a fate worse than death, and life as she knows it changes forever. Now the man of her dreams has become flesh and blood, igniting a spark in Morgan’s soul which science cannot explain. But even a love that transcends time may not be strong enough to withstand the power of an ancient curse.

About Dani Harper:

Dani Harper is a former newspaper editor whose passion for all things supernatural led her to a second career writing paranormal fiction. A longtime resident of the Canadian north and southeastern Alaska, Dani recently ventured south with her husband to rural Washington to be closer to their grown children. She is the author of Changeling Moon, Changeling Dream, and Changeling Dawn, as well as First Bite, a Dark Wolf Story, and Storm Warrior, the first book in the Grim Series

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads


NOTE - Contest open to US/Canada/UK
GRAND PRIZE:  A signed paperback copy of STORM BOUND, an MP3-CD of STORM WARRIOR, a set of the LLEWELLYN TAROT cards, a Celtic-style blank journal, a Celtic symbol pendant (pewter), a pewter magnet of a “black dog” (mastiff), plus a Dani Harper tote bag and swag.

RUNNERS UP:  10 runners up – Reader’s choice of a Kindle ebook from Dani’s backlist (Changeling Moon, Changeling Dream, Changeling Dawn, First Bite or Storm Warrior) Note – if you do not own a Kindle, Amazon provides a free app for your computer, iPad, or smartphone so you will be able to read this ebook.