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Release Blitz, Excerpt & Giveaway: Riske And Revenge by Natalie E. Wrye

October 17, 2017 by Lana · Leave a Comment

Riske and Revenge
Series: The Revenge Series
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: Natalie E. Wrye
Release Date: October 17, 2017

Love is the strongest emotion in the world…next to hate.

I knew hate. Had known it since I was seventeen. For me, it was love turned on its head, a product of hurt and fear—twisted, tied up…and placed on the sculpted shoulders of Ethan Riske.

***

Dayton, Tennessee.

Home to the best cow-tipping in the world, the biggest hot dogs, and the lousiest sex.

Or so I’d heard…

They were right about the first two. Ethan Riske proved them wrong about the third and at seventeen, he and I spent a summer under the stars, squeezing our way out of trouble, sweating and panting among the haystacks.

Until he left.

Nine years later, when a huge publishing house tries to buy my small press, I storm into the office of the CEO to find him.

Same cocky grin. Different name.

And suddenly all I can think about is exacting revenge on Ethan Riske for breaking his contract…and my heart.

But there’s someone who wants revenge even more than I do. As I begin to fall for the new Ethan, will the sins of the old one come back to haunt us?

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AMAZON

Prologue

“I hope you taste as good as you smell.”The sound drifted through the air. A slow, sensuous melody floated with it, and as both made their way through the room, the beat of the song and the quiet statement I just heard rattled the bourbon in my hand, making the ice cubes shake.

Or maybe I was the one shaking.

I couldn’t help it.

Griff was poking a hole in my ribs with his elbow, and as the lips that had just whispered in my ear withdrew, I could see the look on my “best man’s” face. He was essentially salivating, his tongue practically swinging as he took in the vision of the woman who was speaking in my ear… and laying a seductive path in my open lap.

She stood, her long legs stretching, her bare torso twisting as she rolled the shape of an “S” in the air with her body, swaying seductively to the music. She was toned… that was obvious. A tight package with tits too big to be real, the buxom blonde in front of me was the object of every man’s wet-dream, star of every cock-swinger’s fantasy…

Except mine.

But she was doing her best. Clad in a piece of cloth that barely covered her clearly cleanly-waxed pussy, she ground her pretty ass two inches from my face while every other man in the room fought the urge to put their fingers all over her. My best friend, included. He nudged my side for the ninetieth time.

“Fuck me, man,” he slurred. “If she was doing that to me, I’d be two seconds from putting my finger in her ass.” He smirked widely and wildly.

“Good thing you aren’t me,” I shot back quietly, leaning over to look into his face. “That’d be a felony, you crazy ass.” I finally smiled. “And the last time I checked you didn’t fuck strippers because ‘and I quote… ‘Who knows how many other items have been in those goddamned holes?'”

I threw Griff’s own words back at him with a silent grin.

“Doesn’t matter,” he declared, staring at the stripper in front of me for the thousandth time. “For her?” He swallowed another mouthful of scotch. “I’d make an exception.”

I glared at the beautiful blonde again. Because Griff was right. The exotic dancer… She might have been one of the best looking I’d ever seen. Maybe the best. She was tall, long-legged. Gorgeous… in the porn star sense, of course, with a wide, luscious mouth made for licking and sucking in only the most erotic of ways.

She licked her lips at me as if she wanted to make good on the promise she’d just whispered, and I had no doubt when she looked at me, her brown doe-like eyes wide, that—if she could, she would devour me until nothing was left. Until she drained every drop.

Unfortunately, for her, I wasn’t interested.

She tried to drag me to my feet, her tiny fingers wrapping around my own, pulling as she walked backwards in the direction of the edge of the room. The overhead maroon lights illuminating the space in our black-curtain closed boudoir made her look as naughty as every word dripping from her blood-red mouth, and Bambi the Bimbo was putting on her best pout to entice me into joining her towards whatever dirty fun lay in the dark room beyond this one.

All of the men—friend and foe—whooped as I slowly dragged myself to my feet, stumbling and fumbling over the discarded decorations that littered the floor. Streamers and “Congratulations” ribbons ran the length of the room, taking up space between the cloth-covered tables, and I staggered past them, barely holding onto my Bourbon as I followed stolidly behind the too-excited dancer who nearly bounced on her platform-covered toes.

With the push of another curtain, we fell into another room, and I let my body flounce on the dark-colored couches beyond it, slumping into the padded cushions. I took a healthy swig of my drink and sank my fingers into the seat beneath, wondering how many stains these comfortable sofas had really seen.

The drunker I got, the more it didn’t matter. Ignorance truly was bliss.

And so was the sensation making its way down my crotch—a gentle rubbing that circled the length of my cock through the fabric of my suit pants. From the tip to the very base. I groaned, closing my eyes as I saw a vision in my mind. A vision too good to be true.

A vision almost ten years old.

Waves of dark hair fell to a waist too tiny to be anything but touched. Shiny and soft, the beautiful brown mane swept across my chest, against my shirt, as two eyes, a crystal-clear blue, peeked from beneath the strands, as round and as large as saucers. In my mind, they met mine, saying things that couldn’t be vocalized, voicing words that need not be said.

They seduced in the most innocent of ways, waylaying me, pulling at a possessiveness in me I didn’t know existed. The blue eyes smiled. The smile beneath them was even better—wicked, as it dipped to my abdomen and pressed there, making me ache, causing my cock to strain against the inconvenient zipper located there.

How many times had I imagined those lips doing exactly that? That tongue licking out beneath those straight white teeth to lap at my skin, the edge of her mouth nipping at the most sensitive parts of me? It was torture—letting her tease me, taking me to the brink and back again as she swept that sheet of auburn locks over my body as she bent to her knees. I sucked in a breath soaked in desire as I waited for her to place her mouth where it mattered most.

And then it stopped. The teasing. She stopped.

And before I knew it, she was pulling—no, ripping—at my pants. The top button popped, and suddenly my cock was between her hands, her lips. She sank her mouth around it with a sigh, sucking with delight. The sexiest slurp ever made to man escaped from between her teeth, and I nearly lost it, grinding my own teeth as I gripped the back of her head, my eyelids squeezing tight enough to ache.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck…” I muttered. Over and over and over again.

It was fucking amazing. Something so simple—someone so simple, sweet and secretly naughty could bring a stubborn fucker like me—CEO and all—to his Giorgio Armani-covered knees.

I came… with my cock in her mouth and her name on my mind. I leaned back even further, letting my head fall into the cushions.

“Fuck, Kat…” I mumbled, feeling way too fucked up to move, the liquor coursing through my veins as I came down from my high, my fingers reaching out to touch her once more.

But she backed away.

“Kat?” she said, rising to her feet. “Who the fuck is Kat?”

I opened my eyes, staring at the figure fumbling around in front of me. It was the blonde vixen—the stripper. Standing on shaky legs, she wobbled between my legs, locking me with a stare, her eyes hard and unblinking. She placed her hands on her tiny hips.

“Who the hell is Kat?”

As if she was outraged. As if she had any right to question whatever the fuck I was doing anyway. I ignored her with a shrug, stowing my dick back in my pants with a loud zip! I finished my drink and sat it down.

“Ohhhh… I get it,” the blonde blower hissed. “She must be your fiancé. Well… I guarantee you that she’s never made you come like that. That was epic, baby,” she sighed, trying to straddle me. Her pussy was peeking completely out of her barely-there panties this time, and she tried to rub it across me, sliding her pink slit across the front of my pants with a slow grind.

I almost pushed her off. I stood.

“There is no fiancee,” I rumbled.

“But I thought…”

“My friends,” I interrupted, “thought it’d be funny to celebrate my new position. They said it was fitting… seeing as how I’m now married to my job. This isn’t a real bachelor party. And that wasn’t a real blow-job…”

She raised an eyebrow. “Certainly felt real to me.”

I pulled out my wallet, taking out a couple hundred dollar bills and putting them in the palm of her hand. I folded her fingers around them, looking into her eyes.

“Can’t be real… Not when you’re thinking about someone else the entire time.”

I turned just as the fair-haired, breathing blow-up doll gaped. I pulled the black curtain aside, exiting, attempting to avoid the curious gaze of every onlooking employee that came to the party to usher me into my new executive role.

My smile was weak, as I tried to shake off what just happened to me in the other room… and who I was imagining it happening with. Somehow, it was the brunette in my head, and not the blonde on my lap, that felt as if she were still on my skin.

I was in so much fucking trouble.

Natalie Wrye is a tequila connoisseur, Game of Thrones addict and author best known for writing page-turning Contemporary Romance and Romantic Suspense.

A fan of the beautifully polarizing anti-hero, she crafts sexy stories about hard-bodied, complex men and the strong-willed women who crave them.

She loves it when people get weird with her on Facebook, NatalieWrye.com or Natalie@NatalieWrye.com.

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Leave a Comment · Filed Under: Excerpts, Giveaways, Release Blitz · Tagged With: Second-chance-romance

Blog Tour & Excerpt: Gun Shy by Lili St. Germain

October 9, 2017 by Lana ·

GUN SHY
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Author: Lili St. Germain
Release Date: October 6, 2017

A stand alone psychological thriller.

** NOT A ROMANCE **

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GIRL?

In the middle of a fierce snowstorm in Gun Creek, Nevada, seventeen-year-old Jennifer Thomas disappears without a trace.

The second girl in nine years.

Identical cases. Identical conditions. Only last time, the girl was found. Dead, stuffed in a well beside the creek that feeds the town’s water supply.

The killer was never found.

As the small town mobilizes and searches for newly vanished Jennifer Thomas, one suspect comes to the fore. But did he do it? Or is there something else at play? Something nobody could have anticipated?

For Jennifer’s friend Cassie Carlino, the worst is yet to come. As she pins MISSING posters to store windows and joins the search, she begins to suspect that Jennifer’s disappearance might be much closer to her than she could have ever imagined.

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Leo

I visit Jennifer every evening at the diner; she seems to like the attention, and I could use the distraction. I make sure to turn up just before her shift ends, and she gives me a ride home every night. The first night she came over we ended up talking for hours. My mouth hurt by the end, every sense on high alert. I was a gentleman. I didn’t lay a hand on her again, not after she started to talk. She’s in trouble. A lot of trouble. I think it eased her mind to be able to confess to somebody who pretty much wrote the book on trouble in this town.I mean, there’s not a thing I can do to help the girl. Not unless she tells me who got her into this mess in the first place. “That’s the problem with men,” she said to me when I urged her to give me the name of the guy blackmailing her. “They always jump straight to problem-solving. Men always want to fix everybody.”

“You don’t want to be fixed?” I’d asked her.

“I can fix myself,” she’d replied. “I just need somebody to understand.”

I don’t understand. Her predicament is something I’ve never experienced. But I can listen. I listen to her talk as she drives me home in her shiny new car every night, and it makes me feel less of a fuck-up. I mean, she hasn’t killed anyone. But she’s planning to. And that’s why we’ve found each other. I am a killer and she is ready to spill blood. She is a welcome distraction from my sins, and I am a makeshift altar for her to lay her own sins upon. Because when I’m with Jennifer, I don’t think about Cassie Carlino. I don’t think of Karen Brainard. And, most especially, I don’t think of Teresa King and the way she burned beside me in that car.

* * *
The night Jennifer Thomas disappears is like all the rest. I go to the diner. Order nachos and a Coke. I’m surprised Jennifer is working. It’s Thanksgiving, and the place is deserted. Even Amanda is nowhere to be seen.

“Working on Thanksgiving?” I ask Jennifer, as she slides my food in front of me. She shrugs, that glitter lipgloss catching the light as she moves. “It’s just another day, isn’t it?”

I nod.

“Besides,” she says, “It pisses my dad off. I asked for this shift.”

At ten, I help her to turn out all the lights. I wait beside her as she locks the front doors of the diner, feeling vaguely worried about the fact that somebody left a sixteen year old cheerleader alone to lock up this late at night. I note the lack of video surveillance, the remote location, the fact that everyone is tucked safely inside their houses while Jennifer is alone with a convicted criminal in the dead of night.

Jennifer offers me a ride home, which I accept. Except, instead of driving me straight home like she has done for the past six nights in a row, Jennifer pulls her Range Rover off the road into an uncleared section of pine trees that tower over us. The track is narrow and winding and she doesn’t answer me when I ask her where she’s taking us.

She stops in a small clearing and cuts the lights. The engine is still running. Bits of snow fall outside, slow and bloated in their trajectory toward the ground. Jennifer’s hands are small as they grip the steering wheel; her eyes lit up by the red illumination of the dashboard, making her look almost demonic.

“What are we doing here?” I ask her again.

“I don’t want to go home,” she says staring straight ahead.

“Fair enough,” I reply. I watch her as she struggles to find words. She squirms in her heated leather seat, her nails shiny and perfect, her shoulders sagging under the weight of something I cannot see.

“Do you think I’m pretty?” she asks me in a tiny voice, and she sounds so mouse-like and weak that I almost laugh.

“Do I think you’re pretty?” I echo, feeling a smirk cut its way across my face. “Jennifer, you’re so pretty I could die just from looking at you.”

She rolls her eyes. “You think I’m stupid. You’re just here because you feel sorry for me, Leo.”

I shake my head. “I don’t think you’re stupid. And I’m not here because I feel sorry for you.”

She swallows thickly; I can see the pulse beat nervously in her throat. “Then why are you here?”

“Well, I guess I’m here right now because you just drove us off the road and into the woods.”

“You know what I mean.”

Do, I, though? I sigh. “Because you’re the only person in this town worth talking to who will even look at me.”

She bites her lip and I have the sudden, piercing urge inside my skull to wrap my hands around her throat and drag her onto my lap. That’s some messed up shit. She’s sixteen. Six. TEEN. I’m repeating the number in my head over and over, willing my dick to settle down. I can feel the throb of wanting her in my cock, in the thunderous rush of blood that makes my heart hit my ribcage like the firing of a gun, bang, bang, bang. My need eclipses my rationality. So what if she’s sixteen? She drove into this fucking clearing and licked her lips and asked me if I thought she was pretty.

“Why have you been back to the diner every single night, just as I’m about to get off shift?”

“Umm,” I try. “It’s the only decent place in town?”

She narrows her eyes at me and there’s a fire inside her pupils; it might be below freezing outside, but it’s a billion degrees in here. We’re already fogging up the windows with our breath, and I haven’t even laid a finger on her.

“Liar,” she says. “I want the real reason.”

You’re about to get the real reason, sweetheart. I grip the armrest. I grip it so hard my fingernails ache.

“I’m here because I’m a bad guy, Jennifer.”

“And?”

“Because you’re so pretty I can’t think about anybody else. Because I want to do things to you… that would probably frighten you. Things that might hurt you.”

Her cheeks are flush; her breathing quickens. I haven’t even touched her, and she’s already excited. Or scared. Or both. I want to reach between her thighs and see if it’s lust I’m reading on her face.

“What kinds of things?” she asks.

I cover my face with my hands.

“What kinds of things?” she repeats, a hand on my shoulder. I let my hands fall into my lap and fix my stare on this girl who should be home with her family, not out here in the dark in the woods and snow with a criminal. I watch in awe as she slides her seat back and reaches her hands up underneath her skirt, tugging a pair of panties down her legs and unhooking them from her heels. She can’t look at me as she hands me a pair of baby blue silk panties with a bow on the front. I grip the underwear in my fist so tight I could tear it to shreds with a single pull, but I don’t rip it. I find the damp spot of arousal in the center of the material and bring it up to my face. I close my eyes. I breathe Jennifer in.

I shouldn’t be here. Not with her. Not like this. I will get out of the car, I decide. I will walk home. I will not touch this girl.

But then, “I promise I won’t tell anyone,” she whispers.

Fuck.

I grab her. I drown her shock out with my mouth. I squeeze her slender neck with my prison-rough palms. I keep my promise and I hurt Jennifer Thomas until I’m sated.

It’s only after when I’m looking at the blank expression on her face, the odd tilt of her neck, the bruises blossoming on her spread thighs, that I understand what I have done.

By then, it’s too late.

The night Jennifer Thomas disappears is like all the rest.

Apart from the way it ends.

Lili writes dark, delicious romance full of love, lust and revenge. Her USA Today Bestselling Gypsy Brothers series focuses on a morally bankrupt biker gang and the young woman who seeks her vengeance upon them. The Cartel series is a trilogy that explores the beginnings of the club, published through HarperCollins.

Lili quit corporate life to focus on writing and so far is loving every minute of it. Her other loves in life include her gorgeous husband and beautiful daughter, excellent coffee, Tarantino movies and spending hours on Instagram.

She loves to read almost as much as she loves to write.

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· Filed Under: Blog Tours, Excerpts, Uncategorized · Tagged With: excerpt, Lili St Germain

New & Upcoming Releases: October 9-12

October 9, 2017 by Lana · Leave a Comment

New releases coming at ya this week!!

AVAILABLE NOW

TEMPT THE PLAYBOY by Natasha Madison

play·boy
ˈplāˌboi/
noun
a wealthy man who spends his time enjoying himself, especially one who behaves irresponsibly or is sexually promiscuous.
Synonyms: socialite, pleasure seeker.

Noah
I have it all, money, looks, and any woman I want.
Till I meet her and my universe is knocked on its ass and she wants nothing to do with me.

Kaleigh
My motto: never date the same man twice. I have less chance of breaking my heart that way.
Till my eyes land on the only man I’ll break my rule for.

She thinks she can run. That I’ll let her get away.

He thinks he can handle a woman like me.
He has no idea.

A man who has it all needs one thing and one thing only. A temptress.

Watch me Tempt the Playboy.

SICK FUX by Tillie Cole

When Ellis Earnshaw and Heathan James met as children, they couldn’t have been more different. Ellis was loud and beautiful – all blond hair, bright laughs and smiles. Heathan was dark and brooding, and obsessed with watching things die.

The pair forged an unlikely friendship, unique and strange. Until they were ripped apart by the sick cruelty of others, separated for years, both locked in a perpetual hell.
Eleven years later, Heathan is back for his girl. Back from a place from which he thought there was no return. Back to seek revenge on those who wronged them.

Time has made Heathan’s soul darker, polluted with hatred and the thirst for blood.

Time has made Ellis a shell of her former self, a little girl lost in the vastness of her pain.

As Heathan pulls Ellis out of her mental prison, reviving the essence of who she once was, down the rabbit hole they will go.

With malice in their hearts and vengeance in their veins, they will seek out the ones who hurt and destroyed them.
One at a time.
Each one more deadly than the last.
Tick Tock.

Dark Contemporary Romance. Contains explicit sexual situations, violence, disturbingly sensitive and taboo subjects, offensive language and very mature topics. Recommended for ages 18 and over.

DIRTY LITTLE PROMISE by Kendall Ryan

Conflicted in the depth of her feelings for bad boy Gavin Kingsley, lonely librarian Emma Bell knows he’s all wrong for her—yet the heart wants what it wants.

But if she gives into his dark, erotic desires will she lose herself completely?

Passion, drama and suspense combine in the highly-anticipated conclusion to Emma Bell’s love affair with the alpha and enigmatic Kingsley brothers.

Secrets will be exposed, sides will be chosen, and nothing will ever be the same.

This is book two in the series, following Dirty Little Secret.

GUY HATER by J Sterling

From New York Times Bestseller, J. Sterling, comes a sexy new STANDALONE romance novel.

Frank Fisher is quiet, pensive, and sexy as hell.

He’s also stuck in a loveless relationship, bound by a promise he made years ago.

It’s one he intends to keep, no matter the cost.

The night Claudia walks into his bar, both his life and his perspective are forever changed.

She’s feisty, strong, independent and everything he never knew he needed.

She’s also everything he never knew he wanted, and now he’s torn.

Will Frank follow his heart, or will guilt and obligation continue to rule his life?

Choices aren’t always easy, especially when you’re a man, and Frank’s indecision may cost him more than he’s willing to lose.

FILTHY PLAYER by Stacey Lynn

The Raleigh Rough Riders are back, and this time Super Bowl Quarterback Beaux Hale finds himself playing the most important game of his life.

Every woman knows Beaux Hale is nothing but a player. Yet the first time he walks into Paige Halloway’s restaurant and flashes his sexy grin, she feels a heat between them spark. Too bad he opens his mouth and ruins it.

He may think his money, fame, and sexy looks will attract any woman—but he’s wrong.

Paige doesn’t have time for a man. She’s too busy keeping a roof over her head and taking care of her father to care about relationships.

Lucky for Beaux, he’s a man who’s ready to use all the plays at his disposal. He didn’t bring his team a Super Bowl victory by giving up at the first block in his path—and Paige Halloway has just become his new long-game.

Beaux also knows that sometimes, in order to win and claim your prize, you have to get a little bit filthy.

PLAYED by Jen Frederick

She’s been playing it close…

Ara Martin and college football star Ty Masters have been best friends since the first day of school when Ty literally ran her over. She fell for him immediately, but having lived under the shadow of her famous father, she knows a relationship with irresistible Ty would only end in heartbreak. For four years, she’s kept her feelings hidden. But one drunken encounter weeks before graduation is about to expose Ara’s biggest secret and destroy her most treasured relationship.

He’s been playing for keeps…

Ty is about to be drafted into the NFL, but his personal life is a mess. He’s got an agent he doesn’t like, a brother who can’t stop offering his opinion, and a beautiful woman he craves but can’t have. He can fire his agent and ignore his brother, but he’s not sure what to do about Ara. Ty’s been able to run down every quarterback he’s faced, but his sexy, stubborn best friend keeps slipping through his fingers.

Luckily, he’s not one for giving up, and once he gets his hands on her, he’s never letting go.

UNLOVED by Katy Regnary

From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Katy Regnery comes an unforgettable story about loss, redemption and the healing power of love.

My name is Cassidy Porter…

My father, Paul Isaac Porter, was convicted twenty years ago for the brutal murder of a dozen innocent girls.

Though I was only eight-years-old at the time, I am aware – every day of my life – that I am his child, his only son.

To protect the world from the poison in my veins, I live a quiet life, off the grid, away from humanity.

I promised myself, and my mother, not to infect innocent lives with the darkness that swirls within me, waiting to make itself known.

It’s a promise I would have kept…if Brynn Cadogan hadn’t stumbled into my life.

Now I exist between heaven and hell: falling for a woman who wants to love me, while all along reminding myself that I must remain…

Unloved.

MAKE ME YOURS by Rebecca Brooks

“Intensely sexy and packs an emotional punch!” – #1 New York Times bestselling author Lauren Blakely on Make Me Beg

Claire Collins has always been good—except when it comes to bad boys. Or one bad boy in particular: a tattooed musician as skilled with her body as he is with his guitar. But he wasn’t ready to be a father, so she left him to raise their daughter on her own. Only fate had other plans, and suddenly, Ryan is back in her life, disrupting everything. This time, though, she’s determined not to lose her heart…even if she still craves his touch.

Ryan Thomas never expects to see Claire again—especially not in a small mountain town in Washington on the last show of his comeback tour. But when the lights come on, there she is, more beautiful than ever. One incredible night with her won’t be enough… But he’ll have to prove he’s not the man he used to be, if he wants to keep her—and his family—for good.

Each book in the Men of Gold Mountain series is a standalone story that can be enjoyed out of order.
Series Order:
Book #1 Make Me Stay
Book #2 Make Me Beg
Book #3 Make Me Want
Book #4 Make Me Yours

SIGHTLINES by Santino Hassell

Chase Payne is a walking contradiction. He’s the most powerful psychic in the Community, but the least respected. He’s the son of the Community’s founder, but with his tattoo sleeves and abrasive attitude, he’s nothing like his charismatic family. No one knows what to make of him, which is how he wound up locked in a cell on the Farm yet again. But this time, the only man he’s ever loved is there too.

Elijah Estrella was used to being the sassy sidekick who fooled around with Chase for fun. But that was before he realized the Community wasn’t the haven he’d believed in and Chase was the only person who’d ever truly tried to protect him. Now they’re surrounded by people who want to turn them against their friends, and the only way out is to pretend the brainwashing works.

With Chase playing the role of a tyrant’s second-in-command, and Elijah acting like Chase’s mindless sex toy, they risk everything by plotting a daring escape. In the end, it’s only their psychic abilities, fueled by their growing love for each other, that will allow them to take the Community down once and for all.

RELEASING OCTOBER 10

GAME ON by Victoria Denault

“I don’t break hearts. I break headboards . . . “

When it comes to scoring in the pro hockey league, Alex Larue is crushing it-with the hot puck bunnies. He’s the life of the party, the guy with all the jokes . . . and the one whose Party Guy mask keeps the real him well hidden. The last thing he needs is anyone finding out about his troubled past, or the nightmares that haunt him still.

Brie Bennett is less than impressed by Alex from the moment she meets him. And even though he insists on volunteering at the charity she runs, she doesn’t trust him. He’s hiding something…but so is she. She’s not just the rich, privileged New York princess he thinks she is. The animosity between them is undeniably addictive and as their worlds keep colliding it becomes supercharged with something else – attraction.

But if they stop playing games and let each other in, they both might lose.

FROM THIS MOMENT by Melanie Harlow

It was like seeing a ghost.

When my late husband’s twin brother moves back to our small town, I want to avoid him. Everything about Wes reminds me of the man I lost and the life we’d planned together, and after eighteen long months struggling just to get out of bed, I’m finally doing okay. I have a new job, an amazing support group, and a beautiful five-year-old daughter to parent. I don’t want to go backward.

But I’m drawn to him, too. He understands my grief and anger and guilt like no one else—and I understand his. Before long, that understanding becomes desire, and that desire becomes uncontrollable.

He says he doesn’t care what people think, and love can never be wrong. But life has taught me it cruelest lesson–love doesn’t always win.

If only my heart would believe it.

THE CONSORT by K.A. Linde

After the loss of a friend and a false imprisonment in an Eleysian dungeon, Cyrene has no interest in destiny. Her heart was shattered, friends scattered, and her home is nothing but a pretty illusion. Even her magic won’t cooperate.

Only desperation can turn her to the last person she should trust:

Prince Kael.

His darkness mirrors a growing force lurking within her. A struggle she never imagined threatens to consume her. And as friends and foes begin to show their true colors, she starts questioning whether anyone is who they seem.

Even herself.

Read on to uncover Cyrene’s journey to find love and destiny! Great for fans of Game of Thrones, Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha series, and Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series.

ACCIDENTAL MAN WHORE by Katherine Stevens

Ben Wright isn’t an escort.

Except when he is.

All he wants is to make some extra money to pay off his dad’s medical bills. He never intended to be tied to beds while making the Benjamins.

Miryam Wexler never intended to be dumped by her fiancé before their wedding.

But she was.

Now all she wants is to put her life back together and not tell her grandmother about her humiliation.

He needs money and she needs a stand-in fiancé. They can help each other, if they don’t kill each other first.

Two people with double lives equals four times the chaos and four times the comedy.

IN PIECES by Danielle Pearl

Three years ago she was left in pieces . . .

Most college freshmen love the newfound freedom of living on campus, but none of them craves it like Beth Caplan. One ill-fated night when she was fifteen left her locked in a posh prison of private tutors. It’s for the best, everyone said, and maybe it was. But after years of hard work and healing, the one person who never thought of her as broken could be the one to break her all over again. And Beth can’t seem to stay away now any more than she could all those years ago.

As soon as David March learned his best friend’s little sister was enrolling at his school, he promised to look after her, and promised himself he’d keep a safe distance. But the sweet little girl he’d grown up with has transformed into a gorgeous young woman, and she’s attracting attention from people she shouldn’t-like the ex who nearly destroyed her and a strange new student with a disturbing habit of showing up wherever Beth goes. But for David, the most troubling discovery is realizing that he doesn’t just want Beth to be safe. He wants her to be his.

SURE THING by Jana Aston

A new STANDALONE romance from New York Times bestselling author Jana Aston

Do you have an identical twin sister?
No? It’s okay, most people don’t.

But if you did, would you switch places with her?
Of course you would – when you were five.

You might even do it again when you were fifteen.

But a twin switcheroo at twenty-six?

This won’t end well.
Couldn’t possibly.

Add in a sexy stranger – with an even sexier British accent – and things are about to get really complicated.

Especially when I’m not the only one keeping secrets…

SWEET TIME by Nina Lane

A rock-hard bodyguard gets a sassy, sweet treat.

Stuck in a boring insurance job, vivacious Mia Donovan has spent the last few years searching for her life’s true path. She fills her time helping plan the wedding of her best friend to the CEO of the Sugar Rush Candy Company.

Mia has also been trying to attract the impossibly rigid Sugar Rush security chief Gavin Knight. But for well over a year, the unyielding Mr. Knight has ignored her, despite her short skirts, tight sweaters, and patently obvious flirting. And when he finally approaches her, it’s only to assess the wedding plans for potential security risks.

A former soldier, Gavin has intercepted hostile anonymous letters threatening the high-profile wedding. Determined to keep everyone safe, he’s forced to work with the maddeningly sexy Miss Donovan of the thousand-watt charm and irresistible body.

Irked by Gavin’s many months of disregard, Mia takes her teasing flirtations to a whole new level. But her coquettish ways are no match for the edgy, lust-fueled dominant he conceals behind his impassive exterior. And when Gavin exerts his full control, Mia discovers he can protect everything except her heart.

SWEET TIME is a sexy contemporary romance by New York Times bestselling author Nina Lane. It can be read as a standalone or enjoyed as part of the Sugar Rush series.

MIDNIGHT UNLEASHED by Lara Adrian

For Breed vampire Trygg, a menacing former assassin and the ultimate loner, duty is everything…until his solo mission to destroy a powerful enemy earns him an unwanted partner in the form of Tamisia, a beautiful, ice-hot immortal who ignites a flame in his cold heart, and his blood.

Banished from her Atlantean colony, disgraced immortal Tamisia longs for a chance to redeem herself and return home where she belongs. Her work at a Rome women’s shelter has given Sia purpose, but when a break-in results in a brutal killing, her quest for answers puts her in the middle of the hunt for a dangerous enemy of the Order–and brings her up against one of the deadliest of their Breed warrior members, the Gen One vampire, Trygg.

A former Hunter enslaved to the commands of a madman, Trygg has devoted his life to the Order. Duty is his only master now, until an interfering beauty inserts herself into his investigation. The last thing Trygg wants is a partner in his mission, but Sia will not be denied–nor will the fierce desire she stokes in him. Soon the warrior who needs no one is craving the only woman he should not desire, unleashing a powerful hunger in his cold heart, and in his blood.

RELEASING OCTOBER 11

YOU DO SOMETHING TO ME by Bella Andre

Alec Sullivan has always believed he has it all. A billion-dollar private aviation business. A penthouse apartment in New York City. Beautiful women who know better than to expect him ever to fall in love. And great siblings for whom he’d do anything. But when Alec’s business partner passes away and leaves everything to a daughter Alec never knew about, in an instant everything in his life turns upside down…all because of Cordelia.

Cordelia always thought she was perfectly happy with her life. She owns a garden store she loves, lives in a pretty little cottage in the same town as her adoptive parents, and figures there’s plenty of time to meet Mr. Right. But she never counted on becoming the surprise heir to a fortune…or on meeting a man like Alec Sullivan. A shockingly sexy billionaire who makes her heart race and melt all at the same time.

Neither Alec nor Cordelia plans on getting any closer than they have to. Only, how can either of them fight this kind of heat, this depth of desire? And when Cordelia needs Alec’s support, it’s pure instinct for him to be there for her. But when it’s her turn to help him confront his deepest pain, will Alec let her in? Or will he push her away, just as he’s pushed away everyone who’s loved him for the past thirty years…

YOU DO SOMETHING TO ME is part of Bella Andre’s New York Times and USA Today #1 bestselling series about The Sullivans. While it can easily be read as a standalone story, you’ll likely enjoy reading the other books, too.

RELEASING OCTOBER 12

SOMEONE LIKE YOU by Brittney Sahin

He was a nameless guy in a bar—a man Grace couldn’t get out of her head…

A week later, she came home to find him sweaty and shirtless with a tape measure in hand, remodeling her loft. As a Parker-King, she’s not allowed to want someone like Noah Dalton. She’s sick of her life, though. Sick of the rules of being a Parker-King. She wants something more, even if it isn’t forever. Somewhere in history there was that one time where hot, no-strings-attached sex didn’t end badly, right? Finding comfort in the arms of a former SEAL is easy, not falling for one . . . not so much.

Noah left the military and moved to New York for one reason: his daughter. Not for some uptight businesswoman—a Manhattan elitist. So when Grace offers him the kind of relationship that no hot-blooded man can turn down, he should say no. And when her seemingly put-together life spins out of control, and his instincts to protect and save kick in, he should turn away. But he doesn’t.

Can two people from different worlds really live in the moment, knowing they’re on borrowed time, or is someone bound to get hurt?

HOLDING ONTO FOREVER by Heidi McLaughlin

The road for Noah Westbury has been carved out for him, long before he knew who his father was. Making sure he worked hard to deserve the opportunities provided to him, Noah is where he’s dreamed of being – starting QB for Portland Pioneers. Together, with his model girlfriend by his side, life can’t get much better. Except that standing in his path is Peyton Powell-James, his life-long friend and the one woman he can never have.

Peyton Powell-James always knew her future would be in football and dreams of having a successful sports journalism career once she graduates college. After being given the assignment to cover a professional game from the sidelines, Peyton believes that everything is going to plan. Until one fateful night changes her life.

Harsh reality sets in for Noah and Peyton. One could lose everything, while the other struggles to keep the families together.

Leave a Comment · Filed Under: Upcoming Releases · Tagged With: New Release, upcoming releases

Read the first chapter of HOOKING UP by Helena Hunting

October 4, 2017 by Lana · Leave a Comment

HOOKING UP
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: Helena Hunting
Release Date: November 7, 2017

Amalie Whitfield is the picture of a blushing bride during her wedding reception–but for all the wrong reasons. Instead of proclaiming his undying love, her husband can be heard, by Amalie and their guests, getting off with someone else. She has every reason to freak out, and in a moment of insanity, she throws herself at the first hot-blooded male she sees. But he’s not interested in becoming her revenge screw.

Mortified and desperate to escape the post-wedding drama, Amalie decides to go on her honeymoon alone, only to find the man who rejected her also heading to the same tiny island for work. But this time he isn’t holding back. She should know better than to sleep with someone she knows, but she can’t seem to resist him.

They might agree that what happens on the island should stay on the island, but neither one can deny that their attraction is more than just physical.

Filled with hilariously scandalous situations and enough sexual chemistry to power an airplane from New York City to the South Pacific, Hooking Up is the next standalone, laugh-out-loud romantic comedy from Helena Hunting, the New York Times bestselling author of the Pucked series and Shacking Up.

AMAZON

One

Wedding Unbliss

Amie

This is the happiest day of my life. I allow that thought to roll around in my head, trying to figure out why it doesn’t seem to resonate the way it should. This should be the happiest day of my life. So I’m not exactly certain why the uneasy feeling I associate with cold feet is getting worse rather than dissipating. I’ve already done the hard part; walked down the aisle and said “I do.”

My husband excused himself to go to the bathroom several minutes ago and, based on Armstrong’s itinerary for the day, speeches are supposed to begin promptly at eight-thirty. According to my phone, that’s less than two minutes from now, and he’s not here. The emcee for the evening is awaiting Armstrong’s return before he begins. And then the real party can start. The one where we get to celebrate our commitment to each other as partners for life. As in the rest of my breathing days. Dear God, why does that make my stomach twist?

I sip my white wine. Armstrong pointed out that red is not a good idea with my dress, even though it’s my preference. Besides, I don’t want it to stain my teeth. That would make for bad pictures.

I glance around the hall and see my parents, who are probably celebrating the fact that I didn’t walk down the aisle with a convicted felon. And frankly, so am I. My dating history pre-Armstrong wasn’t fabulous.

The sheer number of people in attendance spikes my anxiety. Speaking in front of all of these people makes me want to drink more, which is a bad idea. Tipsy speeches could lead to saying the wrong thing. I check my phone under the table again. It’s after eight-thirty. The longer Armstrong takes to return, the further behind we’ll get. The music playlist, devised by Armstrong with painstaking efficiency, leaves no room for tardiness. If we don’t start on time I’ll have to take out a song, or possibly two, to compensate for his delay and he’s selected the order in such a way as to make that difficult and that will annoy him. I just want today to be perfect. I want it to be reflective of my decision to marry Armstrong. That I, Amalie Whitfield, can make good choices and am not a disgrace to my family.

“Where the hell is he?” I scan the room and take another small sip of my wine. I should switch to water soon so I don’t end up drunk, especially later, when all of this is over and we can celebrate our lifelong commitment to each other without clothes on. I’m hopeful it will last more than five minutes.

Ruby, my maid of honor and best friend for the past decade, puts a hand on my shoulder. “Would you like Bancroft to find Armstrong?”

Bancroft, or Bane for short, is Ruby’s boyfriend who she’s been living with for several months. Recently I find myself getting a little jealous of how affectionate they still are with each other, even after all this time. Cohabitation hasn’t slowed them down on the sex or their PDA. I have hope that Armstrong and I will be more like Bane and Ruby now that we’ll be sharing the same bed every night.

I’m about to tell Ruby to give him another minute when a low buzz suddenly fills the hall. It sounds like a school PA system. I start to panic—they can’t start the speeches without Armstrong at my side. What’s the point of speeches if the groom isn’t present?

I’m halfway out of my seat, ready to tell the deejay, or whoever is behind the mic, he needs to wait, when a very loud moan echoes through the room. The acoustics are phenomenal in here, it’s why we chose this venue.

I glance at Ruby to make sure I’m not hearing things. Her eyes are wide. The kind of wide associated with shock. The same shock I’m feeling.

Another moan reverberates through the sound system, followed by the words, “Oh, fuuuck.”

A collective gasp ripples through the now-silent crowd. While the words themselves are scandalous among these guests, it’s the voice groaning them that makes me sit up straighter, and simultaneously consider hiding under the table.

“Fuck yeah. Ah, suck it. That’s it. Deep throat it like a good little slut. Fuuuuuccckkkkk.”

My mouth drops and I look to Ruby to ensure I have not completely lost my mind. “Is that—” I don’t finish the sentence. I already know the answer to the question, so it’s pointless to ask. Besides, I’m cut off by yet another loud groan. I clap a hand over my mouth because I’m not sure I’m able to close it, my disbelief is as vast as the ocean.

Ruby’s expression mirrors mine, except hers is incredibly animated since she’s an actress. “Oh my God. Is that Armstrong?” Her words are no more than a whisper, but they sound very much like a scream. Oh no, wait, that’s just Armstrong on the verge of an orgasm. But these sounds are nothing like the ones he makes when he’s in the throes of passion with me.

I clutch Ruby’s hand. The next sound that comes from him is a hybrid between a hyena laugh and a wolf baying at the moon. And every guest at our wedding is hearing the same thing I am. Our wedding. Someone other than me is blowing my husband at my own wedding. My mortification knows no end.

I grab the closest bottle of wine and dump the contents into my glass. Some of it sloshes over the edge and onto the crisp white tablecloth. It doesn’t matter. There’s plenty more where it came from. I chug the glass, then grab Ruby’s.

People lean in and whisper to each other, eyes lift to the speakers. A few people, the ones who are probably just here for the social-ladder-climbing potential, question who it is.

“Is the deejay watching porn?” That comment comes from a table full of mostly drunk singles in their early twenties.

Several eyes shift my way as I carelessly down Ruby’s wine and someone asks where the groom has disappeared to.

The grunts and groans grow terrifyingly louder. This is nothing like what I’m used to in bed with Armstrong. The dirty words aren’t something he ever uses with me, mostly it’s just noises and sometimes a “Right there” or “I’m close,” but that’s about it. He’s never talked to me like he is to the woman currently providing oral pleasure. And I’m very adept at oral. Although with Armstrong it’s very polite, neat oral, with no sounds other than the occasional hum. Slurping is uncivilized and a definite no-no.

I reach past Ruby for the bottle of red since I don’t really give a flying fuck about purple teeth right now. As I sink low in my seat I pour another glass of wine, surveying the people in the ballroom from behind the cover of the centerpiece. The centerpieces are huge and excessive and I don’t like them at all, but at least provides a protective barrier between the guests and my disgust, which I’m certain they must share. He sounds like a wild animal rutting. It is entirely unsexy. I have no idea who he’s getting intimate with, but I’m suddenly very glad it’s not me.

And doesn’t that tell me more about our relationship than it should.

It’s only been about thirty seconds—the most humiliating thirty seconds of my life—before Armstrong comes. How do I know this? Because he says, very clearly, “Keep sucking, baby, I’m coming.”

And “baby,” whoever she is, makes these horrific gurgling noises. It sounds like some form of alien communication. It’s way over the top, and apparently Armstrong is loving it, based on the string of vile profanity that spews from his asshole mouth.

“Holy crap. Is this for real? That was really fast,” Ruby mutters.

I guzzle my glass of wine. Then decide the glass is unnecessary and take a long swig from the bottle before Ruby snatches it away. Wine dribbles down my chin and onto my chest, staining the white satin purple. My dress is ruined. I should be freaking out. But I really don’t care.

“Come on,” Ruby tugs on my hand. “We need to get you out of here while people are still distracted.”

My older brother Pierce and the emcee are standing in the middle of the hall, gesturing wildly to the speakers above us. My other brother, Lawson, is on his way toward the podium in an attempt to do something. I don’t think there’s anything he can do to stop this train wreck from there.

Ruby tugs again, but I’m frozen, still trying to figure out what exactly just happened. Well, I know what’s happened. I just can’t believe it.

The sound of a zipper and the rustle of clothes follows. “Thanks for that, now I’ll be able to last later tonight,” Armstrong says.

“What about me?” A female asks. Her voice is nasally and whiny.

“What about you?”

“Well I helped you, aren’t you going to help me?”

“Didn’t you come with a date?”

“Well, yes, but—” God her voice is familiar. I just can’t figure out where I know it from.

“My cousin, right? He loves my sloppy seconds. Speeches are starting. I gotta get back to my ball and chain.”

Gasps of horror ripple through the room, followed by a few giggles. These people really are assholes.

I think I’m going to throw up. I can’t believe he’s going to come out here and pretend nothing just happened. Like some other woman didn’t just have her lips around his cock. His distinctly average cock. Maybe even slightly below average in length, if I’m being one hundred percent honest.

A door opens and closes.

Lawson turns on the mic behind the podium and taps it, sending screeching feedback through the room, making people cringe. Too bad no one did that a minute ago.

Murmuring grows louder and glances flicker to the head table and then away as Brittany Thorton, a seriously skanky debutante, comes strutting through the doors, using a compact to check her lipstick. She’s made it her mission to attempt to get into the pants of half the eligible men in this room. She’s followed, not five seconds later, by a very smug-looking Armstrong.

“I’m going to kill him.” I grab the closest steak knife, but it appears my hasty, and possibly felonious, plan is unnecessary. My brothers leave their respective posts and stalk toward him. Across the room my mother is gripping my father’s arm, whispering furiously in his ear. Great. Just what I need, additional family drama.

“Oh shit,” Ruby gasps.

I follow her gaze to find Bane converging on Armstrong with my brothers. Bancroft is a tank and he used to play professional rugby. I’ve seen him with his shirt off, he’s built like a superhero and he’ll probably crush Armstrong, or at least break something. Possibly multiple somethings.

For a second I consider that Ruby should probably stop Bane from destroying Armstrong’s pretty, regal face, but then I realize I don’t actually care. In fact, the possibility that he might break Armstrong’s perfectly straight nose fills me with glee. Armstrong’s wellbeing is no longer my concern, it’s more about Bane ending up in prison for murder.

“I hope Armstrong has a good plastic surgeon, he’s going to need it once Bane is done with him.” Ruby echoes my internal hopes and her chair tips as she jumps up. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.” She nods to the right.

I notice my mother and father engaged in a heated discussion with Armstrong’s parents. I really don’t need this right now. Not the drama. Not the humiliation. All I wanted was a nice wedding. Instead I end up with a husband who gets a blow job during our reception—and it’s broadcast to everyone attending.

Ruby urges me into action. “Don’t worry about them. Get your stuff and we’ll get you the hell out of here. I’ll have the limo meet you by the entrance near your bridal suite as soon as I can.”

I nod and stumble unsteadily to my feet, thanks to having consumed the better part of a bottle of wine in the last minute and a half. It’s amazing how ninety seconds can change a person’s entire life.

All hell breaks loose as more men jump in to either pummel or extract Armstrong from the pummeling. I grab my clutch and phone from the table, gather up my stupid, too puffy gown, and head for the bridal suite, where I had prepared for what was supposed to be the most amazing day of my life. And now it’s likely the worst, at least I hope the mortification level I’m experiencing can’t exceed this. I feel like the foulest version of Cinderella ever.

I rush down the empty hall and grab the doorknob as I fumble around in my clutch for the key. I’m surprised when it turns. I thought I’d locked it before we left for the ceremony. Regardless, I need to get away from everyone before I either lose it or commit a felony. Maybe both. Murder in the first. Armstrong will be my victim. And maybe that horrible skank, Brittany.

I thrust the door open and slam it closed behind me, locking it from the inside. Tears threaten to spill over and ruin my makeup. Not that it matters since there’s no way I’m going out there again. I can’t believe my forever lasted less than twelve hours. I can’t believe the man I’m supposed to spend the rest of my life loving couldn’t be faithful to me for even one day. What the hell is wrong with me? With him? I’m as devastated as I am angry and embarrassed. Once I annul this farce of a marriage I’ll become a spinster. I should probably go ahead and adopt six or seven cats tonight.

“I need to get out of this dress,” I say to myself. I reach behind me and pull the bow at the base of my spine. Instead of unfurling, it knots and I only succeed in pulling it tighter. Of course my dress has to be difficult. I growl my annoyance and rush over to my dressing table where my makeup and perfume are scattered from earlier today. Half a mimosa sits unconsumed beside the vase of red roses Armstrong had delivered.

The card read: I can’t wait to spend forever loving you.

What a load of bullshit. I drain the contents of the champagne flute, not caring that the drink is warm and flat. Then I throw the glass, because it feels good and the sound of shattering crystal is satisfying. Next I heave the vase of roses, which explodes impressively against the wall, splattering water and shards of glass across the floor.

I yank out a couple of the drawers and find a pair of scissors. They actually look more like gardening shears and seem rather out of place, but I don’t question it. Instead I reach behind me with my back to the mirror and awkwardly try to cut myself free. It’s not easy with the way I have to crane my neck.

“Goddammit! I need to get out of this stupid dress!” I yell at my reflection. I think I might actually be losing it just a touch now. I stop messing around with the laces in the back and shove the scissors down the front. I nearly nick myself with the blade—they’re a lot sharper than I realized—but that doesn’t slow me down. I start hacking my way through the bodice; layers of satin, lace, and intricate beading sliced apart with every vicious snip.

I just want out of this nightmare.

Leave a Comment · Filed Under: Excerpts · Tagged With: Helena Hunting

New & Upcoming Releases: October 1-6

October 2, 2017 by Lana · Leave a Comment

New releases coming at ya this week!

AVAILABLE NOW

LOGAN by Jay McLean

As a kid, Logan Preston was a brat.
Through his teens, he became the bad boy.
Now, at nineteen, no one knows what the hell to expect.

High school dropout, Logan Preston is a
good-for-nothing stoner.
A black sheep.
A disappointment.
The worst Preston Punk of the lot.
At least that’s how everyone in his small town
makes him feel.

But Logan Preston has secrets.

Secrets so dark and so deep below the surface that the only way he can fight them is to stay high, high, high.

He wears cockiness as a mask.

Arrogance as his armor.

Until one girl, one night, asks one life-changing question:

What’s beneath the bravado, Logan Preston?

GHOSTWRITER by Alessandra Torre

from New York Times Bestseller Alessandra Torre…

I have three months to write the last book of my life. Three months to confess the details of that day, and how it changed everything for me.

My name is Helena Ross.

I’ve written fifteen romance novels, ten of which have become international bestsellers.

But this one isn’t a romance, no Happily Ever After in place.

This novel holds only the truth, which I have run away from for four years.

The truth, which I have hidden from the police, from my loved ones, from the world.

This final book?

It’s my confession.

SHOW ME THE WAY by AL Jackson

The first sexy, captivating, stand-alone novel in the brand-new FIGHT FOR ME series from NYT & USA Today Bestselling Author A.L. Jackson . . .

Rex Gunner. As bitter as he is beautiful.

The owner of the largest construction company in Gingham Lakes has been burned one too many times. His wife leaving him to raise their daughter was the last blow this single dad could take. The only woman he’ll let into his heart is his little girl.

Rynna Dayne. As vulnerable as she is tempting.

She ran from Gingham Lakes when she was seventeen. She swore to herself she would never return. Then her grandmother passed away and left her the deed to the diner that she once loved.

When Rex meets his new neighbor, he knows he’s in trouble.

She’s gorgeous and sweet and everything he can’t trust.

Until she becomes the one thing he can’t resist.

One kiss sends them tumbling toward ecstasy.

But in a town this size, pasts are bound to collide. Caught in a web of lies, betrayal, and disloyalty, Rex must make a choice.

Will he hide behind his walls or will he take the chance . . .

THE CHOICES I’VE MADE by JL Berg

From USA Today bestselling author, J.L. Berg, comes a second chance love story that will own your heart until the very end.

Death is easy.
Surviving it? That’s the hard part.

Dr. Jake Jameson knows this all too well. Losing his mother at the age of eighteen, he walks away from his small hometown and the painful memories it holds, vowing to never return again.

Twelve years later, he finds himself driving back down the coast of North Carolina. When his father leaves him a small medical practice, he has no choice but to heed the call until he can find someone else to take it off his hands.

But coming back home means facing everything he left behind, including the one woman who might make it impossible to leave again.

Molly McIntyre has spent her entire life in one town. Taking over her parents’ small inn, she’s settled into a quiet, happy life. But all of that comes to an abrupt halt when Jake shows up at her door in need of a place to stay.

Molly loathes everything about this man, but she can’t find it in her heart to refuse his request.

After over a decade, these former lovers quickly discover what once burned brightly between them has only grown in their time apart. Soon they must decide if the choices they’ve made have led them back to each other for a second chance or one final goodbye.

RELEASING OCTOBER 3

WITHOUT MERIT by Colleen Hoover

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of It Ends With Us and November 9 comes a moving and haunting novel of family, love, and the power of the truth.

“Not every mistake deserves a consequence. Sometimes the only thing it deserves is forgiveness.”

The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, newly baptized Dollar Voss. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father is married to the mother’s former nurse, the little half-brother isn’t allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there’s Merit.

Merit Voss collects trophies she hasn’t earned and secrets her family forces her to keep. While browsing the local antiques shop for her next trophy, she finds Sagan. His wit and unapologetic idealism disarm and spark renewed life into her—until she discovers that he’s completely unavailable. Merit retreats deeper into herself, watching her family from the sidelines, when she learns a secret that no trophy in the world can fix.

Fed up with the lies, Merit decides to shatter the happy family illusion that she’s never been a part of before leaving them behind for good. When her escape plan fails, Merit is forced to deal with the staggering consequences of telling the truth and losing the one boy she loves.

Poignant and powerful, Without Merit explores the layers of lies that tie a family together and the power of love and truth.

BREAKING HOLLYWOOD by Samantha Towle

A hot and hilarious standalone romance from NewYorkTimes bestselling author Samantha Towle…

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I wasn’t supposed to be boyfriendless, homeless, and jobless at twenty-eight. And I most definitely wasn’t supposed to hit Hollywood’s resident bad boy Gabriel Evans with my car and break his foot.

Now, my guilt and homelessness have me living in his apartment, taking care of him, while he’s incapacitated.

Living with the hottest guy in Hollywood, who I’ve had a crush on forever, doesn’t sound like a chore, right?

Wrong.

Gabriel Evans is a crude, rude asshole who drinks way too much and smokes like a chimney.

The sooner I get a new place to live and when Gabriel’s foot is healed, I’m out of here.

So, why do I keep forgetting to check the classifieds? And why do I keep getting flustered when I see him shirtless?

Breaking Hollywood wasn’t part of the plan. But neither is falling in love with him.

LovedBreakingHollywood?CheckoutSamantha’ssexy,laugh-out-loudromance, WardrobeMalfunction,outnow!

A SEAL’S STRENGTH by JM Stewart

A sizzling new series about three friends looking for love-and the sexy SEALs who are ready to fulfill their craziest fantasies.

This second chance was worth the wait . . .

As a SEAL, Gabriel Donovan did the toughest jobs imaginable without blinking an eye. But three years after his wife’s death, the idea of dating still makes him sick to his stomach. His daughter desperately needs a mother, though, and there’s nothing Gabe won’t do for his little girl.

Stephanie Mason doesn’t run from anything. Not even coming face to face with the “one that got away” on a blind date. Steph’s body vividly remembers every single thing about Gabe and while some things have changed, the way he makes her feel sure as hell hasn’t.

Gabe and Steph know that love comes with risks, but if they’re brave enough, this second chance might just bring them the love of a lifetime.

PUCK LOVE by Carmen Jenner

Stella Hart is the hottest thing in country music. For ten years, she’s been Nashville’s darling. She’s pure, sweet, and a positive role model in an industry rife with scandals, sex, and sequins. Men want to own her, women want to be her—everyone wants a piece of her, and Stella? Well, she wants out.

As the center for the Calgary Crushers, Van Ross isn’t afraid of the spotlight, but he doesn’t much like it either. Despite his reputation as a player, the NHL’s bad boy lives for only two things: the game, and his younger brother. That’s why when he comes across a country music superstar seeking refuge at his home in the Canadian Rockies, he’s not too happy with the media shitstorm this surprise houseguest brings.

With a nationwide manhunt, paparazzi dogging their every move, producers of a reality TV show baying for blood, and a record label desperate to see their “good girl” returned safely home, Van and Stella’s lives are snowballing out of control.

While Van would like nothing more than to show the purest of them all how well he handles his er … stick, Stella is no puck bunny. Nor is she as innocent as she’d have the world believe.

With chemistry like theirs, tension runs high on and off the ice, but the end game is the same for both players: line up the puck, take the shot, and score. If only their hearts understood the play.

Puck fame and fortune.
Puck right and wrong.
Puck love.

THE SCOT BEDS HIS WIFE by Kerrigan Byrne

The Scot Beds His Wife is the next lush, captivating Victorian romance in the Victorian Rebels series by Kerrigan Byrne.

They’re rebels, scoundrels, and blackguards—dark, dashing men on the wrong side of the law. But for the women who love them, a hint of danger only makes the heart beat faster.

Gavin St. James, Earl of Thorne, is a notorious Highlander and an unrelenting Lothario who uses his slightly menacing charm to get what he wants—including too many women married to other men. But now, Gavin wants to put his shady past behind him…more or less. When a fiery lass who is the heiress to the land he wishes to possess drops into his lap, he sees a perfectly delicious opportunity…

A marriage most convenient

Samantha Masters has come back to Scotland, in a pair of trousers, and with a whole world of dangerous secrets from her time spent in the Wild West trailing behind her. Her only hope of protection is to marry—and to do so quickly. Gavin is only too willing to provide that service for someone he finds so disturbingly irresistible. But even as danger approaches, what begins as a scandalous proposition slowly turns into an all-consuming passion. And Gavin discovers that he will do whatever is necessary to keep the woman he has claimed as his own…

HOT PURSUIT by Julie Ann Walker

Welcome to Black Knights Inc.

What appears to be a tricked-out motorcycle shop on the South Side of Chicago is actually headquarters for the world’s most elite covert operatives. Deadly, dangerous, and determined, they’ll steal your breath and your heart.

Fighting for his life is pretty much standard operating procedure for Christian Watson, former SAS Officer. Doing it with bossy, beautiful BKI office manager Emily Scott in tow is another matter entirely.

Black Knights Inc:
Hell on Wheels (Book 1)
In Rides Trouble (Book 2)
Rev It Up (Book 3)
Thrill Ride (Book 4)
Born Wild (Book 5)
Hell for Leather (Book 6)
Full Throttle (Book 7)
Too Hard to Handle (Book 8)
Wild Ride (Book 9)
Fuel for Fire (Book 10)
Hot Pursuit (Book 11)
Built to Last (Book 12)

ROYALLY RUINED by Nina Flite

Sinful passion and delicious danger await in the second installment of USA Todaybestselling author Nora Flite’s Bad Boy Royals series.

Scotch never runs from difficult situations. That is, until she rescues her bestie from a violent Mafia member. Now Scotch is running for her life. The only thing standing between her and certain death? The most dangerous man in the criminal underworld—and one of the sexiest. But just when Scotch thought she could keep her hands out of trouble, they end up all over Costello Badd’s hot, hard, tattooed body…

Once upon a time, Costello’s blue blood might have ruled a nation. Instead, he is heir to one of the criminal underworld’s most lethal families. Now he’s risking his life and betraying his clan for one sexy, resourceful waitress with a penchant for all the wrong kinds of trouble. No matter how badly Costello wants Scotch, he can never make her his. Ever.

A deliciously hot little hookup is one thing…but falling in love could ruin both of them—royally.

INDIGO GIRL by Natasha Boyd

A deeply-researched and powerfully-written work of historical fiction, based on the untold story of Eliza Lucas, an extraordinary sixteen-year-old girl in Colonial-era South Carolina, whose actions were before their time: the story of the indigo girl.

In 1739, bright and determined sixteen-year-old Eliza Lucas is charged with keeping her family’s struggling plantations afloat, in her father’s absence. Learning of the high value of indigo, Eliza becomes determined to learn the secret of growing the enigmatic crop, believing it to be her family’s salvation, but everyone tells Eliza growing indigo in the region is impossible. Thwarted at nearly every turn, even by her own family, Eliza finds her only allies in an aging horticulturalist, an older and married gentleman lawyer, and a slave with whom she strikes a dangerous deal: teach her the intricate thousand-year-old secret process of making indigo dye and in return—against the laws of the day—she will teach the slaves to read. So develops an incredible story of romance, intrigue, hidden friendships, threats, ambition, betrayal, and sacrifice, based on historical documents and Eliza Lucas’ own letters.

HELLO AGAIN by Brenda Novak

From NYT bestseller Brenda Novak comes the next installment of Dr. Evelyn Talbot and her murderous home for psychopaths in Hello Again.

SHE CAN MAKE SENSE OF A COMPLEX CRIMINAL MIND.
Evelyn Talbot, a psychiatrist at a maximum-security prison in Alaska, studies some of the world’s worst serial killers. But she’s about to meet her most elusive patient at Hanover House yet: Dr. Lyman Bishop, AKA the Zombie Maker given his fondness for performing ice-pick lobotomies on his victims. A brilliant cancer researcher, Bishop is either the most cunning psychopath Evelyn has ever encountered—or he is wrongly convicted.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A CRIMINAL CAN SEE INTO HER OWN?
When a new ice-pick fatality occurs, it seems Bishop really was wrongly convicted. Except…Evelyn has a personal connection to the victim and that suggests the killer may be someone from her own past: Jasper Moore, her high school boyfriend who tortured her and left her for dead when she was only sixteen. Jasper also murdered three of her friends—and was never caught. Is he trying to send a message with this copycat crime? The only thing Evelyn knows for sure is that if Jasper ison her trail, she might not be able to escape again…

RELEASING OCTOBER 5

FAIRYTALE KISSES by Kim Bailey

A hopeless romantic.
A disheartened cynic.
An unforgettable kiss.

Caleb Anderson believes in fairy tales. At least, he wants to.
Despite battling cancer, defeating death, and an overprotective family, he believes in promises of forever, enchanted encounters, and love at first sight. He knows his perfect girl is out there …
If only he could find her.

Zadie Fisher doesn’t believe in love. At least, she doesn’t want to.
Despite undeniable attraction, second chances, and resurrected hope, she doesn’t believe in soulmates, true love, or happily ever after. Not anymore. She knows falling in love is a mistake …
If only she could avoid it.

But fate has a funny way of twisting things, and some mistakes are destined to be made.

Most fairy tales start with Once Upon A Time …
This one starts with a kiss.

RELEASING OCTOBER 6

GUN SHY by Lili Saint Germain

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GIRL?

In the middle of a fierce snowstorm in Gun Creek, Nevada, a teenage girl disappears without a trace.

The second girl in nine years.

Identical cases. Identical conditions. Only last time, the girl was found. Dead, stuffed in a well beside the creek that feeds the town’s water supply.

The killer was never found.

As the small town mobilizes and searches for newly vanished Jennifer Thomas, one suspect comes to the fore. But did he do it? Or is there something else at play? Something nobody could have anticipated?

For Jennifer’s friend Cassie Carlino, the worst is yet to come. As she pins MISSING posters to store windows and joins the search, she begins to suspect that Jennifer’s disappearance might be closer to her than she could have ever imagined…

In Gun Shy, USA Today Bestseller Lili St. Germain weaves her unique brand of darkness and grit into a much-anticipated psychological thriller that early readers are calling her best work yet. Evocative, atmospheric and gripping, this book will stay with you long after you’re finished reading.

Leave a Comment · Filed Under: Upcoming Releases · Tagged With: New Release, upcoming releases

Blog Tour: Excerpt & Geri’s Review of Chasing Christmas Eve by Jill Shalvis

September 30, 2017 by Geri ·

CHASING CHRISTMAS EVE
Series: Heartbreaker Bay #4
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: Jill Shalvis
Release Date: September 26, 2017

Meet cute…

Run for the hills—temporarily. That’s Colbie Albright’s plan when she flees New York for San Francisco. Wrangling her crazy family by day and writing a bestselling YA fantasy series by night has taken its toll. In short, Colbie’s so over it that she’s under it. She’s also under the waters of a historic San Francisco fountain within an hour of arrival. Fortunately, the guy who fishes Colbie out has her looking forward to Christmas among strangers. But she’s pretty sure Spencer Baldwin won’t be a stranger for long.

Make merry…

Spence’s commitment to hiding from the Ghosts of Relationships Past means he doesn’t have to worry about the powerful—okay, crazy hot chemistry—he’s got with Colbie. Just because she can laugh at anything, especially herself… just because she’s gorgeous and a great listener just because she gets Spence immediately doesn’t mean he won’t be able to let Colbie go. Does it?

…and hope for a miracle.

Now the clock’s ticking for Colbie and Spence: Two weeks to cut loose. Two weeks to fall hard. Two weeks to figure out how to make this Christmas last a lifetime.

At the unexpected sight of Spence, Colbie startled hard. How was it that he was the one who needed glasses and yet she’d not seen him standing against the window? “No, I don’t kill a lot of people,” she said cautiously because she was wearing only a towelin front of a strange man. “But I’m happy to make an exception.”

He laughed, a rough rumble that was more than a little contagious but she controlled herself because, hello, she was once again dripping wet before the man who seemed to make her knees forget to hold her up.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said and pushed off the wall to come close.

She froze, but he held up his hands like, I come in peace, and crouched at her feet to scoop up the clothes she hadn’t realized she’d dropped.

Leggings, a long forgiving tee, and the peach silk bra-and-panty set that hadn’t gotten so much as a blink from the TSA guy.

But it got one out of Spence. He also swallowed hard as she snatched them back from him.

“Hold on,” he said and caught her arm, pulling it toward him to look at her bleeding elbow.

“Sit,” he said and gently pushed her down to a weight bench. He vanished into the bathroom and came back out with a first aid kit.

It took him less than two minutes to clean and bandage the scrape. Then, easily balanced at her side on the balls of his feet, he did the same for both her knees, which she hadn’t noticed were also scraped up.

“You must’ve hit the brick coping as you fell in the fountain,” he said and let his thumb slide over the skin just above one bandaged knee.

She shivered, and not from the cold either. “Not going to kiss it better?” she heard herself ask before biting her tongue for running away with her good sense.

She’d raised her younger twin brothers. Scrappy, roughhouse wild animals, the both of them, so there’d been plenty of injuries she’d kissed over the years.

But no one had ever kissed hers. Not surprising, since most of her injuries tended to be on the inside, where they didn’t show. Still, she was horrified she’d said anything at all. “I didn’t mean—”

She broke off, frozen like a deer in the headlights as Spence slowly lowered his head, brushing his lips over the Band-Aid on her elbow, then her knees. When he lifted his head, he pushed his glasses higher on his nose, those whiskey eyes warm and amused behind his lenses. “Better?”

Shockingly better. Since she didn’t quite trust her voice at the moment, she gave a jerky nod and took her clothes back into the bathroom. She shut the door and then leaned against it, letting out a slow, deliberate breath. Holy cow, she was out of her league. He was somehow both cute and hot, and those glasses . . .

What happens when an author suffering from writer’s block and an inventor who can’t finish his latest project meet and fall in love despite their protestations? Well, you get Chasing Christmas Eve.

She’d offered him her friendship. Her body. And he’d taken both. He wanted to keep them both. And he also wanted more, so much more. He wanted her heart, like she had his.”

I adored this book.

Once again, Jill Shalvis takes us through whimsical San Francisco to tell the story between Colbie and Spence. Colbie is running from her responsibility back home in New York, a looming deadline and a writer’s block she can’t break. Spence, as most readers of the series know, owns the building that’s the centerpiece of the Heartbreaker Bay series.

Anyway, serendipitously, Colbie found herself living in Spence building, temporarily, of course. Spence, like Colbie, has been having a hard time finishing an invention needed to deliver medicine to remote and far-flung areas of the world. He doesn’t need a distraction. And besides, he’s bad at relationships anyway. The last time he tried it, it almost broke him.

Spence found himself drawn to Colbie and she to him and soon enough they both give in to their attraction. Besides, Colbie will go back home on Christmas Eve anyway so this thing between them would be intense but more importantly, it will be temporary.

I’m only here until Christmas Eve. I don’t think we’ve got time for games or to be coy.”

But of course, they found themselves getting more involved with each other, and I, as a reader, enjoyed reading Spence and Colbie fall deeper for each other despite the secrets that they try so hard to keep. There’s something about the way Jill Shalvis writes romance. She writes about characters aren’t perfect but they are ready to fall in love and meet the one even though they think they’re not. Both Colbie and Spence are like that. Despite their accomplishments, they are two people who need each other.

Their chemistry is undeniable. Loved their banter and of course, their sexy times. I also enjoyed how San Francisco was used as a backdrop in the book.

Another enjoyable thing about this book and this series in general are the characters that live in and around the apartment building. It’s like Melrose Place except that the women are actually supportive of each other and there’s a lack of backstabbing and bed-hopping.

With Chasing Christmas Eve, we get to see the characters from the previous series including Archer’s security team. And it’s fun. These characters feel like family now, and I’m looking forward to reading more of it.

Home is wherever you are.”

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental. Look for Jill’s bestselling, award-winning books wherever romances are sold and visit her website, www.jillshalvis.com, for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

· Filed Under: Blog Tours, Contemporary Romance ·

Exclusive Excerpt & Giveaway: Of Flame And Fate by @cecyrobson

September 28, 2017 by Lana · Leave a Comment

OF FLAME AND FATE
Series: Weird Girls Flame #2
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Author: Cecy Robson
Release Date: September 26, 2017

Taran Wird, who commands the power to wield fire and lightning, is an oddity in the supernatural world. But neither Taran nor her unique sisters compare to the bizarre entity known as Destiny. And Taran is assigned to protect her.

Born of two witches, Destiny is revered among the supernatural elite for her acute ability to predict the future. Her biggest prophecy involves Taran’s sister, Celia, whom Destiny decreed will bear children strong enough to take on the evil that’s rising. Yet Destiny is not alone in her predictions, or individuality.

When Johnny Fate, a rock star among humans and a male version of Destiny is discovered, his powers and Destiny’s clash, triggering the start of Destiny’s demise and altering the fate of Celia’s unborn children.

Taran, her werewolf lover Gemini, and their allies must determine if it’s Fate who will decide what will become of Celia’s children, or if their lives and the world will perish with Destiny.

Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Kobo

Gemini and his twin growl at the pack of weres gathered in front of us. I pull up the blanket covering me as they scatter. Weres are used to being naked around each other in human form, but I’m not a were, and because of it, they’ve never seen me naked.

Until tonight, cause, don’t I know how to put on a show?

The next set of growls from him and his twin have them all hopping inside their vehicles and cranking the engines. The lights from the cars in front of us cast a gleam against the angles of his face, sharpening the menace plaguing his features.

He’s angry, and he should be. As a non-were different rules apply to me, one of them being they shouldn’t stare at his naked girlfriend.

He powers across the blue slate-lined double driveway, causing the dusting of pine needles covering it to stream past the window. I wait until we clear the wrought iron gates at the entrance to the compound before placing my hand on his thigh. But it’s not until we pass the miles of stone wall surrounding Misha’s property that I speak again.

“That probably looked pretty bad, huh?” I ask.

He clenches his jaw tight, enough to strain the cords along his neck. “Which part? The part where I find you surrounded by vampires pouring champagne over your naked body?”

“Um . . .”

“Or do you mean getting the call that a parasitic demon has infested your leg and is attempting to make your body its nesting ground—then watching it try and claw its way to your heart?”

CECY ROBSON is an author of contemporary romance, young adult adventure, and award-winning urban fantasy. A double RITA® 2016 finalist for Once Pure and Once Kissed, and a published author of more than eighteen titles, you can typically find her on her laptop writing her stories or stumbling blindly in search of caffeine.

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Enter to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card and (3) Digital Copies OF FLAME AND LIGHT from Cecy Robson!

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Leave a Comment · Filed Under: Author Spotlight & interview, Excerpts, Giveaways · Tagged With: excerpt, exclusive

Jennifer’s Review & Excerpt: The Queen by @skye_warren

September 28, 2017 by Lana · Leave a Comment

THE QUEEN
Series: The Masterpiece Duet #2
Genre: Contemporary, Dark Romance
Author: Skye Warren
Release Date: September 19, 2017

THE FINAL BOOK IN THE MASTERPIECE DUET

I have one chance at a new life. A college education. A future outside of Tanglewood’s dark walls. For a breathless moment it seems like I might actually escape.

Then I get a phone call from home.

Damon Scott is my own personal dragon, the fight I’ve always lost, the secret hope of my heart. And he needs my help right now. Only my mind can solve the puzzle of his long-lost sister. Only my presence can keep him sane as the city fights against him.

Only my heart can unlock a man with such a tragic past.

This is my final gamble, with everything at stake. One last game to win a future for both of us.

And a love strong enough to break the city apart.

THE QUEEN is the final novel in the bestselling Masterpiece duet, about a game of lies and loyalty, of betrayal and power, and ascension to the city’s throne.

AMAZON | iBOOKS | B&N | KOBO

“I’m looking for my dad. He works for you.”That earns me a small smile, his lids low. “He does more than work for me. Does he tell you about his day when he calls me? About threatening people for money? About following through?”

Acid burns my throat, because Daddy never mentions that. And I’m not naïve enough to think it hasn’t happened. When I’m in at one of the best colleges in the country, while I live in that dreamworld of numbers and Greek symbols, he’s doing dirty work for a dangerous criminal king.

“So where is he now?”

An indolent shrug of one shoulder. “I haven’t seen him. Though I did hear through the grapevine that he started gambling again.” He makes a tsk sound. “That’s never a good thing. Once debts start to pile up, how can I trust him to be loyal? I can’t.”

My blood runs cold. “Did you do something to him?”

“Let’s be clear, sweetheart. Whatever happened to him, he did it to himself.” The cold silver of his eyes tells me Damon’s conscious would not ache for even one second over my father’s death.

“You asshole,” I hiss, unable to hide my anger any longer.

A man steps forward, someone I’ve never seen before. He’s wearing a suit that’s been undone in most of the ways it can be, rumpled and pushed aside. I barely have time to register his aggression, his instinctive response to my insult. How does a man obtain that kind of blind loyalty?

The man reaches for me, his fingers brushing my wrist.

That’s how close he gets before everything shatters. Damon moves so fast he’s a blur. When he stills, he has the man pressed against the wall, arm twisted at a strange angle.

“No one touches her.” Damon’s voice is quiet but it carries through the crowded hall.

A rustle moves through the crowd, half awareness, half movement. The way they look at me has changes, the hostility faded away, replaced by something else. Maybe deference. Or fear.

I’m under Damon Scott’s protection now.

Penny.

…the limp in my step. The ache in my hands. The weakness in my body.

She is the only one who can take it. Damon is Penny’s hell on earth. He tortures her to no end. It’s more than just a push and pull. Damon unleashes the worst of the worst on Penny, to the point that no one would blame Penny for walking away forever. He lashes her with his words, hurting her over and over again. Why does she stay? It’s more than love. She doesn’t just love him. This story has an EPIC feel. These two are meant to be together. One of my favorite couples.
Damon. Lost. Not sane. He has gone through one of the worst childhoods in the history of ever, being abused physically and mentally in every way. I love that we learn all about Damon in this book. Why he is the way he is. He owns the city, and yet he owns nothing. He uses Penny with no remorse. Of all the men in the world, he really isn’t worthy of her, and that’s not an exaggeration.

The GROVEL!! Oh, the grovel. I didn’t understand why Skye named this book The Queen until the end of this book, and now I get it. That’s all I can say without spoiling. Zipping my lips.

Skye should win an award for her writing of the asshole. Not many authors can pull off a perfect asshole, and she does it flawlessly. Of course, once an asshole, always an asshole, and Skye stays true to that statement. Gabriel or Damon. Damon or Gabriel. I can’t choose!!! They are equally assholely, but the reasons for their actions are soooo different that it’s so hard to compare them. I can’t love one more or less than the other, so I will place them on the same level on my ultimate book boyfriend list.

Assholes aside (*giggles because I’m so mature), Skye is one of my favorite writers ever. I think I say this in every single one of my reviews, but I love her words. Her words evoke more than just feels. They evoke FEELS. Her words make me breathe and stop breathing at the same time.

I love this book so much that I would give my left tit (because that’s the one I don’t like) for an extended epilogue of Damon and Penny. Maybe 5 years later??? Pretty, please, Skye….with a Damon on top?

Skye Warren is the New York Times bestselling author of dangerous romance such as the Endgame trilogy. Her books have been featured in Jezebel, Buzzfeed, USA Today Happily Ever After, Glamour, and Elle Magazine. She makes her home in Texas with her loving family, sweet dogs, and evil cat.

Stay up to date with Skye Warren by signing up for her newsletter:

http://www.skyewarren.com/newsletter/

Leave a Comment · Filed Under: All Reviews, Contemporary Romance, Dark · Tagged With: Book Reviews: 5 stars, Jennifer Reviews, Skye Warren

DGRFave Review, Character Interview & Excerpt: ACT YOUR AGE by @Eve_Dangerfield

September 27, 2017 by Lana · 1 Comment

ACT YOUR AGE
Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance
Author: Eve Dangerfield
Release Date: September 27, 2017

Just because Kate ‘Middleton’ McGrath, wants a man to call ‘daddy’ in bed doesn’t mean—
Oh, you stopped reading. Cool.

Kate gets it. Kinks aren’t for everyone. Hell, they’re probably not for Mr. Henderson, her grumpaholic boss. She really shouldn’t have crush on him, but the man is just so goddamn stern. Sure, a lot of that comes down to ‘being her boss,’ but still, it feels like there might be something there.

Tyler Henderson is a golden boy who’s lost his shine. He’s old, his dream career is over, his fiancée’s left him. Now all the former firefighter can do is to try and bury his troubles in paperwork and hard liquor. He says ‘try’ because he can’t get Middleton out of his head long enough to wallow properly. He’s not going anywhere near the girl. HR issues aside, he’s done with sweetness and things don’t come sweeter than a cupcake-baking engineer who knits her own hats.

A case of mistaken identity causes Kate and Ty’s attraction to give way to blistering sex. They have more in common—and more to lose—than either of them realized. When it comes to unreasonable attraction you can rarely change your mind but can you act your age?

Amazon | Kobo

There was less than five minutes until she was due to see Ty. Needing something to do with her hands, she pulled out the folded piece of paper she intended to give him.It was a bit high school, but she’d decided a note was the best way to proposition him. She would walk into Ty’s office, say hello, place the note on his desk and then leave. She would not linger saying things like ‘obsessed with you,’ ‘can’t stop thinking about you,’ and ‘would literally stab someone in a non-essential organ to hook up with you again, Mr Henderson. Please have sex with me, or I will die.’

The note was short, sweet and to the point; I know you told me to forget what happened in your hotel room, but I can’t. I want more. If you’re interested, look up my profile on Kinkworld. My user name is @LolaJones.

She felt silly even writing the word ‘Kinkworld’ to Ty, much less directing him to her profile, but it would explain everything so much better than she could. The alarm she’d set on her phone began to chime, soft bells increasing in volume. Kate turned it off and tucked her note into a tiny side pocket on her skirt. There it was perfectly positioned so she could pull it out and hand it smoothly to Ty, like a flight attendant giving a passenger a microwaved omelet.

“Now or never,” she told herself. “It’s now or never.”

Kate knew exactly how many strides it took to get to Ty’s office—two hundred and nine—but today there seemed to be half that. A quarter of that. She was near him in record time, hearing strains of what she knew was blues music came through his open doorway. Ty loved the blues. It was one of the many arbitrary, stalkerish things she knew about him. She felt the sickening lurch of dizziness and slapped herself as quietly as she could. Her vision immediately sharpened. Kate straightened her lace headband and forced her legs to carry her into Ty’s office. For a panicky moment she wondered why he wasn’t there, then realised he was hidden by his huge computer monitor. The top of his blond head was visible, so was a big hand drumming the top of his cordless mouse. He gave no indication he’d heard her come in.

Kate opened her mouth then closed it, her heart fluttering against her ribs like a panicky hummingbird.

I can’t do this, she thought and took a huge step backward.

“Middleton,” Ty’s computer said. “What are you doing?”

He didn’t sound angry, just mildly inconvenienced, as though she were a door-to-door salesperson trying to sell him cleaning products. Kate swallowed. “I just…”

Her voice was a thing of ridicule, so girly and crackly it was embarrassing. She swallowed again, trying to wet her throat and sound more like a grown up and less like a Disney mouse. “I wanted to ask you something?”

“And that is?”

“I was wondering…I was thinking…”

“Yes?”

She let out a soft wheezy breath. Maria hadn’t prepared her for this. Nothing had prepared her for this. The top of Ty’s head was more intimidating than a gang of youths loitering around a train station at night. She couldn’t just hand him a folded up note like they were in primary school. Why had she ever thought that was a good idea? As of now, her mission was over. She stared around Ty’s office for something she could talk about instead. Desks? Lamps? A big swirly painting by some abstract artist Ty had probably had sex with? Then her gaze fell on the only thing in the room more disturbing than a sex-painting, a fancy crystal tumbler full of brown liquid. Jackpot. “I just wanted to say, you shouldn’t be drinking at work. It’s really unprofessional.”

That got Ty to move out from behind his monitor. “What?”

Dear lord what was wrong with her?

“Erm, nothing,” Kate stammered. “Except…except you’re not supposed to drink at work. It’s a violation of our HR policy, you know, like why we can’t have beer at the Friday barbecue?”

Ty stared at her as though he’d never seen something quite so ridiculous in all his life and now that he had he needed time to process it. Despite her terror, Kate couldn’t help noticing he’d had a haircut. The shorter style brought out the hard planes of his face to perfection and emphasised his eyes. For someone who could glare better than Clint Eastwood, they were a surprisingly warm shade of blue, like a favourite pair of jeans, faded and so comfy she could sleep in them.

“You came here,” he said slowly. “To tell me off about drinking at work?”

“Erm, yeah,” Kate said, figuring it was too late to back down now.

“I see.” Ty raised his tumbler to his mouth and took a slow, deliberate swig.

That’s just mean, Kate thought. “Okay, now that we’ve talked I should probably head home. See you tomorrow!”

Ty bared his teeth in something that definitely wasn’t a smile. “Before you go, Middleton, I want you to tell me something.”

“Yes?” she asked nervously.

“If you’re so concerned with workplace practices, why is it every time I turn around, I’m looking at you bent over in a skirt so tight you couldn’t slide a piece of paper between the fabric and your ass?”

Kate’s legs got that watery I’m-going-to-collapse-underneath-you feeling. God, what was happening? She was supposed to slink in, drop the note on Ty’s desk and slink away, leaving him with nothing but a great view of her butt and the uncontrollable urge to check out her Kinkworld profile. How in the hell had it come to this? “I don’t…this isn’t about me doing that to you. Not that I’m doing that to you, I’m not doing anything to you. Or anyone.”

Ty sighed, picked up his tumbler and drained the whole thing before putting it down with a clunk. “Shut my door.”

Kate stared at him. “Do you mean…with me on the other side of it?”

Another, even more cumbersome, sigh. “I mean, shut that door so that you and I are alone in the same fucking room and hurry up about it because I’m getting impatient.”

Without thinking, Kate turned and shut the door. The latch clicked neatly into place, sealing her in a confined area with Tyler Henderson.

“Middleton.” His voice was rough and smooth, smoke and raw honey. “Walk your ass over here.”

Kate’s body prickled all over and again she obeyed his words before her brain could even process them, taking small, neat steps towards him the way she had when she was the flower girl at her sister’s wedding. The air between her and Ty seemed to surge with an energy that grew stronger with each forward pace. Music poured from his computer, mingling with the electric air, a woman with a throaty voice singing about the devil in a way that felt both prophetic and highly appropriate.

“So…” Tyler Henderson said, tugging his black silk tie so that the knot loosened around his neck. “Here we are again.”

“And that’s…where, exactly?”

“You know exactly where. Look at me.”

She looked at him, or rather his chin, which was as far up as her line of vision could go.

“You came waltzing in here to ask me to turn you out,” Ty said quietly. “The least you can do is look me in the eyes.”

Kate inhaled, and with all her remaining strength, managed to meet his gaze.

Ty’s irises weren’t the colour of lived-in denim anymore, they were the bright blue of an electrical fire. As their eyes locked she felt a surge arc through her body, excitement so all-encompassing she could barely breathe. He was giving her a look no boss would give their employee unless they wanted a one-way ticket to sexual-harrassmentville. It said she’d been a bad girl and he wanted to punish her for it. Kate’s nipples went stiff against her bra, dampness saturated the cotton between her legs. Ever since Bendigo she hadn’t been able to get herself off and yet now, without Ty doing or saying anything, Kate knew she could have shoved her hands into her panties and been there inside a couple of strokes. It was black magic. Evil magic. “W-What now?” she asked.

“Now, we discuss why you’re here.” Ty reached beneath his desk and pulled out a bottle with red wax around the rim. He filled his tumbler slowly, as though he had all the time in the world. The thin trickle of liquid sounded as loud as a waterfall. A white spot burst in front of her eyes and if she could have gotten away with slapping herself, she would have.

Ty took a swig of what she assumed was whiskey, wincing slightly, as though it was a strong but necessary medicine. “So,” he said again. “I tell you it’s a bad idea for us to fuck each other and you decide a good way to respect that decision would be to wear fuck-me clothes to work and show me your ass at every given opportunity. Walk me through that reasoning, Middleton.”

Kate said nothing. Heat was prickled all over her, as though her blood was trying to force its way through her skin like sweat.

“Gone shy, have you?” Ty asked. “Weren’t so shy when you bent over the printer without any panties on.”

And she’d been silly enough to wonder if he’d noticed. She licked her upper lip. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh yeah?” Ty put his hands behind his head and reclined in his chair. “I don’t believe you. I think you enjoyed getting me all cranked up, knowing I couldn’t do anything about it.”

Kate could barely believe her ears. He’d given no indication, none, that he’d so much as noticed her new wardrobe, let alone that it had gotten him hot and bothered. “I promise I wasn’t—”

“Don’t play dumb.”

Kate remembered they were alone, that the entire floor—maybe the whole building—was empty. Her heartbeat thumped inside her ears. “I’m not playing dumb, I don’t know what you mean.”

“So you didn’t come here tonight to ask me to screw you? And you haven’t been wearing sexy clothes to work because you want me to change my mind about the two of us and plant my dick between your legs?”

Kate opened her mouth, then closed it again.

Ty gave another world-weary sigh. “What am I gonna do with you, girl?”

The words were uttered in the same dark tone men spoke in Kate’s mind when they announced she was going to be spanked. She extended a foot backward.

“Don’t move,” Ty said calmly and she froze. “I—”

“Don’t speak either.”

She pulled her lower lip into her mouth, everything inside her was suddenly very still.

Ty tossed back his drink, reached under his desk for the bottle and refilled his tumbler. Dimly, Kate tried to memorise the shape, the colours on the label. She didn’t like any hard liquor but rum, but she’d go to Dan Murphy’s and buy a bottle just to taste the way he tasted right now.

Ty took another swallow from his tumbler and swiped a hand over his mouth. “You came here tonight looking to get your little off-limits pussy played with, is that right?”

“No, I—”

“Don’t lie.” Ty’s blue eyes were hard as stone. “Don’t lie to me and don’t try and explain what I already know. Just answer the question.”

Kate licked her lips again. She’d done this so many times in the past hour, they were starting to grow puffy. The lips between her legs felt exactly the same way only wetter. Her fear of disobeying him was melding into the excitement of knowing this was all in his hands, that he could use her as he wished, command her to do anything he wanted.

“Yes,” she heard herself say. “I came here for that.”

“I know.” Ty tapped the rim of his tumbler in time with the music, clink, clink, clink. He was looking through her into nothingness, weighing something up in his mind. Kate wanted to argue her case but she just stood there, still and silent. Waiting.

Ty ran a hand through his hair, the gold strands falling like waves of wheat. “When you decided to experiment with clothes that get my dick hard, you know what you did, Middleton?”

Kate shook her head.

“You went from being the office sweetheart to the girl everyone pictures getting dressed in the morning. If I broke up one conversation about your legs, I did it a million times.”

Kate inhaled. Surely that wasn’t right? Not only had she not caught anyone perving but you’d think that response would have inspired some of the guys to be nice to her, not act like she was carrying blood-borne pathogens.

“Wasn’t enjoyable,” Ty said, unaware of her confusion. “Wasn’t fun watching every other fucker in this office pant after you. I didn’t appreciate it one bit. Don’t appreciate much of anything you’ve done since I told you you weren’t getting my cock. So here’s what I’m thinking…”

He rapped a knuckle on the desk, the sound sharp as a starter’s pistol. “Take off that ridiculous skirt, lie your ass across my lap and we’ll see what I can teach you about obeying orders.”

DGR: Welcome Ty! I’m super thrilled to have you at DGR today. And you even brought Kate along…

Hey, thanks for having us. Happy to be here.

DGR: So let’s start simple. Coffee or tea?

Ty: Either or. Melbourne is coffee snob central though so I’ll go with coffee so my barista doesn’t stab me.

Kate: I have a lot of romantic associations with coffee. I actually started drinking coffee so I had an excuse to ask Ty if he wanted a coffee at the office.

Ty: that’s adorable Middleton.
Kate: Thanks, I’m pretty embarrassed about that’s to be honest.

DGR: What are your hobbies? What do you do when you’re not working?

*Ty and Kate look at one another*

Ty: uh…personal stuff.

Kate: yeah when we’re not working we’re usually…together. Although if we’re not doing that I like knitting. I’m knitting Ty a jumper right now.

Ty: that’s also pretty fucking adorable, Middleton.

DGR: Let’s talk about relationships. What are your thoughts on commitment and forever?

Kate: I’m a pretty committed person, I’ve had the same bonsai tree for ages now.

Ty: I think they’re talking about our relationship, Middleton.

Kate: ohhh

Ty: my thoughts on commitment and forever are varied, but in terms of our relationship I’m committed to spending as much of forever together with Katie as possible.

DGR: Ty, how would you describe your perfect woman?

Ty: she’s sitting next to me.

DGR: Kate? Same question to you.

My perfect woman would be if Beyoncé and Shirley from Garbage had a baby.

DGR: we mean your perfect man.

Kate: oh, right, sure. Well my perfect man is pretty much Ty. I mean, he is kind of grouchy but that’s part of his charm. He’s also pretty ripped.

Ty: Babe…

Kate: Well you are. Really, I think that when you fall in love with someone it’s even more amazing because they have all these traits and habits you never expected. They’re all the more perfect for surprising you if that makes any sense?

DGR: What’s your perfect kind of sex? Kinky? Vanilla? Dirty? C’mon, share with us dirty girls. *wiggles brows*

Ty: Middleton, I’m gonna let you take this one.

Kate: My perfect kind of sex is the kind that leaves me shaking and covered in sweat and bruises and like I said, Ty really is my perfect man…

DGR: So Ty, you keep glaring over at Kate over there. Anything going on between you two, or is that your usual look?

Ty: Christ, people keep saying I’m grumpy, but have you met people? Are you really all that surprised?

Kate: Yeah, Ty doesn’t really suffer fools, but he’s a sweetheart underneath all the scowls. Just like his friend Georgie always says ‘Tyler, you act all tough but deep down you’re a big pu—”

Ty: That’s enough Katie or you and I are going to go and have a little ‘talk’ in the stairwell after this interview.

DGR: If you had to describe yourself in 5 words or less, what would they be?

Kate: peppy, nice, smart, big-eyed and happy.

Ty: succinct.

DGR: What do you feel is your strongest personal asset?

Ty: I work hard and stand by what I believe in.

Kate: I can forgive people whole-heartedly because I know we all make mistakes and deep down we just want to be happy.

Ty: That is a good asset of yours Middleton.

Kate: thanks.

DGR: What do you think is your biggest flaw?

Ty: Overthinking shit.

Kate: Not speaking up when I should

DGR: What do you think others think of you?

Ty: as an Australian male I am culturally-bound to say I don’t give a shit what anyone thinks of me.

Kate: I used to care what people think of me and my relationship with Ty and our um, personal interests, but I’ve become a lot more comfortable in my own skin lately. I hope people think I’m nice, because I try to be nice, but you can never control what other people think of you so it’s not really worth wondering.

DGR: What is one thing you want most out of life?

Ty: to grow old, or older, with Middleton at my side and know that I’m making her happy.
Kate: *blushes furiously* the same thing, except that I’d also really like to see the Grand Canyon.

Ty: We’re going to America next year babe. We’ll get you there.

DGR: Anything you’d like to tell us before we wrap things up?

Kate: We hope people like reading our book and that they enjoy hearing about the more um, personal aspects of our relationship. They’re missing out though, Ty’s penis is even better than it sounds—

Ty: Middleton, stairwell. Now.

You’re a Catholic, aren’t you?” Ty asked…
She nodded and he put his mouth right beside the pretty pink shell of her ear. “If I fuck you, you’ll think all your prayers have been answered. I’ll make you see god, Middleton. I’ll make you think I am god.”

Confession time: I hate the daddy thing in books. HATE IT. It’s ruined way too many books for me. I avoid it like a bad case of the clap. As in, I don’t touch it with a ten foot pole or a stranger’s vagina. No go. No way. No how…. Unless Eve Dangerfield writes it. Know why? Because this author has a knack for giving me some of the most unique, quirky, unconventional characters and making me fall head over ovaries!

I loved this book. I adored every word. I laughed myself silly and avoided reading it public. It was FUCKING AWESOME! Full gushing review to come. But for now, all you need to know is that you NEED this on your TBRs. And if you’re a daddy avoider like me, Ty will make you a believer. Though Eve is still the only exception I have for the daddy thing, because…reasons.

Every time he saw her face, with its upturned nose and lightly freckled cheeks, he wanted to do terrible fucking things to it. Up close he was powerless against thoughts of tearing her out of her high-necked, knee-length clothes and keeping her naked in his bed for a week. Transform her from a good girl into a writhing animal who lived to pleasure his dick. This was why he never fucking talked to her.

This book was magic. Flawlessly written, make you squirm uncomfortably and laugh out loud magic. Eve Dangerfield is a phenomenal author. She has this signature quirky and endearing quality to her writing that makes the story not only unique but fun. She writes completely unconventional characters that I really don’t think any other author but her can pull off. And boy does she pull it off!

What made this book with this particular kink as good as it was, was the incredible characterization. Both Ty and Kate are multi-layered and so well developed, that you completely understand why they crave what they do.

Ty wasn’t religious, but his desire to play daddy from such a young age made him wonder if reincarnation wasn’t real. It felt like he’d inherited another man’s tastes. As though some higher power had said ‘Daddy is the word, and the word is Daddy and Daddy is the only thing that will turn your crank. Also you have a sadistic streak, enjoy that. Amen.’

Ty was one broody, sexy, dominant 45 year old with a sadistic side that you can’t help but salivate over. And Kate is definitely salivating. She’s been salivating after him since she met him on her first day on the job almost two years ago. And as long as she’s been lusting after him, Ty has been coldly ignoring her.

Her obsession wasn’t even original. Everyone had a crush on Tyler Henderson. Women, gay men, straight men, more perceptive animals. It was like having a crush on a Hemsworth brother—it made you basic as hell.

Kate is endearingly quirky, with daddy issues of a different order and a bad case of ADHD. Now I ask you, how often do you read that? But don’t think this 25 year old is some bubbly ball of fluff. She’s all woman, even if she’s lusting after a man twice her age. She’s a woman that knows what she wants and goes after it. She also has some of the best internal dialogue ever.

Before Kate could psych herself out, she slid down the bed, climbing over his hard thighs so that she was face-to-penis with his penis. It was even more intimidating up close, not to mention stretching the hell out of his expensive-looking briefs. Why would anyone have a cock this big? Like, genetically? Surely it was more of a burden than anything else?
Never mind that. Concentrate on befriending it.

This book was not mindless smut and kinky fuckery. Well, there WAS kinky fuckery and it was most certainly smutty. But it also had a well developed plot and well developed kinks.

Sexually inexperienced as she might be, Kate was and always had been kinkier than a bag of zig-zags. It felt like she’d been born that way, craving things she didn’t understand way before she reached sexual maturity. The dad in Taken had a particular set of skills, she had a particular set of fantasies. Unlike her, they weren’t polite, they weren’t nice, and they didn’t leave when they were asked.

Act Your Age is a book that will take you out of your comfort zone and make you enjoy every kinky second of it. It’s a book that will put a goofy smile on your face and then make your ovaries burn with the fire of a million sexual fires. It was flawlesly written, completely unique, and totally unforgettable. And did I mention RIDICULOUSLY HOT?!

When we play like this, you’ll call me Daddy, understood?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, what?”
She looked down at her hands. “Yes, Daddy.”
“Good, because we’re going to play like this a lot.” Ty pulled her onto his lap, arranging her legs so she was straddling him. “I need pussy like most men need water and your new job is making sure I never get thirsty.”

I’m a forever fan of this author and her books are an auto-buy for me. Act Your Age is the perfect reason why.

Eve Dangerfield has loved romance novels since she first started swiping her grandmother’s paperbacks. Now she writes her own sexy tales about complex women and gorgeous-but-slightly-tortured men. Her work has been described as ‘the defibrillator contemporary romance needs right now,’ and not by herself, or even her mum, but by OTHER PEOPLE. Eve lives in Melbourne with her boy, a bunch of semi-dead plants and a rabbit named Billy. When she’s not writing she can usually be found making a big ol’ mess. Act Your Age is her seventh novel.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

1 Comment · Filed Under: All Reviews, Author Spotlight & interview, Contemporary Romance, Dirty Talkers, Erotic Rom, Excerpts · Tagged With: Book Reviews: 5 stars, character interview, DGR Fave, Eve Dangerfield, excerpt

Review & Excerpt: His Hand Me Down Countess by Sorcha Mowbray

September 26, 2017 by Lana · Leave a Comment

HIS HAND ME DOWN COUNTESS
Series: The Lustful Lords #1
Genre: Historical Romance, Erotic
Author: Sorcha Mowbray
Release Date: September 20, 2017

His brother’s untimely death leaves him with an Earldom and a fiancée. Too bad he wants neither of them…

Theodora Lawton has no need of a husband. As an independent woman, she wants to own property, make investments and be the master of her destiny. Unfortunately, her father signed her life away in a marriage contract to the future Earl of Stonemere. But then the cad upped and died, leaving her fate in the hands of his brother, one of the renowned Lustful Lords.

Achilles Denton, the Earl of Stonemere, is far more prepared to be a soldier than a peer. Deeply scarred by his last tour of duty, he knows he will never be a proper, upstanding pillar of the empire. Balanced on the edge of madness, he finds respite by keeping a tight rein on his life, both in and out of the bedroom. His brother’s death has left him with responsibilities he never wanted and isn’t prepared to handle in the respectable manner expected of a peer.

Further complicating his new life is an unwanted fiancée who comes with his equally unwanted title. Saddled with a hand-me-down countess, he soon discovers the woman is a force unto herself. As he grapples with the burden of his new responsibilities, he discovers someone wants him dead. The question is, can he stay alive long enough to figure out who’s trying to kill him while he tries to tame his headstrong wife?

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London, May 1860Stone heard the butler intone his name and title loudly enough for all of London to hear, let alone the population of the Devonses’ ballroom. Had anyone suggested three years ago he would bear the family title, Earl of Stonemere, never mind be contemplating his future nuptials, he would certainly have laughed. True, he never actually laughed anymore, but he certainly would have found such a claim incredulous.

It was no longer an amusing matter.

Having survived the receiving line, he eased through the crowded ballroom. Every few feet, he stopped to speak with one acquaintance or another. Not so long ago, these same people would have been running for the hills and hiding their daughters. But fate, a fickle mistress to say the least, had other plans.

Moving with a quickness born of desperation, he barely acknowledged the next three men as the heat from the crowd paired with the stench of perfumes and body odor to choke him. After his service in India, crowded entertainments such as a ball had grown difficult to endure. The press of bodies and the loud murmur of conversation punctuated by the occasional shrill laugh smothered him, too similar to the roar of battle and the cries of the dying.

Moving past a swarm of silk skirts, he spotted a dark, hidden alcove, an oasis from the overwhelming onslaught, both real and imagined. If he could shut it down quickly enough, he wouldn’t embarrass himself. If he failed, all of London would learn just how broken he was.

He was an earl. Not a soldier. Never again a soldier.

Once the cool darkness enveloped him, he opened his mouth and drew a breath. His pounding pulse eased as the vise around his chest released and his damp skin dried. After another quarter hour spent tucked away, he believed he could manage the crowd long enough to find his betrothed.

As any good officer would, he had a strategy. Find her, claim his dances, and then await each one either on the balcony or on the dance floor, if required. Even the cardrooms at these soirees bordered on disabling.

He reached for the drapes to his hideaway, but hesitated as two women tittered in the immediate vicinity.

“Why, Gladys, I heard his name announced earlier. I’m certain Matilda invited Stonemere despite all the gossip.”

“I simply cannot imagine what she was thinking,” the one called Gladys said.

“Can’t you? Having one of the Lustful Lords in attendance at your ball? I daresay everyone who is anyone will wish to be able to say they were here. It’s all so deliciously scandalous and yet possible now the unmitigated rake is off the market.” Gladys’s friend sighed with a bit more drama than anyone in their right mind or otherwise would deem necessary.

“Well, one should hope that man can contain himself what with all these poor young virgins parading around. It would serve Matilda right if he debauched each and every one of them while here under her auspices.”

“Oh, do be sensible, Gladys. He could perhaps ruin four or five in one night, but all of them?”

Past ready to find his fiancée and escape his hidey-hole, he stepped out next to the ladies in question, turned to them, and bowed over each of their hands. The shock on their faces far outweighed any notion of good manners on his part. “Why, ladies, you both give me far more credit than I deserve. Even in my heyday of debauchery, I could only service three ladies in a single evening.”

As the two ladies sputtered, he departed their corner. The temptation to turn and wink at the gossipers won out, which caused another round of tittering and sputtering from behind him. Of course, he was well aware of what proper Society called himself and his friends. But the Marquess of Flintshire, Earl of Brougham, Baron Lincolnshire, and Viscount Wolfington—as well as himself—held little regard for polite society. Each of them had learned the hard way that they had no place amongst their peers.

He hadn’t claimed her as truly his, and he did not suspect he ever would in any way that satisfied his sexual hunger. He doubted his pretty wife would appreciate how he wanted to strap her to his bed and demand she acknowledge him as her lord and master in the most primeval of ways.

I love a sexy historical romance, and Sorcha Mowbray has me hooked with book one in her Lustful Lords series. The series title is definitely appropriate, because this book isn’t just hot, it’s SCORCHING.

Aptly dubbed as one of the Lustful Lords, known for their sexual debauchary, Achilles Denton, the Earl of Stonemere is anything but proper.

His brother’s death leaves him forced to take a title he never desired, and wed a woman that would likely be scandalized down to her bones if she ever learned his true nature. Shy and sweet Theodora Lawton was once his brother’s finance and in Stone’s opinion, was a better match for his brother than him. But duty is duty and The House Of Lords made their decision and he has a duty to uphold.

But sweet and soft spoken Theo is not at all what she seems. Beneath the manners and the innocent beauty is a tigress; a woman that has a wild streak as large as her independent one. She knows her new husband isn’t giving her everything that he is, and she’s determined to bring the beast out.

This was a ridiculously sexy romance with a delicious mix of BDSM elements. Stone is controlling, domineering, protective, and if it takes a proper spanking to make his sassy wife see reason, he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty. Theo is not afraid to give as hard as she gets, and let me just tell you, she gets it HARD. Uhem. *dirty grin*

While the sex was super hot, at times it was a bit much and distracted from the story. Though if you like super sexy reads, you definitely won’t be complaining. I’m just pickier than most *sheepish grin*
The suspense part of the story felt a bit on the slow side, but I appreciated the way the author resolved it. She wrote one empowered heroine with Theo and I got to love that.

Sorcha definitely has a new fan in this reader and I can’t wait for more in this series and more of deliciously kinky Lusty Lords (particularly since one hints at an MMF situation). If you like super hot historical romances, this one will definitely hit the spot.

Sorcha Mowbray is a mild mannered office worker by day…okay, so she is actually a mouthy, opinionated, take charge kind of gal who bosses everyone around; but she definitely works in an office. At night she writes romance so hot she sets the sheets on fire! Just ask her slightly singed husband.

She is a longtime lover of historical romance, having grown up reading Johanna Lindsey and Judith McNaught. Then she discovered Thea Devine and Susan Johnson. Holy cow! Heroes and heroines could do THAT? From there, things devolved into trying her hand at writing a little smexy. Needless to say, she liked it and she hopes you do too!

For more information about Sorcha, please visit her website, “Like” Sorcha on Facebook and follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Goodreads. Join Sorcha’s newsletter to be the first to hear about upcoming releases. She’s loves hearing from her readers. Email her directly at sorcha@sorchamowbray.com.

AUTHOR LINKS:

Website: http://sorchamowbray.com

Facebook: https://Facebook.com/sorchamowbray

Twitter: https://Twitter.com/sorchamowbray

Instagram: https://instagram.com/sorchamowbray

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5151174.Sorcha_Mowbray

Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ytV65

Leave a Comment · Filed Under: All Reviews, Historical Romance · Tagged With: Book Reviews: 3.5 stars, excerpt, historical romance, Sorcha Mowbray

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