Archive for the ‘Giveaway’ Category

Giveaway, Guest Post

Heather Long’s Passionate Affair with Romance

WhenDangerBites500
 READ TO THE END FOR GIVEAWAY DETAILS

The first book I remember flipping through was a pop-up Greek mythology book. It had these great “statues” of the gods along with simple tales about them—including love affairs. I loved that book. I paged through it until it began to fall apart. This is a pretty typical story. Most kids have other picture books, usually featuring kittens and puppies.  Not me—well, I probably had them, but I don’t remember them.

What I do remember was curling up next to my grandmother (I couldn’t sit on her, because she’d had cancer and was going through treatments) while she read me her Harlequin romances. Yep, at the age of three, she fed me a steady diet of boy meets girl, secret babies, millionaire bosses, Cinderella tales, and more. She really didn’t like picture books, but she did love her Harlequins.

Whenever the scene might get “steamy” she would tell me the characters had to go to bed to take a nap or they had to do their chores. Even after I learned to read, she would take an hour each evening and read aloud to me from these magical tales where everything worked out in the end.

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Giveaway

GIVEAWAY: Opposites Attract in YA by J.C. Welker

TheWishingHeart500
Whether you ship canon characters or non-canon characters one thing will always draw me into a book more than others, and that is the archetypal opposites attract story. What I like to call the “annoyance to love” trope. When two characters seem to be opposites in everything they think and do, only to discover that love unites them in ways beyond those differences and they learn they’re more alike than not.

Though in some cases opposites don’t always attract, but when it does work…there will be sparks and fireworks, and lips touching, and stars forming. In my heart of hearts I will always be a lover of these types of stories and here are three reasons why:

  1. The slow burn

Some of my favorite books and shows have been the ones with a painfully slow burn between two characters from the first meet. It’s that initial attraction, something about them that immediately makes you interested. Having them at odds with each other can make every moment unpredictable. And when they are thrust into a particular situation where they must work together towards a goal a slow spark begins, until eventually…everything is on fire. Think Nina and Matthias from Six Of Crows, or Root and Shaw from Person of Interest.

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Giveaway

Giveaway + First Look: THE BACHELOR AUCTION by Rachel Van Dyken

The Bachelor Auction Rachel Van Dyken

Guys, we relish every opportunity to feel like Oprah, but this is truly a special occasion! We’ve got a quick look at The Bachelor Auction by the amazing Rachel Van Dyken AND a giveaway! Enter for a chance to win below!

Cinderella never had to deal with this crap.

Jane isn’t entirely sure that Cinderella got such a raw deal. Sure, she had a rough start, but didn’t she eventually land a prince and a happily-ever-after? Meanwhile, Jane is busy waiting on her demanding, entitled sisters, running her cleaning business, and…yep, not a prince in sight. Until a party and a broken shoe incident leave Jane wondering if princes—or at least, a certain deliciously hunky billionaire—maybe do exist.

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Aural Pleasures, Giveaway

Aural Pleasures + Giveaway: Kim Redford’s BLAZING HOT COWBOY

Blazing Hot Cowboy Kim Redford

I’ve always enjoyed second chance love stories, so in Blazing Hot Cowboy, I paint a vivid picture of former high school sweethearts Kent Duval and Lauren Sheridan getting back together. But when these two aren’t all over each other, how do they pass the time?

Both enjoy listening to music! What tunes are their favorites?

Kent Duval’s favorite musical playlist includes:

Patsy Cline’s “Crazy”

Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire”

Waylon Jennings’ “Mommas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys”

Leon Russell’s “A Song for You”

Garth Brooks’ “Standing Outside the Fire”

 

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Autumn Thorns Yasmine Galenorn
Giveaway, Guest Post

Katie Ruggle on Kick-Ass Heroines and Sisterhood

Gone Too Deep Katie Ruggle

As I was thinking about a topic for this blog post, I realized something. I talk a lot about heroes. I write a lot about heroes, about what makes a hero, how a hero expresses his love, why I have a little bit of extra adoration in my heart for a certain hero (George of Gone Too Deep).

But why, I asked myself, am I neglecting the heroines? I didn’t in the books. In my Search and Rescue series, I wrote each one almost exclusively from the heroine’s point of view, even when that was difficult (ahem…I’m looking at you, Daisy). The women were able to express their feelings and their motivations and their experiences directly, while readers got to know the heroes through the heroines’ eyes. My female characters also did a fair amount of ass-kicking, saving the heroes just as many times—if not more—than they themselves were saved.

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Exclusive Excerpt, Giveaway

Exclusive Excerpt + GIVEAWAY: AS RICH AS A ROGUE by Jade Lee

As Rich as a Rogue Jade Lee

Read a Romance Month has us seriously reflecting on our book shelves. What is it about a good Regency Romance that we just can’t help going back to time and time again? Is it the high stakes, the drama, the surprisingly endless snark and banter? We can’t pick just one thing, but we do know that books like As Rich as a Rogue by Jade Lee have a magic way of pulling us in entirely! And lucky you, we’ve got an excerpt right here! As Rich as a Rogue is out right now!

Can’t wait to get it? Enter for a chance to win one of two copies below!

Intro from Jade Lee

Lord Whitly and Miss Mari Powel have history. Six years ago he gave her the nickname Wayward Welsh and that has dogged her so much that she can’t find a husband. Now the blighter has returned and is courting her when she can barely keep herself from scratching out his eyes. In this scene, she’s lost a wager to him and has to go riding with him. In true heroine fashion, she uses the time to demand an explanation for his actions.

“Why are you in Society if you have such a great disregard for it?” She spoke impetuously, trampling over his words in her rush to get the question out. He had such power to distract her that she feared losing track of it altogether if she did not say it quickly.

But once spoken, she began to regret her question. It was what she had wanted to know almost from the very beginning. Why was he here? Why did he accost her in Hyde Park that first day? Why did he seek her out at last night’s ball?

But the more the questions crowded in her mind, the more his expression made her doubt her own sanity. Or his. Because far from quietly considering her request, he stared at her in stunned surprise.

In the end, she had to prompt him to speak. “My lord?”

“Truly, Miss Powel, I cannot guess whether I am especially bad at this or if you are being willfully obtuse.”

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Exclusive Excerpt, Giveaway

Exclusive Excerpt: Nacho Figueras Presents: RIDE FREE by Jessica Whitman

Ride Free Nacho Figueras

Do I even need to introduce this book when Nacho Figueras’ face is benevolently smoldering right on the cover? We’ve got a deliciously tantalizing excerpt of Nacho Figueras Presents: Ride Free by Jessica Whitman right here! And if you love polo playing Lotharios, you’re in luck! Ride Free is out today!

When Sunny started crow-hopping, Enzo Rivas didn’t worry. The big mare had always been hot, and it wasn’t out of character for her to occasionally get a little bored and try to test her rider.

But when Sunny started to buck, Enzo knew something was seriously wrong.

The pony threw her head down, kicked out her legs, and whinnied fearfully, almost sending Enzo out of the saddle. He pressed his knees against the saddle, grabbed the reins, and battled to pull her head back up. She fought him, flinging her head down again and heaving her back legs into the air.

For a moment, he thought he was going to be thrown, and his body automatically tensed, preparing to hit the ground, hard.

It wouldn’t have been the first time Enzo lost his seat to an unruly horse. It was part of his job, after all. Nobody trained horses and didn’t occasionally get thrown. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t fight it.

Sunny came back down onto all four legs again, and Enzo, sensing a split second of opportunity, yanked the reins sharply to the right, forcing the pony’s head so far over that her nose touched his knee. She screamed in outrage and spun in a circle, but she was powerless to kick her hind legs from this position.

Enzo kept her in that stance, letting her spin as many times as she wanted, speaking to her softly in Spanish, until he could feel her temper start to ebb and her muscles soften, one by one, under him.

He relaxed the reins and let the pony’s head back up. As they cantered forward, he noticed a large, bald-faced hornet floating away from them.

“Ah. Poor girl,” he said, “you got stung.”

Sunny snorted complacently as if in agreement, then reared up, threw Enzo backward into the grass, and bolted, riderless, down the pitch.

Enzo lay there for a moment, the breath knocked out of him, staring at the cloudless Florida sky. It had not been a bad fall, as falls went, and he knew that once he could breathe again, he’d be fine. But he was also pissed, and he knew it would be better to get his temper under control before he chased down the errant horse. It never helped to be mad when dealing with ponies.

“Rivas?” came a distant voice that made him close his eyes and smile ruefully. Of course she would find him like this.

“Enzo, are you okay?”

She was closer.

He struggled to a sitting position, still a little winded but determined not to be on his back when she reached him.

“I’m fine,” he said, and then almost fell over again, he was so dizzy. Damn that horse. He bent his head to his knees and closed his eyes.

“You don’t look fine. You look like you got knocked on your ass.”

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Giveaway, Guest Post

Guest Post + GIVEAWAY: “Summer, Summer, Summertime!” by Julie Ann Walker

Devil and the Deep Julie Ann Walker

As anyone who lives in Chicago will tell you, winters are a bitch.  We’re talking bundle up, hunker down, and simply endure.  Which is probably why I began writing my Deep Six series, set in the Florida Keys.  It’s a way for me to escape all the ice and snow and wind — even if that escape is only in my mind.  I always tell my husband that, December through March, I could live anywhere but Chicago.

On the flipside, come summertime, there’s nowhere I’d rather be than the City of Broad Shoulders.  And to celebrate summer in Chicago and the release of Devil and the Deep, I’ve compiled a list of my top five favorite things about Chicago in the summer.

  1. The Chicago Cubs! Those lovable losers — although they’re big winners this year. There’s nothing quite like walking onto Wrigley Field, noshing on a traditional Chicago-style ballpark dog, and watching the “boys of summer” play nine innings.

cubs gamefood porn

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Exclusive Excerpt, Giveaway

Exclusive Excerpt + GIVEAWAY: Miranda Liasson’s A MAN OF HONOR

A Man of Honor Miranda Liasson

My Entangled book releasing this week, A Man of Honor, is about a rather tortured military hero who believes his injuries from the war and his across-the-tracks past are more than enough to keep him away from the woman he loves, Cat Kingston.

Cat’s had an unlucky couple of years—a broken engagement, loss of her job, and Preston suddenly ghosting on her just when she thought her luck had finally changed. When she learns a secret he’s kept that indicates his true feelings, she decides to do everything in her power to help him overcome his demons.

This is one of my favorite scenes from the book, as Preston is trying to fix Cat up with another guy, and doing a terrible job of it…

“It’s okay,” she said, ready to dig into her own burger. “We can change the subject.”

He put down his burger and wiped his mouth with his napkin. “I took a bullet for one of my squadron mates. I jumped in instinctively, but I wasn’t quite fast enough to get us both out of the way. It caught me in the leg and shattered my knee.”

“What about your buddy?”

“He and his wife just had a baby girl.”

Her eyes began to tear up suddenly.

He shifted in his seat. “Oh, come on now, don’t cry.”

“I’m not crying.” She swiped at the corners of her eyes.

“I bet you cry at sappy old movies. And weddings.”

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Exclusive Excerpt, Giveaway

Exclusive Excerpt + GIVEAWAY: DUSK by Maureen A. Miller

Dusk Maureen A Miller

As a young girl, Amanda Newton witnessed the brutal murder of her parents. As an adult she is targeted by their murderer.

Beautiful. Reserved. Mysterious. Amanda Newton, the CEO of BLUE-LINK, epitomizes control with her adept handling of the global company. But that control is threatened with a series of attacks against her.

Ray Gordon, a former Navy SEAL is looking to open his own security firm. One more contracting job with BLUE-LINK would complete the funding. When he is hired to protect Amanda Newton, the Ice Queen herself, he never bargained on falling for her.

Amanda has something her attacker wants. He has waited over twenty years to claim it, and he will destroy anyone close to her to get it.

…but he’s met his match in Ray Gordon.

This is a standalone novel. You do not have to read the others in the series.

What is BLUE-LINK?
BLUE-LINK is a fictional global company run by the enigmatic, Amanda Newton, a woman whose signature accessory is a blue diamond ring. The company is designed to assess risk for start-up entrepreneurs in foreign countries. Each book in this series is standalone and features the romance and danger encountered by the employees and associates of BLUE-LINK.

Shadow Mist Dusk Maureen A Miller

Excerpt:

Amanda sat at her office desk with her arms crossed atop the mahogany surface. She glared at the oversized monitor facing her. A grid of six faces stared back, some diffident, some determined. In the upper right-hand corner, Claudia Eichmann from the Berlin office knit her copper eyebrows together as she spoke over the others. Her words were a split-second behind the movement of her lips due to the video conferencing software.

“You are the head of this company. The backbone. The heart. What if something were to happen to you?”

An imperceptible flaring of Amanda’s nostrils might disclose her heavy sigh. “Each of you is fully capable of running BLUE-LINK. You are directors. You are the heart and backbone of your branch. You are my panel of advisors, and I only surround myself with skilled personnel.”

“We appreciate that,” Claudia continued, “but I am sure I speak for the others here in saying that we’re certainly not your equal. None of us would have wanted to take on that Eclipse lawsuit. At the end of the day, it is your company, and you are the one personally vested.”

Several heads bobbed in agreement.

“You need personal security,” Benjamin Forsyth from Australia inserted. “Not a seventy-five year old man.”

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