[Guest Post] A Slow Burning Fire by J. F. Jenkins

A Slow Burning Fire

J. F. Jenkins

Ever since super star, Arial Oakley, could remember, she's been in love with her hunky co-star Bryce Valentine. The only problem: Bryce has been in a relationship with another ac-tress for quite some time. Not wanting to be “the other woman”, Arial never pursued any of her feelings for him despite how well they connected.

When Bryce suddenly becomes single, both of their worlds are flipped upside down. To help him nurse his aching heart, Arial invites him back home to her family farm for some much needed peace and quiet from the paparazzi.

What neither of them expects is to fall in love: with the calm, with the country, with each other. But how much of it is real, and how much of it is a means to escape a broken heart?

Author Guest Blog: Top Five Songs

Home - Phillip Phillips (youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTg1n95--KE). I'm sure a lot of people are sick of this song. When I was writing this story, it was all the rage and on my radio all the time because of my child's obsession with music. It is a good song, and it fit my story perfectly, so I couldn't ignore it every time it came on. It became a staple to the tale.

Me Without You - Ashley Tisdale (youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KHkcYguLxs). This is a song about pure love and loving all parts of a person. It's just so sweet. "When everything falls apart, and it feels like the world is crashing at my feet. You like me the best when I'm a mess, when I'm my own worst enemy. You make me feel beautiful..."

Crazy For This Girl - Evan and Jaron (youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT7VCXX50Xs). Another great song about real love.

Two is Better than One - Boys like Girls ft. Taylor Swift, as covered by Gavin Mikhail (youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8QSctVEN7U). Because I can't not get a Gavin Mikhail reference in. ;) But the song is sweet and fitting and worth a listen.

Drive - Incubus (youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slRNXrn_5vE) This is probably my all time favorite song about self discovery. Can never go wrong with it.

About the Author:

J.F. Jenkins lives in Minneapolis Minnesota with her husband, son, and two cats. She graduated from Bethel University in 2006 with a degree in Media Communication with minors in both writing and film. When she is not busy writing, she spends her free time playing games, reading, and spending time with her family.

[Book Blitz] Don't Make Me Beautiful by Elle Casey

Don't Make Me Beautiful

by Elle Casey

Release Date: 08/12/13

Summary from Goodreads:

A ROMANTIC SUSPENSE NOVEL. No one knew a woman lived there or that she even existed. A monster, living in darkness...

At twenty-six, Nicole doesn't even look human anymore. The beast made sure of that. So she hides. A monster consigned to a life of fear and solitude. This is all she deserves, she is quite sure of that.
And then one day out of the blue, the autographed baseball caught by Brian Jensen at the latest Marlins game enters her prison and manages to turn her world completely upside down.
Temptation comes in the form of pity at first, and then perhaps something more.
Does she dare to believe the things she's told, that this is not the life she was meant to live? That being a monster is not her forever-fate? And will she be willing to risk everything, to reach out and accept the helping hands around her? She knows only too well that hands can hurt. Finding out whether they can also heal is a risky proposition, especially when the beast is still out there. Looking for her.

Excerpt 

Brian walks up to the porch, taking the steps slowly as he looks around. He’s not sure what he’s looking for, but everything seems to be in order.

“What the hell am I doing here?” he whispers to himself. What am I going to say if that guy comes to the door again? I’ll ask him for the bill, that’s it. Tell him I want to pay right away. Be a good neighbor. Brian shakes his head at his ridiculous thoughts. He already told the guy to leave the bill in his box. Showing up again and ringing the bell when the sign on it says not to feels almost like harassment. He looks at the sign again, reading the heavy scrawl.

DO NOT RING BELL. DO NOT KNOCK. WE DON’T TAKE VISITORS.

Brian frowns. He can’t get past the feeling that it’s just a weird thing to do, to put a sign up like that warning people away. It’s like something he would have done as a kid on a clubhouse to keep other kids from discovering his secret hiding place. It’s so ridiculous it almost begs people to discover whatever it is he’s keeping inside.

Brian laughs nervously at himself. Don’t be stupid. You’re a grown man and so is he. This is his house. If you trespass he can shoot your stupid ass.

Brian steps back away from the door, prepared to leave and never come back. But then the sound of his son’s voice and the vision of him standing on their own front porch the night before comes back to him. “She’s not sick, Dad. She’s just really ugly.”

Brian doesn’t want to see a really ugly woman. That’s not what’s motivating him to stand her on this porch and risk pissing off this neighbor. It’s just that … he’s a math guy. Brian has always been strong in math, from the time he was Liam’s age. He uses it every day with his work at restoring furniture, both in the actual hands-on stuff and the figuring he has to do later when he does his billing. Everything always has to add up in his world, and this situation with the monster lady? It wasn’t adding up.

Brian glances over at the cardboard covering the hole. Maybe I’ll just take a look at the damage and make a call to a glass company myself. Then I can go get some cash out of the bank and be ready to pay the guy when he gives me the bill.

Brian takes a few tentative steps down the porch towards the front window. A car comes down the street and he freezes, waiting until it’s a few doors down before continuing. Once in front of the window, he looks around the neighborhood. No one is outside, and he sees no faces in any other windows. These people need an Ethel.

About the Author

New York Times Best-Selling author Elle Casey is an American girl living in southern France with her husband, three children, and several furry creatures. She writes in a variety of genre including YA Fantasy, YA Action/Adventure, New Adult Romance, and Adult Contemporary Romance. She's a little on the wild side, usually busy making people laugh, and always in the mood for adventure. There's not much in this world that she loves more than reader interaction, so feel free to drop her a line.

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[Book Review] Deeper by Blue Ashcroft

Deeper
Blue Ashcroft

Rain Wilson isn’t ever going to love again.

It’s a promise she made the day her boyfriend died in a water park accident, one she still blames herself for. Now she’s a senior lifeguard in a new town with a new pool and she’s just going to keep her head down and everyone safe.

Until a mysterious guy follows her into the waves at the pre-season bonfire and kisses her senseless. It’s just one mistake, and Rain is determined to put it behind her, until the dark haired, blue eyed hottie turns out to be her new co-supervisor Knight Mcallister.

Knight is hot, tatted, and carrying baggage of his own. He’s not happy about having Rain for a co-supervisor, and he’s even less happy about his attraction to her.

But between lifeguard drama, hot underwater kisses, and a growing attraction between them that can’t be stopped, Knight and Rain are being pulled deeper into their pasts, and realizing that sometimes too much broken can make a relationship impossible.

Then again sometimes it’s the broken parts of us that fit together best.

*ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Deeper is an emotional story about two people with past that try to work at a relationship with many problems that come their way. With sad and sweet story, this book could have had more potential but unfortunately didn’t live up to it.

After the death of her boyfriend, Rain Wilson does not want to love again. She does not want to feel the pain and guilt wash over her every day. And when she sees Knight at her new job location, she knows it’s wrong. She is all about the rules but maybe breaking the rules might not be so bad after all. But she doesn’t realize that Knight has a past of his own and even with all the drama that is going on around them, she might be more invested into this than she expected.

Knight is not happy about another supervisor joining him in the summer. This is his pool and he spent too much time working on it. But he sees Rain, he cannot pull his eyes from her and the similarity of his ex girlfriend is unbearable. But she is not Camille, she will not get sexually abused, and she will not die. Not if he can’t stop it and protect her this summer even if she doesn’t want him to.

”I should have known from the moment my eyes found her at the bonfire, and it felt like a part of me was waking up after a long nightmare. And then I followed her into the water, like she was a siren”.

I really had mixed feelings about this book. It was interesting to learn about the lifeguard’s life and how they do things but the whole sexual abuse thing was a little over the top. It was like the whole water park was an attraction for the rapists and families did not go here.

It was…. Just sad. I did not see any twists, no surprising moments and nothing to blow away my mind. I would assume that with such a tragic story line, there would be something that would trigger my feelings but I had no connection with this whatsoever. The writing was beautiful but it didn’t have the spark that would my absolute favorite and memorable.

☆☆

[Spotlight & Giveaway] Finding Obscurity by Emma Shade

Finding Obscurity
Emma Shade

Lily Canton always knew she was unique.

After she loses everything she has ever cared about ten years ago, Lily decides its time to find answers about her past and why she has special powers. But when you can’t control seeing the future, and you hold enough electricity inside you to black out an entire city block, it doesn’t always make life easy. 

She swore she would never care about anyone ever again after that fateful day so long ago. Then she meets sexy club owner, Ashton Ryder. Lily can’t afford to fall for Ashton. Then there is handsome, powerful, Blake Moore, who wants to help her with more than just her powers. She has to learn to trust people and let them into her heart, even as things spiral out of control. 

Not only does she learn Ashton has a secret that will make her question everything she ever thought was real, but Lily finds out that her birth parents are anything but ordinary. Just when Lily thinks she has everything figured out, someone is determined to destroy her – because she isn’t supposed to be alive.

About the Author

Emma lives in Indiana with her husband and three crazy cats. When she’s not busy writing her next novel, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, listening to music, taking naps, or curled up with a good book.

Connect with Emma: 

| Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter |

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[Book Spotlight] Epiphany by Christina Jean Michaels

Epiphany
Christina Jean Michaels

“I had my first psychic dream when I was nine. Psychic implied power, and powerful wasn’t a word I’d use to describe myself. I couldn’t foretell the future or conjure visions at will, but I couldn’t think of a more fitting word to describe what I sometimes saw in my dreams.” 

For 23-year-old Mackenzie Hill, tossing her life down the garbage disposal is easy after a painful incident shatters her life. Her heart is bleeding, and moving to Watcher’s Point is a chance to start anew, only she isn’t prepared for the guy who walks out of her dreams and into the flesh. Literally . . . because she’s been dreaming about this sexy stranger for years. Mackenzie is even less prepared to face the dark nature of her dreams. They’ve turned disturbingly gruesome, full of blood and murder, and when they begin to coincide with the media’s headlines, she and Aidan realize her visions might be the key to stopping a madman from killing again.

Only Aidan has painful secrets of his own, and perhaps the biggest danger of all is falling for him.

Excerpt

“Holy shit . . .” Aidan slammed on the brakes and lunged for his gun.

“What are you gonna do?” I cried.

“Whatever I have to. Call McFayden.”

I pulled my cell out and dropped it twice before punching in the number. The van jerked into motion, and Aidan angled the car in a way that blocked the exit. The van sped toward us anyway, showing no signs of slowing.

“He’s gonna hit us, Aidan!” I screamed just as McFayden’s voice came over the line.

Aidan swerved to the side at the last second. “Damn!” He locked his jaw and began to wheel around, preparing to give chase.

“Wait!” Ignoring the sheriff’s frantic questions, I grabbed Aidan’s arm. “Look!” I said, pointing to a tree at the end of the drive. Its contorted branches reached over the rocky incline. The branches weren’t the only things suspended above the sea. A woman dangled from a limb, her naked body unmoving.

He cursed, and sending one last glance at the van’s taillights, stomped on the gas pedal. We jerked to a stop, his front fender almost smashing into the tree. “Use this if he comes back.” He pushed the gun into my hand, and I dropped it, startled by the heavy feel of metal in my palm. “And stay in the car!” He was out and running toward the woman before I could utter a word.

Like hell I was staying in the car.

About the Author

Christina Jean Michaels was born in Paradise, California, but she has found the true home of her heart in Eugene, Oregon where she finds plenty of inspiration for storytelling.

When she was young, her mother said she hated words. Now she can't imagine not writing. She became an avid reader when she was thirteen and discovered the world of Sweet Valley High. About a year later she realized she could play God and write about her own characters. She has been writing in some form ever since.

She lives with her husband and their four children—three rambunctious UFC/wrestling-loving boys and one girl who steals everyone’s attention.

LINKS:

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[Book Review] Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Walking Disaster
Jamie McGuire

Finally, the highly anticipated follow-up to the New York Times bestseller Beautiful Disaster. 

Can you love someone too much?

Travis Maddox learned two things from his mother before she died: Love hard. Fight harder.

In Walking Disaster, the life of Travis is full of fast women, underground gambling, and violence. But just when he thinks he is invincible, Abby Abernathy brings him to his knees.

Every story has two sides. In Beautiful Disaster, Abby had her say. Now it’s time to see the story through Travis’s eyes.

HOLY TRAVIS MADDOX!! BE. MY. BOYFRIEND. NOW

I WILL EVEN WASH YOUR BIKE FOR YOU!!!

…Or maybe not.. 

Well this was definitely not what I expected. I have seen more and more authors write a second book with the same exact story but from different POV. Walking Disaster is the same exact story but it is written from Travis’ POV. Which is not bad because he is super hot but I would have liked to see more of their relationship.

“I took a deep breath, and shut the bedroom door behind me. Even though we'd put each other through hell, we'd found heaven. Maybe that was more than a couple of sinners deserved, but I wasn't going to complain.”

Oh Travis… I fell in love with him all over when the book first started but as the story went on, I really didn’t know what to think. I loved the “bad-boy” talk in the beginning but at times he totally sounded whipped which was a little bit of a turn off. And it didn’t help that it was the same story so I pretty much already knew what was going to happen lol

I thought that Abby was really annoying at times. I liked her way better when I could read her thoughts. The way she came off was like a dumb blonde and I just wanted to slap her and bury her alive somewhere far away. But as always, I decided to finish the book and learn to love them lol

“She seemed pissed about something, but I ignored it. She probably just wasn’t a morning person. Although with that logic, she wasn’t really an afternoon or night person, either. Come to think of it, she was kind of a cranky bitch . . . and I liked it.”

MADDOX BROTHERS SERIES IS OUT 2014!!!

☆☆☆☆

[Spotlight + Giveaway] Beauty Bites by Mary Hughes

Beauty Bites
Mary Hughes

Beauty is skin deep…but the beast goes all the way.

When top Minneapolis ad man Ric Holiday is asked to design a campaign for a quaint little town, his first reaction is absolutely not. Meiers Corners is too near Chicago, home of the vampire who turned him as an orphaned boy. 

Then the city sends an angel-faced med student with a body made for sin to plead their case. Synnove Byornsson is the ray of sunshine Ric hasn’t felt since he was human.

Armed with determination and a micro miniskirt, Synnove is prepared to crash Holiday’s penthouse cocktail party—and to dislike him on sight. But Mr. All-Style-No-Substance turns out to have a deadly smile, a barely restrained, feral strength, and piercing blue eyes that look at her—not at her cleavage.

Unfortunately Synnove has competition in the form of a sly temptress with a counterproposal. For the first time in her life, Synnove must cash in her genetic lottery ticket and fire back with some sizzle of her own—or her beloved Meiers Corners could become the new Sin City.

Warning: Contains a doctor with a bod for sin, an ad exec with a chip on his shoulder, sarcasm, sex, and a cabin full of annoying friends. Secrets are revealed. One heart-stopping, horrific moment leads to the ultimate of happily-ever-afters.

Excerpt

It was all fun and games until the gun hit my skull.

Thud. A bright pain cracked in my brain, telling me the mountainous hostage-taker had brought his own weapon to bear.

Almost immediately something heavy plowed into us, spinning me away from the gun. I staggered to a stop.

My sight cleared to Ric, wrestling the mountain.

The big goon seized Ric with one arm, hugging him close like he was going to give him noogies. But the gun in his noogie hand made reality more chilling.

Ric shimmered, and suddenly the mountain was holding a cloud of mist. 

Vampire fighting technique? I cheered before it occurred to me to wonder why Ric hadn’t used it before and why the shadowman helping us hadn’t used it at all.

The edge of Ric’s mist caught a stray beam of sunlight. It instantly combusted—poof. My elation turned to horror.

Ric snapped back into being like a rubber band. His cheek was seared open, exposing red muscle surrounded by blackened, bubbling skin. But he lost no time raising his bound hands, swinging, and whacked the bad guy’s head with fists like a mallet.

The mountain swayed but didn’t go down. Ric spun, once, twice, winding up his whole body behind it, and whacked him again.

Still the guy didn’t go down. My heart tripped double time. The mountain swept his gun toward Ric.

About the Author

I've worked as everything from a cleaning temp to project manager for global clients. Currently I'm an author, musician, and computer consultant. I live in the United States Midwest with a basement full of spare computer parts and several musical instruments including my husband's romantic cello and my flute for playing bird parts in orchestra...ask me to tell you that story sometime :)

Hugs!

Mary

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[Book Spotlight] The Magistrate by Keira Michelle Telford

The Magistrate
Keira Michelle Telford

Poverty is rife in twenty-fourth century London, England. Crime rates are at an all-time high, and living conditions for many are bleak. Capital punishment and public hangings have been reinstated, and Magistrates, in their new role, are tasked with patrolling the streets to enforce arrest warrants and ‘terminate’ any civilians who attempt to evade justice -- which isn’t always a noble pursuit.

The laws are strict, illiberal, and unsympathetic. If you can’t afford to feed and clothe yourself, you’ll be sent to the workhouse. If you fall behind on your rent, you’ll be sent to debtors’ prison. If you’re gay, you’ll be hanged.

For Carmen Wild, the latter becomes a potentially deadly problem when the discovery of a murdered prostitute brings her back into the life of her first love -- the Madam of an East End cathouse -- and the illicit passions between them are swiftly reignited.

About the Author

Keira Michelle Telford is the award winning author of a series of post-apocalyptic, dystopian science fiction books, The SILVER Series, featuring the character Ella ‘Silver’ Cross, and now also The Prisonworld Trilogy – a dystopian lesbian romance. She’s a British ex-pat, now living in British Columbia, Canada with her husband and 10 guinea pigs.

Yes, 10 guinea pigs 

Fun fact: Her pet guinea pigs (all adopted from animal rescue shelters) were the inspiration for the monsters in The SILVER Series, the first one of which, SILVER: Acheron (A River of Pain), was released in November 2011.

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[Book Review] Living Backwards by Tracy Sweeney

Living Backwards
Tracy Sweeney

Twenty-nine-year-old Jillian Cross refuses to believe that a pair of skinny jeans has led to her untimely demise. Life just isn't that cruel. But when an overly-enthusiastic attempt at squeezing herself into them leads her to fall and lose consciousness, she is faced with just that possibility. When she awakens with both a bruised ego and a bump on her head, she's not in her tiny apartment but her childhood bedroom circa 1999-the spring of her senior year in high school. Jillian knows that time travel isn't logical. But then again, neither was her decision to wear skinny jeans. As she attempts to navigate her way through the halls of Reynolds High, walking the same path and making the same choices she made years before, she knows that any change she makes can have a catastrophic effect on her future. But when she strikes up an unexpected friendship with motorcycle-riding, cigarette-smoking Luke Chambers, can she pretend to be the same shy girl she once was? At least she has her pink sparkly flask to take the edge off. One little change won't hurt, right?

Living Backwards is an amazing story about Jillian Cross and she blames everything on skinny jeans. If she wouldn't have tried to put them on, she would not traveled into the past and had to re-live her childhood. But things might not be so bad after she realizes that this might be her chance to fix everything that she has done and move on.

Not bad, not bad. I enjoyed reading about Jillian's adventures and it was hilarious!  I loved the author's writing and the atmosphere that she has created with these characters. I definitely do not see a lot of interesting books that make me laugh but THUMPS UP!! Great read!

☆☆☆☆

About this author

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Tracy Sweeney graduated with a degree in Management and Finance but prefers writing ridiculous things to crunching ridiculous numbers. She lives north of Boston, Massachusetts with her two young boys. Her short stories have appeared in Literary Juice, Solecisms and Slice of Life Magazines. She is currently working on her second novel which will be equally as ridiculous.

Follow her nonsense on Twitter at @pink_flask.

[Cover Reveal] Slick As Ideas by Chanse Lowell

  Title: Slick As Ides 

 Author: Chanse Lowell

Genre: New Adult Romance

Release Date: September, 2013 

What happens when a germophobe, elusive computer hacking genius has to stop to fuel up her car and it’s stolen right from under her nose by a handsome vagrant? Revenge of course. 

Only he’s no vagrant... 

He’s a computer hacking genius, too, and her competition. Curses along with inhibitions—fly out the window and through the phone when he calls repeatedly to harasses her. Who will win the upper-hand, if there is such a thing, between these two stubborn, obnoxious people?

   

About the Author

Chanse grew up in the desert southwest and still lives there with her husband, children, and pet cactus. She’s addicted to three things: reading erotica, writing erotica and sandwiches with a side of erotica to aid with digestion. She grew up watching programs with science fiction and historical fiction themes, and is determined she can combine her three favorite genres, creating a new breed of novel with scifi, historical and smut sandwiched in the middle.

The last thing she ever thought she’d do was pursue her dream to be a writer since her family tends to keep her busy. When she was introduced to fan fiction, she realized she wanted to see more science fiction and historical fiction to fill in the gap with lots of naughtiness thrown in, of course. Her true passion is creating her own worlds from scratch, letting her imagination go and take her to another place.

She has two novels coming out soon, Sleeves a science fiction erotica and Knots, a contemporary BDSM that shows the softer, tender side of a Dom/sub relationship. Having recently entered the lifestyle and discovering she’s a submissive herself has opened her eyes to how few stories there are exploring the softer side of the lifestyle. She enjoys chatting online with others with similar kinky interests and has advisers in the lifestyle that help make sure her stories remain true and don’t veer off into outer space. Although aliens probably enjoy kink, too, since they like to dress in rubber fetish-wear while traveling. At least that’s her argument for why her new genre she’s created is valid.

 

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