Wednesday, March 30, 2016

C.J. Pinard - Above Protection - Release Blitz

Title: Above Protection (Imperfect Heroes #1)
Author: C.J. Pinard
Release Date: March 30, 2016
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He's bearded, angry, highly trained, and has a job to do. 
She's the damsel in distress who's smarter than she looks, and doesn't want anyone's help. 
Could it be they both need something neither will admit to? Fate fueled by the laws of attraction may just decide for them. 

DUKE 
I didn’t ask for this. I was just doing my job, and they have the nerve to put me on a Witness Protection detail? This is crap. I’ll do my assignment, then go back to my job and what I love – kicking ass and taking names. I hadn’t spent 6 years in the Marine Corps to be put on babysitting duty once I’d joined the FBI. The witness they assigned me to, Rayanne, is an annoying, brainless blonde with a sassy mouth and a body that belongs on a website you have to pay to access. Not that I noticed or anything. 

RAYANNE 
I can look after myself. I don’t need anyone’s help, and the government is being ridiculous for putting me in the Witness Protection Program. I'll testify against my former bosses and then go back to my life as a single girl in the big city. I love my career as a paralegal, and once this Neanderthal they’d assigned to babysit me is out of my life, I'll go back to it. I just wish he wasn’t so easy on the eyes. The beard, hard body, and that voice. Why couldn’t they have sent me someone ugly – and nice? Because Duke is neither of those things. 

ABOVE PROTECTION is book 1 in the Imperfect Heroes Series.  For readers 18+.

From the corner of my eye, I watched Duke leave the kitchen. After I’d put the meat and sauce into a skillet and stirred it, I added the spices. The water began to boil, so I opened the box and pulled out a handful of stiff spaghetti. I broke it over the sink into thirds, then dumped it into the boiling water, adding a few shakes of salt.

I glanced once again at the doorway to the kitchen and saw Duke was long gone. Biting my lip, I reached up into the cabinet and moved the remaining spices aside. I grinned as my fingers wrapped around the bottle of Jim Beam. Chancing a glance once again at the kitchen entryway, I looked back down at the bottle. I slowly twisted off the metal lid and carefully brought the bottle up to my nose and inhaled – which was quickly followed up by a cough.

Whew, that’s potent stuff! Shouldn’t take more than a shot or two to relax me. This guy, this cabin, this whole entire bizarre situation had me on edge. I just needed a little something to take that edge off.

I searched the cabinets but did not find any shot glasses. I poured a small measure into a beveled green glass that looked like it belonged in the 70s. I stared at the amber liquid for a long time before working up the nerve to take a sip.

A sip! my subconscious teased me. Just shoot it, you wuss.

Lifting my shoulder in a shrug, I tossed back the glass, wincing as the bourbon burned its way down my throat, warming my belly. I slammed the glass on the counter and had to ball up my fist to keep from letting out a whoop at the wonderful burn.

The sizzle of the skillet captured my attention, and I stirred the sauce mixture again, turning down the heat as it was beginning to splatter on the outdated yellow gas cooktop – and me.

The whole damn kitchen was outdated. It looked like my grandmother’s growing up. Yellow and brown linoleum floors, sparkly yellow and silver countertops, mustard-colored appliances. I giggled at the absurdity of this kitchen, hell, this whole cabin, and then hiccupped. Slapping a hand over my mouth, I shook my head at my silliness. Yet, I really wanted another shot of that bourbon.

Just one more.

“Just one more,” I said out loud.

Glancing again toward the kitchen entryway and seeing no Duke, I poured another small amount and quickly shot it back, enjoying the burn.

Smiling, I looked at the boiling noodles, realizing I hadn’t set a timer and now had no idea how long they’d been in the water for. The sauce was most certainly done.

Hiccup.

Cheese! I need cheese. I always make cheesy spaghetti. I get compliments on my cheesy spaghetti!

Opening the fridge door, I stared for a good, long minute, trying to remember why I’d opened the fridge. Then I spotted the bag of already-grated cheese.

“Well, thank the lawrd for pre-grated cheese,” I said, okay I think I slurred, in the most exaggerated Southern accent ever. I already had a slight one, or so I’d been told, but now I just flat-out sounded like my grand-mama from Mobile, Alabama. Bless her heart.

Hiccup.

I set the cheese on the counter and poured more bourbon into the ugly-ass green glass. Was this glass or plastic? I tapped my fingernail against it. Glass. I think. Cool. I grinned.

I slammed the liquid back and quickly placed the glass in the sink. No more. I need to stop.

The water continued to boil. Since I was already practically in her kitchen, I remembered Granny’s advice about spaghetti. So with a shrug, I used the spoon to carefully remove a noodle. I inspected it close up, then, with all my might, I chucked it against the wall behind the stove. It did stick, and I smiled in victory. My pasta was good and cooked.

I turned off the burners to both. As I was about to begin to look for a colander to drain the pasta, a voice made me jump.

“What are you doing?”

Blinking in surprise, I cocked my head to the side and smiled. “Cooking.”

“Why are you throwing pasta?” Duke asked, standing at the entryway to the kitchen looking way too delicious.

“Um?” What was I gonna say? Wait, what was the question?

Fuuuuck it. I’ll just ignore him. I picked up the wooden spoon and stirred the sauce. Wait, what was I doing? I need to drain the pasta. Did this kitchen even have a colander?

I didn’t know, so I just stirred the sauce some more. Suddenly, a warm hand gripped my arm, then spun me around. I was met with stormy blue eyes.

I giggled. “Hi, Cowboy.”

He narrowed those beautiful eyes at me. The dark lashes framing them were just too much. “I asked you a question.”

Furrowing my eyebrows, I said, “What was the question?”

I noticed the wooden spoon was still in my hand and was dripping sauce all over the floor. As if in slow motion, I looked at the drips, then the spoon, and without thinking, I brought it up to my mouth. My tongue snaked out and licked the sauce, from the base to the tip of the spoon while I stared unblinking at Duke, waiting for him to tell me what his question had been.

“Holy fuck,” I heard him whisper, his eyes now fixated on my mouth.

I was suddenly acutely aware of how his hard chest was almost pressed against mine. While one hand still held the spoon, the other reached up. My fingertips grazed his rock-hard pec under his T-shirt. My eyes flicked back up to his.

Before I could register what was happening, his mouth crashed down onto mine, his right arm snaking around my waist and then down to my ass, grabbing it with his strong hands, pushing my body into his.

Wait.

Duke was kissing me. What the hell? He’s not supposed to kiss me! He’s a jerk. I don’t like him. I bit his lip – hard. He pulled himself away from me, his thumb grazing his bottom lip.

“You bit me!” he said, incredulous.

“You kissed me!” I replied, as if I had to remind him.

He stared at me dumbfounded for a few seconds, then said, “You were licking… you were ignoring me when I asked… you were giggling… oh, my God. What the hell is that?”

He reached around me and picked up my bottle of bourbon, holding it up. “Where did you get this, Blondie?”

I shrugged and giggled.

Hiccup.

“My spaghetti’s burning,” was all I said.

Turning my back on him once again I began to rummage through the cabinets for something to drain the pasta in. I grinned as I located a colander and placed it in the sink. Before I could pick up the heavy pot of water and noodles, Duke spun me around and pinned me against the countertop. This time, he pressed his hard body into mine, while shoving the booze bottle into my face.

“Where. Did. You. Get. This?” he asked.

Jerking a thumb behind me at the cabinet in which I was now pressed against, I said with a grin, “In there. You want some?”

It didn’t go unnoticed by me that he was pressing a very hard member of his body against my belly. I kinda liked it though, and began to wonder what he was working with under those jeans.

He sighed and pushed off of me, scrubbing a hand over his beard and storming out of the kitchen with my bottle of contraband in his hand.


I'm a California girl living in land-locked Colorado. Lover of red wine, wearer of fabulous shoes, and a die-hard Niner fan, I'm also an editor at heart. I've written over a dozen books and short stories that contain both contemporary/new adult and paranormal romance that are a little bit badass, a little heart-wrenching, and sorta funny (to me, anyway). Almost all my books usually contain law enforcement or military undertones, since strong, brave, alpha men and women are my weaknesses. When I'm not writing, I can be found working at a very strange day job, which may or may not have some mild influences on my gripping stories - so strange, in fact, I think I'll write a book about it one day. 

I'm also a proud member of the Romance Writers of America (RWA).

Friday, March 18, 2016

Honor Me by Chelle Bliss Cover Reveal

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Honor Me, Men of Inked Book 6, by Chelle Bliss
Cover Photographer by Eric Battershell of Burton & Coco Hughes
Release date May 2016

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Synopsis
I had everything I ever wanted—a wife, a kid, with two more on the way. I was living the American dream. After the babies were born, we hit a rough patch. I did everything to prove my love, to show Suzy that nothing was more important than her. After some work and a lot of time, we found our groove again. Just when life had evened out, a familiar enemy came back to haunt us. It wasn’t my past that followed us, but my brother’s. When the danger gets too close, I’ll do anything to defend my family. There’s nothing more important than the people I love, and I’ll protect what’s mine—even if it costs me my life.

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HAVEN'T READ THE MEN OF INKED? NOW'S YOUR CHANCE TO START FOR ONLY 99 CENTS!



About Chelle Bliss
Bliss

Chelle Bliss, USA Today Bestselling author, currently lives in a small town near the Gulf of Mexico. She's a full-time writer, time-waster extraordinaire, social media addict, and coffee fiend. Currently she's written a dozen books in three different series. She loves spending her free time with her boyfriend, 2 cats, and hamster.
Before becoming a writer, Chelle taught high school history for over ten years. She holds a master's degree in Instructional Technology and a bachelor's in history. Although history is her first love, writing has become her dream job and she can't imagine doing anything else.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Lucky Charms by Louisa Bacio

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After Cornelius’s family is jinxed, he suffers from the unluck of the Irish. Forced to spend every St. Patrick’s Day with green hair—and more—Cornelius must convince Jenna of his love when she’s unable to remember him.
Out for a good time and some green beer, Jenna sustains disbelief of not-so-little green leprechauns when she discovers Cornelius’s really big curse.
** Story originally appeared in Lucky Stars Boxset
Lucky Charms


Available via Amazon. http://authl.it/4vz



gifs website


About the Author: A Southern California native, Louisa Bacio can’t imagine living far away from the ocean. The multi-published author of erotic romance enjoys writing within all realms – from short stories to full-length novels.
Bacio shares her household with a supportive husband, two daughters growing “too fast,” and a multitude pet craziness: Two dogs, five fish tanks, an aviary, hamsters, rabbits, guinea pigs and hermit crabs. In her other life, she teaches college classes in English, journalism and popular culture.

Contact Details:
Website http://www.louisabacio.com 
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/louisabacio 
https://www.facebook.com/Louisabacioauthor/ 
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/louisabacio


Mary Catherine Gebhard | Elastic Heart | Blog Tour

Title: Elastic Heart
Author: Mary Catherine Gebhard
Release Date: Feb 25, 2016
Find on Goodreads
What do you do when the man who raped you has the entire police force in his pocket? When you’re called a slut, a whore, and a liar? You get your own justice.

My name is Nami DeGrace, and six months ago I was a normal college student. I was volunteering on the campaign of a man I believed in, a man I thought to be good and noble. Then one night that man forced himself on me and everything changed.

The media reviled me. The police didn’t believe me. My friends abandoned me. I dropped out of college and only have one mission in life: make him pay. That is, until Nick Law came in to my life.

Indomitable, infuriating, and irresistible, Law is complicating things.

Law gripped the back of my neck and pulled me into him. It wasn’t a kiss—it was a merging. I didn’t just taste the power, I felt the cutting intensity throughout my body. I responded instantly, wrapping my arms around his neck and moaning into his mouth. Law stopped and undid my hands from his neck. I opened my eyes, confused.

“Can’t have you waking everyone up,” Law said, grinning. “Be good and you’ll be rewarded.” I wanted to rebel at that. I nearly slapped him across the face. Yet deep inside, his words made me glow. I dropped my arms to my sides and waited for instructions.

Law traced a finger from my cheek down to my collarbone and carefully brushed aside my cotton shirt. I shivered as my shoulder became exposed. Bending down, he placed a light kiss on the tip of my shoulder. I bit my lip to keep from whimpering.

“Good girl,” Law murmured against my skin. It took all my willpower not to grip Law by his powerful shoulders. I didn’t want him to stop, though, so that meant playing by his rules. I kept my hands next to my sides because that meant Law would continue kissing me.

Law placed a hand on my stomach and I gasped.

“Shh…” Using his other thumb, Law tugged my bottom lip. “You have a beautiful mouth, Dandelion. Don’t let it get us in trouble.” I was speechless, or at least I thought I was. My thoughts got jumbled up with his hands on my mouth and my stomach.

Then he did something amazing.

Something reckless.


He slid his hand from my stomach and beneath my jeans.
Mary Catherine Gebhard bites off more than she can chew and sometimes calls herself Eva Natsumi. She's lived in Salt Lake City, Utah her entire life, but occasionally goes on vacation from reality. Don't worry, she sends postcards.

J.C. Thompson | Hemingway's Hope | Blog Tour

Title: Hemingway’s Hope
Author: J.C. Thompson
Release Date: March 7, 2016
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Hemingway has spent her life trying to earn love she was never going to get. Not capable of earning the love of her mom, she found what she thought was a lifelong love, until it wasn't. When she meets Max, the new drummer in her brothers' band, she just might find that love she has been searching her whole life for.

No stranger to pain and heartache. Max has learned from his past, that when you find someone worthy of your love, you give it all. Losing his mom at a young age showed him how fragile life is. He lives life with as few regrets as possible, and when he wants something he fights with all he has to get it.

Hemingway doesn't stand a chance against the force that is Max's love and devotion, not that she would want to.

Will Hemingway be able to move on from her past and open her heart up to love? Will Max be the one to show her the way? Or will they give up and move on when Hemingway is forced to confront her past head on?

“So what exactly happened between you two last night? Bec never came home.” Raising my eyebrow as I wait for an answer, everyone’s eyes snap over to where Becca is currently trying to put space between her and Jay. When I feel Max’s hands on my thighs, I look up at him.

“What?” I ask, trying to keep an innocent tone to my voice.

“That wasn’t very nice of you,” he says with a smirk. I can see the laughter dancing behind his eyes.

Looking back over to Jayden, since it appears neither of them are going to answer, I press on. “Looks like you moved Becca up your to-do list?” I try to keep a straight face, but it’s not easy, especially when I can hear Bodhi fighting back his laughter, and can feel Max’s chest shaking with silent laughter as he buries his face in my hair.

“Come on, Hem, you know that line was only for you.” Max stops laughing and his head shoots up. I’m a little afraid to turn around and see the look on his face, and from the satisfied look on Jayden’s face, I would guess that he successfully hit his mark.

“What do you mean that line is only for my sister?” Niki questions.

Unable to fight the laughter anymore, I tip my head back and let out a laugh from deep inside.

“The day I met Jay, he asked if I wanted to go somewhere and hangout.” Fighting back the laughter, I look over at Niki and Eli.

Shaking his head, Jay chuckles. “She said she was too busy to hang, so I look at her and deadpanned, ‘I was too, but I just moved you to the top of my to-do list.’ She slapped me.” This has all of the guys hooting in laughter. I look over at Jay, and he winks.
Author JC Thompson was born in raised in the Pacific Northwest. Where she currently lives with her high school sweetheart, two little girls, and five furry kids (3 cats and 2 dogs). JC loves to read romance, the smuttier the better. She is a self-proclaimed book addict that likes to get last in a false reality anytime possible.

Hemingway’s Hope is JC’s debut novel, and it won’t be the last. 

Monday, March 14, 2016

M. Lynne Cunning - Who I Am With You - Blog Tour

Title: Who I Am With You
Author: M. Lynne Cunning
Release Date: Feb 19, 2016
Find on Goodreads
People only reveal what they want you to see…

Chad Kirkwood has a secret. One he’s determined to keep buried until he’s ready to divulge it. So when he shows up on Katie’s doorstep in answer to a job posting, he stretches the truth and tells her only what she needs to know.

Katie Wicken is broken. Left to pick up the pieces of a called-off engagement and a failing farm after the death of her father, she’s determined not to let anyone else into her heart. Then she hires Chad, and Katie finds herself glancing in his direction, watching him work, and thinking about him after the sun goes down.

Something begins to awaken within Chad, too. It’s been forever since he’s felt such a genuine connection and been able to fully enjoy his life. Hell, live his life. But when Chad’s lie catches up with him, he’s forced to come clean.

And the truth could break Katie’s heart once again.

Grief and pain can make people do crazy things… but so can love.

“Don’t speak about something you don’t understand, all right? Whatever Katie has told you, that’s all it is...a piece of a much bigger pie. You don’t know me, and no matter what you think, you don’t know her either.”

Chad crossed his arms in front of his chest, not sure what to say next. From the corner of his eye, he could see Katie stomping through the tall grass towards them. The dust from Jay’s car had finally billowed into the garden where she’d been working.

“Are you warning me about her...Jay?” Chad locked eyes with him, his gaze never wavering even though Katie was getting closer with each step.

Jay slammed the car door, wearing a muted grin as he matched Chad’s pose, crossing his own arms and pulling himself up to his full height, at least three inches taller than Chad’s five feet and eleven inches. “She used to be different, that’s all. Calm yourself, will you? I’m just telling you, you don’t know the real Katie. To be honest, you probably never will. The real Katie we all knew and loved died along with her father. My Katie is gone, so like I said, don’t talk about things you only think you understand.”

Thankfully, Chad didn’t have to form a response, not that he knew what he would say to that, anyway. Katie’s feet hit the gravel just as Chad had opened his mouth to speak; however, the look on her face evoked enough uncertainty in him that he swiftly closed it again.

“You said you were picking Mason up at five thirty. It’s only a few minutes past five.” Katie consulted her watch as though to confirm it, lifting her head to glare at Jay again.

“I’m a few minutes early. I wanted to see how everything was going.”

“Everything is just fine, Jay. You can come back in twenty seven minutes.” Katie didn’t look at Chad as she brushed past the two men and headed for the house, where Chad knew Mason was currently packing up his clothes and Nintendo DS to take with him.

“Katie, wait...” Jay’s pleas went unanswered, the screen door banging closed abruptly behind her. Only a defeated sigh sounded in the thick silence between them, and Chad uneasily turned away from the other man, intent on cleaning up his mess near the barn wall and getting the hell out of dodge before this situation got any more heated. Jay, on the other hand, didn’t have the same intentions.

“See? What’d I tell you? She’s impossible.”

“No. She’s hurt. There’s a difference.” Chad didn’t look at him. Instead, he plucked the hammer and tin can full of nails from the ground and pretended to admire his handiwork on the barn wall.

“You seem to know a lot about my girlfriend and her—“

“Ex.”

“What?”

“She’s your ex-girlfriend.”

Jay stared at him, seeming to mull over how to react. Chad couldn’t be sure whether it was humiliation or anger that clouded the man’s clean shaven face, maybe a bit of both. Either way, Chad didn’t fear him, and he stared back, unblinking.

“Good to meet you, Chad.” Jay’s tone was condescending and gruff.


“See you in twenty four minutes,” Chad replied, and the hint of a smirk crossed his face the moment he broke eye contact and turned away.

M. Lynne Cunning has always wanted to be an author, but it wasn’t until she discovered National Novel Writing Month and all the insanity that goes along with it that she began to truly realize her love for writing stories. While she doesn’t limit herself to writing only specific genres, her first two published novels, Until I'm Found and Blurred Lines, are considered Romantic Suspense. Her new book, Who I Am With You (to be released February 2016), will be the first in a contemporary romance series. She also doesn’t believe that the traditional typical “happily ever after” is always the way to go. You’ve been forewarned.
 
She is almost always reading or writing, but also enjoys spending time and traveling with her husband/best friend, Dennis, and is the proud dog-mom of two brindle boxers. She’s also a too-far-gone coffee addict and a lifelong country music fan.